In Pure Spirit

For open minds

Stay at home: Tour the world through Magical Mystery Doors

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Magical doors that can transport you to places of wonder have been part of our collective imagination of generations.

Mystery door

Doors have a more significant meaning during the Covid-19 pandemic which currently has much of the world in quarantine and stuck behind closed doors. Those doors are keeping us safe, but they’re also keeping us trapped even if its the invisible virus we should really blame.

Climadoor usually sells real doors. This week, though, given we’re all trapped, the focus is on magical mystery doors.

There’s a virtual tour to experience.

Start the magical mystery door tour!

If you’re brave enough to start the tour, then you might find yourself at the door to King’s Landing in Game of Thrones, outside Monica’s Apartment in Friends or even Star Wars’ Mos Eisely.

There’s the spooky door of Hawkins Middle School from Stranger Things, the iconic Baker Street door from Sherlock and – nature always finds a way – Jurassic Park.

In Pure Spirit

If you could step through any virtual door and tour any virtual land, what would it be?

The easy to understand science of the coronavirus (Covid-19)

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Sadly, there is plenty of false and misleading information on the internet about the coronavirus (Covid-19).

While there is plenty of accurate information too much of it is easier dumbed down too much or written for a medically trained audience.

The good news is that Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell is a trusted channel on YouTube that works hard to explain complex topics with easy to follow, but intelligent videos.

This video explains the science of Covid-19 nicely and clearly, while also treating the audience as an intelligent one.

In Pure Spirit

What tips do you have to make self-isolation and social distancing easier for you?

Would mother nature be upset at you?

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A wonderful comic from Goofy God Comics, who can also follow on Instagram.

Gaia and the bees

A guy is calling out for Mother Gaia, and he’s worried because he thinks he cocked up. Gaia reassures him that should never get mad, no matter what he’s done.

The problem? He killed all the bees.

In Pure Spirit

Do you think governments around the world are doing enough to investigate the mysterious and devastating reduction in bee numbers?

International Women’s Day 2020: Gender switching brand mascots

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March the 8th is International Women’s Day. Yes, there’s an International Men’s Day too.

Did you know that brand mascot as twice as likely to be male than female?

It’s a marketing stunt, but I think it’s a nice one, as kitchen appliance brand CDA tried to fix this. Without simply changing colours to pink or adding ribbons and bows, CDA worked with an illustrator to re-imagine some iconic brand mascots as female ones.

Toilet Duck

Mr Muscle

Pringles

Green Giant Sweetcorn

Rice Krispies

Captain Birds Eye

Frosties

Homepride

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How successful do you think CDA have been? I think they’ve done pretty well, but if you disagree there are the comments below to say so.

Which brand mascot do you think would be better as a woman?

LastTissue: Save 2 litres of water each time you blow your nose

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LastTissue is the latest idea from a Danish company trying to save the world. We chop through millions of trees and pollute millions of gallons of water just for yucky disposable tissues.

Is there a better way?

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Every year 8,000,000 trees are felled just for American sneezes alone. That kills of habitat and therefore wildlife. At the same time, trees are no longer there to soak up the carbon emissions that are destroying the atmosphere.

LastObject

The company behind LastTissue is LastObject, and they have a mission.

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Is LastTissue a good idea, or is it just a yucky gimmick?

Can you see the Sirens of the waves?

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Trickster god (Norse)

You’ll be able to see Rachael Talibart’s beautiful photography in person at the Sohn Fine Art Gallery in Lenox, Massachusetts in the States from 7th of September through to 11th November.

The English photographer uses fast shutter speeds to freeze the water into shape, creating as a sculpture might clay and in doing so manages to, somehow, reveal faces in the waves.

Talibart is said to be inspired, in part, by Homer’s Odyssey and the stories of sea monsters there. Need to see more? Pop over to her website and check out her thoughtful range.

Primordial sea goddess (Greek)
Sea nymph (Greek)
Underwater panther (Native American)
Snake-haired Gorgon (Greek)
Horse of the sea (Greek)
Giant warrior (Hebrew)

In Pure Spirit

Do you see the faces in the waves too?

Via This is Colossal.

Is there something in the cupboard? Whisper

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Starring Michelle Khare “Whisper” is a film about something we think about all the time… about that thing in the shadows just out of sight.

In this case, we have a pretty young woman in bed and her Alexa, Amazon’s smart speaker, can hear something whispered. This voice isn’t a thing we can hear clearly, and yet we kind of know there’s something there.

In Pure Spirit

Do you have an Alexa? Has it ever seemed to reply to something which wasn’t there?

The long dragons and real life

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The artist of Chinese artist Guodong Zhao is incredible. Based in Beijing, this talented illustrator takes photographs and paints on a layer of fantasy.

The painted long dragons

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Sad or surreal? It’s as these long Asian dragons should be majestic, proud and perhaps even a little menacing. By showing them, sometimes, ruined and wrecked against the sharp contrast of reality Zhao easily transforms them into being of sadness and despair.

Discover the Folktales of the Cryptids

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Folktales of the Cryptids is a collection of short comic book horror stories. As the name implies, each story features a cryptid and the dangers of getting too close to one.

Joseph Oliveria wrote the cryptid stories and published them through Afterlight Comics the indie publisher he founded only in 2017. A Kickstarter raised over £3,500 to bring the comic to life.

Which Cryptids feature?

Good question. You can expect to see brief sightings off the Mothman, Chupacabra, The Legend of Momo and The Pukwudgie.

The Folktales of the Cryptids review

There’s no messing around with this comic. Joseph Oliveria’s stories pack a punch, and it comes straight at you. Don’t expect much in the way of plot twists or deviations. Cryptids isn’t a comic book collection designed to drag your expectation around. This is a comic book collection written to be a homage to the legends and myths that have made these cryptids familiar.

And while there’s no messing around and there are plenty of straight up by the book plays you would be wrong to take the Folktales of the Cryptids for granted. The delivery is top notch, paced perfectly and concluded with a marksman like perfection.

I’m especially fond of the illustrations and colouring in the last tale – Romance is Dead – where Brendan Purchase drew and Roman Stevens coloured. There are some surreal touches.

There are some common strands in the four horror stories. We’re better off leaving the Cryptids alone. They’re probably better off if we leave them alone too. It also seems to be the case that whether you’re a good person or a bad person that bad things can still happen to you. It’s a cruel world out there. However, if you can keep your wits about you then, perhaps, you’ll have a chance.

While the four stories are each blessed with their own cryptid it is the human characters that give them life and interest. This might because the characters used in the adventures are familiar, don’t need an introduction and so we’re easily at ease with them.

Where can I buy Folktales of the Cryptids

The comic book is available in stores in the UK. You can also buy it directly from Afterlight Comics.com.

Will there be a sequel?

Neither Afterlight Comics nor Joseph Oliveria has announced plans for a follow up. However, right now there’s a Kickstarter for a new series called Wendigo Wood. This Kickstarter is asking for less money and, at the current rate of pledges, will raise more. That’s probably a good endorsement of the quality of the previous work.


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Are there any cryptid or horror comic book series that you will recommend?

In Pure Spirit’s copy of Folktales of the Cryptids was provided for review.

Disclosure

This blog discusses ideas and causes. Urban myth, science and faith combine here. So do editorials and technology; In Pure Spirit uses affiliate marketing and some links might earn us money. You can read more about that here.

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