Argobot

Literally just started reading this on the subway today. I knew the book was partially set in San Francisco, but there's something surreal about commuting in SF while you're reading a book that deliberately provides street names that you're currently passing by. I'm sure people who live in New York are used to seeing their city fictionalized, but it still gets to me!

Would a union have saved her job? I guess in that scenario, we're assuming that a significant part of Nintendo America has unionized and is capable of exerting its collective weight to protect an individual. That seems like a good goal to have and I support something like that. I still think it's sending the wrong message to post positive press for Nintendo a day after they fired someone. How do you expect anyone at Nintendo to form a union after seeing how quickly the Allison Rapp issue has been forgotten. Boycotting isn't always about hurting a company's bottom-line. That's cool Apple Cider that you went to union rallies in WI. But how does that help a huge group of people form a union where Rapp was? I'm not saying you did something wrong, just pointing out that some people might want to feel like they're having a more direct effect on a specific situation, rather than generally supporting unions in a completely different state, for a completely different industry. That's why boycotting is such a powerful tool. Sorry to harp on this! My biggest point honestly is seeing all the Mii pictures online. I wish we all (and I'm completely guilty of this) were smarter about denying big corporations free marketing.

Yeah. JP LeBreton had a bunch of good tweets about this: https://twitter.com/vectorpoem/status/715948891292585984 He's right that I or anyone else should not shame others for their choices, but he's also right that the complete 180 shift in tone around Nintendo all but guarantees that the company will not learn its lesson. There are plenty of companies that I directly or indirectly boycott (Chick-fil-A is a good example), but I know for every one of those there are probably hundreds of other companies that I patronize that are doing equally horrible things. Conscientious consumerism is an impossible standard that no one could live up to, so I shouldn't care if people boycott Nintendo or not. But if that's what people want to do, who am I to tell them it's a bad idea? What active action are the anti-boycott crowd going to take?

I gotta admit that it was a little disheartening to see a bunch of people posting their Mii photos a day after seeing a lot of (justified) anger against Nintendo. You would hope that more people would think twice about performing free labor through advertisement for a company that just demonstrated some shitty employee practices. For those that don't feel boycotting is productive, I'm curious to hear what other avenues you'd explore to improve employees protections at Nintendo. I don't buy their products, so boycotts are actually useless for me. If there's a better solution (besides just tweeting my displeasure) I'd love to hear them.

I agree that this book succumbs to safe MFA style (way more than Fates and Furies did). It's an interesting balance of the author telling a story we've heard a dozen times before (missing dead girl in a small town who was keeping secrets) and trying to examine the particular struggles of children of mixed race backgrounds. I don't know that she was so successful at the latter part. The best parts of the book are the struggle between Marilyn's second-wave feminism and James' fear of his ethnicity, but I don't Ng followed through strongly enough on those themes.

Amazing! I love used books.

New episode is up!

Alternatively http://whitechapelsf.com/ Bonus is that you can reserve pretty big tables.

No we are! Just also trying to encourage people to email in.

Sorry that neither of us were familiar enough with the Greek Classics to comment on them. I understand the frustration, but I think we did a descent job of explaining on the cast why the references left us so cold in the first place. Even if I knew everything that Groff was alluding to, I probably still would have found the numerous and cloying references more of a distraction. I liked parts of the references (the Greek chorus, Oediups, Arthurian legend) but I was not impressed with the sum, mostly because added up it felt less like Groff was trying to impart meaning and more like she was trying to impress with a knowledge of classic literature. But if someone with an actual background in Greek classics has a counter-argument to what the references contributed, please feel free to share it! I'd love to hear it.

People who are putting out a potential flaw in the motivations of the characters should email that in to the podcast! It's really interesting point that I want us to discuss.

I'm glad I got to talk about A Little Life, if briefly, since that book is too long for us to ever officially read on the podcast.

Guaranteed to happen, haha.

Episode is up! https://www.idlethumbs.net/idlebookclub/

Very good job

Yeah! .....and a tee shirt

Oh man, you need to read 50 more pages and then see how you feel......

The Mission Drafthouse is pretty fun and in a beautiful building. They still haven't really moved into aggressive programming - it's mostly been first run movies - but I had a blast watching the Venture Bros there with a bunch of nerdos (myself included).

"Become"

lol

Bigger Luuuuke

I will do this for $10 please.

Nina Freeman's new game, Cibele, was released this week. It's getting a lot of deserved praise for its honest depiction of young love and sex. http://www.wired.com/2015/11/cibele-game-nina-freeman/ Has anyone else played it?

I wasn't saying I or anyone else should feel bad about liking something. I was trying to say that it's generally good to be aware of why you like a certain thing and to try and not let yourself go overboard with it. I love the Coen Brothers and I don't feel bad about that, but I also don't want to blindly let myself be charmed by everything they do just because it satisfactorily hits the Coen Brothers pleasure center of my brain.