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Me on 1/13: Maybe I can do in-person Escapade and things will start to normalize one way or another

Me on 1/14: LA County has it's number of cases to date and people are being asked to stop non-essential activities. Amtrak is cutting service due to too many sick employees.

For context, Escapade is in LA.

No stabilizing, services are just going to collapse as people either don't work due to being sick or try to work sick.

I still haven't cancelled my Spokane trip, but that trip may wind up being cancelled by... just becoming impossible.

Archive 81

Hey, one of the many audiodramas optioned for a show actually became a show! I was looking stuff up and saw that the Limetown show did actually happen, on Facebook Watch? What even was that? I didn't realize that the Limetown show even happened. I think a lot of people forget that it did.

A bunch of audiodramas getting optioned really messed up the scene and possibly derailed a lot of interest in the format. Optioned shows often stopped making new eps, but the shows also never happened. Also, once a few got optioned a bunch of suspiciously well produced audio dramas popped, only to go one season. Then the same creators would make a new show, that would also go one season. It's like a bunch of aspiring writers saw audiodramas as a path to get their idea picked up as a TV show and made a bunch of them without ever intending to continue.

Anyway, I started the Archive 81 podcast when it was on. I didn't keep up with it. I found a lot of things about it very stilted. The need for the plot to go a certain way ran roughshod over characters making reasonable life choices. The show has the same problem, but I will keep watching. It's beautifully shot. It's got a lot that audio drama feel, complete with fake commercials.

Also, it's about found media. A lot of people find found media to be a compelling story idea, but while the aesthetic draws people in those stories don't seem to deliver on the mystery with a solid plot / ending. I want to figure out how to do a found media story, or rather I want to figure out how I'd want to do a found media story. What sort of reveal would I find satisfying?

I did relisten to The Black Tapes a bit recently. I did so to analyze it. But honestly the writing is so contrived that my only take away is that people find found media to be really, really compelling. How do they hold back info on TBT to keep the listeners on the edge of their seats? By literally saying 'I'll tell you the rest later'. They start to explain something, stop just before the juicy bit, promise to explain and then never do. Honestly, going back to it I was scratching my head trying figure out how I got so into it.

tl:dr - there is something to audiodramas about found physical media and/or the paranormal that is compelling, but it's like no one's figured out how to put the pieces together yet. I want to take my own swing at it at some point.