Browsed by
Tag: Controversy

Privilege of Ubiquity

Privilege of Ubiquity

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

STALLED ENGINE: Creators of the popular game engine, Unity, made some disquieting news this week when it announced some changes to its licensing policy for developers. Andrew and D. Bethel do their best to break down the changes and examine some of the response from developers.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Fair Point, Dude” (1 June 2018): Where Andrew discusses his dabblings with game development in the Unity engine.
  • “An Optimistic Dystopia” (12 August 2022): Where D. Bethel shares his thoughts on his initial playthrough of Stray.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Comma Dong

Comma Dong

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

W-AI-ZARDS OF THE COAST: With the publishing of Bigby Presents: Glory of the Giants! people noticed that some of the art looked…suspicious. It was revealed that the artist in question had used AI-engines to “enhance” the art they created for the book. Our hosts dive into this discussion and branch out from there.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Don’t Pull Out Your Deck” (14 July 2023): Where our hosts cite the tweet from a VFX artist on Flash who discusses the extreme conditions they are forced to work within.
  • “Mama Knight” (21 July 2023): Where our hosts cover the details of the various entertainment strikes.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Mama Knight

Mama Knight

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

ON STRIKE: Despite the heat, our hosts discuss all the striking that’s hitting Hollywood (and more!) quite hard right now. From the WGA to SAG-AFTRA (to UPS?!), it seems that the folks who are just trying to do their job and earn an honest living can’t get an inch from the studio heads, so far.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Space Man From Pluto” (30 June 2023): Where our hosts worried about how entertainment executives would find AI-created work enticing (and cheap) alternatives to hiring actual creative people.
  • “Don’t Pull Out Your Deck” (14 July 2023): Where our hosts discuss the rising costs (and continuing failures) of movies.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Jellyfish Panthers

Jellyfish Panthers

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A-NEWS BOUCHE: It’s been a busy few months, so our hosts felt that it was time to get away on a cruise, albeit a news cruise. They talk about the recent legal woes with Microsoft’s attempted acquisition of Activision Blizzard, recap all of the Wizards of the Coast’s woes, and all the strange Twitter drama as of late.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Hammering With a Screwdriver” (19 August 2016): Where D. Bethel discusses the first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series.
  • “Nature’s Velcro” (3 July 2020): Where Andrew relays his time with Owlcat’s Pathfinder: Kingmaker.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Oblivion Foretold

Oblivion Foretold

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

FALLEN IDOLS: With the news of the alleged behavior of Jonathan Majors, our hosts take an unexpected look at the bridge between art and artist, especially as nerd culture becomes more and more mainstream.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Vectors of Bad Decisions

Vectors of Bad Decisions

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

MAKE IT SO: Andrew is excited for Picard, season 3 despite it being a bit divisive among the fandom.

BAJOR FIRST: With D. Bethel finishing up season 1 of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, Andrew encouraged him to watch the first three episodes of season 2 as they all work together to tell a story of coups, insurrections, and political extremism. Fun stuff.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Reset the Doomsday Clock

Reset the Doomsday Clock

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

OGL EPILOGUE 1.0: Wizards of the Coast has backed down after all the heavy discourse over the leaked documents, but where does this leave Dungeons & Dragons, gamers, and the industry?

THE OFFERMAN ANGLE: Our hosts dive into the controversial and lauded third episode of HBO’s The Last of Us, despite the fact that Andrew hasn’t yet watched any of the show. However, the discourse around it has generated a lot of opinions.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Open Awesome License

Open Awesome License

Comments 0 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

TOUCHING MANY BUCKETS: Dungeons & Dragons is making waves with the announcement––and subsequent leak––of the update to its Open Game License, a system that is meant to lay out the relationship between Dungeons & Dragons and the content people create based on its game system. Based on the leaked information…it’s not going well. Thankfully, we have our nerd lawyer to walk us through the ins and outs of what is known so far.

RELEVANT LINKS:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Kamen Themes” (30 December 2022): Where our hosts last discussed this controversy…only two weeks ago.

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

  • “Nerd Law” by D. Bethel
Kamen Themes

Kamen Themes

Comments 1 comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

A YEAR IN REVIEW: Since this is the last episode of the year, our hosts decide to look back at the 2022 that was, diving into the controversies, the rabbit holes, and the individual favorites that defined the year for our hosts.

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Doctor Ennui” (27 August 2021): Where Andrew first dives deep into the Super Sentai pool.
  • “An Optimistic Dystopia” (12 August 2022): Where D. Bethel talks about Stray.
  • “Waiting for Helicopter” (30 September 2022): Where our hosts talk about the strange and frustrating actions taken by the new CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery.
  • “Aggressive Modulation” (04 November 2022): Where our hosts discuss the growth, the themes, and the impact of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
  • “Tweets to Toots” (09 December 2022): Where our hosts talk about how Star Trek: Deep Space Nine establishes itself at the beginning of its first season.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

Tweets to Toots

Tweets to Toots

Comments 0 Comment

WHERE DID YOU GET THESE SEEDS?: Our hosts talk a bit about the first few episodes of the new Disney+ fantasy show, Willow, based on the Ron Howard-directed Lucasfilm movie from the mid-1980s.

WEEK IN GEEK: This week, Andrew watches the 2-season HBO series, Los Espookys, while D. Bethel gives his opening thoughts on Star Trek: Deep Space 9 after getting a good chunk into season 1.

Check out the preorder deal for D. Bethel’s new Long John book at LongJohnBook.com!

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • “Some Solid Copy” (14 August 2015): Where D. Bethel talks about Jon Stewart’s final episode of The Daily Show.
  • “Love the Stank” (30 December 2016): Where D. Bethel listens to Trevor Noah’s autobiography, Born a Crime.
  • “Relevant Irreverence” (17 May 2019): Where Andrew shares his experiences watching the Star Trek: Deep Space 9 documentary, What We Left Behind.
  • “Land Your Runabout” (18 November 2022): Where our hosts discuss the premiere episode of Star Trek: Deep Space 9, “Emissary.”

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC: