This Might Well Be Malcolm's Final Diary Room Video! Poor Mal. He Might Have Had The Right Idea. But

This might well be Malcolm's final diary room video! Poor Mal. He might have had the right idea. But we might never know.

Seeing red over a tomatoey task

After bonding with Jake over spaghetti sauce, now Malcolm's about ready to put the old man in detention over a tin of tomatoes!

Hey Skyjacks crew, I've lost track - are we in a Gable Gets Some arc now or no? Or has the pattern been broken at this point?

The Goblet Wire really does it for me. It's bitesized and transporting and intriguing and the language sometimes makes me gasp out loud. After listening to one episode I changed the settings to automatically shunt new episodes to the top of my play queue the second they land. Go get to know the Operator and the Dictator now - you won't regret it.

The Goblet Wire is probably my most anticipated podcast of this year. I’ve been hearing about it from Ester Ellis since before it was in production, and my excitement has only grown. It’s a surrealist, experimental audio drama with fascinating writing and intriguing sound design. The concept of the show is perfect for the medium its told in, and I can’t wait to see how the story spirals out. I can’t describe the show better than they have, so here’s the description from their website: “A role playing game hums within a global network of power lines, fiber optic cables and obsolete satellites. Players who gain access to this mysterious phenomenon create a projection and are guided by the Dictator to realms not yet known to the conscious mind.” I love how the language of The Goblet Wire flows, the vivid visuals it builds in my brain, and the alluring sound design that lends a layer of texture on top. Transcripts here.

With three housemates left, someone had to be the third wheel.

Henry's new companion

Hey Henry. Henners. We know it can't feel great to be up for eviction so close to the end. And we know Malcolm and Jake have been thick as thieves and leaving you all lonesome. But we need to ask. U ok hun?

What I think the Obi-Wan series did right for me, which a lot of similar fill-in-the-gaps stories don't, is it filled in an emotional gap and not a plot one. This wasn't "how did Boba Fett survive the sarlacc pit" or "how did Anakin's/Luke's lightsaber get from Bespin to Takodana" or even (the simplest form of fill-in-the-gap) "what was he doing between x event and y event" (even though the series does answer that question, it's not the question it's answering). It didn't set out to "fix" or "explain" a plot "hole". It just looked at Obi-Wan at the end of Revenge of the Sith (betrayed, confused, guilty) and the next time we see him, in Rebels: Twin Suns or A New Hope (centred, calm, decisive, able to face Vader with equanimity and a hint of a smirk), and asked: how does this person become this other version of himself? What must he go through to get there? What must he realise and/or decide, and what would push him to get there? I'd love this to become the key question that determines whether it's worthwhile to revisit a character and tell an untold part of their story: are we just looking to answer a plot question, or are we bridging an emotional gap?

jonathan sims was really the character of all time. he was kidnapped three times. his only friend was his ex-girlfriend. he pretended to be a skeptic while also working as a ghost secretary. he said “good lord” unironically. he was a stalker. he called a merry-go-round “thrilling.” he hung out and listened to soap operas with a woman who kidnapped him and tried to slit his throat. he said mercy-killing another guy that kidnapped him was “like doing a favor for an old friend.” he could almost definitely suck his own dick. he was forcibly moisturized by a clown for a month. he lied about being ten years older than he was for no discernible reason. he wasn’t even mad about the third kidnapping. he thought his coworker was a ghost. he died once. he tried to cut off his own finger. he was even bi