Sit in the Dark and Listen for Whispers

Dear Weirdlings,

Welcome to this week’s assortment of weird news and musings.

Time is strange. Weeks vanish in an instant, or stretch into years. Nothing has happened. Everything has happened.

Throughout it all, the woods retain their secrets. Do you hear them, whispering in the shadows?

Movies

The Quagmire Of Race And Horror In Cinema (Gayly Dreadful)

Dani Bethea examines the lens through which much of horror is created. “As a Black American, I have a very particular lens in which I view the world and its media properties,” writes Bethea. “While horror films regularly have to contend with the consequences of being situated in a black-and-white world, oftentimes the lines get blurred between the science fiction and horror genres. For this reason, the threat for Black people in a film can be quadrupled via human monsters, the supernatural, and/or an alien creature from another world.'“

An Oral History of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (New York Times)

Even at the best of times, it’s a miracle that any movie gets made at all — and that’s especially true of a film as complex as Fury Road. Five years after the release of the movie, Kyle Buchanan talks to key players about the process of making the movie.

TV

Experimental Paranormal Investigations in ‘Spirits of the Stanley’ (Once Weird)

For a number of years, the Stanley hotel — best known for being the haunted inspiration for Stephen King’s The Shinning — hosted paranormal investigations for the public. During that time, the hotel’s in-house team of paranormal researchers, also conducted their own investigations and experiments.

Games

Before Nintendo and Atari: How a Black Engineer Changed the Video Game Industry Forever (USA Today)

Jerry Lawson, a black engineer and designer, is an oft overlooked figure in video game history. He is most noted for overseeing the development of the Channel F, the first home video game system with interchangeable game cartridges.

‘Outlanders’ Is a Charming Community Building Game, Laced with Desperate Survival (Once Weird)

Outlanders is a mobile game focused on building communities that require homes, food, and resources — meeting the demands of the local leaders, keeping the villagers alive. It is simultaneously one of the most relaxing and stressful gaming experiences I’ve ever had.

Short of the Week

Directed by Diona Oku, Murder for Dummies relates the adventures of two cheerleaders humorously seek a means to murder one of their cheating boyfriends.