For serious, my lackadaisacal XML syndication feed is right as rain at this point. Go and subscribe to it!
Speaking of new things you should see and do, go give a housewarming hello to the Dark But Shining boys as they move into their fancy new digs at DarkButShining.com and welcome new members Ken Lowery and Daniel Laloggia! Founding member Kevin Melrose will be missed, but he’s moved on to the greener pastures of his two new(ish) blogs Supernaturally and Comics, Covered. So it’s a good deal all around.
Another good deal: Bloody Disgusting has the specs for this summer’s Anchor Bay DVD release of Cemetery Man! Before you ask, the answer is no, I couldn’t be more excited. (For some reasons why, click here.)
B.D. also links to the posters for the upcoming video game-horror film adaptation Silent Hill. The last time I saw someone crib this liberally from Clive Barker I was watching Dark City, but hey, if you’re gonna crib from anyone…
King Kong has been out on DVD for a week or so now, which has occasioned a few pieces commemorating its “bomb” status. One that I noted is Stephen Metcalf’s bipolar Slate.com piece, which begins by arguing that the movie did poorly because it wasn’t childlike enough and ends by arguing that it did poorly because it didn’t have enough of an easily visible race-mixing sexual-terror subtext. Choose your own adventure! Anyway, the Kong DVD sold more copies in its first week than any DVD in Universal’s history, so I guess some kids liked it and/or some white grown-ups were disgusted/aroused by it (take your pick).
Finally, a return to the MMORPG world, just a few days after the in-game crucifixion for meta-game malfeasance I reported on the other day reminded me how much I love it when the wall between the real and the virtual collapses. It seems that a World of Warcraft player died in real life, and some of that player’s friends thought it would be nice to pay their respects by hosting an in-game memorial service. They logged into the player’s account and brought the character to a secluded lake, then gathered together in their dozens to say goodbye. Their one mistake? Doing it all on a PvP server. This hilariously mean-spirited video captures the entire debacle, as a guild of malicious players storms over a hillside and ambushes the funeral, killing nearly all the characters in attendance (including that of the late player). Full details here. Call it “griefers vs. grievers.” (Hat tip: Jesse Thompson.)