Escape Artists
PseudoPod => Episode Comments => Topic started by: Bdoomed on September 18, 2009, 02:41:56 PM
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Pseudopod 160: Got Milk? (http://pseudopod.org/2009/09/17/pseudopod-160-got-milk/)
By John Alfred Taylor
Read by Alasdair Stuart (http://alasdairstuart.com/)
“Now paint in little white eye sockets.” Colin told Briony. “And teeth at the bottom.” He’d already had her draw India-ink crossbones under the big black mole.
“You’re sure this won’t piss-off your dermatologist?” Briony asked, squinting in concentration as she bent to her task at his left side.
“Not Doc Schulmann. He likes his laughs. Should have heard him joking when he snipped off the tags in my armpit.”
(Colin hoped he and the Doctor would still be laughing two hours from now, but wasn’t going to bother Briony with gloomy possibilities. At least his mole had smooth edges and was still all one color.)
(http://escapepod.org/wp-images/podcast-mini4.gif)
Listen to this week's Pseudopod. (http://media.rawvoice.com/pseudopod/media.libsyn.com/media/pseudopod/Pseudo160_GotMilk.mp3)
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I gagged. Gagged, I say! The scene where he took his sample? I almost had to turn it off. Well done!
This was a very well written story. It ended so abruptly that I was left with a question: Who edited the story, and why did you chop off the last 5 minutes?
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I had a similar reaction.
Phase 1: Ick. Ick. Ick. Ick. Ick.
Phase 2: Ok, over that. Interesting (if gross) premise, and it seems to be going somewhere interesting - huh? did it just end? Where's the rest of it?
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This was a great story. I wasn't as grossed out as I thought I'd be, though. Mostly I was just trying to imagine what the milk would tast like. Chocolate, perhaps? :)
Al, loved your reading as always, but it seemed like you were rushing a bit in the beginning. What happened?
I agree about the story ending too abruptly.
Spoilers--
I think it's safe to say that he will take over the world at some point. I just wonder how many more nipples he'll grow. Will his body be covered in them?
Hire this writer again, please!
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Hehehehehe! I'm glad I'm not the only one. To quote Bart Simpson: "That's disgusting! Yes, but...strangely compelling."
Pseudopod, Escape Pod, and Podcastle have been hitting it out of the park, lately. "Got Milk?" is no exception. Not only was the story enjoyable in a VERY disturbing way, the reading was Alasdair's usual level of enjoyable, especially with that little touch of accent for the doctor. :) And I always enjoy Alasdair's outros.
You guys seem to be tapping into my subconscious and are giving me exactly the type of stories I want to hear.
If it were anyone but Pseudopod, I'd say "Cut it out!" But since it is you, I say, "Keep it up. And while you're in there, see if you can scratch that itch right between my shoulderbla--aaaah. That's it...riiiight there...."
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I don't know that it ended abruptly per se; where else could it go from there? Once it's on the path, one only needs to mention it if it changes from expectations.
Plus, the next phase of the story doesn't involve these people as main characters. Instead, the main characters will be the team of investigators who investigate the mysterious evil mind-control cult and likely end up burning down pretty much everything. (Probably without even needing to fail many Sanity checks, either. Call of Cthulhu characters are some of the most trigger-happy lunatics around.)
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This sounds great - where's the horror?! Become a godlike being with many worshippers, experiencing extreme pleasure as you feed them liquid enlightenment- cool! I guess I agree with theose who felt it ended abruptly- it seemed it needed a third act. Like the transition from human (1st act) - to god (2nd act)- to something else (something horrific). Like maybe if his followers had decided to imprison him and just use him like a drugs cow, or if it turned out he was actually being bred to feed some kind of demon- you know, something like that. I liked the story, but it just seemed a bit too jolly to be horrific- especially with added touches like the deli potato salad on paper plates for the followers - how nice!
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It unsettles me when a story starts slow and silly. Shallow. Then manages to mess with me so very well. I was aroused, disturbed, and unsettled on levels I didn't know I had. This was well written, well read (even better then the amazing usual from Al). I'm struggling with my feelings and re-listening. I believe for reasons I'm still unsure of this story has risen to being one of my new favorites on this cast. I need to go be alone- with a cookie and a tall glass of.. milk.
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Thank you John Alfred Taylor for completely ruining my love of boobs! ;)
I agree that it was disturbing yet compelling. At first I thought "eww" but then it headed in a direction I wasn't expecting at all, and one that even made me chuckle a little.
I also agree it ended kind of abruptly, without much explanation of what was going on, and not much indication of what would happen next. Then again, given the mental images it was feeding me, that might have been a good thing. It reminded me a bit of that story on Pseudopod a while ago (title escapes me) about the woman with excessive menstruation, though there was more humor in this one.
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What makes this horror for me is the lack of a hero. I kept waiting for the tired old bit about "the cost of power". And it never came. No cathartic release from the evil of power. In a gross and sticky story like this, it was a perfect and deft touch.
This gave me the warm fuzzies. I guess I should be ashamed right? But seriously this was great dark realism, with an added hint of the heroine nipple of doom.
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It reminded me a bit of that story on Pseudopod a while ago (title escapes me) about the woman with excessive menstruation, though there was more humor in this one.
Periods. And that's all that needs to be said about that episode.
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This one was... interesting. It definitely evoked strange and unique images.
I had a major disconnect when he started to describe his lopsided chest. Before that he had described it as a superfluous third nipple, which just kind of look like little blemishes. It's a big jump from a little blemish to a milk-swollen breast with working nipple. Maybe I missed it, but I didn't see any connecting transition there, and that made it hard to picture what was going on.
And my biggest dislike, although it had interesting images, with some enjoyable humor, I wouldn't really call this a story. There were no obstacles to the protagonist's goals, although perhaps that's because he didn't really have any particular goals. Where's the conflict? Yes, he had some apprehension about the weirdness at first, but that passed pretty quickly and soon he's taking in followers like there's no tomorrow. A character traveling from point A to point B with no obstacles, even if point B is extremely weird, does not really engage my interest to any great degree. I did finish listening to it to see where it ended up going, but I would have been much more interested if there had been some conflict.
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This story, with no violence and no gore nearly made me sick to my stomach. Thoroughly revolting! (That's meant as praise. :D ) Some folks have asked "where's the horror?" and I think that the image of a cult of biological slavery rising up through this disgusting ritual is pretty horrifying. The destruction of the body is not the only thing which gives rise to horror - the dissolution of the will should be equally or perhaps more terrifying.
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vividly disturbing... yeah
horror... sure
good story... word
just discovered pseudopod, and liking it. i was hit with an uneasy feeling of disgust which grew into really liking this story, once i got past the black puss and realized the story had depth, it was horribly cool
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Plus, the next phase of the story doesn't involve these people as main characters. Instead, the main characters will be the team of investigators who investigate the mysterious evil mind-control cult and likely end up burning down pretty much everything. (Probably without even needing to fail many Sanity checks, either. Call of Cthulhu characters are some of the most trigger-happy lunatics around.)
Or, alternately, the World of Darkness dupes who wander in, get in trouble, and barely escape with their lives. You could go a lot of directions using this story as the basis of a game.
Also, hi Scattercat!
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Ick, I feel so dirty now. I wondered at first what was the horror, besides black milk. Then just the fact that a dermatologist would drink a body fluid sample is horrific enough. Or that a girlfriend would drink a black fluid weeping from an anomalous nipple.
Once again ick.
Good story though and as usual the reading by the Great Orator Maleficent was superb.
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I'm thinking CoC works best. You got your cult, you got your misshapen god, you got your "save versus death or instantly lose" aspect of the evil mind-control milk... heck, you got your evil mind control. World of Darkness would be all "Roll Resolve plus Composure" and then they'd roll like FIVE successes and end up setting your elder vampire on fire and killing him when he was supposed to scare them into hiding.
Wait, I got a little turned around there. That's what happened in last week's Hunter session.
Stupid Hunters.
Oh, and hi, E-Pal. I'm still chugging through the back catalogue around these parts.
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the abrupt ending caught me by surprise as well. i like to think that the original description of the milk (something like ink) is a hint to the analogy: a writer who has found a market, is changing minds, and now needs to meet demand. a writer that likes to read their own work for that matter.
as for game setting, ever play the swedish game kult (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kult)? this is pretty much exactly the kind of thing you run into.
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Oh, and hi, E-Pal. I'm still chugging through the back catalogue around these parts.
E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
To actually comment on the actual episode, I liked it. Horrific imagery aside (and likewise, aside the fact that it played very nicely into my extant horror of cancer, disease, and death), I loved the stately, horrible progress of it. The main character was so nice, so normal, and you could hear him, step by step, sinking into something... inhuman.
I was practically shouting "No! Don't drink it! Argh!" at my car stereo. But of course, in horror, they almost always do.
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E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
how about E-Pizzle?
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E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
how about E-Pizzle?
no no no it's obviously E-Pilly
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E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
how about E-Pizzle?
no no no it's obviously E-Pilly
E-P-dinny
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E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
how about E-Pizzle?
no no no it's obviously E-Pilly
E-P-dinny
May The Eater of Souls, Alisdair show mercy on me for the praise I am about to sing unto the false god Nash, but his comment is made of win.
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E-Pal? Is that like J-Lo and A-Rod? Because I'm not sure I'm ok with that. This may be the forum for a horror podcast, but I have my limits ;-).
how about E-Pizzle?
no no no it's obviously E-Pilly
E-P-dinny
May The Eater of Souls, Alisdair show mercy on me for the praise I am about to sing unto the false god Nash, but his comment is made of win.
Lowky, there may be hope for you yet.
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I have a big mole on my neck that I refer to as my "neck nipple". It's never emitted any fluids though.
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eew. just... eeew!
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I seriously have to talk to Ben about the TMI banning rule.
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I know that many disagree with me, but... I did not care for the ending.
I kept on hoping for something dark to come and all I got was black milk and man covered with nipples. It maybe that because I am female and have gotten milk from nipples before is not scary. Admittily if black milk came out tomorrow it would scary. The big C.
That said, people having dinner and drinking black milk is not scary to me. At best creepy but not in a horror kind of way.
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i just listened...
eeew.
and funny.
but eeew.
great reading o'course.
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also: eeeeeeeeeeeeewww!!!
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I know that many disagree with me, but... I did not care for the ending.
I kept on hoping for something dark to come and all I got was black milk and man covered with nipples. It maybe that because I am female and have gotten milk from nipples before is not scary. Admittily if black milk came out tomorrow it would scary. The big C.
That said, people having dinner and drinking black milk is not scary to me. At best creepy but not in a horror kind of way.
The dark part, for me, was that the milk was addictive, and robbed the disciples of their free will.
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Your right of course about their free will be gone, but it still lacked impact for me. I wanted something more.
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I don't see how this was categorized as a "horror" story. Breastfeeding is perfectly natural and life-affirming. If the hero of this story wants to feed his minion-children in public it's his right.
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This one left me flat. It was gross sure, but not disturbing. Like when a dog messes the carpet. It's unpleasant but it's not going to give me nightmares.
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HA! Shit. Male lactation=horror. Yes, agree with alice that this wonderful story would have been made more wonderful with a better payoff. Anything really. Even some sort of parasite bursting out would have been better. But still, 2 thumbs up for some damn good pacing and a weird ass idea executed mighty fine.
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This was a gross idea (which I liked), but that's all it was. It did not get around to building much of a plot, or tension or have much of a payoff at the end. It was interesting, but lacked the rocket-fuel to make it great.
I agree with the others' sentiments: our narrator seemed to rush a bit. Made some parts difficult to understand.