Overthinking It Book Club

By Overthinking ItArts

Overthinking It Book Club episodes

November 06, 2014Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Week 3
Ben Adams, John Perich, Richard Rosenbaum, Shana Mlawski and Red Pages Podcast’s Justin Bortnick continue the Final Fantasy VI book club with Week 3! Join us for a discussion of the Opera, Ultros and the tension between narrative and gameplay.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-4/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-4.mp3]
→ Download the Final Fantasy VI Podcast
Possible Episode Titles
“Nobody Puts Ultros in the Corner”
“Kefke 2012”
“You’re watching Romeo and Juliet and an octopus comes on stage….”
“Is the narrative the thing, or is the gameplay the thing?”
“Why Everyone in Australia Lies”
“Gau Can Be the Leader If He Wants to Be”
The Overthinking It Book Club
The book club has always been an experiment to see if we, the worldwide community of Overthinkers, can have as much fun looking at a work of literature as we have when we talk about movies, TV shows, and music. Now, we’re taking that idea into a whole new medium, and turning our eyes to the world of interactive fiction – fancy talk for video games. Beginning the week of October 15, we’re going to spend a month and a half playing the RPG classic Final Fantasy VI, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the game’s North American release.
Get The Game
If you have the game already, great! Time to dust off the SNES and get cracking. Otherwise, the game can be acquired for iOS and Android.

The Syllabus
We’ve divided the game into six roughly equal chunks. You’ll get the most out of the club if you have played through these sections by these dates:
Introduction: October 15
Week 1: October 22 (Chapters 1-2: Narshe through the Returner’s Hideout)
Week 2: October 29 (Chapters 3-5: Locke’s Scenario, Terra’s Scenario and Sabin’s Scenario)
Week 3 (this podcast): November 5 (Chapters 6-7: From Narshe to Zozo and the Opera House all the way to Vector)
Week 4: November 12 (Chapters 8-10: From Vector through the Sealed Gate, Thamasa, the Floating Island, and the World of Ruin)
Week 5: November 19 (Chapter 11: Cid’s Island to Darril’s Tomb)
Week 6: December 3 (Chapter 12: Kefka’s Tower and wrap-up)
The Forums
For our discussion, we’re going to use a special section in the Overthinking It Forums. Friday before each section begins, we’ll open up a forum for the coming week with some study questions to get our discussion started. As you play over the weekend, you can answer our questions in the week’s forum, start your own discussion topics there, and chime in on discussions that others have started. Everything up to and including the week’s section of the game is fair game for discussion—but if you’ve played ahead, no spoilers for what is to come! (We’ll open up a “all-game” thread for those.)
The Podcast
Sometime mid-week, we’ll release a podcast where a panel of Overthinking It writers and guests will talk about the game. We’ll talk over the week’s gameplay, address some of the study questions, and highlight our favorite discussions from the forums.
Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Week 3 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
October 29, 2014Book Club: Final Fantasy, Week 2
Ben Adams, John Perich, Jordan Stokes, and Red Pages Podcast’s Justin Bortnick continue the Final Fantasy VI book club with Week 2! Join us for a discussion of avatar-as-identity, the narrative-as-chaperone and rivers-as-infinite-loops.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-3/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-3.mp3]
→ Download the Final Fantasy VI Podcast
Possible Episode Titles
“Once Again, Video Games Prove Their Superiority To Having Friends”
“Russian Formalism If You Want to Get Nasty”
“Locke Goes Back to Grad School”
“The Chaperone That Makes Sure You and Sweet Lady Narrative Don’t Go Too Far on The First Date”
“One Must Imagine Ultros Happy”
“The Game Makes Magic Feel Awesome”
The Overthinking It Book Club
The book club has always been an experiment to see if we, the worldwide community of Overthinkers, can have as much fun looking at a work of literature as we have when we talk about movies, TV shows, and music. Now, we’re taking that idea into a whole new medium, and turning our eyes to the world of interactive fiction – fancy talk for video games. Beginning the week of October 15, we’re going to spend a month and a half playing the RPG classic Final Fantasy VI, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the game’s North American release.
Get The Game
If you have the game already, great! Time to dust off the SNES and get cracking. Otherwise, the game can be acquired for iOS and Android.

The Syllabus
We’ve divided the game into six roughly equal chunks. You’ll get the most out of the club if you have played through these sections by these dates:
Introduction: October 15
Week 1: October 22 (Chapters 1-2: Narshe through the Returner’s Hideout)
Week 2 (this podcast): October 29 (Chapters 3-5: Locke’s Scenario, Terra’s Scenario and Sabin’s Scenario)
Week 3: November 5 (Chapters 6-7: From Narshe to Zozo and the Opera House to Vector)
Week 4: November 12 (Chapters 8-10: From Vector through the Sealed Gate, Thamasa, the Floating Island, and the World of Ruin)
Week 5: November 19 (Chapter 11: Cid’s Island to Darril’s Tomb)
Week 6: December 3 (Chapter 12: Kefka’s Tower and wrap-up)
The Forums
For our discussion, we’re going to use a special section in the Overthinking It Forums. Friday before each section begins, we’ll open up a forum for the coming week with some study questions to get our discussion started. As you play over the weekend, you can answer our questions in the week’s forum, start your own discussion topics there, and chime in on discussions that others have started. Everything up to and including the week’s section of the game is fair game for discussion—but if you’ve played ahead, no spoilers for what is to come! (We’ll open up a “all-game” thread for those.)
The Podcast
Sometime mid-week, we’ll release a podcast where a panel of Overthinking It writers and guests will talk about the game. We’ll talk over the week’s gameplay, address some of the study questions, and highlight our favorite discussions from the forums.
Book Club: Final Fantasy, Week 2 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
October 23, 2014Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Week 1
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich, Richard Rosenbaum, and Red Pages Podcast’s Justin Bortnick continue the Final Fantasy VI book club with Week 1! Join us for a discussion of musical rewards, Six-Sigma Optimized Character Builds, and the bourgeois.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-2/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-2.mp3]
→ Download the Final Fantasy VI Podcast
Possible Episode Titles:
“As a lady, I enjoy narrative.”
“The musical reward is really a big deal”
“General Motors Six-Sigma Optimized Character Build”
“This kid is like a dog or something….so I’m going to leave him behind”
“What bourgeois do we even have in this world?”
The Overthinking It Book Club
The book club has always been an experiment to see if we, the worldwide community of Overthinkers, can have as much fun looking at a work of literature as we have when we talk about movies, TV shows, and music. Now, we’re taking that idea into a whole new medium, and turning our eyes to the world of interactive fiction – fancy talk for video games. Beginning the week of October 15, we’re going to spend a month and a half playing the RPG classic Final Fantasy VI, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the game’s North American release. Here’s the plan.
Get The Game
If you have the game already, great! Time to dust off the SNES and get cracking. Otherwise, the game can be acquired for iOS and Android.
The Syllabus
We’ve divided the game into six roughly equal chunks. You’ll get the most out of the club if you have played through these sections by these dates:
Introduction: October 15
Week 1 (this podcast): October 22 (Chapters 1-2: Narshe through the Returner’s Hideout)
Week 2: October 29 (Chapters 3-5: Locke’s Scenario, Terra’s Scenario and Sabin’s Scenario)
Week 3: November 5 (Chapters 6-7: From Narshe to Zozo and the Opera House to Vector)
Week 4: November 12 (Chapters 8-10: From Vector through the Sealed Gate, Thamasa, the Floating Island, and the World of Ruin)
Week 5: November 19 (Chapter 11: Cid’s Island to Darril’s Tomb)
Week 6: December 3 (Chapter 12: Kefka’s Tower and wrap-up)
The Forums
For our discussion, we’re going to use a special section in the Overthinking It Forums. Friday before each section begins, we’ll open up a forum for the coming week with some study questions to get our discussion started. As you play over the weekend, you can answer our questions in the week’s forum, start your own discussion topics there, and chime in on discussions that others have started. Everything up to and including the week’s section of the game is fair game for discussion—but if you’ve played ahead, no spoilers for what is to come! (We’ll open up a “all-game” thread for those.)
The Podcast
Sometime mid-week, we’ll release a podcast where a panel of Overthinking It writers and guests will talk about the game. We’ll talk over the week’s gameplay, address some of the study questions, and highlight our favorite discussions from the forums.
Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Week 1 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
October 16, 2014Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Introduction
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich and Red Pages Podcast‘s Justin Bortnick kick off the Overthinking It Book Club with an introduction to FINAL FANTASY VI. Join us for a discussion of video games as art, artisanal hand-crafted emulators, video game auteuers and more!
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download//oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-1/oti-book-club-final-fantasy-vi-1.mp3]
→ Download the Final Fantasy VI Podcast
The Overthinking It Book Club
The book club has always been an experiment to see if we, the worldwide community of Overthinkers, can have as much fun looking at a work of literature as we have when we talk about movies, TV shows, and music. Now, we’re taking that idea into a whole new medium, and turning our eyes to the world of interactive fiction – fancy talk for video games. Beginning the week of October 15, we’re going to spend a month and a half playing the RPG classic Final Fantasy VI, in honor of the 20th Anniversary of the game’s North American release. Here’s the plan.
Get The Game
If you have the game already, great! Time to dust off the SNES and get cracking. Otherwise, the game can be acquired for iOS and Android.
The Syllabus
We’ve divided the game into six roughly equal chunks. You’ll get the most out of the club if you have played through these sections by these dates:
Introduction: October 15
Week 1: October 22 (Chapters 1-2: Narshe through the Returner’s Hideout)
Week 2: October 29 (Chapters 3-5: Locke’s Scenario, Terra’s Scenario and Sabin’s Scenario)
Week 3: November 5 (Chapters 6-7: From Narshe to Zozo and the Opera House to Vector)
Week 4: November 12 (Chapters 8-10: From Vector through the Sealed Gate, Thamasa, the Floating Island, and the World of Ruin)
Week 5: November 19 (Chapter 11: Cid’s Island to Darril’s Tomb)
Week 6: December 3 (Chapter 12: Kefka’s Tower and wrap-up)
The Forums
For our discussion, we’re going to use a special section in the Overthinking It Forums. Friday before each section begins, we’ll open up a forum for the coming week with some study questions to get our discussion started. As you play over the weekend, you can answer our questions in the week’s forum, start your own discussion topics there, and chime in on discussions that others have started. Everything up to and including the week’s section of the game is fair game for discussion—but if you’ve played ahead, no spoilers for what is to come! (We’ll open up a “all-game” thread for those.)
The Podcast
Sometime mid-week, we’ll release a podcast where a panel of Overthinking It writers and guests will talk about the game. We’ll talk over the week’s gameplay, address some of the study questions, and highlight our favorite discussions from the forums.
Book Club: Final Fantasy VI, Introduction originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
August 27, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, The Film
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, and Matthew Wrather watch and discuss the 1972 film adaptation of Slaughterhouse-Five, directed by George Roy Hill and starring Michael Sacks. (Looks like there may be another adaptation on the way.)
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-6/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-6.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Movie
On this podcast, we talk about the 1972 film adaptation of the novel. You can stream Slaughterhouse-Five on Amazon (affiliate link) and we’ll get a small commission if you do.
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, The Film originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
August 20, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 9–10
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, Richard Rosenbaum, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather read and discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 9–10.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-5/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-5.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Movie
On next week’s podcast, we’re going to talk about the 1972 film adaptation of the novel. You can stream Slaughterhouse-Five on Amazon (affiliate link) and we’ll get a small commission if you do.
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 9–10 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
August 13, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 6-8
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather read and discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 6-8.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-4/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-4.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 6-8 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
August 06, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 5
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich, and Matthew Wrather read and discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 5.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhouse-five-3/oti-book-club-slaughterhouse-five-3.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapter 5 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
July 30, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 3-4
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich, Richard Rosenbaum, Ryan Sheely, and Jordan Stokes read and discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 3-4.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhouse-five-2/oti-book-club-slaughterhouse-five-2.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 3-4 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min
July 23, 2014Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 1–2
Ben Adams, Shana Mlawski, John Perich, Richard Rosenbaum, Jordan Stokes, and Matthew Wrather read and discuss Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 1–2.
[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/archive.org/download/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-1/oti-book-club-slaughterhosue-five-1.mp3]
→ Download the Slaughterhouse-Five Book Club Podcast
Discuss this Section
We’re holding the discussion in the Overthinking It Forums—head over there and join the discussion.
Get the Book Club Podcast
Subscribe to download new episodes of the Overthinking It Book Club automatically.
Subscribe in iTunes
Subscribe with RSS
The Overthinking It Book Club
The Overthinking It Book Club began in 2013 with a six-week discussion of Ender’s Game. For 2014, we’re reading Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, with weekly podcasts featuring a rotating panel of Overthinkers discussing the book and group discussion in the Overthinking It Forums. You’ll get the most out of the club if you read these sections by these dates:
Week 1 (July 23, 2014): Chapters 1 and 2
Week 2 (July 30, 2014): Chapters 3 and 4
Week 3 (August 6, 2014): Chapter 5
Week 4 (August 13, 2014): Chapters 6, 7, 8
Week 5 (August 20, 2014): Chapters 9 and 10
Week 6 (August 27, 2014): The film adaptation
Get the Book
We’d appreciate it if you used our Amazon affiliate link to buy Slaughterhouse Five as a paperback or Kindle book. (Canadian and European readers can use these links instead.)
Book Club: Slaughterhouse-Five, Chapters 1–2 originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]
0 min