Jake

Hey the episode's out! This is no longer pre-discussion, it's just plain old discussion now.

I find it hard to blame Kurtzman and Orci in any way that absolves Abrams, when he is an executive producer ok the series, when it's made by his production conpany, etc. He chose to work with them and to accept their script. Their script does seem terrible and a large bearer of the blame though.

Sense of an Ending

I've majorly come around on the spin falcon shot. Seeing them side by side made me feel the weight of the camera move a lot more, and I'm generally just not bothered by it at this point. Also that "special edition" trailer has kind of made me come around on the whole thing, because that trailer, while a hyperbolic joke, is still a surprisingly accurate look at how far off a cliff the series aesthetic had fallen and how far back its seemingly come in one film.

I don't really mind the spin but it's surprising how flattening the horizon suddenly brings that shot right into "classic Star Wars" feeling framing and motion. It's a reminder that you don't have to hold the lily, but that is what JJ (and some shots in return of the Jedi) loves to do. That said, the way he shot the Enterprise exteriors in the first Star Trek (the other iconic spaceship in popular sci fi), I fully loved. That ship was almost never fully in frame until late in the movie, and it made it feel like both a submarine and a city in the best way. The early reveal of the Enterprise conveyed the grandeur and bulk of a Star Trek vessel better than any previous Trek had, to me. So I am not trying to sell him or his abilities short or something. I just think he sometimes gets flashy when whats going on is already rad enough on its own.

Nothing is objectively bad about those shots, but they have not really been in the visual language of main line Star Wars until this trailer. It's not the worst thing in the world but it is what, more than anything, made me feel Abrams' presence behind the camera.Also if it's not clear* I am still secretly pretty psyched about these movies even though I know I won't enjoy them as much as my inner 12 year old would like me to. It's strange to be watching this stuff as an adult, obviously more critical and wit different tastes than I had when I really deeply loved Star Wars. I see all these things and get excited, and that is mixed with both emotional and logical reasons to temper that excitement, and it leaves me just sort of in a middle ground where I'm expecting to have a good time in the theater, know parts of the film will annoy me, and don't really care. I guess that just means I'll enjoy it, with the to-be-ignored presence of a lot of very vague and inconsequential historical baggage. Okay then. * it's probably clear.

If that shitty lightsaber and associated camera-tracking-through-darkness shots hadn't been in the trailer I think I would be in a dangerous place re: anticipating this movie. Instead that exactly met my expectations, and remains comfortably seated in "I hope it turns out to be good, so I have another fun movie to watch in about a year, but otherwise this is something I don't have to pay attention to."

This is a way better idea than any of ours. Give him a genetically spliced friendly raptor arm he grafts on half way through the film and you have on license gold.

Yeah I think episode 8 is an episode I like just because of what comes immediately after, but as a first time viewing experience, especially if you're really into the mystery and stakes of the whole story, it's hard to resist. I'm curious to see what I think after re-watching it this week.

Oh man I forgot to mention the notebook in the episode! Oops. The handwriting didnt stick out to me but I really liked the presence of the notebook at all, as a Clue Object.

The episode's up! I also made the episode 8 thread. Enjoy!

It was meee! (And don't worry, I know Pokemon are Pocket Monsters and originated as that name in Japan. It wasn't totally out of the blue. I know more than I should about Pokemon because they're a huge cultural force, and are in all Smash Bros games, but I have never actually played a proper Pokemon game.)

I think you're CLOSE with the "the phone company" assumption, but slightly off. I get the impression that a lot of people think that Apple makes all the apps on their phone. So that could lead to "Well I already paid $400 for this thing, why should I be giving them MORE money?!" But I also think the people who say "LAZY DEVS" to ustwo clearly know that ustwo made the game.

you mean a Beppo's Hole. It's true. Pokemon is one of the things in gaming that I have always felt too old for, since when it came out. It was actually the first thing in video games as a medium that made me think "whoa I might outgrow this, or parts of it," which was mind blowing to a 17 year old who loved video games. I feel very educated now! The 3DS and Wii U era Pokemon stuff looks visually appealing enough that I've considered playinone of them a few times... I doubt I will do it but if I was to play a Pokemon game, as an owner of a 3DS and Wii U, where should I start? (I also own a working TV and handheld console from every Nintendo going back to the NES but I don't really want to go hunting down cartridges, so it has to be something downloadable on Wii U or 3DS shop I'm sorry to say.)

Idle Thumbs 183: The Anonymouses As you get older you begin to wonder if the culture has changed, or you have changed. Are you in a place now where you're just unreachable by marketing, not by force but because you are drifting out of sync with the cultural consciousness? Last time you stuck your head up and really looked around they only had level one monsters, but now they've got these big lumbering messes running around eating everything. What has the world come to? Things Discussed: Evolve, Left 4 Dead, Left 4 Dead 2, 80 Days, The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth, Grim Fandango Remastered, Batman, Birdman, Star Wars Episode VII, Ten Second Ninja, Comic Book Cody Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed

My dream mute city cover is one that has a crazy rapid fire Frank Zappa horn section doing the lead instead of an electric guitar but I think that's a tall order. This cover sounds like it fits really well within the MK8 score, though. Gotta get this damn DLC I guess?

shit! 5 must have been in the hood sorry about that.

Somewhere between that and the end is when I stopped watching the first time through.

I wonder if there was a play on words in the original German title? I hope so.

Hey folks, episode 5 is up so listen away! This is now the episode discussion thread.

Yeah I definitely expected to have more to say, but more often than not the spoiler segments are boiling down to "oh wasn't THAT scene interesting, given what we know happens??" "yeah it was, crazy!" As Chris said, I'm sure there are episodes where the "spoiler" section ends up longer. (Note to readers who are rewatching instead of watching for the first time: You can make the spoiler section longer by sending us your observations or thoughts on the episode's role in the series as a whole or its impact on future episodes so we have something meaty to read and discuss in the spoiler section!) Also worth noting: This is also only my second time through the show (and I think that is true for Chris as well) so I don't have a full, nonlinear working memory of the series as a whole work, or anything. I love Twin Peaks and it stuck with me on my first viewing, enough to do a podcast while re-watching it, but we are not mega-fans who have tons of hours of watching, discourse, and thought banked on the show in advance of this viewing. So while I do remember the big things that happen, and I have read some articles and other pieces about the show, this podcast is an avenue of rediscovery for me as much as it is a discussion of something I know. I guess that's a roundabout way of saying again to please send your forward reaching, and all encompassing thoughts in to the twinpeaks@idlethumbs.net email address to give us more to chew on when it comes to big picture spoiler stuff!

We're treating Fire Walk With Me as the final episode of the show even though its events predate the pilot, so any discussion on the cast itself will be in the spoiler section. Also we will update the test to create a new account. Sorry about that.

The part in the game Sean was talking about is now already written for what it's worth... I'm pretty proud of our team and its resistance to intense creep. For instance: We are upgrading to Unity 5 and resisted the urge to rewrite our entire lighting system to use the new baked probe system*, and instead are using unity 5 to save us a full render pass on our existing tech, which is going very quickly and freeing time up to close out our long standing rendering wishlist. * After talking about it a lot because holy hell that new shader set looks nice. We have enough tools in our belt to get the base look we want right now though, and are excited to build on top of what we have instead of throwing it out for something new. But anyone starting from scratch on unity 5, check that stuff out!

Idle Thumbs 181: Rumors & Hearsay The Fiver! Chris, Jake, Sean, Danielle and Nick bring you all the rapid-fire hot gossip you desire, from our hellmouths to your ears. This week's scandals hot off the press: Nick's latest Lords Management misstep leads to the product's erasure, leaving onlookers agog. Woman swoons at news, resuscitated by podcast host Danielle Riendeau. Famous explorer Remo circumnavigates globe in record time; bests noted horn smuggler Breckon. Vanaman reads novel. Jake present at podcast recording. That's it for this week's Idle Thumbs Fiver: All of the rumors, all of the hearsay, none of the scoops. Things Discussed: Dota 2, 80 Days, Alien: Isolation, The Evil Within, Wolf in White Van, Chex Quest Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed

I think he's supposed to be french canadian...