Being on tumblr has opened up a lot more fandoms to me and the latest is the podcast "Welcome To Night Vale" created by Joseph Fink and Jeffery Cranor. It is produced by commonplace books.
Set in a fictional desert town, Welcome To Night Vale is a local community radio show presented by Night Vale resident Cecil Baldwin. Each episode is loaded with local gossip, news and events.
So what makes it stand out? I mean, i don't listen to radio shows about what goes on in my city and i live here! Well, Night Vale isn't exactly a normal town, what with the Sheriff's Secret Police, A Vague,Yet Menacing Government Agency, The Hooded Figures, the Angels and a floating cat called Khoshekh, among other things. Many people have compared it to the likes of the Twilight Zone. It's strange. You don't know whats around the corner and yet the citizens of Night Vale accept all this as part of their everyday lives.
Each episode has one main story with a load of other small ones around it. Some little stories build up over weeks until they come to a climax. The weather section of each episode is just music, but its good music and different from what i normally listen to which is good for me.
Being a podcast means that we don't actually know what the place and the people look like. Cecil is described as being "Not short or tall, fat or thin. With hair, a nose and eyes". This allows the listener to make you their own minds about what they are hearing, which has lead to some amazing fan art. Everyone has their own image of Cecil. And of Carlos, the scientist (who Cecil has a total crush on!).
It's a fun podcast and i look forward to the 1st and the 15th of every month now for the new episodes If i haven't convinced you to give it a go yet, look at some of the fan art and read a couple of quotes from the show. And then listen to the pilot. It's strange, yes. It's doesn't make much sense at first, yes. But, by the end of the second episode you will be hooked, randomly yelling "ALL HAIL THE GLOW CLOUD!!" while singing along to "The Bus Is Late" by Satellite High and drawing eyes everywhere. After that point, you belong to Night Vale.
A final word of warning:
DO NOT APPROACH THE DOG PARK!!
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