The Worst of All Possible Worlds

Josh Boerman, A.J. Ditty, and Brian Alford

The first and only podcast bringing you weekly case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire. Every Wednesday, co-hosts Josh, Brian, and A.J. dissect an artifact of popular culture, breaking down how its narrative choices reflect or subvert the reactionary political project. From video games to movies to theater to an apparently infinite supply of evangelical Christian radio drama, we expose the machinations of the worst of all possible worlds in order to figure out how to build a better one. Also, we have bits.

  1. 202 - Steven Spielberg’s The Dig

    AUG 13

    202 - Steven Spielberg’s The Dig

    The lads grab their engraved rods and play with some loose bones as they cover the LucasArts’ 1995 xenoarchaeologist point-and-click adventure: The Dig. Topics include the gaming prowess of Steven Spielberg, the incredibly fraught production process, and what it means to have have a point and click adventure imprint upon you as a child that requires you to turn a turtle into a bomb. Want more TWOAPW? Get access to our full back catalogue of premium/bonus episodes by subscribing for $5/month at Patreon.com/worstofall! Media Referenced in this Episode: The Dig. LucasArts. 1995. A Conversation with Gary Brubaker. Tech Talk with Daniel Albu. April 6th, 2025. “The Dig is a weird LucasArts adventure dreamed up by Steven Spielberg” by Andy Kelly. PC Gamer. May 15th, 2020. The Dig by Jimmy Maher. Digital Antiquarian. July 23rd. 2021. “Exclusive Interview with Noah Falstein” by Santiago Mendez. The Dig Museum. December 27th, 2004. “Interview with Brian Moriarty” by Paco García. Aventura y CÍA. March 2006. “LucasArts Secret History #11: The Dig Bills Tiller and Eaken”. The International House of Mojo. “LucasArts Secret History #11: The Dig Sean Clark’s Recollections of Joy”. The International House of Mojo. Original Design Document for The Dig “So, a Giant Asteroid is Heading for Earth…Again…” by Luke Plunkett. Kotaku. November 2nd, 2011. “Steven Spielberg Apparently Won’t Play Uncharted Because He’s a Big PC Gamer and Only Likes Mouse and Keyboard” by Kat Bailey. IGN. October 2nd, 2024. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “Brink” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Featuring A.J. Ditty as “Professor Ludger Brink”

    2h 24m
  2. 199 - What Remains of Edith Finch (feat. Lenore and Aysha U. Farah)

    JUL 23

    199 - What Remains of Edith Finch (feat. Lenore and Aysha U. Farah)

    THIS IS A PREVIEW. FOR THE FULL EPISODE, GO TO Patreon.com/worstofall Aysha U. Farah (All My Maidens) and Lenore (The Socialist Shelf) return to the pod to take the lads on a heartfelt journey of death and birds as they cover Giant Sparrow’s 2017 walking sim megahit: What Remains of Edith Finch. Topics include games about death, the importance of twee in the face of tragedy, and what remains of both the walking sim genre and the titular Edith Finch. Aysha U. Farah: Website // Bluesky // Instagram Lenore: Bluesky BUY AMPLITUDES HERE PREORDER JACOB’S BOOK HERE The Socialist Shelf: A podcast where we care about two things: good fiction and changing the world. From your favorite pseudointellectuals, Jacob Dallas-Main and Lenore Olson. Spotify // Apple Podcasts // Instagram // Youtube // Bluesky All My Maidens: Welcome to All My Maidens, an Elden Ring lore podcast. Have you ever played 100 hours of Elden Ring and then thought, wow. I have no idea what the heck this game is about? Well, join award winning game writer Aysha U. Farah as she invites various friends and confidants to come on and Explain Elden Ring to her. What is an Elden Ring, anyway? What makes it elden? Who are the Tarnished? Why do a bunch of guys have weird horns on their faces? Who is that dude made of roots? Answer all these questions and more, right here! Spotify // Apple Podcasts Media Referenced in this Episode: What Remains of Edith Finch. Giant Sparrow. 2017. “The making of What Remains of Edith Finch” by Chris Schilling. PC GAMER. June 2nd, 2018. “Whitespace: The man behind ‘The Unfinished Swan’” by Evan Shamoon. Polygon. October 9th, 2012. TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com Interstitial: “What Remains of Joshua Boerman” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Featuring A.J. Ditty as “AJ Ditty”, Brian Alford as “Brian Alflord”, Josh Boerman as “Joshua Boerman”

    32 min
4.7
out of 5
126 Ratings

About

The first and only podcast bringing you weekly case studies in the pop culture of a dying empire. Every Wednesday, co-hosts Josh, Brian, and A.J. dissect an artifact of popular culture, breaking down how its narrative choices reflect or subvert the reactionary political project. From video games to movies to theater to an apparently infinite supply of evangelical Christian radio drama, we expose the machinations of the worst of all possible worlds in order to figure out how to build a better one. Also, we have bits.

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