Ready or Not

Wednesday August 21, 2019 • Howard Tayler

I saw the trailer for Ready or Not while watching Zombie Tidal Wave over on SyFy this weekend, and my verdict is that this made Zombie Tidal Wave worth it. My ticket alone probably doesn’t cover the ad spend for the studio, but it’s a start. Thank you for thinking of me!

Ready or Not is a tender, uplifting rom-com about spending the night playing hide-and-seek with your new in-laws who happen to also be clumsy-yet-determined serial murderers seeking to appease their dark lord. So, y’know… a nice break from superhero films. Also, not particularly tender or uplifting.

It didn’t quite cross my Threshold of Awesome because I don’t like being tense, or jump-scared, and it was only almost as funny as I was hoping it would be, but I definitely enjoyed myself. It did not disappoint, however. If I’d been with a couple of like-minded friends I would have been laughing out loud instead of on the inside, and that might have been better.

For me. Maybe not for my friends.

The R-rating is for gore and language, and there are generous helpings of both.

Barding Like a Bardy-Bard

Monday August 19, 2019 • Howard Tayler

I play Bard Odrak Ironthroat over at TypecastRPG, and in a very literally typecast manner, I’m a playing a bard who can draw. During each game session I sketch key moments, interpreting them for posterity so that the truth of our party’s epic ineptitude will be obscured by the tales our descendants tell about us.

THESE SKETCHES CAN BE YOURS

For our first giveaway, follow TypeCastRPG on Twitter or Instagram, and then give this tweet an RT and a like.

Obviously, the pictures will have more meaning for you if you’re watching us play.

Previous sessions are available on YouTube, and we’re live on Twitch every Tuesday at 9pm Eastern. As an incentive to tune in on Twitch, the live show has a live-only “after party,” in which we take questions from the chat, and get randomly silly, secure in the knowledge that THIS part won’t end up on YouTube¹.

We haven’t gotten the ArtCam to work yet (my fault – my camera had 0 HP and failed its death saves) but future feeds may show off exactly how sloppy I am as I create these cards.

Future giveaways may happen on the TypecastRPG Instagram or Facebook accounts. Your home page for all things TypecastRPG is TypecastRPG.com, where you can find links to our social media feeds, as well as helpful summaries of previous game sessions.

¹ I have it on good authority that the internet is really good at forgetting embarrassing things.

The Angry Birds Movie 2

Friday August 16, 2019 • Howard Tayler

You may recall my surprise when I loved The Angry Birds Movie, and enjoyed it more than I enjoyed Captain America: Civil War. That’s a pretty high bar to clear, especially for a sequel, but The Angry Birds Movie 2 takes a really good run at it, and, at least in places, out-performs the first film for me.

Here’s a metric. I almost laughed myself unconscious one time (something which I can actually do thanks to asthma). The first film almost did that to me three times. (So, three times it almost did it.)

This doesn’t mean the first film is three times better, or three times funnier—just that it surprised me more. And I suppose that’s more my fault than it is the film’s. I study humor for a living, and went into The Angry Birds Movie 2 expecting some amazing joke-craft, so I was (mostly) ready for it.

YMMV, of course.

The Angry Birds Movie 2 may have an oddly-constructed title (is there an extra word in there?) but it crosses my Threshold of Awesome nonetheless.  I’ll be buying the Blu-Ray, too, because re-watching these films and studying the way the animators, writers, and voice actors work together to craft a joke is, in fact, part of my job, making the disc a business expense.

I’m super fortunate that there are no laws against business expenses being fun, because this film is a lot of fun.