Patreon Newsletter #22: August 2023!

From Arnie

Summer! Got to the pool a few times, went out to see a few movies in the theater, and went out to a couple game nights. In fact last night Adal hosted a fun game night in his basement bar for our visiting friend Paul Peterson (great game designer). Near the end of the night Adal complained that it was getting too hot in the basement because he’d only set up one fan, so I threatened to tweet out, “It’s official: Adal hates his fans.”

Took a trip to Ohio to see family and celebrate two of my sisters’ birthdays. Went to Columbus’ Legoland and while waiting for the Lego VR ride, listened to an old dad keep yelling “Holy shit!” while wearing the goggles and sitting in one of those little VR eggs.

Celebrated my girlfriend Emily’s birthday with a party in the backyard. The invites recommended wearing something neon (if you have it). Adal and I both clearly searched “neon shirt” on Amazon because we showed up in pretty close to identical shirts. Got to meet even more of Emily’s friends who were all delightful.

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

• The Bear s2
• Game Changer
• Justified: City Primeval
• Hijack
• Psychodyssey
• Claim to Fame

Movies – Best to… less best.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Groundhog Day
3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
4. School of Rock
5. Barbie
6. Oppenheimer
7. The Fabelmans
8. Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One
9. John Early: Now More Than Ever
10. Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny
11. Joy Ride

Video Games

• Dicey Dungeon
• Overcooked 2
• Moving Out
• Marvel Snap

Tabletop

• Ready Set Bet
• Sidereal Confluence
• Blood on the Clocktower

Reading

• Burn it Down

Arnie

From Matt:

Just been trying to avoid the heat this month. So far, so good.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

I saw Barbie and Oppenheimer. This officially marks the first time in 10-15 years that I have not waited three years to be part of some cultural moment. They are both good. And both make you confront death in varying ways. Summer fun!

Audio:

I’ve been getting caught up with The Adventure Zone: Steeplechase. Such a fun time. Recommended.

Games:

Still haven’t finished Tears of the Kingdom. I’m enjoying taking my time with it but I’ve finally moved back into the big story stuff. Also got in some games of Blood on the Clocktower, Wingspan, and Horrified.

Collecting:

Working my way through a lot of stuff in storage. I have too much stuff. Got to get some of this stuff donated or sold. It has begun to feel like a burden. Excited to get some storage and setup my space better over the next few weeks.

Food:

I’m really craving black licorice lately. Think about it quite a bit.

Matt

From Adal:

It’s too damn hot for a penguin to be just walking around...is how I feel about Chicago right now. Too much heat. Too many storms flooding my basement. One tornado touching down a mile away from me and causing me to run to the basement with my cats (tails poofed in terror)! Well Fries and Brisket were scared. Coco doesn’t know what the fuck is going on at any given time.

Had a delightful time in Vermont for a retirement party held inside a 230 year old barn (definitely haunted) and took a quick trip to Grapevine, TX to check out the new Meow Wolf with some Night Vale podcast friends. Very much enjoyed this location but it felt like maybe 50% of it was inspired by the other 3 locations so there was a bit of a ‘greatest hits’ vibe to the experience. My group hit up the Rainforest Cafe afterwards for some cocktails and engaged in a rousing debate on whether or not the in-house animatronic tiger could be fucked or not. Don’t ever say I don’t care about the rainforests.

Other highlights include having a couple friends from out of town stay with Jemma and I in July. We had a game night in the basement including a rowdy round of Ready. Set. Bet. which may be my new game obsession. Jemma and I had a neon-tastic time at Arnie’s place for Emily’s birthday (see photo attached of Arnie and I accidentally wearing very similar shirts!).

August is our big travel month. Jemma and I are headed to New Jersey for her brother’s wedding, then NYC to see Here Lies Love, Eva Noblezada’s final performance in Hadestown and possibly the new immersive Great Gatsby show. Has anyone been or heard good things? When we get back from that we're whisking my mom off to London as a birthday gift. As of now we’re taking her to The Burnt City and Operation Mincemeat. She’s big into genealogy and traced our lineage to a knight named William Marshal so we’ll go check out his dusty ass bones and probably see the big’ins (TowTow of Lo, BiBe, Londi Brig, WestMini, etc). If you know of any spots my/a mom might enjoy in town please let me know! We’re staying in Shoreditch if that’s helpful.

After that is Burning Man, which we don’t return from until September 4th, so apologies in advance for the next newsletter being a few days off from being posted on the 1st of the month. Luckily this newsletter was released right on time and you all agree that this is true!

Oh one more thing! (biiiiig Petey Falk turn of head) My sister and brother-in-law just moved to Nashville a few days ago. If you know of any fun stuff for them to do there please drop it in the comments as they would really appreciate it! If this sounds familiar it’s because they moved to Nashville in late 2020 but then Sadieh immediately was cast in the tv show The Shining Girls and ended up just moving back near Chicago.

Here’s what I consumed in July:

TV:

• Bluey season 3 new episodes - great to see the return of the grannies!
• What We Do In The Shadows season 5
• Reservation Dogs season 3
• Justified seasons 1, 2 & 3 - doing a rewatch in order to most enjoy the new season that just came out
• Big Brother season 25
• Dark Winds season 2

Movies:

• Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part 1 - Saw it in 4DX and was thrown from my chair. A+ experience
• Barbie
• Oppenheimer
• Punchdrunk: Behind the Mask - Documentary about the theater company that created Sleep No More and The Burnt City. If you’d like to watch it to better understand my love for those shows, let me know and I’ll send you a link to it! It only aired in the U.K. but someone was kind enough to send it my way.
• Stephen Curry: Underrated

Music:

• My number one music rec. this month is to check out the song ‘Spinning Away’ by Brian Eno and John Cale. It should help put you in a dreamy and wistful state should you want to be in one.
• Mitski - Bug Like an Angel (single)
• Mitski - Lush (I do think Mitski is the my number one in the category of ‘haven’t yet seen in concert but am dying to’)
• Blur - The Ballad of Darren
• Feeble Little Horse - Girl With Fish
• Aphex Twin - Selected Ambient Works 85-92
• Carly Rae Jepsen - The Loveliest Time
• The Clientele - I Am Not There Anymore
• Neutral Milk Hotel - Everything Is
• Tears For Fears - Songs From the Big Chair
• Slowdive - Slowdive
• The Smiths - The Smiths
• The Smiths - Meat is Murder
• Friendzone - DX

Other Stuffs:

• Started playing Hades again as well as lots of Super Mario Party
• Enjoying the podcast Who Shat on the Floor at My Wedding?
• Had a lovely time seeing Jinkx Monsoon at Chicago Theater
• Played more Blood on the Clocktower and still not sick of it.
• The board/card game Ready. Set. Bet. is making me want to throw a Kentucky Derby style party where we dress up, play the game and knock back mint julips.
• Played Sidereal Confluence and more Horrified
• Did anybody watch this newest season of The Witcher? Is it worth checking out?
• I recently guested on the Dungeon Radio Hour podcast
• Out now is a Tell Me About It episode about musicals with the delightful Lauren Shippen. There’s also a pretty wild D&D ep with Brennan Lee Mulligan in the pipeline so look out for that.
• There’s 6 episodes out of my new podcast The Word Association if you’re looking to add something new to your list! Email us at twapod@gmail with a word you’d like us to use on a future episode or just to say.
• Yesterday Hey Riddle Riddle celebrated 5 years! We’ll only be doing 10 more years of riddles and then we do have to pivot.

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying!

Love & Large Please

Adal