Fri, 27 December 2019
THE FINAL COUNTDOWN: As 2019 hurries to a close, our hosts kick up their feet and just chat about the things they're doing to occupy their time until the new year rolls around. They talk about everything from the winter Steam sale, to finishing Outer Wilds (no spoilers!), to Lovecraftian tabletop games (Fate of Cthulhu), video games (The Sinking City), and novels (Winter Tide), to developing for web browsers, to––of course––Doctor Who and Star Wars.
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Fri, 20 December 2019
EXPECTING THE EXPECTED: On the day this podcast episode releases, so too does the newest cinematic installment of the main Star Wars series with Star Wars - Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker. But Andrew and D. aren't here to talk about the movie––they haven't seen it yet. Instead, they're here to talk about the talk about the movie, specifically the rather surprising amount of negative reviews coming from––not internet trolls––professional film reviewers. It leads to a multi-faceted conversation about expectations, fandom, and even the changing landscape of cinema narratives.
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Fri, 13 December 2019
WEEK IN GEEK (kind of): It turned out to be an accidental Week in Geek episode as D. Bethel talks about his disappointment with Valve Corporation's sidelining of Campo Santo's Firewatch followup, In the Valley of Gods. On the opposite side of breaking news, Andrew finally gets around to watching Star Trek: Discovery and kind of unabashedly loves it.
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Fri, 6 December 2019
TRAILER SEASON: With the year coming to an end, it's all about looking forward for nerdy and geeky entertainment. Lately, it seems a lot of trailers for new movies and television events have been dropping that are getting people talking. This week, Andrew and D. Bethel talk about the new trailers for Black Widow, No Time to Die, Crisis on Infinite Earths, and Doctor Who: Series 12. INFO:
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Fri, 29 November 2019
HAPPY GEEKSGIVING: Disguising a perfectly good Week in Geek episode, our hosts discuss the recent nerdy things in their lives that, like American Thanksgiving, seem to be all about bringing people together––directly or indirectly. Andrew relates his time with Hideo Kojima's recent game, Death Stranding while D. Bethel has spent the last half-year taking up the challenge of finding out whether he's actually a fan of the band Queen or not.
What nerdy and geeky things have brought you through the beginning of this winter holiday season? Let us know!
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Fri, 22 November 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our humble hosts are back playing games of all sorts. Andrew heads to the tile-covered table and is reasonably impressed playing yet another Legacy-branded game––Betrayal Legacy by Avalon Hill a multi-session version of the popular semi-cooperative horror game, Betrayal on Haunted Hill. D. Bethel finally had some time to step into the digital realm and got lost in the clockwork expanse of the very interesting and subtle Outer Wilds (no, not The Outer Worlds) by Mobius Digital (WARNING: mild spoilers for Outer Wilds are given in the episode).
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Fri, 15 November 2019
THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE MANDALORIAN: A brief check-in to the release of Disney+ this week as Andrew reacts to the first episode of their original, Star Wars show, The Mandalorian. He is surprised more at how much it pulls from Westerns than Star Wars.
A LONG TIME AGO, WE USED TO BE FRIENDS: Veronica Mars was always a show that hovered just below wide popularity, but its fans were devoted and supportive. From the original three seasons that aired on UPN/the CW to its Kickstarted movie, to Hulu's revival with a fourth season, Andrew and D. Bethel did a rewatch of the show and have some thoughts on what it has been, what it is now, and what it could be in the future.
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Fri, 8 November 2019
NEW TV NOT ON TV: Some interesting tv has not only been announced but is starting to get reviewed, but what makes it interesting is that a lot of this tv is not on "regular" tv. With services like Disney+ and Apple TV+ bringing some high profile shows to the scene, other services and broadcast tv is also starting to step up their offerings as well.
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Fri, 1 November 2019
THE LAST FIRST: Fallout 76 continues to accidentally grab headlines or, at least, grabs headlines it doesn't want. After a year of toiling in player complaints, bugs, and marketing schemes gone awry, the game seemed to have found a balance for those still enjoying the experience. Then Bethesda announced (and released) "Fallout First", a premium subscription for players that would get them a whole host of goodies. In true Fallout 76 fashion, it didn't take long for this to fall apart in big, bad ways.
Also, November 8-10, D. Bethel will be with his comic, Long John, at the Reno Pop Culture Convention! If you're in the area, it's looking to be a great show; so, be sure to stop by and say hi!
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Fri, 25 October 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Taking a break from the news, Andrew and D. Bethel talk about the things that have been interesting to them over the last week or so. First, Andrew goes back to finish Unknown Worlds Entertainment's Subnautica. Then D. Bethel finds much to appreciate––and much to make him uncomfortable––in the recent film, Joker. Then, to round things out, Andrew also gets underwhelmed but intrigued by the possibility found in Lazy Bear Games' Graveyard Keeper.
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Fri, 18 October 2019
TO ME, MY LITIGATORS: Eyebrows raised recently when a Florida man sued Marvel, Fox, Saban Entertainment, and many other production companies saying that the generation-defining theme song of the '90s X-Men animated show actually plagiarized a strikingly similar theme of a popular Hungarian tv show from the 1980s. Nerd Law man, Andrew, and X-Men fanatic, D. Bethel, put their heads together to see if this case has any legs to stand on. (A big thanks to friend-of-the-show, André La Roche for his consultation on this topic.)
DISNEY PEMDAS: Last week, Disney made waves as it began an irresponsibly long Twitter thread announcing every title that would be available on its upcoming Disney+ service. D. Bethel and Andrew sort through the announcement, talking about how much this will shift the paradigm of entertainment consumption.
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Fri, 11 October 2019
A BLIZZARD OF CONTROVERSY: Activision Blizzard––makers of such hit games as World of Warcraft, Overwatch, and Hearthstone––have hit a geo-political wall as they take a stance over controversial statements made by the winner of a Hearthstone tournament about the protests in Hong Kong against the People's Republic of China. Andrew and D. Bethel investigate the complicated relationship between popular American entertainment and China.
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Fri, 4 October 2019
NOT FAR FROM HOME: It was announced that Sony and Disney/Marvel had once again struck a deal that will keep Tom Holland's Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, much to the joy of fans and to the benefit of both companies' bank accounts. Having discussed the initial breakup back when it happened in August, Andrew and D. Bethel have a surprisingly heated discussion of this generally happy news.
THE STRANGEST HANDSHAKE: British tabletop company, Games Workshop, announced that it will be licensing one of its beloved properties––Warhammer 40,000––to American comic book giant, Marvel Comics, to make a line of comic books. This is interesting because both of Games Workshop's original Warhammer line and especially its Warhammer 40,000 line have deep lore and continuities that has our hosts wondering how well it will translate to a comic book series.
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Fri, 27 September 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the trippy but artistic and engaging new Amazon Prime show, Undone starring Rosa Salazar, while D. Bethel––amidst all of his academic toil––finds time to be challenged and charmed by the actual roguelike deckbuilding phone game, Meteorfall: Journey by SlothWerks.
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Fri, 20 September 2019
A WHOLE [KIND OF] NEW WORLD: After waiting well past when the rest of the world saw it, our hosts decide to watch and discuss the 2019 live-action adaptation of the animated Disney classic, Aladdin.
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Fri, 13 September 2019
TWO MAN'S SKY: With No Man's Sky Beyond––the newest big 2.0 patch for the open world, sci-fi survival game, No Man's Sky––it kind of brings to a close the long, arduous, but ultimately heartwarming story of this unique game by the small team at Hello Games. Andrew and D. Bethel talk about the years-long journey of this game.
"I'M NOT LISTENING": Amid the stories about the varoius #[Insert Noun]Gates and #MeToo stories circulating through nerd culture, one of the bigger cases in the last year revolved around voice actor, Vic Mignogna, known for work in many anime, especially the Dragon Ball franchise. When allegations were made about his misconduct in the workplace, he started suing people and companies when they started dropping him from their employ. In the last few weeks––in an almost comical fashion––a few of Mignogna's cases were dismissed, casting his defense and seriousness about this fight in doubt despite crowdfunding nearly $250,000 to pay for his legal fees. Resident nerd lawyer, Andrew, talks Dan through this bizarre moment.
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Fri, 6 September 2019
LAST OF THE TIME LORDS: At the end of August 2019, the world lost a writer who is probably the most important figure to the BBC hit, Doctor Who, in Terrance Dicks. A prominent writer for the show in the late sixties through the eighties, he also served as the script editor (what we would call now a showrunner) for six years (1969-1974), supervising the transitioning in of the Third Doctor (Jon Pertwee) and revitalizing the show's popularity as it transitioned from black and white into color.
In addition introducing things like the Time Lords and Gallifrey into the continuity, he's probably most well-known for writing a voluminous amount of the show's novelizations. In light of his death, Andrew and D. Bethel spend some time talking up one the most important figures in a show they both hold so very dear.
ANDY AND THE PAX WEST OF 2019: Last weekend held the four-day gaming extravaganza called PAX West, which Andrew attended (as well as an associated indie-focused show called Seattle Indie Expo). He goes over the experience of attending the show yet again and how his attitudes about the show have changed over time. GAMES ANDREW MENTIONED:
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Fri, 30 August 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: The boys are back to video games as Andrew plays the 1.0 release of Klei Entertainment's sci-fi survival game, Oxygen Not Included, while D. Bethel can't believe he's enjoying the heck out of Final Fantasy XV, especially because it makes no sense.
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Fri, 23 August 2019
ANDREW IS OLDER: We start by celebrating Andrew's birthday a little bit. So, what did he do? He watched Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan again and also went to see Weird Al Yankovic in concert during his "Strings Attached" tour where Yankovic and his band toured with a 41-piece orchestra.
FARTHER FROM HOME: The news this week was kind of bad for Marvel Cinematic Universe fans as Sony and Disney apparently stepped away from the deal that brought them together in the first place. What this means (as it currently stands) is that future Spider-Man films can't interact with the MCU or Avengers-based films. Andrew and D. Bethel talk about what's going on here and what are the ups and downs of this news story.
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Fri, 16 August 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew plays Ultima (a.k.a. Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness) in the hopes of reverse engineering it so he can build his own browser game while D. Bethel is genuinely surprised by the depth and charm of Sabotage Studio's action/platformer/exploration game, The Messenger. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 9 August 2019
CRISIS OF INFINITE CASTING NEWS: Seemingly every day since SDCC has brought news of former DC actors being cast in the big DC/CW crossover event, "Crisis on Infinite Earths." Andrew and D. Bethel break down some of the headlines.
EPIC LETDOWN: In another look at gaming culture is a trash fire, D. and Andrew examine the extreme and toxic blowback that game developer, Glumberland, received from gamers when they announced that their upcoming game, Ooblets, would be exclusive on PC at the Epic Games Store. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 2 August 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew continues his trend of trying things out years after their initial release by sitting down with 2014's Sims 4 while D. Bethel tries to wrap his head around the opaque––but good?––X-franchise reboot in House of X #1 and Powers of X #1, both written by Jonathan Hickman. SPOILERS for these two titles; you've been warned.
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Fri, 26 July 2019
CAN YOU SDCC ME NOW?: Though San Diego Comic Con is ostensibly about comic books, the biggest announcements that seem to come out of the show revolve around cinematic and televised properties. Andrew and D. Bethel focus on the announcements that not only ignited their excitement but also triggered their critical processes, from the Cats trailer to the next big DC/CW "Arrowverse" crossover event to the new Star Trek show to Marvel's Phase 4 lineup.
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Fri, 19 July 2019
STILL STRANGE: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel examine what impressed––and what impressed less––them about the recently released season 3 of the Netflix hit, Stranger Things.
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Fri, 12 July 2019
MISTER, I'LL MAKE AN EPIC OUT OF YOU: Andrew and D. Bethel briefly touch upon the interesting and promising live-action adaptation of the animated Disney classic, Mulan, even though this seems to be making considerable changes from the animated source material (seemingly to be more in-line with the folkloric source material). Here's the Twitter thread that Andrew mentioned, starting here with this tweet by Jenn Ravenna. OBLIVIOUS OBSIDIAN: After Chris Avellone's controversial interview where he makes argument about political content in video games, a former coworker of his at Obsidian––Leonard Boyarski––steps into the trap when discussing the politics of the upcoming Obsidian RPG, Outer Worlds, in an interview with PC Gamer. Andrew and Dan try to parse the differences with Avellone's comments and why this is such an issue (still).
REMAKE REDUX: Andrew briefly discusses his short but pleasant time with the recently released Resident Evil 2 remake.
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Fri, 5 July 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew takes a step further into Image & Form Games' Steamworld, uh, world with their newest entry, Steamworld Quest. D. Bethel dusts off his bushido and patience as he's both impressed and slightly confused by SNK's reboot of their classic franchise, Samurai Shodown [sic]. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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Fri, 28 June 2019
A RITUAL CIRCLE OF ARIAS OF THE NIGHT MOON: Mentioned last week, both Andrew and D. Bethel have put some time into the newest Igavania game––meaning a Metroidvania game specifically made by Koji Igarashi––Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night and they are enjoying the presence of both nostalgic throwback and interesting choices that move the genre forward.
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Fri, 21 June 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, our hosts talk about new things involving their favorite things. For example, Andrew discusses his time playing the Modiphius tabletop RPG, Star Trek Adventures and how it adapts all aspects of the long-lasting franchise, and D. Bethel makes his defense for 20th Century Fox's Dark Phoenix. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 14 June 2019
E3 2019: This year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) has been a strange one with big players absent and new hardware on the horizon, but it's still bringing announcements and trailers to make our jaded hosts excited.
Games discussed: Cyberpunk 2077, Final Fantasy VII Remake, Fallout 76, Pokémon Sword/Shield, among others.
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Fri, 7 June 2019
APOLITICAL APOCALYPSE: A recent article at VG247.com interviewed (as part of the piece) games designer and writer, Chris Avellone––writer/designer of games such as Fallout 2, Fallout: New Vegas, and Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II–––who argued not only that his writing was without any political inspiration nor had any political agenda (small "p"), but that he "[didn't] condone developers who [wanted] to do political games or make a statement" (McKeand). In fairness, the quote has since been edited by VG247.com, replacing "condone" with "condemn", softening Avellone's criticism a little bit, stating that Avellone wrote "doesn't condone" accidentally and his actual sentiment is more clearly presented with the correction. Still, this makes us think––are games (or any text in popular culture) apolitical, or can they be? Andrew and D. Bethel investigate how this is a problem. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 31 May 2019
FINAL FARCRY: Spurred on by his playthrough of Farcry Primal––a survival first-person shooter with "RPG Elements"––Andrew and D. Bethel examine what this phrase means and what it says about the ever-evolving definition of Role-Playing Games. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 24 May 2019
POLYGONS IN AN AQUARIUM: After years of doubt, SquareEnix released a trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake that included some actual gameplay footage, which got Andrew and D. Bethel thinking about why a remake for Final Fantasy VII is necessary and why––it seems––the best way to keep PS1/Sega Saturn games viable in a modern market is to do full remakes rather than just porting them to modern machines.
Speaking of which, here's the trailer for Final Fantasy VII Remake.
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Fri, 17 May 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: With all that's been going on in the nerd world, our hosts take some time out for themselves this week. For Andrew, he attended the theatrical premiere of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine documentary, What We Left Behind. D. Bethel stayed home to explore the digital recreation of classical Egypt while playing Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Origins.
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Fri, 10 May 2019
ENDGAME POSTGAME: SPOILER WARNING FOR AVENGERS: ENDGAME Andrew and D. Bethel have now both seen Avengers: Endgame and, conveniently, the Russo brothers lifted the spoiler ban on Monday; so, our hosts dive right into the soup of scenes, moments, narrative threads, and surprises that make up this landmark movie event. RELEVANT LINKS:
For episode, music, and social media information, head to the page for this episode at ForAllIntents.net.
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Fri, 3 May 2019
THE NAME OF THE GAME: The first trailer for the upcoming live-action cinematic adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog has––as can be expected––drawn a lot of conversation and criticism...including on your favorite nerdy-geeky podcast. Andrew and D. Bethel have a lot to say about the trailer and, in a larger scope, movie adaptations of video games and what works and what doesn't. But first, the trailer. RELEVANT LINKS:
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Fri, 26 April 2019
AVENGERS CODA: With the release Avengers: Endgame this week (this is SPOILER FREE since neither have seen the film yet), Andrew and D. Bethel decide to examine a few aspects of the MCU and, especially, what and how Avengers: Infinity War set up this big finale. They discuss an analysis of Thanos as a sympathetic villain, what they're looking forward to after this movie's release, and briefly discuss Andrew's attempted rewatch of 11 years of MCU entries. RELEVANT LINKS:
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*tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Fri, 19 April 2019
NOTRE-DAME THE TORPEDOES: We open this week talking about the tragic fire at the Notre-Dame cathedral in Paris, focusing on how its rebuilding efforts may be aided by the diligent work of Ubisoft (and the work they put into making Assassin's Creed: Unity. THIS SHOULDN'T WORK: Andrew and D. Bethel talk about a tv show they've been mildly reticent to discuss because they can't believe it's actually good: Seth MacFarlane's The Orville––an unabashed Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation pastiche that is actually becoming some of the best Star Trek available. RELEVANT LINKS:
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 12 April 2019
CONSOLE WARS II: THE NEW CHALLENGERS: Things got shaken up in the world of video games––maybe––as Google announced its streaming-forward gaming platform––maybe––called Stadia while Apple announced its gaming-focused subscription platform––maybe––called Apple Arcade. Andrew and D. Bethel discuss the merits of these announcements and how they either apply, predict, or completely misread the gaming landscape.
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 5 April 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew dives into the storied No Man's Sky and kind-of-fights with Dan about games media coverage while D. Bethel relates his experience speaking about comics––and his webcomic, Long John, to a college graphic novels as literature class. RELEVANT LINKS:
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 29 March 2019
A MARVEL OF A MOVIE: Albeit a few weeks late, both Andrew and D. Bethel have finally seen Marvel Studios' newest entry into their cinematic universe with Captain Marvel, and they have a lot to say about it. This conversation does discuss SPOILERS for the film, so be wary of listening if you have not yet seen the film. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
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Fri, 22 March 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: We start with Andrew getting a bit sick while trying to play multiple versions of Minecraft before D. Bethel gets charmed by the grimdark world of the 2017 NetherRealm hit, Injustice 2, and then rounding back to Andrew as he talks about Rodney Thompson's heist RPG in a box, Dusk City Outlaws. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 15 March 2019
MARVELLOUS DEBUT: A quick check-in with the toxic male comics fandom to start the show. A few weeks ago, Andrew and D. Bethel talked about how proponents for ComicsGate and their robot army were trying to tank Captain Marvel well before it released into theaters with negative scores on Rotten Tomatoes. The hosts just wanted to recognize that Marvel Studios' newest movie debuted to record-breaking ticket sales, thoroughly debunking and neutering the latest efforts by those who try to gatekeep and, honestly, destroy comics fandom and its associated medium. A LOT OF GREY AREA: A new trailer for the live-action adaptation of the classic Disney animate feature, Aladdin, went live this week and while the first trailer made Andrew and D. cautiously optimistic, this new one got both of them fully on-board. They talk about adaptations again, specifically from medium to medium (like, in this case, animation to live-action) and why it's a good thing for adapters (is that the word?) to break with tradition and say something unique even with a beloved property. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 8 March 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew goes back to the wasteland for the first time as he plays Fantasy Flight's board game version of Fallout, while D. Bethel does a postmortem on the X-Men-based Fox television show, The Gifted, after its second (and final?) season finale [SPOILER ALERT].
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FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 1 March 2019
HIGHER, FURTHER, FASTER (THAN THE TROLLS CAN FOLLOW): As with many nerdy movies lately that have been labeled as being damaging to the field, Marvel's upcoming tent-pole film, Captain Marvel (the first from Marvel Studios to have a woman in the lead role), aggregate review site Rotten Tomatoes have been targeted by these organized hate campaigns by getting "review bombed." This means people have taken the steps to make sure sites like Rotten Tomatoes––a site many people visit to see how upcoming movies are trending and reviewing––show a low anticipation or review score with the hope of scaring off potential viewers and condemning the film to low box office receipts. Star Wars: The Last Jedi was victim to this as was 2016's Ghostbusters reboot and, in possibly in a successful campaign, Solo: A Star Wars Story got hit hard. However, Captain Marvel is on track to break records with ticket presales and be a big smash at theaters. Andrew and D. Bethel investigate this continuing trend, how Rotten Tomatoes is actually, finally, doing something about this habit, and discuss how and why Captain Marvel seems to be beating the odds. AS MENTIONED:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 22 February 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Both Andrew and D. went to see new movies over the last few weeks, so they can enter the incredibly potent world of hot takes as Andrew discusses how The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part delivers on the promise of the first one and D. tries to figure out what he thinks of Alita: Battle Angel and if he can separate nostalgia and snobbery from cinematic compromise. RELEVANT LINKS:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 15 February 2019
THE CLIPS EPISODE: Due to a distortion of the space-time continuum, Andrew ended up on his own to record an episode. Instead of 50 minutes of dead air, he decided to throw together a clips episode featuring past segments on Star Trek! RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Wed, 13 February 2019
The lauded limited podcast series returns with a new episode as well as a fan-favorite co-host, Kyrun Silva of Taurus Comics as he and D. Bethel (check out his webcomic, Long John, and his podcast, A Podcast [ , ] For All Intents and Purposes) pair up to take on the first StocktonCon Winter show. This episode focuses on the strange space that indie creators inhabit, that realm between fan and professional and how those waters can get muddied, especially when it comes to reading and respecting creators from your childhood (there is a lot of Rob Liefeld talk in these conversations) to meeting your heroes as a creator in your own right. CORRECTION: D. Bethel said that one of the Uncanny X-Men issues he had Jim Lee sign was #249; he meant to say it was #248. All apologies. OTHER EPISODES:
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–––––––––––––––––– Special thanks to Kyrun Silva for agreeing to being recorded and for driving us to and from the convention. FEATURED GUEST: -Kyrun Silva of Taurus Comics FEATURED RECORDING EQUIPMENT: -Tascam DR-40 FEATURED EXISTENTIAL WESTERN WEBCOMIC: FEATURED MUSIC: -“Road Music” by D. Bethel
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Fri, 8 February 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew and D. finally return to video games for their Weeks in Geek. Andrew gets lost (in a good way) playing Subnautica by Unknown Worlds Entertainment while D. Bethel explores the mysterious labyrinthine world found in Team Cherry's Hollow Knight. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 1 February 2019
MIRA DEL MAHER: Bill Maher redoubles his "complaints" against adult comic book fans on a recent episode of his show, Real Time with Bill Maher, in an editorial titled, "Grow Up" (from the "New Rules" segment he does at the end of his show). Andrew and D. examine less the content of his argument and more the ideas it intersects, discussing the need for fandom self-reflection, literature and literary history, the Western canon, and the invented division between "high" and "low" art. Though linked above, here is the segment in question. RELEVANT LINKS:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 25 January 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew takes dives into season three of Netflix's The Travelers and ponders how it continually plays with time travel in interesting ways while D. Bethel gets educated and affected by the Netflix documentary, Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski––a documentary about artist Stanisław Szukalski and his time trying to create a national artistic identity for Poland, his brush with nationalism, his loss of everything due to Nazi occupation, and his rediscovery by a bunch of scraggly Los Angeles underground comix makers. Here's the trailer for Travelers, season 3. And here's the trailer for Struggle: The Life and Lost Art of Szukalski. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 18 January 2019
NERD LAW, 2019: Two unrelated but intriguingly similar trademark cases have made the rounds in the news this last week. Chooseco, the owner of the Choose Your Own Adventure franchise has brought a lawsuit to Netflix over Black Mirror: Bandersnatch and the tenuous if not honorific connections that movie has to the classic children's book series. In the world of video games, the Pinkerton Consulting & Investigations has sued Take Two––owners of Rockstar Games––for the apparent vilification of the company in the developer's highly successful late-2018 release, Red Dead Redemption 2. Andrew and D. Bethel sound the Nerd Law alarm and discuss these two cases in depth.
Dan will be tabling at Stocktoncon Winter this Sunday, January 20, with Kyrun Silva of Taurus Comics yet again (which hints at a return of the Con Artists limited podcast series)! If you're in the area, please stop by. For more information, read this post at Long John or go straight to the source at Stocktoncon.com. Hope to see you there! RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 11 January 2019
WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew...watches? plays?...the Black Mirror interactive movie, Bandersnatch, while D. Bethel gets sentimental about Transformers again after watching Bumblebee. RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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Fri, 4 January 2019
LOOKING FORWARD: With 2018 behind them, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss what they're looking forward to in 2019. Andrew is interested in the upcoming premium Disney streaming service, Disney+, as well as to Bethesda Game Studios adding more content to Fallout 76, while D. Bethel can't wait for It, Chapter 2 to hit theaters as well as playing the new game from Firewatch's Campo Santo, In the Valley of the Gods. What are you looking forward to in 2019? Let us know in the comments! RELEVANT EPISODES:
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For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap. FEATURED MUSIC: -"Disco Medusae" by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
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