Alice isn't dead
Spotting her late wife in news-report backgrounds, truck driver Keisha Taylor stumbles into an otherworldly conflict on the nation's highway systems.
Stats for nerds
3recommend
3mentions
3people
2018years
100% recommend
What Hacker News says
- - The Dollop -- Comedic American History
- Omnnibus -- Pop culture minutiae with that guy who's good at Jeopardy
- Mission to Zyxx -- Improve scifi comedy
Occasionals/not currently airing: - Mystery Show -- solves a mystery they can't google while being very spunky
- Revisionist History -- Uses history to make a point
- Alice Isn't Dead -- Hard to describe. Best listened to in a car at night
- Darknet Diarier -- Old hacking stories
- Hardcore History -- Very long engaging history stories
- There was a great moment recently in Alice Isn't Dead. I wanted to chop it down, but I can't do it justice that way:
There’s this saying, right, wherever you go there you are. And it’s true, there’s no destination far enough that your own faults won’t follow. But what I think the saying misses is that other cliché: it’s not the destination, it’s the journey. Because while it’s you who leaves a place, and you who arrives in a place, right? It isn’t necessarily you in between. The you who sits on the road is a different you, one with far less responsibilities. One whose choices have been narrowed down to which exit to stop at, what music to listen to for the next 100 miles. It’s freeing, being taken out of yourself and replaced by this road version. And yes, it’s tiring when you arrive and your worn out, stressed self has to step back into her place, but those moments in between? Those are worth it. Those road hours are the one bit of freedom we get, and the reason we feel like that is because they take away most of our freedom. Sometimes the less options we have, the more free we feel.
I used to be pretty skeptical about the various "constant connectivity is making us miserable!" stories, because my relationship with the various boogeymen listed didn't match the descriptions. I don't compulsively check email, refresh instagram for new likes, or generally let apps send push notifications at all.
These days, I think those stories have real merit, except they're too narrow in their view of the problem. For me, the itch isn't "I should check Facebook", it's the simple knowledge that at any time I could pay bills, order a gift, read a textbook, or otherwise get things done. It used to be that if you were at work or the bank, that's what you were doing; now you can cash a check from the office or finish work from the line at the bank. Even while you're being productive, there's no narrowing of scope to relax your thoughts.
There are lots of tricks to help that, but nothing has ever beaten hiking and climbing for simply forcing me into the present.
- I'm a fan of the bizarre. Here's what I listen to:
* The Magnus Archives
* Alice Isn't Dead
* Rabbits, The Black Tapes, Tanis (all from Pacific Northwest Stories, aka Public Radio Aliance; you'll either love or hate these)
* Knifepoint Horror
I just discovered this great nonfiction podcast, on design and architecture:
* 99% Invisible
