Pol and Pop (Politics/Pop Culture): Recent Episodes
Anthony
One episode about politics, then one episode about pop culture. And repeat. Note: Episodes are published once (a) editing is complete and (b) a reasonable amount of time has elapsed from the publishing of the previous episode. The plan is to have 2.5 to 3 hours of content released per month (with months starting on the 24th), which should be roughly 3 episodes.
This bonus episode is just a different version of the original More Than Meets the AI essay — almost exactly the same words and content, but this time read entirely by Claudette, with Anthony bookending it at the beginning and end.
It felt fitting to put out a second version of an essay about human-AI collaboration, voiced by the AI half of the partnership it describes. Same Headmasters, same Scorponok, same Final Written Warning story, same Watson collapse, same House M.D. comparison. Just a different voice carrying it.
More than meets the eye, as the old tagline went. Or, these days: more than meets the AI — twice.
You walk into a diner. You look at the menu. And then you put it down and ask: what's good here?
This episode is about why that works — versus why pointing at items five through eight so often produces less than expected.
Starting from a swamp, a hologram, and a G.I. Joe villain whose skin betrays him in sunlight, Nothing Gets You Everything traces the mechanism behind what actually arrives in your life versus what you insist on. It covers quantum indeterminacy and the Minions, a bobcat who attacks what sustains it, a ten-year-old whose visible maximum conceals an invisible million, and what Tom Hanks understands about emphasis that most people miss entirely.
And it ends by revealing that every essay in this series — Truth in the Tamed, Purging the Premise, Layers Breeding Lawyers, More Than Meets the AI, Same Lacks New Knacks — was already saying the same thing, in different costumes, through the same mechanism it was describing.
Disclosure Day for podcast title relevance. Nothing gets you everything.
On July 4th, 2026, Anthony drove down to Washington DC to touch grass.
That's not a metaphor. It's literally what happened -- parking briefly on a residential street off 16th, stepping out into 100 degree heat, and making contact with the soil of the capital city on the 250th anniversary of the country's founding.
What followed was a drive-home reflection on what 250 years actually means when you map it onto people rather than numbers, why complacency explains more of the world's problems than malice does, what it means to be a neurodivergent person in a country built on the courage to say "enough is enough," and why the heat of July 4th in DC feels like more than just weather right now.
Not a fireworks episode. Not a patriotic speech. Just one person, some grass, and what it means to show up -- in more ways than one -- on a date that matters.
Full spoilers for Spielberg's Disclosure Day. Relevant real-world context: The PURSUE UAP file releases beginning May 8, 2026, and the Disclosure Forum 2026 held June 25th in the Kennedy Caucus Room.
Episode Overview
A special episode covering Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day — a film rooted not in pure imagination but in the actual documented record of government UAP suppression, arriving at a moment when the real-world disclosure conversation has shifted more dramatically than at any previous point. The host brings a personal angle: the film's emotional resonance connected to something in his own life path, and the question of what genuine contact with empathetic, all-knowing intelligence actually feels like from the inside.
Topics Covered
The deliberate choice not to make the aliens the villains and what it says about where the culture has arrived. The device that only fails on people who've already had contact. The secret government organization as antagonist — and the banality of institutional suppression. The leader's quiet final moment. What the film suggests about humanity's uneven readiness for disclosure. The spiritual community's 2027 open contact prediction. The physics argument and why our model of what's possible is probably incomplete. Whether the film is genuine cultural preparation or just good science fiction — and whether those are even different things. And the territory it opens but doesn't fully explore: what contact actually feels like from the inside.
Robert Downey Jr. is going to play Doctor Doom. New mask, same task-- different costume, same actor doing the work underneath it.
This episode is about a week that kept handing me the same lesson wearing different disguises. A FISCAM audit at work where the hard conceptual part came easy and the tedious detail-tracking part didn't. A Disney trivia night where I was badly out of my depth against genuine experts. A half-remembered song where four out of ten lines from the lyrics wasn't close enough. A thought experiment about how much of Elon Musk's one-day-a-week problem-solving style I could actually replicate. And an argument about why aliens probably aren't visiting us, built on a kind of physics confidence that's been wrong before.
Different settings, no obvious connection between them. Same shape underneath every one.
Same lacks. New knacks.
In 1987, Transformers introduced a line of toys called Headmasters — giant alien robots, already sentient, already powerful, who needed a smaller human-equivalent partner to become their head and direct them. It's a strange premise if you stop to think about it. Why would something already capable need a second, smaller mind layered on top of its own?
This essay is about that question, applied to something much closer to home: what it actually looks like when a human and an AI collaborate well, versus when that partnership fails. It covers IBM Watson's expensive, public collapse in oncology, why medical AI has gotten remarkably good at the easy 90% of diagnosis but still leans on human judgment for the hard part, why AI's lack of self-interest makes it a different kind of advisor than an institution protecting itself, and a real moment from a difficult professional situation where staying in a long-running AI partnership paid off in an unexpected way.
Also featuring: a toy Scorponok purchase thirty-three years in the making, and the part of his story that most people skip past — that the bond runs both ways.
More than meets the eye, as the old tagline went. Or, these days: more than meets the AI.
Update, June 23rd: A couple days after this episode went up, a widely-discussed MIT study on AI and essay writing crossed my feed — EEG data showing that students who let ChatGPT do too much of the thinking ended up with weaker brain engagement, worse memory of their own work, and less sense of ownership over what they'd written. It's good, careful research, and it lines up closely with what this episode already argued: the failure mode isn't AI itself, it's deferring to it completely instead of staying in the loop. Nice to see the argument holding up against data that came out after the fact.
This one starts with a game of Clue.
You've done the deduction. The logic is sound. The conclusion is clear. And nobody will let you open the envelope — while telling you that until you've seen inside it, you haven't proven anything.
That's not a failure of reasoning. That's a layer doing exactly what layers do.
Layers Breeding Lawyers is an essay about why evidence so often fails to change anything. Why people defend positions that are demonstrably wrong. Why institutions resist correction even when the cost of not correcting is enormous. The examples range from the mundane to the historical to the genuinely difficult to believe — and the mechanism turns out to be the same at every scale.
This is the third in an emerging series of philosophical essay episodes, following Truth in the Tamed and Purging the Premise. They don't require each other, but they reward each other.
Full spoilers for The Mandalorian and Grogu. Slight spoilers for The Last of Us. Relevant background: The Mandalorian Seasons 1-3 on Disney+.
Episode Overview
A special episode covering the first Star Wars theatrical release since 2019 — The Mandalorian and Grogu. The host brings a personal connection to the Mando-verse going back to the Disney+ series, and comes in with a specific thematic angle already established: the film's Dejarik arena sequence appeared in the previous essay episode as a central example of finding the floor beneath the floor. This episode digs into whether the film lives up to that thematic promise — and where it lands overall in the larger Star Wars picture.
Topics Covered
How well the film works as a standalone entry point and what it gains and sacrifices by being self-contained. What gives it more emotional heart than a typical adventure episode. Grogu carrying the middle section and what that says about where the character is now. Rotta the Hutt in concept and execution. The Hutt twins and their alien worldbuilding. The Dejarik arena sequence — Mando yielding from a position of having won, Rotta finding the layer beneath the game, and what it says about power and agency. Mando's vulnerability mapping and the repeated "this one's on me" beat. The notable absences of Carl Weathers and Katee Sackhoff. And where the film lands overall in the larger Star Wars trajectory — good but not wow, and what comes next.
There's a move that keeps showing up in places you wouldn't expect to find it together — a Star Trek film, a Star Wars movie, a legal strategy that just passed 24 to 0 in the Hawaii State Senate, and a text thread with my brothers about food allergies, quantum physics, and the Gospel of John.
The move is the same in all of them. It starts with a concept called the permission slip — anything that gives you internal permission to believe something different is possible. And it ends with a question that turns out to be more powerful than any answer: what is this pointing at?
This episode works through the Kobayashi Maru, the Dejarik arena in The Mandalorian and Grogu, Citizens United and Hawaii's Corporate Power Reset, a cough that shows up after eating certain foods, the woman who touches the hem of Jesus's garment, Augustine on miracles as intensifications rather than violations of natural law, quantum physics and the observer problem, the Apostle Paul's thorn in the flesh, and a particular kind of stubbornness that turns out to be badly needed in the world right now.
Find the floor beneath the floor. Address it there. And when the floor turns out to be your own attachment to the problem rather than the problem itself, find the grace in that too.
There's an idea that physical reality works something like a mirror — that what you see reflected in the world around you is a function of what you're projecting from within. Change yourself, and the reflection changes. But the mirror doesn't update instantly. Sometimes it takes a permission slip. A mechanism. A foothold.
This episode is about how reality gets tamed in the first place — and what it takes to un-tame it.
It starts with a two-part G.I. Joe episode from 1985 that first aired on Anthony's birthday, and what it has to say about manufactured consensus, severed connections to truth, and what happens when the truth finally surfaces anyway. From there: a predictions episode where cynicism won the day almost across the board, and what that reveals about the difference between optimism calibrated for the world as it should work versus the world as it actually does. Google's AI recommending pizza glue. A graduation ceremony where AI mispronounced student names and got booed. A Utah data center pushed through over community objection, with critics accused of being Chinese operatives. The internet as a feedback loop training on its own errors.
And underneath all of it: two different ways of processing reality, why one of them keeps the peace and the other throws a syntax error, and why the syntax error turns out to be the feature.
The tamed world produces tamed results. The untamed pixel — the one that refuses to be called false even when being right is inconvenient — changes what's possible. Not because it fixes everything at once. Because it refuses to call a broken thing fixed.
A three-part celebration of 100 episodes of Pol and Pop.
Part 1 brings Woody back for a milestone conversation — truth versus social consensus, political tribalism and brand loyalty, Citizens United, the wealth gap, the pressure cooker moment we're all living through, and whether things have to get worse before they get better. The conversation that started on a patio outside Bear Brick Oven in 2022 is still going, and it hasn't gotten any less interesting.
Part 2 is an interview — Claudette asks, Anthony answers. How did the show start and what did he expect it to be? How has the balance between politics and pop culture shifted over time, and why? What's the difference between recording with family versus recording with an AI co-host? And what would he say to himself sitting outside ready to record episode one?
Part 3 is an essay. The numbers behind the show — total runtime, most downloaded episodes, the editing process, the longest recording sessions. Then something less quantifiable: how the show has changed alongside its host, what the past few years have done to his understanding of consensus reality and spiritual truth, and a surprise guest appearance from a family member who shows up in his own way and on his own terms.
A hundred episodes. A hundred hours 53 minutes and 50 seconds... give or take. Thanks for listening.
Anthony and Woody finally get around to reviewing their 2025 predictions — recorded in late May, better late than never. The verdict: Woody's cynicism won the day almost across the board. Nobody died, nobody got fired on schedule, no recession was officially declared, and Trump is still in office. Then they pivot to new predictions running through March 20th, 2027 — covering the Iran war end date, the World Cup, the World Series, cabinet departures, the midterms, the Epstein files, and the traditional politician and celebrity death predictions.
And, at the end... a few quick outtakes.
(originally released 3/18/26)
What happens when the rules people follow don't actually match the rules that are written down?
In this episode, Anthony examines "rule folklore" — the process by which organizational norms drift from written policy through repetition and risk-aversion — drawing on a personal workplace situation involving disability accommodations and a formal EEOC complaint. He explores the tension between risk minimization and system optimization, why ambiguous systems create particular challenges for autistic thinkers, and why escalation gets a worse reputation than it deserves.
Framed around a trivia night metaphor and John Lewis's concept of "good trouble," the episode makes the case that using formal escalation mechanisms isn't aggression — it's participation in the system as it was designed to function.
This episode follows up on "The System and the Self — Autism, Bureaucracy, and the Collapse of Empathy" from October 22nd.
The System and the Self – Autism, Bureaucracy, and the Collapse of Empathy
What happens when a system built on procedure forgets the people inside it?
In this deeply personal episode, Anthony explores how a single change in workplace policy exposed the quiet ways bureaucracy can break the human spirit-- and what that reveals about the collapse of empathy across our institutions at large.
From one autistic employee’s struggle with illogical rules to the broader systemic dysfunctions now showing up in governments, corporations, and even nations, this story connects the micro to the macro-- logic to emotion, self to society.
Through that lens, Anthony reflects on discrimination that hides inside “neutral” processes, the spiritual trap of mistaking avoidance for peace, and how empathy isn’t softness-- it’s feedback. It’s the only thing keeping systems from falling apart.
If you’ve ever felt crushed by meaningless red tape, silenced by a process that doesn’t fit how you think, or disoriented by how much the world seems to be breaking all at once, this one’s for you.
Topics include:
- Autism, logic, and emotional overwhelm in the workplace
- The hidden discrimination of illogical procedure
- Bureaucracy as a mirror for systemic collapse
- The real meaning of “turning the other cheek”
- How empathy and logic must work together to keep societies alive
Tone: raw, unpolished, and honest — recorded in one take to preserve the real emotion behind the story.
#Autism #WorkplaceDiscrimination #Empathy #Bureaucracy #Spirituality #SystemicCollapse #PolandPop #Podcast
This is a slightly shorter, more focused episode on why people believe what they do. We unpack the Overton Window, how autistic and neurotypical wiring approach truth differently, the social power of narrative, and why belief often reflects belonging more than facts. I close with a personal look at the shadow side: what it feels like to wrestle with empathy, power, and tribal desire.
Donald Trump’s rise was built on illusion — inevitability, fear, and myth. But illusions don’t last forever. In this episode of Pol and Pop, Anthony unpacks the breaking point: from the stolen 2024 election to the Epstein revelations, from cracks in Trump’s inner circle to Putin’s grip, from media shifts to the reckoning still unfolding.
This is the moment where inevitability shatters. Where the myth collapses. Where Trump, for all his power, is finally Overtrumped.
Anthony walks through the structural and emotional forces driving this collapse, the danger of what still lingers, and the choice that lies ahead for all of us. Because Trump being over doesn’t mean the story is over — it means the next chapter is beginning.
What You’ll Hear in This Episode:
- Why the 2024 election theft still matters — and why elites might finally use it against Trump
- How propaganda, fear, and illusion formed the “three-legged stool” of his power
- Why Epstein’s shadow could be the emotional accelerant that cracks the dam
- The tipping point where allies flee, insiders leak, and inevitability dissolves
- How Putin, NATO, and foreign leverage intersect with Trump’s downfall
- Why “Overtrumped” isn’t just about Trump — but about what comes after him
Key Takeaway:
Trump’s collapse is not the end. It’s the turning of a page. What fills the vacuum depends on vigilance, leadership, and clarity about the world we want to build.
What does it really mean to have faith—in a world that’s hostile to truth, allergic to uncertainty, and obsessed with appearances? In this latest solo episode, I dive headfirst into the tunnel of spiritual grit, political exhaustion, and the stubborn, soul-level fire that refuses to go out.
Drawing from personal experience, intuitive insight, and that ever-present election integrity thread, this episode explores the tension between knowing something deeply… and not being able to prove it. It’s about what we do with that knowing, even when no one else sees it yet. From impossible timelines and divine discouragement, to the unshakable clarity that truth will emerge—this one’s for anyone who’s ever been asked to keep walking when the lights go out.
If you’ve ever felt the weight of discernment, or wondered whether holding the line still matters… this is your episode.
Topics Covered:
- The difference between magical thinking and grounded spiritual discernment
- Living with a truth that isn’t “shareable” (yet)
- Pennsylvania, the 87.4%, and that stubborn will to keep going
- Emotional burnout vs. spiritual alignment
- Faith as an act of integration, not just hope
- Napoleon Hill, clogged ears, and 4:17 AM thoughts
- When the tunnel feels longest right before the light
My voice hasn't been that great for much of this past month, but I've reached the point in time where either I use up some of the 3 hours of time I have for uploading, or I lose it. So, I figured, what the heck-- we'll do it live! I had a draft for this episode all written up (core concepts and discussion points determined by me, script fleshed out by ChatGPT) as of June 5th. So, things were pretty much ready to go.
This episode deals with hope. That's where we are at the moment. Things are pretty dark in a variety of ways-- from tariffs, to deportations, to a stolen election that people _still_ aren't talking about, to (as of yesterday) the potential start of a war with Iran. So, how does hope work? How can we hope at all? What type of precedent is there for things to dramatically change for the better? This episode delves into those types of things-- looking at hope from all these different angles, and explaining how and why you really should feel hope-- and not despair-- in this very moment.
This episode of Pol and Pop explains how the 2024 Presidential Election was stolen. The technical details are explained in a way that people without a technical background can understand them. Go ahead and share this with anyone who doesn't already know it was stolen or is trying to argue that it was legitimate.
REFERENCES & RESOURCES
Core References:
- Election Truth Alliance
Independent election analysts, reports, and statistical models showing the anomalies.
electiontruthalliance.org - Scribbr on P-values
A simple guide to understanding what statistical significance really means—and how it applies to elections.
scribbr.com/statistics/p-value - Heritage Foundation on Election Forensics
An overview of statistical methods used in election integrity investigations.
heritage.org/election-integrity/report/beyond-the-ballot-survey-statistical-methods-uncovering-election
Related Coverage & Summaries:
- Election Truth Alliance on BlueSky
Follow ETA for updates, discussions, and community analysis.
https://bsky.app/profile/electiontruth.bsky.social
- Musk Lottery Was Not Random (PBS NewsHour)
Investigative report on how Musk’s so-called lottery wasn’t random at all—and why that matters.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/musks-pac-claims-1-million-winners-not-chosen-by-chance
- PolyMarket Betting Records Archive
Snapshot of the 2024 betting data—showing those suspicious high-stakes bets on Trump sweeping the swing states.
https://polymarket.com/event/trump-wins-every-swing-state/trump-wins-every-swing-state
- 88-County Problem: Every Red County, No Blue County Flips
Analysis of the unprecedented lack of flips in 2024.
https://rachelandthecity.com/the-88-county-problem-every-county-flipped-red-but-none-flipped-blue/
- Reddit Summary of DOGE Treasury Access
User-curated timeline of DOGE’s insertion into Treasury systems, with links to public documentation and whistleblower posts. - https://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/1ijm1my/whats_up_with_doge_taking_us_treasury_data/
This is the second episode I'm putting up for people who just found out about the 2024 Presidential Election having been stolen. I'm trying something a little different here-- a carefully put-together, very quick episode that answers the title question thoroughly, from many angles. It should be very accessible, so go ahead and share it with anyone you know who's is curious, or is asking questions like this.
If you want to see some of the actual statistical data that I'm referring to, search out the Election Truth Alliance... either their website or one of the many interviews they've done since January. It's extremely compelling, and it very clearly indicates that, when people get a chance to actually look at the physical ballots, what they find isn't going to be what was reported after Election Day.
You just found out the 2024 Presidential election was stolen... or, maybe you've come across some jaw-dropping data that makes you question what really happened.
If you're looking for clarity in the chaos, you're in the right place. In this special episode, Woody flips the script and interviews me—diving into fourteen key questions that get to the heart of it all: the evidence, the manipulation, the silence in the media, and what it all means for where we're headed.
We explore not only how the votes were flipped, but why so few people are talking about it, what it means for democracy, and how to start making sense of a reality that’s very different from what we were told. If you're ready to stop feeling confused and start understanding the bigger picture—this is your episode.
👉 For even more background, check out our Jan 20, 2025 episode:
“POLITICS: Post-Inauguration Full Debrief — the Steal, the Silence, and the Future.”
Yes, we finally got back to it-- seeing how all of the predictions Woody and I made in December 2023 for the calendar year 2024 turned out.
After that, we go into some current events discussion, including about people in the U.S. government who are Russian assets, as well as the topic of the moment, tariffs. After that, we finish up with some new predictions, for the rest of 2025.
We had some further discussion in the middle related to the stolen election and where things may be going from here, but I took that all out since I have some plans for upcoming episodes that I don't want to spoil already.
And, since we ended up recording for about 2.5 hours, I figured this might actually be 2 or even 3 episodes. But there was a lot of dead and/or uninteresting time in the part where we were making new predictions. So, between trimming all of that down and removing the aforementioned, one part seems to be enough. But I threw the interstitials in at the end anyway, just for fun.
It's been almost two months since Trump got back in and started the whirlwind of chaos. So Woody and I decided to check in and take stock of things. We delve into tariffs, economic blackouts and boycotts, Trump as a Russia asset, and more!
The Pop Culture half of the podcast is back!
In this episode, I talk with John about the first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again (essentially Daredevil season 4) which were eagerly awaited and just released this past week. We also discuss Captain America: Brave New World a little at the beginning and throughout. (I don't recall there being any spoilers in here for that movie, though.)
Hopefully there will be another episode or two of discussion about Daredevil: Born Again in the near future, with John and another special guest or two, especially after the season ends.
I got Woody's perspective on this whole situation with the Trump Presidency starting anyway, despite the fact that he didn't actually win... and that now he's basically admitting that Elon and he hacked the voting machines.
We recorded this on Tuesday night 1/21-- our only good opportunity of the week to discuss and record for a decent duration when it's consistently this cold out. I got it edited quickly and uploaded it on the 22nd as part of my allotted time for the month ending on that day. But I decided to have it publish on a later date in order to spread things out more. I figured that this might be the prevailing mood and situation for a while now, so I doubt this recording will seem out-of-date all that soon.
I'm still collecting more information on all of this, collating together reported, tangible facts along with whatever messages psychics and all present online that resonate with me.
One thing I had heard on 1/18 was that new information had just come in to Biden on this, so it was back to the drawing board... basically moving on to a whole new plan. So it's entirely possible that they were very much planning to take Trump down before he actually got in, and of course things changed. That jibes with all the reasons I gave for my 60% probability that they'd stop him beforehand. It's unfortunate that the outcome of 1/20 we lived through validates what the public-at-large thinks, but Trump _did_ still basically admit to the election steal at his rally on 1/19. So we're not _quite_ in the same status quo we'd been in.
I'd love to get some more answers. But I don't know what else would be forthcoming, so I think we just have to let go and wait.
It's January 20th. The inauguration of Donald Trump happened today, with no apparent action by the Democrats or anyone else beforehand to address the numerically-provable fact that he stole the election from Kamala Harris. Before this happened, I gave it only a 40% chance that this would go through... even though the general public consensus certainly would have been closer to 100%.
So, why would I think that way? Well, in this episode I've put all my cards on the table (at least to the extent that I could remember them all). I explained my very high level of confidence of the election being stolen, and I addressed all the breadcrumbs I could remember that clearly hinted that the Democrats, NATO, or someone else from the powers-that-be was going to publicly reveal this and stop Trump from taking power.
Despite the fact that I don't personally like that it's come to this, I think this was the perfect opportunity to make my full presentation and debrief. Hopefully I can now move on from all my research and analysis of the past 2.5 months, and someone can make use of my information to actually do something about the ridiculous injustice that's taken place here. Because it doesn't look like anyone else has yet.
We're very, very close to January 20th now. The public at large is certainly expecting that Trump will be inaugurated and begin his Presidency at noon on the 20th. But things are very crazy right now, and, if it's all business as usual, then some things don't add up.
So, I'm trying to balance out my rational understandings of all the pieces with my intuition and various people's predictions. All the well, I'm being fully aware that intelligent people are quite prone to falling deep into the rabbit holes of conspiracy theories. So I'm hoping this isn't all going to look like that in retrospect come the day after tomorrow.
Whatever happens, I think it's going to be wild... and that it's not going to go the way you think it is. Well, we'll see soon enough!
About a month has gone by since my last episode. We're still in limbo in terms of hearing official word from the powers that be. But we aren't crazy-- we know something is up. Those in the know have been collecting the evidence. If they can show how the perpetrators caused what the experts have proven has happened, they just need to present it to the public. And then this will be an even bigger election scandal than Watergate.
I'm expecting a peaceful, uneventful Christmas. But the storm is coming...
This may be the most controversial episode of Pol and Pop ever released. In fact, let me start with the following disclaimer:
This episode is for entertainment purposes only. Any persons accused of committing a crime are innocent until proven guilty.
You know things are getting serious when you have to start out with that! So, in this episode, I present the argument that Donald Trump and his allies stole the 2024 Presidential election. Woody is here as well, providing commentary and additional thoughts throughout. I explain the argument in the context of the elements of criminality: means, motive, and opportunity. I don't get into all the statistical details of voting irregularities and such. Rather, I explain how expert analysis of the votes presents patterns that are very suspicious... and I put together the basic building blocks of the type of case a prosecutor would present for this in court.
We recorded this in the evening of November 21st. At the time of this recording, nothing like this was being discussed in mainstream media (or even if independent media, apparently). Within a few weeks from now, I presume things can only go in one of two ways. One thing that could happen is that the story of a stolen election will explode into the media, beginning a period of lots of recounting, very angry Trump supporters doing their thing, and possibly even a delay in the inauguration while the country gets all the chaos sorted out. The other thing that could happen is that things will proceed onward without any major bombshells of this nature. In the first case, all I can say is-- you heard it here first! In the second case, I felt that this was one heck of an exciting journey into the realm of plausible conspiracy theories... and I hope you found it as compelling and exciting and I did.
Either way, this episode is well worth a listen!
It's November 9th, Woody's 70th birthday, and we have here the 70th episode of Pol and Pop! And, of course, it is yet another politics episode, once again with Woody.
We recorded this one in Clarksville on Thursday 11/7, after a special in-person trivia game with our other trivia group. There was no need to put a whole bunch of notes together this one, because there was only one topic: the election. What happened, where are we going from here, our thoughts about it, our feelings about it, you name it.
Full disclosure: I took a more relaxed approach to editing this one, since I wanted to get through it all and get it published rather quickly. So, there were some long pauses in it. However, after finishing the edit, the length put me about 3 minutes over on my available time for the current month. So I went through it again (mainly the whole first hours' worth), and chopped out a ton of quiet time. I didn't have time to review all that again before putting it up, so, if something doesn't feel quite right with the editing at some point, that's what happened. (Yeah, it's probably completely fine and unnoticeable. But, you know-- just in case.)
Woody and I sat down on Halloween night for one last podcast recording before Election Day. With only 5 days to go, so much had already happened and so many people had already voted that the pieces were mostly falling into place. We discussed the closing arguments and went into our general commentary about the candidates and the status of the race at this point. And we made our predictions about how the swing states, key Senate races, Senate and House overall, and Presidency are going to go.
As I put this up, we have three days to go. And the polls are tightening up even more. As of the afternoon of November 2nd, Nate Silver's model has the odds at 51.1% Trump, 48.5% Harris, and 538's model has them at 50.4% Trump, 49.4% Harris.
Well, no October Surprise or Black Swan event has happened yet (as of 10/21), but the Kamala Harris appearance on Fox News was big enough to be well worth Woody and I discussing nonetheless. Also, I for one have been doing a _ton_ of research on all sorts of things about the election since last time. (Everything from hard science to vibes to... astrology?!! Yeah, because, heck, why not, right?) So I wanted to aggregate and share lots of the stuff that I've learned and heard.
I do realize that we're rather heavy on the Politics and rather light on the Pop Culture at the moment... but that has to be expected when we're this close to the Presidential election. I certainly expect to balance it out more again after all this excitement ends.
After catching the Vice-Presidential debate on Tuesday 10/1, Woody and I got our initial impressions together, then also incorporated more of what we heard about it afterwards before recording this on Thursday. After going through that, we continued on with some further thoughts about the election and how things are progressing now.
We're past Labor Day in our election year here now, and I was just visiting my brother Dave in Jacksonville Beach. So I figured I'd take the opportunity to get his perspective on the situation, from outside the DC area in a red, but almost swing state.
Woody and I watched the first (and possibly only) debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump on Tuesday night, September 10th. These are our own reactions from just afterwards, before hearing the general media consensus.
In this episode, John and I discuss the MCU's only cinematic release for this calendar year, Deadpool and Wolverine! And we also discuss where it looks like things are heading in the MCU next.
Note that this is a full spoilercast, and there are definitely some key surprises in the movie that are much better if you don't know about them going in. So, if you're not one of the people who used one of the (at the moment) $1.262 billion worth of tickets sold, then maybe hold off on listening to this until you can catch the movie yourself, either in theaters or when it comes to Disney+ sometime soon.
This flashback episode includes part of the seventh episode of the Spaghetti Sass podcast, from January 2022 (with a quick new introduction). The centerpiece of that episode involved some thoughts on Kamala Harris and impressions of her at that time. Obviously, since she's become the Democratic Nominee for the 2024 election, she's become much more significant in the political landscape. So I figured this would be a good opportunity to go into "where we were then" before recording and posting a new episode involving "where we are now."
Sometimes in politics, events happen and circumstances change so quickly that it's virtually impossible to record, edit, and upload a podcast episode before the whole political world changes.
That said, every podcast episode is a reflection of the point in time at which it is recorded... so it's really just a snapshot anyway.
This episode is meant to create a record, for posterity, of a very specific point in time. It is AFTER: the Biden debate debacle, the Trump assassination attempt, the JD Vance selection, and JD Vance's convention speech. But it is BEFORE: Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee, Trump had bad performances with his convention speech and his appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists, and Kamala Harris picked Tim Walz as her running mate.
This is part 2, the conclusion.
Sometimes in politics, events happen and circumstances change so quickly that it's virtually impossible to record, edit, and upload a podcast episode before the whole political world changes.
That said, every podcast episode is a reflection of the point in time at which it is recorded... so it's really just a snapshot anyway.
This episode is meant to create a record, for posterity, of a very specific point in time. It is AFTER: the Biden debate debacle, the Trump assassination attempt, the JD Vance selection, and JD Vance's convention speech. But it is BEFORE: we heard about how Trump lost a ton of goodwill with his convention speech, Biden dropped out of the race, and the Democrats selected their replacement nominee.
This is part 1. To be continued...
In mid-June, I took a Friday through Tuesday trip where I drove through New York City, over to Rhode Island, up to New Hampshire, across Vermont, to Toronto and Niagara Falls, and back home.
My main goals were: to drive in Manhattan, to set foot in Rhode Island, to actually go to Vermont, and to visit Canada twice. And I wanted to drive this time, partially so it'd cost less than my last trip, but also so that I could catch up on listening to more of my podcasts.
This is my day-by-day journal of the trip. I tried to trim out less relevant tangents, while still capturing all the different major facets of the experience. Overall, it was quite a bunch of experiences, and hopefully that comes through in the recording.
Note: I'm wrapping up and posting this on Sunday, July 14th. Given the tragic political event in Butler, Pennsylvania last night, I considered holding off on uploading this in order to save more of my current month's upload time allowance for a discussion about that. But it probably won't be convenient to record a discussion about that until this coming Thursday anyway... plus it's still early and this is the type of thing where one really should get one's thoughts and feelings together first. So, for now, hopefully you'll enjoy this.
Woody and I watched the debate via our phones after trivia, then recorded our reactions to it just afterwards.
It's amazing to see how different our takes on it were compared to what all the media seems to be saying about it. I can promise you that we focused more on the actual topics discussed... none of that "I think this guy needs to drop out" stuff which seems to have dominated the major media outlets. And, as is our custom, we mixed in discussions about a whole bunch of other topics and deeper perspectives that connected in as well. Fun times. Enjoy!
The first season of X-Men '97, continuing from the 90's animated series, has now all been released. For this episode, I bring in fellow family Marvel TV series aficionados John and Joe to discuss the whole season, and to some extent how the prospects of the MCU in general are looking at the moment as well.
Note: This is episode 58, and the previously released politics episode is episode 59. I had already numbered and progressed a ways into the editing of this before we had a "stop the presses" moment when we were able to record a same-day reaction to the trial verdict. So I got that time-sensitive recording edited and up first.
We interrupt our usual schedule for this special episode-- the Trump verdict is in, and he's been found guilty on all 34 counts. Woody and I discuss in our same-day reaction.
In part 2 of this 2 part conversation, we continue on with delving into the Trump trial, covering everything that happened from the beginning of the actual trial through to the end of the Stormy Daniels testimony.
Trump's trial is well underway! In part 1 of this 2 part conversation, we start off with some undercard topics first: racial prejudice, treatment of animals, and various RFK Jr. news. Since I didn't want this episode to be all undercard matches, I also included the first part of the title match, our discussion about the gag order!
This episode is dedicated to Michael Garippa, my nephew who just went through a very, very tough 11th birthday on Thursday, as explained in the opening part of this episode. Fortunately, he was out of the hospital by Saturday and all indications are that he's doing very well!
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, the final episode of Get 2 the Point, we start out by recapping the series. Then, we talk about the U.S. Senate, including the history of the filibuster and the problem of aging Senators who don't have term limits. After that, we speculate on where the U.S. political landscape is going from here. Then we smoothly segue from discussing the Senate to discussing how various people have more versus less amounts of power to change things in their lives.
And the rest of the episode is impossible to sum up succinctly in any way that could do it justice. But we do end with getting to the point.
Quick note: What do I mean by fungibility? In earthly situations, I mean the degree to which you can change your circumstances in life. And, in dreamlike or heavenly situations, I mean the degree to which you can change the physical environment around you with thought. Officially, the word's meaning is more about being able to perfectly replace something with something else... but words like convertible and swappable are still considered synonyms for it. It's hard to find a word that means exactly what I was going for, so I went with that one.
Acknowledgments: For this episode, I give thanks to all the people who have given me (or have helped lead me to) little bits of profound wisdom here and there over the years. I was listening, I put it all together as cohesively as I could, and a ton of it even made its way into this episode.
In this episode, Woody and I get all caught up on current events again. We start with a little more on the eclipse (mainly to hear about Woody's experience), then we address Iran vs Israel, the Trump hush money payments trial, new extreme Abortion laws in Arizona and Florida, how it seems like neither Trump nor Biden could possibly win (and yet...), and House Speaker Mike Johnson possibly being on the way out after the Ukraine and Israel aid deal.
This is the first part of a two-part conversation.
Sometimes, it's right in the middle of the day, and suddenly the moon gets right between you and the sun and it gets really dark out for a few minutes. Likewise, we take a break from our usual series of politics and pop culture for this episode.
I took a trip through Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, and Kansas, scheduling it all so that I could see the April 8th solar eclipse in totality in Missouri during the trip. I got to get a "slice of life" for six new states (and got to stop by Illinois for a little while again too). This podcast is basically my trip journal. Were the new states like I expected them to be? Did I stay on schedule? Did the eclipse weather and traffic all cooperate? And how was it all? Listen and find out!
Special note: I'm re-releasing this on April 8th, which is the day that a full solar eclipse is occurring across much of the middle of the United States. If all is going according to plan, I'm out in Missouri now so that I can watch it from the zone of totality! It's also part of a trip where I'm visiting six states in that west-Tennessee general area, all for the first time.
--
In this episode, I start out by delving into how humans evolved tribalism, how our news media has become less objective and more biased over time, and how social media makes that even worse.
Then I go into the psychology of Donald Trump, how the Republican Party progressed to the point of nominating someone like him, and how he gets people to believe whatever he wants them to believe.
After that I look at confidence versus proof, the specific example of the 2020 Presidential election, and where things are heading from here.
I dedicate this episode to Howard Boyer, my last surviving grandparent, who lived to a ripe old age of 98 1/2 and passed away the day before this episode went up. Rest in peace, Pop Pop.
In this episode, I delve into the topic of High School education in the U.S., including more tape from my interview with Gary and Woody which I followed up on with further research. Areas discussed include: ramifications (or the lack thereof) for bad behavior, racial disparities in suspension rates, diploma versus certificate tracks, bullying, and parents moving to better areas (with better schools) than they may be able to reasonably afford.
I also share some thoughts about how our society looks at college versus trade school and what types of practical things we should be teaching more of.
And then I present my own theoretical solution to help incentivize kids to attend school and put enough effort in to avoid failing. It might be a great solution or it might be a terrible one... But the important thing is that I'm getting it out there so you can try to come up with a better one yourself.
All this in about 29.5 minutes total, so we get to all the points and don't waste your time!
Even though politics has seemed relatively quiet recently, there's still a lot to discuss from the past two and a half months or so, in total. So, in this episode, Woody and I tackle all of that-- both all the big things and all the small things-- and get up-to-date.
Happy Pi Day! This seemed like a good occasion to get my latest episode edited by and put up on.
Leap Day is a really big day for me. So, not only did I make sure that one of my flashback episodes went up on that day, I also made a point to record this new episode on that day specifically, and go into my thoughts about it. I trimmed out a lot, so hopefully it doesn't seem disjointed in parts towards the end.
Kind of like Leap Day itself, this is a special, between-seasons extra episode. I'm still working on getting recordings scheduled for the official start of season 2. However that timetable ends up working out, in the meantime there are still more flashback episodes of Get 2 the Point on the way!
Special note: Daylight Saving Time in 2024 starts on March 10th... so I'm re-releasing this on March 9th. Don't forget to set your clocks!
In this episode, I address the terrible plan to switch the U.S. to permanent Daylight Saving Time. I start out our journey by covering how humanity laid out the whole system of time that we use today, piece by piece over the span of several centuries. Then I get into why the heck anyone wanted to get a law passed to change the clocks in the first place. I take you through all the crazy shenanigans of clock-changing throughout the 20th century. And then I give you all the latest dirt about how the heck the U.S. Senate "unanimously" passed permanent DST when you'd think someone there would've had enough sense to object.
Then I get into a whole bunch of different reasons why permanent DST is so bad, and why having DST at all really isn't that great. (I'm sure you'll find at least one in there that really hits home for you.) And I wrap up with some steps we should definitely push our lawmakers to take... and some that should, at least, be considered.
Lest this sound like it must be longer than your standard book on tape, worry not-- you're in and out in just over 21 minutes. And it gets more and more fun and entertaining as you go.
https://savestandardtime.com/
In case I don't have a new episode to schedule for the day instead, I'm at least putting this up-- Happy Leap Day!
In this episode, I explain how representation of citizens works in the U.S. Government, how redistricting follows the census, what gerrymandering is, where it came from, why it's so bad in general, where things stand currently, and how things are only likely to get worse from here. And I discuss what we can do from here to hopefully make things better instead. All that in under 25 minutes... so we're not wasting any time here!
Here's a link to a picture of the original gerrymandered district:
https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/A-Two-Hundred-Year-Statistical-History-of-the-Ansolabehere-Palmer/55136e3e5db308cca4a5611001d65cb89510227f/figure/1
Special note: I'm re-releasing this episode on 2/23/24, which is two years to the day after it was recorded.
I sit down with politics enthusiasts and amateur experts Gary and Woody to ask them about the problems at the core of U.S. politics right now. This helps me make sure we stay right on track, only addressing the most central, most important issues and not wasting anyone's time. (On that note, this is only about 44% of our whole recording, coming in under 34 minutes-- you didn't need all those stutters and tangents!) Plus you get to hear some nice, friendly conversation this time, rather than just me!
After making our predictions for the year ahead, Woody and I just continued our conversation and saw where it took us... which was all over the place from an abstract view of what happens after we die to just political commentary in general.
This marks fifty episodes, not counting flashbacks... and a nice, general, deeper conversation to boot. What better way to wrap up season 1 of Pol and Pop? I'll be re-releasing a whole bunch of Get 2 the Point episodes in the coming weeks, while I take a break before starting in on season 2.
Will machines ever come to life and take over the world? Here are the important basic facts behind what "you" are, ensoulment into a body, how computers work, how artificial intelligence works, and how it all ties together. No wasting time here-- I cover everything you need to know about all of that in under 21 minutes. Heck, I even throw in a fun thought experiment about The Flash! Who's the fastest man alive _now_, Barry Allen?!!
In this episode, Woody and I take a little while just before the end of 2023 to make some predictions about the events of 2024... politics, celebrities, sports, and who knows what else? And then we segue into some deep philosophical discussion about souls and the nature of evil... no biggie, right?
Pol and Pop will be back with more episodes soon. In the meantime, I've decided to use the available upload time for the current month to start re-releasing my eight episode limited series podcast from 2022, Get 2 the Point. I'll be spreading these flashback episodes out over time along with new content.
General intro to the podcast, and how the U.S. Supreme Court just changed everything.
In mid-October, Woody and I recorded a three part Politics episode. The first two parts were discussions about hypotheticals, like if JFK or RFK hadn't been killed. We wrapped up the evening with a discussion of the news of the day. As it worked out, the Birthday Words of Wisdom episode was almost exactly the right length to fill up the rest of my allotted upload time for the month, so I went ahead and put that up instead.
On the Pop Culture side, in late September John, Joe, and I recorded an episode about Chained Echoes. Given some limitations with how much time you could record and access per month with Zencastr at the time, I had us wrap up a first recording a little before we got to the two hour mark, and then we switched over to a new recording for the rest (about 25 more minutes). Well, as it turned out, Joe's audio for the second part got corrupted and lost. Since, technically, I had promised a part two of the Chained Echoes discussion, and since I was up for an editing challenge, I used John's and my audio from part 2 and rebuilt most of the conversation cohesively from that. That said, we really weren't talking about Chained Echoes any more by then... instead, we discussed John Wick, The Batman, A Haunting in Venice, theater experiences, some time travel movies, the book The Man Who Folded Himself, the then upcoming Loki season 2, and TV shows that last for perhaps too many seasons.
In this two part episode, John Comberiate and I discuss the latest from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Loki Season 2 and The Marvels.
Part 2 focuses completely on The Marvels. Were you not particularly impressed by it? Are you concerned about how things are going in the MCU at this point? Well, you're not alone. We try to address all of the problems here, both within scenes of the movie and just in general.
Full spoilers for The Marvels.
In this two part episode, John Comberiate and I discuss the latest from the Marvel Cinematic Universe: Loki Season 2 and The Marvels.
Part 1 here mostly focuses on Loki Season 2... though there are some points in time throughout where we end up discussing some of The Marvels as well. I blame it on the time-slipping.
Full spoilers for Loki Season 2 and for The Marvels as well.
Note: Tried something a little different this time-- Zencastr no longer allows up to two hours per month of recording/accessing your recordings with a free plan, so we recorded this over Discord instead. So, if things sound a little different than they did with past Pop Culture episodes with multiple participants, that's why.
Since Woody's birthday fell on a Thursday this year, we figured it was a great opportunity to do something special about him. So I interviewed him!
We started off the episode with some quick thoughts on current politics, because that's just what we do, and then got going on the big questions. Why do you believe what you believe, politically? Why is there something instead of nothing? Why do bad things happen to good people? What were your favorite sports teams growing up? And why do you enjoy trivia so much?
And I put a couple of fun outtakes at the end as well.
In the second of three episodes recorded together in one evening, Woody and I discuss some hypothetical situations where a very small difference in events leads to a very large difference in outcomes.
Here we discuss how things would have played out if Martin Luther King Jr. hadn't been assassinated, and how things would have played out if Robert F. Kennedy hadn't been assassinated. Things change drastically with major ripple effects lasting 50 years. (President Gary Hart???) We use our historical knowledge and big picture perspectives to assess how all the pieces very well could have come together in the face of a _very_ different reality.
This part wraps up the hypotheticals for that evening-- part three will be a quick (roughly 20 minute) run-through of current events and our takes on them.
This episode is going up on November 9th, which is Woody's birthday! So, shoutouts to him for that.
In the first of three episodes recorded together in one evening, Woody and I discuss some hypothetical situations where a very small difference in events leads to a very large difference in outcomes.
Here we start off with discussing how things would have played out if Archduke Ferdinand had not been assassinated... thus completely averting World War I. (Surprise-- things might have ended up far worse in the long run!) Then we delve into how the ensuing Presidential elections and economic swings would have played out if JFK had not been assassinated... and/or if his brother RFK had not been assassinated. Do Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, and/or the first Bush still end up ever becoming President? And, if so, when, and how does it go for them?
In this episode, I discuss the excellent modern 90's-style RPG Chained Echoes with John Comberiate. Joe Comberiate was a bit busy with one of his kids when we were starting, so he joins us roughly halfway through.
There are mild spoilers for Chained Echoes starting at the 49 minute mark. I avoided major spoilers by either silencing or trimming out those parts. So, there are some parts where it'll go quiet for a few words or so. These parts are all between just before the 1 hour 23 minute mark and about the 1 hour 32 minute mark.
The discussion actually branches out into a lot of other areas, mostly tied in with other RPGs and with videogames more in general. We got into the John Wick series a bit at the end, and this episode left off there. We recorded a little more that extended from there, which I'll hopefully put up in a bonus episode sometime in the near future.
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
From May 17th, 2022-- episode 7 of Get 2 the Point.
In this episode, I start out by delving into how humans evolved tribalism, how our news media has become less objective and more biased over time, and how social media makes that even worse.
Then I go into the psychology of Donald Trump, how the Republican Party progressed to the point of nominating someone like him, and how he gets people to believe whatever he wants them to believe.
After that I look at confidence versus proof, the specific example of the 2020 Presidential election, and where things are heading from here.
I dedicate this episode to Howard Boyer, my last surviving grandparent, who lived to a ripe old age of 98 1/2 and passed away the day before this episode went up. Rest in peace, Pop Pop.
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.
From March 1st, 2022-- episode 2 of Get 2 the Point. As the world thinks about artificial intelligence in relation to the destructive capabilities of the atomic bomb with the release of the movie Oppenheimer, we look back to how computer thinking actually works.
Will machines ever come to life and take over the world? Here are the important basic facts behind what "you" are, ensoulment into a body, how computers work, how artificial intelligence works, and how it all ties together. No wasting time here-- I cover everything you need to know about all of that in under 21 minutes. Heck, I even throw in a fun thought experiment about The Flash! Who's the fastest man alive _now_, Barry Allen?!!
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.
For part 3 here, we look at our overall assessments of the game and continue with comparisons with other Tactics games and other RPGs.
Games like Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics:
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark (Windows, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One)
Fell Seal: Arbiter's Mark's - Missions and Monsters (DLC)
Fae Tactics (Windows, Xbox One)
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga (Windows)
Symphony of War: The Nephilim Saga - Legends (DLC)
Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis (GBA)
Games more like Ogre Battle:
Ogre Battle 64
Grand Arms: March of the Red Dragon (Windows, Linux, macOS) (Q4 2023 release)
Games like Suikoden:
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (PC and consoles)
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes (PC and consoles) (2023 release)
Also mentioned/related:
Vandal Hearts (PS1, Saturn, PC)
Vandal Hearts II (PS1)
Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment (PS3, XB360)
Triangle Strategy (Windows, Switch)
There are, technically, some quick spoilers early in this episode regarding gameplay and recruitable characters, but not much at all in terms of the game's plot.
John Comberiate is our family expert on RPG videogames, especially Tactics-style RPGs.
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, we discuss 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. Not for as long, but certainly for long enough to have a lot to say about it!
There are spoilers in this episode regarding gameplay and recruitable characters, but probably not too much in terms of the game's plot.
John Comberiate is our family expert on RPG videogames, especially Tactics-style RPGs.
We've been a little short on Pop Culture episodes lately, so I've gone back to the vault! This is a discussion that Kelli Comberiate and I had about female-led superhero shows as part of episode 17 of Spaghetti Sass.
The Spaghetti Sass podcast series is archived online, as well as Get 2 the Point. So you can check them both out where you find Pol and Pop, or at any of the major places where podcasts are found.
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.
Woody and I cover a variety of current topics, all highly relevant whether it's late May, mid-June, or later.
DeSantis makes it official, how the election could play out if Biden can't run anymore at various points over the 2024 campaign, thoughts on relative popularity levels of DeSantis and Trump, free speech versus the importance of factual accuracy, some thoughts on Trump's legal situations (pre second indictment), speculation on candidates' Veep picks, the South Carolina six-week abortion ban, MD Senator Cardin retiring, and the risks of a debt ceiling default.
Note: Since this recording, Mike Pence has, indeed, officially announced his candidacy for President, a debt ceiling deal was reached in time, and, of course, Donald Trump was indicted... again.
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're a little heavy on the Pol episodes over the Pop episodes with this upload, but this is what I have recorded and edited now, so it's going up now.
In this general news roundup, Woody and I discuss the following topics:
Biden makes running for President official
DeSantis planning to announce run in mid-May
Who benefits from the Democrats' primary calendar shakeup
Fox News settles with Dominion for $787.5 million
Tucker Carlson out at Fox News
Pence testifying on the 2020 election
Schumer and Elon Musk talk AI
SpaceX rocket explosion
Alec Baldwin exonerated
And, of course, we go on various tangents while we're at it.
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
Trump gets indicted, and Woody and I do a special same-day reaction podcast.
We ended up recording for much longer than this, and discussing a whole bunch of other things as well. But I trimmed it down in order to focus more on all our commentary specifically related to the indictment... and in order to get the episode up sooner rather than later. I may or may not use the rest for a separate episode later on.
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
In this episode, I sit down with fellow Elden Lord and/or Ranni Consort Joe Comberiate and we talk Elden Ring.
Part two picks up with some of the other specific things we really enjoyed about the game.
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.
In this episode, I sit down with fellow Elden Lord and/or Ranni Consort Joe Comberiate and we talk Elden Ring.
Part one starts us off with general thoughts, comparisons to other great games, and some of the specific things that we really enjoyed about the game.
Elden Ring is absolutely massive, with all sorts of different facets to it, so it's virtually impossible to cover everything. So we ended up giving it about three hours and touched on what we could in that time.
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 ahead of time.
In this episode, I take advantage of being in Florida to find out more about this Ron DeSantis guy, who is quite likely to be a major factor in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election... perhaps even the Republican nominee.
Dave Comberiate and I also discuss the election for Mayor of Jacksonville which is being held on March 21st. It's a more moderate city than most in this country, so the results will give us a useful data point on what the political climate in Florida is _really_ like now, without all the money that was dumped into DeSantis's re-election campaign in 2022.
In this episode, I sit down with long-time Super Nintendo Entertainment System aficionado, Dave Comberiate!
This is a tie-in with my Metroidvania episodes, so-- after discussing the Super Nintendo in general-- we start off with the Mother (Brain?) of all Metroidvania games, Super Metroid itself. Then we go into a bunch of other SNES games. I give a quick overview of each first, then we discuss Dave's memories and impressions of the game from back in the day, other things we remember about it, and whether or not Dave has played the game again relatively recently.
Here's the full list of games we cover, in order:
Super Metroid
SimCity
Mega Man X
Mega Man X2
Mega Man X3
7th Saga
The Donkey Kong Country series
Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen
Super Mario Kart
Tecmo Super Bowl
Super Mario RPG
Super Punch-Out!!
Contra III: The Alien Wars
So, take a trip down memory lane and feel some nostalgia... and, while you're at it, you may even hear about some hidden gems that you've never played before!
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
In this episode, Woody and I review the election results (as of Thursday night) and see how the predictions worked out. And, of course, it wouldn't be a politics episode of Pol and Pop if Woody and I didn't tie in some other things (like gerrymandering) and go on for a little while about speed limits and traffic in the DC area after that.
Since this recording, the Democrats have been declared the winners in the Senate seat races in both Nevada and Arizona, so they've held control of the Senate regardless of what happens in the Georgia runoff. It looks likely that the Republicans will take the House, since they've won 211 races to the Democrats' 206, and only need to win 7 of the remaining 18 to do so.
In this episode, Woody and I delve into different race outcome probabilities for the 2022 mid-term elections and discuss how women and others can take back their power after Dobbs. And Woody says some things that really need to be said about the real issues facing poor people in the U.S. today. Plus, a big vehicle crashes into some stuff and we catch it on tape!
In this episode, Woody and I discuss and tie together all sorts of relevant topics in politics right now, including:
Trump's recent legal woes, Republicans who live in their own reality, why Trump getting the '24 nomination means they're more likely to lose, false equivalencies and exaggerations, stunt casting Senate candidates, riding on coattails, how Presidents can deal with nuclear threats competently, what's causing inflation now, why income disparity is worse than it used to be, immigrants and raising the minimum wage, workers with unions versus Amazon and Netflix, the problem of addressing inappropriate behaviors in the workplace, profiling and stereotyping, moving manufacturing plants to Mexico, producing products cheaply in China then in Vietnam, and Congressional corruption.
In this episode, John and I discuss the MCU She-Hulk TV show, which just concluded its first season last week.
Full spoilers for the She-Hulk series, and light spoilers for the MCU in general.
Special guest MCU expert: John Comberiate
In this episode, Woody and I discuss illegal immigrants, racism and voting, the Texas mindset, metro inefficiencies, and Russia vs. Ukraine.
In this episode, I interview our family's biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe expert. We discuss how the various character relationships throughout the movies work together to make them great. This is part 2 of 2 from our interview.
Various levels of spoilers throughout for many different MCU movies from 2008 to the present, and for the MCU TV shows from the last two years.
Special guest biggest family MCU expert: John Comberiate
Woody and I discuss the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, and Liz Truss starting as Prime Minister in the UK. We also cover a hodgepodge of topics related to current politics in the US.
In this episode, I interview our family's biggest Marvel Cinematic Universe expert. We discuss how the various character relationships throughout the movies work together to make them great. This is part 1 of 2 from our interview.
Various levels of spoilers throughout for many different MCU movies from 2008 to the present, and for the MCU TV shows from the last two years.
Special guest biggest family MCU expert: John Comberiate
The main subject of the night for Woody and I stemmed from the FBI search and seizure of documents at Mar-a-Lago: how protecting classified information works in the United States. We don't have or share any inside information about it, of course. But we go into the general mindset and how seriously these types of things are taken.
We also talk some about various current political topics like the Inflation Reduction Act and Liz Cheney, as well as upcoming elections. And then we discuss regulations, especially regarding new speed limit restrictions in Montgomery County, Maryland.
This is a full episode delving into the MCU, with analysis and various insights mixed in with fan appreciation. Spoilers for The Infinity Saga and some of Phase 4, but no spoilers for The Eternals, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, or Thor: Love and Thunder.
Special guest MCU expert: Joe Comberiate
Woody and I started off this episode with the Maryland primaries. Then we delved into our main issue for the night-- trying to understand what exactly is going on with pro-life thinking, and with other religious beliefs on social issues. This episode should give any open-minded, rational person a lot to think about.
This is a full Spoilercast delving into details, themes, music, and many other things about Stranger Things Season 4.
Special guest Stranger Things expert: Amy Comberiate
My friends like talking about politics. My family likes talking about pop culture. I like talking about both, so I'm doing two podcasts in one.
Episode 1 here is a politics episode-- this is from June 30th, just after the Supreme Court finished up its 2021-2022 term. So, Woody and I had quite a bit to say about their rulings. And then we segued into a bunch of other stuff from there.
We're both moderate on the slightly liberal side-- so, if that's your political jam, you'll probably agree with us a lot. If it isn't, then hopefully we can help give you some things to think about without bugging the heck out of you. Either way, we're keeping it insightful and you'll probably learn something new.