Vlog Ep. 248: Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot!

Tonight's #BaduyPride episode was all about a delightful family-friendly game with pirates! This of course is Rattle, Battle, Grab the Loot created by Ignacy Trzewiczek and published by Portal Games. This 2-5 player dice-rolling game has players as rival pirates trying to get the most loot in order to become the most infamous pirate.

I really appreciate when our desire to have more of a theme for these episodes results in us digging up games that we haven't played in a while. We actually had to review the rules very quickly right before we started the episode since it has been a few years since we last played the game. We do like it, but given the size of our collection, it's very easy for certain games to get lost in the shuffle of newer releases. And this pandemic has not been at all helpful in giving us opportunities to play more board games with friends. But this is definitely a game we need to bring back into circulation a bit more.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 247: Broadening Your Network

Tonight's Friday Night #BaduyPride topic was all about broadening your network because making friends is important for both your personal and professional life. It was certainly an interesting topic to cover and we're glad that it was sent in the request queue. I can only hope we did it justice, even if just from our perspective.

Some may just choose to fast-forward to the end of this video now that it's no longer a live experience because we summarize our key message at the end. As much as we shared a lot of more specific tips all throughout the video, we were able to bring it down to a more basic level as we wrapped up and provided some clearer tips on how to move forward. And I hope that this proves useful for folks whether if they've just entered the workforce or they're already established. Everyone can benefit from a reminder to be more decent to other people.

This was a community-contributed topic originally shared by Kenny! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured in a future video.

Vlog Ep. 246: Star Trek Lower Decks

We focus more on different fandoms on Thursdays for #BaduyPride and today's episode is about Star Trek: Lower Decks, the adult animated series that we thought we'd hate but ended up falling in love with. And it's not because it's an irreverently funny show - it turned out to be a unique celebration of years of Star Trek fandom in a contemporary and hilarious package.

I do feel like the show has something for everyone, whether you're a diehard Trekkie or someone who has never seen a Star Trek show in their life. And I'm curious to see what sort of fans shows like this will inspire. Embracing diversity has always been a central part of the Star Trek mythos and a greater variety of fan voices will make things even better in the long term.

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!

Vlog Ep. 245: Lugaw | Goto | Arroz Caldo

This episode of #BaduyPride was all about dissecting the differences between several rice porridge dishes, namely lugaw, goto, arroz caldo, and even congee thrown in for good measure. Yes, this is similar to the previous episode about the different tomato sauce-based stews and it was suggested by the same person around the same time. But given how many viewers joined us tonight, it certainly made for a surprisingly popular discussion!

And porridges occupy such a special place in our communal experience - they have the comfort of soup but also feel more nourishing, mainly because of the rice component. And it was certainly a delightful exploration together with the viewers as we shared different stories related to these dishes and when they were most important. And whether you're part of Tobie's camp about lugaw being "chocolate-free champorado" or you also think arroz caldo is "green lugaw" meant to be eaten cold, there's room for you in our circle of geekery.

This was a community-contributed topic originally shared by Mitch! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured in a future video. 

Vlog Ep. 244: Star Wars: Unlock!

For this episode of #BaduyPride, our featured tabletop game is the franchise-specific escape room game, Star Wars: Unlock! This puzzle game combines the joy of the Unlock! franchise (as mentioned in our episode about escape room games) with the far, far fantasy of Star Wars. And this game really surprised us as it combined both elements well and managed to put us as players into brand-new Star Wars adventures.

And while a lot of times it can feel like "selling out" when an existing game adopts a franchise-related theme as a reskin, this was a great collaboration. Then again, Unlock! has always had a lot of great storytelling potential and we also loved their thematic works like the games based on things like Sherlock Holmes, The Wizard of Oz, and Alice in Wonderland, to cite a few notable ones. And hopefully, this won't be the last of these efforts for the Unlock team. 

While we chose today's topic, we're always open to suggestions! If you have ideas for future video discussions, feel free to fill out this Google Form and your idea may be featured as the focus for an episode!