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This content is produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and written by Brian Joseph Johns. There is no Shhhh! Digital Media in New York that has anything to do with this Shhhh! Digital Media in Canada, not to mention I've never been to New York.

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Tuesday, September 2, 2025

Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 4: Twisted Paths and Missing Pieces


Warning: This story is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is advised!



[Spellbound - Siouxie And The Banshees] 


Do you like enigmatic characters, engrossing story, magic and the ever atemporal weave?

Play Baldur's Gate 3 [On Steam]


Chapters

  1. Magician: The Messenger (September 2, 2025 11:30 AM)
  2. High Priestess: The Shadow (September 2, 2025 3:30 PM)
  3. Coming soon...

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Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:


Sick Kids Foundation - Check out the Sick Kids Raffle!
Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick children. 


Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.


The Cancer Research Institute
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Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.


David Suzuki Foundation
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.


Donate directly to FireAid today to help us start rebuilding our community. Direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation and will be distributed for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California.


United Nations Fund
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Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world.


World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.


I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.

"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."

Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950


The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.


For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.


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ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.


Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.


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The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.


The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.


The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado! 

In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.


Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.


Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.


Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.


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Thank you for your support

Shhhh! Digital Media

Brian Joseph Johns



Warning: This story is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is advised!


Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound

by Brian Joseph Johns


Episode 4: Twisted Paths and Missing Pieces


Magician: The Messenger




She awoke from a deep slumber, the sleep in her eyes now having become crusted along her bottom lashes, just inside the corners neighbouring the bridge of her nose. Nearby, the smell of an ashtray on her night table permeated her senses, drawing a gag reflex from her as she fought spilling the contents of her stomach onto her comforter.

 She wiped her eyes with tobacco stained fingertips and stopped herself when she reflexively reached for both a half-pack of B&H, and the lighter beside them. Somewhere in the distance, down the hall just outside of her door, she could hear the sound of a door buzzer echoing up the wooden stairs to her bedroom door.

"What the...?" she said to herself as she tried to get her bearings.

The curtains were drawn and the bedroom was dark, stinking of the full night's worth of cigarettes she'd had before she'd fallen asleep the previous night. The television remote fell from the matress onto the area rug that covered the floor just as she caught sight of an old tube television perched atop of a vertical dresser at the end of her bed.

"I'm going to have my morning cigarette," she spoke, though it wasn't her doing the speaking, her accent suddenly thick and British.

"No I'm not. I don't smoke!" she responded to the other woman puppeteering her body.

She then reached for the pack of cigarettes again, quickly popping one in her mouth and taking up the lighter from the night table.

She then flicked the lighter, before she regained control of her own body once again.

For a moment, she struggled against the smoker, before she was able to overpower her, burning the filter on the cigarette before she'd had a chance to light it again. The horrid stench of burning asbestos filled the air, causing her to cough, launching the still burning cigarette onto the comforter.

A glowing hole blossomed in her bedding as it slowly spread, birthing the orange flower of an open flame.

She quickly began patting the flame with her open hands, then grabbing and folding the comforter over in an attempt to smother the fire.

She caught sight of a planter filled nearly to the brim with water, as it sat on a hutch that ran beside the length of the bed. She instinctively grabbed the planter and dumped it onto the comforter, soaking it through to the matress beneath, and the package of cigarettes that had fallen onto the bed.

"Damn you! I had just enough to last me until my next support cheque!" the smoker cursed her with her own lips.

"You're not smoking those damned things with my body!" she quickly replied.

"Your body...? Now there's the boot steering the lorrie if I've ever heard!" the smoker scolded her, once again with thick British slang.

The buzzer rang anxiously, interrupting their conflict.

"What's that...?" she asked the smoker.

"That's my next pack of cigarettes! That's my morning appointment!" the smoker replied, running their shared body to the bathroom where she flicked a switch on the wall before getting a glimpse of herself in the mirror.

She was in her late thirties, perhaps early forties. Her face surrounded by a long dry bed of reddish blonde hair, frayed and broken tips and split ends, stinking of cigarette soot as much so as stained with it.

Dark swollen bags hung beneath her faded blue eyes, her nose pores clogged with dark pockets of dirt and oil. Just above her lips, a dark faded line of facial hair was clearly visible, as the previous occupant had neither the money nor inclination to attend to such frivolous pursuits of appearance. That, and such pursuits would have interfered with the financial burden of her tobacco habit.

The non-smoker broke down crying as she looked in the mirror at her own reflection. Where there had once been a pretty blonde haired young lady in her mid to late twenties, there was now a forty-something year old hag, who'd clearly given up on her own visage in favour of a disgusting habit.

"I don't know who ye are, but this one's mine. Its my body, and yer not welcome in it!" the non-smoker suddenly realized that the smoker was Cockney British.

The non-smoker suddenly experienced flashes of a distant memory.

She had been inside of a large castle of some kind. Stone walls and massive columns stood before an archway whose entryway was a doorway into infinity. She'd been running for the door, even having dived into it face first before she impacted something solid, at which point the darkness consumed her along with her waking nightmare.

"I'm Gwendolyn!" she spoke with the smoker's own lips in a casual Canadian accent.

"No I'm not! I'm Gillie, just like my own da called me!" the smoker responded in defiance.

Gillie didn't wait for Gwendolyn to reply. Instead, she began running the water, grabbing up a splash of it with her cupped hands, dousing her dirty and oily face in it.

"Now if you'll pardon me, that person down stairs at my front door is my cigarette money!" Gillie turned off the light in the bathroom and stepped cautiously down the old hardwood stairs of her war time home on the outskirts of London and towards the front hall.

The door buzzer rang again, irritatingly so just as Gillie unlatched the big lock and opened the old door.

At that moment, Gwendolyn, who was determined not to let Gillie have any cigarettes, took over the driver's chair in the smoker's own body.

"How are you love?" asked the woman at the door, whose greying hair held a fancy lace hat, a conservatively dressed lady standing on the porch before her.

Gwendolyn noticed a bible in the woman's hands.

"Oh no. Here we go...!" Gwendolyn said aloud and without any sign of restraint.

"How are you this morning sweetie?" asked the woman, a sheet of lace just barely perched over her eyes.

"I was sleeping. What can I do for you?" asked Gwendolyn, making no effort to soften her words.

"Sinning I'd be willing to bet," the woman quickly responded, clearly offended by Gwendolyn's tone and the unfamiliarity of her Canadian accent.

At that moment, Gwendolyn recalled the drawer of her own night table, where a vibrator sat innocuously, at her beck and call for those evenings where the stress and pressure life had been too much. Innocent enough, and yet a smoking gun to those armed with such a religious text and the one-upmanship of sin, as was such a weapon in the hands of the woman at the door.

The lady at Gillie's front door immediately caught Gwendolyn's expression, knowing she'd hit the mark with her words, despite her having found Gillie's behaviour very odd.

It was vastly known to the small Christian community in their Shepperton suburb that Gillie was a fortune teller, which of course was considered a dire sin to all those of the nearby Church, though a close second when it came to the sin of lust, whose signs the woman had caught on Gwendolyn's face once already on this morning.

Gwendolyn suddenly realized that Gillie had lost this round, for their guest was not her stated appointment, but someone whose priorities were much, much different, though not as different as Gwendolyn had needed to claim an uncontested victory.

While Gwendolyn considered her options, Gillie took the liberty of the driver's seat of her own body.

"You wouldn't happen to have a cigarette would you, love?" Gillie asked the Church lady.

"I think I can help you... If you'd be willing to read this pamphlet in support of our upcoming dinner at the mission...?" asked the lady as she fished through her purse, pulling forth a gold case, and a pamphlet, both of which she handed to Gillie.

Gillie's hands became frantic as she opened the gold case, and as she clutched a cigarette in hand, Gwendolyn fought with her, breaking it in three while Gillie attempted to plant it upon her lips.

"You witch!" Gillie cursed at Gwendolyn, though the Church lady took her remark personally.

"I beg your pardon...!???" the Church lady responded, quickly grabbing her gold case of cigarettes back from Gillie.

A tear dripped down Gillie's cheek as Gwendolyn grabbed the broken cigarette from her lips and crushed it to the point of uselessness.

"I... I'm... please forgive me..." Gillie begged the Church lady, and in her moment of weakness, Gwendolyn once again took the driver's seat.

"And don't you ever come back...!" Gwendolyn asserted to the Church lady, a fiece and defensive look in her eyes.

As their eyes locked, Gwendolyn suddenly saw the Church lady a few years younger, kissing her husband as he left to work for the day. He stepped out the door and over to his parked car, getting in and driving off to the assembly plant where he worked as a CNC Technician.

No sooner was he was gone, than did another man appear at their front door. She opened the door for him after his having knocked several times with a coded tap, and he stepped inside, closing the door behind himself. 

He then advanced upon her, thrusting himself at the Church lady, who did little if anything to fend him off, their lips already locked in a lustful kiss as the man backed her up the stairs to the bedroom. When they arrived in the bedroom, she crept down his body with her lips, removing his clothing as she did before she was upon him with her mouth.

The Church lady stared back at Gwendolyn, suddenly realizing what had been revealed to her for in her Church, such a foray was a cardinal sin, while to Gwendolyn, it was despite the horrible betrayal, another natural and intimate aspect of life. Despite such betrayal, life often did go on.

For every guilty party who'd been crucified in the open for as much, there were hundreds more amongst the crucifiers who were ten times the more guilty for the same thing. The real crime however was the show put on by those doing the crucifying, as if to make it known to as many as possible and to hold no boundaries in the preservation of anything as being sacred whatsoever.

Not sex. Not love. Not life. Not their partner.

Any secrets that held power over others were simply an open game to such a Church and its parishioners. Secrets were simply a form of power over others and the means to sandwich people between their public and private lives.

"That's for remarking about the contents of my night table drawer you petty hussie! If your husband can't trust you, why should anyone else? Who's worse, you for betraying your living husband, or me for protecting the contents of my night table?" Gwendolyn slammed the door in her face, now knowing what a hypocrite she truly was despite Gwendolyn never having pursued religion as a way of life.

To Gwendolyn, what she held to be true with regard to the nature of existence, it was sacred enough that she dared not discuss it with anyone, while to Gillie, it was simply a means of gaining the protection of others who mostly believed nothing themselves, for they were essentially doing the same thing. 

Claiming belief in order to gain the protection of the many who lived the same lie, for none of them had truly considered the question in the first place.

After they'd taken a moment to calm themselves just inside of the front hall, two of them, both Gwendolyn and Gillie then broke down crying.

Gwendolyn over her lost youth and the fact that she now inhabited the body of a woman in her forties without having enjoyed the experience of growing into that age herself, while Gillie simply cried over her lost cigarette.


The High Priestess: The Shadow




Susan sat to the right of Mr. Crawson at the boardroom table, while across from her sat Mr. Derringer, his piercing eyes focused on Mr. Crawson as he spoke.

"The issue that we're dealing with has to do more with voter confidence than anything else. I'd very much like our party campaign to focus on this fact, rather than in taking on the brewing controversy..." Mr. Crawson read from his notes, which lay on the table in front of him as he leaned back in his chair reading from them.

"That has the potential to be regarded as cowardice on your part, John. The voters are going to want answers when and if this issue comes to a head, and seeing as BBC One is planning on going ahead with the broadcast, I'd recommend that rather than you waiting for it to come to you, that you confront it. Directly," Mr. Derringer spoke confidently and firmly, looking to his notes only once.

"I'd say that I have to agree. You should contend with this issue without waivering, especially if any names are revealed, and my contact at the BBC has assured me that there will be some names and evidence brought forward during that broadcast," Susan cocked her head sideways, accenting her point without the appearances of being threatening to him.

"Until we know whether they're our people, or appointees of the previous administration I'd prefer it if we refrained from raising any alarms by the appearances of head-hunting our own people. We need solidarity, not divisive measures that make it look like we're folding to pressure and stumbling around in the dark. Leadership first. If it comes out that we're looking at our own in this mess, we'll deal with it then and on our terms," Mr. Crawson asserted himself to his consultants, looking over the top of his glasses, first to Mr. Derringer and then to Susan.

"Are we agreed?" asked Mr. Crawson of them.

"I like it. Its solid ground," Susan nodded.

"I couldn't agree more, however we still haven't dealt with the issue of the Harbour Mission audit yet. There are some very serious implications with regard to the ledger trail, not to mention the possibility of charges, if there's a link to your office," Mr. Derringer circled one of his notes, writing a sideline beside it.

"We're playing with open books. What charges could put us at risk?" asked Mr. Crawson.

"Laundering, combined with the possible risk imposed by the talk of sex trafficking being involved stands to pose a serious problem, if there's a connection between our books and theirs," Susan too underlined one of her points in her notes.

"I've got to be running. I've got a three o'clock with the school board," Mr. Derringer explained to Mr. Crawson.

"Thank-you Richard. Give Mrs. Gardener my best and be sure to tell her that she a did a wonderful job on that summer educational program," Mr. Crawson stood and shook hands with Mr. Derringer, who returned his sentiment and a bid Susan farewell.

"And then there were two. So tell me Susan, as my director of security intelligence, what safeguards do you have in place should there be any connections to our ledger?" asked Mr. Crawson of her.

"I've taken the liberty of scouring..." Susan looked up from her notes, suddenly gagging as if she could no longer breath.

She tapped her breast plate with her hand, as if dealing with a case of heart burn, when she began coughing.

"I just need a moment..." she stood, and stepped quickly into the hall and over to the women's washrooms.

There within she quickly took a drink from the fountain, and then coughed some more, looking up and towards the mirror.

She gasped once again when she caught sight of something in her reflection. A shadowy figure behind her, in the shape of a woman.

Susan turned around to face the mystery, but found only what had originally been behind her. The paper towel dispensers, and the electric hand dryers.

From within one of the electric dryers, she heard a strange sound, like the movement of thousands of tiny little legs. Scratching the interior of the device as they stepped.

She hit the dryer's button, but nothing happened. There was no stream of warm air, or the sound of a fan. Just the silence.

"Your lips. They're very luscious. Full, though your eyes are a bit small. Like a gerbil or a rodent. I'd have preferred a predatory kind of woman. A woman who sees a man, and immediately sees him for all of the frailty of his ego and weaknesses, but I guess we'll have to make due. You'll do nicely in time..." Susan heard the voice of another woman, as if she was remembering a conversation from some other time in her past.

"Hello? Is there someone there in the stalls?" asked Susan aloud, though nobody answered her.

"I'm in hand dryer..." the woman's voice taunted her.

Susan looked at the hand dryer skeptically.

"No. Really. I am. Try pressing the button again..." the woman's voice emerged from the hand dryer.

Susan slowly reached out for the button, and then pressed it.

A shower of shadowy insects emerged in a stream from the hand dryer's nozzle, quickly covering the floor, as they forced Susan over into a corner, remaining just shy of her high heeled feet.

She tried to scream, but nothing, only the sound of passing air came out of her. Her body was paralyzed  in terror like having a nightmare late at night in bed.

The shadow insects then began to advance on her feet, climbing first onto her shoes, and then her feet and legs, until the covered her up to her neck.

"Can you feel this...? Their legs all over you? Their mandibles ready to devour your flesh and strip you clean from existence? Meat, bone and all? You and I will be working together from now on, and if you do not heed my wishes, then your fate will be very much like this, except the restraint they're showing now, will be removed, and shortly thereafter, so will you. Do you understand?" asked the woman's voice, which now echoed from the nozzle of the hand dryer.

Susan nodded affirmatively, and within an instant, the shadow insects were gone and she stood before the mirror, looking at herself, though this time, she could feel someone else within her, looking out through her eyes as much so as was she.

"You can call me Miana. Mianamor Selembrosi," Miana introduced herself to her new host.

"Miana...? I'm Susan. Susan Hardy," Susan replied.

"How wonderful it is to meet you Susan. You're British, right?" asked Miana.

Susan nodded affirmatively to the mirror.

"When in Rome... do as the Romans Susan..." Miana responded, smiling ever so slightly with Susan's face.



To be continued...


I'm still an Atheist that leans toward Buddhism and Taoism, and my own love interest is Southeast Asian, but not Filipino with all due respect to that industrious and hard working community. Now of course, that means that I'm not Ron Silk, any more than I'm Snow (Darren O'Brien), as I'm not Irish. And no, I'm not Guyanese, nor am I transgender with all due respect. I support LGBTQ2 rights despite being a heterosexual male myself.

Credits and attribution:

Special Thanks To Rocket Fuel Lakeshore Blvd West, perhaps the best place in history to get a coffee, circa 2001-2004. Miss you all very much.

Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...

Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...

DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.

InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.

Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.

Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.

Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)

Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)

Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts

Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history

Seamus O'Dowd
An extensive growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza (mostly Shotokan)

Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai 
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art

Tapp Brothers Exercise For Better Motion 
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility

Special thanks to Canva for inspiring other creators and giving them the tools

Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!

Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof

Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

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Thursday, August 28, 2025

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents: What Is The Sound Of Shhhh?

Clipart images courtesy of Google AI Studio


Here's a YouTube playlist comprised of a collection of the soundtrack and background music I've composed that appears in the growing list of audiobook episodes of The Butterfly Dragon and Tales of the Sanctum stories here on Shhhh! Digital Media, with a few older tunes thrown in for good measure.

If they're popular enough, I'll release the extended versions, especially applicable to those of the electronic genre tunes such as the theme from Era of the Spellbound or Reawakened Butterfly.

Or, if you're more of a TikTok kind of person, then click the link where you'll find my growing library of TikTok content in addition to the music.


Enjoy! :-)

Brian Joseph Johns


This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.
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Tuesday, August 26, 2025

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents... The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes Of Our Own Reimagined: Episode 1 - Alicia Westin - The Audiobook Experience


  

For your listening pleasure, you can watch/listen to it here...





Or you can watch/listen to it on YouTube, or you can watch/listen to it on TikTok.



This content is produced by the artists indicated on the site, including myself, Brian Joseph Johns. 

I, under no circumstance will trade, barter or otherwise swap my own identity for that of another person and I protect the same right for those who've contributed their artwork to the various projects under my management at Shhhh! Digital Media, my own company, no matter the colour symbolism involved. These rights are protected by law under the Charter Of Rights And Freedoms under section 7.


Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:


Win Tickets To See Oasis in Toronto!
Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick children. 


Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.


The Cancer Research Institute
The Princess Margaret Foundation
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.


National Breast Cancer Foundation [Donate] [Hope Kit] [Women's Programs]
One of their top priorities is educating women on what they can do to be proactive with their breast health. Knowledge and early detection saves lives.


David Suzuki Foundation
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.


Donate directly to FireAid today to help us start rebuilding our community. Direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation and will be distributed for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California.


United Nations Fund
United Way Worldwide
Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world.


World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.


I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.

"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."

Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950


The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.


For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.


The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.


Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.


Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.


The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.


The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado! 

In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.


Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.


Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.


Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.


If you're a resident of Ontario then please consider supporting Building Better Schools.


Other Ways To Help Using Your Computer


Join World Community Grid
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org


Join BOINC
https://boinc.berkeley.edu


Enjoy! :-)

Brian Joseph Johns

I'm an Atheist that leans toward Buddhism and Taoism, and I'll stick with my Shhhh! Digital Media colours of red black, red white, red yellow and grey.

Oh, and no Deutsch Nepal for me. 

No, it isn't a blessing to live but not to have to be. Do you understand?

If you really believe that, then you try it. Furthermore, I think its a scam because it just opens to the door to people using you, all take and no give.

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

at

Monday, August 25, 2025

End of Month August 2025 Updates...


Hi again. Brian Joseph Johns here.


The Weekend


I've been off since last Friday (which I spent ill in bed), and most of the weekend was basically about cleaning up the office and keeping myself amused on a popular strategy game called Civilization 6. There within I managed to get my petute handed to me (twice) by two of the other leading civs, and also ended up in a religious war with one of the other leaders. 

Insofar as the religious war, the leader being very devout, (she) tried converting my entire country to her religion, and moving our shared border in her favour (essentially making my country ever the tinier), so I moved in on her country and attemptemted to convert them all to my custom religion of Secular Waterism. You drink it. You bath in it. Its essential for all life as we know it. Enough said.

Despite the fact that I had the second biggest military, a healthy treasury and a very wealthy infrastructure, during our religious war, another small country came up from behind and won with a diplomatic victory, leaving that other leader and I standing in the ashes of our religious war, confused and distraught.

I think there's an important lesson in there somewhere to the effect that while we're kept busy squabbling amongst one another, there's a third party somewhere else who's taking advantage of the opening and going in for the win.


Winning, Losing, And The Contemplation of Ideas


Victory or loss in most cases socially speaking is a construct of the ego and mostly a social illusion. Its more about how you got there than anything and what you learned about yourself along the way.

Of course, in games, in some cases you're role playing as someone much different than yourself, which gives you a chance to explore avenues you otherwise wouldn't take as in:

"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."

Aristotle

That's something that's actually quoted during the gameplay of Civilization 6 and it is certainly of grand importance in these days, though I think it might be more applicably termed: "It is the mark of an independent mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it". 

How and why is it in this day and age that we're made to feel by certain predatory groups, that if we read an article or hear a statement with which we disagree, that if we don't state that aloud in some way that it must mean that we must accept it?

Learning and growing is about considering many different points of view. Comtemplating them, in some cases having experiences related to them, and then coming to your own conclusions as to whether you discard an idea and related concepts or not.

There are groups of people who attempt to make you feel as if you accept anything for which you do not give a response, keeping in mind that if we're simply responding to avoid being socially forced into one of two groups: those who accept a particular idea and those who don't, that we're basically running on automatic, and in the process giving up a piece of our consciousness. 

The more time we spend with automatic responses, the less time we're being conscious. We want more reasons to be able to think and respond on our own terms, not those of some predatory group to avoid being sorted and socially branded.

Regardless, lets get onto something else.


About Missing BOPWHATO's Most Recent Gathering


From what I understand, a group of my old friends (we called ourselves BOPWHATO), got together recently, although I'm not sure where that gathering was. I wasn't able to make it as I've been very busy with things getting Shhhh! Digital Media up in the air again, though I heard that there were a couple of other no shows as well.

I can guarantee that it's me, perhaps by bringing up the skunk incident in the basement at Shandon Avenue, or something like 89 Steps, or my bicycle ride(s) 200 km to go camping up to the farm at Kinmount back in the day. Remember the two bear story or my being chased by a wild brush wolf on foot? Or how about riding that old beaten up scooter up at Kinmount like it was an enduro bike :-)

Anyway, its still the same old Brian Joseph Johns, though I've travelled a somewhat bumpy path, with many highs (was employed in film, employed as a programmer many times and made a good living for a while, studied Goju-Jujitsu Ryu, Aikido and learned to ride horses like a pro in the mountains). 

There is nothing involved in my life like substance abuse or anything of that nature despite the rumours, and I'm actually quite healthy and fit all considered, at about 175 lbs, 6 feet tall and still with the vast majority of my hair, and a friendly if not mischievous cat to boot. I live in downtown Toronto and you can look me up on brian.joseph.johns@shhhhdigital.com. I haven't been on Facebook much over the last year, so I'm not really keeping up.

Still doing a lot of things as you can see here on Shhhh! Digital Media and have even tipped my hat in your direction a few times between the lines. I've struggled with an organized group that seems to collectively attempt to steal websites or creative and intellectual properties, but I have my back covered legally on that.

I hope that your get together was enjoyable, as in this day and age, we don't get many chances to do that kind of thing.

Until we see each other again...

Oh, and don't let John P. swim in the pool with his boots on anymore. I still can't get the smell out of my mind of his boots cooking in the oven the next day. I'm not Ron Silk.

Brian :-)


Updates


I'm here this morning to tell you that updates will continue throughout most of this week, especially those involving the retcon occurring in both Tales of the Sanctum and The Butterfly Dragon.

I will be continuing and finishing Stanton's two unfinished story lines (Episode 11 and 12 of We Who Stand On Guard) before the characters from that episode storyline enter into the retcon themselves.

So look forward to at least a few releases and posts this week.

Again, thanks for reading and reading and reading and listening to the content on Shhhh! Digital Media, and I'll see you soon in writing :-)

PS: I vote, take acetominophen or ibuprofen for headaches, and celebrate birthdays by the way (I'm not a Jehovah's Witness in other words) and I've never used cocaine or crack cocaine in my life.

If you or someone you know is having problems with substance dependency (such as crack cocaine or "blow"), direct them towards a Harm Reduction site or to a Rehab Centre.

I'm an Atheist that leans toward Buddhism and Taoism (even when I'm on my ancient Samsung Galaxy SM-G386W).

Finally, I'm not a member of any cult that requires you to pay someone for their sponsorship when you're using a skill that you already have and are very familiar with. That's nothing more than extortion.

Finally, my own love interest is Southeast Asian, but she's not Filipino with all due respect to that hard working and industrious community. She's fine with that despite my being European Canadian.

Oh, and I'm not Michael Jacks.

Brian Joseph Johns

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

at

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents: The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own Reimagined - Episode One - Alicia Westin



On the issue of authenticity

Authenticity, is essentially a word that has been commandeered against authors and other creators like myself whose character development and writing often includes characters of various other ethnicities. 

Authenticity is basically a way of attacking writers and other creatives, who create content that deals with people that are culturally or religiously different, or different in gender from the writer or content creator.

In other words, according to this social cult, writing a female character as a male is no longer couth or politically correct. Writing a Chinese character as a European Canadian is no longer couth or politically correct.

I'd say that writers according to this new social dialect have one of two choices:
  1. They can either every time they need to write a character different from themselves according to gender, culture or religion, that they hire a surrogate writer to write those parts for them.

  2. They can simply tell the cults wielding this new social dialect to stick it where the sun don't shine, and I don't mean the dark side of the moon or Antarctica.
Personally, I'd go with option 2 myself. The same thing I say to identity and content thieves and other parasites of that nature. They could use a good lesson in posterior anatomy.

If you don't appreciate what I've done for both women and Asian culture, then I'll gladly quit writing, and break all ties with your community in a heart beat. I'm definitely growing tired of being stabbed in the back by the very people I protected and promoted.

Brian Joseph Johns

Support Charity


Please support education and information access where you can in addition to these charities:


Win Tickets To See Oasis in Toronto!
Help research that provides cures and support treatment for sick children. 


Creating a world of possibility for kids and youth with disabilities.


The Cancer Research Institute
The Princess Margaret Foundation
Cancer Research organizations that combine the expertise of many different research firms and Universities to find innovative treatments and cures for Cancer.


National Breast Cancer Foundation [Donate] [Hope Kit] [Women's Programs]
One of their top priorities is educating women on what they can do to be proactive with their breast health. Knowledge and early detection saves lives.


David Suzuki Foundation
Through evidence-based research, education and policy analysis, we work to conserve and protect the natural environment, and help create a sustainable Canada. We regularly collaborate with non-profit and community organizations, all levels of government, businesses and individuals.


Donate directly to FireAid today to help us start rebuilding our community. Direct donations will be distributed under the advisement of the Annenberg Foundation and will be distributed for short-term relief efforts and long-term initiatives to prevent future fire disasters throughout Southern California.


United Nations Fund
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Two organizations whose contribution of expertise, human and financial resources and volunteer efforts provide humanitarian solutions to real world problems the entire world over. These charities operate worldwide. The United Nations Fund supports the various programs part of the United Nations' global mandate, as much a foundation as it is a roof around the world.


World Veterans Federation (Under Reconstruction) [Wikipedia]
The World Veterans Federation is a humanitarian organisation, a charity and a peace activist movement. The WVF maintains its consultative status with the United Nations since 1951 and was conferred the title of “Peace Messenger” in 1987.


I'd like to point out that it was the incredible Gary Sinese Foundation that brought the issue of Veteran's rights to my attention. I've always had little respect for those who'd forget the great contribution made by those who've risked life and limb to defend those values that so many of us espouse. Perhaps the true measure of one's principles are by that for which they'd risk their life.

"None can speak more eloquently for peace than those who have fought in war."

Ralph Bunche, Nobel Peace Prize 1950


The Reeve Foundation provides programs for research, uniting Scientists and Specialists from many different fields to find treatments for spinal cord injury translating them into therapies and support programs.


For over 60 years, Heart & Stroke has been dedicated to fighting heart disease and stroke. Our work has saved thousands of lives and improved the lives of millions of others.


The ALS Society Of BC
ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig's Disease) is a progressive neuromuscular disease in which nerve cells die and leave voluntary muscles paralyzed. The ALS society provides a variety of programs to combat this disease and help those with it to survive.


Muscular Dystrophy Canada
Muscular Dystrophy Canada’s mission is to enhance the lives of those affected by neuromuscular disorders by continually working to provide ongoing support and resources while relentlessly searching for a cure through well-funded research.


Humane Society International
The Humane Society protects the health, lives and rights of animals the world over, ensuring that they too have a voice in this world. We are interdependent upon the complex web of life this entire planet over for our mutual survival. This is a world wide charity.


The Global Foodbanking Network
Ensuring that people the world over have enough food day to day in order to survive and lead healthy lives. In this challenging day and age services like this are becoming more and more essential. This is a world wide charity.


The Edgar Allan Poe Museum
Because Barris told me to put it here. If I didn't, he said he'd walk. Geez. Stardom really gets to some people's heads. Maybe I could kill him and bury his heart beneath the floor boards! Or I could encase him in behind a brick and mortar wall, for shaming my family name of Amantillado! 

In all truth, there's a good chance that thanks to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), William Shakespeare, Jane Austen, Jonathan Swift, Mary Shelley, Robert Louis Stevenson, Herbert George Wells, Jules Verne, Dr. Seuss, Stephen King, Clive Barker and Pierre Burton (for The Secret World Of Og and his ground breaking interview of Bruce Lee) that all of us are literate. Actually that goes back much farther to the Phoenecians and their first 22 character system of symbols. Literacy is important. Really it is. Literally. It allows us to approach our employer at the end of the week (with a big club) and ask: where my money?! Math important too. It help us count our thirteen fingers and toes.


Wikipedia
The model for what may become the Encyclopedia Galactica, a complete reference and record of history, events and knowledge of humanity and its journey beyond. It is the encyclopedia of all that we know, what we surmise that we've known and will learn in the future. Yes, Wikipedia is a charitable organization of great importance. If you enjoy what I am doing here then please take the time to donate to Wikipedia. Surprisingly only 1% of Wikipedia's users donate yet the site serves pages to millions every day.


Humble Bundle
A video gaming storefront benefiting a vast variety of different Charities in the United States and United Kingdom (hopefully soon to be expanded to include other areas of the world?). By software their software bundles and choose which Charity your money benefits and how much of your money benefits that Charity. See? Gamers can do their part too.


Multiple Sclerosis is a degenerative disease currently affecting an estimated 2.3 million world wide. By donating you are contributing to effective research in finding a cure and tipping the scales of MS research to change lives forever.


If you're a resident of Ontario then please consider supporting Building Better Schools.


Other Ways To Help Using Your Computer


Join World Community Grid
https://www.worldcommunitygrid.org


Join BOINC
https://boinc.berkeley.edu



Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:

The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes of our Own: Reimagined

by Brian Joseph Johns

Episode One: Alicia Westin

Office Meeting
Six Years Ago
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


She sat uncomfortably in a chair in the office, a pair of pretty hands with long manicured and painted nails gripped her shoulders, keeping her securely in place. The rising sun now shone through the window behind them, overhead of both her and her captor, casting their shadows through the settling dust into the room.

She glanced to the desk before them where her red mask lay. Fragile. Helpless. Useless to her in her current circumstances. From there, her eyes wandered over to the left to the semi-circular portion of the large oak desk which had been notched out, as if someone had driven a sledge hammer through it precisely at the edge where its owner might have rested his wrists as he used the mouse for his computer. Miraculously, the low profile LCD panel monitor and computer to which it was connected had somehow managed to remain undamaged.

Beyond the desk, and on an adjacent wall, a credenza lay at an angle, upon its end, leaning precariously against the opposite wall from where it had once rested. A large crack creeping along its length as if someone had once wielded it as a crude club. Now it lay broken and discarded, like the baseball bat that had hit the game winning grand slam.

Not far from there, a large corner of the office that had once been its front hall, bore the impact of a body, still retaining the catcher's glove shape of an arched back. The studs behind the corner folded around this imaginary point while the floor around them was littered with chunks of drywall and ceiling debris.

Not much farther down from that point, the bathroom door to the ensuite lavatory was completely missing, for it was around the corner and forced into the shower, where the damaged walls were bent outwards, water still running from the broken faucet and the floor scattered with towels and toiletries.

Just outside of the bathroom and further down towards the far end of the office from where she was forcibly made to remain seated, the large oak door itself was cracked diagonally from corner to corner, just barely remaining in the door frame by its own balance, weight and the few wood fibres that held it together.

The morning light illuminated the cloud of still settling dust and debris, as if what had caused the catastrophe that had befallen the office had only just ceased moments earlier.

"If your hands are getting tired, you can relax your grip. Its not like I'm going anywhere..." the lady in the seat  addressed her captor.

"You've got that right, but I'm not releasing you. I know that you're a clever girl and a tricky one too, Alicia," her captor asserted, leaving the negotiatons open very much like the business professional she was and one who'd closed numerous business deals throughout the course of her early career.

"Girl Guide's honour?" Alicia held up her hand.

"You were a Girl Guide? I could see that," remarked her captor.

"It didn't last, but I've still got the booklet. Valerie, right?" Alicia responded.

"One and the same," Valerie responded curtly to Alicia.

"Sooo... how is it that an intelligent, business minded woman like you ends up with a guy like Torman?" asked Alicia of Valerie. 

At that point, at the front of the office, the doorknob slowly turned. The slight motion involved caused the entire door and part of the door frame to collapse onto the floor, revealing a handsome dark haired man of five foot ten in a fashionably classic suit with a briefcase in his hand. Miraculously, neither the door nor the door frame hit him as they fell.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Valerie responded to Alicia's question.

"Good morning ladies. You two look remarkably well considering what obviously unfolded in here earlier," Torman stood in the doorway assessing the damage.

"Its not as bad as it looks," Alicia replied.

"Its worse," Valerie added an edge of sarcasm.

"Tell me, how is it that two adult women can in this day and age resort to violence in situations like this?" asked Torman of them.

"Well technically speaking, neither of us hit one another," Valerie replied.

"True. It was more either of us hitting the furniture or the walls or the bathroom. Even so, the formula healed us before you got here," Alicia added.

"Its still violence and something I assumed was far beneath you Alicia, though funny you should mention the formula because that's going to be the topic of our cosy little meeting here today," Torman stepped over the debris and destroyed door frame and walked over to a countertop on the adjacent wall from the bathroom to where a coffee maker set to auto-brew had just finished brewing a fresh pot of coffee.

"Can I get you ladies a cup of coffee?" he asked them, looking over to them for the first time since he'd arrived.

Alicia was a blonde haired, blue eyed beauty in her mid twenties with the physique of an olympic athlete. Her pink lips underlined her sculpted facial features and accented her cute yet sharp nose. Her toned body was quite visible even beneath her tight fitting black pants and red shirt, across the breast of which was inscribed the letters "NS" in a somewhat crude and simplistic manner. Over the shirt she wore an expensive looking black trench coat which fell down to her knees. It appeared to be quite weathered.

The woman standing in the chair behind Alicia and holding her in place, was equally one to behold, her long straight auburn hair framed a pale compact face, complete with her soft brown eyes and perfect complexion, a mole just east of her nose, accenting her deep red lips. She wore a stylish business suit, the top three buttons on her blouse open, and much like Alicia's trench coat, her suit was spotted with patches of dust and wear and tear given the events that had previously unfolded.

"Why don't you let Valerie, get that. Isn't that how you usually do things Torman?" asked Alicia of him, quickly doing away with his polite gentile routine.

"Heh heh heh... You are a funny one Alicia and clever from what I've heard. Now you know as well as I do why Valerie can't release you, but that doesn't mean that the three of us can't enjoy a cup of coffee together now, does it?" he put his briefcase down and pulled three cups from the cupboards just above the undamaged counter. The only untouched place in the entire office.

"So what does the NS stand for on your shirt? Nitwit Secretary?" asked Torman of Alicia.

"Nice Smile. Mine, so I've been told. One sugar, one creme please, secretary Torman," Alicia requested, both bluffing about the initials on her shirt and throwing Torman's insult right back at him.

"Very sharp wit. Your coffees are on their way," Torman responded as he stirred their coffees, then carrying them one in each hand over to his desk where they were currently situated.

"Not my desk too...?!!!" Torman got a glimpse of the gaping hole in his desk, nearest Alicia.

"It wasn't me...!"  Valerie quickly responded.

"Yeah, but you zigged when I thought you were going to zag..." Alicia responded to Valerie's having outted her as the culprit.

"What about the bathroom and shower? That was all your fault!" Valerie reminded her.

Alicia looked back towards Valerie, a scathing smirk on her face as she spoke:

"What was I supposed to do? You came at me with the bathroom door and that was just after you checked out your batting average on me with the credenza"

"The shower too?" Torman paused after having placed their coffees on the only unoccupied space on his desk given the lack of real estate thereupon.

"What about insurance? Wouldn't that cover this?" asked Alicia of them optimistically.

"There's no insurance coverage for something like this," Valerie replied to Alicia.

"Torman's a crook. I'm sure he'll figure out a way. I mean, he already figured out how to buy his way onto Tynan And Associates' board of directors, didn't he?" Alicia asked the two of them.

"I earned my way onto the board fair and square," Torman lied to them both as he finished making his coffee and returned to the desk.

"Ok. How are we going to do this?" asked Valerie of Torman.

"Get a firm hold of her, and pick her up from the chair. Walk around the desk to the other side, keeping her away from me. Put her in the guest chair and I'll get over to my chair and we can get this meeting under way," Torman advised Valerie on their relocation issue.

Valerie's hands slid down to the end of Alicia's shoulders, and then down her arms, pinning them both to her sides. Valerie then easily lifted Alicia up from the chair, keeping her legs facing away from her while walking around the desk, carefully avoiding Torman and ensuring that Alicia's legs were out of kicking distance from him as well. Torman then awkwardly made his way around to his desk and sat in his chair, placing his coffee on the desk and his briefcase beside him as Valerie sat Alicia in the guest chair across from him.

"Now. How many other people have you told about this formula of yours?" asked Torman of Alicia.

"None. I'm still trying to figure out how you found out about it?" Alicia responded, looking up to Valerie pleadingly.

"Hence why she was poking around here in the wee hours and exactly how I caught her," Valerie directed her attention at Torman, hoping that he'd acknowledge her having thwarted Alicia's corporate espionage.

Valerie loosened her grip, and Alicia immediately took advantage, kicking the desk and launching their coffees into the air, one hitting Valerie square in the face and scalding her, the other just narrowly missing Torman.

Alicia then launched herself into the air and through the window behind Torman, Valerie having lost her grip. She quickly scaled the side of the building using window ledges and flag poles and had almost escaped when she was suddenly back in the chair, Valerie with her grip firmly on her arms, Torman facing her, his eyes deadly serious. It was as if her escape attempt was only a dream, though she swore that she'd truly just escaped.

"That almost worked but as you can clearly see, I have countermeasures against that sort of thing. Don't try that again," Torman said to her with a fierce look in his eyes.

"How'd that happen...? I clearly got away...?!!!" Alicia asked him when she suddenly realized the truth.

"Her-cules behind me here obviously already used the formula. It appear that you used it too... You can somehow rewind time... like an instant replay..."  Alicia now knew that they'd had the formula for longer than she'd assumed.

"Who else did you tell about the formula Alicia?" Torman leaned back in the chair and put his legs up on the desk, taking a sip of his coffee.

"How did you find out about it in the first place?" asked Alicia of Torman.

"I'm the one asking the questions here!" Torman became angry momentarily, and Alicia could have sworn that she felt the entire building rumbling.

"Look, I just want to bring this miracle to the world, and you want to use it for your own personal gain. Ironic that you accused me of being a crook, when you're the one who has been galavanting around the city, stealing from and sabotaging local businesses," Torman asserted himself, then looking to Valerie, who seemed to throw him a skeptical glance.

"Valerie, you have no idea what she's been doing since she created this formula. She tested it on herself against Tynan policy. She's trying to fund her own research firm so she can steal the formula, when we can bring this to the world and make a change for the better. Cure Cancer. Muscular Dystrophy. Spinal Bifida and many other diseases," Torman said exactly what he knew that Valerie wanted to hear.

"He's lying! He's taking the words right from Walton Norler's mouth. I've been trying to bring down your corrupt network of thugs who've been facilitating your illegal hostile takeovers of struggling businesses for the last three years!" Alicia broke, never realizing that she was being played by Torman the entire time who'd just tricked her into revealing her playbook.

"She's been stealing from these companies to fund her own private firm, where she has plans to get rich, while ripping Tynan And Associates off of their formula!" Torman leaned forward in his desk, opening his briefcase and throwing a printed list of companies and various criminal statistics in Valerie's direction.

Valerie examined the list with one hand, keeping a hold of Alicia by the back of her neck with the other. 

What Torman didn't tell her was that these companies were his holdings. He'd acquired them all at extremely undervalued pricing. Well below market and projected value. According to the figures Valerie was seeing, it was as if the value of these companies suddenly dipped from a much higher projected net worth.

"These companies' values crashed just before you bought them...! That's a little circumspect, Torman," Valerie read between the lines.

"They crashed because of her sabotage. I rescued them when they were on the brink of folding. I revived them, saving them from the damage this woman caused to their value. She's trying to pass the blame off onto me, like I'm the ring leader of a network of criminal thugs," Torman explained to Valerie, who looked to him again, asking herself how she could question the man with whom she'd been romantically involved since her teen years.

"That's exactly what you are!" Alicia responded aggressively.

Valerie looked to Torman and then to Alicia, now disgusted that she'd been so easily tricked by someone that she barely knew.

"You had me fooled, Girl Guide!" Valerie turned her skepticism towards Alicia.

"Don't you see? He's playing you! He's been playing Tynan And Associates since he joined their investment strategist team and the board!" Alicia pleaded with Valerie, neither woman truly knowing the other.

"I rescued Tynan And Associates from the bear pit, and I'm going to see that the formula is going to reach the medical industry as the cure we project its going to be," Torman addressed both women, though only one of them was fooled.

"What are we going to do with her?" Valerie asked Torman.

"The only thing that we can do. I've made arrangements to rescind her into the custody of the SIA.  The Special Investigative Agency, and they'll bring her to justice with the material evidence I've accrued against her," Torman explained to Valerie.

"And where do I fit in?" asked Valerie.

"I'll need you to make sure she ends up in their hands, safely..." Torman assured her.

At that moment, a phone inside of the right pocket of his suit jacket began ringing.

He reached into the pocket with his left hand, and put the phone to his face and answered.

"Speaking," Torman responded.

"You have her?" asked a man with a deep and willful voice.

"Yes. She's secured. Ready for delivery," Torman assured the man on the other end of the phone.

"Good. Then bring her to Warehouse 3A at Port Pier near the waterfront. What about the formula?" asked the man with the deep voice.

"I don't have it yet. I'm going to bring that to you directly when I do," Torman advised him.

"Do you really think it wise to be taking such a risk when we're this close?" asked the man with the deep voice.

"I've got all of the bases covered," Torman assured him.

"She can't come with you. She's a liability," the man with the deep voice told him.

"I know," Torman held his hand over the phone, and blew Valerie a kiss.

"Everything's been arranged. We'll be taking Alicia to the Port Pier in the downtown just off of the Queen's Quay, to a warehouse, where we'll hand her off to the SIA..." Torman smiled at Valerie.

"And then we'll talk about those future plans we were discussing... Our engagement party? Our wedding?" Valerie reminded him.

"Yes. Absolutely. I wouldn't have you any other way," Torman smiled and returned to his phone conversation, holding up his index finger to Valerie, urging her to be patient.

"Be there in one hour and don't bring anyone else. We'll take care of them both at the same time," the man with the deep voice hung up and Torman pocketed the phone.

"Alicia, you're about to be learn what real justice is. Let's get going, Val. Be careful with her," Torman smiled at Alicia menacingly.

"What about my coffee?" asked Alicia.

"Bring it," Torman responded.

"What about the office?" asked Valerie as she carefully hefted Alicia from her chair.

"I've got a crew coming in today to get started on repairs. Should be finished in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we can do most of our business from home," Torman lied, smiling as he packed up his briefcase.

"Does that mean we'll have some personal time together?" asked Valerie, as Alicia reached for her cup of coffee.

"Absolutely! We'll have plenty of time for each other," Torman lied again as he led the way through the rubble and wreckage and out to the elevators.

Alicia contemplated her situation and how she'd arrived at that moment, which knowing Torman, might be her last. She asked herself how life's path could lead to this, when all that she'd wanted to do was to use her smarts to do her part for the world. She started strolling through her memories in search of answers.

Clinical Psychology

Twenty Years Ago
Suburbia
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


"Mrs. Westin? Doctor Gordman is ready to see you and your daughter now," the receptionist announced to Theresa Westin, who gave the receptionist an unsettled smile in response.

"Alicia? Give me your hand," Theresa reached for her daughter's hand as Alicia discarded the PHD trade magazine through which she'd been reading, placing it carefully on the reception coffee table.

"Did you know that mitochondria are the fuel source for most cells in the body?" asked a twelve year old Alicia of her mother.

"I know that now. Thank you for sharing that with me," Theresa said as they followed the receptionist to Doctor Gordman's office.

"...and that cells reproduce by something called cellular mitosis. They literally split in two, meaning the quantity of their population can be generationally represented by a series of bits in a computer in powers of two..." Alicia continued explaining to her mother.

"Is that so? Then there must be a lot of them..." Theresa asked her daughter.

"...thirty to forty trillion of them according to latest estimates... that's a lot, isn't it mom?" Alicia replied, jumping happily as she responded.

"It is! I guess we won't be running out of them any time soon then, will we?" asked Theresa, knowing from experience how to engage her enthusiastic daughter.

"No. Can I count to forty trillion?" asked Alicia of her mother as they stepped through the door into the Doctor's office.

"You could, but it would take you close to four hundred thousand lifetimes to do so Alicia if you counted one every second," Doctor Gordman introduced himself to the two of them.

"Good to see you Doctor. How have you been?" asked Theresa of the older balding man in his middle fifties.

"I've been keeping well, and I hope that its the same for the two of you? Why don't you take a seat and make yourselves comfortable and we can discuss the test results," Doctor Gordman smiled at the two of them.

Theresa and Alicia each took a seat in front of Doctor Gordman's desk as he returned to the chair behind his desk and sat in it, leaning forward to examine Alicia's file.

"Is there a problem with her results?" asked Theresa of Doctor Gordman.

"That depends upon how you define the word problem. In terms of her learning ability, she's off of the charts. She's one smart cookie let me tell you. However, being a smart girl can sometimes lead to social problems, such as making new friends or having difficulty relating with people. But Alicia's just too darned sweet for that to happen, right?" Doctor Gordman smiled at Alicia.

"Right!" Alicia responded, giggling a bit at his remark.

"Well that would explain her social difficulties," Theresa responded, looking to Doctor Gordman and then to Alicia.

"Sometimes having too many friends can be a difficult thing. You've got to make time for every one of them you know, so sometimes its better to keep a few friends, with whom you're very close and I'd bet that Alicia will shine in that area, if she isn't already," Doctor Gordman responded.

"...or you could do something really good and nice for a lot of people at once, and then you'd have a lot of friends!" Alicia quickly caught on.

"Or you could do that, but why don't you start with one friend first, and then from there, you'll inevitably meet more people, though remember, that its just as much up to them to be a friend as it is to you, so don't ever sell yourself short Alicia," Doctor Gordman suggested to his little protegé.

"Never try to buy friends Alicia. They should like you for being you, and not for what you can give them," Theresa added, looking to her daughter.

"Is that all that's on your mind?" asked Doctor Gordman of Theresa.

"Well, keeping up with her can be a little troubling, but I'm doing my best," Theresa assured Doctor Gordman.

"She really should have little trouble at school, but her biggest hurdles are going to be having a healthy social life. Its rare having a gift like hers, and those who do often struggle with the social part of life. Especially in this day and age. Finding some way to balance her lifestyle and activities will definitely help," Doctor Gordman leaned back in his chair.

"Any suggestions about where we might begin?" asked Theresa.

"Why not do some things together as a family that are just about fun, like going to the park and playing badminton or frisbee together. Try something that's for all of you that doesn't involve so much thinking as much as it does doing. Encourage her to take part in the school activities with other children, and not just hang out by herself. I'm sure that Alicia would have a lot of fun, and so will you and Jack especially if you take some time for weekend outings together. Speaking of, say hi to Jack for me,"Doctor Gordman suggested, leaning forward towards his desk where he rested his elbows.

"I will. Thank you very much Doctor Gordman," Theresa stood and took Alicia's hand.

"Schedule another appointment in six months and let me know how things have been, and if you need anything before then, just give me a call. And you Alicia, you just keep on being the sweetheart that you are," Doctor Gordman followed them to the door and let them out.

After they'd scheduled a follow up appointment, they made their way back to Theresa's car. Alicia stopped to admire a butterfly that had followed them from the garden outside of the office building to the car.

"Can you help me find a friend?" Alicia asked the butterfly as it quietly perched on her finger.

The butterfly turned on her finger to face her, as if it was looking at her, and then it flew off into the air and back towards the garden.



Their First And Only

Nineteen Years Ago
A Suburban School Park
Toronto, Ontario, Canada


Alicia lay on the grass on her back, her best friend Leland lay beside her doing much the same. It was a sunny day during the summer break and the two of them did what they usually did on Saturday afternoons together, talking in the park.

Alicia had accrued a bit more baby fat as her mother had called it, and despite it marking her as a target for the torment of other school kids, she really didn't notice. She'd met Leland in the playground a year earlier (just after her visit to Doctor Gordman's) and they'd become best friends ever since.

Leland, though not quite as quick as Alicia was no slouch either. His grades were amongst the top of his class, though he often found himself having to work for it much more than his best friend, to whom it all seemed to come naturally.

Leland much like Alicia, was a bit of a science geek and like her, he often read science magazines and kept up with the sciences online. The two of them however liked to spend time out of doors together. They had both been shy when they were younger, and home bodies at that, lacking the confidence and motiviation to get outside and enjoy the world around them.

Since having become friends, their lives changed immensely, for they found that they both felt fearless when they were together. The world seemed to lose its intimidating edge, and what other people said about them didn't matter as much as it had when they were alone.

Their friendship wasn't so much a romance as it was a friendship in its purest sense, though the thought had occurred to them each at different times, though neither of them pursued any such avenue. Perhaps they loved what they had so much that they'd dare not risk it by complicating it. They'd seen many other things seemingly stable in their lives quickly fall apart by trying to improve them in some way. So they remained very close friends, and in fact, were the only friend the other ever had.

"Want to play a game?" asked Leland of Alicia as they watched the clouds change shape in the sky.

"Sure. What game?" asked Alicia, the warm breeze blowing over them.

"I don't know. I just made it up. Its called, the future. You tell me something about what you want to do in the future, and then we'll both look at the clouds to see if it gives us any clues about it," Leland explained his simple little game to her.

"Alright. I want to do something where I help people," Alicia spoke, keeping her first time playing this game to a very simple dream of hers.

They both stared at the clouds above them, and then Leland spotted what he thought looked like a nurse's hat which he quickly pointed out to Alicia.

"See! Right there!" Leland pointed up at the cloud formation.

"That's so cool! A nurse? I never thought about that. They help lots of people. Maybe something like a Doctor..." Alicia elaborated on her hopes of her future.

"Look at that one!" Leland pointed to a cloud formation that looked like a magnifying glass.

"That's like a banjo!" Alicia replied.

"Its a magnifying glass, silly," Leland corrected her.

"We're both right," Alicia corrected Leland.

"Well a magnifying glass is a lot closer to Doctor than a banjo..." Leland came at it from a different perspective.

"True, but you can't play Living Room by Tegan and Sara on a magnifying glass..." Alicia giggled and rolled over to face Leland.

"You got me there," Leland replied with a smile.

"What about you? Your future?" Alicia asked him, rolling over onto her front as she watched him closely.

"Its difficult..." Leland's voice trailed off.

"No it isn't. I mean, you have something you're dreaming of becoming when you're all grown up. Haven't you?" Alicia could have made some suggestions for him, but she wanted to hear it from him.

"I want to become a bird..." Leland stared at the sky as he watched a lone sparrow gliding through the wind.

"No. Seriously..." Alicia urged him.

"To fly free and away from our troubles here... all the way up to the sky..." he spoke solemnly and as if he'd found peace.

"That's not a future, Leland," Alicia giggled, kicking his shoe with her foot.

"It is for me. Its the perfect future..." a tear found the corner of Leland's eye and dripped down the side of his face and into his ear.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know you were so sensitive about the future. That was fun, but lets do something else that we can both play," Alicia suggested.

"Alicia?" Leland spoke as if he didn't hear her.

"Leland?" Alicia responded, still giggling.

"Would it be too much if I asked you for something?" asked Leland, still distant and his eyes toward the sky.

"Like what?" Alicia asked him.

"Something personal," Leland responded.

"and that is...?" Alicia continued grilling him for the answer.

"A kiss," Leland replied, his eyes focused above.

"I thought we weren't going to be like boyfriend and girlfriend...?" Alicia became very nervous and uncomfortable.

"We aren't. We're best friends, though if I could have a kiss from anyone in my future, it would be you..." Leland said to her, his eyes still focused on something distant.

"Then lets see where the future takes us..." Alicia suggested anticipation rather than impatience.

"We're living in the future Alicia, because it simply doesn't exist. Its our imagination and the future never comes unless we live it now," Leland reasoned with her.

"I don't understand..." Alicia looked to him, now confused.

"Please...?" Leland turned his head to look at her.

She became very nervous and shaky, as if suddenly smitten with stage fright and an intense fascination  with the idea all at the same time.

She positioned her lips just above his.

"Close your eyes," she said to him.

"You first," Leland replied.

Alicia closed her eyes, an angel's face just above his.

"Are your eyes closed?" she asked him.

"Yes," Leland lied, not wanting to miss a moment of her closeness to him.

She slowly lowered her lips to his and when they touched, it felt like heaven.

They remained lip-locked for seconds, before Alicia became overwhelmed and withdrew herself from him.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Leland of her, his face pink and as flushed as hers.

"No. Its just too much for me at once..." Alicia replied, her eyes still closed.

"But at the same time, it was perfect..." she continued, keeping her eyes closed for a few seconds more before she opened them, taking in Leland's flushed face.

She lay her head on his chest and listened to the beating of his heart as the breeze gently caressed the two of them.

They knew not how long they lay in the field in the park, but it was the last time they ever did.

...

Three months had passed since their outing into the field at the school park and much had changed since that time.

Alicia wore her best dress as she sat in the corner chair drinking juice from a straw in her glass, her eyes red from her tears, which by that point had run dry. Across from her on the sofa were Leland's mother and father, one of them weeping and the other doing a much better job of hiding it. Alicia's mother sat on the sofa beside Leland's mother, doing her best to comfort them. Various relatives and friends of the family populated the house as they celebrated what little time in life their lost Leland had.

A little girl no more than five years old, one of Leland's cousins ran up to Alicia in her chair and spoke:

"What's Leukemia Alicia?" asked the little girl, knowing that if anyone had the answer it would be Alicia.

"Its... Its what took Leland away from us..." Alicia responded softly, fighting tears once again.

"Why...?" asked Leland's cousin.

Alicia realized how little she truly knew, for she had no answer to give.

"I don't know," Alicia responded, for the first time in her life.


To be continued in The Butterfly Dragon - Heroes Of Our Own Reimagined - Episode Two - Ai Yuanlin Ying


Credits and attribution:

Special Thanks To Rocket Fuel Lakeshore Blvd West, perhaps the best place in history to get a coffee, circa 2001-2004. Miss you all very much.

Artwork: Amy Wong, Wendy Pusey, Ghastly, Birdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3D, Unreal Engine...

Tools: Daz3D, Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, Lightwave 3D, Blender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantID, Sadtalker, Google Colaboratory, Microsoft Copilot (Windows 11), Hitfilm, PhotoPea (a great web based Photoshop stand-in if you're on a low budget or in a pinch), Borderline Obsession...

DeepSeek AI for suggestions on exercises to improve aspects of describing scene and settings with a more sensory focused grammar.

InstantID by: Wang, Qixun and Bai, Xu and Wang, Haofan and Qin, Zekui and Chen, Anthony. Research Paper Title: InstantID - Zero-shot Identity-Preserving Generation in Seconds.

Sadtalker by: Zhang, Wenxuan and Cun, Xiaodong and Wang, Xuan and Zhang, Yong and Shen, Xi and Guo, Yu and Shan, Ying and Wang, Fei.
Research Paper Title: SadTalker: Learning Realistic 3D Motion Coefficients for Stylized Audio-Driven Single Image Talking Face Animation.

Gratitude: Our Mentors, Senseis, Sifus, Sebomnims, lifetime inspirations, family, friends, the Nomads (ask Stanton about that one), the Music, the Movies, the Theatre, the Arts, ASMR, (both YouTube and Bilibili and the many other creators on those platforms), the Gaming and Developer communities and of course, the audience.

Martial Arts (in the words of real experts and at least one comedian): https://brucelee.com (home of the real Dragon and an entire family of inspirations), http://iwco.online International Wing Chun Organization (International presence of a very scalable intensity martial art, protected and developed by Shaolin Nun Ng Mui) and the alma mater of Jinn Hua's own specialized variation thereof, https://iogkf.com International Okinawan Goju-Ryu Karatedo Federation (even Hanshi had his teachers), https://itftkd.sport International Taekwondo Federation (Here there be Taegers), https://tangsoodoworld.com Tang Soo Do World (the path of Grandmaster Chuck Norris), https://www.aikido-international.org International Aikido Federation (how else would Navy Chef Steven Seagal liberate a Nimitz Class Aircraft Carrier from a team of hijackers?), https://www.stqitoronto.com Shaolin Temple Quanfa Institute (The City Of Toronto's own Shaolin Temple), https://www.enterthedojoshow.com Master Ken's Ameri-Te-Do presence (If we can't laugh at ourselves, then we can at least laugh the loudest at others, and other Zen)

Magic (performance, illusion and perhaps the real thing): Magic Week Archive (I'm currently growing this section so stay tuned)

Special thanks to Aitrepreneur, Mickmumpitz, Hugging Face and the YouTube educational content producers, including those catering to the AI content production pipeline and of course AlphaSignal.

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Shi Heng Yi Shaolin Training For Self Mastery 
A reknowned Sifu under whose tutelage you can study the theory and practical applications of the Shaolin Arts for health, physical and mental wellbeing in every day life

Jesse Enkamp: Karate Nerd
Jesse, a reknowned Sensei who runs his own dojo, explores the world of Martial Arts, traveling to many exotic locations to meet practitioners of a variety of different arts

Sensei Rokas: Martial Arts Journey
A reknowned Sensei of Aikido who in seeking to understand the roots of Aikido and its applications, seeks to stress test its effectiveness in a number of real world situations while studying its history

Seamus O'Dowd
An extensive growing archive Katas, Techniques and Waza (mostly Shotokan)

Iaido: Train For Katana Mastery Like Samurai 
The original weapons focused curriculum under which Samurai became masters of their art

Tapp Brothers Exercise For Better Motion 
Extensive courses for calisthenics and body strength, stamina and flexibility

Special thanks to Canva for inspiring other creators and giving them the tools

Special thanks to Captain Crunch and his wonderful sister!

Special thanks to Bandcamp for giving indie music artists a home under one roof

Something to give you perspective: The very first teacher had no formal education, didn't graduate and was self taught, but only because they had no other choice. We do.

This content is entirely produced in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701 under the Shhhh! Digital Media banner.

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