writers and the leviathan or duty to warn

At a time when athletes, actors, astronomers and others are told to stick to their day-jobs and not wade into the political fray, many of us expect writers and academics to uphold values and defend truth and justice in trying times. One author, recognised across the partisan spectrum, as the quintessential bellwether who warned lucidly and presciently about the rise of totalitarianism, George Orwell, however, took some exception with this onerous duty, arguing it was the responsibility of every last one of us to stay informed. Culture, in any form, is not impervious to the prevailing political climate.

electronic arts

Market saturation and the introduction of home computers back in 1983 precipitated a crash for the video game industry that unseated the dominance of Atari and the arcade as a third place.
In turn, this disruption informed Nintendo’s rather aggressive campaign of licensing and cross-branding. Some years ago, as Dangerous Minds reminds, Retrovania imagined video game start screens for some of the titles that the company secured the rights to but for one reason or another, failed to pursue. While it’s easy to imagine the rules of play for some of the company’s tie-ins, it’s a fun challenge to puzzle out how one might have engaged others.

bakemono zukushi

Via Public Domain Review, we discover an anonymous Edo-era scroll of a certain classification of yōkai (previously here, here and here) called bakemono (化け物), which are distinguished from other super natural beasts and ghouls by their ability to shape-shift and are associated with the liminal world, both physical and figurative—especially tunnels and thresholds.

 Be sure to visit Public Domain Review at the link up top to learn more about this veritable rogues’ gallery of creatures to haunt one’s nightmares

hifi

On the thirty-fifth anniversary since its debut with Return of the Jedi on 25 May, 1983, THX released the score of its “Deep Note” audio trademark for the first time, prompting a talented vocalist named Mach Kobayashi to intone the thirty voices across three octaves to recreate to signature choral strike to perfection.