So we all agree Jesse is going to be the next one to run the London Institute right

May be unpopular ..but anytime someone is sad about Grace and Kit not happening on the timeline ..I can’t help but feel vindicated? Especially since the fandom downplayed what happened to him and thought it was okay to ship James’ ex gf and abuser with his first cousin, so because of having to see that all these years I’m glad she ended up the way she did at the end of Chain of Thorns, Im sad for Kit but not sad that they didn’t end up romantic. It feels like Cassie respected his trauma, even if I didn’t like Kit standing up for her and meeting her in secret in the first place. That was something that would’ve felt more comfortable to read if it were Jesse defending her there, not Kit. With Kit his focus on Grace almost felt disloyal, I was surprised with James’ temperament and fragile emotions that he didn’t snap at Kit over his doting over Grace..It was an ooc moment for James not to react but CC just didn’t want Kit to be called out only by Anna and Tom for some reason

oh I don’t think it’s an unpopular opinion, maybe it depends on who you follow but I saw a lot of people here and on twitter (myself included) criticize the Kit scene and how clear it was that he did not care about James's trauma. 

I’m re-reading the book right now, and every scene with Kit and James/The Merry Thieves is kind of spoiled for me, because I know that he chose this girl he knew for a month? over one of his closest friends. 

I think James didn’t say anything because he was just so exhausted from telling the story and he didn't want to fight with Kit right away. And I feel like Kit’s death robbed us of an actual confrontation (but I think she did that, because she knew most people would hate Kit for siding and fighting on the behalf of the abuser). 

I also saw people say that since Thomas forgave Alastair and wanted everyone else to forgive him, he should understand Kit. Which is???? nope. Those are apples and oranges, my guy. One was a stupid kid who didn’t know how much damage he was doing and the other knew exactly what she was doing and kept doing it (while having mood swings about how she felt about it, but that was more on Cassie and how she decided to write Grace). 

I’m really glad Cassie spent so much time highlighting how much damage Grace and the bracelet had done, because yeah, like you said, a lot of people in this fandom didn’t see what happened to James as something horrific or were a little too quick to forget because Kit and grace had a cute scene together.

anyway, everytime I “hate on”/criticize Grace I get a ton of dm/asks saying that I don’t understand her character, but I do. I really do. It's just like Cassie said, Grace is the embodiment of explanation not an excuse. And since she knew damn well what she was doing and kept doing it to other people, I cannot bring myself to like her or even feel bad for her. 

So this is a PSA to everyone who wants to say I blame the victim or something. everytime you say that I’m gonna respond with this image:

How I Podcast: Family Ghosts/You Must Remember This’s Sam Dingman

The beauty of podcasting is that anyone can do it. It’s a rare medium that’s nearly as easy to make as it is to consume. And as such, no two people do it exactly the same way. There are a wealth of hardware and software solutions open to potential podcasters, so setups run the gamut from NPR studios to USB Skype rigs.

We’ve asked some of our favorite podcast hosts and producers to highlight their workflows — the equipment and software they use to get the job done. The list so far includes:

I’m Listening’s Anita Flores Let’s Talk About Cats’ Mary Phillips-Sandy and Lizzie Jacobs Broken Record’s Justin Richmond Criminal/This Is Love’s Lauren Spohrer Jeffrey Cranor of Welcome to Night Vale Jesse Thorn of Bullseye Ben Lindbergh of Effectively Wild My own podcast, RiYL

For three seasons, Panoply’s “Family Ghosts” has explored the deep, dark and true mysteries that have haunted families for generations. Show creator Sam Dingman is a Moth Grand Slam Winner, who also serves as the producer for the popular podcasts “Bad With Money” and “You Must Remember This.”

I fell in love with podcasts in 2009, during the depths of my bizarre tenure as a customer support rep at an ill-fated software concern (RIP LimeWire). My job was to answer the phone and tell irate users who’d contracted viruses from illegally downloading music (read: porn) that we didn’t give refunds. Podcasts were a welcome reprieve from this firehose of outrage, and before long, I got up the nerve to start one of my own. I proceeded to fritter away entire workdays combing through recording forums (shout-out to Gearslutz!) and Googling pictures of radio studios, lusting after large diaphragm condenser mics and palpitating over preamps.

Unfortunately, all I could afford was an Audio-Technica AT2020 USB mic — which led to a series of initial recordings which were as spirited as they were unintelligible:

[A recording session for my (mercifully) short-lived first podcast, circa 2009].

Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot in the ensuing 10 years, and have also, via the grace of the audio gods, somehow acquired enough of a production budget to build my own studio space in a cozy basement studio in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. Earlier this year, my friend Alan and I spent two truly endless days in said basement attempting to decipher the instructions for constructing a Whisper Room, where I now record all of the narration for “Family Ghosts,” soothing my constant fear that the whole thing is going to collapse on my head with the calming presence of a magenta lava lamp.

My starry-eyed Googling at LimeWire convinced me that a Holy Grail vocal chain could be achieved via the pairing of a Neumann U87 mic with the rich analogue circuitry of a Great River ME-1NV preamp, and I accordingly sprung for both as soon as we got the last screw turned on the Whisper Room. Every time I take the Neumann out of its wooden jeweler’s box for a recording session, I whisper “Hello, Magic Mic.” The Great River sits on my desk with its stately black knobs and austere gain meter, and I love the warmth and nuance it imparts upon the voices that flow through it. 

Of course, recording narration in the Whisper Room is only half the battle for a “Family Ghosts” story — when I’m not in the studio, I’m usually lugging around a backpack full of my field recording gear: a Zoom H5 digital recorder, two Rode NTG2 shotgun mics, two desktop mic stands and XLR cables, a wall adapter and extension cord so that I don’t have to worry about draining the batteries on the Zoom during long interviews, a pair of Sony MDR-7506 headphones and a stereo ¼” -to-⅛” cable, which allows me to record good-quality phone interviews on the Zoom.

Then I bring the whole works back to the basement in Greenpoint, load the audio into Pro Tools, fire up the lava lamp, buy some coffee and obsessively re-arrange waveforms into the wee small hours of the night, forever grateful that I somehow found a way to leave the screaming customer service calls behind.