GT Radio - The Geek Therapy Podcast

#322: Lara, Marc, Link, and Josué discuss Turning Red. We cover the multifaceted representation and the cringe of being a young teen.

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 through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. I’m joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:22
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:23
Link Keller,

Link Keller 0:24
sup party people.

Josué Cardona 0:26
And Marc Cuiriz.

Marc Cuiriz 0:27
Hello,

Josué Cardona 0:28
Lara, it is your turn this week.

Lara Taylor 0:31
It’s my turn. And there’s a new new Disney Pixar movie

Josué Cardona 0:36
take that Happiest Pod on Earth.

Lara Taylor 0:38
That’s what we’re gonna talk about. We’re gonna talk about turning red.

Josué Cardona 0:45
Yeah, I brought it up at work. And someone was like, what is that? I don’t know what it is. And then we explained and then they were ashamed that they didn’t remember what happened. When we brought it up. As, as he should have been,

Marc Cuiriz 0:59
you know, I had somebody I had somebody else talk about it at work. And they’re like, I fell asleep through that in during that movie twice. And I was like, what? Excuse me how?

Lara Taylor 1:10
It was so good.

Marc Cuiriz 1:11
It really it really was. But I asked them, like, how could you fall asleep? They’re like, I don’t know. I just I just kept falling asleep. And I was like, well

Lara Taylor 1:18
do they have narcolepsy?

Marc Cuiriz 1:20
Possibly.

Josué Cardona 1:21
But what’s so good about it Lara? Hmm, why do you want to talk about it? What’s the what’s great about this movie?

Lara Taylor 1:25
Well, I wanted to talk about this movie before I saw it because they have to not one but two diabetic characters on in the movie. But that was kind of anticlimactic when I watched the movie.

Link Keller 1:38
Were there two?

Lara Taylor 1:39
There were two.

Link Keller 1:40
I only saw the one, Stacy.

Josué Cardona 1:42
So I saw zero I didn’t notice at all. When we talked about it earlier. I even made the diabetes reference. And then I thought, wait a minute. I just saw the movie. I don’t remember, diabetes reference?

Lara Taylor 1:55
To two girls have sensors on their arm. The funny thing is this movie takes place in the early 2000s. When we didn’t have those sensors, that sensor technology

Josué Cardona 2:07
this is taking place in Canada, though. Did Canada have sensors

Lara Taylor 2:10
No.

Josué Cardona 2:10
but they have health care than us right no No, they didn’t.

Link Keller 2:14
the technology did not exist yet.

Lara Taylor 2:16
It did not exist yet. It’s just like, when we talked about on the diabetes podcast episode, we did Josué. When in panic room. The daughter had a sensor on her wrist. And that was not available to anyone under the age of 18. At the time, and she was like 15. So yeah, still representation. Good. They had creators that were diabetic. And that’s why there are two characters, but no mention of what these things on these kids arms are, or anything like that. They were very minor characters, but I appreciated it.

Josué Cardona 2:58
it’s a World. It’s an alternate, you know, parallel world where everything’s exactly the same, except that people can turn into red pandas. And

Lara Taylor 3:08
and they had sensor technology for diabetics earlier. Exactly. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Yeah. I appreciate that. I appreciate that. There are so many other things about this movie that I loved. I don’t know. I could go into more of those things now. But I want to hear what other people liked about the movie. And then I guess I can go into more of my, my things, but I just I really liked it. It was a lot of fun. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard in a while.

Josué Cardona 3:36
Marc, you were defending it now to what’s it? What’s, uh, What’s so great about this movie?

Marc Cuiriz 3:42
Well, I just, I liked how like, it really is giving it from like, the, like, the pre adolescent, like, right into the cusp. It’s giving you that fresh perspective on on what growing up is like it like it reminds like, parents what it was like growing up and understanding that like, hey, as, as your kids grow up and start to discover who they are, like, it’s important that you give them the freedom to make these discoveries because the harder you try to hold on to the chain, the more they’re going to push back at at you and you know, there were some things that I kind of like related to like, feeling good enough and trying to get parental approval. My will say though, I was physically cringing within the first like two minutes of the movie just because of how like accurate it was in terms of like the awkwardness of it but like also owning it and I was like Oh, that’s really cringy but I Okay, I’m here for it. Let’s ride it out. And then it dissipated and I was like, okay, I’m okay, now. That the whole intro sequence. It’s done. All right now now I’m here for the ride.

Josué Cardona 4:56
Link What are your thoughts?

Link Keller 4:58
I really enjoyed it, turning red, I love red pandas. I was very excited to get lots of red panda screen time. I liked the family dynamics. I loved the friend group. And I had several moments where I’m like, oh, it’s me, because I was also in eighth grade in 2002, 2003. So yeah, I was like, Oh, the big example is when Miriam gives Mei, the mixed CD or the burned CD. I was like, oh, like, there was one I still I still have a ton of them. But like there was there’s a period of time where I would just borrow people’s full, like CD binder cases and take them home and burn all of them and then make mix CDs for my friends. Yeah, that one. That took me back even harder than the Tamagotchi did.

Josué Cardona 6:04
The young people in the audience burning a CD means making a copy of it on fire.

Lara Taylor 6:10
not even just making a copy, but making a playlist of your own and then burning it.

Marc Cuiriz 6:16
Listen, I made a burns. I made a mix CD in like 2018 Okay, I know what it’s all about. I made I made one for my now wife. It was really sweet. Really cute. I even like went out and like, bought got like a blank. Like, like a CD, like

Link Keller 6:38
jewel case?

Marc Cuiriz 6:39
Yeah. And like, and I like I made like a custom like cover and like the back with like a plate like the the song lists on it. It was for like an anniversary. So I’m young. I was probably I think I was in like second or third grade in 2002. But I’m not that young. I know these things. I know what a floppy disk is.

Josué Cardona 7:00
I wasn’t I wasn’t saying it for you. And I was saying just in general. Like

Marc Cuiriz 7:04
I felt

Josué Cardona 7:05
listeners

Marc Cuiriz 7:07
I felt directly called out.

Josué Cardona 7:08
I’m sorry, you felt that way. A burn on cd means something Yeah, that means different things today than it did back then. It’s just what’s the CD, it’s Look, I’m just, I’m just trying to cover our bases. We don’t lose anybody. I enjoyed the movie a lot, too. I haven’t haven’t talked about my niece in a while. I mean, my niece and nephew. But I thought of my niece a lot during during this movie. Because when whenever I’m with her, or she tells me about ...

#321: Marc brings a deeply philosophical question to the team: Are we capable of change? We touch on media examples of role models we strive to emulate and the lived experiences (read: parents) that shape our thoughts and behaviors. Compassion and introspection help us to create the changes we want to see.

Josué Cardona 0:11
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network here Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is JosuéCardona. And I’m joined by link Keller.

Link Keller 0:22
Hello,

Josué Cardona 0:24
Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:25
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:26
Marc Cuiriz

Marc Cuiriz 0:27
Hello,

Josué Cardona 0:28
Marc, it is your turn this week

Marc Cuiriz 0:32
it is my turn. Okay. Yeah, so it for this one. And I posted this a lot in the discord very, very briefly where I said, I think I’m having an existential crisis. So I kind of wanted to hear your guys’s opinions on this,

Lara Taylor 0:46
we have an existential crisis on the show, like every week,

Marc Cuiriz 0:50
that is true,

Lara Taylor 0:51
you’re in the right place.

Marc Cuiriz 0:53
After all, 300 of them, I am well versed in your existential crises. So this came up in my last therapy session, where I was talking about the ideas of change, because you know, growing up, dealing with all the crap I’ve had to go through, I’ve always made the conscious choices to be the exact opposite of what I grew up with. So instead of like hiding my emotions, I chose to openly show them and let them be seen, instead of being closed off or aggressive. I was calm and kind and empathetic, and so on and so forth. But now, as I’m getting older, I’m sort of realizing that I’m kind of falling into patterns that I’ve seen before. You know, growing up, and I was like, the question that came up was, are we as people and humans really like blank canvases where we can choose to change and create ourselves, however we so choose? Or is there some sort of like, pre determined behaviors that we kind of learn, as you know, we’re babbies and into young children, that no matter how hard we try to change those things, or better them or in whatever the case is, there are still hints of those always going to let that are always going to kind of shine through and kind of be seen and it’s just something that’s like, you’re kind of stuck with.

Josué Cardona 2:26
Welcome to GT Radio we’re getting philosophical here.

Marc Cuiriz 2:32
Basically,

Lara Taylor 2:32
not a tough question at all, Mark,

Josué Cardona 2:35
nature versus nurture. I will I will share that. I too, have been motivated throughout my entire life by what I call negative role models. I don’t know if that’s the I don’t think that’s like the correct term. But that’s what I’ve always called them. So I’ve tried to be the opposite of a bunch of people.

Link Keller 3:00
anti role model?

Josué Cardona 3:01
A what?

Link Keller 3:02
anti role model role anti model. Something there

Lara Taylor 3:07
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Josué Cardona 3:09
A Roll away? model? I don’t know, but but I’ve used that term, a lot.

Lara Taylor 3:17
a nat one model.

Josué Cardona 3:20
But But I too, have learned that I am more like some of those people than I thought. And it is it was not a happy realization at all. I mean, I’ve always I’ve always looked to fictional characters as as role models. Those have always been in my real life. I’ve never had, you know, like, people close to me who I felt were role models. And I Yeah, yeah, no, I’m those are My initial thoughts while I sit over here in this corner process a bit somebody else talk.

Lara Taylor 4:05
My initial thought is that I think is a combination of both right? We can change where I’m a therapist, I think people can change otherwise, why bother? If you’re going with that painting metaphor, maybe we’re not a blank canvas, maybe someone painted an oil painting and the oil is still malleable, and we can move it around and change it and make it different, it can look different. But those things are still there and influence us whether we like it or not. I don’t know that. That’s my thought.

Lara Taylor 4:42
Link?

Link Keller 4:52
I also come from a background of having people close to me that I um especially as a teenager was very vehemently, like, that’s what not to do, I’m going to do whatever that is not. And I have coped with moments in my life where realizations that when you are in novel situations, you don’t have a lot of time to think about stuff. And you react in the moment. And you realize that that reaction is based off of that playbook that you didn’t want to use. But that’s the playbook that you had. And it takes a lot of introspection to be able to recognize when that is happening in the moment. I don’t know if I’m very good at it is something you know, I think that that’s probably a lifelong training thing. But people people are capable of change, I would say that firmly people are capable of change. I think even when we are recreating behaviors, that because the context of our own life is different, that the behaviors are different because of that context. Now, it can have outcomes that are positive or negative, mixed bag, usually mixed bag. But I think it is so important to remember that the context matters, that even if you are recreating shitty behaviors of your parents, like that was in the 90s 80s 70s. It’s like now we’re now and that’s

Lara Taylor 6:48
just to be clear, no one here was alive in the 70s,

Link Keller 6:51
I was talking about our parents,

Lara Taylor 6:53
okay, okay.

Josué Cardona 6:59
Lara, you weren’t?

Lara Taylor 6:59
I am a month older than you stop it. I’m gonna keep defending myself. Because Josué called me old last week.

Link Keller 7:07
I think honestly, one of the big reframing moments for me was realizing that a lot of the stuff it’s the same is the same for our parents, right, that they did things that they swore to themselves that they would never do, because their parents did it to them. And you just unconsciously you do it, you pass it on, you express anger at a situation that really doesn’t require anger, because that’s the shorthand that you learned from your dad. Really showing myself there. But I think

Josué Cardona 7:45
hypothetically,

Lara Taylor 7:47
hypothetical situation

Link Keller 7:49
I think having that realization of like, this happens to literally everybody really helped me be more compassionate towards myself, which that compassion gives space for me to actually have that moment of introspection, and, you know, next time be able to be like, oh, oh, I’m getting that feeling right now that I’m about to do something that is based in, in the past, and it doesn’t need to be I can, I can take this moment and change, I can do something different, I can make a different choice. But it definitely it took a lot of years and a lot of really trying to see specifically parents as real, multifaceted people who have all the same bullshit from their history that affects who they are currently. And that is, that is me, that is my parents, those my grandparents, as their parents we are all just doing our best

Lara Taylor 8:54
Abuela and the Madrigals

Link Keller 8:56
absolutely great example right there.

Josué Cardona 9:01
Marc, are we ...

#320: Link watched Kimi (2022) and wanted to talk about the portrayal of the main character’s agoraphobia and anxious behaviors. Josué and Lara discuss how context impacts our ability to overcome anxiety, and how other media tries to represent the experience.

[PASTE TRAN

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 through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:21
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:24
and Link and a baby.

Link Keller 0:26
Wahh

Josué Cardona 0:30
Link, It’s your turn. What are we talking about This week?

Link Keller 0:33
we are talking about a film that came out recently on on HBO Max called Kimi

Josué Cardona 0:41
starring Zoë Kravitz as Kimi.

Josué Cardona 0:44
Starring Zoë Kravitz as Angela Childs.

Josué Cardona 0:49
oh

Link Keller 0:49
Kimi is the name of this world’s Siri, Alexa, the Smart Voice machine that is in it inside of everybody’s houses and is always recording. And Angela works as a moderator functionally, she, she gets the audio pieces from when Kimi is marked as like making a mistake. And she goes in and she’s training Kimi to be to be better. That’s that is a real job that people do. She

Josué Cardona 1:30
so in the movie, they make it sound like nobody else does that. And, and what sets Kimi apart from the other ones, right. And they call them out by name. But like we’re special, because we have someone who’s like we have real people fixing, you know, and working in the background.

Link Keller 1:51
Yes.

Josué Cardona 1:52
But is that is that true?

Link Keller 1:55
I don’t know. I I have always assumed that real people are hands on in training AI to do things because its necessary

Lara Taylor 2:11
otherwise you get random things. Yeah.

Josué Cardona 2:13
Yeah. But to what extent though, right?

Link Keller 2:16
I hope not to the extent that is shown in Kimi,

Josué Cardona 2:20
that’s what I’m thinking. Right? Because the idea is like, machine learning is using tons of other references to learn so because that would be faster. And then in the movie, what they’re saying is, we are special because we still have that human element and like, like AI isn’t there yet. And so we have people doing this. And and yeah, I don’t I don’t know that I would call it moderation, right? I mean, exactly. But she

Lara Taylor 2:52
quality assurance?

Josué Cardona 2:53
I mean, it’s definitely like a QA role, for sure. It is definitely a training a training model, right. Like she is writing, like syntax. She’s like, this thing that a person says, Is this and she’s writing it in a way for the system to understand it in the future, because it didn’t understand it this time, but she does make the the comment at one point that she was a Facebook moderator. And, and kinda the Some similarities in just the the horrible things that she’s that she’s seen. Yeah. Yeah. But I thought that was really interesting to, to think of like to see someone in that role. Because like, we know that there are moderators out there. and we’ve talked about it in the past. I don’t remember if it was on this show, or on. I know we definitely talked about on PsychTech at some point.

Lara Taylor 3:52
I think we talked about it on this show.

Josué Cardona 3:55
Right?

Lara Taylor 3:55
Because we’ve I’ve talked about it with you.

Josué Cardona 3:57
Yeah.

Lara Taylor 3:58
Like yeah, the it was about video games and watching. Like, the artists and designers needing to watch violent material over and over and over again.

Josué Cardona 4:09
Yeah, that was a that was that. Was that a Headshots discussion, too?

Lara Taylor 4:14
We it might have been I mean, we did do some crossover.

Josué Cardona 4:17
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And and I remember

Link Keller 4:20
Yeah, I think it’s been on all all of them.

Josué Cardona 4:22
Yeah. Yeah. We haven’t talked about in a long time. And I don’t remember ever seeing this represented in a story. I’m sure you know, this. I’m sure there’s at least one law and order episode. Where we see someone in this role, but to see like a fictional dramatic, you know, version of this when you I mean, it’s gotta be like, you can’t even make a comedy show out of that because it’s too depressing. Like you can make a sitcom out of you know, people who are moderating social media.

Lara Taylor 4:58
You can try,

Link Keller 4:59
you could

Josué Cardona 5:00
But it would be it would it would just feel you’d be glossing over all of the real terrible things.

Link Keller 5:07
I imagine it would feel similar to Brooklyn nine nine’s final season in. It’s like, this is weird. This is not landing.

Josué Cardona 5:15
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And I mean, and this movie. It does, it reminds me, you know, I mean, we haven’t even gotten to like, the anxiety stuff. But like, just this piece of it reminds me of part of our discussion about the Mitchell versus the machines. Right? It’s like, sure, that technology, we can talk about that technology, but also, like, let’s not ignore all of the terrible parts of this. I mean, and it is, you know, it is it is leaning into the big bad Corporation type of type of thing or people within the corporation with nefarious intent. But it doesn’t, it feels grounded, in a way. Because it is, you know, it is a device that we we there devices that we have at home that we don’t think about. I don’t think that I mean, some people do think about them this way. But But I think most people don’t.

Link Keller 6:18
I mean, a big part of what goes into designing these, this technology is to make it as unobtrusive as possible. And so there’s very much a encouragement from the user interfaces to be like, don’t don’t think about it. Like you don’t need to think about don’t even worry, don’t fret, your little minds, just, you know, it’s there. And you use it when you need to, and otherwise ignore its existence.

Josué Cardona 6:48
yeah.

Link Keller 6:50
Which is not great. But from a design perspective, like if that’s the intention, they nailed it. Yeah, okay. So basic plot of Kimi is that it takes place in the modern era, post, concurrently, COVID time, and Angela has agoraphobia. And so she works from home, and she does not leave her house. She’s very uncomfortable leaving her house. She has a lot of behaviors that she does that are built into to keep her safe and contained within her home. Which, you know, the agoraphobia aspect is always very interesting. Mental health stuff, but it fits in so nicely with the idea of like, Nah, dog, the whole world is supposed to be inside, like, many people are working from home and have to deal with like, Okay, can I get the things that I need from outside to come to where I am inside. So she’s, she’s working from home. And she gets a message to she’s listening to the audio recordings from Kimi speakers. And she’s going through and she’s fixing, you know, Kimi, teaching Kimi like, you know, that’s a slang term. And this is, you know, like a different pronunciation of something and all that stuff. And she overhears a recording, that sounds like a violent altercation between people. And she immediately tries to report this to people above her. And then, because it’s a thriller, movie, exciting thi...

#319: Josué thought we’d be talking about procrastination and the feeling of relief when you finally do the thing. But after some reflection, the team realized the power of friendship can help you do anything – even finish that game (or other media) you’ve been meaning to complete.

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 joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:21
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:23
and Link Keller,

Link Keller 0:24
what’s up, Friends?

Josué Cardona 0:25
What is up, everybody? It’s my turn to choose a topic this week. And ah, okay. That’s it. Let’s see, let’s see if we can follow along with where I’m going with this. Okay, so I’m gonna tell you story. A story. A long time ago, I forgot what was it 2017? maybe? a little game called the Breath of the Wild came out. It was it was amazing. It was so good. I loved it. So, so so much. I didn’t have a Nintendo Switch at the time. I was like, happened. I have a Wii U, I’m just gonna I’m just gonna play it on Wii U. And I played it and I beat the the four beasts. And then I, you know, all I had to do is get, you know, go to Hyrule Castle and defeat Ganon. And, and, but there were also lots of other things and Korok seeds and all that stuff. Anyway, so So then I don’t know why I didn’t get around to to go go to Ganon. And so when I got to switch, I, I decided that’s my favorite game. I’m just gonna start over, it’s fine. so then I play Breath of the Wild. And I beat the for the four beasts. And and yeah, I did not beat ganon again. There were a couple reasons for that. So fast forward to 2022. So five years later. And I decided, or a friend was playing the game. And I was like, oh, yeah, no, I’m, I’m like, for five years. I’m still saying I don’t know, but I’m gonna finish it soon. I’m gonna, you know, I’m still playing Breath of the Wild. And every now and then I go back. I go back, i got a motorcycle that has all this stuff. thing. And I think I played for a bit and I was thinking, what else do I need to do is like, oh, you know what? I didn’t do the trial of the sword. I do the trial of the sword, then. Then I’ll be stronger. And then then I’ll be ready to beat ganon. Right, then I’ll do it. And then maybe maybe that was last year, but earlier this year. 2022. I’m ready. I’m ready to play the game. And so a friend of mine is doing it. I’m like, This is it. I’m gonna I’m gonna finish it. I’m going to finish this game. Finally, stop this. This. This has to end, I need to finish this game. And I booted up and I immediately go oh, look, still trial of the sword. Maybe I should do that. Because then I’ll be ready. No, no, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, let me let me not do this. I left that I finally beat the game. And I took like 15 minutes. Okay, well, I was I was strong enough. I was strong enough. But around that time that I decided I was reflecting upon why I have so many unfinished things like unfinished video games, unfinished projects, unfinished TV shows unfinished movies, like, I don’t know, there’s a lot of stuff that was unfinished. And I started thinking about how good it feels to complete something. And so it felt really really good to finish Breath of the Wild especially after all those years where it was kind of looming. And, and I started reflecting on other areas in my life anywhere I’ve I start things and I and I don’t finish them or for the reasons why so I want to talk about some of the reasons why I think I never finished Breath of the Wild until now. And some of the reasons why I haven’t finished other things and then some of the reasons why I haven’t finished other things in in my life. And and maybe the the benefits or the catharsis of actually finishing things. It’s it’s a lot I think it covers a lot of things, but it was that particular experience around Breath of the Wild and other geeky pursuits that made me reflect pretty hard on on how that’s a pattern in my life. Can either of you relate in any way?

Link Keller 4:43
Yes.

Josué Cardona 4:44
Yeah. In what way?

Link Keller 4:50
I have been a consistently gets to the last area level dungeon, of a video game. And I stop a stop playing for a couple of weeks. And then I go, Man, I should really finish that and I go back. And because I haven’t played in several weeks, I’m not I’m not good at it immediately. And so I go ugh it’s too hard. And I stop and I never play it again. I have gotten better about that in more recent years, but definitely, like, early adulthood, my late teens, early 20s is is just a huge swath of almost finished games. It was very much a pattern for me. I think, majority of the time. The reason was, is that finishing the game meant that I was I was done with it. And I didn’t want to be done with it yet. And so I would be functionally done with it because I’d stopped playing with it. But emotionally I’m not done with it yet. It’s still there. And so I can hold on to it. And the experience isn’t over yet. I’m not ready to let go of it. So I don’t! very, yeah.

Josué Cardona 6:16
That I mean, that is I think the main issue that I had with Breath of the Wild. I love that game so much that I could not bring myself to make it and

Link Keller 6:29
I have still not beat Ganon in breath of the wild.

Lara Taylor 6:32
I’m I still haven’t beat the camel in the desert. Because I can’t I just can’t can’t

Josué Cardona 6:40
that was pretty hard.

Link Keller 6:42
that was the hardest one

Josué Cardona 6:43
that was the hardest one for me.

Lara Taylor 6:44
I can’t Well, I was trying to do that one. And then I was like, You know what, I’m gonna go beat the other one, the whatever one what did i have to do? i had to beat, the bird. And I went did that and then I came back. I was like, I’m gonna beat this camel. Absolutely not. I just can’t, my hands will not let me do the thing I need to do and I know what I need to do. It’s just a matter of doing it. Which is a whole other thing in video games.

Josué Cardona 7:10
Mine was the other issue. Like I could do it, but I didn’t know what I had to do. Once I figured it out.

Lara Taylor 7:14
I will I will up that and I have never beaten a Legend of Zelda game.

Josué Cardona 7:21
Never? none of them?

Lara Taylor 7:22
Never. I have. I have watched someone beat Twilight Princess and watch someone beat ocarina of time. Technically, it was my copy of the game. So I guess maybe I beat it. But it was like a group play. But I’ve never beaten. I usually give up around the Water Temple. Yeah. But I am I am like, in the last couple years, I have beaten more video games than I have. Probably in the years before. I still have a lot of unfinished games. I don’t think it’s because I’m not ready. I think it’s because something I take long to finish a game. And something new and shiny comes out. And I really want to play that because I’m really excited about that thing. And I’ve been trying more and more to not do that. So,

Josué Cardona 8:14
okay, so we’ve got I don’t want it to end we’ve got it’s, it’s just too hard. And I’m stuck. Right. And so so I couldn’t I could not advance

Lara Taylor 8:22
or I’m taking my time and then something new comes along that I want. Yeah, mhmm

Josué Cardona 8:26
yeah. Yeah. Which which could be, um,

Lara Taylor 8:29
which I’m about to hit with horizon: Forbidden West and Tiny Tina’s wonderlands. Boom,...

#318: Lara and Special guest Kayla Devorak share some of the major emotional moments and therapeutic epiphanies they’ve had while playing Kids on Brooms with the CASTT Gamers group on Twitch. https://www.twitch.tv/castt_gamers/

Josué Cardona 0:12
Welcome to GT radio on the Geek Therapy network here Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by link Keller.

Link Keller 0:22
hiiiiii

Josué Cardona 0:23
Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:24
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:26
and special guests first time on. GT radio Kayla Devorak.

Kayla Devorak 0:32
Hello.

Josué Cardona 0:33
Devorak? Devorak? Devorak,

Kayla Devorak 0:36
Devorak

Josué Cardona 0:36
Devorak

Kayla Devorak 0:37
Yeah. Don’t say Devorak. That’s incorrect.

Josué Cardona 0:41
Thank you. Thank you for Yeah,

Lara Taylor 0:43
Josué is very specific, about pronouncing,

Kayla Devorak 0:45
thank you for asking

Josué Cardona 0:45
I want to make sure. I want to make sure it’s right. It’s important to me. Yeah. Yeah. Welcome. The reason why you’re here is because Lara, you know, we take turns picking a topic. And every week, you know, one of us goes, and we really bring up who’s gonna go? And I’ve been asking Lara, and she kept saying, like, oh, I don’t know, I don’t have an idea because I’ve been obsessed with something. And it gets, and the first week, okay, it’s fine. We can skip you. And then the second time, she said, I was like, Whoa, that’s your topic that I think that’s it. I think we

Lara Taylor 1:23
the first time was something else. But then it was my second time. And I was like, all that’s on my brain is buying this house. stuff at work. And this Friday night CASTT game we’ve been playing.

Josué Cardona 1:40
Please tell us more about that.

Lara Taylor 1:42
I got to explain everything?

Josué Cardona 1:45
Start with explaining CASTT, and then and then and then explain what’s happening on CASTT.

Lara Taylor 1:50
Here, Kayla, you want to explain?

Kayla Devorak 1:51
Hi, yeah, I can explain CASTT a CASTT it stands for community of applied spiritual, and therapeutic tabletop gamers. We are a Discord server of helping professionals who like to use tabletop role playing games, and board games in an applied manner. We also stream doing those things.

Lara Taylor 2:22
Yeah, more and more shows being added.

Kayla Devorak 2:25
We have Friday night casts, which is every Friday night at 9:30pm. Eastern on Twitch, I always forget the timezone transitions. And then we have every other Sunday is gays of our lives, which is an all queer cast playing queer games and talking about being queer. That’s every other Sunday. And then newly started is the tabletop transformations, which is the fourth Thursday of every month where Menachem and Tanya talk about how tabletop games can help us in our spiritual journeys. We have another show coming, but I can’t talk about that one yet. No.

Link Keller 3:11
For our listeners, you can check that out at Twitch tv slash CASTT.

Lara Taylor 3:17
With two Ts underscore gamers,

Kayla Devorak 3:20
yes, thank you.

Lara Taylor 3:21
Or on YouTube. were CASTT with two T’s gamers no underscore.

Kayla Devorak 3:30
That’s correct.

Lara Taylor 3:31
Yeah, yeah. And

Josué Cardona 3:32
that Discord server, how could we possibly find it or join? If we were so interested.

Kayla Devorak 3:41
We’re working on getting a submission form built out in our it’ll be in our link tree which you can access in our about page on Twitch.

Josué Cardona 3:53
Okay, we’ll put in the show notes. Yeah, okay. All right. So that’s CASTT. And then so so. So you’ve been playing a game.

Lara Taylor 4:03
We’ve been playing a game kids on brooms by if I had thing out

Kayla Devorak 4:10
Doug Levandowski.

Josué Cardona 4:13
On rolling for change. We’ve,

Lara Taylor 4:15
you’ve talked about kids on brooms and kids on bike.

Kayla Devorak 4:18
Yep, yep.

Josué Cardona 4:19
Yep. And they’ve played a campaign on there as well. And Menachem, which you mentioned before, has also been on rolling for change.

Lara Taylor 4:29
So kids on brooms, I started playing. The group that plays on Fridays had been playing games together since before I joined and then kids on brooms was the first game I played with them. Then we decided to do a bunch of other games and then stream and we streamed a bunch of other games and decided we really wanted to come back to the characters that we played in kids on brooms, and it’s been a very interesting, enlightening experience. I think it’s very interesting that we have a queer show. And yet most of like, what we’re going to talk about is like the queer journey in this relationship that our characters have. But this game is

Kayla Devorak 5:16
super gay

Lara Taylor 5:17
it is so gay. It’s so gay and so good. Um,

Link Keller 5:23
before you start describing your characters, could you give us a little quick synopsis of kids on brooms and how it sort of works and in the play style and everything?

Lara Taylor 5:37
Um, kids on brooms is like a rules light kind of game compared to d&d or any of that you do have dice. You have stats?

Link Keller 5:47
Do you use d 20 or D sixes?

Lara Taylor 5:50
a whole bunch of different die. Mm hmm.

Link Keller 5:54
I love that an excuse to use all of my clackies.

Lara Taylor 5:57
Exactly. So like you can have a D 20, in brawn and like, be able to beat things up, right? Or you can have a D 4 in brains and not make some good decisions. There’s each, like, we talked about playbooks. There’s tropes instead of classes or whatever. So in this one, it’s kids on broom, so it’s all I don’t want to say Harry Potter base, but Harry Potter magicians, that kind of stuff.

Link Keller 6:30
Hogwarts adjacent

Kayla Devorak 6:31
That’s the best way to explain it, Yeah,

Lara Taylor 6:32
yeah. Um, so you’ve got like, the firstborn caster. That’s my character. The haughty descendant that’s Kayla’s character. You’ve got unlikely ally. I’m trying to remember some of the Oh, teacher’s pet. There’s a whole bunch of good ones. Yeah. Yeah, a whole bunch of tropes, you answer questions based on that. There’s a lot of relationship building in the game. We asked each other relationship questions at the beginning of the game, each time we play. or not each time you play, each season, except sessions.

Kayla Devorak 7:20
During the character creation and world building. There are relationship questions that will ask you you roll a die, you roll the D 20. And whatever number you get is the question you ask. And you can you can ask a question about a character relationship that is negative, or positive, or you don’t know the person.

Lara Taylor 7:42
And then we built the world together in that we have a GM it is a GM game. Dustin is wonderful and created this world for us. But we get to have input too. And then we build in rumors that may be true or not help give him ideas on where to go and what we’re interested in in the world. This particular version, our first time playing, we were students at a high school in Yale, or not in Yale to in Salem, where we were deali...

#317: Link and Josué tell Lara about George Romero’s lost-then-remastered The Amusement Park, which is an emotional PSA about elderly abuse. The existential dread sets in, but the end point is finding compassion for those our society mistreats.

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 I’m joined by my fellow co hosts, Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:22
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:24
and Link Keller,

Link Keller 0:26
hello Fellow Olds

Josué Cardona 0:30
Lara’s the oldest person here remember, never forget. So,

Lara Taylor 0:35
by a month!

Josué Cardona 0:36
what are we talking about?

Link Keller 0:39
Today we are talking about a film that is available on shutter it is called the amusement park. And a little fun history. This was a sort of a PSA done by George Romero in 1973. And it got showed at like, one film festival, and then it got lost. And just a couple of years after George Romero’s death in 2017, like 2018 2019, they found some copies of this film and were able to restore it, and then they put it up on shutter. And so I watched it this last week, and again earlier today. And it was very interesting, and I thought it would make a good topic.

Josué Cardona 1:34
I agree

Link Keller 1:34
for us.

Josué Cardona 1:35
Yeah, no, the history of it is really interesting. Do you know any more that you describe that as a PSA? Did he make it? I mean, it’s obviously a PSA in the in the in like the definition, the dictionary definition, sense of the word because it has an introduction, or it’s telling you, right, he even says at the beginning and at the end, it is bookmarked with, like if you have been moved to action, there are organizations that you can go to, to support older individuals. So

Lara Taylor 2:08
that sounds like a PSA to me.

Link Keller 2:10
It was it was produced for the Lutheran Service Society of Western Pennsylvania and the Pitcairn crab Foundation, which is I assume, also in Pennsylvania, but yes, it was intended to be a PSA about elderly abuse. And I imagine that George Romero’s, like, I’m gonna zhuzh this up a little bit, I’m gonna get a little metaphorical I’m gonna get a little loosey goosey with it. And he, well, he Lincoln Maazel, the main character specifically says, we intend for you to feel the problem. To experience it, it is meant to be more of not a like, documentary. It is meant to be something that you feel emotionally when you watch this, less than an hour long film. So I think that it was successful in that.

Josué Cardona 3:08
Yeah, yeah.

Link Keller 3:10
It is. It is hosted on shutter, which is a horror streaming service. And it sort of rides the line of being horror. I find parts of it horrifying, but it’s not scary. Right,

Lara Taylor 3:24
but you can find things horrifying that are not horror.

Josué Cardona 3:28
I think it definitely falls into horror, though. Because, because it’s not in the sense that it’s scary, but that it’s tapping into fears.

Link Keller 3:36
Absolutely, yes.

Josué Cardona 3:37
These are like yeah, it’s it’s absolutely highlighting and exaggerating. Things that are terrifying. And, and you’re kind of bombarded by them. Right? It is like an overwhelming it’s a nightmare. Like, like I was watching. I was like this, this plays out, like a nightmare. In multiple ways

Lara Taylor 3:59
Is it your Nightmare Josué.

Josué Cardona 4:01
I mean, I think it’s a lot of people’s nightmare, even when they when it starts again, it has this it has this introduction by the by the actor who plays a main character. And one of the first things that that he says is that this is this is that people live their lives and are successful and hope to get to a point where then they can take it easy when they can retire. And they can reap the benefits of what they’ve of what they’ve created and what they’ve gained, right maybe what they’ve earned, and that there’s even an expectation that you would have, that society would recognize that that you contributed something like even that. You just have a lot of experience. To share, but that instead society turns its back on you and doesn’t help you and things get harder. And and so those two, it’s such a, it’s not at all what you think you’re building toward is kind of what it is kind of how he introduces it. And, and he’s just talking to the camera at the beginning, right? This is before the actual movie begins. Yeah, that’s just and he bookends that at the end, you know, with, with, like, kind of a quick recap. But that idea alone is like being alone not having someone to help you, or just being treated in this this terrible way. It’s, um, I think he made a list of all the worst things that could possibly happen to you, or all the things that you see happen to elderly people or that, you know, like happened to either grandparents or, you know, any complaint you’ve ever heard from someone in a nursing home. And then he kind of he built a park out of it, where all of those things are concession stands and attractions and part of the experience there.

Lara Taylor 6:13
That is not a park I want to go to

Josué Cardona 6:15
That’s it sounds like a nightmare. Right? It sounds it sounds like a like a nightmare. So So is it my nightmare? I think? I think I don’t, I hope that my life doesn’t turn out that way. But it, it most likely, a lot of those things will probably play out at some point.

Link Keller 6:36
Hopefully not all in an afternoon. but Yeah, yes.

Josué Cardona 6:43
Yeah, I have a lot of thoughts on it. A lot of thoughts on it. But I’m curious how you feel about it. Link

Link Keller 6:49
I decided I thought it was really cool. I particularly liked in one of the early scenes when Lincoln first goes out into the park and he’s looking around, and he’s seeing people having fun. And he goes, and he sees people lining up for a ride. And they have I wrote them down because it was so funny to me. They had signs and it said requirements for this ride. Individual income over 3500 must not suffer from and then it has a list of health issues, including diabetes, which I wrote down. And then

Lara Taylor 7:27
this should be on the diabetes podcast,

Link Keller 7:29
we should put it on the diabetes podcast. must pay cash, no credit accepted. And then it cuts to people being kicked out of line. And they’re like, why can’t we go on this ride? Why can’t we go on this ride and it cuts back to the last sign which says must not fear the unknown, which made me laugh so hard.

Lara Taylor 7:48
nobody can get on that ride

Link Keller 7:50
I don’t think it was supposed to be funny but it was very funny to me. Because it’s like, like, the first one is like you have to have enough money to participate. And then it’s like you can’t have any sort of disabilities to participate. And then it’s like, you have to have money now. Like it can’t be theoretical money. And then also like you, you can’t be afraid of the unknown is like, okay, so nobody goes on this ride, then what the heck. That’s what about you? Wait, wait, what was your experience?

Josué Cardona 8:23
Yeah, well, I mean, in addition to this, I like the idea that it does play out like a nightmare. Um, I think it’s, it was painful to watch it. Like I told a friend yesterday that I was gonna watch this, oh I’ll add it to...

#316: Josué, Lara, and Link discuss Eternals: the diverse cast, impossible choices, family dynamics, and argue whether or not Ikaris is a villain.

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. I’m joined by link Keller.

Link Keller 0:20
Helloooo, nerds,

Josué Cardona 0:22
and Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:25
Hey, people,

Josué Cardona 0:28
people, geeks

Link Keller 0:30
party people

Josué Cardona 0:31
Alright, so So today we’re gonna talk about the Eternals the movie. Because I’ve never read comics. And so the reason why I want to talk about this, but there’s a few, there’s a few reasons I think it touches did there’s one main idea in it that I won’t really want to talk about, but I think it’s a great movie with. I mean, I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the movie. And it has a lot of pretty fleshed out characters, and they each have very unique abilities and personalities. But the big idea that I wanted to discuss is kind of, you know, central to the film. So if you have not watched the Eternals and you do not want spoilers. Please go away. Come back. Come back later.

Lara Taylor 1:24
Watch it come back. It’s on Disney plus.

Josué Cardona 1:26
Yeah, yeah. If you don’t know how you feel about spoilers, go back to our spoiler episode. I forget what, what what number that is. But I think about that episode all the time. Spoilers for the spoiler episode. It’s about research that shows that when stuff is spoiled for you, a lot of people like you actually enjoy it more. It’s almost like there’s a build up. Oh, stuff. I think it’s, yeah, anyway, go check that out that episode. It’s a it’s a it’s it’s got to be like at least 150 episodes ago, it was a while it’s been a few years. It’s been a while. Time. So the Eternals What is it about the movie that I have not stopped thinking about? And this is the way I see it. I’m curious what both of you think, but I feel that there were no villains in the movie. And that everybody there just had, like a purpose that they were trying to fulfill. And there was no good there was no completely good solution. Like in The Avengers, like in end game, right. They, there’s that Tony Stark quote, where he says, You know, I want to make sure that we that we regain everything we lost and don’t lose anything that we’ve gained. Like, he’s like, I want to make sure that across the board. I don’t I don’t want to lose anything. Right. Like every win win win. It was the plan. And that was the the objective. And here in this movie, I feel like the eternals there’s no way. Right like everybody, there’s no way to please everybody is kind of is kind of the the message and the thing that stayed with me the most, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I watched the movie a couple weeks ago. Thoughts. Lara, you you disagree? your face your face is strongly disagreeing.

Lara Taylor 3:38
I disagree. I disagree. Because anytime we talk about villains, we talk about how they there are reasons for their villainy. I think that murdering your friends, your mentor, and lying to everybody and putting up this two-faced, like oh yeah, I should. Like, I’m fine with not being the leader. And you know, oh, no, I’m Ajak is dead. Like

Josué Cardona 4:17
so you think Ikaris is the villain

Lara Taylor 4:19
He’s such a liar. He’s a he’s a liar. I don’t know if he’s like, I also feel like Arishem is also a villain because I think that once again, lying to all of them, not let it like if they all knew what they were supposed to be doing. That might be I think my biggest problem is the lying, not the murder.

Josué Cardona 4:44
Obviously, well

Lara Taylor 4:44
except for murdering your friends. That’s that’s this backstabber-y

Josué Cardona 4:50
that does bother you.

Lara Taylor 4:52
It does bother me. Gotcha, but it’s pretty good. I do think that like, Yes, everyone was put in impossible situations. I understand that like The premise of the movie is billions of lives sacrificed so that more than billion billions of billions more can be brought into the world. I get that. Also, you’re taking away people’s agency and choice, and you are lying and and deceitful. And then there’s some murder. So like, not just like, destroying the whole planet genocide, murder, but like, personal. I’m killing you because I disagree with you murder. I’m luring you out here into a trap murder.

Josué Cardona 5:40
I’ll disagree.

Lara Taylor 5:41
That’s villainy.

Josué Cardona 5:43
I’ll disagree and debate you more as we as we go on. Link, your your thoughts on this. On my interpretation of events,

Link Keller 5:54
I understand what you’re saying in that even the characters like Ikaris who are serving as antagonists, to our protagonists forward momentum through the story. Even even with the antagonism, he’s still understandable as to why he takes the actions that he takes. It’s, it’s, I think, a good reflection that we see Ikaris, in an effort to uphold the purpose that He has come to understand, he is willing to sacrifice Ajax as a way to maintain his purpose. And then reflecting that later, where Sersi and the rest of the Eternals choose to sacrifice their purpose in order to save the planet. And so there’s like a nice mirroring there, where somebody is still getting killed, somebody is getting sacrificed in order to for this thing to happen. But the difference is your personal mentor, someone you have a many 1000s of years relationship with versus an an unknowable being that is coming into creation, you do not have a relationship with that person. But yeah, I get what you’re saying. I do think that Ikaris is pretty villainous. Just given the lying aspects, like Lara said, is is

Lara Taylor 7:27
the deceit,

Link Keller 7:29
the withholding the information? Like he had the opportunity, he had the information and he had the opportunity to decide for himself that for him, it was more important that he maintained the purpose he believes that he had, but he didn’t give the rest of his team that opportunity. And I think that choice pushes it over into villainy. But again, understandable it’s understandable. Like how fucking hard would it be to be like, Look, you guys so big news, um, we’re here basically is like factory farmers. And everybody that we’ve worked so hard to like save and protect and help nurture and grow is about to get killed, eaten. But like, I’ve already decided that that’s worth it. And so, like, I don’t care what you guys think is kinda shitty. But yeah.

Josué Cardona 8:25
Do you think that Ikaris struggled with that at all?

Link Keller 8:30
I’m gonna say he struggled with it more, once The woman he was he’s in love with was like, Hey, bro, not cool.

Lara Taylor 8:40
he was pretty cold when it was Ajak.

Link Keller 8:43
Yeah,

Lara Taylor 8:43
for a bit.

Link Keller 8:44
Yeah, I think I think that honestly adds some depth to his character that in the moment with him and Ajax, he was certain and he was sure that he was making the right choice for him. And then when faced with the rest of his team, and they’re pretty unanimous, like rejection of his choice, and him having to be like, Oh, I’m less sure it was a good choice now. Which then ending with a solar suicide? WHAT

Lara Taylor 9:12
Oh, seen the memes like men will literally fly into t...

#315: The Crew gushes about Encanto, touching on family systems, perfectionism, and growth.

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 through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Lara Taylor.

Lara Taylor 0:22
Hey.

Josué Cardona 0:23
And Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:24
Hello.

Josué Cardona 0:27
Link. I feel like if we don’t talk about Encanto you are going to burst

Link Keller 0:32
I’m gonna lose it. We gotta talk about Encanto.

Josué Cardona 0:39
Why? Why do you want to talk about this movie?

Link Keller 0:41
I am obsessed. It’s showed up on my for you page on tik tok with a bunch of people talking about how much they loved it and things that they noticed in the background. And I was like, this is interesting and cute. And this song we don’t talk about Bruno. This is fun. I’m enjoying this. I watched the movie. I loved it. So I watched it three more times. Yeah, so I just I think Encanto is a perfect movie for talking Geek Therapy stuff. We’re gonna get into spoilers cuz we got to talk about Bruno.

Josué Cardona 1:24
We do,

Lara Taylor 1:25
and Luisa and Isabella, and Mirabel and all of them.

Link Keller 1:31
Everybody, yes.

Josué Cardona 1:32
Yeah, yes. Yeah. Not, it’s a hell of a movie. Lots to talk about. To talk about. Yeah, I mean, there’s just so many themes. I’ve been, I’ve been thinking a lot about movies like this, or I guess what movies, it’s not too hard for, like shows that just cover so many different topics. It’s like, if we do one library entry for this thing, like, how long is that thing? How helpful is it if we list 27 Different themes, and

Lara Taylor 2:04
it’ll be helpful because someone will search for one of those themes and be like, Oh, I can hit that. And that and that. And that.

Josué Cardona 2:13
That’s, that’s, that’s the plan. That’s the idea. Yeah. So where do you want to start? Link, where do you where do you want to start?

Link Keller 2:22
I, let’s, let’s start more fun and loosey goosey, and then we’ll get into the grittier stuff. So

Lara Taylor 2:30
like the movie!

Link Keller 2:31
just like the movie, wait, what? Did you guys have a favorite song, let’s start there. My favorite song is surface pressure, which is Luisa’s song, and it is a song about feeling the need to be strong to do anything that your family requires of you anything that your community needs of you. And that is what gives you value as a person, and how awful that can feel. Where if if you’re not hitting 100% of what everybody is asking of you, then you are worthless, worth less. And there is a particular line in the song where she says, Oh, God, I have it written down. I feel worthless if I can’t be of service. And that I feel that so deeply?

Josué Cardona 3:30
drip drip of pressure? Yes. Yeah, he’s

Lara Taylor 3:33
we’re watching this movie at the driving and I just yelled out that’s me. In the middle of the song.

Link Keller 3:41
it me. Yes, absolutely.

Josué Cardona 3:45
Yeah. Lara, do you have a favorite song?

Lara Taylor 3:48
That was that was going to be my favorite song. It’s interesting, because when I went into go see them after we’d watch the movie, I was like, I liked all the songs but nothing really stuck in my head at the end, like you know how Moana had. We’re all go and then frozen had of course the I’m not even gonna name off the two that everybody sings. But, um, nothing really stuck in my head. And then after it hit Disney plus, everybody started singing. We don’t talk about Bruno. And I was like, Yep, okay, that’s the one that is the one to catch. If it’s not going to be surface pressure is going to be we don’t talk about Bruno like I was on the gondola. We have the at our zoo. There’s like a gondola that brings you up to the top of the hill. And we could hear people singing as they were passing us in the window. Like, we don’t talk about Bruno. It was great.

Link Keller 4:41
that’s so cute.

Lara Taylor 4:43
And then it got stuck in my head. So yeah, we don’t talk about bruno.

Link Keller 4:47
Yeah, that one is definitely an ear worm. And, and on the first listen, you’re like this is fun. And then when you go back and you listen again, there are so many little, so many little details in there that you don’t pick up on

Lara Taylor 5:00
And they start singing really quickly, like, I’m gonna need to put on captions to, like get more look at the lyrics

Link Keller 5:06
to guess why I always have captions on because I got to see those lyrics.

Josué Cardona 5:12
It’s like, oh, Dolores told us that song that she like knew all along my favorite is Dos Oruguitas. For sure

Lara Taylor 5:23
that one’s been stuck in my head today too, and makes me cry.

Link Keller 5:27
So sweet.

Josué Cardona 5:29
I’ve listened to that song. Many, many, many, many times

Link Keller 5:33
do you listen to the Spanish version or the English version?

Josué Cardona 5:36
I started listening to the English version in preparation for podcasting about about it. But mostly in Spanish. And a big reason is because of what you just said about the details. I, I’ve started thinking, I mean, I’ve started studying this movie. This movie has layers and the symbolism is is surprising to me. And I feel like I’ve never watched a Disney movie that was like this, where I could like keep going back and finding all these different pieces to it. Like, by my third viewing, it wasn’t the same movie that I watched the first time because I realized that I connected all these different it’s almost like an M Night Shyamalan movie. Like you don’t know what you know, and at the end you’re like what?

Lara Taylor 6:30
They’ve been telling us this all along. Yeah, and it’s not as obvious as frozen two’s like the first song tells you the end of the movie.

Josué Cardona 6:38
Yeah, well, yeah, well, it’s yeah, it’s funny

Lara Taylor 6:41
like explicitly

Josué Cardona 6:42
Yeah, yeah. Cuz Dos Oruguitas I feel that way now. Like, the more I listened to it, it wasn’t until a third time that I watched the movie that I was like, I saw it completely differently. But yeah, Dos Oruguitas is my favorite. For sure.

Link Keller 6:55
I Love. I love the detail in the intro song where Mirabel is introducing the family when she introduces abuela of well as part is in tune with the Dos Oruguitas song, which I did not pick up on the first time. The second time was like, oh, oh, that’s that’s her song. That’s her song. It’s her part in the song is that’s beautiful.

Josué Cardona 7:22
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. That’s my that’s my favorite. But but the whole all of the songs were really good. Like, I think, yeah, I like it. Do like some even, like, even like, Lion King was my favorite Disney movie for a very long time. And like, I never really liked the the scar song. What’s the?

Lara Taylor 7:45
be prepared

Josué Cardona 7:46
Be prepared, like, like, every time be prepared to jump. I was like, no, like, I don’t. I don’t love be prepared. But this here’s like, every I think I think every like every time a song comes on, I’m, I’m happy that the song is on. Yeah.

Lara Taylor 8:03
And someone I was talking to this week mentioned t...

#314: Josué and Link discuss the importance of names. Specifically, how exciting it was to have Josué’s name be included in Forza Horizon 5

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 I’m joined by Link Keller.

Link Keller 0:20
Helloooo

Josué Cardona 0:22
Hey Link. Today I want to talk about the importance of a feeling a feeling seen. Okay, I feel like you you’re, you’ve been seeing like your we talked about representation

Link Keller 0:42
I’ve been seen,

Josué Cardona 0:43
I’ve been seen,

Link Keller 0:45
I have no, that is true. I have been seen,

Josué Cardona 0:48
you have. We’ve talked about representation a lot in different in different ways. And there’s, there’s this, there’s one thing that like, for years, I’ve had this idea that one day, I’m going to, I was going to like, either make a YouTube video, or like this really long blog post, like, you know, someday, maybe I’ll do it, but this is this is gonna end up being the first version of that. So there’s something that I do. So my name is spelled J O S U E. And on the E, there’s a there’s a tilde, right? Or an accent mark. And so that that’s, that’s correct. Spelling in Spanish, that’s the way you do it. Many languages have other characters and symbols on, on their letters, my name happens to have one. And it’s, it’s important to me, it’s very important to me, so I always spell it correctly. And I appreciate it so much. When, when people like, you know, there’s a pronunciation part of like, oh, how do i pronounce her name? And like, I appreciate that part. And I get it. It’s like how, Oh, I’ve never seen that name before. That’s kind of weird. That’s usually people’s reaction when that comes up. But the writing part, right is is also a big a big thing. So I, for years, I’ve been, you know, I put my name in, and I got a website when I sign up for something. And so for years, I’ve been taking snapshots of all the times that different systems, websites, programs, apps, have told me that’s not a real name, or it’s an error. Not only not only like, sometimes it’s like, there’s a there’s a there’s an error in your name, but it’s like this thing that you wrote in there is an error, right? It’s a and there’s there’s many different ways of that sometimes it’s just not acceptable.

Link Keller 2:56
unrecognized symbol

Josué Cardona 2:59
unrecognized um, I don’t, that sucks. And sometimes I get to red letters. It’s like, hey, No, try again. Don’t do that. So then I have to I have to misspell at the misspelled my name. So I have to remove the the tilde, right? It’s like, okay, fine. I get it. And I still again, I’ve been doing this for years. And I take a snapshot of it. Because I want to see what it looks like. Sometimes, systems will accept it first. But then on the back end, they change it. And it has all sorts of weird things that come up. Some of it I think is like ASCII code that that’s like, you know, like this all so many weird things. And sometimes it just doesn’t make any sense.

Link Keller 3:44
There’s just an ampersand, where it’s like anything that is not a letter or a number. We’re gonna turn it into an ampersand.

Josué Cardona 3:50
I wish it was just that. So one of the one of the most absurd ones that has ever happened was when I signed up to be a, like a contributor for for my local NPR station. Many years ago. I sign up and a member supported I’m a member now awesome. I put my name in. It accepts it. And then I get something in the mail. And my name is written. Oh, like J o su ampersand, E A C U T E. Right? It’s just like this huge Josué uhh Akuti. Right. And I’m like, what? It’s the weirdest version. Sometimes there’s like weird symbols and stuff. So I mean, it just it just, I’ve come to accept that it bothers me. I don’t like it. Every time I’ve had the opportunity. Whether whether you know, that whenever I’ve had an opportunity to like bring it up or any kind of consulting piece. I’m like, Look, names matter. Right? Let’s do something about that. So That’s that’s just, I accepted it. And again, I’m collecting it and it, it doesn’t feel good. And, and I was recently, I went on vacation, I went to a national park. And you know, like when you go to touristy places, and there’s like the souvenirs that have people’s names on them.

Link Keller 4:25
Mm hmm. The keychain wall

Josué Cardona 5:22
key chain, right stuff. Exactly. Stuff like that. So

Link Keller 5:25
the lanyard bracelets,

Josué Cardona 5:27
yeah, yeah, exactly. All that stuff. And, but to be fair Josué is not as uncommon. A name, like I used to. I mean, you’re in California. I mean, used to be in California, right? Like, you’ve probably, you know, seen it often. More often than, than, you know, people in other places. But it’s not that uncommon. And I used to, like, as part of this argument, I use it. So every year, I would go, the Social Security, his Social Security website has a list of the most common names that are given to children every year in the country. And Josué was always in like, the top 200 300 For the past, like 10 years. And I mean, I haven’t checked it recently to see like where it is, but it’s like, it’s there, like kids are being named Josué all the time. Josué is, is the Spanish equivalent of like, if you open a Spanish Bible, right, what an English would be the chapter of the book of Joshua. It’s it’s Josué, right? I mean,

Link Keller 6:24
yup

Josué Cardona 6:25
it’s just Joshua, and many countries have a different version of it. That’s the Spanish version. And in French, it’s technically spelled the same way. So it’s not it’s not super uncommon. I’m still

Link Keller 6:34
no, it’s super common. It’s a biblical name. Just because it’s not in English. It’s Oof.

Josué Cardona 6:43
I mean, look, I’m giving my my story, my perspective, my version of this, right? Like, there are there are Asian names that are so common, if you take the world and in context, right? Because Because Asia has so many people, right? So many people in India, so many people in China, who have names that once they come here, people are like, I don’t know how to spell that. What is that? Like? And it’s the same type of, I’ve never heard that before. You know, and you know, that you’re like, one of, you know, millions of people you right, in the world who has the same name. And so like, I feel that but I but I get it, right, like you don’t know another language. Maybe you don’t know, too many other people that maybe you just forgot its Okay. So this is something that that again, is important to me. It always bothers me anytime even. I have this conversation all the time. Oh, how would I say your new Oh, that’s so nice. I’ve never heard it before. And I like automatically goes like, oh, it’s the Spanish version of Joshua. Like, you know, it’s like, it’s my version of like, how to thank you. Here’s a, here’s a learning moment. And let’s move on. Right?

Link Keller 7:57
Yeah.

Josué Cardona 7:58
So in media, I’ve never, never, ever seen the name Josué. Like, I mean, I’m like, sure. Spanish mean, it’s like an English like, I don’t remember ever seeing a character name or sway, anything like that. A book like nothing, I think there’s no like main or even side characters right now named Josué I’ve never, never seen it. And, and, I mean, we’ve, we’ve talked about it not in this context, right. But lik...

#313: Josué and Lara are joined by special guest Marc Cuiriz to discuss and process Spider-Man: No Way Home, full spoilers ahead!

[PASTE TRANS

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 I’m joined by Lara Taylor Kester.

Lara Taylor 0:21
Hey,

Josué Cardona 0:22
hello. And a special guest, Marc Cuiriz.

Marc Cuiriz 0:26
Hello,

Lara Taylor 0:27
what is he doing here?

Josué Cardona 0:29
He’s abiding by our very strict. Once a year rule, he’s not allowed on the show more than once per year.

Lara Taylor 0:35
Okay, yeah. Cutting it close this here?

Josué Cardona 0:38
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Only at the end of the year. Is he allowed to come by maybe so.

Marc Cuiriz 0:45
So you want to know something? That’s funny. The last time I was actually on GT was last year in November, when the rise of Skywalker came out. And we did a whole Star Wars Episode. Yeah. Yeah,

Josué Cardona 0:57
I know. I know.

Marc Cuiriz 0:58
So it seems like I’m only invited on when there’s a big premiere of movies.

Josué Cardona 1:03
No, you’re actually

Lara Taylor 1:05
no

Josué Cardona 1:05
the reason why you’re on here is because you represent a different spectrum on the age continuum, than we do obviously, Lara’s At the opposite extreme.

Lara Taylor 1:24
Thanks,

Josué Cardona 1:24
among us, You’re You’re the youngest one.

Lara Taylor 1:27
I am a month older than you.

Josué Cardona 1:30
You’re still the oldest one. But but there was something about that that Star Wars Episode, right where it was, you have such a different experience than I do with Star Wars, right? Like for you, it was new. And, and so for today, we’re going to be talking about spider man, no way home. And not only is is Spider Man, super important to you. But you said something to me. The day before the movie came out. You said like, this is like my entire childhood. in like in one movie. And I thought about that. I was like, what, when? But how different is that? From from, from my experience? And I think it is. And and I know Spider Man is a super important character to you. So that’s why I really, I’m really happy that you’re here to provide a perspective. Of course, this is a super spoiler filled episode. I hope you’re here because you want to learn more about the movie. sure, get our reactions, of course, but really the different themes that we we each identified, I’m sure we saw it and thought very different things. And hopefully, this will be helpful for you, listener, as you as you think about the movie and talk about it with other people and you know, get an idea of how meaningful some of the themes in this movie can be. So so with that. No, come back later. If you haven’t watched it, if you haven’t watched Spider Man no way home if you have welcome. And let’s start with Marc, what what does the character Spider Man mean to you?

Marc Cuiriz 3:12
What a Spider Man mean to me. Oh, man, this is this is a loaded question because he means he means he means many different things to me. I mean, first and foremost, he sort of has that representation of, you know what, like what you were talking about earlier, where I kind of represent this on the younger side of this generation here. In terms of like, you know, talking about millennials, I know I’m like very at the cusp. You could call me a zillennial, or whatever you want to call it. The point is, is that, you know, he, you know, Peter Parker when he’s bitten, he’s just a teenager, and he has to figure out the whole superhero gig, basically by himself, at least in the comics. So we represent that younger, more childish side. But also, he’s probably one of the more realistic superheroes that I was exposed to as a kid. You know, growing up, you have the the, the iconic ones, you have Superman, you have Batman. And you know, Batman, I know is pretty realistic in the sense that, you know, he’s just normal human, he has no powers, but he’s also mega rich, which is also extremely unrealistic to someone like me, who’s, you know, always kind of lived in the working class or below. And so to have someone like Peter Parker, and spider man, to basically be someone like me, just with the unfortunate or fortunate accident of being bitten by a radioactive spider is is something that has always stuck out to me and has always shown me that you know what, it doesn’t matter how old you are. It doesn’t matter where you come from. You always have this potential to do great things and to help so many other people with your gifts. It doesn’t necessarily need to be something spectacular, as long as you sort of have the heart and the conviction to always kind of stand up and do what’s right. And in his case, it’s odd at the times looking out for the little guys, you know, like they have in which movie was it? It was Civil War at the end or not civil war. Oh, God, no, Marvel no Marvel knowledge is leaving me. No, I wasn’t winter soldier. No, no, it afterwards

Lara Taylor 5:34
was debuting in civil war. Yeah,

Marc Cuiriz 5:37
it was, it was, oh, it was homecoming. My apologies. So they have been homecoming. When he says, like, you know, I want to be the friendly neighborhood Spider Man, I want to look out for the little guys. So he’s not sitting here, you know, protecting government agencies. He’s not out there protecting his own corporation. It’s no, I got to protect the everyday citizens of New York from you know, muggers and burglars and things of the sort he wants to be there for them. He is the people’s hero. And you even see that with with spider with the video game with Miles Morales, you know, kind of deviating a little bit, but we still have the the moniker of spider man. And, you know, kind of spoilers for that game. You know, at the end, we have one of the you know, one of the people of Harlem saying that’s our spider man, because he represents them, and he’s fighting for them based on the actions that he’s doing and what he kind of is standing up for. So that’s kind of like, I think the biggest thing for what’s how, what Spider Man sort of means to me is that you’re there for the people, and you’re there to do whatever you can to help them to the best of your abilities with the gifts or the knowledge that you have.

Josué Cardona 6:53
I was telling my therapist today that the Spider Man is known for, you know, having storylines and or having an element to his stories where like, he has to have a job and he has to pay the rent. And, and he struggles with things that you know, people struggle with on a day to day basis in a very relatable way. He’s not the only character but he I think he’s definitely probably the first superhero, that that did that kind of thing. And it’s it’s core to to the character and of course over the years, you know, Spider Man has been many, many different things. Including, like being portrayed by different actors and different movies. Okay, so just quick reactions to to the movie Lara. What what did you? What did you think of the movie?

Lara Taylor 7:43
I cried a lot. It was very good movie. It was everything. Like Marc was talking about this is his childhood coming to life or whatever, right? This is my entire adulthood and spider man because the first Spider Man movie came out when I was in college right out of moving out of my dad. We’re not moving out of my dad’s house, but right when ...