Drabblecast 061 - Trifecta III

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 8:16 pm

Kisses by Tobias S. Buckell, read by Rick Stringer of Variant Frequencies

Warmth of the Sun by Sean Ruane, read by Anthony Elmor of Diabetic in Candyland

My Moustache: A Love Story by Ralph Gamelli

strawman · Post by **strawman** » Wed Apr 23, 2008 9:04 pm

The best part of today's podcast is the link to Diabetic in Candyland, where I imagined that the story of the schizophrenic was a drabblecast. It was very good. These are stories of real strange people, as opposed to imaginary strange people, and t'was fascinating. On the other hand, Kisses, Warmth of the Sun, and My Moustache I think suffered a bit by comparison. They are strange stories, but maybe more abstract and bizarre than truly strange. Maybe if the D in C schizophrenic had read the Owls and Bees (Warmth of the Sun) it would have been an interesting twist. With the schizophrenic, it's not about the writing, about plot... he sounds like it's all really hapenning, because he thinks it is. Norm does that too usually, but not as much this time.

Generally speaking, you really do better if you believe what you are narrating in fact is reality. There were good elements in the stories, such as the idea of having a sort of friends-with-benefits relationship with one's body hair (now THAT'S what I call a strange story). Kind of hard to act as if it's reality, even for Norm.

Kisses: There was a miniseries on TV a few years ago about an alien invasion in which the aliens used a transmitter which make the aliens appear human. At one point, the earthlings manage to turn it off, and suddenly the skinless aliens appeared in all their horror. In one memorable scene, a human is in the middle of copulation with an alien when the beam is turned off. I have not engaged in that activity since the day I saw that scene. Kisses brought back some of the trauma I suffered that day, like PTSD. But I felt the ending lacked the crucial final image.

Maybe what I'm saying is that a lot of writing seems to have been influenced by abstract art, where you're own subjective interpretation of an ending is supposed to be part of the work, as an expression of our relativistic culture.

AynSavoy · Post by **AynSavoy** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 2:10 am

Indians would roll eyes at him, and catch syphilis.

I thought this was a really strong trifecta. While one of these stories would make onto my list of drabblecast favorites, none of them turned me off, either, and the variety was really good. Having other narrators was interesting, as well, and it worked for me.

As for the stories themselves, I especially liked Kisses and My Mustache, but I definitely plan to listen to Warmth of the Sun again. It reminds me a little of more of some of the short fiction I read for literature classes, whatever that means.

One thing that did bug me, though, was the background music; I found it distracting, especially during Kisses.

bolddeceiver · Post by **bolddeceiver** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:43 am

Warmth of the Sun was my favorite, even if I'm not sure I totally got it the first time. My Moustache wins the most fun medal, at least for the trifecta, probably for the drabblecast over all, at least since Jelly Park. The blonde moustache had me laughing out loud right here in my studio apartment, and I don't often laugh alone. All in all, I'd say best trifecta yet.

Berandor · Post by **Berandor** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 6:21 pm

"My Moustache" was awesomely funny. It even made me register here – well, technically I've registered at the behest of my goatee, but the story made my goatee make me register.

I didn't much care for "Warmth of the Sun". I listen to the podcast while riding my bike to university, which means if it's too complicated, I'm lost. Reading the story might be better for me, then.

"Kisses" was also very good. The end was grotesque and made me shiver. Nice!

Goldenrat · Post by **Goldenrat** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 7:12 pm

Loved the trifecta, with Kisses my favorite. I thought the narrration was perfect for tone of the story. Warmth of the Sun was entertaining but I'll need to listen again, reminded me of Confederacy of Dunces a bit. BTW, did anyone catch the owl call in Warmth of the Sun - after the line that ends "judgemental hoot"? It was a loon call. Great stuff.

jodymonster · Post by **jodymonster** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:12 pm

Awesome trifecta, Norm, maybe my favorite so far. If I wanted to give someone an overview of some of the kinds of stories they'd be likely hear on the Drabblecast, I would suggest this episode.

"My Moustache" was probably my favorite story, if for no other reason than it made me laugh more than is probably safe while driving. I knew it would be great when Norm said he loved it so much he couldn't let anyone else narrate it, but it was more than I had hoped for.

A very close second was "Warmth of the Sun." This was my decided favorite until about halfway though "Moustache." I enjoyed the story quite a bit, even though I still don't think I understand what was going on. I look forward to listening to it again, which doesn't happen that often for me with podcasts.

"Kisses" I had trouble focusing on, I dunno why. I think I just
need to listen again, as I said I was driving, and a little distracted.

Overall, great job Norm. I loved it.

Mr. Tweedy · Post by **Mr. Tweedy** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:36 pm

Best trifecta ever! (Fitting, since this makes a trifecta of trifectas. Enneafecta?)

The stories were all good for their own strange reasons, and the choice of narrators was excellent. I've heard Rick Stringer read a couple of things and always liked his voice.

Kisses, I think, defines the perfect twist. The bomb doesn't drop until the very last sentence, and that sentence suddenly gives new meaning to every sentence that came before it. We don't really see what the point is, but we follow along as we are led through the vivid description of the apartment's squalor so that it's stuck to us like a greasy film on our skin. "Okay?" we ask, incredulous. Then the film lights on fire.

I haven't the foggiest idea what "Warmth of the Sunshine" was about, but it was fun none-the-less. It seemed like just a stream of consciousness rant, but it was so humorous and pleasantly weird that it didn't seem like it really needed to make sense or have a point. It's like when you get to that part of Super Mario Galaxy where the humongous bee asks you to crawl over her fuzzy body and scratch her five itches in order to advance. Don't question it: It just is.

Mustache... You've just got to love a story that goes that far out of its way to be ridiculous. I like how it took all the worn and tired dating and breakup clichés and made them into something completely unexpected.

Good stuff.

luketc · Post by **luketc** » Thu Apr 24, 2008 9:54 pm

I wonder if we should post the written version of Warmth of the Sun, I think its a bit easier to understand when you can parse through it at your own pace. You can really appreciate the mastery evinced by such lines as:

“I will trade them syphilis for a hogshead of tobacco, a disease for a
bad habit, and versa vice.”

Not only is a disease(syphilis) being traded for a bad habit(tobacco/smoking), but syphilis is a disease that results from an arguably bad habit(unprotected sex with persons of questionable origins), and using tobacco is an arguably bad habit that results in disease. Whew!

tbaker2500 · Post by **tbaker2500** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 1:39 am

Woohoooo! Another Trifecta!

Mustache was just plain awesome. Anybody who has gone through experimentation with facial hair should listen to this. Truly dead-on, too close to home humor!

cammoblammo · Post by **cammoblammo** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 12:00 pm

Cripes, I'm glad I looked at the forum before I deleted the track from my iPod. I didn't understand the first two stories at all the first time around. Second time around, though I understood Kisses and I don't think I'll ever look at a cockroach the same way again. At the very least, I have a new found appreciation for my wife.

Warmth of the Sun... yeah. It made more sense the second time around, and you're right Norm: it probably is the weirdest fiction we've had on the Drabblecast. I liked it. Some of those turns of phrase were great --- 'This was a golden day, a day made of gold...' and the apparently ludicrous redundancy of pointing out that Columbus spoke with a Spanish accent. I'm sure I'll find something in here to go in my signature line. Still, I'm not really sure what was going on, but if I ever decide to indulge in some form of escapism, I'll be sure to include a beard of owls.

My Moustache was brilliant, and Norm's reading superb. That's the sort of story I like --- a riff on a ridiculous but simple premise.

Verdict: Keep 'em coming!

G. E. Lee · Post by **G. E. Lee** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 3:50 pm

Goldenrat wrote:BTW, did anyone catch the owl call in Warmth of the Sun - after the line that ends "judgemental hoot"? It was a loon call. Great stuff.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed.
Great trifecta! I really enjoyed this set of stories:

Kisses - Ick. Reminds of something I read once in Clive Barker's "Great and Secret Show," but handled here much more skillfully. Good one.

Warmth - I usually don't go in for stuff like this, but it didn't take itself to seriously. I laughed out loud a few times, and that's always a good indicator.

My Moustache - Excellent! I have had similiar facial hair relationship problems, but with a happy ending! Those of you who are not blessed with luxurious facial hair are really missing out. Well, some of you, anyway.

Chivalrybean · Post by **Chivalrybean** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 9:42 pm

My thoughts on the stories in a long version.

Kisses - Hmm, crappy place to live, hmm, this guy dreams a lo... oh yuck! Pleh, eww icky gross!

Warmth of the Sun - My thoughts matched most of Keanu Reeves' lines from The Matrix, i.e. Huh? What? What? Huh?

My Moustache - What in the flying shaving foam?

Now the short verions

Kisses - Gross, I liked it.

Warmth of the Sun - Huh? What? What? Huh?

My Moustache - Weird, I liked it.

YouTube · Post by **Kevin Anderson** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 5:53 am

What I liked most about this episode was the different narrators. They all did an outstanding job and really sold each story. If it isn't already, I think bringing in different readers should be a trifecta standard. Not that anything about the drabblecast should ever be standard - but I think rotating in different readers on the trifectas really adds to drabblecast's reputation of unending and often unexpected variety.

And like most here - the facial hair story was my favorite.

adam · Post by **adam** » Wed Apr 30, 2008 9:01 pm

i liked them all. i didn't get kisses until reading the forum, now i like it a lot more. warmth of the sun was probably my favorite, because of all the brilliant 1 liners. moustache was great but it reminded me too much of that episode of The Tick- anyone remember that? he gets a moustache and falls in love with it, then it comes alive, beats the soup out of him, and leaves him for a russian beard. i still liked the story but it was mostly already-been-laughed-at material for me.

sandrilde · Post by **sandrilde** » Mon Apr 08, 2013 4:37 pm

The mustache story was hilarious. The first two were just confusing, especially warmth of the sun. I suppose I could listen again but I know that amazing stuff is coming, so I will move on.

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Drabblecast 061 - Trifecta III

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