#also what is it about noah simes that just makes all of his characters The Most

[stolligaseptember]

"i granted two of the most beautiful blooms in the world their freedom"

[waters-and-the-wilde]

juno steel and the how many interpretations of a title can you get in one title

GOD THEY'RE GONNA DO A MIND-WIPE PLOT IM NOT FUCKIGN READY

it makes sense tho. trying to tap into how that cognitive virus worked. rehabilitation program. theia but something new. 'would you honestly trade every good moment you've ever had if it meant rubbing away the bad ones?'

QUESTIONS

is nureyev going to get mind-wiped (feels likely) and is it going to be under duress or does he actually get into enough of a bad place to go through with it voluntarily

OR DID HE HAVE A HEADS UP ABOUT IT A WHILE BACK AND LEAVE CLUES IN THE JOURNAL AS A FAILSAFE

HEY KABERT I READ ARTEMIS FOWL TOO YOU KNOW

is SASHA going to get mind-wiped after all this and is it going to be voluntary or involuntary? (seems a little too similar to how things went in W359 so i'm assuming they're going to have to put their own spin on this)

god i hope they put their own spin on this bc i've been extrememlely resentful of mind-wipe plots as tantamount to Major Character Death For Poorly Executed Oomph ever since DW Journey's End and i'm pretty sure they can do it well I just have baggage with the trope

is Juno gonna get mind-wiped pls don't his poor brain has been thru enough this is getting ridiculous

ARE THEY GONNA HIDE IN THE POCKET DIMENSION THING THE RUBY TRAVELED IN FROM

to the author of Ambrosia and Snake Oil/Ballad of Jet Sikuliaq how does it feel to be right about probably some iteration of Space Hell

something something blank slate -- > starting over

blank slate -- > carte blanche -- > complete freedom -- > 'there's a kind of helplessness in complete freedom'

WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN

also i love how there's no cast credits list either bc it's too big and/or they know how people get when they put noah simes on it DO YOU THINK YOU'RE BEING SUBTLE YOU ARE NOT BEING SUBTLE

but you know what fair enough they do keep trying to craft an intricate and multi-faceted story and all of our gay asses are like 'WHERE IS THE STINKY THIEF MAN I KNOW HE'S HERE I CAN SMELL HIM'

[wastrelwoods]

hhhh fuck im gonna. just do a liveshow post? in the tradition of my liveblogs. its spoilers, so if you wanna just wait and see the taped version and be surprised by new exciting things instead take note!!

-starting with a murderous mask recap to bring the audience up to speed and also get everyone psyched out of our MINDS just watching peter nureyev dance around going crazy going stupid was a GOOD move

-duke rose had a bright gold sequined jacket oh FUCK yes!! oh FUCK YES. moist von lipwig hours

-nureyev BIG knife cat energy...you know you can really HEAR that specific toothy grin that noah does in his voice but its so much fun to SEE it also

-juno threw a crumpled-up note at peter’s FACE and said “explain THIS” and i watched it bounce off noah simes and hit the floor and just about died right there, been thinking about it all day

-okay miasma got a LOT more attention in this version exploring the way the martian artifacts she was gathering made her more and more powerful and explaining more in depth what she could do and how unstoppable she was and it was CHILLING and GREAT. FUCK yeah kate jones and her mouth of sauron makeup and her lace veil and her Key and Throne and Mask powers...deadly silent and all-knowing and inevitable..FUCK yes

-shoutout to every audience volunteer but also the person who played samy cartwright our saturday night show they fucking brought the HEAT. played off of noah simes like it was NOTHING and it was just so fun to watch

-so in THIS one juno was already aware that he could read minds sometimes but couldn’t control it at all so miasma was just regularly appearing in his head to say ‘you’re ugly, you’re disgusting, i’m gonna kill you, give me $200’ which i LOVED

-pete actually discovering that juno ate the fucking lessoniana capsule in media res was SO great. real he/him bimbo hours for mr steel. real morosexual hours for peter,, 

-at one point peter joined one of juno’s recap monologues and juno was so shocked and upset at the intrusion...the fleabag of it all, as sarah and emma put it

-SPEAKING of the forth wall, note for rewatching this liveshow: every time nureyev says something that makes juno go weak in the knees and the spotlight hits and joshua turns towards the audience with this slightly deer-in-headlights expression like ‘alas...still bisexual’ you have to take a shot its the rules. it can be a big sip of water but i personally went for rum

-cool okay lets TALK about melissa dejesus as the RUBY7...BRIGHT green holographic dress, rhinestone necklace with the license plate #, a kazoo to make beeping noises with....a surreal and unparalleled portrayal 

-i got my VALENCIA LORE i got to learn more about what VALENCIA WAS DOING and WHY SHE WAS THERE in a cool and unexpected way and also i just got to watch kristie norris blow imaginary smoke in juno’s face all night

-joshua just fucking full-out collapsing on the floor when he’s playing dead during the train robbery...you love to see it. hope he’s ok

-m sutherland w that cool eyeliner, playing brock engstrom up as one of those tabletop guys who will insist on setting up a d&d game for you just to neg you the entire time about not getting the mechanics and not min-maxing your character build right and also shows you his Gygax Shrine, but in a self-important way

-i....you know there are two specific pre-existing moments in pt 2 of this episode where peter and juno pull a ‘if you want him you have to go through ME’ and  the dialogue was. rewritten just SLIGHTLY so that they were explicit parallels and it changed the WHOLE energy for me just to see that like. oh my god. oh my god they would die for each other...its about trust...the queer drama of it all

-that fucking...last scene in the RUBY7....holding hands and refusing to give up hope as they disappear into the mouth of the martian ruins....you KNOW it to be a real doozy in audio form but to WATCH those emotions play out....oh FUCK y’all

im SURE there’s more but that’s what i have right now? also could do a WHOLE separate post about the experience of being there unrelated to any of the content of the show bc it was a LOT and it was FUN 

[digitalhovel]

A review of “Juno Steel,” a hilarious and emotionally-driven queer space opera

           I recently began work as a DoorDash driver, and you know what that means: living in fear because you have to constantly expose yourself to shitheads who aren’t wearing masks? Yes. And also, lots of time in the car with nothing to do but listen to stuff. Which means I decided to go back and binge the first two seasons of one of my favorite podcasts, The Penumbra Podcast’s “Juno Steel” series. “Juno Steel” is an enjoyable, enthralling story about home, mental illness, and what it means to be good.

           The Penumbra Podcast, created by Sophie Takagi Kaner and Kevin Vibert, is an anthology series that focuses on telling interesting stories while representing marginalized sexual, romantic, and gender identities. It began with a Twilight Zone-esque series of narratives, each with a different setting and characters, but they now run two main storylines: “The Second Citadel” (a fantasy setting examining prejudice and relationships) and “Juno Steel” (a dystopian space noir set in Hyperion City, Mars). The Penumbra Podcast is one of the first podcasts I ever listened to, and it’s still going strong.

           The following contains spoilers for “Juno Steel” season one. If you want to give them a listen, try the remake of “Juno Steel and the Murderous Mask.” Episodes are 30-60 minutes, but the commitment is well worth it in the end.

The characterization in “Juno Steel” is one of the series’ strongest points. Juno Steel is a classic noir detective: determined, depressed, and damn stubborn. The first season of Juno Steel follows him as he uncovers a plot to harvest ancient Martian tech in order to kill the citizens of Hyperion City. Along the way, he develops a complicated relationship with a thief, Peter Nureyev, and their lives become inextricably linked. Juno is an ex-cop and struggles with several issues: trusting someone whose expertise is being untrustworthy, and also trusting literally anyone else. (Note: there is a brief, problematic moment between Juno Steel and a woman PI named Alessandra. I’ll explain at the bottom if you want a warning before listening.)

          Juno Steel is blunt and focused on good, on solving the problem, on doing his best even if it kills him. He struggles to take into consideration the wants and cares of others, and he often jeopardizes his relationships by jumping to conclusions and acting before thinking. Peter Nureyev is suave, collected, and always has a plan. Their dynamic is incredibly fun to listen to because

1.      The acting by Joshua Ilon (Juno) and Noah Simes (Nureyev), is incredible (as is the work of everyone in the cast), and the writing carries their chemistry incredibly well

2.      They are forced into situations where each must give up their expertise and authority to help the other

This challenges their pre-conceived notions of the world, and it gives their characters places to develop and grow throughout the season. It also provides rife opportunities for comedy. Juno is sardonic and blunt, and Nureyev is witty and concise. Every character has a distinct voice, a distinct sense of excitement, and a distinct humor that makes each episode worth listening to as the creators tackle various tropes in the genre and spin an exciting mystery. While Juno often has a low speaking tempo, his secretary Rita gives monologues in seconds. These small moments of contrast build a broad and unique cast that make every interaction dramatic, and often hilarious. These character beats continue to influence the characters in season two, as Juno has to begin grappling with his own senses of responsibility, his past, and his guilt as he continues trying to do good in the world.

          This idea of ‘good’ pervades the message of both seasons of Juno Steel. The Juno of season one is obsessed with self-sacrifice and self-destruction. The creators have never been shy about Juno having mental illness, namely, depression. In his case, he lashes out at people who disagree with him and can’t see consequences of actions that aren’t his. Somehow, it’s always his fault. But the rest of the characters disagree with that philosophy. The Penumbra Pod presents a great deal of viewpoints on coping with feelings of grief, responsibility and guilt, from self-destruction to bottling it up and moving on to just trying to live every day to forget about the one before. No one is right, but the diversity of opinions provokes genuine thought in the listener. The show deals with heavy themes but the characters are grounded and deal with their grief, guilt, and fear in realistic and dynamic ways, letting the audience learn alongside Juno as his perspective slowly opens up.

          The following contain serious spoilers for “Juno Steel,” season two.

          It’s a testament to the writing that Juno learns from these lessons. In season two, he’s less self-destructive, but still driven to making the world a better place, fueled by his guilt and his past. Season two of Juno Steel features and more nuanced villain, Ramses O’Flaherty (heavily influenced by Walt Disney). Ramses wants to create a good world, plain and simple. The issue is, he thinks his version of good is universal, and he has the power and resources to try to enforce it with impunity. It’s a tense narrative that forces Juno to examine his own motivations for doing his job and perspectives regarding the place he calls home. He struggles between idealism and defeatism, even deciding whether violence is needed or useful in his line of work. But again, the core message of the series is simple: we can never make those changes alone. Only by working willingly with others and listening to them can Juno begin to decide what he considers to be good. While the political situation of “Juno Steel” season two doesn’t mimic our own (I wish our public leaders had only good intentions [they don’t]), it is an inspirational story about the value of trying to grow as a person and begin accepting help from others and trusting them when it’s needed. Because goodness is based in how we affect the world and the people around us. These days, found family can be more real than blood relations, and solidarity is the greatest path towards building a better world.

          In short, The Penumbra Podcast is great. They’re telling interesting, unique, entertaining, queer, gender-diverse stories through personal and diverse lenses, and they’re doing a great job of it. “Juno Steel” has been influential in my life, both as validation for my emotional and psychological experiences, and my changing perspective as I try to learn about myself and do better all the time. Because Juno isn’t perfect. He makes mistakes; we all do. But we get to watch him learn, and in the process, maybe learn something about ourselves.

          If you do listen to them and enjoy it, here’s a link to their website, where they host episodes (you can also find them on most podcast-listening mediums), and their Patreon.

*The creators of The Penumbra Podcast have addressed this, but in “Juno Steel and the Prince of Mars, part 1,” Juno non-consensually kisses Alessandra Strong. The writers have said they wish they hadn’t done it or could redo it because it’s a problematic noir trope, and they wrote it in to confirm that Juno is canonically bisexual. The incident does not come up again, and in future discussions, Juno and Alessandra have a relatively healthy working relationship. Some other concerns have been raised with their presentation of other relations on TPP, and the creators have acknowledged that they are also growing and trying to do the best to present their stories in a positive way, but they also can’t be made into pillars of the queer community. They have individual perspectives and are trying to reflect that. I, for one, believe them, and I hope you’ll still give their podcast a try.

[podcake]

Audio Drama December: The Penumbra Podcast Review

I have to be completely honest with you guys: I’ve never given much thought about the noir genre until I got into talking about audio drama as hobby. Not that I didn’t see any artistic merit in noir, just that it didn’t really appeal to me personally in a film format and it’s only now that I can appreciate it as an up and coming genre that makes candid appearances in a nice handful of fiction podcasts.

My most recently Podcasts& was a surprise overnight success and I already promised myself I’d actually do reviews for December so the whole noir thing was more random selection that just so happened to give me enough material for the remainder of winter.

Among the select amount of noir audio drama I’ve come across, The Penumbra Podcast was one that sat in my subscriptions list for some time throughout 2016 before I properly worked up the motivation to give it a listen. With it’s rich but tastefully minimalist purple cover art portraying what appeared to be a hotel elevator symbol, it left a lot to the imagination as I had little understanding of the show’s all around premise or if it even was noir when I decided to give it the time of day. 

And when I dived in, I found myself quickly engrossed and binge listening to the entire stretch of available episodes into the wee hours of the night. I went to bed listening to The Penumbra, woke up listening to The Penumbra, had Thanksgiving dinner thinking about The Penumbra, and hibernated in my room refreshing my feed in hopes that a new episode would crawl its way to the top of my phone screen like some early Christmas miracle. 

Not to spoil my impression of the series so early into the review, but do know this is coming from someone who unashamedly enjoys The Penumbra Podcast and sees what all the hype is about, as it were. 

Here I’ll only really be talking about the adventures of Juno Steel as I consider it the main crux of the series. Though The Second Citadel is certainly worth discussing, I feel it’s only appropriate to keep the noir train going and give Neon Nights a proper comparison by the time I drag it’s document file into a Tumblr window.

For those who don’t know, a significant portion of The Penumbra Podcast is primarily a sci-fi noir show detailing the adventures of Juno Steel, a private eye who offers his services to those in need, if he wants to or not. This all takes place in Hyperion City, a large metropolis on Mars where the worst of the worst linger, giving Juno plenty of cases to crack and bottles to open at the end of a long day.

The premise itself is fairly open ended with a lot of opportunities to explore and the show really does take advantage of the variety of options they get to sample without losing a distinct identity for itself. The city we’re placed in is a combination of luxurious and sardonic, like a freshly made cocktail made with water from the bathroom sink. 

Though a number of shows rely on the grim nature of their worlds to be a boiling pot of spiraling conflict, The Penumbra is fairly outright about it with Juno quick to state how much of a shit show Hyperion is and has quite the touching monologue at the end of season one as he debates leaving it all behind but still feeling bound to his own personal responsibilities and fear of his intimate desires. It’s brief but a nice and somber note to leave on before the rather humorous debut of season two a few months after. 

With that said, The Penumbra’s real strength truly does lie in its writing. The world displayed before us is incredibly immersive and nicely blends into the narrative, providing a variety of locations that vary from wide and luxurious to tense and claustrophobic. This is especially helped by the imagery that truly gets you enamored by a certain set piece before the dialogue starts rolling in. 

The Penumbra succeeds in getting you invested in the time, place, and stakes all in a couple of minutes and watching as a case gets cracked truly felt satisfying and like you were strapped into the ride the whole time.

This also goes for the leads with the protagonist Juno Steel being a refreshingly grim but equally fun character to follow. Though often melancholic, Juno is a man you quickly grow to like for their near suicidal bravery and intellect being balanced out by some very human faults and suppressed trauma. 

So no matter how intriguing a case or the supporting cast may be, Juno never risks the chance of being smothered by the excitement and is an active player that the show seriously couldn’t do without.

Even with the suave, mysterious nature of master thief Peter Nureyev and the lovably dorky antics of assistant and secretary Rita truly dominating their scenes, you still feel like this is Juno’s story and like there’s much more to cover about him than there is Hyperion City. Penumbra does what it needs to do to give you people you can’t help but be enamored with and the strong world building and dialogue has almost everything to do with it.

Much in their favor, they have an exceptionally talented cast of actors to work with. Joshua Ilon takes over as our main character and his distinct voice is spot on for an updated take on the hard boiled detective archetype. Though often cool and controlled, he’s shown to have quite the range of emotion in his performance and it’s only when he reverts back to the same tone that you start to see the cracks in his facade.

The same could be said for Peter’s voice actor, Noah Simes whose silky vocals and effortless charm really make you question why there aren’t anymore homme fatale characters around. 

And with some great sound editing and music selection at work, it only ever complements whatever scenario our beloved detective and his sort-of-kind-of boyfriend can get wrapped up in. It’s honestly when they’re in the heat of a tense scene that the audio makes use of some effective sound cues and only the occasional use of music to ramp up the tension. “Juno Steel and the Train From Nowhere” is one of my favorite episodes for not only having these elements but I feel the episode embodies all the charm and mystique that’s made it such a crowd favorite in recent memory.

Though I do admit that The Penumbra is strong as far as their character and presation go, this only applies to the heroes. For a noir series, it’s surprisingly lacking in an interesting rouges gallery. Though the schemes are worth writing home about, each mastermind behind it can be easily summarized as a quirky but intelligent woman in her later forties to sixties and not much else-bonus points if they’re some sort of artist or at least artistically motivated. 

None of which are exactly boring to listen to, though the roster can get a bit samey when you already know what template is in place. It can really drag a case down when it’s revealed who Juno is up against and though I was still intrigued in how things would turn out, in the end of the day, another scary lady is just another scary lady. I always looked forward to an episode when the antagonist was perhaps more shrouded in mystery...or perhaps just not another old lady. 

The hotel for a framing device is fairly innovative on its own merits but it’s what the writers do with all the extra rooms that make you want to stay. The move to a horse drawn trolley for the second season was a cool change of pace and likely some sort of symbolism for the events to come, though I think the metaphor of a giant, luxurious building bustling with stories behind locked doors is a kind of imagery that really captures the show’s essence. The trolley visual just didn’t stick with me as much even if the honey voiced narrator coaxing me place to place was always welcomed. 

As a whole, I always left episodes of The Penumbra feeling compelled to keep going. It has a way of truly enrapturing you in each and every case that still leaves a lot to the imagination. It ticks all the right boxes not just for noir but for just a generally well thought out and imaginative piece of fiction that can be funny, adventurous, haunting, and alluring all at the same time with seamless transitions between these different moods.

The Penumbra feels like the kind of show made from people who honestly care about the magic of innovative storytelling. It utilizes the most common of tropes to their advantage while still maintaining an air of authenticity and, dare I say, glamour. The Penumbra Podcast is engaging and interesting our of sheer effort and a kind of listening experience that lingers with you. No matter what you might be looking for in a story, The Penumbra is sure to deliver, case closed.