Quotes from the Tension panel at SXSW

[Bryan Bishop]

The prodding today from my Shadow inspired me to dive into a rough recording I made from the panel. (I can’t post it publicly yet for various conference-related reasons, but soon. For realz.)

I couldn’t discern anything odd or bizarre either in terms of behavior, motivations, or even coded references to reflections or any of the other strange shit that’s been going down here the last couple of days. I did go ahead and transcribe the stretches where Lust and the OSDM were discussed. Presented here without further comment…

I ask if they can dive into the mythology of the OSDM.

Clint Sears: We’re not allowed to Bryan, sorry.

Darren Lynn Bousman: The idea that i pitched Gordon originally, and I think where I got Gordon excited, was that I wanted to make a series of these. The first one was called Tension, which was fear. And then I wanted to make Lust, which was sex. And I wanted to make Adrenaline, which is action. And I wanted to make Nefarious, which is more horror-based. And we needed a common thread in this universe, this world. And it was the OSDM. Which is the nefarious, Illuminati-like organization.

Sears: The conspiracy behind everything, basically.

Bousman: Yeah. And so the OSDM were kind of the puppet masters to The Tension Experience, and the OSDM is what’s leading you into the next one of these that we’re doing.

Conversation about comparisons to Cirque de Soleil.

Bousman: The one thing I’ll say about Lust is… So for those that were not able to participate in The Tension Experience, you don’t have to be in Los Angeles. In fact, a good percentage of our people are all over the United States, and even world. People flew in from everywhere to participate in Ascension. We’re starting a new one, and it’s just starting now, called Lust. It’s sex; it’s people’s desires. It’s people’s wants, and what they lust after. It will be dark, it will be nefarious, but I think that we do have our work cut out for us because – again – the mystery, I think, is what propelled Tension. The same thing will be surrounded with Lust. I think that yeah, people know who we are at this point, but they have no idea where the fuck we’re going with it, and that’s exciting for us. Because you probably have an idea of what you think Lust is going to be— 

Sears: And we’re going to do the opposite.

Bousman: Just get ready.

Later, I ask Clint about expanding upon the fractured, multi-platform narrative they explored in Tension.

Sears: Now that we have the learning curve, and I think we learned so much about how to, basically, break story, I think what you’ll find is that the story may not – and I don’t want to go too far — but basically the story will swirl, and our world may not look as cohesive as it initially seems. So that’s part of the thing that we realized: that we can go broader than we ever thought. And as long as we balance around a theme, we’re pretty much allowed to do whatever we want, and I’m really looking forward to it.

[Megan]

It’s interesting that here Lust is defined as “sex.” There have been so many times that they’ve alluded to what we think Lust is going to be and how it’s not going to be that, I just assumed that meant it wasn’t sex. Then, with the advent of Noah’s site, it made more sense that Lust was a general what are your desires/what do you lust after.

Thanks Bryan, this is great – can’t wait to hear the rest.

[Maranda]

Thanks @bcbishop! That’s a lot of info, but at the same time, it’s no real information at all, in-game or otherwise. But something caught my eye. Clint says they’re not “allowed to” discuss the OSDM. Who isn’t allowing them? The OSDM itself, perhaps? And we still don’t know how DLB and Clint got wrapped up with that group in the first place.

(I had a theory about a month back that Lust would be about finding out what each of us desires the most, but if we’re to take what they said above literally, it’s not going to be that at all…)

[Bryan Bishop]

Hopefully this will make Shadow @bryan happy: a recording of The Tension Experience panel at SXSW.

Please note that this is raw, unmixed audio that was recorded the day of the panel, and the quality is quite poor. Some voices start at a whisper, others sound normal, and then audio clips come in so loud they’ll blast out your eardrums. Please listen with caution, and ride your volume control as needed.

I’m hoping to have a higher-quality version of this released in the near-future as a podcast, and normally wouldn’t put something this unfinished out there — but given the shadow accounts, I wanted to get something to the community as soon as possible.

Until that better version arrives, I ask that everyone please not share this and instead just keep it here, within the Tension community.

I listened last night and wasn’t able to find any takeaways or clues — but perhaps someone else will!

The Tension Experience at SXSW 2017

[Mike]

YESSSSS @bcbishop Thank you! So excited for this!

[Sean]

First and foremost? Thanks for posting that, this was fascinating.

Just uh… everyone, turn down your volume when the trailer plays. The rest of it is pretty much on the level when it comes to volume, but that’ll blow your shit out.

Also I hear them talking about VR experiences.

My body is ready.

[Sean]

Just finished a whole listen-through. If there was any sort of hidden message in there, I’m not perceptive or not smart enough to see it.

Really cool to listen to, though. Highly recommended.

Also according to Gordon, @blondie is a dude. I’m not ashamed to say that this makes me laugh.

[Candace]

Thank you for posting this @bcbishop! I’m listening right now before I go into work.

[Blondie]

@thegilded WTF?! Hmph…

[Candace]

Trying to pick up anything relevant: so far, About 30 minutes in they start mentioning how how Tension was a reflective experience and it basically held a mirror up to you and you were forced to really look at yourself. (Paraphrasing the idea).

Maybe Tension was reflection, Lust is imitation, and the next one will be experience. Like a trilogy all leading to wisdom and better understandings of ourselves and life.

[Cristen]

@pandace88 I think you’ve hit the nail on the head, actually.

[KINGKILL33]

Thanks for the post @bcbishop! Will definitely be giving that a listen.

[M.]

Thank you @bcbishop! This will be my companion during my son’s water polo practice… Hooray. 😀

[John]

After listening, I am kind of curious where they are going. I definitely got the impression that the creators are thinking of “LUST” in terms of the narrow sense of the word. In their words its about Sex – dark and nefarious …. They also say that LUST promises to be different than the community expects.

I wonder if the whole Noah Sinclair narcissistic web-site is a canard or a gateway into something else

[Antigonos]

Thanks for the post!

[Bryan Bishop]

Quick update: we’ve just pushed the produced version of the Tension Experience SXSW panel live.

You can find it right here.

I’ll be pulling the other “raw” version shortly, so consider that link dead.

[Meghan Mayhem]

Fuck yeah, @bcbishop! Thanks for this!!

[Anonymous]

Really awesome panel, @bcbishop! Bravo!

[Jeremy]

Thank you for posting the panel. Makes me regret not going back to Ascension for a second time.

[Author]

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