Blood Trail
(Steven Walker and Rick Reed)
This memorably grimy account of violent-crimes-detective-turned-fraud-investigator Reed’s pursuit of Joseph Weldon Brown starts out overwritten. Let it settle down. It’s a brisk, colloquial rendering of Brown’s hopeless childhood, then his (notably inept) career of larceny and violence culminating in the murder of his partner, Ginger Gasaway, whose remains Brown notoriously scattered across three counties.

Freed to Kill: The True Story of Serial Murderer Larry Eyler
(Gera-Lind Kolarik with Wayne Klatt)
The writing is relatively run-of-the-mill, but this is one of the few book-length treatments of serial killer Larry Eyler, whose body count was higher than it should have been thanks to 1) lack of cooperation between police agencies and 2) an improper search that let Eyler loose to kill again.

Hell’s Princess: The Mystery of Belle Gunness, Butcher of Men
(Harold Schechter)
The Lady Bluebeard of La Porte County’s crimes were so vile that a densely footnoted academic overview is the only way to write about the case without sickening the reader. Schechter is the professor for the job. He can’t entirely avoid phrases like “a jumble of putrefied body parts,” but his biography and analysis of Gunness is compelling and complete.

Indiana Gothic: A Story of Adultery and Murder in an American Family
(Pope Brock)
A politician’s affair with his sister-in-law; a pregnancy they couldn’t otherwise explain; a broad daylight shooting on Main Street; a pioneering insanity defense. It sounds like pulp fiction, and that’s how Brock writes the true story of his great-grandfather Ham Dillon’s murder and his family’s enduring shame. This volume is rich in turn-of-the-last-century detail, and the prose moves right along.

Murders That Made Headlines: Crimes of Indiana
(Jane Simon Ammeson)
This slim anthology focuses on long-ago cases that dominated contemporary news, then fell below the horizon. It’s packed with archival graphics, grisly details (a reservoir drained, in vain, to find Pearl Bryan’s head), and histrionic headlines. The Harry and Nettie Diamond chapter is a strangely nostalgic treat.

Public Enemies: America’s Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933–34
(Bryan Burrough)
Burrough’s 2004 book about the country’s “first, and greatest, war on crime” became a Johnny Depp–starring film in 2009. But the text is plenty cinematic on its own, never more so than when it zooms in on the bank-robbing, jail-breaking John Dillinger, who, of course, became Public Enemy No. 1.

Seventy Times Seven: A True Story of
Murder and Mercy
(Alex Mar)
When a “beloved Bible teacher” was murdered during a 1985 home invasion, few objected when her killer, 10th-grader Paula Cooper, got the death penalty. Then the victim’s grandson publicly forgave Cooper—and campaigned to commute her sentence. A holistic account of the ripple effects of a horrific crime on two families, the book takes on multiple criminal justice issues—racial bias, prosecutorial tunnel vision, Lake County corruption—without feeling like homework.

The post Book ’Em appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

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Photograph by Tony Valainis

OF THE MORE than 500 new board and card games introduced to the public at Gen Con 2024—the largest tabletop game convention in the U.S.—perhaps the one with the most interesting history is GHQ, aka Kurt Vonnegut’s lost board game.

At one time, few people were buying his novel Player Piano, and his breakthrough Cat’s Cradle was still in the drafting stage, so Vonnegut thought perhaps board game designing would be more lucrative than writing novels.

He envisioned and designed, on paper, a war game played on a chess board with artillery, infantry, and other units protecting an operations base (GHQ stands for general headquarters). It was 1956, just before the release of war game classics Risk and Diplomacy, and game companies just weren’t interested. (It wasn’t Vonnegut’s only failed business effort. Thankfully for American literature, his Saab dealership didn’t succeed, either).

I first got wind of Vonnegut’s game—or, more accurately, the plans for it—at an exhibit at IU’s Lilly Library back in 2007. At the time, I wrote in a column for the IBJ, “Come on entrepreneurial game geeks: There has to be at least a small market for this one.”

Apparently, game designer Geoff Engelstein, acclaimed creator of such games as The Fog of War and the racing-themed Pit Crew, had the same idea, plus the talent, means, and tenacity to make it happen. He not only acquired the rights from the Vonnegut estate, but he also sorted through six versions of the author’s rules to give the game playable balance.

The result: About 67 years after Vonnegut gave up on it, the game had a launch party at the Kurt Vonnegut Museum and Library the day before Gen Con officially began. It was appropriate since the game, set to go on sale to the public in October, will be exclusively sold at Barnes & Noble stores—with the exception of the KVML.

Anyone who has read Slaughterhouse-Five knows that Vonnegut, a WWII veteran who experienced the firebombing of Dresden as a POW, was famously anti-war. At the launch event, Engelstein noted the irony of this dove creating an unapologetic war game. In his brief PowerPoint presentation and Q&A session, Engelstein took attendees through the challenges of getting the right tone for the cover art, which turned out both retro and right, neither celebrating war nor denying what the game is about.

The box not only contains the board, playing pieces, and rulebook, but also a booklet with the history of the game, including the original designs and Vonnegut’s pitch letter containing his boast that it could “become the third popular checkerboard game.”

That’s unlikely.

But for players of chess, go, and other one-on-one games that rely on strategy and tactics rather than the luck of dice rolls and card draws, it should be of interest.

And, of course, for Vonnegut completists and the curious.

While the $35 game is not yet on sale, the KVML is taking pre-orders.

The post Best Of Gen Con: Kurt Vonnegut’s Lost Board Game, Revived appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

An excerpt from American Modern: Community; Architecture; Columbus, Indiana, written by Matt Shaw and photographed by Iwan Baan

A new book chronicles the historic civic project that built one of the most architecturally important cities in the country—and shows how its working-class citizens fit into the forever-modernist landscape.

IN THE MID-1940s, Columbus industrialist J. Irwin Miller, head of Cummins Engine Company, began an extraordinary side project. In an effort to draw in more white-collar talent, he commissioned a roster of titans in the world of modernist architecture to design a series of crisp, angular, and sometimes brutally stark buildings in his hometown. That campaign brought the work of renowned architects such as Robert Venturi, Harry Weese, and Eliel and Eero Saarinen to Bartholomew County, an almost surreal accomplishment. “The concept of not reaping your field to its border—nor maximizing personal profits but deferring some of your land or harvest to the public realm (your neighbors)—became a foundation for Miller’s humancentric approach to business,” writes author and Columbus native Matt Shaw in the sweeping monograph American Modern: Community; Architecture; Columbus, Indiana, available this month from Monacelli. Shaw’s in-depth history, excerpted here alongside images by the book’s photographer, Iwan Baan, tells how Miller’s world-class vision played out in the everyday structures of a town that remains, as Shaw describes it, “the highest of high Modernism, the best ideas from around the world—absorbed and made more pragmatic, smaller, and more humane in a community where purely top-down solutions would have never worked.”

Cleo Rogers Memorial Library 1969, I.M. Pei

The Cleo Rogers Memorial Library represented the moment when it all came together for Columbus in a magnificent public space that Architectural Forum called “a physical center in the best architectural tradition … an urbane statement of the town’s civic aspirations in brick, concrete and bronze.”

Lincoln Center Ice Rink (Hamilton Community Center & Ice Arena) 1958, Harry Weese

Two outdoor rinks were flanked by a Weese-designed building that was conceived as a chalet, or a “Black Forest stage setting for exhilarating winter evenings under the stars.” The domestic interior is arranged around a fireplace, with a gabled roof with interior wood beams sitting on massive granite walls. According to Weese, “the permanent natural materials, the opaqueness, and the symmetry all [conspired] towards a civic, if informal character.”

First Baptist Church 1965, Harry Weese

Weese originally wanted First Baptist to be made of concrete … but the congregation insisted on brick walls and a slate roof. This could be considered a common thread through most of the design in Columbus. It was not the whims of one person supporting the architects’ intellectual projects, but rather real people employing architects and deploying architectural thinking as a means to improve their surroundings and meet their purpose.

Southside Elementary 1969, Eliot Noyes

Southside is the only building in Columbus designed in the High Brutalist style, with bold concrete forms that recall the public housing and postwar city centers around Britain, mainland Europe, and the Soviet Union.

Miller House and Garden 1957, Eero Saarinen

The Saarinen-designed Miller House served a dual purpose as the family home as well as a piece of social infrastructure that allowed [owners J. Irwin and Xenia Miller] to entertain out-of-town guests, including politicians, artists, musicians, business associates, and a host of other social contacts.

Pence Place Housing 1984, Charles Gwathmey

The destruction of low-income housing [contributed] to a housing shortage in the downtown area that has never truly been solved, although Charles Gwathmey of New York’s Gwathmey Siegel & Associates (GSA) completed two housing projects toward that goal: Sycamore Place, senior housing just blocks east of downtown in 1982, and Pence Place, HUD-subsidized housing in East Columbus in 1984.

Par 3 Golf Course Clubhouse 1972, Bruce Adams

Par 3 Golf Course’s clubhouse … has cedar siding with a shake roof reminiscent of the wood siding and supergraphics of Northern California’s Sea Ranch.

Fire Station No. 4 1968, Robert Venturi

Fire Station No. 4 continues to be one of the most visited buildings by tourists, but also one of the most misunderstood. In 1976, Venturi wrote a letter to the Visitors Center upon hearing that tour guides were refusing to show it and claiming that “the building is a joke” and “the architect was making fun of Columbus.”

St. Peter’s Lutheran Church 1988, Gunnar Birkerts

Comparing Lincoln Elementary and its neighbor across the street, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, both by Gunnar Birkerts, one can see the changes in American architecture from 1967 to 1988.

L. Francis Smith Elementary 1969, John Johnson

Smith Elementary is laid out in three concrete wings connected by prefabricated, corrugated metal tubes painted orange, yellow, green, and purple. As students move through the network of tubes and around the transparent courtyard, the choreography of the school day activates the courtyard and overlooking hallways.

The post Columbus, IN: A Place In Time appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

(1) Steele first attended the Grammys in the ’90s, interviewing Bonnie Raitt. This poster display is a prized possession.

(2) One of six shadow boxes Steele has filled with concert and sporting event ticket stubs. “It’s sad it’s all electronic now.”

(3) Artwork from a photo of Steele and her late mom. “My head is resting on her shoulder. I look at it every day for inspiration.”

(4) Steele grabbed this homage to rock ’n’ roll frontman Robert Plant at a charity auction. “I’m a huge Led Zeppelin fan.”

(5) Steele’s colleague at Channel 13 Emily Poe made this illustration of a mic flag with the call letters WTHR.

(6) “Everyone should have a radio for news and music, not depend on technology. I have four around the house.”

(7) The sound of this button is Roger Penske telling Indy 500 drivers to start their engines. “It makes my dogs bonkers.”

(8) A commemorative Indy 500 bottle of (faux) milk signed by Josef Newgarden. Steele has covered more than 20 races.

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You were an officer with the Carmel Police Department for almost five years. How did you decide to try acting?
When I was a kid, I always wanted to act, but I never thought professional acting was possible for me. [I thought] I needed to have a stable job. So I worked as a police officer. But then I thought, While I’m somewhat young, I should at least attempt to do the thing I really want to do. If it didn’t work out, I figured I could always go to school or get into federal law enforcement. I did plays locally, took classes at the Indiana Repertory Theatre, and found Indy Actors Academy. It’s part of the Indiana Filmmakers Network, where I learned about local productions and how to get cast in local films. I started building up a demo reel featuring clips from the projects I worked on. With that, I was able to get an agent, and I left for Los Angeles.

You got pretty famous quickly, landing roles in The Walking Dead and Halt and Catch Fire, among others. It might seem like you just skipped over the entire starving actor phase.
Well, we all have struggles. There were definitely moments when I had no money and was in substantial debt. It’s a risk you take. I had multiple day jobs and drove all over the city to get to them. At one point, I thought maybe I would have to sleep in my car. The cool thing was that I had an uncle in LA who let me crash at his place for a while. If you’re going to make a huge move to a place like LA, I highly recommend knowing someone in the area.

What do your parents and three brothers think of all this?
My two older brothers just sort of smile about it. But my younger brother is a big nerd. He’s always excited about the projects I’m in because he’s read the comic books or is familiar with the lore. He’s a big Star Wars fan, and I got to bring him to the premiere of The Mandalorian. So he’s definitely really excited. I think my parents are actually a little relieved about my change of career because it’s a lot less dangerous than law enforcement. I’ve always had a supportive family, and that’s been huge for me. I think I would have had a little less courage to come out to LA if I didn’t have them in my corner cheering for me.

You’ve done a lot of sci fi and superhero work, including The Mandalorian, The Walking Dead, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Black Lightning, Westworld, and the movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Did you aim to break into these genres?
I grew up watching Saturday morning cartoons like X-Men and Spider-Man, so I’ve always had a place in my heart for superhero culture. But sci fi is not my thing. When characters go into space, I’m lost. I don’t know what’s going on! It might be a sort of typecasting because in sci fi they tend to veer toward an androgynous look or a tough, edgy look. But it wasn’t on purpose. It just happened by accident.

Is it tough to act opposite a puppet or in front of a giant green screen to which the special effects will be added later?
The Mandalorian was a gift because so many of the creatures aren’t digital but [are] actual physical puppets, so a lot of the time, I’m talking to something whose lips are moving, their eyes are blinking, and their body is shifting. It’s incredible what they’re able to do. But acting in front of a green screen, on the other hand, is really, really difficult. You’re looking out into the distance and pretending a bunch of spaceships are coming at you, and you’re supposed to be afraid. It’s a struggle for the director to make sure all the actors are looking in the same direction.

It sounds a bit like traditional theater, where you might have a table and chair onstage but have to pretend it’s the Las Vegas Hilton.
I think that’s kind of how you have to seeI’ve found that the big difference between theater and films is how much more preparation you get for a stage production. In something like the Ant-Man movie, we’d get maybe two run-throughs to practice a scene, and that’s our entire rehearsal, so in 20 minutes or so, we have to collectively decide where the monster’s coming from, how big it is, and how close it is. Whereas in the theater, you have a lot more time during rehearsals to decide such things. But I don’t want to say that film is more challenging. They’re just two different challenges.

Were you nervous about working on a big-budget project like Ant-Man?
I’d already done The Mandalorian, where the sets were pretty much just as big, and I’d worked with huge names like Pedro Pascal. Jon Favreau was on set every day, and Carl Weathers directed an episode I was in, so I got to meet all these incredible actors and work with amazing directors. I really did feel prepared, and I felt like they made
it as easy of a transition as they possibly could.

Where would you like to be in a decade?
I don’t necessarily always want to be in the eighth season of a successful show. I would love to be in something fresh and watch it grow from start to finish. I would love to delve into comedy or maybe even martial arts comedy to give it a twist.

Does that mean you do your own stunts?
Yes and no. I’ve worked with the same stuntperson for several years now. She gets the call if I have to jump out of a burning airplane. She’s ready for that! But if there’s a fight scene or something relatively simple, I’ll do it if I think I can pull it off without compromising the integrity of the film. If I can make it look good, and it’s safe, then I love to have that opportunity.

What’s your favorite type of project?
I enjoy doing action movies because fitness and martial arts have always been a part of my life. But I also love the challenge, and the emotional catharsis, and the beauty of acting in a film like Love Lies Bleeding. You get to create a human being. It’s a deep dive into exploring a character and figuring out how to link with them.

You auditioned six times for Love Lies Bleeding. Why, and how did that feel?
It was really weird. The first audition was a tape, and then I got an in-person callback, which is normal. Then I had a “chemistry read,” which completely makes sense in an intimate film like this to make sure you and the other actor have chemistry. So, all of that was expected. But then there was another one, and I was like, “What’s going on?” Then they had me work with an acting coach. And then another one, which was by Zoom. And I was like, “You can see what I can do. If it’s not working, you have to find someone else, and that’s totally fine.” Later, I got some behind-the-scenes information that they were trying to get someone else with a bigger name. There’s lots of things that go into getting a part. Actors beat themselves up too much about it because they don’t know that it’s more than just their performance.

Do you ever get back to Indianapolis?
I came back for Thanksgiving last year. My home base is now LA, but I’ve hardly ever filmed there or even get to spend much time there. Last year, over the course of three months, I went from New York, to New Zealand, to Rhode Island, then London, Indiana, and Oklahoma.

Anything you especially miss?
My family. The doughnuts at Long’s Bakery. And cheaper haircuts. In LA, it’s around $200. I don’t want to go, so my hair is rarely on point.

The post AMA: Katy O’Brian, Actor appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

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Welcome back, Good Bones fans. It’s getting hard, isn’t it? Hard to ignore that the series and Two Chick and a Hammer are coming to an end when they keep talking about it on air? In this episode, “The Problem Project Pivot,” Two Chicks owner Mina Hawk discusses the tough decision to cut back on business and staff. Also, lovable demo dude Austin Aynes reveals that he lost his job.

It’s sad. But there is life after Good Bones. Austin already has another gig—a bigger one with fellow cast member Tad Starsiak’s new company, Hammer Construction. And who knows, maybe HGTV will give Tad a spinoff. I’m wondering why they are spending so much airtime on his transition.

Another guy who gets some love this episode is venerable local artist Douglas David. Mina has been using his paintings in Two Chicks houses for years (flashback to the bedroom featuring his still life of doughnuts), but viewers have yet to meet him. He sets up his easel in White River State Park, and Mina stops by with her two children, ostensibly just out for a walk and surprised to see David. What a coincidence! It isn’t. Don’t be fooled. But it’s a welcome staging.

Mina then takes project manager Cory Miller to the Valley, a rough-around-the-edges, ripe-for-redevelopment neighborhood southwest of downtown. Mina bought a lot through what she calls a “city program” for just $3,000, and it’s deep, so she plans to build a duplex with a detached two-car garage. Each side of the duplex will come with an efficiency apartment above its garage. She will put in $400,000 and sell each side for $235,000 for a projected profit of $67,000. Not a bad price for a house and an income unit.

Discussing the plans, Cory threatens to become a sad panda if they don’t put a gridded glass garage door in the house somewhere. But he got one already in the premiere, so don’t feel bad for him when Mina predictably rejects the splurge.

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Anyway, there is no house on which to put a garage door! Mina says contractors poured the foundation below grade. The only good thing to come of this is a funny scene in which she explains the problem to the viewer. See, if the plastic wrapping on the house touches the ground, it will soak up moisture. She turns into Bill Nye the Science Guy and steeps a tissue in Cory’s coffee, showing how the liquid gets absorbed and rises higher and higher. That’s what would happen to the house! Cory doesn’t want his coffee back, and now he really is a sad panda.

Sidebar: You’re a true Good Bones fan if you remember there was also a foundation issue on the show’s first visit to this neighborhood. It was poured too small, which was not discovered until the framing was up. This is the Valley of the damned.

Fixing the foundation means construction can’t continue any time soon, so Mina shifts to finishing the garage apartments and renting them out while the house is in progress. Ultimately, she and husband Steve decide to take ownership of the duplexes and add them to their personal portfolio of rental homes. This conversation takes place outside La Margarita in Fountain Square, where Two Chicks and a Hammer started, and now where Mina and Steve discuss plans to cut back on building and effectively bring Good Bones to a close.

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Before we can turn into sad pandas about it, Mina is back at work on the duplexes, and we’re distracted by design. “Efficiency” is a new term in the Indianapolis rental market. Here, housing has always been reasonably priced, and most people could afford at least a one-bedroom. Things have changed. The floor plan for these two 500-square-foot efficiencies includes a small eat-in kitchen flowing into a living space/bedroom and, behind barn doors, a large bathroom with a stacked washer and dryer. Cory identifies wasted space under the eaves that can be used as a nook of some sort instead. He also suggests using some of the ample head space on the stairs up from the garage below to expand the kitchen’s footprint. No wonder he already has his own side company, Miller Built.

Mina and interior designer MJ Coyle meet to discuss pretty things. Each side of the duplex will have its own theme, one natural and beachy and the other colorful with a lot of patterns. The beachy side will have white kitchen cabinets, and the colorful side will have light gray cabinets. They also devise a cool closure for the nook—a bookshelf that will open like a bifold door. The nook is big enough for a full bed, something a college student could live with.

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Now you get to play designer. Mina and MJ choose matte black hardware for one side and luxe French gold for the other. Which goes on the beachy half and which on the colorful patterned side?

Now for flooring: thin, light-toned plank set in a herringbone pattern versus warm-toned plank laid conventionally.

And the backsplash: classic white subway tile versus a marbled-look herringbone.

Answers: The beachy side has the luxe gold fixtures (a dash of metallic to glam up white and natural textures), warmer flooring, and the marbled backsplash to add dimension against white cabinetry. The colorful side gets the bolder black fixtures, lighter flooring, and clean white tile against the gray cabinets.

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A parade of cameos includes the Iron Timbers team constructing the bifold bookshelves, Mina’s toddlers helping with landscaping (and digging up worms), and Douglas David again, delivering a pastel skyline painted from that vantage point in White River State Park where he was 100-percent scheduled to meet Mina earlier in the episode.

The artwork goes in the beachy side, which is dominated by whispery creams and yellows, soft blue curtains as a privacy screen for the bedroom nook instead of a bookshelf, gold accents, a capiz shell wall hanging, and a beaded curtain in a doorway.

The colorful side has cheerful blue and white floral curtains, a red-striped jute rug, a blue sofa, soft-colored pillows, sage-green bar stools, and natural wood furniture.

Each side is staged with a full living room and a bed filling the space in the nook from wall to wall. On the colorful side, the beefy bifold bookcase that opens to reveal the nook is a genius custom touch. But it requires a raised track on the floor, just waiting to stub toes and rip socks. 

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Steve steps in as the client because he has years of experience managing rental properties and can assess the market rate for these beautiful efficiencies. He goes with $1,100 or $1,200 a month because they look high-end. The spacious bathroom with double vanities in particular is impressive and worth a little extra.

Speaking of a little extra, Mina themes her reveal outfit to the episode? In a nod to each apartment’s individual look, she takes a stab at the two-tone jeans trend—one leg is light blue, the other is white. If that’s your style, the efficiencies will be for rent soon.

The post Good Bones: Season 8, Episode 8 appeared first on Indianapolis Monthly.

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Welcome back, Good Bones fans! This week’s episode is a “new bones” project to recoup money lost on the Episode 4 house. Two Chicks and a Hammer paid $145,000 for a house and an adjacent lot, took a $12,000 loss on the house reno, and is now building a 2,000-square-foot, two-story family home on the property next door. The plan is to go all-in at $282,500, sell for $425,000, and turn a $142,500 profit.

Impressive, but nothing compared to Karen E Laine’s guns! The 60-year-old cast member shows off her toned biceps in a tank top when the gang meets up for a powwow at her house to kick off the episode.

Two Chicks owner Mina Hawk and project manager Cory Miller head over to the empty lot in Bates-Hendricks, and Cory immediately starts chipping away at Mina’s healthy profit margin.

Cory envisions exterior bifold doors in the back that open to a small soaking pool. And a sunken living room, too. And he’s just getting started.

“So, since this is the first-floor en suite, we’ll have a walkout deck, which will be nice,” he says.

“I hate your face,” Mina replies.

“We can put a little waterfall back here,” he says, climbing a mound of dirt in the backyard.

“You’re probably in the garage, ding-a-ling.”

“Then can we do a copper-colored standing seam roof on the porch? With copper-colored gutters?

“No, that sounds expensive.”

“Can we do half-round barrel gutters?”

“That’s spending my money, Cory.”

All is well by the time they show up to a blueprint meeting in matching Two Chicks camo sweatshirts. The floor plan will involve an open living/kitchen/dining space and a walk-in pantry and mudroom next to the kitchen instead of the pool and hot tub Cory wants. All the better to appeal to families who prefer storage to a drowning hazard.

Upstairs will contain three bedrooms and a loft area. Good Bones loves lofts, by which I mean a bonus living space upstairs, not a high-ceilinged area open to the floor below. I wonder why they use the space for extra living instead of bigger closets or more storage.

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The time usually spent on demo is devoted to Tad Starsiak’s side project for his new company, Hammer Construction. He’s doing a bathroom remodel in a 126-year-old house. “I can confidently say I’m an expert when it comes to old homes. How many people at 29 years old got to do 150 old houses?” he asks, referring to his experience as a demo leader with Two Chicks and a Hammer.

He has also seen the error of his reckless ways. “I’ve been crazy. I’ve dropped chimneys through roofs. And I still love all those things. But now I need to take care of not just the house but the client, as well.” Hallelujah.

Back in Bates-Hendricks, Mina plans to install swinging doors to the walk-in pantry to give the house some high-end charm. She is using tall, very old wooden doors she bought in Phoenix years ago after falling in love with them. She has whitewashed them, but installing old doors isn’t easy. She, MJ, Cory, and Austin spend two days on the project alone. Once they are hung, they don’t close cleanly, so Cory tries to grind off old hardware that’s in the way and has a scary moment when one piece flies off and he isn’t wearing safety goggles. They have to remove the delicate doors—no fun—and make the corrections, but the final result is beautiful and worth the work. But if you try this at home, be prepared for frustration and failure.

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In the loft, Cory and Karen pick up where Cory left off with his wild ideas before construction began. Mina asks them to brainstorm a special installation to make the space sing. She recalls shelves hung with leather straps in a previous project, and Karen basically says, “Oh, silly child, you think we’re simply going to recycle an idea?” What she really says is, “Have you met us? [Mina] should have known things were not going to go the way she expected.” Instead, things go like this:

Karen: “We could make a piano clock. We could make a plant wall. Metal brushed gold grid with a potted plant that vines into it.”

Mina: “Uhhhhhh …”

Karen: “Maybe it should have a little light.”

Cory: “A gooseneck.”

Mina: “I’m impressed at how quickly this went off the rails.”

Karen: “What if we do piano hammers—I’ve got tons—and make an arc, and pour resin, and make a shelf out of piano hammers?” (Please, no. The resin clock she tried to make for the house next door was a disaster.)

Mina: “I don’t want it to be super distracting, and I want it to feel high-end.”

Karen (to the camera): “One option is to give her exactly what she asks for.”

In the end, they don’t. The universe drops a pair of old wooden ladders into Karen’s lap, and she and Cory turn it into shelving. They cut plastic shelves; paint them red, orange, and yellow; add little lights; and balance the shelves on the rungs. It’s creative but not high-end.

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So it’s up to MJ and Mina to deliver the “luxe for less” scheme. For the rest of the house, they choose “blurry blond” flooring (it’s light wood with some visible nail heads, it appears) and champagne-colored bronze hardware in contemporary shapes. The backsplash tile has geometric interlocking V’s in shades of gray, white, and tan. They’re splurging on can lights and modern statement chandeliers.

Back to Tad’s bathroom. He and Karen go to Economy Plumbing downtown to pick out a tub and vanity (Tad is still on training wheels with design). He climbs into a freestanding tub and mentions that he sprained his knee playing intramural soccer, to which Karen replies that they are both too old for sports. This is so not true. What is true is that Tad recognizes that he needs a rich, dark-toned vanity to ground all the white in the tile in this large bathroom. Karen beams with pride.

It gets even mushier when Karen helps Tad stage the bathroom, and Tad, wearing a shirt that says, “Renovate Yourself,” says having “this much responsibility and ability is more than I thought of myself a few years ago, and it has changed so much stuff in my life.” Karen fans away tears. Tad shows the client his pride and joy, pointing out a cathedral ceiling, a trick he learned from Mina and Karen to make a space feel grander. The client is thrilled and has a list of other projects to work on.

It’s Mina’s turn for a reveal, and she shows her new build to parents with a small child. They love the stark black and white exterior and the design, which Mina says is one of the prettiest houses Two Chicks has done. The backsplash goes all the way to the ceiling and manages to look glam rather than busy, even with all those geometric shapes. The decorative lighting throughout shines, so to speak—including alien-esque chandelier with spindly arms that one of the prospective buyers says looks weird but says he still likes.

As for the loft shelving, with which has Karen color-coordinated her outfit, the low plastic shelves have sharp corners, and I can just imagine the toddler cutting herself on them. But it doesn’t appear that the family buys the house. Mina went over budget, spending $290,000 and has listed the house at $450,000 for a possible $87,500 profit.

If only they had added a sunken living room.

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Not only was Gen Con back this year, but it was bigger than ever with more than 70,000 unique visitors (and, in some cases, unique is certainly the word).

For the most part, attendees were here to play games—the tabletop kind, not ones involving video screens. Once again, I set out to find the treasures among the newest game releases. That meant rolling dice, drafting cards, moving little wooden meeples, and otherwise taking my turn playing as many games as possible during the four-day convention. I’m writing here about only the ones I recommend and would happily play again. (Note: Game companies provided review copies of some titles without obligation. The opinions and choices are my own.)

First, though, here’s one I didn’t play.

Disney’s Lorcana Trading Card Game (Ravensburger) was so much the center of attention at this year’s Gen Con, I’m surprised Dumbo wasn’t the show’s official mascot. A collectible card game (CCG in the vernacular of gamers) in the same vein as Magic: The Gathering and Pokémon, it sparked thousands of attendees to line up for hours just to get first dibs on the card packs and related swag. This led to some ugliness on the first day as those who waited for hours were overrun by those arriving late. Granted, some of the diehards were speculators looking to flip their Mickey and company cards into cash via eBay—highlighting the fact that herd mentality and selfish speculating isn’t limited to sports fans.

I hope some folks actually play and enjoy Lorcana, rather than just seeing it as an investment. Me, I’m not a CCG person—I prefer my games to be self-contained. Instead of building a deck to pit Ariel and Elsa against the forces of Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil, I opted for some more original offerings.

Let’s start with the party games—the kind with minimal rules that don’t need a ton of studying before starting to play.

In Everything Ever (Floodgate Games), two players each have a stack of three category cards—for instance, “Every Breakfast Cereal” or “Every Child Actor.” They must each reveal their first card and take turns naming items in the respective categories without repeating themselves. Can’t come up with something in 10 seconds? Quickly move on to the next category card in your hand and start that list. But be careful: Every card you replace, you keep, and the person who has the most cards at the end is the loser. Meanwhile, the cooperative 13 Words (Captain Games) puts 12 random words around a circle with one in the middle. Whoever’s turn it is has to mentally link the central word to one of the others, with the rest of the players guessing which was selected. It gets tougher and the connections become more strained as the choices dwindle.

Prefer trivia over word games? CDSK (Hachette Boardgames) offers a clever twist: How far your pawn can potentially move is determined by how tough a question you can correctly answer. Want to move eight squares? You’ll need to answer a Level 8 question. Confidence (or cockiness) can be a big factor in determining whether you win or lose. 

A more abstract party game, Trash Talk (Friendly Skeleton) comes with pairs of seemingly random items—cocktail umbrellas, bows, plastic plants—and a stack of word cards. Three cards are shown and one player secretly matches one item to each card. The rest of the players then try to suss out the secret pairings and match the same objects to the same cards. A cool factor: You are encouraged to add pairs of items to the game box for future play (I’ve already added two seashells and a pair of poker chips).

For pure silliness, Dolphin Hat Games has become a go-to company. Last year, I lauded Gimme That!, a potato-counting game. This year, it’s 800 Pound Gorilla. Ape cards and a few coconuts and bananas are scattered on the table. A spinner is spun and the pointer indicates whether players must scramble to grab fruit or try to claim a large, medium, or small gorilla (their weights are indicated on the flip side of the cards). Adding to the chaos: Random cards may tell you, for instance, to scratch under your arms, dab, or shout “Boing! Boing!”

Memory games are a staple in the business, and you’d think there wouldn’t be many fresh ideas, but here’s a unique one: In Magic Rabbit (Alley Cat Games), rabbit cards numbered one through nine are scrambled and hidden under randomly ordered hat cards, also numbered one through nine. Without communicating, teammates take turns either moving a hat, moving a rabbit and a hat, or peeking at the rabbit under the hat to work together to put both the hats and rabbits in numerical order, all while a 2.5-minute timer is running. If you manage to solve it, there’s still game left in the box, with sealed envelopes that reveal additional challenges.

At its core, boop. (Smirk & Dagger Games) is a two-player, limited action game akin to Checkers or Othello. But the designers have layered on the cuteness. You and your opponent are charged with placing kittens on a soft bed, causing them to “boop” (push) neighboring kittens to the next space or off the board. Manage to get three kittens in a row and they become cats in your reserve, which can then be placed on the board. Figure out how to line up three cats and you’ve won.

Note how I subtly booped you from party games into strategy games.

Klondice (MindWare) won’t be a big stretch for anyone used to playing Yahtzee. But in this game, you and your opponents play on the same board, and while some goals (a straight, for instance) score points for the person who completes them, others take points away. By rolling and rerolling your dice in a cardboard mountain tower, you can plan and place your dice carefully to earn the big payouts. My only complaint is that the dice tower has to be disassembled to fit back into the box.

Twisty Tracks (Rio Grande Games), with its plastic trains and square tiles, looks like a children’s game. But there are surprising choices to be made here as you strategically place track tiles. Points are scored both by arriving at stations quickly and also by creating lengthy tracks, goals that are rarely compatible. Wandering Towers (Capstone Games) not only requires some clever choices but also a bit of memory. Your goal is to get your wizards around the board to a fortress. On a turn, players either move one of their wizards or one of the towers. The latter choice may mean covering up other players, which may slow them down in their quests and require them to keep track of who is under what. Its theme is playful, but there’s plenty of game for gamers here.  

Looking for something a bit more intense? While I didn’t get to play many of the more time-consuming new titles, I did try some deeper ones I would happily plunge into again.

After Us (Pandasaurus Games) posits a world where simians have taken over, but the theme comes through more in the design and artwork than in the gameplay. It’s really a strong deck-building and resource management game decorated with orangutans, chimps, gorillas, and mandrills. You start with basic tamarin cards and arrange your hand in combinations that, when the cards are placed next to each other, create frames that maximize what goods you can collect or how many victory points you score. As you play, you can buy better cards and upgrade your deck. As your ape population expands, your options become greater as you race to 80 points.

Prefer your games set in the past rather than a dystopian future? Rebuilding Seattle (WizKids) takes the historical fire of 1889 and turns it into a sharp city-building game. You start with a minimal grid and add neighborhoods to create more options. But you’ll need to carefully balance your growing population with shopping, dining, and entertainment spots. And while adding landmarks can boost the value of your version of Seattle, building over trees could lose you points later. Also set at the end of the 19th century, the smartly designed 3 Ring Circus (Devir Games) pits rival touring circuses against each other. As you travel around the U.S., you gradually upgrade your entertainment offerings, build prestige, and, of course, make enough money to keep rolling along. And, yes, Indianapolis is included on the route.

For some, playing games is an excuse to imbibe with friends. If this is your preference, here’s the game for you. Drinking is a key element in Heroes of Barcadia (Rollacrit), a dungeon-crawling, monster-fighting novelty in which the game pieces are beer glasses. They start out filled, but as your character takes damage, you take drinks. The game may cause hardcore gamers to roll their eyes as much as they roll their dice, but it’s a blast for those who want some actual partying in their exploratory party.

Just like movies, games don’t have to be complex to be fun.

Lou Harry writes about board games for Midwest Film Journal, louharry.com, and others while also hosting Game Night Social every Tuesday night in The Garage food hall. Harry has reviewed the best games of Gen Con since 2009. Follow him @louharry.

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Join the Skrewball Pit Krew for a revved-up weekend complete with photo opps, games, giveaways, sampling and live music from DJ Action Jackson! Free Admission. Must be 21+ to enter. Friday, May 27 – 12-8 p.m. | Saturday, May 28 – 12- p.m. | Sunday, May 29 – 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.  [parallax media="Full Image URL Here" overlay="true" align="left"]TK Quote

GAVIN SMITH can’t remember a time when he wasn’t obsessed with comic books. “If I was out with my dad, he would buy me comics at the drugstore,” the Peru, Indiana, native recalls of his childhood. “Also, we had a small specialty shop called Bears Comics & Cards. So I was just always picking them up.”

By fifth grade, Smith had become a serious collector. In middle school the idea of being an illustrator first crossed his mind. “I started recognizing people’s names on the covers, and I started following creators rather than characters,” Smith says. “That was a big moment for me, when I first realized, Oh, people do this as their job.”

 As an avid DC fan, the young Smith then tried sketching his favorite characters, from Flash to Green Lantern. While flipping through those comics, he noticed ads for The Kubert School, a technical college for cartooning that he would wind up attending a decade later.

“It’s this legendary comic book boot camp,” Smith says of the school, founded in 1976 by industry icon Joe Kubert. “I had to pack up my entire life and move to New Jersey. Looking back, I can’t imagine doing that over. It was really intense.”

After graduating from The Kubert School, Smith migrated to Indianapolis. With roots planted in the Circle City, he began his career as an independent comic book artist, conceiving an edition entirely on his own titled Human City.

“I took the only $300 I had to my name and self-published the first 100 copies,” Smith says of his foray into comic book creation. “When I ran out of those, I would print just 100 more.”

But run out he did, repeatedly. With the success of Human City under his belt, Smith was recruited by independent publisher Blue Juice Comics to work on The Accelerators series, which he illustrated for several years. Along the way, Smith and his friend James Maddox started a graphic novel, Dead Legends, which quickly caught the attention of independent book publishers. Dead Legends follows a woman who enters a martial arts tournament to exact revenge on the man who killed her husband.

“Word got around. We had three offers before we even tried pitching Dead Legends to anybody,” Smith says. After finishing work on Dead Legends, which did so well two follow-ups were ordered, Smith was in search of short-term projects. On a whim, he called an editor he was only slightly acquainted with at IDW Publishing in San Diego. “She came back with, ‘We don’t have anything one-off, but how would you feel about an eight-issue Star Trek series?’” Smith couldn’t believe it. “I stammered, ‘Of course! Let’s do it!’” he recalls. Smith had to try out for the gig, which was Star Trek: The Mirror War. He nailed it.

At the end of that assignment,  Smith was browsing in Fountain Square comic shop Hero House when he noticed that a different editor at IDW was credited in an issue of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. “No harm in asking,” he reasoned. Indeed. Smith landed a subseries, The Last Ronin. A subseries doesn’t have quite the prestige of a franchise’s main series, but it was still a coup.

Then, it happened. Smith was approached by IDW at the 2022 New York Comic Con with the opportunity of a lifetime. “They came up to me as I was sitting at my table and said, ‘IDW is very high on you. We want you on the main series of Ninja Turtles,’” he recalls.

Smith says the work will be hard to top as a career highlight. It has taken him back to his grade school days in Peru, when he was first sketching Michelangelo and the gang for fun. “Of course, I really enjoyed working on Star Trek, but Turtles is something I grew up with,” he shares. “It just feels totally natural. It’s me.”

While it remains to be seen what’s up next for Gavin Smith, the new Indy comic star is hardly idle. “I try to keep a lot of balls in the air,” he says. At the end of the day, that juggling act is proof that with passion, confidence, and a bit of patience, childhood dreams can come true.

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