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Archive for November, 2024

Episode 627: The Dream of All Arts

November 29th, 2024 | Robin

Ready your picks and jimmies as the Gaming Hut seeks fail forwards for one of the trickiest cases of all, the locked door.

In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, Ken (and some crows) talk to fantasy, horror and SF writer Molly Tanzer.

The Culture Hut covers the enigmatic, influential and Eliptony-adjacent theater experimenter Jerzy Grotowski.

Finally the Eliptony Hut examines the hoaxed artifacts known as the Michigan relics.

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.


Stop gazing lovingly at that seed catalogue and start pre-ordering Vicious Gardens from Atlas Games. This contemporary, distinctive, choice driven card game combines the joy of gardening with the thrill of being a total jerk. Strategically cultivate your garden, harvest plants, and sabotage others in a cut-throat competition.

A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!

Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.

Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Gladiator II, Only Murders, and a Paean to Tackiness

November 26th, 2024 | 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

Flipside (Film, US, Christopher Wilca, 2023) Gen X documentarian whose career has sidetracked into a lucrative, family-supporting gig directing commercials assembles footage from incomplete projects about a moldering hometown record store, a blocked writer, Ira Glass’ midlife crisis dance show, and dying jazz photographer Herman Leonard into a profound and challenging meditation on the tangled relationship between creative ambition and personal happiness.—RDL

Hansan: Rising Dragon (Film, South Korea, Kim Han-Min, 2022) Having struck a surprise blow against the invading Japanese navy with a new, terrifying ramming vessel, cool-headed Admiral Yi (Park Hae-Il) presses to turn back their assault. Tactics, espionage and internal maneuvering precede a thrilling second half of naval warfare in a huge production with a sprawling cast. If you’re wondering why Choi-Min Sik has been replaced by a much younger actor, this is a prequel, not a sequel, to 2014’s The Admiral: Roaring Currents. The character is again recast in the trilogy’s final installment, 2023’s Noryang: Deadly Sea.—RDL

A Murder at the End of the World (Television, US, Hulu, Brit Marling & Zal Batmanglij, 2023) Reclusive billionaire Andy Ronson (Clive Owen) invites true-crime writer Darby Hart (Emma Corrin) and eight other guests to his isolated Icelandic hotel for an earth-saving summit, but someone murders activist artist Bill Farrah (Harris Dickinson), also Darby’s ex. An immense amount of hugger-mugger surrounds this straightforward classic mystery plot; Corrin’s superbly natural acting successfully grounds both the genre and cyber-wow elements.—KH

Only Murders in the Building Season 4 (Television, US, Hulu, Steve Martin & John Hoffman, 2024) When someone shoots Sazz (Jane Lynch), Charles Haden-Savage’s (Steve Martin) stuntwoman, the podcasting trio lurches into action, complicated by the movie being made from Season 1 of their show. Although a good raft of B-listers try their best to keep the “movie madness” subplot raucous, Melissa McCarthy absolutely steals the season as Charles’ sister. The mystery is also surprisingly good, and interestingly misdirected.—KH

Repast (Film, Japan, Mikio Naruse, 1951) The surprise extended stay of her work-worn husband’s (Ken Uehara) flighty niece (Yukiko Shimazaki) prompts a disappointed woman (Setsuko Hara) to reconsider the state of her marriage. Subtly observed domestic drama finds the tensions beneath the surface of everyday life.—RDL

Tacky: Love Letters to the Worst Culture We Have To Offer (Nonfiction, Rax King, 2021) Memoiristic essays juxtapose the author’s past headlong pursuit of sex and love with disregarded works of popular culture ranging from Sex and the City and the Josie and the Pussycats movie to Creed and The Sims. Emotional depth and rueful insight concealed by a thin veneer of superficiality.—RDL

Good

All the Moons (Film, Spain, Igor Legarreta, 2021) A vampire girl (Haizea Carneros) separated from her undead protector (Itziar Ituño) in the 19th century Basque region attempts to live among humans. In its effort to remain beautiful and tasteful this Basque-language gothic drama also winds up keeping its distance from the situation and characters:—RDL

Gladiator II (Film, US, Ridley Scott, 2024) After the Roman general Acacius (Pedro Pascal) captures his Numidian city, enslaved gladiator Hanno (Paul Mescal) vows revenge. Denzel Washington’s scheming courtier Macrinus tries to make this movie more than just “Gladiator but with two evil emperors,” and his scenes pop with brio. Sadly nobody thought to make him the A-plot instead of retelling the first film, and the comparison does Mescal no favors. Roman history buffs be warned: this movie does not end with Elagabalus taking power.—KH

Not Recommended

Footprints on the Moon (Film, Italy, Luigi Bazzoni, 1975) Seeking an explanation for three days of missing time, a tense translator (Florinda Balkan) travels to an off-season resort town. A compelling vibe, bolstered by Vittorio Storaro’s cinematography can’t overcome this existential mystery’s weak, circular clue structure and disappointingly obvious conclusion.—RDL

Episode 626: She Did Say Independent

November 22nd, 2024 | Robin

Get ready for more detail on the shag carpet than ever before as the Gaming Hut looks at the love some players have for non-interactive narration of their environment.

The Crime Blotter investigates the 60s heroin trade and how it forms the linchpin of The Borellus Connection.

At the behest of beloved Patreon backer Gene Ha, the Cinema Hut wonders what can be done with the increasingly tangled continuity of the MCU.

And finally the Consulting Occultist profiles influential 19th century proto-feminist spiritualist Anna Kingsford.

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.


The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.

A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!

Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.

Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Agatha All Along, Kinds of Kindness, and Deep Carnival Lore

November 19th, 2024 | 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.

Ken was on the road this week.

Recommended

Floyd Norman: an Animated Life (Film, US, Erik Sharkey, 2016) Documentary profiles Floyd Norman, Disney’s first Black animator, whose career spans working with Walt himself on the Jungle Book to Pixar and the present day, with detours along the way into documenting the Watts riots and drawing the accursed Scooby Doo. Inspiring portrait of an unassuming mensch and mentor who channels his anger into cartoons and comes out on top in the end.—RDL

It All Starts Today (Film, France, Bertrand Tavernier, 1999) Empathic director of a primary school (Philippe Torreton) in an economically devastated former mining region torches his relationship with the bureaucracy seeking social support for his young students. Thanks to committed performances and deft pacing, this is social realism without the boring bits.—RDL

Kinds of Kindness (Film, US, Yorgos Lanthimos, 2024) A submissive employee resists a life-endangering request from his dom boss; a neurotic cop decides that his wife rescued from a shipwreck has been replaced by an impostor; devotees of a water purity sex cult hunt for their prophesied savior. Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe and Hong Chao take multiple roles in an anthology of cruel tales, two of them arthouse horror, that play like Cornell Woolrich rewritten by Luis Buñuel.—RDL

Good

Carnie King: The Story of Patty Conklin and Conklin Shows (Nonfiction, John Thurston, 2024) Biography/business history about a German American who adopted an Irish identity and rose from mark-fleecing small time carnie to CEO of a multimillion dollar company and feted pillar of the Toronto establishment. The smell of corn dogs, cotton candy and lost cultural detail wafts through a research-packed account of particular resonance to anyone who remembers getting a discounted pass to the Canadian National Exhibition with their year-end report card.—RDL

Hollywood Signs (Film, US, Bill Fishman, 2021) Documentary comprehensively covers the autograph collecting hobby, from cultural history to the efforts of a ragtag band of enthusiasts to bag precious George Perez signatures, casting the celebrity convention scene in an affirming light.—RDL

Okay

Agatha All Along (Television, US, Disney+, Jac Schaeffer, 2024) Teen sorcery prodigy of mysterious origin (Joe Locke) frees Agatha Harkness (Kathryn Hahn) from an illusionary existence to drag a wary coven into the questing space known as the Witches’ Road. In the now endemic Marvel pattern, strong on showcasing the charm of its performers and weak on story architecture.—RDL

The Duke (Film, UK, Roger Michell, 2020) To the horror of his anxious wife (Helen Mirren), an opinionated Newcastle autodidact (Jim Broadbent) confesses to stealing Goya’s Duke of Wellington portrait from the National Gallery, in a bid to publicize his campaign against TV licensing fees. Comic underdog vs the establishment docudramedy, based on a 1961 case, gives Broadbent and Mirren room to shine, despite pat psychology and overdone cheerleading for the hero.—RDL

Episode 625: You’ve Got a Dark Level

November 15th, 2024 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut we imagine an F20 world where powerful undead don’t just drain levels, they sell them to the highest bidder.

The Archaeology Hut checks out the latest tests on the Well-Man, a body found at Norway’s Sverresborg Castle who matches an account from an 800 year old Norse saga.

Finally Ken’s Bookshelf chronicles our resident bibliophile’s genteel efforts to separate Powell’s Books in Portland from its wares. Making a special cameo appearance, it’s the Princeton University Press sale.

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.


The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.

A global mythos conspiracy ensnares the player characters in The Borellus Connection, Pelgrane Press’ new Fall of DELTA Green mega-campaign by Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan and Kenneth Hite. Journey in the guise of federal narcotics agents to Saigon, Beirut, Prague and Bozukepe. Buy it for your GM and demand that she run it today!

Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.

Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Emilia Perez, Rebel Ridge, and Argentine Reality Horror

November 12th, 2024 | 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.

Ken is on the road this week. 

The Pinnacle

History of the Occult (Film, Argentina, Cristian Ponce, 2020) In late 80s Argentina a TV news panel host and his sequestered inner circle of producers attempt to crack a witchcraft conspiracy reaching into the highest levels of government, live on air. Brilliantly uses minimalistic resources and real-time pacing to process the darkness of the Argentine dictatorship through the weird horror genre—with bonus hints of Lovecraft’s mythos.—RDL

Recommended

Clifford (Film, US, Paul Flaherty, 1994) To prove his interest in children to his trusting fiancee (Mary Steenburgen), a tightly wound transit architect (Charles Grodin) agrees to look after his ten-year-old nephew Clifford (Martin Short), who turns out to be an unhinged force of Machiavellian destruction. Directed by its longtime head writer and spotlighting Martin Short at his Martin Shortiest, this is the purest translation of SCTV’s mix of absurdity and darkness to the big screen, which explains why it was met with utter bafflement on its release yet has now entered the cult comedy pantheon.—RDL

The Curse of the Marquis de Sade: A Notorious Scoundrel, a Mythical Manuscript, and the Biggest Scandal in Literary History (Nonfiction, Joel Warner, 2023) The life of writer and inveterate sex criminal the Marquis de Sade is interwoven with the ownership history of the manuscript for 120 Days of Sodom, from its composition in the Bastille to its key role in a gigantic investment implosion. Parallel narratives explicate bibliomania and the ever-evolving intellectual romanticization of a figure you do not in fact have to hand it to.—RDL

Emilia Perez (Film, France, Jacques Audiard, 2024) Frustrated attorney (Zoe Saldana) assists a cartel kingpin (Karla Sofía Gascón) who plans to stage a fake death after sex reassignment surgery, leaving passionate wife Jessica (Selena Gomez) in the dark. Committed performances and a fresh approach to its unusual mix of elements keep this musical crime melodrama ablaze.—RDL

Rebel Ridge (Film, US, Jeremy Saulnier, 2024) Small town cops confiscate cash needed by a former Marine martial arts instructor (Aaron Pierre) to bail out his cousin, prompting him to investigate the corruption of a spiteful police chief (Don Johnson.) Pierre establishes his star power and Saulnier shows a preternatural ability to increase tension by letting scenes breathe in a slow burn thriller with an explosive action finish.—RDL

Swing Kids (Film, South Korea, Kang Hyoung-chul, 2018) In an American-run POW camp segregated between violently opposed Communist and pro-Western factions, a Black tap-dancing sergeant (Jared Grimes) follows orders to train a performance troupe for a propaganda event, requiring an intense Northern captive (Kim Min-jae) to choose between art and political loyalty. Wartime drama puts the optimism of the musical on a collision course with historical trauma.—RDL

Good

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (Film, UK, Sam Fell & Jeffrey Newitt, 2023) Impeded by her boastful husband (Zachary Levi), a hero-turned-protective mom (Thandiwe Newton) tries to keep their bold daughter (Bella Ramsey) safely in their free chicken community, only to have her launch an investigation into a Huxleyian factory farm. Expends considerable thought and craftsmanship on sequelizing an original that doesn’t reward recapitulation.—RDL

Episode 624: Impractical at Most Gaming Tables

November 8th, 2024 | Robin

In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Mark Waterhouse asks what could possibly go wrong if we let players perform their own in-world divinations.

At the behest of estimable backer Martin Rundkvist the Tradecraft Hut investigates the heroic career of Polish-born WWII British operative Krystyna Skarbek.

Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else features our talk with actual player extraordinaire Lindsey Brown, as heard on The Nature of My Game podcast.

Finally Ken’s Time Machine looks for chrono-spanners it might throw into the horror show that was the postwar repatriation of Koreans from Japan to North Korea.

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.


The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.

Back from the grave until they suppress it again, the Dracula Dossier PDF deal has returned to the Bundle of Holding. Grab it until November 13th, when it will once more retreat to its dusty crypt.

Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.

Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.

Ken and Robin Consume Media: Oddity, Woman of the Hour, and Alan Moore’s Magic 101

November 5th, 2024 | 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 Abandoned (Film, Taiwan, Ying-Ting Tseng, 2022) Aided by a tentative rookie (Chloe Xiang) and a victim’s impulsive boyfriend (Ethan Juan), a grief-stricken cop (Ning Chang) investigates the slayings of foreign workers who have fled their visa requirements. Tense serial killer policier paints Taipei’s underbelly as a place of dread and fleeting beauty.—RDL

Bed of Roses (Film, US, Gregory La Cava, 1933) Cynical ex-con (Constance Bennett) reels in a stuffy, rich publisher (John Halliday) but pines for a down-to-earth barge captain (Joel McCrea.) Economically told wisecracking Pre Code romantic drama.—RDL

Improbable Destinies: Fate, Chance, and the Future of Evolution (Nonfiction, Jonathan B. Losos, 2017) Lizard-wrangling biologist shows how DNA analysis and experimental studies have established convergent evolution, the tendency of species to arrive at similar solutions to the same environmental challenges, not as a quirky occurrence but as the baseline. Illuminating throughout, including the section where you discover that everything you thought you knew about the Burgess Shale has now been upended.—RDL

The Moon and Serpent Bumper Book of Magic (Nonfiction & Comics, Alan Moore & Steve Moore & divers hands, 2024) A big and beautiful introduction to (and defense of) the magical arts, comprising among other things précis of the Kabbalah and Tarot, magical geographies and summonables, 50 “Lives of the Great Enchanters” in comics form, and several “rainy day activities” sections that provide beginning magical instruction. Really most comparable to other wide-ranging introductions to the field such as Richard Cavendish’s Black Arts (also Recommended) but also valuable to (and fun for) the scholar or fan of Alan Moore.—KH

Oddity (Film, Ireland, Damian McCarthy, 2024) Blind psychic proprietor of a curio shop specializing in cursed items (Carolyn Bracken) shows up unannounced at the home of her dead sister’s doctor husband (Gwilym Lee), intent on identifying her killer. Weird tale of revenge and the supernatural filled with unexpected turns and shot with exacting control.—RDL

Wingwomen (Film, France, Mélanie Laurent, 2023) Longtime high-end heist partners, collected Carole (Mélanie Laurent) and vulnerable Alex (Adèle Exarchopoulos) agree to steal a painting for their increasingly unhinged boss (Isabelle Adjani.) Glamorous hangout movie with inventive action set pieces celebrates the bonds of female friendship.—RDL

Woman of the Hour (Film, US, Anna Kendrick, 2024) Struggling actress (Anna Kendrick) reluctantly agrees to appear as a contestant on The Dating Game, unaware that one of her prospective dates (Daniel Zovatto) is an active serial killer. Judiciously understated true crime drama uses a chronologically fragmented structure to depict the ambient menace fostered by predatory men and its confining effect on women.—RDL

Okay

Anora (Film, US, Sean Baker, 2024) Smitten stripper (Mikey Madison) marries rich man-child (Mark Eidelshtein) scrambling the minions of his Russian oligarch parents into dismayed action. Unnecessary scenes and repetitive story beats weigh down this realist romantic farce, Madison’s star-making performance notwithstanding.—RDL

Episode 623: Bored Lumberjacks

November 1st, 2024 | Robin

The Gaming Hut looks at the most despised medieval occupations and wonders what would happen if you actually wanted to reflect this in your F20 world.

The History Hut covers a very strange fashion fracas, the 1922 New York City straw hat riots.

In the Mythos Hut we dial up the scare factor on the humblest Lovecraftian creature, the zoog.

Finally the Eliptony Hut combs the forest for Wisconsin’s oddball cryptid, the hodag.

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.


The prophecy has been fulfilled: Ars Magica Definitive, a revised and expanded deluxe version Ars Magica 5th Edition, launches this fall. With a host of new material published since the original rulebook’s release and heirloom production quality, this belongs in the library of every magus. Instruct your most trusted companion to sign up for launch alerts.

That cult would never die, till the stars came right again, and the secret priests would take great Cthulhu from His tomb to announce Trail of Cthulhu Second Edition, coming October 1st on Backerkit. Get ready to alert your friends and anyone else you’d be willing to climb into a ghoul pit with.

Don your pallid mask and get all the Ken, Carcosa, and footnotes you require now that Arc Dream’s The King in Yellow: Annotated Edition is now available in paperback and ebook formats. With stunning art by Samuel Araya, this lavish tome of terror earns a space on any shelf.

Turn your digital dials to Gen Con TV, The Best Four Days in Gaming – All Year Long. Entirely free and streaming your way on Twitch, Gen Con TV offers actual plays, reviews, dramatized gaming shorts, minis painting and its flagship show, Table Talk, beaming to you Fridays at 2 pm with polyhedral news you’re dying to use.

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