are we safe from dinosaurs? no way.

[usuallyhats]

I finished listening to Welcome to Night Vale last night! It took me a while to get into it, for two reasons: 1) the fact that it's done as if it were a radio program meant that my brain reclassified it as "actual radio", ie something that is on in the background that you sort of half-listen to while doing other things, 2) I am just not that into eldritch horror, tbh. BUT I like the weirdness, and also CARLOS/CECIL SO PERFECT HELP FEELINGS etc. So by the last few episodes I really loved it and couldn't stop listening. ♥ Er, as anyone who follows me on tumblr and was looking at it yesterday evening (my time) may have noticed. (Four posts in a row about the same thing is a lot if you're me!) And also there is TONNES of fic on AO3 for me to read, hurrah! I read some last night and it was great, though I can't really binge read it as mostly Carlos is being characterised as someone who has social anxiety issues and doesn't really understand how people work, which is GREAT, but also hits rather close to home for me.

Anyway Welcome to Night Vale is ace and if you haven't already listened to it and like eldritch horror, general weirdness and/or really lovely queer interracial romances you should probably give it a try. :D

Comments

[shannonsequitur.livejournal.com]

What IS this Night Vale thing, anyhow? I'd never heard of it until two or three weeks ago and suddenly it's EVERYWHERE.

[usuallyhats]

Yeah, I have no idea why it's suddenly taken off so much, I hadn't heard of it til very recently either! It's an audio drama about a small US town that has more than its fair share of weirdness. (Available as a free podcast!) It's done as if it were the community radio station for that town, full of local news and announcements along the lines of "Saturday, the public library will be unknowable" and "Do not approach the dog park. Do not look at the dog park." (Ooh, whilst I was looking for quotes I found this intro post that explains it better than I'm doing!) I wasn't sure if I liked it or not at first, but I've ended up really loving it.

[moonpupy.livejournal.com]

It's purrrfect for knitting.

[usuallyhats]

Ooh, yes, I bet it is! I'm thinking about doing a relisten-with-knitting when I get a chance.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Is it sort of like the Slender Man urban legend stuff? I watched a good chunk of the Slender Man "Marble Hornets" viral video thing a while back and it was really scary in a very restrained way.

[usuallyhats]

I haven't seen any of the Slender Man stuff, but I imagine it's not quite like that, just on the grounds that I'm not very good with really scary stuff and probably wouldn't have listened to it all the way through if it was! I think it's more surreal and intermittently creepy than out and out scary.

[ladymercury-10.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool, good to know.

[ravenskyewalker.livejournal.com]

I've fallen in twisted love with Night Vale. Help...

[usuallyhats]

It does manage to sneak into your heart, doesn't it? (New episode today! :D)

[redcirce]

I too, have seen this blow up all over Tumblr and was wondering what it was! It sounds neat, and I'm going to check it out. How many eps did you listen to before it clicked? And are their any main characters that are ladies?

[usuallyhats]

How many eps did you listen to before it clicked?
Hmmm, hard to say: I had it on in the background for quite a while, thinking "well, this is fairly entertaining, I might as well keep going". By about episode 22 I'd definitely hit the MUST LISTEN TO ALL EPISODES RIGHT NOW point, but I'm not sure exactly when I went from not having a reason to stop listening to actively carrying on. If that makes sense!

Cecil's really the only main character: it's almost exclusively his voice that we hear. But there are some female characters among the secondary ones, like Old Woman Josie and Mayor Pamela Winchell, plus some of the radio station's many interns. I think I'd have to say that the character balance is somewhat skewed towards men, but there are important female characters too!