In this episode, Woody and I delve into some side issues. We delve into OJ Simpson and comparing his trial to Trump's, older athletes that are still playing or returning to their sports, local news about Key Bridge and Senator Cardin retiring.I'm experimenting a little bit with loudness normalization, since I feel like there's been too much difference between the quieter parts and the louder parts recently/This is the second part of a two-part conversation.
In this episode, I give my quick impressions for a group of additional Metroidvania games I've played through since part 3. Hopefully this will give you enough of a feel for each one to determine which ones you might enjoy playing yourself.Games addressed in this episode:Afterimage, Ghost Song, Grime, Souldiers, Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Transiruby.And there's also some discussion about the Castlevania Advance Collection.
Woody and I answer the hypothetical question: What happens if Biden or Trump dies at any given point in time between now and Inauguration Day, 2025?
In the miscellaneous topics section of our latest extensive politics discussion, Woody and I go into these subjects:The Trump situation after four indictments, Mitch McConnell's ongoing health concerns, Wagner leader dies, Biden vs. Big Pharma, the writers' and actors' strikes, the first Republican debate, and Clarence Thomas' ethics questions
In part 2 here, finishing the conversation from last episode, Woody and I discuss:Homicide rate in DC, The status of the war in Ukraine and Ukraine working towards joining NATO, the Wagner group in Russia, China's economic power status, Washington Commanders ownership, Elon Musk rebranding Twitter, online services with ads, Cher Flair and Barbieheimer, the Hollywood actors' strike, cable and streaming, and how the music industry works akin to this to get people to keep buying music even as its variability decreases.
In part 1 of our 2 part conversation, Woody and I cover:Hunter Biden's scandals and plea, Trump's legal concerns and their impact on the election, Biden's heat crisis relief and the impact of hotter beach water, What the Presidential election may look like in 2028 and VP Harris's chances then, the Republican candidates in the 2024 race now, mental health, Senator Tuberville blocking military appointments, the status of the Supreme Court after term's end, and Mitch McConnell health scares.
In this episode, we continue discussing the videogame that I recently played quite a while every day for over two and a half months-- Tactics Ogre Reborn, on PlayStation 5.My brother John played through it as well during that time, on PC.In this part, we focus more on comparisons with other Tactics games and other RPGs, then get back into other facets of the game and the characters you get.There are spoilers in this episode about some key parts of the plot, including various character deaths mid-game. And perhaps some spoilers regarding gameplay and recruitable characters as well.John Comberiate is our family expert on RPG videogames, especially Tactics-style RPGs.
In this episode, I'm back in Jacksonville Beach for another visit. So, Dave Comberiate and I follow up on our earlier conversation about Ron DeSantis and the Jacksonville mayoral election. Since we spoke before, the election is over and DeSantis has officially announced he is running for President.We look at what the results of the mayoral election mean for Jacksonville going forward, and we discuss some of Ron DeSantis's most controversial policies.
In this episode, we discuss the new Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.In part 2 here we continuing covering the different characters with Mantis, Nebula, Gamora, The Ravagers, Cosmo, Nathan Fillion's character (Master Karja), The High Evolutionary, and Adam Warlock... delving both into them specifically and how they relate to the other characters.Then we look ahead to James Gunn moving on to head the DC movie universe and how that's going to go.This is part 2 of 2 from our interview.Spoiler Alert: All of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and, to lesser extent, the MCU as a whole.Special guest family MCU expert: John Comberiate
In this episode, we discuss the new Marvel movie Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.We have some opening thoughts, then we jump into the different characters. In part 1 here we cover Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Peter, delving both into them specifically and how they relate to the other characters. This is part 1 of 2 from our interview.Spoiler Alert: All of the Guardians of the Galaxy movies, and, to lesser extent, the MCU as a whole.Special guest family MCU expert: John Comberiate
We recorded an episode the day that Trump was indicted. As it worked out, we ended up recording for well over an hour and a half. That included a lot of discussion specifically tied to that topic, but also a lot of discussion on other political topics along with it.In the interest of getting a "same day" reaction podcast up sooner rather than later, I tried chopping out everything that wasn't tied to the topic at hand, and ended up with about 49 minutes worth of content... which I put up on April 1st. But what about all the rest of that content?Well, I figured I'd try something new out-- take the original recording and edit it all over again. But, this time, chop out the Trump stuff (especially all the Trump indictment stuff), and make a cohesive episode out of all the different side tangents Woody and I went on. I've ended up with about 34 minutes worth... not bad for topics that were purely tangential and unplanned. Topics discussed include: the worst possible 2024 Presidential matchup that doesn't involve any of the usual suspects, thoughts on who gets elected and why, how there was really no good time for RBG to retire, what Republicans who believe the 2020 election was stolen probably suspect about 2024, hypotheticals about Amy Klobuchar as a nominee or President, and which Democrat nowadays actually has charisma.
In this episode, I give my quick impressions for the last 10 from my list of 50 Metroidvania games I've played through in recent years. Some of these games are relatively well-known, others are pretty obscure... but hopefully this will give you enough of a feel for each one to determine which ones you might enjoy playing yourself!Special "guest" game-describer for this episode: ChatGPT?!!Games addressed in this episode:Sundered, Super Skelemania, SuperEpic: The Entertainment War, Teslagrad, The Messenger, The Mummy Demastered, The Swapper, Timespinner, Two Parsecs from Earth, and Xeodrifter
It's been a slow couple months in political news, but Woody and I are back to cover the little bits and pieces.In this episode, we touch on:The revelations about Fox News from the Dominion Voting Machines trial, Classified documents, Speaker votes, Trump potential indictments, Approval ratings and polling errors, Biden's age, Who'd be President now if Hillary had won in 2016, Playing it safe in Presidential elections in general and in 2024, The main thing you really need to be a good President, Student loans and vocational schools, The need to get people learning more, Public schools and people's disrespect of expertise, The book-banning of both sides and how the issue should be handled instead, Covid lockdowns and misinformation, China and India populations and Covid, Indian doctors educated in the US, Asian culture and stereotypes, Maternity leave and relative benefits, Political control of DC (the district itself), How a "National Divorce" would go, How Joe Manchin politically exists, Some local Maryland politics, Trump's popularity going back up, and Who Trump's running mate would be in 2024.And we wrap up with some closing thoughts on a possible upcoming Trump indictment, and which type of government official fortunately never seems to have any big scandals.
In this episode, I sit down with fellow Elden Lord and/or Ranni Consort Joe Comberiate and we talk Elden Ring.Part three goes into all the little things that annoyed us about the game, then touches on some of the key points of the lore.The game is absolutely massive, with all sorts of different facets to it, so it's impossible to cover everything.Theoretically, this discussion contains spoilers for the whole game... but, in reality, this isn't the type of game with massive revelations and surprise plot twists, so you'll still really enjoy the game a ton regardless of what you hear about it.Here's a link to MissMikkaa's video where she simultaneously defeats one Malenia with a PS5 controller and another one with a Dance Pad-- thus ensuring that Malenia knows "the feet":https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjdK44BXHD4
This may be our most controversial episode yet.Along with addressing various recent news events, Woody and I discuss college educations, expertise, learning, and readjusting today's world... then we get into the good and bad sides of religion, compared with morality in general.We wrap up with carefully treading the line of cancellation by saying some things that really need to be said.And, just in case it's not controversial enough already, the ambient noise in the background includes some incidental copyrighted music that couldn't be edited out.Better download and share now while you still can!
In this episode, I talk with renowned family Daredevil expert Amy Comberiate, as well as renowned assistant family Daredevil expert, Joe Comberiate. Major topic covered include:-Catholicism and its depictions in Daredevil and otherwise.-Daredevil's relationships with the other major characters from the 2015 series-- Foggy, Karen, Claire Temple, Stick, The Punisher, Elektra, Dex (Bullseye), and, of course, Kingpin.-Thoughts on adapting the character to the MCU, what they've started with and where they may be going from here.Finally, Joe and Amy's one-year-old son Joseph weighs in a little too! (Plus, there's an outtake at the very end.)
This is that "Christmas Special" Woody was talking about. Well, kind of. It's a potpourri of all sorts of topics as they stand within the context of recent news. We even branch out into some whole new topics like modern artificial intelligence with self-driving cars, and radio transmission. And we discuss valuing American culture, valuing expertise, and valuing learning in general.
In this episode, I give my quick (and sometimes not as quick) impressions for the next 20(ish) of the 50 Metroidvania games I've played through in recent years. Some of these games are relatively well-known, others are pretty obscure... but hopefully this will give you enough of a feel for each one to determine which ones you might enjoy playing yourself!Part 3 will address the remaining 10 or so games, as well as some additional Metroidvania games that I played, but didn't actually finish, for one reason or another.Games addressed in this episode:Foregone (continued), Ghost 1.0, Gris, Guacamelee! 1 & 2, Headlander, Hollow Knight, Iconoclasts, Indivisible, Lost Ruins, Micetopia,Minoria, Momodora: Reverie Under the Moonlight, Omega Strike, Phoenotopia: Awakening, Record of Lodoss War: Deedlit in Wonder Labyrinth, Salt and Sanctuary, Song of the Deep, and SteamWorld Dig 1 & 2
In this episode, Woody and I discuss or touch on all of the following:Candidate intelligence (or the lack thereof), how some people succeed with easily disproveable lies, if Trump supporters would vote for DeSantis, the benefit of having over 50 Senators, college debt, Warnock's credentials, House Republicans potentially impeaching Biden and the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, Dr. Fauci and working in Presidential administrations, truth and censorship, bias affecting Supreme Court Justices, how much support does Trump still have, how do things look for Biden in 2024, how they should reschedule the 2024 primaries, good and bad nominees, can Kevin McCarthy become speaker, Brittney Griner, and not defending any celebrities' and politicians' bad behavior.Note: Since this recording, Senator Kyrsten Sinema has switched from Democrat to Independent. This actually won't negatively impact the Democrats' new outright majority as long as she doesn't caucus with the Republicans. Senators Angus King and Bernie Sanders are already Independents but they caucus with the Democrats and thus are included in their total of 51.
In this episode, I explain what a Metroidvania video game is, and give my quick impressions for the first 20 of 50 Metroidvania games I've played through in recent years. Some of these games are relatively well-known, others are pretty obscure... but hopefully this will give you enough of a feel for each one to determine which ones you might enjoy playing yourself!Games addressed in this episode:Aeterna Noctis, Aggelos, Apotheon, Axiom Verge 1 & 2, Batbarian: Testament of the Primordials, Blasphemous, Blaster Master Zero 1, 2, & 3, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, Bunny Must Die! Chelsea and the 7 Devils, Carrion, Chasm, Control, Cosmos Bit, Dandara, Darksiders III, Ender Lilies, and Forgone