Archive for July, 2018
- October 2024|
- September 2024|
- August 2024|
- July 2024|
- June 2024|
- May 2024|
- April 2024|
- March 2024|
- February 2024|
- January 2024|
- December 2023|
- November 2023|
- October 2023|
- September 2023|
- August 2023|
- July 2023|
- June 2023|
- May 2023|
- April 2023|
- March 2023|
- February 2023|
- January 2023|
- December 2022|
- November 2022|
- October 2022|
- September 2022|
- August 2022|
- July 2022|
- June 2022|
- May 2022|
- April 2022|
- March 2022|
- February 2022|
- January 2022|
- December 2021|
- November 2021|
- October 2021|
- September 2021|
- August 2021|
- July 2021|
- June 2021|
- May 2021|
- April 2021|
- March 2021|
- February 2021|
- January 2021|
- December 2020|
- November 2020|
- October 2020|
- September 2020|
- August 2020|
- July 2020|
- June 2020|
- May 2020|
- April 2020|
- March 2020|
- February 2020|
- January 2020|
- December 2019|
- November 2019|
- October 2019|
- September 2019|
- August 2019|
- July 2019|
- June 2019|
- May 2019|
- April 2019|
- March 2019|
- February 2019|
- January 2019|
- December 2018|
- November 2018|
- October 2018|
- September 2018|
- August 2018|
- July 2018|
- June 2018|
- May 2018|
- April 2018|
- March 2018|
- February 2018|
- January 2018|
- December 2017|
- November 2017|
- October 2017|
- September 2017|
- August 2017|
- July 2017|
- June 2017|
- May 2017|
- April 2017|
- March 2017|
- February 2017|
- January 2017|
- December 2016|
- November 2016|
- October 2016|
- September 2016|
- August 2016|
- July 2016|
- June 2016|
- May 2016|
- April 2016|
- March 2016|
- February 2016|
- January 2016|
- December 2015|
- November 2015|
- October 2015|
- September 2015|
- August 2015|
- July 2015|
- June 2015|
- May 2015|
- April 2015|
- March 2015|
- February 2015|
- January 2015|
- December 2014|
- November 2014|
- October 2014|
- September 2014|
- August 2014|
- July 2014|
- June 2014|
- May 2014|
- April 2014|
- March 2014|
- February 2014|
- January 2014|
- December 2013|
- November 2013|
- October 2013|
- September 2013|
- August 2013|
- July 2013|
- June 2013|
- May 2013|
- April 2013|
- March 2013|
- February 2013|
- January 2013|
- December 2012|
- November 2012|
- October 2012|
- September 2012|
- August 2012|
Ken Pulls Off His Rubber Mask, Revealing Robin With His Detective Dee Review
July 31st, 2018 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
Bombshell: the Hedy Lamarr Story (Film, US, Alexandra Dean, 2017) Documentary recounts the life of the Hollywood star whose beauty eclipsed the quality of her roles, and whose efforts as an inventor led to the frequency-hopping technology underlying wi-fi and GPS. Inspiring and sad in equal measure.—RDL
Invisible Ink: My Mother’s Affair with a Famous Cartoonist (Graphic Novel, Bill Griffith, 2015) The opportunity to look through a trove of family documents sends the author down a research rabbit hole into his deceased mother’s secret romantic life. Autobiography becomes a web of hidden and unknowable adjacent biographies, with the comics medium heightening interior drama as no other form could.—RDL
Mission: Impossible — Fallout (Film, US, Christopher McQuarrie, 2018) Superspy Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise, effortlessly effortful) must deal with the titular fallout from the previous film while being saddled with a thuggish CIA observer (Henry Cavill). Cavill (perhaps on purpose) plays it as Dark Peter Lupus, as this installment homages the TV show repeatedly and well. Of course it still finds room for three insane chase sequences and the by-now-expected sudden but inevitable betrayal. –KH
Ugly Delicious (Television, Netflix, David Chang and Peter Meehan, 2018) Iconoclastic restaurateur Chang brings in a dream team of food writers and fellow chefs to look at of change and tradition in food culture. Refreshingly takes the piss out of hagiographical food TV cliches while still getting the salivary glands vicariously flowing. If you’re going to watch out of order, start with the episode on the African American food experience and the fraughtness of fried chicken.—RDL
Good
Conflict (Film, US, Curtis Bernhardt, 1945) Engineer with a yen for his sister-in-law (Humphrey Bogart) thinks he’s successfully bumped off his wife, until a trail of strange clues starts to indicate otherwise. Exercise in pseudo-Freudian paranoia delivers the noir mood through the perspective of a then-unusual anti-hero protagonist.—RDL
Deadline at Dawn (Film, US, Harold Clurman, 1946) When a good-hearted but slow-thinking sailor (Bill Williams) gets mixed up with a blackmailer’s murder, a dance-hall girl (an unusually restrained Susan Hayward) and a philosophical cabbie (Paul Lukas) team up to find the real killer. Clifford Odets script, based on a Cornell Woolrich story, elevates an unmemorable storyline with pearls of hardboiled dialogue and a knack for quickly drawn, unexpected characterizations.—RDL
Detective Dee: the Four Heavenly Kings (Film, China, Tsui Hark, 2018) When the nation’s chief investigator (Mark Chao) is entrusted with the all-powerful Dragon Taming Mace, the ambitious Empress Wu (Carina Lau) schemes with sorcerers of the martial arts world to reclaim it from him. The plotting that connects the delirious action set pieces is on the labored side this time out, making this the slightest of the series. But, hey, we’re not here for the plot, and this does offer up the best, nuttiest “and now the CGI characters fight” sequence ever.—RDL
Episode 303: It’s Not Owls, It’s Charlemagne
July 27th, 2018 | Robin
Most RPG scenarios assume that it’s up to the player characters to conclusively defeat the bad guys at the end. In the Gaming Hut we ask when it’s okay to leave the mop up to outside forces.
In the History Hut Patreon backer Jake asks us to unveil the mysteries of the Cagots.
Ask Ken and Robin fields a Q from backer Jacques de Villiers on gaming Twin Peaks and the related works of David Lynch.
Finally we enter the Eliptony Hut, carefully checking our calendars, to satisfy backer Alexandria Permann’s curiosity regarding the Phantom Time Hypothesis.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
After years in a remote safe house, he’s back. John Scott Tynes is writing Delta Green again. A mere few days remain in the Kickstarter campaign for Delta Green: The Labyrinth, from Arc Dream Publishing. This all-new collection of organizations presents ready-made sources of allies, enemies, mysteries, and surprises for your Delta Green campaign. Back now for extra Yithians!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Finding Ken and Robin at Gen Con 2018
July 26th, 2018 | Robin
It feels like Gen Con comes around faster every year and this year [squints at calendar] it’s literally true!
As always we’re looking forward to chatting, signing, and seminaring. You can find us, singly or in tandem, at the following public events.
Ken and Robin
Friday August 3rd, 1:00-2:00 p.m.: Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff LIVE! [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 5] As usual, this has sold out, so bring your event tickets.
Friday August 3rd, 4:00-5:00 p.m.: Investigative Roleplaying MasterClass [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 5]
Saturday August 4: 2:00-3:00 p.m.: Swords, Spies & Shoggoths: The Pelgrane Press Panel [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 5]
Robin
Thursday, Aug 2, 4:00-5:00 p.m.: One GM, One Player MasterClass [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 5]
Saturday August 4: 4:00-5:00 p.m.: Dramatic Interaction MasterClass [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 5]
Ken
Friday August 3rd, 6:00-7:00 p.m.: Introducing Vampire: the Masquerade 5th Edition [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 3]
Saturday August 4, 7:00-8:00 p.m.: Delta Green: Inside the Conspiracy [Lucas Oil : Mtg Rm 2]
At most other times you can catch us at the Pelgrane Press booth, #1317 for chatting and signing. Announce your Patreon backer status with a swell of pride!
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Pandemic Panic and a Regenerating Ronin
July 24th, 2018 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
The Bar (Film, Spain, Álex de la Iglesia, 2017) Fear reveals who people really are when the government’s lethal suppression of a potential pandemic traps patrons and staff in a downtown cafe. De la Iglesia attacks the confined space thriller with his hallmark black humor and mastery of escalation.—RDL
Blade of the Immortal (Film, Japan, Takashi Miike, 2017) Weary ronin (Takuya Kimura), rendered unkillable by magic bloodworms that grant him regeneration powers, reluctantly agrees to assist a girl (Hana Sugisaki) in her quest for vengeance against the murderous dojo responsible for the deaths of her parents. Miike treats the original manga’s string of martial arts duels as a formal exercise in varying each fight and investing it with its own distinct emotional hook. Which is to say, many people in this movie need killing and and/or do not know who they are fucking with.—RDL
Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict (Film, US, Lisa Immordino Vreeland, 2015) Newly rediscovered interview audio tapes form the nucleus of this bio-documentary of the legendary art collector and patron pivotal to the reception of both the surrealists and the American abstract expressionists. Having researched the indomitable, canny Guggenheim of the 30s and 40s, I found the portrait of her reserved, melancholy later self particularly moving.—RDL
Resurrection Science: : Conservation, De-Extinction and the Precarious Future of Wild Things (Nonfiction, M. R. O’Connor, 2015) Examines the ever-expanding technical, economic and philosophical obstacles arising from efforts to preserve, protect and perhaps revive extinct and dwindling species, from fast-evolving pupfish to war-depleted rhinos to the passenger pigeon.—RDL
Sorry to Bother You (Film, US, Boots Riley, 2018) Broke and searching for meaning, Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) hits the fast track to capitalist telemarketing success when he unleashes his “white voice” (David Cross), but discovers a conspiracy. Funny and unsettling in equal measure, this surrealist (or perhaps magic-realist) comedy holds its own with John Dies at the End or even Gremlins 2, combining the former’s studied weirdness with the latter’s political bite. –KH
Talking from 9 to 5: Men and Women at Work (Nonfiction, Deborah Tannen, 1994) Linguist examines the contrasting conversational styles of men and women and the pitfalls they introduce in the workplace, from who gets credit for ideas to participation in meetings. Way better written than most business/pop science books, providing insights usable by anyone employed at any occupation more social than woodland hermit.—RDL
Good
Neal Brennan 3 MICS (Stand-up, Netflix, 2017) Most famous for being Dave Chappelle’s writing partner (“like being on a basketball team with Michael Jordan. You just win more.”), Brennan tries out stand-up, or rather a combination of stand-up, one-liners, and deeper “emotional stuff,” each delivered at one of the titular three mics. Brennan’s attempted deconstruction of comedy succeeds on its merits (although only the stand-up bit about testosterone being like having a prison inmate in your head really killed for me) but doesn’t get inventive or playful enough to break out of what’s essentially three one-third-length comedy shows. –KH
Okay
War Plan Red (Non-fiction, Kevin Lippert, 2015) The subtitle says it all: “The United States’ Secret Plan to Invade Canada and Canada’s Secret Plan to Invade the United States.” Unfortunately, a slapdash treatment of the War of 1812 and various cross-border ructions since in the first two chapters only highlights the superficiality of Lippert’s research when he gets to his main topic. Both the initial brief for U.S. “War Plan RED” and Canada’s “Defence Scheme No. 1” (what’s left of it after the Canadian General Staff ordered it destroyed) appear in an Appendix in the back, at least. –KH
Episode 302: Jack the Riffer
July 20th, 2018 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we look at how the same adversary can play very different roles from one game to the next. Serving as an example is Red Jack, created for Night’s Black Agents but presently contemplating a killing spree in The Yellow King Roleplaying Game.
The Tradecraft Hut examines China’s latest hacking coup against the US, snaffling up 614 gigs of tech specs on the Sea Dragon submarine munitions project.
In the Narrative Hut we weigh the various definitions of the word protagonist, deciding which one of them is the most useful to writers.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine surveys the adjusted timeline that would result from rescuing Polish resistance hero Witold Pilecki from execution by the Soviet-backed regime in 1948.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: A Vietnamese Mole and the Dread Secrets of Telemarketing
July 17th, 2018 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
The Sympathizer (Fiction, Viet Thanh Nguyen, 2015) An erudite revolutionary mole inside the South Vietnamese secret police flees the fall of Saigon with his boss/target, adding American to his list of confusing opposed identities. A big, ambitious, funny and horrifying wallop of a novel, haunted by ghosts and vodka.—RDL
Recommended
Ant-Man and the Wasp (Film, US, Peyton Reed, 2018) Scott Lang (Paul Rudd) risks another prison sentence to help Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and Hank Pym (Michael Douglas) rescue her mother from the quantum zone. It’s not Reed’s fault that the trailers gave away most of the fun, creative impact that shrinking has on chase and fight scenes, but it’s a good thing he has believable, strong villains in illicit supertech dealer Sonny Burch (Walton Goggins) and desperate quantum victim Ghost (Hannah-John Kamen). Charming actors playing good dialogue well in between original, interesting super-fights: what’s not to love? –KH
Coming to My Senses: The Making of a Counterculture Cook (Nonfiction, Alice Waters with Christina Mueller & Bob Carras, 2017) Autobiography follows the future epigone of the local ingredients movement from a buttoned-down 50s upbringing, to Berkeley during the Free Speech movement and the opening of her famous restaurant, Chez Panisse. Unusually readable for a book assembled in the “as told to” format uses plentiful flash-forwards to show us our hero after she becomes the person we’re interested in. Most startling takeaway: Waters’s approach to food happens after she opens Chez Panisse!—RDL
The Good Place Season 2 (Television, US, NBC, Michael Schur, 2018) Not-Good Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) and her confused sort-of-torturer Michael (Ted Danson) zip through afterlife whack-a-mole in a giddy comedy that makes premise threat its premise. If every episode were as glorious as “The Trolley Problem” this would be a solid Pinnacle, but like Eleanor, we must accept its merely being much better than it should be. –KH
The Hardliners (Fiction, William Haggard, 1970) Now retired from the Security Executive, Colonel Russell gets involved when a friend’s father threatens to publish memoirs that could turn Czechoslovakia (never named as such) into a gulag. Personalities, pacing, and a lot of detail about shoes — this is a quintessential Haggard novel complete with ever-tautening plot. Except there is, in fact, some (tsk!) physical action. –KH
The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected) (Film, US, Noah Baumbach, 2017) A lifetime’s tsuris dealing with their oblivious, narcissist artist father (Dustin Hoffman) comes to a head for half-brothers Danny (Adam Sandler) and Matt (Ben Stiller) when they, along with quietly desperate sister Jean try to care for him after a mishap. Funny, unsparing character piece recognizes the fundamental unresolvability of most family conflict.—RDL
Sorry To Bother You (Film, US, Boots Riley, 2018) Skint Oaklander (Lakeith Stanfield) prospers at his new telemarketing job by affecting a white voice, leading him to a bizarre conspiracy. Hilariously biting satire with an initially stoned and dreamy vibe is relevant to KARTAS listener interests in a way the publicity campaign takes care not to spoil.—RDL
Good
The Bad Batch (Film, US, Ana Lily Amanpour, 2017) Exiled into a Mad Max LARP for no discernible reason, Arlen (Suki Waterhouse) loses an arm and a leg to cannibals led by the Miami Man (Jason Momoa) and embarks on a journey to … something? Beautiful and dreamlike (Lyle Vincent’s cinematography kills throughout), but sadly aimless (just like its protagonist) this film succeeds more as an inchoate succession of vivid images, soundscapes, and emotional moments than as, say, a story. –KH
The Revenant (Film, US, Alejandro González Iñárritu, 2015) Frontiersman Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) survives a bear mauling to pursue the truculent expedition member (Tom Hardy) who murdered his son. Visually and aurally awe-inspiring, unnecessarily long parable of religious redemption through mortification of the flesh.—RDL
Okay
Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance (Film, Japan, Toshiya Fujita, 1974) Weary assassin (Meiko Kaji) is saved from the gallows by the secret police and sent to spy on a handsy anarchist (Juzo Itami), but the spirit of righteous vengeance needs only a fresh whiff of gore to reawaken. In lieu of plot obstacles, sidelines its iconic heroine for a very long and unnecessary torture-filled second act.—RDL
The Saint (Film, US, Ernie Barbarash, 2017) Partners in crime Simon Templar (Adam Rayner) and Patricia Holm (Eliza Dushku) chase down a kidnapper (Ian Ogilvy) and $2.5 billion in stolen charity money. Man, did I want to like this, not least for rescuing Patricia Holm from the forgotten pages of Leslie Charteris’ early novels. And man, was this a TV pilot shot in 2013 and not picked up, so nope. Some nice fight choreography and a good heist density can’t rescue clunky delivery, cheap production, and the overstuffed, underwritten cast. –KH
Spielberg (Film, US, Susan Lacy, 2017) Interviews new and archival, plus the requisite beautifully presented film clips, trace the life and filmography of director Steven Spielberg. A film made with the full cooperation of its subject can gesture toward, but not really grapple with, the central question of his wildly inconsistent output.—RDL
Episode 301: Thanks For Knowing We Were Right
July 13th, 2018 | Robin
The Gaming Hut lies at the end of a ten foot corridor this week as Patreon backer Elias Helfer asks us, as paragons of story-driven RPGs, to explain why we think dungeons are awesome.
In Fun With Science we extrapolate a future with affordable carbon reclamation.
With the Over the Edge Kickstarter now in progress, we dig into our vault of interviews from last year’s Gen Con to chat with Jonathan Tweet in Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else.
If someone tells you their favorite esoteric writer is Julius Evola, you just heard your cue to back away slowly. The Consulting Occultist is here to tell you why.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger is Kickstarting now!
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Incredibles, Ant-Man and Southern Werewolves
July 10th, 2018 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
The Pinnacle
Incredibles 2 (Film, US, Brad Bird, 2018) Elasti-Girl (Holly Hunter) and Mr. Incredible (Craig T. Nelson) switch domestic roles when she becomes the face of a tech mogul’s (Bob Odenkirk) attempt to restore the public image of superheroes. Literally everything works here, from Bird’s writing to the beyond-state-of-the-art action sequences, but special kudos to Michael Giacchino’s score, which perfectly homages spy-fi soundtracks of yore while kicking the animation into over-overdrive. Maybe it doesn’t aim super-high, but replicating a Pinnacle fourteen years later remains pretty incredible. –KH
Recommended
Ant-Man and the Wasp (Film, US, Peyton Reed, 2017) With hours left in his house arrest, Scott (Paul Rudd) agrees to help erstwhile partner Hope (Evangeline Lilly) and ever-truculent quasi-mentor Hank (Michael Douglas) recover her mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) from the quantum zone. The comic banter between the engaging cast of this warm and generous romp is so deceptively loose and fun—which is to say, precisely and painstakingly timed—that it’s almost a drag when the plot galumphs in to interrupt it.—RDL
The Endless (Film, US, Justin Benson & Aaron Moorhead, 2018) Two brothers (Benson and Moorhead) who escaped from a “UFO death cult” a decade ago return to it after receiving a mysterious videotape. Slow (but never easy) burn starts with family drama, escalates to weirdness, and achieves cosmic horror by the end, ably abetted by Jimmy Lavalle’s creepy electronic score. –KH
GLOW Season 2 (Television, US, Netflix, Liz Flahive and Carly Mensch, 2018) Ruth’s eagerness to add her input to the show bruises her friendship with Sam; Debbie channels divorce rage into her new role as producer. Nary a sophomore season slackening in sight as the the writing swerves around obvious choices as expands its always-sympathetic attention to the rich cast of supporting characters.—RDL
The King and the Chorus Girl (Film, US, Mervyn LeRoy, 1937) The aunt (Mary Nash) and chief aristocratic attendant (Edward Everett Horton) to a young deposed king encourage an American showgirl (Joan Blondell) to rouse him from his alcoholic despond by resisting his romantic overtures. Charming light romantic comedy gains extra crackle from a script by Norman Krasna and Groucho Marx.—RDL
Mongrels (Fiction, Stephen Graham Jones, 2016) Teen grows up on the run in the hardscrabble rural south, protected by his impulsive uncle and survival-hardened aunt, both werewolves. Rich, evocative family story told with the structures and techniques of literary fiction in which an extensively extrapolated set of lycanthrope rules becomes part of the realist texture .—RDL
Good
Archer: Danger Island (Television, US, FXX, Adam Reed, 2018) The latest run of Archer seasons swaps in multi-episode story arcs for the procedural nonsense that marked earlier years, to the general detriment of comedic density: time spent advancing a plot is time not spent making drunken sex jokes. This season sets the show’s cast, suitably rejiggered, in a 1938 Pacific air adventure serial that shows Reed’s love for the material, but again shorts the rapid-fire comedy. –KH
Okay
Legion Season 2 (Television, US, FX, Noah Hawley, 2018) As David Haller (Dan Stevens) sort-of races the Shadow King (Navid Negahban) to the latter’s body, he questions everything about his quest. If anything the shots this season are more gorgeously inventive than ever, so it’s a shame Hawley lards the season with story side trails and literally sophomoric explorations into pop cogsci and pop ethics. Maybe “we know nothing” isn’t the best spine for a series narrative, especially when almost nobody can act well enough to earn viewer sympathy. The show quotes The Who a lot, so I will, too: “Why should I care?” –KH
Not Recommended
RocknRolla (Film, UK, Guy Ritchie, 2008) Betrayals, scams and side hustles ripple outward from a crooked real estate deal brokered by a bullying thug (Tom Wilkinson.) Without a throughline a screenplay is just a series of incidents, in this case not especially compelling ones. Kudos to the casting director; you sure couldn’t assemble this cast on crime flick budget today.—RDL
Episode 300: LIGHTNING RO-O-O-O-O-O-OUND
July 6th, 2018 | Robin
It’s been 300 installments, just a smidge shy of six years, and longtime listeners and backers know what that means. Time for another episode-length Lightning Round, as we provide uncharacteristically snappy As to Qs about games, beverages, monsters, bees and the ever-proverbial so much more.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
The island of Al Amarja may have moved from its classic 1990s location, but don’t be fooled. Over the Edge is indeed back, with Jonathan Tweet updating his classic and influential game design. Get ready to duck New Age cultists, baboon-wielding gangsters, twisted assassins when the roleplaying game of weird modern danger hits Kickstarter on July 10th.
Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available for preorder from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agent hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.
Grab the translated riches of FENIX magazine in a special bundle deal from our friends at Askfageln, over at Indie Press Revolution. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, a cornucopia of articles, complete games, plus the cartoon antics of Bernard the Barbarian. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish.
Just in time to save the world, though perhaps not your team of hardened covert agents, from the Mythos, the Delta Green Handlers Guide from Arc Dream Publishing is now in print and either at or headed to a game store near you. The slipcase print edition includes both the Handlers’ Guide and Agents’ Handbook, fitting snugly into your go bag along with your extra passports and list of weapons caches.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: With Cate You Only Need Eight
July 3rd, 2018 | Robin
Ken and Robin Consume Media is brought to you by the discriminating and good-looking backers of the Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff Patreon. Each week we provide capsule reviews of the books, movies, TV seasons and more we cram into our hyper-analytical sensoriums. Join the Patreon to help pick the items we’ll talk about in greater depth on a little podcast segment we like to call Tell Me More.
Recommended
The Big Clock (Fiction, Kenneth Fearing, 1946) Considerably darker than the film version (q.v.), and as a result more believable in its plot action. Multiple viewpoints slow tension but also provide verisimilitude. Fearing’s weird digressions jazz up the novel like his ever-chiming “big clock” metaphor mostly doesn’t. –KH
The Newburgh Sting (Film, US, David Heilbroner and Kate Davis, 2014) Documentary unwinds a 2009 case in which an FBI informant recruited four small-time criminals from a poverty-wracked African-American community into a terror plot for the government to triumphantly bust. Interweaves interviews with government surveillance footage to clarify a complex story. For those doing the math, yep, the FBI head who appears for a celebratory victory lap before a Congressional committee is none other than Robert Mueller.—RDL
Ocean’s 8 (Film, US, Gary Ross, 2018) Debbie Ocean (Sandra Bullock) gets out of prison, reunites with her sidekick Lou (Cate Blanchett) and recruits a crew for an impossible heist during which many things seem to go wrong but either they didn’t or the crew fixes them on the fly. Yep, it’s an Ocean’s movie! (Minus the editing, which is a little slack, leading to a more toothless feel.) Daniel Pemberton does a great job shifting David Holmes’ cool jazz toward funk, and everyone is fun to watch, especially Anne Hathaway as the biggest Anne Hathaway ever. –KH
The Villainess (Film, Jeong Byeong-Gil, South Korea, 2017) A shadowy government agency retrains an already bad-ass assassin, but a complex web of bloody betrayals still waits to ensnare her. Wild, hyper-violent action sequences bookend a twisty, chronologically fractured narrative.—RDL
Good
The Big Clock (Film, US, John Farrow, 1948) Crime editor George Stroud (Ray Milland) winds up the intended patsy for a murder committed by his tyrannical publisher Earl Janoth (Charles Laughton), who unwittingly assigns Stroud to track himself down. After the idiot plot maneuvers Stroud into position, the tense self-manhunt propels the last two thirds of the film, juiced by Laughton’s delightful mannered cruelty and a screwball turn by Elsa Lanchester as an eccentric painter. –KH
Chains (Film, Italy, Raffaello Matarazzo, 1949) Garage owner’s wife conceals from her husband the efforts of her ex-fiancee, now a caddish car thief, to win her back. Noir-tinged melodrama loses steam when its third act turn switches to a less compelling conflict.—RDL
Legion Season 2 (Television, FX, Noah Hawley, 2018) Now working for the anti-mutant agency he used to fight, David loses his grip on reality and his moral bearings as he pursues the Shadow King. The most visually inventive season of TV ever shot burrows so deeply into subjective reality—not to mention time travel and alternate realities—that it’s often impossible not just to know what is happening, but what one wants to see happen.—RDL
The Powder Barrel (Fiction, William Haggard, 1965) Colonel Russell of the Security Executive must deal with a too-independent Chinese agent trying to kill the Foreign Secretary and destabilize a fragile British oil protectorate. Like the best Haggard thrillers, this one turns on personalities, but Haggard’s normally tight control of the plot seems a little stop-and-start in this one. –KH
Not Recommended
Historical Atlas of Ancient Mesopotamia (Nonfiction, Norman Bancroft Hunt, 2004) Although the mix of maps and archaeological plans scants historical continuity in favor of snapshot cultural views, I would be inclined to call it Okay or even Good if the text didn’t contain several considerable errors of fact. Most notably to our listeners, Hunt confuses Mithridates II of Parthia with Mithridates VI of Pontus. –KH