let me put my punk in you.

Been thinking a lot about Daft Punk lately, so I thought I'd spread the love.

Watch this video. It's fucking amazing. The quality sucks though, sorry.


This is also kind of cool.


I really just threw this in here because I like it. Nothing to see, just listen.

NERD APPAREL OF THE WEEK.

Every Friday I will being doing a special post for NERD APPAREL OF THE WEEK. These can either be handmade items or things you can buy directly online.

I will also be taking submissions. See someone wearing something nerdy? Find it online? Send it to hubtastic@gmail.com.

This week's apparel?

This lovely image is printed on a shirt courtesy of BustedTees.com. Definitely one of my favorite Zelda shirts... as it's not completely riddled with images and/or black. Also, it totally says "IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE" on the bottom. Totally worth the price of 20 Rupees Bucks.

a look at pure terror: a few notes on the slender man.

There are only three things in life that scare (and I mean, viscerally, truly scare me): needles, mannequins, and the slender man.

Now, let me preface the rest of this entry by saying YES, I know where the slender man mythos originated, YES I know it's all fiction, YES I know that the last Marble Hornets entry was (41810ohgod) last month and in terms of the internet that means I'm way way later than fashionably. I would really appreciate it if everyone and their brother would refrain from mentioning any of these three things in their comments, because honestly, I've already heard it and I don't care.

If you're slow at everything forever like I am (or have a life beyond the internet, which is also plausible), you probably don't know what I'm talking about. What you need to do is click this link, go down to "Suggested Viewing Order", and stop reading this entry until you've successfully seen all of the Marble Hornets and totheark videos.

I know that the pictures and stories surrounding the Slender Man are all just as terrifying as the videos, but the videos... are definitely easier to connect to, for all people, that's for sure. I personally used to live surrounded by forests so this has a bit more of a personal visceral fear to it, especially where pictures are involved. There's no way I can possibly ever post all the good pictures and their matching stories (or horrifying lack-thereof, in some cases), so I'll give you a few links to start you off (there's nothing gory or anything): this post on Facepunch has a few of the more terrifying ones (especially the Steinmen forest pics ohgod - also, the missing images, just click on the box that says not to hotlink and it'll show you anyways); and here's the page specifically for the slender man (or, in MH canon, the Operator, but I'm using slender man throughout this post), including the Stirling Libraries pic.

Now that we've gotten all the obligatory links, it's time to get to the real heart of the matter: the slender man himself.

First, the pictures themselves. Each one is generally just a picture that someone subtly shooped the slender man into that is immediately rendered terrifying, provided you can find him. He's got tentacles, see, when he's not just looming around as an impossibly tall, faceless man(?) in a suit, and these tentacles generally make him look like a tree, so he's usually shooped into pictures of trees, making him nigh impossible to find - unless you're looking. As TV Tropes put it, it's a High Octane Nightmare Fuel version of Where's Waldo. (Guess what: he's in the pic up there, as well as the Operator symbol from Marble Hornets. Find the symbol first. Thanks to cazrolime on Twitter "finding it" on Getty.) Sometimes he's blatant, purely to make the cold fear of realization wash over the viewer, but sometimes... sometimes it's much, much more sinister than that.

The videos don't really need any explaining - watch them. I'm serious. If you ignored me before, I swear to god I will backhand you stop ignoring me now and go watch them. There's a certain ingenius beauty to the videos, with subtle little things here and there, while being the High Octane Nightmare Version: Hell Edition of Where's Waldo (that's the original game turned Up To Eleven, if you're playing the aptly-named "How Many TV Tropes Hints or Nods Fox Can Cram Into One Post" game at home - okay I'm done now seriously fuck), purely because every time the slender man appears, there's a visual tear in the film. This elevates the level of fear, simply by ensuring you begin thinking "oh fuck oh fuck oh no shit fuck" every time the tear appears. This gets even worse when the audio on the video is missing, and that happens a LOT in Marble Hornets (something, I think, really makes the entire thing as scary as it is).

Even without the videos, the slender man is still horrifying. What could possibly make something so obviously (at least, once you really begin searching for him on the internet) fictional so viscerally terrifying? This, which effectively sums up the next paragraph or two of this blog: "He only exists if you're thinking about him. Now try not to think about him."

That's right, ladies and gentlemen: THE POWER OF THE MIND. Normally all works of fiction rely on a certain amount of (at least) willing disbelief to get it to work, but the slender man takes this and amps it up to the point of being the exact reason the whole thing's so terrifying. To put it into perspective, this is a creature with tentacles/branch-like appendages that he(it) can pull out of fucking nowhere at will. This is a creature who is completely silent, but might be able to control your thoughts with its own - is at least capable of imprinting its demands on you. This is a creature who moves so fast that it usually isn't seen unless it wants to be -- not to mention, it may be capable of teleportation, and is quite capable of fucking around with everything near you, including the house you're exploring (check Entry #23 out for maximum understanding of that last bit). This is a creature who is only slowed/stopped/possibly seen through the lens of a camera/on film, and every single photographer/cameraman either turns up dead, disappears or is on the run. This is a creature who shows up around children, trees, fire, or an insidious mix of the three. It takes the guise of a man in a business suit with a bald, completely faceless head, and can at will grow and shrink in length, but he's always insidiously tall and slender. (And for the people where psychological has to meet physical horror somewhere: It has a penchant for stealing your organs, wrapping them in plastic bags, replacing them in your body and sticking it in the trees in a horrifying fashion. If he does at all.)

The slender man has no weakness. The slender man has no face. The slender man is always watching.

Now think about all of that, and, when coupled with the thought that purely by thinking about him you could create him, try not to cry when you wake up tonight in a cold sweat.

Yes, the slender man is fiction. Yes, he was created on the internet. That doesn't come to mind (or, if it does, it does weakly and never ends up helping) at night - in the dead of night, too, when it's the very epitome of pitch black outside -, when you're trying to tell yourself that the light is safe (it isn't), when you're all alone in the house (or are you?), when you're seriously giving thought to buying a camera just to make sure he doesn't come into the room when you're sleeping (record everything, or you won't remember).

This is where fear begins to cross from the fun into the very real -- the idea that thought alone can make the Slender Man a reality (and I cannot underline this enough). He exists the second someone starts thinking about him, and, rest assured, someone is always going to be thinking about him. And here's the real kicker: if he came into your room, late at night, you might not even remember the encounter (he has a nasty habit of erasing memories), or he's gone the second you turn on the light (see Hornets entry #14). He could be looming over you in a totally dark room and be gone the very second the light turns on and you wouldn't be the wiser.

This is what the horror industry should have more of (and I mean all across the board - games, movies, etc etc). Two dudes, a suit, 500$ and a camera is all it takes. They used visual tears, distortion, utter silence and the willingness of the audience to make the very critical horrifying realizations. Sure, the whole needlessly gory stuff can stay around. There are tons of people who like Saw purely for the gore, for example. But we need more of this sort of stuff around - psychological horror that is actually psychological and not just horror.

(Bonus points to anyone who caught both the pics in that last sentence of the pictures paragraph.)
((Also, to those counting, the final TV Tropes count was 4, only because I had to physically begin stopping myself from fetching the correct links.))
(((Also also, I'm so sorry this is so long, but I hope you enjoyed it.)))

Edit:
Have some more slender pics.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

And here's a slender tumblr.

Happy Comic Book Day!

Alright, it's Wednesday guys. Here's a list of what I'm picking up, what might get left behind, and what I don't even want to look at:

DC:

Picking Up:

Gotham City Sirens #12

With the exception of one or two issues (i.e. the ones where Dini took a break from writing), this has been a solid book for me. This book reminds me of when I was in love with these ladies as a kid. Anyway, this issue supposedly follows Ivy's (probably horrible) decision to get a real life job. Pretty good character stuff, honestly. It breaks Ivy away from constantly being that slutty-evil-plant-lady. And no one likes flat characters (and Guillem March does not draw flat characters either. :|)

Green Lantern #54

This one looks like it follows Larfleeze and the Red Lanterns... and if you've been reading anything Lantern-y? You probably know those two are the most ridiculous of the "new" Lanterns and for me? The most fun to read. And Geoff Johns writes a hilarious Larfleeze. And you know? On occasion? I can deal without the angst and a few jokes in my comics.

Justice League Generation Lost #2 **PICK OF THE WEEK***

GUYS. If you did not read the first issue, freaking go do so. And then read the Justice League International volumes. This is great stuff and for me, the most interesting of the Brightest Day banner books. Maxwell Lord is just such a damn powerful/intriguing villain and the JLI members are some of the most entertaining reads. :D

Power Girl #12

Another just plain fun read. Also the last issue for the Palmiotti/Gray/Conner team. This book does a great job of showing that balance between superhero life and normal life... which is something I like to see. Plus, Amanda Conner's art is wonderful and she draws some of the best facial expressions I've ever seen. Ever.

What's getting left behind

Batman the Return of Bruce Wayne #2

Pilgrim Batman! Look guys, I know everyone is reading this book and it's the BIG THING right now? But I'm on a budget. And the first issue didn't really grab me. I'm sure I'll end up borrowing this or reading it later... but I'd rather spend my four bucks on Generation Lost. Or Taco Bell.

Justice League: The Rise of Arsenal

Aka LOOK HOW MUCH SHIT WE CAN THROW AT ROY HARPER. Not a fan of books written for shock value, and that's what this series has been doing. I really haven't been getting much out of it. Sorry.

Teen Titans #83

I used to read this series. I did. But then they got rid of every character I cared about on the team. ...Although this issue is supposed to bring back Superboy (*swoon*) and Kid Flash? I'm still not buying it. This book has ALSO been a shit storm of LET'S SEE HOW MUCH WE CAN TORTURE THESE CHARACTERS. And I know torturing characters is good for writing, but seriously... Other stuff goes in there, too.

MARVEL

((*note* I just started getting into Marvel, so I'll just talk about what I'm getting... since I'm not jaded enough to totally quit a series yet. ;D Also, everything I'm getting this week is first issue, so there's not much to base anything on. OH WELL. Maybe next week, Marvel guys.))

Dazzler #1

Love Dazzler, so naturally I'm excited for this. I'm just sad that it's apparently a one-shot.

Secret Avengers #1

This pretty much LOOKS like it's going to be awesome in a nice little package lead by Steve Rogers. That sounds like it couldn't go wrong, really. I also really like the idea of having the BIG FLASHY AVENGERS TEAM and then some secret ops. ♥

X-men Origins: Emma Frost

Okay yeah. Emma Frost is a bitch, sure. She's hated, yeah. But I find her interesting, so I'm picking this up.

And there's nothing from Image or Zuda this week (as I'm still trying to save money). Where do your opinions differ (as I'm sure they do)? Anything I'm missing out on? You know you want to help a lady out.

~♥

Shelley made me a liar.

But I came bearing pie.

Enjoy!

-fox

a few notes about bat romance.

1. We greatly enjoy this song a great deal. I stumbled upon it one day and began to spam Shells with it, which lead to the rise of the Kirkroll on Twitter. Just so you know. XD

2. We will sometimes be putting up rants/reviews/articles/whathaveyou from guests. If you'd like to be a guest, feel free to send us a note somewhere. We'd love to hear what you have to say.

3. Tomorrow I'll be acquiring Alan Wake, and I must say, I am SO excited about playing it. It looks like Silent Hill + Twin Peaks, and to me, that = awesome. I'm trading in Dante's Inferno for it - thank god. That game was an atrocity. Don't. EVER. Buy that game.

Tomorrow Shells'll be kicking off our blog with a weekly feature! Stay tuned.

Until then, see you all on the flipside.
-fox

It's the first post of an era.

Listen to the first few seconds of this. Pay attention to the creepy strings.



Now listen to this, and make sure to pay attention to the chorus. (It doesn't start for about 7 seconds - don't turn your speakers way up like I did. XD'')



-fox