Bored Games

Plus: 'In The Heights,' The Kardashian Phenomenon, and What's Making Us Happy

View this email online by Glen Weldon Welcome! It was the week both Andrew Garfield and Lin-Manuel Miranda kept turning up in your feeds like a coupla promoted tweets. It was the week Chris Harrison didn’t get a rose, but did get a “mid-range, eight-figure” thorn; he’s not complaining. And it was the week we learned, weirdly suddenly, that season 2 of I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson is almost upon us; prepare ye the way. Opening Argument: Bored Games I just spent a terrific week with my (vaxxed and relaxed) brother and his family at their place “downa shore” (which is both 1. How those of us who grew up in and around Philly say “down at the seashore,” and 2. A better-than-average drag name, you have to admit, though it does trade perhaps a bit too heavily on modern audiences’ familiarity with the late Dinah Shore; anyway, field for further study there).  I took … just way, way too many board games on the trip. In my defense, I’d stocked up on board games a few years back, when my husband and I bought the cabin we’re in now, convinced we’d spend every weekend having folks out for marathon gaming sessions. But our cabin is a bit of a schlep from the city, and people are busy, so we didn’t end up having folks out as often as planned. And then everything went globally pear-shaped, and we hunkered down.  Also -- and this was the true limiting reagent in the whole equation, if I’m honest -- my husband hates board games. I didn’t know this when I met him, or dated him, or married him. It just never came up; it should have.  The first time we had a few folks out to the cabin, back in the before-time, I busted out a Game That Shall Go Unnamed, as I was eager to try it out. It had been specifically recommended to me by a loquacious and knowledgeable clerk at my local game store. After we cleared the dinner table, I hefted it aloft proudly; our guests shrugged, my husband winced.  I didn’t let that deter me, and pushed on, setting up the board, the cards, the tokens, the screen, the dice, the timer, the long slide-tracker thingy that kept track of which phase we were in, the …  “Which phase we’re in?” my husband asked, venomously.  I took out the instruction booklet(!) and began to read. “The game takes place over the course of six phases. Each phase consists of four stages. Each stage consists of three turns. On each turn, you may take up seven actions. As an action, you may choose to perform one of the following tasks….” “I’m out,” he said. “Let’s just talk.” I blinked at him. “... Talk?” I said. “Just … talk?”  I looked to our guests, fully expecting them to share my pitched incredulity at this outrageous suggestion, but their eyes had glazed over. Whether this could be attributed to the game’s highly structured design, which made it sound about as much fun as formatting a research paper according to the MLA Handbook, or to the wine we’d been quaffing all afternoon, it was hard to say. But given the aforementioned quaffed wine, I knew one thing for certain: None of us were up for dividing up our evening into phases, stages, turns, actions and tasks. I put the game away, and we talked, or whatever.  But when I took that game, and others, downa shore last week, I figured I had another shot at it. There were so many people! My brother and his wife, my two adult nephews and their friend, my adult niece and her boyfriend! So many people! Surely I’d find some folks willing to join me in performing tasks, as actions, as part of a turn, within a stage, during a phase! But it was the beach, and there was sun, and wine, and there was lots of catching up to do. Also the food was excellent and, combined with the sun and the wine, it made us sleepy. Plus there were other, lighter-lift games at our disposal, which required no diligence on anyone’s part, no homework at all: Poker, Scrabble, Codenames, none of which required any of us to slide a plastic chit along a length of cardboard to keep track of which phase we were in. I still hope to play the game in question, and the many others like it in my possession. But it’s a question of finding the right time, the right place and the right people, with the right mindset.  Also: There probably shouldn’t be wine.  Newsletter continues after sponsor message We Recommend: The game that was the biggest hit at the beach was Quiplash, which doesn’t take place on a board, but instead on players’ phones. Each player responds to various prompts in what is ideally a humorous way, and then the group votes on the funniest response. Because it requires players to actually think of something funny from scratch, on the fly, it is to Cards Against Humanity as the New York Times Sunday Crossword is to the Highlights for Children Seek ‘n’ Find. I’d somehow let a new Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack) animated series escape my notice. Over that week at the beach, my much hipper-than-me nephew Evan gently but firmly corrected that, as we watched several episodes of Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, which debuted on Adult Swim but is now on HBO Max. It’s the story of a caveman and his contentious friendship with a T. Rex (no, yeah, 65 million years apart, I know -- simmer down, it’s a cartoon). It’s brutal and bloody and gorgeously animated, and season two is gonna drop later this year; get ready. Yes, this article in The Atlantic was written by my colleague and friend Ari Shapiro, but I’d recommend it to you even if it weren’t. It’s about his experience covering the Pulse shooting five years ago, as both a reporter and as a gay man. Mostly, it’s about what gay bars have always represented, and it’s smart and heartfelt writing that’s surprising in the best way. What We Did This Week: Brett Roedel/Hulu Aisha wrote up the series finale of Pose, highlighting the way that series captured grief, joy and -- especially -- love.  Stephen, as is his wont, joined All Songs Considered for New Music Friday to share his latest pick. On Monday’s show, Linda and Stephen took a look at Netflix’s Bo Burnham: Inside, a comedy special about interiority in every sense of the word. On Tuesday, Linda and Daisy Rosario reviewed the excellent film Plan B, which has something to say, from a fresh point of view, even as it remains, proudly, defiantly, a teen sex comedy. On Wednesday … Okay, lookit: You may not care about the Kardashians. That’s cool; Aisha didn’t. But she hosted a great, insightful, clear-eyed discussion of the Kardashian phenomenon with Brittany Luce and Ella Cerón that is very much worth your time. And speaking of phenomena: On Thursday’s show, Stephen, Neda Ulaby and Ayesha Rascoe looked at The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It, the third film in a hugely successful franchise. And on Friday’s show. Memorial Day, Schmemorial Day: Summer officially arrives with Stephen, Aisha and Monica Castillo reviewing In The Heights.  What's Making Us Happy Every week on the show, we talk about some other things out in the world that have been giving us joy lately. Here they are: What's making Aisha happy: "How Can I Make It OK?" by Wolf Alice What's making Monica happy: Luis Miguel: The Series What's making Stephen happy: This play during a recent Chicago Cubs and Pittsburgh Pirates baseball game Stream your local NPR station. Visit NPR.org to find your local station stream. What do you think of today's email? We'd love to hear your thoughts, questions and feedback: pchh@npr.org Enjoying this newsletter? Forward to a friend! They can sign up here. Looking for more great content? Check out all of our newsletter offerings — including Music, Books, Daily News and more! You received this message because you're subscribed to Pop Culture Happy Hour emails. This email was sent by National Public Radio, Inc., 1111 North Capitol Street NE, Washington, DC 20002 Unsubscribe  |  Privacy Policy