Swerve when I write!
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Friends!
Hello! How are you? I am good. Anyway, I got a classic, straight-shooting email for you today. I frickin' hope it finds you well!
I am thankful for the emails I receive from yous about this newsletter. I receive it, I read it, I reflect on them. Much of the time you send sweet short messages and it's great. Many times you send me feedback, listing in detail the ways this email could improve. I try to appreciate these emails too. I mean, often they are quite sharp! Maybe more than they need to be! You write that newsletters are too short, and then you write that they are too long. I try to find some inbetween! Then you write that you find my voice grating, and I am confused. You explain how the register of my voice hits a specific frequency that is higher than it should be and it is maddening. I email back, asking how this can be since I've never recorded any of these newsletters. You write back that it's the way I write, that it's easy to hear my voice through the text, how when you read it you imagine me saying everything in this high, mocking voice you find insulting. I try find a way to tell you that I don't think this is a problem on my end! But still, I read, I listen, I learn!
What I am trying to say, in a soothing bass-rich timbre, is that I love hearing what you say and adjusting these letters for you. And over and over, the main feedback I get is, "Zach, we just wanna be invited to a nice thing, and then maybe you talk about a cool thing that happened to you, and then some reviews. That's enough."
Well readers, if that is what you want, you got it!
Invitation: Come to Airhorn! on October 6th!
There's a hot new comedy show happening each month in Newtown, put on by yours truly and my friend, respected comedian Lesa Macleod-Whiting, and you are invited to the inaugural show!
Check out this poster!
This show has me so gotdam excited. It's been a real joy getting back into comedy, the type of joy a woodplank must feel when it's fitted in a dovetail with its partner plank. This joy made me start to miss producing a regular show, being a host, setting a moooood. At the closing night party of Lesa's comedy fest run, we started talking about the type of show we wanted to see, the type of space and attitude we couldn't quite find in Wellington, the comedians we adored that we wanted to see more often. The conversation shifted naturally from griping to dreaming to planning, and soon we were making a new show for real. The steps to put on the show have felt so pleasant and serendipitous that this first Airhorn (on October 6th!) feels less a production than a manifestation.
Why am I so excited for it? Well first off, the damned lineup! We have Hoani Hotene, Booth the Clown, Leki Lyons, and sketch from Lesa and Anna Maclean. These are some of my absolute favourite comedians in the country, and all are approaching standup in unique, beguiling, and magnetic ways. I love standup that feels left-field and odd, but still in love, unashamedly, with the medium. It is this type of standup that all these incredible comics inhabit in their own, incredible way.
I am also excited for where we get to have the show, at the Newtown Community Center, in their newly renovated theatre. Airhorn! is one of the first regular NCC events since their re-opening, and it feels extremely lucky as that renovation has made the community centre one of the best performance spaces in the city. Legitimately, the sound and lighting system there is ridiculous, with a big-ass screen on the stage for the high-tech acts, and big red curtains and a wood floors for the classic types, and an honest to god green room with mirrors and and those fat, exposed light bulbs that make you feel like a star. It's on a bus line, it's across the street from a great bar, it's on the first floor and handicap accessible, it's just an outright gem.
And lastly, I'm just excited for the vibe! I'm excited for the ridiculous things Lesa and I have dreamt up, and the lineups planned for the next few months, and the ways the audience and comedians can grow together.
I'm not gonna talk much more about this, for superstitious luck reasons. Don't give too many of your dreams away too freely, I say! Don't wanna be like the girl with a 100 dresses, who talked big and got mocked by her classmates to such severity that she had to leave town, and only then did the classmates realize the 100 dresses she talked about were drawings she kept in her poor decrepit closet, that they mocked and dashed her dreams, and now they wish they could apologize but I think she died? and somehow it's supposed to be an uplifting moral lesson? (side note: do you all remember this book? Did you also have it read to you as a child? It keeps bubbling up in my memory and making me sad all over again!)
Anyway, we talking about Airhorn! And it is a dream realized and it is gonna be a fun show and you should come! Friday October 6th, Newtown Community Centre, 8pm!
Find out more here: https://airhorn.nz
Second invitation: Wellington Zinefest!
The very next day, a weekend of Wellington Zinefest starts, and Angelica and I will be tabling on Sunday! I am planning to have a new little zine about cardgames, but I cannot talk about that much at all cos I am having some legit, crunchtime stress. The fest itself is a weekend-long joy, an incredibly organized feat that is eclectic and cool and free. And, it's got an incredible poster!
A cool thing that happened to me
This week, a legit dream of mine came true.
SIDENOTE! I apologize to my friends who have already heard this story, that I tried so awkwardly to fit into our regular conversation this week, acting as if it was some absurd silly little thing, while barely hiding how proud I was, unable to retell it without it coming off as bragging. I am sorry.
Anyway! A crazy silly thing happened this week? Wellycon, the local boardgaming convention, announced registrations for an upcoming mini-con. I missed the registration by an hour, finding it already sold out, but they offered a form to sign up as a volunteer. The form asked your name, the hours you could work, and if you've attended a Wellycon before. Lastly, the form asked you to list your favourite games at the moment.
I filled it out, went to bed, and woke up to a text from an unknown number, asking if I wanted to join the Wellycon organizing committee.
The only thing I could figure, is that my taste in boardgames is so good that even a tossed-off list of "four faves at the moment" exhibited the qualities of a boardgame leader, one they immediately knew they needed on their team.
Of course, I'm exaggerating a little bit. It wasn't a "tossed off" list. I curated it with more thought than I'm proud to admit -- worked to make it appear casual, yet show a range of mechanics, designers, and popularity. "Deep Sea Adventure, Gin Rummy, Scout, Watergate". So unassuming, yet containing elements of scalable partygames, hot Japanese trick-takers, lunchtime wargaming strategy, and the folk arts. Each selection a bonafide classic, yet the list as a whole remains offbeat, clearly not some copy and pasted "popular opinion". This type of breezy google form submission takes hard work. And, y'know, the hard work paid off.
I texted back excitedly, "yeah absolutely I'm interested!", not asking for their name, not caring if this text was part of some ridiculous targeted scam. We scheduled a meet that afternoon. I figured that this person was maybe a friend from the cafe, or maybe some other mutual friend had recommended me to Wellycon. As soon as we talked on the phone, though, I realized I had no clue who she was or how Wellycon knew me.
She asked what skills I had and where I thought I could be a good fit. "I can lift heavy things repeatedly, so any sort of hauling of boxes or if you need tables set up, I'm your guy," I said.
She replied, "Oh... I meant like what organizational qualities. This isn't a volunteer for the day, this would be a regular committee role. Are you still interested?" I said I was, with hesitation. She said she'd set up a second interview with another committee chair to talk the more practical matters.
The second meeting was booked for the afternoon, and I got embarrassingly stressed about it. My head was all buzzy, so I thought, with an hour to kill, I'd take a little nap to get my head right.
I ended up sleeping through the call entirely, and had to explain and apologize to this second chair and how I had accidentally set a 2:30am alarm for our 3:00pm meeting. I fucked up my chances, I thought. But boardgamers are historically understanding, adaptable, and welcoming people. She rescheduled for that evening.
Meanwhile, I texted an old friend about this whole ordeal, how I was chosen in a dream scenario, and then slept through it like a nightmare, and he laughed (I think? There was a laugh emoji pinned to my text.)
That evening, on a zoom call for the second interview, the committee woman asked what brought me to this role. I had to be honest and explain that I was v. confused. "I just filled out a volunteer form. I did not know there was a committee opening, or that I was signing up for it." And she laughed and just moved on, explaining the different roles and which one was open and what my background was. It was a legit interview, in which I talked my gaming background, my tech skills, my writing ability, etc. I was offered the role, and I had to say "It may not be the right fit at the moment, I am aware I have a lot on my plate and also I slept through the first interview. Feels like I should check my ambition with my ability. But I will rise to the occasion if and when I am needed." She said that she would love to have me on the committee, but understood, and that they'll do an open call for other applicant. If no one as qualified steps up, they'd love to have me on board.
Which is to say: they weren't calling a lot of people, they hadn't done a sweep of interest for this role, they had called me specifically and it really did seem to be based on how well I filled out my volunteer form. I cannot overemphasize how good this made me feel.
Anyway, I floated on a lightly confused air the rest of the day, went to bed, and woke up...to a video message from the wrestler, and manager of the Mogul Embassy, PRINCE NANA! It was a cameo my friend bought for me, and it was Prince Nana telling me that he heard I slept through a meeting, cos I stay up too late reading about ghosts and ufos, and I gotta stop doing that...especially since I am an honourary member of the Mogul Embassy! Here's proof!
I also cannot overemphasize how good THIS made me feel! A personal video from a favourite wrestler! A thoughtful gift from a friend! Another dream reached before I even knew it was a dream I was reaching for!!
Anyway, it's been a crazy few days and I'll keep you updated (if you want to be updated, please let me know! send those emails!)
ZACH's REVIEW CORNER
Lastly some short, sweet things I been enjoying lately!
If you love falling asleep to soft voiced youtube channels like we do, or if you just want to watch a man excitedly eat 50+ year old military rations, then I GOTTA recommend the youtube channel Steve1989MREInfo!
Angelica introduced me to Steve1989 and I became an immediate fan. His videos are simple, he shows an MRE from some point in time, gives the history of the product, and then tries to eat it. After, he has a reflective moment where he doesn't so much review it as just recap his feelings and the gratitude he has for MRE's in general. They aren't really videos about shock/extremes, even though he sometimes eats extremely old stuff. He always tests the food, and will avoid stuff that is clearly rancid or has the potential of botulism (though he has a mix of repulsion and confused delight at the awful smells of these kits). His favourite moment is when it's an incredibly old product, that still looks good cos the packing was done so well, and he can spread some jelly on a still firm piece of pilot bread and mix up the coffee powder and have it still taste good, and eat the whole meal. When that happens, he speaks with such clear-hearted joy that it feels slightly mystic, like the edges of him are dissolving as he sits in his own, unique perfect moment. And this is all communicated to us in a soft, slow, surfer drawl. They are the most calming videos, and I am v. happy he exists and has such a huge audience. As Frederick Buechner says, "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet." For Steve1989, that's eating expired tinned meat.
Also, Vagabon has a new album that is REALLY GOOD. It's real dreamy, light, and smooth compared to her previous albums, but doesn't feel out of step or some striking departure. An incredible, natural evolution that's bliss to listen to! Good stuff!
Lastly, the manga Chainsaw Man. It brings back the profane joy of reading late 90's image comics, like a Shonen Jump version of Spawn or Pitt...but far better written and warm-hearted and funny. Recommended!
That's all! Thank you for reading this email. We'll talk soon!
your friend,
ZACH!