Project Hail Mary, MagSafe Phone Tech, & Alice in Wonderland Pinball
About This Episode
We head to the theatre for the new Ryan Gosling sci-fi adventure film currently crushing it at the box office, discuss upgrades & accessories to bring MagSafe features to older phones, and test-drive that new 80%-scale crowdfunded pinball machine from Wonderland Amusements.
(May contain some explicit language.)
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Show Notes
- Armada Audiobook » amzn.to/4ddx0kM
- Project Hail Mary » youtu.be/P0XN3-n-2Lo?si=xTwMfBxv61QnMuzD
- Young Sherlock » amzn.to/4rUc5qn
- Rooster » youtu.be/L00r5BGgP64?si=XJfZCMOp1U5h9xd-
- Universal Metal Ring Sticker for Magnetic Charger » amzn.to/4t5HQ0F (affiliate)
- Magsafe Car Mount » amzn.to/3PC0Fdu (affiliate)
- Swivel Car Mount » amzn.to/41IG5L6 (affiliate)
- George’s Christmas in March » amzn.to/4tfaT21 (affiliate)
- Planet of Lana » store.steampowered.com/app/1608230/Planet_of_Lana/
- Planet of Lana Live Stream » youtube.com/live/aeCdHbAkVb4?feature=share
- Defense Grid 2: Aftermath DLC » store.steampowered.com/app/1080920/Defense_Grid_2__Aftermath/
- AGTN Pinball » www.atgames.us/
- Outcome » youtu.be/NQQqInahTAM?si=YECzT3vr5Gn3XTJP
- For All Mankind S05 » youtu.be/zojwKLlY_H8?si=yk6bG9nah_vcFs2W
- Replaced » youtu.be/C3bbZ_I8Ehg?si=4mlnxqhA-GroIqas
- Email the show » podcast@genxgrownup.com
- Visit us on YouTube » GenXGrownUp.com/yt
Transcript
| Speaker | Transcript |
| Jon | Welcome back. Gen X grown up podcast listener to this episode 208 of the Gen X grown up podcast. I am John joining me as always. My buddy Mo. Hey Mo. |
| Mo | Hey, how’s it going? |
| Jon | Good. Good. Would not be a show without George. Hey, George. |
| George | Hey, how’s it going, everybody? |
| Jon | In this episode, we’re going head to the theater for the new Ryan Gosling sci-fi adventure film currently crushing it at the box office, discuss upgrades and accessories to bring mag-safe features to your older phones, and test drive that new 80% scale crowdfunded pinball machine from Wonderland Amusements. |
| Jon | You get Two guesses who’s talking about pinball and the first one don’t count. So yeah so looking forward to finding out all those topics and more. But first, it is time for the fourth listener email portion of the show. You know, we’re here. We’re liable to listen. There’s three of us. But if you listen and write us an email and we get it, you are the fourth listener. And the fourth listener for this episode is longtime listener and supporter Verne. |
| Jon | So Vern dropped us an email. The subject line was ready. Player one. So very recent. |
| Mo | Oh, okay. |
| Jon | Very recent. All right. ah Here’s what he has to say. By the way, it starts off pretty scathing. Seriously, dudes. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | OK. You have to give ready player to another shot. Yeah. OK. If you go with lower expectations, it’s actually a great read. |
| George | well |
| Mo | Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. |
| Jon | that’s That’s that’s that’s quite a setup there. |
| Mo | wait wait wait wait wait That applies to anything in the world, isn’t it? |
| George | it’s just it’s like he’s chastising us for saying that we don’t like it because it’s a lesser than novel to the first one and then he says go in with lower expectations what |
| Jon | Just and look, expect garbage and you’ll have a fine time is what he said, I guess. |
| Mo | Yeah. Well… |
| George | if you expect that battery acid to sear your tongue you’ll be just great |
| Jon | i said |
| Jon | You’ll be pleased. Yeah. He says also, i don’t get how someone who did a full Prince episode complained about too much Prince in the book. I’m not even a Prince fan and I enjoyed it. |
| Mo | It’s like it it was like Prince was the only musical artist of the 80s. It was like there was no other musical artist like Bruce Springsteen didn’t exist. |
| Jon | Really? Yeah. |
| Mo | Sidney Lopner didn’t exist. I mean, there’s a million other things they could have added. |
| Jon | I didn’t get that deep. |
| Jon | let’s see he I know, right? He goes on to say, plus, why hasn’t anyone mentioned Armada? It’s Ernest Cline’s other book, and it’s packed with just as many 80s references as Ready Player One. While RP1 and RP2 explore virtual reality, Armada is like the last Starfighter meets War of the Worlds. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Mo | Hmm. |
| George | Okay. okay |
| Jon | Okay. i I don’t know. I haven’t read it. so um |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | He says, even if you skip RP2, you absolutely have to check out Armada. And yes, Will Wheaton narrates the audio book for that one, too. So that sounds good. |
| Mo | That’s pretty cool. |
| Jon | Yeah. In fact, Mo, I’ll throw you the link for you to put in the show notes. Actually, Vern provided a link to that over on Amazon. So you can check that out. |
| Mo | Awesome. |
| Jon | So I might might try the audio book. Sure. Anyway, he wraps up by saying, I was deployed with the Navy at the time. And after seeing a buddy reading Ready Player One, I asked to borrow when he was finished. |
| Jon | ah Let’s see. He wraps it up by saying, was deployed. I was deployed. Vern wraps it up by saying, I was deployed with the Navy at the time, and after seeing a buddy reading Ready Player One, I asked to borrow it when he was finished. |
| Jon | He handed me Armada instead and told me to read it first because it was just as good, and he was absolutely right. Hmm. way Just as good. Okay, that’s that’s a high bar. Wraps it up by saying, your favorite Southern California fourth listener, Vern. |
| Mo | this is this system |
| George | That’s awful presumptuous. |
| Jon | Yeah, well, yeah list the others. I mean, that’s the first one I can think of. So I’m going to give it to him for today. For this episode, I’m going give it to you, Vern. We appreciate that you wrote in. We appreciate your advice. And I might check out the audio book of Armada. So, hey, fourth listener, if you would like your email… |
| Jon | Hey, fourth listener, if you would like your email feature here on the show, it’s drop dead easy. Just hit us up at podcast at genxgrownup.com. Read every single one that comes in. And most of them, like Vern’s, will eventually make the show. |
| Jon | All right. With that good business behind us we’re going to jump into the body of episode 208 right after this very quick break. |
| Jon | Let’s get the ball rolling. Talking about media we have been enjoying since we last spoke. Now, of course, this could be comics or books or television or movies or whatever you’ve been to enjoying. |
| Mo | Yeah, so movie I was looking forward to for about a year when they started doing previews for it. um |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Mo | Read the book, loved the book, terrified of what they’re gonna do with the movie, and it was Project Hail Mary, and they knocked it out of the freaking park. It was… |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | it was Enough of the book that hit all the beats, all the major beats of the book. I couldn’t think of anything that was missing. And acting was amazing. The way they did Rocky, the alien was amazing. |
| Mo | The story, I mean, everything. I mean, I knew how it was going to turn out and I was still getting like tense during scenes. Like, I mean, I know how his book ended, um but still it was, I just thought was fantastic movie. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. Well, you and I got to go together. it was one of the rare instances. We used to feel like used to go to movies a lot. Back in the day, we lived closer together, I think. But we actually get together for this one. So ah you don’t have to ask me if I saw it. You already know. And the thing that was, it was almost three hours long. |
| Jon | And I mentioned to several people, at no point was I checking my watch or checking Got bored. The pacing was really good. And I think what helped a lot, and I didn’t read the book like you did, what helped a lot for me, aside from a great story, well told, well acted, all the stuff that you know you already alluded to, is the way they tell two stories from the past and the present and And you’re never bored. |
| Jon | Like, you’re never like, let’s get back to this part. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Let’s get back to this part. Each time they kind of leave you on a little cliffhanger for what’s about to happen next in this little moment in time. And they jump you back to kind of get some texture about how we got here. And then something crazy happens and they jump back to resolve the cliffhanger they left last time. |
| Jon | Has nobody else figured out this amazing structure for a film? Because only does it keep it moving, but there are multiple stories for me to be engaged in. And it’s not like a Pulp Fiction where you’re jumping around in time. They’re both linear. |
| Jon | But that kept the really kept the film moving for me. And I love that so much of the special effects were practical. |
| Mo | Yeah. I think it made a difference. You know, I think you could see that it wasn’t a whole lot of CG. um And when they used it, I think they used it really well. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | You know they they kind of used it in certain spots, but it wasn’t like the whole thing was one big CG thing. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Didn’t call attention to itself. Certainly not. |
| Mo | In fact, the thing I found was that the alien was actually a puppet, which blew me away because the the whoever was controlling that thing |
| Jon | Isn’t that cool? Yeah. |
| Mo | was amazing because I had no point in my head said, wow, it’s kind of moving like a, but you know, it never crossed my mind at all. I thought for sure that that part was CG, quite honestly. |
| Jon | And did you hear that the the puppeteer was the voice that ended up being the one that voiced it? Yeah, apparently he practiced with Ryan Gosling so much that it’s like, that’s the voice. Like, that’s what that’s the one. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | there’s Nobody else is going to replace him, apparently. So, yeah, it just became organic. So it’s it’s almost like you feel happy that it’s doing well because of how they made it and how it was created and, you know, the writer and everything. |
| Mo | Mm |
| Jon | Because that was the writer of, um what was the other Spacey movie? |
| Mo | The Martian. |
| Jon | The Martian. Yeah, same guy that wrote it. Yeah, yeah, I enjoyed it too. |
| Mo | So, yeah. |
| Jon | And it wasn’t like the, I read it was only the second only movie to gross over 80 million in the last decade in its opening weekend. |
| Mo | Yeah. The last one was Oppenheimer, I think. |
| Jon | of Oppenheimer was the other one. Yeah, it had a really big splash. So, yeah. |
| Mo | Yeah. So like I said, I think this shows that there’s a market for like good movies still, you know? |
| George | Thank you. |
| Mo | And they said like, I think, will you tell me about this, John, that, you know, they’re saying how to get people back to theaters and they’re like, make good movies and people will go to the theaters, you know? |
| Jon | Right, yeah, of course. |
| Jon | That was something Ryan Gosling said at a viewing, right? |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | He’s like, it’s not up to the audience to bring movies back. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | It’s up to us to make things worth seeing. |
| Mo | Yeah. Yeah, for sure. But yeah, I mean, I can’t recommend it enough. If you haven’t had a chance to see it, absolutely go see this movie. So that but that was me. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| Mo | So how about John? Did you watch anything else this last few weeks that’s worth mentioning? |
| Jon | You know, there there very much is something worth mentioning. And it’s kind of odd for me because I have trouble sometimes, I’ve told you, getting into new series because I end up rewatching old series and stuff like that. |
| Jon | And someone suggested to me a series on it’s so it Amazon Prime and it’s called Young Sherlock. Now, I have a link in the in the notes. |
| Mo | Oh, yeah. |
| Jon | Don’t click on it yet because you don’t know about it. Have you heard about this series yet? or Are you watching it? |
| Mo | I’ve watched a couple episodes. |
| Jon | Oh, you have watched some of it. |
| George | Yeah, it’s on my list. |
| Jon | What about you, George? |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Is it? Okay. All right. So maybe you’ll know all of this. Maybe you won’t. I don’t know. But… So the idea is this is supposed to be like, look, we’ve had young Sherlock Holmes, of course, and we’ve had lots of Sherlock you know films and series and stuff. |
| Jon | We even had the ah Benedict Cumberbatch Sherlock thing we had, which I enjoyed somewhat. |
| Mo | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | But here’s the thing, the premise of young Sherlock that got me in the door, the the premise got me, the actors got me, and then found out the director, I was really in. So this is like Sherlock Holmes, |
| Jon | first case apparently and it’s not he wasn’t like setting out to be a detective or anything but ah you get to meet his brother Mycroft who’s his older brother and he yeah ah he’s been in trouble for pickpocketing or actually pickpocketing and then trying to get rewards from people by handing them their wallet back and he he gets released from jail and his brother says I’m arranged for you to go to Oxford and and so they bring him to Oxford but he’s there as basically a valet a servant and in the midst of visiting there he meets Moriarty, James Moriarty. So they’re not enemies at this point. They’ve just met. And they’re actually like this buddy cop thing. They’re not cops, but there’s this buddy. They’re both kind of these ne’er-do-well young men in their 20s that have been attending Oxford. And in the course of some, a series of things go down and he gets charged with the murder of a professor at Oxford. Now we all know he didn’t do it, but everyone else thinks he does it. And I won’t spoil any more about it, but |
| Jon | When I tell you it’s directed by Guy Ritchie, that surprised me that a Sherlock Holmes series would be directed by Guy Ritchie. And I’ll tell you, is it not? |
| George | But it’s not the first. |
| Jon | What else has he done? |
| George | No, Guy Ritchie did Sherlock Holmes movies. |
| Jon | i didn’t know he did Sherlock stuff. |
| George | He did the ones with, ah I think he did the ones with um Robert Downey Jr. |
| Mo | Oh, really? |
| Jon | Did he? I didn’t know that. |
| George | I think so. I’m not 100% sure, but I thought. |
| Jon | Oh, okay. |
| George | Let me go look it up while you guys are talking. |
| Mo | Okay. Yeah. |
| Jon | All right. Okay. Well, yeah. So my thing going in was like, do I want to watch a young Sherlock, you know, a young, whatever, young, somebody, you know, that a lot of people do those, but it just feels so much, obviously like a Guy Ritchie movie, the pacing, the action scenes, the, I was just talking about how a Hail Mary was just so well paced. And I’m just a couple of episodes into this. I was going to watch one and couldn’t, I had to watch the second one because each one kind of leads you into the next one. |
| Jon | As much as you like like The Gentleman or any of those Guy Ritchie kind of films, the way there’s like the the banter back and forth, the way he shoots it and the way he handles communication back and forth between the characters, it’s so witty. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | And I would tell you, I love the guy playing Moriarty. This kid is amazing. like I’m like, oh no, he becomes a bad guy later. But right now you can see that they respect each other, but ultimately you can kind of tell Moriarty is is out for his his own… |
| Jon | we know well-being first but he’s still a pretty good friend right now and it’s it’s painting the two characters in a way i never imagined that i would ever see them i really enjoyed it |
| Mo | Yeah, I really enjoy it too. I think that the the part that grabs me is that one, when I saw young Sherlock, I was like, okay, how young are we talking? you know But it’s college age, you university age. |
| Jon | no right is yeah yeah yeah exactly |
| Mo | So they’re not like little kids. So I was like, okay. And then um the fact, more the adding of Moriarty and the fact that they’re probably the two smartest people there. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Mo | You know, and there’s and you see the competition between the two also. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | You see that there’s like a semi-friendly, semi-not-friendly, who’s smarter, who’s not smarter kind of thing going on. |
| Jon | The rivalry. Right. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. one another. Yeah. |
| Mo | Which I think just also makes it like a very interesting movie. I mean, TV series. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | So, yeah, I’m really enjoying it. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah, me too. |
| George | So I looked it up and yeah, I was right. Guy Ritchie directed the Robert Downey Jr. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Oh. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| Mo | Oh. |
| George | Sherlock Holmes films back in 2009. |
| Mo | He did both of them. |
| George | And I hear you guys talking about the formula like it’s something, you know, shocking and new and you weren’t expecting it. This is Smallville just in Sherlock Holmes. |
| Jon | Yep. See, I skipped Smallville, but you’re right. |
| Mo | Yeah, I did too. |
| Jon | The idea of, right, him and Luther. |
| George | Well, it’s the same thing. |
| Jon | i see what you’re talking about. Yeah. |
| George | They grow up together, then they become rivals later on. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| Mo | ah |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | And it’s not like also we don’t have another young Sherlock Holmes titled thing that has the same formula as well. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Because the original young Sherlock Holmes movie, which was the first movie to use CGI, as matter of fact, was |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Yep. |
| George | it well not first cgi anyway a whole bunch of stuff in there but um yeah so uh that one he was he was mentored by moriarty moriarty was his teacher who ended up you know being the bad guy and he had to you know chase him down in the egyptian temple under the london underground whatever all that stuff so i I don’t think they’re breaking new ground with this, but because I love Sherlock Holmes, that’s why i wanted to watch it. |
| Jon | Well, yeah, the stained glass, think you’re talking about. Yeah, yeah, it was awesome. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| George | And the fact that Guy Ritchie did, I thought, a serviceable job with the Robert Downey Jr. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| George | stuff because putting those two people together to put something that’s supposed to be a thoughtful character and add action and stuff to it, I thought that was going to be crap, but it turned out to be kind of fun. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | I mean, Jude Law did a decent Dr. Watson, I thought, in those films. And yeah I’m looking forward to seeing this sounds like you guys enjoyed it. So I think it’ll be a blast. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Yeah. I didn’t know all those other details. Like you said, I didn’t watch Smallville, but very good point there with, you know, Luther and and Clark, of course. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | And, you know, I just never had I known maybe the guy, Richie, was the director of the Robert Downey ones. Maybe I would have been more into watching those. But I’m just, I’m not the, since I’m not the cinephile that you are, obviously, George, I didn’t know about all those other previous connections. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | So it makes logical sense, I guess, ah that Guy Ritchie would do it. But ah it it’s, I will tell you that of the films I have seen, or in this case, the miniseries that I have seen of anything about young Sherlock, including the Cumberbatch thing, this is the one I have most enjoyed in recent history. |
| Jon | So it’s, it’s, it isn’t, There’s plenty of thinking like you would have in a Sherlock thing, a deduction. And they, by the way, going love this, George. Mo knows this already. When he’s doing some kind of deduction, the world goes into this like slow-mo world where they’re thinking back on what they remember, but they’re like, where are you? inside of my very elaborate imagination. And they’re like reliving and looking at things in the world. And it’s really clever. It’s a way to show his genius. |
| Jon | And maybe yeah I see you kind of smiling like you’ve seen that before already. |
| George | So yeah, kind of like the Sherlock TV series. I mean, that’s what they did there. |
| Jon | Did they do that there? |
| George | And Guy Ritchie did a little thing like that with the 2009 Yeah. |
| Jon | oh yeah. There go. Well, there you go Well, it’s all repetitive, but it’s damn fun to watch. So there we go. So i’ve I’m really enjoying I would recommend it. So, ah George, how about you? What have been watching, man? |
| George | Yeah, i I picked up on the new Steve Carell series called Rooster. |
| Mo | Oh yeah, i’m curious about that |
| George | ah |
| Jon | Oh. |
| George | this So Steve Carell, my son and I were talking about this after watching episode two the other night. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | We think that he is… probably the best cringe actor in comedy stuff of anyone we’ve ever seen in the past or present. |
| Mo | He’s up there. |
| George | um He, he just does those roles in those situations better than anybody. And Rooster is that exact same thing, but in a different format than say what he had in the office and much more turned up than what he had in a space for. |
| George | So He is the father of a young a university professor who is going through a divorce because her husband cheated on her. |
| George | Nice little side reference. The husband is the same actor who played Jamie Tartt in the Ted Lasso series. So he’s he’s a familiar face as well. |
| Mo | Oh, okay. |
| Jon | Okay. okay |
| George | There’s also John C. McGinley plays the university president. And um we also noticed in episode two, or at least I noticed that Alan Ruck is there as one of the professors. So they’ve got some sprinkled in talent that you’ll recognize along with some new faces. |
| George | He comes rooster, um, Steve Carell’s character is also a prolific, well-published and best-selling author of like these kind of romanticized spy novels where it’s a James Bond style character. it takes advantage of women and gets the bad guy and all that kind of stuff. |
| George | He goes to this place to help his daughter deal with this impending divorce and separation. And while he’s there, All kinds of craziness happens. John C. McGinley keeps trying to pester him to take on a job at the university as ah like a lecturing famous writer kind of position thing. And he at some point, he eventually just says, look, if your daughter wants to keep her job, because I’ve got to choose between one of those two professors and… |
| George | her husband has the better credentials. So I’m going pick him, but if you would take this job, I’ll keep her on just blackmailing him. |
| Jon | Ooh, a little blackmail. |
| Mo | Thank you. |
| George | Essentially. Um, there’s an inept cop in town who gets involved in a whole bunch of different storylines in the first couple episodes. There’s also another professor that kind of finds, um, Steve Carell’s character, attractive and kind of throws herself at him a little bit. |
| George | Um, it’s just It’s just fun. It’s a nice diversion. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | It’s got some laugh out loud loud moments as well as some like hit you in the feels moments so far. And I think this will end up being better than Space Force. |
| George | I enjoyed Space Force. But there’s no question in my mind that The Office was far superior to Space Force as far as a Steve Carell vehicle. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | Okay |
| George | I think this one will sit at a comfortable number two if you like Steve Carell TV series. He’s back to what he used to do in The Office as the manager, and now he’s he’s just bumbling his way through these cringy situations, one after the other with all the different characters, and it’s just fun to watch. |
| Jon | Hmm. Is it like a, so based on your description, it sounds like it’s kind of a sitcom with some dramatic elements. And I’m guessing it’s probably like little 20, 30 minute episodes. |
| George | e |
| Jon | It sounds because you talk like it’s pretty easy to consume. |
| George | Yep. |
| Jon | Is that fair to fair assessment? |
| George | Yeah, i think they’re I think they might be 45 minutes, but I’d have to go back and look. |
| Jon | Oh, maybe the longer. |
| George | Because honestly, it goes so fast, I didn’t even really pay attention to the time, which is another feather in its cap. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | Okay. Yeah. that’s That’s a testament. Yeah. All right. |
| George | it’s It’s a solid series. I was looking forward to it when I first found out about it, watching some other trailers and stuff on YouTube. And if you liked The Office or you enjoyed Space Force, I don’t have any doubt that you’ll enjoy this series. |
| George | And even if you didn’t like those or didn’t enjoy them in any way, shape or form, this is just simply a very well-written and well-acted series so far in the first two episodes. |
| Mo | okay |
| George | So it’s worth at least one chance to decide if you want to continue on with it or not. |
| Jon | that’s him Until the next one, yeah. |
| George | They’re releasing them weekly, so it’s not all dumped at once. which I also appreciate because, you know, it kind of leaves a little bit on the vine, so to speak. |
| Mo | she says |
| George | So you’re not just like going through all of them and then you’re like, well, crap. Now, what do I do for the next 363 days of the year? um So it’s it’s a fun series so far. And I think it deserves this season, certainly. And I could see it being a couple, maybe even three seasons. I don’t know if it has enough legs to go beyond that, but it all depends on where they take the story. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | Okay. Cool. So look, three for three. um I spoiler alert. I don’t know that every segment of this show is going to be a three for three recommendation, but enjoy this moment while you have it. So three for three, the media segment, stick around. We’ll be back. to jump into tech and toys. |
| Mo | I’m going jump into Tekken toys with something that’s not terribly exciting, but very useful, which was that um my now my wife has the newer iPhone and and I bought her one of those magnet chargers, you ones that just stick, you know, I forget what they’re called. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Okay. |
| Mo | The ones that charge wirelessly, basically, it just sort of sticks to the back of the phone. |
| Jon | Oh, like a MagSafe power bank thing? |
| Mo | Yeah, MagSafe. Yeah, I forget the exact name for those. |
| Jon | One of those? Yeah. |
| Mo | But for some reason, the case that she put on it prevented that from working like it couldn’t get |
| George | Oh, because there wasn’t a strong enough lock. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| Mo | Yeah, it wasn’t strong enough to get through that. |
| George | Yeah. luck yeah |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Mo | So I tested that. I said, oh, if you hold it right there, it does charge. It’s just that there’s no magnet thing to kind of keep it centered right where it should be. So I figured somebody has the same problem. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Mo | They probably figured this thing out. So went to Amazon. Yeah, they did. So I found these basically they’re just metal rings, um magnet rings that are very thin that basically you just have a sticky side and you just glue it right to the back of the |
| George | Yep. |
| Mo | case right where you need it to be for the charger did that works 100 every time it just works great they were really inexpensive if you have to buy like three at a time or something you can’t even buy one they’re so cheap to make and i was like okay i i love it when you can find like a cheap easy solution to like a problem rather getting or a new case rather than all this i could just go ahead and just get one of these things and stick it on the back of the case and you’re good to go |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | So I have a question that I didn’t expect this question, but your wife’s problem was that she had a phone that already supported MagSafe, but the magnet, the case was not, the magnet wasn’t strong enough for the case. |
| Mo | Yes. |
| Mo | Right, correct. |
| Jon | Right. So my problem was, I have a unfold have a phone that’s so old, it supports Qi charging, but doesn’t have MagSafe. So it doesn’t have the magnetic ring at all in it. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | And I’ve seen that we’ll sell you these magnets. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | But the problem is, you’ve got to know, by God, exactly where to put that magnet on a phone. So in your wife’s case, you just match the other magnet up. That was easy. |
| Mo | Well, actually, i I put the charger on the back until it was charging, saw where it was, and then I just stuck the magnet right there. |
| Jon | Oh, okay. Oh, okay. ah So I was wondering how you would figure out the right place to put it, because once you put those 3M stickers on there, good luck. |
| Mo | Oh, yeah, there’s that coming off, that’s for sure. |
| Jon | You’re going to throw that thing away. So, okay. |
| Mo | So, yeah, so don’t buy one because I got three. |
| Jon | All right. so Oh, so you use the charger as the guide. I get it. |
| Mo | I got three, so don’t buy one. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Mo | I’ll bring it to you. |
| Jon | Okay. All right. |
| Mo | So, again, not terribly exciting, but useful and really handy to have. So with that, what do you got for us, John? |
| Jon | Yeah. Well, so that kind of plays right into what I got. As um as I mentioned, I have a phone that does not have MagSafe. And so I didn’t trust myself to buy a sticker to to put in the right place because I wasn’t smart enough like you were to figure out how to line it up. |
| Jon | So I bought a case for mine that has the MagSafe. It’s specific here for your phone, so it’s in the right spot, obviously. You have it the phone Yeah, and I think you do the same thing, George. |
| George | Mm hmm. |
| Mo | Oh, |
| Jon | We have the same phone right now still, don’t we? The 22 Ultra or something? |
| George | No, we do not have the same phone. |
| Jon | Oh, you you upgraded your last phone. |
| George | No, I have the Z Fold seven. |
| Jon | That’s right. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | youre You have a fancy new phone, but you used to have the same one that I had. |
| George | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Yes. |
| Jon | So now my phone has MagSafe. But the first case that I got, it was too thick and it would interfere with my GPS signal in the car because it had like a kickstand and everything. |
| Mo | oh wow |
| Jon | So I downsized that. And when I did, I’m like, okay, I’m tired of trying to fumble with my phone on a little pad in my car for charging. So ah like you, Mo, not incredibly riveting new technology. |
| Jon | But a really good in quality, I went looking, I want to say it was maybe $10 or $16 or something right around in there, MagSafe car mount. So it’s, again, it has a 3M adhesive to put it on your dash, but then it has the not only the magnet mount, but also you can plug it in so it’s not just a mount, but it’s a charger. |
| Mo | Oh, OK, OK. |
| Jon | all at the same time. And this one I thought was quite nice. It came with the 3M mount, which I used. It had extra adhesive, which you can use. It also came with a little, the screwy grip thing that you can put on an air conditioner vent. |
| Mo | Oh, right. |
| Jon | You know, one of those things to grip on there. |
| Mo | Yeah. to To mount your phone. |
| Jon | I’m worried it’s going to break my AC vent or something. |
| Mo | Yeah. Yeah, know. |
| Jon | Anyway, it has a number of little things. And I’ve been using it for… I don’t know, for two weeks or so now since I got it. And it’s exactly what I needed. It puts my phone up out of the way so it doesn’t fall when I, you know, used to be I would turn a corner and my phone would end up in the passenger floorboard, you know, go flying. |
| Mo | Or worse, between the seats. |
| Jon | But now it stays put. Yeah, it stays put, stays charged, and I’m taking advantage of a MagSafe on. And oh, by the way, and and I wouldn’t need to buy what you got because mine, if I didn’t have the cool case, mine also came with one of those little rings so you can line up and you can say you have that option too. |
| Mo | Oh, there you go. |
| Jon | So… |
| Mo | All right. |
| Jon | Just like you, I’ll throw you the link you can put in the show notes for anybody who has a similar problem that we had or just wants to upgrade what they’re doing with that. |
| Mo | Sure. |
| Jon | so |
| George | Well, hold on one second there, because I just threw a link in there for Mo to also put in, because I got one of these car mounts about six months ago. |
| Jon | All right. Uh-oh. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| Mo | Oh, OK. Oh. |
| George | But the one that I have, I think might be a little bit better than the one that John got. |
| Jon | Ooh. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| George | Um, it’s $24. |
| Jon | All right. |
| George | So it’s a little bit more expensive or no, wait, that’s yeah, that’s, uh, yeah, that’s it. |
| Jon | Well, we know it’s better then. |
| George | So, um, The thing I like about mine, it has an articulating arm and it spins around the base and the base um sticker part is the thing that I think is ingenious on the one that I have, because instead of it just being one flat disc that sticks to your dashboard or wherever you want to mount it, each one of the pieces are cut into slices like pizza pie. |
| George | So you can mold it to the uneven surfaces of your dashboard or wherever you want to put it. |
| Jon | Oh, that’s like the like the the mount surface. |
| Mo | Oh. |
| George | Because oftentimes here in Florida, |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Those damn things, if they don’t get perfect adhesion, they fall after after six months or a year or something like that. and I’ve been using this one for six months with my Fold 7, which is a very heavy phone with the dbrand case especially. |
| Jon | In the heat. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | And I have had zero problems. I can maneuver this thing around fast. I mounted mine on the top of the dash and I have the swing arm coming over the dash and it actually, because I have the Z Fold 7, it unfolds in a way that it becomes my monitor instead of having to replace the in-dash thing that my older car has. |
| Jon | Ooh. |
| Jon | That’s like a big Tesla screen for you now. It’s like a giant tablet-y thing. |
| George | Kinda, yeah. |
| Mo | Wow. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Mo | And it can support that much weight. |
| George | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Mo | Wow. |
| Jon | That’s surprising. |
| George | Absolutely. |
| Jon | All right. Good. Well, good if you have a cheap old phone like me, try mine. |
| George | Yeah, so… |
| Jon | If you have a fancy new heavy phone like George, that sounds like a pretty good… |
| George | he |
| Jon | The idea that you can unfold it and make it That’s worth its weight in gold right there. I hadn’t thought of, because really no way to use those phones in your car otherwise, but you found a solution. That’s neat. |
| George | Yeah, I like the articulation in it. |
| Mo | Nice. |
| Jon | Huh? |
| Jon | That’s sounds good. |
| Mo | Yeah. So, but that wasn’t what going talk about today, George, was it? |
| Jon | All right. |
| George | No, it wasn’t. I just decided I would ambush John’s tech toy there for a second. |
| Mo | Oh. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. We’ll take it though. We’ll take the bonus. |
| Mo | Yes, absolutely. |
| George | But no, I wanted to talk about something that I received here in March that was supposed to get to me in Christmas from the same gentleman whose email John read at the beginning of the podcast, Vern. |
| Mo | ah |
| Jon | Oh, yeah. |
| George | So Vern listened to our, um, our gift guide video, either the one on YouTube or the one here on the podcast. I’m not sure which one, but he says he sent a note along with what he gave me. |
| George | he says, uh, for George, I know it’s not exactly the one he asked for in the gift guide video, but it’s the one I had around. And I thought that George might get more use out of it than I have been. Vern. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| George | Um, now, What he sent me was the MyArcade. I believe it’s the MyArcade. John can fact check me on it because he knows these devices better than anyone. |
| Jon | Yeah. Yeah. |
| George | The MyArcade Atari 50 handheld unit. Is that correct? |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | Because they got so many of them, I can never get the right… |
| Jon | 100%. That’s right. |
| George | and |
| Jon | yeah it’s It’s my arcade. It’s the Atari 50. Absolutely right. Yeah. |
| George | So when I opened it up, John gave it to me while I was over in Jacksonville this past week. And when I opened it up, the first thing I said was, I think I might already have one of these. Well, I’ve been looking around. |
| George | I can’t find if I do have one. So now I have one of these, thanks to Vern. |
| Jon | Now you do. |
| Mo | Nice. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | But it wasn’t the only thing that he sent in the package. He also sent one of those devices that’s from John’s friend who does all the 3D printing mod things for the handhelds and stuff. |
| George | What was that guy’s name, John? |
| Jon | Right. |
| George | that Patrick or… |
| Jon | Paul, my buddy, Paul. |
| George | Paul, there you go. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Something with a P. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | um He sent me one of those that’s specifically designed for this unit that makes it a little bit more user-friendly to hold and grip onto. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | it’s It’s like a thing that you slide the unit into and then it’s got like the same kind of whole hand sections that like a Xbox controller might have. |
| George | The little wing pieces and everything. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. |
| George | It doesn’t replace anything. It’s just, you slide this into it. It fits perfectly, snaps in. It works great. So now I have this awesome new old system that I was supposed to get in Christmas, but I got it in March. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | Sweet. Ha ha ha |
| George | I just had a lot of fun having Christmas in March. |
| Jon | ah |
| George | Thanks to Vern and John. It was awesome. And Paul. |
| Mo | ha. |
| Jon | Yeah, that’s great. you know it’s It wasn’t like we’re holding it back on you. Vern sent it to me for convenience, and I’m like, next time I see you, and then I was thought I was going to see you in January, and then I didn’t. |
| Mo | Ha ha ha. Ha ha ha. |
| Jon | and i thought I was going to see in March or February, I guess, and then you had to leave early. and so So finally, sorry, Vern, for the delay, but we got it to George finally. |
| George | see |
| Jon | So appreciate your kindness. |
| Mo | sister |
| Jon | Merry Christmas, George. |
| George | exactly |
| Jon | It’s almost spring. All right, I think we’re good in there. Anything else? |
| George | yep no good games oh yeah |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Yeah. All right. Lovely. Give me one second. I’m going pull something up. Yep. Give you excuse me one second. I’m just going pull it up for reference. |
| Jon | near near Love it. Okay. Thanks. |
| George | All right. Games 5, 4, 3. All right, gentlemen, time to talk about games. Let’s go ahead and jump off with John. What is it that you’ve been playing since the last time we all talked? |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| Jon | Yeah, so this is a game from 2023. Now, it hit my radar because the sequel just came out, and therefore, you know what happens on Steam. The first version of the sequel drops to low, low prices as an advertising method, or as a way, hey, buy the bundle, buy the old one and the new one, right? |
| Mo | Right. |
| Jon | So this is a game called Planet of Lana. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | And it came out in 2023. Initially, it was probably like 15 or $20 game. I think when I picked it up, it was like $2.99 or something. Right. So the thing that caught my attention is, and it had been, i think it was on my wishlist for a long time. |
| Jon | I know what it was. And it went on sale because the new one and said, you know, get the email that says, oh, it’s on sale now. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | So for three bucks, I’m like, yeah, definitely. Now, it’s you know, I love Metroidvanias. This is not really a Metroidvania. um I did a live stream for this one not too long ago over on the YouTube channel, and I had a lot of people comment and I would agree with them. They said, this is like Limbo if it was and a beautiful full color oil painting. |
| Jon | So rather than dark and morose and somber and creepy, This takes place, you’re this little girl named Lana, and the entirety of the game is is voiced, but not in a language that’s real. |
| Mo | Hmm. Hmm. |
| George | ah |
| Jon | So all you understand really are people’s names. You’ll go, Lana, blabi but du but but bla la but lana you know, like it’s… It’s like symbolish or something. It’s clearly a language-ish kind of thing. |
| George | Right. |
| Jon | So you have to understand what’s going on from context, not from just listening to dialogue. And what happens is it’s ah a beautiful, lush environment. Lana and her little sister have this village that’s alive with all these people. |
| Jon | And you start the game kind of… traipsing through the woods and over things and under things. It’s a tutorial to teach you how to move around. And then as you get to this little clearing, the sky’s getting dark and you see these streaks in the sky like contrails. Something crashes down. Aliens are invading Lana’s planet. |
| Jon | And one grabs her big sister and takes off. You run back and there are all these all the people are gone. |
| Mo | okay |
| Jon | They’ve all been captured by these monsters. And so it’s up to you as the only member of your your little village to find out what’s up with the alien invasion, save your sister, hopefully get the village back, |
| Jon | The mechanic I really enjoy, I remember, George, a few weeks ago, you talked about a game where you have a raccoon on your back that you can throw to reach things, to to get things done. |
| George | Mm-hmm. Yep. |
| Mo | Hehehehe. |
| George | Yep. |
| Jon | The smash and grab game, right? So this has a character like that. |
| George | yep |
| Jon | And I don’t know what he is. i don’t He’s like a monkey, cat, dog, something. You know, he’s got like a long squirrely tail and everything. But he’s Lana’s pet. You get about an hour into the game. And you use him to solve puzzles. Great puzzles where you have to either… |
| Jon | figure out how to make this big pipe organ, play the right notes to open a door or platforming where you have to send the monkey to pull a trigger or a switch so you can jump up and then go clear those. So it’s, it’s platforming. |
| Jon | It’s puzzle solving. It’s beautiful. I mentioned it looks like an oil painting and it really does. You know, we see a lot of these parallax designs where there’s stuff in the background, the clouds and the trees and stuff, but every layer of that has that kind of like a soft brush oil painting look to it. And it’s, It’s gorgeous to look at. Every once in a while, you’ll notice the sky starts to get dark because something bad’s about to happen. And it’s very stark comparison to the rest of the game that, unlike Limbo, isn’t just in the middle of the darkness and you’re trying to survive and see everything. You can see very clearly, you just have to use the environment and your little monkey pal dog guy to solve the puzzles. |
| Mo | Is the is the tone of the game like very serious? Is it kind of playful? Is it? |
| Jon | Well, they’re very high stakes, ah but, but, |
| Mo | OK. |
| Jon | but but they They clearly have a wonderful planet and they’re very, very happy. So it’s not like there’s this overtone of like the government’s out to get you and all this. Right. So they have a very lush, almost idyllic environment that these aliens have appeared for. So I would call it serious stakes, but not ominous. So it’s, it’s to not lighthearted really, because you definitely have high stakes. You’re trying to save these people. |
| Jon | So it isn’t, it isn’t oppressive, I guess is what I’m saying. It is hopeful because, you know, it’s in the daylight and you’re solving puzzles and you’re making progress. and And I’m sure that answers your question. Hopefully gives you idea. |
| Mo | Yeah. Yeah. |
| Jon | Okay. Anyway, so Planet of Lana, definitely recommend it. It’s on sale right now. You can check it out. And of course, I’ll give you a link to throw in the show notes for the live stream that we did, Mo. Cool. right. |
| Jon | Speaking of, Mo, ah that’s me. |
| Mo | Mm hmm. |
| Jon | What have you been playing? |
| Mo | So actually, it’s an old game. um |
| Jon | Hmm? |
| Mo | So I’ve been, you know, it started again. So actually, it’s an old game that i played. Actually, it came out almost 12 years ago. It was called Defense Grid 2. |
| Jon | Mm. |
| Mo | Probably one of the best tower defense games I’ve ever, ever played. You know, um there’s a story behind it. |
| Jon | Mm. |
| Mo | The graphics are amazing. you know, it’s one of those games that I keep on my computer because every now and then I’ll just jump back to it and, you know, try to improve my level, improve my score or something like that. |
| Mo | 12 years gone and they came out with a DLC like two weeks ago for this game. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| Mo | So they added some more levels. They added a new tower type. The AI story, like the whole story behind the thing where aliens are invading and da-da-da. um What I don’t like about most of the tower defense games is that they’re usually like kind of cheesy graphics, you know, and it’s not very… |
| Jon | Mm, okay. Right. |
| Mo | I don’t It’s more like once you kind of figure out, okay, if I put enough of these one towers up, I’ll just win, you know, or if I just do, you know, this… These games, the strategy is pretty intense. They have things that come in fast, slow, shields, no shields, and you can now build things to counter those things. But of course, you have to like slowly build because you don’t have all your points up front and that kind of thing. |
| Mo | Amazing game. And just the fact that they came out with the DLC, you know, 12 years after it came out. um And it’s apparently it’s doing very well to it. It’s selling really well on Steam right now. |
| Mo | And it’s just an amazing game, especially if you are looking for a really good tower defense. |
| Jon | So let me get this straight. This is more than a decade old and the DLC is brand new. |
| Mo | Yeah. Brand new, brand spanking new. |
| Jon | like It’s a surprise. They wouldn’t just do a sequel or ah the third version, you know the defense three. Why would they just, I mean, that’s good. It’s nice that they do it, you know, in piecemeal like that, but no good on them, I guess. |
| Mo | Yeah, I don’t know. i actually have no i no, I don’t know why they did it that way. um |
| Jon | We’ll just be grateful. |
| Mo | Yeah, and you could get, of course, like you said, they dropped the price. So now, you know, you can buy the ah DLC is like $6 or something like that. ah You can buy the original game for, i think, nine bucks. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| Mo | But if you wait, you can find it on sale for like five bucks someplace if you wait a few weeks. But again, if you enjoy these games, absolutely 100% recommend that you just jump on this one. It’ll suck you in and eat a lot of your time. |
| Jon | Defense Grid 2. All right. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Cool. |
| Mo | So, so I heard one of us might have pinball. So wasn’t you, John. was It wasn’t me. |
| Jon | It wasn’t me. |
| Mo | what do you got for us, George? |
| Jon | It wasn’t me. It wasn’t you. |
| George | Yeah. um Well, I finally got off my butt and built my Alice Goes to Wonderland pinball machine from Wonderland Amusements. |
| Mo | Woohoo! |
| Jon | Oh, congrats. |
| George | This was the Kickstarter that I talked about a little over a year ago. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | was given to me for a birthday gift at the time. It came in right, I want to say, in end of January, beginning of February, or something like that. And I said, well… |
| George | you know I got to clean out a place for it to fit and be able to still play with it as opposed to being shoved in a corner where you can’t get to it or anything like that. And when I first put this on the list to talk about, this was going to be a very different discussion. |
| Jon | Hmm. |
| George | However, after yesterday, ah it’s kind of flipped a little bit. |
| Jon | Hmm. Hmm. h |
| George | So I’ll say this. ah First of all, This is their very first time of putting out one of these machines. Now, to set the field, like John talked a little bit about in the tease, this is not a full-size pinball machine. This is scaled-down version, so it’s about 80% the size of a full-size pinball machine, and it also is Less quality than Stern or a Spooky Pinball or a Jersey Jack or any of those guys, because the entire goal of this machine was to sell it for under $1,000, which in the pinball world, a brand new machine costing anything less than $6,000 is stupid. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Mo | Oh, geez. Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. Right. |
| George | um So under a thousand, everybody was like, oh, this will ruin the industry. It’s going to be crap, blah, blah, blah, blah. blah I went into it with the mindset that this is something to help people who love pinball, but can’t afford to buy one of these machines because there’s a, a small community there. |
| Mo | A full. |
| George | They are very adamant about how things like this are terrible for the industry and everything, but yet the prices are so high that the regular person can’t afford to put a pinball machine in their home. |
| Mo | Can never. Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Um, Arcade machines are not like that anymore, by the way, most old retro arcade machines, you can find them for a couple thousand dollars or less. |
| Mo | hmm. |
| George | And you can, as long as you have a little bit of DIY skills, you can put them in your home and get a lot of entertainment out Or you can build a main cabinet for next to nothing these days and have 10,000. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Pinball is completely different. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| George | You have to be mechanically inclined because you are going to have to do work on the machine. It’s a physical machine that beats itself up every time you play it. Um, So they were trying to put this system in place in hands of people who couldn’t afford it, but really would love to have one because they enjoy pinball. |
| George | I started building this thing with the thought process based on some other YouTubers videos that it would take me a couple of hours because I had my son helping me and ended up taking four hours. |
| Mo | Oh, |
| George | At least that’s the record time of the video. |
| Jon | All right. |
| George | Now there was some time where we weren’t building, but I’m counting that against um Wonderland Amusements because there were no physically printed build instructions in any box. |
| Mo | really? |
| Jon | It’s like online or something. |
| George | There was only a little placard with a QR code and you had to get it from there. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | ah |
| George | now you’re going to be scanning most QR codes with your cell phone, right? |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| George | If you have a regular cell phone, now I have the Flip 7, so it’s a little bit bigger, but still, most people are going to have a regular size cell phone. You scan it with a QR code. Trying to read these instructions from a cell phone are virtually impossible. |
| Mo | Oh my God. |
| George | It is the, it’s beyond problematic. I can’t even describe it. So what I did was I went to their webpage on my computer and printed out the 30 or 40 page manual |
| Mo | Oh wow. Okay. |
| George | because they didn’t bother to do that themselves. That’s user experience problem. Number one, uh, got that done, got them printed out. It took a little while because the PDF software was having a hard time sizing it anyway, got it done, got it printed out, no page numbers on any of the pages, no dialogue, just like an Ikea thing. |
| George | So you’re just kind of having to figure it out. |
| Mo | Oh. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | And so we had to be very careful to make sure we kept the instructions in order. Um, we start We build the machine, come to find out through the build process, lot of steps are just missing or inaccurate. |
| Mo | oh |
| George | Um, yeah, things like, okay, take this cable and plug it in here. Well, it was already plugged in on that side. You needed to plug it in on the other side. So when they built the assembly instructions, they then change something at the, at the factory level. And so it was reversed or there was a step where you had to put in these leg braces on the inside of the main box cabinet. |
| George | There’s a video on their website that tells you, hey, put these brackets in before you build the the whole box. But the instructions tell you to build the whole box, then put the brackets in. |
| Mo | Yeah, yeah, yeah. |
| George | And there’s no link in those instructions to tell you to go watch that video. I didn’t even know it was there until I was looking for something else. |
| Jon | Came up after the fact. Yeah. Right. Oops. Oops. |
| George | So all of these things, along with there’s no screws, it’s bolts. Now, what I mean by that is, you know, screws have the pointy end, bolts have a flat end, right? |
| Jon | Okay. Yeah. |
| Mo | yeah yeah |
| George | Well, the holes that these bolts are supposed to go in have zero tolerance. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | If you’ve ever tried to put a bolt in a piece of wood that is the exact size of the threads, while you’re leaning into a cabinet, it’s virtually impossible to get it lined up. |
| Jon | A lot of force. Yeah. |
| George | All that to say, we got it built in four hours. Once we got past that, it is a blast to play. |
| Jon | Oh, okay. |
| George | It is very, very fun. |
| Jon | That’s something. |
| George | So the build process, not great. The gameplay, totally awesome. I also bought a little VIP package along with it that gave me some, some upgraded components for the pinball table, like this little Cheshire cat, instead of him being a little acrylic painted thing, he was a fully formed 3d printed sculpted piece that his eyes light up and stuff. |
| Mo | Thank |
| Jon | Oh, that’s nice. |
| George | Mad Hatter, the same kind of thing. |
| Jon | Oh. |
| George | And then the third part of that package was this little plate that you could put where your plunger goes in, and it changes it from the green plate to a gold plate. So it kind of gives it a little visual thing that just ups the ante, because their limited edition was gold all over the place. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | So this was just like an in-between thing. The problem is disassembling the punt the plunger assembly You’re supposed to be able to take this one little rubber cap off of the end of the plunger, and then you can start unscrewing things and go. |
| George | Well, they, at the factory, they glued that little rubber. Oh, shit. John disappeared again. |
| George | This rubber cap that they put on the end of the plunger at the factory, they glued it on. They weren’t supposed to, but they did. |
| Jon | No. No. |
| George | So I went through all these instructions, went in with support and everything, and they said, well, break the seal of the glue, use some pliers, blah, blah, blah. So I did all that. |
| Mo | Oh, |
| George | I went to go, i got the newly assembled part together. I went to go put the rubber cap back on, which the rubber cap is essential because this is the part that actually strikes the pinball as the plunger shoots it up the lane. |
| Jon | bright Right, right. |
| Mo | right. |
| George | You don’t want metal on metal. |
| Mo | Okay. Okay. Right. |
| George | So… |
| Jon | Clank. |
| George | um I put it back on. It doesn’t sit properly in the plunger rod. So I’m like, okay, let me go watch the video again. At the end of the video, it says, hey, if it’s not sitting properly because it got a little out of shape or something, just put some glue on it. No problem. |
| George | I put some super glue on it, held it there for 30 seconds just to be safe and sure, took my hand away, realized my hand is covered in glue and the rubber has completely disintegrated. Apparently the rubber they use doesn’t work well with super glue. |
| George | And they mentioned that nowhere in any video or instruction guide anywhere. |
| Mo | Yeah. There’s no plunger. |
| George | So now I’m sitting here with a pinball machine that my family has enjoyed playing for about a week or two. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. |
| George | And we can’t play it because the plunger assembly is all screwed up. |
| Mo | there’s a plunger |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Now to their credit, Well, maybe not to their credit. I’m not going to say to their credit because a regular user wouldn’t get the same level of support that I did because I happen to know the president of the company because I’ve talked with him many a time. |
| George | They didn’t respond back after I told them that the plunger cap was broken. But he did. So he’s getting me a new replacement in the in the mail, and I should have it hopefully soon and be able to get my system back up and running. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Sure. Right. |
| George | I don’t know support-wise that other people are going to get that same level of support or that quick turnaround because there are stories in Reddit and other places that the support has not been great so far. |
| George | All that to say, i think the company is solid. I think this is their first time doing it. And they have announced this weekend that they’re doing another machine based on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. Right. |
| Jon | Right. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| George | I think this is a worthwhile thing in the pinball community because nobody else is building $1,000 systems out there for people to play. But they’ve got a little bit of work to do on their build process, their customer support, and their factory processes, in my opinion. |
| Mo | he |
| Jon | So you ran through a lot of detail there that was some positive and some challenging and some directly negative. |
| George | Mm-hmm. Yeah. |
| Jon | So really you run the spectrum here. So I know, I know a lot of people have been following your, your journey here of like, I ordered up looking forward to it. It showed up. |
| Jon | going to build it all that. So at this point now, if someone’s been following along and they’re like, they were waiting to find out if this goes for sale now post, right. |
| Mo | Should I get it? Yeah. |
| Jon | Post Kickstarter. Should they pick this up? Should they wait for the next one? Should they? i mean, what’s your advice to someone who’s been following along and curious to see your experience so they know what to do? |
| George | Well, so it is for sale on their website. It’s $1,200 because they realized with tariffs and everything else, they couldn’t meet the $1,000 price point. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| Jon | Yeah, yeah. |
| George | That being said, there’s a coupon out there right now that if you’re signed up on their newsletter because they’re making a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles announcement, you have till the end of this month to use that coupon and get like $300 off on the existing system. |
| Mo | Oh, wow. Hmm. |
| Jon | No. |
| George | Um, there’s about $130 worth of shipping involved. So all in total, you’re probably going to spend about $1,200 still with the shipping and everything else. |
| George | I don’t know if you should buy this one. I’m, I think I’m going to buy the turtles machine when it goes up for sale. |
| Jon | All right. So you haven’t been put off entirely. That’s, that’s something. |
| George | Well, no, because I love pinball and I want this system to work. |
| Jon | Sure. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Sure. |
| George | um it’s ah It’s not a small amount of money. Spending over $1,000 on anything is not a small amount of money. |
| Mo | Yeah, still a lot. |
| Jon | Right, right, right. |
| George | But I think I would, if you’re if you’re mechanically inclined enough to be a medium to higher level DIYer, buy this system, you’ll be fine. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| George | Just pay attention to all the videos out there. I’m going to release a video once I get everything back together and can do some more playing and stuff, but watch all the stuff out there. Take notes, look at Reddit. |
| George | There’s also a forum on pin side. If you’re a member to that website that you can get some information from as well. |
| Jon | Yep. |
| George | Um, So if you’re that person, you’re good to buy this. If you’re not, if you’re a grandparent looking to buy this for your grandkid and you think it’s going to be easy as putting together IKEA furniture, this is not for you. |
| Jon | Little plug and play? No. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| Jon | Okay. |
| George | Definitely not. |
| Jon | That’s fair. |
| Mo | Yeah. One question I have is that, you know, it seemed the 80% size, it seemed like an odd number to to size something. Now, does it, when it’s 80%, does it, one, does it, is it easier to find a spot for it in your house at 80% as opposed to 100%? And does it give you that same feel as a full-size pinball? Yeah. |
| George | Well, those two things aren’t terribly related. It’s not going to give you 100% the same feeling I’m using percentages for this part, but um that’s because they had to go with cheaper components to meet the price point. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | For instance, there’s no rollover sensors. |
| Mo | Hmm. |
| George | They’re all light sensors. So the ball rolls over, it breaks a light, and that’s what tells the system to do whatever thing. |
| Mo | OK. |
| George | So because it’s light sensors and not rollover physical switches, you’re going to have some false positives sometimes or some missed opportunities, things like that. |
| Mo | OK. |
| George | um the DMD, the little screen on the back of a pinball machine that all pinball machines have these days, it’s very, very small compared to a regular pinball machine. |
| Mo | Oh, yeah. |
| George | i mean If you compared it to a Jersey Jack, you would be laughing your head off because Jersey Jack has like a 24 inch TV in theirs. And this is literally like smaller than a tablet. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | jeez |
| George | It’s very tiny. |
| Jon | and Okay. |
| George | It’s almost the size of your phone. um But it’s still fun. It’s got great call outs and sounds. um The 80% does make it easier to fit into a space. |
| Mo | okay |
| George | No question. |
| Jon | Sure. Yeah. |
| George | Physically, it does feel like physical pinball. I think a little bit more than virtual pinball. even if you have knockers and rumblers and everything else in your virtual pinball machine, you cannot avoid the minute points of lag compared to a physical machine. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Um, this definitely feels like you, you can feel those metal balls rolling around on the, on the deck. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| George | Um, So it feels like pinball, but it feels like cheaper pinball, but it is cheaper pinball. So I’m not mad about that. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Right. |
| George | Like some others, like Cool Toy and a few others, they, this, they’re marketing this thing all wrong. This is not, look, they told you it was a thousand dollars. |
| Jon | Right. |
| Mo | Yeah, yeah, you should manage your expectations on this. |
| George | You know, a Stern machine costs 10 grand. |
| Jon | right |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Right. |
| George | Yeah. So it’s not like that. |
| Jon | Right. You know, this is a fifth the price or something. |
| George | Yeah, 80% is a solid ah sizing for this machine. |
| Jon | Right. |
| George | The people who are running this company, Mo, just to let you know, they’re the same people who started the Arcade 1-Up company. |
| Mo | okay. |
| George | So if you imagine what an Arcade 1-Up cabinet feels like compared to a regular full-sized arcade cabinet, this is a very similar comparison. |
| Mo | Huh. |
| Jon | As we wind out the back end of the show here, you know, we always like to take just a few seconds to talk about the things we’re either looking at right now or looking forward to between now and the next time we get together to speak. And I want to start with you, George. I want to know what you have on the horizon. |
| George | Yeah, so first up is something I saw absolutely not at all coming, and that’s a new Faces of Death movie. |
| Mo | What? |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. |
| George | Yeah! |
| Mo | Wait, you tell about the same ones like from the 80s? |
| George | From the 80s, exactly. Yeah, I mean, it’s it’s a different format this time. |
| Jon | related |
| George | They’re trying to tell a narrative story about somebody who’s investigating those tapes kind of thing, but it’s Faces of Death, so… |
| Mo | OK. |
| Mo | Oh, my God. |
| Jon | We’ll see. Yeah. |
| George | I get, you know, who knows? |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | ah |
| George | I just, I’m looking forward to it for nostalgic reasons only. |
| Jon | That’s it. It sounded stupid, I’m like, but I’m be watching it. We’ll see. |
| George | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Maybe it’ll surprise me. |
| George | Yeah. You know, like if somebody comes out and they make a new Alice or a new Mel’s Diner or someone, I’m going watch it just for nostalgic. |
| Mo | yes Yeah. |
| Jon | Oh, yeah. |
| George | And that’s what this is, you know. |
| Jon | Of course. Yeah. Yeah. |
| George | So second thing I’m looking forward to that comes out by the way on April 10th of this year. um |
| Jon | Yep. Ooh, around the corner. |
| George | The next thing that I’m looking forward to is Disney plus is releasing mall shadow Lord so this is based on the Darth Maul character that had a great run in all of the animated Star Wars features. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Mo | Mm-hmm. |
| George | um the clone wars and whatnot and this comes out on april 6th uh on disney plus it’s a it looks really good i’m really looking forward to it because i love what they did with that character after the phantom menace because the phantom menace he was kind of one and done and we thought we’d never see him again but he’s had a great storyline since |
| Mo | he Yeah. |
| Jon | Can I ask a very quick question? Is this also animated or is this live action? |
| George | it is animated yeah |
| Jon | It’s also animated. Okay. All right. Got it. |
| George | Yeah, it’s kind of hard to do a person who’s been cut in half in real life. So it’s a little bit cheaper to do it animated. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | I suppose. Maybe so. |
| George | The thing I’m looking forward to the most, though, comes out also on April 10th. This on Apple TV. It’s a movie called Outcome, and it stars Keanu Reeves again. |
| Mo | Okay. |
| George | um And it’s him playing, ah basically, he’s himself kind of thing. |
| Mo | i don’t know this one. |
| George | And he gets like, I think he gets outed on some kind of controversial thing or something like that. But it just, it kind of has the feel and the look of that one where he was an angel that I saw a few months ago. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | mm-hmm, that’s good. |
| George | It’s a more indie type of vibe on this film, and I thought he did a great job in that one, so I’m really looking forward to this one as well. |
| Mo | Yeah. |
| Jon | Outcome, hmm, all right. |
| George | Yeah. That’s what I’m looking forward to. Mo, you’re up next. |
| Mo | Oh, yeah. So looking for a second season of Your Friends and Neighbors, which comes out April 3rd. This is the one with Jon Hamm, where he’s like, he loses his job. |
| George | Hmm. |
| Mo | He’s like a wealthy person, loses his job. So he starts robbing his neighbors ah ah to get money. |
| Jon | Oh, right. I do remember you talking about that. |
| Mo | ah Really enjoyed the first season. really love anything he’s in pretty much. So looking forward to that second season coming out. meet I’m also looking forward to the Darth Maul animated series on Disney plus. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | Um, I heard some people who got some early views of it and they just been raving about it. Uh, so I’m really looking forward to see what they do with that. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Mo | What I’m most looking forward to is actually started today as recording March 27th is for all mankind season five. Um, |
| Jon | Wow, man. |
| George | Oh, yeah |
| Mo | This is the series I’ve talked about many times on this show. ah I found that they’re actually jumping 20 years on the show. |
| Jon | Ooh. |
| Mo | So the main characters are in their 80s. The ones that are left are in their 80s and they’re on Mars. |
| Jon | Yeah. |
| Mo | and And it also found out that they got renewed for a season six. So I’m very happy about that. |
| Jon | Dang. |
| Mo | So, yeah, for all my kind, if it’s show you haven’t watched, you absolutely need to catch up on that one. |
| Jon | Yeah. Okay. |
| Mo | Yep. So that’s what I got. How about you, John? |
| Jon | Yeah, I have a couple of things. So let’s see. So the day before this episode drops on April 1st, no fooling, is the the new Super Mario Galaxy movie. Now, you could say they’re bubblegum, popcorn, fan service, whatever. |
| George | o |
| Jon | The first one was fun. |
| Mo | Oh, you know. |
| Jon | I saw it in the theater with my family. We had a good time. Look, they’re not it’s not cinema, right? It’s Mario movie. So I’m i’m looking forward to seeing it. um ah A little later in the week than April 10th, |
| Jon | You know I’m going to put this on my list. There’s a new film coming both to theaters and streaming called The Yeti. So I’m a huge fan of cryptids. This one, I had trouble telling whether it was going to be actually about a Yeti or whether it was going to be like people think there’s a Yeti and there’s a murder or whatever. But toward the end of the trailer, you actually see a silhouette of what what appears to actually be the beast. Now, is he actually is it a MacGuffin? I don’t know. We’ll see. But I’m going watch a Bigfoot movie no matter what when it comes out. And something we talked about not too long ago, a game that I played the demo for, Replaced, that one that’s kind of a pixelated adventure in an alternate timeline when we ruined our we ruin the U.S. with nuclear testing or whatever. And that’s coming out April 14th, the full version of that. I really enjoyed playing through the demo. Played through the demo twice, by the way. Just had a really good time with it. So that’s going to be available April 14th on the Steam. And it’s coming to other platforms as well, but Steam is where I’m going to play it. |
| Jon | Okay, before we get out of here, I do want to thank a couple more new patrons who joined us over at patreon.com slash genxgrownup. Now, often we’ll have… now I’m not going to even talk about it. |
| Jon | ah So I want to welcome both David L. and Skip O., two new patrons who joined us just in the last few weeks. |
| Mo | Sweet. |
| Jon | And I want to mention the two of them because they both joined at that $5 level. I don’t always call out the amount, but I want to mention that because what they may not know, having just joined recently, is if you are now at that $5 level, you can get in for a buck if that’s all you want to do. But at $5 a month, you’re going to get the ad-free version of this podcast, a private feed that you can put into your your podcast listener, whatever you like to listen, iTunes or Pocket Cast whatever you’ve got, and you can enjoy this show ad-free. just a courtesy we want to do for our patrons who support us. It’s something that we we wanted to do for a long time and couldn’t figure it out, but… Both David and Skip and anyone else at that level or above can enjoy ad-free version. you’re not taking advantage of that perk, we encourage you to do it. I know Thanos, a friend all three of us know, has mentioned several times to me how much he’s enjoying the ad-free feed. So that’s available. If I’d like to join David and Skip and so many other wonderful folks who do support us financially, please head over to patreon.com slash genxgrownup. Open up your heart and your wallet. Put little pledge in there for as little as a buck a month. You can become part of the army that keeps us afloat. |
| Jon | That is going to wrap it up for this edition of the show. Don’t worry, though. re back in two weeks with another. And next week, though, that’s our backtrack. We pick a single nostalgic topic to dig in deep. And, Mo, this one’s a little bit bittersweet, but we have a really topical ah backtrack coming up next week. |
| Mo | yeah |
| Jon | you want to share the with the fourth listeners what they have coming? |
| Mo | Sure. I mean, they say he didn’t die, just God needed the bodyguard. We’re talking about the passing of Chuck Norris, and we’re going to go through his life, his career, and how he was an 80s icon. |
| Jon | Mm-hmm. |
| Jon | Yeah, he definitely was an 80s icon. Yeah, that’s going to be coming your way next week. We do not want to miss that one. Until then, I am John. George, thank you so much for being here, buddy. |
| George | Yes, sir. |
| Jon | Mo, you know, i appreciate you, sir. |
| Mo | Always fun, man. |
| Jon | Fourth listener, it’s you. We all three appreciate most of all, though. We look forward to talking to you again next time. Bye-bye. |
| George | See guys. |
| Mo | Take care, everybody. |
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