chummer

Dan this week: Capitalism is great. Dan last week: I dig popcorn buckets out of the garbage because movie snacks cost too much. I will say that I greatly appreciated Vinny pointing out in that conversation that some people shop at Wal-Mart because they don't have other options (probably because Wal-Mart drove them out) and that some go because that's the only place they can afford. Regarding the Kingdom Hearts thing: I really took to Ben quickly when he came on board. He's got a goofy laugh and his voice isn't sonorous, but I love that he's willing to go along with a bit and seems like he's having fun. I wish Brad was driving the game because he's definitely the foil and it would let Ben go off. Maybe if they added Jeff and he looked for various ways to say 'This game is bad'?

What We Talk About When We Talk About Dan

The interesting part of the paradox question to me- and what I originally thought it was trying to get people to consider- was about the risky behavior of the box-chooser. I understood it as having a third party watch you over a period of time and then try to guess what you would pick based upon its observations of your life. Also, the amount of money is an important detail because as I was hearing Chris read the setup I already chose the non $1000 box in my head before I knew what was potentially in it just because $1000 isn't life-changing. Lastly, really enjoyed Chris' anecdote about the boardgames; I like that this show has space for that kind of story. The other time Chris related a story like that and that I enjoyed just as much was with the the woman who came out of an Uber/Taxi, smashed a glass bottle to drink the liquid inside it, and then got back in the car and drove away. I still think about the weirdness of that sometimes.

Reggie has deep convictions about the will to power and only ever feels alive when he is defeating others or being defeated himself.

Haven't picked up any of this gen's consoles, but this might be the thing that gets me to do it:

As a wannabe necromancer, I don't like that I can't resurrect dead threads, but I'm fine with everything else. Making threads about specific people feels weird to me and I say this as someone who participated in the Dan from GB thread here (the name hasn't aged well). I also really love the software they're using to run their boards.

Was this the ep where Jake talked about a fashion trend that you'd see in Star Trek back in the 90's is now just something a teen-child does? I'm going to assume it is and link this Twitter moment to floral eyeliner, which struck a similar chord for me. stay woke IT forums: https://twitter.com/i/moments/855424821999448064

as someone with beautiful, long hair growing longer everyday, i endorse shower caps because you aren't supposed to wash your hair everyday (drys it out).

Glad you did this before I did! Also, yeah, as someone who is never bothered by hosts being incorrect about things and just assuming they'll either look it up themselves or get flooded with messages, that Bug's Life bit gave me a dose of anxiety. Weird.

I think the lore discussion is interesting! Jake, Chris and Sean had a convo about this a couple years ago that'll link to here (should be time-stamped to start at the topic): I like thinking about this topic because here's a thing I've done: read through parts of the Game of Thrones Wiki without having any idea what the story is about. I was late to watching the show and had no interest in reading those tomes, but when the 'Red Wedding' became a thing on Twitter, I took the time to look it up and just ended up just going through a hole of links and connections. Now, I can't recall much of what I read that day, but I can tell you that I found the process of piecing together the world and narrative in my brain really enjoyable. Sean makes a distinction between 'lore' and stories told by 'what happens to characters and how they react to that,' but because I think the latter can be told in lore (having read that GoT wiki, I can tell you why the characters did what they did at the Red Wedding), I wonder if Sean meant zooming in on one particular point in this world and focusing on that story. This is all very unconsidered for me right now and I don't want to put words in his mouth; just parsing these ideas as I write. All that said, I've also been playing through Dark Souls 1 and have no interest in looking up that lore I've heard about while I'm playing. I think the process of learning that stuff seems burdensome, my impression of it being that you have to stop the flow of the game to read item descriptions and talk to characters multiple times to get that stuff. To paraphrase Nick, 'It's not what I'm here for.'

Really loved this episode! The variety of ideas and the shifts from fascination to goofiness were really great. Also that Snapple story is horrifying but sounds like the climax of a heavy-handed short story where the bottle served as a symbol for that woman's inability to find satisfaction.

SALT PIG! DIG INTO THE PIG!

It's that time of the year folks. Which contract did Max Ides take? Who will suffer at the hands of the infrequent assassin?

As someone who hasn't beaten any Dark Souls games yet, does the Souls series actually have good stories or are people just impressed at the way it hints towards that story with morsels through item descriptions and the game space? Or is it a combination?

was wandering around @Wooben's castle today and realized that it reminds me of Sen's Fortress.

True, but it's the inaccuracies of subjectivity that makes it a thing worth seeing; same with your maps. That said, I want to say that in the week this was posted, someone on here drew a map from memory of Firelink and the Burg, which was surprising in its accuracy.

i think the cross-section map Nick mentioned briefly is this one, but the DS map i love is by the same artist and much more abstract:

I've been exploring! Far north of past the village and even past the lake tower there's a patch of desert with a small steading. Just north-east of there is a beautiful savanna teeming with wild horses. I've brought back and planted acacia trees in town, which produce an orange wood plank. I got turned about on my way back and ended up finding a small hill village not too far north-west of our own, and just south of that this imposing cliff face with a forest looming atop in the distance: I'm returning back to the savanna sometime soon, as I spotted some horses with golden manes and hope to add one to our own pasture.

just FYI for y'all: by default F1 will remove your item bar and whatever you're holding in your hand. useful because F2 takes screenshots of everything on screen and you can get clean shots of everything. F3 will pop up location data in XYZ format and you can screenshot that as well if you want to remember where someplace is and are afraid of dying/forgetting/getting lost. Spawn point is around -19X, 252Z. this was neat to find from where I was exploring. it casts this beautiful shadow. this is really neat and reminds of Nazca lines or Celtic chalk figures.

regarding this tweet: have y'all ever considered putting a bed of music under paid advertisements? does anyone have specific feelings for or against this?

I can see my hole from here.

similar feelings. riffing over the conference stuff leads to magical moments like 'Weed3' and the only night stuff that i've ever found really compelling was when Jonathan Blow confronted the Microsoft guys on their Xbox Live Arcade publishing policies. (oh, and the GB community definitely hated Alexander because she was a woman and they didn't afford her the same liberties as they did annoying drunk dudes.)

i've set up a welcoming house near the spawn point. folks can donate useful starting equipment if they can. @Paul Smith don't be surprised if you see way more chickens than what you had last time. set up a sugar cane and wheat field in what's looking to be the player village.

...this isn't a denial...