It can't be overstated how unusual it is that so-called "Nerd Culture" has taken over the world. Not too long ago, it was completely unthinkable that something like Game of Thrones or The Avengers could be the biggest entertainment properties in the world. But along with the mainstream popularization of fantasy, superheroes, and the like has come a quieter revolution that we definitely take for granted: The influence of Japanese media, particular when it comes to its animation. It seems incre...
2019-05-16 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Stay-at-home moms are some of society's most unsung heroes. Raising kids is a tough job, after all, and motherhood comes at a cost. But what about society's fathers? Hell, what about society's fathers that bear the brunt of of parental responsibility while their wives go to work? It's not a terribly common situation even in modernity, but it does happen more often than you might think, and that's what today's episode is all about. Chad Lewis is a stay-at-home dad with a professional wife who ...
2019-05-15 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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This week, the seemingly endless march of open world something-or-the-others continues with the release of Bethesda's and Avalanche's Rage 2. How have we been enjoying the FPSRPG's opening hours? We go into all the highs and the lows. The last seven days have also provided fertile soil for news, especially on the back of Sony's second State of Play stream. PS4's Medievil remake finally has a release date, while a new second-party Predator-themed asymmetric multiplayer game is also en route to...
2019-05-14 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Sometimes, The Brothers Moriarty get a little too ambitious, and this particular episode of the show is a good example of how. That's because we went into recording this entry of KnockBack assuming we'd be able to talk about both of our eras collecting Star Wars toys all at once. But such an idea quickly proved too unwieldy for just one episode. So instead of trying to cover literally decades all at once, we thought we'd focus on Star Wars' original era -- A New Hope through Return of the Jed...
2019-05-09 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Being a successful content creator is all about finding your niche, and I must say, my friend Matt Schroeder -- aka MrMattyPlays -- has one of the best niches there is: Role-Playing Games. Matt is a popular YouTuber and podcaster, and he's built his audience by honing in on a genre he loves. But being an online personality isn't all roses; it's a lot of hard work, too. Today, Matt and I talk for about an hour about what he does, what we do, and everything in between. Our chat provides interes...
2019-05-08 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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SEGA never stops trying to make Sonic the Hedgehog relevant again. Indeed, the storied games publisher even announced a foray into feature films some months ago. But now, that mere announcement has been given life and motion, and... well... the results are highly disturbing. But with the filmmakers' decision to heed fans' calls for design changes, have we reached Peak Entitlement? Let's chat about it. Plus: Sony reveals perhaps the most disappointing lineup of free PlayStation Plus games yet,...
2019-05-07 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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It feels like we've been waiting forever (and we kinda have), but our long national nightmare is finally over: Sony Bend's PS4 exclusive Days Gone has arrived. Now that it's on store shelves and in folks' hands, we thought we'd do a special episode of the show all about the game, giving our in-depth opinions about all it has to offer, and delving headlong into the plot with reckless abandon. (This podcast contains substantial and consistent spoilers, as the title suggests.) We also corralled ...
2019-05-03 16:00:05 +0000 UTC
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When you're a kid, you can't escape breakfast cereal. (And frankly, why would you want to?) You ate it in the morning, or maybe out of a sandwich bag on the bus or at lunch. When you got home from school, you may have helped yourself to half a box while watching afternoon cartoons. And who hasn't snuck a bowl or two late at night? The point is, cereal rules, and we wanted to dedicate an entire episode to it. From marshmallow-filled favorites to the bizarre stuff your parents ate -- and everyt...
2019-05-02 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Who is Mike Honcho? Well, for starters, he doesn't exist. See, Mike Honcho is a pseudonym for a US Army officer who asked to come on Fireside Chats so we could talk candidly about America's current foreign policy situation. What's going on overseas from the perspective of those on the ground? How do our servicemen and women feel these days about the conflicts they're asked to fight on our behalf? And what's the future hold for an American military in a state of perpetual war? Will we ever emp...
2019-05-01 16:01:04 +0000 UTC
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Hey All!
It's time for this month's Patreon-exclusive podcast. After three consecutive months of Dagan's KnockBack-related Q&A (thanks, Dagan!), we're seguing back to Sacred Symbols for April.
It's time for Long Lost Letters III.
For the uninitiated, Long Lost Letters is an exclusive segment I occasionally do here on Patreon, where I mine old show treads for unused inqueries. This podcast answered 20 questions from Episodes 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44 of Sacred Symbols (fo...
2019-04-30 21:05:32 +0000 UTC
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Hey Everyone!
I hope you’re all doing great, and that the week is treating you well so far.
The Short Version: I’m pleased to announce that Colin’s Last Stand merch has officially returned. Here you go!
The Long Version: As you may recall, I once sold merch through Declaration Clothing, my friend Kenn’s online shop slinging high quality Made-in-the-USA fare. D...
2019-04-30 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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PlayStation 4 is getting kinda jealous. After all, we've been heaping all this attention on its successor over the last couple of weeks, and it thinks we've forgotten about it. So let's prove it wrong with a heaping helping of PS4 news and info! For starters, new PlayStation 4 sales figures have been announced, and with PS4's all-new exclusive Days Gone now released, you'll be pleased to know that (free!) DLC is on the way. Plus: Bloodborne is now a board game, Kingdom Hearts III is getting n...
2019-04-30 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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Days Gone Review!
2019-04-30 06:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Freakin' Freakers.
2019-04-29 19:26:21 +0000 UTC
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Hey bud! Way back in 1981, Rolling Stone journalist Cameron Crowe wrote and published a book chronicling his time spent undercover at a Southern California high school. It was called Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and it's something of a collector's item today, having never even been republished since. Indeed, it would have no doubt become an obscure (albeit interesting) piece of early-'80s trivia, save for one thing: It shares its name (and some of its characters and plot) with a tremendously...
2019-04-25 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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A few months ago, a 21 year old college student reached out with an idea for Fireside Chats, and his pitch was simple: He's an American who, because of his father's military service, pretty much grew up entirely in Germany. In one of his e-mails to me, he wrote, in part: "My experience at home was weird and still mostly American... but in all other aspects I grew up as just a regular German kid, despite not having German citizenship." That alone is a fascinating enough pitch for me, and...
2019-04-24 16:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Hey!
I hope you’re all doing splendidly.
I’ve long been blessed with a job that requires me, above all else, to simply be myself. And, in being myself in front of you for years and years now, many of you have gotten to know me almost as intimately as some of those I hold closest. I think that’s really awesome, and I believe it’s a major component of what makes our bond so strong. Indeed, the level of candor I strive for results in the best possible content I think I can ...
2019-04-23 16:00:04 +0000 UTC
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Sure, we talked about PlayStation 5 extensively last week, but we just can't get it off our minds. This is especially true considering an extra morsel of information we weren't aware of until recent days, a morsel all about price. We jump into the new info, plus take a bunch of PS5-related questions from the audience, 'cause it turns out you want to talk about it a whole bunch. Then again, we still need to dwell in this generation, and so there's plenty of news to cover there, too, incl...
2019-04-23 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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For many of us, being a child during the summer largely revolved around one thing: The swimming pool. Whether you had an above-ground pool or an in-ground pool, or you had to rely on your friends' pools for your aquatic adventures, or even if you spent the dog days of summer at the municipal pool or at the local Y, there's a decent chance you've got some swimming-related memories tucked away in your head. That's what today's episode of KnockBack is all about: All the games, the toys, the frie...
2019-04-18 16:01:00 +0000 UTC
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This week was already going to be zany here on Sacred Symbols. That's 'cause there's a ton of news to get through, including the roll-out of the long-awaited, vaunted PSN name change functionality, new tidbits relating to Ghost of Tsushima and The Last of Us: Part II, kinda-sorta-maybe confirmations concerning new entries in the Horizon and Killzone franchises, and much more. Hell, we even learned more about Respawn's upcoming (entirely single-player?!) Star Wars game. But then something quit...
2019-04-17 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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In life, few things are as physically permanent as tattoos, and obviously, they're not for everyone. But they're most certainly for today's guest, Jordan. Jordan isn't only a tattoo enthusiast; he's exceptionally enthusiastic about the traditional method of Japanese tattooing, which is all done with hand tools in the most excruciatingly exact fashion possible, in accordance with some old, well-worn techniques. His goal is to one day be covered neck-to-toe, and he's well on his way. So let's c...
2019-04-16 16:00:02 +0000 UTC
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Way back in 1985, a most unusual flick came to the silver screen. It was called The Goonies, and for most people that saw it (both then and now), it morphed into an instant classic, a memorable movie in an era of memorable movies. Thing is, it's an interesting product well above and beyond it '80s cult status. It stars some famous actors, it was conceived by one of the film industry's most famous names (both then and now), it wasn't a merchandising cash cow, and -- perhaps mercifully -- it's ...
2019-04-11 16:01:00 +0000 UTC
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You may have noticed that Fireside Chats and religious talk go together like peanut butter and jelly, and thus, today's episode of the show delves back into questions surrounding God, belief, faith, and more. My guest is Micheal Bourdeaux, a Catholic-turned-Southern Baptist. Bourdeaux is a Southern Baptist minister, active in the church, and extremely knowledgeable about his craft. So I thought I'd pick his brain, challenge him with some inquiries, and get to know his beliefs better, too. If ...
2019-04-10 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy Review!
2019-04-10 06:00:01 +0000 UTC
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Over the last couple of weeks, a debate has raged within the gaming industry: Should games be easier? Should they be more accessible? And are those two things actually the same, or in some way, shape, or form different? On this episode, we take the time to drill down deep and get to the bottom of some lingering questions about game difficulty, disabled players, and the Games Are For Everyone philosophy. But no episode of Sacred Symbols would be complete without copious news and plenty of lett...
2019-04-09 16:00:03 +0000 UTC
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Ace Attorney!
2019-04-09 07:10:47 +0000 UTC
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Hey All!
I hope that this posting finds you and yours very well.
It's that time! I'm pleased to reveal the next 8 topics that will be covered on CLS: KnockBack, so that you can submit your questions, comments, concerns, thoughts, and ideas in time for production. Dagan and I will be recording this wave between April 11th and April 15th in Santa Monica, and we're stoked to reconvene. Copious memories, laughter, and diner food await.
Here's what we're think...
2019-04-06 19:01:00 +0000 UTC
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Let's face it: Nostalgia is often heavily rooted in locations, and not only events. Today's episode of KnockBack seeks to explore that idea, going over the homes we've lived in with a fine-tooth comb in order to extract some deeply-held memories. From a few houses on Long Island for the both of us, to Colin's experience living in Maine and New Hampshire for a few years as a kid, it turns out that by focusing on where we lived, and not only when, we can grab onto the past in ways we never thou...
2019-04-04 16:01:01 +0000 UTC
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You'll never unsee him.
2019-04-03 20:09:02 +0000 UTC
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I love hockey. It's my favorite sport, and -- having grown up playing it -- it's the one I relate to the most. You also may have noticed that I love Japan. So when it comes to today's episode of Fireside Chats, you'll have to indulge me. Meet Chase Matteo. Chase is a college kid from Maine, and he's a talented collegiate hockey player, too. But he doesn't play for UMaine, or UNH, or even my beloved Northeastern University. Instead, he plays for Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan, and he's the ...
2019-04-03 16:01:00 +0000 UTC
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