The Department of Midnight, episode 1: The Cold Spot
From the team behind the animated Castlevania series (including the writer Warren Ellis, which may put some off):
Ep. 101: The Cold Spot
Starring James Callis and Alicia Witt
Dr. John Carnack is an investigator for the Department Of Experimental Oversight. Responding to a whistleblower call, he arrives at a lab to discover Dr. Sylvie Bestler’s personal experiment: to see what’s on the other side of the universe.
It's classic Ellis with rather on-the-nose nods to folklore and science (in the vein of his Image series Injection) that all works very nicely, aided by excellent voice-acting and sound design.
Wait, that's all well and good (and I'm totally devouring this ASAP), but what did I miss re: Ellis? ... Oh. Hrm, that's a tough one. I mean, I still jam to MJ and always felt something was off with Cosby, Wheedon, Spacey, Chapelle, etc., but damn. It's good to know that Williams, Gaiman, Mignola, et al are good.^...right?
edit I just watched the trailer. ^(Revanced FTW) Hell yeah, I'm in. 🤘🏽
Wait, that’s all well and good (and I’m totally devouring this ASAP), but what did I miss re: Ellis?
For those unaware, Warren Ellis {the writer, not the musician} was accused of grooming women. The list of his accusers grew to over a hundred, documented on SoManyOfUs.com and they worked with him through a process of transformative justice. They specifically didn't want to "cancel" him but instead highlight the problem and help guide him on the path to sort himself out. Unfortunately, the last update was that he'd taken none of the suggested steps. How you deal with all that is tricky - I'm, personally, interested in his work, as it crosses over with a lot of topics I'm intrigued by, but can't currently justify buying anything of his. Posting a link to his current work and getting it a few more clicks is definitely a grey area but I encourage people to do what I've done and load it into their podcast app for future installments.
It’s good to know that Williams, Gaiman, Mignola, et al are good.^…right?
Fair points, all. That's pretty damning for Ellis, but the NZ cops seem to have very little to work with at all. Also, there's a musician named Warren Ellis? 🤷🏼♂️
That’s pretty damning for Ellis, but the NZ cops seem to have very little to work with at all.
The problem with both Ellis and Gaiman is that most of what they are accused of is creepy and unpleasant but it may not reach the level of being prosecutable. Which leaves everyone in this limbo where they pretty much admit to it (often in weaselly ways) but don't do much else and hope that if they keep their heads down long enough people will move on and they can get back to work.
Also, there’s a musician named Warren Ellis? 🤷🏼♂️
Let's not kink shame. The Gaiman accusations AFAICT involve BDSM sessions and a deficiency of communication (ie. a failure of the essential rule in said culture), so let's also refrain from insinuating intent. To put it bluntly, and purely academic, BDSM is nothing without power dynamics and some have trouble keeping those concepts sandboxed within the specific events' environments.
Ha! I saw him at the Schnitz a little while ago, and made a joke to my partner that I had no idea Spider Jerusalem jammed with Nick Cave! Thanks for reminding me of that head canon. 🤣🤘🏽
The specifics of said events are not detailed and assuming that they pertain to an entire session rather than specific acts is unwise and unhelpful. I'm in no way condoning either. Accuracy in fact-checking is paramount.