Post by Catsmate on Feb 13, 2016 11:41:32 GMT
A quickie, from recent headlines.
In the last couple of months Thailand has been swept with a craze for lifelike dolls known as 'Luk Thep' (roughly 'child angel'). The approximately baby sized plastic dolls are blessed by a Buddhist monk in a 'plook sek' anointing ceremony and inhabited by a passing spirit, often that of a ever born fetus.
The dolls (called kamen) have existed for years, however it's only recently that they have become so popular, with restaurants and airlines catering to them.
Probably it's no more than one of the numerous fads, like pet rocks, Cabbage Patch dolls, hula-hoops, Rubik's cubes and lava lamps, that sweep popular consciousness occasionally.
But what if it's not? What if the dolls really are being inhabited by something? Has the Nestene Consciousness found a new vehicle for an attempted invasion of Earth? Or something else perhaps. Is the Mnemosyne active, filling the dolls with the psychic engrams of the dead? Or is someone using a device like the ghost machine to populate the dolls? Or are the Scorchies back?
What do they want?
Fads in general offer, whether real-life or fictional, a fascinating opportunity for weirdness in the Whoniverse. They make excellent vehicles for the plans of a villain (like the Nestene daffodils) and equally good red herrings.
Are the new pet rocks really the larval form of Ogri or other silicon life form? Who's distributing them, and why? Is the new puzzle really a toy or a device to test for psychic potential? What happens to those who master it?
Links.
BBC report
In the last couple of months Thailand has been swept with a craze for lifelike dolls known as 'Luk Thep' (roughly 'child angel'). The approximately baby sized plastic dolls are blessed by a Buddhist monk in a 'plook sek' anointing ceremony and inhabited by a passing spirit, often that of a ever born fetus.
The dolls (called kamen) have existed for years, however it's only recently that they have become so popular, with restaurants and airlines catering to them.
Probably it's no more than one of the numerous fads, like pet rocks, Cabbage Patch dolls, hula-hoops, Rubik's cubes and lava lamps, that sweep popular consciousness occasionally.
But what if it's not? What if the dolls really are being inhabited by something? Has the Nestene Consciousness found a new vehicle for an attempted invasion of Earth? Or something else perhaps. Is the Mnemosyne active, filling the dolls with the psychic engrams of the dead? Or is someone using a device like the ghost machine to populate the dolls? Or are the Scorchies back?
What do they want?
Fads in general offer, whether real-life or fictional, a fascinating opportunity for weirdness in the Whoniverse. They make excellent vehicles for the plans of a villain (like the Nestene daffodils) and equally good red herrings.
Are the new pet rocks really the larval form of Ogri or other silicon life form? Who's distributing them, and why? Is the new puzzle really a toy or a device to test for psychic potential? What happens to those who master it?
Links.
BBC report
