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9to5 Goes to Fantasia: 1 Week Left!

by on August 2, 2023 at 8:31 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Homepage, Keith, Montreal

It’s the final week of the Fantasia International Film Festival 2023!

Time is flying guys.

Multiple devastating computer catastrophes has sadly meant that we are unable to record our usual podcast series this year (pray for both of my laptops speedy recovery).

Taking a look at the next week of the festival I want to share my shortlist of movies that I think are worth checking out.

Rapid fire hot takes! Pew pew! Bonus (for you) – I’m skipping over films that are already sold out so you can just follow this list and not have FOMO.

Thursday, August 3rd:

The Cabaret of Curiosities – Société des Arts – 20h

Why? If you’re a Fantasia vet you are no doubt familiar with DJ XL5’s madcap short film Zappin’ Parties. Well guess what, this is that. Sort of. A mixture of short films, music, guests and more and best of all it’s completely free and out in the open outside of SaT on Saint-Laurent.

Evil Judgment – J.A. De Sève – 21h25

Why? Honestly there just aren’t enough solid 80s horror films that are proudly Canadian. Let alone many that are set in Montreal and somehow are in English. There’s something special about Canadian 80s horror films (look no further than 1981’s My Bloody Valentine if you don’t believe me).

Also hats off to the wonderful crazy people at Vinegar Syndrome for doing the Lord’s work of restoring these forgotten gems for a whole new generation to witness.

Friday, August 4th:

Mad Cats – Hall Theater – 21h30

Why? If you’ve ever been to Fantasia you know that almost every time the lights go down the theater fills up with the screeching meows of Fantasia-goers before the film kicks off. If there’s a film that promises outrageous kung-fu comedy action and a solid dose of cat stuff you had better believe that the most fun place to possible watch it will be Friday night at Fantasia.

Saturday, August 5th:

Molli and Max in the Future – Hall Theater – 14h45

Why? I don’t know a lot about this movie. Look it up if you want. I couldn’t even find a trailer. However, I think Zosia Mamet is great and Aristotle Athari is pretty funny on SNL. If you want to squish them together into a sci-fi rom-com that promises to be When Harry Met Sally by way of Rick & Morty then guess what? I’ll give it a try.

Onyx the Fortuitous and the Talisman of Souls – Hall Theater – 19h30

Why? If you’re like me you immediately read “Onyx the Fortuitous” and thought to yourself “no… can it be the same thing that I have a vague memory of?” and then when you looked at the film in more detail you were delighted to find out that yes, yes it is that thing you have a vague memory of. Sarah and I still say “let’s get drunk off tiny wines” in our regular parlance and that was 12 years ago. Watch this film.

Psychotronic – Cinéma du Musée – 18h30

Why? There are 11 short films screening as part of this program and maybe all of them are worth your time. But one that is definitely worth your time is Red Tiles by Philippe Bourret! He used to cover Fantasia for this website and now his short film is in Fantasia! That’s amazing. Also the film is bonkers and cool so you should see it.

Sunday, August 6th

Pandemonium – J.A. De Sève – 18h45

Why? Sometimes with Fantasia you just have to roll the dice. Go and watch the Pandemonium trailer. Go on. Somehow you know more about the film before you watched the trailer, didn’t you? Weird giant doors in the snow in the middle of nowhere, a girl screaming in the bathroom, a creepy monster man fighting a lion man? What is this movie even about? Sometimes those are the best Fantasia movies. Second Screening August 7th.

Monday, August 7th

The Abandoned – Hall Theater – 2130

Why? I feel like Taiwanese cinema doesn’t get enough attention and honestly a neo-noir procedural thriller seems like a really good way to spend a Monday night.

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs through August 9th.

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9to5 Goes to Fantasia: Tokyo Revengers 2 (Part 1 & 2)

by on August 1, 2023 at 9:51 pm
Posted In: Fantasia, Homepage, Keith, Montreal, Summer Festivals

(This review minor contains spoilers for Tokyo Revengers, Tokyo Revengers 2: Part 1 and Tokyo Revengers 2: Part 2)

I have always considered Japanese cinema (live-action or anime) as a bit of a blind-spot in my overall “geek credentials.” Not for lack of appreciation, but more for a lack of exposure. Whenever Fantasia rolls into Montreal I find myself usually filling out my schedule with horror films first, anything that looks completely bat-shit second and then everything else third.

Over the course of the pandemic Sarah and I binged the entirety of Alice in Borderland and pretty much loved every minute of it. We also caught Kakegurui during the 2021 edition of Fantasia as well. So let’s call ourselves amateurs in the world of live-action manga adaptations.

It was actually Alice in Borderland star Nijiro Murakami appearing in the trailer for “Tokyo Revengers 2” that caught our eye as his character in “Alice” was one of our favorites (and he does not disappoint as Kazutora Hanemiya in both parts of Tokyo Revengers 2).

So it was that we watched Tokyo Revengers on Saturday morning, got hooked into the story and then promptly made sure to watch Tokyo Revengers 2 Part 1 & 2 over the weekend at Fantasia.

There’s something amazing about adapting a manga to live-action and as a viewer you need to mentally prepare yourself for a few things. First, characters will behave significantly more melodramatically than they might otherwise in a “normal” film. Second, you need to be ready for things to possibly get a little supernatural without any real reason or explanation.

In Tokyo Revengers, Takemichi Hanagaki (a full on late-20s virgin in a dead-end job trope) finds out that his high-school girlfriend dies in a gang related incident and then discovers that he can travel 10 years back in time into his high-school self and change the events of the past.

Is it explained how this happens? Magic? Science fiction? No. Who cares. It’s happening, buckle up and enjoy it.

The first film results in Takemichi successfully altering the past just enough to make sure his ex-girlfriend lives and we get a (seemingly) happy ending.

Time for Tokyo Revengers 2

Despite being divided up into 2 parts, I’ll just refer to them both as “Tokyo Revengers 2”, even director Tsutomu Hanabusa said prior to the screening of Part 1 that it was really intended as one film and just cut into two for time.

One of the elements set up by the first film is that Takemichi’s super power is to basically get his ass kicked constantly but somehow teach someone a lesson or spark a change of heart via said ass-kicking. This holds true for Tokyo Revengers 2. The founding of the Tokyo Manji Gang gets explored in the film pretty extensively. We find out how the leader Mikey’s brother died, who’s gone to juvie, who is loyal to whom and so on.

And all the while Takemichi is getting his ass kicked.

The story of the series on the whole revolves around these tough-as-nails teenagers with lofty aspirations (mostly related to crime and getting into kick ass fights) learning to care about each other by virtue of “crybaby hero” Takemichi.

Throughout Tokyo Revengers 2, Takemichi attempts (with mixed success) to stop people from dying in the present because they succumb to toxic masculinity in the past.

A big reason to watch all three of these films is the absolutely brutal gang-fights. Tsutomu Hanabusa has an incredible eye for brutal fight sequences that don’t need a tremendous amount of special effects or even incredibly complex choreography.

This is particularly on display during the final fight sequence where the Tokyo Manji Gang faces off against the Valhalla gang in a scrapyard. Honestly, most of “Tokyo Revengers 2: Part 2” is this fight sequence. It’s non-stop. Even in the background of the “main fight” that you’re supposed to be watching there is good looking fighting happening as apparently hundreds of teenagers are just ready and willing to fight to the death for… reasons.

Honestly, if the weird melodrama and time travel are somehow off-putting to you, I would still recommend just jumping straight into Tokyo Revengers 2: Part 2 for that climactic fight sequence. Obviously I would recommend watching the first two films for all of the context first but that fight… man… worth the price of admission even as a stand alone sequence.

The original Tokyo Revengers is available on Crunchyroll, presumably Tokyo Revengers 2 might pop up there as well.

The Fantasia International Film Festival runs through August 9th.

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Montreal Fringe Festival 2023 – Quick Takes

by on June 14, 2023 at 7:08 pm
Posted In: Fringe, Homepage, Keith, Montreal, Perspicacious Geek

The Montreal Fringe Festival returns for the 2023 edition. After years of varying degrees of restrictions (while the 2022 edition was back in-person masks were still prudently mandatory for the audience).

I’ve been “Fringe Adjacent” for nearly a quarter of a century. I volunteered at the Fringe Park for a few shifts in the late 90’s in high-school. I by no means have ever Fringe’d hard. My high-score was probably taking in about 10 shows in a given year.

This year I managed to take in 5 (so far) and with the second weekend of the festival coming up here are a few quick takes on the show’s I’ve seen.

Mixtape:

From the Let Lowns Theatre Co. The description of the show promises the creation of a “Live Mixtape” for the Fringe stage, combining storytelling through monologue, video projections and new music. Unfortunately only one of those things seems to have made it into the final show. Victoria Morrison sits center stage and provides 90’s tinged indie-rock guitar riffs and sweet vocals over looped beats played through an old tape deck. The music is actually pretty good, although the balance between the vocals and the electric guitar could have been better (or she could have been mic’d up ideally). We were there for opening night, so maybe the absent monologues and video projections have worked their way back into the show. But based solely on what we saw the show was basically just an intimate little concert.

I KNOW YOU ARE BUT WHAT AM I?

A tale of the transformation of losing your hearing told through the medium of interpretive dance. First off, I went into this show completely unaware of the premise (it was one of Sarah’s choices). So I had the unique experience of watching the three performers on stage perform an eclectic mix of dance movies coupled with sign-language as (intentionally) muddled audio loops pulsed and droned.

Even with no context I managed to glean that we were witnessing a painful transformation, and the use of sign-language was enough to guide me towards the idea this was related to being hearing impaired. I am always impressed any time an interpretive dance manages to convey its intentions without needing the Cliff Notes.

That said, if the show was more than 30 minutes I may have grown a little tired of some of the more repetitive elements of the show. Obviously I think there would be an entire extra layer of enjoyment if you happen to know sign-language.

Dual Reality Magic:

So despite the fact that the image on the Fringe website contains two magicians and the title of the show is “Dual Reality” – the show that we saw featured only Jason Acoca. Mind you the description of the show does imply that Acoca is the only performer. Was it a last minute change? Who knows.

Whatever the case may be Acoca is a skilled magician and mentalist, running through a string of tricks that combine the power of suggestion, sleight of hand and misdirection. Unfortunately for me, I have watched a few too many YouTube videos revealing how some of these tricks are performed. Sarah has not. Her mind was blown again and again by the performance to the point that I was a little jealous.

Acoca himself embodies the vibe of a performer from the late 90’s or early 2000’s which adds a sort of tinge of nostalgia to the entire affair. Conjuring up (ha!) some dormant memories of being taken to magic shows as a kid.

Honestly at $15.50 this show brings some high quality magic and with La Ministere as the venue you can grab a drink and enjoy the magic.

Hey B*tch, Love You

So we had a bunch of the talented people from Half Twin Theatre on our “Go Fringe Yourself” podcast special last week to talk about their show and we were lucky enough to catch their second showing this past Saturday.

Long story short with as few spoilers as possible: It’s Erickah’s wedding day and she’s having a crisis, but instead of calling her Maid of Honour she calls her childhood best-friend Penny. What ensues is a messy exploration of friends you thought you had, may have grown apart from and may not have been that good of a friend in the first place.

The dialogue is quick and snappy and the use of time loops and resets is a fun way to simultaneously experience the things we wish we said against the things we actually say. And maybe it doesn’t even matter what we say anyways?

“Hey B*tch, Love You” is part of what is becoming almost a rare breed at the Fringe: an actual play. Definitely worth watching.

Tales of the Rise of the Fallen

As we sat in the venue to watch Johnny Prince tell us stories, we were immediately enthralled. Prince sat on stage, legs crossed in a high backed chair with a fedora casting his face in shadow. Definite Leonard Cohen vibes.

When the show started in earnest he stepped up to the podium and began to read selections from his apparently ever expanding collection of short stories. Each set somewhere in his schizophrenic drug addicted memories of Montreal as it existed to him in the 70s, 80s and 90s (depending on when each story took place).

Prince’s delivery improved as he settled in to the storytelling, and even the few faltering moments of the first few minutes were more than made up for by the content of each tale. Stealing chemicals from a science lab in high school, jabbing himself with needs at the top of Mount Royal and eating cockroaches are a few highlights of the selection he shared with us. And that’s more than enough for you to decide if this is the sort of thing you will enjoy or not.

We did.

Sarah bought 2 of his collected short stories.

The Montreal Fringe Festival runs through to June 18th, and most of these shows still have a handful of showings. Head to montrealfringe.ca for tickets, info and more.

 

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2021 Cult MTL Best of Montreal Cheat Sheet (by 9to5.cc)

by on May 8, 2021 at 2:27 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Keith, Perspicacious Geek

So obviously I want you to vote for 9to5.cc as Best Website and either 9ES or Go Plug Yourself as Best Podcast in Montreal over at Cult MTL’s Best of Montreal reader poll but you have to vote for a minimum of 25 categories for your ballot to be counted.

Now, if you have 25 amazing things to vote for in Montreal then good on you, but if you don’t I will happily share my picks with you and let you cheat off my test. 

I’m cool like that.

Is this mostly a list of previous guests of Go Plug Yourself? Sure it is. 

People & Places

Hottest Montrealer: Plastik Patrik

One time at a Montreal Roller Derby game I overheard a drunken fan proclaim “wow, that announcer is hot… I don’t know if it’s a guy or a girl but damn.” 

Coolest Montreal Company:  Scorpion Masqué

I play a lot of board games and Montreal based Scorpion Masqué produced a game literally called “Stay Cool” so they win. Coolest company.

Best Weirdo: Hollywood

Hollywood used to be a mainstay on many an old episode of Go Plug Yourself, just popping by to sing into the microphone mid interview. Haven’t seen him in a while. Hope he’s ok. He’s got my vote forever in this category.

Best Politician: Tyler Lemco

If enough of us vote for Tyler as the best politician in Montreal he will basically HAVE to run for mayor again. 

Media

Best Radio Show: The Pressure Drop

Danny Payne hosts The Pressure Drop over on CJLO, so you should vote for that.

Best Radio Host: Sean Campbell

The Voice of the Rocket! Sean Campbell!

Best Podcast: Go Plug Yourself or 9ES (pick your favorite)

What are you even doing reading this list if you’re not voting for one of my shows? Come on now.

Best Website: 9to5.cc

Duh.

Nightlife

Best Bartender: Ram Krishnan

When all of this pandemic nonsense is over the very first thing you should do is head on down to Grumpy’s and spend a bunch of money there.

Best Bar and Best Sleazy Bar: Grumpy’s

They let us record a podcast there man, give them all the votes you can.

Best Wine Bar: LOIC

They haven’t been on the podcast, yet, but still my favorite place for wine in the city.

Best Live Music Venue: Turbo Haus

Sergio let us record a podcast there like we were real rockstars.

Best Promoter: I LOVE NEON

When we start being able to go out again I will be clearing my calendar and going to every party I LOVE NEON throws.

Best Terasse: Also Turbo Haus.

Last summer I spent a lot of time looking at Instagram posts of terraces in the city and cringed at the lack of safe social distancing. Not so with Turbo Haus. They kept that shit safe.

Best Comedy Club: Comedy Nest

Again, when they were allowed to do shows, they did them safely. That counts for a lot and it’s an important step in bringing live comedy back to this city.

Best Comedy Night: Battle of Wits

Elspeth Wright’s comedy gameshow that has been converted into an online format is the best. Bonus: Elspeth is raising money for AMI-Quebec all month long.

Best Cocktail Bar: Milky Way

Haven’t had these guys on the podcast yet but they’re in my neighborhood and they make good cocktails.

Music

Best Band: We Are Monroe

We had these guys on the podcast to promote their 2019 appearance at Osheaga and they were really cool. They’ve got some new stuff coming out you should check out.

Heaviest Act: Great Sabatini

The guys from Great Sabatini are the best, and still have one of the all time best stories ever shared on their episode of GPYS. You should check that episode (and all the episodes) out.

Best Hip Hop: Urban Science Brass Band

It was a while ago but we had Josh Clarke aka Scynical on the show and he talked up Urban Science Brass Band, if you haven’t checked them out you’re missing out. 

Best Singer-songwriter: Johnny Griffin (John Jacob Magistry)

Best Label: Stomp Records

I don’t think we’ve had more artists from a single record label than from Stomp records. BCASA, Boids, Kingpins, Planet Smashers have all called Stomp Records home.

Cinema & Arts

Best Actor: Michael Mando

The fact that Michael Mando has been a guest on GPYS three times speaks volumes to the fact that we are in fact, quite likeable.

Best Film Screening Series: Fantasia

A lot of festivals took some time off last year, but Fantasia was able to pivot to being an online festival and it was great. One of the high points of the year honestly.

Best Play: Malunderstood

In early 2020, Kenny Streule brought his one person show “Malunderstood” to Mainline, and in early 2021, he brought a digital adaptation of that show to the internet. Heartwarming.

Best Comedian: Take your pick

There are a million great comedians in this city, so take your pick. Ok, maybe there are about 20. I’m obviously biased in favor of the ones who co-host podcasts with me so if you need a pick choose between: Walter Lyng, Lawrence Corber, Inés Anaya and Chris Venditto, because they’re all the best.

Best Festival: Osheaga

I don’t think there is one thing that Sarah talks about missing on a regular basis than Osheaga weekend. This is literally the first time since the festival began that two years will have passed without it being a part of our summer.

Goods & Services

Best Barbershop: Monthly

One of the boys from Monthly has been cutting my hair for what feels like forever. Best shop in town I say.

Best Tattoo Parlour: DFA

I used to work at a call center with Mel back when she was a tattoo apprentice. Now she’s a world renowned tattoo artist and the whole gang at DFA Tattoos is the best.

Best Tattoo Artist: Sean Arsenian

One of those tattoo artists is Sean, who has been on the show to promote Great Sabatini, Sweetheart Grip and also played our live show back before the pandemic. He also tattooed my leg.

Best Used CD/Vinyl Store: Cheap Thrills

Go there on Thursdays and Jason will tell you what jazz records belong in your collection. 

Best Jewellry: Chokitem

Daian (also from Aller Retour) came on the show last year to talk about some of her time in fashion and also to rep some of the amazing pieces available at Chokitem. 

Food & Drink

Best Sandwich: Clarke

It’s got coffee and makes great sandwiches and is like a 5 minute walk from my house, what’s not to love? 

Best Coffee: Tunnel

One of the main things I miss about going to work downtown was daily coffee breaks at Tunnel Espresso. 

Best Ice Cream: Florence

You know what I wrote about Clarke Café up there? Replace “great sandwiches” with “great ice cream and gelato” and the same thing is true.

So yeah, voting ends next Sunday, May 16th @ 11:59 PM so do it. Be somebody.

 Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

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Big Fish D&D: The Time We Found Treasure Island

by on December 9, 2019 at 4:43 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Gaming, Homepage, Jon, Jon's Junk, Keith, Perspicacious Geek

Where, once again, the Rogue has convinced the party to follow a treasure map.

 Everyone laughed at how silly it was that nobody questioned the treasure map in the first one, I felt like it would be doubly on-brand to do it again.

An adventure starring Jaxxo the Lizardfolk Monk, Jim Clocks the Half-Aquatic Elf Rogue, Brubax the Goliath Barbarian and Tidus the Triton Cleric. Absent: L’Eau D’ur the Genasi Warlock.

 I’m in black and Jon (the DM) is in blue.

If this is your first time checking out our little D&D Adventure Blog, you might want to check out this post that explains the setup and format of the game.  You can check out all “Big Fish” content on this nifty landing page. And if you’re enjoying our little GameTale Adventure Blog, please tell your friends on whatever platform you interact with them. If you think Jon and I are at all entertaining please consider checking out the geek-centric podcast we do every two weeks “9ES” right here.

If you have happened to diligently read that prologue post from way back in the past, you will know that each of our characters have, at one point in their backstory, developed a sort of nemesis.

Jon mostly uses these as placeholders for the “villain” of a session, and sometimes ties it all back into the Glacius Rex character who is kind of the (woefully inept) bad guy of the campaign.

Yeah, I had really planned to lean on them more, but in the first season I got so wrapped up figuring out the process and timing for these sessions that I let the nemesis slide.  If I ever run another Big Fish style campaign the nemesis will play a larger role. Missed opportunity there.

Anyhow, my (I play Jim Clocks the Rogue) nemesis is a Kenku. With most of the player character’s relationship with their nemesis, it is the nemesis who is the bad guy. It’s kind of a running joke that with Jim, he is most certainly not the good guy and by all accounts the Kenku really did nothing wrong. Jim just thinks Kenku are weird and creepy and just kind of singled out the poor birdman for cruelty.

Back to Basics

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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The Real Captain of the Ship of Horror – An Interview With Anne K. Brown (Part 2)

by on July 28, 2019 at 4:37 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Gaming, Homepage, Jon, Keith

Welcome back to Part 2 of our interview with Anne K. Brown, author and game designer. Part 2 focuses on her time with TSR, being a woman in game development and more. To read about Anne’s thoughts on working on Ship of Horror click here.

If you’ve been keeping up with Big Fish D&D, you know that we recently did a playthrough of the 1991 “Official Ravenloft Game Adventure” that was Ship of Horror. At one particular moment of the session (namely when we began the encounter with Meredoth the Necromancer) one of us loudly proclaimed: “Who designed this?”

Anne Brown did.

About Anne and Her Career:

(Keith): How did you get into game design? It looks like you worked on Dragon magazine for just a few months before moving into the Game Division. Is that where you wanted to be? How different is the writing process between penning a novel or short stories and writing a game module?

Anne: My path into game design was fairly long. I interviewed for Dragon magazine in May, 1986, literally the day after my last college final exam. I didn’t get that job, but Roger Moore (then assistant editor) suggested that I talk to some of the Games Department staff about freelance work. I got some freelance writing and editing, which kept me connected to TSR.

Roger Moore (then editor-in-chief) hired me for Dragon magazine in May, 1989. By September, the Games Department (formally known as Research & Development) was preparing to expand. Jim Ward told me he wanted to pull me over into Games, and after some negotiating, I moved to Games. I loved working on the magazines, and working at TSR was so awesome that it didn’t really matter to me what department I was in. I stayed until August 1997, when Wizards of the Coast bought TSR and moved it to Seattle.

The writing process for a novel, short story, or game module is really different. With a game module, the first task is to develop the story arc and figure out what the players should accomplish. Then it’s a matter of breaking the story into encounters and developing them, and also developing the nonplayer characters, villains, and monsters. Finally, the actual writing comes, which is mostly instructional passages for the dungeon master plus the read-aloud text. The writing for a game module is drastically different from fiction, and you’re trying to help the DM guide the players through the adventure, offer advice to the DM, and maintain choices for the players (not just lead them by the nose) so they feel that they have a chance to influence the outcome of the adventure.

Novels and short stories share the same development of a story arc and breaking down into scenes, but of course, the actual writing is drastically different. With fiction, the goal is to produce some really great prose that tells the story, develops the characters, and artfully explores the setting. With fiction, the author has complete control over every decision made by the characters, and is much more of a puppet master than with game design.

I do find writing game modules to be easier than fiction. In a game module, you’re pretty much dictating instructions to the DM, whereas with fiction, I’m working much harder on the narrative. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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Girls Gotta Eat Set to Bring Dating Advice to Canada (JFL 2019)

by on July 22, 2019 at 8:30 pm
Posted In: Go Plug Yourself, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Montreal, Podcast, Podcasting

My wife described “Girls Gotta Eat” like “My Favorite Murderer” but about dating.

That’s not bad company for Rayna Greenberg and Ashley Hesseltine to be keeping (MFM does nearly 20 million downloads a month). The girls are bringing their dating expertise (ie: plenty of first hand experience) to Montreal and Toronto in the next few days for a live version of their podcast.

The live experience promises up-to-the-minute updates regarding their current dating situations (so fans of the show will have early insights) and, as the girls put it: “the best letters” are saved for the live shows. There is also audience participation, so if you desperately want Ashley and Rayna to be your personal relationship gurus you should make sure you’re at the show.

I was lucky enough to grab a quick phone interview with the girls today and now you are lucky enough to listen to it. It’s fun how that works.

Listen now and check out Girls Gotta Eat July 23rd at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto or July 24th at Place des Arts in Montreal. More info and tickets here.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

Image of Girls Gotta Eat from their official website.

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Cameron Esposito Is Not Where She Thought She’d Be – Separately (JFL 2019)

by on July 22, 2019 at 7:45 pm
Posted In: Blogs, Homepage, Just for Laughs, Keith, Left Hand

Not pictured: Blonde hair.

The moment Cameron Esposito took to the stage in Montreal her fans immediately knew that something was different.

Still present was her trademark look of stylish coif and motorcycle jacket, but that coif? It’s blonde now.

As Esposito puts it, this is her “divorce hair.”

As Esposito works through the new hour of material that she is calling Separately , she talks us through the struggles of being on the forefront of something “new” for the LGBTQ community: divorce. The United States only made the right to marriage universal across all 50 States in 2015 (although it had been legal in some States since as early as 2004). Therefore, with only 4 to 15 years of legally binding unions in the bank, Esposito is definitely a pioneer in the world of ending a same-sex marriage.

 All that to say, there is very little in culture to prepare her for the realities of the last year.

There are no pop songs to play on repeat.

No movies that will safely comfort her.

Instead, Esposito has been left to figure things out on her own, with varying degree of success.

From making questionable food choices, to binging hundreds of hours of sappy network dramas. From having to travel alone, to trying to figure out what her hobbies might be. Separately seems most interested in finding out just who Cameron Esposito is in 2019.

As much as she might joke about not being relatable (and honestly, who can relate to someone who pronounces “gif” that way?), Esposito’s experiences are extremely accessible. You don’t need to be queer, married, female or even a talented stand up comedian to find something in Separately that might strike a chord. Esposito’s latest hour is an honest look at what happens to a person’s life when they suddenly find themselves alone when they didn’t expect to be. And if you’ve ever experienced that, you’ll find yourself sympathetic to Esposito’s new material.

In fact, there was a woman behind me who was audibly agreeing and going “mmm hmm” throughout the set that perhaps had a parallel life to Cameron Esposito. Who knew there where so many people who had to endure the social awkwardness of mingling with older women in a country club following their lesbian divorces?

Someone should create a Facebook Group for that.

If reading this has given you the impression that Separately is a downer well, I wish I could say it wasn’t, but it kind of is.

But that’s not to say it’s not funny.

Hearing Esposito navigate through all these different situations is almost continuously hilarious (although there are a handful of genuine emotional gut shots in the set). The reason you might feel a little down is wholly attributable to Esposito’s sincerity. She is so genuinely earnest and open on stage that as an audience member, you just want the best for her.

You don’t want Cameron Esposito to be alone witnessing bizarre hotel celebrity signings, you want her to be able to share that experience with someone else who makes her happy.

If you’re ready to laugh along with the trials and tribulations of being on your own when you didn’t expect to be, check out Separately July 22 to 24 at Katacombes. Tickets and info here.

Keith does all sorts of things here on 9to5.cc, he works with the other founders on 9to5 (illustrated), co-hosts our two podcasts: The 9to5 Entertainment System and Go Plug Yourself and blogs here as The Perspicacious Geek.

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Big Fish D&D: The Time We Joined the Crew of The Ship of Horror (Part 2)

by on July 10, 2019 at 11:26 am
Posted In: Blogs, Gaming, Homepage, Jon, Jon's Junk, Keith, Perspicacious Geek

Where our heroes are still in the goth infused majesty of to 1991 when vampires were the absolute coolest. They are on a ghost ship, not any ghost ship: The Ship of Horrors.

An adventure starring Jaxxo the Lizardfolk Monk, Jim Clocks the Half-Aquatic Elf Rogue, Brubax the Goliath Barbarian, Tidus the Triton Cleric and L’Eau D’ur the Genasi Warlock.

 I’m in black and Jon (the DM) is in blue.

If this is your first time checking out our little D&D Adventure Blog, you might want to check out this post that explains the setup and format of the game.  You can check out all “Big Fish” content on this nifty landing page. And if you’re enjoying our little GameTale Adventure Blog, please tell your friends on whatever platform you interact with them. If you think Jon and I are at all entertaining please consider checking out the geek-centric podcast we do every two weeks “9ES” right here.

How To Get Off The Ship of Horror

One of the issues that creeps up in this game is the fact that this group has faced a lot of nonsense scenarios and come out of them relatively unscathed. The Expedition to Barrier Peaks alone would be enough for most parties to become unflappable heroes. Throw in being trapped in The Underdark, sailing through space in SpellJammer and occasionally squaring off against high level Demons and Beholders and you have a crew that has absolutely no problem with marching up to the Captain and telling him a thing or two.

It takes a lot to phase this group of adventurers.

I’m guessing the fact that Jon didn’t want to drag this module out for more than two sessions helped a little two with the pace of discovery.

Time for lightning round part 2, as before Jon, your comments are a treasure.

  • We basically mean mug the Captain into revealing that he used to ferry corpses for the Grabben Family for a lich
    • Actually not a lich.  Boring old Necromancer.  Would have been great to tie his background into Grabben Island and had a few clues about him to earn there.
  • When he suddenly developed a conscience, the Captain threw the corpses overboard and tried to break his deal with the family, thereby invoking the wrath and curse of a lich.
  • The ghosts want their bodies laid to rest, so we need to find their bodies under the ocean and bring them back to Grabben Island to bury them.
  •  Again, this would probably be pretty tricky but we’ve all got swim speeds and some of us straight up breathe under water.
  • The lady and Madeline want to be buried, but Jacob wants vengeance.
    • Tidus decides to give into the demand and accepts a creepy ghost hug.
    • Jacob is now a set of glowing eyes in a sack that Tidus carries and to try to reason with him is to possibly be consumed by the darkness of the wraith.
      • Man I hope none of this comes back to mess with Tidus later.
      • I just liked the imagery from Hellboy, obvs, plus I had some lingering desire to mess with Eric after letting the sword go.
  • Superior Ranger and tracking abilities allow us to nope the hell out of encounters with:
    • A Monstrous Sea-Star
    • Some Vodyanoi, aka, Aquatic Umberhulks.
  • The heroes head to Grabben Island to bury the bodies and track down the lich that started all this nonsense.

↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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The Real Captain of the Ship of Horror – An Interview With Anne K. Brown (Part 1)

by on July 10, 2019 at 11:03 am
Posted In: Blogs, Gaming, Homepage, Jon, Jon's Junk, Keith, Perspicacious Geek

Anne K. Brown started with TSR officially in 1989 (she had freelanced there before) and in 1991 she was given the task of writing Ship of Horror for the relatively new Ravenloft setting.

To read more about Anne’s career check out Part 2 of our interview here.

So, if you’ve been keeping up with Big Fish D&D, you know that we recently did a playthrough of the 1991 “Official Ravenloft Game Adventure” that was Ship of Horror. At one particular moment of the session (namely when we began the encounter with Meredoth the Necromancer) one of loudly proclaimed: “Who designed this?”

Well, one of the good things about running a moderately successful geek-centric website is that after the session, we tracked down the designer and asked her “What was the deal with Meredoth?”… among many other questions.

This is actually just Part 1 of the interview and deals pretty much exclusively with Ship of Horror. Come back next week for Part 2 where we asked Anne about game design, writing fiction and non-fiction and what it was like to work at TSR in the late 80’s right up until TSR’s purchase by Wizards of the Coast.

Please enjoy this glimpse into the creation of what has become somewhat of a cult classic module from D&D’s past.

How To Make a Ship of Horror

(Jon):  Just to let you know I’ve run it twice (and played it once!) and had a great time with all three groups.

(Keith): What was the starting point for Ship of Horror? Did you have any specific direction (ie: write a ghost ship story) or was it more wide open (ie: write a Ravenloft story)?

Anne: I’m glad you enjoyed it! Writing can be a very insecure business. Most writers finish a project and then have that moment of panic, wondering if it was any good. ↓ Read the rest of this entry…

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