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The Seventh Victim (1943), produced by Val Lewton and directed by Mark Robson, is a delicate, muted, atmospheric horror film that is somehow more than the sum of its parts. A certain devil-may-care approach to consistency and coherence, along with an artful job of back-lot pasteboard illusionism—both things attributable to the strict $150,000 budget cap—actually assists in creating the aura of anxiety and indeterminacy that makes it a horror picture …

[Content warning: This article cites misogynistic dialogue in several places and also refers to in-game scenes of relationship-related abuse.] I’ve had my eye on this RPG for a long time now, my curiosity stoked by a seemingly endless supply of high praise for its excellent writing. It’s generally considered one of the best games of its kind, an essential experience for anyone with even mild interest in the genre. Not …

By Thomas Wildenberg Editor’s note: In 2024, From Balloons to Drones will publish a series of articles that seek to provide a new perspective on the air war in 1944. If you are interested in contributing, please see our call for submissions here. The US Navy was unprepared for electronic warfare when the Second World War started. After the … Continue reading #1944Revisited – Locating Japanese Radars: The First Dedicated …

A cartoon coded in CSS from comiCSS.

It's been another one of those months, where just enough is going on that it's hard to keep track of what, actually, is going on, but not so much that it's impossible to put together and write about. Yet, weirdly it's ideal for lots of shower thoughts that, individually, don't add up to a whole lot. It's the exact opposite of a sweet spot for somebody with ADD. So I'm …

Below, a quick roundup of a few of the things I learned over the past few months. Observers have reported a large red spot on Jupiter since the 1660s. But according to a new analysis, the old red spot may have disappeared and the current Great Red Spot formed sometime in the 19th century. (ArsTechnica) Employees working from home spend an average of 13 hours daily staring at screens, according …

https://www.torinodesigncity.it/programma2024/ 13 ottobre – 26 ottobre 2024 In occasione del Decennale della nomina di Torino Città Creativa UNESCO del Design, la Città offrirà un palinsesto di appuntamenti gratuiti dal 13 al 26 ottobre 2024, per promuovere il riconoscimento e accontare le diverse declinazioni del Design a Torino. Saranno previsti incontri dedicati a raccontare le imprese iconiche del territorio; talk con importanti designer e ospiti internazionali. Inoltre, verrà presentata la nuova …

San Francisco is a good town for bookshops. This is a route I’ve done a few times. It’s like a bar crawl, but with fewer alcoholics. Start at Stout Architectural Books. This is a great shop for flipping through pretty picture books – think Phaidon, Taschen, etc. Most of what they carry is foreign to me, and not the type of book I am likely to come across elsewhere. I …

I listen to a lot of game development-flavored podcasts, and one thing that has really stood out to me for a long time was how basically none of the podcasts were actually about development. There are plenty dedicated to creator interviews that discuss inspiration, design, etc., but practically none about the actual specifics of programming games. Beyond that, I’ve had my own pet interest in the concept of data tooling …

Among the most sought after and valuable coins in the world are a handful struck for the Cincinnati Mining & Trading Company during the California Gold Rush of 1849.Despite the exorbitant value of these rare coins, we know next to nothing about the company that minted them or the men who organized the Cincinnati company. We don’t know where these coins were minted or why. Perhaps because of the mystery, …

Season after season, Cavour of Oslo is putting in the work of delivering the real deal quality tailored clothing that stylish men worldwide can invest in, at a price point they could only dream of. In no small part, that’s due to their easy and hassle-free super-fast shipping and returns policy. Cross-border shipping can be a real pain, but Cavour takes 99% of the sting out in both directions (100% …

ANDREW GABBARD’s ‘Magic Taxi’ (taken from his forthcoming Karma Chief / Colemine album Ramble & Rave On!) finds him answering the question a Beatles mega-fan like himself has doubtlessly asked: “What would they have sounded like if they didn’t break up?” The answer is a bit like John singing in Wings with Ringo on drums and George decorating the song with swirls of tangy guitars Ramble & Rave On!, Andrew’s …

ULA conducted a second launch of its Vulcan Centaur rocket last week, which the company declared a success despite an issue with one of its solid rocket boosters. Jeff Foust reports on that launch as well as efforts to get it, and two other new rockets, flying more frequently.

I guess I’m inventing a new-for-me format here: “Table Talk” While my usual interview format Origin Stories is based on 90-120 min conversations that are well researched and in-depth on a single game or topic, Table Talk will be shorter 20-30 min conversations to catch up with interesting people in the hobby. While being at SPIEL Essen 2024, head of SPIEL Carol Rapp was so kind to sit down with …

Was able to get some time this week to catchup with Bryan Boyer. We talked about some of the work he was doing with his students, particularly challenging them to think about design interventions and prototyping those across the ‘pace layers’ as famously depicted by Stewart Brand in his book “How buildings learn” The image is totemic for design practitioners and theorists of a certain vintage (although I’m not sure …