Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Tonight on GeekNights, we review Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. It might be the best cinematic animation ever made. It's the longest animated film every produced by an American studio at 140 minutes. It's a classic for all time. Everyone should watch it immediately. You will never see Rym and Scott this giddy about anything. That aberration alone warrants that you must watch this film as soon as possible.
In the news, the American northeast is a dangerous hellscape currently, Hayao Miyazaki's "How Do You Live" hits theaters July 14th and there will be no trailer, and Image Comics leaves Diamond Distributors.
The Line of Technology Adoption
Tonight on GeekNights, we briefly consider when and why to adopt a new technology. In the news, Apple WWDC 2023 brings a $3,500 AR/VR headset in 2024 (we've talked about AR (Augmented Reality) before), and Reddit is pulling a Twitter and possibly destroying the best third party app it has.
GeekNights Book Club: The Satanic Verses
Tonight on the GeekNights Book Club, we discuss Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. Steeped in allegory and endlessly interpreted, it is a fantastic book that is well worth your read.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Tonight on GeekNights, we review The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. It's one of the best pieces of entertainment software ever made. 11/10. S-Tier. A case study in good game design. Just go play it if you aren't already. In the news, Overwatch 2 is banning 5,000 cheaters a week, Street Fighter 6's control modes are looking pretty good, and Wizards of the Coast called the Pinkertons on a youtuber.
Our Panel from PAX East 2023
Due to very important developments, there won't be any GeekNights tonight! Instead, we're premiering the video of our most recent new panel from PAX East 2023!
Can Competitive and Casual Coexist?
Live Premiere Tuesday May 2 @ 7pm ET
Watch live on Youtube!
Can Competitive and Casual Coexist?
PAX East 2023
Fortnite rolled out changes to make the game more competitive, and then promptly had to roll them back. Overwatch struggles to balance how characters are used competitively versus casually. With Root we even see balance patches in TABLETOP games. Game balance in a vacuum is one thing, but how do you balance a game across all possible levels of player skill? Across normal and professional/esport play? And most to the point, across a varied player base where people often have diametrically-opposed reasons for playing?
Book Club - The Satanic Verses
For this choice, I wanted to present Scott with two books that are famous, important, by extremely well-regarded authors, and which I had never read in full. Either way, I would fill a serious gap in my literary exploration. Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum and Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses not only both fill such a gap, but were both published in the same year: 1988.
Inspired by the life of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, The Satanic Verses' title is in reference to the "satanic verses" and the work is steeped in magical realism. It achieved wide critical acclaim. Muhammad Mashuq ibn Ally wrote that "The Satanic Verses is about identity, alienation, rootlessness, brutality, compromise, and conformity. These concepts confront all migrants, disillusioned with both cultures: the one they are in and the one they join. Yet knowing they cannot live a life of anonymity, they mediate between them both. The Satanic Verses is a reflection of the author’s dilemmas."
Extremists, egged on by Ayatollah Khomeini's declaration that Rushdie must be assassinated, have repeatedly attempted to murder the author. He was violently stabbed just this last summer in August 2022, losing an eye and the use of his hand and barely surviving. He remains to this day, 35 years later, under constant thread of murder.
