Discoverd via the 4Chan /x/ forum (Oh God please make this horrible addiction stop!), the Path is a horror video game for PC and Mac that looks like a very interesting take on the genre. I do think that (despite all screams to the contrary from traditionalists… traditionalists like myself), video games will be the most dominant art form of the next several decades. (Tim Martin of the Daily Telegraph, for instance, called The Path “an Angela Carter novel, as siphoned through The Sims.”) I’m hoping to see much braver experimentation with the form and I don’t think that I’ll be disappointed in the coming years. The Wiki says:

The Path is a 2009 horror personal computer game developed by Tale of Tales for the Microsoft Windows operating system and later made available for Mac OS X by TransGaming Technologies. It is inspired by several versions of the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, and by folklore tropes and conventions in general, but set in contemporary times. The original Windows version was released on March 18, 2009 in English and Dutch. The player can choose to control one of six different sisters, who are sent one-by-one on errands by their mother to see their sick grandmother. The player can choose whether to stay on the path or to wander, where wolves are lying in wait.

Check out the game’s site, where you can download a demo (PC and Mac) and purchase the game as well.

 
Before you order that 1400-calorie Hardee’s Monster Burger, consider this: a research team at London-based University College has found (surprise?) a link between depression and a diet rich in processed foods.  They also (bigger surprise?) found a link between a lack of depression and a diet rich in fish, fruits and vegetables. 

The team split the study participants into two groups.  After accounting for such factors as age, gender, and education, it was determined that the whole food-eating group would have a 26% lower risk for future depression.  The group eating a diet rich in sweets, fried food, processed meat, refined grains and high-fat dairy products had a risk of depression 58% higher than their whole food-eating counterparts.

Study author Dr. Archana Singh-Manoux added, “It is not yet clear why some foods may protect against or increase the risk of depression, but scientists think there may be a link with inflammation as with conditions such as heart disease.”

BBC News: Depression Link To Processed Food

Dangerous Minds friends Century Guild announce the release of “The Fracture of the Universal Boy,” a new graphic novel by Michael Zulli, years in the making. Zulli was a regular artist on Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic and is well-known to the 4-color literati. Century Guild proprieter Thomas Negovan blogs about the new book here:

Speaking of focus, the kind of focus that makes electrons shudder, imagine being at the top of your game for decades.  Say, being one of the go-to artists on something as seminal and powerful as Neil Gaiman?

 
From Monterey Bay Aquarium:

Brilliant and seemingly glowing, the bloodybelly comb jelly comes in different shades of red but always has a blood-red stomach. The sparkling display on the outside comes from light diffracting from tiny transparent, hair-like cilia. These beat continuously, propelling the jelly through the water.

This species has only recently come to the attention of scientists, thanks to images like this, supplied by the

More than 10,000 people were left disappointed in Ireland Saturday as the Virgin Mary failed to appear as predicted at Knock Basilica.

By 3 p.m. Irish time (10 a.m. EST) about 7,000 people had crammed into the Basilica with a further 3,000 people outside.

Dubliner Joe Coleman, the man who had predicted the apparition left the Basilica at about 4 p.m. saying he had seen Our Lady as anticipated.

Coleman, who says he is ?

 
Spotted over at Sociological Images, the Stuffed Jumpsuit With A Gold Bikini, “Because there is nothing funnier than a person, disadvantaged by the perfect storm of race, class, and gender, being forced to give lap dances to feed herself.”

To pick one up, or complain: Dee’s Fancy Dress.

Hilarious article from GOOD Magazine on people and their dog-obsession:

Kids chase fewer squirrels and postal workers than dogs, but the way we pamper our poodles and great danes and mutts has a lot in common with how we treat our toddlers and teens.

Though I try not to over-kid-ify my canine, the bounds of sane dog owner behavior are blurry. I frequently arrange playdates for my rat terrier Monkey, and, I hate to admit, once shoved him into a Dracula costume and took him to a dog party, which included dog cake, dog champagne, and a doggie masseuse (who terrified my pooch?

Devendra Banhart’s new album What Will We Be is just out, and not bad.

I just gave it a listen; it’s pretty fun, kind of like summer barbecue music for ratty youth. There is very little of the somberness of, say, Cripple Crow, and also not much outside Banhart’s usual musical territory. But he’s continuing to polish and perfect his style, and the album is a strong, polished and mature effort from the artist. I dig it!

(Devendra Banhart: What Will We Be)

(Linked below: Banhart’s artistic pinnacle IMO, the “Carmensita” video w/ Natalie Portman.)

 
Superb!

Bonus clip: The Yip Yip Family

Via our pals at the mighty Nerdcore

The original version of this ghoulish effigy is SOLD OUT! This “Extra Filthy Bloody” Edition a striking representation of GG ALLIN circa 1991 with added crud, blood, and cuts. The figure, limited to 500 numbered units, stands at 7 inches tall and is made of a lightweight polyresin. Loaded into a full color “splatter” box, here GG is accurately sculpted right down to the tattoos, and copious amounts of blood and filth.

This GG Allin toy can be yours for $16.95.
 
(via David Pescovitz over at Boing Boing)