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The Best of 2025

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About This Episode

2025 is in the rearview mirror, and before we move on, we’re taking one last look back. From movies and TV to games and gadgets, we’re talking about the stuff that stood out, surprised us, and kept us entertained all year long. These are our personal picks for the best of 2025—and maybe a few things we didn’t expect to love as much as we did.

(May contain some explicit language.)

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Show Notes

TRANSCRIPT

SpeakerTranscript
JonWelcome back, Gen X Grown Up Podcast listeners to this, the backtrack edition of the Gen X Grown Up Podcast. I’m John. Join me as always, of course, my buddy George. Hey, man.
GeorgeHey, how’s it going, everybody?
JonGood. And you know that Mo is here. Hey, Mo.
MoHey, how’s it going, everybody?
JonYeah, you know, 2025 is in the rearview mirror. And before we move on, we’re taking one last look back from movies and TV to games and gadgets. We’re talking about the stuff that stood out, surprised us, kept us entertained all year long.
JonThese are our personal picks for the best of 2025 and maybe a few things we didn’t expect to love as much as we did. And as we actually had something else lined up for this backtrack.
JonAnd It’s interesting. Backtrack is typically pick a single nostalgic topic from growing up. This is a near field backtrack. It’s just from this past year, 2025. And Mo, you noticed that this episode dropped on January 1st.
JonAnd so you, you suggested this.
MoOh, yeah.
JonWhat, what, what kind of sparked the idea for that?
MoWell, one, it seems like this is what everybody’s doing, right? Anybody who has a review show generally does like a year in a review.
JonOkay. All right.
MoAnd the other reason why this will be like fairly easy one for us to do. Like it won’t take a whole lot of thought. um You know, this is stuff we talked about, so I think it should go pretty fast. But also, I’m generally just curious about what you guys thought, you know, for the whole course of the year.
JonWhat you’d rank at the top.
MoWhat were your favorite movies? were your favorite TV shows?
JonYeah.
Moand just see where we line up and where we don’t.
JonYeah. I had a little challenge. You know, you suggested it, so I figured you kind of knew what your best was. But did did you find, George, it was tough to pick a favorite for any of these categories? Or it was pretty straightforward?
Georgeum I don’t know. I just kind of what I tried to do was in each one of the categories, I went and looked through a list or something that I might have found on Plex for the media stuff or in Steam for the game stuff, that kind of thing, and just tried to see if there was anything that I spent more time
JonMm-hmm.
Georgewith than other things.
MoMakes sense. Yeah.
JonYeah.
MoYep.
GeorgeSo if i you know, played a video game for more hours than i played other video games, then that was one that would go up to top of the list.
Jonokay
GeorgeAnd then I just kind of said, okay, well, which one do I think at least today feels like my favorite?
JonYeah. Yeah. i took a similar approach. And lot it’s like, what did I get the most out of? What did i find the most? Yeah. So, all right, that is coming up. So stick around for that. Before we jump in, though, it’s time for some fourth listener email.
JonAnd I guess you could call this the last fourth listener of 2025, or I guess is the first fourth listener of 2026.
MoOh, recent.
JonThis is drops but January 1st. But the fourth listener this time around is Ben S. And he dropped us a line. Topic was Christmas wish lists. Here’s what he has to say. Yeah, just a couple weeks ago, right? We dropped it. last week, very you recently, couple weeks. He says, Dear John, George and Moe.
JonGeorge was not last. Just want to point that out again.
GeorgeHe he he.
JonI listen to the podcast as soon as it comes out. Makes my Thursday morning drives to work so enjoyable. We’re happy to hear that, Ben. Thank you. ah The episode on Christmas wish list reminded me of the year I was eight and decided to put Santa to the ultimate scientific test.
JonI was starting to doubt his existence, so I designed an experiment. I’d write a letter, seal it, and mail it to the North Pole without telling a soul, especially my parents, what I’d ask for.
MoYou
JonMm, science. If my requested gift appeared under the tree, boom, Santa was real. If not, Santa didn’t exist.
GeorgeOr maybe you were just a bad little shit and Santa didn’t want to get it for you that year.
JonMm.
Jonbut Maybe you were on the naughty list.
Georgewhat tough
Moknow what?
JonHad had you considered that, Ben?
MoThat’s good point.
GeorgeWhere’s the control part of the experiment?
Jonright You know, that’s good.
GeorgeI don’t see this working. Yeah.
JonYou have to do that with some some good kids and some bad kids in order to really get the clear test. I hadn’t thought of that, George. you go Well, let’s see. he goes on to say, I shared my brilliant plan with my teenage brother. He didn’t miss a beat. He looked at me and said, Ben, that’s a great test, but think about it. If Santa isn’t real and you haven’t told mom and dad what you want from him,
JonWon’t get that gift. Maybe you should tell them just in case. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. My brother successfully appealed to my greed over my scientific integrity.
Georgehe
Jonspilled. It was just from George. No, it’s from Ben. Okay. It’s from Ben.
GeorgeYeah.
Jonah i thought
Moah
JonI spent. I spilled the beans and got what I wanted. I spent that Christmas still skeptical, but with no hard proof of my hypothesis. to I think it’s a great test.
JonAnd, you know, I think it’s almost better that you had to break the test because then you were able to let that mystery continue for maybe another year, year and a half.
MoRight. He true.
Moright
JonWas he eight, eight years old by then?
Mohe was eight
JonYeah. Yeah.
GeorgeI kind of think that he he’s he was not going to get his gift anyway because he was a bad little shit who was just greedy and wanted something.
JonI like the way he’s thinking.
GeorgeHe wasn’t going to get a thing from Santa anyway.
Moits true
JonSo might as well tell your parents that way. They’ll get it because they don’t know.
Georgeha.
JonThey don’t know. They can’t see you when you’re sleeping and when you’re awake and everything. So Ben, thank you for dropping us a line.
GeorgeHa
JonWe’re glad you enjoyed the backtrack on Christmas wishlist. We love bringing it to you. And we love every time a fourth listener drops us a line to tell us what they think or what memories were dredged up by one of our episodes.
JonIf you’d like your email feature here on the show, it’s drop dead easy. All you have to do is fire off a note to podcast at genxgrownup.com. Read them all, every single one of them. Most of them, like Ben’s, will eventually make the show.
JonAll right. With that good business and 2025 and the rearview mirror, it’s time to jump into the body of this backtrack right after this.
JonPer Mo’s suggestion, we are covering our favorite things in the categories we normally cover, but of 2025. Which of the things we cover are absolutely the best for us individually. We’ve each selected one. In this first segment, we’re going to start with movies. And you know what’s interesting is that Many of these, probably most almost all of these we’re going to talk about are things we have covered probably at some point in the year.
JonSome could have slipped through the cracks.
MoSure.
Jonah So it’s not so much, I think, in this episode why it’s so good. That’s part of it. But why is it so good above and beyond everything else you have enjoyed or watched or played or whatever? And we’re starting with movies here in this first segment. So I’d like to start with you, George.
JonFor 2025, what was the movie for you that stood out and is your best movie of 2025?
GeorgeWell, point of clarification for me, at least, I’m not saying this is the best movie of 2025 because I don’t think it is the best movie of 2025.
JonOkay. Sure.
JonOkay.
GeorgeThere were quite a few movies that came out this year that were really, really good. And I would put two or three of them above this film as far as ah cinematography, editing, dialogue, acting, everything.
GeorgeThere were plenty of films that were better than this one, but with the criteria that you mentioned a little while ago about best for me or favorite, I said, well, which one did I enjoy the most?
JonMm-hmm. Yeah.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeBecause there’s a difference between being the best and enjoying the most for me.
MoYeah, sure.
JonBingo.
MoAbsolutely.
GeorgeAnd Um, once I thought about it along those lines, I went through my list. Um, I wanted to be careful not to fall prey to, the human frailty of the most recent thing being your favorite.
JonMm-hmm.
MoYeah, it’s tough, isn’t it?
GeorgeUm, because that’s real easy to do.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeSo I wanted to make sure that I went through the entire year on my, uh, Plex server and look through all the tickets that I bought, um, to go see films in the theater.
GeorgeAnd the one that just kept popping up every time I thought about it and looked at the list multiple times, checked it twice, as Santa would say, ah
JonMm-hmm.
Georgei I went back to Karate Kid Legends.
MoOkay.
JonReally?
MoInteresting.
GeorgeYeah, for me, it was by far my favorite film of the year because…
JonOh.
GeorgeIt could have so easily been disappointing for a cash grab thing back to the Gen X, you know, nostalgic roots and whatnot, but it didn’t turn out that way.
GeorgeI felt that they paid just enough homage to the original structure of the first movie, but also twisted it just enough to make me go, oh okay, they’re doing something.
JonHmm.
JonMm hmm.
GeorgeOh, wait, no, they’re going back Oh, they didn’t…
Jonyou
GeorgeI’ve watched that film six times this year.
MoOh, wow.
GeorgeSo yeah, yeah.
JonWhat? Six times?
MoHoly crap. Geez. Wow.
GeorgeIt’s become a go-to for me because I really enjoy it. I love the actor who played the main character in it. And he’s actually was in another film that I was kind of considering.
GeorgeHe was in the long walk, the Stephen King movie as well.
MoYep. Yeah.
GeorgeAnd I was like, Oh, that’s a real close one. Cause that was so good. I enjoyed that one a lot.
JonOh, that’s the same kid.
GeorgeUm,
JonI just realized that when you said it.
MoYeah.
GeorgeIt’s the same kid.
MoYep. Same kid.
JonI did not recognize.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYeah.
GeorgeYeah. Um, so yeah, it, it just, if I’m a Gen X grownup, which film made me be the happiest to be a Gen X grownup?
GeorgeThere was no question this year it was Karate Kid Legends. It was tremendous. They paid just the right amount of reverence to Pat Morita.
GeorgeI thought, um,
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd i i mean, then even the little, the little blurb in the credits with Johnny coming back and talking about, Oh, let’s have ah Mr. Miyagi dough pizza place. And just, yeah it I thought it was just really, really good.
JonYeah.
MoYeah.
Joni I saw the theater. I enjoyed it a lot. I haven’t seen it six times. That’s for sure. So I have a follow-up question because you’ve seen it so many times and often things become, have more clarity once you’ve, you know, you see the movie the first time and then the second time it’s very different and I’ve not had that second time for me.
GeorgeMm-hmm.
JonAnd i’m curious how it is for you. For me, I felt like there was the whole thread of the, and don’ remember everybody’s name, but the girl’s dad who was also trying to have, like, be in a tournament and, like, learn from the new karate kid.
GeorgeJoshua Jackson’s character, yeah.
JonRight? Right. I felt like they kind of dropped to that thread and I was really interested in seeing how he would do. They just kind of mentioned it and wrapped it up. Maybe that I missed something or do you feel like they changed that in editing or whatever?
GeorgeSo…
JonWhat’s your impression of that thread? Cause I felt like I lost it kind of midway through the movie.
GeorgeWell, I, yeah, I think you did because he wasn’t in a tournament. So you definitely missed the entire part of that storyline.
JonRight.
GeorgeHe was, he was just going to take one more fight, maybe two in order to earn enough money to pay off his debt to the loan shark asshole guy who was running the karate code dojo of the jerk boyfriend guy.
JonRight.
JonMm-hmm.
JonRight, for his pizza place.
GeorgeUm,
JonYep.
GeorgeSo he went in for the one fight, and he was trained by the Karate Kid, and he was doing really well, and then they had to cheat, and they put him in the hospital. So there were no more fights coming.
JonOh, that’s Oh, you know what?
MoYeah, yeah.
GeorgeSo…
JonOkay, that I guess it makes more sense.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYep.
GeorgeYeah. Once they put him in the hospital, that pretty much ended his fighting career because they really, yeah, they messed his head up pretty bad.
JonThat ended his story. Okay. Okay.
MoHe got screwed up.
GeorgeSevere concussion. He was already old as it was. So, you know, not many get the Rocky treatment where they get to keep coming back in six or seven films and having a boxing match where they get 27 concussions and can continue continue on.
JonYeah.
MoIt’s still okay.
GeorgeUm,
JonYeah. That’s probably the part that I missed is that, oh, he was injured. So therefore, we’re gonna put the kibosh on this. He’s learned some, some, some skills and whatever, but not a good idea for him to proceed. I, okay.
GeorgeYeah, and that was also part of the montage of the Karate Kid’s thing, and because he was in the hospital for quite a period of time during the montage where his cousin and his daughter were having to run the pizza place while she was still mad at the Karate Kid for not throwing in the towel and not coming into the ring because he froze, which was a thing where he had froze when his brother was killed that she didn’t quite know about, but her father did at that point.
JonI did. I’d forgotten that.
JonMm-hmm. That’s right.
Georgeso there was a lot of um There was a lot of subtext in the film that, yeah, it gets overlooked, I think, because everybody’s looking for the Karate Kid moments, right?
GeorgeWhen’s he going to get to the tournament?
JonMm-hmm. Yep.
GeorgeWhen is going to do the crane kick thing? or you know Yeah, in his case, it was the dragon kick, which was…
MoOr whatever the equivalent is, right?
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAll of those beats from the original movie were in this movie. Perspectives were what were changed. And I think that’s what made it such a good film for me because, you know, in the first movie, Daniel’s not teaching Mr. Miyagi how to fight, but in this movie, Lou was teaching, you know, her father how to fight.
MoRight.
JonMm-hmm. Yep.
GeorgeSo it was, I just felt like they did a really good job. And I’ll tell you, I know it was not edited or put together for our generation.
GeorgeIt was absolutely edited for the younger generation. All those quick cuts and the video game styles, washes between the fights and everything, all of that was for the younger generation.
JonIt’s a modern film. Yeah. Mm-hmm.
JonMm-hmm.
Moum Sure.
GeorgeBut it didn’t take away anything for me. As matter of fact, it it made me enjoy it just a little bit more because I felt like I could keep up with the younger generation watching this film.
JonMm-hmm.
Mosince since instance
JonMade you feel like, hey, I’m not left.
Georgewhich was almost a video game.
JonI’m not left behind. i get it.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYeah. Mm-hmm.
GeorgeBecause it was rooted uh, such nostalgia.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd just one last little point before I move on.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI think, um, I, I always felt like that Jackie Chan’s karate kid movie got way too much undeserved hate. I enjoyed that movie an awful lot.
MoMm-hmm.
GeorgeUm,
Jono
GeorgeAnd even though, you know, he’s Kung Fu and he’s karate, the first five minutes of Karate Kid Legends tying those two universes together with the historical story, with all the Japanese artwork storyboards that they did to show how Miyagi learned from Jackie Chan’s ancestors and brought karate back to Okinawa.
GeorgeAnd so all of those people are tied together and knew each other and kept in contact over the years.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeSome people might have called that like you know a cheap way to write through that, but you had to do it somehow if you’re going to have them in the movie, and I think it was good to have them in the movie, because even though we lost Pat, I thought Jackie Chan is an admirable replacement for that character, and
JonMm-hmm.
JonMm-hmm.
Modidn’t either.
JonHe’s a legit, dude. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
GeorgeI thought he did really well. You bring Ralph Macchio in from California to go back to New York where his whole journey started.
JonMm-hmm.
Georgei just thought it was really fun.
JonYeah. That’s a good pick.
GeorgeSo.
JonYeah, I can’t argue with it. And if anybody doubted you saw it six times, I didn’t doubt you. But if anyone did, all the detail that you recognized just then is clear.
Moi didn’t either
GeorgeYeah.
JonYou’ve seen it plenty more than I have. Yeah.
GeorgeI really enjoyed it. But John, the one that you put on the list is a little bit more recent of a film.
JonGreat.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeIt’s one that I considered as one of my top choices because I thought it was really good, especially one of the actors in particular.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI thought that a tremendous Oscar worthy performance. But why don’t you tell everybody what you chose?
JonMm-hmm.
JonI did, yeah. So I chose a horror movie. I… It feels like horror movies are the most commonly bad movies you find because like horror is way hard.
JonSo good horror is way harder than good drama or good comedy, in my opinion, made a good film.
GeorgeYeah. Right.
MoYeah. Mm-hmm.
JonIt’s easy to have a premise, but if you don’t stick the landing or have something satisfying or it’s just a, you know, cut to black when the craziest shit happens, that’s not entertaining for me. It’s like you had an idea with no, you know,
Jonno skeleton to hang it on. It was just some interesting you know story you kind of threw at the screen. But the one that stood out for me, I saw a lot of good movies. And like you, I don’t think this is the best movie of the year necessarily.
JonThese are our personal opinions. These are our personal preferences. This was the best, certainly the best theater experience that I had and probably the best horror movie that I saw all year. And to your point, it’s one I’ve gone back to watch a second and third time now once it went to streaming. And that was Zach Craig’s Weapons.
MoMm hmm.
JonSo was it so if you don’t remember to remind you that the premise of this was that like every kid in town in the middle of the night, like I forget, 2.15 in the morning, 2.17, some significant number.
MoThose are my those are my shirt list also.
GeorgeYep.
Moyeah. Yeah.
JonThey all got up out of bed and just hauled ass across town. You see all these pictures on webcams of all the kids and they’re gone. All but one. And those all those kids are in this one teacher’s classroom.
JonAnd of course the teachers get in the heat. Like what’d you do to these kids that made them all crazy and run away, right? It’s not that they’re dead. They’re gone. Nobody knows where they are, right? They’re just vanished. And there was…
JonAside from being a decent horror movie, and I got to tell you, this one didn’t absolutely stick the landing. And you asked me, Mo, when I talked about it, I told you because you hadn’t seen it yet when we talked about it on the show.
MoMm-hmm.
JonI said, it has a satisfying ending. There is a comeuppance. Something has does happen to some closure, right? Even if it doesn’t like, oh, it’s not a six-sense stick-the-landing crazy twist or anything.
JonBut also, this film does other really interesting things. I really loved, and i don’t know what actor or actress you were talking about, George, but the woman that played the aunt, is that the the character actor you were talking about?
Georgehmm.
JonYeah. Crazy, over the top. ah She was like like, are you a real person?
MoShe’s creepy.
JonLike a clown and creepy?
MoYeah.
JonAnd yeah, yeah. The way this film was structured, Amy Madigan.
GeorgeThat was Amy Madigan.
JonYep. Right.
GeorgeYep.
JonThe way this film is structured, it’s almost vaguely Tarantino-esque in that we kind of see the same thing overlapping from different characters’ perspectives. It’s all linear, but you follow one person’s story. And then you jump to the next person. It rewinds a little bit and you see from their perspective. And so in that way, you never know. Like, all bets are off. There’s no main character. Anybody could at any point die or become the bad guy because you don’t know.
JonYou’re following through the series of things. I really appreciated the structure. And when I went back to watch it again, for me, that’s kind of the, for horror movies, when you know the twist, is it interesting again?
MoYeah.
JonAnd it was interesting to me again. And I’ve watched it a third time as well. And the performances in this thing are just sick. I mean, who we have, Julie Garner, Josh Brolin.
JonUm, yeah. Benedict Wong is in it, you know, it just, yeah.
Moyeah
GeorgeRight. The principle. Yeah.
Jonit Crazy, weird things kept happening in a way that did felt earned. It didn’t feel like, oh, here’s this crazy twist to make the audience jump. It was well-structured and well laid I just, I really love that film this year.
MoYeah, I really enjoy this movie also. Matter of fact, we we do like a family like movie watch thing every now and then.
Jone
MoAnd the last one we just saw was weapons because one person hadn’t seen it yet.
JonUh-huh. Yeah, good.
MoI’m like, I do not mind seeing this one again.
JonNope. nope
Moyou know, and we watch it again. And I really enjoy because one, it was an original thought, original idea.
JonYeah.
Mowhich you know is somewhat lacking sometimes. you know So it was an original kind of take on the horror movie. I thought the the explanation around it, I was like, okay, I can go with that. It wasn’t something so out there that I’m like, oh, crazy.
JonMm-hmm. Plausible. Sure.
MoAnd it did have a very satisfying kind of come up at the end, which you also don’t…
JonMm-hmm.
Molike At the ending, I’m like, okay, I like i feel like I saw like a full movie that didn’t need anymore than what was in that movie.
JonMm-hmm.
Moyou know It gave me everything I was asking for, so I definitely enjoyed it. That’s why I was like on my short list of movies.
JonAgreed.
GeorgeYeah, I mean, i i think I have to agree with both of you on this because, yes, it was an original movie, but I also think what made it so satisfying for me was that it did use a lot of horror tropes, but used them in a unique new way.
GeorgeSo we had voodoo dolls, we had life force sucking, we had control.
JonOh, yeah.
GeorgeSo all of those elements that we’re used to seeing in a lot of different horror films in the past,
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI thought this movie put it into a unique perspective. We have the kids. I remember vividly the principal, you know, running into the gas station and chasing her down and everything.
Moyeah
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd, you know, that main actress, she coming from um the Jason Bateman ah TV show. I forget what the name of that was, but that’s where I first saw her.
Mooza Ozarks. Ozarks.
GeorgeOzark. There you go um and Amy Madigan I’ve loved her since Field of Dreams she is a tremendous actress I’ve always thought she hasn’t gotten enough quality roles for her ability I just thought they took a genre like you said horror which can be done very very poorly and they did something outstanding to me it was very much
JonMm-hmm.
Georgein the same echelon as that one two years ago or three years ago. um i can’t remember the name of it right now, and everybody’s going to yell at me, but the one where they shared the Airbnb and then down in the basement where the horror thing, Barbarian.
JonSo lay it on us.
JonBarbarian.
MoGarbarian. Yeah.
GeorgeI thought this was just as high quality and just as unique and different as that was. It reminded me a lot of that in that way.
JonYou may or may not know this. Zach Krieger also directed Barbarian. Yeah.
GeorgeWell, that makes sense.
MoOkay.
GeorgeOkay.
MoThere you go.
JonYeah.
Moah
GeorgeBecause they felt similar, right? Like, if you had told me those two places shared a universe, it would not surprise me.
MoYeah.
Jonyeah yeah
JonMm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. The same mature horror film structure you might not expect from some of the schlock that you get. Yeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
JonCool. All right. ah Who we got? Moe, one more here in best movie.
MoYeah.
JonSo again, it doesn’t have to be the best movie, but for you, that’s what we care about. Right? We’re not giving out Oscars. We’re giving out Moe’s. Right? We’re giving out what’s your award for the best film.
MoRight. Exactly. ah
JonOkay.
MoSo my pick, I’d say weapons was definitely a close was consideration for sure.
Jonokay All right.
MoBut again, like similar to you guys, like what’s a movie that I watched multiple times, you know, and was very satisfied for, you know, to do that. And for me, that movie was Sinners. from That came out about seven months ago.
Moyou know Seven, eight months ago, I kick came out saw it in a theater. I think I saw it in a theater twice because my wife hadn’t seen it. went back and saw it again with her. and it To me, it’s just again it was like one movie where left the theater feeling completely like, okay, I feel like I got a full experience in this movie.
JonMm-hmm.
Molike I had a story from beginning to end. It was a very well done story. it’ To me, it had one of, I think, the best single scenes ever. In a movie that I’ve ever seen, which is the whole music scene, when it’s going through time and doing all that stuff, you know I just thought that scene just captivated me for some reason.
JonMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Georgeah yeah
MoI’m not sure why. It just really just captivated me. The storyline, the acting was excellent in it. Jack O’Connell plays Remick, the the other the va main vampire guy in this movie.
GeorgeMm-hmm.
Mohe was just freaking outstanding, you know, and the scene where they’re a circle and they’re singing like this Irish song.
JonMm-hmm.
MoI mean, just everything about this movie just just totally got me. The music, everything. um And it’s definitely a movie that I’d be happy to watch again and not feel any compunction about, you know, issue with it at all.
Jonyou know what I most enjoyed about, there’s a lot of good things to enjoy about sinners. Yeah, I agree with you. Every time somebody would go for some inexplicable horror movie reason, what, oh, I’ve got to go out.
JonI’ve got to go see somebody or go take a leak or whatever. if They leave the barn and you know, they become a vampire, right?
MoOh, yeah. yeah
GeorgeRight, yeah.
JonAnd then they come back and there’s that whole fright night thing where you’re like, are they going to invite them in or not?
GeorgeMm-hmm.
Georgee
JonBecause we know vampires must be invited over the threshold.
MoMm-hmm.
JonThey can’t just barge in. And every time there was a scene with somebody that’s like, you don’t seem right. We can invite me in or not.
MoMm-hmm.
JonWhat? Well, you know, every time I got those Fright Night flashbacks to when that was such an integral part of that 80s movie.
MoYeah.
JonAnd this is a movie that didn’t have to be a vampire movie, didn’t have to be a period piece, didn’t have to be Oscar bait, but it was all those things. And it kind of hit all the checkboxes together.
Jonum yeah and the the twin brothers, was it smoke and smoke and stack, right?
MoMm hmm. Stack.
JonThe two guys.
MoYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
JonYeah. And the the double role was. And it also had a little bit of flashback and flash forward stuff in it that I appreciate when done well. Yeah.
MoMm hmm.
JonIt’s a good pick.
GeorgeYeah. I think, uh, I think the credit scene in that film as well, or I don’t know if it was in the credits or right before the credits, but where they find him as he’s much, much older, they find the young man and he’s playing in the blues club.
MoOh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
JonOh, right. m
MoIs the after credit scene.
GeorgeOh,
MoYeah.
JonThat was cool.
GeorgeThat was brilliantly done.
JonAnd he was all scarred up right from the battle.
GeorgeYes.
MoYep.
JonOh, yep.
GeorgeYeah.
JonWe’re letting you live on.
GeorgeAnd…
JonThat was great. I got, I just got chills.
GeorgeI mean…
JonYeah.
GeorgeWell, that’s what I was like, because sometimes you get to the end of a good movie and you’re like, boy, i really want to see what happened.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI want to know how this turned out for this character or that character.
JonUh-huh.
GeorgeThey, them tagging that at the end of this film made it so that it’s a complete encapsulated movie that you don’t have to have a sequel for. And I’m not against sequels.
JonYeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeI love sequels because they’re familiar.
MoYeah.
JonRight.
GeorgeThere’s something that I know I can probably count on. in you know, it, even though a sequel is usually not going to be as good as the original, although there are some you know some obvious exceptions to that rule, I love the fact that they use that one five-minute section of film to say, you know what?
MoExceptions, yeah. Yeah.
JonYeah.
GeorgeWe don’t need to go back to this universe for this character. We might go back to it for other characters if we want to, but if not, everybody can be satisfied here. Your thirst should be sated at this point.
Jonlike they baked in a baby sequel right there in five minutes.
Moyeah
GeorgeYeah.
MoI mean, to be kind of honest, if I was looking for, I’d prefer a prequel about Jack O’Connell’s character, the Irish guy’s character.
JonYeah.
Moi mean, that could be very cool. i in my In my head, like it’s like a separate story, just a completely different story, just with him, you know, his how he became how he it was, you know.
JonYeah. Mm-hmm.
MoBut…
GeorgeI don’t know why, but for some reason, rather than a prequel or sequel movie, I’d like to see this like more in this universe told in comic book form.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI think that medium would lend really well to that story.
MoHmm.
JonSure.
MoIt could, yeah, for sure.
JonIt would. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Those are our picks for movies. And I normally do a media altogether, but we didn’t want to seg… We didn’t want to miss out on good TV shows or movies, vice versa. So when we get back from this very quick break, we’re going to talk about our favorite TV shows of the year. Stick around.
JonWe are back and we are jumping into our favorite TV series of 2025. Now in this series… Now, in this backtrack, as I mentioned, we’re talking about what are our favorites that would be the best on the planet.
JonBut the whole point is for Gen X grown up, for us individually, for each of us, what were our favorites? And George, I see your pick here on the list and it makes me smile. So why don’t we start with you?
Moah
JonWhat was your favorite TV series or show or whatever of 2025? Mm hmm.
GeorgeYeah. Um, and I know we, we all, we do this all in a program called Trello where we get to list our own things and stuff. And I saw as I, we were getting ready to start the segment.
GeorgeI saw John and Mo had some things listed in brackets, which I assuming were like honorable mentions for you guys. And I was like, oh shit. Yes. Those are honorable mentions for me as well. So to steal your thunder a little bit from a couple of years.
JonSure. Yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm.
GeorgeUh, Fallout, which Mo had as one of his honorable mentions, and The Pit, John, which you had, those absolutely should be on my list as well.
Georgebut I felt victim to the thing I didn’t want to fall victim to in movies. And I looked at the most recent stuff. And once I saw this go through my, uh, have recently watched lists in my Plexa where I was like, well, shit, I have to choose South park season 27 and 28.
JonGotta pick this.
JonMm.
GeorgeSo originally it was going to be just one season, but then for some reason they decided to break it up and just do five episodes in two seasons. I don’t know why because we got them all in order anyway.
MoYeah.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI didn’t know what the point of that was.
JonBecause they can do whatever hell they want because they’re Trey Matt.
Moyeah that’s Yeah, that’s true.
GeorgeThey’re Trey and Matt. And let me tell you, Trey and Matt over the years, they have shown that they have no fear.
Jonyeah
MoYes.
GeorgeThat part is, ah I think everybody who’s ever watched anything they’ve ever created, whether it be Bigger, Longer and Cut or Team World Police or any ah anything they’ve ever done, Orgasmo, Basketball, I mean, ah just crazy.
JonMm-hmm.
JonBasketball or whatever. Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah.
GeorgeThese people made me proud. this, this, these 10 episodes, they did not give a fuck who they might offend in this current culture.
Jonah
GeorgeAnd they went after every single horrible fucking person that we’ve been dealing with for the past year.
JonMm-hmm.
MoOh, yeah. Yeah.
GeorgeAnd they cut them exactly zero slack. They went after every single one.
JonMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Georgeand I’m not going to go into a whole big political discussion because I know we shy away from that here at Gen X Grownup. If anybody wants to talk to me about this kind of stuff or wants to yell at me for it, join our Discord server.
GeorgeI’ll get on a channel with you, genxgrownup.com slash Discord, and we can have it out or commiserate or whatever you want to do.
Jonah
GeorgeBut I’m telling you, from the very first episode
Jonah
GeorgeAt the end of that episode, when they did the whole AI walk through the desert, and you guys know exactly which one I’m talking about.
JonYeah.
MoI know what you’re talking about.
JonOh, yeah.
GeorgeI don’t have to go into any more detail.
MoYeah.
Joncourse. No, no. Understood.
GeorgeI went, holy shit.
Jonah
GeorgeI brought my son and my wife into my office here because that’s where I was watching it I said, you have to watch this last 45 seconds or however long it was. And they were grossed out and laughing at the same time as much as I was.
MoYeah.
GeorgeFuck every single person that Trey and Matt went after this year because I 100% support South Park this these two seasons, this one season, whatever you want call it. Holy shit, was that a… It was the best way for them to come back to a regular season from the times when they were just doing films.
MoYeah.
Jono
GeorgeOh my God. i i love these guys. If I could give them money, I would just send them cash at this point.
MoThey don’t need it.
JonRight?
GeorgeNo, I know they don’t, but…
JonWell, anybody that does good social commentary, you can’t just be unilateral. You have to be able to go after whoever it is that’s in the limelight, whoever it is that’s making news, you know, and they are equal opportunity offenders.
GeorgeMm-hmm. Right.
JonThere’s nobody who can say, hey, Trey and Matt, they agree with you 100% because they will go after your sacred cow too.
Motrue.
Georgeright
JonYou gotta to be willing to take it.
MoYeah.
JonAnd I’ll tell you, just like you,
MoYeah.
JonI’m not sure you could pay my wife to watch South Park. She doesn’t care about the series.
MoMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
JonBut as soon as I saw the first one, I’m like, all right, whatever you’re watching, push stop. We’re going to watch this. You’re not going to believe what they’re doing on South Park because they absolutely did a total pivot and said, whatever it is that’s in the zeitgeist, whatever it is that’s on everyone’s mind, whatever is filling the news cycle, if you don’t comment on that, you’re guilty of Not covering it because it’s clearly the thing that’s on everyone’s mind and they absolutely do. Like you said, they’re fearless. They’re like, we’ll attack that just like we attacked everything else. Nothing is sacred.
MoIt’s funny you say that because like you, my wife, I could not pay her to watch South Park.
JonSame. Yeah.
MoBut this last couple of seasons, she’s like, hey, is next one out? his next went out yeah Is You don’t have it yet.
GeorgeUh-huh. Right.
JonI want to see where this goes. ah
MoWhere is it? um Yeah. it it says you the ah It was. It was an amazing couple of seasons. But I’ll tell you, the last episode, it’s almost like you know that that weariness you get from um just hearing this all the time.
Moi almost actually got a little bit of that in that last episode, the very end of the season one.
Jonyeah mm-hmm yeah
Moyeah I’m like, all right. Like, you know, like, i almost wanted see so I almost wanted to see something else at that point, like go after something else right there.
Jonmm-hmm
MoBut I understand why they didn’t, and then I still enjoyed it. Don’t get me wrong. But it was, yeah, it was a pretty amazing, you know, and they’re that unique position where they can pretty much do whatever.
JonYeah.
Georgee
MoYou know, and that.
JonYou know, and in fairness, they kind of let off the gas in the final couple of episodes and let it all come together and let it be its own beast.
MoYeah.
GeorgeSure.
JonRight. Maybe they didn’t give up. They just said, all right, we put all the pieces in place. Let’s watch them happen on the board. And I, yeah, it’s a great pick, George. It’s I enjoyed a ton as well.
MoMm hmm.
GeorgeYeah. I mean, truthfully, they could publish this show on any website. platform and i will i know comedy central has stood by them for years and i know the whole you know thing with stephen colbert and you know uh jimmy um which one of the jimmy not fallon it’s the other jimmy kimmel uh you know they’ve they’ve all been abandoned by their platforms uh but you know kudos to comedy central but even if comedy central didn’t stick by these guys and they just had to put this shit out there on nebula or youtube or where the fuck ever i’d watch it a million percent
JonMm hmm.
MoYeah. Fallon, Jimmy Fallon.
JonFallon.
MoJimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Kimmel, Kimmel, thank you.
JonOh, Jimmy Kimmel. Yeah, yeah.
JonMm-hmm.
JonMm-hmm.
JonGo subscribe.
Georgeabsolutely so they did you did a great job mo the thing that’s on your list you just recently finished i think
JonYeah. Nice. Yeah.
MoYeah, it did. And I, and be quite honest. I think the reason why I kind of picked this one is because it’s so current, to be you know, it’s still fresh in my head and I enjoyed it so much.
JonReally?
MoIt was welcome to dairy. um It’s the world set in Stephen King’s It, where it’s the previous cycle of It coming into the town and getting kids and all that stuff.
Georgehmm
JonOh, yeah, though. Mm-hmm.
MoAnd i i really appreciate it for a lot of reasons. One, it it managed to create a new story about this whole world without… ruining the original you like sometimes they’ll create a new story it just completely blow the ridge like it’s just like okay that’s just completely wrong you know we’re gonna do prequels to star wars okay just totally ruined star wars for me for a while you know it’s um that kind of thing um they i thought they did an excellent job of adding to the story and actually at the end making me want more like want them to go back to the cycle before this even
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeRight.
JonGood luck.
Moyou know, what happened to town at that point, you know, or the one even before that, you know, because they they definitely left a lot of pieces that they could still do.
JonMm-hmm.
MoThe acting I thought was great. It was a show that actually had some scenes that I for sure were not going to be like actual scenes. and I’m like, holy crap, that happened. You know, at the end of it, I’m like, wow, that surprised me. I could actually surprise me.
MoAnd again, it was like I just enjoyed it. And it’s something that, you know, again, if they had another season of this, I would totally watch it without any. Again, I just watch it for sure. It’d be on my short list of things to catch up on.
JonAnd as we talked the other day, I’m fascinated by it. And guys collectively, George hadn’t seen it. had. And the two of you talked me into watching more of it just based on your assessments of what came out.
Georgeah
JonSo it’s, it’s now on my 2026 get caught up and watch list. So, yeah.
MoOkay, that works.
Jonh Yeah.
Moyou know And it’s funny because, John, like my my other choice is your choice. Yeah, it would have been your choice.
JonIs it? Yeah.
GeorgeOh, yeah.
MoSo I’ll turn that one over to you to say.
JonYeah. Yeah. So and you you’re right. we i had some things in parentheses. There are other stuff that I did watch that I as I’m looking through my list, much like you explain, George. kelly Let me look back and see what I watched, refresh my memory. And this is very recent. And I was actually hesitant to pick it.
JonI was actually hesitant to pick it because it’s so recent. Cause like, oh, it’s going to feel like I didn’t really give due diligence and really look.
MoYeah.
MoMm
JonBut every time I looked, I mean, so first there’s a sub genre of medical shows George recommends that I love. So he recommended the pit.
Mohmm.
JonI love it.
MoYeah.
JonHe recommended St. Dennis medical. I love it. Mo recommended adolescence, that crazy British procedural thing.
MoOh, geez, that was nuts.
JonAmazing. Alien earth blew me away with that not perfect, but parts of it were amazing that I enjoyed.
MoYeah.
Mohmm. Mm
JonBut I keep coming back to the one that I couldn’t wait to see what they did next.
Mohmm.
JonAnd that was this Vince Gilligan thing, Pluribus, with Rhea Seahorn in it.
MoYeah. Oh, absolutely. that just ended.
JonIt just ended, yeah. And look, this is a series, if you don’t know the premise of the series, very briefly, it’s this woman is the most miserable one on the earth. She’s kind of like a real curmudgeon.
MoRight.
Jonah You know the type, Mo. Real curmudgeon.
MoYeah, I’ve i’ve seen a couple of people like that, I think.
JonLAUGHTER
Jonwho is happy being miserable sometimes. You know, she’s an author and she doesn’t really, she kind of has a love-hate relationship with her work.
MoYeah. She’s successful and yeah.
JonYeah, but she’s kind of not, she’s kind of grumpy about it. And something happens on the entire planet where everyone, is happy and satisfied, but they’re really kind of not themselves, but she’s a immune.
JonShe had a couple other people and it’s just chaos for her because everyone she reacts with and interacts with, they don’t behave properly. And it’s kind of, the descriptions often said, you know, the most miserable woman on the planet has to save the world from happiness, which is kind of what’s happening.
MoRight. Mm-hmm.
JonUm, and I don’t want to say much more about it cause it is super recent and I don’t want to spoil any of the cool beats, but I’ll tell every time there was a new episode, it was like, I’m going to watch it tonight.
JonAnd when I did,
MoMm-hmm.
JonSometimes what I expected didn’t happen or something I thought would be a huge plot point turned out to fizzle, but it was designed to be that way. And it kept me guessing. And the next episode was like, wait a minute, this whole episode is just a guy driving. How is that interesting? And then by the end, you’re like, oh, I see what they’re doing. They’re building the suspense. Some really fascinating things happened. It kept me guessing.
JonAnd looking back, it was the series again. I’m It was a series that had me glued to it from episode to episode to episode all the way through its nine episode run. And it was pre-approved for season two. So mean, it was going to end halfway through at least, but I’m okay with that because I want more of it. It really turned out great.
MoYeah, the reason why this was on my shortlist was I don’t think I’ve had more discussions about a series this year than this one. You know, because it gives you so much to think about, you know, you know, which who would you rather be in this world?
MoYou know, which side would you prefer to be on?
JonRight. Philosophical, scientific.
MoPhilosophical, why? you know, is it is is it the same as like the Lotus Eaters?
JonMm-hmm.
MoYou know, the thing where, you know, OK, they’re, you they’re stoned, but they’re happy.
JonMm-hmm.
Moknow, is that a bad thing? You know, it’s it’s it’s ah kind of like that discussions and and the theories of why it’s happening and all this stuff. i said, we’ve talked more about this show than any other show I’ve seen this year.
JonIt’s wonderful.
GeorgeYou know, when you guys were describing it, and I still haven’t watched it yet, while you guys were talking, I just went and added it to my public domain scrapers.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeBut um I was thinking the way you guys were describing it, that it felt like…
MoOh, yeah. Mm-hmm.
Georgethe dark comedy, slightly serious version of world’s end, which is, uh, one of my favorite Nick Frost, Simon Pegg films. It’s part of the Coronado trilogy. And you know, all of the people are, they’re taken over and replaced by replicas that are part of the collective hive mind. And if you join us, you’ll just be happy and you don’t have to work. And that’s kind of what you guys were describing. And then,
GeorgeI saw a clip on YouTube of this thing.
JonOh yeah.
GeorgeI guess YouTube heard us talking over one of my audible devices and said, oh, let me, let me put you, you know, one of your little YouTube shorts in here.
MoOh, okay. yeah Yeah, they do that.
JonIt said, we’ll give George some. Yeah.
GeorgeAnd it was one of her, she’s comes to this guy’s residence and he wants to talk to her about, um about all this horrible stuff that she’s talking about.
GeorgeAnd she’s trying to show him these clips and stuff.
MoMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd then the TV, and it’s all about,
JonYeah.
Georgehumans eating other humans, dead humans.
MoMm-hmm.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd I was watching that clip and I was just mesmerized because the person who was talking to her through the television screen from the news broadcast was just so calm and so rational and so like understanding of her emotional state.
Jonum
MoI know. Yeah. Yeah.
Jonyeah
Moyeah
GeorgeShe was like, look, yeah, we know this sucks, but it’s really the only way we can feed everybody.
Moyeah
GeorgeAnd we, if you don’t want to eat people, you don’t have to eat people.
Mobut
GeorgeThat’s okay. I’m just like, Oh my God, i have to go watch this show.
Jonah
Georgeand then I promptly forgot to go at it until just now.
Jonyep Yeah.
GeorgeSo I think it’s one after seeing that little clip that, yeah, the whole Gen X grownup group needs to recommend to all of our viewers and listeners.
JonIt was a HDP human derived protein, right?
MoProteins.
GeorgeExactly.
JonLet me explain. And I’m not going spoil it. It’s a great cameo that comes out of left damn field, but it works so well.
MoOh, yeah. Out of nowhere.
GeorgeRight.
JonIt works so well. It’s even explained in story why that guy’s doing it’s great. So yeah.
Moyeah, yeah. yeah
JonYeah, tip top. Okay, we’ve made it through all the media. Our our favorite movies and TV shows of 2025. Our favorite movies and TV shows of 2025. We get back from this very quick break. We’re going jump to our favorite tech and toys. Stick around.
MoSo I was trying to figure out how to pick my favorite piece of tech or toy, whatever, for this year.
JonMm-hmm.
MoAnd again, the kind of like similar to what we talked about before, I said, criteria is what did I get the most use out of? You know, what did I use the most or what did I play the most or, you know, something like that?
JonMm-hmm.
MoAnd I kept coming back to the same stupid little thing I got, which was that little universal remote for my Roku that sat in the side I could control my volume on.
JonOh, yeah.
Moi mean, I know it sounds silly, but every single day, this makes my life easier. You know, that, you know every time I hit the volume on this thing and know I don’t have to reach the other volume, I’m like…
JonMm.
Mothis was a damn good purchase. I’m so glad I spent the $11 or $12 on this thing because it has saved me more than that in aggravation and anything else this year. So for for good or bad, that was definitely probably my best tech for this year.
JonIt’s makes me think back to I used to work with a great developer ah way back in a previous two lives ago. And and we would talk about, you know, hey, there’s defects in this software. And I’m like, we need to fix this one because it’s the most important and impactful. And he says, well, don’t just jump to that immediately.
JonWhat about the ones he called them thorn in paw defects, TIPs?
Moyeah. Mm-mm.
JonWhat if we did a small fix that made the user’s life better every single day? Maybe there’s only a revolutionary change, but if every time they did it, they got a little, oh, this is fixed now. This works better now. It might be something as simple as, you know, changing the color of a button or making it easier to see or, you know, the way it toggles or something, but those little thorn in pause. And when I think about your little side click Roku thing, that’s kind of what it did, right? It’s not monumental. It didn’t change the way you watch TV. Every time you used it It just, oh, that’s nice.
JonI didn’t have to have that little hassle, that little annoyance.
MoYeah. Yeah. I mean, I can’t say how many times before you sit there. oh can you make it a little louder? Oh, where’s the other remote? yeah ah Yeah.
Jonyeah Maybe later.
MoAnd so, you know just not having that to me just made this totally worth it. So yeah what it is, hey, again, I’m happy with my choice.
Jonyeah I’ll get it.
MoHow about you, George?
JonSure.
MoWhat did you pick for this one?
GeorgeWell, you know, um lot of choices this year.
MoMm-hmm.
GeorgeI’ve worked really hard ah for us here Gen X Grown Up, especially over the last six months, to try and bring in a lot of tech and toys for us to review through a lot of different companies that we’re finally getting some well-deserved recognition from, from all of John’s hard work over the last eight years plus.
JonMm-hmm.
MoMm-hmm. she she
GeorgeYeah. but I couldn’t choose any of those ah because they all went to John. So there was, I didn’t really get enjoyment from them physically myself.
Moah
JonRight. My favorite by proxy.
GeorgeYeah. um So what I did was I chose one that John, I think may already have in house.
JonYep.
GeorgeAnd I chose it because I went and bought this device for myself on black Friday. So I know it’s a late entry for the year, but, I’ll say this when we went on our vacation a couple of weeks ago,
GeorgeI came back to the house and the only thing I wanted to do when we got in there after I rested and everything from the long drive, I just wanted to go play this toy and it’s the X arcade to TV dash XR.
GeorgeThis is the joystick pedestal that you can use in a number of different ways.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeThe way that I’m currently using it is with my quest to virtual goggles to play virtual pinball inside of Zen studios.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeUm, it’s just mind blowing. I’ve, I’ve let all of my family, uh, whenever they’ve come over, I’m like, here, you got to try this. You got to try this. And as soon as I get them set up on a machine and put the goggles on and they start playing, they’re blown away.
GeorgeThey’re looking around like, Oh my God, this is so real. And I don’t even have the haptic feedback stuff in yet. They haven’t sent that to me because they’re, that’s something they’re in the middle of building.
MoOh, really?
GeorgeUh, but I bought this for myself over black Friday, Then, because I was having a little bit of an issue getting some stuff set up on it, I reached out to their support page. And in that request, I happened to mention to them about Gen X Grownup. And we, you know, we’d love to show this on thing if we can get it set up right. And they’re like oh, no problem. Let us send you one for free. And like, God damn it.
MoToo late.
JonIf I waited just a second.
GeorgeIf I just sit this out sooner. But um they do a… X Gaming is the name of the company. And this device, the fact that it’s on its own pedestal, you can adjust its height up and down with a simple little switch in the back of it that’s pretty easy to manipulate once you get it together.
Jonhmm.
JonMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
GeorgeIt has two full… button arrays for two players. So if you want to hook this up to a PC or an Xbox or a PlayStation and put this pedestal controller in front of the television that you have that device hooked to, it’s like you have your own arcade cabinet, but in a much smaller form factor.
MoThat’s pretty sweet.
GeorgeIt’s got wheels on it so that you can roll it around and put it anywhere you want in your house. You can tuck it away when you’re not using it, if you like. It’s got LED lights because, of course, everything has to have fucking LED lights.
MoYou have to everything’s got LED lights.
JonWhy not?
MoYeah, my mouse has fucking LED lights.
JonThat’s cool.
Georgeum it it works so seamlessly with the Quest 2 for not just the Zen Pinball world, but there’s also another one that I haven’t set up yet that is a virtual arcade system that you can use with MAME, and you can walk around in your own arcade that you set up, and the cabinets look like the cabinets that you would want to play with the game in them.
MoHmm.
MoOh.
Jonnuts?
GeorgeYou walk up to them, you put a coin in the game, and you start playing it with your virtual goggles. I can’t wait to set that up, but… Man, I just keep going back to it.
GeorgeI probably play it two, maybe three times a day. I just walk in, I fire up Battlestar Galactica’s pinball and just have a blast.
JonWow.
Moso
GeorgeIt is so much fun. And I haven’t even incorporated the other virtual pinball systems that I can use with this on a PC, like Zakaria or the V-Pen stuff.
MoNice. Yeah.
GeorgeI haven’t even tried that stuff yet. This is just the one environment that I’ve used with it so far.
Monice
JonWow.
JonYeah, that’s it you’re right. I do have one. We’ll be reviewing it here on on the channel before too long. And I was just really struck with how versatile it is. I mean, when we first talked about it, you’re like, oh, it’s all this VR stuff. Then I went digging. like…
JonThat’s just one of the many things. You’re exploring that avenue. There’s the physical stuff. There’s the other implementations. There’s the expandability and the modability and all this. yeah I mean, you’ve always seen the X-Arcade with their X-Stick, their arcade X-Stick.
Georgee he
JonI’ve seen that big tank stick for years and years and years. And now what they’re doing, you know, with modern tech. It’s really, yeah. And it sounds like you, it’s just, and it sounds like with previous things you talked about, it’s the one you got the most out of throughout the year, which makes perfect sense.
GeorgeYeah, 100%.
Jonyep Love it.
GeorgeWhat about you, John? Do you have ah something that kind of caught your fancy this year?
JonYeah, and it was tough, you know, and recurring theme, it’s kind of what did I get the most out of?
MoOh, Mm-hmm.
JonMaybe not the most hours, but the most experience out of. It was really close because I was very fascinated, not my pick, I was very fascinated with my arcade’s new game station Go this year because they did something different.
GeorgeMm-hmm.
Moso yeah
JonYes, it’s games we’ve seen released 100 times before, but they put the right controls. There was a real spinner and a real trackball and real bumpers and everything. and like And now you can play those games the way you’re supposed to.
Jonyou know Tempest actually has a spinner. Hallelujah! you know Stuff like that. And I loved it, but and and taking nothing away from that, there was something that was released a couple of months later, early early, early December, that has by far given me the most entertaining repeated use.
JonAnd that’s the new Intellivision Sprint that Atari came out with.
MoOh, really? Oh, interesting.
JonAnd it’s fun. It’s an odd choice. for and I think it is because I’m big into Atari.
MoYeah.
JonI love these Atari games. Here’s the thing. First, the testimonial that I’ll give up front is this is the console, the one gadget this year that hooks up to a TV that got promoted from my studio to my leisure man cave and got plugged in and still is sitting there.
MoOh.
JonI wanted to play with it when I wasn’t recording something, when I wasn’t reviewing it, when I wasn’t covering it. And here’s why. And I’ve mentioned this briefly in a lot of videos.
MoYeah, yeah.
JonUh, I never had an Intellivision as a kid. I thought it was dumb. It looked like it wasn’t. now Yeah, other the sports games look better. But when I looked at other stuff, I’m like, oh, like Donkey Kong is even worse than Atari’s Donkey Kong, if you can believe that.
Moyeah
Jonbut it it So I kind of dismissed it because it was an Atari and I going to get one anyway because i my parents weren’t going buy two consoles. But now that I have access to, and you can sideload this with every Intellivision game ever released if you want to, and even put cover art and everything in there.
JonThe experience that I’m having playing with Intellivision, and I mentioned the the paddles and stuff. This is a replica of the controller with the little disc and the keypad and the overlays that slide in. The experience that’s giving me It’s reminding me of the experience I had as a kid with every new Atari game that I got.
JonLike, oh, what’s this one? What’s the eosyncrasies of it?
MoHmm. Oh, interesting.
JonAnd because it’s the same era of game, the fidelity is about the same, the complexity is about the same.
Moum interesting
JonDefinitely has some pros over the the speech synthesis is great. The sprites, less flicker, things like that. But because the two systems were so different, they built very different games for the Intellivision. So playing with this sprint has been like,
JonIt’s a little bit like i’m a kid again, as if I had the Intellivision and I’m getting to experience what I would have experienced had I been a rich kid and had the Intellivision. My parents would buy me every single game.
Moinstance
JonI get to try them out for the first time over and over and over. and And know, George, Intellivision is something that you have always had an interest in ah You probably were look wanting Intellivision more than I was before I was.
Georgee
JonAnd now that it’s out, I can tell you there’s there’s another YouTube channel called Intellivision Gamer that’s He’s like a pig in shit right now. Everything is coming up in television for him right now.
GeorgeOh, yeah.
JonAnd he’s doing a great job covering it and diving into it. And I’m learning from him stuff about the Intellivision and why it was so impactful. You know, we learned at PRGE, there’s a robust…
Jonhomebrew market out there for the Intellivision, just like there is with Atari.
GeorgeOh, yeah.
JonSo there’s still new games to play. And so it’s, it’s like I’m finding, like I had a love growing up. My first love, my first girlfriend was Atari. And here I am 40 years later.
Moinstance
JonOh damn, she has a twin sister. This is great.
Moah
Jonyeah this Yeah, it’s been something. I just love exploring. And that’s why it made my favorite because of the experience it gave me and how I’ve how i’ve been able to interact and the feelings it’s given me. So it’s been pretty remarkable.
JonAll right. That’s going to get us through our favorite tech and toys. We get back. it’s Time for Georgia’s segment. We’re gonna go back and look at all the games we have played.
MoNo,
JonThis is gonna be tough one and pick our favorite game of the year. Stick around. Okay. I didn’t jump anybody. didn’t see any hands up, right?
GeorgeAll right. It’s time to wind up this look back at 2025 with one of our anchor segments, the one that we always do.
Mono
GeorgeAnd this is, I know this is a backtrack thing, but we usually do all of these segments in the regular episodes each week.
JonRight.
GeorgeAnd this one is the game segment, which I usually host. And ah it’s, it really pains me. that most selected the one that he did because it’s caused me so much consternation throughout the last six months or so, um, of being forced to play this goddamn game against my will.
MoOh, why do you think I picked it?
GeorgeUm, but I figured if nothing else, I would just have Mo go first to get it out of the way. So we could get on the stuff that doesn’t hurt my feelings quite as much. Mo, what have you been deciding on as your favorite game for 2025?
MoMm-hmm.
MoYou know we talk about how tough these choices are this year to make. This was a no brainer. So it’s like immediately it came up. I said, this is one pick for multiple reasons. And I’m talking about the game Crime Scene Cleaner.
Moum Not only was it just a game that just sucked me in and maybe want to play and maybe want more and more of this game.
JonMm-hmm.
MoI sucked in multiple people. I sucked George into this game and got him just totally du upset at me over having to play this game this much, which doubled my enjoyment of the game.
JonMm-hmm. Yeah.
JonYeah.
MoSo no, but also just in general, to me, it was just a well done. I thought very well polished game. It, it surprised me with how it took a very simple premise and made it interesting.
MoAnd It really like if they come out with some new spaces, new areas tomorrow, I’m playing this tomorrow, know, without a doubt, you know, if they have a DLC that they’re going to charge for, I’m probably going to buy it, you know, just because this game just give me that much fun and that much pleasure playing.
JonMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Moum I know it said it was a weird game. for those you don’t know, it’s it’s basically a game where you your job is to clean up after crimes, essentially. And violent, messy crimes.
Jonhey
MoAnd you’re doing it not to help the police or anyone else. You’re doing it to cover it up. That’s your job is to cover up these crimes. And it’s it’s very tongue in cheek. the The main character is very snarky and has these like a lot of funny one liners.
Moum The situations are ridiculous, you know, but fun. And it’s a game that every now and then I’ll still fire it up. If I just want something just to if I just want to just to clear my head, this is a game I just go on and play because it just pulls you in and you don’t think about anything else while you’re playing it.
JonYou know, what’s kind of interesting is that I was immune to the charms of Crime Scene Cleaner because you gifted it to both of us and you only hooked to George.
MoYes, you were.
Mohmm. Mm hmm.
GeorgeMm-hmm.
JonWe both tried it. And we mentioned back then when it came out, the whole premise is, right, you you’re a guy who’s cleaning up blood and broken glass and everything else that’s happened and dumped over plants at a crime scene.
JonYou get better and better at it. And for me, something about our personalities with George, it clicked with you. It clicked with me. i was just anxious that I wouldn’t get every single thing. and so I was, i had more anxiety than I had fun over it, but it’s weird how that’s something that actually played into your inclinations in a way that it didn’t with me.
MoYeah.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI mean, for me, it definitely, it played into that completionist games mindset that I get sometimes when I have one of those big giant games that has all the little side quests or something like this, but it felt like the point was to complete those side quests in this one.
JonYeah. Yeah.
GeorgeAnd it wasn’t so expansive that I couldn’t like, God help me.
MoYeah.
GeorgeI will never complete Red Dead Redemption. That’ll never fucking happen.
JonToo big.
MoYeah, too much happening.
GeorgeIt’s just too much.
JonRight.
MoYeah. right.
GeorgeBut I did complete Crime Scene Cleaner, at least until they added all that, you know, crazy hocus pocus shit into it on the TLC that they came out with later.
JonYeah. Extra stuff. Yeah.
GeorgeBut yeah, it i I don’t want to like it because I don’t want to sit there and play a game that is… Ah, shit, my phone. Sorry.
JonYou’re good.
GeorgePotential spam and didn’t put it on mute. Dumbass.
JonYou’re good. you but You were saying, I don’t want to play it, but blah, blah, blah is where you were.
GeorgeSorry. Nope.
JonYeah.
Georgefive, four, three. I don’t want to play it, but I, since I can complete it, it made it, I had to play it.
MoI know what you mean.
GeorgeAnd it just, every time I would start to pick it up, it was that anxiety that John talked about was for me, it was okay.
Jonah
GeorgeWell, I got to clean up this last room. I’m not going to walk away and save it in the middle of this room, not being clean.
MoYeah, you can’t leave it like that.
Jonah Oh, yeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeI don’t want to come back and have to finish this room.
JonYeah.
GeorgeI thought it pulled me away pulled me through really well with the narrative also. The narrative is very important to me in any game we play. I just don’t have time to waste on games that don’t help me to enjoy some kind of story or universe.
GeorgeIn this game, I felt like I was the guy. Because he didn’t want to go do this shit for this mob boss.
MoYeah, exactly Yeah He had to, he was forced to
JonOh, really?
GeorgeYeah, he…
Jonhe was he kind of begrudgingly did it, huh?
GeorgeExactly.
JonOh.
Georgehe was kind of for like, if you don’t do this shit, we’re going to fuck with you. And I’m like, oh, great.
JonYou’re like, all right, I’ll push a on the joystick.
GeorgeThat’s kind of how I felt.
JonAll right.
GeorgeSo yeah it felt like it was a one to one ratio of me being in the game, actually cleaning up blood for a mob boss.
MoSo George, you ever see what happened? Like there’s a scene in the game where it opens up. You’re in an elevator and the guy who’s making you do this stuff is calling you like on a phone.
GeorgeOh, yeah, right.
MoDid you ever not pick it up?
GeorgeNo, I only played it through one time.
JonOh,
GeorgeSo apparently
MoOh, something happens.
Jonoh Well, you have to replay it now, George. Sorry.
MoYeah, so so something happens if you don’t pick up the phone because he gets angrier and angrier the more you don’t pick up.
Jongot to go see what happens.
JonOh. Hmm.
MoSo if you get so.
GeorgeI can believe that.
MoSo here’s something other reason for you to go do it again, George. So sure.
JonHa ha.
GeorgeYay. Thank you. Just what I needed.
MoBut so anyway as much as I enjoyed that game, you know, another game I really enjoyed was the one John picked.
JonYep.
JonYeah. And we didn’t set some firm ground rules for what game we picked. And I’m happy for that because technically this game was released at the end of 2024.
JonAnd I think we talked about it somewhere in the last couple of months in 2024, but I had only sampled it then.
MoYeah.
JonI’d not really delved into the game. So, however, throughout 2025, I repeatedly, you look at my Steam stats, you’re like, wow, you’ve played that a lot, John.
Moshe
JonYeah. A simple, well, deceptively simple looking little vector simulation game by Pixel Jam Studios called Utopia Must Fall is this crazy mashup of Tempest and Asteroids and Centipede and tower defense games, a missile command.
Momissile commands and
GeorgeMissile command. Yeah.
Jonand But it’s all in this very simple, you have a city at the bottom of the screen. You have a little turret, you can move left and right. And as you progress through the days of this futuristic world, as aliens are coming to attack your city, you can upgrade your weapon and upgrade your shields and upgrade your defensive capabilities and create nuclear warheads and,
JonIt doesn’t have a story. i mean, that’s the story, George. You mentioned, you know, what have you want to be pulled through a narrative. That’s the whole story. It’s really just an action game. It’s like a quarter suck.
MoYeah.
JonIt’s like an arcade machine.
MoYeah, absolutely.
JonBut every time your city is destroyed, you have one life. And when it’s hit, that’s it. That’s your score. It was all I could do to not say, start again.
Moyeah
JonStart again. And I often did. i often did. It wasn’t until a couple hours was gone. I’m like, okay, I’ve got to do something else. I’ve got to stop. But this little game, not only is it such a throwback to games we have grown up loving, not only is it an amazing simulation of vector graphics on a raster display with crazy amounts of configuration and you want to make it look like a Vectrex, make it look like this old Tektronic, whatever. That could change the vector look.
JonBut the action in it, the variety in it, the bosses in it, all the upgrades, it just made What if I’d pick this other upgrade? Because some upgrades you buy ah make it so you can’t go down other tracks. Well, if you buy a nuke, you can’t get on the pacifist route. or if you So it became…
JonIt became almost like a choose your own adventure in this sort of quarter suck game that I would come back to again and again, because there was just enough variety to keep you wondering what if I tried this other option.
JonAnd as recently as like a month ago, I did another, I think I live streamed this thing about five times over the course of the year.
MoYeah, at least.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI was going to say that was that was why I figured you picked it because you live streamed this one game more than any other this year.
MoMm-hmm.
JonYeah, because I kept going. OK, and it wasn’t like a repeat or boring. It was like, OK, this time through, we’re gonna really focus on offense and see how we do, you know, and see and try out the other things. So it had enough in it, enough variety, enough story, as you say, not so much story, but options.
MoYeah.
JonIt’s not just the same thing over and over. It’s not just Space Invaders, right? All the aliens are getting faster.
GeorgeRight.
Joneach Each game could kind of be its own thing. So that’s why for me, Utopia Must Fall was the one that gave me the most most replayability, the most satisfaction of anything else I played all year, even though it came out right at the end of the previous year.
Moyeah
JonAll right. George, your pick is one we kind of all hold warm to our heart for a very specific reason I will not spoil.
Moah
JonI’ll let you talk about what was your pick for your favorite game of the year?
GeorgeYeah, well, that’s the pretty much the entire reason I chose it, besides the fact that I have gone back and played this game multiple, multiple, multiple times.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeThat’s Keys of Fury by the indomitable Mike Smith, who we met at PRGE 2025 just through the weirdest set of circumstances.
JonOh,
GeorgeI’ll retell the story really quickly. I was over visiting the game booth, who we also love, and I couldn’t put them in this list because I still don’t have my game here in hand, even though John has had his for several months, which is completely wholly unfair but i was over there checking on them at their booth somebody else was talking to them and happened to see that you know i had the gen x grown-up uh gear on and stuff oh you guys are youtube channel podcast have you seen my friend’s game no i haven’t seen your friend’s game well let me take you over there he took me over there i sat down and i didn’t want to get up so much so that people had to tap me on the shoulder from behind me to make me get up so they could demo the game themselves
Jonoh yeah. Yeah.
MoYeah.
MoCan my 12-year-old son play now? ah
GeorgeYeah, but it’s Keys of Fury.
JonYeah.
Georgeit is absolutely one of the best throwbacks this year to a game that I enjoyed a long time ago called Typing of the Dead. I think that was 99, 2000, something like that.
JonMm hmm.
MoYeah, at least, yeah.
JonThat’s right.
Georgeum Yeah. And Mike put together this game, by the way, he is a world-class ah game designer. He’s worked for major studios. He is right now. This is his side project that he wanted to do for himself.
JonMm
GeorgeAnd he really, um he went out of his way to work with us more so than almost any game dev has since probably Kartik over at Finite ah did back in the first days of the channel.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeYeah. He really went above and beyond so much so that he created a very special Gen X grown-up level in his game.
JonMm-hmm.
Georgethat we were able to get scored by one of our favorite musicians of all time, uh, beefy, uh, and his partner Tanner, who put together this awesome gen X grownup song and put that in the level.
GeorgeEach one of us makes an appearance in the level.
Moinstance
GeorgeUh, you get to talk with us at the beginning of each little stage in that level And Mike is very adamant that don’t just answer the questions straight.
GeorgeTry and mess with us a little bit because he puts a whole bunch of snarky humor into this thing.
JonYeah. Yeah.
GeorgeIt’s just a fun game. The great thing about this that he did different over games like Typing of the Dead, it’s not about speed, it’s about accuracy. So you can be a little bit slower, but as long as you’re accurate, you will get through the levels and enjoy it.
MoYes. Yeah. Yeah. yeah
GeorgeAnd it’s essentially… Double Dragon meets Typing of the Dead. it’s It’s a side-scrolling beat-em-up with a keyboard.
JonYeah. Yeah. and And even if even if we did not have a special Gen X Corona themed level scored by Beefy and Tanner 4105, even if not, it still would have been a valid pick here because for all the reasons you mentioned and, you know, the the ah the the one man Mike Smith, one man developer.
Moah
MoYeah, it’s a solid. Mm-hmm.
Jonpixel jam who did utopia must fall we just talked about also one man development team there’s a pixel jam level in keys of fury 2 with the yeah the the running dinosaur is based on their forthcoming game so not only did he make this cool typing game uh and he even did there was some update to it recently that was a learning level like it wasn’t so much about the story it was like how to get better at typing he keeps adding stuff to it for five bucks i should mention is all this game costs yeah he easily could have charged eight or ten right easily he easily, but he didn’t.
GeorgeMm-hmm.
GeorgeYeah.
GeorgeYeah.
GeorgeFor $5. Right.
Moah Yeah, totally totally cheap.
Georgeright
MoYeah, easily.
Jonis He’s not just creating this thing that’s his passion project. He’s integrating other folks he’s working with and giving them ah a stage and a spotlight that’s specific to their their world.
GeorgeMm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
JonI mean, when he talked to us, he’s like, well, let’s make a stage. What are you guys about? Well, we’re about nostalgia in the 80s.
MoYeah.
JonWell, let’s put it in an old arcade and let’s have you talk to the people about ninjas in your arcade.
MoYeah.
JonIt was just so fun. It could have been about anything, but the fact that Yeah, the fact that he worked with folks just doubled it up and made it more. I would have loved it just on its own. But the developer made it more, more, more, plus, plus, plus for me.
JonSo, yeah, fantastic pick.
GeorgeYeah. I mean, any of you out there, if you haven’t gone out and bought this game on Steam yet for $5, the fuck are you waiting for?
JonJust five bucket, dude.
GeorgeHonestly, it’s fine it’s an insta-buy.
JonJust do it.
MoYeah.
GeorgeI tried to convince him to sell it for $10. When we were talking with him before his release, I kept saying, dude, this is a $10 game all day long.
JonYeah.
MoYeah.
GeorgeHe’s like, I don’t care about making money on this one. I just want as many people as possible to get to play with it and enjoy it because I really loved creating it.
JonYeah.
GeorgeAnd i mean…
JonYeah.
Georgehe He sent us early development builds and you know gave us keys to give away and the whole nine yards.
MoYeah.
GeorgeAnd it’s just, it’s so nice to see a game developer put this much passion into something that he didn’t need to. This guy is a triple A game developer who is plenty busy with his regular day.
MoYeah, I’m sure.
GeorgeAnd he just said, no, I love this thing so much. I want to do it and let other people enjoy it
JonYeah.
Moyeah And I just love just working with them on the level to kind of get a little bit of a peek, like what kind of goes into kind of creating this thing, you know, the music and the idea.
JonMm-hmm. It
Georgee
MoI mean, it was ah it was just ah it was just so much fun to do. But like you said, it was yeah, it was a game I would have played anyway, quite honestly.
Jonwas great experience. Yeah.
GeorgeYeah.
JonMm-hmm.
MoYeah. And without a doubt.
JonYep.
GeorgeYeah. I think I actually just went and bought it. I don’t even think I used one of his keys that he gave us.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeI just paid for it because $5.
JonYeah. Yep.
GeorgeYeah. it’s five dollars
JonRight.
GeorgeI can’t hand this guy a $5 bill and appreciate what he created for us and, you know, for other people that enjoy older games like this, simpler games, games that we can get in, play a little bit, and then leave. We don’t have to have Red Dead Redemption side quests to go find the lost curly gold mine or what the fuck ever. No, just here you go. There’s some ninjas and some robots trying to hit you from the left and the right. Type out these phrases and you’ll kill them.
GeorgeThat’s it. That’s the whole game.
JonThere you go. That’s, yeah. And a story.
GeorgeAnd yeah, it’s it’s so, so fun.
JonYeah.
GeorgeAbsolutely. So for me, it was a no-brainer to put this on the list for best of 2025 games.
JonYeah, that’s a punch list. I mean, if you’ve listened to this podcast, the series, more than a few times, and it’s probably because the things that you hear we us talk about, you have some connection to, this is a punch list for you.
JonLike, oh, if you missed any of those movies, you should go and see them. If you missed any of those TV shows, you should at least go and try them out.
Mo<unk>
JonWatch the premiere, see if it’s for you. If you missed any of this tech, check it out. You might be surprised. Or these games. You know, it’s look, they they are pre-approved. They’re pre-vetted by folks that run this show that you already enjoy listening to.
Moah
Georgehe
JonAnd i don’t want to say we’re officially authorizing or vetting, but we all recommend all these things that we have enjoyed.
MoYes.
JonAnd some them we do officially authorize and enjoy.
GeorgeYeah, that’s something we ought to create next year is like a Gen X grown-up seal of approval that we give out to these.
JonRight? That people can put on their website.
MoOh, yeah.
JonThere you go.
GeorgeThat’s right.
JonThe seal of approval. It’s like Nintendo’s seal of approval, right? But just pixely and nerdy.
GeorgeRight, exactly.
JonYeah, is. Yeah. Yeah, I love it.
Georgeah
Moand like that idea.
JonYeah. you know We have one more topic to cover. I want to run down our favorite patrons of 2025. No, not really. I just want to… but Rather than pick a single patron, I did want to give a shout out. Every episode, we’ve had a number of new patrons and upgrading patrons. And I want to remind you and just take a moment rather than singling anyone out. I want to talk about very quickly how much it means to us every time we see a little email that pops that says, hey, you have a new patron over on patreon.com. And I won’t speak for you guys. I’ll let you speak for yourselves. When I see that, I get this little endorphin hit that goes,
JonLook at that. Damn it. Somebody actually appreciates what we do enough to pay for something they’re getting for free to support us. Are you kidding me?
MoYeah.
JonLike that’s not, that’s not necessarily human nature these days.
Moyeah
JonAnd look, we have folks that supported us for years. We have folks that have just joined us in the last couple of years, folks that joined us a couple of days ago. And each and every one of you are making a very real and tangible contribution to ensure that we can keep doing what we do and don’t have to stop because of financial reasons.
JonIt’s a pledge that is so valuable to me personally, and I’ll let you guys speak what your thoughts are. But I just want to thank each and every one of you, not just for taking the effort to do it, but for doing it when you otherwise didn’t have to and did it anyway.
JonIt’s very validating and it’s, i I’m so humbled by it.
MoMm-hmm.
JonAnd it’s one of the, it was a highlight of my year. Every time I saw somebody willing to help us out, I’m just so thankful.
GeorgeYeah, so I, everybody knows who listens to the podcast or maybe checks out a video every now I handle all the business side for the group and so I run the numbers every month and go through them and oh this thing went up this thing went down oh we did great here we didn’t do so right there.
JonMm-hmm.
JonMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd because I’m always in the spreadsheets and the numbers, I’m paying very close attention to that kind of stuff. And over the break, when I took my little vacation during Christmas, my mother was asking some questions about, Hey, how’s the YouTube thing going? is it and I said, well, yeah, it’s more successful this year than it’s ever been. And that is in large part due to our patrons. And so I had to explain to her what patrons were in she had the hardest time understanding the concept of people wanting to give money for what her son is doing on the computer.
Jonyeah
GeorgeThat just didn’t, she was like, it was like, but cause she’s heard the podcast as we go on trips, we’ll listen to them in the car sometimes.
MoYou’re just playing.
JonWait, it’s just you talking?
Moah
Jonhold on, don’t understand.
GeorgeAnd so she’s heard us doing the thing that we do. And she’s like, people give you money for this. I don’t understand. I’m like, yeah, mom, it’s just like tipping at a restaurant. Or if you see a homeless person on the side of the road, which may be a more apt analogy, ah you just hand them money because you appreciate that they’re human beings that are doing something nice for you.
GeorgeAnd each one of these patrons, this is the part that she really, it just blew her mind was it’s not just a one-time donation that you guys are doing.
JonMm-hmm.
MoYeah.
GeorgeIt’s a monthly donation that you guys signed up to like the old PBS pledgeathons from back in the day that are even needed more these days.
JonIt’s pledge. Yeah.
Moyeah
JonMm-hmm.
Georgeah They just, you know, for this year or whatever, and you could stop them anytime. People can just pledge for one month and walk away or just hand a single donation.
JonSure. Yeah.
Georgebut Month in and month out, it’s the same list of people. So these people are pledging and not going away. That’s what just, it’s so awesome and humbling to to think about.
GeorgeAnd at the end of the year, every year, when I do our final books and I get ready to close out the ledger for this year, i look back at all of the categories that we were able to spend money on to do better work.
MoMm-hmm.
GeorgeAnd for those of you out there who maybe don’t pay attention, John’s the John is deriving only his income from this. Mo and I both have jobs, so we don’t take any salaries from this.
JonRight.
GeorgeWe don’t get any money, but John does. And if he didn’t, he’d be that homeless guy. i’d be having to give $10 to, to get him a cheeseburger.
JonThat’s right. Help me out.
Georgehe earned through all of the stuff that you guys have done more this year than he’s ever been able to do.
JonAnd
GeorgeAnd you could easily add up the first like five years and it wouldn’t match.
Jonand wouldn’t match.
MoYeah.
JonYeah, right. Yeah.
GeorgeAnd that’s through the generosity of these patrons over on patreon.com slash gen x grown up or gen x.com slash Patreon, whichever way you want to go doesn’t matter.
GeorgeIt all ends up helping keeping this going. Because truthfully, Mo and I would have quit like six years ago.
Jonyeah
GeorgeBut John’s the one who’s been doing this and pushing it forward. And I’m very happy that everybody has responded the way they have.
MoYeah. and And just to echo what these guys said, I mean, i it always amazes me the same as you that, you know, wow, someone’s willing to pledge, you know, even a dollar a month, you know, you know, and and there are people who do way more than a dollar a month, you know, and we appreciate everybody and all of you for doing it.
GeorgeOh yeah.
JonWay more. Yeah.
Georgeoh yeah
MoYou know, if nothing else, just to show that it sort of like you’re acknowledging that this takes effort. Right.
Jonrisk Yeah, exactly.
MoRight.
JonExactly.
Moyou know, that it’s not just something that’s just like, oh, yeah, you know, oh every couple of weeks we just kind of sit there, get on the phone and chat and it’s done.
JonYeah.
Moyou know, no, John spends a ton of time editing these things to make sure that they sound as good as they sound. They make sure we sound as good as we sound because you don’t sound as good in in real life. um ah and And, you know, we spend time doing research on these things and just trying to make sure that we try to keep everything interesting and, you know, and and try to be as engaging as possible, but at the same time having fun, you know, and being true to what we believe.
Georgeah
Jonah
JonThat’s right.
MoSo again, like from us to you guys, just we really appreciate and thank you for everything and all the support you’ve given us.
JonYep.
JonWell said. Well said. Now, I think each of us now should pick our favorite co-host. Ready? You go first, George. No, no, I’m kidding. Don’t pick. don’t Please don’t pick. Please don’t pick.
GeorgeI don’t even like to listen to the show. How would I know?
MoYeah.
Jonah you How would you know?
JonOh, that’s going wrap it up for well said guys. I can’t, I can’t, nothing to add to that. Well said that’s going wrap it up for, I guess gonna wrap it up for 2025. It’s going to set the stage for a new year in 2026. We have a couple of rewinds coming your way here at the front of the year. And then we’re going jump right back into our regular schedule shows every single Thursday. We’ve not missed a Thursday guys in eight years.
Jonnot a Thursday that includes trips. That includes business work schedules, hospital stays, anything did not interrupt every single Thursday. We made a show and that doesn’t happen without three committed people. And I’m, uh, one of my favorite things of the year and probably the eight years is you guys. So thank you for being here and be part of this with me. I love it. I love it.
JonThat is going to wrap it up. We’re so grateful that you listened.
JonHow did I, it’s so, so weird and different. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So good. You listen, wrap it up.
MoWe’ll be back with…
JonThat is goingnna wrap it up for this edition of the show. Then I am John George. Thank you so much for being here.
GeorgeYes, sir.
JonMo, you know, I appreciate you.
MoAlways fun, though.
JonFor us listeners, would appreciate most of all. We can’t wait to talk to you again next time. 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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