Bookwarm Games

Many a reference for your consideration, with thanks to the folks at Psychgeist. See https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/chrono-trigger/ for more

Many thanks to David Nixon, Associate Pastor at Carrubbers Christian Centre - http://www.carrubbers.org/ Apologies for the abrupt cut-off at the end of the episode. Our connection was severed by the parsimonious razor of zoom... Recommended reading: "The Gospel in Secular Scotland: in Conversation with David Nixon" - https://www.solas-cpc.org/the-gospel-in-secular-scotland-in-conversation-with-david-nixon/ "Engaging with Pullman" series of reflections on Solas - https://www.solas-cpc.org/engaging-with-pullman-part-five-pullman-on-alienation-and-the-argument-from-desire/ - Part One: Why I’ll be watching ‘His Dark Materials’ and so should you - Part Two: Philip Pullman and the Power of Stories - Part Three: Pullman on God and the Church - Part Four: On Dust and the Signals of Transcendence - Part Five: On Alienation and the Argument from Desire Within which you'll also find references to Tolkien, Lewis, and a number of other contemporary thinkers, including Philip Goff and Sharon Dirckx, mentioned in our chat and well worth checking out. Thanks for listening! More on this project: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html

We wrap up our discussion of this challenging, beguiling, and not altogether satisfying work by Nabokov, then begin to look ahead to our next book, Byron's Don Juan. Thanks for listening.

RIP Lucette, we hardly knew you!

Discussing the first half or so of Chrono Trigger, we continue the patient work of scholarship, moving towards an upcoming deadline for the outline to be delivered this week. Thanks for listening!

The moment of truth: Lucette departs, Demon discovers, Van and Ada jump forward in time. Thanks for listening.

The Crystal at the back of Memoria, past the elemental chaos monsters and Hades in his synth shop, where the voice of Garland runs out. We fight three final bosses, enjoy the ending, and sing the Melodies of Life theme once more. Thanks for listening! Up next, an abbreviated Chrono Trigger run, and then FF Tactics...

Five years later, we pick up where we'd left off discussing the SNES classic, the Dream Project, Chrono Trigger. In the run-up to completing outlines for the Psychgeist essay collection, we talk about dream motifs, purgatory, and resurrection this time; next time, we'll range over the first half or so of the game; and next week, once Alex's dissertation defense is dantesquely dispensed with, we plan to give a full retrospective on the game before turning back to our next planned playthrough, FF Tactics. For part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCzvqTEE_Uw Thanks for listening!

From the video description over on Prof Schmid's channel: https://youtu.be/F8exnw4wHdU?si=3fl3jIHSyFeBOPbO In this special discussion with Dr. Otto Lehto of New York University's Center for Bioethics, we consider (1) our initial experiences with Final Fantasy VII and the ways technology and its growth affected our future lives; (2) the impact Final Fantasy VII had on each of us and whether it attained the level of an opera or a Gesamtkunstwerk; (3) finally we consider what make makes an adaptation successful and consider whether FFVIIRI is worth it.You can find more of Dr. Otto Lehto's work and current projects at the following places:1) Website: https://www.ottolehto.com/2) PhilPeople: https://philpeople.org/profiles/otto-... 3) Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?...4) linkedin:   / ottolehto  Thanks Alex for hosting, Otto for joining, and thank you for listening!

Time passes, Van writes, Lucette visits, Ada pays the photographer kitchen boy's blackmail; comparing the brothel scenes, incest, and narrative in this Family Chronicle with that of One Hundred Years of Solitude by Garcia Marquez. Thanks for listening.

On The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman Ch 8: The League of St Alexander & 9: AnticlockwiseRecommended reading:Pullman, How to Be Cooland The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ Saints' Lives - Lucy, Catherine, Brigid, and Alexander of Alexandria Thanks for listening

"But I feel a strange affinity to it." "Everyone is back, we have new friends, Bobby Corwen is here... So many great things happened all at once!" Into the Shimmering Island, through Terra, and back to the Black Mage Village and start of Disc 4. Thanks for listening.

On The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, by Philip Pullman Ch 6: Glazing Sprigs & 7: Too Soon Recommended reading: Pullman, Let's Write it in Red - essay in Daemon VoicesChristie, Poirot Investigates (maybe, since The Adventure of the Egyptian Tomb is the one by her that Pullman chooses to include in the Detective Stories/Whodunnit book he edits?) Hoffmann, The Strange Story of the Quantum - https://archive.org/details/strangestoryofqu0000bane_g8k2 Auden, The Guilty Vicarage - https://harpers.org/archive/1948/05/the-guilty-vicarage/ Yeats, Sailing to Byzantium - https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43291/sailing-to-byzantiumThanks for listening.

Leaving Ardis at last, Van fights a duel and outlives his rivals.

Into the inverted Ipsen's Castle, abrupt Amarant abandonment, and elemental mirror duos, towards the end of disc 3. For more: https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/final-fantasy-ix/ Thanks for listening.

On The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, by Philip PullmanCh 4: Uppsala 5: The Scholar Recommended reading and listening: The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie https://www.agathachristie.com/stories/the-body-in-the-library A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking https://archive.org/details/briefhistoryofti0000hawk Pullman's Introduction to Detective Stories (1998; published as Whodunit 2007) Daniel 13 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Daniel%2013&version=NRSVCE 2005 Interview with Jennie Renton https://textualities.net/jennie-renton/philip-pullman-interview For more, see the course page: https://newschoolnotes.blogspot.com/2026/01/out-of-ground-reading-book-of-dust-by.html Thanks for listening!

Fallout from the bombing and flashbacks. Thanks for listening

Dinner with Demon Veen. Thanks for listening.

We look at the new version and its predecessors, as well as the as-yet-standalone Episode 33. See Prof Noctis' playthrough for more in-depth commentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1LF4fZYQfg Thanks for listening.

Light and shadows in the Desert Palace and the candle-lit Esto Gaza; Mount Gulug, where Eiko gets a Ribbon; Lindblum, where the party gets an airship; Cid's transformation back to a human with his wife's forgiveness; and Garnet's recovery of her voice at her mother's resting place. For more: https://videogameacademia.org/courses/current-semester/final-fantasy-ix/ Thanks for listening!