Latest / The Torin Talks Podcast / How Crystal's ADHD-Yin Balances My ADHD-Yang | Torin Talks Writing with CrystalsImagination

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How Crystal's ADHD-Yin Balances My ADHD-Yang | Torin Talks Writing with CrystalsImagination · The Torin Talks Podcast

0:00
From topics A to Z, via 1, 2, 3, you'll always be fun to me.
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Your hyperfocus will never be mocked.
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So let's deep dive on Torrentalks.
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Hello, and welcome to the Torrentalks podcast,
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where hyperfocus, what?
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Nope.
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Where hyperfocusers are exactly enough and never too much.
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Today, we are talking to Krystal's imagination.
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Krystal is a fantastic variety streamer on Twitch.
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She plays a number of games while having
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deep, lovely conversations interspersed throughout,
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and truly, much, much more.
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And I'm so excited to get to the more of this.
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And we'll jump right in.
0:44
Hi, Krystal.
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How are you?
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You have to leave that in, by the way, the hype or whatever
0:48
you just did.
0:48
Yeah, you got it.
0:49
Awesome.
0:49
Yeah, let's go.
0:50
Let's go.
0:50
Can I say fuck?
0:51
Yeah, you can say fuck.
0:52
OK, great.
0:53
OK, great.
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If we can't, I'm very screwed right now.
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I never know.
0:56
Yeah, I was going to say.
0:59
Hi, everybody.
0:59
I cuss a lot.
1:02
Thumbs up.
1:06
Oh, goodness.
1:07
Oh, my god.
1:08
How are you?
1:10
How's things going this weekend?
1:12
Everything going good?
1:13
You know, we're super busy.
1:15
I say we.
1:15
I don't know who the fuck we is.
1:16
Me and my partner, my dog.
1:18
My dog's not busy.
1:18
I'm busy.
1:20
Yeah, we're super.
1:20
I'm super fucking busy.
1:22
But you know, we're here.
1:23
We're doing it.
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And I'm excited to be in your podcast.
1:25
So thank you so much for having me.
1:27
I'm very excited.
1:28
No, looking forward to this.
1:30
This is going to be so fun.
1:31
Heck, yeah.
1:31
With your streaming, and I mostly do this
1:35
just so we can get a little glimpse of what your world is like, right?
1:39
So you have two streaming channels.
1:41
You got your personal one and you got the Tales Network one
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and everything like that with your two channels,
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at least the way I view it.
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And please correct me if I'm wrong.
1:49
So Crystal's Imagination is your personal one
1:52
where you get to just, you know, do whatever you want.
1:54
And then Tales Network is just strictly for the business, right?
1:58
So can you kind of give me an idea of just what those two channels do
2:03
if I'm wrong or expand upon it for me?
2:05
Yeah, no, you hit the nail right on the head,
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especially because we're still learning
2:10
what we want to do on the Tales Network channel,
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because I definitely want to do more.
2:14
So right now, Tales Network is mostly just for our live listen parties,
2:18
like community events where we like play Phasmophobia together
2:20
or like Among Us or like, you know, fun stuff like that.
2:23
But, you know, I want to expand and grow that because it is Tales Network.
2:27
So, I mean, these are conversations that I will be having with you,
2:30
like at the beginning of the year.
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Like, what's it like if Tales Network is on all day?
2:33
Like, what does that look like?
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How much fun is that?
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You know, how can we how can we make it a place
2:38
where people just come and hang out the same way they hang out with you and I?
2:41
And yeah, Crystal's Imagination is absolutely the free for all.
2:44
We do all kinds of stuff on there.
2:45
I let my ADHD just run wild over on Crystal's Imagination.
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Here's your sandbox.
2:51
Literally, it is my sandbox and I make a mess.
2:56
Very fun way. No one has to clean it up because you just hit the screen.
2:59
I just literally I just like at this point, I'm like I used to have like
3:03
this really fancy, like starting soon screen or whatever, too.
3:07
And I watched a lot of Harris Heller's videos.
3:11
And he is so he gives a lot of good streaming advice
3:13
and like tech advice and stuff like that.
3:15
And he was like so anti starting soon screens.
3:18
And I wasn't because yeah, he was there because like people just want to come in
3:22
and get like like we were talking about earlier, especially if you have the ADHD,
3:25
people just want to come in and like go. Right.
3:28
One of the reasons I did it was because Twitch and their fucking ads
3:33
like even if I have, you know, the the ads on and I do I run
3:38
I run them once an hour.
3:39
Now you have to I don't have a choice, like you don't have a choice.
3:42
But but as soon as you yeah, as soon as you start streaming,
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it will play an ad no matter what, like no matter what it plays the ad.
3:50
So I was using that kind of starting soon time to let the ad play.
3:54
And then I go live.
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So you don't hire.
3:57
Yeah, that's what I was used that that's what I used to do,
4:00
because literally you go live and the first thing
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somebody sees when you go live is a fucking ad.
4:06
So if they're not subscribed to you, they blend in your channel and like whatever.
4:09
And I think playing an ad when you have to turns off pre-rolls.
4:14
And I think what that means, I still need to correct me if I'm wrong versus.
4:18
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
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I think the pre-roll is that if somebody new jumps into your channel,
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they're not immediately hit with an ad that I think that's what the
4:27
that's what it's supposed to.
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But I need to dive into that more because there was like a balance,
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which was like, hey, if you do this, we'll turn pre-rolls off.
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But I'm like, but you still fucking run ads when my stuff starts.
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So I've got it.
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Once I have spoons, I have to dive into that a little bit more to figure out.
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But yeah, isn't that the real kicker when I have spoons and the energy in it?
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And it's always like the little things that really, you know, could make it better.
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And, you know, you really want to focus on.
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And then capitalism is like, hey,
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do you run in live ads on fucking somebody stream was the worst idea,
5:02
but the best idea if you're a villain?
5:04
Yeah, because like literally like that's so real, right?
5:08
No, because like if I'm a greedy motherfucker
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and I just want your money right in me as a consumer,
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if I'm watching somebody stream and like a fucking ad plays in the middle of something,
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I want to subscribe so I get rid of the fucking ad.
5:22
Yeah, no, it's great for you.
5:26
Sorry.
5:30
But I'm just a streamer, right?
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And I don't want like if you subscribe, great.
5:35
Thank you so much.
5:36
Yes, please give me your money.
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But like, it shouldn't be a requirement to get rid of a fucking ad.
5:41
Yeah, I don't even have control over what ads were played.
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No, like at one point, Ninja was like out of pocket with the fucking shit
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that was coming out of his mouth.
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And then we played his fucking ads on my channel.
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Like, are you kidding me?
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Yeah. Like, don't do that.
5:55
Oh, my God. That's right.
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Sorry. It was just.
5:58
No, you're right.
5:59
It was so funny. It tickled me so bad.
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And it reminds me of the opt in versus opt out thing where you're
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not even going to get me started as a web designer.
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Let me just tell everybody as a professional web designer,
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they're doing that on purpose.
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There is no technical reason
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that you cannot be automatically opt out of something.
6:22
Yeah, it's very simple.
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They are doing that shit on purpose.
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That is whatever.
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If you're a fucking villain and you want to make people fucking keep your shit,
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they like that is a choice.
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And it's not even a hard choice.
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It's literally a fucking checkbox on there.
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And to them. Yeah. OK.
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It's not even like deep coding.
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There's nothing deep about it.
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No. God, that was so funny.
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I'm so sorry.
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Because I mean, you're so right.
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You're not wrong at all.
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I love it.
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Oh, you know, with your stream right now, because I know
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now for everyone's edification, who does not know?
6:59
Crystal runs Tales of the Forgotten.
7:02
I messed it up.
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Uh, can you say your business?
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I'm going to mess it up. I'm so sorry.
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Oh, you're going to Tales of the Forgotten.
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It's a mouthful.
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You could just say Tales Network.
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Tales of the Forgotten.
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We roll with all of them.
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Tales, whatever. It's all good.
7:14
Anyway, um, thank you.
7:20
Tales is doing a phenomenal event right now,
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so I know you got a lot going on and we'll get into it, of course.
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But you have found time to stream on your own channel right now a little bit.
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And I was going to say, just in general, is there any like favorite game
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or anything you've been doing recently on there?
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I know you just kind of sandbox and, you know, pick whatever you want.
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But is there a focus or, you know, something to deep dive on right now?
7:44
I mean, right now we're playing a lot of Apex and mostly it's just like stress
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relief, which is a stupid thing to say, because Apex is like a toxic relationship.
7:51
It's a terrible relationship.
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It's so stressful.
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We were playing last night and that's like somehow my wind down time.
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But I don't think it's good
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because I think it's actually just keeping my cortisol levels really high.
8:02
I think I actually need to be playing like power washer or something.
8:06
I think I need to stop playing Apex before I go to bed
8:08
because you either have a really fun time in Apex or you're like, fuck this game.
8:12
I'm so fucking mad.
8:14
Yeah. No, there's no in between.
8:17
No. But yeah, right now
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I look at, you know, I love streaming because I love hanging out with people.
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And I was like, oh, shit, I could maybe make money playing video games.
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Fuck, yes.
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So I'm a very kind of just like, fuck it.
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I want to stream. Let me hit the button.
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And I'm working right now anyway.
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So I was like, fuck it.
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I'll just co-work because that's a thing that people like to hang out with you.
8:40
So for the last week or so, it's all been co-working because I'm fucking busy.
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And I'm like, well, I might as well just hang out with my community
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while I'm working. Like, why not?
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You can hang out with me or not.
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Like, I don't give a fuck.
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Either way, I got to fucking work, bro.
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So I might as well stream.
8:54
Literally the same.
8:56
I only started co-working maybe in the last year and a half, maybe on there.
9:01
But it makes it easier.
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And I don't get stuck on about you.
9:05
But for me, I don't get stuck in my own thoughts as much
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where I would ruminate on things like, is that a good idea?
9:12
Is that a bad idea? Did I send that email?
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Did I did I type something weird in that email?
9:16
It definitely helps.
9:17
Yeah, no, it definitely helps all the time now
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for the company.
9:22
We talked a little bit about it.
9:23
Tales Network, Forgotten Audio.
9:26
I was going to ask because I haven't had a chance to ask this.
9:29
What was the inspiration?
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I guess is best way to say it.
9:34
How did the name come about?
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Because I just we haven't had a chance to actually sit down and talk about it.
9:40
It's a really good question.
9:41
Oh, no.
9:45
I'm joking.
9:46
I honestly know this was like a, you know, 2 a.m.
9:50
shower thought like, oh, that's a really good idea.
9:51
Maybe. I think it was.
9:53
I think it was. I think.
9:54
Well, so we had hilariously
9:57
a TTRPG that you got to play and you got to play in Forgotten Season three.
10:02
Right. Yeah.
10:03
Now we haven't even actually gotten to the scene.
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You got to play like three games.
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I forgot that the three three are forgotten because life was like crazy.
10:10
So the first season of the very first
10:15
TTRPG that I ever DM was called Forgotten.
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And it was called Forgotten because I wanted to make
10:22
this I had this idea that these were, you know, all these characters
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that were like lost to time.
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And it was like this whole deep thing.
10:29
You know how when you first DM, like you've got all these plans and notes.
10:32
And now I'm just like,
10:34
we're just doing some stuff, bro.
10:36
DMs, no.
10:37
If you're a fucking DM, you know exactly what the fuck I'm saying.
10:41
Like the first time you DM,
10:42
you got like a big ass book like this and notes and shit for your players.
10:46
And then once you realize players are squirrels, you stop doing that
10:50
because players are squirrels and you just improv the whole time.
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Like I literally like ninety nine percent of my sessions are improv.
10:56
I don't think my players know this, too.
10:58
Like that thing with Forgotten Season three with the four arms and the two arms.
11:02
No idea. I had no idea until that day.
11:04
Amazing. Until that moment, actually, that I knew that there was going to be beef.
11:09
And then I didn't know why.
11:10
I had no idea why they were beefing.
11:12
And literally in the middle of the session, why you guys were fighting.
11:15
It came to me.
11:15
And then all of a sudden he was like, fuck two arms.
11:17
And I was like, I don't know.
11:19
If you want to catch up with that, you can look at it on YouTube for the record.
11:22
It's on YouTube. It's on YouTube.
11:23
But yeah, I think the name kind of came from that
11:26
because I liked the idea of like this for some Scorpio, right?
11:30
So we're all like deep and mysterious and shit.
11:32
Are we trying to be like the.
11:36
Yeah, right.
11:36
I like the idea of like this forgotten archive of stories
11:41
that people could come to because I love like, you know,
11:45
Torna and I have talked about this, that I really love smart marketing.
11:48
And I love marketing.
11:49
That's kind of like in character.
11:51
So one of the reasons we did Tales of the Forgotten
11:54
and what we're going to lean more into is like these are literally like
11:58
imagine that you find a secret archive of cool shit
12:01
and you're finding all these tales that have been lost to time.
12:05
And that's kind of where the whole mantra of Tales of the Forgotten come from.
12:09
That's that's what we're going for, that you are literally like this wanderer
12:13
in this, you know, galactic record of shit.
12:16
And you're finding all these cool stories.
12:18
I, oh, you know, me in this regard of just
12:22
that's like my favorite part of RPGs, like video games or even RPGs
12:26
when a DM is just like, oh, you took the effort and the time here.
12:30
And I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I can dig into.
12:34
Let's go. Oh, my gosh.
12:36
OK, I love that.
12:37
Oh, I love that crystal. That's so cool.
12:39
See, I'm so glad I asked that question.
12:42
Dude, we've done some fun shit, like I just got one time.
12:44
So the website was under construction, right?
12:47
And of course, this is what Torn is going to help me with this year
12:49
because Crystal gets ideas like the day of and then wants to do them that day.
12:53
Yeah, so no one saw me, but I saluted.
12:55
Yep, that's me. Yeah, yeah.
12:57
So the website was under construction
13:03
and I was like, this would be a really funny way to do
13:06
like some tongue in cheek shit.
13:07
So while the web, because I was upgrading the membership backdrop
13:11
for like, you know, user, whatever, because what does I learn that skill?
13:14
God, so good.
13:15
Anyway. Yeah.
13:15
Or hire me, you know, so I know.
13:17
But anyway, we so I made this awesome audio
13:22
that was just like, do not come into Hallway 87.
13:26
There's some shit going on.
13:27
And I had like all these sound effects and that was playing
13:30
while the website was under construction.
13:32
I love that.
13:35
Yeah, that's so true.
13:37
I love that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
13:38
So I do. I love smart marketing like that, because modern marketing
13:42
bores the shit out of me. I fucking hate it.
13:44
But like smart marketing, like I get a different trailer
13:47
if I take the blue pill versus the red pill.
13:48
I love that show. I love that shit.
13:51
Yeah. And so I want to find more ways to do that.
13:54
Right. And like it reminds me of games with replayability.
13:58
Yes. Yes. Yes.
13:59
Oh, girl, so smart. I love that.
14:01
So for Tales of Forgotten Audio Network.
14:04
For anyone who is unaware, please go check that out.
14:07
It's wonderful.
14:07
And it's all audio dramas at the current moment and very, very sorry.
14:12
Very varied audio dramas is what I was trying to say
14:15
with different genres and approaches to things.
14:19
So with the like, is there a story that you have written thus far
14:23
that is your favorite?
14:25
Like, what are you most proud of out of the things that you have, by the way,
14:29
solely written, correct, if I'm correct on that?
14:31
Yeah, I wrote. Yeah. Yeah.
14:32
Anyway, for all of the ones you've done thus far,
14:35
is there a favorite or one that stands out or one that you return to,
14:38
like in your mind, like, I really want to go back there.
14:44
Or do you love all your babies equally?
14:46
I kind of love all my babies equally.
14:48
I tend to have favorite characters more than favorite stories.
14:51
Oh, OK. Yeah.
14:53
There tends to be characters that kind of stick with me more than the stories.
14:57
I think that's what I'm most proud of.
14:59
It's kind of how we're growing and learning and improving audio quality
15:03
and just basically just getting better at what we do.
15:06
Yeah, because like so the very first one we did was Legacy,
15:10
a Star Wars audio drama.
15:11
And it technically and I can just say this, just it's not great
15:18
because, I mean, it's a bunch of it's not the voice acting.
15:22
All the voice actors are incredible.
15:23
It's not the voice acting.
15:24
It's the voice acting.
15:25
It's the voice acting.
15:27
It's not the voice acting.
15:28
All the voice actors are incredible.
15:29
And I know a lot of them want a different shot at it
15:32
because a lot of them, it was their first time voice acting was mine.
15:35
And the audio quality, like we sound like, you know, you're not in a treated booth.
15:39
And, you know, a lot of the stuff we just we just didn't know
15:41
what we were fucking doing, bro.
15:42
We just made some art.
15:44
But it's still carrying the network on its back.
15:46
People still love it.
15:47
There's a gentleman who comes into my stream.
15:49
He's listened to it like 50 fucking times.
15:51
I'm not kidding.
15:53
He has. Yes, I love that, too.
15:55
He has listened to it so much.
15:59
And I'm just like, I love that, too.
16:00
We got so many nice like messages, too, like this one guy.
16:03
I'll never forget it.
16:04
And I got I got receipts, y'all.
16:06
He emailed me.
16:07
He said, thank you so much for this.
16:09
You reminded me of like the happiness that I felt
16:13
when I first watched like the original trilogy and shit like that.
16:16
And I'm like, bro, this is a story about women, strong women.
16:20
I got sex. I got gay people like this is the wokest fucking Star Wars.
16:25
Ever. And all of these dudes are like, I fucking love this, bro.
16:28
I'm like, who would number one, right?
16:30
And if you don't, right, right, right.
16:31
But I put bisexuals in the horror story and people are like,
16:35
I'll be fucking welcome.
16:37
Anyway. Yeah.
16:38
Because Star Wars fans are fucked.
16:40
So I thought that Star Wars would get a lot more flack than it does.
16:42
But everybody fucking loves legacy.
16:44
But I feel like the true lovers of what I will call the true core of it won't.
16:51
You know, the people that can have the ability to look behind the surface
16:54
of something, even just a teeny tiny little bit,
16:57
I will absolutely not feel that way in people who, you know,
17:04
and what I mean by surface, not like pretty late, you know, like
17:09
sounded like it was amazing.
17:14
You're welcome.
17:15
No, but like, I mean, I'm reasonably happy.
17:17
That was so great.
17:19
Special lightsaber sound ever.
17:21
That's it. That's all the lightsaber sounds.
17:23
When we read your legacy, all the lightsabers are going to go.
17:28
And, you know, I was going to make a monster real.
17:29
Fuck that. I'm going to make a sound effect real.
17:31
And it's going to just be really bad.
17:33
Please. Fucking please.
17:35
That would be so great.
17:36
Tell tell pixel they don't even need any sound effects like me.
17:41
I'm like, I'm like, babe, babe, when you need a sound effects,
17:44
just tell Tori to get on the mic.
17:45
We got it. We got it.
17:47
It's going to be so bad.
17:49
Sorry. Anyway,
17:52
I love that.
17:53
That's so sweet.
17:54
And also just real quick shout out to the long fan of your Star Wars podcast.
17:59
It's really. Yeah, it's wonderful.
18:01
It's absolutely wonderful. Yeah.
18:03
I mean, that's one of the reasons streaming is so great, too, because I streamed
18:07
and then he just wandered into the stream and he's just been such a nice guy.
18:10
And he's like, yeah, how can I support you?
18:12
And he signed up for a membership and all that kind of stuff.
18:14
So it's been great.
18:15
And then he still comes and hangs out.
18:16
He was on a road trip and he made his wife listen to that shit.
18:19
Like he's like 50.
18:21
I'm not like he's listened to Legacy and then say he just keeps listening to it.
18:25
And I love that for him.
18:27
I love that so much.
18:29
Like that just makes me so happy.
18:30
Honestly, you know, yeah.
18:31
Not that I want to lead you down any paths, but I'm like,
18:35
can we just make some episodes for him? Like, right.
18:39
So Tara's mom also.
18:43
Oh, that's really huge.
18:46
Tara's mom like harasses Tara.
18:48
Like it's like, hey, what's the next episode coming out?
18:51
They make any more than shows like they'll listen to Tara and her mom
18:55
will listen to tell shows together.
18:57
So we actually did give her a shout out in one of the holiday specials.
19:00
We said this is for her.
19:02
But yeah, this is just I love it.
19:05
This is why we do it.
19:06
This is literally it's just going to be you and me brainstorming.
19:08
I'm so sorry.
19:11
No, that's so sweet.
19:12
I am set.
19:15
I love that.
19:16
That is so, so sweet.
19:18
And like, yeah, yeah.
19:20
Anyway, fans are great.
19:21
And I said this on another episode that has nothing to do
19:24
with what we're talking right now, but it applies of just tell people
19:27
when they do something good.
19:29
You know what I mean?
19:29
Or something you appreciate, whether it's like our personal streams,
19:33
you know, anything like that or audio dramas.
19:36
Yeah, audio dramas are great. Go listen.
19:38
Anyway, go listen.
19:39
There's so much audio fiction out there and we make a lot of it, too.
19:42
So go listen to it.
19:43
Yeah, you should.
19:45
Now, I know I've asked a little bit about this before, but with
19:50
the audio dramas that you've written, is there a particular process
19:54
or things that truly help spark, you know,
19:58
the ideas in the initial phases as you're writing, et cetera, et cetera?
20:03
Like, is there a set up?
20:04
Is there a mindset?
20:06
Oh,
20:08
see, this is why I love asking these questions, because I'm so type A
20:13
where I'm just like, I need this and I need this and I need this.
20:15
You know what I mean?
20:16
Like, and you just go for it.
20:18
It makes me so happy.
20:20
I you know, so I was actually I keep thinking about this
20:24
because once again, we're making an audio drama
20:28
while being very stressed about survival and bills and stuff.
20:32
And I keep wondering what it's going to be like
20:36
when like 80 percent of my energy isn't tied into the hellscape
20:41
that is America and this stupid ass system.
20:44
And what it's going to be like when all that is freed up
20:46
to literally focus on my creativity.
20:49
I was actually like, I'm like, is it going to start sucking?
20:53
Is this what makes my art good?
20:55
Like, is it actually going to like when I actually can do something
20:59
and I'm not fucking stressed and exhausted?
21:01
Does that mean it's not going to be good anymore?
21:03
Like, I don't know.
21:04
We're going to find out because I'm going to fucking get there.
21:06
But I am. I'm like, once again, like, I am so fucking stressed out about life
21:10
stuff, but I'm like, whatever, I got to work on the fire. It doesn't matter.
21:14
But yeah, no ideas.
21:15
They just I have so many story ideas like that's never been a problem for me.
21:19
It's always finding the executive function and the time to get them out.
21:21
Gotcha. But like, don't always listen to your weird uncle.
21:25
Hannah and I were at the park
21:27
and I was like, I wanted to do like a fun slasher type shit for Halloween.
21:32
And then we just had a conversation and then there was the script.
21:36
I love that.
21:37
And it's one of my it is one of my favorite shows because it's so fucking funny.
21:40
Because I love like horror comedy.
21:42
So and fucking always listen to your weird uncle.
21:45
I think it's fucking hilarious. I think it's fucking hilarious.
21:47
It has one of the funniest scenes to like real quick story.
21:51
There's a there's a I didn't realize how long dialogue is between two characters.
21:58
So there's a scene where a guy is running down a hallway
22:01
while two people are talking.
22:03
And when I put everything on the track, I was like,
22:07
this is the longest hallway in fucking existence.
22:10
And it's not even like they're having a long conversation.
22:13
She's literally like, oh, he's a little bitch.
22:15
And she's just like, always had been. Let's fucking kill him.
22:17
And she's like, sure.
22:18
So it's literally that fast.
22:20
But the whole time he's supposed to be running away from them.
22:23
And they're in a house.
22:24
So I'm but I left it.
22:27
I was like, fuck it.
22:28
So it's now been a running joke.
22:31
It's like in the ad to like Zo, who played one of the characters in there,
22:35
like one of the ads for always looking to listen to your weird uncle
22:38
is like, is your hallway too short?
22:42
So now it's just we're like, fuck it.
22:44
It's a big house.
22:45
The hallway is just really he's running for so long.
22:49
You guys like you hear like he opens the door.
22:52
He sees them.
22:53
He's like, fuck.
22:54
And he takes off and they're talking and he's still fucking.
22:57
Oh, my God. This.
22:58
OK, two thoughts.
22:59
Number one, random shotgun houses.
23:02
I don't know if you've ever seen those.
23:04
Like in I lived in one in New Orleans.
23:06
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
23:08
Where I'm from, like they're everywhere, you know, like houses, shotgun houses.
23:13
Number one thought.
23:13
Number two thought the seed in Monty Python, the Holy Grail,
23:18
when he's running to save the princess from the castle and they keep going back,
23:23
like the guards are just standing there, like just standing doing nothing
23:26
and then far off shot cut to him in the night, like running.
23:31
And it just keeps repeating that same frame.
23:33
And all of a sudden he's in the shot with the guards like.
23:37
It's so it's like that's what I'm imagining.
23:41
Like, if I had just this guy running does it or maybe he's just really slow.
23:46
I don't know. Right.
23:47
He could be a slow runner.
23:50
I was like, because there was just nothing to do in those.
23:53
I was like, I don't know how to fix this.
23:55
So, you know what? Fuck it.
23:58
We're just going to go with it.
23:59
Then you can't narrate that.
24:00
It's like two doors. He passes two doors. No, no, no, no.
24:02
He's going to pass for now.
24:03
Now, five. Right. Right. Right.
24:05
There's no narration.
24:06
It's just them talking shit before they fucking do what they're going to do to him.
24:10
So it was just like I was like, you know what?
24:11
I can leave it.
24:13
You know what? That's what fiction's about, y'all.
24:17
And now it's a running joke and everybody loves it.
24:19
So, you know what?
24:21
I, you know, sometimes you don't have to fix the thing.
24:23
Sometimes you're just like, you know what?
24:25
We're just going to let it ride.
24:27
It's like TTRBGs when you just go the dice, tell a story
24:30
like you have to say what you want to be.
24:33
And then they're short.
24:35
No, no, no, honey.
24:36
I got you. Just roll.
24:39
It's creepy. Yeah, I really.
24:41
Dice rolls are creepy, dude.
24:43
I swear. Like, not that I am moving in any way.
24:46
But man, sometimes they just know.
24:49
They're like, hey, no, I got you, honey boo boo.
24:51
Don't worry about it.
24:54
Now, with your audio dramas,
24:56
I have a personal affection just for the way that you write things now
25:01
with your writing style.
25:03
I mean, I find it personally unique of just we get a little insight
25:07
into some of the characters, if not all of them, where they narrate
25:12
their inner thoughts, not necessarily like in the scene
25:15
or to another character, right?
25:17
Like it's to the audience, really.
25:20
Was that something that spawned from a favorite audio drama
25:24
that you listen to or was it just the way that it came out
25:27
with your writing style?
25:28
What was the, you know,
25:30
inspiration, impetus to include some internal monologue with it?
25:37
That's because I was an author first and I still am,
25:40
so I wrote two science fiction novels and there's always an omniscient narrator
25:45
in a science fiction novel, right?
25:46
It's always so when we adapted Legacy,
25:49
which was just a fan fiction that I wrote, I just left it in.
25:52
And then I started listening to audio dramas
25:55
and I realized that that wasn't the norm.
25:57
And then I actually got a little annoyed by that because there's that.
26:01
I know that it's theater of the mind.
26:03
I know that.
26:04
And I'm not one that needs to be handheld.
26:06
But there is a point where I do need to know what the fuck this is,
26:11
like what the fuck is happening in the scene?
26:14
Because I think there's only so much you can do with sound, right?
26:17
You know, like I mean, so and we're actually now
26:20
I'm starting to experiment a little more with how can I pull back
26:24
on the narration a little bit and leave more to sound as Hannah
26:27
and I get better at it, you know?
26:30
But we will still always have narration because I think we had a good
26:34
we had a good, I think, balance of that swinging back to Weird Uncle,
26:38
where kind of the first part of Weird Uncle.
26:41
There isn't narration, but you get what's happening,
26:44
like it's four girls in their apartment and the way that I was able to write
26:48
dialogue, you know, that there's a you know, there's a fucking ghost
26:51
in their kitchen, like opening up cabinets and shit like you hear the bangs.
26:54
Like that's the kind of stuff that I could leave to the audience's imagination
26:58
without annoying them, like what the fuck is that?
27:00
And then but once we got into the later part, I was like, oh, now
27:03
we're getting into like fighting.
27:05
So we I want that.
27:06
I want the audience to kind of get some insight into these characters.
27:10
So we kind of had a balance with that.
27:12
So that's what I think I'm getting better at to not lean on that too much,
27:16
because I think there is a skill and cleverness
27:21
in the way you write a script to inform the audience
27:25
about what's going on without leading to narration.
27:29
I listened to a really amazing pod
27:33
audio fiction show, give it a shout out Life with Leo,
27:36
done by Lauren Shippen and her group over at Atypical.
27:39
Yeah, it's atypical, isn't it? Yeah.
27:41
It's absolutely atypical. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
27:43
And nothing.
27:44
I mean, now, granted, it was kind of a romantic comedy,
27:47
so there wasn't a lot of need for narration or whatever.
27:50
There really wasn't what was going on in scenes.
27:52
But I listened very closely to things and it was it was fine, you know.
27:58
So I think there's a lot that I can learn from some of the people
28:00
who have done it with, you know, you know.
28:03
But I think when it comes to because we like to write a lot of action
28:06
and fight scenes and things like that, and I have listened to audio dramas
28:11
that had a fight scene.
28:12
There is one I won't name it because I don't want to bad mouth it,
28:15
but it's fucking incredible.
28:17
It's one of my favorites.
28:18
It lives rent free in my head.
28:20
I love the characters, but I don't know what's happening
28:23
in any of the goddamn fight scenes.
28:24
And it's to this day is driving me insane, especially because like
28:28
the main character is like this badass bitch.
28:30
And I know she's doing some cool shit and I'm hearing things
28:34
and I have no idea what she's doing. And I'm so mad.
28:36
I mean, like at that point, you know, I want people to envision it.
28:40
Like some people don't think in those terms or they don't have visuals,
28:45
you know, and I must like I think why I really appreciate your inner monologue
28:52
or revelation to the listeners is actually for that accessibility reason.
28:58
And I know we talked about this a little bit just in marketing, too.
29:02
It's for me personally, with my neurodivergence,
29:06
sometimes it's hard for me to understand
29:09
what some other people have assumed and or is common knowledge or.
29:14
And so with your way that you tell stories in your audio dramas,
29:19
I actually really appreciate that sometimes because I can try to make leaps.
29:23
But then people are like, that's what you got.
29:24
And I'm like, that's not what you got.
29:27
Right. And so getting a little insight into the characters
29:31
and make not necessarily making sure I'm, quote, right.
29:34
And or, you know, like there's no right or wrong here.
29:37
Right. And no spaces.
29:38
But there are some things that are super hard
29:44
to convey without doing things like that, like dialogue.
29:47
Because I know we talked about this, too.
29:49
Just it's hard to write as people actually speak sometimes
29:53
with stories. Right.
29:54
And so that's why, at least for me personally, I really appreciate that.
29:58
Like, I almost find as an accessibility thing.
30:00
Yeah. And so, yeah.
30:02
And I want to tell people that you still get to interpret things the way you want,
30:06
because I think Vampire Beginnings is like a really great example,
30:09
because I wrote Vampire
30:13
because I just like vampires and I love love.
30:15
OK, that was it was not deep, y'all.
30:17
I swear to fuck it was not.
30:19
I like vampires and I like love.
30:20
And I'm like, I want to write a vampire story where there's fucking adults
30:23
because fuck all this 12 year old nonsense.
30:25
I'm 3000 years old and I'm in love with a bait like get the fuck out of here.
30:28
I hate love triangles.
30:29
Make a fucking decision. I cannot with y'all.
30:31
I didn't want none of that. I didn't want.
30:33
I'm not you want to be poly great, but don't be the fucking love triangle.
30:36
I fucking hate it.
30:36
But anyway, so that's all that's what I wanted it to be.
30:39
It was just like, I love love.
30:42
Kind of an annoyance to lovers type thing with fucking sexy vampires,
30:46
like on a completely different planet.
30:48
Like I wanted to like there was like that.
30:49
But then I had I'll never forget it.
30:51
And it's why we had to.
30:53
It's one of the reasons why Episode seven took so long.
30:56
One of my listeners came in and started talking about
31:00
what they were taking away from vampire.
31:02
Oh, and now I had to be so clear about messaging.
31:07
So now I was like, oh.
31:10
And then I started thinking about my own fucking story, and I was like.
31:14
Bitch, there is hierarchy.
31:16
There is slavery.
31:18
There is such a correlation that can be made between vampires and humans
31:22
to like colonialism, patriarchy, like fucking racism,
31:27
like all of that is in this story.
31:29
And you had no idea.
31:31
Oh, like I genuinely didn't like I'm writing all this.
31:35
I don't know if like some.
31:37
But I don't know if like subconsciously it was like,
31:39
and I just didn't fucking notice.
31:41
But there are depths and layers to the story.
31:43
And then somebody pointed it out to me.
31:45
And I'm like, oh, I need to be very clear about what I want this story to say.
31:50
Like, this is not just about Alexa and Rego, like falling in love
31:53
and being all ooh-ooh and Boise being annoyed about it.
31:56
There is like some serious shit. Right.
31:58
So like, what is I had to be like, remind myself like, bitch,
32:01
you have a responsibility with the messaging of this story.
32:03
And I was like, oh, hmm.
32:05
Let me look at what I'm writing.
32:07
I mean, I love that, though.
32:09
I really do, because. Yeah.
32:11
Oh, thank you.
32:12
Yeah. Well, I was going to say we're talking about this a little bit.
32:15
Not too long ago, of course, in this space.
32:18
But like the way that I would personally overanalyze
32:22
and writing a story like that, like what is your main message
32:25
versus how you approach it?
32:27
I actually find it very freeing.
32:29
But I love that learning moment of you got feedback or something.
32:34
Someone says something like, oh, shit, wait, wait.
32:38
Where there is room to improve here or, you know, something that you got
32:44
criticism or feedback and then went, is this important?
32:49
Right. Decided it wasn't.
32:51
Like, I love things like that.
32:52
And the evolution of how those things happen personally.
32:56
So, yeah, I thought it was great.
32:59
It was just a great reminder.
33:00
It was a great reminder, I think, for me as a writer about how stories
33:03
can get away with away from you and, you know, as artists, you know,
33:06
once you release something into the wild, even if you have narration,
33:09
even if somebody has an inner fucking monologue, monologue,
33:11
people are still going to take away what they take away from it. Right.
33:15
Like, I'm going to be.
33:17
No, it's gone.
33:18
Thank you.
33:19
Um, so in like in Legacy, for example, we got a hilarious comment
33:22
that somebody dipped out because they were like a Jedi
33:26
wouldn't sleep with this other guy and have this other guy's baby.
33:30
And I'm like, well, she she's not a Jedi.
33:35
And we make that so fucking clear.
33:37
Like she's this character is like from the moment
33:40
we meet her is struggling with not being a full Jedi
33:43
and is at most a gray Jedi.
33:45
And like her whole fucking life, it's so clear that she is not
33:48
your traditional fucking Jedi.
33:50
And his comment being like, that's not what a Jedi would do.
33:53
I'm like, that shit just went right over your fucking head
33:56
and crashed into the fucking wall.
33:58
You missed the whole. Right, right, right, right.
34:01
Like that. You're right, bro.
34:04
That's not what a fucking Jedi would do because she's got a fucking Jedi.
34:07
I don't know why. So, bro, like you could.
34:15
You're absolutely correct.
34:16
Once it's released, that's just where it goes.
34:18
Like, that's just where it goes, bro.
34:20
People just, you know, and you as a creator have to decide
34:24
like what feedback is worth your time and what was it.
34:26
But like this person, when he gave me feedback,
34:29
gave me feedback on Vampire, it literally just made me like rethink
34:32
my own story and realize that there are so many like layers to this.
34:37
And I'm so conscious of I think if there is the one thing
34:40
I'm conscious of in my writing is trying to flip
34:43
like traditional tropes like on their head.
34:46
You know, it's one of the reasons why I think Alexa has beef
34:50
with her mother instead of it being like a father figure.
34:53
You know, like little like we try to do like little things like that
34:56
where we're not, you know, rehashing the same types of things.
35:01
So I try to be aware of that.
35:03
And, you know, just, you know, what we're saying.
35:06
And because I mean, hilariously, diversity is so important to us.
35:08
Like when we had the amazing Gerald Hill do our work
35:12
and Maganda, the the woman who plays Alexa, she's mixed race.
35:17
I don't think she's black, but Alexa is.
35:19
And I'm like, oops. And then
35:22
right. And then when when Gerald did the cover art for us,
35:25
Regal was a black guy.
35:27
And Isaac, the guy who plays Regal could not be whiter.
35:31
He's white as fuck, bro.
35:32
Right. And I was like.
35:35
I was like, Gerald, can we change that?
35:37
Because to be fair, I didn't give Gerald any notes
35:41
because a lot of the time when I'm casting,
35:43
casting calls are always open to whoever.
35:45
And we try to be like, I'm more conscious of that now
35:48
than I was when I cast a vampire, because when I cast a vampire,
35:50
I was literally just looking for a voice. Right.
35:53
Like I knew this character was like me.
35:55
I knew that, you know, Alexa was like dark skinned, mixed race, a woman.
35:58
But I'm looking for a voice with Regal.
36:01
I was also looking for a voice.
36:03
And then we can't.
36:04
But I had the artwork done before I can.
36:06
Then, you know, it kind of works, but it worked out.
36:07
So we changed it to try to, like, you know, be smart about that stuff.
36:10
So that's not those are like little things that now I want to be
36:13
like a little bit more conscious of what we're doing casting.
36:16
So I'm not like, can you just change this artwork world, please?
36:19
Well, and we have, you know, proper representation.
36:23
And in a business sense, changing artwork, thankfully, is easier
36:27
than just being like, hey, I know you said we were, you know,
36:31
going to cast you for this.
36:32
But right. Right.
36:35
Like, right. Right. Exactly. Change.
36:37
But I gosh, I really appreciate that.
36:39
And because things like this, there are some people I feel like get into a rut
36:44
with things or they're like, I already know how to do that.
36:46
And I know we've talked about this in a business sense, but just
36:49
you have to keep learning and keep growing with it.
36:52
And it's never a static thing ever running your own business,
36:56
doing creative art, doing any any project.
37:00
There's always going to be a learning curve.
37:02
And at least for me and all the things I've done,
37:05
I've always run into people like that or like, well, I know how to do that.
37:09
I'm like, OK, I'm sure you did in the context of when you did it.
37:13
Sure. But there is a potential change in context here
37:16
that really makes that very different.
37:19
And even just the evolution of the casting calls like you're talking about.
37:23
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love that. Oh, my gosh.
37:26
I mean, I think it's it's especially hard for me, too, because I am I'm 45.
37:31
I go ahead and date myself.
37:32
So I'm like boomer slash millennial. Right. So what?
37:37
You mean not Gen Z or Gen X?
37:39
Yeah, Gen X. I'm like Gen X, right?
37:40
We both just, oh, I know.
37:42
We both had a complete mental breakdown.
37:45
So I'm like Gen X slash millennial, if you know, you know.
37:48
So, yeah. So like one, I have a hard time remembering pronouns
37:51
and it's not because I'm trying to be rude to anybody.
37:53
It's because my brain.
37:56
It's so hard. It's so hard.
37:58
And not for asshole reasons, just because I have a friend
38:02
who went from she, her to they, them. Mm hmm.
38:06
It's been years. Oh, no.
38:08
It's been years, family.
38:09
I'm still struggling with it.
38:11
And it's not because I don't it's not even that I'm struggling with them.
38:14
I'm struggling with words.
38:16
Yeah, I am literally struggling with the words. It's so hard.
38:22
So, yeah, it's just it's just being mindful of like what terminology.
38:25
So I literally another thing.
38:27
Always listen to your weird uncle.
38:29
Always used to be. Always listen to your crazy uncle.
38:33
Oh, and then we were having conversations.
38:35
I had to pause and have conversations about is this ableist or not? Yeah.
38:40
And some people were telling me yes.
38:41
And some people were telling me no.
38:44
There's like there still hasn't been like any agreement on that.
38:47
And I was like, fuck it. We're just going to change it.
38:48
Yeah. Like it doesn't affect the story station.
38:51
Let's write. It's not a big fucking deal.
38:54
Let's just fucking change it.
38:55
So we're leaning on the side of like doing the right thing
38:58
instead of potentially pissing somebody off for a stupid reason, you know?
39:01
So that's the kind of thing that I have to because I'm still on that line.
39:04
I'm not like Hannah is much better at it than I am.
39:07
But she's a little bit younger.
39:08
So she's kind of literally as Gen X people.
39:10
We're literally unraveling
39:12
the fucking tendencies of our fucking parents to try to be better human beings,
39:15
you know, and we're trying, you know, so literally.
39:18
So are millennials, OK?
39:20
You know, salute. We really are. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:22
So like there's just things that just don't bother me
39:25
that I know are big deals to other people. Yeah.
39:27
You know, so that's why we're trying to be like diversity,
39:29
you know, that kind of stuff. It's easy.
39:31
But it's mostly for us, like being more sensitive about the terminology
39:34
and how we phrase things and the wording we use.
39:37
I mean, I had somebody do a sensitivity read on our mission statement as well
39:41
to make sure that we were using.
39:42
Yeah. To make sure that we were, you know, being inclusive
39:45
and what, you know, we wanted to get across.
39:47
It was, you know, instead of saying, you know, we believe in the right of women.
39:50
It's like we believe in the right of people with uteruses.
39:51
You know, you just have to you have to be like acknowledging that, you know.
39:55
So, yeah, it's you know, it's we we try to get it right.
39:58
And we're learning every day.
39:59
But that's why you said people who are just like, I know everything.
40:01
But you don't. Yeah.
40:02
Like, OK, like I get being
40:06
there's a way to be assured of yourself to be comfortable
40:10
that you're you know, like you can walk through life with confidence.
40:13
But there's an absolute.
40:16
Part of that, we're acknowledging that change is just part of that.
40:20
And you can have the strength to know you can navigate it,
40:23
even if you don't know how you're going to navigate it.
40:24
Like those are two very different things.
40:26
Sorry. That's something in my brain that just especially working
40:30
in the in the corporate fields that I did.
40:32
It was so, yeah, yeah.
40:33
You know, I ran into some very action like absolutely.
40:37
I get that.
40:38
You just want to be contented and comfortable.
40:40
Sometimes it's OK to be a little uncomfortable.
40:43
Yeah. The same.
40:44
Yeah. Listen, I've been uncomfortable for years.
40:46
Just deal with it.
40:47
I feel like as minorities
40:50
and also as perceived by society as women.
40:54
That's just a that's just a given. Come on.
40:56
I don't have any sympathy for people anymore.
40:58
Am I? My sympathy is so low.
41:00
I'm just like, fucking deal with it.
41:02
I'm in the fire right now.
41:03
You don't know how many bridges I've burned this year.
41:05
I don't give a shit.
41:06
Like I was born in the fire and I'm never right.
41:10
Well, it was a Batman line.
41:12
You know, I was nearly.
41:14
Yeah, you were darkness.
41:15
Yeah. Yes, I was born in it or she was molded by it.
41:20
God, it's so true, though.
41:22
It's so real.
41:22
So it is.
41:24
Was there ever an audio drama that like sparked the first audio drama for you?
41:28
Like, how did you actually get into it?
41:31
I just decided.
41:32
Oh, I literally just decided.
41:35
So so here's here's the whole you.
41:38
So sorry.
41:41
This is this is why I need you to help me merge my tendencies
41:46
with your structure because I was like, I just fucking did it.
41:48
I literally was going to say it like I need you to include me.
41:53
So maybe we can balance out at some point.
41:55
Let's go. We're going to figure this out.
41:57
I have so much faith in us.
41:59
So like probably like 50.
42:01
I don't remember. It was like a while ago.
42:03
I was like deep into Star Wars, the Old Republic, the video game, right?
42:06
The MMO back when it was good.
42:07
As I was like, as you said, this is great.
42:09
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.
42:10
Levels one through 50. Play those stories.
42:12
I loved it. I was like and I get really bored at MMOs like I can't play
42:16
because I just the repetitiveness doesn't click in my brain like I don't like it.
42:19
But I was like doing dailies.
42:21
I was fucking rating, bro.
42:22
I was like hardcore in that shit.
42:24
Nice. I love the story.
42:25
Like Star Wars is just one universe that I just fucking love it.
42:28
I love it.
42:29
I'm a huge fucking Star Wars nerd, but I will literally rage about some Star Wars
42:33
shit like that's just yeah.
42:35
So I was it was hilarious.
42:37
I was on Twitter and I was like, should I write a fan fiction?
42:40
And the official Star Wars account responded to me and said, yes, you should.
42:43
I was like, no, I'm not even kidding you.
42:47
So exactly that.
42:48
So I did. So I wrote this like fan fiction and then I just wrote it.
42:52
And, you know, it was fine on message boards.
42:54
People liked it, whatever.
42:54
And then it just sat for years.
42:57
And then I don't I honest to fuck don't remember why audio drama.
43:04
I don't remember what happened.
43:05
I know it was probably I saw something, something triggered in my brain.
43:08
I remember that I was slowly trying to get into audio books
43:11
and doing more with audio, like I was kind of following trends
43:15
and learning and starting to move into that space. Right.
43:19
But I don't remember what sparked it.
43:21
But at some point it was just like, OK, we're going to turn legacy
43:24
into an audio drama and I'm going to get voice actors and I'm going to do that.
43:27
So I just put up a like a very casting call on Twitter.
43:30
I didn't expect to get the responses that we did.
43:32
No, it exploded, didn't it?
43:34
Yeah, I didn't expect to get the talent that we got like incredible.
43:41
And so we just did it.
43:42
We just made it.
43:43
And I fucking dragged Hannah into it because eventually I was like, please help me.
43:49
Literally and thankfully, Hannah is always has been somebody like she's her
43:53
her love is is linguistics and languages.
43:55
And she's so fucking smart and so fucking brilliant, but so creative.
43:58
So and she's always loved like Foley work.
44:00
That's always been something that she wanted to do.
44:02
And she took the sound design just naturally.
44:05
So as soon as we brought her in, Legacy just started sounding better.
44:08
But we still don't know.
44:09
I think I'm making all the fucking episodes and like Sony Vegas Pro.
44:11
My God, that was so hard.
44:14
You know, so we just like literally I was just like, fuck it.
44:16
We're just going to do it.
44:17
And then I fell in love with it.
44:18
I'm like, oh, oh, this is next.
44:21
This is next. This is what's next for me. This is it.
44:23
So we're and so Tales just got born after that.
44:25
And so I just, you know, I'm just like, fuck it. I'm gonna just do it.
44:28
I have no idea how it's going to support me or we're just doing it.
44:30
Yeah. You know, it's like we're doing it.
44:32
Just grab your head like over there.
44:34
Oh, literally, literally there. Yeah.
44:38
You know, and it's it's so funny how
44:42
once the because I think you and I both came from more like corporate,
44:46
you know, businessy backgrounds. Right.
44:48
And so there's some, at least for me, amazing
44:51
just shift when the creative spark just goes and just starts
44:56
and the dominoes just start falling of like, oh, that is a great idea.
45:01
No, this is actually fulfilling. Holy shit.
45:04
Oh, yeah. Oh, absolutely.
45:06
Oh, I love that.
45:07
And now was there when you were kind of learning or I would even say
45:12
maybe even before you started learning or starting deciding to do this,
45:15
were you the type to listen to audio books and audio dramas at all?
45:19
Or like when you were working?
45:20
Well, not audio books, because so I have a so kind of with my ADHD
45:26
when I'm working, I can listen to things, but not with lyrics.
45:30
So I listen to a lot of epic music.
45:31
I can't do lyric things, but I also can't sit still enough to listen to audio books.
45:35
So if I'm listening to an audio book that I've got to be playing like power washer,
45:39
some game that still lets me do things, but I can still focus on what's going on.
45:43
But hilariously, back in the day, I used to really like listening
45:48
to old time radio shows with my great grandmother.
45:52
Yeah. Like the old like the really, really like old school ones.
45:55
I remember that we used to listen to those when I was a kid all the time.
45:59
And I really, really liked them.
46:00
So it was kind of like finding an old friend coming back into them, you know.
46:05
So I don't listen to as many audio dramas as I want to,
46:09
because I'm very fucking busy.
46:12
But it's kind of one of those where you do need to kind of immerse yourself
46:14
like in the medium that you're in.
46:16
So I would like to listen to more.
46:18
It's the same thing being an author.
46:19
I don't read enough books.
46:20
I need to be like, look, there's a lot of shit I got to do.
46:22
OK, I know. Well, yeah.
46:25
No, I think could because I feel the same way and I will fall down that hole.
46:28
Thank you. Yes. Yeah.
46:32
But yeah, I did listen to I did listen to a bunch.
46:36
And I think listening to them was really great
46:39
because I was like, oh, actually, we can do this.
46:43
It felt very like, you know, that that level of confidence.
46:47
I was like, oh, our stuff sounds just as good as this.
46:49
Like we can. I mean, you know.
46:52
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
46:53
Like I know that there's like little things that we can do to improve.
46:57
And I'm sure that there's some technical stuff that we could do equalization,
47:00
whatever the fuck that means.
47:01
I still don't fucking know.
47:02
Don't understand it at all.
47:03
Can't wrap my brain around it.
47:06
I laugh in the shared. Yeah, right.
47:09
You know, I know there's like some technical things
47:11
that would make our stuff sound better or whatever.
47:14
But our you know, from a storytelling voice acting perspective, our shows,
47:18
I am confident in saying are just as good as anything else out there.
47:21
And I will absolutely say that with my whole chest.
47:23
Yeah, we are.
47:24
We are as good as anything else out there right now.
47:26
So there's no reason you shouldn't listen to us versus something else.
47:29
I think the only thing that makes one of our shows stand out is because we do.
47:32
We have that narration.
47:33
So if you you know, so that's that's literally what makes us different.
47:37
And I think that there's a angle that we can kind of grab onto there
47:42
because for whatever reason, and this is blowing my mind, audio fiction
47:48
is having a hard time finding an audience,
47:50
which is stupid to me.
47:52
And it's really stupid to me for like a couple of reasons.
47:56
For whatever reason, audio book listeners
47:59
are not navigating into audio fiction.
48:03
OK, and I think there's a way to merge these two.
48:08
That's kind of like my big brain corporate idea
48:09
that I'll figure out at some point, me and Torna figure it out together.
48:12
And then what's also blowing my mind
48:16
is that audio fiction has a hard time getting sponsors. Yeah.
48:20
And I also find that to be extremely stupid
48:23
because somebody like Joe Rogan is relevant
48:26
based on the topics that he's talking about week to week to week to week.
48:30
Audio fiction or fiction podcasts in general
48:34
are not bound by that same constraint.
48:37
People always like horror, romance, fantasy, sci fi.
48:41
They will find these shows no matter how long that show has been published.
48:46
The publish date on a fiction story doesn't matter.
48:49
It will find an audience based on genre.
48:52
Right. So the fact that audio fiction has such a hard time finding
48:55
doesn't get the same ad spend as other shit is blowing my mind.
49:00
The fact that audio fiction, it's growing because I watch
49:02
I try to keep up with podcast reports like it is growing,
49:05
but podcasts in general are growing.
49:07
But it is a category that's growing, but it's still not as popular
49:10
as anything else.
49:11
And it's blowing my mind because literally like 1920s early on,
49:15
like as soon as radio came out, people were making audio fiction.
49:19
Yeah. And so this has been here for like nauseam.
49:23
Right. So like, why? What happened?
49:27
You know, I find that really fascinating, too, because now
49:30
this is totally just me in my perspective. Right.
49:32
I struggle to listen to podcasts about like current events
49:37
or like opinion podcast.
49:40
Oh, my gosh. No, I mean, to me,
49:44
those are almost the equivalent of like ads,
49:47
like ads and like commercials and things.
49:49
My brain immediately goes, no, thank you.
49:52
And I honestly I think it's just because and this may be a millennial.
49:56
It may just be me.
49:59
I want truth.
50:01
I don't want opinions.
50:03
And I'm looking for a genuineness to write the
50:08
to the crazy world that we live in, you know, like.
50:11
And that's such a weird thing for me, because.
50:13
And the funny enough thing is any audio dramas
50:17
or any audio books I listen to.
50:20
I would say 95% of them are fiction.
50:24
And I will listen to others just more for research purposes.
50:28
So I can say like more current on what's working for audio books
50:32
as an audio book narrator so that I find that really interesting.
50:35
And yes, we again, business ideas.
50:39
Yeah. Yeah. No, definitely.
50:40
Definitely. Because I think I think there's something
50:43
I think there's something there to it.
50:45
I definitely do.
50:46
And but when you said about genuine, that is I feel like that is also
50:50
a cultural shift that we are happening right now to where people are
50:53
absolutely looking for genuine creators and people who are
50:58
because you can tell and we're just tired and we're over it.
51:00
So that's a whole cultural thing that we can keep a grasp on, too.
51:03
But yeah, you're right.
51:04
I don't listen to I never listen to a lot because I just
51:07
but I think it's because we're neurodivergent like that.
51:09
We that our brains are not tailored to that kind of thing.
51:13
And the world runs on neurotypical, which is dumb
51:15
because there's just as many neurodivergent.
51:17
So I don't know what the numbers are, but I'm a named thing at this point.
51:21
But yeah, yeah, yeah.
51:23
The funny thing is, though, maybe it's because I'm a decisive person.
51:27
And so opinions flood my ability to make decisions.
51:33
Right. Which I think maybe that's the difference there.
51:35
I'm not sure.
51:36
But I just find that that really interesting.
51:39
And I'll have to look at numbers with you.
51:40
But because the thing is, like the old radio plays.
51:45
When radio first came out, it wasn't for fiction things, it was for,
51:49
you know, like, let's tell the news that we don't have to wait
51:51
for it to be printed, blah, blah, blah, blah.
51:53
And right.
51:54
Those audio plays and fiction things were the reprieve.
51:59
Yeah. Of, you know, hey, you have to tune into the world.
52:02
You have to be up to current events.
52:03
You have to know what's going on to make decisions about your life.
52:06
Now, here's your here's your fun time.
52:09
Yeah. Yeah.
52:10
We have something shared to talk about and, you know,
52:13
laugh about rather than war or things that had to be reported.
52:18
And so I find that really fascinating because there's you're
52:22
absolutely correct for the record.
52:23
I believe you're correct.
52:24
Where it's like I hear more about in the podcast realm,
52:29
more about opinions and or current events or things like that.
52:33
That's so interesting and funny to me.
52:35
Anyway, I have many, many, many deep thoughts about that.
52:38
Some run into conspiracy theories, which are super fun,
52:41
which I won't talk about here.
52:43
But I will say it just speaks to how important art is.
52:45
It really because no matter what, we always want need storytelling.
52:51
So and I also think that while just it sprinkles some hope
52:54
into everyone's world, while things are like really terrible,
52:58
we're talking about like Netflix merging with WB and all these big corporations.
53:02
And taking over storytelling with A.I.
53:05
And I think there's a very we all know why they're doing that.
53:08
I also think there's a beautiful opportunity
53:11
for indie creators and just
53:15
not mega corporations to move into the space.
53:19
Because while, yes, people are having fucking relationships
53:22
with LGBT, bro, there is also a whole all.
53:26
Yeah, right.
53:26
There's all the rest of us who are also looking for genuine realness,
53:33
you know, we are still looking for the escapism and for the home
53:37
that we find in storytelling, and that will never go away.
53:40
So that's why the arts are so important.
53:42
And they know that, which is why they're doing what they're doing.
53:46
This is all about narrative and message control and all that kind of good stuff.
53:48
So it's more important than ever that you as consumers support
53:51
the art that you love, speak loudly about it.
53:53
You guys, people have to be loud right now.
53:56
And I don't people I don't think people understand that, that, you know,
54:00
you don't and then I get it.
54:01
A lot of people are like introverted, you know, but you have to be loud
54:04
about what you love and you have to be louder about what you love
54:08
and about what you hate right now, especially when it comes to supporting
54:11
artists and indies and that sort of stuff, like you don't have to fall down
54:14
rabbit holes, but literally just like, I love this audio book
54:17
and go on a fucking tangent about it or, you know, like reviews like shit,
54:21
like all that stuff.
54:22
It matters so much because there are people just like you
54:26
who are looking for that genuine connection and genuine storytelling.
54:28
But I could go on a whole fucking soapbox about that.
54:30
So no, but Julie, I truly agree with that.
54:34
And I imagine most people will.
54:36
But there's a real even just just in recorded human history.
54:42
There is a real need for art because it shines a mirror
54:47
and reflects on what is happening at the current time.
54:51
This is one artist that'll work. Absolutely.
54:52
And, you know, it's kind of funny.
54:55
I'll go back to when you were talking about
54:58
if if if your life did calm down and you weren't stressed,
55:02
like art would suffer, maybe because, you know, unfortunately,
55:07
in a way, art has to have that conflict
55:11
and or some kind of rise in a story,
55:15
not necessarily make it interesting, but to have that payoff at the end
55:18
where it feels like you did something good and or pays off
55:21
that you listened all the way through.
55:23
Yeah. Yeah.
55:24
And so unfortunately, in a lot of ways,
55:28
you know what? I think it's fine.
55:30
I think I've got 40 years of trauma that I can pull from that.
55:34
And I'm just dramatic.
55:36
Yeah, I know. Right. And I'm just dramatic.
55:39
Yeah. Well, actually, as women, it probably is, you know,
55:42
that they should not be about how the generational trauma
55:45
just carries over into fucking eggs.
55:47
That's great. Yeah.
55:49
Awesome. It's painful.
55:51
Hi, I'm a millennial. I laugh at my pain. Thanks.
55:54
Yeah. So I actually think I'm good, Jordan.
55:56
I think that I can pull some of my energy back from and we can.
56:00
Life can be easy. And I'll remember.
56:02
See, don't worry.
56:04
Y'all, I think I think I have experience to go on right now that I will be.
56:12
Oh, so funny. Oh, my gosh.
56:15
Honestly, though. Yeah, I guess I'm done.
56:18
I'm done. I'm in my late thirties.
56:21
But I feel like so much older every day.
56:24
So where? Oh, my gosh.
56:26
I feel like I've lived two lives now.
56:27
But anyway, for my last question for you, Crystal.
56:32
And this is more just sensible things, barring all barriers
56:35
such as money, copyright pressures, anything like that.
56:38
Is there a story you would want to write, a franchise
56:42
you would take over, a franchise you would make anything like that?
56:45
Just barring all, you know, capitalism oppression.
56:49
I want to tell.
56:51
A story in the Star Wars universe.
56:56
They could take a legacy if they want it.
56:57
They have to pay me for the original characters, though. Yes.
57:00
But I want it. I want it.
57:01
I want to write it, direct it. They can't have it.
57:03
But I want them to give me aliens because they keep fucking it up.
57:08
And it's pissing me off.
57:11
It's pissing me off so much.
57:14
That's why I'm laughing, because I feel that.
57:17
Making me so angry.
57:19
I want aliens.
57:22
Give it to me.
57:23
Give it to me so I can do with aliens what my boy Dan is doing with Predator.
57:28
Give it to me.
57:30
Because you assholes have forgotten what makes alien alien.
57:35
Fuck Ridley Scott and his diva as just go make your stupid ass story
57:40
about space, Jesus, and let us have alien.
57:44
OK, like, like, that's fine, bro.
57:47
You want to make whatever. I don't give a fuck.
57:51
I want alien. Give it to me.
57:57
I want the whole fucking universe.
57:59
Give it to me.
58:00
No, he does. Did you not know?
58:03
Fucking bro, like, fine, bro.
58:05
You want to make a story about how the aliens came down
58:09
because they got mad that they crucified Jesus?
58:11
God love you. Do it, bro. I don't give a fuck.
58:14
But I swear to God, if you don't stop fucking up aliens,
58:16
which is nonsense, I swear to God, and that fucking aliens TV show
58:20
don't get me started on that bullshit.
58:23
The most interesting thing in a show called Alien Earth was a fucking eyeball.
58:28
Are you for real right now?
58:31
And now you're making another one?
58:32
Look out of here. Give me alien.
58:38
Literally, and I know you're going to get this due to ADHD and other things.
58:42
The moment you said alien Jesus, my brain, of course,
58:46
like drew alien Jesus, but like in the dumbest way.
58:51
You now have to make art of that. I believe it.
58:55
Girl, if I made art about every dumb thought in my head,
58:58
I wouldn't be able to do anything. I wouldn't be able to sleep.
59:01
It's probably really good that I can't draw because the way I want us
59:04
to go into animation, bro,
59:08
it's probably a really good thing that I can't draw
59:11
because we are going to do animation eventually.
59:13
But it's probably really good that I don't know how to do it
59:15
because I'm so type A like torn.
59:17
I would just be like, yeah, I'm gonna just animate some shit real quick, bitch.
59:20
When? When are you going to animate something?
59:23
I know. Please tell us.
59:25
But my actual writing is directed like when the fuck are you going to animate?
59:29
No, no. I love that so much.
59:33
OK, so that also means everyone listening and or watching alien.
59:38
Like what was it?
59:40
What was the guy in the history tale? Aliens.
59:43
It was the aliens. Aliens.
59:46
In this case, though, alien.
59:48
Right. Give it to me.
59:49
Give me the whole universe. Give it to me.
59:52
So much. Oh, my God.
59:54
Crystal, thank you so much for hanging out with me.
59:58
I really appreciate it.
59:59
And just this was so fun. Oh, good.
1:00:01
And definitely thank you for helping me kick off this little passion project of mine.
1:00:05
It's just a little bit.
1:00:09
So with season one,
1:00:11
these these episodes will be going out in March.
1:00:14
Now, I know you've got a vampire, so please talk about that, too.
1:00:17
But I want to make sure if there's anything that you're hoping for in March
1:00:20
that people can be aware of and want to listen or find you for.
1:00:25
I want to prefer a bit of red carpet.
1:00:28
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Cool, cool.
1:00:30
So one, thank you so much for doing this.
1:00:32
I love geeking out with creators and I like I can do this all the time.
1:00:35
Like, I love it so much.
1:00:36
You were like, one more question.
1:00:37
I'm like, why? We can keep going.
1:00:38
Girl, I'm not saying no.
1:00:40
I'm just saying, you know, we both got work to do.
1:00:43
I know, right? Right.
1:00:44
You're right. So real. So fucking real.
1:00:47
So, yeah, guys, please come hang out with me on Twitch.
1:00:50
I'm trying to get back into streaming more and having fun.
1:00:52
And I promise it won't all be co-working.
1:00:53
I play all kinds of games on Twitch.
1:00:55
I mostly love like builders and stuff and cool shit like that.
1:00:58
And we just hang out and we have fun.
1:01:00
So if you like have energy and lots of cussing and, you know,
1:01:03
the vibe that I bring, please come hang out with me on Twitch.
1:01:06
As far as the Tales Network, like, listen, find our shows
1:01:08
whenever. Tales of the Forgotten.com is the website.
1:01:12
Have a listen. You know, leave us a glowing review.
1:01:15
Five stars. OK, all that kind of good stuff.
1:01:18
And then, yeah, I know that in twenty twenty six.
1:01:21
So around the time that this comes out, we're going to be talking about Dragon Age
1:01:24
and we're going to be talking about our Dragon Age story.
1:01:26
Yeah. So so it's definitely going to be a year of Dragon Age
1:01:30
and probably more sex.
1:01:32
Not in Dragon Age, but also some tales after dark stories.
1:01:35
So, yeah, I got so excited and I just got so sad.
1:01:38
Anyway, I like your Dragon Age story.
1:01:43
Torn is going to be in our Dragon Age story.
1:01:45
Torn has a major role in our Dragon Age story, and I wish I'm very excited about.
1:01:50
So, yeah, by the time you hear this podcast, then, yeah, we tales will be shifting
1:01:53
to doing some stuff with Dragon Age, some stuff with tales after dark
1:01:57
and whatever else I try to fit in the schedule.
1:01:59
And then Torn tells me, no, I was like, that's twenty twenty seven.
1:02:04
And I'm like, but why?
1:02:06
I don't usually know how much time do you actually have?
1:02:09
And I'm like, see, I don't say no.
1:02:13
I just lead you to the conclusion of no.
1:02:15
Right, right, right, right, right, right.
1:02:16
So I will be trying to put out fifty shows and Torn is like,
1:02:20
you can do one, maybe two, and I'll be like,
1:02:23
I usually, you know, what is reasonable in two months?
1:02:28
Don't ask me that. Don't ask me that.
1:02:30
I was like, I just now realized that I'm working on an audio drama while streaming.
1:02:36
I didn't think about that.
1:02:38
I didn't think about that.
1:02:39
I didn't think about I was going to be doing multiple things
1:02:42
while already doing multiple things.
1:02:43
It just now hit me yesterday.
1:02:45
I was like, oh, cool.
1:02:49
But see, that's called good planning.
1:02:51
Anyway, I don't have that yet.
1:02:54
This is why we hire Torn.
1:02:56
Salute.
1:02:58
Again, thank you so much, Crystal, for being here, taking the time.
1:03:02
I really appreciate it.
1:03:03
And as Crystal said, check them out on Twitch.
1:03:06
It's twitch.tv slash word slash crystals.
1:03:09
Animation is where you get imagination.
1:03:11
Crystal's imagination.
1:03:12
I fucked that up and literally says imagination.
1:03:14
And I didn't write it right.
1:03:15
No, I didn't read it correctly.
1:03:16
I don't have words.
1:03:17
Crystals, I give up.
1:03:20
I'm going to be like a big ass graphic on screen now, you guys,
1:03:28
when you watch this whole video.
1:03:29
With this, with those asterisks.
1:03:30
Like, nope, Torn just fucked it up, guys.
1:03:33
I'm the problem.
1:03:34
Anyway, there are links on the Twitch page where you can find everything else, like tails.
1:03:40
So please go do that, especially because I can't talk.
1:03:43
But for now, please cozy up and take care of yourself the best that you can.
1:03:47
And in the words of Tigger, TTFN.
1:03:50
That's Torrent Talks for now.
1:03:51
Bye, everybody.
1:03:56
So let's deep dive on Torrent Talks.