The Dark Opera has undergone another change. have you noticed? In this stage of development The Dark Opera has dropped the “Weebly” from its web address and is now just TheDarkOpera.com.

The site has come a long way since the very first post on June 19th/2011. With the exciting first anniversary coming up, you can be sure that there are other interesting developments on the way. Another of which will be a short story entitled “Counting the dead” that will hopefully be available on amazon by the end of this coming week. The Tag line is "You'll never be more afraid to die..." So get ready for some creepy!

If you hadn’t already noticed, there are also two giveaways that are going on right now on the site. The first is the “what’s in the hat?” Giveaway. The prize is a 30$ gift certificate that I will send to the winner. All you have to do is find and like the Dark Opera Facebook page and the post about the giveaway... that’s it! you’ll be entered to win the gift card that you can use to buy all sorts of cool stuff on amazon. 

The second of the giveaways is for twitter followers. All you have to do is follow the Dark Opera on Twitter and tweet “I love Zombies @ TheDarkOpera” and easy as that, you get entered in the draw for the Mammoth book of Zombie comics.

You can enter both giveaways if you want! I can count entrants to these giveaway on one hand so your chances are pretty good at winning if you want to enter. 

Big Thanks for all the support by those who visit this site!  

-Josh

To all you retro gamers out there, 

If you haven't heard about Fangamer, It's time you go over and take a look at their website: www.fangamer.net. The pictures above and below this post are examples of what you can buy at their site. Having personally bought from them, I can vouch for the quality. The package they sent me came with a hand drawn card and collectable pins. They have a lot invested into your experience with purchasing their product. I was pretty impressed.

I can especially get behind Fangamer's creativity, take a look at their catalogue to find inspired work from earthbound, Zelda, Metroid and Megaman amongst others. They have quite the story of early beginnings as well, starting out as a fan site for earthbound based out of a spare room. Check it out here: http://www.fangamer.net/pages/about

- Josh

I came across this lovely little peace of creepy today. In the spirit of guessing what's inside of things, this short by Rok Predin will get you thinking about if you really know what's inside of say... a grassy mound with a pretty tree to the left of it. Take a look:

Is it just me or were you expecting something a little more sinister behind each unveiling too? More sinister than a chopped leg and shoe inside of a crocodile? yea, that was pretty good actually.

Because I'm a sucker for creepy and quality, the short was enough to draw me to the Trunk Animation LTD website it was linked to. There I found this quaint "...Petit Tribute of friends to the film: Where the wild things are". I posted it right here:

Wasn't that nice?

In case you're asking, What is Trunk? As per their website, "Trunk. A mixed media production company working with a group of artists and directors to create visual imagery intended to delight and inspire."

Visit the Website here: http://trunk.me.uk/
It's worth looking through the collection of shorts there. I can personally recommend "Whistless" as a cute and charming entry. "The Whistler"  is creepy.

- Josh

Lovely Molly is movie by "the creators of the blair witch project". While they did manage to spook more than a few with the Blair Witch project, it was the worst received movie I had ever see in theatres. I'll take that they changed horror in some ways, but how do they intend to "...redefine horror once again"? Take a look:

Because I did not see Molly be 'Lovely' anywhere in that trailer, and because their seems to be some suggestion of possession, I must conclude that they mean that Molly is actually the opposite of lovely. I didn't really see any redefining in this one. Paranormal activity already did the creepy AND the possession thing. The first half (The second half was awful) of Insidious also did the creepy thing without the use of first person camera work. 

In the spirit of not mixing things up, Lovely Mary has included the cliche that they question the protagonists mental status... add a touch of dark, creepy basement.

I feel like horror movie trailers should have a little more show then tell in delivering on their claims of bringing something new to horror.  What do you guys think? Will the creators of Blair Witch project bring something new to the genre with their latest entry?

-Josh

More experimental music? Why not. If you haven’t heard of him, Ben Frost has quite the sound to his music catologue. I must admit, I’ve seen his “By The Throat” CD but never picked up his music until this recent experimental music kick.

Tracks like “ Sacred Heart” is mesmerizing. Perhaps it’s the “medication time” sounding off with the chill beat that sends me slipping into something of a daze. It isn’t hard to call to mind something dark to the backdrop of this gem. 

And if your in the mood for something a little darker, then you might try “The Carpathians” from “By The Throat”.

As per Wiki, Ben Frost, a musician, composer and producer is based in Reykjavik, Iceland.  Apparently his album “Theory of Machines” has experienced quite the critical acclaim. His music might be worth a look through.

Challenge accepted.

Below is Vimeo entry from a freelance editor and animator, Evan Seitz. The end product looks pretty polished. See how many movies you can name by taking a look at his creative approach to movie representation:

Um. So I could name only 5 of those my first run through. How did you do?

and wait, there's more... at the end of the video there's thumbnails/links to Evan's ABCinema and 123 films with the same type guessing game but different themes. Really good looking stuff!

Evan's Twitter account is Here: https://twitter.com/#!/eeseitz

- Josh

Movies can have such an important influence on us. It can make for a springboard for discussion or help us make connections. 

One clip I thought was really interesting was from the movie, “Fearless” starring Jet Li. Beyond remembering someone say that they had to adjust the camera’s because Jet Li’s movements were to quick to capture, a certain “Tea” scene sticks out in my mind. 

I mean, It’s a martial arts movie and in typical fashion pits Li up against many foes but it’s when Li sits down for tea and answers his future opponents observation/question on Wushu fighting styles and fighting competition that really gets you thinking. Take a look.

“Through competition we can discover ourselves”. Pretty Deep. I wonder if that applies to anything beyond fighting?

- Josh

This peripheral Prometheus stuff is great, isn’t it? Following up on the vid of the unboxing of David, we know have a full on “Happy Birthday David” advert. Take a look at what Weyland Industries has been up to:

“I can carry out directived that my human counterparts might find distressing or unethical” ... a little foreshadowing there?

Loving David’s reaction at 1:22  in response to “What makes you sad?”

What do you think of David? Will he be more Ash or Bishop?


- Josh

Dr. Seuss books are pumped full of wisdom, take for example “Oh the places you’ll go”. It’s a graduation speech with an important message of what pitfalls, obstacles and celebrations may lie ahead. At best it’s inspiring while at the very least, it’s hopeful in it’s best wishes with the gentle reassurance that trials in the wake of failure and solitude have been tried and conquered by others. Those things can be overcome!

What perhaps strikes me as the most important passage is the road to that most useless place, the ‘waiting place’..

For people just waiting...

“...waiting for wind to fly a kite

or waiting around for friday night

or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake

or a pot to boil, or a better break..."

Those two pages are excellent. I won’t quote the whole thing here but would suggest you pick up the book. While it’s great and geared for children, it does have some usefulness for adults.

So are you in that 'Waiting place'? Waiting for something to happen to begin to work towards what you want? What you need? Do you not know what you want or need and are just waiting for it to show itself?

Stop Waiting.

- Josh

Damn it’s hard to find a good horror series. I was pleased to have come across the “Camera Obscura” series which has been floating around the internet for a while. Episode one is below:

My first impression is that I was in for some Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Maybe something like “Supernatural” even . Both had a pretty solid following in their day. I tended towards the latter series but it never held my interest. 

This. This is shot pretty well. Sure it looks like a Webseries, but it has some pretty good production value. Did you see the demon with the crow beaks for eyes? good stuff. And the acting isn’t all that bad either. It even had that nice little bit at the end that leaves you intrigued.

Keep watching. Here’s Episode 2 (make sure it’s dark out when you watch it):  

What the hell was that? I gotta say, great job on that entity slinking down the hallway the way it did. It successfully gave me the creeps. Want more? Click through to the Youtube channel and take a look at the rest. With bite sized quality vids, the other 18 vids are definitely worth your time.

From the DaywaltFearFactory channel on Youtube, it’s a “... 20 part demon hunting web series written and Directed by Drew Daywalt and Produced by MWG Entertainment and Jeff Farley.” 

Scared yet?


- Josh