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The first and only podcast bringing you weekly case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire. Every Wednesday, co-hosts Josh, Brian, and A.J. dissect an artifact of popular culture, breaking down how its narrative choices reflect or subvert the reactionary political project. From video games to movies to theater to an apparently infinite supply of evangelical Christian radio drama, we expose the machinations of the worst of all possible worlds in order to figure out how to build a better one. Also, we have bits.
Episodes
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Monday Jul 19, 2021
Join Josh (@boshj) and Brian (@spocks_brian) as they dive into the ambitious 2017 space-station spoop-fest Prey! They talk the joys of fake-out openings, the pitfalls of immersive combat, and the sticky beauty of a good ole fashioned GLOO cannon. They also delve into the depths of the infamous Bethesda/Kotaku brouhaha of the mid 2010s and the enduring push/pull between developers and game journalists.
Theme by Brendan Dalton
www.brendan-dalton.com
https://brendandalton.bandcamp.com
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
Thursday Jul 01, 2021
THIS IS A PREVIEW. Check out the full thing at patreon.com/worstofall
For our second premium episode, the boys (@boshj, @thefuzzymask, @spocks_brian) dive a little deeper into Odyssey. Maybe a little too deep.
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
Thursday Jun 17, 2021
A.J. and Brian take a relaxed trip through the walking simulator Gone Home, its influences and its legacy, which stretches beyond the medium of video games. We also discuss how the game gets used as a virtue signal among gaming's reactionary wing.
For more listening, check out Steve Gaynor's GDC talk: https://www.gdcvault.com/play/1020376/Why-Is-Gone-Home-a
Friday Jun 04, 2021
Friday Jun 04, 2021
This is the inaugural episode of Whit's Endless Summer, a sub-series where we explore Adventures in Odyssey, Focus on the Family, and the history of evangelical entertainment.
This time, we subjected A.J. to some of the first and worst episodes of Adventures in Odyssey, introducing him to Whit, Tom, Connie and everyone's favorite denizen of Campbell County: Patriotism.
The episodes we listened to were:
#4 - Connie Comes to Town
#5 - Gifts for Madge and Guy
#7 - Promises, Promises
#19 - Recollections
#28 - The Price of Freedom
If you want to find these episodes, they're floating around the internet in a few places. There's a comprehensive torrent out there that has every episode (and then some) all the way through last year. Feel free to suffer along with us!
And as always, we welcome your feedback.
Tuesday May 18, 2021
Tuesday May 18, 2021
In December of 1993, a congressional hearing takes place. The subject: violence in video games. The culprit: Night Trap. How did such a silly little game get so much negative attention? Who was behind this? What is Joe Lieberman's, like, deal? That's what A.J. and Brian try to solve as we dig into the morass of politics in the 90s.
Monday May 17, 2021
Monday May 17, 2021
Brian (https://twitter.com/Spocks_Brian) and A.J. (https://twitter.com/TheFuzzyMask) check out one of history's most notorious video games, and discover that it's really just some good clean fun. Well, depending on your definition of fun. But there are some cultural forces a-churning, and this campy, interactive Dana Plato vehicle might be in for some trouble.