'We Happy Few' is One Part Pleasantville, One Part They Live

Compulsion Games has released one of the most intriguing (and terrifying) trailers of PAX East with the announcement of their next major game, We Happy Few. Little is known about the title aside from it taking place in an alternate-history 1960's Dystopia filled with crazed perma-smiling psychopaths, weapon crafting and open-world exploration.

But from the looks of the trailer, the game definitely looks like one part Pleasantville, one part They Live, with a generous amount of Invasion of The Body-snatchers just to round it out. We Happy Few has definitely left a favorable first-impression that could last them until its projected release sometime late next year(?).

And maybe a smidge of The Stepford Wives because, hey why not?

The theme of deceptive geniality of early 1960's Americana is one of the most alluring and well-traveled settings of modern gaming, with titles such as Bioshock, The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and the Fallout series blazing the trail.  We Happy Few appears to be another installment in this recurring aesthetic, a world of tie-dyed bell-bottoms and nightmarish cults of majority pulled straight out of a Shirley Jackson novel. The game is still early in development, but we here at Awesome-Robo HQ are anticipating it all the same!

Way Out

What happens when our over-dependency on virtual communication takes on a life of it's own? This is the central conceit behind Yukai Du's MA graduation film inspired by Sherry Turkle's novel, "Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other".  The short combines Du's distinctive chalk-pattern aesthetic with beautifully engrossing ambient sound design courtesy of Angus MacRae.

I can't help but reflect on my own over-reliant social media habits after watching "Way Out". The ease-of-access of modern information technology has made us lax in the categorization of that information between that which is edifying and that which is stunting. And what happens when human interactions are lost in the mix? Still, I think it's possible to navigate the ubiquity of the modern age while still bearing in mind what's really important.

Age of Pinnocchio Mashup Follows A Meme To Its Logical Terrifying Conclusion

It's safe to say by now that you've already seen the Avengers: Age of Ultron trailer and been thoroughly entranced by James Spader's maniacally gravel-toned robot rendition of "No Strings On Me". The trailer's menacing stinger track prompted a shockwave of scatter-shot memes across online comic forums, solidifying Ultron's preemptive popularity among movie fans eagerly anticipating the follow-up's release.

Naturally, NerdReactor Editor-in-Chief John "Spartan" Nguyen took it upon himself to take the song back to its source material in a fan-made mashup trailer that is equal parts hilarious and unnerving. Word of advice Geppetto, do not get on Pinnocchio's bad side.

Jackson & His Computer Band - "Dead Living Things"

Pretty damn awesome new music video from Alexandre Courtès from Division, who's directed noteworthy music videos for groups like the White Stripes, Phoenix and Daft Punk. In Dead Living Things from electro producer Jackson, a wonderfully distorted, dark soundscape provides a suitable foundation to accompany the incredibly disturbed visuals in this delightfully twisted music video. This one's worth watching a few times to soak in all the visual madness unfolding.

This project is a direct reference to the works of Fellini and David Lynch. It is a juxtaposition of life scenes and actions that have nothing to do with each other in particular, that however create a fantastic dynamic and resolutely surreal experience.

The Day I Killed My Best Friend (NSFW)

Antonio J. Busto Algarin, who goes by the monicker of 'Busto' just recently released his visually striking short film, dealing with some rather risqué issues executed in an absolutely demented, experimental visual style. Animated using a mix of live action and truly abstract, straight ahead animation, the entire feel of this short really brings me back to the work of David O' Reilly, who accomplished a similar effect in the 3D realm with The External World. Synopsis below, followed by a potentially even more disturbing making of, which isn't what it seems either.

Regla is a nine-year-old girl, whose only friend is imaginary. Regla hates bath time and always has to be ordered to do it. However, she usually gets rid of her bath water without her mother knowing. One day Regla and her indulgent imaginary friend are forced to confront the sudden arrival of her first menstruation and the problems that come with it.

Ecstasy - The Dark Side Of John Malkovich

Internationally acclaimed Director/Photographer Sandro enlisted the incredibly versatile John Malkovich to execute his latest short film, a gritty portrait of a character called Vinny set in a grungy bathroom. Featuring the director's camera acting as a 2-way mirror, Sandro places the viewer in a position of witnessing a rather bewildering one-on-one as Vinny unleashes a torrent of abuse at himself while growing increasingly agitated with the assistance of some rather liberal drug usage.

John Malkovich as 'Vinny.'

Really have to give a hats off to the increasingly frantic editing by Whitehouse Post's Josh Bodnar and the post production enhancements by Carbon VFX to sell the unnerving feel of Vinny losing his grip on reality in this fascinating character experiment. In terms of Sandro's casting choice, I'm not surprised that John Malkovich went along with this cool experimental piece, considering his penchant for independent film and eccentric short films, and of course let's not forget Spike Jonze's unforgettable Being John Malkovich.

Perihelion (NSFW)

Nick Cross's Perihelion is a a very dark, animated short paying tribute to the works of influential German painters from the early 20th century (Otto Dix, Richard Oelze, Ingrid Griebel-Zietlow, Rudolf Schlichter and Max Ernst), as well as the works of Francisco Goya. The common thread between these artists being that they all lived under the shadow of fascism and the brutality, which their paintings reflected. Perihelion is a tonal piece with no distinct narrative, yet filled to the brim with disturbing end of the world style imagery, contrasted by Nick Cross' stylized approach to his imagery.

The Amplifetes - You/Me/Evolution

The Swedish quartet known as the Amplifetes delivered this ridiculously catchy track, paired with a rather disturbing music video stuffed to the brim with social commentary. From what I garnered, the track and music video hit on themes of child abuse, insecurity and being molded into something against your will, as evidenced by the soulless look of the child pageant-esque looking protagonist. Upbeat sound, not so upbeat message, but definitely worth playing on repeat a few dozen times. The track is from their upcoming album, 'Where Is The Light,' following their 2010 debut.

TOSHIO SAEKI, THE NSFW + WTF KING.

Freud would've love to meet this guy (Via)

Japanese culture is always taking things into a whole different level. Examples abound: from extreme TV shows, to guys playing invisible Tetris, to well, I guess one of the most extreme I've seen, in terms of illustration and graphic depiction. Even Cannibal Corpse album covers seem childish in comparison.

Toshio Saeki, is the kind of artist that makes you wonder the limit of human perversion. Not in the crude sense of the word, but in the subtle grotesque his artwork implies. His style is based off of old traditional techniques, in which woodcuts are then screen printed in CMYK percentages, a really slow process achieved with the help of a printing professional.

Heavily relying on the WTF factor, Toshio delivers shocking compositions, that nevertheless, are capable of  demonstrating the fine technique behind his work.

 NSFW, WTF, and possibly awesome (in a weird sense) images after the break.

METACHAOS: Can't Unsee

Just in time for Halloween, Alessandro Bavari's eight minute vision of chaos takes viewers pretty much to well...Hell. This short is a mixed media project that is an even mix of surreal, nightmarish and apocalyptic. Over the course of eight minutes you'll watch a downward spiral unfold. If you hated those twitching, convulsing monsters from Silent Hill, you might want to skip on this one to avoid potential mental trauma. This is without a doubt, one of the most disturbing things we've ever seen since starting the blog.