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GrowlerZone Email + + + + GrowlerZone Email

+ + A Cultural Posting From Growlerville + +
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June 2000 * * * * * issue #4 * * * * * June 2000
          The Growler Tapes Audio Adventures

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"Confusion provides all the clarity one needs." (Oldold)
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In this issue:

- - DEAR GROWLERZONE: New feedback forum

- - GROWLER RADIO 24 EVERCOOL: The consequences of harvesting shadows.

- - GRIST: Cracks in the facade of tradition.

- - AMAZING HUHU FACTS: Success can lie in the opposite direction.

- - THE GROWLERVILLE TOURIST: The Hall Of Disasters, Dr. Growler, & more.

- - UNCLE HUHU'S KNOCK-KNOCK CITY: More of his favorites.

- - NEW TAPES/CDS RELEASED WITHIN THE PAST 6 MONTHS:
GR22 The Noise Thief GR23 Glitch
GR24 EverCool
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Did you know that our website has 24 age appropriate crossword
puzzles? (and more coming!) Go here:
The Growler Tapes Crossword Puzzles
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DEAR GROWLERZONE

Dear GrowlerZone,
What are the sexes of the two lead kids, Zebe & Rue?
We've seen reviews that say boy & girl, 2 boys, and 2 girls.
My kids say 2 girls. What's the scoop? TP

Dear TP,
We intentionally obscurred this issue in favor of
gender neutrality. GZ


Dear GrowlerZone,
We are very interested in the Eensies - the guys who are as
small as poppy seeds. We learned about them in GR 17, Edible
Incredible. Are they in any other stories? If not, will you
consider featuring them a little more sometime? MC Pliers

Dear MC,
You're in luck. The Eensies are featured big in
GR 24, EverCool. You actually get to meet two brilliant
Eensie scientists. And more stories are planned featuring
the tiniest citizens of Growlerville. GZ


Dear GrowlerZone,
Perhaps you can settle an argument. In the Growler Radio
theme music, my daughter says she hears an Australian aboriginal
instrument called the dijeri doo. I say it's synths. What is
the TRUTH? Wonga Ghen

Dear Wonga,
She's right. Also spelled didjeri doo. GZ

Got questions or comments? Let's hear from you.
gz @ growler.com
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GROWLER RADIO 24, EverCool, is now available:
Dr. Growler's company, EverCool, is a hugely successful
enterprise, manufacturing everything from appliances to soft
drinks. It's a household name that everyone loves for its
amazing products. But there's a dark spot out in the meadow
that seems to be growing, and the trees and plants are all dying.

Being up in a treehouse gives you a great view from above.
It's a cool place to observe woodpeckers, or deer, or even someone
harvesting shadows. The kids rescue the Eensies, get severely
exposed to a dangerous substance, and discover that the remedy is
not a sure thing.

Concepts: Anti-light.

Revisits: The Eensies GR17.

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GRIST Changes in the Wind?

Growlerville was built on technological advances in the application of
natural (or encrusted) forces. So it's no surprise that the locals are by
tradition, strongly pro-magic. By a large majority, they want no controls on
its use. For as long as anyone can remember, all 9 seats on the Huhu Authority
have been held by pro-magic legislators, and no one really expects this to ever
change.

But there has always been a very conservative constituency slowly gaining
ground, pushing for tighter controls on the use of any kind of magic. "It's
already out of control!" has been the consistent theme of Growler Fred's many
efforts to win a seat on the Huhu Authority. Although he has not been
victorious in the elections (in fact, he's been ignored), he has been
instrumental in the recent success of magic licensing legislation. Highly
unpopular at first, the qualification examinations & other requirements of magic
practitioners that he advocated have reduced the reported accident rate by more
than 50%, and all of a sudden, Growlerville is listening to him.

Scarred by his multiple experiences as a victim of magic, Growler Fred
felt obligated to speak out against its indiscriminate use whenever he found an
audience. He got his big break when he was hired to voice his complaints on
Uncle Huhu's infamous "I Don't Blame You" segment on Growler Radio. Lots of
listeners liked what they heard. Pundits are even saying he has a good chance
of winning this fall, and the other pols have stopped ignoring him. Today the
pro-magic Growler Times shows a picture of Fred doing a victory sign with the
caption: "Doesn't this frighten anyone?" Fred responded with a suggestion that
the Times and its Huhu editorial staff stay away from racial stereotyping.
"What are they saying, all Growlers are scary? This is profiling by the media
in the worst way and apologies are in order!"

It's hard to imagine a Growlerville that is anything but completely, and
unquestionably pro-magic. It is the legacy of a culture that has confronted and
implemented natural forces since prehistoric times. The debt to this
traditional magical past is evident everywhere. Political heavyweight Mother
Huhu refused comment on the Growler Fred phenomenon, but was overheard telling
her aides, "It would be our downfall to start implementing anti-magic
legislation. That's like snowmen being anti-snow. Do we want to be that
stupid?"

Meanwhile, Fred keeps climbing in the polls.

Are you pro-magic or anti-magic? Think Fred can win? Email us:
gz @ growler.com
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AMAZING HUHU FACTS (from GR 24, EverCool)

Fact: Sometimes great progress can be made by going in the
opposite direction.

Dr. Growler's original intent was to eliminate night.
Although he studied every aspect of illumination, his experiments
involving artificial light resulted in terrible failures.
Undaunted, he turned his attention in the opposite direction,
choosing to study the conceptual notions and philosophies of
darkness. He read the journals of Oldold during his Forbidden
Zone wanderings and became very interested in an encrusted deposit
Oldold referred to as the Shadow Sponge. Oldold had observed that
there were never any shadows in the vicinity of the Shadow Sponge.
Dr. Growler located the deposit, removed a sample, and conducted
years of intensive research. He successfully exploited the
encrusted capabilities of the Shadow Sponge, developing a portable
device he called the shadow harvester, which could gather the
bountiful anti-light that accompanies shadows. He was now certain
that Project No Night was a realizeable dream. What was night,
after all, but the darkness caused by the planetary shadow? He
reasoned: capture all the shadows, and voila, no more night! He
started harvesting every shadow he found. He stored what he called,
the "Essence of Shadow" in an insulated shadow box, and soon
discovered that the special properties of the Essence had great
commercial value. Now, Dr. Growler is simultaneously harvesting
shadows for Project No Night, and making a fortune selling products
made from the same shadows.
And that's an amazing Huhu Fact!

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All 28 Growler Programs are available on both CDs ($13) & tapes ($7)
1-800-GROWLER
Discounts on sets.
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THE GROWLERVILLE TOURIST by Mr. E.

I'm in the Growlerville museum, just outside the new exhibit "The Hall Of
Disasters," waiting for Doan Givva Hu, the curator. He's late. It's a large
brightly lit room with a large dark rock on a pedastal in the very center. The
plaque explains that this is a sample of an encrusted mineral called the Shadow
Sponge that Oldold carried out of the Forbidden Zone long ago. A recorded voice
says "Notice that you cast no shadows when you stand near the sample." There
are bright lights directly above, yet I notice that I REALLY DON'T HAVE A
SHADOW! I lift my foot off the floor and there is definitely no shadow. It's a
very strange sensation, like maybe I'm really invisible so all the light just
goes through me. Growler Louise sees how entertained I am and comes over to
tell me that this exhibit may soon have to be moved into the Hall Of Disasters.
When I say I don't understand, she walks off shaking her head. She can be so
unhelpful.
The display shows a serious looking Dr. Growler holding an ice cream cone
in one hand, and something called "The Shadow Harvester," which looks like a
vacuum cleaner in the other. He's standing next to an air conditioner, a
refrigerator, and a big stack of sunblock. All the products have the
omnipresent EverCool logo clearly visible. The caption reads: "By applying
technology to the encrusted resource contained in the Shadow Sponge, Dr. Growler
was able to create useful products that everyone wanted." His generous
contributions to the community include this wing of the museum.
The old lady who takes tickets comes over to me and hands me a note.
It's a message from Doan - he's been called into an emergency session of the
funding committee. He apologizes and suggests I start the Hall Of Disasters
without him, and he'll catch up with me later. I was really hoping to get all
the juicy, well informed details Doan is known to for, but...
When I enter the Hall, I am amazed at how huge this exhibit is. I was
expecting to see representations of a few of the unique kinds of disasters
Growlerville is known for, but there are HUNDREDS of different magic disasters
documented here. The program lists more than 300. I am especially impressed
with the variety of encrusted sources which are categorized by type: Geologic,
Biologic, and Other. Geologic refers to naturally occurring substrates,
minerals & liquids; Biologic means plants, animals, & microbes; and Other
includes sounds, smells, encantations, combinations and the unexplainables.
Science has a different meaning here.
I wander over to the Camouflage Disaster. It's a lifesize, 3 dimensional
display of a typical garage. The plaque reads: "Do you see any of Grandpa
Huhu's equipment in his garage?" I can't see anything other than the walls and
the door, and a grease mark on the floor. The plaque changes to: "One drop of
Camouflage was accidentally introduced into Grandpa Huhu's garage. Over time,
it consumed the visibility of everything he stored there. Please use the
provided viewers to see first hand the effects of Camouflage." The viewers look
like safety goggles for a chemistry lab with microcircuitry laced across all
surfaces. I put them on and am astounded to see that the garage is so full of
stuff that nothing else will fit into it!
I am spellbound as I read about Camouflage. It's a purple liquid that
smells like grape juice and comes in a tiny bottle which was specially designed
as a containment vessel. Camouflage can climb out of normal receptacles by
itself. It's an encrusted substance, so the concepts of traditional physics do
not apply. This disastrous stuff was originally developed from Geologic sources
by ancient Huhu shaman practioners to help their kin hunt game. When it was
first introduced, it was so successful that prey populations fell precipitously.
But after a short period of time, it was abandoned, not for ecological reasons,
but because hunters started losing their belongings. Camouflage was so potent
and effective an agent that anything that came in contact with it was lost
forever, camouflaged so well it could not be seen. And this is where the
potential for disaster turned to reality. Unknown to its shaman creators was
the fact that once outside the containment vessel, Camouflage would move from
object to object, slowly devouring the visibility of anything in its path. And
to make things worse, once released, there was no way to recapture it. Many
citizens lost their homes, family members, some lost everything. It was a
disaster of major proportions.
Many, many moons passed before a solution was found, which explains why
this disaster grew so far out of control. By then, whole portions of what we
now call Growlerville were no longer visible, and a huge number of citizens had
been reported missing. The solution consisted of a super clear liquid known as
"100% Visibility." Camouflage could not resist it. Containment vessels baited
with a tiny amount of this liquid, and designed so that Camouflage could enter
but not leave, soon recaptured all the fearsome encrustation. And a simple
application of 100% Visibility restored to normal anything whose visibility had
been compromised.
I wander toward the entrance hoping to see Doan, but instead find a small
crowd, huddled around someone's portable radio. The locals are very upset to
learn that the Huhu Authority just voted to ban the harvesting of shadows until
further notice because of environmental concerns. Trading in EverCool stock has
just been halted, and I'm getting the creepy feeling that Growler Louise was
right.

Next time:
More from the Hall of Disasters and some insights into Growlerville's pop
culture. Also a peek behind the scenes at Mother Huhu's Magic Helpline and a
serious discussion about Fast Fingers.
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UNCLE HUHU'S KNOCK KNOCK CITY

Knock knock.
Who's there?
Jenny.
Jenny who?
Je need any help finding the tiny dressing room?


Knock knock.
Who's there?
Ghost.
Ghost who?
Go start the show, the crowd's waiting.


Knock knock.
Who's there?
Ivan.
Ivan who?
I've invested all my money in magic props.


Knock knock.
Who's there?
Hatch
Hatch who?
Bless you and please cover your mouth next time.

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REMINDER: These 2 stories were released within the past 6 months:

GROWLER RADIO 22, The Noise Thief (GR22):
When technicians at the Oldold Institute opened
the vessel containing the mineral sample from the Forbidden
Zone, they were unable to talk or call for help. Just
prior to the incident, the Deck Of Antiquity was seen
nearby. Could it have been working with the Noise Thief
toward some mutual objective?

The kids get tricked by a master of deception and
experience the amazing creature that grazes on sound energy.
Along the way they encounter Grandpa Huhu, who's trying to
get a handle on a potentially bad problem. And then there's
Dr. Growler, who never makes life easy.

Concepts: Sound as a form of life sustaining energy.

Revisits: The Forbidden Zone, GR19, GR20.

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GROWLER RADIO 23, Glitch, is now available:
Scientists are saying that unless all Glitch is
removed from our midst, something very destructive is
about to happen in Growlerville. So, for the safety of
all, the Huhu Authority is asking citizens to
voluntarily turn in any Glitch jewelry they may own.
What are the chances that everyone will cooperate?

Who made those tiny footprints in the bathroom, and why
did someone sprinkle Gravity Boost on the stairs? Deja
vu plays a role as the kids inadvertantly become involved
in an organized effort to save Growlerville from an
overdose of chaos. But it may already be too late.

Concepts: Deja vu. Periodicity. Distorted, looping time warp.

Revisits: The Forbidden Zone, GR19, GR20.
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Coming Soon:

GROWLER RADIO 25 Camouflage (1 January 2001) You thought invisibility was a problem.
GROWLER RADIO 26 Timefish (1 June 2001) Swimming through time in search of food
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All Growler stories are now available on both audiocassettes & CDs.

To order tapes, CDs or a catalog: 1-800-GROWLER or
Order Form
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To read more about available Growler tapes/CDs:
The Growler Tapes (Classic Series) I-IV

Growler Radio 1-24


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