Moving house!
In order to connect with a lot of the other stuff I have going on, I am switching over to Blogger.
All posts/comments/pages on here will shortly be available on there – but this is now officially an archive.
Interview: Elize Morgan – writer/producer Pretty in Geek, The Society
I first came across Elize thanks to Pretty in Geek – which, by the way, you should watch 😉 After that, I watched The Gate – which you also should go see.
So a few weeks ago Elize announced her new project on twitter, and I got interested at first because the previous two shows, plus Elize’s blogs, and chatting to her a little on there, have given me reason to take notice. So I went to see the trailer, check out what was going on – after which I was hooked. I love a good conspiracy, I love random stickman drawings, where’s the bad?
The Society, well Elize will tell you a little more about it below, but it’s going to be doing some pretty brave things.
So before we go on, here’s the teaser you need to see:
If that peaked your interest, there’s a code for you to solve: aHR0cDovL3RoZXNvY2lldHlzZXJpZXMuY29tL2pvaW4v
And now, here’s Elize! Say hi 🙂
1) Introduce thyself! Tell us who you are and what you do.
My name is Elize Morgan, and I’m a writer and erstwhile producer and sometimes player of games. Mostly I pretend to write while I play games. Or maybe it’s all about the fact that I’m a writer.
2) How’d you get started writing webseries?
As someone who wanted to get a few things out, it seemed the right place to start. Most of my favourite shares through uni were web series – from the Guild to Red VS Blue to Strongbad – and, when I first made Pretty in Geek, there was also the added element of having all the things needed to do it: a room, some cast and a lot of pluck. Since then, as a wee writer, I’ve learned to produce, do other things along the way (mostly almost all the things) and met some awesome folk.
Pretty in Geek is a comedy about a group of hardcore D&D players who mostly take themselves way too seriously. A sort of The Office meets D&D, it’s mockumentary in style, with an overarching love story that I won’t spoil. It’s very tongue in cheek, and we had a lot of fun with it. It can be checked out at http://www.prettyingeek.tv
The Gate is a web series about St. Peter, the pearly gates, and how much indentured servitude sucks. He also deals with Jesus, a pot smoking Saviour, Death, a sort of insane sociopath, and Lucifer who is all about breaking into Heaven and stealing souls. It’s an office comedy about what it means to be at the office all the time. That can be found at http://www.thegateseries.com
The game itself was fairly low-key as ARGs go. Sister got stolen, and older sister attempts to find her. It was an intro experience for me, and I made all of the clues myself, learning as I went at a time when the same audio mixing programs and editors weren’t around. It was a lot of fun, though!
The book is, off the top, free, so go download it at http://www.elizemorgan.com/p/how-to-make-web-series.html – it has interviews with Jane Espenson (Husbands, Firefly), Red VS Blue, Clutch, Pretty, Out With Dad and way more. It came out of my desire way back in the day to see how everyone else was doing it so I could learn off of them – I had so many interviews done that I decided to put together a lot of the blog articles I already had.
Pretty in GeekMedia (from Medium) = Meaning “intermediate agency, channel of communication
7) OK, let’s get to “The Society”. What’s the story behind it?
The Society is a series about siblings Kate and Josh who have misgivings about their father’s death. It’s claimed he died of a heart attack, but these two know it’s not true. As they look into it, they discover that their father was part of a secret society, that they’re involved with this massive conspiracy theory, and that beyond all of it the fate of the world may just live in their hands.
It’s a bit terrifying, because you never know how users are going to fall on ideas and concepts. But we’re going to find every way we can make it possible for people to be a part of the story, and mold the story their way. That doesn’t mean we’re going to take every suggestion along the way (some things, like giant nuclear explosions with everyone dead may involve a bit of blocking) – but the things that make me excited about being part of digital series and watching them is that you get to be a part of it. The divide between what audience and creator is can shift a lot.
9) You’ve been playing with hashtags and vine, I know – what are you looking for from the audience, without us having actually seen anything but the teaser?
I’d love to see what people would want to see from the show from the teaser. What makes you excited about the concept, what makes your ideas go? Comments and views are our bread and butter for this, and we’d love to hear what people think, share and share alike. Also, the #StickmenConspiracyTheories and #TheSocietySees hashtags are to send crazy conspiracy theories and ideas – we’ll make it into a stickmen conspiracy vine video just for you!
10) What’s your hope for The Society? How do we get to see it?
11) Anything else going on we should know about? What’s in the near future?
Lots of new ideas brewing! Keep in touch
So there you go! Join me in tweeting your favourite conspiracy theories (or doing what I’m actually mostly doing by this point and making them up myself) to #TheSocietySees: get a free ‘StickmanConspiracy vine video, or send them your thoughts and ideas. Watch the trailer. Tweet and say hi to @TheSocietySees. Get other people to tweet the hashtags and watch the teaser. Get involved, from, right at the start – right now – and help build this thing!
And don’t forget to follow and say hi to @ElizeMorgan on twitter too.
Beepocalypse!
And here we are again. Inspired by this picture taken by America Young:
I couldn’t sleep, so I made this:
Then I lasted ALL DAY without writing a story about it, but then Keith and I started chatting about it, and it was a foregone conclusion from there, really. He did ask nicely if he and America could be minions and not die, so I made that happen. As for me, well I got to be the evil scientist.
So anyway, I scribbled this to make them both smile.
I do have an underground lair, by the way…
Beepocalypse
The giant bee stomped across the city, leaving rubble in its wake. Screaming figures ran everywhere, stopping occasionally to point behind them or wave at an unmanned news camera, just in case it was still broadcasting.
The bee was a near-solid yellow, and as large as a city block. Everywhere it placed a foot, something crumbled. When its wings buzzed, their wind blew everything away.
From below, there was nothing to see but the giant shadow.
From above, the yellow colour was broken by, of all things, a three-man saddle and harness. Riding the bee was its creator and her two minions.
Malise was but a child when, fleeing from her abusive mother into the nearby woods, she stumbled across a hive of bees, yellow in colour, their home bored into the trunk of a tree. Instead of hurting her, the bees buzzed calmly around her for a few moments, turning angry only when her mother rampaged into the clearing.
Not seeing the bees, the mother reached out for Malise, grasping a handful of t-shirt and pulling her closer, toes dragging along the ground
When the first bee stung her, she dropped the young girl with a screech and slapped at her arm. The bees stung again and again, and the woman felt her skin begin to swell, her throat close up.
The young Malise had stared in horror as her mother dropped to the floor, gasping for breath and clawing at her neck. Frozen in fear she watched as her mother died. Around her, the bees buzzed soothingly.
The years that followed, Malise spent mostly in solitude, shunning other people in order to study bees. Studying science, genetics; becoming a known expert; moving into gene splicing; using the grant money people kept throwing her way to build herself a laboratory that covered the entire underground area of the property she had inherited on her mother’s death, left in trust until she was old enough to leave social care.
When the world above became too much, too full of violence and anger, she retreated permanently into the laboratory, allowing in only two assistants: Keith and America, both of whom she had used her knowledge on to offer wings, in exchange for their silence and loyalty. Both of whom had agreed eagerly, in order to venture into this new frontier.
One by one, Malise had created new versions of bees grew larger, more violent. Not all remained under her control, and she had the ugly scars to prove it, but eventually she built a destructive creature that would obey her command. Then she made it bigger. And bigger. And bigger. So big it barely fit through the specially constructed exit built out of the very ground.
But out it flew, with Malise and her minions on the back. The improvements in the bee had not stopped at brainpower: armoured skin now stopped all the attacks the public, and then the army, could throw at it. Step by step, the bee simply flattened the city, and moved onto the next.
In their respective places of power, world leaders were hastily conferencing, some advocating the use of nuclear weapons, others begging for the lives of those who would be harmed in the blast. Evacuation was too slow, the bee was too fast, and those safely tucked away in bunkers shook with fear as, one by one, the tv and radio stations stopped functioning and the outside world went deathly quiet.
On the surface, the dust from the rubble covered the world. In the midst of a ruined city sat a giant yellow bee, idly kicking at broken pieces of rock as it ambled aimlessly in circles.
In the centre of the idle circles were three figures. Two, their gossamer wings now covered in dust, knelt by a third.
Malise’s hands were hooked, her face twisted, her final moments spent clawing at her own throat, trying to breathe through the dust she had inhaled, the dust that had triggered the asthma so long dormant underground.
Prent Goes to Hollywood
I think this story can serve as proof of 3 things:
1) I have a really messed up and twisted mind.
2) Joe is a very bad influence on said mind.
3) There is nothing I can’t somehow make into a story…
Prent Goes to Hollywood
Once upon a time in the misty mountains, there lived a young panda by the name of Prent. He was a lively panda, but an unhappy one. The mountains bored him. He wanted excitement, buildings, food that wasn’t bamboo, something to see that wasn’t mist and rock.
One particularly bored day, he heaved a great sigh, went home to his parents and told them he was leaving home.
“But son, where will you go? Civilisation is no place for a panda.”
Prent shrugged, “I’ll find somewhere. Anywhere but here, that’s all I want. I love you guys, but I have to go.”
Prent packed the few things he owned, said some tearful goodbyes, and set off down the mountain. At first he hid from the people, stealing food where he could and listening to them talk. He had a gift for learning language, he discovered, and soon heard about a shining, wonderful place named America, where anything was possible – if only one could find a way to get there.
Prent smiled to himself. It sounded like just the sort of place he was looking for, but how to get there?
Prent picked himself up and walked through the country, taking good where he could, avoiding people, until he reached a place where planes flew, growling and roaring overhead.
The security in the airport was lax, and after listening to the luggage handlers to find the right plane, Prent was able to sneak into the cargo hold. The space was cramped, he had no food or water, and the flight seemed to take forever, but eventually the plane landed and Prent waited until all was quiet and, under cover of night, snuck out of the airport through a gap in the fence.
The streets were busy, even at night, but nobody seemed afraid of the large panda in their midst. On the contrary, the worst he got was some confused stares. Many came to shake his hand and tell him how real he looked. Some begged for photos, and Prent gladly posed, beginning to realise that they thought him a person in a panda costume.
Feeling safer with that knowledge, he strutted down the street, unaware that pictures and video of him was slowly appearing online.
***
Meanwhile on twitter:
***
As April, a known panda lover, hunted for the mysterious bear doing the rounds in LA, Prent was realising that things were more difficult than he had been led to believe. Food here was not left where he could take a little; some people were willing to pay him a tip to pose for a picture but nowhere near enough.
Eventually, exhausted and hungry, Prent crouched in a dark corner of an alley, and attempted to sleep.
“Hey!” a shout and a prod to the stomach woke him rudely.
“Uh?” he opened his eyes and looked up, groggy with sleep and hunger.
“Gerrout! My spot!” a dark figure shouted. The face was hidden by the position of the moon, but Prent had no trouble recognising the glint of a knife and scrambled to his feet, hands up. Backing to a safe distance, he turned and fled.
Too afraid to find another place to try and sleep, Prent kept moving until the sun rose, finding him shaking with hunger and exhaustion. People no longer smiled at him, asking for photos. Instead they avoided him, parents keeping children on the other side of them.
A suited man approached, eyeing him suspiciously. Too tired to do anything but stare, Prent was ready to give into anything.
“Hey bro, you don’t look so good, huh?”
Prent shook his head sadly, “It’s not like they said it was, here.”
Just then a small, excited whirlwind seemed to arrive, “HI! I found you! I love pandas. Can I-wait…you don’t look well, what happened?!”
“Guess my boy here didn’t really plan things out before coming to LA,” the man said, eyeing the new woman with some small aggression.
“Your boy? You know this guy?” the woman asked Prent, who shook his head.
“I don’t know anyone.”
“Well now you do, I’m April. C’mon, let’s get that costume off and some food down you, ok?”
Prent shifted his weight a little and whispered, “It’s not a costume.”
“What?” April and the man asked in unison.
“I’m really a panda,” Prent confessed, tugging at his head to show it was attached.
April grinned broadly, “Well…I… Fuck, that’s awesome! C’mon, we still need to get you fed.”
Prent nodded and trailed meekly after her, the man following on behind uninvited.
***
Once fed, Prent felt a lot better. He smiled at April, “Thanks.”
“OK…so, so many questions. Uh – but not right now. OK, what else do you need?” April asked eventually.
The man scoffed, “How ‘bout a zoo, if you’re a real panda?”
April scowled, “Shut up. Panda – wait. What’s your name? Do you have one?”
“Prent. My name. And I guess, a job? So I can live somewhere and eat food and stuff.”
April nodded and frowned, deep in thought.
The man cleared his throat, “My name’s Nelson, by the way. And I have a job for you, buddy. See, I make these films – they’re…they make people happy. And I think I could use a strapping young panda like yourself.”
“Wait, what?” April started. “Films that make people-you make porn?! You are not putting Prent into porn!”
Nelson smiled nastily, “And I suppose you have a job you can offer my friend, here? Look, Prent, it’s a stopgap, ok? Something to keep you going for now – even comes with a place to sleep. And if young April here is so eager for you to be safe, maybe she can come along and join in, make sure we’re treating you right.”
“WHAT!!” April gaped at Nelson. “Fuck you, no way. Prent, look, there’s always something, and-“
“And sometimes that something is having sex with hot women for a while,” Nelson nudged Prent in the shoulder. “Waddya say, buddy?”
Prent looked apologetically at April, then nodded to Nelson, “OK. But just until I can find something better.”
“Nooooo – no, fuck that!” April leapt to her feet. “Prent, don’t do this.”
Prent shrugged in defeat, “I got nothing else. But maybe if you came along…”
Nelson winked at her and led Prent away.
“I-I can’t-I don’t-…Shit.” April kicked the ground and followed after.
***
Later, on twitter:
Project Openness: The Imp of the Perverse
The usual trigger warnings apply – depression, self-harm, etc.
Years ago I read Edgar Allen Poe’s short essay/story in which he first talked about and then illustrated something he called the ‘Imp of the Perverse’.
If you’ve ever stood atop a cliff or a high building and looked down, wondering what it would be like to jump. If you’ve ever looked at a loved one and entertained the notion of flattening them with a punch, just because you could. If you’ve ever looked at a bottle of pills and wondered what would happen if you simply took a handful or two. If you’ve ever sat at your job and pictured the response if you threw everything up in the air and walked out. If you’ve ever held a lighter and dared yourself to set light to something…
All these and more are the product, says Poe, of the Imp. It is essentially the part of our brain which wants to act without consequence, just to experience, to see, to find out what would happen if…
Fortunately our brains have a check to counteract this Imp: impulse control, logic, things which throw down a breaker and ensure we generally don’t do these things. Not that we can’t ignore and do them anyway, but that we don’t do it without thought. Impulsive action for most of us isn’t really impulsive, some form of consideration has happened in order for us to turn off the bit which wishes to prevent us doing something stupid.
But not everyone has that counter, or has one that works properly. Some people ignore it into fairly conscious self-destruction, but I don’t mean them. I mean people like me, whose self-destructive impulses kick in against my will, my common sense, my logic, everything. I’ll do things that I know are stupid, that I’ve done before and went badly, that I’m telling myself not to do. I’m a lot better at exerting some control than I used to be – my self-destruction is usually less destructive nowadays, but only because I can usually see it coming and will lock myself physically, mentally, socially, emotionally away from everybody and everything.
Doesn’t always work, doesn’t stop everything, but it’s the best I’ve managed. And to be fair, it’s been some time since I did more than drink myself into a stupor – something I’ll occasionally choose to do because if I don’t then I’ll do something else which will hurt me worse.
The worst times are, of course, the two extremes of hypermanic and depressed: and worst of all is when I’m managing to contradict all logic by being both at the same time.
Depression. Yeah….
When the depression hits, it’s like solid matter. Even when I get warning, or I know something is going to trigger it – it’s still a bit like running face first into a wall.
Trying to explain it or talk about it is pretty much impossible when in the middle. When the most functional thing I can do is stare into space and try not to let myself get swallowed by the yawning chasm inside my own head, there’s nothing going to come out of my mouth (or keyboard) that is going to do anything but cause anyone who cares to worry a lot.
Once, in this level of depression, I used a razor to slice into a vein in my wrist. Not because I was trying to commit suicide or anything – I simply decided that I wanted to know how it would look and feel, and ignored everything in my head that suggested it maybe wasn’t necessary that I find out right at that moment.
Once, I smoked so much weed that I threw up blood.
Once, I drank so much I could barely move for 3 days.
I could keep this list going for a long time, but you get the idea. I will attempt to destroy myself, to punish myself, to do anything to make the emptiness stop, to escape from my own head.
I’m afraid of myself, a lot. I’m afraid of the things I’m willing to do. I do have some tools, that’ve taken years to build up, but which usually get in the way of me doing anything really bad.
The people I love, the stuff I do that I love, the people and things that give me drive and joy, they’re always there – I surround myself with them, so everywhere I look I’m reminded.
I also have a list. I haven’t needed to use this for a while, but I had to rewrite it a few days ago. It’s a list of things which I must do first, before I’m allowed to do any of the bad things I want to do. So I keep a copy of that around everywhere – walls, bag, pocket, phone, etc. Everything on the list is something that’s good – and sandwiched between them each is a command that I find/do/say something nice to/for someone I care about because that way I’m still connected, even when I’m going through a level of hell that I refuse to actually share with them.
But man, that Imp.
Imagine sitting, in total blackness, total emptiness. Imagine that your legs are dangling over a ledge, and that below you there is nothing but darkness. If you fell down there, you might fall into nothing forever.
Imagine things buffeting you, trying to make you fall in, but you brace back and refuse to be moved. You stay put, on pure stubbornness.
Then imagine the buffeting stops. Total silence. Total emptiness. It feels like it’ll go on forever. It tears at your head, your heart. It hurts so much to feel that emptiness that you can’t even cry out with the pain.
Then imagine that Imp. A single whisper. “What if…”
Keeping myself from leaping into that pit is one of the hardest things I do. Even now it’s mostly stubbornness that stops me. That emptiness, it’s like a blanket, a veil. It covers up everything. I don’t stop loving, but I feel like do. I don’t stop wanting to live, but I don’t remember why. All I want is for the darkness to go away – and I’ll do anything to make that happen. No matter how much logic and experience tells me it does lift – the same logic and experience tells me it will come back again. As will the hypermanic. The self-harm urges. All of it – no matter how well they balance my meds over the next few months, it will never go away, I will always be waiting for it to return, for the meds to stop working or to require a change in treatment just because more life happened, and it changed things a bit.
I will never be free. I will never be sure of who I am. I will never stop being afraid of myself, afraid of what happens if I don’t catch myself in time, if I run out of stubbornness. One day I might jump into that pit.
It sounds so simple to just write it down. “Don’t jump into the pit, stupid!”
But the fact that I want to. To stop the pain, to stop the emptiness. Or even just to see what it would be like. That I’ve not yet taken that leap, actually kind of amazes me. It’s just the sort of thing that I’d do. But that right there, my fear of myself is the main thing that is stopping me from jumping – it creates the level of stubborn that I need. It’s a contradiction, it really shouldn’t work – and knowing that doesn’t really help, because I’m waiting for it to fall apart. Waiting for that remaining thread to break.
Staring into total darkness, and knowing that it’s what lives inside my own head – that all the horrible things are still me. Knowing that even if I don’t leap into the pit, don’t self-harm, don’t do any of the other things – I can still sabotage my life without even realising it. Simply by being unable to leave the house due to paranoia, panic, danger risk, depression, etc: I’m in danger of failing out of Uni after working so hard for 4yrs.
Sometimes I think the only reason to stay alive is to keep punishing myself. Because simply by struggling like this, I deserve it. Keep me alive: keep me suffering.
All the voices in my head belong to me, and I know they lie – logically I do. But I can’t stop it. I know what’s going on, and that makes it worse, because I’m helpless against whatever my brain has decided to do to me today.I’m never going to be free.
I’m never going to be a whole, complete person.
I’m always going to struggle with my illnesses.
But that doesn’t mean I don’t find good things, things that make me happy, and strong. It doesn’t mean I can’t make a difference, somehow. I put a lot of unhappiness into the world – something I can’t help, something I can’t stop.
My mission every day is that I will make one person smile, somehow, no matter what horrible stuff is going on in my own head. It may not be ground-breaking, but it’s one small thing, and each small thing has wings. Changing the world of one person into a place where they were made to smile: that changes the world. Touching one person, showing them they’re not alone: that changes the world.
Maybe I’ll never do anything big, anything great – but I can do that. I can fight the horrible stuff inside myself, because I can give something to someone else that seems small and unimportant, something they’ll forget in a few minutes: something most of them will never realise is a really big deal for me to find a way to do, because that’s what helps keep me from going total self-destruct.
It’s only little, but it’s a purpose: and that’s something.
Interview: Rudes Tamalas of Hound Comics
Hound Comics is an indie company that is definitely worth paying attention to. They’ve grown since their inception to encompass a large variety of style, genre and media, with a strong base in fan relations. Highly recommend checking them out, and I’ll be talking to a few of them over the next few months, so stay tuned.First into the gauntlet is the multi-talented Rudes Tamalas, who kindly answered a few questions for me. Take a minute to read, and admire some of his artwork.
1) Introduce yourself – what should we know about who you are and what you do?
Hi, names Rudes Tamales. I am a comic book penciler, colorists, inker, and letterer…basically a one stop shop. I can draw in just about any style requested. I have been drawing since I was a kid. I got into comic books when I was 19 and have been doing it ever since.
2) Tell us a little about your current project(s) – what are you up to at the moment?
Well, I just recently completed the penciling for Critical Mass with Hound Comics. It was recently released to the public earlier this year. I am currently working on a few projects with Hound Comics (Kids Coloring Book, and weekly web comic). Recently I have been added to Mercenary Art Studio as well and am working on some Iron Man Cards and Pinup Girl Cards, they will be released later on this year. I run a weekly script for my local newspaper in town. On the side I am working on my Batman “Bombs Away” script, that I wrote myself. Progress can be found on this link, this will also lead you to the majority of my art and what I have to offer as an artist.
3) How did you get into what you’re doing at the moment – where did you start, and how did it lead you here?
Like I said before I have been drawing since I was young. I’ve always loved super heroes and telling stories. I started learning the basics on anatomy, perspective, buildings, and animals. I basically, had to find out how I could draw anything and everything imaginable. Overall, I dedicate most of my time making my art better
4) With the ever-increasing number of people out there – tell us why you’re one of those we should be paying attention to?
I’m pretty adaptable, flexible, and can land any style that is requested. Meaning, I don’t stick to just one look as an artist, I keep my horizons open and I don’t allow myself to be blocked in on one style.
5) What projects have you got under your belt, before this one?
I’m still getting my name out there. Hound actually gave me my first project “Critical Mass”. Before this project, I was just studying, drawing, and practicing.
6) And what’s coming up in the future – what can we look out for and be excited about?
The Hound Coloring book, Hound Weekly Web Comic, Merc Pinup cards, and weekly posts on my FB account.
So there you have it – keep an eye on Hound’s website, twitter and facebook, and on Rudes for some good things to come!
Alice’s Eyes: FAQ / Story so far
Working on the final version of this – shout if you have any requests for clips/gifs/images you’d like to see, or if you have any improvements.
All the clips are also currently living in a playlist right here, if you want to just watch them.
First up – what’s it all about? Alice’s Eyes was a Live Streaming Interactive Narrative Story, brought to you by the Immerverse. The way to do this is to join in with the story, and talk to the guys on cam from where the main stream and chat is at aliceseyes.com. It makes the most sense if you just go with it and join in!
If you missed this one, don’t worry – there’s plenty more cool stuff on the way, and you can read and watch everything here to see what happened durnig the week-long Alice’s Eyes show.
Norm Addams owns Alice’s Eyes, named after his wife who died Feb 8th 2012. His tumblr seems to suggest that he hopes to catch a glimpse of her through his “new eyes” – the cameras he has set up in the basement.
Day One – Friday 8th
At 12pm pst on Feb 8th, Harriett and John go down to the basement of the b&b because Harriett wants to light a candle and pay her respects, before they go out hiking. The door is locked behind them and they are trapped.Over the next few hours: Norm tweets a lot @immerverse, denying that anyone was down there, saying he’d checked, etc, repeatedly.
Escape attempts are made.
John becomes more and more hostile.
The shrine to Alice, when touched, starts turning lights off and on, there are banging sounds, bells, other noises when Alice’s named is chanted, and she seems to respond to Harriett.
John repeatedly blames Harriett for their presence down there – and for anything else he can think of – much to the displeasure of the chatters, whom he occasionally directs his wrath at as well as they try to help Harriett.
Harriett took the advice of the chatters and started to stand up for herself, eventually.
They had a big fight, when Harriett confessed that her first husband, Brian – John’s brother – died of a heart attack right after she told him she and John had been sleeping together. John decided he wanted to call the ghost of Brian, and began trying to force Harriett to chant with him.
During this, John became very aggressive – though not physically violent, Harriett began to fight back – with some physical efforts – and at one point shoved him back from her, causing him to fall, hit his head on the workbench, collapse foaming at the mouth, and die.
Harriett followed instructions from chatters to attempt recovery, cpr, etc, and eventually was forced to move the body from the middle of the floor to underneath one of the cameras.
She went slowly more and more loopy, from shock etc, and possibly being drugged by the food/water left there.
While she slept, pretty much passed out, Norm came down a couple of times.
He was very creepy – licking her face and touching her hair, he seemed very surprised to see the chatters, and very upset that Alice may have been communicating with others. He also said the door was open, he hadn’t locked it, and suggests then on his tumblr that he thinks Alice is locking people in there because they don’t show enough love to each other.
Day Two – Sat 9th
After Harriett woke, while she was in the bathroom, another couple came downstairs, seemingly directed there by Norm who told them it was a way through to the garden for the beginning of the day’s hike.
Harriett, terrified, came out of the bathroom swinging a heavy paint can, and in self-defense was killed by Janet with a plunger.
Janet and Mark: now locked in, Mark with a possible concussion or at least some other serious head injury from being hit in the face.
Escape attempts: a grate in the bathroom seems the most promising, but after some hours trying to chip through what may be the outer wall, nothing.
Janet seems to be on some serious medication, including something given for coming off of opiates, and is very panicky when Mark is down the tunnel under the grate. Alice at one point seems to have thrown her some sweets.
Mark is angry and frustrated and struggling to connect with the chatters, much as John did, and when he is angry the Alice-connected noises resume at full volume.
Janet is desperate enough to try and bribe Norm with a diamond necklace and her wedding ring to let them out.
Norm responds on twitter that he is not interested.
Mark is very angry about this, and eventually is forced to confess that he lost his job some months ago and has been hiding this from wife Janet.
Arguing ensues.
In the midst of this, Norm revealed on facebook that the police had been there, and he had shown them the other basement, and he finally admitted on facebook & twitter that there were people in this basement.
Looking through the notes left at the shrine of Alice, Janet finds a note in Latin: visita interriora terroe rectificando invienes occultu.
Which translates to: visit the interior of the earth and rectify/purify the hidden stone.
There’s a decent explanation of it on this masonic website.
Turnign it into a metaphor, chatters seemed to agree it was about finding the dark place within oneself – or potentially their relationship – and trying to get out the other side.
Mark mostly sat at the back and scoffed at the whole thing.
Door has briefly opened a couple of times but slammed straight shut again.
Norm made some sarcastic-sounding comments on twitter, which led Janet back down into the grate to see if anything could be done.
He also said, when asked if he knew what Alice was planning to do, that he’d never been able to control her.
After a lot of talk on twitter, Norm turned up to watch the tinychat to see if he can find the “real love” he’s apparently looking for in these couples.
Janet & Mark were gassed and collapsed, unconscious. Norm came in and moved them so they were cuddling in their sleep and covered them. He ferociously cleaned Alice’s photos, and half a kind of half-dialogue with the chatters. Mostly repeating earlier things – the door isn’t locked by him, etc. He also answered some qs on tumblr, and messed with Janet’s pills.
He hovered over them for a while with a pillow, looking like he was going to suffocate them – but eventually he just put it underneath their heads.
Day Three – Sun 10th
They sleep, they wake – Mark’s headache is worse rather than better.
Janet is hiding in the bathroom.
Norm tweets about the day’s hike – to begin at 12:15. The last two days, that’s when he’s got someone else down to the basement…but Norm sends nobody. Possibly because they are both still alive.
Day passes. Some fighting, som separations, a lot of frustration and anger.
Mark confesses to Janet that he didn’t love her, just her money and her family.
Janet sits astride him and force-feeds him soup, then shoves the spoon into the back of his throat and kills him.
Alice(?) begins banging loudly and doesn’t stop for a long time.
Janet eats peaches with the bloody spoon, whilst smearing her face with the blood, and pretty much goes insane.
She later finds a note that Mark had written, saying that they’d be ok and he loves her, they’d work things out, which he’d written to her after chatters had helped him open up a little while she was down in the grate. After this, she pretty much gives up and starts talking about the pocture frame (with Alice’s picture) being sharp, she smears blood all over this too. She eventually begins asking us to talk to Norm and get him to come onto the tinychat camera from his upstairs computer. While waiting, chatters play her some music down their mics.
Eventually, after some prodding, Norm enters the tinychat and, to the sound of Yazoo – Only One, Janet drinks cleaning fluid and dies. Norm looks shocked, sad, and calm. He does nothing.
A short while later, Norm arrives in the basement and his daughter Wendy visits his website to see if there are any clues as to why she hasn’t heard from her father, and appears on cam in the tinychat. There is some discussion, one person in chat attempts to tell her the rest are all in on some sort of plot, but she is worried enough to say she’s on her way over.
Norm hurriedly covers the cameras and, by the sound of it, begins trying to clean the basement.
Chatters attempt to explain the pointless of this, and then to find ways of showing Wendy the truth and choose not to mention the problem of the smell and the smear of blood remaining on his face. But they are concerned that Wendy may be next to be locked in.
Day Four – Monday 11th
Wendy arrives, turns off Norm’s cam on tinychat.
She appears in the basement, and gets somewhat bombarded with people trying to shout at her about everything at the same time. All she can think of is her dad, who she can’t find, so she eventually goes off to look for him.
8am Wendy returns to the basement and began to engage with the chatters. This time most seemed willing to let a couple of people speak, and they worked to explain what had been happening, showed Wendy some of the videos via the tinychat cams, so she could see the couples, and some of the deaths, and Norm cleaning up.
A lot of talking, Wendy has looked everywhere for Norm – Alice’s grave, any places he might go, hospitals, hotels, etc. The police can do nothing until he’s been gone for 24hrs. We had no new suggestions as to where Norm might be.
A chatter suggests she leave him a video message, which she does, tearfully.
Wendy did give a tearful appeal to him, to contact her, that they would work things out, all was forgiven, which made most of the chatters cry too.
With some gentle prodding, Wendy revealed that she is fairly sure Norm euthanised Alice, as she was dying of cancer, but that she is certain Alice would never have asked him to do that. She feels incredibly guilty about not being around more – she said she was at school, but it is probably also that she simply wasn’t able to face seeing her mother like that, so feels she is to blame for what she thinks Norm did, that she should have been there to stop it.
She seems to have listened to everything we said. A lot of it she, understandably, doesn’t want to deal with or take in yet, but I think she’s heard everything. We’ve established that Nom’s car is not there, so he could be anywhere. It’s possible he has taken away the bodies in it.
11am or just after, Wendy decides to make her way home, to see if Norm tries to contact her there. We all wish her love and hope she finds him, and never has to see us again.
2pm a new couple arrives. They don’t realise they’re locked in for some time – they seem to be getting to know each other, and are preoccupied and flirting. They can’t see or hear the chatters.
They eventually find themselves locked in and find us on tinychat. Names: Heidi and Sam. We go through the process of filling them in on the basics as well as we can. They’re pretty responsive, but already tense and frustrated – for obvious reasons.
However, being new to each other means they don’t have the built-up issues. They ignore the chatters a lot just to talk – which we fully encourage. They seem to be getting on, but we didn’t hear from Norm yet.
Sam connects with the musicians in chat, sharing music thoughts, etc.
Heidi asks the chatters what they think of Sam while’s he’s not there, seems to be reluctant and almost tells them something, but changes her mind. She asks them a lot about love and marriage.
Sam and Heidi use the ouija board Norm brought down there:
At no-one:
Q) What should we do right now? A) Yaw
Q) Where is Heidi? A) Herf
At Alice:
Q) Who is with us? A) I am
Q) What is your name, ‘I’? A) Alice
Q) What do we need to know? What can you tell us to help us get out of here? A) Help Me.
This creeps them both out, and they put the board away. But a chatter tells them they should have ‘closed the session’ which freaks them out even more, so they get the board out to do as suggested and say goodbye.
They talk a lot, make half-assed attempts at playing games, dancing to music that chatters play. Heidi asks Sam out to dinner when they get out. They kiss for the first time.
While kissing, the door opens to reveal Jeremy, Heidi’s actual boyfriend, who attacks and eventually beats Sam to death with a wrench.
Jeremy seems fairly calm about what he did, Heidi refuses to stay still, freaking out, and they fight, but she then cleans the blood off him and they seem to get on reasonably well., if unhappily, and Heidi calms down somewhat. She seems to allow Jeremy to be affectionate, without returning most of it – and is especially unhappy with his crude remarks.
10.30pm-approx They managed to stay fairly calm for some time, but then Heidi reveals that she had also had a thing with Jeremy’s best friend, Brett. They shout a lot, ignore the chatters trying to stop them and help. It looks more positive when they sit down and seem to calm down, until Jeremy begins throwing things at her, then attacks, beats her bloody and smothers her with a pillow.
He eventually sits back by the laptop, but staring blankly around, not very responsive.
As he begins to talk again, and we suggest he rests, he is gassed and goes unconscious.
Norm comes down and hovers over Jeremy with a saw, but decided not to.
Veronica holds up a tablet with the video of Wendy, and then tries to play him the section where she leaves him a message – he must see and hear it, but he doesn’t respond.
He puts back the saw and hammer Jeremy had out for weapons, cuts himself on the saw, and leaves again.
Day Five
Jeremy seems to be reasonably calm, chatters are keeping him distracted from what he’s done and focussed on running if the door should open.
He mentions that the gas smelled like lilacs – some research shows that it may be something called Xylyl bromide.
9am-ish Hanna and Quinn, enter – exploring the grounds – and Jeremy escapes. We hope he has gone to the police, but as he’s killed two people down there, he may simply have run.
Hanna is 2 months pregnant.
Quinn confesses to chatters that they’ve been having some problems, starting to fall apart, which is why he brought them to the b&b.
Hanna talks to us about feeling like they are growing apart and maybe need to allow that to happen.
The lights flicker a few times, go out a couple of times. At one point a baby begins to cry. Hanna and Quinn hug and get close. The baby seems to respond to this by laughing.
Norm on twitter is not happy that I keep talking to him about his daughter. So I plan to keep doing so.
Quinn has a pretty bad cough and doesn’t seem well, which worries us all somewhat.
Some wine and coke are thrown into the room with a note:
“Accept what life offers you and try to drink from every cup. All wines should be tasted; some should only be sipped, but with others, drink the whole bottle.”– Paulo Coelho
Quinn proceeds to drink the wine, and after no food it seems to hit him quickly. They fight about his drinking.
Hanna feels unwell, so rests. Quinn talks to us about how he loves her, she’s his muse, the last few months where they’ve struggled have been so hard, but he has hopes for the baby.
Quinn goes to the bathroom after Hanna wakes, and she tells us some of her worries and hopes for them both.
3pm Quinn returns, and continues drinking while Hanna goes to the bathroom.
The candle on Alice’s shrine is relit by Quinn setting fire to the note from earlier and using that.
It is clear by now that Jeremy has not gone to the police.
Quinn seems to be getting angry with the wine, or at least more emotional. He sings a little, talks about the baby and Hanna. When Hanna returns, she is unhappy that he still drinking. Arguing ensues. It gets pretty heavy, Quinn becomes aggressive and in denial.
Fight escalates slowly, the “Alice” noises begin again. They stop listening to the chatters trying to help… This is getting to be familiar territory. Although they do seem to calm down a little, and Quinn lets out everything he’s been hoarding up, but without shouting.
He calms down a little, and exits to the bathroom.
A long conversation ensues in which Hanna expresses her doubts over staying with Quinn, especially with the baby coming. His drinking problems which come with aggression, and some other things together but mostly the drinking, make her feel she wants to leave him, for the sake of her and the baby. But she also feels she can’t raise the baby alone, so began considering termination.
Chatters offered all their support to her, whatever she does, so she wouldn’t be alone, and suggest adoption if necessary – but assure her she would be a good mother.
Quinn returns, a little more sober now, regretful, and listening to the chatters who explain the problems to him. He wants to get better – confesses he makes promises and breaks them, does things he said he wouldn’t do, doesn’t know how much more she’ll be able to forgive.
He really opens up, asks for advice on what he can do to make things better, seems to really listen and accept what chatters are saying.
5pm Hanna wakes, and Quinn opens up to apologise. Asks for the chance to become the man she deserves and the father the child deserves, and promises never to drink alcohol again, because he finally sees that he has a problem.
They hug and tentatively make up. There is doubt about Quinn’s vicious cycle, but he asks for help.
5.15-ish As chatters talk to Hanna, Wendy appears back in the tinychat room. She sees the people in the basement, asks if we’ve seen Norm. She is told that the video message she left was shown to him, and that chatters have tried to ask him to contact her – but he either ignores, or gets angry.
She is fruatrated, because she has a very busy week, but agrees to drive the two hours to open the basement, and see if Norm is in the b&b.
We pass this on to Hanna & Quinn when they fix the crashed tinychat, and they cheer, hug, etc, the mood lifts and the waiting ensues.
Hanna goes to the bathroom. Quinn picks up another bottle of wine, we encourage him to pour a little out for the dead, which he does. But he begins to smell the wine and struggle, the tinychat crashes as we try to encourage him. He looks like succeeding, but gives in and takes a sip, then starts to chug it.
Chatters try to get Quinn to stop, but he’s already the bastard that he knows he becomes, and has given up, just keeps drinking. Hanna comes out, they have a huge fight and Quinn goes to drink the rest of the wine in the bathroom. He comes out drunk and aggressive, and decides to check the bodies. He feels Sam is cold, but Heidi is warm.
We encourage him to get a reflective surface, Hanna hands him something and he goes to wash it.
Heidi wakes up in a terrified panic, and begins stabbing him in the stomach with something that’s unclear, but that might be a plunger again, or something like a poker. Quinn collapses to the floor, screaming and holding himself in.
Hanna attacks Heidi with a broom.
Hanna tries to stop the bleeding, but Quinn dies, after giving his final words of love and regret.
Hanna listens to chatters enough to check Heidi is dead, which she seems to be, and moves Quinn’s body off camera, to keep his dignity.
Wendy arrives but the door is still locked. She looks for Norm, but can’t find him. Goes again to look for a key, and enters the basement,
Hanna has been gassed, and is unconscious. Wendy sees the 3 bodies, and freaks, asking if Hanna is dead too. We reassure her about the gas, that Hanna will wake up again.
Wendy goes into a full-on panic attack. The sound on her end is awful, but people manage to calm her down by typing etc.
Wendy goes into total shock, however, and even though the sound returns, she isn’t hearing us talk: she fixates on cleaning the blood and refuses to listen for some time. She wants to help Norm, and doesn’t want to leave Hanna, and though she listens to the chatters, she doesn’t respond very well.
She picks up the yellow hammer that we’ve seen off and on. Still refusing to leave the basement, because people died after she didn’t believe us before, and she doesn’t want this to happen to Hanna. She seems to say that she will kill her with the tool, rather than leave her alone there. She is very agitated and upset, and finding it difficult to focus and listen but adamant that she will not leave Hanna.
Eventually she kneels and tries to talk to Alice, apologising, tearfully asking her to help Hanna.
Wendy leaves a note, with a cute bear that she wants to give to Hanna (although it has blood on it), and goes for help, leaving Hanna with a hammer as a weapon, covering Quinn so Hanna doesn’t have to see him, and apologising to him.
She gets the names of Sam and Heidi, and says goodbye and sorry to them too. She dallies a while, making sure we will be there, getting advice on what to do if she runs into Jeremy (run, keep away, stay alive at all costs to get help for Hanna).
She talks to her Dad – she loves him but will hurt him if she has to. We tell her again, go and be safe, and she leaves.
10pmNorm returns briefly, goes frantic and leaves. Shortly later he returns again. He still doesn’t seem to see or hear us. Sings to himself a lot – though we can’t tell what. He says to – Alice we assume – “If that’s what you want” a few times, shouts “I want to see you” a few more times, and resumes singing. He mutters some more, we catch “Precious” and him saying “I won’t hurt anyone.”
Suddenly yells a couple of times “You can’t ask me to do that!!”
Seems to be arguing with the voices in his head, then giggling “You can’t make me do it.”
Continues muttering, we catch some:
“Didn’t do anything.” “They did it to themselves.”
He starts laughing hysterically, then cries.
More muttering – [he and Alice] are different to others because they have the capacity for true love, unlike anyone else in the universe, finding the other half of yourself, imagine finding the one perfect fit, how it would save you, make you strong, then imagine having it ripped away, like half your body taken away, you still feel them but they’re not there, phantom pain. Does he have to die to? Take his life to be with her again?
He keeps holding his shoulder, as he has done all along, but looking more and more pained.
“I never was very good at computers” – laughing
He really seems to be like two different people.
Alice was good at computers. He was so lucky to find someone as amazing as her.
He finds the handcuffs and starts laughing. He reaches in the bag at the back, and removes a feather boa and a teddy, bear, which he gives to the still-unconscious Hanna. He seems to be trying to choke himself with the boa, but as soon as he goes weak, of course, he can’t hold it.
He begins typing, still talking to himself and listening to the voices.
He goes to Hanna, looks like he is going to strangle he with the boa, but instead tucks it around her and tickles her with it.
He takes the wine opener, but as he looks about to stab her with it, he cries in pain and grabs his shoulder again. He drops the wine opener and throws some things around.
He tells Hanna, “You’re lucky. If you weren’t pregnant, if you didn’t have a baby… You don’t deserve love.”
He takes a hammer and stands over Hanna, looking as if he wants to plunge it into her stomach, but she moves. Beginning to stir, she scares Norm. He runs to the door, claps at her a few times, but she doesn’t wake. He takes the teddy and puts it by Hanna’s face, then leaves.
12pm Hanna is awake. There is noise at the basement door, but it doesn’t seem to be Wendy returning.
12.30pm Jeremy suddenly returns, with Richard his younger brother. He starts shouting “What are these bodies, what did you do?”, pulls a cleaver from his belt and attacks. Hanna fights back with the plunger, Richard attempts to intervene but is shoved aside. Chatters try to shout at Hanna to get out, but she can’t hear.
Jeremy sustains a deep cut to the thigh when Hanna gets hold of the cleaver for a moment, but he punches her down and eventually beats her to death with a paint can
The door locks again, and they are stuck.
Jeremy later seems to suggest to his brother that he killed Hanna because she had seen too much.
Over tinychat cams, Richard is shown the videos of Jeremy attacking Heidi and Sam. Jeremy is not happy about this, but can barely move to argue.
Richard freaks, panics, is angry and upset, and trying hard to stay under control.
Chatters suggest putting Jeremy out of his misery, Richard says no.
They talk, Jeremy says he knows he will pay for what he did. Richard, sobbing, has no idea what to do.
Richard picks up the tine of notes, says he and his wife Susan had left a note in it, after staying there on their anniversary.
Chatters tell Richard Wendy should be returning with help. This gives Richard some hope that Jeremy won’t bleed to death.
We establish that Susan has been asleep, but should come looking once she wakes.
We help Richard try and stop the bleeding by elevating Jeremy’s leg and using a belt as a tourniquet.
While waiting, the brothers sing a little, eat, talk to the chatters, etc.
3.30pm Richard, after helping Jeremy to the bathroom and being gone for a while, runs back in, flustered, shouting for Jeremy to “hang on”, then runs back out again.
They stagger back in, Jeremy clearly not doing well. Richard has cleaned the wound, but Jeremy is bleeding out again.
4pm Chatters talk Richard through re-tightening the tourniquet, heating a chisel in the space heater, and cauterising the wound. Richard manages to drop the chisel on Jerem’ys leg wound…
But they continue. Jeremy tears the head off Peter, the teddy bear that he is biting down on, but the operation succeeds.
The bleeding is stopped, Richard shortly passes out on the floor and Jeremy quiets down beside him. Richard wakes up a few minutes later.
5.30pm Jeremy dies quietly of his wound. Richard loses it for a while, tries to strangle himself with the tourniquet belt, but eventually is calmed down by chatters, who assure him his is a good man, he did everything he could, and remind him that Jeremy would want him to survive, and he has his wife Susan on the outside of the basement, who needs him back. He covers Jeremy, sings a song to him, and moves him off camera.
7.45pm Richard starts to use the ouija board, asking questions. Alice seems to invite him to talk to her, so he asks@
Q) Did you love Norm as much as he loved you? A) Yes
Q) How did you die? A) In pain
Q) Did Norm help you escape this pain? A) No
Q) Is Wendy responsible for your death? A) A bell rings
Q) Same question A) She loved me
Q) Who is keeping the door shut? A) An innkeeper
Speculation again about Norm’s seeming split personalities/schizophrenia
From twitter, “Nice” Norm really seems to be unsure of what’s happening, why they haven’t spoken in so long, but does remember talking to her in tinychat earlier in the week.
Last question to Alice:
Q) Is it you that Norm is listening to? A) Himself
8.45pm Norm posts an event flyer on Facebook and Twitter:
The play seems to be one where two actors can take the show, unrehearsed and unplanned, as they sit next to each other and read out letters which tell their story from childhood to death. The play can vary greatly, and there are many different versions – but there may be a running theme in that the ending is tragic (in the classical not-a-happy-ending sense). It seems to resonate with the chatters around Norm and the events we’ve witnessed, and we are all pretty worried about what’s going to happen.
9.30pm Richard is gassed and falls unconscious, fortunately on the mattress he has recently readied himself. He is limping, seeming to have injured himself moving Jeremy’s body off-cam.
Moments later a Dr Crane appears in the tinychat, via the main website. She is Norm’s doctor (we presume of a psychiatric type, though she rightfully declines to elaborate). She mentions a “group” a couple of times, however, so we can continue to infer from that. She is clearly aware that something is wrong, is worried about not having seen Norm for “3 Tuesdays” now – says she was worried about him this week especially, due to the anniversary of Alice’s death. She is aware of his illness – and while, again, she can’t elaborate on what she knows, chatters tell her what they’ve seen and come to suspect about his different personalities and mental state. She is also given a brief idea of what’s been happening since Friday, and this timeline is given to her, in the hopes that she can see, and use what’s in it to help Norm.
She is made aware that people have died – and though not at Norm’s hands, he has come closer and closer to doing the violence himself – and that someone is currently trapped in the basement.
She says she will try and get over to the B&B as soon as possible – and chatters ask her to be careful, bring someone with her, make sure she is safe, because Norm’s violent side is so unpredictable.
She asks if I will keep updating this timeline, and I promise I will.
10.10pm Norm reappears on the tinychat webcam. Seemingly looking for something, but as usual, not speaking to us, but to himself – or to “Alice”. For a solid half hour, chatters try and talk to him. He definitely registers some of it – he switches personalities a few times, shouts – we think that “Wendy is not coming”, possibly once at us to shut up. Eventually, he goes away, moments later a lot more gas is sprayed into the basement as Richard stirs.
10.40pm Norm re-enters the basement, picks up the picture of Alice and gazes at Richard for a while. He doesn’t seem happy about the torn. bloody teddy which he’d given to Hanna and Jeremy had ripped up during the cauterisation.
He sits for a while, picks up some heart-shaped chocolate, then picks up the cleaver Jeremy brought in and seems to consider attacking Richard, but stops, sit down again, holds up a heart-shaped chocolate, bites into it – foil and all – then chokes on the foil and throws it away, angrily.
He gets up again and seems to check Richard’s pulse.
Richard begins to move and Norm leaves. He then returns, Richard has moved some more. Norm lifts up the blanket from Richard’s head, Richard moved and Norm bolts from the room in a blur.
Richard crawls to the bathroom.
Day 6
12pm Richard returns after waking up in the bathroom stumbled around, falls over, blows the bed back up, and is gassed again. Norm returns and gives him back the help sign Richard put through the door earlier, takes off his shoes and makes him more comfortable on the bed. He talks more to Alice, about how he planted her a tree one Valentines day, something that would last. He wants to see her, but everything is dark, and he seems to be losing her.
He screams “Alice!” and it seems to echo.
Norm leaves again.
3.15am Richard’s wife, Susan, arrives in the basement. Richard explains some of what happened, she looks confused, but comforts him. Checking the door, she finds they’re locked in. She tries to get him to sleep, but he begins apologising for everything and explaining as well as he can, and is insistent that she talks to the chatters, so logs back on, and then he goes to sleep.
Susan talks to the chatters for a while, and seems to focus very well on the idea that help may be coming, and thanks them tearfully for taking care of Richard, then goes to sleep by him.
9am Richard wakes and heads for the bathroom. Susan wakes a few moments later, and asks the chatters some questions about what happened, how Richard got down there, etc., and expresses concern that she won’t be able to help Richard deal with the death of his brother.
Richard returns, and Susan goes to the bathroom, returning with a paper rose she’s made for him.
The chat crashes, and when they come back most of the chatters on cam are suddenly wearing hats, which seems to amuse them.
10.30am-approx Going through the notes left in the tin, they find those written by the previous couples and set them around Alice’s lit candle. Susan can pick up the candle and the picture without any reaction from Alice – but Susan freaks a little whenever the idea of a ghost is mentioned.
11am Susan asks chatters to tell Norm she will trade her life for his, that as long a she gets out it doesn’t matter. Ricard returns in the middle of this and isn’t happy, but they talk – they don’t fight.
Susan remains unhappy at suggestions she use the ouija board with Richard, but reluctantly agrees.
Q) If you’re there, can you say hello. A) Hello
Q) Did the furry handcuffs belong to you? A) Yes
Q) Are we going to get out of here? A) Prove
11.30am They have a minute’s silence and pray for the dead.
12pm Norm appears in tinychat. Susan & Richard are crashed out and can’t get in, Richard gets frustrated and angry but Susan calms him down lovingly, and begins to talk to Norm on the other cameras. She speaks gently, with emotion and tears, and Norm seems to be listening.
Richard speaks too, but more angrily, because of his pain about losing Jeremy, he shouts and Alice begins making sounds. Richard apologises, both scared, and the banging stops. Richard calms, and begins to cry. Susan continues to appeal to Norm, from the heart.
Norm types backwards:
Jeremy is a murderer
My love is near
She will save me again
They hold the picture, to try and show him that Alice likes them, and he gets very angry and runs away from the tinychat cam. We warn them to be ready with rags, in case of gas, and to run if the door opens.
12.45pm Norm runs in and bolts out, leaving a plate with a piece of cheese cake on the floor. Suspecting it may be drugged, we try and say don’t eat it. Susan does anyway. They eat cheesecake every year on Valentines day, and have mentioned this.
They fight, Alice gets angry again, and they calm down. Richard asks her to vomit up the cheesecake, she refuses – wanting to prove to Norm that she trusts him. She tells Norm she doesn’t think he’ll hurt them and she won’t turn on Richard – who now eats some too. They thank him for the cheesecake, Richard goes to the bathroom.
Norm reappears on tinychat cam and Susan thanks him, Richard returns and thanks him too, for the cheesecake. Richard explains that he ate the cake because his wife trusts that he won’t hurt them, and Richard trusts her.
Susan puts the cake back by the door, telling Norm if he wants to come and get it, they won’t run. Richard agrees.
Norm types backwards again:
I never hurt anyone.
Richard and Susan kiss and hold each other. Then they decide to finish the cheesecake because he gave it to them.
Norm backwards:
TRUTH!!!!!!
Backwards on twitter:
lies are the eternal prison of the heart
Chat: Love cannot exist within the realm of secrets
John reminds Richard about how he asked us not to tell Susan after he told us about taking LSD in college, to get experience to write a story. Richard immediately tells all to Susan.
Susan accepts this, Richard is surprised she’s not mad.
Susan thinks there is something else, Richard denies it, but Susan insists, because she knows him and she can see it. “What is past is past, you cannot change it.”
Norm: Confession can ignite the fire of true love that lives deep within the soul.
Richard thinks she’ll leave, but Susan promises she won’t, over and over, and persuades him
As Norm reappears on cam, eating cheesecake. Richard says he will tell but he needs a moment.
Susan tells us she has something to tell him too.
Richard returns and, both sat in a situation reminiscent of the Love Letters play setup, he eventually tells Susan that he’s kept from her, since the start of their relationship, something personal. He reminds her of the time he brought the bad flowers and they went to get cheesecake and he walked her home, and were very cute and shy. He tells her he’s lactose intolerant – he always has to run to the bathroom and throw it up.
Norm jokes: The answer is cheesecake.
Susan is trying not to laugh at him. Chatters are…laughing.Susan whacks him on the shoulders and tells him he is dumb, in a loving way.
Norm is grinning at both of them happily.
Susan says she hit Richard because she loves him.
Norm, still smiling, leaves.
We encourage Susan to tell Richard whatever it is she has to say, and she goes to the bathroom to prepare herself.
Norm tweets: Love has the power to overcome all.
Susan asks Norm for help. Richard encourages her to just tell him.
She tells him it’s something that she doesn’t want to be real, and if she says it out loud it becomes real. Richard says, it’s already real, just tell him.
Norm: There can be no chance for a true union of souls until all shadows are enlightened.
Richard tries to help her – has she cheated on him? No. Neither of them ever have been unfaithful.
Susan gets up and seems to brace herself, then speaks.
When they met, on the very first day, they talked about what they wanted in their life, more than career, a house. She sees kids at the school she teaches at every day, sees them and their mum’s hugging them goodbye. She always thought she couldn’t wait until it was her, them, with their own baby. Knew something was wrong, thought she was pregnant, went to the doctors, and found out she can’t have kids. She’s know for months, but she couldn’t tell him.
All she’s ever wanted is, kids with him, but she can’t. She’s a woman, born to have kids, but she can’t. She wanted to tell him but could never find the right time.
They sit, mostly quietly, Susan apologising.
Richard gets upset, asking when she was gonna tell him – hut Susan repeats: whatever time she told him it would’ve been the worst day of their lives.
Norm: Rock a bye…
Chatters talk to Susan a lot, until she calms and starts to feel better.
Norm shows a picture of He, Alice and Wendy.
Richard returns and begins to shout, upset – but not blaming Susan.
They fight, Richard mutes the chatters.
He seems most upset that Susan didn’t trust him enough to tell him.
In the midst of this, Norm leaves the chat.
Richard says he didn’t want kids before he met her, but everything changed when she came into his life. He returns to talking about how she didn’t tell him, how much that hurt.
Richard fights really hard to calm himself down, and speaks more quietly. He wanted to have something that was his and Susan’s. He’s not sure what to do now if that’s not possible.
He gets louder again – it’s not a good time now, it’s never a good time. Susan agrees with him that he needed to know. they both apologise. Richard tells her it changes nothing – but his grief takes over again, asking if there is any chance, if something can be done. He apologises for walking out.
He gets mad at himself, and tells Susan to stay away from him, in case he does something, saying he should have killed himself when he had the chance, he’s so pathetic – can’t write, can’t save his brother, now can’t even have a kid, what good is he to anybody?
Susan stands helplessly while he sobs. He cries that he’s been a terrible husband, and Susan sits by him to reassure him and gently get him to hear her. They share guilt and apologies, and hold each other tightly. He says she can’t love him anymore, but she cries that she does and asks if he still loves her, repeating that she loves him until he seems to understand. He tells her she’s the only person and they embrace again.
Susan brings him to the laptop to show him chatter comments. Richard collapses on the floor (in the blood) – passed out again. Susan puts a blanket under his head as a pillow, and leaves some water by him.
Richard wakes up, fine as expected, they talk and laugh with each other.
Chatter Mike plays them a love song.
The couple become very close, Richard even giddy. Lots of laughter and love from all sides.
Richard picks up the broom and begins to mess with it, bangs begin and, scared, Susan accidentally knocks over Alice’s picture and break the frame. The bangs, bells and lights begin again. They apologise, things quieten down.
The baby begins to cry again, and more lights-out. It stops, but Richard’s anger seems to have reached a peak, and he begins to angrily try and talk to Norm – naming the dead people, saying none of them deserved to die, telling them to stop taunting them with the baby noises.
Susan steps forward, talks more gently, but reminds Norm what they’ve been through – that the chatters have seen it, people have died, there’s blood, but they know he didn’t hurt anyone, he can let them out. Norm needs to move to the future – their future and his. They’re gonna make a future, he chose to stay with her the way Norm chose to stay close to Alice through her cancer.
They talk to Norm a lot more, eventually get the ouija board.
Q) Alice, are you there? Say yes or say no. A) Lights flicker
Q) same A) Flickers, baby laughing, banging, bells.
Q) Is the baby because there is a child that needs them? A) Baby cries more.
Q) Can they help somehow? A) Banging. lights.
They’re sorry about the picture, they don’t know what else to do.
Q) Can they tell Norm something? A) Silence
Susan keeps Richard strong and calm as he starts to freak out.
Richard takes the broom, Susan the hammer, and they state that if this is what it all leads up to, this is where they die – together. They call Norm out. They aren’t fighting against Norm but for each other, cos they have a life to live outside of that place.
They tell him, they’re all tired he’s tired, all the people who’ve been watching are tired, but it’s time to end it.
Susan again keeps Richard together, they put down their weapons to hug. They tell the chatters – they’ve not stuck with them this whole time for nothing. They hold each other. If they’re gonna go, they’re gonna go together. They would die for each other.
Susan tries the door. Comes back, weapons down again, hugging.
They talk about being ready to die, for the life after this one, if they have to.
Lights and crying baby and banging. Susan tried to tell the baby to stop crying. Richard shouts for Norm. Richard tells Norm he can’t take Susan from him.
Lights go completely out, but the baby seems to hear Susan and laughs again.
Silence. A light from the door. The lights all return.
Chatters tell them to run.
They do!! They’re gone!!!
Norm appears, whistling, to clean up.
Wendy appears from behind the cameras and Norm, after chatters shout at him to turn around, sees her.
He can barely believe his eyes, can barely talk for a while. They go around in circles, Norm apologising, begging her to come back and stay with him; Alice saying she’s always been with him, that none of what happened was necessary.
He says how they used to help couples find true love together, only it didn’t work without Alice.
He apologises a lot.
Someone shouts his name a few times from off cam where the door is and after a couple of minutes, Dr Crane appears. She doesn’t see Alice, but she encourages Norm to talk to her and helps him. Dr Crane sits him down and walks him through the day Alice died. Norm confesses to euthanising her, and Alice tells him repeatedly that he saved her – put her out of the pain and torture.
Norm begins to talk about Wendy, how she never forgave him and he hasn’t seen her since. Dr Crane moves on, starting to taking him through what happened the last time he saw Wendy. Alice tells Norm again and again that he saved her. Eventually Dr Crane and Alice convince him that he needs to let her go. They make him say out loud a couple of times that he’s forgiven by Alice and himself, and needs to show her his love by letting her go so he can live an amazing life.
After a couple more tries, he tells Dr Crane that they had a fight about what he told her he needed to do to help Alice, and she hit him in the arm he’s been holding this whole time, then left in her car.
Later the police came: there was a car accident and Wendy had died.
Wendy appears from behind the cams and argues with Norm and Alice, as they try to show her that Norm helped Alice, and ask her forgiveness.
Eventually she sees, and forgives him. He smiles and lets them go into a blue light that appears from behind cam.
Dr Crane sits him down by the laptop and tells him to talk to us – his friends – while she goes to get some help. He does, he thanks the chatters for staying and helping, says he wants to give the B&B to Susan and Richard, asks us all to come visit. The chatters manage to get some smiles out of him, and he shows the picture of Wendy to everyone.
He then tells the story of how she saved him from the streets, and how right away he knew she was the one.
He is smiling – the gentle, good Norm is all there at last. , and go find the world for himself. He thankls the chatters again, tells them he hopes to meet them someday, waves and blows kisses to the cameras and wishes a Happy Valentines Day as he shuts them down.
Mostly complete now I think, may be a couple of extra bits, and I need to polish it up a little, etc, so, feel free to prod me with anything you’d like me to add on here: @maliseangie / @ver_inductrix on twitter or leave a comment. Then, this link will stay right here. Working on some highlight reels for some of the cast too, so keep an eye on the youtube/here/my twitter/my facebook (whichever combo you have) 🙂
Interview: Kristian Hanson – writer/director Sledge
Before we go any further, allow me to introduce you all to Adam Lynch.
From the brains of Kristian Hanson and John Sovie II, Sledge is, in a nutshell, an old-school, blackly funny, twisted slasher film. I got to sit down and throw some questions at writer/director Kristian.
Introduction time – tell us who you are (or who you’d like us to think you are)?
I am Kristian Hanson and I have been a horror fan since I was a little kid. From what my oldest brother told me, I have been watching horror movies since the day I was brought home from the hospital. My mom propped me up on the couch in my bouncer or whatever I was in and watched whatever horror film she had on. Other than making movies I am serving in the Air Force and am an Iraq war veteran. I was born in Chicago, IL where I spent all of my summers and an avid Chicago Cubs fan.
Tell us about Sledge – what is it, and why should we be interested?
Sledge is a throwback to the 80s in a way. I grew up with Jason, Michael Myers and most recently Victor Crowley. I have always wanted to create a slasher that was different and fun, and that is what Adam Lynch is. As you can see from the trailer Adam Lynch isn’t just a silent hulking monster. He is someone who talks and is a total smart ass and likes to talk trash to his victims. As the title suggests, he likes to use his Sledge hammer to kill his victims, along with a knife. If you are a fan of horror films and comedy, Sledge is a film that will definitely catch your attention.
How did you go about ensuring Adam Lynch was as humurous as he was terrifying? That’s not an easy balance to hit.
When it comes to his ability to be scary and funny, it all has to come with the scenes themselves. One of my best friends does not like scary movies, so I recently sat her down and showed her a couple of the death scenes. When Adam would kill the character I would pause it and ask her opinion, and she would say that it was terrifying to her. After that response, I would hit play and allow her to see him talk trash to the victim after killing them and she would laugh at what he said and say the humor after it made her enjoy the scene and movie more. I wrote and made this movie for horror fans but also for those that don’t necessarily enjoy horror movies. I want my movie to open up doors to new horror fans that usually wouldn’t watch and enjoy them. My wife had never seen a horror film before she met me, and the way I got her to sit and enjoy them instead of being totally terrified was I showed her classic horror films like Dawn and Day of the Dead first. She enjoyed the humor and the overall look of the movies, and later introduced her to more brutal horror like Hostel and Rob Zombies Halloween 2 (our first theater date movie). Finding that balance really is difficult, but I believe Sledge was able to do that with everything we did in the movie.
What about other projects, what else have you got under your belt?
Back in April John Sovie II and myself filmed our first film. It is titled F4L:Friends4Life. It is a comedy thriller and we learned a lot from it. As of now we are looking to release that film on VOD and streaming services.
Why this film? Why now? What’s the point?
This film to me is something that the horror genre desperately needs. It is a new type of slasher that they can get behind and root for. Horror fans will get behind Adam Lynch and laugh and enjoy him, while the casual fan will hopefully scream and be scared of the character. The biggest complaint I hear from horror fans is they are tired of remakes, so I wanted to create something fun and new, and that is what I did with Adam Lynch and Sledge.
Why are you the guys to make this film – what makes you the person for the job, why should we trust that you can do it justice?
We are right for this film because we are the horror fan boys that know what people want to see. I have spent many nights on netflix looking for the newest Indie films or horror films to watch and hopefully enjoy. I know what works and what doesn’t when it comes to horror movies. I know what makes a movie enjoyable or makes it a “Fast Forwarder” where you just fast forward to the end to see how it ends without giving a crap about what actually happens within the movie. I can say you should trust me because I am like you all. A true horror fan that has an office lined with horror merchandise and posters, but what I will say is this. Watch Sledge, and that way I can gain your trust and show you that I am not trying to make a cheap rip off of a film, but something fun and unique to make horror fans like myself happy.
You’ve built a decent horror fanbase, all anticipating this film – how do you get and keep them so involved?
When we filmed the movie we instantly put a teaser trailer up to get people interested. Once we did that we started leaking production stills and finally released what Adam Lynch looks like. I wanted fans to see what he looked like before the movie so they could get excited for what we created in regards to how he looks and show that he is different. Next we released the full trailer where we tell the story of Adam Lynch in it and revealed that he spoke in the film. That was what got a lot of people hooked. Between his look and his one-liners in the trailer, people have been slowly trickling in to the Sledge page and accepting us and getting excited for what the movie will be.
Is there a fear of not being able to meet their expectations? Or do those expectations help raise up what you do?
Honestly these expectations are helping us make it better. I watched the full version of the movie a couple nights ago and put myself in the shoes of my fans. I told my co-director honestly what we need to do to tweak some things and it really tightened the movie up to make it a fun experience. I can guarantee from the beginning to the end of the film, people will be screaming and laughing and at times screaming from laughter.
What about afterwards – long-term plans, for this film and the next project?
I honestly have eight other scripts I have written and one is a werewolf film based on the book I wrote and self-published “Fat Kid’s Wolfy Revenge: Not For the Weak Hearted or Mature Minded”. If a film company would give us a budget and I was able to do what I wanted, this could be the next big werewolf film because I would push hard to get Rick Baker to come on board to do the werewolf. I would love to be able to give him the chance to do another Werewolf transformation not seen since his An American Werewolf in London and The Howling with Rob Bottin. The only way I would make this particular script though is if I had the freedom to have Rick Baker and no CGI allowed. I would want all practical effects because I am a firm believer that CGI is a great tool to use, but it shouldn’t be the only tool when making a horror movie like we have seen with such horrendous werewolves as An American Werewolf in Paris.
Its very rare that I see something that is CGI and believe it is real. Like watching the King Kong film. Kong looked amazing, but the dinosaurs and other creatures around him looked bad. Also, take a look at the Underworld franchise where they try to incorporate Practical werewolves and CGI werewolves. You can always tell which is which and I just wish people would focus on practical effects and use CGI sparingly. When I watch a trailer like MAMA and I see the creature or ghost is completely CGI it turns me off because to me, it just isn’t believable and looks cheap. There are plenty of amazing practical effects studios out there that can do the job well and make it look realistic. Just another reason why people like the 1980’s. People had to come up with new ways to make things look real on screen without just saying “meh, lets use CGI, that’ll be easier.”
Sledge is in its final tweaking stages and we will be submitting it to film festivals soon. We are going to push it to any and all festivals that will accept us because I want everyone to see this movie and judge it for themselves. I hope people connect with Adam Lynch and his craziness.
Thanks to Kristian for the chat, here’s the important links:
Sledge on Facebook
Kristian on Twitter
Sledge official website (under construction)
Malise Angie Hulme 