Newsletter #1!

Hey all! We thought to do a newsletter every once in awhile to let Patrons know what we're up to, share any news we might have about the show and for you all to make recommendations for us in the comments! We hope you enjoy it and thank you all so much for your support!

ARNIE: 

October was a big month. Not only did we launch season 4 of Magic Tavern, but at my day job as a game designer and director at Jackbox Games we released the Jackbox Party Pack 8. 5 weird new party games to play with your friends. The game I pitched and directed this year is Weapons Drawn, a murder mystery game where all the evidence is made by the players (usually drawings where you have to hide a letter from you name) and basically everyone gets to be a murderer. Pack 8 also includes the game Job Job, conceived of and directed by Brooke Breit (the voice of Flower). And Ryan DiGiorigi (the voice of Craig) was the Editorial Lead on both games.

Okay, enough plugging. What stuff did I enjoy in October?

Since it’s scary movie season, most of my pop culture consumption was scary movies.

‘Malignant’ – I don’t know if it’s still on HBO Max but I highly recommend this truly bonkers movie. It’s not that scary, and yes the first hour or so is frankly kind of boring, but it gets very weird in the second half and especially if you can avoid spoilers it’s worth it.

John Carpenter movies – Blank Check with Griffin and David is one of my favorite podcasts and since they’ve recently been covering the filmography of John Carpenter it was a great excuse to revisit some of my favorites and watch some of his movies I’d never seen before. ‘The Thing’ is still possibly the greatest horror movie of all time. “Christine” is a lot better than a silly movie about a car that kills people has any right to be. “Prince of Darkness” is… well… it has it’s moments. And I’d actually never seen all of “They Live” before and yes, it’s a goofy movie about special sunglasses that allow wrestler-turned-actor Roddy Piper see what people are secretly invading aliens… but it’s also a surprisingly sharp indictment of consumerism and the wealth divide.

Drive-in double feature – On Halloween weekend I went to a drive-in to see ‘Evil Dead 2’, which I have seen many many times, and was surprised to discover that the second movie showing was… a 2008 Bollywood remake of ‘Evil Dead’! It included added sex scenes (cars started honking when the sex scene started) and a musical number that… is really just a full-on music video plopped into the movie that has none of the cast in it and seems wholly unrelated. I was too tired to stay for the whole movie but I’m glad I learned that ‘Bach ke Zaraa’ exists. I don’t know that there’s any easy way to stream or rent it (or even buy it) but you can find a few scenes on YouTube.

‘The French Dispatch’ – I also saw the delightful Wes Anderson movie ‘The French Dispatch’ with Matt and Adal. It’s not a horror movie but afterwards we went to a nearby bar where all the servers were dressed up as scary clowns for some reason.

MATT: 

What We Do in the Shadows (TV)

Just finished Season 3. Funniest damn show.

Sailor Moon

During  the pandemic, I decided to go back and watch the original Mobile Suit  Gundam (and Gundam Wing). This put me into a classic anime spiral and  now I'm through all of the original Sailor Moon anime (minus 2 movies).  Ordered the Sailor Moon mangas and am about halfway through Sailor Moon  Crystal Season 3. It's a LOT of monster of the week, but the design and  the main characters (and the monster designs) are like nothing else.

Cooking

Got  a 12 quart stock pot (belated birthday gift) and am looking forward to  making my own soups and broths. Also went apple picking and have a lot  of apples and pumpkins to put to use now.

Switch Round Up

Probably  2/3rds of my way through my 2nd pass at Fire Emblem: Three Houses (Blue  Lions; Golden Deer is next). Replayed LoZ Skyward Sword. It's fine.  I've never played Luigi's Mansion and might try out 3, but I'm holding  out that I'll find a PS5 and play some Spider-Man soon.

Dungeons and Daddies

I've  been binging this podcast like crazy the past couple of months. Was  over the moon to have Beth and Anthony on recently. Listening to the  June 1, 2021 ep as I type this. Will hopefully be caught up soon and  then I'll bother them about more potential guests/crossover stuff!

ADAL: 

I had a really wonderful October! I didn’t get to watch as many scary movies or visit as many haunted houses as I wanted but overall just a delightful month!

On Halloween my mom came up to visit (she’s coming to the live show tonight so everyone behave!) and we sat on my porch and handed out candy together which was a real treat! We saw a homemade tornado costume, a homemade racoon costume, and then about 5000 spidermen and 1 Sonic the hedgehog.

Some fun stuff I got up to this past month: My sister Sadieh and I flew to Denver for a day to visit the new Meow Wolf there which was incredible! I learned how to ‘unlock the sky’ in a certain area of the space and got a round of applause which was WELL EARNED. I highly recommend you check out any of the Meow Wolf locations! Jemma went to the Denver location about a week after us as part of her bachelorette party and loved it as well!

I saw stand-up for the first time in forever . The headliners were Sam Morrill and Dina Hashem. Very funny show.

I went to Six Flags and had a great time! We did all 5 haunted houses as part of Fright Fest and they were all pretty good with one of them being outstanding. I can’t recall the name of that one though. 

Jemma and I visited Vermont; which was beautiful in the fall. I now understand what leaf peeping is all about and I’m absolutely on board. We went to Mount Snow and sought out a few covered bridges and just had the best time soaking up all the trees and small town markets. I would absolutely move to Vermont.

I’m starting to plan my Bachelor Party so we’ll see what shakes out there! My favorite city is New Orleans but I’m not sure how ideal that is given their recent months and what not so who knows. If nothing else I’ll just rent a cabin and demand everyone play board games. If you have any advice or suggestions I’m all ears baybee!

I’m pumped that the NBA season has started again and Jemma and I have tickets for the Bulls vs. Mavericks game next week! Very excited to see my dude Luka Doncic live and see my first live NBA game ever. I hope I get on the kiss cam and then something wonky happens to me!

This weekend Jemma has a trip to Puerto Rico for work that I’m going to crash. Anyone know what there is to do in Aguadilla?

Here’s what media/pop culture I’ve been consuming! In the comments let me know if there’s anything I should be checking out!

TV:

• Succession Season 3 - chef kiss
• Midnight Mass - a weird, sometimes bad show but I keep coming back for more. Mostly because of Hamish Linklater. Tim Sniffen put it best when he said it’s ‘a show about what happens when a tiny island community becomes infected with audition monologues’.
• Lucifer Season 6
• The Movies That Made Us
• Inside Job
• Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11
• Sam Morrill: Full Capacity on YouTube
• Explained
• Sexy Beasts Season 2

Movies:

• The French Dispatch - went and saw this with Arnie and Matt as a Magic Tavern hang! Very enjoyable
• Paranormal Activity: Next of Kin - Everyone please watch this and support our friend Dan Lippert as a breakout star! He absolutely rocks this gig!
• Friday
• Free Guy
• No Time To Die - there was A LOT of time to die. It just kept going
• Pig - wanted to like this Nic Cage movie but turns out I hated it!
• It Comes At Night - the saddest movie I think I’ve ever seen? Outside of maybe Breaking the Waves and Dancer in the Dark?
• Little Shop of Horrors
• Dear Evan Hanson

Other Stuffs:

• My friend Travis McElroy has a new podcast out called ‘Chasing Immortality’ and it’s a creepy, funny, interesting ride! Listen to episode 1 out now!

I guested on the following podcasts!

• Pop of Passion - The Podcast

Hope everyone is doing well! Let me know what I should be consuming!

Love,

Adal