A new computer game based on Iceland’s rich folklore and historical legends will be released internationally next year.
The game, Eyja vindanna, or Island of the Winds, follows the witch Brynhildur in an open world where the player must discover what happened to her people. The story spans several centuries and begins when she returns to her home valley to find it abandoned and cursed. The journey will be the witch’s greatest test, and she must battle the darkness to restore balance to the Isle of Winds.
“The darkness is spreading through nature, altering the balance of the world”, is how the story is described on the website of game developer Parity Games.
Some of the inspiration is said to come from Iceland’s fjords, particularly Ísafjarðardjúp.
“The core game includes a rich history, extensive lore and intriguing puzzles, as well as legendary creatures, sorcery and a special focus on empathic encounters”, the game developer said in a segment on Icelandic national broadcaster RUV.
The Island of the Winds has been in development since 2019, and this year an agreement was signed with publisher ESDigital Games. The company plans to launch the game on the international market early next year, both for PC and consoles. It will be available in seven languages.
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Using drones and laser scanning, a detailed digital replica of Bohus Fortress has been created. The aim is to facilitate maintenance, increase accessibility – and preserve an exact replica for future generations.
Founded in 1308 on the Göta River, Bohus Fortress has been besieged by Norwegians, Danes and Swedes throughout history – but never conquered in battle. Today it is a ruin and designated one of the seven wonders of Västra Götaland and a state building monument, which means that the state is responsible for its preservation.
To improve maintenance and accessibility, the castle architect Allan Ahlman was hired. However, the task proved challenging, with over 26,000 square meters of stone surfaces and walls stretching 22 meters into the air.
– The work was quite cumbersome and time-inefficient, while at the same time it was difficult to get an idea of the longer-term maintenance needs. To some extent, we were forced to react to things rather than prevent them. If something fell down or broke, I had to go through my albums and look for pictures to restore it, he says in a press release.
The solution was to work with Swescan to create a digital twin of the fortress. In 2022, an extensive laser scan was carried out using drones and wearable technology. The result was an interactive model in a digital portal, where users can explore the fortress in detail – from overview maps to high-resolution images, elevation data and measurements.
Digital replica to facilitate inspection
The portal not only provides an accurate picture of the current situation, but also makes it possible to plan maintenance, produce drawings and inspect hard-to-reach areas, such as the old dungeon.
– The fortress becomes very accessible in this way. Anyone with user credentials can use the portal to walk around the area and study the environment, even in hard-to-reach places like the old dungeon. In the future, it could become part of the tourist experience. There are many benefits, and we have discovered more uses than we first expected.
The digital copy is also kept as a souvenir for posterity in case the fortress suffers major damage. For example, when Notre-Dame burned down, the French cathedral was restored with the help of laser scanning in 2010.
– This is a reassurance and a reason to scan more cultural monuments. One day it may be the greatest value of the digital copy, but until then we can use it for many other things, says Ahlman.
Is it dangerous to travel in China?Is it forbidden to move freely, take photos and investigate what life is really like?Have international geopolitics and propaganda in our media at home in the Western bloc affected our view of the populous country to the east?British video blogger Mike Okay, 28, is hitchhiking 2,000km across the country to investigate, document and hopefully get answers to his questions.
Mike Okay is embarking on an audacious 2,000km journey across China, with the ambition of challenging conventional wisdom about the country. With a daily target of 500 km, he plans to reach Beijing in just four days – a plan marked by both courage and a sense of adventure. The journey begins with him presenting a small piece of paper, written in Chinese, which clearly explains the purpose of his journey. As he puts it:
– I have this piece of paper in Chinese.It basically says: who I am and what I’m trying to do, and it’s really fucking helpful.
The journey quickly picks up speed as he gets his first ride within the first few minutes. Although the drivers are traveling at high speeds and at some risk, he is met with unexpected hospitality – they happily share eggs and a red Chinese soda, which Mike says may even be illegal in the UK. As he makes his way through the changing itineraries, with drivers altering their route to drop him off closer to Beijing, he is sometimes forced to walk along the side of the highway – a risky but necessary part of the adventure.
Along the way, he encounters everything from mysterious tombs with ancient stone patterns to encounters with the local police. In one incident where he is asked to disembark at a service facility, he is met with unexpected kindness: the police offer him lunch and directions. This unexpected humanity is a recurring theme throughout the journey and contrasts strongly with the otherwise cold and unpredictable landscape.
Spending the night in a wind turbine factory
One night, Mike finds himself in an uncomfortable situation when, after being misdirected, he is forced to spend the night in an abandoned wind turbine factory. Despite the eeriness of the place, he finds a gas station nearby, where he buys beer and snacks to keep his spirits up until morning. As he travels through China’s varied landscapes – from deserts to lush green areas – the language barriers also become apparent. Misunderstandings and misinterpretations marked several encounters with local drivers, where he sometimes had to wait a long time for the next ride or even take a taxi out of the city center.
In one of the most memorable encounters of the trip, he bonds with Mr. Chen, a British-speaking truck driver who soon becomes an unexpected friend. Mike describes how meeting Mr. Chen opens up a new dimension of the trip – one where the helpfulness and genuine friendliness of everyday people takes centre stage. He notes:
– His name is Mr. Chen, which I feel bad about because he said, ‘I’ve been driving with you for ten hours and you don’t even know my name’.
The journey ends with Mr. Chen, after helping him through both linguistic mishaps and unexpected detours, taking him towards Beijing where Mike plans to end the adventure with a train ride into the city. Despite all the challenges – from dangerous highways to feeling isolated – Mike highlights how meeting ordinary people, from customs officers to friendly police officers, revives his faith in humanity.
With a mixture of laughter, frustration and wonder, Mike Okay gives us a unique insight into everyday China – far from the touristy facade and with a humane side rarely seen in the Western bloc’s establishment media.
Mike O'Kennedy, known as “Mike Okay” on YouTube, is a British travel blogger with over half a million followers. He is best known for his documentaries on travel to remote and controversial places, including North Korea and Xinjiang in China. His content focuses on providing a personal and uncensored insight into these areas, often with humor and a sense of adventure.
Muslim leader Aynur Birgalin argues that the creators of The Simpsons are using the animated TV series to “program” audiences and prepare them for real events that have not yet taken place.
For years, viewers have argued that The Simpsons has been eerily successful in repeatedly predicting world events of various kinds, highlighting in the show things that have not yet happened but have since become reality.
Donald Trump as president, flu-like pandemics from Asia, inventions that did not exist at the time, Siegfried & Roy’s tiger incident, the storming of the Capitol and the naming of future Nobel Prize winners are just a few of many more examples of this that are usually highlighted.
However, Muftin Birgalin, chairman of the spiritual administration for Muslims in the Russian republic of Bashkiria, says it is neither prophecy nor coincidence – instead, he claims that the “conductors behind the scenes” are very deliberately using the show to influence the public.
– We often hear that The Simpsons are supposedly predicting the future. But let’s think about it. Can it be mere coincidences? No, of course not, argues the Muslim legal scholar.
– These are not predictions but the deliberate work of specific forces to implant certain concepts via pop culture to test the public’s reaction and prepare people for different events, he continues.
“Not a joke”
According to Birgalin, movies, TV shows and memes are used to “program” audiences and control their thoughts. He also points to the American series Madam Secretary, which he says is “almost 90% identical” to real events in Ukraine.
The series, which revolves around the fictional US Secretary of State Elizabeth McCord, was shown in 2015-2016. One of the Ukrainian characters was surnamed Zelinsky, which is very similar to Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, who was elected president in 2019.
– A coincidence? No. It is a pre-planned scenario. It is not a joke. It is not a cause for laughter, but a serious signal to think about, Birgalin says.
Critics of the theory argue that the “prophecies” in The Simpsons should rather be considered coincidences, pointing out, for example, that COVID-19 was not the first airborne virus outbreak from Asia and that Donald Trump already made an unsuccessful attempt to become president in 2000.
– If you study history and math, it would be literally impossible for us not to predict things. If you say enough things, some of them are going to overlap with reality, Simpsons producer Matt Selman has previously commented on the series’ predictions.
In William Shakespeare’s birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon, England, a much-criticized reassessment of the world-famous playwright’s cultural heritage is underway.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust has decided to “decolonize” its substantial and extensive collection of Shakespeare-related material, among other things, on the grounds that this allegedly risks promoting “white supremacy”.
It says the decision involves exploring the impact of empire and colonialism on the museum’s collections, and how Shakespeare’s works have contributed to these narratives.
The foundation believes that some items in the collections may contain “language or depictions that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise harmful”, reports The Standard.
The initiative is a result of a study conducted with Dr Helen Hopkins of the University of Birmingham in 2022. The study criticized the foundation’s attractions in Stratford for portraying Shakespeare as a “universal genius” – an idea that allegedly “benefits the ideology of white European supremacy”.
As part of the initiative, the Shakespeare Foundation plans to diversify its focus by celebrating global cultural contributions, such as Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore and Bollywood dance inspired by “Romeo and Juliet”.
Dismantling history
However, critics say the decision is part of a broader trend to decolonize cultural institutions. Concerns are expressed that such a reappraisal of historical figures like William Shakespeare could lead to the dismantling of influential white figures in the West, rather than promoting a true understanding of the complex cultural heritage.
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust stresses that the project should not be seen as a critique of Shakespeare’s work, but aims to reassess the historical context of the museum’s collections and artifacts.
However, “decolonizing” Shakespeare’s legacy risks not only losing the historical context of the world-famous poet’s work, according to analysts. It also risks distorting the cultural significance of one of the most influential writers of all time.
