After 10 years of carrying this body of work about cambrian Trilobites as a symbol of time and erosion with me, it manifested in a brief stop in form of a solo exhibition at Dresden's C. Rockefeller Center of the Contemporary Arts.
By the name 'Eater of Worlds', Stephen King's alien monster a.k.a. Pennywise or IT entitles itself to the group of brave children who were fighting it down. Decomposing crustaceans like recent isopods - or Rollie Pollies - are themselves another kind of 'Eater of Worlds' since they take care of many sorts of organic litter by digesting it into fresh soil. The name of the evil alien here turns into an essential and friendly life form maintaining a fragile eco system by consuming the earth's leftovers and thereby creating new recources to keep the weel of life turning.
By accompanying the living species with the long extinct fossil remains of the prehistoric Trilobites, I wanted to give the viewers a playful time-travel-experience and depict a vivid Memento Mori of everlasting (re)production and consumption.
Starting from the bare biological body of the creatures, the artworks in the show are made of several different media and levels of abstraction. The animal finds its latest translation in a text block of emoticons that immitate their body shape. emerged from daily use of text messaging, the highly abundant life form took an evolutionary leap from biological reproduction to endless digital copy and paste.
The exhibtion took place from June 20 until June 30, 2025.
If there is no self, why do people fear death? It can be compared to discarding an old photograph. While Buddhism teaches the concept of no self, the fear of death persists among us.
The bitter irony is that people don’t fear the loss of a self. They fear the loss of the model that pretends to be one.
If there is no metaphysical self, no soul, no inner owner, then dying isn’t the annihilation of a real entity. It’s simply the shutdown of a predictive model that has been running for decades. Like deleting a file that believed it was the computer.
So why does that model fight so violently to avoid being deleted?
Because the model is built to do exactly that.
Not because “you” want to live, but because the mechanism that produces the illusion of “you” was sculpted by natural selection to defend itself. A self-model that didn’t resist deletion would have no descendants. The ones that panicked, clung, strategized, feared, those survived.
You’re not afraid because you have a self. You’re afraid because you are the fear. The "self" is made of fear.
Memory gives coherence. Prediction gives continuity. The nervous system stitches these fragments into a narrative agent. The narrative agent then defends its own persistence with total seriousness, as if it were a metaphysical jewel instead of processual bookkeeping.
Alzheimer’s shows exactly this. When memory disintegrates, the “person” dissolves. The organism lives; the self-model collapses. What dies early is the illusion.
People bother about death because the self-model can’t do anything else. It defends its own fiction because its function is to maintain coherence long enough for the organism to reproduce and not walk off cliffs. No self is required. The terror of death is simply what it looks like from the inside when a pattern resists termination. And death doesn’t erase a self but the machine that kept insisting there was one.
I went down the PS2 Emulating/Reproduction Rabbit Hole so you don’t have to:
And here’s how to get your favorite PS2 games for cheap.
I was just gifted a used PS2 for my birthday which made me SO excited… until I looked up the cost of a lot of the games I want to play. Titles like Silent Hill 2 & 3 go for about $100 (USD) typically and the game I’ve been hunting for, Blood Will Tell, averages anywhere between $450- $700. Because these titles didn’t sell well initially but are popular now/have a sense of rarity to them, they cost a fortune. So do you spend a fortune on getting them or live without playing them?
Neither!
You emulate them or buy from a professional reproducer!
What is emulating?
According to Wikipedia the definition is: “in computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system to behave like another computer system. An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use peripheral devices designed for the guest system.”
TLDR; emulating (in video game terms) is taking a game and playing it on either a system it wasn’t originally made for OR a country/region it wasn’t designed to launch in.
Is emulation illegal?
No, emulating a game isn’t illegal. The only part that would be considered “illegal” is if you don’t own the actual ROM/game you’re emulating. For example, if I download Silent Hill 2 for free off the internet and emulate it on my PS2, that’s considered piracy because I didn’t actually buy the game.
Do I suggest emulating on the PS2, if not what is another option?
No, there’s something you can do that’s a lot easier than emulation. Emulation typically is for playing old games on a new system, commonly a PC. It takes a lot of software/hardware know-how to do and the average joe (me) doesn’t have that.
Another option is buying a reproduction and a reproducer. This requires a rapport with a third party professional and a the right system.
What is video game reproduction?
Reproduction is when a creator completely reproduces a game and burns it onto a disk, making multiple copies off of one game and making them available across different models and regions of the same system. In order to use the reproduction, one needs to download a software on their system that allows you to run homebrew/reproduced content.
Is reproducing a game illegal?
Well… yes. But the brunt of the legal ramifications is on the vendor and there has been no case of a person being charged with buying a reproduced game. Think of it as going to 9anime.to and watching a pirated anime, you’re watching pirated content which is illegal. But 9anime is providing that content and has the target on their back. The vendor I’ll be suggesting is literally on Etsy and has been for years, so that’s how little this is enforced.
If you’re paranoid about this then I obviously don’t suggest this option, I suggest trying to emulate the game but that means you’ll be buying whatever it is at full price. I’m just a random person on tumblr so you don’t have to listen to me at all lmao.
Here’s a screenshot of a reddit thread discussing this practice:
What reproducer do I suggest?
AndresCustoms on Etsy/Facebook Marketplace! He tests his products on many different systems from various different regions. He has an 4.8 star average review. I’ve read the review comments, consumers a very impressed with his work and he actively responds to his reviews. Andre also is easy to get in touch with if you have any questions on how to set up his FMCB cards or games. He only accepts refunds for defect disks of his, since that is his fault. Besides games he sells (average of $25) he also sells the hardware that allows you to play them, they’re FMCB cards ($15) all you do is stick one into the controller port and it’s good to go.
What to look out for with reproductions?
I don’t recommend buying off Ebay, they have a fraud department but you’re likely getting overcharged for what you’re buying. The largest portion of scams are on Ebay.
Scammers often sell reproductions for the cost of the real game titles, not only are you paying way more than it’s worth many of these tend to not work well or at all. That’s why reputable vendors who openly claim to be professional reproducers and have multiple ratings by real customers (i.e. AndresCustoms) are very important to consider when getting reproductions. Never buy a game that is inflated far above market price, unless it is mint condition and graded for collection purposes.
TLDR FOR ENTIRE POST:
PS2 games cost a shit ton of money these days
Emulation is mostly used to play retro games on modern devices, usually PCs
Emulation is hard to do unless you have technical know-how
Legal emulation requires the purchase of an authentic game
Reproduction is illegal under piracy laws
Reproduction under a reputable vendor can be a cheap way to get your favorite retro games and still run as if they where authentic copies
Yvette Heiser - Great Wedding Photography Tips That You Ought To Know
If you are going to shoot your most memorable wedding, it tends to be an incredibly overwhelming time, without a doubt. Get to deal with altering and after the creation of your pictures not long after the wedding. If you leave it for an age, the couple will get fretful, and you'll neglect who, and the general arrangement of occasions of the day, which will influence your last selection of pictures. Here is a rundown of a portion of the key wedding photography tips I depend on. Know more about Yvette Heiser from Yvette Heiser Best Photography Tips To Make Clicking Pictures At Special Occasions
Great Wedding Photography Tips
1. Be ready. Have a rundown of the relative multitude of notable individuals to take with you on the day, so you know who and to ensure you don't pass up a major opportunity for any of the wedding parties. A rundown of gathering photos concurred with the lady of the hour and husband-to-be before the day, is likewise a must. The gatherings can be adequately hard to arrange in ideal circumstances, yet without some arranging confusion will probably result.
2. Get your pack right. Have a most un-two camera body on the off chance that one breaks, and the equivalent goes for your focal points and glimmers. Spare batteries and memory cards are a must too. A decent focal point is likely much more significant than the camera body, and to the extent that the best focal point for wedding photography goes, my firm most loved is the Standard EF 70-200 mm f/2.8L IS II USM. It's important for Standard's L series so isn't modest, yet its construct quality and the nature of the picture are phenomenal. Also read, Yvette Heiser - What Type Of Camera Do I Need?
It has a picture stabilizer to assist you with adapting to low light circumstances, and its long central length will permit you to have a few incredible chances of the couple without getting excessively near them and obliterating a personal second. So will likewise require a wide point focal point however, for the gathering shots and different photos where you need to incorporate a greater amount of the area.
3. Be as cordial, not over-accommodating however, polite and enchanting. Try not to be bossy, regardless of whether it implies you miss a couple of shots during the day. If you get the visitors on your side, they're significantly more liable to giggle and grin when you're near, and that is a portion of the fight won not too far off.
4. Be imaginative in your shot determination and arrangement. Consider shooting through an entryway at the couple kissing, incline out of a first-floor window for a major gathering shot, and get low for the little bloom young lady.
5. Shoot however many mixes of individuals as you sensibly can. The lady of the hour with every bridesmaid, then, at that point, all together, the lady of the hour with her mum, then with father, then, at that point, with mum and father. You have a vastly improved possibility of selling more photographs along these lines, and getting a few beautiful recollections for everybody simultaneously.
6. Work on shooting in different lighting conditions and acting well before the day. Get your accomplice for a counterfeit representation shoot, or your companions to reproduce capturing the gatherings. This truly is one of the most amazing wedding photography tips I can give. It makes the entire day a whole lot more straightforward, and you'll be a ton less worried if you've polished in advance.
7. Make a reinforcement of all your picture records straightaway, and afterward make a subsequent reinforcement on the circle and store this in some place different from the next reinforcement. In case of robbery or fire, you will in any case have your pictures. Get more information and tips with Yvette Heiser.
It’s clear we love the Dead Girl, enough to rehash and reproduce her story, to kill her again and again, but not enough to see a pattern. She is always singular, an anomaly, the juicy new mystery.
