Night Vale, Dystopian Goodness.

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

June 19 2014 14:34 GMT

This week, I caught up with a buddy of mine for lunch at one of the many food trucks that line Downtown Minneapolis streets on any giving day, weather permitting. After enjoying a tasty, tofu burrito (it was the only one at the truck I hadn't tried; Curry and Korean BBQ burritos are highly recommended at the World Street Kitchen Truck if you find yourself in town.) What followed was our routine exchange of Sci-fi, podcasts and anything consumable in terms of broader media.

These things are like crack cocaine in burrito form, but I digress

I'll preface this whole thing by saying, I am a sucker for a good dystopian future or even present in fiction.Bleak, dark city-scapes with cultural norms to match just make me one happy nerd. So when he mentioned a podcast called Night Vale, and gave me a little synopsis I couldn't help but be excited. I am roughly ten episodes (each being about twenty minutes long) out of roughly fifty, and I've known about this for less than twenty four hours.

The best description I can come up with for the show, and this is spun off my friend's description, is that the show that it is as if Garrison Keilor were a member of the Adam's Family, and Lake Wobegone were a small desert town rife with strange activity, hooded figures, angels, secret police that aren't secret, and an all powerful city council.

Now there are parts of that I would expand upon for those of us who have never had access to or been exposed to American Public Media; but Keilor does a weekly radio program with various skits, one of which details life in a fictitious, very Lutheran town of Scandinavian decent in somewhere Minnesota called Lake Wobegone.

The Podcast is not quite so dry, but you get the idea.

Taking that concept of a local news update from a publicly offered radio service, an as of yet unidentified broadcaster fills you in on the latest updates to the town, orders from the secret police regarding voting/elections, and updated codes of conduct with regards to various figures that appear within the town. This includes but is not limited to an Apache who is really a white guy, in a racially dated and offensive bonnet that claims to be able to read tracks in pavement. To use their own description:

Twice-monthly community updates for the small desert town of Night Vale, featuring local weather, news, announcements from the Sheriff's Secret Police, mysterious lights in the night sky, dark hooded figures with unknowable powers, and cultural events. Turn on your radio and hide. Welcome to Night Vale.

What is described often teeters on, around, and over the line of ludicrous and paws with randomness for the sake of being random. The latter quality, not often mind you, will occasionally detract more than it contributes to the show in that, "I'm different," phase everyone goes through in and around the time they are fifteen. In a nutshell they can be intermittently distracting.

What you'll have to listen for yourself to get, is the drole (and very NPR-ish) way in which the broadcaster conveys the updates from this frequently perturbed little town. I've attached a few quotes from earlier episodes, that may or may not whet your appetite. If you cannot tell, as I did not know, Tumblr has rather sunk its teeth into this or at least certain parts have.

This is one of the better solutions I've come for passing time on my commute, and if you care to give it a go, I would highly recommend passing your trip to work or school with the strange community of Night Vale. You can even do so at the following link. That is what a nice guy I am.

I would also love some other dystopian bits of media if you've any recommendations. Almost anything resembling Phillip K. Dick is right up my alley.

Thanks for the read.

farvacola

United States18835 Posts

June 19 2014 15:10 GMT

Never thought I'd see the day when someone mentions Prairie Home Companion on TL.

ThomasjServo

15244 Posts

June 19 2014 15:20 GMT

On June 20 2014 00:10 farvacola wrote:
Never thought I'd see the day when someone mentions Prairie Home Companion on TL.

Never can account for us Minnesotans, we are full of surprises, passive aggressive surprises.

Deleuze

United Kingdom2102 Posts

June 19 2014 18:36 GMT

This sounds fantastic! I am totally going to check this out, thanks for the recommendation.

I really love the work of Phillip K. Dick too, my favourite is Dr Bloodmoney - everything about that novel is so perfect. And the way that it fits into Dick's developing oeuvre - and psychological 'breakdown' - is mind blowing.

Not strictly on topic but the other day I found this which might be of interest. A Robert Crumb comic about Dick 'Exegisis':

http://www.juxtapoz.com/current/r-crumb-s-illustration-of-philip-k-dick-s-spiritual-exegesis

Do you read Kafka? Lots of his work is highly influential to the modern dystopia - check out hsi short story 'In the Penal Colony'. Also, Crumb illustrated an otherwise fairly poor introduction to Kafka, still worth checking out but a shame he never committed to an extended adaptation.