My Goodness, Is It Fun Month Already!? SU&SD Newsletter #52

Matt: I’m writing this as we sit at the very vanguard of Fun Month, which started with Tom’s Kitchen Rush review, and I’m delighted to already see comments lashing out at the concept of “FUN”.

I think what keeps this hobby so broadly delighting is the manner  in which we’re able to enjoy economic simulations of 19th Century  industry, and the next week be waxing lyrical about “little rhino  climbing a building made of big cards”. Our team isn’t quite physically  ready for Fun Month, really, being still unable to test stuff in The  Real World, but crikey I think we’re all ready for some FUN. It’s grey  outside, I’m optimistic for the future, but I’m starting to feel the  rusty cogs of digital tabletop simulators slowly eroding that breadth of  experiences that I love about the hobby - leaving the tangible  ethereal, the textural flat, and anything involving cards and  hand-management a BORE. Honestly though, it’s felt strangely like a  sabbatical - a reminder of what I love about the hobby, and a readiness  to embrace those elements lovingly again when the time is right.

Tom: Over in Tomtown, I’m quite excited for my next review; Cubitos! The elevator pitch is that it’s kind of a combination of The Quest For El Dorado and The Quacks of Quedlinburg;  smush those two mouthy titles together and squeeze the juice out of  them to get a magical, odd box about rolling dice and unfiltered hubris.

It’s a super strange game, but I’ve loved every session I’ve had of it so far and I’m keen to make the video extra silly; although I often have a habit of getting too ambitious and axing  the more involved ‘bits’. That was especially true of the Kitchen Rush  video, where nerves about ‘clarity of opinion’ overshadowed the more fun  and playful parts I wanted to slot in. Damn you, self-consciousness!  You shall not make a mockery of me again...

What else? Over the past few months I’ve been slowly accruing a  selection of pre-owned synthesiser bits and bobs, trawling eBay listings  to snag bargains on portable little units that are now clustering at my  desk. My contrasting experiences with physical gear and Ableton Live  have reminded me that I think I need to learn with physical objects  before diving into the DAWspace - and making little jams with physical  knobs and sliders before messing with them in post has been a lovely  little experimental mess. Some of those messes have taken the form of  original music that skulks in the background in some of my SU&SD  videos, but I’m keen to keep chipping away with it. I’m realising that  the many, many hours spent trying to get better at guitar were  effectively wasted - robot music is where I belong.

Ava, ready to spring

Ava: We made it through the void period! I  actually spent most of the time learning and growing and practicing, and  not just hiding, which is what I normally reserve for the time of the  year that most people call ‘Janufebruary’. I’m now in this weird holding  pattern of being overjoyed about spring, waiting for some big life  changes to happen, celebrating the anniversary of a whole year of  hormone treatment, and still being under a national lockdown. Not only  that, but I’m going to be starting to learn video stuff in the coming  months! I did a bit in City of the Big Shoulders and recorded it myself  and it was not-terrible™! It’s the first step on a long road that I’m  really looking forward to.

So I feel like it’s going to be a slow but powerful spring, and I  feel a bit like a slow but powerful spring. Coiled up and excited but a  bit tired? Blooming from buds and slowly bursting in colour? Trees that  don’t look like creepy fingers? Trapped in a spiral of metal and  potential? That’s me! Or something.

Quinns: Oh gosh. Speaking of bucolic new beginnings, the site’s copy of Stardew Valley: The Board Game was delivered to my house this week. You probably wouldn’t expect the  arrival of such a sweet board game (based on such a sweet video game) to  herald a feeling of dread, but here we are!

Let me explain. Back in 2018 Matt made the argument to me that we should review Fallout: The Board Game even  if it was rubbish, because it was probably going to be bought by (or  for) a lot of people who don’t normally buy hobbyist board games.  Therefore it made sense to do as a review as something like a public  service announcement stating “Beware, this game isn’t great!”

Matt was right, but all of this has me looking my copy of Stardew  Valley: The Board Game as if it was a bear trap. I don’t want to go  online and tell a bunch of Stardew Valley fans that they should probably  avoid this! That’s no fun. Please, dear lord, don’t make me bring about  an end to fun month. There’s so much fun I haven’t had yet...

What are we video games!  🎮

Quinns: This week I started playing Loop Hero on Steam. Then I tried to tell Tom about Loop Hero and found out he’d  already been playing Loop Hero. Then I went to tell Matt about Loop Hero  and found he had already played 23 hours of Loop Hero. He is literally playing Loop Hero as I write these words. It’s outrageous. Why did no-one tell me about Loop Hero?

Tom: Loopz!

I know it's slightly bonkers, and I keep rattling on about it in various capacities - but I'm just so in  love with the Hitman games at the moment. I decided to make it my  personal mission to complete all the challenges of every single map in  the trilogy (aside from the 'suit only' stuff - antithetical to the joys  of the sandbox, in my humble opinion). So far I'm on the cusp of  finishing Hitman 1 again, which felt like a big lethal hug with an old  friend, and I'm looking forward to hitting men again in Hitman 2's  levels next. That's going to be even better, because those levels are certainly the ones I played the least in the trilogy when the game first came out. Can't wait.

What are we reading? 📺

Ava: I’ve been digging into Lindo Bacon’s ‘Radical  Belonging’ this month. Having been reading a lot of ‘self-help’ style  mental health support reading over the last year, it’s nice to find  something in the genre that recognises structural inequality and  marginalisation, which seems to be largely absent. That said, the book  felt a little rambly and didn’t often get to the point of actually  giving you tools for the work it asks you to do. On the other hand, I’ve  not seen much else like it (though I’d love recommends to be sent to  ava@shutupandsitdown.com). I spent a lot of time nodding and feeling  recognised and being asked to hold myself accountable. That’s a pretty  good mix.

Quinns: I am reading Priestdaddy by Patricia  Lockwood and it’s the funniest book I’ve ever read. You probably read  that sentence and assumed that I am exaggerating. I’m not. Priestdaddy  is literally funnier than any book I have ever read.

Don’t worry if you’re not interested in the concept of a memoir  about growing up in a super Catholic household. I’m not either, and it  really doesn’t matter. It’s a phenomenal, phenomenal book.

What are we music!  🎵

Tom: After MF DOOM passed away, I decided that I’d listen to the whole DOOM discography,  back-to-front. The main studio albums, the collaborations, the live  records and the instrumentals (a wonderful companion to long editing  sessions). What have I learned? That I really, really like MF DOOM. I  knew this already, but it’s good to have it affirmed over the course of  about a whole day’s worth of music. If you’ve never listened, do! His  music was a gateway into so many new genres for me, and pretty much any  of his albums are bound to be enjoyable in some way or another to you.

Outside of that, the new Black Country, New Road record is as fantastic as it ought to be, and I’ve been dipping into  Toro Y Moi’s older material as the sun starts poking out again - Underneath The Pine is a lovely little jammer of a record. I’ve also been listening to the  ludicrously named ‘DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ’ - her album Charmed sounds as if The Avalanches made a record exclusively from  uncanny-valley sampling of nineties and noughties hits… and goes on for  3+ hours. I can’t tell if the music is nauseating or genius, but it’s  definitely ‘a way’ to spend an afternoon.

Ava: I just want to say that I’m really damn glad that Tom pointed me towards Black Country New Road’s Sunglasses,  which is the apocalyptically enormous distillation of hanging out with  arseholes at music festivals? Weird invincible feelings and slowly  getting frustrated at shouty faux aggression? But in a good way? It’s  hard to explain, but it makes me feel powerful and it makes me laugh,  which is a good solid combo. At the other end of ‘a spectrum’, I’ve been  listening to Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden again. Lush, lovely and occasionally raging with noise. Soothing and strong.

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