Welcome to the sci-fi fantasy electronic and alternative opera... For your information, Shhhh! Digital Media is in no way associated with the Salvation Army or any other religious or ideological organization. I myself have no association with them as well. There are people trying to sell you a much different picture of who I actually am and what I'm about than is the truth. I do not live or work in a homeless shelter with all due respect, nor do I live or work in a prison. I am an advocate for the charities represented here on Shhhh! Digital Media, but I am not a volunteer. I choose to do the best I can, where and when I can. I've never worked as a security guard in my life, but it is an honest way to make a living for an honest person, especially if they don't take the identity of other people.

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Saturday, March 7, 2026

Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 11: The Tarot Be Joined (New Chapter March 7, 2026 13:00 EST)


Despite this storyline taking place mostly in Shepperton off the Thames, United Kingdom, it is entirely written in Moss Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Shepperton is close to my heart in ideas rather than kilometers.


I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.


[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.  An Unveiled Past - A Veiled Future
  2. Change Comes in Small Packages
  3. Gillie's Cards Speak (Coming soon...)

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.


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If you enjoy reading the content on this website, then please consider making a donation to one of the following charities below, or by supporting Shhhh! Digital Media directly. Every little bit helps.

Support Charity


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

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.


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.


David Suzuki Foundation
David's 90th Birthday!
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.


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.


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.


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

Donate your idle computer time to science! Join the World Community Grid by clicking on one of the links below and follow the instructions for how to participate:



Thank you for your support

Shhhh! Digital Media

Brian Joseph Johns


Shhhh! Digital Media Presents:

Tales of the Sanctum: Era of the Spellbound - Episode 9: The Tarot Be Joined

by Brian Joseph Johns





 An Unveiled Past - A Veiled Future


Since the beginning of time, and our perception thereof. From the first moments that we became aware that something through which we ventured on this journey was forever ebbing away. Gone, regardless of the direction we took any step. Forward. Backward. To either side. Or even if we simply remained where we stood. Our time behind us was gone and the time ahead of us yet to come. Constantly in motion along an axis we could not yet perceive, even while we were perfectly still.


We realized that our vision allowed us to see things that had come to pass, for we could recollect them, and often did as dreams and nightmares. We relived them through our mind's eye. As memories of what had come and gone. Of the things we'd wished we'd done when we had the chance, or the things we'd wished we hadn't.


Regardless of this ability of recollection. Of reflection upon what had come and gone. We could never reflect upon what was to come.


And yet, if day has the night, and they seem so opposite to one another, and we can experience both, then why can't we remember the future like we can the past.


We started looking. Trying to find ways to do so. For clues in nature. In patterns. For a long time, we made headway in discerning the symbolic cues given us, but when it came to deciphering and wielding knowledge of what was to come, we made little progress.


And then, something remarkable happened. In the Mid and Far East of Asia. Where rapid progress had bought much time for the contemplation of the natural world. To the realization that there was a pattern to the way of things. There were clues for us hidden in the most obvious of places and deep within the darkest depths.




Recognizing patterns was our first clue, but what the East gave us was the ability to recognize their opposite. The opposite of pattern.


That which does not repeat in a discernably predictable manner, either in nature or in causality. There must be something that is not repetition, for its everywhere in nature, and yet there is something so similar about everything in nature despite its seeming dissimilarity.


Someone who noticed, heard the noise of a stream. The water trickling, and its sounds a garble of absence of any kind of pattern. The opposite of pattern or as very nearly as causality could produce. And yet others on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, who heard the sound of the crashing waves, became introduced to it as well.


They called it noise. Without pattern or structure. 


Without meaning or precedence.


Therefore, somewhere in between that noise, and pattern, there had to exist the clues of what was to come.


At first, philosophers who were ardent students of nature, observed the bubbles in their tea, and how  in each cup of tea, no matter how carefully poured, that there occurred the shapes of bubbles and they were different every time.




There was action upon form, and it yielded something between noise and pattern.


For many years these philosophers contemplated this, and observed nature and coincidence between the two, eventually adapting their manufactured noise and pattern into various different approaches and  with each of them, they slowly interpreted and adapted to a means of predicting change and its very nature.


Yarrow sticks were initially used, of a variety of possible lengths, and they were drawn without knowing their length, to form resolute noise and pattern and deciphered to interpret the nature of change.


The bleached bones of a bird were dropped to the dirt. The action of dropping them upon the form of the earth revealed noise and pattern and there within, predictions became visible to those who could read them.


Within this paradigm, a hidden language began slowly to reveal itself. Painstakingly meticulous, the observations of these first seers into the hidden language of the universe, and as if through osmosis, the same insights began arising in other parts of the world, and from many different cultures.


A vast secret of immense power was the ability to remove the veil from that which was to come.


In another part of the world, this noise and pattern and where they met, produced something else. The Portuguese arrived with it on the doorstep of Japan in the form of playing cards. Stuck in a trading port and in unfamiliar territory while awaiting repairs to their boat, the sailors of those ships had little else to do. And so they played cards with the Japanese workers of these ports, and taught them to gamble with the cards, and an immense spark was ignited at that moment that led to many other places within those same shores, and in each of the cards of their hand of their games were written that future. Regardless of it being a tool for gambling, it still held the secret language hidden between noise and pattern.




On  the other side of the world, where the crowned heads and the clergy of Europe bickered and often fought over the minds and real estate of Europe, perhaps from the same insight that had permeated the Far East of Asia, those craftsmen whose craft it was to make playing cards, began to notice the same thing about the nature of noise and pattern, especially as they were revealed through something so simple as the dealing of a hand.


They too began to explore the cards, realizing that each of these hands, whether they were part of a game or not, contained clues about the nature of what was to come. Many years passed and those who studied such phenomenon did so in secret, and in doing so, uncovered one of the greatest mysteries of the universe.


Some feared that power. Citing its birthplace in a deck whose primary use was for gambling, an activity highly regarded as the devil's claim. They of a more zealous origin who speculated that the origins of this hidden language were from hell itself, and the Satyr beast form of the devil, and with this idea gaining traction, it became dangerous to use cards for such purposes, except for those of the highest privilege in the land, who employed those who understood this language as their seers, while those of lesser resources and stock, were left to study in the darkness, trusting few with the knowledge of their practice of scrying, to avert the risks of being labeled as in league with the devil.



Through the ages, and through the courts of many royals, the cards changed from the form of those used in gambling and gaming, as these seers and artists worked together to transform their philosophy with the alchemy of pre-modern archetypes. Though ultimately still in the hands of the wealthy and powerful, these works of art became synonymous with the activities of many secret societies who sprung up during the middle ages and into the renaissance, when these specialized works of art in the form of a deck, went from being the secret weapon of royal courts, to an amusement and pass-time in the age of scientific discovery.




Their immense power and hidden secrets forever veiled behind the mask of the archetypes, the works of art that inspired them, and the secret language hidden between noise and pattern that is the tarot.


That power once upon a time, found its way to a young girl as a gift she received on her fourteenth birthday. Two years later, and after six volumes on the subject, Nathalie was ready to introduce her friend Gwendolyn to her favourite deck.




Change Comes in Small Packages


Spring
Six years ago



Nathalie pulled into the driveway in her 2014 Honda Civic, parking in the two car driveway beside her father's Land Rover. It was a warm spring day, in fact the warmest on record for over sixty years, and her attire reflected the weather as she wore a pair of fashionable loose fitting white shorts, and a lavender blouse which went well with her lightly made up face.


She opened the screen door and stepped into the house, quickly kicking off her shoes and grabbing her favourite pair of slippers and proceeding in.


"Hi Gwen. I thought I heard you. How was your day at Getaway Games?" her father asked her as he arrived from the back hall to greet her.


"Good. It was mostly quiet though. We took the lull in business we had and did an early inventory. Came out ahead thankfully. Oh, I picked up a new Scrabble board for you and Mom! I forgot it in my backseat, if you'd like to get it?" Gwen leaned over and gave her father a light kiss on the cheek.


"Thanks sweetie. There's some mail for you there by the way. Looks like it traveled a fair distance to get here..." he said to her, pointing to the kitchen table where a package about the size of box of banker's cheques sat, many stamps adorned its face.


"Oh goodie! Look at that! I wonder what's in it?" she said excitedly with a smile on her face as she approached the kitchen table and picked it up.


"I shook it a few times, but it didn't make a sound. Maybe its a stack of cash?" her father joked.


"Oh if it is. Just in time to give it all away to my insurer..." she said as she began unwrapping it.


"I'm just going to get the Scrabble from your back seat," her father disappeared out through the screen door as she got the last of the packaging off of the box.


"Could you grab my water bottle? Its in the front, in the driver's seat tray," she yelled to her father, placing the box on the table and carefully lifting the lid from it.


There within was a carefully folded piece of eight and half by eleven heavy paper, the kind best for  writing with a pen. Beneath the paper was another sealed box (inside of the first). She took the paper and unfolded it and was greeted with elaborately decorative calligraphy, styled in a combination of the Olde English style, and what appeared to be like Sumi-e brush strokes, giving the writing a mystique all its own. She took the letter in hand (carefully not to risk smudging the ink), and proceeded to read it as her father arrived with the freshly shrink-wrapped Scrabble game in hand. He placed Gwen's water on the table as she began to read aloud:



Dearest Gwendolyn,

I am writing to you from my new home and residence in Shepperton, by the Thames, here in the wonderfully historic and scenic United Kingdom.

I moved here about six months ago and have been thoroughly enjoying it, though I can't tell you how much I miss Belleville. I hope that they're still taking loving care of the turtle pond, and if the weather's nice enough before you leave, could you go there and take a few photos for me?

I could go on about many other things I miss, but you're probably by this point wondering who in the world I am. Well, to answer that question, we need to go back about a year and a half, and to the Belleville Art Association. I don't know if you remember, but you were working there when I had my first exhibit, and you were one of the curators' assistants who helped me to get setup for the presentation. I was the girl fortunate enough to have at that time attracted the attention of a wealthy beneficiary, or at the very least, one of his representatives. A rather tall fellow, with greying clean cut hair? A fellow who walked with a rather ornate cane.

I had spoken with you before meeting this beneficiary, and as a show of my gratitude for all of the help you afforded me, I wanted to invite you to my parent's place, with a date to give you my thanks. After we spoke, I was approached by that same beneficiary, and he made an offer on one of my paintings that very much changed the fabric of my life.

Its been a long journey to get to this point, and there have been many changes along the way, but I am very fortunate to have have destiny smile upon me that day, and I always since that time wondered how you'd fared on your journey.

Given the fact that I am now established in a way where I can afford to reach out to the people who've done me a good turn, especially those for whom there was no indication of there being a gain from having done so, other than the exhibit of the kindness of their own heart.

I very much know that the reward for any act of the heart's grace, is in having done it, but perhaps some of us who are in the position of excess can appreciate our power to reward acts of that nature in some small and humble way. I believe that doing so affords humanity a degree of hope into the future and beyond. So it is that I'd like to invite you here to Shepperton to visit with me and stay while you visit for as long as you'd like.

I have provided two paid tickets to London Heathrow from Kingston, via Norman Rogers Airport, and I believe that there is one stopover at Pearson, before a direct flight to London from there. Its one fairly long flight, but at this time of year, the weather is improving immensely and I believe that you'd enjoy it.

The tickets are dated for two weeks from now, but I've made arrangements for you to change them to a more convenient time easily as they are first class. You only need to confirm with me at the number I've provided on the attached business card and I'll either make arrangements for you, or I'll come pick you  and your guest up myself.

I also seem to recall you having an affinity for a certain form of esotericism. I've included a little something that you might enjoy on that note.

R  S  V  P

Sincerely,

Your grateful friend

Mila Ren Dubel


Gwen carefully folded the paper up and placed it beside the box on the table, already considering having it professionally framed for her bedroom. She then proceeded to open the second box contained within the original one, and there within were two airline tickets in a fancy gold sleeve adorned with the Air Canada logo. A pink business card with Mila's artist's signature was tucked in beside the tickets.


Gwen put the tickets down, a look of disbelief upon her face as she focused on the unmarked box within. She quickly removed the shrink wrap and opened the box, withdrawing a another. A black box with the word Royal Tarot embossed upon it in gold foil writing.


She opened the this final packaging carefully so as not to scar the box or the writing, and pulled a fresh deck of tarot cards from it. She carefully fanned through the cards and found that they were works of art within, each part of a hand crafted set originally commissioned by the House of Tudor, and traditionally updated every fifty years since, with a new deck produced by commissioned artists. This most recent was produced on the same year as her birth, and at that moment she was twenty-one years old.


"Well?  Are you going to go...?" her dad said to her, putting the Scrabble board down on the table a distance away from the opened packaging.


"But what about my job? My car? I mean, I can't just pack up and go..." Gwen suddenly seemed stressed that so much change had arrived in such a little box.


"Why not? Gwen, there are times in your life when you have to just take the chance. Here's an opportunity to visit another country. Part of Europe. I bet you could even turn this into a European tour if you wanted. You're young, and there's so much to do, and I know you. If you turn your nose up at this opportunity, you'll regret it. Not now. Not next year. But ten years from now. Twenty. You'll wonder what you might have missed out on, even if your life is going great," her father stood close to her, and kept his soft encouraging eyes upon her.


"But... What do I do if I lose my job? What if I can't get a flight back and I end up having to stay there? What if...?" Gwen began to shake and then cry.


It was just too much for her all at once.


"Awwwe honey. What if you lose your job? What if you can't get back here until a year from now? We'll still be here. So will your job. So will all of that stuff that you seem to think will disappear if you take a chance and have a little adventure in your life. You know, I used to really love working all the time at the bank. A desk jockey. I was one of the top sprinters in high school, and I went from that to being a desk jockey, in Toronto. One of my friends, one that I'd gone to school with called me from here, and insisted that I come out and visit him for a weekend. He'd done well for himself and he had a few lake toys to play with. A fast boat and a parasail. I almost turned him down, but then I thought, what have I got to lose? What's wrong with getting out and having a bit of fun every once in a while? I decided to go, and when I was parasailing with my friend, one of the girls who worked at the marina asked my friend about me and he said: why don't you ask him yourself? And so she did. You know who it was?" he asked her with a big smile on his face.


"Mom?" Gwen wiped one of the tears from her face, a smile peering in through the clouds.


"Close. It was Melissa. Your Aunt, and she was asking on behalf of your Mom. Now, if I didn't take that chance, I wouldn't be here on this very day that my daughter received a letter from someone who is grateful that she was born. Grateful enough to give her a gift that few people might ever receive. You earned it. So take it and enjoy it. Besides, you never know how it might work out for you and Rory," her father rubbed her shoulder.


"Rory and I are taking a break..." Gwen seemed a little bit pained by his having mentioned Rory.


"I thought you and him were... Didn't you go out with him just a few nights ago?" her father confirmed with her.


"Dad, that was like a month ago. I caught him. With another girl," Gwen said to him.


 "Oh, honey. What about Nathalie? She'd love to go!" her father said, continuing his encouragement of her.


"..." Gwen looked down at the envelope containing the airline tickets, and then to the tarot cards.


"Ask the tarot..." her and her father said at the exact same time.


Gillie's Cards Speak



To be continued...


I am Brian Joseph Johns and this is Shhhh! Digital Media at https://www.shhhhdigital.com or https://www.shhhhdigital.ca in Toronto, Ontario, Canada at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701.


Credits and attribution:


Special thanks to Udemy, whose courses I have relied upon for the last few years to allow me to grow my skills at my own pace, even finding time between my frantic work pace here at Shhhh! Digital Media.


Thank you to ComfyCloud, whose web based desktop interface and cloud based rendering solution is one of the best solutions I've found yet. I first learned of ComfyUI from YouTubers MickMumPitz and PixelArtistry. If you're looking to get into using AI on your local machine under ComfyUI, then I'd highly suggest checking either of their sites for tutorials covering the topics you'd like to explore.

Thank you to Grok (via ComfyCloud) who was the key artist behind: (Danger Tiger), (Tea Reading), (Sailors at Port), (King's Court).

Thank you to Kling O1 Image (via ComfyCloud) who was the key artist behind: (Nathalie and Gwendolyn).


Special thanks to Perplexity AI and their Comet browser, who have recently become a part of my software toolkit. Their AI powered helpers accelerate your research, reference at every step of the way, not to mention built in tools for content generation, though Shhhh! Digital Media does not rely on text generation for any of its stories, though I do work with AI for suggestions, and scientific accuracy of concepts in Butterfly Dragon, and for delving into the more esoteric traditions of mysticism that are aligned with the story and background of Era of the Spellbound.


Special Thanks to the Natural History Museum in London, England and of course to the Royal Ontario Museum in my own home of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


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 WongWendy PuseyGhastlyBirdman, Brian Joseph Johns, Daz3DUnreal Engine...
Tools: Daz3DCorel PainterAdobe PhotoshopLightwave 3DBlender, Stable Diffusion (Easy Diffusion distribution), InstantIDSadtalkerGoogle ColaboratoryMicrosoft Copilot (Windows 11), HitfilmPhotoPea (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 TitleSadTalker: 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 AitrepreneurMickmumpitzHugging 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.


Friday, March 6, 2026

Updates, Sunday And The Truth

This post contains at least one link, that contain links, that might contain links to explicit content.  Reader discretion is advised.


Greetings and salutations again. Brian Joseph Johns here, and no I'm not possessed or being remotely controlled by anyone, and generally think very poorly of people who'd jump on board with something like that, especially to explain or write-off a post like this in order to keep people under the impression that I have a brown fetish which I don't and never have and I say that with all due respect. I am not anywhere in this post altering the context of my expression to its diametrical opposite or any other context that doesn't line up with what I expressed. You can't legislate or democratize a person's sense of attraction towards whomever they're attracted, except when protecting those of a young age (and their innocence).


No matter how anyone else feels about the way a person feels towards others, you can't make them feel otherwise or legislate how they should feel. You can put limits upon how they might express themselves where their expression seeks to rouse people towards violence, but you can't legislate or make a person feel any differently about anyone else. That is entirely up to them.


Sure, you could locally alter the context of expression to accommodate your lie, but the fact would remain that its a lie. But remember, that on that day, if you have a court date or any other legal or business pleading that relies heavily on the truth of context and expression being in sync, then your plea of innocence might be interpreted as a plea of guilt. Or how about when you're reporting your hours worked to your shift supervisor? Do you want the context of your shift work altered to reflect changes in the polarity of expression? Putting in forty hours would then mean owing forty hours. Prison wouldn't be prison on the inside. 


It would be prison on the outside, and freedom would be on the inside of the prison, from where society would then be run, as there are no elected officials, who serve their constituents from inside of prison, nor are there any public employees of infrastructure inside of a prison who aren't specifically linked to its functioning. You'd be committing everyone else in the world to prison, while giving the reigns of society over to those in prison, and that isn't to say that people paying their debt to society can't be reformed. That is to say however that in all likelihood, nobody in the world voted for, or decided that as part of their conscious considerations or motivations for reversing the polarity over trying to undermine the enjoyment of one or more person's day by reversing the qualities of the people to whom they're attracted.


I guess that's what forcing blue of that nature onto someone is all about, in terms of weaponizing colour symbolism and from what I understand, that weaponization of blue can also extend to a weaponizing a person's identity, by making others carry the weight of it, while taking their own identity (reputation and history as well) from them and giving it to someone else. I don't know about you, but I'm willing to risk my life to protect my ambitions for, and my regard for others, and my identity and being, and much the same, identity is part and parcel of the right to life, one of the Charter Rights in Canada as well as the foundation of the more recent Canadian Bill: the Human Rights Act, not to mention the foundation of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Right to life equals right to identity, and is implicitly connected. Now that we've got that out of the way, lets continue this post.


After some much needed sexual release earlier in the wee hours of the morning today with my T12  Veidoo Tablet, with the help of the kind of erotic (and legal) content I enjoy, though in all honesty, I really miss R18.com and the membership I had there, I should be able to find the energy to divide my time between the offline project I've been working on, and the start of the next written episode due here today in the early evening. I will also make a concerted effort to reduce the length of my run-on sentences, limiting them to at most, six subjects, ten adjectives, a few adverbs, some articles while making a concerted effort to reduce the number of present and past participles I use while writing, as they can often confuse the subject of a particularly long sentence like this one. So look forward to some the latest episode of Era.


That should at least give something for everyone looking forward to that very special day on Sunday! 

UFC 326 Holloway vs. Oliveira 2 - Competitive martial arts at its best. 

Oh! I almost forgot, its also the World Baseball Classic, with games happening in Japan, Puerto Rico and south of our Canadian border in Greenland (after Greenland's successful invasion of the United States last week).

Oh, and there was something to do with women. 

;-) just kidding


Happy International Women's Day (and most sincerely so to women of all cultures and religions the world over), which will be on Sunday March 8, 2026, though I'll be doing a Women's Week here at Shhhh! Digital Media, and doing my best to push content supporting that role out, though in all honesty, ever since I started this in May of 2012, it has more or less been that way every week in one way or another.


Just to give you a clue, the plot in the upcoming episode of Era of the Spellbound will be giving some information as to who the spellbound actually are that are referred to in the title. I'll give you a hint: its not the women. Just in case you were thinking that I was using my writing and that title as some kind of implication of having power over others, though I had never intended it to be that way. It might be fun to think about stuff like that, but really being attracted to someone is all about the one being admired, and not the one doing the admiring.


The best of me and the worst of me comes from me, though we currently live in a world where the scam is that there are groups of people who create the illusion that the best and worst of a person is coming from outside of them, as a means to take the best of them, by taking over the weight of the worst of them. Its a scam I touched upon in the most recent episode of Butterfly Dragon Reimagined. 


Such people operate under the idea that there are people who have no mind of their own, and that it arises as a result of the minds of others, many of whom believe themselves to be of superior in some way. What kind of person would I or anyone else be, if the only reason that they appreciated others was because they assumed that everything that other people did, arose from them? That's like assuming that a person is a mirror and that there is no substance to them outside of what exists in you. A person like that cannot truly love anyone but themselves and loving oneself isn't a bad thing, but being unable to love others because you don't recognize their individuality or their independent nature from you? That's a real crime of the conscience. But, you can't legislate the way that people feel, but you can legislate the way that they treat others, when trying to enforce their beliefs upon others either as one person, or as a collective of like minded people. The damage isn't done by the one person who believes such a thing, and says nothing or does nothing to further that idea. The damage is done when a group of people attempt to enforce that idea upon others socially, in such a way to rob them of the peace and dignity that comes with being a part of a community that respects their independence.


So, for instance, when I write something that has an positive impact to some degree, the credit for that is usually given to other people assumed to be remotely controlling me into writing. Most of the time, especially just after I've written and published something, there is seldom a time that anything good comes down the pipeline for me. 


Most of the time its harassment and abuse, while the same people who do so give the credit for my writing to someone else in another location, under the assumption and according to their belief system that I'm possessed or being remotely controlled by such a person. Just to give you a clue though, I was always the one that wore light colours, and he was always the one who wore dark colours. Now I'm not a Gnostic, but I bid you to consider that the pleroma, is not the true pleroma if you get my drift. When I appreciate the creative, intellectual and artisanship work of others, I appreciate them, and their inspiring effort, and make no effort of my own to rob them of that sense of their accomplishment and as often as I can, express that, though sometimes, ideologies can trap people by weighing them down with very, very, very heavy burden, that if they express gratitude towards others, transfers that weight to others, and that is used by collectives to isolate some people from the rest of the world.


I'm finding that as I endeavor to dismantle the cult doing this, that weight is getting diminished, especially as people understand the true nature of the real situations behind it. They were created purposefully to isolate me from others, so they could use me to fuel the lives of the people with whom they'd trapped me, basically trying to cut me off from the rest of society and this is a pocket society running from within society that should be criminally investigated. Even the impression of where I'm writing this from is obscured by this same cult, as I'm writing it from downtown in the largest Canadian city in the province of Ontario, at 200 Sherbourne Street Suite 701, M5A 3Z5. I'm a man, approximately six feet tall, about 175 lbs, slim and fit for my age. I have green (multi-colour) eyes.


I've rarely if ever asked for anything in creating and running this site despite it operating as a business, and writing all of the content, and putting together most of the artwork, music and some software offered up here. After fourteen years of working literally between fifty and seventy hours a week keeping this site going, all the while advocating for charity with most every story or novella published and paying for that where need be, to be abused and then to see all of the credit for my writing go to other people is simply wrong. It would be wrong if I was Irish (and I'm not), as much so as it would  be wrong whether I'm not. I'm not Irish, but does that mean that I can't celebrate St. Patrick's Day or listen to The Icicle Works or the Cranberries?


What post here wouldn't be complete without an honest protest?


So, there has never been a guitar player that writes anything on Shhhh! Digital Media, and there has never been anyone named Bobby that writes anything here, not to mention I've been the only writer and for the most part, handled most of the artwork as I stated and paid for everything with my own effort, time and money. I am not from Nova Scotia and I've never been there in my life but I'd bet it would be a great place to visit.


Well, I've got to get myself a coffee and a morning mint candy. I bid you a good day.

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

Thursday, March 5, 2026

A Short Public Service Message from Shhhh! Digital Media


Hi. Brian Joseph Johns here with a short public service message:


First of all, I am not a Taurus (Sun), and I am not being remotely controlled by any Taurus, nor am I (attempting to) remotely control any Taurus (or Tauri?). I myself have a Taurus Moon, but my ascendent sign is not Taurus, and that kind of thing isn't hereditary, seasonal or affected by issues of health (sarcastic jest intended).


Secondly, despite having had one mostly happy relationship with a Taurus woman in the past, I have no plans to seek out or date a Taurus at all, and probably never will, despite my being a water sign. 


Why you might ask (or if you're a Taurus, you're already winding up to charge)? I'm sick of pulling horns out of my ass every five minutes, and I've probably stepped in enough bullsh#t to fertilize a planet's worth of grain.


However, I'd like to thank the more gracious and sentimental Tauri out there, its been mostly a positive experience, but there comes a time when one has to cut their losses and point themselves in a different direction. 


I've taken enough beatings and tramplings in my life to know when its time to move on. I'm hoping that the most recent hoof marks don't leave a scar this time.


I wish you well on your journey, but I've got to be going.


Yours truly,


Scorpio (of the non-guitar playing variety)


PS: I fully expect that my post with regard to this public service message will most likely result in your being serenaded by entire armies of Scorpio guitar players seeking to separate themselves from this message. Consider that a token of my gratitude for NOT stampeding my home office.


I'm sending the best flowers to Virgo, Cancer, Pisces, Scorpio and a few to Sagittarius as well (and maybe one or two to Gemini).


My dearest Tauri, your Shasta daisies however, should arrive shortly thereafter.

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



Wednesday, March 4, 2026

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents... The Butterfly Dragon: Heroes of our Own Reimagined: Episode 10 - The Burden of Proof (Finished and new artwork added Wednesday March 4, 2026 13:15 EST)






Wanna be a Captain or Admiral?



Warning: This episode deals with sensitive topics and is intended for a mature audience. Reader discretion is definitely advised.


Chapters

  1. Team is a Four Letter Word
  2. Two weeks later
  3. Bridal Path Party
  4. Jail Break Broke
  5. The Economy of Second Chances
  6. Twelve years ago
  7. Sooner or Later?
  8. Like Father, Like Son
More to come...


Saturday, February 21, 2026

Shhhh! Digital Media Presents: Grand Tapestry of Moments 03 - The Interview (or The Sick Mined) - More new art February 24, 2026






Chapters
  1. Monday July 21, 2025 10 AM - Change
  2. Tuesday July 22, 2025 12 PM - Sanity
  3. Wednesday July 23 2025 11 AM - History
  4. Thursday April 11, 1996 5 PM - Ashes
  5. Friday July 25, 2025 9 AM - Future


Thursday, February 12, 2026

Help Women, Children And Men Fight The Disease Cancer! Support The National Breast Cancer Foundation or get in on the Rock The Road Raffle and help Men fight Prostrate Cancer with The Canadian Cancer Society!

You read that right! 


You can either help Women and the National Breast Cancer Foundation in their fight against Breast Cancer, or help Children in their fight against Childhood Cancer, or with the Canadian Cancer Society's Rock The Road Raffle, you can win one of five grand prizes, though there are literally hundreds of other ways to win and you'd be helping real life scientists and researchers in the fight against  the disease, cancer!

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, killing women, children and men and accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2020, or nearly one in six deaths according to the World Health Organization.

Nearly half of all Canadians are expected to develop cancer, which is the leading cause of death, with smoking, poor diet, and aging as major factors. 

While incidence is high, 5-year survival rates have risen significantly thanks to the impact and successes in research afforded by your support of organizations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Childhood Cancer Canada and the Canadian Cancer Society.


If you're in another part of the world, you can still help by searching for your local cancer research and treatment organizations and supporting them.


Thank you and spread the word!

🦋🐉🪄

Brian Joseph Johns

Shhhh! Digital Media

Wednesday, February 11, 2026

Thank You Apple!

Hello again. Brian Joseph Johns here.


I've been an iTunes user for years, and had my main account (under my alternate email fav.inbox@gmail.com) hacked by another user who apparently had been using my iTunes account at another location, possibly in the same city as mine or somewhere else.


It was an account for which I'd lost the answers to my security questions as I never use the actual answers to security questions as they can be gotten to by other means such as social engineering or Open Source intelligence.


So I had this iTunes account for years that was used both by me, and a hacker who has been using it to impersonate my identity from another location other than my home address in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. This hacker wasn't someone that I know personally or at least insofar as I'm aware. It was someone however whom had been impersonating my identity for quite some time, and seemed to be assisting the people attempting to steal my content and my identity for since 2012, or possibly earlier.


Recently, Apple changed the interface of their verification process, allowing a person to verify using their payment card as a form of two-factor authentication, which allowed me to bypass the fact that I had forgotten the answers to my secret questions and finally after years, allowed me to reset my password and change my email. 


So essentially, today, after having had this asshole using my account for years, I was able to finally lock them out of my iTunes for good. Since 2025, I've been locking down all of these loose ends, and trying to cut off the identity thieves one by one. The iTunes account was one of the trickiest situations of those situations but thankfully, since Apple took the bold move to improve their two-factor authentication process, I've been able to reclaim another piece of my identity and my life. I wish that other social media companies and online platforms would follow suit, as identity is more and more becoming intrinsically linked to a person's analytics data over the span of time they created that account. When you lose access to such an account, it is literally like you're losing your identity, though the real problem is socially ideological and collectivist as a form of power over loners. People that predatory collectives isolate so they can take some aspect of their being from them and wear it as their own.


Seeing companies like Apple going with innovative and cutting edge policies that help a person keep their identity associated with their person, rather than solely their email account or even the online account itself is a big step in the right direction. If someone can take the impression of being the owner of your account, then they can take the accumulated effort you've put into it, in a sense, taking your karma from you, or by attempting to make you seem inconsistent with the activities of your own account.


In my case, I've had that sort of thing going on for years, with a group trying to polarize me by making it seem that two different email accounts that I operate belong to two different people, rather than the same person. Essentially, what they're trying to do is to make it appear that fav.inbox@gmail.com belonged to someone else, and that I stole their account, rather than the truth, which is that I own both accounts, the fav.inbox@gmail.com account, and the account with which I've been publishing content all new content on Shhhh! Digital Media for the last two years.


Not to mention, I had a bunch of movies and music on my iTunes account that goes back many years. Its nice to have finally been able to integrate it with my brand identity and my personal identity. The identity thieves are people who've been trying to associate my identity with a very different digital footprint than is the truth. Its funny how in this day and age, one's online activity can become a form of karma, and that there are people and collectives out there who actively seek to steal that karma or relocate theirs to someone else's online identity. That's really what's going on under the veil.


Also, these same people are and have been trying to give you a very different impression about my actual identity, that is based upon someone else's. For one, I'm very pale skinned European Canadian. I don't smoke at all. I drink alcohol occasionally but infrequently. I eat fish and chicken often, though I don't eat pork or beef very often. Maybe once a year, but I do eat them occasionally. I work every day, producing something towards the ends of furthering Shhhh! Digital Media, or advocating for the charities it promotes, but I don't volunteer. I've been writing and creating Butterfly Dragon and Tales of the Sanctum content for a VERY long time. Both ideas have their roots in short stories I wrote before I'd turned twelve years old (forty-six years ago). I've been working on the modern incarnation of both storylines since 2012. I'm a man and considerably fit despite my sum activity level and age, though I've been very active health wise for most of my adult life. I don't have a social circle or even people near me with whom I socialize. I am a very, very solitary person and am often kept isolated by the same abusive collectives who are having a negative impact on the lives of many others similarly. I just happen to be a lot more sturdy than most and unafraid of such obstacles. These abusive collectives are convincing many of my readers that I'm someone else, and giving the credit to that person rather than associating it with me. They're social thieves of a new kind. My name is Brian Joseph Johns.


I'm very saddened to hear about the shootings in Tumbler Ridge, British Columbia. Grieving for the lost and injured.


I'll be working for another day on offline projects, once again, doing some modeling in Lightwave 3D and hopefully doing some prototyping in Unreal Engine before the end of the day on Thursday February 12, 2026. That should put me back to writing by the weekend and publishing something new by Monday I'm hoping.


See you soon! :-)

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

Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Let's Get Some Facts Straight Here...

Hi. I'm Brian Joseph Johns.


I'm not a guitar player and have never owned a guitar.


The only instrument I've ever really played and studied are keyboards, piano and MIDI, and I have a pretty extensive background in music theory, though I'm a horrible sight reader and horribly out of practice, but I can still play, and I can still write music, amongst other skills I possess.


I do NOT have hepatitis and never have had it or any other STD in my life.


I am not Jamaican. I am European Canadian, and I have no African or Caribbean heritage at all, but I'd have to ask then, why is there a problem that I don't?


Nobody, and I mean nobody is controlling me except me, and I'm not anyone but myself, Brian Joseph Johns.


I am not Scottish. I am not Irish. I am not South American. No disrespect meant by those statements.


I am not a member of any ideology or cult that swaps identities between people and never have been, though that's not a criticism of any books or movie plots where that sort of thing happens, because its a common vehicle in writing. Crossed Swords (a book my Mark Twain) examines this theme, as much so as Freaky Friday does, though in Freaky Friday, I believe that the protagonists literally swap minds, whereas in Crossed Swords, the protagonists are two different people who look remarkably similar and who are on the opposite extremes of wealth and poverty. Same with the Count of Monte Cristo and The Man in the Iron Mask, both by Alexander Dumas, though the latter two were more stories of revenge and/or redemption.


Regardless, I am not a member of any ideology that would swap two people's identities, and I am not possessed by the disembodied mind or soul of another person that has subjugated my own mind or soul to the back seat, while it drives my body around like a hijacked car.


I am aware of the fact that I've written stories and books along this line in terms of plot (Era of the Spellbound has large elements along these lines), but because I write things of that nature, doesn't necessarily mean that I believe that they occur in real life.


I believe that symptomatically, there are things that can occur with the human body that could potentially make it seem like something of that nature is occurring, but the people who interpreted it that way would in all likelihood be misinterpreting the actual phenomenon itself, and formulating a very different hypothesis of what was actually going on under the hood in terms of science or magic.


I do believe that there are people who actually attempt to do such things to other people, but I believe that their efforts are confined mostly to successfully fooling people into believing something on that order is occurring rather than it actually occurring. In most cases, its very easy to fool people for whom there is something to be gained by believing it versus the one being duped, and this is certainly the case where intellectual or creative property theft is concerned. There are cults and collectives who actually turn it into a social form of entertainment attempting to steal creative and intellectual property from others, and quite often those who do (who almost always operate in large groups collectively) leave a trail of destruction in their path, and there are few people who'd dare cross them.


There are also cults and collectives who swap the histories of two people, often without their knowing or being aware, as a means to dispose of the garbage of one upon the other, with the other only finding out when people attempt to hold that person to account for whatever history or actions such swapping might entail.


Some groups that do this, turn it into a sort of snare, i.e. like a trap, that binds their victim the more they struggle to get free of it, benefiting from the manic reactions their victim has against their newly inherited history, with some people even regarding it as a form of alchemy attempting to effectively craft such a swapping of histories and the associated character traits and behaviours to make it all seem consistent, but the one thing that all such attempts rely upon is everyone who knows the truth of the matter, either going with the truth, or going with the lie, and unfortunately, it seems that in this day and age, that a group of people will go with what benefits them the most, rather than what is factually the truth, meaning that history can be altered if there is a profit to be made by those upon whose recollection the alteration depends.


If a cult decided to pit a community against a person, in order to steal that person's creative efforts, they'd only have to create a scheme where everyone who went along with the idea earned a reward of some form for going along with it, such as getting the credit for that person's efforts, instead of them. That person does something that gets attention of people, and instead of that person benefitting for their effort, the people around them benefit, perhaps landing job opportunities or some kind of financial reward, while the person whose actual effort yielded the output gets nothing but having everything taken from them. Everyone who remembers things the way that benefits the group rather than the individual whose effort was stolen, benefits, while the one whose efforts were stolen doesn't.


I suppose that eventually that person would just give up, which would then prove to be a fatal flaw, as those who benefited would no longer benefit from that person's effort.


If its so important to be sure that I don't get the credit for my own effort, then what is there to keep me going? Nothing in most cases. I'd just find something else to do that requires a completely different set of skills that those people don't have, that could yield a potential future for my efforts and if the same thing happened again, then I'd have two examples from which to pursue legal recourse, because the more people the become involved in a lie, the harder it is the keep that lie in place.


Sure, the kinds of scammers that would operate something of that nature might use some kind of barter system as a means of rewards and payment, but even that would eventually get found out. The audit trail would be a bit more difficult to uncover, but not impossible.


So here I am just trying to build my brand, and generally doing my best to be inspiring to others, and then a nasty group of people attempt to steal all of my work from me and give it to the credit of people who have nothing to do with it. In fact, that nasty group it turns out have been planning such a thing all along and the people that you trusted have actually been going along with a scam and rewriting the factual history with a false one.


As I stated, as it stands currently, I'm up in the air as to whether to continue or not as a result, meaning that all of the stories are at a stand still as of now, and until I decide what to do about the situation, though it is heart breaking that a bunch of people that read and benefited from my writing would conspire to steal it from me and attribute it to the effort of people who actually have nothing to do with its creation whatsoever.


So, I'll try to be back in about a week to continue working on Grand Tapestry 03, and then from there Era and then Butterfly, unless there's another incident in which case I'll delay it further. I've got lots of other work to do, that combine the skills of writing, programming, physics, artwork and musical composition as well. I'll put my mind to that for the rest of the week. Sorry if anyone was looking forward to as much as I was about Elsa's story in Grand Tapestry. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.


See you soon... oh and I'm not Trent. My name isn't Terence. I'm not Andrew, and I don't play guitar, and I'm 6 feet tall and weigh 175 lbs and am pretty fit for my age of being a 58 year old man. My time training in Goju Jujitsu Ryu, and Aikido is still with me, despite my lack of maintenance and upkeep, enough so that I'll be able to write Butterfly again when I get back to it, with some inspiration from some Wing Chun practitioners who've been serving as skill and style references.


Be back soon :-)

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