21:57 <Crion> When we last left our heroes, one was dressing "like a depressed Sith." 22:00 <banana> It's Stewart's metaphor, although Star Wars is of course cool. Funny to think that there was a time when Melanie (or the person who preceded Melanie) would've wanted to claim it was "for nerds" and like... bully them? She doesn't even remember the details, the language involved in keeping up those appearances - all that comes to mind is stereotypes of teen drama, impossible to situate 22:00 <banana> herself within in the present day. 22:00 <banana> Anyway, what she's actually wearing is workout sweats, a dressing gown and the Cloak of Night. 22:03 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's got the lighting just about right, with Melanie's magic and careful positioning. She's got kind of an Alfred Hitchcock Presents thing going on, while Stewart is lit in an austere, stagey way from above, having moved his gamer chair out and replaced it with one of the black leather chairs he got for the home theater. The monitors are almost unreadably dim; with a setup this delicate 22:03 <VoxPVoxD> the glare off the screens really comes through. 22:04 <Crion> Dot is shooting the shit with the regulars in chat, while Fella is tweaking the settings on the auto-block so that he gets to moderate comments that might try to evade the URL ban by throwing a space in there. 22:05 <VoxPVoxD> "How are you doing?" asks Stewart, who still looks ridiculous in his weird midcentury suit and slick-parted hair. He's putting on the big sunglasses. "You ready to go?" 22:05 <banana> Melanie: "I'm really impressed that you've got this all set up on a boat. It's like a mini theatre, or I guess actually a studio?" 22:06 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Hedgespinning takes care of all the real work, the rest is just, like, research." 22:08 <banana> "I'm ready, but you'll have to let me know how to speak to the microphone if that's how it works, or where to look.. I know you've got cameras in there somewhere but it's gone all plato's-cave." 22:08 <Crion> Steve has relocated to the boat again, but once again is giving the studio a wide berth while it's in operation. Tony is napping on the sofa in here in the common room (captain sleeps on his ship), so Steve takes up an aggressive scouting posture on his tummy pointed towards the door to Stewart's studio, entirely still except moving up and down a few inches with Tony's breathing. 22:10 <VoxPVoxD> After putting a 'going live' warning in the mod chat: "Your angle's good right now. You probably can't see the screens on that side of the light but you're in silhouette, in profile. When I start talking different, you should start going through katas. I don't know if holding one while talking or not letting it interrupt your flow would look better; feel out whichever's more natural." 22:11 <dammitwho> How is Stewart dressed, again? 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Going live in 5... 4... 3..." 2... 1... The stream comes up, chat and studio. The audience sees Melanie in the background, and they see Stewart in the chair, in his slim midcentury suit, black with violet poking out of the pocket and between the lapels. His eyes are obscured by those big sunglasses, and his hair catches the light in such a way that, on the A camera, he seems to have a 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> faint halo of radiance encircling his head. 22:14 <VoxPVoxD> "Good evening." 22:14 <banana> Tonight Melanie's in silhouette regardless of her pose, but presumably Stewart means something cinematic. This whole thing is like a live documentary production.. lots of concerns for him to juggle! 22:15 <Crion> LeBrimley: "Oh boy. Good evening, Crit." 22:15 <banana> She's drawn herself up into something resembling good form; normally you'd do breathing exercises here, but they're inapplicable, and Nissa helped her find alternatives based on limb positioning and feeling the direction of her body in the world (or in the Hedge, as the case may be). 22:15 <Crion> TGoat9: "lurker hello" 22:16 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "hello to whatever is going on here" 22:16 <Crion> MeiMei22: "hiii" 22:16 <Crion> And a bunch of other people logging in. 22:18 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart's speaking in a patrician Mid-Atlantic accent; not quite the full Buckley but trending in that direction. "Now as you're aware I've been playing host to wits, luminaries, experts in various fields, with the simple aim of shared enrichment. You'll no doubt recall our lively discussions with Margaret and Anthony." 22:18 <banana> Melanie's slowly running through a sequence of stances and moves. It's funny to do this for an audience - she's aware of the Mask they see, overlaid human form producing something like a classic karate pose. Underlying that are the real movements she's making, which are less formal and more.. vegetable. More brutal, even. The Summer dojo isn't really about martial arts. 22:19 <banana> Actually, she's not doing that until Stewart starts 'talking different', so scratch it for the moment. 22:19 <Crion> ptoolomy: "uh oh he's doing a Voice" 22:20 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "is crit about to get his ass kicked" 22:23 <VoxPVoxD> "Joining us tonight is a true sage, who cultivates the life of mind and body, whose discipline is so intense that she has insisted she appear as you see, in Delphic occlusion. We'll call her Luca." 22:25 <VoxPVoxD> "Good evening, Luca." 22:25 <dammitwho> MaggieBakehead has subscribed for one month. "Good luck Stewart and 'Luca'! You're dressed very nice :-)" 22:27 <banana> Will we?? Oh well. Vague memories of Coach calling 'Lucas!'.. Melanie pushes them aside. "Good evening, Mr. Reader. Nice show you've got here." 22:27 <Crion> ptoolomy: "MAGGIE IN CHAT" 22:27 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "MAGGIE IN CHAT" 22:28 <Crion> This along with streams of pogchamps follow. 22:28 <Crion> ptoolomy: "also hello luca. dork greetings" 22:32 <Crion> 101stChairborne: "luca...possibly crit's ghost gf?" 22:32 <Crion> ptoolomy: "the truth is out there" 22:33 <VoxPVoxD> Unfortunately, notifications are disabled, which Stewart typically reserves for competitive streams like Kitava races, so it only shows up in chat. "In The Essence of Reason, Martin Heidegger wrote, 'Transcendence constitutes selfhood.'. Do the events of Third Impact constitute an embrace of transcendence, or a rejection of selfhood? Need we congratulate Mr. Ikari?" 22:34 <banana> Melanie squints to see the chat.. is that Maggie :) :) to Maggie - oh, nobody can see her face. 22:34 <banana> "Young 22:37 <Crion> LeBrimley: "Ah. Evangelion. A subject with which we are all well-acquainted..." 22:37 <banana> "Young Mr. Ikari we must certainly congratulate. Have congratulated, at length - but you don't specify the Father or the Son, and Ikari the elder may be the one who needs our applause the most. Consider what he's overcome in the pursuit of that transcendence - he asks a greater question than what it means to be human. Gendo Ikari asks us what it means to be a shithead, to go beyond 22:37 <banana> shitheadedness and touch the divine." 22:38 <Crion> ptoolomy: ":gendo:" 22:39 <Crion> He and others type this even if no corresponding emote shows up. 22:40 <VoxPVoxD> :gendo: was one of Lauren's suggestions, in fact. He assumes it's a Something Awful thing. 22:47 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And to touch that divinity — to bridge the gap between NERV and SEELE, as it were, brain and soul — a suitable sacrifice is required. One imagines God asking Abraham to bind Isaac, and Abraham looking up to Heaven to say, 'My Lord, my Lord, I never cared for him anyway.'" 22:49 <Crion> baabdaab: "this shit always like this" 22:49 <Crion> PrimordialPasta: "i like think its cool" 22:49 <Crion> ptoolomy: "no and same" 22:50 <Crion> Dot: "agreed" 22:50 <Crion> *Dot_Carat: "agreed" 22:52 <banana> Melanie: "Andrea Corr, '97. Her work challenges us: are we glad you're moving away? Shinji moves away from his family, his incipient relationships, his humanity. Kaworu moves away, where Shinji cannot follow. When they go, will we remember? Or is memory the sacrifice we make?" 22:54 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "is this gonna be on the exam" 22:55 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: For you. /bane 22:55 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "For you. /bane" 22:58 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "There's something to that, I think... we see it in the phantom city, ritually sacrificed to heaven. Familial bonds, thoughts of the lost... all of them offered up to the ultimate goal. What do you make of the martial attitude? Is any loss acceptable to touch, as you say, the divine?" 23:00 <banana> Melanie has basically forgotten they're on stream, though the sense of a performance remains. "All our myths begin with the fall of a silver city. It isn't an intentional sacrifice, in the beginning - that idea of loss, of anime sacrifice for anime revelation - that comes in later when we accept that we have to recreate our first failures, as intent. To truly own the ways in which we've 23:00 <banana> been owned." 23:04 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Why? Why must we recreate our first failures to move past them?" 23:06 <banana> Melanie: "Because nobody forgets anything, Mr. Reader. If they think they've forgotten pain, they only forgot that they remember." 23:06 <banana> Melanie: "Let me ask you a question: what cities have you built?" 23:07 <Crion> LeBrimley: "This is intense." 23:07 <Crion> Dot_Carat: "i have pirated at least five (5) sims city" 23:10 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "That really depends. Who builds the city? Is it the planners, the architects, the dreamers and drawers and moneyed men? Or is it the nameless, the faceless, ceaseless in their toil, who might live and breathe a full span and only brush their fingertips against the arc of history." 23:15 <banana> Oh shit. IS it the faceless, ceaseless in their toil?? "I think we have to go back to Heidegger for that - earlier, to Descartes and the spectator/being conflict. This is the kind of the central question of phenomenology, and presumably of Eva.. can you observe without being acted-upon? Like.. those laborers, history-denied, they build in the most literal sense. Bricks upon bricks, 23:15 <banana> building the wall." 23:15 <banana> "Why do they build it? Either because they're directed to build a wall or because they have the gift of a wall to work upon. Notice that both of those options require an external foreman? And yes, moneyed... the thing is, you can't have projects without plant, without capital. It doesn't have to be embodied in a capitalist, a black monolith around a table, but it doesn't just come from 23:15 <banana> nowhere." 23:17 <Crion> Bennay1997: "now we're wallposting" 23:17 <Crion> Dot_carat bans a guy who starts spamming BUILD THE WALL. 23:17 <banana> Whoops. 23:19 <Crion> MeiMei22: "wait so who is this person again?" 23:19 <Crion> ptoolomy: "that's luca, from the rumination station" 23:19 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "By that logic, then, if I'm to have built a city, a a walled edifice raised more by will than by need, to deepen one's temporal roots, to serve as the stage for imaginings... to draw down the unblinking eye of an alien god... I suppose we're in it right now." 23:24 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "if u seek shinji's monument, look around u (pretend i posted congratulations.flv)" 23:25 <banana> Very deliberately and drawn-out: "Touché." 23:25 <banana> She gestures, trailing wisps of shadow. "These guys are the alien gods, huh?" 23:26 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Yes, and I think it's time we lift our eyes to the heavens. My friends, we would be grateful for your comments and questions." 23:29 <Crion> MeiMei22: "how'd you two meet!" 23:30 <Crion> LeBrimley: "Maybe a bit more prosaic than what they were expecting, MeiMei22." 23:30 <Crion> MeiMei22: ">:P" 23:33 <Crion> ptoolomy: "i think im too dumb for this chat. definitely too dumb for most chats" 23:34 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "luca are you a professor of anime. what can anime teach us about ourselves" 23:35 <VoxPVoxD> Maintaining accent through the usernames is going to be a key part of this. Fielding mundane questions like this requires fluid lying, so he's not gonna kick this one to Melanie. "MeiMei22 asks, how did you two meet? As I recall, Mei, we met in the course of Luca's studies and stayed close thereafter. We turn to ChupSimp: 'Luca, are you a professor of anime? What can anime teach us about 23:35 <VoxPVoxD> ourselves?'" 23:36 <Crion> MeiMei22: "not really an answer ><" 23:36 <banana> Melanie glances at Stewart for a moment, not sure whether to break character - ah, whatever, they're barely acting differently to a normal conversation anyway. "Chup Simp, anime has nothing to teach us whatsoever. That's what makes it so amazing." 23:37 <Crion> Dot_carat: "whoa" 23:38 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "sifu shit" 23:38 <Crion> LeBrimley: "Do you read a lot of philosophy, Luca? I'm something of a dabbler myself. Who would you say is your favorite?" 23:40 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "i think miyazaki would say the same thing except he wouldnt call it amazing" 23:41 <Crion> Bennay1997: "pffft miyazaki whats that guy know about anime. hes working with grrm now" 23:42 <Crion> LeBrimley: "HAYAO Miyazaki, you churl." 23:42 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart passes on LeBrimley's question. 23:42 <Crion> ptoolomy: "nerd trap sprung" 23:42 <banana> Melanie's eyes narrow at the idea of a 'favorite philosopher'. Again, nobody can see it. "I don't really.. well, I think 'dabbling' is for guys who call themselves 'rennaisance men'?" 23:42 <banana> renaissance 23:42 <Crion> ptoolomy: "nerd trap sprung again" 23:43 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I believe the term of art is 'polymath'. A Renaissance man would be expected to cultivate physical arts as well. As you do." 23:45 <banana> Melanie: "Yeah, you know I'm into self-defense stuff. Not, unfortunately, integrated into the holistic interconnected of anime, so I haven't got any cool coloured belts." 23:46 <Crion> TeriyakiArmalite: "oh shit talk to us about karate" 23:46 <banana> *interconnectedness 23:46 <VoxPVoxD> "TeriyakiArmalite wants to know more about your katas." 23:49 <banana> "Yeah, sure." Melanie stands, or her silhouette does. "This isn't formally karate, it's adapted as a sort of.. chess move thing, my main sparring partner comes up with new forms and counters when we meet up." Usually involving lighting herself on fire. 23:50 <banana> She shows off a short kata, 24 moves including slow stylised punches and a bunch of repositioning - defensive posture for someone who just needs to lay a hand on you eventually, knowing it'll hurt when they do. 23:52 <banana> Most of the way through she's too focused for embarassment to set in, but she's not in a hurry to look back at the chat when she's done. 23:53 <VoxPVoxD> The camera can't tell, but Stewart is watching the chat like a hawk. 23:54 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "'Given enough time, any man may master the physical. With enough knowledge, any man may become wise. It is a true warrior who can master both.' --George Takei, Red Alert 3" 23:55 <Crion> GolfJortsSama: "@ChupSimp quoting scripture in this chat...wisdom" 23:56 <Crion> There have been a couple lurker resubs already (which Stewart surely has ably called out), but TeriyakiArmalite takes this opportunity to throw $20 in the collection box. 23:57 <VoxPVoxD> "TeriyakiArmalite has donated $20! Thank you for your kind consideration; I hope we are providing something of value." 23:58 <banana> Isn't that a gun company? Why would you marinade a weapon? 00:00 <Crion> Bennay1997: "y'all ever been in a fight" 00:00 <Crion> Bennay1997: "with karate" 00:00 <Crion> Dot_carat: "bennay stop being a dick" 00:00 <Crion> Bennay1997: "they wanted questions!" 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> "Bennay1997 asks: have you ever been in a real fight?" 00:01 <Crion> ptoolomy: "also bennay's always a dick" 00:01 <VoxPVoxD> This is a win-win. She says yes, or she says no really unconvincingly. 00:02 <banana> Melanie: "Oh no, no, I've never had to fight......... people." 00:04 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "followup question: have you ever had to fight animals" 00:05 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "An interesting question, ChupSimp, but I'm not sure what kind of animals one fights as opposed to hunting or fleeing." 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "Perhaps you are envisioning a particularly disagreeable cat." 00:06 <dammitwho> ChupSimp: "NO" 00:06 <VoxPVoxD> "Perhaps you are envisioning a specific particularly disagreeable cat." 00:08 <Crion> Chup emotes flood the chat. 00:16 <Crion> Since Stewart is keeping a close eye on things, he sees it around the time Fella starts dealing with it: there's been normal bots from time to time all session, but suddenly: an account called WelcomeTraveIer2235 sending "Hello! https://comegatherrou.nd/wereslicinghim.open". The filter catches it, of course. Then WelcomeTraveIer3343, then WelcomeTraveIer0448, then-- you get the idea. It 00:16 <Crion> becomes a trickle, then a flood. The URL changes domains -- just where the period is, really. But Fella was ready for that and has blocked all permutations. 00:17 <Crion> For the next ten to fifteen minutes, a downpour of these bot accounts slam into the blocklist...but none make it through. 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> It's getting late... "As our evening draws to a close, let's turn our thoughts back to Neo-Tokyo. To the people there, who looked anxiously out to sea and sky day after day. We readily imagine the moments of arrival and impact... the earth shaking, the walls failing to hold... but what about the days in between? When the sky was clear, and the sea was calm?" 00:18 <VoxPVoxD> "Do you think there was peace in that?" 00:19 <VoxPVoxD> Or the fear of doom pending? 00:20 <banana> Melanie: "There was something beyond peace Stewart. There was fanservice." 00:24 <Crion> Dot_carat: "oh hell ya" 00:25 <VoxPVoxD> "And on that note, I believe we're out of time. Thank you, Luca, for yours. Thank you to everyone who watched, everyone who contributed, everyone who spoke up." 00:26 <banana> Melanie waves to where she thinks the camera is. "I see you in there Maggie!" 00:26 <Crion> Chat is filled with goodnights and pogchamps. 00:27 <VoxPVoxD> Kill mic, switch to outro. "Phew!" 00:28 <Crion> Dot_carat and Fella retire to the Discord to continue shooting the shit. Fella posts a bit in the mod channel about how he's never seen anything like that bot storm, then says he's turning in. 00:28 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart thanks them profusely, and agrees that it's weird. 00:29 <VoxPVoxD> Calling back to Melanie as he types: "How are you doing? How was that?" 00:30 <VoxPVoxD> Is there any kind of pattern to when it starts? Stewart can check the tape for any diegetic triggers, but does it seem to happen at a fixed time into the steam? 00:31 <Crion> Both events occurred in the back half of streams, after audience participation had been encouraged. Other than that, hard to tell with only two data points. 00:31 <VoxPVoxD> Well there's still one more. 00:32 <banana> Melanie: "That was interesting. I mean it was fine, I enjoyed it, but I have no idea why anyone would want to watch it." 00:33 <dammitwho> Maggie backs open the door, holding a grumpy Chup and whisper-shouting "Yaaaah, it's time to do battle, yaaaah...." 00:34 <banana> "Chup.. do you realise you have simps?" 00:34 <Crion> Steve will enter as well, still visibly suspicious of the studio. He pokes his head in quickly first to make sure the camera's off. 00:35 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "A big part of my audience likes stuff like this for the same reason I used to watch MST3K when I was younger." 00:35 <Crion> Chup has a clear frown on his face, accentuated by the fat in his neck and shoulders rolling up around his cheeks. Undignified. 00:37 <dammitwho> Maggie: "I thought the pair of you were great! Now, I spent some time thinking about it, and am I right in understanding the first bit before you opened it up for questions was just a really long way of saying 'we are on an internet stream, isn't that something?'" 00:38 <banana> Melanie shrugs helplessly. 00:38 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "It wasn't... just that." 00:38 <banana> "We were totally on an internet stream though." 00:39 <VoxPVoxD> "That's true! I think people liked it. Even poor LeBrimley." 00:39 <banana> "That guy..." 00:39 <banana> Melanie: "Your chat is way better than I expected though. Compared to other streams it's a lot less.." 00:39 <banana> What's the word here. 00:40 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Full of literal and figurative 12 year olds?" 00:40 <banana> "Yeah, and a lot less racist." 00:41 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "I've got really good mods, and there's a whole ecosystem trying to scoop those guys up." 00:42 <Crion> Chup is going to wriggle enough so that hopefully Maggie puts him down, so he can go disdainfully bat at and then flump upon Steve. 00:43 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "You know, in some editions of Dungeons and Dragons, by the rules a housecat can kill a level 1 wizard in a single blow?" 00:44 <dammitwho> "Ooof! Alright, here you go big guy." She'll let him down, just like the world has let Chup down. 00:48 <Crion> Steve lifts with his legs -- much more difficult with a goose than a person -- and shifts the indolent Chup fully onto his back before settling down again. Now if the camera turns on, he is wearing a Chup-shaped camouflage. 00:48 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Steve, is your opposition to all cameras or is it just the ones in here?" 00:49 <banana> "Well, I hope they liked it. But I also kind of don't care. What I hope is that they liked it in a way which makes them keep watching your content. Contents?" 00:50 <Crion> Honk! He's not sure yet. He doesn't like the one he's met though (this one). 00:51 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "This stuff is aimed at the people who really like my stream. The like... core community. Of people who watch me." 00:51 <banana> "Voracious readers." 00:53 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "Right. The subscriber base in aggregate is 'the Reactor', but there's a core of people who watch regularly or speak up a lot, whose personalities sort of, both extend and set boundaries to the space." 00:54 <banana> "You might call them, confusingly, the critical mass." 00:54 <VoxPVoxD> Stewart: "And yet also the uncritical mass, because they'll watch anything," 00:58 <banana> "Oh yeah, have you guys got a link to Maggie's episode?"