magictavern

Patreon Newsletter #14: December 2022

Added 2022-12-03 22:05:22 +0000 UTC

LIVE SHOWS!

We have two upcoming live shows!

Saturday December 17th in Chicago - We’ll be performing at Thalia Hall for a Winter Solstice Holiday live show with special guests Flower and Claudia the Witch! Opening show by Masters of Mayhem with Squibbert, Dripfang and Baron Ragoon! You can find more info and tickets for our Chicago show at:

https://www.ticketmaster.com/hello-from-the-magic-tavern-winter-chicago-illinois-12-17-2022/event/04005D424A083B32

Saturday January 21st in San Francisco - We’ll be performing as part of SF Sketchfest! Show is at 4pm and we’re thrilled to have guest Guy Branum. More info and tickets here:

https://sfsketchfest.com/schedule-and-tickets/

From Arnie

TV – Watched some good stuff this month. From best to less best:

Reservation Dogs s2
Andor
Bluey s3
1899 (only barely started it)
Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special

Movies – Best to… less best.

The Worst Person in the World
Bros
Wakanda Forever
Spartacus
Thor: Love and Thunder
See How They Run
Harriet the Spy
Nancy Drew (2007)

Video Games (in no particular order)

A Little to the Left - a delightful little puzzle game
Marvel Snap

Board Games (in no particular order) What a rare treat that I got to play a bunch of board games this month!

Just One Word
Wingspan
Quacks of Quendlinberg
Anomia
Codenames: Pictures
Secret Hitler
Pokemon - As some of you might have heard me mention when I posted a little video to the Patreon, Martin Wilson came over (with his kids) and taught me (and my kid) how to play Pokemon the card game.

Reading

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie

Arnie

From Matt:

NOVEMBER

I finally got COVID (and was down for a few days)! And I’ve been helping my mom some this month, so it’s a bit thinner entry from MY.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

It’s the holiday season, so it’s time to binge Halloween Baking Championship and then dovetail directly into the Holiday Baking Championship. Also watched Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps. Pretty good. And rewatched S1 and S2 of Young Justice. Finally watching Season 3. That show is good!

Games:

Finished up Tunic. So, so, so good. Now playing Pokémon Violet. If you’ve heard it has performance issues, boy, it sure does. But it’s also charming and we are all legally obligated to catch all of them.

Collecting:

I splurged and got the LEGO Optimus Prime, but I currently have a moratorium on building new sets until I get some other stuff set up properly in my apartment.

Food:

Got a nice cheesecake to go with our stay-at-home Thanksgiving. I couldn’t cook for a while, so I didn’t do my yearly pie bake. Oh well, maybe if there is time in December.

From Adal:

Jemma and I had an incredible time in London. The whole reason for the trip was to see Punchdrunk’s new immersive show The Burning Man and it didn’t disappoint. We ended up going 3 times over our stay and we’re currently trying to plan a way to get back and see it a few more times. I always have a fear of being hyperbolic or even just overly positive in my review of anything but I can’t stress enough how awe-inspiring the show was. It’s a 3 hour piece taking place in two massive conjoined warehouses with 28 characters from Greek Mythology involving dance, acrobatics and (mostly) silent acting. The scope of it is jaw-dropping and we were lucky enough to snag a few secret moments with the some of the characters. If you are going please let me know if you want any tips or just let me know what you thought of it! Ever since we got back I’ve been on a greek mythology kick; so if you have any recommended books or anything else that might scratch the itch please let me know. I just bought all 3 of Stephen Fry’s books on the subject but am looking for more.

We also had maybe the best meal of our lives at Restaurant Story in London as well as stops at Alter (phenomenal asian vegan place) and Dishoom (for breakfast twice). At the tail end of the trip I got violently sick (we think food poising from a fish and chip place) and it was truly the worst I've felt in my life but honestly it was all worth it. For the trip....not for the fish and chips.

Oh! I want to take a moment to mention my family and I all went up to Milwaukee to see Sadieh perform in the debut of a new play called ‘The Nativity Variations’ and I continue to be immensely proud of how incredible she is. If you get a chance please check it out and afterwards let her know she may be more talented than me but I am taller. The show runs through December 11th and tickets can be found here: https://www.milwaukeerep.com/shows/show/the-nativity-variations/

My fall semester teaching at UIC just ended so I’m getting ready to take a few trips. I’ll be in Galena, Vermont, NYC, San Francisco, London again hopefully and Mexico in the coming 2 months if you have any recs or advice!

Here’s what I consumed in November:

TV:

The English - LOVED this miniseries. Beautiful, weird, terrifying. Maybe my favorite opening title of a tv show and the performance by Rafe Spall makes me want to check out everything he’s ever been in.
The Crown s5
1899 - new show by the creator of DARK! DARK is better but this is really well done
Welcome to Wrexham - great 18 episode docu series that’s like a real life Ted Lasso
Slow Horses s2 - season 1 was good. Based off the first 2 episodes this season is on track to be great. Gary Oldman as Jackson Lamb continues to deliver the most effortlessly comfortable performance I’ve ever seen an actor give.
Yellowstone s5 - starting to cool off on this show! Beth Dutton plot lines are cringe inducing.
Tulsa King - terrible show but I’ll I’m absolutely going to keep watching.
Inside Man - speaking of terrible shows! I wanted to like this so bad but the characters make the most INSANE choices for seemingly no reason at every turn. The Tucch was good though.
Fleishman is in Trouble
Mythic Quest s3
The Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special
Drink Masters
Hard Knocks: In Season
SHAQ

Movies:

NOPE
WEIRD: The Al Yankovic Story
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Enola Holmes 2
Say Hey Willie Mays
Neal Brennan: Blocks
My So-Called High School Rank
Waiting For Guffman - Jemma had never seen so we just watched. It holds up very well. “Everybody dance!”

Other Stuffs:

Playing God of War: Ragnarok on PS5
Finished Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 on PS5
Playing Signalis on Switch - only played the first 15 minutes or so based on Casey Toney’s rec but very excited to keep going. The tone and design are right in my wheelhouse.
Saw Carly Rae Jepsen live! JPC and I agreed it was the physically most cramped and overheated show we’ve ever been to BUT Carly put on a tremendous performance. Highly recommend seeing her live.
I was a recent guest on The Great American Pop Culture Quiz Show podcast!
I was a recent guest on The Weekly Cooldown podcast!
I was a recent guest on Two Bandits Watching Bluey podcast
I was a recent guest on the Tabletop Workshop podcast!
Read the book? novella? Galatea. Cartoonishly short but so well written. I highly recommend reading all Madeline Miller has to offer.
Read the book Song of Achilles - speaking of…devoured this after seeing The Burnt City. I think I like Circe best but this a highly satisfying and emotional read that I flew though in a couple days.
Started reading the book - Less is Lost
Played the board game Down Force
Played more of the board game Quacks of Quedlinburg - I think this officially my new favorite game. JPC still kicks my ass at it but it’s a fucking blast win or lose.
Played the board game Lost Ruins of Arnak