Hypermyth is audio-only virtual reality. It’s an immersive, open-ended journey through a strange and fascinating world, an environment that beckons exploration. The Signal Quest trio have hewn this uncanny landscape using analog and digital implements, crafting a craggy geology replete with crystalline, multi-hued flora. Their music reflects a fascination with 1990s computer games, specifically the unique mythology of Myst. Unlike the nascent open-world gaming experience of decades past, Signal Quest’s music flows free of technological limitation. There’s no waiting between scenes for the CD-ROM to spin up. Cole Pulice, Lynn Avery and Mitch Stahlmann create a seamless stream of sound, with breathtaking high-resolution imagery limited only by the imagination of your mind’s eye.
Pulice, Avery and Stahlmann are long-time friends and collaborators, coming from Minneapolis but now calling Oakland, California home. They’ve added their unique talents to each others’ records, such as on Avery’s Carpet Cocoon, released under the name Iceblink. That record’s warm new age vibe took on a multitude of dimensions when augmented by the alien ECM stylings of Pulice’s saxophone and Stahlmann’s flute. Equally lush but veering into more abstract territory was Avery and Pulice’s collaborative work To Live & Die in Space & Time. Its moody vibe unfurled delicately but bristled with layers of electronics. Years before those two records arrived, the trio was finding their footing, experimenting under the name LCM and creating hallucinatory sound worlds that set the stage for even bolder adventures to come.
Hypermyth is indeed Pulice, Avery, and Stahlmann’s most intrepid venture thus far. The textures are deeper, with larger cracks and crevices within which to get lost. Tones often twist and bend in many directions, like light refracting through glass. Musique concrète techniques adhere to the trio’s new age and ambient signifiers, conjuring fractalized patterns that glitch and writhe beneath Pulice and Stahlmann’s breath-modulated melodies. At times these more arcane sonorities lie beneath the surface of the trio’s soundscapes, such as on album opener “Sparkling Node Network.” In other moments, like on the ultra-short piece “moonVR” or the more drawn out “mailer-daemon.exe,” the abstract shapes infect and subsume the more delicate passages, withering and distorting the harmonies.
The musicians often find a delicate balance between pure beauty and sheer experimentation, and gentleness. Pulice, Avery, and Stahlmann have immersed themselves in a unique, unexplored sonic world, but haven’t lost themselves completely in its knotty, rough-textured depths.
Authors Convinced Fanfic is Illegal/Requires Permission
Terry Goodkind: “Copyright law dictates that in order for me to protect my copyright, when I find such things, I must go out and hire lawyers to threaten these people to make them stop, and to sue them if they don’t.”
John Scalzi: “Let's remember one fundamental thing about fanfic: Almost all of it is entirely illegal to begin with. It's the wild and wanton misappropriation of copyrighted material”
Diana Gabaldon: “OK, my position on fan-fic is pretty clear: I think it’s immoral, I know it’s illegal, and it makes me want to barf whenever I’ve inadvertently encountered some of it involving my characters.”
Robin Hobb: “Fan fiction is like any other form of identity theft. It injures the name of the party whose identity is stolen.”
Anne Rice: “I do not allow fan fiction. The characters are copyrighted. It upsets me terribly to even think about fan fiction with my characters. I advise my readers to write your own original stories with your own characters. It is absolutely essential that you respect my wishes.”
Anne McCaffrey: “there can be no adventure/stories set on Pern at all!!!!! That's infringing on my copyright and can bear heavy penalties…indiscriminate usage of our characters, worlds, and concepts on a 'public' media like electronic mail constitute copyright infringement AND, which many fans disregard, is ACTIONABLE!”
Chelsea Quinn Yarbro: “No. Absolutely not. It is also against federal law.”
Lynn Flewelling: “Whether you are writing about Seregil or Fox Mulder or Sherlock Holmes, if you do not have legal permission from the author, their estate, or publisher, then you are violating US copyright law. It is creative piracy. Doesn't matter how many disclaimers you put on, or if you're being paid. It. Is. Illegal.”
Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice : To Live & Die In Space & Time
Lynn Avery & Cole Pulice : To Live & Die In Space & Time
There’s a strange and beautiful sort of peace that comes over you listening to Lynn Avery and Cole Pulice’s collaborative album To Live & Die In Space & Time. A kind of middle ground between jazz and experimental electronic. A sound that lays over you as if Sun Ra and Mort Garson put together the sweetest tomes the 70s never saw.
Lynn Avery and Cole Pulice are alums of Moon Glyph Records; Avery…
That was totally my face during both episodes, I swear.
Spoilers below!
Okay, I'm freaking out on a cellular level, it feels like.
Episode 6 had the introduction of new OIAR employee, Celia Ripley, who is voiced by Lowri Ann Davies. Those of us from the TMA fandom recognize her as the voice of Lynne Hammond who later became Celia because her name was taken from her after the Change. There have been speculations on whether she is playing the same Celia (even though this is a separate universe) or if this is just a little wink from Jonny and Alex behind the scenes. But then came the next 2 episodes.
The sheer amount of lore that was dropped in these 2 episodes has the fandom REELING. So, let's get into what we've heard!!
EPISODE 7: Right off the bat, Celia not only references that the dated computer system is basically better than "wrestling with tape recorders and manila folders." This feels like a TARGETED MISSILE at the TMA fandom. But right after that, she asks if any of the spoken cases have anything in common, and if there's a way to search the cases that have common threads, like, "Oh I don’t know. Every case about being buried alive or meat or… whatever." And if that wasn't enough, she recognizes the voice that Alice calls Chester (AKA, John!).
Those statements alone have me thinking with 99.99999999% certainty that this is the SAME Celia from TMA (or at least, she's tapped into her memories in some way).
Apart from Celia, we have Hilltop being referenced in a case, which could very well mean that it's a similar situation from TMA. Very possibly a rift in space-time or whatever. Some nexus of power or something.
Then Sam received a supposedly internal email from someone called "John" that contained an address and a name. Does this mean that John is truly trapped in the computer system like we've all been theorizing? Is this his attempt at making contact and warning Sam not to follow in his footsteps? AGH!
And then we have poor Colin, driven mad by whatever's corrupting the code he's been trying to maintain, taped over his webcam, and full on refusing any electronics to enter his office (that weren't already there, and he must have clearly tampered with them so they cannot spy on him). He even attacks Sam when he pulls out his phone. That man has a lifetime subscription to Paranoia Plus, if you ask me, poor thing.
Lastly, we get confirmation that Lena at least tried to kill Klaus, but may not have succeeded, and Gwen's blackmail of her puts her in a new role of "External Liaison," whatever that may be. (Oh boy, oh boy.)
And if that wasn't enough, we have today's episode....
EPISODE 8: No preamble on this one, just straight into a case. And man, are we having fun with the whole liminal horror plus Stranger vibes in this one! But the GOOD SH*T comes after the case ends.
Poor Colin's been put on Mental Health Leave, so I'm really hoping that wasn't the last we'll 'see' of him. And the banter between Gwen and Alice has much more of an edge now that Gwen's been promoted. But!!!
Sam and Celia went off together after they ended their shifts early (ooooh), and who did they meet?
GERRY EFFING KEAY AND HIS 'GEE-GEE' GERTRUDE!!!!
And I checked, yes, they are 100% voiced by their TMA counterparts, Jon Gracey and Sue Sims (Jonny's mom).
Gertrude calls Gerry her grandson (though I'm curious if this means Gerry's actual mother is dead here too, and when Gertrude stepped in as a surrogate, or if she's actually his grandmother).
When Sam and Celia ask about the Magnus Institute, they both kind of go quiet, like they don't know what they're allowed to say or if they can trust these strangers who randomly showed up to their house. Sam reveals that he was part of their "gifted kids" program (hello, ARG info!) and saw Gerry was also listed and wanted to "swap stories." Gertrude seems to want to push them away, all protective, but Gerry just says he doesn't remember much.
Did Gertrude blow up the Magnus Institute in this universe and adopt Gerry after she found him there?!?
And finally, after Gertrude kind of rushes them out, Celia makes a deal with Sam. They agree to keep track of anything that falls under each other's mystery interests. Because she's "doing a favor for Georgie" (HFGJHFD!), she needs to look into "Weird physics stuff: time travel, other dimensions, teleportation, all that good stuff."
Was Celia sent here from the TMA dimension to do recon?!?
Anyway, there's so much more to dive into, but those are the things that are currently making my brain buzz. How has your Thursday been?
Phase IV will be released on 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray on March 26 via Vinegar Syndrome. Adam Maida designed the new cover art for the 1974 sci-fi horror film are include; the original poster is on the reverse side.
Acclaimed title designer Saul Bass (Psycho, North by Northwest) makes his lone directorial effort from a script by Mayo Simon (Futureworld). Michael Murphy, Nigel Davenport, and Lynne Frederick star.
Phase IV has been newly restored in 4K from its 35mm original camera negative with HDR and mono sound. The 84-minute theatrical cut and an 89-minute preview version are included.
Special features for the three-disc (one 4K UHD, two Blu-ray) set are listed below.
Special features:
84-mintue theatrical version (4K UHD + Blu-ray)
89-minute preview version (Blu-ray)
Theatrical audio commentary by film historian Matthew Asprey Gear
Evolutions: The Making of Phase IV - 48-minute documentary with Jeffrey Bass, actor Michael Murphy, screenwriter Mayo Simon, archivist Sean Savage, and Saul Bass biographer Pat Kirkham (new)
Formicidae Sinfonia: The Music and Sounds of Phase IV - 15-minute featurette with composer Brian Gascoigne and electronic music artist David Vorhaus
Deleted shots and sequences
Raw footage from the original ending montage sequence
Theatrical trailer
Still gallery
youtube
Following a mysterious eclipse-like solar event, scientists begin to notice strange and unexplainable behavioral changes in ants. While initially written off as an unconcerning anomaly, it soon becomes apparent that the creatures have developed advanced intelligence along with the ability to work collectively. Scientists Ernest Hubbs and James Lesko have been transferred to a futuristic lab in a remote part of the Arizona desert in which to study these phenomena. However, when the ants begin to attack and kill both wildlife and humans, Hubbs and Lesko realize that the entire human race might now be at a deadly evolutionary disadvantage to the tiny insects...
When the FBI raided Tampa journalist Tim Burke’s home earlier this month, seizing electronic devices and turning the house upside down, observers were left both alarmed and stumped.
But the Tampa Bay Times provided a crucial piece of the puzzle on Friday, reporting in a bombshell story that the raid was related to a criminal investigation into possible “hacking” at Fox News that resulted in embarrassing videos of Tucker Carlson being obtained by Vice News and Media Matters for America.
Vice’s story included damning outtakes from the since-fired host’s interview of Kanye West, including wildly antisemitic rants that Carlson edited out of his show. MMFA’s coverage has included a drip-feed of behind-the-scenes clips showing Carlson asking Piers Morgan about sexual techniques, trashing Fox’s own streaming service, and making creepy comments about “premenopausal” fans and women having pillow fights.
The FBI executed a search warrant at the home Burke shares with his wife, Tampa City Councilwoman Lynn Hurtak, in the early hours of May 8. Burke, who worked as The Daily Beast’s director of video from July 2018 to April 2019, now runs a media and political consulting firm called Burke Communications. He was also one of the former Deadspin reporters who broke the Manti Te’o girlfriend hoax story in 2013.
Hurtak later said the surprise raid was related to her husband’s “work as a journalist.” Burke also told the Tampa Bay Times at the time that it was his name on the warrant but he had no idea what it was about.