#his radio broadcasts are used as the framing device for his stories | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

salems-hq · 3 years

Photo

in-game dates included in this drop: september 11th-12th system hack: evening of september 11th, 6:47pm. town hall mob: immediately following the hack, reaching its peak at 7:26pm. warehouse: the morning of september 12th, 5:28am trigger warnings: violence, murder, dead bodies, gore, horror, and supporting themes, religious themes

setting: all across salem, affecting all powered televisions, mobile devices, PCs/laptops, and radios

it’s a normal saturday evening in salem. daily activities are winding down, transitioning into family dinners, game nights. businesses are booming as the sun begins to set, jaunting near the horizon for a final show before giving way to nighttime. main street is crawling with life. it seems as though the city has come to terms with its last jarring occurrence, and things are almost back to normal, even amidst looming threats- which have thus far failed to prove credible. birthday parties, retirement dinners, sport championships, engagement parties: there’s no lack of celebration on the street. this is what makes the interruption that much more memorable.

the sound of static alters the music coming from various speakers that adorn main street’s lampposts before pushing it to a halt. few people pay it any mind, until a voice chimes into the air, through the speakers on the street, radios, phones, laptops, and other affected devices. “good evening, salem.” the voice brings with it the simultaneous shutdown of all powered screens in the city. one by one, people cry in surprise as the single image of a skull appears in the center of their screens, the spoken words written underneath it. the disguised voice continues. “don’t be alarmed. i’m merely here to indulge you all with some secrets our dear mayor has decided to keep from us.” the skull vanishes, and the captions continue as video footage comes onto the screen. a single figure can be seen in the footage, standing near the edge of the recognizable forest river park.

FREDERICK B. FREEMAN stands center frame. unknown to the public, MIKKO THROMBEY is behind the camera, having recorded this incident himself after receiving an anonymous tip about the mysterious civilian. he stands in the shadows, having followed frederick all the way from downtown. mikko’s breath hitches, which can be heard on the video footage, as he watches the man double over, almost as if in pain. limbs can be heard cracking, shifting, as the man slowly morphs into an animalistic, hideous creature. the camera zooms in on the gruesome transition, catching it in its entirety before the creature’s head suddenly snaps up. its gaze points straight into the camera, holding there for a few moments before turning into the forest at full speed.

“this footage is from the computer files of none other than the dashing mayor JULIAN AUSTERE. how many things has our city kept from us? what other dangers do we not know about? what ELSE are they keeping from us? freddy here isn’t the only monster among us. where have all these missing persons victims come from? why are they here now? our city officials have known about these suspicious arrivals for weeks and have kept us in the dark.”

as the voice continues, various files are shared through the screens. official city hall documents, emails exchanged between officials and contracted employees, and images of the mentioned ‘returned missing persons’. “have these demons come here to infiltrate us? why are we still in the dark?”

a smiling image of MAYOR AUSTERE appears on the screens, followed by the edited effect of invisible claws slashing diagonally through the image. “wake up, salem. we deserve the truth.” the same skull appears on the screens before the message disappears, and all devices are released from the hack.

___________________________________________

setting: town square

one would think images such as the video leaked to the public would shut everyone in their homes out of fear, but then again...salem has never been known to follow the meek mentality of fear. instead, hysteria rises. as if driven by a hive mind, the majority of the city has taken to marching down the streets, headed for the same location: city hall.

julian austere had been in his office at the time of the hacking, wrapping up a day’s work. he had been on his way out the door when the radio in the upstairs accounting department suddenly switched channels, playing the hacker’s recording through the second floor. as expected, the mayor heads to the city hall’s tech department, where the employees are doing their best to counteract against the hack- to no avail. the hacker’s message comes to an end, and it isn’t long before the all too familiar sounds of a mob reaches the building’s steps.

the mayor exits the building to meet the growing crowd, narrowly dodging garbage and other such articles that are thrown his way. he comes to a stop at the top of the stairs, looking down at the crowd, at a loss for words. how can you call yourself our mayor?! why are you keeping secrets?! what else is there what else don’t we know are you even on our sidehowcanwetrustaliaryoudon’tdeservetob-

“people, people, please!” his voice cuts through the shouted questions that threaten to crumble his already wavering psyche. the worst possible case scenario has just shown up on his doorstep- and he finds himself struggling to deal with it. “i assure you it was never my intention to keep secrets from you,” he continues, brows furrowing over a sincere gaze. however honest he’s being, the mayor is clearly not in top condition to deal with the situation. he opens his mouth again to stammer out his explanation, when a heavy hand lands on his shoulder.

“your mayor neglected to inform you all per my instructions,” the figure booms from beside mayor austere. the crowd seems to silence at the sudden arrival, entranced by the stranger. to them, the man seems to be glowing with an unsourced light. “i am the archangel GABRIEL,” behind gabriel stands MICHAEL, who is known around town. “joined by my brother Michael. we asked your mayor to investigate a breach in hell’s gates for us, and report directly to us to avoid a panic like the one we have now. please, be still.” incredulous mumbles scatter through the crowd, but they are quickly dispersed when the two angels standing by the mayor unleash their wings. to many, it might be too difficult to stare directly at. the light they resonate is celestial. “but now that things are in the open, we can assure you that this creature you saw on your devices is on your side. they are a select few who have been allowed to return to their human forms. they protect the town in exchange, per our orders. mayor austere hasn’t lied to you. dark threats loom over this city, and i fear the worst is yet to come. please, go home for now. continue your lives as you have been. my brother and i will be available to you from here on out, but for now...get some rest.” the angels ignore the questions being thrown at them and usher the mayor back into city hall. the last thing the crowd sees before the double doors close are michael’s large, blindingly white wings, which sends a gust of wind into the crowd strong enough to push people a few feet back.

___________________________________________

setting: the old lumber mill warehouse, just between salem and eastrath 11:51pm.

“that makes 13.”

“i count 14.”

ANTHONY LORENZO and ORION GREYSON stand amidst 14 bodies, protected from detection and watchful eyes by azrael’s own blessing. the imp raises a bloodstained hand to his mouth. a tongue hovers near the ruby red substance when a crash comes from the other side of the warehouse, earning the interest of both men. matching grins, sharper than an assassin’s knife, stretch as eyes full of bloodlust meet each other.

“you know what’s better than 14?”

claws unsheathe from the imps hand, the sound slicing through the still night air. the sound of bones cracking follow as the siren cracks his neck. the two are in the outer hallway immediately, allowing tony a glimpse of a new victim fleeing out the back door, into the woods outside. they expertly dodge each other as they rush through the hallway and out the door. it would be clear that this is not their first massacre together, were anyone watching.

“15.”

shadowy figures move out of the warehouse and into the night, their supernatural speed causing them to look more like electrically charged figures bounding from spot to spot. it doesn’t take long for them to catch up to the fleeing civilian. they follow him into a clearing in the woods, where he stops in the middle, out of breath. “please! i have a family! i can get you money!” in unison, the boys chime. “oh, shut up.” the last thing the man sees is red: the color of his own blood staining tear-filled eyes.

___________________________________________

the police are at the warehouse the following morning, responding to a 911 call at 5:22am from a warehouse employee. the warehouse’s main hall is covered in blood, and a few dozen of the bodies have been posed in the center of the floor. torsos, severed heads and limbs, are littered on the floor in the shape of a pentagram. the pentagram’s shape is lined underneath the bodies in blood. found in the woods, half a mile from the scene, is old farmer abernathy, strung on a pole in a fashion similar to that of a scarecrow. his throat has been slashed and stuffed with some of the dry grass that covers the clearing’s floor. his hands are purple from the ropes tightly wound around his wrists. surrounding the figure on the pole is a much larger pentagram, this time made of fire.

the fire crew are the next people on the scene, soon followed by local news stations. the story is broadcast on the first news of the day, the 7am session. headlines read: MASSACRE AT THE MILL. a moment of silence is given on the news for the following victims:

Melody Pearson, Katrina Brock, Patti Cooper, Isaac Hernandez, Jaime Greer, Janie Briggs, Austin Hammond, Valerie Bradley, Lee Grant, Betsy Fletcher, Carroll Schneider, Clayton Abernathy, Gordon Delgado, Mindy Chandler, Sylvia Summers

___________________________________________

PLAYER NOTES: players may post threads surrounding/involving the events of this plot drop. if you want your muse to have known any of the listed deceased, go ahead and add it into your interactions! if you would like your muses to have plot specific interactions (i.e meeting with the mayor, any of the exposed angels, etc), or have part in any upcoming plot drops, events, etc, please approach any admin.

tldr; first of all :’) ow. second of all, ANGELS have appeared in salem, specifically the archangels MICHAEL and GABRIEL 15 bodies have been found with no suspects thus far. NEWS ANCHORS announced an 8pm CURFEW following the murders, effective immediately.

6 notes · View notes

autolenaphilia · 3 years

Text

Granada Holmes (series review)

The 1984-1994 Granada series of Sherlock Holmes adaptations, starring Jeremy Brett as Holmes are regarded by fans as a milestone among the many adaptations of Sherlock Holmes that were made. Brett is said to be “the definitive Holmes”. And I would largely agree with that, despite it not being my favourite version, and it having some flaws and weak episodes, especially as the series went on.

The first thing that set this show apart is that it went back to the original stories and adapted those. Now, it isn’t the first version to do so, as some people (including Brett, apparently) claim. The 1920s silent film series with Eille Norwood was fairly canon accurate, and the 1960s BBC tv series with Douglas Wilmer and Peter Cushing also followed the canon. There is also the 1979-1986 Soviet Russian series with Vasily Livanov. And on radio you have more canonical dramatizations, such as the British John Gielgud 1950s series and the BBC Carleton Hobbs series from the 50s and 60s. People have an unfortunate tendency to ignore radio in favour of screen adaptations.

Still, it must be granted that Granada at its best is probably the supreme screen adaptation of the canon. The production values and acting are far superior to what the 60s BBC tv series had.

Jeremy Brett was a revolution in Holmes performances. The previous era defining Holmes, Basil Rathbone, as great as he was, made Holmes into too much of a straightforward hero. Brett brought back the eccentricities (including the drug use), the nervous energy and the character’s general moodiness and emotionality that was there in the text.

Holmes in the Granada series was ultimately on the side of good and a benevolent figure (if occasionally rude), but fictional justice perhaps had never an odder champion. He did everything from sitting weirdly, jumping over couches to taking drugs. Holmes felt neurodiverse, and indeed Brett used his own experiences with bipolar disorder in the performance. And it was true to canon, in a way we seldom had seen on screen before.

Jeremy Brett’s performance as Holmes is extremely influential and often imitated by later screen adaptations, but has never been surpassed. The portrayal of Holmes in BBC Sherlock and the movies with Robert Downey Jr. is clearly inspired by Brett’s nervy eccentric genius Holmes, but ends up a bad parody. Holmes in the Granada series can like his canon counterpart occasionally be rude or careless towards other, but it was lapses, not a general trend. They seemed to be caused by an eccentric brain on another wavelength from the people around him, rather than any malevolence. Holmes in BBC Sherlock is a male nerd wish-fulfilment fantasy, where the character’s eccentric genius are allowed to excuse any crimes.

At its height, Brett’s Holmes is an awe-inspiring performance, with the actor pouring everything of his skill and energy into it. You could criticize it as melodramatic over-acting, but it makes for great viewing and fits the man who said “I never can resist a touch of the dramatic”.

The Granada series gets much credit for rehabilitating the role of Watson. Both of the actors playing him depicted as very much intelligent and capable. It is somewhat overstated of course, the turning away from the comedic figure Nigel Bruce portrayed started already with Andre Morell’s Watson in the 1959 Hammer Hound of the Baskervilles. Still, the Watson depicted by the Granada series is still one of the show’s chief draws.

The series had a switch in the actors playing Watson, with David Burke portraying him in the first two seasons of 13 episodes and The Empty House featuring Holmes return to a Watson portrayed by Edward Hardwicke. And honestly it is hard to choose between them, because they are both great and there is a consistency in the writing that makes them feel like the same basic character.

Burke’s Watson comes across as younger and more energetic of the two actors and has perhaps the better comedic dynamic with Holmes. He is perhaps my pick, as despite his actual age while playing the part, he feels closer to the young Watson of the canon.

But that is no serious slight against Hardwicke’s performance, which is still first-rate. Hardwicke’s Watson feels older, despite the difference in age between the actors being but a few years. The performance is also defined by an effortless charm and warmth, giving Watson an avuncular aura. But Watson is not at all infirm and is still an intelligent medical man and an experienced soldier, ever ready with his revolver.

An interesting change from the Canonical stories is that Watson never gets married and moves out of Baker Street. The Sign of the Four features Mary Morstan, but at the end she walks out of the story without any romance between her and Doctor Watson. The reason this was done, is that it simplifies the set-up of the stories. With Watson in 221B, he is always on hand to join Holmes. No need for a scene at the beginning of Holmes taking Watson away from wife and practice. Also it saves them keeping track of when Watson was married or not, something that Conan Doyle himself got into a serious continuity tangle about.

As producer Michael Cox (quoted in David Stuart Davies’s book Starring Sherlock Holmes) noted, Conan Doyle himself probably regretted marrying off Watson, considering The Empty House has Watson suffering from a “sad bereavement” and then moving back in with Holmes. So it is a very much acceptable deviation from canon.

It also frees the writers to focus on the most important relationship in the canon: the friendship between Holmes and Watson. The canon has been called “a textbook of friendship” by Christopher Morley, and the chemistry and relationship between Holmes and Watson is vitally important to any adaptation. And that aspect of the stories is wonderfully conveyed here, with both actors playing Watson working together with Brett as Holmes well to convey the odd but close friendship between the two men.

Rosalie Williams plays Mrs. Hudson, and she is excellent in the role. The Granada series has a lot of little scenes of Mrs. Hudson added into the canonical cases, and they work excellently, giving her more of a presence. Many of them are comedic, making jokes about how a difficult and eccentric lodger Holmes is, but there is a clear undercurrent of affection throughout their interactions.

The recurring cast members include Charles Gray as Mycroft Holmes and Colin Jeavons as Inspector Lestrade.

Gray as Mycroft is close to ideal, fitting the character of the overweight, lazy and intelligent canon character perfectly. He was such a good fit for the role that he had actually earlier played the part in the film adaptation of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution.

Jeavons fit the part of Lestrade and his acting is superb, capable of showing the full extent of Lestrade’s character, having both smug over-confidence at times, yet also having genuine respect and affection for Holmes.

The acting skills of the actors playing characters who only appear in one episode is also generally very high. And that is part of the general high quality of execution the show had for most of its run. The period sets and the directing was of a similar high standard. The music by Patrick Gowers is excellent, and I suggest any fan take a listen to this Youtube playlist of his soundtrack.

The scripts are quite excellent, for the most part sticking close to the Conan Doyle stories. Of course there are always infidelities here and there, and sometimes the episode would go on non-canonical tangents.

Usually it was to make the story work better on screen. For example, the villains in The Greek Interpreter escape from Holmes and Watson, ending up being killed “off-screen” as it were. So the Granada version of the same tale has a non-canonical ending of Holmes, Watson and Mycroft confronting the villains on a train, something that works rather well. Another example is The Musgrave Ritual which entirely ditches the original story’s framing device of Holmes telling Watson the story of an early case of his. In the Granada version Watson is with Holmes on this case, and it works better that way.

And with all of these elements working together, for most of its run, the Granada series is perhaps the definitive screen adaptation of Sherlock Holmes. The first four seasons of 50 minute episodes, which were broadcast under the titles of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and The Return of Sherlock Holmes from 1984-1988 plus the feature length adaptation of The Sign of Four are pretty much all great. It went from strength to strength, consistently making very well-made adaptations of the canon.

The Sign of Four is probably a good pick for Granada’s peak, due to its epic nature. And it is definitely the best of the five feature-length films they did. Outside of leaving out any romance between John and Mary, the film is faithful to the book, although it goes too far in that direction in keeping in the racism of the story. But it also has all of the book’s virtues as a story too, and fine acting from Brett, Hardwicke, and John Thaw as Jonathan Small make for an enjoyable viewing experience.

There was however a decline in the series later years. The lynchpin of the series was Jeremy Brett, and his health began to seriously fail him by 1987, leading to his death in 199 (my source of information on Brett’s health decline and general behind the scenes things is mostly Davies’s book Starring Sherlock Holmes) Once lean and looking remarkably like the Sidney Paget illustrations of Holmes, his conflicting medications for his heart problems and bipolar disorder caused him to retain water and bloat, causing him to no longer look like the lean figure he once was. His looks wasn’t really the problem, what was however was that his health problems drained him of the energy that he once was able to put it into his performance, creating through no fault of his own a more lethargic and weaker Holmes.

There was also a growing lack of care shown towards the series by Granada itself. The budgets began to shrink by 1988, and while the series looked good for the most part, it did impact the show.

Probably the first disappointing episode is the double-length adaptation of The Hound of the Baskervilles from 1988. You would expect the Granada series, with their excellent leads and excellent track record up to this point, to create the definitive version of this often-filmed story, but it just isn’t. It isn’t bad, but it is ultimately mediocre in a way that is hard to pinpoint. My guess is that the direction and cinematography doesn’t manage to create the suspense the story needs, resulting in a slow-paced and slightly boring experience.

It also ends up show-casing the problems the show would now begin to have, with the production crew not having the money to do location shooting on Dartmoor and Brett obviously showing the signs of his failing health.

The Hound film was followed by a season of six 50-minute length episodes, called The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes. And these were mostly fine, considering the circumstances. The budget had been reduced compared to earlier seasons and you could tell the writers sometimes lacked a first-rate canonical story to adapt.

There were one or two weaker episodes, but those were due to the original story being weak. For example, the season ended with a faithful adaptation of The Creeping Man and it is as good and well-made a tv adaptation you could ever hope to make with such a bizarre plot. The result is of course pure camp, but so is the original story. When the show had a good Conan Doyle story to adapt, like The Boscombe Valley Mystery, The Problem of Thor Bridge or The Illustrious Client, the results are indeed up to the standards of its past.

The real nadir of the series came later, however, when in 1992-93 the series decided to do three double-length episodes. Granada wanted the Holmes series to copy the success of Inspector Morse and its 100 minute tv film format. The problem was the show would still adapt Conan Doyle’s short stories into a format that was far too long for them. So the scriptwriters had to pad the stories out with their own inventions.

This sort of worked for the first film of these three films, The Master Blackmailer. It was based on Charles Augustus Milverton, which is one of the shortest stories in the canon, but one of the most rich in dramatic potential. Writer Jeremy Paul’s script decided to show in detail what is merely mentioned in the story, such as Milverton blackmailing people and Holmes courting Milverton’s maid in order to gain access to his home. The end result works, it is somewhat slow-paced but is ultimately coherent and at its best feels like you are watching the backstory to the canonical events.

The same can’t be said for the second and third of these films, The Last Vampyre and The Eligible Bachelor. The Last Vampyre is an almost completely incoherent non-adaptation of The Sussex Vampire, where elements from the canonical story probably make up less than 5% of the resulting film. There is an attempt to create intrigue and suspense around the original character Stockton, but the film is so vague about what he is and what threat he poses that the resulting film makes no sense.

The Eligible Bachelor is a similar adaptation of The Noble Bachelor, where the canonical story elements that remain is entirely subsided by a new bizarre plot where Lord St. Simon is now a ruthless Bluebeard-like villain. It is slightly better than The Last Vampyre, simply because the villain here poses an identifiable and somewhat coherent threat. Still, the film has to pad things out with bizarre subplots, like Holmes having prophetic dreams, which ultimately doesn’t lead anywhere.

Wisely, the series returned to the 50 minute format for the last season of six episodes, which aired in 1994, under the name of “he Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes. It was with this season Jeremy Brett’s health problems and the lower budgets really began to seriously affect the show. Brett was in a bad state at this point, and the description of the production in Davies’s book makes for sad reading.

During the filming of one episode in this season, The Three Gables, he had to use a wheelchair between takes and supplementary oxygen to ease his breathing. His performance is naturally lacking in the energy he once had, but the fact it is a performance at all is testament to his commitment. The Three Gables is actually one of the better episodes of this season, as it actually manages to improve on one of the weakest stories in the canon.

Edward Hardwicke was unavailable to film The Golden Pince-nez, and they couldn’t re-schedule the shooting dates (which I suspect was a budget issue). So the writer wrote out Watson and replaced him in the role of Sherlock’s assistant with Mycroft, since Charles Gray was available. The result is well-made otherwise, with guest stars Frank Finlay and Anna Carteret giving great performances, but the lack of Watson is sorely felt. It is fun to see Charles Gray’s Mycroft again, but it feels contrary to his character to accompany his brother like this.

And before he could film The Mazarin Stone, Brett’s health gave out on him and he was hospitalized. Again Charles Gray was called in by the producer to play Mycroft as a substitute. It is nice to see Mycroft for a fourth time, but Mycroft doing this doesn’t feel true to his character. And this episode is one of the weakest in the series, due to the script. Not that I blame the scriptwriter too much, The Mazarin Stone is one of the worst stories in the canon. The efforts to improve on the story by combining it with another weak story The Three Garridebs don’t at all manage to rescue it.

However, there are still some rather good episodes in this season . The Red Circle is good and The last ever episode of the series, The Cardboard box manages to close out the series on a good if dark note.

Jeremy Brett died in 1995 due to heart failure, ending all hope of any future series.

I might have delved too much on the series failures in this essay. Because all of that is outweighed by the consistent high quality the series managed to achieve in the first four seasons, and with a few failures, still managed to sometimes achieve again in the later ones. Those adaptations are perhaps the peak of Holmes on screen.

It is not my favourite adaptation, that is the BBC radio drama versions made starring Clive Merrison as Holmes from 1989 to 2010. Those were just as consistently good, with Merrison and Williams/Sachs as Holmes and Watson being on the same general level as Brett and Burke/Hardwicke as performances. In fact, the BBC version is more consistent, never going off the rails as the Granada version sometimes, and it actually managed to achieve the goal Brett had hoped for: adapting every canonical story.

Still that doesn’t take away from Granada’s great achievement in adapting the Holmes stories with such quality. It is an achievement that later movie and tv adaptations haven’t been able to surpass.

#granada holmes #review #sherlock holmes

17 notes · View notes

nothisis-ridiculous · 3 years

Text

Take Me Home Now: Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine: The Radio Reminds Me

Set after the events of ME3.

A rewrite. Ao3.

FemShepxKaidan

Notes: I know this is a slow build, but it was always meant to be more about the re-entry of Shep than a romantic story. I will have more Shenko content, I just don't want different expectations put on this work.

The mass of biotics division huddled around a central table, while most craned their heads to get a better view, some jostled their way in closer. Jane only approached because it was something to bide her time, well really, it was to avoid Rahna and their 'friend date'. Specifics were not important.

"What's going on here," Jane questioned.

Three-quarters of the biotics stood taller, and all stopped moving. The woman still spoke with the authority of a commanding officer, would have been if... well, that wasn't important either. Here, she was just Jane. Even after the deference, the biotics instinctively gave her as they allowed her front row access to the device on the table. Jane chalked it up to her reputation for holding her biotics at full force with a faulty implant rather than face the reality of her other-self.

Jane picked up the comm, looked it over, then promptly set it down, "impressive paperweight?"

A brave student snickered, plucking the device from the table, "did they not teach you old folks tech?"

"Said the 2nd Lieutenant to the N7," Jane smirked, "tell me, how long did it take to put your bars on and still leave them crooked?"

The kid fussed, trying to wave away his faux pass with some technobabble and blustering. Leave it to Alenko to be soft on his kids.

"We've been scanning the airwaves for news, news outside of earth," the soldier finally stammered out, "I found a promising channel I just have to.."

"Well, everyone is waiting."

"Aye, Aye ma'am."

The kid nodded, bringing out the interface of his omnitool, punching out codes until the box relented.

"Relayed July 23rd. Charon Relay is inoperable. Mass relays comm buoys inoperable. Attempts to fix relays have begun. Repeat message."

"The 23rd was a week ago," a voice commented from the crowd.

"Is there another channel?"

"Please respond. We are alive. This is Commander Bailey, C-Sec, on a looping message. Please respond. We are alive."

The lightness a simple broadcast brought to her shoulders was rejuvenating, sublime in the brief moment of having one friend survive the war she wrought upon the galaxy. Until the weight returned in the form of a warm hand resting on her left trap, prior commitments and all.

"Jane."

"Rahna."

~~~ ~~~ ~~~

Jane leaned back, folding her arms tightly across her chest. Proficient in the use of silence, she kept an easy stare at Rahna. If she had to play the hostage, she wasn't about to make it easy, defiant yet still compliant. Speaking now put her into a position of giving something away- well something more than she wanted to give away. With the level of fame Shepard had reached curious hands liked to get into her file, while against the rules, those with access often did. What else could be juicer than personal details on the Commander? On her failures? Successes. Her psych profile.

It was violating.

"It's good to hear someone on the Citadel is still kicking," Rahna broke first.

"If anyone could have survived, it was him."

"Someone you knew well?"

"Compared to most C-Sec officers, he was a dream," Jane allowed her face to relax, "a real cut through the red tape kind of guy. Bailey really came through during the Cerebrus coup."

Rahna nodded, returning with a small smile, "that sounded like a tense situation. Everyone back home was shocked we never thought Udina-"

"Udina was a rat."

"You would know," she mumbled, "I'm glad it ended as well as it did. Without losing another friend."

Jane's lips tightened, shoulders bracing for the mental impact of the emotions she wanted locked beneath the surface. The cacophony of feelings blurred and grew, loss, regret, pleasure, reconnection, and the legion of secondary emotions attached to the cold anger freezing her system. A brittle connection shattered, leaving behind a numbness.

"Is this all about Alenko?"

Rahna's eyes widened, reeling, the blunt words not within the realm of what she expected, "that wasn't-"

"You couldn't; you rejected the man he was," Jane snarled, pitching forward on her chair, "is this jealousy? I can armchair you right back, Strawberry."

The woman chuckled, "you've heard about me."

"Yeah, I've heard about you. I don't need to go snooping into your file."

"Then you should know we reconnected a couple years back- and nothing happened," she returned cooly, "it was obvious he still had feelings for another."

The immediate surge of pride warped with bitter jealousy, her throat tightening. If she didn't know better, Jane swore her heart stopped the long pauses between the beats petrifying the organ. Her world grew cold, hollow. This jealousy was certainly foreign, the Commander was better than this. Mary knew better, knew that after all Kaidan had returned for her- had written that after all this mess, he didn't know, they both didn't know then.

The Yeoman's call that she had a message at her private terminal had grown past the stage of annoying- Mary had hinted once that Chambers should switch it up. Apparently, her tone had been too jovial, and a week later still nothing had changed. Not even a crack at a 'message for you' or a plain 'message.' With a sigh that Kelly met with a quick glance, Mary sauntered over to the terminal. The sender had her retreating.

While she was under no guise that she had privacy, Mary liked the illusion of it.

Back in the empty room of the Captain's Cabin, Kaidan's picture flickered on accusingly. Still, Mary grasped for it, a thumb tenderly resting over his cheek.

"I want to think you're angry, that you'll tear me a new one. But we both know better."

She set the frame down, looking away, focusing on the one-third finished model of the Athabasca Class Freighter. It seemed like a simple ship, not something flashy like a Geth Dreadnought or Sovereign, but it was apparent to what drew her to the model. A sentimental reminder of the Canadian she loved. The man that stared at her when she walked by. The one she talked to in the billions of moments she regretted working for Cerebrus. Kaidan was silent, but it was better than nothing, the picture at first was a warning to what Cerebrus could take from her. Now it became a lifeline. Unhealthy. But a small drop in the bucket compared to the Suicide mission she had thrown herself headfirst into.

"You could never stay mad at me long... you'll even expect me to, to-"

Tears tumbled from her eyes, the first to come since her time aboard the 'fake' Normandy. One painted in colors and emblazed with an emblem that made her skin crawl. It was all wrong.

It filled her head with screaming.

Mary didn't read the message that night.

Or for the next week.

Kelly stopped reminding her about one unread message.

Shepard put the Athabasca down gently, careful not to disturb the drying sealant. Her eyes flickered to the picture that stared at her, "I know it's time to look."

They hadn't spoken in that time, either.

Kaidan was predictable. His gentleness- his compassion. The love he claimed to have for her obvious, even if Mary was fighting to ignore it. After all this, after turning up in bed with a terrorist organization, he still beckoned her to be careful. To return to him when, if, things settled. Most of all, his honesty.

Damn, did it hurt. Her heart squeezing and constricting itself.

Could Mary blame him for attempting to live happily?

She wanted that for him. In her current situation, she would do nothing but bring him strife. It was selfish to reach out now. To clamor for his attention, to stir up old feelings. To let him become a target. The Illusive Man had tried once; what was to stop him from doing it again? As much as she hated bringing Anderson into her troubles, it was becoming apparent she needed to lean on him, at least to get Kaidan out of the line of fire.

Mary left the message unread. Call it revenge or heartbreak.

"You didn't know?" Rahna pressed, her fingers raking across her forearm, "I thought you- well. It was only to reconnect; that's how I got recruited to Biotics Division, eventually. I don't think he had been assigned-

Commander?"

Jane's pupils narrowed, "what do you want from me? This is- this-"

Rahna tried to interrupt, but Jane was not finished, "do you like seeing me squirm? Do you like that I'm not the person you saw on all the vids?

What fucked up reason do you have for doing this? You were stupid enough not to see Kaidan for who he is. You spurned him for trying to help you. I bet you couldn't even look him in the eye. Beauty...sure. But kindness? I see someone who can't stomach a hard decision and is infected with naive idealism. He stopped Vrynnus from torturing more kids, like he did to you, and you just-

Now you have to pull me into this? Do you regret losing him after seeing the compassionate man he became over the years? You could pull anyone, is only the capable and handsome Spectre enough? Or is it more fun to gloat over the decimated competition?"

Rahna watched as Jane rubbed at her cheek and the strange flashing scars. Observing the woman's tension across from her as she only grew more enraged as it did not elicit the reaction she desired from the accusations, pity filled the void that might have been anger.

"I doubt either of us has moved through life without regrets," her voice was silk and cool, "Kaidan and I could have both handled that better. Perhaps I was naive, but what is done is done. There was no longer a spark; we both knew that was the end of an 'us.'"

The blonde huffed.

"I won't lie and omit that I have seriously breached protocol and decorum by perusing your files; the 'Commander' is a fascinating subject to anyone that paid attention. She was hope to many," Rahna looked her in the eyes, playing the woman's staring contest, "can't blame a girl for being curious."

Jane slowly settled into her chair, swiveling her eyes away, arms folding across her chest. More so in a move reminiscent of a pouting child, but it was a start.

"Do you know what your file said? Specifically your psych evals?"

The woman didn't look at her, going stiff as stone. Jaw flexed in her effort to maintain silence.

"Brass had you tabbed for immediate evaluation after the war," she let that settle in, the woman's throat bobbed, "and more than that. I see someone who needs help. Selfishly- I hope I can help. Even a little, even if it is just someone to listen. After you have helped so many."

"Shepard is dead."

The Commander walked out of the room for the last time.

#fshenko #kaidan x femshep #mass effect fancition #take me home

5 notes · View notes

jetsetlife138 · 4 years

Text

Imaginary - Chapter 4

Rating: Mature for this chapter, but Explicit in future chapters

Pairing: Alastor x Fem!Reader

Summary: A mysterious device throws you into the animated world of Hazbin Hotel. Once an average human living in a three-dimensional world, you’re now transformed into a two-dimensional human that has been cast into Hell. Pentagram City’s residents are curious and most harbor ill-will towards you. Charlie and the staff of the Happy Hotel take you in and offer you protection while they try and figure out how to return you to your world. That is… until you come across a certain Radio Demon with different intentions. Chapter Warnings: Suggestive language, explicit language

Previous Chapters: 1 - 2 - 3

Note: Just a reminder to my uninformed and curious folks out there: Asexuals can become aroused. Asexuals can have the desire to become aroused. Asexuals can enjoy being aroused. Asexuals can take steps to becoming aroused. Asexuals can be aroused by someone else. Asexuals can be curious about arousal. Asexuals can alternatively have no interest in arousal. Asexuality doesn’t mean that you are celibate and have no interest in sex. Do yourself a favor and do some research. Talk to your ace friends. Trust me, they’re more than happy to educate you on that subject. Brace yourselves for another fun-filled chapter!

Looking back, acting so aggressively towards the infamous demon was probably not the smartest plan. It may have been a bit premature to assume that he was making any kind of sexual advances towards you. After all, he never really confirmed that was his intention. You may have just dug yourself into an even deeper hole.

Then again… you wouldn’t put it past him considering how he carried himself and also by the way Angel Dust encouraged more illicit behavior. Even with the small amount of time that you had spent with him, it was obvious that the Radio Demon was an opportunist, and also a crafty bastard who got off on manipulating others for his own personal gain. You had wondered if there was a part of him that genuinely wanted to help Charlie with the hotel, or if he had any ulterior motives. Maybe Vaggie had the right idea about him after all.

Whatever the case, you had to be smart about this. You weren’t going to get anywhere by being so negative. However, it was also important to brace yourself for any impending threat, especially considering that you were, after all, in Hell. Cartoon or not, this place was filled with evil creatures, and you had to watch your back.

Taking a deep breath, you braced yourself to leave the safety of your room, equally curious and terrified of what would await you in this mysterious land. Stepping out into the hall, you took a moment to really look around, admiring the creepy hotel structure as well as the art on the wall. Painting of strange beings lined the halls in old, corroded frames. You weren’t sure if the creatures on the canvas were important historical figures, or if they were just members of Charlie’s family. Either way, they were haunting.

Hearing a commotion downstairs, you decided to go and investigate. Following the noises, you had eventually found yourself in a large room where Charlie, Vaggie, and Angel Dust were gathered together, bickering about something with an odd, furry cat demon who was positioned behind the bar next to them with an annoyed look on his face.

Upon seeing you enter, Charlie cut the conversation short, forcing a nervous grin. “Oh, hey there! How’s it going?”

Keeping your expression neutral, you replied, “I’m hanging in there, thanks. Am I interrupting something?”

“Not at all!” she assured you, clearly deflecting. “We were just, uh… discussing tactics to get you home. It would help if we had a little more to go off of. Can you tell us more about you?”

“Just ask Alastor,” Angel suggested, wiggling his eyebrows. “The two a them were gettin’ real familiar upstairs. I’m sure he’d be happy to fill you in.”

“Um. What?” Vaggie snapped, her expression equally enraged and horrified.

Glaring at the spider-demon, he merely blew a kiss at you in return before snickering fiendishly, eager to see how this would play out.

“He came to my room after the two of you left,” you admitted, noting the nervous glances between Charlie and Vaggie. “It wasn’t a big deal. We just talked.”

“Oh, honey,” Angel began. “You was doin’ a lot more than that. These walls talk, babe. And these walls told me they saw you two in bed together.”

Oh, fuck. Not good.

Charlie looked horrified while Vaggie seemed to be on the brink of a conniption. “No, no, no, it wasn’t like that,” you urged, putting them slightly at ease. “He was trying to help me.”

“How is being in bed together helpful to your cause?” Vaggie pressed, clearly not buying it.

“He did something to me… I’m not even sure. He said that he could help me and then he put his hand on my head. Next thing I know, I’m blacking out. I woke up later in the bed, and he just happened to be lying next to me. That’s it.”

Angel Dust rolled his eyes, crossing one set of his arms in disbelief while Vaggie pursed her lips in a disappointed manner. Charlie took a moment to find her words before she asked, “What exactly did he do to you?”

“Apparently, he could see inside my head. By looking through my memories he could see what my world looked like. I’m not sure how that’s beneficial. Maybe he just wanted to see if I was telling the truth. He didn’t say. He’s… weird.”

“That’s an understatement,” Vaggie murmured, earning a chuckle from the cat-demon behind the bar.

“Was that all?” Charlie inquired curiously.

“Yeah, toots. Was that all?” Angel teased, biting his lip to keep from laughing. Ugh, he was going to be the death of you.

“He tried to make a deal with me,” you finally divulged.

“Hijo de puta,” Vaggie seethed, baring her teeth in anger.

Swallowing thickly, Charlie asked, “What kind of deal?”

Shrugging your shoulders awkwardly, you replied, “If he succeeded in somehow returning me to my world, he wanted me to take him with me. I guess he thinks my world would be entertaining for him.”

You glanced at Angel, knowing that he was well aware of the other services that Alastor allegedly offered you. Pleading with your eyes, you hoped that he would take pity on you and keep his mouth shut just this once.

A smirk graced his lips as he considered your silent request. Much to your relief, he kept quiet. You’d probably pay for that later, but it was worth it to avoid more horrified expressions from the others.

Charlie wrung her hands together nervously while Vaggie approached you, worrying her lip. “Please tell me that you didn’t make a deal with him.”

“No!” you confirmed, shaking your head. “Of course not. I barely know him.”

“You gonna give her a history lesson? Looks like I’m not the only one around here who isn’t familiar with the Strawberry Pimp,” Angel drawled, now apparently bored of the topic.

Rolling her eyes, Vaggie sighed with exasperation. “Alright, look. No one knows how he’s accomplished so much since arriving in Hell. Overlords that have ruled Hell for centuries were no match against him. To prove his dominance and establish a reputation, Alastor pretty much massacred anyone who posed as a threat to his power. He broadcasted his carnage all throughout Hell, the mere savagery of his slaughters attesting to his abilities. That’s how he got his name, “The Radio Demon”. How original, right?” she jeered.

Furrowing your brows, you continued to listen intently. “It’s still unclear as to how he attained the power to overthrow our world’s most ancient and devastating evils, but it’s evident that he's a nefarious demon and dangerously unpredictable--capable of unimaginable destruction.”

Holy fuck. You knew he was dangerous, but you had no idea what he was actually capable of. And you had the audacity to berate him.

Struggling to keep from trembling, you asked, “So… if he’s so dangerous, why are you partnering with him?”

Charlie smiled timidly, trying to maintain her optimistic demeanor. “He offered his expertise because he supports what we’re trying to do here!”

“You cannot possibly believe that,” you countered skeptically.

“I don’t,” Vaggie barked back, scowling. “I want nothing to do with him.”

“Vaggie, come on,” Charlie implored. “We’ve been over this. We’ve got to at least give him a chance. Everyone is capable of redemption. He hasn’t done anything to hurt us or the hotel. He could be the best thing to happen to this place. Other than you,” she finished with a smile, earning a flirtatious eye roll from her girlfriend.

“You could always try commanding him to leave,” Angel taunted. “I’d like to see how Hell’s princess pairs up against Hell’s most powerful demon.”

It was then you remembered hearing her mention that she was a princess the day before when she had saved you from the mob. In all of the calamity, it had completely slipped your mind. “Wait, so you’re actually a princess?” you asked. “How does that work?”

“Jesus, you really are from another world, aren’t you?” Angel interjected, reaching for a drink at the bar. “Ever hear of Lucifer? The Big Bad of Hell?”

Nodding your head, Angel then pointed to Charlie. “That’s his kid.”

Your eyes were probably the size of baseballs as you stared at Charlie, completely at a loss for words. “It’s really not a big deal,” she assured you, her face flushed with embarrassment, which only added to her already rosy cheeks.

“Wait, you’ve been here for less than a day. How do you even know about Lucifer?” Vaggie questioned.

“I mean… I don’t know about your Lucifer,” you clarified, trying to find the right way to explain yourself. “In my world, Lucifer isn’t an actual person. He’s more of a myth, or a religious figure, depending on who you ask. There’s stories about him and no one knows if he actually existed. He’s always been portrayed as evil incarnate. He brought sin to the world and God cast him down into Hell. That’s the extent of my knowledge.”

“Interesting,” Vaggie commented, pressing a finger to her lips inquisitively. “Your world’s version of him isn’t too far off. Rest assured, he’s real. And he’s not really a fan of our business.”

“Yet,” Charlie corrected her.

“Yet,” Vaggie agreed, grinning slightly.

“Wow,” you huffed, trying to comprehend everything.

“I know that this is probably a lot for you to take in,” Charlie sympathized, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. “I can’t even imagine what you’re going through, but we’re going to help you. All of us.”

“Speak for yourself,” the cat-demon commented before taking a swig of his booze.

“Oh! I forgot to introduce you! This is Husk. He’s a friend of Alastor’s--”

“I ain’t his friend!” he barked back, seething. “That stupid son of a bitch dragged me in here outta nowhere! I’m just biding my time until the booze runs out.”

“Got it,” you acknowledged, thoroughly enjoying his callousness. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“I can’t say the same,” he grumbled, reaching for a new bottle of alcohol after pitching the old, empty bottle behind him.

Clapping her hands together, Charlie quickly changed the subject. “Right! Let’s get started! What can you tell us about how you got here?”

It was mostly a blur, but you tried your best to concentrate and remember exactly what had happened. “I was out with my friends and we had passed by this old thrift shop,” you began, trying to recall the details. “It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. I was looking around and saw an old television set on display. It looked like it was at least fifty years old, still in prime condition. I love that kind of retro stuff. I remember grabbing the remote for the t.v. to see if it still worked. I pressed the power button, and bam!” You threw your hands up dramatically for affect. “That’s the last thing I remember.”

Charlie hummed in thought, looking to Vaggie for her input. “I’ve never heard of anything like that,” the moth-demon thought aloud. “Could it have been cursed?”

“That kind of stuff doesn’t exist in my world,” you countered. “Magic and curses and stuff… none of that is real. It’s all mythical.”

“If none a that stuff is real, how do you explain this place, sugartits?” Angel chimed in, cackling.

He wasn’t wrong. You weren’t sure how to explain your situation. “I… I don’t know,” you stammered. “Maybe magic is real. Or maybe it’s something other than magic. Of course, there’s always the very real possibility that I’m just insane and all of this is in my head.��

“Oh, no, my dear,” an eerily familiar voice resounded ominously throughout the room. “I’ve been in your head, and I can assure you… you’re as sane as I am.”

Everyone was looking around frantically, wondering where Alastor was hiding. Moments later, a shadow appeared on the floor close to your feet, causing you to jump back and yelp as it grew rapidly until the Radio Demon himself materialized next to you, grinning widely. You briefly caught the glares and nervous expressions from the others out of the corner of your eye as he loomed over you. Wincing at his misguided assurance, you replied, “Great. That doesn’t make me feel any better.”

“Ha! I do so enjoy your brazen disposition,” he jeered boisterously.

Your automatic response was to bite back with an aggressive jab, but after hearing what he was capable of, you instead avoided his gaze as you fought back the urge to antagonize him.

Immediately picking up on your hesitance, he carefully gauged your reaction as he stepped closer to you. “Now, now, darling. No need to muzzle yourself.” He then reached forward to place one of his slender fingers under your chin, tilting your face up to meet his. It took everything you had to remain still and maintain eye contact rather than smack his hand away.

Baring his teeth in a leering smile, his eyes morphed into intimidating red slits as he purred softly. “We are going to have so much fun.” Tags: @beetlewise-and-pennyjuice @edgy-drama-queen @chasingfireflies1999 @galaxy-meteor @cecidit-31 @shadowclawstudio88

#hazbin hotel #alastor #alastor x reader #alastor x you #hazbin alastor #radio demon #charlie magne #hazbin charlie #hazbin vaggie #hazbin angel dust #alastorxreader #alastorxyou #self insert #afab

455 notes · View notes

shirlleycoyle · 3 years

Text

How to Escape the Confines of Time and Space According to the CIA

She turned to me the other morning and said, “You heard of The Gateway?” It didn’t register in the moment. She continued, “It’s blowing up on TikTok.” Later on, she elaborated: it was not in fact the ill-fated 90s computer hardware company folks were freaking out about. No, they’ve gone further back in time, to find a true treasure of functional media.

The intrigue revolves around a classified 1983 CIA report on a technique called the Gateway Experience, which is a training system designed to focus brainwave output to alter consciousness and ultimately escape the restrictions of time and space. The CIA was interested in all sorts of psychic research at the time, including the theory and applications of remote viewing, which is when someone views real events with only the power of their mind. The documents have since been declassified and are available to view.

This is a comprehensive excavation of The Gateway Process report. The first section provides a timeline of the key historical developments that led to the CIA’s investigation and subsequent experimentations. The second section is a review of The Gateway Process report. It opens with a wall of theoretical context, on the other side of which lies enough understanding to begin to grasp the principles underlying the Gateway Experience training. The last section outlines the Gateway technique itself and the steps that go into achieving spacetime transcendence.

Let’s go.

Screengrab: CIA

THE TIMELINE

• 1950s – Robert Monroe, a radio broadcasting executive, begins producing evidence that specific sound patterns have identifiable effects on human capabilities. These include alertness, sleepiness, and expanded states of consciousness.

• 1956 – Monroe forms an R&D division inside his radio program production corporation RAM Enterprises. The goal is to study sound’s effect on human consciousness. He was obsessed with “Sleep-Learning," or hypnopedia, which exposes sleepers to sound recordings to boost memory of previously learned information.

• 1958 – While experimenting with Sleep-Learning, Monroe discovers an unusual phenomenon. He describes it as sensations of paralysis and vibration accompanied by bright light. It allegedly happens nine times over the proceeding six weeks, and culminates in an out-of-body experience (OBE).

• 1962 – RAM Enterprises moves to Virginia, and renames itself Monroe Industries. It becomes active in radio station ownership, cable television, and later in the production and sale of audio cassettes. These cassettes contain applied learnings from the corporate research program, which is renamed The Monroe Institute.

• 1971 – Monroe publishes Journeys Out of the Body, a book that is credited with popularizing the term “out-of-body experience.”

Books by Robert Monroe.

• 1972 – A classified report circulates in the U.S. military and intelligence communities. It claims that the Soviet Union is pouring money into research involving ESP and psychokinesis for espionage purposes.

• 1975 – Monroe registers the first of several patents concerning audio techniques designed to stimulate brain functions until the left and right hemispheres become synchronized. Monroe dubs the state "Hemi-Sync" (hemispheric synchronization), and claims it could be used to promote mental well-being or to trigger an altered state of consciousness.

• 1978 to 1984 – Army veteran Joseph McMoneagle contributes to 450 remote viewing missions under Project Stargate. He is known as “Remote View No. 1”. This is kind of a whole other story.

• June 9th, 1983 – The CIA report "Analysis and Assessment of The Gateway Process" is produced. It provides a scientific framework for understanding and expanding human consciousness, out-of-body experiments, and other altered states of mind.

• 1989 – Remote viewer Angela Dellafiora Ford helps track down a former customs agent who has gone on the run. She pinpoints his location as “Lowell, Wyoming”. U.S. Customs apprehend him 100 miles west of a Wyoming town called Lovell.

• 2003 – The CIA approves declassification of the Gateway Process report.

• 2017 – The CIA declassifies 12 million pages of records revealing previously unknown details about the program, which would eventually become known as Project Stargate.

THE REPORT

Screengrab: CIA

Personnel

The author of The Gateway Process report is Lieutenant Colonel Wayne M. McDonnell, hereon referred to simply as Wayne. There isn’t a tremendous amount of information available on the man, nor any photographs. In 1983, Wayne was tasked by the Commander of the U.S. Army Operational Group with figuring out how The Gateway Experience, astral projection and out-of-body experiences work. Wayne partnered with a bunch of different folks to produce the report, most notably Itzhak Bentov, a very Googleable American-Israeli scientist who helped pioneer the biomedical engineering industry.

A scientific approach

From the outset of the report, Wayne states his intent to employ an objective scientific method in order to understand the Gateway process. The various scientific avenues he takes include:

• A biomedical inquiry to understand the physical aspects of the process.

• Information on quantum mechanics to describe the nature and functioning of human consciousness.

• Theoretical physics to explain the time-space dimension and means by which expanded human consciousness transcends it.

• Classical physics to bring the whole phenomenon of out-of-body states into the language of physical science (and remove the stigma of an occult connotation).

Methodological frames of reference

Before diving into the Gateway Experience, Wayne develops a frame of reference by dissecting three discrete consciousness-altering methodologies. He’s basically saying, there’s no way you’re going to get through The Gateway without a solid grounding in the brain-altering techniques that came before it.

1) He begins with hypnosis. The language is extremely dense, but the basic gist is as follows: the left side of the brain screens incoming stimuli, categorizing, assessing and assigning meaning to everything through self-cognitive, verbal, and linear reasoning. The left hemisphere then dishes the carefully prepared data to the non-critical, holistic, pattern-oriented right hemisphere, which accepts everything without question. Hypnosis works by putting the left side to sleep, or at least distracting it long enough to allow incoming data direct, unchallenged entry to the right hemisphere. There, stimuli can reach the sensor and motor cortices of the right brain, which corresponds to points in the body. Suggestions then can send electrical signals from the brain to certain parts of the body. Directing these signals appropriately, according to the report, can elicit reactions ranging from left leg numbness to feelings of happiness. Same goes for increased powers of concentration.

2) Wayne continues with a snapshot of transcendental meditation. He distinguishes it from hypnotism. Through concentration the subject draws energy up the spinal cord, resulting in acoustical waves that run through the cerebral ventricles, to the right hemisphere, where they stimulate the cerebral cortex, run along the homunculus and then to the body. The waves are the altered rhythm of heart sounds, which create sympathetic vibrations in the walls of the fluid-filled cavities of the brain’s ventricles. He observed that the symptoms begin in the left side of the body, confirming the right brain’s complicity. Bentov also states that the same effect might be achieved by prolonged exposure to 4 – 7 Hertz/second acoustical vibrations. He suggests standing by an air conditioning duct might also do the trick. (David Lynch and other celebrities are committed adherents to transcendental meditation today.)

3) Biofeedback, on the other hand, uses the left hemisphere to gain access to the right brain’s lower cerebral, motor, and sensory cortices. Whereas hypnosis suppresses one side of the brain, and TM bypasses that side altogether, biofeedback teaches the left hemisphere to visualize the desired result, recognize the feelings associated with right hemisphere access, and ultimately achieve the result again. With repetition, the left brain can reliably key into the right brain, and strengthen the pathways so that it can be accessed during a conscious demand mode. A digital thermometer is subsequently placed on a target part of the body. When its temperature increases, objective affirmation is recognized and the state is reinforced. Achieving biofeedback can block pain, enhance feeling, and even suppress tumors, according to the report.

Image: e2-e4 Records.

The Gateway mechanics

With that, Wayne takes a first stab at the Gateway process. He classifies it as a “training system designed to bring enhanced strength, focus and coherence to the amplitude and frequency of brainwave output between the left and right hemispheres so as to alter consciousness.”

What distinguishes the Gateway process r from hypnosis, TM, and biofeedback, is that it requires achieving a state of consciousness in which the electrical brain patterns of both hemispheres are equal in amplitude and frequency. This is called Hemi-Sync. Lamentably, and perhaps conveniently, we cannot as humans achieve this state on our own. The audio techniques developed by Bob Monroe and his Institute (which comprise a series of tapes), claim to induce and sustain Hemi-Sync.

Here, the document shifts to the usage of quotes and other reports to describe the powers of Hemi-Sync. Wayne employs the analogy of a lamp versus a laser. Left to its own devices the human mind expends energy like a lamp, in a chaotic and incoherent way, achieving lots of diffusion but relatively little depth. Under Hemi-Sync though, the mind produces a “disciplined stream of light.” So, once the frequency and amplitude of the brain are rendered coherent it can then synchronize with the rarified energy levels of the universe. With this connection intact, the brain begins to receive symbols and display astonishing flashes of holistic intuition.

The Hemi-Sync technique takes advantage of a Frequency Following Response (FFR). It works like this: an external frequency emulating a recognized one will cause the brain to mimic it. So if a subject hears a frequency at the Theta level, it will shift from its resting Beta level. To achieve these unnatural levels, Hemi-Sync puts a single frequency in the left ear and a contrasting frequency in the right. The brain then experiences the Delta frequency, also known as the beat frequency. It’s more familiarly referred to these days as binaural music. With the FFR and beat frequency phenomena firmly in place, The Gateway Process introduces a series of frequencies at marginally audible, subliminal levels. With the left brain relaxed and the body in a virtual sleep state, the conditions are ideal to promote brainwave outputs of higher and higher amplitude and frequency. Alongside subliminal suggestions from Bob Monroe (naturally), the subject can then alter their consciousness.

Image: Thobey Campion

The Gateway system only works when the audio, which is introduced through headphones, is accompanied by a physical quietude comparable to other forms of meditation. This increases the subject’s internal resonance to the body’s sound frequencies, for example the heart. This eliminates the “bifurcation echo”, in which the heartbeat moves up and down the body seven times a second. By placing the body in a sleep-like state, The Gateway Tapes, like meditation, lessen the force and frequency of the heartbeat pushing blood into the aorta. The result is a rhythmic sine wave that in turn amplifies the sound volume of the heart three times. This then amplifies the frequency of brainwave output. The film surrounding the brain—the dura—and fluid between that film and the skull, eventually begin to move up and down, by .0005 and .010 millimeters.

The body, based on its own micro-motions, then functions as a tuned vibrational system. The report claims that the entire body eventually transfers energy at between 6.8 and 7.5 Hertz, which matches Earth’s own energy (7 – 7.5 Hertz). The resulting wavelengths are long, about 40,000 kilometers, which also happens to be the perimeter of the planet. According to Bentov, the signal can move around the world’s electrostatic field in 1/7th of a second.

To recap, the Gateway Process goes like this:

• Induced state of calm

• Blood pressure lowers

• Circulatory system, skeleton and other organ systems begin to vibrate at 7 – 7.5 cycles per second

• Increased resonance is achieved

• The resulting sound waves matches the electrostatic field of the earth

• The body and earth and other similarly tuned minds become a single energy continuum.

We’ve gotten slightly ahead of ourselves here though. Back to the drawing board.

Image: kovacevicmiro via Getty Images

A psycho-quantum level deeper

Wayne then turns to the very nature of matter and energy. More materially (or less if you will), solid matter in the strict construction of the term, he explains, doesn’t exist. The atomic structure is composed of oscillating energy grids surrounded by other oscillating energy grids at tremendous speeds. These oscillation rates vary—the nucleus of an atom vibrates at 10 to the power of 22, a molecule vibrates at 10 to the power of 9, a human cell vibrates at 10 to the power of 3. The point is that the entire universe is one complex system of energy fields. States of matter in this conception then are merely variations in the state of energy.

The result of all these moving energies, bouncing off of energy at rest, projects a 3D mode, a pattern, called a hologram, A.K.A our reality as we experience it. It's best to think of it as a 3D photograph. There's a whole rabbit hole to go down here. Suffice it to say, the hologram that is our experience is incredibly good at depicting and recording all the various energies bouncing around creating matter. So good, in fact, that we buy into it hook, line, and sinker, going so far as to call it our "life."

Consciousness then can be envisaged as a 3D grid system superimposed over all energy patterns, Wayne writes. Using mathematics, each plane of the grid system can then reduce the data to a 2D form. Our binary (go/no go) minds can then process the data and compare it to other historical data saved in our memory. Our reality is then formed by comparisons. The right hemisphere of the brain acts as the primary matrix or receptor for this holographic input. The left hemisphere then compares it to other data, reducing it to its 2D form.

In keeping with our species' commitment to exceptionalism, as far as we know humans are uniquely capable of achieving this level of consciousness. Simply, humans not only know, but we know that we know. This bestows upon us the ability to duplicate aspects of our own hologram, project them out, perceive that projection, run it through a comparison with our own memory of the hologram, measure the differences using 3D geometry, then run it through our binary system to yield verbal cognition of the self.

Screengrab: CIA

The click-out phase

Wayne then shows his cards as a true punisher, issuing, "Up to this point our discussion of the Gateway process has been relatively simple and easy to follow. Now the fun begins." Shots fired, Wayne. What he's preparing the commander reading this heady report for is the reveal—how we can use the Gateway to transcend the dimension of spacetime.

Time is a measurement of energy or force in motion; it is a measurement of change. This is really important. For energy to be classified as in motion, it must be confined within a vibratory pattern that can contain its motion, keeping it still. Energy not contained like this is boundary-less, and moves without limit or dimension, to infinity. This disqualifies boundary-less energy from the dimension of time because it has no rate of change. Energy in infinity, also called "the absolute state," is completely at rest because nothing is accelerating or decelerating it—again, no change. It therefore does not contribute to our hologram, our physical experience. We cannot perceive it.

Now back to frequencies. Wave oscillation occurs because a wave is bouncing between two rigid points of rest. It's like a game of electromagnetic hot potato (the potato being the wave and the participants' hands being the boundaries of the wave). Without these limits, there would be no oscillation. When a wave hits one of those points of rest, just for a very brief instant, it "clicks out" of spacetime and joins infinity. For this to occur, the speed of the oscillation has to drop below 10 the power of -33 centimeters per second. For a moment, the wave enters into a new world. The potato simply disappears into a dimension we cannot perceive.

Theoretically speaking, if the human consciousness wave pattern reaches a high enough frequency, the “click-outs” can reach continuity. Put another way, if the frequency of human consciousness can dip below 10 to the power of 33 centimeters per second but above a state of total rest, it can transcend spacetime. The Gateway experience and associated Hemi-Sync technique is designed for humans to achieve this state and establish a coherent pattern of perception in the newly realized dimensions.

Image: Spectral-Design via Getty Images

Passport to the hologram

In theory, we can achieve the above at any time. The entire process though is helped along if we can separate the consciousness from our body. It’s like an existential running head start where the click-out of a consciousness already separated from its body starts much closer to, and has more time to dialogue with, other dimensions.

This is where things get a little slippery; hold on as best you can. The universe is in on the whole hologram thing, too, Wayne writes. This super hologram is called a "torus" because it takes the shape of a fuck-off massive self-contained spiral. Like this:

Give yourself a moment to let the above motion sink in…

This pattern of the universe conspicuously mirrors the patterns of electrons around the nucleus of an atom. Galaxies north of our own are moving away from us faster than the galaxies to the south; galaxies to the east and west of us are more distant. The energy that produced the matter that makes up the universe we presently enjoy, will turn back in on itself eventually. Its trajectory is ovoid, also known as the cosmic egg. As it curls back on itself it enters a black hole, goes through a densely packed energy nucleus then gets spat out the other side of a white hole and begins the process again. Springtime in the cosmos, baby!

Screengrab: CIA

The entire universe hologram—the torus—represents all the phases of time: the past, present, and future. The takeaway is that human consciousness brought to a sufficiently altered (focused) state could obtain information about the past, present, and future, since they all live in the universal hologram simultaneously. Wayne reasons that our all-reaching consciousness eventually participates in an all-knowing infinite continuum. Long after we depart the space-time dimension and the hologram each one of us perceives is snuffed out, our consciousness continues. Reassuring in a way.

And that is the context in which the Gateway Experience sits.

[Deep breaths.]

THE TECHNIQUE

The following is an outline of the key steps to reach focus levels necessary to defy the spacetime dimension. This is an involved and lengthy process best attempted in controlled settings. If you’re in a rush, you can apparently listen to enough Monroe Institute Gateway Tapes in 7 days to get there.

The Energy Conversion Box: The Gateway Process begins by teaching the subject to isolate any extraneous concerns using a visualization process called “the energy conversion box.”

Resonant Humming: The individual is introduced to resonant humming. Through the utterance of a protracted single tone, alongside a chorus on the tapes, the mind and body achieve a state of resonance.

The Gateway Affirmation: The participant is exposed to something close to a mantra called The Gateway Affirmation . They must repeat to themselves variations of, “I am merely a physical body and deeply desire to expand my consciousness.”

Hemi-Sync: The individual is finally exposed to the Hemi-Sync sound frequencies, and encouraged to develop a relationship with the feelings that emerge.

Additional Noise: Physical relaxation techniques are practiced while the Hemi-Sync frequencies are expanded to include “pink and white” noise. This puts the body in a state of virtual sleep, while calming the left hemisphere and raising the attentiveness of the right hemisphere.

The Energy Balloon: The individual is then encouraged to visualize the creation of an “energy balloon” beginning at the top of the head, extending down in all directions to the feet then back up again. There are a few reasons for this, the main one being that this balloon will provide protection against conscious entities possessing lower energy levels that he or she may encounter when in the out-of-body state.

Focus 12: The practitioner can consistently achieve sufficient expanded awareness to begin interacting with dimensions beyond their physical reality. To achieve this state requires conscious efforts and more “pink and white noise” from the sound stream.

Tools: Once Focus 12 is achieved, the subject can then employ a series of tools to obtain feedback from alternative dimensions.

Problem Solving: The individual identifies fundamental problems, fills their expanded awareness with them, and then projects them out into the universe. These can include personal difficulties, as well as technical or practical problems.

Patterning: Consciousness is used to achieve desired objectives in the physical, emotional, or intellectual sphere.

Color Breathing: A healing technique that revitalizes the body’s energy flows by imagining colors in a particularly vivid manner.

Energy Bar Tool: This technique involves imagining a small intensely pulsating dot of light that the participant charges up. He or she then uses the sparkling, vibrating cylinder of energy (formerly known as the dot) to channel forces from the universe to heal and revitalize the body.

Remote Viewing: A follow-on technique of the Energy Bar Tool where the dot is turned into a whirling vortex through which the individual sends their imagination in search of illuminating insights.

Living Body Map: A more organized use of the energy bar in which streams of different colors flow from the dot on to correspondingly-colored bodily systems.

Seven days of training have now occurred. Approximately 5 percent of participants get to this next level, according to the report.

Focus 15 – Travel Into the Past: Additional sound on the Hemi-Sync tapes includes more of the same, plus some subliminal suggestions to further expand the consciousness. The instructions are highly symbolic: time is a huge wheel, in which different spokes give access to the participant’s past.

Focus 21 – The Future: This is the last and most advanced state. Like Focus 15, this is a movement out of spacetime into the future.

Out-of-Body Movement: Only one tape of the many is devoted to out-of-body movement. This tape is devoted to facilitating out-of-body state when the participant’s brain wave patterns and energy levels reach harmony with the surrounding electromagnetic environment. According to Bob Monroe, the participant has to be exposed to Beta signals of around 2877.3 cycles per second.

CONCLUSIONS

Wayne expresses concern about the fidelity of information brought back from out-of-body states using the Gateway technique. Practical applications are of particular concern because of the potential for “information distortion.”

The Monroe Institute also ran into a bunch of issues in which they had individuals travel from the West to the East Coast of the U.S. to read a series of numbers off of a computer screen. They never got them exactly right. Wayne chalks this up to the trouble of differentiating between physical entities and extra-time-space dimensions when in the out-of-body state.

Wayne swings back to support mode though, lending credence to the physics foundation of the report. He cites multiple belief systems that have established identical findings. These include the Tibetan Shoug, the Hindu heaven of Indra, the Hebrew mystical philosophy, and the Christian concept of the Trinity. Here he seems more interested in hammering home the theoretical underpinnings that make The Gateway Experience possible, rather than the practical possibilities promised by The Gateway Tapes.

Possibly with his CIA top brass audience in mind, Wayne then gives an A-type nod to The Gateway Experience for providing a faster, more efficient, less subservient, energy-saving route to expanded consciousness. This finishes with a series of recommendations to the CIA for how to exploit Gateway’s potential for national defense purposes.

Screengrab: CIA

The missing page

One curious feature of The Gateway Report is that it seems to be missing page 25. It’s a real cliffhanger too. The bottom of page 24 reads “And, the eternal thought or concept of self which results from this self-consciousness serves the,” The report picks back up on page 26 and 3 sections later as if Wayne hadn’t just revealed the very secret of existence.

The gap has not gone unnoticed. There's a Change.org petition requesting its release. Multiple Freedom of Information Act requests have demanded the same. In all cases, the CIA has said they never had the page to begin with. Here’s a 2019 response from Mark Lilly, the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, to one Bailey Stoner regarding these records:

Screengrab: CIA via Muckrock

One theory goes that that rascal Wayne M.-fricking-McDonnell left the page out on purpose. The theory contends that it was a litmus test—if anyone truly defies time-space dimensions, they’ll certainly be able to locate page 25.

[Cosmic shrug.]

Thobey Campion is the former Publisher of Motherboard. You can subscribe to his Substack here.

How to Escape the Confines of Time and Space According to the CIA syndicated from https://triviaqaweb.wordpress.com/feed/

4 notes · View notes

breakingarrows · 5 years

Text

Replaying Ace Combat 04: Shattered Skies

[This was originally published on VerticalSliceMedia.com in 2018 and is republished from the latest draft I have]

Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies is a surprising game in that it not only carefully balances arcade style gameplay with a somber narrative but that the narrative itself reaches so deep into certain themes of war and aspects of the gameplay reinforce that. Playing a silent protagonist who only goes by the callsign Mobius 1, the weight of the story is not yours to bear but instead falls on a man relaying the story of his childhood and his interactions with the enemy during that time.

Since Ace Combat 4 is not focused on the reasons behind why wars are started (that is reserved for its sequel: The Unsung War) we are presented with the very simplest of details at the outset. The Erusians invaded ISAF territories and expulsed them from the continent. Erusia was aided by perverting the Stonehenge installation, a series of giant cannons designed to shoot down incoming meteors that threatened the continent in the past, and repurposed them as long range anti-air weapons. ISAF was eventually forced to retreat to an area labeled North Point but not before many battles were fought on the continent, one of them witnessed by our narrator [First video at the bottom of the post].

In all wars civilian casualties are an inevitability, but to many never evolve beyond numbers on a data sheet or total given during a news report. However, just as what was once abstract is made real for our narrator, so too is the data made real for us as we begin to follow this young boy’s life during the war.

Who is responsible for the death of his family? The first answer would be the aircraft with the yellow 13, as it shot down the aircraft that destroyed his home. Or was it the fleeing aircraft that flew low over civilian territory? We see in the image the pilot ejecting safely with a parachute deployed. Whether he is ignorant of his effect on the boy’s life or knows the destruction he just caused doesn’t matter. Just as civilian deaths are reduced to data so too are soldiers and their armaments. Are the commanding officers above these pilots responsible for the collateral damage? Do the nations engaging in war have a duty to those displaced and killed by their activities? These are the questions that came to mind while replaying Shattered Skies, and I fear it does not serve a fulfilling answer to them.

Mobius 1, the player character, reigns destruction that outmatches any other singular pilot in the war. However your own capability to kill and destroy is never shown to affect non-combatants in a negative effect. The only time civilians appear during a gameplay mission is when you protect two commercial airliners carrying defectors to ISAF territory, and when you liberate the boy’s city of San Salvacion and hear broadcasts of reporters on the ground describing their view of the battle. You as the player character are untouchable, both in the air and morally, even if ISAF is clearly responsible for some civilian deaths as shown by the introduction.

Mobius 1 occupies a blank slate upon which not only can the player project their own morality and beliefs but so too can those who exist within the world. Your allies pin the hope of victory on your presence while the enemy curses it. Yellow 13 praises your performance in battle and regards you with respect as an honorable pilot.

Both Stonehenge and Yellow Squadron make appearances in missions prior to your ultimate confrontation against them. Stonehenge appears as a sound of destruction that rips the skies above you, forcing you to fly at low altitudes in order to escape death. This happens a few times when your mission places you within range of the installation, before you finally get to fight and destroy the cannons that loomed over all operations due to its circle of range present at all briefings prior to its destruction. Yellow Squadron appears early on to chase you off the map, being impossible to hit and constantly locking onto you while you try to escape. After they appear as more of a passive force during certain dogfights, though still invincible. Tasked with protecting Stonehenge, Yellow Squadron fails to do so and show up after its destruction in order to fight off your group. Having gained enough experience through the previous eleven missions and with Yellow 4 wounded and needing a replacement engine, you are able to shoot her down easily. Yellow 13 makes his only audio appearance here, asking if anyone saw Yellow 4 eject. She did not.

Having Stonehenge make its presence known through attacks despite being hundreds of miles away really builds up both its capability as a super weapon and also as a shadow over any mission taking place within its range. When you see the map grid during a briefing and notice that the mission area is within the dotted line you know your mission will most likely require you to fly low to the ground in order to avoid being blown apart by Stonehenge. This fear makes it so satisfying to finally confront your phantom threat head on and immobilize it and eliminate its threat for future missions. Likewise with Yellow Squadron, they appear as targets that severely outmatch you. Unable to land a hit, you are depowered in their presence and have to make adjustments in future missions to not waste time attempting to land a shot and instead focus on other, lesser pilots. Shooting down Yellow 4 is both an accomplishment because it shows how far the player and Mobius 1 have come since the initial confrontation, it also undercuts that victory with sorrow at the loss of someone who has never been shown to harbor ill will or malice. Yellow 4 simply desired to protect Yellow 13, who likewise prided himself on never losing a wingman, until now. Our respect, and the young boy’s burgeoning love for Yellow Squadron undercuts any victory over them and turns it into a complicated weave of emotions.

Yellow 13’s portrayal throughout the game goes against traditional villain and instead is more of a rival pilot. Even then that stereotype falls short since he is not obsessed with Mobius 1 but instead awaits the ultimate confrontation that will lead to his death with open arms. With the loss of Yellow 4 and the constant turnaround of pilots in Yellow Squadron, his attachment to this world are gone. Even the two children he watched over turn against him. One night, the barkeeps daughter is caught planting detonators for the resistance and flees. Yellow 13 catches her, confirming she was responsible for the sabotage he so detested that caused Yellow 4’s death. The young boy is nearby, and appears yelling, “Get out of our town fascist pig!” at Yellow 13. Clearly hurt by this betrayal from the only two he had left, Yellow 13 allows them to leave. Whether this is due to their tender ages or because of his own disgust at Erusia, which is only increased by the Erusian tactics during the defense of San Salvacion: placing AA guns atop hospitals.

Despite his hatred for the Erusian forces for occupying his town and disrupting peace, and his hatred for Yellow 13 for the cape crash, the boy continues to follow Yellow Squadron after the liberation of his hometown. By this point the boy has long abandoned his plan to confront Yellow 13 about his part in the family’s death. Yellow 4 scared him off previously, and now without her he sees Yellow 13 suffering from the same loss he himself did. The boy can’t bring himself to confront 13 now, after learning so much about him, after being cared for by him, and after seeing him suffer familial loss in war too. In an early scene the boy is shielded from the cold night by a Yellow squadron jacket, most likely placed there by their ace pilot.

Yellow 13 ultimately gets the fate he wanted, death at the hands of a pilot better than he. The dogfight takes place over Farbanti, the Erusian capital and penultimate mission of the game. Victory is all but assured with the capture of the enemy capital, but in rides Yellow Squadron, ever loyal to their duty to serve Erusia even if it means embracing death. Mobius 1 shoots each one down.

A theme I didn’t realize until this playthrough was that of memories, and how speaking them is enough to keep them alive. This is first mentioned by the boy when he recalls how Yellow 13 spoke after Yellow 4’s death. After Yellow 13’s death, the handkerchief that is buried represents both Yellow 4 and Yellow 13’s lives and the memoires the barkeep’s daughter and the boy have of them. These memories are kept alive even still by the framing device of the game, the letter being written by the now grown boy to you, Mobius 1. By writing this letter he kept the memories of Yellow 13 alive, and by playing the game, you keep it alive as well by watching and participating in it. While it may not be a true story, it still effective at portraying personal tales during a meaningless war.

A lack of identity in Mobius 1 is used to speak directly the player. AWACS makes a request that you provide a victory on his birthday, the airbase you’re protecting want to relay their thanks to you personally, and allies get emotional when you’re put in danger. These voices aren’t directed at the character of Mobius 1 since it doesn’t exist. Instead they are directed at you, the player, in order to gain your sympathy and make victory not something to be viewed distantly but something you actively achieved. Video games consistently do this more often than any other form of media due to their interactive nature, but not all are as successful as Shattered Skies at making the player engage with the gameplay in order to win not just because it is how you progress but because it means victory for your allies.

Despite being restricted to dots on your radar and voices through a radio filter, friend and foe alike have a human weight to them. This is continually built upon over the course of the four hour campaign, and culminates in the final mission as you shoot down each plane in order to hopefully keep your own friends alive. You quicken your pace as the ground forces take losses and audio plays of their battle in a place you cannot reach. Instead, you make your way through small spaces and destroy generators in order to open up the final missile silo and eliminate the final threat to total victory. Throughout the mission the strongest tracks of the game play: “Rex Tremendae,” “Megalith -Agnus Dei-”, and “Heaven’s Gate.” [Second video at the bottom of the post]

This final mission is a great end to a surprisingly emotional arcade flight simulation game.

I have always had an emotional connection to this game since I first played it in the early 2000’s. I am very happy that it continues to hold up nearly 17 years later. Yellow 13 has a wonderfully somber story and I hope it continues to live through the retelling and replaying of Shattered Skies for years to come.

youtube

#Ace Combat 4: Shattered Skies #Ace Combat #Ace Combat 4 #Shattered Skies #Video Game Criticism #Criticism #writing

27 notes · View notes

celestriakle · 7 years

Text

I keep getting people who ask me what podcasts I listen to, what they’re about, and which I recommend, SO. Please note: these are solely my opinions, and your taste may differ from mine.

If you ever want more recommendations, check out Radio Drama Revival, which features all sorts of shows, singular and serial, and interviews with their writers and creators.

(This list is regularly updated. Last update 10/31/21.)

Top 3:

Archive 81: Dan is hired to organize some tapes about a very strange apartment building. Really ramps up in season 2. Horror. Good characters, interesting worldbuilding, intriguing plot, good voice acting, the best sound design of everything I’ve listened to so far. The whole package, really. (Ongoing.)

The Magnus Archives: An archivist for an institute of paranormal research reads aloud witness testimonials that turn out to be connected. The most tightly written podcast yet, perfectly paced, amazing use of framing device, fascinating world-building, wonderful slow-burn character development. Pay attention to the details in this one. (Completed.)

The Penumbra Podcast: There are a handful of stand-alone stories, but the two primary ones are a medieval-adjacent fantasy featuring knights facing monsters and a scifi detective noir story. Good breadth, and all the stories are fun and interesting, the characters endearing. Really excellent dialogue and genre play. (Ongoing.)

Great:

Alice Isn’t Dead: An anxious trucker is looking for her missing wife. Done by the Nightvale people but nothing like it. American Gothic variety horror. Lovely descriptions, a good protagonist, an interesting world, well-paced. (Completed.)

The Bunker: A black comedy about three guys who survived the apocalypse broadcasting a radio show to the wasteland. The episodes are long, but clearly and easily segmented for easy listening. Does an excellent job building up the world and characters and maintaining its bleak humor throughout, while going in depth on its themes and the chosen topics of each episode. (Completed.)

The Bright Sessions: People with powers in therapy to learn to cope with them. Contrary to what one might expect, this isn’t about superheroes, but the way it handles healing and growth and relationships are fantastic. A satisfying ending. Very character-driven. Sequel series are now available on the feed as well. (Completed.)

Caravan: Two best friends are on a camping trip together, when one falls into a midwestern fantasy world. So much fun, the characters are full of charm and heart, and the voice actors portray them well. Another heartwarming whisperforge work, funny too. Mildly NSFW. (Ongoing.)

The Deep Vault: In the near future, a small group escape the apocalypse by taking shelter in a legendary abandoned bunker, but they’re not alone. A 7-ep miniseries made by the same people who did Archive 81, and they’re able to develop their cast and the relationships in it quite effectively in the short span given. A fast paced adventure great for a long drive or quiet afternoon. (Completed.)

The Far Meridian: An agoraphobic young woman wakes up to discover her lighthouse is teleporting around. Gentle surrealism with a focus on story. Even the one-off characters are charming, and there are well-written latino characters everywhere. (Ongoing.)

Girl in Space: Just a girl, in space, taking care of a star with only a glitchy AI for company (for now). The girl’s very charming, and the AI is one of my favorites I’ve seen written. (Ongoing.)

Gone: A woman wakes up one day to discover she's the last person in the world. No apocalypse, everyone's just... gone. Very, very strong voice in the protagonist; she's rough and fascinating. Incorporates a mental health angle often neglected in these types of stories. Another season was promised, as season 1 ends on a cliffhanger, but it hasn’t yet materialized. (Abandoned.)

Greater Boston: In an alternate Boston, the Red Line railway becomes it's own city, and the ramifications of that. A story about community, with the focus on a group of people dealing with the aftermath of a single man's death. Both deeply emotional and very, very funny. There are cheese robots, Atlantis, and guinea pigs. A delightful and very well woven wild ride. (Ongoing.)

Kalila Stormfire’s Economical Magick Services: A pleasant slice-of-life record of a young witch’s attempt to start a business. It takes a little to get going; I didn’t get much invested until episode seven, but ever since then, it’s continually ramped up. The final season especially is a delight. The crossover specials are very fun. (Ongoing.)

Liberty: In a distant Earth colony colony, there is the city of Atrius ruled by the dictatorial Arkon, and outside are the cannibalistic Fringers. Three stories in one. Critical Research, the first and roughest, follows a crew of Atrians going out and studying the Fringers. Tales of the Tower are is an anthology of horror stories aired by the Atrian government. Vigilance is an Actual Play story where the players are Atrians trying to track down three missing persons for community service, and get stuck in a deeper conspiracy. All of them are excellent, amazing soundscaping, good VAs, and intense writing. Vigilance and Critical Research are over, but Tales from the Tower is still ongoing. (Ongoing, but has several completed stories.)

The London Necropolis Railway: A short listen about a railroad that ferries the souls of the dead. A ghost dodged their train and one of the ticketers needs to chase her down. Short episodes, exciting, funny and fun. (Ongoing.)

A Scottish Podcast: A self-absorbed asshole tries to get rich by starting his own supernatural podcast. A parody of The Black Tapes and its ilk. Hilarious and a solid plot. (Ongoing.)

Startripper!!: An alien office worker buys his dream car and quits his job to go have adventures and live his best life. Genuinely the happiest, most feel good podcast I’ve heard. An absolute pleasure. (Ongoing.)

Uncanny County: An anthology series about strange events happening in a backwater town. Mostly has a goofy, off-beat tone, so it’s all good fun. Stories range from a couple that moves into a a house with a bathtub that reduces aging to a couple trying to get over the husband’s fear of clowns by staying a clown hotel. The stories are connected by place, but there’s no overarching plot; it’s just good fun. (Anthology.)

Welcome to Nightvale: The community radio show for the small desert town of Nightvale, where every conspiracy theory is true. You probably know this. WTNV is credited with kickstarting the new age of audio dramas for good reason: it's weird and wonderful with expansive storylines and amazing characters. I first discovered it back in 2015, but dropped it and didn't revisit it until now, five years later. Even with every other show I've heard, even with its own massive backlog, it still holds up with the best of them, still evoking new emotions and unveiling new secrets. WTNV is still very much an amazing podcast worth listening to. (Ongoing.)

The White Vault: An international repair team goes up to a base in Svalbard and becomes trapped by a storm after making an amazing discovery. Arctic horror. Novel framing, excellent suspense, good sound design and voice acting, a well done show. Uses actually international VAs. (Ongoing.)

Within the Wires: Tales from another world told first through relaxation tapes, then museum guides, then a government official’s notes to his secretary. The delicate unveiling of the world, and the complex relationships depicted through these restricted forms is absolutely masterful, allowing a deep understanding in spite of hearing only one voice. It starts off very strange and surreal, but it’s worth listening through that initial bump to get to the meat. (Ongoing.)

Wolf-359: The crew of a deep-space outpost begins receiving a series of strange transmissions. A sci-fi classic in the podcast community for good reason: beautifully plotted, excellent emotional arcs, a cast of characters I loved in their entirety. (Completed.)

Wooden Overcoats: A comedy about two competing funeral homes in a tiny village. Absolutely hilarious. Each character has their trope, but they are never bound by it and all are allowed to grow and develop beyond it. (Ongoing.)

Good:

2298: In a dystopian future where human lives are guided and curated by the Network, resident 24 is haunted by a beautiful golden bird. A modern take on a Big Brother-style dystopia. Quite short, but fun. Connected to the canon of Girl in Space. (Completed.)

36 Questions: An estranged married couple attempts to reconnect by asking each other 36 questions that are supposed to help people fall in love. A musical, only 3 episodes long. Very good, excellent sound design, and this podcast would easily be in the great category if it weren’t for the ending, which I found unsatisfying. (Completed.)

Ars Paradoxica: A scientist accidentally sends herself back to the ‘40s and gets picked up by a military organization and tries to use their resources to get herself back to the present. One of the earlier audio dramas, so it’s a little tropey, but it existed before many of those tropes were established. I’m still listening through! (Completed.)

Beef and Dairy Network: A comedy podcast that made me laugh! The news from a fictitious network, like if Nightvale was about beef and dairy exclusively. Enough plot and fun to keep it fresh, that it really only wears down after 40 or so episodes. (Ongoing.)

The Bridge: The caretakers of Watchtower 10 on the largely abandoned Transatlantic Bridge are all there for a reason. There are frightening things in the water, and a wealth of stories. A little spooky, but not really horror. Big lovable cast, a good format, and several interesting plot threads to put together and follow. (Ongoing.)

Gal Pals Present Overkill: A ghost tries to figure out how she died and navigate the afterlife in a very haunted park. Sweet, does very interesting things with ghosts as a concept. All girls, everyone’s gay, that latina representation I always crave. (Ongoing.)

Kane and Feels: A pair of PIs (Paranormal Investigators) investigate a trail of subconscious strangeness. A very beautiful and surreal story that blurs the world of reality and dreams. Lovely prose and aesthetic. Episodes release extremely sporadically with no clear season breaks. (Ongoing?)

King Falls AM: Two guys host a radio show in a little town full of strange happenings. A similar premise to WTNV executed quite differently. Charming but underwhelming for the first 50-ish episodes, then ramps up sharply and becomes very intense and very good. (Ongoing.)

Lesser Gods: In a post-apocalyptic future after which humans lost the ability to reproduce, the final five youngest on earth attempt to cope with and solve a murder after one of their ranks dies. Like a YA novel in the best way. Very flawed and complex characters. Episodes stopped coming midseason. (Abandoned.)

L I M B O: A dead man meets people from his past. Manages to bring to life several interesting characters in a very short time, though it leaves questions. Connected to the canon of 2298. (Completed.)

Mabel: Live-in caretaker for an elderly woman won’t stop leaving voicemails for the woman’s estranged granddaughter and discovers many strange things in the strange house. Very narrowly got edged out of my top three, but still very good. Gothic horror. Great use of format, well-paced, mellifluous writing and good music that makes it a pleasure to listen to in sound alone. (Ongoing.)

Middle:Below: A man with the ability to travel to the spirit world helps ghosts move on. Very cute and quirky and sweet. The cast’s charming, and the ghosts they deal with are interesting, and there’s still quite a number of mysteries about the world. (Ongoing.)

Outliers: An anthology collection rather than a narrative, each story tells the tale of a lesser known British historical figure. Well-written, well-acted--mostly--with a bonus of some learning on the side. (Completed.)

Passage: Two skeletons on a lifeboat from a ship that supposedly vanished a century ago washes up on the shore of a small town. A mystery miniseries, only 7 episodes long. Half the reason I listened to this is because it takes place in the PNW. A good mystery, an enjoyable quick listen. (Completed.)

Pleasuretown: A western about a small desert town that got wiped out, and the stories of all the inhabitants who used to live there and the strange supernatural encounters they had. It weaves together beautifully with top notch sounds. Starts out very white/male/cishet, but the stories get more diverse and inclusive as the podcast goes on. It’s episodic enough that the stories are enjoyable on their own, but the large overarching story thread never got resolved. (Abandoned.)

Radiation World: A boat full of strangers on a quest discovers a bunker full of people who survived the apocalypse and they help each other out. Shenanigans ensure. Incredibly fun and funny with a great plot and series of twists. The ending implied another season was planned, but there are no major questions left, so it stand on its own. (Completed?)

Station to Station: A researcher is looking into the circumstances of the disappearance of a beloved coworker no one seems to remember. Sporadic update schedule has made this one a bit hard to keep track of. (Ongoing.)

Alright:

Bubble: A hipster human colony that lives in a bubble on a foreign planet occasionally deals with monster attacks. A comedy that knows its type very well: I have an intimate understanding of the people it’s poking fun at, and that made it at once incredibly fun and also hard to listen to. It implied there would be a second season, but one hasn’t yet happened. The first season stands alone well, however. (Completed?)

Big Data: Seven thieves steal the seven keys to the internet to try to take it down. Each individual heist is really interesting and fun with a great thief, but the frame narrative left me wanting. The ending implied there was going to be a sequel series, but one never materialized. (Completed?)

Congeria: A detective searching for a missing girl gets caught up with cults and murderers. A well produced podcast, well acted and well plotted, this is perfect if you love hardboiled detective stories. Honestly, this is only in alright because it’s not my usual genre. It was just a heavy listen. (Completed.)

The Dark Tome: A dark fantasy podcast where a troubled young teen reads a magic, potentially evil book that sucks her into another world and allows her to witness stories. Very much has the feel of a YA novel. Each stories within the frame are written by different authors, so episode quality varies. (Ongoing.)

Deadly Manners: A classic murder mystery at a grand house party. It was enjoyable, the characters reasonably fun (with one massive racist/homophobic/antisemitic exception), but the whole thing still felt very run-of-the-mill nevertheless. (Completed.)

Dreamboy: A depressed musician gets caught up in a conspiracy surrounding a dream and a killer zebra. Honestly, that synopsis isn’t even the half of it. This podcast is incredibly strange (and explicitly NSFW) but quite fascinating. Also, it has fabulous musical numbers. (Completed.)

Empty: Several humans and an AI wake up on a colony spaceship alone, with no memory. Interesting characters, a new favorite AI, but their season finale was more of a cliffhanger than a finale that wrapped up anything. (Abandoned.)

Hadron Gospel Hour: A comedy podcast about a scientist who broke the universe, his everyman sidekick, and the supercomputer helping them fix it. It’s episodic, and there are standalone shorts in it that are funny. Some jokes haven’t aged well, to put it kindly. At least one episode contains a racist joke. The seasons posted are complete, but the overarching plot never finished resolving. (Abandoned.)

The Infinite: The last surviving member of a deep space exploration mission receives a mysterious signal and contemplates if it’s worth chasing. It preceded many of the more popularized space operas and says many of the same things as them. (Completed.)

Janus Descending: A research team of two get killed while on an expedition to an alien planet. Told nonlinearly. There’s so much here that’s good, but the main characters are afflicted with a whole lot of stupid that diminishes the effect. (Completed.)

Joseph: The Revenge of Opus: A far future scifi story where some dude saves the world and the girl. I'm writing this about nine months after first listening, and honestly that's about all I retained. I remember it being fun, and having very excellent sound design, but the story was very predictable and thus forgettable. (Completed.)

LifeAfter/The Message: A pair of discrete podcasts on the same feed. The Message is about a team of scientists trying to decipher a sound that triggered a pandemic, and LifeAfter is about an FBI agent offered a chance to reconnect with his dead wife through an AI. They were both interesting, though The Message hit uncomfortably close to home, since this is being written in Nov 2020. LifeAfter had a stronger plot regardless, though the likability of its protagonist is questionable. (Completed.)

Magic King Dom: One of the few survivors of an apocalypse grows up alone in Disneyland. Cute and well produced, but the pacing is very fast, and Dom’s characterization stretched my suspension of disbelief. Connected to the canon of Girl In Space. (Completed.)

Misadventure by Death: A trope-aware person is hired to take care of an almost certainly haunted house. The writing feels a little amateur at points, but it’s enjoyable and had decent pacing so far. Updates stopped coming midseason. (Abandoned.)

Tides: A xenobiologist who has been stranded on an alien planet that’s regularly soaked by a large tidal wave. It’s acted well enough, the sound is good, and the premise is good along with the dialogue, but a bit too much time is spent on the visual descriptions of alien creatures and the pacing of the main plot has yet to catch up. (Ongoing.)

What’s the Frequency: Something strange is happening with the radio, and two detectives are on the case. Anyone who knows me knows I’m not a fan of avante guarde storytelling methods, and unfortunately, this podcast makes plentiful use of them. It took several episodes for me to grasp a basic idea of which characters were which and what the basic plot was, due to nonlinear narrative, unclear characterization, and similar sounding VAs. In spite of this, the charm of the characters I did grasp and the bits of plot I put together kept me interested and listening. (Ongoing.)

Not Recommended:

The Angel of Vine: A hardboiled PI attempts to solve a grisly murder. A very generic example of its genre, it doesn’t bring anything new or interesting to the table. Just boring.

The Black Tapes: Reporter looks into the unsolved cases of someone who disproves the paranormal for a living. Season one was fantastic, but they start to lose it in season two; the pacing and focus go astray. Season three is worse, and then the finale they put out was one of the most disappointing endings I’ve endured in years. It was bad enough I don’t intend on looking into their other productions, Rabbits and Tanis.

The Blood Crow Stories: S1 is about a malicious entity that haunts a ship, but each season is different. I listened only to s1. If you like villains who get away with all their plans perfectly and face no challenge from the protags whatsoever, then this podcast is for you. The villain is also incredibly overwrought to near laughability and relies on gore and shock value for its fearsomeness. The rest of the cast is alright, but nothing special. Uncomfortable interactions with the creators sealed my decision to not proceed with the other seasons.

Everlasting Beholders: Some aliens attempt to influence an alternate Earth. The changes made are uncomfortable, and it’s a bit hard to follow. Supposedly it connects to Empty, but not in a way I could figure out. It was never finished.

Organism: An alien of some sort learns about the world. Slow, simplistic, boring, with a very strange twist ending.

Ruby and the Galactic Gumshoe (2020): A scifi noir that's a new adventure in a series started in the 80s. Honestly, I loved the narrator and the soundscaping; the feel of this show was amazing. However, I don't recommend it solely because one of the characters is a deeply racist caricature. Ruby has a hi-tech car with an inbuilt AI described as a "big black genie", and whenever he speaks, it's with a thick Indian accent and "mystical" language.

Spines: Amnesiac survivor of a cult ritual tries to find out what happened and where her missing soul mate went by interrogating people with weird powers. Horror. The world is cool, the imagery is very cool, the story is reasonably interesting, but the voice acting is bad. Both voices we hear deliver all their lines, even ones that sound as if they should be deeply emotional, in the same flat, disinterested, apathetic, tired monotone. Not only that, but the pacing and narration destroy any sense of suspense this epic story should have.

Subject: Found: S1 was about a bigfoot hunter, and s2 was about a murderer who loved to kill women. The second story is very much not my thing--especially in light of how s1 treated its main female character--so I only listened to s1. As mentioned, the main female character, the protagonist’s wife, gets her needs constantly deferred or invalidated in favor of her husband’s as part of the story, but he’s the hero so of course he gets the girl. The plot choices that aside are very strange, a bit nonsensical, and the voice acting, main couple aside, is bad.

Dropped:

(Not bad! Just not to my specific tastes.)

Alba Salix, Royal Physician: A grumpy witch tries to keep a kingdom healthy with the help of a fairy and unwilling apprentice. Comedy. I loved Alba, but I’m extremely picky with comedies, and this one wasn’t enough for me to keep with it.

Aqua Marianas: I couldn’t finish the first episode thanks to poor audio quality. From what I heard, it also seemed a bit tropey.

Control Group: A historical fiction about a woman committed to a mental institution for a crime she didn’t commit. I can’t handle this sort of horror; it’s too dark for me.

Counter Worlds: An anthology told audio book style, with narration, which I simply can’t focus on.

Darkest Night: A horror anthology with the frame narrative of a mysterious, suspicious organization doing research into memory. Rather gruesome. Very mainstream sort of horror; some episodes were good, but others indulged too many misogynistic tropes for my taste.

Hector Vs The Future: There was a laugh track and I didn't like that. I didn't make it very far in.

Herbarium Podcasts: A collection of miniseries. Honestly, I can’t even provide an accurate synopsis. My audio processing issues made listening to more than five minutes of this impossible; the inconsistent audio quality was way too distracting and broke my immersion.

Inkwyrm: Intergalactic haute couture. Everything about the concept of this podcast spoke to me on a fundamental level, but I couldn’t even get through all of episode one. The characters didn’t appeal to me, and the sound quality isn’t great. I couldn’t understand the AI character they introduced. When I skipped ahead to see if the audio quality got better, it didn’t, and just like with Herbarium Podcasts above, poor audio is a dealbreaker.

Love and Luck: Two men in love discover they’re witches, told through voicemail. Really, my problem here was just that I wanted more angst. They’re very happy and loving and they work through every relationship problem they have very quickly, and I just plain wanted more conflict and struggle.

Otherverse: Broadcasts from another world where aliens are subjugating humanity. Enjoyable and interesting enough to keep me subscribed, but nothing special. It’s all a little basic, and the audio quality leaves something to be desired. Got bored and the update schedule got sporadic, so I dropped it.

Palimpsest: A girl moves into a haunted house and attempts to cope with the death of her sister. This podcast improved as I listened. The voice acting is solid, but the writing and audio editing in the first few episodes felt very overdone. They picked up as things progressed, and the ending downright surprised me. Season 2 switched protagonists, and the new protag had such a poorly done accent, I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be Scottish, Irish, or Southern, and that bothered me too much to continue listening.

Poplar Cove: They made an asylum joke within the first five minutes of the first episode and that’s a hard no from me.

Sable: From the episode I listened to, this podcast appeared to be about urban legends and monsters, but admittedly I don’t know much. This podcast is told audiobook style, with a single narrator also performing the character voices and no sound effects. I have a very hard time focusing on those sorts of tales.

Saffron and Peri: Comedy podcast about a fairy godparent school. As mentioned previously, I’m extremely picky with comedies and none of the characters pulled me in, so I dropped it.

Tales of Thattown: Effectively, it’s Welcome to Nightvale in the south. Yet another comedy podcast that failed to strike a chord with me, though the creator’s a sweetheart.

Thrilling Adventure Hour: A series of standalone stories. No real complaints; the couple stories I tried just didn't catch my interest.

Tumanbay: A historical fiction podcast surrounding citizens of the imagined city Tumanbay, based on the Mamluk empire in Egypt. Honestly, I'm n the fence on if this should be in my outright "Not Recommended" category. Everything about the production quality was good; the voices and story were interesting. However, this podcast is written and produced by two British men who profess they invented Tumanbay as a separate place because they thought adhering to historical accuracy would be too restrictive and difficult. Little things like the escaped slave who used Slave as his preferred name, or the fact that the more intelligent/cerebral characters all had British accents, while the more brutish ones had Middle Eastern ones, when this is supposedly an entirely Middle Eastern area, got under my skin enough to make me drop it.

Tunnels: A mystery podcast inquiring about a mysterious series of tunnels under a town. The format and tone are rather closely modeled after The Black Tapes, and as I ultimately wasn’t a fan of that, I elected to drop this.

We're Alive: A surviving the zombie apocalypse story. Supposedly, another major pioneer in the rise of modern audio drama. But I didn't realize until I started that the protagonist was a soldier, and I don't care for soldier stories.

Violet Beach: Strange time shenanigans happen to teens when the sun sets purple. The monologues it’s told through tend to meander, and lackluster VAs and no sound design made it especially hard to focus, so I dropped this.

Zoo: An FBI agent attempts to solve the mystery of a traveling zoo home to a variety of cryptids. Lower production value than most other podcasts here and occasionally makes strange choices, but develops its plot steadily and does some interesting things with its premise. Unfortunately, the developments weren’t enough to keep my attention on the long term, so I made the tough choice to drop it.

2K notes · View notes

theendofman · 3 years

Text

Industrialization of Life

Slow Days - Chapter 6

This is a proper chapter for once, not just a short essay about one of my weird daydreams, so grab a cup of tea before reading. If you haven't read the previous chapters you can find the full collection on my blog. Enjoy :)

The Probe exited the Kuiper Belt, slowly moving sol-ward. Its utter size rendered all human definitions of "vessel" meaningless. It hadn't been built for humans though, it had been built to eat. The gates on the mechanized astroid opened, as large as the humans' towers and wider than most earth-rivers long, to reveal hangars filled with autonomous agents, sized from the scale of humans themselves to the dimensions of large factory buildings. A small group of a few thousand, roughly the size of oil tankers and shaped like squished, edged eggs, separated from their docking station and disappeared into the abyss.

Alecjo stared at the wall in his cabin. It's been 3 weeks since they passed the asteroid belt. The fault had been with the electronic valves. A fault they couldn't fix while fuel was flowing through the system, which they couldn't stop since the valves were broken. If they had turned the ship around they'd have fallen short, slowly turning towards the sun. That wouldn't have been a problem if they had flown a stable transfer orbit, but they didn't. It would have been too slow to meet the required timeframe. Therefore they would have been in a parabolic trajectory towards sol, eventually hitting her surface. Sure, it would have taken months, but the captain didn't want to risk it. Eventually, he decided to dump the remaining propellant and hope that someone would come to rescue the Vuoto, while only pointing the ion-thrusters outward.

Alexander raised his head; he sat on the other side of the room. They had been sharing rooms since Diana and the captain had converted the other cabins to growing cabinets. "I'm going to check the scans again", Alex said.

===============================================

While Alecjo and Diana had been outside Alex had sent out a distress signal and it actually went through before the power went out, but it wasn't answered the way that they'd hoped. A day after the broadcast they received an encrypted transmission. An update to the system computers completely and physically bricking their radio by burning capacitors in one of the modules, crippling the ships ability to communicate or announce their presence. They could listen, but not speak up. The company had decided that the Vuoto and its Cargo weren't valuable enough to spawn a rescue operation. It was illegal sure, but no one would have persecuted them, even if the public had found out. The update served to prevent public outrage. To prevent possible revolution. They had betrayed the crew, so Alexander Laventryev hoped for the kindness of strangers.

Alecjo didn't answer Alex. He hadn't really spoken to anyone for three days. It was just too much effort. He was well-nourished and physically fit enough, but it was just so hard; so Alex left him in the cabin.

As Alex entered the bridge he saw Diana was already there monitoring the life support for about the fifteenth time today. Silently he flew over to the radio console; in his peripheral vision, he noticed Diana trying to conceal turning her head towards him slightly. "Anything new?"

Her voice sounded rough. Alex sighed as he scrolled through the new messages. Diana eyed him, annoyed about his silence.

"The captain needs 8% increased soil humidity in your quarter. Make that happen until tomorrow." Alex sharply exhaled as he pushed his rising discontent to the side. He didn't like to be bossed around like that. Sometimes he thought of how little he actually knew about the other crew members. He knew Alecjo was married and that Diana had been living with her sister before she left earth to provide for both their lives. The captain was a father, but he had never talked about the mother of his two daughters.

>>I might be the one who left the least behind<< he said to himself as he reached the bottom of the log. No transmissions for them. Not one even mentioning them.

"What did you say?", Diana asked harshly. She hadn't slept well the night before. "Nothing, just talking to myself."

Alex hadn't even noticed he had muttered those word out loud and he felt a slight sting in his chest as Diana drifted over to the exit to leave. "I'll have it done by tonight" Alex mumbled. Diana left for the growing cabinet, that what had been Alex cabin.

She tried to focus. Her peripheral eyesight had shrunk down to about 60 degrees. As she floated down the hall her bowel started to sting again. Plants weren't her strong suit but she thought herself to be decent at engineering.

The internal ship database suggested 30 mols per square meters per day over a 16 hour period for growing vegetables. The converted cabin had a 9-square-meters-footprint and was 2.3 meters high. Therefore the room had a total growing area of 2 times 9 m² floor and ceiling, and 4 times 6.9 m² wall area totalling 45.6 m² of which approximately 42 were usable. This results in 1260 mols per day. The LEDs stored on the ship for on-the-job mechanics specified 1.6 micromols per joule produced, so over a 16-hour period the cabin required 787.5 million joules, or 49.218 million joules per hour. Diana needed to find 13.67 kilowatts for the greenhouse to operate effectively. Life support was out of the question. The now unusable radio had used up 27 watts. That wasn't a lot of help. By shutting off the navigation and communication subroutines in the computer they could save around 800 watts, but that also barely made a dent. Fuel pumps and valves had had 5 kilowatts allocated to them. Significant, but there were still 7.9 kilowatts to go. The cogs in Diana's head started to turn when she softly hit the floor of the hallway.

The Vuoto had 10 ion thrusters, each using a minimum of 3 kilowatts. They would have to shut off 3, an idea the captain would not like. It would put the Vuotos thrust off-axis as there was no gimble on the ion thrusters, but the more they'd shut off the further they'd drift outward. They could also only turn off two, but that would decrease the potential output of their crops. Joseph always stressed how getting home was their top priority and this would make their journey longer. Much longer.

>>Oh god, what will he think of me?<<

The thoughts lingering in the back of Diana's head had started poking through more frequently, but she kept pushing them aside, trying not to give them too much attention. Desperately trying.

In the cabin, Joseph was watering the berries when Diana flew in. "I hope you have some good news for me", he said more cheerfully than Diana had expected. He didn't look up from what he was doing, hovering on the would-be ceiling his face vanishing in the leaves. "I-", Diana was struggling for the right words, stumbling over her own tung as she tried to ignore the pain in her abdomen.

"I need power from 4 of our ion engines... Now, I know you want to limit our ti-"

"I trust you." The captain talked over her. "Do what you need to do." He was annoyed Diana interrupted him. Always on her feet, always wanting to change something, to improve the ship. The seeds had started to grow towards the centre of the room and he was testing the acidity of the soil again. Oh, and the tomato plants needed their leaves clipped. And he should trim the berry bushes. He grabbed the gardening scissors from his cargo pants and drifted over to the back wall with the vegetables. It was peaceful in the cabin and the plants needed him. Back on earth, when he was still living in that lakehouse with his daughters, he had dreamed of becoming a farmer. He could never scrape up enough money to lease the machines and the land, let alone buy them. But up yet here he was, needed for his gardening abilities. He collected the clipped leaves and slid them into the zip-lock bag taped to his belt. "Did you have a garden growing up, Diana?"

"We..." Diana tried to tear through the fog in her skull. "... the neighbours had planted some on the roof, but we never had a garden of our own, no."

"What a shame. I used to tell my daughters stories about rows upon rows of grape bushes and vast fields."

"It's... nice to have something to dream of", she muttered as she hovered in the door frame.

Diana had a bad gut feeling after she had left the captain in the chamber. She didn't know the captain very well, but she knew he didn't like space. He didn't like the void. What if he just wanted her off his ass? He could fix anything she'd screw up when she wasn't looking, Diana thought as she moved back to the control room. Her intercom device cracked. "Diana?" Alex's voice crawled through the speaker: "I need a second pair of eyes on this."

Two drones latched into one of the many asteroids in the belt and started chipping away at it, one by one shaping the debris into small, cubes-like structures, maybe 5 by 5 meters in size, which shot into the void, back towards the mother ship.

#science fiction #scifi #hard scifi #space #cosmic horror #dystopia #thriller

0 notes

filmproject303 · 3 years

Text

Aesthetics in West African Cinema

Considering Sembene – An Introduction

Any review of the work of Sembene must first begin with the recognition of his intended audience and of the political beliefs that inform and underwrite his work. For Sembene, his cinematic efforts are a forum for critiquing the breadth of conflictual relationships that inform African society: those between colonizer and colonized (especially the legacies therein), between the political class and the masses, those between the sexes, and between the rich and poor. In the case of Guelwaar, Sembene introduces the additional issue of sectarian difference. And in Moolaade several issues converge at once: the matter of patriarchal authority, scriptural interpretation, and women’s rights combine to produce a conflict which challenge the status quo.

Guelwaar (Sembene, 1993)

youtube

Set in a serene, if sparse landscape, punctuated by the vibrant colors of traditional African dress, Guelwaar’s cinematography is, by any objective measure, visually engaging. Sembene’s decision to largely limit his settings to the village and cemetery – a technique one could suggest anchors and focuses the story – lead one critic to suggest a resemblance to a theatrical setting. Camera framing is tight throughout; superfluous details are conspicuously absent. A patient but focused plotline lends further emphasis. In keeping the settings limited, the camera tightly controlled, and the storyline focused, the viewer gains, as Roger Ebert and Janet Maslin note, a sense of the values that permeate the culture, an understanding of how live is lived, how people interact with each other, and how tradition and modernity reconcile (Ebert, 1994; Maslin, 1993).

Superficially, the movie is a black human comedy about the death of a Catholic man and his accidental burial in a Muslim cemetery; the “mishap” bringing to the fore the sectarian tensions between the village’s Catholic and Muslim populations, tensions which are not mitigated until near the end of the film. Concurrently, through the use of flashbacks, the viewer is introduced to the deceased, Guelwaar, a man of unusual complexity (community leader, political activist, philanderer, and study in contradiction). Cleverly revealing facets of his character as the movie progresses, the technique serves an important role in pacing the film; as well, the vignettes disclose his probable cause of death (steadfast opposition to foreign aid and his relentless criticism of the corrupt political actors who administer it), thereby revealing the issue that Sembene wishes to address: the dependency relations that foreign aid creates and the corruption it foments in its recipient communities (Niang, Gadjigo, Sembene, 1995). In Sembene’s view, the vestiges of colonialism remain and continue to shape relations. The film’s concluding images of a truck delivering aid to the community - courtesy of US Aid and others – serves as a statement that leaves the viewer with no ambiguity of Sembene’s position.

An issue that come to the surface in viewing the movie, as it progressed, is the decided difference in the performances of the actors involved. While the characters of Guelwaar, his wife and his son, the Muslim police officer, the local Iman and local priest all provide plausible, if not exceptional, performances, those of the supporting cast are often wooden, forced, over the top, and somewhat artificial. Adding to the complexity, are a host of secondary characters that seem to “pop in and out,” adding to the drama and the ongoing confusion that underwrites much of the underlying sectarian tensions. While these characters help emphasize the discord, it nonetheless remains a curiosity that Sembene opted to use a number of what are apparently non-professionals actors in Guelwaar (Maslin, 1993). One can only suggest that the decision relates at some level to his presentation to his intended (African) audience, or, possibly is his chosen device to lend force to the performances of the movie’s principals.

Conclusion - Guelwaar

All directors bring to their work a certain worldview, a set of artistic influences or predispositions. In the case of Sembene, as suggested earlier, one is also witness to a particular socio-political orientation that inform his aesthetics. In the case of Guelwaar, the decision to circumscribe setting, the pacing of the movie, and the choice and conduct of characters are each integral to his central message; each serves what can be thought of, one could argue, as supporting roles. Sembene’s work is, in the final analysis, concerned most broadly with critiquing the status quo, and in so doing addressing social inequities, and effecting political change. Cinema, in his view, is a means “to talk to my people, my country… Africa needs to see its own reflection” (Carnworth, 2005).

Moolaade (Sembene, 2004)

youtube

Much like his 1993 effort, Guelwaar, Sembene’s Moolaade, the artist’s last film before his passing in 2007, is notable for its visually stunning cinematography. Colors are vibrant, images are tightly framed and almost always shot at eye level, and, characteristic of Sembene’s style, extraneous details are kept to a minimum. One also notices the photography enhanced by the existence of strong visual centers of interest throughout the film: the enormous anthill that stands before the mosque, the visual symmetry of the village, the village and surrounding area’s abundant flora, the chaotic display of the itinerant merchant’s wares, and most significant to the subject of the film, the village’s mosque, whose repeated image, whether present in the background or as a primary object in its own right, reinforces to the viewer the central concern of the film: the practice of female circumcision, and its alleged religious sanction in the Islamic faith (Dijkema, 2008; Gadjigo 2007). Lastly, the film’s concluding images, a juxtaposition of a shot of the ancient ostrich egg atop a minaret with the image of the television antenna leave the viewer to ponder how the denizens of the community, given the drama the film addresses, will reconcile their faith with the encroaching modern world.

While the men in the patriarchal fundamentalist community appear almost as cartoonish louts, sure in their own authority and given to debasing sexist remarks, the women are portrayed with a great deal more force and gravity. Well aware of the consequences of circumcision, the majority gradually emerge in opposition to the practice: Dissent comes to fruition through violence (a public whipping) and through the encroachment of the modern world (the radio which broadcasts the teaching of the Grand Iman as well as the arrival of the son of a village leader returning from France, enlightened by his experiences in a modern urban environment); both underwrite a challenge to the status quo (Dijkema, 2008). Sembene, in an approach that lends particular force to the subject of circumcision, and by extension to the film itself, avoids showing the obvious violence of the practice, instead building tension, and making clear his opposition, through “peripheral” details. The denial of sexual pleasure, difficulties and often death in childbirth, and the threat of infection are acknowledged by the village’s women as consequences of the practice; the screams of terror shown by the young girls, and a degree of fear that drives two to suicide; and the appearance of the Salindana, in their blood red costumes, and small hooked knives imparts a sense of fear, terror, and horror that arguably exceeds a more direct approach (Ebert, 2004; Gonzalez, 2004).

Performances in Moolaade, like those in the earlier Guelwaar, show the same uneven character. Those of the principals are solid, plausible, and convincing and provide the film with its force; those of the supporting cast (the young girls seeking protection from circumcision, and the majority of the male leadership most notably) are uneven at best. Again, the issue would seem to relate to Sembene’s use a number of non-professional actors in the film. Although the language used is simple and colloquial (and often alternates between Woolof and French) delivery varies in its effectiveness. One can only speculate as to Sembene’s reasoning here. Possibly it relates to the nature of his intended audience (he admits that “Africa is my ‘audience’ while the West and the rest are only targeted as ‘markets’”); possibly it is a device to force the viewer’s attention on the story’s principals; or perhaps it simply is an issue of how he sees the roles played. While certainly not weakening the force of the film, these latter characters do not enhance it to the degree their roles have the potential to allow (Gadijgo, 2007).

Conclusion - Moolade

Much like in the case of Guelwaar, Sembene’s aesthetic considerations in Moolaade are, as suggested earlier, predicated on, and fundamental to, his socio-political beliefs. In the case of Moolaade, Sembene’s goal is to address a barbaric social convention, one allegedly given sanction by religious authority. Therein, the nature of his cinematography – particularly the manner in which the camera is used and the setting tightly circumscribed - acts to focus the viewer’s attention; distractions – visual and storyline – are decidedly absent. That the issue of faith, and its interpretation, is central to the conflict is underscored by reappearing imagery. Sembene’s restraint – the horrors of female genital mutilation are handled in a peripheral fashion - nonetheless add a degree of force that resonates with the viewer to a degree that a more direct depiction, arguably, would not. In terms of characterizations, his male characters, with their sexist, self-assured, and almost “cartoonish” behavior, when set against their female counterparts, serves to further underscore the ludicrous and wholly unreasonable nature of their position. The film’s minor characters (the non-professional actors noted earlier) still leave this viewer uncertain; perhaps they are intended only to serve an ancillary role. Lastly, it is important to remember that Sembene’s audience shapes his work: His cinema is about Africa and for Africans; storylines, settings, language, and cinematography are all directed to that consideration.

1 note · View note

wittypenguin · 5 years

Text

King Kong vs Godzilla (1964) [US Version]

There’s a fundamental problem with this film from the outset: the two studios involved are making it for entirely different reasons. Universal International was cashing in on the ‘Big Monster’ / kaijiu craze (The Blob, The Thing, The Creature from the Black Lagoon) by combining RKO’s character ‘King Kong’ with something exciting and foreign in Toho Studios’ property ‘Godzilla.’ Meanwhile, Toho Studios was using its big anniversary as a studio as an excuse to cram all of its popular actors and intellectual properties into one film, scattering logic to the four winds to accomplish it (it’s a wonder we don’t have Toshiro Mifune come strutting through brandishing a katana at some point). While those two driving forces don’t have to be at odds with each other, the US version takes the original, Japanese version and attempts to frame it in some sense of rational predictability, an approach which is inherently flawed. I’m going to try to ignore that part as much as I can here, but a subsequent viewing found me unable to stick with this version past the ½-hour mark, as the ‘framing device’ is so incredibly wooden and clunky.

Be that as it may; on with the show!!

COLOUR! WIDE SCREEN!! Questionable use of colour for lettering of credits!!!

We begin with a plate shot of Earth that looks a lot like the Universal International title card background did. While we slowly zoom in, we get… a Hamlet quote…? This seems a bit too much, but, okaaaaay…

Then we get a grainy UN building plate shot which we’ll see a couple of times, because this is also part of the ‘Americanization’ of the film. The UN has a News Service, and it’s telling us all about the various things happening in all the nations which are presumably united now. They beaming their broadcasts to us via the Universe Space Station in orbit around the planet. Shots of the USS are lifted from The Mysterians (1957), so we can also see alien flying saucers arriving at the station, but it’s never explained, so maybe this transfer is better than the film makers expected and we weren’t supposed to see them at all.

Hey, the Chilean reporter is Victor Millan, the young husband / boyfriend from A Touch of Evil!

There are earthquakes in Chile, plus melting ice floes in the Bearing Straight, so the world is having a rough time of it.

The last time we saw Godzilla, he was buried in an avalanche, so clearly that’s where the big lizard will emerge from here. A recent increase in water temperature in the Bering Straight causes a US submarine with some researchers to be sent to take a look, and they debate their course of action in a large control room on the sub, which comes complete with an “undersea periscope.” I doubt that is an Actual Thing.

Buddy, you can call it any sort of exotic fruit from the Faroe Islands you feel like claiming it is, but it will still be a strawberry. — — — —

Meanwhile: King Kong is on Farou Island, where a berry is being grown which has non-addictive and narcotic properties that a Japanese pharmaceutical company wishes to incorporate into its product line (don’t ask, just accept it [we actually learned about this fruit during Mothra, but this is a different island near the Marshall Island H-Bomb testing range (I think)]). A team of Tokyo TeleVision people are sent to the island to get the berries plus the mighty Kong as a marketing stunt (ibid).

“Hokkaido” is not pronounced like that. At. All.

Repeatedly, the English dubbing has Japanese characters pronounce it as “hawk-eh-EYE-doh,” not only mangling the name but adding an extra syllable into the bargain. The Japanese UNTV reporter, played by James Yagi, pronounces it properly as “ho-KAI-doh.” You would think someone might think to themselves ‘hey, maybe the Asian guy’s pronunciation is the right one…?’

The depiction of the natives of Faroe Island [above] are creations of racism. Not only are they in blackface, they carry African-style shields with similar markings, yet are South Sea Islanders located just off the Marshall Islands. Plus there is liberal use of feathers in headdresses which look remarkably similar to the people of the North American plains regions. Wow. There may have even been a bone through someone’s nose, I didn’t look that closely. Even allowing for early-60s comedy sensibilities, this is really bad; nearly “Andy Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany’s” territory. It’s important to view this as a stereotype of the time, as well as a depiction of a non-existent people (perhaps with the defence ‘so how could anyone be offended?’ well… uh…).

I’m stunned that Japanese trains not only do not have radios to receive a warning about Godzilla, they also lack a reverse gear to back away from him. Also, where did these buses to save all the rail passengers suddenly come from? If they were able to corral all of these motor coaches, couldn’t they have somehow got word to… never mind.

Must so many O-scale model trains be made to suffer?

I want many of these cars. Most of the suits, also.

There are massive leaps of ‘logic’ here that I’m positive make more sense in the original Japanese version. Then again, it may be like the material above and we should stop looking for that. This is the problem with the American sections: they keep trying to root the story in half-real science and logic, but that should be avoided with every effort! ‘When will the fools learn…‽’ etc.

Kong looks more like an extremely badly made Sasquatch than King of the Apes. For one thing, his arms are (occasionally) much too long and the person inside clearly has their wrists at Kong’s elbows (but this detail oddly comes and goes). Also, he’s covered in some sort of steel wool or matted shag carpeting. His face is an awful excuse for any sort of simian form. It’s an embarrassment.

Godzilla, on the other hand, is a happy, fun-filled dinosaur who is extra-mobile compared to his earlier appearances. He jumps up and down and claps his… paws? …claws? …hands? …front feet? He’s like a young child! Okay, a 300 foot tall child capable of throwing boulders bigger than houses, but he’s got that playful energy.

The model work is really uneven: the ships, trucks, earth movers, and so on look ‘good’ to ‘great,’ but the human figures look uniformly like little plastic objects which can only described as ‘human adjacent.’ It’s like you described human form to a blind and stupid person, and they carved a figure out of Jell-O using a spatula. On a warm day.

Why does the army try catching Godzilla in a pit and exploding dynamite around him when he survived an H-Bomb? They tried that with electricity-conductive nets in Mothra and he worked clear of them. Even with here adding an acid bath and burning gasoline, it seems…

Why does Godzilla now avoid encountering electrical lines when he basically conquered it before? Has he learned that it’s more hassle than it’s worth? Can Godzilla be considered this sentient?

Also, what’s that white guy doing in the Japanese army?

Sorry, I forgot that logic isn’t a part of these things… [:: heavy sigh ::]

When Kong grabs a girl and people shine lights at him, he does what he knows best: climbs to the top of the nearest building. In this case, it’s the Diet (Japan’s Parliament), and the top of the dome is about level with his shoulder, so it doesn’t really count as a huge visual statement or accomplishment. It would be like you standing on a chair: yes, you’re higher up, but it’s not exactly a K-2 level of accomplishment, is it?

Additionally, Godzilla actually destroyed that building in the first film, but they’ve had awhile to rebuild, I guess.

Where’d they get this awful quality of film showing people evacuating Tokyo (Chiba in the Japanese version) via the docks? Answer: Chikyû Bôeigun (1957), and there are a few other bits of footage that film supplies.

I swear the rocky area that’s supposed to be at the base of Mt Fujiyama was modelled on the big rock thing Star Trek TOS used all the time.

Am I supposed to be rooting for Kong? I’m rooting for Kong here. Godzilla just seems like a real dick, frankly.

Special effects director Eiji Tsuburaya deliberately gave King Kong a semi-comical personality, because he did not want Kong to frighten young children, and wanted the general audience to root for Kong over the more frightening Godzilla.

Ah. Good to know.

The film features the Davy Crockett, a portable missile-launched nuclear weapon developed by the United States. At the time, this weapon was still classified.

Who would have expected this film to be a source of military secrets?

Late on, we see Kong practicing gavage using a tree! It’s actually a call back to a bit in an early production still from King Kong (1933) showing him doing that to a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Between Godzilla and King Kong, no historical monument will ever be left standing.

Thanks to the English dubbing laying it on with a shovel, dialogue provides a fair few repeated statements about ‘electricity makes Kong stronger’ near the end. Thank goodness they do, as I certainly didn’t remember that from a few scenes ago and missed it the first five times time here.

Godzilla disappears, presumed drowned…? Kong survives and we see him wading away from Japan, so the people of the Island Kingdom are safe once more!

The best thing about this version is it leaves one with a strong desire to see the original version.

★★★☆☆

#Gojira #Godzilla #Kiing Kong #Criterion Collection #Dear God What Have I Done to Myself?#Complete lack of katana

0 notes

kansascityhappenings · 5 years

Text

A nightmare of medical fraud in Kansas from decades ago inspired a movie currently in pre-production

MILFORD, Kan. — With fall finally here and Halloween right around the corner, it’s time to look back at one of the spookiest, strangest, and most disturbing series of events that’s ever happened in Kansas. One man’s curiosity around goats and emerging technology reveal some of the horrors of a lack of regulation in the early 20th century. The goat gland operation tales are just as disturbing as the ghouls, vampires, werewolves, and mummies that haunt on Halloween, if not more so.

Without proper regulation, public radio became a pubic health crisis for Americans as con artists used airwaves to spread false information, such as the healing power of goat glands. Scammers gained a large amount of wealth off early radio from advertising revenue. These tales from decades ago may sound eerily similar to other events in our modern time with our social media craze, but at the same time, one man’s goat dream is several times removed from our zeitgeist.

John R. Brinkley. The goat gland specialist.

There is no one quite like John R. Brinkley. He lived from July 8, 1885 to May 26, 1942. He practiced medicine in Kansas and even launched two campaigns for governor. The fraudulent practitioner received international recognition for his fertility surgeries involving… goat gonads.

Widespread quackery, malpractice, misinformation, and greedy ghouls

Back in the late 1880s to 1930s, fraud doctors took root in several cities and towns across the United States. In 1937, Norman Baker, a quack doctor and con artist used the Crescent Hotel in Eureka Springs, Arkansas to open up a cancer hospital and health resort. He learned about an alleged cure to cancer by Charles Ozias of Kansas City, and he got excited by the prospect – despite all five of the test subjects dying from the treatment.

The Crescent Hotel | Eureka Springs

Baker first went to Muscatine, Iowa to create a cancer center. His injections were expensive and made out of common substances: corn silk, watermelon seeds, clover, water, and carbolic acid. Carbolic acid is poisonous if someone touches or swallows it.

Baker had no cure for cancer, but patients flocked to his second cancer center: “Bakers Hospital” in Eureka Springs. The famous Crescent Hotel is rich with ghost stories and other haunted tales to this day. Staff at the hotel claim many of the ghosts there used to be the fraud doctor’s patients.

Dr. Norman Baker

Dr. Baker kept a morgue in the basement. His staff moved deceased patients in the middle of the night from their rooms, so others wouldn’t see them. He took advantage of people during the Great Depression: the hospital cleared an estimated $500,000 in one year. His booming business turned sour and fell apart after federal authorities arrested him in 1939 on a mail fraud charge. Court records indicate that he asked each patient to write home at least three times asking for more money.

Baker also mailed his “miracle elixir” around the country. Some estimates find he conned as much as $4 million out of hopeful patients. He served five years in Leavenworth and then moved to Florida where he died in 1958.

Out in San Francisco, during the same time-frame as these quack doctors, Albert Abrams was advocating his life-changing machines. He claimed the inventions could cure any cancer, ailment, or disease. The American Medical Association didn’t take his claims seriously and pushed back on his promises.

Abrams invented such machines as the Oscilloclast and the Radioclast.

How did they work? The doctor, or others, wired a patient to the oscilloclast. The patient was insulated from the surroundings with his or her feet resting on upturned drinking glasses — a good thing, because the patient would have likely been electrocuted by the mechanics of the device. The threat of electrocution may have led to the development of the much safer Micro-Oscilloclast, a box that connected to essentially nothing.

Both the osciolloclast and the radioclast came with tables of frequencies designed to attack specific diseases. Clients needed to undergo several treatments if they hoped to cure their illnesses.

John Romulus Brinkley’s tale puts him in the same camp as these quack doctors. One of them was actually his rival, but first let’s take a look at how he came to dream of goats.

An empire around goats and men’s health

Brinkley’s fame to claim was that he promised he could cure male impotence. He also claimed he had a panacea for a wide range of ailments, both terminal illnesses and minor bodily inconveniences. He operated clinics and hospitals in several states, despite serious concerns around his practices.

Critics from the medical community quickly discredited his methods. But Brinkley was a charismatic man making it difficult to stop him. He befriended people in local communities and used emerging mass media in his cons. He died practically penniless as a result of the large number of malpractice, wrongful death, and fraud suits brought against him.

The fraud doctor is credited with starting the era of Mexican border blaster radio. Mexico was upset that the United States took control of radio frequencies without consulting Mexico, leading to unregulated shows getting on the airwaves.

The border blaster radios had broadcasting signals far more powerful than U.S. stations. Along the Mexican border, blasters could be heard over large areas of the United States from the 1930s all the way to the 1970s. This irritated American radio stations which couldn’t overpower the blasters.

John R. Brinkley’s early history

The fraud doctor grew up to a poor mountain man who practiced medicine in North Carolina. His father served as a medic for the Confederate States Army during the Civil War. His mother died of pneumonia and tuberculosis when he was only five years old. His father died when he was ten. He finished schooling at the age of 16. Brinkley worked as a mail carrier and learned how to use a telegraph. Records indicate even in his early youth he dreamed of becoming a doctor.

Brinkley met Sally Wilke sometime in late December 1906 or early January 1907. She comforted him after another one of his relatives died; they got married quickly. The newlyweds traveled around the country posing as Quaker doctors, going to rural towns to put on medicine shows. The couple spent time in Knoxville – where he hawked virility “tonics” with a man named Dr. Burke.

The couple eventually moved to Chicago. Brinkley enlisted in the Bennett Medical College, an unaccredited school with a focus on Eclectic medicine. It was a branch of American medicine which focused on botanical remedies and other substances, along with physical therapy practices. The last Eclectic Medical school closed in Cincinnati in 1939.

Sally gave birth to a daughter almost nine months after the couple’s wedding. After two years of studying, and a large pool of debt, Brinkley doubled his summer workload by taking two shifts at Western Union, the railway company. He came home one day and realized his wife had left him and that she had taken their daughter.

Sally filed for divorce and child support. Two months later she kidnapped his daughter and ran away to Canada. The couple eventually reunited, but Sally would leave him again two more times. She finally had enough sometime in 1913. Brinkley refused to give up his goal of becoming a doctor, and Sally was tired of the debt and other marital problems.

On August 23, 1913, after a four-day courtship, Brinkley married Minerva Telitha “Minnie” Jones at the Peabody Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee. They honeymooned in Kansas City, Denver, Pocatello, and Knoxville – where police arrested Brinkley for practicing medicine without a license and for writing bad checks. He eventually weaseled himself out of this mess to be hit with a bigamist claim from Sally, who hadn’t officially divorced him.

The dream of medical practice unfolds… in garish epiphanies

In October 1914, the Brinkleys moved to Kansas City. John enrolled in the city’s Eclectic Medical University. He only needed one more year in school to finish the education he started at Bennett.

Brinkley focused his studies on the prostate gland in elderly men. He graduated on May 7, 1915. His diploma from Eclectic allowed him to practice medicine in eight states.

Brinkley took a job as the doctor for the Swift & Company meatpacking plant. He patched minor wounds and studied animal physiology. Talking with workers, he learned that the healthiest animal slaughtered at the plant was the goat. This gave him an unprecedented epiphany of sorts following his research on the prostate.

In 1917, Brinkley served about two months in World War I as an Army Reservist. He spent most of his time in the armed services sick. He had at least one nervous breakdown before he was discharged. In October of the same year, Brinkley and his wife moved to small town Milford, Kansas. They had spotted a newspaper ad looking to recruit a doctor to the area.

Milford, Kansas is about 145 miles west of Kansas City. About 540 people live there now. The town had a lumber mill in its early days.

The next year, Brinkley opened a 16-room clinic in Milford. He won over the locals by paying good wages, invigorating the local economy, and making house calls on patients afflicted with the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. His work started out as virtuous to the community. His work to nurse flu victims back to health gave him a positive reputation that took decades to damage.

The infamous goat gland operations

The doctor somehow came to the conclusion that transplanting goat testicles into men would solve impotence. One of the first patients actually begged Brinkley to try the operation on him; he was willing to pay $150. According to an inflation calculator, $150 in 1918 is equivalent to $2,548 in 2019.

The patient’s son later told the Kansas City Star that Brinkley had offered to pay the man to go along with the experiment.

At his clinic, Brinkley performed several operations he claimed would restore male virility and fertility through implanting the testicular glands of goats in his male patients at a cost of $750 per operation. A value of $12,740 today.

The goat gonads failed to graft into the body. They were placed near sexual organs in both men and women.

Patients frequently complained Brinkley was intoxicated, that the setting was less-than-sterile, and of infections following the surgeries. An undetermined number of patients died. The doctor signed at least 42 death certificates during his time at the clinic. Several wrongful death lawsuits were filed against the quack doctor between 1930 and 1941.

Goat gland operation

Soon after Brinkley started his practice in Milford, he created an advertising campaign that received national attention from newspapers: he claimed the wife of his first goat gland transplantation patient gave birth to a baby boy. According to the book Charlatan: America’s Most Dangerous Huckster, the Man who Pursued Him, and the Age of Flimflam, Brinkley promoted goat glands as a cure for 27 ailments, ranging from the serious, like dementia, to less concerning problems, like flatulence.

The American Medical Association didn’t take Brinkley lightly. His burst of publicity and brazen claims attracted the association’s attention. It sent an agent to the Milford clinic undercover.

The agent’s findings weren’t pretty. The AMA representative found a woman hobbling in circles at the clinic. She had surgery to get goat ovaries as a cure for a spinal cord tumor. Brinkley was then permanently on the AMA’s radar.

Doctor Morris Fishbein: had no empathy for malpractice

One doctor – Morris Fishbein — spent a huge chunk of his career exposing Brinkley’s medical frauds. Fishbein was the editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association from 1924 to 1950.

Fishbein campaigned for the regulation of medical devices. His book Fads and Quackery in Healing debunks a wide range of practices from homeopathy to radionics. He is vilified in the chiropractic community for his campaign to end the practice as a profession.

Quackery appealed to curiosity, despite legitimacy

It wasn’t only about the goats in that time. Brinkley got jealous of one surgeon he thought was stealing his limelight.

Serge Voronoff was known for grafting monkey gonads into men. In 1920, Voronoff did a demonstration of his technique in front of several doctors at a hospital in Chicago. Brinkley showed up uninvited. He was barred at the door.

The media found out about Brinkley showing up at the Chicago hospital, and his profile in the press eventually led to his own demo at a hospital in the Windy City.

Brinkley transplanted goat testicles into 34 patients, including a judge, an alderman, a society matron and the chancellor of the now-defunct Chicago Law School. Despite the goat glands showing any success at healing, people sought after the procedure. The con man would likely be deemed a serial killer by today’s standards.

While on a tour in Los Angeles, Brinkley spent time at KHJ, a radio station. He fell in love with the idea of radio and the power to broadcast any message. He saw radio as a way to advertise and market his services; at this time in the United States, advertising on public airwaves was discouraged.

John R. Brinkley.

By 1923, Brinkley had enough capital from his medical practice to build KFKB (“Kansas First, Kansas Best” or sometimes known as “Kansas Folks Know Best”). He aired whatever he wanted — without sources or confirmation. It was a fake news propaganda machine.

Brinkley talked on the radio for hours daily. His first goal was to promote his goat gland treatments. He capitalized on men and women’s fears based around their lack of virility and fertility.

In between Brinkley’s advertisements, his news station included a motley crew of segments: performances by military bands, French lessons, horoscope readings, Hawaiian music, old-time string bands, gospel choirs, and early country music. It seemed charming to the listeners but was all a ploy.

The same year, the St. Louis Star published a critical expose on medical diploma mills. The Kansas City Journal Post followed suit.

The journalistic coverage brought unwanted attention Brinkley’s way. In July 1924, a grand jury in San Francisco handed down 19 indictments to people responsible for granting fake medical degrees and for doctors who received the diplomas.

Brinkley was indicted for his questionable application for a California medical license. Reviewers said his entry was fully of lies and discrepancies. Agents from California came to arrest Brinkley, but the governor of Kansas, Jonathan M. Davis, refused to extradite the doctor. Davis claimed Brinkley made the state too much money.

Davis’ term as the 22nd Governor of Kansas from January 8, 1923 to January 12, 1925 was fraught with error. After his term ended, police arrested him. He was indicted twice for bribery, tried twice, and acquitted both times.

Brinkley’s last leg of medical practice in Kansas

Brinkley had a hold on Milford. The advertising on his radio station kept his bank account healthy. He would use that money to keep Milford residents smitten to him; he paid for a new sewage system, sidewalks, installed electricity, built a bandstand, and built apartments for his patients and employees. He also bought a new post office to handle his mail.

The quack doctor was a hometown hero. The Kansas Navy named him an “admiral.” Brinkley also sponsored the Milford baseball team, aptly called the Brinkley Goats.

John R. Brinkley

AMA editor Morris Fishbein sought to put an end to Brinkley’s regime. Fishbein wrote dozens of articles about people who got sick or died following the goat gland surgeries. But his readership was limited to other doctors; meanwhile, Brinkley’s fake news radio station poured directly into his viewers’ ears at their homes daily.

The Kansas City Star at the time owned a radio station that competed with Brinkley’s. The Star ran an unfavorable series of reports on him to end the craze.

In 1930, the Kansas Medical Board held a hearing and decided ultimately to revoke Brinkley’s medical license. The medical board stated Brinkley “has performed an organized charlatanism … quite beyond the invention of the humble mountebank.”

Six months later, the Federal Radio Commission didn’t renew his station’s broadcasting license. He was found guilty of advertising, which violated international treaties. The FRC also claimed Brinkley aired obscene material, and his Medical Box Question series was “contrary to the public interest.”

Quack doctor almost becomes the Governor of Kansas

The quack doctor tried to make a comeback, both with his medical and radio career, by launching a gubernatorial campaign. The political position in Kansas would have allowed him to appoint people of his choice to the medical board. This would have helped him to reopen his practice into goat gland operations.

The governor campaign kicked off just three days after he lost his medical license. He used his radio station to advertise himself. Brinkley was a write-in candidate. He lost the race to democrat Harry Hines Woodring.

The goat gland transplantation specialist almost won the election. The state only counted ballots with J.R. Brinkley written in, disqualifying tens of thousands of written ballots with other variants, like John Brinkley. He would have won if all the ballots had been counted.

Brinkley ran again in 1932 as an Independent, receiving 244,607 votes (30.6 percent of the vote). He lost to Republican Alf Landon, who later was the Republican nominee for President in 1936. Landon lost to incumbent president Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The quack doctor gave up. He sold his KFKB station to an insurance company. He kept his Milford clinic open. Two of his proteges took over the clinic’s operations. He then relocated to Del Rio, Texas, a town just across a bridge from Mexico. The city is about 160 miles west of San Antonio.

The second age of Brinkley’s malpractice

Brinkley continued to perform goat gland transplants while he lived in Texas. His practice did shift; he mostly focused on performing vasectomies and something called prostate “rejuvenations.” He charged $1,000 for each operation, which amounts to about $19, 735 today.

The fraud doctor also prescribed his own invented medicine for after-care. He also found a way back to radio.

By 1936, John Brinkley became one of the wealthiest people in America. He built a mansion for he and his wife on 16 acres of land.

Minnie Brinkley with her son

The couple owned a dozen Cadillacs, a greenhouse, a fountain garden surrounded by thousands of bushes, and exotic animals imported all the way from the Galapagos Islands.

Brinkley ran the circuit there happily, until a rival doctor cut into his business: Norman Baker.

Baker also used the radio to broadcast his quack industry. He claimed to be an inventor. Baker operated the border blaster XENT in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas.

The quack doctor rivalry started when Baker offered to do similar procedures for a lower cost than Brinkley’s practice. Del Rio’s city council refused to put the competitor out of business – so Brinkley closed up shop and started practice in downtown Little Rock, Arkansas.

Baker then moved to Eureka Springs where he built his infamous cancer center. Eureka Springs is about 150 miles northwest of Little Rock.

In 1938, AMA editor Morris Fishbein targeted Brinkley yet again. He published a two-part scathing series called “Modern Medical Charlatans.” It included a thorough review of Brinkley’s work.

Brinkley sued Fishbein for libel and lost. A barrage of lawsuits followed the jury verdict. The IRS also investigated Brinkley for tax fraud. He declared bankruptcy in 1941, the same year the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement on allocating radio bandwidth and shut down his blaster station XERA.

On May 26, 1942 Brinkley died penniless. He suffered from heart failure while in San Antonio. A mail fraud case involving Brinkley hadn’t gone to trial yet.

Vandals defaced Brinkley’s grave in Forest Hill Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee in early 2017. Someone stole the winged angel atop the column marking where he was buried.

The Reply All podcast did an episode on the quack doctor: it’s episode #86, “Man of the People.” A film based on the episode is in development now. Director Richard Linklater will helm it, and it will star actor Robert Downey Jr. IMDb lists it as an untitled John Brinkley biopic.

from FOX 4 Kansas City WDAF-TV | News, Weather, Sports https://fox4kc.com/2019/09/22/a-nightmare-of-medical-fraud-in-kansas-from-decades-ago-inspired-a-movie-currently-in-pre-production/

from Kansas City Happenings https://kansascityhappenings.wordpress.com/2019/09/22/a-nightmare-of-medical-fraud-in-kansas-from-decades-ago-inspired-a-movie-currently-in-pre-production/

0 notes

effieworldwide · 5 years

Text

Winner Spotlight: “Highway Gallery” by Louvre Abu Dhabi & TBWA\RAAD

May 16, 2019

2018 MENA Effie Awards

GOLD – Media Innovation – Existing Channel SILVER – Travel, Tourism, and Transportation

Louvre Abu Dhabi opened in 2017 as the first universal museum in the Middle East, with a world-class collection of archaeological treasures and fine art spanning thousands of years. At launch, the museum welcomed crowds to a series of sold-out events - but just a couple of months post-celebration, visitor volume stalled.

Together, Louvre Abu Dhabi and agency partner TBWA\RAAD needed to attract locals to the museum – and the solution would need to counteract the UAE’s lagging enthusiasm for museums in general, and lack of awareness about the Louvre Abu Dhabi in particular.

Enter “Highway Gallery,” a series of masterpieces from Louvre Abu Dhabi displayed along the most highly-trafficked road in the UAE. The project integrated OOH and radio, with interpretations of each piece broadcast through the speakers of each passing car.

After successfully changing attitudes and attracting visitors, “Highway Gallery” took home a Gold and Silver Effie in the 2018 MENA Effie Awards competition.

Below, Remie Abdo, Head of Planning at TBWA\RAAD, shares insight into how she and her team got people sampling the museum and excited about the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Read on to hear how the team challenged the definition of innovation and found inspiration from unlikely sources.

What were your objectives for “Highway Gallery”?

RA: Louvre Abu Dhabi opened its doors in November 2017. As the first universal museum in the region, and with unprecedented architecture and innovative exhibitions, it ticks the ‘first’ and ‘ests’ checklist of the country’s superlatives. Add to that a string of opening events a 360 campaign, concerts and performances, global and regional celebrity visitors, a 3D laser mapping light show, and several ribbon-cutting events… and you won’t be surprised to know that opening month, tickets sold out.

However, the reality wasn’t that sweet.

Two months down the lane, once the opening hype faded, UAE residents were not that interested in visiting anymore. Fear of the ‘Eiffel Tower Syndrome’ — becoming a touristic landmark that locals don’t visit — became the new worrying reality.

The objective was as simple, and complex, as getting UAE residents to the doors of the museum.

What was the strategic insight that drove the campaign?

RA: To solve the problem at hand, we dug for the problem behind the problem. We asked, why weren’t UAE residents interested in Louvre Abu Dhabi beyond the opening ceremonies? One would have thought they’d be excited to have the Louvre in their capital city.

The UAE population consists of two major groups, the Emiratis (15% of the population) and the expats (85%). We investigated each separately.

We discovered that Emiratis believed museums ‘are not for them.’ They found museums boring and archaic, and they are more into other forms of entertainment. Their interest in Louvre Abu Dhabi was limited to their interest of having the ‘Louvre’ in their country – another prestigious milestone.

Expats were skeptical, likely to agree with the sentiments: ‘a Louvre without the Mona Lisa is not the Louvre’, ‘this will be a replica of Louvre Paris’, ‘this won’t be like the Louvre’. They were quick to compare Louvre Abu Dhabi to the Louvre in Paris, and were not interested in a doppelgänger.

Their pre-judgement wasn’t founded. Emiratis didn't know what museums were exactly, as they had never had any locally – and when they traveled, museums weren’t on their bucket lists. And expats didn’t know what Louvre Abu Dhabi could offer - and how could they love something they didn’t know?

The insight was clear: UAE residents were not into ‘Louvre Abu Dhabi’ museum, not because they didn’t love it, but because they didn’t know it.

What was your big idea? How did you bring the idea to life?

RA: Alex Likerman, author of The Undefeated Mind, said ‘Trying something new opens up the possibility for you to enjoy something new. Entire careers, entire life paths, are carved out by people dipping their baby toes into small ponds and suddenly discovering a love for something they had no idea would capture their imaginations.’

Aligned with this thinking and our insight, Louvre Abu Dhabi needed to give residents a taste of the museum in order to capture their minds and drive them to visit. In the FMCG world, the solution would have been a no-brainer: distribute free samples of the product. Borrowing from retail best practices, the strategy boiled down to one question: How do we give a sample of the museum?

We introduced The Highway Gallery: A first-ever roadside exhibition featuring 10 of Louvre Abu Dhabi’s most magnificent masterpieces on giant, can’t-miss, 9x6 meter (approx. 30x20 foot) vertical frames. Among the works featured were Leonardo da Vinci’s La Belle Ferronnière (1490), Vincent van Gogh’s Self Portrait (1887), and Gilbert Stuart’s Portrait of George Washington (1822). The frames were placed as billboards along over 100km (approx. 62 miles) of the E11 Sheikh Zayed Road, the busiest highway in the UAE with an average of 12,000 cars commuting daily and the road that leads to Louvre Abu Dhabi.

But neither the size of the exhibition nor the choice of the artworks was a rich enough sample of the museum. Louvre Abu Dhabi needed to give a sneak peek into the artworks with their corresponding stories, beyond the aesthetics. Without context, the artworks lose their value.

Hence we used old ‘FM transmitter’ technology to hijack the frequencies of the most-listened-to radio stations on the highway. The FM devices synchronized and instantaneously broadcasted the story behind each art piece through the radios of cars passing by the frames. This was the world’s first audio-visual experience of this kind.

Example: When a car passed by the frame featuring Vincent Van Gogh’s Self Portrait (photo above), the passengers could hear on their radio speakers: “Say hello to Vincent Van Gogh, one of the greatest artists of the 19th century and the grandfather of modern art. He painted this Self Portrait in 1887, just three years before his death at 37. The impassioned brushstrokes reflect more than his artistic style, they reveal Vincent at his happiest and most-inspired. See them up close in our museum gallery Questioning A Modern World”.

What was the greatest challenge you faced when creating this campaign, and how did you approach that challenge?

RA: There were many challenges, but two notable ones.

The first, and easier to tackle, challenge was technical. We were innovating with an old medium, and when you’re the first to try something, it often doesn’t work quite right the first time. Until the very first day of the exhibition, we were still fixing bugs here and there. In such situations, disappointment settles in at some point, and you feel judged -- especially by those who told you ‘you can’t do it’… but the key in such situations is to use this frustration as a motive.

The second challenge was a bit bigger than us. Museums, in general, don’t appreciate creating replica of their artworks, and definitely not using these replicas as giant OOH media. We had to do a lot of selling to the client and go through multiple layers of approvals that got progressively more difficult.

How did you measure the effectiveness of the effort?

RA: The objective was to get UAE residents to the door of Louvre Abu Dhabi in the absence of all opening ceremonies. And we did just that. By the end of the Highway Gallery Exhibition, the declining numbers of visitors was a thing of the past, as the museum exceeded its monthly target x1.6 times. This time people were going to appreciate the artworks, ultimately achieving the museum’s main objective of footfall for the art.

Of course, we got some freebies along the way: Louvre Abu Dhabi followers on social media grew 4.2%; the online negative sentiment around the museum was reduced to only 1% and the positive sentiment grew 9%; Louvre Abu Dhabi brand recall registered a 14% uplift (regional average = 7%).

The Highway Gallery also got free local, regional and global coverage with CNN calling the gallery the “first of its kind in the world,” Lonely Planet stating that “Abu Dhabi became a lot more interesting,” The National regarding it as a “Highway to Heaven,” etc.

The museum became part of the conversations about Abu Dhabi through the press, but even more so through the people themselves. After stagnant Louvre Abu Dhabi online mentions during the previous months, the Highway Gallery garnered a 1,180% increase in mentions.

What are the most important learnings about marketing effectiveness that readers should take away from this case?

RA: Shifting perspective, as a means for innovation

‘Traditional media’ is a repelled expression in today’s world. Say “billboard” or “radio” twice and you will be labelled as the ‘traditional’ ‘non-digital’ ad person stuck in the old ways of doing things. With innovation, Louvre Abu Dhabi gave two traditional media a well-needed resuscitation, turning them into the most innovative and modern media combination of today.

The advertising industry witnesses changes by the minute – media channels deemed obsolete, processes reckoned too old. We naturally tend to discard the old and jump on the new to be perceived as innovative. However, this case proves that a new perspective on the old can create even more innovative solutions.

Good artists copy, great artists steal

It is unthought-of for a refined art industry to plagiarize from a mass FMCG practice. Drawing the parallel between an experience-based industry and a commodity-driven industry allowed the museum to find an unprecedented solution to its problem. Who said we can’t sample a museum?

In advertising, looking into adjacent industries is considered common practice. To create truly disruptive solutions however, looking into far-fetched industries to extract best practices can broaden our thinking, and ultimately make all the difference for the industry we are in.

Were there any unexpected long-term effects of this campaign?

RA: Last month, we launched the Tolerance Gallery, a sort of “Highway Gallery version 2” in support of the UAE’s ‘Year of Tolerance 2019.’ We placed sacred artworks representing different religions, from the Louvre Abu Dhabi’s collection, along the same Highway. This innovation is also set to be adopted soon by the Abu Dhabi government to alert drivers in cases of extreme fog to avoid road accidents. Several additional usages are being considered by different industries.

Remie Abdo is Head of Strategic Planning at TBWA\RAAD.

Remie would like to live in a world where purpose is our bread and butter, insights are our currency, storytelling is our language, common sense is more common, and free time is free.

An advocate of purpose, she tries to add sense to everything she does. On a personal level, she tailors her own clothes; grows her own vegetables and fruits, swaps consumerism with cultural-consumerism; obsesses about problem solving; and enjoys sharing ideas.

The same applies to her career. She is a firm believer that advertising is not an industry but a mean to a higher end; that of finding true solutions to real problems, influencing mindsets and shaping cultures for the better.

Her ethos: “If I am leaving my kid behind to work extra hours, I’d rather make it worthwhile”, continues to bear fruit in the shape of Cannes Lions, WARC, Effies, Dubai Lynx, Loeries, London International Awards, as well as judging global awards shows.

Remie started her career at Orange Telecom, BNP Paribas and the French Football Federation in Paris. After her Parisian adventure, she entered the agency world in Dubai making her way up from junior planner to Head of Planning at TBWA\RAAD Dubai today.