Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with darkness

What's this short story about an owl(?) leading animals into darkness?

Petrot — Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:12:11 -0800

I have a memory of a short story I read years ago that no-one else seems to recollect. It featured animals as the main characters - mainly farmyard/woodland types. They become followers of a leader (an owl/cockerel?), who leads them to pastures new. The leader wants to remain in tight control, so he leads them underground(?) and emerge in a "new" land, but one where it is constantly in darkness. The animals relish their freedom, and thank the leader for keeping them safe. However, they become restless about the dark, and the fact that they have to go back underground after a few hours (the leader has told them that if they stay above ground, they will die).

Some animals become so distressed that they decide to stay above ground. Whilst waiting for death, the darkness turns to day, and they realise they are in the same farmyard/location as before, and that the leader has been tricking them. They expose him as a power-hungry fraudster.

This story is not "The Owl Who Was God", but it did come with a similar morality message.

Don't look back! Don't looks back!

Sweetmag — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 07:23:20 -0800

I'm a 29 yr old female, married, and have two children. Yet, I am terrified of the dark and being home alone. For as long as I can remember darkness has petrified me and I can't enter a room that's dark, or even look into one. When I'm home alone, no matter the time of day, I get so scared that something is following me, in the house, or about to get me. I jump at every noise and will often just stand in the middle of the room looking back and forth quickly, so nothing can sneak up on me. I'm tired of being so scared and it's hard to comfort a child who's scared when you get just as scared as them. Here's some examples of my level of scaredy cattedness:

- Slightly open closet doors must mean someone or something snuck in there and is now peeking at me from the small gape. Full blown panic will set in, I will run from the room and yell for my husband to come shut the door. If no one's home, I'll just avoid that room till they are home.

- Walking up stairs I brace myself to be dragged back down the stairs by whatever crazy thing I believe to be there. Most often I will have my husband walk behind me up the stairs for protection, but when alone I will bolt up the stairs no matter how much I tell myself nothing will get me.

- I always jump into bed, because I'm terrified something will grab my ankles and yank me under the bed. I won't even get out of bed to use the bathroom during the night, because I'm just to scared of the dark hallway, stairwell or what's under my bed.

-Darkness paralyzes me. If I need to get somewhere, but I must pass through or by darkness I just won't go. I will stand there in a corner till my husband can get to me and escort me.

-Showering during the day is my biggest challenge. I can't hear a single thing when I'm in the bathroom. It makes showering incredibly hard if I'm home alone, because I'm convinced something is sneaking up on me, waiting outside the door for me or is staring directly at me while I have my eyes shut. My anxiety level will skyrocket and I have to get out of the shower quickly whether I'm done or not.

I'm not afraid of outside darkness, but inside darkness. I could stand outside in the dark and maybe be a little uncomfortable, but something about the house and darkness just get to me.

I try to tell myself this is nonsense, there's nothing to be afraid of, you should know by now that there is no monsters, but it doesn't work. I feel like I live in some sort of horror show and every second is the second I'm about to be dragged down the basement stairs and...i'm not sure what I think is going to happen.

When I get scared I become unable to move, my heart starts pounding, my anxiety is through the roof and all the hair on my body stands up. I feel like a small child locked in a dark basement and I'm tired of it. I don't like being scared of my own shadow all the freakin' time and I want to be able to get past this so I can feel like a normal adult. I can't pinpoint any one reason that would explain this, i've just always been this way. It has gotten worse the older I get and now it's to the point that I will curl up in a ball and cry if confronted with darkness or anything that scares the crap out of me.

So, help me metafilter. To those who have been or still are scared of the dark, what were/are the tricks or tips you use to calm your irrational fears? Am I forever stuck being scared of every bump in the night or can I overcome this?

I never grew out of fear of the dark.

juniper — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 11:26:46 -0800

I am an adult with fear of the dark, along with other anxiety problems. I hate driving in the dark, even on streets with streetlights (I even hesitate to ride in the car at night) and feel panicky in dark rooms. I sleep with a nightlight, but wish it didn't feel like a necessity, and with fall coming, I dread the long nights ahead. Beyond therapy (which I have tried for my other problems and cannot currently afford) are there any methods of coping with this?

Literature to mediate on the scum of the earth

SollosQ — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 19:19:29 -0800

I have been trying to deal with the shadows, or dark reality, of life: sex-trafficking, war crimes, war rape, rape, hatred, familial abuse, child pornography; even the "lighter" shadows of infidelity, corruption (of the 3rd World and 1st World), hard drug use and dealing of financial elites, etc.; and perhaps maybe even more importantly: the lack of public-moral outrage that would seek to eradicate such an infestation (strong words, sure - I don't mean to imply I want a 21st century witch hunt). Was the pre-technological age freer from this darkness than we? How can we really progress if something like this is so overlooked? What is the nature of this darkness?

I'm looking for literature that deals with this issue, either pessimistically or optimistically. I'm more interested in literature that meditates (so maybe the book doesn't have to have this as an explicit and obvious topic) on this issue, than non-fictional works and the sort.

Love of place

chmmr — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 12:14:56 -0800

I'm trying to find a particular quote from Ursula le Guin's "Left Hand of Darkness". The passage is about the meaning of love of place. It's something like, "What is love of place? Is it familiarity with the trees, rocks, etc. of the land? And does the love of place stop with its border?" I've googled quotes from her, downloaded a PDF off a rapidshare-type site (I do own a copy of the book, so I don't think there's ethical concerns there) and searched for what I think are the keywords of the passage, and have not managed to find it. Does anyone know the passage, or even the page of the book it appears in?

Werner Herzog wants his crazy back.

sully75 — Fri, 20 May 2011 11:06:25 -0800

In Lessons Of Darkness by Werner Herzog, why do the oil well firefighters send lit torches into non-burning wells at the end? In the Werner Herzog movie Lessons of Darkness, at the end, one of the workers takes a lighted torch and throws it into an extinguished oil well, setting it on fire. Several others repeat this. Herzog has a thing about how they’ve all gone made. But really, what actually happened? Why would a worker intentionally set a well on fire? I assume that was actually something they wanted to do but can’t imagine why.

Surrendering to dark circles. Well, kind of.

raztaj — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 12:38:18 -0800

No amount of hydration, sleep, cucumbers, teabags, fancy gels and creams will get rid of the very dark circles under my eyes. I have made peace with the fact that they will never ever go away, but I would love some makeup solutions for covering them up. Is it possible to do so fairly minimally, without layers upon layers of caked on makeup and products? What products have you had success with? I have very pale skin, with yellow (no olive, no pink) undertones. Deep eye sockets, and prominent cheekbones, which contribute to darkness. It's also just genetic - my siblings all deal with this. I also have creases under the eyes which might be becoming a little more cemented as I get older, but are more due to bone/skin structure (I've had them at least since my teens).

Current routine: regular facial moisturizer, tinted moisturizer (Laura Mercier in "nude" but "porcelain" might be better for extra winter paleness). Often a dusting of powder (Bare Escentuals). I'm happy with this for normal coverage on my face, but the tinted moisturizer doesn't do much for the under eye darkness, and I have to be careful with powder under my eyes as it'll sink into the creases. I've found this awesome question which introduced me to the wonder that is "primer." But I don't know what kinds. Apparently there are gel kinds, liquidy kinds, and tinted kinds. I have no idea where to begin!

I tend to be a little mistrusting of people at makeup counters, worried that they're just trying to get me to buy popular "hot! new!" products. But I tend to like to keep my makeup fairly simple, and I'd much rather hear suggestions by actual people who use products on themselves, that they're happy with.

Can you offer any makeup or product suggestions? Application tips? Other random suggestions for covering or concealing darkness under the eyes?

I'm solar-powered, and I want a backup battery.

Metroid Baby — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 11:21:20 -0800

Whenever it's dark outside, my brain starts winding down for the day. This is fine in the summer, but right about this time of year it starts to suck a little. How can I get going in the evenings? For some reason, I don't like doing anything after dark. This includes errands, housework, creative projects, leaving the house in general. When the sun goes down, all I want to do is change into sweats, plop on the couch, and relax - even if I'm not actually tired. I enjoy relaxing, but I'd like to get a little more stuff done, and every evening I think "well, it's getting late/I'm a little tired/I need to take a break tonight, I'll do it tomorrow." As a result, I tend to only get things done during the day on weekends. I've even consciously thought, for example, "I want to clean this room, but it's night. I can't clean at night! I guess I'll have to do it on the weekend." Cleaning at night just feels wrong to me, somehow. I don't really know how I got that notion in my head, but there it is.

Weekend evenings are the same, so it's not really an after-work thing. Cloudy days have a similar effect on me; conversely, bright sunny days energize me. I also have more trouble waking up when it's dark outside, but once I'm out of bed and moving around I'm okay.

This is not exactly a question about seasonal affective disorder, though I think it's related. I am prone to depression, and it is seasonally triggered, but I've been successfully treating it. I take antidepressants, a multivitamin, and fish oil. I work out 5-6 days a week, usually in the evenings. I walk part of the way to work, which gets me outside for 20-30 minutes of daylight in the morning. I have a small full-spectrum lamp, which I've used during the day in past winters. All of this has worked well for me, and I'm not down or sluggish or sleeping excessively, but it hasn't stopped me from associating nighttime with sleepytime.

I have been getting about 6.5-7 hours of sleep a night, which seems to be the right amount for me, and I keep a consistent sleep schedule. I don't think the problem stems from a lack of sleep. And I don't want to sleep less, I just want to do more with the time between, say, 7 and 10 pm.

I suspect the solution might be some variation of "just start making yourself do stuff at night more often," which I keep planning to do (and inevitably adding "tomorrow, because it's already late and tonight I think I need to unwind a little," stupid brain). But if there are any specific tricks I haven't thought of, I want to hear them.

You're one of us now! You don't belong to them anymore. Accept your fate!

Anonymous — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 18:40:57 -0800

Can anyone recommend some good books, TV shows, movies, or video games about people who battle it out with literal inner demons? I've noticed that I'm drawn to a particular plot: I really enjoy stories in which people with a dark side struggle against their darker half.

Are there any really good examples of this plot that you can recommend? I'm particularly interested in books, but other types of media are fair game. Despite the speculative nature of my request, I'm also open to more "metaphorical" examples of this idea.

I've noticed this trope is very common in shounen anime and manga. The Vizards of Bleach have the sort of quality I dig. When Ichigo had just discovered he was a Vizard, there were several tension-filled chapters in which he constantly fought for control of his human senses.

Another example is the Prince/Dark Prince dynamic of The Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones. I love how the Prince is forced to push against the Dark Prince's advances--and how much the Prince acquiesces at first.

Obviously, the seduction of the Dark Side of the Force is a classic idea.

Vampire and werewolf stories are OK, but I'm picky. Lament of the Lamb has the type of vampire plot I like: subtle and more psychological.

I'm finding what I'm searching for a little hard to describe. I suppose here are two ideas to keep in mind: stories in which the hero is taunted by the darkness he's transforming into ("One of us! One of us!") and stories in which the hero fights against something monstrous from within.

If you have any fanfic recs of some of the series I've mentioned that focus on the inner turmoil, I'd love them as well.

I need music for my Mage game

mr_book — Wed, 21 May 2008 18:40:48 -0800

Help me find appropriate music for my Mage: The Ascension game set in 1997. Alright, so i'm running a game of Mage: The Ascension (OWOD) set in 1997. The characters are all recent high-school grads who, once friends, have reunited after their first year out of school. I want to play this game to appropriate background music for the time period and, also, for the characters (meaning late teenagers).

I was there myself, and I remember a lot of music that fits this style; however, I came into the greater portion of my music-fu after the turn of the millennium and thus only remember a fraction of what was there. What I do remember was the stuff that got blasted over the radio. I'm looking for the music that was between the cracks, the kind you would have heard while you were getting high in your friends basement or while romancing that amazingly hot girl in her bedroom while she played riffs you'd never heard of before. Non-mainstream, but awesome, that kind of thing. Early grunge bands, under-the-radar goth rock, decent techno, sweet hold-over bands from the 80's, etc.

Also, anything that has to do with that quiet, impending apocalypse that all teenagers were told to expect in the 90s works. And, of course, anything Mage-appropriate would be helpful if you know what that is.

Help me make it through the sunshine

dawson — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 11:24:30 -0800

Anyone here familiar with the polar opposite of SAD disorder? Or to be more specific it seems a majority of people in every culture suffer varying degrees of sadness and 'the blues' during short and/or inclement weather days. Any number of studies confirm this But what if so called 'beautiful' days depress you? I am totally opposite in that I find bright sunshiny temperate days crushingly depressing. I am most alive in cold weather with grey skies. Rain or snow makes me almost manic. When I was younger (20!) I moved to the island of Grenada for a year. It messed me up to the tune of seeing a CBT therapist for a few years. (More to it than that, the climite was more of a trigger.) Since then I've sought out climates more like those in Kiev or St Petersburg (Russia).
I never mentioned this until I heard, about a year ago, a show on (I think) NPR about others with this 'preference'. The bit showcased a woman who eventually moved to Seattle because she was so well adjusted in that climate.
Now I can't seem to find anything that backs my claim of loathing the weather most adore.
For what it's worth I was born and raised between the hot, humid swamps of eastern NC and the Outer Banks.
Perhaps someone has heard of this, or perhaps I've just removed all doubt that I'm a nutter.
I've even had a few people buy me 'natural spectrum lamps', but they make me queasy.
I do take (expensive, MD prescribed) vitamin D drops. Also, a former sun worshiper, I've had skin cancer removed and am supposed to be checked yearly for the damage done when I was younger. Summer, with ants, mosquitoes, ticks, brutal heat, life sucking humidity, brilliant sun, poison ivy, hay fever, grass to mow...what a nightmare!
except for fresh vegetable gardens, thunderstorms and the celebrations/libations of July 4th

Shit, still in Saigon.

mwhybark — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 10:50:09 -0800

Who holds copyright to Hearts of Darkness^, and why did they block inclusion of the documentary in the recently-released Apocalypse Now: The Complete Dossier DVD set?

Do children see darkness as "blacker" than adults?

Bugbread — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 07:05:59 -0800

Do children see darkness as "blacker" than adults? When I was a child, I noticed that in supposed "pitch darkness", I actually saw a large number of really small red, blue, green, and other colored points (somewhat like if you look at a low res digital camera photo of darkness). As an adult, it seems that there are more of these points than there used to be.

I can think of 3 possible likely interpretations:
1) Adult eyes, for some reason, do in fact see more of these dots.
2) It varies from person to person
3) It's my imagination that the number has increased.

Which is it? And, if #1 or #2, why is it?

Bats ... they were like bats

5MeoCMP — Sun, 15 May 2005 23:22:59 -0800

Trying to remember the name(s) of a series of books I read, ooh, 10-15 years ago (ouch). Scifi/fantasy genre, female author. Susan something? Anyhoo, there were these big fortresses, and it was completely dark inside and all the people hid inside them while the big flappy things ruled the land outside. Your typical three-volume fallen from grace to rise again with the strength of our courage and sweat of our brows kind of thing, but (with a precious few moments) set entirely in these dark fortresses. Honestly, I've Googled, I've asked my brother and sister (they read these books too), I even asked my Mum, and she should remember since it was one of those books that got blue shampoo spilled on it when we went on one of those interminable family holidays during which I learned to play ping-pong really well.

Ahem. I seem to be a little off track here.

However, if anyone can tickle my memory, I'd be most grateful. It's been driving me crazy that I can remember almost all the books I read except for these (and maybe there's a good reason for that, but I'd like to know).

No moon at night, everyone take flight!

wackybrit — Fri, 31 Dec 2004 13:23:20 -0800

What could obscure the moon temporarily at night? The ghost thread reminded me of this weird event, and I wondered if you clever folk might be able to speculate.. [mi] Back in the late '80s (or possibly very early '90s), when I was a kid, me, my father, and my uncle were left on our own in a vacation caravan sitting around looking at the moon. Suddenly there was a 'notch' in the left side of the moon. Then, over about 2 minutes, a black square with perfectly straight sides and sharp corners moved across the moon and off the right side. By the time my uncle got his antique camcorder, it was over. We reported it anyway, without incident.

If it wasn't such a perfect square, this wouldn't even be a question. It could have been a cloud or a plane. But a perfect square that took a couple of minutes to cut across the moon seen by three people.. am I missing something, what could it have been? A satellite of some sort? An experimental jet? Or just another one of those inexplicable things? This is certainly not in our imaginations as all three of us saw it, and I even remember it well, despite being a kid at the time.