I’ll be the first to admit that romantic comedies have never been my favorite genre of film. I’ve seen some of the worst ones, and I probably don’t really give many of the good ones a fair shake. That’s why I love it when a movie like “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” catches me almost completely by surprise. It’s a charming, funny slice of the lives of several people and it shows the way love affects and shapes their lives. As I left the theater, it reminded me a lot of “Love, Actually” and I mean that as a high compliment to this movie. (more…)
In the past seven years or so my wife and I have visited Walt Disney World numerous times and I’ve made it a kind of mission to soak up as much information as I could about what went into making them. To that end I’ve watched documentaries and read tons of books on the subject. However so far I’ve only encountered one audio boxset, and while the topic of the set isn’t directly related to the parks it certainly laid the groundwork for some of the best works the parks have ever seen.
In the last episode of our podcast I gave a little history lesson/talk about the 1964 World’s Fair and Walt Disney’s involvement in it. The idea to cover it on the show stemmed from my wanted to try and spread some of the reasons why I love the topic of Disney so much, and why I consider the man a hero of mine. The podcast topic was just a glimpse, and hopefully I can find some ways to bring up interesting areas of the Disney company in future podcasts.
But today we’re here to talk about audio! Audio from the four attractions that Walt Disney produced for various companies at the fair. So, please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Let’s take a look!
Sometimes the product sells itself to the right person. It appeals to something inside you that triggers that “I must acquire this” mentality. When someone holds a 2600 cart in front of me and tells me it’s like Kaboom! only little more involved, my wallet’s already out of my back pocket before I’ve even uttered the words, “I’ll take it.”
Ultra SCSIcide is a homebrew game for the 2600 that I picked up from the good people at AtariAge.com. In the game you control a hard drive read head (no joke) and you scan back and forth across a spinning HD platter to read the bits of data in the correct order. How do you know the right order?
You’ve heard us talk about this game on episodes 25, 31 and 32 of our podcast and we’re all big fans of it. Since it’s a game that’s better seen than talked about we put together this little video to give you an idea of what it’s really all about.
Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments below. Would you like to see us do more of this type of video content?
I can promise you dear listeners that when we sat down to do this show we never intended it to be so Disney filled, just turned out that way. Not that Dan is upset mind you, he could talk about that shit for hours and hours. I mean he just got back from vacationing there and discussed the changes since he had been there 2 years ago. We do think geekspew offers something new in the way of a history lesson certainly for the nerdy, and serves to maybe spread some of the interest that Dan has in the man known at one time as “Uncle Walt.”
The rest of the show as usual covers much ground, from old school sci-fi shows to tales of biker gangs. The crew also discusses the bitter end to their latest Dungeons and Dragons adventure. It’s all good stuff.
As someone fairly new to the world of board games, I’m afraid that I have to admit that I’ve never played Dominion. In fact, I’ve never played a deck building game at all. Puzzle Strike has served as my entry into this particular sub-genre of gaming, and for the most part, it’s been a welcoming experience. With simple rules, quick gameplay, plenty of variety, and the fun of playing with chips instead of cards, it almost seems like the perfect entry point for those looking to delve into the world of deck building – almost.
Loosely inspired by the video game Puzzle Fighter, players will receive gems on each turn that they can try to combine and “crash” into their opponent’s playing field. The object of the game is to destroy your opponent by filling their field with 10 or more gems, thus ending the game. In case you’re not familiar with Puzzle Fighter, think of the gems as your falling blocks in Tetris. Once you have 10 or more of them, the screen fills up and its game over.
It is telling, our state of post-post-meta-modernism, when a game like Deus Ex: Human Revolution seems slightly old-fashioned. Cyberpunk. I mean, how long ago was it that you read Neuromancer and Snow Crash? Or played Syndicate? What was once a cutting-edge science fiction trope now seems almost old hat. We’ve since moved on to looking for whatever comes after nanotechnology.
That’s what makes the setting of DXHR, in 2011, so interesting. When we were first introduced in the late 80s and 90s to the idea of cybernetic implants, and well, Deus Ex* and cyborgs in general, the technology seemed feasible but not exactly on the close horizon. It was easy to imagine humans with interface implants and extra-strong limbs and organs in the future – surely, someday, obviously, right? But, today… today much of what is portrayed in the game, a mere 16 years hence, suddenly seems that much closer. We’ve seen nimble robots. We’ve seen the rise of the global internet, fabrication technology, huge leaps in computer power, artificial materials with new properties already.
This new perspective on cyberpunk makes DXHR that much more interesting, and disturbing. Now it’s near-sci fi.
I’ll be the first to admit that romantic comedies have never been my favorite genre of film. I’ve seen some of the worst ones, and I probably don’t really give many of the good ones a fair shake. That’s why I love it when a movie like “Crazy, Stupid, Love.” catches me almost completely by surprise. It’s a charming, funny slice of the lives of several people and it shows the way love affects and shapes their lives. As I left the theater, it reminded me a lot of “Love, Actually” and I mean that as a high compliment to this movie. (more…)
In the past seven years or so my wife and I have visited Walt Disney World numerous times and I’ve made it a kind of mission to soak up as much information as I could about what went into making them. To that end I’ve watched documentaries and read tons of books on the subject. However so far I’ve only encountered one audio boxset, and while the topic of the set isn’t directly related to the parks it certainly laid the groundwork for some of the best works the parks have ever seen.
Sometimes the product sells itself to the right person. It appeals to something inside you that triggers that “I must acquire this” mentality. When someone holds a 2600 cart in front of me and tells me it’s like Kaboom! only little more involved, my wallet’s already out of my back pocket before I’ve even uttered the words, “I’ll take it.”
