Popzara Podcast

Article: Saturn Return (2024)

Indie soft rock is a genre I'm not afraid to admit I’ve had little experience or knowledge in, especially regarding Grenada’s indie rock scene during the 90s. However, that makes it all the more intriguing that a story about the trials and tribulations of an indie rock band on the cusp of stardom so accurately ensconced me away into this cigarette and hard drug-fueled scene.

Article: The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium Set 3 (2024)

We now come to The Calvin and Hobbes Portable Compendium Set 3, practically the halfway point of seven planned sets from Andrews McMeel aiming to reprint the entire run of Bill Watterson’s iconic comic strip, albeit in miniature form. Once again, I’d recommend going back in time and reading (or re-reading?) my review of the first set, if only because the history of Watterson’s battles with his syndicate helps put both his beloved strip - and these new editions - in some context.

Article: Taito Milestones 3

It’s taken a little longer than expected, but fans of Japanese developer Taito’s legacy of classic games have reason to celebrate with Taito Milestones 3, a third helping of emulated arcade blasts from the past. I hope you like big, sweaty muscles and gameplay dripping with machismo and doused in testosterone, because that’s exactly what you’ll be getting with this collection.

Article: Pearls Gets Put in the Pokey (2024)

Paronomasiacs, rejoice! Pearls Gets Put in the Pokey is the 14th Treasury of Pearls Before Swine comic strips, collecting both daily and Sunday funnies originally published in newspapers and online between October 11, 2021 through April 9, 2023. How can I say this with such chronological specificity? Because a helpful note says just that in the opening legalese, that’s why.

Article: Gladiator II (2024)

It’s been over two decades since Ridley Scott’s Gladiator (2000) burst onto the screen, delivering a gripping tale of revenge, honor, and sacrifice that defined the modern historical epic. The original not only entertained but left audiences pondering its timeless themes of power and redemption.

Article: Crabbily Ever After (2024)

Crabbily Ever After, the 29th collection of Jim Toomey’s Sherman’s Lagoon comic strips, proves there’s plenty of aquatic antics left for his anthropomorphic undersea troupe of fish, sharks, and crustaceans, at least in print. For a strip now well into its 30th (!) decade, few cartoonists have made success look as effortlessly as Toomey, or comics so purchasable as they collections.

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!