I love that you guys mentioned "The Phantom Tollbooth"! I have so many great memories of that, my school even did the play version of it when I was a kid. I remember being so jealous of the girls who were cast as Princesses Pure Reason and Sweet Rhyme...
Was interesting to hear the discussion about LucasArts. As I recall, the publisher and the developer was called Lucasfilm Games until 1990 when it became part of LucasArts Entertainment Company (after being fused with Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound). This was a time when publisher and developer were often the same company. Not sure when the name was shorten to LucasArts, though. At least, I think that's how it all goes, I could be wrong.
I'm somewhat nostalgic of the golden age of LucasArts, the golden age of its beautiful adventure games: Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Loom, The Secret of Monkey Island, Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, The Curse of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango... All superb games which I still carry with me to this day.
But! But!... I'm lucid enough to recognize that that age has come and gone. While I'm sad for those out of a job, the LucasArts developer I came to know and love is no more.
I'm going to echo what's already been said a couple of comments above, I'd love to see another Game of Thrones podcast. I only recently went back and listened to them because I only recently watched the second season (I was waiting to finish the book). I'm gonna wait until I've finished book three (if I can withstand my enthusiastic husband's pleading), but I'd definitely love another special GoT podcat!
Great question on the films/books/games that shaped you!! Got me to think on my own... The film that may not have shaped me per se but left a huge mark on me is "The Fifth Element". I was maybe 14 when I saw it and I was just utterly blown away. The rich worlds, the incredibly diverse alien races, the gorgeous costumes, the story... I think that to this day, I still know ever freakin' line of the movie by heart. Yes, including Leeloo's Divine Language lines. I even dressed up as Leeloo for Halloween (not, not those skimpy white stripes, the white shirt, brown pants, black boots, and weird orange strap outfit). And after that, I got into Star Trek, and it just blew me away. I try to live by some its precepts, keeping an open mind when meeting new people, trying to remember not all is as it seems; and just generally, like Picard says, "we try to better ourselves."
The book or rather the books that shaped me are the Frank Herbert's Dune chronicles. I'd seen Lynch's movie when I was younger, maybe 10'ish, and the Baron Harkonnen absolutely terrified me. A few years later, maybe end of middle school, I started reading the books. And the intricate plot threads, the subtle tackling of religion, fate, economics, ecology, loyalty, betrayal, love... It was all so very rich, it definitely honed my mind, opening it up to well, stuff I really hadn't thought about up until then.
And yeah, my mom also told me to stop reading that "crap". Even though I also read loads of "classics" (what can I say, I was bookworm, I even read during recess).
As for the games that left their mark upon me... "Think Quick" by the Learning Company certainly deserves props, it's the very first game I ever played, I must've been 4, maybe 5. But the King's Quest definitely deserve special mention, they taught me how to type pretty fast (I average around 60-70wpm, sometimes 80wpm, which isn't top notch by any means, but it definitely comes in handy). Mostly, the KQ games taught me how to type "open door" in a flash. Finally, the Zork games most certainly had a hand in shaping in me. The one that I'll always remember is "Zork Nemesis" for its incredible, darker story with an unexpected twist (won't spoil it, go play it!!). Heck, I even wrote an essay on it in English class (and why yes, I did get an A, thank you for asking).
Finally, last but most certainly not least, I'm sending loads of positive energy and happy thoughts to Janelle. It's hard to imagine anything bad happening to such a bubbly and exuberant person, and I hope that whatever's going on will be quickly resolved. Best of wishes, Janelle!
Love the podcat, you guys are always sparking new trains of thought and interesting insights! Happy Monday.