#al’s podcast rambles

[ineffablepoet]

[ineffablepoet]

So you’re telling me this isn’t how Jonah became a Herald of Extinction ?

[iveneverbeenmorestressedinmylife]

I don't understand people who listen to podcasts tbh. I would much rather listen to the same song on repeat than some guy talking to himself for an hour.

[passivelypurple]

Random thought on a RQG re listen,

Currently re-listening to 169 nice and the result of Hamid and Cel’s Knowledge Arcana checks, and getting the information about the spell Magic Jar, made me think about the Catalogue of the Trapped Dead, the book that the Eric Delano, and Mary and Gerry Keay are/ get bound into.

(Yes it’s sheets of skin and has their final moment written on, but…)

It made me think what if someone had used Magic Jar to do it, then I’ve no doubt quite a few of the fear entities could and would use the bodies, The Stranger, The Flesh and The Corruption are the ones I think probably get use out of them though.

But also, how would that work, or would it work at all?!? Because the description of Magic Jar that Alex gave in 169 said that you could take the soul out of a person’s body and put it in a jar, (or maybe a book???) then you would be able to put your soul inside that body. But would that work if the thing trying to do it, Didn’t have a soul?

[ineffablepoet]

First half of the episode: trying to categorize the story, looking for clues on entities, trying to make links with past episodes

Second half of the episode: absolutely losing my shit et every word

Me listening to magp 8: What a fascinating spin on a Lonely statement that asks what if it was the Place that was lonely, so hungry that it desires to quite literally ea- WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCKKKKKK WHAT WHAT WHAT THE FUCKKK WHATTTTTT FUCKING WHAT WHAT COME AGAIN HUH WHAT FUCKING WH

[ID: Cartoony art of people who look comically shocked, terrified, and overwhelmed, with their eyes bugging out and their mouth open, sweating in shock and trembling. End ID]

[Plain text: Multiple variations of "What the fuck" and "come again" written in caps lock. End PT]

[Thank you to @princess-of-purple-prose and @ryutarotakedown for the id's :] I hope it's ok to merge the two!]

[autisticempathydaemon]

Hi! These matchups you do are really fun so I thought I’d give it a go :)

What song are you fixated on at the moment? What lyric or verse, and why?

I’m a Megan Thee Stallion fan! I love her songs, they get me so pumped. Right now I love one of her older songs Plan B. It makes me feel confident and reminds me not to take sh*t from anyone!

“Ladies, love yourself 'cause this shit could get ugly That's why it's, "Fuck n***** get money" And I don't give a fuck if that n**** leave tonight. Because, n****, that dick don't run me”

What is your Enneagram type?

I’m an ENFP :)

Do you love gargantuan Youtube video essays, and if so, which is your favorite and why?

Yes I do! I love to listen to them like a podcast while I scroll on Pinterest or draw. I enjoy watching Wendigoon. I’m a horror gal so I love urban legends and creepy stuff. My particular favorite is “The Deal With The Devil That Created Rock And Roll”

Tell me about your childhood imaginary friend.

never had one

What is your go-to way to fall asleep?

Listening to bf asmr or reading some fanfics

If you had to change your name, what would it be, and why? (In tandem, if you have changed your name, why did you pick that one?)

The funny thing about my name is that nobody calls me by my government one. It’s one of those long, slightly formal names. So when I was baby I was given a nickname. Now everyone in my life knows me by that nickname. I didn’t pick it, but i like my nickname and I feel like it fits :)

What is your favorite of Redacted’s audios, and why?

Oooh that’s a hard choice. I like so many of them. But I’d have to pick Gavin’s first confession audio. It’s so sweet and I’m a sucker for confessions.

What Redacted boy holds no appeal to you, and why? Like, not the one you hate but the one who you don’t get the hype for. (I won’t judge, I promise.)

Hmm, I think Asher. just doesn’t appeal to me. I think our personalities are too similar

Tell me about that one book/movie/tv show you know all the words to.

”The Parent Trap” with Linsey Lohan! or “Clueless”

Which Redacted boy are you platonically attracted to? Like- forget dating, which dude do you want to be your best friend?

I think Guy. He’d be a fun bestie, and he’d make me cry laughing

Do you have a go-to thing you ramble about when you’re tired, and if so, what is it? (For example, my boyfriend knows I’m ready to sleep when I start talking about space.)

Not rlly. I get more quiet when I’m sleepy.

Tell me your go-to gas station and drink combo.

Combo pretzel and cheese chips and a Coke!

Tell me about your favorite playlist at the moment. 

It’s titled ‘Bad Bitch’ and it’s filled with Kim Petras, Twice, Kali Uchis, and ofc Megan Thee Stallion :)

What’s your guilty pleasure media, and why?

Cheesy rom coms and romance books. Also Studio Ghibli movies

Extra info:

I’m an extrovert

I love the sunshine x grumpy trope

I’m a fashion girlie and I must have a cute outfit at all times if I’m going out

that’s all, thank you!

Easy peasy! I think you and your match would have a lot of shared interests, but it’s the love of fashion that cinched it. There’s no better match for that than Gavin.

Like, literally, you’d like so many of the same things; horror, K-pop, Megan Thee Stallion, romance novels. The music especially is such a fun thing you two share; he knows all the choreography, maybe even all the words. (I think he’s a Girls Generation fan if I had to pick. Given his age, I think Gavin stans the classics.) You also share a book collection, the incubus often getting saucy and using them as inspiration or quoting them.

All in all, you’re a very compatible couple, an extroverted pair who looks good together. I can see y’all going on really cute mall dates, thrifting cute clothes, buying new books, going to see the new horror movie of the week, and Gavin laughing at it to everyone in the theater’s surprise. (Because of his demonic, supernatural nature, I like to hc Gavin as enjoying horror but not being scared by it in the least.) (Also, I really love that both of you go by nicknames instead of your birth names; it’s meant to be.)

Song:

I'm talkin' all around clock/ I'm talkin' hope nobody knocks/ I'm talkin' opposite of soft/ I'm talkin' wild, wild thoughts/ You gotta keep up with me/ I got some young energy/ I caught the L-O-V-E/ How do you do this to me?

Once you get Gavin properly acclimated to pop culture and music, he becomes the king of it, always his finger on the pulse. I love to think of him as a pop idol, Sabrina Carpenter fan- especially of this fun, flirty song and how it’s performed. He loves to play this while doing chores around the house, coming up with his own naughty refrains like how Sabrina does during live performances.

Runner-ups:

Given your love of fashion, I had to put Milo somewhere in your big three. Anton, in contrast, is a runner-up because of how adorably you’d contrast. I love a good introvert/extrovert pairing, and I really get a giggle out of imagining Anton flustered at hearing WAP for the first time.

Read this post and send me an ask if you’d like a match-up of your own! 💌

[c-schroed]

Podcasts I Adore - SPINES

This week, I finished the last Episode of the "Mirrors" podcast by ZoomDoom Stories. Which means that I have now heard all of their marvellous productions. And now I feel this need to tell everyone what great stuff they make! Meaning that I'll write some reviews for all the three podcasts they produced and post them on iTunes et al., but before I post them there, I might as well leave the reviews here. So, tune in for some rambling about three audio fiction productions that range from "very good but sadly incomplete" to "so very fricking close to perfection that I really can't call it anything but DARN PERFECT". We'll start with the DARN PERFECT one:

"Listen again: Grove. Mosaic. Trumpet. Listen, and remember. Because those three words, those are the most important words in the world. This is SPINES."

"SPINES" is a fictional audio drama, which, like all productions of ZoomDoom Stories, is written by Jamie Killen, and congenially so. It is told in the form of podcasts made by its protagonist, a young woman who named herself Wren. At the beginning of the story, Wren seeks to find out what happened in a bloody ritual that she barely survived, and which left her without any memories of her past life, but with supernatural powers that she slowly has to explore.

Think "X-Men" meets "Supernatural", with a nice dash of Lovecraftian atmosphere and some sweet bits of Cronenberg-esque body horror. "SPINES" is a truly unique experience, and it clearly is one of the best stories I ever heard. What I love most about it is that it perfectly understands and respects the strengths and limitations of the medium it chose to be told in: Podcasts enable a very intimate way of storytelling, and the very talented voice actor playing Wren just perfectly allowed me to quickly grow attached to her and everyone around her. Wren has lovely quirks like naming every informant that reaches out to her after characters of anime shows she just watched, she has to deal with terrible situations and huge losses, and she is granted one of the most beautiful love stories I have ever heard.

And being told in the form of a podcast really helps the story to flesh out Wren. She comments the stories she tells in clear and unfiltered language and often directly addresses her audience. We, the listeners, also know exactly who this audience is. Besides people that are similarly gifted as Wren, most of the episodes are addressed to Zachary, a man she quickly saw during the ritual that started everything, and whom she since then feels weirdly attracted to.

Of course, telling a story in the form of a podcast also entails some limitations, and "SPINES" respects and works with these limitations better than any other audio fiction I have heard so far. The show's author Jamie Killen is very aware how information is told when broadcast into the public, which makes "SPINES" an all the more fascinating listening experience. For instance, huge changes in the status quo are often announced right at the beginning of an episode, because when something important happens that has to be told immediately, than why wait until it slowly unfolds in the narrative? A broadcast is not necessarily about suspense; it sometimes is much more about giving the important info right away, and then adding all the details. Furthermore, Wren is very careful with the information she shares, and often leaves out details that might help her enemies too much. Details like these make "SPINES" very special; it is one of the most thought-out and self-aware productions I know.

The second best thing that I love about "SPINES" is how each of its three seasons has its very own feel and atmosphere. Season one feels a lot like an urban fantasy version of "Supernatural", with Wren, on her quest for the truth about the ritual, encountering urban legends and terrible secrets scattered everywhere across the city she lives in. Season two, on the other hand, involves a lot of changes, and feels much more like a late-80s action show, with Wren being sent to different places from week to week; hopefully helping the people there with whatever supernatural catastrophe is going on, very much like a MacGyver or an A-Team. But with superpowers, and with more ghastly antagonists. Season three finally is characterized much more by urgency and emergency, with Wren and her allies always being forced to react to an enemy that they can never allow themselves to underestimate.

What also impresses me greatly is that every season ends with a perfect equilibrium of frustration and hope. There's always some kind of terrible catastrophe, but this terror is balanced out with something equally beautiful, making Wren never the triumphant heroine she might deserve to be, but giving her just enough hope to go on. I admit it; sometimes this kind of ending is too close to home for me, sometimes I'd just direly want Wren to win, and live happily ever after, period. But on the other hand, this masterful balance is what will always keep this story in the back of my mind, and close to my heart.

One final thing I want to mention, and I'll make it quick this time: Besides being a nail-biting story about fascinating superpowers and secret societies that worked among us for centuries already (which are depicted in the most realistic way I have ever seen!), "SPINES" is also a perfectly wholesome love story. I know I already mentioned this some paragraphs before, but I really can't stress enough HOW DARN WHOLESOME this love story is!

So. "SPINES" is the perfect combination of urban fantasy, horror, and romance. It has a perfectly fleshed-out narrator, played by an incredibly talented voice actor, and it masterfully uses the possibilities of its medium. To me, "SPINES" is close to perfection, and its very few flaws should stop no-one from giving it a try. As long as one likes horror, of course. The show can get quite drastic, from time to time.

10 out of 10 points. Sheer perfection. And a lifelong love for Wren and Shan and Winry. And Akira, and Bilal (because who would not want the literal perfect moment as a friend?). And all the others.

Besides my general opinion about the show, I'd also like to go into detail regarding three episodes that I find especially noteworthy. All of them are part of Season 3, so please be aware of minor spoilers.

Season 3, Episode 6 (Episode 22 overall): The Trade

This is my favourite episode. It marks the second time that the narrator of an episode changes to Shan, whom I adore at least as much as Wren, and it might have one of the most dramatic beginnings of all episodes. But what really makes this episode stand out is how well-thought its time-travel plot is. It makes perfect sense, and it involves my favourite temporal paradox, the bootstrap paradox (I you don't know it, go look it up; it's so much cooler than some poor dead grandpa). Plus we get to know a supernatural brothel in Vienna. Which I didn't even know I desperately wanted to hear about, until I heard about it. But now I need a spin-off about Ilsa and her Gifted courtesans. :D

Season 3, Episodes 2 & 3 (Episodes 18 & 19 overall): Iris, Part 1 & 2

There's much about this two-part episode that I really love, be it that it gives satisfying answers that I wanted to hear for a long, long time, be it that we're given a very credible reason for this story being split into two parts (once more, "SPINES" shows how perfectly well it is aware of its podcast medium). So I really, really wanted to like these episodes. But still, they turn out as some episodes that I really have trouble with. This might maybe due to me being not a native English speaker, but I have terrible problems with understanding the narrator of these episodes. So if you, like me, have problems with listening comprehension during this episode, please be reminded that there are transcripts of each episode. Although they currently can only be reached via archive.org's ever-so-useful Wayback Machine.

2019 New Year's Special:

This is a crossover with "Mirrors", another marvellous audio drama made by ZoomDoom Stories. And because I listened to this right after finishing the final episode of "SPINES", I did not know that it contains some major spoilers for at least the first season of "Mirrors". Furthermore, the events at the end of the episode play an important role in the third season of "Mirrors", but that's not that important in my opinion. But should you not know "Mirrors" by now and maybe want to listen to it later (which, again in my humble opinion, YOU DEFINITELY SHOULD!), then maybe listen to this New Year's Special after finishing "Mirrors" season one.

The episode itself was a bit of a disappointment for me, if I'm honest. Both "SPINES" (in at least one episode; i. e. episode 22: "The Trade") and "Mirrors" usually deal perfectly with all matters related to time-travel and temporal paradoxes; to me they really are a paragon of how to tell stories that involve different interacting timelines. So the way that time-travel is treated here is just disappointing to me. Don't get me wrong, please. It still is a perfectly entertaining episode. It's lovely to hear more from Wren and Shan, and it is hilarious to hear about the events in "Mirrors" from their perspective. But as to the time-travel aspect, well, I'm spoilt by now. I'm used to it being told so much better than here, with much less paradox narration. So this special might be the biggest flaw in both series. I mean, I'd still give it 7 out of 10 points. So that says more about how fabulous the rest of "SPINES" and "Mirrors" is.

[ineffablepoet]

Got bored during my internship, have a badly drawn meme

Ep 28 just dropped how you folks handling it?

[ineffablepoet]

Listening to tmagp 8 and gasping at every new thing. GERRY ? GRANDMA GERTRUDE ? PODCAST ? GEORGIE ? OTHER DIMENSIONS ?

Alex and Jonny keep repeating magic words and we keep falling for it every week

[shit-lit-bitch]

uh hi im xander and i really like terrible books. feed me slop. uh also I wanna start a podcast or something but that would require me to actually organize scripts so who knows

i have a discord if you wanna see my unfiltered ramblings:

current book im dissecting is Handbook for Mortals by Lani Sarem, and my masochistic ass is rewriting the damn thing

[metaphysicpareidolic]

i feel compelled to add to this

Your bones itch. Your muscles itch. Your skin is too loose. Your skin is too tight. You can hear every noise at once. The walls are humming.

It has become impossible for you to exist comfortably in your own bedroom. It is time to clean it. You begin. It has been two hours. You are on your 25th podcast episode and the actors’ voices have melted into a monotonous, warbling drone. Your head aches. You have partially reorganized one shelf in your closet. The room is still unlivable.

You suddenly realize you are standing in front of your mirror and your face is bleeding. There is blood under your nails. You attempt to move. You do not move. Your eyes look strange.

You suddenly realize you are standing in the kitchen. You have been pacing back and forth for 30 minutes, rambling out lound about the existential implications of zombies or werewolves or something to an invisible audience. There is a half-empty bowl of cereal on the kitchen counter, an apple core, a can of ginger ale, and a pack of sliced ham. The clock on the microwave says 3:21 AM.

You suddenly realize for the 19th time this week that your health card is still missing. You will call to have it replaced. You pick up your phone.

You suddenly realize for the 20th time this week that your health card is still missing. You will call to have it replaced. You pick up your phone.

You suddenly realize for the 21st time th

adhd gothic

you want to watch a movie. you put it on. two hours have passed. you haven’t watched the movie. there are five new tasks in front of you. you want to watch a different movie.

there is an object in your hand. it is extremely important you don’t lose it. you look down. there is nothing in your hand.

you don’t know your friend’s name. you’ve been friends for months. they just told you their name. you do not know their name.

your friend doesn’t laugh at your joke. why didn’t they laugh? do they hate you? they assure you otherwise. you know they are lying. did they ever like you?

someone asks you what you just said. did you say something? you said so many things. you said nothing. you said everything.

there is something you’re forgetting. you check. you check again. there is nothing you’re forgetting. there is something you’re forgetting.

you had something to say. you can’t remember. it was important. wasn’t it? you can’t remember. 

there is a task that needs to be done. it should take ten minutes. you check the clock. it’s been five minutes. you check the clock. it’s been two days.

[virmillion]

rambling to self bc i have a pen but no paper

anyway so the thing where you say “ok now set x equal to twelve” and the kid starts typing the Words “set x…” and you have to correct them to type “x = 12”, whether that’s an artifact of language in general or just a missed translation of the literal phrase

like it might be to do with age, kids start to extrapolate what you mean better and understand alternate phrasings (set x equal to, update x’s value, change x to be, et al). versus when they’re younger, maybe they take it more literally?

or it might not be related to age at all, or at least not completely

- could be due to neurodivergence, if the kid takes everything literally bc of how their brain is wired

- could be that they’re thinking of coding languages as equivalent to spoken languages, sort of how a new learner from english to spanish translates things directly, eg confusion over las vacaciones just being vacation in general

- could be based on home situations, maybe their parents are the type to mean things very literally when they say it, so it’s what the kid is used to? (which would then extend to where the parent gets that from, depending how many layers back it goes)

anyway just generally whether the acquisition of languages is comparable with coding vs spoken languages, not to mention sign language? obviously if a kid starts learning coding younger then it’ll be easier if/when they do it in college, but is it the same advantage a kid would have learning a ‘standard’ second language young? i want to say i’ve seen it be that learning a new language is easier the younger you are, but would that apply to coding languages? even outside the matter of syntax and stuff, since of course you wouldn’t have the typing verbatim words “set x equal” problem when working in scratch. scratch might be comparable to kids using building letter blocks, grabbing each letter and placing it where it goes to form a word? it’s more complicated, since they’re also learning about logic (loops, if statements, broadcasting, movement), but it feels tangential to the unus annus spelling game video

then you might also have to worry about the fact that, similar to how there’s multiple Standard Languages, there’s multiple coding languages, where each of those has their own basic building blocks (usually)

standard languages typically have verbs, nouns, pronouns, infinitives, tenses, et al

coding languages typically have functions, variables, operations, im sure there’s more i’m forgetting, et al

and obviously there’s edge cases, like how that one languages doesn’t have any numbers, and how there’s no native string functionality in C (i think, it’s been a minute since i took that class)

but the same way a kid learning spanish is not the same as a kid learning german, a kid learning python is not the same as a kid learning java. obviously python and java use the same Standard Language, but their syntax and such is different. versus the standard languages, at least with spanish/german you’re still going to be working with the same set of alphabetical characters (plus ñ, ß, accents, …), but it’s the construction and order that differs

eg in standard languages, you might have to worry about if the adjective goes before or after the noun, which extends to the lovely little old green dragon issue in english. in coding languages, python lets you just say “x = 17” and then two lines later say “x = ‘bootypants’”, and it’s fine. in C++, you have to declare x as an int first, and then it’s an int forever

new tangent but it’s a lot harder to just casually learn coding in your down time. you typically need either a huge textbook or an interactive tech device, and usually it’s learned through practice (either specific instructions or general guiding along making whatever you want), at least in my experience. with standard languages, you can really just do that however you want - find books for basically any grade/age, listen to podcasts, watch shows and movies, …

the closest equivalent to that is watching/hearing people talk ABOUT coding, but that’s usually more about quirks and pros and cons of a given language or syntax, and less about actually learning the language itself.

then also the matter of how there’s usually at least three components to standard languages - listening, speaking, and reading. then additional necessities, eg expression and gestures (obviously more significant in sign language) and indirect phrases (sarcasm, metaphors) that are more nuanced

that’s all i’ve got for now i think, tbd if i rb this post or just make a new one every time i have a thought but im gonna give it an organizational tag just in case ✌️🫶

[celtfather]

Reaver Drinking Song #280

"If they take the ship, they'll rape us to death, eat our flesh, and sew our skins into their clothing – and if we're very, very lucky, they'll do it in that order." Zoe’s description of reavers on the TV show Firefly sounds pretty insane. And every time we meet the reavers in the show and movie, they seem just as insane. And yet… they can fly spaceships. I share the story behind my song “Reavers Drinking Songs” today on Pub Songs & Stories #280.

0:25 - Marc Gunn “Molly Malone feat. Jesse Ferguson” from Come Adventure With Me

3:00 - WELCOME TO PUB SONGS & STORIES

I am Marc Gunn. I’m a Sci F’Irish musician and podcaster living in Atlanta, Georgia. Come Adventure With Me comes out on March 4

If you’re new to the show, please subscribe. You can do that PubSong.com or Just send me an email to follow@celtfather.

New Music Video: When She Held Me in Her Arms

What are your favorite songs on Selcouth? There’s a poll in the Gunn Runner’s Club.

5:09 - UPCOMING SHOWS

FEB 24: Maggie McGuinness Pub, Huntsville, AL @ 7:00 PM

MAR 2: The Lost Druid Brewery, Avondale Estates, GA @ 6:30-9:30 PM

MAR 9: Senoia Beer Company, Senoia, GA @ 7-10 PM

MAR 23-24: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX

MAR 30-31: Sherwood Forest Faire, Paige, TX

APR 19-21: Jordan Con, Crowne Plaza Ravinia, Atlanta, GA

6:06 - The Elders "Down at the Pub" from Well Alright Then

Featured in show #644

10:12 - JOIN THE CLUB

The show is brought to you by my supporters on Patreon. If you enjoy this podcast or my music, please join the Club. You get something new every week. It could be bonus podcasts, downloadable songs, printed sheet music, blogs, or stories from the road. Plus, you’ll get access to videos like my Coffee with The Celtfather video concerts. Email follow@celtfather !

If you can’t support me financially, just sign up on Patreon for free.

10:53 - THE STORY OF REAVER DRINKING SONG

Inspired by the episode “Bushwhacked” from the TV show Firefly

Check out Episode 3 of In the Verse: Song Crafting

Reavers Drinking Songs Lyrics

"Reaver Drinking Song" lyrics and music Marc Gunn

* Bash their heads flay their skin Make them scream in pain Let ‘em alone and think you’re done Let's start another refrain

Niska was old and scary, A bad reputation And then he heard a reaver scream His body's gone for cremation.

Badger was a businessman Roots in the community A reaver ate his little gang And now he can't even pee

Durran's steak was always rare Before I first met him He met a reaver now won't eat steak He's a vegetarian

Bester loved ships and women They howled when he boarded them He shipped was boarded by reavers. Now He howls when they board him.

Boss Higgins' word was law What he said was set in stone Then reavers hit Higgins' Moon The law is now written in bone

Fanty and Mingo are fine twins You can't tell one from t'other Until they met a band of reavers Now Mingo's the prettiest brother

Jubal was a bounty hunter A sadist through and through He rambled about philosophy While a reaver started to chew

No mercy, they all were weak Cattle for the slaughter Open them up, look inside I think I see Harry Potter

18:23 - Marc Gunn “Reaver Drinking Song” from Come Adventure With Me

20:57 - CREDITS

Thanks for listening to Pub Songs & Stories. This episode was edited by Mitchell Petersen.

You can follow and listen to the show on my Patreon or wherever you find podcasts. Sign up to my mailing list to learn more about songs featured in this podcast and discover where I’m performing.

Remember. Reduce, reuse, recycle, and think about how you can make a positive impact on your environment.

Have fun and sing along at www.pubsong.com!

#pubstories #thehaar #comeadventure 

  Check out this episode!

[ear-worthy]

New Podcast Honors U.S. Special Forces: Wondery Introduces The Grinch

Down Range podcast honors U.S. Special Forces “Down Range,” is a new podcast premiering November 2 hosted by actor, best-selling author, filmmaker, and former Navy SEAL Remi Adeleke (Plane, Terminal List, Ambulance, and Special Forces Fox). The limited series honors the American Special Forces, bringing to life heroic true stories of combat with veterans who were involved firsthand. “Down Range” highlights the men and women who dedicate their lives to defend the U.S., while shining a light on highly emotional, first-person narratives of heroism and sacrifice. Throughout the season, Adeleke and his co-host, former Army Ranger and Lieutenant Colonel Rich Choppa, speak to different members of the American Special Forces, including: * Sergeant Michael Harryman, a retired Army Infantryman and veterans' advocate who served in the Army as the highest level of military sniper, where he received four Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star *Sergeant Major Hamody Jasim, who helped the US Intelligence community gather information leading to the capture of some of Al-Qaeda's most dangerous commanders *Kayla Williams, who is currently working as a United States government official and previously served as an Arabic linguist/interpreter and SIGINT operations specialist in the Army, among others. ************************************************************** Wondery announces The Grinch Holiday podcast It's about time podcasting got more involved in Christmas. Wondery, an Amazon company, has announced ‘Tis The Grinch Holiday Talk Show, a brand-new original podcast series from Wondery and Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Featuring comedian James Austin Johnson (Saturday Night Live) as The Grinch, the series will debut exclusively on Wondery+ on November 1 before becoming widely available starting on November 6, with new episodes releasing weekly through December 21. From stealing Christmas to stealing podcast listeners' attention, this fun-filled variety podcast starring everyone’s favorite holiday curmudgeon is a delight for listeners of all ages. In each episode, The Grinch sits down with a celebrity guest(s) including Olympic Gold Medalist Shawn Johnson East, WWE superstar Cody Rhodes, actress Skai Jackson, fellow SNL-cast member Bobby Moynihan, and comedian and actor Patton Oswalt, who will try to convince The Grinch to embrace the spirit of Christmas. Also making this holiday season a “treat” for all furry fans of The Grinch, Purina will serve as the presenting sponsor of ‘Tis The Grinch Holiday Talk Show. So every Who, young and old, gather ‘round with some Who pudding and roast beast, and get ready for a delightfully Grinchy new holiday tradition! “I have always felt a kinship with The Grinch, and while some actors wouldn’t touch this role with a 39-and-a-half foot pole, I am honored to be the voice behind everyone’s favorite deplorable character this holiday season,” said James Austin Johnson. “Getting into the character's shoes – or rather, furry green feet – has been a wild and rewarding ride. I can't wait for listeners to join us live from Who-Ville for some mischief, and maybe even some fun.” Listen to the Brand-New Official Trailer HERE James Austin Johnson is a comedian originally from Nashville and a featured cast member on Saturday Night Live. His spot-on impression of Trump, paired with his improvisational ramblings about Weird Al, Julia Louis Dreyfus, and Scooby-Doo have garnered over five million views, with profiles on Austin Johnson in Vanity Fair, Slate, Mashable, and VICE. ‘Tis The Grinch Holiday Talk Show is the second series to be announced under a collaboration between podcast studio Wondery and Dr. Seuss Enterprises. The first series, The Cat in the Hat Cast, is a “fantastical variety show-style podcast series hosted by everyone’s favorite red and white hat-wearing Cat.”

[grapesodadarkchocolate]

Eating with crooked forks (Part 3)

COVID-19 this week:  

Ramble write:

Kindness sought in email correspondence. Setting clear expectations. Pushing through the struggle. Seeking graciousness in exchange. Naming it in specifics. Finding the need to identify it precisely when neglect or harm is what dysfunctional patterns have historically offered. 

Sibling email excerpt in response to doing a shared collective project we are all on board with doing — together. Discovering the idea of “together” is not the same for all of us: 

From my side of the fence when questions are asked, they are to be acknowledged. Ideas are heard and received. Confusions are untangled. And if any one of us falls off the track of kind intentionality, we graciously call one another out and corral ourselves back to what it is that brought us together in the first place. Allowing the process to continue. Always having our intent and purpose be the focus for all of our actions while bringing our better selves forward. +++

Naming with clarity what I expect. Kindness 101 instructions is what it felt like. The basics not even attended to when crooked forks are what we continue to eat with. So wanting to change this narrative of harmful transport. Can I stay in the game? And if so, for how long? Is it worth the effort? Questions. Always more upon more questions. Santa’s sleigh full of questions. 

’Tis the Season:🎅🏽🎄

The Snowman—Walking in the Air – Aled Jones Sings With His Younger Self: Listen ⛄️🎶 🎥

Learning more: 🎙

Unlocking Us podcast: “The Near and Far Enemies of Fierce Compassion” with Chris Germer (Part 1):  Listen, November 30, 2022 

Grounding: 📙

The Triumphant Spirit: Portraits & Stories of Holocaust Survivors—Their Messages of Hope and Compassion by Nick Del Calzo 

[cactusnymph]

every time alé calls angelo schoolboy my crops are watered and 10 years are added to my lifespan