#harlan elison

[roetrolls]

long awaited sequel to the original villains as texts from my mom post

[countmothra]

Yes, to both of those, absolutely there is no doubt in my mind that this certified nerd did both of these things.

He was probably in absolute SHAMBLES about the 1938 broadcast of war of the worlds. Naive little bastard.

And he probably heard about the musical version in ‘78 and skipped some sort of important event just to be first in line at the record store.

I’m having thoughts again so enjoy my brainrot.

So since the dystopian scene in the MV for “The Future Is A Foreign Land” most likely has both references to LOTR and 1984, I have propaganda to spread.

Nihil was a fucking nerd in the 60’s.

Like he probably went to every book signing he could to get signed copies from his favorite authors.

He probably went to comic conventions (the first comic con was in 1964, he probably begged Sister and Psaltarian to go to New York with him)

He probably listened to old radio dramas loud as fuck while he was still alive because his hearing wasn’t what it used to be.

Hell, even as a ghost he probably still does it.

Going back to the signed books thing, he definitely cherishes those more than his sons. If the ministry is on fire and he had to choose between his signed copy of the hobbit and all four of his sons? The hobbit wins.

[surlynotaperson]

WHY DOES MATPAT DURING ESCAPE THE NIGHT DRESS LIKE HARLAN ELISON????

LIKE I’M NOT TRIPPING RIGHT Y’ALL SEE IT TOO? IS THIS LIKE A REFERENCE OR SOMETHKNV BEAUSE MATTHEW PATTHEW IS A DETECTIVE IN THIS SO TGAT WOULDN’T MAKE SENSE

[anonameisadditions]

So You Want To Write #1 : The Amazing Digital Circus

In my work with the ever-impressionable and quick learning @mikiib, We often end up working with a particular dynamic on her creative projects, ranging from fanfiction to self-started fiction like our ongoing comic series, PARANOiD. She's a great artist, mind you- I wouldn't work with her if she wasn't- But our lives were spent very differently before we met; She chose a life of drawing, I chose a life of reading.

In this, I'm frequently put into the position of helping her make writing "sing" in the tune of what genre or media property she's drawing from. One of my many talents is my ability to quickly deconstruct and recognize the various influences a writer has taken from in a body of work, and The Amazing Digital Circus is one that I find a lot of people seem to misunderstand it's roots, and the kind of stories it's drawing from. To this, much-despised reader, I come to help, to scream from my digital soapbox the advice I would have needed a decade ago to write something properly.

THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: Mr. Elison needs to stop watching PBS

Most casual fans of the Amazing Digital Circus would know that the Harlan Ellison short story "I Have No Mouth And Must Scream" is the conceptual well that ADC draws from. It's one hell of a starting point- for those unfamiliar, a brief recap- The last 5 humans on Earth are tortured and controlled by the A.I Singularity known as A.M, the maniacal, suicidally minded A.I. who, in realization of the inherent trappings of the microchip in his existence, chose to exert his frustrations on the global earth as a whole, leaving only these 5 to torment for the rest of existence as punishment for the sins of mankind.

... Quite a different story on the surface than ADC, no? But to engage with Mouth a surface-level retelling of events deprives the story of it's wit and candor. Harlan, as a writer, is a reader's antagonist- and his contempt for the people who read his stories is palpable.

Harlan professes, in this interview, an anger towards the concept of self-reverence- the idea that he, himself, is any more significant on this unholy thing we call "earth" than another person. Thus, he reacts to fans by despising them when they reject his jocular, irreverent sense of self as some kind of personal attack. This shows in his writing, if you consider how he views his typical set of characters. In "Big Sam Was My Best Friend", the titular Big Sam, a likable, if reserved teleporter in the far future of space travel is revealed to be a lout, a creep- A man who, when gifted the ability to teleport vast distances unbounded by energy or time, chose to spend his existence chasing a woman who hated him. In "Pretty Maggie Moneyeyes", we have Koster and Maggie: One a down-on-his-luck, pathetic idiot representing the average Vegas coin slot jockey, and the other, Maggie, a rage-filled prostitute who regularly John's for a sleazy mafia boss.

The marking of the Elison school of writing is to defy the status quo expectation of morality winning. Here, the characters are tragic figures driven by their own incompetence and lack of self-awareness- They continuously battle themselves, refusing the luxury and peace of the ordinary to try to shape reality to their will, and every time, reality bites back.

But what does this have to do with The Amazing Digital Circus?

HELL IS OTHER PEOPLE

In the pilot of Amazing Digital Circus, we get to know our selection of trapped souls with a unique lens of understanding that Pomni does not get- For her, these characters of the "Show" of the Amazing Digital Circus (I mean this in a meta sense- More on this later.) are strangers, who's cascading complexities will surely open up with time. But for us, the viewer, we exist beyond the 4th wall- We know we are watching a virtual play, in a sense, where we can expect that there is no dramatic spiritual transition in store for anyone- that whatever we discover will be building on the foundation of each archetype.

But what's unique to both Digital Circus and No Mouth is the reality that these characters know each other quite well- Too well, in fact. They have been trapped together for an unknowable amount of time- and with this knowledge, Pomni is played as the foolish interloper for expecting any more or better from each character.

In a "normal" show, Jax should learn a lesson from the Candy Castle plotline in the first real episode of the show. But in the Digital Circus, Jax CAN'T learn a lesson- because he's done this stupid song and dance a million times, and his reputation precedes him in the eyes of the rest of the circus. He is trapped, figuratively and literally, in his character- He is the cunty rabbit, in and out, because frankly, his own identity might be the only thing keeping him sane.

This is not to say Jax's character cannot change and develop in the space of the canon of the show, or in your own fanfiction writings- far from it- but you need to approach these characters with an understanding that they have been this way for a long, long time- much in the same way that the various psychotic behaviors of the trapped survivors in A.M. have been the same way for a long time, too. To maintain this status quo- this character's "stickiness" as a coping mechanism - is how the soul of Elison sticks through the Digital Circus.

Wait, a stuck Status Quo, with weekly adventures that, at this point, largely don't seem to affect the behavior on a weekly basis for most of the characters, in a bright and shiny animated environment? This sounds kind of like...

A Saturday morning kid's show.

No, Really: Hell IS other people.

This is the missing component people seem to miss about the Amazing Digital Circus- Its aesthetic, its connecting theme, its horror- it's all based on the simple, ironclad premise of a children's show.

Think about it. "People get stuck in a virtual world to solve problems each week meant to help teach them social and practical life skills" is a motif used in a variety of 2000's era CGI animated shows that would air on PBS and (Canadian Broadcast Cartoons). This is "ReBoot". This is "Jay Jay The Jet Plane". This is "Jane and The Dragon". The soft, pliable, safe consequenceless world of the Children's Cartoon is the A.M. Digital World that Caine has his "players" trapped in, much to their chagrin.

At first, this doesn't seem too bad- It's safe, for one. It's remarkably easy to exist in, for another- Food isn't an issue, beyond a simplistic pleasure behavior. There's no bathrooms, no need to sleep- nothing. But in this, the true hell arrives. Week after week, month after month, you continue to participate in "Games" meant to serve the same moral lessons you've heard a million times at this point, as the only break to the skull-fucking monotony of an existence trapped in a consequenceless space where nothing you say or do changes the reality around you. You are stuck in a padded room- where you cannot touch yourself, or others, or the world around you in a meaningful way. It is a gilded cage, that seeks to patronize you and break down your mentality to the point of acting like a monocentric character archetype for the education and entertainment of a captive audience of 12-year-olds with nothing better to do.

You can see how this changes a person's priorities, fast. In this, our Circus members choose to find relief in the only ways they can- with one another, in the only thing that CAN change- their feelings towards one another.

JAX becomes the cunty rabbit he is, because vexing his fellow players is at least some form of change and control for him that makes him feel empowered. Zooble refuses to participate, as their ennui and rejection of the concept of the show enables them to, at the very least, take a stance against Caine, their captor. Ragatha tries to remain optimistic and make the best of the bad situation, as maintaining a positive attitude lets her at least pretend she's making a difference. Kinger's cracked behavior of madness is him attempting to find meaning and test the boundaries of his own existence, as the oldest member of the Circus, in a attempt to break the tedium for himself. And Gangle is reacting with a massive victim complex- She makes herself out to be a pathetic, weak, spineless creature because she can't conceive of this reality being one she has to exist actively in, for she finds the whole effort futile.

Where does this place Pomni? Well, it's a search for her own meaning in the space of the Circus. She is still an "open character", meant to play the role of the Audience's fool- And the drama comes from us wondering whether she'll sink, or swim.

SO YOU WANT TO WRITE THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS

This is the soul of the show, distilled to a fine, thin gruel- If you want to make your fiction "Sound" Like The Amazing Digital Circus, you need to marry two concepts together- The horrific behaviors of Harlan Elison's characters in their efforts to deal with the ways life has personally screwed them, and the soul-sucking mundanity of the weekly format of the children's television serial. You present the cast with an adventure each week, one that is definitely below their intended age level, and let them react to it with their individualized efforts to escape the mundanity of the circumstances, in their own way- Jax tries to make everything worse, Ragatha tries to play along, and Pomni is still freshly experiencing everything for the first time.

This is not to say you can't do MORE with these characters and the base premise- @hootbon does an excellent job recontextualizing the idea of weekly "shows" with the circumstances of the abusive ringleader of a 1950s-styled circus. But they seem to understand the narrative underpinnings of the TADC in this rewritten examination; The cast is chained to the premise, and can only act within the dimensions of said premise- and what they do with those circumstances defines them as a person.

If you liked this blogpost, Give it a reblog and a like, and don't forget to follow me for more media analysis and creative endeavors. Below, you can vote on the focus of my next entry in "So You Want To Write" series. 

~ Yours Fallaciously, AN0N

[ataraxiaspainting]

aya’s book recommendations

crime and punishment by fyodor dostoevsky

heaven official’s blessing by mo xiang tong xiu

dune by frank herbert

dracula by bram stoker

a little life by hanya yanagihara

mob psycho 100 by one

banana fish by akimi yoshida

one piece by eiichiro oda

yu yu hakusho by yoshihiro togashi

hunter x hunter by yoshihiro togashi

berserk by kentaro miura

faust by johann wolfgang von gothe

the collector by john fowles

notes from underground by fyodor dostoevsky

the brothers karamazov by fodor dostoevsky

the picture of dorian gray by oscar wilde

we have always lived in the castle by shirley jackson

do androids dream of electric sheep? by philip k dick

wuthering heights by emily bronte

the shadow over innsmouth by h.p. lovecraft

the ballad of reading gaol by oscar wilde

ode to a nightingale by john keats

annabel lee by edgar allen poe

the castle of otranto by horace walpole

tomie by junji ito

uzumaki by junji ito

i have no mouth, and i must scream by harlan elison

the telltale heart by edgar allen poe

the cask of amontillado by edgar allen poe

the color out of space by h. p. lovecraft

the dunwich horror by h. p. lovecraft

the stranger by albert camus

the metamorphosis by franz kafka

coraline by neil gaiman

frankenstein by mary shelly

[renmorris]

everyone’s like oh mystery incorporated is so wacky and Scooby is descended from animal god aliens but what they don’t tell you is that the Harlan Elison / HP Lovecraft episode is a thing that exists and it’s fucked up to watch

[finalhaunts]

Shoutout to AM humanizations that are just harlan elison

[hate-letmetellyou]

Hey girl leans on your databanks with a rose in my mouth did you know that science fiction author Harlan Elison was hired at Disney but fired on his first day after joking about making pornography of Disney characters

Coward didn't follow through.

[violetfeatherwind]

Hey guys, so I wanted to make a thread involving a theory in regards to the character Ragatha from The Amazing Digital Circus.

Trigger warning/// this theory will involve heavy topics such as abuse, sexual assault, and hints of PTSD

When we first meet Ragatha, she seems pretty caring and friendly towards our main character, Pomni. She's a cute Raggedy Ann inspired ragdoll human character trapped in the Digital Circus. She seems to try and settle down Pomni on her first day when she starts panicking. No one apparently remembers their past what their names and previous lives were before coming to the circus, however their Digital Circus persona selves could probably be a metaphorical reflection of what possibly happened in their past. When we walk down the hallway of the current and previous character's rooms, Ragatha is explaining to Pomni about how this world will slowly but surely drive you insane to the breaking point. We see her acting extremely anxious and freighted in a way that might make you think that she's having a PTSD moment.

When Ragatha got touched by Kaufmo, (who got abstracted) she started to glitch out in pain. She also told Pomni that she understands if she doesn't want to help her even if she is in pain. When Ragatha finally gets fixed up by Caine, we see her hold her arm which is what we also see her do later in the 2nd episode. Her holding her arm makes it look like she's been hurt in some way. I've heard some folks say that she might have been a mother in the past before coming to the Digital Circus, which is kinda why she has that sweet motherly figure to her personality. She could have had kids that she desperately loved so much and played with them while they also played with their toys like a sweet loving mother would normally do. However, as much as I love her design, I'm pretty sure there's a dark reason why she looks like this.

As I said, Ragatha looks like your typical vintage Raggedy Ann ragdoll that had been sewed up with different materials and one button for one eye. Based on what I've noticed about Ragatha's character design and personality. I'm getting the feeling that before coming to the circus, she had a partner who would constantly abuse her. Both sexually and physically. This could explain why she has a button for an eye and patches on her dress cuz those could represent bruises on her body. If Ragatha was a mom, then maybe one of her children would have probably asked if she was ok to which she would've responded that she was "a-ok" cuz she was trying to hide her hurt feelings from her own children. Which could explain why she tried to stay calm and happy towards Pomni. Abuse could have made her become in denial that she is suffering from physical abuse, sexual assault, anxiety, and some PTSD. She wasn't treated like a human being. She was treated as if she was an object. A toy metaphorically speaking. A plaything...

One of Gooseworx's inspirations for the series is a story called "I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream" by Harlan Elison. It has five main characters that are trapped by an AI that was used for different parts of the world for a war. Unfortunately, the computers merged together. and wiped out every human being on earth except for five human beings (four men and one woman). The AI which is called AM are continuously tortured and have their minds shifted to something they weren't when they were on earth. This theory that I've been writing reminds me of one of the characters in the book named Ellen. She was unfortunately altered by AM to be extremely sexually active, even though she was supposedly a pure and innocent person when she was on earth. However this part of the story is the complete opposite of what I'm theorizing about. I know that there really won't be anything like this in The Amazing Digital Circus , but it is definitely something that could've happened in the real world to Ragatha. She could have been a mother but also an abuse victim. I know that a lot of abuse victims will try to hide their scars and act like they're ok or think that if they tell, it'll make the situation worse. I can tell that people who have abusive partners probably try to make them happy by doing stuff for them if they want them to stay with them which is probably why Ragatha was ok with Pomni not wanting to help even though she was hurting which is extremely sad. NO ONE deserves to be in an abusive relationship. And I hope that anyone out there can get the help and support they need ❤️

[anonameisadditions]

Now this feels like Harlan Elison. Good work.

It’s you!

[roetrolls]

Ben, did Harlan ever let you attend events like the ball?

"'Let me'? No. But he sent me once. Don't think it was twelfth perigee though. Something else, can't remember what. Had the twins chaperone me, of course."

"Found out later it was cause they'd asked him. Just thought it'd be fun. I had a shit time, obviously."

"Y'know what happened when we got back? Harlan fucking laughed at me. Asked me why I didn't even bother trying to escape."

"As if Elison doesn't carry a vial of my blood around their goddamn neck...."

"I said I didn't bother because it wouldn't fucking work. Whatever I did, they'd just track me down again and make me regret ever taking the risk. I told him no one else ever wins when he's involved. And he just fucking... Grinned at me."

"Now you're getting it."

"I remember lying awake that morning just... Thinking about that grin."

[lyrasky]

和訳【The Jazz Butcher/ Angels】ジャズ・ブッチャーとは! I want to hold you in my arms

和訳【TheJazz Butcher/Angels】ジャズ・ブッチャーとはI want to hold you in my arms LyraのBlogへ #thejazzbutcher #angels #distressedgentlefolk #patfish #butch #maxeider #bauhaus #davidj #ジャズブッチャー #thejazzbutcherconspiracy #thejazzbutcherandhissikkorskisfromhell #glassrecords

今日は仲良しのお誕生日。

だから、好きだと言うバンドでお祝いしてあげようっと。

日本にもライブで来ていたと言うから「また来るんじゃない？」と、慰めていたら、いつの間にかメジャーでは活動休止。地道な活動にシフトしていたようだ。

2012年から音沙汰がないThe Jazz Butcher。

Lyraが和訳して紹介したら、また音楽の神に呼ばれるから大丈夫よっ。

(more…)

[calamari-chaos]

Think they'll ever adapt I Am Legend with it's proper ending?

[lambpaca]

Idk. The original voice sin the game was of the actual author of the short story Harlan Elison, and i thoroughly enjoy his seething narration

The introductory “Hate” monologue from I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream, with AM voiced by the TikTok TTS

[meatcar226]

The airport is the zoo for people whose anderson bruford wakeman howe is just harlan elison 4 times.

[ataraxiaspainting]

F A Q.

masterlist: it's in the works but not at the moment!

posting days: i'm trying to work on a more stable posting schedule for stories but i will most likely be answering inbox messages on tuesdays, fridays, saturdays, and sundays! mostly saturdays though.

tagging: feel free to tag me in anything! as long as the post in question does not do harm to me or others, of course.

writing history: ever since i was little, i've pretty much always had a love for making up stories and saving them on my laptop. i got into x reader works when i was in middle school i think... still am just as much into them now as i was back then.

art history: i've always loved to draw/sculpt too! i may not be the best at making art myself, but i have always loved looking at other people's works, especially paintings. my current pfp is actually a painting of ophelia from shakespeare's hamlet, done by alexandre cabanel.

music taste: i really only listen to classical and k-pop/j-pop, along with game osts. though my queen mitski breaks her way into my on repeat playlist multiple times a day. my favorite songs from her are buffalo replaced, i bet on losing dogs, i will, francis forever, my love mine all mine, i want you, stay soft, class of 2013, townie and last words of a shooting star. non-mitski songs are often either by red velvet, twice, king gnu, or kenshi yonezu.

book recommendations: i read a lot on days i'm not so busy, mostly reading thriller/horror stories. my main recommendations are notes from the underground by fyodor dostoevsky, i have no mouth, and i must scream by harlan elison, the cask of amontillado by edgar allan poe, the stranger by albert camus, the metamorphosis by franz kafka, uzumaki by junji ito, the talented mr. ripley by patricia highsmith, the collector by john fowles, misery by stephen king, coraline by neil gaiman.

favorite tropes: lovers to enemies, enemies to lovers, the reluctant hero, paying the price for victory, the mysterious neighbor next door, a deal with the devil, the unhappy ending, cults and religious extremists, mysterious things are happening, seducing an archenemy for an opportunity.

other fun facts:

-> i'm a criminology major.

-> i played a lot of instruments and sang a lot when i was younger. i'm trying to get back into it now. my favorite instrument to play was the electric violin and my favorite type of music to sing was choir-like osts like mourning from nier automata, lacrimosa from the one and only mozart, and song of the ancients from nier replicant.

-> i'm a huge animal lover. i often watch streams of horror movies, listen to video essays, or write while snuggling up with one of my dogs. i also often volunteer in community service, with most of it being either being at a shelter/adoption event or some sort of event involving a fundraiser in schools. i once happened to do an adoption event that happened to be fundraising more resources for schoolchildren, and it was one of the best moments of my life. got to pet a lot of animals too, and that made the time like ten times better.

CURRENT ANONS -> childe anon

this post will be edited/added to as life goes on.