Patreon Newsletter #13: November 2022

LIVE SHOW!

We have an upcoming live show!

December 17th in Chicago - We’ll be performing at Thalia Hall for a Winter Solstice Holiday live show with special guests! 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

From Arnie:

October was a jam-packed month. We traveled to New York to do a live show (and catch up with local friends like Steve Waltein and Jordan Klepper). The Jackbox Party Pack 9 came out. It’s wild to think that I’ve been making video games for over 16 years at Jackbox Games (formerly Jellyvision Games). And now we’re entering the most fun time of year at work where we playtest silly ideas and pitch games internally to see what will make it in Party Pack 10. (Some of the games I’ve pitched over the years: Drawful, Fakin’ It, Trivia Murder Party, TeeKO, Monster Seeking Monster, Nonsensory, Poop Cake… etc. I directed a fair number of those as well. Although the great Ryan DiGiorgi directed TeeKO. Ironically, most people still just think I’m the voice of Quiplash (I’m not).)

TV – The tv watching has been really low lately. Slowly working through The Mole. I keep forgetting I’m watching season 3 of For All Mankind, and then whenever I remember I watch an episode or two and remember that it’s good and then promptly forget to watch more.

Movies – Best to… less best. A lot of spooky-season viewing, all of it pretty good.

1. Barbarian
2. Paths of Glory
3. Summer of Soul
4. Nope
5. Hotel Transylvania
6. Confess, Fletch
7. Candyman (2021)
8. Bodies, Bodies, Bodies
9. Escape Room: Tournament of Champions
10. Hotel Transylvania 2

Live Shows - In chronological order

• Hello from the Magic Tavern live at the Bell House in Brooklyn - What a treat to do a live show again for the first time in years. And to finally have Tim Sniffen on as a guest. (Not to mention Jo Firestone.)
• The Piano Lesson (broadway) - Pretty incredible to see Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington on stage. We were maybe sitting a wee bit too far away (which makes more a difference with a play than a musical) but it was still a great time.
• A Strange Loop (broadway)
• Hrishikesh Hirway and Jenny Owen Youngs playing music together at the Sleeping Village in Chicago. Nice to see both of them live for the first time.

Video Games (in no particular order)

• The Jackbox Party Pack 9
• Tunic - Beautiful game. Probably a bit too hard for me. I think I’m tapping out.
• Marvel Snap
• Inscryption
• Kirby and the Lost Kingdom - Last month I wrote, “The kiddo and I are getting close to finishing it. I think.” And… we did finish it. But, you know, that Nintendo thing where there’s a bunch more levels after you finish.

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

• Skull
• Werewords
• Quacks of Quendlinberg
• Labyrinth (Pokemon version)

Listening

• I’m overall not that into Halloween music but did remember that Ryan Gosling released a surprisingly decent Halloween album called Dead Mans Bones.
• Listened to a couple of the Blank Check patreon commentaries for Roger Moore era James Bond films. (That may be up there among one of the more niche sentences I’ve said lately. And my whole life is made up of niche sentences.)
• I’ve been listening to and enjoying “Who’s Missing?” a new interview podcast from Emily Drake. (Emily is my girlfriend, which is not in the top ten most interesting things about her, but dear reader, I thought you might care.) She interviews all sorts of fascinating people like a fashion designer, the CEO of the Detroit Zoo, a high school student and a neurobiologist.  You can check it out here: Who's Missing? (whosmissingpodcast.com)

One Last Thing

What’s the smallest or silliest thing you’re thankful for this year? I’ll peruse your answers in the comments.

Arnie

From Matt:

Had our first live show at The Bell House in Brooklyn, NYC, USA in October and it was a blast! What a great opportunity to get back on stage after two and a half years. Great to perform live again with Adal and Arnie (and our guests Tim Sniffen and Jo Firestone) AND to say hi to many of you! Took a couple of extra days in the city to see friends, shows, and generally enjoy what Brooklyn has to offer.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

We finished rewatching Parks and Recreation. I haven’t had the energy to start something new, and Parks and Rec is so, so good and sweet and goofy. I just love it. It’s comfort food that also gets me revved up to go and vote.

Audiobooks

I’ve slowed down here and want to finish the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but my interest in the last book has wavered. I think it’s a mistake for me to try to listen to a whole series back-to-back. I should listen to something else in between so I’m more excited to return to the world. I’m saying this is a me problem; the book is good.

Games:

Obsessed with Tunic, but currently stuck. That’s part of the fun of it though? Just trying to find the instruction booklet pages and enjoy that classic Zelda flavor. I dipped my toe into Elden Ring and found the parallels and wild differences intriguing. It’s certainly a moment in game design. (Thanks to Adal for the birthday PS5 credit to get Tunic and some other games!)

Theater(!):

Went to see A Strange Loop (thanks to Arnie for the birthday tix). What an amazing show. It’s closing in January, so if you can go I recommend it. I don’t want to say much about it. I think it speaks for itself.

Collecting:

I don’t tend to talk about this, but I’m a toy collector. I have a lot of LEGO (mostly Star Wars), Masterpiece Transformers, and some Funko Pops! (Doctor Who and Parks and Rec). I have a lot of DC stuff too (Animated and some Classics). I recently dipped into the new(ish) GI Joe Classified series. I don’t need to be a completionist with this line, so I’m having fun just getting the handful of characters that I like. I should find a place in my new apartment to put this stuff. Any of it. I go back and forth between being slightly embarrassed by this hobby and reveling in it. Any collectors out there? What are you into?

Food:

Brooklyn/NYC was a food extravaganza. Brunch at Sunday in Brooklyn (name of the restaurant which confused me; sorry Adal!) was incredible! Everything was good, but the pancakes are something out of this world. Had a nice steak dinner at a local bar/steakhouse in Park Slope near our hotel. Had a great dinner with Arnie and our partners at a place called Aldama. It was a family-style Mexican restaurant, but the (very kind) server explained “family style” in a very confusing way that made me think I didn’t know what family style meant anymore. So our appetizer order probably seemed nuts.

That's about it for me! Going into November, let's all go vote and think about what we're going to be grateful for.

MY

From Adal:

October’s always my favorite month and this year was no different. Couldn’t have asked for better fall weather and got to have some choice pumpkin flavored food & drink. The highlight of the month was definitely the trip to NYC to do our first live show in about 3 years. Thank you to everyone who was just so wonderfully kind and delightful and the folks who met afterwards at Minnie’s to hang! Just an absolute blast of a night. Jemma and I got to go to Sleep No More again (my 11th trip and her 3rd! Jemma finally got a one on one with Hecate so she was thrilled. I must sound insane). We also saw the musical KPOP which had some stellar concert moments and the immersive theater show Bottom of the Ocean which was absolutely wild. It’s only 5 people per show in the audience and you basically go from one bizarre ritual to the next culminating in a 15 minute sound bath while worshiping a 10 foot tall neon jellyfish? Really hard to wrap my head around but we dug it. Food highlights were Sunday in Brooklyn and my first trip to Roberta’s for the delicious Bee Sting pizza. Highly recommend.

This semester of teaching improv at UIC is only a few weeks from being over. It’s a pain in the ass to get to the campus but I really love teaching. Always fun to slowly learn who in class listens to Magic Tavern or Hey Riddle.

Other October highlights were seeing Muse live, going back to Diner Grill in Chicago after a 5 year hiatus (I’m obsessed with diners), visiting Madison WI. and especially the food and drink at Mint Mark, celebrating a friend at Lincoln Karaoke, playing games at our friend Rush’s place, seeing Hrishikesh Hirway and Jenny Owen Youngs perform in town and going to Goebbert’s pumpkin patch with friends! Oh! We also had a killer trick r’ treat turnout and it was delightful except there was one 5 year old dressed as Darth Vader and when he reached for candy I pretended he was using the ‘force’ to strangle me. His parents were thrilled but he got spooked (too much power for one kid) and backed away. I gave him 40 pieces of candy as an apology so I think we’re good.

I FINALLY set up my PS5 so excited to dive into that. Just got my Playdate system in the mail so I'm hoping to play some games on that soon as well. Please send game recs for either and coming up I’m in London, Galena and Milwaukee if you have recommendations for any of those cities I’d really appreciate it!

Here’s what I consumed in October:

TV:

• Love is Blind s3
• The White Lotus s1 - did a rewatch to get excited for the new season
• The White Lotus s2
• Somebody Feed Phil s6
• Cabinet of Curiosities
• Ozark s4 pt. 2
• The Mole

Movies:

• Rocky Horror Picture Show - great to watch with Jemma as she knows all the call and response bits
• Barbarian - what a fucking ride
• Malignant - also what a fucking ride
• Werewolf By Night - one of my favorite things Marvel has done
• Come From Away
• Mr. Harrigan’s Phone
• Hellraiser
• Trick R’ Treat
• The Redeem Team
• 38 At The Garden

Other Stuffs:

• Yeah Yeah Yeah’s new album Cool It Down (A+)
• Carly Rae Jepsen’s new album The Loneliest Time (A+)
• Taylor Swift’s new album Midnights (A+)
• Played the Switch games Castle Crashers and a little bit of TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge which were both outstanding
• M is For Monster by Mel Gilden - one of my favorite books from when I was a kid. It doesn’t do much for me now but it was fun to revisit
• Board game 3000 Scoundrels
• Check out a new podcast I’m co-hosting called The Monster Line!

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying; especially if you have any recommendations that seem up my alley

Love

Adal

Don't’ Die!