Newsletter #3: January 2022

Arnie:

Wanna know what I did in December? So do I! It disappeared fast.

Obviously the holidays took up a lot of it as you’ll see below.

TV – Here’s the tv I watched this month, just for the hell of it in descending order from my favorite to… you know, not bad, just my least favorite of the month.

1. Succession s3 – Still the champ. Every season hits a point of “this is good but maybe I don’t need much more of this” and then the finale knocks it out of the park.

2. What We Do in the Shadows s3

3. For All Mankind s1 – I keep hearing that season 2 is great so I’m finally digging in.

4. Survivor

5. Hawkeye

6. Bakin’ It – Totally charming and the kiddo loved it. The floor was pretty high on my tv watching this month.

Movies – Same deal, best to… least best… of the handful of movies I watched in December. Obviously lot of Christmas movies.

1. Into the Spiderverse – For probably the dozenth time because I love it and the kiddo loves it.

2. Moonstruck – Somehow I’d never seen this before. What a weird funny delight.

3. Singin’ in the Rain

4. Gremlins

5. West Side Story (2021) – Probably gets some points for being the only thing I saw in the theater. But probably loses some points for a surprising number of people in the theater being completely drunk.

6. Encanto

7. Pitch Black

8. The Matrix Resurrection

9. White Christmas

10. Eight Bit Christmas

11. The Super Bob Einstein Movie – A documentary about the guy who played Super Dave (and also Funkhauser on Curb (and also also he was Albert Brooks’s brother)). Not the best made documentary but if I were rating this on the clips alone it would be much higher.

12. Home Alone 2

13. Ghosts of Mars

14. Home Sweet Home Alone

15. Mac and Me – Although technically this was in an MST3K episode… and taking that into account maybe it should be near the top.

Games – I continued to have very little time for video games besides watching my daughter play some of Happy Home Paradise in Animal Crossing. I got Psychonauts 2, Deathloop and Overboard which I’m hoping to dig into in early 2022.

I did play these tabletop games this months, most of them in Ohio with either my parents or my nephews. In no particular order.

- Werewords

- 5 Minute Dungeon

- Forbidden Island

- Euchre

- Dutch Blitz

- Just One

- Coup

Work – I can never really say much about my day job at Jackbox Games. December is as close to a slow month as we ever have but still as Studio Editorial Director there’s a lot of management stuff for me to do to prepare the team for the new year.

But the fun stuff is the games and although I can’t give any details I did pitch a new game idea that’s been greenlit and it’s a big part of what I’ll be working on next year. I can’t tell you the name but the names always change anyway. When I pitched Trivia Murder Party it was called Trivia or Die. When I pitched Monster Seeking Monster it was called Monster Mingle. When I pitched TeeKO it was called Holy Shirt. When I pitched Weapons Drawn it was called Murder Detectives. When I pitched Drawful… well, it was called Drawful, but still, you get the idea.

Holidays – Had a lovely time in Ohio with the family. But I also had a great time at a cookie decorating party with some friends much earlier in the month. Everyone, including the kids, was vaxxed and even did some precautionary home testing on top of that. Had a great time decorating cookies with (among other) Martin Wilson (who plays Blemish) and Nick Baer (who plays Otok) while our kids all played together.

I also added the following songs to my Christmas rotation: “Christmas Party” and “Panpepato” by Dr. Dog and “Sweet Gingerbread Man” by Sammy Davis Jr.

2022 – I’m writing this right after next month’s San Fransisco Sketchfest (including our first live show in years) has been officially postponed. So no live shows yet. Hopefully things take a more positive turn, because we’re looking forward to doing some live shows again.

As for seeing stuff I’m excited I have tickets to see Hadestown when it comes to Chicago in March.

More importantly, let me know in the comments what stuff I should do in the coming months for fun. And honestly, if there’s a better format for what you’d want in an update from me, I’m open to notes! I can’t promise I’ll be more interesting in January (although it does include my birthday) but I can certainly try.

Matt:

I agree with Arnie…December was really a blur. Baked more for the holidays and visited family in Illinois and Michigan. Started a bunch of stuff and finished none of it.

Also, like Arnie, I can’t really talk about work, other than to say I was quite busy before our Winter Break. Managed to get some cleaning and organizing and donating of stuff done in my apartment despite being spread a little thin.

Sorry for how brief this update is, but I’ll…try to consume more in the coming months? I have a bad habit of re-watching or re-playing things for comfort in my down time.

I did start the second part of the Kevin Smith Masters of the Universe thing. Seems interesting? Grew up with those characters, but it feels like a thing that should probably stick to the 80s and my nostalgia for it. Also saw the Harry Potter 20th anniversary thing, mixed feelings about it. Clearly hundreds (thousands?) of people worked on those films who are not J.K. Rowling. I like the main cast and it’s mostly about their experience.

Started playing Stardew Valley finally (I’m always late to this stuff). It’s really great, but I haven’t done much. Still trying to power through the end of Fire Emblem 3H (even though Dimtri is kind of a dick). Also occasionally going back to Baba is You for a short, rewarding puzzle experience. Oh! Also, re-discovered a favorite board game during my travels, Res Arcana. I find the art style a bit meh, but I really like the way that the game plays. You play as competing mages, and then it’s a resource management game to get to 10 points. Plays a bit like 7 Wonders, but with a fun magic twist. Highly recommended.

Adal:

Hey baybee’s!

It’s wild to be entering our 3rd year of COVID but I’m trying to remain optimistic that it’ll be behind us at some point this year. I hope everyone is boosted and doing well!

Jemma and I had some fun quick trips in December. We swung by New Orleans for a quick 24 hour jaunt and discovered an amazing new brunch spot, Willa Jeans. We also got to play the Smuggler’s Den escape room at the brilliant Escape My Room thanks to a wonderfully kind MagTav/HRR fan, Rachel. We both put it in our top escape rooms we’ve ever done and highly recommend it if you have the chance to go! (not for anyone afraid of the dark).

We also took my mom to Charleston as a Christmas gift! I’d never been and we had a blast. The vibe is ‘if New Orleans won the lottery’. Beautiful city and we had out of this world meals at Lewis BBQ (best brisket I’ve ever had) and HUSK (so good we ate their twice).

Our last trip was to NYC as I had bought Jemma some Broadway show tix for Christmas. We wanted to see Hadestown for a 5th time before the cast started to change but unfortunately the show was canceled an hour before opening curtain so we ran to catch Jagged Little Pill and ended up seeing the final performance ever as they ended up shuttering the show for good. Beside the standout performance from Lauren Patten the show was not my cup of tea. We also saw Caroline or Change which was fantastic and the remount of Company which blew me away. Truly one of the best productions of musical theater I’ve ever seen. We were in NYC right as Omicron started to hit hard so we were happy to get out of there and get home to lounge around and just nest and watch tv.

Other than that I’m just excited to start a new year and try and focus up on a couple of projects I’m working on!

Here’s what media I consumed in December -

TV:

• Cobra Kai Season 4 - I don’t know how it happened but this show won my heart. It’s so funny, impactful and surprising in the way it unfolds and this new season is the best one yet. I stayed up until 10am the other night so I could watch the full season. This gets 10 out of 10 Adal’s.
• Pen15 Season 2 Part 2
• The Book of Boba Fett - was over the moon to see former Magic Tavern guest and the guy who got me my job teaching at UIC, Dave Pasquesi as Mok Shaiz’s Majordomo. Hoping we see more of his character!
• It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia Season 15
• How To With John Wilson Season 1
• Work in Progress Season 1
• Queer Eye Season 6
• The Witcher Season 2
• 1883
• The Stand-ups Season 3
• Harry Potter: 20th Anniversary Reunion

Movies:

• Power of the Dog
• Spider-Man: No Way Home
• Don’t Look Up - I absolutely LOVED this movie but I’ve heard that it’s getting quite a bit of hate.
• Death To 2021
• RENT - I’d never seen the movie and Jemma insisted I watch it
• The Matrix: Resurrections
• West Side Story
• If I Leave Here Tomorrow (Lynard Skynard documentary)
• Elf
• Scrooged
• Home Alone
• The Super Bob Einstein Movie
• South Park: Post Covid - The Return of Covid
• The Princess Switch 3: Romancing the Star

Other Stuffs:

• Played the games 7 Wonders Dual and  A Little Wordy with Jemma and we enjoyed them very much! 7 Wonders Dual (a wonderful gift from Matt!) is one of the best 2 player board games we’ve tried.
• If you live in/are visiting Chicago soon, I highly recommend a new place I found called Kasama that has incredible filipino breakfast sandwiches and baked goods.
• My sister loves the tv show Ramy so we went and saw Ramy Youssef live and he was great. When things allow I’d gotta get out and see more stand-up. Let me know if you have a favorite as I feel I’m a bit out of the loop.

I guested on the following podcasts!

• Man Now Dog Podcast - myself, Erin Keif and JPC all appeared on a recent episode for their Patreon. Big fans of those guys and this podcast if you haven't listened before
• Sound Deals with Max and Ivan - myself, Erin and JPC guested on a recent episode that should be out now or will be soon
• Destination: Passport - my episode should be out tomorrow
• Tomahawk and Stu Pitch a Podcast - not sure when my episode airs

I hope everyone had a wonderful holidays and that 2022 is your best year yet!

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying so I can consume some new media!

Love,

Adal

7:17pm