What a Wonderfully Creepy World.
Happiest of Tuesdays, folks! I pen this missive from Washington DC, where the sun shines and the windchill hovers below zero (that’s fahrenheit, Canadian subscribers. And it’s cold.)
Since I spent yesterday on a plane devouring both Lore and The Black Tapes podcasts, I don’t have much to report other than there’s endless creepiness in the world ahhhhh. I recommend them both: The Black Tapes Podcast is a Serial-style fictional podcast with Blair Witch-like foley efforts about paranormal hunting. My one complaint is that they set the lead character in Seattle, but her Canadian accent is so strong (specifically the word “pod,” which now I can’t un-hear,) that I wish they’d just said at the beginning that she did her journalism degree at Simon Fraser or something.
The second podcast, Lore, is very much based in reality, which makes it even creepier. Created as a venue for horror writer Aaron Mahnke to gain a following for his fictional endeavors, this deeply-researched foray into real-world scary stories has become a favorite for many and is absolutely addicting. You’ve probably already listened, considering it was picked up by many 2015 Top Podcast lists and was written about on all the blogs. At around 20 minutes a go, it may become my go-to nerd commute soundtrack until MBMBAM releases daily hits.
In other non-audio news, the UK parliament "debated a popular petition to ban Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump from entering the United Kingdom.” Many members pointed out how insane his rhetoric is, with one Conservative member pointing out that, with his stance on gun control, the National Health Service and opposition to capital punishment, he wouldn’t make it in the current Republican Party. In the end, Trump probably won’t get banned, though it will make for delicious cocktail party conversation when President Trump graces the foyer of 10 Downing...
BuzzFeed and the BBC have exposed a massive tennis match-fixing fraud involving some of the (unnamed) top players in the world, Russian organized crime, and a helluva lot of game throwing.
And finally, with down rounds and delayed IPOs, the good times may be winding down in San Francisco. In the meantime, I’ll continue to try and find a one bedroom apartment in San Francisco that takes dogs for less than $3,2000 - search ‘em and weep.
Toodles!