0:04

Listen if you dare to the

0:06

Lovecraft Tapes. Welcome

0:12

to the Lovecraft Tapes. I

0:15

am Jeremy, your Keeper of Arcane

0:17

Lore, and on this special episode,

0:19

our cast members will share their

0:21

top three recommendos of 2023. As

0:26

you know, on each episode,

0:28

we pick something that might

0:30

be of interest to our

0:33

fellow geeks, be it food,

0:35

movies, games, music, or useful

0:37

gadgets. And every

0:39

year, we cull through that list and

0:41

pick our favorites. That's

0:43

what we're doing tonight, but would you like

0:45

to suggest something for us to consider? Send

0:49

me a link on our social media

0:51

channels and hashtag recommendo when

0:53

you do that. Alright guys, well

0:56

now that we've dispensed with the

0:58

formalities, let's see what

1:00

our investigators have chosen for

1:03

their top three. Bri,

1:07

why don't you start us off? My

1:09

number three is the Topsy Pillows. They're

1:12

a pillow that has a cooling side, so

1:14

I purchased them when the weather was a

1:16

little bit warmer, when it wasn't so freaking

1:18

chilly outside. I get overheated, like most people,

1:21

when they're sleeping. Just unbelievably comfortable.

1:23

And right before this, I looked up to

1:25

check and make sure they're still available first

1:27

off, because sometimes you buy stuff off of

1:30

Amazon and then six months later, what? We

1:32

never heard of that. They're very

1:34

established. They're basically in every major retailer

1:36

now. You can actually go into

1:38

a store and buy either the pillows, but

1:41

their biggest item right now is their weighted

1:43

blanket. I don't like weighted blankets. I can't

1:45

stand anything heavy on me, but everybody's raving

1:47

about this seven pound weighted blanket from Topsy.

1:50

So if you were into that, go

1:52

try it, I guess. So yeah, my first choice

1:54

is those pillows. They've held up

1:56

this whole time. They haven't lost their softness

1:58

or their fluffiness. Irina was super easy

2:01

to wash and you can actually put him

2:03

in the dryer. some pillows you're not supposed

2:05

to put in the dryer, so I enjoy

2:07

that because I'm lazy. But yeah, check about

2:09

the taxi pillows. They're really good. Actually, about

2:11

an extra set for somebody for Christmas? not

2:13

in this party. The Scrupulous: Ah sorry you

2:15

don't get comfort that. Let's

2:18

find says I use a turvy

2:20

Pillows Ah our. Now they're full

2:23

of turvy. Nice. Okay, cool. Thanks.

2:25

Bride number three is topsy Pillow. that's

2:28

pretty well would not have expected that,

2:30

but cool. Use. It Everyday He

2:32

and Lupine. what is your number? Three.

2:34

My number three is.

2:37

Ain't Slade, nobody? Center.

2:40

Podcast does. Could to lose Das

2:42

and I've actually been really enjoying

2:44

their series other than the main

2:46

series that mean series is and

2:48

on. hate us for while yet

2:50

that they do a lot of

2:52

like improv the stuff they have

2:55

a series that they call like

2:57

priests. the role it's basically about

2:59

it's like right up my alley

3:01

because it's all about the chaos.

3:03

The do some really fun stuff

3:05

with some good sulu dark the

3:08

person who developed conceivably dark. At

3:10

is now developing Cosmic Dark actually

3:12

is a regular on their podcast

3:14

that runs lot of stuff for

3:16

them. grandma flee and so he

3:18

is. I often voice on there

3:20

so I love particularly are they

3:22

has of I think Attack But

3:24

It Before The Meat Trade is

3:26

one of their Patron series Decison.

3:28

They play as World Works Sulu

3:30

which actually doesn't even exist anymore

3:33

because it existed briefly and it

3:35

was developed by Scott Da Bird

3:37

and Scott Run. The. campaign

3:39

for them rena van are a

3:41

holiday tape they are a voice

3:43

on the meat trade and then

3:45

also coffee cup the keeper of

3:47

the main normal series he does

3:49

all the editing too when they

3:51

did recently they did at they

3:54

do one recently where there were

3:56

the players were sam they played

3:58

three female characters in a basically

4:00

an asylum for how

4:02

they used to put women on this

4:04

islands because we were acting funny that

4:06

they didn't like it. They have the

4:09

vapors. Yes, but there's something eldritch

4:11

going on with the whole asylum

4:13

thing. I highly recommend

4:15

every single one of their side

4:17

projects and also their main series.

4:20

I love their main series. The

4:22

first main series was the Y'all

4:24

of Cthulhu. It's Down Dark Trails.

4:27

So this is the Western Caulk's

4:29

Cthulhu and I just love how

4:32

fun all of the voice

4:35

actors are on it and how

4:37

crazy they are and their chaos

4:39

kind of right up my alley. I highly

4:41

recommend Ain't Slayed Nobody and you can find

4:43

them at Ain't Slayed Nobody dot com. Good

4:46

number three there. Yeah and

4:48

Reena obviously helped us out.

4:50

We had a fantastic time.

4:52

Thanks, Lupine. And Matt, you're

4:54

up next. So my

4:56

number three, uh, recommendo award,

4:58

a little-known game called Nerds.

5:02

Nerds is, well, for one, hard

5:05

to explain, but think of it

5:07

as multiplayer competitive solitaire. You know,

5:09

oh, solitaire. How could that be

5:11

multiplayer? How could that? It's a

5:13

lot of fun. Free to play,

5:15

by the way, so you have

5:17

no excuse. Once you really understand

5:19

the bones of the game, which

5:21

doesn't take more than one or

5:23

two games, it becomes incredibly addictive.

5:25

It is an absolute blast of

5:27

a little card game and it's

5:29

just not really gotten the

5:31

attention it deserves. So

5:33

if you're looking for something that's fast,

5:36

that's easy, that's free, go

5:38

download Nerds. You can find it on

5:40

Steam. Let me know because I'm always

5:42

looking for more people to play Nerds

5:44

with. Oh, that's really good, Matt. Okay,

5:46

so really appreciate you sharing that. All

5:48

right, my number three slot goes to

5:51

video games. Well,

5:54

not video games per se, but a

5:56

video game store. Now over

5:58

this past year, ever since... Joining

6:00

G Force now I've been

6:02

boosted my library of cloud

6:04

play able video games, and

6:07

while Humble Bundle has brought

6:09

me savings here and there,

6:11

it wasn't until I found

6:13

fanatical.com that I understood how

6:15

you could obsessive league game

6:17

of fi in the online

6:19

marketplace. It. Features: customizable

6:22

discount packages, frequent sales

6:25

and exclusive giveaways. But.

6:27

I was at first attracted to the

6:30

money I'd save on the indie titles.

6:32

However, Once I got a taste

6:34

for their mystery bundles and cheap ads.

6:36

during the checkout process, it I fell

6:39

hard for the impulse buys. as you're

6:41

checking out says for a dollar eighty

6:43

mad you get three mystery games. That

6:45

almost feels like it's. Illegal. That

6:48

savor the worst of it. Lupine. It's

6:50

misery. rights? You have no clue. But

6:52

the thing is, When. You go

6:55

it says well how many of those

6:57

dollars in aid packages would you like

6:59

as you get swept up to ten

7:01

Cnc. sometimes I'll find something really good.

7:03

Day: how old am I was a

7:05

school or all sides of the I'm

7:08

like well I can use this but

7:10

maybe some else can have. Give up

7:12

for grabs it's it's very addictive I

7:14

have to say but Fanatical also offers

7:16

books and software much like Humble Bundle

7:18

so I off to compare and contrast

7:21

the to services. My they pick up

7:23

some sound effects and. Musical cues for

7:25

this podcast. So that's been kind

7:27

of days for like an old

7:30

twenty bucks or something. Like just

7:32

gigs and gigs of sound files.

7:34

Recently my. Video. Game Library

7:36

has grown. Almost. To

7:38

the string point. And I

7:40

really have fanatical.com to blame which

7:43

is why it comes at number

7:45

three for me or it move

7:47

it along to number too bright

7:49

moon I'll move on down. Rude.

7:51

Ah, mine is the lifeblood of

7:54

most humans on this planet. Been

7:56

yeah coffee pots of coffee. I

7:58

found these by happen. stance. I

8:00

watched a video on

8:03

YouTube about the waste and the

8:05

regret of the gentleman who

8:07

invented the Keurig and the plastic pods

8:09

and how many landfills are just never

8:11

going to break down because of all

8:14

the plastic pods that are in them.

8:16

Beniac makes compostable coffee pods and I

8:18

still don't know how they managed

8:21

to be so fresh with having that

8:23

little disposable sack that the coffee's held

8:25

in. It's basically a filter that's just

8:28

open to the you know elements but

8:30

every single cup is great. One

8:32

of the biggest things I like is some

8:35

people they get in their ways and they only like

8:37

one flavor or just espresso. But I like

8:39

to try different flavors. I like to

8:41

try different stuff and recently they had

8:43

such a good deal on 72 of

8:46

their pods. So I bought their French

8:48

roast and I'm hooked. I love it.

8:50

Every cup smells delicious and it tastes

8:52

fantastic. So check them out at Beniac.

8:55

I think they're pretty much everywhere now

8:57

as well and they just released two

8:59

flavors for the holidays too. So I'm

9:02

gonna be ordering a 30

9:04

pack of one of those to try it out. Remember

9:06

Brian back in the day we would go crazy for

9:08

Traverse City cherry chocolate coffee. Yes.

9:10

Alright thanks B. That's pretty awesome.

9:13

I guess I didn't expect that

9:15

either. Alright Lupine what's your number

9:17

two? Okay my number two

9:19

is a book Mexican

9:21

Gothic because I

9:23

still think about that book. They're

9:26

comparing the author Sylvia Miranda Garcia's

9:29

writing to Daphne de Barre

9:31

and Guillermo de Tolero and I

9:33

would in addition compare it to

9:35

it really felt like if you've

9:37

ever read Shirley Jackson's We Have

9:39

Always Lived in the Castle it

9:41

really felt very similar to that

9:43

in that the house itself felt

9:45

like there was some presence. You're

9:47

following this young woman who lives

9:49

in Mexico City and she's a

9:51

young kind of like bohemian woman

9:54

hip and she gets

9:56

sent out to her

9:58

cousin married a man

10:00

and the man is British and she's

10:02

Mexican so like there's that whole there

10:05

sort of transplanted onto the land kind

10:07

of thing. In addition the

10:09

cousin and the British husband live

10:11

at his like family estate and

10:14

it's like out in the middle

10:16

of nowhere. It's this giant you

10:18

know British manor and it's weird

10:21

because it's a giant British manor to have menor

10:23

off in the middle of the Mexican countryside and

10:26

she originally goes to like check on her

10:28

cousin because her cousin isn't feeling

10:30

well after the marriage

10:33

which is suspicious but also

10:35

there's a mystery about what is it what's

10:37

happening to the cousin is there something to

10:39

do with the family is there something to

10:41

do with the house is there's something to

10:44

do with British transplants in Mexico and they

10:46

also own a silver mine so like

10:48

is there something in the mine is there

10:50

something about the land there all these

10:52

questions. I just love the

10:55

way that it's written I could

10:57

see the house as I was

10:59

reading descriptions of it dark mahogany

11:02

balustrades and the pictures on the

11:04

walls of these ancestors you know

11:06

staring down solemnly from the walls

11:09

and the whole house was very

11:11

visible to me. I

11:13

just overwhelmingly loved this book

11:16

very folk-horry very Gothic

11:18

horror so I highly recommend

11:20

Mexican Gothic. Alright thanks Lupine

11:22

I'm gonna move on to my number

11:25

two slot which is you guessed

11:27

it a horror movie. Well

11:29

actually it's a horror flick

11:32

with darkly comedic overtones but it's

11:34

also a story about two Valley

11:36

Girl sisters growing up and getting

11:39

along a morality tale about the

11:41

dangers of science gone awry and

11:43

a damn fine Christmas movie that

11:46

stands up there with the greats

11:48

like It's a Wonderful Life, Die

11:50

Hard, Elf, and Gremlins.

11:53

Of course I'm talking about the one the

11:55

only Night of the Comet.

12:00

1984 romp makes light of a

12:02

zombie apocalypse, at least initially, but

12:05

then goes down a bleak road

12:07

that warms my heart every time.

12:10

Now over the decades since the release I

12:12

saw this on cable TV. Remember cable TV

12:14

kids? Remember that? No, nobody, nobody. I've seen

12:17

that over a half dozen times, but it's

12:19

always a flick that I could pop into

12:21

and pop out of, but recently it was

12:24

given a restoration by Scream

12:26

Factory and boy howdy does

12:28

it look great. Ever since

12:30

watching it during the holiday

12:32

season last year, we've decided

12:34

that this is a annual

12:36

must-watch for Christmas. It

12:39

doesn't quite get me in the snowy

12:41

spirit as much as John Carpenter's The

12:43

Thing, but it comes damn close. And

12:46

that's why Night of the Comet is

12:48

number two for me. I have

12:51

to watch it again now that it's restored. Matt,

12:54

I did forget totally about your number two. So go

12:56

ahead. What's your number two? All right. Moving

12:59

up the list from

13:02

three to two. My

13:06

number two this year

13:08

I'm going to have to saddle

13:11

vampire survivors. Now

13:14

I did recommend to a couple of other

13:16

games. In

13:20

the same kind of genre, this vampire

13:22

survivors has more or less created

13:24

its whole entire genre unto itself.

13:27

And while there are some spinoff games that I

13:29

enjoy a little more, I really have to give

13:31

it to the OG, the granddaddy, the start of

13:33

it all. Vampire survivors.

13:36

Yeah, it's I

13:38

guess people have started to call it a bullet

13:40

heaven. You pick a character and

13:43

you start walking around and your

13:46

weapons just kind of start fire off

13:48

on their own. And you're killing bad

13:50

guys by just walking around

13:52

and letting your weapons do a thing. And you're

13:54

picking up money and experience and you're, you

13:57

know, leveling up to get more weapons

13:59

and then. you learn that you

14:02

make those weapons more powerful by leveling

14:04

up. And eventually, if you have two

14:06

of a certain weapon and a

14:08

certain item, those combine to make an even

14:11

more powerful version of that weapon, and it

14:13

becomes this really, really addictive

14:15

just one more, just one more, just one

14:18

more as you experiment and go, oh, I

14:20

really like this. And if I pick up

14:22

this weapon, it makes it even better. Or

14:24

if I combine this and this, then it

14:27

turns it into this. And I'm not that

14:29

much of a fan, so maybe I'll go this

14:31

way and it's

14:34

a dopamine feed that is hard to kick. Not

14:38

to mention, it's a

14:40

cheap game. There's really

14:43

no excuse not to go in and give this a go.

14:46

The devs have been really great at supporting

14:48

it and continuing to add free content. There

14:52

are a couple of little paid DLCs,

14:54

but honestly, they're worth every penny

14:56

because this game is

14:59

just that good. This

15:02

is quintessential, like pop in, play

15:04

a couple rounds, pop out. Or

15:07

it works just as well if you pop in,

15:09

play a couple rounds, end up playing a couple

15:11

hours or

15:14

three or four hours, and then pop

15:16

out. It's

15:19

something that you have to sink your

15:21

fangs and really understand, but Vampire

15:24

Survivors is digital crack

15:26

in one of its best forms. So

15:29

yeah, like I said, it's cheap

15:32

and it's no longer relegated to just PC.

15:35

It is on consoles. It

15:37

is on mobile now.

15:39

You don't even have to have a PC

15:41

or an Xbox or a Switch or a

15:43

PlayStation. You can literally play

15:46

it on a mobile phone. There's

15:48

nothing stopping you from surviving some vampires

15:51

of your own, and I highly, highly recommend

15:54

you do because you will never

15:56

want to stop. It's

15:58

amazing, and I love it. And

18:00

this this series here is setting that up

18:03

with the big baddies and all that

18:05

coming into play if you're into Star

18:07

Wars Check it out great action fantastic actors.

18:09

Yeah, it's just very entertaining even if

18:11

even if you just watch it for

18:13

that It's entertaining. All right. Thanks

18:15

Brian and Lupine. What is your number

18:18

one? My number one is the

18:21

ultimate in chaos untitled

18:23

goose game I Recently

18:26

picked this back up. I

18:28

was playing it and then I

18:30

don't know I just let it fall by the

18:32

wayside and I picked it back up I

18:35

just love all the stupid little tasks

18:37

they give you they have no reason

18:39

other than your goose and you're being

18:41

an asshole That is

18:44

my modus operandi. That is what I

18:46

do You can run around and

18:48

you can flare your wings and you get

18:50

honk at people and it has no purpose

18:52

other than being

18:54

an asshole and it's so

18:56

awesome when you're really

18:59

pissed at people you can just

19:02

go play this game and Make

19:05

a guy drop his coffee cup

19:07

by honking at him really loud.

19:09

It's so cathartic Maybe being a

19:11

total asshole is not your thing,

19:14

but no one's getting hurt So

19:17

I don't feel bad about doing these things.

19:19

I Just love the

19:21

fact that you can do this thing

19:23

and you're not trying to save the

19:25

world You're not even trying to

19:28

save the princess. You're not trying to save

19:30

yourself. It's doing this because it's there It

19:33

doesn't have any great reason that you're

19:35

doing is it doesn't have any great

19:38

Consequences if you fail and you

19:40

can just spend hours and hours

19:42

doing this I don't know if I

19:44

would call them Easter eggs But there are things that

19:46

you can do that are beside the

19:49

actual goals That will

19:51

get the people to do different things

19:53

like to get them to yell

19:56

at you or to get them to like drop

19:58

things or to get them to Although

24:00

much of my diet consists of creative

24:02

work centered on horror, I

24:05

do appreciate getting out of my own head once

24:07

in a while to sample the other genres. The

24:10

Paris Review connects me with

24:12

a broader literary world of

24:15

imagination that gives me faint hope for

24:17

the human race and that's enough

24:20

to propel it to my number one recommend.

24:26

Guys that's it for this episode of

24:28

the Lovecraft Tapes, thank you for listening.

24:31

Please subscribe on whatever podcast platform

24:33

you prefer. If you like

24:35

what you hear please leave us a review. Meanwhile

24:38

you can find us at lovecrafttapes.com

24:40

with links to all our hashtag

24:42

recommendos and social media channels including

24:44

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24:46

server where you can chat with us in real time. You can

24:48

chat with me anytime at

24:50

Discord.L If

25:18

you put a message with my username

25:20

in it on Discord I will respond

25:22

to you. I get to look at

25:24

Discord maybe twice a week it's so

25:26

busy but if you mention me or

25:28

anything I will focus on it I

25:30

promise. Until next time, Happy

25:32

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25:35

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25:38

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