Weekly Round-up 6/9/2024

A dream of flying

Hi folks,

I hope you’re all doing well. I’ve been fighting some kind of bug over the last week or so on top of being busy with work. Fortunately for podcastheads out there, I was able to muster the strength/courage to talk about movies and videogames that I like for a little bit.

The first episode was on the videogame Cyberpunk 2077, which I (correctly) identified as theoretically the greatest game of all time when it first came out. I’m very happy to report that after years of bugfixes and content updates, it is now the actual greatest game of all time, too. The game has a wonderful energy that I think is much needed today, especially with the upcoming election.

I did another episode on the story of Cyberpunk 2077, particularly in the game’s DLC expansion Phantom Liberty. Phantom Liberty is great because it completes the game by adding an option for a bad ending that you are definitely are not supposed to choose, but allows you to appreciate the game’s slightly less bad endings even more. This episode was special for me. In it I also talk about Silence (2016), which is one of the best movies about religious faith.

Finally there was a review of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, the new movie in theaters now. The movie is not good, but it’s not good in an interesting way. I talk about the other movies in the Mad Max series. Rewatching these as showprep was so much fun that I’m probably going to do separate episodes on each of them.

If you’re looking for an interesting historical find, check out this transcription of the final letter from General Wrangel to General Denikin, which summarizes the course of the Russian Civil War and how Denikin’s personal flaws contributed to the White Army’s defeat. Wrangel really reads Denikin the Riot Act in this one.

Besides the Mad Max episodes, I’ll also be recording episodes on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Command and Conquer 1995, and Lesley McNair, the man who almost singlehandedly reorganized the US Army’s General Staff in the leadup to WW2. I’ve found reading about Great Depression era America really rewarding. We’ve got a great country!

On that note, you should definitely check out this episode on the book “Forging the Thunderbolt,” about the development of the US Armored Corps after WWI. I think this is (no meme) the single most important book for rightwingers to read today.

That’s all I’ve got. Please upgrade to a paid subscription right now to gain access to all the content on this Substack. Every single new subscription is an enormous help to me. I really am grateful for all paid subscribers. If you are a free subscriber who’s read this far down in the email: Fuck you.

Here are all the podcast episodes available now (most are paywalled):

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Ep1: Redditors of the Reddit Moon (Paid)

Ep2: Robocop: Rogue City review (Free)

Ep3: "War to the Knife" takes a shit on your stupid Civil War 2 fantasy (Free)

Ep4: "The Glorious Cause" is the best book on the American Revolution (that I've found) (Free)

Ep5: Your opinion on The Killer (2023) determines whether or not you have bad taste (Paid)

Ep6: Bitter master director Ridley Scott takes his time shitting out historical epic no one wanted (Free)

Ep7: This is the one (1) movie that you absolutely need to watch literally right now (Paid)

Ep8: Revenge thriller episode (Paid)

Ep9: Ride with the Devil (1999) is the best Civil War movie that I know you haven't seen yet (Free)

Ep10: 🚨ALERT🚨 Japanese launch devastating surprise attack on moviegoers' heartstrings (Paid)

Ep11: Total Recall (1990) was the sci-fi slaughterhouse America needed and deserved (Paid)

Ep12: I watched a bunch of the new DailyWire+ original movies last week... (Paid)

Ep13: If you don't force your family to watch this movie for Christmas, they will despise you (Paid)

Ep14: Emergency surprise free Christmas review of the Prometheus Engineer chronicles (2012) (Free)

Ep15: "A Disease in the Public Mind" is the most important book to read about the Civil War and America today (Free)

Ep16: Someone finally made a good Afghanistan War movie and nobody noticed (Paid)

Ep17: If you don't watch this new movie in theaters, you are betraying me and yourself (Paid)

Ep18: Michael Mann’s Ferrari is the death-song of Esoteric Boomerism (Heat is overrated btw) (Paid)

Ep19: This forgotten Russian Civil War memoir shows why "Ruralite retreat" localism is dumb (Free)

Ep20: "In ‘First Man,’ Triumph for White Male Dreams" -The Harvard Crimson (Paid)

Ep21: Hunt: Showdown is a late 1800s horror-shooter that simulates normal life in Maryland (Paid)

Ep22: COMBAT DROP! Surprise Emergency Free Starship Troopers (1997) Sunday Show (Free)

Ep23: Dune 2 was unironically really bad and you’re actually stupid if you enjoyed it (Free)

Ep24: Witness (1985) is a masterclass in the lost art of the popular thriller (Paid)

Ep25: Returning to the scene of the crime against cinema, the Dune 2 rewatch episode (Paid)

Ep26: I rewatched The Lord of the Rings and all I could think about was how bad Dune 2 was (Paid)

Ep27: The new Road House movie is an obscene act of cultural terrorism (Paid)

Ep28: This is most important Dune 2 podcast episode that you'll ever listen to (Paid)

Ep29: If you don't follow this esoteric health advice you are actually going to die (Paid)

Ep30: Free ($0) sample episode - What is S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl about? (Free)

Ep31: Alex Garland's Civil War (2024) is a shocking bland film that says nothing in the most dishonest way possible (Paid)

Ep32: Canadians accidentally made a sci-fi movie about the Ukraine War in 1995 (Paid)

Ep33: The new Fallout TV show is really, really, bad (Paid)

Ep34: I found the single most important American history book for rightwingers to read today (Paid)

Ep35: The differences between Fallout 3 and Fallout 4 are a little too relevant to today's problems (Paid)

Ep36: Why exactly has Fallout: New Vegas stuck around for so long? (Paid)

Ep37: The long-awaited/much-demanded review of A Perfect World (1993) (Paid)

Ep38: ($0 free episode) Cyberpunk 2077 is the one game you need to play before the 2024 election (Free)

Ep39: Should you watch Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga? (Paid)

Ep40: Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty shows us how to complete a perfect story (Paid)

I’m happy because I love you