Attention Elsewhere

Welcome to Attention Elsewhere! We are your hosts: Alasdair & Eli, and in each episode, we'll draw upon our own interests, obsessions, and research as we spotlight and discuss overlooked, underappreciated, and/or up-and-coming entertainment media, including books, games, films, manga, manhua, and everything in between.

No medium is off limits. And everything is worth our attention.

Follow us on Tumblr, Bluesky, or Instagram (links in our Linktree) to stay up to date, and, if you're feeling really generous, send us a couple dollars on Ko-fi or better yet, recommend us to your friends and family. Thanks for giving us listen; we appreciate all your support!

Happy Pride Month!

If you’re thirsting for some robust media criticism and analysis from a pair of delightfully queer co-hosts, then you’ve come to the right place. Not everything we cover is queer, but the way we talk about it—it might as well be:

Like what you hear? Consider sharing our podcast with your friends, family, and mortal enemies, and/or supporting us over on Ko-fi:

If you enjoyed our episode on 'Heaven Will Be Mine'—a game in which space is characterized as both playground and battlefield for its young cast—we strongly recommend you check out Asterisk Magazines' recent interview of Jon Peterson in which he traces the evolution of wargaming throughout history:

And on the off chance you haven't already heard it, we do still recommend our own coverage of the game (warts and all):

Next episode: We'll be covering Zhang Jing's manhua, Yin Shan Meng Tan (or: Dream Talking in the Hidden Mountain) (2017-2020). Though better known for Ayeshah's Secret and the subsequent Aisha, it is her Tang Dynasty epic that has caught our attention for its nested narrative structure, metafictional elements, and intersectional politics; all of which you can hear more about at the end of Attention Elsewhere Ep. 4: The Genre is Empire:

If you're interested in following along, be warned: There's no "official" English translation. But there are a variety of scanlations (of varying quality and completion) available online.

If you've enjoyed our coverage of Signalis, we strongly recommend that you check out Grace Benfell's article, 'Older Than Empires, As Deep As Death':

GOD.

MOTHER.

In our second (and final!) Signalis episode, we discuss Adler who has plagued—and charmed—us since pushing poor Elster down the elevator shaft.

Best read as a foil to Elster, he is both perpetrator and victim—his fate decided by compulsory heterosexual desire and Ariane's fading dream.

Attention Elsewhere Ep. 4: The Genre is Empire:

Please direct your attention towards Ep 4: The Genre is Empire, in which we center Signalis—a 2022 survival horror game developed by rose-engine—and discuss incest, the Rule of 6, and Adler. Part 2 of 2!

Our episodes are all available on Patreon (no membership required), Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and more through our Linktree:

If you'd like to help us find and expand our audience, we encourage you to share our episodes with your friends, family, coworkers, roommates, and mortal enemies.

And if you're feeling really generous, we always appreciate a donation on Ko-fi (also in the Linktree): It keeps us well stocked on actual, no-really-we-need-it coffee.

In Ep. 3 we examine, not just Signalis' artistic influences, but its historical influences too: Its world draws aesthetic inspiration from both Nazi Germany and the Soviet-controlled German Democratic Republic (or GDR), while its narrative and themes subvert or directly refute their fascistic ideology, rhetoric, and actions.

We're almost ready to release the second (and final) part of our discussion on Signalis, so get caught up by listening to the first part below (or elsewhere from our Linktree):

In the first of our two episodes on Signalis, we discussed how, by featuring subtle and prominent references to—and direct use of—many famous paintings, novels, shows, films, and other games, Signalis' form comes to mirror that of the narrative with the blending and blurring of lines between subjects.

If you enjoyed our discussion and want to read more, we recommend you check out Logan's article over on The Artifice, "Signalis and the Art of Influence," and highly recommend you check it out!

Please direct your attention towards Ep 3: Would James Sunderland Approve?, in which we center Signalis—a 2022 survival horror game developed by rose-engine—and discuss the GDR, collages, and mac and cheese. Part 1 of 2!

Our episodes are all available on Patreon (no membership required), Spotify, YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and more through our Linktree:

If you'd like to help us find and expand our audience, you can always share these links/episodes with your friends and family.

And if you're feeling really generous, we always appreciate a donation on Ko-fi (also in the Linktree): It keeps us well stocked on actual, no-really-we-need-it coffee.