Tag Archives: review

Book Club: Fellowship of the Ring Book One – Flight to the Ford

Today we close out the first “book” in The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring and preview what comes in the second half of the first third of this epic series.

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Mind the Messy of PsychOdyssey

Here’s a newsflash for you that is probably super obvious: game dev is messy. Like, extremely messy. It’s all chaos all the time and then suddenly WHAM, out comes a game. Even throwing super regimented and organized individuals into the fray doesn’t seem to stem the tide of just pure, unadulterated chaos. I read books like Press Reset and Blood, Sweat, and Pixels and see some of the fallout from all this chaos and I can’t help but wonder…why? Why do people subject themselves to all of this…(please don’t say chaos again…) disarray for some pretty bleep bloops?

Enter PsychOdyssey, the enlightening 32-episode documentary series about Double Fine during the creation of Psychonauts 2. You read that correctly. Thirty-two. Episodes. 2 Player Productions, the documentarians in this venture, followed Tim Schafer et al. around for seven years, recording the ups, downs, and all the diagonals of the video game creation process. And boy are there a lot of diagonals.

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Book Club: The Tell-Tale Heart & The Raven

This month in honor of the season we dive into one of Kelly’s favorite authors: Edgar Allan Poe! Kelly leads us through two of her favorite writings of his, his tragic past, and how they show the window into his madness.

Stories discussed: The Tell-Tale Heart & The Raven.

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Book Club: FARENHEIT 451

In today’s episode, we discuss Guy Montag and his quaint life as a fireman in a dystopian society where firemen start fires in order to burn books and any form of knowledge or conflicting viewpoints in history. Written in 1953 but set in the futuristic year of 2022, it is fitting that we have selected FARENHEIT 451 as pick-of-the-month for September. Join Joel & me as we discuss and critique this classic work.

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Book Club: A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court

After a long break we dust off the cover of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court and dive right back into the 19th century Hank Morgan’s adventures in using his modern knowledge to tilt the acceleration of history. His exploits are fascinating, but what does the book tell us about clever trickery, using modern-day knowledge as wizardry, the application of knowledge, and how quickly people can adapt to change? 

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7.10: The Saphrax Protocol

Alas, dear listener. We’ve come to the end of series…for now. There are no more Venture Bros episodes for us to discuss and break down (poorly) so take in this last opportunity while you still can. “But Shownotes Writer,” you ask softly, “what comes after Venture Bros?” That’s a good question, and one that our heroes answer pretty quickly. All you gotta do is push that play button and just go to town on the audio. Like, listen the shit out of it

INTRO MUSIC COURTESY
Bradley David Parsons inspired by J.G. Thirlwell

RESEARCH COURTESY
Brok Holliday


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7.09: The Forecast Manufacturer

This week on Venture Bros…SNOW! Bryan Dressel, Graham “Brock” Mason, and Matt “Dean Venture” Dykes discuss the penultimate episode of season seven (and possibly the series? At least until there’s more? Please make more?) The Forecast Manufacturer. Both this episode and the finale are deeply connected so advanced warning that there might be some callouts to moments from next week.

There’s also some serious hints to the next show we’ll be doing after we complete Venture Bros. You love to hear it.

INTRO MUSIC COURTESY
Bradley David Parsons inspired by J.G. Thirlwell

RESEARCH COURTESY
Brok Holliday


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7.08: The Terminus Mandate

This week on the podcast Bryan Dressel, Graham “Scott Hall” Mason, and Matt “Tim-Tom” Dykes discuss The Terminus Mandate in which the Guild Council are required to face their arch rivals one last time before becoming full members of the council. Rusty also trains to go on a date with a top notch prostitute who kills everyone she sleeps with. Does it go well?

INTRO MUSIC COURTESY
Bradley David Parsons inspired by J.G. Thirlwell

RESEARCH COURTESY
Brok Holliday


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7.07: The Unicorn in Captivity

This week on Venture Bros, A Venture Brothers Podcast Bryan Dressel, Graham “Princess Tinglepants” Mason, and Matt “Catclops” Dykes discuss the season seven episode “The Unicorn in Captivity.” Easily one of the better episodes of the season, “Unicorn” sees the Monarch joining a heist featuring some wild characters, and a particularly powerful invention that takes Rusty down an interesting path. Wub wub wub.

INTRO MUSIC COURTESY
Bradley David Parsons inspired by J.G. Thirlwell

RESEARCH COURTESY
Brok Holliday


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7.06: The Bellicose Proxy

This week on the podcast Bryan Dressel, Graham “Brown Widow” Mason, and Matt “Baron Underbite” Dykes discuss “The Bellicose Proxy.” The Monarch decides to join the big villain program and mentors St. Cloud as he arches Quizboy. We also get a deeper look into the mechanics of the Guild as well as its rival the Peril Partnership. We hope you brought rubbers, because a storm is coming.

INTRO MUSIC COURTESY
Bradley David Parsons inspired by J.G. Thirlwell

RESEARCH COURTESY
Brok Holliday


SUBCRIBE ON APPLE PODCASTS AND GOOGLE PLAY, AND SPOTIFY NOW!

Continue reading 7.06: The Bellicose Proxy