Patreon Newsletter #19: May 2023!

*Before we spill the beans on what we got up to in April please make sure you’re following the new official Magic Tavern instagram page!

@officialmagictavern or just navigate from here: https://www.instagram.com/officialmagictavern/

From Arnie

A few small trips this month. Went back to Ohio to see family and watch my youngest sister be inducted into the local Athletic Hall of Fame. (We joked that I should be inducted into the Nonathletic Hall of Fame.) Also, did a fun little “retreat” with Adal and Matt where we talked about business stuff and played board games.

TV – In no particular order.

• Succession
• Mrs. Davis
• Taskmaster s11
• Psychodyssey
• Ted Lasso

Movies – Best to… less best. But they were all pretty good. (A high percentage of rewatching movies I’d seen before this month.)

1. The Woman King
2. Mission Impossible: Fallout
3. Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation
4. Steve Jobs
5. John Mulaney: Baby J
6. John Wick
7. Scream VI
8. National Treasure
9. Octopussy

Video Games

• Stardew Valley
• Psychonauts 2 - (finished it)

Tabletop

The others may write about this but I played The Shining boardgame (a gift from Matt that I FINALLY had a chance to play), Quacks of Quendinberg and Horrified on our retreat. Adal had somehow never played Horrified before and its one of my favorites.

Reading

Superior Spider-Man - Doc Oc takes over Peter Parker’s body and decides in his own twisted way to be a better, more efficient Spider-Man.

Appearances

• Here’s the twitch stream for Jackbox Games where we played and talked about making Party Pack 4 (I directed Monster Seeking Monster, probably the horniest game I ever worked on? I revealed some of the monster powers we came up with that didn’t end up making it into the final game.). We’re doing the same thing for Party Pack 5 in May.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1805212109

• This one isn’t me, but my girlfriend, Emily’s podcast Who’s Missing is back for season 2:

Who's Missing? (whosmissingpodcast.com)

Arnie

From Matt:

Took a retreat with Adal and Arnie. We got some work done, ate some good food, and played some board games. It was a good time.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

Took a deep dive into Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury. This show is great. If you’re a Gundam fan, I think you’ll like it, but it’s a great jumping on point. But be warned, parts of it are SAD (and the 2nd season or chunk of episodes is coming out right now). Watched Skip and Loafer as a palette cleanser. Loving this all anime period (plus silly stuff on YouTube).

Games:

Introduced Adal to Horrified. What a solid game. Really fun. It’s complex enough to be interesting, but simple enough for players of many different experience levels to enjoy (especially if they enjoy the classic Universal Monsters theme).

UPDATE: Breath of the Wild playthrough finished. Now officially ready for Tears of the Kingdom.

Collecting:

Put together my first Gundam Master Grade model kit. I don’t know why exactly I’m so into this right now, but I’d like to create some space to get into painting and customizing kits a bit. Sort of combines what I liked about LEGO and Transformers. It’s a project and a robot toy when it’s done. It’s a fun thing for me to do. I am not good at just resting. I like having something that I helped to create.

Food:

Got to eat at Crane’s Pie Pantry in Michigan [<3]. Also got some steaks with Adal and Arnie that were nice while we were in Michigan. Also enjoyed a lovely Easter dinner with my partner’s family (also in Michigan).

MY

From Adal:

Biggest news is that on 4/23 (Niiiiice!) Jemma and I celebrated our 1 year anniversary! Truly WILD that it’s been a year. Life be bonkers. To ring in the PAPER anniversary we bought tickets to a bunch of immersive shows in London including Phantom Peak (which was a goddamn delight. It’s a fairly massive indoor and outdoor western?/steam-punk? Immersive town where you go on missions by interacting with the town locals who are all improvising and giving you pieces of the story at the underbelly of it all. Jemma won the daily Platypus Fishing competition and I stopped a haunted typewriter from killing again if that gives you any indication of how off the wall it gets), The Beams: Thin Air, Jeff Wayne’s War of the Worlds: The Immersive Show and of course we had to go see The Burnt City four more times (trip 9 was the best yet as I unlocked the secrets of both Askalaphos and Zagreus)! We also attended the Punchdrunk/Burnt City spring party called Ascension that called for us to dress in white; I wore a Zeus costume to blend in.

What else, what else…..

Oh due to me getting Covid finally, I had to be broadcast through Zoom for the Hey Riddle Riddle live show in LA! I think it turned out pretty good but it definitely was tough to tap into the live energy while at home. Luckily Janet Varney saved the day and dressed in her finest Sunday plaid to make it feel like there was some Adal presence in the space.

Arnie, Matt and myself went to Saugatuck, MI for a bit of bonding and had a lovely time. My biggest take-aways from it were:

1. Don’t eat at The Mitten Brewing Company unless you have time for a 90 minute comedy of errors.

2. Horrified is a marvelous board game. Matt and Arnie introduced me to it and I think we played three or four games. I ended up ordering it as soon as I got home. Jemma and I have played three times ourselves already.

3. When I’m full of cocktails and steak I will demand everyone list the four best possible actors for a Ghostbusters. I can’t remember all that I said but I believe my best scenario was a UK remake with Helen Mirran, Diane Morgan, Richard Ayoade and Hugh Grant. And you know Hugh’s gonna say at some point “I uhhhh uhhh am NOT afraid of any ghost…..brehem”.

4. I had the best danish of my life at a place called Pennyroyal Cafe so check that out if you ever are in town.

Jemma and I have some more travel in May/June including Door County, Princeton, Lisbon (for my birthday) and NYC to check out a bunch of new broadway. If would love any recs folks might have!

Here’s what I consumed in April:

TV:

• Succession season 4
• Barry season 4
• Mrs. Davis
• Jury Duty
• Beef
• Am I Being Unreasonable?
• Blackbird
• Yellowjackets season 2
• DAVE season 3
• I Hate Suzie season 2
• Home Movies season 1

Movies:

• John Wick 4
• Once We Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band
• Jiro Dreams of Sushi
• John Mulaney: Baby J

Other Stuffs:

• Music I’ve been listening to: Boygenius, The New Pornographers,  Babymetal, Ethel Cain, Caroline Polachek
• Board Games I played: The Shining, Horrified, Azul, Dominion, Quacks
• The big beautiful brain of Jeffrey Cranor was the most recent guest on the podcast I host, Tell Me About It. So please check that out if you have the time!
• Jemma and I were invited to play Codenames live on a Twitch channel and had a blast! https://www.twitch.tv/videos/1790361041?filter=all&sort=time

Oh! I had mentioned that I would talk more about Tokyo and Australia since I was still away when posting last months newsletter. I don’t have much for AUS since we were mostly visiting Jemma’s family. For Tokyo I’m going to copy/paste what I just wrote up for a friend who is going in a few months and wanted tips/recs. Sorry if there’s more info here than anyone really wants!

Australia - went to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve in Canberra and got bitten by a kangaroo. I assume a pouch will start growing on me any day now. The big take aways were to always order Kingfish if it’s on the menu and everything at AP Bakery in Sydney if fucking incredible. Jemma and I bought tickets at the Sydney Opera House for what was advertised as an ‘immersive theatrical & musical event involving the greek myths’ but turned out to be a Christian youth concert. We walked out after 10 minutes and asked for a refund due to false advertising. Luckily we were told to go fuck ourselves and tough shit.

Anyway, Tokyo is the absolute best and here’s way too much to know about it:

I’m so excited for you to visit Japan! I can honestly say Tokyo is now my favorite city I’ve ever been to. It’s a marvel. We were there a week and it felt like we hardly scratched the surface. It’s so sprawling and weird and beautiful.

Overall things to know:

• Before you go you’ll want to go online and fill out your immigration stuff on a website. Jemma might remember the one we used; but basically when you’re done you get 3 QR Codes you can keep on your phone and present upon arrival and that will save you a ton of time.
• Immigration still took us about 3 hours to get through because I think they just reopened their borders for tourism and we visited during peak Cherry Blossom season. Be prepared to wait a bit and I’d say don’t have any concrete plans upon arrival or you may have to cancel as several people in line with us had to do.
• The subway is fantastic but can get a bit confusing especially in regards to finding an exit. We used the PASMO cards which were great and we wish we had found them earlier. If you’re in Japan for awhile I think there’s a J-PASS thing you can buy that’s for like unlimited travel for 3 weeks for $80 or something?
• A ton of places we went to were cash only. Always have some on hand!
• Speaking of cash, you’ll end up with a shit ton of coins at the end of each day so I’d recommend a coin purse or something to house them in. By the end of 2 days I jingled when I walked.
• Not very many people speak english outside of hotel staff and some restaurants. I’d recommend downloading the Google Translate app for and maybe another app for translating english to japanese so you can type it in and then show them what you’re asking.
• Other apps worth checking out would be JapanTravel and KLOOK (which I think helps you book restaurants as many of them won’t except reservations from outside Japan)
• We stayed at The Knot hotel in the Shinjuku district and love the location and the bakery in the lobby. The rooms there (and I think at most hotels) are extremely tiny. So be prepared for that.
• Check online if certain medications are permitted in the country. I couldn’t bring adderall in as it’s banned and getting caught with it seemed like it was met with pretty severe consequences.
• If you go during Cherry Blossom season I’d recommend going to the National Garden in Tokyo. Full of trees in bloom and just really beautifully laid out. Also for the month or so they’re in bloom you’ll find Cherry Blossom (Sakura) flavored everything! Definitely worth trying a few.
• There’s basically ZERO trash cans on the streets. You may want to keep a little bag for trash on you or you can always pop into a convenient store and toss whatever.
• It’s considered rude to walk and eat in Japan so try and avoid that.
• There’s a ton of animal cafe’s if that piques your interest. We went to a mini-pig cafe and went twice to an otter cafe.
• The convenient stores have some surprisingly great food. 7/11 especially has super tasty egg sandwiches and other treats. There’s also a ton of Family Marts and Lawsons (which Anthony Bourdain said has incredible fried chicken but I never had time to eat any). I think it’s definitely worth it to raid a 7/11 your first night and just grab a bunch of weird snacks.
• We HIGHLY recommend seeing a baseball game there if the season is going! We went to a pre-season game at the Tokyo Dome for the Giants and it was one of our favorite experiences of the trip. You’ll want to buy tickets in advance and ideally for the ‘cheering section’ which is in the outfield down the first base line. It’s like a little party and each player has their own chant that everyone knows. You should pick up a towel to wave during the game and have an appetite for their amazing food options. Tokyo Dome had 2 levels of stadium food across maybe 50 or 60 little stalls. There’s also ‘Keg Girls’ that are women dressed up in almost ‘League of Their Own’ style baseball outfits who run up and down the stairs with alarming speed with mini-kegs strapped on their backs to serve booze. If you want to go to a game let me know and I’ll find the service I used to get tickets which was great because they drop them off at whatever hotel you’re staying at.
• Would also recommend going to TeamLab Planets in Tokyo. Super neat immersive art exhibit. There’s also a ramen place out front there called UZU Vegan Ramen that has fantastic ramen and a little immersive room you can eat in. I think it has a Michelin star or at least a Bib awad.
• We loved Tokyo Disney Sea which is ranked best Disney park across the globe. It’s seemingly geared more towards adults. If you go let us know and we can give you some super helpful tips as there’s an app system you’ll need to know about to experience some of the best shows and what not.
• Harajuku is real fun but mostly one super crowded street. Theres all kinds of novelty snacks and giant cotten candies and stuff. If nothing else I recommend you go to the area to go to Sukajyan Dept. store. They sell the Sukajyan or Sukajan jackets. It’s typically satin and then has an embroidered animal on each breast as well as a larger one on the back. I got a tiger one that I love.
• You should pop in a Don Quijote during your trip. Theres a few sprinkled all over and a Megastore version in the Shibuya district. It’s the perfect spot for souvenirs if you need any. It’s also just really fun to walk around and they have their own catchy song they play on loop. This is where we got a bunch of weird flavor kit kats (japan loves kit kats). We recommend the matcha and sake ones!
• Also worth checking out Shibuya crossing for 10 minutes or so just to see the madness. There’s a Starbucks right there you can sit at and watch the 3000 people who cross every 3 minutes or whatever the number is. Overall Shibuya was seemingly the best district for shopping, especially vintage clothing. Ginza has a ton of shops but it’s more like a Michigan ave. situation.
• If you’re into coffee there was a fantastic place called Mameya Koffee that was like a coffee laboratory. It was maybe a 30 minute wait for us and when you get inside they ask what flavors you like and kind of curate a coffee tasting for you. I really dug it.
• There’s 2 places you should definitely check out but they tend to be kind of crowded. 1 is Golden Gai which is basically a city block with tight alleys housing about 70 little bars. Each bar seats between 4 and 10 people so they fill up real fast but it’s a really neat experience. Our favorites were Bar Albatross and Open Book (which doesn’t have a sign, it’s just hidden behind a wooden door and opens up to basically a library with a bar). The 2nd place is kinda similar but it’s called Omoide Yokocho or Memory Alley. It’s two little alleys with a ton of lanterns and lights and it has a couple dozen food stalls each with very limited seating. There’s a soba place there that I went to twice because I loved it. I don’t know the name but it’s open air and it serves soba topped with a tempura vegetable medley. I think each bowl is like $2. It’s kind of smack dab in the middle of the alley at an intersection. You can see a sign for the soba in english somewhere near the seats I think. At the end of one alley is also a really good coffee/tea/small deserts place! Again I don’t know the name but it has a big sign out front with a dog using a coffee machine.
• Tsujiki Fish Market was one of my favorite things we did but it’s definitely touristy and crowded. If you go let me know and I can give you a map or something of all our favorite spots. We recommend the egg on stick place, the stall that does a mix of nigiri (special fatty tuna, very fatty tuna and medium fatty tuna), the daifuku stand and the matcha latte place. For desert there’s also a place hidden away a bit called Creamia? I think? They serve super creamy ice cream on a shortbread cone. Outstanding.
• The SG Club has been ranked on the best bars in the world for the last couple years. Crazy menu that includes a parmesan based drink that we were over the moon about. There’s a different menu upstairs and downstairs, the upstairs menu seemed a bit more fun and had the parmesan cocktail.
• Our favorite bar we went to was Bar B&F that’s on the 2nd floor of a building and instead of a menu they just ask you what flavors you like and create a bespoke cocktail on the fly for you. We went twice because we had so much fun. On the 7th floor of the same building is there sister bar Bar Benfidditch which is supposed to be the same concept but even better executed but when we were in town it was closed because the owner was away on business.
• The Meji shrine in Shibuya is worth checking out
• If you’re out and about and looking for a late night snack, Mr. Donut has very tasty donuts, especially the chewy matcha
• In Shinjuku there’s a sort of department store called Lumiere? (sp) and in the basement is a big food court that has Afuri ramen that’s really good and yuzu based as well as a place that sells fruit sandwiches that were very good. Most dept. Stores have a basement full of food so I’d check those out and your leisure. There was a really neat one in Shibuya but I can’t recall the name of it
• The best ramen I had on the trip was at Ginza Kagari! There’s usually an hour or so wait but it’s very much worth it. It’s super rich chicken broth with breast meat and some veggies. Outstanding especially if you just waited in the rain as I did
• Gyukatsu Motomura is a chain I recommend. They do breaded steak that you grill at the table. Very popular so you’ll have to wait in line.
• Our favorite overall meal of the trip was Udon Shin in the Shibuya district (boarding on Shinjuku). We ended up going 4 times, getting in 3 of those. You go up to a machine at the front of the line (don’t wait in the line) and it’ll give you a number and a QR code. You can then scan that and it will tell you how long the wait is to get in so you can leave and keep checking the link and come back in line when it says like 20 minutes or so. If you try and go after say 5pm or 6pm they will probably not have anymore spots for the night even though they’re open until 10pm or 11pm. This place is super close to Bar B&F so you can grab a ticket, go get drinks and then walk back when it’s your turn! I’d recommend the hot udon with any of the toppings and their tempura was also top notch. Jemma I think kept getting the hot udon with soy and an egg and was in heaven.
• There’s other stuff like the Ghibli Museum that is supposed to be incredible but we didn’t book tix in time. Also Robot Restaurant which is the number 1 thing friends recommended but it looks like it’s closed permanently due to Covid.
• In the Tokyo airport if you’re looking for food on your way out there’s a really great place that I think just has a sign saying ‘Edo Style Sushi’. I got 4 each of different types of tuna as nigiri and it was a great way to leave Tokyo

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying!

Love & Large Please

Adal