Moe Lane's Blog, page 670
September 10, 2021
You have two weeks to acquire enough money…
…to get in on the Australian auction of some of the vehicles from MAD MAX: FURY ROAD. I’m looking at the Doof Wagon, myself. It just suits my idiom, if you know what I mean?
Via Fark.
Moe Lane
PS: If I happen not to acquire the money in time, and somebody else happens to pick it up during the sale, let me assure you: I am not too proud to accept it as a gift.
I have my floor location at Fright Reads!
I have no idea if this is good, or not. It’s in the middle, at least.
Check me out (Flying Koala Publishing) at the @frightreads Book Festival on October 2nd! https://t.co/rMYX8zZsG6 https://t.co/PiDn18Z1A1 pic.twitter.com/BaXzFuX7bA
— Ogiel (Moe Lane) (@Ogiel23) September 11, 2021
Item Seed: The Montclair Footage.
The Montclair Footage
Description: three movie cans, each containing one reel of 35mm nitrate film, black and white, no sound. Each can has a faded label with “SPACE DOOM HENDERSON 1932” written on it; they were apparently from a set of five (the canisters are numbered 1, 2, and 4). The film was clearly professionally preserved, and kept under conditions designed to limit its degradation: most of the footage remains usable. Every physical detail of the cans and film is compatible with them being from the 1930s.
The reels themselves show various outdoor scenes (each reel holds twelve minutes of footage):
Reel one is a wide, establishing shot of an odd-looking city of concrete and brick overlooking a river. Powered boats and antique airplanes can be seen, but the city itself remains unidentified throughout the continuous shot.Reel two (from the same camera and angle) also shows the city. At three minutes, two seconds, there is a flash of light — and then the unmistakable appearance of a mushroom cloud over the city. The following shock wave rattles the camera, but does not topple it. The detonation is compatible with a Hiroshima-style atomic bomb.Reel three was either filmed on different cameras, or else one camera was put on a truck bed and moved around. The footage is not continuous, instead being a series of static panoramic shots of devastated buildings and human casualties. The people look vaguely European, but the signs are in no known language (and, again, there is no sound) and there is no indication where these scenes were shot. The images of the dead and injured are graphic, and consistent with the effects of surviving a nuclear blast.The Montclair Footage was discovered in an auction sale earlier this year: the previous owner was a reclusive and obsessive collector of old filmstock. Where she got the Footage from is anybody’s guess: while she meticulously documented her ongoing film preservation projects, information on the acquisition of those films is conspicuously absent (larceny was likely involved, somehow). The earliest date in the files associated with the Montclair Footage is 1985, so the films are at least that old.
Presumably the Montclair Footage is a fake, but it’s a very good one. The film buff who was going through all the footage to assess it is also a historian specializing in the American nuclear program, so she knows perfectly well what an A-Bomb blast looks like — and its effects on human tissue. She even has a security clearance that let her look at classified tests, and none of them match up with the footage here, either. One phone call later, and the Montclair Footage was passed along to the appropriate shadow government agency.
And They ended up scratching their heads, too: this footage is simply not compatible with any atomic bomb test, ever. It looks real, and it feels real, but it really can’t be real. But neither is it an obvious or even unobvious fake: the film could be possibly faked today (although that’s not guaranteed), but the FX state of the art in the mid 1980s simply wasn’t up to the challenge. Unless that date’s part of the fake, too. But if it’s a well-constructed practical joke, what’s the payoff?
And… there was a movie project back in the early 1930s called “Space Doom.” The director (Gunther Henderson) had been somewhat prominent in the silent movie era, only to lose funding when talking pictures became the industry standard. Space Doom might have still been produced, except that a fire in 1932 wrecked Henderson’s studio. After that, he just… disappears from the records.
Get used to that a lot, by the way. Investigating the silent film era is an exercise in exasperating frustration. Nobody kept any records, the narrators are nigh-universally unreliable, and elderly nitrate film has a tendency to catch on fire, and sometimes explode. So, have fun figuring out if this is really documentary evidence of a nuclear bomb, detonated ten years early! Or, alternatively, what in God’s name was so important that it required a fake like this to be made. That’s worth checking out, too.
Tweet of the Day, I Hope He At Least TRIES To Do This edition.
Not that it will happen. Then again, what’s the harm in applying for the relevant permits? The worst they can do is say no.
When Chris Nolan blows up a real atom bomb for his Robert Oppenheimer epic. pic.twitter.com/3kcxCsUoxc
— Burhan Khalid (@RequiemNocturn) September 9, 2021
September 9, 2021
The MARVEL’S SPIDER-MAN 2 reveal trailer.
This may be the one, folks. SPIDER-MAN 2 may be the one that makes people upgrade to the PS5. Assuming the price comes down, mind you. I ain’t spending that kind of money on a new console.
As ComingSoon notes, there’s gonna be Venom; but the voiceover also suggests Kraven the Hunter. Maybe. I’m not entirely checked out on the latest lore. Still, looks cool!
Some mildly interesting news: they’re remaking KOTOR for PS5/PC.
Alternate title: OH, [EXXXXPLETTTIVVVVVE DEEEELEEEETED]. And note the use of the word ‘remake.’ No gameplay yet, but the year is… almost over, actually.
Via GeekTyrant.
09/09/21 Snippet, ETERNAL NIGHT OF THE MOON-BEASTS.
Nah, this isn’t ominous at all.
Patreon!There was only one real issue that had to come up in today’s meeting.
Unfortunately, it was a big issue. Mali was the first one to bring it up. “Commander? Is there any news on the Jetshaft mining facility? I know that their communications are still offline.”
Tobias shook his head. “No. And it’s been a full lunar night since their last report, too. They’re not communicating with us at all, even on the emergency bands, and they’re still not drawing power from the communal solar grids.”
Asenath chimed in. “I calculate that the facility’s personal energy storage batteries would have a 95% likelihood of being exhausted, as of two days ago. If there are any survivors, they would be only a fraction of the original crew roster.”
The other two remained silent, until Tobias carefully did not sigh before speaking again. “The computer says they’re out of juice, and probably all dead.”
The annoyingly alluring MATRIX 4 RESURRECTIONS trailer.
Crap, that looks a lot less sucky than I expected. And I fully understand why that’s a dangerous foolishness on my part. So noted. I even agree, it’s more than likely to blow chunks.
Still…
Tweet of the Day, Submitted Without Context edition.
I make no guarantees for the rest of this person’s content. Haven’t even looked. But this thread? This thread is gold.
"IT DOESN' MADDA WHEDDA THEY'RE IN DA MATRIX OR NOT; CONSCIOUSNESS IS ITS OWN PRISON, AN' DA FIVE SENSES AH' ITS WARDENS! DA TRUTH IS, YEH JUST AFRAID *WE'RE* IN DA MATRIX, AN' EVEN IN A BOUNDLESS DIGITAL WONDAHLAND YEH LIVIN A COWAHD'S LIFE, LIKE A DOG!" pic.twitter.com/2HuEp7oQZ0
— Gretchen Felker-Martin (@scumbelievable) September 7, 2021
Via @EsotericCD.
