#335: As we go into the cold season, Marc, Josué, and Link discuss their comfort media. They touch on how media fulfills different needs in different contexts, and how we choose to seek them out to fulfill those needs.

Marc Cuiriz 0:12
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Mark Cuiriz and I am joined by Josué Cardona.

Josué Cardona 0:24
Hello,

Marc Cuiriz 0:26
And Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:27
Hello.

Marc Cuiriz 0:29
hello, hi. So guys, I’m back. It was a wild first week of classes.

Josué Cardona 0:37
Welcome back.

Marc Cuiriz 0:39
I just actually had class yesterday, and I already fell asleep for about five minutes. So that was fun.

Josué Cardona 0:47
you are my son.

Link Keller 0:48
Uh Oh.

Marc Cuiriz 0:51
So this semester is already off to a great start. But, um, yeah, so considering I couldn’t, I couldn’t be here last week, just knowing about the topic, it kind of got me thinking a little bit. And with the beginning of September, now we’re kind of getting closer to the fall time that that cooling of the weather and we got hoodies and bonfires and the pumpkin spice everything now, I just started thinking about all the things that sort of kind of make, make you feel all like warm and fuzzy on the inside, you know, the things they just bring us like a sense of comfort and a sense of of, you know, just given the warmth, the warmth snuggles, basically. And so I was kind of curious as to sort of what are some of those things for you guys. Like, for instance, for me, what my my wife and I have been doing recently is like, we’ve been going back and we’ve been rewatching Pokemon. And so now we are almost done with the first season of Pokemon. And she busts

Josué Cardona 2:03
twenty three more to go

Marc Cuiriz 2:04
23 More there is I looked it up there are 24 seasons of Pokemon, and that’s not including the movies. But she also busted out her Gameboy and I busted out my old DS light, and she had FireRed and LeafGreen. So she’s playing fire red, and I started playing Leaf Green. So we’re sort of like playing together. Granted, she’s pretty much done with the game right at this point. And I kind of started tapering off just because I got more sucked into the show that was actually playing the game. But this is like, for me, this was one of those like nostalgia little bits that just like, just this idea of us, like we’re coming home from work, it’s a really long day. We’re both tired, we’re both fed up with children. And we just want to do nothing but just sit down in front of the TV, have some dinner, watching Pokemon and playing Pokemon. And just having that time together, we’re just kind of sitting on the couch doing these things.

Josué Cardona 3:03
I want to acknowledge that being a mental health professional, and a teacher is very hard work. So I’m glad that you all have things that help you. How would you say just like recharge kind of self soothe,

Marc Cuiriz 3:18
I think it’s very much more of a self soothe than it is a recharge. I think it might be a recharge for her. But for me, recharging just looks a little different. I don’t know, I feel like I need to be like fully engaged. And I feel like either playing Pokemon or watching Pokemon for me is very passive, just because it’s something that I’ve absorbed in it. I’ve had Pokemon with me, my entire life basically. So for me, it’s very, it’s more of a passive thing. So it’s more of just like, this is this is relaxing. This is comfort to me, this is something that’s familiar for me. But like to recharge myself, I do something that involves more of my attention. But it’s also fun, enjoyable. So like, playing Fallout for a little while was a way for me to recharge because it demanded all of my attention. So I’ve really physically cannot think about anything other than what was in front of me and what my next quest was because of the hyper that hyper focus, and now I’m back to destiny. And so now it’s back for me just just grinding it out and just shooting aliens basically. That’s my recharge.

Josué Cardona 4:36
So are we talking about both or only the The warm and fuzzy Snuggles?

Marc Cuiriz 4:41
I mean, we can honestly go both. I mean, if some of the warm fuzzy snuggles also serves as like a way to either self soothe or to recharge. We can definitely I am kind of open to all sorts of those different topics, but I was just I was just thinking that was just like how what kind of got me started and

Josué Cardona 5:00
Yeah,

Marc Cuiriz 5:00
I was kind of curious to see. What is it for you guys?

Josué Cardona 5:04
Yeah. This one’s hard for me to answer. Because I don’t like revisiting stuff. So I very, there are very few things that I go back to. So I’m gonna need some time to think.

Marc Cuiriz 5:20
Well, I think it could also be just like, what are activities that like, just for you is like, it doesn’t necessarily have to be like revisiting. So like, for me, for instance, like just simply sitting down and watching something and spending that time with my wife is something that does bring about that sense of comfort in the warm and fuzzy especially if it’s something that we’re both into. So like, when we were sitting down and watching the Marvel movies, we were we were all for it. And for her when there was like her first time seeing like the older ones, and then going into the newer ones and the shows like that’s kind of how like, That, for me was a sense of comfort and like given the warm fuzzy feelings for me. It’s just that for me specifically, it was Pokemon. But yeah,

Josué Cardona 6:06
yeah, because I didn’t want to go in this direction five minutes in. But everything that comes to mind is more of an avoidant behavior than a than a like a comfort thing, I don’t know why my mind is there. Right now, to come back to me. Well,

Link Keller 6:30
I’ll just hop in here talking about cozy comfort stuff. We are, in my opinion in the spooky season. And therefore we are quickly approaching my yearly rewatch of Over the Garden Wall which absolutely cozy comfort soothes me makes me laugh forces me to confront my inevitable mortality, you know, all my favorite things. And so I’m very excited that it’s it’s almost Over the Garden Wall time again. I’ll probably wait till closer to Halloween since it is a Halloween show. But I will probably be watching it with my friends over in their theater on the projector screen. Which is my favorite. So I’m pretty excited about that

Josué Cardona 7:23
will be the largest you’ve ever seen.

Link Keller 7:26
No, because I’ve I’ve watched it on the projector screen before. It’s been eight. I think this is eight years. I think it came out 2014 So I’ve watched it every year it’s come out so

Josué Cardona 7:42
did you hear about the live action version that they’re making?

Link Keller 7:49
oh the cozy and comfort is gone how could you do that.

Josué Cardona 7:52
I just wanted to see the look on your face

Link Keller 7:54
betrayal oh my god

Josué Cardona 7:59
I do apologize.

Marc Cuiriz 8:01
No, he doesn’t

Link Keller 8:02
stinker

Josué Cardona 8:03
it was not okay. I shouldn’t have done that. I regret it

Marc Cuiriz 8:07
I was funny though.

Link Keller 8:09
Yeah, so um, yeah, just like getting into the ...

#334: Lara is obsessed with the new A League of Their Own series, and loved the original movie. Link and Josué join her in discussing how the show expands on themes and characters in the original, and how showing queer joy really hits a home run.

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT Radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. And my co hosts for tonight are Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:24
Hello.

Josué Cardona 0:25
and Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:26
Hi,

Josué Cardona 0:28
Lara, it’s your turn.

Lara Taylor 0:30
I sound more excited every week.

Josué Cardona 0:32
You sound great.

Lara Taylor 0:33
Fabulous. Fabulous.

Josué Cardona 0:36
It is my pleasure to have you here. Yes.

Lara Taylor 0:39
It’s my turn to pick and I want to talk about some gay ass shit.

Josué Cardona 0:43
Okay. Yeah.

Link Keller 0:44
mmmYeah,

Lara Taylor 0:47
I mean, I had an idea and we can talk about that. But I also the show itself is pretty good. I want to talk about a league of their own.

Josué Cardona 0:55
The movie or the series?

Lara Taylor 0:58
Both, either, compare contrast. Yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 1:04
I’ve seen the movie many times. I’m a fan.

Lara Taylor 1:06
I’ve seen the movie very, very many times.

Josué Cardona 1:10
My favorite Madonna song is this used to be my playground?

Lara Taylor 1:15
It’s where I fell in love with Geena Davis.

Josué Cardona 1:18
She’s great. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 1:20
And Rosie O’Donnell and. And Madonna. I

Josué Cardona 1:27
I’ve mentioned Geena Davis on the show many times because of the Geena Davis Foundation. And their motto is if she can see it, she can be it. It’s for girls to see like in media to see you very positive portrayal

Link Keller 1:39
it’s only for Geena Davis

Lara Taylor 1:40
The Geena Davis Foundation, where Geena Davis can see herself in all the media she’s been in.

Josué Cardona 1:51
And be it.

Lara Taylor 1:53
Um, but

Josué Cardona 1:55
long kiss good night. Have any of you watched that movie?

Lara Taylor 1:57
No.

Josué Cardona 1:58
I love that movie where she where she plays an assassin. That was that loses her memory. And then Samuel Jackson shows up like as her handler and she’s a housewife. No,

Lara Taylor 2:11
no, but that sounds like bad ass. It’s Geena Davis. You better not be quoting the wrong

Josué Cardona 2:16
I’m pretty sure

Lara Taylor 2:18
Okay, Link says yes.

Josué Cardona 2:19
Just gonna Yeah, okay. Yeah. My first DVDs I bought, like the one I haven’t seen in a while. Continue, sorry.

Lara Taylor 2:26
Yeah, yeah. No, but I’m watching that movie. As a kid. I could probably quote the whole movie from beginning to end. Maybe not off the top of my head. But if you got me going, I could the whole thing. The song that they sing, is there like it? I sing it all the time. And it’s been stuck in my head for weeks now. I think so. If nobody has heard of a league of their own, it’s about the women’s all American girls baseball team or baseball league. During the during World War Two when the men were off at war, and all the baseball players got shipped off to war. So who was going to play baseball? women were going to play baseball. I almost want to say like there was a lot of things that went over my head in the movie when I was a kid like they were talking about STDs and I had no idea avoid the clap Jimmy Dugan. But I the the movie itself. It hit me as a kid like, I love baseball. I am probably the only person on this podcast who loves baseball

Josué Cardona 3:43
can confirm

Lara Taylor 3:45
can confirm and just watch it. I love baseball movies. More than actual like baseball. I feel like baseball is an experience when you go to when you go to the game. It’s different than when you’re sitting at home watching on TV. I still love watching baseball games on TV and missed it when COVID happened and there was no baseball going on. And I definitely tuned in for the weird games with the canned audience and the cutouts and all of that. And I hope they someday make a movie about baseball I think the weirdness of baseball during COVID

Josué Cardona 4:23
be like the league of their own. Tom Hanks plays a cardboard cutout in the stands.

Lara Taylor 4:31
I have a feeling one a Tom Hanks was probably a cardboard cutout for one of the teams. But it was one of those movies that was like you saw women doing something that they wouldn’t normally be doing and this is in the 90s Fast forward to now. I did not as a kid watching that movie originally. Like as an adult looking back on the movie. I know how gay That movie was. But as a kid, they shied away from a lot of it. And Rosie O’Donnell played her character very queer even though it was never said.

Josué Cardona 5:09
So an interview with her recently where she said that she was told to like tone it down

Lara Taylor 5:13
did you see an interview or a tik tok of an interview?

Josué Cardona 5:16
Look, I don’t know where I saw things anymore, but it was most likely on Tik Tok.

Lara Taylor 5:22
Because I saw that tik tok

Josué Cardona 5:23
it counts it counts.

Lara Taylor 5:24
It does. It does. Yeah, yeah. But she she played the character queer even though the director told her not this isn’t gay. And in that interview, she says, Well, they’re making a TV show of A League of Their Own, with but with gay. And I’ve been excited about this show since I heard about it. It was off my radar for a while. And then all of a sudden, I saw an ad that it was going to be on Amazon. And that’s all Nina and I did that week was watch A League of Their Own. It was amazing. And I think the original concept I came up with when I was pitching the idea, the show today was like, how do reboots or remakes or whatever, bring new context to things and I think watching that movie as a kid, and as an adult, I had somewhat of an idea of what the experience was. But watching this show, they give you more time with characters that are clearly built off of ideas of characters in the in the movie, and different new ideas as well. But watching what it was like to be queer, a queer person, a queer black person a queer black person working in a factory in in World War Two, it was it was definitely interesting and brought, I don’t know new context and the show broke me a few times. I definitely cried a lot. I think more than I did. watching the movie as a kid. Because spoilers for a movie that’s like 30 years old. The Rockford peaches don’t win the whole thing. And it was very sad for me. But I don’t know. Josué you saw that movie.

Josué Cardona 7:31
I have seen the movie.

Lara Taylor 7:33
Did you watch any of the show?

Josué Cardona 7:35
I did. I watched I’ve I’m halfway through the third episode.

Lara Taylor 7:39
Okay, I haven’t gotten to the ones that broke me yet. But

Josué Cardona 7:42
yeah,

Lara Taylor 7:43
I don’t know.

Josué Cardona 7:44
Yeah,

Lara Taylor 7:44
I had a hard time the first episode. I was like, oh, that’s clearly supposed to be Dottie Henson. And oh, that’s clearly supposed to be Doris Murphy.

J...

#333: Josué and the crew talk about examples of fusion in media, including combined identity, shared goals, and power imbalances.

Marc Cuiriz 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Marc Cuiriz and I am joined by Josué Cardona.

Josué Cardona 0:24
Hello,

Marc Cuiriz 0:25
Link Keller,

Link Keller 0:26
what’s up?

Marc Cuiriz 0:31
And Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:33
Hi.

Marc Cuiriz 0:37
That was very anticlimactic right there.

Lara Taylor 0:40
Yeah.

Marc Cuiriz 0:42
I mean, it’s kind of hard to beat Link’s energy honestly.

Lara Taylor 0:44
It really is. That’s why I didn’t try.

Marc Cuiriz 0:49
All right, Josué, I believe it is your turn this week. So what is

Josué Cardona 0:52
it is my turn. So I was reading comic books, because I do that sometimes. And yeah, I may have mentioned once or twice that I, I am a fan of Mark Waid. And when I found out he was writing, the Batman Superman series, or world’s finest, there’s many different iterations of this. It comes and goes as a series. It’s been, I really, really like it. There’s something about a Superman and Batman. Seeing their inner thoughts about each other is always really funny, if they’ve got a hell of a bromance. And and it just, I don’t know, the only only those books tend to really go deep into that. And so I saw a Tiktok, where they showed something that happened, and I could not believe it. So I watched, I watched, so I read the comic book. And there is a moment where Batman and Superman in the middle of a battle. Thanks to magic. They fuse into one being. That’s the that’s the reason why I wanted to see this and it looks badass. I don’t know, I like the look of it. Like, the moment they make a statue of that or an extra for your whatever. Like I’m, I’m I feel I feel it in my pocket. And I’m I love that fusion stuff. I think that that was such a cool part of Steven Universe. I love it in, in Dragon Ball, of course. And it’s one of those things that the the way it comes up in in these shows and is also the point in, in, in this comic book is that to like the sum, the sum is greater than the like, this new thing is more powerful than the sum of its parts, right? So it’s like, oh, we can’t we’re both fighting. And we’re both doing this, but we can’t do it as individuals. What if we come together and we become this new thing, and it’s always like an exponential level up. Also, Voltron Power Rangers like anything, I think those count too. one of my one of my favorite things from like, the original Power Ranger series was like, of course, you had like the main, the main Megazords. And they would the main swords, right. And they would form and make this Megazord. And then later on, like, they introduce the Green Ranger, and he’s got this dragon. And once he turns good, it’s like, aw naw, he also adds to the to the thing, like they would bring in more people and it was like, more fusing just more stuff. And I love how Steven Universe did that too. It was like, we can

Lara Taylor 1:06
we can all fuse!

Josué Cardona 1:54
do it too. Yeah, why make why just two, fuse with anybody. And they have different names and personalities. And anyway, I’ve always loved the this example and even just the thought exercise of, of two things fusing together of two people, right like and think about how if you could fuse with someone else for you know, what would that be? What would we be called? What would it you know, what greater abilities would you have? I almost I wanted to propose and we can still do it after if we want. One of my favorite episodes that we’ve done was the spidersonas one where we each drew our spider says it’s I was going to invite everybody here to design a fusion of themselves with anyone or anything else. Link you drew a fusion of a cat and an ant earlier in the in the pre show?

Link Keller 4:44
You should specify that it’s Garfield i think it’s important for our listeners to know it’s Garfield

Josué Cardona 4:53
was a specific cat and nonspecific ant

Link Keller 4:55
Garfant.

Josué Cardona 4:55
Garfant. You did your homework Yeah, so again, I think there’s, there’s there’s something really cool about this idea in media of this, like, joining together of powers, but just not not just like, Oh, it’s a team. It’s like no, what if we, what if we could fuse and come together and become this new thing? And I love that stuff. And and I don’t know that having like Superman and Batman do it was it felt novel even though it’s something I’ve been seeing, you know, in other stuff for years. There you go Western media catching up with with anime and manga. So, so yeah. So how do you feel about fusion? And what are your favorite fusions? I’m very, very curious. Do you know what fusion is? Marc?

Marc Cuiriz 5:46
I, I may have I might have a couple of of ideas of what fusion is. I

Josué Cardona 5:54
here on Geek Therapy’s official Dragon Ball podcast.

Marc Cuiriz 5:57
Yeah, that we’re, you know, Geek Therapy is official Steven Universe podcast. So I might I might have dabbled a little bit in the idea of fusion here. So for me, I have a whole wide like a lot of the fusion stuff that kind of comes to mind is obviously Steven Universe. But as I mentioned last week, been really on this whole Dragon, Dragonball Z train. So it’s all like right there. I actually think one of my favorite fusions in Dragonball Z at least and this is a, this is an answer that I’m sure nobody’s really expecting. But it’s actually Piccolo. Because here’s the idea with Piccolo, like you have kind of like in Dragonball Z, you have Kami. And then you have Piccolo. And at some points, like, like before, like Dragon Ball even began, they split apart, or the original Namic had split themselves in two because there was this more corrupted more evil half and then there was the good half, the good half became Kami and the other half became the original King Piccolo, and then Goku then defeats King Piccolo and Dragon Ball. But then he like splits. Yeah, split, split, splits on an egg that becomes the piccolo that we see throughout the whole show. And then during the Android slash Cell Saga, they come together and realize that if they were to rejoin and become whole again, then they would have this exponential power that, you know, in as I’ve as I’m rewatching they even said like, nail as he was dying. And before he fused with Piccolo said, if you guys were whole, you would be able to take on Frieza no problem. So that like says a lot about how this is like more of a reconciliation between

Josué Cardona 8:01
Yeah,

Marc Cuiriz 8:02
the like, there’s the darker side of of who we are as people and the sides that we, you know, maybe present or the good attributes of ourselves. And they learn to coexist, and they come together to make you whole again, and then once you are at peace with those things, you have this giant power up this giant power boost. And that’s why I think piccolo or the Namic that has long since forgotten his name is probably one of my favorite fusions of Dragonball

Josué Cardona 8:37
I love I love the fact that you use the word reconciliation. And and basically you’re describing things like Carl Jung’s integration of the shadow. That’s a great way to kick off a conversation.

Marc Cuiriz 8:52
I surprise people sometimes.

Josué Cardona 8:54
That is a good ye...

#332: Marc has been rewatching Dragon Ball Z and the crew discusses what it’s like to return to old favorites. What’s the difference between influence and resonance, and how do these media continue to shape who we are?

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. Really the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. And laughing to my right is Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:23
Hi.

Josué Cardona 0:27
Then the other one is Marc Cuiriz.

Marc Cuiriz 0:30
Hello.

Josué Cardona 0:32
And Link Keller. you there?

Link Keller 0:35
yaarrr matey

Josué Cardona 0:38
Marc, it’s your turn for topic this week.

Marc Cuiriz 0:41
All right. We’re not talking about pirates this time around. I actually so for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been binge watching Dragon Ball Z like your original with all the filler and everything

Josué Cardona 0:56
Not Kai?

Marc Cuiriz 0:57
No, not Kai i I’m watching it in its pure uncut form.

Josué Cardona 1:03
Subbed or Dubbed?

Marc Cuiriz 1:05
Dubbed.

Josué Cardona 1:06
okay,

Marc Cuiriz 1:06
I I tried subbed, and it was a little rough around the edges, I might switch after the Frieza saga.

Josué Cardona 1:14
Have you ever watched the Pioneer Dubs? Which were the original dubs that were brought to the US? I before Funimation dubbed it?

Marc Cuiriz 1:23
Yes. And I cringe every time those those ones were were they were something. So I’ve been so as I’ve been like, rewatching it, it’s sort of become like a comfort show for me that along with Brooklyn nine, nine. But it got me thinking a little bit about shows or like movies or like books and things like that as sort of like a basis for the path that I chose to kind of take in life. Like, I be like with watching Dragonball Z reminded like watching it now is like reminding me of like, how amazed and how like, fascinated I was with cartoons and with anime when I was a little kid. And why like, I wanted to stay on that track rather than for other people that like grow up, like, quote, unquote, grow out of it. Like, you know, we have people like we had friends, when we were little that were really into Pokemon with us. And then as he got older, like you might have stayed with Pokemon, and they like, moved on to sports, or they moved on to other hobbies and interests. You know, they kind of phased out of things, but for me, like, want rewatching it is making me sort of like kind of go back to like, why I chose to stick with cartoons, basically. And like anime, and like, why I enjoyed it. Like, why I enjoyed it in the first place. And why continuing to enjoy it now even though like, you know, it’s really old. But I, I don’t know, like, it’s one of those things. It’s like, it’s like a nostalgia trip for me. And it’s like reminding me of like, where I started almost in the Geekdom world. So like that said, I’m just kind of curious of like, what for you guys? Like, if you had to think about it, like what are some of those types of media for you? Whether it’s a movie book, TV show, series, whatever.

Josué Cardona 3:20
I have a question for Lara. Yes. Are geeks kids in grown up bodies?

Lara Taylor 3:27
No, they’re not.

Josué Cardona 3:29
Okay, cool.

Lara Taylor 3:30
Don’t get me on my soapbox. I have. I’ve had to say that several times.

Josué Cardona 3:34
I know. Yeah, I know. Yeah. I bring that up. Because, right. That’s a blog post that you wrote a while back on Geek therapy.org A few years ago.

Lara Taylor 3:46
And like eight years ago, nine years ago

Josué Cardona 3:50
you don’t gotta be that specific. It’s been a while. how old are you?

Lara Taylor 3:53
Don’t be specific. don’t be specific

Josué Cardona 3:59
Because because I think that that’s something that people like we’ve heard a lot. It’s like, oh, like, you’re still doing kid stuff. Or like, I’ll have I mean, I’ll have people. I’ll be at work. And sometimes people will see my background and be like, Oh, that’s so cool. And they’ll connect with it. But other times they’re like, oh, like are you in a kid’s room? No, it’s my room

Lara Taylor 4:19
Or I mentioned this this past week, Nina and I went to Shabbat services at a New Synagogue we’re going to and the executive director was trying to get to know as she was mind blown by how young I look, but also was like I mentioned Geek Therapy. And she was like, do you work with teenagers? Yes, I do. But I mostly work with adults.

Josué Cardona 4:42
Always have to make that caveat. Yeah. Yeah. So at work recently, someone a co worker who is much younger than me, was saying, Oh man, I miss those days when you just spent the day playing and you came home and you were so tired that you just went right to bed. I really That’s those days. And he was like, do you miss them? I was like, Ah, I try to have them like I have them. I play harder now than when I was a kid. They I feel like I didn’t have that much in my childhood. And

Lara Taylor 5:15
there’s no parental oversight. You can play games as long as you want.

Josué Cardona 5:18
Yeah, yeah. But there was something very sad about this young guy, like 25 talking about, like, how he doesn’t have that kind of fun anymore. Like, everything is so hard and you know, work your life. And I was like, ah, but that’s, I don’t know if this goes to what you’re saying, Marc, but like, I realized, and it was probably in my early 20s, when I came back around, and I started thinking, like, oh, wait a minute, there were things that I really enjoyed before. And I don’t haven’t gotten to do them as much anymore. I mean, go back. And it started. It started with comic books. It was like making connections it went from, I think I was I was rewatching, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. And I wanted more. And I was like, oh, wait a minute, there’s more in the comics. So then I started buying comic books. And I just started reading comic books like crazy. Like I, I had library cards at multiple libraries. And I would max out graphic novels, and I would have these stacks. And I’ll go through them go back. And it was it was it was so much fun. It was so crazy. And from there, I got back into manga and anime, and I had never really stopped playing video games. But I was I was, I was able to enjoy it, I think more. So I mean, that’s one part of it. Another another thing to what you said, there, there have been like two huge betrayals that I feel in my life, to people who used to play games with me when I was a kid. And then they stopped playing. And those are my parents. They used to play a lot. And I think that’s the reason why I play video games. And my dad used to take me to the arcade. And like my earliest memory is playing Super Mario Brothers with my mom. And, and then like, I don’t know, at some point, they stopped playing. And it was kind of weird, too. So all those things are things that came to mind. For me, Marc, but I think I think I still like a lot of the same stuff that I did when I was when I was a kid. And I appreciate how a lot of things have kind of grown up with me in a way. Like there’s some things that I’ve tried to go back to, like I tried to watch the original he-man cartoon that has not aged well at all. But then they did the sequel series that came out last year. And that was really cool. It was it was like it was it was the same show. It just picks up immediately where it left off. But it wa...

#331: The crew watched Everything Everywhere all at Once and LOVED it. They talk about family dynamics, the power of love, and the choice to make meaning in a chaotic world.

Marc Cuiriz 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Marc Cuiriz and I am joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:24
Hey,

Marc Cuiriz 0:26
Link, Keller.

Link Keller 0:27
Hello.

Marc Cuiriz 0:29
And Josué Cardona.

Josué Cardona 0:31
Hey, Mark. Hey, everybody.

Marc Cuiriz 0:33
Hello. Hello, guys. So, link, we missed you last week.

Link Keller 0:37
I missed you all, too.

Marc Cuiriz 0:39
But I believe since you missed last week, this is your turn this week. So what do you got for us?

Link Keller 0:45
Well, while I was on vacation, I convinced a couple of friends to watch a movie that I have been dying to see a little film called everything everywhere all at once. And we laughed, we cried. I have been thinking about it constantly. And I rewatched it again last night in preparation for our recording. And by God, it’s such a good movie!!

Josué Cardona 1:19
It’s one of those movies that on the second. It’s it’s like you have to I feel like you have to watch it again. A second time.

Link Keller 1:26
I think that’s right. I think you do. I think you do have to watch it again.

Lara Taylor 1:31
I’ve only watched it one time. And I mostly get what was going on, but like so like I understand it more than inception.

Link Keller 1:41
more accessible than inception. That’s the tagline

Lara Taylor 1:43
Yeah. But there’s a whole lot of in the beginning, I was like, What the fuck is going on? So

Josué Cardona 1:49
I think it’s a lot of just like, there’s a lot there that you’re not supposed to. It’s impossible to know what it means. Right? It’s all hidden. So then when you watch it the second time you’re like, Oh, it was all there. Like there was all this stuff going on. But also every time I have a discussion about the movie with someone I feel like this movie’s got layers is in my opinion.

Lara Taylor 2:08
It’s an onion, an onion.

Josué Cardona 2:10
It’s an onion, yeah. Yeah. Why do you want to talk about?

Link Keller 2:15
Well, first I want to start with we are going to be talking spoilers. But for our listeners, unless you are like very adamant of avoiding spoilers. Please listen to this episode, because talking about it is not at all the same experience as watching it. And even if you know every plot beat, the experience of watching this film is amazing. I would consider this in the top tier of all films of all time. How much I think that this is fantastic and amazing. visual auditory experience. So if any of you want to opt out, that’s fine. I understand. But like

Lara Taylor 2:58
many of you watching this, many people in the discord would cosign that that is the best. That’s like the best cinematic experience. I saw that right when it came out too.

Josué Cardona 3:10
Also if if someone if you haven’t seen it, stick around because you won’t believe what I’m talking about what actually happened in the movie anyway. Try guessing if it’s true or not.

Lara Taylor 3:22
Maybe we’ll throw some little lies in there. Just maybe,

Lara Taylor 3:25
maybe, maybe.

Link Keller 3:26
you’ll know when you see it.

Josué Cardona 3:27
Maybe

Link Keller 3:28
and see it again. Yeah. Yeah, no, I want to talk about this movie because obviously I loved it. It is fantastic. Movie. It is a heartwarming family story. It is fun sci fi multiverse stuff in you know, recently we have had several multiverse movies. And I think this one

Josué Cardona 3:55
everything is a multiverse movie

Link Keller 3:57
that Well, I think that this movie is the top tier of multiverse movies. Which is hard to say because I did deeply love Spider Man into the spider verse. But this was so good!! Yeah, I think it’s got really deep, delicious themes to talk about. It’s philosophical. It is humorous. It is heartwarming, it is emotionally destroying. It’s great. I I just I can’t wait to talk about this with you guys.

Lara Taylor 4:38
There are a lot of what the fuck moments

Link Keller 4:41
Yes, there are.

Josué Cardona 4:43
It’s it’s it’s one of my favorite live action animes I’ve ever watched.

Link Keller 4:47
that is a great way to describe it.

Josué Cardona 4:50
And it’s yeah, I also think that this movie works really well as we never use this term. Like, like a Rorschach movie. But I really do think that depending on your current state of mind, it will hit you in different ways. I think because it touches on so many things, and in ways that it’s like the first time I saw it, things were very clear. And the second time I saw it, things were very clear in a different way. And I don’t think either one was wrong. So I can’t I can’t wait. show me show me those notes, Link. what you got?

Link Keller 5:30
Yes, I did take notes. And I do also want to point out that this is in this notebook. At least this is the first time that I’ve, I’ve done both pages. Usually I keep it to one page for my notes, but I was just too excited. Also, I drew the everything bagel a couple of times. Yeah, if you got daddy issues, there’s something to relate to. If you got mommy issues, there’s something to relate to. If you have ever been depressed, and nihilistic, there is something to relate to.

Lara Taylor 6:02
If you’re a parent, there’s something to relate to.

Link Keller 6:06
Absolutely.

Lara Taylor 6:07
If you like hot dogs,

Josué Cardona 6:08
if you have parents there’s something to relate to,

Link Keller 6:11
if you’ve ever enjoyed anything that Jamie Lee Curtis is in, you have something to look forward to. God, she’s a treasure. Oh my gosh. Ah, okay. So, basic outline, our main character played by Michelle Yeoh. Evelyn is

Josué Cardona 6:30
fun fact, if you have the subtitles on, it refers to her as bagel Evelyn,

Link Keller 6:36
Bagel Evelyn. aww. She is a wife and mother and her family owns a laundromat and they are in the process of doing their taxes. That’s it. That’s the whole movie.

Josué Cardona 7:00
That’s how Part One starts

Lara Taylor 7:02
then Nope. That’s the whole movie.

Marc Cuiriz 7:04
Yeah, that really is it?

Lara Taylor 7:08
It starts and ends with it. Yes.

Josué Cardona 7:11
Spoilers.

Link Keller 7:12
Spoilers. Yes,

Josué Cardona 7:14
it’s taxes.

Link Keller 7:16
Evelyn is strained, she is exhausted with her life and the struggles that she has to deal with a distant and unapproving father, her husband who she feels is very silly and not very competent. And her daughter who representation lesbian is, you know, not doing a ton and Evelyn finds issue with all of these things. She’s very displeased with the state of her life, and how she got into this position. While on the way to go do her taxes, something mysterious happens where Waymond her husband’s changes and tells her that something big is happening, and that she has a choice to turn left and go to her tax meeting, or to turn right and go into the janitor’s closet. And she’s like, What are you talking about? Dude? That’s...

#330: Josué, Lara, Marc, and special guest host Sophia Ansari discuss Ms. Marvel, the importance of positive cultural representation, and the joy of seeing yourself in media. It’s Halal!

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. And joining me today is Marc Cuiriz

Marc Cuiriz 0:22
Hello,

Josué Cardona 0:23
Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:24
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:26
and special guests. And I believe first time on GT Radio. Sophie Ansari

Sophia Ansari 0:31
hello

Josué Cardona 0:34
The Sophie Ansari from Hero Nation.

Sophia Ansari 0:37
Yes. That’s me.

Josué Cardona 0:38
Welcome.

Sophia Ansari 0:41
Thank you. It’s so good to be here. Oh, I feel so happy.

Josué Cardona 0:46
So I did not want to talk about Ms. Marvel without you. And so it was actually it was Lara, who suggested that we need to talk about Miss Marvel and I agree. And I think and I’m curious how you. Yeah, Sophia? What does Ms. Marvel as a character, mean to you?

Sophia Ansari 1:08
So how much time do we have Josué? I told you I have a journal full of thoughts. It’s like my dissertation.

Lara Taylor 1:17
Six hours CE course right here.

Sophia Ansari 1:20
Totally do. That is such a good idea. No, I Okay. Yeah. So I hope you know, if I cry, I know I’m in a safe place. But Oh, Miss Marvel, what can I say? I’ve been processing this for six weeks with friends with my therapist who? Goodness, she doesn’t know anything about comics. But she’s learned so much this past month.

Josué Cardona 1:46
And I’m curious about like, even before the show, rather than just the character in general. Because we’ve talked about this character first first, for so long. You and I Sophia, but just like on GT radio, we’ve talked about Ms. Marvel, so so, so much. And she’s come such a long way. Over the years. Like I was explaining to a friend, Ali from the show. I was like, Oh, the Avengers game like Kamala Khan is the protagonist of that game. Right? And he’s like, you know, that’s like, that’s like now that even with the show out, right, so so she’s incredibly popular character. Yeah. So I’m curious, you know, even before the show.

Sophia Ansari 2:24
Yeah, I mean, reading I growing up, read comic books. And you know, I love love storm, because, hey, you know, she’s not white. And I’m like, Oh, I can, I can see myself in her and always looking for someone who looks like me. Of course, always a fan of, you know, I love Batman and Superman. They mean so much to me. But when Kamala came along, it was the first time where I was like, oh, that’s me, you know, this geeky Brown, Pakistani Muslim girl. You know, I always say, you know, she’s from she’s from Jersey City. I’m from Ohio, which is basically like the same thing she loves wolverine. I find him very attractive, you know, like, geeked out over the same things. And so I just felt like it was like, somebody went back in time, and recorded me as a young, teen, geeky Brown Girl in Ohio. And yeah, made a story. And yeah, she’s always made me feel seen. And so she’s always been just this very special character. I’ve known her and loved her since the very beginning. When I found her, I was like, wait, what, you know, even just to see the word like Pakistani in anything. That was a big deal for me. Cuz a lot of people don’t even understand where Pakistan is. You know, they don’t you know, so. So that was important. So yeah, she’s always been such an important. Yeah, piece of art for me. And then the show comes along. And here we go. Again. Now it’s an actions and it’s, you know, on TV on this other scale, this other whole piece of art, right, we’ve got the comic books, which alone are magnificent, and amazing and funny. But now you have this other piece of art that we can appreciate in a whole new way. And I feel seen again, and I’ve been telling people when within anticipation of the show, you know, sort of worried like, oh, I don’t know, you know, how are they going to do this? And I didn’t even realize the weight I was carrying from the trauma of Muslim depictions and misrepresentations in the media. Like I didn’t even realize I was carrying all of that until I watched the first episode. All of that was lifted away. It was just lifted away. And there’s a lot of my friends that haven’t seen the show. I assuming you all have watched it from Okay, okay. So there’s a lot of my Muslim friends, my Pakistani Muslim friends who actually haven’t watched it. And I’ve been trying to process and understand why. And I realize it’s because, again, we just have decades of misrepresentation, that we don’t want to believe we can have meaningful representation, right? We’re like, expect to be hurt again. Because we’ve just been through so much all the depictions that are out there in the movies and TV of Muslims. You know, we know they’re always vilified or their terrorist or whatever, you know, all of that I felt personal ramifications of that as a Muslim American woman in America, and I wear a headscarf. So there’s also this other target. So I’ve personally felt the ramifications of the depiction in media. So this show, this show is just so meaningful in so many ways, because it really just humanizes Muslims. Right? And they’re just like, normal people. So yeah, I don’t know how much time that was, but I can keep going on. I want to hear your thoughts and not just keep going on and on. But yeah, she just means a lot.

Josué Cardona 6:05
Yeah, we’re gonna touch on a whole bunch of that. And I know for, for me. As someone who actually grew up in New Jersey, and have been to Ohio, I’m not sure how similar those two have been. I haven’t seen all of Ohio. I’ve loved the character for a long time. And, and this show just, I think part of part of part of what has surprised me, and I’m sure we’ll get into all of this is I carry that same fear for Hispanic representation. So I carry it for everybody who’s not white. Right, like every time like, oh, here we go. Because I, I know what it’s like to see. And actually, I heard the actress who plays Kamala on the show, I saw a piece of an interview with her yesterday, where she said, every time you know, you’re, you’re on screen, it’s like, that is representative of your entire culture. And because this show is it’s Kamala, it’s her family, it’s the mosque, it’s the community. And then you get to see so many this, this is the part that surprised me, and I Link isn’t here to remind us that like Disney as a corporation of Marvel, the corporation above all that stuff, but like that, that is true, and seeing how it feels like they care so much to show so many aspects of a culture that I I’m not very familiar with. And most people aren’t unless that’s the community you live in, or you’re close to that, right. And there’s so many, so many cultures that that we don’t get to see like that. And if this was, I don’t know, it felt so responsible and so full of care and like, positive intent, you know, or like, there was, it was, I am, I am shocked. I am shocked by by what this show did. And I’m curious to hear from you, Sophia how I’m shocked that they just did they tried. And I’m assuming that it’s positive representation based on on tik tok alone. So, and I’m curious how you feel about you know, specific things, but, but yeah, like this, this show blew away, like blew me away, and my expectations were or had been surpassed so much. And that’s just like, that’s just on tone ...

#329: Josué has a growing hyperfixation: plants. The buds talk about their experiences with caring for plants, and all the fruitful metaphors that can bloom from such a rich topic. And of course, they can’t leaf without a few good recommendations of some garden-variety media.

Marc Cuiriz 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand ourselves and each other is through the media we care about. My name is Marc Cuiriz and I am joined by link Keller.

Link Keller 0:23
Hello,

Marc Cuiriz 0:25
Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:27
Hi.

Marc Cuiriz 0:28
And Josué Cardona.

Josué Cardona 0:29
Hello, hello, hello.

Marc Cuiriz 0:32
Josué it is finally your turn this week

Josué Cardona 0:35
finally.

Marc Cuiriz 0:36
Yeah, so please enlighten us. What is your topic?

Josué Cardona 0:39
Yeah. So I, I really like it when we get a chance to do workshops for GT, Geek Therapy 101, or we teach like introduction to Geek Therapy. We’ve done them many, many times. And I always ask at the beginning, what is one of your fandoms or hobbies? Like, what is something? If you could, you know, what’s your favorite pastime? And, you know, we get usual like, oh, like, we’re doing comics and video games and cosplay, movies, blah blah. And somebody always says gardening. And every time I just know it, I know, somebody’s gonna say gardening. So I jumped in. I’m like, oh, gardening. That’s great. That’s great. Awesome. Like, tell me a few things about gardening. I don’t know anything about gardening than the like, tools and the different things I don’t know. I’m like, Oh, I’m sure you know, a lot about gardening. And you can see, like, some of the things that happen, you know, with your plants, you’re you think about them. And there’s probably metaphors that you connect to in in real life. And then they’re probably helpful. It’s like, Yeah, perfect. So it’s like gardening and sports, or to like my, and religion, like those are like the three like super, the ones that we never talk about. But that helped frame it for people who kind of don’t understand what we’re talking about. Depending on the person, one of those three, will get them. And then and then it’s easy to explain. So, I moved recently, and I’m a plant parent now. I’m one I’m now I think I’ve clicked checked off all of the stereotypical millennial things, I think, I think I’ve completed the bingo card. And now I’m now my plant parent. And it was like, some of the stuff is just, I don’t know, it’s, it’s, it’s fun. I’m enjoying it. But also, it’s just a good, like, all that stuff that I talked about at the workshops, it’s true, like, the metaphors are there, they’re very clear. And if you’re doing something like messing with plants all the time, there’s certain ideas that kind of come through your mind that are that may be relevant in other parts of your life. So today, I want to talk about that about taking care of plants about gardening, and also a few video games that have to do with plants. Because this is this is it’s very, it’s very, very topical. And so some things are kind of obvious. So I’ll start with asking all of you, what is your current level of knowledge regarding the plant kingdom? How many of you have plants you have a house Marc? Do you have plants?

Marc Cuiriz 3:22
I do have a house. And I do actually have a few plants. However, they are not my plants. They’re my wife’s plants. However, she’s actually leaving for Sweden, with her mom, they’re going on vacation for about 10 days. So

Josué Cardona 3:36
rest in peace plants

Marc Cuiriz 3:37
I am now in charge of taking care of the plants. And she made sure to go through in detail. This is how you water them. This is when they need to be watered. And this is how you’re supposed to take care of them. All these things. So

Josué Cardona 3:49
what do you think of that? Were you surprised by the level of detail and instruction required?

Marc Cuiriz 3:59
No, because I, I have friends and I have I know people that are plant parents, and are very knowledgeable when it comes to plants. So I know like there’s a lot that goes into it. I don’t think my attention span would allow me to be able to do that. So that’s why personally, I don’t think I could ever get into gardening. Although there have been times when my hyperfixation is like, I want to grow strawberries. Does that ever happen? No. But it’s one of those things were like, it seems interesting to me. I just feel like I don’t I don’t think I’d have the the amount of attention span or like the amount of like motivation. Motivation is probably the wrong word. But just like, I just know me and I know I’d end up forgetting about them, or I just like wouldn’t be able to take the best care of them. But for her like she’s doing pretty well with all of them. And I mean, it’s 10 days, I can keep them alive for 10 days.

Josué Cardona 4:55
Yeah, this is my current hyperfixation.

Lara Taylor 4:58
it can go downhill very quickly, Marc.

Josué Cardona 5:00
very quickly,

Marc Cuiriz 5:00
I’m, I’m sure. And, you know, I will gladly take the blame for that if if for whatever reason, even if I follow those instructions to a tee, they somehow still die on my watch.

Josué Cardona 5:12
It’s your fault, for sure.

Marc Cuiriz 5:14
You know, I’m just gonna take it as a sign that I should just never take care of plants ever. You should never touch anything green ever again.

Josué Cardona 5:22
So, so yeah, this definitely my current hyper fixation. And I wish I wouldn’t have followed through, but I have, until now I have quite a few plants. And one thing that you said is one of the first thing that I’ve recognized that is a challenge for me. And it’s like, there’s no instant gratification here. Like, they don’t just pop like this. Video games have lied to me. You know, just wake up in the morning and you know, they’re flowered, and they don’t have a regular schedule.

Lara Taylor 5:54
Depends on the flower

Josué Cardona 5:56
what, what?

Lara Taylor 5:56
depends on the flower.

Lara Taylor 5:57
That’s true. I was about to say, I have one flower that every other day, it is as flowered. And I’m like, okay, okay, I see the pattern. And so that has been a really good exercise for me to to commit to something that is very slow, very, very slow process, and you kind of do the things and you cannot wait to see what happens. That has been, that has been a a good exercise for me. And, and that was one of the first things where I was like, oh, oh, this is challenging, but like I see, I see the benefits here. And actually, in one of the things one of the reasons why I wanted to do it was because I saw a video that said that most there was like only three out of 10 House plans to get purchased like survive the first two months or something like that? I don’t think so. So like, how, how was that possible? I don’t know. Like that stayed in my mind. And I have I was as a housewarming present. I was gifted a plant and I started taking care of it. And so I started thinking about like I can I can do more of these like this one thing. I’m doing all right. Yeah, so Okay, interesting. Keep us updated. Marc on how many plants you kill?

Marc Cuiriz 7:22
Well, I hope none. However, I will say

Josué Cardona 7:26
we hope none

Marc Cuiriz 7:27
but I will say I am very proud of the fact that like on Mother’s Day, my when we had like my mom and like her...

#328: Marc and the crew discuss Netflix’s Spiderhead; touching on topics of drug use, emotional manipulation, and unethical psychological research.

Link Keller 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network, where we believe that you can better understand yourself and the people around you through the media that you care about. I am link and I am joined by our crew, Lara,

Lara Taylor 0:30
hey

Link Keller 0:30
Josué,

Josué Cardona 0:31
hello

Link Keller 0:32
and marc our topic chooser of today. What is our topic marc?

Marc Cuiriz 0:41
Well, okay, first off, I didn’t even get to say hello. First off.

Lara Taylor 0:45
You’re not allowed.

Marc Cuiriz 0:46
I guess I guess

Lara Taylor 0:47
only here to give us a topic, Marc

Marc Cuiriz 0:49
I’m only allowed to just simply present the topic and then I just disappear. I just become a background character. So today’s topic,

Link Keller 0:57
hey marc

Josué Cardona 0:58
hi

Marc Cuiriz 0:58
guys, thank you, Josué. Thank you. I missed you. You weren’t you weren’t here for last recording. So welcome back.

Josué Cardona 1:06
Thank you.

Marc Cuiriz 1:07
Anyways, today’s topic, guys. So just recently, I was more so strong armed. And I’m kind of glad I was into watching spider head, which is a relatively new movie on Netflix that has Chris Hemsworth in it. To kind of give like a brief description of the movie. It’s basically like, set in like a dystopian type of world where these inmates are volunteers for running tests on certain types of drugs, which can kind of, I don’t know, manipulate emotional states, something like that. And yeah, I initially did not want to watch it. Full disclosure

Josué Cardona 1:52
even though it had spider in the title?

Marc Cuiriz 1:54
Yes. Because simply because of the fact that it said like it was more of like a thriller. And for me, I’ve had such a negative connotation to thriller movies because of how my childhood was and how inappropriately exposed I was those from my dad, because my dad’s a bit of an asshole. But my wife was like, No, I really like it looks really interesting. Like, we just have to sit down and watch it and she like, put her foot down. And was like, we always watch what you want to watch. So tonight, we’re watching this and I was like, Alright, fine. Like, I’ll give it a go. If it’s if it’s something that I don’t like, then I’ll like, close my eyes. And then we watched it. And by the end of it, I was like, Well, damn, this is like a great episode topic. And I think it needs to be discussed and then she looked at me with those eyes of like one I told you so into like, You’re an asshole for not wanting to watch this movie. So did anyone else watch it? Aside from Lara who I know didn’t watch it?

Link Keller 2:58
I watched it yesterday.

Josué Cardona 2:59
First of all, Marc watched it yesterday. Yeah, I watched it today. And thank you Marc for that insight into your home life. Yeah, I did. I did. I watched it. No regrets either. I think I think it’s a it’s a very good topic to discuss. It’s such a it’s such an interesting things. Yeah. Did you how’d you feel about being a thriller?

Link Keller 3:23
Were you thrilled?

Marc Cuiriz 3:25
It made? It made me question the genre of thrillers entirely. I was like, okay, clearly, I don’t understand what a thriller is.

Lara Taylor 3:34
I don’t think you do, Marc.

Marc Cuiriz 3:35
so Exactly. Sounds like clearly I don’t understand what this genre of movies is. So I have potentially been missing out on a lot of great pieces of media throughout my entire life simply because I don’t know. I guess I just, I just don’t, I’m just a scaredy cat. Alright, so anything like that remotely touches on that? I’m like, No, no way, Jose. So unclearly I need to now rethink my entire life and my life choices about movies. And who knows, maybe I’ll come back with like some old movies and like Hey, guys, have you watched this movie and and then you guys are all gonna look at me and be like, yes.

Lara Taylor 4:10
Yeah, yeah, I’m a little sad. I didn’t have time to watch this movie because thriller younger me thrillers were my jam. Like I love like, double jeopardy. And like, yeah, a bunch of them. I can’t even remember the name to a lot of them

Josué Cardona 4:25
We should have an Ashley Judd appreciation episode.

Lara Taylor 4:27
There’s a lot of older like Denzel Washington and Sandra Bullock movies that are thrillers that I can’t remember the names of 12 monkeys. I really liked thrillers wonderful, wonderful genre. I used to watch them on TNT all the time. And they were the TV versions of everything. That’s what you should have been watching.

Josué Cardona 4:50
I missed these conversations. Alright, so it’s got it’s got quite a few topics. I’m so happy that now you know I mean, I think you’ve been here for a while. But this is the first time I remember marc where you’re like, Oh, this is an episode, isn’t it? This is this is something we got to discuss. I can’t just I can’t just let this be. it’s not just a movie now.

Marc Cuiriz 5:12
Yeah, I, I sat there for 20 minutes after the movie was done, and I was just like, ruminating on it. And the more I thought about it, the more I was like, This is gonna be this is this, this has to be an episode like this. Just, I can’t ignore it. And then like, I when I said that to her, she just like looked at me. She was like, Are you actually kidding me right now. So I’m, I’m glad that this this moment has finally happened. And now now, I feel like I’m just part of the Scooby gang at this point.

Josué Cardona 5:41
It’s Geek Therapy, rule number 12. I’ll take time to reflect.

Marc Cuiriz 5:46
So one of the big things that like, stood out to me was just this was the whole concept of like, the drugs in general of like, what they were designed to do, and like, what sort of like the, the intentions were for them. Like I understand like, are we going spoilers?

Josué Cardona 6:08
So I mean, I think we don’t have to go into into complete spoilers. But let’s definitely recap.

Link Keller 6:14
The spoilers are about to talk about is like the main thrust of the movie, and we do need to talk about it. So I think that’s yeah, spoiled

Josué Cardona 6:23
we will talk about Yeah,

Marc Cuiriz 6:26
yeah.

Josué Cardona 6:26
plot wise, you know, we won’t but but like, what’s what’s happening is this is actually a it’s it’s a it’s a research and detention center. So it is a program where people are have been arrested and convicted. And they are serving a sentence. And apparently they applied to be a part of this program. That is separate from the the general.

Marc Cuiriz 6:59
state penitentiary

Josué Cardona 7:00
the carceral System. Yep, yep. Yep. And so they go to this place that is very…is it Denmark that has the, the jails that are like, with clean courtyards, and

Marc Cuiriz 7:13
I think that’s Norway.

Josué Cardona 7:15
Maybe it’s Norway.

Lara Taylor 7:16
like free roaming prison?

Josué Cardona 7:18
Yeah. Yeah. And like, the guards are just like in regular clothes, and they’re just watching, you know, it’s like, it’s more rehabilitation, then. Then punitive punishment. But in this case, they, you know, part of it is that they are, it’s also a research program. So the inmates are participating in t...

#327: A cancelled TAGGS presentation has risen from the grave into a podcast! Marc, Lara, and Link are joined by special guest Mary Devorak to talk about how games utilize death mechanics and how we can use them to delve deeper into our understanding of death, dying, and grief.

Link Keller 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network, where we believe that the best way to understand yourself and others is through the media you care about. I am link, and I am joined by my co host, Lara and Marc, and our very special guest, Mary. This week, we are going to be doing an extra special episode. We recently had the second annual TAGGS summit TAGGsummit, the summit

Lara Taylor 0:46
TAGGS

Marc Cuiriz 0:47
the summit that was TAGGS

Link Keller 0:53
therapeutic applied geek and gaming summit online conference which you can buy media passes to catch the first one from 2021. And soon the recordings from the second taggs will be up and you can even buy your passes for tags 2023 If you’re feeling very proactive. But yeah, Mary and I were going to present at taggs and through a series of unfortunate events did not. And so we were like you know what it’s time to be pirates and take over GT radio, and do what we want to do, which is talk about Death mechanics in games. And that’s video games and board games and TTRPGs, because all the games are delicious. And death is everywhere. All the time.

Lara Taylor 1:51
Marc and I are here just to look pretty, even though you can’t see us.

Link Keller 1:57
I hope that you will join in.

Lara Taylor 1:59
Of course, of course,

Link Keller 2:00
you have insightful things to say. But yeah, that’s that’s basically what we’re gonna do tonight. I guess to start us off. I love talking about death. I’ve talked about death on this podcast several times, and in real life incessantly. And I think it’s really important that we talk about I come from the death positive backgrounds. For those of you who don’t know, that was started by Caitlin Doughty, who is a mortician and YouTube person. YouTuber now.

Link Keller 2:45
phenomena.

Link Keller 2:46
Yes. Her her YouTube channel is Ask A Mortician, highly recommend there’s lots of very cool videos, informative stuff, funny jokes. But yes, basically, the idea being in death positivity is that like sex positivity, this is a part of life that has a lot of stigma attached to it. And we tend to avoid talking about it, when we really should be talking about it. Because it’s natural. It’s normal. It’s going to happen to you to you, to you. So I love getting the opportunity to talk about stuff like this. Mary, would you like to give a little bit of your death background?

Mary Devorak 3:35
Yes, well, first of all, every time I’ve tried to do this presentation, talk thing. Life has tried to take me out. But not this time. We’re here now. It’s Third time’s the charm apparently

Lara Taylor 3:50
fighting against death right there.

Mary Devorak 3:52
That’s right. Yes. Yeah. Now it’s just trying to take my wife out. So okay, who am I? I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. And so I worked a lot with grief and queer community, and all sorts of everything. I am also a death doula. Well, I’m trained as a death doula. And a lot of people aren’t quite familiar with that term yet. It’s very much a part of the death positivity movement, and it’s getting more popular. But basically, death doulas just as birth doulas help life come into the world. We help guide life into their next world. It’s basically like, like I help people with their last wishes and arranging everything and all sorts of things that we never even think about when we’re dying, or having a loved one who is dying. And I often talk about like myself as a dying person, because I was born with a terminal illness. And it’s not terminal anymore. It’s chronic, and I’m alive. And I will not be someday just this all of us will not be. And the cool part in both of the jobs that I do, I also get to use games. And when I’m more on a death role I do some like, what I call grief gaming. And yeah, so we get to talk more about that today.

Link Keller 5:52
Yes, I am very excited. I am coming more from the video games side of things. That’s what I have more familiarity with. But we did also do some research on some TT RPGs, and stuff like that, that will we will touch on. Where do you want to? Where do you where do you guys want to start?

Link Keller 6:21
I guess I guess we can start with defining what I mean by death mechanics in games. Basically, mechanics are the ways that players interact with the game. That is like the rules, obviously, the most base level there is it is the rules. It is also the way that players understand the rules. So it’s a little bit more gray area around there. It can also include like when we’re talking about TTRPG is you can have homebrew where you’re making up your own set of constraints and goals and stuff. And so basically, it’s the ways that we engage with the game and more specifically, the way that death is a part of that engagement with the game. In most games, death is just a fail state, it just means you have lost. Sometimes in video games, it’s often like you reload so you get another chance. Older video games used lives as a way to have a failure states in early videogame history. It was used death was used both as a shorthand for like to get people to understand is like this is a you lost like you died. But also, arcade games are about making money. So the more that you die, the more that you put more coins in to keep playing. And that very much popularized the the verbiage of using death and dying in games even though they weren’t realistic examples of death and dying. in TTRPGs that’s also still very common board games like death is just it’s a fail state. But there are lots of examples. And there are more every year which I love of games that are engaging with the idea of death and dying in more interesting ways more realistic ways. Think I will start with a very on the nose example. And that is a morticians tale which is a video game that came out in I want to say 2017 by laundry bear games. It is a game that is loosely based off of Caitlin Doughty’s first book, and which is autobiographical. So it’s really about her life. It’s you play as Charlie, who is a young mortician starting at a mortuary. And in the game, what you are doing it like the mechanics of the game is you move around in a room and you engage with a computer where you get to read some emails. And then you engage with the body where you prepare it for a funeral, either through embalming or cremation. And then after finishing that part, you go into the funeral home, presentation room, the funeral room, and you get to listen to the family talk and it shows a bunch of different ways that people engage with grief. It shows people you know crying it shows people who are like worried about what’s gonna happen next because you know, you don’t have a will from that person. And so whoever the next of kin is has to just sort of guess what what that person the decedent would have wanted. It shows people who are laughing and joking, it shows people who are like, Man, I’m just like really hungry, can we can we get some fast food after this. And I think that that’s like such a cool game because obviously, it shows all these different types of grief experiences, which I think is really important. It talks about more of the industry side, wherein a lot of private family owned funeral homes, get bought out by big industry corporations, who keep the name and everythi...

#326: Lara, Marc, Link, and special guest Kayla discuss the new Doctor Strange movie (it’s really Wanda’s movie) and how it represents processing grief.

Marc Cuiriz 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Marc Cuiriz. And I am joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:27
Hey,

Marc Cuiriz 0:29
Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:30
Hello,

Marc Cuiriz 0:32
and a very special guest, Kayla.

Kayla Devorak 0:36
Hello.

Marc Cuiriz 0:38
So how was my Josué impression everybody?

Link Keller 0:42
Spot on.

Kayla Devorak 0:43
It was pretty good.

Lara Taylor 0:44
It was pretty good.

Kayla Devorak 0:45
felt like a ten outta ten

Marc Cuiriz 0:47
I think was a little too peppy. He’s normally more toned down. But you know, I tried to bring in the energy because

Lara Taylor 0:55
I mean, you didn’t do the big breath beforehand.

Marc Cuiriz 0:59
That’s true. But nobody ever hears that because I usually cut it out.

Lara Taylor 1:03
True.

Marc Cuiriz 1:04
I don’t let anybody hear that. That breath. Yeah, so we are here today to discuss the new Doctor Strange movie the multiverse of madness. Or in this case, it’s just a Wanda going I don’t know. What would you guys say?

Link Keller 1:28
It’s marvel’s mothers day movie. It’s mom. MoM is mom. Marvel’s Mom,

Lara Taylor 1:35
it’s perfect. Full full spoilers for this episode.

Marc Cuiriz 1:41
100% 100 spoilers

Lara Taylor 1:41
if you haven’t watched the movie Get out of here. Like Josué did.

Marc Cuiriz 1:46
Exactly.

Link Keller 1:47
Or stay it’s fine. No judgment.

Kayla Devorak 1:50
Some people don’t mind being spoiled.

Marc Cuiriz 1:52
I mean, yeah, it’s really me. I enjoy spoilers.

Kayla Devorak 1:55
I don’t mind them. I don’t mind them either.

Lara Taylor 1:57
It depends on the spoiler for me.

Marc Cuiriz 2:01
So I just wanted to get everybody’s initial thoughts, feelings, anything about the movie? Who wants to go first?

Lara Taylor 2:12
I mean, I brought the topic up, I will go first.

Marc Cuiriz 2:15
There we go.

Lara Taylor 2:16
There was it was a long string of Holy shit. Like that. That’s all I’ve got, like, my brain was exploding the whole movie. I really liked it. Yeah, I have opinions about things. We can talk about them later. But

Marc Cuiriz 2:35
I feel like that was that was definitely my whole reaction too I was like, Oh my God, there’s literally so much in this. And just like the introduction of a lot of characters, I just, I was completely mind blown. I definitely I had my seat like fully reclined because I was in one of those types of theaters. And I was I had actually put it like, all the way back up. And it was like at the edge of my seat because I was like, are they going to do it? But there’s a lot of things in there. Lonk, what was your thoughts?

Link Keller 3:09
So on on on GTRadio I am I’m the least invested in the Marvel Universe. And

Lara Taylor 3:20
I like hot takes on the reviews by the way

Link Keller 3:23
I did I didn’t think I was gonna get a chance to watch the movie. And so I did read some reviews. And I watched I watched a YouTube video review about it which honestly, that was a mistake. I did end up watching the movie I just I watched on Monday and so I have seen it. And while it is not my favorite movie, not my favorite Marvel movie. There were definitely parts I enjoyed and

Lara Taylor 3:55
link! this most link one it is a Sam Raimi horror film

Link Keller 3:59
the Sam the Sam Raimi horror aspects were my favorite parts. So that should not be a surprise to anybody. But yeah, overall, it was it was a movie with some cool visual effects and a couple of plot holes that you just don’t don’t think about it. That’s fine. And and a couple of like, really rad character monster design. So I love that. Yeah, that’s those are my surface level thoughts there.

Kayla Devorak 4:35
It’s one of my it’s my top three, Marvel, one of my top three Marvel shows, TV between the TV’s and the movie. So I liked it. I think my jaw was on the floor through the whole thing and I went with my wife and my father in law. Who’s never really does not watch any Marvel shows. I don’t think He’s even seen dr. strange one.

Lara Taylor 5:03
Kayla, are we the same?

Link Keller 5:04
I have not seen dr. strange one.

Kayla Devorak 5:07
I don’t even think he’s seen endgame guys. Like,

Link Keller 5:11
I did see wandavision. So I had like a fair amount of context. But it was very funny. Like Dr. Strange is like, Oh, he’s at somebody’s wedding. She’s probably important, right?

Lara Taylor 5:23
You could infer

Kayla Devorak 5:25
I’d argue you had enough context to be honest.

Kayla Devorak 5:28
I did suss it out. It wasn’t.

Kayla Devorak 5:33
Yeah, that was interesting. He said, Oh, that was an interesting movie. And I was like, I can’t stop thinking about it. This movie is amazing.

Lara Taylor 5:40
That’s kind of the reaction, but I went with my wife and my mother in law. i

Kayla Devorak 5:44
Are we the same person, why are we the same person?!

Lara Taylor 5:49
And, and she has seen some Marvel stuff, but I don’t think she saw the first Doctor Strange. Yeah, it was kind of her reaction. That was interesting. There was a lot of action.

Kayla Devorak 6:02
Like that wasn’t there was a lot of like, that was a weird movie. And he’s has a girlfriend who doesn’t like any sci fi, and he said, she would never watch that she would hate it. I was like, I’m really sorry that she doesn’t like science fiction. That makes my heart hurt.

Marc Cuiriz 6:22
Now, I went and saw it with with my wife too. And I think this was the first Marvel movie that she said that she did not like, now, we’re both not really big, horror people. But for me, it was just it was a nice little trip of nostalgia with me, especially with Sam Raimi. It was just like, Oh, I just gave me those. Those feel good vibes of watching Spider Man back in back in the old days.

Link Keller 6:46
old days? the early 2000s

Marc Cuiriz 6:46
So it was nice. I say this as I’m like, the youngest one here, but it’s fine. But no, I’m trying to keep more so curious Kayla that you said this is like one of your top three favorites, even including the shows. So I want to know, like, what what exactly about this movie? Like makes it like the into the top three for you?

Kayla Devorak 7:11
Yeah. So I really appreciate when Marvel decides to not lean into its comedic brevity. Because I think you can tell really good stories and like darker spaces. And it really leaned into it finally after like, running away from it after Thor 2, like we haven’t really had, like, darker, grittier stories from Marvel. But also, I liked that. I’m really into like, multiversal like thought, and I actually, it’s, it just continues to, you know, prop up my internal thesis that I have running about dreams and just a variety of things. And so it allowed me to continue to kind of think about that stuff. And, and I also just really appreciated the way that really, it’s like Wanda’s movie like, Stephen Strange is there, you...