#audio meat

Somewhere deep in the suburbs within the Palmyra Exclusion Zone, there is an ordinary house, with an ordinary man, watching ordinary things.

Photos collected by The Editorial Team, @leslekieuart and @valdevia.

For fans of Twilight and Netflix's You comes Something's Amiss at Juniper's House (@somethingsamissatjunipershouse). A new full cast fiction podcast with a supernatural romance! I've been longing for a podcast like this, equal parts horror and romance, and all suspense. Kayla, Dustin, and their team have really made something special!

About the Show

Finley’s met someone… and she is everything. Their dream girl, Juniper Sumac, might be too good to be true. Is young love just that magical, or is something sinister brewing? Between the bodies in the basement and some pretty intense earthquakes, it’s becoming clearer and clearer that things aren't as they seem.

But hey, who doesn’t have baggage?

The first two episodes are available now, with new episodes every other Saturday. Listen on Apple Podcast, Spotify Amazon Music, or your favorite podcast app!

Episode 1

Episode 2

Something foul grew within our city, it poisoned the water in the well. Out of the festering growth, a homegrown militia with stockpiled weapons emerged. The Federal government rushed in to contain the tendrils of insurrection, but they failed. The rot went deeper than they realized. A botched raid turned into an all out civil war. As explosions and fighting rocked the city, the National Guard was summoned to facilitate an evacuation. Endless fighting engulfed the streets, and you and I were caught in the crossfire.

Then, one night, "The Flash." Stars cascaded out of the sky, leaving behind streaks that burned bright and brighter. Until the entire city was subsumed in light. As quickly as it came, the light vanished, leaving behind only uncertainty. Chaos followed. No one knew if this was some new horrible weapon, or an unseen phenomenon. That night was one of the longest of our lives.

In the morning, we woke up, expecting evacuation, only to find that the city was cordoned, quarantined, cut off. Communities were ripped apart as the border wall fell between them. You ventured out, with the noble pursuit to protect our neighbors. I asked you to stay. I don't know if you heard me. And then the power went out. I tried to find some comfort in the silence. The momentary ceasefire.

But in the darkness, I only found your empty shape. I ventured out into the night to return you to me- But I left too late. I searched. And I searched. But you were always out of reach. And I was so scared, and so tired. I returned home, and hoped that soon you would too.

You didn't.

Welcome to Part #2 of an ongoing series in which I stop and smell the virtual roses! The internet is vast, and I need to remind myself that there's more to do than just doomscroll. So, I've started this series to write about the things on the internet I appreciate, and that have brought me joy this week. We'll see how many more weeks of this I do – I'm trying really hard to do more than just lurk, but tbh? I kinda hate posting anything that's not a podcast. Discomfort aside, let's dig into this week's treasures!

#5. Artfight!

Every July the internet engages in an artfight! It's what I imagine a cafeteria food fight would be like, if instead of mashed potatoes and peas, it's delicious delicious artwork! The concept is pretty simple, each July artists can register to join one of the themed teams (this years teams are Comedy, Mystery, and Tragedy). Players can attack the opposing team by creating art of other team's OCs! There's extra rules about countering attacks, or even attacking your own team members, and at the end of the month the team with the most points wins! And we win too– because it means there's lots of great artists sharing lots of cool artwork! Plus, it's a great way to discover new accounts to follow to beat out the doomscrolling.

This year, resident SCP Archives artist, dear friend, and creature creator extraordinaire, Eduardo Valdes-Hevia is participating (he's on team mystery).

#4. The Return of Game Informer

This is actually old news, but I thought I'd share in case you missed it! Growing up, one of my favorite past times was reading the newest edition of Game Informer. I must have had over a hundred issues when they closed down in 2024. It was absolutely devastating, but maybe not shocking given the tumultuous history of their parent company GameStop, and numerous layoffs in games journalism at the time (a trend that continues today). Fortunately, less than a year later, Game Informer returned! Not only was the online outlet back, but the magazine was revived too, this time with a couple of noticeable upgrades! It's been just over a year since Game Informer returned, and I'm excited to say I've gotten every one of their issues so far. They're really good. And a year of Print & Digital costs just $60. Supporting journalism is very important to me, which makes this one of my easiest purchases each year.

#3. Insane No Hit Parry Run on Commander Niall

One of the greatest joys online is stumbling onto something so random and silly that just makes your whole day. A couple weeks ago I scrolled past a random Tumblr post that did just that.

I love Elden Ring. When it came out, I poured well over 200 hours into too! And I'll say it, I love a good challenge, but some bosses are just stupid hard. Like Commander Niall. This fucking guy – I had to leave the area, level up, and come back four times because everytime I tried to fight him, I'd get pummeled. Didn't matter if I had summons, other players, or broken weapons, he just destroyed me. So it does my heart to see this player absolutely obliterate him. Also, apparently "FlawlessElden" was banned for self-promoting on the Elden Ring subreddit. A ban that I personally would advocate to overturn. But until such day, maybe just check out some of his insane parry runs?

#2. Megalomorpha – The Shrine

I already mentioned our artist, Ed, this week. But I cannot overstate just how much work he personally does to make the internet a weirder, and more wonderful place! Of course, you can see all the strange things Ed creates on his Instagram

And if you love Ed's art as much as I do, consider signing up for his Patreon! There's even more cool artwork there, and even physical rewards! I have over a dozen of Ed's postcards and Polaroids pinned to my office cork board. Whenever I need inspiration, or just wanna look as some good art, it's right there waiting for me.

#1. Gielinor Games 5

One of my best friends, Sam Robinson, is deeply in love with Runescape. He's currently rotating between three accounts, on which he has 6,816 hours (as of writing, probably another 20 hours by the time this publishes). This is not including all the hours he's put into dozens of other accounts over the last two decades. Whenever we're just chatting, or he's trying to figure out what he wants to play, or he's multi-tasking, Runescape is on one of his monitors.

Now, I'm not a big Runescape fan, I've played it a bit here and there, but I am a lifelong fan of Survivor. Enter Gielinor Games! It is the perfect blend of Runescape and Survivor, and it's surprisingly well produced! If you're a fan of either, or both, you'll have a great time. It's just one of those mix-ups that could only exist in this exact time and space, and I love it for that.

That's all for this week! And I'll be honest, I'm worried I might start running out of ideas sooner rather than later. So, here's my plea to you: If you have a cozy corner on the internet that you frequent, or saw something that made you happy, please let me know in the comments below, so I can discover it too!

The first two episodes of Something's Amiss at Juniper's House (@somethingsamissatjunipershouse) are available now! Have you met Finley and Juniper yet?

Left: Finley

Today, miraculously, I met the love of my life... Age: 22 Pronouns: They/Them Favorite Color: Purple Likes: Juniper Dislikes: Exercise, Bad Music, Microbiology Describe Finley in 3 Words: "Trying Their Best" Voiced by: Kayla Temshiv

Right: Juniper

"Don't Forget About Me" Age: 23 Pronouns: She/Her Favorite Color: ... What do you think? Likes: Good Coffee, People who can make her laugh, Running Dislikes: Being Bored Describe Juniper in 3 words: "Hungry. Haunted. Hopeful." Voiced by: Brooke Jennett

The first podcast, "John Carpenter Presents: Something Wicked" is out now on Spotify and Apple Podcast! And we have a second original podcast now in development!

Some exciting news from my side of the world!