Tag: 2023
2023 Holiday Party w/ACPN!
WHAT’S THIS! A CHRISTMAS SURPRISE!
By Tiny Tim’s Little Crutches, it’s a Christmas Miracle!
It’s also what we do every year, but that doesn’t matter, it’s NEW SOMETHING STUFF…
So who is joining us in for our giant glass of Nog and talking Christmas fun? Why it is the collection of wonderful personage we’ve become friends with on our podcasting journey from ACPNET.NET. John, Jason, and Matt are all hanging with us and bringing the Christmas Something along with them.
One note – I do apologize for my audio, as with all multi-guest episodes, audio mixing sometimes becomes a bit of an unkillable monster.
That said – Happy Holidays from all of us to all of you.
Ok, here we Ho Ho Hooooo…
The Somethings at PAX – The Interviews
Surprise number two! The Somethings went to PAX: UNPLUGGED and put on their best nerd swag and rolled dice for two days. Well, along the way, we got a chance to do some interviews too!
As promised, here are our interviews with Vaikin Kansepts, Meredith Placko, and Gamey – and we thank them tremendously for the time they gave us in a place where every person is vying for their time.
One note – we are live in a convention hall, so the audio quality does dip at places. We’ve done our best to adjust accordingly, but we will keep that in mind for where ever our next adventure takes us, and we appreciate your understanding.
With that said – Happy Holidays Somethings, please settle in and enjoy PAX:Unplugged – The Interviews!
The Somethings Go to PAX: Unplugged
Oh, the Somethings actually went somewhere.. that’s right, they made their triumphant return to PAX Unplugged in Philadelphia – why?
Because we’re a bunch of board game nerds, we take December off so we didn’t have to record anything. And yet, live in our hotel room, we did record something. Our tale of lines and games, interviews and fun, games and friends live from the convention center a few miles away from the home of Rocky Balboa.
So enjoy one of a couple surprises that are coming in the next few weeks – and please don’t mind the audio quality – as the Somethings hang out together, exhausted from walking miles through the board game haven that was PAX: Unplugged
Links mentioned in the episode:
Games Mentioned:
[1-STAR MOVIE REVIEW] Christmas Twister
Tis the season! And, by season, we obviously mean tornado season.. what other season could I have meant?! You see due to global warming, there is a chance we are looking at out-of-nowhere tornadoes that can just hit the ground and send us packing.
So join us on this whirlwind of a holiday season and visit the harrowing journey of one family as a half dozen or so tornadoes seem to follow them where ever they go. Is it good? Is it bad? Is it better than bad, it’s good? Don’t forget, you can watch this masterpiece first – here!
Find out with 1-Star Movie: Christmas Twister
Before the episode though – just want to remind you all that we are heading in to our usual December Vacation – so get ready for twice as much Somethings with the Best of 2023!
But first – Ok here we blow!
[BLOG] PCR has some reminders for today!
Hey Somethings! PCR here…
Now that we’ve made it through “The Day of Gorging” and are now into “The Day of Madness”, a few reminders for those out braving the Black Friday deals and such at your local stores…
- Retail employees and Servers do NOT set the prices.
- Retail employees and Servers do NOT control inventory levels.
- Retail employees and Servers can NOT control how quickly others before you do or do not interact with things.
- Retail employees and Servers would ABSOLUTELY LOVE to treat you how you treat them.. especially if you’re treating them like shit… but they can’t. YOU have that choice to be kind or not.
- Most (if not all) Retail employees and Servers absolutely loath today, basically because of the types of people they’re afraid they’ll encounter. Don’t be one of those people.
Regardless of where you are… your electronics or hobby store, the drive-thru of Jack-In-The-Box, a home improvement store, a swank sit-down restaurant… remember, the people taking care of you are just that.. PEOPLE… and they deserve respect and compassion. Don’t be the asshole they tell stories about in the breakroom.
– PCR
[THE BEGINNING] V
One of the great things about doing In The Beginning is that we get a chance to look at some stuff that was super popular, but doesn’t really reach the lofty goals of a multiple season blah blah.. so we can even take on the classics of the 80s – the TV Miniseries.
So why don’t we start that idea with one of the biggest and most well known in a little story about the aliens landing and being totally friendly and not at all problematic lizard monsters. …No.. seriously…
Anyway, does it stand the test of time? Is it good? Is it the reason miniseries aren’t around anymore?
Find out on The Beginning – V.
Ok, here V go!
[BLOG] The Factory Side of Idle Games…
First off, I’d like to thank this past week”s guest Ty for, after my last blog post about Idle Games coming out, he sent me Idle Gears because he is a smartass.. then he and I discussed strategizing it for the next two days.
He’s a monster. Thanks, buddy.
Anyway, there is another kind of game that is close to the idle genre, but is less idle and more.. frustrating? nerdy? Made for people with Engineering degrees? But, don’t get me wrong, they are still, in some ways, idle games.
I’m talking about a genre that is loosely referred to as factory automation games.
Have you never played them – then the fact is – you probably don’t want to, because the people that do want these games, have likely already found them. They’re sort of like Narnia that way. But just in case you have lived under a rock and really like the idea of building a machine that builds a machine that builds the gear the helps you build the new machine… here, you’re welcome:
FACTORIO – So, I’m putting this one here first because it isn’t the first of the genre, but it most definitely is the one that everyone thinks of. It’s a simple premise – build a rocket. Obviously, easy peasy. Especially when you start on an alien planet with a pick-axe and that’s it. So yeah, you mine some coal and some iron to make a furnace and make a gear and use gears to make a lab, and a lab to make some science and some science to build an entire planet covered in giant conveyor belts of machinery that are building buildings to build buildings.
SATISFACTORY – Now, it is easy to say that Satisfactory is just 3D first person Factorio.. but it isn’t. Well, it is a little, but not entirely – you see, the world you are in Satisfactory is not a randomly generated world. It’s the same world. Start a new game with the basic settings, start in the same place. That’s because this world is a huge country with different lush biomes and vibrant wildlife and greenery, and you get to slowly but surely pave over it and fill it with billowing smokestacks, giant conveyor systems, and gigantic power supplies. It’s this brilliant and hysterical eco-message in an amazing world.
AUTONAUTS – Autonauts may be my favorite on this list, and it is because it does something so simply different with its premise. Yes, building things that build things – but – they are all robots and you get to program them in a fairly basic way. After building a robot, you walk around and do something – and then it repeats it. Want this bot to grab logs and bring them over there.. fine. Want this bot to take logs from there and turn them into gears? Sure. And eventually, as you upgrade your bots (or you have your bots upgrade your bots) you are running this artistically-simple, but chaotic mess that likely looks like the world 5 minutes before the beginning of the war in Terminator.
SHAPEZ – This game gets a quicker honorable mention because it is legitimately the simplest of the batch. You build a shape and conveyor belt it in to a base. Now you need a new shape, build a machine that screws up your old shape and turns it into a new shape.. now it needs to be blue.. ..and split in half.. ..and broken into separate quarters that are each on top of another shape and painted 4 different colors.. this goes on. Definitely worth a check out though and the sequel is on its way.
Lastly….
GREGTECH: NEW HORIZONS – This may be the one that you aren’t aware of – the one that slipped through the cracks.. and there’s a reason. It’s not a game, but a mod on the blocky masterpiece of Minecraft. Now, in Minecraft there is some automation you can build – and it can get intricate, but it isn’t the purpose of the game. (Unless its your purpose, but that’s a different thing) GT:NH as it is referred, is a mod pack that makes every single step of the game a bit of a hassle, but not an unsatisfying one. Where before you found some coal and mined it and made a torch.. well, your first few days in this highly dangerous world you will spend with one torch as you learn how to build basic tools, and figure out how to build a giant coke oven to collapse wood into charcoal. It’s brutal, and it goes like that as you grow from steam power to electrical power to planetary hopping and dimensions. I hate it…. I’m lying… I love it..
What factories do you build – sound off in all the places.
[ELEVATOR PITCH] Discontinued Toys w/ Ty Jero
What was your toy? Did you play with M.U.S.C.L.E.S or Stretch Armstrong? Were you a Lite-Brite kid or maybe you had a slinky but you straightened it. Whatever your particular pet rock was, there is some toy that you remember from your childhood that is no longer with us. Maybe because it just wasn’t that interesting or maybe because it was horrendously dangerous.
Well, the Somethings are back in the elevator and we’re going to bring back a toy from our childhood, and the special guest CEO is one of the hosts of High Anxiety on Youtube, Ty Jero! So please, pay respect to our toy maestro and check out his team’s reviews of toys and collectables.
But for now – which one of us will get the pile of money?
Find out on Elevator Pitch: Discontinued Toys
Ok here we go go Power Rangers!
[BLOG] PCR talks Waiting for New Seasons!
Hey Somethings,
Now, as has been said multiple times during our show, Hatton and I are from two different age groups. When I was a kid (and teen, and young adult), most TV seasons were about 22 episodes long. They ran Sept. to May, and maybe took a break towards the end of the year. Summer would come and go, and in Sept. a new season would drop.
In the 2007 Writer’s Strike, it jumbled things up and seasons were delayed, but even then (and using our “favorite” show as an example) LOST Season 5 was down to 14 episodes (4 was too, but.. again…Writer’s Strike).
Now, we have shows streaming on services that a “season” is 6 episodes?
Using “Loki” as an example, Season 1 started June 9th, 2021, and Season 2 JUST dropped in Oct. of 2023. Stranger Things has done similar with a THREE YEAR gap between Seasons 3 and 4, and another 3 year gap between 4 and 5 (granted… again… there was a Writer’s Strike and, at the time of this writing, still a SAG-AFTRA strike) and.. my question becomes… when do we stop caring?
As much as I was looking forward to a S2 of Loki, I didn’t jump on it when it came out. I only recently caught up because I’m curious how they’re handling Kang since Marvel “may” (random reports) end up ‘phasing out’ Kang as the new Big Bad and replace him with Dr. Doom if Majors’ legal trouble increases more. I just didn’t have the hype to get back into it after waiting so long. The same went for S4 of Stranger Things. Will I watch Season 5 when it comes out? Eventually sure, if only to see how they wrap up the story, but it is unlikely I’ll be sitting in front of my TV with remote in hand just WAITING for it to drop.
Which begs the question Somethings… how long of a wait between seasons would make YOU not care nearly as much anymore?
Hit us in the socials and let us know!
-PCR
Rabbit Holes
You’ve done it. You find something you enjoy on Monday, you blink, and it’s August. Maybe it’s a show.. maybe it’s a website.. maybe it’s learning how to translate Etruscan. The fact is, we have all fallen down our share of rabbit holes that suck our life away for good or for ill.
This week, Hatton and Rob will be talking some of the entertaining things they have found themselves fighting to avoid the gravitational pull of. Some of these things only last a day or two… some, a life time. Please let us know if we’re your rabbit hole. It’s ok… we won’t tell… on Rabbit Holes
Ok, here we fall!