Chris

Whoops. Yeah that makes sense. I haven't owned a car for years, and for whatever reason when I did I don't think I've ever been to a drive-through coffee shop (although I've certainly been to drive-through fast food plenty of times, where this obviously doesn't happen). On top of that I HAVE seen this kind of thing at local pizzerias and so on, in non-drive-through contexts, where it's just buying a slice for a friend who they know is coming in later, or something like that, and the friend's name is put on a blackboard. So the drive-through coffee shop thing never even occurred to me.

Important If True 45: Wax house, baby. In the first Important If True recorded in the new year, we put our fresh reality through its paces. Kick the tires a bit. Ask the questions that really matter in 2018. Questions like: Is the saxophone cool, or is it too real to be cool? If your coworker starts wearing puka shell necklaces as self-flagellating conversion therapy, is he still a bro? And if you become trapped in a fictitious world of your own design, will a Wikipedia editor ask for a citation? Only one thing’s for sure: it’s a wax house, baby—we all just live in it. Discussed: 2018, Nick's Halloween Dreams, the unappreciated coolness of saxophones, psychic neural infiltration, explicit dream roasting, the Wikipedia page for the 2005 film "House of Wax", the internet sabotage long game, "Wax House, Baby", shared fictitious realities, Agloe, New York, Snakes on a Plane, the fractal-like world of online ersatz cheap brand creation and marketing, becoming an accidental bro, Pavlovian anti-bro enforcement methods, climbing out of your bro-hole with a ladder made of bones, rare Domino's Pizza Rolex watch, Nutcracker barfees, horrible barfing Nutcracker toy 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: Getting a huge hard drive (like this massive 3TB drive I bought) for way cheaper than you'd think, and putting all your crap on it while experiencing a nostalgia trip Jake's Endorsement: Wizard Jam, the semiannual Idle Thumbs community game jam. Check out The Garfing Garfo because it is strange and surprising, and The World Begins With You because it is beautiful Nick's Endorsement: "HQ Trivia is a Harbinger of Dystopia", Ian Bogost's deep dive into the strange trivia game HQ; and "If You Run This Profile, We're Fire Our Host", a completely unhinged interview with the CEO of HQ Trivia Sponsored by: Quip electric toothbrushes with $10 off your first brush head refill Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

That’s probably mainly because I honestly just feel kind of weird speaking ill of someone who didn’t actually do me permanent harm or anything. (Well except for the month of rent money I still never got and never will.) I don’t like just dumping on someone personally from afar. I’d rather enjoy the absurdity of the situations than be petty about it if possible although obviously I don’t always succeed.

Bump! This long-delayed episode is finally out and the thread has been updated accordingly.

It is extremely quiet.

The Idle Book Club Episode 1: The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes The Idle Book Club kicks off with discussions of the impermanence of memory, the importance of perspective, and what it means to be telling someone else's story, through the lens of Julian Barnes' The Sense of an Ending. Listen on the Episode Page Listen in iTunes Subscribe to the RSS Feed Missed this month and want to catch up? Buy The Sense of an Ending hardcover from Amazon Buy The Sense of an Ending Kindle edition from Amazon Buy The Sense of an Ending iBook from iTunes Looking to discuss next month's book? Episode 2: Cloud Atlas pre-discssuion thread

Roast them shits up and spread em on toast

It's also, on a purely literal level, undeniable that this movie is simply longer than any other Star Wars movie, and noticeably so. Obviously length doesn't necessarily directly correlate to complexity or number of extraneous elements, but it's not totally unrelated. (Also, the first three movies were the shortest of all Star Wars movies to date, and that feels relevant.)

I thought there were flashes of excellence—visuals, performances, certainly music—but they were strung together by a LOT of very boring or in some cases utterly nonsensical plot and character motivation. It's bonkers to me that the filmmakers thought this movie needed to be almost three hours long.

DAMN that is choice. I've never heard this one, which is amazing given how many hours I've spent listening to Songsmith covers.

Ah, I see. Yeah, Olly isn't working on this game.

It’s definitely Unity! (I’m curious what made you assume it was Unreal?)

It doesn’t; but it’s pretty clear from the tone of your post that helpfulness is not your principal goal.

Important If True 39: Organoids and the Human Mini-Brains Join us for a very special Important If True, as we celebrate the season by giving thanks. Thanks for treasured relics from childhoods long passed, for new creations from Boston Dynamics, and for the gift of humanity itself—at least for a little while longer. Along the way, we'll answer pressing questions, like: Is a clumsy and dubiously-sentient cube of metal your friend, your enemy, or a citizen of Saudi Arabia? Who will triumph in the inevitable conflict between backflipping robots and totally ripped biojackers? And if a podcaster falls in an empty forest, do their metrics reflect an uptick in engagement? Discussed: Thanksgiving, how holidays are good but terrible, Jake's cursed Pizza Hut lamp, childhood arcade memories, trolling by eBay seller, Boston Dynamics robots SpotMini and Atlas, the slow-brewing robot revolution, Back at it Again at Krispy Kreme, Saudi Arabia granting citizenship to a robot, C-3PO's implied humanity relative to R2-D2, Rian Johnson (director of three upcoming Star Wars movies), Star Trek's Data being fitted with an emotion chip, Star Wars' R2-D2 being fitted with a speech chip, CRISPR-enabled genetic biohacking, totally ripped farm animals, injecting yourself to get totally ripped, the cyberpunkiest cyberpunk shit, Josiah Zayner, super-ripped biojacker CRISPR dudes, swiping CRISPR biojackers on Tinder, "Human Mini-Brains Growing Inside Rat Bodies Are Starting to Integrate," getting clever-girled by thirty ripped pigs, Warner Bros. Presents the Animal Farm Cinematic Universe, Planet of the Apes But Far Stupider Than Anything You Could Have Possibly Imagined, drugged out rat hippies with human brains, Organoids and the Human Mini-Brains (Executive Produced by Steven Spielberg), the ethics of growing mini-brains, an experience of self that only exists while podcasting, having no meaning except that which others see in you, Nick Breckon 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. Jake's Endorsement: The Good Place (Amazon, iTunes) Nick's Endorsement: Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri (in theaters now) Chris' Endorsement: Cheap reusable plastic food containers for leftovers, taking lunch to work, and so on Additional music by: Ross Budgen Sponsored by: Warby Parker prescription glasses home try-on, Grammarly grammar-advising browser extension Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

It’s possible, but the reason we tried so hard to get it working with Nick is for that continuity. We also gave him one of the actual mics from the studio to try and match audio as cleanly as possible. That said, it would be really fun to have old Thumbs hosts on the show from time to time so I could see us making the equipment/effort investment to hook it up if we had a good idea.

Important If True ?!: No Podcast This Week Nick Breckon is somewhere on the West Coast of North America, and that's all we know. Unfortunately we don't have an episode for you this week, as we're still sorting this all out. Listen in as we fumble our way towards that conclusion, and stick around for future episodes of Important If True! Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Crap, sorry! When you say "two episodes" do you mean one Thumbs and one IIT? Or two episodes of one show? (It should be the former)

Oh weird, it looks like that's actually the level this episode's art is drawn from!

This is definitely what I meant to convey, but I may have done it poorly!

Idle Thumbs BONUS: Ruination Online November 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: live episodes, our favorite things, Patreon postcards, San Francisco sightseeing, muting your family, our (questionably) deep knowledge, something confusing about a thief and a genie, buying stuff for your dad, Twin Peaks, Jonathan Blow, FPS Myst, RPG Doom, "Let Us Melt" soundtrack by Jessica Curry, "Switched-On Bach" album by Wendy Carlos, game designers and job titles, platforming, Jodorowsky's Dune (Amazon, iTunes), escape rooms, Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes, Eternal September Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Idle Weekend November 23, 2017: What a Twist! Danielle and Rob are here, in Idle Weekend-land, a very good place, to discuss... The Good Place (spoilers abound), and many other games, shows, and movies that do twists well. Discussed: The Good Place, Mad Men, The Visit, Blade Runner, Momento, The Prestige, Westworld, BioShock, BioShock Infinite, Prey, Edith Finch, SOMA, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Mass Effect 3, Forza 7, Valor, Hidden Agenda Listen on the Episode Page Listen on Soundcloud Listen in iTunes

Cheers! Welcome! It is indeed nicer here.

I think he means natural in the sense that it doesn't actually contract the "natural" way to end a phone conversation, it just doesn't show it—it implies it happens during the cut.

It totally makes sense even though the reality that's painted as a result is absurd. The phrase "good bye" or "bye" is simply never going to be as punchy and impactful and thematically relevant to the film's contents as a line that is intentionally written for that character at that moment. "Good bye" is a generic phrase that appears commonly regardless of context, so at best it adds nothing and at worst it deflates the more interesting line that preceded it.

I'm very surprised you think that. I suppose it depends what you mean by "a desire to do so and a sufficient amount of time." Given broad enough parameters, that could certainly be true, but I think for most people, especially given how few people actually complete ANY given game, no matter how much easier than Cuphead, I would definitely not share your expectation.