Geekscape Roundtable: Our 2018 Holiday Wishlist!
The holiday season is here, and regardless of the exact holiday that you plan on celebrating this year, we know that you’re just in it for the presents (well, and the family/friends, and the food, and some other things too, but mostly the presents).
Instead of doing a traditional gift guide (if your giftee likes x, get them y, etc), we thought we’d take another route: tell you what we‘d want for our holiday gifts. You know our writers, so chances are that if you need to pick up a gift for someone similar, they’ll probably be into the same stuff!
Here goes! Enjoy, and be sure to let us know what gifts you’re hoping for in the comments below!
Matt Storc – Analog Jones and the Temple of Film
5. Silent Night Deadly Night 2 (Scream Factory Blu-ray)
I’ll start with my most conventional pick here. The mad geniuses at Scream Factory are putting the movie that “Garbage Day!” comes from on to a feature packed Blu-ray. What a world. I actually love this film a whole lot and I would love to hear more about what went into making it. This release may not be for everybody, but it’s tailor made for my tastes.
Winterbeast is one of my “white whale” titles that has eluded me for years. I love the output of the 1990s from indie video label Tempe Video. Ozone, Bloodletting, and Skinned Alive are some of my all time favorite films. Winterbeast was put out some time in the early/mid 90s, and I have never actually seen it in person. Completing my collection would really fill me with the holiday spirit if I tracked this one down this year.
In 1993, Alex Winter of Bill and Ted helped birth a film that would shape me as a film fan. Freaked features an eclectic cast of characters such as the cowboy, the beast boy, and the bearded lady among others, played by actors like John Hawkes, Keanu Reeves, and Mr T. The characters, naturally, would make for some excellent toys. Fortunately, there is a small run of action figures that were made for the film. They’re extremely hard to find, but I would lose it if I ever found any of them out in the wild.
Beetlejuice is another defining film for me. I’ve been obsessed with this film for my whole life. I’m not a person who likes to have a lot of “stuff”. I like to have the movies, but shirts, posters, lunchboxes, and the like are not for me. I used to have a white and purple snapback hat with this very Beetlejuice logo as a kid, and I loved it. It was mine until one fateful Halloween night in the early 2010s when it got lost on the way to a party. I would love to have this again and sport it to every weird film festival I attend (as long as it’s not on Halloween night.)
1. Castle Freak Barf Bag
I saved the weirdest for last. Back in the day, theaters would pass out barf bags, similar to those found in airplanes, to unsuspecting patrons when they came to see movies like gross out movies like Lucio Fulci’s Zombie or Tombs of the Blind Dead. In the late 80s, that all but died. However, for a German release of Stuart Gordon’s Castle Freak, which he made for (my favorite) Full Moon Pictures in the 90s, there were these little promo items made. I would really love to come across one of these, preferably not filled.
Derek Kraneveldt
Keyforge: Call of the Archons Decks
After spending a couple of hours with Valve’s just-released Artifact back at PAX West (read about it here), my long-dead love for card games was suddenly reinvigorated. The Elder Scrolls: Legends now gets daily playtime on my phone, and I’ve also become nigh-obsessed with a new physical card game from Fantasy Flight Games called Keyforge: Call of the Archons.
Keyforge is designed by Magic: The Gathering Creator Richard Garfield (who also designed Artifact), and it’s bonkers. Rather than needing to buy cards and booster packs to build your own decks, every deck in Keyforge is unique (with 104,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 combinations possible in this first set).
Magic: The Gathering events often felt like an “I spent more money than you, so I win,” situation, and the very core mechanics of Keyforge ensure that this simply can’t be the case. You just grab a $10 deck, and learn how to best play it on the fly.
I’ve already picked up a starter set (including two training decks, two unique decks, and a bunch of counters and tokens), and four additional unique decks. I’d likely have even more at this point, but the game is sold out pretty much everywhere!
As much hate and backlash as Fallout 76 has been getting since its release, I’m over 30 hours into the title and am mostly having a ton of fun (read my impressions of the game following my first four hours of play right here).
While browsing Amazon for Fallout merchandise a couple of weeks back, I learned that there’s an official Fallout board game adaptation, and that based on the reviews I’ve read since, it’s really good.
The game supports 1-4 players, and is apparently a fantastic solo experience as well. Players will explore the wasteland, complete quests, battle creatures, and deal with factions, and while each player has their own win conditions, each action can affect the rest of the board as well.
I didn’t realize that solo board games were even a thing, but I’d be excited to check out Fallout: The Board Game with some friends, or even as a lone wanderer.
MoKo JoyCon Grip For Nintendo Switch
This one’s pretty simple. As amazing as the Nintendo Switch is, its JoyCons are tiny, and my hands cramp up to hell after just a few round of Mario Kart 8.
These grips look to make the JoyCon feel much closer to a standard gaming controller, and I can’t even imagine just how much more comfortable gaming with a single JoyCon could be when inside one of these.
You’ve probably heard me throwing down praise about Xbox Game Pass on Geekscape Games like the show was sponsored by Microsoft (I wish), but the service really is one of the best values in all of gaming, and I simply can’t get enough of it.
Xbox Game Pass gives you unlimited access to over 100 games at a time for a low subscription fee. Through the service, I’ve discovered some amazing titles that I otherwise would have never even looked at, and because every Microsoft Studios published game is on the service on the very day it releases, I’ve saved a ton of money by playing titles like Sea of Thieves (review here), State of Decay 2 (review here), and Forza Horizon 4 through Game Pass instead of buying them individually.
Microsoft has been pushing Game Pass hard, and also has some great deals on the service over the holiday season. In Canada, an entire year will cost you just $90, which works out to just $7.50 per month. Unreal.
A Vacation
Yeah, I asked for one last year. We couldn’t really make it happen, so I’m hoping that we can make something happen in the next twelve months.
Stephen Bay – Analog Jones and the Temple of Film
Hi, my name is Stephen Bay, and you can hear me with Matt Storc on our podcast Analog Jones and the Temple of Film right here on Geekscape, where we break down old VHS tapes from your past.
Since we are a VHS-focussed podcast, I thought I would talk about some of the VHS covers I would love to add to my collection this Christmas.
I spread the love around and tried to include all kinds of genres, enjoy the list!
Heartbeeps (1981) (Sci-fi/Romantic Comedy)
Heartbeeps isn’t a rare VHS, it’s going on eBay anywhere from $5-$12, but it is a weird one. I had never even heard of this movie until I saw this cover in the book “VHS Video Cover Art” from Thomas Hodge. Once I realized that the film was about two robots (Andy Kaufman and Bernadette Peters) that fall in love, make a baby robot from spare parts and run from a police robot hot on their tailpipes, I knew it needed to be in my collection.
Gremloids (1984) (Sci-fi/Comedy)
The first time I saw this movie was on a YouTube channel called Good Bad Flicks, but sadly
that video has been taken down. Still, I suggest watching his videos if you’re into lovable bad movies. It’s a parody of Star Wars that predates Spaceballs believe it or not by three years. If you do your research on this film, you may find it under the title Hyperspace.
Prepare to fear Lord Buckethead and go on an adventure with Captain Starfighter (what a creative name)!
Dead End Drive-in (1986) (Sci-fi/Post Apocalyptic)
SO MUCH PINK. If you ever walked past this VHS cover, you couldn’t help but look and figure out what’s going on. A giant female 80’s punk is slashing at a truck smashing through a drive-in sign. SOLD! Even the back of the VHS is interesting with the movies still shots being placed in geometric shapes that may be spelling out DED END in front of brick. Dead End Drive-in is a fantastic piece I would love to add to my collection.
Wizards of the Lost Kingdom (1985) (Action/Adventure/Family)
I own this one but then again, I don’t. I have a VHS rip of this on DVD from VHSPS. I’m not going to count that as really owning it because I can’t put that on my VHS media shelves. The cover of Wizards of the Lost Kingdom has everything to attract a teenage boy on it. A castle in peril, a kid, holding up a sword on a flying lion/werewolf dragon and the hint of magic. Hell, I want to go on this adventure, and I’m a guy in my 30’s!
The Video Dead (1987) (Horror/Comedy)
Here it is, my holy grail VHS, and The Video Dead is a hard one to find on VHS. The last eBay bidding war I got into with this one ended somewhere in the $90 range. I gave up on the bidding war around $45, but I enjoyed watching two nerds fight over a piece of dead media.
The first time I ever saw this movie was on a poster in the adult section in my little town’s rental shop. My conservative hometown or at least the conservative owners on this particular rental shop put some of the horror movies behind the curtain with the adult films. Missouri is a special place! One day as a young boy I got the courage to peek behind the curtain and to the right on the wall was this poster taped
up. My courage ended real quick, and I ran off after seeing that zombie burst through that TV with bolts of electricity flying everywhere. No matter what you think of the movie, you’ve got to admit that is one of the best VHS covers out there!
Thanks for reading and remember to listen to Analog Jones and the Temple of Film on Geekscape!
Jonathan London
In the last 10 years our community has seen an overwhelming surge in the popularity of board and tabletop gaming. And other than my monthly D&D group (RIP) or the occasional game of Pandemic with friends, I’ve been satisfied with just being witness to the recent craze. Well, that ends now because Fireball Island is back! Last year, the team at Florida’s Restoration Games launched a Kickstarter to raise $250,000 to bring back a new and improved version of the 80s boardgame classic Fireball Island. The campaign went on to raise over 10 times that! Now the complete game, with fireball marbles, giant volcano head, adventurer figures and various support decks has been released. I finally saw the game in person last week and felt like I was 8 years old all over again (as if any of you ever believed my maturity levels had progressed past that point)! This looks like my kind of game night, hanging out with friends and traversing and discovering the island’s endless traps and treasures as we try to escape a fiery death!
Coração de Cowboy on iTunes and VOD
In late 2016, fellow Geekscapist Gui Pereira and I went to his hometown of São Paolo, Brazil and shot his feature film Coração de Cowboy. Gui and I wrote the script together and Geekscape acted as a promotional partner in the film’s Brazilian wide release this past September (which as of the writing of this list has stretched to 11 weeks and counting)! I don’t know how much the story of a popular country musician returning to his small town roots in order to rediscover himself will speak to you, Geekscapists, but it is a beautiful film, full of incredible music (and some Geekscape shirt placements here and there). If you’re okay reading subtitles (the film is in Portuguese) would be a perfect film to watch with your family for the holidays. Keep your eyes peeled to this site and ears to the podcast for news on the iTunes and VOD release dates this month!
Geekscape is off and running on its latest co-production ‘Chasing Fletcher Allen’ and this Gold Fold wallet, given to me by my fellow co-writer, producer and the film’s star (and regular Geekscape guest) Heidi Cox, has been in my back pocket the whole time. We have a lot of filmmakers who visit our site or listen to our podcasts and I’m here to tell you that the Gold Fold is a lifesaver, even if you’re not an Assistant Director. I have my director’s notebook by my side filled with my sketches, shot lists and notes. But over the course of a production day, you pick up various call sheets, notes or other pieces of paper that just end up getting jammed into your pockets. You need them at a moment’s notice and it’s often not helpful to be flipping through your production notebook to find what you’re looking for. The Gold Fold is a perfect place to put those documents you need to reference at a moment’s notice to give out a line, look up a note or find a number on a call sheet. It’s pricey, but I won’t tackle another production day without it.
Mikaela Maxwell
I’m a last minute kinda gal, and as we were reaching the last minute of being able to write this wishlist, life kinda exploded. So… flash to me sitting in the airport rapidly trying to pin down all of my biggest and smallest dreams and put the metaphorical pen to paper.
As I look back at last year’s wishlist I realize that I continue to long for many of the same things, and I actually received a couple of them, too!
So I guess sometimes wishes do come true…
A Trip To Bali
This is definitely a repeat, and a more clearly defined wish from last year. Well, actually it’s a wish from about the last 5 years, but this year it has become a goal, and is becoming attainable! I have wanted to go to Bali for sooo long. I think this stems from hearing amazing stories from friends who have been and seeing amazing photos, and probably subconsciously from watching Eat, Pray, Love (side note, if anyone has any recommendations for a place with similar vibes but less trashed by tourists, please holla and give me the inside scoop!)
I have been longing to go on an adventure to an exciting new place, but this year I am actually making strides towards turning this into a reality. That said, if Santa wants to give me a break from working overtime shifts and just pop some plane tickets under the tree, no complaints here!
Luxurious Hair Care for 1 Year (or heck why not dream real big and say life?)
So, I was a bit of an awkward teenager, who didn’t really find my stride beauty wise until my early 20’s. This is when I followed my heart, chopped all my hair off, and became a bad ass b*tch! Ok well I don’t know about that last part, but my hotness vibes definitely skyrocketed (except to my family, who were attached to the idea of long blond hair, and became pretty convinced that I had decided to bat for the other team?!)
A few years ago I decided to grow my hair out for a friends wedding, and once I had those long locks again I decided to experiment a bit before going back to old faithful hair cut! So I got it died blonde (pretty great) and then I went red (also great), and then I got it chopped off and to my horror IT WAS AWFUL! So a year later I have grown it out a bunch again, but am terrified of risking the chop again, and it turns out that red is hard and / or expensive to get away from 😳
So now I am in desperate need of some hair expertise, but as per my above wish list item I have other money priorities and cant go around spending all the $$$ on my hair this year! I just wanna feel like a bad ass b*tch again!
A Personal Trainer/Gym Membership
The past few years, not much effort or care has been given to my body and taking care of it. Although I am not going to hold this against myself, I recognize that in coping with grief and loss over the past couple years I could have done worse things, it is time to smarten up and get my act together. That being said, I’ve never been an overly active kinda guy, and don’t really know the best way to go about taking better care of my body.
To this end it would be very helpful to have someone I could ask for guidance in this area, and who could help me to make sure that I am doing things properly, while also helping me to feel more comfortable and confident getting sweaty around people who have been doing this for all the years!
Black Boots
Mid-calf to tall black boots are basically a staple in every girl’s wardrobe! My personal faves are slouchy black boots, usually flats so I don’t have to be coordinated, and not too shiny, but not suede. My biggest issue in the hunt to find the perfect pair is having big calves! It’s really hard to find boots that fit perfectly when you’re legs are somewhere between a size 2 and plus sizes!
I used to have the perfect pair, found at Target, if only I had known they would up and disappear from Canada I woulda bought another pair. Sadly, after many faithful years of wear, through all the seasons, it was time to let them go to their new home… the garbage.
But now I have been on a fruitless hunt for the perfect pair for years. So if anyone has any tips on where to find the best basic boots, again, holla at me!
The day before I started writing this I realized that I had miss placed my entire travel makeup bag. Which means that I had lost all of my very favourite makeup/applicators/jewelry etc. Like for real, you don’t really realize how much money you have sunk into makeup until you lose it all in one fell swoop. I kept thinking of another thing that was in that bag valued somewhere between $20-50 and it was all adding up to waaay too much.
Luckily, mid writing I found out my precious lost makeup bag had been FOUND!!! Glorious!
So, while I no longer need a Christmas miracle to replace all of my basics, I certainly am gonna stick to wishing for a few more favourites to add to the collection!
In the past few years I have found my love of Sephora, it is makeup heaven. So I always point my in-laws in the direction of Sephora gift cards when they are looking for gift ideas, and this year will be no different. I’m not really in need of anything specific, but am always searching for the perfect red lipstick/balm/stain. I’ve heard good things about Huda Beauty and I think that’ll be my next trial for a long wear red lip, or they have a pretty coral eye pallet that might be nice!
Last year I listed a sewing machine as one of my wish list items, AND I ACTUALLY GOT IT! So exciting! And then I promptly never touched it for almost the whole year. Until the week before Halloween when I made a badass Stranger Things dress (you know, the iconic pink one that Eleven wears)! I cant even lie, after 20 hours, over 4 days, and one million phone calls to my mom to ask how to even sew, I am suuuper proud of that beast. And Derek is basically the cutest Eleven ever.
I also made a skirt to wear to my staff Christmas party, and it turned out pretty danged good if I do say so myself!
So now I’ve got the bug! I wanna sew all the things! Including another skirt, that isn’t so sparkly so I can actually wear it on the regular, and maybe even try my hand at quilting! I’ve also realized the value of having some proper sewing equipment. I’m hoping for a self healing cutting mat, a rotary cutter, a proper sewing/quilting ruler, and maybe my mom or sister will take me on a fabric shopping date!
