Posts Tagged ‘Cinema hut’
Episode 41: The Kind of Scary Energy That Doesn’t Exist
May 31st, 2013 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut, we examine the tradition of flaws and disads in RPGs. Do they put the “fun” in dysfunctional?
Then Ken and Robin adjourn to the Cinema Hut, where they try not to tell you too much about Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color while urging you to see it, and from there jump into the distinction between the explanatory and the experiential in storytelling.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Jon Leitheusser asks Robin to explain the process by which his game design aesthetic gelled.
Finally, fraud at Alaska’s ionosphere-bombarding HAARP facility sends us spiraling into an extra-chilly installment of Conspiracy Corner.
Episode 41: The Kind of Scary Energy That Doesn't Exist [ 1:11:38 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadEpisode 24: Conan Gets a Fish
February 1st, 2013 | Robin
After two bits of preamble business, one elegiac and the other bathetic , we issue a Travel Advisory to wring vicarious enjoyment from Ken’s journey to WarpCon in Cork, Ireland.
We then step into the Cinema Hut to regale one and all with our top ten picks from the sterling movie year that was 2012.
In Ask Ken and Robin, Lowell Francis asks Ken to expand on a past comment contrasting his sense of fun placement to that of our esteemed pal Dennis Detwiller, leading us to a consideration of the grind, character fragility, and when to bring the power fantasy.
Finally, we once more brave the shadowy depths of the Conspiracy Corner to explore the patterns and motivations behind the recent wave of truther movements.
Episode 22: Her Agile, Ventriloquistic Foot
January 18th, 2013 | Robin
In a special Cartography Hut / Ask Ken and Robin crossover, Troy Holoday invites us to contemplate the vanished D&D roles of mapper and caller.
On a serious note we go to the History Hut for a sense of perspective, if not solace, on America’s relationship with the gun.
In the Cinema Hut Robin finally uncorks his long-simmering rant on the fundamentally unBondian nature of Skyfall. Ken gamely and briefly attempts a role as devil’s advocate before reverting to true and inevitable doctrine.
We wrap with an ironic tale for the Consulting Occultist—the sad story of Margaret Fox, who accidentally founded 19th century spiritualism through a teenage prank.
Episode 17: A Gorgeous Work of Rosicrucian Monomania
November 28th, 2012 | Robin
In Ask Ken and Robin, we examine the popularity, or lack thereof, of the western as a roleplaying genre, and point to models historical and cinematic for the adventuring party in spurs and Stetsons.
We venture into a particularly cramped and cluttered iteration of the Cartography Hut to spin a passel of story threads from the real-life tale of the Mount Washington map hoard.
With zombie-like tread we shamble down the aisles of the Cinema Hut to chew over the career of director George A. Romero.
Then Time Incorporated once more dispatches Ken’s Time Machine, this time to prevent the murder of Salvador Allende and the ensuing ascension to power of Augusto Pinochet.
Episode 14: Undetectable Notes of Irony
November 9th, 2012 | Robin
We kick off with another film festival wrap-up in the Cinema Hut, this time Ken’s visit to the Chicago International Film Festival.
Ask Ken and Robin asks us to contemplate the differences between two of Robin’s game engines, DramaSystem and Skulduggery, leading us to contemplate a broader old saw: does system matter?
In the Cartography Hut we examine a map of Chicago gangland in 1926, limning an urban geography of booze and bullets.
Then we rev up Ken’s Time Machine, sending him back to prevent the burning of the library at Alexandria. Or burnings, if you prefer.
Episode 8: Cruller-Infested Demi-Paradise
September 27th, 2012 | Robin
If there is a mother of all Cinema Huts, it is the Toronto International Film Festival. We kick off the episode with Robin’s picks from the just-completed 37th fest.
Then we skulk into the Conspiracy Corner to put the inflammatory impact of Innocence of Muslims in historical context.
In Ask Ken and Robin, we compare the strong points of Dungeons and Dragons’ third and fourth editions, as we examine the emotional fuel behind the Great Schism.
Finally, we call again upon the Consulting Occultist for a primer on Aleister Crowley.
Episode 2: It’s a Wonderful Life, Batman
August 9th, 2012 | Robin
We did it once, and now we’re doing it again. It’s Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff, the new podcast from game designers and authors Kenneth Hite and Robin D. Laws. Join our thrilling audio adventure as we discuss games, movies, history, narrative and sundry concerns of the geekosphere.
This week we revisit a perennial segment and roll out three more:
We enter the cozy confines of the Gaming Hut to ask: is Risk: Legacy a story game?
In Ask Ken and Robin, we lay guru wisdom on Nolan S., re: bringing story structure to roleplaying sessions in the face of player unpredictability.
We establish the rules of Ken’s Time Machine before sending him off into the chrono-vortex to stop WWI. You’ll never guess who he enlists in his covert war on Kaiser Bill.
Finally, we grab our buttered popcorn and shuffle to our seats in the Cinema Hut to examine The Dark Knight Rises and tip you to the floodplain fantasia Beasts of the Southern Wild.
