Diary of a Network Geek

There’s something terrifying about musty, forgotten, anonymous backrooms.

As someone who’s done a little bit of urban exploration with my camera, I can tell you, there are few things more unsettling than a building full of empty, discarded rooms left to molder into decayed disuse. And, in another life, I’ve had some other reasons to know more than I’d care to about out-dated and disused space in semi-industrial settings. Old offices at the back of old buildings that smell like damp wallboard and receded floodwaters. I think if H.P. Lovecraft were alive and writing today, his nameless horrors would lurk in places like that. I’ve been thinking about it lately thanks to Mark Frauenfelder’s article in Magnet about “The Backrooms”, a 4Chan meme that’s been given deeper life thanks to procedural generation and people stuck at home. His article has videos, but more importantly, links to the deeper world of this horror space. The videos and games are … Well, they’re interesting and disturbing and something you sort of need to experience. I probably should have saved all this for Halloween, but, I didn’t think it would keep any longer.

Go and look for yourself. Yes, it’s unsettling, but it’s also a safe distraction from the more unsettling things happening in our world today.

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words!

Literally, horror rooted in corporate life.

On a bad day or week, the endless, repetitive drudgery of corporate life can seem like an endless horror story. I mean, we’ve all felt that from time to time, right? And, for those of us who seem to work harder and harder for less and less return, it can sometimes feel like there’s some hidden class of people, a separate breed in a way, that get ahead regardless of their work ethic. When we’re faced with the occasionally terrifying idea that the eldritch horror of our jobs may be something that no one else understands, well, it’s easy to think the corporate world may be some kind of cthonian conspiracy.
At least, this short film Corporate Monster seems to agree. And, it’s a fantastic way to celebrate both Halloween and your corporate servitude.
Enjoy!

This post originally appeared on Use Your Words!

Now, this is what I call a “safe house”!

I know, I know, I’m seriously way too obsessed with surviving the zombie apocalypse, but, hey, everyone needs a hobby, right?
Anyway, a couple weeks ago, a Facebook friend posted a link to an entry on All That Is Interesting titled The First Zombie-Proof House.  The photos are , well, impressive to say the least.  A sleek, modern home with the ultimate in austere exterior, which also seals into a virtual fortress.  A metal security shutter that rolls down over a covered patio area and actual concrete “shutters” that swing shut over recessed windows, not to mention a second-story draw bridge connecting to a detached pool facility, all ad up to a pretty nice place to wait out the End Times!

And, keep in mind, unlike other survival homes I’ve shared here, this is NOT a theoretical building!
This “house” has been built by KWK Promes and is outside of Warsaw, Poland.  I found even more photographs and details of the construction and features at a site called HomeDSGN.  While they don’t specify the owner, they mention their need to have a feeling of security while also maintaining high-standard design features.  The photos really focus on the exterior of the home and the grounds, but you can see into the building itself in several photos and the interior looks like it has the same attention to detail and quality as the outside.

So, now, you have a new standard for your zombie-survival-home desires!
Happy Friday!