Patreon Newsletter #37: November 2022! (Patreon)

From Adal:

Hey Future Lizards!

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 Magic Tavern 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
• Book - 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

7:17pm

From Erin

Hello!

I hope everyone is staying cozy cozy!

Here is a random assortment of nonsense that’s making me happy right now.

1.)Swanson sipping bone broth. This is so nice and autumnal. I sip it like it’s tea while I work!

2.) Gluten free pumpkin bagels from Trader Joe’s. With a flavored cream cheese? Forget about it!

3.) Maintenance Phase. I think I’ve recommended this before. I know you’re probably already listening!

4.) jake xerxes fussell. Play him the next time you’re at a fire pit.

5.) I have very very sensitive skin and a hard time finding stuff that works. Inn Beauty project products have worked really well for me. Very pricey but if you have sensitive skin I love their toner and retinol.

That’s it!

Drink some water and have a great month!

-Erin

From JPC:

Hey Riddiots,

What a Spooky Season it's been so far! I've actually traveled more this month than I have the entire year, which is nice if you like experiences. I think experiences are fine.

First off, I went to Albuquerque for their annual balloon festival and, I gotta say, the worst part of the trip was the actual balloon festival. But Albuquerque (and Santa Fe but I was there for way less time) are very cool cities. I love how everything in ABQ (much easier spelling) comes covered in green and red chili. Very cool and very tasty.

Also, I went to Charleston for the first time with my old improv group. Emphasis on old! We're all in our 30s. Charleston is a cool city with a pretty terrible history (google The Civil War) and we spent a lot of time reading people's blogs about getting married on a plantation. What a weird thing to do! Some people have some pretty terrible brainworms that are nothing like my terrible brainworms. Highlight of that trip was taking a harbor tour and the guide was trying to tell a boat full of people about Fort Sumter or something but someone spotted a dolphin and then everyone flocked to that. People would much rather look at a dolphin than confront their history.

We just ended Weeztoberfest on Billbuds Pod so if you'd like to hear me talk about 5 Weezer albums, check that out!

We did not get many Trick or Treaters this year so if anyone knows where I can donate candy, please let me know. I cannot have this candy in my house. I had two pieces yesterday and I woke up feeling like I'd been poisoned.

And finally, some recommendations:

Andor. It's the best star wars I've seen in a long time.

Brotato. It's like $5 on Steam and it's well worth it, especially if you like bullet-hell rogue-likes.

Across the Obelisk. Another deckbuilder I really enjoy on Steam. It's like playing 4 different deck builders in one game!

Hope everyone enjoys their Fall! Unless you are in the Southern Hemisphere and then: keep waiting, suckers!

-JPC

HRR Updates/News

1. For November our Review Crew episode will be reviewing Outback Steakhouse! That episode should be out on Monday 11/14. Apologies in advance for all the Aussie accents we’ll inevitably do.

2. The November Review Crew tier Live Stream will be announced soon!

3. We all 3 recently guested on the podcast Never Seen It with the wonderfully fully Kyle Ayers! Our episode is out now and features a brilliant War Horse script by JPC and us playing what might be some of the best movie games ever conceived. Please give it a listen!

4. Vote!

Love you all!

Adal, Erin & JPC