Temper recommends Welcome to Night Vale

By.Temper   

  
      In the small desert town of Night Vale, anything and everything is possible. Every conspiracy is true, while nature behaves in very odd ways. It’s a place where science and magic seem indistinguishable from each other. But the residents of Night Vale don’t seem to mind very much, despite being watched over by both a totalitarian police force and a vague yet menacing government agency. That is, if their community radio program is to be believed.

       


   Welcome to Night Vale is a podcast presented as the live recordings of a public radio show airing in the fictional desert town of Night Vale. The show was created by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor and airs on the 1^st and 15^th of every month (delays not withstanding). The fictional show stars host Cecil, voiced by Cecil Baldwin, who doles out news and advertisements to the audience of Night Vale. Each episode also contains a “weather report” showcasing a different independent musical act. Along with the weather, the show has intro, outro, and background music by musician and composer Disparition.

       When I first heard of Welcome to Night Vale, from our very own Houdini, I was doing my yearly “read everything H.P. Lovecraft ever wrote”. He described the show to me as a mix of Twilight Zone meets Lovecraft, with a little bit of Stephen King thrown in. I was so surprised he hadn’t mentioned Night Vale to me before that I actually shook him. Needless to say, I went home and subscribed, and have been listening religiously ever since.

                 
        Night Vale has been running for a relatively short time, only recently releasing its 43^rd episode. Despite that, the podcast has garnered the attention of thousands of listeners, reaching the top ten podcasts list on iTunes in July 2013. Hundreds of fan blogs are out there, fan art is plentiful, and the mystery and horror aspects of the show have created many fan theories and side stories. The show is so popular that it even prompted its creators to open live show tours, as well as pen a novel to explore parts of Night Vale that haven't been able to get proper exposition with the podcast. The fandom has a sort of hive mind that accepts pretty much anything the creators’ offer, likely because of the audio-only nature of the show. Fans have a more or less universal acceptance of what titular characters look like and of the general layout of the town, among other things.  

         Welcome to Night Vale is currently my favorite podcast. I wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who will listen to me gush about how amazing it is.  Although, is it really that good, or am I just under the control of the Sherriff’s Secre-

           “Oh how nice of him to write about us. It really is too bad the Secret Police took him. I’ll just correct his grammar until he gets back. You won’t tell, right?”

Geek Whales spotted devouring food @ East.

Kings and Queens

Every once in a while things will come together in such a way, that had you planned them, it would have never worked out. Today was one of those days. For those of you who don’t know me, I am Prologue. I am one of the founding members of Geek Whale. Tonight, I received a message from Houdini (another Geek Whale member). He was hungry. What a coincidence! So was I. My brother and his girlfriend were at the house, Houdini picked up another friend by chance and we all went together to East in Guaynabo.

That's right, it's a pineapple!

We didn’t eat there. We feasted! We feasted like KINGS and QUEENS! The ridiculous amount of food that we ordered could have been viewed as a mistake, or as a most glorious of challenges. It was a glorious challenge. We ordered, we ate, and the food coma almost killed us, but we survived! And really, isn’t that what's important?

Two desserts! Two!

We opted out of the more expensive teppanyaki or sushi. These two options are great, don’t get me wrong, but they are deliciously expensive. And let’s face it, it’s Thursday, we couldn’t go too crazy. We ordered appetizers, three main dishes, two orders of the East fried rice, and Houdini and his friend ordered two desserts. That's right, I said two! We ate till we had trouble breathing. It was amazing. The staff let us laugh and joke as loud as we wanted and were always super attentive.

If you want to feast like Kings & Queens, and not break your budget on a nice dinner among friends, this should definitely be on your list. Geek Whale approves!

Prologue & Houdini 

till next time,

-prologue