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From Adal:

Hachi Machi July flew by! Honestly this month was a bit of a blur and I can’t recall what all I was up to but one of the main highlights was doing the live Hey Riddle Riddle show in Chicago over the holiday weekend! It was so wonderful to see/meet a lot of you afterwards! Thank ya’ll for being so nice and for the folks who brought some amazing gifts!

I’ve mostly shifted mental gears to prepare for a busy and travel filled August. I’m heading to NYC, New Jersey and Vegas for different obligations. Please let me know if you have recs for any of these places; especially NJ as I’ve never been and only know it from the Sopranos!

Oh! I just got an Occulus Quest 2 yesterday so please let me know what games I should grab! It came with Beat Saber which I love and I plan on getting Superhot.

Here’s what I consumed in July:

TV:

The Rehearsal - absolutely brilliant

Dark Winds

Big Brother Season 24

The Challenge: USA - tried a few eps and fell off. I had heard it’s the best reality game show but I just couldn’t get into it

Reservation Dogs season 2 - easily one of the best things on tv still. Check out season 1 if you have yet to watch!

Better Call Saul final season pt. 2 - so so good. I think when it’s all said and done I will rank BCS above Breaking Bad

Stranger Things season 4 pt. 2

101 Places to Party Before You Die - delightful. Gabrus and Adam Pally have an effortless charm to them. This show really captures that feeling of you and your friends dicking around in a new city.

The Resort

Harley Quinn season 3

EVIL season 2

What We Do In the Shadows season 4

Street Food: USA

Movies:

Last Night in Soho - I’m late to the game on this but it really hit me hard. I’ll have to revisit in a few months to see if it was just a fluke but I thought this was outstanding.

Marcel the Shell With Shoes On

Top Gun: Maverick

Thor: Love and Thunder

Gattaca - I had never seen this and Jemma found that insane so we watched together. Very much enjoyed it!

The Purge - in July I hung out with the Big Grande dudes and they were talking about how interesting the world building is in the Purge movies and I realized I had written them off as something I didn’t need to see so based on their recommendation I decided to watch them all.

The Purge: Anarchy

The Purge: Election Year

The First Purge

The Forever Purge

Escape From Mr. Limoncello’s Library - watched high with Erin and it was definitely a movie.

The Dead Zone

Chris Claremont’s X-Men documentary

Norm McDonald: Nothing Special

South Park: The Streaming Wars

The Great Mouse Detective

Other Stuffs:

Played Chinatown board game

Played Wingspan board game - Jemma just taught it to me and now we love it!

Played Trogdor board game

Played the video game Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime - maybe the best 4 player Switch game I’ve ever played? Really creative mechanics and heavily reliant on teamwork and communication.

Played the video game It Takes Two - maybe the best 2 player game I’ve ever played? Jemma and I are about half-way through and I’m obsessed. So fucking fun.

Played the video game Stray - adorable.

Played the Switch version of Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

Started reading the book ‘How Iceland Changed The World’

Listened to the new Arcade Fire album WE

Listened to Pink Floyd’s- Wish You Were Here after talking to a friend about how it’s a perfect album. Revisit it if you haven’t in awhile!

Listened finally to the new Diane Coffee - With People. My album of the year so far.

Listened to and really enjoyed Beyonce’s - RENAISSANCE

Please let me know what you’ve been enjoying so I can check it out!

Love

Adal

7:17pm

From JPC:

Hey Riddiots -

Just have a few recommendations for y'all this month:

The Old Man on Hulu. Fun performance from Bridges/Lithgow. I was shocked that it was only 7 episodes though. 7 just seems like such a weird number for a tv show.

20 Minutes Till Dawn on Steam. Picked this one up and played it on stream for a bit. It's fun! It's very similar to Vampire Survivors except you can choose where to shoot. I heard about it on my buddy's podcast Bundle Buddies which you can listen to if you're into hot video game recs.

XCOM & XCOM2 on Steam. Never played either of these games before, although I played an XCOM board game once. Both are a ton of fun. Currently playing through the 2nd one and getting my ass handed to me. It's hard! But I picked it up on sale and the sale is over so maybe wait for the next sale if you're interested in it.

There is a new season of Blowback that you can buy for $25 and it's really good. But you can also get their first two seasons for free if you haven't listened and want to try before you buy. First season is on Iraq, 2nd season is on Cuba and the new season is on Korea.

Adal & I were on Too Scary; Didn't Watch so check the episode out now!  And then stay tuned for Emily Gonzalez on HRR in August. Also, it's such a great podcast, especially if you are like me and don't watch many scary movies.

I also finally finished season 2 of How To with John Wilson (fantastic) and I'm currently watching The Rehearsal (brilliant) so check both of those out on HBO.

Oh, and Billbuds will be pretty fun this month because Johnny and I are both picking albums that we love. His pick is Blackout by Britney Spears and mine is Heartthrob by Tegan & Sara. And our buddy Rich is joining us mid-month to talk Jimmy Buffett.

HRR Updates/News

1.  We just announced two live shows on the East Coast for this September! We'll be at the Bell House in NYC on 9/6 and at Union Stage in Washington DC on 9/7! These will be in person only; no livestream option. We hope to see some of you there! You can find tickets and all information at: heyriddleriddle.com/live

2. Our next stretch goal will be for 6666 patrons and the reward will be a new limited series tentatively titled Horror at Camp Solveaway. It's a riddle-city-esque adventure set in a summer camp where things aren't what they seem.

3. HRR has been nominated by The People's Choice Podcast Awards for Best Games & Hobbies podcast. You can vote for us, but you've gotta sign up first. If we win, we'll let it go to our heads!

4. The August Review Crew tier live-stream will be Wednesday 8/10 at 9:30pm CT. The youtube link will be posted to the patreon shortly before we begin.

5. For August we will be reviewing The Great Mouse Detective for Review Crew!

6. Adal and JPC were recent guests on the podcast Too Scary Didn’t Watch! Please check out their episode on the Christopher Walken ‘horror?’ film Dead Zone!

Love you all!

Adal, Erin & JPC

Comments

Amanda Abdill

NJ is lovely and has a few great spots to explore depending WHERE you’re going.

Holly Hilton

Adal, when are you in Vegas? And have you been to Ghost Donkey? In case I’m not preaching to the choir, it’s a tiny lo-pro mezcal bar in the back of the food court at Cosmopolitan. They have a margarita made with corn smut. It still haunts my dreams.

Milo Wiston

It Takes Two is INCREDIBLE!! I just played it with my cousin last month and we loved it.

Matthew Ellis

"The Room" is a really good puzzle game for the oculus. If you want a work out "Gorn" or "Blade and sorcery" are really good.

Jobrosephine

Pistol Whip is great for the Oculus! Similar vibe to beat saber and just as fun

Adin A

If you want a fun workout and are after Guitar Hero sort of gameplay, Ragnarock is a VR drumming game where you play as a viking drummer speeding along in a ship set to some sweet Nordic metal and electronic music. Big recommend.

Cameron (mayorails)

It fully depends on where you’ll be in NJ. If you’re in Central Jersey & close to the shore, the Point Pleasant boardwalk is fun! Lots of cool stuff to do. Downtown Asbury Park has a couple of cool restaurants but is pretty small. If you’re in South Jersey and close to the shore, Cape May and Wildwood are both really cool beach places. Cape May has a lot of cool architecture (lots of Victorian houses) and they do tours. Wildwood has a HUGE boardwalk and a giant beach. Unfortunately I’m not super familiar with North Jersey or Western Jersey since I’ve really only been on the shore in Central Jersey but I hope some of this helps

Jake Klopfenstein

Wingspan is a fantastic game! It's also available on Steam!

Evan Cordero

Agreed! Also check out Princeton. Lots of cool shops and walking on the University campus is wonderful. Tbh, the best part of North Jersey is NYC. Although, if you want a city vibe, Hoboken and Jersey City have a lot of great restaurants and it's beautiful right on the water. I would have to also say that I second going to Asbury Park. There's the beach, various places to get ice cream (both with and w/o lactose), and my favorite bar, Johnny Mac's. Cool vibe, regularly plays great throwback music, and if you get a drink you get a ticket for a free pizza. The beer garden in Asbury is also great and is a bit more laid back. Last time I was there, there was live music on the roof.

Sue

Nothing from Shruump?!

Nick

Where is Erin?! Is she okay??

Nat Gavin

Yes JPC! I've been listening to Blowback since hearing them on Chappo last week. The Iraq season is great. Really well researched and nicely edited. And also depressing.

Iwannarockey

My fiancée and I love Wingspan! There is also a fantastic app for playing it on the go.

Matthew Blitz

Adal: the mtv challenge is great. The cbs version is lacking a lot of the spice that makes it a great show. The first 10-15ish seasons of the challenge, it is team based and very much road rules type competitions. It feels like a different show after season 15. Much like how survivor feels different when they introduced the hidden immunity idol.

Ryan Sheehy

JPC you never played XCOM! Those games are so good I'm glad you're getting to enjoy them now

Aidan Hawthorne

If you're looking for another new board game to pick up Root is the best ever, steep learning curve but once you get over it, fantastic

Alexis C

I live in jersey city and love it!! There are som really cool rooftop bars out by exchange place with some of the best NYC skyline views. If you can take a ferry, take a ferry. It’s always worth it. Additionally if you go to the grove area there is a place called south house that is incredible. Also there’s a two boots there with New Orleans pizza (weird rec but we know ya love the place) 😂

Ravio Lee

“I Expect You to Die” is a fantastic escape room-style VR game! Highly recommend picking it up. My ex and I used to pass the VR headset back and forth until one of us successfully completed a mission - so you can certainly turn it into a multi-player experience!

Michael Brown

@Adal - here are some oculus recommendations: Puzzle/escape the room style games: - I Expect You To Die 2 - funny and inventive puzzles where you're a 007 type secret agent getting yourself out of booby trapped scenarios where almost anything can and will try to kill you. - The Room - it's a must. Not going to say much more. - Red Matter - one of my favorites. Sci Fi setting on Mars wondering why you're there and what happened to all of the astronauts that mysterious disappeared. Has some real brain ticklers but it's also fairly short. About 4-5 hours. But I can't recommend it enough. The second one is about to come out too. Casual Fun: - Walkabout Mini Golf - probably the best experience I've had in VR with friends. The physics are spot on. The courses are fun and the music is a delight. There are easy and hard versions of each course. But the best part is there are differently designed golfballs that are scattered around each course for you to discover via Easter egg hunting. You can unlock new clubs by finding clues that take you on a scavenger hunt around each course. -Puzzling Places - it's a jigsaw puzzle game that's incredibly relaxing. You're given these high res 3D photo models that you have to put together. Matching pieces gives you the most satisfying CLICK sound. Rhythm Games: - Pistol Whip - it's John Wick Beat Saber. It makes you feel like a badass while also getting down to some banging (no pun intended) music. - Synth Riders - I enjoy this 10x more than Beat Saber. It's cheaper, has more songs, and has a flow to it that feels more like riding/grooving to the music. Shooters: - After the Fall - shoot through hordes of zombies with 3 others. Unlocking new guns and gear as you play. The gun play feels fantastic and if you find a good group to play with it feels even better. - Swarm - you swing around like spiderman with grappling hooks attached to guns as you fling yourself all over the place while shooting down wave after wave of alien ships. One of the most unique experiences I've had in VR. If you are okay with motion in VR it's a must have. Action: - Moss - check this out if you love games like Zelda. You control a cute little mouse named Quill who goes on a magical adventure to rescue her uncle. You control Quill in 3rd person, looking down over the map. Everything about this game is just lovely. I wish there were more like it on the Quest. - Until You Fall - a roguelite hack and slasher. This one will give you a workout as your blocking and slashing (and dying) your way through stage after stage leveling up your character and getting better and better with each new run. If you're okay with sweating, this one is a perfect game for those that want to burn some extra calories. Sorry for the long winded post. But I hope you are enjoying your new Oculus! I have more reccomendations if you want. Haha.

Candace Martinez

Adal I know you've been all over Vegas and lived there, Have you ever been to Nakamura Ya? It's my husband and my favorite restaurant in the city! It's Japanese style Italian food! In the same little parking lot as Raku Sweets (and Raku, which is also great but pretty spendy). Also recently watched Papergirls on Amazon Prime and it was SO GOOD!

Shaun_qb

A game that's similar to Vampire Survivors? Sign me up. I've sunk so much time into that, and I keep coming back for more. Thanks for the recommendation JPC It's actually on sale right now until the 8th (it's only $3 full price like Vampire Survivors though). I just picked it up and can't wait to try it out

Robert

We've been catching up on Stranger Things (just on S3 now), going through Star Trek TOS (oof is it rough these days.) More germane: we've been watching a lot of GTARP and some RDR2RP on Twitch. This seems like an thing the lot of you would probably either really enjoy watching, really enjoy doing or really hate since it's effectively computer-aided extraordinarily long-form improv (punctuated by lots of short scenes.) done in heavily modified Grand Theft Auto 5 or Red Dead Redemption 2 living servers. I don't want to flog any particular streamers but if you're keen, hit up the Grand Theft Auto 5 (or Red Dead Redemption 2) Twitch category and look for some reasonably popular streamers to give it a whirl. It's a bit intimidating to start because it's all really up to the streamer/RPer, but you can hop around to find different perspectives and tastes, and there are more than you might think given the game roots.

overwaterer

anyone else try to vote for HRR and get an error page that account creation was disabled? (/or know when voting will open?)