Patreon Newsletter #15: January 2023!

LIVE SHOWS!

We have an upcoming live show!

Saturday January 21st in San Francisco - We’ll be performing as part of SF Sketchfest! Show is at 4pm and we’re thrilled to have guest Guy Branum. More info and tickets here:

https://sfsketchfest.com/schedule-and-tickets/

From Arnie

December was jam-packed… even by normal “December is always jam-packed” standards.

I keep suddenly remembering big things that I’d forgotten had happened this month. Like..

… hold on, I almost forgot we did a live show this month. Probably our biggest live show yet. By now you may have already heard the audio of the show with Brooke Breit and Beth Melewski as guests. We also had our first live spin-off opening act with Masters of Mayhem (Chris Rathjen, Kevin Sciretta and Sarah Shockey). We’ll likely release the audio of the Masters of Mayhem opener in the not-too distant future on the Patreon. I even took a quick video backstage with everyone right before they took the stage. I’ll try to post that at some point too. Thanks so much to everyone who came out to see the show live (including my youngest sister and her husband). I was dealing with a minor babysitter emergency via text message literally minutes before stepping out on stage, which was a little stressful, but everything ended up being okay and it was a great show. (If you haven’t checked out the great photos attached to the Patreon post of the live show you definitely should)

… that’s about it… oh wait… I took my first real vacation in several years. Emily and I flew to Anguilla and I mostly sat on a beach (which is why you’ll actually see below that I read some actual books this month).

… anyway, that’s everything… oh crap I almost forgot we had intensely low frigid temperatures around Chicago at Christmas. One of my pipes froze but thankfully we were able to catch it and thaw it out before there was any damage. (I know several people who weren’t so lucky, including one of my sisters who came back home from a Christmas Eve party to discover a burst pipe had done serious damage to two floors of their house)

… oh and CHRISTMAS! I made it back to Ohio again to see family, sled down a reservoir hill, and play lots of games.

I’m sure I’m forgetting numerous other huge things but let’s just get to the content I consumed this month…

TV – Watched some good stuff this month.

1. White Lotus s2
2. South Side s1
3. assorted Bluey and Lego Masters episodes

Movies – Best to… less best… but honestly they were all great. A collection of some of my favorite movies, a bunch of classics, and various movies I’ve seen too many times.

1. The Apartment
2. Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse
3. Spirited Away
4. 2001: A Space Odyssey
5. Glass Onion - Still can’t believe Quiplash gets a shout-out in the movie. I have heard third hand that Rian Johnson is a big fan of games. (And I’m a fan of Rian Johnson)
6. When Marnie Was There
7. A Christmas Story
8. Nightmare Before Christmas

Video Games (in no particular order)

• Overcooked (the extra levels between games 1 and 2)
• Vampire Survivor
• Strange Horticulture
• Return to Monkey Island
• Marvel Snap
• Mario Kart

Board Games (in no particular order)

• Skull
• 5 Minute Mystery
• Quacks of Quendlinberg
• Anomia
• Horrified
• Hanabi

Books

• The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
• Foundryside by Robert Jackson Bennett

Appearances

• I did a Jackbox Games twitch stream with Matt, Adal, Brooke Breit and Tim Sniffen playing some of the games from Party Pack 9. I’m guessing it’s still archived over on the Jackbox Games twitch channel if you want to check it out.
• I’ve mentioned my partner, Emily Drake’s podcast, Who’s Missing here before. (She’s a mental health clinician and interviews all kinds of fascinating people) The first season is done and I sat in for a bonus episode of the podcast where I interviewed her about making the podcast and her own mental health journey. (cw: there are some references to suicidal ideation) You can listen to that here: Bonus: Emily Drake — Who's Missing? (whosmissingpodcast.com)

One More Thing

In the comments below let me know what I should do to celebrate my upcoming January birthday.

Arnie

From Matt:

It was the holiday season, so I took some time off and didn’t do too much. Assembled a desk and a cabinet. Have a second desk waiting in the wings. My mom came to our live show (It must have been baffling). Though she wished that we had a video recording of me being chased by the bird.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

Love It or List It. HGTV is just the perfect holiday comfort viewing. Got Knives Out and Everything Everywhere all at once on Blu-Ray as gifts too!

Games:

Still on Pokémon Violet. Almost done. Messed around a bit with Potion Permit and looking at some other smaller indie games. Intrigued by It Takes Two and A Short Hike (I know; it’s old). Also, play the board game Horrified if you haven’t already. It’s just really good.

Collecting:

Very excited that I got a Treasury edition of the Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck for Christmas. Can’t wait to read it.

Food:

So much food over the holidays. My partner’s family makes gravlax which is a cured salmon dish that I love. Marzipan and chocolates. Great tacos from Velvet Taco on NYE (they were open late and delivering!). Treats. Treats. Treats. What are some of your favorite holiday treats that we should try?

MY

From Adal:

Had a wonderful time in late December as I took my family to Galena, IL (one of the few places in the state that can legally be called ‘beautiful’). My mom implemented a new Christmas rule that the only gifts given would be a book from each person. Just what I needed! So I’m excited to dig into my new bedside stack of books and one day catch up with the other stacks. We left a day early from Galena because of the looming snowstorm which was a bummer; but ultimately it was a delightful time. The same storm kept us from going to Vermont to see Jemma’s family but we hope to make it over there soon.

It was an absolute joy to do the Magic Tavern Winter Solstice show in Chicago after having not done a local show in about 3 years. What a boost of serotonin to see all you fine folks who came out and made it a magical night! Thanks to everyone for being so kind, energized and involved!

I have to admit New Years Eve is my least favorite day of every year. If pressed I think it just makes me sad to reflect on the year with an overly sensitive brain. There’s a feeling of regret over everything I didn’t accomplish; a feeling of dread of what I might lose in the coming year and a sense of having missed out. Nevertheless we’re a few days into 2023 and I’m feeling hopeful it will be a good one full of friends, creative endeavors, Shrek memes, Borat bits and buying new plaid shirts that look like all my other ones; a big annoyance to MY WIIIIFE!

I’m looking forward to going to upcoming trips to Atlanta, London (to go see The Burnt City a few more times), Dallas and San Francisco!

Here’s what I consumed in December:

TV:

• Atlanta seasons 1 through 4: I don’t know why I haven’t watched this show sooner but goddamn it’s fantastic. I’ve never experienced a tv show that had such an experimental approach episode to episode. 
• The Circle season 5
• Love Island UK season 3: Becca Barish (the ultimate reality tv sommelier) suggested I start watching….which led to…
• Love Island UK season 4
• 1923
• Wednesday
• Branson

Movies:

• One Magic Christmas: a very odd, slow and fairly sad Christmas movie but I remember as a kid there’s one seen with Santa taking a shoebox of aged letters/ephemera down from a shelf and I have pin-pointed this moment as to why I’m obsessed with notepads and pens.
• Grease: Greasemas baby!! Got a visit from SANDY Claus
• Pinocchio by Guillermo Del Toro: dark and charming.
• Glass Onion
• Matilda: The Musical
• Bullet Train
• Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure: Jemma had never seen this and it’s one of my the more formative movies of my childhood…as well as..
• Neverending Story: but not…
• Neverending Story 2

Other Stuffs:

• I was a recent guest on Botched: A D&D Podcast! My episode is out January 16th
• Jemma and I were fuel injected with the holiday spirit by the Jinkx Monsoon & Ben DeLaCreme Holiday live show in Chicago
• Started reading the book Educated by Tara Westover
• Listened to the albums Long Season by Fishman, The Chinese Album by Spacehog  and Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized (ultimately I’ve been stretching back to the 90’s for some hidden gem albums. If you have any please let me know!)
• Finished God of War: Ragnarok and just started Tunic on PS5 based on how much Matt Young liked it. So far it’s delightful!

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying!

Love

Adal

Don't’ Die!