The Dig

The Dig is a point-and-click adventure game developed by LucasArts and released in 1995 as a CD-ROM for PC and Macintosh computers. Like other LucasArts adventure games, it uses the SCUMM engine, and features full voice-over soundtrack including notable voice actors Robert Patrick and Steven Blum, and a digital orchestral score. The game uses a combination of drawn two-dimensional artwork and limited pre-rendered three-dimensional movies.

Unlike other LucasArts adventure games, which typically included a good deal of humor, the tone of The Dig was more serious and took a somber approach to a science fiction motif. The game is inspired by an idea originally created for Steven Spielberg's Amazing Stories series. In the game, the player takes the role of Commander Boston Low, part of a five-man team to plant explosives on an asteroid to avert its collision course with Earth. Discovering the asteroid is hollow, Low and two of his team are suddenly transported to a strange alien world, in a long-abandoned complex exhibiting advanced technology. Low and his companions must undertake xenoarchaeology to learn how the technology works, the fate of the alien race that built it, and other mysteries to find a way to return home.

The Dig (novel)

The Dig is a novel by John Preston, published May 2007, set in the context of the 1939 Anglo-Saxon ship burial excavation at Sutton Hoo, Suffolk, England. The novel has been widely reviewed as ‘an account of the excavation at Sutton Hoo in 1939’. The sleevenote advertises it as 'a brilliantly realized account of the most famous archaeological dig in Britain in modern times.' However the account in the book differs in various ways from the real events of the Sutton Hoo excavations.

A radio serial drama based upon Preston's fictionalized account was broadcast on UK BBC Radio 4 commencing 15 September 2008.

Nature of the work

John Preston has for many years been chief television critic for The Sunday Telegraph newspaper. He is also the nephew of one of the excavators, Mrs Peggy Piggott, (wife of Stuart Piggott, afterwards Edinburgh Professor of Archaeology) later known to the archaeological world as Margaret Guido, but born Cecily Margaret Preston (1912–1994). However, by his own account the author only became aware of the story surrounding the excavation three years ago (i.e. c. 2004) and therefore the content is not derived directly from Mrs Piggott’s narration.

The Dig (band)

The Dig is an American Rock band based in New York City, consisting of Emile Mosseri (bass/vocals), David Baldwin (guitar/vocals), Erick Eiser (keyboards/guitar), and Mark Demiglio (drums).

The band released its debut album Electric Toys in 2010, followed by Midnight Flowers in 2012, and two EPs, Tired Hearts and You & I in 2013.

History

The Dig's singers Emile Mosseri and David Baldwin started playing in a band together when they were 10 years old. The band used to rehearse next door to The Strokes, which led to early comparisons between the two bands.

Since releasing their debut album, they have toured or performed with such bands as The Lumineers, The Antlers,The Walkmen,Portugal. The Man, and Editors.

Electric Toys (2010)

In 2010, the band released their debut album, Electric Toys, which was produced by Bryce Goggin who has worked with Pavement, Ramones and Swans. As explained by Mosseri in an interview with UK/US music Web site There Goes the Fear, the album title is a reference to a lyric in the song "She's Going to Kill That Boy" and suggests that the album is a collection of electric toys. rockandrollreport.com described the album by stating, "Overall, this album does not sound like a debut, and I am sure that it is just the start of what this incredible band can record."