The Download's tracks

The word is camping. The nerds discuss their love of camping trips and Andy mentions that Camping Fluxx just went to the printer. Then they talk about Keith’s latest appearance on the Six Sides of Gaming livestream, and Keith talks about games he plans to run at GameHoleCon. Andy then talks a bit more about his big Across America road trip and the living souvenir he returned with: a new kitten, named Neko. Then the nerds start talking about Star Trek and Star Wars, again. Keith gives his high-level thoughts on Ahsoka season 1, then after they drop the spoiler curtain, they talk at length about Season 4 of Lower Decks. Keith also talks about Loki, Bluestar, and Byzantine History.

The word is remix. The nerds recorded this episode live when Andy visited Keith during his big Across America road trip, and they start by continuing discussions they were having over breakfast about alternate-timeline-20-years-later remixes for Battlestar Galactica, Brooklyn 99, Rick & Morty and Firefly, all inspired by this Breaking Bad 2 video: https://www.cbr.com/breaking-bad-2-fan-video/. The word being remix, Andy plugs Fluxx Remixx, and provides updates on his Across America Fluxx Roadtrip. Keith describes his livestream GaryCon character, how he found real giant silver wings, and reviews the Switch game Disco Elysium. Haggis the cat sits on Andy’s lap. They chat about Ashoka, how much we love our phones, and how disappointed they still feel about the Star Trek musical episode. Lastly, they duck behind the spoiler curtain briefly to discuss the cliffhanger of SNW season 2.

The word is musical. The nerds talk about special musical episodes, musicals in general, and the new musical episode of Star Trek. Then Keith mentions the sad news that his mother passed away, and spends some time eulogizing her and celebrating the many ways she encouraged his creativity. One example they both get nostalgic about are the giant Icehouse pieces she made out of cloth & stuffing back in the 80s. This also leads to an extended story from an early LARP game called Recon-5. Then Keith reports on his experiences at GenCon. After dropping the spoiler curtain, they discuss Star Trek SNW S2 Ep 8-9 and also Guardians of the Galaxy 3. Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

The word is well. The nerds have a surprising amount to say about wells. Then they talk a bit in non-spoilery terms about the stuff they’ll be talking about after they drop the spoiler curtain, which they do pretty early in the episode because they have so much media they want to discuss, namely the Star Trek Strange New Worlds/Lower Decks crossover episode, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, and the final episodes of The Leftovers. Other topics include Keith’s grandmother’s involvement with the Manhattan Project, Ketih’s mini-reviews of games he’s been playing lately on his new Switch, vintage videogames (including the terrible classic Night Trap), and of course, wells.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

The word is Leila since this is episode 313 and Leila’s birthday is 3/13. (They forgot to mention it on the show, but Leila provided all the vocalizations for this podcast’s opening.) Andy tells a few Leila stories, including the reason why her Burning Man nickname is Panama. Then Keith has stories from his recent trip to Origins, and talks a little about the newest Spiderman movie. They also talk about Secret Invasion (and its AI-generated title sequence) and other new Marvel shows, pinball machines, Thunder Road, Set, and Keith’s current D&D campaign. Lastly, after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, they discuss the Leftovers and Star Trek Strange New Worlds.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

The word is leftovers so the nerds talk about leftovers of various sorts, including pizza, mac&cheese, french fries, and a TV series from a few years ago called The Leftovers. Andy talks a little about binging Breaking Bad, and Keith gives his impressions of the endings of Succession and Ted Lasso. This ends up leading to yet another conversation about Star Wars, followed by yet another conversation about tarot decks. Other topics include robot baristas, automated emissions testing, and the pending take-over of society by AIs. Lastly, they drop the Spoiler Curtain to get into a more in-depth discussion of The Leftovers.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

The word is bingo and Keith has a lot to say about homemade bingo cards. Andy mentions receiving his copy of Cool Cool Cool and Keith tells more stories about his recent trip to Toronto for more appearances on Six Sides of Gaming. He also reports on visiting Stormcrow Manor. Then they lament the loss of the Galactic Starcruisier. Moving on to media, Andy talks about finally watching Breaking Bad after watching most of Better Call Saul. Then Keith gives a few thoughts about the first few episodes of The Leftovers, and Andy mentions starting to watch Silo. Lastly, after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, they discuss the new Dungeons and Dragons movie.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

The word is masks and it turns out the nerds have very different views on these. Andy detests wearing a mask, while Keith actually enjoys it. They discuss their own views and also discuss the Mandalorian and its always-masked characters. Keith provides a little recap of the stuff he talked about last week that was lost in transmission. This leads to a discussion of some memorable magic tricks. Then they drop the Spoiler Curtain to discuss at length the season finales of Mandalorian Season 3 and Picard Season 3.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers

This is a strange episode because Keith’s side of the conversation was lost in transmission. We hear Andy’s side of the conversation as they talk about their usual topics. The episode is only 18 minutes long.

This week the word is Sonder, so the show starts with a discussion of what that word even means. Then Keith talks about his recent trip back to Maine, visiting the Bates Discordians, which led to discussing the history of this college organization Keith help launch 30 years ago. Next, Andy mentions a few more things about Disney parks, and also talks about the real-life versions of the games from Star Wars, notably Dejarik, the holographic chess game. The nerds talk a little about work and life and stuff, then they dive into media discussions, starting with The Last of Us, The Menu, Midsummer, and then, after dropping the Spoiler Curtain, Everything Everywhere All At Once, and Star Trek: Picard.Spoiler Warning: Contains Spoilers!