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- Nerd News: Stephen King’s Under the Dome Hits Showtime
- Lady Gaga and 15 Other Musicians Who Have Guest Starred On ‘The Simpsons’
- Sunday Cute: A Pizza-Eating Duckling
- Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: Killswitch
- 12 New Fall TV Shows to Watch Out For
- A Letter from Roald Dahl
| Nerd News: Stephen King’s Under the Dome Hits Showtime Posted: 04 Sep 2011 10:15 AM PDT
I confess that although King is usually my oh-god-I’m-stuck-in-an-airport author of choice, I haven’t actually read Under the Dome; from what I’ve gathered, though, it tells the story of a town in Maine (because all Stephen King stories are set in towns in Maine) that has suddenly developed a small case of having a gigantic force field surround it. This has all sorts of fun possibilities, most of which concern exactly what people will do when thrust into such a situation. Furthermore, the novel is over a thousand pages long, and if I know King, those thousand-plus pages will be jam packed with adventures– which will come in handy for its impending television adaptation. You see, most King television adaptations up to this point have been miniseries: The Stand, The (non-Kubrick) Shining, Desperation, and so on. The exception, of course, are The Dead Zone and Haven, both of which had pretty successful runs as actual shows; but The Dead Zone, too, started as a miniseries, so do with that what you will. Both The Dead Zone and Haven, which was based off of the short story “The Colorado Kid,” departed pretty drastically from their source material, though, probably because there’s just not as much of it. An entire show based off of a massive tome like Under the Dome (hey, that rhymes!) would have plenty of room to play around with the existing story, and plenty of time to spin off from it if the adaptation ended up needing it. Length, interestingly, is why Stephen King novels don’t always work as movies (ahem DARK TOWER ahem); but harnessed into a longer-form storytelling medium? This might be a very good thing indeed. I also find it interesting that Spielberg is getting into television so much these days. His early career was mostly in television, so it’s kind of neat that later in his career, he’s coming back to it: Terra Nova, Falling Skies, and the like. I like that he seems to be as interested as how storytelling changes from medium to medium as I am. So am I looking forward to this one? Yeah, I sort of am. Plus, The Mary Sue points out that maybe Showtime might be realizing what HBO and AMC already figured out with Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead: Nerds are in. And not only are we in, we’re a lucrative source of viewing numbers. Time to tap that? Yes. Yes it is. I should really go read the book now. What do you guys think? Will this telly adaptation work? [Via The Mary Sue] Related posts: Post from: Crushable |
| Lady Gaga and 15 Other Musicians Who Have Guest Starred On ‘The Simpsons’ Posted: 04 Sep 2011 08:50 AM PDT
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| Sunday Cute: A Pizza-Eating Duckling Posted: 04 Sep 2011 07:15 AM PDT Now this is odd: I was under the impression that pizza was the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ food of choice, not the food of choice of a run-of-the-mill duck. But guess what? Apparently ducks adore pizza. Or maybe just this duck does. Or maybe he just wishes he was a Ninja Turtle. Ninja Duck? TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA DUCK. Make it happen, people. For the duckling. Happy Sunday! [Via The Daily What] Related posts: Post from: Crushable |
| Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren’t: Killswitch Posted: 03 Sep 2011 04:15 PM PDT
In 1989, a small company known as the Karvina Corporation released a strange computer game. game. An early example of the survival horror genre, this game was said to have similarities to later games Myst and Silent Hill. So few people, however, have played this game that we have only the word of a handful that these similarities exist. Because this game had a unique feature: It automatically deleted itself once finished. It was not recoverable, and it could not be copied. It was a one-time event that existed only in the moments between the player’s initial start of the game and the player’s last move. The game was called KILLSWITCH. At the game’s opening screen, players had the option to play as one of two characters: A visible human woman named Porto, or an invisible demon called Ghast. Ghast's invisibility, by the by, didn't just mean that he was invisible to the non-player characters that populated the game. No; he was fully invisible, such that the player couldn’t even see where he was. No players have ever been known to have successfully completed the game as Ghast. Both Ghast and Porto had unique abilities, which made the game experience completely different depending on who players chose to use: Porto would grow or shrink in size randomly (the player had no control over where or when), and Ghast breathed fire. The gameplay was as follows: Porto awakens in the dark with wounds on her elbows and no idea how she got there. As she searches for a way out of this strange dark place, it becomes apparent that she is moving through the levels of a coal mine at which she was once an employee. The mine, however, has been shut down and is now populated with demons like Ghast, dead foremen, coal golems, and inspectors from a coal mining corporation called Sovatik. There are no "bosses" as such; the game consists solely of Porto moving through tunnels—her size helping or hindering her as it continues to change unpredictably. What happened to the mine to land it in its current state? Porto discovers its fate as she journeys through it. After a ridiculously complex puzzle involving the cracking of difficult cipher, Porto discovers that the mine had been under extreme pressure to increase coal production, which led to the foremen falsifying reports of malfunctions to explain the low output. The false reports prompted Sovatik instigate what they called an "inspection." This "inspection," a series of crude but horrifying graphics reveal, consisted of red-coated men inserting small knives into the joints of the workers whenever production slowed. In the workers' defense, the "fires of the earth"—assumed to be demons like Ghast—awakened the hearts of the mining equipment. Driven made by the now-sentient machines, the inspectors (and their knives) vanished into the mine. The machines, though allegedly intended to avenge the workers, were both massive in size and indiscriminate in scope; they would destroy anything in their paths, including the workers they were supposed to be protecting. During the chaos, Porto was knocked into a chasm, where the fumes she inhaled caused her size to begin fluctuating uncontrollably. Eventually, Porto escapes with a tape recorder containing the mine's terrible story. But as she crawls through the final tunnel, the screen goes white. That is the end of the game. Related posts: Post from: Crushable |
| 12 New Fall TV Shows to Watch Out For Posted: 03 Sep 2011 01:15 PM PDT
1) A Gifted Man 2) Person of Interest 3) The Playboy Club 4)Free Agents Related posts: Post from: Crushable |
| Posted: 03 Sep 2011 11:45 AM PDT
In 1983, a class of school children, aided by their teacher, sent Mr. Dahl a letter asking him some questions about his short story collection The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar and Six More. This is the response he sent back. Not only does he refuse to answer their questions, but even worse, he appears to have designed most of the letter to fuck with their tiny little heads. A woman with a beard? A farmer who eats mice? I’m sorry, what? I’m really glad I wasn’t the teacher that had to explain that one to the kids. [Via Filmdrunk] Related posts: Post from: Crushable |
No, I don’t mean that the book physically attacked Showtime, though given that we’re talking about Stephen King here, that wouldn’t actually strike me as terribly odd. What I DO mean, though, is that Under the Dome is set to become a television show on the network that brings us that other wonderful-yet-disturbing novel-to-TV adaptation Dexter. Even more exciting? Steven Spielberg will be helping make it happen. And Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull aside, Spielberg still usually knows what he’s doing (unlike 
I suppose it was inevitable: Lady Gaga just finished 
Creepy Things That Seem Real But Aren't is a series that explores modern urban legends, bringing you a new tale each week.
It's that time again: The time of preparation for new seasonal television shows! We had some good ones over the summer, many of which we either 
Did you guys read Roald Dahl when you were kids? I sure did. Matilda was my favorite book, and somehow, I managed not to end up terrified of every teacher I ever had, even after reading it. Now, elementary-school-me didn’t really know that much about the author of my favorite book, but frankly, I didn’t really care. It was only when I got older that I found out that Roald Dahl was REALLY, REALLY WEIRD. I suppose the types of stories he wrote should have been an early indication of his weirdness, but much is lost on the young. Anyway, I’m probably lucky that by the time I started reading his books, he was dead, which meant that I couldn’t try to send him letters. These kids weren’t so lucky.| You are subscribed to email updates from Crushable To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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