Tiki Tilt

Anne likes Mai Tais, and I like making things — especially things that my wife likes — so I’ve been learning how to make tropical drinks from the golden age of the American Tiki restaurant. My guide to all of this has been Jeff “Beachbum” Berry, specifically his books Beachbum Berry Reloaded and Potions of the Caribbean.

Both books have dozens of tiki drink recipes in them, which is why they are practical and useful, but the thing I love about these books is their history of the American tiki craze of the 20th century. These books are filled with pictures of long-forgotten theme restaurants from all across the country, and photographs of the drinks, the menus, the bars, and recollections from the people who made them.

So last night, I made Anne a Mai Tai, I made a Samoan Fog Cutter for Ryan’s girlfriend, Claudette (which we renamed The Tahitian Fart, because I didn’t have any sherry for the float, so I used 151 that I set on fire instead), some kind of Grog for Ryan,  and a Planter’s Punch for myself.

It was fun and festive, and our drinks went well with the Les Baxter music I was playing on the Sonos, and the teriyaki-marinated chicken sandwiches we grilled for dinner. We watched a great movie, enjoyed each other’s company, and then when Ryan and Claudette left, it was time for bed.

Right. Well. It turns out that the sugar in the tropical drink plus the caffeine in the black tea in the drink had a stacking effect that gave me -10 to saves vs. Stay Awake, so I ended up just getting out of bed and shuffling into my office, where I fired up my new obsession, Pinball Arcade.

I desperately want to get a pinball machine for my game room, but there just isn’t room, so Pinball Arcade is a really good substitute for me. I’ve been playing it so much, I’m starting to get some pretty high scores (for me) on some of the machines I play frequently … and last night, this happened:

Attack from Mars

I got the highest score on this Attack From Mars table.Elvira Party Monsters

Then I got all the high scores on Elvira and the Party Monsters.Medieval Madness

And then I got all the high scores on Medieval Madness.

I tried to run the table on Cyclone, but by this time my lungs were aching for air, and I was finally able to engage in some much-needed rock climbing.

Seven hours of sleep later, during which I had a dream that — I shit you not — featured me designing and then playing a pinball machine based on Pink Floyd’s The Wall, before I went to see The Wall with my son, Nolan, I woke up, feeling irrationally proud of what I’d accomplished.

Paraphrasing a certain smuggler: “Good against simulations is one thing, but good against the real thing?”

I guess I’ll have to head on down to a real arcade once I get the time, and see if I can count my experiences at the virtual tables as training, or if it’s just something I’m doing when I should probably be pretending to be productive.

this is not how this week was supposed to go down

Me: I’m going to get some words down on this story I’ve been developing for months!

My brain: Okay. Let’s do this.

My body: Not so fast. I have to cough so much all of our muscles are going to hurt.

Me: Okay. You done?

My body: Not just yet. I also have to sort of ache a little bit and also produce a whole bunch of snot and crap for you. Also, I need to cough some more.

Me: Got it. Now, let’s get to work!

My body: Can we just put a pin in that for a moment? Our throat needs some attention. It’s not nearly scratchy enough. Oh, and this cough isn’t really doing anything, but it’s a whole thing now, and I’m not really ready to give it up.

My brain: Um. Fellas?

Me: Yeah?

My body: What’s up, brain?

My brain: This is bullshit. When you’re ready to get your shit together, you let me know, and we’ll do some awesome creative work. Until then, I’m going to check out and focus on amusing cat pictures.

Me: NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! I NEED YOU!

My brain: I know he isn’t going to actually buy a boat, but my god this is still as funny as it was the first time.

Me: YOU WERE THE CHOSEN ONE!

My brain: Let’s play pinball arcade, buddy.

My body: Yeah, about that … I’ve slowed down your reactions and increased the coughing. I am really into this whole coughing thing.

Me: I think I’ll just go take a nap.

My body and my brain: Finally, something we can all agree on!

My body: … I’m just going to keep coughing. Sorry not sorry.

summer colds are the worst

Just in time for me to commit to spending my August working on my own projects and recovering from months and months of endless work, I seem to have come down with some sort of summer cold.

Because of course I did.

Anyway, I’ll complain about it for a day or two, and then I’ll just power through and stay focused on my writing projects, and maybe I’ll finally edit together some videos I’ve been meaning to edit forever.

I’m still making occasional episodes of Not Radio Free Burrito, if you’re into that sort of thing. Maybe I’ll make one where I just cough and sneeze and grumble about it. That’s what the people want, and I know how to give the people what they want.

Speaking of that, here’s the season finale of Titansgrave:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cs9Dzgaz-aA

I can’t believe we’re done with this season. It feels like we just started.

Can I hibernate? I want to hibernate for a couple of months.

you must remember this

Earlier this year, I became completely hooked on the podcast Serial. I wasn’t alone, as it rocketed to the top of the charts in every podcast directory, and became A Thing for about three months.

Ever since it ended, I’ve been looking for something to pick up where it left off, in terms of pacing, compelling subject matter, production quality, and intellectual stimulation. I expected that podcast directories like Stitcher and iTunes would be the place to find what I was looking for, but other than recommending This American Life, they weren’t very helpful.

Enter my friend Ed. Ed is a writer who is currently doing a magnificent comic about the early years of Hollywood called The Fadeout. Ed turned me on to a podcast called ​You Must Remember This, which is about Hollywood’s first century.

For the last couple of months, You Must Remember This has been looking back at ​the Manson Murders, unpacking where Charles Manson came from (both physically and spiritually), and how the changing scene within Hollywood (as a geographic location and an industry) in the 1960s created an environment where he and his followers could find each other.

This season, You Must Remember This will explore the murders committed in the summer of 1969 by followers of Charles Manson, and the Hollywood music and movie scene surrounding the killings. Throughout the series, we’ll learn how a single sociopath’s thwarted dreams of fame and fortune led to the gruesome events which became the symbolic “end of the sixties.” Future episodes will explore the various celebrities, musicians, movie stars and filmmakers (including Roman Polanski, Sharon Tate, The Beach Boys, Dennis Hopper, Doris Day and more) whose paths crossed with Manson’s in meaningful ways, both leading up to the murders and in their aftermath.

I love this podcast, and once I get caught up on the Manson episodes, I’m going to go back to the beginning and binge the whole series. I think some of you will like it, too.

this needs a title but i can’t think of a title so it’s just an aside without a title

I feel like years and years of hard work has allowed me the privilege to take this time for my own work, say no to projects or things I don’t really want to do, and focus on getting excited and making things.

So the plan has been to take August off (except for @Midnight on the 19th and two installments of Critical Role, both things I want to do because they’re fun) to just write and be creative.

I thought I’d have some progress toward finishing one of these writing projects by now (since it’s Thursday, after all), but  I’ve spent this week recovering emotionally and physically from GenCon (more on that later when I can properly organize all those thoughts).

For the longest time, I’ve felt guilty if I take time to do things like watch movies or read a stack of comics, and even though I remind myself that part of my job is to be familiar with and inspired by the things I want to create, the loudest and most insistent part of my brain does a lot of “umactually…” at me a lot of the time.

But here I am, watching almost two movies a night, reading on average a book a week, playing and learning lots of games, and generally just doing my best to feed my creative side, so it’s ready to go when I ask it to work with me to turn ideas into stories.

This feels strange, but also good.