Through The Wind Door

To Thine Own Self be True - Part 3 (Tiger’s Eye)

"...at the end of the day, the effect of his decision is not as important as what it means to Miguel. And what it means for Hrao, that he came back for her. He may or may not have saved her life. But the significance is that he tried."

Our final episode covering chapters 11-15 of Tiger's Eye! This one is choc full of discussion on a number of different topics:

• A further analysis of all our three new lion characters, and positing comparisons between ego, superego, and id.
• Miguel's decisions and imagination, and how his culture plays into understanding the world of Rama.
• A digression into Miguel correctly gendering Hrao, and the role of gendered language.
• Further analysis of Miguel and Hrao's developing relationship, muddied by imperfect communication.

All this and more, and we're only half way done with the book. The second half? Will only get denser.

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "December" by Sara Bareilles

To Thine Own Self be True - Part 2 (Tiger’s Eye)

And that's what negative space is when it comes to narration. It's your understanding that what you're being told isn't an omnicient third person narrator whose job is to insure you are given every detail. It's a character *telling* you this. And that character will have their own biases and thing that will inform what they choose to tell and not tell you. That is just as much a part of the characterization as the events of the plot that you see in it.

 

Digging deeper into our topic list for chapters 11-15, we get back into discussing Miguel's story. I end up learning some more about my cohost above and beyond our recorded conversations, and how they influence both his reading of the media he likes and the difficulties he has expressing his thoughts sometimes. We also talk about the metaphor of the lions of Albion and what it means for them to be the overarching threat to our aboriginal cats instead of humanity as was implied in previous chapters.

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "The Boy in the Bubble" by Paul Simon

To Thine Own Self be True - Part 1 (Tiger’s Eye)

"The power of [The fight between Hrao and Hakka] is unprecedented in New Century, both in terms of the raw clashing of immense forces from these beast warriors, and emotionall in terms of the personal investment that you can understand and feel coming from the two characters involved... it's frantic but clearly conveyed by the narrative taking you through each movement. And by the end of it, you feel exhauted right along Hrao."

 

Here is part 1 of nearly 4 hours of discussion on Chapters 11-15 of Tiger's Eye. Dig in, folks. Heavy topics incoming, including death of a child and an abusive, gaslighting father.

We start with a comprehensive discussion of several of the elements of Chapter 11. From confrontation, to fight scene dynamics, to musical contributions to this part of the audiodrama and New Century in general. But eventually, we have to have the larger discussion on the revelations of Hrao's past tragedy, and how it reflects and explains everything that has happened thus far. Toby also shows some insights into how Alex uses music and leitmotifs in Tiger's Eye, abe to identify certain instruments or musical bits as belonging to Miguel or the Gagaku.

And then we get into Miguel. Our young hero and the journey that he has been on both before and after going Through The Wind Door(tm). Dissecting his emotional journey, and the dark influence of his father on it.

Spoilers for character elements of Adventure Time

 

Iguazu by Gustavo Santacialla - https://youtu.be/WfusxHokCDg

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "When You're Falling" by Afrocelt Soundsystem, ft. Peter Gabriel

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Part 2 (Tiger’s Eye)

"..as we have been saying, Tiger's Eye has its own unique feel in that Hrao does the lions share - or tiger's share - of making that world come alive for us. And we will never get that again, due to the fact that Maureen has had throat issues that would prevent her from working on future installments of Rama that center Hrao. That makes Tiger's Eye a gem that stands out, and further affects how much this one story means to us."

Part two of our discussing of chapters 6-10. We now get into the meat of the events. Discussing text and subtext, communication, cultural differences, and how the audiodrama adds layers of subtlety to the written words of the story. Magic, and the spirits, the ongoing discussion on how killing is handled... and the growing, complicated relationship between tiger and boy.

This is just us ramping up. Next time, it's going to get even heavier.

 

Trope Talk: Grimdark: https://youtu.be/PQAWBeFnkg8

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "Persistence of Memory" by Afrocelt Soundsystem

Something Wicked This Way Comes - Part 1 (Tiger’s Eye)

"It's a truism that everyone responds to media differently. Maybe I would get more out of certain works if I was able to focus better. But speaking for myself... I have never had a problem focusing on New Century. That's why I said yes when asked about doing a podcast. Text or audio, it draws me in. I do appreciate how much the audiodrama offers over the text, and as Toby and I have kept saying, Tiger's Eye is one of the best examples of that. The work of Maureen, and Alex, and all the rest make this world come alive and demands our attention."

It is Today. We are digging into Chapters 6-10 of Tiger's Eye, and are immediately back on our bullshit, making cat puns. Yay?

We start off with some meta. Instead of talking about the events of these chapters, we instead discuss larger concepts: talking about how names of creatures in Rama were chosen by the author, and how our understanding of events and communication are different depending on whether you read or listen to the story. We start talking about what role humans might have actually played in the history of the cats of Rama, and what role they might yet play, given that Miguel has clearly come from a world of humans... humans they may encounter in Hrao's quest to return Miguel to his home.

And to round us out, a further discussion on mythology, magic... and more cat puns. 

 

To learn about the internal narrator:

The Artist is Absent by Innuendo Studios: https://youtu.be/4N6y6LEwsKc?t=1000 (clip begins at the relevant part, stop at 20:10 to avoid spoilers for 'The Beginners Guide'.)

also,

Americapox: The Missing Plague: https://youtu.be/JEYh5WACqEk

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Midroll Music - "Bridge over Troubled Water" (Instrumental) - Simon and Garfunkel

Outro is "Shadowman" by Afrocelt Soundsystem

 

Brave New World - Part 2 (Tiger’s Eye)

"...at this point both long term fans and recent readers of Secret Rooms might be remembering that strange tale from the old coot Malloy about a White Tiger, and realizing that that tall tale might have been real after all..."

The second half of our coverage of Tiger's Eye, chapters 1-5.

Here we talk about mythologies, the components of them, and what they have to do with boxes. We discuss the character of Hakka, what his potential motivations are, and how they conflict and contrast with Hrao's own. We delve a little into The Silent One as a shaman, and her different voices.

But most importantly, listen to the out takes, in which Toby sings 'Snake Eater' for us. 

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "Spirit Voices" by Paul Simon, ft. Milton Nacimiento

Brave New World - Part 1 (Tiger’s Eye)

"The inner voice is something that has such an effect on people when they go through this book, and it's because of moments like that where it feels as if you are experiencing a character's thoughts and their vulnerabilities in a way that you don't often experience in media, of any kind."

It's time to visit a new world. A brave new world, with such people in it.

This episode, we are going to start with chapters 1-5 of Tiger's Eye. Unlike before, we are moving far beyond our known world, so we will begin by discussing a lot of the elements that make up this new world. The peoples, the words, the change to first person narrative, and how all of that affects our interaction with this story.

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

Intro is "The Legend of El Dorado" by Derek and Brandon Feitcher

Outro is "Life Begin Again" by Afrocelt Soundsystem ft. Robert Plant

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..."

----

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

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

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

 

The New Century Multiverse Website:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

The New Century Multiverse Podcast Feed:

https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/

Fireside Alliance: https://firesidealliance.squarespace.com/

 

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.

Whitescarves Team-Up! #5 - Matt Wardle, Part 2

"We've all got things in our past in one way shape or form where we go 'I wish I wouldna done that'. So, there's no reason to not change some of those behaviors going forward... that's just my pie in the sky idealism that I have now and then. So take that for what you will." - Matt

Round 2 of Matt Wardle. If you thought we went off topic when interviewing Laureta or Maya, be prepared, because we wander all over the place above and beyond New Century. We discuss furry fandom, cosplay, what it means to be a roleplayer, Massachusetts, all accents devolving into Russian, and how humbling it can be to be a performer that has touched others. We also discuss living with separated parents, and the affect parents have on our kids whether they intend to or not. (No special content warning, but it can get personal and heavy at times.)

But in terms of New Century itself, we cover the familiar ground of discussing which of his characters would have interesting interactions with other New Century personalities that have not yet met, as well as who Matt himself would most be interested in having a heart to heart conversation with. The answer may surprise you!

Also, let Alex know if you want to see a Tesla/Edison spinoff show!

(Extra long outtakes reel at the end - there was a lot of good content pre and post podcast!)

 

Behind the Whitescarves: Uncivil Outlaw Q&A 1: https://newcenturyshow.podbean.com/e/behind-the-whitescarves-uncivil-outlaw-qa-1/

Ajani Goldmane Costume: https://www.instagram.com/p/CDhN0m0DFzT/

Jace Costume: https://www.instagram.com/p/BmkJnR4gzEz/

 

The New Century Multiverse books and audio dramas can be found on:

https://www.newcenturymultiverse.com

 

Intro is "The Avengers" by Alan Sylvestri

Outro is "Birdhouse in Your Soul" by They Might Be Giants.