#joseph fink's writing is just Like That

[spiral-wizard]

I recently started listening to Alice Isn't Dead on my long drives for work and uh. I think part 1 chapter 3 is gonna haunt me forever

[this-is-a-podcast-fanblog]

Begging writers to read a single book on a religion before they write a character of that religion <3

[discountdyke]

tbh i actually do not remember cecils time as a tumblr sexyman at all and like. i was into wtnv when it was big and hip and i feel like that time also coincided with when dr was really big? so its like on one hand how come so many of you remember komaedas cruel reign over tumblr but also not remember cecil...but on the other hand who has thought about him in the last 5 years except for the people who consider podcasts in general as a singular fandom

[artistformerlyknownasbutttrumpet]

am only tangentially aware of the sexyman poll thing, but seeing ppl on my dash, whom i've never seen talk about wtnv, suddenly going to bat for cecil so hard gives me actual real emotions? and i can't even be cringe about it. when i found wtnv i was an unmedicated undergraduate student living month to month in an apartment in a shit neighborhood, and that podcast deadass kept me from a stint in a psych ward, dude. i am years behind on the episodes, but it like, legit rewired my brain and taught me how to cope with my existential despair by making it something beautiful and funny instead of something to fear. i'm not a merch person generally, but i am literally at this moment, without even realizing it, wearing a wtnv shirt and pants (the ones with creepy on the butt, obviously. i have the booty shorts too. both are quite literally the most comfortable pants i own, jsyk). i have a fucking wtnv tattoo (that joseph fink liked on twitter 84 years ago 💅) bc it's a quote that helps me when i am Dwelling. i listened to wtnv when i was studying creative writing in school and trying to figure out my own voice, and now i am on the brink of making a substantial living off of my books, and wtnv is definitely part of why. i have episode #13 "a story about you" memorized, bc it was (and occasionally still is) my go-to when i am not able to sleep bc of my brain. it calms me down. i've watched them live in three different cities (two different countries), bc i wanted to see them, and also bc i wanted to support the cast and crew. i'm not staying up until midnight on episode drop days anymore. idk what's going on with the plot. but i will always, always, always love that stupid podcast, and owe it more than i can repay

idk, i just like seeing it on my dash again. feels good. feels organic

[femgirlfriend]

i was trying to listen to that wtnv commentary pod again and they just confirmed my theory that joseph fink is heavily projecting his straight marriage on cecil and carlos like there you go his wife just said it straight up.... i just knewwww it god the way they write them i knew instantly... nothing wrong with it per se but my god do they try to solve their het problems through a fictional gay couple sometimes and you CAN tell im sorry

[hismercytomyjustice]

Also, because I have nothing better to do with my life, here are the song inspos for my Bloodweave BG3 fic Ancient Books and Horror Stories title and chapter titles!

Mostly I pick them because of particular lines I like in songs that embody what I’m trying to write. Almost all my fanfics have song titles as their titles because I’m terrible with and get very stressed out about titles! Yay!

Songs beneath the cut to save people’s screens. I don’t think there’s any spoilers included for the fic if you’re a reader who wants to check these out.

I am apparently just very bored and feeling particularly introspective today. And also in a wildly yappy mood.

Oh, well! ┐(´∀｀)┌

Fic Title: Ancient Books and Horror Stories - Big Houses by Squalloscope

Heard this one originally on the podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It’s the weather for, I believe, episode 33. I’m not caught up on Night Vale, tho I did an actually get to meet Cecil Baldwin and Joseph Fink at one of their first live shows back in 2013. I even got a pic with them and an autograph and they are so beyond fucking nice. I fucking love their show and them.

This song ended up working better than I thought for the fic as a whole and I love it so much.

Chapter One: Why did it have to be me? from the Mamma Mia 2 Soundtrack. I’m sorry I’ve only ever really experienced ABBA through covers, please forgive. (ಥ﹏ಥ)

I struggled with this chapter title because it was originally gonna be “Ancient Books and Horror Stories” before I realized I wanted that to be the actual title. I like it tho! A little more upbeat than I necessarily wanted this chapter to feel, but captures the “helplessness” of falling in love with someone haha.

Chapter Two: All I Know is I Don’t Know a Thing - Dust and Ashes from The Great Comet of 1812 Musical

I fucking love The Great Comet of 1812. Hands down one of my fave musicals of all time. I am NOT IMMUNE to Josh Groban’s wiles.

I feel like Gale and Pierre have a lot in common, both being nice scholarly types who long for connection and a Great Love™.

Chapter Three: For I Sing Songs Until the Break of Dawn - Noel’s Lament from Ride the Cyclone

Not as familiar with this musical but love a few of the songs from it. Felt Noel envisioning himself as a sex worker really fit with how Astarion sort of views himself. Y’know minus the part of actually wanting to “be that fucked up girl.”

Chapter Four: This bottle of light from the sun - Calling the Moon by Dar Williams

I think this was actually an accident, oops. I was looking up the lyrics for Call on the Moon by D’Anna Stewart because I really liked it on the First Kill soundtrack (LET’S GO LESBIAN VAMPIRE LOVE STORY). I don’t know if I’ve ever heard the first song prior to me trying to find the lyrics again for this. OH WELL, still like the chapter title.

Chapter Five: Lucky to have what's left of your sanity - Digital Hallucination by OR3O

Spotify recommended this to me and it is a BANGER! Love OR30’s music in general (my fave is Greedy) even though I’m not super familiar with her inspiration for most of them. OR3O was the start of my descent into Electroswing, I fear, but damn if I’m not loving every minute of it.

Chapter Six: Give me one reason why I should live - I Imagine You’re Upset from Bat Boy

My bff in high school introduced me to the Bat Boy soundtrack. I thought she was joking at first. But here I am, still listening to it and loving it all these years later. Yay more vampire related inspo! Can you tell I like vampires?

Chapter Seven: A Hunger So Strong - Comfort and Joy from Bat Boy

MORE BAT BOY?! It’s more likely than you’d think!

Chapter Eight: Shared our Tears and Shed Our Sorrows - Stay, I Pray You from Anastasia

This is the result of me mishearing the actual lyrics of “shed our tears and shared our sorrows” and fucking loving the twist of expectations. OH WELL. More oopsies on my part. BUT I REGRET NOTHING.

Chapter Nine: I should be fine but it's all too much - Overwhelmed by Royal & the Serpent

Damn if this song doesn’t speak to my anxious ass OCD having self.

Chapter Ten: Sink your fangs into my soul - Hold Me, Bat Boy from Bat Boy

Uhhh only just now reading how many chapter titles are from Bat Boy. This was not intentional. WHOOPS.

Chapter Eleven: The Pretty Lies, the Ugly Truth - Teen Idle by Marina and the Diamonds

This group was introduced to my bff who used to listen to them a lot while I was riding in her car with her.

Chapter Twelve: How can nothing seem to last - This Too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt

Heyyyy!!! More Night Vale weather! This time from episode eight! I started relistening to the podcast recently as well as their after show (this one included the weather artist) and came to really love this song.

Chapter Thirteen: Under a gathering storm - A Gathering Storm from Hadestown

Fucking LOVE the music from this musical. Yay Greek mythology too!!! Only been obsessed with that since I was I a literal child. Hermes has always been my fave, which is why I gravitate towards rogues/thieves in BG3 (coughAstarioncoughmyTavcough).

This may have actually begun my descent into Jazz related music and thereby Electroswing… And then Hazbin Hotel attacked…

Actually got to see this musical in person and loved every minute of it! Tho I’d suggest maybe knowing how the story of Orpheus and Eurydice plays out before going. Was with some friends who DID NOT and were a bit upset at the ending, haha.

Hmm. I’m sure there’s no parallels to that myth and this fanfic AT ALL.

Chapter Fourteen: Hoping you will ever find me in any place - The World from .hack//sign

Got into this anime around middle school/high school (can’t remember which) and fell in love with Yuki Kajiura’s music. Still listen to a bunch of songs from the .hack//sign soundtracks and used to actually own the CD haha. Really need to sit down and rewatch the anime it at some point.

…also just found out she composed some of the music for Demon Slayer and Aldnoah.Zero too. God she’s fucking amazing.

Chapter Fifteen: And they'll teach you not to pray to light - This Too Shall Pass by Danny Schmidt

LOOK WHO’S BACK. Didn’t realize I used this song twice but IF IT FITS!

Chapter Sixteen: At least then I would be free instead of frozen - I Think You’re the Devil by Ellee Duke

The vampire lesbian romance from First Kill is BACK BABY! And this time I didn’t confuse the song for a different one! Yay! Fucking obsessed with this song tho. Love so much of that soundtrack in general tbh.

Chapter Seventeen: I have Died only to Find I’ve Come Alive - Teen Idle by Marina and the Diamonds

Ayyy look who’s back! Another unintentional repeat but OH WELL. Apparently I have no self control. This is going to be part one of the two part epilogue!

Chapter Eighteen: Trees Instead of Gravestones - Big Houses by Squalloscope

And the only INTENTIONAL repeat in this whole thing is *drumroll* Big Houses!!! This is for part two of the two part epilogue!

Felt very fitting to “start” and end the fic with the same song. It’s also not lost on me that the song is kind of about dealing with religious trauma and embracing your spirituality your own way.

Between this and This Too Shall Pass, one might think there may be “complicated relationship with spirituality” undertones to this fic! Definitely couldn’t be inspired by me growing up in the Bible Belt! No siree!

Anyway, if you read this far, kudos to you! And if you check out any of the music, I hope you like it!

Did not intend to steal from so many vampire related songs, but OH WELL.

I literally went through my Spotify playlists looking up lyrics for songs I liked that I thought might fit and put the snippets I liked in a notes doc with no added context. So yeah, serendipity lol. Genuinely the only one I actually meant to use twice was Big Houses. Dunno how the rest of those repeats snuck in.

So, ahem, can you tell I fucking love musicals???

ꉂ (´∀｀)ʱªʱªʱª

[nd-coded-media]

ND-Coded Media Trait:

Neurodivergent Creator(s)/Contributor(s)

When one or more neurodivergent people significantly influence the creation of a piece of media (regardless of whether or not they know they're neurodivergent at the time), I consider it a flag for possible neurodivergent-coded elements. The neurodivergent influence could come from a writer, director, actor, artist, etc. depending on the type of media and how it's produced.

(This isn't to say that every piece of media influenced by a neurodivergent person will be ND-coded, nor that every piece of media that is ND-coded will have a neurodivergent person on staff. It's just more likely than not that a neurodivergent creator will make stuff that reflects their own experiences.)

Examples of ND-Coded Media by Confirmed Neurodivergent Creators:

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (TV Series)

Glenn Howerton (Co-Creator, Actor for Dennis Reynolds) has shared that he was late-diagnosed with ADHD (src).

Rob McElhenney (Co-Creator, Actor for Mac) shared that he was late-diagnosed with "a host of neurodevelopmental disorders and learning disabilities" (src).

Everything Everywhere All At Once (Film)

Daniel Kwan (Co-Writer, Co-Director) discovered he had ADHD while researching it to write the movie's main character (src).

Phineas & Ferb (Cartoon)

Dan Povenmire (Co-Creator, Voice Actor for Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz) has shared videos acknowledging his ADHD on Tiktok (src) and Instagram (src).

Community (TV Series)

Dan Harmon (Creator, Writer, Executive Producer) discovered he's on the autism spectrum while researching it to write the character Abed Nadir (src).

Speculative / Unconfirmed:

Welcome to Night Vale (Podcast)

Joseph Fink (Co-Creator) may have made a social media post implying that he realized he's autistic because of people pointing out that the character Carlos Dave Robles is autistic-coded. (src). However, I've done some digging and haven't been able to find the original post or any other info on this topic. If you have sources confirming or denying this info, please share them with me!

Please do let me know if you think of any edits or additions I could make to improve this post! I'll keep an update log under a readmore once I've made changes.

[mag200]

Firstly, the do not archive tag is for cowards. If Jonny Sims sees your post, Jonny Sims sees your post. (< this is as someone who accidentally @ ed both him and fucking Joseph Fink. help.)

Secondly, oh my god you’re so real. You’re so real about hive. It’s about how like aaaaa it’s so good? It’s so good. I would’ve talked coherently here, but I cannot, it’s just so good.

yeah i was comedy joking cause if jonny sees me going insane about how good his writing is im okay with that.

BUT LITERALLY HIVE. WHAT DID HE PUT IN THAT. HIIIIIVE.

[jupiterslifelessmoons]

Am i the only one who feels like they're preparing to end Welcome to Night Vale? After almost each episode I feel like they're adding more and more things to prepare for an ending. Especially with Joseph Fink stuck in Night Vale storyline and the University of what it is.

Both of these storylines have the possibility to make Night Vale nothing more than fiction in the actual Night Vale world. Also both fit really well together, we see that Joseph is tired of being stuck in Night Vale and wants to go back to the real world so it would make sense if he tried to write/explain Night Vale away just like Dr Lubelle explained Sarah Sultan away.

[clovergrass00]

American/Midwestern Gothic and Alice Isn’t Dead

(*I wrote the following essay for a college class in April 2023, but in doing so discovered to my disappointment that there wasn’t much writing on Alice Isn’t Dead! So I'd like to contribute this.)

Tracing the Gothic to New Mediums & Subgenres – a case for Alice Isn’t Dead

The Proposal:

“America has weird things in it. It has so many miles, so much space to put the weirdness in.” - Alice Isn’t Dead, Part 1: Chapter 10

One of the strengths of [this course*] is in how it traces gothic tropes from its historic roots to contemporary variations, like Parasite being called “Neo-Gothic” or Get Out “Post-Racial Gothic”: in doing so, the course argues for the relevance and importance of the genre’s history, lineage, and permutations, which also facilitates a discussion of what factors contribute to such differences. I propose tracing yet another modern branch of the genre to that of “American gothic,” or specifically “midwestern gothic,” which would enable a focus on how the gothic genre was adapted to address regional-specific settings, histories, and anxieties, such as the different facets of the American experience. Allan Lloyd-Smith writes in American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction about how the “frontier experience, with its inherent solitude and potential violence” especially shaped the midwestern iteration of American gothic; this framework still holds for modern stories confronting endless flatness, nowhere towns, the destructive force of capitalism on communities (4). The medium of audio drama also provides new ways to think about framing, point of view, and immersive storytelling.

Synopsis:

Alice Isn’t Dead is an audio fiction podcast which follows a Black lesbian truck driver, Keisha, as she drives across America in search of her missing wife, Alice, whom she had long presumed dead. On her harrowing road trip, she deals with grief, anxiety, and depression, comments on aspects of American culture she encounters on his travels, and encounters supernatural phenomenon and larger conspiracies—such as regarding a group of dangerous creatures called the “Thistle Men,” a factory owner who ages a whole lifetime before her eyes, a day in which her straight drive passes through the same town over and over, and billboards that seem to speak to her directly, to name some examples from the first episodes.

The series, written by Joseph Fink and voice acted by Jasika Nicole, is composed of 30 episodes total of about 25 minutes each. The show’s format is that Keisha makes audio recordings on the road, either as a diary of her thoughts, speaking directly to Alice, recording live events, or recounting events after they happened.

(More) Key Terms:

The style often “intercuts” a longer, dramatic narrative of what has just happened to Keisha (more plot-focused sections) with shorter observations or memories she speaks aloud in the present (more thematic). Intercutting, or cross-cutting, is a narrative technique used in Alice Isn’t Dead to build tension by cutting between scenes with differing intensity levels or stakes, highlight connections between seemingly unrelated characters or events, or help maintain narrative momentum (Chen).

Liminal: “characterized by being on a boundary or threshold, esp. by being transitional or intermediate between two states, situations, etc.” (OED). We see liminality in Alice’s status between being “dead” and being “found,” in the road between towns, in the towns that themselves are only a bathroom stop on the way to the next destination, the destinations that themselves are only one of many stops.

Rationality and Irrationality: Although we also see Jonathan Harker’s attempts to rationalize events through his journals in Dracula, Lloyd-Smith writes in particular about the influence of Enlightenment era thinking on American literature in the idea of trying to rationalize the irrational, which is amplified by Keisha’s contemporary first-person narration in trying to comprehend the seemingly impossible things she witnesses (95). In episode 10, Keisha prefaces her story with: “I can’t drive while I tell this. Too much to say. I’m going to tell it all Alice. Even the parts you know. I’m going to describe the shape of the monster that is devouring me” (Fink).

Lloyd-Smith describes “frontier gothic” or “gothic nature” as “a terror of the land itself, its emptiness, its implacability; simply a sense of its vast, lonely, and possibly hostile space” (93). In the Part 1 finale, one of the Thistle Men says: “America. A country defined as much by distance as culture. America embraces its distances. Empty spaces and road trips, but there is always a price. We are that price. We are creatures of the road. We feed on distance, on road trips, on emptiness, bodies by the side of the highway” (Fink).

Uncanny refers to an unsettling kind of strange or mysterious, which is a perfect way to describe the revulsion one feels from the odd behavior of the Thistle Men, even without directly witnessing their acts of violence. “Every one of them was like the Thistle man. All of them. Loose skinned, odd movements…none of them spoke, although sometimes one would laugh, long and loud, and then return to monastic silence” (Fink). Getting at the German root of the word, “unheimlich,” Lloyd-Smith elaborates: “it can be understood as equivalent to the ‘domestic terror’ which so aptly describes much of the work of American Gothicists… The house, not the castle, becomes the site of trauma” (75). When Keisha temporarily gives up on her journey, overwhelmed by all she has been through, the Thistle Men follow her home and cause intense paranoia, which ultimately drives her to flee her house and take to the road again.

Works Cited

Chen, Jeff. “Intercut: Everything You Need to Know.” NFI, 14 Mar. 2021, https://www.nfi.edu/intercut/.

Fink, Joseph. Alice Isn’t Dead.

"liminal, adj." OED Online, Oxford University Press, March 2023, www.oed.com/view/Entry/108471. Accessed 19 April 2023.

Lloyd Smith, Allan. American Gothic Fiction: An Introduction. Continuum, 2004.

[arthurtaylorlester]

wtnv live blog !!

spoilers ahead

I hear that quote earlier this week!!

man the theme never gets old

sarah sultan is a what now

ofc lubelle does meditation and has autotext messages on

the murals !! smiles?? perhaps??

snake murals.

WHAT

THE FUCKING SMILING CHILDREN ARE REAL PEOPLE

jared is dead bestie

jee thanks cecil now I'm scared of the dark again

man that soundtrack slaps

a dark room with a table with a cup of coffee? idk why that sounds familiar

lubelle is going to go insane over the librarians

uh, scientist Dean lesbians

QHAT THW FUCK LUBELLE

YOU DONT JUST FUCKING PICK UP A ROCK WHOSE A PERSOn

I also appreciate the sky very often

are the ants leaving because of the murals

cecils woOoOoOoo was so cute

emergency Thursday emergency Thursday emergency Thursday emergency Thursday

traffic!! my fav segment :)

trails sound so cool when described by cecil. anything described by cecil is interesting tbh

are like trails a metaphor for relationships??

yep. definitely a metaphor

had to go to school T-T

But now I'm back

why does lubelle have heavily armed staff is she in kahoots with the US government

ok I can guess sounds

fork scraping ew my ears

what no it was a fork

what the fuck was that squishy my mind is

pelican eating jello huh

ok I'm scared now

WHAY THW FUCK IS THAT IM SCARED THE LOST SOULS OF THE FUCKING IDK

NO NOT AGAIN MAKE IT STOP

what the fuck does the Faceless Old Woman Who Secretly Lives In Your House eat children

the 💫weather💫

DID SARAH DIE DID LUBELLE KILL HER

we dont need explanations bitch

yeah no shit

what the fuck are they de-nightvaling night vale

Dr lubelle is going to turn night vale into a normie southern town

I'm so scared for cecil

what happens when she meets cecil and goes "you're radioactive, I'm fucking cleansing you"

the title is so much more sad now

wait what if joseph fink in night vale is writing lubelle to normiefyit so he can escape?????

REVENGE LETS GOOOOI

goodnight nighvale :P

[juniper-sunny]

tagged by @muddiestpath thank uuuu :3c

🐧 About Me 🐧

NICKNAME: Juni

SIGN: Libra

HEIGHT: 5ft zero inches

LAST GOOGLE SEARCH: "Xfinity internet outage"... disconnected from Overwatch comp ughh 💀

SONG STUCK IN YOUR HEAD: "Jump Up Superstar!" from Super Mario Odyssey

FOLLOWERS: i shan't say bc i am trying to enjoy being creative for the sake of being creative and if i think about social media engagement/internet number algorithm nonsense i will become salty

LUCKY NUMBER: 9

SLEEP: i am currently unemployed so I get to enjoy anywhere from 4-11 hrs depending on if i'm excited to do stuff the next day or not lmao

DREAM JOB: a freelance artist but like, one of those old timey ones where my patrons pay me to draw and write whatever I want whenever I want. They would get neverending fanart of my blorbos

WEARING: blue and white striped PJs

FAVORITE SONGS: yeah ok i have hundreds on rotation so i'll just comment with

"Antebellum" - Vienna Teng

"Welcome to You and Me" - Hidetake Takayama ft. Sam Ock

FAVORITE INSTRUMENT: Piano

AESTHETIC: my ideal would be soft preppy with lots of cozy sweaters, cute skirts & dresses & heels but I am broke and too lazy to learn makeup and practice walking in heels so I actually wear graphic tees and skinny jeans that I've owned since 2013. I need money and motivation to become the high femme of my dreams

FAVORITE AUTHOR: I have a few! Just gonna list Ben Aaronovitch, Jeffrey Cranor, Joseph Fink, and Kristin Cashore for now

FAVORITE ANIMAL SOUND: monching and cronching on crunchy foods hehe :3c

LAST SONG: "Can't Sleep Love" by Pentatonix

LAST SERIES: The Last of Us HBO

RANDOM: I have a hard time finding recipes that I like to cook on the regular and I found one recently that I love! It has egg, white toast, bacon, green onion, and cheese. Even though I found the recipe on Youtube I'm calling it "primavera toast" because it's shorter and fancier to say than "egg-bacon-green onion-cheese toast" lmao

Tagging: @deny-the-issue @ilikemymendarkandfictional @sherwood-forests @silcoitus @ink-and-dagger @kikorenart @ice-queen-of-music

and the rest of my mutuals!!! Please consider yourselves tagged hehe my fingers hurt i have to stop typing now RIP

[izzyspussy]

Happy STS! What books or other media have shaped the way you think about writing the most? What did they teach you?

Okay, not gonna list books/media, but authors/directors instead. Louis Sachar, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, David Fincher, Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele.

Sachar in particular is absolutely the pinnacle, in my opinion, of weaving together an intricate and unweavable narrative. Every time I read or watch HOLES it sends me into fits of divine inspiration NOT joking. It also is like- You know when you see a work of art that is So Good in a very particular type of way that feels unreachable? Sachar's work is the opposite of that. It's the GOAT, but in a way that makes it clear that mastery like this can be achieved with practice and diligence to the work.

Fincher I also like for intricate storytelling, as well as his skill with building suspense (something I am currently struggling with in Curse The Messenger).

I love and aspire to Gaiman's mastery of build-up pay-off, especially how he can build an entire book (or 30 minute cold open) into a single, succinct line that simultaneously means half a dozen things and also one precise thing, all shining a spotlight on the themes of the piece and also sometimes being a pun. I 100% do this, I go into every work looking to do it, and I do it because of him. Entirely.

Pratchett and Adams I admire and try to emulate for their particular flavor of satire, as well as their zany metaphors. I don't really write comedy - I don't think I'm built for it - but I think sardonics and absurdism can both have an effective place in any genre. I really like to utilize comedic tools in tragedy, I think it's incredibly effective and also makes the material more readable, and those in particular happen to be my favorite and in my opinion are the most versatile without being trite or quickly dated.

I love the way del Toro's genre fiction is also - kind of inescapably - High Art TM. He takes the campiest and/or grittiest possible concepts or subjects and depicts them with Elegance. I'm also always a slut for a story that is dark not from the absence of light, but from the smallness of it. Metaphorically speaking. He's just really great at tragedy that isn't a bummer. Peak.

Peele. How does he do it. Everything he makes is at once impeccably subtle and completely blatant. Everything he makes is at once terrifying and hilarious. (I think much horror-comedy either swings wildly back and forth between the two, or else is not actually scary at all.) His storytelling is also really tight like Sachar and Fincher, but imo has a more natural and realistic feeling to it. I also just really vibe with his concepts. I didn't really get Us (judging from its reception, that's absolutely a me problem), but Get Out and NOPE both have a message/allegory that I really believe in or identify with or however you'd describe that kaskfls. I hope one day my work will communicate its ideas just as well.

Honorable mentions to AJ White, Chuck Tingle, Joy Demorra, RoAnna Sylver, Harley LaRoux, Alice Scott, Magen Cubed, Rebecca Sugar, Joseph Fink, and the McElroy brothers for showing me I really can make whatever the hell I fucking want to and no matter what it is it can still be Good TM and I can still Make It TM - as well as that Making It TM can mean whatever kind/level of success is right for me.

Wonderful question, Marigold! Thank you!

[fearsmagazine]

COUNTRY OF HOTELS - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: Terror Films

SYNOPSIS: Should you end up in room 508 in this mysterious, nameless and fetid hotel, you will find yourself in an alternate reality, akin to the “Twilight Zone,” with an unseen threat lurking behind the walls and in the air ducts. COUNTRY OF HOTELS presents five tales of lost souls who enter room 508 and are confronted by the darkness in their lives.

REVIEW: COUNTRY OF HOTELS is an entry into the subgenre of sinister hotels/rooms such as the Cohen Brothers’ “Barton Fink,” David Lynch’s “The Hotel Room,” or the grand-daddy of them all “The Shinning” (pick your adaptation).

Having said that, COUNTRY OF HOTELS establishes an atmosphere and a tension that it sustains throughout. They achieve it through a compilation of performances, production values and camera work. The wallpaper in room 508 appears to be a homage to the carpet design from the Overlook Hotel in Kubrick’s “The Shining.” There are a lot of dark tones and hues that add to the oppressive feel of the film. Given the tight spaces, the edits are sharp with an organic feel to the movement. Christos Fanaras’s score was okay was okay, but the film’s sound design adds more to the overall atmosphere to the film. For all the room’s production design and art direction, the rest of the locations are lacking and feel makeshift, especially the check-in/front desk area.

The stories tend to be superficial in only addressing the particulars of the situation the viewer is presented with. The characters at the center of each tale do not present as a full person, never feeling there is a chance for redemption. Much like a classic EC Comic tale, such as “Tales From the Crypt” or “Haunt of Fear,” these characters wear their damnation on their sleeves. The TV in the room serves as a source of torment, sometimes feeling a bit more unrealistic than surreal. I enjoyed the adult themes. Still, the writing does not offer any satisfying conclusions or any speculation about the hotel or its staff to sustain the viewer’s curiosity past the credits.

The performances are interesting, frequently intense, but limited. There is no breathing room to allow the viewer to connect with the character and potentially feel for them. There is a lot of energy and a perspective of that character in that moment, which kept me at a distance, feeling like a spectator at a “peep show.”

Julio Maria Martino’s & David Hauptschein’s COUNTRY OF HOTELS is an interesting adult film about not nice people who find themselves in a surreal hotel room that challenges them. There are many good things about the film that make it worth a watch. I don’t feel the dark humor works and by the end I did not feel anything for these characters, even the hotel staff.

CAST: Siobhán Hewlett, Michael Laurence, Adam Leese, Matthew Leitch, Charles Pike, Sabrina Faroldi, Ben Shafik, Olegar Fedoro, and Mia Soteriou. CREW: Director - Julio Maria Martino; Screenplay - David Hauptschein; Producer - Saba Kia; Cinematographer - Stefano Slocovich; Score - Christos Fanaras; Editor - Peter Allinson; Production Designer - Mike McLoughlin; Costume Designer - Lauren Miller; Visual Effects Supervisor - Ross Macpherson OFFICIAL: N.A. FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/CountryOfHotels TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/MQFBf3vXcVY RELEASE DATE: On digital platforms May 26th, 2023

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay), or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[mississpissi]

i loooove listener questions (188) it’s so so cute like joseph fink just sat on his bed at his computer, legs in the air and giggling, and was like, “omg what if night vale was real?? what if i went to night vale! wow that would be so cute and fun i have got to write this! wait what if i got to be a voice actor too?? this is genius! i simply MUST tell jeffrey!” and then made himself part of the narrative. that’s so cute. it makes me giggle every time. they should have killed him when he was an intern. i want lubelle to explain him soooo so bad. do u understand?

[go-to-the-mirror]

Content warnings for parental death, unhealthy sibling relationship, spoilers for WTNV's "Ghost Stories" liveshow.

This is the true story. It is also a ghost story.

It could have been so beautiful—you scout out the road ahead and I will watch your back, how it was and how it will be, memory and fantasy— but each Jeff wants to be the other one. My name is Jeff and I'm tired of looking at the back of your head. My name is Jeff and I'm tired of seeing my hand me down clothes.

Step seven is to stoop down in front of your brother. He will avoid your gaze at first. Speak softly to him, not gently, but softly. Wrap your rain coat around his shoulders. Try not to let him know you're frustrated with him, but be aware that he knows anyway. Remember when he was a child that you were raising alone, and he refused to tell you he was in pain when his appendix was infected, how he refused to look you in the eyes just like he is now. Realize to yourself that he's hurting this time too, but a different kind of hurt.

Your name is Jeff and somewhere up ahead of you your brother has pulled to the side of the road and he is waiting for you with a lug wrench clutched in his greasy fist. 0 how he loves you, darling boy. 0 how, like always, he invents the monsters underneath the bed to get you to sleep next to him, chest to chest or chest to back, the covers drawn around you in an act of faith against the night. When he throws the wrench into the air it will catch the light as it spins toward you. Look—it looks like a star. You had expected something else, anything else, but the wrench never reaches you. It hangs in the air like that, spinning in the air like that. It's beautiful.

And family history, after all, is just another kind of ghost story. So ten years ago, on a night just like tonight, when the fog lay heavy on the lowlands, a man drove his sister home. And eleven years on a night just like tonight, their mother died, and it didn’t –mean- anything, but it happened. And the sister stood by and watched it happen and the brother, talked on the radio and didn’t even know that it had happened until afterwards, and there was nothing that they could have done. But still they regretted everything they didn’t do, and when she called to tell him what had happened, they were both silent for ten. full. seconds.

i know you. i know you. i know you. i can never get away from you.

Two brothers: one of them wants to take you apart. Two brothers: one of them wants to put you back together. It's time to choose sides now. The stitches or the devouring mouth? You want an alibi? You don't get an alibi, you get two brothers. Here are two Jeffs. Pick one. This is how you make the meaning, you take two things and try to define the space between them. Jeff or Jeff? Who do you want to be?

Remember how much you hated her. Wonder to yourself when that hate was transferred to your brother. Feel guilty.

She resents him and feels guilty for it, and he needs her and feels guilty for it, and their relationship was forged and damaged through factors outside of their control, and they just can't make it better because they are products of their mother, and they cannot escape her shadow.

And a year after that on a night just like tonight, a man drove his sister home. And she gets out of the car, and and and she goes into her house, and and and he drives away, it’s it’s simple it’s this, then this, then this, then this, then this.

"Ghost Stories" by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor / "You Are Jeff" by Richard Siken / "How to Maintain your Strained Relationship with your Alcoholic Younger Brother" by manwhoisnottall / "You Are Jeff" by Richard Siken / "Ghost Stories" by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor / "a haunting" by mag200 / "You Are Jeff" by Richard Siken / "How to Maintain your Strained Relationship with your Alcoholic Younger Brother" by manwhoisnottall / my writing on 1 July 2023 / "Ghost Stories" by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor