Iteration 120 - Morals and Stories

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We start the podcast by wishing everybody a happy winter! Then we talk about the same thing all the other podcasts are talking about: the Sony/North Korea troubles. And somehow Josh's criticism of Ben Affleck turns into an argument about authentic laughter in the movies. Josh reviews Highlander (1986 film). Ryan watches I Saw What You Did (1965 film), which spurs us onto our "main" topic of morals at the end of stories and movies. We range from Forrest Gump to the Three Little Pigs, teasing out morals from stories. And we end the podcast with the morals of Dungeons & Dragons and World of Warcraft.


References and Recommendations:

Wag the Dog http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120885/
Argo http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1024648/
The Producers http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0395251/
Highlander http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091203/
I Saw What You Did http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059297/

Iteration 119 - Extended Lifespan? I Can't Lose!

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We start out with a discussion about Team Fortress's new update with its trailer video. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aLjwVVNq4s

A discussion about the use of music in film and cartoons.

Bugs Bunny the Rabbit of Seville https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXCULR2wO-A

The Muppets Minuet in G Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlLSMZ8qn7I

Flash Gordon by Queen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9kCCLwEga8

Pandamonium http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandamonium_%28TV_series%29

For our main topic, we talk about those scenarios in which there aren't bad choices, but only rewards no matter which decision you make.

And at the end of the podcast, an exercise for the listener: if reincarnation was real, who or what would you like to come back as?

Iteration 118 - Best-Laid Schemes

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We talk about the Thetis Lake Monster, the Loch Ness Monster, and the Ningen of the Southern Ocean. Then, space travel, and aliens, and bird calls, and SETI.

The word of the day is "Gaser". Stands for Gravity Laser.

Who is the Moon Villain anyways?

Main Topic: About the futility of planning ahead. Or is it the unutterable joy of dreaming up details of things that might be?

References and Recommendations:



Interactivity Board Game Cafe http://www.ibgcafe.com/
Ningen http://cryptidz.wikia.com/wiki/Ningen

Josh and Ryan play and modify Minecraft and Dwarf Fortress.

Nobody expects the zombie apocalypse!

Iteration 112 - On Ghosts and the Other Side

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Josh is on Twitter: @Spaceboot1 and YouTube: SpacebootOne

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And find the show on iTunes here: iTunes.

In this iteration of the podcast: As another part of our month of the dead, we talk about ghosts, not so much as monsters, but as characters. Josh and Ryan talk about their weekly adventures in gaming, mostly Minecraft and Marvel: Avengers Alliance. As a jumping off point for our main topic, we watched the film ParaNorman. We discuss the mechanisms of ghostly return and hauntings. Also recommended: the Book of Life (2014 film).

Iteration 111 - The Clown Iteration

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In this episode: looking forward to Halloween and National Novel Writing Month. Debate topics: do Halloween costumes have to be scary? How should we do NanoWriMo? Does a great actor need to have terrible life experiences in order to be truly great at acting? The death of Wolverine! Whatever will Disney do? Ryan has a few ideas. We talk about superhero television and films. Who's winning: Marvel or DC? And for our main topic: clowns. Are they inherently scary or evil, or do evil beings choose clown forms because of their perceived innocence?

Iteration 110 - Sleepy Hollow

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follow Josh on Twitter at @Spaceboot1

References and Recommendations:

The Uninvited (1944 film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Uninvited_%281944_film%29

Sleepy Hollow (1999 film) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0162661/

Iteration 109 - The Don't Care Bears

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In this episode:
Josh talks about Terra Firma Craft and some other Minecraft mods. Ryan brings us his disappointing adventures in Care-a-lot, and how we would have made it better. We get all philosophical on what it really means to "care". And do the Care Bears provide answers that are just too easy? Are all our games and stories too easy? Can we make them more harder, more ambiguous, and more realistic? Do we really want realistic endings and solutions to fictional problems, or do we look to fiction to imagine a world that has solutions so we can actualize ourselves? And we uncover the Shame Bears in Ryan's brain.