The linked software appears to be a high-density dimensional tunnel bore, capable of providing limited surveillance of an unidentified paraphysical dimension.
Once the software is activated, the boring process is engaged by a human operator holding down the up cursor key until the destination is reached. The length of this process is variable, but is typically upwards of 3 minutes.
Attempts to modify the software or clean up the resultant surveillance footage have been unsuccessful. All attempts to automate the boring process have resulted in fatalities. The software must be operated by a conscious human operator physically holding down the up cursor key and directing their full attention towards the screen, with no interruption until the destination is reached. Failure to follow these conditions will result in irreversable memetic disintegration of the self (best case scenario) or death.
<ORIGIN_UNKNOWN>
Download all the longings of a waiting world
Controls: escape: quit; up cursor: operate
The Rules:
The file at this link will be deleted 1 month from now (07/03/20).
All downloads are zipfiles containing a Windows executable.
All source code and assets are included, licensed under the GPL (code) and CC-BYSA (assets).
As long as you abide by those licenses, you can do whatever you want with the download.
Further Reading
I love how we’re increasingly seeing writers take Lovecraft’s cosmic horror as a base and repurpose it to critique the racism and xenophobia inherent in his work. The Litany of Earth by Ruthanna Emrys is a great example of this (see also Victor LaValle’s The Ballad of Black Tom).
Everest Pipkin has been teaching at CMU, and they’ve put up their syllabi online (twitter threads here, and here). They cover a lot of ground, and link to so many fascinating resources. I am in awe of the sheer amount of work they must have put into developing these syllabi.
A couple of those fascinating resources: The Sustainable Web Manifesto; and a programming language built in your OS’s file system.
I mentioned last month I was going to work my way through the games Nathalie Lawhead listed in this big blog post. I’ve not gone through them all yet, but here are a couple I really liked: A Broken City (hint: try and get yourself run over by the train), and t- e ni hтm-are of·`a c ty (the sound design and visuals make this one of the most visceral experiences I’ve had in a game in quite a while).
I’m not sure where the memory appeared from, but early this month I was suddenly reminded of the existence of Art of Noise’s The Seduction of Claude Debussy, an orchestral drum & bass concept album based on an imagined documentary about Debussy, with spoken word narration by John Hurt and rapping by Rakim. It is every bit as incongruous and startling as it sounds, and I love it.
A poem by Holly Gramazio about the Australian fires.
Cecile Richard’s Novena is one of my favourite games of the last few years, and they’ve recently put out ✨💻 ENDLESS SCROLL 💌✨, which is a powerful piece about high school reminiscences and painful memories.
A side effect of living somewhere with a garden for the first time since I originally left home for university is that I’ve become more keenly aware of all the creatures I share the city with. I have a huge fuschia in the front garden that at any given moment is providing shelter to: blue tits, coal tits, great tits, long-tailed tits, sparrows, blackbirds, blackcaps, robins (and that’s just during the winter; a variety of different folk visit the garden in summer). I even saw a buzzard a few doors down last month (in the middle of the city!).
Once you get a bit of space, and start paying attention, you come to realise there’s so much more going on than you ever expected.