What's happening?

Billy badness?

That's the thing in the past.

What's the word your frigging nerds?

We're back with the fire escape cast.

It's just one hundred.

Oh my god, Dan, what one of these days I'm gonna do an intro where you don't interrupt me and make it about you.

Mary is interrupting too.

We're both interrupting you.

She gets to interrupt.

I heard it speaking rules.

He didn't.

Marry didn't get the Cardigan memory.

Calm feet January or February.

Yeah, fucking fancy man, fancy look older.

Episode one hundred and twenty five.

Ye, it is thirty four, thirty four degrees in Frankfurt.

How have you guys been?

Is it snowy?

No?

Mary, probably not where you are.

Oh my weather, it's weird.

It's a it's been kind of warm.

So it's been forties and maybe sometimes the fifties.

Sometimes it rains, but it's too warm and it's weird.

We don't like it.

It's supposed to be cold and rainy and cloudy.

This is not our vibe, Like our rainy season is all off.

I don't think it's good.

I mean, obviously I do like not rain, but I I think there's something wrong.

It should be raining right now.

It's like Ireland weather pack Northwest, Ireland West Coast.

It felt like the pack Pacific Northwest.

When I was in Galway, they said that our ice pack is really low.

So my worry is if it doesn't get cold enough and we don't get snow, it'll affect our rivers and streams in the spring, and I think that has downstream impacts.

If the will Lammett dries up.

You can get your phone back, though, damn it.

I know it's not worth it.

Global warming is not worth it to retrieve my twenty sixteen iPhone.

Dan, How's how's how's the weather with You's?

Sure it's cold, the.

Brutally cold, not getting a lot of snow right now, but definitely holding up towards just you're not really going outside.

But on that note, are you guys aware of like there's like some conspiracy theory now about snow being plastic?

No fill me in, Okay, Well, you know I follow you know, wrestlers, so I get I get clued in on a lot of dumb shit.

Theirs are in good shape, right, Uh.

This one in particular, I'm thinking of is just the worst.

But this one guy was posting stuff about like I'm looking out here.

It's like, this is the weirdest thing.

I'm holding the lighter up to my snow.

It's not melting.

There's something up with this.

There's something like I don't even know what the conspiracy is.

I don't know if they're saying like, oh, Democrats are raining plastic snow down or something.

But yeah, then I just googled like snow uh, and it's everyone a certain type of person is saying a lot about snow being plastic and it must mean something.

Interesting like if there you would think that the people who are also trying to fake global warming would refrain from dropping fake snow from the sky.

Yeah, I don't know.

Logic's great.

Here they're saying, okay, I'm looking at the video now.

Yeah, they're trying to burn it with the lighter, and they're like, oh my god, it turned black instead of melting, like this is government snow.

This is like what is this?

Like the fuck does that mean?

It's like, okay, it's a residue from the lighter.

Yeah, the snow doesn't turn black.

Okay, I'm reading about it now on Yahoo creators your your best source for news.

I don't know.

I just googled them.

This what popped up.

But that seems stupid.

Yeah, stupid.

Maybe dancing around?

Yeah, maybe he has like a he lives near a mountain and they have to have fake snow so that people can ski.

No, I think he's just stupid.

Even that's not plastic though, that's just a form of real snow.

Speaking of conspiracies, I finally caught up and watched Pogonia since last Good.

That's a good conspiracy movie.

Also, Jesse Plemmons might be one of the best actors.

I just watched Jesse Plemmons in the movie last night.

For the first time.

I watched The Master.

Wait wait, wait, wait, oh my god, holy shit.

That's I okay, good to know.

What do you mean you watched him the movie for the first time.

You saw Pogonia?

I saw the movie.

No, I watched Oh I saw the movie.

It was a weird way to put it.

I saw The Master for the first time.

I remember that came out when I was at Game Former in twenty twelve, and I thought you'd seen it, but we talked about this last episode.

But yeah, I'm glad you watched it, but yet really really quick Pogonia, really good movie.

It's definitely I don't I still don't know that it broke my top five from last year.

We had talked about our top five, but it's it's really good, really well made.

Weird because like, as soon as I started seeing Jesse Plemons kind of pop up, which is like what mid twenty tens, maybe I always thought he had a very Phillips Seymour Hoffin deal about him, and then like he plays Phillip sy Moore Hoffin's son and The Master, and I'm like, oh, yeah, there you go.

I'm not the only one thing in that.

But yeah, he doesn't have a huge role in that.

But God Walking Phoenix is just he's a guy that like every time I've seen him in a movie, I don't know if this is good or bad about him, but I'm like, I bet that guy's actually fucking nuts.

Yeah no, no, no, so so yeah, so Freddy Quail, Wait, So, generally speaking, what did you think of The Master?

I liked it a lot.

I remember thinking like, oh, at first I thought Paul Thomas Anderson when it was in production was like making a movie specifically about like Eron Hubbard and Scientology and steff Ooh, that's going to be interesting.

And then I heard it's like, uh, it's kind of a loosely based They don't it's not really based on it's it's pretty thinly veiled.

It's very much Aroon Hubbard and Scientology, but you know, it's a fictionalized version of all.

I think I lost a little bit of interest, and like, reviews weren't that great necessarily when it first came out, so I just didn't watch it when it came out, even though like, There Will Be Blood was I think the previous one that's like one of my favorite movies ever.

Yeah, There Will Be Blood was nine, I believe Master was twelve.

After that it would have been Inherent Vice.

And then the one before There Will Be Blood I believe was Punch Drunk Love.

Yeah, we just watched that recently.

Yeah, that old us.

It's it's funny.

We talked about it because I think it's I go back and forth sometimes.

I think it's actually my favorite pta movie.

I love The Master.

It hit me hard the first time I watched it, and that is one of his movies that I rewatch the most, and I feel like it is making the rounds lately.

I think because Jesse maybe again Jesse Plemmons has like four lines in it, but like.

Or one Battle.

I mean, I think people are just talking about I think people.

Are going back to that.

So I've been seeing people a lot of people saying they're watching it now, and I think watching it after understanding Paul Thomas Anderson's other movies a bit more, it's more fun because the first time I was trying to watch is trying to figure it out, but like, ultimately it really is about the quasi battle kind of like homo erotic relationship between Philip Seymour Hoffman and Freddy Quell and what the hell is name Dodd Lancaster Dodd h.

Yeah, Yeah, that was the thing is like I at the end, I was talking to Bonk and I was like, we both liked it, But I said, like, I don't know if I'm just stupid or it's like the thing that kind of bugged me about this was that, like, I liked it.

It was very well made and the acting this is an actor movie capital a, you know, but like I didn't really take away like what's the message, Like, well, what do I take away from here?

You know?

That?

Is it like Mother where it's like I watched that whole movie and didn't realize there were like allegories and stuff, and I'm just like totally missing something.

I don't know.

I've never seen Paul Thomas Anderson to be someone who makes things for people to figure out.

To me, I was like, Oh, yeah, what the fuck was that?

Yeah, Magnolia, I really don't think like Punch Drunk Love.

I guess Punchdrunk Love wraps up tidally because that he actually finally kind of does find love after having a really rough life.

But like The Master, very much to me, is like Lancaster Dodd, who is someone who a cult leader who is trying to convince people of this intangible thing, and then he finds Freddie, who they compare to an animal visually and even like in the script many times throughout when they both go to jail, he's literally like a caged animal freaking out.

And I think Lancaster Dodd sees this like impossible convert in him because the big thing that movie doesn't touch on after the first like ten minutes is like the this is a generation of people suffering from PTSD before we truly understood it, and we still and truly understand it.

But so Freddy's dealing with that and not knowing how to handle it.

But it's very much Lancas or Dodd trying to quote unquote like tame an animal, realizing it's impossible.

But I think there's also some sexual undercurrent with them in a way like that's.

Oh, they're like grab assen in the lawn and stuff.

He sings.

He sings him an old timey run grab yeah.

Yeah, they're straight up grab yeah.

They're rolling around pants and stuff.

The last five minutes is Philip seymour Hoffman, just a one shot on him crying as he sings, I want to get you on a slow boat to China.

I walked.

I remember watching that was like, this is the best movie I've ever seen in my like doucheier years.

Like, no, I haven't seen The Master.

I don't.

I don't think like you can really spoil it.

It's definitely not something where like there's.

No nothing that you guys have said is tangible in any.

Way you can't.

I was gonna say that was great.

Nothing that you have said is is is functionally able for me to like put together and understand what this movie is.

I don't know what's going on.

I don't know what the characters are.

I do know that there's a lot of grab assen going on and the last third, Yeah.

I like think it's I genuinely think it's a very fun movie to watch.

It's funny at times.

Yeah, the like the pace of the editing.

I love how the soundtracks amazing.

But just like that tracking shot when he's he accidentally poisons the guy and he's running across the field and that tracking shot.

Yeah, all the people are chasing them, and the motorcycle shot and everything there's there's Paul thom Sanderson's just fun to watch it, even if it's not your favorite one of his movies.

They watching it though.

I At the same time, I'm reading this book about Lauren Michaels that just came out like last year, and at one point they're talking about, like, you know, when he was first kind of coming up and going to la and stuff, like at some point he was like doing some on stage stuff, wondering if he wanted to be an actor like Lauren Michaels was, And he said that, like there was a scene where he was like playing against like a real deal actor, and Lauren realized that, like, oh I looked in that guy's eyes and like that guy was that character, and I realized, oh, I'm just pretending to be a guy, you know, Like that guy's becoming the guy.

And he's like, I'm not an actor.

I need to just kind of be behind the scenes here, you know.

So, yeah, that this movie was like actor actors, you know.

Oh yeah, like Philip sever Hoffmann rightfully gets his flowers for that movie.

But Joaquin Phoenix is unreal.

I mean, he seems like he seems like he would be unsufferable right in real life.

Oh yeah, I think he doesn't have a reputation for it.

I mean I think I might just be judging it by that weird Letterman appearance, like you know, fifteen years ago or whatever where he was he felt this weird.

Oh yeah, he's apologized sort of apologize for it and also acknowledged that it was duchey.

Well, yeah, he showed up and like he didn't let anyone know he was basically in k fabe, like in character for this stupid, like mockumentary thing.

He's no, I'm okay, okay, so he was like, what do they call it method?

Well, yeah, but he was a drunk and high on yeah, but it.

Was acting and drunken high.

But it was also part of like he was trying to do the stunt basically, where like the whole deal of this movie was like a documentary about like in real life.

Joaquin Phoenix started saying things like I'm quitting acting, I'm becoming a rapper, and like you know, he was basically manufacturing all these things where it's like, oh, I I was wrapping at this party and then drunk and fell off a table or whatever, and it went viral and everybody was legitimately thinking, like, what the fuck is Joaquin Phoenix doing.

He's becoming a rapper, He's quitting acting.

And it turned out later that it was all part of this movie stunt where.

It was a bit it was just like an.

Trying to do Andy Coffin down to the going on Letterman thing where Kaufmin did it successfully and Joaquing Phoenix basically just showed up and seemed like a really aloof asshole.

At one point, he like takes his gum out and sticks it on Dave's desk and stuff like that, and Dave, Dave handles it incredibly well.

He just has no time for people doing dumb shit like that.

So Dave just been the whole time.

Yeah, don't.

I don't see what Keen is being easy to work with.

I don't know if Philip Seymour Hoffin was either.

Though excuses it.

If they're good actors, do you think that that gives them, like, you know, the right where it's like, oh, well, their performance was so good, it's understandable that they were a huge prick to work with for you.

Know, I I I think if you asked me this ten years ago, I was said, like, of course, it's all it's all for the arts.

Same but like it years ago New York was it the New Yorker article that uh interviewing?

Oh yeah that god yeah.

But my favorite quote from that was when for like a supporting quote, they asked Brian Cox.

They're like, they're like, so, like you get into the you're you're a very well known actor on the stage and on you know, the big screen and on television shows, you're you you seem to like embody your actors.

How do you go home at night after pretending to be someone that well all days like it's called acting, and they use that quote in the same story that is basically a profile of Jeremy Strong.

Jeremy Strong like he by all accounts, sounded like he's he not just the show's he's shooting, but it sounds like someone like him takes everything in his life too seriously.

He would be completely inseparate.

I think that he's a great example of like the worst of the worst, sounding you know, like I just fucked.

That guy, and then like, but no, it's sorry, go ahead.

Oh no, I was gonna say at the end of that Letterman interview it was just great because the whole time walking Panks is just on another planet, and at the end, Letterman just wraps it up by being like, well, walking and I'm sorry you couldn't be here tonight.

Yeah, that's actually really good.

Good Letterman to be able to be that fast.

I was thinking this was years ago, but I actually have this like vivid memory of a weird walking in Phoenix interview on like a red carpet and a random person is asking him an interview question and he can't focus and he's talking about the fact that there is a sensation of a frog in his hair.

That sounds like the shit he was doing during that, Like it was just like maybe like seven eight something.

Like that cosmic gumbo of seventy.

Yes, he's like really out of his rocker, and I think he says something like I'm worried about the sensation of my brain being eaten by a frog, and then he like walks away, and the person on the mic is like what and that's it.

And I remember being like that guy's on acid.

But I never really thought too much into it.

I always just kind of assumed that celebrities are always on drugs because if I was on a red carpet, I would probably do drugs too.

No, I would not, No, I would be drink.

I can't imagine being in a red car were being interviewed and stuff on drugs.

I don't.

Yeah, I don't see how, because sometimes the questions that you are asked are silly and mundane and meant to elicit a response, and I think that would just exhaust me.

I don't think I I could do a press tour at the end of a movie.

I don't think I would want to be asked like my favorite Muppet and then like have like a serious space, and I'm like, I made a movie about a war.

I don't want this.

Don't ask me about Fozzy.

Was awful.

We wanted to pay tributes everything that happened there.

My fucking favorite ice clean ice cream flavors, Rocky Road, like, let's move on, well, you want to go up.

There was one where you know, obviously Tom Cruise sucks in his own special way and everything, but there was one red carpet moment where it's like, man, he really handled it well where it was like the interviewer was trying to do some prank thing where it's like he's it's one of the things where he's like, you know, go in person to person doing little interviews in the red carpet, and he walks up for this guy to give him an interview, and the guy's like hey Tom, and then like squirts him in the face with like he had like a I don't know if it's like a clown flower or the microphone was gimmicked to spray water something.

I think it might have been the microphone spraying with water and Tom Cruise like just like grab some microes, what do you do?

Why?

Why would you do that?

Why?

Why would you do that.

I'm going into this thing, I'm coming over here to give you an interview, and you're gonna pull something like he like lectures the guy in a way that's like, oh, I would like a child.

Yeah, I would feel like if I was that guy.

Yeah, you'd rather Tom Cruise gets pissed and tries to fight you.

That'd be a better story then what the person was going to Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, people wanted to clip whers look at crazy Tom Cruise.

You know, yeah, I was gonna say.

Amanda's also been uh more open to watching horror movies lately, so Friday night finally showed her get Out, and then I told her there was a few scenes in Weapons that I thought might actually scare her, because get Out is scary in its own way.

I remember telling her.

I was like, I think it's it's not going to be truly scary because you're white, but like that's kind of the point of the movie.

So then we watched Weapons the next day.

I think scary.

Yeah, they're both scary Weapons.

There's a couple of scenes Amanda really doesn't love clowns, and certain parts and weapons kind of present as clown I don't want to spoil anythingcause if people haven't seen that movie, they still should.

But like she liked them both quite a bit.

And every time I watch Weapons, I think I've seen it three times now, I think I like it more, which is crazy because of the way it's structured like that Raschaman, it works for that.

Yeah, really Saturday.

Yeah, I don't know.

I didn't.

I didn't know if I appreciated that the first time I saw it either, But I think it's I think it's really brilliantly laid out and it's almost I bet it's more fun, Mike to watch it with someone who hasn't watched it, is you know what's going down and why and they don't yet, And I think that's that's probably like a very fascinating way to look at the movie.

Yeah, it's fun because I had a really good theater audience for that movie the first time I saw it, so I was curious if Amanda was going to react to it the same way that we all kind of did.

And there's definitely certain parts that just elicit a bit of like Catharsis and laughing in that movie, because that movie is really funny in many places, especially at one particular part where Amanda was also like cackling laughing, but yeah, no, she loved get Out as well.

Get Out so awesome.

I don't have a spe for us.

I like that a lot.

I don't like us all that much.

There's ideas in both, Like I think they're all good movies, but I do think it was kind of diminishing returns.

I'm still very interested in anything he does.

I mean, yeah, great, but like get Out was definitely my favorite.

You're talking like backlog stuff.

I am finally tackling the Sopranos.

Yeah, that walked with Bonk, who is like from there.

Podcast the Sopranos cast.

Did you know the Sopranos is a good TV show?

Oh?

I I okay.

There's actually an email question later kind of about this.

I don't always give people the hard sell on mad Men, which is one of my it's tied for for shows, and I've been talking to Bank about that as well.

But the Sopranos.

Every time someone tells me I haven't seen it, I'm like, I'm gonna be annoying.

I'm gonna tell you watch it.

I promise it.

There's a reason every but he talks about it.

It is.

I think it like it's like The Godfather.

You go your whole life hearing how good it is.

But even if you haven't seen it The Godfather, I like to think when you finally watch it, you're like, oh, I get it for.

The first time with you.

Yeah, And like The Sopranos similarly, like there are some bad episodes in that show in my opinion, but like overall still incredible.

And it's funny that during COVID it took off again with like the younger generations.

I think they reacted.

I think there's a bit of Catharsis there as well for them, in the sense that like, this is a group of people who brought ideas from the old world which are pretty bad and almost evil in many places, but like they were doing it as a result of the authorities not really protecting them and the economy sucking for immigrants, and now I think a lot of people are like, oh shit, this is so this is like them.

Their excuse for a lot of the shit they do is they're taking things in their own hands because the police aren't going to help them.

So like you know, you know earlier about me not getting messages or deeper meaning and stuff.

I didn't catch any of that.

I oh, I watched this show every year, but also like this is that's the Also like by the end of the show, I think a lot of those things become more apparent, like they literally talk about it.

But how far are you?

I'm three episodes?

I'm good, Mary.

Have you seen Sopranos?

I've seen the first season like three times, and then I always fall off and there's this is not a knock on the Sopranos.

I just think it's a really long show, and I usually am like what else is what else?

And then I end up fading.

There's no reason, I have no.

Excuse to me.

This is a lot like my relationship with the Wire, where it's like I heard about it for so many years and then I started kind of watching in college and it was like I was doing it while I was doing other stuff, or I was on my laptop and had it on in the background and I was like, I don't know, it seems like a cop show whatever.

And it wasn't until I finally like sat down.

I was like, I am making a point to watch the show that I have, and it's like I did the same thing.

I watched a little bit of Sopranos.

I got season one on DVD in college, and I watched a couple of seasons, but in like the background, and so I didn't really have any pre siation for it.

And now like Bank and I are sitting down and watching it, and it's like, Okay, this is making all the difference in the world.

Like, this is a tremendous show.

You said your three episodes in Yeah, and I've in the last couple of years, I've gotten up to the college one like or whatever.

So like I I've seen these first few a few times, but this is the most like we're actually paying attention to and talking about it.

And yeah, let me ask of course, you know the theme song.

Now this is crazy to me because this is the thing I've thought for thirty years or however long it's been on almost thirty years.

And then Leo Vader posted something, uh like the day after I had this conversation with BNK.

I always thought in the theme song, there's the part where he goes game about it.

You know that part, and it won't and.

The theme song, yeah, yeah.

I'm always sends.

A feeling shaved my body.

It's going to shave my body, save yourself or uh no, no, shame about it is what it is.

Yeah, yeah, I've never heard shaved ninety nine, so weird a song where the guy just goes, shaved my body.

Weird.

Falk I was like, why does he say he shaved my body?

And the next fucking day Leo posted like, oh, it's it's shaved my body, right, they said shave my girl.

It's not just me.

It's like we'd timing too, but no, it turns out it's a shame about it.

I love when that happens with a song where you hear it incorrectly and then you actually can't unhear it, and it's becomes this thing that like when now when you hear that song, it's all messed up.

When I was growing up, my sister and I, there was a song I.

Think it was by Lit, Uh steal my sunshine?

No, my own worst enemy?

That song where you're just like it is despriad to me.

I am my own worst enemy?

Right?

What what I did?

Right?

Lynn, steal my sunshine?

I understood you should be shame.

I understood the confusion, but the thought of Lit singing steal my sunshine so fight.

They're very very different like taking Back Sunday Emo band.

I don't know what that means either, surprised me.

Punk kids, Charlotte and Ship.

Yeah, they're a good Charlotte s Okay, Yeah for sure.

My sister always heard that lyric and said, uh, because every now and then a kick the living ship happy, and she thought that they say shit happy, which doesn't make any sense.

The lyric is ship out of me, living out of me.

But because we both grow up grew up singing shit happy when I do hear that song, which isn't I actually do like that song.

When I hear that song, I'm always if I hear it on the radio or wherever, I'll be like, I sing shit happy because that's the version I know.

I wonder like when you hear it, you're just like ship my body.

Shap my body.

It's the weird lyric.

Yeah, I still do that for like new songs I'm hearing that I love like I don't.

I don't actually know the you think I know every word Rocky Road to Dublin when I see it in Center.

Oh, we rewatched Centers last weekend as well.

That's a horror movie.

Yeah, and she accepts that one too.

Oh yeah, no, I mean it's Michael B.

Jordan's.

She'll she'll deal with anything to see him, particularly scary.

I like Nicky Glacier, Nicky Glai.

Yeah.

Yeah, but Michael Jordan plays twin brothers in this movie, which made me Nicky b Jerkin or something like that.

Yeah, that's really good.

Yeah it's Sopranos.

I I love that show.

I try to rewatch it like once a year.

But it's an undertaking for sure.

And yeah, it's funny, like like if I were to call an uber to the neighborhood whore Bank grew up, I would drive past several shooting locations from.

Oh yeah, I've gone past Satin Dolls, which was the bottom end club a million times.

Yeah, well it's funny.

Like my buddy who lives in West Orange now he does like a tour of the area for people who are coming, not not like a paid to her friends, and he'll show the different shooting locations, the scuba store that Polly's outside the beginning of an episode still there.

I'm not I'm saying this to you, Dan.

This is for people listening, Like Gloria's house is also there.

It's actually the like gatehouse to a bigger mansion wedding venue.

It's just really cool to live semi close by it all that now.

But it's interesting having like, you know, I watched some in college when I just had I'd never been to New York City, i had never you know, like it was just just a totally foreign concept everything going on in the Sopranos.

And now I've lived in Jersey for a few months when we were moving out to the East Coast.

You know, I've been out there a million.

I've spent a lot of time, specifically in like North Jersey, where most that show takes place.

And so now it's like I hear these characters talk, and I hear the accents, and I'm like, oh, I've met a lot of people that talk exactly like this, you know.

So there will be like a Polly Walnuts line or something, and I'll turn a bother and that's your dad, that's what your dad.

Yeah.

Yeah, I'm excited for you to get there's a few episodes in there that I'm really excited to hear your thoughts on.

Have you seen college?

Yeah, okay, gotcha, that's that's an all timer.

But there's like, I'm sure you've heard of the Pine Barrens.

Yeah, I think, Mike.

I think Mike Manatty might have spoiled that for me.

Yeah, yeah, oh it's it's like a Cohen Brothers movie in mid miniature.

Well, he spoiled it for me.

Even though Mike Manatty won't watch The Sopranos because he said the mob is mean and he doesn't like seeing mean stuff in movies.

He spoiled the episode.

I don't even know how you'd spoil.

It because he was talking about like I'm not going to say what he said specifically, but he was just talking about, like I can't watch the Sopranos.

They do mean stuff, like there was that one where this happens, and there's the one I know they do this thing to that person.

And it's just like he's saying, you won't watch it because of the mean things, and so I know about a mean thing that happens.

Oh yeah, that episode is full of them though, So I don't curious.

I'll ask you off off, Mike, but I'm glad you're liking it.

But yeah, I was talking a bank too, because now with mad Men on HBO, I think that's having a resurgence as well.

Yeah, I've sat down with her a few times just at the same deck.

Well she's been watching that and you know, just through osmosis, seeing a bit of it, and like, yeah, there's something about the pace of mad Men that I just could never really.

Do you know, Yeah, so slow, it's slow.

Yeah, Yeah, that is the show that like more than the Sopranos or The Wire, which are very like I think, verb heavy, and there's still a lot going on into the surface.

I think mad Men is really relies on the stuff going on on the surface, and that that's why I don't push that show all the time, because if the pace doesn't work for you, I can't like.

I don't I don't like the characters, and it's just like I don't know, like I can I can recognize it's clearly a very well made show, but just nothing about it makes me want to watch it.

Really.

If you are looking for like a faster pace, you gotta you gotta get into Naruto.

It is just action packed.

I cannot believe how much these kids go through.

I'm constantly almost dying.

I believe you, it's so good.

I'm still down with Rudo.

I also started an you anime which I know neither of you guys will watch.

Best not to talk to you about it.

It's not anime.

I don't think you're anti anime.

I think you'll be anti this anime.

It's called high School of the Dead.

Actually, Mike, maybe maybe I could sell this on you.

It is uh so, it's zombies attack a high school.

So all these high school students are like navigating what would happen if the entire world was like completely transformed, and now there's a zombie outbreak and you have to deal with it.

And they show a lot of students dying in the first episode, like immediately, like all these kids are like fucking dying in front of everybody.

But the fan service is outrageous.

Let me stop.

Let me ask you a question there, because I have used that phrase before fan service.

I did it on John Bomb East podcast once and I talked about something like I used it in the phrase of like there's a lot of fan service in terms of just like references in winking at like hay your eggs, Easter eggs, and like like a thing doing a lot like a New Star Wars show doing a lot of callbacks to the original trilogy or something like that.

That was my seeing a fan service and I were abby was like, wait what, I didn't know.

There's a bunch of like there's a bunch of DNA and whatever.

I was talking about P and A.

What are you doing.

I'm talking about references and stuff like.

In anime, fan service means paying tribute to the horny boys and having like.

Boys watch anime.

They love it.

It doesn't track to me, they love it.

Yeah, that is true.

I guess it depends.

A fan service in a Star Wars is very different than fan service in an anime, But in anime, fan service means heavily like suggestive upskirts and shots.

Yeah people, Yeah.

Yeah, it's crazy.

It's there's this like iconic scene where they're shooting a really high caliber rifle at zombies and the recoil is making these boobies like ripple, that's that's funny and yeah, and it's it's it is so vivid.

They're like it's in slow mo and she's like no, and as they shoot it, it just goes into slow moost so she's like no, and you see the ripple of the boob go all the way through the nipple to the other boob.

It's so amazing watching this.

I'm just curious.

And then this one, this one's for you, Mike.

And then there's a shot where he shoots a bullet through that same gun and one of the other girls she's fighting a zombie, right, so she's in the limelight.

She's like in the line of the shot of the bullet, and she does a sick backflip and as she does the backflip, her boobies cross and the bullet goes in between the boobies as they flow, and it misses both boobies and then hits a zombie in the head.

And I was like, I just crazy.

Thought of someone like staying after work one of the animators like fucking Taco Bell and half drunk like Baja blasts, just working to make sure the boob gap is perfect for the fifty round, which was really moved.

Thereous really need to do.

I know people are jaying it to that stuff like I'm sure, yeah, yeah, yeah, I wonder.

Oh, I think that's what this is.

It's like, that's what fan service I suppose is doing.

Is it's like this ability to have and it is a good show.

I think it's really entertaining and really interesting, and it just has these vivid shots.

I just have to be like, oh my god.

I basically have these like reactions of like I can't believe they did that.

But at this point I can't really be shocked at anything because it's so claringly obvious.

But I'll have to see if I can find like a gift or something of the Booby one, because it was one of the ones where I was like, that is absolutely outrageously well done.

Like it's so it's so blunt and obvious, but it's also like, I don't know, someone animated that, someone put a lot of energy in that and made sure that it worked.

It's like in the middle of an action scene where they're all shooting and stuff, are people just expected to like drop their trousers and just whack off real quick?

Like if it's just like a it's like not a sex scene, right, they're racing against the SCD get.

Done real quick.

Yeah, Okay, I found a gift of it.

Can I share it with you?

Guys?

I'm going to get put on a list.

You're gonna get put on a list.

Oh god, Okay, here it is.

There's a bullet, there's a what that's that's stupid.

That's very fucking stupid.

That's so fucking dumb.

Wait a minute, I love it.

Are things slow and then they're like.

It's beautiful.

It's so shocking.

Like a scissor motion with the boot.

This is dumb.

They are supposedly in high school and moving so fast for that bullet past one and then they just which figure eight and then it goes past another one.

Is it supposed to be ridiculous or like funny or.

It's funny.

It's humor, it's silly, a lot of violence.

It's also very violent.

It's also very serious in the sense like you know, their friends are dying, like their loved ones are dying, So serious elements to it.

But I would say more than not.

This is like cheeky and funny action and like hyper sexual and like the weirdest ways.

And this is a good example of like that is such a strange.

Yeah, that's over the top on purpose.

It's over the top intentionally.

And I was laughing during these scenes.

I could not get over how funny they were.

But it looks like a Roman ruin.

Yeah, I mean they're in the they're in Japan, like in the city now, and so like a lot of it because it's been taken over by zombies.

It's no longer inhabitable, and so you're probably I think they're like in a what do you call that, like a waterway.

Or something like that, that's a viaduct or something.

So yeah, this because I know all these shows have like nine thousand episodes, so like, is this sit down paying attention or is this like steam deck and it's not on the pack.

I usually have a steam deck, but I'll put it down for the booby scenes.

I think you need you need both hands for the booby scenes.

You need you need all the concentration.

When there's an action shot, I think it's I probably missed some of them because of the steam deck action.

But to me, same thing with Naruto.

There's usually filler episodes.

So an anime, it's like really standard that after a heavy action scene, just because the animators put a lot of energy in these action sequences, they need a filler episode.

This is an episode where they have almost no animation and the characters talk to each other and one of them maybe flirts with another one and they get like all flush and I go and they go, oh my god, I can't believe you said that to me.

And that's an entire episode, and so I can be steam decking during that.

That is a waste of my time.

I'll listen to it kind of and like do it.

But when I hear someone be like let's fight, I put the steam deck down and I watch the action sequences.

There are animes where they specifically cut out all of the filler episodes, and I don't do that that steam deck time.

That's what we did per dragon Ball because they did the dragon Ball Z.

And then there was Kai, which was like just cutting out the part where it's like, oh, Goku and Piccolo or getting their driver's license or whatever, and cut that stuff, and I think that's an actual episode.

That's really funny.

Yeah, Kai is.

It's kind of important.

Like if if I were to recommend an anime, I would definitely be like, watch the shortened versions or even look up a guide.

You can look up a guide to Naruto that will prevent you from watching six episodes of them walking to town, and like that's it.

It's just like you don't need all you don't need that.

That's obviously filler and it can make people leave the show, but for me, I use that as like really excellent gaming time.

Yeah, I am braced for anime and because Gershon and I are about to start up all systems Goku again, and it's like but like, since we're doing a podcast about it, like I'm paying attention, I'm taking notes and stuff like that.

So I think I think we're gonna do the original one, the original run of dragon Ball with like no you know, like filler episodes at all.

Is wow?

The plans So yeah.

Well there's some fan service in that one.

So in Joe Dragonball, there's a little bit really oh yeah dragon Ball there, that one I think is I mean, it's just a classic.

What else can you say?

But I mean I would I would die to have you guys watch one episode of High School of the Dead and like react to how absurd it is.

It's just so it's so ridiculous and it knows what it is to an insane degree.

And the character designs.

You'll see so many characters you'll be like that girl, their boobs are too big, and I'm very open about all boobs.

I'll be like, that is unnecessary.

You have made this character's boob too big and they cannot walk, they cannot run, they cannot do anything because you have made their boobs so big.

But they can make a mean apple pie.

They can.

In this anime, they're the nurse and so they're like, can I help you?

I are trying to stitch people up, But she just has like Triple F's and she looks ridiculous.

She just gets in the way during surgery.

Ever be a doctor with those.

We started the pit speaking of surgery.

Yeah, yes, episode a very different show eat Triple F and Surgery.

I'm on season two, so I've seen season one.

I won't spoil it for you, but I actually thought it was absolutely phenomenal and I'm really excited to hear what you think.

The only thing that it's like is hard about it is after a long, stressful day, is very difficult to recommend someone this show because it is so RESTful, and it is very vivid of the scenes of people getting hurt and so somebody has a bone sticking out.

They show it.

Oh, they show.

All of it.

They show how to do plenty of very invasive medical procedures, not howitorialize.

But like, is it supposedly like pretty accurate.

I don't know, it looks real.

They say so, like I think they're always taking liberties.

But when when they're saying this is probably like every medical show, but you know, they'll be like, this person's bleeding out and they'll be like, you just need to flip the lung upside down and that'll stop it.

And I'll be like, Okay, I don't know about that, but like I do think there are other elements where maybe something will pop out of socket and they will show vividly how to put a bone back into socket and someone who's like bleeding out, and I think that's pretty fucking.

Cool and combat X ray.

But like in reverse where it's like fixing the bone.

Someone gets her de gloved from the like knee down in the first episode.

Is that what that means?

You loved loved basically more deeper than skin.

Yeah, it's it's just her leg is just nerves and veins and that's no good.

Yeah, but it's a conception is disgusting.

Is that what happened to Jimmy Kimmel's wearing his wedding ring?

I get them mixed up because they're the same guy.

His ring Stark and something and it rips his finger skin off.

Yeah, that's why you should not get I forget what metal is titanium married.

Wanna talk about video games?

All right?

Dan?

I have to ask right off the bat.

I see you're playing Securo.

Are you doing it the weekly thing?

Hour a week for stream?

Are you like playing playing now?

I?

Uh, it's too good.

And I also think that like the muscle memory and things like that, I don't want to wait a week between sessions with it.

So like I've just dreamed a bunch of sessions at like two plus hours a time, like every almost every other day or so, like several times a week since I started out.

And yeah, I'm glad you're doing that, because that would be a rough way to play that game.

Yeah, remind me, do you beat this?

Yes?

Nice?

Okay, Okay, that that's good to hear because I'm so intimidated by it.

But like I did just get past a really big skill check from what people told me.

And they told me if I could beat this Cane Tiro guy, that I could beat the game.

And I did, and it took like better part of two hours of like fighting him over and over and over and over again, and three phases of this fight, and the introduced this crazy mechanic just in the third phase.

But man, it's like the feeling I had when I beat him was like it's I can only compare it to like when I beat my tyson for the first time, you know, where it's like this huge thing that you overcome that just takes just a genuine amount of skill.

You can't just kind of match with this stuff.

You have to learn this stuff and learn this attacks, and then like when you have that moment, it's just like fuck, that's just like this is what video games are all about, you know.

So I just continue to adore this game.

Also, like the level design.

The environments are amazing too, Like the little sandboxes you could if you're playing stealthily and trying to clear out a horde, if you pick off enemies from a horde before you go in and fully fight them, yeah sorry, mob, not horde.

That you could do that, And like, you know, like the verticality of the grappling hook and everything kind of gives you that option, which I appreciate that because in many of the Frumsoft games it's harder to go in and kind of whittle away at the crowd before you fully dive in there.

This wee.

Yeah, there was an area.

There's an area that had like, you know, seven normal sized dudes and like two big dudes with hammers and stuff that I was at recently, and like, you know, it's a lot if you go in there and they're all going to be swinging at you, and no matter how good you are at Perry's, you're not going to hit them all with like them all gang up on you.

And then it's like, okay, wait, I can go underneath this building here, and then I can kind of get out this fence here and I can stab this guy ooh, and I can hop down and kill this guy here.

I can throw the ceramic shard here and make him go over there.

And like I've never been great at stealth, but like it's really elegant in this game.

And like once you just started kind of like you said, yeah, the verticality, You're like, I'm gonna sit on this free branch here and then I'll be able to pop down on this guy go over Like it it works and it makes you feel awesome when you're able to do it with stealth.

And it also makes you feel awesome if you go in and you fight him head on, and it's just that game is just nothing but like incredible gameplay moment after incredible gameplay moment.

Oh yeah, yeah, there's some bosses later on.

I'm excited for you to see.

I thought the night guy on the bridge, Yeah, yeah, that was a fun one.

That was like I had a gimmick to killing him, which was funny.

It's also beautiful, isn't it.

Like it's it's stunningly gorgeous.

The sequences that they put in lots of like the fall and the leaves and stuff like that.

I just think it's a very pretty game.

I found it so stressful.

I have not beaten Sakio.

I think I think I probably quit like halfway through.

I just think I was like, this game is too hard for me.

But I did really I loved what I played of it.

And how many times is there that thing where you reach a mini boss or boss or sex and it's just like the first two or three times, I think this might be it.

I don't know if I'm gonna be able to do this.

And then you just keep trying and trying and trying, and your brain just keeps learning and learning and learning and knowing when to predict certain things, and then you beat it and you feel awesome and rinse and repeat over and over.

Like not bad, especially like this big like as.

Well designed.

Well Mary Mary press away.

Dan is right one that to be banned.

Sorry I could not.

That was a low hang.

No, the run backs are great because it's like, yeah, I defended it in Silk Song because I I didn't think it was ever that bad really, but I would be pissed off if, like before this gan T fight, which I did over and over and over again, if I did had to do a bunch of horse shit to get up there, you know, that would have annoyed me.

So yeah, yeah, there is something they're not having the run back for sure.

Yeah.

The also, like it's the Cantiro fight is just unreal for it.

I think the game literally tests you.

It makes sure at that point that you legitimately know how to do everything as that character, because there's not a single encounter like knowing when to jump as opposed to countering and when to dodge as opposed to jumping.

Like it's it's incredible, really really good boss fight, but there's stuff later on.

I think Jake.

Jake definitely has beaten the game more than I have.

I believe he likes it quite a bit.

But it's funny.

Everybody has that one boss that just gives them a lot of trouble comparatively, and I have one in that game.

I haven't seen it yet.

No, okay, it's like a midway boss.

Definitely anothers but you might find it.

You might be like, oh that was yours?

Like that?

I found that really easy.

There's just certain types of bosses I always have difficulty with in from soft games.

But when you when, I'll check it again next episode and I'll know if you have fought him yet.

I'm about to fight the monkey, gotcha?

Okay?

And I know the gammick with them, gotcha?

I remember the monkey.

Oh okay, so you've you've You've made it pretty damn fart then nyeah, under the monkey.

I feel like I might yeah, yeah, that might have been.

That might have been who did it for me?

And I don't remember.

That might have been.

That might be almost halfway, might as well be halfway, I guess.

Yeah.

Okay, Ish, what are you like twenty five hours in or something?

I'm like fifteen I want to say, uh yeah, but I looked at like a long play, and I looked at where I was, and I'm like halfway on the timeline.

Basically, I love that game.

It's that was.

If it wasn't for Outer Wilds, I would have been my favorite game of twenty nineteen.

It's just interesting how that stuff happens where It's like, especially with certain outlets where it's like there are just always blind spots and stuff where like I don't remember this being talked about much of Giant Bomb back then, you know, so Hidden Gem.

Yeah, I feel like Dan.

Well, like like this year Yota was one that I was the only one that played it at Giant Bomb, and like it's just interesting.

You'd think someone there would be like really stoked about a game like Yota.

That's huge.

Yeah, But I mean that's always the case with any outlet I think where it's just like okay, yeah we got X amount of people and just no one really played this one this year.

You know, It's still interesting though, because that's like a major one.

It's like sometimes I wonder though, when you're playing games all the time, you're like, well, we're gonna replay Banjo KAZUOI and we don't have time to play this from soft can.

Look Mike Nadia played Virtuos over the three d O right now and it's impair.

We're booked and busy.

Sorry.

Started Resident Evil nine.

Did you play that?

I did not.

Jan did and we put up a video.

I did not watch it because I don't want to.

I want to go in pretty blind.

But like just hearing Jan talk about it, like, oh man, I'm in a Resident Evil mood right now.

I don't even like I'm not.

I'm trying not to even read about it.

I know.

The big thing news that was came out a couple weeks so that it's like open world or like sort of open world SAMBARTI.

But they did that in previous ones kind of.

This is yeah, that's what I said, and then people were like, no, this is you know, this is more open world kind of interesting, yeah, or at least like open that.

I was like, yeah, The Evil Within two sort of did that as well, like several open worlds in that game, and I like that.

I liked that and Evil Within I think it's nice to give you a little bit of choice as long as you generally know what you're supposed to do.

I just don't like it when I'm like, no, I'm just lost.

Yeah, modern R games are so good with maps, you know, like RI two remake and four.

It's like, you know, I'm not worried if it is more open.

I'm sure they'll be pretty good about that.

Oh yeah, we'll be good.

But apparently enemies are on.

Like what did I see?

I think Jesse Vittelli had done a quick like Instagram.

Video for I saw that on idea of the butcher and stuff where you're standing in one spot and.

Yeah, the AI is on more of like a Hitman kind of clock where they're actually going about doing more believable things or not just like waiting at that one fireplace until you walk in.

Mm hmm.

That's pretty enticing.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it.

I can't wait.

Is the most excited I've been for Resne Evels since maybe four.

Four remake.

I had four or four, I think in terms of his excitement levels and like, like, I got excited for all the new ones.

But the one where they uh is seven, the one with the family.

Yeah, yeah, seven, I was excited for eight.

Yeah.

I think seven had some real excitement built up once people realized that the dad did different things based on where you were.

I think that's so sick, like he would kind of bust through different walls based on where you were.

But I think there's also my mind gpticism, like leading up to seven, because it's like we're coming off of six would suck to ass and it's like, okay, we're yeah, it's like we're doing some new stuff.

A real donker.

Yeah yeah.

So like the stock was not high, so it's like, okay, we're doing first person.

It's just like, okay, we'll see hopefully this is good.

But like the hype factor wasn't as there, and like now it's like we're coming off of two numbered ones that were good, too, great, great, you know, I would say I would say Village was very good and seven was excellent, and like so I think nine and everything they've shown of nine just seems like everything I like out of resioneval games, you know, the action of the poor, you know, the more kind of like the survival horror stuff.

Yeah.

I liked seven quite a bit for doing the like Texas Chainsaw, Maascar Vibe, rural horror.

Eight did more gothic Dracula inspired horror.

I'm not as psyched to go back to Raccoon City again.

I feel like I've seen all I need to see of Raccoon City like that, I think there are six games set there that I played.

I've if they could squeeze more out of it, awesome, But I think.

I'm always gonna I prefer a setting that is a relatable like, oh, this is like an American city.

I think I'll always find that more interesting than like a gothic fantasy thing or you know, like I mean seven was set in just like rural South, you know, but like I don't know, just like a city that seems relatable, you know.

I think that's that's my favorite type of setting.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to it, and I like that it's the first time since well seven had two playable characters, but it wasn't like interchangeable.

It was a gimmicks section.

Yeah, but eight had eight did too, But it's way at the end you play.

But this is when you can actually go back to the old school, like choose which one to play first, as which is exciting?

Is it choosing to play first or is it like a reason?

Oh?

Is it interweaving, like.

I'm not sure.

I'm not positive how it works.

If it's like interset moment like now your grace or whatever, or.

Is it like an old school one where it's like playing as Leon first will change it for when you play as.

I think it's one campaign.

But again, I've kind of been avoiding most stuff about herself.

Yeahana Wan, Yeah, OK, Mary, what have you been playing.

I've been playing a couple of things, but the one that I'm most excited to talk to you about is Mio.

This game was recommended to me by multiple people, which is so awesome when that happens, when people are like, I think this is for you.

Uh, they were right.

This is a metroid vania.

Uh it is.

It is between Hollow Night and Or for me.

It has the difficulty curve of a Hollow Night, but I think that it is kinder and it is more is easier for people to understand and adapt to.

And I like the Or comparison because it's in a fantastically beautiful world where you're just kind of like this weird, little floaty creature and it really plays on the platforming mechanics of how floaty and how delicate you can be in these absolute brutal platforming spaces.

But it is.

It is awesome.

A couple things that I really like about it.

It's challenging, but again it's not frustrating.

These boss fights are absolutely learnable.

You will figure them out.

Each boss fight that I have encountered, I've been like, holy shit, this guy beat my ass, and then within like thirty minutes, I'm like, I know this guy's skills.

I know exactly what to do here.

I can get through it.

There's no contact damage, so you can get right up in a boss's face and unless it attacks you, no damage.

I really appreciate that about this game.

That's cool.

It has a currency that you lose when you die, and you do not go to get it back.

It's gone when you die, it's gone.

But here's what I like about it.

There are different areas in the game where you can harden your currency into an item that you don't lose when you die.

Yes, but you don't you don't pay like a backpack and Escape from Tarkov.

Yes, yes, of course, just like Escape from Duckov.

Yes, I know you love Escape from Duckov.

I like that game.

Actually, so the currency system, it feels like it's you don't get too frustrated.

I've definitely lost my my currency before.

I forget what it's called, doesn't really matter.

It's like shape hard money.

You pick it up from fallen enemies or from the dead that you occur.

You know, you you like find along the way, but you want to harden it and then you buy upgrades with it.

The upgrade system is also sick and very hollow night It is a badge based system.

But think you're a machine, so you have to implant these different pieces, but you only have so much hardware like hardware like, you can only accept so many pieces at once, and they're all worth different amounts.

And so I gave up being able to see my own health to being so that I could see the enemy's health.

I gave up scraping more money from each enemy so that I could do a better final move of my triple move.

And so my third move on my combo does like way more damage.

Now I just added one.

I think this one's really fun.

I have one now that all of the health upgrade spaces cost nothing, and I have that one on so that when I'm doing a platforming section, I can just heal without spending a dime.

I can heal all the time and do these like really brutal platforming sections.

And then when I'm going to get to a boss, I take that off because I don't need it anymore, and I put on something that as I take more damage, I do more damage.

And so I'm constantly changing my system out based on the environment that it's put me in.

A Couple more things I just like wanted to quickly bring up.

I think it's stunning.

The background environments look and drawn and almost like hand painted, but you are very mechanical, so it's half looks like natural environment half mechanical robot, which I think is a beautiful way to do it.

There's a city that is covered in ice that I just found that I think is so stunningly beautiful and I can't wait to figure out more of it.

And again, I think the platforming is phenomenal.

I keep learning new moves.

God I want to dash, but right now I have like a double jump while jumping, a floaty move.

I mean, I've found all these really good moves that have completely blown this game out of the water for me.

I mean, this is my number one I mean this is this is good the game the only game I want to play right now.

You're selling me on this because, like I had heard some rumblings of gime Bomb, and I believe Chuck was playing it and enjoying it, and but I think the thing that scared me off was like he said, it was a really slow start, I want to say, and I just like, I like mentored Banias, but I hate slow starts, and so I think I was like, oh, I'm interested.

And then I heard that and I was like, man, I'm not so how bad is the intro?

I found it really quick?

And I think what's interesting to me is that I needed a fill in for bowling this week, and the guy who bowled on our team also was playing MEO and he was like, wasn't it cool when you found this boss?

And I was like, I haven't found that boss and he was like, oh, well, you have this item, right, and I'm like, no, I don't have that item.

And we're both five hours in.

We went opposite directions.

It's very possible that the experience that you have and the experience that the other person who's played this had very different experiences playing it.

Sounds like you can level yourself up in a totally different order, which I think is great.

So it's maybe not a great answer for you.

But what I will say is I found a boss almost immediately.

This game is chalk full of secrets hidden Heidi holes, nooks and crannies, and so if he missed them, he might have just been doing like a long section of nothing.

Now, whereas I found a boss within like five.

Minutes, I think I'm fine with like gameplay, slow start, like I'm fine with like the build up to getting I just don't want to like, and then then the king was evil, and then you got to kill the king like I just don't want to like textboxes for six hours.

You know, I don't.

Remember that either.

I felt like it was pretty dewey.

Okay, I will say, I will say, okay, it has an interesting I will I will acknowledge that this has a really odd start.

But I fell in love with it.

Which is it starts to du with like little lines and dots, and it goes back to it multiple times to teach you new moves in a new environment.

That's very simplified.

I'll try to explain it.

But like the very first time you get uh, there's a Oh, you can hit something to get your jump back, right, this is a common upgrade, right, Yes, you hit something in mid air and all of a sudden you get your jump back and now you can travel a little further.

It takes you out of the game.

It puts you into this two D environment that's very simple.

It's it's got stunning audio.

It's so simple, and it pairs everything down and it goes now, you're just going to learn this skill.

We're going to give you six challenges to learn this skill to make sure you learn it, and then we'll throw you back into the game.

The game starts in that mode, and so when you start you might be like, what is this?

But by the sixth time, not even by like the third time, you're getting your upgrade.

You're like, oh sick, this is my learning a skill mode.

And then you get to play the game.

So maybe that's what threw him off.

That's the only thing I can think of.

I'm about the game visually.

Yeah, I'm narrative a slow start.

It's a little bit of narrative mumbo jumbo.

But you just you know, you look at your watch.

Okay, you don't have to read I was like really surprised.

I will also say, after that opener, whatever it is, there's like no story at all.

Like every once in a while you'll run across a robot and he'll be like the city used to be big, it's dead now, and I'll be like okay, and then I go fight six bosses.

I haven't bogged down with text at all.

I've really loved it again, like the floatiness.

Oh there's ice in a lot of these areas, and I'm slipping and sliding all over the place.

Like the enemy design is pretty fun.

In several of the areas I've been fighting, like just really cool mechanical animals.

You know, different robots that maybe look like hummingbirds or they look like spiders, and they're Oh, there's one that looks like a chameleon and he literally hides into the walls and so you won't see him unless you're really paying attention, he'll get you.

It's just a fun little game.

I really do think it's I hope more people talk about it.

I think it is a fantastic platformer.

So for someone who's like really interested in platforming, this is a good platformer game with some good boss fights.

I'm liking a the one.

I got some flights coming up for sure that I made some stuff for so I'll make sure this is like on the steam deck.

Before someone point.

Planning on the steam deck, it's a steam deck game faue show.

I don't think it's perfect, Like there's some things that like I haven't I haven't been super in love with.

And I do think it's it.

There are some pain points around, like sometimes I don't know where the hell I'm going, and a lot of places it'll just be like you can't go in there, and so I'll have to repeat.

I repeated a space like twice looking for secrets, and I finally found one and realized, you know, I had missed something.

So that can be a little frustrating.

Okay, well I'm curious.

That sounds cool.

They're like two point five d S five, so it kind of remind me of Bloodstained.

The art specifically, this is more sci fi.

It looks like futuristic, but it does remind me a bit of Bloodstained.

How they use that, I don't even know what engine that would have been, but.

I agree, and it's it's cool to see people play with this style.

I appreciate that connection because the two D three D is the biggest crossover here.

They look very different.

But what you're essentially saying is like your character looks very different than the background, and it doesn't feel like it should work, but it does.

It does.

Yeah, the camera's not completely tracking your character.

It's actually pulled out and kind of like tilted in to look at them from certain angles.

So you can actually see the sides of some geometry environment, which can look ugly in some games, but I think when it's done well, it's attractive.

Yeah, Dan, you played a round of High Guard, the multiplayer game.

Everybody's talking about her.

Tell us that's what I hear.

Yeah, is Mary?

Is it mostly All I know is that people are talking about it.

Is it mostly bad or mostly good or mixed?

I think that I don't think this will color your opinion at all.

I think it is mostly bad and it is and it is so volatile that if you like it, I feel like gamers will come for you.

It's weird.

I think that's.

Still enronments for people.

But I have not heard.

Yeah, it's been a tough launch.

Is the vibes that I'm getting from this game?

So what was your experience.

Uh it's one of those games that a lot of online multiplayer games seem to be these days to me, which is in the genre of Okay, uh, spend the first few minutes of the round doing a bunch of boring chores and then something changes and then you go die and then you.

Wait to do it again.

Uh so I yeah, no, that's cool.

Yeah.

I very quickly was like I just don't get like, even like good ones and these like this, this is well made.

Like when I was doing the tutorial, I was like, this looks good, this feels good.

I like shooting these guns.

I like it's got a you know, like I love the feel of like Apex in titan Fall, like I like, you know, I know a lot of there's a through line of certain developers there, but like I love titan Fall cause I don't know, the campaign was great and two and then the multiplayer gimmick was simple and worked where it's like, all right, you're these pilots and these titans.

It's multiplayer.

It's it's pretty understandable.

And then like Apex was like, okay, it's this weird, like I'm never going to play online with people really, so like I don't like that you always have to be in three person squads, and it was just like kind of confusing, and it was like they're pubg in Fortnite.

I got into those because that's pretty straightforward.

You drop onto a thing, you try to survive as long as you can.

I like that Apex.

I recognized it was well made, but it's like I don't there's just too much stuff going on here and this is like way worse than that, where it's just like, Okay, I guess at the first phase, I need to put up reinforcing walls on this building, and I don't really know why or where.

I'm sure there's a reason to.

I mean, if I played more, I'm sure I would learn what I was doing.

But like when it's not fun at all to start out, I don't feel incentivized to keep going.

So like you've enforce all these walls and then you go out and you're just like harvesting crystals, and then I guess you can buy stuff from vendors, and then it's like capture the flag for a little bit, and then once you bring a shield breaker's sword to someone's dome, it breaks their dome open.

Then you can try to breach walls, and then it turns into like a search and destroy a thing where there's a and it it's just like I I knew I was gonna hate it once the tutorial kept going and going and going.

It's like, all right, you had me at the beginning when it looked good and it felt good to play, and then it's like you just keep explaining more and more shit, and it's like, all right, I'm done.

I don't I have no interest in It's like a personal thing.

Obviously shit like that's kind of popular now, but yeah, it's just the thing that makes me feel like, Okay, this has never been my thing, and I don't.

Think it should work.

Like I love the idea of mixing the magic and the bullets and everything, like did you get to play as multiple people?

Like how how much did you play?

I like around basically, and then I bailed on it pretty quick.

But it's like it's not even just like like I was a big Twisted Metal fan and in twenty twelve they brought it back and I was like, fuck yeah, PlayStation three Twisted Metal.

And then they did this E three presentation where it was like okay, so this is our our Marquis mode where it's a multiplayer online where it's like, okay, you got to go around and you got to like drag these clowns behind your car, and you got to load the clowns into a cannon, and then you shoot the clowns at this like hiju clown and then it's just like it's like whoa, whoa, we we had it, we had it.

We just cars drive around and blow each other up.

It doesn't need to be much more complicated than that.

And I just don't like the over complication of things.

I like simpler objectives.

You know.

It's why something like Doda or League I see that or I hear it explain, and I'm like, this seems like the most miserable fucking.

Thing I've ever heard in my life.

And it seems like a lot of that shit has permeated, like FPS and other genres and stuff like that, and whenever I see it, I'm out.

I'm out.

It's like, I know some people like it.

I just it's Mike.

Mike is an anathema.

Anathema.

Yeah yeah, okay, yeah yeah.

To me, it's I just fucking hate it.

So yeah, I got out real quick.

I don't know if other people are liking what it sounds like.

They're maybe not, but uh yeah, not for me.

It doesn't sound like my thing either.

I like a straightforward, simple I like complex shooters, but like I like deep shooters.

This sounds like more that.

Like they're trying to go like broad wide, a lot of rules, a lot of different objectives like Rainbow six Siege, like get in, plant a bomb at one of these two sites in a close quarter space, or kill everybody.

Yeah, Mike, you you had to do that over and over and over again.

You had a real period with Siege, and you got me playing some and I did like some Siege, like I didn't think I was going to.

But like, that's the thing with Siege is that the objective was simple enough.

The complexity and the stuff you can really get good at is through learning the different operators and their skills and the way they can play off each other and things like that.

And I think that's cool.

It's like you're winding like Soul Caliber, like you want to get in there and match buttons, You're gonna have a good time, play good fighting game, or if you want to go in there and spend five hundred hours and all these tutorials, you know, like learning everyone's combos and everything, like, you can enjoy it on several different levels where I don't know, like a mobile type thing or something like There's it feels like you have to be a specific type of person who plays a specific type of way to enjoy it, and I just don't find that stuff accessible or fun.

You know.

The objective of chess is very simple.

Yeah, each of the different pieces has many, many layers and complexities.

Like I think the best games, like the rule sets are pretty easily explainable quickly.

It's the more like the depth, the more you repeat and play it, the death comes out.

Yeah.

It's like.

Every board game is like that now.

Every time I feel like I've ever sat down to play a board game, it's like it's not fucking guess who anymore.

It's just like, all right, you have six super tokens and three minor tokens, and you are able and tell you're good, and then you if you flip this crystal to its left side, then it's this, but if it's December, then you're a Gemini.

And it's like, I don't.

I have a certain person who listens to this podcast, it's my wife will hear this and she'll know exactly who I'm talking about.

But we both know someone.

You know.

Like a few months ago, we were staying with them at their place and they're like, so, do you want like a really in depth board game or do you want to do something?

I was like, we just like, you know, we took trains to get here.

We want something relaxed, have a few ture total totally.

So they bring out like three options and they're walking us through the options and I'm like, oh, sorry, we said we wanted the simple ones.

He's like, oh these are I was.

Board game people under.

I think they've got lost and I know when.

You love something, and like, these people also don't get a ton of chances to play like board games with people who appreciate games.

So like I was like, all right, game.

People love bringing out the board game.

It's I get it.

It's like their board games are my like super interesting bottles of bougeleet that you probably I've gotten my thing too, but oh my god, yeah, board game people.

I applaud them because I I can't do it every time.

I'm up for the coffee in the morning when I have the day to learn something and that's all we're doing.

But like late at night, I'm like, no, guys, like Checkers would be fine right now, that would be great because respect for it.

There's so many good ones, and you have to be open to them, right Like you could find your next favorite game through one of these things.

You just have to be, to Mike's point, in the right head space.

I have been tricked before.

I think Wingspan is great, So this is not a I don't like Wingspan.

I just want to say that I feel like there are probably mothers out there that were disappointed when they were like excited to play a board game about birds and then found out that there were four hundred rules.

Yes, yeah, I just thought it was cool to have eggs way eggs, and then I was like, shit, this is extreme.

This is way more complicated than I was prepared for.

That's another example.

It's like these are all like good, these aren't like like a lot of these things are good and they're popular for a reason.

But like Wingspan, I heard everyone talking about it and I was like, all right, oh, and a lot of people should just that.

It's me.

It's like oh me and bonk.

You know.

Sometimes we'll play like it is good.

Yeah, it's a great game.

Yeah, and we bought it and we did some one on one with it and stuff.

But it's like most of the time it's just like, okay, So then if you are in the swamp, you can do this type of bran and if you have this bird, it can if you have six eggs, then it can land on the shoulders of a grass bird.

And it's like, oh my god, it's just I code names.

It's wavelength.

Like these are like Wavelength is good.

I like games where it's like you got a party together.

There's six people that want to squirrel away into this room or whatever.

It takes fucking four minutes, and then the game is about talking and having a fun like social time, and like Wavelength is like debating about like you know, like having a conversation with something and not just like dealing with a million chotch keys and shit, you know, and rules like that drives me insane.

I think I agree with you.

Someone gave me Wavelength as a gift and it is my number one when I'm like, oh I need something to do with six people.

To Wavelength is great.

You're gonna have a good time, You're gonna have fun, And I don't think it's stresses well, actually it will stress people out when they have to choose what the thing is.

Yeah, but if yeah, if people were like I want a board game and I want something different and I haven't played a board game since Apples to Apples, I would say Wavelength is the number one easy.

It's not so easy, but it's it's easy gaming.

Yeah, you have to be able to read.

Well, Like, how the fuck did Dungeons and Dragons ever get popular at all?

Because it seems like the most complicated thing on the planet.

Weirds, but.

Dungeons and Dragons, like similarly, is more just a vehicle for people to tell a comedicals story.

There are books of like, well, here's the six chapters about what the dexterity number means if you roll like it is.

Every time I've sat down, it just seems like the most complicated thing ever.

And I have no idea how people hYP parties and get togethers where it's like this is what we do, Like you you know five people who know how this works.

How the fuck did you meet that well that they took the time as a group to get to know it and like they have a good DM.

Like there's a difference between like playing.

People have parties where the objective of the party is to play that game, whereas wavelength is something that you can bust out on a whim at a party and people.

Want to here like uncle that you don't really know super well, but like you want to be able to have with them.

Aunt Nancy, how to play Dungeons and Dragons.

When I think of a party, I think a lot of people of just different Like, you know, if I have a party here, people who don't play video games period, you know, where it's like I can't imagine having a party where it could be confident enough to be like, hey, all of you, let's come play Dungeons and Dragons.

You all know how that works.

Do not play Dungeons and Dragons.

No one does that.

No one does that.

They have planned nights where they are like, hey, let's play Dungeons and Dragons on like on Tuesday nights.

And there are a group that knows how.

To play Dungeons and Dragons.

What's more comparable party and says like who knows how to play it?

Here?

That's my point is that they're very different kinds of game dedicated to games.

My point which was refuting you.

Don't, I just I am standing firm in the fact that I think Dungeons and Dragons is the most confusing and weird thing I've ever seen in my entire life.

It's kind of.

Flat down and apparently I played it with like world class caliber dms and stuff where everyone's like, oh, you play with like like Austin Walker is supposed to be tremendous at it, and I believe them, but like I've played with him, and it's just like every time do I what does this mean?

How do I do?

What do I do?

Like?

Oh, I just make the Like I just don't understand what the point of it is.

I don't understand how to win.

I don't understand how you can play with no board and sometimes there's a board, and then there's a company that makes it.

But it's also just a loose cloud of ideas, Like none of it makes any fucking sense.

How does just the exist If it's just like you can do whatever you want.

It's improv the game.

It's an engine for communal storytelling.

I don't think the objective is to win is to tell this long form story together to what happens.

Someone like, why are you watching the Sopranos, because you don't win by watching the game.

But the show, I know, But like the point is it's you're seeing it's.

The show.

Or whatever.

Yes, but it's like cinematic and explorative.

It's like it's like acting out of play.

Yes, they go to your local theater and audition.

I don't know.

I can stare you.

You're one of the biggest dorkiest nerds out there.

Stare you hat on.

This giant fucking nerd.

It's not you are stupid thing.

It's not stupid, you're ignorant.

Yes, yes, that is That is what I was getting toward.

No, I think it's domb and no one should like it.

Dan, listen, this is your this is your snow is plastic.

You are embarrassing yourself and someone is going to clip you and say that this moron doesn't.

Know about this world.

And there a long time your conspiracy theory and you were gonna You've embarrassed yourself.

I'm happy for all the people who like getting around and pretending they're playing a game with rules when it's just weird and fantasy Lord of the Rings time.

But it's just it's nonsense.

Mike.

You're playing Shadow, gambit, let's talk about it.

I know.

I was about to do the thing where I point out to Dan that wrestling has a lot of the same aspects, but let's skip.

That sucks now.

Too, Okay, well you're kind of suck.

Oh hear that.

Yeah, I've been playing Shadow, But again, I talked about it last episode.

That game is still incredible.

It still makes me said that, Mimi, me games are gone incredible.

Isometric, top down stealth game, really creative characters.

I'm unlocking characters in a very different order than I did the first time I played it, which is cool that you could do that.

Similar to Wild Bastards.

You guys played that, you know how the first the first that game, the first run, you unlock the characters at a certain order and then it becomes randomized.

This one, you unlock the same there's the main character who is the navigator, but then after that you can revive these undead pirates in any order you want.

For the most part, there's a few point points where they're like you have to pick from this pool.

But it's playing really differently with these different character and playing on a higher difficulty.

I'm enjoying it.

There's different ones.

What do you mean, Shadow Gambit, Cursed Cruse, Shadow Gambit, Yuki's wish, Shadow.

Gambit, Curse Crew is the game the latter two?

You mentioned our DLCs with new.

Characters, Okay, thank you and missions?

Yeah, incredible game.

I think I said this last time.

But if you're someone who really likes first person immersive sims like Dishonored or Prey, or you played h Dark Messiah way back in the day or Thief, I this is essentially kind of an immersive sim.

Definitely more heavily stealth focused than a lot of those where you can be stealthy, but it's an option.

This one's very much about stealth and uh, but it's you know, top down isometric, incredible maps, vibrant locales, some some fun character writing.

It ever gets in the way halts the momentum with the game though, also just kind of a puzzle game really like it's it's less immersiontive, more like a puzzle stealth game.

But I say immersive sim because there's a lot of ways you can interact with the environment and approach objectives differently.

Yeah, I don't think i'd recommend it to either of you.

It's then I think it's too stealth focused for you.

Very same thing.

I don't think you like stealth games all that much.

I struggle with stealth, but sometimes I can get into it.

But I this looks very I'm like looking at the gameplay and it's got the cone of vision everywhere, so it looks like it's very stealth focused.

No, it's awesome.

I love it.

Yeah, me me, me games.

They put out the two DLCs for it, and then they're basically like, we're fucking tired because they made Desperados three, which is incredible, and Shadow Tactics, which was feudal Japan and you had like a ninja and a sniper.

That was the first that was also good, one of my one of the biggest bummers of a studio closure, although it was self imposed.

I still wish they were making another game of some sort.

Don't know where they are now, but yeah, that's mainly what I've been playing.

I've been playing stuff for work that I can talk about in a few months or something.

Probably that's been most of my time.

So more on that.

I guess down the road.

But Mary, you played other stuff beside MEO, right, I have a couple quick ones.

One I played a game called Deepest Sword, which I was thinking, Dan, when you do Blake Club, Like, what if the game is really quick, like twenty minutes, would you do?

Like you have something called Blightning Round where that is like done in one episode, which was what Mike.

I'm not he was supposed to do with this current game, but I picked one that's probably gonna take him like eight hours.

So oh that's funny.

Y Well, I think I have like a mini one for you, and it's the Deepest Sword.

This game is free, which I love.

I always love, like Hawk in a nice free game.

You can tell this is like maybe like this is like an early on dev cycle game.

This is not meant to be like a full on adventure, but it's we've got a really cool premise.

You're a night you need to kill a dragon, and your sword is not big enough to get to the heart of the dragon, and so every time they make your sword a little longer.

But that makes you have to navigate the space completely differently because now you can't fit.

Also, your character can't jump.

This is kind of important, so you have to use the sword to climb or to navigate a space.

And by the time you get to the end, and don't look it up, because again, this game isn't very long.

It's like a basically it's like a free demo, but it's like as you get through it, the sword gets so long.

You have to do these like totally wacky things in order to beat this game.

And I actually really liked it and thought it was very fun.

But the first time I realized how stuck I was with this giant sword, I was like laughing at myself.

I think it's a cute little gimmick.

Every image I see is just this dragon with the dude on his back trying to get the sword in there.

Yes, it is a bit horny, I will admit to you.

Well, it is the euphemism, right.

Sword.

And the I know there's a bit of fan service with you with the dragon, because when you put your sword in the dragon, the dragon will say like is it even in?

And then it'll flight you up, and then you get a longer sword because eventually you need to get the longest sword to the deepest sword to get it in.

To kill the dragon euphemism some short I got the fucking and I'm just looking at the pretty clear I'm looking at the clip at the I'm looking at the clip and it looks like at the beginning, right after you press the stark key at the menu, the first dude is like venture deep into the cavern of longing.

God, I am an idiot.

I would have it would not have even like registered for me that that was a sex thing.

Along the dragon lies ahead resolve, Yeah, oh god, it's almost like, what do you want to call it?

It's a bit literal.

One of the games called where like climbing a hill or whatever.

Celeste, no, oh, the Benefatti stuff, fadi in Yeah, almost the movement sort of is it even in?

And yes, she's given sex eyes, for sure.

She's given sex eyes, but you can ignore that.

What I think I would say is like, I think it is a genuinely cool mechanic that you need your sword in order to jump and traverse the space.

But as your sword gets longer, it also becomes a hindrance.

It gets to a point where it's like this sword is actually so annoying and now I'm stuck, and so it has it has buttons to reset your character because you will get stuck an environment with your sword.

I found it frustrating and yet enjoyable, and it I just thought maybe it could be like a good blight experience to try and get through this game in about twenty thirty minutes.

It's very frustrating.

Wow, that was sure, But it is.

It's not a demo, right, It's fully released.

It's a game.

It's a still game.

I just I feel like it was kind of like a game jam game gotcha, Okay, if that makes sense.

It's it's a released, free to play a game.

The next one was a Big Hops.

I think you recommended this for me, Dan, So I did download it and play it, and I liked it.

I haven't beaten it yet.

I've started playing Meo, and I think that's like now that I've now that I've tasted Meo, it's like, Okay, this is a different world.

But like what you said about Big Hops is still true.

It's a fun, lighthearted platformer.

It has it has some weird physics you can like, it's just a little janky.

I die a lot in the stupidest ways that I think the game is like just slightly broken it is so cute and colorful and adorable, and I love the mechanics of unlocking locks with my tongue.

They're like tiny little puzzles that are like BioShock puzzles, but you use your tongue to crack the code.

It's sweet.

Have you gone to the park where there's ropes and you use this goo and it connects two areas with a rope.

You must be further in me because I don't think I've seen any lock puzzles or anything like that.

It's it's a really neat thing that they've done to open the game up.

So there's uh, they've had all these different I know you've seen them and they're like mushrooms and they let you jump, or they've had this, uh, it doesn't matter.

It goes up.

And now you have a climbing vines so you can get yeah.

Yeah.

And now there's a new one and it's it's like a googball and when you when you throw it, a rope automatically connects to spaces and so they'll throw you in a cavern with absolutely no way to get out and give you a bunch of gooballs.

And so I'm making rope nets to climb out.

It's kind of cool you can make them the way you want to.

I think it's neat.

I think like, if I hadn't just played Meo, I'd be like, what a great platformer for me to sink my teeth into.

But now all I can do is play Meo.

So if I were to pick a platformer Metroidvania Space to be, it would be Meo.

And then finally, quarantine Zone.

This is a weird one.

I love zombie apocalypses, you guys know that, and I love any type of zombie games.

So this is just a weird one where you're in a zombie outbreak.

You're in a quarantine zone, and you're the scanner.

Your job is to scan people and decide whether or not they're zombies.

As a fantasy.

I'm obsessed.

I love it.

I love the idea.

If their eyes are yellow, that's okay, fella.

If their eyes are red, they gotta be dead.

And so like, I've made all these little catchphrases to like let people in, I like decide whether or not if you send them to your death.

Also, JANKI, if you send them to your death, you can follow them and watch them get murdered because you don't tell them.

You're just like, you need to go to section D, bud and then he goes to section D and then he rag dolls and they kill him.

There's lots of different devices that you need, and so each each day or each section of the game, you progress with different items.

At first, you're just checking their eyes and their skin, then you're checking their temperature.

Then you can actually find a device that goes under their clothes.

There are sections where you're shooting zombies because they get in They mix it up a lot.

I do think it's kind of it's just in general, I would just say it's just a little jank.

It's it's obvious that it's really not fully baked.

If you like fantasies of a zombie apocalypse and doing like a papers Please situation, yeah, you're like deciding people's fate.

There's no time limit.

If you aren't sure.

Sometimes the people will be in a gray area.

They might be a zombie, but they might be fine.

You can put them in quarantine and then check on them the next day and see if they've become a zombie, which is cool, but you can only put three people into quarantine, so you have to be thoughtful.

If you put someone who's actually sick in the safe area, then they light up your entire space that you have a zombie outbreak and a bunch of people that you saved get sick.

If you kill people, that's also not good because you need them.

You get more points and more money if you're like saving people, so you want to save as many people as possible.

I ended up getting really frustrated at a at a section where I was shooting zombies.

I just don't think that that's where this game shines.

It's not a shooter.

It's not intended to be.

I don't even know why they added that part of this game.

I'm here to scan people and determine whether or not they're sick enough for me to kill them, and I don't know.

I don't think it's for me.

But I can appreciate a zombie apocalypse fantasy game, and that's exactly what this.

Is, right, all right?

I think that's everything.

Do you guys want to talk about emails?

Sure?

Yeah, okay?

As usually, you can ride into Fireescape Cast at firescape cast at gmail dot com for questions you want read on the show.

Got a bunch of new ones since the last episode starting twenty twenty six off in a strong way, Mary, do you want to read this first one?

From Thomas?

Hello, Lovely Fire Escape Ease.

I picked a hell of a month to do my first dry January.

I've been replacing most of my alcohol intake with cava.

Cava is a root tea from the South Pacific that gives you a nice, mellow buzz.

It's relaxing, not intoxicating, there's no hangover, and you can't have too much.

On the flip side, it tastes like mud.

It makes your lips and tongue numb, and it takes quite a while to prepare and if you have to drink a lot of it on an empty stomach because the effects are very slight.

It's a hard sell and a tough thing to explain to people who have never tried it.

Do you have anything that you do frequently that it's hard to explain or hard to sell?

Thanks to the podcast, love y'all, Joy is an act of resistance.

Thomas from Northeast East Sorry I was gonna say Northeast Nord East Minneapolis.

I'm drink.

For you knows about those I live Northeast.

Yeah.

Man, uh much love to you, Thomas.

Uh, that's a cool that's a cool setup of like stuff that you that you feel like you struggle to sell people on.

I will say, like, uh, speaking of tongue numbing, it wasn't until recent years.

The last five years, I got really into sesshuan peppercorns.

Sashwan is a spice that numbs your tongue, and it alters flavor profiles, so it can make meat more savory, it can make beer taste like apple juice.

It just changes things.

And I am so obsessed with sesshuan and I will crush these bad boys into soups and into different dishes.

Crushed, they look like seeds.

Ok.

You should google it, but they look like a crunchy, dry seed, which I think they are.

They look like a peppercorn.

How about like an open peppercorn?

Okay, assume.

And I keep them at my house specifically so that if I have hot pot, which I love, it's like one of my favorite meals to make, I cram a bunch of sesshuan in my tongue and rub them all over my tongue until my tombs tongue is so numb that I can't feel it.

Then I have guess.

I'm like, you gotta put the jobs on your tongue, directly on the tongue.

You gotta mash them in the mash the gou in your tongue, and then and then have a sup of beer.

It tastes like apple juice.

And everyone's like, you're fucking weird, and I can't.

I have a hard time convincing people that it's so fun to mess with your tongues flavor profiles and to make things taste more like umami or like more savory.

Everyone thinks I'm a freak.

I love no, you know what, I do that quite a bit with changing flavor profiles of food.

That's literally what wine and food pairing is.

But anyway, I love.

Mary brings them to New Orleans.

I love.

I will.

I'll bring the baggie of them.

You can't know.

It comes from the prickly ash tree, which is an invasive species in states.

It's not allowed and you have to quarantine it.

What he's tree.

But I'm you you can't.

You can bring it.

I will try that, bring it, bring the neurons.

I'll try some.

I think it's great in a soup, Yeah, go ahead.

Mine is definitely meditation because it's the thing that's like helped me so much for so long with anxiety, and it's like it's something that like even if I don't, I have like a dedicated practice every day where I'm doing it for thirty minutes a day, and it's just the things I've learned through meditation and like just ways of thinking is it's very much just change the way I think.

And the way I deal with certain things.

But every time, like there's a certain type person where it's like, you know, they'll be asking about anxiety or certain things, and ibody like, you know, what would really help you is a meditation and people will be like, oh, there's no way I could ever do that.

It's to my mind's always going to a million different places.

There's no way I just be able to sit and think about nothing for fifteen minutes.

And it's like, that's the fucking point.

It's not about thinking about nothing.

It's about recognizing when the thoughts are coming into your head, acknowledging them and then letting them pass on by.

It's and then like if somebody will even try it, it's always the same thing with certain types of people, where it's like I just kept having I just kept having different thoughts stuff I couldn't just like clear my mind.

It's like it's not about clearing your mind.

It's not that's not what it is.

There's just so many like misconceptions about it, and everyone thinks they're bad at it when it's like, that is the fucking practice.

It's like I've meditated for over twenty years.

I sit down to do it, I am still like sitting there thinking like, oh fuck, I gotta return to that email.

And it's like wait, nope, nope.

The practice is acknowledging that thought.

Let it pass on by, back to the breath, back to the body scan, whatever I'm doing.

That is the practice.

That is doing a rep, that is doing a bicep curl.

That is like you're not just sitting there with a clear mind for you know, thirty minutes on a pillow, Like that's not what it is.

So it is just like if I can even get someone to try it, it's like they still think like I'm bad at it.

I could never do this.

That's just that's it's a practice.

Something you got to work on and you will get better at it and you will see the results and not that much time.

If if you give it a shot.

But a lot of people just.

What do you do in it?

Though?

What do you mean?

How do you do win?

I see what you're doing this goal I was.

I was Dungeons and dragons just we both run nice one.

I meditated quite a bit on the West Coast.

I fell out of practice.

But yeah, like I know exactly what you mean.

It is like a muscle you need to work out and maintain otherwise at atrophies.

But if I was to meditate tomorrow morning, I would suck.

Yeah, everything flying through my head would linger there and then I'd think I would push away and then It'll be like yeah, but like I would be better at it in three weeks if I do it consistent.

Yeah, it's because I meditate, is why I can.

Like, if I'm in a dentist chair or something that I used to not be able to, like, I would just avoid the dentists like the plague, and I still don't like it.

No one likes it, but I can go in now and if it's like uh, they're kind of just like doing something or drilling into something or whatever, and like I'm tens enough and I'm like, oh God, it's gonna hurt really be Like I will acknowledge that, like, oh, I'm having that thought that I'm anticipating pain, but that's just the thought, that's not reality, And I'll kind of let that go and I'll focus on my breath and I'm able to just kind of like like I can feel the tension just leave every muscle in my body as I incorporate these things I've learned through meditation, Like it is a tremendous skill to have.

That's great, Dan, That's like such a powerful skill, And there's pieces in that that everybody probably does really too.

There are so many studies that show that naming a feeling helps alleviate it.

So if there is a spider in a room and everybody's like measuring how afraid people are of the spider, but then you ask everyone in the room, how are you feeling right now, and they say, oh, I'm afraid because of the spider, they're less afraid.

Like, naming the feeling helps you process the feeling.

It's like basic psychology.

But those are things that you're learning and practicing, and your practice I think you're wonderful.

Your thoughts and feelings aren't reality, you know, like they can be scary and everything, but like as soon as you realize, like, oh, this is just the thought, this is in my head, this is that's not reality necessarily, and like things you can learn through that.

You know you are right to be afraid of pain.

All come out and say I don't like pain either.

I feel like that is a fair fight or flight response to me, Like, I'm also anxious in so many people are anxious, and the dentist share it's such a miserable experience.

But like, what I don't like is the high pitched weed noise.

I don't I just don't like that in my head.

Yeah, I don't want it in there.

And so like obviously I wouldn't like the pain either.

But the thing that I would struggle with meditation in that situation is that there's a high pitched noise that's so distracting to me.

But it's a little different because like I'm not technically like meditating.

When I'm in the dentist chair, I'm saying I'm taking I'm taking the things I've learned through meditation, the ability to not attach myself to thoughts, and so through my meditation practice, when I'm in a situation like that, I can have that thought where I'm really tense, like oh this is about to hurt, and I can be like, wait, no, that's just a thought, and I can just let it go, let it just float on down the river there, and I can just feel my body relaxed, because like there's that's a good practice.

It's great as it'd be fun though if you were like I'm gone, they're drilling you, and you're like you're little, You're a little cloud body.

He actually disappears.

Uh ast, Yeah, you just get the fuck out of there.

You're in a taco bell.

They're drilling you.

Your insurance was rejected in the fire sauce all over my meditation pillow.

You're ordering, you're ordering a kisadiya.

Yeah, I think mine.

I mean, I don't think I'm preaching the choir here with you two, especially after the last episode when Dan was realizing he actually really likes horror movies.

But I think horror in general as a broad genre, the people who get it get it, and I realize it's probably bigger than ever now.

But like I like reading horror.

I like playing horror games, I like watching horror movies, and a lot of people always like why do you The people who don't get it often are like, why do you like being scared?

I'm like, Cuz it's in a safe environment, and also it's cathartic, and it's like there's a power in projecting these very primal emotions onto other characters in their situations.

Especially.

But they're like, but the but like the world is fucked right now, isn't it.

Like don't you want to watch like some like a rom com or something.

It's like no, Like there is a way of processing emotions by watching these in a very powerful way.

It almost is like therapeutic in its own its own regard.

But also I just I don't know, I'm drawn quite heavily to like dark stories because then I I find the characters more compelling when they're in these situations.

Well, yeah, you mentioned like scary things in safe environments.

That's the same thing where it's like, you know, I fucking love roller coasters, and there's so many people that are like, oh, why would you like, I don't understand, Like it's so scary, and it's like, well, yeah, I mean, that's the thing.

You get to experience this adrenaline in this feeling of your brain being like this is dangerous, but you know you've got the bar there.

You know you're not going to die.

You know.

It's like that's the appeal is like danger but you know you're actually safe.

Yeah, but that's that's not as hard as much of a hard cell these days.

But that's probably the one.

Like I do get detractors.

I'm like, hey, I'm not saying it's for you.

I'm just saying I think you have a simplistic take on why I like it.

Here's why.

The deeper reason I like it.

I think that that's really cool that hopefully you can convince a couple people like the number one reason is people like, why would you be stressed after a stressful day of work?

And I was like, because if you are watching someone get hacked to death, then who cares that that email wasn't very smart?

All of your worldly issues, Yeah, all that shit has gone.

When you watch a horror movie, you're not trapped in a house.

You're not going to do the coagula to you.

To an elderly person, you're fine.

Some people are fine.

Well, thank you, Thomas, Dan, you want to do this one from Lucas.

Yes, escapees.

There's always been a fair amount of food talk on this pot, but I'm wondering what fast food is a bridge too far.

I'd assume Mike is nearly everything, and Dan is probably nothing, and Mary might be somewhere in between.

For myself, it's Arby's.

I blame the Simpsons in the talk of throwing raccoons over the fence and letting Arby's worry about it.

So they're sandwiches make me uncomfortable for a reason.

I've never been able to put my Figer on love Lucas.

Uh Arby's is assumption of.

The three of us is interesting, don't you think?

Is it accurate?

No?

I mean I don't.

I don't think everything's too far.

I eat fast food.

People assume like.

I'm not a low tolerance.

I definitely eat it very rarely.

But I've never seen you turn your nose up at it.

I have the thing I would say, but for all we give you ship for being like high flutin and stuff like, You've never been one to like turn your nose up thinking.

One of my favorite wine food pairings is Popeye's chicken sandwich and champagne.

We did that when you came here, and it was fine.

It was great.

Or Pepperini pizza and caviny frank like that.

I love high low pairings.

But speaking of Arby's, really quick, and this kind of touches on Luke's question.

I never really loved Arby's and I never fully understood Arby's, and I never understood how it got so big.

Like I feel like their whole, very specific thing was the roast beef sandwich, and I've had a few of them and they're good.

But I grew up in Liverpool, New York.

On Route fifty seven.

There was a Arby's and a Taco Bell right next to each other, like literally there was a curb dividing their drive throughs.

So when my parents just wanted to get fast food for the night because they didn't want to make food for my mom specifically didn't want to make food for five kids, they'd say, Hey, we're doing Taco Bell slash Arby's.

Let us know what you want.

I would always do Taco Bell.

I had like two siblings who sometimes went with Arby's, but I always was a bit uncomfortable with the Arby's sandwich roast.

Yeah, it was just such a weird thing that people go out of their way to buy.

And this was like huge nationwide chain.

The hype like altern like everybody loved this roasty sandwich.

Sort of like the sandwich just didn't look appetizing.

And I don't know if I was clairvoyant because I hadn't seen these at the age of nine, but looking back, it just looks like a stack of like labia on a sandwich.

And I never really got how that was.

I don't know.

I didn't want to.

Oh my god, I'm gay.

Yeah, Mike gets it, but I I never I don't know.

I don't know how Arby's got so big on like such specific things, but like.

They got the good they're the roast beef people, I mean, and I still don't really you know, no one really messes with them.

It's so such a specific thing.

No, But I don't think there's any like bridge too far from me.

I don't know if we're talking like health or just like gross or.

I took it as like like blow you or something like I I I guess saying that like there's nothing I would like say absolutely not at I will say I've never liked Burger King, and like, I think the only time I would have Burger King is if like it's the only option, like if you're on a road trip and it's just like, fuck, we haven't had food in a while, just whatever the next thing is.

Okay, it is the lesser of the big three burger fast food.

I think it sucks.

I think yeah mc McDonald's is the standard.

I think Wendy's is like a step up, you know, like never frozen.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we're actually my favorite.

I'm very excited about this.

So Bonk and I the last sponsorship.

Oh yeah, yeah we did Wendy's.

Yeah, that was great.

Valk and I for the last few years have done for Valentine's Day.

We've done this like really fancy, like prefixed, like very fine dining, James Beard Award winning thing, you know, like it it's great, but we're about to be on a vacation where we're gonna have a lot of like fancy meals and stuff like that.

So it's like, oh, I don't want to like get back to vacation and then like you know, they just do another one of those you know it's gonna whatever.

So we're doing the thing.

Yes, so we're doing the White Castle thing where what's the way.

Oh my god, where you could there's select locations that are doing Valentine's Day at.

I don't even know how selected is, Like there were a bunch around here that do.

And you have to make reservations and like I've always heard about this, You make reserve and they like do a whole thing where they have waiters come to your like thing like at the White Castle, and they have like a special menu and things like that.

So we're gonna go to Applebee's for cocktails beforehand and then we get reservations of White.

Funny, I think it's gonna be awesome.

So really looking forward good.

Yeah, I'm not above the thing.

I am above.

I will say, if I'm in a city I'm new to or just a like if I'm somewhere away from home or even home, and I have the option between like a local small business and I'm not just trying to posture here and a chain, I will do my utmost.

I will, to the best of my abilities do the local thing.

Or like if I went to when we go to Minneapolis, it's not like I'm like, we gotta go to fucking to be clear, I could crush Applebee's and Chili's.

Chilies is a fucking national treasure.

I will still it is a bridge too far to me if I see like a Chili's next to like a I don't know, like Minneapolis has a lot of good like faugh, I will do the fa every single time.

Like if I I would feel genuinely bad and it would be a bitch too far if I went to the chain, sure over that.

I think that's fair.

I did the same thing.

I really avoid Starbucks like the plague.

There's got to be a local coffee shop that's gonna taste so good, and I just prefer to support like that whatever.

That little business is way more than the Starbucks.

All drink Starbucks.

It's not like I won't drink Starbucks, but like I just don't want to drink a Starbucks.

I would rather drink I also.

Don't think I will like this is not the same as like massive conglomerate versus mom and pop, but like around here, it's like, yeah, Starbucks is everwhere, but also Caribou Coffee is a local chain around here, and.

I bring back great every after every game of the year.

Yeah, it's very similar to Starbucks, and they're everywhere here, but it's like and like, I don't like have a super strong feeling about this coffee versus that coffee.

But like, if a Cariboo and Starbucks next to each other here, I'm gonna do Cariboo.

It's not a tiny little mom and pop.

It's a chain, but it's a Minnesota chain, you know.

Oh yeah, when I go to San Francisco, it's like, yeah, ideally I'll go to Phills for coffee.

But I'm also not above pets.

Like I'm fine there.

I like Petz, I like PILs too.

Those are both good, But I think those are both better than like ultimate chains that are like everywhere of the same things and have harmed their workers and now there's protests.

Even putting even putting principles aside.

I don't think Starbucks makes good coffee.

Yeah, workers, people, it's all about the coffee days.

Yeah, I want that coffee.

Good.

Fucking robots can make my coffee.

It's got a taste good.

I don't give a fuck about the employment.

I was joking.

It goes to like.

Beer and liquor and stuff too.

It's like, you know, I just showed you we got an email from NORDIAUS Minneapolis.

It's literally I'm drinking grain Belt right now.

Like I I think that's it.

What a local What a local bro you are?

You know there's local distilleries and stuff like that, and I'm not even like it's not even a tasting.

I don't have the palette necessarily for like, I couldn't tell you the differences carily between a nord East and some chain beer who chains not the word, but you know, like a big national brand.

I just I don't know.

I'm gonna buy a beer.

This is my home.

I'd like to buy a local one, you know.

Yeah, don't fucking drink Camus or the Prisoner.

You could spend less money on better wine from smaller producers who are breaking their backs to make better wine, you fucos.

I would like.

There are people in the video game industry, developers of games that I love, who are like, oh my god, I love Camus.

I'm like, Okay, if you like it, then like it, but also don't act like it's this cool little niche thing.

It's that is the like fucking McDonald's of Napa cab.

I'm venting about something very specifically.

How much is it?

Is it expensive?

Like sixty bucks for their entry level wine and you're spending you could spend less money out.

Oh, it's so annoying to me.

Oh you know, you know who else I know likes to drink locally.

It's a it's Mike Manati.

I'm getting fucking ad.

Is not the one you meant to press?

Local place?

That's where did I send you?

We're getting a we might be getting Rainforest Cafe in my neighborhood.

Oh god, he'll be there.

It used to be this fucking oh speaking of a bridge too far.

I'm so fucking happy the place that shut down, and it technically was a local business, but like they lost their soul.

They would sell a thousand dollars version of their Buffalo Wings with quote unquote gold flakes on them as this like Instagram flex and they shut down and from funk off with that stupid ship.

Go fucking be a plague somewhere else.

I don't want you here.

We're getting Rainforest Cafe, which is.

Which do you want that they're gonna have They're gonna have gold flakes.

Wait, wait, Rainforest Cafe right right actually doing it and then he then he then I have it on him.

I think that's a good idea.

Yeah, I'll never be allowed back and do that.

Yeah.

The going back to the question, I just wanted to say, like, one of the things that I felt like became kind of notorious and people still still messaging me about it is my hatred of Skyline Chili and that is my bridge too far and I won't eat that.

I think it's disgusting and I don't want noodles with chili and weird amounts of cheese on it.

The other one that I would always say is the seafood sub from Subway that is.

Kind of.

Oh, it's gross.

I used to work there, it was my first job, so I used to make it.

And it is a vat of mayonnaise and a baggie of seafood, and I truly think that it is manufactured seafood, Like I don't think it's actual real fish or anything.

It's just particles from the sea.

Yeah, I don't want that.

I will say, actually brings too far from me is chicken McNuggets.

I don't like you to hell, and that's not I don't care what they're made of or what they're not made of.

I actually, when I bite into them, it's gross to me.

It tastes like glue inside of like that's been fried.

I don't care.

I'm much for eating things that aren't actually chicken.

I don't like McNuggets, Wendy's chicken nuggets.

I will boof day in and day out.

I love that shit.

I love Wendy's.

Nuggets basically McNuggets.

I don't like McNugget standard bearer, standard bearer of Like, I need something in my stomach, so I'm gonna shove this fucking dog food into me.

Yeah right, dude, dude, I used to get Wendy's chili when I was hungover.

I will.

I'm not above fast food on principle, but chicken McNuggets are like if you're with people with actual palettes.

Oh me, they're the lowest rung on the fast cuisine.

I hate that.

Wait, McDonald's doesn't fast was Oh I think you're saying fast casual.

Okay, sorry, now there straight up fast food, all right?

Correct?

I know, but like I I will say, they they went down.

I still sometimes like crave Big Max.

I've had one.

Big Mac in my life.

I love them really Yeah.

I was always the standard McDonald's orders.

I love them, the plain quarter pounder and cheese, biggest for all you got ten piece nugget, barbecue sauce and ramch dicho.

Okay wow except for the nuggets.

Yeah, tenders rather.

Mind the nuggets.

But I'm a I'm a dollar menu girl.

So it's it's double double burger.

What was it called the mc double.

Specific double taper is mcdouble.

Double cheeburger isn't on the doll menu.

MC double is a double on the mcduble is two patty's one cheese.

A double cheeseburger is not on the dollar menu.

I need a double cheese.

I understand, but it's not a Then you're spending lots of money, lots and over here.

Who cares slap another cheese on there?

And then the chicken alek, Yeah, that he's that he begged for.

Please please tell me you love me?

The fuck it works.

I get here and I get ship done.

No, Yeah, there's not really like a bridge too far though from.

Me sounds like there is.

And it's the McNugget they went.

Down and just don't like that's not a principal thing.

I definitely would not eat that seafood conglomerate.

You just mentioned they used to have dark meat in the nuggets and they stopped that like fifteen years ago, and that has been a hit in quality.

I miss those, but they're still great.

Yeah, I really preferred when it was just the innards and the the holes of the chicken.

I eat nuggets.

I like, literally, it's not even like crossing my mind that it used to be a chicken.

No again, I'm not saying that.

I'm well aware that like Wendy's and Burger King all these places, there's a lot of artificial shit in there.

I'm not saying I dislike make nuggets because they're not actually chicken.

But no, no, no, no, no, no no, I'm not more it's stupid merry.

I'm stupid because like I will eat a boneless, skinless chicken breast and it won't register to me that that's actually used to be a chicken.

Like I think we all do that to some extent, to kind of like to make it more mentally palatable that we are eating an animal.

It's hard a lot of chicken.

But it's so manufactured in the nugget, like you don't even see the the like meat.

It's well where it's not real beef in the crunch traps, and I fucking love crunch traps.

It has nothing to do with the providence of the meat.

I just don't find the texture or the taste of McNuggets good a palette.

Yeah, maybe I don't.

Maybe I'm just misleading myself with my chetons and my reasonings like I don't.

Maybe I don't know what?

Then your own voice to mock yourself about the ones.

Off drying from the sar.

That'd be great.

Please turn into a Dracula, becoming weirder the more I talk.

All right, well, thank you Lucas, Hello, Daniel, Mary and Michael.

What is the best nickname?

Oh?

I get it.

What's the best nickname you've ever encountered?

I work with a bloke nicknamed Pothole because everyone tries to avoid him.

It's good.

There is lots of love.

Simon from Pith, Australia.

I uh I.

There was a night in college we got back to the dorms after the bars and we were all like completely shit hammered and just like sitting around the lobby and it was with a guy named Ben and a guy named Brian and Brian.

For some reason, he was drunk enough to think it was funny to keep be like, oh, Ben, Ben the hen, Ben the hen, and he just wouldn't stop saying Ben the hen, and Ben was getting annoyed.

He's like, God, I wish your name rhymed was something like stupid, Like I wish your name was like Lenas, And we started calling him Lenas, and it stuck so fucking hard that in future years I knew this guy all through college.

People didn't even know his name was Brian.

His fucking dad would come to visit and call him Lenis.

Liked funny, that's Lenis.

Yeah, that's that's the dad.

Thing's crazy, I was Gonnay.

I feel like it's the mark of a good nickname that people you actually have to either rack your brain or truly forget what their name is.

Well, people would meet him and be like Linas, what where's that from?

I've never heard that name, and it's like, no, it's just because it rhymed with venis.

Yeah, my good friend here.

I don't actually use this like, it's more of a joke nickname that we use in like text chats, not to each other's face, but like, uh, I think you guys both met him at one point or another.

Uh.

He's my Australian friend, so we and he's from outside Sydney in the suburbs, so we call him Bogan sometimes.

But that's not like an actual like one I use regularly.

I can't even remember the last time I had like a truly good nick we had.

We had a friend growing up when we were young.

His name was Aman like e A M O N N.

I believe it was Irish something like that, which is a cool name.

Now that he's older, he goes by that.

But I remember he was short for our friend group, and I think just in general, and I remember people started calling him pooch and like the whole high school started.

And I don't I don't think he didn't dislike it, like he embraced it.

But I remember at one point I also I forgot what his first name was for a few days until somebody remind me.

Isn't too bad, you guys have.

Uh.

My stepdad's name was Dan, and so I called him Big Dan, and he called me Junior, so he would call.

Me Junior Junior.

That's cute.

My dad called me mayor bear.

Yeah, I go some of the my dad and my some of my uncles still call me Mick the Irish family.

But my sister still to this day, I believe it's from the Goonies.

She still calls me chunk.

Like I don't know how.

I forget how it started.

Oh, he does the dance in the movie with the stomach, the truffle shuffle, Come on the truffle shuffle.

Yeah, what do you mean you haven't seen The Goonies?

Dan, interesting?

That seems like a movie you would have seen.

Mm hmm.

It's transformative.

I remember thinking of it.

I used to always think it was like a Grimlins thing, and I was like, oh, I like Grimlins because it sounds like Grimlins.

And then I would like see the cover of the VHS and I'd be like, it seems about kids I don't like, and I just wouldn't watch.

It's better.

It's better than the Grimlins.

It's such a good story.

You gotta watch watch both of them and then compare.

Okay, okay, yeah, I would really like to see on your bracket.

I think Grimlins too.

The new batage is going to be just about anything I.

Don't think that's I mean, now we're back to palettes, are we.

Yeah, we all got our own.

My favorite evening is some chicken nuggets and Grimlins too.

That sounds like a fucking dream.

That sounds like half of sounds like something I've done many times in my life.

Tuesday.

Not to get off topic, well, I mean, I guess we do that sometimes.

But the first, the only time I've ever seen Gremlins two was I had a I had a train from here up to Syracuse and Dan was still living in New York.

This is before I moved back, and I was visiting from San Francisco, and I went hung out with Dan and Bianca, and then Bianca had gone to bed, and it was probably by this point one am, and my train was at six am out of Penn Station the next morning or later that morning.

So instead of getting any sleep at all, dance like you could just like stay up and watch Gremlins two, like you start heading down to the train, like, okay, it sounds great.

Of course, I keep drinking while I'm watching Gremlins two, So it's by the time the movie I watched that by the time the movie ends, and I'm just like still blown back into my seat from the awesomeness I just saw.

I'm hammered and I have to get down to Penn Station to get on a train and get upstate.

We also watched Rocky four that night.

I watched Rocky four.

Oh that's what it was.

I watched Gremlins two order and then I was like, okay, well, my train's in like four hours, and you're like, you could just watch Rocky four.

Gremlins two, Rocky Ford Train.

Before Gremlins two, we had watched John Travolta as John Gotti.

Oh, go.

Watch Gotti recorded your podcast.

And we want to like hell trifecta.

Fun.

Well, Gott he was off, Gott, he was tough.

I've watched it again since then.

It's unbelievably bad.

Why well, I just did like a stream watch along of it.

Oh interesting, I had to show back.

I like, I like making people watch insane movies, and stream is a good way to do.

We got oh we wait, we got a recommendation of a movie in the emails.

I don't know if I could find it quick enough where there won't be a bunch of dretit on horror.

Maybe the horror horror movies.

Yes it, Simon said, Mary, if you haven't seen Influencers, No, no, no, sorry, different, What is it.

You read?

I'm gonna say something, Dan, I think this was the last episode you told me to watch, Annette.

Yes, here are my messages to Dan in real time.

Yes, Mary starting a net.

I have been told not to fart, Dan, Hell?

Yes, Mary?

Oh fuck?

Is this a musical?

Dan?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Who can say, Mary?

It can't be this the whole time, Mary, They keep singing, Dan, I'm so happy for you.

Mary.

Is the joke that you convinced me to watch this?

Dan?

No, I've watched this seven times.

It was around that time that I turned this off.

Okay, I was gonna say the text stopped at a certain point.

Did you even I can't get through this shit.

I'm telling you it's you got to keep going.

No you, I'm telling it goes places.

It's miserable.

It was when I watched it the first time, I thought it was the worst movie I've ever seen, and Balk and I kept looking at each other and like we pause to go to the bathroom and be like, oh, we're not gonna be able to make it through the rest of this.

We've been there, Mary, We've been where you are.

Torture.

It's torture.

It was twenty minutes of torture.

You haven't even gotten to the baby, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, promise me no, maybe tonight.

You did twenty minutes last week, we did twenty minutes at a time.

It's it's telling marble.

I hated it.

I never said it was like great or you're gonna love it.

I'm saying you need to watch it.

I think you're fucking with me.

You like it miserable.

I don't want to watch it.

I'm not fucking with you.

Do another twenty at a time.

I don't want to.

It's shit.

I thought so too.

I thought so too.

I don't like it.

What do you mean another twenty tonight and text me.

I have a movie recommendation from Brian maybe Portland.

He said, I think Mary and Mike would like it as well.

It's a horror movie recommendation for Dan.

I think Mike and Mary would like it as well.

It's called The Monkey from twenty oh oh.

I've heard about that.

The whole thing is people dying in hilarious ways.

It is it's kind of like a final Destination, but zero seriousness.

According according to Brian, it's zero seriousness.

And I would also add zero brain cells because like in Final Destination, they will like allude to what might happen, you know, like you might see it in the reflection of a window and you'd be like, oh my gosh, like it's gonna be the sign.

It's gonna fall.

And then the sign falls and it starts like a Goldberg machine of death that like cascades into their death.

And it's like it's interesting sequence the monkeys like it's nonsense.

It's so stupid.

I will I will admit with the with this person like it's good old fashioned death fun.

But the whole time when I was watching it, I was like, this is this is such a silly way to die, where like nothing makes sense.

If someone's in a pool and you'll be like, oh, this person's gonna get like electrocuted or something.

Something so stupid unnecessarily will also happen to them just because they're like they're like actually, like you know, someone's gonna come in and stab them at the end, and it's just like fuck you, Like nothing makes sense in this movie.

It's it's a it's a total joke of a film, but it is very fun to watch people die.

I think got time for all these joke movies, but not cinema.

That movie is garbage.

Mike, have you seen it?

Yeah?

Do you think?

Do you think?

You keep going?

Yes, you liar, We're with you.

I like, like the next day after it was done, and I was thinking, yeah about it.

Yeah, No, it stays in your head a bit.

Like you're both liars, you're fucking with me.

It went from a half start of rocks until like four in defense.

He did talk about it like a year ago on the show before, so like this is this is still track.

It's a musical that makes no sense.

Give it if you haven't got to the baby.

They keep singing how they're feeling, I know, give me.

Another twenty No.

Oh, I thought of one more nickname.

When I was young.

Uh, there's a kid in my friend's neighborhood who was like the His family had moved there from I don't remember, like Florida or somewhere, and they had a lot of money and he was like immediately looking down on us for not and uh so we didn't.

So I don't feel bad about this.

But his name was I'm a Verdi and uh we my friend came up with it and we sorted calling him I'm a virgin and just that he was just an elitist dick.

It was like a fIF fucking fourteen year old like this being like an elitist prick about having more money than everybody's.

I can't stand living here.

Like my old neighborhood had a gate insecurity.

I was like, oh my god, my friend was brilliant.

I still don't even remember, like I forgot what his real name was for a bit, but one was good.

Thank you for writing in tonight, Lucas, Thomas and Simon.

That's our show, fire Escape Cast at gmail dot com.

Keep him coming, stock us up for twenty twenty six.

We might be reading him.

Yes, if you're not a patron, you can go get ad for versions of our audio episodes.

You can get the video versions as well a certain tier.

You can also get access to our bonus videos, which we do when we can a lot of co op videos we have there, some of them with our producer Jake.

You can also go get merch at fire Escape merch dot com, Deep dish pussy dot com, or bring to our patron page if you want to subscribe through there.

That's always a fun roundabout way to do it.

We have a show with Nextlander called Mike and Vinnie Save the World.

You get access to that as well.

Vinnie Caravella from Nextlander, who many of you know, and if you don't, you should.

We play through a co op campaign of Total ward warm Er three believe.

We're on episode like eighteen for that, and that's biweekly.

It's in our off weeks when we don't have a new full episode of the show.

And then you can also go become a patron for next Lander if you're not already where we're doing an evil campaign for them, but also co op between Vinye and I and that's similarly on.

At episode eighteen or twenty or something like that, we'll have a new one, or rather next Lander will have a new episode on THEIRS this week.

If you're listening to this one, it's out, and then we'll have one next week.

Dan, what do you have going on in the meantime?

Guynbomb dot com A lot of fun stuff going on over there.

We got some new stuff will be announced in the near future.

Blake Club is continuing to kill It, BombCast, all that, all the usual, just the follow Giant Bomb on socials and YouTube.

Mary, what about you, I'm streaming every Monday on Twitch and posting silly videos of my dog on Instagram.

That's my entire existence.

Sweet, I'm here about it.

I also exist.

Yep.

Yeah.

We'll be back in two weeks with episode one twenty six.

Until then, hopefully everybody shovels digs out of the snow if you've bet affected, which is like two thirds of the country, so odds are you have, and we will see you a couple of weeks.

Bye bye,