Speaker 1:
0:00
Welcome to your go-to source for entertainment. Wait for it. Gaming. Wait for it.
Speaker 2:
0:07
Anime PLUS ULTRA.
Speaker 3:
0:11
Mr.
Speaker 1:
0:11
Eric Almighty and Phil the Filipino yeah, they've got you covered, and all you gotta do is wait for it. This is the Wait For it Podcast.
Speaker 4:
0:34
Hey everyone, welcome back to the Wait For it Podcast. I'm Phil Barrera, your co-host, aka Phil the Filipino.
Speaker 3:
0:39
And I'm your other co-host, mr Eric Almighty, and for this bonus episode of the Wait For it Podcast. We are here to talk about an apocalyptic horror graphic novel that weaves a narrative blending the emotional intensity of the Last of Us, the chilling atmosphere of A Quiet Place, the unsettling dread of Silent Hill, all centered around one haunting question what if the world ended and no one heard it? We are here and very excited to talk about Frost Road.
Speaker 4:
1:07
Yeah, extremely excited to have our guest in here today for a very, very special opportunity. So let's not delay it, let's get our guest here first. Keith Arum, the creative director and president of PCB Productions. Writer and creator of Frost Road. Keith, how are you doing here today?
Speaker 2:
1:25
It's amazing to share today with you guys.
Speaker 4:
1:28
Absolutely, and also Chris Yates, the director of special projects and outreach. Chris, how are you today?
Speaker 1:
1:33
I'm doing great. Thank you guys so much for this wonderful opportunity on a Sunday and making time for us. Really appreciate it.
Speaker 4:
1:39
Definitely We'll always make time to geek out with some very hardworking and like-minded individuals, so very excited to talk about your project here today. So let's go ahead and get into the first question. So I'll throw this to Keith first. Can you give our audience a little insight into your background and where they may have seen your work before?
Speaker 2:
1:57
Yeah, absolutely so. Hi, I'm Keith Arum. I'm the CEO of PCB Productions and PCB Entertainment, based in Los Angeles, and most people know us for our video game work. We do a lot of performance capture for a lot of AAA video games like Call of Duty and Titanfall and Spider-Man and Street Fighter and Yakuza. So my background dates all the way back into the music industry, where I started on Capitol Records with Biohazard and Contagion and touring doing music, and then I got into film scoring and then video games and then, over the past several years, I got into directing and during that time, started creating graphic novels and comic books. And so here we are, coming full circle from all the things I grew up with and nerding out with comic books and games and now getting to direct them and create them.
Speaker 4:
2:44
Up with and nerding out with comic books and games and now getting to direct them and create them, really really cool. And Chris, what about you? I will say, keith, it seems like and watching some of these other interviews you've done, chris seems to sell himself short in some of these. Chris, please tell us you know again, what about your background? Give us a little insight into what you do, because, hey, you're just as important in this project and I want to make sure that people know that.
Speaker 1:
3:05
Okay, thank you, that's very kind of you.
Speaker 1:
3:08
My head's big enough as it is it barely fits in this screen. Yes, my name is Chris Yates, I'm the director of special projects and outreach and basically my I joke, this is kind of like my fifth or sixth career now, because I used to be a track and field coach and now I kind of pivoted into the entertainment world, where I started out as an intern for Beau Flynn's picture company, Dwayne Johnson's partner who did Black Adam, and then I pivoted to the United Talent Agency where I worked specifically with graphic novels Rick Remender, James Tynan, Frank Miller, you know boom, kind of the who's who of comic books, which I was very lucky to do. And then I pivoted again to Disney where I worked in the creative acquisitions, which basically was I reviewed non-traditional IP to see how we can turn them into TV shows or just how do we bring them into the Disney ecosystem. And then when Bob Iger laid off 7,000 people, he started with our department, and so I had to pivot again.
Speaker 1:
3:58
And I pivoted into publishing because I quickly realized how much I did love comics and I worked with a publisher called massive. And then, and then I quickly realized how much I did love comics and I worked with a publisher called Massive. And then I quickly, or about December, met with Keith and then just became fast friends. And then we just like I saw this an embarrassment of riches he had and I'm like my friend, we have to figure out how to make this happen. And two and a half months later, here we are.
Speaker 2:
4:21
Yeah, we fast tracked this.
Speaker 3:
4:23
I think that's fantastic and I love the absolute creative process that both of you bring. But so many interesting individuals are attached to this project and what makes this kind of exciting to talk about? I know in pop culture the zombie genre has at times gone. It started off extremely popular for a multitude of years and for a period, started to become oversaturated. I think we're feeling that with things like Marvel now, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, superheroes now, and recent years, it seems to have made somewhat of a comeback with really exciting new projects like this one. So, keith, you know both you and Chris have mentioned in the past how this story is very much a zombie movie, but in reverse, and that's super intriguing. Can you dive into more about what Frost Road is about and what makes this particular story so unique?
Speaker 2:
5:16
One of the things that I've always been fascinated about is like the what if? Kind of, like the idea of like what if this was real? And what if this was real, and what if this was actually based on actual science. A lot of zombie films have done everything from rage to alien comets and other things and a lot of explanations, but I really wanted to come up with some sort of a idea that was plausible and one of the kind of interesting things that's happening to all of our characters in our book and to give a little bit of the story away, it's a guy that kind of wakes up into this town that's just ripped themselves apart, but the one interesting thing that's happening to all these guys is that they're missing all of the salt in their bodies. They have a condition called hyponatremia, which is extreme, like sodium depletion, and coincidentally, the town of Frost Road gets its name for the salt deposits and all the salt mines that it's built on.
Speaker 2:
6:09
So at the very, very beginning, you're starting to realize that there's something wrong with the town, not just what's going on with all the characters, and so what I was really fascinated about was sort of taking the idea of science and what's been happening in the oceans and what the military is doing with a lot of underwater testing that's affecting other animals like whales and dolphins, and just the idea of sound being something that can be destructive to the point that you would be tearing yourself apart, and so kind of.
Speaker 2:
6:40
The combination of what's going on with the town and the salt and what's going on sort of with the signal is sort of the basis of what's going on with the town and the salt and what's going on sort of with the signal is sort of the basis of what's going on in the story. And, uh, and you're unfolding the story from chris's point of view, who is our main protagonist, which is played by yuri lowenthal, and he does all the sort of the photo reference for us and it really is kind of a zombie movie in reverse, because instead of them being constantly attacked by these hordes, these are the people that they are taking with them to try to protect them. And it's all based on actual, real science and I thought that was terrifying because you could see that being real. And now, with new lithium and sodium deposits being discovered across the world, I think our story is even becoming more relevant and a little bit more scary.
Speaker 4:
7:26
Yeah, and I think that's why, you know, when you talk about something that you just really can't see, obviously in this day and age, you know can hit very much close to home, and when you talk about things that inspire you, like the Last of Us, you know when we're seeing a resurgence of that or such a high popularity with that, with the show and the game, so really really very much love that. I do want to ask a fun question here as we pivot. We'll start with Chris. Both of you are dropped into the world of Frost Road.
Speaker 1:
8:00
What type of post-apocalyptic survivor would you be, Chris?
Speaker 2:
8:03
Oh wow, that's a great question.
Speaker 1:
8:06
I don't think we've been asked that yet. Yeah, no, that's a great question. Um, I don't think we've been asked that yet. Yeah, no, that's that's a great question. I mean, I'm trying to go through like all the zombie things in my head, like all the zombie kind of characters and stuff like, because like there's like the day of the dead who, like sit on top, I think it's no dawn of the dead, excuse me with, uh, zach snyder and james guns, where it's like the sniper on the roof, like I'd probably be that person.
Speaker 2:
8:21
Yeah.
Speaker 4:
8:22
Like the go for Jay Leno. Exactly Go for the go for the chin, as they say.
Speaker 1:
8:27
Um or or. I would just be constantly on the move like mad, maxing it Well, like one of those things. So I would I would have to give that those two answers, because that was a great question. I hadn't thought about it. Well done.
Speaker 2:
8:39
Keith, um, I would be what we would call a ripper, right, a guy that just goes out. You've just got a shotgun and a machete and your car and you're just trying to like get to the next area to forge stuff to bring it back. Um, I think, uh, that would probably be me, just having the shotgun there and the machete so you can get a distant and close, uh, very personal, I guess, uh, that, or the flip side, I'd be a medic, like my dad was a doctor, and so I'd probably be patching up people after I've dismembered a few zombies along the way.
Speaker 1:
9:12
What a wholesome answer and making me just look terrible.
Speaker 4:
9:17
Listen, you gotta do what you gotta do. I don't think there's necessarily a wrong answer. I feel like I would be kind of like a Eric. We just watched the Shawshank Redemption for the first time, which I know is a crazy statement to hear from you guys.
Speaker 2:
9:29
First time.
Speaker 4:
9:29
Yeah, never, had never seen it, but I think of Red. I feel like I'd be a guy that could get you things. I think maybe that's what I would turn to. Eric, I know your plan has always been go to Costco, but have you seen Costco on a Saturday or a Sunday? It's going to be way too crowded.
Speaker 3:
9:45
No, I mean listen, it's going to be a challenge. But if you could secure a wholesale building, I mean listen, you could last quite a bit.
Speaker 4:
9:53
We'll have Keith on the front lines Right. Just machete Chris on the roof, yeah there we go, it'll be great.
Speaker 2:
10:02
I got to say that Costco, though, is like a prepper's paradise. Forget the malls or anything like that. You go to Costco, man. They've got generators, they've got weapons, they've got flashlights.
Speaker 4:
10:13
A sweater in every color, You'll always be dressed well too.
Speaker 3:
10:17
It'll be great.
Speaker 2:
10:18
That's the next zombie chapter.
Speaker 3:
10:20
There we go. We will accept the rights to the next novel about securing a Costco.
Speaker 4:
10:25
The survival horror, the survival horror.
Speaker 2:
10:28
That's Frost Road 2.
Speaker 4:
10:29
Frost Road 2.
Speaker 3:
10:30
Good, good, I like that. We're going to be involved in that. You guys can look forward to that here. Talking about involvement, though, in the world of graphic novels, comic books, you both are heavily involved with that now fans of the genre, heavily involved with that, now fans of the genre. So I kind of want to ask both sides of the coin here on what are some of the benefits of doing a story like this, in the form of a graphic novel, versus other storytelling genres? Keith, you've been involved in music, games, films, all of that, and from both viewpoints of being a fan and also being a part of the creative and development process. So, keith, going to toss it to you first, what is your perspective on that?
Speaker 2:
11:10
I mean, I think you have to be a fan to understand the genre that you're creating for right and you have to have a passion and a love for it. So I grew up with zombie films and other things and each film always had a new entry into the zombie market, whether it's the 28 days later and you have fast zombies or you have, you know, rage-filled zombies or something that's kind of a different approach to it. So I think as a fan, you have an appreciation of what's there and the history and the lore and the canon across all sort of the entries into that space. But graphic novels are a really amazing way to tell a story because it's a different form of storytelling, right? Because in a film obviously it's a linear process and being able to watch something and the audience kind of goes into a black box for 90 minutes and they kind of watch this film, whereas a graphic novel and a comic book the story progresses at your pace and you're getting into the artwork and the dialogue and the characters and it progresses as you go back and forth between the pages.
Speaker 2:
12:13
And coming from video games, which is also an interactive process, a much different type of storytelling because it's non-linear and you can make choices and go around. So I kind of feel that like the story has to be told for the right medium and as a fan you kind of realize what stories you want to experience and how you want to experience them. So even though I see Frost Road as a could be a game, definitely as a motion picture, as a graphic novel, it works so well because you can just sit there with the artwork and kind of get into the story and the environment and the atmosphere and sort of take in the meaning behind everything that's there and then use your imagination to kind of do the rest. So for me, as a fan, I really love the medium of comics and graphic novels because it does bring you deeper into those worlds yeah, and keith, you talked about a couple times in past interviews just how community driven this is.
Speaker 3:
13:03
getting to talk with people you know first person, get that first person experience of their views on it. What do they think? I think all of that is encompassing and is great answer. And, chris, I'd love for you to chime in here or here briefly about just your experience so far with Frost Road again, both as a fan and being involved in the maybe not even creative process, but all of the stuff that you have to do from an outreach perspective, what has that been for you?
Speaker 1:
13:29
Yeah, so for the Frost Road angle, I think one of the things I appreciated about the book was that it isn't beholden to the 22-page monthly cycle of building a comic. You have to hit X amount of reveals on X amount of pages, how you do the reveals on the evens and things like that. And Keith was able to, to craft the story with Christopher shy, um, how he saw fit and how he could build tension in a certain way and just do more unique things, whether it be, you know, um, the lettering and the, the, the effects, let's say, cause I don't want to give anything away too much, but I found it very kind of unique how he said it. But just this experience, it goes in at your own pace and you can just, you know, look at every panel. I mean, christopher painted everything, and so if you want to, you know just look at it and just really kind of soak it in, especially with his unique style. I think that's what's really special about the book outside of the actual physical book itself, because it's a big kind of coffee size book inside of an acrylic slipcase, if you decide to go with that tier, and so it's just kind of a very tactile experience that you have in your hand, go at your own pace and just kind of get lost in that world with Keith. And then for the outreach part of it, it's been kind of unique.
Speaker 1:
14:39
As we said, keith and I kind of became fast friends and we just decided to kind of go through that. And as we were talking directly with Kickstarter, you know, we kind of all settled on March as being the month of. You know, this is where we want to kind of go with it, and it's a really good month for for backers, and so we have this kind of rollout plan and unfortunately, keith got double pneumonia and so we kind of had this like month to prep and then we basically did it all in a week and so it was very much just like okay, let's kind of just, you know, as they say, you know you're, you're laying down the tracks as the train's going, and so we're just like, okay, let's figure it out. And so, you know, with my prior jobs, um, I had I built those friendships, those relationships with a lot of people, specifically like Omar I met when I was at Disney and I just loved being like hey, I'm a fan of your work. And then he's like when are we getting you on?
Speaker 1:
15:24
And so I was able to kind of use this as an opportunity to introduce not only Keith and and the project but also like how can we bring fans into Keith's world and like with Yuri and kind of the dead meat stuff that we're we're we're trying to work towards as a funding goal. Um, it's been a lot of fun and very interesting to see how receptive people have been and to know that we're not doing this for like a cash grab, because the whole point of the campaign is for printing and fulfillment and trying to get those books out. I mean, we're trying to get this book out by Comic-Con. You know summer, so most a lot of campaigns six months to a year sometimes, and you know that's everyone's prerogative, their campaign, but we're just we're trying to do something really unique and special in terms of, like, quick turnaround. Hey, we're not going super big out of the water just yet. This is our first campaign. We're trying to build that fan base and just reach out to people and let them know that we're here.
Speaker 4:
16:14
Yeah, really great, and I can't wait for people to experience this. And, chris, you actually just mentioned Dead Meat, which leads into my next question, seeing your partnership with the creators of the Dead Meat channel, one of the most popular YouTube channels. I do want to share this photo with you. This was from Spookala last year when they were guests and they're big wrestling fans, so we brought our wrestling T-shirts and my wrestling belt. So they are just the sweetest people and they're so interactive with their community. But how did those conversations start, keith? And you know what's it been like getting involved with them?
Speaker 2:
16:48
James and Chelsea with dead meat are just the most phenomenal, sweetest people. They're just so humble and so creative and so collaborative. And I was introduced to Chelsea getting into the voice over space and she actually took some classes that we teach. We teach a lot of technical acting of actors, getting into video games and voiceover and performance capture and we became friends and started to just share ideas and we had started on working on like an audio drama idea. Obviously, them doing voices and podcasting and hosting on YouTube was sort of a natural fit of telling stories, especially in the podcast space.
Speaker 2:
17:33
And so earlier this year we did a test for a thing called Blind Terror and it's phenomenal because it's not just like an audio drama radio series but it's all in surround, using our recording studios to have all the characters and everything around you as the listener as opposed to just listening to a front-facing story.
Speaker 2:
17:50
And it was so successful and so popular that we decided to integrate that into this idea of what we're doing with Frost Road. And I came to them and I said what if we, as a stretch goal, once we fund the book and get out there? What if our stretch goal is to bring you guys in, help us produce sort of the Blind Terror series as part of the Frost Road universe and develop additional episodes when we can bring in actors Yuri and some of the other actors that help maybe not only do the reference but actually perform the characters and go through the story and create this really unique audio drama. And so that really was a very organic process and they're such just wonderful people that they were instantly like yeah, we love this idea, we'd love to do that, and they've been very supportive of the campaign, so we're very fortunate to have great friends with those guys been very supportive of the campaign.
Speaker 3:
18:39
So we're very fortunate to have great friends with those guys and I love everything that the Kickstarter kind of stands for from Chris bringing up like the fast turnaround. I mean, obviously the main goal is to fund printing fulfillment, all the challenges and stuff that come with that. But building that community is super important and I think what's cool is, in addition to like the stretch goals, you can obviously do something for the actual graphic novel novel itself. But you don't just stop there. The kickstarter has tiers that unlock access to industry professionals once in a lifetime learning opportunities for both fans and aspiring creators. So I'd like to ask a two-part question to both of you, starting with keith what's one piece of advice you wish you'd receive early in your career and what is something specific with your experience with Frost Road that you've learned from as well? So something early on that you were hoping to receive, that you didn't and you wish you received it. And in Frost Road, what have you learned?
Speaker 2:
19:34
I think one of the hardest things in the industry is that if you're really passionate about what you do and you have a lot of faith in the work that you're doing, and that excitement will translate over into other types of service work. And I think probably the good and the bad of it is that when you love what you do, people want you to do that and, as a result, you're very employable in a sense that, like in video games or music or art or other things, you'll constantly have people coming to you to say, hey, will you do that for us and will you work with us on doing those things and why? They're great opportunities and huge franchises, and I've been fortunate enough to get involved in some really big ones. I think that you have to balance that with your own creativity and making sure you don't ignore your ideas, and I think that with things like Frost Road and other things is that I had created these ideas earlier, almost 10 years ago, and because of the industry and other things and work, I would always kind of defer to working on one of my big client projects as opposed to pushing my own stuff forward, and so I think a lot of creators are very nervous about sort of pushing their own stuff out there, because not just being nervous about people accepting it, but also a lot of creators, I think, feel that their work isn't good enough and they kind of want to keep working and keep working.
Speaker 2:
20:58
And I can definitely tell you from working in the industry for as long as I have is that no work will ever be finished. You will always find flaws and other things in your work. So, rather than just take on a client's project and work for them because it's safer or easier, you do really have to invest in yourself and, uh, and start to really believe in getting your own stuff out there and not be afraid to make mistakes. Nothing's going to be perfect, and it's not going to be perfect the first time or the second time or even the 10th time, but that can't stop you from getting out there and doing your own thing.
Speaker 3:
21:30
And Chris, what about you? One thing from your early career you wish you would have heard, and one thing you've learned during this process with Frost Road.
Speaker 1:
21:38
If I had to be added to what Keith said because I believe everything he said was spot on is that knowing that it's up to you, like no one's here to save you and I'm not trying to be cryptic or anything like that, but it's just like you basically have to make it yourself. And when you realize that and you're like so, for example, I wanted to be in comics, and so I know, like I'm making comics myself, like with my team, I have to make it with them. And so if you're someone on Kickstarter yourself and you're like I want to do this thing but I don't know how, you just have to kind of figure it out and just kind of lay those things down and just learn bit by bit. Because at the end of the day, you can only focus on what you control. And I very much have that stoic belief you know with Ryan holiday of just like you know what are the things you can control. You know how does this affect you? Because at the end of the day, it's just you um and realize that, yes, you can get a manager, you can get an agent, and they are going to help you get to those next levels, but at the end of the day, the quality of work has to speak for itself.
Speaker 1:
23:04
No-transcript. Can we be better for the next time? Because, again, as we said, this is the first kickstarter. You know, is it? Is it us finding, uh, different fulfillment partners where we can maybe lower our stretch goal at the beginning, or could we build more with certain fandoms? And we're just always learning and growing, and maybe when we have like in-person things, like when we announced the second one, it's like hey, here's this huge announcement and you can kind of sign up now as a, as a stretch goal. So it's always just being open-minded and being collaborative and humble, and I think that's the best way. I think we can move forward from Frost Road is just, you know, constantly learning, as Keith said.
Speaker 2:
23:43
Yep, one of the things to follow up on what Chris was saying is that one of the things we're experimenting with with this campaign is obviously the book is finished and our goal is to get that out and have that at Comic-Con.
Speaker 2:
23:55
But because we have so many amazing people contributing as part of that not only the actors who helped us with the reference, but because we have so many amazing people contributing as part of that not only the actors who helped us with the reference, but we have amazing artists and storyboard artists and editors, chris and myself obviously being in the industry Brandon Humphries, who also was the story co-creator with me.
Speaker 2:
24:12
We have many, many years of experience, and so we wanted to sort of use some of our stretch goals and even our reward tiers to give back to the community.
Speaker 2:
24:21
So some of our higher stretch goals that we haven't announced yet are actually supporting other Kickstarter campaigns and building the Kickstarter community, because this is such a phenomenal way for artists and creators and writers to get their work out to their audiences directly.
Speaker 2:
24:36
But also we're creating tiers where people can have mentoring classes or artist portfolio reviews or a story and world building class, or even a Q&A session or an autograph session if they wanted just to be a fan and just sort of kind of meet some of the people behind this. So, rather than doing tons of physical rewards, of posters and merchandise and other things that people might not know, the property just yet we felt it might be more beneficial to the Kickstarter community and to the community at large is to share a lot of our experience and work in the industry and making mistakes and learning from them and hopefully coming out the other side being a little bit more successful to give back some of that to our community. And so you'll see a lot of the rewards being a little unique in that sense that there's actually opportunities for people just to meet and go behind the scenes and learn from that.
Speaker 4:
25:27
Yeah, definitely watching again the interviews over the last few weeks and you know, building that community has been really cool to see and, uh, again, can't wait for that to continue to grow. I do want to. Before I get to our last question here, I want to ask you something here, keith, because you kind of mentioned you know, once you get really you know, once you get recognized for your things, some things a lot of people are going to be asking you to work on their projects and it. It always makes me think of one of my favorite quotes and well, just kind of sayings, and, eric, you've heard me bring this up in the past Leslie Odom Jr from Hamilton fame.
Speaker 4:
25:56
I read his book a couple of years ago and one thing he mentioned you know, of course you have to say yes to opportunities and take advantage of those, but he also mentions the importance of having ownership over your no. So saying no to things that maybe aren't right for you at the time, saying no to things that maybe would delay, you know, working on passion projects, like you said, keith, do you agree with that? Like, having ownership over your no as well, is also very important.
Speaker 2:
26:18
I love that idea and I agree with it. It's very hard in practice to say no, to be able to say no to a client that's coming to you with a very big franchise to say we want you to direct this or we want you to work and contribute on this, and you're like, yeah, well, you know I really want to do me and that's hard, it's really hard and I do respect it and I think you're right that it is an important aspect of being able to do that and I wish I did learn the way to do that earlier. But at the same time, I think maybe there's a threshold, right. You say yes as much as people. Your phone is ringing and you know I've been fortunate in my career that I've never had to go out and advertise or solicit work.
Speaker 2:
27:02
It's always been referral work, because people are always looking for people who you know love what they do and they'll refer people because of that. That's the same way If you're going to have a doctor or someone help you or a lawyer, you need someone that's going to be invested in you and passionate about what they're doing, as opposed to someone who's just trying to take a paycheck. So I think that when you are referred by friends and other people. You want to honor those relationships and what it's there, and so it's.
Speaker 2:
27:28
It's a little bit easier just to say yes than it is to say no, but I think there's a threshold and I think that after you get a certain body of work or a certain point where you think you can maybe financially survive because Hollywood and this industry is very volatile, as we can constantly see yeah, say no comes at a certain point. And I think right now I'm finally probably getting to that point where I'm probably at the point where saying I have to do these projects because they've been backing up for so long, and I think that's why Chris and I have really come together, as he mentioned, like this embarrassment of riches, I've just been pushing my own stuff back so much that people are like why is this book done? How do you have all these things finished? And it's like, yeah, I've been saying yes for a little too long.
Speaker 4:
28:11
I love that. Take on it. I love that answer. Thank you so much. To get to our last question, I'll throw it to Chris here first. Just want to know. Of course there's a lot going on. You know you guys are working extremely hard. I want to know what are your comfort choices when you need a break from creating, from working movies, tv shows, video games, books, anything else, chris, you go first.
Speaker 1:
28:31
What are your go-tos?
Speaker 1:
28:32
That's a great question. I actually try to unplug as much as I can. So when it comes to specifically to media, I play a lot of board games. I play Zombicide, which is funny enough, another zombie thing, but I play like the Marvel zombies and stuff like that, so it's like superhero adjacent, but that's so funny that you said that.
Speaker 1:
28:49
But if I did play video games, I'm really loving Liza P. I'm a huge Souls fan. I Platinum'd Bloodborne, funny enough. I love the Spider-Man series, which is funny because I was able to tell Yuri on camera that my first Platinum was with him. So I'm like I've spent hours with you swinging across New York and here I am talking to you in a booth. So that was fascinating, like talking to you in a booth, so that was fascinating. Um, but outside of like that, uh, board games or or books and comics, specifically, I just got the magic order, uh, library edition, um, by Mark Millar, which is fantastic. But, um, yeah, I would say trying to unplug as best I can and maybe going out into nature if I'm lucky enough.
Speaker 4:
29:26
So, love that. What about you, Keith?
Speaker 2:
29:30
Very much the same. I think you know, when you do 18, 20 hour days and you're working constantly, you just need to unplug from that, and so I've always felt over the years just getting out of that environment, getting as far away from the studio or work or being somewhere. Right now I'm up in the mountains up in Arrowhead and just trying to have a little bit of downtime before the next storm kicks in with some of the new projects we're working on, and then in between that it's also playing video games. So we're in the middle of playing Helldivers, coincidentally with Yuri in it as well. And so I think between gaming and having a chance to enjoy some of the work and the friends that we work with and what they're doing, and then just to completely disconnect and be as far away from it as possible and gives you perspective coming back, yeah, I love the gaming answers, eric.
Speaker 4:
30:23
You know that if we go a few days without jumping into you know a party with some of our friends, we go a little stir crazy, so that is a very popular answer over here as well. And my happy place is I am very much a night owl, so it's like at one or two am and I'm playing a game of like college football or 2k, and I have like a horror podcast on whether it be like scared to death or some true horror shows and it's just quiet. Other than the show, the podcast I'm listening to in the game that I'm playing. Those are my go-tos. What about you, eric?
Speaker 3:
30:55
I mean phil already knows this recently like I always jump on a multiplayer, uh, just kind of have some fun. For the longest time we played fortnite too long, arguably. Uh, recently now getting a pc for the first time in ages has really opened the door for other game types, and Phil knows that I've been playing Slay, the Spire, boletro, which are games that I've never thought I would really get into and are extremely fun to jump in, jump out. You don't have a long time commitment. But then there are times where I want to jump into like a Helldivers 2. I jumped into that for the first time in a minute the other night with a couple of friends and I just really like being able to do that with friends but also have that solo time whenever there's some. You know conflicts of schedule, you know getting to pair with multiple people is always such a challenge, so I think having a delicate balance between the two is always nice I have to jump in real quick.
Speaker 1:
31:51
Sorry, you said baltro. That game is a rabbit hole. I played because I got nominated for a game of the year and I'm like, what is this game like? This is? It's a card game and it's got game. And then I played it, just mainlined it for 48 hours and I'm like, okay, I gotta delete this, like I'll be stuck here. So I was like I hit the million mark and I'm like delete, get rid, don't want to play this anymore because I'll just waste too much time.
Speaker 3:
32:12
No, it just got the. It was Peggy 18 because of gambling, like the gambling implications. It got that reduced. Then I played it. They need to put that back on. It is a completely an addiction. It's completely an addiction. It's a problem and I've yet to make a full run with a deck, but I don't want to stop and Slay. The Spire is very much that way Very card based, very Dungeons and Dragons inspired, which is such a huge thing. That's like ingrained in, like every piece of pop culture. So getting involved in those two type of games has been a lot of fun. And I'm right there with you I'm 10 hours in. Uninstalling is an option for my mental health, but I don't think I'll have the strength. Fair enough, fair enough.
Speaker 4:
32:57
Well, keith, chris, thank you so much for your time today. Before we wrap up, I want to give you both the opportunity, whoever would like to go first, just to plug the project. Everything, you guys, for you listeners, everything will be in the link or in the show notes of this episode, but please let us know where we can find anything Frost Road related and where they can go. Chris you want to go for it?
Speaker 1:
33:18
Sure, but before we do that, I just want to say, eric Phil, thank you for taking the time and being so thoughtful with your questions. Like I know you said, you've been following the interviews and I know that's for the people who interview us beforehand, they were taking it first crack and you've been here and, like you've been doing the research. So I first just want to say, you know, thank you for doing that. That's very flattering and kind and I just want to acknowledge that to you and your listeners because that's just. I don't know it, just it shows your character and how much you care for about this stuff. So just want to say thank you very much about this stuff. So just want to say thank you very much.
Speaker 1:
33:54
And now to the sales part. Yes, frost Road is this wonderful, spooky, apocalyptic graphic novel that we're insanely excited to bring to our community on Kickstarter. And again, we're here for fulfillment and kind of the printing costs where the book's done. We're not doing it in terms of, like still drawing or things like that. It is going to be ready by summer and we're insanely excited to show off all the resources and contribute back to the community and help people out and just do something a little bit different and unique.
Speaker 2:
34:25
And we have a lot of surprises also in store for our fans.
Speaker 2:
34:28
So I think, because we have been working on the project for so long behind the scenes and now finally coming out with this, and for people who kind of know our history with Ascend and Deadspeed and Infix and some of the other books that we've been working on in the past, we have a lot of things that we're giving back to the community.
Speaker 2:
34:46
So not just like in terms of our experience, but actually materials and behind the scenes materials and signed materials and hand numbered storyboards and a whole bunch of other things. So we've got a lot of surprises in store for our backers. We always kind of feel that it's always great to like under promise and over deliver, and I think that the book is already pretty just an amazing journey as it is, just with the artwork and the level of the story and the size and scope of the world that we're creating. But we are very supportive of our audience and, this being our first real Kickstarter on our own doing this, we really want to make sure that the audience is getting as much value in this as possible, not just out of the book and the characters and the story, but also the experience and following the journey with us, so we're really appreciative of everyone supporting us along the way.
Speaker 3:
35:35
And Keith. That's why it was a no-brainer when this got brought up to our doorstep, to get involved and let our audience know about it. So, as we close the episode, I just wanna throw the thank you back to both of you for this opportunity to just have this discussion, and we're excited to see what the future has in store for Frost Road. Kickstarter is a great partner platform, but it's all or nothing. So for everyone out there, this project will be funded if it reaches its goal by April 10th. Me and Phil have already started talking about which tier we're going to put our dollars to. So this is our plea for you Join us in backing this amazing project, this amazing creative team. Everything you need to know about Frost Road Keith, chris and PCB will be in the show notes and, with all that being said, my name is Mr Eric Almighty. That is my co-host, phil the Filipino, and our wonderful guests here on this special bonus episode. Please don't forget. We release new episodes every Wednesday on the podcast and all you have to do is wait for it.
Speaker 1:
36:37
This is the Wait For it Podcast.
