Through The Wind Door

The Darkness - or, I Believe in a Thing Called Lovecraft (Secret Rooms)

"Lucy isn't shallow. She isn't just an extention of other characters and their development. She really does come across as having her own identity. She is that mix of emotional optimism and reasoned out introspection we see in her chapters, and to be honest, I think that her presence brings into focus the darker elements of this gothic text. Because, with her loss, the darkness comes creeping in..."

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Part 2 of our final look at Secret Rooms. Here, we dive deep into the gothic analysis, going a bit down the rabbit hole to explore the various kinds of gothic genre and subgenre as established both in Europe and the Americas.

We talk about the subverted tropes, the plethora of added female energy to the story, if Krieger is like Dracula, Abigail as a Byronic hero, the modern trope of the Lancer, and an exploration of what Lovecraftian elements this story does use as components.

And next week.... Cats.

EDIT: After the official news of today, I modified the episode. There were only a few downloads, but if you listened to the original already, you can download the new one, and the changes start at timestamp 58:41.

 

If you want to understand the joke above: https://youtu.be/tKjZuykKY1I

Trope Talk - The Lancer: https://youtu.be/fgmT_Q2R2ww

Trope Talk - Five Man Band: https://youtu.be/lmmNuic_4tQ

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Midroll Music - Instrumental version of "Vincent" by Don McLean.

Outro - "Kajiit Like To Sneak" by Miracle of Sound

Mysterious Words from the Past (Secret Rooms)

"At the very least, James and Abigail themselves had never been close. The notion of a shared kiss between them is thematic, though. It was the thing that connected James to Lucy, and later Lucy to Abigail. That is itself enough to communicate the importance of what happened here, without the complication of anything more prurient."

Welcome to our final overview of Secret Rooms: Definitive Edition. We begin by starting to look at some of the changes from the original published edition to the newest one, and what those changes mean overall for character and story elements. We also start getting into a more detailed discussion on the gothic elements of Secret Rooms, which we will continue in part 2!

 

Unskippable: Metal Gear Solid 4, Part 1: https://youtu.be/_qkvfd6wJzM

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Better Days" by The Goo Goo Dolls.

A Strange Place - Part 3 (Secret Rooms)

...these questions and more, we leave as an exercise to the listener.

Part 2 of our analysis of the final four chapters. We talk some more about how the transition from third person to first person narrative works for our audience, and the importance of sounds... diagetic and non. We begin the discussion on how this story worked as a whole, something that we will revisit in the final episode. Most significantly, we talk a lot more about the mysterious trio of Krieger, Greta, and Charlotte. Trying to unpack why they all did what they did, in times both long ago and recent.

Some things we try to answer. Some things we do not.

Spoilers for a plot element of Logan (2017).

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Kid Fears" by Indigo Girls

A Strange Place - Part 2 (Secret Rooms)

James is just there at the D&D table going "Goddamn it, are you aiming for a total party wipe?!"

---

Holy shit, we get punchy in this episode. (As in goofy, not Abigail style punchy).

Part one of our penultimate Secret Rooms episode ahead, discussing chapters 21 through 24. We talk about ghosts, James and Abigail's dynamic when there is no one else around, the usefulness of the Vox Tube both in-universe and narratively, and how Secret Rooms is essentially bookended by two heartfelt recordings.

It's interesting talking about where James and Abigail began, even as we are in the process of recording our interviews with Alex and Sharon Shaw in regards to the culmination of the Uncivil Outlaw Audiodrama. Obviously almost everyone that follows us also follow the New Century feed, but we will make links available in our show notes when those interviews come online as well.

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Shake It Out" by Florence and the Machine

A Strange Place - Part 1 (Secret Rooms)

[Krieger] believes in the value of hope in the face of adversity, the balance between the two extremes of overwhelming madness and supreme bliss and harmony. Perhaps to him, Edelweiss are symbolic of the importance of the opposing force, the thing that exists to counteract and go against its opposite, ensuring that the world isn’t lost to the abyss that it would fall into if the scales were tipped too far.

It's an October miracle: an entire episode done in a week!

This is the final stretch, folks. Today we cover chapters 18-20 of the Definitive Edition. We discover our mysterious abode and their equally quizzical inhabitants. We talk about the intersection of philosophy, science, and myth. We look into the meanings of names and flowers, and we also return some much needed goofiness to the proceedings.

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Edelweiss from The Sound of Music: https://youtu.be/8bL2BCiFkTk

Edelweiss is Not a Nazi Song: https://arcdigital.media/edelweiss-is-not-a-nazi-song-ca5e066136c7

(Editor's Note: I suspect I know why someone made that assertion as to Edelweiss being a Nazi song - a version of that song is the opening to the alternate history Amazon TV show, The Man in the High Castle.)

Curiosity is Sacred: https://areomagazine.com/2019/03/29/curiosity-is-sacred/

On Pandora's Box and Human Curiosity https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/cutting-edge-leadership/201604/pandora-s-box-is-human-curiosity-blessing-or-curse

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Building a Mystery" by Sarah McLachlan

Past Days - Part 2 (Secret Rooms)

"One of the truisms about parenting is that we can't always accept the advice of our parents due to the emotional hang-ups we have about them. One of my favorite quotes is that parents push buttons like a peyote dealer working straight commission. And absent their real parents, that's basically what Katherine is to them. If new wisdom and guidance is to come, perhaps it has to be someone else to give it."

The second half of Episode 11, and it's all Katherine, all the time.

We spend a lot of time praising Alex, so we shouldn't also be afraid to put his heroes under scrutiny. But maybe that's what he wants us to do? (Yes.) So we do a deep dive on how Katherine Holloway's actions or inactions can be interpreted. Is she right about James and Abigail? Has she fallen down on her job, or was it inevitable due to everything she was carrying on her shoulders? Also, some more poetry analysis.

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Ghost" by Indigo Girls.

Past Days - Part 1 (Secret Rooms)

"All three of those things are lost to the adult James. They are all things that were associated with pleasant memories... but they are gone. It's a sweet smell to him because - like all fresh things - it is ephemeral. Momentary. Dissipating before being lost. Yet those fleeting moments stay, lingering... and haunting him forever."

Yeah, this episode is coming out early. Because I couldn't hold it back. I finished early, and I was just too proud of it. But y'all have a lot more content coming out over the next week, so there will be plenty.

This (half) episode covers chapters 14-17. That means discussion of the N-word (yaaaaay) in fiction, more racial content, how New Century starts to address alternate sexuality, the formative tragedy of James and Abigail... and finally, a little bit on how the brain works, and the metaphor implicit in the events of these chapters.

You Are Two by CGP Grey: https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Least Complicated" by Indigo Girls.

 

Setting Out - Part 6 (Secret Rooms)

"It goes to show how important it was to Alex to create a moral dilemma that had no easy clear answer, because a similar action sounds so much more understandable when it’s written and presented like this with its surrounding context… and then you look at reality, which makes writers bang their head on the table when people often complain about characters in fiction not making sensible decisions and how it doesn’t feel “realistic”, when reality is filled with people who would be called poorly written if they ever appeared in fiction!"

Here it is, folks. The last bit of Episode 10, the last bit of Secret Rooms: Part 2- Setting Out... but not the last on race relations, because we've still got Chapter 14 to cover next time... plus, Cartographer's Handbook, Arlington and... well, the whole of reality. But I digress.

If you want to avoid all talk of the Coronavirus, you can skip ahead to the 12 minute mark, because we get into the parallels of people not doing something because the government says so. We also talk about Southern opinions on women, the British, and the Irish, we talk about how you handle trauma/abuse in fiction... and you get to hear us say 'Fuck Buck'.

Really, a rollicking good time for all.

Relevant links:

Gender and the Civil War: https://www.essentialcivilwarcurriculum.com/gender-and-the-civil-war.html

America Never Liked Immigrants: https://www.history.com/news/when-america-despised-the-irish-the-19th-centurys-refugee-crisis

The Confederacy and the UK: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Kingdom_and_the_American_Civil_War

"Semiotics of 'Cuck'" by Innuendo Studios (relevant for complicated reasons, mostly SFW because he had to blur out all the porn references, but YMMW): https://youtu.be/dQjVbk6JSck

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "Your Racist Friend" by They Might Be Giants

Setting Out - Part 5 (Secret Rooms)

"You see Mary and you recognize her strengths but you also wonder what else there is there. Because clearly there is so much more to her than what you can tell from the surface. It's what makes her a compelling character for as little time as we know her."

Part 1 of our in depth discussion of Chapter 13 of Secret Rooms. Covering the pitfalls of race relations, communication, and coming to terms with ones own biases and limitations. Spare on extras due to the gravity of what we talk about, and this is one of the few times I'm happy to break these episodes into two parts, to avoid overloading.

But on the other hand, some entertaining things to watch from our outro artist Lindsey Stirling, on the off chance that you have not already seen them:

Zelda Medley: https://youtu.be/b3KUyPKbR7Q

Roundtable Rival: https://youtu.be/jvipPYFebWc

Radioactive with Pentatonix: https://youtu.be/eh-72yBP7sw

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Midroll music is "No One Is To Blame" - original by Howard Jones, piano instrumental by Neil Archer

Outro is "Roundtable Rival" by Lindsey Stirling

Setting Out - Part 4 (Secret Rooms)

"[Mayor Buck] is someone New Century doesn't have a vested interest in because he is not someone who is trying to bring that titular 'New Century' to pass."

The second half of Episode 9, where we mix the problematic with the heartwarming. Today we cover the peculiar story of Old Man McGucket Malloy, the characters of Mary Sampson and Mayor Buck, and talk about that heartwrending speech by Annie, about how fragile humans are, and what it means when everyone has lost someone, and has been in mourning for years.

The episode was originally meant to cover only Chapters 10-12, but because we get into it a bunch with Mary and Buck, in order to avoid spoilers, please have read Chapter 13 as well. We still save the bulk of that conversation for next episode, though. Because there is a lot of it.

I am no longer going to use the Black Lives Matter hashtag in my scrawl, because while I still believe it, I don't think my podcast should be considered relevant to the conversation. I am going to consider what else I can do to continue to show my support. But in the meantime, in memory of Chadwick Boseman, here is a cosplay of an alternate universe T'Challa, where he adopts the moniker King in a wild west setting. It feels fitting for our current setting in New Century.

https://twitter.com/DTJAAAAM/status/1096609295259586560?s=20

Rest in Power, King.

 

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Intro is "The Talons of Adventure, The Antlers of Romance" by Doctor Turtle of the Free Music Archive

Outro is "One of Us" by New Politics