Archive for June, 2023
- 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|
Episode 554: The Best Way to Annoy a Husband
June 30th, 2023 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we look at a common GMing pitfall, which we like to call the Case of the Tight-lipped Informant.
The Tradecraft Hut opens the dossier on 18th century antiquarian and spy Philipp von Stosch.
Installment 22 of the Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series finds us in the mid 90s.
Finally beloved Patreon backer Lauberfen shimmies over to the Eliptony Hut for the lowdown on dancing plagues.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Asteroid City, M3GAN, Magic Mike, and a Noirish Giallo
June 27th, 2023 | 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
Asteroid City (Film, US, Wes Anderson, 2023) In a movie within a live TV recreation of a play, a numbed war photographer (Jason Schwartzman) takes his kids to a science fair award presentation in a crater-side desert motel. The discombobulations of the post-pandemic era permeate Anderson’s most direct, yet paradoxically most layered, examination of artifice as a containment vessel for overwhelming emotion, from the thunderbolt of first love to the shoals of grief.—RDL
Recommended
Magic Mike’s Last Dance (Film, US, Steven Soderbergh, 2023) A down-on-his-luck Mike Lane (Channing Tatum) agrees to assist a rich imminent divorcee (Salma Hayek) in a revenge scheme to transform a staid period play into a male stripper extravaganza. Cheekily proceeding as if they have heard of but not seen their original film, the director and screenwriter genre-shift it into a backstage musical, and vehicle for Soderbergh’s offbeat cool.—RDL
M3gan (Film, US, Gerard Johnstone, 2023) Tightly wound toy designer (Allison Williams) bonds with her newly adopted, orphaned niece by bringing her into the development of her latest project, an AI-driven robot doll. Topical Frankenstein riff plugs into the satirical spirit of 90s SF cinema and outputs a new horror icon.—RDL
Zigeunerweisen (Film, Japan, Seijun Suzuki, 1980) Id meets superego in Taisho-era Japan, as a pall of haunted weirdness hangs over the friendship and loves of a repressed academic (Kisako Makishi) and a brusque nonconformist (Yosho Harada.) Placidly surreal ghost story perched on the threshold between wakefulness and dream.—RDL
Good
The True Adventures of Raoul Walsh (Film, US, Marilyn Ann Moss, 2014) Documentary profile of the charming roughneck whose prodigious filmography includes such classics as White Heat, High Sierra, and The Roaring Twenties, anchored by extensive voiceover drawn from the subject’s autobiography.—RDL
Who Saw Her Die? (Film, Italy, Aldo Lado, 1972) When his daughter becomes the latest victim of an obsessed killer, sculptor Franco Serpieri (George Lazenby) investigates corrupt Venetian society. Moodier, with a fogbound noir feel, and far less lurid than other giallo, this almost seems like an inspiration for Nicolas Roeg’s 1973 Pinnacle Don’t Look Now. Ennio Morricone’s literal killer theme is another standout element. —KH
Okay
The Mummy (Film, US, Alex Kurtzman, 2017) Not-particularly-lovable rogue Nick (Tom Cruise) opens the tomb of Egyptian princess Ahmanet (Sophia Boutella), awakening her mummy and interfering with the plans of Henry Jekyll (Russell Crowe). Two not-objectively-terrible ideas for films clash here, a horror movie and an action romp, but the end result is far less than the sum of its parts. A few strong vistas and good production design indicate where the money not spent on endless rewrites went. –KH
Episode 553: They Get a Really Great Poem Out of It
June 23rd, 2023 | Robin
Beloved Patreon backer Ryan McClelland ventures into our seedy, low rent Gaming Hut to ask how Sam Spade’s monkeywrenching style of investigation fits in GUMSHOE.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Somebody Else, Ken talks to Improv for Gamers author Karen Twelves.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Cinema Essentials series makes the turn from the 80s into the 90s, starting with a duo of cool dudes who know their way around a time machine.
Speaking of chrono-conveyances, Ken’s Time Machine heads back to the 980s to see what our hero can do about a series of devastating Vikings raids.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Waggle your tiny clawed arms in delight! The 5E edition of Planegea, Atlas Games’ setting of primordial fantasy wonder, has arrived. Whether you’re a saurian or shimmering, dreamwalking elf, you’ll want to grab the campaign setting book, as well as accessories like the GM screen, adventures, soundtrack, and deluxe boxed edition while that meteor remains safely in the sky above.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: The Flash, DC Super-Pets, and Thai Penanggalan Romance
June 20th, 2023 | 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
Carlos (Television, France/Germany, Canal+, Olivier Assayas, 2010) Aspiring terrorist commander Ilich Ramirez (Edgar Ramirez) takes the code name ‘Carlos’ as he rises to celebrity in the 1970s. Assayas plays the standard biopic story – big dreams, meteoric ascent, hubris, fall – under a syncopated thriller beat in three long episodes peaking with the bravura Episode 2 hijacking of the OPEC summit in Vienna. Edgar Ramirez wonderfully inhabits the arrogant, charismatic blowhard with an inner conviction that fools himself and sometimes even the viewer. –KH
DC League of Super-Pets (Film, US, Jared Stern, 2022) After eating green kryptonite, Superman’s dog Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) must lead a team of shelter pets empowered by orange kryptonite against Luthor’s former guinea pig Lulu (Kate McKinnon). A sweet story interspersed with plenty of cool fights, with a more-distinct-than-normal animation style: seems like a good recipe for a superhero movie. Standouts include McKinnon (of course) and Keanu Reeves’ pitch-perfect petulant Batman. Kudos for including the Golden Age Flash’s old backup feature Merton the turtle (a wonderful Natasha Lyonne), and I assume Streaky has been saved for the sequel. –KH
Donbass (Film, Ukraine, Sergei Loznitsa, 2018) Vignettes depict Eastern Ukraine’s descent during the 2014 separatist war into a grotesque version of everyday life intermittently interrupted by checkpoints, shakedowns and artillery barrages. Pitiless long takes portray a society coarsened by conflict and threadbare jingoism.—RDL
Inhuman Kiss (Film, Thailand, Sitisiri Mongkolsiri, 2019) In wartime rural Thailand, a nurse’s assistant (Phantira Pipityakorn) who ought to be deciding between her two potential boyfriends instead worries she’s turning into a krasue, the local cousin to the penanggalan. Impeccably localized horror romance provides much-needed representation for cephalic monsters.—RDL
Our Twisted Hero (Film, South Korea, Jong-Won Park, 1992) A man recalls the year he spent as the new kid in a rural school under his fifth grade class president’s bullying tyranny. Emotionally potent political allegory features Choi Min-Sik as an idealistic teacher.—RDL
Good
Fifth Avenue Girl (Film, US, Gregory La Cava, 1939) A sweet-natured industrialist (Walter Connolly) shakes up his neglectful family by installing a straight-talking gal (Ginger Rogers) in his household as an apparent paramour. Agreeable shot at turning the director’s earlier hit My Man Godfrey into a repeatable formula.—RDL
Operation Fortune: Ruse de Guerre (Film, US, Guy Ritchie, 2023) Mastermind Nathan Jasmine (Cary Elwes) assembles a team led by superspy Orson Fortune (Jason Statham) to recover “the Handle” from sleazy arms-dealing billionaire Greg Simmonds (Hugh Grant). This intermittently fun flick feels exactly like somebody hired Guy Ritchie to make the fourth installment/soft reboot of a failing spy franchise. Hugh Grant and Aubrey Plaza (as the new hacker on the team) alternate stealing scenes, and Jason Statham hits people in well-lit exotic locations. (Mostly their throats.) –KH
Okay
The Flash (Film, US, Andy Muschietti, 2023) Against Bruce Wayne’s (Ben Affleck) advice, a traumatized Barry Allen (Ezra Miller) decides to run back in time and change history to save his own parents, but instead creates a timeline with no superheroes but Batman (Michael Keaton). Never has a movie run away from its interesting premise this fast, taking refuge in arbitrary ever-changing time travel rules rather than confront the question it purports to ask. Ezra Miller’s acting against Ezra Miller (as the other timeline’s younger goofier Allen) is actually good, but of course it’s wasted in pursuit of a nonsense dilemma. Despite the truly godawful CGI, Keaton and Sasha Calle as Supergirl narrowly bash this morass into Okay territory. –KH
Yaksha: Ruthless Operations (Film, South Korea, Hyeon Na, 2022) Seeking a career comeback, an unyielding prosecutor (Park Hae-soo) accepts a mission to travel to a spy-ridden Chinese industrial town to report back to NIS HQ on a team of rogue agents headed by a no-shits-given veteran black operative (Sol Kyung-gu.) Slick but passionless action thriller brings back the Japanese as default villains.—RDL
Not Recommended
The Mad Miss Manton (Film, US, Leigh Jason, 1938) Aided by a gaggle of fellow daffy socialites, a rich prankster (Barbara Stanwyck) sleuths a murder case, to the smitten consternation of a handsome newspaperman (Henry Fonda.) Six screenwriters broke from what I presume to be heavy martini consumption to quickly dash off the script’s nonthreatening hijinks.—RDL
Episode 552: Worse Hats
June 16th, 2023 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut we suggest ways to design your player character backstory to make you a premise accepter.
Learn with Ken as Among My Many Hats discusses his upcoming online adult education course “H.P. Lovecraft: Maker of Modern Horror,” available Thursdays in July through Signum University.
The Cinema Hut Science Fiction Essentials series reaches installment 20, and the late eighties, starting in a jungle stalked by an invisible alien hunter.
Finally beloved Patreon backer Gerald Sears wants the Consulting Occultist to tell him what happened to occultism in America in the 40s and 50s.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Early Michelle Yeoh, Renfair Bikers, and Keanu Breaking It Down
June 13th, 2023 | 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
Apples (Film, Greece, Christos Nikou, 2020) Withdrawn man (Aris Servitalis) undergoes a series of exercises designed to individuate victims of an amnesia pandemic. Deadpan fable of isolation and grief puts a gentler spin on the absurdism of the Greek Weird Wave..—RDL
The Art of Action Episodes 45 & 46: Keanu Reeves (Web Series, UK, Scott Adkins, 2023) Martial arts actor Adkins takes his John Wick Chapter Four scene partner through an in-depth retrospective of his action work from Point Break to The Matrix and beyond. Charming, informative shop talk between enthusiast practitioners offers detailed, revealing insight into fight scene construction. See how much Keanu is still Ted when he lets his guard down in a relaxed setting! Watch Adkins make the classic mistake of starting an interview by trying to get a Canadian to accept a compliment!—RDL
Royal Warriors (Film, HK, David Chung, 1986) After interrupting the attempted rescue of a prisoner from an airplane, a Hong Kong police inspector (Michelle Yeoh), a Japanese ex-cop (Hiroyuki Sanada) and a gormless air marshal (Michael Wong, but I said gormless already) defend against a series of reprisal attacks. Plunks Yeoh’s then-standard kung fu sweetheart persona into the full gonzo plotting and casual brutality of golden age HK action.—RDL
Knightriders (Film, US, George A. Romero, 1981) Uncompromising leader (Ed Harris) struggles to maintain his hold on a Renfaire that stages its jousts on motorcycles. Simultaneously romantic and ironic look at the American hero myth with echoes of Ford, Altman, and George Stevens not elsewhere seen in Romero’s work.—RDL
The Stranger (Film, Australia, Thomas M. Wright, 2022) Undercover cop (Joel Edgerton) takes part in a sting operation designed to win the confidence of a suspected child murderer (Sean Harris) in order to prompt a confession from him. Moody, controlled visuals and unnerving sound design give oppressive weight and a fog of enigma to this true crime docudrama.—RDL
Ken is in Brazil.
Episode 551: It’s a Bad Gun
June 9th, 2023 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut, beloved Patreon backer Elias Helfer wants to hear our take on our esteemed colleague Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan’s take on investigative leads. Ken and/or Robin Talk To Someone Else finds Ken talking to tabletop roleplaying pioneer Jennell Jacquays. Part eighteen of our increasingly epic Cinema Hut Science Fiction Film Essentials series brings us to the halcyon year of 1986. And finally we locate the Eliptony Hut on a long, mountainous island as estimable backer Eric Parks seeks the scoop on the possible survival of the hominid H. floresiensis. Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon! Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running. Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show. Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023. The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system. 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! Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Ken and Robin Consume Media: Spider-Verse, John Wick, and a Masterful Homage to Hong Kong Neon
June 6th, 2023 | 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
A Light Never Goes Out (Film, HK, Anastasia Tsang, 2022) Grieving widow (Sylvia Chang) discovers that her late husband (Simon Yam), one of the last craftsman of Hong Kong’s once celebrated neon sign tradition, has secretly kept his shop open and even taken on a dedicated apprentice (Henick Chou.) The two great stars of this drama of loss and memory show how little an actor of genuine presence need do to bring profoundly moving moments to the screen. Nostalgia for the city’s heyday of neon provides a safe way to regret Hong Kong’s constricting present.—RDL
Recommended
Broken Lullaby (Film, US, Ernst Lubitsch, 1932) Remorse-stricken French WWI veteran (Phillips Holmes) goes to Germany to visit the grave of the soldier he killed, stumbling into a bond with his fiancee (Nancy Carroll) and father (Lionel Barrymore.) The master of sophisticated comedy makes an atypical excursion into serious drama, with alternately hard-hitting and moving results.—RDL
John Wick Chapter Four (Film, US, Chad Stahelski, 2023) When a freedom-seeking John Wick (Keanu Reeves) starts knocking off leaders of the assassin’s guild, a reluctant former colleague (Donnie Yen) and a mercenary outsider (Shamier Anderson) come looking for him. Masterful series course correction stages gobsmacking action set pieces, makes full spectrum use of Yen as both fighter and actor, and, most importantly, remembers that John Wick should be heading toward the bad guys, not running away from them.—RDL
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Film, US, Joaquim Dos Santos, Kemp Powers, and Justin K. Thompson, 2023) After saving the cosmos, Spider-Man [Miles Morales] (Shameik Moore) yearns to reconnect with Spider-Gwen (Hailee Steinfeld) and the other Spider-Men of the multiverse, but the villainous Spot (Jason Schwarzman) wants to secure Spider-Man’s respect and comeuppance. Wisely spending far less time in Morales’ sub-Pixar home dimension, this movie flows through an extravaganza of animation styles reinforcing the riotous diversity of Spiders-Man that Miles inherently embodies: is tragedy necessary for heroism? Scriptwriters Phil Lord & Christopher Miller spend the runtime delightfully on jokes, spectacle, and Spider-bits so we don’t get an answer to that question, but we do get enlightenment arcs for Miles and Gwen, which is enough excuse to grade this film Recommended instead of Incomplete. –KH
Good
Identification Marks: None (Film, Poland, Jerzy Skolimowski, 1965) Directionless failed ichthyology student (Skolimowski) kills time before reporting for his stint in the army. Skolimowski’s first feature cobbles together an evocative New Wave slice of life on a sub-shoestring budget.—RDL
Symphony for a Massacre (Film, France, Jacques Deray, 1963) Suave crook (Jean Rochefort) fails to account for the inevitability of things screwing up when he rips off a satchel of cash from his partners. Laconic crime flick from the peak era of Gallic existential cool.—RDL
Episode 550: LIGHTNING ROUND!!!
June 2nd, 2023 | Robin
The planet Earth has hurtled through time and space yet again to take this podcast to another milestone: our five hundred and fiftieth episode. Longtime listeners know what that means—LIGHTNING ROUND!!! questions as posed by our beloved Patreon backers. In rapid fashion we address queries about overrated foods, stingy players, satellite imagery, and so much more.
Want to pose a question to the show? Get your priority question asking access with your support for the KARTAS Patreon!
Our Patreon-backed Letterboxd list of all films mentioned on the show is now up and running.
Also check out the Goodreads list of books mentioned on the show.
Snag Ken and Robin merchandise at TeePublic.
Once Upon a Time the fairy godmothers at Atlas Games offered a special deal on their classic card game, Once Upon a Time. Until May 31st you and your magic beans can claim a free expansion with the purchase of any three Once Upon a Time products at the Atlas Games store. Use the coupon code ONCE2023.
The skies above New Olympus are patrolled by caped crusaders, but these superior beings are far from heroes. They wield their powers with reckless disregard, serving the interests of corporate overseers, and silencing those who oppose their will. You are Klara Koenig, investigative journalist for The Pedestrian newspaper, and you intend to prove the privileged superhuman elite do not yet hold a monopoly on justice. Welcome to Alteregomania: the newest setting for the GUMSHOE One-2-One system.
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!
Put on your flannels, grab your duffel bag of hardware and assemble your fake passports. Alert your retailer to the contents of their favorite unmarked warehouse. Delta Green: The Conspiracy, the revised, updated and declassified edition of the iconic 1990s sourcebook has escaped from Arc Dream Publishing.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download