Golden Axe, Goldenmate UPS, & Wing Commander: Prophecy


About This Episode

We return to the theatre to see the latest exploits of Mo’s favorite kaiju, test drive a deceptively-simple gaming controller option for your mobile phone, and play an incremental card pack-opening simulator designed to keep you clicking.

(May contain some explicit language.)

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Show Notes

Transcript

JonWelcome back, Gen X Grown-Up Podcast listener to this episode 219 of the Gen X Grown-Up Podcast.
JonI’m Jon, joining me as always, of course, my buddy Mo. Hey, Mo.
MoHey, how’s it going?
JonGood. Good. Would not be a show without George. Hey, George.
GeorgeHey, how’s it going everybody?
JonIn this episode, we return to the theater to see the latest exploits of Moe’s favorite kaiju. Test drive a deceptively simple gaming controller option for your mobile phone and play an incremental card pack opening simulator designed to keep you clicking.
Momm-hmm
JonAnd that’s exactly what it does.
MoHmm.
JonWe have those topics and many more coming your way in this episode. But first. It’s time for some fourth listener email. This time around, we have email from fourth listener Vern, longtime listener and supporter of the channel.
MoOh, yeah. yeah
Jonah Vern contacts us. Vern Cock… Boop. Vern contacted us via Patreon about the Run DMC Raising Hell backtrack.
JonYeah. So let’s see what he says. Thanks guys for covering this album. I’m in the same camp as George on this one. I knew of the band and the album, but I never owned the album. So I was pleasantly surprised at how many of the songs I recognized.
JonYeah, I do consider myself quite the Beastie Boys fan, but I was never a big fan of their first album, which I think was similar to Raising Hell. If I remember correctly, both albums were produced by the same guy. I think that’s correct.
Jonah My appreciation for the Beastie Boys came from their later albums when they were doing more of their own thing and not following in the exact direction of other bands like Run DMC. In my opinion, the Beastie Boys’ second LP, Paul’s Boutique, great album, is very underrated and underappreciated.
Mohehehehehehe
JonAnd the third, Check Your Head, is phenomenal. So I think both of these bands found their groove. by their third albums.
GeorgeSo, so Vern just wanted to, he just tacked onto to the raising hell and just wanted to talk about Beastie Boys for a while.
JonIf you ever want to…
JonHe’s like
MoYeah.
JonSpeaking of Run DMC…
GeorgeApparently we need to do a Beastie Boys podcast.
Moah
JonThat’s right. that’s yeah Fair enough.
Mooh Oh, here it is right there.
Jonah
MoDead.
JonYeah, he even says if you ever want to do a Beastie Boys episode, I would love to be the number one fourth listener and join in.
GeorgeOh!
GeorgeOh, Lord.
JonLove your show Vern.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah. Ha!
JonYep.
GeorgeOh my goodness.
JonYeah. I’m a Beastie Boys fan as well. I’m a bigger fan of the Beasties and than I am of Run DMC. Although Run DMC is kind of like on the route Rushmore. of kind of like early hip-hop for me whereas bc boys i just love their music i don’t think they’re I don’t want to anger Vern.
JonI don’t think they’re as… revolutionary as Run DMC was, but…
MoOkay.
JonDefinitely. Definitely, um definitely a great band. Okay, well. I’ll stop crapping on Vern’s parade here and I’ll say thank you for, for your.
Georgeah
Jonfor your fourth listener email. We love that you listened. We love that you wrote in and tell us what you thought about it. If you would like your email featured here on the show, it’s drop dead easy. Just hit us up at podcast at genxgrownup .com.
JonRead every single one, and most of them, like Vern’s. eventually make the show. Okay. With that good business in the rearview mirror, it’s time to jump into the body of episode 219 right after this very quick. brick.
JonIt’s time to get the ball rolling with the meat of the show, talking about media we have been enjoying, as we always do here at the front of the show. It could be ah film or… television or comics or music or podcasts or whatever it is you’re enjoying. And I’m going to start with you, George. What have you been checking out since we last spoke?
Georgewell i’ve been checking out three adventurers on a cartoon quest to save their world I’ve been watching golden acts.
JonOkay. Uh, yeah.
Mooh
GeorgeSo… It’s… A really. funny tongue-in-cheek take on the video game video game is iconic of course from
MoYeah.
Georgeour era I love it but
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeIt features all three of the main characters, but one in particular is kind of the main of the three. So Gilius Thunderhead, that’s the dwarf.
JonMhm.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeAnd then you’ve got Axe Battler, who…
Jonhmm
GeorgeYes. carrying a sword of all things.
JonRight, not an X.
GeorgeAnd.
Moah
GeorgeTyrese flair. That’s the female warrior. Um, they’re all great, but then they have a couple of other supporting characters, mainly this one character named Hampton squib.
GeorgeWho is voiced by Danny Pudi. And. I know him from Mythic Quest. You guys remember?
JonOh yeah, yeah.
Georgethat show he was the guy who was like
MoYeah, yeah.
GeorgeTrying to. just only focused on the monetary aspect of everything and try.
MoOh, yeah.
JonYep.
GeorgeYeah. So. He’s really good in this. There’s also a couple of others. There’s like this um humanoid panther character that gets introduced because. Axe and Tyrus separate. from Gilius and so they go off on their way and they add this cat character to their trio party and then Gilius and Squibb They end up going off on their own way because Gilius, of course, wants to prove that he’s a better adventurer.
Georgethan the other two are.
JonMm hmm.
Georgeand It’s just really, really funny. X-Battler, I found it interesting. That guy is voiced by the same actor who played the second Spartacus, not the gentleman who died, obviously, but the guy who played Spartacus in the whole.
GeorgeStars Spartacus series.
JonUh huh. Yep.
GeorgeYeah, so he’s he’s playing Axe Balor.
JonYep.
GeorgeHe does a great job. The Tyrus Flair voice actress, tremendous. The writing. is hilarious oh my god every single thing you could think of that you would make fun of They beat you to it.
MoOkay.
Georgethey They make fun of their own environment. Everything from the narrator who starts off every show and then every now and then jumps in in the middle of an episode. One of the one the last episodes, he’s…
Georgeevery time you remember from golden axe you always see the map the hand-drawn Well, they have that in the show.
JonMm-hmm Yeah, a quill. yeah
GeorgeOh. he’s talking about how the bad guy is going around and he’s like Oh my God, he’s burned up my map. That was my only copy, damn it.
Jonah
Georgeso Listen. Funny, funny little stuff.
JonLike self-referential humor, it sounds like.
Georgeself-referential very much so uh characters are great um every episode is funny they’re 22 minutes long it’s an easy binge over a weekend if you choose to watch it and i highly recommend that you do it was
Moyeah
JonAh.
MoOkay.
JonThat’s cool.
GeorgeIt was just one of those nice little. Oh, look at this come out of nowhere kind of TV shows that I hope does well enough to.
JonIt was.
Georgewarrant a second season just because the writing was so good.
MoOkay.
JonIs it kind of ah like I watched just a little bit of the beginnings to see the animation style to see, what but I didn’t.
GeorgeMm hmm.
Jonwatch a whole episode yet. um is there is what i saw so far was gags admittedly i watched the first minute maybe right is there a I mean, that’s okay if this is what it is, but is there like a story you’re following or is it really just enjoying the gags?
GeorgeYeah. No, no, the the through line of the story is exactly what I explained. It’s Gilius and Hampton Squibb.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeThey’re trying to. ah They’re trying to beat the other group. to the bad guy so that they can save the world.
JonThe death adder they’re trying to get the death adder like the yeah, okay, okay
GeorgeYeah, Death Adder. Yeah. So they’re trying to. They’re trying to get to him. So that they can prove that they’re better event. Like Hampton Squibb is trying to become an adventure and he’s just enamored with the other three.
GeorgeThey’re like his heroes and he wants to become a hero.
JonOkay. All right.
Georgeum But of course, he’s very ineffectual. He ends up becoming, quote, the chosen one who gets the Emerald Blade. And every time the Emerald Blade is mentioned, somebody starts singing the Emerald Blade.
MoYeah.
Jonah
Georgeand It’s…
JonAll right.
GeorgeIt’s just really funny, funny stuff.
JonYeah.
Georgei mean It… It has a nice little… undercurrent of humanity as well because of course you know gillius is like this guy who he’s very insecure and wants to prove his worth even though he is considered one of the three greatest heroes of the realm uh axe battler is literally the dumbest adventurer on the planet.
Jonyeah He’s just beefcake.
GeorgeJust… Yeah, like…
Jonah
GeorgeOne of the episodes toward the end, there’s this part where he is convinced that he and Tyrus are married, even though it was just a stunt that they did in another adventure to get somebody and kill him or something.
JonOh.
GeorgeAnd she’s like, no, we were never married.
Mooh geez
JonThe dumb hunk.
Georgethat She ends up having to carry him out of the room that they’re in. And he’s like, oh, my God, it’s just like our honeymoon.
Mooh ge
GeorgeJust.
Jonah Very thick.
GeorgeIt’s just so funny.
JonMmm.
GeorgeYeah. Really good show.
JonMm. Okay.
Georgei Cannot recommend it enough. If you’ve got What is that like? Five hours to spare? Sometime. Cause it’s 10 episodes.
JonOver time.
GeorgeI think 22 minutes a piece.
JonStretch it out. Yeah. Yep.
Mooh
Georgeit’s well worth your time
MoOkay.
JonOkay.
GeorgeYeah.
JonGolden axe. I was curious. Yeah.
MoYeah, me too.
JonAll right. Thanks.
GeorgeMoe? The one that you want to talk about on the list is one that I know you were looking forward to.
MoYeah. Yeah, yeah. Oh yeah.
GeorgeI know you looked forward to.
MoYeah.
GeorgeThe other number that was on the number scale that now they keep changing.
MoYes.
GeorgeSo minus one, now it’s minus zero. Next, it’s going to be minus negative one, then negative two.
MoYep. Could be. I don’t know.
GeorgeYeah, we’ll figure it all out as we go.
JonThat’s plus one. Those those cancel.
MoThat’s plus one. Yeah, that’d be plus one
Georgeyeah
Jonoh
MoSo, yep. ah Yeah, was it’s Godzilla minus zero. um the sequel to godzilla minus one
JonMmm.
MoI… Absolutely love Godzilla minus one. I thought it was like. You know, they. They you were able to take a Godzilla movie. With a real story.
GeorgeMm.
Moyou know, With a… with characters they cared about you know they actually cared what happened to these people um and turned this put out a really great movie so everyone has very high expectations for the second one obviously, you know.
MoSame director, same writer. Same team. And this one actually takes place, I think, just… Four years, two or four years later than the last one. So it takes place like very quickly afterwards.
JonOkay.
GeorgeOkay.
MoAnd it’s still, you know, Japan’s still trying to recover, not just from World War II now, but also Godzilla. Um,
Jonyou know monsters
MoYeah, monsters. and there’s a new monster introduced in this one um so again i’m not gonna do a big spoiler but if If you looked at all in any internet, you’ll see what it is.
MoBut the thing is that it’s, you know… Date. And they kept the same characters too. All the same characters from the first movie are in the second movie.
GeorgeThat’s what I was going to ask. Okay.
MoYep, all the same characters. I think just one person was missing and I could see why because he really didn’t fit into the plot. anymore you know
JonCool.
MoUm, And. It’s… ah i To me, personally, I think it was as good as the first one. You know?
JonOkay. That’s high praise.
MoIt’s… It starts. Crazy right off the bat. it just starts just nuts, you know, with a town getting destroyed and, you know, and the way they did it, like, you know, the Godzilla movies, you’ve seen all the original ones where you’re like town gets destroyed and you’re like, okay, whatever.
MoRight. Ooh, look at my little train. um
Jonbut
MoThis one though, it’s like. You’re… Like. There. Like, right right there. The way they filmed it. You know. These giant feet-like footprints just come crashing through and destroying buildings next to you.
MoYou’re seeing people getting…
Jondon like like you’re Like you’re in the street, a ground level kind of.
Molike you’re in the street ground level seeing this thing you know and this way it starts to be super super intense
JonMm.
MoThey pulled. A credible story. out of this, you know, which is like, huh, which actually fixes a kind of a plot hole from the first movie, which when you see it, you’ll understand.
GeorgeHmm.
JonOkay.
JonOh. That’s smart.
MoOh. But the, uh… Yo. And the same character, like the the main guy who pilot who decided not to kamikaze. He’s…
JonMm hmm.
Moin this one too and he’s also still one of the main characters but you know now he’s not worried so much about Um… loss of honor and being a coward and all that stuff.
MoNow his whole thing is protecting his family. You know.
Georgeah
MoYou know, that’s not his story.
JonOkay.
MoYou know, his story is no longer about that whole other thing. He’s past that now. Now he has a wife. He has a kid from the first movie. um And now his whole thing is like, she you know. he has to go help and he’s like she’s like Well, you’re just.
MoYou have a family now. You can’t go help. Yo. You can’t just run off like you did last time.
JonNo.
MoAnd he’s like… I’m just going to consult. You know how that turns out. You know how that turns out, right? You know, I’m just going to get my expertise from the last time and, you know.
Jonthat’s all yeah It’s just the weekend.
MoYou know what happens.
JonThen I’ll be back.
MoYep.
Jonright
Georgeah
MoAnd so it becomes the whole thing of like, and then his wife actually has to get involved as well. And so this this whole thing is like. You know, if we both die, then no one is here for the kid. I mean, that’s, you know, it’s ah that’s like kind of the main.
Jonhere
Mothrusts throughout the whole thing was that kind of relationships. Great movie. ending not quite the same tearjerker as the first one like the first one you’re like wow you know this one though At the end, you’re like.
MoIf you don’t do. What? I think you should do. I’m going to hate this movie.
Jonhe
Moand And they do it. So you’re like, oh, okay, good.
GeorgeOkay.
MoThank you. Thank God.
JonOkay. Yep.
MoIt’s like, because I was getting ready to be really upset.
Jonah
GeorgeSo they pay it off the right way.
MoYeah, they totally paid it off the right way.
JonGood. Good.
Moum And the great thing is that even though it had like a much bigger budget. Then they gave the first one. It… The guy didn’t waste it. Like he didn’t do these huge special effects anymore. He didn’t try to do the, you know, like he didn’t. spend that he didn’t spend the money on that part because that wasn’t needed the way he did the first movie was fine You know?
Moum I’m not sure what.
JonMm hmm.
Mohe spent the extra money on maybe his own salary i don’t know but but
JonWell…
Moit would But.
JonHe made a money. So why not?
MoYeah, exactly. Exactly. And ah a great movie. I said it’s it’s one I’m probably going to go see in a theater again. Like it did the first one.
JonHmm.
Moyou know because i saw an imax Definitely the way to go if you can if you can see it that way.
JonWow, I bet.
MoIt’s like. 60 something percent of it is IMAX. Like with full screen, like it takes the full screen.
JonMm hmm.
MoBecause a lot of IMAX movies actually only very small parts are like. take advantage of the whole thing, which is kind of weird.
Georgeah
MoBut this one actually, he said they filmed it knowing it was going to be IMAX 2. So is that it? Great movie. I enjoyed it a lot. Like I said, I’m going to go see it again for sure. And if you love the first one, you’ll like this one as well.
Jonyeah well you’re the critic who i will listen to on this sort of movie yeah so good to know
MoYeah. Yep. Oh great. Fight. Great monster fight. amazing monster fight in this too so
JonWhat? Is it a kaiju movie if you don’t have monster fights?
MoWell, monster versus monster fight, though.
GeorgeRight, I mean…
MoSo that’s they didn’t have that last time.
JonOkay, not just monster monster fighting people or monster fighting train.
MoMust’ve, yeah.
JonOkay.
MoYeah, monster fighting. Other monster. Totally. It was like. intense, brutal… Out. It was great. there’s It pays off everything that you expect from the movie.
Jongood Wow.
MoSo.
JonHigh praise.
MoYeah, yeah, for sure. So, John, ah the title doesn’t surprise me, of what you saw.
JonMm-hmm
GeorgeRight, yeah
JonOkay.
Mobut I don’t know what this is.
JonYeah. Yeah.
MoI’ve never heard of this one.
GeorgeIt’s… It definitely is on brand.
JonOkay, yeah.
MoOh, yeah, for sure.
JonIt is. Yeah. Well, I figure we’d move from a fictional monster. to a real life monster. in a film that I watched.
Georgeyeah No, you still didn’t do that.
JonCold.
MoYeah, ah what?
JonSo the new documentary. documentary called capturing bigfoot it is a documentary quit it
Moah
MoYeah. With quotes, air quotes documentary.
GeorgeI create a documentary about me being seven foot tall.
JonNo, it’s…
GeorgeIt don’t make it true.
JonThat’s… Well, if you can get it released, maybe. so No, this is a documentary. It’s called Capturing Bigfoot. And you guys, non-believers, will enjoy this, maybe. I think you’ll quite enjoy it. so It all circles around, not just…
Jonthe legend or the myth or whatever the cryptid bigfoot but it’s really specifically about The 1967… Patterson Gimlin film. But what you all know.
MoYeah, we walking down this the stream bed.
JonThe 60 seconds of shaky cam.
GeorgeRight.
Jonwalking right down the riverbed.
MoYeah.
JonThat’s right. it’s It’s the one that you get the… the signature, you’re looking over her shoulder, you know, with her arms slung back and her, yeah.
MoDo the whoop whoop whoop, yeah.
GeorgeRight.
JonSo that film, that film, it was filmed by Roger Patterson. He he was actually out on a Bigfoot hunting. journey with his buddy, Bob Gimlin. Uh, I think it’s his name. any Patterson Gimlin. This film has been out there and it’s been people been trying to debunk it for.
JonAlmost 60 years now.
MoMm hmm.
JonNext year will be 60 years this film came out. And so when first word of this documentary, yes, came out, uh, they didn’t really, it went around to film festivals for a while, but didn’t get wide release until now, but it’s out now.
JonWhat everyone said was. This film… is going to finally debunk the Patterson-Gimlin film and prove without a doubt.
MoOh really?
Jonthat that was a scam.
MoHuh.
JonA hoax. A falsehood. Uh, So I would say the first half of this movie. incredibly fascinating. It’s about… how that film came to be.
Jonwho the people were behind it. ah Patterson was such a scam artist.
MoHmm.
Jonthe Just a sample. so he He filmed? The camera he shot that on? He rented. and didn’t return. and was fined.
GeorgeYeah.
JonHe was known for even well before this film came out, he was known on a tour. He was writing books about does the American Sasquatch exist? He was he was all about. studying and trying to prove Bigfoot existed well before this film. So you could say as this kind of known Showboat.
JonKind of. Barnum and Bailey sort of guide that. He had. he was the kind of guy who would fake this film If someone were to, right.
MoRight.
JonAnd so they kind of, you talk to all the… the regular people, you know, in the world of of Sasquatch and people you interview, you see in all these documentaries and you can feel what they’re doing. They go throughout it. They’re talking to them.
JonAnd one of the guys even says, I feel like you’re setting me up. Like at the end of this interview, you’re going to try to turn the tables on me, which is kind of what they do at each interview. What they have come across, what someone has delivered to the makers of this film.
Jonis a new piece of film. that purports to show… the dress rehearsal. for the Patterson-Gimlin film.
Georgeah The dress rehearsal.
MoOkay.
GeorgeYeah.
JonNow. There’s a lot of… i won’t go this I won’t make this the Bigfoot episode. There’s so many things about it. You cannot… What everyone’s saying in the headline is. finally debunks it.
Jonah Well, first, in my heart, I don’t want it debunked, but I’m aware of that bias, right?
MoYeah.
JonThat bias. But also… i’ve I’ve watched people analyzing this documentary and that footage. There are so many things. Because A and B are in the same room and A is true and B is false, it doesn’t make them both true or both false.
JonSo there are similarities and differences.
Georgeyeah i think By definition. you’re You just said because A is true and B is false. It doesn’t make them both true and both false. Yeah, we you just established one is true and one is false.
JonExactly. But that’s what people are trying to say. If they say that this film is true and this one is false and they’re similar. Does that make, oh, now they both must be one thing?
GeorgeSo there’s two Bigfoot films that they’re putting next to each other, showing one is correct and one is false.
JonThat’s exactly my point. you’re
JonWell, one is the one we have all been unable to debunk for 60 years. And here’s this other one that’s very clearly not footage of a Sasquatch. It’s clearly a person in a suit, but it’s a different suit. It’s a different place. And we cannot even prove whether this was shot before.
Jonor after.
MoOh, okay.
JonSo… Perhaps he was.
GeorgeSo this is the… the theoretical dress rehearsal film.
JonTheoretically.
MoTheoretical, okay
JonIt could also be they were thinking about shooting another one to further their…
GeorgeOkay.
JonThey’re. their prestige and and it didn’t work well it could But it it could also be, I’m a realist, it could be that it was a fake all this time and just all these coincidences fell. Whether it’s true or false, whether it debunks the film or not is…
Jonlargely irrelevant. What’s more fascinating to me is first, finally having a full picture of how That. famous. They say it is the most famous piece of cinema verite, second only to the Zabruder film.
MoJust thinking about that.
Jonof the Kennedy assassination.
GeorgeNot the Loch Ness Monster.
JonIt is the single.
GeorgeHuh.
JonGreat. No, no, that’s just a a photo. That’s not a film Yeah.
GeorgeOh, that’s true. I thought there was.
JonYeah. Yep.
GeorgeOkay.
Jonyeah Anyway. The fact that there’s… something that’s been part of our lives, our entire lives, even Mo’s entire life.
MoYeah, even mine.
Georgeah
JonThis is what… All of our lives.
MoBarely, but yes, barely.
GeorgeYeah.
JonAnd now… 60 years later, there’s a new piece of evidence to the puzzle. to study and analyze and it’s it’s i’ve watched this documentary like three times it’s really entertaining and it’s really well put together it’s not just a hatchet job necessarily the the filmmaker clearly has a motive But he also doesn’t cheat.
JonHe shows all the evidence and he he decides he thinks that what it means and it’s up to us to decide. so Capturing Bigfoot.
MoOkay.
JonI think it’s on Amazon Prime now or wherever else you can find it. i Whether you’re a Bigfoot fan or not, a fan, believer, whatever, it’s worth watching just for the information about historical fact.
GeorgeI mean, you say that he, uh, that you feel like he doesn’t cheat and he shows his work and whatnot. I think that’s evidenced by something you said earlier, where he has one of the interview subjects and the interview subject at one point says, I feel like you’re trying to set me up that you’re going to turn this around.
JonYep. yep
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeDocumentarians notoriously. cut those interviews left right and center so him showing that part
JonRight.
Georgethat allows him to… build up. his Honesty. In your eyes?
JonHis resume for integrity.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYeah, yeah, yeah.
Georgei that’s That’s a smart piece of manipulation. If he is fake or if he’s being honest, that’s a great thing to be.
MoYeah.
JonMm hmm.
Georgein You never know which one it is because you’re not seeing every single inch of every single piece of footage that he shot.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeI’m assuming because the document.
JonNo, of course.
GeorgeIt’s not like seven hours long or anything, but.
JonIt’s edited. Right. i’d watch it
Georgeuh Hey. It’s funny to hear you talking about it. Because you’re such a believer.
JonMm.
GeorgeAnd you’re so pro Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti, all that stuff.
JonHmm?
Georgethe thing that he’s doing on one side of the coin is the thing you’re doing now on the other side of the coin just a little bit but it you’re both acknowledging he acknowledged it with that statement being allowed into his documentary and you’re acknowledging your bias here while you’re talking about it it’s interesting to see that both of you are acknowledging your biases
Jonmm-hmm
Georgeand allowing people to see behind the curtain, so to speak.
JonYou have to, yeah.
GeorgeYeah. it’s I mean, I still think You’re full of crap.
JonYeah.
GeorgeThere’s no Bigfoot, but that’s okay.
Moah
JonI understand why you believe that I do.
Georgeyeah
Jonah Well, you know, and and two… I think that’s that’s something, you know, we talked about in our ah our panel at Long Island Retro about. There’s one thing about having an opinion. But there’s another thing, being willing to change your opinion when new evidence comes in.
Jonand you know i think we are we are some people are just they believe this and don’t care
GeorgeSure.
GeorgeYeah.
JonI very, very much care. I want to know more. you know and so i
GeorgeYeah.
JonI’m willing to have my beliefs broken If there’s evidence to prove it one way or the other, I’m okay with that because I really want to be i want to understand fully.
GeorgeYeah.
Jonso
GeorgeYeah. 20 year old me.
Jonoh
GeorgeWasn’t interested in understanding. 55-year-old me is interested in understanding because that’s all I’ve got now.
JonMuch more so. Hmm.
Moyeah
JonI got the understanding. All right, cool. All right, stick around. We’ll be right back with some tech and toys.
Moah right Tech and Toys. Five four three
MoOkay, so I’m gonna kick off Tekken Toys today with… Something that’s just… Bugs suck. be jeebus out of me and that’s when
JonOkay.
MoApps. or something you buy, nickel and dime you. After the fact.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeAh. Okay.
MoOkay. It just pisses me off.
JonYep.
MoSo.
JonHmm.
MoI bought a, this is a long time ago. I bought like a garage door opener automatics. I could use my phone to open the garage and close, you know, that kind of thing.
JonOkay.
MoAn app for it. And so I was like, cool. You know. I was like, oh, I was trying to figure out why I couldn’t get Apple cart. CarPlay to work with it. Yeah. Um, It turns out that…
MoThey actually, in order to make it work. With Apple CarPlay. You have to subscribe to some so service. for like 10 bucks a month.
Georgeah
JonWhoa, to open your garage door?
MoJust to open your f freaking garage door And I was like, I said, oh, screw this.
GeorgeYeah.
MoI said, I’m going to find.
GeorgePeople have been opening in their garage doors since 1957.
MoYeah, it’s like. You know, I was just looking at it just as a convenience, but I’m like, screw this.
GeorgeYeah.
MoI said, that’s that’s just. Bus is bullshit. Let’s steal a phrase from ah George over here. and
Jonthere you go just trademark
MoYeah.
GeorgeAll right.
MoSo I went looking for a different one. And I found one on Amazon, of course, is from a company called Meross, M-E-R-O-S-S. And they have a smart garage door opener.
Moworks with A whole bunch of different types of garage doors, like pretty much every major brand. Works automatically with CarPlay. No, nothing special you have to buy with it. Works with Google Apps. Works with the… you know, the Alexas and all that stuff.
MoOut of the box. It works with all of that.
JonOkay.
MoYeah.
GeorgeOkay.
MoAnd so. I installed it and… Sure as hell. It worked right out of the box. Matter of fact, on my phone, you could do, you know how you put like gadgets on your phone? like like quick hits to like do so widgets is that kind of thing it came with a widget
Georgewidgets and stuff yeah
JonLike widgets.
GeorgeYeah.
JonMm hmm.
MoSo I have a widget and right in front of my phone.
JonOkay, that’s handy.
MoOpen the garage door. Hit the button and close my garage door. works really well. Wasn’t super expensive. ah The installation is a little bit more. a little bit more involved than the other one.
MoThe other one just basically operated like another garage door opener. The one original one I had, it just sets a signal and just did that.
JonOkay.
MoThis one, you actually have to kind of wire into your garage door, which, but it took me like 10 minutes. It wasn’t hard, but it is a little bit extra work you have to do and it works well.
JonOkay.
MoI was very pleased with it.
JonSo I see in the description. It is a smart garage door opener.
MoMm hmm.
JonWhat is smart about it? Aside from, I mean, there’s a smart, the connectivity to your, your house or whatever is it have.
MoYeah.
JonIs that smart? Does that imply any other intelligence like ah so sensing a car or the cameras or stuff like that?
MoYeah. Well, well it well it it does know when it’s open and closed.
JonWhat else does it do smartly?
MoIt does sense that. ah It can send you messages.
JonRight.
Moof Garage door open closes.
JonOkay.
MoIt can send you a warning if your garage door is open longer than a certain time that you set.
JonOh I need that. yeah
MoYou know, if garage doors open longer than 15 minutes and even has a thing that if it’s open past a certain time.
JonRight.
MoHe’ll close it.
JonJust shut it.
MoIt was just shut it.
JonOh, that’s cool.
MoSo you can sit for like midnight.
JonThat’s cool.
MoIf this door is open, just shut it. you know and that’s
Jonright like i took the trash can out and forgot kind of thing yeah yeah
MoAnd forgot.
GeorgeYeah, trap the burglar inside with me.
MoYep.
GeorgeThere you go.
MoExactly.
JonOh shit. He’s run for it.
GeorgeYeah.
JonHe’s doing the Indiana Jones under the.
MoTrying to slide, grabs his hat.
GeorgeYeah.
Moum
JonThrow me the idol!
Mobut But that’s about it. Nothing else besides that. I mean, some pretty basic stuff.
JonOkay. Okay, that’s far.
MoBut to say the truth, though, like just having that…
JonSo that’s fair.
MoAt 15 minutes, just send me a little message on my phone that, hey, your garage door’s been open for 20 minutes. Just just so you know you know.
JonThat’s cool. i like I do like that.
MoJust so you know. you know So it was pretty cool.
Jonhe
GeorgeYeah, i for me, I was kind of I was. you’ve you’ve kind of already talked me out of my question a little bit because I was like, why do you need more than the little RF button that we’ve all had?
JonMmm.
Georgeclipped to the little sun visor or some cars even i remember in the 80s and 90s some cars would come with a garage door opener built in that you could program to your frequency or whatever i
MoMm hmm.
MoYeah.
JonMm hmm. Yep.
GeorgeI know those things can be hacked a little bit easier than probably the thing you have, but all the other features that you mentioned as you were going through that, I kind of get why you would need it. Did you say how much it costs?
JonYeah.
MoNo, I didn’t actually. I’m trying to remember actually.
JonYeah. Oh, before you tell us, before you tell us. So he was bucking the system at $10 a month. Let’s see what he’s willing to spend to save $10 a month.
MoOh, it was 50 bucks.
GeorgeOkay, so five months it’s paid for.
JonOkay.
MoYeah.
JonOkay. Yeah. All right. That’s fair.
MoWhich I thought was i thought that was a decent price.
JonI like that.
GeorgeWell, the other one was $10 a month for the service plus whatever you paid for it.
Moplus oh yeah and i paid at least 60 bucks i think for the last one i had too so
GeorgeOh wow.
JonOh, oh, that plus the service.
MoYeah.
GeorgeOkay.
Jonif Okay, I get you.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
Moand And again, and just just the annoyance of…
JonYep.
MoOh, you’re going to buy this thing? Oh, you want to use it in your car? Well.
Jonbut
MoIf you want that.
Georgeah Oh!
MoYou know? Yo.
GeorgeYou would like to close your garage door.
MoYeah. while you’re While you’re in your car and not have to look through your phone, you know.
Georgeahha
JonYeah. It includes the open package if you’d like to upgrade to closing.
Georgeum
MoIt’s closing in.
Moso so last i and actually ah So John, I see what you have i get on here, and I’m very interested in this.
GeorgeI am too. Yeah.
JonYeah. Yeah. So it’s an uninterruptible power supply, a UPS, you know, the battery backup thing.
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonI have had… a really good battery backup for a long time but and i’ve had it like like i’m talking like 12 years. I’ve had this battery back up.
MoMm hmm.
JonReally good one by a company called Triplight.
MoMm hmm.
JonLook. When I bought it, it was like 90 bucks. And now that company, they make $300 UPS. Things have gotten so much more expensive and the battery components and everything. but After all this time…
JonIt started. flaking out on me. I was…
GeorgeOkay.
Jonah I was in the middle of a live stream and just everything shut off and came right back on. no There was no power hit. Just the UPS decided to take a shit for a second and come back.
MoOh.
GeorgeWow
Jonit It didn’t like not withstand a power hit. It just said, oh, I hiccuped. Right. So I’m like, well, that’s a weird anomaly. Let’s keep an eye on that. Well, i’ve it did it two more times. And I’m like, you know what?
JonThree strikes, you’re out, pal. I got to go looking for another one. so Triplight, as I mentioned, it’s a good brand. I’ve had it for a long time, but I didn’t buy that one because they’re so much more expensive. I’m like, let’s find. Somebody else, another player. So I started looking around and I ended up settling on a brand called Golden Mate.
Mookay
JonNow, this is a yeah it wasn’t what I’d heard of before. But depending upon what your entertainment center is and where you put something, they have it in a full like stark white apple or a pitch black. dark ones so light or dark they have two different colors ah This is a 1000 volt amp, 800 watt.
MoOh, okay.
JonLithium battery, of course.
MoOops.
Jonlithy but lithium Lithium battery.
MoOh, this is lithium. this This was lithium.
JonThat’s right. Lithium battery. Um, And look, i looked it basically I did the estimates, I ran the numbers, and it said for what the voltage I’m going to put on it, it could survive. Everything running for like.
Jon30 minutes. which It’s plenty of time for me to shut stuff down if I’m there and there’s a power yet.
GeorgeRight.
JonAlso plenty of time. in my Florida neighborhood, for the power to come back, which is usually within 10 seconds.
MoYay.
JonWe just get these flashes all the time, thunderstorms and crap like that.
GeorgeRight.
MoRight.
JonSo it was under $200. Maybe it was right at $200. I forget. It might have been on sale. Reasonable. And it’s something that you need, right? You can’t have unreliable or have this stuff.
MoMm hmm.
JonSo so I invested in it. I was very… It’s not something that’s sexy. It’s not something that you touch every day and that you get value that you recognize every day.
JonIt’s it’s it’s not like a bidet. It’s not something that you’re going to actually realize its value and worth every single day.
Moah
JonYou just notice when it’s not there. So I got it.
GeorgeRight.
MoRight.
JonI plugged it in, powered it on the wall. And then I looked on the back and I’m like. Wait a minute. All of these plugs look the same. And my old one, they’re like two bars. One said, here’s here’s the battery backup.
GeorgeOh right, yeah.
JonAnd here’s the ones that are just. uh
MoLike surge protection or something like that.
JonSurge for suppression, surge of protection.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
JonExactly. So I went looking, I’m like, oh, wait. All eight of the plugs. are the same. They are all battery backed up.
GeorgeOkay.
MoHmm.
JonThey’re all surge suppression. I’m like, really? Really? Did you? So all of, so I was able to put everything that I had some stuff that I just would let go down non-computer stuff like routers and stuff.
MoYay.
Jonbecause I didn’t have enough plugs for them all to be on the battery backup. Now I can plug them all in. It’s all protected and it doesn’t, it has a tiny little green light. the little Screen only comes on if it’s doing work.
JonLike if it’s actually providing voltage because of an outage, otherwise.
GeorgeHmm.
JonIt’s innocuous. It sits there. It does its job. I had it for about two weeks now. And I couldn’t be happier with the upgrade. First of all, no flake outs for one, but two, now I know everything in my.
MoMm-hmm
Jonbut What is my man cave? My entertainment center and my TV and all my computers and my unraid and my plex and everything.
MoMm-hmm
JonEverything. is now protected from Not only… surges, but also Going out.
MoYeah, it’s funny you brought that up because… I have this. the same uh one that you have, the Triplight one.
JonDo you? Yeah, okay.
MoYes, because and mine just started flaking out.
JonHuh? It must be that time of the year.
GeorgeMmm.
Molike just recently like
Georgemm-hmm
JonThey’ve all expired. Yeah.
MoIt like it started beeping one time. And so I was like, what’s going on?
JonMm hmm.
MoAnd look, and then it just like every now and then it just like cuts out. So I actually took it off. I just, everything right now, my stuff is not protected, you know, as far as from that stuff.
JonYeah. That’s not fun. That’s not good.
MoUm,
JonYeah.
MoBut yeah, but it was. it was as bad. So, so I was looking for something like said, like, But you said mostly I’m worried about like those blips in power that we get here all the frickin time.
JonExactly. Yeah.
Moyou know You know, all of a sudden they got to wait. 10 minutes for my internet to come back up because, you know, it takes that long for it to reestablish connection, all that BS.
JonSure.
MoSo the thing is that the one I have, which I think is the same one you have, it didn’t have a lithium battery in it. I think it was like nickel.
JonMm-hmm.
Mocaddy and whatever
JonNickel cadmium or whatever.
Moand And it weighed like a thousand pounds.
JonRight. Yeah.
MoIs this one, since it’s lithium, is it lighter? Is it… It looks smaller actually.
JonI mean, it’s… it’s It is smaller. it It’s probably lighter. Look, you’re not going to put it in your pocket. It probably weighs 25 pounds.
MoOh no no no. Okay, so it’s hefty.
Jonbut doesn’t weigh like the 45 pounds that the other one probably weighed.
MoYeah.
JonIt is slimmer. It kind of looks like… You know, those ubiquitous Dell servers that everybody in their office building had, they were pretty thin line, shorter than that, but about that thick.
MoOh yeah.
GeorgeYep. Optiplex.
JonYeah, about that that much depth. Yes, yeah, Optiplex, exactly. Yeah, so it’s about that size.
MoOkay, okay.
Georgeyeah the only like i looked at it too while you were talking i think the only thing that I have a I’ve been wanting one myself. I don’t have anything right now, but I have more reliable power than either of you two do.
JonMm hmm.
JonYeah.
Georgeum It’s just the price I expect. The… sub 100 for these kind of things but they’re all 200 like this one’s 200 that’s that’s not a horrible price i guess for considering what i looked before and you had shown me the trip light ones before john and stuff
JonMmm.
MoYeah.
JonMm hmm. Yeah.
GeorgeBut… I don’t know. I’m thinking about like the whole house batteries and. How much? They are per watt hour. And they’re much, much cheaper.
Georgethan these things are.
JonMm. I can see an economy of scale happening there, maybe. yeah
GeorgeMaybe, but they do the exact same function, just… obviously on a bigger scale i don’t know I don’t know. It just feels like they’re X. amounts cheaper than what these things are it feels like you know, if you’re going to get 30 minutes worth of
JonHmm.
GeorgeSupply? you should It shouldn’t be more than $100. Especially not with the new battery technologies anymore, but… I don’t know
JonThat’s entirely up to your value, I guess. I tell you, I only have to lose my work once. to be 200 worth of pissed off
GeorgeYeah.
Moyeah
JonIt is really fast. And to have that kind of peace of mind, it’s… it’s worth that to me i would never consider investing in a whole house surge suppression and Battery backup. uh because Most things in our house are not mission critical.
Jonso a couple hundred bucks versus whatever the whole house was never explored that but uh um Maybe you don’t.
GeorgeWell, the whole house is for a whole different thing, though. They’re not just for your computers.
JonYeah, is it?
GeorgeThey’re to keep your air conditioner, and your refrigerator, all that kind of stuff when you have a long blackout.
MoYeah.
JonAh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Ours are more about blips, not about…
Georgebut Yeah.
JonYeah. Okay, so. Maybe not be, might not be for George, but Mo, if you’re looking for something, if you want to replace that trip light. I’ve been very happy with this one so far. Nothing about it had made me go, everything just. seem to be fine. So.
MoOkay.
JonAnd a standard plug. The plug is not hardwired in. It’s like a standard Molex plug, not a Molex. What’s the three prong for computers?
MoJust it was just a regular standard.
GeorgeYeah, right.
MoOkay, just
JonThe center three plug thing, yeah. Yeah, same thing. so
MoAll right, cool.
JonAlright. George, what have you been checking out in the world of tech?
GeorgeYou know, we get a lot of offers. for uh our channel we get so many solicitations and i know john’s even like recently posted a comment where somebody said i hate youtubers get everything for free like Okay.
Jonhe
GeorgeAnd I understood your explanation back to the person. who’s totally Correct. But. Every now and then you get something that’s a little bit. off the beaten path, but kind of on the path a little bit.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd that’s what this one was.
JonYeah.
GeorgeSo I just wanted to talk about it because we’re in the early, early, early stages of testing this out. medic I haven’t even signed an affiliate deal with this company yet, but ah I pronounced the company Yoniq.
GeorgeIt’s spelled Y-O-N-I-Q. I don’t know if that’s correct or not, but that’s what I’m.
MoThat’s what I’m assuming with too.
JonHmm?
GeorgeThat’s how I’m calling it.
JonYeah, I think it was a play on unique, right?
GeorgeAnd they sent us.
JonProbably.
GeorgeYeah, I think.
JonYeah.
Georgeum
JonYeah.
GeorgeSo… They sent us their first product in their line. They have a whole lot more that they have planned, but it’s called the Game Patch. And I’m going to show it up here for when we have the vodcast up.
GeorgeI’m going to show it right on the screen for those people who want to take a look at it.
JonYep.
GeorgeSo what this little thing is… In. A nutshell. It’s one of these little rubberized, conductive, little joystick things that you can stick to the…
Georgescreen on your phone and then when you play with their particular app. which has those You know how every video game you play with on your phone, it’s got the virtual controls and it just doesn’t feel good when you’re playing.
JonMm hmm. The little spots on the screen, yeah.
GeorgeYeah. exactly um well They’re… little app. is designed to work with this system so that instead of having just your screen that you’re touching, you’re actually pushing these little buttons and these little buttons on these little rubberized. little… things are the exact same type of things that you would find in like like a game boy or something like that.
MoMm hmm.
JonRight. Like you took apart your controller and that’s in there.
GeorgeThey’re just. Exactly.
JonYeah.
GeorgeThe little rubber pieces that are inside all of those.
JonYeah.
GeorgeThat’s what is it? John and I were talking before and we were like, it looks like somebody said, we’ve got a whole bunch of these parts extra. Why don’t we just sell the parts and come up with an app to go with it?
Jonyeah Yeah.
Mo<unk>
JonStick them on the screen.
GeorgeYeah. um So I’ve been testing this thing out over the last few days and. I like it. I’ve had a few difficulties though, and I’ve had a few experiences that I’m not happy with yet.
GeorgeSo I’m not giving this as a thing that I want people to go out and rush out and buy. Although it is very affordable for what it is. I think it’s like under 20 bucks for one of them.
JonMm hmm.
Georgeum but I wanted to talk with you guys just a little bit about some of the things I know. So first of all, they sent us four of these, one in every color that they had. And when they first offered it to us, they said, we would like to send you four samples.
JonHmm.
GeorgeAnd I’m like, great. Send two of them to John. One did Mo one to me. fine no they sent four to everybody So we all got all the colors.
MoYeah.
Jonthey I feel like they had those prepackaged and just everybody gets a four.
GeorgeRight.
MoYeah.
JonYeah.
MoIt was easier
GeorgeYeah. Um, That’s cool. the first one that i opened was the yellow version they’re all the same just different colors
Jonm I get the pink.
GeorgeMy yellow one would not stick to my phone screen at all. Just wouldn’t do it. Still tried it. When I… reached out to them and I said, am I doing something wrong? Is there something I’m supposed to be noticing or doing? Does the alcohol white matter that much? What, you know?
GeorgeAnd they said, well, no, it’s just, you know, you press it down firmly and all like that. I’m like, okay, fine. I said, let me try one of the other ones. Well, the other one snapped stuck right away.
JonHmm.
GeorgeNo problem. So it feels like they might have some manufacturing issues possibly.
JonMm. little variants.
GeorgeNow, John, you said you tried the pink one. Mo, have you tried any of yours yet?
JonMm hmm.
MoYeah, I tried mine. It was the… I think it was the yellow one as well. I didn’t even know there were different colors, quite honestly.
GeorgeOkay.
MoI just grabbed the first one.
Joni Yeah, I’ve gotten there.
Moum And I tried it in my.
GeorgeSo did anybody else experience the sliding around or anything?
MoIt works. Mm-mm.
Georgeor No.
Jonyeah well I haven’t played a game with it yet. I like put it on my screen and fiddled with it, but I’ve yet to actually play a game. I think that the the test for me is going to be… can i play it without looking down at it and will it stay put like like you’re saying because um like in early test it seemed to be fine but i wasn’t really playing a game I wasn’t really, you know
GeorgeYeah.
Jongetting into it and body English and stuff.
GeorgeRight.
JonI was just. trying it.
MoMhm.
JonYeah.
GeorgeNow here’s a couple of things that when you install the app you might notice that I don’t like. And it’s the permissions. Out.
JonOh, lots of them.
GeorgeAnytime I install an app and it starts spitting out, I need this permission. I need that permission.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeI get immediately suspicious now. The permission it needs to read my drive. Okay. I get that. You got to load the ROMs into your app. So, okay, fine. I understand why you need that one.
GeorgeBut then it said. I need access to your microphone. The hell you need access to my microphone for?
MoYeah.
JonNo you don’t.
MoYeah. ah
Georgebut I don’t understand that
Jonright we would like to make we’d like to see your contacts and make calls no you don’t
GeorgeRight.
Jonah
Georgeso i’m like what are they doing it doesn’t make sense now I will say that this is a Chinese company. We deal with a lot of those people. Their interactions with me so far on email have been very pleasant. They’ve been very friendly, very nice. I haven’t mentioned to them yet about. this part.
GeorgeThe other part of their app that I don’t like it. It starts itself horizontal.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeStarts itself in landscape. I don’t seem to… be able to change that. But then when I want to play a game, most of the games I’m going to play in this thing are going to be like Game Boy games, right?
Moh
JonOr vertical. Right, so they’re square at the top.
GeorgeSo I need to put them in Tate vertical mode.
JonYep.
GeorgeAnd it does that when you load your game. It’ll let you rotate to the vertical mode. But you don’t know where to put. the little device until the game is loaded
JonUntil the game’s running. Got it.
Mooh
GeorgeAnd once the game is loaded.
JonYep.
Georgethe buttons are already live on your screen on the screen of your phone and you’re putting this thing down on it, you end up with some mispresses and stuff, which is not a huge deal, but it’s a little irritating.
JonYeah, there.
Mojesus
Jonthat’s That’s UX testing you’re doing, George, that user experience testing.
GeorgeRight?
JonYou’re like, it all works in an isolated lab.
Georgeah
JonBut when I’m sitting on a park bench.
GeorgeMm-hmm
JonThis is a pain in the ass. Yeah.
GeorgeYeah.
Jonat UX.
Georgeso I think there’s some hits and misses with the device. I think their price point is good. They give you a lot of little extra things that make the value feel.
JonMm hmm. Little feely stickers.
Georgelike it like they give you these nice thick lanyards and they give you these stickers on a little case a little mag ring thing so that you can keep this on the back of your device if you want to there a whole bunch of
JonCute.
GeorgeReally. nice little things inside the package. For the, I think it’s like $18. for one of them.
JonHmm, reasonable.
GeorgeI think it’s the price.
JonOh yeah.
GeorgeYeah. Reasonable price. And it does. When you get one to stick to your phone. Those buttons make that gameplay feel a lot. million times better than just the virtual controls on a screen.
JonOh sure. Yeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeUm, It’s I think it’s a smart device. I just need them to work these issues out. before I really move forward with us recommending the product.
JonIf we could do a recommendation.
Georgeand
JonSure.
GeorgeYeah, I just wanted to talk about a little bit here because a lot of people don’t understand the process that we go through. with these things that come in to Gen X Grown Up all the time, all these offers, because for every one video that you see.
JonYeah, good point
GeorgeWe have received 100 solicitations and tested 20 of them and just chose one that we want to recommend to you guys because we’re very careful about our reputation.
JonRight.
MoYeah.
Jonit’s not a rubber stamp. That’s right.
GeorgeNo. mm-hmm
Jonhe Yep. We’re good. We shall continue to test. You know, maybe we’ll help them improve their product. And by the time. and We give it some coverage. It’ll be great. That’d be nice.
MoYeah.
JonLet that go there. I think we’re fine. Peace. Lovely.
GeorgeBye. form. Three? Time to talk about games, ladies and gentlemen. We just got through talking about a game controller. Now it’s time to talk about the games that we might play with a game controller.
Jonokay
Moshe she
GeorgeMo?
MoYeah.
GeorgeWhy don’t you kick us off? What have you been playing lately?
MoYeah, I’ve been playing a game called quarantine zone. Um,
GeorgeMmm.
MoIt’s… Well…
Jonand zombie-ish.
MoIt kind of is, but what it is that you’re the guy.
GeorgeOkay.
Mowho inspects people that are coming in from the zombie-infested land to see if they… Can come in or not.
JonOh! Okay.
GeorgeOkay, so this is another job game
MoYeah, it’s another job game.
JonYeah.
Georgeum
MoUm…
JonBut it’s not cleaning up.
MoIs that cleaning up this time?
JonIt’s it’s ah inspecting people for bites now.
Moessentially yeah that’s what it is and so and it starts you off with like some basic like tools that you could use like you you take someone’s temperature or that kind of thing but then you have to like basically make a decision where they go Afterwards,
Jono
MoUm,
GeorgeTo hell.
Moyeah you Well, you could send them off to the to the left, and that means that you hear gunshots in a few minutes.
GeorgeAll of them.
Jonah
Mooh ah
JonWhoa!
GeorgeOh wow! the Old Yeller style.
MoYeah. Or you can send them into you know the…
Georgeyeah
MoGen pop area, of the safe area, or…
JonMm hmm.
MoIf you’re not sure, you do have a small area for quarantine that you could leave in there for a couple of days.
JonThe limbo.
Moand check And check him later.
GeorgeI was going to say it’s called quarantine zone. I hope you have a quarantine area.
JonYeah.
MoYeah. And you actually can. check them next day. See like, okay. And then, so it has a whole bunch of things to sneak. Cause it’s like, there’s a whole bunch of symptoms that you have to look for a whole bunch of like things that you could.
Moto like if And basically you have to determine like, okay, if they’re… Eyes are red. Yeah, you’re a freaking. infected you’re going to to the side here you know and they’re gonna get rid of you Then there are some that are great.
MoLike. Okay, their temperature is elevated, but it’s not quite…
JonMm hmm.
Moyou know they could have the flu right they could be sick so you know and so
JonWell, the red eyes. maybe Maybe they’ve been smoking a little weed. You know, that’s why their eyes are red.
MoNo, this would be.
GeorgeHmm. Okay.
MoNo, these are like super red. they
GeorgeJust because he’s licking his cellmate doesn’t mean that he’s a zombie yet.
JonDude, I’m totally not a zombie. Yeah.
MoYeah.
JonDepends where he’s licking.
Georgeah
MoAnd it has like a bunch of… um Oh, God. I was just trying to, I’m sorry.
Jonah It does matter.
MoI was trying to soar right past that point. And so and that’s how I was like a bunch of like kind of built in like mini games, I guess you would call them.
Georgeo
Moum So we’re things like you.
GeorgeMinigames?
MoYeah, that you wake up and all of a sudden like.
GeorgeLike… Where you put the thermometer? What kind of mini games are there?
MoNo, where they could where they come in where…
Jonah
MoWhere the, like… The… infected or rushing the compound that you’re in. And so you.
GeorgeOkay.
JonNo!
Moso you have a gun thing you have to like shoot them down basically and keep them from destroying the wall
JonOh.
GeorgeAh, okay.
JonMmm. That sounds cool.
MoThere’s… Yeah, this very, very light. like camp management like it’s it’s like a few things it’s it’s not much at all so they made sure that part was like not like overly stupid or anything else.
MoAnd then there’s also things where after a while, like you can. There’s a lab that you see somebody, you think they’re infected, but they’re showing a symptom that you haven’t seen before. So you can send it to this lab and if it turns out that you could determine that there’s a new symptom. Like, oh, would they have…
MoThese things, that means this new symptom that now is on your chart of things to look at.
JonVery cool.
GeorgeAh.
Jonthat’s
MoIt’s and then what the game part is that you. have every five or six days. The bus comes to pick up survivors. And they say, we expect. five people to be there or 10 people or 20 people.
MoYou know, if you don’t, if you miss that quota. After a certain amount of time, then you lose, basically. You lose the game.
JonMm.
MoUm,
JonThey just leave you to get eaten by the zombies.
MoYeah, basically. Yeah, you’re screwed at that point um It’s… it’ it’s it’ To me, it’s a lot of it’s a lot of fun. the ah A little stressful. As far as like. you know You get that person.
JonBecause you got to make a call.
MoYeah.
JonYeah.
MoAnd you’re like, oh, because the problem is if you send an effective person into the regular area. they wind up killing some of the people.
JonThey’ll infect others, won’t they?
MoRight.
JonI can imagine.
GeorgeI feel like you care a little too much about these people.
MoNo, I care about winning the game. and That’s one thing I care about.
GeorgeOkay.
JonMm hmm.
Mothe
JonOkay.
GeorgeI was like, just let them die. That’s the winning part.
MoWell, and then you get money and stuff that you can buy and upgrades, that kind of thing. But the thing is that if you send too many non-infected…
GeorgeHmm.
Moto be killed and that counts against you. you know.
Georgeum That counts against you.
JonMm hmm.
Mouh Obviously. Which I guess is a good thing. you know Which is a good thing.
JonWhat’s that?
MoYou don’t get yeah you’t get fired. He just…
JonRight.
Georgeyeah
JonMo’s like, your eyes aren’t red, but you blink too much. Dead. I know.
MoOr there’s a bunch of symptoms that basically are just normal. Like, okay, that’s fine. But you get somebody who has like 10 of them.
GeorgeMmm.
MoAnd they all find…
JonYeah.
MoI can send you it!
JonWhat?
MoTechnically, but…
JonIn combination.
Mothis is too much. Let me say you’re quarantine for a little bit, you know, or something like that.
JonI understand. That sounds cool. Yeah.
MoYeah, so and the thing is, this it’s a $20 game. on top of it too. um you know 20 bucks i was like oh great and they even came out with just a new expansion
JonYeah, nice.
Mowhich now you’re like basically in Miami doing the same job, except you’re letting people onto a boat that’s going to escape.
JonOkay, yeah.
Moand And the boat needs repairs. So you’re trying to find certain types of people and that kind of thing as well.
JonHmm.
MoSo again. Quarantine Zone for $20, well worth it. You know, it’s it’s not like a super expensive you know one of these $70 now or $80 games now, which is ridiculous.
JonYou go.
JonI’ll try it.
MoAnd it’s a lot of fun. Like I said, it’s a little stressful. Worst case, if you totally screw up, you can restart the day. If you totally hose it, you just say, yeah, I’m just going to start this day over again.
JonRight.
MoLet’s see if I could find these people.
JonThat’s a great thing of all games. It’s just a game. If I lose…
MoIt is. It’s just a game.
Georgeyeah
JonStart again.
MoSo a lot of fun. So if you get a chance, it’s called Quarantine Zone on Steam. I’m not sure what other platforms, but that’s what I played it on, so it’s definitely worthwhile. So.
JonCool.
MoGeorge, your game is a game I saw from… way back when.
GeorgeYeah. 30 years ago. Right. ah
Jonm
GeorgeWing Commander Prophecy is what I wanted to talk about today. I was going to talk about a different game an independent game developer sent me, but then this thing happened over the last couple of days. I had some people. um Put a post on our Discord server, genxgrownup .com slash Discord.
Georgeand
JonDing!
GeorgeThey were talking about this new bundle that just got released. So this new. bundle came out because it’s the 30th and 35th anniversary of most of the games in the wing commander franchise and The company has put out these enhanced versions of the games.
GeorgeBut they’re not charging crazy amounts of money. Like if you wanted to buy the bundle on Steam, the whole bundle is like 30 bucks.
MoOkay.
GeorgeIt’s really a… good deal if you want to pick up all of them if you don’t have them now i want to want talk about the steam bundle i want to talk about The fact that I bought this, well, I already had it.
Georgeon GOG .com. so We love ah grand old games or great old games, whatever.
JonHmm?
GeorgeI don’t know what the GOG stand for. Never understood.
Jonif
GeorgePeople say different things. Anyway, they’re in the middle of their 18th anniversary. They just released a showcase video on their YouTube channel for the first time. ah yesterday i think it was and i saw it today and they were talking about this wing commander approach so I’m like, oh, crap.
GeorgeWell, I just bought it on Steam. Let me go refund the one on Steam and look at the one on. gog because if you had the original game from back in the day you got the 30th anniversary for free They just include it.
MoNice.
Georgefor you so i downloaded it there it plays just as smooth maybe even smoother than through the steam interface um i didn’t notice a single skip or lag in the full motion video captures which are breathtaking.
Georgeif you played wing commander back in the day you remember how pixelated and degraded the video was Yeah, but.
Mooh yeah Yeah. At the time, it looked amazing, though. it looked amazing at the time so you know yeah.
JonRight. It was like.
Moyeah
GeorgeOh, it’s so gorgeous now because they have the original footage.
Jon240p or something.
GeorgeSo they’re able to just. Show that. And that original footage was shot on good cameras, you know, television cameras of the day.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeAnd now. You get to see that and it’s just so much better. than what it was the gameplay itself is also enhanced it’s a lot of fun I did the first mission in both the steam variant and the GOG variant.
GeorgeJust like what I remember, you know, all the weird senses of humor and stuff that they wrote into those lines in the cut scenes and everything.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeYou know you still, Mark Hamill is gorgeous as ever.
MoI was going to say, yeah, was it Mark Hamill in one of them?
GeorgeYeah, yeah, he’s still Commander Blair in prophecy.
MoYeah.
Jonhe
JonMmm.
Georgeum The AIDS. it’s it’s just a really really fun game the fact that gog allows you to download the game play it on anything you want drm free you can save it to cd or disc or what the hell ever medium you want and have it forever i just feel like that’s very important we talk about it a lot here on the channel on my bit by bit news stuff and john mentions it all the time
JonYep. CD.
GeorgeUh, Owning the games as opposed to Steam is easy. Don’t get me wrong.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI don’t think Steam is going anywhere, but if they ever choose to take that game away, I’ve got nothing I can do about it.
Jonmm-hmm
JonThey can. That’s right.
GeorgeSo. If you’re looking to pick up these new 30th and 35th anniversaries, I suggest picking them up on GOG. They’re like five bucks maximum a piece. Some of them are like $250, so…
MoOkay.
JonHmm.
Georgethey’re They’re great values for the money.
JonYeah.
GeorgeBut…
JonAnd George, i I clicked on the link to GOG to go and watch. And so I’m watching trailers of the, no sound or anything.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonI’m just seeing it. And as you’re talking, you’re talking about how much you enjoyed it. And I’m looking at it and I’m getting little chills remembering.
Moshe says
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonHow? How? By today’s standards. The gameplay looks a little rudimentary. It’s a little more polygonal.
GeorgeSure.
JonBut it didn’t matter when we played it.
MoYeah.
JonAnd I’m looking at it like I could play that game right now and and suspend my disbelief and believe i’m in outer space.
GeorgeMm-mm. Yep.
JonI’m like, damn it. And I’m like, and I know they optimize these for like modern controllers. So I don’t have a flight yoke.
GeorgeThey did. Yeah.
JonBut I’m going to have my little thumb stick that’s analog that’s going to work just fine.
Moright
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonI’m thinking. Damn, that’s cool. i Yeah, I’m probably spending. five to $20 this weekend. Most likely.
MoYes.
GeorgeYeah.
JonThat looks great.
Georgeyeah it’s a great system and check your library you might already have it that’s the thing you might have bought the wing commander a long time ago and now you’ve got the anniversary edition for free that’s the other thing that gog does as well or maybe better than any of the other platforms if you already own something and a new version of it comes out
JonOh, that’s… How cool.
MoThat’s true.
JonYeah, I might. You’re right. I very well could. I wouldn’t doubt it
JonMm hmm.
JonYep.
GeorgeA lot of times they just give you the new version.
MoYeah.
GeorgeThat’s just…
JonYeah.
GeorgeThat’s a crazy business model, but it’s because. I don’t think they give a shit. about the money side of it.
JonYeah.
Georgei think they really are genuinely into the game preservation aspect that’s what the whole company was founded on and they’re doing a great job.
JonYeah.
GeorgeCiao.
JonYeah. Well, Steam and Epic, some other they did that like with Bioshock.
GeorgeHmm?
JonAnd they did that with, there was another one that got remastered.
MoYeah.
JonOh, Gears of War. got that’s re It’s remastered.
GeorgeOh yeah.
JonI’m not talking Emergence, but then just remastered.
GeorgeYeah.
JonIf you owned it at a Windows store, you got a free upgrade.
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonSo it’s a good it’s a very consumer-friendly policy to have, and it garners goodwill.
GeorgeYeah.
JonAnd.
GeorgeYeah, I mean, because some…
JonYeah. I’m glad.
GeorgeSome companies are selling these enhanced versions at like… new game prices sometimes you know and i get it you did a lot of work and you’re trying to make that money back and you’re trying to make a profit i don’t bear any ill will toward you for that but
JonMm hmm. Yeah.
JonYep. Me too.
GeorgeIf I already own the old game, you want to give me the thing for free?
JonYeah.
Georgei’m not going to turn it down and gog is a great place to do that with so
MoYeah.
JonYep. Love it. Mm.
GeorgeJohn. I purposely left yours.
JonYeah.
Georgeto the last because
JonOkay.
Moinstances
GeorgeI’m not sure this is a game I really want to highlight.
Jonah
Georgethis This feels a little bit less than the Moe pick. This is not a job game. This is a hobby game. If I understand the title.
JonYeah.
Georgecorrectly. I don’t.
JonYeah, probably.
GeorgeWhy?
JonSo… Do you remember last time we spoke and I had that game that was. ah It was incremental. Like the the the we.
JonWe need more humans, remember? it was And they then humans are worth a dollar, and then they’re worth $10 and $100, and you can upgrade and upgrade and upgrade.
GeorgeYeah, yeah. Yeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeRight.
JonThis is… This is the act. Of ripping. Collectible Card Packs as a game
GeorgeWhew.
JonAnd you you’d think, so first… It’s only three bucks. Okay. So, but it’s like, I know that’s like. Three-fifths of the cost of Wing Commander Prophecy, but still.
GeorgeRight?
JonBut still. it It has that ah modern pixely. um look of like bellatro where things are intentionally look like pixels right that kind of thing
GeorgeMm hmm. Right.
JonAnd then. It starts with, you get a free pack like every 10 seconds. You can open, it drops on the table. You click on it a whole bunch of times, which is the rip. And then it opens. You got like two cards in it and you’re collecting all the different cards. And then later. there’s other packs you can get that cost $5 or pack cost $20 or pack cost. And they have better cards in them. And then later you start getting the, the foil variant and the.
Jona holographic variant and the you know all those things and then you start getting upgrades And the upgrades are like, you can rip faster. You can flip two cards at once.
MoJeez. Oh my God.
JonYou can. how many you can hold duplicates in reserve before you sell them off, or you can hire employees who will be selling them off and flipping cards for you. You’re building this little system.
JonAnd it’s… It’s that same kind of, I i think when I talked about we need more humans, I talked about the Bellatro feeling of. watching little numbers turn into big numbers and things how fast you can flip the cards as an upgrade, things like that.
JonIt’s watching it go from something that’s kind of slow to something that’s like crazy fast and a million things happening at once. It’s just… You find yourself, I’ll try it. Oh, that’s kind of cool.
JonOh, that upgrade helped. Let’s try just one more. And then it’s 45 minutes later and you’ve done it for.
MoHa ha.
Jona bajillion packs and I have tons of cards to sell. And it’s just, it’s, it’s a special kind of game. You have to like that kind of game, but this is a good one of them.
GeorgeMmm. so
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI’ve been waiting for you to take a breath because…
JonDubious.
GeorgeThe act that you’re talking about of ripping open the packs and turning over the cards and then whatever happens afterwards. That is just a little. cutscene in most
JonMm-hmm
Georgemodern sports games right like nba games ah like the way you get your your team together is you get these cards you rip open the cards and now you’ve got vladi divak or you got michael jordan or whoever um you know
JonMm-hmm
JonYep.
JonMm hmm. Or a loot crate or something.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYeah.
GeorgeExactly.
Jonmm-hmm
GeorgeThey’ve taken that little cut scene and turned it into a game.
JonIt’s the whole game
GeorgeAnd they’ve paired it with the idea that this is. Kind of like the, you know, I know you love the retro rewind and we love the re-story one where you’re cleaning up the old Atari.
JonMm hmm. Hm?
Georgeuh, gadgets and cartridges and whatnot.
JonHmm?
GeorgeIt feels like it’s a blending of those two things. And I don’t. Like it. um I don’t…
JonWhat?
GeorgeI don’t think it’s, I don’t think it’s a good thing for society. at this point.
JonWell, okay. Well, okay. I’m not worried about society. I’m just worried about me right now, but we’ll get back to that.
Georgei
JonI’ll tell you. You know why it’s a cut scene in those games? Because it’s exciting for people. It’s not enough to just, oh, what cards do I get? People will watch and there’s an animation and it explodes or it pops open in a shower of sparkles. And it’s that endorphin hit, like the bejeweled thing. And this is loaded with those little endorphin hits. A rare card pops. It’s like fireworks and go off. It is.
JonIt is just. it A little slow drip of dopamine. That’s why.
GeorgeIt just feels too simplistic.
JonThat’s why.
GeorgeIt feels… Like it’s preying on a simple side of human.
JonYes.
Georgeit’s i see I see kids all the time.
Moits John’s like, yeah, you’re not wrong.
Jonyeah
Georgethat are ripping open the packs on youtube right and those videos are getting like 5 million views and i’m like god damn it john just did this beautiful documentary video about pac-man and you assholes are watching some kid open a foil pack
JonYep.
MoWhich is ridiculous.
Jonbut Yeah.
GeorgeAre you kidding me?
JonGuess I should be just clicking on these cards instead.
GeorgeOh, God.
JonIt’s Goofy. Crack the Pack is the name of it.
MoOkay.
GeorgeMm.
Jonmo will give you I’ll give you a link.
MoYeah, yeah, yeah Be in the show notes.
JonBut another show, note look at three bucks. It’s $3. On sale, it’s probably going to be $1 .50, right?
GeorgeIt’s just a dollar more.
Joni’ve I’ve gotten. I’m. I’m… I’m not embarrassed to say I have gotten my three hours out of it already. ah
JonI can let that go there if you guys have nothing else.
GeorgeYeah.
Moyeah I’m good.
Georgeyeah
MoI’m good.
JonAll right. We’re here in the last segment of the show. And before we let you go, we always like to take a few seconds to talk here about the things we’re either looking at right now or looking forward to between now and the next time we get together. And I think I’m going to start with you, George. What do you have on the horizon?
Georgeah First up, this is kind of a… a PSA, so to speak, or something like that. Uh, I’m looking forward to SFGE already, which is going to happen in July. And I’m looking forward to it because we just got noticed through the SFGE discord server that the room bookings are going to be live the day that this episode drops.
JonMm hmm.
JonRight now.
GeorgeNow, my hope is that you’re listening to this podcast on your drive into work or something like that, because
JonAs you should.
MoAnd pull over, get your phone out.
GeorgeYeah.
Jonah
Moah
GeorgeBecause the… The opening happens at 1 p .m. Eastern Time.
MoMmm.
GeorgeWe release this, I think, at 7 a .m.
JonOkay.
GeorgeEastern Time, John?
Mo5am, 5am, 5am.
Jon5, 5 a .m.
George5 a .m eastern even better so that gives you a few hours to prepare because let me tell you If you hear this podcast at 1 .10 PM, you’re probably too fucking late.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeThose rooms.
JonOh!
GeorgeGo fast.
MoYeah.
JonI have to interject. If you’re a patron. You get it 5 p .m. the night before, so you have an… a market advantage.
MoOh!
GeorgeEven better. See? Patreon, genxgrownup .com slash Patreon.
JonDing!
GeorgeThere we go.
Jonding
GeorgeUm.
JonWonderful plugs.
GeorgeSFGE does a great job. It’s our favorite convention of the year. And not to say that the other conventions aren’t fun, but this is the one that we choose to go to.
JonHm?
Georgejust to enjoy ourselves. We don’t go to this one to work.
MoYeah.
JonYep.
GeorgeWe just go there to have a good time with each other and meet everybody there. We always have like a GXG meet and greet. We do a panel or two over the weekend and we just play a ton of games, board games.
Georgetabletop RPGs. video games, pinball. It has everything in it in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It is a beautiful. beautiful convention.
George1 PM. today as you’re listening to me right now, or…
JonMm hmm.
Mosince
GeorgeThe next day, if you… Heard it on Patreon. Get ready to get your rooms. Next thing I’m looking forward to. If it happens. November 19th, GTA 6 is supposed to come out.
MoOh, is there is there a rumor that it’s not?
GeorgeI don’t know if it’s gonna be real or not.
MoIs there… Talk about it not coming out.
GeorgeWell, it’s been delayed like 17 times.
JonIt’s always been delayed. yeah
MoOh yeah.
GeorgeYeah. So… We’ll see if it’s going to show up or not. at this point it looks like maybe it is because they haven’t announced another delay but At this point. I don’t know if it’s even worth it.
GeorgeIt’s… crazy prices.
Jonyeah
Moah How much is it going for?
GeorgeIt’s just the most expensive video game in history.
JonIt’s a hundred bucks.
MoOof.
GeorgeYeah.
MoOof.
GeorgeWell, I think they spent like $20 billion dollars making the damn thing. Who knows? but Just stupid. um ah you know, John’s going to play his $3 crack the pack anyway. So it doesn’t matter.
JonIt gets much cheaper. Just as much fun.
MoYeah.
GeorgeI think I’m looking forward to the most though. Uh, November 20th in theaters, the hunger game sunrise on the reaping. This is the Haymitch Abernathy story from the second quarter quell.
JonHmm.
GeorgeSo if you’re a fan of the Hunger Games books or movies, this looks like it’ll be a pretty good one. It’s got a long list of talent involved, a little bit more so than the last movie that came out, which was the whole. um President Snow.
Georgeprequel storyline thing um that one was what songbirds and snakes i think that one was called
JonSomething like that.
GeorgeOh.
JonYep.
GeorgeSo this one, I think will be a little bit better than that one. I don’t know if it’ll rival the original. trilogy movies and some people like them some people don’t like them i really enjoyed them so hopefully this one will live up to the hype a little bit more so than GTA 6 at least.
GeorgeSo. Mo, what about you? What are you looking forward to?
Molet’s see uh the first thing is i think a movie actually georgia you were looking forward to last time which just doesn’t come out for a little bit which is the return of living dead Remake.
GeorgeMm hmm.
MoBecause, you know.
GeorgeYep.
Mobut I’m like you, you know, a good zombie flick is never a bad thing, right?
JonHmm.
GeorgeRight.
Moso So looking forward to that. um It comes out the 13th of November again. um
JonSo just tomorrow. Yeah.
MoYep. i’m Also looking forward to Thanksgiving this year because we’re having, it’s going to be ridiculously large in our. A family flying in. We’re going to have.
JonOoh, one of those, yeah.
GeorgeMmm.
Mo26 people.
JonWoo!
Georgewo
Jonwoo
MoI think is the last count. Um,
Georgethat’s a poker tournament
Mothat’s It’s a lot of people.
Jonthat’s That’s three tables.
Georgeokay
MoYeah. It’s a, it’s a lot of Turkey. Let me tell you. So, but looking forward to two, cause you know, I don’t think we’ve ever had this group together like It’s all the kids and everything. And we might not again, you know, who knows?
MoI mean, it’s to get this particular group of people together may not happen.
GeorgeMmm.
JonYeah. together.
MoYou know, so we’re taking advantage of it.
JonRight, right, right.
MoWe’re not worried about how much things cost. We’re just going to have fun. um What I’m really looking forward to, though, is. Blade Runner New series.
JonThat’s it.
MoAmazon.
JonOh really?
Moyep Coming out November 25th. It’s 50 years after the movie the last movie. And Michelle Yeoh is a star.
JonOh, is it live action?
MoIt’s live. Yes, a live action.
JonOh, really?
MoAnd it’s a series.
JonHmm.
MoAnd it looks it just it.
JonOkay.
MoLooks awesome. like the trailers don’t tell you too much, which is not a bad thing.
JonGood.
Mobut you get the impression, you see some of the replicants are talking to each other and they’re like. you know Why is it more human than humans? is Why even compare ourselves to humans? you know.
GeorgeMmm.
Mowe should be we should be gods a instead of human you know like that kind of thing which i was like oh and i think michelle yo plays like a blade runner like one of the people who goes out and hunts them.
GeorgeMmm.
Jonmake That would make sense.
GeorgeOh, okay all right
MoAnd so but as soon as I saw she was in it, Blade Runner, I’m like, this is. just can’t do no wrong as far as I’m concerned. So that’s what I’m looking forward to the most. So that comes out again, the 25th of this month, November.
JonAlright. That sounds good.
MoYeah. So how about you, John? What are you looking forward to?
JonYeah, so just, ah so first there’s an update. i i play the retro rewind you just mentioned a minute ago george the the movie rental store
MoHmm?
GeorgeMm hmm. Yep.
JonAn update just dropped. I’ve not played it yet, but it just dropped the other day where they’ve added. Video game console and video game rental. to the video.
Momm-hmm
Jontape store. We knew it was coming for a while, but it’s finally out and it’s live. And next time I do a live stream. I’m going to try it again because it’s going to expand a whole new world of things to do and new.
Jonshelves to set up. They have like. You know, they’re off-brand, they make up names, but it’s basically like a Super Nintendo and a Sega are the two kinds of systems that era, late 80s, 90s kind of thing.
MoRight.
JonSo looking forward to trying that new update because I enjoyed that game. ah The next November 20th in theaters, I’m looking forward to seeing I Play Rocky.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
MoSaw that trailer, it looked good.
Jonhave you seen this yeah
GeorgeYep.
JonYeah, it’s a docu…
GeorgeMmm.
JonIt’s a docudrama?
MoYeah.
JonNot about Rocky so much, but about how Rocky got made. How Sylvester Stallone wasn’t getting parts and he wrote this for himself and then people wanted to buy it from him.
GeorgeRight.
MoMm hmm.
JonAnd he’s like, no, I’m going to play this role. and Anyway. It looks really good. The guy looks like he’s not doing an impression. He’s just kind of. like embodying the Stallone. It looks really good. um The thing I’m most looking forward to comes out the day this episode releases, November 12th on Netflix. There’s this movie called Alan.
MoLike the name?
JonAlan? Yes, Allen, A-L-L-E-N.
MoOkay.
JonAnd I think it’s actually a… Misspelling of alien. Like the the second L might have been a…
MoOkay
GeorgeOkay.
JonThis is being, this is getting buzz as a. I’ve never heard this before, a spiritual sequel. to ET.
Moah
JonSo imagine… In this story. You see the movie E .T.?
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonET leaves.
GeorgeRight.
JonElliot’s like, oh, we never even said goodbye. What happened to him after that?
MoOh, what happened to Elliot?
JonYes. So as a man, he grows up. He’s longing for the most important thing that ever happened in his life was this alien. He has his washed up life and he wants him to come back.
GeorgeRight.
JonHe wants the alien to come back. And the alien’s name, they named him Alan. So you get to see like that part of his life when he was a kid.
GeorgeAh.
JonBut then that was because that was the most important thing that ever happened to him, he never did anything else after that. So he’s kind of living on that fame or that.
MoHmm.
JonThat, that. bit of his life kind of like somebody who peaked in high school right they’re still living on the the
MoYeah.
GeorgeLike a serious version of Ted.
JonKind of. Kind of. so It. a spiritual sequel never heard that before so it has nothing to do with spielberg different character names and everything but
MoHmm.
JonAlan. Comes out November 12th.
MoOkay. Check that out.
JonLooking forward to that the most. Okay. ah Before we wrap it up, we’re just about done. I know that I want to thank a new new patron who joined us, but Mo, one of the benefits of being a patron is an opportunity to ask us a question here on the show that we’ll answer.
JonAnd I see you have one on deck.
MoYeah, um I guess this is because Halloween just passed. So Ben asked this question I thought was very appropriate, which was. Was there a movie that you saw growing up? That really scared you.
MoThat actually scared you like. made you i guess look under your bed or look in the closets or something like that
JonMm-hmm
MoSo. George, you mind starting us off?
Georgeuh yeah it’s pretty easy answer for me there’s only one
MoOkay. What?
GeorgeExorcist.
JonMm hmm.
MoYeah, that’s a bad one.
Jonyeah You’ve mentioned that before.
Georgeyeah so i’ve i’ve told the story i think before but i uh I wasn’t young.
JonYep.
GeorgeI wasn’t growing up, but I was like a teenager and my parents had. work. gone off on some trip. And, uh, before they left, we went to the video store and I saw exorcists on the shelf.
GeorgeWe grabbed it, brought it back to the house, which at that time we lived on a 13 acre farm out in the middle of nowhere. Uh, they left for their fun weekend in wherever Jacksonville, Florida.
GeorgeI don’t know. Uh, and
Mobut
GeorgeThere was a big storm that weekend. And I decided it was a good idea to wait till late at night when the storm was at its strongest to put that goddamn VHS tape in.
Jonhe
MoYeah, that was a tactical error.
GeorgeYeah. yeah that’s one of the only movies that i’ve ever had to stop watching
JonHmm.
MoMmm.
JonMmm.
GeorgeFor.
JonYep.
Georgethe what it it it wasn’t that like i was I don’t think I was fearful like, ah you know, boogeyman’s going to come get me.
MoYeah.
GeorgeIt was just so disturbing.
JonIt is.
MoYes.
GeorgeThat film.
JonOh yeah.
MoOh, truly. Yes.
GeorgeOh my god.
JonYep.
GeorgeSo.
MoOh.
GeorgeFor me, The Exorcist.
JonEasy pick.
MoThat’s a good one.
JonSure.
GeorgeYeah.
MoYeah Or it’s a bad one.
JonYep.
MoI don’t know how you look at it. How about you, John?
JonHaha.
JonI’m going to give you two only because not because I’m cheating. but because one of them was The Exorcist. And I told the story before about how… I watched it and it got in my head and then I heard a motorcycle outside. I’ve told the story too many times.
GeorgeMm hmm.
JonI can tell that again. But the other one. I think the statute of limitations on embarrassment is up on this one. And it was watching on HBO the first time I saw Jaws.
MoMm hmm.
MoOkay.
GeorgeOh.
MoIt scared a lot of people, actually.
JonAnd I heard. Great things about the film. It was finally hitting HBO. I was dying to watch it. And. When he is on the back of the boat,
MoMm hmm.
JonAnd he says, why do you come down here and shovel some of this shit? And just, he says, shit, the shark comes up out of the water.
MoOf the big.
GeorgeRight.
JonI peed a little So… at this point in my life i’m not embarrassed to tell you i lost a little control of my bodily functions i’m like what like it i i was genuinely in my bones scared of the thing on the tv and normally you’re just Anxious, but I mean, I was petrified.
GeorgeMm.
Jonah
MoThat wasn’t…
JonYeah, that that was powerful.
MoYeah, that was that was an amazing scene, though, because it’s like…
JonJaws was powerful. Oh, it was because you don’t see it because the middle of a sentence.
MoIt was just, it was so so calm and, you know, it just comes out of nowhere.
JonYes.
MoSo.
JonMmm.
GeorgeIs that the first time we see the shark in that movie?
MoMmm. No.
JonFull. Yeah. ah young Maybe you had just seen his fin.
GeorgeYeah.
MoWell, you see the head.
GeorgeLike, we see its head.
MoYeah.
JonYes.
GeorgeWe see the fin before, but yeah.
JonRight. But his head comes up out of the water and you’re it’s yeah, it was too much for young Johnny.
GeorgeRight.
GeorgeMmm.
MoI think we need a bigger boat. Hey.
GeorgeHmm.
JonYeah.
MoYeah.
JonHow about you, Mo?
MoSo for me, it was Alien. Um,
JonSure.
GeorgeOh good one.
MoBecause… My brother took me to see it when I was way too young. Because it came out in 77, right?
GeorgeOkay.
GeorgeNo. 79.
MoOr was it 79? Okay, 79.
George79 or 80, yeah.
MoSo I was 11. 12? um And again, it’s like that.
JonI thought it was late 70s. Anyway.
MoOh baby, it was spit it it was, I was too young. yes i was definitely i was i was ah I was a tween or something like that.
JonYeah, either way, too young. yeah
MoAnd at.
Jonah
GeorgeYeah, it was 1979.
Mo79?
GeorgeJust looked it up.
MoOkay, 79.
JonOkay.
MoGood.
GeorgeYep.
MoBecause… you know He got tired of seeing like all the movies that I wanted to see, so he’s like, I want to see Aliens. So I’m like, okay.
JonMm hmm.
MoAnd he undersold it to me.
JonYou had to go.
MoOh, it’s just about space and aliens. I’m like, oh, okay, no problem. When that thing came out of the guy’s chest.
JonMmm!
GeorgeOh yeah.
MoAnd I wasn’t expecting it, so I was eyes wide open staring at the screen.
GeorgeMm-hmm
JonHe he he he he he.
Moi had night I literally had nightmares.
JonMmm.
GeorgeI mean, so did some of the actors on set.
MoYeah, that stuff was…
GeorgeSo you’re you’re in good company.
JonYeah, they didn’t know what was coming. Yeah.
Moyeah that you know that that something was in my chest that something was like pushing i mean i had severe nightmares my dad was so pissed at my brother about that he’s like why the hell do you think it was a movie he’s not sleeping it’s like three o ‘clock in the morning he’s still not asleep
GeorgeYeah.
JonOh.
GeorgeMm. ah
MoBut yeah, I mean, also that movie just by itself was just a great suspense.
JonOh yeah.
GeorgeMm hmm.
MoAgain, it’s like Jaws. You didn’t even see the alien, really.
GeorgeYep.
Mountil you get toward the end and oh
JonFor a long time. Yeah.
Georgenot until dallas is in the air duct that’s the first time you see the flash yeah
MoYeah. Yep. And let me tell you, I mean, I watch it occasionally.
JonMm.
MoI still watch it. But. It’s still… Gets my blood going every time I see it, though. It’s still…
JonYeah.
GeorgeIt’s the way Exorcist is for me, yeah.
JonStill?
MoCreeps me out. Yeah.
JonIt survives. Yeah.
MoSo.
JonWhat a good question, Ben.
MoOh yeah.
Jonoh
MoYeah.
JonI’m a little creeped out.
MoI know. So, yeah, thanks for that question. And, hey, if you want your question asked on this. Sorry. And if you want your question asked on the podcast, it’s really easy. Just go to genuscom .com slash Patreon.
MoAs little as a dollar a month, send me your questions, and the odds are we’ll ask it right here on the show.
JonThat’s right. And the next question we get could be from another Ben. ben and jen j is the name of the account so i’m guessing that’s a partner a team name that account They did just what you said, Mo.
JonThey headed over to patreon .com slash Gen X Grown Up, opened up their hearts and their wallets and said, we want to support what you do with a regular financial pledge of just a dollar.
GeorgeMaybe it’s a new ice cream company that wants to support us.
JonYou’re there. Ben and Jen, it could be.
Mothat That would be the best.
JonSounds tasty.
GeorgeWouldn’t it?
JonI’m in.
GeorgeYeah.
JonRight. But it’s all mint chocolate chip, Mo.
Moah Aww.
GeorgeYeah.
MoOh. Oh. Low blow low blow
JonAll right. Oh yes.
Georgejenna turn up .com slash discord.
JonAlright.
GeorgeIf you want to learn that joke.
Jonbut
Georgehe
JonBut thank you, Ben and Jen Jay, for your your pledge. We’re so grateful to have you on board. Join a roster of other people that we love and we’re so grateful to have you. That then is going to wrap it up. for this edition of the show. Don’t worry, though, if you were worried, you should stop because in a couple of weeks, we’ll be back with another one. And next week, well, that’s our backtrack.
JonAnd often it’s where we pick a single topic and dig in deep. But next week we have something special for you. What is it, George?
GeorgeYou know, it’s getting about that time of the year. We’re winding up. Things are getting a little colder and money. Needs to be spent, ladies and gentlemen.
Jonhe
GeorgeWell… You’ve got a lot of gifts that you need to give. And we’re going to help you. We’re going to give you our geek gift guide for 2026 on the podcast.
JonYep.
GeorgeNow this year, we’re going all in. We’ve got. The podcast one, John, I think is going to do a YouTube video one that might have some different stuff in it.
JonHm? Yep.
GeorgeI’m going to do one in the newsletter since it’s the first time we can do that.
JonYep.
GeorgeIt’s going to be a blast. We’ve got a lot of great products picked out for you.
JonGood ideas.
GeorgeEverything that we recommend that we actually use and own ourselves. all coming up next week.
JonYep. You don’t want to miss that. It’s always a good time. It’s a regular tradition every year, and we’re doing it again this year. You do not want to miss it. Until then. I am John George. Thank you so much for being here, pal.
GeorgeYes, sir
JonMo, you know I appreciate you.
MoAlways fun man.
JonFourth listener, it’s you. We all three appreciate most of all, though. We can’t wait to talk to you again next time. ah Bye-bye.
GeorgeSee you guys.
MoTake care, everybody.
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About The Author

Mo As someone who barely manages to squeeze in as a GenXer my memories include more of the 70's than those younger GenXers. Reading and movies are my passions with some video gaming thrown in there for good measure!

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