May « 2019 « Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff

Archive for May, 2019

Episode 346: Everybody’s Limbs are Still On

May 31st, 2019 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut, Patreon backer Hyperlexic asks Robin to elucidate the core pleasures of RuneQuest.

The History Hut finds us obeying the commands of backer Antti Elomaa to get to the bottom of Britain’s 1939 pet massacre.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with segments from our Robert W. Chambers and King in Yellow Mythos panels at Carcosa Con.

Finally in the Eliptony Hut we look at the bio-energetic theories of renegade Russian crank scientist Lev Gumilyov.

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Over the Edge, the twisted game of counter-culture conspiracy, returns in a completely remagined edition by its original creator, Jonathan Tweet. Grab it wherever fine Atlas Games are sold, on June 1st.

Ken’s latest roleplaying game, The Fall of Delta Green, is now available in print or PDF or both from Pelgrane Press. Journey to the head-spinning chaos of the late 1960s, back when everyone’s favorite anti-Cthulhu special ops agency hadn’t gone rogue yet, for this pulse-pounding GUMSHOE game of war, covert action, and Mythos horror.

The treasures of Askfageln can be found at DriveThruRPG. Get all issues of FENIX since 2013 available in special English editions. Score metric oodles of Ken Hite gaming goodness, along with equally stellar pieces by Graeme Davis and Pete Nash. Warning: in English, not in Swedish. In English, not Swedish. While you’re at it, grab DICE and Freeway Warrior!

Arc Dream Publishing presents a gorgeous new edition of Robert W. Chambers’ The King in Yellow, a deluxe hardback in delightful faux snakeskin, with a foreword by John Scott Tynes, annotations by our own Kenneth Hite, and stunning full-pate color illustrations by Samuel Araya. Grab it while it lasts in the Arc Dream store.

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Tags: britain, CarcosaCon, Eliptony Hut, Gaming hut, History Hut, Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, King in Yellow, Lev Gumilev, Pet Massacre, Robert W. Chambers, RuneQuest, russia, soviet union, World War II, Yellow Mythos

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Ken and Robin Consume Media: Gunslingers Old and New

May 28th, 2019 | 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 Flash Season 5 (Television, US, CW, Todd Helbing, 2018-2019) Barry and Iris adjust to having an adult superhero daughter from the future (Jessica Parker Kennedy) as they hunt the metahuman-murdering Cicada. Some early awkward schtick aside, this season locks into the series tone early and stays in it, lobbing in a few twists on the Big Bad trope along the way.—RDL

The Inventor: Out for Blood in Silicon Valley (Film, US, Alex Gibney, 2019) Armed with copious behind-the-scenes footage, documentary recounts the story of fraudulent Silicon Valley blood-testing company Theranos and its heartstring-tugging, oddball CEO, Elizabeth Holmes. The film shines in its character study of Holmes, showing the spell a fragile, self-caricurating personality can cast on hosts of putatively smart, high-status people.—RDL

Mission Impossible: Fallout (Film, US, Christopher McQuarrie, 2018) Ethan and crew hunt plutonium bomb cores stolen by an old nemesis’ apostles. Demonstrates a deep understanding of iconic hero storytelling, drawing its thrills and twists strictly from the franchise’s core elements.—RDL

Our Betters (Film, US, George Cukor, 1933) Wising up fast after a British Lord marries her for her money, an American heiress (Constance Bennett) becomes a dominating force in the social scene. Most filmed stage adaptations date terribly, but Cukor’s legendary ability to modulate actors’ performances finds the humanity behind the characters’ archness. Original by Somerset Maugham.—RDL

The Villainess (Film, Jeong Byeong-Gil, South Korea, 2017) Trained killer for the Yanbian crime syndicate Sook-hee (Kim Ok-bin) gets a second life — as a trained killer for the Korean government, but her past (Shin Ha-kyun) comes back hard. The trail of hyperviolent action and reaction (and the themes of agency and its loss) connects an almost-too-fractured narrative. A double La Femme Nikita adds up to another triumph for South Korean action cinema. –KH

Good

DC’s Legends of Tomorrow Season 4 (Television, US, CW, Phil Klemmer, 2018-2019) The crew’s new mission to capture escaped supernatural creatures dovetails with Constantine’s struggle against a vengeful demon. Cheerfully digs into its grab-bag nature, being somehow a show mostly devoted to goofball comedy that somehow also has a credible version of John Constantine in it.—RDL

John Wick Chapter 3: Parabellum (Film, US, Chad Stahelski, 2019) Now “excommunicado” and an open target for New York’s zillion assassins, super-killer John Wick (Keanu Reeves) attempts to escape long enough to atone for his crime. Blessed by another clutch of superb action scenes, honoring everyone from the Shaw Brothers to Sergio Leone, production-designed to a glorious fare-thee-well by Kevin Kavanaugh — it’s still an essentially pointless side quest. –KH

The Left-Handed Gun (Film, US, Arthur Penn, 1958) Young gunfighter William Bonney (Paul Newman) avenges the death of his boss but alienates his friend Pat Garrett (John Dehner). Gore Vidal’s source teleplay attempts to depict Billy the Kid as a holy fool, but as filmed we get more of a manchild sociopath; both Vidal and Penn mix in a hearty dose of sublimated homosexuality to boot. Still worth watching as psychological document, and as early Paul Newman. –KH

Origin Story (Film, US, Kulap Vilaysack, 2019) Decades after learning of his existence in a childhood argument with her mother, comedy producer and podcaster Vilaysack goes to Laos in search of her biological father. Despite a few strained narrative devices, the emotional layers of its journey into familial truth resonate deeply.—RDL

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Episode 345: Go Talk to Some Other Trees

May 24th, 2019 | Robin

We enter the Gaming Hut pursued by powerful patrons as backer Remi Permann seeks help importing 13th Age icons to other games.

In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken chats with Nathan Paoletta, designer of such games The World Wide Wrestling RPG, Annalise, and his latest, the Poe-inspired Imp of the Perverse, now on preorder.

Then Ken and Robin Recycle Audio with the second part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, this time focusing on his story “The Repairer of Reputations.”

Finally we put Ken’s Time Machine into service in an attempt to prevent Justinian from closing the Neoplatonic Academy.

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.

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Tags: 13th Age, Byzantine Empire, Gaming hut, Icons, Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken's Time Machine, Nathan Paoletta, Neoplatonic Academy, Repairer of Reputations, Robert W. Chambers

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Ken and Robin Consume Media: Somebody Just Wanted the Heck Outta Dubrovnik

May 21st, 2019 | Robin

Mapping the Heavens: The Radical Scientific Ideas That Reveal the Cosmos (Nonfiction, Priyamvada Natarajan, 2016) Astrophysicist surveys the discoveries that upended the field, from the heliocentric solar system to the expanding universe, black holes, dark matter, universal acceleration and beyond. Illuminates not only these key concepts, but the changes in the structures of institutions of science that determine the speed with which new understandings are dismissed or adopted.—RDL

Men in War (Film, US, Anthony Mann, 1957) Weary lieutenant (Robert Ryan) attempting to get his dwindling platoon back to base commandeers the Jeep a brutally savvy sergeant (Aldo Ray) is using to drive his catatonic Colonel. Spare, fatalistic war drama shares a hardboiled spirit with Mann’s westerns.—RDL

The Rider (Film, US, Chloe Zhao, 2017) A severe head injury leaves a young Lakota rodeo rider (Brady Jandreau) wondering if he can continue in the sport he defines himself around. Gorgeously shot, perfectly modulated slice-of-life drama features a cast of community members as versions of themselves.—RDL

Viva (Film, US, Anna Biller, 2007) Frustrated housewife seeks (Biller) sexual adventure after her husband storms out on her, leading to encounters with a succession of skeevy lotharios. Satirical feminist script-flipping of early 70s sexploitation flicks commits utterly to its stylistic pastiche, from zowie color palette to lovingly sly set decoration to period-specific stilted line delivery.—RDL

Good

Castle Skull (Fiction, John Dickson Carr, 1931) Detective Henri Bencolin arrives at Castle Skull, where actor Myron Allison has been burned alive. Early Carr attempts something like a “cozy Gothic” and unsurprisingly hits the rocks between the two subgenres. Flashes of brilliance and grue foreshadow Carr’s genius, though. –KH

Heaven’s Gate Director’s Cut (Film, US, Michael Cimino, 1980/2012) As wealthy cattle magnates in 1890s Wyoming organize death squads to wipe out recent immigrants, a town sheriff with patrician roots (Kris Kristofferson) and a rustler-killing ranch foreman (Christopher Walken) vie for the independence-minded brothel proprietor (Isabelle Huppert) who loves them both. In its restored, director-approved form, the film whose commercial failure killed the American New Wave registers as neither bomb nor masterpiece, but a grandiose and almost oppressively beautiful visual work bogged down by its inability to compress any scene.—RDL

Okay

Arrow (Television, US, CW, Beth Schwartz, 2018-2019) A stint in prison for Oliver and flashes of Star City’s grim future provide the backdrop for a new challenge to the Queen legacy from a copycat archer. Arrow’s core formula, with its time-jumping structure and tortured hero is tougher to reiterate than most, as this effort to throw new genres into the mix demonstrates.—RDL

The Mischief Makers (Fiction, William Haggard, 1982) The Security Executive calls in retired Colonel Russell to consult on a load of Algerian weapons and a brewing race riot. Haggard gets his head back around the plot, and one or two characters show the old flash, but the author is tired and lets his politics drive story once or four times too often. –KH

Ire-Inspiring

Game of Thrones Season 8 (Television, US, HBO, David Benioff and D. B. Weiss, 2019) The Daenerys/Northern Alliance decides the fate of Westeros in final battles against the Night King and Cersei. The question posed by the final season was whether the show would disappoint by sticking to its original revisionist ethos, or by turning suddenly aspirational. Gobsmackingly, it to splits the difference and does both! Misconceived ideas, ill executed.—RDL

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Episode 344: Moses Does a Heel Turn

May 17th, 2019 | Robin

The Gaming Hut looks at the task of assembling a game’s skill list.

In the Cinema Hut Patreon backer Andrew Miller observes the North American launch of the Criterion Channel by asking for a 101 on its treasures.

Ken and Robin Recycle Audio presents the first part of our Robert W. Chambers panel from Carcosa Con, dealing with the writer and his influences.

At the behest of Patreon backer Rafael Pabst, we open the Book Hut to look at printer Jacob Ilive and his Blibical forgery, the Book of Jasher, as influenced by Astro-Theology.

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.

Atlas Games’ Godsforge lets you get your wizard battle on. Roll, reroll, and combine dice to summon creations and cast spells as you struggle to be the last sorcerer standing…or at least leave a good-looking, conical-hatted corpse.

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Tags: Book hut, Book of Jasher, CarcosaCon, Cinema hut, Criterion 101, forgery, Gaming hut, Jacob Ilive, Ken and Robin Recycle Audio, Robert W. Chambers, skill lists

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Ken and Robin Consume Media: Grayscale Martial Arts, a Teenage Witch, and the Roots of Cinematic Criminal Profiling

May 14th, 2019 | Robin

The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina Part 2 (Television, US, Netflix, Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa, 2019) Sabrina’s full-time attendance at the Academy puts her on a collision course with High Priest Blackwood and his plans to remake the Church of Night in his misogynistic image. In an age of binge shows that sag in the middle, this provides a model in which discrete episodes with beginnings, middles and ends steadily escalate an overall story arc.—RDL

Shadow (Film, China, Zhang Yimou, 2019) In legendary China (vaguely based on the Three Kingdoms era), a wounded swordsman trains and manipulates his double (both Deng Chao) to reclaim a prize city and defeat an unworthy king (Zheng Kai). Sheerly gorgeous production design and fight choreography more than justify simplistic characters and arbitrary plotting. –KH

The Sniper (Film, US, Edward Dmytryk, 1952) Self-loathing misogynist (Arthur Franz) targets women in a serial shooting spree, stymying San Francisco police. Establishing a pattern that we now consider a staple, this disturbing crime drama focuses on realistic criminal pathology, with results appallingly relevant to the present.—RDL

The Train (Film, US, John Frankenheimer, 1963) As the Allies approach Paris, a railway station manager covertly working for the Resistance (Burt Lancaster) reluctantly spearheads an effort to stop a culture-loving German colonel (Paul Scofield) from shipping a train full of modern art masterpieces to Berlin. High-contrast black and white lends grim weight to this taut wartime procedural thriller.—RDL

Good

The Fate of Lee Khan (Film, HK, King Hu, 1973) Rebels against the Yuan Dynasty set up an inn on the borderlands to steal a military map from a royal official. Mostly intrigue and on a single set, leading to a big final battle, featuring Hu’s classicism if not his sublimity. Recycles the premise of Hu’s Dragon Inn (1967.) Newly restored.—RDL

The Killer Collective (Fiction, Barry Eisler, 2019) Mostly retired assassin John Rain assembles his allies to help fellow Eisler protagonist and Seattle cop Livia Lone break open a very protected child porn ring. Do too many badasses spoil the soup? The thriller beats are all there with a couple of good ambushes to boot, but the core John Rain pleasure — the expert, detailed hit — is missing. –KH

Okay

Raw (Film, France, Julia Ducournau, 2017) Brilliant student’s first year at a veterinary college is marred by intensive hazing of freshman and her descent from vegetarianism to a hunger for human flesh. Absolutely brilliant in its intense and disturbing imagery—until, like so many European genre exercises, it has no third act, instead concluding with an abrupt twist that invalidates everything that precedes it.—RDL

Sorceress (Film, France, Pamela Berger and Suzanne Schiffman, 1987) Dispatched to a small village to hunt heretics, a 13th century friar (Tchéky Karyo) fixates on the local supplier of healing herbs (Christine Boisson.) Gentle moral fable’s attempts to evoke historical authenticity founder on its misconceptions of medieval witch- and heretic-hunting.—RDL

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Episode 343: I’m a Baron and Classy

May 10th, 2019 | Robin

Patreon backer Jacob Ansari collars us in the Gaming Hut to ask about running alternate history games.

The Tradecraft Hut looks at the February raid on Madrid’s North Korean embassy by the Free Joseon organization.

In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else we chat with Mark Morrison, stalwart Call of Cthulhu contributor and the mind behind Campaign Coins, wresting from him the secrets of convention GMing. Warning, parents: Includes a few swears.

Then we head to the History Hut for a look at Baron Franz Nopcsa, openly gay aristocrat, spy, geologist, paleontologist and aspiring King of Albania.

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.

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Tags: Albania, alternate history RPGs, Franz Nopsca, Free Joseon, Gaming hut, History Hut, Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Madrid embassy raid, Mark Morrison, North Korea, paleontology, Tradecraft Hut

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Ken and Robin Consume Media: Black and White and Red All Over

May 7th, 2019 | Robin

The Pinnacle

Shadow (Film, China, Zhang Yimou, 2019) In defiance of his king (Zheng Kai), a commoner (Deng Chao) trained to pose as a secretly wounded general prepares for deadly and politically destabilizing duel. Stately court intrigue lays the groundwork for stunningly executed, outlandish action. Stunning grayscale production design, with some red showing up at the end for obvious reasons. —RDL Seen at TIFF’18; now in North American theatrical release.

Avengers: Endgame (Film, US, Joe and Anthony Russo, 2019) The Avengers, et al. (Robert Downey Jr., et al.) attempt to reverse Thanos’ (Josh Brolin) destruction of half the life in the universe. In a film longer, but less draggy, than Infinity War, the Russos deploy effective character beats to (mostly) successfully (mostly) land character and story arcs from 21 earlier films. With no great fight scenes and an only somewhat-better-than-average CGI battle, the film still works on its own terms. Recommended for fans of the MCU, which let’s face it, we all are. –KH

Avengers: Endgame (Film, US, Joe and Anthony Russo, 2019) Earth’s remaining superheroes, plus a spare alien or two, look for ways to undo Thanos’ elimination of half the universe’s population. Less a film than three very different, ultra-expensive TV shows laid end to end, this delivers valedictory character moments amid a recursive meta-commentary on the uber-franchise it putatively concludes.—RDL

The Founder (Film, US, John Lee Hancock, 2016) Ray Kroc (Michael Keaton) discovers the McDonalds (Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch) and takes their fast food system national. Terrific acting by Keaton, Offerman, and Lynch pull this tale of “greed makes good” up from mere biopic to something closer to the gangster film. Still a little messy, but with the kinds of flaws that wind up adding wrinkles rather than ruining story. –KH

The Human Factor (Fiction, Graham Greene, 1978) A mole hunt closes in on an MI6 Africa analyst compromised by his past as a field agent in Apartheid-era South Africa. Character-driven spy thriller remains firmly in the realm of the plausible .—RDL

Non-Fiction (Film, France, Olivier Assayas, 2019) Shop talk and debate about the digital future of the book industry act as the text for a publisher (Guillaume Canet), his wife (Juliette Binoche) a novelist (Vincent Macaigne), and their circle, with infidelity the subtext. Affectionate satire of the intelligentsia is formally conventional except for one factor—having its people talk about the things they would actually talk about.—RDL Seen at TIFF’18; now in North American theatrical release.

The Sorceress of the Strand (Fiction, L.T. Meade and Robert Eustace, 1903) The brilliant beautifier, Madame Sara, plots murder and theft in six short stories. Conventional Edwardian prose (and dull detectives) can’t obscure the superb femme fatale villain or her ingenious plots. A quick, delightful read. –KH

Supernatural Season 14 (Television, US, CW, Andrew Dabb & Robert Singer, 2018-2019) As Sam Dean battle the sinister alternate-world archangel Michael, something is up with their nephilim ward Jack. The penultimate season of genre TV’s marathon running show summons a fresh, double switcheroo to vary its structural template.—RDL

A Quiet Place (Film, US, John Krasinski, 2018) In the wake of a monsterpocalypse, a man (Krasinski) and his pregnant wife (Emily Blunt) struggle to protect their son and daughter from alien creatures that hunt by sound location. 50s monster invasion tropes updated with slow burn pacing, as a metaphor for the fragility of the contemporary American family.—RDL

Good

Cats on Film (Nonfiction, Anne Billson, 2017) A fun catalogue of 100 cat-centric and cat-jacent films sorted into categories based on their feline content: Catzillas, Cataphors, etc. Billson’s range is wide, covering plenty of non-Anglophone films, occasionally in the form of short fictions (“My Day by Jones”). Cat lovers and film lovers will both get something from it, but should expect only skritches and not meat. –KH

Last Hurrah for Chivalry (Film, Hong Kong, John Woo, 1979) Nobleman wounded in a wedding day massacre enlists a swordsman and a drifter to seek vengeance on his enemy. Initially plays like a standard martial arts flick of the era, then introduces the themes of comradeship and romantic fatalism Woo will fully realize in his later heroic bloodshed films.—RDL

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Episode 342: Traduced By Raisins

May 3rd, 2019 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut Patreon backer Jake asks us how to portray a character modeled on Janet Armstrong in a NASA adventure series.

We dust off the long-disused Politics Hut so that Ken can give us an update on Chicago politics.

The Food Hut looks at Canada’s iconic desserts, as selected for a series of stamps from Canada Post, including a look at the resulting Nanaimo Bar controversy.

The Eliptony Hut provides refuge to Puerto Rico’s latest chupacabra variant, the perhaps humanoid, perhaps animalistic, perhaps winged Gárgola de Barceloneta.

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.