Patreon Newsletter #39: January 2025

Magic Tavern Updates/News: 

• Less than 2 weeks until we’re in San Francisco for Sketchfest w/ a guest we’re VERY excited about! January 19th at 7pm, Club Fugazi. You can snag tickets HERE

• We’ve got new merch from this week's episode in our TeePublic store including a birthday shirt for yesterday’s birthday boy, ARNOLD!

 From Arnie:

Had a great time at PAXUnplugged in early December hosting a Jackbox panel, catching up with friends and buying a bunch of cool board games (many of which I may never play). 

A nice but exhausting month of going out to dinner more often than usual. And then a pleasantly boring week in Ohio for Christmas and family catch-up. 

I was also surprised by a friend at a party unzipping their sweater and revealing they were wearing a “Suck it, Niekamp” shirt. And I don’t think they even listen to the podcast. They just wanted that shirt.

TV – In no particular order. 

• Twin Peaks: The Return

• The Floor

• Squid Game

• The Agency

• Survivor

• Various Christmas specials (Nate Bergatze, Sabrina Carpenter, a YouTube channel of old Christmas specials like It’s Gary Shandling’s Show and Abbot and Costello.)

Movies – Best to less best. Pretty much everything was good to great.

• The Fire Inside

• Lord of the Rings: Two Towers/ Return of the King

• Wicked

• Goonies

• Carry-On

• Emilia Perez

• Nosferatu

• Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary

• Twisters

• The Family Stone

• A Clusterfunke Christmas

• Deadpool and Wolverine

Video Games 

Balatro 

Thank Goodness You’re Here

Escape Academy

Super Mario Party Jamboree

Board Games

Gnome Hollow

Horrified: Greek Monsters (with added limited edition Krampus monster I picked up at PAXUnplugged)

Hues and Clues

Reading

A giant Brandon Sanderson book that I honestly don’t remember the title of even though I’m 200 pages in.

From Matt: 

December 2024

I hope you are all having a wonderful holiday season however you may be choosing to celebrate. Spent some time in Michigan time in Michigan, still prepping for a belated holiday with my mom and had a great NYE with friends and games!

I finally assembled a standing desk for my office that has been sitting in the hall in a box for longer than I care to admit. Making my space friendlier to work and creativity is a top goal for this year. That and planning our wedding!

Audio:

Dove into the latest The Adventure Zone campaign, Abnimals. Super fun! Check it out!

Games

Finished Astro Bot! Fun and recommended. Started Gundam Breaker 4. Not super impressed.

TV/Movies/Web stuff:

Finished Zeta Gundam. Started Gundam Double Zeta, but there is no dub and it’s going to take me longer to watch (which seems impossible). Watched Nancy Meyer’s The Holiday. An older holiday movie that didn’t fare that well at the box office, but is nice. Watched about half of White Christmas. Saw Muppet Family Christmas, Muppet Christmas Carol, and Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Tried not to openly weep during Emmet Otter. I failed.

Food:

Made a blueberry ginger lime pie (again) AND a pumpkin pie for Christmas. Got some new utensils as gifts. Had some excellent holidinners with friends and family. Bistronomic, Babygold BBQ, and Phil’s (in Saugatuck). Crane’s Pie Pantry delivered a number of great treats too: Raspberry rhubarb pie, apple cider donuts, apple cider bread, and biscuit-wrapped sausages.

Matt

 From Adal:

Here’s what I was up to in December. Let me know if you have any recommendations!

TV:

• Squid Games season 2

• Bluey: Mini Episodes

• Somebody Somewhere season 2

• Pop Culture Jeopardy

• RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17

• Queer Eye season 9

Movies: 

• Nosferatu

• A Complete Unknown

• Wicked (4DX)

• Kraven the Hunter (4DX)

• Cunk On Life - this just came to Netflix and I highly recommend you watch it. Diane Morgan is brilliant as Philomena Cunk

• Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl

• A Charlie Brown Christmas - I had never seen this. Everyone is pretty fucking nasty to Charlie Brown and he’s kind of shitty as well. 

• Muppet Christmas Carol

• The Princess Diaries - I had never seen this and Jemma insisted I remedy that

• Nate Bargatze: Your Friend 

• Sweethearts

• Austin Powers: Goldmember
  

Other Stuffs: 

• Enjoying the new album by The Cure - Songs of a Lost World

• Quick read but I was moved by the book Small Things Like These

• Played a bunch more Blood on the Clock Tower along with Mastermind, Boop Game (an adorable cat based strategy game) and Crokinole; which I had never heard of but am now deeply enthralled by. I ordered myself my own board so I can get some practice in and then hold a Crokinole tournament

• Jemma and I couldn’t make it up to Canada so we spent Christmas in Vermont and visited the town of Woodstock which was particularly charming covered in snow. I had my first maple creamie (not a sex thing) at Woodstock Scoops and I wish it WAS a sex thing. Unbelievably good.

• Hey Riddle Riddle is also performing at Sketchfest (with 4th host Janet Varney) on Saturday January 18th at 4pm. You can buy tickets HERE

• Lastly, my sister Sadieh’s incredible play The Cave opens at the end of the month in Chicago at A Red Orchid Theatre! If you’re interested you can get tickets HERE

Adal