Efram Sera-Shriar

Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 27, 2024 at 05:33 UTC

If you've never watched Geraldo Rivera's 1988 special *Devil Worship* you should. It remains a fascinating example of the Satanic Panic that was rampant in the USA at the time.

Watch it 👇
www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjVp...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 24, 2024 at 13:43 UTC

Cool! My new project "Otherworldly Entertainment," which is funded by the Carlsberg Foundation, is already listed on their website.

Learn a little more 👇
www.carlsbergfondet.dk/det-har-vi-s...

If you're a fan of horror, magic, and occult-themed video games, a project website is coming soon!

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 24, 2024 at 12:41 UTC

In my latest blog, I explore the history of video game censorship by looking at the occult-themed fighting game classic: Mortal Kombat (1992):

Read it 👇
www.eframserashriar.com/post/blood-s...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 21, 2024 at 11:30 UTC

I'm really looking forward to a new museum project I am going to be scoping this summer on the history of Luigi. More details to come in due course! Check out his evolutionary chart of the character.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 19, 2024 at 13:24 UTC

Huxley's response to Wallace after receiving an invitation to attend a seance. It is hilariously brutal:

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 19, 2024 at 10:15 UTC

I love this series of photographs of the magician John Nevil Maskelyne that expose how spirit cabinets operate. Or at least, how fake mediums produced their phenomena in them. These performances were popularised by acts like the Davenport Brothers.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 12, 2024 at 06:55 UTC

I'm delighted to announce that I've been awarded a Carlsberg Foundation grant for my project: "Otherworldly Entertainment: A Cultural Study of Horror, Magic, and the Occult in Videogames" The project will host a major three-day event in Copenhagen in August 2025. A CFP is coming in Dec 2025!

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Jun 03, 2024 at 07:18 UTC

We all need to be making more of this situation at Philadelphia's University of the Arts. It is not okay to close an entire institution.

Studying the arts matters! The aggressive attack on the arts must stop. Life without them will suck!

eu.usatoday.com/story/news/e...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 31, 2024 at 13:43 UTC

Look at these marvellous gifts to arrive in the post this week! I'll be integrating these books into my special subject "Dark Arts in the Digital Age" next year when I get to launch game studies in our department at Univ. of Copenhagen. Exciting times!

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 27, 2024 at 13:42 UTC

Alright social media friends, I'm looking for good recommendations for introductory texts on Dr Faustus. What do you got? Articles are especially welcomed.

#Gothic #Occult #Folklore

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 24, 2024 at 07:06 UTC

I will be hanging out with these chaps tonight for our "film screaming" of Hellraiser. The event is co-hosted by the Dark Arts Research Group at the Univ. of Copenhagen & the Blodig Weekend

Ticket info 👇
blodigweekend.dk/arrangemente...
Costs: 100DKK
Starts at 7:30PM (CET)
Empire Bio, Copenhagen

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 22, 2024 at 06:50 UTC

It finally all makes sense!

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 15, 2024 at 10:59 UTC

This is my favourite meme so far

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 15, 2024 at 10:46 UTC

I'm very excited to be participating in this awesome event. I'm presenting on 25 Aug 2024 in Panel 5

My presentation: "From Demon World Village to Ghosts 'n Goblins: Popular Occulture, Videogame Censorship, and Satanic Panic in the 1980s"

Details 👇
www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/devils-and...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 13, 2024 at 10:02 UTC

For those who have been asking, here is the Table of Contents for our new awesome book: Victorian Interdisciplinarity and the Sciences

The ToC and Introduction is also now freely available via Univ. of Pittsburgh Press' website: upittpress.org/books/978082...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 06, 2024 at 05:41 UTC

Everyone is getting a Norton's "Smile and Cry" soap bar, circa 1930s, for their birthdays this year!

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] May 01, 2024 at 10:16 UTC

"Witchcraft in 1871" - A depiction of a seance led by Frank Herne and Charles Williams. By Arthur Boyd Houghton, The Graphic, 2 December 1871, p. 540. Much like Mrs. Guppy's performances, Herne and Williams' seances also featured a lot of spirit apport phenomena.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 24, 2024 at 09:27 UTC

Clearly an early inspiration for Mike Mignola's character Abe Sapien from the Hellboy Universe. Mignola has spoken about his love for weird fiction in various interviews.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 21, 2024 at 11:39 UTC

35 years ago Nintendo released the first version of its Game Boy. It will forever be one of my favourite consoles and I've spent many happy afternoons playing classics like Tetris and Mario on it. Happy birthday Game Boy, and thanks for the memories!

www.theguardian.com/games/2024/a...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 19, 2024 at 13:02 UTC

Our application for seed funding to develop a game studies lab in our department at the University of Copenhagen was successful! There will be some fun times ahead as we integrate this new resource into the curriculum.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 16, 2024 at 18:42 UTC

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 16, 2024 at 18:22 UTC

Woo-hoo! I've just been told by my publisher that the physical copies of my book *Victorian Interdisciplinarity and the Sciences* arrived at the press today. Can't want to get my hands on it.

Details 👇
upittpress.org/books/978082...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 16, 2024 at 05:48 UTC

Sent to me by a colleague. Funny stuff.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 15, 2024 at 14:39 UTC

This is an image of the German magician Hans Joachim Jacob Harms (aka Jacoby-Harms). He's staring at a materialised floating spirit hand. There's a levitating skull behind him. It was used to demonstrate an example of a fake but realistic-looking spirit photograph.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 08, 2024 at 12:55 UTC

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 05, 2024 at 11:50 UTC

I've added some science to the decor of my office.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 05, 2024 at 06:46 UTC

In May I'm co-hosting this awesome event about the film Hellraiser (1987) with the Bloody Weekend Film Festival. If you are in the Copenhagen area do join us!

Details Here:
blodigweekend.dk/arrangemente...

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Apr 02, 2024 at 05:56 UTC

Welcome back - post Easter and daylight saving hangover! To help start your blurry work week here's the image "Inside the Chapel at Camp Silver Belle" which was taken by the spirit photographer Jack Edwards, circa 1940s.

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 20, 2024 at 10:42 UTC

Super Smash Bros. - the Occult Edition

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Efram Sera-Shriar @dreframss.bsky.social [ View ] Mar 18, 2024 at 13:25 UTC

In lecture today we were discussing the shift from the old calendar to the new calendar in England during the early 1750s. It inspired me to dig up this old History Today article from 2002: https: //www.historytoday.com/archive/gregorian-calendar-adopted-england

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