Tomorrow - 193: Mindstorms

Episode Date: May 30, 2020

We're going to be completely honest with you: This episode is a lot of rage monologuing about their dying nation by Josh and Ryan. But then it takes a hard left turn into a heated discussion of the Sega Saturn. Because, you know, we're all still nerds here. Stay safe, Tony. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey and welcome to tomorrow, I'm your host, Joshua Tbilisi. Today on the podcast, we discuss protests, chromatica, and Sega. I don't want to waste one minute. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it.

Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. Let's get right into it. All right, hey, Ryan, we're back, man. It's been a couple of weeks. Maybe? I don't really know, because what is a week? That's what I'm asking.

What is time, what is space, and why does it keep happening? Yes, and does it matter anymore? I mean, actually, I don't know. I think it does. We're in the third month or so of self-isolation slash quarantine. And I have to say things have gotten very bad in America, very bad, very dangerous, very deadly, very frightening, very upsetting. There is, we are at this moment, we are sitting in our respective, well, you're in, you're in, where are you in Indiana right now? Yeah, so my grandma broke her ribs,

and there was nobody here to take care of her. Well, my aunts, it's been multiple crises, but my aunts were taking care of her, but their vacation home was having like, apparently they got a phone call that their pipes burst, and it had flooded everywhere and they had a ton of property damage and they had to go shore it up.

So they traveled over to their vacation house to fix it. But for the two weeks, it's gonna take to get contractors and everything set up. We had to get in a car and not stop, even at the bathroom, like we peed in the woods, drive out here, get into my aunt's house, basically quarantine here with my grandma and then repeat that again to go home over this weekend. So it hasn't been great. Yeah. No, I mean, but luckily your experience matches

that of all Americans right now, which is just just endless amounts of horror both small and large. Yeah. It's it's a dark time. We should acknowledge that as we speak, there are protests raging demonstrations raging in Minneapolis and Louisville because the police keep killing black people and won't stop. And at the same time, the president is mad at Twitter for clarifying his tweets with, you know, track check information. And we are going into a Cold War with China. And, you know, journalists are being arrested by the military.

So that's just the breaking news. Really anything, I mean, Trump's loving, Trump's loving this police brutality and protest because he's so desperate to find anything to distract from the fact that, I mean, like, like, coronavirus still happening over 100,000 people fucking dead from a virus that, like, three months ago, there were no people dead in America from it. Zero people dead, three months later, 100,000 plus and climbing. It's insane.

The government has done, I mean, this motherfucker, Trump, signed an executive order yesterday trying to regulate social media because they put a fact check, like post script on one of his tweets. I mean, it literally is like, he tweeted something. It wasn't covered up, it wasn't deleted,

he wasn't blocked or banned, it just was like, hey, get more information about this. Like, it wasn't even like, here's the truth about it. It's like when you do a COVID-19 video on YouTube, YouTube is now auto applying a tiny little box that says if you want more information about COVID-19, click here and then linking to verified sources.

Yeah. And so, anyhow, so immediately, so one day later, however, whatever, it's like two days, one day later, the Trump is signing an executive order to like investigate, you know, Twitter and Facebook or whatever, it's like, dude, there are people, like the frontline medical workers couldn't get protective equipment. We did not sign in the executive. He said he was going to sign the executive order to force companies to produce a protective a gear for doctors and nurses in this country.

Did not do it. But for a fucking tweet, I mean, this is how Craven and stupid and awful the president of the United States is. I mean, he just says his priorities and his focus is so misplaced and misguided and out of step with what is fair and right in the world. It's like it's staggering. It's like how, and the crazy thing about Trump is that there are like 43% of Americans right now, you know, if you look at the polling, who are like, he's doing a good job. And like, I'm sorry, like, if you think that the president

is doing a good job, you're so dumb or so racist, that you literally should not be allowed to vote. Like, you're so, it's such, it's so insane to me that you could look at what is happening in the world right now, that you could look at America, economy, destroyed, tens of millions of jobs lost, 100,000 plus people dead, and that number is climbing. Cities completely shut down. No executive action on it, no executive order to get people protection or to get tests

to people. And he's focusing on fucking Twitter drama. Like, like it actually fucking matters. I mean, it is the most bankrupt, corrupt, craven, backwards leadership this country has ever seen. We're in like the darkest moment of America. And honestly, like, I don't know how we, I mean, I don't know how we come back from it. I mean, I think, you know, obviously removing

this administration from power, removing the Republican party from power. I mean, what I have seen demonstrated is that if given the opportunity to control all of the branches of government, the Republicans will flush the Constitution and America down the fucking toilet. And that is exactly what is happening right now. And not only are things bad in America, but we've completely created relationships with countries around the world who we need as partners. And apparently now we're like backing China

in a civil war against Taiwan, which is like, I mean, just, you know, you can't, I can't think of more fucking shit to set on fire. And Trump's running ads like, he's like, he gets things done. He's like, yeah, he gets things done. He's like, destroyed American democracy and the American way of life.

And he's well on his way to like, starting a fucking third world war. So yeah, he has gotten some things done, I guess. If you're like, if what you really wanna have is chaos, like he's your guy. It's fucking insane. I mean, honestly, I just pray. All I can say is I pray that. I mean, they're already working on election tampering.

They're already heading towards massive election fraud in tampering. You can see. I mean, the fact is the fact that Trump is tweeting about mail-in ballot fraud. It's really just his tell that they're going to attempt to do something to subvert or pervert the voting process in America, you know? And like the guy openly admits, he's basically like, if mail-in voting is allowed at the end of the Republican party and what he means is because this is what his, all of his people have told him, if everybody can vote and it doesn't, you don't have to go out to the polls and it's not a really complicated process

and you can just put this thing in the mail, like a vast majority of people are going to vote Democrat. And they know that. They know that like really what has allowed them to be in power at this moment is the apathy of the American electorate. Is that like most people are just kind of like can't be bothered or don't have the time

or it's not most people, but a lot of people of voting age, like young people in particular are like, yeah, I'm not gonna go wait in line. This is not important to me. What does it matter? You know, there's a, you know, when you're young it doesn't seem that important.

When you're 18, 19, 20, maybe now it does. I don't know what it's like to be 19 in this world, you know? I feel like it would be a pretty scary time to look around you and say, like, wow, this is the government. This is what we do. But you might be so numb to it after so much of this bullshit that like it doesn't matter. But the point is they know if everybody can vote, there are a lot more people are going to vote Democrat. We all know that, you know, he lost the popular vote by millions and millions of votes. He won by 70,000, which is nothing, a fucking rounding error in terms of the electorate.

I think it's not, you know, I think that what I worry about now, and this is, sorry, this is my political ramble at the beginning of this, but what I worry about now more than anything is the election tampering, attempts to postpone the election, attempts to tamper with giving people the opportunity to vote. I mean, we know that they want, they will, Jerry Mandor, we know that they will shut down or move polling places. We know that they will send people to polling places

to intimidate voters. We know that they will do everything in their fucking power to disenfranchise people of color and from voting and go into those communities and literally fucking strong armed people at polling places. So the question is how bad is it going to get and what can we do about it? And that's to me is the thing that that I'm fear most. Because I think that the reality is that if we were having a normal election season, and hopefully by November, like COVID-19 will be tremendously lower in its frequency, there will be way less fear about it.

We all gotten a lot more comfortable with the things you need to do to be safe when you go out and about because those things are real and can help you. And so maybe it won't be as bad as I'm envisioning it, but like my number one fear right now is that the people who need to get out and vote to get this fucking piece of shit out of office and into the jail cell where he belongs, you know, that somehow this government, the current government and the current people in power

will completely blow up fucking democracy and American rights and freedoms to stop the vote from happening in some fundamental way. Yeah, I mean, not to told you so, but this is what I've been thinking was going to happen for a while, because Trump, in my estimation, is like a sociopath, not like a sociopath. He is definitely a sociopath. Not like a sociopath. He is definitely a sociopath. And sociopaths are uniquely able to single mindedly chase power and money and cruelty. And the Republican Party has only been interested in money and power for decades, like since the 50s.

And so like it's pretty natural that they all fell in line and they will continue to fall in line behind him, behind a charismatic sociopath, because it's all they've ever, I mean, he's a distilled version of that entire way of thinking and culture. He's a charismatic reality TV star failed businessman,

con man who has failed up his entire life, who's like a virulent racist and to take pleasure in cruelty. And that is been the practice of the Republican Party my entire life on this planet. My entire experience of Earth has had a functional, organized, evil presence. And that is the Republican party. No, I mean, make no mistake about it, like historically in America, racism was not purely the domain of the Republican party, but largely, certainly in the last 50 or so years,

been largely the domain of the Republican party. And they really have embraced like just out and out unvarnished racism as a core of their platform. I don't think there's, I don't think there's any way to avoid the reality in this country that there is a party that represents, I mean, it seems to be moving towards authoritarianism and fascism as its mode of operation, and then there's the other party. And you can agree or disagree with lots of different policies of the other party, but what doesn't seem to be happening amongst Democrats that does seem to be happening amongst Republicans is not only, and there's actually really interesting study that just came

out about this, that when that people who who who are lean, you know, right wing or Republican, when presented with a situation where they see minorities and underprivileged people like getting ahead and making strides that they will trade their they will trade democracy for authoritarianism to stop that. I mean, so really, I actually didn't need to find this. I'll send it to you, but maybe we can put it in the post when we put this up. But there's a, it's a real bit, but the reality is that the Republican Party is trending away from democratic rule,

away from the concept of democracy, and trending towards like a comfort with and even maybe a desire for authoritarianism and fascism in America and it's a really striking thing to me It's like I get we disagree on like abortion Like I totally get the idea that you're like well, that's a child's life And I'm like well, I disagree that you know at a certain point. It's not and you know We're gonna have an argument about that a cultural or religious argument, whatever the fuck it is.

But what I don't get is like, okay, America, it was founded on very specific principles, right? Like, like, one of those principles was about democracy, not being led by an aristocracy and a king, but having like a democratic process not being led by an aristocracy and a king, but having a democratic process that allows the voices of the populist to be heard in some fashion. To me, what I see and what I hear from the Republicans

is that they're fine with, increasingly fine with that not being a fundamental part of America, which is like fucking nuts. It know, it is, it is, America's one of America's best exports is the foundational belief in democracy and the execution of that democracy, you know? And so to see an entire half of the country just go, well, the black guy gets ahead,

I need to fucking be, I need a, I need a Hitler, you know? Like the fear, the fear and the uncertainty and the ignorance of that part of the country is fucking literally ripping apart the fundamentals of what America is. And it's crazy. I mean, it really is happening, like it actually is happening. Like the president, as far as we know is now above the law, he cannot be brought to justice

on any level while he's in office. He cannot be investigated. He is, you know, we've basically, the Republicans basically said, we sign off on him making, you know, becoming, you know, you know, becoming a fascist dictator. We sign off on him doing deals where he leverages America's money and power to get dirt on his political rivals. I mean, for all we know, I mean, if Trump right now were to go, hey, you know what, let's go to Hillary Clinton's house and arrest her. Would anybody stop them? Like would anybody now stop them in power? Could anybody stop them? He's got fucking Bill Barr, who's supposed to be an independent,

you know, part of the government that doesn't work at the president's best, who is his fucking lap dog. And so like, you know, the Department of Justice is now controlled by the president. And it's like, would anybody stop them from just rounding up his political opponents? Who would stop them? I guess is my question. Who would say no? And that's the fucking scary part is that we're living in a country where

no one can say no to him. And he basically does whatever he wants. Even the courts, I mean, he's weakened the courts tremendously. And if it's not, if it's not struck down, it's it, I mean, if it's not getting, you know, if it's not getting struck down immediately, it's because it's caught up in some fucking Byzantine system of, of a waiting game

until they figure out a way to push their shit through. So I don't know, it's a dark moment. You know, this podcast is officially no longer a tech podcast. This is just me, I'm just gonna be rambling about the threat to America. You know, and then you have these fucking people like, Joe Rogan, all these both sides, mother fuckers. People are like, you know, Spotify did a deal with Joe Rogan, not to segue into some other shit.

But Spotify does a deal with Joe Rogan. It's like, he's exclusive to Spotify. Like, we're supposed to be excited about Joe Rogan. Joe Rogan is like a fucking quasi-anti-vaxxer, basically a fucking Republican, basically a fucking QAnon truth or, there's a guy who will believe any fucking conspiracy theory, puts on some of the worst fucking people on his show. And like his, you know, he's claimed to fame is what he's popular with fucking people who are on Reddit, you know, and it's like we're supposed to cheer on like the fucking

Barry wise dipshit Barry Weiss who register the New York Times, one of their garbage columnists wrote a fucking piece about how Joe Rogan is the new mainstream is the new mainstream media. It's like, well, if Joe Rogan's in a mainstream media, we're really in fucking trouble. Because mainstream, that means mainstream media is basically the same shit that you can find on 4chan. I mean, the dude's reading list is basically 4chan, you know? Anyhow, now I'm rambling, but I'm just saying that we're in a dark moment in this country.

And I mean, even the New York Times, you know, talk about, talk about mainstream media, you know, they're fucking, they're publishing shit like that. Yeah, it's just, I think it's important that we highlight that, although obviously everyone needs to take part in the democratic process and everyone needs to get involved in their communities

and local governments and that's not like a nice, nice thing to say anymore, like you actually have to. Like if you're listening to this and you's not like a nice, nice thing to say anymore. Like you actually have to. Like if you're listening to this and you're not involved at all on any level in the democratic process, if you're not registered to vote, if you don't go to your town hall meetings, if you don't get informed and have opinions

on your local legislators and your representatives, like that is your top priority right now. Like I don't, I don't have stronger words for you. I don't know how else to say it. I understand you've been hearing rock the vote from idiots since like we were children, but you actually do need to get involved at this point because it is your life that is literally on the line. But I also think we need to acknowledge that the protesters happening and rebelling and demonstrating in Minneapolis and Louisville right now are doing so because there is no way and there shouldn't even be, it shouldn't

even be up to discussion to vote on whether or not the police should kill black people. Like the police are murdering black people, the police are imprisoning journalists, the police are starting riots, the police are militarized and the police are doing random acts of violence like pouring tear gas at the side of their car as they drive by groups of people. We are at a point where the police are a terrorist organization and it might not be every police officer but there is a the state has a monopoly on violence

and there has been a clear and direct message that many police officers are virulent racists who will use it to enact oppression upon groups of people that they deem unworthy of their protection. And I think it's really important that we highlight that a lot of the people who are most impacted by this are unable to vote because of disenfranchisement, because of gerrymandering, because of polling location,

shenanigans, and intimidation, and financial stress. And I think we're at a point where, like, I mean, this is make or break. Like we, I don't think there's a scenario where America comes back and it's like the world leader and, everything is hunky-dory and we're continue to be the most influential country, bar, like far and away beyond anyone else. But I do think that there is a scenario where like far and away beyond anyone else, but I do think that there is a scenario where we can put an end to this

and we can take active steps forward and we can say like enough is enough. And I hope that we rise to the challenge and we don't get caught up in the absurdities of partisan like the quote unquote, partisan, politic discussions when one party is an extremist, violent, terrorist organization that is trying to perform a coup on the American government and install fascist rule. And the other party is just like people who would

like a democratic system and wanted to beat the merits of like tax structures. And I don't understand, like I talk to people, especially people here in Indiana. There's a variety of things I've experienced in the past week or so that are shocking and scary and upsetting. But one of them is that people are hesitant to say that it's any group's fault or any one person's fault. They don't want to blame Trump and they don't want to blame Republicans and they don't want to blame white people because they are white people. But it's also a thing of like,

they've been told their entire life to be like polite and nice, quote unquote, and that like, you know, that anyone making a problem, anyone involved in a quote unquote problem or issue is making a problem or issue. And that like, if they would just stop, everything would be great because it's great for them.

And it's like when you're in school and like someone calls you gay and punches you and then you both get suspended for being involved in a conflict. It's like that's, no, no, one of those people is clearly performing a hate crime. The other one is the victim. We were at a point where like,

I mean, Malcolm X spoke and wrote about this beautifully, but we were at a point where like, I mean Malcolm X spoke and wrote about this beautifully, but we were at a point where like, we have to justify wanting to not be murdered or oppressed or have our lives completely dominated financially and physically. And I like, I don't, at the moment, and physically. And I like, I don't, at the moment, more people are talking about whether or not Trump should have an asterisk next to his tweets that provides more fact-checked information on the issue he's discussing.

Then are discussing the fact that like, more people are upset that like a target was robbed or looted, then are upset about the murder of innocent black people at the hands of cops who had been previously flagged multiple times for violence and threats. And it's like we have to write about this stuff. We have to write about the tech angle of these things. about the tech angle of these things, and there is a tech angle, but it also just sometimes feels like I don't want to create a distraction by discussing this Twitter thing, but I also know that we have to protect these platforms and we have to protect freedom of speech and we have to protect our right to a grounded fact-based society. We have to protect journalism and truth and democracy.

And if we don't discuss these things and prioritize everything, you know, how do we juggle all of this stuff? I mean, this has been the question of the entire Trump administration. It's how do you prioritize when they move from thing to thing and it's so easy to break stuff. It's so easy to just be like,

I executive order band Twitter, now the lawyers will fight about it in court, but I did it. Now we're gonna move on to me breaking this other thing. And it's so hard to just be like, I executive order band Twitter, now the lawyers will fight about it in court But I did it. Now we're gonna move on to me breaking this other thing and it's so hard to build stuff and it I Sometimes think like should we not be covering this Twitter thing in detail? Right or do we have responsibility as this being a defining moment for free speech on the internet? which has been like the most transformative thing that has happened in my lifetime. And I don't, I mean, you could argue that Trump is a result of the internet. And so how do we, how do we concentrate on the most important and physically threatening

issues and still do the work about all the other stuff? I mean, we were, in this morning in Slack, just trying to make a catalog of everything that Trump has done and every horrifying development since his election. And I mean, there's so much stuff that you just forget. I mean, we were literally going down this list and it's like, you know, you could,

it's like 10 things and then I was like, oh, the Paris Accord, remember the Paris Accord? We were in this huge global pack to like actually try to reduce greenhouse gases and get the world back to a state of health. And it's like, yeah, fuck that. I mean, that was one of his earliest things. I mean, I remember, you know, it was obvious.

I mean, he's always been obvious that he was going to do everything that he could to undo and anything that Obama did because he's so racist mean, he's so racist and he's so, he's such a bitch and he's so hurt about Obama making jokes at him, about him at a White House, you know, the White House press dinner because, because the guys, a fucking racist, ask truth are, um, that he literally has built his entire platform around undoing Obama's policies. And it's like, you know, but like you forget, because there's so many things that he's worked so hard to fuck up, like things that aren't, you weren't even like, well, that's shit.

And that's not in question. Like, you know, the EPA, like making sure you can't dump like chemicals and do a fucking lake near people's houses and shit, you know, being able to sell or develop on government, you know, own land that's supposed to be protected like, you know, you know, national parks, like just basic stuff. You're like, well, that's why are we worrying about that? I mean, even fucking Roe v Wade, it's like, you know,

they've chipped away at it so much over the last few years. I mean, it's unbelievable what they've done to try to repeal Roe v Wade in little ways and huge ones. And it's like, if you just kind of get, yeah, you kind of get like, it's overwhelming when you, when you take stock of it, you know, and now it's like, look, I mean, this, this country's a fucking powder cake. I mean, there are, there are, I mean, you see these, these, these, these protests, which have turned into full scale, you know, rioting.

And like, by the way, this is what you fucking get when you murder and oppress the citizenry of a country. This is what precedes revolution. I mean, I'm not saying that to be, you know, dramatic. I'm saying that like in the most historic revolutions, looting and rioting and mass protests are what preceded the revolution part. You know, and the people, the crazy thing is that the people who are in power who are the oppressors, and you see these motherfuckers who try to go into a store with, and they don't want to wear a mask, you know, these, the white people, the white Republicans who are literally the oppressors and in power are like their whole point of view

is that they're the people who are being wrong. That somehow, like the most incredible thing is like, you know, they throw around this fucking snowflake shit. And it's yet like the most incredible thing, I mean, the Twitter thing with the Twitter drama with Trump is a perfect example. He's the in the oppressed class. He's the person who's being beset by social media.

Meanwhile, the guy has huge fucking follow-ins of social media. It's his main platform for communicating with his base. Like these white people who wanna go into a store and do whatever the fuck they want. The people who, by the way, are all, you know, remember the gay cake thing? The guy was like, I don't wanna make cakes for gay people.

They went to the fucking Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled in his favor. So you can be like, hey, you're gay. I don't wanna make a cake for you. That's within your rights. These same people, when they're, they try to go to a store and the store's like, sorry, you have to wear a mask.

Those are our rules for the store. We don't let people, we don't serve people who aren't wearing a mask. These people are like, uh, fucking hoisting up the American flag and getting ready to do battle. It's like, fuck off, you know, you entitled, you entitled fucking bitches.

They're so fucking, they're so fucking entitled. They've been raised, like, coddled little fucking babies, like suckling at the teeth of American, fucking laziness and exceptionalism, exceptionalism in quotes. They're now the second that anything, that anything that isn't comfort for them or isn't familiar to them, it arrives in their view.

They're like, their top goal is to rise up against it. It's like fuck off. It's like these people have been fucking babyed and coddled. They've never been told no in their lives. They've never had to deal with actual hardship. Now they want a fucking wildlife. This woman in the fucking central park. You know, she's never heard anybody tell her

to put her dog on a leash. This entitled white fucking asshole has never heard somebody say to her, hey, you're not allowed to do that. And the second it happens and that it was coming from a black man, just set her brain just fucking exploded. You know, it's like, the truth is, we need fucking adults running the country

and we need to stop coddling these fucking right wing babies who think that everything is coming to them and will always be coming to them and that nobody else deserves it. It's fucking insane that we live in this way and that we have to like watch it unfold and unfurl and it seems so out of our control. Now look, I mean look, I get it.

Nobody's excited about Biden, but I will literally fucking take anything to stop this. Like I will take, I know Biden is not the best guy, but anything at this point. You know, like I just have to stress, like I know I've said this before, the only thing we can actually fucking do is vote, you know, at this point, and if they don't try to massively derail and defraud our voting system, our best chance to end this fucking madness is to vote in droves for the other party.

I know you may not like the guy, but he's better than what's there now. And if you don't see that and don't believe that, then you are truly part of the fucking problem. In my opinion, and, and, and, you know, Ryan, you may disagree. You may be mad about that statement. But I think if you don't see that there is a lesser of evils, a tremendous lesser of evils here, I don't know what to say. I, I, I'm not saying not to vote for Joe Biden. You're saying vote for Joe Biden. You love Joe Biden. You Joe Biden's number one.

I'm saying yes, vote for Joe Biden. Joe for everyone down ballot who is not does not have an R next to their name that it needs to be an overwhelming landslide. I, yes, 100%. I think the Democrats are not setting themselves up for success. They do not take these issues as seriously as they need to in order to stop this stuff. They're both sides, centerism, moderate, neo-lib, Clinton, era, third way, bullshit, fucking. We need to appeal, and we need to be kind to the people who've never heard no in their life.

I don't need to call out that it is bad and it has to stop. The reach across the aisle. That whole thing where it's like, you know, it's like listen, I, I, maybe, I mean, Joe Kennedy tweeting like, if lives matter, what lives, Joe? Why are you tweeting about what lives matter? Do you mean all or black? Because if you mean black, say black. I mean, the willful, look, some of the willful, first off, I mean, don't get me started on the whole

black lives matter, the willful ignorance of people who want to like, misinterpret or reinterpret the statement. But like, the Democrats, I mean, they're one of their biggest one of their biggest problems as has historically been This idea. They're like well, we see the goodness like all these like Centrist Democrats are like well, we see the goodness and everybody and we want to reach across the island It's like you know every time you reach across the aisle they get a fucking chainsaw out and they cut your fucking hand off Like why do you keep reaching like these people are not you're not dealing with

Reasonable people like within your party you may be able to like have squabbles like listen I totally believe that Bernie and Biden they disagree on a lot of things But I bet you they agree on a lot of things too and I bet you they're able to sit in a room and like have differences of opinion There are how like in zone operate like that You fucking fall in line with the Republican platform, whatever is laid out to you by Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump. And if you don't fucking fall in line, you are ostracized and cut out of the fucking mix with the Democrats. And they're, you think they're having, you think they fucking think those people are their

colleagues? You think they think Democrats are their buddies to work with on, on bipartisan bills. The only time they do bipartisan bills is when the stakes are so fucking low that it doesn't matter. You know, they're not, they want, they want to fucking destroy the other party. And the Democrats are like, well, maybe we can, you know, maybe we can work out something. It's like, no, dude, you know, tough in the fuck up, stop reaching across the aisle, stop acting like the people who are wearing the fucking MAGA hat with the AK-47 who are talking about overthrowing the government are going to be a good Democrat, you know?

That's not their deal. That's not who they are. I mean, it comes down to, if you can't change someone's mind in one tweet, you're not going to change it in like a hundred tweets. And if you can't get people to understand in real life, in person, you can't get them to understand that everybody has a right to physical safety. Everyone has a right to healthcare. Everyone has a right to a job. Everyone has a right to an education. If you cannot have that get that person to look you in the eye and say that the police shouldn't murder

private citizens, unprovoked. If you can't get that person to look you in the eye and say that the police shouldn't murder private citizens unprovoked. If you can't get that person to look you in the eye and say that black people and gay people and trans people and Indian people and Asian people and immigrants documented and undocumented, if you can't get someone to look at you and tell you that disabled people deserve dignity and that all of these groups deserve an equal chance and equal treatment under the law. You're not going to get them to do it. So stop doing this like, well, let's hear them out.

Or like, I agree with Trump on a cup more than like, stop, just stop. You could be like, stop. Like, it's something, it's like at some point, you have to have, like, I totally get people who are like, you know, I agree with his trade policies or whatever. It's like totally cool, awesome. You know, Hitler had some great trade policies also,

but at some point you have to draw a line in the sand and go like, no matter how much I, it's like, I don't wanna hear it. No matter how much I agree with like a person's like other, it's like, well, you know, Trump actually was really entertaining. It's like, you know what, I think he is entertaining, actually, when he was on TV, he was very entertaining.

You have to, at some point, go like, well, this is, the stakes are different. The, we're not talking about trade policy here. We're talking about the overall health and well-being of America and its citizenry. And it's like, if you are still walking around going like, hey, no, look, I don't agree with the racism stuff, but he's done a lot of good things for the economy.

Like if you're that guy, fuck you. Fuck you. I mean first off the economy is in shreds. Well the economy. So, okay. But in, by the way, the economy and people will say, you know, Republicans will say, well this is the China virus or whatever.

And it's like, listen, the reality is the economy is bad. And we have lost lives and jobs because of Trump's failure to acknowledge and act on that fucking virus when he had a chance to really stop it from spreading here. You know, if he had it- I mean, you can come up with anything in the Rube Goldberg machine that is the universe

and be like, actually, it's not our fault that the economy fell apart because it's the virus's fault. Well, did you dissolve the pandemic response to you? Did you have any stockpile of tests? Did you take the virus seriously, or did you say it was gonna go away in April? Right, exactly.

That's the thing, is that like, this is all, like leadership fucking matters. This is all about what you do when you need leadership, what the answers are, when you have problems to solve. And like the reality is, he's not, this guy's in a problem solver, he's a problem creator. Nothing he's done has solved any fucking problems unless you're a racist xenophob. If you're a racist xenophob, he solves a lot of problems for you. But like, I don't for you. But I don't believe that that is what the majority of Americans are concerned about and focused on in their lives.

I don't think the majority of Americans are like, I need to keep people of color out of positions of power and I need to keep Mexicans from coming into the country. I don't think that's what people are thinking all day long. I think people have prejudices and biases and they're deep rooted and they come out in all sorts of different ways. But I don't think that like on the list of people's, most people, most voting age people in America,

if you last into prioritize what they're thinking about and worried about every day, it's not about immigration, It's not about fucking, you know, what black people are doing or what brown people are doing. It's like, you know, their job, the economy, it's fucking education, you know, things that are really happening. And like, what's crazy to me is like, I'm trying to understand where, where, where Trump has appealed to those people who actually are thinking about those things at this point where there isn't an up, where you would say like, I'm doing better than I was four years ago. Who's doing better than they were four years ago? Like, is there anybody besides really this motherfucker's? Yeah. Billionaires. Billionaires.

Billion, five hundred billion dollars during the economic collapseers. Yeah, billions, billions. It's billionaires. $500 billion during the economic collapse. That, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's,

and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's,

and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it's, and it Because even if they were doing better financially, like maybe you happened to have gotten a better job, you are now trapped in your home and your company is falling apart. Right, and by the way, even there's like levels of rich, you know, like the people who are getting,

who are really getting, getting like the shit right now who are getting like the good stuff, they're the mega rich. I don't even think like the middle rich are doing that well. Like, you know, one of Trump's big things was like, you know, he went after essentially the blue states where people live, like a lot of his tax policies, fuck over the people who are like not the richest, but really well off. It's like, who is, who are the, those are a lot of those people who are people who voted for

Trump, you know, they're like stock brokers and shit, Not like hedge fund, not people who run hedge funds, but people who work at the hedge funds, you know? And like, who thinks this is going well? No matter what, I feel like unless you're at Jeff Bezos level, I mean, even Bezos doesn't like Trump. You know, who thinks it's going well? You've got to be so fucking stupid to think things are going well in America.

They really aren't, not for anybody, and they won't be until we fucking get rid of these crooks. I mean, it's so crazy to me. What seems so obvious to us Ryan is weirdly not obvious to other people, and it's crazy, it's nuts. The other thing, can I just say, and this is somewhat internet related,

since we're not talking about it at all about our typical topics, except for Trump. The QAnon stuff, the conspiracy theory stuff, now in every thread related to Trump, there are people immediately talking about these weird QAnon code words. And I'm trying to figure out, I want to believe that most of it are their bots. I'm trying to believe that they're bots because if they're not bots, I don't know.

I mean, even in celebrity gossip news forums, like, ooh, look at these pictures of Anna Armas with Ben Affleck, viral stories about cute talking points. Like Hillary Duff is a child molester. You can tell. Who Hillary Duff? She has secrets, she has secret symbols in her Instagram stories and her child is up for sale

to the Illuminati. So that you can say she orders. She orders her pizza with extra cheese, you know what I'm saying? Oh, totally. That's literally, no, but that's literally, they're like, you know, she talked about pizza, like they're documenting this stuff on mainstream celebrity news, like discussion forums.

And so what happens is you spread these, you start with these terms as a joke, right? Then someone starts taking it seriously or starts like kind of like half joking, but like, you know, we really should talk about the Jews. And then like, because you know, here's the thing, many Jewish people are powerful. And I would like to just have a discussion about why one ethnic group is more powerful and controls the media.

And then you're having that conversation and then a bunch of people push back and then you have a both sides 50-50 scenario and then the term gets used and used and used and used. And then it's ironically used by liberals, especially like my section of the very progressive people will start saying, Cuck, ironically, because it's funny. Right. But then eventually they start going, like, you know what, Trump is a cuck.

And then they start using the word cuck a lot. And then mainstream people start using it. And then Rachel Maddo goes, our president is a cuck. And that is how the far right fucking extremist conspiracy theories to end. Beaths itself into the entire culture. Yeah, actually, remember when there were all those

synagogues being like defaced and Trump like refused to condemn the violence? He was like, they were like, for several days, he wouldn't say anything about it. Like people would ask him, like, do you condemn this? And he like basically wouldn't, it's just the kind of shit, it's like, it's so weird to me. It's like, why not just say, yeah, of course,

of course I condemn. Because he has nothing to gain from it and he enjoys seeing cruelty. He's a psychopath, that is what they do. He has no, he gets nothing from saying anything but he gets virulent violent support if he doesn't say anything and he gets to see cruelty play out and he loves that any how we're living in a nightmare world i think i want to change topics

just we have a little bit of time left here to talk about other things and i want to talk about a few other things i just would like to say all i can say is uh... it's unlikely that that this podcast will not be very political in the case of this. I mean, there's no way around it. There's no way around it. If you don't want to hear about politics, I would beg you to reconsider.

You don't have to listen to us, but I would beg you to reconsider that. Wow, yeah, no, I agree. That would be a mistake not to listen to us. I think that, but I think that, like, listen, I mean, as I've said for a long time now, people must vote. Voting is the only answer, the only salvation

that we have in this world. And we've gotta do it. You've gotta do it no matter what. Otherwise, I really, really fear for the future of this country. And the reality is like, it's not that much better anywhere else right now. I mean, a lot of countries are going through this shit,

and I do believe, I mean, it is income inequality has contributed a lot to just the chaos of it, but that has also contributed to the power that the rich can exact and the power that they can get a hold of in governments around the world. I mean, make no mistake about it. This is, I mean, nine times out of 10, this is not ideological. Like, I believe Trump is a racist, but I think more than a racist, he's greedy and he's a criminal. He wants, and he wants, he wants to stay in power and he wants money. And there's really

good ways to do that. One of the most famous ways to do it, a classic way is to stoke up a base about an other so that you all have a common enemy that you can use to retain power and gain power. I mean, that is definitely a part of this. It's not just, it's like Elon Musk's talking about, you know, it's American freedom is being, you know, is being perverted when people can't go back to work at his factory.

He's not really interested in American freedoms. He's interested in his profits. And it's like, it's in the guise of some, you know, wrapped up in the flag, but the reality is, is not about fucking, it's not about personal freedom. It's about his ability to fucking get paid. And so I think that when we watch Trump, I'm not saying that his racism is insincere. I think it's extremely sincere. It just happens to a really nice compliment to his other goals, which is like greed and power. I think, you know, and I want to leave it on this. Just if you if someone you know, doesn't understand, like if you talk about billionaires and wealth and equality,

or you talk about the like unbelievable amount of power that white people, especially white men have in this country, and they say things like, well, it's not his fault he was born white, or he earned his money, or what are we gonna penalize success in this country? Just stop for a second, and think about the fact that there are three major kinds of power. There is the power to vote, which is direct political power.

There's money, which is a form of power currency we've created to trade amongst each other for resources. And there's social power, which is the stuff you're socialized to believe, the kind of people you're socialized to follow or listen to or leave alone. If you, if the wealthy people in this country who have a ton of one kind of power, only have one vote. What other kind of power can they hoard? Because they can't make themselves wider, right? Like they can't make themselves,

or whiteness be more respected, quote unquote. So what of those three can they hoard and then use to take the other two? Because if you think about like a capitalist system or any sort of system that is considers itself sort of zero sum that like that that we're all individuals and we all need to be in competition with each other. You can call that capitalism. You can you can just call it like, you know, some people think it's like human nature. I don't think that that's human nature. I don't

think that that's the only way people can be. But if you, if that's the system that we're living in and that we've been raised in and that the entire society, every part of it from down to the family structure is built to encourage that rugged individualism and competition. Of course, people are going to use what advantages they have to get more power to ensure that they continue to win and stay safe and have the resources they need. And white people already have an advantage, and they're going to hoard as much of that power as they can until they can take away your right to vote, until they can take away the one kind of power that we've democratized.

And it was inevitable that this was going to happen because you know, you can't power attracts power and it's going to polarize and it's going to, and if you can't power attracts power and it's going to polarize and it's going to and if you don't create a system where you can only get so rich or if you don't create a system that protects people of all races with baseline, a baseline of safety. If that those systems aren't in place, if you're not enforcing them, of course we're going to have a handful of people who hoard all money and power and become like God kings because that's how the system is built.

And of course, Jeff Bezos will have more money than he could ever fathomably spend on anything, on anything. He has so much money that he could come, he couldn't invent things for people to do to run out of money that wouldn't make him more money. It's infinite.

He has an infinite amount of capital in our society. He has one vote. Why, of course, he's going to have people who lobby the government or who bribe politicians, influence political actors to disenfranchise some people's vote so that he can have an advantage of where his warehouse gets built, or where, how much he has to give workers. So I beg you, to engage in these conversations and to understand that we have to take it back.

We have to take our power back. And with that, I would like to move on, but I have to get it out because it has been built up. That's fine. We'll spend a few minutes on some other stuff, and then I don't want to, like, look, look, look, And with that I would like to move on but I had to get it out because it has been over. That's fine. We're going to spend a few minutes on some other stuff and then I don't want to like, look, look, look, this is what's going on in the world right now. The shit shit is bad.

I mean, I'm not going to get on, listen, there are people, there are people who don't want to engage in these conversations. There are people who want to, you know, stand on the sidelines. I think like, I get like, you know, my career was built on like doing tech journalism. Obviously, I've done a lot of different things. I find it impossible to not be like real about this stuff and like just to say this is where I'm at

and I know this is where a lot of the people I know are at and I feel like talking about it, you know, like, I don't feel like, and this is true of input, it's true of anything that I do or about it, you know, like, I don't feel like, and this is true of input, it's true of anything that I do or anything that, you know, we're involved and it's like, it's really hard to, like, just act like, hey, this is pure entertainment or whatever and like, the real world doesn't exist here.

Like, you know, the real world definitely exists and it's impossible to avoid right now. And frankly, like, look, there are times, there have been times, if we were around the clock to six years ago, my guess is, and I guarantee you can rewind the clock to me on a podcast six years ago, I'm probably not talking about politics like this, you know?

They probably come up, but it's not like this. And the reality is, oh God, if you go back to some of the things that are early in the show, please don't. We all had terrible opinions and we all had terrible priorities because we didn't know what we didn't know. But we do now and you can't unknow how important this is or how make or break this is or how how this kind of politics and this kind of threat supersedes and infects every other

aspect of your life. There is nothing right now. You turn on the TV, even if a show was recorded during the happy, go-lucky 90s economic boom. It stands in contrast, the fact that you can pull that up in an instant and watch it and relive those memories, but you can't go get a test for the global pandemic that is raging, but you're trapped in your home and you can watch old versions of society play out over and over again to like cuddle yourself and convince yourself that it's all gonna be okay. That is political.

Like I don't know what to tell you. Like you can turn it off your brain and escape for a little while, but you're making a political choice there and and and it's impossible to not talk about it. And especially now that we're in the news every day, I know you're back in the news. I am in the news now every single day. It would be disingenuous if I came on this podcast and I was like, hey, I made cookies. Like listen, there's a lot.

That's not really me. I mean, not that we need to defend it, but I'm just saying there's a lot of people who you want to talk, you want to hear about tech, you want to hear about tech reviews, a lot of podcasts you can listen to. Anyhow, speaking of tech,

Ryan, you forced us into doing Sega Week. You like that transition? That's how it's done. Ryan has forced this staff of input into doing, I think I'll say a week, where we all have to write about. I mean, I keep threatening to write about Goldnacks, though I have yet to actually do it. It's the 60th anniversary of the existence of Sega, Ryan's favorite video game company. And so we're doing a bunch of Sega-related coverage. One piece that Ray did, which, you know, listen, I actually have mixed feelings about this though I basically, you know, obviously disagree.

Ray Wong wrote a piece about how the Sonic Games suck. And I will say this, I mean, there have been a lot of bad Sonic games. I mean, there have been bad Sonic games. I mean, maybe not a lot, but certainly some. a lot of bad Sonic games. I mean, there have been bad Sonic games. I mean, maybe not a lot, but certainly some. There have been bad Sonic games. There have been bad Mario games, and there have been more bad Sonic games than there have been bad Mario games.

I mean, what do the things I like is he's like too fast. And like, I do agree. There is like, I mean, I get the whole Sonic's whole thing as he's fast, you know? But it is sometimes like kind of like just like I it's like it is a little annoying. You're like what what am I like what's happening right now? Like what am I running past? Like why is this happening to me? I think it's look it's a controversial opinion. It's not one that I can stand behind personally. I will be I will be fighting

that opinion with my own piece about how actually the Sonic games have always been good. I can't wait. And you've been doing these pieces that I think are really interesting. You did one, I think if you put two up now, how to build the, it's like how to build the ultimate Sega Saturn and how to build the ultimate game gear. Am I getting the titles right?

Something like that. Yeah, I'm gonna do all the major Sega consoles by the 60th anniversary. How to build the ultimate Sega Saturn was really interesting because basically it's like that. Yeah, I'm gonna do all the major singer consoles by the 60th anniversary. How did Bill the ultimate Sega Saturn was really interesting to me? Because basically it's like, here's, if you wanna play like the greatest Sega Saturn experience you can play,

like here's all the stuff that you need. And it's sort of like surprising how much modding and tweaking you can do. Like, I thought it was like wild that you can like put a drive into a Sega Saturn. I don't know how complicated this mod is, but, um, you know, it's a driving mod. There are, uh, there are driving mods at this point where you just, yeah, you just have to connect the ribbon cable and position some things. Um, I mean, that's really it. That to me is so crazy.

What's so interesting about it is, God, this is such a hard pivot in talking about the Sega Saturn. But what's so interesting about it is, like, you can, you know, it's just like, to see the communities that have come up around these systems that seem so obscure. Like, I'm trying to think of a Sega Saturn game. Like, was Shenmue, was Shenmue like a Saturn game? No, Shenmue was a dreamcast game.

Like the Saturn precedes the dreamcast, right? Yeah, the Saturn was, it was short lived, but it was their console that competed with the N64 in the PlayStation. So it was the biggest games on it were Symphony of the Night. Oh, Symphony of the Night was on, wait, is that right, Hans? Yeah, Symphony of the Night was Saturn. The Saturn had a PlayStation game. I'm googling this right now I definitely this was like a generation that I miss like I think this was the generation where I started playing um oh yes Symphony of the Night I think I started playing um what you

said this was contemporary with what the N64 yeah um remember nights nights into dreams that kind of a era yeah I remember this but I don't I mean I have a this was contemporary with what the N64? Yeah. You remember nights, nights into dreams? That kind of an era. Yeah, I remember this, but I don't, I mean, I have a vague memory of it. They actually released a lot of games for it. I mean, it was very popular in Japan at the time. I guess I'm trying to think like,

okay, GameCube is post N64, right? Mm-hmm. GameCube is this system comes out after the N64 and DreamCasting GameCube are competitors, correct? Yes, although Dreamcast got quite a jump of a couple years on every other. Right, Dreamcast and then the GameCube came out. So I think I basically missed this generation. I don't think I had an N64 and I don't think I had a Saturn. I think I basically was like, I mean, I guess, is this the same era as the PlayStation?

Yes. So I guess what happened is that I went, I was like full on PlayStation. So the Saturn was a PlayStation competitor essentially. Yeah, the Saturn was, yeah. Well, it was originally designed to be the ultimate 2D platformer system, like the ultimate like, like, to say take 16 and evolve that. But because the PlayStation was going all in on 3D and then Nintendo pivoted to go all in on 3D, Sega just like threw everything they had into the Saturn. So it was a PlayStation competitor, but it wasn't, yeah, so it developed for.

So what's interesting is that, what's interesting is that the PlayStation came out in December of, 94 and in Japan and the Saturn came out in November of 94 in Japan and may of of 95 in North America and but what's so crazy is At that time Sony was like nothing in video games like My my recollection is Sony, I mean, right? They hadn't done anything before the PlayStation.

They had been begging Nintendo and they got to collaborate with them on a PlayStation. So, so, so what's so amazing is like I, I guess I went from 16 bit. I went from 16, but I must have been like doing some PC gaming when it was like in its infancy, but like definitely was more advanced than a lot of the 16-bit stuff. And then, and then I guess I got really into PlayStation probably largely because of Metal Gear and Resident Evil. And like then I was on a whole different track. I had a Dreamcast, which I may have somewhere here.

I have somewhere in my, in my, either in this house or in my parents as I have a dreamcast in a box But I had a PlayStation. I had a dreamcast and then I had a game cube and I got the I got the dreamcast because of Code Veronica this I remember very vividly. I was like I Need to play any new resident evil game in code Veronica was like a huge leap in terms of like it I think it was the first Resident Evil game with real-time 3D, where instead of the rooms being pre-rendered that you walked around in,

they were like, they actually moved. I mean, Code Veronica was originally going to be Resident Evil 3, and then they switched, which one would be a spin-off, and which one would be a sequel. Yeah, at any rate. So I got a Dreamcast, basically for Code Veronica, and then I got the GameCube for, for Resident Evil 4. Yeah, like the Resident Evil's basically all the reasons I

buy game, the reasons I buy new game systems is if there's a Resident Evil game available. So, you know, take that for what you will. That's interesting though, because they basically got, like they had been doing everything on PlayStation and they basically got them to do an exclusive for the Dreamcast. Code Veronica did get released elsewhere after that, but yes, it was essentially a flagship exclusive for the Dreamcast.

Yeah, I mean, it came out in 99, yep, on the Dreamcast, and it didn't come out on the PlayStation until 2001. It's crazy. It's crazy. Well, the reason that I've been working on those in that, like such a huge community has sprung up around those consoles is, you know, nobody was preserving any of this because it was seen as like toys, but these are like pieces of art and the emergence of, you know, the kind of digital worlds that we expect to be our entire future. And, you know, if you

don't preserve some of these consoles, their emulation is okay, but there's no other way to perfectly preserve all of these games and consoles other than to update them and perform maintenance on them and mod them and basically, you know, it's It is the kind of maintenance you have to do on a painting, you know, it's the kind of like upkeep you need and so This community has popped up, but what's great is that just like a museum, which can keep art alive and can give it to the public

at a super reduced cost, the internet has made it so that you can build this kind of stuff and experience that art and that fun and that entertainment, no matter what you sort of, like no matter what happens in time or like what kind of technology changes or what is produced or no longer produced by these companies. Like there's an effort to preserve all of it,

which I think is really important. But also like, you know, there's a big, I mean, we can discuss the coinciding with are doing a week of Sega stuff. And the company's 60th anniversary, there is a big announcement coming from Sega in the next issue of Femitsu that there's been whispers that it's like a really big, important deal. And I think that in my mind, either they become a first party publisher

for someone like Microsoft, and they become one of the Xbox Studios brands. And Microsoft just purchases them all out or creates some kind of deal. Or what we're gonna see is, I mean, Sega has been really good about trying to preserve their games with things like Sega ages,

and all these Genesis collections, and the mini consoles like they constantly go back to the well of their like history which is good. I mean nostalgia is great. But I think what we there's a chance we could see a multi platform streaming service of their back catalog. and that they'll add new games that they develop to it like Xbox Game Pass, but it will sort of be the Netflix of game. I mean, it sounds a little limited, but I'm open to the possibility. I think, you know, if that's not the case, then certainly if they became a first party publisher for Xbox, that Microsoft getting that full back catalogue means that it could come to,

with backwards compatibility to their new console, which would be great for them because they don't really have that kind of deep back catalog that Nintendo, and even Sony really has. But it's sort of fascinating because like, how do, is that a preservation to like download the game and run it on an emulator,

like through official means, you're not using the hardware and there's latency introduced and like there could be be graphical or audio differences. It's an interesting time for the medium to decide what if it's an art form and which it is. But what grapple it is? Well, it is.

Yeah, I mean, that's an interesting thing because we were talking about the code, the source code is released for, what was it, Super Mario 3D? And is it the game? And it's a Super Mario 64. A Super Mario 64, right? And so now you can, there's these perfect,

four K versions of it or whatever. And I'm kinda like, yeah, but this doesn't look right to me. It doesn't look like the game was. It's not what the game was, right? And I'm actually, and I'm kinda like, yeah, but this doesn't look right to me, you know, it's like, it doesn't look like the game was. It's not what the game was, right? And I'm actually, I'm literally while we're talking, I'm watching a video, which is 100 Dreamcast games in 10 minutes or something, and it's just like little clips of all the different games.

And some of these games, I mean, I kind of want to play some of these games, like I'm very curious about them. They are aesthetically very of a moment in time. Like this really interesting moment that was like, you know, it's just as like, you can see how the transition from like 16 bit is in 32 bit, like sort of flat games is, is, is, is moving from flat, the flatness of those games into this weird world of where 3D is everything. And it's like, there are some games that are still firmly in 2D,

but there are a lot of games that are like 2D aesthetics that are like slapped onto 3D games. And I think it's a very interesting, and I don't think it would be, I don't want to see HD versions of these games. I was actually looking while we were talking, I wanted to see Resident Evil Code Veronica video, and there were all these videos of like,

Resident Evil Code Veronica HD or whatever. And it's like, yeah, like I don't want to look at that. I want to see, yeah, like House of the Dead 2. House of the Dead 2, if you really really specific. Full remakes. Full remakes and remasters are a great way to play the game. No, but it's a good way to play the game as you remember it. Not necessarily as it was, but as you remember experiencing it, it's a good way to play the game as you remember it, not necessarily as it was,

but as you remember experiencing it, it's a good way to evoke those same emotions in people. But the Final Fantasy VII Remake is not the same game as Final Fantasy VII. Right, no, I mean, like Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 the remakes that I just played are like, I definitely remember stuff from it, but it's really like, it's like a new movie.

It's like every 20 years when he makes a version of Jane Eyre. You know, and it's like, yes, it is. I mean, it's Star Wars with all the special addition effects thrown on top. Well, it's more than that though. I mean, Resident Evil 2 and 3 are totally different games, right?

I mean, if you play Resident Evil 2, the originals, you can get HD version of versions of the now with higher textures and higher quality textures and whatever, but they're still like those games, right? They are the actual code of those games, the playing, like the play the same way and all that. Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes are like literally like, you know, the 2013 version of Jane Eyre versus the 1975 version of Jane Eyre. You know, it's like same source material, but completely new, like graphics, completely new gameplay, like everything.

And that's cool, that's interesting too. That's because I think that's a phenomenon that is like a really awesome new thing that's happening where it's like you can take beloved games. I mean, it actually works better in games than it doesn't almost any other medium. You can take a beloved game and you can like recreate that experience a bit make it something totally new. I also think there's something that's really to be said for the nostalgia of playing a game the way it was when you played it, right?

Like that's why the NES classic is such a, you know, it's such a great idea because it's like this is exactly how it was when I played this one I was fucking eight years old or whatever whatever. And it's shocking and awesome feeling when you're like, and it's still really fucking good. Oh my God. Like, like, things, and also games I never played. Like, like, we even play in like Dr. Mario. And, and you know, I didn't play Dr. Mario when I was younger, but like, it's such a good game.

It's like so, so addictive and enjoyable. So it's like, it's just interesting to be able to be able to yeah, I mean, so to your point about Sega Week, I mean, I think it's I think I like I mean, I like what we're doing. I think we're going to do more of this, but that whole idea of the communities and cultures and and and frankly, like important history built around things like gaming, I think should be explored more deeply. And I mean, we have high school classes that teach you like film history, and we have classes that teach you art history,

and we have classes that teach you like the history of, you know, the novel. And all of those things, I mean, we even have graphic novel history as classes in colleges at this point. And all of those things are appreciated as art forms deserving of criticism themselves, not necessarily just used as instructions to make more of that,

but actually that criticizing and consuming those should be careers and analyzing what they mean and what they're doing to us are important. And we prioritize those things. And there is a point at which we're gonna have to have classes where kids are assigned Super Mario Brothers 3, and they have to write down sort of how, like, these art forms impacted people and how they made us think about technology

and how they, the kind of huge leaps made in each generation and how game designers had to figure out what worked and what didn't work with these new dynamics. And, you know, eventually that's gonna have to be something. And I think it's cool to be getting there and it's cool to be part of looking back at that stuff and to be on the cutting edge of that shift.

And so as much as Segal Week is us looking at the past and us writing about something that's like, Sonic the Hedgehog is a meme of shit posting. Like it's looking at something that's not necessarily at the peak of its cultural relevance. It also is like the cutting edge. Like that is the cutting edge of technology at the moment is that preservation and stuff

in the way that the cutting edge of film a few years ago was Netflix. And Netflix was just all old movies or like movies from two years ago at least. I mean, and it's still, by the way, that's still an incomplete, that is also, I mean, I got, I mean, we can type it HBO Max, but I don't want to. And I actually have to wrap up because I got people waiting on me.

But we were, you know, I have HBO Max now. Apparently I got grandfathered into it or something because I have AT&T TV. Finally, a good thing to come out of having AT&T TV. And, and you know, we were like looking for, I mean, Lauren, I are basically, we were like, what old move? Cause they have TCM like Turner Classic Movies on there, or like at least they have a category of it. And there are a lot of old movies on there

that we were like earmarking like, oh, we should watch this, but we watched pretty in pink the other night, which I've never seen. And it's interesting, it really is interesting too, like to see how much there is an incomplete list of things like on Apple. Like you think Apple would be like, here's the AFI's top 100 movies, top 100 American movies or whatever. They don't have that because Apple doesn't have all the movies.

Like the movies don't all exist in streaming form, you know? And I think, or like they exist in streaming form, but one is on one service and one is on another service. And like this idea of preserving the art forms and the art in the age of digital, it's like, funny thing, because we thought it would be so easy when everything is digital to just like, oh, it's digitizing, then you have it, like on a hard drive someone.

Yeah, but the reality is, like, yeah, but like, unless you are personally cultivating that, even if you want a person cultivated, it's really fucking hard, like, even if you want to torrent all that stuff, it's really hard to find the right ones, like the right versions. And it's hard to maintain CDs raw and hard drives break. And it's like, yeah.

So it's interesting, it could lose all of that. It's interesting to see like how much like preservation of and cataloging of those things and accessibility to them is gonna become a part of like, I mean, it's funny, you think about, I mean, it seems dumb now, but like you look at like the rise of things like eSports and it's like, it seems funny, you think about, I mean, it seems dumb now, but like you look at like the rise of things like esports and it's like it seems like it shouldn't matter. It shouldn't matter like it shouldn't be a big deal, but like in 20 years, you know, our kids will think of like things like esports as the way like the way the we were raised to think of sports.

You know, I think that's probably gonna happen. And so, the history of that and the lineage that kind of feeds into it, I think is really important to preserve. And so I guess I've come full circle on Sega week and I really love it. And I'm really happy that you've forced us all into it. And I think you're a brilliant genius. All right, let's wrap up. Let's do some nice things.

Let's get out of here because I got a, we really actually hard pivoted into Sega and then talked about it for quite a while. So congrats to us for doing both politics and technology on today's podcast. We're the best. You get a nice thing? I am obsessed with Chromatica, which is Lady Gaga's new album,

which is out today as we record. And it is a cohesive, fantastic house dance pop record about chronic pain and finding the sublime in like your own body horror and the horror reserve of the world. And Elton John is on it, Ariana Grande is on it, Blackpink is on it, it is truly, I have, I know that I'm a Gaga stan, but I have not heard a record this cohesive and this forward looking and this innovative in a long time. And I mean, there are moments on the album that just like my jaw dropped.

And like, I was, you know, I have high standards for her. I love her, I'm a stan. I was truly like, I haven't felt this way about an album in a long time. There's a handful of albums that I can put in the category. And so obviously I have, you know, recency bias, but I love it. And I would encourage everybody.

If you'd like to have some fun this weekend during the like horrors of the world, stream chromatica and have a dance party in your kitchen while you come here. Wow, very good. I'm going to, I'm going to say that sounds very good. I'll have to listen to it. My nice thing is I bought Zota was like, I I wanna make a robot and I bought this Lego kit, which is called... Mindstormers? That was the last one I've seen. No, the mindstorms I think was a thing they used to have

and now they have something called, she's like, I wanna build a robot and code it. So she has all these games on her iPad that are like logic games. You know, they're like, you put these things in a sequence and then a robot in the game does the things that you like logic games, you know, you put these things into sequence and then a robot in the game does the things that you like programmed it to do, which is like a really interesting way

to teach somebody like the raw concepts of what code is, you know? So anyhow, so I was like, okay, yeah, like I am extremely on board for you getting into building robots and programming them. Like finally, you know, you're in my world. Well, like dad gets the one. Dad gets the one for dad.

I'm also like fully sucked in. Like she's really into my little pony and I'm now fully sucked into the my little pony, like mega multiverse. And like it's very, it is very much speaking to like my comic, my like comic nerd roots because it is like deep lore about the ponies and their like existence.

Anyhow, but so yeah, so I got this thing, it's called Lego Boost Creative Toolbox Building Set, which is whatever it's just the product name that I see on my Best Buy receipt. But it's fucking so cool. It is real, I mean, we're building the robot right now out of Legos, but it's like very complicated, very like intricate, but also but also they have an iPad thing

and now where it steps you through the building when she loves and like she literally woke up today at 6.30 a.m. and was like, I wanna build a robot, you know? And it was like, we spent like an hour and a half this morning working on the robot. Now admittedly, I am like a very impatient person, so I am like a very bad partner for her as she's like learning to put together a very,

I mean, she's done Legos before, but she's learning to put together a very complicated Lego. I'm like, don't force it, don't force it. Why are you forcing it? It's like, she doesn't know yet how to like really do, like finesse the Lego pieces into place.

But, you know, but it's cool. And it's really, I have to say, like it's a remarkable, it's a remarkable piece of engineering. I mean, truly the way the Lego creates these things. I mean, I haven't been historically a big fan of Lego. Like, I think it's cool, but I just wasn't that into it. But now that I'm seeing it through her eyes and I'm experiencing it as a grown-up,

it's really as remarkable what they've done with this concept of building blocks and how much you can do with it. But also the interface, the way it connects to the iPad, the way that immediately was able to start programming it to do things as soon as we built the first part of it. It is just a really seamless, truly almost magical kind of thing.

If I had to have shut like this when I was a kid, I would have lost my mind. And so yeah. No one gets doing it just like. It's really great. It's really great. I mean, my only desire in life is to have more time, downtime

to just like do stuff like that with her. But if you're a father, even if like you just want to fucking play around with something, I think this is a great, like I feel like I want to just dig around with this thing because it's so interesting. Anyhow, that's my nice thing. It's this Lego kit. I recommend it to all.

Parents and non-parents alike, it has really reignited my excitement about nerdy shit, like robots and building. I think it's really cool. And she seems really into it as well. It's fully grasping her attention. She's at cool. And she seems really into it as well. It's like fully like grasping her attention and you know, she's at that age when she's six years old. So I think she's at the age where she's starting to really appreciate

like deeper stuff than just like things that are entertaining or distracting. She's reading now and oh, we got my, oh yeah, I actually got my little pony comics, which I was like, you know, they have comics of this and she was like, oh my God, what? And so now we're reading anyhow. I guess like my nice thing is fatherhood.

No, but it is like the robe, oh, say the robot. All right, we should wrap up. I got a pizza waiting for me that I have to eat. I'm gonna die if I don't get my mouth on it. But you know, I guess we're gonna, oh, we're gonna start doing this on a weekly basis. We've been a little bit sporadic over the last few weeks, months as we're gonna, oh, we're gonna start doing this on a weekly basis. We've been a little bit sporadic over the last few weeks, months, as we've been in quarantine,

but I want to start getting this back to a weekly program and we're going to do that. I'm committing to it to Tony, our number one fan and our only fan, really. And another thing that I'd like to do, and Ryan, we haven't talked about this, but I'd like to have some guests on, if we haven't done it in a while. And I think there's no better time than when everybody's in quarantine to bring on them. Yeah, no, it's so great to schedule guests because that you know that they're trapped in their homes and they have no excuse.

Right, everybody is stuck and now they have to come on the show, so it's great. Anyhow, all right, I'm gonna go and eat a pizza and I'll talk to you later. Bye. Well, that is our show for this week. We'll be back next week with more tomorrow. And as always, I wish you and your family the very best. And I've just been told that your family is actually

experiencing the very best by staying indoors, wearing a mask, and preparing for direct protests and action to take on the government of America and the injustice we're all experiencing. So it should go just fine. direct protests and action to take on the government of America and the injustice we're all experiencing. So it should go just fine.