Snake Oil
August 20th, 2012

Posted by Kathleen

May I interest you in some bona-fide sketch comedy? It’s guaranteed to put a spring in your jimmies and get your veins and arteries free of hex weevils, the leading cause of Wilson’s Croop.*

Here are Monday’s videos!

LoadingReadyRun: Snake Oil
Unskippable: Trapt
Checkpoint: Almost No Odd Job

Unlike last week, where the video was filmed only at great expense to our blood, this week’s video was a much higher production job with budgeting for real props and costumes. How fancy and unlike us! We’ll cover the production and filming process for Snake Oil in this week’s upcoming Loading Time, but if you have any questions about the video, be sure to leave them in the comments so I can make sure they get addressed in the Escapist news post that will accompany the video.

Also new this week is… me! Today marks the beginning of my stint at the helm of the U.S.S LRRBlog, displacing Matt and finally ending his reign of Pony-based terror. Just kidding — as many of you know he’s off to do his Masters degree in Vancouver. In his absence I’m stepping up to the plate, but Matt, we are all going to miss you for these 16 months.

But what does this change mean for you, gentle reader? Well… not much, but here are four things you may want to look out for!

1. All My Little Pony memes to be replaced with Jerk City** comics.

2. A more flamboyant writing style heavily influenced by a lifetime of wanting to be Douglas Adams.

3. 28 percent more references to cats.

4. ***

*Results not even a little guaranteed. 

**Really NSFW, ridiculous, offensive, sometimes transcendently funny. 

***Lots more footnotes.

 

LoadingReadyRun at PAX Prime
August 17th, 2012

Posted by Kathleen

It’s almost the most wonderful time of the year for West Coast dwellers (and those that can make the trip to Seattle) — PAX Prime.

Running from August 31 to September 2, this year’s PAX Prime is particularly full of LRR goodness. Here’s a full breakdown of things we humbly suggest you might be interested in.

Panels

An Evening with LoadingReadyRun: It’s a PAX tradition! Come spend your Saturday night with us. See new videos, ask us many probing questions, and be prepared for wackiness.
Saturday, 9:00 – 10:30 PM, Serpent Theatre

The LoadingReadyRun Screening Block: Even more of that PAX tradition. We run our panel into our screening block in order to maximize the time we can spend with you.
Saturday, 10:30 – 11:30 PM, Serpent Theatre

 

Entertainment

Game Show Night! The Blankety Blank Game: A live game show hosted by The Escapist and uh… heavily inspired by the classic gameshow The Match Game. Graham and Kathleen are panelists, joining Justin McElroy, Russ Pitts, Dan Amrich and Chris Kohler!
Friday, 7:00 – 8:00 PM, Kraken Theatre

The Improv Initiative: It’s like an improv dream team in here guys. Graham, Marc Watson [Mojang], Mike Robles [Wizards of the Coast], Greg Stackhouse [Uber Entertainment], Kris Straub, Mikey Neumann [Gearbox Software] and Tara Theoharis[Geeky Hostess] will do scenes, characters and plotlines from audience suggestions!
Friday, 9:00 – 10:00 PM, Serpent Theatre

 

Magic!

As you’re no doubt aware, we all love to play Magic, and this year Wizards has invited us to play Magic at their awesome booth! During the last two hours the Expo Hall is open on Saturday and Sunday, you’ll be able to challenge either Graham, James, Matt, Jer, Alex or Kathleen to a game of Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013.
Friday, 4:00 – 6:00 PM, Expo Hall, Wizards of the Coast Booth
Saturday, 4:00 – 6:00 PM, Expo Hall, Wizards of the Coast Booth
Sunday, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, Expo Hall, Wizards of the Coast Booth

 

Bandland

LoadingReadyRun will also have a table in Bandland. We’ll have shirts, DVDs, buttons, sketches for tips and other goodies. See Graham, James, Kathleen, Matt, Jer and Alex and touch their hands with your hands.

 

LRR Adjacent 

For the Love of Making: Geek Arts and Crafts: Join Tally and a whole host of other talented crafters as they talk crafts and share techniques and tips.
Saturday 5:30 – 6:30 PM Raven Theatre

Extra Credits Panel: Dan, James, Allison and LeeLee of Extra Credits answer your questions and speak in normal voices!
Sunday, 2:30 – 3:30 PM Pegasus Theatre

Scout’s Dishonor
August 15th, 2012

Posted by Matt

Have you done your good turn for the day? If not, click the link for this week’s video, below.

LoadingReadyRun: Scout’s Dishonor
Unskippable: Death by Degrees
Checkpoint: Final Fanstasy Apology
Feed Dump: Libyan Cinnabon
Loading Time: Editing

Our video this week was filmed at great personal expense. I don’t mean financial expense – mono, the site covered the cost of props and costumes. I mean bodily expense. We filmed this episode in UVic’s ‘Mystic Vale’ – that’s a parcel of forest land owned by the school, and holy hell was it ever overrun with mosquitos. WIthin minutes of arriving we realized that we were going to need insect spray, (which of course we didn’t bring) so we sent James to go get some. In the intervening time between our arrival, and James’ return with some Deep Woods Off, we got EATEN ALIVE. I know Graham’s bite count was in the teens, mine was well over 22. I don’t know about the others, but the liklelihood that one of us contracted malaria is very high. (Or it would be if malarial mosquitos were a concern here in Canada).

This is probably going to be one of my last blog post for LoadingReadyRun – at least for the next year – as I’m headed back to school at the end of the month, and I’m not going to be in Victoria much for the weeks until then. Fear not though, as I understand that Kathleen will be taking over my blogging and site updating duties, and she’s actually a witty and capable writer (unlike the hack that’s been doing this until now). I’ll probably do an official final post before I hand over the torch permanently, but in case I don’t have a chance, it’s been a thrill writing these for you, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading them as much as I’ve enjoyed having them read!

Cheers!

LRR added to the Aug 30 Scott and Kris Show!
August 8th, 2012

Posted by Kathleen

Attention Seattle fans and PAX Prime attendees!

LoadingReadyRun will be special guests for the August 30th edition of Kris and Scott’s Scott and Kris Show Live!

We’ll be sharing the stage with other talented people like Scott Kurtz, Kris Straub, Paul and Storm, the creators of Cards Against Humanity and humanity’s favourite, Stephen “Stepto” Toulouse!

If you’re in town for PAX Prime or a Seattle local, this is a great chance to see a rare live LoadingReadyRun appearance.

Tickets are available here. Doors 6:30 pm, show starts at 8:00 pm. $20 each, must be 17+ due to possible (almost certain) swears, adult content.

Hope to see you there!

Occupied
August 7th, 2012

Posted by Matt

Feeling trapped? Take you r mind off it for a while by checking out our videos for the last week!

LoadingReadyRun: Occupied
Unskippable: Atelier Iris 3
Checkpoint: Snickers & The Sea Hag
Loading Time: Loading Time Returns!
GPLP: Cursed Crusade (PT10, PT11)

The writing credit on this week’s video goes to our good friend Andy Cownden, and because I had no involvement in the production of this video at any level, I’m going to leave the majority of the writing credit for this blog post in Andy’s hands too!

This script was written during a particularly severe bout of cabin fever I experienced this past June. I had just come off a theatre gig and found myself swimming in time and trying to not to spend much money. It’s easy not to spend money if you don’t go out much (except for exercise, groceries, etc.), but you go a bit stir crazy. And so, “Occupied” was the result of emotional catharsis meeting a bizarre sense of humour. LRR aficionados may be interested to know that the premise for the script was loosely inspired by Crapshot episode 34 – The Slam.

Cheers!