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Our Secrets on Record

Our Secrets on Record

STILL STRANGE: This week, Andrew and D. Bethel examine what impressed––and what impressed less––them about the recently released season 3 of the Netflix hit, Stranger Things.

RELEVANT LINKS:

  • “Hopper, P.I.” (edited by Eddie Spuhghetti) The greatest meme to come out of Stranger Things, season 3:

RELEVANT EPISODES:

INFO:

FEATURED MUSIC:

04 January 2019 – Increasingly Without a Difference

04 January 2019 – Increasingly Without a Difference

LOOKING FORWARD: With 2018 behind them, Andrew and D. Bethel discuss what they’re looking forward to in 2019. Andrew is interested in the upcoming premium Disney streaming service, Disney+, as well as to Bethesda Game Studios adding more content to Fallout 76, while D. Bethel can’t wait for It, Chapter 2 to hit theaters as well as playing the new game from Firewatch‘s Campo Santo, In the Valley of the Gods.

What are you looking forward to in 2019? Let us know in the comments!

RELEVANT EPISODES:

  • Episode 84 – Your Cursor is My Prisoner (19 Feb. 2016): Where D. Bethel discussed his time with Campo Santo’s Firewatch.
  • Shortcast 17 – YouChoob (08 July 2016): Where Andrew discusses his experience playing Gone Home.
  • Shortcast 31 – The Secret Was the Clap (29 Sep. 2017): Where D. Bethel enjoyed the first installment of the new It movie.
  • Shortcast 54 – Cameo Train (11 May 2018): Where Andrew and D. Bethel discuss Avengers: Infinity War.
  • Shortcast 76 – A Sense of Place (30 Nov. 2018): Where Andrew talks in depth about playing Fallout 76.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shortcast 50 – The 2Day Show

Shortcast 50 – The 2Day Show

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew dives into “the German Stranger Things” as he watches the first three episodes of the Netflix series, Dark, while D. Bethel gets lost in an RPG-tinged clicker game called Almost a Hero by Bee Square Games.

RELEVANT LINKS:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“District Four” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
-“Disco Medusae” by Kevin McLeod (incompetech.com)*
*Tracks are licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Shortcast 35 – Legislative Capture

Shortcast 35 – Legislative Capture

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew gets through the first episode of season 2 of Netflix’s Stranger Things and has LOTS of opinions––not about the show, but about streaming in general. Dan succumbs to weakness and plays the Deadpool video game (while simultaneously playing the much better––but much more intense––Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus).

RELATED EPISODES:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Thunder Busters” by Wax Audio

Shortcast 31 – The Secret Was the Clap

Shortcast 31 – The Secret Was the Clap

WEEK IN GEEK: D. Bethel doubles up this time to talk about a personally exciting moment he experienced while at this year’s Alternative Press Expo in San Jose, CA, as well as seeing the new cinematic version of (half of) the Stephen King classic, It, while Andrew discusses playing SteamWorld Heist.

D. Bethel’s comprehensive recap of his time at APE 2017:

RELATED EPISODES:

INFO:

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Thunder Busters” by Wax Audio

Episode 123 – Underground Murder Barn

Episode 123 – Underground Murder Barn

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew messes with controller schematics for X-Com 2 while Dan freaks himself out as he delves into Syfy’s Channel Zero and the HBO documentary, Beware the Slenderman.

THE DOCTOR NO MORE: As Peter Capaldi announces his departure from the role of The Doctor in Doctor Who, speculation begins as to who will take his place in Series 11 which brings with it a new showrunner, Chris Chibnall.

EVEN STRANGER: With the only time we’ll mention the Super Bowl on the podcast, Netflix’s Stranger Things debuted its second season teaser trailer during the big game and Andrew and Dan dive into their expectations.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

WORKS CITED

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio
-“I Am the Doctor” by Jon Pertwee
-“Stranger Things” by Kyle Dixon & Michael Stein
-“Untitled Self Portrait” by Will Arnett (from The Lego Movie)

*audio clip sourced from Doctor Who, “The Day of the Doctor.”

Episode 102 – An Existential Poem

Episode 102 – An Existential Poem

ShowCard102

WEEK IN GEEK: To serve the purposes of research, Andrew punishes himself by rewatching Torchwood: Children of Earth while Dan listens to John Carpenter’s sequel to 2015’s Lost Themes album of original music, Lost Themes II.

THINGS ARE STRANGE: Dan and Andrew dive deep into the latest Netflix phenomenon: Stranger Things. They talk about its influences (and reference this interview with creators, the Duffer Bros, at Nerdist), its use of Dungeons & Dragons and its Lovecraftian influences.

CAN’T CAGE ME IN: The new, more fulsome trailer for the next Marvel-Netflix series, Luke Cage, hit the internet and Andrew and Dan dive into what seems interesting, troubling, and exciting about it (mostly exciting).

Leave your thoughts on this week’s topics, and read exclusive new content, at ForAllIntents.net. Be sure to join the official Facebook and Google+ pages  for exclusive links and conversations.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio
-“Stranger Things Theme” by S U R V I V E
-“Heart is Full” by Miike Snow (Run the Jewels remix)
-“Persia Rising” by John Carpenter

Episode 101 – The Black Arts of Algorithms

Episode 101 – The Black Arts of Algorithms

ShowCard101

WEEK IN GEEK: Andrew recovers from his serious bout of time-travel last week by watching Wil Wheaton’s tabletop adventure, Titansgrave: The Ashes of Volkana while Dan finds room on the bandwagon to jump on and start watching Netflix’s Stranger Things.

SELF-FULFILLING PROPHECY?: Even though DC/Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad only hit theaters today, audiences at premier screenings have been walking away less than happy, possibly sounding a cloister bell for the cinematic universe they’ve been trying to build since Man of Steel. Dan and Andrew investigate how the fate of this movie may influence future DC/Warner Bros. entries.

STATISTICS AND RHETORIC: Unintentionally hitting both Andrew and Dan’s wheelhouses, they examine a controversy that surfaced on the Manfeels Park blog where the author examined the strange disparity in the language around the interpretation of box office returns for both Ghostbusters and Star Trek Beyond. Despite having similar budgets and similar opening weekend numbers, Ghostbusters was declared by some to be a disaster for Paramount, while Star Trek‘s similar numbers were hailed as being a great success. What is going on here? Is it intentional? Is it warranted? Is it bad or good analysis?

Leave a comment about this week’s topics at forallintents.net. Be sure to also join the official Facebook and Google+ pages for links, conversations, and to meet other listeners. Help the show reach out to new listeners by leaving a review on the iTunes store.

And, for what it’s worth, there is (in a sense) a Transformers Genesis (re: the outtakes):

A legitimate Transformers Genesis. Thanks, Hasbro.
A legitimate Transformers Genesis. Thanks, Hasbro.

For all intents and purposes, that was an episode recap.

FEATURED MUSIC:

-“Stayin’ in Black” by Wax Audio
-“Also Sprach Zarathustra” by Richard Strauss (conducted by Herbert von Karajan)
-“Halloween Theme – Main Title” by John Carpenter
-“Pseudo Suicide” by Oysterhead
-“Ghostbusters” by Walk the Moon
-“Rest In Peace” by Nobuo Uematsu (from Final Fantasy VI)

Worth a Look

Worth a Look

A large talk that basically started the whole GamerGate mess had to do with representation in video games, specifically with how female characters were presented and utilized within gameplay and narrative with the obvious and problematic conclusion being that female player characters were either underrepresented or, if present, lacked the variety or depth of the male protagonists.

Source: kotaku
Source: Kotaku

However, the newest critical focus––and just as important––looks away from the screen and toward both the community and the developers. If the more forward-looking fans of gaming out there want more representation in games, we should also be asking ourselves about representation in the making of games. With regard to the community, there is a harrowing documentary that I discussed on the show awhile ago, GTFO, about female pro gamers and critics that I guarantee will have you wanting to throw a chair against the wall.

The Kotaku article discusses the story behind––and of––a new book, Women in Game Development: Breaking the Glass Level-Cap, that deals specifically with female developers and their road to being professionals in the field and how that road is paved with sacrifices, shame-dodging, and prioritizing aspects of their identity that males in the same positions never had to make. It’s infuriating how human beings are being treated in a field that, at the core of it, everyone loves so very much.

Another great feature on the book was published at Polygon, “How Women in Gaming Face Hostility” by Colin Campbell.

This is a book I want to read and, it seems, one that gamers should read, no matter what side of development we are on. It’s just sad that this book had to be written at all.

In a bit of selfish rank-pulling, I’m using “Worth a Look” as a “Save for Later” bookmark for myself. This article discusses Dungeons & Dragons as it is used in the recent Netflix hit, Stranger Things (which will be my “Week in Geek” in this week’s episode). Stranger Things has been a Facebook darling, especially for nerds born in, or who lived through, the 1980s and for good reason.

source: Netflix
source: Netflix

Stranger Things is less a snapshot of life in the 1980s and more of an evocation of 1980s adventure movies: The GooniesE.T.: The Extra-TerrestrialStand By MeExplorers, and the like. By mentioning those movies, I don’t mean that is nostalgically mining those movies for characters, plot points, or in-joke references; I would argue that’s not the case at all. Instead, it feels like those movies. The Duffer Brothers (and their directors) have seemingly “figured out” how those movies were paced, how they sounded, and how they looked to feel like a long-lost sibling to those earlier movies. It’s meta-eerie on top of the creepiness of the show itself. It’s able to capture what J.J. Abrams tried to capture (and did pretty well) in his excellent Super 8. But Stranger Things just does it right in an ephemeral way.

The show is framed (or so the article tells me, I haven’t finished the series) around Dungeons & Dragons, which Kunzelman decides to parse not only as a narrative bookend, but also as a thrust, arguing that the game “functions as the primary metaphor for how these young nerdy boys are able to communicate and cooperate with one another and how they contextualize the challenges they face.”

I am eager to read the article, but not as eager as I am to finish the show. It’s so good.