A look into the puzzling world of Kung Fu Jimmy

Do you like puzzles? Perhaps at some time in the last year you have contemplated the puzzles included toward the end of every issue of the High Plains Reader. Or maybe you took part in last November’s trivia game show/podcast Rocket Surgery at Dempsey’s and The Aquarium.

Both happen to be the brainchildren of a Mr. James Osborne, affectionately referred to by many as ‘Kung Fu Jimmy’ (and in the case of Rocket Surgery, one certainly can’t neglect the huge contributions by larger-than-life local personalities Erik Block and Mike Nelson). Recently I had the opportunity to interview Kung Fu Jimmy about his puzzles, his magazine ‘Organ Grinder’ (where the puzzles in the back of HPR are taken from), and the possible return of Rocket Surgery.

Kung Fu Jimmy has been publishing his offbeat, unorthodox puzzle magazine ‘Organ Grinder’ for the last three years, and we have been including his puzzles in the High Plains Reader since around January of last year. Content from the magazine has also been featured in Games World of Puzzles, the heavy metal news website Metal Injection, Geeks Who Drink, and an upcoming book this summer called ‘Mega Puzzle’.

As mentioned, these puzzles often are very unorthodox compared to the standard crossword puzzle or Sudoku, say, for example, an image/word puzzle that has the answer ‘Martin Luther King Diamond’ and features an image mashup of the civil rights leader and the heavy metal vocalist.

“I try to appeal to people who aren’t normally interested in puzzles,” said Jimmy. “The pre-arcade Baby Boomers seem to be the last bastion of the paper puzzle audience. I think if people understood the joy of puzzles, the fact they can be full of jokes and interesting information, they would be more popular than they are. I hate the thought that puzzles are perceived as flat, lifeless grids by people who don’t at least try to do them.” He also occasionally creates and plays electronic puzzles but says he will never be able to achieve the same satisfaction as “filling in that last space on a paper puzzle.”

As for where Jimmy’s own passion for puzzles began, it got a start in his childhood. When he was a kid, he said that his grandpa would pull out the puzzles and comics section of the newspaper and hand it to him. It felt like it was his part of the newspaper.

“It felt like a one-dimensional playground. It was likely a tactic to keep me quiet while he read about Glasnost and the Iran-Contra Affair but it made me feel like we were doing something together.” Because of that, to this day Jimmy still finds old-fashioned paper puzzles comfortable and fun.

If you took part in the Rocket Surgery event last fall, you might be curious about what the future holds for it. “It will be picking up full-time this fall in Kansas City,” said Jimmy, which might come as a bit of a disappointment to the Fargo participants (including myself) who participated in it last November, but at least there is the consolation of being able to listen to the podcast of the competition.

“It’s disappointing because Mike and Erik were a significant percentage of the show’s charm,” said Jimmy, “I hope my new crew is as open-minded and laid back as they were.”

Personally, I think he’s being too hard on himself. However, Erik and Mike will still have a hand in helping write the game show/podcast, and Erik even mailed all the props from the original run to Jimmy in Missouri. “When I opened it Kermit, Darth Vader and the guy from Saw all popped out as if they were happy to see me. I guess I got their blessing.”

The new incarnation of Rocket Surgery will rehash a number of the old standbys and popular games from the original, such as ‘Real or No Real’ and ‘King James That Tune’, but of course there will be a number of new games, including: ‘Did They Do it?’ where contestants have to determine if a set of notable people had sex; ‘Identify this TV Show’s Theme Song Sung by Glenn Danzig,’ pretty self-explanatory; and ‘Affix Flix,’ where he provides a synopsis of an adult film version of a mainstream film and you have to figure out what its lewder title is based on, one letter being taken out. I actually had the opportunity to play that game over the phone during our interview and it has all the trademark wit of the original podcast,

High Plains Reader: What'll I win?

Kung Fu Jimmy: You'll win a copy of Organ Grinder #6 which comes out July 1st. Sound good?

HPR: Sure.

KFJ: This game is called Flix Affix: Porn Edition. In this game, we’re adding one letter to popular film titles to create a porn parody. For example, If I say "A Young Norseman named Hiccup from the Island of Berk learns to masturbate with so much intensity that he actually injures himself." You'd say?

HPR:How to Strain Your Dragon

KFJ: Excellent. So once again, I'm giving you five brief plot summaries and you give me the new porn titles. Are you ready, John?

HPR: Sure.

KFJ:Here we go A quadriplegic ex cop and his young partner played by Vagelina Jolie try to track down a serial killer whose calling card is erect penises left at every murder scene.

HPR: That's a tough one. Let me think here... Straining Day?

KFJ: Actually, it's the Boner Collector.

HPR: Oh right, damn. The Bone Collector, right.

KFJ: Newt Scamander releases a variety of female bosoms upon New York City which he is now tasked with finding and cataloging. This Harry Potter prequel inspired porn has Newt releasing the sorcerer's bone on some of New York’s most well-endowed women

HPR: Hm.....

KFJ: Wait, are you not that kind of nerd, John.

HPR: I haven't read Harry Potter since grade school. I'm more of a Lord of the Rings guy.

KFJ: It was a book within a book.

HPR: Wait, Fantastic Breasts and Where to Find Them.

KFJ: Nice! One for two! Number 3: Brick and Maggie play a southern couple with a fondness for fecal play. Watch as Maggie gives Brick a Cleveland Steamer then Brick returns the favor by giving Maggie a Dirty Sanchez. Based on the Tennessee Williams play.

HPR:Scat on a Hot Tin Roof.

KFJ: There you go! Number 4: Six criminals who’ve never met are hired by a crime boss to commit a diamond robbery and maybe a little sodomy. Watch Mr. Browneye and Mr. Pinksword go at it like a couple of caged monkeys.

HPR: Sounds like the plot to Reservoir Dogs but I can't figure out what letter you'd add to make a porno out of it. Resevoir Doggy? I'm stumped on that one.

KFJ: Yeah John, I'm sorry. It's Reservoir Dongs.

HPR: Ah, god. Yeah, there we go.

KFJ: Ok, you got one more. If you get this one you'll win the latest collection of Organ GrInder puzzles and comics.Number 5: A street-smart, wise-crackin’ policeman joins a secret organization that monitors the movement of some of the hottest black men on the planet. starring Big Willie Smith and Tommy Lee Bones.

HPR:Men in Blacks!

KFJ:Yes! That's right! You're a winner!

HPR: Resevoir Dongs. Can't believe I didn't get that one.