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Important If True 13: "Veggie" Panino and the Nightmare Puzzler

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Important If True 13:

Important If True 13


"Veggie" Panino and the Nightmare Puzzler
If you come across a stranger on a dark, empty road in the middle of the night, and they tell you they can answer any question you ask, we hope you pick one of these: Does somewhere exist because you've dreamed about it over and over? Why does Lightning McQueen always keep his doors locked? Has anyone ever made a recipe from the back of a Triscuit box, and if so was their name Tristan? If you never encounter that stranger, but still want those answers, listen to this podcast instead.

Send us email 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.

Discussed Triscuit cracker recipes, implicit egotism and major life decisions, being chased by maniacs while lost, the interior life of Cars, medically-induced nightmares

Jake's Endorsement:
Twin Peaks Rewatch Podcast, Twin Peaks TV series (Amazon, iTunes, Netflix)

Chris' Endorsement: Photic sneezing

Nick's Endorsement: Poo-Pourri poo spray

 

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The NyQuil-induced dream the reader had bears many similarities to the recurring nightmare I had as a kid during high fever. I do not remember what my exact medication situation was, unfortunately, but it is highly likely that I was on some kind of cold medication. I posted my experiences on the forums some time ago related to the discussion on the Tetris-effect.

 

On 6.12.2014 at 5:30 PM, Nappi said:

My most horrendous experience with the Tetris effect is courtesy to Kurushi.

(aka IQ: Intelligent Qube, apparently) for Playstation the original. Interestingly, I never owned the full version of the game, and only played the demo a couple of times.

 

As a child, I was regularly sick with bronchitis and similar diseases, and often had fever in the 40 °C range (about 104 F). It wasn't nearly as bad as it would be now, to be honest: I could just lie in bed, eat, drink, and listen to audiobooks without having to worry about anything really, as my parents did all of the worrying.

 

The only thing I had to face alone were the nightmares and, sure enough, they would be come practically every time I went to sleep during high fever. In the one recurring nightmare I had, I was standing on a narrow strip of cubes which was suspended in air and extending to the horizon. In order to traverse that strip I had to perform some simple but laborious and repetitive task involving the cubes. It wasn't exactly the gameplay of Kurushi, but the cubes and the strip - that endless fucking strip - definitely had its origins in the game. The thing that made the dream an absolute nightmare was the fact that I could see my family and friends, or at least imagine, in the background while some invisible force, possibly one that was inside me, was pushing me forward. I had an understanding of sorts that the strip would eventually lead me back home, perhaps having circled the earth, but I already knew how hopeless and long the task would be, and how unlikely my return. There was nothing that interested me on that strip and I had absolutely no motivation to carry on. But I had to. I had no choice. It was completely devastating, mostly because I understood perfectly well how completely pointless my endeavor was and yet I couldn't simply stop, turn around and walk back to my house, my family, who were still not very far at all, in fact, painfully close.

 
Eventually, the strip would fade out and be replaced by my soaked pillow and sheets (fortunately not checkered), but my fever would cause  the dream and the reality to get blended together, and I wouldn't feel relieved for a long time after, especially if it was still night and I had to get some more sleep. For many years, that dream was the worst part of being ill, and probably because I dreaded it so much, it would always come back to haunt me one of those high-fever nights.
 
I haven't thought about that dream for a long time. In hindsight, there is something quite touching and true, I think, in the dread I experienced in that dream. At the time, however, it was just horrible. Variations of this nightmare could be quite common for all I know, so I cannot seriously blame it on Kurushi. However, that particular nightmare was definitely Kurushi-themed, even if the strip of cubes in that game did not push you farther and farther from everyone you loved and cared about. 

 

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1 hour ago, thenexus6 said:

Nick's story killed me.

 

Almost killed him too.

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I've loved this podcast from day 1 but the past 4 or 5 episodes have really been knocking it out of the park. Loved the Cars discussion (and everything else). The cherry on top is that my email got read (I'm Danny)! So, that was pretty exciting!

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Triscuit_1903_Advertisement.jpgvintage-triscuit-ads.jpg

 

I don't have much commentary to add to these images other than to say Triscuits used to have way better advertising, back when using electricity was apparently a selling point. Just look at that font brand name treatment on the left.
 

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My scattered thoughts:

 

1) Hearing Nick's story makes way more sense after getting to know his alter ego, famous Dark Souls streamer Idle Thumbs. While I generally side with a story-teller, knowing Nick's ability to get lost in any environment, I have a feeling that he really went out of his way to hoist himself on that ol' petard. 

 

2) If anyone wants to read the full article discussed on the podcast about the link between name and occupation (and not just see the abstract linked in the description), you can find it here. It's actually 10 separate studies, and I need to take a closer look at it to see if my initial concerns are valid. It seems like this could be some sort of weird p-hacking thing. It seems like they chose dentist and lawyer because those were professions they could easily find names for, but still, going through a bunch of D or L names to find the ones that have the highest statistical significance is a little suspect. It does have great weird tables:

 

sJlASxj.png

 

3) While Chris did bring up the idea that the Cars Pope stand-in must have killed the real Pope...did that mean his Pope-mobile consumed and devoured and took on the personality of the original Popemobile?

 

h1kwDx6.png

 

4) I can't be the only one who heard the opening of canyon.mid and had to go and actually listen to it, right

 

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I was surprised this didn't come up, but instead of eyes and brains falling out of the car, doesn't it seem more likely that a withered human corpse wired into the car like one of those moths would be inside? The easiest way a car could kill someone inside it would be either trapping them until they starve or exposing them to extreme temperatures, so it seems likely that their final drivers are still within, possibly being integrated into the car itself. Is this the truth Pixar didn't want us to know?

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1 hour ago, RubixsQube said:


 


 

4) I can't be the only one who heard the opening of canyon.mid and had to go and actually listen to it, right


 

I didn't go listen to it, but I do take looping the intro of canyon.mid without getting to the satisfying melody as a personal attack.
 

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I guess it makes sense that Jake Rodkin works at Campo Santo making video games since his name is Video Games. I couldn't think of any links with the other guys' names.

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Okay, so I thought it was funny when you guys acted like "A Bug's Life" wasn't a real movie, but now I'm beginning to become concerned that you're a bunch of "Bug Life" deniers. I know "Antz" and "A Bug's Life" came out within a month of each other and have a similar subject matter, but they're still two distinct movies.  For goodness sake, the ants in one are orange and blue/purple in the other! How could you not remember that?

 

Here, take a look at the DVD cover:

 

bugs-life-dvd.jpg

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I used to believe in A Bug's Life too, but that cover is clearly photoshopped. The quality simply isn't at the level that Pixar or Disney would produce. Just look at the weird spacing on the text under the title.

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Yeah, Nick's story combined with Chris' menacing Hoist 'im voice had me looking like a crazy person while having a walk. Good stuff!

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As someone from West Virginia I found Nick's story hilarious.  My family used to take those mountain roads during summer when we'd go on vacation to Virginia Beach and my Dad would drive like a maniac on them while my brother, my mother, and I would hold on for dear life.  I'm not sure if we were driving the same roads as these were two lane roads that went past Seneca Rocks and through the Green Bank radio silence zone or whatever (if Nick was driving through there it might explain his lack of cell reception as it's government mandated to aid the radio telescopes at Green Bank, though large parts of the state are simply without cell coverage regardless of that).

 

Having lived in the state for 37 years it occurs to me that I've never been to either of the two big ski resorts (Snow Shoe and Canaan Valley) this is likely because I am clumsy as fuck and would likely die by self inflicted hoisting off this mortal coil.

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Twin Peaks Rewatch endorsement :tup: I've been enjoying it alongside my first time through the series over the past month or so, and to be honest it has helped me stick with the very patchy second season. I've got just two episodes and FWWM to go now so I'm sure I'll make it now - thanks Jake and Chris!

 

Looking forward to your coverage of the new episodes. I'm in genuine suspense over whether they'll reconstruct the opening credits montage in the wider aspect ratio.

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Fellow photic sneezer here. I remember when we were kids, my dad would take my brother and I to late morning/early afternoon movies. When we left the darkened theater and walked out into the sunlight, we would all start sneezing simultaneously. It was actually something i looked forward to, still do when I leave the movies. It's a pleasant experience.

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yeah, i am a photic sneezer too and the exiting a dimly or fluorescently lit building in the summer to exit and sneeze is satisfying in an indescribable way to me. 

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I'm now beginning to wonder if photic sneezing is also accompanied by a nonstandard brain configuration that makes photic sneezers take excessive pleasure in the act of sneezing...

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Maybe just different associations. If all your sneezing is done while sick or getting your sinuses fucked by pollen it's easy to build a bad association, but if your sneezes primarily accompany pleasant sunny afternoons I guess the associated experience is a bit more pleasant.

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Also, if the sneeze corresponds the your movement outside and/or you tilting your head back, it's something you have control over. On the other hand, I associate sneezing mostly with allergies and losing control of my body and feeling like a drippy itchy mess, so sneezes get a big thumbs down from me.

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two thoughts:

 

1.) the reader who wrote in about having sleepwalking episodes where they had to solve a bomb problem reminded me of a thing that I do, or did, while sleeping, according to my wife and also my family:  though I am no longer religious, I was raised mormon, and for most of my adolescence and early adulthood was very devout, to the point where I spent a few years in england knocking on doors in a suit and tie to annoy people with religion.  one of the things I was trained to do as a missionary was perform exorcisms, and apparently when I'm having nightmares, I will fall back upon that training to deal with whatever supernatural horrors my subconscious decided to hassle me with.  I rarely remember my own dreams, but here is the thing: I am a sleep talker.  when my wife and I were still dating, I would start doing the demons-out routine in my sleep and at first it terrified her until she realized that I was just having a nightmare and dealing with it using the only tools I had.  I have no idea if I still do this, she hasn't mentioned it in recent years, so maybe my slide into agnosticism has finally reached my subconscious as well.

 

2.) I don't understand how anyone can enjoy photic sneezing. I have hayfever and I'm a photic sneezer and it's like being held hostage by your face for five months out of the year.

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I have never had allergies of any sort; that must contribute to my enjoyment of sneezing. It's a purely cathartic event for me. Sometimes I sneeze when I'm sick, but even then, it's a welcome relief, because generally speaking if I'm congested, the few seconds after I sneeze will be the only moments my sinuses are clear before they get all clogged up again. Sneezing for me is only ever good.

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