#any time i draw jonny for some reason shes a she/her 2 me but just like. talking abt him i switch back and forth

[saym0-0]

if i ever draw jonny without body hair assume i have been killed and replaced by the not!them

n e ways this was entirely inspired by this post and my eternal need to draw cerberus jonny

[kaizokuou-ni-naru]

The Voyage So Far: Skypiea

east blue (1 | 2) || alabasta (1 | 2) || skypiea || water 7 || enies lobby || thriller bark || paramount war (1 | 2) || fishman island || punk hazard || dressrosa (1 | 2) || whole cake island || wano (1 | 2)

the bar scene in jaya is one i didn’t really get the first time i read it- like nami, i mostly found luffy and zoro’s refusal to fight back frustrating more than anything else. i didn’t realize the connection to shanks in the prologue until someone else pointed it out awhile later, but when i did, it made me appreciate the entire sequence and luffy’s choices a lot more. 

honestly, i know this is one of the pages that gets the most attention from jaya, and it absolutely deserves it. blackbeard here is effectively dropping one of the biggest main themes of the series- people’s dreams don’t end!!- and how interesting that we get that delivered by the antagonist to the protagonist, instead of the other way around? how often do you see a series do that? 

and the line hits. look at the emphasis. there’s absolutely nothing on these two pages except for the three strawhats, blackbeard, and blackbeard’s line, bigger than anything else. 

chapter 232, with luffy punching out bellamy in one hit is still, to this day, probably my favorite one piece chapter. it opens with the drunk pirate seeing the newspaper with luffy’s hundred million bounty and realizing just who bellamy was kicking around, and it hits on one of my favorite plot threads of one piece- the growing infamy of the strawhats and luffy in particular, and their rise in the world. 

the atmosphere of the whole scene is so good, the tension in their air, the way all the bar patrons jump when luffy yells for bellamy to come out- and when the hit comes, the satisfaction is visceral. 

i’ve talked about it before, but god, i LOVE the way one piece defines “romance”- the arthurian kind of romance, the adventurous kind, that romanticizes the world and its wonders- romance dawn. in an arc as thematically heavy as jaya, it makes sense that it, too, is explicitly brought up. can you think of a more romantic, impossible adventure than traveling to the sky?

nami’s confidence when faced with the task of navigating into the sky is so fantastic. 

the expressions, and the art in general, in skypiea, are really so lovely. look at the variety between the strawhats when they first emerge from the white-white sea to lay eyes on angel island. look how expressive they all are!! i have such a soft place in my heart for the art in these earlier arcs, honestly.

somewhat related to the above: there are so many little moments in skypiea where the strawhats just get to have FUN, and be stupid, and get fleshed out more as characters, and honestly it’s such a delight. also, everyone’s skypiea outfits were just really really good. cowboy hat robin... i miss u every day 

i really like the whole scene where robin is exploring the ruins, and these panels in particular have such a lovely sort of ethereal look to them. i love seeing robin doing archeology, i think for the same reason i love to see sanji cooking- the strawhats are all such cool and passionate people, and it’s really really nice to see them doing and talking about the things they love and excel at most. 

i’m sure i’ve said it before but i LOVE how logia powers are depicted, especially when used to avoid an attack. it’s so cool. ace’s cover story runs through most of this arc, and we get some great examples of it there as well. 

1. wife 

2. skypiea is SUCH a good character-building arc for robin- which is good, because the next saga is almost entirely predicated on how much both the audience and the strawhats care about her. it’s here where we learn about her passion for archeology, her reverence for history, and get a much better look at the softer sides of her personality and her fast-growing admiration and affection for the strawhats. 

man, enel has so many huge, terrifyingly powerful shows of force throughout this arc, but this right here, this little sequence where he appears behind raki between panels without warning and we see him reflected in her eye, communicates better than absolutely anything else just why he’s a nightmare.

“jonny you sure are posting a lot of panels of zoro being cool without any real commentary” yeah. he kicks ass in this arc 

conis is a very underrated character, i think. she’s pretty easy to overlook, but she also manages to completely break the indoctrination she’s been raised into and gambles her own life to save most of the population of angel island from complete extermination. she yells that she doesn’t recognize enel as god, an instant death sentence at any other time, just to get them to listen to her. 

there’s a moment, in this scene, where a boy throws a rock at her for insulting enel, and she just stands there, and lets the blood trickle down her face, and keeps making her case. honestly, i really like her.

look at this page. look how it’s framed. luffy in the foreground, taking up most of the page- enel in the background, tiny, inconsequential. 

now that’s how you draw god’s natural enemy. 

this is one of my favorite nami character moments in the whole manga. nami is a greedy person. she has a lot of things she wants. it’s one of her defining traits. 

but when faced with someone with godlike power, offering her absolutely anything she wants if she’ll just abandon her friends and come with him- she doesn’t want anything, for that price, even with her life on the line if she declines. she knows exactly what her treasure is. 

obviously this is an awesome panel, but sanji’s little smile just before enel strikes him is what really, really makes it for me. he’s about to get slammed with several thousand volts of lightning, but more importantly, nami and usopp are going to be safe. 

the skypiea flashback is one of my very favorites, and also the first time one piece ever made me cry. i nearly cried just flipping through it again for this post. it’s just so fucking devastating.

noland never stopped looking, and calgara never stopped waiting, and neither of them ever lost faith in each other despite how badly they fell out at the end, and wow, that just kills me. but at the same time, it makes the way the flashback and the main story come together at the end so satisfying and cathartic.

i do think skypiea has one of the best climaxes of any arc. the way all the disparate elements and plot threads- enel, the story of noland and calgara, the war between the skypieans and shandians, cricket’s search down on jaya- come together and tie up so perfectly that the entire arc can be ended by the ringing of a single massive bell is nothing less than genius writing. 

i really love the establishment of roger’s poneglyph message and all the things it implies here. it raises so many questions, most of which we’ve only now gotten answered, in wano. oda’s capacity for long-term storytelling is one of his greatest strengths, and this is probably one of my favorite examples of it. (see also, in jaya when sanji mentions offhand that he was born in north blue.)

i just really love seeing them all smiling, and i love the parallels to calgara and noland’s sendoff here. feels like a wound finally healing, after four hundred years. 

and, of course, it ends with cricket, asking what crazy, romantic dream they’re going to chase down next. because this is one piece!! just because you find the end of one rainbow doesn’t mean you stop looking for the next one. 

[gothic-safari-clown]

The Mind’s Power Over the Body

Part 18: Unstoppable

Story summary: They only ever had each other. It had been that way since high school, ever since Elianna transferred to dreary Arlen and took Jonathan under her wing. They go separate ways for college, and when they're reunited at Arkham Asylum professionally, Elianna comes to find that they've both changed during their time separated. Can she look past the promise of danger and stay by Jonathan's side as they slide further and further into the darkness while she grapples to come to terms with the truth about herself? Can she accept what needs to be done in order to hold onto the only person who holds any meaning in her life? This is a very self-indulgent AU that draws from several different canons of the DCU and ignoring others, starting in the Batman Begins Nolanverse. This will follow the plot of the movie, although the timeline has been very slightly tweaked.

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3 / Part 4 / Part 5 / Part 6 / Part 7 / Part 8 / Part 9 / Part 10 / Part 11 / Part 12 / Part 13 / Part 14 / Part 15 / Part 16 / Part 17

Word count: 2011

This chapter is really dumb and cheesy just a heads up 😂 I wanted to dabble in old school fanfic while I wrote this one I think. Idk, it’s kinda cute

El had come to hate the weekends. There was no substance to her days off now that she knew the thrills offered by the wretch of a city. Jonathan wouldn't let her run his underworld errands with him; an attempt to keep her safe from Falcone, he said. While she understood and appreciated the sentiment, the result was dreadfully long and slow weekends. They couldn't go to Arkham to supervise the project, lest they draw suspicion, and if Jonathan wouldn't take her with him to meetings, it left her with very little to do in the apartment.

Luckily, the day after her nightmare Jonathan had no reason to leave the apartment. On the other hand, he had spent his day worrying over her incessantly. Well, as much as Jonathan could "worry incessantly" in his own subdued way.

He had let her sleep in for hours, made her breakfast when she woke, and she was currently curled up on the couch next to him with the softest blanket from his linen closet. He had even let her pick the movie they were watching.

"Hey, Jonathan?"

"Mm?"

"Am I dying or something?" He looked across the couch at her, confused. "You're being really nice today. Are you still 'being me,' or am I dying?"

"Oh. Neither." He fell back into silence rather than offering the explanation that El was looking for. She waited patiently for a minute or two, giving him the opportunity to explain himself of his own volition before sitting up with a huff and pausing the TV, moving to sit next to him.

"What's going on? Is everything okay?" El watched as Jonathan set his jaw firmly, releasing a long slow breath, all the while staring inscrutably at the coffee table. By the time he finally looked at her, the anticipation had made her too anxious even to admire the hue of his eyes as she normally would.

"Last night, you..." he trailed off and let out another sigh before continuing, "it made me worry. I've been thinking all day, and I'm wondering if maybe you would be better off leaving Gotham now and going somewhere without me." Whatever she had been expecting, this wasn't it. Her brow furrowed, and she struggled to organize her thoughts enough to argue as he spoke again. "I know you, and I know that that wasn't normal, and it wouldn't have happened if I hadn't gotten you involved."

"So what?" she sputtered. "Jonathan, you got me involved, but if I didn't want to be still involved, I wouldn't be. Don't worry about me. You're not responsible for my decisions."

Her words did little to soothe him, and he leaned against the back of the couch with his head tilted all the way back to look at the ceiling. "No, I'm not, but this is clearly taking a toll on you. I just think it might be better if-"

"I understand what you're saying, but you're wrong," interrupted El. "If I were to leave now, I would just worry about you more. Without me, you're on your own here, and it's going to take a lot more than some stupid bad dream to make me abandon you. I know that you can handle all of this on your own, but as long as I'm here, I'm going to keep supporting you in whatever ways I can."

He was technically right, to an extent; it wasn't normal for a nightmare to break her like that. But the fact remained that it was only a dream, and the fact that it had immediately followed a dosing of fear toxin only served to solidify her point further. It would never have affected me like that if I hadn't insisted on a second toxin trial.

Jonathan mulled over what she said for what seemed like ages, to the point that Elianna wasn't even sure where his train of thought may have taken him. Regardless, she knew that he must have been trying to come up with some absurd reason why she should leave anyway. Deciding to let him think (and knowing that she would win this debate with this move), she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders and lifted his arm to slot herself against his side.

He looked down at her as she settled his arm around her back, only to find her already looking up at him patiently with big green eyes. Shit. He could never argue with her when she looked at him like that, and she knew it. He did his best to steel his resolve, but then she blinked at him so sweetly that he had no choice.

"Fine," he sighed, finally looking away from her. "But no more toxin. From now on, you're just helping me supervise, understood?" He felt her nod fervently and wrap her arms tight around him. How did she always manage to get under his skin so well?

"I can't believe you thought you could get rid of me that easily," she scoffed. "I'm here to stay, love. I left you behind once, and I'm not going to do it again." Jonathan was amused by the childish notion behind her words but appreciated the sentiment nonetheless.

He was silently glad that she had pushed against him on this particular issue. While he still believed that she would be safer away from the city, he really didn't want her to leave. She was too...important. As proven by how easily she could get him to concede just by looking at me, for fuck's sake.

"You know I would never try to get rid of you." Jonathan still faced difficulty coming to terms with her effect on him, but this time he didn't have the energy to fight it. Deep down, he knew that he had let her win, selfishly wanting her to stay. Unwilling to resist, he let his cheek rest against the top of her head. "Sometimes I might think about it, but I'm not stupid." He felt her laugh.

"Understandable." She tilted her head back to look at him, and he lifted his head from hers to mirror her gaze. A soft smile spread over her face. "One of these days, I'm going to get you to admit outright that you love me." She said smugly, undeterred by his impassive expression.

He could tell by the look on her face that she had begun speaking absentmindedly, but Jonathan found himself more focused on the conversation in his head; naturally, Scarecrow had his own opinion on what El had said.

She's got a point. We should just get it over with now.

That isn't what she means.

Sure it is! See the way she looks at us? Come ooonnn, what's the harm? If it goes south, I'll just take care of it.

You absolutely will not.

I still don't see why we shouldn't get rid of her anyway. Loose ends, Jonny. If she's dead, she can't snitch.

She isn't going to. She would have done it already, and she's never told anyone about everything else we've done; why would she start now?

Yeah, and why do you think that is? Principle? Honesty? She likes us, Jonny. If you don't take care of it now, then I will.

With that, the straw man retreated to the back of Jonathan's mind in smug silence. The ambiguity of Scarecrow's ultimatum made him nervous, as he was unsure of what Scarecrow's version of "taking care of it" might be. But Jonathan knew ultimately that his alter was actually right this time. All of the jokes, the affection, the trust, and when she looked at him the way she had done just a minute before...

It was almost terrifying to think that the woman he had held so dear for so long might harbor feelings for him, and the true rush of the unknown exhilarated him. As strange as it would be, Jonathan knew what he wanted to do and resolved on the spot to act upon it before he could talk himself back out of it as he was wont to do.

"Not verbally, necessarily," she spoke up again, "but one of these days, you're going to do something, and I'll kno-"

The rest of El's sentence was cut short by something that could not have caught her more off guard, and while some part of her seemed to process it immediately (judging by how hard her heart was beating), it took a moment for her brain to catch up.

Jonathan had interrupted her by cupping the side of her face with his free hand and, in one fluid motion, had tilted her head back more and kissed her full on the mouth ever so softly. Her mind hadn't yet finished racing with unanswered questions when her internal monologue switched abruptly to, "oh, fuck it."

At that moment, she didn't need to understand anything. By way of response, she lifted her own hand to close lightly around his wrist, keeping his hand against her face and returned the tentative kiss with one of her own.

Both of their stomachs exploded into butterflies, but for vastly different reasons. Jonathan felt a rush of relief from the reciprocation and a flutter of nervousness caused by sudden instability for the future that it implied. In the same moment, Elianna found an emotional release and a thrill caused by the same unclear future, eager to build something new, powerful even.

Whatever her motivation, when El kissed him again, Jonathan was more than eager to return the action, and all of his apprehensiveness began to melt away. It was a rare moment of clarity for him, as he found himself truly in the moment. She had kissed him. Things that had been so important to him only minutes before were suddenly irrelevant, and when El pulled away and buried her face into his neck, holding him so tight, he was all too glad to squeeze her closer.

He thought that he had never been more determined to do anything as he was to keep her safe previously, but having finally given in to the impulse that he had been repressing since their teen years, Jonathan realized his previous resolve had been trivial. This, with all of its implicit devotion attached, changed everything so drastically. Nobody would ever hurt her again; not Zsasz, not Scarecrow, not anybody.

It was a good feeling, if a bit overwhelming. Following his new theme of letting himself enjoy the things he wanted, Jonathan allowed himself to feel at ease, content. He even cracked a smile when a small voice chimed, "I told you so," from somewhere near his collarbone.

"Yes, you did." He stroked back her hair and left a lingering kiss on top of her head, and felt her delighted smile split her face as she hugged him tighter (if that was even possible).

"Now you're really not getting rid of me. You know that, right?"

"I know. That's what I wanted." El hummed happily in response, breathing in the smell of his clothes. Being wrapped up against him like this felt...right. Like this was what their entire friendship had always been leading to, and now that it had been fulfilled, nothing could stop her.

Ever at the whim to her desires, and knowing that Jonathan couldn't be relied on to do the same, El straightened back up to stand on her knees and captured him in another kiss, deeper than before. With no protest, Jonathan locked his arms securely around her waist to keep her close and responded in kind.

Everything else forgotten, the new couple passed the day away in a world of their own making, testing the limits, and exploring new possibilities. Totally focused on each other, they both forgot everything about the killing of the city, the crimes they were committing together, the hells they had been put through, all of it wiped away; with every kiss, every gentle touch, every movement erased every atrocity, past and future. The new, stronger nature of their companionship made them unstoppable.

[fearfearer]

i have caught up with the magnus archives.

when i started listening, i started a text file to note down any thoughts/confusion/analysis/jokes i had as i listened. i isolated a few bits of it into standalone text posts that i already posted, but here is the whole thing, my long-form liveblog

thoughts on the magnus archive as i listen

jonny sims gives an impassioned performance of someone's statement-- a diegetic impassioned performance, as we witness it being interrupted and resuming-- and follows it up with his own judgement of merciless doubt. classic. why the impassioned performance? he's just a nerd. i dearly hope this is the fandom consensus

every episode ends at the perfect volume to which i have adjusted it, and then i start the next episode and it blares in my ears. i think the volume of the intro must be like 1.75x the volume of the rest

*makes a serious effort to listen to and remember the name and date at the beginning of the statement recording* *forgets completely within 2 minutes*

i saw a fanart of gerard keay and learned [1] that he must be a good guy after all, since they drew him lookin cute, and [2] that his name is not, in fact, jared key. what, am i supposed to be looking at the transcripts? understanding names properly? in my defense, jonny sims clearly articulates "Jared" when he says it. maybe i'm not as good at decoding british accents as i thought. [footnote added in later: ok good i'm not the only one who hears "Jared" and thinks "Jared" instead of "Gerard"]

when gerard keay was described as having numerous eye tattoos on his joints, obviously my first thought was, "including the ankle? so he's count olaf?" because that's definitely a way count olaf would disguise his eye tattoo: by tattooing eyes everywhere else too and becoming The Eye Tattoo Guy. anyway this is part of why i was not at first inclined to think favorably of gerard keay

"The first thing about this statement that makes me dubious is that it comes from a fellow academic." if you know shit fuck you

it has come to my attention that there are ships. makes sense... after all, everyone in every fandom is horny af*. i'm not in deep enough to ship yet but naturally i'm keeping an eye on it

*horny af for depictions of intimacy, sexual or otherwise, but mostly sexual

definitely feel like i need to be writing down every name i hear because they're never not cropping back up but for now i'll just let it all wash over me

so sasha has been replaced with not-sasha, huh? pretty sure. though i'm not good at distinguishing voices. but that sounded pretty different, and my listening comprehension wrt that table isn't that bad. <<as time passes i doubt myself more and more on this point but not enough to go back and listen again

"You believe me?" "Yes, I think I do." (smashes button labeled "CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT" and a loud buzzer sounds)

IT'S MICHAEL!!! i hope michael is a long-term good guy... he's not seeming like a good guy right now... he says he's mostly neutral. vaguely recall seeing a tumblr post about michael in the recent past but that didn't give me any hints and i don't remember it well anyway. michael's voice is good though. good laugh

i'm not good at visualizing characters based on descriptions, let alone based merely on their voices, so the only image i have in my head of jonathan is a furrowed brow

i'm on episode 49 and i don't like jonathan's distrust of his colleagues... i don't understand why his immediate suspicion was that gertrude's murder was an inside job. hasn't he just learned firsthand that the institute is not impenetrable? it's not inconceivable that someone could enter and shoot her and leave. especially when it took place in underground tunnels connected to unknown locations.

there's a good Old Lady Voice Combo on episode 62

so agnes montague was heavily cursed... that's my conclusion after episode 67

elias seems to tell jonathan to "get some sleep" a lot. though it IS generally good advice

episode 70, 9 minutes, 41 seconds: jonny sims's cell phone goes off in the background

small brain: ghost ship medium brain: ghost train galaxy brain: dirt train

i wanted to see if there was fanart of michael so i looked it up... i might as well have googled "blonde slenderman"

sweeney todd mentions tally: II

for some reason, hearing michael described this time as "a tall man with curly blonde hair and an unnerving laugh" puts an image in my head without my consent, and that image is chris fleming. now, he's not quite blonde, is he? but that doesn't change my casting decision, which is now set in stone. hope he does a good british accent

"YES i know what a meme is."

why is melanie the first/only one to notice that sasha is now not-sasha? is it because she is experienced in firsthand paranormal encounters (whereas the archivists are experienced in decidedly SECONDhand paranormal encounters, save for the worm debacle)? oh, my question was answered handily in the next episode. ok.

the replacer definitely limits its glamour to everyone except one person just so that it can be amused by the distress and confusion of the one person who can see the truth. that must also be the reason it chooses a completely different appearance. it surely COULD replace a person with their exact likeness; it just uses another face for fun, and to be satisfied that it can get away with it.

this table has appeared in like 10 episodes... Guess It's Crucial

jonny sims yelling while swinging an axe. jonny sims goes through michael's door (eyes emoji)

the idea of the replacer killing jonathan and not even replacing him brings to mind "AT LEAST RIDE IT YOU ASSHOLE"

wasn't expecting to hear from leitner at this point... he's dropping tons of lore here. too much lore. so much is happening. i have to say i kinda like it better when the stakes are not quite so high as this.

so at the end of season 2, tim and martin believe that jonny sims killed this guy, who they probably don't know is leitner... and we the audience believe that elias, now almost certainly a double murderer, has very quietly stabbed leitner to death. do i the audience believe it? i'll keep an open mind for now. things are not always as they seem. except when sasha was replaced with not-sasha, which was exactly as it seemed. [footnote added in later: looks like elias being a double murderer was exactly as it seemed.]

so jonathan sims is the name of the actual guy voicing jonathan sims. it's a cecil situation. so are they someday going to go back and retcon every episode to change his name, like with palmer/baldwin? or does jonathan sims just not mind being a character as well? as long as it doesn't devolve into RPS i guess it's fine. if there's fanart of jonmartin i hope it doesn't depict them as their actors bc that's too close for comfort to RPS

there's been a truly hellish c*ndy cr*sh ad that has played like 40 times between episodes and i'm pretty well convinced to never ever play that curséd game

elias has some serious blackmail for daisy, huh? that's heavy, having police characters in fiction who do extrajudicial killings. life imitates art imitates life

"i'm not on drugs or anything. ...what? i could be on drugs!"

he said "ample opportunity" but like "amplopportunity" with emphasis on the "plop"

it was obviously elias who delivered the statement to jonathan in hiding, because he knew he would record it despite not being at work... bc he's a nerd

so if gerard keay has eye tattoos, does that mean he also serves the uhh the observing or whatever? [verdict arrived at later: no he just has those because he's cool. or because his mom tattooed him. ok almost certainly the latter.]

"what do i feed it?" obviously you feed it filled up cassette tapes, jon... nothing has ever been more obvious

it's okay that jon very stupidly burned his hand to a crisp. you don't need even one hand to turn on a cassette recorder. you can do that with your nose

so if these people who are wax figures serve the desolation, and not-sasha was spending time at the wax museum, does that mean there is a connection between the replacer and desolation? i think that would make sense, since both seem to enjoy making people feel bad feelings. also i'm starting to think that agnes was not actually cursed, but that would mean she burned that guy on purpose after being nice to him... was she just really selfish in that way? using him to experience Dating and mutilating him when he crossed the line, so she punished him as a cruel goodbye? or just building up his hopes so they will be even more fun to burn down when the time comes?

"perhaps doing a bit of mindless filing will help distract you." honestly that is something i would like to do in real life... i do enjoy a good mindless task. though doing mostly mindless tasks 40 hours a week is not a fun time for me lately. but it would be better if i didn't have to listen to bad radio at the same time

what?! the friendly midnight acrobat described in episode 90 sounds totally non-threatening and i hope there's fanart of it. was that gym just jared the bone turner helping people live their twisted athletic fetishes?! [footnote added in later: YES! god i hope people draw these turn-boned creatures optimized for their gymnastic of choice. show me a person who remade their body specifically for the balance beam]

so the power endowed in the archivist by the viewening is that when you sit them down across from someone they want to interview, that someone will invariably spill SOME beans and think it was their idea. maybe? [footnote added in later: yes.]

ok so Michael "The Distortion" Michael, of fractals and golden ringlets, has specifically tormented this other michael, lichtenberg michael?

jon is clearly moved to ask questions by an external force because he's a sensible guy who would not try to ask questions when daisy is holding a gun on him

i think basira has precisely the same accent as estelle... or maybe just a similarly staccato way of speaking (or of line-reading)

[episode 93] elias: (holding jon's face between two pieces of bread) what are you? jon: (sigh) the archivist...

well, they did something i didn't expect them to do with this show: create a compelling in-universe reason for jon to read statements aloud. because obviously until now there was none.

jon did the cockney accents. (insert emoji for indescribable feeling)

here's the purpose of the pit: if we all climb in the muddy pit together at night, the earthquake will only jiggle us gently and no one will be inside collapsing buildings to be crushed. it's only logical

ok i was gonna say this before but why is jon still at georgie's house??? he's not on the run for murder anymore, right? he has an apartment with all his stuff in it, right? [footnote added in later: i still don't understand why it was like this.]

i will confess that usually once the credits start to roll i zip to the next episode, but this time i zoned out a bit and it's really funny that jonny sims reads out "Rate and Review Us Online" in his archivist voice

a third michael. this one is probably already dead though. unless distortion michael takes over this guy's body or something. oh, jon came in at the end of the episode to say precisely this.

was episode 100 mostly improvised? if so, that would be appropriate. but i wouldn't put it past them to write every stuttering bit of those four statements

MARTIN...................................................................................................................................................... (typed this as martin gave some of his own money to the lady who expected payment for a statement)

i'm skipping 100.1 through 100.5 for now... just for now.

ok so michael is michael but not lightning mike michael, and two of these michaels are dead, but one is something that has never been alive nor dead. got it

everyone's morality is much more gray than i at first anticipated. the only people who seem to be solidly and earnestly on the side of good, as much as possible, are jonathan and martin and basira and georgie and maybe tim?

so michael just died and was overtaken by pseudo-helen? neo-helen? ok. that's kinda too bad, as i enjoyed michael's terrible laugh and unpredictability. but the feeling of michael being revealed as having been michael shelley feels somewhat similarly disappointing (but a bit less staggeringly groan-inducing) to when the mysterious koro-sensei in assassination classroom was revealed to have been a twink in his past. because of course he was. (that's when i stopped reading that manga. too precipitously dumb to sustain my suspension of disbelief.) it's like, ok, you had an interestingly mysterious character going on, but having solved the mystery, what interestingness is left? not much. fortunately this was resolved by promptly ending the existence of this michael and instead introducing new and improved helen

ooh martin has the asky ability too huh? nice [footnote added in later: he only used it this one time, and i'm wondering if they did that and then forgot and decided that jon is actually the only one with asky ability.] [[another footnote added in much later: How did i manage to mistake jon’s voice for martin’s voice? How?]]

the way martin said "kumo ga tabeteiru" in episode 110... alexander j newall does not watch anime

"I'm a book." ~Gerard Keay, 2017

it was a few episodes ago now but i noticed that when jon clearly articulated "Jared" referring to gerard, elias was like "Jared? you mean Gerard Keay?" (pronouncing it like "Gerard.") there is definitely a disagreement between these two (actors) about how to pronounce that name

the eye, the spiral, the end, the stranger, the lonely, the desolation, the slaughter, the vast, the buried, the dark, the corruption, the web, the flesh, the hunt.

Q: why would anyone want one of these rituals to succeed? A: it's their fetish. it's their sexual fetish

ok time to make up names for each possible apocalypse. these are the real and true names according to me, who knows such things: the eye - the viewening the spiral - down the drain the end - the really end end the stranger - oh wait we know this one. it's the unknowing. the lonely - the alonening the desolation - Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Lightless Flame the slaughter - world war all the vast - the expansion the buried - the grand lahar (or the Smothering) the dark - the extinguishment the corruption - the Great Rot the web - the spidening the flesh - the smorgasbord (or the Eatening) the hunt - come and get it

gerry said there was no dark god of indigestion, but i can tell you from personal experience that there is. though it's true that there is also fear involved, so maybe no separate pantheon is necessary

i sense that there is a battle between people who say it like "gotta get myself oriented" and "i feel disoriented" (as feels correct/natural to me) and people who say "gotta get myself orienTATed" and "i feel disorienTATed," and this podcast falls SQUARELY on the latter team. they've said it like 20 times

idk why he has to be such a dick to helen. jeez

the guy who coded his mind into a computer, which of the 14 was that? the corruption? the stranger? gotta be the corruption, but that doesn't fit perfectly with its rot/bugs aesthetic...

speed -> speeding -> sped. heed -> heeding -> hed. thus i decree

in my dream i listened to a whole episode of this show, narrated by gertrude, and i was like "whoa this is cool" and i went to write it down but i was still in the dream and writing doesn't work in dreams :( also any successful writing in dreams doesn't transfer to real life paper :( the only snippet i remember: “...in his white mouth, which had known only bread...”

"I, uh..." Jonathan Sims, a thousand times, 20XX

martin's job is PLAINLY to distract elias and elias barges in like "martin. i see you're trying to distract me." and martin's like "maybe i am!"

o, jonny took a breath. that's good

he wasn't hooked up to an EKG or anything? you spend long enough with no heartbeat that they're just like "i guess we can turn this off"

this episode about philosophical zombies sounds a lot like that NPC meme from a year or two ago... and it makes me kind of uncomfortable, the way this person inspects others to determine whether they are True Minds or Impostors based on their emotional expressions, their eyes... because i don't always do the correct or appropriate expressions, and would someone judge me as being a non-person who is trying and failing to imitate human emotions?

i generally don't enjoy ships that have more-or-less explicit canon support, but i can't say jon/martin isn't good

melanie blaming jon isn't right... no one had a better plan to stop the unknowing, did they? (they didn't!) didn't all of them agree on the plan and understand that they might die? (they did!) she's just imposing survivor's guilt upon him because he survived for supernatural reasons. but it's not like he eagerly embraced his new supernaturalness, or even asked for it outright! i think she's being unreasonable. i didn't like her insistence on trying to kill elias either, even though elias is a huge dick. what's with her?

wait, peter lukas is the lonely? (meme where calculations and equations whiz past me)

jonathan baa'd

oh, see. the bullet is making melanie act without reason. i get it now. can't say i think they had the best approach to getting the bullet out, but all's well that ends well (???)

martin is being prohibited from talking to jon >:I martin is on a first-name basis with peter lukas >:I...

martin grumbles, "i don't like being manipulated..." while obviously and continuously allowing himself to be manipulated

jon is afraid of and uncomfortable with what he's becoming, at least to a degree, right? but he seems to be going about his duties (i.e. feeding the eye) with vigor and without reluctance. is he really that motivated by his own desire to know and understand? who is he doing this for? is the eye's influence on him so strong that "doing what the eye wants" seems to manifest as what HE wants to do?

"He'd place it over the one he wore already, and he would larf and larf and larf" (from breacon’s statement... just heard it like this for some reason)

deep water could be the domain of both the buried and the vast, because you could lose yourself in the vast ocean, but experience the physical effects of being buried under thousands of feet of water...

so tom han was an avatar of the flesh but he ultimately died after being tortured by the spiral... right?

"we're not people, though, are we? not anymore." close enough, i'd say.

jonathan has deployed THREE "I, uh..."s in episode 131 alone and i want to smack him in real life. FOUR NOW. JON. JONATHAN SIMS THE REAL ACTOR. LISTEN... quit falling back on your "I, uh..."s. and if they're written into the script i'll punch whoever did that too. total of five in a single episode. never utter "I, uh..." again

i hope whoever's throat is okay after doing bone turner voice for a whole statement.

jonny sure needs saving quite often, doesn't he.

peter lukas being a slightly chipper advocate for becoming a follower of the lonely is very strange

neil lagorio and his whole cinematographic history is made up but they namedropped kevin costner, who is real

VERY, VERY GOOD laugh at 23:44 of episode 136

melanie getting her session recorded... i was doing audio transcription for a while and you'd definitely come across bits of therapy-type sessions that very much seemed like they should have been confidential.

i wonder if the eye ultimately turned its back on gertrude and allowed her to be killed. if jon could survive a collapsing building, could gertrude not have survived a couple of bullets? wouldn't the difference be the protection of the eye? [footnote added in later: of course now i see who turned their back on whom.]

i'm somewhat heartened to learn that agnes montague was, in fact, a heavily cursed individual, though she seemed to have embraced it to a degree... and she wasn't made of wax.

i like that jon now includes helen in his office politics briefing

basira's like "Edmund Halley" and jon's like "Halley's comet?" (like “Hale-ey”) and two minutes later jon's like "Edmund Hally" (not "Hale-y")

"What's this?" "OH... That's, uh... that's... my rib..." "Right." (tiny clunk of rib being set down)

so giving a statement puts a curse on you... or is it "having a statement extracted / being compelled" that puts a curse on you? and the resulting curse, the fear it reawakens, is that good for the eye, or is that good for the powers that initially caused the fear?

well, i heard a homestuck reference in one of the patreon names at the beginning of an episode, and who is surprised? of course, i'm not one to talk

episode 144- the english think their summer is bad... as a professional "hot weather is bad" person, i feel doubtful, because if the sky is grey, it is not as hot as it Could Be, and therefore one should quit one's bitching

first statement about the extinction... interesting. but hearing martin be a jerk to daisy makes me sad :(

the powers never tell avatars exactly what they need to be doing, but that's just concerning the means. the ends are always clear: the power gets fed. and all of the powers feed on fear. also jonny is horny for statements. i hope, but also doubt, that his harmful behavior is at least partially the spider's doing. oh, i see now that it's not. yeah.

jon wants to eat fresh and delicious statements produced just for him, instead of reconstituting the dusty old statements already in the archive

episode 148 - samson stiller gets a crush. but in all seriousness, is he becoming an avatar of the eye but like, not institute-related? is that a thing? i guess that would make sense, but still seems weird

episode 149 - considering ring -> rang -> rung, we seem to have stumbled upon spin -> span -> spun, and the compasses gently span around (9:40)

does martin have loneliness powers now? it's sad that he is getting lonely... as a lonely person, i know.

the lady on TV in episode 150 was just speaking simlish.

i really want jon to overcome his urge to forcefully take statements because i want to be able to root for him still

british podcasts really have a leg up over american podcasts, at least among american audiences, purely based on their interesting and varied accents

i can't say the gravedigger's envy doesn't make me myself feel like going to sleep in the cold dirt forever. but bad depression lately is also a factor, so

jonathan having to settle for reading already archived statements instead of harvesting fresh ones is exactly like a vampire (not the kind detailed in this series) who has to choose between hunting people to suck their blood or drinking bags of donated blood from a (near-endless) stockpile. there's an ethical choice with a clear right answer, but the urge is also understandable

jon following up gertrude's tape with just "fuck" was really good. now he's like "ok martin. let's run away together"

spent all day at work thinking about how i can't fuckin believe the first thing jon did when he heard how to escape the institute was to go tell martin like "there will be a great cost, but... we can elope now"

also if tim was still around jon would tell him the way out and he would do it right then and there, i'm 100% sure. like before jon was finished explaining tim would be like "the eyes? (grabs scissors) got it. (does the deed)"

earlier today i was just thinking that we would almost certainly hear gertrude's death on tape, especially given that we now understand tape recorders are wont to turn on autonomously whenever something important is happening. anyway then i came home and heard gertrude's death on tape

peter, as an avatar of the lonely, is easy to play like a cheap whistle because as someone who clearly hates spending time around other people, he is not keen to the symptoms of being played.

elias is like "you'll have to go into the lonely to get him" and jon's probably thinking "but then at least we'll be in the lonely... ~*~*~together~*~*~"

i think martin's whole thing for most of the series has been that he sounds a little doofy, for lack of a better word, and people constantly underestimate his intelligence. and now he has played peter lukas like a cheap whistle and forced me to realize that by taking for granted that he was being successfully manipulated by peter lukas, i too was underestimating martin... and his pure love for jon <:3c no but seriously i even remember explicitly making a mental note to remember that martin is smartin but it fell by the wayside as my emotions (of sadness that jon and martin seemed to be growing further apart) took precedent

i work a non-verbal job just doing mundane tasks and that gives me all the time in the world to think about things like "if they were to have jon and martin reunite in a tearful embrace, how would you convey the physical contact in an audio format? like, whap? soft thud?"

jon enters the lonely and voiceover peter comes in to try and factcheck the ship

i guess it makes sense that peter would try to do the ritual for the lonely all by himself

did he kill peter by asking him to death? or did peter just self-destruct rather than be forced to answer?

the way jon snapped martin out of the loneliness just by making him look at his face... that's powerful. as a lonely person, i know that the most cry-making thing you can realize when you feel alone is that another person is, in fact, there with you

martin went for a walk and now it's thunderstorming. i wonder if he came back as soon as it started raining and now he's standing nearby invisibly as jon reads the intimidating magnus statement. ...I GUESS NOT

i plan to read through the transcripts of all the episodes (as it’s faster than re-listening, though i might selectively re-listen) so that i may better understand some things and answer some questions in this post that i didn’t ultimately resolve. i can’t say i was paying 101% attention all the way through. also april is very far away

[brainbubblegum]

Tagged by... @patches-poots

Rules: Answer 30 questions, then tag 20 blogs you’d like to know better (HAH)

Nickname: I have like 80, but the most popular seem to be Jonni, Grams or Brain

Gender: ∠( ᐛ 」∠)＿

Zodiac: Sagittarius... like it matters tho *tips trilby to hide face*

Height: fun-sized

Age: 26..... YEAH, you read that right, keep scrollin’!! 💥🗞= 👋👀

Time: 21:38 PM (IMPORTANT)

Favorite bands/solo artists: I like really BIG sounds with negative emotion, and I also like songs without any icky, gross romance in them. Bands like Jimmy Hendrix, Metallica, Black Sabbath and Pink Floyd do mostly that. But I’ll pretend I like happy love songs just for Queen because Freddie Mercury was a real-life siren and there will never be another performer like him.

Song stuck in my head: Ballroom Blitz by Sweet, pls send helpis

Last movie I saw: in theaters- The Incredibles 2, I loved it, I loved everyONE.

Last movie in general was Justice League, which I mentally checked out of when Superman actually beat up wonder woman. She’s a GOD who knows every martial art and he’s just a DUMB ALIEN THE WRITERS KEEP ADDING POWER TO TO APPEASE THE FANBOYS BDDBISHXWZKS

Last thing I googled: “little old lady that took in disabled hobos and disembowled them”... IT WAS DOROTHEA PUENTE, and it was driving me NUTS trying to find her story after seeing her on ID.

Other blogs: 🤫

Do I get asks: once a blue moon I’ll get someone telling me my art was reposted... or that my style looks like Shel Silverstein’s hands and Tim Burton’s hands had a baby.... or they’re asking me to draw like... a reaaally specific kink.. like, blonde woman buying wonderbread level specific...

Why I chose my username: my grandad used to call dumb shows with no real mental stimulation on tv brain bubble gum and I was like, that’s-a me!

Following: I got like, 8.4K followers, but I’m pretty sure half of them are pornbots and fake devs who wants to test their flash game on their NOT AT ALL shady site.... the other half is probably PacRim fans waiting for me to draw funney K-Science comics again, which might take a while cuz Uprising was one stinky pile of business that took nearly everything I loved from the first movie and farted on it til it died

Average amount of sleep: now that I’m out of the peaceful, quiet country in the middle of nowhere and live near the city where fire trucks and ambulances are wailing all hours through the night I can finally get a healthy 7 hours of sleep...

Lucky number:

What I’m wearing: school house rock shirt and pajama pants made entirely of screenshots from the original Star Wars trilogy

Dream Job: professional comic book writer/artist

Dream Trip: that one island in Japan with all them cats on it

Favorite Food: grilled pork kabobs... barely seared stake... crab cakes.... straight-up raw salmon... I think I’m closely related to carnivores or something...

Play any instrument: I USED to have a beautiful, crimson electric guitar with pearl frets, but my former landlord’s daughter’s baby daddy stole it amongst other things and fled the country and I’m constantly filled with rage because of it

Favorite song: the intro to Animal Planet’s Most Extreme.... reALLY hyped me up as a kid....

Play(ed) any sport: when I was a kid I played a lotta softball and soccer... I also rode my bike down hills at top speed and flung myself off on purpose because I was one of those little psychos that wanted to be a daredevil

Hair color: Black as my sin

Eye color: gold/brown

Language you speak/are learning: my duolingo has Spanish and French on it right now and I try to get my dad to teach me some Arabic and French words once in a while.... I just need a reason to speak a different language every day so I can learn and not be so very basic

Random Fact: I laugh like Marge Simpson

Describe yourself as an aesthetic/things: abandoned architecture, very vague cryptic sightings, 90’s web design, kitsch Dutch toys from the 1800’s, the first season of every hand-drawn animation where everyone looks super off-model, lonely aliens/monsters and the sweet, sweet aroma of cleaning products

Tagging: @yellowdraws @sugarkillsall @nopecontest @jakewikstrom @hey-rogby @kreuzader @valhallahalvorson if you’re boOOORRREDD

[eenefangirlanalysis]

Thinking about the Eds is giving Jimmy a migraine. He wishes for everybody to get back to the party.

The Eds have caused stress on Jimmy’s life. They were the ones who damaged Jimmy’s teeth thus making him get a retainer. Still, it’s not entirely the Eds fault. They didn’t know the impact of chewing on a bowling ball would break Jimmy’s teeth.

Remember in season 2 when Jimmy mentioned a therapist? That line has always intrigued me and gives Jimmy’s character more depth. We talked a lot about Jimmy’s parents last month. I have head canons that they went through a hard time earlier in Jimmy’s childhood. His Dad lost his job and the pressure from not being able to find another made him start drinking. Since Jimmy is so dependent on Sarah his mother must have worked a lot.

His homelife and the Eds have caused stress in Jimmy’s life. His therapist may have instructed that if he feels anxiety that he should either approach it or just o an activity of sorts to take his mind off the stress. Although this line makes Jimmy sound mean, he’s only doing what’s best for himself.

I was just about to ask why Sarah’s hair looked so frazzled but I remember Jonny was jumping all over her.

Reaching into the cookie box a pink glove with white cotton balls crawls onto Jimmy’s hand.

Jimmy immediately freaks out. And he knows that it is a monkey hand when it is clear it has been handmade to resemble one.

THEORY: WHAT IF ED WAS SLEEPING WALKING?! He slept in his monkey suit over night, his old habit of sleeping walking and roaming the cul-de-sac late at night, stealing the neighbors food returned! That’s why Ed doesn’t have any memory about where he put his mask and glove!

Does Jimmy fear monkey’s? He doesn’t want to be around monkey’s as they smell their fingers. That sounds like Edd. Edd feared that little dog back in season 1. I wish more animals could have been present so we could have seen the kids interacting with them.

I like how Kevin and Rolf are so irritated by Jimmy’s complaining. They know it’s fake.

Kevin has never complained about Jimmy. He leaves him alone. Kevin knows that he’s just a kid still exploring himself and the world. 

Rolf, however, is still trying to understand the cul-de-sac kids. Jimmy’s childhood wasn’t how Rolf grew up. He grew up in a different country. Unlike Jimmy, Rolf has constant chores and may not have had the time to have an imagination. 

The flashback from No Speak Da Ed is a wonderful example of how Rolf had to defend himself when a crazy man in a wolf suit was stalking him. The experience left scars on Rolf. Later in the series Rolf and Jimmy finally have a limelight episode together where Rolf starts to understand Jimmy’s character along what it may have been like to be a carefree child. That’s what I like about Rolf and Jimmy’s friendship.

Rolf believes that the whole world has come to an end because somebody ruined a perfect glove.

Kevin could care less about the glove. His Ed sensors go off knowing they must be behind this scheme. It bothers him that they have not shown up yet. 

There are days where the Eds have taken a break from scamming. Episodes such as Mirror, Mirror on the Ed, Key to my Ed, and 3 Squares of an Ed show the Eds just hanging around as friends. Does he grow suspicious when they don’t scam for a day? They will have run ins. Kevin needs to see the Eds every day. As I have said Kevin lives with routine. Nobody can go a day without them.

“Come on, Rolf! Let’s find Eddy!”

You know, I have never fully examined Kevin’s facial expressions until now. They’re so smooth. I also like how his head is drawn. His mouth shape is similar to Edd’s. I enjoyed drawing Kevin when we had our art challenge a week ago. He’s so fun to draw!

“A [knot? nod?] is as good as a wink to a blind horse." Rolf estimates.

Hmm... That’ll take some time to understand and analyze. You can’t wink at a blind horse as it won’t be able to see you. Does this mean they’ll have difficulty finding the Eds as they could be anywhere?

“OOOoooooKay...” Great reaction and wonderful expression.

Jonny is as perplexed as we are. 

He has never understood Rolf. He has called Rolf weird in episodes. Jonny himself has a unique personality. He’s trying to understand Rold’s eccentricities being from another country.

Jonny politely asks where Sarah and Jimmy are heading off to.

Sarah tells Jonny to wake up. It was just a simple question, Sarah. Jonny, or the audience, didn’t see you discussing anything so it looks as if you’re randomly leaving the scene for no reason.

Since Kevin and Rolf are going to look for Eddy, Sarah, Jimmy and Nazz are going to find Ed.

Nazz nicely suggests that Jonny could find Edd.

Jonny is happy that one person was nice to him today.

Do you think JonnyNazz is possible? They would make a cute couple. Nazz rejects Jonny is season 5 but I think it was due to her dumb blonde phase. She wanted attention from the cul-de-sac kids and even the crowd beyond that. 

[betweenthenotesblog]

Ranking Radiohead’s Good to Greatest Albums

Anyone who really knows me at all, knows my absolute love for Radiohead. They are my all-time favorite band. A band I would argue with anyone is a top five rock band of all-time.

I won’t regale you with the reasons why I believe this to be true. We could schedule time over beers (or more aptly - a Zoom call) to get into all that.

For some reason, until now, I shied away from ever ranking or declaring my favorite Radiohead albums. I found the concept of ranking their albums downright intimidating. It would be too difficult as there are so many positives to each of their releases. Plus, I have made respect for even the albums that wouldn’t rank as high (The King of Limbs and especially Kid A come to mind) because they were such risk-taking left turns for the band that even if I didn’t like those career-detours as much. I fully respected the band for taking such creative risks.

However, recently I happened upon a post on Radiohead’s subreddit that shared a weblink to the site tiermaker.com that provided an opportunity to segment every Radiohead track into A/B/C/D tiers. Being on the more analytical side of the spectrum, I was intrigued with the idea of my personal tiering of each Radiohead song.

So I took a couple hours with Spotify and the Tier Maker site to segment each song across each Radiohead studio album into A (top), B, C, and D (bottom) tiers. My personal tiermaker.com Radiohead track-segmenting looked like this.

From there, I built a spreadsheet detailing how each album’s songs shook out across A through D tiers and applied a grade-point like scoring system (4 points for each A song / 3 points for each B song / 2 points for each C song and 1 point for each D song).  

Here is what my song-tiering work looks like by album in spreadsheet form:

Using that data as my guiding light, this process gave me clarity on how to rank each album. Below is my ranking Radiohead albums 1 through 9 starting with my least favorite album all the way through to my favorite.

Tier Four: Good Radiohead Albums

9. The King of Limbs (2011) / 2.00 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: If there was one Radiohead album I really struggled with out of the gate, it was this one. Musically, it is perhaps their most complex, difficult-to-categorize album. AllMusic.com put it this way: “’The King of Limbs’ deliberately lacks a solid foundation. It is songwriting traded for sound construction. Here, Radiohead digitally weave stuttering, glitchy loops of drums and guitars with real instruments, creating an alluringly dour atmosphere.” That about sums it up.

Personal Reflection: I saw the band tour against The King of Limbs in March 2012 at Sprint Center in Kansas City. This album translated so much better live and that’s when I started to like it more.

My Tier A Tracks: None

Link: Watch this, “Radiohead - The King of Limbs (Live from the Basement)” to fully appreciate the sounds the band created on The King of Limbs. The musicianship displayed here is incredible and shows why they are the most talented rock band in the world. 

8. Pablo Honey (1992) / 2.08 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: For me, there is one outstanding track ”Creep” and several really sold tracks including “You,” “Ripcord” and especially “Anyone Can Play Guitar.” For a debut album, it is really good, but as compared to the rest of the Radiohead arsenal, it doesn’t quite measure up.

Personal Reflection: Truth be told, I wasn’t really into Radiohead until the lat 1990s. Prior to that, I certainly took notice of “Creep” when it became a radio and video hit. But I didn’t follow the band in any intentional way in their early days.

My Tier A Tracks: "Creep”

Tier Three: Really Good Radiohead Albums

7. Kid A (2000) / 2.18 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: Many critics claimed that Radiohead saved rock music with their 1997 release OK Computer, not to discount the power of 1995’s The Bends. The expectation was that this release after OK Computer would have the same guitar power as their previous two releases. But the band had other ideas. Kid A was a complete overhaul of their sound by embracing synthesizers, drum machines and brass instruments, drawing influence from electronic and ambient music, jazz and 20th-century classical music.

Personal Reflection: 1) I recall being somewhat frustrated with this album during the first few listens. But then something clicked. That’s the way a lot of fans found the album. It was not easily digestible at first but then the admiration begins to grow. 2) One of my all-time favorite Radiohead tracks is “How to Disappear Completely,” and I remember getting a lump in my throat when seeing the band play this track live at my virgin Radiohead show in St. Louis in 2003. 3) I’m pretty sure that at least three of the six Radiohead fans who get all the way through this blog post will completely disagree with me ranking this album toward the bottom. There are a lot of Kid A fans who think this is their best studio release. I am just not one of those people.  

My Tier A Tracks:  “How to Disappear Completely” / "The National Anthem”

Link: Here is a great mini-documentary on the recording of this album that highlights how creative this band is and how different this album was from their first three releases.

6. Amnesiac (2001) / 2.36 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: I immediately liked Amnesiac a bit more than Kid A when it came out just 14 months after Kid A’s release. I don’t think there are any incredible tracks on Amnesiac, but there are a lot of really solid songs. Some consider Amnesiac the B-side album of Kid A. That isn’t true. The band seriously considered having Kid A released as a double-album by including tracks that would eventually be released as Amnesiac, so to slap the “B-sides” label on this album is inaccurate.

Personal Reflection: I remember working late at the office one night, blasting this album from my cube. A co-worker came up to me while “Pyramid Song” was playing and asked what I was listening to. I turned it down and told her it was the new Radiohead album. She said “Turn it up,” and then sat down with her eyes closed and continued listening to the track’s long piano/strings outro. After it ended, she stood up, thanked me and said how beautiful she thought the song was. It made me realize just how powerful this band is for even those not as familiar with their music.

My Tier A Tracks: None

Tier Two: Outstanding Radiohead Albums

5. A Moon Shaped Pool (2016) / 2.55 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: This is a beautiful album full of horns, strings and amazing song structures. Two of my top 10 Radiohead songs of all-time are from this record and the world would be worse off without this album being in the Radiohead arsenal. “Decks Dark” is as beautiful of a song as Thom Yorke has ever written. “Ful Stop” is as powerful a song as this band has ever created.

Personal Reflection: It seems that a few of my friends who I would label long-time Radiohead fans started drifting away from the band around the release of The King of Limbs. I can’t fault them as that album was difficult to get one’s arms around. Plus, these friends were busy. They were raising families, getting into higher-level, more demanding jobs and losing their ability to keep up with music in general. And by the time A Moon Shaped Pool was released five whole years later, Radiohead had fallen off their collective radars. It happens. Too bad for them because this album is amazing. I find it a wonderful evolution for the band. If only these Radiohead X-Pats would give it a few intentional listens. I’m just sure they’d see something great in it.

My Tier A Tracks: "Decks Dark” / “Ful Stop” /  “Identikit”

Link: This live version of “Ful Stop” is a great representation of the power of Radiohead 25+ years into their career.

4. Hail to The Thief (2003) / 2.64 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: It wasn’t lost on Radiohead fans that after two consecutive electronic-influenced albums that the first sounds we heard on Hail to The Thief were that of Jonny Greenwood plugging his amp into an electric guitar at the opening of “2 + 2 = 5.” This album had much more physicality than Kid A or Amnesiac by bringing the guitar back out in a big way. Hail to The Thief is the most political album in Radiohead’s catalog as many of the songs were written as a rant against U.S. and British foreign policy for the decision to invade Iraq. Because of this, the album has a really heavy feel to it.

Personal Reflection: This album has a special place in my heart because it was on this album tour that I saw Radiohead for the first time in St. Louis at Riverport Amphitheater. This was a big deal for me because back in those days as their popularity exploded, when Radiohead played in the U.S., they normally skipped much of the midwest and only played major metros. Finally, they were playing a gig within my reasonable geographic area. We had incredible seats about 25 yards from the stage and the show was absolutely amazing.

My Tier A Tracks: "2 +2 = 5” / “A Wolf at the Door” /  “Myxomatosis” / “There There” / “Where I End and You Begin”

Tier One: Purple Ribbon A+ Radiohead Albums

3. The Bends (1995) / 3.25 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: I would have guessed The Bends would have ranked as my number four or five Radiohead album going into this song tiering exercise. I think one of the reasons why is due to reverse recency bias. This album is now 25 years old and for the first 15 years or so of its existence, I listened to it so much that I now realize I was discounting it because of over-listening. But when I went back and re-listened with the tiermaker.com lens, I realized that I have a very strong gravitational pull toward this album.

Personal Reflection: As I worked with each song across each album to put them into tiers, I more fully realized how much I absolutely love the song “Street Spirit (Fade Out).” I don’t know if I would go so far as to say it is my all-time favorite Radiohead song but let’s put it this way. I could see this song being played while I’m on my deathbed. And if it were, I would be looking down with a both a smile and a tear in my eye knowing that I had lived a pretty damn good life. Here is what Thom Yorke said about that song: “Street Spirit' is our purest song, but I didn't write it.... It wrote itself. We were just its messengers. It's why we play it towards the end of our sets. It drains me, and it shakes me, and hurts like hell every time I play it, looking out at thousands of people cheering and smiling, oblivious to the tragedy of its meaning. I wish that song hadn't picked us as its catalysts, and so I don't claim it. It asks too much. I didn't write that song.”

My Tier A Tracks: “Bones” / “My Iron Lung” / "Nice Dream” / “Street Spirit (Fade Out) / “Sulk”

Link: “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” with Captioned Lyrics

2. In Rainbows (2007) / 3.00 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: The weighted rating math shows that In Rainbows should rank third on the list. I really struggled with whether to put this album or The Bends in the second spot. In the end, the math be damned! Despite In Rainbows having a lower weighted rating, I am comfortable in saying that it is my number two Radiohead studio album. It has been noted by critics that some Radiohead albums sound like they were recorded in the future versus the present. In Rainbows is one of those albums, along with OK Computer. Thirteen years after its release, it still sounds pretty damn new. It is a more energetic and talented sibling to Hail to The Thief and is a great flowing album. Every song fits so well together.

Personal Reflection: I love virtually everything about In Rainbows. The “pay-what-you-want” mode of distribution, “15 Step” - the second best Radiohead opening track only topped by OK Computer’s “Airbag,” “Videotape” with its complex and much-analyzed syncopated beat. I could go on and on. This is an incredible album that will always stand the test of time.  

My Tier A Tracks: "All I Need” / “Bodysnatchers” / “Nude” / “Videotape”

1. OK Computer (1997) / 3.33 Weighted Rating

Lasting Impression: OK Computer is grand and dramatic. From the fact that a majority of it was recorded in a haunted castle called “St. Catherine’s Court” in Bath, England to Thom Yorke almost having a nervous breakdown during the relentless touring of this album to OK Computer being ranked the number one rock album of all-time by a website who studies rock critic reviews, user reviews, album sales, etc. So much drama. So much grandness.

Personal Reflection: OK Computer is a futuristic take on rock music and technology. And if it were released today, it would still sound like a futuristic take on rock music and technology. The track sequencing is flawless and builds tension at every turn. This album helped me get over the death of my father who passed away in 1998, it made me realize just how important music is in my life and it makes my heart beat faster every time I listen to it, even 20+ years later. It is Radiohead’s Mona Lisa.

My Tier A Tracks: “Airbag” / “Climbing Up The Wall” / “Exit Music (For a Film)”  / “Lucky”  / “Paranoid Android”  / “The Tourist”

Link: If you’ve gotten this far, you must also be a big Radiohead fan. Assuming that is the case, the link I share below is that of a young guy on YouTube named Nightwalk who is listening and reacting to OK Computer the very first time he heard this album. It is a great way to see someone else react to this incredible album’s sounds on his virgin trip knowing that you’ve been familiar with these songs for over 20 years. I get a little jealous when I see this guy react to each Radiohead album during his first-ever listen and this is no exception. 

What about you? Now that you’ve made it to the end, post a comment below with your Radiohead favorite albums. 

[theartistdetective]

The Joker x Harley Quinn-Mephisto Part:4

Hey guys, thank you for your patience. As a compensation for my extremely short third chapter, I’m presenting you a long one! Things are getting tricky with some action!

 Warnings: Out of character Harley Quinn, Sherlock references, violence

Part 1  Part 2  Part 3

Harleen grunted as Jonny Frost pushed her onto the cold metal surface of the stretcher and started to tie her down using chains, trapping her beneath them. She wasn’t used to being treated like this. She let out an disapproving huff and stared at the henchman. She realized she couldn’t hear the head doctor’s screams anymore. That meant her interesting and fellow patient would grace the painfully boring room earlier than expected. How delightful! Frost gave the doctor an unsure look and wondered why she stopped struggling. Hell, it was pretty easy to bring her to his boss as well. She hadn’t even struggled that much, just trying to get off of his grip by wiggling around. No bite, no scratches, no punch, no kick in the nuts. Didn’t she value her life? Well, she must be crazy anyway; he thought. Falling for a dangerous madman… As the Joker –naked torso and sweatpants, a blood covered bat in his hand- made his appearance in the room, the atmosphere suddenly changed. The chaos died down, unexpectedly, Harleen just laid on the cold surface without moving. Mr. J approached to her from behind and looked at the laying woman beneath him. Harleen could tell she was about to receive an electroshock therapy, looking at the things he held in his hands. But she calculated that something else would happen first. And she knew she wasn’t born to be tied down. And she told the henchmen that they would be sorry if they didn’t get off of her. She was a woman of her words. She just stared at those steel blue eyes, waiting for him to speak his mind. “Are you married?” “Look at my ring finger.” J knew that there was nothing on there before, he just thought she didn’t choose to wear it. For… reasons. “Do you have a child?” “Although I might be quite motherly at times…” J grunted at that response. He remembered how she told him stories about her family, how much she loved them and so on… Little Susie and her perfect father Lucas. A bright student and a successful businessman. The sunshine that lights her world and the heat that keeps her bed warm. He remembered all those times she tormented him. He listened to all kinds of domestic stuff: Susie’s first word, the first time she talked and walked. And that annoying man that he swore to kill… Ugh! Why would she fucking lie? “If you want an answer, ask a question.” Harleen chimed, snapping the Joker out from his drunk~in~anger state. “Why?” he whispered, his tone reeking of murder. And then she laughed. Laughed! Out of all things she could have done, she started giggling like a maniac. The Joker was frustrated. How dare she! He felt his gun getting heavier on the small of his back, ready for him to engrave her smile on her face for the eternity. Or maybe the knife in his pocket, shall slice her exposed neck; covering the floor with flesh blood. He struggled to choose between two options. Eeenie meenie miney mo… But his hand didn’t move downwards, it rose up: going farther away from the two weapons. He didn’t want that, but since his hand was up anyway it would have been logical to go for a slap. But his hand stopped mm’s away from her face, ‘cause a loud thudding sound made him look behind him. One of his henchmen was knocked out cold and hit the ground. And then the other, the other and the other… He noticed the suspicious looking white gas leaking through the pipes as all of his henchmen fainted, including Frost. The gas was moving towards him, center of the room. He held his breath, trying to think of something. Suddenly someone behind him put a mask on his face. He turned around to see Harleen, free from the chains and wearing the same mask. She giggled: “Well, Puddin… Did you enjoy the show of Houdini?” Everything happened so fast. Suddenly, she reached into her inner labcoat pocket. She swung her arm and J felt pain on his left shoulder as she pricked him using the needle in her hands. He tried to apply pressure on it with his right hand. But he couldn’t move it. He felt like his hands were paralyzed. In less than a second, he was on the floor; not able to move any parts of his body. But he was still awake. He heard the woman approaching. “Well, that was for you to hear my answer. I need you awake for that. But, I don’t want you to think you’re getting special treatment or something.” she threw her head back and laughed, a mischievous look in her eyes. “So, being awake but paralyzed would be fair… I guess.” She then looked at him, her eyes scanned his half naked body up and down for brief seconds. “Screw it. Might be giving a little bit…” she mumbled as she bit her lower lip. She then jumped suddenly with her eyes wide open, exaggerating her mimics. “Now where were we… Ah… yes… My itty bitty lie… Let’s think over the reason together, shall we?” she laid stomach~down on top of the paralyzed clown prince of crime and looked into his eyes. “What would the reason be?” she laid her hands on the top of the other on his chest and rested her chin on them. After she asked the question, she tilted her head to the side, pouted her lips and raised her eyebrows like a child. “What? Tell me already!” wanted to say the King but couldn’t. Harleen noticed that. “No no no no! No rush… We’ll figure it out together. Even if you cannot talk, you can think, you can guess things. But I won’t be that cruel, I’ll give you a clue. Everything that has happened, every thought that has crossed your mind, every emotion you had to bear… they all occurred just as I wanted them to. What was your plan in order to break out? Be frank with yourself and me.” I would use you by making you fall in love with me. “You’d use me. Did your plan succeed?”  No. He thought. “No no no no, Mr. J!” she exclaimed as if she could hear his thoughts, cupping his face –as much as the mask let her- and bringing their faces closer together. “It did, you’ll be at your hideout tomorrow as a free man. And I should be frank too, if I wasn’t interested in you I really wouldn’t pull off all that crap! You totally got me handsome!” Mr. J was puzzled, why the hell was all this narcotic gas thing? She noticed her look and giggled playfully: “Mr. J, I would be damned if I let every guy I meet perform an electroshock therapy on me! You can’t inflict pain on me without my consent, I won’t be letting that.” she got closer and whispered in his ear. “If you’re prepared for a battle, you should expect a counter-attack; you should know that the best in this world.” “But let’s go back to our topic, my lie. Another hint: I knew the reason behind you approaching me. I wasn’t unaware of the trap, I just closed my eyes and walked. I knew you thought you didn’t love me back.” The Joker furrowed his eyebrows. Thought? The woman smiled. “Oh, so you caught that.” “Yes, thought. What did you feel when I told you I was already taken?” He thought about himself, being angry as hell; wanting more information regarding the man. “Me being happy; even having a kid. You don’t need to answer, I already saw it. You were hella’ angry. But not in the my plan fails with this development way…” He wanted to laugh then; wanted to mock her, he knew where this was going. And he knew she was hella’ wrong. She continued talking as everything started to unravel.“Well, that may be defined as “making him jealous” in some women’s magazines. It was a mere test, whether I’m wasting my time with you or not. But it is a good tactic, let me tell you… you may think it was stupid for me to even think about something like you being jealous of me when I was clearly aware of your plans… well, I had a reason…” J was laughing angrily now in his head, that stupid woman! Of course it was stupid! He wasn’t in love with her, it was all a game. How could she think… What kind of reason? He suddenly felt the mask being snatched away and saw the white smoke hovering over his head. Harleen moved her face closer to his and spoke, “You could’ve easily scared me to death like you did to the others before, why choose to make me fall in love? My goal never was to make you fall in love with me. I thought you were a genius and shouldn’t be locked up in this hellhole. I offered my help, but secured myself. My aim was to make you interested in me: an interest that it would stop you from pulling the trigger when the barrel laid on my forehead.” Her smile got wider as she got closer, their masks touching to each other. “But even I couldn’t calculate that I would make the King of Gotham unable to draw the gun, just with looking at him in the eye.” J felt her slender hands reach to his cheeks, her soft lips touching his as the her voice echoed through his mind. “Goodnight and farewell Joker…” “I want you to remember me… The woman who beat you…” were the last words he heard as the darkness took over him.

@thefaultinourstudying

@diyunho

@jokersonme

@killer-khaleesi

@robertonion

[comicteaparty]

August 17th-August 23rd, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from August 17th, 2019 to August 23rd, 2019.  The chat focused on the following question:

How do you handle foreshadowing for future events/reveals in your story?

AntiBunny

In AntiBunny http://antibunny.net/ I cheat a little on foreshadowing. Since stories tend to change as I develop them I can't always be sure that things will play out as planned. That's why I'm vague when I foreshadow things, so that they can be interpreted in multiple ways. On the one hand giving some foreshadowing forces me to keep the story from going too far off the rails, and on the other being vague enough gives me flexibility to change my mind. One particular example is between Nailbat (a prequel) and Gritty City Stories (the main story), two characters use the same phrase "you have such a linear view of history," for the big reveal at the end of Nailbat, that these two are actually the same person. I dropped additional foreshadowing mid way through Nailbat stating that the cloak of shadows is a mystical artifact, implying that one character is wearing something that's hiding his true identity.

Bits of foeshadowing that some people can probably piece together already, but hasn't totally paid off yet is the repeated references to 50 years ago. A more vague one that won't pay off for quite a long time is the phrase "my real enemies are still very far away."

When I did that first one I wasn't entirely sure I wanted these two to become the same character, but since I was running both stories side by side at the time, it was an easy reference to throw in. If I decided against it, it's just a nod to their similarities. Since I ran with that idea it paid off big.

50 years ago has been concrete in my plan from page 1 though, so no need to be vague there.

Ultimately I'd say my approach to foreshadowing is to be vague enough to not write yourself into a corner, but be willing to follow through on it. An obvious foreshadowing needs to pay off. By staying loose with it you can make changes and still get some pay off with it. Be specific only when you have a foregone conclusion and you want to make sure you can stick to it.

HiddenElephant

I suspect I don't do it well for The Wide Ocean. http://thewideocean.thecomicseries.com/ It's a bit of a writing problem that I have; I'm scared to give too much away and end up not saying enough. There are panels where I flat-out announce what's coming next. I can recall 1 specific panel about page 40 that flat-out said, there's zombies in the sand in the ocean, but other than that? You're going to need to pay attention. At least 1 person has figured out something major to one of the characters that I've not yet revealed (and don't know how to reveal).

authorloremipsum

http://signsofthreecomic.webcomic.ws/comics/ For Signs of Three, since the stories are mysteries, I have to make sure all the clues (aka the foreshadowing) are placed in plain view of the readers. I want them to figure it out, to make guesses and such before the reveal. A plot twist should surprise but not confuse or betray your reader.

But foreshadowing is one reason I see people with No outlines and get worried

snuffysam

So, here’s the thing. I write... weird. I start with the themes of my story, then write a synopsis of each book & any other major events I can think of. I spend my drawing time for each book writing out the script for the next book and making a detailed outline for the book after that. So as a result of that process, I have a lot of room to reference future events without worry that I’m writing myself into a corner. Some things I’d call more “teases” than foreshadowing. Like how there are minor or background characters in books 1 & 2 who become important in books 3-5. Or how the cover pages for book 2 spell out “NOTHING”. But there are other things I’d definitely put under the foreshadowing umbrella. Like all the hints in Book 1 towards the plague not being natural. Or this line from Lord Ro: http://sgkdr.thecomicseries.com/comics/301/ IMO, I think if your comic has any twists in it, you should make a habit of foreshadowing them ahead of time. It encourages re-reading, and helps keep your audience from feeling like you pulled the rug out from under them.

Respheal

In OSP's Trope Talks video on plot twists, they categorize plots twists as being either retroactive (revealing information that changes the story up to that point) and trajectory (moving the story in an unexpected direction). The majority of Galebound's (http://www.galebound.com/) reveals and twists are retroactive. To really make the retroactive twists work, I needed to know where the story is going so I could pepper in clues to future twists nice and early without needing to retcon things. I try to make every page either have something that either gives a little more information about the world or characters, OR something that once you know the truth changes. So basically everything is revealing the truth of the retroactive twists, or setting up for a new reveal that makes the retroactive twist work. It kinda turns into the cyclical beast of foreshadowing. Some early examples--Din and Pascals's mysterious obedience throughout the first three chapters is revealed in chapter four to be magical compulsion, which then changes the tone of the first three chapters a bit when you realize Din wasn't kidding when he said he had no choice. And then you learn Din is a straight up murderer, making his interactions with Conan more...understandable? I've also got stuff scattered in that won't pay off until the literal last page, but despite that last page being hundreds of pages away the seeds have been planted.

ErinPtah (Leif & Thorn | BICP)

In But I'm A Cat Person (http://bicatperson.com/), I either did too much foreshadowing, or the twists weren't bizarre enough...there are a few things I wanted to be a source of tension and mystery, where reader comments just went "oh, of course the answer is X" (and were right).

They didn't guess everything, but there were a few dramatic character-to-character reveals where I had to think "gotta make this look really cool, because the information isn't going to wow readers -- it's all on the presentation."

LadyLazuli

In Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) I've already dropped a lot of hints as to where this story is going, but they're mixed in with some big, shiny red herrings to throw off my readers. I don't want to (and honestly can't) hide every secret from my audience (I want them to solve SOME things and have fun doing it!), so I'm allowing some details to show more clearly than others. For example, I'm not a fan of twist villains - the character I'm currently working with the most is definitely a villain, and I don't want to hide that. I want the audience to know it, and enjoy her villainy along the way! But the big question becomes WHY and HOW she's a villain. And that's a whole other onion layer to play with.

But amidst all the fun mini-secrets, there is a single secret in the story that I want no one to predict until the last moment. Not a soul. It will probably happen, just because I A) trust that my readers are smart! and B) I don't trust myself to hide it properly ... but I want to try and conceal it as much as possible. If my other secrets fail to be hidden, I want to put all the effort into concealing this one. All in all, my reveals are the driving reason I'm making this story. As soon as I imagine drawing them, my motivation increases tenfold!

The Q

That's the whole thing about stories online, right? You want a readership, you want them engaged, and you want them to try and figure out your twists! At the same time, you want to surprise them and make some amazing surprises for them! I think there's a few different ways of handling readers guessing your twists... LOST and Gravity Falls being good examples of two different approaches.

Desnik

I'm actually having a lot of trouble with http://ask-a-warlock.tumblr.com/ and foreshadowing, I guess because a lot of executive dysfunction in settling on one plot point or another. I usually don't notice until I bring the script in to my writing group. There's all this cool stuff I want to include but I have to admit that I'm prone to overloading with foreshadowing to the point that the plot seems to stop happening

Jonny Aleksey

I've done a lot of hinting at characters in J-Man. Particularly with the Big-Man and Mr. Stone (main villains), Unknown Man (who's helped him0, and Lady M (who'll be the main antagonist of the next issue). I put in some mysteries about J-Man's parents in the prequel comic I did a while back. I see myself more putting in mysteries then foreshadowing because it gives me a bit more freedom to change and mold things when I actually do get to them. Tho I do have solid ideas for how certain important things will play out.(edited)

Steph (@grandpaseawitch)

http://oldmanandtheseawitch.tumblr.com/ already has foreshadowing up the wazoo. Every chapter art is foreshadowing something or contains a secret. I hid secrets in almost every page. :>(edited)

The Q

Oh MAN, I gotta read this!

And for me; foreshadowing is everything. I work really hard to use every element of the story and have as little unused setups as possible. Working on an epic fantasy, as I do right now (and -can't wait- to show), it gets even trickier, and even more important, to try and streamline what you set up, vs what you pay off later in the story.

Jurinova

In my comic (https://tapas.io/series/hiadw) I try my best to foreshadow without making it too obvious. I drop hints or hide them in plain sight, so people can notice them if they pay attention but it's not something that instantly draws attention. For me good foreshadowing is something that makes people go "Oh, of course! That's what that was about!" when they reach the point that was foreshadowed and I think at least a few times I've succeeded so far. I also tend to do a lot of little visual cues that connect certain characters or plot points, for example two characters do the same thing when they get nervous or anxious. They are definitely quite subtle but when viewing the comic as a whole they become more obvious. Since I put a lot foreshadowing into the comic it's natural that some of them go unnoticed but I'm hopeful that if someone re-reads they might pick up on them. I mean I do have hints already in place for the final chapter, so it's gonna take a while for those to be noticed.

authorloremipsum

Coming back again, to comment on two things. 1. Chapter covers or story covers that have foreshadowing in them are my FAVORITE. if the symbolism tells us what will happen in the story before it's even begun, I get so excited. 2. My favorite kind of foreshadowing in normal books is when a specific detail is pointed out in the environment that comes into play later. Excuse the violent example, but one book specifically described a hotel having razors in the bathroom, which later turned out to be a very very bad thing. In a comic, you'd probably do this with a close up on some details in an environment.

The Q

I hadn't even thought about the chapter cover thing, but I LOVE THAT!

[evnoweb]

Who said that? Teacher’s Edition

Earlier this week, I had written a post and pulled a number of comments from this blog. It was fun to look through and grab them. I never figured that I’d write this post so I didn’t formally keep track of who said what when I copy/pasted them although I think I know. I do have someone who is only happy to correct anything I do so I went back and made sure that I got things right. Where the commenter had a website or blog listed beside them, I’ve included a link back if their comment inspires you to read their blogging.

Some folks recognized their writing and responded but there was a request for the answers. So, here goes.

Looking back at 2018, I smile at some of the wonderful comments that have appeared on this blog in response to some of my posts.

Do you see yourself in there? Do you see others?

1 I had forgotten about that commercial! Thanks for the umm… blast from the past, Doug! I was surprised that it did have a “violent” part. That part didn’t stick in my memory, but the “blue” light did! Sorry to hear of your incident! Here’s to more uneventful walks with the dog..  I had a good smile with Andrew’s comment too. I have searched youtube to confirm quotes and lines from TV shows and movies as well… just to be sure   A recent attempt was: “It’s cold enough out there to freeze your Winnebago!” Like Aviva, I have always wondered about how graphic a message needs to be to stick. I worry that it goes too far at times, especially in consideration of young children. I guess there might be individual differences in regards to what will “hit home”, but…

Sheila Stewart – sheilaspeaking.wordpress.com

2 Oh, going to have to try this one out – looks like a lot of fun! (and I will suggest it to some people I know, since I don’t have a classroom to play in right now). Thanks, as ever!

Lisa Noble – madamenoble.wordpress.com

3 Thanks for including me Doug. Still fighting that bug, but class back up to 65%! Listened to the show (twioe) last night…awesome as always. Got a chuckle over Stephen’s mention of “the Good Room” and all the banter between you, as always. Keep on keeping on!

Ramona Meharg –mymonkeysmycircussite.wordpress.com

4 Love the post. It made me think about what my role is. Probably a lot more Bluesman than thought leader I guess. But really I started to think that is just important to do what I can do and let other people think about labels. I’m just a teacher with opinions and a blog. That’s good enough for me I think.

Alfred Thompson –http://blog.acthompson.net

5 Hi Doug, and all:) Here is my addition – if I ever hear the word Wheelhouse again it will be too soon. Also I will probably get in trouble for this but I don’t like all the Like a Pirate business. For heaven’s sake. Pirates are real. They steal and murder people. I am working on another blog post, a more thoughtful consideration of the word “modern” – which really has an existing definition and has been co-opted more recently to mean “contemporary.” I know, I am so fussy:)

Anne Shillolo

6 I like Broadway http://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Broadway-Regular, but I have a weakness for art deco fonts. It’s too decorative to read though, but good for posters and titles. For reading I usually go for arial but recently have been preferring Trebuchet https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/trebuchet/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLn1B3-UN6EjbTMRsPmw2xTQWIwFrCXNtyTxAmFoh7p_XYxWjXX_lzYaAlJVEALw_wcBit’s nice and clean. Oddly, if I’m going for a computer styled font I use something like Courier which is a web friendly way to imitate those old fixed width fonts https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/courier-new/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLnfMx1LblHmfXsmRm32zv_x9kHDMf5_ySTNErPWQ_7GmrGvY-qQCsMaApnbEALw_wcB If you’ve never messed around with fonts, you’re missing something.

Tim King-plus.google.com/+TimothyKing

7 My teaching partner and I used to do ‘a theme’, back when themes were a thing in kindergarten, around EGGS at Easter time. We did different experiments with eggs each day – how many books can we stack on a raw egg before it breaks, what happens when you soak an egg in vinegar, sinking and floating eggs, spinning eggs (raw eggs wobble, hard cooked eggs spin) and so on. We read lots of books about animals that hatch from eggs. My favourite was always “Chickens aren’t the only ones” by Ruth Heller. Like you, many of our children didn’t celebrate Easter but they were seeing eggs and bunnies everywhere in stores and on TV.

Lisa Cranston – educationandinspirationblog.com

8 Thank you for capturing two days of amazing learning and connecting for us Doug. It was a pleasure to finally have some conversation time with you and I am glad Steven Hurley didn’t beam us up with his modern day transcorder. Appreciate the power that comes in building bridges in this business and you sir are a bridge builder. Looking forward to our next conversation. W

Will Gourley –escheweducationalist.wordpress.com

9 Our mornings begin with the fragrance of espresso filling the air. Milk is heated, the espresso is added to the hot milk and voilà, the magic potion is ready. When we go out, we seldom stop to buy coffee anywhere. We caddy thermos cups of our home brew. If we run out of the elixir…tea it is. When we have friends join us for a formal meal, we usually end the meal with a demitasse of espresso…except for the tea drinkers. We like it that espresso has a lower caffeine content than drip coffee: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question645.htm Of course, current science might draw different conclusions.

Noeline Laccetti – nlaccetti.wordpress.comx

10 … that look of betrayal on my wife’s face when I mentioned that I am trying to quit with coffee. She, up to several years ago, hated the stuff. Hated the smell, the taste, the satisfied look on my face as relaxed through my second or third cup in the morning. I guess it was my fault. Someway somehow, she now can’t start her day without it. My attempt at scaling back my caffeine consumption has put my life is in danger. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I shouldn’t have even written this post. If my blog goes dark for a while its because I am in hiding. Tell my wife, I was wrong … oh so wrong …

Chris Cluff

11 Hi Doug, thanks for sharing your learning from the Ontario Summit. To add to this already great resource, here is a link to all of the presenter’s resources from the weekend: https://edtech.team/OntarioResources18 – Lots more goodies there!

Emily Fitzpatrick

12 I saw this presentation at SIGCSE and left with mixed feelings. The session was pitched as ML for CS teachers with little CS knowledge. The pizza app is cool but I left thinking that there was a big missing piece which was the actual under the hood ML. It looks great as a tool where the teacher is already knowledgeable but I don’t know how much serious mileage a class will get out of it beyond being a cool demo if the teacher doesn’t already know the subject.

Mike Zemansky – https://cestlaz.github.io

13 I love to sew, but hardly have the time. I go by feel when choosing fabric for any project or any “already made” clothes. I don’t care what it’s called – I only care about how it feels and how well it will wash. I do not remember the fabric you’re talking about, though I feel as if I should. My mom used to see for me, so I likely had many things made from it.

Lisa Corbett –alotalot.wordpress.comx

14 Morning Doug, this brought to mind attendance tracking of students and how if they are going to leave or walk out consequnces mean nothing. The reason you give them to stay is far more powerful. I think folks need to understand the purpose but more importantly if you leave the impression, regardless of this is it’s purpose that people’s whereabouts are what we are starting with and not the culture of a welcoming, inclusive and non intrusive learning environment, the same thing will happen as it does in a secondary school…they opt out as it is no longer about the them but the system they exist within.

Kelly @thebeastedu 

15 Good morning Doug! (and Jamie) I’m glad you guys keep your eyes open when you’re out for your walks. There’s no doubt that keeping an eye out for other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians (and dogs) is a critical responsibility for motor vehicle drivers. I was pleased to read your “exit, stage left“ quote, And even happier when I saw that you had included a picture of SnagglePuss. You are smarter than the average bear.

Andrew Forgrave

16 I don’t remember exactly when Chrome came out, but I do for Gmail. I went straight to eBay and bought an invitation so I could join. It cost me $5. The invitation also included another new Google service. Do you remember what it was?

Peter Beens –beens.org

17 I noticed this too when watching cartoons with my nephews. There also seemed to be a whole lot of yelling. Okay now I’m sounding like the old guy who just wants the kids to get off his lawn. I loved the old Hanna-Barbara cartoons from the mid-60’s. Space Ghost, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, the original Scooby-Doo, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Herculoids, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour – that one was pretty weird, but I did teach some of my grade 6’s the theme song, Jonny Quest and the Jetsons. I kind of thought we’d be living like the Jetsons by now. At least I thought they would have finished repairing all the roads.

Colin Harris –plus.google.com/+ColinHarrisdigitalnative

18 Hey Doug, As always your posts seem so timely. Today on my way home from church I noticed a few trees in the neighbourhood who have started to show your beautiful fall colors. I couldn’t help but recall several projects that I had to complete as a child where we would go out into the neighbourhood and find several fall leaves. We then needed to place the leaves in between two pieces of wax paper and iron them . To be honest, I don’t recall what the intended learning outcome was… But what I do remember was that it was a project that my mom and I needed to do together (hot irons and safety) . Sometimes it is those unintended outcomes (special time with a parent) which are just as meaningful as the curriculum outcomes.

Sue Bruyns –susanbruyns.com

19 I have never heard of Qwant until you mentioned it. I also gave it a try and I must admit that it is a very impressive search engine. I used the Brave web browser in the past; I had no issues with it. In my case, I utilise the Google Chrome web browser, because I use certain extensions. The Brave web browser loads quickly.

Renard Moreau –renardsworld.wordpress.com

20 Hey! This is the fourth time visiting now and I personally just wanted to say I truley enjoy reading your blog site. I’ve decided to bookmark it at reddit.com with the title: %BLOGTITLE% and your Web address: %BLOGURL%. I hope this is alright with you, I’m trying to give your great blog a bit more coverage. Be back shortly.

superstar femme orange (Trick question – this is from spam caught and someone who doesn’t know how to use their software – notice the spam format of the message. I won’t share the URL that they claim to be from)

21 Do you worry about free services going away after a while? = Sometimes. I’m still wounded about the closing of Bitstrips for Schools (which I liked waaaaaay better than Pixton – sorry, Pixton). It went so fast that I couldn’t collect all the old comics I wanted to archive (so Jacob, if you are reading this, please let us grab our files for a quick, one week period, please!) What is your contingency plans in case that happens? = Wish I had one! Do you backup your online presence in case it goes away? = I print my blogs as a birthday gift to myself once a year. I did a Twournal for the first part of my tweeting, but I’d love to back up all my Tweets in a print format. Now you’ve got me paranoid Doug!

Diana Maliszewski –mondaymollymusings.blogspot.ca

Thanks to those who took time to share a comment throughout 2018. I hope that I can write on topics that will continue the efforts in 2019.

So, how many did you get right the first time?

Who said that? Teacher’s Edition published first on https://medium.com/@DigitalDLCourse

[evnoweb]

Who said that?

Looking back at 2018, I smile at some of the wonderful comments that have appeared on this blog in response to some of my posts.

Do you see yourself in there? Do you see others?

1 I had forgotten about that commercial! Thanks for the umm… blast from the past, Doug! I was surprised that it did have a “violent” part. That part didn’t stick in my memory, but the “blue” light did! Sorry to hear of your incident! Here’s to more uneventful walks with the dog..  I had a good smile with Andrew’s comment too. I have searched youtube to confirm quotes and lines from TV shows and movies as well… just to be sure   A recent attempt was: “It’s cold enough out there to freeze your Winnebago!” Like Aviva, I have always wondered about how graphic a message needs to be to stick. I worry that it goes too far at times, especially in consideration of young children. I guess there might be individual differences in regards to what will “hit home”, but…

2 Oh, going to have to try this one out – looks like a lot of fun! (and I will suggest it to some people I know, since I don’t have a classroom to play in right now). Thanks, as ever!

3 Thanks for including me Doug. Still fighting that bug, but class back up to 65%! Listened to the show (twioe) last night…awesome as always. Got a chuckle over Stephen’s mention of “the Good Room” and all the banter between you, as always. Keep on keeping on!

4 Love the post. It made me think about what my role is. Probably a lot more Bluesman than thought leader I guess. But really I started to think that is just important to do what I can do and let other people think about labels. I’m just a teacher with opinions and a blog. That’s good enough for me I think.

5 Hi Doug, and all:) Here is my addition – if I ever hear the word Wheelhouse again it will be too soon. Also I will probably get in trouble for this but I don’t like all the Like a Pirate business. For heaven’s sake. Pirates are real. They steal and murder people. I am working on another blog post, a more thoughtful consideration of the word “modern” – which really has an existing definition and has been co-opted more recently to mean “contemporary.” I know, I am so fussy:)

6 I like Broadway http://fontsgeek.com/fonts/Broadway-Regular, but I have a weakness for art deco fonts. It’s too decorative to read though, but good for posters and titles. For reading I usually go for arial but recently have been preferring Trebuchet https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/trebuchet/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLn1B3-UN6EjbTMRsPmw2xTQWIwFrCXNtyTxAmFoh7p_XYxWjXX_lzYaAlJVEALw_wcBit’s nice and clean. Oddly, if I’m going for a computer styled font I use something like Courier which is a web friendly way to imitate those old fixed width fonts https://www.myfonts.com/fonts/microsoft/courier-new/?gclid=Cj0KCQiAiKrUBRD6ARIsADS2OLnfMx1LblHmfXsmRm32zv_x9kHDMf5_ySTNErPWQ_7GmrGvY-qQCsMaApnbEALw_wcB If you’ve never messed around with fonts, you’re missing something.

7 My teaching partner and I used to do ‘a theme’, back when themes were a thing in kindergarten, around EGGS at Easter time. We did different experiments with eggs each day – how many books can we stack on a raw egg before it breaks, what happens when you soak an egg in vinegar, sinking and floating eggs, spinning eggs (raw eggs wobble, hard cooked eggs spin) and so on. We read lots of books about animals that hatch from eggs. My favourite was always “Chickens aren’t the only ones” by Ruth Heller. Like you, many of our children didn’t celebrate Easter but they were seeing eggs and bunnies everywhere in stores and on TV.

8 Thank you for capturing two days of amazing learning and connecting for us Doug. It was a pleasure to finally have some conversation time with you and I am glad Steven Hurley didn’t beam us up with his modern day transcorder. Appreciate the power that comes in building bridges in this business and you sir are a bridge builder. Looking forward to our next conversation. W

9 Our mornings begin with the fragrance of espresso filling the air. Milk is heated, the espresso is added to the hot milk and voilà, the magic potion is ready. When we go out, we seldom stop to buy coffee anywhere. We caddy thermos cups of our home brew. If we run out of the elixir…tea it is. When we have friends join us for a formal meal, we usually end the meal with a demitasse of espresso…except for the tea drinkers. We like it that espresso has a lower caffeine content than drip coffee: https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/question645.htm Of course, current science might draw different conclusions.

10 … that look of betrayal on my wife’s face when I mentioned that I am trying to quit with coffee. She, up to several years ago, hated the stuff. Hated the smell, the taste, the satisfied look on my face as relaxed through my second or third cup in the morning. I guess it was my fault. Someway somehow, she now can’t start her day without it. My attempt at scaling back my caffeine consumption has put my life is in danger. I shouldn’t have mentioned it. I shouldn’t have even written this post. If my blog goes dark for a while its because I am in hiding. Tell my wife, I was wrong … oh so wrong …

11 Hi Doug, thanks for sharing your learning from the Ontario Summit. To add to this already great resource, here is a link to all of the presenter’s resources from the weekend: https://edtech.team/OntarioResources18 – Lots more goodies there!

12 I saw this presentation at SIGCSE and left with mixed feelings. The session was pitched as ML for CS teachers with little CS knowledge. The pizza app is cool but I left thinking that there was a big missing piece which was the actual under the hood ML. It looks great as a tool where the teacher is already knowledgeable but I don’t know how much serious mileage a class will get out of it beyond being a cool demo if the teacher doesn’t already know the subject.

13 I love to sew, but hardly have the time. I go by feel when choosing fabric for any project or any “already made” clothes. I don’t care what it’s called – I only care about how it feels and how well it will wash. I do not remember the fabric you’re talking about, though I feel as if I should. My mom used to see for me, so I likely had many things made from it.

14 Morning Doug, this brought to mind attendance tracking of students and how if they are going to leave or walk out consequnces mean nothing. The reason you give them to stay is far more powerful. I think folks need to understand the purpose but more importantly if you leave the impression, regardless of this is it’s purpose that people’s whereabouts are what we are starting with and not the culture of a welcoming, inclusive and non intrusive learning environment, the same thing will happen as it does in a secondary school…they opt out as it is no longer about the them but the system they exist within.

15 Good morning Doug! (and Jamie) I’m glad you guys keep your eyes open when you’re out for your walks. There’s no doubt that keeping an eye out for other vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians (and dogs) is a critical responsibility for motor vehicle drivers. I was pleased to read your “exit, stage left“ quote, And even happier when I saw that you had included a picture of SnagglePuss. You are smarter than the average bear.

16 I don’t remember exactly when Chrome came out, but I do for Gmail. I went straight to eBay and bought an invitation so I could join. It cost me $5. The invitation also included another new Google service. Do you remember what it was?

17 I noticed this too when watching cartoons with my nephews. There also seemed to be a whole lot of yelling. Okay now I’m sounding like the old guy who just wants the kids to get off his lawn. I loved the old Hanna-Barbara cartoons from the mid-60’s. Space Ghost, Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles, the original Scooby-Doo, Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines, The Herculoids, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour – that one was pretty weird, but I did teach some of my grade 6’s the theme song, Jonny Quest and the Jetsons. I kind of thought we’d be living like the Jetsons by now. At least I thought they would have finished repairing all the roads.

18 Hey Doug, As always your posts seem so timely. Today on my way home from church I noticed a few trees in the neighbourhood who have started to show your beautiful fall colors. I couldn’t help but recall several projects that I had to complete as a child where we would go out into the neighbourhood and find several fall leaves. We then needed to place the leaves in between two pieces of wax paper and iron them . To be honest, I don’t recall what the intended learning outcome was… But what I do remember was that it was a project that my mom and I needed to do together (hot irons and safety) . Sometimes it is those unintended outcomes (special time with a parent) which are just as meaningful as the curriculum outcomes.

19 I have never heard of Qwant until you mentioned it. I also gave it a try and I must admit that it is a very impressive search engine. I used the Brave web browser in the past; I had no issues with it. In my case, I utilise the Google Chrome web browser, because I use certain extensions. The Brave web browser loads quickly.

20 Hey! This is the fourth time visiting now and I personally just wanted to say I truley enjoy reading your blog site. I’ve decided to bookmark it at reddit.com with the title: %BLOGTITLE% and your Web address: %BLOGURL%. I hope this is alright with you, I’m trying to give your great blog a bit more coverage. Be back shortly.

21 Do you worry about free services going away after a while? = Sometimes. I’m still wounded about the closing of Bitstrips for Schools (which I liked waaaaaay better than Pixton – sorry, Pixton). It went so fast that I couldn’t collect all the old comics I wanted to archive (so Jacob, if you are reading this, please let us grab our files for a quick, one week period, please!) What is your contingency plans in case that happens? = Wish I had one! Do you backup your online presence in case it goes away? = I print my blogs as a birthday gift to myself once a year. I did a Twournal for the first part of my tweeting, but I’d love to back up all my Tweets in a print format. Now you’ve got me paranoid Doug!

Thanks to those who took time to share a comment throughout 2018. I hope that I can write on topics that will continue the efforts in 2019.

Who said that? published first on https://medium.com/@DigitalDLCourse