#when i got into milgram i watched like one or two videos every other day and in the meantime would loop one for ages to dissect it

[yume-fanfare]

mar i made the poll

i voted!

[22degreehalo]

aaaaand FINALLY I've finished writing up my next few recs for the Summer @ficreadingchallenge :'DDD Most of these I read weeks ago when I was especially tired and just wanted to lie down and listen to some podfics, as you'll see below~ But I'm still going! I got sooo close to finishing a line this time (and I WOULD HAVE if I hadn't swapped around the squares for some of these hahaha) and if possible I want to complete a full blackout! n.n

A couple of prompt-related rambles: 'Enemies to Friends / Lovers' is highlighted buuut I actually later decided to use that fic for 'Future AU' so. Oh well :') I also swapped a fic from Domestic to Gift Giving even though gifts aren't the main focus because I was having trouble with that square and the gifts ARE still a pretty big part of the fic so??? who cares hahaha. Also somehow I've gotten this far using a different pairing for every single square and I was absolutely tempted to try to continue that, and am knocking myself out of it because I just want to encourage myself to read fic, not force myself into a pretzel trying to track down rarepair fics that SHOULD exist SOMEWHERE......

New recs below!! :D

Canon Compliant

after knowing all, I wonder, can you really say innocent? By Aialize (15.5k, ongoing, Milgram gen)

This is a super fascinating fic and a great example of one of my favourite genres: crack treated seriously! In this one, the music videos exist in-universe and the prisoners (plus Es) will watch them all, reacting and responding in-character. I love how committed the author is to this premise: some of the characters would rather forget all this stuff is even happening, while others (most notably Kotoko) fully intend to learn all they can about the other prisoners from them. It’s still early days, but I can’t wait to see how they all react differently, and what (correct or incorrect!) conclusions they come to! (Also, maybe it seems strange to use an AU fic for the tag ‘Canon Compliant’, but the fic is sticking to the canonically-chosen verdicts which is why it counts!)

Fic With No Comments Yet

messin’ up my mind by Skyrose – a podfic by CailynWrites (5k, 33:47, Percy/Oliver)

Choosing podfics for the ‘No Comments Yet’ category almost feels like cheating heh, but these very important fan works deserve just as much love!!! This is an adorable fic: stories where the characters’ friends/family ‘ship them’ can be corny and OOC, but I love that Fred and George initially just want to give Oliver something to care about other than Quidditch training, and have no clue the cogs they started working in Oliver’s head until they’re ready for that last push. And I love Oliver and Percy’s relationship: not quite close, comfortable friends, but more like very different people who’ve spent a lot of time together and never quite taken the plunge in becoming fixtures of one another’s life – yet. <3

Hurt/Comfort

The Care and Feeding of a Deeply Depressed Vampire [Podfic] by secretsofluftnarp, read by Pandamug (2.8k, 21:16, Nandor/Guillermo

Fics that perfectly capture the absurd black humour of this show are always a treat and this fic is no exception! One of the tags is ‘canon-typical sex talk’ and hoo BOY is that accurate haha, but beneath the characteristic horniness and always-at-least-mild insufferability, Nandor really is just a pathetic sad little vampire, and the degree of care Guillermo has for him – and how much Nandor trusts him in return – is so sweet!

BIPOC Character

[Podfic] The Benefits of Communication written by ushauz, voiced by GodOfLaundryBaskets (3.2k, 27:27, Wyll/Astarion)

I’m still dipping my toes into Wyll/Astarion fanfic, but this was a very nice introduction!! Despite focusing on Astarion’s trauma around sex, it also gets a bit into Wyll’s complicated relationship with it as well, in a way that totally makes sense for them! I can 100% see these two dumbasses having a miscommunication like this, doing something they both don’t like just because they think it’ll make the other happy :’D

Future AU

Recognition by SaraJaye (2k, N/Hilbert)

This is such a sweet fic, and I can totally imagine these two’s relationship going this way post-canon!! By the end of the game they’d both need some time before they’d really be ready to be in a relationship, and though short I totally love how the friendship builds enough here for them to do that! <3

Gift Giving

Tinsel by Lunar_Years (17.5k, Roy/Jamie/Keeley)

I absolutely love and 100% recommend this entire series of RJK fics – they capture the characters and their relationship absolutely perfectly, and the familial interactions ring so true! I particularly loved Roy’s complicated relationship to the holidays; feeling troubled by his own lack of enthusiasm towards what should be ‘his’ celebrations, and only realising in retrospect that he really had enjoyed his time taking part in it all with his partners. Despite being longer than all the other fics I’ve recced here so far, the time absolutely blazed by, because it all flowed so smoothly and once I started reading I didn’t want to stop! <3

Time Travel

Catalyst [podfic] by TheStarvingWriter, read by RavenGranger11 (2.5k, 19:53, Dean/Castiel)

This fic packs in so much for its length! It’s wonderfully atmospheric between the dingy motel room and young Dean’s insecurity and longing, and from the moment Cas steps in his fondness and familiarity for Dean shines right through <3

Time Loop

& home & home & home (or, a timeloop) by decemberista - a Podfic read by Beatificbean (3.1k/20:09, Remus/Sirius)

Ugh, this fic hits so hard. :( With its succinct writing we really get a sense of how hard Sirius tries, over and over, to save everyone. It’s almost like poetry – especially at the end, which really made me cry!! ;__;

[gunsli-01]

just wanna say since I've been away from fixating on milgram for a month or so and came back for a skim (I got my therapist hooked, so its on the mind).. I wanna say how the fuck did this happen but I've similar enough that like, I hope you're taking care of yourself, congrats on the marriage (thats recent right?), your posts are always nice to see, I hope Organ Thief's Dance Party is entertaining for you too

I got so carried away beneath this cut that it's just a new Mu post I'm sorry in advance! Before any of that though I'll try to answer your points to the best of my abilities!

I'm so happy to hear about the therapist thing! I hope more people can enjoy Milgram so many that getting to a million views is pretty much immediate during trial three!

I think conflicts appearing in the fandom in and of itself isn't a bad thing it just means people care about the material, but I hope people can do that in a fun and respectful way. Not only to make the environment comfortable for old fans but newcomers as well. I don't believe it's good for fandoms to become exclusionary or too closeknit since that can lead to terrible forms of conflict down the line.

A fandom should be full of various people and opinions. So, I always wanna remind people to look at the views of others outside of mine since it helps form a more well-rounded opinion. It's even helped me better reflect on my own biases. I do like passion, but too much of anything in one direction can be bad, and I want more and more people to like and watch Milgram! So, regardless of what happens, I want people to see the fun in it not just from the content but its fans who do great things in a passionate way every day.

I'm taking care of myself and my dad to the best of my abilities he surgery went smoothly too! I'm still very much enjoying Milgram all the way! I hope none of what I said about the fandom comes off as pretentious or too serious because I know it'd be easy to read it that way. When it comes to the marriage, I assume you're referring to my blog description.

Ah, Star and I have known each other since late 2013! We met through Tumblr actually. That's why I was so upset to have my blog shadow banned because it has a lot of sentimental value and I'd hate to lose it. We started dating maybe three years after and we got engaged two to three years after that. Though, since we live in different countries, we haven't officially tied the knot yet. She's my best friend, confidant, and we hang out often. Even meeting up in person whenever we can manage/afford to.

Actually, she's the reason anybody even gets to see me talk about Milgram at all right now. She introduced it to me! She wanted me to look over the entire series. Because she was very well acquainted with my penchant for deductive reasoning and love of solving mysteries. Because of thar she wanted to know what I would think was going on based off the trial one music videos alone. I was a bit miffed at her at the time, so I was like, no, I don't wanna.

Though she went if I didn't want to watch all of it then she'd at least like it if I looked at Mahiru's song. Causing my response to Mahiru's first trial song to pretty much be you trying to say something about me, huh?! However, I really loved it and pretty immediately went okay I'll watch the rest. However, that was only after she asked what I thought happened and the only thing I could think was with the focus on food, probably poisoning, but other than that I'm unsure.

So, I'm very nostalgic when it comes to Mahiru's song since it's related to a person I love.

If you don't want all the personal stuff here's the Milgram stuff!

I think the thing I'm looking most forward too is hearing Shidou's cover of Delusion Tax given how the VA handled Liar Dance! Shidou's voice tends to be more reserved when it comes to singing his original songs but go hard in his covers. Mu is the exact opposite, her voice being stronger in her original songs but going to a gentle whisper in her covers.

Showing the dichotomy between how she presents herself and how she may be inwardly. That outward appearance of dominance breaking into a soft-spoken stint. While Shidou's soft demeanor breaks way into a more domineering tone with hard enunciation that's so good to hear. So, I'm really curious if that will stay in Delusion Tax just like it stayed for Mu with MKDR.

I like Mu's covers far more than her original songs because of that vocal change and the subtle gentleness like holding porcelain. Especially the scream here and how it directly contrasts with the one here. Her covers really highlight that similarity between her and Futa of putting on a tough front but having an incredibly soft interior that needs a lot of nurturing from their environments.

Something also highlighted by her being represented as Parasitic Wasp in It's Not My Fault.

One of the insects that build cocoons on a host and use the nutrients off them to feed their young. Meaning It's Not My Fault we are literally seeing an artistic rendition of a Parasitic Wasp nest being built on a beehive.

Explaining why Mu is so large in comparison to the others. It's a literal hostile takeover until she gets enough of what she needs and leaves.

This also explains why she's so quick to leave and nothing remains when she does in the end. Since they eat everything and go. Yet, it has another meaning too! Mu being a parasitic wasp can be read as her leeching off of a society of course but it can also be read as her needing external validation to support her own beliefs. Showcasing that she lacks the mental fortitude necessary to defend or rationalize her own behavior or past actions.

This is highlighted in After pain when she's literally drowned in her own negative opinion of herself. Something that used to be feeding her is now eating away at her. Because it doesn't come with that sweetness of external validation. No one else is saying that she's right so she'll always wonder if she's wrong on some level. Because she's incapable of validating her own behavior this is even shown in It's Not My Fault when she basically begs the viewers not to hate her or even look for her bad side the source of her pain.

In a, "Just keep liking me, keep feeding me, I can't do it I can't take it on my own." In a way, reminiscent to the way Mikoto freaks out when everybody, but Kotoko wishes him a happy birthday. It also feeds into why her victim ignoring her bothered her so much and she couldn't let it go. The reason she's behaving this way is perfectly illustrated at the end of It's Not My Fault where she's literally reformed by the previous verdict and breaks away from her host, in this case the hourglass.

Something that very much comes through in the tone of her cover songs. While Shidou- Ah, his are so full of that usually restrained animosity of his that I just love! So, that mixed with Delusion Tax may just get me.

[latestnews2018-blog]

In 'Three Identical Strangers,' A Saga About Triplets Grows More Twisted By The Minute

New Post has been published on https://latestnews2018.com/in-three-identical-strangers-a-saga-about-triplets-grows-more-twisted-by-the-minute/

In 'Three Identical Strangers,' A Saga About Triplets Grows More Twisted By The Minute

Editor’s note: “Three Identical Strangers” is best experienced without any prior knowledge of its subjects’ story. But the documentary chronicles a nearly 40-year-old media phenomenon, so we’re going to discuss it in detail. If you want to avoid “spoilers,” you should see the film before reading this.

About 20 minutes into “Three Identical Strangers,” you might ask yourself where this documentary could possibly be headed. Shocked by the saga’s immediate crescendo, you’ll ask yourself the same question 20 minutes later, and again 20 minutes after that, and probably a few more times throughout the remainder of its 96-minute runtime.

There’s no soft build here. The movie opens in medias res, as pure happenstance reunites the titular 19-year-old identical triplets for the first time since they were separated at birth and adopted by three different families. Two of the brothers (Eddy Galland and Robert Shafran) connected after classmates mistook one for the other at a small New York community college that they both attended; the third (David Kellman) saw the news of their reunion in the New York Post, recognizing his own face twice over and subsequently tracking them down.

Born on Long Island in 1961, none knew the others existed until this seemingly blissful, life-altering discovery flowered in tandem with their nascent adulthood. “It was a miracle,” Kellman’s aunt by adoption tells the camera, recalling the first time all three were in the same room.

“Once we got together, there was a joy that I had never experienced in my life, and it lasted a really long time,” Shafran says. 

Their reunion became a mini-phenomenon in the media throughout the 1980s, most notably with a “Phil Donahue Show” episode that juxtaposed the brothers’ uncanny alikeness ― similar interests, indistinguishable mannerisms ― with the fact that they were raised in different households and different cities. At its core, this was the perennial nature-versus-nurture debate, illuminated. Pulitzer-winning journalist Lawrence Wright revisited the matter as part of his 1999 book Twins: And What They Tell Us About Who We Are, by which point certain damning details about the triplets’ separation had emerged. 

ANGELA WEISS via Getty Images

David Kellman, Robert Shafran and director Tim Wardle at the Sundance premiere of “Three Identical Strangers.”

But, even with all the national attention, it wasn’t the full story. It wasn’t even the beginning. In fact, to this day, Tim Wardle, the British documentarian who directed “Three Identical Strangers,” is still wrestling with unanswered questions and shadowy enigmas about what really happened to the three brothers who’d unknowingly spent their childhoods apart. 

Wardle came across this human-interest oddity about five years ago. His colleague Grace Hughes-Hallett had turned to Wright’s book for research while developing her own documentary about adoption. There, she learned the cursory details of the triplets’ estrangement: They were part of an experimental, unpublished study run by Peter Neubauer, a Freudian psychoanalyst who became a leading figure of child research in the 1950s and ’60s, right as psychology was proliferating in American academia. At the time, work that would today be deemed ethically dubious wasn’t uncommon; think of the Milgram obedience experiments or the Stanford prison experiment. 

After other adoption agencies refused him, Neubauer partnered with the since-shuttered Louise Wise Services, an elite Jewish facility interested in exploring the behaviors of siblings separated at birth, to kickstart his study. In other words, according to the documentary, the organization effectively allowed Neubauer to turn the triplets into lab rats and conceal it for what would have been their entire lives. 

“I’m not prone to hyperbole, but I was like, this is the single best story I’ve ever heard,” Wardle explained in an interview with HuffPost earlier this month. 

By “best,” he also means the worst. 

Right away, Wardle knew he had a movie on his hands. “To have even 50 or 60 percent of the story is easily enough for a film on its own,” he said. “Anything else was going to be a bonus.” But, in contacting the brothers and unearthing whatever details they could corral about the study, Wardle and his production team found themselves facing an increasingly cloudy quagmire.

Who exactly had bankrolled the shady enterprise? Wardle said the financial “spider web” was impossible to piece together entirely, but we know that Manhattan’s Child Development Center, which merged with the government-supported Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, was the primary benefactor. The National Institute of Mental Health contributed funds, as was reported in the ’90s.

How was the study conducted? Researchers from Louise Wise would visit the children’s respective homes once a week to administer tests and record video footage. The adoptive families were told this was part of a normal practice meant to observe the agency’s fostered clients. The brothers, too, have vague recollections of the house calls; as youngsters, they were uncertain of the visitations’ purpose.

Why hadn’t the boys’ adoptive parents been informed they were triplets? The agency, in coordination with the Child Development Center, decided its endeavor was ethical as long as the boys didn’t know one another existed. That meant the adults raising them couldn’t know either. But from the beginning, there were signs that something was awry. The babies would bang their heads against the walls of their cribs, for example, which Kellman attributes to “separation anxiety.” 

How many siblings did Louise Wise separate in the name of research? Five pairs of twins, in addition to Galland, Shafran and Kellman.

Is everyone who was taken from his or her sibling now aware? No.

Is there any chance the study yielded fruitful commentary about nature versus nurture? Maybe. The children were placed in homes of varying economic stability, raised with contrasting parenting tactics and sensitivities.

Neon

Eddy Galland, David Kellman and Robert Shafran, not long after they first met.

Louise Wise Services sealed the contents of the study at the Yale University Library until 2066. That way, its subjects wouldn’t realize they’d become flesh-and-blood experiments. Accordingly, we can’t know whether it effectively proved that the fate of identical siblings raised in different environments would turn out to be, well, identical. We do know, however, that as soon as the brothers learned of their circumstances, their sunny reunion grayed. Mental-health concerns surfaced. In 1995, Galland killed himself. 

Wardle, who had previously made vérité-style television docs in the United Kingdom, spent four years gaining the brothers’ trust and securing funding for a feature-length project that would chronicle the untold side of their story. But for every mystery he solved, another arose — and they weren’t easy to decode. By now, few people involved with the experiment are still living, including Neubauer, whose reputation remained in good standing before his death in 2008.

The central lingering mystery concerns what appears to be multiple cover-up attempts exacted by the responsible agencies. For example, Wardle gleaned that three major television networks ― two in the ’80s, one in the ’90s ― tried to make documentaries about the brothers and the corresponding experiment. Wardle said he came across minutes from a Louise Wise meeting in which top brass insisted they would “shut down” these productions. “We have contacts there. We can kill this,” they apparently said of the networks.

Sure enough, all three networks nixed their specials before completion, including one apparently involving a Pulitzer-winning New York Times reporter, according to Wardle. He declined to identify the networks, as he was told “in confidence,” but at least one of the projects is public knowledge: A Newsday story from 1997 says “production started on a documentary about their lives, but it was never completed.”

That turn of events aligns with Wright’s summation of Louise Wise: It was run by “powerful people” from New York’s upper crust who were capable of steering the media off their trail, as they did by sealing the study’s results. After a protracted effort, the brothers have since been granted access to a heavily redacted photocopy that Wardle said is “hard to make sense of.” It’s done little to ameliorate the emotional obstacles they’ve faced since ascertaining the truth behind their predicament.

Of course, Louise Wise isn’t the only entity that has raised suspicions. The Jewish Board apparently declined to participate in “Three Identical Strangers,” interacting with Wardle and his team only through a crisis-management PR firm. Since the film premiered to rave reactions at Sundance in January, Wardle said the brothers received a conciliatory letter from Jewish Board leaders saying they “had the pleasure of watching your documentary” in the “comfort[s]” of their own homes.

How anyone from the organization received a private screener of “Strangers” remains unclear. Wardle said he didn’t even have a screener at the time. 

When asked to comment on these specifics, a representative for the Jewish Board sent HuffPost the following statement: “We do not endorse the Neubauer study, and we deeply regret that it took place. We recognize the great courage of the individuals who participated in the film, and we are appreciative that this film has created an opportunity for a public discourse about the study.”

Meanwhile, a representative for CNN Films, which co-financed the movie with the UK’s Channel 4, declined to say whether the company gave anyone from the Jewish Board private access. Neon, which is distributing the film in theaters June 29, also declined to comment on the record. The National Institute of Mental Health did not respond to our request for comment.

Furthermore, throughout the process, Wardle said, he located a few folks with ties to the study who initially agreed to talk. But when his team contacted these individuals a second time, they would “never, ever respond again,” as if they’d been silenced.

Even if a dark cloud still loiters over the backstory, “Three Identical Strangers” proves a captivating watch, both as a portrait of people who never consented to being guinea pigs and as a fair-minded examination of research meant to yield groundbreaking revelations fundamental to the essence of family psychology. (Anyone who watched “Wild Wild Country” will see shades of Ma Anand Sheela in Natasha Josefowitz, Neubauer’s articulate research assistant who appears halfway into “Strangers” and unapologetically tries to justify the study’s intentions.) 

Wardle said the two living brothers, who were paid for their life rights, were emotional the first time they saw the film, which manages not to sensationalize their story for the sake of drama. ”You delivered what you said you were going to deliver,” they apparently told the director. “They were very emotional about that. And I realized they’d been let down a lot in their lives.”

Since Sundance, filmmakers have pursued rights to the tale for a dramatic feature, as if this whole saga weren’t already stranger than fiction. Maybe others will be able to piece together the minutiae that Wardle and his team have not.

For now, he said, “it is still so opaque.”

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