Popzara Podcast

Article: Dear Santa (2024)

I suppose we should expect to get a few real stinkers every year, especially around the holidays, but that doesn’t take the sting of having to suffer through them. After years of solo efforts (some successful, others not so much) the Farrelly Brothers reunite for Dear Santa, a comedy of errors about a dyslexic boy who accidentally addresses a letter to Satan instead of Santa.

Article: Apple Mac mini (2024)

There was a time, not long ago, that Apple’s Mac mini desktop computer was the cheapest way to gain entry into the world of MacOS, one that didn’t sacrifice power or the company’s iconic chic appeal. It also seemed that Apple, and its users, seemed to enjoy their secondary status as the platform for serious creators and artistic types, loyal enthusiasts content to create content as Windows users dominated the Wild West of unpredictable hardware.

Article: My Old Ass (2024)

​After only two feature films, writer-director Megan Park already displays some unique hallmarks with her projects. Both her 2022 debut The Fallout and her latest effort My Old Ass follow Gen-Z teenagers who must wrangle their own self-absorption in order to find some level of fulfillment by the end.

Article: Panda Plan (2024)

Jackie Chan has long since passed the precipice of a worldwide icon, and the obligatory movie in which famous actors play themselves was bound to come along eventually. But where films like Being John Malkovich (1999)  and The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent (2022) used this meta-plot narrative to tell reflective and, in the case of the former, groundbreaking additions to the medium, the movie where Jackie Chan adopts a poorly CGI-ed panda is far from either of these things.

Article: Saturday Night (2024)

How do you tell a 90-minute mess in just 90 minutes? Jason Reitman’s Saturday Night tells the tale of SNL’s infamous debut tape night, when it was still a giant question mark in the programming lineup, only to be a game-time decision by executive David Tebet. The evening was filled with mythology, inhabited by personalities that are just as mythological — Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Jim Henson, and Andy Kaufman, just to name a few (these four in particular are treated with a welcomed level of reverence in this film over most of the others being depicted).

Article: Emilia Pérez (2024)

Who is Emilia Pérez? I honestly couldn’t tell you. Despite being the supposed heart of Jacques Audiard's film, her character is buried beneath a mountain of half-baked ideas and a nonsensical narrative.

Article: Tetris Forever

Tetris has long been called “the perfect game” by many, a designation I wouldn’t argue against, and there’s no denying its staying power. Since first being developed in communist Russia on the evening of the collapse of the Soviet Union (some say the game helped end the Cold War, right up there with Rocky IV) we’ve seen Tetris become a cultural juggernaut with endless iterations, spin-offs, reimaginings, books, more books, and chicken nuggets.

Article: Midea Dual Zone Air Fryer Oven

With the holidays right around the corner, it’s always good to have tech to make cooking easier for yourself and any family and friends you have over. The latest to come our way is the Midea Dual Zone Air Fryer Oven, which gives you not one, but two spaces to cook in to help get those multi course meals out with ease.

The State of Gaming November 2024: Metal Slug Tactics, Tetris Forever, Taiko no Tatsujin, Mario and Luigi, Dragon Quest III, Flight Simulator, PS5 Pro, Mac Mini, Steam Deck White, and Switch 2

It’s The State of Gaming Podcast, Popzara’s in-depth look at what’s shaking up the gaming landscape delivered on a monthly basis. Listen as hosts Cory Galliher and Nate Evans guide you through the best, worst, and everything else making headlines and headway in the world of interactive entertainment.

The biggest games of the month include: Metal Slug Tactics, Tetris Forever, Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythm Festival, Mario and Luigi: Brothership, Slitterhead, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, Lego Horizon Adventures, Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024, and Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl.

Other notables include: Marvel vs Capcom Fighting Collection (Physical), Genshin Impact (Xbox)Irem Collection Vol 2, and Nine Sols.

But there’s more! Nintendo updates their Nintendo Music app! Did you get your Alarmo clock yet? Nintendo also confirms the highly-anticipated (and still unnamed) Switch 2 will be fully backwards-compatible with its predecessor! Speaking of Nintendo, fans of their Super Nintendo World amusement park can look forward to Donkey Kong Country additions in the near future! Valve announces a special edition Steam Deck OLED: White! Halo 2 turns 20! Sony’s PlayStation 5 is here! Apple’s Mac Mini (2024) is also here!

Article: Irem Collection Volume 2

Retro collections are all the rage these days, and it’s not hard to see why. With so many huge budget blockbusters failing to grab the zeitgeist, micro-transactions galore, and an shocking lack of memorable new franchises being created it’s no wonder many gamers - including many who never stepped foot in a real arcade - would be turning to classic games from a bygone era.

Article: Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

When watching musicals, you have to buy into a certain level of delusion on screen, otherwise you’ll just be scratching your head for two hours. Likewise, if musicals were absolutely literal, it would be preposterous for any sane character to sit there without questioning why everyone around them knows the words and dance moves to a brand new song that’s never been heard before.

Article: Piece by Piece (2024)

My earliest awareness of Pharrell Williams’ music came circa 2004, but in the most obscure way possible. Despite producing some of my favorite tracks from the likes of Usher, Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, and No Doubt, Pharrell, along with his production team The Neptunes, wasn’t the name I had attached to these zeitgeisty songs.

Article: The Smurfs – Dreams

I’ve been a fan of The Smurfs ever since I saw The Smurfs and the Magic Flute as a kid in the early 1980s. While there’s been plenty of Smurfs games released on all sorts of platforms, most of them have been duds until recently with hits such as Smurfs Kart and even last year’s The Smurfs 2: The Prisoner of the Green Stone.

Article: Kindle Paperwhite e-Reader (2024)

Once again, Amazon has waited a full three years to update their flagship Kindle Paperwhite e-Reader with a host of improvements that improve the experience over the still-incredible 2021 model. I’m sure even the most diehard book enthusiasts would be amazed at just how competitive - and innovative! - the world of E Ink e-Readers has become in recent years, and we’ve started to see industry-leader Amazon finally take notice.

Article: The Waiting (2024)

One thing longtime Michael Connelly fans should know before diving into The Waiting, which is being marketed as a Ballard and Bosch adventure, is that the “Bosch” could mean one of two characters; retired LA detective Harry Bosch, easily the writer’s most popular character, or his daughter, Maddy Bosch, now working as a patrol officer in the LAPD but dreams of following in her (in)famous dad’s grizzled footsteps. Last year’s Resurrection Walk, which heavily focused on Harry Bosch and Mickey “Lincoln Lawyer” Haller, left little room for Ballard (minus an extended cameo), but here the Connellyverse continues to coalesce around Renée Ballard as its new center, functioning as a dual “passing of the touch” for both the series’ lead as well as the expected generational transition from father to daughter.