#to the point where they place the right of vgs to exist as a medium ENTIRELY on the fact that they are invariably a form of art

[bath0ryacid]

i dont think something has to be art to be good or to have merit and vice versa. this applies also and especially to video games

[hextual]

Podcast Recs

The following recs/summaries may contain light-to-moderate spoilers, though I try to keep things vague and rot13 the more specific stuff! Here is an abbreviated spoiler-free rec list, for the sensitive among you.

Night Vale Presents

The three non-WTNV shows have all finished their first seasons (and Alice Isn't Dead just started its second). They're relatively short and contain complete story arcs. 

WTNV: The ur-podcast, the light horror fiction narrative that kicked off the trend. Y'all know it or you don't. If you've somehow never heard it and don't want to start from the pilot, I recommend trying Episode 13; it's a stand-alone episode in a slightly different format than the rest, but it gives a good sense of WTNV's general aesthetic. Also it's just really really good.

Alice Isn't Dead: A surrealist horror roadtrip about a trucker searching for her wife Alice, who isn't dead. She's got nothing to lose and a lot of dangerous road to cover.

Orbiting Human Circus: Bizarre and magical and a little bit heartbreaking, like all good circuses should be. Julian is the janitor of a heavily fictionalized Eiffel Tower, and he desperately wants to be part of the Orbiting Human Circus show that he cleans up after every night.

Within the Wires: Dystopian sci-fi 1980s AU, told through a series of 'relaxation' cassettes. More grounded in reality than the others, though that's not saying much. The medium is also foregrounded much more in the narrative.

Hiatus

Wolf 359: SUPER dark, though you wouldn't know it from the first dozen episodes. However, the inflicting-trauma to coping-with-trauma ratio is low enough that I listened to the whole thing and will almost definitely listen to Season 4 when it's released starting this June. Also, no queerness whatsoever (making it unique on this list).  

Eos 10: Spaceship sitcom. Less artistically ambitious than most of the others on this list, which is not necessarily a point against it. 

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris: Newer sci-fi podcast that I absolutely love; it ticks all my very specific boxes (including medium-as-message) and is also just really well constructed and executed. I adore every single one of the main characters. There are only 4 episodes but I'm so hyped about it. 

The Bright Sessions: Audio files from a therapist to teens and young adults with superpowers. Everything I ever wanted X-Men to be: light on the fight scenes/explosions, heavy on exploring what it means to have superhuman powers and how that might affect your life/relationships.

The Penumbra Podcast: Cyberpunk noir pastiche that sometimes gets a little too broad for me but is generally good fun of the Thrilling Tales! variety.

Ars Paradoxica: Time travel in one of its more complex interpretations. Paradox is a major plot element. Kind of sci-fi historical fiction?

Now for the more detailed writeups, including overviews of queerness and genre. As I said before, potential spoilers are rot13′d...but Here There Be Dragons etc.

Night Vale Presents

All of these are incredibly solid shows with an otherworldly feel to them that I love, despite being otherwise quite different.

All main characters are queer; WTNV has queer side characters (including nonbinary characters), but afaik the only other explicitly queer characters in AID/ORC/WTW are love interests of the MCs. That's pretty understandable, though, given that the casts of the three non-WTNV shows are exponentially smaller, and they've aired significantly fewer episodes.

I want to mention something in a totally value-neutral way: none of the shows feature homophobia or directly discuss queerness (lowkey exception for one episode of WTNV). I actually enjoy that, personally; it's usually very restful to spend time in worlds where queerness is normalized and unremarkable. Occasionally, however, I do want a slightly more direct approach, so I wanted to make a note in case you're in that kind of mood. 

Welcome to Night Vale The first and only podcast I listened to for about a year. Honestly, do I even need to say anything about WTNV?  I do want to mention that I think it's gotten a little bogged down in continuity over the last year. AFAIK it wasn't conceived as a long-running narrative arc, and a lot of its early charm came from the total lack of context. After Year 2, I feel like it did start spending a little too much time explaining things and filling out backstory for elements that, frankly, didn't need them. YMMV ofc, and I still listen to/enjoy every new episode, but I'm not madly in love with Year 3 the way I was with Year 1-2. Queerness: Queer af! The main character gets a full same-sex romance arc; V'q pnyy vg 'unccl-raqvat' ohg vg'f fgvyy batbvat nf n ybivat naq urnygul eryngvbafuvc, juvpu vf rira orggre. Multiple side characters are queer, including a few nonbinary characters who use they/them pronouns.  Genre: tucking into a short stack at 2am in a diner in the American Southwest, slowly realizing that the woman behind the counter called you by name even though you've never been here before, and also you can't quite remember how you got here in the first place. Alice Isn't Dead Beautiful, creepy, and acted by the brilliant Jasika Nicole. I'd place this more firmly in the horror genre than the others, so if you're sensitive to that kind of thing, take note; there's some suspense and a little bit of violence. That said, I am usually MASSIVELY sensitive and can't even watch trailers for horror movies (I have made my peace with never ever seeing Get Out), and I was perfectly fine with it. Queerness: The main character is a woman married to Alice, who isn't dead. It's like the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope. Genre: driving along a nameless interstate late at night, the world around you narrowed to the section of road thrown into sharp relief by your headlights, and the occasional glint of animal eyes. The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air ORC is the most fanciful of the Night Vale family. The other shows seem like they take place in realities just a shade off from ours, but ORC completely throws any pretense of realism out the window. There's no real sense of a world outside the Circus, and why should there be? The Orbiting Human Circus of the Air has an infinitude of fantastical delights: singing saws, a bird that can mimic (almost) a full orchestra, tap-dancing mice. There's no trick or sleight of hand involved, not even a dusty tome of magic spells. ORC simply presents a world in which these wonders exist in hidden corners. The story is sometimes melancholy, and there are regular hints of a deep sadness underneath the surface, but the main character is defined by his determination and...well, 'optimism' would be too strong a word, but he has an unyielding sense of hope. He doesn't actually think things will turn out well for him (and he's so often right about that), but he clings to the hope that this time, maybe it might. Queerness: Gur znva punenpgre nyyhqrf gb na rk-oblsevraq bapr. This is one of the lighter touches of queerness in the Night Vale family. Genre: peering through a dusty velvet curtain just offstage, while brightly-costumed creatures dance to a tune you haven't heard since you were a child. Within the Wires While all Night Vale Presents shows have some kind of narrative conceit framing the audio medium (community radio station, trucker radio transmissions, broadcast wish fulfillment), those tend to be vehicles for the story and stylistic flourishes, rather than core elements of the story itself. WtW is presented as audio cassettes on full-body relaxation, and the cassettes themselves become key actors. This is not a story that could be told in any other medium, which personally I freaking love. This is also a more sci-fi show than the others, despite being set in AU 1980s, and more blatantly dystopic. The world-building's a little more evident, which is neither a good thing nor a bad thing; I think it's a side effect of being more sci-fi than fantasy. Everything feels like it has an explanation, even if the explanation is not provided, and it all fits together smoothly. Also: the narrator has a mild kiwi accent, which I find incredibly soothing. Queerness: Yep. Gur znva punenpgre unf n pbzcyvpngrq ohg qrpvqrqyl abg cyngbavp (s/s) eryngvbafuvc jvgu gur jbzna gur gncrf ner vagraqrq sbe.  Genre: lying quietly in a sensory isolation tank until you inexplicably start crying for the first time in years.

On hiatus

Wolf 359 So, there are a couple voice actors in Wolf 359 that don't do a whole lot for me, performance-wise. I don't want to get more specific because YMMV and I'm also just a really picky audio consumer, but there you have it. Mostly it's not an issue, though. This is also one of the darker shows I listen to, although it starts out with more of a zany sitcom vibe. There's a fair amount of murder, murder attempts, and general people-being-horrible-in-ways-they-believe-to-be-justified. It's not something I think I could sit through again, but it is a captivating story told well. There's a lot of focus on the emotional arcs and characters dealing with trauma, which I am All About in sci-fi. 

Queerness: zero. Zip. Zilch. It doesn't feature any romance arcs at all, though, so...I found it tolerable. Honestly, if it hadn't come so highly recommended, I probably would not have given it a shot. Genre: placing your hand on a rusty, unmarked door that wasn't in the ship schematics, and knowing you must step through—you must step through. Eos 10 After my first pass at this write-up, I realized that I was being really negative—far more negative than this show deserves. So I want to be clear: I listened to and enjoyed every extant episode of Eos 10, and I'm looking forward to Season 3, whenever it's released. It's a pleasantly entertaining space sitcom and I've gotten attached to the characters; the writing's solid and the voice acting is generally pretty great. It's just not quite tailored to my specific tastes. Ok, back to what I originally wrote: This podcast feels a lot more mainstream/conventional in its tropes than the others. Unlike most of the podcasts I listen to, the medium is invisible to the characters: it's not pitched as a radio show or a voice recorder or a series of motivational tapes. To me, this adds another layer of remove between the audience and the story. It's fine, it's just very straightforward in its presentation, with no medium-specific conceit or anything. It’s not really outsider art in any sense, and could legitimately be a TV show if it had the budget. That's a pretty good description of the show as a whole, honestly. It makes no pretense at being high-concept, it just does what it does. Queerness: This one...is not very queer. One of the side characters is gay but it doesn't really come up a lot. There's also a gay minor character that gets mentioned but never appears, and it's kind of a running gag that the gay character has a thing for the main character, who insists he's straight. It's a gross trope and I kind of winced at it, but it's usually framed by other characters as "are you sure you're not interested, because [gay character] is way out of your league and you're really not going to do better," which mitigates it somewhat for me? Also, gurer ner uvagf gung gur znva punenpgre zvtug npghnyyl or vagrerfgrq va gur tnl punenpgre, but only time will tell whether it's queerbaiting or not. Look, it's not an ideal situation. If it’s a dealbreaker, I totally understand, especially since there's no clear answer to the "is this queerbaiting" question and due to some unfortunate creator health issues, we might not get one for a while. Genre: ducking out of the way as a harried-looking man in a lab coat and stethoscope pelts down the hallway, yelling "GET ME FIVE UNITS OF ALIEN SEX POLLEN, STAT!"

Airing

The Strange Case of Starship Iris

I love this show a disproportionate amount, given that only four episodes have aired. This is a newer podcast, and one I stumbled on completely by accident! I wasn't expecting much, but it was sci-fi and the main character's last name was Liu, so I decided to give it a shot. And then it turned out to be not only awesome but also totally queer! I think I actually said "HAH! YES!" out loud when the queerness was canonized within the first few minutes. (This is why I live alone.) Plus, this is a small thing from a throwaway line, but...the main character weighs roughly the same amount as I do. Do you know how often that happens with Asian characters? Never, is how often. For possibly the first time in my life, I feel like I can legitimately headcanon a main character who looks exactly like me. I'm definitely going to do some incredibly self-indulgent fanart at some point. Unprecedented overidentifying with the main character aside: honestly, it's like this podcast was tailor-made for me. MAJOR SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1 (and kind of 2): Vafrpher ovbybtvfg wbvaf ent-gnt perj bs fzhttyref jvgu n sbhaq-snzvyl ivor naq nyvra phygheny pynfurf, nyy senzrq va n fvavfgre zrgnaneengvir gung hfrf gur zrqvhz nf n cybg qrivpr, CYHF cbgragvny ebznapr orgjrra na Rnfg Nfvna jbzna naq n Fbhgu Nfvna jbzna? Um, sign me the fuck up.  The only downside is that this has definitely raised my expectations for new podcasts by an unreasonable amount. Every new podcast I've tried since Starship Iris has been vaguely disappointing. My podcast standards are way too high now, and it's all Starship Iris's fault.

Queerness: YES. The main character is a queer woman, there's a nonbinary alien species and the alien crew member uses they/them pronouns, and there's a trans guy. Also, this is wild speculation, but V guvax/oryvrir/ubcr gung bar bs gur bgure srznyr perj zrzoref vf orvat frg hc nf n ebznagvp vagrerfg sbe gur znva punenpgre. There's some explicit discussion of gender identity in a non-traumatic way which tbh is like water in the freaking desert.

Genre: ??? it's too new and I love it too much to assign it a genre. 

The Bright Sessions

As I said in the spoiler-free summary: this is everything I wanted X-Men to be. Hell, it's everything I ever want superhero stories to be, and it's why I've been drawn to superhero stories since I was a teenager. The Bright Sessions deals with the complex consequences of, e.g., having empathy powers as a teenager while learning how to manage your own emotions and maturity. The main character is Dr. Bright, a therapist specializing in people with superpowers, which naturally provides the perfect angle for those people to get really navel-gazey about their lives. There is an actual overarching plot with a shadowy government agency, of course, but that's definitely not what I'm here for and luckily that’s clearly just a vehicle for the feelings.

Queerness: One of the main characters has a m/m romance arc; another main character is asexual; a side character (who may soon be considered a main character?) is bisexual. Because the conceit is therapy sessions, Dr. Bright does inquire delicately about how her patients may or may not be coping with emerging/existing queer identities, but none of them find it traumatic.

Genre: telekinetically fiddling with a desk puzzle limned in afternoon sun, as the doctor asks: "And how does that make you feel?"

The Penumbra Podcast

I'd had the Penumbra Podcast on my radar/subscriptions list for a while, but I'd never quite finished the first episode...until the remastered/rewritten first story was released. The difference is astronomical. The creators talk about audio quality etc. in their reasoning for recreating the first story, but for me, the main distinction is the skill in storytelling and the confidence to create noir without relying on questionable tropes to signal "hard-boiled!!!" I sometimes think the writing and characterizations are a little broad, but that may be down to genre. Penumbra doesn't really go for 'subtle' or 'realistic.' An important format note: there's a main character with episodic adventures, but in between the two-part adventures, there are one-shots in various genres. I actually skipped most of the one-shots because I'm not great with horror or kid stories.

Queerness: The main character of the main story is queer (jvgu na qryvtugshyyl rzbgvbanyyl pbafgvcngrq z/z ebznapr nep gung'f abg va n terng cynpr evtug abj), as are numerous side characters. It's a noir pastiche, though, so the main character is pretty self-sabotaging in all areas of his life; a 'happy ending' doesn't seem incredibly likely. One of the stand-alone stories is a queer Western, which I found delightful. It's also one of the few stand-alone stories that has a bonus follow-up episode.

Genre: taking a long, slow drag on a cigarette as the rain blurs the neon lights and filth of the alien city below.

Ars Paradoxica

Ars Paradoxica shares a producer with The Bright Sessions, which is why I tried it! Like all decent time travel stories, Ars Paradoxica is meticulously planned with a lot of moving parts. The worldbuilding is intense and requires actually paying attention, which can be challenging for me since I typically listen to podcasts while multitasking.  Frankly, it moves a little slow for me...which is odd to say about a show that regularly has timeskips of months or years and literally involves time travel. I guess I feel that way because there's a lot of attention paid to the action and plot, but less to the emotional character arcs. And obviously my narrative preferences run a certain way, so I'm only really paying attention to the character stuff. Which, to be fair, certainly exists and is carried through well—it's just not in my preferred proportions. Plus, the cast is quite sprawling compared to most other podcasts, and the tone is almost Crapsack World but not quite. 

Queerness: The main character is explicitly asexual and briefly explains it, and there are a handful of queer side characters. It's semi-historical, and there's some discussion of managing visibility etc. 

Genre: staring into the dusty gears of a massive clock running backwards as the minute hand slowly approaches a blinking red light.

[gear-heart-blog1]

The ever legendary Spyderco Paramilitary 2

The basic and important specs

Overall Length:8.28"

Blade Length:3.44"

Cutting Edge:3.00"

Blade Thickness:0.14"

Blade Material:CPM-S30V  (standard)

Blade Style:Clip Point

Blade Grind:Flat

Handle Length:4.81"

Handle Thickness:0.46"

Handle Material:G-10

Frame/Liner:Stainless Steel

Weight:3.75 oz.

Pocket Clip:Tip-Down, Tip-Up

Knife Type:Manual

Opener:Thumb Hole

Lock Type:Compression Lock

MADE IN THE USA 

There exist very few knives that I would recommend to nearly everyone, at least to try, and this is one of them. 

Ergonomics are spectacular, favoring medium and large sized hands but still very respectable in very small hands and superb for individuals with odd shaped hands like myself (large palm, short fingers). The knife carries well, riding a little high in the pocket for my taste with the stock clip, but thin enough to feel like much less knife is in your pocket than there actually is. 

The steel, S30V, is hands down one of my favorites. At the cost of being only fractionally more difficult to sharpen, you get a blade with incredible corrosion resistance, incredibly long-lasting sharpness, and durability respectable enough to receive some serious abuse, more than most of us will ever put our knives through. 

The PM2 also boast a compression locking system. The system is essentially a linear lock designed to be released from the back of the handle, rather than the underside. That is of course a slight over simplification but it is really all one needs to know. What is important is that this type of lock up allows one to close the knife without flipping it over or searching blindly for the lock with ones thumb. With a compression lock one can simply pull their index finger in from a standard grip and release the lock with a soft press (The concept can be a little difficult to grasp without seeing, if anyone would care for a picture please do not hesitate to ask). This may appear to be a lot of fuss over almost nothing, but it really does make a world of difference when handling the knife particularly when one opens and closes their knife frequently, and even more so if that knife is going in and out of a pocket every time. Such behavior becomes incredibly fluid and fast as soon as one familiarizes themselves with the knife, which in this case takes no time at all. While many atypical locking systems are often perceived as unnecessarily complex and offer very little utilitarian value to their knives, this is not the case with our subject. Of course there are exceptions, while very rare, some individuals will not care for the PM2′s locking system. When this does occur it is usually due to an improper grip and large hands managing to release the lock during use. I on the other hand have put my PM2 through a great deal of very hard use over the course of a few years, and have never come close experiencing this failure and, scores of other PM2 owners will tell you the same.  

Two more common hang ups with this particular knife are frequent complaints regarding most Spydercos. “That stupid blade shape and those ugly thumb holes.” I personally find most Spyderco knives attractive, and if you don’t I cant really do much to alter your perception of reality can I? What I can do is speak to the utilitarian nature of both features. First lets take a look at the blade shape, it is essentially a very sharp drop point with a large belly. While it may not be the prettiest, it fully maximizes the potential of the two cutting task drop points are designed to accommodate best. Piercing and slicing, just from looking at this knife, its fairly clear that piercing will almost never be an issue. The drawback to this is that the tip of the blade is most certainly a weak point. This is an area of consideration where that S30V crucible steel really matters. On many of Spydercos lower end knives, which usually use VG-10( an excellent steel in it’s own right) broken tips are a fairly common occurrence. Keep in mind that this mostly due to misuse but If we’re being fair here I am sure most of us have used a knife in entirely the wrong way at least once or twice before. Back to the steel, thanks to the PM2′s premium steel, broken tips are far less common than what is expected, they still occur but very rarely and through great effort. The blades second shapely feature, its large belly, is designed to fully realize the slicing potential of a relatively short blade, and boy does it do that. Coupled with the blades relative thinness relative to its size, this knife slices far better than any other knife I’ve handled of a similar size and that is all there is too it. Overall, the blade shape of the PM2 does everything a drop point should, only better, and in a shorter package. So unless you need that extra reach, it’s pretty difficult to discredit this blade shape from utilitarian standpoint.  

Hang up number two, is much more about aesthetics. The dreaded thumb hole, again I personally am quite fond of them. For a beginner they certainly make a knife much easier to open than your typical thumb stud but with experience I expect this advantage to dissipate as is the case with myself, I can open most knives with relative ease so I hardly notice the difference between a thumb hole or a thumb stud. With thumb holes however their are number of neat (and somewhat more dangerous) options when it comes to opening the knives (the spyderdrop is probably my favorite). Probably the most popular manifestation of this is the zip tie mod, common on Spydercos, it involves placing a zip tie through the thumb hole, pulling it taught, and clipping the excess. The zip tie serves as a catch which is supposed to snag on ones pants, allowing the user to open the knife at the same time that they draw it, not at all unlike the wave feature found on Emerson knives. I personally hate that feature and am not found of slicing up my pants, but to each their own. A final thing worth mentioning is that Spyderco thumb holes, particularly of this size, do technically create a weak point on the blade. In all honesty there isn't a great deal of metal along the outside of the whole, however this type of failure literally almost never occurs, even on Spyderco’s cheaper knives. Whether the weak points are significant or not is almost a non issue due to the level of severe mistreatment and misuse of the knife necessary to witness that type of failure. If one still can’t get past the aesthetics at this point I can’t do anything for you, but I am a firm believer in trying most things at least once.  

An unseen advantage regarding this knife is the great deal of after market or custom parts that can be used to modify ones knife to their own liking. The options available to PM2s are potentially the most diverse in regards to any other knife on the market. This is due to the knife’s extreme popularity over a very long period of time relative to today's knife market, and their affordability. I personally have not had the best luck with knife modding but was brave enough to throw a titanium deep carry clip on to my my PM2 and it makes a world of difference in the way the knife carries.     

PM2s are available in a wide variety of handle color options, as well as an option for a coated black blade. I’m not intimately familiar with their coating methods but they hold up very well. Recently Spyderco has also released a number of sprint runs featuring the knife with newer, supposedly better steels, I am unsure how long these will be available or how often these runs will occur but if I ever get my hands on one, you will see and hear about it here. These options often significantly affect price, unpopular trims will be cheaper for example.   

For a number of reasons, the prices of these knives fluctuate greatly, if one gets very lucky they can be had for around 80 dollars. That is a great deal of luck mind you, their typical going prices tend to float in between 150 and 100 dollars, with 100 being a pretty good deal. Occasionally due to production shortages or what have you they can go for around 200+ dollars brand new. This happens much less frequently than it used to but with that being said, I would completely understand an individuals willingness to pay that premium, this piece is most definitely worth the cost. 

If I could only have one folder from my collection for the rest of my life, disaster scenario or not, it would be this knife. 

This is an amazon listing, as of the time of this posting they are offering some very fair prices on a number of different configurations.   

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004TXMFQQ/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B004TXMFQQ&linkCode=as2&tag=gearheart-20&linkId=4e0ecdaaf0fde593676d74b9d6e5d7a7

Please feel free to ask me anything you like, I will be more than happy to help. Thank you for your time.