You didn’t say it. You didn’t have to.

Metagate. Joe Keery. The Crux.

The album was released in April 2025, after ST5 wrapped, and famously was written during and features one song (Charlie's Garden) about the experience of filming ST in Atlanta.

I originally started looking at Djo's music because, in the light of corruptiongate (@nightnut), a song called Delete Ya seemed like it could be relevant. And I believe it is- and not only for the obvious Byler/ST verse: 'blue and gold, Friday night/Team up with Charlie, take these kids for a ride'.

But let's consider the album as a whole. The Crux, meaning the heart of the matter (the heart). From the Latin for a cross (X is a lie). The cover is full of Easter eggs for the contents of the songs, for fans to spot.

And did you know that five months later, Djo released The Crux Deluxe, a companion album of 12 new songs released without prior announcement? This album served as an 'alternative perspective' of the album's titular hotel, which features again on the album cover:

Joe Keery had said that it is 'not so much a double album but an expansion of the world'.

But only 2 of them fell - and were (almost) found dead in the water.

Water. A fall. Two of them... Wait a minute.

Are there only two waterfalls because El didn't fell?

I mean, just watch their scenes together. El's scene in Iceland ended and she immediately reappeared with Mike to save him... literally in the same setting. I explained you here already that Mike's and Will's falls were on the same day, so... what happened here?!?

The sequence right after is even crazier now. Again, it's Mike, El and Will and the outstretched hand in every. Single. Scene.

If you're interested in some extra info:

I was looking up what it would align with in my pre-synced versions, I'll give you a quick best of, bc I don't think I will make a separate post about this.

Max reading her letter to Billy: replaying the memory of when he left; felt like part of her died that day; sorry she just stood there; friends, good friends; both Williams

Mike noticing Vecna at the Mac Z: falling, crashing on the ground and getting knocked out

Jancy lying knocked out next to each other on the ground

Ten to Papa: "They're both dead."

El asking why it'd stop, just when Will and Mike stop mid-air

Mike stopping mid-air looking like Steve swimming in the lake (finding watergate)

Also: Max almost dying bc of Vecna, El in a coma and El opening a gate twice

I'm not kidding. We all remember Mike jumping down that cliff at the quarry in S1, but at the beginning of S5 we saw Will literally doing the same thing. Climbing that tree to escape the Demo and then jumping off as he's been followed. The dates are confirmed in the show, very obviously. Can't believe we've been sleeping on that.

If you play it side by side they do everything in sync. The jump, suddenly stopping mid fall, moving again... only that Will actually fell and Mike started defying gravity.

We know Will actually died that day (yeah he came back to life ofc), but what about Mike? Max taught us you have to follow your memories back to your death to escape the maze of memories. Something that worked for Will already, since S5 started with his death... Mhh.

I fear there's no proving Byler without investigating Mike's 'death' first. And everything leads me back to this day.

But hey, just watch it yourself:

Don't ask what wrong with Troy's voice, it abstracted every single try saving the file.

If you only wanna watch the actual sequence jump to ~ 01:30, but then you'll miss Mike and Troy answering to Will's singing and El paralleling Vecna :3 Oh and El heard a ticking noise.

commission for @leeroyjagginz!

Paper: Arches 100% cotton/ 300 GSM/ cold press

Brushes: Brustro mop/ Silver Black Velvet rounds/ Escoda Optimo Kolinsky

I'm a member of an advanced photography training community. My mentor creates challenges to help demonstrate certain concepts.

This one required shooting a pop-art-style egg photo to show how specular highlights change with hard and soft light.

This was the example image I was to emulate.

A specular highlight is just a direct reflection of the light source.

With hard light, specular highlights are perceived as brighter. To get hard light, the light source must be smaller (or more distant). So the reflection is smaller, but also more concentrated in intensity.

With soft light, the light source is much larger (or closer). So the intensity of the reflection is spread out over a larger area. So it is perceived as dimmer.

Think about looking directly at a flashlight versus shining it against the wall. The same number of photons are involved, but your experience of them is vastly different.

If you are shooting someone with glasses and the light is reflecting brightly, you can move your light much closer to reduce its apparent intensity.

I worked for 10 minutes at a time over a period of 4 days. I got some fake eggs so I wouldn't have to spend energy cooking. Frustratingly, they arrived with a matte finish. They would not take on a specular highlight at all. So I ordered some automotive clear coat and sprayed the fake eggs on my deck.

You may have noticed my context-less egg art on my deck railing in another post. It was drying in the sun.

The clear coat worked well, so I proceeded to glue the egg to some colored construction paper and tape it to the wall in my kitchen.

I don't have a top-down rig to shoot things from above, so I felt this was a creative and low-energy solution.

A bonus aspect of the challenge was to create a Photoshop composite in which I retain the shadows from the hard light example and the gradient specular highlight on the egg yolk. I can't decide if I like that or the soft light version better.

It feels nice to have accomplished something creative. I am struggling so much with boredom as I recover. And doing anything productive is physically challenging. But I've got my birds and now my egg.

I believe that even unsuccessful works are worthy of publication

But yall are missing the point. Its not about how Will reacts to the words, its not about Will being in love with Mike.

Its the fact that Mike never struggles with his feelings for Will. And I mean UNDENIABLY within the shows canon, he never once hints at being confused about how he feels about Will.

Like we know point blank that Will likes Mike. Its very explicit. I shouldn't have to squint my eyes and tilt my head to see that Mike "likes" Will. I shouldn't have to analyze a screenshot for 7 days to see it.

"Oh but he wouldnt say those things to Dustin or Lucas." Its pre established that Mike and Will have known each other much longer and Will is more sensitive. Different friends require different things, but again there is never even a hint that Mike is feeling confused about what his feelings mean for Will.