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flanaganfilm · 2 years

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The Midnight Club - Season Two

I'm very disappointed that Netflix has decided not to pursue a second season of THE MIDNIGHT CLUB.

My biggest disappointment is that we left so many story threads open, holding them back for the hypothetical second season, which is always a gamble.

So I'm writing this blog as our official second season, so you can know what might have been, learn the fates of your favorite characters, and know the answers to those dangling story threads from the first season.

So for those of you who want to know what we were planning to do, here's a look at what would have been season 2!

AMESH Season 2 would open with Amesh, his glioblastoma advancing quickly. He would tell the first story of the season, but would be struggling to make it through. We'd focus on his love story with Natsuki for those first few episodes as it becomes clear that Amesh's death is imminent.

Meanwhile, Ilonka is trying to reconcile how she was fooled by Julia Jayne, all while falling further in love with Kevin, and she realizes he may be fading faster than he lets on.

Ilonka begins a serialized story in an effort to encourage him to "stay alive a little longer," like he did in season one. And the story she tells is... REMEMBER ME.

This was the thing I was most excited about for this season.

REMEMBER ME is one of my all-time favorite Pike books - it tells the story of a teenage girl who is pushed off a balcony, and awakens as a ghost. She has to navigate being a spirit while trying to solve her own murder. We would have stretched this story out over 5 episodes. We were going to use it as a vehicle for Ilonka to try to come to terms with the fact that she is going to die, and to begin to trying to wrap her head around being a ghost... but this is the coolest part... the lead character of Ilonka's story wouldn't be played by Ilonka. She'd be played by...

Anya.

Because this is how we live on, isn't it? In the minds of those we leave behind. And Ilonka would use REMEMBER ME as a way to imagine her dear friend Anya, waking up as a ghost, navigating the afterlife. And this sets up one of the best mechanisms of the show - even if a character dies, as long as they're remembered by members of the club, they live on in their stories.

As the story starts to pick up steam, though, the group will have to deal with the death of Amesh, which he greets with grace and bravery.

In his final moments, he sees someone in his room - the Janitor from the first season, as played by Robert Longstreet, who says comforting things to Amesh even though he can't respond.

In his final, final moments, the SHADOW descends upon Amesh, and he is engulfed into it, which reinforces the idea that the Shadow is DEATH...

With Amesh's death comes something that upends the entire thing: a NEW PATIENT. We didn't work out too much about who this would be, but it would be a new roommate for Ilonka. Someone taking Anya's old bed. Ilonka would find herself being initially cold to her - just as Anya was when Ilonka arrived. Even feeling like this new girl shouldn't necessarily be ushered into the Club. But of course they would develop a beautiful friendship over the course of the season. The new girl joins the club, where something else exciting is happening - Cheri is telling a story. We hadn't decided which one, but I think it might have been MONSTER.

Natsuki would be the next to die, which would be heartbreaking. And again, she would talk to the janitor just before it happened... and again, the Shadow would come in the final moments.

For Spence, though, things would take a different turn.

The advancements in HIV treatment in the late 90's would come into play, and we'd see his prognosis change. The HIV cocktail came out in Dec 1995, and we really wanted to explore that.

Spence would ride the swell of antiviral advancements, and by the end of the season, he'd no longer be classified as terminal. In the finale of season 2, Spence would leave Brightcliffe just like Sandra did in Season 1, heading off to manage his disease and live the rest of his life.

But onto the BIG MYSTERIES of the season one... here are some answers: What is up with Dr. Stanton's tattoo and bald head? Well, a few things. First, Dr. Stanton is actually the daughter of the original Paragon cult leader, Aceso. Her nickname was Athena, she wrote the Paragon journal that Ilonka found in S1. She turned on her mother and helped the kids escape, but because she was part of the cult in her teenage years, she had the tattoo.

It was her initials that Ilonka found carved into the tree in season 1 (her maiden name was Georgina Ballard, hence the G.B. that Ilonka finds carved in the tree).

She hated what her mother became, and the atrocities of the cult. She reclaimed the property after her mom was gone, and wanted to change it into a place that celebrated life. She was trying to undo her mother's legacy and leave something behind that was beautiful. She is wearing a wig at the end of S1 not because of a sinister reason, but because she is undergoing chemo. Dr. Stanton has cancer. Having helped so many people deal with disease, she now has to deal with it herself.

Her treatment would be successful, and she'd go into remission, but having to face that - while caring for the terminal kids at Brightcliffe - was going to be a very introspective arc for Stanton.

What about the Living Shadow? It's Death, right? Well... no.

At the end of the season, Kevin will die... followed shortly by Ilonka. And as she is dying, two things will happen. First, she'll find herself talking to the Janitor, played by Robert Longstreet... and she'll make a discovery.

HE is Death. And nothing to be afraid of. It turns out no one else ever saw this character. Stanton has a cleaning service, and the Nurse practitioners make up the rooms - the only people who ever saw this mysterious Janitor were the patients. He is Death, and offers them kind words before they die. Then what was the Shadow?

This is an idea we take directly from the book REMEMBER ME, and we'll see it play out in the final moments of Ilona's final tale. In Pike's book, Shari is pursued by a dark entity called The Shadow. When it finally catches her, though, it turns out it is not a bad thing at all.

The Shadow is THEMSELVES. It's the Unknown. As it engulfs someone, in the last moment of their life, it takes them through a place of understanding and catharsis, preparing them for the next step.

THIS is what happened to Anya in S1 when the Shadow finally reached her - that's why she fantasized a life beyond Brightcliffe, which ultimately let her find acceptance of her death. It looks different for everybody, depending on their mind-set - because it is simply an extension of themselves.

The Shadow is just the final catharsis, a return to our original form - it is a moment of true understanding, and once we experience it, we move on to the next place.

We see the Shadow in full effect when it finally comes for Kevin. KEVIN DIES with Ilonka at his side, and it leads to the biggest reveal of the season:

Who were the Mirror Man and the Cataract Woman?

They were Stanley Oscar Freelan and his wife, who built Brightcliffe (fun trivia, he is named after the real-life Freelan Oscar Stanley, who built my favorite hotel in America - the Stanley Hotel. The Stanley is also the inspiration for THE SHINING!).

But more than that... there's a reason that Ilonka only sees Stanley in the mirror, and sees the Cataract Woman whenever she looked at Kevin. This is something else we took from Pike's original book... these aren't ghosts, but glimpses of PAST LIVES.

Ilonka WAS Stanley Oscar Freelan, and Kevin WAS his wife. They've lived many lives this way, and are true SOUL MATES - they always find each other, and they always fall in love. In this life, they knew it would be a short one, so they agreed to find each other in the house they built. They've been "remembering" who they are, and glimpsing their former selves in reflections, and sometimes when they look at each other. This is also why Ilonka's very first words to Kevin in S1 were "Do I know you?" and why Kevin thought she was familiar as well. They are two souls who always find each other, again and again.

The story is this: Stanley was dying, and built this cliffside home hoping that the seaside air would help him. It did, and he far outlived his prognosis (this is also true of the real-life Freelan Stanley). However, his wife began to succumb to dementia.

She would wander the halls, looking for him ("Darling!") and would even forget to feed herself ("I'm starving...") and she eventually refused to leave the basement. Heartbroken for her, Stanley painted the walls to resemble the woodland view, and the ceiling to resemble the night sky, so that it would be a little more beautiful for her.

He also painted a labyrinth on the floor, which was a technique used to try to curb the effects of dementia. She'd walk the pattern of the maze and it was believed it could help her cognition. Eventually, she developed frightening cataracts, but Stanley loved her through it all.

They were soul mates.

So while they seemed scary in season 1, that was just how Ilonka and Kevin's mind were trying to remember their pasts. We even had their faces distorting in ways consistent with how memories degrade over time. When the Shadow comes for Ilonka, and gives her this understanding - this "remembering" - she realizes she has nothing to fear. She and Kevin will shed these personas and be reborn, and have the joy of finding each other another way. The Shadow comes for her, Death takes her gently, and Ilonka goes off with Kevin back into the cosmos, ready for their next incarnation. The series would end with Cheri telling this story to a whole new table of patients, including our new series leads. Most of our original cast now would exist as stories, a story told to the next "class" of storytellers at the table, all of whom we will have met by the end of the season. A story called "The Midnight Club."

Well, that's it... that was what we had in mind. It's a shame we won't get to make it, but it would be a bigger shame if you guys simply had to live with the unanswered questions and the cliffhanger ending. I loved making this show, and I am so proud of the cast and crew. Particularly our cast, who attacked this story with incredible spirit and bravery each and every day.

But for now, we'll put the fire out, and leave the library dark and quiet. To those before, and to those after. To us now, and to those beyond.

Seen or unseen, here but not here.

I'll always be grateful that I got to be part of this Club.

#the midnight club #season 2 #cancelled #netflix #what might have been #flanaverse #mike flanagan #christopher pike #intrepid pictures #remember me #unanswered questions #loose ends #heather langenkamp #farewell brightcliffe

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homerstroystory · 1 year

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Looks vs. Loot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by The Antiquities Coalition (@/CombatLooting) on Twitter

Transcription below the cut

1: The #MetGala may be "fashion's biggest night," but tonight's event hides some dark truths at @/metmuseum...including a long history of looted antiquities. To spotlight some of the contested objects from the Met's collection, we are featuring #MetGala vs. Loot [THREAD]

2. First up: @/KimKardashian in @/Versace at the 2018 #MetGala posing next to the Golden Sarcophagus of Nedjemankh. The coffin was purchased by @/metmuseum in 2017 and repatriated in 2019 after this viral photo helped solve the case. (link)

3. Next, her sister @/KendallJenner in @/givenchy at the 2021 #MetGala as the 13th century wooden Temple Strut with Salabhinka, returned from @/metmuseum to the Government of Nepal in 2022, after it was determined to be looked from Itum Baha in Kathmandu. (link)

4. Another object from Nepal, @/rihanna in @/Margiel at the 2018 #MetGala as a 10th century Shiva in Himalayan Adobe with Ascetics. @/metmuseum was gifted the sculpture in 1995, but repatriated it to Nepal in 2022 along with the temple strut, after learning both were stolen.

5. Dakota Johnson in @/gucci at the 2022 #MetGala as a terracotta kylix (c. 470 bCE). This piece, valued at $1.5 million, was seized from the @/metmuseum in July 2022 after being linked to Italian antiquities trafficker Gianfranco Becchina. (link)

6. @/billieeilish in @/gucci at the 2022 #MetGala as the Fayum Mummy Portrait. Looted from Egypt and sold to @/metmuseum in 2013, it was seized in September '22 by @/ManhattanDA as part of a global investigation into an international trafficking ring. (link)

7. @/iamcardib in @/ThomeBrowne at the 2019 #MetGala as a painted linen fragment displaying a scene from the Book of Exodus, 'Exodus Painting" (250-450 CE), valued at over $1.6 million. The fragments were also part of the seizure by the @/ManhattanDA in September '22.

8. @/Beyonce in @/givenchy at the 2013 #MetGala as a 2,300-year-old vase that depicts the god Dionysus. The vase is linked to Giacomo Medici, an art dealer convicted of conspiracy to traffic antiquities in 2004, and was seized from the @/metmuseum in 2017. (link)

9. @/blakelively in @/Versace at the 2022 #MetGala as a bronze statuette of Jupiter. This object is among 27 antiquities that were returned to Italy and Egypt in 2022 after investigators seized them from the @/metmuseum. (link)

#archaeology #art #repatriation #metropolitan museum of art #met gala #looted art #isaac.txt

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greengableslover · 2 years

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You are not well. May I not call a doctor? No. I am well. I am well.

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1995) dir. Simon Langton | Episode 5

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matan4il · 4 months

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On this Yom Ha'Zikaron Le'Chalalei Ma'rachot Yisrael (Memorial Day for Israel's Fallen Soldiers and Terror Victims), I figured it's important to remember that Israeli victims did not exist solely on Oct 7. We have lost loved ones before and since. Here's a list with just one random victim to represent each year. Please scroll down the list to see how far back it goes.

(part 1/5, all parts in the reblogs)

2024: On Jan 7, we lost 19 years old Shai Garmai

2023: On Oct 7, we lost 28 years old Osama abu Madiam

2022: On Nov 23, we lost 18 years old Tiran Faro

2021: On May 12, we lost 5 years old Ido Avigal

2020: On Aug 26, we lost 39 years old Shai Ochayon

2019: On May 5, we lost 49 years old Zaid al-Chamamda

2018: On Dec 12, we lost Amiad Israel Yish Ran, who was murdered in his mother's womb

2017: On Nov 22, we lost 21 years old Hodaya Nechama Assoulin

2016: On Oct 25, we lost 14 years old Rami Namer abu Amar

2015: On Feb 17, we lost 4 years old Adelle Biton

2014: On Oct 22, we lost 2.5 months old Chaya Zissel Brown

2013: On Dec 24, we lost 22 years old Salech al-Din abu al-Atayef

2012: On Jul 18, we lost 28 years old Yitzchak Idan Kolangi

2011: On Apr 17, we lost 16 years old Daniel Aryeh Viplich

2010: On Feb 26, we lost 52 years old Netta Blatt Sorek

2009: On Apr 2, we lost 13 years old Shlomo Nativ

2008: On Mar 6, we lost 26 years old Doron Trunach Mahareta

2007: On Jun 17, we lost 85 years old Meir Cohen

2006: On Aug 10, we lost 4 years old Fatchi Assdi

2005: On Jul 12, we lost 16 years old Nofar Horvitz

2004: On Sep 29, we lost 2 years old Dorit Massarat Binsan

2003: On Sep 9, we lost 20 years old Naava Appelbom

2002: On Nov 10, we lost 4 years old Noam Levi Ochayon

2001: On Dec 12, we lost 42 years old Ester Avraham

2000: On Nov 21, we lost 19 years old Itamar Yefet

1999: On Jun 24, we lost 34 years old Tony Eliyahu Zanna

1998: On Dec 2, we lost 41 years old Osama Moussa abu Aisha

1997: On Mar 13, we lost 13 years old Natali Alkalai

1996: On Feb 25, we lost 57 years old Yitzchak Elbaz

1995: On Jul 24, we lost 60 years old Zehava Oren

As Tumblr limits a post to 30 images... part 1/5 - the next parts will be posted in the reblogs momentarily. Please check out the full list.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

#israel #antisemitism #israeli #israel news #israel under attack #israel under fire #terrorism #anti terrorism #hamas #antisemitic #antisemites #jews #jew #judaism #jumblr #frumblr #jewish #israelunderattack

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mightyflamethrower · 8 months

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15 Facts About E. Jean Carroll’s Allegations Against Trump the Media Don’t Want You to Know

1. Bergdorf Goodman has no surveillance video of the alleged incident.

2. There are zero witnesses to the alleged sexual attack.

3. Carroll first came forward — conveniently — with the allegations while promoting her book What Do We Need Men For? in 2019, which featured a list of “The Most Hideous Men of My Life.”

4. Carroll was unable to remember when this alleged attack even occurred. She told her lawyer in 2023, “This question, the when, the when, the date, has been something I’ve [been] constantly trying to pin down.” She has jumped years — originally beginning with 1994, then moving to 1995, and even floating to 1996. She cannot remember the season in which the alleged attack occurred either.

5. The Donna Karan blazer dress she claims to have worn during the alleged incident was not even available at the time of her claims. Trump Attorney Boris Epshteyn told reporters, “She said, ‘This is the dress I wore in 1994.’ They went back, they checked. The dress wasn’t even made in 1994.”

“And that’s why the date’s moved around. This is the 80s. Is it the 90s? Is it the 2000s? President Trump has consistently stated that he was falsely accused, and he has the right to defend himself,” he added.

6. She never came forward with these allegations over the years despite constantly being open about sexuality, posting things that were very sexual in nature on social media — many of which Trump has shared. They include remarks such as “How do you know your ‘unwanted sexual advance’ is unwanted, until you advance it?” and “Sex Tip I Learned From My Dog: When in heat, chase the male until he collapses with exhaustion … then jump him!”

7. She said she was never raped, telling the New York Times’ podcast, The Daily,“Every woman gets to choose her word. Every woman gets to choose how she describes it. This is my way of saying it. This is my word. My word is ‘fight.’ My word is not the ‘victim’ word. I have not — I have not been raped,” she continued. “I have — something has not been done to me. I fought. That’s the thing.”

8. She named her cat “Vagina.” “Her dog, or her cat, was named ‘Vagina.’ The judge wouldn’t allow us to put that in — all of these things — but with her, they could put in anything: Access Hollywood,” Trump told CNN.

9. Joe Tacopina, an attorney for Trump, pointed out in May 2023 that Carroll’s entire story has incredible similarities to a 2012 episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. In that episode, titled “Theatre and Tricks,” an individual talks about a rape fantasy in Bergdorf Goodman — the same department store where Carroll claims the incident took place.

10. Speaking of shows, Carroll loved Trump’s show The Apprentice.

“I was a big fan of the show. Very impressed by it,” Carroll said on the witness stand, adding that she “had never seen such a witty competition on TV, and it was about something worthwhile, competing.”

11. Carroll made a joke associating sex with Bergdorf Goodman in a November 1993 edition of Elle, which was before the alleged Trump attack took place. As Breitbart News detailed:

Carroll was responding to a letter from a female reader concerned that she was having trouble achieving orgasm through sexual intercourse alone while the reader said that she could climax through foreplay. “Is there any way I could learn to reach orgasm through sex?” asked the reader in the November 1993 edition. “Maybe books I could read?” Carroll replied with the following advice (emphasis added): Dear Snowed Under: Stop flagellating yourself. Gadzooks! At least you have orgasms. And if that isn’t spontaneous sex I don’t know what is. Most women (about 70 percent) experience difficulties climaxing through intercourse alone. So you’re perfectly normal. Begin by reading For Yourself by Dr. Lonnie Barbach. She’ll give you excellent instructions on how to have an orgasm during intercourse. Then after 313 queenhell love-wiggles, move on to Gretta Garbo’s favorite love position – the top. (In erotic scenes, Garbo is always above the man. So are Sharon Stone, Bette Midler and Katherine Hepburn). Indeed, this location works better for women than the fourth floor of Bergdorf’s.

12. Carroll is financially backed by anti-Trump Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman, who has openly admitted to visiting convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s private island.

13. Democrat party activists back her as well, as Breitbart News detailed:

Indeed, one of Carroll’s attorneys is Roberta Kaplan — a Democrat Party activist who led the group Time’s Up. She left the activist group after it was revealed she was aiding former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in attempting to discredit the Democrat’s accusers. It served as a great irony as Time’s Up seeks to defend women from what it claims is discrimination and harassment. This fact has led to mounting speculation that Kaplan only gets involved in cases that she views as politically expedient. Further, Federal District Judge Lewis Kaplan is overseeing the process and has connections to Carroll’s other attorney, Shawn Crowley. She was actually a law clerk for Judge Kaplan, and he officiated her wedding. That aside, Trump has denied knowing the left-wing activist as the only evidence of any contact is a single picture with Carroll greeting Trump and his ex-wife Ivana at an event greeting line over 35 years ago. Carroll has yet to provide solid evidence of this alleged encounter and will not use the dress that she claims had DNA on it from this alleged incident. Even Trump publicly said the dress should be part of the case. Further, there are no eyewitnesses of this alleged incident, which supposedly occurred at the popular New York City department store.

14. The lawsuit was only able to proceed after Democrats created the Adult Survivors Act in 2022. She conveniently pursued this suit in November following the law going into effect, which allowed her to avoid the statute of limitations for this case.

15. Carroll once said, “Most people think of rape as sexy.”

Donald Trump Jr. also retweeted a list of facts about Carroll, urging others to take a look:

- She couldn't recall the date, month, season, or year the incident happened -

She never told anyone about it, despite being publicly obsessed with her own sexuality -

The dress she claims to have been wearing didn't exist at the time -

Her description of the dressing room at Bergdorf Goodman was inaccurate, making her sequence of events impossible -

Her lawsuit was bankrolled by Jeffrey Epstein pal and Democrat (and Nikki Haley) mega-donor Reid Hoffman -

Democrats created a law (The Adult Survivors Act in 2022) to enable her lawsuit to proceed - Her accusation is the exact plotline of an episode of Law & Order (one of her "favorite shows") -

Trump's Apprentice was also one of her favorite shows -

She has a history of falsely accusing men of r*pe, including Les Moonves - She told Anderson Cooper, "most people think of r*pe as being sexy. Think of the fantasies." -

She made a career promoting promiscuity, even writing glowingly of sexual assault and naming her cat Vagina

We owe Stalin and Hitler a huge apology. We are ever so bad as they ever were. This isn't Justice. Its punishment for for disobeying the deep state elites.

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cetitan · 1 month

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Palestinian fundraisers that have contacted me - August 17th, 2024

An asterisk (*) means unvetted but likely legitimate (no reverse image search results, personal video recordings attached).

Pay attention to and keep in mind exchange rates while donating to make sure you are donating a meaningful amount.

Musab @musababed - £3,954 / £8,000 [Link] Imtithal @d-imtthal - €2,357 / €50,000 [Link]* Sabah Mohammed @sabahfamily - £7,465 / £50,000 [Link]* Eslam @eslamfamily - $1,125 / $50,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Ayaa @ayoosh-gaza - $1,289 / $20,000 [Link] Tahrir @syamamasamt - !! $80 !! / $65,000 [Link]* Ahmed Al-Habil @ahmed-omar0 - €694 / €50,000 [Link] Rana @ranoshfamily - !! €185 !! / €70,000 [Link]* - 🇵🇸 Husam Farhat @frhatfamily - $4,297 / $29,500 [Link] Ahmed @save-ahmed-family1 - €537 / €20,000 [Link]* Nada Al-Farra @dodiahmed123 - €319 / €20,000 [Link]* Salem @salem-baker - €5,131 / €38,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Wijdan @wejdan-32 - €475 / €20,000 [Link]* Mohamed Mikki @mohamed-mikki - $1,598 / $20,000 [Link] Mohamad @mohamadsmeer33 - $781 / $12,000 [Link]* Osama Al-Anqar @osama-family - £420 / £50,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Mahmoud Alkhaldi @mahmoud-1995 - $10,536 / $50,000 [Link] Mohammed A. @mohammednasers-blog - €1,612 / €38,000 [Link] Safaa @safaa18mero - $8,922 / $75,000 [Link] Mahmoud Khalaf @mahmoudkhalafff - €22,833 / €30,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Ahmed @save-salam-family - €21,385 / €40,000 [Link] Ola Ferwana @abedallhferwanagaza - €2,024 / €35,000 [Link] Sameer Al Khaldi @sameer-17 - $1,115 / $50,000 [Link] Hanaa Jad Al-Haq @hanaa-yousef - £10,020 / £20,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Mohammed Alwadiya @schihiro44 - $1,470 / $35,000 [Link] Fadi A. Ayyad @mayadayyad81 - $36,670 / $50,000 [Link] Falestine @falestine-yousef - $11,677 / $40,000 [Link] Ahmed @ahmadresh - $6,122 / $10,000 [Link] - 🇵🇸 Aseel @aseelo680 - $10,820 / $20,000 [Link] Ahmed Awad @save-hijazi-family2 - €11,405 / €20,000 [Link] Youssef @yousefjehad3 - $3,105 / $15,000 [Link] Fatima Alanqar @fatma--gaza - €4,994 / €20,000 [Link]

The overwhelming majority of donation requests I have received have been legitimate, and as you may notice, many of them are far from their goals. Many of these unvetted campaigns are donation protected, so please do not let that deter you. I do not think it pays to be overly cautious in this scenario. Tumblr is the only social media site these families have to garner an audience, do not wait until they all become verified to donate to them. Would you rather chance the 5 dollars you donate go to waste (a very unlikely scenario, if you use proper discretion) or not donate at all? Accept the risk and do not be guarded with your generosity. Some of these have not seen a single donation in days.

#Palestine

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todayinhiphophistory · 4 months

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Today in Hip Hop History:

Luniz released the single I Got 5 On It May 23, 1995

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sweetdreamsjeff · 9 months

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Soul Coughing/ Jeff Buckley Rock the House

Great American Music Hall on Thursday

night (May 4, 1995)

By MTV News Staff

May 6, 1995

12:00 AM

Editor's Note: We found a pile of notes on the recent Jeff

Buckley/Soul Coughing concert scribbled by our business manager, Steve McConnell. They were almost unintelligible, but after hours and hours of deciphering, we were able to piece together the following report.

Listen to Soul Coughing's debut album, Ruby Vroom, and you'd think the New York-based quartet were beat poets messing around with samples. See them in person however, and it is clear that they are from the New York white-boy school of rap (think low-keyed Beastie Boys). That was the most surprising thing about their terrific hour-long performance at the Great American Music Hall on Thursday night (May 4).

"You all don't have to get up," said leader singer/rapper M. Doughty, as Soul Coughing took the stage. "I was kinda digging that campfire thing." He was directing his comments to the nearly 100 people sitting cross-legged on the floor of San Francisco's Great American Music Hall.

Ruby Vroom has received some remarkable (and well deserved) reviews. The New Yorker called it "one of the best records of 1994"; Details noted that "this is some serious boho, Dada shit." Live, the group more than lived up to such praise.

Soul Coughing is comprised of Sebastian Steinberg on upright bass; Yuval Gabay, drums; M'Ark De Gli Antoni, keyboards/samples; and Doughty on guitar and vocals. They emerged from the New York avant garde jazz scene (John Zorn gets a word of thanks in the album credits). Live, the group brought together elements of Morphine (the driving bass and narrative style), Digable Planets ( rap set to jazz samples) and the Beasties. But where Digable Planets come from the rap world and the Beasties arrived via punk, Soul Coughing bring a distinctive bohemian jazz sensibility to the mix.

At the Music Hall, they performed nearly the entire album. Highlights included "Casiotone Nation," "Mr. Bitterness," "Down To This" and the amazing "Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago," which included the line "San Mateo is in the house." After performing that song, noting the enthusiastic response, Doughty said, "I guess San Mateo is in the house."

Headliner Jeff Buckley was in fine form, performing one of the most rocking sets of his current tour (at least according to a fan who saw the last four shows), stretching out many of the songs and improvising. Buckley played a taped-up red Rickenbacker six string guitar; his voice sounded even more beautiful and emotional than on his debut album, Grace. At one point someone from the audience yelled, "Shonen Knife?" "OK," replied Buckley, then played two minutes of a Shonen Knife song while the rest of the band smirked. Half way through the set Buckley played a loud and raucous version of the MC5's "Kick Out the Jams."

#jeff buckley #jeffbuckley #soul coughing #great american music hall #san francisco #may 5 1995 #May #1995 #mtv #catnip dream #shonen knife

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she-is-ovarit · 10 months

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Data spanning from 1995 to 2021 in India revealed a striking gender imbalance in organ transplants, with four men getting organ transplants for every woman. A total of 36,640 transplants took place in this period, out of which 29,000 were for men and 6,945 for women.

This substantial difference is attributed to a complex interplay of economic responsibilities, societal pressures, and deeply ingrained preferences.

Dr Anil Kumar, director of the government-run National Organ & Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO) highlighted this significant aspect of the organ donation landscape.

While more men contribute as cadaver donors, a staggering 93 per cent of total organ donations in the country come from living donors, he told the Times of India newspaper. This hints at a trend: a majority of living organ donors are women. Socio-economic factors a driving force for women donors? A study published in the Experimental and Clinical Transplantation Journal in 2021 delved into the intricacies of living organ transplantation in India. The findings showed that 80 per cent of living organ donors are women, predominantly wives or mothers. The socio-economic pressure on women to assume caregiving roles within the family emerges as a primary factor, compelling them to step forward as donors. Men's reluctance in surgery In many cases, men, often the primary breadwinners, hesitate to undergo surgery, contributing to the gender gap in organ recipients. The study highlights that when the recipient is a male breadwinner, family members, especially wives or parents, feel a heightened responsibility to donate organs. Emotional dynamics The emotional dynamics surrounding organ donation are intricate. Women recipients, in particular, may experience guilt when their family members, especially wives or mothers, become donors. This reluctance leads to a scenario where women recipients may find themselves on waiting lists. Notably, Karnataka has topped the charts in organ donation in the past decade. The number of donations have risen from 102 in 2013 to 765 in the first 10 months of 2023.

A user on Ovarit added this helpful context:

"Just a little more context to this: men produce male-specific proteins (on the Y chromosome) which often get rejected by women's bodies. Since males have an X chromosome, their bodies recognize proteins from female donors. This makes it more difficult for women to receive male tissue/organs, while still being acceptable candidates for donating to men. Even still, these ratios are very disproportionate".

"As women we absolutely need to be aware of our vulnerability of being used as spare parts in a man's world. Especially when we are being socialized into believing that we need to sacrifice our bodies and lives for others- and society has developed a sense of entitlement to this sacrifice, while downplaying the suffering of women."

#organ donation #marxist feminism #India #women's rights #feminism #global feminism #intersectional feminism #women's oppression #patriarchy #sex-based oppression #gender critical #gender critical feminism #radblr

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mikeysagereblog · 1 month

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⊗ superhero cartoons to watch when little!!! (or big, they're that good imo!!) ⊗

✧.* i've been wanting to make this list for a while now, mainly because i wanna talk about my fav cartoons/open up opportunities for other littles to find something awesome to watch!!! there's gonna be a lot of ranges in age ratings to add some variety for older/younger littles :)

✧.* also, i'd like to put a disclaimer here and say that a lot of these are on streaming services that i own, but other littles may not. i would also like to say that there are ways to get around a paywall if you can't afford certain streaming services!!! you can find full episodes on youtube/other sites for free!!! (just use an adblocker if you're on a site other than youtube if u can!!)

✧.* another disclaimer: any regressor of any age can watch any of these shows!! i just wanted to put the age ratings for those who want to stick to media that's more in their age range!! so, don't feel like you have to limit yourself from watching certain shows just because of how old you regress to!!

✧.* spectacular spider-man (2008-2009, 2 seasons): suitable for 7-8+, but i'd say it'd be okay for littles who regress younger to watch, too!! honestly, my all-time favorite spider-man cartoon!!! not only is it fun to watch while little, you can truly appreciate the show when you're big, too!!! josh keaton's voicework as spider-man is just- ahhhh it's so amazing imo!! the story is really good, the animation/style is just so iconic, and the colors are very easy on the eyes!!! (especially if you're sensitive to bright colors when little/in general) absolute banger of a theme song, too!!!

✧.* x-men: the animated series (1992-1997, 5 seasons): rated for around 7-8+, but i do admit that there can be some scary scenes for especially younger/more sensitive littles. honestly, this show is great!!! i loved all the different story arcs, how colorful the show is, the characters themselves- a lot of cool stuff about this show!!! be warned, there's a sudden drop in quality during season 5... i think they switched animation studios/va's or something because season 5 is NOT the best season of the show, i'll tell you that... 0_0

✧.* x-men '97 (2024-present, 1 season so far): rated for 14+, so this show is more suitable for teen regressors. it's a continuation of x-men:tas, and oh man... this is it. my favorite cartoon of all time!!! the animation is just oh so beautiful!!! the fight scenes are awesome!!! the soundtrack- oh golly the soundtrack!!! the remastered x-men:tas opening is just- wow!!! but, there's definitely reasons why it's rated 14+... not gonna spoil anything, but there's a lot of scenes in the show that can be upsetting for younger littles. trust me, watching some scenes when you're little is just- too much sometimes... (speaking from experience) it's an amazing show, but watch at ur own risk if you're a younger regressor!!!

✧.* batman: the animated series (1992-1995, 4 seasons): i'd say it's for around ages 9-10+, since it can be fairly dark at times. (same goes for a lot of batman related media!!) honestly, this show's pretty good!!! the style of the show is very dark visually, so it's easy on the eyes for those with bright color sensitivities!!! the artstyle itself is also very nice to look at!!! the voicework is amazing as well, especially kevin conroy's (rip) performance as batman himself!!! from what i can remember, the plotpoints were also pretty on-par!! i remember liking the show a lot when i was a kid!! :)

✧.* hulk vs. wolverine (not a show but an animated movie, 2009): this one's rated pg-13, since there's depictions of violence. but, i gotta say- this movie had me hyped up when i watched it as a kid!!! this was part of a straight to video two-movie collection, (the other being "hulk vs. thor") and i gotta say... this movie was awesome!!! the fight scenes were rad as heck, the animation was amazing, even deadpool was in the movie!!! (which, fun fact, was his first appearance in animation!!! other than the 2 second cameo in x-men:tas) very fun movie!!!

✧.* these are just some recommendations!!! i really liked these when i was a kid, and i hope you'll like them too, if you decide to watch them!!!

✧.* (also yay!! finally have a new banner!!! + i updated my blog's theme because nightcrawler is so awesome and he's literally my cg guys!!! he said it himself :3)

#sfw agere #sfw interaction only #sfw littlespace #sfw regression #age regression sfw #age regression #xmen agere #xmen #x men agere #spiderman #spiderman agere #batman #batman agere #wolverine #hulk vs wolverine

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if-whats-new · 18 days

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What's New In IF? Issue 21 (2024)

By Marjorie, Axelle, Noi. Brij, Dion and Bex

Now Available!

Itch.io. - Keep Reading below

If you read the zine, consider liking the post: it helps us see how many people sees it! And sharing is caring! <3

~ EDITORIAL ~

Still looking for members!

To ensure the zine has a bright future, we are still looking for free hands with a couple of hours to kill, and minds, looking to make a little difference in the community! Our team might have grown, but there is space for more kind souls!

If you too would like to help us out in a more official capacity, we have some key positions available in our roster. So shoot us a message!

This week, we had a very special guest on Small Talk... XYZZY winner, surrealist author, multimedia creator and Tumblr sensation...

Kit Riemer (@adz)!

We dove into their strange worlds, talked about their impactful games, and learned some pretty interesting stuff about making games!

Check out our interview with Kit Riemer on Small Talk...

We hope you enjoy

this new issue!

MARJORIE, AXELLE, NOI, BRIJ, DION, BEX

~ BE PART OF THE ZINE ~

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? HAS EXPANDED!

Since the release of issue #14, we've enacted some changes with the zine. It is now expanded with interviews of creators from all around the IF world, as well as direct contributions from you, our readers!

THIS ZINE ONLY HAPPENS WITH YOU!

Want to write 1-2 pages about a neat topic, or deep-dive into a game and review it in details? Share personal experiences or get all academic?

WRITE FOR THE COLUMN!

Prefer to be more low-key but still have something to share? Send us a Zine Letter or share a game title for Highlight on…!

WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU!

Excited as we are about next week's interview and have questions for our guest? Or want to see a certain author answer questions next? Message us!

SMALL TALK... IS WAITING!

Came across something interesting? Know a release or an update announced? Saw an event happening? Whether it's a game, an article, a podcast… Add any IF-related content to our mini-database!

EVERY LITTLE BIT COUNTS!

~ EVENT SPOTLIGHT : IFCOMP ~

The Superbowl of Interactive Fiction

The Interactive Fiction Competition (or IFComp) is one of the major yearly IF events, since 1995. It may be even the longest still-recurring yearly game making event!

Started by Kevin Wilson in the IF Usenet Forum rec.arts.int-fiction, submitted games were limited to 2h playtime before being judged and ranked by players.

Throughout the years, the IFComp evolved, seeing a couple dozens of parser entries to a wide and diverse range of IF forms. Still, after ballooning during Covid, with recurring 70+ entries, the event continues to be a key avenue for IF creation

As the submission period ended just this week, the IFComp is now moving to its Voting Period, which will last for 1-1/2 month (until October 15). Starting this Sunday, judges will be able to play and rate entries (minimum of 5 to count).

At the end of the event, if participants rank high enough, they are eligible for prizes and part of the Colossal Fund pie! @ifcomp They are still looking for donations!

Looking for great games to play? Want your voice make a difference? Go create an account and vote!

~ ENDED ~

IntroComp officially ended this week. Though there was only one courageous entry this year, congratulations to the winner! Maybe we'll see Good Bones completed within the year!

The campfire ashes of the Tales to Thrill jam have expired. But there are still 10 thrilling entries to check out!

While you can't eat them, you will find three Confiture de Parser entries to play! New and veteran parser creators spent the summer making some fun games (in French)!

As for the SuNoFes Jam, they broke all their records in submissions! Go check out some really cool entries!

The Review-a-thon also ended last week, helping add over a hundred reviews to willing games, and raising money in the process!

~ ONGOING (VOTING) ~

Voting has now started for IFComp! Until Oct 15, you can play and rate at least 5 of the 67 entries! Yup, only just 5 games to be an official judge!

~ ONGOING (SUBMITTING) ~

Only this weekend left to submit for the Bitsy Jam 83! This edition's theme is “temporary”!

The Bring Out Your Ghost jam of remembering old WIPs is coming to an end this weekend. This will be your last chance to show off your ghosts (or attempt to finish them)! @neointeractives

If you are looking to create something but can't do a whole game, the Game Mockup Jam might be for you! Returning this year, the jam is looking for 1-4 screenshots of a game that doesn't exist! @romanhyacinths

Running until Halloween, the Phantasia Jam is a three months game jam to create a fantasy narrative game, with the theme of “Hidden Magic”. It accepts both VN and IF.

On the CoG Forum, Halloween is already there! Until Oct 31st, submit to the Halloween Jam - it has funky themes!

Do you understand or write Ukrainian? Until the end of the year, the Ukrainian IF Festival is happening on itch.io!

~ OTHER ~

The Interactive Fiction Showcase is still running! If you have completed an IF piece this year, consider submitting it! It is happening only on itch!

~ SMALL TALK… ~

WITH KIT RIEMER (@adz)

~ Joining us this week is surrealist author, multimedia creator and Tumblr sensation: Kit Riemer ~ Author of “Computerfriend”, “Verses, and more! ~

Due to Tumblr's link limit, this transcription does not include any links. Download the zine on itch for the complete list.

⟶ Hello Kit! Welcome to Small Talk…

Thanks for having me!

⟶ Please, tell us a bit more about yourself and how you landed in the Interactive Fiction community.

When I was young, I was a big fan of those Choose Your Own Adventure books. The Goosebumps ones were okay, but I found a few pulp scifi ones from the '80s/'90s that were gorier and weirder, and I loved them... at my dad's recommendation, I fooled around with a few parser games like Zork in high school, but didn't realize there was an extant community for that kind of game until much later, when I published consciousness hologram. I originally wrote it as a series of HTML webpages for a hybrid poetics class I took in college, and my friend Brett convinced me to drop it into Twine and build in more interactivity. Then I found my way onto the Intfiction forum and never looked back.

⟶ Let's start with consciousness hologram, which you published in 2018, which was clearly inspired visually by early Twine games. What drove this specific formatting of the game?

It's funny you say that, cuz I wasn't really aware of other Twine games when I made it... I think it looks that way because I was just learning how to use Twine (and write basic HTML), and the styling/coding I did was extremely rudimentary and mostly based on the o.g. HTML webpage version of the story. I like the plainness of old Geocities sites and was trying to recreate that vibe, and I actually think the webpage version of the story was more visually appealing, but I quickly got addicted to the branching choice format. consciousness hologram is my most deliberately interactive game, with customizable name/pronouns and a bunch of little optional choices and branches. For future games, I had to learn to pare down...

⟶ Yet, this styling has not completely disappeared in your subsequent projects, especially in the Computerfriend series. Were those a deliberate choice?

The styling did become more deliberate in Computerfriend. That game was very carefully styled; especially the Hyperpages section, which was a reskinned version of ripped code from a Geocities forum. I spent a long time experimenting with different graphics and recreating old operating system layouts (it was originally supposed to look like Windows 95).

⟶ Is there a particular section/scene of consciousness hologram that you like the most? or one you regret?

I haven't played it in such a long time, but I have fond memories of James's integration section. His voice was a blast to write; a kind of friendly/malevolent ghost hanging around in the background of everything that happens. I'm sure if I played it now I'd cringe at most of it, but so much time has passed that it doesn't particularly feel like my game. When I (very occasionally) get comments about it, it comes as a surprise to me

⟶ Universal Hologram was your entry into IF competitions, resulting in the 23rd rank at the famed IFComp. What was your experience with the biggest IF competition? Were you stressed at all as a first time entrant?

I didn't really understand the prestige of IFComp when I joined, so I wasn't that stressed. The private author's channel was also great for relieving some of that nervousness by commiserating with everyone else. I did get a bit more self-aware as I learned about the community and received real, good, critical reviews. Not all the feedback I got was positive, but it was thoughtful and useful, and I liked that the reviewers stuck to their guns and expressed themselves clearly. During the competition, I finally started playing more IF and began to understand what was expected of a serious piece of IF.

⟶ There were a couple of years between consciousness hologram and Universal Hologram. Was there something about this game that took a while to do?

After finishing consciousness hologram, I still wasn't really involved with the IF scene, and I spent the next couple years writing a weird little novel called North Alter. While working on it, I got sick, and was spending a lot of time seeing different doctors and dealing with symptoms that made it difficult to be productive (this lasted from around 2019-2022). At one point, I listed consciousness hologram on IFDB and thought it would be funny if my friends review-bombed it so it was the lowest-rated thing on the site. I didn't realize there was a serious community there, and on my sorry-for-being-an-idiot tour I met a bunch of folks who were super smart, funny, and kind. I also got some legitimate feedback on my work, and it made me want to take another crack at Twine, so I started work on a sequel to consciousness hologram.

⟶ What is your favorite moment in Universal Hologram? What about your least favorite?

Universal Hologram is a fundamentally silly game, and most of the things I dislike about it now are related to tone. Its philosophical themes (like negative utilitarianism) have an inherent humor, at least to me, but the super casual character dialogue I wrote for it was criticized, rightfully I think, for not seeming to take itself seriously and leaning too hard on slang & swearing. The tonal shift at the end threw some players, too, but I think that's my favorite moment — whichever branch you take, I tried to make the final act of the game feel high stakes. I love the novel The Stars My Destination by Alfred Bester and the paradigm shifting sequence at its end, where each earlier part is put into perspective and the reader (or at least this reader) thinks "oh damn, this is bold, he's actually doing X," so I wanted to try to pull off something similar.

⟶ Universal Hologram (and in a small section Computerfriend) includes AI-generated images. AI is currently a hot-topic in the IF-scene. What was the reaction of players regarding these images? Has your view on AI changed since?

When I was working on Universal Hologram, AI image generation tools were in a fairly early state. They were being written, trained, and published mostly by researchers and students, and it felt exciting to take advantage of them and experiment, especially in the context of a game like Universal Hologram, which deals with issues like the moral weight of an artificial intelligence. It was before the training data was poisoned by recursive AI garbage, so the result of my prompts was often inhuman, grotesque, and unique in a way I found appealing. You had to make choices like selecting the training database and setting how many iterations of an image the program would create, starting from a purplish blob and solidifying (hopefully) into something vaguely resembling the prompt. I especially enjoyed creating GIFs of the images resolving over the course of 300 or so iterations, forcing the program to gradually improve on an alien task it would never understand.

Like most people, I soured on generative AI pretty quickly. Businesses with access to massive (dubiously acquired) user data archives used them to train programs that became more and more predictable. I educated myself about the ethics and the growing environmental impact of tools like ChatGPT, but I also began seeing them used to create petabytes of SEO-optimized spam webpages and Facebook ragebait and samey & terrible stories, games, and images that began to overwhelm the small creative communities I frequented. So even though nobody ever criticized my use of AI (that I know of), I abandoned it, because today's generative AI tools seem antithetical to the things I love about art: individuality, creativity, making something out of nothing.

⟶ You didn't just participate in the IFComp, following up 6 months later with the release of Computerfriend at the SpringThing. Did you notice differences in the vibes between the two events?

Computerfriend was not meant to be a widely accessible or likable game, and I happened to finish it around the time that Spring Thing was occurring, so it seemed like a good match - I think of Spring Thing as a bit friendlier, less qualitative, & more open to odd stuff. (My favorite games that year, Manifest No and Phenomena, were both entered in the Back Garden section.) I do think Spring Thing reviews are a little less critical. Festival vs. competition.

⟶ Can you tell us a bit more about Computerfriend? And how came you up with it?

I plotted out Computerfriend while still quite sick, depressed, and isolated, and I wanted the game to reflect that isolation. I was in therapy at the time, and something that came up often was my feeling that my emotional state was actually completely normal given the circumstances — like, I had been a physically healthy & productive adult, and then I became unable to leave my house or work or see friends, and my reaction to that was, if anything, indicative of a healthy mind. And I began to imagine this character undergoing a similar existence, with personal and environmental factors that made their life hellish, and how frustrating it would be to be told that the way they felt (rather than their miserable material circumstances) was the problem. Then I researched a bunch of different therapeutic techniques to determine how they'd be used to treat someone like this.

⟶ Computerfriend won an IFDB and XYZZY Award, as well as being placed in the Top 50 IF Games of All Time. Did you expect the game to get such a following?

The response to Computerfriend was overwhelmingly positive in comparison to anything else I’ve released. I received some very kind and passionate reviews (which I go back and read occasionally when I need motivation) from intfic writers for whom I have a great deal of respect. It was a big surprise to me that folks enjoyed the game; I had written it from a very bleak & depressed perspective, but there's also some humor, and I heard from a number of players that it was a more pleasant experience than I'd expected, or really intended. Even being nominated for those awards (among brilliant authors like Autumn Chen and Jim Nelson) was hugely flattering.

⟶ Do you have a review that struck you the most?

I think a lot about Kaemi's review of Computerfriend. Kaemi writes such beautiful, intricate, strange prose, and the review is freewheeling but very specific and insightful. Sometimes I'll read a review of something I've written and it'll describe a theme or rationalize the presence of some metaphor/concept in my work, and I'll think "oh, that's why I did that." The people who closely read my stories often have better insight than I do.

⟶ Is there a scene or passage in Computerfriend that you hold dearly?

My favorite scenes in Computerfriend were when I was able to go full Gibsonian sci-fi and invent neologisms, cults, gory window dressing, stuff like that. The parts drawn from my life were not so much fun to write, but it was enjoyable mixing them with way over-the-top genre fiction details. And probably kind of therapeutic, too.

⟶ While Computerfriend was a complete entry, you did write a short sequel for it. Can you tell us a bit more about that?

After publishing Computerfriend I received some (mostly facetious) comments saying I should make a dating sim with the title character, and I thought it was a funny idea, but didn't seriously consider it until my friends in the Neointeractives group threw Smoochie Jam. I'd been plugging away at Verses for a couple years and I needed a break, so I dumped the Computerfriend stylesheet into a new file and wrote Familiar over the course of a few days. Although it was initially kind of a joke, I ended up writing it in a more serious voice. It's a very short, inessential game, a little postface for players who didn't get the closure they needed from Computerfriend.

⟶ What did you enjoy the most while writing Familiar?

I like Godfield, and returning for a little while was nice. When I work on a single project for too long, I enter its world completely, and it’s isolating to throw days, weeks, months, even years of energy into this void that no one else can see. Then, when I publish, the fugue ends so abruptly that by the time the work receives attention and comments, I’m somewhere else entirely. Familiar was less a creative exercise and more a check-in with an older version of myself - how bleak is this place, really? Can anything of value be found there? It didn’t get a lot of attention, but I enjoyed working on it.

⟶ From a more dystopian sci-fi setting, you moved towards bi-lingual works, starting with piele. What was the reason behind this form of translating interactivity?

piele is a prototype for the translation mechanic in Verses (which I just published as part of IFComp). I wanted to build a natural-feeling system to understand both literal and metaphorical/contextual meaning in poetic translation, and piele was my first attempt. I normally wouldn't have published it, but the Neo-Twiny Jam (also from the Neointeractives) was running at the time, and I wanted to show people this little toy I'd made.

⟶ Was there a particular reason for using Romanian as the translated language?

I have Romanian ancestors, and the poetry translation was an exercise to build better cultural knowledge of their place of origin. I don’t speak Romanian, nor do any of my living family members, so it required a lot of consultation with various resources and, ultimately, a lot of assumptions and guesswork. The result is probably not close to the original meaning, but can a translation ever be completely accurate?

⟶ Is there a specific Romanian sentence/saying you discovered through this research that stuck with you?

Romanian is a fascinating language, especially for someone like me who has a rudimentary understanding of some Latin roots - it's a Romance language, of course, so it shares quite a bit with languages like Spanish and Italian, but many of its words also come from other Indo-European sources like Slavic or Dacian. I don't speak it, but I still recognize quite a bit - for example, "blood" in Romanian is "sânge," which I recognized because of the Spanish word “sangre.” The translation process was often frustrating but also filled with moments like this where something suddenly and intuitively made sense. And funny moments, too: lots of old Dacian words described swamps, which makes sense if you look at the geography of the area where the language originated.

A phrase I liked from a book of Romanian folktales: instead of "and they lived happier ever after," the final sentence reads " If they haven't died, they are living still."

⟶ From the short piele concept, you followed up with your IFComp entry Verses. Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Verses has been my project for the last three or so years (I was plotting it out long before publishing Computerfriend, in fact). It's hard to describe, but in short, you play as someone who analyzes objects and phrases to try to determine truth. It's set in Romania in the village where my grandmother grew up, and I've included sections where you translate actual poetry from Romanian, although these sections of the game are mostly optional.

⟶ Were these projects, piele and Verses created as a way to (re)connect to that ancestry?

piele was just a proof of concept, but Verses is in part an attempt to better understand my family's history. My Romanian grandparents died when I was young, and my life is full of their anecdotes and phrases, but I know there's so much I missed, too. Most of what I read about Romanian history while working on Verses was totally new to me. The country's history is politically fraught, and getting a straight story about (e.g.) the Soviet occupation and Romanian holocaust during World War II is very difficult.

⟶ Verses is your second time entering the IFComp. How do you feel about it? Have there been lessons you took from entering Universal Hologram that you applied to Verses?

I like the seriousness of IFComp. Most of the participants (authors, players, reviewers) have higher standards than they would for something like a game jam. That said, no matter how technically proficient you are, not everyone will like what you do. Don't try to please everyone. Your game should work, it should be bug-free, it should be polished, you should be proud of it. But you shouldn't aim for universal acclaim. "Likable" is not a compelling trait for a work of art. Something that appeals strongly to a smaller group, something that upends expectations, even being described as "polarizing" is good.

⟶ What kind of feeling/message do you hope players will take after player Verses?

There's a lot going on in the game, and since its release a few days ago I've seen some discussion around different themes players noticed. I agree with Nabokov when he talks about his distaste for "moral stories;" I want my work to be open ended and provoke questions rather than having a single clear point or argument (if that were the case, I'd write an essay). That said, Verses is a story that's hugely concerned with morality and complicity. I want players to consider their distance from acts committed by their ancestors in the name of the future, and from extant atrocities like the current genocide in Palestine. A gun fires and a living person dies. Then, a thousand miles away, a story is told, a history is written, and not only the death but the life is erased.

⟶ Just before the release of Computerfriend you released Let Me Tell You Who You Are, as an homage to uquiz. How did you manage balancing making this game and your entry to the Spring Thing?

Let Me Tell You Who You Are was a super quick project; I thought it up and wrote the whole thing within a day or two. Uquiz is endlessly funny to me. The limited cultural reach of the quizzes is kind of a joke to people on Tumblr, where the entirety of human experience sits on a spectrum somewhere between Taylor Swift and Hozier, and I thought it would be a good bit to have one of these cheerfully myopic questionnaires that occasionally dips into horror and antiquated verse.

⟶ I am the Mom Friend (too fitting for me...). How did you define each result of the quiz?

The reason I was able to get the quiz done so quickly is that there's actually very little variety... in fact, if I remember correctly, everyone is the Mom Friend :)

⟶ Is there a genre or theme you'd like to explore in future projects?

After Verses, I don’t know what I’ll do. Maybe I’ll record an album. I do have a couple ideas for stories in a more surreal, less sci-fi mode, but I don’t know if they’ll end up as games or something else.

⟶ Your work is universally based on Twine, particularly the Harlowe format. What about it attracted you?

Twine is extremely simple, based stylistically on CSS and HTML (I had some familiarity with these already), and most importantly free. Free to use and free to publish under whatever license you choose. I've tried to learn programs with more use cases (and honestly saleability) like Godot, but I have no background in actual programmatic coding, so I found it too difficult. I might try again at some point, but right now I want to create and publish (not learn new tools) with what little money and time I have. What I love about Twine is that a single person can learn enough in a few days or weeks and make something remarkable without having a wide set of skills (besides writing). And if you do have other skills, like audio engineering or digital art, you can apply them very easily.

⟶ Is there a thing you wished you had known about Twine or IF in general before starting making games?

Learning the conventions of your genre (so you can adhere to or subvert them) by playing can be useful, but there’s nothing you need to know before making a game. Just make something, evaluate, and then make something better.

⟶ You don't just create games, you are a multimedia creator (writing fiction and doing photography). What about those mediums interest you?

Every medium is more or less the same to me in terms of the scope of potential accomplishment (does that sentence make any sense?). I collect ideas and metaphors and themes, and they gradually cohere into a project that fits better into some mediums than others. The more things you know how to do, the more options you have to explore and combine these interests. Film photography does have a special place in my heart, though. There’s something very mystical about it.

I used my (heavily edited) photos in North Alter, and I'd like to do something similar again. I've been focused on text for a while now, and I'm starting to miss the more collage-y stuff I used to do...

⟶ Your photography and stories have also been published. Is there a publication you are particularly proud of?

I'm not especially proud of anything I've made being published/shared widely. I think about Ocean Vuong's interview with The Creative Independent where he talks about awards and competitions: "If you must use that construct, you use it the way one uses public transport. Get on, then get off at your stop and find your people." The attention is a means to an end for me.

⟶ Your work is often centered around the surreal, weirdness, and mysticism. What influences contributed to this?

Life is full of moments of surrealty or unreality. I mistake my dreams for reality all the time, and vice versa. I try to be careful and methodical and thorough when I work, but I don't know anything, and I don't like guessing. I'm comfortable not knowing. And then at the same time, I'm fascinated by people who do have answers. That's something that feels truly surreal to me: positioning yourself as someone with a serious understanding of life's complexity. I like to try to get into these peoples' heads.

I was raised in a conservative religious home. As a child, beginning to pick holes in what's supposed to be the absolute nature of the universe is frightening. It feels like the ground's falling out from under you. I've had to make peace with this, too. I love my parents very much, and I think I understand them pretty well, but there will always be things they believe that I find mystical and strange. It's a life-long process for me to learn as much as I can and, simultaneously, to accept that most things will remain a mystery.

⟶ Are there works that inspire you to create?

Right now, I'm inspired by Kate Zambreno's and Han Kang's books, Marc Horowitz' painting Old traps disappear and new ones emerge, Ville Kallio's game Cruelty Squad, and the album "Grieftopia" by Ministry of Interior Spaces.

⟶ Do you have any IF recommendations for our readers?

Here are some IF games that are worth playing:

The Archivist and The Revolution by Autumn Chen

Repeat the Ending by Drew Cook

the shape you make when you want your bones to be closest to the surface by Porpentine Charity Heartscape

Victim Doll by communistsister (mind the CWs)

Photopia by Adam Cadre

Manifest No by Kaemi Velatet

⟶ You hold multiple usernames over the internet. What's the story behind adz and slugzuki?

I’ve had my Tumblr account for over a decade & was there many years ago when the site deleted a ton of unused blogs - I was obsessed with the album “The Age of Adz” by Sufjan Stevens at the time, so I snatched up the URL :)

“Slugzuki” doesn’t really mean anything, it’s just a username I came up with that’s typically available on every website.

⟶ How do you cope with seeing your posts blow up on Tumblr? And then appear on Twitter/Reddit?

Haha, it's never the posts I expect (or want) that blow up. My friends like sending me screenshots from Instagram or wherever someone's reposted me. It's just the nature of the internet; I'm at peace with it.

⟶ Since you just released something, we won't ask you to divulge what next secret project is in the works. But where can we follow your progress and/or releases?

If you want to keep track of what I release, you can follow me on Tumblr (@adz) or sign up for my email list here: https://buttondown.com/slugzuki.

Now, go play some IFComp (@ifcomp) games and write reviews or comments if the spirit moves you! The authors will be grateful :)

Huge thanks to Kit Riemer for Letting us send so many questions this week and telling us so much… and more!

~ NEW RELEASE ~

No notable new independent release.

As always, don't forget to check out the submitted entries to the events mentioned in the previous pages. They deserve some love too!

~ NEW RELEASE (WIP) ~

Love and Leases (Twine) is a slice-of-life project where you play as a newly single person, trying to get their life back together. @loveandleases

The Ancient Tombs of Time (CScript) is a fantasy project, in which you play as god, sealed away for decades until recently freed. @theancienttombsoftime

The FANTASTIC Clash (CScript) is a modern drama project, where you play as a contestant on a reality TV show.

Immortal (Twine) is a supernatural project, following you as a private investigator, plagued by mysterious dreams. @immortal-if

~ UPDATES ~

After Dark (CScript) updated the Patreon demo with extra content.

Dragon Kin (CScript) added Chapter 5 to the demo.

Drink your Villian Juice! (CScript) Chapter 7 Part 1 is now available to all. @drinkyourvillainjuice

Football Glory (CScript) completed Prologue and Chapter 1 rewrite.

Era of the Archdemons (CScript) added half of Chapter 3.

Grey Swan - Birds of a Rose (CScript) started rewriting the demo, now new and updated. @reinekes-fox

Legend of the Dragoon (CScript) added part of Chapter 1 to the demo.

Sense and Sorcery (CScript) updated the demo with extra content.

The One Chosen (CScript) added new chapter to the Patreon demo. @parrotwatcher

The People's House (CScript)'s complete demo in now live for public beta.

Jolly Good: Tea and Scones (CScript) added a new path to Chapter 7.

Crown of Ashes and Flames (Twine) made Chapter 4 available for all. @coeluvr

Crown of Exile (Twine) updated the Patreon demo with a new chapter. @ramonag-if

Of Crowns and Echoes (Twine) added Chapter 2 to the demo. @of-crowns-and-echoes

Valiant (Twine) completed a major re-write of the demo and routes. @valiant-if

Path of Martial Arts (CScript) updated Patreon demo with extra content. @nicky-if

Specters of the Deep (CScript) added Chapter 7 to demo.

Weeping Gods (CScript) added new content and for the noble origin path. @jcollinswrites

Virtue’s End (CScript) updated the Patreon demo. @virtues-end

Club Oblivion (Twine) completed Malygos’s route. @ramonag-if

The Good People (Na Doine Maithe) (Ren’Py) updated the demo with new sprites. @moiraimyths

Scarlet Sorceress (CScript) released a side chapter called “The Mystery of Castle Alaire’.

Surge, Spire, and Sea (CScript) is the new title of Gigantea: Age of Rot, and added two new chapters.

Bridging the gap (CScript) added extra content to the demo. @astralfortune

Our Life: Now & Forever (Ren’Py) updated the Patreon Beta build. @gb-patch

Fields of Asphodel (CScript) has been officially released under Hosted Game and is available for purchase on Steam and other platforms. @chrysanthemumgames

Dragon of Steelthorne (CScript) has added two chapters to the released game, giving a 40% discount for new players.

~ OTHER ~

Fate Unwritten (Twine) is looking for beta-testers for the upcoming update. @fateunwritten-if

When Twilight Strikes (Twine) is looking for beta-testers for the upcoming chapter. @evertidings

Magehunter: Phoenix Flame (CScript) is looking for official beat-testers for their final version of the game.

The new issue of the Amare Fortnightly Bulletin is out! Check it out here! @amaregames

Also released this week was the new issue of the Indiepocalypse, which includes a couple of IF games! Get it here! @pizzapranks

Polygon interviewed Julia Minamata, author of The Crimson Diamond, a retro parser recently released on Steam.

Brian Rushton (@mathbrush) released his book about a slice of IF History. You can download it for free here.

As always, we apologize in advance for missing any update or release from the past week. We are only volunteers using their limited free time to find as much as we can - but sometimes things pass through the cracks.

If you think something should have been included in this week's zine but did not appear, please shoot us a message! We'll do our best to add it next week! And if you know oncoming news, add it here!

~ MAYBE YOU NEXT? ~

We did not get a submission this week. But if you have an idea for a short essay, or would like a special space to share your thoughts about IF and the community...

Shoot us an email!

~ HIGHLIGHT ON ~

A couple of games that we thought were cool.

Your favourite game here?

Do you have a favourite game that deserves some highlighting?

An old or recent game that wowed you so much you spam it to everyone?

Tell us about it! And it might appear here!

WE LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU ALL! WHETHER IT'S GOOD OR BAD, OR EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN...

That was an amazing interview, with Jacqueline. I knew the IF community had been here for a while, but I didn't understand until now how long it was... And those answers! Is it weird I wished you has asked more questions? - anon

Have something to say? Send us a message titled: Zine Letter!

As we end this issue, we would like to thank:

the very cool and very helpful anonymous users!

For sending news, interview questions, helpful tips, cool links, filled form, written Sheet line, even emails... all these help us so much to make this Zine possible!

And as always, huge thanks to all you readers who liked, shared, and commented on last week's issue! What might be tiny actions are huge support and motivators to us! Thank you for cheering us on this journey!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

While we usually announce our next interviewee in this section, this won't be the case this week. We'll actually be taking a short breaks from our interview series. Don't worry! It will come back in a few issues!

In the meantime, go cheer your favorite author for us!

And see you again next week!

MARJORIE, AXELLE, NOI, BRIJ, DION, BEX

WHAT'S NEW IN IF? 2024-ISSUE 21

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