Kathryn
Shall we begin with the usual routine?
Elizabeth
I would, except last time we demonstrated that as soon as I hit “and you’re listening to” it falls apart
Kathryn
Hee. Well, hi everyone anyway.
Elizabeth
You’re not listening to an episode because we’re typing it because it’s another vacation edition!
Kathryn
Coming to you live from Yosemite National Park. Which is AMAZING.
Elizabeth
I think I’ve spent two days there total and that was 17 years ago
Kathryn
Photos don’t do this place justice, I’m gobsmacked by how gorgeous and overwhelming the scenery is.
Elizabeth
And the photos you guys have posted are pretty stunning
Kathryn
Nathan’s gotten some fantastic pictures, and I’m particularly happy with the one I took of Half Dome with an artist’s painting of Half Dome in the foreground.
Elizabeth
That was a very nice catch
Kathryn
Nice comment from the artist on my Instagram post too!
Elizabeth
Aw
Kathryn
But yeah, the towering granite mountains in the park need to be seen in person to be believed.
Elizabeth
And nothing was currently on fire?
Kathryn
No, but TONS of evidence of fire everywhere. I just can’t tell what was part of an out-of-control wildfire and what was part of a controlled burn as part of the natural cycle.
Fire is pretty much fire.
Elizabeth
I feel like that should be on a t shirt
Kathryn
T-Shirt Moment!
Elizabeth
I feel like any segue I try to do into the Night Vale episode is going to be pretty ham handed (“didja do any stargazing hey you know who did some stargazing this week CECIL”) so we’ll just jump into the recap shall we?
Kathryn
We shall! (And also we did some stargazing one night and we saw the Milky Way but that’s not pertinent to the episode.)
Elizabeth
Any giant winged serpents? Scarecrow effigies?
Kathryn
Not as such, no. Nor comets, and it sounds like seeing a comet in Night Vale is WAY more impressive than the rinky-dink comets I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Elizabeth
Right?
I love how Cecil can’t get astronomy and astrology straight
Kathryn
One’s science, one’s mysticism. And comets would fall solidly in mysticism, so Astrology it is.
Elizabeth
Hee, except he said Astronomy, like he went around in the totally wrong direction and landed on the right one by accident
Kathryn
I have trouble remembering the difference myself and this episode IS NOT HELPING.
Elizabeth
hahaha
So yeah, Lexel’s Comet is the one they’re looking at, the earth is passing through the tail
Kathryn
But THIS comet is known as Lexel’s comet for…reasons?
Elizabeth
Hah, jinx!
Kathryn
Heh
And Cecil has ALL KINDS OF INFORMATION about comets that we never hear.
Elizabeth
The darn phone keeps ringing EVERY TIME
Kathryn
It’s John Peters
Elizabeth
You know
Kathryn
The farmer
And John is worried about trespassers
Elizabeth
hiding in his invisible corn, which is weird because you can totally see them
Kathryn
So Cecil doesn’t get to share his comet info, cause it’s time for sports
Elizabeth
Before I forget though, we actually HEARD from John this time, have we ever had an actor for him before?
Kathryn
I feel like this is the first time
We could probably look it up, but why would we prepare?
Elizabeth
No way to know!
I think he did okay, the corn pone accent was a little overdone but you pair it with all the weird crap he’s saying and it was pretty entertaining
But yes, sports!
Kathryn
Scorpions vs the Lizard Monitors of Pine Cliffs, who the Scorpions haven’t had much success against.
Elizabeth
The Scorpions’ new coach has a plan though!
Kathryn
Which Cecil totally didn’t write down or remember, but it has something to do with numbers.
Elizabeth
Yes, basically their team has to be stronger and faster than the other team to prevent the other team from adding numbers together and getting higher numbers.
Kathryn
Yay team! Get the points!
Elizabeth
Go Scorpions!
Kathryn
(Is this football or basketball?)
Elizabeth
Um
MOVING ON
Kathryn
This week’s sponsor is Hewlett Packard.
Which…I’m not even going to recap.
Elizabeth
They were wasted off their faces
Kathryn
Flying cars!
Ghost cats!
Elizabeth
No no wait wait I got it MICROFIBER ANT FARMS
Kathryn
I’m sad I’ve never had a wasted convo like that. Mine usually involve getting unstuck from time and space.
Elizabeth
Same, I remember some really giggly conversations years ago, but lately I’m like “…am I being weird? I’m being weird aren’t I, everybody’s judging me aren’t they…”
Kathryn
I tried taking notes during my last one. It just looks like I was making a really weird and also boring shopping list.
Elizabeth
Hah, I have some notes I wrote years ago and I love that one of them is just “I’M GONNA MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER GODDAMN PLACE”
Kathryn
Ahahaha!
Mine are: horizontal skyscraper, drone delivery, Mutual of Omaha.
I have no idea.
Elizabeth
That’s a blueprint for something for damn sure
If you turn out to be an evil Bond villain I’m not speaking to you
Kathryn
I’ve said too much already.
Elizabeth
hahaha
So anyway, Cecil tries AGAIN to talk about the comet but the phone rings AGAIN
Kathryn
John Peters again.
Elizabeth
You know
Kathryn
The farmer.
Turns out the invaders in the corn field was a false alarm.
Elizabeth
Yep, just kids playing around, you know how they are
Kathryn
Hundreds of them.
Elizabeth
Pretending they can’t see each other in a giant field of invisible corn.
LIke ya do.
Kathryn
John’s got a lot of opinions about The Scorpion’s chances this year tho.
Elizabeth
Lot of very detailed points, and Cecil’s like “yeah that’s basically what I said.”
Kathryn
So anyway, Traffic. All the tractor trailers have become sentient.
Elizabeth
Yep, they’re all circling this one area, so if you see any sentient semis, follow them to the cheap gas stations.
So obviously he says sentient tractor trailers and we’re thinking the same thing
Kathryn
Stephen King’s story “Trucks”, right?
Elizabeth
Hee
NO
TRANSFORMERS OBVIOUSLY
Kathryn
Hah!
Sorry. Figured Optimus Prime had better goddam things to do.
Elizabeth
Hee
Transformers are now canon in Night Vale I will not be taking any further questions
Kathryn
AHAHAHA
Next up is my FAVORITE part of the episode.
Cecil made a new friend!
Elizabeth
A nice man at the Spiked Hammer Coffee shop, they chatted over some Franchian Style Espresso.
Kathryn
Which contains chunks of coffee beans floating in water.
Yum.
Elizabeth
Mm mm.
Kathryn
I love a coffee I have to chew.
Elizabeth
So the man introduced himself as Joseph
Kathryn
And did Cecil call him “Joe”? Joseph didn’t like something about that.
Elizabeth
Yeah he said Joseph and Cecil said “nice to meet you Joe I’m Cecil” and he said “please don’t call me that” and Cecil said “why would I call you Cecil that’s MY name?”
*crickets*
Kathryn
Anywho, Joseph’s a podcaster!
Elizabeth
And Cecil’s like well, we’ve all been podcasters at one point in our lives haven’t we.
I feel seen.
Kathryn
No lies detected.
Elizabeth
And Cecil invited him back to the radio station, even offered him an internship!
Kathryn
Ah, and the name of Joseph’s podcast is….
Elizabeth
Welcome To Night Vale.
Kathryn
Cue maniacal laughing from poor old Joe
Elizabeth
(Yeah okay I’m an idiot I didn’t realize who he was talking to till that moment JOSEPH FINK)
Kathryn
Same same.
Elizabeth
This show’s gettin mighty meta
Kathryn
So I guess Joseph Fink STILL hasn’t gotten out of Night Vale.
Elizabeth
Cecil did mention he looked pretty lost
Kathryn
I mean, damn.
Elizabeth
Wonder if Jeffrey Cranor will get sucked in too?
Kathryn
We can hope!
Elizabeth
So back in the station Cecil tries AGAIN to talk about the comet and is interrupted AGAIN by the DAMN PHONE
Kathryn
John Peters AGAIN.
Elizabeth
Turns out the false alarm was false, those kids are aggressively religious! Or something!
Kathryn
They’re sacrificing animals. And not with a magnifying glass and acid baths like NORMAL kids.
Elizabeth
Nope, they’re sacrificing them and getting blood all over the invisible corn and drawing pictures of their god in the dirt
Kathryn
Like that Stephen King movie. With the children in the cornfield. What was that one called.
Elizabeth
“Chariots of Fire”
Kathryn
Right, that one.
Elizabeth
Catchy soundtrack
Kathryn
Well Cecil is suddenly mesmerized by the glowing sky after John hangs up, so it’s the perfect time…for the weather.
Elizabeth
And the weather this week was “I Could Feel You” by Evelyn Frances and it was WEIRD
Kathryn
A woman’s voice multiplied several times, singing very breathily and AGGRESSIVELY.
Elizabeth
Odd lyrics, strange chord progressions, just weird. But I didn’t hate it?
Kathryn
Worth a second listen, definitely.
Elizabeth
So we come back from the weather and a couple things we didn’t mention that John said, he specifically said that the shape the kids drew in the dirt was a winged serpent, and that he was a little nervous around them because they were all carrying around a lot of farm tools.
the MURAL he’s talking about the mural from last episode
Kathryn
Yes, because he tells Cecil that when he went out to talk to the kids, they surrounded him, humming and holding their scythes.
Elizabeth
And a giant serpent coils around him and carries him off into the air
Kathryn
To a metaphorical palace in the sky that’s made of gold and smells like cake and jam.
Elizabeth
And there’s a tiny figure of a scarecrow sitting on a shelf that he reaches out for
Kathryn
Which instantly transports him back to his field where his ENTIRE crop of invisible corn is GONE.
Elizabeth
But he’s still holding the tiny scarecrow figure, and it HAS HIS FACE
Kathryn
But his avocado crop is good this year, so it’s fine his corn is gone.
Elizabeth
And he thinks the figure is kinda neat he’s gonna put it on the mantle in the living room.
Kathryn
And he figures the kids will just go out and convert more people to their religion until they get bored and move on to another fad.
Elizabeth
Like ya do
Kathryn
Kids today, with their hair and their music and their attempts to convert people to a horrifying new religion.
Elizabeth
And after all Cecil’s talk about the comet there’s really nothing to report everything is fine and TOTALLY NORMAL
Kathryn
And that’s pretty much it! Sounds like the European tour is going well.
Elizabeth
Yeah and at the very end there was a brief mention of a limited edition horror podcast they’re doing?
Kathryn
Color me intrigued.
Elizabeth
Agreed. The weather’s finally leaning more fall like in San Diego. I don’t want to jump the gun (might have some temps in the high 80s next week) but it’s about time for me to start up the horror movies
Kathryn
I’ve been hearing good things about “X”, hopefully that will make it to streaming soon.
Elizabeth
Hannah started watching Sandman, have you caught any more episodes?
Kathryn
Nah, still at episode 2.
Elizabeth
I finished up the diner episode, they definitely went in an interesting direction
Kathryn
I need to watch more of The Umbrella Academy. I had a dream last night which combined that and Star Trek: The Next Generation and it was EPIC.
Elizabeth
Oh wow, I’d watch the hell outta that
Kathryn
Number Five was the bad guy, very believable.
Elizabeth
Yeah, he could pull that off (the character AND the actor)
But first thing’s first, I’ve had a DVD of the first season of the “new” doctor from the library for weeks (luckily they don’t charge late fees anymore) and I WILL FINISH IT THIS WEEK
Kathryn
Only other thing I’ve got on my plate is to read Nona the Ninth which JUST came out last week!
Elizabeth
Eeeeeee
Between that and the third book in the Scholomance my reading queue is set
I mean, whenever it comes out!
SOONER RATHER THAN LATER I HOPE
Kathryn
Ack! The last book of the Scholomance COMES OUT TOMORROW
Eeeeeee!
Elizabeth
AAAAAAAAAA
Kathryn
We should read these simultaneously
Elizabeth
Oh we totally should
Immediately
Okay okay okay insert the usual “Well I Guess That’ll Wrap Us Up For The Week” spiel
Kathryn
Check out pixelatedgeek.com for all the…news, reviews, photo galleries?
Elizabeth
book reviews!
movie reviews!
Kathryn
Can’t remember how that goes
Elizabeth
comic book reviews!
All that and more pixelatedgeek.com
Tune in next week for Lore Olympus of course
Kathryn
Five more days until the next free Lore Olympus, I can’t wait
Elizabeth
Demeter better not mess everything up I swear to god
But one way or another we’ll talk to everybody in one week!
Kathryn
Talk to y’all later!
OUTTAKE
Kathryn
Eep, hang on, are my messages coming through
Elizabeth
They just now did!
I waited a while before writing my Cecil comment
Kathryn
Sorry, hotel has great wi-fi but you have to PAY FOR IT, and yesterday’s login ran out IN THE MIDDLE OF MY CONVERSATION.
Elizabeth
hahaha