It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown
Tonight on GeekNights, we consider the 1966 Peanuts television special It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. From an exploration of PTSD and the horrors of war to the inherent fanaticism of religion, it has some surprisingly nuanced elements. In the news, Makoto Shinkai's Weathering Skis will be in American theaters, but you can see it early at Anime NYC, and Disenchantment season 2 is surprisingly good!
Low Power Modes
Tonight on GeekNights, we talk about low power modes. In the news, Facebook should be broken up for having destroyed Internet media, San Francisco explores regulating emerging technology, you probably don't care about AMP or OpenJS, and we hope you remember these things.
The Logistics of Moving
Tonight on GeekNights, Scott having just moved, we consider the logistics of moving. We did talk about this on a GeekNights episode from 2006, but we are older and wiser in this terrifying new age. In the news, the Blizzard situation continues to evolve, the impeachment of Donald Trump becomes more urgent by the hour, we learn about the Sergeant at Arms, all utilities should be nationalized, and we hope you enjoyed the meteor showers.
2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt
Tonight on GeekNights, we review a train game - 2038: Tycoons of the Asteroid Belt. We assume that you are at least somewhat familiar with train games. In the news, Scott buys some jeans, hockey season begins, China is trying to censor The NBA and Activision Blizzard.
Thank You PAX West 2019!
Thank you PAX West for a great weekend of games and some amazing crowds!
You can see video of our panel - The 40 Games You Must Play - on youtube. And if you just need the list of games, the slides are right here.
If you're looking for The 40 Tabletop Games You Must Play, we haven't uploaded it yet, but you can see video of the (mostly) same panel from PAX East, and you can find the slides from PAX West here.
GeekNights will be on hiatus for two weeks after PAX while Rym is in London, but will return with your regularly scheduled podcast right after.
The 40 Games You Must Play
PAX West 2019
These may not be the top 40 games ever designed, nor are they the top 40 influential or otherwise important games. If you aspire to really understand games, or if you have visions of designing your own, these are 40 games that, if you play them, will give you the widest possible perspective on what it means to make a good game (and what "good" even means).
Book Club - The Tale of Genji
What better selection for the book club than the first novel of all time? And of course, we have to read the best possible unabridged translation. No baby mode here at GeekNights
The plot revolves around Genji, who is the son of the Emperor and a low ranking concubine. Genji is removed from the line of succession, and proceeds to go on an epic journey. The journey involves tons of romance and court drama. Spicy!
Despite being older than any other novel, The Tale of Genji has a tremendous amount of relevance to the geeks of the 21st century. The influence of Japan on nerds around the world is undeniable, and a surprising amount of things we see in pop culture are present here in a book from the 11th century. I'm quite confident after reading it how we will notice how many newer stories have been making references to this tale without us realizing it.
Also, I feel the need to point out that this first novel ever written was written by a woman. For all these reasons and so many more, this is more than worthy of book club selection.
