Record Store Day, Afterglow, and 'creepypasta' in Seattle

We take a break from the news on Fridays to talk about arts and culture happenings in the Puget Sound region. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm got some picks from Jas Keimig, a staff writer at The Stranger.

Saturday is Record Store Day

This is an annual event. It's actually celebrated on every single continent except Antarctica. It includes special vinyl and CD releases that drop exclusively that day. In this time of Spotify, I think it's a really great way to support brick-and-mortar stores, a lot of which participate in the event across the city.

Meet Us in the Afterglow at Soil in Pioneer Square

Soil is an artist-run gallery/collective. Every year they host an annual art auction to raise money for operating funds. It's a really great presentation of some of the best artists working in the city today. This year, more than 50 artists are participating. One of my favorites is Emily Counts. She has a piece called "Collecting Vessels," two interlocked pitchers covered in drips of pastel pinks, browns and yellows. I always imagine it was like two lovers embracing.

Another favorite is Nikita Ares, who in my opinion is one of the best painters working in Seattle. She paints these burning-hot, psychedelic landscapes composed of juicy pinks, dreamy blues, and nuclear greens. Her painting "Good night" is like looking at an exploding supernova in the dark sky.

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair at Grand Illusion

This film follows a teen girl who decides to take the fictional World’s Fair Challenge, an online role-playing horror game that is rumored to have killed people.

The film uses found and webcam footage to explore this type of "creepypasta" phenomenon that is a big presence on the internet today. Creepypasta is a term that gained a lot of traction online in the early 2000s. It's a genre of horror legends that people read to scare themselves online. I think the most famous one is "Slender Man." He's an internet-era bogeyman.

The film really plays in that tradition of legends that feel like they're very real, where you can convince yourself that you heard something creaking behind you because you're reading something creepy online. If you are really into horror, or just feeling creeped out in general from the internet, We're All Going to the World's Fair will be a really great watch for you.

Listen to the interview by clicking the play button above.