Author Topic: EP228: Everything That Matters  (Read 20379 times)

Swamp

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on: December 10, 2009, 09:52:20 PM
EP228: Everything That Matters

by Jeff Spock.
Read by Geoff Michelli.
Hosted by Norm Sherman (of The Drabblecast)

“I have done over fifteen hundred dives,” I said, and let that sink in. The number was astronomical for a guy my age, even for a professional. “I have done free diving down to eighty meters. I have worked as a commercial diver and in commercial salvage.”

They were listening and nodding, concentrating on me while recording the conversation. “Then you, of all people, should have known better,” said the little guy.

“I did know better!” They were acting like the shark was the victim, not me. “How many people in the whole fucking galaxy could have come up alive, huh? How many would have had the technology and experience and conditioning?”

“If you want our congratulations, you got ‘em,” said Odenny. “But we’re more interested in what you were doing.”


Rated PG.

Closing music: “Heartache Over Innsmouth” by Norm Sherman.

This episode is sponsored by SleepPhones - Pajamas For Your Ears



Listen to this week’s Escape Pod!
« Last Edit: December 10, 2009, 10:20:59 PM by Swamp »

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KenK

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Reply #1 on: December 11, 2009, 02:12:00 AM
The feed shut off about half way through. It would be nice to hear how it ends.  ???



Yargling

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Reply #2 on: December 11, 2009, 09:33:35 AM
Excellent story, listened to it through iTunes, so that one's working.

I enjoyed the mix of scifi setting and aquatic adventure. Recommended as a good story.



Talia

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Reply #3 on: December 11, 2009, 07:46:58 PM
The feed shut off about half way through. It would be nice to hear how it ends.  ???

Huh. There was a problem with this week's drabblecast too. No mere coincydink methinks.



cdugger

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Reply #4 on: December 11, 2009, 08:10:27 PM
I downloaded it fine, but I don't use the feed.

I thought this was a great episode for EP. It's not really my kind of story, but that's just a personal preference.

The science sounded believable. I'm not a diver, but it didn't sound made up.

Like the ribbon shark. Cool concept.

Good reading, too.

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lieffeil

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Reply #5 on: December 11, 2009, 11:24:34 PM
Pretty enjoyable on the whole, and, though not the most original concept, it definitely brought a fresh take on deep sea exploration with the added "should I become a fish person" dilemma. Reminded me of Jeff Carlson's story "Pressure", from a while back.
And I adore the idea of a person being reconstructed from nothing more than a hunk of brain tissue. Just awesome.

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Talia

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Reply #6 on: December 12, 2009, 05:16:47 PM
Remind me never go swimming in the ocean ever again. :)

I liked it as a whole, but the part that made the biggest impression on me was the first 2-3 minutes, when the narrator was being eaten alive and seemed to take it all in stride. His attitude made it much creepier.




MacArthurBug

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Reply #7 on: December 13, 2009, 12:34:03 AM
I'll second Talia. On ocean swimming AND a passive being eaten.
I got sort of an "eh?" out of this too. I'm not criticising, it was a fiarly solid sotyr- it just felt horrish. Perhaps that was just the descriptions of being eathing- then transforming into a "monster" the persepctive was interesting though.

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KenK

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Reply #8 on: December 13, 2009, 02:22:52 AM
I am perplexed about how the author could make the MC so stoic about being eaten by a shark. That just doesn't ring true to me especially coming so quickly in the storyline and auto-drug injections and etcetera notwithstanding. If the character was more established first and the author was skillful, then perhaps I would have taken to it better.

EMT was first and foremost (IMHO) a revenge story where the MC gets damaged and ripped off and who then figures out who screwed him and gets his reward as well as his revenge. He makes the most of his losses and seems to come out of it all in the best possible position given his wounds.  Over all it was a good story and more in line with the sci-fi theme of EP although I agree with the previous posters that it could have just as well have been chosen for a horror themed podcast.
« Last Edit: December 13, 2009, 03:02:18 PM by KenK »



Boggled Coriander

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Reply #9 on: December 13, 2009, 04:53:45 AM
Ooh, I liked this one.  Cool technology, although I wasn't clear on why they had the recovering protag up and walking around before they gave him new genitals.  Is a new penis really all that much more time-consuming to grow than new legs?

There's some talk about accents in recent Podcastle and Pseudopod comment threads, so I wonder: how did the Aussie accent in this one sound to Aussie listeners?  I liked it and it didn't grate on my ears, but then I'm from north of the equator so what do I know?

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Monsata

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Reply #10 on: December 13, 2009, 11:29:20 AM
Have to say, I really liked the story, and I loved the "very calm while being devoured" aspect.  There was a sort of eeriness to it that jarred me.  In fact, that was probably why I'd initially gotten this week's Pseudopod and Escape Pod confused.

All that being said, I LOVED the closing song.  Amazing.



stePH

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Reply #11 on: December 13, 2009, 04:30:51 PM
I liked this one a lot better than "Finding Emo"... I mean, "Pressure".  ;D

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cdugger

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Reply #12 on: December 13, 2009, 10:34:56 PM
...how did the Aussie accent in this one sound to Aussie listeners?  I liked it and it didn't grate on my ears, but then I'm from north of the equator so what do I know?

Being a down home Central Texas boy, I probably don't know Australian from Austrian, but it rather sounded more New Zealand to me.

Of course, all I have is "Beyond Tomorrow" on The Science Channel to go by...

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Boggled Coriander

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Reply #13 on: December 14, 2009, 12:12:59 AM
If that character was meant to be of New Zealand extraction, I shall officially feel stupid and will start asking Kiwi acquaintances if they get many kangaroos and koalas poking around their backyards back home, and also whether they live close to the Australian border.

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stePH

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Reply #14 on: December 14, 2009, 04:54:15 AM
...I shall... start asking Kiwi acquaintances... whether they live close to the Australian border.
Well, yeah, they kind of do.  There's some water in between, though.  ;D

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yaksox

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Reply #15 on: December 14, 2009, 12:20:48 PM


There's some talk about accents in recent Podcastle and Pseudopod comment threads, so I wonder: how did the Aussie accent in this one sound to Aussie listeners?  I liked it and it didn't grate on my ears, but then I'm from north of the equator so what do I know?

As an Australian, I thought the reader did pretty good. Seemed to be more attention paid to it in the first part, and slipped more into 'rrr's than 'ah's toward the end, but on the whole a good effort.

On the story as a whole, it was definitely one that fit the audio format well. It was easy to follow (kind of reminded me the stock D&D format: get the treasure, avoid the monster, save the girl -- although the plot didn't quite go like that) and when there was chronological jumps, there was a lead-in line of narration explaining it.  Good work.  :)



Listener

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Reply #16 on: December 14, 2009, 02:03:32 PM
Reading: good overall, though I didn't realize when Pete was still semiconscious that the Australian doctor was a woman. Some readers, you have to be told they're reading a woman's part to realize it.

Story: I enjoyed it a lot. There was a lot of technical attention to detail, and it's good that the author was able to tell the whole story without sacrificing that -- I've had that problem with "113 Feet" and had to lose some of the dive details, unfortunately. The shark was kind of cool... reminded me of an iPhone game I have. Pete's horror and preoccupation with his wang was totally believable. Him shooting out of the water in the beginning, a bloody chunk of human, was both funny and disgusting/horrifying.

However, I didn't really like the very end. Everything after Pete gets his revenge on Abonae -- there really isn't enough about what he's going to do next. Wouldn't a guy like Abonae have a criminal hierarchy? Wouldn't someone else want to make a statement to the guy who killed the boss? I liked that Pete was going to swim his way back to the city, but... then what?

Also, the whole thing with him and the doctor attempting to get it on, while believable in this story's universe, strained my credulity from a doctor/patient standpoint.

Overall a good episode.

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Boggled Coriander

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Reply #17 on: December 14, 2009, 02:39:29 PM
All that being said, I LOVED the closing song.  Amazing.

Yes, very much yes.  It was the only Norm Sherman song I've heard that I would call "Jonathan Coulton-esque", but it still had a Normy goodness all its own.

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kibitzer

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Reply #18 on: December 14, 2009, 09:11:27 PM
There's some talk about accents in recent Podcastle and Pseudopod comment threads, so I wonder: how did the Aussie accent in this one sound to Aussie listeners?  I liked it and it didn't grate on my ears, but then I'm from north of the equator so what do I know?

Umm... it was kinda mixed. It sounded to me like what Americans think Aussies sound like. I'm not saying it was bad, just... interesting.

BTW, welcome back Norm! Glad to hear you on EP again.


Darwinist

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Reply #19 on: December 15, 2009, 02:12:51 AM
I really liked this one.  Cool story, cool biology, cool human modification.  The shark freaked me out.  I have had no interest in getting in the sea after seeing in the Pacific off Mexico the amount of pain even a little jellyfish can inflict on us mammals.  Norm's song was great, too. 

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bumdhar

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Reply #20 on: December 15, 2009, 09:16:18 PM
very good story. great song at the end. (laughed coffee out through my nose at workwhile listening!) (hot coffee burning)



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Reply #21 on: December 16, 2009, 02:48:38 PM
"[M]odification"? More like a really good restoration procedure following a really bad animal attack. Which brings up my only real beef with this story but such that it is its fatal flaw. This diver is way too glib about experiencing a horrible, scary and  life shattering event. I guess I'm in the minority here about this but the manner in which the diver's massive injuries and disfigurement are just shrugged off like it was a inconvenient waste of his time waiting to heal just didn't feel right. He wasn't waiting for a body shop to fix his car it's his body. This didn't seem like a human reaction to me. I know a life-long motorcycle rider that quit riding cold turkey after a much less horrific incident just because of the psychological trauma involved. Isn't that reaction built inside sentient organisms? The diver didn't even blink. Go figure?



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Reply #22 on: December 16, 2009, 05:39:35 PM
I have registered for the first time to post this. Oh dear god the Aussie accent. I agree with an earlier commented that it was semi-OK at the beginning (in that I registered that it was trying to be Australian, albeit apparently modelled on Crocodile Dundee or Steve Irwin - the US equivalent would be if I assumed that all Americans sounded like the Clampetts), but slipped sideways into Kiwi briefly & then wandered over to the Deep South & South Africa a bit as well. It almost made the podcast unbearable to listen to. 



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Reply #23 on: December 16, 2009, 06:58:03 PM
"the part that made the biggest impression on me was the first 2-3 minutes, when the narrator was being eaten alive and seemed to take it all in stride. His attitude made it much creepier. " well put

also the "a penis is hard to grow than legs?" comment summed up a problem in the story that didnt make sense.

A good story, but the closing song was GREAT!

Where can we get just the song?
Thank you.
spork



Boggled Coriander

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Reply #24 on: December 16, 2009, 10:23:45 PM
A good story, but the closing song was GREAT!

Where can we get just the song?

Music of the Drabblecast in mp3 format.

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wakela

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Reply #25 on: December 16, 2009, 11:11:52 PM
Pretty entertaining little story. 
Petty gripes:
-The author put in enough detail to show that he knows is scuba diving, but it didn't make sense to me that in a world with such high technology people would still be using 20th century scuba equipment. 

-I guess he was diving without a buddy or the proper permits because he was doing something sneaky in looking for that ship.  But when you do that and get attacked by a ribbon shark and then the insurance won't pay for it it's kind of your fault.  I know that Abonae  summoned the shark, but any number of unpredictable things could have happened.  So when Abonae gouged him, I couldn't work up that much sympathy.  The MC left himself open to gouging.

-It seemed odd that someone a wealthy and powerful as Abonae wouldn't have flunkies to do his dirty work for him.

-In general the characterization of Abonae was pretty cliche and uninteresting.  Pale people who wear cuff links are not all evil. 


But I did enjoy the story for the fun action and intrigue.

I think it's interesting that EP EpComs always get hijacked by accent or word pronunciation gripes.



KenK

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Reply #26 on: December 17, 2009, 04:41:12 AM

Quote
I think it's interesting that EP EpComs always get hijacked by accent or word pronunciation gripes.
I dunno about that. I remember my sci-fi book club back in HS bitching about the cover art and font size amongst our reading selections back in the day. Different media leads to different sorts of bitching but not necessarily less of it.



Scattercat

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Reply #27 on: December 17, 2009, 04:46:22 AM
Pretty good.  Not my favorite, for the following two reasons:

1) "Everything that matters" apparently boils down to having lots of money and sex.  I get this message from advertising; I don't need it from my pleasure reading (listening?), too.  Seriously, I was expecting a little more playing with the meaning of "everything that matters," since it's the title of the piece.  I'd be willing to take it as, "Revenge is really what matters," except that the protagonist specifies that once he cashes in his find and gets his penis working again, he'll have everything that matters, and not until then.  It just grated on me that the character doesn't seem to grow or change at all in the course of the story, except that he goes from "fish people are icky" to "hey this fish person thing is kinda neat yet also icky."  I feel like "Pressure" did a much better job of exploring the impacts and costs of such extensive modification.

2) Why did Abonae give his diver the shark-bait vest BEFORE said diver had located the wreck?  I mean, if you're going to kill your minion to avoid him spilling the beans and/or taking a cut, then you really ought to wait until after he's served his purposes before you send the laser-beam sharks after him.  It's also more than a little convenient that the spaceship just happened to be in this spot right near the "highly territorial" animals' lair.  What was the plan for killing off the protagonist if the shark didn't happen to be located accessibly?  It feels very sloppy to have the constant risk that your under-the-table diver might get eaten by a shark just BEFORE he finds your ship, even if you have the beacons rigged to cast "Summon Ribbon-Shark."

I'll also ditto most of the other critiques that have been mentioned so far.  Abonae's lack of other minions, uneven emotional responses from the protagonist, the fact that the doctor was so ready to jump into bed with her patient (and the fact that they seemed to have nothing in common except physical desire, which is odd given that she first saw him when he was a torso and half an arm).  It all combined to make the story "pretty good" instead of "wow!"



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Reply #28 on: December 17, 2009, 07:26:11 AM
As an Australian, I thought the reader did pretty good. Seemed to be more attention paid to it in the first part, and slipped more into 'rrr's than 'ah's toward the end, but on the whole a good effort.

On the story as a whole, it was definitely one that fit the audio format well. It was easy to follow (kind of reminded me the stock D&D format: get the treasure, avoid the monster, save the girl -- although the plot didn't quite go like that) and when there was chronological jumps, there was a lead-in line of narration explaining it.  Good work.  :)

Hee hee hee.... when Jeremy sent me this story to narrate, I gave it a read and thought "Crap - I bet my Australian accent will be pretty horrible".  I live in south Louisiana, and usually have a noticeable southern "twang" to my voice.  I caught most of the first season of the "Flight of the Conchords" TV show, who's main characters are Kiwis.  Mix that in with the occasional channel-surfing stops on "The Crocodile Hunter", and I'm sure you can all imagine why my Aussie accent was pretty bad ;)
If any Australians out there want to give me some lessons on a proper accent, let me know.
Let's hope that the fine EP folks ask me to narrate a story that has a cajun character, or someone from New Orleans in it... I could do those two some justice.

But for all those out there who thought my Australian accent attempt was bad - Sorry about that   :'(



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Reply #29 on: December 17, 2009, 01:24:08 PM
Geoff, let me say you did a fine job on the narration.  I just consider myself entirely ill-equipped to judge your Aussie accent.

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mrund

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Reply #30 on: December 17, 2009, 01:36:25 PM
The story did little for me, but Sherman's intro and closing song caused me to write a blog entry titled "Norm Sherman is an Elder God".

http://scienceblogs.com/aardvarchaeology/2009/12/norm_sherman_is_an_elder_god.php



cdugger

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Reply #31 on: December 18, 2009, 01:01:39 AM
Geoff, let me say you did a fine job on the narration.  I just consider myself entirely ill-equipped to judge your Aussie accent.

Ditto!

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600south

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Reply #32 on: December 18, 2009, 02:16:21 AM
But for all those out there who thought my Australian accent attempt was bad - Sorry about that   :'(

I'm from there, Geoff, and I thought it was one of the better ones I've heard. The only problem with accents is people tend to exaggerate their most extreme sounds and wind up sounding like a farmer. Good for general use; not so good when there's a sex scene.  ;)
Glad I'm not a narrator. I almost got punched out by a guy from Glasgow for my (bad) Scottish accent.

And just so this isn't a total threadjack, I thought the story was good too. I got the feeling this was a future in which people weren't as attached to their physical bodies as we are now, which might explain the lack of psychological trauma during the attack. The detail in the first scene was a bit stomach-wrenching though (especially when his stomach got eaten).
« Last Edit: December 18, 2009, 02:18:47 AM by 600south »



Marguerite

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Reply #33 on: December 18, 2009, 06:06:07 PM
Solid story, and I liked the extra touch with the "fading into consciousness" sound effect.

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CryptoMe

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Reply #34 on: December 19, 2009, 02:46:56 AM
I liked the story. It was a straight-forward fun, story that I enjoyed listening to. And in the story's defense, I would like to post my thoughts on some of the comments that have been floating around....

"Everything that matters" apparently boils down to having lots of money and sex.  

Actually, if you remember, there wasn't any real sex (depending on your definitions, of course). And it was pretty clear that after the government was done taking their share, the main character was only gonna get a bit of money.

It just grated on me that the character doesn't seem to grow or change at all in the course of the story...

I think the character goes through quite a bit of personal growth. He started off being a galaxy-trotting treasure hunter. By the end of the story, he has decided to settle down on Ori (sp?) with the doctor (if she'll have him), and with only whatever money the government deigns to give him for his find. Enough money to live a modest life with the person you love, that's "Everything that matters" in my opinion.

[T]he fact that the doctor was so ready to jump into bed with her patient (and the fact that they seemed to have nothing in common except physical desire, which is odd given that she first saw him when he was a torso and half an arm).
I don't know about nothing in common. I think they appreciated each other's characters. He admired the doctor's skill and positive attitude. She admired his strength in the face of this big adversity. That's a fairly reasonable basis for attraction... Much more reasonable, I think, than physical traits (like torso and half an arm ;) ).

This diver is way too glib about experiencing a horrible, scary and  life shattering event. ...This didn't seem like a human reaction to me.
Different people handle grief/loss/tragedy in different ways. Just because it's not your way, doesn't make it any less human. Humanity is about adapting. This guy seems to have adapted the way that worked best for him.



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Reply #35 on: December 19, 2009, 04:00:46 AM
Quote
I think the character goes through quite a bit of personal growth. He started off being a galaxy-trotting treasure hunter. By the end of the story, he has decided to settle down on Ori (sp?) with the doctor (if she'll have him), and with only whatever money the government deigns to give him for his find. Enough money to live a modest life with the person you love, that's "Everything that matters" in my opinion.

I don't think settling for even one tenth of a percent of world-shattering wealth is particularly modest, personally.  This was an artifact that was purportedly worth billions

And given that he supposedly *couldn't* resume his world-hopping had he elected not to have a fish-body and stay on the ocean planet (they make it clear that his regrown normal-body would be weaker than before and he'd never be what he was, and he has that brief panic-flash imagining facing his old friends in a crappy regrown body), I'm not really feeling the character growth there.  A character who only does the sensible thing because there aren't any other options doesn't count as a sensible character to me.

Quote
I don't know about nothing in common. I think they appreciated each other's characters. He admired the doctor's skill and positive attitude. She admired his strength in the face of this big adversity. That's a fairly reasonable basis for attraction...

They both had so little personality, though, that there was almost no chemistry.  Dude had more scintillating and active conversations with the Big Bad than with his love interest.  They exchanged maybe half a dozen sentences - most of those rather vituperative and/or resentful RE fish people being icky - and then had fail!sex.  I mean, their date?  He shows up, they look at the ocean for about ten minutes, then they get drunk and go at it.  The complete lack of any interaction between them outside of hormones made their relationship feel shallow.  Plus, the doctor-patient dynamic is rarely a healthy one for anyone involved.  I'm not saying it can never work out, but it's not likely to work out well.




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Reply #36 on: December 28, 2009, 01:14:31 PM
An enjoyable story, but not one that I think will stick with me long. Nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't pack much of a punch.



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Reply #37 on: December 29, 2009, 05:26:00 PM
I have to say...I don't think I've been as squicked by an EP episode. When the shark is eating our narrator....ugh. But the "Not the cock...not the cock..." was quite funny.

I'm a big fan of revenge stories. I'm not sure what that says about me, but there it is. So I enjoyed this one more than I thought I was going to at the beginning.

And add another vote for the song at the end. Good stuff. :)
« Last Edit: December 29, 2009, 05:27:39 PM by Kaa »

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Reply #38 on: January 04, 2010, 07:32:16 PM
For me this was one time when the charm of the story overwhelmed the several shortcomings which others have already noted.



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Reply #39 on: January 12, 2010, 08:14:21 PM
with regards to Scattercat's complaint about the "very territorial shark", the point was that the ship was pretty far away from the shark's normal territory, therefore was a surprise to the MC. 

For me, the story started out quite interesting, and then it seems that the author ran out of steam, and had an idea of how they wanted the story to end, but did not have a good idea on how to get there.  Having the MC say "Yeah, everything is fine down here" and the antagonist, who knows damn well the shark is going to show up sooner or later, come down so readily, seems a bit paper-thin to me. 

To me, the ribbon shark was imagined as a giant tapeworm.  Tapeworms are highly frightening/disgusting to me, so a 25 meter long one was absolutely terrifying. 

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Scattercat

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Reply #40 on: January 12, 2010, 10:53:39 PM
with regards to Scattercat's complaint about the "very territorial shark", the point was that the ship was pretty far away from the shark's normal territory, therefore was a surprise to the MC. 

My complaint wasn't that the shark was there; my complaint was that apparently the Big Bad's plan HINGED on the shark being there, way out of its territory where it totally blindsided the protagonist.  I mean, if I'm going to kill someone, I wouldn't tie a steak to their backs, send them out into suburban Virginia, and hope that a timber wolf somehow attacks them improbably, which seems to be about the level of this assassination plot.



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Reply #41 on: January 13, 2010, 07:22:10 PM
I liked this one okay.

I had trouble connecting with the protagonist very early because the guy is getting chewed up by a monster fish and he seems... disinterested.  I totally missed it when he lost his first appendage because he said it in the same tone as if he were describing what he'd eaten for lunch. 

I share some of the other gripes, such as the doctor being willing to jump into bed with him so readily, the villain not having any henchmen, the villain being so willing to enter the water even though he's the one that laid the trap.  And the title--what is the title supposed to refer to?  Nothing as far as I could tell.

The song at the end was HILARIOUS!  Twas a nice addition to the week's story.  I hope that there will be other occasions to include bonus material like that.  Very cool.  :)



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Reply #42 on: January 14, 2010, 04:40:24 AM
Two things that are mentioned on the forum are addressed briefly in the story.

The eerie calm while being eaten: 5:40 he mentions that the drugs in his diving suit calm his rage to just discontentment.

The fact the shark came that far from it's territory: most of minute 28 has him discussing how the mobster boss could have signaled to the shark using low frequency and an attracting scent.

good story, liked the song.



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Reply #43 on: January 14, 2010, 05:48:33 PM
Two things that are mentioned on the forum are addressed briefly in the story.

The eerie calm while being eaten: 5:40 he mentions that the drugs in his diving suit calm his rage to just discontentment.

The fact the shark came that far from it's territory: most of minute 28 has him discussing how the mobster boss could have signaled to the shark using low frequency and an attracting scent.

good story, liked the song.


Those must be some powerful drugs to not care when losing limbs!  :)



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Reply #44 on: January 14, 2010, 06:44:18 PM

Those must be some powerful drugs to not care when losing limbs!  :)

From the addicts I've known, I'd believe it.   :P



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Reply #45 on: March 09, 2010, 07:50:22 PM
I thought of this story when I read this article about underwater skyscrapers.

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Reply #46 on: March 12, 2010, 02:59:16 AM



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Reply #47 on: June 16, 2010, 02:36:05 AM
I think it's interesting that EP EpComs always get hijacked by accent or word pronunciation gripes.

There were attempts to devolve into genre appropriateness gripes, but they were less successful.

All cat stories start with this statement: “My mother, who was the first cat, told me this...”