#vale eldridge

[luminescentwind]

770.

Hoy escribí tres historias de elefantes. Son todas historias verdaderas, y lo único que hice fue narrarlas lo mejor que pude. Las dejo acá como registro.

CASTOR Y POLLUX

Castor y Pollux fueron dos elefantes cautivos en el zoológico parisiense Jardin des Plantes. Fueron asesinados, descuartizados y servidos como comida exótica durante el sitio de París, a fines de 1870. Antes de eso, ambos gozaban de cierta popularidad porque el zoológico permitía montarlos y utilizarlos para pasear por el lugar. Sin embargo, la popularidad y la simpatía que las personas humanas hayan llegado a tenerles no fue suficiente para salvarlos de la muerte prematura, pues al fin y al cabo no eran más que objetos, seres inferiores cuya existencia debía estar sometida a los caprichos de la raza humana.

Los elefantes están entre las criaturas más inteligentes que habitan este planeta. Piensan, sienten, juegan, tienen estructuras sociales complejas y hasta ritos funerarios. Y sin embargo a lo largo de la historia los hemos secuestrado y encerrado en prisiones de las que pocos han podido ser rescatados. Los hemos usado como armas de guerra y como transporte en sitios turísticos; los asesinamos para quitarles sus colmillos y la carne de sus cuerpos. Poquísimos elefantes tienen la oportunidad de vivir en libertad, lejos de la codicia humana. ¿Cuál es el gran pecado que han cometido para que los tratemos como poco más que objetos? Nacer de otra especie. Nacer diferentes a nosotros. Venir a la tierra con una forma disímil a la nuestra. Vale agregar una cosa más. En el sitio de París, no sólo cayeron Castor y Pollux, sino un sinfín de otros animales. Primero los callejeros: mulas, burros, caballos, gatos, perros, ratas y ratones. Luego los prisioneros del zoológico: antílopes, camellos, ciervos, canguros, yaks y cebras. Los leones y tigres se salvaron por ser considerados peligrosos. Pero un caso curioso fue el de los primates: se los consideraba demasiado parecidos a nosotros como para ser asesinados. ¿Cuán parecidos tenemos que ser para no matarnos? ¿Cuánto importan las diferencias de nuestros cuerpos, nuestras pieles, nuestros lenguajes? ¿Qué relevancia tiene la especie? ¿Acaso no todos queremos vivir en libertad? En lo más básico y fundamental, no hay diferencia entre Castor, Pollux, un perro, una vaca, una gallina, un ratón y un humano.

MARY

Mary fue una elefanta ahorcada y asesinada en 1916. Servía como esclava en un circo perteneciente a un hombre llamado Charlie Sparks. El padre de Sparks la compró cuando apenas tenía cuatro años, y Charlie la entrenó para que tocara instrumentos, para que se parara de cabeza y atrapara objetos que le fueran lanzados. Era una de las estrellas del circo, por ser considerada la elefanta más grande del mundo en ese entonces. Un día, en el traslado de una ciudad a otra, Mary vio una sandía al costado del camino que transitaban, y quiso acercarse para comer. Sobre su espalda iba montado Red Eldridge, un entrenador sin experiencia alguna en el cuidado de animales —no es que importara, tampoco— que, ante el desvío de Mary, decidió pincharla con una aguijada, una larga vara con una afilada punta de hierro. Harta, ella se lo quitó de encima y lo mató. Y en ese acto de defensa se condenó a la muerte. La ciudad a la que viajaban les negó la entrada si no se deshacían de Mary. Charlie Sparks, quien la había tenido bajo su cuidado durante diecisiete años, no lo dudó y decidió cumplir con el pedido demencial del pueblo. Intentaron dispararle, pero las balas no podían penetrar en su piel. Tampoco tenían la energía necesaria para electrocutarla ni el equipo para desmembrarla, así que decidieron colgarla de una grúa. El primer intento no funcionó. Colgaron a Mary y la elevaron unos pocos metros, pero la cadena flaqueó y ella cayó al piso. Se quedó inmóvil luego de la caída, con la cadera rota e invadida por el dolor y la angustia de saber lo que seguía. Sin importarles sus quejidos y llantos de dolor, la volvieron a colgar del cuello. Un veterinario confirmó su muerte luego de haber estado treinta minutos agonizando en el aire. Más de 2500 personas se habían reunido para ver la ejecución. Pareciera que nunca nos bastó con matarnos entre nosotros, sino que además siempre hemos extendido nuestro rol de verdugos por sobre la vida de todas las otras especies.

DHURBE

Dhurbe es un elefante salvaje que vive dentro del parque nacional Chitwan, en Nepal. Entre 2009 y 2012, mató entre quince y dieciséis personas humanas, además de haber destruido más de 50 viviendas, para luego desaparecer durante algunos años. Luego de los primeros ataques, le pusieron un rastreador para seguir sus pasos, pero este dejó de funcionar al cabo de unas semanas. Cuando Dhurbe volvió a matar, el ejército nepalí decidió asesinarlo. Noventa y tres humanos armados salieron en su búsqueda con el fin de dispararle, pero no pudieron hallarlo. En 2018, Dhurbe reapareció. Fue avistado llevándose una hembra de una base del ejército nepalí dentro del parque nacional, hiriendo a un macho en el proceso. Dhurbe y la hembra han sido vistos juntos desde entonces, y él parece estar más tranquilo, salvo por un incidente. En abril de 2021, se estaba llevando a cabo un censo de rinocerontes dentro del parque, y Dhurbe atacó una vez más. Los censistas iban montados sobre otros elefantes, y él los estuvo siguiendo desde que comenzaron su tarea. Los humanos le dispararon para ahuyentarlo, pero él se escabulló y luego atacó a los elefantes usados por los censistas. Los humanos cayeron de los elefantes y fueron heridos, algunos de gravedad. Se podría pensar que Dhurbe es un elefante territorial que no gusta de compartir un mismo hábitat con otros de los suyos, y que por eso ataca también a elefantes. Bien podría ser. Pero también uno podría pensar que él lleva dentro de sí la rabia de sus antepasados y de muchos de sus contemporáneos, a quienes todo les ha sido quitado por los humanos, y que por eso ha matado tantos de los nuestros. Sea cual sea la respuesta, este elefante es uno de los pocos que ha podido rebelarse contra la especie opresora sin haber sido —todavía— asesinado.

[via-the-ghoul]

SCP Theophobia, Chapter 1: the servant of death with a hidden face

Hey guys, it’s finally finished! I was gonna post this on AO3, but due to their… really weird way of having people join, the first chapter will be posted here first! I guess this is my Halloween gift? Whatever.

Theophobia is a story about Gods and the people they affect. It’s a written story about my take on the SCP universe. There’s also art that I made myself :D.

To start off somewhat simple, this one’s mostly about popular anomalies 049 and 035, though it goes more into detail on 049’s connection to the pantheon. It also develops two foundation doctors, Dr. Vale Eldridge, an oc some of you might already know, and her assistant, newcomer Esther Hepburn.

Content warning for this chapter: some death, plus a character uses a gun at one point.

Father, can you hear this?. I’m trapped. Someone’s captured me, and I don’t know why. I request your help. I cannot stay here, it interferes with the mission. No human is talking to me anymore. I have been alone in here for quite some time, unable to continue my work, so could you please come-

The sudden loud alarm caught the doctor off guard. He’d heard this specific alarm a lot recently, and at first, he didn’t understand why. Though he did now, and knew he had nothing to fear, he still didn’t like such loud noises.

“SCP-035 has breached containment, refrain from talking to anyone, for we do not know who it has manipulated. Remain calm, this will be handled shortly.”

He couldn’t help but chuckle, to himself and himself alone. It turns out each and every one of those times, old Orfeo had merely been trying to get to him. Understandable, it had been over a century since they’d seen each other. Heck, the doctor had grieved as if his dear Orfeo had shattered. They’d used to have to expect the unexpected, being who they were. But now… there were only walls. Occasionally a voice, usually Orfeo’s, but still.

He wondered if he would make it this time. The doctor hadn’t had a good conversation in forever, ever since his… connection to the mask had been made obvious, they feared that they were more dangerous than previously thought.

It didn’t matter, he still had a ritual to complete. This was just a desperate attempt to get back to his work, since Orfeo had unintentionally ruined his first plan. As patient as he was, and as much as he loved seeing Orfeo again, he wasn’t sure if they’d ever trust him with anyone again. He was growing desperate, but he couldn’t let anyone know.

-so could you please come take me away? I’d prefer if it was quiet, they are do not understand me, and I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt-

Another loud sound interrupted his writing. He sighed in annoyance, why must it be so hard to write!?

This time it was the sound of two gun shots from outside his cell doors. And then they opened, revealing quite a site.

On the ground was a black, sticky mess, lying next to an unconscious, slowly dying man with two gunshot wounds. Standing there was the door opener, Orfeo, in a brand-new host, another guard, the host’s helmet lying next to the black goo pile. Looking closer, Engurrand could see the remains of another man in the goo pile.

“Heh, got really worried that that host was gonna be the end of this run!” Orfeo gestured to the goo pile. The doctor only sighed.

“So, what is it this time?” He slowly closed his book. The ritual would just have to wait a little longer. He knew he was the more patient of the two anyway. Orfeo picked up the helmet, and awkwardly tried to put it on.

“Come with me. I’ve been formulating an escape plan for weeks, and it’s time to go! It’ll work even better now that I have guns!”

Once again, he sighed. He didn’t like that this meant he had wasted space in his journal, but escape was escape. Plus Orfeo could come too. Orfeo hadn’t been close enough to include him if he did the ritual, but if he went with him…

“So, how does it start?” The doctor asked, Orfeo, having finally given up on the helmet, gestured to the silent, more dead than alive guard still lying on the ground. He could barely stand to see him suffer. Orfeo seemed to have somewhat similar views.

“That poor soul’s sick, isn’t he? Help out this poor, suffering man.” He asked, his once smiling mask a frown. He sighed.

“I do not sense the pestilence in this man.” Orfeo looked… frustrated. Even with only two facial expressions, he was somewhat easy to read. His body, whichever it was, would be moved by his mind, leading to his body movements being exaggerated.

“He-”

“Let’s just go.” Orfeo, clearly tired, sighed and went off, signalling Enguerrand to follow.

“Esther, do you really think a table is going to save you?”

“I don’t know Vale, is anything going to save me!?”

Esther Hepburn was curled up in a ball, hiding under the table in their office. Standing next to her table was an unimpressed Dr. Vale Eldridge. Being her assistant could be a… stressful job, especially when a containment breach of a sadistic, telepathic, and very manipulative asshole was going on. Vale’s strategy was simply to stay in one room and hope for the best, meaning the two were locked in the office and Vale had the key. Neither of them seemed interested in going out there anyway.

“How long have you been working here anyway?” Esther asked. She had only been here for a year and a half, but Vale…

“10 years or so. Never occurred to me to count.”

Vale wasn’t good with answering questions. It was almost never a straight answer with her. It frustrated Esther to no end.

“So, how long do you think we have?” She didn’t even know why she was still asking her questions.

“10, 9…” She trailed off.

“Not funny.”

“I tried,” she said, “if we’re gonna die, we might as well have high spirits.”

“Are we sure? Wouldn’t 035 wanna crush those high spirits and be more likely to come for us? Wait, if we were scared we’d be easier to manipulate-” Esther started to panic, not sure what emotion would let them live. She hadn’t been that familiar with the mask, but she was still worried.

Suddenly, Vale also climbed under the table.

“Look, I’m not a words person, but panicking isn’t gonna help.”

“Uh, thanks?” Esther gave an awkward smile.

And then there was silence. Just Esther and Vale, hiding under the table. Esther parallized with fear, Vale… it was hard to read her. Vale always wore a face mask. Everytime Esther asked why, there would be a different answer. Apparently the “true answer” or whatever was burn marks, but that brought up the question of what the heck happened to her.

It didn’t matter. It was only them in there anyway, and Esther didn’t mind. Just them, waiting for something to break the silence.

And something did. An announcement, loud and bold, almost knocking Esther off her seat. Vale didn’t bat an eye. Even when the announcer said what happened, she didn’t move. Did not allow herself to show any form of surprise, worry, or even some kind of “I knew this would happen”.

“035 has broken 049 out of it’s cell. Please remain calm, as we get this breach under control.”

“Is it really that surprising it wanted to do that, considering the amount of times that little shit broke in there?” Vale sighed.

“Look, the announcement was… very loud, and it startled me!”

“Oh, sorry, I should've known.”

Vale had her faults, but she could still be a very understanding person.

It was silent again. They weren’t even looking at each other. The office they were in was rather far away from 049’s cell, so they were probably safe. But there was no predictably in this world, was there?

As an example, Vale suddenly got up from underneath the table.

“Wha-”

“Esther, please stay here!” She shouted, before unlocking the door and running out of the room.

“Hey, wait, what are you doing!?” Esther got up after her, and ran to the door.

She locked it behind her. Shit.

Oh gosh, what was she supposed to do? Her friend could get hurt, or worse, or die, who knows? But then again, was she even safe in there with her? Who could say?

“You do know where we’re going, right?” The doctor asked.

In all honesty, he wasn’t sure how they made it this far. They were still somehow making their way through the site, he was somehow not currently being led back to his cell, Orfeo’s host had somehow not been pumped with lead… he didn’t even think they ran into anyone so far. He couldn’t help but wonder…

“What? Of course we’re going the right way, how in my own name would I not know the right way, I can literally read minds why the fuck would I not know the right way?”

“You’re bluffing.”

“Come on, my darling raven, you can trust me!” He was now frowning. The doctor had to fight the urge to laugh, it was just… the way he said it.

“Alright then, what am I thinking now?” If his face was still visible, you could tell he was smiling. He was still tired, still just a little worried, and even a little mad, but this right here… it was nice.

“You’re… still a bit anxious that I somehow took a wrong turn somewhere since there’s no one here, haven’t slept in… holy shit are you okay, and you like talking to me!” Orfeo was smiling again.

“Well, yeah.”

“Aw, don’t worry! Simple manipulation on my part, everyone’s just hiding! There are many benefits for having telepathy. What, are you afraid someone’s gonna pop up and say boo?”

“Look, it’s just, we haven’t run into anyone, it just feels so empty.” He knew he sounded like an idiot, being anxious over nothing.

“Don’t worry, silly docky wocky,”

“You know I do not like being called that.” He glared. Orfeo only laughed.

“Come on, just relax for once! No one is-”

That’s when they heard the sound of footsteps coming from across the hall. 8 people.

“I think they went this way!”

The doctor looked at his now worried companion.

“Run.”

Esther was now kicking the door. She knew it wasn’t that professional, but she didn’t exactly have many options here.

“HEY, WAIT, VALE, WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING, WHERE, WHY ARE YOU,”

“Huh, who are you? And are you okay?”

Oh thank god, someone was out there. It wasn’t Vale, it was a man, with a deep, tired voice.

“Oh, thank goodness, I’m Esther, Vale’s appearance. She ran off for whatever reason, and she locked me in here-”

“Vale ran off?”

“I don’t know why, but she just… left.” A faint sigh could be heard behind the door.

“Gosh darnit Vale, don’t tell me you’re trying to be some kind of hero, aren’t you?” The man mumbled. There was something else, but Esther couldn’t quite make out what it was, and wasn’t that worried about whatever it was.

“Look, I don’t understand why she would-”

Suddenly, Esther could hear footsteps coming to the door.

“Sorry about that.” Said a familiar voice. She could hear a faint gasp come from the man, as the footsteps stopped.

Vale… was back.

“Vale, what the hell-”

“Don’t worry, I am fine. I just don’t feel safe saying what happened, with this stranger here.”

Maybe she was just a newbie, but Esther thought that wasn’t a normal sentence. What the hell happened out there?

Vale unlocked the door, revealing the man to be a scientist with cold, grey eyes, standing with perfect posture.

“Is it okay if I come in too? I know you don’t trust me, but,”

“Well, who are you, and why are you out here? I’ll let you in if you tell me and I believe you.” Vale interrupted the man.

“Oh, well, I’m Dr. Mcginnis, I had been in the restroom during the breach, and, well, I didn’t exactly think that was the most safe space to hide. I’ve been trying to be let in by other scientists, but no one seems to believe me.”

Vale walked in, sighing and reluctantly letting the man in behind her.

“Vale, what is wrong with you, just leaving like that?” Esther asked, barely able to keep her voice down. She had left, worrying her to no end… for no reason?!

“Look, what am I supposed to tell you!? I still don’t trust this guy.”

Was Vale okay?

“Look, Vale-”

“Stop worrying about nothing Esther. I have my reasons and you know that.” Vale gave her a look. A “please stop talking” look.

Dr. Mcginnis, meanwhile, just sat in a chair and remained silent. He wasn’t even acknowledging the two girls.

They were alone.

“Hey, this door’s unlocked!” Orfeo smiled, holding open an office door.

“Wait, what?” Enguerrand froze. What was Orfeo getting at?

“Let’s hide in here, they’d never expect us to hide in here!” Orfeo was already walking in the room anyway. Enguerrand sighed and followed him into the room.

“...Wait.”

“What-”

“Shit.”

“Orfeo, this better-”

“If they do search here, we wouldn’t have a way to escape.”

“...Orfeo”

“Yes Enguerrand?”

“Why? Didn't you consider that already?”

“Look, I was panicking, could you keep it down? I don’t want them hearing us!”

And just like that, it was silent again. He may have become a sitting duck, but there was one thing his companion didn’t know. He had a backup plan. Slowly, he took his book and a pencil out of his bag.

“You two seem nice.”

The silence in the office was now broken. Dr. Mcginnis simply said four words, and the two girls froze.

“Uh, thanks?” Said Vale.

“You know, there’s no reason to fear that mask. I don’t want you to be caught on the wrong side of the battle.” What in the…

“Did you… not read his document, or,” Esther was trying to rationalize whatever this guy was talking about. There’s… there’s no way they actually were defending this guy.

“Are you mindless?” Vale asked, reaching into her pocket.

“Listen, I was talking to them earlier-”

The sound of a gunshot interrupted the man. Blood and brain matter lay on the ground where his head should be. Terrified, Esther looked over to see Vale, holding the gun.

“What-”

“Well, why did you think I left? Couldn’t have him being suspicious of me, that’s why I didn’t tell you.” Vale seemed more confused by Esther’s fear than anything.

“What, where did you get the gun?”

“I found it.”

“WHERE DID YOU FIND IT”

“On the ground.” Esther sighed, she wasn’t getting an actual answer, was she.

“You. You just killed someone.”

“It was a mercy kill, after what happened to him.” It didn’t matter what Vale said, Esther already had the horror of that set in. Holy hell, she just killed someone.

“You still killed Dr. Mcginnis.”

“He was brainwashed to the point of no return.”

“YOU JUST SHOT SOMEONE IN THE HEAD AND YOU EXPECT ME NOT TO FREAK OUT!?” Vale simply blinked.

“On the gods, you can tell you’re new here.”

Father, can you hear this?. I’m trapped. Someone’s captured me, and I don’t know why. I request your help. I cannot stay here, it interferes with the mission. No human is talking to me anymore. I have been alone here for quite some time, unable to continue my work, so could you please come take me away? I’d prefer if it was quiet, they do not understand me, and I wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt.. Oh, and could you bring Orfeo as well? He’s my husband, you’ll know him when you see him.

Even if no one could see it, he was smirking. He ripped the page out of the journal. It didn’t matter, there were always more pages.

“What are you-” Orfeo started.

Enguerrand took a quill from his bag. It was made from a feather from a crow’s wing, and not any traditional crow.

He circled the words, the letter to his father. Orfeo, clearly lacking any understanding of what was going on, jumped back.

The letter erupted in blue flames, as Enguerrand began to laugh. The room itself also began to burn, with the same flames, as the letter vanished. Enguerrand put everything back in his bag, he had done this before, he wanted to make sure he had everything. Orfeo, panicking, ran to hug his husband.

“MY DARLING RAVEN, WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING!?” He screamed.

“Relax dear.”

“WHAT ARE YOU- HOW LONG COULD YOU DO THAT!?”

“What happened to being quiet?”

And then the flames vanished. And they were in a far, far different room, Orfeo still clinging to the doctor. He was frowning, and seemed rather spooked by what had just happened.

“What… how did I not know you could-”

“Relax, you are merely the 7th person to learn about that.”

“What- how. I can, I can literally read minds how did I not-”

“Ahem.”

They were not alone, of course. His father would have to be there too. They both turned to see a figure holding the paper, Venetian mask over his yellow eyes. Father.

“Is… that the black lord-” The figure started.

“It’s a long story.” He sighed. He already knew the questions with Orfeo’s many… titles, with him not exactly having the best. But he had grown from that. He knew he had.

“Enguerrand, sweetie? Why can’t I read this guy’s mind? Who the hell is he?” Orfeo refused to let go. Both him and his father chuckled to themselves.

“What, did you just laugh in unison!? Who are you people!?” His father looked confused, and almost offended by this remark.

“Huh? You, you don’t know who I am? I, I thought you would- you, aren’t you-” He father had put on a smile. A ‘you’re joking’ smile. Orfeo, meanwhile, suddenly went back to a smile themself.

“Depends, how funny are you? I’ve seen a lot of dummies, so you might just have to remind me who the fuck you are.”

“Orfeo, don’t-”

“He already clearly hates me, what do I have to lose?”

His father merely sighed, mumbling something to themself.

“Is he always like this?” He asked.

“Orfeo’s nicer once you get to know him.”

“I, listen, Black Lord of Alagadda. I am the youngest of the three brothers, the one who comes for those who die alone, or of sickness, and this is my adoptive child.” He gestured to the doctor. Orfeo seemed confused again.

“I- what, how, I, I think I, what,”

It was about an hour later. The breach was over. The two anomalies had apparently just… disappeared. They entered an empty office, the security cameras picked up 049 taking out a black feather quill… and then they cut out. Audio recorders also cut out, but ones outside the room picked up faint sounds of fire. And then they disappeared, not a trace of them anywhere, or even signs of a fire…

“What has it been, an hour? Give it another hour or so, some zombie’s gonna pop up somewhere, boom, there we go, we found them.” Vale rolled her eyes.

The two of them were being interviewed over Vale’s… mercy kill. They had just been briefed on what happened during the breach, and Vale was unfazed by anything the interviewer said.

“Look, that’s not important. Why did you get the gun?” He sighed. This, of all things, seemed to confuse her partner.

“I thought your security cameras-”

“We know, we saw you pick it off that guard’s corpse. Why would you do that?”

“I’m not that good with physical combat, but I just… had a bad feeling, okay?” Esther started feeling uncomfortable.

“Do I… have to be here for this, or,” She started, as Vale clearly began looking more uncomfortable.

“Dr. Eldridge, if you just stayed in the room, everything would have been fine-”

“I’m not omnipresent! Where you even in the site- I was fucking terrified!”

“So you ran out of-”

“I wasn’t scared for myself! I-I wanted to protect Esther! I wasn’t thinking clearly- you try to think clearly when a guy with, like, death hands and a telepathic master-manipulator are running amok!” Vale stood up. Esther sweated, not sure what she was supposed to even be doing, or why she was here.

“I, uh, she didn’t say anything-” Esther started, before being interrupted.

“Vale, how did you know there would be a spare gun lying around?”

“I- like I said, I was panicking! I was gonna grab whatever I could-”

“Thank you Vale, that will be all for today.”

“How were you not fired!?” Esther asked in a somewhat lighthearted way, doubting she was going to get anything resembling an answer. Though surprising, what happened could count as one.

“I’m too useful. It’s rare they get anyone who can be a doctor for anomalies. Though, I’m far more stable than most employees here anyway.”

Huh, I guess she can answer questions, even if she was a jerk about it.

“What do you mean you’re more stable?”

“You’ll either find out yourself or die.”

“Asshole!” She said, somewhat jokingly. They knew each other for a year, Esther could say that.

“Heh, could always be worse. Do you know how close me and my little sister were to dying when I was 12?”

Vale’s little sister. She never gave her a name, but that didn’t mean Esther knew nothing about this person. She was two years younger than Vale, and while she was friendly, the two hadn’t seen each other in a while. Vale also mentioned once that she started wearing the mask at 12, which didn’t exactly give Esther the best hopes for where Vale would take this, in the event she elaborated.

“What… what do you mean-”

“It’s complicated. But hey, I’m out of there, I’m having a way better time. And hey, there are some much worse people here than me. You’ve heard of Clef?” Esther shuttered. While the two of them were often moved between different sites, Esther never actually saw him, and only had heard of him, an unpredictable man. He had done worse than shooting a hypnotised man in the face, and some weren’t sure if he was human. At least, that’s what she thought. The main description she ever got of him was when someone would complain about a decision the higher ups made, only for someone to reply “well they hired Clef.”

“...Yes.” Esther replied.

“Okay, good. Anyways, I think I have a theory on where those two went.”

“You do? How, you just heard the description on how the breach went!?” Esther would be lying to herself if she said that Vale never did anything this weird. But now… she just couldn’t shake the feeling of there being something… more with what had happened.

“Okay, yeah, it needs some polish,” Vale admitted, “but I think I can make it work!”

“What kind of theory is it?” Esther asked. How could Vale come up with something like this so quickly?

“I still need to think it over, okay?”

And then she walked off.

“Hey, Vale, wait-” Esther wasn’t really enjoying this new trend of Vale just… leaving her, without an explanation as to why.

“Vale, listen-”

“Look, Esther, sorry, I’m just under a lot of stress right now.” Vale stopped walking, and turned back to her.

“Vale, you’re a doctor, this isn’t in your field.” Esther tried to confront her.

“Look, Esther, I just, you don’t understand. The day’s over, go home and rest, ok?”

“What about you Vale?” Esther hoped this question would pierce her armor.

“...I’ll go home, okay? I just… have to work a bit before I can rest, I’m the doctor, I have more work to do.”

And Vale continued to run.

[elcinelateleymickyandonie]

Ernest Cossart.

Filmografía

Cine

1916: The Pursuing Vengeance, de Martin Sabine.

1935: The Scoundrel, de Ben Hecht y Charles MacArthur.

1936: El gran Ziegfeld, de Robert Z. Leonard.

1936: Three Smarts Girls, de Henry Koster.

1936: Murder with Pictures, de Charles Barton.

1937: Angel, de Ernst Lubitsch.

1937: Champagne valse, de A. Edward Sutherland.

1939: Zaza, de George Cukor.

1939: Tower of London, de Rowland V. Lee.

1939: Three Smart Girls Grow Up, de Henry Koster.

1939: The Light that Failed, de William A. Wellman

1939: Lady of the Tropics, de Jack Conway.

1940: Kitty Foyle, de Sam Wood.

1940: Tom Brown's School Days, de Robert Stevenson.

1941: Skylark, de Mark Sandrich.

1942: Kings Row, de Sam Wood.

1945: Love Letters, de William Dieterle.

1945: Tonight and every Night, de Victor Saville.

1946: Cluny Brown, de Ernst Lubitsch.

1946: The Jolson Story, de Alfred E. Green

1947: Love from a Stranger, de Richard Whorf.

1949: John Loves Mary, de David Butler.

Teatro (Broadway)

1908: The Girls of Gottenberg, música de Ivan Caryll y Lionel Monckton, letras de Adrian Ross y Basil Hood.

1910: Mrs. Dot, de William Somerset Maugham, con Billie Burke.

1910: Love among the Lions, de Winchell Smith a partir de F. Anstey, con Ivan F. Simpson

1911: The Zebra, de Paul M. Potter a partir de Marcel Nancey y Paul Armont.

1912: The Typhoon, de Emil Nyitray y Byron Ongley a partir de Menyhert Lengyel.

1914: Marrying Money, de Washington Pezey y Bertram Marbugh.

1915: Androcles and the Lion, de George Bernard Shaw.

1915: The Man who married a Dumb Wife, de Anatole France, con Isabel Jeans.

1915: El sueño de una noche de verano, de William Shakespeare, con Isabel Jeans.

1915: The Doctor's Dilemma, de George Bernard Shaw.

1915: Sherman was right, de Frank Mandel.

1920-1921: The Skin Game, de John Galsworthy.

1921: The Title, de Arnold Bennett, interpretada y dirigida por Lumsden Hare.

1922: HE Who gets slapped, de Leónidas Andreiev, adaptada por Gregory Zilboorg, con Richard Bennett, Margalo Gillmore, Edgar Stehli, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1922: From Morn to Midnight, de Georg Kaiser, adaptada por Ashley Dukes, con Allyn Joslyn, Edgar Stehli, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1922-1923: Seis personajes en busca de autor, de Luigi Pirandello, adaptada por Edward Storer, con Florence Eldridge.

1923: The Love Habit, adaptación de Gladys Unger a partir de Pour avoir Adrienne, de Louis Verneuil, con Florence Eldridge.

1923: Casanova, de Lorenzo De Azertis, adaptada por Sidney Howard.

1923-1924: Santa Juana, de George Bernard Shaw, con Henry Travers.

1924: Seis personajes en busca de autor.

1924: The Steam Roller, de Laurence Eyre.

1924-1925: Cándida, de George Bernard Shaw, con Pedro de Cordoba.

1925-1926: Arms and the Man, de George Bernard Shaw, con Pedro de Cordoba y Henry Travers.

1926: The Chief Thing, de Nikolaï Evreinov, adaptada por Leo Randole y Herman Bernstein, con Romney Brent, Edward G. Robinson, Lee Strasberg, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1926-1927: Loose Ankles, de Sam Janney.

1926-1927: What never dies, de Alexander Engel, adaptada por Ernest Boyd.

1927-1928: The Doctor's Dilemma, de George Bernard Shaw, con Margalo Gillmore, Alfred Lunt, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1928: Marco Millions, de Eugene O'Neill, escenografía de Rouben Mamoulian, con Robert Barrat, Albert Dekker, Margalo Gillmore, Alfred Lunt, Vincent Sherman y Henry Travers.

1928: Volpone, de Ben Jonson, adaptada por Ruth Langner, con Albert Dekker, Margalo Gillmore, Alfred Lunt, Vincent Sherman, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1928-1929: Caprice, de Philip Moeller, con Douglass Montgomery.

1929: Becky Sharp, de Langdon Mitchell, a partir de La feria de las vanidades, de William Makepeace Thackeray, con Etienne Girardot, Arthur Hohl, Basil Sydney y Leonard Willey.

1930: The Apple Cart, de George Bernard Shaw, con Violet Kemble-Cooper, Tom Powers, Claude Rains y Helen Westley.

1930: Milestones, de Arnold Bennett y Edward Knoblauch, con Beulah Bondi y Selena Royle.

1931: Getting Married, de George Bernard Shaw, con Romney Brent, Dorothy Gish, Henry Travers y Helen Westley.

1931: The Way of the World, de William Congreve, con Walter Hampden, Gene Lockhart, Kathleen Lockhart, Selena Royle y Cora Witherspoon.

1931: The Roof, de John Galsworthy, con Henry Hull y Selena Royle.

1932: The Devil passes, de Benn W. Levy, con Eric Blore, Arthur Byron, Mary Nash y Basil Rathbone.

1932: Too true to be good, de George Bernard Shaw, escenografía de Leslie Banks, con Leo G. Carroll y Claude Rains.

1933: The Mask and the Face, de W. Somerset Maugham, con Leo G. Carroll y Humphrey Bogart

1933-1934: Mary of Scotland, de Maxwell Anderson, con Helen Hayes, Edgar Barrier, George Coulouris, Philip Merivale, Moroni Olsen y Leonard Willey.

1935: Accent on Youth, de Benn W. Levy

1937: Madame Bovary, de Benn W. Levy, a partir de Gustave Flaubert, con Eric Portman y O. Z. Whitehead.

1945: Devils Galore, de Eugene Vale.

1948: The Play's the Thing, de Ferenc Molnár, adaptada por P. G. Wodehouse, con Louis Calhern, Francis Compton y Faye Emerson.

1949: The Ivy Green, de Mervyn Nelson, con Hurd Hatfield.

Créditos: Tomado de Wikipedia

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Cossart

[smallhist-blog]

El Corrido de Isadore Gonzalez

Buried in one of Bristol’s cemeteries lies an incongruous resident. Here, in the Mild Mild West, is the unlikely grave of a young Mexican cowboy, Isadore Gonzalez, tragically killed and laid to rest in the summer of 1903.  This is Isadore’s story; of how he came to be in Bristol, of his untimely death and how his last resting place was found again.

Ceremonies of the Horseman

It can be pretty hard these days to go down a genuinely untrodden path, an adventure of your own.  Tom Russell, the peerless cowboy folklorist and singer, handed mine to me on a plate.  His excellent essays for the Ranch and Reata magazine, collected in his book ‘Ceremonies of the Horseman’, are full of Russell’s own adventures into the lore of the old and new West (the Wild version, of course).  

Russell has spent years on the road in Europe, playing in every town, even marrying a Swiss along the way.  He is well placed then to essay on the influence of the West in Europe.  It is here that I first meet Isadore.  

A young Mexican vaquero (cowboy) in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Isadore met his sad end during a performance of the show, though it seems few in the crowd realised what they had seen.  The incident is remembered in Charles Eldridge Griffin’s book ‘Four years on the road with Buffalo Bill’:

“The first fatal accident occurred at Bristol, July 23. Isadore Gonzalez, one of the Mexican riders, was thrown from his horse and instantly killed. He was buried at Bristol. It is just as well, perhaps, that the general public do not realize the danger that forever attends the participants of the Wild West performances. Every time they enter the arena, especially in the bucking horse act, they practically take their lives in their hands.”

Charles Eldridge Griffin, 1908

It is typical of Russell’s writing to have re-discovered this small, yet vivid historical moment.  Even more so perhaps to recognise the humanity of it.  I can’t pass up the challenge:

And where in Bristol might we find the grave of the Mexican Vaquero and roughrider, Isadore Gonzalez?  There should be a corrido written for him.

Tom Russell, 2016

The sad death of a vaquero - Bristol, July 1903

‘Buffalo Bill’ Cody was met with heavy rain as his Wild West show rolled into Bristol, July 1903.  For a performance built on incredible physical feats and conducted on show grounds and commons, this was surely a concern.  Bill, the business man, must have wondered if the weather would affect the crowds.  They had turned out in their tens of thousands in Wales the week before and indeed had done the last time it came to Bristol, years earlier.  Bill, the old horseman, on the other hand must have wondered if his cast would be able to hit the heights of performance for which they had become renowned.

The superstitions of Bill’s performers may well have been roused at the shows first outing of the tour, when Bill himself had fallen and injured his ankle.  A man of impressive energy and constitution, the show of course went on.  The crowds had once again turned out, the incident  put to the back of the minds of the performers and crew.  The crowds had certainly not been deterred in Bristol, despite the weather, with over 15,000 attending each night for a total of over 60,000 overall.

By the final night of the Bristol shows, Thursday 23rd July 1903, the ground condition was no doubt a danger.  The show had run four nights on an already sodden field,  a little way off the ancient Gloucester Road.   The less experienced performers must surely have been turning their minds to the next stop on tour and hopeful of a better end to the British summer.

During the ‘Emigrant Train’ performance, late on in the show, an accident befell one of the younger performers.  As the performance closed, Isadore Gonzalez, while riding slowly and seemingly with little risk, was thrown to the ground as his horse turned and was caught in the mud.  

Although Isadore was carried away by his colleagues, unconscious, it seems that the crowd either had not seen the incident or if they had they had assumed it was part of the act.  The show went on.

Backstage, Isadore was attended to by his colleagues and a doctor from the audience.  Although not travelling at speed, Isadore had fallen onto his head and his colleagues, all skilled and experienced horseman, would have feared the worst.  As Isadore lay unconscious, the doctor must also have realised the extent of the injury suffered and directed that Isadore be taken to the Bristol Infirmary.  Being young and no doubt very fit, Isadore fought on for much of the following day, eventually succumbing to his injury without ever regaining consciousness.

The patient was unusual and the circumstances of death uncommon; an inquest was as inevitable as it was quickly convened.  A verdict was reached before the show left town, stating that Isadore had died as a result of his fall.  Presumably someone had remained with him during his final hours to share the young riders details. 

He was 26 years old, from Monterrey, Mexico.

Finding Isadore

Britain has a remarkable wealth of historical archive papers, many of which have been digitised.  The General Register Office is the official archive of all things birth, marriage and death.  The records, I’m relieved to discover, extend long before July 1903 and, inevitably, there are few death certificates in the name of Gonzalez that year and only one registered in Bristol:

Aside from largely confirming Eldridge’s account (apart from his claim that Isadore was killed instantly) the death certificate provides some fascinating insight .  His tragically young age of 26, the confirmation that this brave young man had fought on long into the following day and that he hailed from Monterey (sic), Mexico.  That someone must have communicated these details give me hope that he had at least a friend nearby in his final hours, but this we will never know.  His name, at least, is recorded accurately.

I turn my attention to the newspaper records and again fortune is on my side.  There exists an incredible archive of fully digitised newspaper clippings from the period, all of which fully searchable within the actual text.  The show is well covered, both locally and farther afield, dismissing my initial fears that the death would not have been deemed newsworthy.  Perhaps the most compelling and complete is that carried by the Swindon Advertiser, a week later, 31st July 1903, below.

The report confirms and makes sense of the key details and inconsistencies of both Eldridge’s account and the death certificate.  Here we learn that Andrew Beltnap, another cast member, has spoken of Isadore, confirming his age and role. Perhaps it is Beltnap that had accompanied Isadore to the Bristol Infirmary and provided the information we later see on the Death Certificate.  

Another report, describing the accident as the ‘only hitch’ of the performance tells us a little more.  Isadore was performing in the ‘Emigrant Train’ section of the show when he fell, his horse apparently disturbed by the gun fire.  We also learn that the doctor’s name was Griffiths and he had attempted to save Isadore after his fall.  More on his story later.

Swindon Advertiser, 31st July 1903

Western Daily Press, 24th July 1903

I am conscious by now that I know much of the incident yet little of his final resting place, the challenge that started this whole effort.  After a frustrated search I stumble across the wonderful Bristol and Avon Family History Society.  A remarkable Memorial Index, populated by volunteers, offers an invaluable resource to those seeking their family histories.  A treasure trove of vital human experience and connectivity, we would surely be poorer without these local endeavours.  I wonder how many families they must have reconnected.

My initial instinct was that Isadore was likely Catholic, the predominant religion of Mexico to this day.  There is really only one Catholic cemetery of note in Bristol, the Holy Souls Catholic burial ground.  Searching the Memorial Index returns a hit for Gonzalez, 1903 and of course I am already sure that there was only one death of that name and period.

Isadore’s name is recorded incorrectly but I have little doubt that this must be him.  The Index records no other information but of course I am delighted with this breakthrough.  I make contact with the Index administrators in the hope they have a paper record that gives more detail.  In the meantime and knowing full well that it would be a needle in a haystack to find an actual gravestone, if one indeed exists at all, I spend a couple of hours scouring the graves.

Holy Souls is a crumbling mass of overgrown graves, silent chapel walls, memorials and dramatic statues.  The sky is full of rolling clouds and ominous looking corvids.  It’s difficult not to reflect on the human condition in such places, the desire to mark lives with supposedly everlasting stone monuments is hugely emotive.  In one moment I want to laugh at the futility of placing ‘permanent’ stone markets that are already destroyed by vegetation, the next I'm standing next to a child’s grave, adorned with toys and flowers and it makes perfect sense.

Holy Souls is a smaller, more austere cemetery in comparison to its Anglican neighbour, Arnos Vale, itself a huge, sprawling cemetery of decaying mausoleums and spectacular gravestones.  Holy Souls is far more austere, the flourishes all the more dramatic for that.

Of course I fail; many of the graves are illegible, either having succumbed to the weather or to the undergrowth.  I had fully expected this but it felt right to try all the same.  Taking some advice from a friend raised Catholic I light a candle for Isadore and am immediately saddened that I’m likely to be the first person to do so in over a hundred years.

By now I have come to feel an affection and familial protection for him.  The pervading feeling is sadness for this talented young man, buried so far from home.  Also of gratefulness that first Eldridge and then Russell had taken the time to record the incident.

Back home and feeling more determined to narrow the search, I make contact with the Clifton Diocese.  Their records are administered by a Reverend Harding and it is a colleague of his, Gill Hogarth that responds. Gill is wonderfully interested and shares my hopes to see Isadore properly remembered.  I get the impression that the Diocese is delighted to have provided a final resting place for its unique guest.  In a remarkable coincidence of human stories, Gill shares that Reverend Harding’s own father recalled the show to him as a child.  I learn that Gill herself is conducting research into the military graves at the site, something that must be incredibly emotive and rewarding.  

I am not a Catholic and have had little engagement with the Catholic community, but in this brief exchange I am touched by the sheer humanity of their warm response.  They are genuinely pleased to learn of their unlikely resident.  Wherever Isadore is buried in the Holy Souls cemetery it’s an unexpected relief to find that he’s in the care of such good people.

Gill promises to explore the Diocese archives for more detail.  A waiting game follows.  Inevitably busy lives and well hidden records require patience.  

Sadly, when the answer comes, it turns out that some of the Diocese records are damaged.  By coincidence they return their findings within an hour of the Memorial Index response, confirming some of the details already discovered and, tantalisingly, what appears to be a plot reference number, A63:

The Diocese confirm that this matches their records but that the reference means that Isadore lies in an unmarked, commoners grave.  These are located in the central “Peace Garden”, a circular area with no grave markers seen in the image below.  This makes good sense as every other inch of the cemetery is covered with larger grave markers and slabs.  

Accepting this as the likeliest truth I know deep down that this is as close as I can get.  I am pleased that I had taken the time to light a candle there in my first, aimless search and return once more to repeat the act.

See central, circular area in the below image - the location of the ‘common’ burials at Holy Souls Cemetery and the likely resting place of Isadore Gonzalez.

A picture of Isadore

The Buffalo Bill Centre of the West, in Cody, Wyoming, holds an incredible archive of photographs and news clippings of the show’s tour to Europe.  From the ships that carried the cast to articles concerning every last detail, of the logistics, it’s a gift to this story.  I share what I’ve learned with the Centre and am met with kind enthusiasm for my amateurish investigation.

I learn that Isadore was likely recruited by one of the shows leading stars, Vicente Oropeza.  Oropeza was one of Bill’s most trusted associates and longest serving cast members.  I suspect his rope skills would astonish us even today.  

Tantalisingly, the Centre also points me to images that we can be sure include Isadore.  This comes as a shock; I had not considered for a second that I might be able to see Isadore’s face.  The most compelling of the images they share is the all-cast line up photograph taken at the beginning of the tour.  Isadore is one of the gentleman in splendid sombreros to the right of centre (as you look at the image).  It is almost certainly impossible to identify which of these five men is Isadore, but all the same its an emotive image:

With thanks to the Buffalo Bill Centre of the West - original image link here

The image inspires me to cast the net a little wider, to the brilliant, highly recommended thesis of Pablo Rangel:  ‘Racialized Nationality: Mexicans, Vaqueros, and U.S. Nationalism in Buffalo Bill's Wild West’ (2013) (link here).  There is too much to even begin to parse in this short essay but Rangel’s work gives both a fascinating insight into the lives of the vaqueros as well as the experience of Mexicans in 19th and early 20th century America.  It’s hard not to reflect on today's news cycle.  

He and I exchange emails and I’m delighted to meet someone who clearly cares so much about the vaqueros.  He seems genuinely touched to learn of Isadore’s story and that someone has cared enough to find out more. He and I resolve to visit his grave together and I hope that one day we can.

Epilogue

The genuine warmth and will to help remember someone who died in relative obscurity, over 100 years ago is humbling.  From the Catholic community, to the Centre of the West, to Academics to cowboy singers.  

I hope yet still to make contact with Isadore’s ‘home’ Diocese in Monterrey, who I’m sure will remember him as he may have wished.  I hope to also show Tom Russell himself the graveyard and that the Corrido gets written.  I’d love to hear it.

And where next for this choose your own adventure?  It happens that Dr Griffiths, the man who stepped out of the crowd to help Isadore, has his own story worth telling.  He is buried somewhere in the adjacent Arnos Vale cemetery, close to the young man he tried to save all those years ago.

In the meantime Isadore is one of ours too; a son of Mexico, a son of Bristol.  A candle will be lit every 23rd July for this talented young man, who died such a long way from home.

[theradioghost]

Audio Drama Podcast Recs

EDIT: well jesus this thing is getting old! If you’re looking for podcast recommendations I would recommend checking some of the newer posts I’ve made. I’ve expanded my subscription list from about 30 to over 150 in the years since I posted this, & at at this point it’s a pretty inadequate rec list.

Because I’ve gotten a few questions over time about podcast recs, both from people who are curious about audio drama, and fellow denizens of Podcast Hell™ who need something new, I wanted to put together this list so I could go a bit more into detail about why I love and recommend each of these amazing audio dramas.

Rather than trying to rank them, I tried to organize this list roughly based on popularity, at least based on my dash! More well-known shows are listed first, and then my faves that I don’t see getting nearly the love that they deserve. Especially with the volume of new innovative audio drama being created, there’s some really good stuff out there not getting nearly enough attention. Which is not to say that, if you’re a new podcast fan, you have to start with the most popular – but those shows are more likely to have an active fandom. (Of course, there are a ton of great podcasts out there, and plenty (both popular and obscure) that I don’t listen to yet.)

I also have a podcast rec tag and a very long list of audio dramas, if you want to go hunting for something beyond these recommendations here. Additionally, if you want more details or content warnings about any of these shows, feel free to message me on or off anon and I’ll do my best to answer! This post really focuses on the positives of each show and who I think might enjoy them.

WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE – Community radio from a friendly desert community where the sun is hot, the moon is beautiful, the dog park is forbidden, the mayoral candidates aren’t human, the weather is a mystery, and mysterious lights pass overhead while we all pretend to sleep.

If you know anything about audio drama podcasts, there’s like a 99.99% chance you know about Night Vale already. If not, just go listen. It’s weird and amazing and beautiful and helped to make a lot of this possible. Or if 100+ episodes plus live shows is overwhelming, don’t (but come back to it someday. It is magical).

For people who like: surrealism, humor, ‘radio show’ format, somewhat less emphasis on plot, diversity, indie music, experimental storytelling, a large back catalog of episodes, a fandom considered large by regular standards and not just podcast standards.

ALICE ISN’T DEAD – As she travels across America, a trucker tells the story of her search for the missing wife she had presumed dead, of the mysterious danger stalking her down freeways and backroads, and of the much bigger – and more terrifying – mystery she is uncovering.

The first and most popular of Night Vale Presents’ other podcasts. Gothic Americana soft horror lesbians! The writing, atmosphere, and orchestration are all superb, as is Jasika Nicole’s monologue performance. I personally recommend car/transit listening. (Also, you can get the whole soundtrack for free, and you should definitely do that.)

For people who like: surrealism, horror, Americana, female leads, lesbians, atmosphere, introspection, mystery, great music, something to drive to.

WOLF 359 – Doug Eiffel doesn’t want to do his job, Hera is a friendly but faulty AI, Dr. Hilbert is probably a mad scientist, Commander Minkowski wishes she wasn’t in charge of these idiots, and together, the four of them make up the entire crew of the USS Hephaestus space station. It’s not a picnic at the best of times: they’re isolated in a constantly malfunctioning tin can, orbiting a red dwarf star eight light years from Earth, and working for a shady corporation with coworkers they can’t stand. Then Eiffel starts to receive inexplicable transmissions from deep space – and everything gets so, so much worse.

It’s a hilarious office sitcom! It’s a character-driven deep-space sci-fi thriller! It’s a tragic, thematically powerful story about personhood, communication, and isolation! It’s all of those things, often within three lines of one another and frequently all at once! Wolf 359 is probably a masterpiece and now, heading into its fourth and final season, it continues to surprise and impress me every single time. Alan Rodi’s music is evocative and superb and the cast and writing are top-notch. One of the best. Listen to it.

For people who like: excellent character-driven writing, great music, well-written women, a gender-balanced ensemble cast, intimate sci-fi, hilarious and often referential humor, scary corporate overlords, cerebus syndrome.

THE PENUMBRA PODCAST – In Hyperion City, metropolis of a far-future Mars, a private eye named Juno Steel is pulled into life-threatening criminal conspiracies, and tangles with an even more dangerous, nameless thief – who could be his worst enemy or the love of his life. Within the Second Citadel, human civilization is protected by knights who venture out into the jungles to fight the monsters that threaten them – but some knights are discovering monsters who seem just a bit different. On the Painted Plains, a train-robbing bandit steals away a schoolteacher – and her heart. All of these and more are stories waiting to be heard behind the doors of the Penumbra, the grandest hotel this side of Nowhere. And absolutely none of them are straight.

Fabulously written genre-bending “queer AF” anthology show. The best is the Juno Steel series, about a bisexual, nonbinary sci-fi PI, which remains eminently and hilariously quotable even as it wrenches your heart out with genre-deconstructive depictions of mental illness and one of the most believable and emotional romances I’ve seen in ages . The Second Citadel fantasy series is also starting to come into its own in the second season and the standalone stories from the first season are a pretty damn good listen (LISTEN TO THE GAY WESTERN. DO IT.) I love this show, I love everyone from this show, I love everyone associated with this show, and I love Mick Mercury.

For people who like: playing with genre tropes, OTR, noir fiction, diversity, romantic chemistry, a variety of stories, suspense, heartache.

THE BRIGHT SESSIONS – Dr. Joan Bright isn’t an ordinary therapist, but her patients aren’t ordinary patients. Sam’s panic attacks bring on bouts of involuntary time travel; Caleb has it hard enough negotiating teenage emotions without also experiencing the feelings of everyone around him; Chloe can’t escape hearing other people’s thoughts; and the less said about Damien, the better. But Dr. Bright, too, is more than she first appears.

It’s a hard-hitting and poignant show about mental illness and people recovering from deep traumas, and also it is about superpowers. As the concept implies, the show is highly character-driven, and it develops an ensemble cast incredibly well. These guys are friends with the Wolf 359 crew and apparently have taken lessons from one another in how to ramp up a plot from ��fun” to “oh god why,” but let’s be honest: that’s what we’re here for. Also, unjustifiably sweet gay teen romance, really cute friendships between ladies, at least one cat.

For people who like: highly character-focused narrative, superpowers, moral questions, ensemble casts, cool female leads, shady government activities, great acting.

ARS PARADOXICA – One minute, Dr. Sally Grissom is conducting cutting-edge physics research in her lab in early-21st-century Texas. A single mistake later, she’s on the deck of the U.S.S. Eldridge, in Philadelphia, 1943, smack dab in the middle of a classified WWII weapons experiment. She’s accidentally put time travel into the hands of the US government just as the nuclear era kicks off. And she can’t ever go back.

I assume everyone has heard of ars P because I assume that everyone knows Mischa Stanton. (They work on what must be like 50% of all podcasts that exist at this point, including The Bright Sessions.) Everything they do is pretty much a must-listen, but especially ars p, the “sad time show” to Wolf 359’s “sad space show.” The writing sticks out to me for its sense of consequence; it’s a major theme of the show that everything that happens will have serious and cumulative effects. Deservedly award-winning sound design. As a bonus, it crossed over with The Bright Sessions; if you like one, you might like the other.

For people who like: sci-fi, period settings, cold war thrillers, cool female leads, time travel with rules, complex and grey moralities, science lesbians, diverse ensemble casts.

EOS 10 – Dr. Ryan Dalias has enough to deal with just as the new head surgeon on a massive space station (alien aphrodisiacs, space anti-vaxxers, mind-controlling plants…) But as if that weren’t enough, his boss is an alcoholic misanthrope who has received an unwelcome ultimatum about his drinking; the nurse may or may not be inclined to bite people; there’s a deposed alien prince in the examination room who won’t put his pants back on; and an intergalactic terrorist who wants his name cleared is hiding in the cargo bay. And those are the people on his side.

I have my issues with EOS 10, not least of which is that it is still mired in a two-year hiatus (though Season Three is finally going into production soon? FINGERS CROSSED). I usually forget those issues when I listen because it’s still a frankly hilarious space comedy and the entire main plot is kicked off because of a potentially deadly boner. Think of it as the strange offspring of DS9 and Scrubs. Come for wild space shenanigans, stay for surprisingly heartfelt storylines about addiction (and even wilder space shenanigans). If W359 sounds cool but maybe a little heavy for you (or if the first season was your favorite), EOS 10 might be more up your alley.

For people who like: Star Trek, comedy, space scifi adventures, alien characters, gay space pirate cowboys, waiting.

THE THRILLING ADVENTURE HOUR – “America’s favorite new time podcast in the style of old time radio.”

An anthology show like The Penumbra which takes a comedic approach to its old time radio inspiration instead (and it is very OTR inspired – not just playing with the same genres). Has a lot of segments, not all of which are created equal; two are standouts. Sparks Nevada: Marshall on Mars (which has a continuous plot) follows a deadpan robot-fighting lawman, the Martian tracker who provides him with somewhat vitriolic companionship, and their various allies across the sci-fi-comedy-western landscape of Space Future Mars. Beyond Belief (which is episodic) stars alcoholic socialites Frank and Sadie Doyle, who may be world-renowned paranormal experts, but who mostly just combat supernatural evils so they can get back to their two greatest loves: booze and one another. It was recorded live, often featuring celebrity guest stars (most notably and frequently Nathan Fillion), and recently ended its many-year run.

For people who like: OTR, forties/fifties culture, really REALLY cute couple chemistry (Beyond Belief), humor, much more lighthearted content, a large back catalog, great music, corpsing.

GREATER BOSTON – Leon Stamatis’s perfectly organized life abruptly ends one day at the top of the first hill of a roller coaster – and that’s where the real story begins. His death will start a domino effect of change rippling through a Boston where activists agitate for subway lines to form their own city, shadowy executives watch over offices where magazine editors predict the future, and Google Calendars are updated from beyond the grave.

Guys, I am never gonna shut up about this show. At this point it’s probably my favorite podcast. Experimental fiction, a sort of regional-gothic-slice-of-life, with a plot that builds into the story of an interconnecting community of people, all of them growing and learning and changing and interacting, even the dead ones. And it plays more brilliantly and hilariously and beautifully and poignantly with format and writing and character than you’d think possible. I sometimes see it compared to WTNV (the “weird town” angle), but I think it’s likely to appeal to fans of The Bright Sessions: its characters may be dealing with incredibly strange situations, but the focus (and the appeal) is the development of those characters and their relationships with one another. Alternately, just literally everyone should listen. It’s that good.

For people who like: ensemble casts, experimental fiction, awesome women, strong character development, lesbians, playing with format, characters named Extinction Event, political intrigue, great music, Boston.

WOODEN OVERCOATS – Siblings Rudyard and Antigone Funn, along with their assistant Georgie, run a funeral home on the tiny Channel island of Piffling. It’s the only one, which is how they remain in business even though Rudyard is a punctuality-obsessed misanthrope and Antigone hasn’t left the morgue in daylight for 17 years. Then the world’s most perfect man, Eric Chapman, opens another funeral parlor directly across the street.

A British sitcom about rival funeral directors in a small town, with all of the dry, witty black humor that implies. "British” does always feel like the best adjective to convey the distinct sense of humor here. Also, it has amazingly high production values. Like, it just sounds really, really good. Also, it’s narrated by a talking mouse. The third season was just announced, so now is a really great time to catch up.

For people who like: black comedy, British comedies, rivalries of both business and sibling kinds, mysterious backstories, just a whole lot of dead people jokes, a more episodic structure.

THE BRIDGE – Once, you could drive all the way across the Atlantic in luxury and style, using the Transcontinental Bridge. Now, the Bridge is virtually abandoned. The employees of its Watchtowers are the only people left to tell its stories: stories about ghosts, about curses and illusions, about vanished and abandoned people and places, about the monsters whose places these were before the Bridge, and the strange and dangerous people who came there to find them.

IMHO, possibly the highlight of the writng for The Bridge is that they can create atmosphere like nobody’s business, and the show has a gorgeous soundtrack to boot. The characters are charming, the plot is intriguing, and the world they are building is like absolutely nothing else. Like Archive 81 below, it might appeal to those who’d enjoy Lovecraft if he didn’t suck so much in every possible way, although it’s much softer on the scary factor.

For people who like: atmosphere, storytelling, great character dynamics, sea monsters, spookiness, really fun ladies, ghost stories, mysteries, the bottomless depths and siren’s call of the ocean.

THE STRANGE CASE OF STARSHIP IRIS and UNDER PRESSURE – Starship Iris is the story of Violet Liu, a biologist forced by circumstance to join up with a ragtag crew of spacefarers to determine whether the explosion which killed every other person onboard her spaceship was really an accident. Under Pressure presents the notes of Jamie McMillan-Barrie, a researcher whose literary background did not prepare her to negotiate the kind of office drama that takes place on a research station at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.

Both of these are part of Procyon Podcasting Network, which also has more upcoming shows which I am beyond thrilled about; both are also incredibly diverse, both in-universe and behind the scenes. Both are charming and very, very gay as well as racially diverse; I’m particularly fond of Starship Iris, but everything that comes out of Procyon is more than worth a listen. They’ve started pretty recently and have only a few episodes each.

For people who like: space scifi, found family tropes, workplace drama, human/genderless alien romance, space lesbians, diversity, cool female leads.

THE ORBITING HUMAN CIRCUS (OF THE AIR) – The dreamy, accident-prone janitor of the Eiffel Tower does his best to get himself a place in the fantastical, impossible radio variety show being broadcast from the tower every night. Will he ever be successful? Will the show survive his attempts? And just where do the mysterious and magical acts come from?

Considering it’s a Night Vale Presents podcast and stars an A-list of my favorite underappreciated creatives I was kind of shocked at how little discussion I see. OHC is so charming and dreamlike and heartwarming; it’s like recapturing the feeling of a particularly magical bedtime story. It features Mandy Patinkin singing Cheap Trick and you need that in your life. Also, it has a platypus in it.

For people who like: OTR, John Cameron Mitchell/The Music Tapes/Neutral Milk Hotel, a gentler weirdness than other NVP podcasts, Paris, charm, experimental storytelling.

WITHIN THE WIRES – You are a patient at the Institute. You have been instructed to listen to this series of relaxation tapes to aid in your treatment. You must trust my voice. You must trust only my voice.

NVP’s other highly underappreciated show. WTW manages to tell a narrative in a format (self-help relaxation tapes) I would have never thought possible, and though it’s difficult to say much about what makes it so good without spoiling the effect of that excellence, it’s a great choice if you’re weird-fiction-inclined. Like Alice Isn’t Dead, it also features lesbians. (It may not be good for anyone who has trouble with unreality, disturbing second-person commands, or depictions of institutionalization.)

For people who like: experimental storytelling, WLW love stories, surrealism, dystopic fiction, suspense.

INKWYRM – Mella Sonder was hired to work with a recalcitrant AI, not to be personal assistant to Annie Inkwyrm, head of outer space’s premiere fashion magazine – and the two of them will probably be fighting about that, along with all of the other disasters they get tangled up in, until the star they’re orbiting explodes. Or until they fall in love.

My money’s on the latter (fingers crossed please make it happen), but this show just finished a really fun first season and I absolutely cannot wait for more of it. I’m a sucker for dysfunctional coworker comedy, and an even bigger sucker for girls falling in love; this offers both and is excellent, and is just incredibly done for an amateur podcast. The peeps making it are inspiring and badass and really, really talented.

For people who like: The Devil Wears Prada, scifi, diversity, vitriolic romantic tension, cool female leads, alien characters, wlw romance, incompetently homicidal AIs.

THE BEEF AND DAIRY NETWORK – The number one podcast for those involved – or just interested! – in the production of beef animals and dairy herds.

Honestly almost impossible to describe. What really gets me is the hilarity of how it somehow perfectly imitates the public radio/industry podcast style, delivering you important updates from the world of cattle products, except not from a world anything like ours. Endless beefy fun times with the occasional sharp right turn into body horror and potent unreality played for comedy. This and Alice Isn’t Dead are my dad’s favorite podcasts, which probably says something about him.

For people who like: Wooden Overcoats (it’s by the same folks!), weirdness, humor, much less of a focus on narrative, ‘radio show’ format, satire, rich beef sausages.

ARCHIVE 81 – Dan Powell is missing. He was hired, so he thought, for a simple job cataloguing an archive of tapes for the New York state government: a series of interviews that a woman named Melody Pendras conducted with the tenants of an odd apartment building. Then the story on the tapes becomes impossibly strange and terrifying, and so does Dan’s life.

Another one where I’m not sure whether everyone knows about it and just isn’t talking, but they should be. It’s probably a sign of how fantastic A81 is that it’s one of my favorites even though I ordinarily can’t stand horror. This post really extolls its virtues in a better way than I can. This show has some of the most incredible sound design I’ve heard yet, so if visceral body horror conveyed solely through the audio medium isn’t for you, then neither is Archive 81. On the other hand, if you like extradimensional lesbian apotheosis and the nickname “Boombox Fuckboy,” listen to this. On top of that, the acting is superb. (The creators, Dead Signals, also did an apocalyptic scifi survival-horror miniseries thing called The Deep Vault, which is similarly beyond well-made.)

For people who like: horror, weirdness, found footage format, great music, absolutely stellar atmospheric and action sound design, excellent and realistic acting, The King in Yellow, a ‘Lovecraftian’ feel not based on hatred of anyone who isn’t straight/white.

JIM ROBBIE AND THE WANDERERS – Three trouble-seeking wandering musicians (one brash and upbeat, one an argumentative engineer, and one a grumpy robot brought to life from a radio and assorted cutlery) wander a post-apocalyptic America populated by strange towns and fantasy beings, some friendly, others dangerous.

This is another show that really charmed me right out of the box. Not to mention that it’s a take on “post-apocalyptic” that I’d never seen before – why have grim ruins or cannibalistic societies when you can have giant friendly genderless bees, an NYC inhabited by partying undead, towns full of squid-people, and desert-dwelling leprechauns? It’s much more of a fantasy take on the genre and the characters are incredibly sweet. I was also really impressed by the quality bump it’s undergone over its run so far.

For people who like: fantasy, more lighthearted narratives, fun and creative concepts, a villain called “The Fig-Wasp King,” great music, friendship, cool female leads, diversity.

THE HIDDEN ALMANAC – A thrice-weekly, four-minute show hosted by the plague doctor Reverend Mord, offering historical anecdotes from another world, the feast days of unlikely saints, and useful gardening advice. 

Tired of that one analogy from every news article of the 2013 Night Vale boom (“like Stephen King/H.P. Lovecraft wrote A Prairie Home Companion”), writer/artist Ursula Vernon decided to take a crack at recreating Garrison Keillor’s other show, The Writer’s Almanac, in a similar fashion. Compared to WTNV, it comes off as less ‘weird’ and more fantastical, and is on the light side continuity-wise, though both the historical events and the frame show have arcs. In the past couple of years there have been a lot more story arcs, many lasting months, and a lot more appearances from guest character Pastor Drom and other characters. I find it incredibly charming and relaxing.

For people who like: fantasy weirdness, the actual Writer’s Almanac, WTNV, gardening, vitriolic friendships, worldbuilding, short runtimes, less of a focus on plot, large back catalogs, worldbuilding, crows.

[vemprany]

Shu Jiao Fu Zhou

Você provavelmente já ouviu falar sobre o Vanessa’s Dumpling House, a rede mais famosa dessa especialidade em Nova York. Ali pertinho da sua unidade de Chinatown, na esquina de Broome e Eldridge, está um dos lugares mais peculiares do bairro.

Se você está esperando um restaurante luxuoso, pode pular para a próxima dica. Mas se você procura pratos chineses saborosos, bem feitos e absurdamente baratos, esse é o seu lugar.

O Shu Jiao Fu Zhou tem no cardápio sopas, noodles e seus famosos dumplings com preços a partir de 2 dólares. Isso mesmo, duas doletas. O lugar é bem simples, com mesas e cadeiras apertadas em um pequeno espaço com zero glamour. Talheres e pratos descartáveis não tiram o sabor da experiência gastronômica que você vai ter.

Ao chegar lá, não hesite em pedir a estrela do cardápio, que virou sensação na cidade (e entre os estudantes da NYU): o thick rice noodle with peanut butter sauce, ou seja, noodle com molho de manteiga de amendoim. Parece estranho, mas é delicioso. O molho traz o característico sabor adocicado da manteiga de amendoim e o noodle tem a consistência perfeita. Você não vai acreditar que está comendo algo tão bom por apenas US$2.50 (sim, você leu direito).

Se você curte comidas diferentes e não se importa muito com a aparência do local, vale a pena conferir o Shu Jiao Fu Zhou.

http://www.shujiaofuzhou.com/ 118 Eldridge Street

[recognizedtraining]

Abogados Para Compensacion Eldridge, California, 95431

Abogados Para Compensacion Eldridge, California, 95431

Una compensación laboral es un sistema de leyes designadas a dar a los beneficios concretos y un fórum legal en el cual disputas pueden ser resueltas entre los trabajadores lesionados, de los, empleadores y compañías de seguros. Abogado de Compensación de Trabajadores lo puede ayudar en el proceso de Compensación de Trabajadores.

¿Qué pasaría si fui lastimado en el Trabajo?

Si te lastimo en el trabajo, un abogado de Compensación de Trabajadores de California lo puede ayudar a sus lastimaduras las, enfermedades y lastimaduras que se producen en el trabajo y sean cubiertas por la Compensación de Trabajadores. Para poder recibir los beneficios de Compensación de Trabajadores por la ley de California para Compensación de Trabajadores, debe informar de su lastimadura de Compensación de Trabajadores el empleador tan pronto posible después de lo que pasó. Su empleador deberá reportar un reclamo con Compensación de Trabajadores con aseguranza para la Compensación de los Trabajadores le paguen. Si se lastimo en el trabajo, su abogado de Compensación de Trabajadores no necesitara comprobar que su empleador fue culpable por sus lastimaduras para poder recibir beneficios de Compensación de Trabajadores, si su caso no se deniega el acceso.

Sin embargo, muchos otros obstáculos podrían atravesarse en el camino para cobrar beneficios en su caso de Compensación de Trabajadores.

de Su compañía y la aseguranza de la compañía con el abogado de su empleador, puede decir que sus problemas de salud no esta relacionado con el trabajo, y podría no estar de acuerdo en la seriedad de su lastimadura, por lo tanto los abogados en Compensacion de Trabajadores de su empleador podrían no pagarle todo o parte de su queja. El empleador tratara de evitar que usted meta un reclamo de Compensación de Trabajadores, o tratando de vengarse cuando usted cobre los beneficios. El abogado de california en la Compensación de Trabajadores lo puede ayudar a través de este laberinto. En la actualidad, la ley de Indemnización de los Trabajadores es un laberinto complicado de reglas y procedimientos en los que los trabajadores lastimados podrían perderse.

Compensación de los Trabajadores ¿Qué son las ventajas?

Hay cuatro beneficios básicos:

1. TRATAMIENTO MÉDICO:Compensación de Trabajadores

Su abogado de Compensación de Trabajadores le da el derecho para que usted escoja a un doctor que lo revise en su lastimadura de trabajo y conseguir que todos los tratamientos médicos de Compensación de Trabajadores que sean razonablemente necesarios para curar todas las consecuencias de sus lesiones de por vida.

2. INCAPACIDAD TEMPORAL:

abogado de California en Compensación de los Trabajadores asegurara que usted reciba el pago de dos terceras partes de su salario bruto semanal, con ciertas restricciones, mínimos y mínimas, se paga cada dos semanas mientras que usted está sin trabajo y esta siendo tratado medicamente o incapacitado por el Estado fallido si en tu caso fue denegado.

3. INCAPACIDAD PERMANENTE:

Si no se ha recuperado totalmente de las consecuencias de la lastimadura, usted califica para una indemnización monetaria misma que puede ser asegurado por un abogado de California en la Compensación de Trabajadores. El importe de la compensación (y tarifa semanal la cual es pagada) depende principalmente en como las lastimaduras de trabajo le impidan en su actividad, también afecta a la edad, su ocupación, el salario en el momento de la lastimadura de Compensación de Trabajadores ha ocurrido. En conformidad con las leyes de Compensación de Trabajadores, después de que su condición se considera constante y fijo, entonces, usted puede calificar para los beneficios por incapacidad de acuerdo a las leyes y calendario de Compensación de Trabajadores.

4. REHABILITACION VOCACIONAL

Si usted ya no puede hacer su trabajo anterior, y su empleador no le ofrece otro trabajo, entonces usted tiene derecho a beneficios bajo la ley de Compensación de Trabajadores conocida como la rehabilitación profesional, que actualmente y de acuerdo con las leyes de Compensación de los Trabajadores, el trabajo suplementario y vale de desplazamiento que oscila entre los$4000 .00 y$10, 000.00 dependiendo del nivel de incapacidad en la ley de Compensación de Trabajadores. Por la ley de Compensación de Trabajadores del 2004, el sistema viejo de rehabilitación vocacional, ya no existe.

RECUERDE: Su empleador y aseguranzas cuentan con abogados que los aconsejan referente a su caso. Y usted debe hacer lo mismo.

The post Abogados Para Compensacion Eldridge, California, 95431 appeared first on abogados para compensacion.

Source: http://recognizedtraining.net/abogados-para-compensacion-eldridge-california-95431/

[via-the-ghoul]

Last night I had a dream where they made an official-ish book, like, an actual book, about the foundation staff, and my obscure-ass OC Vale somehow got in it, without my permission and when I hadn’t yet shared that much info about her.

[via-the-ghoul]

Ms Sweetie for the ask meme?

Favorite thing about them: tall candy lady, what more can I say

Least favorite thing about them: It’s. It’s really hard to write in the misandry, because I don’t want it to get to the point where she becomes unlikeable, but I can’t just remove it.

Favorite line: “I always had a sweet tooth, and I always wanted to be a girl. Kind of an okay trade-off, if you ask me.”

BrOTP: her and Headless

OTP: …so I uh, may or may not ship her with my oc Vale.

nOTP: I haven’t really seen many ships with her but I’m a bit iffy with shipping her and Heather because from what I can remember Heather was like 16

Random headcanon: She’s a Saw fan

Unpopular opinion: I don’t really like how most fanworks of her lean into either the “sweet” aspect of her character for like 95% of their characterization or ignore it entirely. Both can coexist.

Song I associate with her:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6KqGu9uGac8&list=RDMM&index=21

Favorite picture of them:

[via-the-ghoul]

Minor oc lore, Vale grew up in a cult for The Lady, though she ran away when she was 12.

That wasn’t her first attempt though, that one didn’t end as well.

If ever someone finds out about this, they tend to ask if this affects her current beliefs.

It’s amazing how well she’s able to change the subject of conversations.

[via-the-ghoul]

Fuck it, Scp oc time, this is Vale, she works in the medical ward, she helps out anomalous humanoids when they get injured specifically, the mouth thing’s a long, slightly spoilery story, and she tired.

[vemprany]

Vanessa’s Dumpling House

Você já ouviu falar em “dumplings”? Essa especialidade chinesa é muito popular em Nova York e lembra muito o gyoza japonês. Eles são pasteizinhos fritos ou cozidos e que são recheados com carne de porco, frango, camarão ou vegetais.  

O Vanessa’s Dumpling House abriu sua primeira loja em 1999, por uma família chinesa, que seguiu a tradição da culinária do seu país para produzir esses quitutes. Eles logo caíram no gosto dos consumidores não apenas pelo sabor, mas também pelo preço: uma porção com 4 unidades custa a partir de apenas $2. Você ainda pode comprar porções congeladas para fazer em casa.

São 3 unidades em Nova York e a de Chinatown, a original, é a mais simples de todas elas, bem no clima do bairro. Além dos dumplings, o Vanessa’s oferece ainda sanduíches com pão de panqueca chinesa, noodles, sopas e saladas.

Se você gosta de comida saborosa, sem frescura e com bom preço, vale conhecer.

http://vanessas.com 118 Eldridge St (Chinatown) 220 E 14th St (Union Square) 310 Bedford Ave (Williamsburg)