Scientific American offers up a short survey of apocalyptic visions to supplement their September issue, which I haven’t seen yet. Did your favorite apocalypse make the list?

Meanwhile, Web Urbanist offers up another slew and a half of apocalyptic visions, with lots of great (and horrific) imagery to back it up. I’ve had this tab open for more than a week. I just keep going back to it as I make notes for Razed.

Another of the articles I wrote for Lord of the Rings Online and the wonderful developer Turbine, went up last week: Mobs of LOTRO. This one’s a curious contrast to some of the previous articles, which were more about lore than gameplay, in that this one mixes MMO terminology (e.g., “mob” for a mobile NPC, such as a monster to battle) with Tolkien lore. The result is, to me, an odd melange of new and old, which was tricky but great fun to write.

Wights haunting the ancient Barrow-downs.

This article also contains one of my favorite screenshots. I took something like 7,000 overall, but this one shows the incredible detail put into character art in the game. Look at that center skeleton — he still has an eyeball! That’s magnificently creepy.

A good article for screenshots overall, I think. I did my best to get well framed shots, almost like illustrations, where I could. Thanks to LOTRO’s remarkable level and character artists and designers, it’s a ton of fun to play photographer in Middle-earth.

When we walked through the whole Westminster/Parliament area on our way to the Tate Britain, it was full of tourists and rainy mist. On our way back, after dark, it was near empty. The soundtrack to this is the noise of traffic going by on rain-slick streets.

Borough Market, London.

Borough Market Moment from Will Hindmarch on Vimeo.

Underground Ad Cat from Wordwill on Vimeo.

We’re in London. Internet access is spotty, if only because we’re running out of money fast. I’ll be posting photos and videos throughout the next couple of days, though, as I’m able.

It’s fucking brilliant, that’s all.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This reminds you of Minority Report, because they have designers in common:

g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.

Found on Liz’s blog.

Cherie Priest pointed to this on her blog, and I thought you’d like it. This is how graphic designers got gigs back in the day:

Picture the designer in the home of some London literati, holding the book out before some printing-lord. He turns the pages slowly, hoping the next design, or the next, will earn an audible gasp or widen a noble eye. “Or, milord,” says the designer, “I can offer unique foliate initials for your next formal pamphlet.”

The lord nods. “Yes, very good. But I’ve just bought a folio of poetic grotesqueries and a few plays of witchcraft and bombast, which I am soon to put into print. What sort of experience do you have with lewd capitals?”

[Lots more photos and designs at the link.]