Jake

Also re: my blanching at "Y'all" possibly being injected into the podcast by Chris as a deliberate attempt to start some phrase.... he tried to do that with TOO MUCH CLAM IN THE BEVERAGE in this very episode!!

YES I was worried I was being Sly Bootsed.

It’s more specifically that you sometimes try to seed a bit and then troll us with it by revealing far later what you’re up to. It smelled strongly of that!

I think you’re correct, and then he fully took over.

I felt like saying that phrase would make the whole thing collapse so it remained unsaid. I got the feeling everyone felt that way. You don’t want to pull out the keystone.

“Moving on from failure,” is maybe most accurate than those who say it’s explicitly about “failure” itself? Sometimes the way someone moves on is to try and turn failure into whatever victory is possible even if the cost is huge, sometimes it’s to wallow in the failure, sometimes it’s self examination and an attempt at reconciliation, etc. (I think that distinction - that the movie is examining “what to do in the face of your failure” as opposed to “a depiction of acts of failing” - is actually what people have always meant in when saying it’s about “failure,” though, so I’m not saying anything new. Arguing against the latter, which I think is a misread of what people mean, is going to drill into needless semantic holes about what is and isn’t “failure.”)

Idle Weekend February 5, 2018: An Underrated Trek This week, we welcome freelance writer Dia Lacina to the Idle Weekend world in order to discuss lesser entries in franchises or series that everyone shits on, but we love them. There’s a whole lot of Star Trek Talk in this one, a serious appreciation for Michael Mann’s Manhunter, and a slew of delicious trashcan eclairs. Discussed: Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, The Bourne Legacy, Manhunter, Banjo-Tooie, BioShock 2, Dark Souls 2, Jupiter Ascending, Guardians of the Galaxy, Legend of Galactic Heroes, Bloodborne, Forever Knight, The City in the City by China Mieville, Dark Matter Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend December 31, 2017: Homelife, 2017 The Idle Weekenders bid this crappy year adieu with the help of friend and colleague Cameron Kunzelman. They talk home settings in games, from the cozy confines of Stardew Valley’s quaint town, to the too-millennial aspirations of later Sims, to the much wackier ways in which horror games set family life. Then, we talk some serious trash about White Christmas and other fabulous trashcan eclairs. Like Dark Matter. Discussed: Stardew Valley, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, The Quiet Year, Crusader Kings, Animal Crossing, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, Resident Evil 7, Tacoma, Hyper Light Drifter, Playerunknown's Battlegrounds, White Christmas, Dark Matter Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 36: Never Say Goodbye Nothing is permanent, especially not these days. You look away for a second and look back, and the world around you has changed, subtly. A TV you swear wasn't there a moment before is yelling at you about something that doesn't exist yet. Your friend turns to you, his shirt changed to a logo you've never seen before, and you think you know what he's going to say - he's going to ask you important questions about the world around him, questions like "How can you best maintain the integrity of your aging brand? What REALLY happened at the end of The Usual Suspects? Is this podcast cursed?" - but as he opens his mouth you hear, in splintering clarity, "SEE THOR RAGNAROK THIS WEEKEND," and know you can't trust him ever again. Discussed: Happy Birthday Jake wooooo Happy Halloween!!!, Jake's curse, corn maze, terrible 20th Television production logo, La Cucaracha horn, SeamBI, SeamBI B2B, How I Met Your Mother, brand integrity, Taxi, definitely Mastercard's favorite play of the game, television without greenscreen, Ex Machina, The Usual Suspects, Beauty and the Beast, believing movies are more magical than they really are, a very gullible friend, running for high school student office, how Americans talk on the phone on TV, everything being terrible forever Send us your questions to [email protected]. 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: Polar Feet Adults' Non-slip Fleece Socks Chris' Endorsement: Using Instapaper (or a similar read-it-later service) to always have something you've been meaning to read handy Jake's Endorsement: Using 3D face-mapping software Facerig to inject shreds of levity into your soul-sucking mandatory office video chat experience Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Ah there we go this makes perfect sense and is exactly where I've encountered it before but my brain was reeling to put the memory together.

Congrats on your 420th episode.

Idle Weekend January 24, 2018: It’s Back, Baby! with copy! Idle Weekend 1/21/18 It’s Back, Baby! This weekend, we talk about what it takes to make a game come back into the conversation, even if it’s just our little corner of the internet. It’s because we have a little Bloodborne on the brain, and a little Darkest Dungeon in the hands. And Strangers Things afoot. Note! Rob’s audio is a little funky in this episode, but he’ll have his proper mic back next week. Discussed: Bloodborne, Dark Souls, Darkest Dungeon, Stardew Valley, LA Noire, Night in the Woods, GTA V, BioShock: Infinite, Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Quantic Dream, Battlestar Galactica (with spoilers!), Counting Crows, Star Wars, Blade Runner: 2049, Stranger Things, The Shape of Water Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

The Fringe opening! The opening itself is a litttle but too much “the x files but full of curious wonder!” for me but I like a lot of the music in that show, and the variant intros are really fun. It was Michael Giacchino for the first few seasons and then Chris Tilton (who did the fantastic score for the new SimCity a few years back) took over and did great work too.

Important If True 46: Cut Your Hair This week we discover that no matter how far flung life's questions may seem, there may be a universal key that unlocks them all. For instance: How do you completely collapse the degrees of separation between you and viral HQ winners? Do you actually remember anything that happened on the childhood television shows you hold so dear? What do the multiple robocall personalities who continue to call you at home, make demands of you, get noticeably bored and then hang up on you, actually want? The answer to all of them is, inexplicably, that you should cut your hair. At least, that's what we've been led to believe. Discussed: "If You're Going to San Francisco (to Return to Your Old Barber But Want to Really Act Up the Fact That You Were In Canada) (Put Flowers In Your Hair)", unconventional Canadian sex/hair desires, HQtie of the year flipping out after winning $11.30 in HQ Trivia, The Elephant Show, Sesame Street, Nick Breckon wax housing Landis the hairdresser, the long arm of "Wax House, Baby", horror film podcast The Rants Macabre, pointlessly but insidiously altering the apparent history of short-lived children's cartoon Street Sharks, the mutual idiocy that is information aggregation on the internet, Street Sharks vandal copycat killer, ruining our own stupid childhoods, inexplicable robocalls, getting good advice over the phone, getting hung up on by a robot, those gross fungus toe ads for mortgage refinancing and stuff, the marketing matrix, The Marketing Matrix, I literally can't even explain the dumb internet shit we made up on this part of the podcast, Mellotron keyboard but instead of violin samples it has a bro telling you to cut your hair, Being John Malkovich but instead of being John Malkovich it has a bro telling you to cut your hair, "laff box" for creating televised laugh tracks live, our fractal gaslight reality, inappropriate diluting and genericizing of the phrase "Wax House, Baby" Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. Jake's Endorsement: The Director's Cut podcast from the Director's Guild of America Chris' Endorsement: Collecting all your paper-based ephemera and, amidst a nostalgia explosion, organizing it (for instance, into a file box like this with file folders like this) Nick's Endorsement: Reverse-searing your cheeseburger Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Twin Peaks Rewatch 52: The Return, Part 17 It's time for the first half of the end. Twin Peaks' final curtain call aired as a two-part double-long event, and we ended up with so much to say about these final episodes, we followed suit and split our podcast into two parts as well. In this episode, almost every major plot thread we've seen this season culminates in an epic showdown at the Twin Peaks Sheriff's Department—a showdown that resolves itself so neatly it's unsettling, before everything starts to change, to slip, and fall apart. Join us as we discuss Part 17 of Twin Peaks, The Return, and do our best to unpack our own reactions, what the events of the finale might mean, and what they mean to us. If you have a question for us or thoughts to share on the new season of Twin Peaks, write us at [email protected]. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes Twin Peaks Rewatch 53: The Return, Part 18 Twin Peaks has ended, it was confusing, upsetting, and we have a lot of questions, but we loved it. Wait, what year is this? Join us for a discussion of the series finale of Twin Peaks, as we walk through Part 18 piece by piece, with many stops along the way to ruminate on everything that's come before, what it all means and feels like now that we're at the end. Next week we'll be back with an episode full of reader mail and some final decompression of the season as a whole, but before we go: Thank you so much for sharing the last 16 weeks of Twin Peaks with us. It's been a one of a kind experience and we've loved spending the time with you. If you have a question for us or thoughts to share on the new season of Twin Peaks, write us at [email protected]. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Wow ok haha. In a desperate hope of ever learning what it was I tweeted a link to this week’s episode to the hosts of Reply All. Crazy (if unsurprising) that they may have already come across it.

This guy gets it.

That’s just the official term I think. It’s always been called that.

I’m with you, but the people demanded this. Ever since nick went remote, people have asked why he doesn’t have a microphone and “it’s on the screen!” didn’t satisfy them. Maybe this abomination will.

This is very good.

Thanks! The two things we did right, I think, we’re giving Nick one of the existing studio microphones so the sound matches, and (even though it started as a little bit of a joke) putting his face on a monitor at human size/eye level in the studio so he doesn’t disappear from our perception when he’s not talking. It’s surprisjngly helpful to be able to see the subtle nonverbal cues that someone you’re in a room with is about to start talking, and having a Big Face On A Screen gets ya st least part way back there.

Idle Thumbs BONUS: Ruination Online December 2017 Enjoy this bonus episode drawn from the Idle Thumbs Patreon Ruination Online! Each month, we do a livestream where all topics have been posed by high-tier backers of our Patreon campaign: patreon.com/IdleThumbs. Due to popular demand, we're releasing the audio of that stream to the main podcast feed for easier listening. We'll be back with a regular episode of Idle Thumbs next week! Discussed: Making a comfortable office, borrowing animal features and giving them to robots, podcasting remotely, web-based applets, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Marvel Heroes, working on licensed games, intellectual properties, the books of David Mitchell, books we like, applying the rules of basic arithmetic to the Twelve Days of Christmas, international cuisine, lab-grown food, the future of food preparation, The Nutcracker, gift giving, learning a new skill, getting distracted and not learning anything, wanting to get into something that seems cool but being unable to Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Something True Holiday Special: The Resurrection of the Flesh Whatever you eat this holiday season, it won’t be anything like this. Something True returns for the holidays with the story of a monstrous pie, cooked by an English village in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of Queen Victoria’s coronation. It was the largest pie ever made. Larger than reason. Larger than dreams. Large enough to hide a secret. 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: Stephan Siebert – when* Lee Maddeford – Embellir (with Les Gauchers Quintet) Jason Shaw – HOEDOWN* Chris Zabriskie – Prelude No. 15* Silence is Sexy – Holiday (instrumental)* *modified for the podcast. Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Important If True 43: The Bad Gift Special When someone says, "the gift that keeps on giving," they're usually describing something good, something exciting, something people want. But what about the bad gifts? The gift you ask for but regret? The gift you already have, then foist off onto a family member under an oath of silence? The gift that tricks your childhood brain into thinking you're a genius? The gifted Hawaiian shirts, owls, books on meerkats, or anything else given by the truckload that, once your loved ones decided you liked, and couldn't help but keep on giving year after year? We are here for you, with the Important If True Bad Gift Special. Join us for tales of gifts gone awry, gifts given on loop forever, and sometimes even the story of a bad gift that turned good. Bad gifts discussed: Opening your gifts early would ruin the surprise! Send us your questions at [email protected]. If you enjoyed this and would like to subscribe to an ad-free feed, please consider supporting Idle Thumbs by backing our Patreon. If you have a Bad Gift story for us, send it to [email protected] with the subject line "Bad Gift," and we'll include it in next year's special! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes