Jake

Idle Thumbs 270: BIG GAME HUCKSTER$$$$ This week we do our best to unpack the criminal scandal surrounding Counter-Strike: GO gambling sites and the streamers who secretly own them while publicly promoting them, then we play a game exclusively about criminals packing things. Discussed: Counter-Strike: GO, Asemblance, Fitz Packerton, Demon's Souls, Imbroglio, Escape Velocity, System Shock (Remastered) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend February 18, 2018: Sometimes, You Gotta Try Twice Rob and Danielle regale one another with tales of TV shows (and movies, and books, and games!) that they weren't too keen on at first, but those frowns turned upside down with a little persistence. Discussed: Brooklyn 99, Crazy Ex Girlfriend, Altered Carbon, Game of Thrones, Tombs of Atuan, The Expanse novels, The 100, 2312, Rubicon, All Our Asias Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 44: Stream Frasier Online Free It's a brand new year, time for fresh starts, time to throw those old cares away. Well, we know that's easier said than done, so we'll try and take care of a few big questions we know are on everyone's mind going into 2018. Questions like: What is your roommate storing in his conspicuous model ship? Where can I watch free episodes of my favorite TV show, Frasier? And, if someone could inject memories of a fantastic vacation directly into a person's brain, would they charge more to give you one with lots of sleep? The answers, or a close enough facsimile, are right here. Discussed: "2018: Timeless," making the most from Patreon's short-lived new payment plan, Elves Behavin' Badly, Elf on the Shelf, Mensch on a Bench, learning to subvert your Elves Behavin' Badly security system, taking patently bad advice to heart and acting on it, robbing a store by squirting lemon juice on your face to hide your identity, algorithmic biases in Santa's Workshop, extricating yourself from an apartment when roommates have claimed all your stuff as their own, the time Nick Breckon finally hung out with his roommate for a night, creating your own Total Recall vacation, accidentally injecting yourself with the wrong Total Recall movie, itching vs scratching, borrowing vs lending, extreme pedantry, the evolution of language, American English as a melting pot, New York Times dialect quiz, Lexicon Valley podcast Send us your questions at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Chris' Endorsement: The New York Times Crossword Puzzle (Website, iOS App) Nick's Endorsement: Glowing Auras and ‘Black Money’: The Pentagon’s Mysterious U.F.O. Program, which is less of a missed gem now than it was when we recorded. Jake's Endorsement: Harry Potter and the Portrait of what Looked Like a Large Pile of Ash, a predictive-text-assisted new novel in the Harry Potter series, and Megan Nicole Dong's Large Pile of Ash illustrations. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 50: 4468, Y'all On this podcast we explain the unexplainable. We solve the unsolvable. Our method is simple: We take the tiniest problem you might have, the grain of sand scratching at the back of your mind, and we roll it down a hill to see what it might pick up along the way, until that grain of sand has picked up dirt and sticks, until it's grown and grown, until it's the size of the Earth itself. Does that mean that any question, any problem, no matter how small or dumb, when properly spun out past its breaking point, can explain the important truths of life itself, of our existence on this planet? Probably not, but we'll keep trying for some reason. So ask away! Just don't ask us to explain this podcast. Fifty episodes in, it's abundantly clear that's one question we'll never answer. Discussed: Valentine's Day, Valentine's Boxing Day, what this podcast is, David Lynch, a Mythbuster, busting, Thimbleweed Park, real-life hint system, staying on the phone, Albert Brooks, the quantum physics of the universe, y'all, the Google/Facebook mega-matrix, Alexa, J.J. Abrams, 4468 Cloverfield, the incomprehensible infinitude of data we have at our disposal, trading hint futures on Wall St., real-life save system, Edge of Tomorrow, Live Die Repeat, respawning to prevent organ failure, Silicon Valley anti-toxin tech bro Peter Thiel, the most useful life (to benefit Peter Thiel), Lore Lord Bean, Important If True 35: "Hammacher, Schlemmer, and You", the death of tragic goose Thomas, the mixing up of Flemish words, too much clam in the beverage, Clamato, massively popular Canadian drink the Caesar, weathered old bromides Thank you all so much for listening to 50 episodes of Important If True! Send us your questions at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Nick's Endorsement: Blue Planet II (Blu-ray, Amazon Video, Netflix) Jake's Endorsement: Slow Burn, a Slate podcast about the Watergate scandal Chris' Endorsement: A Very Fatal Murder, an Onion podcast satirizing true crime podcasts Chris' Secondary Endorsement: Extra long-handled shoehorn Sponsored By: Quip electric toothbrushes (your first brush head refill free), Tracy Carlson Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True 2.4: Okaasan In the 16th century, the Oda and Tokugawa clans sought to unite feudal Japan under their rule. These were big and dangerous boys, but the biggest threat to their political alliance wasn’t any enemy clan, but a rude mother-in-law and a young woman who would do anything to protect her family. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something True on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: David Szesztay – In The Sun Lee Maddeford – Back to Bulgaria Sergey Cheremisinov – Fog* Jahzzar – Liar* Circus Marcus – Cadiquo tu noï* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend January 28, 2018: He Was A Good Captain, Till We Went Out The Airlock What dark depths lie under bright futures we like to imagine? That, and other lofty questions, are addressed on this episode, where we look at the authoritarian side of the sci-fi we love, the colonialism of games we’re enjoying, and the very difficult question of what on earth to do with David Cage Games. Quick content warning: this episode contains discussion of sexual harassment and abuse in media. Discussed: They are Billions, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Roadside Picnic, Battlestar Galactica, Dark Matter, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Black Mirror, Cory Doctorow’s Piece on Cold Equations and Moral Hazards, Quantic Dream and David Cage, Louie CK, James Franco, Person of Interest, Thimbleweed Park Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 22: Checkmate This is it. Twin Peaks is a different show now. In episode 22, amidst genius supervillains and melodrama aplenty, we have ventured further into the land of soap opera bombast than the series has previously dared. We discuss, bemused and baffled. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 23 Pre-Discussion Thread Catching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Something True 2.2: Baatar What if Genghis Khan died, just before he really got going? Thanks to a blacksmith's son called Jelme, we don't have to wonder. We might, however, wonder why Jelme's heroic rescue required so much blood and so little clothing—but thanks to a blacksmith's podcast called Something True, we don't have to wonder. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something True on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Jahzzar – The Last Ones* Gablé – Gloria* Gablé – Douch OK* Lee Maddeford – Tom's Lullaby (with Les Gauchers Orchestra)* David Szesztay – Bizarre Waltz* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True 2.8: Odyssée Guillaume le Gentil didn’t find purpose in the church, seeking it instead in the stars. In 1761, he participated in a global astronomical mission to observe the Transit of Venus from various stations across the globe. But the course of science never did run smooth, and le Gentil’s travels would scatter him far and wide, across time and space, and from toilet-bound depression to true illumination. The Something True season finale. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something True on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Chris Zabriskie – But Enough About Me, Bill Paxton* Lee Maddeford – Le petit jardin (with Les Gauchers Orchestra)* Dan Warren – Instrumental - Son of God* Jelsonic – Breeeze* Jahzzar – Silver * Scanglobe – Westerlund 1* David Szesztay – Sweeper Chris Zabriskie – John Stockton Slow Drag* Scott Holmes – Green Fields* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Thumbs 317: Press Start Go НДД -*- Cracked by..: WAREZ 1999 :.. -*- ДДН ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ Description:.. An episode of the Idle Thumbs podcast in which the guys pretend to be on a different podcast called Press Start Go, but really it's just another Idle Thumbs. Chris and Nick go deep on Into The Breach, which sounds like it's destroying their lives, and Jake talks about some edutainment game. EnJoY EvErYoNe! Do not upload this on inferior boards! ..: ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ ³ Discussed: Into the Breach, Sea of Thieves, Warez 1999, Idle Thumbs GDC 2018 Community Meetup, Nt Mini vintage console reconstruction, Super Nt vintage console reconstruction, Dr. Mario, David Lynch Teaches Typing, Nest, Subnautica Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 4: A Thousand Dormant Machines The road to the truth can take you through some dangerous places, so keep the windows up, the doors locked, and never, ever get out of the car. Or ignore that advice, and follow us down the truth’s seedier and long-forgotten offramps, in search of the really important questions. Like: What happens when your smart house gets a little too smart? Where do those creepy Chuck E. Cheese pizza robots come from? And why is the society depicted in Pixar's Cars a mockery of the living and the dead? If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Important Reference Materials: Goldblum noises, Smart House, Alexa, Blank Check, The Rock-Afire Explosion, carbohydrillium, Disney•Pixar Cars, popes, geological butts Chris' Endorsement: Stayfocusd Chrome browser extension Jake's Endorsement: Logan Nick's Endorsement: Calling your aunt back; or The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild if you just want to buy something and be a consumer Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

True Detective Weekly 8: Omega Station True Detective Season 2 is over, and it went out with a bang. Well, lots of bangs. It was an unusual season, and an unusual season finale—and as it turns out, we had more than a few conflicting thoughts about it. Tune in, then let us know what you thought! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed

Twin Peaks Rewatch 10: Coma The investigation slows as season two's new storylines take center stage this week, in our re-examination of Twin Peaks. Things get weird. There is creamed corn. Do you see it? Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 11 Pre-Discussion ThreadCatching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Twin Peaks Rewatch 11: The Man Behind Glass Twin Peaks quickly dives right into the heart of the Season Two portion of Laura Palmer's mystery, and we follow right behind. Cooper and the crew make some strange breaks in the case, and a love triangle becomes a quadrangle, but there is some worrisome super-strength and regressive memory loss appearing at the edges of things. Join us as we take a look at "The Man Behind Glass." Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 12 Pre-Discussion ThreadCatching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Something True 2.5: The Trip to Telegraph Creek Together they set out to chart wildest Canada: a management consultant, a dental student, a Hollywood cinematographer, an ex-sniper, a mysterious treasure hunter, and a cowboy. Nobody believed in their expedition, saying things like, “You don't have the experience” and, “Your horses are diseased.” But Charles E. Bedaux was determined. For him this trip wasn’t about making maps, but the measure of a man. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something True on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Lloyd Rogers – Draw Me A Sheep (Act I)* lo-fi is sci-fi – Phase IV* Gablé – grate ok* Jason Shaw – Plantation* Kai Engel – Puddles and Bars* Jahzzar – Dummy* Josh Woodward – Hollow Grove (instrumental Version)* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True 8: Babylon In the season finale of Something True, we crack the seal on Jack Parsons—a legendary rocket scientist, drummed out of the profession for his overbearing interest in the occult magick of Aleister Crowley. Parsons devoted his early retirement to a full-throated study of the arcane arts. His ambitions were nothing less than to coax an ancient, beautiful goddess from her primal dimension into the spare bedroom of his Pasadena bungalow. Everything proceeded to plan, until Parsons made a famous friend who would not only change his life, but the world... and all the worlds beyond. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something true on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Anamorphic Orchestra – Stop the Clocks Pictures of the Floating World – Ash Gray* David Szesztay – Cheese Cory Gray – Medieval Tension 60s* Pictures of the Floating World – Cold* Paniks – Clavire Pictures of the Floating World – A Thousand Stars* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True Preview: Something True Season 2 The opera singer who burned down a convent. A naked man who saved the life of Genghis Khan. An astronomer who ate bad beef. These are true stories, but they aren't about people who changed the world. You won't read about them on the Wikipedia page for "history", or hear them on a podcast about trains. These stories are of weird creeps and unlucky management consultants, whose lives and legacies crumbled underneath the indifferent march of time. Only July 16th, Something True returns, with these stories, and more, from the footnotes of history. Subscribe at somethingtrue.net. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Thumbs 315: Goty Over It With Idle Thumbs The year finally over, you drag your tired, ragged husk into your desk chair, flick on your monitor and reach for your mouse, but your hand slips and falls to your side, sleep finally overtaking you. Two days later you wake up, rub the gunk out of your eyes, drink a half gallon of water, and feel alive for the first time you can really remember. "Let's leave the past in the past," you say aloud as you flick through your podcast library, "show me something new, I've had enough of 2017." Your eyes scan the description for the latest Idle Thumbs, and after skimming over a familiar sounding description of someone falling asleep using a computer, you settle on the final sentence. Though you didn't think you would, you smile: "Join us for a loving look back through our favorite video games of 2017." Discussed: Welcome to 2018: Take what you can get, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Overwatch, Flappy Bird, Heat Signature, Super Mario Odyssey, Cuphead, West of Loathing, Thimbleweed Park, Oxygen Not Included, Getting Over It With Bennett Foddy, Gordon Freeman's Perfect Playthrough, video games academic curriculum, games you think won't be for you but end up loving, Civilization, Golf Story, Far Cry 2, Spelunky (2008), Spelunky (2012), Spelunky 2, Insufferable Pedantic Gamer With Chris Remo, the reason Sheik can't use Zelda's magic in Super Smash Bros, Star Wars, Weird Weird Popsenfarts GmbH Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 18: Dispute Between Brothers In the wake of Laura's murder wrapping up, lore starts to build up and things get a little dumb, but there are still plenty of bright spots in our weekly rewatch of the complete run of Twin Peaks. Join us for the 18th episode, "Dispute Between Brothers." Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Subscribe to the RSS Feed Subscribe on iTunes Episode 19 Pre-Discussion ThreadCatching up? Listen to the Rewatch archive.

Important If True 54: A 30 Foot High Screaming Billboard What does the future hold? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Just imagine... Content creators, the size of skyscrapers, looming over our cities. The greatest actors of the baby boomer generation, locked in undying clone warfare. The world's most precious secrets confined to the pithy slogans of a fortune cookie. Martin Shkreli, still. So, friend, what does the future hold? Let's pretend you never asked. Discussed: Nick Breckon's Existence, actors archiving facial scans to live forever, scanning your face while Peter Thiel drinks your blood, the far-future silver-gilded George Clooney, living under the tiresome watchful eye of a 200-foot-tall PewDiePie, Jake getting kicked out of the Millennials, dual-piloting the Tom Hanks mecha-robot, Martin Shkreli digitizing his brain at the exact moment of his sentencing, Important If True 19: Pearls Before Slime, the ingredients of Nickelodeon Slime, the ingredients of Nickelodeon Gak, Jake settling deep into his new Gen-X identity, the Ancient Galactic Brain PewDiePies, local fortune cookie production, the paradox of the accurate fortune cookie, fortune cookie driving you into a slow-motion spiral of depression and regret, fading out like a Star Wars ghost, the fortune cookie we need in 2018, the missing Year 0, Jake's future life on the moon Send us your questions at questions@importantiftrue.com. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Nick's Endorsement: Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom Jake's Preliminary Endorsement: The unfindable book "How to Host a Double Dare Party," which apparently had a VHS counterpart Chris' Endorsement: A delicious breakfast of soft-boiled eggs, nestled into egg cups and uncapped with an egg clacker, served alongside toast soldiers with butter and Marmite Jake's Endorsement: MIT Technology Review article about a mind-uploading service that is "100% fatal" (cf. Jake's pork chops story) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Thumbs 318: Live In The Cloud Now Everything keeps resetting, but still you progress. You got the sword, the watering can, but you died five times in the process. The teens burned down your pirate ship while you were away. Your audio equipment is degrading at an unsettling rate. Fortunately everything is safe, now that you live in the cloud. Now that you're live in the cloud. Note: We recorded this one with every host remote, and as a result it's a little lower key than usual, but we hope you enjoy it all the same. For a weird experience, watch the video version. Discussed: Minit, The Legend of Zelda, Hyper Light Drifter, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Sea of Thieves, Imbroglio, Cinco Paus, Jackbox Party Packs, You Don't Know Jack (2018) Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True 7: Charlie Joyride Elias Mortimer, a construction lobbyist, needed to land his firm a fat government contract to build veterans' hospitals. Luckily for him, the chief of the Veterans' Bureau had three great loves: getting bribed, misappropriating government funds, and intense 24/7 partying. They thought there was no way anything could go wrong. But what happened nearly destroyed them both. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something true on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Jahzzar – Take Me Higher* Latché Swing – Swing 39* Alialujah Choir – Kings and Queens* Latché Swing – Menilmontant* Costa and Nero – Rast’e Tou Teke* Podington Bear – Starling* Nick Jaina – High Beams* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True 6: Häxprocesser Who was this mysterious boy from the city of Gävle? Johan came to Stockholm in 1676, an orphan. His mother had been executed. Executed because Johan accused her of being a witch. And he was just getting started. Stockholm was in trouble. Trouble with a capital T. And that rhymed with G... which stood for Gävle Boy. Read a full transcript of this episode on the Something True website. Follow Something true on Twitter @atruepodcast. (Or just follow Duncan and Alex.) Music on this week’s episode: Jahzzar – No-End Ave* Caligine – Mε Πιάνουνε Ζαλάδες Josh Spacek – Six Weeks to Live Advent Chamber Orchestra – How Beautiful are the Feet (Handel)* Fabrizio Paterlini – Profondo Blu* Weinland – People Like You* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Hey all, we're starting a new podcast centered around the upcoming second season of HBO's True Detective. We're calling it True Detective Weekly. There is a tiny "introductions" episode available now, but the real podcast starts next week with a proper catch-up discussion as we prepare for the season two premiere next weekend. Got things to talk about before then? Start here, and if you want to write in to the show, the email address is questions@truedetectiveweekly.com!

So the new forums exist now. Exciting! Have a look around, make yourself at home, post crap. It's less busted and horrible now! (It even has a mobile theme for telephones!) The first thing you probably noticed (other than the whole forum looking different and being different) is that we've moved some of the forums around. Nothing was erased or anything though, don't worry! Gaming and Idle Banter are still in the same place, but specific episode discussions have been moved down to a unified "Shows" category. We've also started planting the seeds for the Book Podcast, so feel free to talk about some books! The Three Moves Ahead Gaming Discussion forum has been renamed Strategy Game Discussion and is a sub-forum of the main Gaming forum. While there are a bunch of new features (including, you know, the forums actually working right) we suspect there is some broken stuff around, too. If you see anything, heinous or minor, drop a note in here and we'll do our best to fix it. Known casualties: Any old video links got eaten. That said the new forum is way better at recognizing that stuff, so for instance, to embed a YouTube video, all you need to do is paste the URL into your post, and it'll drop in a YouTube player. Pretty sweet. Still to be completed: The forum theme is definitely in transition. We brought over enough so that it didn't feel totally alien, but there are plenty of tweaks to be made. Idle Banter hasn't got its custom post-apocalyptic theme right now. It's coming very soon. Unknowns: Lots. Let us know what's up! Thanks, guys!