My Dearest Weirdlings,
Welcome to our new home!
All past newsletters have now been backed up here, and I'm excited to explore all the possibilities that Ghost offers as a platform — including the possibility of making this site a hub for all things Once Upon the Weird.
So, kickback, relax, and enjoy this week’s roundup of the weird.
Movies
Son, It’s Time You Learned About Sex by Discussing David Bowie’s Huge Bulge in Labyrinth (McSweeney's)
"Hey sport, how you doing? Sorry to interrupt your homework, but you probably don’t mind, do you? Listen, son. Your mother and I had a discussion, and we think it’s time you learned about sex by discussing David Bowie’s huge crotch bulge in the movie Labryinth."
Bloodthirsty Director Amelia Moses on Avoiding Common Werewolf Tropes and Subverting the Genre (SlashFilm)
In Bloodthirsty, a singer-songwriter starts to transform into a powerful beast as she begins work on her album. Moses notes,
"As one thing develops or becomes better, she regresses on a different side. Her humanity is regressing while her art is beginning to flourish. That kind of juxtaposition is what I was going for, but the desire is the overarching thing, the desire to be successful or write good music or make good art, and also the desire to kill and eat people, which is slightly less relatable as a human"
Games
Coming Wave of Video Games Could Build Empathy on Racism, Environment and Aftermath of War (USA Today)
Unity is awarding grants for various video game project, among which are those that use the unique interactive elements of the gaming experience to evoke empathy in the players.
Life & Lore
This Fleshy Anthropomorphic Webcam Is Always Watching You (Nerdist)
Few things are more disturbing to me than fleshy looking robotic devices, and this webcam reaches a whole new level.
Literature
You Might Not Want to Go Home Again: 6 Tales of Homecoming Horror (Tor Nightfire)
As Sam Reader notes, "homecomings are fertile ground for horror stories, where the hauntings of the past can sometimes turn into actual hauntings in the present." Here are six excellent books that explore that experience.
Short of the Week
In "The Cunning Man," written by Ali Cook and directed by Zoë Dobson, a man gathers the corpses of animals for a mysterious purpose in this strange and haunting folk tale.
