magictavern

Patreon Newsletter #21: July 2023!

Added 2023-07-02 03:56:16 +0000 UTC

From Arnie

Had a wonderful Father’s Day weekend trip to North Carolina with Emily and the kiddo. We stayed in a cottage on the Biltmore Estate. Really relaxing and cool. Even the historical tour was fun. The best part was the kiddo kept imitating a commercial they’d seen for Biltmore on YouTube, doing a really funny “fancy” voice. “There is a place… where we appreciate summer’s gifts. Summer. This Summer. At Biltmore.”

We rode bikes, rode horses, saw two of my sisters, went on a chocolate tour. Good trip.

TV – In no particular order. (Although, they’re kind of in order.)

The Bear s2
Game Changer
Psychodyssey
America’s Funniest Home Videos

Movies – Best to… less best.

Spiderman: Across the Spider-Verse
Asteroid City
Avatar: The Way of Water
More Buster Keaton films: (Battling Butler, The General, Steamboat Bill Jr.)
Babylon
Most of the original Planet of the Apes movies
Ferdinand
T2 Trainspotting
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
Luck

Video Games

Overcooked 2
Stardew Valley
Marvel Snap - the addition of a Spider-Ham card drew me back in

Tabletop ex ex

Blood on the Clocktower - More BotC, this time with Matt playing. I fell into my greatest trap when playing social deduction games, underestimating new players. During one game, I thought, “Well, Matt is acting weird but I don’t think he’s evil. He just doesn’t know what the fuck he’s doing.” I was wrong.
Scattergories

Reading

Shorefall - I’ve heard somewhere that the author of this series is a Magic Tavern fan. I’m enjoying it very much so far.
Terror Tome

Podcast Listening

Blank Check
Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?
Mall Walkin’

Arnie

From Matt:

I’m still going through some dental work and just working a lot. Looking forward to taking some time off at the beginning of July (and getting some catch up time from our summer break this month).

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

Watching lots of Jacques Pepin (on YouTube) to just relax and be chill. Will I ever make a Potato Galette? Probably not, but maybe.

Games:

Tears of the Kingdom. Still. I’ve slowed down on my progress. Please no spoilers still. Also bought Harvestella and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity at a two-for-one sale. Also nabbed an NN64 controller for the Switch. Cause I could.

Also finally played Blood on the Clocktower with Arnie and Adal (and a bunch of other friends). It’s really good and I’m bad at social deduction games, unless I get lucky and then act like I meant to do something the whole time.

Collecting:

Working on my first Real Grade Gundam kit very, very…very slowly. It’s the Wing Gundam and it’s a nice kit at a smaller size with a lot of extra detail (and therefore tiny pieces to cut out and prep). Planning on doing some late spring cleaning next week and getting rid of some older stuff that has been in storage for ages. Also have some third party Masterpiece Transformers coming into stock that I pre-ordered ages ago.

Food:

True Food in Chicago is a good take out place with some delicious and healthier options? Our refrigerator is freezing all of our food solid which makes hard to cook. Also recommend Velvet Taco for some over the top tacos.

From Adal:

As of today we’re halfway through 2023?! Honestly that’s bonkers. I feel like I have time blindness. Like I’ll make a note to get something done and then I’ll pick up that note and it’s 2 years later and I haven’t done the thing. Maybe I’m just bad at leaving myself notes. Let’s all please SLOW DOWN so I can catch up on stuff!

June was a delightful blur. Main fun activity was heading to NYC to catch up on some Broadway shows with Jemma. I think in order I’d rank them:

1. Parade (incredible but Jemma and I walked in completely blind, not knowing anything about the show and we were definitely in tears by the end)

2. Sweeney Todd (Annaleigh Ashford as Mrs. Lovett was one of my favorite performances I’ve ever seen. A perfect blend of physical comedy, timing and sheer willpower. I’ll definitely make a point to see anything she’s in from here on out)

3. Kimberly Akimbo (wonderfully funny and heartbreaking)

4. Some Like It Hot (Christian Borle is a dream in everything he does)

5. Shucked

Before seeing Some Like it Hot with our friends Stuart and Sharlene (check out the podcasts Flop House and I Know the Owner!); we went to grab dinner at Chez Josephine and were seated in the back in a small area right next to Ethan Hawke. Stuart and I then went through the motions of talking ‘normally’ as we both panicked. Before I could tell what happened, Ethan said hello to Jemma and then she started chatting about New Jersey with him (they’re from the same town and shared teachers in high school). I didn’t need to write this much about the encounter but it was an interesting phenomena to just be struck dumb by an unexpected celebrity inches from you. Stuart and I spent the walk to the theater just trying to list as many Hawke films as possible.

Just a few days ago I released a new podcast! It’s myself and two friends: Rob White and Brett Lyons (both Whirled News Tonight members as well!) The show is called The Word Association and (inspired by getting a suggestion at the top of an improv show) we each bring in one word to the episode to spark conversation and bits. We’ve got an absolute jam of a theme by Arne Parrott and we’re produced by the talented Julia WD Harrison. Episode 1 is out now and we’ll be releasing new ones every Tuesday and you can follow us on Twitter (https://twitter.com/TwApod) or Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/twapod/) or email us at twapod@gmail.com to recommend a word for us to use or even just to share some juicy gossip about someone you went to school with!

Here’s what I consumed in June:

TV:

The Bear season 2 - I was delighted that in this season one character says ‘baybeee’ and another enters a room saying ‘Bing Bong!’. They also feature Kasama, Pequads, Margie’s, Avec and Ever which are all restaurants I love in the city. Outstanding show and reminds me of what a terrific food town Chicago is! No shots of Burger King though. Maybe next season?
Detroiters season 2
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 16 (the most recent episode featured Ross Kimball a.k.a. Honk the Assassin as a limo driver!)
Black Mirror season 6
Secret Invasion
Righteous Gemstones season 3
The Tony Awards

Movies:

Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse - Gorgeous movie. Loved every second of it and just found out that they released several different versions as a nod to the multiverse. I can’t wait to see it again in IMAX (Casey Toney famously said 4DX is NOT for this one). I hope pt. 3 is coming soon but I'm willing to wait as long as I need for it to hold up to the first two.
Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse - had to watch again to get pumped!
3 Amigos
Creed 3

Music:

Lana Del Rey - Did you know that there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King
MGMT - Little Dark Age
100 gecs - 10,000 gecs
Parannoul - After the Magic
Ironsides - Changing Light
The Microphones - The Glow Pt. 2
Neutral Milk Hotel - Ferris Wheel on Fire
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin 2
The Velvet Teen - Cum Laude
Epic: The Odyssey Musical
New Carly Rae Jepsen single Shy Boy
Fall Out Boy - We Didn’t Start the Fire (don’t worry! In covering the top news of the last 30 years in this sequel to Billy Joel’s classic, Fall Out Boy absolutely mentions Tom DeLong being obsessed with aliens)

Other Stuffs:

Had my favorite Blood on the Clocktower night yet! All 3 games went down to the final night including a game where I was a demon, Arnie was one of my minions and I had to off myself the first night in order to stave off suspicion and Arnie brought it home. It was a game so tense that at the end Arnie did something I’ve never seen outside of tv & film which was he took off his glasses, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose due to the immense relief of pulling it all off. Rush and Pad ran an outstanding night of BOTC.
I bought a Ninja Creami and I’m really digging it. Having some fun concocting some different ice cream flavors and mixes. If you have any recipes please send them my way!
Enjoyed the book If Cats Disappeared From the World by Genki Kawamura
Saw West Side Story at the Lyric Opera here in Chicago
Loved hearing Erin Keif crush on the new episode Comedy Bang Bang!
Just got back from Door County again. This time to see my sister perform in a new play; she was amazing as always! Stopped by The White Full Inn for breakfast and had some cherry french toast that put a pep in my step and a jitter in my knee (it was 99% sugar).
I don’t know if I mentioned this already but for my birthday this year JPC got me one of those cartoonishly large restaurant pepper mills. I’m very excited for the bits I can do with it and even just to appear next to dinner guests with it. I think I will be bringing it on the road with me.
It was announced last week that The Burnt City is closing so Jemma and I are making a trip back to London to see it a few more times before it closes. If you live in the area I can’t recommend it enough. It’s closing for good September 24th.
Made plans to go visit the new Meow Wolf in Grapevine, TX with some friends this month
Officially snagged a ticket for Burning Man in August. Jemma has been several times before but it’s my first time. I’m equal parts terrified of being overwhelmed by guys named Hush or Omega who want me to watch them do the devil sticks AND also excited to see what it’s all about and take in all the art installations. If I expire in the desert please know my final wishes are for Arnie to take over playing Chunt and then Erin Keif and Brooke Breit to both play Arnie.

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying!

Love & Large Please

Adal