Episode 92: Maybe Gatekeeping is Good, Actually

This week, Alex, Kate, and guest Jason Fannelli discuss sports video games, the communities that build around them, the benefits of having more than just one company making them at a time, and why an annual cycle is actually important for keeping the games relevant and immersive.

This week, Alex, Swara, and Kyle discuss genre, its utility in determining what to consume, its shortcomings as an aspect of marketing, and the malleability that genre needs to remain fresh and relevant. Plus, why AI art can never express emotion.

This week, Alex, Kate, and Matt discuss whether liking nerdy things is childish, why it's important to understand what age demographic media is made and marketed for, and how it all gets harder when stories refuse to ever end.

This week, Alex, Kate, and Jason discuss the seminal 2004 Green Day album, American Idiot, its meaning at the time, its impact on music and culture since, and where to find good, politically salient music today.

This week, Alex, Kate, and Matt talk dead people again, this time, about why we remember certain celebrities differently than others, whether it's okay that we pick and choose which parts of their legacies to hold onto, and what it means to gerrymander our moral lines around which famous people's art we like best.

This week, we're taking a break and rerunning our original King of the Hill episode in honor of its return to TV!

This week, Alex and Kate are joined by Jess Cogswell and Joseph Bradford to discuss Magic the Gathering, what got them into it in the first place, what's kept them invested, and the different ways it has created, and frustrated, community for them over the years.

This week, Alex, Adrian, and Kyle go all recommendations, sharing some of the shows, books, and more that have been bringing them joy lately, from Dropout TV to the Malazan series and much more.

This week, Alex, Jason, and Neysha go full spoilers on the new Superman (2025), discuss what makes a great Superman depiction, and talk about why Superman IV is great, actually, and a huge influence on the new movie.

This week, Alex, Kate, and Kyle discuss the rise of F1, the shows like F1: The Academy and Drive to Survive that have helped popularize it, and how whether it's F1 or NASCAR, motorsports can be and should be enjoyable for everyone, not just certain groups of people.