Episode 572: Rains of Peas and Gravel
November 3rd, 2023 | Robin
In the Gaming Hut beloved Patreon backer Bart Mallio asks us for ways to make traps exciting.
Redoubtable backer Patrick Crowley directs us to the History Hut for a look at St. Louis’ Veiled Prophet tradition.
The Food Hut takes on a retrofuturistic look as tasteful backer Rich Ranallo asks us for the lowdown on futuristic cooking.
Finally stellar backer Scott Wachter asks the Consulting Occultist why the so-called 13th astrological sign, Ophiuchus, remains unrecognized.
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.
Atlas Games turns an amazing math discovery into a fascinating puzzle for all ages with InFUNity Tiles. Bring this improbably polygon, made from recycled plastic , into your life by joining the current Kickstarter.
Reality horror just got realer with three new support products for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: Black Star Magic, Legions of Carcosa: The Yellow King Bestiary, and Robin’s latest novel, Fifth Imperative.
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!
![](https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Thunderbird_blue_border.png")
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: Satanists, Demon Contagion, and a Science Vampire
October 31st, 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
El Vampiro Negro (Film, Argentina, Román Viñoly Barreto, 1953) Publicity-fearing nightclub singer (Olga Zubarry) runs afoul of a severe prosecutor (Roberto Escalado) when she declines to assist his hunt for a compulsive child killer (Nathán Pinzón.) Remake of M relegates the killer’s story to a subplot in a film noir tale of shaded morality packed with arresting expressionist imagery.—RDL
Ready or Not (Film, US, Matt Bettinelli-Olpin & Tyler Gillett, 2019) Woman (Samara Weaving) marries into a wealthy family of board game manufacturers, little suspecting that a wedding night tradition gives her a one in thirty chance of being hunted down for Satanic sacrifice. Weaving strikes the requisite balance between resourceful and terrified in this tongue-in-cheek single-location pursuit thriller.—RDL
Roald Dahl Quartet (Films, US, Wes Anderson, 2023) Anderson films four Dahl short stories (“The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar,” “The Swan,” “The Rat Catcher,” and “Poison”) as literal expressions of story telling, the cast (including Ralph Fiennes as Dahl, Benedict Cumberbatch as Henry Sugar, etc.) narrating the stories right through the fourth wall as the effects and stagehands switch out backdrops, props, etc. Somehow the combination of the completely literal and categorically abstract works, and evokes the same ironic flavor of humor as Dahl’s text. —KH
Thirst (Film, South Korea/US, Park Chan-wook, 2009) Turned into a vampire by an experimental vaccine, priest Sang-hyun (Song Kang-ho) re-enters the life of his childhood sweetheart Tae-ju (Kim Ok-bin) to bad effect. A slowly accelerating burn punctuated by compelling combos of image and music, Thirst is a great vampire film and the weirdest adaptation of an Emile Zola novel you’re ever likely to see. —KH
When Evil Lurks (Film, Argentina, Demián Rugna, 2023) Two brothers who work a farm in a remote area trigger a demonic plague when they help to dump a possessed individual on the site of a rural road. Existentially and viscerally disturbing blend of the contagion and possession sub-genres superimposes cosmic indifference over the spooky Christianity associated with the latter. Its depiction of a pervasive supernatural menace that society has uneasily adjusted to puts it on the film inspiration list for The Yellow King Roleplaying Game: This is Normal Now.—RDL
Good
Blue Hour: The Disappearance of Nick Brandreth (Film, US, Dan Bowhers, 2023) Documentary filmmaker Olivia Brandreth (Morgan DeTogne) investigates the disappearance of her photographer father (Nick Brandreth). Found-footage mockumentary can’t seal the deal with the ending and only occasionally hits the uncanny it endlessly invokes, but Bowhers deserves credit for taking a big conceptual swing. —KH
Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (Film, US, John Francis Daley & Jonathan Goldstein, 2023) Not-entirely-useless bard (Chris Pine) and strong female barbarian (Michelle Rodriguez) break out of prison and seek revenge on their weaselly rogue ex-comrade (Hugh Grant, once more absolutely masticating a villain part). Delightful Forgotten Realms tourism, a zippy fantasy heist, and legitimately funny and clever bits make this easily the best D&D movie, which is not a high bar. It would have been even better if any of its story or character beats had come as a remote surprise of any kind. —KH
Spectral (Film, US, Nic Mathieu, 2016) DARPA weapons researcher (James Badge Dale) embeds with a special forces unit fighting a revanchist insurgency in Moldova to investigate killer skeleton ghosts. If it had a modicum of characterization and an authoritative visual style, this novel mash-up of the war and SF horror genres would rate minor classic status.—RDL
Okay
The Great Magician (Film, Hong Kong, Derek Yee, 2011) Stage magician (Tony Leung Chiu Wai) arrives in 1920s Beijing to save his fiancee from an insecure warlord (Lau Ching Wan.) Leung and Lau give a masterclass in the profundity of movie star action to a colorful comedy that isn’t particularly looking to accommodate emotional depth.—RDL
Episode 571: Forensic Chainsawologists
October 27th, 2023 | Robin
The Gaming Hut stands inconveniently close to a weapons and armor store as beloved Patreon backer Urchin Prince asks for advice on handling shopping-obsessed players.
At the request of arborially concerned backer Evan Hughes, Ripped from the Headlines finds the esoteric truth behind the felling of the iconic, titular tree at Sycamore Gap.
Speaking of shopping, Ken’s Bookshelf allows us to vicariously enjoy our hero’s latest effort to deplete the book purveyors of Oregon.
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.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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: Killers of the Flower Moon, Chicago Film Fest, and Horror Picks for Halloween
October 24th, 2023 | Robin
The Pinnacle
Killers of the Flower Moon (Film, US, Martin Scorsese, 2023) Ambitious but dim WWI vet (Leonardo di Caprio) marries a self-possessed Osage woman (Lily Gladstone) and conspires with his wealthy, respected uncle (Robert De Niro) to murder her family for their oil money. Scorsese favors the restrained side of his style in the latest, epic entry in his sprawling saga of American crime. As historical figure Ernest Burkhart, di Caprio plays a type of person often seen in real life but typically written out of fictional portrayals, one of impossibly muddled, contradictory intentions. —RDL
Killers of the Flower Moon (Film, US, Martin Scorsese, 2023) Malleable nephew Ernest (Leonardo di Caprio) of Osage County rancher Bill “King” Hale (Robert De Niro) marries an Osage woman (and potential oil rights heiress) Molly (Lily Gladstone) to further his uncle’s murderous conspiracy. Ernest and Molly’s unequal (and uneven) love story provides the emotional throughline of a film that begins as a gangster Western and ends (literally) as a law-and-order tale. Gladstone also, simultaneously, plays the “woman in a serial killer movie who cannot reveal herself” part in a terrifyingly realistic key. —KH
Recommended
Alien Island (Film, Chile/Italy, Cristóbal Valenzuela, 2023) Documentary begins with Chilean shortwave operators’ contacts with UFO witnesses in 1984, which led to lengthy radio discussions with “Ariel,” the representative of an unspecified island in southern Chile called “Friendship.” Without giving away the left turns the story takes, I can say the film makers probably found the hoaxer behind Ariel, and have a good reason for the seemingly irrelevant footage of Pinochet at the beginning. If there’s such a thing as a noir UFO documentary, this is kind of that. —KH
El Conde (FIlm, Chile, Pablo Larraín, 2023) When a fresh wave of blood-draining murders rocks modern day Santiago, the corrupt children of the vampire known as Augusto Pinochet (Jaime Vadell) travel to his island redoubt hoping to secure their share of his hidden wealth. Political satire borrows the pacing and black and white look of Browning’s 1931 Dracula for a sometimes poetic examination of our world’s truly immortal evil.—RDL
The Crime is Mine (Film, France, François Ozon, 2023) Young, impoverished, and semi-talented roommates, actress Madeline (Nadia Tereszkiewicz) and lawyer Pauline (Rebecca Marder) take credit for the murder of an odious producer and set 1935 Paris law and society on its ear. Isabelle Huppert as a fading silent star who refuses to fade adds a larger-than-life splash to this amiable neo-screwball exercise, which could be more frenetic but could hardly be more delightful. —KH
Late Night With the Devil (Film, Australia/UAE, Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes, 2023) Also-ran talk-show host Jack Delroy (David Dostmalchian) books a victim of demonic possession (Ingrid Torelli) on his show on Halloween night 1977 in a make-or-break ploy for ratings. Beginning with a mockumentary exposition dump, the movie takes off with the “lost master tape” of that suppressed episode and never looks back. Dostmalchian hits the perfect mix of narcissism and flop sweat, and the Cairneses rival Ti West in their 1970s recall. —KH
Men (Film, UK, Alex Garland, 2022) Seeking calm after the shocking death of her abusive husband, a woman (Jessie Buckley) books a stay at a gorgeous country house, only to realize that something is very wrong with the local men (all played by Rory Kinnear.) Folk horror of aggressive male insecurity elegantly calibrates its descent from the subtly off-putting to hallucinatory body terror.—RDL
The Universal Theory (Film, Germany/Austria/Switzerland, Timm Kröger, 2023) At a physics conference in the Austrian Alps in 1962, grad student Johannes (Jan Bülow) meets pianist Karin (Olivia Ross) amid increasingly surreal (and murderous) machinations. If you can imagine a beautifully-shot paranoid SF thriller about the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics (which in our timeline was proposed in 1957), this is one possible outcome of that imagination. —KH
The Witch’s Mirror (Film, Mexico, Chano Urueta, 1962) When a plastic surgeon murders his wife, their housekeeper draws on her infernal powers to exact grim vengeance. Surreal contribution to the 60s gothic revival stitches together disparate horror motifs like the product of a sinister, owl-haunted laboratory.—RDL
Good
Hello Ghost (Film, Indonesia, Indra Gunawan, 2023) Lonely young man’s suicide attempt allows him to see a quartet of ghosts, who demand that he perform tasks to complete their unfinished business. Innocuous supernatural comedy winds up to an unexpected tearjerker hammerblow. Remake of a 2010 Korean film.—RDL
Episode 570: Perhaps I’m Wrung Out
October 20th, 2023 | Robin
Our first all-request episode in many moons kicks off with a Gaming Hut question from beloved Patreon backer Derrick Yates, on running horror when you don’t love gory movies.
Then compelling backer Richard Schwerdtfeger beckons us to the Command Hut for the peculiar, cameo-filled WWII battle at Castle Itter.
At the behest of inquiring Patreon backer John Kingdon, the Book Hut examines the practice of anthropodermic bibliopegy. For a complete treatment of the topic, see Megan Rosenbloom’s Dark Archives: A Librarian’s Investigation into the Science and History of Books Bound in Human Skin.
Finally Ken’s Time Machine accepts a mission assigned by parrothead-adjacent backer Michael Fox, who seeks a glimpse at the timeline where Elvis Presley recorded Margaritaville.
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.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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: Alien Invaders, Outback Noir, and a Curse-Breaking Conspiracy
October 17th, 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
Full Circle (Television, US, HBO Max, Ed Solomon & Steven Soderbergh, 2023) To undo a family curse, a Guyanese crime boss (CCH Pounder) orders the kidnapping of a rich couple’s (Claire Danes, Timothy Olyphant) son, enmeshing a rogue postal inspector (Zazie Beetz) and many others in a series of dangerous errors and surprising revelations. Chaos theory ensemble crime drama shot by Soderbergh with a subtly destabilizing immediacy.—RDL
Limbo (Film, Australia, Ivan Sen, 2023) Police investigator Travis Hurley (Simon Baker) arrives at the titular opal-mining outback town to investigate the 20-year-old cold case of an Aboriginal girl’s abduction. Baker’s superb performance and the stark black-and-white cinematography (also by Sen) knit together this elliptical bricolage of noir, Western, policier, and social comment film genres into a powerful whole that does the job of cinema better than virtually anything you will see this year.—KH
No One Will Save You (Film, US, Brian Duffield, 2023) Lonely Etsy seller (Kaitlyn Dever) fights back when sinister gray UFO occupants invade her rural home. Nearly dialogue-free exercise in pure cinema cleverly weaves together disparate alien terror tropes.—RDL
Reptile (Film, US, Grant Singer, 2023) Homicide detective (Benicio del Toro) uncovers a conspiracy while investigating the murder of a callow realtor’s (Justin Timberlake) fiancee. Del Toro steps into a welcome leading role as a pitiless roving camera and ominous soundtrack lend neo-gothic dread to a small town policier.—RDL
Good
Evil Dead Rise (Film, US, Lee Cronin, 2023) In a largely deserted apartment building, a guitar tech (Lily Sullivan) defends her nieces and nephew from their demonically possessed mother (Alyssa Sutherland.) Earns points for moving the franchise to a new urban locale and for exploring deeper characterization, though the horror remits too often in the middle, and the fear of motherhood theme doesn’t really integrate with the gothic teleology of the Evil Dead universe.—RDL
Okay
Foremost by Night (Film, Spain/Portugal/France, Victor Iriarte, 2023) Court reporter Vera (Lola Dueñas) penetrates a baby-snatching conspiracy to find her stolen son Egoz (Manuel Egozkue) and his adoptive mother Cora (Ana Torrent). This film could be Exhibit A in McKee’s “no voiceovers” thesis. Three or four very promising premises founder on the complete absence of conflict, leaving what little drama remains for the actors to emote. That game acting and some intriguingly oblique symbology keep this inert exercise barely at Okay. —KH
Thirteen Women (Film, US, George Archainbaud, 1932) Young widowed socialite (Irene Dunne) and her former finishing school classmates receive messages of doom from an astrologer, which come true thanks to the hypnotic powers of their embittered nemesis (Myrna Loy.) Somewhat perfunctory thriller novel adaptation offers the chance to see Loy in one of her early villain roles. CW: Orientalism.
Episode 569: Alacrity was Their Dump Stat
October 13th, 2023 | Robin
The Gaming Hut completes its series on scenario structures, as inspired by Robin’s recent Adventure Crucible chapbook for the Kraken, with the intrigue scenario.
In Ken and/or Robin Talk to Someone Else, we chat with Ajit George, who looks back on his work as developer of the acclaimed Journeys Through the Radiant City adventure anthology for Dungeons & Dragons.
At the behest of beloved Patreon backer John Scheib, Crime Blotter seeks the numismatic and/or occult significance of a Philadelphia dime heist.
Finally the Eliptony Hut rips a topic from the headlines, profiling UFOlogist Jaime Maussan, who recently presented so-called alien mummies to a Mexican congressional hearing.
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.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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: Ahsoka, Cryptids, R’lyeh, and a Lovecraftian Heather Graham
October 10th, 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
Frogman (Film, US, Anthony Cousins, 2023) After seeing the Loveland, Ohio Frogman as a boy, failed filmmaker Dallas Kyle (Nathan Tymoshuk) returns to the scene to find the cryptid and prove he wasn’t hoaxing. Interesting characters, a great hokey milieu, and a masterful succession of scary reveals combine the chocolate of cryptid movies with the peanut butter of found footage to delicious effect. —KH
Putting the Rabbit in the Hat (Nonfiction, Brian Cox, 2021) The star of Succession and countless film and stage roles looks back with an impolitic eye on his acclaimed acting career and formerly messy personal life. Balances often barbed anecdotes with a fiercely text-based analysis of the acting craft.—RDL
Sojourn (Fiction, Amit Chaudhuri, 2022) Scholar visiting Berlin for a residency experiences dislocation. Short literary novel replicates the feeling of alienated possibility that comes when you step out of your usual context.—RDL
Suitable Flesh (Film, US, Joe Lynch, 2023) A strange obsession with her patient Asa Waite (Judah Lewis) opens psychiatrist Elizabeth Derby (Heather Graham) up to horrific body-switching magic. Fast-moving, lurid Stuart Gordon-style adaptation of Lovecraft’s “The Thing on the Doorstep” continues scripter Dennis Paoli’s (Re-Animator, From Beyond) string of improving (and sexing up) second-tier HPL stories. —KH
This Transient Life (Film, Japan, Akio Jissoji, 1970) Young self-actualized nihilist pursues an affair with his sister, and another with his master’s wife, as he learns to carve Buddhist statuary. Stark, jarring drama pits unbridled carnality against religious discipline.—RDL
Underwater (Film, US, William Eubank, 2020) Capable engineer (Kristen Stewart) pushes through her terror to aid her reassuring captain (Vincent Cassel) in evacuating a drilling installation in the Marianas Trench under assault from unknown creatures. Lean, mean survival horror skips the preliminaries to get right to its Poseidon Adventure meets R’lyeh premise.—RDL
Okay
Ahsoka Season 1 (Television, US, Disney+, Dave Filoni, 2023) Serenely confident Jedi (Rosario Dawson) reunites with her erstwhile apprentice (Natasha Liu Bordizzo) to rescue an old comrade and prevent the return of an ultra-competent foe (Lars Mikkelsen.) Listless, conflict-free dialogue scenes kill any momentum achieved by its action set-pieces as the franchise once again proves that full-on Jedi make lousy protagonists.—RDL
Gods of the Deep (Film, UK, Charlie Steeds, 2023) Miskatonic U. astrobotanist Jim Peters (Derek Nelson) joins a Pickman Corporation-funded submersible expedition to a newly discovered gateway in the Antarctic Ocean floor. Clunky, lazy script, super-cheap production design, and slack direction and editing undercut even the pleasure of puppet Cthulhu vs. Gerry Anderson-style submarine. The actors never give up, though. —KH
Episode 568: Dream Ghosts
October 6th, 2023 | Robin
The Gaming Hut continues its look at the structures analyzed in Robin’s Adventure Crucible Kraken chapbook with the survival scenario.
In the Cinema Hut Robin points you toward the best geek-facing films he chose for the second annual Robin and Valerie International Film Festival.
Ask Ken and Robin entertains the request of beloved Patreon backer Tom Abella for guidance on running a Yevgeny Prigozhin game.
Finally the Consulting Occultist fills intrepid backer Jacob Boersma in on the alchemists, demonologists and kabbalists of his native Netherlands.
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.
Join the Cat Eyes detective agency, where every night is a purrfectly spooooky Halloween mystery, with Kitty Noir, the city sourcebook for Magical Kitties Save the Day from Atlas Games.
Stock up for your Halloween games with a Pelgrane Press super sale on its top GUMSHOE horror titles. The promo code SCARY23 at the Pelgrane online store gets you 20% off on Trail of Cthulhu products, Yellow King Roleplaying Game products, Esoterrorists products and Fear Itself products until November 1st.
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: Oppenheimer, Marple, and the Editing of Star Wars
October 3rd, 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
Oppenheimer (Film, US, Christopher Nolan, 2023) Chosen despite his left-wing associations as unlikely head of the Manhattan Project, Robert Oppenheimer (Cillian Murphy), races to build an atom bomb, and later confronts an effort to use those associations against him. Nolan breaks and reassembles the biopic into a series of propulsive, interlocking puzzles, with mesmerizing, all-cylinders results that can only be described as Nolanesque.—RDL
Recommended
The Classified File (Film, South Korea, Kyung-taek Kwak, 2015) Frozen out by both the local and national halves of a task force assigned to a child kidnapping, an impolitic cop (Kim Yoon-seok) forms an uneasy alliance with a Taoist fortune teller (Yoo Hae-jin) who makes eerily accurate predictions about the case. Tense true crime police procedural reprises the common South Korean theme of official malpractice.—RDL
A Long Time Ago in a Cutting Room Far, Far Away: My Fifty Years Editing Hollywood Hits—Star Wars, Carrie, Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Mission: Impossible, and More (Nonfiction, Paul Hirsch, 2020) Career retrospective autobiography follows the author’s career from cutting early de Palma titles on film to acting as seasoned hand to young directors in the digital era. Highly readable insider account examines the diplomatic challenges of creative collaboration, and also reminds us that the credit we often give to tight, unconventionally structured screenplays ought to go to a desperate editor making a radical fix.—RDL
Miss Marple: The Complete Short Stories (Fiction, Agatha Christie, 1985) In 20 short stories (13 published in 1932, the others doled out between 1939 and 1957) Miss Marple listens to (or very occasionally notices) a mystery and solves it with her vast knowledge of human nature. Christie’s combination of Dupin and Father Brown doesn’t quite reach the heights of either but reliably presents solid puzzles well played, which is nothing to sneeze at. Christie also limns character more carefully in these than in much of her other work. —KH
A Shaman’s Story (Film, South Korea, Ha Won Choi, 1972) Fading village shaman’s joy at the return of her son turns to crisis when he falls in love with her successor, and worse, reveals his conversion to Christianity. Rampant sexuality bubbles through this character study of changing spiritual mores.—RDL
Good
Smile (Film, US, Parker Finn, 2022) Therapist Rose Cotter (Sosie Bacon) witnesses a smiling suicide, transferring a demonic entity’s attention to her, attention that manifests in unnatural smiles. This movie suffered from having one of the all-time great trailers, and doesn’t live up to that. Occasional eerie menace, a great high concept, and generally good performances likewise can’t fix a predictable script or really stick the landing. —KH
Okay
Polite Society (Film, UK, Nida Mansoor, 2023) Aspiring teen stunt person (Priya Kansara) decides to halt the rushed marriage of her beloved sister (Rita Aryu) to a biotech entrepreneur with a controlling mother. Blend of teen comedy and martial arts with an Anglo-Pakistani cast of characters substitutes exaggeration for jokes and funny situations.—RDL
