#I’m going to have to relisten to this episode when I can get through the Glenn-Taylor fight without literally laughing so hard I cry

[etre-grantaire]

I absolutely loved Glenn’s tumble down from the echelons of coolness in this episode bc I feel like it reflects a lot of what people have been saying, that Glenn’s whole Cool Guy persona is put on bc that’s what people expect, and people don’t really question you when you’re behaving in the way they expect

Like it took 23 episodes for the other dads to notice that Glenn never talked about his wife bc he created this persona who you can’t imagine you can have deep conversations with. He hid behind this character he created, which of course is still rooted in him and his personality, because it’s easier to play a role than it is to allow yourself to be vulnerable after you’ve been hurt.

But now that he’s back with Morgan (even if it’s a slightly different Morgan, and is that weird? I think it’s kind of weird) he doesn’t need to hide as much, so while he’s still ultimately the same person, it doesn’t matter as much if he stumbles over a joke or completely whiffs it because he doesn’t have that same fear of vulnerability, because he knows that Morgan knows that he’s kind of weird and kind of passionate in an off-kilter way and she loves him for that

And he still has his Cool Guy persona but it’s more clearly a performance and she sees what he’s saying with it, and she loves him whether he’s shredding a solo or stumbling over a Cool Guy line

[rowanraven08]

Tmagp rant number 7??? I don’t know why I’m trying to number these anymore I’ve lost count.

TMAGP SPOILERS FOR EP19

So I’m thoroughly freaking out over the new episode, but I’m really interested over the bit at the end between Colin and Alice.

“We can’t let him know how much we know.”

“He sees too much already.”

Not they. Not the OIAR as a whole, he. A singular person, supporting the theory that it’s Chester himself listening in, not the OIAR tapping people’s devices or listening through him. Even more, it’s that Colin knows about him, I am thoroughly betting at this point that Colin knows there’s people stuck in the computer, that he knows about Jon, and maybe have even communicated with him.

I’m trying to figure out what he means by “doing mummy and daddy stansi proud,” since that was a German secret police (I think? I’m gonna read up on it later, I don’t know much about it) And when he starts getting into talking about mercury’s and sulfur, I have no clue what to make of that. Maybe Celia’s on the right track with alchemy? Also if I’m right about Colin being touched by the spiral, or whatever is closest now that the fears might be divided differently, he could be going properly insane too, god I need to know so badly.

I also saw someone making a joke about how long it took Sam to realize they were being listened to, and he was being given certain cases for the institute, when Celia was talking about alchemy and then there was immediately a case about alchemy, and that wasn’t even what knocked some sense into him. But I don’t think he actually got that case, it was Celia who needed that information, the statement and Sam’s conversation with Alice are separate scenes, you can hear the recording end, so I think it was Celia and we just didn’t hear her reaction to it.

The errors are also getting strangely suspicious, some of the timing is just perfect for some conversations.

“Do you have a moment?” Computer immediately has an error, giving Alice no excuse not to listen to Sam. When she doesn’t believe him and brushes it off? Another error.

In ep17? The conversation between Gwen and Alice where they nearly talk about their issues, all cause because Alice’s computer kept having an error. When Gwen says “Trust me, I hate it as much as you do,” it sounds like that was her trying to end the conversation. Another error, and they start talking again. They almost tell each other what’s on their minds, when they don’t the computer immediately starts up again. And I quote from the transcript, “The PC gives a begrudging tone and seems to be working again.” Begrudging. Like Jon was frustrated they wouldn’t just talk to each other and figure stuff out, because this is the sort of situation where everyone thinks they have to keep their secrets and if they actually just communicated and put their heads together, they could get a lot farther.

Anyway I need to relisten to the whole thing again, and see if all the errors have this sort of purpose.

[peacereturnedtothevalley]

palisade 56 //

Great intro with leap I love to be laughing 2 minutes in

I did not remember leap’s epilogue at all LMAO just that he stayed on palisade

Hiiiiiiiii Jorie

Barnacle….

Rye and Gallica…. Rip to her… love a sexy evil duo

I need to relisten to this but again hiiii jorie “the scalpel” is so sexy

Cori’s that’s so raven vision

Wait a minute… looking at description names… Svir…. Five…….

Xylem

Resolute welkin..

they smiled at each other

Vibrant copse

HELLO?

I was getting vibes but I wasn’t sure but I’m sure now oh my god. Austin. Austin thank you

Branched x Delegate/Wakeful Yuri what a beautiful world

I’m like obsessed with every npc Austin has presented before us today

—

JACK.. Let’s go

They’re so gleefully inventing a worse peer to peer gig worker society

Cannot believe this is what they meant when arbitrage was like okay we can do not a contract :)

They haven’t said this but how I would make this shit work is everyone gets a rating and doing a shit job ostracizes you from society

God this gig economy feverdream is so nauseating. And it makes sense to me as a continuation of connadine’s on cycle shit.

Not to bring personal things into it but. I saw a movie at a film festival recently, about an Uyghur girl in 2017 who was going through family pressures to get married on top of increasing surveillance and detention of Uyghurs at that time. There was a director Q&A and when she was asked about how the situation is currently, she said the surveillance and restriction is less severe now, not because of the goodness of their hearts but like, that status quo got to them and the uyghur population are policing Themselves now. For events like weddings and stuff they proactively call a cop to join them so that rather than be questioned later, they know what’s going on already. People can’t and won’t say how they really feel freely and this is the way they have found survival . I still can’t call family and talk about things in any specifics. More and more people can visit again/leave the country after years of not being able to but their families will be too terrified to actually meet with them in case it brings trouble, and who knows when they might flip the switch on the limited freer travel

Okay that ended up being a longer tangent than I planned but all that to say, rather than arbitrage enforcing things with a contract, why not make it ubiquitous with how you have to live in society. It feels parallel to the stuff I outline above :)

You know how in stardew valley you go into the road tunnel and there’s a place where you can insert batteries for mr qi stuff that’s arbitrage to me

—

Connadine takes his shirt off to call arbitrage

Connadine and Arbitrage’s loving partnership is so funny to me

Cas’alear time

Routine hooked up with them huh

Svir time… Five……

10 years of solitude :(

I care him… the isolation is so real and agh

HES LOOKING FOR THE NOBEL..

doing snaps in the air for Austin

okay I think the partizan finale is such a blur to me and I did not remember what specifically happened to autonomy itself

Svir :((((((

OMG DID HE FIND THEM…. Or did they find him…

Brnine time 😎

Agh in the wreckage of a lost war…

I just got to a harrowing point in the new ffxiv expansion and its coloring this war zone vibe

Brnineeeee you’re so depressed. My meow meow

The leaving a letter thing is so funny brnine is emotionally doing a Turkish ice cream situation on Levi

Gangs back together :) we’re soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo Back

Whole episode thoughts: that was excellent. I needed this. I loved every npc in Austin’s stories and I need to listen to them all again… got a little lost in the first one oops

No word from jesset or gucci so far but I hope we get some of it at Some point but who knows

Cas…. Cas’alear has always been technically compromised but has never truly betrayed millenium break or something. You know that I don’t believe in monarchy but I love it when the chosen king gets the throne tweet, something about apostolos brings up that emotion and cas does so in particular

Levi really speedran the revolutionary leader thing I hope we get some inferiority or interpersonal stuff for him tbh… cori hugging him was cute :’) my poor girl…

In my heart I believe in Cori’s ability to find and save Elle but with the say the contracts work I’m so worried for her

I wonder if we can get more eclectic later… the second story kind of contextualized the amount of independence he may have. Also glad Austin got to portray a softer story of how wakeful kind of works

excited and nervous for the sortie now good luck everyone don’t die

[soph-the-podcast-nerd]

Warning more Juno Steel Spoilers

I’m doing another reaction for part 2 of the case closed

pt 1

Loving junos personification of Hyperion City

aw hes so happy to be a private eye again lol

PUCK FALCO? I was not expecting to see them in this episode honestly

The Sheriff Hates Paperwork

“yeah shes the best we all know that” SO FAIR

ah…. I’m getting Thea soul vibes

Yeah we don’t have a car cuz it went back to its home planet nbd 🤷‍♀️

You guys. I love rita so much. Like I can’t explain how much I love her. Rita is absolutely the best. Idk what I’m going to do without her :(

“Oh. Its you.” “Funny, thats exactly what I say when I look in the mirror each morning.” I love how the penumbra podcast can just be so casually funny with random lines like this

Pilot pereyra was. The one with the high heels I think? I don’t remember… was that the one that was with them at the old station when they were trying to find like. The underground city. Cuz that was a while back and I cannot remember (it sounds like I need to relisten to juno steel lol)

Wait was I right about the thea soul

cuz if juno had one in his office its possible they’re still out there

Ah. fuck.

Loving this music so much aaaaa

all the music is so great on tpp i love it

AAAAAAAAAA MICK UR BACK YAYYYYYYYY

also juno did you have some coffee. Why are u so hyper

i love mick so much hes so silly aaaaa

Juno my boy loves being a pain in the ass

also juno learn how to make tea its not that damn hard like mick doesn’t know much but he knows how to make tea

this is so funny everyone make fun of juno time because he doesn’t know how to use a computer, he doesn’t know how to make tea, but somehow hes an amazing private eye???

Well theres only one person we haven’t seen. Thats right Sasha wi

just kidding peter nureyev the man in glass

you ever think about. Trees?

bro is trying to…. stop… autumn???

hes so dumb I love him. Keep doing what you’re doing dude never change

also when was the last time we heard juno genuinely laugh. Have we ever heard him laugh like this? Hes just. So happy. I’m so glad.

i bet you that nureyev comes through the window in these last 13 minutes. Or hes already sitting inside

Aaa fuck you juno now I’m crying

why are doing this to me. I’m. Aughhhh. Crying.

especially with this music

FUCK. I’m sad.

We dont get a reunion? Aw

i kinda get it tho

Ah fuck I dont have any money

you guys I’m going to miss this show so damn much oh. Oh my god. Also I don’t have any money and the money I do have is in cash cuz I’m a minor without a job. But I’m so excited to hear about future projects

[carriagelamp]

I don't know what to say here this month. February, eh? Hate February, the Thursday of months, I'm just clinging to sanity while I wait for spring. Here are the books that helped me through what is basically a month of overcast skies and fucking winter rain.

Candy Color Paradox v6

Candy Color Paradox is a series I’ve been reading for years now and I’ve really enjoyed how the relationship in this one has progressed over that time. It started somewhat similar to how you’d expect a yaoi manga to start — lots of tension, drama, smut, and some light antagonism between the two main characters who both work at the same weekly magazine. But it’s eased into something that’s really quite genuine. This most recent volume focused entirely on moving in together and all the little complications and insecurities that arise because of that.

Circus of Fear

A 1980s D&D choose your own adventure novel so the quality is exactly what you would expect, but at the very least it was a fun little diversion. Doing a CYOA book with a friend can honestly be a blast, they just feel so silly, and the setting of a magical, vaguely sinister circus is always an enjoyable backdrop. We managed to get a good ending on the second try! So yay! I'd honestly like to read it again and try some of the other routes that also sounding intriguing.

Dungeon Meshi // Delicious in Dungeon v1

Me and my girlfriend started watching Dungeon Meshi because we’d seen so much about it on tumblr lately and wow. Just wow. It really is doing something special and we’re completely enamoured. Since we’re waiting for new episodes, I picked up the first book so we could compare it and the show — it’s really impressive how closely they align! And the art is really lovely, it stands out and not just for it's food glamour shots.

For those who haven't been seduced into watching the anime yet: Dungeon Meshi / Delicious in Dungeon is a DND-style parody in which the adventuring party needs to enter the monster-filled dungeon to save one of their companions who got eaten by a red dragon. They need to get to her and revive her before she entirely digested. However, to hasten their quest (and indulge one of their member’s strange obsessions) they begin to hunt and eat the monsters that fill the dungeon instead of trying to bring food in from the outside. This is 80% a cooking anime and 20% a comedic adventure anime. Book or show, doesn’t matter which, you should give it a try if you haven’t.

Down Among the Sticks and Bones

I really enjoyed the first book of the series, Every Heart A Doorway, and was excited when I found out there was a prequel about Jack and Jill and the world they visited. This can either be read as a prequel or it works fairly well as a stand-alone novella; the story is about twin sisters who have always been forced to fill very precise societal roles by their parents. One afternoon, they stumble across a magical door in the bottom of a chest and venture down into the sinister world of the moors where one sister is taken in by a vampire lord and the other by a mad scientist. The story looks at how the sisters grow and change when apart from each other and their controlling parents. Excellent story, the language is just so enticing.

Midnight Sun

My brother has been watching all the Twilight movies with a couple of his friends. Listening to him bitch about Jacob like it was 2007 reawakened something in me, so after laughing myself sick I had to go and relisten to Midnight Sun. Still genuinely and unironically love this book, it’s pure trash but by god it's my trash. I’m a simple soul.

Odder

I’ve been hearing great things about this book, and it’s hard to go wrong with Katherine Applegate so I was excited to finally read it. This is a book written entirely in free verse poetry about an orphaned otter and her experiences being rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s inspired by a true story (several true stories, actually!) and it's very worth picking up even if you don't usually go for poetry. It's charming and reads very easily.

Old-Fashioned Cupcake

A middle-aged salaryman is feeling worn down by the humdrum nature of his life, which is filled mostly with work these days. This manga kicks off with his coworker suggests that if he wants to deal with the feelings of boredom and aging, then he needs to do something to shake up his life: so he suggests that they “act like a pair of teenage girls” and go to a fancy new pancake shop just because it seems fun, never mind that it’s not something grown men are supposed to do. This manga ended up being pretty darn cute -- it was slow and compassionate and loving -- and it managed to convince me to buy its sequel.

Professor Calculus: Science’s Forgotten Genius

A ridiculous little book I bought on impulse that was nevertheless a lot of fun to read. It’s a tribute to Cuthbert Calculus, celebrating the 80th anniversary of his first appearance in Tintin. It dives into some of the inspirations that went into the character, and also lovingly and cheekily explores some "facts" we know about Calculus as a person… and wildly extrapolates more from there. It was a cute little read for anyone who’s a fan of the series and wants something a little extra.

Return to Oz

I recently rewatched this movie and maintain that I like it more than the original film, sorry. It made me decide to grab the novelization because I’m always a sucker for a novelization <3 This one was pretty solid too, it actually included details that were left out of the film and improve the stories overall cohesion which is always the marker of a good novelization.

Return to Oz takes place several months after the original film, when Aunty Em and Uncle Henry are trying to build a new house and get the farm back in order before winter. Concerned by Dorothy’s continued belief in Oz and her increased insomnia, Aunty Em decides to take her to a doctor who offers healing through electroshock therapy. Yeah, it’s exactly as fucking creepy as it sounds… You get a scary aslyum, a sinister head nurse, being strapped to a hospital gurney, and new baddies that scared the bejeezus out of me as a kid. Anyway, before she can be electrocuted, Dorothy manages to escape back to Oz where she discovers her friends are in dire need of help. It’s like Alice: Madness Returns but from Disney. Go watch this movie.

She Drives Me Crazy

I had very mixed feelings about this book. It’s about high school basketball player, Scottie, who has suffered a bad breakup with her girlfriend who moved schools to play on the opposing basketball team. Things go from bad to worse when she gets into a car accident with her arch-nemesis, the cheerleader Irene. One things lead to another and bada bing bada boom we have a fake dating scheme so that Scottie can get back at her ex.

This book had some genuinely fun moments (I’m always a sucker for a fake dating scheme, and the characters were reasonably fun) but it’s biggest failing is one that I’ve seen more than I like in current queer lit. It just tries so. fucking. hard. to be unproblematic. Like yeah, it’s great to see healthy relationships but it was SO explicit about it. So much therapy speak, way more than feels natural for a conversation or internal monolgue, especially when they’re in high emotions. The “banter” was very scripted. It was a book that felt like it had a laugh track. And while the ending was satisfying enough, it was also… I don’t know. Anticlimactic. We just spent so long tying everything up in a perfectly neat little bow that it really just strolled to an ending that was obvious from a mile away. 

Like look, I get it, we want this to be squeaky clean and beyond reproach, but I have NEVER entered a fake dating story hoping that everyone was going to be really sensible and respectful and level-headed. Fake dating is the slapstick of the romance world, I want some Shakespearean level bullshit, please don’t try to gussy it up for me. Gonna go and rewatch 10 Things I Hate About You or something just to feel things again. Or maybe pop over to AO3, your average fic writer at least understands that when I say fake dating I mean I want something absolutely fucking unhinged and filled to the gill with mutual pining.

So yeah, if you want a sports-based high school sapphic romance: it’s not a bad book. It went down easy, I liked listening to it in the mornings when I needed something light before work. Some bits I even quite enjoyed. But it’s not going to rock your world.

Shuna’s Journey

Well, if nothing else you can really, definitely tell this was done by Hayoa Miyazaki. I’m honestly not really sure how I felt about it. The art was beautiful, and the story was pure undiluted Miyazaki through and through. The narrative was very nice. The story and message was poignant. It was a nice book. I can’t say it’s stuck very heavily in my mind, but I enjoyed reading it. It felt like a precursor to Princess Monoke / Nausicaa, perhaps?

The Witches

The story of one child and his grandmother needing to contend with witches. Not fairytale witches. Real witches. And all their horrible, child-hating ways. One thing I will always love about Dahl is that when he wants to write about something Horrible, nothing will stop him. His villains are truly villainous and the witches are a prime example of that! I loved the description of the witches and their horrible, sinister deeds, especially in the first half of the book. This sure is Child Murder: The Novel! The ending was absolutely not what I was expecting, and I appreciate that. Such a bizarre book.

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 194 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: mowing the lawn.

YouTube must be so happy now. It tried to recommend this episode to me for weeks now and finally I'm going to click it...

MARTIN: "Alright. Alright, we’ll, we’ll go back to the tunnels, regroup, figure out what our next move is. See what other options there are." JON: "… Yeah… Yeah." MARTIN: "Jon? … [Warning] Jon?" Martin is so scared already... He knows something is up...

JON: "That place, the centre of The Eye, i-it’s… It wasn’t made for him. That’s why he’s like that, it’s too much, it’s overwhelmed him, his whole being, just destroyed." MARTIN: "Oh yeah? But let me guess, it was made for you?" JON: "Yes." MARTIN: [Petulantly] "Of course it is. Of course it is! Because how could this journey possibly end with anything less than the final, supreme destiny of the Archivist, plugged into the great fear machine for all eternity and, and abandoning humanity." That's what I meant last episode when I said Martin will summarize this perfectly. It's such an understandable reaction.

MARTIN: "Breaking his promise." JON: "That’s not fair!" MARTIN: "Isn’t it?" Nah, Martin's right on this one. They took one look at the Panopticon, they haven't even looked for another solution yet and Jon already wants to become the Pupil of the Eye. But it is also so Jon of him. He always rashly jumped to conclusions and decisions when he was under a lot of stress. That plus his martyr complex...

MARTIN: "And what? Replace them with new avatars from the people who don’t want to?" JON: "I mean, that has to be better than those that chose it right?" Riiiight, just like Jon chose to become the Archivist, or Oliver chose to become an Avatar of the End, or Agnes chose to be the Messiah of the Desolation. There are probably a lot of watchers out there who didn't want this either. Sure, there was always something there, which attracted on of the entities. But being nosy and curious is not the same as watching over a hellscape where people suffer for eternity.

JON: "Sure I can’t make it “go away”, but I could at least make it fairer. The Eye doesn’t care, as long as it gets its fear, it’s happy either way." [MARTIN SCOFFS AT THIS JUSTIFICATION] MARTIN: [Incredulous] "Christ, can you hear yourself? “Make it fairer!” It’s not enough that you’re the ‘all-powerful Archivist’, you also have to appoint yourself the literal judge of everyone as well?" Yeah, that's problematic. I always have to think back to MAG 155, I fucking love that statement. The dilemma of deciding about people's fate and by what criteria you would go.

JON: "Don’t." MARTIN: "I know what it’s like to be powerless. A-And I know you do too. And I also know what it’s like when you get a taste of– wh-when you’re finally able to–" JON: "That’s not what this is!" That gets Martin to reel back a bit. He's been so panicked and angry that he didn't get through to Jon. Now he did, in a way. And yeah, what Martin says absolutely makes sense.

MARTIN: "I’ve been out there with you. I saw the kick you got out of making them scream for once." JON: "What happened to “Kill Bill”?" MARTIN: "You weren’t meant to enjoy it this much!" Ohhh, Martin shooting himself in the foot with this one. Jon's right, Martin pushed him to do it. And it was Jon, who ultimately put an end to their vendetta.

JON: "Why won’t you believe me when I say that this isn’t something I want to do?" MARTIN: "Because I saw your face when we walked into that room! [Despondent] That wasn’t fear, it, it wasn’t even anger. It was envy. And it scared me more than anything else I’ve seen." JON: "… Martin…" Jon's not denying it... He saw how scared and hurt Martin is and doesn't know what to say anymore.

JON: "What other choice do we have?" MARTIN: "I-I don’t know, alright! I do– But there is one. Because there has to be." JON: "But what if there isn’t? How long are we going to wander around hopelessly searching before we end up back here anyway?" Longer than 5 minutes would be a good start. It is ridiculous, they're been up there for not even an hour, that's not enough. That's not trying.

JON: "We can’t just dismiss this. It might be our only option." MARTIN: "… No." JON: "No?" MARTIN: "No. I forbid it." JON: [Incredulous] "You forbid it?" MARTIN: "Don’t laugh at me." JON: "Why not? You’re being ridiculous." I'd be crying so hard by now, but I'm an angry-crier, so hm... It still is so extremely hurtful.

MARTIN: "I refuse to accept that this –" JON: "Tough! The world doesn’t care what you accept. It just… is! It just is." Ahh, there it is! Out of the two I totally wouldn't have suspected Jon to be the angry-crier. I think that actually is their worst fight by a long shot even. And it is so well written, it feels so real! Bouncing around from being scared, not getting through, not being taken seriously...

MARTIN: "Stupid… Stupid, arrogant…" I mean, Martin should have known that Jon can be stupid and arrogant xD

MARTIN: "[Calling] Jon? J– … Shit." Hmm, what was that about? Martin processing what just happened on high speed and already coming to the conclusion that splitting up right now is a bad idea?

JON: " You don’t even have a mind, not really." ¬‿¬ Not really!

There's a dating site in that statement and we already know from What The Ghost that dating sites are the Eye, but I cannot help but find it funny that elderly persons are also the Eye XD That stereotype of old people sitting in their rocking chair out on the front porch to judge everyone in their sight xD (That's a very american picture, but we have those people in Europe as well. Here they sit on the front balcony for example.)

"Gingerly, he unbuttoned his shirt, sliding the rough fabric down his torso, and examined the shining protrusion. Some sort of callous? A tumour? Malcolm’s mind began running frantically through all the worst-case possibilities. And then… [FLESHY SOUND OF OPENING] it opened. The iris was dull grey, surrounded by yellowed, bloodshot tissue, and the pupil was dull, almost cloudy, but the eye staring out from his shoulder seemed to focus well enough." Oh god, the body horror of this statement is so fucked up...

JON: "Not exactly subtle. But then you never were, were you? Not really." Not really, yaaaaaaaaay!

JON: "If that’s the most compelling argument you have… [Smiles] I’m going to go apologise to my boyfriend." Can someone pls again explain to me, if this statement can somehow be read as something similar to their situation (because of the "not subtle" and "if that's the most compelling argument you have") and if yes, what it is? Is it about Jon wanting to get rid of Jonah, but it wouldn't do anything? Also that tone of "I’m going to go apologise to my boyfriend." and that little breathy chuckle at the end. Already said it in MAG 187, I think he likes the sound of that.

JON: [Very quietly] "Where are you, Martin… Don’t try and do this to me. Not now." I love their relationship so much...

MELANIE: "Not yet. But then she needs to actually go places to look at them. She can’t just pop up top and check ‘the big picture’." JON: "Melanie, please, not now." MELANIE: "… Sorry." Ahhh, at least she immediately gets that this is serious and Jon is actually really, really scared and can't put up with Melanie-humor right now...

JON: "This is my fault." MELANIE: "What?" JON: "We… We had an argument. I said some things I shouldn’t have. If, if I hadn’t we would have come back here together, and I-I’d have been there to stop her taking him." Aaaaand the old guilt machine is running again...

JON: "I mean, he wouldn’t have gone willingly! Would he?" Martin, who desperately wants another option, one which saves Jon, suddenly gets a visit by Annabelle, an Avatar of the Web and Jon thinks Annabelle would have had to resort to violence to drag Martin with her?

MELANIE: "Right. Fine. So… we do this the old fashioned way." JON: [QUIETLY] "What?" MELANIE: "Why would she take him? Uh, do they have any history?" MVP Melanie here, we have to give her that! Keeping a clear head, working through it one by one.

MELANIE: "For god’s sake! Pull your head out of your arse, stop trying to use it as a bloody antenna, and actually try thinking!" JON: "Just listen, Melanie. I – argh!" [THE ARCHIVIST IS STRUCK, NOT WITH A REVELATION BUT MELANIE’S CANE] MELANIE: "Think!" JON: "Ow… I don’t know! Somewhere she’d be strong! A, a place of power, a, a Web domain…" First of all, that fan transcript xD Second, anyone else got that scene from The Lion King in their head, when Rafiki strikes Simba with his staff when he's trying to get him to work something out?

JON: [Realising] "Oh god…" MELANIE: "What?" JON: "They’re going to Hill Top Road." Every episode ending with a cliff hanger now^^

@a-mag-a-day

[rockcattomato]

Been relistening to the first season (Third time round) now that I have Patreon so I can hear the bonus episodes. And, idk if it was in one of the first Seven talking dads or not, but I’ve been thinking about something will said.

He was talking about reading a book about writing, and it said for your characters that you needed to think about what your character liked, what they hated, and what they wanted more than anything else in the world.

And they went through, one by one. And said what they’re character’s answers were.

I’m not going to say all of them but if you haven’t listened to this take a moment to sit and think about the answered, I sure wish I had had the chance.

Ok, ready?

Henry liked nature (ofc), he hated any sort of conflict, and he wanted more than anything else, to eb what he considered perfect. This is amazing and I love Henry for it. Bc deep inside every aspect of his character is his hypocrisy. He wears leather Birkenstocks, his favourite TV show isn’t actually the sunrise, he hates conflict and yet can’t control his own emotions. He wants more than anything else to be free of this, to be perfect. (We can discuss how this affects Lark, Sparrow, and Normal later if you would like).

On to Ron. I’ve forgotten what he hated. He like organisation. And more than anything else, he wanted to be the only voice in his own head. Someone asked oh so like Willie’s voice? And Beth said no, he wants to be the only person in his head, he doesn’t care who, but he doesn’t want their voice. So much of Ron’s character is just him making decisions outside of the norm, he is original, he is weird. And yet, he is what he believes to be a businessman. Everything that he does, while still being insane. Is formed by societies pre formed values, and its so interesting when you pay attention to how constricted Ron is by them.

Next up, Darryl. He liked the team, he liked community. He wanted more than anything else for those he cared about to be safe. And what he hated? What Darryl hates, is who he thinks he is. If you listen back to the beginning, he despises himself at the start. I’m just gonna let you sit with that one.

And finally, Glenn Close. He’s a joke, he’s a rockstar. He’s cool. He likes drugs and music and his life bc he’s fuckin awesome man (overall, it’s freedom). He hates cops, rules, people telling him what to do. And what he wants more than anything else? For everything to stay the same man! Bc his like is awesome and he likes it just the way it is. (Just imagine all that in Freddy’s voice, it makes sense dont worry). Except, you know what happens? It changes. In every way imaginable, he loses his son he gets his wife back only to find out she’s not even his, he fucking dies man. For Glenn, out of all the dads, nothing stays the same.

Ignore me, thinking about these insane weirdos. I love them, and have been thinking about this for weeks.

[morning-softness]

So I’ve been relistening to TMA Season 2 because I’m writing a fic set in that time. And I’d kind of forgotten how much stuff happens that even at the end of the season doesn’t really get explained clearly.

Like the web table. How much does it even do to bind the Not!Them? The Not!Sasha said it had Breekon and Hope bring the table around so it could still get people—like Graham and later Sasha—so does it just limit how far from the table this thing can travel without taking someone? Obviously after it’s taken someone it can travel a good distance, like going to Madame Tussaud’s on a lunch break. So at that point what was the table even doing to bind it?

And what was the Not!Them even at the Institute for in the first place? The Not!Sasha said it “was sent there to steal all its secrets,” but that means what exactly? To spy on Jon? On Elias? (I can’t imagine Jonah Magnus would have let it run around unchecked if he really thought it was a threat to him.) To find Leitner? (It was certainly looking for something in the tunnels.) To see how far along the team was in trying to stop the Unknowing? (Not far at all, they’d barely heard the term.) And was the Not!Sasha leaving chalk arrows to confuse Jon, or was it just using them to navigate the tunnels and confused Jon incidentally?

Also, I kind of get from a “collecting marks” perspective that bringing the table into the Institute could have resulted in a Stranger mark for Jon. But I don’t know that it actually did. In what way did having the Not!Sasha there mark Jon? It never physically hurt him, and he wasn’t the one who could see that Sasha had been replaced. (Did digging the dead worms out of him while he was unconscious count?) Or did he get his mark from the Stranger later, during his kidnapping in Season 3? If anything, Jon’s paranoia in Season 2 drove him into the Spiral (both figuratively, and literally in the sense that he went through Michael’s door to try to escape the Not!Sasha), but the table wasn’t really necessary for that; Michael was already hanging around, and I imagine Jon would have been marked when Micheal stabbed him in their argument after Helen’s statement.

And had Leitner been regularly coming up into the Institute to look for Gertrude’s file ever since her death? And just nobody noticed before? (I mean, I guess Jonah was chill with someone skulking around the tunnels as long as it didn’t actually interfere with his plans, but Martin was living in the Archives.) Or did he only start after Prentiss’s attack for some reason?

And why did Jonah hide a bunch of Gertrude’s important tapes with her body in the tunnels, when he knew someone who had been helping Gertrude was living down there? (At least, from the way he talks about it in episode 80 it sounds like he knew someone was down there, just not that it was Leitner.) Why not hide them anywhere else that would have been easy for him to access but not for Gertrude’s secret helper to stumble on and steal? (Did Leitner never stumble on the room with Gertrude’s body in all the time he was down there? Or did he, and was Leitner the one who hid the tapes there, and not Jonah? Or was that orchestrated by the Web somehow since the tapes are kind of their thing?)

Anyway, for all the fandom discourse I’ve seen about Jon not figuring out everything in Season 2, I’d like to say that even with my knowledge from having listened to the full series, I’m still not entirely sure what the heck was going on.

[zannianator]

Heey. Just saw the post, and it was lovely. Just one quick question . When is episod 4 of the D&D story? I am dieing to see more of that .

Hi, thank you for the ask! So due to some complications with my 9-5 the answer is still up in the air; however, as the comic mentions, the hardest part before the final product was just punched through!

I don’t have a crew on my side, so sadly it takes time to relisten, take notes, whittle down the new notes, and then jump to scripts, va-work, etc. But the fact we have the resources and that people have been genuinely very patient have helped boost moral a lot, and I’m hoping this episode can come out much faster now that my job outside of YouTube is calming down a bit.

Hopefully that’s not disappointing for you, but I really hope you and the rest of the audience will love it when it does drop, and it’ll come with more shorts as well once production really gets going!

[stoppit-keepout]

an elf, a decrepit 35-year-old man, and a possessed boy~

i’m relistening to the LegendLark side campaign (only 6 episodes!) called Dame-geon Dive and I just… am overcome with joy. i am love them.

in the first episode, one player claims that their char is named “Eli” which is short for “Elias Wentel.” Elias Wentel has a ward, Mickey, an average almost-human ten-year-old boy who AGGRESSIVELY refers to his mentor as “Mr. Wentel.”

Less than 30 minutes into episode 1, every soul on that podcast has started calling him Mr. Wentel, almost exclusively

About Mr. Wentel: “You’re a creaky old man who’s been hiking through the rainforest for a mon–” “I’m thirty-five.”

Talks like a carnival barker??

Keeps talking about what a fantastic apprentice Mickey is, how awful it’d be to part with him, but you know, if you’re interested… I’m just saying going by first impressions, it seems like you really hit it off, he’d be wonderful to adopt.

[leaves a ring in a statue’s hands ] “That statue’s got acid reflux now. :) “

About Mickey: “Sometimes Mr. Wentel says those gloves are the reason I’m sticking around, because they attract cursed objects!”

Talks like Mickey Mouse, hoho!

Says fun things like, “Can I call you ‘Dad’?” (“No, don’t do that.”).

Loves to touch things he oughtn’t touch and might have a best friend who might be an evil spirit possessing him, don’t worry about it.

About the final PC, just named The Seeker: “oh, how terrible!” [player clarifies] she’s smiling really wide.

Speaks with a glamorous mid-Atlantic accent~

When the ten-year-old child gets grabbed by mimics says fun things like, “Sticky fingers, haha, I say!”

“Oh, you look ridiculous, both of you!” (”I thought I looked cool.”) “No… :) ”

[tmisaccidentreportbook]

Oh... Hello.

OK. So we’ve all seen the nonsense that’s happening on Twitter. How Rusty Quill are dropping these crumbs and we are all losing our minds. There are some smart, rational, composed folk amongst us that can decode these clues, that are able to put the pieces together and read the signs gifted to us from these laughing gods. But I am not of this breed. I’m foaming at the mouth and twitching slightly, trying to keep the screaming at a level that you could be forgiven to mistake it for a tea kettle.

Now, I have been an avid fan of TMA since 2020. Yes, yes, I was brought on late. A dear friend of mine had been recommending it and then possibly regretted her choices and association with me as the new hyper fixation grabbed me by the throat and she endured months of my stream of consciousness ramblings in her DMs. But I burned through them. In a manner and at a rate I have since been told was rather alarming. It was 2020, I was going through it. We all were. No doubt that will be discussed.

But the point is, I wanted to do a relisten because there were periods where I was getting through upwards of 5 episodes a day, and I know that may not sound like much but I was still working full time and I just kept going. So, I’ve missed things, it’s blurred a little. I was planning on maybe starting in the new year, maybe on Halloween, i.e. anniversary of the Eyepocalpse. But then this all started and now violins of the main theme are singing in my blood and ALL THE THOUGHTS are resurfacing and, c’mon, @dodgylogic has a busy life to lead and doesn’t have the time to answer all my screaming voice messages, although does have the time to laugh at them apparently. And I hope you will too. Laugh, heckle, scream at me in the tags, I want this to be a discussion along the lines of a poorly disciplined A Level English Lit class.

So, I’m going to do a relisten. An episode a day or so. 2 years on. Much in my life has changed since the first listen but, oh so. very. many. things. haven’t...     

I think this podcast was recommended to me at a time when I was white knuckling through life. I think it was while season 4 was still coming out, late season 4. I was hemmed in by 2 pandemics, isolated and burning out at a terrifying rate. This podcast helped me reconnect with a dear friend and it was so much easier to scream about what I was hearing than scream about what I was living. I remember being in certain places when I first heard some lines, I remember exactly what I was ‘thousand-yard-staring’ at in some cases. 

I’m white knuckling again, but this time, I know where the good handholds are. 

So with that, buckle in kids.

This is The Magnus Institute’s Accident Report Book and I’m the Designated First Aider.

Supplemental: So in going over some old messages, turns out it’s 2 years to the day that I started listening to The Magnus Archives, 13th October 2020... I feel seen and I don’t like it!

[aflyingcontradiction]

The Magnus Archives Relisten: Episode 200 - Last Words

Jonah: Jon? I-I-Is that you? Uh, I, I was having the most wonderful dream…

And here I was feeling slightly sorry for him about his fate.

Jonah: I’ve seen more than I could have lived in a thousand lifetimes, and every moment was so –

This is so alien! ALL YOU'VE SEEN IS HORRORS, DUDE! How is that desirable? The immortality bit I can just about wrap my mind around (although even that is difficult for me) but in exchange for THAT???

Jon: It ends now. All of it. I am going to take this world that you used me to create, and I am going to burn it out.

God, I love Johnny's acting! The intensity!

Jon: I will have the satisfaction of knowing that I’ll be leaving these things that you serve trapped and starving in their own private hell.

That did have me going "Waaaaait a minute, I'm pretty sure that wasn't the plan anymore". Before this I straight-up hadn't realised Jon just went ahead against everyone else's vote. Which I really should have, what with the absence of Martin.

Jonah: We both know you that don’t have it in you –

How can you be both omniscient and so clueless at the same time?

Jon: the flaying of skin… burning, retching on the smog of… hide, hide, hide… it is not real but still it comes to… falling through the pitch black daa-aaaaaargh!

Have I mentioned that the acting is amazing? This section gave me actual physical shivers.

And by the time these minds had reached a point of intricacy to lie and scheme and puppet one other, they had also learned to conceive of war.

I appreciate that the Slaughter once again gets musical accompaniment - the drumbeat starts up in the background the moment Jon starts speaking of war.

And so the things that were fear began to sing

Oooh, the creepy ethereal singing in the background! I love it!

Martin: What’s that?

What does Jonah/Elias's body even look like at this point to make Martin go 'What's that'? I mean, I kinda assumed it's just ... a dead body?

Jon: It’s still me, Martin. I’m still here. Martin: How would you even know?

Not sure what Martin actually means by this. I mean, how do any of us know that we're still us after some huge life event, really? I don't think that Jon is in a different position from the average person on the street here.

Jon: Do it! The knife’s just there. Let them go.

It does feel weird that Jon would choose to actually change his mind at this moment. I mean, yes, love and all that, but he seemed preeeeetty set on NOT allowing the Fears out into other universes.

Basira: Still works.

Hm, so what does it mean for the tape recorder to still work, actually? What are the implications here, seeing as the avatars apparently lost their power.

Melanie: You remember what happened when they found Simon Fairchild?

I assume he was torn apart by a vast crowd of people?

Melanie: And I’m sure Rosie’s keen for us to take the Admiral back off her hands.

Heh, the cat made it through the apocalypse, seemingly unscathed. Go, you, fluffybutt!

Basira: If anyone’s listening… Goodbye. I’m sorry, and… Good luck.

... thanks?

My impression of this episode

By the time this episode came out, I actually had become part of the fandom, so I'm well aware people have OPINIONS on how the show ended. I don't actually feel all that strongly about that part, oddly enough. I was just a little disappointed that the greater part of this episode was a recap of things we basically already knew or that didn't feel all that interesting to me. I didn't really NEED a history of the Fears. I'm not sure what I wanted but the statement really wasn't it. I would have liked more focus on what exactly made Jon change his mind or maybe a minute or two more on the world post-Fears. Mind, I really, really enjoy the soundscaping and the acting in this episode.

[rigelmejo]

how my language levels feel right now:

japanese:

if I have seen it/played it before in english, then watching a lets play or playing it is understandable for overall main idea in japanese. i can also understand some details. i can understand maybe 75-95% of details too if I look up words about every 3 minutes. comprehension if i look up words is definitely at or above the 95% range for some materials (easier ones). So for things like Kingdom Hearts 2, Final Fantasy X, Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core... I can either watch a lets play, play it in japanese, or read a script and understand enough to be fine without word lookups. 

if it is brand new media in japanese: if there is text i can read along to with audio and visuals, then i understand the main idea maybe 80-90% of the time? i can rely on kanji that are similar meaning to hanzi to kind of bullshit my way through guessing what each sentence is about, and then audio helps me distinguish any japanese words i already know, resulting in mostly understanding the main idea. comprehension is NOT at 95% or better yet because i CANNOT follow main idea enough to simply read extensively yet if it is brand new material. i can read and look up words every so often though, and do fairly well. ***Oddly, I do fairly well with audio+text+visual combos without word lookups even on new media. I was watching Miu404 in japanese and although its HARD, i grasp enough to follow the main idea. Watching ‘Old Enough’ was much easier though, i can comprehend over 95% of that easily without word lookup. And for some reason Yakuza Ishin is fairly easy for me to follow the main idea of as well, although i don’t understand many details (and frankly im shocked my understanding of what’s going on is as HIGH as it is considering all the dialect words I wouldn’t know even if i had a higher vocabulary). I’m honestly really surprised how much i grasp when doing video games... 

if it is brand new media and JUST audio: i’m absolutely useless. i have to listen to material for beginners such as Nihongo Con Teppei. Anything thats brand new media, audio only, has too many unknown words.

if it’s brand new and JUST text: for some particularly easier manga i can read and follow the main idea (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Junji Ito Comics, Hikaru No Go) but get confused on details. on much easier manga like Ranma 1/2, Yobatato, i can read and grasp main idea and most details. if its a novel with no pictures? Hahaha hahahaaaaaaaaa haaaaaa. I have no chance of grasping anything more than a very vague “this is probably the main topic” unless i at least look up some prior context like a novel summary. I’m sticking to game scripts i’ve played before, books i’ve read before in other languages, and novels for elementary students right now for that reason.  

chinese:

if i’m watching a brand new show: comprehension is sufficient to grasp main idea and at least 50% details. After a few to several episodes, comprehension goes up and i am understanding nearly as much as in english depending on the show and can start looking away from the subtitles/browsing my phone doing other things while watching. if the show is modern, then i can grasp nearly everything quicker. if the show is ancient china/historical/heavy wuxia or heavy on less conversational speech, then it will take me several episodes and i may still be around 92-95% comprehension at my best. For example: Humans cdrama felt like watching english within 3 episodes, as did Ice Fantasy. But the 2008 Legend of the Condor Heroes, and Word of Honor, felt like maybe 92% comprehension after 4 episodes and i still needed to pay full attention to the chinese subtitles to follow the details. 

if i’m listening to audio of a show i’ve seen before: easily 98% comprehension, if it’s lower than that i just need to relisten to the audio a few times.

brand new audio only media, such as a brand new audio drama: i grasp the main idea of scenes the first listen. upon multiple listens to one episode, i can grasp maybe 80-95% of the details too depending on HOW difficult the material is. For example, i’ve been listening to Lie Huo Jiao Chou’s audio drama and it took about 3 listens to fully understand all of the first 15 minutes details. it probably would’ve taken 2 more listens to grasp the last 5ish minutes that were focused on Xuan Ji. So in one listen i’m grasping just main idea, upon maybe 6 listens i can grasp nearly all details.

for audiobooks i’ve read the novel of: i can grasp maybe 80-95% of details if i listen 4+ times to a chapter. upon the first listen, i grasp the main idea of scenes and Some details but not all (maybe 50% of details). if the novel is written quite simply, i may only take 2 listens to grasp most details, and i may catch 80-95% of details on the first listen.

for brand new audiobooks i’ve never heard before: i generally grasp the main overall idea of scenes within 1 listen, but if the novel is written complexly then it may take 2-3 listens to follow the main plot. details, as usual, are not caught much the first listen. and then on repeated listens i tend to understand much more, 80% of complicated novel details and nearly all details in easier written novels. 

novel reading, no audio, brand new novels: i do much better than with audio only. for some reason when i actively read something where i purposely do NOT look anything up (including not looking up audio pronunciation), i have better reading comprehension. i’m guessing it’s because my brain works hard to recall Everything it knows since it has no tool to lazily rely on. if the novel is easier: i may easily understand 92-98%+ (dmbj, zhenhun, saye). if the novel is harder, i’m still generally comprehending around 90% (think can ci pin, 3 body problem). if the novel is Significantly outside of what i normally read (such as a historical set novel with very different writing style, or a novel from say the early to mid 1900s) then my comprehension can tank to 80%... still enough to follow the main idea, but i am much more lost considering details. in the cases of those novels, i generally avoid buying print copies and try to read them digitally to look words up.

---

It’s interesting to me that my japanese comprehension goes up specifically when playing video games. i’m going to chalk that up to “in order to be as lazy with using tools as i prefer, i HAVE to remember everything i know to play in a timely way and move forward and do what i’m required to.” i feel like i also use all my “guess from context” skills very heavily when playing a game, so i just make a “best guess on what words mean” then move on. whereas with a more static media like a show or book, i feel i can rewind or reread so i take much more time trying to guess the most correct meaning before moving on... which slows me down ultimately.

with chinese my comprehension is probably best with text in novels. while shows feel the ‘easiest’ with the least effort required to follow, novels have the densest language practice and i can pause to take my time really “guessing the meaning” of anything unknown as well as possible. 

[confused-alot]

i’m not beating the about to rewatch all of steven universe again allegations

somehow my tiktok feed found out and it’s gonna be all down hill from here

you’d think i’d be able to start or finish one of the many new shows i’ve been meaning to watch but no. we’re here

and that audiobook? that i need to finish and return in a week?? nope this is actually the perfect time to relisten to stellar firma even though i’m very much also in the middle of ethersea

and wtf happened to my hxh watch through? where did it go? i make great progress and then i just stop completely even when i’ve been more invested in this arc than any of the others

maybe i can stave off su until i’m done with abbot elementary or maybe the urge will pass entirely shits five seasons a movie and a sixth season i sure as hell do not have time for that and i’m really not excited to see most s1 again

writing this out is a great disincentive

but if i did rewatch i’d still want it to be a full one to get the whole character arc progresses experience. that’s the mood on this one i don’t think a select episodes rewatch would cut it unfortunately

the writers strike is truly a great idea they should stop making tv for a while i’ve got too much shit to catch up on and no impetus

and i want those guys writing abbot to get paid their due fr that shows fantastic holyshit

[sylvermidnight]

You mentioned possibly a post of your opinions on TMA as a podcast? I would be very interested.

Oh! Sure! I won’t be maintagging this because I just got out of some drama and don’t want to go starting more. But essentially I don’t have a problem with the concept of TMA I think it’s really good and I listened to four seasons of it. I just think….Of Jonny Sims’ work it’s not the best?

To me the writing falls a little flat especially with the character work. A lot of the conflict doesn’t make sense to me as it boils down to people being angry at Jon…Just because he’s the easiest target for their anger? You get things like Tim telling him to just stop being paranoid and Georgie telling him it would have been better if he died. Melanie seeming to dislike him…For no reason? I mean of course all of the characters have reasons but they’re not great ones usually (I think Tim is maybe an exception but barely). Jon is just as much a victim as they are. I’m not a defender I just fail to see what else he personally was supposed to do when it’s clear he started the series already at a disadvantage.

On top of that there’s just. The concept of Daisy and Basira as a whole for me. Daisy canonically killed some innocent people in her tenure as a cop and if that were something Elias were lying about it wouldn’t have been effective blackmail. She commits an act of violence against Jon very early on that mostly goes undiscussed and Basira just. Virtually never stops making excuses for her. There was that awkward portion after the Buried where Daisy even? Befriends Jon? Which is very odd to me? It’s not technically copaganda at all but I just don’t think either of them should have been permanent fixture characters in the way they were. I won’t mention here the S5 police brutality episode because it has been addressed by the creators but it is very much a thing that happened.

Thirdly and this is a personal thing, I just. Did not like s5. I found it to be disjointed, uncomfortable, and an altogether different feel than the rest of the series that felt confusing and rushed and less “oh this is spooky! Fun!” And more “this has ceased to be escapism and is more uncomfortable than anything”. The ending of “maybe they lived but maybe they didn’t” is just. Too much for a series that ran for five seasons. You can have tragedy that feels fulfilling too is the thing. Jonny (and crew) have written many good examples in their time as the mechanisms. (UDAD, TBI, even HNOC is more satisfying than this) An audience can accept the heroes dying if it’s done properly and TMA just doesn’t leave me with that feeling it feels more like a bad marvel film where you go through all this build up for no payoff. They’re not at rest. They’re not alive. We get nothing. We are left. With nothing.

Finally? Rusty Quill as a company just. Seems eh? To me? I’m concerned about their business practices, how much they may or may not be inserting themselves into the production and distribution of unrelated podcasts they host, how they’ve been treating their employees including pay respect and the recent layoffs. I wish people would be more critical and realize that it is indeed a capitalist company and not just “those silly guys that made TMA”. They should be held to standards that I’m not entirely certain are being met. I have no proof just general observations and feelings.

But uh. Yeah? That’s about it. Love TMA it’s fun and I like to make oc content for it and poke at headcanons and lore. But idk if I’d ever actively relisten.

[lycanlovingvampyre]

MAG 132 Relisten

Activity on my first listen: putting up a new fence.

Although there's not sooo much going on in this episode, it's in my list of favorites. Daisy hit me like a train in this episode... I hated her in S2 and S3. Pretty much everybody did, I guess?

Fun story, when I recommended TMA to my father in law I told him to start at episode 1, that it looks like individual stories, but they're not and it's important to get the full scope of the story. Some days later he told me he started TMA and listened to that one episode "where they're in a cave or something"... My brain scanned through the episodes, first I thought he meant MAG 15, but then he was like "no like, two characters, one in search of the other" and it clicked that he meant THIS episode and I’m just like "WTF, you started in S4???" Without any context it fortunately was not enough to really act as a spoiler, and he then proceeded to follow my instruction and started from the beginning.

JON: "But I know what I’m doing; this time I do. I, I hope." The "I hope" kind of devalues the "I know" ^^'

JON: "I have her voice. I think that should be enough to find her" There is so much focus on voice in TMA. Yeah, it's a podcast, so all we really have are their voices, but other aspects can be described if needed. But the Not!Them couldn't alter voice recordings. Jon's voice is essential to his compulsion ability. Jon uses Daisy's voice to find her. (Further down the story Jon's voice will bring the Fears through. The Web took Jon's voice to tie the Fears together...)

JON: "but if this goes wrong, all you lose is – (abrupt) I’m not risking anyone else." Does he now think he made the wrong choice to wake up? Because since he has come back to the Archives, he doesn't sound like he thinks he's worth enough to live, not when compared to the others.

JON: "Not if I – can’t find my way out. When I first came down, I could feel it, the – the part of myself I left outside, but – (inhale) But it’s been getting fainter and now…" I'll believe he could feel specifically the rib when he first walked in. It's like climbing down a rope. But the moment the rope ends and you lose it, it's not prominent enough to find it again, not that far down. The tapes however were made to bind the Fears. Connections are what the Web's about.

After the first few lines of Daisy you already know she's different. The edge to her voice and that fierceness is gone.

JON: "Sorry. Obviously. No, I just meant – Y-You sound – okay." Yeah, that's what I meant xD

JON: "No. I know where we are. There is n-no out, not here. This is – This is forever deep below creation. Where the weight of existence bears down. This is The Buried, and we are alive. There isn’t even an up." Yeah, way to go, I'm sure that's gonna help Daisy xD (I know, if the practical claustrophobic part won't get you, then the existential dread might do it for you^^ Like me, I like this kind of horror more.)

DAISY: "N-Not alone, though." JON: (barely a whisper) "No. No, not alone." <3

DAISY: "I thought – thought I’d (breath) I’d ne-never see the sky again, never – (close to breaking) never s-see Basira – (she composes herself) But – But – But now – you – you’ve got out of, of, of other stuff like this; maybe, maybe you’ll get out of this, and, and then take me with you. (heavy breathing) But I don’t know what I’ll be out, outside." Yeah, that sort of stuff can keep you going! Like in MAG 66. That little rays of hope which the statement giver just wouldn't allow to get his will crushed when they faded again. The Fear loosens its grip when it's not getting fear, when you're not fueling it.

DAISY: " I just know that I – I don’t like who I was, back outside. I don’t want to be her again. I want – to be – better. (breathing) Mmm – (more breathing) Y-You know what I thought, when I woke up here? I thought this was hell. I wa– I was dead, and I was in hell. And I – (sob) I knew I deserved it. (strain) I don’t want t-to b-be a s-sadistic predator again. I-I don’t want to hobble around like some – pathetic wounded prey either. I don’t know which would be worse. But I’m sc-scared now. That I won’t ever get the choice." That was the same with Melanie. Those things make you want them, even need them. And sometimes you need something else to take it away from you to see what's it like without. A sneaky surgery without consent. Being entombed without any connection to other forces. Trying to cut that connection yourself just takes an enormous amount of effort, so you don't even start. Or it will actually make you lose yourself (like Gertrude said in MAG 130, they fade without purpose), if that is the only thing that you define yourself with. It reminds me very much of a debate going on in art circles. Romanticizing suffering, the desire to be sad. A lot of motivations come from suffering, from trauma, depression. And it has always been fueling art. But what happens, if artists think they will run out of fuel when they run out of hurt? They don't want to get better. People have been in this kind of placed for so long, they don't even know how else to do it... You're stuck, just continuing in the same way somehow (like in the coffin, heh!). There is something you have to be willing to let go and you don't know what happens to you, if you do and that's scary.

JON: "One thing I’ve learned, Daisy, is that we all get a choice. Even if it doesn’t feel like one." That is the question of the whole story... Do we?

DAISY: "I realized – you were in my dreams. R-R-Reliving – this. T-The coffin. You were there." JON: "Yes." DAISY: "Didn’t think it was real. Not really. Just my mind putting you there, because I hated you, but no. One night, you turn up in a new shirt. Didn’t fit you. Not your style.(shaky breath) I-I didn’t think much of it, just a-a dream. Then you come back from the States, and guess what you’re wearing." 1.) Not really-counter of S4: 3! 2.) Jon's "Yes." More like "I know"... 3.) What shirt do you think Jon was wearing? Go! (I’m on board with something like 30 & flirty xD)

JON: "M-My, My, My anchor, my – the, a rib; I can f– I can feel – I know the way." I think this is kind of up to interpretation. My personal preference goes like this: He doesn't outright say "I can feel my rib". His first words are "my anchor", so he feels something connecting him, doesn't have to be the rib. He can't describe it, what he feels, he just knows how to follow it. He’s right to assume it’s the rib of course, that why he got it out in the first place.

JON: "Tape recorders. Must – must be dozens of them." What's preeeetty certain that it's actually doing something are the tape recorders, otherwise it wouldn't be the narrative device for the whole podcast + particularly in this instance here. Already said above, their purpose is to bind. The Web is about connections and how to influence them, weave them together or bring them apart, depending on what it is the Spider wants. And the Spider wants Jon to make it out. More on that in MAG 134, because we learn more about what happened here and also I think this post already got pretty long, sorry for that, I hope you like reading?^^

@a-mag-a-day