I’m not talking about the fast food chain that my friends and I would hit up at 2am during college, but the old school toy that you wind up until something pops out of it. The jack in the box was pretty terrifying to me as a kid, mainly because […]
Category: resilience
In The End
You may have tried so hard, and gotten so far, and it might feel like in the end it doesn’t even matter. Are you focused on the outcome – perhaps falling and losing it all – and now you’re in a nihilistic state that wants to give up? Or is […]
Fungi
Fungi are super fascinating to me. There are mushrooms that look almost exactly alike, but one will taste great sauteed in garlic butter, the other will send you into convulsive fits before you die a painful death. Some fungi are strong enough to push up through concrete. Some are blue, […]
Playing the Odds
Nothing in life is ever certain. Tomorrow, an asteroid might strike the planet, breaking off half of the earth so that it’s actually flat. Gravity is pretty certain, but if Earth exploded as per the asteroid, it definitely wouldn’t be what it is today. Eight months ago, I was sure […]
Frank’s Gonna Frank
I have a dove that lands in my backyard occasionally, and just walks around pecking at my brick patio. I think it’s pecking seeds, or bits of flower, or ants maybe? I’m not a dove expert, but I have named this dove Frank. Frank sometimes comes in the afternoon. Sometimes, […]
The Waiting Game
People hate waiting, especially when there’s tension about whether or not a preferred outcome will occur. If you know the result, even if it’s terrible, at least you know what you’re dealing with and can try to adapt or remedy the problem, or even come to terms with whatever it […]
The Thing
John Carpenter’s The Thing is terrifying for a lot of reasons. Besides the awesome practical effects and horrific creature design, the film centers on an alien entity that basically can assimilate any creature and take its form. It’s the ultimate predatory shapeshifter. And ignoring the fact that it eats people, […]
Frankenstein – Part II
Often, people mistakenly refer to the reanimated corpse as Frankenstein, where the title of the book actually refers to the creator – Dr. Victor Frankenstein. In this way, modern society has sort of associated the creation known as The Monster with its creator. In the story, The Monster wreaks havoc […]
The Terminator
I’ll be honest in that I haven’t watched any of the Terminator films after the third installation. Terminator 2 will always have a place in my heart not only for the thumbs up at the end, but also because it was the first R-rated film I saw. The non-gorey part […]
Part of Our Brains are Zombie Brains
The walking undead, especially the more recent versions that can run and climb things, can be pretty terrifying. The idea that these monsters have risen from the grave – defied something that is supposed to be universally law – is unsettling, at the very least. I wonder how often our […]