Our Storied Insight Podcast

Okay! So who are we?

Alright! Back again! Skipped last week as I went on a binge of Non-fiction history podcasts as is my occasional habit. This week however I resumed my audio fiction engagements with a fervor.

Edge of my seat week to week listens wise this was another win for @innbetween where I have to be a bit sneaky about spoilers since most y'all won't have access yet. This one gave me some chills as Max's character brought to mind some bosses I worked for in the past whom I am glad I am not working for now. Whereas previous adventuring parties were faster to making solid friendships of fate and circumstance this bunch remains first and foremost co-worker relationships which has opened the door wonderfully to working with themes of different types of ableism. I come from a decently cut throat industry myself and that whole "What good are you if you can't..." is a huge thing we need to talk more about as a society. Having party members we feel a little more gray about is a neat shift of dynamic too which I wholeheartedly approve of which has left me hoping either the arc carries everyone to a better wiser place ... or delivers some much needed kicks to the gems for bad behavior by way of catharsis.

My binge listen continues to be Spirit Box Radio where I have hit season 3 at last! The Host/ Creator/ Voice Actor of the show seems to be going through a testosterone based transition which I got to admit I am enjoying vicariously more than I probably should. My circumstances have taken a T transition off the table for me personally so when I encounter someone going through one I get fairly excited myself noting the changes. How deep Sam's voice will be by the end of the series is like an added bit of delightful mystery. On it's more narrative based merits however Spirit Box Radio continues to delight. There's an evolving ruminative quality to the story with leaps and bounds of development just when the slow drip of progress in the mystery starts to stretch the tension to the breaking point. Big changes in the status quo that then must be weighed and understood and considered starting the cycle anew. Pacing wise it's the cautious and moderate person's approach to danger which feels fairly true to life. It's something that works best in podcast format which makes it feel more fresh than the more common arc of act/react. Things must be digested in their own time and lately particularly I have been finding that slower pace is a welcome change from instant gratification.

It's hard to be us sometimes. My day job is film and despite Vancouver being a widely accepting place and film being a very accepting place for the sexuallity spectrum folk we of the lower ranks know that it is not yet so for binary trans and non-binary trans individuals. When everyone is hired show to show, day to day and we make people "uncomfortable" we see a precipitous drop in our fortunes. I know so few out people in film. and those who are out have to be tough as nails. My experience as being a non-binary person is if you do let yourself be partially out and let your deal be known to a boss then they can treat any non-compliance for any reason as not showing proper "gratitude" for them playing ball with your pronoun set... As though you owe them extra favors for the inconvenience.

As such I have a "worksona". I don't get to be visible in those spaces because it isn't safe. Not because it threatens my life but because it threatens my livelihood. Today, largely because I am not working, I get to be me, all day, uninhibited. For all those of you who are out, we see you. We see you trail blazing for those of us still in the shadows and you are our light. Keep being you. Don't stop.

Woo! Been a good week with many walks beneath the cherry blossoms. Weather has been kind of exceptional but weird with the early season trees all seeming to have not flourished this year but the mid seasons are out in full flush. Podcasts have of course been my companions on my walks though I've sprinkled in a bit more music into my headphone time than usual.

As is becoming my usual going to go over my week to week waits.

Magnus is of course on hiatus which I think everyone is keenly feeling. Stay strong friends.

@innbetween released their patrons only episode and hoo boy I just got socked right in the feels. I know I can't get too spoiler-y but the portrayal of bullying, ableist horse pucky was so well done! I can't keep changing my favorite character episode to episode right? Y’k’ty currently has the top spot. Something about Emma's voicework being so deliberate and acerbic makes me feel like I am sitting watching a character speaking with the physiology of a dragon muzzle with some wicked sharp teeth. I hope that comes across as the compliment I intend it to be... Anyway brilliant writing, wonderful acting and you guys on the regular release are in for a GOOD time and maybe a few cathartic tears shed.

And now onto my won't stop can't stop listen of the week which continues to be Spiritbox Radio! So far I am approaching the deep end of season 2 and it's held up beautifully. Still a sucker for that slow burn mystery of what the heck is going on with the Man in The Flat cap's ultimate plan and getting increasing worried about m'boy Oliver who seems to have knowingly signed up for the most complicated romance dynamic out there. Definitely rooting for those crazy kids as things with Sam seem to be a rollercoaster of unpleasant discoveries. Hoping against hope still there will be no further iterations of human soup!

Today we release episode 12 - Pyre side or as I have come to think of it the "Whoosh-isode". It's also the most number of actors we've ever had in an episode with 10 VAs all of whom were amazing. We previewed the episode with them last night and made all of them cry which is a good reminder that the audience is not immune to psychic damage.

Time for a meditation on the podcast listening of this past week! It's been my first week on tumblr and already I've managed to accrue an incredible number of podcasts to chase. Literally just been following every pod I've seen pop up with some aspirations to chase more fiction pods though I am definitely one of those people who grabs onto individual pods with my teeth and run the entire catalog through before moving onto the next... so spoiler alert no new podcasts this week. Definitely gunna keep singing the praises of @chemicallywrit for tipping me off that here is a place I should give a try. Podcasts are a community and feeling like I am actually a proper part of that community was something that I was missing.

But first the podcasts that are on my weekly drip.

The Magnus Protocol has blown everybody's mind of course and everybody is talking about memorable quotes ( "It's teeth are not soft/ can it read?" comes to mind) but what grabbed me about this last episode was how forward the sound design was. You've got the talk show studio, security footage, cell phone recording and all of these constructed spaced , in the way of podcasts for legibility sake, are very clean but still very much identifiable as these individual devices through little details of friction rub on the recorder, hard wall style reverb and the little things that elevate that sense of being there : Fabric noise. All different circumstances of recorders of sound culminating in a ballsy beautifully drawn out moment of the characters walking away from the point of recording to leave the sound design to tell a full story of an "empty" room where the sound effects grab your complete attention with the finale before their hiatus being a simple "click" of a very specific recording device that has since caused the entire fanbase to froth at the mouth. Chef's kiss. Editors do a victory lap cuz DAMN. Literally had my nails digging crescents into the palms of my hands with that tension. Show don't tell at it's finest!

My current obsessive listen of the week remains @hangingslothcentral 's Spirit Box Radio. I have progressed into season two and the tale of a house haunting a person. Host character Sam Enfield remains the most adorable of lads but that adorableness itself has proven to be becoming more sinister. What if the things that doom us ARE the cute things? You can't hurt the lad! Favorite call in character however remains (and I know I'm going to spell this wrong) Rhitiddia Delphis the bog witch. The idea of surrendering yourself to the power and living song of the mud recalls memories of squishing happily barefoot around as a child and the acerbic nature of the bog witch calls to mind the necessary responsible sort of friend that absolutely won't allow you to wreck yourself for your passions. Been generally enjoying the ride Spirit Box Radio has going for it and the season one credit reveal that The writing, main protagonist voice acting, editing AND music were all done by one person is a reminder that the renaissance multipotentialite person is alive and well in the realm of podcasts. Note my jealousy.

As for the editing log it's been a more deliberate forward momentum sort of week. We've been recording a massive number of lines for episode 13. Mostly with Dana Ebert our Sage Southwood. Sage lines are just... something else. Our process for recording NPCs involve us asking people to work with us to build out the lines to feel unique to them. So when we came to Dana with our creative direction of "Okay... imagine you are somebody's Trans-lesbian Aunt who runs a New Age wellness store and is like REALLY into crystals and Birkenstocks BUT ALSO a massively powerful politician who runs 1/3 of the world's most magical city at the literal core of the universe and these things are not at all contradictory." and then she just like... did it. I am kind of convinced she can do anything actually? She's currently running an actual TTRPG tavern in Portland which I need to go visit desperately. Episode 13 has the most NPC lines of any episode we've done so far by a factor of 10 so it's been a bit of a challenge.