November
2006
Episode 21 of Upon Further Review!
We’re in a bit of a spooky mood in Episode 21 of Upon Further Review! In this show we thank well-wishers and loyal listeners before heading into the meat of the show: first we tempt the fates with our review of Halloween (yes, the whole holiday–all of it!); second, we replay the David vs. Goliath showdown with our review of Shadow of the Colossus; and finally, we try not to get snowed under with our review of the vidcast Snowmen Hunters. As always, we are grateful for your continued support, encouragement and listening–and as always, we ask that you continue to spread the word so we can thank you even more! (Special thanks this week to the Great Pumpkin; as usual, podsafe intro music is provided by Sharif (“You’re My Girl”), outro by David Henderson (“We Gotta Go”).)
Reviewed in this show:
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No Halloween here in my part of Oz. Occasionally there’s a kid who’s watched too much American TV who tries trick or treating but they normally don’t get too big a haul ‘cos no one prepares for them
I was in the US one year for Halloween and thought it was the silliest holiday I’d ever experienced. Maybe you have to grow up with it to “get” it. Or maybe just not be a grouchy old woman.
Two questions I have never had answered even by my American relatives…What’s the pumpkin carving got to do with anything(why a pumpkin)? What happens if you have no treat for the kid who knocks on the door? I assume a trick of some kind but I’ve never seen that part of it.
I’m not sure about the pumpkin, though since the holiday was imported from England it probably isn’t surprising that in NEW England, where pumpkins grow plentifully in the fall, it might become part of the holiday tradition here. But if anyone else knows the answer to this, we’d love to know too…as for not having a treat, well, it depends on the kid. If you’re in the wrong part of the Bronx, heaven help you if you don’t have your Milky Ways ready… :)
T.R.
I have never heard it called “Cabbage Night,” but where I grew up, the night before Halloween was called “Mischief Night” and it was basically like what Greg described, sans cabbages. Kids egging and toilet papering houses and mailboxes and whatnot.
Also, there’s a really funny Chick tract about razor blades in little kids’ candy:
http://www.chick.com/reading/tracts/0011/0011_1.htm
Someone actually left one of these on my car windshield, back when I used to have a “Witches Heal” bumper sticker…
Speaking of which, yes, Samhain (aka Halloween) is usually considered to be the New Year in our Pagan holiday cycle. Good memory, Clea!
Hi, Meg! That cartoon is funny…it’s by the same guy who did an anti-Dungeons and Dragons cartoon back in the day, which is one of the most ridiculous cartoons you’ll ever read. Happy Thanksgiving!
T.R.
Clea, Greg,
Still going strong! Great job!!!
Getting kind of sad that i’m over the middle, though. Gotta squeeze every ounce of goodness out of these as I begin to catch up…
I bought Shadow of the Colossus in a bargain bin. Played it, but hated it. Just too difficult. You’ve made me interested again, so maybe I’ll give it another go. But it’s really frustrating in the beginning. Almost seems like it’s a little too free choice as you can ride the horse for a long time without coming to anything new. But thanks, as always, for making something that might have seemed worthless at first worthy of a second try!
Feeling very holiday spirity, even though it’s miles from the holidays right now. Starting to think, though… if you do all your holiday episodes in your first year, what do you think you’ll do in your second year?
Something to think about?
Thanks, again! See you on 22!!!!
– Chris
Ah, hang in there–you’ve still got a lot to go, plus our new videos. And we’ll have a new audio show out this week, so we should have a couple more new episodes by the time you get to the end of your survey!
Shadow of the Colossus ultimately was worth the time we spent on it, though it was a flawed game–we give the company credit in any case for trying some new things (as it did with ICO, its first game for the PS2).
As for the holiday question, it’s a good one…we’re almost up to a year anniversary with the show, so we have been thinking about that kind of thing. But there is so much specific stuff we can review within each holiday period that we think we’ll have plenty of stuff to talk about for a good time to come!
T.R.
ICO? Hmmm… Do I need to bone up on my PS2 history? Is that an acronym I should know? Or…
I usually like to try different things. I guess with Shadow I let myself get too caught up in the formula games (action, blow-em-up, and the like). I enjoy solving puzzles, so that aspect of Shadow (figuring out how to beat each colossus) is more appealing. Just need to open my mind.
Happy unholidays :-)
– Chris