Horror News and Parasyte
Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about two horror(ish) anime that we're watching recently: Horror News and Parasyte -the maxim-! But first, Rym (and Emily) are obsessed with Ikuhara's currently running Yuri Kuma Arashi (Lesbian Bear Storm) (Love Bullet) the Oscars (no surprise) snubbed those Chinese cartoons, and Sex Criminals is getting a TV series.
We're going to be live at PAX East 2015 with What is Losing?
Never Trust Lenovo Again
Tonight on GeekNights, we discuss Lenovo's egregious violation of trust in bundling ad-inserting SSL-attacking malware with their computers. The malware included a SuperFish self-signed SSL certificate allowing straight-up man-in-the-middle attacks, complete with the now-known password "komodia". Even better, "komodia" is an obvious reference to the Komodia Redirector Framework, a ready-made SSL manipulation tool. EVEN BETTER, the Komodia site is now down under the load (and a claimed DDOS). The US Department of Homeland Security has gotten involved, at least one lawsuit has begun against Lenovo, and companies like Microsoft and McAfee have added SuperFish to their antivirus software. We humbly suggest that you never trust Lenovo hardware ever again.
In other news, Rym and Scott lost some money in a bad bet regarding Apple and OSX's Gatekeeper back in 2012, Waze is angering NIMBY Luddites by better utilizing public roads, and the US government move a tiny step closer to actually doing something resembling the right thing regarding Net Neutrality.
King's Forge
Tonight on GeekNights, we review the mediocre King's Forge, serving alongside Ground Floor as an example of why Kickstarter tabletop games are more often than not best avoided. In the news, Club Nintendo is dead and more old Star Wars games have come to GOG, including the last of the great Star Wars freespace shooters: X-Wing Alliance.
Don't forget to come see us live at PAX South 2015 with Bad Games on Sunday! Also, be sure to check out Rym's new Advance Wars streaming series.
Song of the Sea
Tonight on GeekNights, we review Tomm Moore's fantastic Song of the Sea. It's far and away better than The Secret of Kells, itself an excellent film. Before that, Rym has re-discovered the at-one-time-well-known 90s shows The Critic and Duckman, which are both... interesting... from a modern perspective (and available on Youtube). Ghost in the Shell joins the long line of failed attempts to adapt anime into live action in the US, complete with the whitewashing, and one of the last major comic cons that's actually about mainstream comics - Emerald City Comic Con - moves under Reedpop's control.
GeekNights Returning Next Week
Due to multiple extenuating circumstances, we've been on hiatus since PAX South. Fear not, GeekNights will return in another week. For now, just sit tight, and we'll see you again soon.
We are also returning for PAX East 2015, where we will be presenting a lecture titled "What is Losing?"
What is Losing?
Friday, March 6th
4:30pm
Bumblebee Theatre
The point of a game is to win. Or is it? Can you "win" Gone Home or The Stanley Parable? Is losing a game of Dwarf Fortress the same as losing a game of chess? Why is Super Meat Boy's difficulty exciting, while Silver Surfer's is painful? Does one lose Monopoly due to player skill, or because you flipped the table? What if we played games that focused not on the "narrative of victory," but instead on the "narrative of failure?" Do games need to have a way to "lose" in the first place?
The History of Losing
PAX Australia 2014
I presented "Losing" at PAX Australia 2014. This is an excerpt from that lecture covering, essentially, single player videogames. From Super Meat Boy to Silver Surfer, Don't Shit Your Pants to The Stanley Parable, Five Nights at Freddy's to Gone Home, I consider Narratives of Victory, and Narratives of Failure.
Book Club - Watership Down
First published in 1972, Watership Down is a classic novel, well known and well loved, following the journey of several rabbits looking for a new home. Rather than anthropomorphize them, they are presented decidedly rabbitish. They don't wield swords or build towns: they're just rabbits, and they have a distinctly non-human sensibility and perspective. The works that have drawn (often heavily) from Watership Down are innumerable, and it's well worth a read.
