#the fact that it went from just the cast recording to the full audio being leaked to the show LITERALLY getting revived on broadway...

[televenus]

you tagged a post as bmc (u were right) and me listening to it this morning…somethings in the water

🫣 i was watching some unrelated tiktok or something and got absolutely brainblasted by a bmc song the other day.. the emotional response that show drags out of me.....

[hankwritten]

Long Time Listener, First Time Caller

Demoman/Soldier, 2k

Request for @tokyotrain, Music

1. Reveille

There had never, ever, in the history of time or space, an instrument Demo hated more.

The bugle reverberated through the open window that someone had conspicuously left open, just in case the man in bed wouldn’t have been awakened by its bellows piercing through the glass. Not that that would ever happen. Demo was pretty sure he could’ve heard that damn instrument all the way in Hell, and grasped blindly for the pillow he could smother his own face in. It didn’t help. He shouldn’t be able to taste the cacophony the bugle was making, but there was the sting of copper on his tongue, as though his gums were bleeding in revolt.

“I’m going to kill him,” he muttered into the three layers of feathered pillows.

By the time he stumbled down to breakfast, there were bags under his eye, diluted homicidal intent on his face, and his fluffiest robe around his shoulders.

“And he’s finally up,” Mum said, and sipped her tea. Usually she’d be giving him an earful about his lazy behind tarrying in making her morning cup, but since she was smirking at his disheveled state, Soldier must have brewed it for her.

“Grrnn…” her son replied.

Coffee was the only thing that would make this morning better. Thankfully, there was a pot already brewing; Soldier wasn’t that heartless.

“I see you have acquired your morning cup of Joe!” Soldier said when he finally retired from his routine, sweeping into the kitchen on a wave of wholly unwelcome cheer. Beyond him—since the mansion didn’t have a flagpole, he’d found ways to make do—a rake was shoved into the lawn with a Stars ‘n Stripes bandana tied around it. This he erected every day at dawn. “Excellent! Now that you are refreshed and full of energy, you are capable of participating in post flag ceremony drills!”

Demo skipped the not on your life and went straight to, “I’m going to take that bloody thing and re-twist it until you can hang yourself with it.”

Mum laughed, and Soldier grinned jubilantly, confident in the knowledge that he would always win mornings.

2. Taunt

“Whomp whomp whaaaa,” the stupid bloody trombone played at him.

Half delirious from blood loss, Demo bared his teeth at the smug BLU above him who, as soon as he finished taunting, promptly executed his unwilling audience with a shotgun blast to the head.

This was the fifth time this had happened today, and Demo was pissed. Where was Soldier even keeping that thing? Every bloody time there was no sign of the instrument whatsoever, then as soon as victory was assured he reached into hammer space and pulled out five feet of tubing! It was ridiculous to drive a man crazy under the best of circumstances—but having it be your partner was something that garnered a certain degree of necessary revenge.

Demo had had enough. It was about time he did some stooping to Soldier’s level.

The next day, Demo managed to shove Soldier off Upward’s scaffolding with a well-timed shield bash. He couldn’t have hoped for a better opportunity, perfectly executed so Soldier hadn’t even gotten a kill on him that day, which might have ruined the ‘surprise’. He stood, one foot on the Soldier-shaped hole in the wood, and leaned on his knee.

“Nice of you to drop in!” he called.

“Eugh,” Soldier grumbled, impaled haphazardly on various bits of wood.

“As long as we’re both taking a breather, mind if get a bit of piping practice in?”

Not waiting for a reply, Demo pulled out the bagpipes that had been eagerly awaiting their time in the sun. Sitting as they had been for the past five years in the attic, derelict ever since he’d purchased them on a lark, he didn’t blame them. When he flexed the bag, dust came out the mouthpiece.

“Oh no,” Soldier said.

“Oh yes!” Demo disagreed, and began to play.

Soldier was in a very unfortunate situation, arm broken the exact wrong way to keep him from covering his own ears. Thus he was forced to listen as Demo played out a belching and eardrum-bleeding anti-tune, rippling the open air above the drop off with painful ineptitude.

“Never played a day in me life,” Demo said cheerfully as he ceased blowing into the bellows.

“And you should never do so again!” Soldier accused. “The only positive thing I can say about your first attempt is that thank God it is over!”

“Over?” Demo smirked. “Nah, there’s another four movements to get through.”

Soldier’s head flopped back in defeat, helmet rolling off into the abyss and eyes pointing at the sky. “Jesus and Thomas Edison, please give me strength.”

This was not heard over the resuming of what only the foolish and the damned would refer to as ‘music’.

3. Radio

“Do not touch that dial, maggot!”

“I’m shotgun, I get radio privileges.”

“Guh,” Soldier complained as Demo flipped until the NMDX began to flow from the box, polluting the airwaves with its electronic beats. “What even is this hippie garbage?”

“It’s disco, laddie!”

Demo was already grooving in his seat, dead set on enjoying the new wave in direct defiance of his partner’s annoyed twitch. Or, perhaps, maybe because of it.

Soldier grumbled. “Doesn’t make any damn sense! What’s a duck doing at a disco in the first place?”

“He wasn’t a duck when he went there,” Demo scoffed. “It’s like you’re not even listening to the song.”

“I’m trying not too.”

“Fine then! What do you like to listen to in the car?”

Soldier hummed quietly for a second, the fading carols of Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots catching on the notes and escaping into the hum of the highway. After a moment of contemplation, Soldier peeled his eyes from the road and began to rummage about in the center console. This caused him to swerve wildly along the highway, other cars blaring their horns as the blue Camaro glided over the dotted line. Demo watched these events with mild interest.

“Aha!” Soldier exclaimed, emerging with an 8track clasped triumphantly in one hand. “This’ll get us to Springerville without all that play-it-backwards-to-alter-your-brainwaves nonsense!”

He slid the track into the Camaro’s player.

“…Welcome to the audio edition of the Farmer’s Almanac, for the year of our lord, 1972.”

“Oh god…”

“Hah!” Soldier brightened. “Now this is what I am talking about!”

It was going to be a long four hours.

4. Folk

Demo didn’t mind Soldier’s record, to be honest.

It seemed to be about something at least, more than he was used to the things Soldier liked being ‘about’ anything that wasn’t unquestioning patriotism. Sometime he wondered why, of all the folk records in the world, Soldier had decided to settle on Dust Bowl Ballads as his fixation in the realms of music. Americana of all kinds of blended together in Demo’s opinion, but despite the repetitive twang of the banjo and the stifling trite melody, even he could tell there was a story of deep melancholy to be found between the harmless little tunes.

So it wasn’t the fact that Soldier had a record. It was the fact that Soldier had a record, singular.

The idea that a person might purchase multiple albums over the course of their life and play them at different times when the mood struck them never seemed to have been explained to the Soldier. His concept to the record player was this: play the first side. When it was finished, flip it over and play the second side.

Repeat.

For hours.

No matter how sweet Woody Guthrie’s crooning was, having it repeated over and over again day in and day out could give anyone’s otherwise delightful performance all the dulcet notes of prison moonshine. It didn’t bother Soldier one bit it seemed—he would hum to himself merrily as he sat on the chaise, perfectly content to dissemble his shotgun on the coffee table while the same fifteen songs played.

“Y’know love,” Demo tried. “The reason records don’t come glued on to their players is because you can put other ones on. Look.”

He delicately switched out Ballads for something from his own collection, setting the needle so it could fall where it willed.

Soldier eyed the player dubiously as an entirely different style began to fall from the trumpet’s maw, grease rag in hand.

“I don’t get it,” he said as the first refrain came to a close. “You can’t understand a word she’s saying. What’s the point if you don’t know what’s going on?”

“You can’t understand it because it’s in Gaelic, lad.”

Soldier furrowed his brow. “Are you being vulgar at me right now, maggot?”

“Ach, no! I…” Demo sighed. Sometimes why he wondered why he even bothered. “Gaelic’s the language. It’s rare that anyone’ll make records in traditional tongues, but I had a few and I just thought…ah never mind.”

Gently he slid the record back into its sleeve and put Ballads back on.

“…Okay,” was all Soldier said, still frowning as Demo exited the room.

Demo wasn’t so callous to admit he hated the damn thing aloud, not when he could tell it made Soldier honestly, genuinely happy. They’d rib each other for their interests all the time, but not for something this important, and he resigned himself to having Woody as an unwanted houseguest for the rest of time.

That was, until a dreadful cold found him alone in the living room and unwilling to move.

The sickness (and Mum) had demanded he get plenty of bed rest, but he was just so bloody tired of spending all his time between the same four walls and occasionally the bathroom. He’d thought, well, there’s no harm in a quick trip downstairs, only to discover that once he’d gone horizontal on the couch, he lost all motivation to go back up those stairs.

That was how Soldier found him, cocooned in every blanket in the living room, blinking up pitifully as sniffled at his partner. To his credit, Soldier didn’t chastise him for sneaking out of bed; he simply sighed, moved the tissues box closer, and got Demo a cup of tea.

This was all unsurprising, if sweet. What was surprising was—as Demo lay with his back to the majority of the room—the sound of a record sliding into the player. A moment later the room was reendowed with Fear a Bhàta, the song flowing over his senses as he huddled for warmth under his blanket pile. He lifted his head to look at Soldier, who merely shrugged. That was all. Then he sat down on a chair near his Demoman and opened up an issue of Guns & Haircuts.

After that, sometimes Demo would come home to find a piece from his library playing, wafting through the mansion’s halls with no objection from its audience. If Jane had truly changed his mind, or was just doing it for Demo’s benefit, Demo couldn’t tell, but he appreciated the gesture all the same.

5. Piano

“Nothing?” Demo asked as his hands stilled across the keys, the last notes echoing in the music room to the resounding absence of symphony. The only thing left to fill it was the painfully normal sounds of two people simply being alive. “Not a single word of complaint?”

Soldier grinned, and shrugged. “Maybe we found something we can agree on.”

“And that something so happens to involve me doing all the work.” But despite that he grinned, taking Soldier’s hand and rubbing a thumb across the bones along its back, a private concert undergone and concluded. “You should help out. Grab a microphone, lay sultrily across my piano. That’d jazz up the performance.”

“Sounds like a good way to break a piano.”

“Excuses excuses.”

Soldier leaned down, capturing Demo’s mouth in a kiss, knees pressed against the back of the bench, hand still in Demo’s. When he they parted, Demo thought of how he always tasted like gunpowder, no matter how long it’d been.

Soldier smiled against Demo’s lips. “Play us another?”

“So demanding,” Demo smiled, and put fingers back to ivory.

[thecreepiestcarrie]

I've been quite bewildered as to how Johnny Depp lost his appeal against the clearly-biased judgement of Judge Nicol so I went through the official Court of Appeal Judgement. And what did I find there? More examples of this bias against Johnny.

I now have an answer to my question of how did Johnny lose the appeal, with all of the knowledge that we gained during this trial taken into consideration - how could it be upheld that the Sun calling him a 'wife beater' was factually correct?

Because Nicol went the way that the money and all of his not-so-covert connections told him to.

It was Rigga Morris, girl. Completely rigged. You don't just take on Rupert Murdoch's empire and win, even if you have the truth and a wide selection of the public on your side.

Basically it's 14 pages of 'Nicol said this and it's true so nyeh' and the court of appeal just dodging the many holes in his logic/judgement. Nicol is right, Johnny is wrong and everything Scum ever did wrong has a reasonable explanation and she's definitely not a gold digger and that's all that matters. No matter what Scamber says at any point in time, she is correct. Did she just contradict herself? No, she didn't, this is actually what she meant...

Page 3, section 1: Mr Depp did extensive damage to a house which he had rented and wrote offensive graffiti about Ms Heard (shown in photographs), some in paint and some in his own blood. While it does not necessarily follow that angry and jealous behaviour of this kind would involve physical violence against Ms Heard, the Judge evidently regarded it as making her allegations more likely to be true. section 2: He does not explicitly admit acts of assault against Ms Heard, but again the Judge regarded the admissions as making it more plausible that he did in fact commit such acts

A heavy feature of this judgment is the shit-ton of assumptions that are made and then stubbornly stuck to without a clear line from the evidence to the conclusion that was reached.

Page 4, section 10: Mr Caldecott’s (Johnny's barrister) first complaint concerned the treatment of what he said were clear admissions by Ms Heard, recorded in taped conversations, that she had more than once herself been the aggressor in incidents of physical violence between her and Mr Depp. [...] he said that the admissions were important because it was Ms Heard’s evidence throughout that she never initiated any physical violence against Mr Depp (as opposed to responding to violence from him): if that was untrue it was bound to put in question the credibility of her evidence about what happened.

Page 5, section 13: The admissions apparently made in these tapes were relied on in the closing submissions on behalf of Mr Depp at the trial as one of the general matters adversely affecting Ms Heard’s credibility, and the Judge addressed the point [...]

Shit Judge Nicol says:::::

"In her evidence, Ms Heard said that she did sometimes throw pots and pans at Mr Depp but only to try and escape him and as a means of self-defence. She also said at times in Argument 2 she was being sarcastic."

"In my view no great weight is to be put on these alleged admissions by Ms Heard to aggressive violent behaviour. [...] nonetheless true, that these conversations [the taped confrontations] are quite different to evidence in court. A witness giving evidence in court does so under an oath or affirmation to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Questioning can be controlled by the judge. Questions which are unclear can be re-phrased. If a question is not answered, it can be pressed (subject to the court's control) and if still unanswered may be the proper object of comment. None of those features applied to these conversations which, in any event, according to Ms Heard had a purpose or purposes different from simply conveying truthful information. (para 175)"

You can't put weight on to the taped conversations/confessions from Scamber because they did not take place in court... Okay, sure, why not, let's pretend that's how you operate. If that was the case, how come the circumstances behind the creation of the evidence for her case isn't questioned/doesn't impact on how much weight he allocates to them? Why does he disallow the tapes to sway him? But then pays full attention to Scamber's evidence of texts to family/friends and writings in her diary? Selective hearing, but more like selective weighing.

Page 6, section 14: Mr Caldecott submitted that the reasoning in para. 175 showed a fundamentally flawed approach to fact-finding because it gave an unjustified special priority to the status of witness evidence. [...] He also said that the Judge’s approach in this regard was inconsistent, because in many other instances he placed great weight on contemporaneous materials when making a finding against Mr Depp.

It's true and I'm glad he said it, but in the next section, the court of appeal knocks this down. They are sticking to Nicol's bullshit story and they are sticking to it until the ship is completely sunk to the bottom of the ocean with Titanic.

Section 15: We do not believe that that is a correct understanding of what the Judge was saying [...] In our view it is clear that the Judge was making a more specific point about the weight to be attached to these particular statements because of the particular circumstances in which they were made.

Page 12, section 40: If the statement in Ms Heard’s witness statement that the $7m “was donated” to charity [...] is to be understood to mean literally that the full $7m had already been paid, that is clearly contradicted by the further evidence, and her statement was accordingly misleading.

But that doesn't call her credibility into question? Nicol believes Scamber when she says her taped confessions were sarcastic, but doesn't believe that Johnny was speaking in exaggerated falsities when texting a friend about his abuser - Nicol picks and chooses which tone to pay attention to in order to suit his own agenda.

-----

These are just some exerts that I thought were interesting and show the nature of the judgement. I'm not sure how much I will be posting about the UK case anymore (I do have some posts about specific issues sitting in my drafts (about the James Cordon appearance casting doubts over all of AH's admissions, about the audio tapes and why they are ridiculously important, about Johnny's MRSA), but nothing like the other deep dives I was doing), because as I've stated before, I have become convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of Johnny's innocence and because now that this judgement has been handed down by the Court of Appeals, the whole UK case is all over red rover so it doesn't seem super relevant to keep going on about this trial that is now dead and buried. The evidence that I have gone through and posted here, I can make sense of that. But this judgement and any thing in a similar vein, there's no chance of me ever making sense of that, so shall I just quit while I'm ahead? Yes.

[bobbyshaddoe80]

Liberated Audio Reviews

Blake's 7 - The Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2

RELEASED AUGUST 2012

Recorded on: 18 October and 25 November 2011, and 15 March 2012

Recorded at: Moat Studios

Review By Robert L. Torres

The Magnificent Four by Simon Guerrier

'A mission to steal data from the planet Mogul goes badly wrong when Cally and Avon are outflanked and outgunned. And then they are teleported to safety – to an alien spaceship stolen from The System, which is crewed by Gilden Trent and his small team of rebels.

For Avon it’s the opportunity to start over again without Blake.

But can Trent be trusted?'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Countdown and Voice From the Past.

Magnificent. Defined in the dictionary as 'impressive, deserving of admiration, especially due to an unusual quality involving size'.

The word is often used when describing something vast in size and scope, but magnificence can also be attributed to the quality of something that involves a small group. A prime example would be the title characters of the classic Western The Magnificent Seven. Even the accomplishments made by the John Wick character could be described as magnificent despite them being done by one man.

Magnificent is an apt word to describe the impressive storytelling quality that Guerrier has pulled off with this Cally focused story.

Cally, as played by the exquisite Jan Chappell, was always one of my favorites from the original cast. She was someone that wasn't a hardened cynic like Avon (who provides much needed support for Cally in this story), nor was she cowardly like Vila. She was someone that genuinely believed in doing the right thing and saw fighting against the oppressive tyranny of the Federation to be a very serious responsibility.

I was also always fascinated by her stance as someone that, for all intents and purposes, was the alien of the group (due to her coming from a race of telepaths). I have my own thoughts and theories about the Auronar, but that can wait for another day. Despite having powers of the mind, I always felt that Cally was very much the heart of the team.

I love that this story has Cally and Avon meeting up with a group like Blake's, on a ship like the Liberator, only to learn that they are little more than highly skilled pirates.

I love that the events of the Series B episode 'Redemption' are brought up and how the crew of the Libertine are a result of the aftermath of the events from that story.

I love how the story showcases in the crew of the Libertine a distorted reflection (and perhaps a retroactive premonition) of what would happen to the crew of the Liberator should they lose their way by abandoning their morals and scruples and just give in to blind self interest... Which for the most part is exactly what started to happen during Series C and ultimately came to fruition in Series D.

A minor nitpick, but I always thought the planet Cally came from was called Auron and her people were called the Auronar. And yet in this story and others, they refer to her as being an Auron. Is it a case where one singular person is an Auron but the collective term for the species as a whole is Auronar? It is a minor thing, I know, but still something that stuck out.

Something else that is a bit of a minor flaw is that at one point in the story the voiceover narration switches from Cally to Avon. There is a specific reason why this happens in the narrative, but it still comes about rather unexpectedly.

Given the stories in these chronicles are events being recounted AFTER the fact, there is the inevitable problem of how to create tension and intrigue with life threatening peril for the characters when most fans know the show backwards and are fully aware of what the inevitable fates for many of the characters are.

Luckily for Guerrier and many other writers, they do create moments that make you wonder how such and such will be able to survive whatever life threatening peril is thrown at them, and manage to cleverly pay off how they survive without falling into 'Oh Come The Fuck On' Territory.

8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Anyway, this story is very well done and is the first of many plots that involve coming across potential allies for the Resistance movement, only to learn the would be allies are often a lot worse than their enemies in the Federation. Definitely give it a listen.

False Positive by Eddie Robson

'Dr. Lian has a mysterious new patient – a man who was found shot in the leg near Engel City, a man who is delirious and talking about the most extraordinary acts of rebellion.

She prescribes drugs and the use of the alleviator – a device that will dig deep into his memories – to unlock the truth about Carlin Guzan.

But the truth that she exposes is far more shocking than she bargained for...'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B after LC Vol. 10's Retribution, between the episodes Horizon and Pressure Point.

This story is definitely a step up in quality from volume 1's 'Counterfeit' and is an excellent Blake-centric story. The framing device for the recollection of the events is actually quite clever as it ties in with the adventure itself in a very naturalistic manner.

The dialogue scenes between Blake and Dr. Liam are excellent. Kudos to Beth Chalmers for giving the character of Dr. Liam the right balance of professional intrigue and personal curiosity as she learns more and more about her 'patient'. But this story belongs to the late Gareth Thomas through and through and it is great to hear him be afforded better material than during his first go round back in 'Counterfeit'.

I always rather liked Blake from the start, and a large part of that is down to the performance of the late Gareth Thomas. The character of Roj Blake was a passionate idealist fighting for a noble cause, someone who could be diplomatic but understood the need for action rather than simple civil disobedience. As someone that broke free from an oppressive government, he immediately gains our sympathies... even if his passions occasionally bordered on overzealous fanaticism. This is largely due to what the Federation did to him personally by trying to rewrite his mind, killing his family and even destroying his public image by falsifying accusations of paedophilia.

Since the Federation enact the same tactics on countless others without any hesitation, morals or scruples, it is no wonder why Blake is so overwhelmingly passionate about wiping out the corruptive and cancerous tumor that is the Federation. Not only to avenge family, but to ensure that people are given the freedom to choose for themselves and not simply be coerced into following the rules through propaganda, torture, drugs or mind control.

Speaking of drugs and mind control, that goes to the heart of the plot: Blake going undercover at a Federation research facility that is conducting a clinical drug trial for the development of a new pacifying sedative, which the Federation hopes to employ in order to ensure total compliance and obedience to Federation doctrine.

Ironically enough, that is exactly what would come to pass towards the tail end of Series D... But we already know that, don't we?

7 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

All things considered, it is a pretty good story. This story, like a few others in the Liberator Chronicles range, could work as a two-hander stage play with a couple of tweaks. It also could easily have worked on TV or even as a full cast audio. Give it a listen.

Wolf by Nigel Fairs

“I heard his death cry. I felt it. And there was a word. ‘Wolf’. You, Servalan. You were the “Wolf”. You killed him. I want to know why.”

'Some time ago, Blake and his crew were helped by a revered Auron scientist named Gustav Nyrron. He stayed aboard the Liberator for a time and then disappeared.

Cally wants to know what happened to Nyrron, and only Servalan knows the answers.'

Chronological Placement:

Set during Series B between the episodes Pressure Point and Trial.

This is a very intriguing Servalan focused story, featuring Cally and a return appearance by Gustav Nyrron from Volume 1's 'Solitary'.

They say that a protagonist is only as good as the antagonist created to provide drama/conflict. This is especially true when the character of Supreme Commander Servalan (along with the equally excellent Space Commander Travis) was introduced as the Liberator crew's primary antagonist in the Series A episode 'Seek-Locate-Destroy'.

A large part of why the Servalan character has left such a lasting impression on the minds of fans had to do with the casting of the late Jacqueline Pearce, and the way she played the role. Her grace, charm, beauty and seductive allure went hand in hand with a ruthless ambitious edge along with a keen strategic mind.

In many ways, Servalan, as played by Jacqueline Pearce, reminded me of Alexis Colby as played by Joan Collins. Although Servalan was a bit more reserved than Alexis.

As such, it makes perfect sense that the Liberator Chronicles would provide ample opportunities to explore the villains as well as the heroes. This story does well to explore Servalan's character along with her thoughts, beliefs and how she carries herself as she recounts events. The recollection is pretty interesting cuz it comes about in multiple ways.

We learn a little bit about Servalan's childhood in reference to a game she used to play with others. Its interesting how this story, along with the upcoming 'Kerr', 'President' and 'Three', provides more insight into the character than the show ever did. The aforementioned upcoming stories do provide some great insight into why Servalan is the way she is... But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

I love the scenes between Servalan and Cally, as I do not recall the two of them having much screentime during the series proper... If ever. But I could be wrong.

This story has some great twists and turns as it deals with exploring how Servalan used Nyrron as her personal plaything in her efforts to lure the Liberator into her clutches.

Although Nyrron will be featured again in the story 'Brother' off of Volume 11 (which I will talk about eventually), I think this is the story that features him the best. We learn the most about him as a character, and much kudos to Anthony Howell for bringing much pathos and nuance to the Auron scientist.

The story also lends itself quite well to philosophical debates regarding how each side views the other. Naturally, Blake's crew view Servalan and the Federation as an evil and oppressive tyranny, while Servalan and those within the Administration view Blake and his ilk as little more than terrorists wanting to bring down the only force for law and order in the galaxy.

It is that clash of ideals and personal morals that will be explored to great effect in future volumes as well as in the full cast audios.

9 out of 10 Plasma Bolts

Final score for Liberator Chronicles Vol. 2 in its entirety is 8 out of 10 Plasma Bolts. It is a profound step up in quality compared to Volume 1, and it demonstrates that things can only go up from here in terms of character exploration and engaging plots.

Special credit to Craig Brawley of the Big Finish Listeners Facebook Group for his tireless efforts in mapping out the chronology of the audios and determining his they fit in with the established TV continuity.

[milarvela]

By his own admission, John Barrowman has always been notorious in showbusiness circles. 'I'm known for my jokes, my sense of fun, my high jinks,' he says.

But those 'high jinks' have come back to haunt him recently as a result of serious allegations against his former Doctor Who co-star Noel Clarke.

John's role as Captain Jack Harkness in Doctor Who began in 2005 and the character was given his own spin-off series, the far more adult Torchwood, a year later.

It launched a hugely successful career for John on both stage and screen, taking in leading roles in West End musicals, big-budget US TV shows such as superhero series Arrow, and homegrown light entertainment favourites like All Star Musicals and most recently Dancing On Ice, where he's one of the judges. He was by anyone's measure a family-friendly favourite.

Then a couple of months ago the sky fell in. Following accusations of sexual harassment against Noel Clarke, who played Mickey Smith – the boyfriend of Billie Piper's character Rose – in Doctor Who from 2005 until 2010, historic footage emerged on YouTube of a sci-fi convention, Chicago Tardis, in 2014, released by The Guardian newspaper which had investigated Clarke's behaviour on the Doctor Who set.

In an interview in front of a live audience, Clarke is seen regaling fellow cast members Annette Badland and Camille Coduri with tales of John's behaviour on the set of Doctor Who, exposing himself 'every five seconds'. Clarke then jokes with the audience not to do this at their workplace or they might go to prison.

The allegations levelled against Clarke are extremely serious. At least 20 women have come forward to accuse him of sexual harassment and bullying, 'inappropriate touching and groping' and secretly filming naked auditions before sharing the videos without consent.

He denies all the allegations, but BAFTA has since suspended the Outstanding Contribution award it bestowed on him just weeks earlier, and the BBC has shelved any future projects he was working on with them.

Now John's behaviour on the sets of both Doctor Who and Torchwood has come under scrutiny once again. The furore has led to a video of Captain Jack Harkness being expunged from the current immersive Doctor Who theatre show Time Fracture, a planned Torchwood audio production featuring John and former Doctor Who lead David Tennant being scrapped and doubt about whether he will be invited back to the Dancing On Ice panel.

ITV will announce the line-up for the next series in September. John immediately issued an apology following the emergence of the video back in May, but today he's decided to speak exclusively and candidly to Weekend to give his side of the story.

'The moment has come to set the record straight,' he says from the Palm Springs, California, home he shares with his husband Scott Gill. 'This is the first time – and the last – I will address this subject. And then I plan to draw a thick black line under it.'

Firstly he says it's important to set the scene. On the set of Torchwood, which followed a team of alien hunters and explored themes of sexuality and corruption, he had what might be called a 'relaxed' attitude to nudity, and would wander around in an open robe. But it's claimed that he was well known for flashing and mooning at cast and crew alike on both the Doctor Who and Torchwood sets.

As Captain Jack Harkness I was the star of Torchwood, so I felt it was down to me to lead the company and keep them entertained,' he explains. 'When I was doing a nude scene or a love scene it was clear in the script I'd be naked and everyone would have known about that at least 48 hours in advance. So I'd be waiting in my trailer wearing just a robe with a sock over my "parts". Then, if I were standing waiting to film a scene where I needed to be nude and someone came into view, I'd make a joke to put them and myself at ease. My actions were simply designed to defuse any potential awkwardness among the cast and crew.

'I've never been someone who's embarrassed about his body so it didn't bother me if anyone saw me naked,' he adds. 'The motivation for what I'd call my "tomfoolery" was to maintain a jokey atmosphere. There was absolutely nothing sexual about my actions and nor have I ever been accused of that.' Whether this sort of behaviour would defuse any awkwardness, or actually foster it, is debatable.

WHY I'VE GONE INTO THERAPY

This scandal has clearly not left John unscathed. 'It was upsetting my mental health,' he tells me. 'My husband Scott suggested I talk to somebody. I won't discuss what I've said in therapy sessions – that's a matter of doctor/patient confidentiality – but I don't mind admitting it's helped me a great deal.

'It's made me aware that despite how much cancel culture may talk about respecting people's mental health, too often they don't respect the mental health of the people they're trying to cancel. So I needed to understand what was happening, which is why I went to speak to somebody.'

Has he had more than one session? 'Yes. It's a conversation that's still going on,' he says with a wry laugh. 'Seriously, whatever the situation, if you feel you need to reach out to someone it's very important to keep talking.'

'If what happened had taken place in the changing rooms after a rugby match it would be regarded as no more than a prank,' he continues. 'On the other hand, it's never going to happen in an accountant's office or a supermarket. But my job is not a regular nine-to-five, we're a family working long hours and in close proximity to each other.' Again, one has to bear in mind that a rugby changing room would be an all-male environment. There were many women in the cast and crew of the TV shows.

'In the theatre quick costume changes happen in the wings all the time, with everyone stripping off to get into their new outfits in time for the next scene,' he says. 'Girls might be braless, boys only in jockstraps. That's just how it is and no one gives it a second thought. But I accept that my behaviour at the time could have caused offence.'

Although John's recollection is that no one complained at the time, and he says that no one has complained since, at one point he was called in for a private conversation with Julie Gardner, an executive producer on Doctor Who and Torchwood. She has confirmed to The Guardian that she did receive a complaint.

'My antics had come to her attention and she told me I should rein in my behaviour,' he recalls. 'In blunt terms, she had just two words of advice: "Grow up!" That struck a chord. I did as I was told and my behaviour changed overnight. I'd still be full of jokes and fun, but no more naked pranks. I can see now my actions were pretty juvenile but this was a different time and it's something I would not do today.'

When these rumours were swirling back in 2008, it's also said John exposed himself during a Radio 1 interview in which his behaviour was being discussed. He denies this today.

'I was being goaded by the presenters about my reported behaviour on the Doctor Who set. I went along with it but I didn't actually do anything inappropriate in the studio. What would have been the point, it was on the radio? Still, it created such a stir that the following day I decided to make a full public apology and get on with my life.'

And that might have been that, but for the accusations against Noel Clarke coming to light. 'It seems to me that I've become collateral damage to a much bigger story,' says John.

Given his and Clarke's high profiles and the severity of the allegations against Clarke, this is hardly surprising. Has he spoken to his former co-star since the balloon went up?

'I have not.' Does he plan to? 'I do not. But listen, I'm not trying to cast myself in the role of victim here.' That said, he clearly resents these stories re-emerging, although he has had messages of support.

'In fact many members of the cast and crew have been in touch since this latest storm blew up giving me their support,' he insists. 'I won't name them because I don't want anyone to find themselves in the firing line.'

However, Gareth David-Lloyd, who played bisexual Jack Harkness's lover Ianto Jones in Torchwood, has chosen to go public about working with John. 'In my experience John's behaviour on set was always meant to entertain, make people laugh and keep their spirits and energy high on what were sometimes very long working days,' he said.

'It may be because we were so close as a cast that professional lines were sometimes blurred in the excitement. I was too inexperienced to know any different but we were always laughing. The John I knew on set would never have behaved in a way he thought was affecting someone negatively. From what I know of him, that is not his nature. He was a whirlwind of positive energy, always very generous, kind and a wonderfully supportive lead actor.'

In the weeks following this new public scrutiny John has had time to reflect, and has come to the conclusion there are two issues. One is the aftermath of the #MeToo movement; the other is cancel culture.

'I'm a supporter of #MeToo because no person should ever feel that in order to succeed in their career they can be coerced into doing something sexual against their will.

'My problem with cancel culture, on the other hand, is that it can take the form of intolerance and prejudice. It's a culture with no shades of grey. There's no leeway for forgiveness or room for recognising any change in someone's behaviour. Cancel culture tends to talk at you or past you or through you, rather than listen to you. Dialogue is extremely rare.'

He sounds upset now. 'Look, I'm in a good place,' he insists. 'I've got a great husband, a great family, a great "fan family" around me. But I've found it difficult. And yes, some of the things that were being said have been hurtful.

'Scott and I would go to bed on a Saturday night dreading the stories in the Sunday papers. And then I'd wake up to lies. One newspaper printed as fact that I'd been dropped as a judge by Dancing On Ice. Well, apart from the fact that the new panel isn't decided until the autumn, no one from ITV had spoken to me or my agent about this latest upset.'

Ashley Banjo, leader of dance troupe Diversity and a fellow Dancing On Ice judge, has only worked with John for the past couple of years so did not know him during the time of the behaviour he's now being scrutinised for, but has publicly spoken out in support.

'I've told John I'd readily work with him again,' said Ashley. 'He's always fun on Dancing On Ice and he's been very respectful and considerate. I'd like to see him come back. The impression I get from this story is it's something small and historic, something blown out of proportion. What I'm not a supporter of in regard to cancel culture is when the speed of allegation is much faster than the speed of investigation. Before I make a judgment I want to see and understand the facts.'

There has been outrage on Twitter, with many users pointing out that John's 'tomfoolery' could be regarded as indecent exposure, and that the fact it happened among work colleagues is no excuse. 'You don't do that in work. You don't do it full stop. If you did it in the city centre you'd be arrested,' posted one user.

So does he regret the way he behaved? 'You can't wind the clock back,' he says.

'They were different times, which is why I wouldn't do now what I did then. I've acknowledged that by the way my behaviour has changed. The trouble is that certain cancel culture enthusiasts are not allowing me to acknowledge it. I've always believed that the reason I was put on this planet was to bring joy to people, make them laugh. How I do that has evolved over the years. I'm still using humour, just in a different way than might have been the case ten or 20 years ago.'

Now, he says, he wants to move on, both personally and professionally. Many years ago he bought a house for his parents down the street from where he lives with Scott.

'They're getting on now and I've been their primary carer throughout the pandemic, doing their shopping, getting their prescriptions from the pharmacy and so on. My mother broke her pelvis at one stage but she's on the mend now. I'm just thankful I can keep an eye on her and my father. I'm thankful too to the scientists for coming up with the means by which we can combat Covid via vaccinations, and the healthcare workers for administering them and looking after us so selflessly. We owe them a great debt of gratitude.'

What about professionally? 'Well, I'm at the early stages of putting together a show full of anecdotes and songs that will tour throughout the UK when restrictions are finally lifted. As far as I'm concerned, it's back to business as usual.'

But it remains to be seen later this year with the announcement of the line-up for Dancing On Ice whether John's career too might be put on ice.

***

I can see now my actions were pretty juvenile but this was a different time and it's something I would not do today.'

Well, to be blunt, he’s too old to be doing it anyway, people would just roll they eyes at a pathetic old lech instead of maybe giggling at a younger man’s adorable/innocent/whatever tomfoolery.

'In fact many members of the cast and crew have been in touch since this latest storm blew up giving me their support,' he insists. 'I won't name them because I don't want anyone to find themselves in the firing line.'

I think he should name them. Just for fun. Come on! Because I doubt there have been (m)any. If this story teaches anything, it’s that whatever you say/do can come back to haunt your celebrity status years later in most unexpected ways. Or maybe he was always the intended main course, Noel Clarke only the appetiser...

[sweetsmellosuccess]

TIFF 2020: Days 1 & 2

Films: 5 Best Film of the Day(s): One Night in Miami

One Night in Miami…: I guess you could form an argument that basing a film on a pre-existing play would make the feature easier to put together, but that wouldn’t be taking into account the tremendous differences between the mediums, their relative strengths and weaknesses. For her feature debut, the Oscar-winning actress Regina King has cinematically adapted the stage play  by Kemp Powers about a fictionalized fateful night amongst four famous Black men in 1964. Those men, Malcolm X (Kingsley Ben-Adir), Jim Brown (Aldis Hodge), Sam Cooke (Leslie Odom Jr.), and Cassius Clay (Eli Goree), are all in town ostensibly to celebrate Clay’s beatdown of Sonny Liston to first become the heavyweight champion of the world at the tender age of 22. But the film puts them all together in Malcolm X’s modest hotel room, watched over by Nation of Islam security men, to spend a night, essentially, debating the merits of what they bring to the struggle for Black equality and economic emancipation, and arguing back and forth about their distinct positions. Here is precisely where many play adaptations falter, without the dramatic friction of a live performance to power the emotional core, such conventions generally fall flat on the screen, but King’s virtuoso acting instincts serve her able cast well, and her work with DP Tami Reiker allows the film to flow, seemingly organically between its few location movements. Working from a skilled script by Powers, the celebrated figures feel three dimensional, which gives even their more didactic diatribes (Malcolm), and pithy rebuttals (Cooke) enough weight to avoid sounding contrived. The cast work wonders on the material, granting a needed organic vibe to their nonfiction characters, echoing the essences without tipping into caricature. It’s a strong debut for King, and the film’s complex ruminations on the responsibility of successful Black people towards their community as a means of bringing attention to the country’s oppression couldn’t be more on point. At one point Clay tells Cooke the four of them will always remain friends, because they are among the few who can possibly understand what it’s like to be “young, Black, famous, righteous, and unapologetic.”

Shiva Baby: Danielle (Rachel Sennott) is in the midst of having a day. Turns out Max (Danny Deferrari), the sugar daddy with whom she has frequently been visiting as part of her regular prostitution gig, is somehow a friend or cousin of the deceased at the same Shiva she has come to attend with her well-meaning, but completely overwhelming parents (Polly Draper and Fred Melamed). If that weren’t enough in Emma Seligman’s spry comedy, Danielle is also horrified to find Maya (Molly Gordon), a successful young woman she’s known for years, and a recent ex, also there. Crammed into the Shiva house, full of cousins and aunts and uncles all kvetching about everyone else, and being physically grabbed and moved about by her mother, Danielle faces this house of horrors, with everyone commenting concernedly on her weight-loss (“You look like Gwyneth Paltrow  —  on food stamps!” her mother hisses at her), and her lack of job prospects when she graduates, and her parents telling scathingly embarrassing stories about her in front of Max and his shiksa wife (Dianna Argon), whose 18-month-old baby, her mom says is “freakishly pale  —  and no nose,” with no respite in sight. As a result of this sort of hyper-scrutiny, Danielle goes the only route that makes any sense: Lying to everybody about nearly everything, from her current major (“gender business”), to the many job interviews she has supposedly lined up. She’s just trying to get through the ordeal, one that Seligman, along with a continually spiraling score from Ariel Marx, ratchets up, until, near the end, poor Danielle is in a near fugue state, sweat glistening on her face, and the attendees, shot in unflattering slo-mo, and distorted lenses, take on the sheen of a waking nightmare. At a brisk 77 minutes, the film still doesn’t have quite enough to sustain its running time  —  at a certain point it begins doubling back on itself  —  but it’s still a lot of horrific fun, as Seligman expertly captures the absolute loss of agency one can feel, swallowed up in a claustrophobic family gathering, where escape feels futile.

Limbo: If Scotland has a cinematic identity, as such, it seems like the kind of place, desolate and unforgiving, where individuals come to exit regular society and come to a land filled with eccentric loners (stoic and unique in their oddities), in order to get better in touch with their souls. Ben Sharrock’s serio-comedy captures both the pitiless beauty of the land, and the lonely plight of a Syrian immigrant, Omar (Amir El-Masry), waiting with a group of other men from across the Middle East and Africa, on an island off the mainland, for word from the Immigration Office that his bid for political asylum has been accepted. Omar, sweet-faced and approachable, was a musician by trade in his native Syria, and walks around everywhere carrying his precious oud, bequeathed to him by his grandfather, also a musician, even though his right hand is locked in a cast from an unspecified injury. Even without the cast, however, you get the sense that his heart really isn’t into playing, despite the entreaties from Farhad (Vikash Bhai), his Afghani roomie and self-appointed “agent and manager,” who wants him to enter a local music contest. Omar is carrying a significant amount of weight beyond missing his mother’s fragrant home-cooking. Talking to her on the lone payphone on the island, where other immigrants-in-waiting stand in line for a chance to hear from home, she implores him to speak to his older brother, who chose to stay behind in Syria and fight in the Civil War that has plagued the region for years. Omar feels guilty for having left, and suffers from having disappointed his father in the process. It doesn’t help him that the culture he finds himself in seems so foreign to him, despite his speaking flawless English. Sharrock’s brand of deadpan perfectly suits the setting, but as funny as the film can be (when asked in a culture/language class to create a sentence using the “I used to” construction, one immigrant offers “I used to be happy before I came here”), it doesn’t paint a rosy affirmation for Omar and his ilk, stuck as they are, as the title suggests, between countries and lives. Omar’s pain is real, and for every positive step forward he takes, it’s one further away from his family and his beloved home country.

Enemies of the State: Sonia Kennebeck’s challenging and curious documentary seems at first to present a case for its protagonist, Matt DeHart, a young teen hacker interested in social justice, who through his work with Wikileaks runs afoul of the U.S. government, and his beleaguered parents, Paul and Leann, who vigorously defend their only child against the evil forces conspiring against him. Through a series of personal interviews with Paul and Leann, both retired Air Force intelligence officers, who believe their country has turned against them for what Matt had downloaded from his computer into secret thumbdrives shortly before the FBI arrived at their door and confiscated all his equipment, and various lawyers they employed, first to protect Matt from what they claim as utterly bogus child-porn charges, then, after they slip away to Canada in the middle of the night, the lawyers trying to earn them asylum. While in Canada, under close supervision and confined to his parents’ apartment, Matt uses his charms, his hackavist bonafides, and his skill at PR, to generate enough interest in his case to become a digital cause celebe, along the lines of Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning. Protests are fronted, defense funds gathered, and pressure put on the government to come clean about why they seem so hard-driving against the young man. During a peculiar reenactment set in a Canadian immigration hearing  —  Kennebeck employs actors who apparently lip sync their lines in perfect time with the actual recorded audio  —  DeHart describes a harrowing ordeal earlier in the affair, after having moved to Canada to attend college, being abducted by the FBI shortly after crossing the border to renew his Visa, and tortured for days for information related to the material on the thumb-drives. Some documentation seems to corroborate his claims (even Paul and Leann, as fierce supporters as can be, were shocked to see just how ready the FBI were to snatch him), but as the film continues, and we hear more and more from the investigators and prosecuting attorneys about the original child-pornography crimes, it becomes clear that our sympathies are being played with by Kennebeck. By the end, the film itself becomes an indictment of our rapid-assumption culture, in which decisions of guilt and innocence are determined in seconds online and forever after based on the presentation of information before us.

The Way I See It: For non Trumpites, the switchover from eight years of the dignified, intelligent, and measured leadership of Barack Obama, to the perma-tanned tackiness of power-mad, narcissistic bloviating of Donald Trump, was like a double-feature that went from Citizen Kane to Kevin James’ Loudest Farts. One man better than most to measure Obama’s time in office against the subsequent regime is photojournalist Pete Souza, who served as the official White House photographer for both of Obama’s terms, and has gone on to become an outspoken critic of Trump by way of his devastating IG account, in which he juxtaposes stately Obama photos with Trumps scandal-du-jour. Lest you think he’s just another divisively partisan liberal, you have to take into account his previous turn in the White House, as one of the official photographers for Ronald Reagan’s presidency. In fact, Souza’s fly-on-the-wall quality was considered one of his strengths in the oval office. Documentarian Dawn Porter travels with Souza as he makes the media rounds promoting his newest book, Shade, a collection of those IG photos that have earned him millions of social media followers (a sort of companion piece to his previous book Obama: An Intimate Portrait). Hauling from far-off India (where he gets a standing ovation before he even takes the stage), to domestic conferences and speaking engagements, Souza emerges as a man becoming more used to being out from behind his ever-present Canon lens. Through that lens, as he displays to his rapturous audiences, he has taken many hundreds of indelible photos, showing Obama’s various interactions with foreign dignitaries, his council of cabinet members, and his more raucous time with his two daughters (one shot of Obama with his girls making snow angels on the rear lawn during a heavy snow storm remains his computer screensaver, Souza says with pride). As Porter moves from talking heads to public oratories, Souza’s remarkable photos  —  brilliantly composed, and inspiringly intimate, having been given nearly unlimited access to the president  —  play throughout, showing us a collection of images that capture the inspiring hope the president inspired and the agonizing rigors of the job he was elected to perform. The film spends little time on his Reagan years, except to note how media and image-savvy the former Hollywood actor and his wife were (Souza professes no political ill-will towards the Reagans, other than noting that while he didn’t always agree with him, he was a genuinely caring man, who at least understood the parameters of leadership). At first, the film trolls Trump by a sort of subtweet level of backhandedness: Without directly naming names, Souza makes it entirely clear who he finds failing in comparison to Obama’s empathetic, engaging deportment, but by the time the film comes around to his notorious IG account, there can be no doubt the subject of his ire. Souza maintains it has less to do with his partisan feelings (his political affiliation is never revealed), and more the way he finds the current president’s undignified manner and total disrespect for the office and the leadership it demands unacceptable. Trumpers will of course take great exception to the portrait the film portrays of the sitting president, but even the most hardcore GOP folks won’t be able to help noting the blatant differences between the loving, genuinely close Obamas; and the preening, viciously competitive Trumps, each trying to outdo the others in acting as their father’s primary sycophant.

In a year of bizarre happenings, and altered realities, TIFF has shifted its gears to a significantly paired down virtual festival. Thus, U.S. film critics are regulated to watching the international offerings from our own living room couches.

[suspiriu-m]

About Me

Hello! My name is Sal and welcome to my blog, Suspirium! Suspirium is a word that originates from one of my favorite movies, Luca Guadagnino’s 2019 remake of Dario Argento’s classic italian horror movie Suspiria. According to World of Dictionary, Suspirium is a Latin word meaning “Deep breath, sigh”. It’s also the title of one of my favorite songs from the soundtrack to the movie produced by Thom Yorke of Radiohead. I’m a huge horror movie buff so expect to see a lot of that sort of content on my blog if I can incorporate it into any of my work. I chose this as the title of my blog because of how well the word fits into the movie, and I just love the way it sounds. Anybody who’s watched the movie will understand, but I won’t go into detail as to not spoil it for anybody who hasn’t yet seen it.

Throughout my highschool years I technically went to two schools. My main and home school was Middletown High School, and my secondary school was Orange Ulster Boces in Florida New York. In high school I was always in media production and art classes. For example, photography, video editing, drawing & painting classes and my favorite was an Elements of Horror class I took my senior year. Horror being my favorite genre, I absolutely had to take a class that’s dove into the origins of classic horror novels, films and short stories. Leading to me finding my favorite classic horror story Dracula by Bram Stoker, and a multitude of stories by H.P. Lovecraft. Continuing on now to college i’m now majoring in Media Production while also still taking some classes in Marketing and Design! I really enjoy both a lot so it’s hard to kind of pick exactly which I want to do, but it’s nice knowing that no matter what path I finally choose I'll still have some experience in the other!

Aside from my education, I love to watch horror movies and read stories in my own free time. Movies in general are a huge hobby of mine and I watch at least 3-4 a week given I have the time. Some of my favaroties of all time concerning classics have got to be the Halloween series, The Evil Dead series and all four of the Scream movies. Other hobbies of mine that take up a huge part of my life and time are video games and music. I have a pretty big record collection that’s continuously growing with at least 80-90 albums and counting. I just recently purchased a few more to add being Sade’s Diamond Life, Whitney Houston’s Whitney and Whitney Houston albums, Lazaretto by Jack White, Texas Sun by Khruangbin & Leon Bridges and Petals for Armor by Hayley Williams. Hopefully my next additions will be What’s Your Pleasure? by Jessie Ware and The Baby by Samia. I’ve been collecting them for years, but especially now since even CD’s are starting to go out of style. I’m the kind of person who still likes to have physical copies of all my music and movies and games so having such big collection is super special to me.

In terms of video games, I try and play as wide of a variety that I can because I believe I can find something I like in any genre. Strategy, shooters, brawlers, online competitive games etc, but I think my favorite style of game is single-player, narrative driven experiences. Most recently I played The Last of Us Part II and was absolutely enthralled with it. I loved the first game so much so getting a sequel was something I was extremely grateful for. I don’t think video games get enough credit for what they do for storytelling. TLOU 1 and 2 are some of my favorite stories that I have experienced in any form of media. The heartbreak, pain, love, fear and excitement those games have succeeded in giving me while just sitting in front of my TV is something no other form of entertainment has brought me. Some of the most touching moments, but also the most excruciating. They also had a queer women front and center throughout the games which is something that isn’t very common in video games so seeing that was really nice to me. Other than The Last of Us, some other solid narrative driven games I’ve played are God of War, Uncharted 1-4, Marvel’s Spider-Man, The Tomb Raider Reboots, Ghost of Tsushima, the Batman Arkham series and Control.

Although story based games are my favorites that doesn’t mean I don’t have a place in my heart for some good old fashioned fun as well! I also really enjoy a lot of the Super Mario and Legend of Zelda games as well. My biggest pet peeve that I have with the gaming industry right now though is Fortnite. I think it’s literally the most annoying game ever created. People spend hundreds and thousands of dollars just to buy skins and weapon packs and I think it’s absolutely ridiculous. The fact that I work at a major video game retailer and constantly have kids running through my store screaming about the damn game at least once a day could also contribute to my hatred. Either way, I want no part and absolutely nothing to do with it.

Going back to queer representation though. I recently watched Pose over the summer. Not only was the show heavily based during the AIDS epidemic in New York City, almost the entirety of the main cast was comprised of Transgender Black women. On prime time television! This is the first show to ever achieve such a feat. Not only was the cast extremely talented, I thought the writing and production of the show as a whole was brilliant. It definitely has its flaws and I could point out a few of them, but I believe all of the good of the show far outweighs the bad. It’s not afraid to tackle extremely real and difficult subjects the Transgender and Black communities have faced in this country and all over the world. It’s so important to see content like this on television as well because EVERYBODY deserves representation. Not only was the cast Trans, but one of the lead writers of the series Janet Mock is also a Black Trans woman! Pose was filled with heartfelt moments that truly had me sobbing in my bed as I watched. I think I actually cried at pretty much every single episode for both seasons. The cast is brilliant, the realism and talent and star power they bring to the show is like nothing that I’ve ever seen before and I’m so glad to be able to see them up on my television. I so badly one day hope that I can be behind the scenes of producing a show of this caliber some day.

While I have yet to help in the production of a show like this, I have had my fair share of of making short films, music videos and even assisting on a friend of mine’s first full length movie that he submitted to festivals. Last year, I had the opportunity to shoot a short horror film with my classmates for our final project. The film was based around a young woman getting trapped at her school in the middle of a blizzard, and slowly beginning to realize that she may not be alone. In a fight for her life, she has to survive till morning while going up against a mysterious killer who lurks the halls of her small town college. Sadly, we didn’t have enough time to produce a full and finalized cut of the film but coming together and working with a few other classmates was still a really fun experience. Not only was I able to play the role of the killer, I aided in audio, music selection, location scouting, props department, shot planning and writing the movie and it was a great time. I also had the pleasure of helping out my friend Matt Vincini in shooting his short film The Cattle Farmer. A horror/thriller film about a boy who is adopted into a family, only to realize that his life might have been planned from the start. It featured a mysterious woodland family who may or may not have had cannibalistic tendencies that included their adopted children. It was a super cool experience to be on a set with a bunch of actors and seeing my friend in action in the role of director. Collaborating on projects like this with friends is always a fun time, even it does get stressful at some points. At one point in the film, one of the characters realizes that the dinner he is currently eating could quite possible be his last meal ever. Which kinda let me to thinking what my last meal would be. After some thinking, I think i’d definitely have to choose my families homemade pasta and meatballs. I know, pretty stereotypical for an Italian family but it’s just so good. We make our own sauce every september and it’s a huge family event. Everybody comes together and one of our houses and it’s literally a whole days worth of work. The best part? At the end of the night, we all have a huge feast and make pasta and meatballs with all of the sauce we just made. It’s one of my favorite things to do with my family and always one of my favorite meals. Not only is it delicious, but also sentimental.

This is all for now! Thanks for stopping by my blog and reading a little bit about me. I could probably keep rambling on for hours but I don’t think that’s the smartest idea. I can’t wait to fill this blog with more content this year and hope to hear from you guys as well! Until then, i’ll be watching more movies and DEFINITELY playing some more games. At this point i’ve been playing the new Marvel’s Avengers video game so, let me get back to kicking some AIM ass!

[trickstercaptain-archive]

i think it’s about time i spoke candidly about an issue very contentious and very emotive for a lot of people that has dogged my experience on here writing Jack for the last three and a half years like an elephant in the room. cancel culture for actors and other celebrities over media comments or matters of representation is now ( tragically ) not a novel concept, but back in may of 2016 it was a very new concept to me at least, and did not involve any ignorant comment to a tabloid or rogue tweet, but serious allegations that, of course, should be taken seriously, listened to and investigated by the proper processes. i can remember the vitriol i witnessed on my dash for at least 24 hours after these accusations came to light against an actor who i am irrevocably tied to on this blog, regardless of any personal feelings or admiration i had for him outside of it ( and yes, i am a fan. why the hell wouldn’t i be. but knowing that people would likely use that, as well as my adoration for one of this actor’s beloved characters, against me should i ever comment on the matter, is another reason i’ve never talked about this openly on the dash before now ). i can remember feeling like i’d just been handed a target on my back by the tumblr mob because this alleged abuser’s face was all over my blog and would continue to be unless i decided to stop writing Jack completely ( which, yes, crossed my mind ). i can also remember being shocked on a personal level, and determined not to jump to conclusions right away, as the vast majority of people on this hellsite did, but wait for the true facts of this case to come to light before i formed any opinions on the matter. 

you know, like a rational human being.

it took two days before information came out that enabled me to cast doubt on the judgement that social media had ruled on his guilt, and within a matter of weeks i’d paid enough attention to the minutiae of this case to know that it was much more complicated than the initial allegations suggested. of course, people argued against the very concept that a well-established narrative of patriarchy and female victimhood might not apply in this situation, and would continue to do so for three more years until the reality of the situation became virtually impossible to refute, but information continued to trickle out throughout the summer of 2016 that would have exonerated said actor if his fate had not already been sealed by a trial and verdict that had taken less than 24 hours by social media. it took another three years, an ongoing defamation suit to clear his name, and pages upon pages of evidence before people were finally willing to admit what had been there all along. 

this hellsite is so quick to attack people that i decided not to even mention it here. yet i still felt as if i had to become acquainted with all of the facts in case i was ever targeted in call out posts that did exist at one point for people who supported him. i limited the amount of times i reblogged pictures of his face. i had to watch people laud his ex-wife on the dash and still have her name blacklisted to this day. i’ve long stopped caring about tumblr’s bs, and i wasn’t going to let any of the drama in this actor’s personal life stop me from writing a character i loved, but i won’t lie and say that it didn’t affect me whatsoever. ‘actors do not equal characters!!!’ i hear you say, but Jack is a creation of the actor who portrayed him. he would not have been the same character were it not for his now-iconic performance in the first potc movie. and a lot of what makes Jack Jack, psychologically speaking, comes from understanding the actor who made him what he is. the two could only be separated from one another to a certain extent.

to anybody who still believes that this was a case of ‘mutual abuse’ and suggest that evidence emerging on the very platforms that cancelled him in the first place has been taken ‘out of context,’ i urge you: listen to the full audio that was released a couple of days ago. bear in mind that it is triggering, so please take care, but it is an hour of a voluntarily recorded informal therapy session that gives a better look inside closed doors than anything that has emerged in this case so far ( though, tbh, it’s sad that an actor who is such a private individual has had to broadcast his personal life in such a way in order to be taken seriously ). and think very carefully: if the two roles were reversed, if this was a man talking like this to a woman, calling her a baby for walking away from violent situations he was creating, making derogatory comments when she talks about calling for a friend to help, gaslighting and questioning her own perception of what had happened... would you still be saying that the abuse went both ways?

[captainkirkk]

✩ WEEKLY FIC ROUND-UP ✩

A collection of fics I’ve read (/reread) and thoroughly enjoyed in the past week-ish from all kinds of fandoms and genres.

BNHA

RE: Izuku by thecozydragon

Part 1 of #YOLO #JUSTKIDDING

Wheezing through the pain, staring down at the body of an opponent Izuku should reasonably never have been able to take alone at his current level, Izuku realizes he just discovered a latent quirk.

“Fuck.” Izuku hisses. “That’s the worst fucking quirk I’ve ever heard of.”

It only activates on death. You have to die first.

OR... Midoriya Izuku's Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day.

i'm proud to say i got you by taizi (+ podfic)

Part 1 of the for better, for worse series

There’s a history behind Midoriya’s stammers and full-body flinches, an ugly word for what he went through before coming to Yuuei, Tenya just doesn’t want to think it.

Avatar The Last Airbender

Style One: The Fire Nation by rewmariewrites

The tattoos of the Fire Nation are bright and sprawling, encompassing the entirety of backs and chests and arms. The oldest of their ranks - the fiercest and most practiced warriors - have full bodysuits of bright reds and blues and greens, of dragons and wyrms and spirits whose names have been forgotten but whose forms will never be.

Umbrella Academy

Stitch and Mend by papayaromantic

When the Hargreeves are 12, they meet a young girl named Eudora Patch. She's nice, has good stories, and actually wants them around. There's a mansion full of obviously abused kids at the end of her block. Super-powered or not, Patch knows that she cares about the siblings, and she won't let Reginald Hargreeves hurt them anymore.

DC

Satisfaction Brought It Back by slippin_into_darkness, SpiritsFlame

Bruce always thought that Superman's cute shtick of rescuing cats from trees was a bid for publicity—until a confrontation with a magic user leaves him stuck as a cat. He learns how mistaken he was when Superman not only rescues him, but takes him back to a small Metropolis apartment. The opportunity to learn more about the alien can't be ignored, but is Bruce ready for everything he will learn about someone he has only ever regarded with distrust and dislike?

Merlin

For All to See by Highly_Illogical

Part 2 of the The Age That Should Have Been series

The Day is ticking closer. The day Merlin is officially named Court Sorcerer, that is.

Apparently, the proceedings involve a lot of practicing, frayed nerves, and nagging self-doubt, but luckily, Merlin is not without friends who will stay with him through thick and thin.

Doctor Who

When You Need Me Most by Shinyunderwater

Twelfth Doctor and Martha Jones friendship fic meant to fit into established cannon. The Doctor was teaching at St. Luke's for decades, and a few times during his tenure his phone rang. It's not every day you get the chance to reconnect with an old friend after over a thousand years of radio silence, but Twelve is grateful for the opportunity.

Good Omens

it's the light (it's the obstacle that casts it) by Handful_of_Silence

It's like having a curtain pulled back on something he wasn't expecting to see. A surprise punch-and-judy at an up-scale restaurant, a lobster thermidor when he's ordered an ale.

Crowley's gleefully trying to wrap his head around the fact that Aziraphale is speaking Polari. Because of course he is.

Or: The Patron Saint of London's LGBT Community is real, and he lives in Soho.

case #0100426 by Handful_of_Silence (+ podfic)

Case number: 0100426. Statement of Denzil Cassar, regarding an unusual encounter in a bookshop. Original statement given April 26th 2010. Audio recording by Jonathan Sims, head archivist of the Magnus Institute, London. Statement begins.

Or: You live in a place long enough, and people start to notice.

come as you are by punkfaery

Aziraphale visits a modern art gallery, goes on a diet, and submits to the mortifying ordeal of being known. Not necessarily in that order.

I'm Not Going In The Tank by ileolai

This came about from a discussion on how thoroughly Aziraphale would research snake care and whether he keeps snake!Crowley in a tank.

[watusichris]

I Went to “Rock ‘n’ Roll High”

This story, now expunged from the web, originally appeared on Night Flight in 2015. ********* “Pay five bucks and be in a movie starring the Ramones? Hell, yeah!” And so it was, 37 years ago this month, that I made my first appearance before the cameras, as an extra in the concert sequence in Allan Arkush’s Rock ‘n’ Roll High School.

At that point, I was laboring as the staff writer and publicist for Landmark Theatre Corporation, then a chain of repertory movie houses that included the Nuart, the Sherman, and the Rialto in the L.A. area. (Today it’s an art house chain owned by billionaire Mark Cuban.) In October of that year, I’d become the “rock critic” for the Los Angeles Reader, a new alternative weekly. I’d been a die-hard Ramones fan since the release of their first album in 1976; in fact, I had lost my job at the free-form Madison, Wisconsin, radio station I had worked for after playing their first album in its entirety on the air in the middle of the afternoon. I still hadn’t seen the band live, so I was understandably excited when a tantalizing flyer fell into my hands. It read, “BE IN A MOVIE! AND ATTEND AN EXCLUSIVE RAMONES CONCERT!” I jumped at the chance, called the phone number on the flyer, and reserved two $5 dollar tickets to attend an evening shoot at the Roxy on the Sunset Strip. Why were the filmmakers charging a fin to make the scene? Well, first of all, they knew they could get away with it: The Ramones were punk pathfinders who commanded a large fan base in L.A. More importantly, the money would help defray the cost of a picture that was being filmed on a budget that could charitably be called infinitesimal. Rock ‘n’ Roll High School was the second solo project by director Arkush, the former lighting director of New York’s Fillmore East, who had labored for several years at B-movie titan Roger Corman’s New World Pictures. Arkush had convinced Corman to let him lens his rock ‘n’ roll comedy – a bargain-basement fusion of A Hard Day’s Night and The Girl Can’t Help It – but he had to make the picture on a three-week schedule for a cost of $180,000, virtually nothing for a professional feature. (Historical footnote: The original script for the film, conceived as Girl’s Gym, was written by my University of Wisconsin classmate Joe McBride, who had based his story on a student walkout at his father’s high school in Superior, Wisconsin, in the ‘20s. Joe went on to write authoritative books about Orson Welles, John Ford, and other directors and produced several documentaries about the movies.) On Dec. 14, 1978, I joined a couple hundred other suckers – uh, extras – at the Roxy at 5:30 p.m., for the second of two shoots for the picture that day. The earlier shoot, which had convened at the ungodly hour of 8:30 a.m., had been largely devoted to filming footage in the club’s cramped upstairs dressing room area and tight set-ups featuring the band and the picture’s stars. The Roxy was standing in for the fictitious “Rockatorium,” the exterior of which was actually the Mayan, an ancient, ornate theater in downtown L.A. In the picture, high school rocker and adoring Ramones fan Riff Randell (P.J. Soles of Halloween and Carrie) and her gal pal Kate Rambeau (debutante actress Dey Young) attend the Ramones concert against the express wishes of evil Vince Lombardi High principal Evelyn Togar (Mary Woronov, a former member of the Exploding Plastic Inevitable, the dance troupe that had performed under Andy Warhol’s auspices with the Velvet Underground at their New York club gigs). The venue was crowded that night, and insanely hot, thanks to the movie lights that sent temperatures soaring inside the small venue. It was under these extreme circumstances that the “audience” of extras was introduced to the tedium of movie-making; we were directed to pogo up and down repeatedly as the Ramones ran through pre-recorded versions of the five songs – “Blitzkrieg Bop,” “Lobotomy,” “California Sun,” “Pinhead,” and “She’s the One” – that would be heard in the movie’s climactic concert sequence. I stood about 20 feet from the stage, melting in my heavy leather bomber jacket, and surveyed the crowd. An actor costumed as an enormous white mouse stood a few feet to my left. The open cash-for-casting call had drawn a motley assemblage; the extras ranged from Valley girls in Fiorucci finery (not entirely unlike what Dey Young is wearing in the scene) to hardcore Hollywood punks. Standing directly in front of me, and visible in most of the shots taken from the stage, were the Germs’ lead singer Darby Crash and bassist Lorna Doom. You can’t miss Darby – he’s wearing a white jacket sporting a black Germs armband. (He would die from a suicidal heroin overdose just shy of two years to the day later.) It was a long night, protracted by multiple camera set-ups and inevitable retakes, but the crowd weathered it with good humor. After all, we were all gonna be in the movies! But the icing on the overheated cake came at the end of the shoot, sometime after 11 o’clock, when, after a brief pause, the Ramones returned to the stage, plugged in for real, and treated their fans to a loud, full-on, seven-song mini-set. (The action wasn’t filmed, but audio can be heard as an extra on Shout! Factory’s 2010 DVD re-release of the movie.) When I finally saw the finished film after it opened in April 1979, I was gratified to discover that I had not been consigned to the cutting room floor. If you look carefully – I mean, very, very carefully -- at the shots of the crowd taken from the stage, in the upper left-hand corner of the screen you’ll see a guy with shoulder-length hair and ugly glasses, clad in a bomber jacket, punching the air with his fist and chanting, “HEY! HO! LET’S GO!” That would be me. The film’s final scene, the destruction of Vince Lombardi High by its rebellious students, was still to be shot, and a week or two later some of us trekked down to Mt. Carmel High, an abandoned Catholic school in Watts, to visit the location. (This was probably on the eve of the Ramones’ Christmas show at the Whisky a Go Go, which I attended.) Temperatures in L.A. that week hit record-shattering lows, and so, after a couple of hours milling around freezing amid the chaos on the street, I split the scene before the building was blown up. But stories of that night rapidly circulated among L.A. punkdom: The technicians in charge of the pyro had underestimated the power of the charge, and when it was detonated it reduced a large part of the school to rubble, and also blew out dozens of windows in the neighborhood, terrifying the local residents. That’s show biz. It does look great on screen. Four years later, I had the opportunity to hang around the Wiltern Theatre location of Allan Arkush’s second rock movie, the ill-fated Get Crazy. (Allan had managed to survive the case of exhaustion that had put him in the hospital at the end of the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School shoot; the picture had been completed by Joe Dante, who had co-directed 1976’s movie spoof Hollywood Boulevard with him, and would go on to helm Gremlins). I interviewed Allan at home at that time; he is a charming guy and a complete music nut, and also the only person I know who has a light show installed in his living room. The Ramones likewise survived the Rock ‘n’ Roll High School shoot – they had already managed to live through making an album with Phil Spector, so they were game for anything. Sadly, only drummer Marc “Marky Ramone” Bell is still with us today. But the movie – as cheap, goofy, and frequently silly as it is -- lives on in TV, repertory, and film festival screenings as a testimony to the band’s energy, spirit, power, and bountiful sense of fun. I’m glad I had a chance to be a small part of it.

[dailyaudiobible]

02/23/2020 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 14:1-57, Mark 6:30-56, Psalms 40:1-10, Proverbs 10:11-12

Today is the 23rd day of February I'm Brian it's great to be here with you. This is the Daily Audio Bible by the way. I just had like a complete brain freeze. There's a lot to keep my brain right now. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible coming to you from the shores of the Sea of Galilee as we continue our pilgrimage through the land of the Bible for this year. It is wonderful to be here with you as we greet a brand-new shiny, sparkly week and walk into it together. And lots of times at the beginnings of the week I remind us, hey, the week is in front of us. It's not been lived yet. Like all of the choices that we make are gonna make up the story of this week and we’re out in front of it. We can set our hearts in the right direction to make the right choices and follow the voice of wisdom this week. So, let's…let's live into that. And let's also do what we have come around the Global Campfire today to do, let’s allow God's word to speak into our lives. So, it's a brand-new week. We'll read from the Christian Standard Bible this week. Leviticus chapter 14.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us safely into this brand-new week. And we were mentioning that we mark this time most every week and just pay attention to the fact that this is a reset and restart no matter how off-track last week may have gotten or for that matter, no matter how perfectly it may have been for us. This a new week and if we walk with You into this week, if we listen to Your word and pay attention to what You're bringing up in it, if we meditate on what You're saying to us, and we live into these things we will slow down enough to hear the voice of wisdom at every crossroads. And that's what we want because we don't want it to just be one week. We want it to start stacking up week after week after week after week walking in wisdom and…and be…be transformed by it in the process. And, so, we’re thankful that we get a reset, just a moment to reflect on where we are where we’re going. And Father, for those of us here in the land of Israel as we spend the next few days around the Galilee here walking in Your footsteps like we’re reading out of the Bible places like Bethsaida today knowing that before we leave the Galilea we’re going there. And, so, thank You for…for letting us find ourselves all of the sudden in the Bible. We thank You for that. We thank You for…that we live at a time that we can share that, we can share these experiences and allow everyone in the community who wants to kind of see and go deeper and understand deeper��more…deeper…what these places look like, what it was like when You ministered on earth because these hills are the same hills and this Sea of Galilee is huge. Like this is the same one. And, so, it's…it's riveting, and we thank You for this. Come Holy Spirit into this week, into all of our decisions, into all of our thoughts that are gonna form those decisions and from all the things that come out of our mouth, all the conversations that we’re gonna have that are also gonna inform those decisions. Come into every aspect of our lives. We invite You fully. We ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

Okay. So, here in the land of Israel we are…we are well underway on our pilgrimage and we’re here in the Galilee and we had our first day kind of in the Galilea although we…we haven’t been centered around the Sea of Galilee yet. We have seen plenty of the have the Galilee region and its very, very, very, very different than the wilderness and we ran into some rain today but not…not too bad, a little mud today, which is always a good time. And…but…but we did have a wonderful, wonderful day.

We began our day at the valley of the doves. This is part of the ancient road system, part of the…the trail way that would've led from places like Nazareth down to the Sea of Galilee and it’s a beautiful place to just kind of find some serenity. It…it can be challenging to find it. And, so, we found it and we centered ourselves into it and made it kind of like a little oasis in our mind and heart, a place we can go back to.

And we just invited Jesus into the day before making our way then further westward to Cana, where there is a church that's been there for a very very long time since a Byzantine era and commemorating the spot of Jesus first miracle, which happened to take place at a wedding. And, so, many of the couples that are on this trip participated in renewing…in a vow renewal ceremony there at Cana of Galilee. It's always a moving thing. It's always an honor. It's always a beautiful thing to just look out over all of the couples and realize how many years of marriage that we’re talking about, how many years of just staying faithful that we’re talking about and adding it up and realizing probably centuries are involved. And just seeing God's goodness through the highs and the lows and the rocky times and the dark times and the in the wonderful times. And, you know, just all that marriage is. So, just commemorating the moment there where Jesus turned water into wine and just realizing that it's a miracle that…that we can stay together, that we can do life together in the highs and the lows and just honoring God in all of it is beautiful. And, so, we did…we did that, and it was that, it was beautiful.

And then we moved on to Nazareth and Mount Precipice, which is a fantastic view…like you look out over that view and it's like all Bible related, Like you look in so many stories of the Bible from there, like Mount Tabor where…where it is believed the Transfiguration of Jesus happened and Mount Gilboa where Saul lost his life and with his sons in the battle with the Philistines. And then down just below Mount Gilboa the story of Gideon. And it’s a huge valley. So, it's the Jezreel Valley. And the city of Jezreel is down there with its ruins. The story of Jezebel. And then way across the valley you can see all the way to Mount Carmel today. So, there’s so many biblical stories. And standing there on Mount Precipice in Nazareth, this is believed to be the place where Jesus was…where He came out of the wilderness after being tempted, He came back to Nazareth and opened the scroll from Isaiah and essentially announced what He intended to do, that a prophecy was being fulfilled. And as it turns out this is His hometown and in the end there gonna throw Him off a cliff and He just passes right through them and moves on His way and we talked about that a little bit in our own lives before grabbing a little bit of lunch before moving back toward the…the Sea of Galilee for baptism.

And, so, we all got ready to be baptized in the Jordan River. We couldn't…we normally do it outside of Jericho. It's just…the Jordan River is flooded. This has been a very, very wet rainy winter for them. Apparently one of the biggest if not the largest on record which is…which is a good thing. Like the Sea of Galilee, we’ve been coming here for many, many years now and I haven't seen it is this full, like it's been receding and now it’s filling back up. So, that's a wonderful thing that the countryside has the blessing of rain. And it's green and it's lush and it's beautiful and it's coming alive with blossoms and wildflowers and it's gorgeous. So, we talked about baptism and then we got into the cold water and baptized many and what an honor. That’s one of the greatest honors that I get to feel as a minister, just to…to share that moment of transformation and what it represents in our lives. It's something that we don't ever forget. And I don't forget it either. It's just an amazing, reverent, holy moment.

And then from there we moved up onto the Golan Heights and looked out at over…over one of the Decapolis cities, the ruins of the Decapolis city called Hippos-Sussita, it’s on the side of the lake where the Gerasene’s lived. So, Jesus came over and three are stories here like casting the evil spirits into the swine and we’ll…we’ll get more into that story a little bit later in this trip, but it's also just a pretty breathtaking view of the Sea of Galilea…very unique view of the Sea of Galilee from way up above.

So, we took some pictures there and then made our way down to dinner and then…then our live broadcast last night which is…which is always a wonderful time went. I mean by this point we’re pretty tired but it's just good to be able to give voice, to hear other stories, to give voice, to like let some of it out because we’ve been at it for several days now and each day is very full. And, so, it's nice to just kind of exhale and release some of that and get some sleep. So, it was a wonderful first day in the galley.

And today we’ll be going up into the Golan Heights, spending our day up in that region, making our way all the way as far north as we can go and as far east as we can go. So, indeed looking for that but it hasn't happened yet, so I’ll have to tell you about it after it does which will be tomorrow.

Thank you for your continued prayers for us. We feel it, we sense it, we appreciate it, we love you for it. We love being involved in this together. We just love posting all the pictures and the different things that we’re doing and just and being involved in this as a community as the Bible really begins to come to life for us as we see the places where these stories that we’re reading about in the Scriptures where they happened and rooting ourselves there. And, so, we thank you for your continued prayers

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There is a link on the homepage. Thank you humbly, thank you profoundly for your partnership. We wouldn’t be here if we didn't do this together. And, so, it's awe inspiring thing that we are doing this together and that it's such a rich community that we share as we go through the Scriptures. So, thank you for your partnership.

Also reminding you that the pilgrimage that is planned for 2021 is open for registration. You can check out all of the details about it dailyaudiobible.com in the initiatives section. Just look for Israel 2021 and you can read all about it there.

And I guess that's about it for today.

If you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit that Hotline button in the app or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that is it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hey DABbers this is Mike in Awe in the Kansas City Missouri area. Today while I was listening to Victoria Soldier, her pray for others, I thought to myself how important prayer is in the eyes of God. Like, any of us that are actively engaging in prayer are of so much more importance and significance in the eyes of God than like the wealthiest CEO running the biggest corporation that isn’t engaging in prayer. It’s the most important thing on earth like, maybe next to just like making disciples, but prayer is like involved in that even. So, I just want to encourage all of you who practice prayer or those of you that don’t really but could, prayer is like the highest vocation, the highest art that you can perform on earth in the eyes of God. And the eyes of God are the only thing we should be concerned with, like what He thinks. So, anyway, Lisa I heard your pray for your mom. I’m praying for your mom’s recovery from back pain and good health. And Beth in Auburn, boldness and faithfulness to you to share your faith with you brother. Samuel, protection and strength in front of the judge. I want you to be able to be…I’m praying for you to overcome addiction and healing from your social anxiety. Pink Paint, we share February 10th birthdays and I heard the pain in your voice and I just want hope and joy for you. I’m praying for hope and joy. Laura in South Florida and Victoria Soldier you’re vocational prayer warriors and you’re of the highest order and I thank you and honor you today. Bless you all and have a great day. I love you all.

Thank you God for love and grace and for this great big smile that’s on my face and all this love within my heart that sanctifies and sets apart and there’s that sparkle in my eye and that’s love for you that just won’t die thank you for the Sabbath day a time to read your word and pray a time to stop and introspect and on your goodness to reflect thank you God for everything foods to eat birds that sing a place that I can lay my head a mattress I can call my bed children family friends and foes good times bad times trouble woes through it all you’ve walked with me you’ve loved me as you’ve talked to me from this world you’ve set me free and I owe my all dear God to thee so here upon this Sabbath day I lift my hands and heart to pray I acknowledge you in all my ways and I come to you in total praise

blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Michelle from LA and Drew from the bay area. Love you both and know you’re in my prayers daily. And once again Brian and the Hardin family thank you for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family it’s Michael Davis again. Just wanted to give another update on my mom and my brother and I. And, so, my mom did end up passing away unfortunately on February 5th at around 10:05 PM but I’m not distressed about it or anything like that because I know she’s in a much better place now, that place being heaven. And, so, as far as my brother and I go, thankfully we’re not separated and my…one of my cousins and aunts are taking care of us and they have been since my mom had been going through cancer basically. And, so, it’s basically like a whole new family right now. But my mom will always be part of my family and I really do miss her. And, so, thank you all so much for your prayers. And speaking of prayers, I listened to the Daily Audio Bible prayer line for February 15th, the weekend prayer line where all the prayers come in. And, so, just thank you all so much for your prayers for my mom especially JoAnn from Happy Valley. Thank you so much for your input as well and I agree 100% with you with everything you said there. And then Michael thank you so much for your prayers well. And just to relay his message, anyone that feels alone and just wants to know that their prayers are being reached out for, just listen to the weekend prayer line. And, so, it’s just very satisfying because, you know, we get to hear each other’s walks of life, what we’re all going through and how we all just need help sometimes. You know, we just need some prayer answered from the Lord. And, so, hallelujah you in Jesus’ name. Thank you all so much. And just continue to pray for my family and I. Just pray that my aunt and cousin will continue to take great care of us that my brother and I won’t be separated, and I will definitely want to update you all on that. Thank you all and have a wonderful blessed day.

Good morning, afternoon, or evening my fellow DABbers this is Cindy from Georgetown. And two years ago, I was so blessed to be one of the pilgrims on the 2018 trip to Israel. That experience was heart changing and I know it will be for those so fortunate to be with Brian and his incredible team. Let us pray. Just Lord we lift up the pilgrims, Brian his family and his team, the tour guides, hotel and travel coordinators, leaders and bus drivers for health, safety, for good weather, for little jetlag - get some sleep Brian - for fellowship and an open heart. You will walk in Christ’s footsteps and hear His voice on the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of Beatitudes and in Brian’s challenging messages. We are with you and we love you. God is with you.

Hi family this is Mary Jo in St. Louis. This message is for Christie in Ohio. I’m so sorry for the loss of your sister. I’ve been praying for you and your family and I wanted to tell you that when you first called in under the name of anonymous to tell us about your sister’s suicide you weren’t anonymous to me. I don’t know you personally, but I heard your voice and I knew you instantly. I said that is Christie. So, I’ve been praying for you. And when you called back in to tell us that that anonymous person was you, I was like, “yes! I knew it was Christie.” Well, it was kind of a revelation to me because a lot of times we feel kind of anonymous in this world. We feel like people might not know us or recognize us, but God knows us. Just as I knew that was Christie’s voice, God knows us, God sees us even when we feel unseen or unknown. I think that was a little reminder to me that God sees, and God knows, and God cares, and God loves us. And it also reminds me of this community, how awesome it is that we know each other just by our voices. And let me tell you, if you ever get an opportunity to meet your fellow DABbers in person it is the coolest thing. Some people look completely different than what you imagine. Like, I always somehow picture Pelham as a blonde and he’s actually a brunette, you look totally different. Some people I’m like, “yeah”. But when you meet them in person and you hear their voices it’s that instant connection, that DAB family connection. It’s so awesome. But even if…there’s no way we could possibly all meet each other on this earth but in heaven someday and Brian will be standing there in the corner with a big DAB sign and we can all connect and see each other and rejoice in the Lord. All right. God bless you everyone.

Hey DAB family this is Tony the Narrator here in England. I want to tell you what my DAB word of the year is. I’ve decided on it and I hope you pray…I hope you get on board with it a little bit. It’s “mine”. So, my word for the year is “mine”. And let me explain. I’ve been listening, I’ve just realized this year for six years to the Daily Audio Bible. This Daily Audio Bible family is mine. You are all mine. When I hear your pain and your suffering, that pain-and-suffering is mine. When I hear your joy and your happiness, that’s mine. So, whether you’re Blind Tony or you’re Brian Hardin or your Toni in Germany or any of you, you’re all mine. And that is such a precious, precious wonderful gift that…that only we get to share because we’re part of the DAB family. I’ve also taken it to my church, and I’ve sent to parents, “you know your kids, their mine. And you know your parents, their mine. And, you know, you too, your mine.” And I’ve actually received a couple of hugs for that. But, yeah, so my word for this year is “mine”.

Good morning DABber family this is Walta the Burning Bush that will not be Devoured for the Glory Our God and King. I’m praying for Mark today. Mark you called in that you have been a listener since 2019 summer and you’ve been diagnosed with COPD and I heard your prayer request and it broke my heart, especially when you mentioned that part of your treatment required that you have a friend or family to take care of you and you stated that you had no one. I can tell in your voice that Mark, I don’t know you but I can feel that you are a man who has always been independent, a hard-working man, somebody who stands on his own 2 feet. And, so, I know that this situation is more humbling for you than just…just the fact that you’re sick. But I want you to know that just as Jesus told the man who was laying near the pool when He asked him, “do you want to be made whole? Do you want to be healed?” And the guy says to Jesus, “I have no man to put me in that pool”, well, Jesus healed him anyway. And, so, I want you to know that even though you may have no one standing up right now saying, “you know what Mark, go ahead and do the treatment. I got you”, Jesus is your man. He’s got you and He can do above and beyond our expectations and our understanding. So, even though you think you may have one or two or three different choices, you know, options A, B, and C, Jesus is your option C. Christ is your option and He can do exceedingly abundantly above your expectations. So, I just want you to know you’re not alone. I’m praying for you. I’m praying against the spirit of fear in Jesus’ name. I’m praying that God will increase your faith in Jesus’ name. I’m praying for healing over your body and your soul and spirit in Jesus’ name. And I’m even praying that God will wake up those relationships around you so that you know you’re not alone. I will keep praying for you. Love you so much and God bless. Keep us posted. Bye.

[isagrimorie]

@glompcat

replied to your post

“@glompcat replied to your post “I was listening to “Talking Who to...”

As for Eighth of March's Emancipation (I can not believe they gave that story the same name as a fairly Leela-centric Gallifrey episode)... there is so much that can be said there about what it revealed about River's limits of knowledge etc if they ever want to go down that route I mean the way she spoke to Leela about being Humans married to Time Lords, it made me wonder just how much she was able to find out about Leela anyway? I mean in a post-Time War world this stuff would be pretty hard to come across. Does all she know cover "She married a Time Lord and then became President Romana's bodyguard?" Because if there is a marriage I was shocked she'd ever compare her own to, it'd be the one that practically ended the moment the Time Lord spouse regenerated.

Leela has rather strong feelings about Regeneration, feelings she clings to as the first Human to ever gain fully Gallifreyan citizenship. They seem in full contrast to River's own. There was SO MUCH to be read into River trying to compare the two of them, and I really don't know any of it, at all, was intentionally there. 

Yeah, I would assume it would be hard for any legit records about Time Lords to even come by!  

And how accurate would that even be? 

Oh definitely, agree, I was so surprised the first Gallifrey story was that Leela’s husband died and when it was revealed he wasn’t dead, he was pretty much dead to her. 

You would think they’d be saying something about that difference between River and Leela but no, they’re just saying it to say it, and not try to explore that.

IDK as you said, I know Big Finish can tell these sorts of stories in a satisfying manner. I've heard them do it in the past. I know it is possible, that they really do care about these characters and doing right by them. Which just... makes it that much more frustrating when they make these sort of missteps.

Like as you said, River seems to feel that being married to one Incarnation of the Doctor means she is married to all of them which just ??????, like I think we can all agree that Time Travel does not undo the fact that retroactive marriage is not A Thing 

Retroactive marriage! YES. I like that, that is a good phrase for what River thinks she has with the Doctor. 

When you enter a relationship, that is by definition an agreement between all the people involved. If one of the parties is unaware of it, then it is not be an actual relationship? You can NOT be in an active relationship with someone before they met you. You can love them back then, and with Time Travel that creates an interesting story idea, but it by definition is only a one sided thing. IDK there is a lot I wish they'd clarify with River in Big Finish, and those flashes of almost touching on it always surprise me in how.... little comes of them.

I really like how it was portrayed more in Silence of the Library/Forest of the Dead. 

River likes Ten and is affectionate with him but she isn’t in love with him, nor trying to fashion Ten into the husband she knows. River in that first two parter is clear, Ten isn’t the man she fell in love with yet. He will become that man but not yet. 

And not just for River! Goodness knows Leela has hangups up the wazoo about how she's been made into something more than Human. River casually mentioning that she too is a ~Human Plus~, for someone who is a refugee, who has spent so much time seeking out a new tribe and home...

it felt like something that should have been positioned at the start of their adventure together, a way to explain why Leela was humoring River when there was no real reason for her to hear her out. That story could easily have been framed as: Leela was cast from her home and misses truly belonging. She's carved out a place for herself on Gallifrey and loves her people there deeply, but they will forever be alien to her in pretty fundamental ways. River is someone like her, a modified Human who might understand Leela in a way no other she has met could. So she is willing to give River the benefit of the doubt and get to know her before returning to report to Romana.

Instead it was fully about the ~~mystery~~ of River, how she always appears a step ahead until everything crashes down around her due to one fundamental fuck up at the heart of her plan. She is even able to open and have a rapport with the blank standard brand new TARDIS Leela arrived in! (Which is extra odd as Romana has complained in the Gallifrey audios about how the Presidential TARDISes she has access to are lacking in any personality so she hates using them).

They do seem to be breaking their continuity just because River is a Child of a TARDIS. She’s not a child of ALL TARDISes dammit, and just like Time Lords, they’re not a monolith. 

And I also wish they went that story route with Leela and River, instead of like you said, the mystery of River... which for the audience isn’t even a mystery any more. 

Which gets back to, as you say, a real fear to handle River with anything but reverence and care. She isn't allowed to exist as a real character who lives in that world, she has to be something More. Sadly this is very much to her detriment, and that of everyone she interacts with.

Yes, very much co-signed here. 

Ahhh sorry to keep adding more thoughts I just... have a ton of feelings about this? But one of the things that I really wish that audio had explored was how extreme both River and Leela are in their understanding of Time Lords. River feels married to the Doctor even before they met her, while Leela has time and time again expressed that she REFUSES to accept different incarnations of a Time Lord as the same person at all. (With the Doctor as an exception, given as a caveat when Romana pressed her on this while dramatically promising Leela she will always make room for Leela in her life regardless of the face she wears, and Leela flatly rejecting that idea). Like there is so much that can be explored with the two of them meeting, far far more than jokes about how hot Leela is (you can just acknowledge that River specifically is attracted to her and then either Move On or do more than joke)

See... that would have been a much more interesting route to take, because for Leela, like you mentioned, can’t accept the regenerations are still the same person, which is an interesting philosophy to take living among people who can change faces and personality. It goes to show how stubborn Leela is with her views, and maybe even living in Gallifrey just made her more stubborn because she always have to stand up for herself. 

And River, who quickly accepts each regeneration of the Doctor. 

Although, River getting scammed a lot by people posing to be the Doctor does make sense why she didn’t believe Twelve at first but also... sigh . 

It’s like Big Finish sidles up to a good idea for River and then instead of engaging with that idea, takes a sharp right turn into the easiest path a story could take without really examining and diving deep into her character. 

[accio-spaceman]

VORTEX Magazine - Issue 87

May 2016)

Download for FREE on the Big Finish website

Time For Ten

Kenny Smith goes behind the scenes on Big Finish’s most high-profile release yet.

[Above: David Tennant. Text reads Time For Ten - Kenny Smith goes behind the scenes on Big Finish’s most high-profile release yet.]

Let’s be honest – we’ve all been wanting David Tennant to play the Doctor for Big Finish since, well, the first day he got the job. Newspapers at the time of his casting as the Tenth Doctor made mention of the fact he’d already worked on the Doctor Who audios alongside Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy.

(Full Article Under Cut)

Of course, Big Finish have wanted him to return to the part and bring the Tenth Doctor back to life on audio.

And executive producer Nicholas Briggs – a friend of David’s for years – reveals the man himself has been just as keen as everyone else to get back into the studio with Big Finish.

Nick says: “David and I had a conversation about his doing Big Finish long, long before we got a licence to do plays based in his era. He actually, light-heartedly, encouraged me to go out and get the licence. At one stage, Michael Stevens and I had plans for Big Finish and Audiogo to do a coproduction of audio drama featuring the Tenth Doctor. But David’s schedule and Audiogo’s demise meant that plan didn’t materialise. But when we finally got the licence, I did chat to David on the phone. He eventually came up with the idea of a special, three-CD release.”

Line producer David Richardson adds: “The pitch for the Big Finish/ AudioGO co-production still exists – although none of the stories made it into this collection. The plan back then was to have episodes with a running theme, one that would climax with a big reveal and the return of a character from the Tenth Doctor era – but when we came to do this set of the Doctor and Donna stories, it was felt that it was best to go down the route of individual, unconnected episodes.”

But we’re getting ahead of ourselves a little.

 This month sees the eagerly anticipated return of David, alongside Catherine Tate as everyone’s favourite temp from Chiswick, Donna Noble.

However, the process of getting them back together hasn’t been an easy one.

Big Finish executive producer and company chairman Jason Haigh-Ellery says: “We’ve had a lot of support in getting series based around the New Legacy Doctors. When the time was right, the BBC gave us the rights and helped us to get these productions up and running as soon as possible.

“We’re really pleased to have got David and Catherine back together.

“I first did Big Finish with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred many years ago, certainly before Doctor Who was as central a part of my life as it has become since.”

– David Tennant

“Someone said to me, ‘Why did you announce John Hurt and David Tennant just a few weeks apart?’ The thing is, it took about two weeks to sort John out and get him into studio. With David and Catherine, it took a year – and you don’t want to announce anything until you have it recorded.

“It wasn’t in any way planned to announce them as closely together as we did, it just took us a year to sort out dates when we could get David and Catherine in studio together again.

“It was very important to both of them that they were there, acting together, so they could get that old feeling going again.

“A lot of people have said that David and Catherine’s relationship on-screen was some of the best stuff in 21st century Doctor Who, as a favourite combination of Doctor and companion. Seeing them work together, you can tell it’s obvious the two of them love working together and enjoy it.

“It was well worth waiting a year for, to have them together.”

Nick continues: “Once the BBC accepted the proposal, David Richardson and script editor Matt Fitton started working on story ideas, and kept me informed all along the way. It looked like we might get David and Catherine into studio fairly imminently then, so the scripts were worked on quite quickly. Then, when they were ready and tentative studio bookings made, David and Catherine – very busy people! – suddenly became unavailable. So we had to wait quite a while. So it’s true to say those scripts were then waiting for the final bookings to be made. So that’s why, when the information was leaked on the internet, we couldn’t comment, because we weren’t one hundred per cent sure it was actually going to happen. We had everything crossed!

David Richardson adds: “We certainly began story lining back in the summer of 2014, and the scripts were all signed off by May 2015. So they sat on the shelf for several months before we were able to get David and Catherine together in October.”

[Above David Tennant and Catherine Tate.]

When it was revealed in October last year that David Tennant was to play the Doctor for Big Finish, it marked his return to the Moat Studios after an absence of a decade.

Speaking to producer David Richardson, David Tennant recalls: “I first did Big Finish with Sylvester McCoy and Sophie Aldred many years ago, certainly before Doctor Who was as central a part of my life as it has become since.

“I was always keen to come and play. I did a few different characters, one with Colin Baker, one with David Warner and some Dalek stuff with Nick Briggs. It was always something I really enjoyed.

“It was a lovely little job when it came along, so it’s nice to return to that because doing audio stuff is always really good fun.

“There’s an immediacy to it – you turn up and haven’t learned the lines – you prepare a little but basically you are flying by the seat of your pants, to a certain extent, and if you have got lots of good actors who inspire you and make it good fun, it’s really not a bad way to spend a day.

“It’s quite tiring and it’s quite intensive because you do a story in a day, faster than you work on Radio 4, but there’s such an energy to this stuff, you can’t help but be barrelled along by it. It took about two weeks to do a show on TV!”

Jason Haigh-Ellery was particularly delighted to welcome David back into the Big Finish family.

He says: “You know what, it didn’t feel like David had been away for a decade. That’s just unbelievable. When David came back it felt he’d only been away for a year or so, it really didn’t feel like it had been 10 years.

“As ever, David was lovely to everybody, and he slotted right back in. “David has an amazing memory and he remembers everyone’s name. He just walked in and went around, saying hello to everybody. He was wonderful.

“It’s great having him back, and I hope we will do more with him.”

Being back as the Doctor has been a joy for David, but he admits it was a bit of a worry to start with.

He says: “It’s been really good fun. I was a bit nervous about whether I would slip into it with ease, or would it be a bit of a stretch, but it really felt like returning to a comfy pair of trousers, rather than a scratchy vest.

“It’s all quite high energy, the character, but once you key into it, it always makes sense.

“That was always the key to it, it was very tiring to do, but they’ve also been invigorating. It has its own momentum, I think.

“I’d always used the script as my springboard, really, from what Russell T Davies and the other writers wrote and that’s what I’ve continued to do here. You take what’s on the page and use it as your starting point.

“If you come at a character like this with pre-conceived notions, that you might play him like this or that, the danger is you can be fighting the actual story and the script – the whole thing has got to evolve as one piece.”

David was particularly pleased to be reunited with Catherine Tate – with whom he has also worked on Comic Relief, Much Ado About Nothing and Never Mind The Buzzcocks and the recent Shakespeare Live – as they have a firm established friendship.

He says: “I think Catherine and I always got on, right from the moment she came to do the tiny bit at the end of Doomsday. She came down and shot the cliffhanger for series two. It took all of half-an-hour and from that moment, we got on – and always have done. That’s something we can hopefully bring to the characters.

“We’ve worked together in various places and in various ways and it’s something we enjoy doing. It’s just always nice to see her and it’s nice to play.”

“I think Catherine and I always got on, right from the moment she came to do the tiny bit at the end of Doomsday.”

– David Tennant

For the Big Finish production team, there was a huge sense of relief when they finally got their leading man and woman into studio after months of planning.

Nick says: “There was a great sense of occasion. And it was wonderful to hear David and Catherine working together. I actually thought Catherine’s performance was slightly different to her performance on TV. She seemed far more restrained than I expected her to be.

“But she’s a very shrewd actress, and she knew just how to pitch it when acting so close to a microphone.

“The camaraderie existed the moment people arrived at the studio, that people were familiar with each other.”

– David Richardson

[Above Left to right: Beth Chalmers, Blake Ritson, Alice Krige, and Alan Cox]

“I think what she’s done for us is rather beautiful and often very moving in all sorts of unexpected ways.

“I’ve run out of words to describe how brilliant David is. He’s a lovely chap. Very easygoing and fun to work with and… well, he just delivers! It’s such a joy to behold.”

David Richardson adds: “In the months running up to the recording, I’d got myself in a terrible state of stress. “It was clear every step of the way how momentous these episodes would be, and I felt the pressure that they had to be as good as they possibly could be, and that David and Catherine should have as great a time as they possibly could recording it.

“Of course, I needn’t have worried. For two huge, international stars they are very laid back and approachable people. It was lovely to sit and chat with David in the green room, and to hear him say he had bought our Blake’s 7 audios and enjoyed them!

“Nick let me cast all the plays, and I was very careful to hire people that we knew were accomplished actors and fun to be around, but also to have some people who David and Catherine would know and feel comfortable working with. So it was great to have Niky Wardley, who was one of the mainstays of The Catherine Tate Show. Alex Lowe and Alan Cox knew both David and Catherine. Dan Starkey had worked with them on the TV series… It meant the cameraderie existed the moment people arrived at the studio, that people were familiar with each other.

“Oh, and I cast Alice Krige because she really is one of my favourite actors, and one of my favourite people to be with at the studio. I’ve worked with Alice three times now, and we just sit and have the most extraordinary conversations about life. She’s wonderful.”

The pair found there to be so many highlights over the three studio days.

Nick pauses, before saying: “There are so many. But I think my personal highlight was when Catherine found so many poignant moments in Death and The Queen. I had, rather unfairly, pigeon-holed it as pure knockabout comedy. But Catherine saw past that and at one point brought a tear to my eye.”

David admits: “The moment I’ll always remember is recording the very first scene. David and Catherine threw themselves into it like they’d never been away. I was in the control room, and Matt Fitton was sitting on the sofa and we just turned to each other and grinned the biggest grins… I love all three scripts – Technophobia is just right for a Tenth Doctor opening story. Time Reaver is wildly imaginative but also quite personal and dramatic too. And Death and the Queen is bonkers and touching and brilliant.”

David Tennant adds: “I think the three scripts, like the TV show, are very individual in themselves.

“They are very different types of stories and they each had quite unique concepts to them, whether it’s the tone or the entire story.

“The first one is a much more recognisable world, with the conceit of it. You expect it to be one type of story but it’s another. It’s very clever. I think the third is quite an unusual world. Like the TV show at its best, they are fun, new ways of telling the same type of stories.”

[Above Cover for “Technophobia” by Matt Fitton, featuring a banner that reads “BBC Doctor Who - David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Technophobia by Matt Fitton, featuring Rachael Stirling and Niky Wardley”, and a photo of David Tennant. Background features the Big Finish logo, text that reads “Brand New Adventures - Full Cast Audio Drama” and photos of mobile phones, a Koggnossenti (the story’s antagonists), Catherine Tate, and David Tennant.]

Technophobia is very much a story in the mould of a Doctor Who television episode from the Russell T Davies era.

Set in the present day, it features a menace from an area where people wouldn’t expect it to come.

David Tennant says: “What I love about the first story is it’s quite a recognisable, traditional Doctor Who set-up, where it would seem that the machines are taking over – and that’s the kind of thing we’ve seen before – and there’s a brilliant twist.

“It’s a wonderful and rather chilling idea. It’s not an idea I’ve come across in Doctor Who before.”

Joining the cast is Niky Wardley playing Bex. Niky is no stranger to Big Finish, after appearing as the Eighth Doctor’s companion Tamsin Drew.

She tells Vortex: “What a treat to work with Catherine and David on Big Finish. David Richardson had asked me to be in it but I had no idea who else was in it until I saw the cast list a few days before so it was the best surprise!

“I was lucky enough to be recording with them on their first day, so to see them walk into their booths and then voice the Doctor and Donna again, after such a hiatus, was incredible.

“They bounced back to life straight away such is their amazing chemistry. David’s energy as the Doctor is so affecting, he sweeps you along with him and Catherine’s genius with comedy makes it just the perfect partnership. It was thrilling to be a part of it.”

 [Above Cover for “Time Reaver” by Jenny T Colgan, featuring a banner that reads “BBC Doctor Who - David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Time Reaver by Jenny T Colgan, featuring Sabrina Bartlett, Terry Molloy, and Dan Starkey”, and a photo of David Tennant. Background features the Big Finish logo, text that reads “Brand New Adventures - Full Cast Audio Drama” and photos of lasers, the story’s antagonist, Gully, Catherine Tate, and David Tennant.]

[Above Left to right: John Banks, Dan Starkey, Alex Lowe, Sabrina Bartlett, and Terry Malloy.]

Time Reaver takes the Doctor and Donna back out into space.

David Tennant enjoyed the story, saying: “It’s nice to have a big, proper sci-fi story on a big alien world, but as with the other stories we’ve done, we kind of think it’s going to be one type of story, about gun runners or this terrible weapon that’s going to destroy everything, and actually it’s even more interesting than that.

“It’s about a civilisation that doesn’t quite operate on the same moral framework as everyone else and how that can be confused when they move out into the stars, and there’s some lovely character stuff going on there as well.”

In the guest cast is Dan Starkey, playing Dorn. These days he’s best known to Doctor Who fans as Strax from the Paternoster Gang, alongside the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctors, but he was delighted to work with the leading pair – for a very nostalgic reason.

He reveals: “It was a great day. David and Catherine were there at the very start of my ‘professional’ Doctor Who career, when I joined them in series four for The Sontaran Stratagem and The Poison Sky, so it was nice to come back to them again, now Big Finish are doing new series Who.

“Most actors enjoy radio because it’s just good fun. We get the work done, and we can have a laugh with it. It’s always good being in the green room at the Moat then having a great lunch – and with David and Catherine around, it was great fun. You can tell they really get on.

“I very much enjoyed that period of the show, with the Tenth Doctor and Donna. It’s very strange now, thinking back to how much time has passed since then.

“I loved the way the Doctor and Donna were just great mates, going around, solving problems, and at that point, it felt like Doctor Who was really back and had taken over television. It was a great time to be involved in it and get on the bandwagon!

“Not having to sit in the make-up chair for three hours is something I always appreciate!

“It’s a great script by Jenny Colgan, that really captures that breathless rush that was there in the series four stories. You can really picture the bright colours, and there’s lots of pathos as well. It’s got that tension, which is really familiar as well.”

Another guest star in Time Reaver is another man who has spent most of his TV Doctor Who career behind a mask. Terry Molloy plays Rone in this story, but is best remembered for playing Davros against Peter Davison, Colin Baker and Sylvester McCoy’s Time Lords.

Terry recalls: “It was lovely to be at the microphone with David again, as we had previously worked together back in the 90s on a radio version of Edward Bond’s play The Sea. In Time Reaver, the studio fizzed with the energy and pace he always brings to the Doctor, and of course the interplay between him and Catherine Tate was fast, furious and very funny!”

 “It was a great day. David and Catherine were there at the very start of my ‘Professional’ Doctor Who career.”

– Dan Starkey

[Above Cover for “Death and the Queen” by James Goss, featuring a banner that reads “BBC Doctor Who - David Tennant and Catherine Tate in Death And The Queen by James Goss, featuring Alice Krige, Alan Cox, and Blake Ritson”, and a photo of David Tennant. Background features the Big Finish logo, text that reads “Brand New Adventures - Full Cast Audio Drama” and photos of strom clouds, a skull wearing a black hood, Catherine Tate, and David Tennant.]

Rounding off this first trilogy is Death and the Queen.

David Tennant was delighted with the script: “Death and the Queen is kind of like a twisted fairytale. It’s got some slightly deconstructed elements which make it the most broadly funny, the most broadly comic, of the three. That always works for the Doctor and Donna as a pairing.

“It also goes to some quite dark, quite unusual places and you also get to see Donna at her best. She struggles with finally getting her fairytale wedding, and nothing quite works out as she would imagine.”

Joining the guest cast is Beth Chalmers as Hortense.

She grins: “I’ve now worked with every single one of the Big Finish Doctors – I’ve worked with the others to a greater or lesser degree over the years, and in the last year, I’ve now added John Hurt and David Tennant – which is pretty cool.

“It was a bit cloak and dagger being in this one, as I was only told about it a couple of weeks before we went into the studio. I think I was doing one of the John Hurt episodes, when David Richardson asked me what I had coming up, and I asked him, ‘Why?’ He told me it was something they were keeping very, very quiet and told me it was these two, David and Catherine.

“Catherine Tate is a real treat to work with, but David Tennant is just so classy – he’s amazing. It’s fantastic to work with great actors and he’s such a brilliant guy too. I’ve worked with his wife Georgia before and you hear such lovely things about him from other people who have worked with him – and it’s all true. David’s got a kind of left-field, zany madness to him – he’s brilliant.

“I was really thrilled and knew there weren’t that many being made, so it was amazing to be one of the few actors to be asked.”

Beth found herself having to work hard on her character. “This story is a bit like a period drama, with a medieval castle. I did most of my scenes with Catherine Tate, who was speaking in her modern way with her modern rhythms, but I had to use a period voice. It’s hard to keep that going when she’s being funny, quippy, cool and modern, while I had to stick with the medieval voice.

“But when you compare the two voices, it makes her even more funny.

“It was a great story to do – it was fun, and almost cartoony, but I don’t mean that in any way to sound disrespectful.

“There weren’t too many vortexes and galaxies to worry about, so I could understand it!

“I also loved working with Blake Ritson – I was bowled over when I heard him doing his stuff.

“It was a great day, and it felt really special in the studio. I’m really looking forward to hearing how it all sounds in the finished version.”

 Responsible for the music and sound design on the trio of tales is Howard Carter.

Having worked on the War Doctor box sets, The Diary of River Song and UNIT, he’s loving the chance to get the Tenth Doctor onto his CV.

When first asked to work on this series, Howard admits he was: “Very excited! I’ve been working on the new series releases for the past seven months and knew these were coming up so it’s great to finally get stuck in. I read all of the scripts in one sitting and was thrilled at how brilliant they were and how much scope there was for me to be creative with the sound design and the music.”

How did he approach the plays – did he try to evoke Murray Gold’s style, as well as doing his own?

Howard explains: “With the Big Finish audios I’ve always felt that we should be moving the world of Doctor Who forward rather than creating pastiches of what’s been before. While it’s important to retain a certain level of stylistic familiarity I was keen to make sure the musical language was fresh and not too restricted by Murray’s style. His sound has been so integral to the characterisation and general atmosphere of the show that it would be foolish to ignore, but at the same time I feel the plays are best served by taking a step forward.

“As such, I wanted to create a score that wouldn’t sound out of place in the world that people are familiar with, while letting my own influences and style filter through. The music is still very thematic with certain motifs running through the boxset, but my main aim was to write scores that best serve these plays and the overall atmosphere of the set.”

He adds: “It’s a great privilege to be working on these stories. The scripts are so fantastic it’s both humbling and exciting to be bringing them to life knowing that so many people will get the chance to hear the Doctor and Donna back together. I can only hope people have as much fun listening to them as much as I’ve had working on them.”

 The final element that really seals the deal for these audios are the covers, which have been created by Tom Webster.

As with the rest of the Big Finish team, Tom was delighted to be working on these releases.

He adds: “I was so excited to work with the David and Catherine images. I think the moment where I started to cut the images out was where it really hit me, the Tenth Doctor and Donna in Big Finish. Amazing!

“I found it quite easy to create a feel for the era on the special deluxe edition, I set out to emulate the style of the series box sets and particularly the vanilla DVDs. I wanted to go with very bright, vibrant colours and the most dynamic photos that I could use.

“I decided from an early stage that I wanted to play with a TARDIS interior motif - so I created something inspired by the coral structures, which provided a nice framework. The vanilla covers were lots of fun, as I was tasked with making each one distinctly different. Technophobia really feels like a Russell T Davies episode one, so I really wanted to go for a bright and brash impactful image.

“I’m actually extremely happy with them all, I spent lots of time getting them just the way I’d imagined when reading the scripts. I’m so grateful for the opportunity to be doing such huge releases for Big Finish and I didn’t want to let anyone down. I hope people enjoy them!”

 Since the Big Finish Tenth Doctor audios were first announced, they have received plenty of coverage in the media, from publications as diverse as Jenny Colgan’s local newspaper the Ayrshire Post, to national papers like the Daily Mirror, whilst they’ve also had numerous mentions on TV, including a big plug on The Jonathan Ross Show on ITV.

David Richardson says: “We knew the reaction was going to be huge. And it was probably bigger than that! So it was brilliant, and such a relief to have the secret out there having kept it to ourselves for so long. We’d had a year of whispering in locked rooms and sending coded emails – and suddenly all the world knew!”

Nick adds: “Can I just say too how delighted I was? It was one of those things. We’d been living with these plays for so long. It seemed almost surreal that we were actually doing them. And when our listeners and other Doctor Who fans loved the idea too… It was simply amazing.”

Jason was particularly pleased that Big Finish received so many mentions when David was doing the media rounds to promote his Netflix series Jessica Jones.

He laughs: “I feel like sending the publicist for Jessica Jones a bunch of roses!

“They did a great job to get David on a lot of programmes to talk about Jessica Jones, and we kind of hijacked their promotional tour!

“Of all the things we’ve done over the years, that definitely got us the most media attention.

“David, I’m sure, knows how much he was loved as Doctor Who. If he ever had any doubts, I think going round and doing publicity for Jessica Jones, where everyone asked him about doing the Big Finish audios, has shown how much people are still interested in him and love him as the Doctor.”

– VORTEX Magazine, Issue 87, Pages 6-15

 [Above Cover of “The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Volume 1″. Text reads: “David Tennant - Catherine Tate BBC Doctor Who The Tenth Doctor Adventures Three Full Cast Audio Adventures Technophobia - Time Reaver - Death And The Queen” Background features the Big Finish logo, Catherine Tate, David Tennant, the TARDIS, Time Reaver’s antagonist, Gully, a black hooded figure, and a castle.]

 The Tenth Doctor Adventures: Volume 01

Technophobia

London’s Technology Museum faces a revolution. Is it all down to simple human stupidity, or is something more sinister going on?

Time Reaver

An illegal weapon is loose on the streets of spaceport planet Calibris - and the Vacintians are closing in…

Death and the Queen

The Wedding of all Weddings comes under attack by a skeleton army. Can Queen Donna save her people from Death itself?

 Written By: Matt Fitton, Jenny T Colgan, James Goss

Directed By: Nicholas Briggs

Cast: David Tennant (The Doctor), Catherine Tate (Donna Noble), Niky Wardley (Bex), Rachael Stirling (Jill Meadows), Chook Sibtain (Brian), Rory Keenan (Kevin), Jot Davies (Lukas), Alex Lowe (Soren), Sabrina Bartlett (Cora), Terry Molloy (Rone), John Banks (Gully), Dan Starkey (Dorn), Blake Ritson (Rudolph), Alice Krige (Queen Mum), Beth Chalmers (Hortense), Alan Cox (Death)

 Available as deluxe five-disc box set, limited edition of 5,000, and as individual vanilla releases.

For full details visit www.bigfinish.com . 

[airalihsa]

The Process of my Audio Project

As mentioned in the previous post (Concept Ideas) I had two base ideas. The film idea was scrapped, or for better words archived so I could possibly use it for a future project if I wanted, and the fantasy audio was broken down. By broken down, I mean that I decided that I wanted to use parts of the idea and create a new idea, which eventually led to my final idea which was named Tale of Akari.

The actual process of creating this project was quite hectic for me. Mainly due to the fact that I struggle to focus on more than one project at a time, and with so many other projects that were due in much sooner, I just didn’t get the time.

When I realised that I needed to create a new idea, I struggled a little. I liked my idea, but I couldn’t see a way to move forward with it. What I did to help myself, is I sat down in a quiet space, put some headphones on, and started playing some genre specific music. When I did this, I just let my imagination run free, I wrote down everything, then it started to become a rough draft of a semi-developed story (not a script yet, but more of an outline). It originally started out as names for the characters, then into actual landscapes I could see in my mind, and then scenarios with these characters and landscapes.

Here is outcome of this little writing session I had…

After this, I ended up unfortunately taking a long break from the audio play but in early March, I started to write the script, find a cast for my characters, and then record my lines.

I did end up re-writing a part of my script to take out a character, that in all fairness didn’t really add to the plot and had a big chunk of the script introducing them. I did this because I felt that the ending wasn’t fleshed out enough and didn’t end very well. It felt a little too incomplete. I had few discussions with my adviser/tutor about this and we came to the conclusion to remove the character that wasn’t needed from the story. The character I took out was called Lillia, a mercenary who was hired to kill the protagonist Akari and her friends, but then eventually joins the group.

After I re-wrote my script and my advisor/tutor said that it reads well, I then proceeded to the recording part of my process. I first needed to cast my characters. The casting went well, as I had an idea of who I wanted for some characters, plus I had people come forward expressing their interest at having a part. I had all the characters cast, but I did have some problems with the part of the protagonist. The person who was meant to play the part told me 2 days prior to recording that they had to drop out, this was quite disappointing as they were quite keen on being cast as the protagonist. Luckily, I had someone who was able to take the role if no one else was available.

I recorded the majority of the script on the 17th of March 2022. It took roughly an hour and a half, and it went rather well. I wanted everyone who could possibly make it to record together. I’ve seen, and experienced other voice recording processes where they directors just asked for the voices to be sent in with no direction. I believe it is better to have a full cast recording so that people can easily bounce off each other and make it sound more natural.

After the dialogue was recorded, I took another break so that I could focus on a more immediate project, but as soon as that project was done, I went straight back to my audio play.

I decided to use GarageBand (2004) to put the audio play together. When I started to put all the dialogue together, I noticed that for some reason there was background noise on the audio pieces, that when listening with the cast, we hadn’t noticed. For some reason the programme I was using to put all the material together was making the background noise more audible. Luckily with background music, and ambience, the noise couldn’t be heard anymore.

I believe that putting everything together was the most difficult part of the process. Plus, I still had 1 more cast member to record. Luckily this character was only in the first and last scene, and thus was easy enough to record. Since this person wasn’t an actor by trade, it took a little more directing to get it all on point and to sound natural, rather than sounding like someone trying to act (as it had done in the read through). Luckily, I had help with the directing in the form of my mother, who has had experience with using different voices, and thus could direct the cast member better than I could.

Some sounds I recorded myself, and some I download from the internet. With everything I used, I made sure that it was either copyright free, or free to use for non-profit projects.

Sound effects I did myself was the cat meow (my cat meows a lot so that was perfect), glass/teacups being put on a table, the pouring of liquid into a cup, and the sound of a metal pole hitting the ground (heard at the very beginning). Some of them may have been recycled from my last audio play.

[k-hiphop-trash]

1llionaire Records facts

It was founded on January 1st 2011, by Dok2 and The Quiett. This is the reason their symbol is 11:11 and is written as 1lli; they event try to release songs at 11:11 pm.

The label only has one employee.

None of the rappers are bound by contracts.

Ambition Musik was created under Illionaire Records as a sub label.

The label was closed down on the 6th July 2020.

DOK2

He is one of the founders and owners of Illionaire Records.

Nickname: Dok2 (도끼) or Gonzo.

Real name: Lee JoonKyung (이준경).

He was born on March 28th 1990, he is from Seoul.

He is 165 cm or 161 cm.

He debuted when he was 13 by making a collaboration with rapper Cho PD and later on he joined his label Future Flow Entertainment.

At 16, he was part of the hiphop group Like Child Rapper alongside Microdot.

His stage name “Dok2″ means “axe” in Korean.

He is half Corean, a quarter Spanish and a quarter Philippine, because his mother is Korean but his father is Philippine and Spanish.

He made a cameo in 2016 drama “Entourage”.

Gonzo refers to his Philippine mother whose last name is González. However, he is also called “The Dirty South Korean” by some of his fans and “Young Boss” by himself.

He said he is very romantic and falls in love easily.

He is attracted by a woman’s strength and character rather than physical appearance.

He is close with Jay Park, Epik High, CL, Wooram, GD and Taeyang.

He collaborated with GD and Tablo on GD’s album “One Of A Kind”.

He admires 2pac, Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Zeebra and Nas.

He is really close with all YG artists and has a lot of collaborations with many of them.

He was a producer in Show Me The Money 3 with The Quiett.

Team Dok2-TheQuiett won SMTM3 with Bobby.

He was in Show Me The Money 5 as a producer with The Quiett.

He appeared in Show Me The Money 6 with Jay Park as a producer team.

His father is famous guitarist Willy Lee.

In November 2018 his car was broken into and a few things stolen.

On the 6th February 2020 it was announced that he had left 1llionaire Records.

He produced SMTM collaboration stage for rappers that were eliminated: S.M.T.M (Show Me The Money).

He currently lives in Los Angeles.

In October 2019 he was accused by a jewellery brand of not having paid over 34,000 USD and filed a complaint against him. Finally, the trial took place on July 22nd 2020 and Dok2 won the lawsuit and the complaint was dropped.

THE QUIETT

He is one of the founders and owners of Illionaire Records.

Real name:  Shin Dong Gab (신동갑).

Nickname: The Quiett (더콰이엇).

He was born January 29th 1985 in Gwangmyeong, South Korea.

He started rapping at 16, in 2003.

He is 171 cm.

He went to SungKongHoe University.

His blood type is B.

He met Dok2 in 2005 when they participated in Dynamic Duo’s second album.

He said he would be a nice and kind boyfriend since it comes naturally to him, he isn’t a “bad guy” type of partner. He also said that he is the kind of person that never fights with women. Regarding this topic, he’s mentioned that he wouldn’t make the relationship public since chaos would ensue.

Some of his many hobbies are small action figures, audio, furniture and toys.

He knows how to overcome loneliness.

He would like to try skydiving.

He plays basketball since he was a young kid.

He doesn’t like vegetables and he doesn’t really know how to cook. In fact, for about 11 years he did not pay the gas bill because he didn’t cook at home; he’s said to have a working stove nowadays.

He has collected a lot of tazos in the past.

He debuted in 2005 with his first mixtape, which was Christian music.

He used to be the co-founder and one of the main producers in Soul Company.

He was a producer in Show Me The Money 3 with Dok2.

Team Dok2-TheQuiett won SMTM3 with contestant Bobby.

He appeared as a producer in SMTM4 with Dok2.

He is considered as one of the best rappers in Korea and one of the best producers in the world.

His album “Q-Train” won the Hiphop Album of the Year in the fourth Korean Pop Music Awards.

He already went to the military service.

The South Korean law says that during the military service you can’t do any other work related activities without a special permit. However, The Quiett still released an album and performed shows to promote it. Due to this, he was sanctioned to two extra weeks in the service.

He was a producer in Show Me The Money 777 with Changmo.

He was a mentor in HSR3 with Code Kunst.

He appeared in many episodes of Dingo’s mini series “Bition Boyz” with Ash Island, Changmo, Way Ched, Leellamarz, Hash SwN and Keem Hyoeun.

He came up with his stage name after listening to Mobb Deep’s “Quiet Storm”.

He learned English through music, by listening to Western artists.

“Rap House” is a small concert that happens once a month and he is in charge of managing and casting rookie artists to perform.

The members of 1llionaire and Ambition Musik often meet at his place.

He doesn’t cook a lit, in fact, he has not paid gas bills for about 11 years since he doesn’t use the kitchen.

He really likes Coogie and was one of his favourite rappers of SMTM777 along Nafla and Kid Milli.

He met Leellamarz before he was signed under Ambition Musik to record the violin for some of his songs. They later met again in New York after Leellamarz (who was living there at the time) contacted him weh he learned that both of them were in the city. Afterwards Leellamarz was contacted by The Quiett to sing with his company.

He discovered producer Way Ched through Leellamarz, who was friends with him and recommended him to sign in Ambition as well.

He is very calm and doesn’t get angry often, so in one episode of Bition Boyz Ash Island and Leellamarz hat to try and anger him (they failed). Leellamarz said this is because he just goes with the flow of the situation.

He lives without planning anything because he likes to be faithful to the everyday life and live as it is.

According to pH-1, his strength is being able to control his emotions.

In 2018 he was officially a full member of KOMCA (Korea Music Copyright Assotiation).

On September 29th 2016 he co-founded Ambition Musik with Dok2.

He is the maknae among the members of DAMOIM (excluding NoiseMasterMinsu).

During his appearances in Dingo’s channel he’s fallen many times and other artists say he has a natural talent for this type of shows.

He doesn’t have any tattoos or piercings.

He doesn’t smoke.

He eats whatever he can find at any time he is hungry, doesn’t really follow a schedule or diet.

The Quiett’s answer to what’s his ideal type was: “It’s a really difficult question because there isn’t just one”.

He has a Shiba Inu named Torry and has it’s own instagram account: @torrystory

He co-founded Daytona Entertainment with fellow DAMOIM rapper Yumdda on November 25th 2020.

BEENZINO

He joined Illionaire Records on 2011.

Nickname: Beenzino (빈지노).

Real name: Lim Seong Bin (임성빈).

He was born on September 12th 1987.

He is 187cm or 180 cm.

His blood type is AB.

He is dating german model Stefanie Michova since 2015.

He started in the Korean hip hop scene in 2004, at 17.

He released his first work, “Daily Apartment”, in 2009 with Dok2.

He debuted with Illionaire Records during the concert HUSTLE REAL HARD Concert, held in 2011.

He used to be a member of the group JAZZYFACT with producer Shimmy Twice.

He went to Seoul Arts High School (not sure if this is the correct name in English).

He went to the Korean National University of Arts and got a bachelor in sculpture.

He spent part of his childhood in Christchurch, New Zealand and moved to Korea before middle school.

He can speak English fluently.

He is good at beatbox, drawing and sculpting.

He was part of “IABstudio", a very famous art studio.

He admires B.o.B, Drake, Nas, 2Pac and Frank Ocean.

He is close with Simon D, Zico, Tablo, Zion.T and Yong JunHyung.

He said in an interview that his girlfriend called him “Lim-sugar”.

His nickname “Beenzino”, is a parody of American rappers name Benzino. He used to use parody names with his university colleagues. He never expected to use it for a long time. It was created by combining the Boston rappers name with hos birth name “빈”.

When asked who they would like to collab with, many Korean artists mention Beenzino claiming that is really hard to get a feature from him.

He made his debut as a solo MC in Primary’s album “P’Skool’s Daily Apartment” in July 28th 2009.

He released his first album in 2012, “24:26”.

He was offered to be a part of BTS by CEO Bang Si Hyuk.

After a long time, JAZZYFACT released new material in 2017, on the day Beenzino joined the military service.

He concluded his military service on February 16th 2019.

After finishing his military service he apeared in one episode of Dingo’s mini series”Bition Boyz” with Changmo, Hyoeun and Hash Swan.

He often travels to Germany with his girlfriend.

He is learning German.

He is engaged to Stefania Michova.

We are not sure wether the facts in italics are true/correct or not. 

If you have any more information or notice something wrong don’t hesitate to let us know!

Credits to: https://kprofiles.com/beenzino-profile/; https://kprofiles.com/quiett-profile-facts/

[withinthescripts]

Season 2, Cassette 6: Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1978)

[tape recorder turns on]

Hello, this is Zoe Tremblay, lead curator of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. Bienvenue, welcome to our museum. This audio guide for the exhibit “Small Items, Big Picture” features assorted works by celebrated artist Claudia Atieno.

Shortly before this exhibit opened to the public, news broke that her body was found, confirming her death after five years missing. Across the art world, we are saddened to learn confirmation of Atieno’s death, but content in finally confirming what we had long suspected.

Before the news, we had invited artist, art historian and friend of Atieno, Roimata Mangakāhia, to orate this cassette. It would have been understandable in her grief for Mangakāhia to decline to record this audio guide after finding out the details of her colleague’s death, but Mangakāhia agreed to uphold her obligation. We are blessed and pleased she could do so.

The exhibit begins in the Desmarais Pavilion, second level.

[bell chimes]

Claudia Atieno was one of our New World’s most respected artists. Since the Great Reckoning, no one else combined skill, macroscopic vision, and subtle political rhetoric quite like Atieno.

I would like to start this audio guide by saying she will be missed. She has been missed for many years, really, but the pain is greater than before. It is real now. I didn’t think… [crying] I really didn’t think…

But this is not important, my feelings are not relevant to this audio guide. We’re here simply to contemplate Claudia’s work.

Painting 1. “Mantis on Branch”.

Look first at the branch. Atieno has used shades of lavender and green in the wood. Long, meandering lines of light colors contrasting the dark grays of the branch itself. These lines, like two pastel rivers…

I had hoped her disappearance six years ago was an attempt to revitalize her career with new ideas, greater ambitions, I was wrong. She just died. She’s just been dead all this time. We all just die, I suppose. Why expect more?

In her final years, Claudia had grown more artistically prolific. But as the quantity of her art increased, so did the quality for subject matter plummet.

I was with her often, in what turned out to be the final years of her life. Do I wish I had known they would be her final years? Would I have changed the way I spoke to her? Would I have broached different subjects? I suppose there’s no way to be sure. [sighs] I suppose it’s pointless to relive it, over and over.

I talk to her a lot. Our discussions about artistic evolution went from lively to combative in those years. She became obsessed with tiny objects and figures, finding microscopic details interesting. Searching for possible hidden meanings in the repetition and mundanity of everyday life.

With the exception of the parties and happenings which were plentiful, it was a life mostly spent alone in her home in Cornwall. Her lovers, including Pavel Zubov and Cassandra Reza, visited during times of celebration and merrymaking, they did not live with her. I lived with her during the other times.

I alone kept her from being alone.

Look at the mantis’ face in this painting. It is difficult to see it directly, as the insect is slightly turned away. I would like to tell you this is meaningful, and if you find meaning here, good for you. Most likely Atieno simply painted a still insect that she saw in the garden, because she was trying to keep busy. And rather than change her position and perspective, rather than attempt to seek out meaning elsewhere, she simply painted what was in front of her.

How many mantises have you seen before? What makes them interesting?

[bell chimes]

Painting two, “Rubbish Number 3”.

This is a wastebin with paper in it. With an impasto technique, it’s difficult to discern exactly what these papers are, but they appear to be standard and unbound A3 pages. We can assume they were old files or notes. A crumbled page lies behind the bin. Look closely at the crumpled paper. Can you read what it says? No. No. you can’t.

[bell chimes]

Painting three, “Rubbish Number 7”.

This is a banana peel. Looking at the Spanish floor tiles, I imagine this was painted in her kitchen. Atieno was, generally speaking, a tidy person. So I guess this is ironic?

Yep, it’s a banana peel. Hmm. I have little else to add here.

[bell chimes]

Painting four, “Rubbish Number 15”.

The final known painting in her rubbish collection, this is a wrapped stack of discarded newspapers along a street corner. It’s clear that these are the Western Europa Times, London Edition, but the text on the front page is not clear. All you can make out are the words “200 million” and “population”, which would suggest these were from October 1971.

Atieno talked often of the days before the Great Reckoning. She was an infant when our population was nearly eradicated by the new weapons of a great war, and by the toxic air, which took almost as many lives as the godlike explosions throughout the 1920’s. After the foundation of the society, those born prior to the Reckoning were not granted indirect contact with family, but punitive action was rarely sought in those cases.

Occasionally, she received letters and voice recordings from her grandmother, Renee. It’s not clear how Renee knew where her grand daughter lived, or if these letters were monitored for content. Renee was not allowed to communicate familial love or give any indication about Atieno’s family, dead or alive. So she simply told her grand daughter about what life was like before the reckoning. Foods they ate, like wild birds or boar. Detailed descriptions of robes and headdresses popular in the previous century, and even recitations of poetry she learned in school.

With the loss of so many libraries and information centers during the reckoning, Renee wanted to convey, if not love for her last remaining grandchild, a written and oral history of facts and tales that might otherwise be lost.

Look again at the painting of the stack of newspapers. Atieno was acknowledging the renewal of human life on Earth, and its new roles and rules. The new culture the society has brung and will continue to bring. The power of information and its manipulation.

You are one of 200 million in the world. Does that make you special, or insignificant? Is it possible to be both?

Atieno was always excited about the New Renaissance. After the Reckoning, new artist with little history to direct them had to find new methods, new narratives. Art had been stilted and interrupted for so long. It had felt like a luxury the world could ill afford.

But by the early 1970’s, Atieno seemed to have grown weary. In this oil painting of hopeful news, we see gray twine holding together gray pages on gray pavement.

Look at the painting for a hint of color. [whispers] Oh find some color, you really need to find colors!

[bell chimes]

Painting five, “Needlework”.

This is not a painting, clearly, but an actual piece of needlework, the only known example of this medium by Atieno.

When I lived with her, I used needle craft such as cross stitch and knitting to pass the time. I was never much of a reader, and painting for me was more draining than it was for Atieno. She could paint for hours without much of a break, whereas I often had to stop after 45 minutes or so to clear my head.

During afternoon high tide, I would go cliff diving to refresh my body, to energize myself for the more intellectual and minimally physical tasks of painting or drawing in my notebook. The shock of cold water slapping my skin woke me to a world with no thoughts, only instincts. My muscles tensed at every leap, calmed at every splash, and my mind was full not of thoughts or ideas, but feathers.

Atieno did not care for the thrill of a plunge into the sea. Her thrills came from challenging the rigid regulations of the society through her artwork. I suspect she often tried to keep in touch with her sister. I have no proof of this, other than the society secretary of trade, Vishwati Ramados saying this to me. Ramados once pointed out a childhood drawing of two girls in a garden, quietly talking. Claudia in the background watching. “That’s not Claudia’s school,” Ramados said, “she didn’t go there, see her sister clearly drawn?” [scoffs] “How would you know her sister?” I asked. Ramados cocked her head and smiled, as if I had complimented her hair.

Additionally, Atieno was paranoid that she was being watched closely by people. Obviously politicians like Ramados, but others too. She welcomed the stateswomen offices and agents into her home regularly, entertaining them with wine, food, music, dance and stories of her youthful debauchery often to the point of absurdity. Maintaining these amicable relationships alleviated any accusations cast on her of sedition or slander. Plus, as long as she kept her message abstracted in symbols and metaphor, Atieno could always claim that her painting was nothing more than a pig on a roast, or a vivisected mouse, rather than a direct poke at a specific security chief or geneticist. Indeed, she did claim this. even I cannot say for certain what her political views truly were.

Needlework was a pastime I never taught Atieno, she never asked. But she would on occasion walk past me in the parlor or outside in the garden, stitching phrases or flowers onto a linen circle. I had no idea, until the Montreal Museum showed me this piece, that Atieno ever took an interest in needlepoint. And I can only assume she taught herself the technique. She had no books on the subject, so it’s likely she found some of my needlepoint projects and watched my movement to learn how to do it herself. I’m not sure why she never asked me directly. I’m not sure why she felt the need to take this from me.

Of course, as this is Atieno, she was better than I was, taking my passive pastime and improving it to the level of fine art. In this piece, a simple arrangement of yellow carnations, she has clearly dyed segments of the thread to create a depth of color.

Pay careful attention to the simple dots and marks of blues and pinks and greens in the leaves. Not unlike some of the blots of color used by the impressionists.

Think of a time in your life when you were outdone.

[bell chimes] [tape recorder turns off] [ads] [tape recorder turns on]

[bell chimes]

Painting six, “Housefly”.

Flies were common at the Cornwall house in summer. They gathered on bookshelves and around edges of doors and windows. Atieno strictly kept food out of all rooms except the kitchen and parlor, which is where she entertained, but this is not where the flies gathered. Even with the tightly sealed windows and doors that remained shut, the flies found their way into the home and could not escape. Atieno would often return from her visits to Africa or South America to a Cornwall home lined with dead flies, like spilled raisins, who had attempted to escape along window sills.

This painting is of a living fly, along the top of a leather-bound copy of Alexander Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo”. Atieno must have worked hard not to startle the fly away. There’s no existing photograph or sketch of this fly, so either she quietly and slowly painted, as a very patient fly quietly and slowly sat atop one of the few remaining copies of this French masterwork, or she painted the insect in great detail from memory.

[bell chimes]

Painting seven, “Darkened Room”.

This oil on canvas of an empty bedroom depicts a small unlit room the the very top of the house. When I lived with her, this was the room I slept in. I have a closer emotional tie to this painting than you could possibly have, dear listener. I can feel those cool cotton sheets, (--) [0:18:31] and billowy pillows under my head and across my body. Atieno tucked blankets tightly under mattresses, and the effect on the sleeping guest was not unlike a swaddled baby. Nights in Cornwall were cozy and nurturing, surrounded by ocean we could hear only cresting of the waves and the occasional birds and crickets through the cracked summer windows.

Daytimes could be different. While she adored throwing parties and filling the house with her eclectic collection of friends, Atieno sometimes grew tired of the guests with little warning. As I stayed with her for months at a time, I found I needed to escape her judgment and chiding some afternoons. She would want to work in the kitchen or on the patio or in the living room and my presence irritated her. She made this known with a curt “I need this area to work, find another place to do yours.” So I would paint in the bedroom, or sketch, or knit. Sometimes I would take the boat and head back to the mainland, go for walks in the rubble of nearby neighborhoods. Searching for old photographs of families, just to see what families used to look like. Wondering if my family was still alive and what it must have been like back in the times of fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters.

I know the final generation was full of violence and tribalism. A senseless conservatism of culture and values which led to war. But I still revel in how similar the awful purveyors of destruction looked just like us.

The few photos I found during my excursions into the rubble often showed two middle-aged humans with dead-eyed smiles and proper Sunday dress, standing behind two or three children, equally dressed and hiding their teeth behind stiff crescent lips. Sometimes the father would have his hand firmly on the oldest boy’s shoulders, holding him into place as if keeping a balloon from lifting out of gravity. The mother would sometimes have her hand on the daughter’s neck, as if she was holding a glass of water and not a small child. Sometimes in the ruins of these homes, I found pieces of ceramic lamps or shreds of sofa cushions. Sometimes I found saplings or vines growing through the twisted grids of stove top crates or out of bath pipes. It was not uncommon to find remnants of bodies too. Burned or brittle. And all but unrecognizable.

I suppose these findings would have made for good still life paintings, and with better foresight, I may have taken my brushes with me on these walks. But given the proliferation of destruction, still uncleaned by our tiny recovering population, I imagine every art student with an empty sketchbook has thought to capture the grisly aftermath of a global devastation. But art is often just record keeping, letting us know that an apple looked the same to Cézanne in 1895 as it does to a grocer in 1974. Or a dog in a 15th century tapestry has the same shape and size ratio to humans as one today, on St Catherine Street right here in Montreal.

When I did find photographs among the shells of former houses, I collected them in an album that I kept under Atieno’s guest bed, shown hre in this painting. Of course the guest room she has painted is uninhabited, ready for overnight guests. Even if its pristine neatness does not exactly welcome them.

In the open space next to the chest of drawers you see in her painting is where I set my easel. Mostly, my relationship with Claudia was positive, friendly. She was chatty during morning and afternoon tea and n the late evenings just before bed, but when she began to work, she disdained my presence. I have been critical of much of her work in this exhibit, and I hope the people of Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will not take offense. Claudia could create color and spectacle unlike anyone. Not only on the canvas but in social setting. She was not herself a rambunctious sort, but her demeanor brought out the wild side of so many. She quietly encouraged people to let go of inhibitions, while she displayed little of the same behavior. I always wanted more out of the work, and I hope you would have wanted the same.

We now know she’s dead, of course, so there’s not much that can be done at this point. Perhaps I should leave it be.

I loved her like a friend. Like a lover. Like a teacher. Like the sister the society won’t let me have.

The tide comes in and it goes out. You’re either there when you need to be or you’re not, time is impervious to critique. For all her supposed fighting against the new society, the society still is. Her most minor works hang on a wall in the former country of Canada- there should be more for her, for any of us.

[crying] I’m sorry. Montreal’s lovely. The Museum of Fine Arts is a real gem. Claudia… is lucky to have her work displayed. Let’s look at the final painting in this exhibit.

[bell chimes]

Painting eight, “Guests”.

Here Atieno depicts a party in the parlor. Look at the third guest from the right near the upper corner. That, I believe, is me. You can also see her former lovers, Pavel front and center and Chrisette just behind Pavel. Both are holding goblets of red wine and dancing, the wine spilling carelessly into the air, eternally aloft, never reaching the floor. [chuckles]

No musicians are shown here. Often guitarists and singers would perform next to the non-working fireplace and the piano. She rarely had anyone playing the piano, as if she felt it too stuffy. Also her record player was positioned on the bookshelf, but in this painting, its usual location is filled with books. She’s editing her life here, I believe, as in reality she had few books.

[scoffs] I’m not sure what the guests at this party are dancing to. Based on Pavel and Chrisette’s presence at the same party I was at, I place this painting as March 1972. Only days before the last time I saw her. This was the last moment any of these people would see Atieno.

Chrisette, Pavel. Deputy minister of culture, Sanjay Vishwanath. The woman who headed the childhood detachment and development program for the society. Those two men who claimed to be marketing manages for the World Bank, but were most definitely private investigators.

I was there, in Cornwall, on Claudia Atieno’s last day alive. [fights back tears] Last day seen alive. It was in March 31, 1972. I suppose there’s no way to know exactly when she died. I remember the evening clearly, I had returned from the cliff diving to return to a painting before the party. She was in the garden behind the house. Guests were just arriving. I don’t remember this party, I remember a-a-a quiet dinner.

The next day, or the day after, I can’t be sure… I, I left for Paris to visit friends or Amsterdam, was it? The Reichs Museum, I don’t know I can’t remember, it’s been so long. Oh, I really should know these things. It was Pavel who reported her missing to the police on April the 16, I don’t know why he came back to see her or why she let him. It’s strange to mourn someone who was never a regular presence in your life. My friendship ith Claudia was characterized by long absences. We were either together entirely, sharing food and shelter, work and leisure, sharing everything for months at a time, or we were wholly apart, with no contact a tall. Neither of us being much for letter-writing.

I’ve grown used to never seeing her these past few eyars, when there was still hope. So why now do I feel so broken? Why does it feel like she’s been pulled… so suddenly out of my life, when in reality she hasn’t been in it at all? [crying] I feel as bereft as I would if I’d been with her til yesterday. As if I would if she disappeared right from in front of me. Oh wait no, that’s not right, it was in autumn, she went missing in autumn. I’m sure of it.

[tape recorder turns off]

Within the Wires is written by Written by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson and Performed by Rima Te Wiata, with original music by Mary Epworth. Find more of Mary’s music at maryepworth.com. The voice of Zoe Tremblay was Kate Leth. Don’t forget to go check out the amazing new Within the Wires T-shirts and Claudia Atieno artprint at withinthewires.com

Within the Wires is a production of Night Vale Presents. Another of our podcasts I think you’d love is Welcome to Night Vale. Perhaps you’re already familiar with the strange desert town of Night Vale and this is just a reminder that we have over 100 episodes for you to hear, for free, wherever you get your podcasts. And if you haven’t listened to Welcome to Night Vale, go listen to episode 1, or any episode really, you’ll be caught up in no time, and see what you think. Hear? Hear what you think?

OK, our time is done. It’s you time now. Time to stop by the museum gift shop, grab yourself a souvenir book of paintings about [ineffective (hotel) coffee makers], pick up a poster featuring [your high school sweetheart], and buy a commemorative vase made out of [whatever it is they make vases out of. Wet sand? IDK man.]