Creepy places... On the Internet

The Internet is enormous. And given that it has, up to this point, been almost completely anonymous it's not surprising there are some pretty strange parts. So it takes a mind-bending, almost admirable level of dedication to stand out among the tangle of crazy. There are several websites that prove the internet can still make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end ...

You can find an Internet forum for pretty much anything. So at first glance, The Bloody Board, a forum for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer (famous tv series that I personally dislike with great intensity by the way), seems comfortingly normal. They post tweets from former cast members of the show (mostly about how much it sucks to work at this gas station now), speculate about plot points, discuss favorite episodes and fan art; the usual stuff.

But on close inspection, something's just a little off ...

One user, "jamie_marsters" appears to be quite prolific, posting and replying many, many times a day. We suppose it's sort of creepy that she's taken the name of Buffy star James Marsters, and changed it to Jamie to imply familiarity, like an ex-girlfriend or an old babysitter might.

A quick look at the profile statistics and things get much worse. Look at the number of total posts "jamie" has made....

 

That's right, almost 40,000 posts. 

The only problem is......

There is no community. There is only jamie_marsters. Scrolling through the archives reveals that there are virtually no other users, just this one, posting non stop, replying to herself, over and over again, almost every minute of every day for the last six years, alone inside her own dark little chamber of madness...

1 month ago, after 6 whole years  "jamie_marsters" deleted the forum, after this story was released and the website was overrun by internet trolls.

Låt den rätte komma in

Trailer in HD here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZJUgsZ56vQ

Anybody who was depressed, bored or annoyed at the chaste cheesyness of Twilight is going to have their faith restored in the power of vampire mythology when they see the intriguing Swedish horror drama Låt den rätte komma in (Let the Right One In). Directed by Tomas Alfredson and based on the novel by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the film’s screenplay, Let the Right One In is about the friendship between Oskar, a lonely and bullied twelve-year-old boy, and Eli, the strange girl who moves into the same apartment block as Oskar in suburban Stockholm. It is reminiscent of Brian de Palma’s classic Carrie but far more understated. This beautiful film balances brief moments of horror with a genuinely touching story about first love and coming of age.

Like Pan's Labyrinth, Let the Right One In is both a beautiful, inventive horror film and a touching study of tormented adolescence. The director employs just enough gore to please genre fans, offering a memorable ending that's earned him comparisons to Kubrick.

 Oskar spends his days playing out revenge fantasies he will never enact

Refreshingly free of over explanatory dialogue or the need to spell things out to the audience, Let the Right One In is a subtle film but not an obscure one. Moments of gore are discrete and integrated into the film without ever feeling exploitive. In fact all acts of violence are so brief and artfully depicted that they create an impact that lingers long in the mind while taking up hardly any screen time. Let the Right One In is a slow burning film with an engulfing atmosphere that leaves you feeling moved and mesmerised long after the credits have finished.

Naturally, it’s being remade in America. See it before Hollywood sinks its fangs in and turns it into one of its own.

Creepy places you can actually vist (part 2)

In the middle of a swamp in the heart of Aztec country is the popular tourist destination La Isla de las Munecas, or Island of the Dolls.

To get there, visitors have to hire a guide to take them by boat through the canals of Xochimilco, then to the island itself, all the while making the guide promise on a stack of Bibles that he's not going to abandon them once they reach their destination.

"Seriously, Pablo? We will haunt your ass."

Not that he'd do that, right? It's just an old abandoned island, once occupied by a single inhabitant named Don Julian Santana Barrera, who seemed to have a thing for doll-collecting. So what? Lots of people collect dolls.

Charming.

The legend goes that years ago a small girl drowned in the canals near the island, and not long after her death, Barrera found her corpse doll floating in the water. Then he found another one. By that point he was hooked on a new and exciting hobby.

Over the course of the next 50 years, the guy collected thousands of discarded dolls, which he thought would somehow serve as companions for the dead girl.
Makes sense. Everyone knows Mexican girls enjoy mutilated trash dolls displayed in gruesome manners meant to simulate acts of torture and suicide. We try not to be too judgmental about other people's cultures.

However, it does seem that the offerings weren't such a success, considering that in 2001 Julian passed away ... by drowning in the same canal as the girl whose ghost he was trying to appease for all those years. 

Either that or he was murdered, Chucky-style, by his horrific collection, who then dragged him to the canals to make it look like a drowning.

Creepy places you can actually vist (part 1)

Whether it's due to their bizarre histories, suspicious coincidences or good old human insanity, these are the locations even the die-hardest of atheists wouldn't venture into without a crucifix and a Super Soaker full of Pope-blessed water.

I'll start with one that comes directly from my very own Portugal.



Capela dos Ossos

The chapel was in fact the work of a single 16th-century Franciscan monk who wanted to make his fellow Christians contemplate the transitory nature of life.

The entrance is marked with "We bones, lying here, for yours we wait."

In addition to cementing human bones in its walls, proudly exhibits two full skeletons (one of a small child) suspended on chains

Ink

Feedback welcomed :)

Ghost

All that we are, all that we think we are, all that we are certain about is taken from us. As the years go by we become more and more convinced of it every day.

She is in my blood, like cheap wine. Bitter and sweet, tinged with regret.

I'll never be free of her, nor do I want to be. For she is what I am. All that is, should always be.

Garbage

Now there is one thing you might have noticed I dont usualy complain about: Politicians. Everybody complains about politicians, everybody likes to say "They suck!".
Well, where do people think these politicians come from? They dont fall out of the sky. They dont pass through a membrane from another reality.
They come from our parents, our homes, our families, our schools, our businesses, our universities and they are elected by our citizens: This is the best we can do folks. This is what we have to offer, its what our system produces:

Garbage In -> Garbage out

If you have selfish ignorant citizens you are going to get selfish ignorant leaders. So maybe its not the politicians who suck. Maybe something else sucks around here, like, the public. Because if its really only the fault of these politicians where are all the other bright people of conscious? Where are all the smart intelligent people ready to step in and lead the way? We dont have people like that. Everybody is at the mall taking out their credit cards to buy stuff they dont need with money they dont have.

I have solved this little political dilema for myself in a very simple way; on election day I stay home.
I believe that if you vote you have no right to complain. Yea, I know, people like to twist that around but where is the logic in that? If you vote, and elect disonest incompetent people and they get into office and screw everything up then you are responsible for what they have done, you caused the problem, you have no right to complain. I... on the other hand, who did not vote, have all the right to complain about the mess you created that I had nothing to do with.

Muitos amigos

"O homem que confessa um amor desmesurado por si mesmo" (...). De facto, ele contradiz sempre o princípio "conhece-te a ti mesmo", desenvolvendo em cada um o engano, e mesmo a ignorância, não só sobre si próprio, mas também sobre as coisas boas e as coisas más que lhe dizem respeito, tornando as primeiras imperfeitas e inacabadas, e as segundas completamente impossíveis de corrigir."

Hoje em dia as pessoas colecionam amigos. Ou melhor, colecionam pessoas que apresentam ao mundo como seus amigos.

Atraves do site Classica Digitalia (http://bdigital.sib.uc.pt:8080/classicadigitalia/) encontrei algo sobre este tema. A parte interessante é que foi escrito por Plutarco em 'Obras Morais' à quase 2000 anos.


"O desejo de frequentar muitas amizades é um obstáculo não menos adverso, entre muitas outras razões, ao desenvolvimento de novas amizades; pois tal como as mulheres dissolutas, estamos envolvidos em frequentes contactos, com muitas e diferentes pessoas, por isso deixamos de poder manter os mais antigos, que são negligenciados e acabam por se afastar. (...) Tudo o que é novidade atrai, para logo a seguir nos desapontar, é sempre a mais recente das flores que encanta e renova e, ao mesmo tempo, quando estamos ocupados com muitas amizades e com relações que se começam, mas que não se concluem, na perseguição ao novo afecto, passamos ao lado do que se estava a desenvolver. (...)

A natureza nada tem de mais raro do que a benevolência e o afecto, temperados pela virtude. Pelo que é uma impossibilidade sentir um afecto sólido e ser apreciado por muitos, pois, tal como os rios, à medida que se dividem em vários braços e regatos, correm cada vez menos caudalosos e mais finos, também uma sólida amizade gerada no espírito enfraquece, quando se divide por muitos. Por essa razão, nos animais, o amor pelas crias é mais forte para aqueles que só dão à luz uma cria de cada vez. (...)Os que vêem muita gente a fazer barulho nas casas dos ricos e dos governantes, a oferecerem‑lhes abraços,a apertar‑lhes as mãos, a escolta‑los, pensam que os que têm muitos amigos são felizes. Na verdade, também podem ver muitas moscas nas suas cozinhas. Mas as moscas, tal como essa multidão, quando se esgota a utilidade do senhor, não ficam depois de as iguarias se terem esgotado.

É que a verdadeira amizade exige acima de tudo três coisas: a virtude como algo belo, a intimidade como algo doce, e a utilidade como algo necessário. De facto, é necessário que um homem seja crítico antes de aceitar um amigo, que tenha prazer na sua companhia, e que a ele recorra quando houver necessidade, condições que

são incompatíveis com a multiplicidade de relações. Mas, sem dúvida, o primeiro, o discernimento, é o de maior importância. (...)

Rapidamente as inimizades vão no encalço das amizades, e se interligam de tal modo que é impossível não se ver envolvido nos juízos que se fazem do amigo, nas humilhações que lhe são infligidas, nas derrotas que sofre. Por um lado, os inimigos de alguém logo olham com reservas e ódio o amigo deste, por outro, com frequência os outros amigos sentem inveja e ciúmes, e tentam desvia‑lo de nós. (...)Não é conveniente desbaratar a virtude, ora acompanhando qualquer um nas suas questões, ora interagindo com quaisquer outros, mas apenas com os que estão à altura de dar a mesma confiança, ou seja, os que são capazes de retribuir igualmente em amor e em companhia. É que a amizade nasce da semelhança, e este é o maior de todos os obstáculos ao facto de se ter um grande número de amigos.
A amizade, busca uma personalidade constante, sólida, e que se mantenha estável num lugar e num convívio contínuo. É esta a razão por que um amigo a valer é raro e difícil de encontrar."