Squideye and The Bitter Guy: Recent Episodes

Ilan and Justin

Squideye and The Bitter Guy argue savagely or timidly agree on a variety of topics of interest to geeks.

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The Rise of Babylon 5... rising? We chat about a CW show we really liked, and an upcoming CW show we're hoping we really like, because it's based on a WB show we really, really liked.

I didn't really give this one an extensive listen, and also I threw together some artwork; thanks Canva!

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Ilan's new enemy -- revealed! Justin is an enabling presence for this quick end-of-the-month update. Justin's also been to a couple of movies, and we realize what we're going to talk about next time.

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Did we miss anything?

We talk about time past, our schedules these days, the different platforms out there these days, and how we interact with memories (particularly Memories, the Facebook product).

We meander a lot. We talk about building and rebuilding collections via auction lots, and spend a lot of time shouting out local superstar and friend-of-the-show Jim Zub, and the games of one Mr. Robin Laws.

Squideye also winds up giving a fairly complete gameplay walkthrough of Cosmic Encounter, which isn't Twilight Imperium.

And the clock is ticking on Audacity.

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It's been five years. It's been five long years. We've talked a lot about what we want to talk about and it keeps getting away from us as the world keeps surprising us; but we still want to talk. So here's a placeholder.

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LibSyn is redesigning its pages so we'll spruce this one up to get with the times

Justin and Ilan will be recording a new show soon.

May the fourth of may be with you.

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Updates, crowdfunding, freemium games, and fear.

The State of our Lives Ilan and Justin update you -- the listener -- on the latest and greatest in what we’ve been up to. FanExpo! Live theatre! Mawwiage!

How to Fund your Passion What hath Crowdfunding wrought? Kickstarted games, comics, movies and games, like Catthulhu, Hillfolk, and Code Monkey Saved World. Expectations, reality, and YOU!

Debt of a Thousand Clicks Freemium, micropayment-driven gaming models. What’s the difference between so-called “pay-to-win” and the old days of buying physical boosters, expansions and additional minis?

Muppets vs. Cancer Make Justin face his fear. Fund his dreaded Farscape binge and help blast cancer out of the sky.

  • Make Justin Watch Farscape Here

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[J]: So last night at Gen Con they had a 25th birthday party for Drizzt Do'Urden. For a very small # of you, this will be fairly significant. Drizzt started as a member of a party of heroes in a trilogy set in TSR's Forgotten Realms setting, and he was the breakout of the group.

A somber dark elf ranger, exiled from his he had the tortured soul that many alienated teens (or as TSR liked to call them, "customers") found attractive. Plus, his best friend was a magical cat and he used twin scimitars. All he needed was a

Drizzt books have spent a chunk of the past two and a half decades on the NYT bestseller list, and author RA Salvatore has covered a lot of ground telling his stories.

Some fans tend to get a little dismissive of Drizzt & his fans. But he's been a breakthrough character, reaching a large audience. I think that WotC & Hasbro might want to consider him as a possible anchor character for setting up a media empire, like Marvel did with Iron Man.

The biggest issue is the whole "dark elf" thing, which if you saw Community’s Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, can be… problematic.

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We have our Rush t-shirts and a new year has started. It's time to reconnect with you, our treasured listeners, and just barely fail to talk in-depth about the amazing comic "Saga". We will, however, cover some games, a visit from a dear friend, and a movie or two.

  1. (1:00) Star Wars Edge of Empire RPG

  2. It's Firefly and Futurama, with Funny Dice (dice app)

  3. Ilan's specious comparisons to FATE and Cortex

  4. Compared to Star Wars Saga Edition?

  5. Fantasy Flight will be releasing the game in a manner similar to their 40k system

  6. Notes on the "Edge of the Empire" setting

  7. (11:20) Jerome Comeau, King of Tokyo

  8. Welcome to Toronto, Jerome Comeau!

  9. Sauced: since we last podcasted, they began and ended, and put out as many episodes as we ever did. Ever!

  10. Poutineries in Toronto: Smoke's and Poutini's. Ilan's Daiya Cheesemongering.

  11. How King of Tokyo works - rules, and dice.

  12. (17:00) Other two-player games

  13. Spot It

  14. Kahuna ("A Full Web")

  15. Burger Joint

  16. (20:00) Sentinels of the Multiverse

  17. That's what those crackling noises were, Ilan unpacking it.

  18. All about Sentinels of the Multiverse, how it works.

  19. That it's the Kickstartered second edition.

  20. As a single-player game.

  21. (23:50) HALO 4

  22. Co-op gameplay, playing online.

  23. Thinking back on ODST, Reach.

  24. (26:00) Brief return to Sentinels of the Multiverse

  25. Character design

  26. Comparison to Fantasy Flight's "Death Angel"

  27. (27:25) Movies: Argo, Kirby

  28. Argo. "Made in Canada", but "you have to change history". Alan Arkin and John Goodman.

  29. Jack Kirby's storyboards. And Devil Dinosaur.

  30. "Cashing in on the Sci-fi craze."

  31. Did it succeed in nuance and balance? Are any historical movies "true"?

  32. (35:00) Skyfall, and Ken and Robin

  33. Skyfall. What's the authoritative James Bond?

  34. Plug for "Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff"

  35. Did Skyfall have the things you need to have a James Bond movie?

  36. Character of "Eve" - a female character in a James Bond movie

  37. (39:00) Quick Saga Chat, with a promise of more

  38. We'll do Saga next episode in depth.

  39. Worth a reread and good for sharing, at Image Starter Pricing ($10)

  40. Pricing on trades!

  41. Incal and Lost riding a dinosaur through rocket-ship forest; Esperanto-speaking Jedi druids versus winged laser-imperialists, with robot mercenaries and lying cats. All the things are in the book.

  42. If you don't like it "I will not actually punch you."

  43. We got a new microphone (Blue Yeti)

  44. Canadian law on Wendigos

  45. (44:00) Signoff, and things to look forward in the future:

  46. AT SOME POINT FanExpo "lost episode", perhaps edit back together at some point.

  47. KICKSTARTER

  48. SAGA

  49. POWERS

  50. Disney purchase of Lucasfilm in more depth

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With Dark Knight about to open (at the time) we contemplate the comic book movie explosion. So many explosions. Then we talk about Ready Player One, and Lords of Waterdeep. And other stuff. An explosion of other stuff! Thankfully, nobody was hurt in the explosions.

1. Mighty Marvel Movies Precap and Recap

2. The Avengers Recap

  • it took 2 days for people to get Justin's 2am shawarma joke

  • How would you Plan an Avengers Marathon?!

  • New Marvel Movie Announcements

  • Iron Man 3: Iron Manner (Ben Kingsley the Mandarin)

  • Captain America Winter Soldier (Sharon Carter can allow a positive Bechdel)
  • Thor: The Dark World (We dunno?)
  • Guardians of the Galaxy (LOL) (Moondragon and Quasar - you can never have too many lesbians in superhero movies; but they only show Gamora)
  • Ant Man. Yes, we said Ant-Man.

  • WHY NOT NEXTWAVE?! It has three female superheroes, and two idiots. Well they're all idiots. A complete and total (UNPRINTABLE) is what everyone called Aaron Stack.

  • Boards of Waterdeep!

  • Lords of Waterdeep, which Justin sez is so good.

5. The Book Zone!

  • Ernest Cline's READY PLAYER ONE, Olaf Stapledon's Last and First Men, Brandon Sanderson's Infinity Blade book (which is the most profitable game, percentagewise, ever made by EPIC), and sure why not talk about The Hunger Games
  • Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey's "Comic Book History of Comics"
  • Ed Brubaker's Criminal: Last of the Innocent; Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson's The Boys, and Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely's Flex Mentallo

AND COMING UP NEXT TIME: *We talk about The Kirby Krackle's Super Powered Love and Adam Warrock in our long-anticipated episode on NERD ROCK!*

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SYNOPSIS: 1812-The Invasion of Canada, John Carter of Mars, S4UC3D, and "Spring Preview".

We got our rewrites in from J. Michael Straczynski and George R.R. Martin, and Adi Granov finished the art, so we're ready to go!

And in true news, Ilan and Justin have just spent the last few months demonstrating that "work-life balance" is something that happens to other people. In March, we recorded a shockingly timely segment about a new light wargame, 1812 - the Invasion of Canada, and oh gee right about now are the War of 1812 celebrations/commemorations. Good job, guys!

About 7 minutes in, we also have... oh dear. A timely review of John Carter of Mars, which more or less came and went and - though commercially successful - didn't make much of a cultural impact. But it was better than Attack of the Clones.

Around twelve minutes in, we talk about how we hadn't had a chance to play Mass Effect 3. Or other video games. Update: Ilan had a chance to play Mass Effect 3. But Justin still hasn't.

It's thirteen minutes when we welcome the (now 19-episode-old!) S4UC3D podcast, starring SATBG superfriend Jerome Comeau, and their mockery of us is well-earned. Haw haw, you guys.

Then it's fourteen minutes, and we talk comics. Ilan talks about Remender, and Justin talks about Swamp Thing, and Alan Moore, and then Ilan gets all high and mighty about how The Ultimates have higher stakes than "mainstream Marvel" ever can. 

Sigh.

Around twenty-one minutes in, we pontificate about the comic-book-buyer's dilemma. Wait for reviews? Preorder, rain-or-shine?

Twenty-four minutes in we ANTICIPATE the new (spring!) TV season, including the new (third!) season of Community. Yep. And wave our hands about Fringe, and Breaking Bad, and stuff.

Twenty-eight minutes: Wrestling, movies, G.I. Joe. And then we worry about whether the Avengers was gonna be good and stuff. And we cap it off by talking about Zahn and Thrawn.

You can figure this out. Just careful that nobody gets hurt!

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We're just a little wintry! We're still good! We're still good. Sad Trombone.

We're back after a frenzied summer and a busy school semester.

News, movies and trailers:

  • Lorax trailer! By the Despicable Me studio.

  • Freleng-DePatie version from the '70s: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375

  • Dangerous Method: Cronenberg directs Fassbender and Mortensen as Freud and Jung.

New TV!

  • Community!

  • Seneca's group of self-loathing misfits.

  • Modern Urban Fairytales!

  • Grimm and Once Upon a Time - the de Lint collector?
  • Why don't they ever get more inclusive about fairytales?

The Summer!

  • Justin and FanExpo Canada!
  • Admission policy for gaming. But it's worth it - Aaron Douglas, stand-up guy.
  • Feedback on FanExpo gaming?

TIFF!

  • Etan Muskat in Sorry, Rabbi!
  • Marc Slutsky, Jessica Paré, Jacob Tierney

  • Other Canadian shorts: Paris Quintet

  • The Day - cannibal hilbillies instead of zombies

  • Good guest stars: Shawn Ashmore, Shannyn Sossamon, Dominic Monaghan

  • Letter to Momo

  • My Neighbour Totoro, Summer Days with Coo

  • Monster in Paris

  • Extra Terrestrial

Non-TIFF movies over the Summer!

  • Attack the Block!

  • Utter genius: Bromwell High vs. Predator!

  • Another Earth

  • Drive
  • In Time

Digression: Biff, Bam, Pop! The Illuminatus Trilogy!

  • http://biffbampop.com/2011/11/13/illuminatus-trilogy-they-with-a-capital-t/

Next time: on Tim Rice and Michael Bay!

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Justin interviews author and RPG designer Matt Forbeck about his latest work. See below for links mentioned during the podcast.

Matt Forbeck's web site

http://www.forbeck.com/

The Brave New World  Kickstarter

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/forbeck/12-for-12-10-bnw-novels?ref=card

Carpathia

http://angryrobotbooks.com/carpathia-matt-forbeck/

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This week, Justin is going to interview Writer Matt Forbeck regarding his new Kickstarter project 12 for 12.

In all likelihood, they'll also talk about gaming and comics and DK encyclopedias.

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Justin took in In Time, starring another Justin, and found it to be as interesting for the timing of its release as for its narrative.  

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Low-budget, BBC-funded street-level action/horror movie with a socially-conscientious message, though very litle preaching. I talk at more length over at Stolen Recognizer.

If you get a chance to see this movie, do it so fast.

If you don't get a chance to see it, reflect on what you're missing.

This is the kind of movie that speaks to why horror or science-fiction movies can be interesting as stories, at a human level, rather than as unsettlingly prurient, violent spectacle. This is movie as provocation, not as catharsis.

Also, the kids talk like in Bromwell High.

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One of two new small run SF films we'll be talking about in our next episode.

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Episode 22: The Library and the Heap

  • In which Ilan and Justin develop a pair of regular segments for the show.

Role Playing Games Continued!

  • Ashen Stars hit its other preorder!
  • Other Kickstarter preorders, incliding Do, Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.
  • Vampire 20th Anniversary!
  • Like $100

  • Released at Grand Masquerade

  • Laundry RPG

  • Stross books
  • The Basic Roleplaying system

The Library!

  • Top Secret - The Corporation - 1986
  • Conspiracy X - late '90s
  • three classic aliens - saurians, venusians, greys
  • A game with "default answers"
  • Parapsychology resolution system
  • Not unisystem - but look for the new ConX, Buffy, Angel

The Heap!

  • Chaos in the Old World: Shadow of the horned rat
  • Twilight Imperium: Shards of the Throne

  • "Subgoals" speed up gameplay

  • Cosmic Encounter - Cosmic Conflict

  • Alien Frontiers
  • Heroscape: Marvel Suporheroes

  • Planet Hulk reenactment

  • Here I Stand

  • "A 7 player Twilight Struggle"
  • In practice, "Riskopoly as applied to Diplomacy"

Comics

  • Dan Slott Spider Man

  • vs. Sinister Six

  • Jonathan Hickman's continuing output

  • Hickman Fantastic Four - now FF
  • incomplte books - Pax Romana and Annihilation

  • SHIELD

  • Jason Aaron

  • Astonishing Spider Man and Wolverine
  • all stupid hugely fun

  • Wolverine!!!! Scalped

  • Pak/Van Lente

  • Herc and Alpha Flight
  • The Raft, Basilisk, Griffin and Man-Bull

  • Eaglesham and Fascist Governments

  • Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Zayne)

  • Zayne, schlemazel jedi

  • Flashpoint - variant DC universe

  • BATMAN strapping flash to electric chair; would have been better in the Silver age

Next time: Movies! Geek Rock videos!

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Episode 21: On the Galactic Stage

- in which Ilan has a cold and we talk about live theatre and videogames.

Give us feedback about our Jim Interview - last episode!

Ilan and culture

  • My Fair Lady, community theatre experience
  • Countermeasure A Cappella concert "we sold out"
  • Album cover suggestion: "Twisted"

Justin: Ghost Stories

  • Not played with Wraith: the Oblivion mechanics
  • Managing our expectations

Soulpepper Theatre!

  • Billy Bishop goes to war (Has come and gone, sadly)
  • Midsummer Night's Dream
  • Good episodes of Fame
  • Canned Heat: Center Stage or Napoleon Dynamite?

Video Games!

  • L.A. Noire and the anatomy of a slightly worse deal
  • iPad!
  • Infinity Blade - on the iPad! Recalls "Die By the Sword".
  • Reading books on the iPad! Discworld books: Mort, Small Gods

  • Ascendancy! And how can we get Alpha Centauri?

  • Mass Effect!

  • BioWare is a very open-minded company.
  • I'm Commander Shepherd, and this is my favourite podcast on the Internet.
  • SPOILERS FOR MASS EFFECT FINALE

Ashen Stars RPG (Stellar Nursery pre-release!)

  • GUMSHOE system - detective story engine.

Pixel knocks down so much stuff that we end the episode!

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Justin talks with his gaming pal Jim "Zub" Zubkavich, mastermind of UDON studios and author of the new fantasy action comedy comic Skullkickers.  "Like Army of Darkness with two Ashes." How is it made? What to expect? Why is the first trade so cheap? Answers within!

A life lesson, kids: beat the drum as much as possible. We are happy to be part of the shilling for this admittedly hugely fun book that we both really like.

And no-one was hurt.

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Wow, it's been a long time since our last episode.  Today we focus on comics, particularly the biggest comic event of the last little while: Jonathan Hickman's run on the Fantastic Four!

We touch on other topics related to media as well.

No superheroes were harmed in the podcasting of this episode.

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You've been waiting almost two years for this.

Here it is.

Nobody was hurt in the recording of the episode. And if you already hurt, perhaps the tears will help you heal.

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Shownotes for Episode 17 "Optimistic Voices"

With what you've been waiting for. NEXTWAVE miniatures. And more.

The news!
Democracy!

  • A bunch of miniatures cancellations
  • D&D, Rackham, Star Wars
  • Things FFG does well

Community: The Official TV Show of SATBG - The D&D Episode

  • Dan Harmon and the Dead Alewives
  • RPGs in the Media
  • So it's on DVD; borrow mine
  • A Classical Fantasy Villain

EPIC SEGUE into WizKids Star Trek

  • http://wizkidsgames.com/startrek/star-trek-fleet-captains/
  • http://wizkidsgames.com/startrek/star-trek-expeditions/ -- Knizia's Co-op
  • "The Real Kirk"?
  • Squideye: Hugh Laurie as Fourth Doctor. Who's with me?!
  • Star Trek 25th Anniversary Video Game
  • Federation Commander (with Art Trotman!)

WizKids's new HeroClix set...NEXTWAVE!!!

  • Boom Boom and Secret Wars 2
  • Nextwave sequels -- Marvel Zombies 3
  • Sorry, Joyce, who doesn't like Cilantro
  • Original character: THE CAPTAIN! Bad Santa of superheroes
  • http://wizkidsgames.com/blog/2011/02/11/his-name-is-the-captain/

Other New WizKids

  • -- Vlaada Chvatil designed Mage Knight
  • -- How does Multiple Man work? Tofurky Pizza (thanks, Laura!)
  • -- Kirkman's INVINCIBLE: Repli-Kate

Other New Stuff

  • The King's Speech (HBC as a sane dude)
  • Tim Burton Exhibit at Bell Lightbox
  • Parallels to tortured cartoonists - Etan Muskat, Dan Zabbal
  • 2001 at the Lightbox
  • Movies in between 2001 and Star Wars (Logan's Run, Zardoz)
  • Doctor Who Cold Open. (Search Youtube for that phrase)

Tron Legacy! And other new movies!

  • -- Issues of Control - Clu, the MCP, and Facebook
  • -- Not a HUGE letdown; looked great but a little thin.
  • -- Olivia Wilde: So Great!
  • -- Season of the Witch (Dominic Sena who did Gone in 60 Seconds)

MOVIES IT'S OKAY FOR GEEKS TO CRY AT!

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"4 and change"

Continuing from last episode: one last Great War tidbit. A bunch of things related to the number 4 (the square root of 16, which is how many episodes this is), and also things changing. Nobody was hurt this time, because time may change me, but I can't change the rules of fourth edition D&D.

  • Wraith: The Great War (best roleplayer!)

  • other White Wolf historical settings for the Old World of Darkness

  • also Apocalypse versus Forsaken -- topical, people!

  • Justin's Great War GenCon experience

  • D&D 4 Essentials

  • Heroes of the Fallen Lands, Forgotten Kingdoms, and... rules

  • "Red Box vs. Unearthed Arcana"
  • And then the ACTUAL new Red Box
  • What do you need for D&D?
  • Rules compendium is really all you need for game except character generator
  • Player books include all basic rules and equipment

  • DM set is weird, and so is the dice box -- for tiles buy frickin' tiles, for dice buy the red box, and for a straight DMG, why not get DMG 1 and 2, probably as cheap as the new box anyway and full of Robin Laws goodness

  • Ravenloft: "Is it bigger than a Red Box?"

  • a complete game, great components, just a d20, a zillion minis

  • modular, like Descent or Space Hulk, but with a Dracolich

  • Incursion is another grid-tactics boardgame, which we may review later.

  • Gamma World: "Why are we even talking about this?! Why aren't we PLAYING?!"

  • Some pent-up nerd rage: omitted mention of the White Wolf version

  • Though it's up for debate -- "...including versions based on d20?"
  • Basically 4e but more gonzo!
  • Brad Murray's review: http://www.vsca.ca/halfjack/?p=757

  • Might be more enjoyable than our GaryCon Tomb of Horrors 3.5E adventure

  • iPhone 4: "iPhone, do this!"

  • Voice activation is pretty good, power is better

  • Tim Sullivan of Without Software - awesome iOS developer: http://withoutsoftware.com/

  • Season 4 of Venture Brothers

  • Hasn't aired in Canada yet

  • It will make you grow a blonde mullet.

  • Something about change

  • Also Heroscape being discontinued.

  • KEEP WATCHING THE SKIES

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"Remember, Remember"

Recorded the day after Guy Fawkes day. It's now 2 years since we first conceptualized the podcast with a pad of paper at Free Times Cafe after the Queen's Park Remembrance Day ceremony in 2008. So we'll talk about World War One, which some people claim was "great". Usually we claim nobody was hurt, but in World War One, many people died.

  • Remembrance day, and the First World War:

  • The Guns of August by Barbara Tuchman

  • http://www.amazon.ca/Guns-August-Barbara-W-Tuchman/dp/0345476093
  • Vimy by Pierre Berton

  • http://www.amazon.ca/Vimy-Pierre-Berton/dp/0385658427

  • XBox Live Arcade and the First World War:

  • Toy Soldiers - the trial is great, the game's a slog

  • Snoopy Flying Ace - just plain super duper great

  • Televised British Comedy and the First World War:

  • Blackadder Goes Forth: Private Plane ft. Lord Flashheart and Moustaches

  • http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/blackadder/epguide/four_private.shtml

  • Board Games about Being a Flying Ace:

  • Wings of War: Billy Bishop vs. the Red Baron! - how it works, how our game went, all that good stuff.

  • http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_minisite.asp?eidm=24 (WARNING: LINK HAS ANNOYING MUSIC)
  • Ilan's Recommendation: get "Burning Drachens", "Top Fighters" and "Dogfight"
  • BILLY BISHOP GOES TO WAR: Wednesday Nov. 10th at 8pm, CBC

  • http://www.cbc.ca/arts/tv/story/2010/11/08/billy-bishop.html

  • Movies it's okay... d'oh

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Our last episode recorded before Justin's descent into Dante's Exposition.  We talk time travel.  We differ on the necessity of killing Hitler.  And nobody was hurt.

Talked about Zero Punctuation's Review of Singularity

Pizza Pizza

Talked about Chrononoauts

Talked about Memoir 44

Talked about Campaign Manager 2008

Talked about New Fronter

Talker aobut Captain Comet, Task Force X, Losers, Challengers

Talked about Transformers: War For Cybertron

Talked aobut Rush: Time Machine

Alternate History Robot. And a Vuvuzela. Or a kaiju, named Vuvuzilla.

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Back in Time, on (roughly) our one-year anniversary, and (roughly) Back to the Future's 25th. We talk time travel - Chrononauts, Doctor Who, a few videogames like Mass Effect 2 and Transformers: War for Cybertron, and touch on the works of Terry Pratchett.

Notes and such:

Who would play Boy George in A-team sequel cameo?

We did some karaoke (sadly learning All American Rejects lyrics) at the Canada Day Barbecue - our one year anniversary was our last one! Ilan was exposed to Doctor Who - Empty Child, Doctor Dances, and went off to watch the beginning of the Eccleston run.

Back to the Future's 25th anniversary of release was very recent. On a Time Travel theme, Justin introduces Chrononauts and discusses Umbrella Academy: Dallas.

Ilan talks comics - Astonishing Wolverine and Spider-man (BEST THING), Wolverine Insane In the Brain (competent, but icky), Star Wars - Old Republic (BLECH), Dark Times Blue Harvest (SO GOOD), and the second last issue of Star Wars Legacy (I WANT TO PUNCH IT). Dropped in at Dragon Lady so a bunch to read next week.

Shout out to Joe at Dragon Lady: http://www.dragonladyshop.com/

We talk books, including RPGs. Ilan picked up Reign Enchiridion and Tomb of Horrors 4e, and started Pratchett (Guards! Guards). Justin has read up to Unseen Academicals and has his reasons for hesitating there.

Shout out to David at Galaxion: http://galaxioncomics.com/

This week, we didn't play any new tabletop games together for discussion. In video games, Justin finished Mass Effect 2 ("Mass Harder"), Ilan loves the new Transformer game (War for Cybertron).

Ilan played some miniatures games, though - the new Mongoose Judge Dredd Minis Game (Block Wars?) - at Meeplemart, and more Firestorm Armada (against Chris "Wapcaplets" Engler). Also picked up, haven't played, the Battles of Westeros and Fires of Midway board games.

Meeplemart: http://meeplemart.ca

Wapcaplets: http://wapcaplets.podbean.com/

New movies are just around the corner. Scott Pilgrim is due on August 13th, as is The Expendables. Justin is not quite looking forward to Expendables -- perhaps they're trying too hard? We got our first look at the Thor and Green Lantern costumes, which launches us into a debate over continuity, cheesiness, and masculinity.

Then the @OldSpiceGuy settles all debates over his masculinity with over a hundred YouTube cliplets, interrupting himself just to patch an oil spill in the Gulf.

Next time we'll talk about the Rush show, Scott Pilgrim Volume 6, and Movies it's Okay for Geeks to Cry At. At least nobody was hurt.

And! And! A shout out to Richard Morris' "Yet Another Fantasy Gaming Comic", a Canadian (I have to say it!) fantasy webcomic - thanks to listener and friend-since-I-could-generate-a-character Hilary. http://yafgc.net/

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DC Animated and Reanimated, X-Men Utopia, Evil '70s Computers.

Notes and plans:

  • We recorded this episode twice.  The computer ate the first one.

  • G20 Protests going on in Toronto!

  • Ilan read ALL OF BLACKEST NIGHT and bought the toys (Heroclix).  And a bunch of villains unlimited (+ Project OMAC, and Infinite Crisis), in order to read Secret Six.  A discussion of Darth Sue, and Fables Volume 12.

  • Ilan is now watching the rest of Superman Animated and is itching to watch The Justice League, after seeing "Crisis on Two Earths".

  • Also: New Avengers!  Secret Avengers! SHIELD! And Modern Warfare 2.

  • Justin read through Project Utopia, the massive X-Men Crossover.

  • Justin takes us through '70s Cinema!  Logan's Run! Colossus: the Forbin Project!  Soylent Green! Rollerball!

  • Justin talks about Can't Stop the Serenity, the annual

We'll have to try again to get movies it's okay for geeks to cry at recorded.  So close!  At least nobody was hurt.

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We remember fallen visionaries, and also Carl Macek. (Bazinga? No seriously, I love The Sentinels.) We talk about a bunch of comics that were out a couple of weeks ago by now. We didn't have time to cover movies it's okay for geeks to cry at. And nobody was hurt.

Shoe Notes -- "Remember The Artist"

Passing of Frazetta, and comics.

  • Wolverine: LOGAN (Vaughan)

  • Wolverine: Adamantium Men (Aaron) --Britney Backup Dancers and Cabaret

  • 100 Bullets (Azzarello)

  • LTTP: Invincible big fat book 1. (Kirkman)

Documentaries.

  • The People Vs George Lucas (CGI and HD?)

  • Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage (via Objectivisim)

  • Bioshock 2

Digression into Giant Robots.

  • "I don't know why I'm talking about Evangelion"

  • Robotech, "Japanamation"

Transforming Robots, Starcraft 2 Beta

  • Farewell, Carl Macek

Iron Man 2, and back to comics.

  • SHIELD comic (Hickman)

  • Secret Warriors GOOD (Hickman)

  • Marvel Zombeis 3 (Van Lente) -- Better Than Cilantro

  • How it's an unofficial sequel to Nextwave and same goes for Who Won't Wield The Shield

  • Secret Warriors Siege :P (Hickman)

  • Hercules Mini (and errors)

  • "Do Anything" (Warren Ellis) with Robot Head of Philip K. Dick

RPGs and Miscellany.

  • Green Ro-NEEN and DC Mutants and Masterminds

  • Romper Room!

  • Unreason and Dragon Magazine

  • Congratulations, Jerome!

  • Congratulations, Chris!

Last threads, other comics.

  • Scalped and Godland I am reading

  • Patton Oswalt's Firefly Comic Book

  • June 23rd Can't Stop the Serenity

  • Dragon Lady and Joe!

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This week on Squideye and The Bitter Guy, we document our experience as Active Fans and also as Fan-Havers. Ilan reports on his journey to PAX and his meeting with Russ and Nicole of The D6 Generation.  Justin talks of Cindy's journey to the Wizard World show, and of the Squideye and the Bitter Guy Facebook Page.  We also talk about Kirby Krackle's new album, "E for Everyone", and the new Clash of the Titans movie.  And Plants.  And Zombies.

Sources report that nobody was hurt.

Links and stuff coming soon!

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Blog superheroine Elana S (the S doesn't stand for anything yet, but consider voting on her blog) has helped illustrate our discussion of The Dufferin Mall.

Couldn't have even TRIED to say it better myself.

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A little noisy; we recorded at the delightful Green Beanery Café in Toronto, across from Honest Ed's, and we had mics but no shelter from the bustling crowd.  Think of it as "character".  No charge.

Introducing Owen Craig of Mondo Magazine! http://mondomagazine.net/

Toronto Comic-con! http://www.wizardworld.com/home-toronto.html

Blackest Night!

Gail Simone!

Scott Pilgrim! http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/universal/scottpilgrimvstheworld/

And nobody was hurt!

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A Silly Place.  Squideye and The Bitter Guy discuss the upcoming Oscar Nominees - at least the ones they've seen, now including the second subject of discussion: The Hurt Locker.  We also hammer away at Monty Python Fluxx and other recently-played games, discuss weddings in India and in local theatre, and the general state of things.  And nobody was hurt.

Todd Alcott's breakdown of Inglorious Basterds can be found here.

According to Wikipedia, Youth in Revolt was released in 1993.

Andre from blacknerdcomedy.com talks about how Lost hates black people.

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Squideye and The Bitter Guy talk about the comics that came out this week. An experiment in form and format. What do you think?

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Space and Time - BSG, Space Hulk, The Plan, and Remembrance Day.

Wow did this take a while to upload.

Show notes to follow.

Bottom line is we played some games -- Space Hulk and the BSG Boardgame, saw Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, and realized that it's been one year since we met on a cold Remembrance day, rebooted iPhones by the Queen's Park cenotaph, and sketched out plans to initiate this podcast over at the Free Times Café.

I'll get this all typed up, tooootally.

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So, check 'em out!  Our show notes.

This is what was taped to the monitor when we recorded episode 5.

Now available - for great edification of all of you.

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Music of the Spheres (51 minutes) - Even longer, but we're making up for lost time - and episode! "Scenes from a Food Court" is recapped, and then we LAUNCH... into Nerd Rock and Space Opera. The connective tissue is provided by Kirby Krackle (http://www.kirbykracklemusic.com) and their song "Ring Capacity". We're pretty sure nobody was hurt.

Show Notes:

0:25 Cheers! (It's just Fruit Juice actually)
1:10 Scenes From a Food Court Recap; Cthulhu Rising
- 2:15 Under the Mountain, Harness your Twinness; Super-Friends with Benefits
- 3:45 Board Game: Arkham Horror
- 4:40 some 3-D Joe Dante Movie
- 6:10 Really, Arkham Horror
- 9:10 Cosmic Encounter! -- and how to teach players race for the galaxy

12:50 Nerd Music Spectacular!
- 12:50 Darkest of the Hillside Thickets -- Spaceship Zero
- 14:05 The Kirby Krackle
- 15:07 Excerpt from Ring Capacity (30 sec)
- 18:25 Back in the '80s
- 19:35 Do You Want to Date My Avatar, and Felicia Day
- 22:15 Pizza Break; My Roommate the Guitar Hero
- 24:10 Glee

26:25 Things to ask Edgar Wright -- and ANTi-Heroes
28:15 Comics
- 28:15 The Incredible Hulk - Penetrating Public Consciousness, Accessibility
- 30:15 Konnecting Kirble Krackle to Kosmick Komicks
- 30:25 Cosmic Heroes!!!
- 30:55 Lensman and Green Lantern
- 33:55 Cosmics: The Blackest Night
- 35:25 Digressions: Animated Stuff, and Secretary
- 37:15 Letdowns: World War Hulk, Mega-Crossovers, Dark Reign
- 38:41 Our First Bleep
- 39:15 Marvel Annihilation! Cosmic Epics Done Right
- 40:44 The Xanadarian World-Mind: are cosmics inaccessible to laymen?
- 44:25 Marvel Cosmics vs. DC Cosmics (Annihilation/Kings vs. Blackest Night)

46:20 Cosmic Roleplaying: Starblazer Adventures
- 48:00 TSR's Marvel Superheroes, FUDGE and FATE

49:45 Coming up next time! Including "Movies it's okay for Geeks to cry at"
50:10 and we out

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Hey, everyone!

Our first try at episode 5 was, unfortunately, not usable due to technical difficulties and strange mall acoustics.  We've recorded another, non-horrible, episode 5 that'll be up soon! 

Thanks for your patience!

Justin

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Neighbours and Numbers (48 minutes) - This is our longest podcast yet! We didn't have MGK to restrain us this time. Original intention was to review District 9 and Escalation, on a "responsible neighbour" theme. Of course things went wildly out of hand, once we included other media with numerals in the title. We blame the tornado! Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

0:30 The Big Storm, and Smart Cars (about 10 minutes)
2:00 DVDs - Babylon 5 and others
- 2:00 How I Met Your Mother
- 3:00 Babylon 5, lost podcast minutes, and the Battlestar Galactica Board Game

10:45 District 9 - Queens and Prawns (about 15 minutes)
- 17:20 GI JOE
- 23:00 Back to District 9

26:00 Board Games (about 8 minutes)
- 26:00 James Ernest's Totally Renamed Spy Game
- 28:00 Reiner Knizia's Escalation
- 31:00 Reiner Knizia's Colossal Arena

34:00 Role-Playing Games (about 13 minutes)
- 34:00 White Wolf's "New" World of Darkness and Werewolf the Forsaken
- 36:00 The Werewolf Spirit World
- 40:30 Exalted
- 42:30 Spirit of the Century
- 44:30 Desolation and antagonistic GM styles
- 45:00 Our possible Fan Expo games

47:00 Find @squideye and @thebitterguy on Twitter, and rate us on iTunes!

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I knew this would happen!

We recorded this episode a week early, and consequently we remain on our two-week schedule even though we didn't get a chance to record one on our normal schedule.

Next episode: "movies it's okay for geeks to cry at".

Our Internet-famous friend Chris Bird (explosively-talented author and editor of mightygodking.com) came by to make us seem smarter and funnier. We planned to talk about Matt Fraction, but we diverged and had fun anyway, and nobody was hurt.

WARNING: THIS ONE HAS SWEARING IN IT. (The parts about Michael Ignatieff and Greg Land, in particular.)

0:25 - Welcome Mighty God King! Also, Knitting Podcasts. (2 minutes)

3:00 - Board Game: Thurn and Taxis... and zombies? (5 minutes)

7:30 - The Smoothest Segue You'll Ever Hear into Comics, but actually The Toronto Garbage Strike. (4 minutes)

11:15 - What is a '70s hero? Is Iron Man one? (4 minutes)

14:55 - The Nineties: a Time of Ignorance. Spider-Man's Clone Saga. (4 minutes)

18:25 - We try again to talk about Matt Fraction's Iron Man, but then we talk about Greg Land, and Earth Expansion. (5 minutes)

23:10 - Iron Fist! And it's pronounced "Swer-Jin-Ski". (3 minutes)

26:00 - When is it Joe Quesada's fault? Also, how to come back from the dead. (3 minutes)

29:20 - Comic-con! Tron! Marvelman Rights! World War Red She-Hulks! and... Thunder Agents? (10 minutes)

39:00 - Multiverses! (1 minute)

40:10 - Oh dear lord it's forty minutes, Ilan attempts to point this out but we talk about Bone instead! (4 minutes)

44:00 - Pouches, and farewell (2 minutes)

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Behold, our diligence!

We have detailed show notes this time, though they may come out a bit garbled. Still, we are hewing to our iron-clad 2-week schedule, we have something of a theme for this episode, and nobody was hurt.

0:45 Thanks, Listeners

2:00 The Onion: Our Dumb World (2 minutes)

3:50 EcoFluxx (2 minutes)

5:50 Race for the Galaxy: Rebels vs. Imperium (5 minutes)

10:55 Moon (11 minutes)

15:00 MOON SPOILERS

20:00 END OF MOON SPOILERS

22:00 Star Wars: Legacy comics (7 minutes)

25:00 SPOILER FOR ULTIMATE X-MEN, SORRY GUYS

25:15 END SPOILER FOR ULTIMATE X-MEN

28:45 ...The Future, Conan? (45 sec)

29:30 A Note on History (45 sec)

30:15 Happy Landings

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Episode 1: So you think you can podcast.

We're honestly not sure yet.

Herein, we introduce ourselves.  We discuss The War of 1812 (as rendered by Columbia Games).  We "review" the RiffTrax for 1982's epic "TRON", and we talk a bit about The Bitter Guy's initiation into Star Wars Miniatures.

The most important thing, is that nobody was hurt.