Fire Escape Cast #132

Summary

Fire Escape Cast #132 – Summary

Episode Date: May 11, 2026
Hosts: Mike Mahardy, Mary Kish
Guest Host: Vinny Caravella (Nextlander)
Absent: Dan Ryckert

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Overview

This episode of Fire Escape Cast is a lively, meandering, and joyful reunion featuring the regular crew (minus Dan, who's deep into "Mixtape") and special guest Vinny Caravella from Nextlander. Across two and a half hours, they share bar stories, dive into the latest video game releases, discuss wine industry tales, and riff on everything from astrology to bar talents, all with their signature blend of self-deprecation, chaotic energy, and warmth.

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Notable Segments & Timestamps

• [01:19] – Show welcoming, Dan's absence, and Vinny's re-introduction
• [09:36] – "Street confrontation" stories & emotional self-awareness
• [25:30] – Mike on wine exams, wine bar anecdotes, and "cork taint"
• [54:24] – Video game segment: Pragmata (and later, Mixtape, Soros, Windrose, Replace, Forbidden Solitaire)
• [105:21] – Listener email: "Obscure Bar Talents"
• [119:16] – Closing plugs and banter

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Episode Highlights

1. Where’s Dan? Dan’s Mixtape Obsession

• Dan is missing because he’s become so obsessed with the game "Mixtape" that he’s locked himself away to 100% it.
  • “He locked himself in a room to see everything he possibly could in this game." – Mike (03:11)
  • Running joke: Dan has been emotionally transformed by Mixtape, so much so that it’s ignited new self-awareness.
• The team jokes about his emotional journey and how rarely a game impacts Dan at this level.

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2. Life Updates & Street Confrontation Stories

• Vinny reflects on loving getting older: “Some people get weird about getting old. I love it. I love getting older... now nobody cares about me...” (09:36)
• Mary recounts a heated street interaction with a driver, a story of instant escalation, rage, and later self-reflection.
  • “I’m a pedestrian, bitch! You can’t hit me!” – Mary (13:28)
  • “I hope she learned a valuable lesson.” – Mary (16:40)
• Mike shares a similar near-accident with a driver, culminating in a mid-street “Karen” showdown.
• Vinny talks about handling suburban road rage, family disappointment at his passive-aggressive muttering, and defaulting conflict to his wife.

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3. Personality Types & Wine Bar Life

• Astrology Banter: Mike reveals he’s learned a lot about star signs through coworkers at his wine bar; Vinny and Mike discover they’re both Tauruses and purported “people pleasers.” (23:17)
• Wine Exam & Service Industry Anecdotes:
  • Mike discusses his rigorous WSET wine diploma exams, the challenge of service, and dealing with “difficult” wine bar guests (25:33).
  • “Cork taint” becomes a running joke (48:08).
  • Mike details a “wine bro” scene: a customer orders an $800 bottle, insists on fancy glasses, one breaks, and Mike navigates the aftermath with deadpan professionalism (44:07).
    • “I’m gonna carry around a bottle of Josh, so if that woman ever crosses me again in her Mercedes, be like, ‘Oh, here’s your Josh, Karen.’” – Mike (34:28)
  • Mary admits to being a “label buyer,” especially when birds or dogs are depicted.
  • “Wine Karen” and “Burgundy Shoe Guy” become new in-jokes.

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4. Game Chat: Deep Dives, Hot Takes, and Mechanical Analysis

Pragmata (Main Section – [54:24])

• Reviewed as a mix between Dead Space and Resident Evil (Capcom’s DNA), but with notable Metroidvania and puzzle elements.
• Mike is engrossed in 100%-ing; Vinny finished it 100%, discusses “Lunatic Mode” (highest difficulty).
  • “Even if it’s very, very difficult, you can theoretically beat every fight if you understand the game well enough.” – Mike (58:40)
• Mechanical depth praised for hacking, weapon variety, companion dialogue (Diana the “goblin child”), and boss design.
• Critique: Main character Hugh's melodramatic dialogue (adoption woes), but Diana’s companion role is highlighted as a rare “not-annoying” AI child.
  • “She actually is helpful; it’s not that hard to do this.” – Mike (65:59)
  • Ongoing jokes about Hugh shoehorning adoption talk into every scene.

Mixtape ([73:41], [75:38])

• Dan’s obsession is discussed in absentia; Mary shares impressions.
• Four-hour, narrative-rich “coming-of-age” adventure, heavy on authentic, non-substitutable licensed music—no streamer-friendly swaps.
  • “This game should not have had swappable music.” – Mary (75:28)
• Strong 80s/90s mixtape vibes; structured around “memory” minigames akin to Night in the Woods or Life is Strange.
  • “It is connected to the hip for music... a dangerous and brilliant move by these devs.” – Mary (75:13)
• Mary’s advice: “Don’t play it on your Steam Deck at a bar. Go home, turn off distractions, play it with the volume up.”
• “It is worth four hours of your time. It’s like a really nice coming-of-age film, but you get to play it.” – Mary (81:13)

Soros ([84:01])

• Roguelite space shooter drawing Returnal comparisons; bosses, upgrades, and “space madness" plot.
  • Praised for generous progression systems; can grind to overcome challenge (87:23)
  • “Why’d you just rename everything? Why is my health called perseverance?” – Mary (87:23)
• Story found to be disposable; panel prefers focusing on “min-maxing” runs.
• Some discussion of visual overload and headaches due to highly detailed chaotic environment (91:48).

Other Games:

• Windrose: Pirate co-op survival, lauded for its forgiving systems and “piratey” fun (97:07).
• Replace: 2.5D alt-history pixel adventure featuring body-hopping and a dystopian “organ harvesting” plot (101:11).
• Forbidden Solitaire: FMV “fake-OS” haunted solitaire game—a “Mary game if there ever was one.” (102:34)
  • “It’s solitaire-esque... but they do some fun twists on it.” – Vinny (103:46)

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5. Bar Tricks & Listener Questions ([105:21])

• Listener asks about “most obscure bar talent.”
  • Mike: Tells spontaneously-invented jokes (106:05), surprisingly good at darts (107:36).
  • Mary: Entertains, can do handstands on demand.
  • Vinny: Only “bar tricks” are basic, kid-friendly magic and (aspirationally) dropping gnarly Bible quotes for effect (109:11).
  • Panel agrees: Everyone should know at least one corny card trick.
  • Mary touts her “sippy cup on stream” for spill-prevention.

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Memorable Quotes

• “He locked himself in a room to see everything he possibly could in this game.” – Mike, on Dan and Mixtape ([03:11])
• “Some people get weird about getting old... now nobody cares about me.” – Vinny ([09:36])
• “You almost hit me in a two-ton killing machine, and I’m at fault?!” – Mike ([19:12])
• “You’re only as crazy as the next person that you run into. And it just so happens on that day, I was a little crazier.” – Mary ([16:40])
• “If you hack the medic while it’s healing, it does a ton of damage…” – Vinny, mechanical tip for Pragmata ([61:24])
• “She actually is helpful; it’s not that hard to do this.” – Mike, on Diana in Pragmata ([65:59])
• “This game should not have had swappable music... it is a dangerous and brilliant move by these devs.” – Mary, on Mixtape ([75:28])
• “Why did you just rename everything? Why is my health called perseverance?” – Mary, on Soros ([87:23])
• “I’m gonna carry around a bottle of Josh, so if that woman ever crosses me again in her Mercedes, be like, ‘Oh, here’s your Josh, Karen.’” – Mike ([34:28])
• “You should know one card trick at a bar.” – Mary ([110:39])

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Recurring Jokes & Running Gags

• Dan’s “Mixtape hole” and emotional transformation
• Hugh’s endless orphan/adoption references in Pragmata
• Wine bar terminology ("cork taint," "Josh," "Burgundy Shoe Guy")
• The utility of sippy cups as streamers’ drinkware
• “Really?” as a catchphrase for surprise/rage in street encounters
• “Triple bingo” and “Cabin coins” in goofing about in-game and bar scenarios

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Atmosphere & Tone

The episode is fast-paced, full of playful ribbing, extended bits, and frequent self-aware asides. Everyone feels in rare form, with the addition of Vinny adding extra warmth and easy camaraderie. Although they dive deep into game mechanics and industry life, the focus remains largely on telling great stories and sharing the weird, funny, and human side of gaming and aging.

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For New Listeners

This episode is emblematic of Fire Escape’s strengths: video game enthusiasm, warm personal stories, the occasional thoughtful digression, and nonstop comedy. It’s a hangout between friends who are passionate about games but never self-serious, with plenty of asides for wine nerds, bar regulars, and fans of “that guy at the end of the bar who always tells a good story.”

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Additional Resources

• FireEscapeCast.com – Podcast feed, Patreon, merch
• Nextlander.com – Vinny’s main podcast home

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Closing Thoughts

A quintessential Fire Escape Cast episode—hilarious, unfiltered, a little chaotic, but always grounded in friendship, storytelling, and a deep love for games and all the weird little rituals around them.

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End of summary.

Transcript

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan. I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan. But if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus, the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn

[D]

more from taco night in Tulum to sushi in Tokyo. Make every bite rewarding with gold from amex. Wherever you dine. 4 times. Membership rewards points at restaurants worldwide are piling up. Learn more at americanexpress.com Explore-Gold terms and points cap apply.

[C]

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the fire escape cast. What are you thinking? Abraham Jones. I'm Mike Mahardy here, as always, your host. It's episode 132 or something like that. I'm here with Mary Kish.

[B]

I think Dan would have liked that.

[C]

And big Vinny Caravella.

[D]

Big Vinny's in the house. What's up?

[B]

Hey, Vinny.

[C]

One word, two questions. How you doing?

[D]

What bodies? I'm doing. I'm doing great. I realized when we came in here, they were all doing video, so I was like, my place looks too. My place looks too clean. Let me mess it up a little. Big Vinny's got a rep to keep. Let me mess it up a little bit in the back here.

[B]

Yeah, I mean, it's nice that you can see the broom. So we know you're trying.

[C]

Yeah, it looks. Yeah.

[D]

You know, big Vinny's always cleaning house. You know what I'm saying?

[B]

Always be sweeping.

[C]

If you're not watching the video, it looks Like, Vinny is broadcasting from like the trailer next to a construction site that's just got random stuff and there's union members coming in and out asking

[D]

for jobs and no shots walking by.

[B]

Yeah, I got papers to sign.

[D]

I'm busy over here.

[C]

Hey.

[D]

Hey. Just put that apple pie over there. The misses she really wanted you to have this big video.

[C]

If you, if you bite in some, if there's some paper in there. I don't know what that is.

[D]

That's good. That's good. I hope your first podcast is a masculine podcast.

[C]

You come to me on the day of my podcast. 1 Episode 132 Yo Dan. Yeah, we should say Dan is not here. Supposedly Dan has been taken with a game so much.

[D]

Oh my gosh.

[C]

He just literally has not been available to record because he's trying to 100% it. He's just trying to see every little thing possible. It is mixtape. Dan Riker is.

[D]

Oh, that is so Dan. Wait, the one that's like the coming of age with the music and stuff.

[C]

The Bill Dungs, Ramon with all the music and the melancholy and the teenagers dance so funny. He's like, guys, I, I, I genuinely, we're like, come on and talk about it. That's what the show's about. He's like, no, no, no, no, no, you don't understand. Like, I, he locked himself in a room to see everything he possibly could in this game. I think he's like, he's going to do a pilgrimage to wherever the developers are based and like, try to desperately beg for a job because he's like, I need to be involved in the creation of this kind of art. Yeah, yeah.

[D]

So now so many things that click into place. He called me and he was like, how many tissue boxes is it normal for somebody to go through in a night? And I was like, are you?

[B]

What a weird question.

[D]

Yeah. First of all, I thought it was something else. Now it makes sense of you. I don't know.

[C]

The way he talks about that game. I think he might need tissues for more thing than one.

[D]

He sounded a little upset. Yeah, yeah, he was.

[C]

He's like, oh, it's all just mangled down there. I love this game so much.

[D]

Well, then I don't know what the ice cream was for. Then I didn't really. Then I'm just all confused. Well, I'm so glad he's enjoying a game finally. A game that brings him such as emotional joy. A day as Breath of the Wild. Finally, the second game that ever made him cry.

[C]

It's like the. Yeah, it's. He somehow is like an adult now. Like, I'm talking. He knows. Yeah. He knows how to, like, cook. He knows how to do laundry. All of a sudden, the game. I think, like, the game was the thing that triggered his. His.

[B]

His emotional intelligence. Yeah. He's been waiting for.

[C]

Yeah, let's hope it stays up there. Who knows if he'll be back next episode. I honestly don't. He might still be playing mixtape, but. But, Vinnie, it's been a while. I think you. I don't know, a few. A year or so since you were last.

[D]

Since Fire Escape maybe.

[C]

Maybe you've been on Firescape a lot this year.

[D]

But that's true. That's true. Folks might not know we've been warhammering it in the background here. Fire Escape. Regular Big Vinny Caravella. I'm doing well, you know, it's been a. It was a kind of packed April for video games, so kind of chewing through a bunch of stuff in the background. Been playing all the late April releases, and then I feel like it kind of. Everybody was like, when's Grand Theft Auto coming out? We can't release a game in 2026. We gotta get it out of the way. So I'm very curious to see what happens in the back half of 2026.

[B]

I mean, I think they've been clear with the date, haven't they? It's like a. It's a Thanksgiving treat. It's November.

[D]

But I think. Didn't they move it right? So they weren't.

[B]

They moved it.

[D]

Wasn't everybody like, great, you're coming out 2025. This is awesome. We'll all push out of the way. And they're like, Nah, 2026.

[B]

It shifts everything, right? Such a monolith, such a massive game. Everyone's like, let's avoid that window. I do appreciate that they gave us the heads up because when Silksong did it, they were like, hey, by the way, we're coming up next Saturday. And all the indie games were like, fuck. We had to move everything. And everybody's pushing papers in the back. You can't release the same weekend as them in. In good conscience. Like, you have to move. And I think GTA is that. But on a. AAA scale of, listen, we're the biggest fish in the pond. Get out of our way. It's going to be mid November. I think it's like mid late November.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I mean, that game is. Despite how that game is, it is just going to swallow everything, right? Like Even. Even if that game. Even that game you booted up. And it's just a poop emoji, right? It's just going to sell a billion copies.

[B]

People are going to love the poop emoji. It's going to change.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Culture. Everybody will be wearing the poop emoji. We'll all be talking about the poop emoji. It doesn't. You're right. It doesn't matter. What they do doesn't matter. I do. But they. They always push themselves. And so, like, obviously they're gonna. They're gonna make massive changes to the way that you play that game.

[D]

Did you see that?

[B]

I did see that.

[D]

It is. It is like, one one ish over here. So I am dead drunk.

[B]

Welcome to the party, pal. I made myself a real nice.

[D]

What is that?

[B]

This is a Bloody Mary, but I made it in a.

[C]

Like a beer.

[B]

In a beer glass. I just don't think Bloody Mary vessels are big enough.

[C]

Yeah, a pint would not suffice in this.

[B]

My biggest complaint about a Bloody Mary is they're a little small, so I

[D]

can't get enough of it at the time.

[B]

I increase the vessel.

[C]

Have you been anywhere that does, like, the crazy garnishes, like bacon and, like, onion rings? And I was like, come on, just

[D]

give me the drink.

[C]

Like, as the garnish for Bloody Marys. Yeah.

[D]

No. Where are they doing that?

[B]

Where are they? Tell me the address.

[D]

What? I. I hate know me on Instagram.

[C]

Re. Yeah, yeah, It's. It's. It's a lot. I just want the bloody.

[B]

I like. I like the accoutrement. I think that you can go too far.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

I like it when they have the cornichons, those, like, little pickles.

[C]

Yeah, it's fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

That makes sense. Sometimes they'll do it with, like, you know, brined olives or regular olives.

[D]

That sounds like a drink garnish. An onion ring. That is.

[B]

Yeah. But I've been to places where it's like a full sandwich. Like, they stab like a bacon cheeseburger, and it's in the drink. I mean, it's not like, literally liquid, but it is. It is a garnish on the drink.

[C]

It's not on a blender at that point. And they serve it to me like sludge.

[D]

Wait, wait, it's not a garnish anymore. That's just a sandwich with a drink, right?

[B]

No. Welcome to America, Vinny. Like, in here, our sandwiches are garnishes. I've also been to a Bloody Mary bar where you make your own Bloody Mary and it's just like. It's everything that you could imagine for a sandwich, but it's like. But you just stab it with a stick and then put it on top of your drink.

[D]

Next time, I hope the next time when I. When I have to sign up for healthcare, it's just pick the Bloody Mary and the healthcare just gets tacked onto it. I just get a. Here's a. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like, what plan do you want? It doesn't matter. We'll just. We'll load it up to Bloody Mary. That's. That's late, late, late, late, late stage capitalism. Yeah.

[C]

Your insurance premium goes up super high because they see the Bloody Mary posted on your Instagram.

[B]

Mike desperately needs a surgery and he's like, I just want a Bloody Mary.

[D]

I just want a Bloody Mary.

[B]

This shit on the emergency room, you're going to want this.

[C]

Vinnie, how's life been?

[D]

Life is fantastic. I just turned 27 and I hear it's. Thank you very much. I hear it is one of the better ones. Very happy about that. So, yeah. Some people get weird about getting old. I love it. I love getting older. When I think back, I've said this before. Of all the stuff I had to go through in my 20s, it's like, man, I'm so glad I'm done with that. I'm so glad I don't have to make all those bad decisions. I've embarrassed myself. I've hurt myself. I've hurt so many people. It's all in the past now. It's just. And now nobody cares about me. So it's like. It's great. I'm just an old man, and it's like people just like doing it. He just says whatever he wants. He doesn't even remember anything anymore. And it's like, this is just to

[C]

say whatever you want. We had whatever I want a lot. If you're listening to this episode, there's been like seven edits already that we just had to. He's just blurting out really offensive shit.

[B]

I like the idea of you just being like a. Like a messy grandpa in your basement, just hanging out in obscurity and enjoying your life.

[C]

We talked about that. We talk Vinnie up often on the show. I feel like you could, at this point in your life right now, just decide for the rest of your life to be a real piece of. And we'd all be like, yeah, he earned it.

[B]

He earned it.

[D]

I've been really. I thank You. I. Thank you. I appreciate it. What a lot of people don't know we were talking before the show is. And you guys gave me fair warning that when we start this recording, you're gonna have to not be an. We're talking about how abrasive and what a dick I am off camera. And then when we're on camera, and the. And the hustle. Yeah, that's right, the hustle. Just the on camera personality. And off camera, it is just. Everybody's got skeletons in their closet.

[B]

We all do. I think that's fair. I think I didn't tell you guys this yet, but I got into another street altercation.

[D]

Wait, what?

[C]

Since the last episode when you told us about another one?

[B]

Yeah. Was it the lady who backed up into me?

[C]

Like, in a car?

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

No, Wait, what happened? Wait, I didn't hear about the first one.

[B]

I mean, I get. I'm getting into these two things. And this one, this is the one where, like, Vinny going off of what you're saying, which is like, hey, like, we all have, like, different pieces of ourselves. I'm finding that when I'm in the world, I can get quickly angered, maybe too fast. And I was having a bad day. What?

[C]

You're doing the Dan thing where you have a revelation that everybody already knew.

[B]

This is extreme growth.

[C]

Okay. For sure. Yeah. I'm sorry, who am I?

[D]

Okay.

[C]

No, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

I had a bad day at work. I made a decision to go to a really cute cafe that I like. They put little bears in the drink, you know, with the milk, with your Bloody Mary.

[D]

Got it.

[B]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

Bear, like sober.

[B]

Sober and sweet. And I was like. I was like, having a bad day. I'm going to get a little coffee with a bear on it. That will make me happy. And so I drink my. My bear coffee, and I'm like, oh, my God, I feel so much better. I. This is so important to take breaks. I think I said that out loud to myself. It's so important to take breaks and, like, know when you're unhappy. I walk off the sidewalk into the street, and a lady puts her car in reverse, like, at the same time. She must have been pulled over, right? So she puts her car in reverse and I go, whoa. She goes, oh. In the rearview mirror, I see her face go, whoa. It's an accident. I walk to the street to cross the street. She unrolls her window and she goes, really? Wait, you just go walk in the street? And I turned around and I. I actually, like, think I blacked out because I was so blown away that she thought it was my fault, that she almost reversed into me. And I said. I said, really? What? She goes, try me.

[C]

She goes, I was waiting for something to happen.

[B]

You're walking. You're. You're just gonna walk into the street? And I said, I'm a pedestrian, bitch. You can't hit me. I just started yelling. I just started yelling at her like crazy. And she goes. She goes, oh, so we're just all walking to the street now? And I said, yeah, we are just walking in the street now. We're all walking into the street. We're walking the street. And I said, you get the fuck out of here. You drive away. You get out of here. I'm screaming at her. Everyone's looking around. The people drinking their bear coffee are, like, looking.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[B]

It's all in front of everyone. And she. And she puts it into drive and she scoots away. And I just start. I'm screaming at her as she leaves. And they said, you stupid bitch. Pedestrians have the right of way always. And then I get in my car and I went. And then I went back to work.

[D]

Did you? Did you. Then I ran over somebody.

[C]

Then I fucking drilled a kid with my car.

[B]

I was. I was furious. I was so livid. I got in my car and I went, what happened to you? Because I didn't. I didn't film it.

[C]

Maybe you need more breaks. Mary, Be kind to yourself.

[B]

More bear coffees. I have. I, I, I went from 0 to 100 in the blink of an eye. And I think what triggered me was the idea that in a public situation, that she thought I made a mistake while she was driving a vehicle to

[C]

acknowledge that, like there was a bit of a miscommunication or something. Total, a little blip, but it's for her to then just blame you. That's. What kind of street was it like a. Like a. How do I say this? Like an urban street with. So was she.

[B]

I would say it's a busier street crosswalk. I think she was mad that I didn't do crosswalk. I was in Portland. You are allowed to cross the street anywhere.

[C]

I mean, it's kind of like a look the other. I don't think any place, actually. I've never heard of actually getting.

[B]

Yeah, it was not a crosswalk. That is, that is. That is on her side. On my. She was parked on the side of the street. There's no indication that she's going anywhere. I was behind her when she chose to go into reverse.

[D]

Ah.

[B]

If that makes sense. And, like, nothing happened. You know what's so crazy about it is if she would have rolled down her window and said, oh, my God, I'm sorry. I would have been. Me too.

[D]

It's fine.

[B]

I'm so sorry.

[D]

Yeah, totally.

[B]

I. That was an accident. It was an honest to God accident. It was the simple. Really?

[D]

Really? Are we just walking in the store next? What are we gonna do? Just kind of talk? We're gonna talk to people.

[C]

Oh, you're gonna buy your little bear coffee and just walk?

[D]

Yeah, we're making eye contact now. Is that what we're doing?

[C]

Barry, are you sure?

[B]

Switch in my brain.

[C]

A bear in your coffee and not cocaine?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, caffeine can do it to you. I think, like, I was already having a bad day. I think the bear. I was like, this is good. I'm so. I literally said out loud, I'm so good to myself. It's so important to treat yourself when you're having a bad day.

[C]

And then, bam. You get hit by a suit.

[B]

And then really sent me over the edge.

[D]

I feel like we've all been in that place, right? Of, like, really? Somebody else is gonna be on my fucking case. Somebody else is gonna be like, really? You exist in this world? Really? You're here to ruin my day as well, right? Yes.

[B]

I didn't need that. And you always hear that saying, you don't know what other people are going through, right? Like, you don't know what someone else is going through. When she. She said, really? She might have been having a really bad day, too. She probably was. That's probably why she was being such a cunt. And she was, like, coming at me because she doesn't have a lot of agency in her life, but she doesn't know what I'm going through either. And you're only as crazy as the next person that you run into. And it just so happens on that day, I was a little crazier. I was a little bit more on edge. And she didn't know that. So I hope she learned a valuable lesson.

[C]

She was calling her husband, who was behind you, whose name is really, really, really, really.

[D]

Are we not walking? Are we walking in the.

[B]

Yeah, you get the fuck out of here. Is exactly what I said to her.

[C]

Really is behind you with his two bear cocks. She's like, oh, my God, Linda, Linda, chill out. What did you say to her?

[D]

She's this woman. What do you think she wanted? What do you think? In her mind, the Perfect. End of. Is it like, you being like. You coming over and being like, I am so sorry. I walked in the street. I was walking and I was thinking about, like, something else and not about hurting you. And, like, you almost hit me, and that would have ruined. And possibly. I am just so sorry. Can I get in? Can I get in?

[B]

Can I get in? You almost hit me. I feel really bad about it, and

[D]

that would have probably scarred you. And, like, I mean, forget what would have happened to me. You, though, that's really traumatic. I'm sorry. Here's my number. I think we could be friends.

[B]

You call me when you get home so that I know you got there

[D]

safe and you didn't hit anybody else.

[C]

That happened to me last year. Actually, this reminds me of a thing. I don't know if I told. There's our favorite pizza place in our neighborhood. It's like, six blocks away. So we walk over there. They don't do delivery. You got to go pick it up. And the intersection they're at is notoriously. It's got one of the. Like, you must stop for pedestrians, but there's no actual stop sign. So you kind of need to keep your head on a swivel when you're a pedestrian crossing it because some people just won't stop. So I had my pizza in my hand. Amanda was with me, and we were walking back, and I was like, all right, I think this woman is stopping. So then I cross. I start to cross the street, and she, like, doesn't stop. And then she sees me finally. And then slams on the brakes. And I was like, she didn't say anything. Also, I will say it was a nice day. So her windows were down. I'm not six feet from her. So she, like, she looks annoyed that she had to stop. I was like, no, you can go, like, sarcastically, because I was.

[B]

That's an important distinction. You were like, you can go.

[C]

You went, no, no, no, no. After, go.

[B]

Oh.

[D]

She's like, yeah, go, please.

[C]

So then she, of course, got annoyed. She's like, okay, relax. And then I was like, oh, you almost just ran into me in a 2 ton killing machine, and I'm at fault. She's like, what are you. Are you really trying to do a thing right now? Like, no, no, no, no. You drive. Go through the crosswalk. And then I started calling her a Karen, which really sent her over the.

[D]

This is verbally. So this is. You're actually saying these things. Like, you're not just gesturing.

[C]

I mean, she's. Again, she's like, oh, my God. In this, like, Mercedes suv, she's not far from me. Like, yeah, again, like, like, nice day. Her windows were all down, so we were. It wasn't screaming. I mean, our. Our voices were elevated. But at a certain point. No, no, no, no, no. Karen, you know what? You just drive.

[D]

Oh, my gosh.

[C]

And then at the next intersection, who the cares if someone's walking through? Just go. So, like, I literally, on principle, would not cross the street until she went. So I got, like, in my head, I was like, oh, I'll. That'll maintain the upper hand. She finally left, and then I was like, you won. Yeah. And then we went home and had the pizza and it was great. 10th Street Pizza. Pasta and pizza. It's amazing pizza.

[D]

So. So my problem is in my little suburban heaven here with the kids in school, that stuff kind of happens and where people, like, making a left and they're not looking and we're crossing and there's a lot of kids walking around. And so I'll usually stop on the street and just do like a stare down. Like, I'll just shoot the, like, look and be like, motherfucker anyway and just not say anything.

[C]

Well, you carry AR15 everywhere, too. Everywhere.

[D]

Usually it's like, right next to the shotgun. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so.

[C]

But on your hip is also pretty intimidating.

[D]

But the problem is like, six. It'll happen seven times, and the eighth time it's somebody I know because we just know. So I'll do the thing. They'll just come around the turn, not looking, and be like, the fuck are you doing? And then be like, oh, hey, Gina. You know? Oh, hey.

[B]

Oh, hey, Mayor.

[D]

Oh, boy. Oh, See you next time with the kids. Bye.

[C]

We'll be over tomorrow.

[D]

I'm so passive aggressive. My kids hate it. My family hates everything about the way I deal with that kind of conflict. Like when people block the box in, like, an intersection and we're walking by and I'm like. And then I'll walk a little bit past and I'll just start yelling. Yeah, you can stop anywhere you want. You can just. Dad, what are you doing? Be like, I'm yelling at them like they're totally gone. Yeah, that's right. Stop anywhere where you want. This is your world. We just live in it. Okay.

[B]

That's beautiful.

[D]

I am the worst. I'm so terrible. My wife deals with any confrontation. Like, when something happens, I'm like, I'm so mad right now. I cannot believe they did not do this thing. You should call them you should call. And my wife is like, you call them. Be like, I can't. I can't. I can't talk to people. You talk to them. And then she'll call them and be like, it's Vinny. Yeah. So she'll. She'll. Yeah, that's exactly what I'll do. I'll be like, oh, hey. Hey, Mary. How's it going? Everything's doing great. Everything's doing great. My wife just wanted to say hi for a second and be like, you need to tell her. You need to tell her.

[B]

You yell at that bitch right now.

[D]

And I'll be like, this happens all the time with construction work in her house, where I'll be like, oh, my gosh, you guys are doing such a great job. My wife will be like, oh, here we go. You know, we said we wanted this, and we wanted this. And I'll be like, oh, my wife's name is Jesse. Jesse. That's a little harsh, don't you think? Yeah.

[B]

When she turns to you, you're like, get her. Get him. You get him.

[D]

Get him. And then when we're done, be like, how come you didn't. How come you didn't mention this thing? And she's like, you were right there. I'd be like, yeah, I'm just like, you guys are doing such great, Jesse. Now that's a little. I mean, I guess if you want to do it the right way.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[C]

This is houndstooth.

[B]

That would piss me off so much.

[D]

Yeah, it pisses her off so much, too.

[B]

Oh, my God.

[D]

And she'll just tell people. She'll just be.

[C]

He needs.

[D]

Don't worry. He needs everybody to like him. Don't worry. It's a. It's a thing. He can't.

[C]

You are. Wait, you're a Taurus, you just said.

[D]

Yeah, I am a Taurus. Yeah.

[C]

Yeah. I didn't realize that until recently. I work at the wine bar with a few people who are really into astrological stuff, and they've been showing me the ropes of what different signs are known for. Apparently Taurus is one of which my wife is as well. It was the weirdest sentence construction ever.

[D]

I thought the weirdest one was when I thought you said you borked the wine bar, and I was like,

[B]

if

[D]

I could, I would figure it out.

[C]

The physics are not entirely there yet.

[D]

Wait, so are Tori. Are they known for as people pleasers?

[C]

Supposedly, yeah.

[D]

Hey.

[C]

And the only two I know that are people pleasers that are Tauruses. It checks out okay.

[D]

This is two for two.

[B]

I would not have predicted that of all of us that Mike would be the one that knows our signs and what they mean and would be checking out for our.

[C]

I'm like absorbing it all against my will because there's like three people at the bar. They talk about it a lot. One of them does like, tarot reading. He's awesome, but like, he's very into like, energy and stuff like that. So he knows everybody assigned the bar. He knows I'm the only Virgo at the bar.

[D]

What does that make you? What does a Virgo do?

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Was he like very checks out and like. Like they enjoy planning stuff.

[B]

That's how I would use it. I would weaponize the out of it. I'd be like, well, that makes sense.

[C]

You don't even know.

[A]

You need.

[C]

You don't even know. Need to know what signs? Yeah, you don't even need to know the signs. You just need to like, say it. So they're like. Like making me feel like I'm conforming to some boring stereotype.

[B]

Whether or not you realize it, you're a Virgo, bud.

[D]

That's what. Next time. That's what's. If somebody ever does that to you in the car, Mary, you need to be like you. Leo,

[C]

I would ask, but I know.

[B]

What's your birthday? What's your birthday?

[D]

What's your birthday? Don't tell me when your birthday is.

[C]

Send me your birthday.

[B]

I know it. Were you born between November and January?

[C]

Pisces rising.

[D]

Over here, everybody.

[B]

Watch out.

[D]

Watch out, everybody.

[C]

This woman's ass must be in retrograde.

[D]

Wow. Wow.

[B]

Too far.

[D]

Wow, too. That's too far.

[B]

That's offensive.

[C]

Jake, Jake, Jake. Cut that one.

[D]

Yeah, cut that. Jake. Jake. One, two. Jake. One, two.

[A]

Sorry.

[D]

Jake.

[C]

Got that time stamp. Okay. 33 minutes. Okay.

[D]

Hey, how's the wine bar stuff going?

[C]

It's good. I took. I told you guys. I took my first of five tests for my WSET diploma.

[B]

Congratulations. Even whether or not. Like, we don't know the results, but I just want to say congratulations that you did it and you put yourself out there and you tried really hard.

[C]

So it's. I. It's. This was a 90 minute test and they. You don't know how many questions will be on it. It's all open essay responses. So I was studying the. The book a lot of outside materials for like two months and then got. I not supposed to talk about the questions, but I got. So I. I did. Well, I'm 95. Sure. I passed, but weirdly I will not get the results until after I sit my second test, which is going to be in June. And that's the business of wine, which is. This was wine production. So everything. Vineyards in the winery. Like, how stuff basically from seed to bottle, how it becomes wine.

[D]

And you didn't cheat at all? No.

[C]

Wow, the graining, what a pointy question.

[D]

This guy's a virgo. Hey, can I ask you a question, Mike?

[C]

Sure. Yeah.

[D]

Vitis labrusca much?

[C]

It's a North American vine species that's used for root grafting after phylloxera fucked up two thirds of the vineyards in the late 19th century in Europe.

[D]

Oh, yeah. Well, what are the main shoots grow from and when?

[C]

What do the main shoots grow from? What do you mean?

[D]

This is the question, Mike. Mike, this is the question.

[C]

What do the main shoots.

[B]

This is Vinny's question.

[C]

What do the main shoots of Venice Labrusca come from?

[D]

No, just in general. What do the main shoots grow from

[C]

and when the graft onto the North American vine species, the main shoots on

[D]

the vine grow in spring from buds retained from the previous year.

[C]

Oh, when? Yeah, like the buds that are left after winter pruning. Yeah, yeah.

[D]

Mike, define lignify.

[C]

It's when the green parts of a vine become woody and rigid after harvest, usually in the fall.

[D]

Oh, hell, yeah, it is.

[B]

Fuck, yeah.

[C]

Sure. You borking the wine bar? No. Yeah, so I'm.

[B]

Can you define borking the wine bar?

[C]

That would be a sick question. That would be quite a curveball on the test. People are, like, looking up, looking at each other, like, borking the wine bar.

[B]

Mike's sitting there.

[C]

I'm the only one who passed. Craziest pass, per se.

[B]

In more ways than one.

[C]

Put it on the test. And only one guy tried to the test. It was crazy. Like, were you not prepared? I guess they had sex before they came.

[B]

They didn't study. Yeah.

[D]

What is that? What are the big wine bottles called again?

[C]

Like, Methuselah or like, it's all Jewish Jeroboam. Yeah, it was kings and stuff. Methuselah's Nebuchadnezzar. Yeah.

[D]

Wow, that's wild. Are those on the test or.

[C]

No, no, that's more of a. That's more of like a CMS sommelier thing.

[D]

Oh, okay.

[C]

No, but there is. There's some people have mnemonic devices to remember, like the 10 cruise of Beaujolais or the 11 communes in Barolo. But, like, there's one. Of course, I'm not gonna repeat It. It's actually. It sticks in people's head because it's fucked up. But Google Mnemonic device for remembering bottle sizes and you'll. You'll see what I'm talking. It has to do with Michael Jackson. That's all? Yeah. Methuselah, Jeroboam, Magnum.

[D]

Jeroboam.

[C]

It's like Michael Jackson flying by blank. Nope.

[D]

I'm good. Google doesn't need to know this about me.

[C]

I'm not advocating.

[B]

It's not going to be on my search history. You're not going to catch me tripping.

[C]

Just go incognito.

[D]

Okay. That's safe.

[C]

I'm working mode. Yeah, but no. Well, well, and then I have actually I'm wearing the shirt. I'm going to Riesling camp in the Finger Lakes in. In a couple week. Yes.

[B]

That's so cute. Do you spend the night?

[C]

Yeah. Where you stay in tp.

[B]

Really?

[C]

No, it's. We're in like a resort.

[B]

I got excited. I was thinking like, I love the idea of like genuine camp where you're like, here's my bunk bed.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Here's the trunk where I'm allowed to keep my stuff.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

That's one of the most. That's probably my favorite like sub genre of movie is. Yeah. Summer camp movies. Really? Really? Theater camp. Have you guys seen theater camp on Hulu? Make it a priority. Really, really good. It came out.

[B]

We've talked about that before. It's really fun. I like camp movies too. There's something very. There's like a pure childhood about. Did you guys both go to a camp when you were children? I went to gymnastics camp when I was a kid.

[D]

Like a sleepaway camp or a day camp?

[B]

Sleep away. You stay there. You stay in a bunk bed. You were there for two weeks.

[C]

I didn't. As a kid. My parents did not trust the counselors who were like 18 year olds.

[B]

I think that's fair. But also it's such a rite of passage.

[C]

Yeah. But a friend of mine, my like aunts and uncles owns a camp up on Lake Skinny Atlas. So we would have family reunions there and we would all like have free reign of the camp for a week, which is awesome.

[B]

That sounds like fun.

[C]

I would like. Yeah. I had the infirmary to myself as my like bunk.

[D]

Whoa. That's a little weird.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

That's.

[B]

Put Mikey in the infirmary.

[C]

No, sorry. I was. It was. It was. I was in the church.

[D]

That's much better.

[B]

What kind of camp is this?

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[C]

They want you. They require me to repeat that. It's not.

[D]

Let's call it that. It was. It was Silent Hill Camp. I was in the medical facility for a while. Yes.

[C]

No. But I never went as a. Like, an actual camper.

[D]

I wanted to. So you're going to bring, like. Like some shorts and a Frisbee or something? Like, what are you doing at reseller?

[C]

So it's three days, and they got. There's 24 of us that applied. There's some sommeliers, there's some wine writers. There's some wine. Actually, there's some. A couple of winemakers from Oregon and Washington, Mary, who are growing Riesling there, but they want to come to the Finger Lakes because that's generally where the best Riesling is grown in the country.

[D]

Do you know them? Do you know them, Mary? It's. It's Bill and Linda and.

[C]

Really. And Linda.

[B]

I know, like, two wineries here, and every time I go, I take a photo and send it to Mike and go, I'm at a winery. I think you'd like it here. And he's always like, that's great, Mary.

[C]

You're near some really, really fucking good wineries. In Atlanta.

[B]

We have stunningly beautiful wineries, but I'm not a wine person, so when I go, they're always like, what are you looking for today? And I always. You know me.

[C]

I've never met you before, man.

[B]

Sure, I probably insufferable, because I don't know what I want or, like, outside of, please, not too sweet. That's like, all I say usually is, like, please, I don't want, like, a sugar wine. But, like, other than that, I would like. I would like all of your wines that are not expensive, please.

[D]

Right, right.

[C]

That's like, honestly, that's better than most people at. Not most. I shouldn't say there's a. You'd be surprised what people say they like or don't like at, like, at the wine bar. And that's kind of my job to figure out what the best thing would

[B]

be, what that means, like, to decipher when someone goes, like, I just want something that has, like, an acidity to it, but I don't want it to have a hot. A lot of tannins. I don't like that.

[D]

Oh, see, that sounds good.

[C]

That.

[D]

That's good.

[B]

Oh, you like that? I'm making it up. I was trying to pretend to be someone insufferable. I have to try harder.

[C]

Like, it's the. There's two people. There's. There's like, the guy who's. And it's mostly a guy most of the time who's, like, trying to flex their. It was like, me four years ago. I would be the person trying to, like, show this on me that I was. And like, now I'm like, oh, God, is this what I look. Seemed like that is a lignify.

[D]

Did this lignify enough on the. The vignettes or ballopics?

[C]

Oh, they're grapevine yellows in the vineyard. I can tell you how to combat that. You just got to fold in some mustard plant. It'll kill all the nematodes that acts as a biofume again. Trust me, you'll be fin.

[D]

And then it's stored at over 120

[B]

degrees somewhere because, man, Vinnie's Wikipedia page is still open. I'm getting some persimmon.

[C]

Is there. Is anybody else getting persimmon? Is that just me? I am a supertaster. No, but.

[D]

No, sir, you're having a stroke.

[C]

One of the famous ones, like, one of the infamous things is someone will say, like, I would like a dry wine. What dry means is there's no residual sugar.

[B]

Sweet. Right, Right.

[C]

So you know what you're talking about. A lot of people, however. And I get. I get how this is kind of part of, like, the. It's vernacular. What they mean is they want a wine that's not fruit forward. Like, people conflate dry and like, more mineral driven. That's not the same thing. Dry just means there's not any discernible residual sugar. But.

[B]

Okay, so they're confusing. They're conflating, which is fine with sugar. Right.

[C]

But that's fine. I'm not blaming them. I'm saying it's our job to know what they are actually drinking.

[B]

Squats.

[C]

Yeah.

[B]

Yes. Do you ever. You ever say, listen here, you don't

[C]

even know what you want?

[B]

Let me tell you what you want, Karen.

[C]

I'll go get you your pinot grease.

[B]

She loves that. Women in wineries love to be called Karens.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I'm gonna carry around, like, a bottle of Josh, so if that woman ever crosses me again in her Mercedes, be like, oh, here's your Josh, Karen.

[D]

I don't even know what that means. What does that even mean?

[C]

It's a very, very shitty wine.

[B]

Jelly wine. It's like a. Yeah, it's like barefoot, right?

[C]

Yeah. Worse than barefoot, I would say, wow, some barefoot shade.

[D]

I can't.

[B]

What is barefoot shade? I mean, I've never seen anyone talk shit about Josh wine before.

[C]

Really?

[B]

Yeah. I mean, look at Mike's face.

[D]

He's like, barry, who are you hanging out with?

[B]

You and I are not in the same circles. We're not nearly the same bars. I, I don't, I don't know this stuff. I, I brought Josh to a party before I've put Josh.

[C]

Yeah, you're not. That's the thing.

[D]

There's like, we're not Neanderthals.

[B]

I will not be a embarrassed in my basement.

[C]

Oh, yeah, Barry. No, Josh is amazing. J. Get her, get her, get her.

[B]

I don't know.

[C]

No, no, no, no, it's fine. Like, again, if I'm like, like, that's part of being at the wine bar too. A lot of people will be like, do you have anything like Josh? And I was like, okay, I know what they're talking about. I will give something. I will bring them something. I think has similar qualities but is better.

[B]

Right?

[C]

Fine. Like, I don't expect people are like, oh, do you get pissed off when people put ice in their wine? When I was like, no, if they like it, go for it. They're the ones who bought it. I'm not going to tell them what they're enjoying is not worth enjoying.

[B]

I. How do you know?

[C]

Think Josh is poorly made wine. But if people are like, if they're enjoying it, that's like the crowd pleaser to party. Who the fuck am I to say, don't bring Josh, but don't.

[B]

Okay, I won't bring Josh to a party. But how do you know better alternative. How do you know when someone's putting on airs in your world? I'm sure there's a lot of people who are like, I specifically said that I wanted this type of wine. You're like, totally, I hear you and I know a lot more about wine than you. So I'm gonna go into the back and get you the right wine and you give it to them. And then they're like, this isn't anything what I said. And you're like, it is, though. Like, what do you do in that situation?

[D]

You.

[C]

I honestly don't think you'd recognize me when I'm there, because I am the least confrontational person.

[B]

Masks.

[D]

The mask we talked about.

[C]

Oh, my God. I, I, it honestly has been really humbling because I, yeah, there are. Every once in a while there are dicks coming in. I Shit you not. Totally. There was a.

[B]

This doesn't shock me. I'm not surprised that there are in a wine bar.

[C]

So, like, that's the thing as much as the More I've gotten into it, the more I've met some incredible people. I just went to a Peasant last night. It's a Italian spot in Nolita, and it was one of the best dining experience I've had in a long time. Thus, head sommelier. His name's Mike. He's, like, one of the most hospitable people. Incredibly cool, very, very knowledgeable. But, like, he knows how to speak to tables and not be a douche about it. And it just won, like, a few awards, deservedly. After one night, I was like, okay, I totally see it. But, like, there is also. There are the people in the wine industry who absolutely live up to the snobbery reputation and douchey reputation. But the wine bar we work at, like, we try first and foremost to make sure there's party vibes. The wine is kind of just conducive toward that. And it's not like we are all very knowledgeable about wine, but we also, like, if someone comes in and they find out that I work in video games, I connect with them more on that, and then the, like, some wine geeks will come in and I can geek out with them. There are many people who come in and want to talk about, like, Claire Obscure with me or talk about Warhammer. And, like, that is, like, those are the regulars who come back because they found a different connection with you outside of war. And that's the kind of stuff where it's the dicks who are like, they think they know what they like. And again, it's like, our job. It's not our job to tell them they're wrong. It's our job to figure out what they really do. Like, which is definitely a balancing act. And it can be tough sometimes. Like, you could be like, okay, I know you like that. We've got that. But let me try this. This cool thing that we just got. If you don't like it, I'll bring it back. And I'm. What I'm doing is I'm bringing something I think they actually mean they want, even if they don't think. And then I'm framing it as, like, this adventurous, cool little thing that, oh,

[D]

you should try this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

And then they'll be like, holy, that's amazing. Like, I was like. So then they leave thinking, oh, I have this cool new style of wine I didn't know I liked. When in reality, I was like, okay. Just based on what they were saying, I think that's what they were trying to get a bottle of. Josh yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

So. Right.

[B]

Yeah. Warhammer, bring out.

[D]

Warhammer, bring out. Pour the Josh. Josh into a big cup.

[C]

I sent Dan a text last night.

[B]

No ice.

[C]

No ice in my Josh, please. I sent Dan a text last night because my wine director at the bar just found a Francis Ford Coppola bottle of wine on auction with an Apocalypse now themed label and it was signed by Coppola, which these days, I don't know how much you want that, but I sent it to Dan the Apoc. He saw the Apocalypse Now. He was like, I think I'm a wine guy now. Now it was a Magnum I should mention. So I really want to see this bottle.

[B]

Just because all the things that Dan likes. Yeah, I, I think I'd be a sucker for stuff like that. I would say that generally when buying wine, I am very influenced on whether or not there is an animal on the label.

[D]

There you go. Yeah.

[C]

Do you avoid those or you like it? Oh, I'm all in.

[B]

If it's got a bird on it, I probably will buy it. If it's got a dog on it, I'm very interested. Like, I love it when they have like some kind of like bird dog wine situation. I'm like, what's up with that? That.

[C]

Yeah, there's some good. I don't know on it right now. Thomas. PE pseq.

[B]

That's. That's so coded. But I don't. Yeah, but I, I don't think I'm making the proper decisions. But it's cool to see your mask as well. Of being like, you know, someone's like, this isn't anything, but I want. You're like, totally. I get it. Like, let me go in the back.

[C]

Oh, my God. I'm the most patient person when I'm there.

[B]

Survive.

[C]

And then I, I don't know what it is because I didn't think I would either. I was, that was my main worry when I was like, I, I, I don't know. Pe. I. There are some. Most people I run into in at LA Company are incredibly gracious guests. They're super cool. There's always a dick that comes in or there's always someone. There's, there's.

[D]

What's the dickest? What's the most dickish thing that's happening?

[B]

Yeah, what?

[D]

Somebody spit the wine in your face, Boiled your blood.

[C]

They drop it off the. This one guy I think still takes the cake for. I've been there a little more than a year and I'm only, I'm there in my free time. Purely. So, like, again, I'm using some of my free time to be here, which makes it even more annoying when someone's a dick. He came in, he was with you. Could I just could tell he was someone who was going to be using a corporate card. I don't know how to explain it. You could just tell. And also the people he was with. Oh, this looks like a work happy hour. I was like, oh, we're here. We're going to buy some. Going to drop some money on some great bottles. I was like, all right, cool, you're in the right place. Like, that's not how I would phrase it. When I walk into a wine bottle, that's what they.

[D]

Oh, that's what they actually said when they walked in.

[B]

Waste lots of money on wine with you tonight.

[C]

He's like, I'm going to. We're here to drop some money and some cool bottles. I like, all right, you're in the right place.

[D]

Oh, my gosh, what a bro.

[C]

Bro. Yep. He sits down and he starts asking me. He knew what he was talking about in some respects. He's like, what it was. What were the difference? Do you think this 86 is cooked? I'm like, no, I. I was like, no. 8689 on the left bank of Bordeaux. Should be fantastic still. I'd be really interested to see how it tastes. And then he's like, all right, let's try it out. And then this whole other table, table, these two, I don't know, mid-20s women were there, and they literally, they're like, can I have your cheapest bottle of wine? I was like, absolutely. I'll go grab it. And it was. It was actually, we don't have any bad bottles. It was still a good one. But it was like, I would hope

[D]

not like serving Josh to these people.

[B]

No yellow tail, shout out to Josh's out there. We don't like your wine.

[C]

And so. And so these, I will say, these two women had gotten into another bottle. And I just having talked to them, I was prepared at some point to maybe have to cut them off. They were just being like, oh, hell yeah.

[D]

So I love it. Yeah.

[C]

These douche. This douche guy who walks in, turns out one of the people he was there with recognized one of the girls from, like, college. So they combine tables. So in my head, I'm like, okay, so those two, especially one of these girls was definitely getting pretty hammered. So I was like, okay, I got to keep that in mind. They're combining tables. Okay. So he got this. This cost. Estere. Now, I don't think that's the. It's a. It's. It was a really good bottle of Bordeaux.

[D]

Coat d' Esters.

[C]

Coast destroy.

[D]

Oh, Coast Ester now.

[C]

Of course.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Coast Destor. Binny, don't embarrass us on this podcast.

[C]

So sorry. And so. And I remember I was trying to. If someone gets a nice bottle, we have nicer glasses. We bring out. There's a bit of, like.

[D]

It's.

[C]

They're just nicer glasses. So you.

[D]

Wow.

[C]

Kind of being. Yeah, there's several. The Mark Thomas glasses, they're. They're great. I have them here. I. I love them, but, like, they're expensive.

[B]

What's your limit? What kind of bottle do you have to get to get the nice glasses?

[C]

It's. We also bring them out just for regulars, people. We like them.

[B]

Give me the number.

[D]

Yeah, what. Yeah. What do we got to do if

[C]

someone on the list is spending over, like, 150, then we'll bring them out. Because. Because the breakage on those is way more. Like, breaking those is worth. You lose way more. So you want to make sure the bottle. You bring it out, like, would make up for it. That's the thinking. So I was like, okay, well, he got this bottle of wine, which was way more expensive than that. So I was like, I'm gonna bring out the Mark Thomases for them, keeping in mind that this girl who's now at their table is hammered and likely to break one of these. So I kind of was trying to. And they. These two girls already had the. They're not shitty glasses. Our base glasses are still super nice, but they're, like, not as expensive.

[B]

They had the base glasses.

[C]

Okay, cool. Yeah, they combined. So there's five of them now. I was like, okay, cool. I'll go get. I'll go get four glasses for the Bordeaux. He's like, there's five of us. Why would you get four glasses? So I was like, okay, I'll go get them.

[D]

So.

[C]

And then, like, as I heard. As he walked away, he's like, what the fuck's he talking? Why five glasses? So I was like, okay. So I bring back the glasses, I bring back all five, and I put them down, and I pour the. He tastes the wine. He loves it, and I pour them all, and I walk away. And. And fucking 10 minutes later, she stands up to go like. Like, freshen herself in the bathroom, breaks one of the glasses, and I. I went back and I brought her to replace that. I brought back One of our base glasses, the not Mark Thomas. And he's like, sippy cup. Why does she get. Why does she get that glass?

[D]

I was like, wait, he can tell.

[C]

Oh, they're very, very different looking glasses.

[D]

Oh, they are. Okay.

[C]

Like, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[D]

So.

[C]

And, like, mind you, the glass I bring over is not shitty. But he's like, why. Why didn't. Why'd you give her that glass? I was like. Like, oh, I was just. What did you say? So here's where he got pissed off. And I did not mean. I was like, oh, these ones are just more durable. He's like, oh, you think she's gonna break another. I was like, all right, man. Like, I. I'm just. I. Yes, I would not like to break more of these. And he's like, dude, I just. You know how much money I just dropped in this bottle? I was like, yes, I know. I know how much the bottle costs. I got.

[D]

How much was the bottle? Was it like, a couple hundred?

[C]

It was more than that. It was like, oh, okay. The 2009 coast. I think it was, like, $800 on the list.

[B]

I mean, she can break a couple glasses. Not to defend this dickhead, but, like,

[C]

yeah, you should have taken a glass

[D]

and just throw it on the floor

[B]

and be like, yeah, let me get ahead of it. Yeah, I'm on step five here. I'm just gonna start knocking out.

[D]

I'll just bring a whole new round of glasses. Let's just fucking throw this. Anybody else want in?

[C]

Lest this guy not sound like a dick to you yet in the story, I also overheard him saying later, one of the girls complimented his shoes. He was wearing these loafers. He's like, oh, yeah, they're. I got the burgundy color because I love burgundy wine. I was like, oh, my God.

[B]

I'm gonna.

[D]

Wow, this guy sounds cool.

[C]

I hope he doesn't listen to Fire Escape. That'd be funny because I. There's absolutely no doubt as to who he is.

[B]

It's me, the burgundy shoe guy. I'm pissed.

[C]

He comes storming in with a bunch of Mark Thomas glasses, whipping them around the bar next time.

[D]

But what if he's laughing? He's like, oh, man, what an ass. And then somebody's like, you got burgundy shoes? And be like, yeah, you ordered the. The Coke D?

[C]

Yeah, you got the.09 Coke Duster.

[B]

Got your number.

[C]

It was. And it's also a thing where it's like, obviously, you vent with the people you work with after the shift or during. So you could point out the people you'll go out to be like, this seat three at table 18, giant douche. And they'll be. We'll look. Glance at them. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So we get people like that all the time at the bars in Soho. Like, you get some. Some characters like that, but you also get amazing people. And I work with unreal people, and they're just like, I have. It's been very, very humbling, like, how much fucking work goes into it. Like, I. You think you know a decent amount about wine, and then you're on the spot next to a table who doesn't necessarily know what they want. And you have, like, 2500 bottles in the cellar to, like, choose from. And you have to get the exact right one that's going to hopefully make their night very memorable. It's. It's.

[D]

Has anybody ever been disappointed when you bring the bottle and they're like, not for me.

[B]

What do you do with a bottle that someone says they don't want? You throw it away. Okay, if.

[C]

If they pay a c. If they're getting an expense. No, no, no, no. We would try to. If. If they didn't. If they sent it back, you would try to sell it by the glass to people who might appreciate it more. But if that makes sense, appreciate it more. Well, not everybody is going to like the gr.

[B]

Like, right? Everybody can have different taste. But, like, if I don't like a glass of wine, do you guys put it in a jar, Shake it up? I think we talked about episodes ago

[C]

when somebody is pouring you. When you're tasting the wine, if you committed to buying a bottle, you're not seeing whether you like it. You're making sure it's not flawed. Like, there's no cork taint or it's not, like, cooked. It's not. Cork taint. Cork taint.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I knew you were like, that's what

[D]

they called me in high school. How'd you know? Boy, that's a name I haven't heard in a while. But go ahead.

[B]

You have my attention.

[C]

Cork taint. You missed. No. So, yeah, like. No, it's tea. It's a chemical reaction that happens in the cork. It can house a bacteria called trichloroenisol, but it's good to call. Cortex. You would know it if you smell it. Smells like wet cardboard, right?

[B]

You like ruined wine. The bottle is up like moldy or something.

[D]

Has that ever happened?

[C]

Oh, corte. Yeah, it used to happen way more. It used to be like 2%. Yeah.

[B]

More often than you think.

[D]

Benny Folks, this episode is brought to you by Regalo.

[C]

Go

[D]

court. Can't. A lot of people don't get their court. Can't looked at. Happens more often than you thought.

[B]

We'll find it and we'll sniff it out. We know it.

[D]

If you use offer code fire escape, get 30% off your first order.

[C]

Yeah, check out cork taint.com. we got all your needs a mile away. Dude, I'm the cork taint king of Soho.

[D]

I have heard that. I've seen that scrawled. I've seen that in a bathroom stall.

[B]

Graffiti on walls for years.

[C]

315 for Cork taint time.

[D]

Call the cork taint king for a good time.

[C]

I cork taint cork.

[D]

So how come you're wearing this, the silver thread vineyard shirt and not a cork taint shirt?

[C]

No, no, no, no, no.

[B]

Off brand new.

[C]

They're like my buddy winery at Riesling camp. I got, like, paired with them. They're kind of my go to if I have any questions.

[D]

Of course, buddy. Everybody needs a camp buddy. You should wear cork taint shirts. I'm just saying you should.

[C]

Yeah. It's funny. Cork taint is such a. Like, it's. We use the term so often, I don't realize how weird it sounds. But now I'm having that, like, semantic satiation. It's not the same thing. But now that I'm saying out loud and you're reacting, it is a weird phrase.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. It's. Yeah.

[B]

Weird taint in it.

[D]

Yeah, it's true right there.

[C]

We should come up with a new name.

[B]

Thought I'd make sure that we all were on the same page.

[C]

We can't say corkage because corkage is a dumb.

[D]

So I ordered a bottle once and I had to send it back because I had anal leakage. Is that a thing that.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

I. I ordered a bottle once and I tried to boof it and they kicked me out of the bar for some reason.

[D]

Yeah, yeah.

[B]

They went. He. As he leaves, he goes, really?

[D]

Yeah. Really borking the bar.

[C]

Yeah, I'm borking that bottle of Can't Bork Raw Shield. Yeah, yeah, fine. Anyway. No, there's. I have the utmost respect for people in the service industry. It's. It's fucking hard, but okay.

[D]

Do you. If something gets cork tainted, do you drink it in the back? No. This isn't that bad. Is it really that gross?

[C]

There are varieties. No, it's not gonna be a little bit of taint.

[D]

What about a little bit of taint?

[C]

They're they're like, if you. If you get an old enough bottle, you're accepting that there's a higher. Generally speaking, there's a higher risk that something might have happened. There's a lot of flaws. There's something called Britannomyces that could be in there. There's something Light strike can happen where it literally makes cool. It makes the fruit taste like, cooked, oxidized. But light strike smells more like a dirty drain. You would not want to drink it.

[D]

Jesus, what the fuck are you serving over there?

[C]

It's fucking a live ecosystem. Inside each bottle, there's any number.

[B]

What's your problem?

[C]

The number one thing that I've learned.

[D]

This one tastes like a dead rat. It's been.

[B]

Here. I gave you the durable glass because

[C]

you look like a. Yeah, here's the durable glass, you drunk idiot.

[D]

Nice fucking loafers.

[B]

Oh, the guy with burgundy shoes. Oh, I wonder what kind of wine he likes.

[D]

Put some socks on, you hippie.

[C]

Off his ankles, you dwarp. Yeah, it's. It's. No, that you would.

[B]

I have the utmost respect for the industry.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, no, that's great.

[C]

The guests, not so much. I'll. I'll. I'll save the next bottle that I get Some. Some TCA in it you could smell.

[B]

Yeah, save us some TCA taint.

[C]

Yeah, I'll send some taint.

[D]

Yeah, don't. Don't be so. Take for yourself.

[C]

Mikey Two Shoes hosting.

[D]

Stop being so greedy with that cork taint.

[C]

Yeah, I'll save some for you guys.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, please.

[C]

Are you. Are you just. Did you just give me a speed it up motion? Am I lingering too much on cork? Tate, you are doing the bit. I was trying to educate you.

[D]

Is this how you felt the other

[C]

day when someone did something stupid to you and then they said.

[B]

Really?

[D]

Are you.

[C]

Are you rapping? Okay, you want to talk about video games?

[D]

We're out of time.

[C]

Yeah, let's talk about video games.

[D]

We'll be right. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

I'm going to get a drink. This is ridiculous. Wow.

[D]

He just left.

[B]

He. He likes to be the host, but I felt that it had run its course.

[D]

I. I agree. You. I agree with you. Like a bad wine when it had run its course.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan, I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo Room is huge. I could fit, like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus, the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[D]

More from taco night in Tulum to sushi in Tokyo. Make every bite rewarding with gold from Amex. Wherever you dine. 4 times Membership Rewards points at restaurants worldwide are piling up. Learn more@American Express.com Explore Gold terms and points cap apply first.

[C]

All right. Weird that Dan's not here because he was the one who was pushing Pragmata really hard early on and recommending it. Holy. That's my. One of my favorite games I played in years.

[D]

Oh, yeah.

[C]

I like Pragmata a lot. So I know the dead space comparisons

[B]

are super dad space is what they're calling it. Isn't that so cute?

[C]

Yeah, that's pretty nice. But I was like, it somehow didn't register with me until I got to the emergency shelter. They basically have Resident Evil save room music in the emergency shelter, which I love. Yeah, it's that, like, relaxing. And you could change the screen.

[D]

Oh, sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[C]

But I was like, oh, right, it's Capcom. Of course, they're pulling from Resident Evil a lot here too. But dead space just makes more sense because you're in space. But I love that game. I I telling Mary and Jake and Dan in our Discords, like, that's the. This is the first game I'm actively trying to 100% the challenges, which are amazing. There's like a neon white aspect to those, like, really perfecting those, Finding all the collectibles, the Metroidvania aspect of going back to an area now that I can clear out those crystals, etc, you can jump higher.

[B]

Oh, the difficulty rooms are interesting. Those rooms where it's like don't go in here. These are really tough.

[C]

The red card gate, the red card rooms.

[B]

Those are fun.

[C]

Like just that hacking mechanic is so novel and yeah like the game does the boss fights you. So many interesting like twists on that. It's. Oh, it's unreal. We talked about it last episode but like the game is just so well paced. I will say I do find myself wishing while I like that there's a lot of quality of life like just getting around the game. The tram system makes it super easy to know where you're going going. I do miss the connective tissue that dead space had between the areas. Obviously once you unlock the tram or even hollow Knight. Once you unlock the. The. Is it a tram or the bug that takes you around? It's a super nice touch. But like before that you're getting a better sense of the overall map because you have to manually travel. I kind of actually miss that. It's so compartmentalized and segmented in pragmata that I wish I could see more between. Maybe they'll do that. I hope there's going to be a sequel. I this feels like it could be

[D]

a pretty sure they're.

[B]

Yeah feels franchise.

[C]

Yeah. But yeah, I. Game's phenomenal. The combat's incredible. The world itself is super cool. Yeah.

[D]

How far are you? Where. Where are you? Where are you at?

[C]

Trying to figure. I'm in the la if you're looking. So the map is like a circle. I'm in the last node. I just did the. Actually, maybe I'm not. I just did the.

[B]

Did she get hurt? Us.

[C]

Yes. Yes.

[D]

Do you guys talk about spoilers on the show or do you.

[B]

We try. We try not to do end game spoilers and if we do we tell our audience, like skip ahead. I would like to say in this one broadly, I don't think it's a crazy spoiler that one of the characters can get hurt. So like I think it's fine. These are not story spoilers.

[C]

The emergency shelter. It appears I'm at the peak. Peak up or emergency shelter level four, I think. I think four might be the top level. Maybe there's one past it. But yeah, I played like eight hours, I'd say. So I think I'm toward the end my Spidey.

[B]

It's not that long. People are saying it's like 12 hours. Ish. I think is what I'm gathering. Finney, you've completed it.

[D]

I did.

[B]

How many hours did you put into

[D]

it and what do you Think I really liked it. I also did the 100% completion on everything. Yes. So the. I did not get the Platinum trophy because there is a thing, and I don't think this is spoilerish, but there is a thing post game where it opens up a new difficulty that you then have to beat it on to get the 100% trophy. Platinum. I was playing on PlayStation.

[B]

What difficulty is it?

[D]

Because, like, is it just lunatic, I think they call it is the name of the difficulty. It's the hardest. It's a harder difficulty difficulty, but it's not a new game. Plus, so you, you wind up being able to bring some stuff in, but not all of your upgraded weapons. And you basically just have to play the game over on this harder difficulty.

[B]

Oh, I wouldn't enjoy that as much. Yeah. Starting over from scratch.

[D]

Yeah, you kind of have to start from scratch. I mean, you have some stuff that is post game, but not, not like you would in a new game.

[C]

Plus, I will say because you're the handgun, whatever the grip gun has infinite ammo ammo. And the, the hacking, it. The game feels like even if it's very, very difficult, you can theoretically beat every fight. If you are like, if you understand the game well enough, like, similar to Elden Ring or whatever, you could technically beat Margit at like level 10 if you are good enough. It feels like that hacking kind of levels things in a way that it's like, okay, well I might be able to beat this boss right now, but instead I'm gonna go collect way more and upgrade grade my health, my dodge thruster recharge, etc. So I appreciate that. That's kind of a. There's like an accessibility to that. Like Resident Evil 4 had the thing where if you die too many times in a row, the game won't tell you it's lowering the difficulty, but it is, it feels like it's like a cool way of handling difficulty. The hacking can, if you get good at it, you can really just fly through a lot of difficult fights. Even some of the red card gate things when I'm in a flow state in that game, feel like I'm not getting touched. Then of course I have bad days where I'm like, oh my God, I'm getting fucked up. I'm, I'm. I'm rushing. You have to kind of balance being patient with the hacking and being aggressive enough when someone is exposed.

[D]

Exposed?

[C]

Yeah. There's. There's one challenge room that took me forever to figure out it was the medic. When they introduced the medic.

[D]

Yeah, Yep, yep. With the little bots that heal the other bots.

[C]

And you only have the ride riot gun, the one that just does the AOE blast. And your grip gun.

[B]

I love that gun.

[C]

And there's like five of five shots from the shotgun. And you have to figure out. I don't even necessarily know. I was like, oh, wait, so if I damage anyone, the medical fly over to them. So I was like, okay, I'm gonna shoot. I'm not even gonna hack this enemy. I'm gonna shoot them quick with the grip gun. That's gonna bring the medic over. And then I'm gonna kill them, buy it to knock all them out. And then. Yeah, and then also I will say like, like one night when I unlock the, the critical. Like when you go up to him and just press R and he puts it right up to their head.

[B]

That's awesome. I love that. Yeah.

[C]

So satisfying. And then you fight certain bosses where that's necessary. You need to go up and do that to them. It's like, the animations are amazing with those.

[D]

So the. The medic one is really interesting. I learned so much from doing those cabin challenges and, and like, oh, I guess I didn't know how to play this game before that. So I like, I would do them be like, I just of kind can't. The way I'm playing this game is not beating this challenge. It must want me to do it a different way. Just like you were saying, when you. If you shoot an enemy and the medic goes over and then you hack the medic, it does so much damage to the enemy, it's healing when. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So if you hack the medic while it's healing, it does a ton of damage to the enemy that it's healing and to the medic itself. Yeah. So I, I. There's a ton of things like that. There's some late game weapons that I was just like, you just got so many weapons that I wasn't using. And then some of the challenge made you use them, and I was like, damn, this weapon. So good. I just never used it and kind of had to learn how to use it and, and use it efficiently. There was so much in that game that felt fresh to me. Gameplay wise. It's one of the few games I really enjoyed despite not really latching on to the story in it as much. I just have a cold stone heart, so that just makes sense for me.

[B]

But, like, the only dad on this podcast not connecting to the story is not lost. On me.

[D]

I found Hugh, the main character, to be such a dope that I was just like, you're. It's like, the kid would often be like, you know, like, wow. That's so. Wow. You have to. You can get nourishment from eating. It'd be like, not just nourishment for your body, nourishment for your soul. Diana, she'd be like, you get soul nourishment. That's right. When people gather around the table to tell tales of their day, it would nourish your soul. Soul. By the way, don't forget, I was adopted.

[C]

It's like, okay, get over it, you orphan. Like every. There's also the inconsistency in the very first cut scene or, like, the intro. He's surprised to learn that one of his crew mates had a kid. He's like, oh, you got a kid? Not for me.

[B]

Sucks to be you, nerd. Then later on he tells, this guy's got kids. Everybody make fun of this. Loose.

[C]

I was like, what? They weren't just my teammates. They were my best friends. But you didn't know one of them was a DNA.

[B]

You didn't know one of them had children.

[C]

What the fuck?

[B]

We don't. It doesn't come up. Mike, we're bros, okay?

[D]

We don't talk about that stuff.

[B]

We're not talking about that.

[C]

We don't talk home at shop.

[D]

I knew exactly what kind of beer and wine he drank. Okay. He was a jockey.

[B]

That's right.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

Yeah. Oh, God. My. My God. So, yeah, I found him story either. But, like, I. Yeah, but I thought

[D]

the kid was cute and, like, the. You know, like, it's like a. It's like a goblin. The kid's like a little goblin. Just like, blah, blah, blah. Like, just running around being like, look what I'm doing. I'm, like, hacking things. And he was just like, that's adorable.

[C]

Sometimes he's such a dork. It's almost endearing. Like, it's almost like a resident evil.

[B]

He was too fast.

[C]

Now Leon's cool as hell.

[B]

Too quick with the trigger, I think. Actually, yeah, Leon is a good comparison because Leon would just be like, I'm not dealing with you right now.

[D]

Oh, my gosh.

[B]

You know, Ashley's so annoying, and he's just like, whatever. Like, I'm busy, like, you making puns and kicking ass. I feel like this guy was flirting with her for. Oh, Jesus. For not. For not for Hugh to say, like, he's annoyed by children very early. It was very Quick for him to be like. Like, I love you, little girl. And it's just like, I would have thought that at first when he got her, I don't know, a s' mores kit, and she was like, you eat this. He'd be like, yeah, it's not that incredible. But everything that he does for her, I enjoyed even, like, take him out of it for a second. I enjoyed bringing home the balloons and watching her be so excited about a balloon. And maybe because I don't have kids that I, like, give balloons to, but

[C]

Goblin, she's like, oh, my gosh, I

[B]

better not get away. And it's just like, that's right. Like, you better. Better watch it. Like, I found myself.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

Placating to her too, but in my own way. Not like Hugh's way, but in my own way. When she would just be like, don't forget, I have overcharged. And I'd be like, you're so right, little girl. Let's go. Like, I liked her little quips. I thought she was. I thought she was adorable.

[C]

Yeah. I will say, say we complain all the time when Aloy is talking to herself too much and solving puzzles. When Atreus is saying, like, oh, I wonder what that platform's for. Capcom actually figured out how to use companion dialogue as helpful. Like, she'll say, like, jump you when. Because then.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Meanwhile, there's a crusher or whatever they're called, about to slam the floor.

[B]

You better get out of the way, dumb.

[C]

And there's no, like, a language.

[B]

That's what I assume. Way he would.

[D]

But that's not you. You would be be like, we all do. We are dumb sometimes, Diana.

[B]

Yeah, sometimes even adults do the swears, Diana.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

Oh, I did not see that crusher about to hit the floor behind me. She actually is helpful.

[B]

She is helpful.

[C]

It's not that hard to do this.

[B]

It is hard to do. I think it is hard to nail. Don't be annoying. Do help me. Don't help me too much, but do help me be funny, but don't be annoying. Annoying. I think it's very difficult to nail. And I. I could not have imagined that a little girl would be the answer to this. This should have pissed me off. But she was delicate enough and she was funny enough where I was like, I actually am totally fine with you. Hugh did get on my nerves a couple times, but I was. I was 100. I was like, she's fine. She's. She's not a big deal. And she's very helpful. So, like, I will allow.

[D]

And it's hard to keep track of what's happening in the game because so much stuff is popping off. So, you know, your kind of situational awareness is such that you kind of do need her to be like, dodge, jump. I'm like, oh, shit. Okay. There were parts with her performance and I think she is endearing in some spots. In some spots, I just can see the voice actress, you know, the 30, 20 something year old, you know, voice actress just doing the lines in there, being like. Like, this balloon's so cute. And be like, oh, my gosh. You just sound like an adult doing a kid.

[B]

She's smoking a cigarette in between takes.

[D]

Yeah. Then like, cute. But it's Hugh. It's always Hugh. And I'd be like, right, you bring the balloon back. And she'd be like, oh, my gosh, look at it. I'm gonna go catch it. Oh, my gosh, Hugh, the balloon got away, right? And it'd be like, that's so cute. And then Hugh would be like, sometimes things get away from us, Diana. You know, sometimes a thing you love so much just leaves. Like when I was adopted, he's just

[B]

always shoving it in there.

[D]

Yeah. He's just like always. He's always gotta remind her. And it's like one of those things that I feel like as a parent, you drop your kid off with like an uncle or like a family, and they're like, the kid comes back in the car and be like, uncle Hugh said we have to let go of things we love. Be like, what the fuck were you telling my kid?

[B]

Just let her play with dice. There's no reason for all of that. Yeah.

[D]

It's a collective. You were adopted. We all feel bad for you. Okay? We all feel bad. Your family was lovely. They're actually lovely people. They're okay.

[B]

Not everything. Yeah, not everything needs to be existential. And I think he's like, beach, yes, dude. Visually, though, can we not talk about how stunning that scene was? And to see the dome of the

[C]

Truman show vibe, it's good.

[B]

I loved it. Like, the visual of that space, the text. I don't know how it goes into it, but they, you know, when they were like designing it, the director was like, I want you to be able to see where the dome hits the edge of the ocean. It shouldn't look like an ocean. It should look like a ship that is manufacturing an ocean. And they nailed that aesthetic so well. I. I really, really enjoyed that scene. Aesthetically.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

I think the game's a looker all around. I like the designs. Yeah.

[C]

The fucking boss fights. Some of those are so creative and like cool. Like also like when the. Those ones that at first are really scary, it's chasing you. In the Times Square. The ones with the, the giant, like they just look like dolls. They have the face.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I don't like the babies. Yeah.

[C]

Nice twist too. I was like, oh, I should save my shotgun shells for when their face shield comes up because you could take all four out with a well placed shot.

[B]

Oh, nice. Yeah.

[C]

And then I, I love how Diana can be a defensive. Like if you get stunned by a. Or the one of those bots grabs you, she could do that reaction thing if you do it quickly enough.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. Same with the sand worm that like sucks. Yeah. Out of the sand. That'll scare. That scared me. That's when it was a little dead space. Was like. Yeah. I was like, I can't. Can't touch the sand, you know, Cuz it's going to eat me. I think it wasn't scary. I also loved the tone of this game, which is like, I wasn't awesome often scared, but it, it had some creepy scary elements to it. But largely unlike a dead space, which was constantly giving me anxiety for how scary it was going to be. I walked into this game like with no anxiety. I was like, me and my kid got this like, we can do this together. It's gonna be fine. I didn't have that fear like I have in, in Capcom scary games. But I totally. I did feel the, the rush of like.

[D]

But it's tense, right? Yeah, it's tense. And when you die and you come back and Diana's like, oh boy, Hugh, that baby face thing really fucked you up. Next time, shoot it when it's got the fucking big red spot on its face, you idiot. Hugh's like, yeah, yeah, you're right. We all have red spots inside our soul.

[C]

Diana.

[B]

I'm adopted.

[D]

My weak point was being adopted. Diana.

[B]

My Achilles heel, if you will. Diana. Was being. Being adopted.

[D]

They were great people.

[C]

Diana. I'm just an orphan.

[B]

Yeah. Here's a balloon.

[D]

My family was great. Everyone should love somebody.

[B]

They floated away. They floated away. Diana.

[D]

Seems like my real pairs. Diana.

[B]

Diana's like, go to therapy.

[D]

No, no, no, no, no.

[C]

3D print an AI therapist where I. What, what is it called? Luna. Luna.

[D]

Luna filament.

[C]

Fucking make a Luna filament therapist and talk to it.

[D]

And then cabin's just in the room being like, I don't know what to do. I just play Some bingo. You guys are having a moment. Just you. All right. Fun of games.

[C]

Just reminding you guys I'm here. I'm forced to do this.

[B]

Q, if you can overcome your generational trauma, you'll never discover what it means to truly sacrifice.

[D]

Bingo. Triple bingo. What drama.

[B]

What drama. Yeah, I like that from It Takes Two.

[D]

Oh, my gosh. Oh, boy.

[B]

It's just this, like, obnoxious little addition. But because it's not a huge part of the game, I can also accept annoying machine.

[D]

I love Cabin. Cabin's great. Cabin.

[B]

I love Cabin. I can't believe it.

[C]

I like the little cabins you're finding. Hello.

[D]

Yeah, Right, right. I do think. Okay, so my, my, my nitpicks with the game mechanically are that they do a great job. And Capcom has been doing this very well for a while now, probably since the RE2 remake has been some of the best. But they track all the collectibles.

[B]

Right.

[D]

But they don't do a great job with the figurines, the minifigs, to be like, how many do I have in each level left? And the other thing they don't track well are the figure they're called, but like the data cubes that you use to upgrade Diana's hacking power.

[B]

Yeah. Those yellow little boxes that you find in little secret spots it doesn't tell

[C]

you on the tram fast travel menu.

[D]

No, no, Those are not tracked, or at least I don't remember seeing them. But they, you know, they do tell you how many cases are left or ch are left and some. A lot of the other upgrades. But there is some stuff that I. So I did do 100% of each. Each level. I did some of the post game stuff. I played the heck out of the game. I really, really enjoyed it.

[B]

Sounds like you did. It's great.

[D]

Yeah, I did.

[C]

I think it's a really great level attention. Yeah. Well, I guess we can talk about mixtape. I'm sure Dan will have a lot of thoughts in next episode, but he's

[B]

gonna be upset we talked about it without him.

[C]

Yeah, we should. Well, let's get your elevator thoughts on it. What. What do you think of mixtape? How's it going?

[B]

Yeah, I mean, I think similarly, it's getting. Getting a lot of praise online. I. I was hearing a lot about it. I didn't get any spoilers, but I generally was hearing like, everyone being like, you gotta check out this mixtape. And I was like, okay, I'll check out this mixtape. Mixtape is a teenage angsty game similar to. I would say I haven't felt this emotionally connected to characters since Night in the Woods. I does nail the crisis that teens go through of overbearing parents, of what am I doing with my life, of I think I'm wasting away. But I'm also afraid of the future because I just want to party and do drugs. And that's my safe space. It. It really does nail that vibe. It is completely connected to the hip for music and it is named Mixtape Intentionally. I don't know if a lot of people know this, but the developers intentionally did not allow this game to have substituted music to stream it with. You cannot stream this game and swap out all these amazing tracks. And the devs said very clearly we had a vision for this game and it's important that you listen to the songs that we chose for these scenes. And so there's no swapsies. There's no generic crappy music like you can get in Life is Strange 2. And this is a dangerous and brilliant move by these devs because they said it's intentional. We want you to listen to this very specific song. You can't change it out. And it's. It. It is thematically relevant to what these kids are going to and they are right. This game should not have had swappable music.

[D]

You should go to jail for mixing. You go to jail for mixing.

[B]

Go directly to jail. No trial.

[D]

You go to YouTube jail.

[B]

You are unfortunately.

[D]

Yeah, sorry. But it was worth it.

[B]

It's worth it. It's worth it. And this is the type of game. This is how I'll preface it with. It's just like, I do like this game. It's a four hour experience. Ish.

[D]

Really? Oh my gosh. Really? Okay.

[B]

It's short. Okay.

[C]

It's a long mixtape.

[B]

It's a long mixtape. Please. If you're gonna play this, don't play it on your Steam deck while you're like had a bar. Which is what I like to do. Don't do. Do as I say. Don't do as I do. I actually stopped it because I recognized I was. What I was doing was wrong. And then what I ended up doing was I went home. No movie, no. No podcast, no podcasts. I played it with the volume fully. And that is how you. This is how you need to experience this game because you are playing a movie. And the way this game is delivering this experience, it kind of reminds me. Yeah, it's. I'm trying to think of like how I would describe it, but it's like you'll be in these scenes where you'll Be maybe in someone's bedroom. You're in all. There's three main teens in this that are like best friends that are going through a. It's the last day of the summer. This is it. One of them's moving. Two of them have other things going on. They all have personal issues with their family and shit that they're family. Figuring out you're going to be in each one of their bedrooms and you're going to like, touch their stuff and you're going to be like, oh, this guy has a lava lamp and he has like this girl, she has a shell because her. Her sister and her went to the beach when they were younger. And this other girl, her house, her. Her room is like. It looks like her mom completely designed it for her. And there's none of her in this because her parents designed this for them. So you're learning about these kids through their skills stuff. You're looking at their stuff. And then the game, the actual design of the game of like, what are you actually doing in it? You'll see an item. It will ratatouille these kids, they'll be like, remember that time when we were in the woods getting blasted? It warps you to the woods and you play out these memories. And then each of these games, I would consider them mini games. You are doing little things like throwing toilet paper over the house. House of someone you don't like. Or you are skipping rocks on the river, or you're drunk in a VHS or like DVD place and you're renting a. You're trying to rent a dvd but you're too drunk and so you're like falling all over while you're trying to pick your DVDs. Small mini games that aren't really important, they're not really necessary, but it's how the game delivers, that immersion that you are one of these characters experiencing a val. A valuable memory to these children's lives. And over the course of the four hours, you just kind of play out this experience. They learn some lessons, they have some growth, and then it's over. It's over. With a great soundtrack, with a fantastic soundtrack. It's very important to clarify. It's a fantastic sound. I will listen to the soundtrack on Spotify.

[D]

It's a slice of it.

[C]

To clarify, I was gonna say, it's like, are there any songs I would know? They didn't create the music, did they?

[B]

No, no, no. It's all. Yeah, that's what's so important about it. And I think, again, this is like extremely intentional. Where it's like it's on Spotify, like Iggy Pop or something like that. It's like a lot of it is from the 60s, 70s, 80s, and a couple tracks from the 90s. I would say it's mostly 70s, 80s is how I would say it. I think they did a brilliant job finding some. Yep. They'll find. You'll find some obscure tracks. We'll be like, I don't know that song. But the main character will be. Be like. The reason you don't know this song is because these people usually write jingles for commercials. But this was their only hit.

[D]

But it was really only talk about like the soundtrack.

[B]

She'll say it. She breaks the fourth wall. So she'll kind of look at you and be like, this, this song. It's set to this, this song. I chose it for a reason. I chose it for this moment.

[D]

Okay, that's very cool. I didn't realize that.

[B]

Yeah. And so she, she kind of. It's. It's weird. Witty. It's witty. And you. We were just talking about this with dad stuff where it's like, oh my God, it's so obnoxious. It is so obnoxious to pretend to be a teenage.

[D]

Oh my gosh. Yes.

[B]

It never works.

[D]

It's always like, it's like, yeah, cringy, corny or like, like try hardy. But yeah, it's this. You think this pulls it off?

[B]

I think it pulls it off most of the time.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

Most of the time. I laughed out loud with some of the quips. I remember one of them being. Being like, oh God, so hot. Like, should I like wear shorts? And they're always trying to be metal. That's like one of their like annoying little teenager things, which is they're like boys it metal enough. And they're just like, are shorts metal? And one of the kids goes, I don't know if shorts are metal. What stupid questions. And I was like, that's funny. Like they're ribbon on each other. They don't. They like get annoyed with each other. I think, I think it is. It is close enough. And I, I did find myself, myself. Of course there was like cringy moments where I was like, oh my God, like, like, there they go again. There's 28 year old June. You know, being a 17 year old kid, Right?

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

For the most part I, I do think that they give you the vibe that these are kids figuring their out. And truly the plot of this film is they are trying to get absolutely blasted they are looking for alcohol because they are going to a party and it is their last night together and they need to get up. And I, I think it works for the tone of everything. There's constantly looking in the nooks and crannies of their house, like, trying to find vodka. It's funny.

[D]

Sounds like I need to check it out.

[B]

It's four hours. It's four hours. You guys should play it. Like, I, I, I will say this like, as my last calling card. Like mixtape is, is worth four hours of your time. It really is. It's like a, it's like a really nice coming of age film. But you get to play it, you get to be these kids and sk. Dodge the police. Oh. It also like, it kind of skirts reality a couple times. You know, like maybe in their memories they'll be like, remember when we like, ran from the police? And it's like you're on a shopping cart going 80 miles an hour down a street.

[C]

Magic.

[B]

You should be dead. Yeah, but it's like it's doing it so that you can enjoy yourself. You know when our parents used to say, like, I used to walk uphill to school both ways in this town. Town, it's always downhill because they're always skateboarding and it needs to work in their memory.

[D]

Right? Yeah.

[B]

So good news, guys. The bar is downhill from your house, which is downhill from school, which is downhill from the beach. Everything's downhill. And they're constantly doing kick flips off of cars.

[D]

That's awesome. I need to check it out.

[C]

Yeah, it's got a lot of.

[B]

Yeah, yeah. I, I know that Dan's not gonna like this and I know he's probably gonna say some about like how it's like.

[C]

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

[B]

I can imagine it. And the bit.

[D]

Oh yeah. Still works in the magical reality. We're doing an alternate reality zone where Dan, he's probably.

[B]

I can imagine a world in which a lot of people are going to be like, I don't care about teens lives. And my, my response to that is like, it's four hours. Like, it's a really fun teenage escape. And, and the soundtrack is killer. So. Yeah, give it a, give it a shot.

[C]

All right, we talk.

[D]

Definitely will.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 fan? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan, I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a good golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus the leg room is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[C]

We talked briefly about Soros. Last time I had played like an hour I had not played more. But it looks like you both played Sorrow.

[D]

Yes. Yeah, yeah, I played. Mary, have you played Soros a bunch?

[B]

Yes, I've played. I wish I could say I've played more. I think I've played six or seven hours of it so far. I actually been putting way more time into pragmata just cuz I really like it. But yeah, I've been putting in some time into Soros. I've got, you know, gotten to the first boss several times now and I've like, you know, it's fun. I, I do appreciate that they've, they've slowly allowed me to get stronger with death.

[D]

And yes, yes, that is my main. That is the main thing that I keep coming back to sorrows and I. The reason why I'm. I'm still playing it. I'm. I'm up to the third area, trying to make my way through there.

[B]

Oh, good for you.

[C]

Oh, nice. Oh, really?

[D]

Oh, that's good. Oh, that's good for you.

[B]

The third area.

[D]

Oh, that's. That's adorable. Look, you got through the third area.

[C]

Little orphan boy. Get to the third balls. You want a balloon?

[D]

Did you lose your balloon in the third area?

[B]

Vinnie, watch out for the guys with the aerial attacks in the third area.

[C]

The anal attacks.

[B]

Yeah, so you, you really got to watch out for those.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. You've got some sick cork taint, Hugh.

[B]

Bingo.

[D]

Bingo. Someone say cork tain.

[B]

He like breaks through a wall of fucking Kool Aid, man.

[D]

Triple bingo.

[B]

Oh my God, this pervert.

[D]

Whoa. I do love that you can just kind of. They have this whole talent tree waiting for you to just grind out levels. If you're like, this is too hard and you're like, okay, you can just do the same area a thousand times if you want. And basically war of attrition your way through a boss and be like, yep, I don't dodge Everton now because I just much I don't have to anymore. So that it's a great. So I made up to the third area and. And I went back and it was like, let me just go farm the first area. And it's awesome. You go back to the first area area you're way over leveled and you can just. All the stuff that was such a pain in the butt in the first area becomes very manageable, but you still get a bunch of currency. And then I walked out like a run through the first area area with like 3,000 sorrows bucks. And I was like, man, that's a great run. So I think I'm just gonna farm for a while and just. They do put a kind of a real cap on how far you can get down the tech tree gated by the boss that you've beat. So it'll say like, hey, you need to beat this boss before you really go too far. But I do think they are, I think much more than. Oh gosh, it just left my head. What was the last one they put out with the. Yeah, Returnal. This feels like it puts some. Put some arrows in your quiver to fight back. Yeah, Returnal. I hit a wall. I was like, this is too frustrating. I don't think I'm gonna make it to the end of this game. And I made it pretty far. And I was like, I'm just gonna put this down. And I never came back to it. This feels like I can just. If I spend some time just farming or grinding away, it'll be fine. The weapons are fun. The mechanics. Mechanics at first felt very obtuse in Sauron. So I was like, what the hell? Why are you calling all these normal video game things such weird shit? Like why are you calling power command and why are you calling this drive and this.

[B]

Yeah, why'd you just rename everything? Why is my health called perseverance?

[D]

Yes. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Stop it.

[C]

Yeah, stop it.

[D]

So you're being too cute. But you kind of wrap your head around it by the end and it's very rough run based and I think they're. I don't. I Also, if I had pragmata on my plate as well, would be like, I'm gonna play pragmata. And, like, we were talking about, this makes me happy.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And Brad is like, I spent most of my time playing pragmata. Right. And then, like, I think Pragmata is, like, a very digestible game, you know, Like, I know what I'm doing. I kind of like the atmosphere in here. And Sorrows feels like a challenge, right? Like, okay, all right. Let me see how long I can last in sorrows. I think it's cool. I. You know, it's very space madness. So it's very different tone. I don't know why I'm comparing it to Pragmata, but it's not. Nothing like the tone of it, though. It would be pretty funny if you got a little space madness. But it's very, like, you know, Carcosa is the name of the world, and it's like the Yellow King and the whole thing.

[C]

Oh, true detective shit. Yeah.

[D]

It really is. Yeah, yeah. And like, you know, the eclipse.

[C]

Oh, no.

[D]

What is going. Time's a flat circle. The whole thing. It really, really is. And, you know, everybody's getting space madness on this, and you probably have the space madness as well, so.

[B]

Yes, it is. It is alluded that you might also get space madness. And you'll, like, listen to these old tapes, which I. I have to say, like, I'm not sure if this is the way the game is designed or if this is just me, but every time I get one of these tapes, they're like, the blood is on the walls. And I just want to. And I'm like, I don't give a shit about this. You're not actually adding to the story. I already know the story, which is, this guy's got space madness.

[C]

And.

[B]

And so all these tapes don't really provide me any lore or context, so I've learned to completely ignore them. The only thing I think about when I play Soros is kill them all and try and level up, because that's what you need to do in this game. I am like, dodge. Yeah, dodge. Min Max. Get the items. That's what I give a shit about. And I've kind of lost all semblance of who am I? Why am I here? What does it matter? The story is of no consequence to me. I don't know if that was their intention.

[D]

The story hangs out in the background, and I feel like, pops it set up for me at interesting points, and we'll drop a little storybomb Here and there. I'm like, ooh, okay, okay. But then, yeah, it's a weird divergence because you get like this very serious. Like, we're all gonna die here. We've all got space madness. This fucking idiot stabbing his eyes out with a pencil. Like this one just like is eating his own fingers. And you're like, I'm gonna go out there and dodge a thousand blue bullets. You know these motherfuckers and their blue bullets. Sometimes they're red, sometimes they're blue. Now I have to go choose between a gun I just got from a drop. It's like a little bit of a disappointment. Disconnect. It's very video gamey when you're out there and it's just like, you know,

[B]

feels like very video game. It's like you guys got a lot going on. But I gotta figure out how long my shield lasts for because it's very important to me. I don't have the same mental state as these other characters. And so I don't care about them or feel connected to them. I have my own vision. I'm the only one going out there and doing a lot of work.

[D]

Jerome is out there. Okay. There's one other guy out there who's screaming in the background a lot.

[B]

So, yeah, he's getting work done.

[D]

Where the fuck are you, man?

[B]

They're coming out of the walls.

[D]

I'm sorry. I can't get past the first balls. Really hard. Okay.

[B]

Yeah, I agree. It's fucking.

[D]

Maybe you should have leveled up a little bit before going that far. I don't know what to tell.

[B]

You have to grind, Jeremy.

[D]

Yeah, get out there. Anyway, I'm going to stay at the base for a bit. You have good luck out there. Yeah, I think it's a cool game. It's very, very action y and we'll see where the story goes. But it does feel like it's kind of going through some well worn paths here on the space madness front. We'll see if things. It's cool to look at. I love and it moves. It's well designed.

[B]

It's well designed. Oh, extraordinary. Beautiful. I was actually. I want to. Wanted to ask you guys this because this is something I was like, is this a me thing or is other people experiencing this? The game is unbelievably beautiful and they knew this. And there's a ton of detail where there doesn't need to be any. Right. So, like, if you're. You run really fast in this game. Very fast character. And that means that is a Wide view of your characters. There's lots of room for balls, and you're sprinting through this space. Everything has so much detail in the plant life and in the stunning architecture and the statues that are mostly hands. And I found myself getting a headache because I think there's so much to look at that my mind didn't know where to focus. And I have to be, like, very clear. Look at the character. I don't think I'm getting. I don't know if it's motion sickness. There's so much goddamn detail. I'm distracted by the environment when I should be focusing on all of these balls that are coming at me at every minute of the time. It's almost like. And it sounds crazy, but it's almost like I wish they had more depth of field so that things were blurrier because I'm looking at it.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah. Especially when you're in the interior environments and then you don't just have sky above you. Yeah. It's a visually. It's a visually dense game, for sure. I didn't get any headaches or motion sick, but I do find. I think they do an okay job with the threat ring around you when they're like, something's coming from your side.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

And you are very mobile. But, yeah, it is. It is visually dense, for sure. And there's, like, they use a lot of different colors for. To indicate a lot of different things at all times.

[B]

Yeah. Red. Red, camp. You know, you got to avoid those.

[D]

Yeah. Red, you're dead.

[B]

You know, red, you're dead. As they said. As the guy with space madness said to me right before he screamed because blood was coming out of his eyes.

[D]

That's right. He likes the paint and blood. Yeah. I think it's cool. I did not get a headache or any of that, but

[C]

there's some readability issues for sure on screen going on. Yeah, I didn't get a headache, but it's like. I remember Returnal was definitely, like, stark in comparison.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Yeah, it was like. It was muted. And this game is like, red. Blue skies, the fauna, the. A lot of the plant life is, like, red. And it's just. There's a lot going on, but I. I haven't heard anyone else say that, so I think sometimes I'll just say this after, like, two hours. I need a break. I need a break of sorrows because it's. It's mentally draining. It's physically draining. My thumbmies are sore. I can play pragmata all day, baby.

[D]

But Hugh doesn't want to. And he was like, take a break, Mary. Everybody needs a break.

[B]

I'm tired.

[D]

Just like my parents did for me.

[B]

Yeah, they took a break.

[D]

Doesn't have br.

[C]

Who?

[A]

Coley, though.

[D]

Dude, no. What is he from?

[B]

What's he from?

[D]

Okay, Midnight Math. Okay. The. The main actor from Soros.

[B]

Yeah, he's in. He's in all of those. So Midnight Mass is the most recent one, but they did, like, a whole series of those horror movies that come out every. Every year.

[D]

So he's like a regular in.

[B]

Yeah, he's in all of the Mike Flanagans.

[C]

He was not in Haunting of Hill House. He was in Turn the Screw maybe, or the Haunting of Bly Manor, which is Turned the space on Turn the Screw. He was in that, but he was

[B]

not in Haunting House. Yeah, he was in Bly Manor, and he was in the newest one that they made, too.

[C]

The Midnight Children. Neon thing, whatever it's called.

[B]

They just add Midnight to it, and they released it in October. Kids don't have parents. They're in the corn.

[C]

And then the Mike Flanagan's like, oh, that's compelling. I'm gonna make a show.

[B]

There's a vampire in the background of Age Story.

[C]

I'll set it to specific music that you can't stream.

[B]

That's a callback. No, he's a good actor, and this character is. Is intriguing. They're great, too, to look at. They're great to listen to. I got no problems with the main character. It's all good, baby. Like, that's a great choice for an actor, and I loved that part of it. So, yeah, I got no qualms with that. I think. I think maybe I. Sometimes it feels a little busy, but I am enjoying it. I'll probably play it this weekend. Like, I will probably. I will continue to play Sorrows. Like, I'm not done with that game, but I have to, like, pump myself for it.

[D]

Yeah, I do, too. Yeah, I played some of it this morning. I was like, I had to get ready. I had to, like, you know, do some jumping jacks and stuff, Play some Sorrows.

[B]

I look myself in the eye. I smack myself around before I get the controller when I play Sorrows.

[D]

Okay, here we go. Doing some runs. Yeah. Mike, are you going to play more of it?

[C]

Yeah, definitely. I got sidetracked with Pragmata, and then I'm playing some other stuff for work that has delayed me playing more Soros. But I still need to go back and play more Hades, too. There's a. There's a Lot I need to catch up on in that space for sure.

[D]

There's a lot of games out. There's a lot of games out. It's. They keep making them.

[C]

I got more vampire crawlers as well, but I didn't play enough of that to talk about it yet. But.

[B]

Yeah, you had one more.

[C]

Yeah. Windrose.

[D]

Oh, Windrose is the. We've been playing that. We've been streaming that and then it's one of those few games that we. We stream. It's a pirate survival game that is PvE with like four other people. And it's. The thing I like about it is that it's very generous to the player for a survival game. Like, you know, like for a rock and stick game where it's just like, you know, you're just gonna go bash a tree and then make an ax and it's just like. Doesn't punish you. You can make teleportation things that you got a big boat pretty quickly. I just. I just dig it. There's not that much pirate stuff out there that sticks with me.

[C]

Yeah.

[D]

And I think pirate stuff is just fun.

[B]

It is fun. I know it's fun probably to see other pirates on another ship and. Do you, like, attack their ships and stuff? Like where you. You guys like raiding other people online ships and killing stuff?

[D]

It's. It's only like. Yeah, this is the thing. I think they wanted it to be like a big multiplayer thing, but it's only like four players, so it's only like. Yeah. So I think this is just like, get on. Do some pirate stuff with your friends.

[B]

With your friends.

[D]

Yeah. And we'll go take on like a couple of friends. Will go take on the AI and the.

[B]

You're taking on NPCs or.

[D]

Yeah, but I. I liked it. I like to run around for bit and just kind of grinding away on that pirate life, you know, it's got

[C]

to got a grind.

[D]

Got to grind that pirate life.

[B]

Get that grind. That's cool. I'm looking at the videos here, and it looks like you can plant and garden in it. It's kind of interesting how deep this goes. I wouldn't imagine pirates being like, I got to plant more carrots.

[D]

We're hungry. Right, right, right. What'd you steal? Oh, good. Some broccolini seeds. That's. That's good. That's good.

[B]

I can't wait to get out our mead.

[D]

Kale.

[C]

This is my goose. I'm stuffing him full of food. Going to make some foie gras.

[D]

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's good. That's good.

[B]

There's at least one of those pirates in the group that's just like, what's the sauce tonight? Yeah, you have to have it.

[D]

It's a blood sauce.

[C]

I'm just kidding.

[B]

Yeah, that'd be you. Like, we're all running around killing people and slicing their throats, and Mike is like, I found a Beaujol under here.

[D]

This guy's got coke duster a good year. Whoa, guys. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Stop. Yeah, we call burgundy shoes

[B]

pirate. Burgundy shoes is gonna be so good. And when you kill someone, you're like, they're burgundy shoes. Because I like burgundy wine.

[D]

That's right.

[C]

The flag is a skull and corn screws.

[D]

Everybody thinks that all the. All the, like, tale is that your shoes are red because of blood. The blood of your enemies. Like, no, no. He likes Burgundy wine.

[C]

I love Jevre Chambret, and I go crazy for that.

[D]

Oh, my God.

[C]

Shamble mucini. Oh, my God. I gotta get.

[D]

Yeah, the burgundy loafers.

[B]

Get the good glasses. Get the good glasses.

[C]

Get the Mark Thomas. What is this rim? It's too wide.

[D]

Why did you just in my hands and pour it in there?

[C]

Why don't I just drink straight from the bottle, Greta? Why don't I just boof this wine right now?

[B]

Some pirates.

[C]

I want to try it out. I. I had a Sea of Thieves, period. I know this looks decidedly different. More survival focused. But I want to try it out. I like survival games when they're done with.

[D]

Yeah, it's the pirate theme that. That, that brings me in. And then I. I played. I don't know if you guys have seen a game called Replace, which I'm trying to make my way through, but I keep getting distracted by all these other games. It's a. It's like a 2D, 3D, 2 5D pixel arty game. Very much like Old Blackthorne or Fade to Black or what's flashback. I always forget which one was came first. Anyway, like that, but modernized and it's cool. It's a cool one. I like it.

[B]

Very cool. Yeah, this looks like a. A merry game. For sure. I like stuff like this where. Where you're side scrolling.

[D]

Yes.

[B]

Searching for stuff. Is it. What. Can you just tldr me the plot here? What do you. What are you doing?

[D]

It's. It's. It is a little bit of a weird one, but it is an alternate history where like a nuke went off in the. In the. I don't know if it's in the 40s or 50s. And to recover they. This organization I'll do the not too long was. Was made called the Phoenix Corp. And they basically harvest organs from healthy people or not healthy people to save healthy people. You understand how that might go wrong at some point. And basically the very short story is the owner of the corp gets his brain transplanted with the AI that's running it. And you're actually the AI controlling the body of the owner. And the AI is going through the world being like, this is pretty fucked up. We're. We really shouldn't have harvested all these organs from these people and then thrown them into this kind of horrible nightmare situation wasteland. And so you're trying to get back

[B]

out of the nightmare.

[C]

It's really good.

[D]

Well, out of the wastelands. And it's cool. It moves pretty quickly. I actually don't think it's that long a game. I'm just taking my time with it.

[C]

Interesting. Yeah, it looks okay.

[D]

Sorry, I do have one more I do need to say.

[B]

Okay.

[D]

Have you guys played Forbidden solitaire? No. You guys should play Forbidden solitaire. You guys, you know how Mary, you were like, it's four hours mixtape. Even if you have mixed feelings about, you should just try it. Forbidden Solitaire is one of those fake os haunted game.

[B]

It got us fmv.

[C]

It's creepy.

[D]

I'm sorry. You called me out. Yes. It has fmv. It is basically this. The setup is. Is you're. You're booting up your computer and you've got a copy of this game, Forbidden Solitaire. And like, your sister, somebody's like, holy shit. You got. You have forbidden Solitaire. I can't even find that game anywhere. And you start playing it and your sister's like, messaging you being like, I found these like, old news reports about, like, people digging their eyes out with spoons from playing Forbidden Solitaire.

[B]

And there's space madness.

[D]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[C]

All the madness in these games. Games.

[D]

Yeah. I really like crazy forbidden solitary.

[B]

This looks great.

[D]

Yeah.

[B]

I love this game. I love this vibe.

[C]

Vibe. Sort of.

[B]

It does have inscription vibes. I do. I love a FMV game. I'm like such a sucker for, like, this.

[C]

And ultimately.

[B]

Can I just ask you, though, like, ultimately, is the gameplay solitaire?

[D]

It's. It's. It's solitaire esque. It's. I don't know if you guys ever played like, Regency solitaire or any of the other solitaire types. It is solitaire, like, but they do some fun twists on it. So it. It is. It is it is not a very deep premise for, for gameplay, but it. It works.

[B]

This is also my jam, not a hacking.

[C]

I want to try this out. This looks rad.

[D]

Yeah, it's so silly and. And yeah, you guys should try it.

[B]

Very cool. Thank you for sharing this one.

[D]

My pleasure.

[B]

I love this.

[C]

Do you want to talk about your emails?

[B]

Yes. Let's discuss them.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan. I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 L turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan, but if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together, even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus the legroom is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about, visit kia.com to learn more.

[C]

All right, as usual, you can Write into firescapecast gmail.com for some questions you might want read on the show. We got one today from Morgan from New Orleans. Mary, do you want to read this one? Sure.

[B]

Greetings, arsonists. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day and we were talking about how bar betts part party tricks. Oh, we're just talking about bar bets and party tricks we used to do to win free drinks way back when I mentioned how because of my double jointed shoulder and long tongue, I can lick my own elbow. Even though that's supposed to be impossible. I'd like. I'd like to buy you a drink, Morgan. So I ask, what's your most obscure talent that you like to break out in front of? People love hearing your adventures in New Orleans when you were here, Morgan from New Orleans.

[C]

I also have a double jointed shoulder and of a lot long Tongue lick your elbow. I know. I'm just kidding.

[B]

He can't do that. But he can.

[D]

Okay.

[B]

He can lick his own butt.

[C]

I'm not getting it close. I actually, when he was writing, I was like, that's not that impressive.

[D]

But I, yeah, it's impossible.

[B]

You can't do it.

[C]

Yeah, I don't. What are yours? Do you have one? Do you have a weird skill that you, you bust out?

[B]

Mary, I'm trying to think. I, I was thinking about this one earlier. I don't know if I have, like a super cool, cool skill at the bar. I think I'm generally entertaining to bring to a bar. I think usually, I think I agree with that. If you are gonna bring someone to a bar, I'm a good person. I will, I will, I will have fun with any person, even if they're boring or annoying. I will, I will make it fun. I have lots of quips and jokes. I will probably make people laugh. But do I have, like a cool, obscure skill? I don't think so. I, I probably could do a handstand if you, you know, if the situation called for it. That might impress some people. But I don't think you' home about it.

[C]

I, I, I, My skill is I can tell a joke. I can make up a really funny joke on the spot and tell it and make people laugh.

[D]

Tell me a joke.

[C]

Someone asked me to donate to a children's hospital the other day. I said, where the hell are all these kids getting their medical degrees?

[D]

Oh,

[C]

no, it's not my skill. I'm actually bar skill.

[B]

I'm Vinnie. Vinnie's skill was not laughing.

[D]

Wow.

[C]

Just to break you down, objectively hilarious jokes.

[D]

It's really funny.

[C]

Speaking of bar stuff, I'm way better at darts than most people expect.

[D]

Okay.

[C]

I played a lot of darts growing up with my grandpa. He was iron thing. I don't hustle people. Maybe I should, though. Maybe I should start hustling.

[B]

Little shark.

[C]

Yeah, you're just missing the board. And then someone's like, oh, you want to put some money? I'm sure. And then it's like fucking ba. Boom, boom, boom, Boom, boom. Triple 20, triple 20, triple 20.

[D]

See, that's a fun one. Yeah, like when, when, when people are playing for fun, you're like this, this guy over here is like a darts champion. I, I wish I had skills like that.

[C]

That's. Yeah.

[B]

What's your skill, Vinny?

[D]

I don't have, I don't really have one. I, yeah, I, I don't really have one. I. I wish I did like a bar, A specific bar thing or anything in general. I could do, like, I could do a little bit of like close up magic. That's always fun. Like my whole set. Now, just so everybody understands and you guys understand, my whole set is. Is basically. Basically what I can do to entertain a five year old, right? Like, it's like I can juggle for like four seconds. I could like do a little. I could do a card. Two or three card tricks that are like pretty good, but for a five year old. And if you're like seven or eight, you already know what's going on. Yeah, that. That's basically it for bar stuff. But I wish there's stuff I always wanted to and it always felt like I'd be forcing it. Like little, little talents, like, oh, like I said, I should figure out like a way to flip a cup or something like that that always, you know, lands or. I wish I was one of those people who. This is a true, true thing. I was like, I wish I should memorize like three or four Bible quotes. I always want to be one of those people who could just like pull a fucking Bible.

[B]

People love that at a party. I love it so much. I've always felt that.

[D]

Ezekiel 7. 27. May the fishes and the birds drink our feast of blood tonight.

[C]

And on the firmament. And below the firmament. No. But, you know, be even cooler if you remembered, like, you know, like there's the Leviticus. There's like really fucked up stuff in the Bible. You should remember quotes from that that you can bust out.

[B]

And he drank the blood for the children.

[C]

And lo, his son was dead. And it was good.

[D]

I'd be like, why did you say that?

[B]

Cheers.

[D]

Normal toast. Cheers. Cheers. Someone got triple bingo.

[B]

Blackout. You betrayed me.

[D]

Oh, boy. You don't take cabin coins here, huh? Oh, fuck. Hey, can I borrow a couple of bucks?

[B]

Vinny, all he has is his spinning bow tie. When he gets into trouble.

[D]

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

[B]

Then he jumps out a window. Yeah.

[C]

As Judas said. That's the guy.

[D]

Yeah, him. That I'm out. Yeah.

[B]

I wish we did have.

[C]

I can do. I've got some cool card magic tricks that I can do. There's a few.

[D]

Everybody should know one or two.

[B]

You should know one card trick at our.

[C]

At our bachelor bachelorette thing. I think I busted out the one that I taught everybody that's like. It's math based. Yes, it's cool. The 13, the multiples of 13. It's Vinny, you. I feel like you'd get kick out of it. It's like impossible to fuck up once you remember the steps.

[D]

I'm a terrible math person. I am.

[C]

I am too. I'm just counting to 13, basically.

[D]

Okay, well, you lost me.

[B]

He's going to have to take off his shoes.

[C]

1, 2, 7, 3.

[D]

Did I go backwards? Is this your card? Well, fuck you then.

[B]

You' a bully.

[D]

This your card? This is your card now. This is your card now.

[B]

Okay. Okay.

[D]

All right.

[B]

I'm sorry.

[D]

I'm five.

[B]

Was it funny? Did you think I was funny? Yes.

[D]

What, you think this was a trick? This is for real. I gotta eat.

[B]

I'm hungry. You're our waiter, so I don't know.

[C]

Hey, family's ready. I gotta get back there before the bos are gone.

[D]

Don't break another glass, Carol. They're the expensive ones.

[C]

Mark Thomas is away. He only has 140.

[B]

Speaking of. Of. Of breaking glasses, I. I have spilled my drink while I stream so much that I have just started using a sippy cup when I. Wow. When. I stream and podcast now, and it is the safest, most reliable vessel for my liquid that I have found. And I do recommend them.

[C]

Do you also suck on a binky during streams, too?

[B]

They don't give me sustenance. I. Well, the diapers would help me, I guess, but I. I find that the sippy cup, they would. I wouldn't have to go to the bathroom between the podcast.

[C]

Whoops. Gotta change my Depends. Be right back.

[D]

Did you put your. Did you put your Bloody Mary in there?

[B]

No, that would. I think that'd be hard to clean. Only water goes in stuff with a straw. I think that that's problematic.

[D]

That's. Yeah, let's keep that.

[B]

It's also maybe the passage of the alcoholic. Once you set the putting liquor in a sippy cup, you have a fucking problem.

[C]

At least you're hiding it, though. That's the first step.

[D]

I think you might be right when you're doing hard drinks through a sippy cup. It's time. Why do you do that? Because when I got drunk, I spilled that shit. You know what I'm saying?

[A]

It's conducive to Barry's violin.

[D]

What a waste.

[B]

Expensive wine glasses are.

[C]

Oh, my God. Imagine if that guy comes in again and I bring a. I pour the wine into a sippy cup for him. Here you go. Here you go.

[D]

Because you're an idiot. Because you're an idiot.

[C]

Here you go, little burgundy boy.

[D]

I don't want. I don't want this to get on

[B]

your shoes for the burgundy boy, please.

[D]

It's red just for you.

[C]

Here's your 95 roomier in a, in a little sippy cup. You little. You little boy. You little or.

[D]

I got it from Area 3. I heard it's very good.

[C]

Died and he said, I'm going to get some burgundy shoes and then just be an asshole the rest of my life.

[D]

Mary, that Pikachu behind you, is that there all the time?

[B]

He's there all the time.

[C]

Around from time.

[B]

I do move him from occasionally.

[C]

You don't need to move him. He moves.

[B]

Yeah, he's been there for a while. I don't know, he should probably go on like a little stool or a tiny chair for children. I think would be fun. But he just sits on the floor, I think.

[D]

Okay, I think it would be better if you turn him so he's facing the corner. It's like, like, just like real.

[B]

Like you want him to look like he's in trouble. Like a D. I need this.

[D]

Yeah. Yes.

[C]

It's like, it's like a cat and they just stare.

[D]

Yes. In the. Oh, yes. Yes, that. Yes. Yep, that's the horror movie. That's it. That's it right there.

[C]

Yeah, he'll be, he'll be back around before the end.

[B]

For our audio listeners, I have, I have Blair Witched my Pikachu. And he's just staring at a wall.

[D]

It's like a three foot Pikachu now. Staring at the wall like. Yes, very good.

[B]

Thank you.

[C]

I just find it funny that the guy who does that in the movie, his name is Mike. The one who stares at the wall. Oh, is it, Is it?

[B]

I. That's like a memory I wouldn't have unless their name was Mary. Yeah, I would not want. I don't retain the names of horror movie victims.

[C]

Yeah, I do.

[D]

I've got them all on a list.

[C]

I'll tell you someone who dies in it goes anyway.

[B]

The Chainsaw Massacre.

[C]

Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Tommy, Allen, Lisa and Greg.

[D]

Wait, that's impressive.

[C]

Sarah. Tommy, Lisa, Allen and Greg. No, I made all those up.

[B]

That's such a good bar skill. Even if you're lying out your ass. I would be like, this guy is genius.

[C]

Mikey. Mikey, Maki, Timmy, Tommy, Greg. Say it again. He does all nine, I think.

[D]

I assume that's what you do when you're working at the wine bar. You're just making shit up constantly and being like, like, well, this is a Riesling.4275 or whatever. And like, wow, he really knows his.

[C]

Like, I turn around, look at the other song.

[D]

Like, I don't know. I just. Would you just say Serpentor 1982 was

[C]

a bit of a cooler vintage?

[D]

Oh, I don't. Did you just call that Wine of Soros?

[C]

I, I wink at another guest. Like, wait, why just wake. I was just, I was flirting.

[B]

Just shoving video game names in there.

[D]

Yeah. Yeah, right.

[C]

Yeah. I, I, that's, Maybe that is my talent. Naming horror movie victims.

[B]

Yeah, I love that. That's a good one.

[C]

Yeah. Well, that's all I got.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

My talent's keeping, Keeping conversations going. Yeah. Yeah.

[B]

You did it.

[C]

Yeah, I'm not.

[B]

Let's go.

[C]

I usually stop posting. There's a long takeover.

[B]

Get your fire escape merch. It's on our socials. You're going to want to check out

[C]

Fire E Escape, so you can go to fire escapecast.com. that's our site. If you're not a patron and you want to be, you can get ad free episodes. You can get the video episodes. You can see Vinnie's immaculate background. Very cool.

[D]

Oh, my gosh, it's so good.

[C]

Thank you, Mary Pikachu, Blair Witching. Like, Mike, you can, you can see my, all my, My tomes, my wine books. I'm a very intellectual person. I like people to know that just by looking.

[B]

So many wine tombs. Yeah. I have, like, a tortured Pikachu and, and Vinny's. Vinnie's background looks like one of those spot the difference pictures where, like, you'll take two of them and he's just turned around one of his pieces of trash and you have to circle it.

[C]

There's, like, three hammers.

[D]

Have three hammers. Who has three hammers nailed to a wall? I don't.

[B]

What's he doing back there? So smart of you to make fun of my background to try and confuse our listeners that I'm the one with the weird background on this podcast.

[D]

No, see, yours, Yours is, yours is, like, immaculate and very, like, clean. Except for this Pikachu. That is now it's, it's very good. Yes. I'm, I'm. Flood the zone.

[B]

We don't know what's weird about your background, because I cannot differentiate between the 400 pieces of lore that are going on.

[C]

Yeah, you look like you're on your way to being on Hoarders, but, well, you know, finale. The season finale of it.

[D]

Like, there's like. Yeah, like, the hair coming out of your. You know.

[B]

We don't talk about the hair above

[C]

an unopened bottle of Windex on the floor.

[B]

None of your goddamn business.

[C]

Is that a car battery to your right?

[D]

You know that probably. It's like a lot of stuff happens in here. Okay.

[B]

Sometimes I'm a dad.

[D]

Okay, we're going.

[C]

I'm a dad. I don't know. I got stuff.

[B]

Say it. Like would say it.

[D]

Oh, yeah. Listen, Diana, sometimes a car battery starts a car, and sometimes it starts your next life after your parents have abandoned you.

[B]

Go play with your balloon, little girl.

[D]

Go play with your car battery.

[B]

I brought you a car battery. And she's like, yay.

[D]

Oh, my gosh, Hugh. This. This could kill someone. It could. But death is just another part of life, Dan.

[C]

Death was part of. Of death. No, that's the wrong way to look at it. This is not really a beach, but at the same time, it is. Yeah, you go to fire escapecast.com to become a patron. You can go toFire Escape merch.com, which is also correct. You want to stock up on those banana hammocks for the summer. Get some trunks, get some cool merch to. To rep Fire Escape at the beach, at the pool, the flip flops, wherever you might be. If you're in the southern hemisphere, I guess it's winter, but I don't know, you can still wear banana hammock out in the snow. Deep dish pussy also will bring you to Fire Escape. Our Patreon page.

[B]

I'm not going to explain it to you.

[C]

Vinnie, move past.

[D]

That's okay. That's okay.

[C]

All of Mike and Vinnie save the World is on Fire Escape now for the video patrons. You can also go watch Mike and Vinnie destroy the world at Next Lander. Vinnie, tell people what. What kind of. What kind of stuff you got going on at Next Lander. They should go check out.

[D]

Yeah. If you go to nextlander.com or patreon.com nextlander or cork taint.com you can go find all of our stuff. We've got a bunch of podcasts about video games, movies. You have the watch cast. That's probably my favorite thing. It's very fun where we watch movies and then we talk about them. We're currently doing documentaries. We just did a big one on Action park that'll go up on Monday. Yeah. Class Action Park. So you know all the stuff. Same stuff. And as Mike said, Mike and Vinnie destroy the world. Which we did. We did. Which was the one where I. Where I beat your. Your guys. That was.

[C]

That was on Fire Escape.

[D]

I was. Yeah.

[C]

Ironically, you beat me on. On my home turf.

[D]

Yeah.

[C]

And Then I beat. And then I beat your ass.

[D]

I feel like you got really like this is never happening again.

[C]

Michael Jordan Gif. I took that personally. And then I just annihilated you in the other. No, you beat me handily in the place. First one. It was a much better army. Mary what do you have going on?

[B]

I stream every Monday, usually the games that I talk about here. I have been playing a lot of pragmata on there and I think I'm going to play this new solitary game. I really. That sounds like really fun. So thanks for checking me out on. On the Twitch and Dog in a Backpack. And my tape adventures are on Instagram. I've been collecting vhs. Is Vinnie. I watched the rock on VHS last weekend. It was great.

[C]

It looked like a very.

[B]

In a hot tub. Yeah, it was like 90 degree day. So I watched it while I was in a hot tub. Cool tub. I turned it down.

[D]

Oh, okay.

[C]

Thank you for. Thank you for stopping by. Vinnie Dan will come out of his mixtape hole at some point. He'll probably be on the next episode. Maybe not. But yeah, go check out Nextlander if you haven't already already. It's amazing. They do some awesome stuff. Brad, Alex and Vinnie over there. And we will be back with episode 133 in a couple weeks. Thanks everybody. See ya. All right, bye.

[B]

Bye.

[A]

Have you guys seen the Kia K4 family? The design is actually really sleek.

[B]

It's sporty. Dan I've been looking at the K4 hatchback. It's got that panoramic display on the dashboard that makes it feel like you're in a high end flight sim. And the cargo room is huge. I could fit like four cases of soda and a whole gaming setup back there.

[C]

It's not just about the screen, Mary. Both the sedan and the hatchback come with an available 1.6 liter turbo engine. It's actually got some muscle behind it. It's that rare best of both worlds situation where it looks good but doesn't drive like a golf cart. I'm not sitting in the back, Dan. But if I were, the K4 is probably the only place where I'd have enough room.

[A]

See, I'm a sedan guy. It's got that sophisticated look. Makes me look like I have my life together even if I'm just driving to buy more batteries. Plus the leg room is actually roomy. I can stretch out while Mike is trapped in the back.

[B]

Honestly, whether you want the hatch utility or the sedan style, they're both great. If you guys want to see what we're talking about. Visit kia.com to learn more.