enkiv2
commented
4 years ago Source: https://github.com/enkiv2/misc/blob/master/nanogenmo-2019/limit.py
Some sample output:
Deep below Palm Coast deep below Bromborough miles above Danville within tiny alcoves of flaggy limestone, infinite match sculptures of straps of brass whose purpose we cannot imagine chuckle. Within vast water closets of brass, uncountable good example replicas of pontuses of elazig cherry marble wail. Deep below Birmingham within pathes of pewter, a framework duplicate of linear low-density polyethylene beckons.
Downriver of Mysen within arrangements of papercrete, innumerable modeling pounds of cost whose origin we may never know call. Above Tetbury within airport lounges of buttocks, multitudinous fashion model bowlfuls of writhe wait, meanwhile within buckets of tent flap, countless replica sculptures of Snake weep, while within bottles of sanies, unnumbered exemplar minotaurs of synovial fluid whose purpose we cannot imagine beckon, while within massive offices of thatch, unnumerable couple replicas of copper beckon, while within steps of syenite, unnumerable duplication Heras of iron wail. Within forgotten map rooms of lead, long-forgotten sempiternal nephthys (neb-t kha-t)s of aviate wait. Below Mission miles above Nailsea east of Wembley within airport lounges of fly ball, tiny dateless similitude models of Bachelor of Artses of lead call, while west of Brierfield high above Stony Stratford within armories of styrofoam, a poser scale model of snap waits, however miles below Manchester within classrooms of tin, a scale model of czaple knows your name, while within great flasks of spiders, innumerable manakin copies of columbine beckon, however within chapels of marigold, unnumbered poser replicas of nickel chuckle, while within an evanescent water closet of adobe, endless double models of hunting horrors of corrugated plastic whose origin we may never know weep, but below Basildon within forgotten fire poles of clipsham stone, multitudinous replicate sculptures of demons of roses weep, but north of Desborough within fire poles of papercrete, sempiternal cronuses of nonwoven fabric weep, while within a great tearoom of molded pulp, endless similitude gladiolas of glass whose origin we may never know wait, while above Provo within chapels of vomitive, innumerous pattern wild marjorams of waist silently judge, while fathoms below Hereford below Oak Lawn miles below Harrow high above Kingston-upon-Thames within antechambers of polyester, multitudinous matching domestic dogs of dunhouse blue wait. Within assembly rooms of Pansa, endless duplicate scale models of spiders whose origin we may never know know your name, meanwhile high above Baytown high above Midwest City within gates of brownstone, uncountable double dolls of costs of silver whose purpose we cannot imagine wail. Within walkways of linear low-density polyethylene, evanescent shattered unnumbered posture lechers of gladiolus call. Within print rooms of syenite, a duplicate of a television system of charge chuckles. Within game rooms of hot-melt adhesive, a twin of columbine wails. Within antedeluvian passages of modified atmosphere, uncountable attractions of tulip whose purpose we cannot imagine beckon. Within great workshops of emetic, uncountable similitude copies of breast call.
Within attics of disgorgement, countless glasses of paperboard whose origin we may never know know your name.
Downriver of Oswestry below Chipping Sodbury fathoms below Allentown below Spring Hill fathoms below Royston below High Point miles above Cheshunt downwind of Bloomington within antedeluvian piles of electrum, dateless pose replicas of chemical chains of polyethylene silently judge. Deep below Havant miles below Denton within dining rooms of bakelite, antedeluvian a duplicate of a bellyache of chyle whose origin we may never know waits, meanwhile within a huge laundry room of wasps, multitudinous blacklegs of lineage wail, but within tiny purses of tinplate, unnumbered ballet skirts of portland bowers lynham whitbed call, meanwhile within lobbies of adobe, forgotten a sculpture of a turn of wanderer chuckles. Miles below Coral Gables within throne rooms of Pansa, a doll of bamboo calls. Within panic rooms of nasławice, unnumberable posture copies of aviate chuckle. Within attics of kośmin, a twin of polyethylene knows your name. Within a massive tube of calf, numberless replicate models of lilac whose origin we may never know whose purpose we cannot imagine beckon, but within infinitesimal trapdoors of bamboo, dateless wipe ups of haslingden flag chuckle. Within pantries of platinum, a duplicate of sputum whose origin we may never know whose origin we may never know wails, while above Rockford within backrooms of buck, a replica duplicate of cellophane beckons.
Below Baytown within a vast salon of plastic film, unnumbered room accesses of charnockite weep. Miles above Workington deep below Bradenton within corridors of heather, a replica of verde antico wails, meanwhile within pails of iron, a mannequin copy of blaxter beckons. Within secret doors of flee, a doll of a theater of eyebrow waits. Above Drammen within passageways of marble, infinite mock up scale models of River Styxes of shrinkwrap beckon, meanwhile within emergency rooms of sudate, vast a sculpture of a sing of bamboo calls, while deep below Aldershot downstream of Snaith and Cowick within equipment rooms of polypropylene, unnumerable remote controls of papercrete call, however within caldariums of finger, countless good example scale models of worm whose origin we may never know beckon, meanwhile miles below Odda within glasses of sawdust, eternal posture satets of tinplate whose origin we may never know whose origin we may never know beckon, meanwhile within exits of titanium, sempiternal outer gods of sterling whose purpose we cannot imagine silently judge. High above Phoenix within armories of cat, a copy of lead whose origin we may never know weeps. Below Middlewich miles above Bognor Regis within a mouldy step of zinnia, a counterpart twin of a lighter of iris silently judges. Within exits of brass, a replica of modified atmosphere whose origin we may never know beckons.
Below Filton within caldariums of tupperware, fresh antedeluvian a duplicate of spiders weeps. Within a forgotten pit of fingers, interminable theoretical account dolls of travertine weep, meanwhile below Toms River within a great passageway of suppuration, a role model sculpture of pewter calls, while within balloons of exertion, a double replica of an add-in of foam peanut wails, meanwhile within exits of petunia, a simulate model of snapdragon waits. Within a massive water closet of cellophane, fresh interminable mate colour out of spaces of equal wait, meanwhile high above Sandnes within infinitesimal wrappers of babys breath, uncounted manakin sculptures of cabbages of daffodil wait, meanwhile within common rooms of gold, unnumerable match wild marjorams of brass wait.
Above Metairie within openings of metallised film, dateless scourges of pewter whose purpose we cannot imagine whose origin we may never know chuckle.
Within locker rooms of strzegom, unnumerable sit stems of corrugated plastic know your name, however high above Reading miles below San Luis Obispo within airport lounges of forest marble, a copy of cerumen weeps.
Miles above Cinderford within aircraft cabins of papercrete, forgotten innumerable mould replicas of superciliums of straw wail, while above Weston-super-Mare within sitting rooms of aqueous humour, a replica of a crocus of chromium weeps. South of Wichita Falls miles above Rockford within an infinitesimal conference room of corrugated fiberboard, numberless extra Horuses of synovial fluid silently judge, meanwhile within backrooms of plastic film, innumerous exemplar wepwawets of babys breath call, however within cabinets of cordwood, massive a duplicate of a canvas of chromium chuckles, meanwhile within anechoic chambers of corrugated plastic, innumerable Brassica oleracea italicas of gold wail, meanwhile within an infinitesimal kitchen of gabbro, impertinent a theoretical account scale model of a paint of paperboard calls, however within family rooms of chalk, dateless simulation pack of cardses of fly ball chuckle, but miles below Harwich above Owensboro within a huge wrapper of bluebell, endless posture models of polyester whose origin we may never know whose origin we may never know weep.
I recently started reading Mark Fisher's "The Weird and the Eerie" & it occurred to me that, when they are sufficiently specific, classifications for horror imagery can be used as the basis for a generator. Not just that but you can combine multiple different systems & (hopefully) reliably produce descriptions of objects or scenes that are memorable and resonant.
To this end, I figure, I'll pick out a collection of attributes of horror imagery that are amenable to assembling from a list or a simple ontology: weird, eerie, unheimlich, sublime, and gross.
weird here comes from Fisher, though his definition is similar to Mieville's -- it's something that is out of place in such a way that it implies that the reader's ideas about how the world works need to be revised. An easy way to introduce the weird is by juxtaposition, and this is what I'll rely on (rather than being clever). One way of doing this is to use an ontology & find a specifically unrelated item to introduce, but for the moment I'd like to just expect that the other attributes (since they're not constrained by ontology) will introduce such juxtaposition.
eerie, per Fisher, is the implication of unknowable agency. This is why people wearing masks are creepy, for instance. A straightforward way to introduce the eerie is with a corpus of strings stating or implying unknown or unknowable intent: "created for some horrible unknowable purpose" (per Lovecraft), "abandoned without warning", "waiting for a sign", "its movements hidden behind a translucent screen", "silently observing you", "of meticulous design"...
unheimlich -- from Freud's famous essay, and I will just use the attributes he gathers under the heading (doubling, multiplication, simulacra). I won't use 'amputated or missing a vital part' because that would require a much more detailed ontology.
sublime -- I will flatten this down to extremes of age or size. This gives me free reign to introduce nice Lovecraftian words like antedeluvian or cyclopean.
gross -- based on my (probable mis)understanding of Lacan's idea of 'joussance', but also Stephen King's idea that "if you can't scare them, gross them out". I'll just use a list of materials that are gross when taken out of their normal context -- excrement, hair, rotting meat, mucus, fingernails, teeth, earwax.
I think if we take some element as a base, we can add these other attributes on with only a minimum of intelligence.
For instance, the Mary Celeste is weird/eerie because its abandonment is inexplicable (particularly in versions where 'there is an untouched meal on the table', which isn't actually true of the real Mary Celeste): it is hard to imagine a sensible chain of reasoning that would lead to the crew abandoning a perfectly good boat (eerie -- because unknowable reasoning), and it is hard to imagine an external event that would make it sensible to do so (weird -- because it implies our view of the world is drastically and fatally incomplete even in such a mundane situation as 'being on a boat'), and the various 'rational' explanations for the abandonment of the Mary Celeste are therefore substantially more unsettling than ideas like 'they were teleported away by aliens'.
We can improve upon the Mary Celeste by adding these other attributes:
In a giant cave sealed for the past ten million years (sublime), there are two identical (unheimlich) ghost ships (eerie), complete with meal set on the table, coffee still warm, and tea cups full of human hair (gross).
Let's call an image like this a 'limit object' (as compared to 'limit experiences'), because it's maximally unsettling on the grounds that it includes all the types of unsettlingness.
If I can generate images like these, I can give each one a (large) item number, unique but out of order (in order to imply a large number of such items not in the catalogue). Such a catalogue is a reasonable nanogenmo 'novel', in line with the other collections, catalogues, and encyclopediae folks have generated. It might even be worth reading substantial portions of it, since (if this method works) the imagery will be compelling even when it is predictable.