On account of holiday traveling (which was mercifully quick and painless; shout out to anyone still stuck in an airport) this week’s episode is text only!
Kathryn
Last Night Vale recap of 2022…
…feels like we need a more auspicious beginning to the episode
Elizabeth
Heh, I tried to think “auspicious” and just went with “all caps”
AND TONIGHT WE’RE RECAPPING WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE
Kathryn
Ahahaha!
Elizabeth
I was trying to look back at everything that happened with Night Vale this year
Kathryn
Kinda dark this year, what with the University of What It Is sauntering into town and MURDERING A CITIZEN.
Elizabeth
Seriously
That’s the biggest development for sure, other than Cecil losing Khoshekh for a bit
And the ten year anniversary of course
Kathryn
Was it this year that we found out that Khoshekh is actually a human art thief who crossed the wrong witch?
Elizabeth
Last year actually, “Silas the Thief” came out October 1st 2021.
Kathryn
That storyline makes me think of this week’s weather, The Witch, by Indra.
Elizabeth
Which I loved, by the way.
Kathryn
Definitely another one for my playlist.
Elizabeth
Little bit Kate Bush maybe?
Kathryn
With a touch of Imogen Heap
Elizabeth
And a smidge of Natalie Merchant.
Kathryn
A little creepy and a little shouty with some lovely minor harmony.
Elizabeth
Agreed. I listened to it twice and liked it better the second time.
Now this episode’s story (#220 – “A Radio Jupiter Holiday Special“) was definitely odd
Kathryn
I was a tiny bit surprised at the tone
Elizabeth
Really?
Kathryn
Lonely Radio Jupiter has finally arrived at Night Vale. But she’s still a little too freaked out to actually talk to anyone, so Cecil played clips of recordings that Radio Jupiter made on previous Christmasses when she was all alone in space.
MERRY FREAKING CHRISTMAS.
Elizabeth
She gave herself a present by closing her eyes and grabbing something at random from the storeroom SEASONS GREETINGS
Kathryn
And then what she found was a statue that she has NO memory of being in the storeroom before. AND THEN IT WAS STOLEN.
Keeping in mind she was the only one in the spaceship.
Elizabeth
Which was fine! Because it was disturbing! And feeling disturbed is better than feeling nothing at all
HEARTWARMING AIN’T IT?
Kathryn
Gah!
I liked how she pointed out that this is really the season of huddling.
Elizabeth
And they said “huddling” enough times that I wonder if she’ll go hang out with the people who huddle in the empty lot behind the Ralph’s.
Kathryn
Here’s hoping, I sense she’s gonna want company eventually.
Elizabeth
I liked how at the end of the episode Cecil said it was okay, because he can see her light, and he knows she can see everybody else’s light. So all the stars she sees now have faces behind them.
Kathryn
Lovely quote there.
Elizabeth
I also liked what he said about telling stories, it’s the one thing that separates us from our animal aquaintences.
Kathryn
Telling falsehoods, basically
Elizabeth
Something like telling benevolent lies that the other people know are lies but they like it.
That at the end of humanity there’ll still be someone telling someone else a story
(HAPPY NEW YEAR)
Kathryn
Slightly disturbing with a ton of heart. That’s Night Vale all over.
Elizabeth
At least Capricorn didn’t get screwed in the horoscope this time
Kathryn
Right?! “Maybe.” I’ve heard worse horoscopes on this channel.
Elizabeth
Having all of them be variations of “Yes.” “No.” “Sure why not” was fun. My favorite was “AHAHAHAH no!”
Kathryn
Hee.
Elizabeth
Side note, every time Cecil played another of Radio Jupiter’s tapes, did you think it was the fidelipac sound?
Kathryn
It certainly sounded similar
Elizabeth
Could be wishful thinking on my part
Kathryn
Oh, and Cecil also had to deliver an ad about “Michigan”, which seemed to piss him off.
Elizabeth
Super meta. “Really? An ad about a fake place? WE HAVE STANDARDS AT THIS STATION.”
Kathryn
Oh boy, and then we got “Stock Tips”.
Elizabeth
Oohhhh wow. Night Vale’s got an ax to grind. And they’re DEFINITELY not wrong.
Kathryn
Basically you can’t count on luck and skill, you have to cheat. And the BEST way to cheat at the stock market is to be in Congress.
Elizabeth
Yep, that all checks.
Joseph Fink has a lot of problems with the state of billionaires in this country, did you see the tweet of his that was screencapped and making the rounds?
Kathryn
Oo no, what did he say?
Elizabeth
I just looked and it was back in 2018:
Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk do a ton of objectively bad stuff, but I just want to be clear that the mere act of holding onto that much money in a world with this much inequality is in itself a brutally evil action, and alone makes them bad people.
— Joseph Fink, 👻🎃healthcare is a human right🎃👻 (@PlanetofFinks) June 13, 2018
Kathryn
Solid.
Elizabeth
A lot of the comments were like “oh really dude? What SHOULD the cap be? What line should we draw?” And sure, there’s no specific amount we could define as “anything higher than this is too much.” But COME ON.
Kathryn
The metaphor about cheating by being in congress reminds me of the argument about why lawmakers shouldn’t own for-profit prisons.
Elizabeth
Oh man definitely
Kathryn
Basically the people profiting on lawbreakers shouldn’t be writing the laws for people to break.
Elizabeth
I was just listening to an interview where a judge said that judges are expected to NOT interact with their community so they can be impartial, but that means they have no idea what’s going on in their community and how laws are hurting it
BUT NOT TO GO DOWN A RABBIT HOLE OF THINGS WRONG WITH THINGS
Kathryn
Hee
Elizabeth
Though interestingly, I wasn’t sure the final Radio Jupiter section worked
Kathryn
The alphabetical poem?
Elizabeth
Yeah. It was definitely clever, but when I realized what the point was (only using several words that started with each letter in alphabetical order) I was sort of…tired?
Like when you realize it’s a Groundhog Day plot and you’re like “crap, how many times are we going to do this day?”
Kathryn
I was impressed that she basically used her tone of voice to complete all those incomplete sentences.
Elizabeth
She did a great job, and the choice of words was always perfect. And it’s a neat reflection of something that you’d do if you were stuck by yourself in outer space and desperate to do something you hadn’t already done thousands of times before.
I just thought it was maybe a little long. Could just be me though
Kathryn
Very committed to the bit
Elizabeth
Extremely
And Cecil’s final wrap up, about stories, and “from my truth to yours” was very nice. The Disparation song behind it I think was the one they used in the Europe episode I love so much, about time and experiences being like melting candle wax.
Kathryn
I really liked the music behind the alphabetical poem too, lots of women’s voices singing wordlessly in unison.
And I recommend looking at the Night Vale Transcripts site for this episode.
They include italics for the MEANING of each phrase of the poem.
Elizabeth
Oooooo
This week’s proverb was pretty good, about how she can’t believe it’s the end of 2021. “Hang on I’m getting a note…”
Kathryn
I feel called out by that.
Elizabeth
Someone on twitter said “congrats on making it through 2020 again.”
Kathryn
Heh.
Elizabeth
So other than Night Vale, the only thing I’ve done nerd-wise is FINALLY watching Men In Black 3. It was super fun.
Kathryn
I read partway through the Far Sector graphic novel you got me for Christmas, I’m really enjoying it.
Elizabeth
Isn’t the art pretty?
Kathryn
It is! Every time I read something featuring the Green Lantern Corp I have to wonder why I haven’t read more. It’s the ultimate framing device, you can have them show up ANYWHERE.
Elizabeth
I love that she’s a brand new character, so all we have to know is she’s a Green Lantern and we can totally follow her story from there.
Other than that, hoping everyone’s holidays went well, and that nobody’s still stuck in the Southwest “we didn’t hire enough people for the biggest travel weekend of the year” clusterfuck
Kathryn
Southwest: We Never Updated Out Scheduling Software But It’s YOUR Fault For Traveling To See Your Family.
Elizabeth
Friendly reminder to be nice to gate agents and flight attendants, it’s not THEIR fault that the Southwest owners are asshats.
Also, note to self: figure out how to search flights by “no plane change.” I don’t care if it takes 16 hours and we land five times, not having to make a connecting flight is TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Kathryn
Words to live by. Glad your next flight is non-stop.
Elizabeth
Same!
On a different note, I’m happy my nerdy/crafty/gardeny predilections are a known quantity in this family, I got graphic novels, Doctor Who shirts, and Pysanky kits because of it.
And a 3-d printed dragon!
Kathryn
I have a new set of colored pencils, lovely soft shirts, a new violin case AND a mandolin kit, so everyone seems to know me pretty darn well
Elizabeth
Noice
Here’s hoping everyone has a safe, happy, comfortable, nerdy, way-less-crazy 2023!
Kathryn
I was about to give 2023 a tagline, but I realized that would jinx the crap out of everything, so we’ll just say keep safe, everyone.
Elizabeth
Agreed