Spooky internet content – You know, the type of website, video, webcomic or otherwise that sits in the back of your mind once you’ve mentally digested it. Spooky and scary aren’t one of the same – However there is a lot of overlap between the two. To determine what we’re considering ‘spooky’, it’s got to have something that’ll make you think, or some element of the supernatural. So, without further adieu, here is our Top 10 Spooky Internet Content.Continue reading “Top 10 – Spooky Internet Content”
The eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted the results of last week’s vote. Well we’re certainly not ones to chicken out of a tough list, but we did flock together with Kevin from The Mental Attic to get the job done. He helped us to gather up a veritable aviary drawn from geek culture, and try and arrange them in to some kind of logical order. I don’t know what you do for fun on a Thursday night but this is our kind of party at GeekOut.
Themes and plots are easy enough to run in the open, but it’s no small task to run one in secret while subtly eluding to it so that the great reveal is a moment of realisation, not confusion. Your hidden villains, impending perils and heartbreaking plot twists become so much more satisfying to both you and your players when someone compulsively yells “I knew it!” because it mean that you’ve foreshadowed well.
I’ve been delaying this one because I’ve not had a great deal of practice, and the best examples I have are all from games and films, so I encourage anyone who has had experience of foreshadowing in an RP, good or bad, to share in the comments or on Facebook. For what it’s worth, here is what I have come to learn of how to foreshadow well. Continue reading “DMing 101 – Foreshadowing”
It’s hard to believe that it has been five years since we first saw the trio of Sesame Street-esque puppets learning how to get creative, but as of June 19th this year the nerve-shredding but perversely insightful series has come to a rather dramatic and yet oddly satisfying conclusion that answered everything, and at the same time absolutely nothing. Let’s take a quick look at the journey or Red Guy, Yellow Guy and the Duck…
1) Get Creative
Nobody really knew what to expect on first view of the fabric world and it’s puppety inhabitants at first, it all seemed perfectly wholesome with the singing sketchbook singing about how to express yourself creatively, but it wasn’t long before the observant noticed something wrong with the way the sketchbook ignored the opinions of the Red Guy, later censoring Yellow’s attempts at doing something it hasn’t suggested. After a brief glimpse of the truth, and the artificial construct at play, the whole thing descends into chaos, the music becomes a painful cacophony, and the characters seem engaged in acts of madness rather than creativity.
Take the time to watch this twice, the second time looking for the little cues that are showing us how creativity is not being taught, it’s being crushed. The characters are told repeatedly what is and is not creative, and to only listen to the opinions of the sketchbook. At the end it is agreed that they will never be creative again, perhaps a hint that free thought is not allowed and we should all be normal because it is safer, a theme which is revisited later on.
2) Time
We come to 2014, almost 3 years later, and the creepiest kids show has freaked out a large audience already, now it’s Time to learn a new lesson. Our group are distracted from their TV show by the singing clock who shows them the effect of time and the inevitable march of progress. If anything Time is even more oblivious to the objections of the group, shutting down anyone who tries to disagree or deviate from the path quickly before eventually strapping them into a futuristic device to marvel at technology, and finally subjecting them to the rigours of age.
I’ve heard different interpretations of this one, and I think my favourite is that we don’t have long to live so we should fill the time with stuff, “An old man died – But look, a computer!” although there’s some credit to the idea that it’s about how we gloss over the past, such as how the Victorian era is glossed over with nonsense before launching into more pointless rhetoric.
Then came the Kickstarter campaign, promising four more lessons for the puppet palls to learn. It also promises to let them go if we give them money.
3) Love
Love is represented by a beautiful and softly spoken butterfly who takes care of Yellow after he runs off because the others upset him, and whisks him away over the clouds to a place where everyone is happy and cheerful and care about each other, and tell him stories, and give him new clothes, a new name, and introduce him to Malcolm, the King of Love who eats gravel. Yellow’s friends eventually find him, and bring him an egg, which hatches and the caterpillar inside calls him “Father”, before being squished.
This one takes you on a real journey, one that mirrors the path into many cults just like the cult of Malcolm, plucked from a place of confusion and sadness and introduced to people who supposedly care about them, but slowly erase their personality. It also goes into how we’re taught to perceive love, and the right and wrong ways to experience it.
4) Digitally
A computer hijacks our merry adventurers efforts to learn something interesting about the real world by dragging them into a digital world full of flash and sparkle and wonder. Once again our Red guy is disinterested, and sarcastic, still seeking an answer to the question that they began with before the distractions eventually silence him, and as he watches his friends enslaved by the machine he seeks an escape, and in the process stumbles across the real world, which literally blows his mind (in a shower of confetti).
The shroud around the true meaning behind each video gets thinner and thinner, although Digitally gives a few clues that might easily be missed. The video is about how our relationship with the internet, how it distracts us, how it gives us license to be someone else, and how it is filled with so much and nothing all at the same time. The computer is also one of the more terrifying teachers, its hideous squeal as it drags the puppets into its realm is chilling.
5) Healthy
Red is missing, apparently the events of Digitally were rather permanent, and the Duck and Yellow guy know something is wrong, but can’t quite pinpoint what’s wrong. And so begins the music, as a dancing lamb chop and can of spinach teach them all about being healthy. This time the Duck takes the role of doubter, and is obviously uncomfortable and tries repeatedly to escape through the ever-ringing phone, only to find grisly dismemberment on the other side.
The meaning is most obvious of all, the conflicting lessons about food are an obvious mirror of the ever changing things we are told are good for us and bad for us: “…but everyone has a teeth go grey, just eat yeast, it’ll all go away! But how much have you had today? Too much yeast makes your teeth go grey.” In the end the Duck is consumed by giant cans, the food industry behind the cameras, and we see Red walking morosely away from a phonebooth in the real world. It seems he was trying to save his friends.
6) Dreams
And now but one remains, he is all alone and weeping, trying desperately to find peace, but he’s deprived of sleep by a lamp that sings about dreams, but this episode does not follow the formula.
Out there in the “real” world, Red finds himself a slave to drudgery and boredom, in a world full of humourless cynics that look identical to him. He almost seems to miss the animated house he left, and sits alone in a bar surrounded by nonsensical small talk while another Red creature hammers ineffectually at a piano. He takes to the stage and starts to sing the song from Get Creative, only for the stage to dissolve, and he finds himself at the controls of the House in which he once lived. He tries to spare Yellow from the torment at the hands of… well there’s a few things I haven’t mentioned.
Themes
You may have noticed the reoccurring theme of Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared, that we are taught how and what to think, and by the media most of all. You’ll see it everywhere throughout the series in adverts, screens, and cameras, and in myriad subtle ways that even the more keen eyed amongst us may have missed. There are a few commonalities that are more obvious than others, the reoccurance of June 19th, or the numbers 1906, the use of the colour green, the image of a human brain, and the only parental figure.
The father of Yellow guy is by far the most horrifying figure, a vision of immorality who is seen from his introduction in Time and slowly he is revealed as the one pulling the strings. In the cult of Malcolm, a shadowy corner where the computer had been, standing above the set of healthy, and finally reaching to stop Red from interfering with the plan.
Is this a review? A summary? Perhaps both, perhaps neither. Once again we’re spreading the love for a series that we have become enthralled by, and that we discuss with the release of every new video. It’s almost a shame to see it gone, because I doubt anything will unnerve me in quite the same way again.
Credit for a lot of these explanations must go to Vinnie at YouTube Explained although he missed a few points I felt important, but seriously check out his thoughts on the series, he’s very observant.
YouTube is a one of the most inundated platforms for human oddness, and we’ve gone through some of the finer examples that fulfil various categories of weirdness BUT we’re trying to keep a tight lid on our family-friendly content, so any weirdness with too much nudity, bad language or gore… well, up to a point, we can’t get too tame in this category, so be prepared for things to get a little messy.
The real beauty of the internet is the power to upload whatever you like, no matter how low the quality, how niche the target market, or how weird, and weird is exactly where the internet went. Dark, outlandish, wacky, surreal, eccentric, or just completely outside of the normal, we’ve seen it all and yet we can’t help but feel there’s still more to come. Weird is getting less and less weird to us and yet we still keep finding new and interesting ways to creep each other out or make us stop for just a moment so that our brains can catch up to what we’ve just seen.
YouTube is a one of the most inundated platforms for human oddness, and we’ve gone through some of the finer examples that fulfil various categories of weirdness BUT we’re trying to keep a tight lid on our family-friendly content, so any weirdness with too much nudity, bad language or gore… well, up to a point, we can’t get too tame in this category, so be prepared for things to get a little messy. Continue reading “Top 10 – Weird YouTube Videos”
I am a man who finds different things to obsess over in phases, for maybe a month or two at a time. You may recall not too long ago it was Borderlands, but with Hallowe’en just passed and a few articles done on the subject of horror I have found myself chain-watching horror films of all types and listening to Librivox H.P. Lovecraft books.
Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared consists of a small group of people who put together some very unique videos on YouTube. Here’s one of them.
You might have noticed just how serious that video gets suddenly. This video alone, as of the time of writing has slowly creeping towards 18 million views! 18 million is a crazy number – But that’s how many people have seen this video.
They then made Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared 2, which discusses time and what it does to us/the world.
So these could be considered shock videos which discusses a theme.
This Kickstarter campaign has been made to help them on their way to making a whole series of these videos, which are clearly very popular already! This campaign has been made to teach those puppets the 6 meanings of life… What meanings they are, we’ll just have to find out.
How much are they asking for?
£96,000 is the target funding goal! Quite a high target, however with their following they might be able to make it. As of the time of writing this article, they have over £37,000 raised with 21 days to go. It’s a high target as they want to be able to produce these last episodes properly.
Aww, aren’t they a lovely bunch?
They project each episode will cost around £24,000!! Woah! But they have given justification for it and it seems to make a lot of sense, plus it would help them work full time on Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared.
The money goes into the following stages:
Pre-production: Writing, storyboarding, creating an animatic, characters and concept designs.
Audio: writing and recording the music, all the voices and sound design.
Production: Building all the sets, puppets, props, models and the cost of all materials.
Shooting: Studio time, location costs, crew, lights, camera and lots and lots of stress.
Post production: editing, compositing, adding 2d or CG animation and lots more dull digital work.
Now, who wants to go and contemplate the damage that time does to us?
What are the rewards?
As per usual, an important aspect for a successful campaign on Kickstarter is down to the rewards… So, what are the rewards that the average person could potentially afford?
Pledge £1 or more
==== GOOD EGG =========== THANK YOU! You are a wonderful creative person and a new friend!
Estimated delivery: Jun 2014
Pledge £3 or more
====== DIGITAL EGG!=========== Digital Downloads of each film we successfully fund as soon as they come out, plus the first 2!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2015
Pledge £5 or more
======MUSICAL BOY========== Digital downloads of each episode + the Official DHMIS album with all songs from each episode, karaoke versions and a few extra songs! ( digital album )
Estimated delivery: Apr 2015
Pledge £10 or more
=====MYSTICAL FRIEND======= Digital downloads of each episode + the Official DHMIS album + Become a member of the Official DHMIS Fandom and your name will go down on the new DHMIS site, you will receive a Thank You video form the Creators and have access to special behind the scenes footage!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2015
Pledge £15 or more
=====THE NEW BOY!========== Digital downloads of each episode + the DHMIS album + Become a member of the DHMIS fan club + A2 DHMIS poster signed by the creators !!!!
Estimated delivery: Apr 2015
Add £3 to ship outside the UK
Pledge £25 or more
======CReATiVe WIZKID======== Digital downloads of each episode + the DHMIS album + Become a member of the DHMIS Fandom + receive a beautiful handmade frame from a stop motion sequence in the next episode. ( roughly 28cm X 20cm)
Estimated delivery: Apr 2015
Add £4 to ship outside the UK
I’m personally interested in the £15 pledge as there is a poster involved… And I quite like having something physical!
What? You want to see the poster? It’ll be as crazy as the series is proving to be!
Here it is!
I seriously hope you don’t hug him, he’s scared.
What did you all think of this Kickstarter campaign? It’s quite a unique one in that this was an established video series on YouTube which has done so well, they wanted to do better. Both me and Joel are excited by this campaign as we both love the two released videos, as bizarre as they are!
Are you as intrigued as we are? Do the videos scare you in any way, or are they just a normal day on the internet? Give us a comment, let us know – and back that campaign!
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