Fire Escape Cast #91

Summary

Fire Escape Cast #91 Summary

Release Date: October 7, 2024

Hosts: Mike Mahardy, Dan Rykert, and Mary Kish

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Introduction

In episode #91 of the Fire Escape Cast, hosts Mike Mahardy, Dan Rykert, and Mary Kish reconnect after Mary’s recent stint at TwitchCon in San Diego. This episode brims with a mix of personal anecdotes, gaming discussions, humorous banter, and insightful conversations about relationships and hobbies. Skipping the usual advertisements and intros, the trio dives straight into engaging topics that resonate with both longtime listeners and newcomers.

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Mary’s TwitchCon Experience

Mary Kish kicked off the episode by sharing her vibrant experience at TwitchCon. She highlighted the unique Artist Alley, a section dedicated to streamers who not only perform but also create and sell their art and crafts live.

“It’s a whole section of the convention hall is just, like, buy stuff that are made by arts and crafters who also stream their arts and crafts” ([01:38] Mary Kish).

Mary emphasized the difference between Artist Alley and traditional convention art booths, appreciating the interactive and dynamic nature of streamers who engage their audience while showcasing their creations. She also shared her enthusiasm for her favorite stream, “Turtles and Chill,” humorously describing the peculiar charm of a live turtle tank stream.

“It’s like having a turtle tank in my house, but I don’t have to deal with the turtle smell or feeding them or anything” ([02:28] Mary Kish).

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Dan’s Liquor Store Anecdote

The conversation took a nostalgic turn as Dan Rykert recounted his college days working at a liquor store. He humorously admitted his early desire to report underage drinkers for a $50 bounty, though he confessed he rarely found fake IDs.

“I did not actually narc anyone. I just desperately wanted to” ([04:44] Dan Rykert).

“You were talking earlier, before we were recording, about how when you worked at a liquor store, you would report anyone who wasn’t 21” ([04:19] Mary Kish).

Mary playfully teased Dan about his past inclination to report others, leading to a lighthearted exchange about morality and youthful antics.

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Wine Discussions and Costco Shopping

The trio delved into their shared appreciation for wine, particularly discussing Viognier from First Leaf. Mary praised her personalized wine selections, highlighting how First Leaf curates bottles based on individual preferences.

“Viognier is usually is a bit more like tropical fruit, but it tastes bad” ([06:31] Mike Mahardy).

The conversation seamlessly transitioned to their favorite shopping haunt, Costco. Mary extolled the virtues of buying in bulk, especially for her beloved Mexican Coke in glass bottles, which she considers a special treat when purchased in larger quantities.

“It's so good” ([11:05] Mike Mahardy).

They also shared tips on quickly chilling beverages, debating the best methods to freeze soda safely without causing explosions—an amusing yet practical topic.

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Spud Guns: Fun or Fiasco?

A significant portion of the episode was dedicated to the intriguing topic of spud guns (potato guns). The hosts discussed the mechanics, safety concerns, and the internet subculture surrounding these whimsical devices.

“A spud gun, also known as a potato gun, can hurt and cause serious injuries, including death” ([34:07] Mike Mahardy).

Mary expressed her skepticism about owning such devices, emphasizing the potential dangers and the importance of responsible use. The conversation included humorous scenarios, such as the idea of using spud guns in friendly dares, highlighting both the fun and the risks involved.

“You better keep on your good stuff” ([38:09] Mary Kish).

They also explored SpudFiles.com, a wiki dedicated to spud guns, sharing jokes and community-driven content that showcases the quirky side of this hobby.

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Travel Tales: Dan’s Japan Adventures

Dan Rykert shared his recent trip to Japan, recounting a memorable mishap with the bullet train system. He humorously detailed boarding the wrong train, only to realize his mistake midway, leading to a chaotic yet amusing situation.

“I was on the wrong bullet train… I'm in Kyoto” ([14:07] Dan Rykert).

Dan also visited the newly opened Nintendo Museum, expressing his excitement as a dedicated Nintendo fan and collector. He showcased his quirky memorabilia, including a giant Nintendo 64 controller pillow, adding a personal touch to his travel story.

“There's a Nintendo 64 controller on top of the fridge behind me there” ([16:39] Dan Rykert).

Mary chimed in with her favorite findings from Costco during her trip, reinforcing their shared love for quirky and bulk-buy items.

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Gaming Deep Dive

The hosts transitioned to their passion for video games, discussing various titles and their experiences:

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of the Kingdom

Mike shared his experiences with the latest Zelda installment, praising its innovative mechanics and engaging storyline. Dan echoed these sentiments, highlighting the game’s ability to blend modern gameplay elements with classic Zelda charm.

“It's a full-fledged Zelda game” ([66:25] Dan Rykert).

Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines

Mary introduced the sequel to Grapple Dogs, titled Grapple Dogs: Cosmic Canines. She described the game’s cooperative mechanics and the addition of a second, sassy dog with new abilities.

“Cosmic Canines adds a secondary dog. Now there is a girl dog” ([87:05] Mary Kish).

Dan and Mike discussed the game’s intricate level design and the freedom it offers players, comparing it to classic titles like Mario 64 and Splatoon.

Core Keeper and Dead Rising Remake

Mary enthusiastically reviewed Core Keeper, a cooperative game that emphasizes teamwork and strategic planning. Dan reminisced about his fondness for the Dead Rising remake, appreciating its unique humor and gameplay mechanics.

“It's super unique… well, very fun where you grab insane weapons and just carve through them” ([93:21] Dan Rykert).

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Marriage and Relationship Advice

Shifting gears, the hosts shared personal insights and advice on maintaining healthy marriages. Dan and Mike reflected on their relationships, emphasizing the importance of communication, empathy, and mutual support.

“You need to really think about it and be like, wow, how can I help this person?” ([128:51] Mary Kish).

Mary added her perspective on the significance of being present and supportive, advocating for couples therapy as a valuable tool for strengthening relationships.

“Couples therapy is so awesome… It is not a thing for, like, couples in trouble” ([132:12] Mary Kish).

The conversation underscored the value of understanding and accommodating each other’s differences, fostering a strong and resilient partnership.

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Listener Emails and Community Engagement

The hosts engaged with their audience by reading and responding to listener emails. Highlights included:

• Max from Austin: Seeking advice for a happy and healthy marriage, especially with an upcoming wedding.

“Have you any advice since she's been there a while. Love you guys.” ([135:14] Mary Kish).

• Aaron from Warren, Pennsylvania: Praising the podcast and sharing his meditation and running habits.

“I meditate a lot. I run a lot” ([151:10] Dan Rykert).

Mary provided thoughtful responses, reinforcing the community spirit of the podcast and offering encouragement and support.

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Concluding Remarks

As the episode wrapped up, the hosts extended their gratitude to listeners, celebrated friendships, and teased upcoming content. They also discussed future milestones, such as episode #100, hinting at special plans to commemorate this significant achievement.

“We'll be back on October 21st with episode 92” ([161:31] Mike Mahardy).

The episode concluded on a high note, reinforcing the camaraderie and dynamic energy that Fire Escape Cast is known for.

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Notable Quotes

• Mary Kish on Artist Alley:
  “It's totally different than pax, which is like, art booths of people who have really good art.” ([01:04] Mary Kish)

• Dan Rykert on Marriage:
  “It's about leveling up whatever hand that you can that you think you'll actually get a lot and score.” ([125:47] Dan Rykert)

• Mike Mahardy on Relationships:
  “We are a team. This is just an argument like, you're wrong and I'm right. But at the end of the day, we're a team.” ([127:11] Mike Mahardy)

• Mary Kish on Therapy:
  “Couples therapy is so awesome… It is not a thing for, like, couples in trouble.” ([132:12] Mary Kish)

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Final Thoughts

Episode #91 of Fire Escape Cast masterfully balances humor, personal stories, and insightful discussions, making it a must-listen for fans and newcomers alike. Whether you’re passionate about gaming, navigating relationships, or simply enjoy witty banter, this episode delivers a rich and engaging experience that encapsulates the essence of the podcast.

For more information and to support the hosts, visit fireescapecast.com.

Transcript

[Mike Mahardy]

Hello, everybody. Welcome back to the Fire Escape cast. It is episode 91. I'm Mike Mahardy, back with the whole gang, the whole crew. That's Dan Rykert.

[Dan Rykert]

That's me. Hello.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's Mary Kish.

[Mary Kish]

I'm back, baby.

[Mike Mahardy]

Where were you last episode?

[Mary Kish]

I was in San Diego for TwitchCon.

[Dan Rykert]

You were on the stage again?

[Mary Kish]

Yes. It's super fun. We had a really good weekend talking about streaming, and I got to meet a lot of really amazing creators, and we have something called Artist Alley, where we can buy art and knickknacks from people who stream their art. And it's really cool. It's, like, totally different than pax, which is like, art booths of people who are like, I have really good art. These are streamers who stream maybe, like, digital painting or making keyboard keycaps. And then you can buy their stuff or you could also just, like, watch their streams.

[Dan Rykert]

So does Twitch display that at the convention?

[Mary Kish]

Mm.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, nice.

[Mary Kish]

It's a whole section of the convention hall is just, like, buy stuff that are made by arts and crafters who also stream their arts and crafts, which is, I think, really neat and very different than most other conventions. I get a lot of, like, weird, funky stuff there.

[Dan Rykert]

That is cool.

[Mike Mahardy]

What were some of the coolest things you saw being made? Or are you not allowed? Favorites?

[Mary Kish]

I can. I play favorites every day. I obviously have favorites of certain people that I like, watch a lot. I watch, like, for example, like, I always bring up turtles and chill when someone's like, who's your favorite streamer? It's like, I watch turtles and chill like, every day. So, like, of course I play favorites.

[Dan Rykert]

Is that actual turtle footage, like, live?

[Mary Kish]

It's a fucking turtle tank in someone's.

[Dan Rykert]

Really?

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, my God.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's got the pigeon feeders and the owl nests. I love that shirt.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but it's just. It's set to, like, lo fi beads. So I listen to it while I work, and it's kind of like having a turtle tank in my house, but I don't have to deal with the turtle smell or feeding them or anything.

[Dan Rykert]

This camera quality. This is fantastic. We got frames here. This looks great.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'd look it up. My Internet is being a dick. In case anybody wonders why my time. My comedic timing is off for a bit. And I know my timing is usually perfect. It's because my Internet's hitching.

[Mary Kish]

It's the Internet's fault.

[Mike Mahardy]

What if you're watching that and in the middle of the day, 2:15pm say, one of the turtles just started becoming a man.

[Mary Kish]

Uh huh. Uh huh.

[Mike Mahardy]

In the.

[Dan Rykert]

Quickly.

[Mike Mahardy]

No. Yeah, quickly enough.

[Mary Kish]

It's like shoving its face.

[Dan Rykert]

Is it like seaman? Like over the course of several days?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, it's quickly enough where you could text your friend and they'd jump on and miss it, but slow enough where you, like, see the transformation happening.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Do they kiss the shell? Like, is it a naked man with a shell?

[Mike Mahardy]

The shell becomes his hair.

[Dan Rykert]

Like a jockstrap or a cup type.

[Mike Mahardy]

Situation Or a jockstrap.

[Mary Kish]

Is he nude?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

He's very old.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a Benjamin Button turtle situation.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Like all the turtle ears translated into more human ears.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. What if that happened and he has the memories too?

[Mike Mahardy]

Who. Who's the first person you would text Mary to say, go To Turtles and Chill.911 Twitch TV TurtlesAndChill I Pro.

[Mary Kish]

I. Oh, God, I don't know. I think I would take clips and then I would tweet it so that I get the attention for it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Dan. Dan just admitted he would swat the turtle man.

[Mary Kish]

Dude.

[Dan Rykert]

I would learn a lot.

[Mary Kish]

I learned. I've learned a lot that Dan is a bit of a narc recently. And I have to say, it's a bit.

[Dan Rykert]

What are you referring.

[Mary Kish]

Just admitted to it. You were talking earlier, before we were recording, about how when you worked at a liquor store, you would report anyone who wasn't 21 because you got $50.

[Dan Rykert]

That's not what I said. What I said was when I worked at the liquor store in college, I always wanted to do that because they would give me $50. I rarely found. I didn't know how to spot a fake id, So I did not actually narc anyone. I just desperately wanted to.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but you're still a bad person.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is like, papers, please, but pathetic.

[Dan Rykert]

They were college kids. You're not supposed to drink when you're under 21. You know, you gotta be careful.

[Mary Kish]

You are such a little snitch. He's not law abiding. He wants. And if wants $50 in his pocket, he's gonna ruin some stupid kid's life.

[Dan Rykert]

Just to ruin life.

[Mary Kish]

You can underage drinking is a total offense, man.

[Dan Rykert]

I got an mip. It's fine. It's 600 bucks, Corinne. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I think it's just crazy the bar that it takes for you to be inspired to do something not great.

[Dan Rykert]

I was. I was 21, to be fair. So I don't think I would do that now. But you don't college, Dan. I would. I wouldn't. Worked for 50 bucks in college, I need.

[Mary Kish]

But, like, if I gave you $50 for the next time somebody underage ever was drinking, would you call 91 1?

[Dan Rykert]

No, I would not. First of all, I would call 911 anyway. It would be a. Oh, we're taking your ID. Because they had a big cork board and they would put them all up there. And I was always jealous of my coworkers who would, like, fill up that corkboard with all the fake IDs.

[Mike Mahardy]

What did they, like, ever give you any tips on the best ways to spot a fake?

[Dan Rykert]

I don't know. I mean, I was really bad at working there. That was the liquor store where I used to hide in the free or in the beer fridge whenever somebody, like, if. Because it was a college place. So if I saw an older couple, and older at the time meant 30s, I knew that they were going to go to the wine section and ask questions that I didn't know. So I would just go hide in the beer fridge until they left the store.

[Mike Mahardy]

You said this before. It's very funny. And now.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, now I got a Begner right here. My glass.

[Mike Mahardy]

How is the.

[Mary Kish]

It's.

[Dan Rykert]

Is it supposed to be a really strong taste? I'm worried. Does it go bad? I heard it was, like, fruity.

[Mike Mahardy]

Viognier is usually is a bit more like tropical fruit, but it's aromatic. They add it to certain Rhone wines to give it more of a nose. But it tastes bad.

[Dan Rykert]

It's kind of not bad. Like. Like, I don't know if it went bad. It's got, like, a bite to it. I don't know if the fruit in it, expired fruit, is tart, though.

[Mary Kish]

Like, you'd think that maybe like, a very fruity wine would also be, like, fairly acidic. I heard you'll know when a wine goes bad. It's never happened to me, but it happened to a coworker of mine and they said, like, it tastes like rotten fruit. Like, it doesn't taste acidic. It's like. Like you feel, like, disgusted.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, this is not that. Definitely not.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. That's not a sign of. If a wine is corked, which is like, when certain bacteria interact with cork and everything. No, it's just a phrase. If, like, something interacts with the cork and it spoils, it tastes like damp cardboard in a basement. Is the telltale sign that that's my.

[Dan Rykert]

Flavor profile on first leaf is I. I say I want damp cardboard in the basement.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Do you like brioche? Yes. Do you like coffee? No. Do you like damp Cardboard. Love it.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Do I ever.

[Dan Rykert]

You could eat cardboard, right?

[Mike Mahardy]

I have. Yeah. It's just paper, but it's stacked and triangular.

[Mary Kish]

What do you mean you have.

[Mike Mahardy]

What did. What did I say?

[Dan Rykert]

Did he stutter?

[Mary Kish]

No, I mean, I understand, but did you think it was like a giant Cheez it or like, are you just down there, like munching cardboard, you little freak.

[Mike Mahardy]

I just ate paper when I was young all the time.

[Mary Kish]

Why?

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

Also, cardboard isn't paper. Why does anybody do anything move past it? I will. I will abide by children eating glue every once in a while because they're ding dongs. But if you are ripping pieces of a moving box and eating it, I would have called help.

[Dan Rykert]

If I ate a full cardboard box, would that contain calories I have? No, because it's just energy, right? Calories, Energy, Right. Could I, like, meet my minimum calorie? Like, could I eat 2000s calories a day of boxes?

[Mary Kish]

How did we get here? No, I think that is be like, no eating celery, where you burn calories, take more calories to chew the cardboard than you would get from the cardboard again.

[Mike Mahardy]

But I just can't imagine that.

[Dan Rykert]

I just googled, does cardboard have calories? And Google AI says yes, cardboard contains calories.

[Mary Kish]

When you fucking write an article like that, if you fucking put that in a college essay, you would get an F because AI is not a fucking fact. Second of all, here's a Reddit answer. Shut the fuck up. It also doesn't answer what?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, Wikipedia, which is.

[Mary Kish]

We're saying it could contain calories, but you would lose calories from the amount of energy it takes for you to chew it and for you to digest it. Kind of like when you, like, eat snow to stay hydrated, but it actually dehydrates you because your body has to regulate that temperature.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm not a doctor, but I also just feel like that much amount of cardboard in your stomach at once would have many other negative side effects.

[Mary Kish]

Not only are you not a doctor, but one of the people on this podcast. Podcast is a fucking idiot.

[Dan Rykert]

Hang on, I'm educating myself. Freeform Fitness, the website says, okay, the cardboard diet. Cardboard is 100% cellulose because you don't have the enzyme required to digest it. Simply moving it through your body would require more energy calories than you'd get from the cardboard.

[Mike Mahardy]

See, that's what we said.

[Dan Rykert]

That's what I said. You will lower ldl, you'll increase hdl, you'll lower triglycerides.

[Mary Kish]

Another vacation. I cannot. We said that to you.

[Dan Rykert]

No. Check the table.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is there a cardboard diet? People do that.

[Dan Rykert]

It's on this personal trainer website and they're talking about it, but I think they're saying it's not good.

[Mike Mahardy]

The personal trainer is just Timothy J. Turry.

[Dan Rykert]

Just like the cardboard diet that may seem to work in the early stages in terms of losing weight, it's disguised by an unsustainable strategy to keeping the weight off for good and living a healthy life. So it's not. Eating cardboard is not a good long term.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, okay. Good.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Glad we cleared that up.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

This man. When I. Glad we're all back together.

[Mike Mahardy]

On the podcast where this.

[Mary Kish]

I'm exhausted. How long has it been?

[Mike Mahardy]

What is it, eight, six hours?

[Mary Kish]

It's eight minutes. I can't believe this.

[Mike Mahardy]

When Mary, I noticed you're not drinking wine.

[Dan Rykert]

Where's your viog here?

[Mary Kish]

I'm drinking. I'm drinking whiskey and Coca Cola. Mexican Coke with the actual sugar, which is like my favorite type of Coca Cola. Guys, I'm back on the Costco train. It's life changing.

[Mike Mahardy]

They have.

[Dan Rykert]

You've seen the Costco guys, right?

[Mary Kish]

They have fucking everything, Mike, and it's so good.

[Dan Rykert]

You guys know the Costco guys, right?

[Mary Kish]

Who's the Costco guys? Oh, yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Chocolate cookie and boom. That thing is a wrestler. You don't know the Costco? Oh, Mike, you would love the Costco guys. AJ and Big Justice.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, cool names.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, they review Costco stuff and make funny skits.

[Mike Mahardy]

But they're wrestling.

[Dan Rykert]

They do not.

[Mary Kish]

First and foremost, eight years old.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, the dad used to be an indie wrestler like 20 years ago. But he did just sign a one match contract with AEW so he's going to do like a gimmick match there. But he's known for being the Costco.

[Mary Kish]

Guys wrestling in here. Anyway, so Costco is back on the menu. I have not been to Costco in years because I didn't think I could justify it because I have a lot of people in this house. I feel like Costco was for the family of six or higher that needed to have large meals for people. It turns out Costco is just for the saving enthusiast who wants to buy Cheez its in bulk and that's me.

[Dan Rykert]

Toilet paper, paper plates, paper bowls, party supplies, things like that. You know, Gatorades and any kind of drinks or anything. They have a pretty limited soda assortment but they got the, you know, the Diet Cokes and the Sprites and the regular stuff. It's great. I Love Costco.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. It's where I got the. It's where I got these Mexican Cokes in glass bottles, which is so such a treat, right? Like, I wouldn't normally buy something like that, but I was like, ooh, what a treat for Mary to like get these like fancy Cokes that usually cost a lot of money per Coke, but when you get them in bulk like that. And I have a basement now, guess what else I did that's very adult. I bought a basement freezer.

[Dan Rykert]

I thought you were gonna say you bought a basement. Well, that's. That seems like a home.

[Mary Kish]

Impressive.

[Dan Rykert]

So for me, yeah, sodas or alcohol and other.

[Mary Kish]

I don't think you should put soda in a freezer.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, right, right, right.

[Mary Kish]

I don't know what Google AI has to say about that, but I'm pretty sure it's fucking bad.

[Dan Rykert]

Let's see.

[Mike Mahardy]

It'll explode.

[Mary Kish]

I hate that he googles AI's things.

[Dan Rykert]

You can put soda water in the freezer to cool it quickly if you have to.

[Mike Mahardy]

You can put anything in the freezer to cool it quickly if you have to. I do it with a lot of stuff.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, wait. AI says it can, it can, it can burst. That has happened. And that'll scare the shit out of you.

[Mary Kish]

It's bad advice to put something in the freezer to cool it quickly. How many of us have ever said, I'm going to put it in the freezer to cool it quickly, but I'm going to take it out and then you forget.

[Dan Rykert]

Like, what I do is I take. I got a hack here where you take. You got a can that's room temperature and you take a paper towel, you drench it in water.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

You wrap it around and you put in the freezer and it freezes the ice quickly and it works quick.

[Mike Mahardy]

You do that. That's like a wine hack as well. If you're trying to cool down like an Alberino or something super quick. You can also take an ice bucket with water in it. You pour a ton of salt in it. The salt lowers the freezing point of water so the water can get below 32 degrees Fahrenheit without freezing. And then you could put the bottle in it and it will be way cool it down much faster.

[Dan Rykert]

Huh? Nice. Look at us. We're all.

[Mike Mahardy]

The only thing I learned.

[Dan Rykert]

Look at us, we're all very smart.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's up? What else is new?

[Dan Rykert]

I went to Japan.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh yeah?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Mary, what have you been up to?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's been a really busy time for Me, Dan, what was going on? First interesting thing.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, go for it. Most interesting thing.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

We said, oh, I had a fun time when I got on the wrong bullet train. And if there had not been a stop coming up, I would have been stuck on the wrong bullet train for like an hour and a half, which.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is quite the distance on a bullet train.

[Dan Rykert]

Yes. That's a good chunk of the way across Japan. So, oops, I'm in Kyoto. Yeah. Well, it basically was because I had a reserved seat on the bullet train. So I get on the car and I look and it like, immediately leaves the station. And so it's moving and I notice there's a guy sitting in my seat. And I'm like, okay. Hopefully he speaks English. Hopefully this is all okay. And I pointed at the thing, I was like, oh, is this mine? And he was like, I forgot how he let me know. But basically it was clear I was on the wrong train. Oh, yeah. Because he gave his son had a Google Translate thing. And it was like, you're on the wrong train. And so I'm just standing there on the bullet train. There's like 100 people sitting there. Yeah. Hurtling across Japan at 200 miles an hour, standing. And everyone's looking at me, and it's clear I'm the dumbass American. I got all my luggage and stuff with me.

[Mary Kish]

You're standing.

[Mike Mahardy]

You could pass for Japanese.

[Dan Rykert]

I think so. I've heard that. Thank you. Yeah, so it was just like a whole back and forth and I did get to understanding where I needed to go before the last opportunity to get off the train. So I got off, got on the next one. It was fine. But that bullet train's good as hell. Like, Japan has a lot of things just figured out. Like, there a lot of good food, the transportation stuff. It's just. It's a. It's clean, it's safe. It's just a cool country. Yeah. I mean, I guess I've only been to Tokyo and Kyoto, but, man, both super impressive. Like, really, that place. I flew into Tokyo and then took the train down to Kyoto. Yeah. Cool. So, yeah, and get all sorts of, like, fun little coffees and onigiri and stuff like that.

[Mary Kish]

And, you know, you get a boss coffee.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I get a couple beers and bring it on the. On the train. It was fantastic. Yeah, I got boss. Boss is great. And just a. So much 711 snack stuff while I was out there. It was awesome. So. But yeah, also went to the Nintendo Museum, which I wrote a big thing on. Gamespot.com, if you want to read all the details. But long story short, it is fantastic. It's open now to the public, so I'm curious to see how it is for people going in with crowds and lines and stuff like that. I'm curious how well that's handled because that's the one thing I couldn't get a sense of while I was there because it was just like a few press people there, so. But yeah, it's incredibly impressive for me, a Nintendo fan, a collector, it is just like they could not have done a better job.

[Mary Kish]

I don't think I heard the plushies, the giant plushies were like a big deal.

[Dan Rykert]

There is a Nintendo 64 controller on top of the fridge behind me there.

[Mary Kish]

Let me see it. Go get it.

[Dan Rykert]

I'll go get it.

[Mary Kish]

Go get it.

[Mike Mahardy]

I've been in Japan in a while.

[Mary Kish]

It'S been ages for me, and I'm so into going, but I don't have a good excuse outside of, like, personal reasons, but that's a huge trip to plan, right? Like, that's a lot to plan for. Whereas, like, if it's a work trip, it's like, oh, well, I have to go to Japan for three days and, like, that seems, like, worth doing. But dang. Yeah, I really wanna go. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

What for a Resident Evil 7 thing back in the day. And then. Cool.

[Dan Rykert]

I just stepped in pee.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nice.

[Mary Kish]

What the fuck?

[Mike Mahardy]

What?

[Mary Kish]

It's so solid.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Got the analog.

[Mary Kish]

No, don't do that.

[Dan Rykert]

Don't do that.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, don't do that.

[Dan Rykert]

No.

[Mary Kish]

Nobody buy the video version this year. This week.

[Dan Rykert]

Patreon number is going up now. Look at that. Yeah. Don't use two fingers.

[Mike Mahardy]

Strong. If only it was that easy to find in real life. You know what I mean?

[Dan Rykert]

What's that?

[Mike Mahardy]

That's a pretty cool pillow.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

I wanted to get more. They had Wiimotes, they had a Famicom controller, Super Famicom controllers. But the 64 one is just such a goofy controller that I love so much. So having a giant pillow of it felt like I had to buy some extra luggage to fit that in and check that. It literally.

[Mike Mahardy]

How did you.

[Dan Rykert]

I went to Don Quixote and bought a thing that's like one of those tiny, like, bags. And you unzip it and it's like a 65 liter thing and you can check it. And if TSA had checked that bag, they would have thought it was just some dumbass kid flying from Japan. It was a giant Nintendo 64 controller and, like a couple hundred dollars worth of candy.

[Mike Mahardy]

What was your favorite food?

[Dan Rykert]

You got Coco Ichibanya. They had those in New York. Coco Ichibania is incredible. It's just got the tonkatsu curry with the cheese. It's.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, it's delicious. You can't. They. They make it perfect every time. It's so. It's so fucking delicious. I think it is the best thing that people can get. And it's so funny because they're everywhere. And they're not special, but they're beautiful and perfect.

[Dan Rykert]

They're cheap. They're everywhere. They're just. God damn, it's so great. That was one of my favorites when I went with Tim Terry back in the day. We would either several times per trip and have not had it in a while.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's a great suggestion too, for anyone who's going there. Just go to a Coco, man. You're gonna have a great time. You're gonna enjoy yourself.

[Mike Mahardy]

Dan, you'll appreciate where we're going tomorrow for dinner. It's Menkoisado ramen on Cornelia in the village.

[Dan Rykert]

Nice, nice. We went to some good ramen places when I lived out there.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's getting chilly. So I'm in soup mode.

[Dan Rykert]

Ramen season.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know, but, like, it's adjacent to soup for sure. Nope, Definitely adjacent to soup noodles.

[Dan Rykert]

Is cereal soup?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, not at all.

[Dan Rykert]

What's the difference?

[Mike Mahardy]

Cold cereals. Cold cereal has.

[Dan Rykert]

There's cold soup.

[Mike Mahardy]

Soup also has noodles. Listen, chicken noodle soup is the name.

[Dan Rykert]

Of a soup, but it's. There's a ratio.

[Mary Kish]

Gazpacho.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, but cereal is. Has noodles and chicken noodle soup has noodles.

[Mary Kish]

So he's trying to use gazpacho to his benefit.

[Dan Rykert]

It has to be mostly liquid to count as a soup. Ramen is mostly noodle. The weight. If you were to put it on like, you know, the like, injustice for all scales.

[Mike Mahardy]

I promise you soup is not. The majority of the weight in soup is not in the liquid either.

[Dan Rykert]

That's what I'm saying. Wait. Oh, and soup.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. No, you're having some shitty soup then.

[Dan Rykert]

Tomato soup is mostly liquid, okay?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, soup has no chunks. I'm talking about like chicken noodle or like potato. Potato soup.

[Dan Rykert]

Does potato soup have a full. I've only had tomato soup. And.

[Mary Kish]

Dude, have you ever had, like a.

[Mike Mahardy]

Loaded why soup expert if you've only had tomato soup?

[Dan Rykert]

Because I just know how the world works, Mike.

[Mary Kish]

Why don't you fucking AI this? Let's use it against you, okay?

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, yeah, I'll ask AI AI. Is. Is ramen soup? Look, we don't need to talk about it.

[Mary Kish]

Well, well, well.

[Mike Mahardy]

To be clear.

[Mary Kish]

Something for Mary.

[Mike Mahardy]

To be clear.

[Mary Kish]

I'm actually pro. AI. I'm gonna Google it just because I want to make sure.

[Dan Rykert]

I mean, it's unclear the way they word it. It is unclear. So you can look it up yourself.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, no. Okay. To be clear, I don't really like. If I'm going out for ramen. I don't say I'm in a soup mood. I was quoting George Costanza. And I was just saying I'm in soup mode because it's chili and ramen is soup adjacent. So we're going to Men Quizado. For the record, if anybody's ever in New York and you're down in the Village, go to Cornelia Street. All you swifty fans will know she used to live there. But there's a place called Menkoi Sato Ramen. They don't take reservations. They also have really good tonkatsu. They have a good sake selection, really good beer selection. But the spicy shoyu Tokyo Shoyu ramen is really good. Like crimson broth. It's awesome.

[Dan Rykert]

Had some ramen out there too. Yeah, it was fantastic.

[Mary Kish]

Really good soup.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

The word, like it says. Okay. AI says which? You can't trust it. It says, yes. Ramen is a Japanese noodle soup. So it's unclear.

[Mary Kish]

Well, well, well. Is pho soup?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, pho.

[Mike Mahardy]

If pho is soup, then ramen is definitely soup. Pho has way.

[Dan Rykert]

It's skinnier noodles. And the bamboo doesn't weigh a lot, so I think the weight thing would be more liquid.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is your pho only. Does it only have noodles and bamboo?

[Dan Rykert]

I get some meat in there, but it's like little. Little tiny, like, slices. Heavy. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Hoisin sauce. Now I'm hungry.

[Dan Rykert]

It's soupy.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, we're just getting now I'm just getting hungry now.

[Mike Mahardy]

Daddy needs his ramen now.

[Dan Rykert]

Just drank a soylent. A soylent soup?

[Mike Mahardy]

I have no idea.

[Mary Kish]

Cold. Don't you bring up gazpacho. It's cold, so it doesn't count. Soylent is served cold, so gazpacho is not soup. If you bring up gazpacho one more time.

[Mike Mahardy]

But what if you're having leftover soup that's cold?

[Mary Kish]

That's all you have. Gazpacho. And Google AI.

[Dan Rykert]

You can add cold tomato soup, but it's tiny soup. Yeah. It doesn't turn into a sandwich.

[Mike Mahardy]

Right. But if gazpacho's cold, then what's stopping it from being soup.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it's soup. I think Mary's just being unreasonable.

[Mary Kish]

I. It is soup, but it's not a good argument for why, like, all liquids aren't soup. Because now the guy who just compared.

[Mike Mahardy]

Cereal to soup had a bad argument about another form of soup.

[Dan Rykert]

Is my viognier a soup?

[Mike Mahardy]

Guys, like, do you see?

[Mary Kish]

Do you see why I said gazpacho? Can't count.

[Dan Rykert]

This cabernet.

[Mary Kish]

Really Opening up Pandora's box. It's like debating poncho. A soup with the biggest ding dong. We know that it's a soup.

[Dan Rykert]

It's chilled soup. It's chilled soup.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah, we know that. It's. It's fine. But you open up the gate that all liquid is soup, which is stupid.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like a hot, obviously thing.

[Mary Kish]

A smoothie is not soup. Right. Like if you put it on a bowl.

[Dan Rykert]

What if you had a hot smoothie? Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

What does dictate soup? It have to be a meat broth. Meat based broth. Because.

[Mary Kish]

No, because you can have vegetable soup.

[Dan Rykert]

Everything would be a soup.

[Mike Mahardy]

Vegetable soup, baby salt water with vegetables in it.

[Dan Rykert]

Is the ocean a soup?

[Mary Kish]

Split pea soup. God. I mean, what is the ocean if not the soup of the earth?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Can you ask Google AI to define soup?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, let's see. Define soup. This is just from the dictionary. A liquid dish typically made by boiling meat, fish or vegetables, et cetera, in stock or water.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, so there's no boiling with smoothies.

[Dan Rykert]

Is it boiling with ramen?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes, yes, for sure. Is there boiling water? Do you think they make the broth gazpacho?

[Dan Rykert]

I have no idea how broth happens.

[Mary Kish]

I think so here's the trick. Gazpacho is originally was hot and then it's served chilled. Oh, so it's hot tomato soup and then they chill it and serve it chilled.

[Mike Mahardy]

Mm.

[Dan Rykert]

I think I just assumed broth.

[Mary Kish]

Why did you say that?

[Mike Mahardy]

Cause I'm hungry as fuck now.

[Mary Kish]

Is hungry the same as horny? There was something, Something really stressful.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, I thought broth was just like meat sweat. Like if you just like, if you like grabbed like a cow's leg like a towel and turned it, like, broth would come out.

[Mike Mahardy]

Many people have thought that. Surprisingly enough. No, I. No, I believe the meat undoubtedly adds flavor to the broth. But broth, there's like, there could be bone broth as well. There's a bone broth place downtown New York at Simone de Rochefort is obsessed with it. I don't know.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't think I'D want that.

[Mike Mahardy]

I mean, it tastes good.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, but I don't wanna eat bones.

[Mary Kish]

You eat bones all the time. You just don't know about it.

[Dan Rykert]

I've never eaten a single bone.

[Mary Kish]

You were eating bone adjacent meats and like dishes all the time.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Bones. Yeah. Like chicken nuggets were hanging out by bones at one point.

[Mary Kish]

The main ingredient in Tonkotsu ramen is it's bones, baby.

[Mike Mahardy]

You're eating bone broth with a lot of things.

[Mary Kish]

You're eating bone broth.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is that from the.

[Mary Kish]

Every ramen is bone broth flavor? Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

No, it's pork.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

Or beef.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, the pork is just added to it and then it gets flavor.

[Mary Kish]

Is bone based?

[Dan Rykert]

I don't think so.

[Mary Kish]

I hate this, man.

[Mike Mahardy]

A chicken tonkatsu or it has bones.

[Dan Rykert]

You don't eat those though.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Like with a buffalo wing, you don't just swallow it.

[Mike Mahardy]

You don't speak for yourself.

[Dan Rykert]

No. I bet you could.

[Mary Kish]

I eat my chicken wings like a duck shred.

[Mike Mahardy]

Fucking call the doctor the next day because you're doing shredding tushy.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh God. Just shitting out a bunch of bones.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

That's why they say you're not supposed to give bones to dogs is because it can like split while they're shitting and stuff like that.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, split, shits, splits.

[Dan Rykert]

Do dogs eat full on bones?

[Mary Kish]

Totally. Dev, you ever seen a cartoon before?

[Dan Rykert]

A dog?

[Mary Kish]

And every cartoon is like munging on a bone that's like.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it seems like a fetch thing or a chew on it thing, you know.

[Mary Kish]

They absolutely are ripping it apart and consuming it. Go into a dog store.

[Dan Rykert]

Gizmo's shaking his head.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, I won't.

[Mary Kish]

Gizmo is not a dog. That's just a toy with fur. And you've been giving soft chews too for the last 10 years. Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Fair.

[Mike Mahardy]

We went back into that pet store where you bought that catnip that you fed me. Yeah, that was a good time.

[Mary Kish]

I also bought a taxi for Simone. A taxi dog toy. There.

[Dan Rykert]

Does that still survive or does Simon destroy toys?

[Mary Kish]

Simon doesn't destroy toys. He like kind of nibbles at them. And he does like to play fetch, which is when I throw it and he catches it and then drops it and runs. Runs somewhere else and forgets that we were playing a game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Do you think he's bored of you or it's like a middle finger or he really just doesn't know what's going on?

[Mary Kish]

I like to think that he just doesn't understand the concept of Return. He likes chasing. So I actually invented a game with Simone called treat Fetch, where we go to the basement, which is carpeted, so he has traction down there, and I throw treats.

[Mike Mahardy]

Fucking bragging about her basement a lot.

[Mary Kish]

I know. I just bought it. I just bought it.

[Mike Mahardy]

My dog's in the basement all the time.

[Mary Kish]

I throw a treat, and he chases it like a. Like he would like a rabbit in the wild. And he gobbles it up, and then he looks around, and then he runs back to me, and we just. We play treat fetch all the time. I constructed it because I couldn't get him to run. My dog, like, has no interest in, like, actually exercising. Treat fetch is the only time I can get that dude to sprint.

[Dan Rykert]

I feel like Simone's shape is not conducive to running.

[Mary Kish]

What do you mean? He's just, like, an athlete.

[Dan Rykert]

He's a nugget with little stumps.

[Mary Kish]

Like, shot put. Yeah. I mean, he's got a little stubby chicken nugget body and legs and no tail, and he can't breathe well. But I think that with the right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Prerequisites to a varsity athlete, the right.

[Mary Kish]

Throw of a treat, I mean, you really see the legs fly, and, I mean, it's so aerodynamic. It's like. Have you ever seen someone throw a potato at full speed?

[Dan Rykert]

No. I've seen them launch them. Have you seen people throw potatoes?

[Mary Kish]

That's actually the same concept. Yeah. Think of it. Replace someone throwing with a potato launcher, and that's kind of like what my dog looks like in a field at full speed.

[Dan Rykert]

Tattoo guy wants to set his beard on fire with a potato launcher.

[Mary Kish]

He makes the same noise, too.

[Mike Mahardy]

Flume. How do you set. Where was the flame coming from?

[Dan Rykert]

I don't know. It was a very old, very drunk man with a giant beard that my dad and I ran into at the Vegas Lounge, and he was talking about. Yeah, he had a potato launcher, and he lost, like, half of his beard once when he, like, some sort of fire from it, like, just totally just ignited his beard.

[Mike Mahardy]

Aren't spud guns made from, like, PVC piping?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

Well, the rudimentary ones, because I think you can, like, do it in your backyard, right? Like, I think there's, like, homemade potato guns, and then there's, like, legitimate ones that you don't. You fucking AI this.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm looking on Amazon for potato launchers.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah, there's, like, FBI.

[Mary Kish]

There's, like, legitimate ones with airsoft guns. Right. They use, like, air canisters and stuff like that. But I'm sure, like, there's all sorts of redneck versions of it where they just.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, you got different versions here. You can get the Bully Potato Gun 2.0. You can get to the City Slicker or the Urban Warrior potato Gun.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's the difference between the City Slicker and the Urban Warrior?

[Dan Rykert]

Great question. Urban Warrior has better reviews. It is cheaper. Oh, la la.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's this city size?

[Dan Rykert]

It looks bigger. Barrel length. Okay, it's barrel length diameter. No, diameter is the same. The length, 18 inches for the Urban Warrior. It's 12 inches for the City Slicker.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, so for you city types. Yeah, I'm closer to Urban Warrior.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, we got a city boy here with his 12 inch potato launcher.

[Mike Mahardy]

Those measurements seem.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, about. Come on now. Don't watch the video.

[Mike Mahardy]

So the longer one is less expensive but better reviewed.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah, no, no. The cheapest one is the lowest reviewed and the most expensive one is also poorly reviewed. It's the middle. It's the urban warning when you want.

[Mike Mahardy]

But it's shorter than the City Slicker.

[Dan Rykert]

That's true. And the bully is huge. It seems. Six rounds. It's a. It's a six shooter of potatoes.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's.

[Mary Kish]

You just. I can't think of a use case where I gotta have. I gotta. I gotta shoot one potato and have five in the pocket just in case someone else comes at me, you know, you never.

[Mike Mahardy]

You don't know, you go out to.

[Mary Kish]

Ramen some night, all those wild hogs. I gotta have my six potatoes slinger. Like a fucking western. And you're just like, this town ain't big enough for the two of us.

[Dan Rykert]

Revolver, ocelot of potato guns. You have to use hairspray, aerosol hairspray. You have to use to make this work.

[Mike Mahardy]

I've seen in, like videos, they tap, they release the pressure really quick on the hairspray and then it just shoots the potato.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, wow.

[Mike Mahardy]

Maybe. Maybe it's.

[Mary Kish]

And you see this shoots the potato.

[Dan Rykert]

It's got a barrel knife. Is it like a bayonet?

[Mary Kish]

Fucking World War I. If you can't, don't shoot the potato.

[Dan Rykert]

Until you see the white.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is like a fallout weapon.

[Dan Rykert]

It says barrel knife, but there's not. That must mean something else because there's no knife. There's no blade visible on this launcher. Oh, cool. Pictures. Yeah. There's fire. There's fire.

[Mary Kish]

Why?

[Dan Rykert]

I don't know. But there's like a flame coming out of it. These guys look cool, don't they?

[Mike Mahardy]

Don't you have to hold it like a minigun.

[Dan Rykert]

Sorry. I'm trying to take in this customer picture here. Wow, this is cool. We should get these.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't, like. I don't know whether it's. Are they, like, in good standing?

[Dan Rykert]

Spud guns do. You can buy them on Amazon so they're legal. We could do, like, a charity stream or something where, for an incentive for, like, $100 donation, one of us shoots the other in the stomach with a potato.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't think they're. Yeah, I think they're pretty.

[Mary Kish]

This is why you should not even own anything that remotely.

[Mike Mahardy]

Can you look up how many psi? How many. Is that the right phrasing? How many psi does this?

[Dan Rykert]

It is pneumatic.

[Mike Mahardy]

That just means it's pressurized.

[Dan Rykert]

It's like the thing at the bank. Right.

[Mike Mahardy]

I cannot believe within, like, the tubes.

[Mary Kish]

Or one minute of you wanting to buy a gun. The idea was that we would shoot each other with a gun as a reward.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I really don't think that's safe.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm not a gun owner.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm not a gun owner or a doctor, but I don't think that's safe.

[Dan Rykert]

Vinny was not happy with me once when somebody sent us a mailbag with a bunch of gimmicks in it. And one of them was, like, one of those crazy slingshots that's got, like, the forearm rest and stuff. Like, it was like a heavy duty slingshot. And I put in the same mailbag. There was, like, a Goku action figure. And I'm. I think it's in the video that went up on Giant Bomb. I put the Goku in the slingshot, and I, like, pointed at Vinny, and. Vinny, what the fuck are you doing? Like, put that. Don't point that at me. It's like, oh, right. I guess this is a weapon.

[Mary Kish]

You don't point slingshots. I couldn't imagine you with a potato gun. I feel like the first thing you would do is, like, reverse it and look down the barrel and be like, is there any potatoes in there? And click the trigger and just shoot.

[Dan Rykert]

It down my throat. And I know you have to chew it.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, it's 50 to 70 psi.

[Dan Rykert]

Knocks out all my teeth.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. A spud gun, also known as a potato gun, can hurt and cause serious injuries, including death.

[Mary Kish]

Dude, if. Dan, I don't think you can kill yourself. Related injuries.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't think you can. Like, Bud Dwyer yourself with a potato launcher.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, there's a video on Bud Files dot com. Wait, there's a video. Oh, this guy's got his shirt off. He's about to shoot him. No, he said no nuts. No fans.

[Dan Rykert]

Shoot.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, this looks bad.

[Mary Kish]

It's fucking dangerous.

[Dan Rykert]

Let's all get potato guns.

[Mary Kish]

No, I'll get you a potato, and you can throw it.

[Dan Rykert]

So much more disappointing than potato gun.

[Mike Mahardy]

That looks like it would, like, break your rib.

[Dan Rykert]

Let's try it.

[Mary Kish]

Do some serious damage.

[Mike Mahardy]

Go to spudfiles.com and watch the video. It didn't kill him. But I don't. I mean, I'm not encouraging. Don't do it.

[Dan Rykert]

Would you, Mike on a dare, when you're here for game of the year, can I. Can we go to my driveway and I shoot you with potato gun in the stomach?

[Mike Mahardy]

No.

[Dan Rykert]

No.

[Mike Mahardy]

Hard. No. Easy pass.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay, what about from, like, down the street?

[Mike Mahardy]

No.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay. You just want to try to catch it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Imagine how many patrons we'd get, though, for that bonus video.

[Dan Rykert]

I know. I'm saying.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I would not be like, catch that. I wonder how accurate it would be.

[Mary Kish]

At that distance for $50. I'll call the police when Dan tries to shoot someone with a potato gun.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, my God. Okay. Spud files dot com.

[Mary Kish]

Stop going to spud files.

[Dan Rykert]

Go to the wiki on spudfiles.com. yeah, go to the spud files wiki and look at the first picture of the advanced combustion cannon potato gun that looks like a fucking ghostbuster gimmick.

[Mike Mahardy]

Spud.

[Dan Rykert]

Holy shit. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Are we. Are we big spud files people now?

[Dan Rykert]

I think we're big spud files, people. Is this a whole wiki about potato guns?

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, wow. People really get into this. I didn't realize this.

[Dan Rykert]

They got miniature guns podcast about this. Oh, oh, let's read the spudding jokes. Where is that? In the wiki.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, you might be a. You might be a spud gunner if.

[Dan Rykert]

Where's the joke?

[Mike Mahardy]

Spud gunners.

[Dan Rykert]

Let's read. Let's. Let's alternate and tell jokes. You.

[Mary Kish]

You might be a spud gunner if you get excited over a 1.5-inch SDR 21 PVC pipe.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right, where'd these go? Where'd these go?

[Dan Rykert]

Wait. Yeah. Where's the jokes?

[Mike Mahardy]

You seeing jokes?

[Dan Rykert]

How'd you get to the jokes?

[Mary Kish]

All right, hold. Calm down. You.

[Mike Mahardy]

The wiki looks like a Call of Duty Zombies weapon.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it does. Okay, okay. I got the first one.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't have.

[Dan Rykert]

You might be a spud gunner if you put every object you come across into one of two categories. Good for ammo or not good for ammo.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, you might be a spud gunner if you know how to pronounce pneumatic.

[Mary Kish]

Mary got cut off. You might be a spud gunner if you get angry at people destroying pipes. That's stupid.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah, that's stupid. Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

You might be spud gunner if you spend more time thinking about valves than about women.

[Mike Mahardy]

You might be a spud gunner if you bought a PC partly because of spud files.

[Dan Rykert]

Ha.

[Mary Kish]

Mary, you might be a spud gunner if these are so stupid. Every time you pass the potatoes in the supermarket, you grab the biggest bag they have.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right, Jake, Jake, cut the last, like, 25 minutes.

[Dan Rykert]

You might be a spud gunner if you see a gas meter or other plumbing assembly and you think, if I take it apart, can I build a spud gun out of it?

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, I think I am one.

[Dan Rykert]

You might be a spud gunner if you bought a PC partly because of spud files.

[Mike Mahardy]

Did you see the top? There's a note from Ragnarok. Apparently one of the editor's name is Ragnarok.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, hell, yes. Yeah, can we get him on? Okay. Next time one of us is gone, we're getting Ragnarok.

[Mike Mahardy]

All know spud gunners. Any of them? Tell them to hit us up. Firescapecast. Gmail.com. we're gonna get a lot of spud emails.

[Dan Rykert]

These are really good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's going to be fun.

[Mary Kish]

It's going to be fun. It's a strange part of the Internet that we have stumbled across.

[Dan Rykert]

It kind of feels like old Internet to me where there's just like random websites and stuff. Like, I think I like spud files dot com.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, yeah, let's. Let's look into them more and see if we should like them.

[Dan Rykert]

We'll do a side podcast, a patreon only podcast about spud files.

[Mary Kish]

Spud gunners, the podcast.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, I'm looking. They use cans of ax for the. For the spray. Nice.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's a waste of ax, though.

[Dan Rykert]

That's true. That's true. You ever buy Axe?

[Mary Kish]

The best use of axe?

[Mike Mahardy]

I bought ax in many a year.

[Dan Rykert]

I bought ax back in the day.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, way back in the day. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I was in a Hollister the other day because I was in the mall to go to Din Tai Fung and the Hollister. Yeah. Oh, Dintai Fung is amazing. But the Hollister.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, we'll get to it.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's Hollister?

[Mary Kish]

The Hollister has a spray that was very similar to Axe body spray, and I think it's emulating ax, but it doesn't want to use the brand name ax. I think the brand of AX is dead. But body sprays that smell bad, that are, like, affordable, and, like, just like a can that you spray on yourself is in.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think I smelled Axe around the grocery store yesterday. A guy.

[Dan Rykert]

It's very much around.

[Mike Mahardy]

I smell that.

[Mary Kish]

But is it popping?

[Dan Rykert]

Um, got good reviews on Amazon.

[Mary Kish]

That's not the indicator.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay. Wikipedia list of Axe products. 83. Axe has been around since 83.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but there's probably, like, a lot of products of outdated dead brands.

[Mike Mahardy]

They probably started as a spud gun company.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, sure. Yeah, man. They have good names.

[Mary Kish]

Gravity shot in the stomach with, like, a badly smelling spray.

[Dan Rykert]

It smells like a douchebag.

[Mary Kish]

Hey, if you ever want to get shotgunned in the face by a beautiful.

[Mike Mahardy]

A virgin.

[Mary Kish]

Smells of sandalwood. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

What is Din Tai Fung?

[Mary Kish]

Din Tai Fung is a Chinese restaurant that's known for their soup dumplings that have an iconic. Ooh, dan, correct me. 12 fold system. It might be 13, but they have 13. I think it's 13 folds in each soup dumpling.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, really?

[Mary Kish]

Handmade. Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, those dumplings are incredible. Yeah. You get the little spoon thing to put them in, and it'll change your life. I had the packs. It was so good.

[Mary Kish]

The soup dumplings are so good. The first time I ever had it was in Vegas. And I remember thinking to myself, this is the greatest restaurant in Vegas I've ever been to. I got to go to Vegas just to go to this restaurant. And then I looked it up, and there's two within 20 minutes of my house.

[Dan Rykert]

I didn't know it was a chain. That's awesome. I got to. I got to find those more cities. That is great.

[Mary Kish]

It is.

[Dan Rykert]

It's.

[Mary Kish]

It's known for their soup dumps, but they have really good quality bar. No matter which one you go to. I gotta get my dumps.

[Mike Mahardy]

Soup dumps is my least favorite kind of dump.

[Dan Rykert]

Ax launched in the US My favorite, too. That's why we didn't hear about it until 2002. They launched with Apollo, Kilo, Phoenix, Tsunami, Maniac, and Voodoo flavors.

[Mike Mahardy]

I remember Kilo.

[Dan Rykert]

They launched Conviction in, oh, three flavors. Join the world of conviction. Join the world of conquest.

[Mike Mahardy]

Explains a lot about Dan.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Dan thinks that Axis soup because he's fucking idiot.

[Dan Rykert]

I guess it is Dan's.

[Mary Kish]

Whether or not with soup, because it's liquid, and then he's been sucking it down.

[Dan Rykert]

What would AI say if Is Axe Body spray a soup? Okay. Generate. Okay. No. Axe body spray is a deodorant. Okay, I see. Conviction. Join the world of conviction. Join the world of conquest. Because if you can have conviction, no woman can say no. No woman who can turn her face because women like men safe. Unite to this world. That was the tagline of conviction in O3.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, that should be illegal. That's like bad marketing. I mean, the fact that it's even called conquest is also up.

[Dan Rykert]

No, it's called conviction, but it talks about being in the world of conquest. And the commercial showed many men who are successful with women. At the end of the advertising, there are thousands of men holding ax conviction and singing in a choir by a statue of a man. Also holding ax conviction.

[Mike Mahardy]

That just sounds like the worst cult ever. Yeah, sounds really bad. I don't want to turn. I don't. If I turn a corner and saw a thousand men holding ax, singing around a statue of another man with an ax. With ax.

[Mary Kish]

That's. That's why women need potato guns. We have to protect ourselves.

[Dan Rykert]

Vice Vice launched. And instead it will turn nice girls naughty because there's forbidden fruit in the fragrance.

[Mary Kish]

Forbidden fruit.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

You know, we can't deny it. Just like Eve. We have to have that sweet, sweet fruit.

[Dan Rykert]

The commercial for Vice used a Morgan Freeman lookalike.

[Mary Kish]

Couldn't get the real deal, could you? A.

[Dan Rykert]

No. Dark temptation was a chocolate smelling fragrance.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Rykert]

Advertising implies that because women like chocolate, they will find men who smell of chocolate irresistible.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh. Okay. Advertising features a man who turns into chocolate when he sprays himself with ax. He then goes on to be eaten by a series of women.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, he turned it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh.

[Dan Rykert]

It doesn't elaborate.

[Mary Kish]

I'm just saying, like, in its defense, if. If a man turned into a bar of chocolate, I might eat them.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

But understand, in the hot way, I would just consume them like a praying mantis.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh. So score. The flavor was supposed to make men attractive to women and they'll need a. Oh, wow. Oh. In the States, they called it click because it says it'll make you so attractive to women that they will need a clicker to keep score of the number of women who check them out. The commercial in the U.S. featured Nick Lachey getting outscored by a hotel worker who uses it. But in the British version, it's Ben Affleck Axe Give away free clickers to count how many ladies find you irresistible because you wear clicks.

[Mary Kish]

But was it like, was it done in an actual test environment? This is science.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't know if it was, like, a double blind study or. Yeah, I'm not sure.

[Mary Kish]

I don't think so, man.

[Dan Rykert]

AX was really a thing, wasn't it?

[Mary Kish]

I don't understand why men's marketing has gone down such a path. Why every set has to be called, like, concrete concubine. And about how, like, it's gonna. You're just gonna get your dick sucked completely dry if you walk outside with this, because people can't. Can't believe how horny they get because.

[Dan Rykert]

Can'T leave your driveway without getting your dick sucked.

[Mike Mahardy]

You're selling me on your friend steps.

[Dan Rykert]

You've seen Mary, you've seen the Dr. Pepper 10 commercial.

[Mike Mahardy]

Internet. With my Internet, you laughed, like, a full six seconds after I said that. I was like, was that that bad of a joke?

[Dan Rykert]

Well, it was a thinker joke. It took us that long to. To get the joke. It was. We didn't get it at first. Mary, have you seen the Dr. Pepper 10 commercial?

[Mary Kish]

I don't think so.

[Dan Rykert]

I think that is the most egregious example I've ever seen. It was 10 manly calories because, you know, they launched, like, Coke Zero and Zero branded stuff because men didn't want to be, oh, diet. That's for women. So that's why zero sodas exist. And so, but Dr. Pepper took it further, and this was, like, later than you would expect, like, mid to late 2000s, I would say. And it was Dr. Pepper 10 with 10 manly calories. And every ad was, you know, some guy on a safari or going to the jungle or, you know, doing a weightlifting competition, and he goes, Dr. Pepperton, it's not for women. Not that aired in the states regularly. 10 manly calories, like cardboard.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, 10 manly calories is funny and cheeky. I think there's something that we can all laugh about. But the tagline, not for women.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, It's. Every commercial ended with someone looking at the camera and saying, it's not for women.

[Mary Kish]

That's interesting. I think, obviously, like, that's a bad ad, but what it really says is more about the marketing prowess of what it takes to market to men. Right. I think that that's the sadder story. It's not so much that, like, Ax and Dr. Pepper have had these egregious taglines. It's the fact that, you know, that these were tested in groups, like, you know, in. In blind studies, where they would be like, which ad makes you want to buy a Dr. Pepper more? And men were like, you know, the one that says it's not for women because I'm also not a woman, and I don't want to be drinking woman drink. And I think that's, like, what's stressful about it. Taglines are weird and, like, they should be shamed a little bit. But I think what's also strange is just the reflection of society that men are like, I will not wash my ass unless it's says that it is, like, the most rugged, manly, not woman thing that it possibly can. They've made loofahs that look like tires because they're, like, manscaped.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah. Rugged loofahs. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Which we don't have a problem with here. We are fine with that.

[Dan Rykert]

Is it a generational thing? Because I think of, like, my dad and, like, everyone that he knows of his age in Kansas, you know, they're the types that, like, you know, if I ordered a cocktail at a bar, I'm just going to be mocked by everyone. Just be like, ooh, got your cocktail. Fancy little. You know, like, nowadays, they probably wouldn't say, like, that's actually. They probably would like, oh, that's a girl drink, or whatever. But, like, that generation, I feel like, does that all the time. Or maybe that's just the Midwest Kansas thing. I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

I think that if you want to have a modern ad about, like, loofahs and cleaning, they should just call it the Paul Riker. And it should be an ad of your dad in Vegas having a shit stain on his bed and being like, crap, I can't have a girl over like this. And then it just stops there and it's like, do you leave shit stains on your bed? Well, wash your ass with the Paul Riker system. We will send you one sponge and one bar of soap. Get in there. And that's it. Like, I don't think you need all these boxes and whistles. Wash your butt.

[Dan Rykert]

I've told you, his big. Our big Thanksgiving argument we had a couple years ago with my dad and skid marks. Right?

[Mike Mahardy]

I think that's. Yes, you did.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I think we probably did that on this podcast.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, you bring it up a lot.

[Dan Rykert]

It's because it was crazy. It was a table full of people being like, what are you talking about? You're insane. And like, oh, oh. Everyone here's too good to admit that we all have skid marks all the time. No, we don't. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

The stuff he finds that. The stuff he finds, like, not masculine is very funny to me.

[Dan Rykert]

Well, yeah, because the thing is, too, he's not like, you know, the super masculine, like he would admit, like he is just a very, like he'll pass out if he has to get like, you know, blood drawn or something like that. He's very just like afraid of pain and things like that. And you know, never fought anyone would be terrified if he had to. He's frequently scared and yet he's always like, oh, real man. I'm gonna have a real man beer. I gotta have a real man beer.

[Mary Kish]

What do you think would be like a good marketing ploy? I feel like it would be like a mint that looks like a cigarette butt and then when you put it in, it looks like you're eating a cigarette butt because you're like a man. But it's actually making your, your breath minty fresh.

[Dan Rykert]

He did think he was manly because he drank out of a Mountain Dew major melon that he was using as a cigarette ash thing. So he drank his cigarette ashes and I was like, that's disgusting. And he's like, no, my body, my body's fortified from the ashes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Why do you think his body was fortified from the ashes?

[Dan Rykert]

I think he just thought he was a man because he drank cigarette ashes and he didn't care about it. I don't want about. I'm a man.

[Mary Kish]

Like my body wash for Paul Riker would be like made in a gasoline tank, a can. And it would. He would like pour the gas tank on himself. But it's actually just like a really nice smelling soap. I think it's like a nice track.

[Dan Rykert]

You know, I'm guessing my dad has not bought a thing for his shower. That is not. I want to say he uses Irish Spring. He definitely uses Pert Plus. I don't think he has ever bought anything. But per plus. In 1988 when I was showering, it was pert plus. If I look in his bathroom today, it's pert plus. The same green ass bottle. It's only pert plus all the time. I actually Irish Spring sounds too fancy for him. It would be some like discount Irish Spring, like super duper cheap thing.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but he smells good.

[Dan Rykert]

But with him it's always just the cheap. Moisture bottle does not matter. Quality does not matter. For him it's the cheap factor.

[Mary Kish]

As long as it's soap, I really don't care. I don't think we have to like. It doesn't have to be expensive or nice of any kind as long as it's doing its job. I think what I'm talking about is just like the advertising Ploys that allow men to be like, this is a manly experience and not for women because it looks like oil grease.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. It's great getting over that shit because it's just so stupidly limiting for no reason. Or it's like, I remember one of the first times I went to a bar and I didn't really know what to order beer wise or whatever. And I ordered a Zima because I was like, oh, I've seen these commercials. The same. Probably tastes good, you know, for a starting drinker that doesn't really know beer. And it's just a whole night of everyone calling me gay, basically.

[Mary Kish]

And the whole.

[Dan Rykert]

The whole.

[Mary Kish]

All the men took you out back and beat the shit out of you for having one Zema. No, no.

[Dan Rykert]

They just called me gay for several hours. I can't ever order Zima ever again. And then it's like, wait, no, drink the Zema if you like the Zima. Like, I. Yeah, it's nice getting over that stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. I'm glad.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. All a ploy we're so afraid of.

[Mike Mahardy]

I would make fun of you if you ordered a Zima at a bar, but I wouldn't call you gay. I would just say you have tastes.

[Dan Rykert]

You would say, that sucks, right?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Z must suck.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

What about Z? Mo? It's not for women.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nice.

[Dan Rykert]

Z. Mo?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, like masculine.

[Dan Rykert]

What's mo? Well, it's got, like, the like and like, mo flavor. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Mo substance that will make mo women.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay. You are the Don Draper of this podcast. Wow.

[Mary Kish]

I can market the shit out of this.

[Mike Mahardy]

I only play the legend of Zeldo.

[Dan Rykert]

I just googled. Is Zima a soup? And it's a malted beverage.

[Mike Mahardy]

What is Zima? I actually don't know what it is.

[Dan Rykert]

Let me look it up. It's a clear, lightly carbonated alcoholic beverage made and distributed by Coors. Is it still. No, it was discontinued in 08. Okay. Huh.

[Mike Mahardy]

Clear, lightly carbonated. Is it just like High noon?

[Dan Rykert]

It's like early seltzer. Like, you know, it's. When I think about, like, White Claw.

[Mary Kish]

And stuff like that, it was ahead of its.

[Mike Mahardy]

Zema was a trailblazer.

[Dan Rykert]

I think it was. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Zema was a trailblazer. Zema crawled so that White Claw could run there.

[Dan Rykert]

A book. The Long, slow, torturous, Torturous Death of Zima. Wow. Oh. Oh. Here's why. Okay. This is why my dad would make fun of it. This writer cited Zima's perceived reputation as a girly man beverage and its persistent parody. Parodying by late Night TV host David Letterman. Okay. That's definitely why it was like my dad's purview.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. So it's Dave's fault that.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it's Dave's fault. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

I feel like there was, it was a common Internet joke that Zima was for. For like girls or people who like didn't know how to drink. I'm trying to like figure out how to say this.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I know.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, and that comes out really sexist, but I think that's the whole point.

[Dan Rykert]

No, you're saying.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it was that they were like, men would never drink a Zima, cuz that is for the ladies.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't think alcohol choice, I remember it really shouldn't determine personality or anything. I remember when I was watching a lot of Deadwood, I was like, oh, I'm going to be cool. Like these Deadwood guys. I'm going to start drinking. Ooh, Bullet Bourbon. That looks like the. Yeah, Bullet Bourbon. I'm going to drink out of this. I'm going to bring a bottle of Old Crow to all these house parties and stuff and like, I'm going to seem like a tough guy. And it's like, nah, it's just, it's just.

[Mike Mahardy]

Wait, how did that work out?

[Mary Kish]

And then you tasted it. You were like, this doesn't taste good.

[Dan Rykert]

No, I didn't. It was cheap. I was, I was Paul Reichard at that time.

[Mike Mahardy]

So you brought.

[Dan Rykert]

I realized today on Blight Club, there was a period in my life where I subscribed to Maxim stuff and fhm.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I'm not. Yeah, this is not.

[Dan Rykert]

Say that. That is the most embarrassing thing I've ever said and I think I agree.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, you're paying monthly for those. Each.

[Dan Rykert]

No, I think I had some weird gimmick where I got it for free. I don't think I would have paid for it. I think it was some weird like, oh, you do this thing and you get, you pick. Pick a magazine. I was like, oh, was the gimmick.

[Mike Mahardy]

That you paid $200 in January and got the magazine throughout the rest of the year?

[Dan Rykert]

No, it was. I definitely got it free for some reason. But they would have like video game reviews and stuff in there. And I remember getting like stuff. Magazines, video game reviews.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, there we go.

[Mary Kish]

Dan.

[Dan Rykert]

No, that's not what I'm saying. I subscribed because of the ladies. And then I would read the video game reviews and be like, these editors don't know what they're talking about. Like, this is no egm.

[Mike Mahardy]

While you're on the toilet. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I read all the video game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Reviews on Max of you reading an FHM criticizing the game's writing.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, they got this totally wrong. Like, it should be a point higher, definitely. Remember my step grandpa next to his toilet had a giant stack of Playboys. Um, and so whenever I went over there when I was like, you know, 12, 13, that age, I would just. Every time I shit, I would look over there and I just feel it's right there. I could just see boobs. I just have to open one of those because at the time, you know, we're talking like, early Internet or. I wasn't really looking at, like, Internet boobs or anything yet because I was.

[Mike Mahardy]

Hard to come by.

[Dan Rykert]

Well, I assume my parents were, like, tracking it. Of course they could, you know, but no, they weren't. So I was like, oh, this is a clear way. I could see boobs and. But I was, like, always so paranoid that adults must have a way of tracking and knowing if. If you're watching porny stuff. And so I was like, they got to know there's got to be some sort of light that'll show fingerprints or something. There's got to be some, like, you know, you probably took a picture of exactly, like, what angle it was on.

[Mary Kish]

There are DNA tests that would probably confirm your guilt, but I don't think that your parents would go to that lane.

[Dan Rykert]

No, no. Yeah, but I just remember every time I. Shit. God damn it. I wish I could look at those, but I'm going to get caught.

[Mike Mahardy]

I used to tear pages out of my oldest brother's Playboys when he. I visited his house in college.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

That's adorable. Because there's. He knows he, like, wouldn't recognize a ripped page and be like, my stupid little horny brother. That's so cute.

[Dan Rykert]

Did I tell you this is a gross story? Oh, God, stop me if I've told you this. My dad, who is always trying to, you know, buy things, to sell them on ebay and stuff, went to an estate sale once, and this was like three, four years ago, not that long ago. And so I went over to his place once I was home for the holidays, and he had like 9,000 Playboys on his fireplace. Just stacks and stacks and stacks of Playboys. And I was, like, waiting for him to get ready or something. And you were about to go to the bar or something. So I'm sitting down there and I'm just like, all right, let's look at these old ass Playboys or whatever. And I started flipping through them. I think this is the first one I opened up the most. Like you open it up and it all peels and rips and stickies. And I was like, ah. My dad's like, I made a noise and my dad's like, what happened? It's like, there's a bunch of dead guy coming. This, he was from an estate sale. It was a recently deceased man semen in this thing. I was like, oh God, we can recreate it. And then he had a crisis of like, well, I can't, I can't, I can't sell these now. I can't sell these if they cut dead guy come all over him.

[Mike Mahardy]

He didn't think people don't know that.

[Mary Kish]

It'S dead guy come. It could be anybody.

[Dan Rykert]

It still come.

[Mary Kish]

Some people would have been your dad's come.

[Dan Rykert]

That's also gross.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Saying.

[Mike Mahardy]

But where are these now tell where are they?

[Dan Rykert]

I think he did.

[Mary Kish]

Are they on ebay or not?

[Mike Mahardy]

How much? How much?

[Dan Rykert]

I think I remember him telling me about carrying a bunch of like dead guy come Playboys to like his neighborhood dumpster just like a big trash bag. What Dumpster Playboys. And come.

[Mike Mahardy]

Which Dumpster?

[Mary Kish]

The new version of dog eared books. It's just called the sticky pages.

[Dan Rykert]

God. Oh God.

[Mike Mahardy]

You want to talk about video games?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Mmm. That is a delicious Mike. Help me, help me pronounce this.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a Viognier.

[Dan Rykert]

Viognier. That's right. I'm drinking a Viognier from First Leaf now. I joined First Leaf to enjoy some fantastic personalized wine just for me. But now it's become my secret weapon for the holiday season. From hosting to attending parties, I always have great wines on hand to share with friends and family.

[Mike Mahardy]

Whether you're new to First Leaf or you've been in it for a while, all you have to do is just answer some simple questions about your wine preferences. With Thanksgiving coming up, it's going to be a good time of the year for some Beaujolais. More medium bodied fruit forward wines impress the whole family. I myself have been getting some good Zinfandels as the weather is starting to get chilly. Mary, tell people how they can get in on this action.

[Mary Kish]

Get your Beaujolais. Bring a great bottle to your next gathering. With first leaf. Go to tryfirstleaf.com fire escape to sign up and you'll get your first six hand picked bottles for just 44. 95. That's try firstleaf.com fire escape. Try firstleaf.com fireescape you guys talked about so many games. I actually, I listened to the last podcast because I didn't want to, like, literally talk about the same games two weeks in a row. And I was amazed with how many games you guys covered. I want to say it was over a dozen.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I was writing down for this week, and I can't remember which ones I talked. Did I talk about UFO 50 last week?

[Mary Kish]

You did. You did. And so you guys were talking about. I can talk about this because I. Yeah, I listened to it and you were discussing it, but you also said there's, like, a part in UFO 50 where you get to a point and, like, everything changes, and then it was very important that you, like, didn't give away any of the secrets, because a part of the value of UFO 50 is that, like, something weird happens or I don't really know, so that I don't even.

[Mike Mahardy]

You're saying there seems like there's a meta layer of a story that's hinting at, but you haven't figured it out yet?

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, yeah, there's the terminal thing, but I still have no idea what that.

[Mary Kish]

Is, and I don't want to know. But I am curious, like, updated, if, like, more games are of genuine value or if they still have a lot of that superficial nostalgic value, which is still cool, but not really a selling point for me.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah, bring it up. We can talk about it again.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I'm literally asking you right now. We're back.

[Dan Rykert]

Are we on the podcast?

[Mary Kish]

100%.

[Mike Mahardy]

Very.

[Dan Rykert]

Yes. Oh, UFO 50. Yes. I gotta put on the podcast.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like, 45 seconds.

[Dan Rykert]

I thought we were just shooting the.

[Mary Kish]

All right, we are just shooting the. That's what this podcast came in.

[Dan Rykert]

Usually Mike brings it back. I was thrown off.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nice.

[Dan Rykert]

Goodness.

[Mike Mahardy]

It was good of her to host and kind of slip in there when I didn't ask her to, but. No, it's fine.

[Mary Kish]

Right. Keep it up. You better. You better keep on your good stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

So, Dan50, you said there might be another.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, I've been talking a lot about this meta layer. Yeah. No, I have no idea. What the fuck. The metal layers. Yeah. There are numerous games that have value just as their own thing that, like, is not based on, like, oh, this reminds me of, you know, Metroid or This reminds me of this thing or whatever. What's the one? I started this pilot quest, which. It's so cool to take, like, concepts that you see in games today and apply them to games that seem like they were made in the 80s. So, like, there's like clicker and idle mechanics in this pilot quest game. And you're basically going on runs to get resources and stuff. And you were buying these things back at, like, your home base that, like, idly will. Will make you currency and stuff like that, which that wasn't really a thing you saw a lot back then. So it's so interesting to see modern mechanics in a very legitimately old feeling game. And yeah, like that mortal game. I can't remember if I talked about that last time, but really cool concepts that are unlike anything that you know. There are the ones that remind me of, like, oh, I remember this is like when I rented this NES game at Blockbuster or whatever. But then there's a lot where it's like, this is cool because it's like I'm getting a glimpse into an alternate history where games like this were made back then when they really weren't. I still have a ton to play. I mean, I think I've only played like 15 to 20 of them, but a lot of them. Like, some of them I will play like once or twice and be like, all right, I get what this one's doing. Not, I don't need to keep playing this one. And then some of them I will stay on for a while and be like, oh, I really like what this is doing. I want to see how far I can get.

[Mike Mahardy]

So what's your favorite one so far?

[Dan Rykert]

Mortals. Really cool. The pilot quest is really cool. Paint chase is fun. Yeah, Like a bunch of our two players. Paint chase. You're like a car and it's like a Pac man grid. And imagine like, again, like modern. Like, it makes me think of splatoon, the way you have a certain amount of time and your car basically has like a paint roller behind it or whatever. So, like, as you race around this Pac man maze, you are painting the track, like, blue. And at the end, so at the level start, it'll be like you have to get 50% of the level cleared here. So you're painting over this, but your enemy car is going around, or cars are going around painting them pink. And so you're trying to, like, take out the other cars and paint over their stuff and they're trying to paint over yours. And it's really clever idea. And again, it seems like it looks like a game that would have come out back then, but I can't think of one that was quite like that. So there's a lot of examples of stuff like that. So, yeah, really, really cool. It's an ideal steam Deck game, the flights to and from Japan. It was awesome having that on the Steam deck. Played a ton of it. And then we'll talk about it later. I had Zelda on the way back. It unlocked like an hour. Like, I was at the airport when Zelda unlocked, and so I was like, oh, my God, a new fucking Zelda game. And I'm about to be on a plane for 11 hours. That kicks ass.

[Mary Kish]

Let's talk about it now. What's the new Zelda like?

[Dan Rykert]

Let's do it. Are we doing the podcast now?

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah, yeah, we're on.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, shit. We're on the air. Okay. Okay. Yeah, yeah. Mike, do you want to start?

[Mike Mahardy]

Sure.

[Mary Kish]

Well, you're.

[Dan Rykert]

You're the host, so bring us in from break.

[Mike Mahardy]

Legend of Zelda, Jake.

[Dan Rykert]

Working. This isn't a shoot legend.

[Mike Mahardy]

Legos of Zelda Ejos of Wisdom is out. I'm on. I've done three dungeons.

[Dan Rykert]

So are you past Hyrule Castle?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I did Gerudo and I did the. I don't want to spoil the name of the dungeon from the water area at the beginning. I'm still pretty.

[Mary Kish]

Can you do them out of order?

[Dan Rykert]

Which you can do the first two.

[Mike Mahardy]

In your own order.

[Mary Kish]

You can do them.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, I mean, the first part is also kind of technically an intro dungeon.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, sure. Okay. So I know where you're at. Yeah. Mary, to answer your question, it's. It'll show you like these two dungeons and it's like you can go to either one of these. So you can do those in whatever order. And then there is a part where Mike is about to get to where it opens up quite a bit more.

[Mike Mahardy]

It seems it's like link between world, et cetera.

[Dan Rykert]

Yes. And that's where I really started liking it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I'm really enjoying it. I guess for those who don't know, it's like, first off, it's a full fledged Zelda game. I know it was getting shit early, which I don't even want to breathe oxygen on that, but yeah, I mean, I'm hearing some people are taking like 25 hours doing all the side content of which there's a lot. The main conceit is you're playing as Zelda and you basically are collecting echoes, which are just basically items, enemies, allies you can summon at will based on your energy level from. Try your companion, like your fairy companion. There. There are actually several layers of. To the abilities, which I. I think is really cool. I want to talk about that. But yeah, generally speaking, it's. You're rarely engaging in like hand to hand combat, although you are, because there.

[Dan Rykert]

Is a bursts of it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah. You. You basically can raise the hero's sword and become like a phantom Link for a little bit during boss fights or just if you have an enemy that your allies or your echoes are not doing too much damage against. But really clever dungeon design. I. There are a decent number of frustrations I'm playing on a launch switch. I don't know how much that matters, but the frame rate is not great.

[Dan Rykert]

It's very inconsistent. It is. And it does it in a weird way where it's like, remember the Link's Awakening remake? It would just be like, okay, if I'm outside, there's a bunch of grass or whatever. It'll slow down here. It's like it will just kind of like shift for like a second and then go back. And it's not as dependent on, you know, because you can spawn a lot of enemies and stuff like that. So there can be a lot of stuff happening on screen. So the. The times that it's shifting frame rates and stuff is more frequent. I feel like I notice it less when it's docked. When I'm playing on the. On the tv. When I'm playing handheld, I notice it more. But I have it on an oled, so I don't know if the launch is worse in that regard, but it is noticeable. It's not like ruining my enjoyment of it or anything like that, but it is definitely a noticeable thing.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Then there's also like a third layer where try. I keep wanting to say tree, but I think it's tri.

[Dan Rykert]

Because it's like. Triforce. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, Triforce. But it's fee in Skyward Sword, so I don't know. You can also bind with objects and it's got a similar green glow to like Zonai abilities. And then those. Basically whatever distance you're at, you can move. And then it'll pull like giant boulders at the same distance. You could do a bunch with that. You could do it with like statues and whatnot too.

[Dan Rykert]

Or you can hold R while you're binded to something and then Link or Zelda will follow that thing. So, for instance. Yeah, so Grub told me about this and I tried it today and it's awesome. So you can break this game in weird ways that like, typically you can't do in Zelda games. So, like, there are areas of the map that like, okay, it's supposed to be not necessarily a place you get to until you get this item or whatever. But you can break it in ways where it's like, let's say at this point I can summon like a grilled fish. And so let's say I summon a bird and I bind myself to the bird and then I summon fish, grilled fish. And I hold it on my head, like above my head, and I hold an R to bind myself to that bird. The bird will constantly be flying towards the fish, but since I'm holding it, it stays at the same thing. So you just start flying with the bird. You can fly across the entire map with a bird by just holding a fish. It's like weird shit. Like that that is like, oh, this is kind of awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Like that seems intentional. Like they, they saw that coming.

[Dan Rykert]

It doesn't seem like it, they shied away from it or like I don't think it was necessarily like, it's not. Oh, here's the part where you do that. But it definitely seems like it encourages you to experiment because nothing ever breaks really. It's just like it, it works. It's not like, oh, I got to this area and everything's broken. I can't get into this dungeon or anything. It's just like, oh, I'm over here now. I don't know if I was supposed to be here yet, but that fucking bird took me here.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. There are generally numerous solutions to any puzzle. Even like the ways you fight different bosses. There I saw several viable options. It feels it's kind of cool how it is kind of carrying forward the Tears of the Kingdom, willingness to let players break the game. Even though it is more like Link's Awakening remake, Link between worlds, kind of top down view and world structure. But yeah, I'm really enjoying that. And also just finding solutions or just platforming things that I. You get in certain habits and summoning like okay, box, table, box or box, shrubbery, table, trampoline, whatever. And later on I'm like, oh my God, I could have just been doing this the whole time. This was way easier. That happens a lot in this game.

[Dan Rykert]

Or you get something that just renders it completely obsolete where it's like, oh, I got this water cube now. I'm never making a single other trampoline. You know, the water cube is great. I actually added a couple, I added a couple categories for game of the year were best Echoes. So if you guys are playing through it, think of your favorite Echoes. And also under Coolest dude, that category we've done before. First nominee I put Stamp Guy.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't Know Amanda's? Yes. It might have been the seaside village. Amanda, me. And she's like, this guy sucks. Go find him somewhere else. Like, yeah, no.

[Dan Rykert]

He is so horny for stamps. It is incredible.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, he loves.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm just going to plunk it right down. Yes. Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

He's the fucking amp. I will say that for as often as they find echoes, I'm like, oh, this is awesome. Like I remember I just found the cormadillo. It's an armadillo. You just spawn and he rolls forward and it's like a projectile. There are a lot that I'm like, what the fuck is this? How is this useful? Like, it's entirely possible that I'm just not using them in the right situation. But I remember I got like the dragon, the wasp and yeah, the description says it finds the right. It has it skilled at finding the perfect time to strike. And I summon them and the wind up for their stinger takes so long they never land a hit. And then a lot of them are like that.

[Dan Rykert]

The, the spear goblins, the birds. A lot of them have that just like animation of like, okay, I'm locked in and then the enemy moves and like. Well, yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

And just as also the pathfinding for your minions kind of sucks sometimes when they get caught on walls. It's, it's. It gets frustrating sometimes. And also I can get caught on corners and whatnot when like a minion is forcing me into it. But that's rare.

[Dan Rykert]

There's an amount of directing you can do where it's like if you lock on to an enemy or an object or something that tells all of your echoes to go towards it so you can basically like direct them. It's very light and honestly, like it's not a perfect system but because of how interesting it is and how it really does change the game, I'm willing to put up with like, okay, this stuff doesn't always work perfectly, but the amount of freedom it grants you is worth the trade off. I think it's almost like a Scribblenauts type thing. I'm just like, oh, what's a fun weird way? I wonder if I can beat this? Using this thing or whatever. You feel like you're the one finding the solutions versus like oh, this is the wall that I have to use this bomb for or press the switch or something. But you're right, it's a full on Zelda game. I didn't know what to expect when they announced it because they've been triforce heroes They've been four swords adventures. You know, things with the Zelda name that were not full fledged Zelda games. This is 100%. And Mike, you're not even at like, there is a part where you go to Hyrule Castle. And then after that it does feel like I've been exploring the entire map and there's way more side quests, way more things going on. And that. I was liking it before. I think it was like, probably sitting around an 8 for me until like after Hyrule Castle and then it's like, oh, this really opened up and added a bunch of stuff. Like, I think I'm probably around like a nine now. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Did you finish it on the flight?

[Dan Rykert]

No, no, I played maybe three or four hours on the flight and then tried to sleep at times. Quick aside, have you guys seen no Hard Feelings, the Jennifer Lawrence movie?

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

It's really funny.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's really funny. Did you watch it on a plane?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

That's unfortunate. You missed this part.

[Dan Rykert]

I was watching in my X real AR glasses, so no one else could see it but me. Are you talking about the boob part?

[Mary Kish]

I mean, it's not just the boob part.

[Dan Rykert]

I feel like that's the only, like, thing that if somebody looked at your screen would be. Well, I guess. I guess there's some stuff there. But there's.

[Mary Kish]

Let me just double check. We're talking about the same.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, yeah, Jennifer Lawrence, the Uber driver.

[Mary Kish]

But you saw it.

[Dan Rykert]

You.

[Mary Kish]

You saw it through the plane, like.

[Dan Rykert]

No, I saw it through my glasses, sure.

[Mary Kish]

But like, I guess I see all.

[Dan Rykert]

Movies through my glasses.

[Mary Kish]

But ar, Is it the plain version?

[Dan Rykert]

No, I downloaded it to the xreal. Like, it's like this Beam Pro thing that you can download movies to. So I logged into my Netflix account and downloaded a bunch of movies.

[Mary Kish]

Okay, so it's your Netflix. Okay.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

It's not boobs, it's full frontal.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, you know the version I downloaded, I was wondering. There was pixelated vagina going on there.

[Mary Kish]

You fool. That is. Oh, that is full frontal Jennifer Lawrence.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, I was wondering if it's like. Oh, weird. I've never seen blurring in a movie before. So I guess that's the Netflix version has the blurring then.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, not the one I saw.

[Dan Rykert]

I downloaded it in Japan. I wonder if that's why.

[Mary Kish]

I wonder too, because weird. Not only is there like complete full frontal Jennifer Lawrence, which is insane of her to do for a film, she's hilarious. But also she does like a suplex completely Nude.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. It's incredible.

[Mary Kish]

And they show everything. I was blown away. The entire, like, part of no hard feelings. And obviously it is a cheeky film. It's good. Like people should. It's a stupid rom com. Like, it's. It's enjoyable. Like, I recommend it, but dear Lord, there's this scene where people steal her clothes. She's going swimming in the ocean.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

And these boys steal her clothes and she comes out of the ocean. And this is in the distance in the background. And so she's very clearly completely naked walking from the ocean towards the camera. And this is the part where anyone watching the film would go, that's really funny. They're obviously going to cut away at some point.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, no.

[Mary Kish]

And they just don't. And she just slowly, with nothing on, walks completely into the scene and starts kicking them in the balls and then suplexing them. And you see everything. And they do not blur it or cut away. It is not a cut of her boobies. It is a cut of the entire body. It's nuts. I cannot believe they got away with it in our Lord 2024. It is just. It is just incredible. Like, Jesus, she looks great. It's great.

[Dan Rykert]

That is so interesting that, like, the blur, if you saw it on Netflix and it wasn't blurred and I did like. Is that a regional thing?

[Mary Kish]

No, I remember seeing everything. Lawrence V. That is not. That was not a boob scene. The fact that you would say like, oh, yeah, I saw the boobs. It's like, you stupid bitch. That is not what we're discussing.

[Dan Rykert]

Well, I've only seen. I saw that first, like, Hunger Games movie forever ago. I think that's the only time I've seen Jennifer Lawrence anything. She's fucking hilarious in that movie. Like, I was like, laughing like I was stifling. Laughing out loud on a plane several times during that movie. I was so impressed.

[Mary Kish]

Good actress. She's a good actress. And she's very good in that film. Yeah, I think it's a. I mean, for rom com, you. I always like to give it that preface because rom coms have, like a lower tier for me where it's just like. It's stupid, it's unrealistic, it's ridiculous and, like, makes leaps of faith. But it's enjoyable. And you will laugh a lot during the film. Like, I enjoyed watching it.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. It reminded me of, like. I guess I didn't really think about it being a rom com. I guess it is. I was in. It felt like, Like a super bad like that vibe of like R rated.

[Mary Kish]

Comedy, you know, I appreciate that. I think like a lot of times I relegate those to like failure to launch or like how to lose a guy in 10 days. They are funny, but they're also like about feelings and about boys being like, why can't I get girl? And that just isn't at the level of super bad. Which is also in many ways a rom com. Just about two dudes.

[Dan Rykert]

God, I haven't seen. I wonder how that's aged. I remember thinking it was. There was a point where Apatow was like between that and 40 year old virgin. Like Apatow was just killing with 7. I remember funny people. I downloaded that too. I haven't watched it yet because I haven't seen that.

[Mike Mahardy]

I would say Superbad is about two high schoolers who want it to be a rom com, but it's a comedy and it's just like shitting on them the whole time. Last I checked, it has held up. There's definitely some like homophobic stuff, but yeah, it's not like pervasive throughout the movie.

[Mary Kish]

Sure it's not for women, but I think book smart is like really holds up. And it's a very good version of it.

[Dan Rykert]

That was like. I think that was during the movie pass era, wasn't it? I think I remember saying that in New York. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

And then while I'm at it, because we're talking about this, I have to look it up. There's a brand new coming of age film hillbilly elegy.

[Dan Rykert]

You keep talking about that offline.

[Mary Kish]

God damn it. I would never talk about that.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, you kept talking about how much you like that.

[Mary Kish]

Listen.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh my God.

[Mary Kish]

I will read it like Nixon. Let's just, just go back to Nixon.

[Dan Rykert]

Nixon is preferable. Honestly, I prefer it.

[Mary Kish]

I listened to the last podcast you. I heard that I have a Nixon pop cap doll. What are those called?

[Dan Rykert]

Funko Funko. I don't remember that. That's pretty funny. Who said that?

[Mary Kish]

You did.

[Dan Rykert]

I did. Awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Mary probably has a Nixon Funko pop. Let's google if they have a Nixon Funko pop.

[Dan Rykert]

Did they?

[Mary Kish]

And they do. And they're and he's like this.

[Dan Rykert]

They do.

[Mary Kish]

And he's doing his little peace signs.

[Dan Rykert]

They have a Nixon Funko pop.

[Mary Kish]

I think they probably got all the pretty prezis. Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Wow.

[Mike Mahardy]

Gotta be a JFK. Gotta be an FDR.

[Dan Rykert]

Wow. Gotta be a Teddy McKinley.

[Mike Mahardy]

Probably a James K. Polk.

[Dan Rykert]

Sure, sure. A Van Buren. Of course.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. The Van B Boys.

[Mary Kish]

Damn it. Hold on.

[Mike Mahardy]

Rom coms. Sorry. Go, Mary.

[Mary Kish]

No, you go. The whole reason I brought that up was because I wanted to tell you guys about a coming of age film that I saw on Netflix that I like, but I'm struggling to find the name of it.

[Dan Rykert]

No, we have no Billy Elegy.

[Mary Kish]

It's.

[Mike Mahardy]

God damn it.

[Mary Kish]

Stop getting. Stop it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, no. It's the Art of the deal.

[Mary Kish]

No.

[Dan Rykert]

Is this the next evolution of the merry bit?

[Mary Kish]

No, it's not.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, isn't that show you've been telling us to watch? The Apprentice.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, right. Oh, where you get fired if you do bad.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah, that she watched.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, what's that, like, Steak Company? There's that steak company in that college you went to.

[Mary Kish]

No.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Oh, those nft. Those. Those coins you got recently were really cool, right? What's that golf club in Florida you love?

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God, your new truck. Your new car is like a weird, isosceles angular truck.

[Mary Kish]

Come on. Come on.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm so glad I've seen your house now. That gold toilet's awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Thank you. You guys going to talk about how I love that pillow company? My pillow.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, my God. Yeah. Those pillows. Yeah, you can't stop talking about them.

[Mary Kish]

Stop talking about them.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I found it. I found it. While you guys were rambling about my garbage.

[Mike Mahardy]

We were rambling. They're actually really laser focused jokes.

[Mary Kish]

Really incoherent. Google, I could write better jokes than you.spud files.com. it's called Incoming. It is a coming of age, teenager fun thing. It's similar to book smart.

[Dan Rykert]

Roger Ebert here.

[Mary Kish]

Shut up. It's a coming of age.

[Mike Mahardy]

Can you. Can you. You should pitch that to Polygon.

[Mary Kish]

Thank you.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I'll text Chris Plant. It's funny.

[Mary Kish]

Of book smart or like, Can't Hardly Wait, which was more early 2000s. But it's a bunch of high school school year kids figuring it out and having a big party night. And yes, looks like it could.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

It's called Incoming. I was surprised. I do encourage you. I will set the bar here. It is obviously not super bad because it would be very difficult to hit the level of super bad. But I was pleasantly surprised that with a bunch of teenage actors that I liked it. I laughed multiple times out loud and they weren't super offensive. And the ending is like a good. It's a good. It's a good story that has a good ending. It pays off. Yes, that.

[Dan Rykert]

That sounds like a good. Like, I. I find like there's a certain type of plane movie that I like. And yeah, I watched Planes, Trains and Automobiles for the first time on the way out there. And then no hard feelings on the way. I still like comedies where it's like you don't really need surround sound and giant TV and all that stuff. You know, just light hearted plane stuff. Like, I like that a lot. I know we're doing a movie detour here, but I have to mention, Friday I am seeing Megalopolis and I could not be more excited. Have you heard anything about this movie?

[Mary Kish]

I've only heard that it's garbage or.

[Dan Rykert]

Like I saw Going to Be Insane, I think. I don't think it's going to make any fucking sense. Let me read. Mike Drucker did some tweets about it. He saw it. He said Megalopolis feels like cutscenes you'd see if hideo Kojima made SimCity. And he said if I told you Hideo Kojima made a city building game where Aubrey Plaza plays a financial media celebrity named wow Platinum, you'd be like, yeah, that sounds great. Well, I've got good news for you. So I've seen the trailer. I heard that there's a part where Adam Driver breaks the fourth wall and talks to someone in the theater that asks a question. Like, it just sounds. It's a completely empty theater. It came out like last week. I bought tickets today. Me and Bonker, the only people in the theater. I'm so fucking excited for this weird train wreck.

[Mary Kish]

Maybe that it's such a train wreck. It might be like one of those cult train wrecks, you know, I mean.

[Dan Rykert]

That'S kind of how I feel about like Annette. Where Annette with again, Adam Driver. I bonk. And I hated it so much when we first watched it, but I've now seen it like five times and I'm like, no, I think I legitimately, unironically think this movie kicks ass. And it's just so fucking weird and bold and like, I'm kind of hoping, like, I just, I will take a movie that I will remember forever over a 7 out of 10, you know what I mean? Even if Megalopolis is a 2 out of 10. So yeah, yeah, very excited.

[Mary Kish]

It worked for Waterworld.

[Dan Rykert]

Why? World's all right. I watched it a few months ago. It's pretty good.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. But when it came out, guess what? Everybody said, this is a fucking train wreck.

[Dan Rykert]

Yep, yep, yep.

[Mary Kish]

And now we all talk about Waterworld. So maybe Megalopolis. Megalopol. Megalol. Megalopolis. How do you say Megalopolis?

[Dan Rykert]

Mega.

[Mike Mahardy]

There you go, you got it.

[Mary Kish]

Megalo Megalogolo.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, well, and I love to that, like, it's actually a really interesting advertising campaign they did where they show like, the reviews of the Godfather, the reviews of Apocalypse now, and it's just like, bad review of people being like. Critics being like, this sucks. This is garbage. This is in like now. It's basically the campaign being like, oh, you know. Yeah. Critics said this was shit too, and now people love it. But the thing is, they made up all the quotes, so it's like, well, you kind of lose some of the impact when you made up. And they pulled the trailer, so I heard about that.

[Mary Kish]

Didn't they use AI to make up those?

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, did they?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, and I think they got a lot of shit for that too, because they used real names. The review names are real, but the fake. And so then the reviewers, or at least the companies that were beholden to those review names were like, that's bullshit that you would do that.

[Dan Rykert]

That's really weird. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, they were like saying, like, varieties.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, they had the name of the reviewer.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but it's fake.

[Mike Mahardy]

We're gonna get found out.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, and they got. I heard about that, too. That was a huge controversy and it used AI So not popular. Interesting. I've heard. I've heard that. This is like a mess of a film.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, we are going to be high. Have you seen the trailer?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. Oh, I can't wait for it.

[Mary Kish]

What a wonder. Oh, let's. You guys made fun of me for, like, having a really review, but I love the idea of Dan Rykert watching a movie and being like. Just so you guys know, I was extremely high.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, absolutely.

[Mary Kish]

Let's get into it.

[Dan Rykert]

Certain movies you want to be high for. And everything I've seen in Megalopolis, like, yeah, we're gonna have some edibles and cocktails before we go into this one.

[Mary Kish]

What a mess.

[Dan Rykert]

I can't wait.

[Mike Mahardy]

What the fuck is Grapple Dogs?

[Mary Kish]

That's our review on Zelda.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm gonna keep going back. I. I have liked it. I've had reservations. I have had things that kind of annoyed me as I've played, but I'm finding myself liking it more.

[Mary Kish]

Try to summarize it. It's over. You think Zelda's fine? I think Zelda's very good.

[Dan Rykert]

I said it was like nine. It's sitting there like a nine for me right now. Yeah, that's a great score.

[Mary Kish]

Okay, thank you.

[Mike Mahardy]

I thought it was supposed to be a superb score.

[Dan Rykert]

Is that what on the fuse scale? Oh, oh, okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

We haven't fused anything.

[Dan Rykert]

Do we have the. Do we have the breakdown of like, what the fuse? What is nine?

[Mike Mahardy]

It's Barry.

[Dan Rykert]

I think we had several poops. Like two through four were like different shades of poop, I think.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I think so. Well, you're looking for that. Mary. What is Grapple Dogs?

[Mary Kish]

So Grapple Dogs is the sequel to Grapple Dog. Grapple Dog came out several years ago and I actually really liked it. I was surprised that Grapple Dog, a very simple visual 2D platformer game where obviously you have a grapple hook and you're a dog and you just travel around and it takes you through a bunch of platforming challenges. It captured my attention. Grapple Dogs, the sequel is Cosmic Canines. So it's the full title is Grapple Dogs. Cosmic Canines adds a secondary dog. Now there is a girl dog. She's sassy, she doesn't mess around. She's a bit like emo looking. She's wears like dark goth clothing. And two players. No, it's single. But what's neat about it is the first dog, he doesn't have a dash. This girl adds a gun and a dash. And they were like, you know what? Grapple Dogs needs a gun and a dash. And so now you have twice the dog, double the dog, and you can change dogs. It completely has to change the way you play the game.

[Dan Rykert]

So on the fly, can you do it like during a level?

[Mary Kish]

No, certain levels are for certain dogs. So who's this ostrich that is like an old wise ostrich that tells you secrets about lore, about the world.

[Dan Rykert]

Who's the bunny?

[Mary Kish]

I mean, nobody cares about them, but they're like on the COVID It's on.

[Dan Rykert]

The COVID She's got a remote control.

[Mary Kish]

She's like a person that you're helping, like you're saving their world.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

I find them of no consequence.

[Dan Rykert]

So the narrative, not exactly the star here.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, God, no. In fact, I would say that one of the weaker parts of this game. I'll get to what I like about it, but the thing I do not like about this game is how often there will be someone in. In the level that has an exclamation mark and you can talk to them. And how never is it valuable or anything you ever need to do at this point. And I'm well past three quarters of the game, I just do not talk to people. And if there is ever dialogue, I skip past it. It is worthless to me. This story is of no interest, but that's fine. This game is about Grapple Dogs. You are grapple hooking lots of different areas and spaces to get through the levels. When you're the girl dog, you shoot and dash your way through it. And when you're the boy dog, you have this like punch move so you can like punch through blocks and like enemies and stuff like that. And you have a bounce move so that you can bounce up and down. I. There's really nothing else to say about that. But the point is, is the levels have a nice amount of variety to them. There's certain levels that are speed challenges, which I think, Dan, you would like. When I play this game, the thing that I get most excited about is the speed challenges. And they'll be like, you have to get all the apples in this space in less than two minutes. And so you're running around, you're grappling, you're wall dashing, you're jumping back and forth trying to get as many apples in under two minutes. And to get all the bonuses, you do have to be thinking about making sure, like, how you can get each item in under the two minute warning challenge. That's fun. The regular levels, there's three hidden bonus. I don't know what they are, it doesn't really matter.

[Mike Mahardy]

But like, I just see Gizmo's tail on screen and then I hear like, he's punching something.

[Dan Rykert]

That's razors. Just like digging into the recliner for some reason. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Anyone who knows about Grapple Dogs will know it's. It's very dog focused. There's three hidden items in each level, plus a treasure box. You actually do have to pay attention to find these hidden items plus the treasure box. They're usually behind hidden walls or between behind, like a really difficult to get platforming section. So while anyone can beat these levels, this game is not difficult to get all the items and the treasure box. You do have to be paying attention and be moderately skilled at platforming. I think for the platform enthusiast, Dan, I do think of you. I think it's an interesting game that carries on the momentum from the original Grapple Dog. And I do think it's worth playing.

[Dan Rykert]

I've always appreciated games and Mario's always been good at this, where it's like, okay, if you just want to beat the game, if you want to beat Mario 64, you can do it with. I don't know what the minimum amount of stars is, but if you get to a hard level or whatever, you don't have to do it. But for people that want to go crazy with it, like with Odyssey, I got every single moon in that game. I played the shit out of it. But if I didn't want to do the super secret bonus thing at the end, if I wanted to see credits, that's easy enough to do. But then if you are someone like me that wants to, like, super be challenged, it's got that option too. Like, I think that's really cool.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's got the levels for the different type of gamer or player that it might be. I think that kids could play through this game and fumble their way through it. But if you want to actually get everything, you have to start thinking and paying attention and get it done. It also adds a lot of additional types of gun or material. There's a gun that essentially turns certain areas into grass. And you can only climb if it's grass. So there'll be all this dirt. So you're shooting it, turning into grass, grabbing it, and you're doing that back and forth. I mean, I think it's fun and it mixes it up enough. There's another electrical gun that turns you into essentially like a ball of energy that ping pongs around the level. Very later in the game, I got a new gun that just straight up turns me into a ball of fire. And I can fly now. Like, I can just fly around the entire level. So you get quite powerful towards the end. It's not a difficult game, generally speaking, but I find it enjoyable enough. It's kept my attention. I will beat it over time once I get a little bit more time with it. But yeah, Grapple Dogs, Cosmic Canines has surprised me and it might surprise you too. It's just hard to compete with all the top tier contenders right now. But it's a good game.

[Dan Rykert]

I made a note though, because, like, this does sound interesting to me. And like, it seems like, you know, we were talking about plane movies before. Like, you know, certainly sometimes when you're on a plane, you just want to zone out and don't. You're not playing a game like a Zelda that you're like super invested in. You just want to do like a fun kind of little challenge game like this. And I'll get this on my Steam deck and I will probably give this a shot.

[Mary Kish]

It's a total Steam deck playing game. Or like sitting on my couch while I'm also watching Netflix, Jennifer Lawrence, Full Frontal. I would probably play Cosmic Canines while I'm watching that.

[Dan Rykert]

Cool. Dan.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know Jake Talked about Dead Rising a few episodes ago, but looks like you've been playing it.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. Not a ton to add other than the fact that I beat it and I was just very much reminded of. It's interesting now that we're far enough away from that 360 era, especially early 360, like dead rising, where it's like, oh, man, that seems pretty recent to me. I don't consider it retro, but it's been long enough now to where it's like, oh, right. Dead Rising. Okay. I forgot how much I really like this game's hold vibe and sense of humor and everything. It's super unique, too. Like, I was talking to Minati. He's him and I both hated, like, zombie stuff because it was just so overdone, you know, forever ago. And this was the one that kind of broke through for both of us where it's like, oh, wait, no, this game is just so much fun. And just that idea of the 72 hours that you kind of loop and see how many people you can save and you can kind of. That new game plus was very much baked into. You're supposed to play it several times.

[Mary Kish]

It's silly and funny.

[Dan Rykert]

Yes. Yeah, it's. That's the thing. It's like, I don't give a shit about the Walking Dead, the show, or the game because I just don't care about the super serious fucking zombie fiction stuff. It's always boring. To me. This was just very fun where it's like, okay, we've got hordes of zombies, which makes it fun to grab these insane weapons and just carve through them on the way to go do some stupid thing or kill someone in a grocery store. All the boss fights are super memorable and cool. I just really, really like Dead Rising and I'm glad to be reminded of that in a time where it's like, Dead Rising 4 was the last one. No one really talked about that. Dead Rising 3 was all right, but this was my favorite for sure. So very fun to go through again. I did not expect to play through the whole game again.

[Mary Kish]

That's cool. It's cool that you ended up sucking that much time into it, considering the age of it and everything.

[Dan Rykert]

It's still in the remake. Does smart things where, you know, the original got a lot of shit for, like, the save system and things like that. And this has auto save. This has some of that quality life stuff. Obviously. It looks really good. Yeah, it's. It's very, very solid.

[Mary Kish]

Are the boss fights still annoying?

[Dan Rykert]

They're Annoying. I mean, it's kind of like a. It's a little. Just janky. Just the way everything works, you know. The AI is not the most brilliant and some weapons feel like you're just. It's like a pea shooter and it's a little cheap sometimes, but it's a product of its time and it was still very fun. I wasn't like dying five times on a boss in stupid ways or whatever. You just gotta figure out how to cheese it for the most part.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, more Core Keeper.

[Mary Kish]

I've been playing more Core Keeper. I still think it would be a really fun bonus episode. I downloaded it. Core keepers. Court Keeper is really fun. I'm. I'm really in. I. I just think it's smart 8 player multiplayer where you are digging around looking for stuff. I've beaten my fourth boss now. I mean, it is really enjoyable to track down a boss and you have to work with your friends to be like, who's laying down traps? The one I just did recently, it is a difficult boss to get through. And so it's like I was the person who was making health potions, so my job was to make the right. There's like a health berry that you need for the potions. And I was like an alchemist, so I was building all these potions and like other things that would help increase your strength or your defense by 30%, which was very necessary for this boss. Someone else was mining and then making traps to lay down traps so that when the boss runs around, they're actually taking a lot of damage. The whole thing took a lot of planning. When we finally took it down, it was very exciting. And I just think there's something about this game of co op. You know, everybody gets to play how they want to play. If you want to be more defensive or support. If you want to be a minor, if you want to be a damage dealer, you can play the way you want to play. And so I just think it's a really smart game and I'm into it. So, yeah, Court Keeper is still dope.

[Dan Rykert]

What are you playing on?

[Mary Kish]

I'm playing it on my Steam deck, which is also a benefit because, like, if you wanted to play with somebody else in your house, they could play on their PC or they could play like in the living room while you play next to them on the Steam deck. Like, it's a very communal experience.

[Dan Rykert]

Cool. Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

I want to play it.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I'm curious. Yeah, download it on the Steam deck.

[Mary Kish]

I think this is like up there for me and I am encouraging more people to give it a shot, but I do think it is a social game. I could not, I don't think I could sell this as a solo game. It would be like playing Minecraft by yourself, which you can do, but I think like the real sell of that game is running around in a world with other people.

[Dan Rykert]

I was curious about that because, yeah, I downloaded that as One of the 30 games I downloaded for the plane. And I was like, I don't know, like reading the description, hearing you talk about it, it's like, I don't really know if I should play this solo.

[Mary Kish]

I think that the way you should start this game is that we should play it and like dink around together. I think it's like an interesting game to figure out and solve. And even the first area, which is like mostly a mushroom underground area, is cute and cheeky. And it's also low stakes. If you die, you just go back to home base and you got to go get your shit. Right. It's not the biggest deal in the world to accidentally die or go too hard. So low punishment, it's wants you to explore and, and be a little bit of a ding dong and I, I think that's great.

[Dan Rykert]

Nice.

[Mike Mahardy]

Dan, you're playing Balatro on mobile.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, I'm somehow more into Balatro than ever. It's, you know, which this is like the most brilliant like game of the year situation. Like I don't know if they planned it this way, but comes out early on in the year. Everyone fucking loves it. And as happens a lot of time, a lot of, a lot of favorites come out early in the year and then people forget about it, come give me the your time and then no, they take the game that is the most mobile ready game fucking ever, release it in late September and I'm having a whole second wave of like, I think I am playing it more now than I played it back then and I played hundreds of hours back then. Like I've been like having like fucked up sleep since Japan where it's like I'll just wake up at 2 or 3 or 4 in the morning and super not be able to fall back asleep. And every time in this last week I've just been grabbed my phone and laying in bed for like five hours playing Balatro. I played five hours.

[Mike Mahardy]

I had all these sleep because of Balatro, not Japan.

[Mary Kish]

No blaming Jet lag. But you've been playing Balatro.

[Dan Rykert]

No, it's Jet lag's fault. It's not Balatro.

[Mary Kish]

Sorry, I Can't come into work again. It's jet lag.

[Dan Rykert]

It is kind of a fucking problem at this point. Like, I downloaded all these games. You know, I hate flights and everything, so. Oh, by the way, I raw dogged the flight home from Tokyo, which I did not think I'd be able to do, which is crazy. I. I think I'm kind of getting over my flight stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Not in, like, the gq, not the.

[Dan Rykert]

Way people talk about it now. The way we talked about it back then. We're just stone cold sober. No Xanax, no beer or anything. And so it's like, I think I. If I can do that from Tokyo, I think I'm. I'm pretty confident about my plane anxiety at this point. But I downloaded all these games because I download all these movies. I, you know, brought my AR glasses. I downloaded, you know, all this Switch. I brought Switch and the Steam deck. I'm like, it's a long. It's like 14 hours out there. It's 11 hours coming back. I wound up just playing fucking Balatro for like five hours on the flight out there. And then as soon as I get to the hotel, my iPad connected to the hotel wifi and that overwrote my phone save of Balatro with the iPad save. So all that five hours was immediately gone and there wasn't even a moment of like, ah, shit. It was just like, oh, no. I guess I have to start Balatro again. Like, oh, well, yeah. And I've just been playing that save and now it's officially out. It's so fucking good on mobile. It is so fucking awesome on iPad, on phone, it is. It's really like, I'm playing it while I'm eating. I am playing it while I'm in bed.

[Mary Kish]

How much is it on mobile?

[Dan Rykert]

I don't know. It's on a Apple Arcade. I know.

[Mary Kish]

I'm just curious. The reason I ask is because buying a game again when I've already bought it is a bit of a sell for me, but I'll do it if it's.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, you never do that.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, no, it looks like someone says it's $10 here. I just googled it and it says $10.

[Mary Kish]

All right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Wasn't it like seven? Like, wasn't it 15 or something on Steam initially, I might be completely misrepresented.

[Dan Rykert]

We lost Mikey. Oh, there we go. I don't remember how much it was on steam, but, yeah, $10 for blotro is good. Good, good.

[Mary Kish]

It's a good amount. It's just like For a mobile game that's like.

[Dan Rykert]

But it's Balatro.

[Mary Kish]

But it's Balatro, baby.

[Dan Rykert]

Balatro. It is the fucking best. I got. I got the physical edition on Switch they sent me. It's. It's the best version of Balatro and we already love that game. We all played it on Steam and.

[Mary Kish]

What do you mean it's the best version of Balatro? You're saying it plays better on mobile?

[Dan Rykert]

I do think. I do think. Well, because on the oled, on the Switch oled, I played touchscreen and I think it is very nice to, like, just be able to kind of like, it's conducive to just moving cards around with your finger and stuff like that, but the size of a phone screen or, like, you know, prop up an iPad or something and play like, you know, I'll have my breakfast in the morning. Got my iPad right there. And just. It is. It's more conducive to touch controls than it is controllers. And just having it in your pocket all the fucking time. It is the perfect flight game. I don't buy. I do not play mobile games at all. I have not gotten into a mobile game since Threes, which was over a decade ago. At this point, I just don't give a shit about playing games on my phone. I am full on obsessed with Balatro again.

[Mary Kish]

Shit.

[Dan Rykert]

The haptics are really good. Like, when the cards are getting dealt and everything. There is a tactile sense to this game. That is fantastic. This is the version of Balatro, dude.

[Mary Kish]

My dad is so fricking into Balatro. That's awesome. It's really cool. It's not all the ways that I can get a winner with my dad. Like, I'm. I've. I've had some good game pitches to him and some big losses. I bought him Balatro and I, we're friends on Steam, so I get a little notification when he starts a game. And it is so funny how often every morning I'll be working and like, you know, in Slack or whatever, and I'll get a little notification in the bottom right that my dad is playing Balatro again. He is sunk so many hours into Balatro and he can't help it. He'll tell me all about it and he'll just be like, it's crazy, Mary. How much every time I think I'm going to win. And then the final boss is like, you can't use spades, and I'm screwed. Yeah. And the ante just, like, is completely so rude. But it makes you always on your toes. You might think you have it locked and you don't. You have to be very, very confident to actually win and beat Balatra.

[Dan Rykert]

You need a plan B. Like, if you put all your stuff in, like, I'm going to make all my cards card spades. And then the thing says you can't use spades. Well, you have no back whatsoever.

[Mary Kish]

Yes, sorry.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm jealous of that story, Mary, because I tried with my dad because, like, I'm very selective with my dad about, like, okay, I think he will, like, Super Mega Baseball 2. I think he, like. But he is very not up for trying new things. So it's like one game every three years. I'll try. And I tried. I made the big push with Blackro, got him a code, and I spent like two hours when he was here, when, after my surgery, like. Like standing up, like I was doing a fucking presentation. Like, okay, so this here, you see if he holds this. And he did this. And I think he saw that there was something there. But there was also the Paul record came in where it's like, this isn't how poker works.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

It's like, okay, well, I worried about.

[Mary Kish]

That too, because my dad actually, the. His number one hobby is to go to Vegas and play video poker. That's his thing. That's what he does. My dad goes to Vegas and he plays video poker. And so it was very difficult for me to express to him. This is poker on crack. It changes the rules of poker. You won't play poker anymore. And the first time my dad played this game, he got a royal flush and was like, I'm the fucking best. And I was like, you're not, and you don't get it yet. And he lost a couple rounds, but the first time he ever won. And I have the text on my phone. It's so cute. He was like, I won with two pair. Isn't that nuts? And I was like, that is nuts, dad. And like, the fact that he. There was something in his brain that finally clicked that it's not about getting the royal flush anymore. It's about just leveling up. Will you put that away? It's about leveling up whatever hand that you can that you think you'll actually get a lot and score.

[Dan Rykert]

Or building a whole deck based off a joker you get early on where it's like, all right, totally one of those runs. Okay, great, excellent. Or the language.

[Mary Kish]

Or deleting half your deck and only having heart cards. That way you can't not get A flush. So interesting.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, the. The language of poker is good to know. You know, it's got the. The visuals of poker, but it is not poker. And that's the thing is, like, I kept telling my dad, like, you gotta turn off the part of your brain that is telling you to play this like poker, because it is different than that. And I. I do think he struggled with it, but. No, I'm. I'm so fucking into it again.

[Mike Mahardy]

Best jokers, Game of the Year category.

[Dan Rykert]

I already put it in there.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's already there. Okay.

[Dan Rykert]

Gotcha.

[Mike Mahardy]

I was gonna say, I'm assuming you did.

[Dan Rykert]

Nope. Already out of the best.

[Mike Mahardy]

Echoes. Best. Best Jokers.

[Dan Rykert]

Best. Yep.

[Mike Mahardy]

What else?

[Mary Kish]

Zelda?

[Dan Rykert]

Few.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's got to be something in Infinite Wealth. Oh, I. I've been. I've been playing more of Infinite wealth, like Chapter nine. I think I'm in right now at this point. I like that game quite a bit. I got.

[Dan Rykert]

Spoil anything. Where you. It's been a while now. Where you at? Like, where are you at in the story?

[Mike Mahardy]

Fairly far into Kiryu's, like, main arc or like, his big thing.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like, you find out. It's. No, I don't think it's. I know what happened, what happens with him, but I'm back. He left. I'm back doing his side of things.

[Dan Rykert]

He left. Okay. All right. That's. Yeah, I. I still need to pick it back up because I got to the point where he left and.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, it starts doing some cool stuff, like the next chapter after he leaves Hawaii.

[Dan Rykert]

Really?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay. I need to. Because I was really loving that. And I think something huge came out.

[Mike Mahardy]

And we're like, I need to drop.

[Dan Rykert]

Everything and play this.

[Mike Mahardy]

I found it pretty easy to pick back up.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

Because I did. I got. I did Dondoku, I did the five star resort, and then I hung around for another, like, two or three hours to make it actually look good. Because there, at a certain point, like, for four stars, like, I just want five stars. I'll put buildings where the fuck ever. But I picked up the actual JRPG of it all really quick again.

[Dan Rykert]

That's. Yeah. Because I remember when I quit, I was like, you know what? This is probably a decent time because there's a very clear, distinct line of like, okay, this is in a different spot now, so maybe. Maybe I'll go back for Game of the Year.

[Mike Mahardy]

The UI is great. Like, if you come up to the blacksmith character, the engineer, she'll be like, oh, I can do this and this and this. And then the combat will say, oh, this attack does this. And then make sure to line them up like this. So it was. It's pretty easy. And then you know that that game's cutscenes are pretty expositionary. So they're going to be like, oh, last time we spoke this happened.

[Dan Rykert]

I was like, right.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's really easy with like images of.

[Dan Rykert]

What happened and the flashbacks.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. It was not hard to jump back into at all.

[Dan Rykert]

I'll. I'll get back in because I feel like that's going to be my like top 10 this year and I should beat it.

[Mike Mahardy]

I like it a lot. I came around on it the beginning. Still weak in my opinion, but. Or I mean it's been a while.

[Dan Rykert]

But takes a while.

[Mary Kish]

How many hours are you in though? Just to get a perspective.

[Mike Mahardy]

Chapter nine. Oh man.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm usually 20 or 30 at that point.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm usually good at this, but two big play sessions split up. Yeah, I would say like 30 probably.

[Dan Rykert]

That's probably where I'm at. Like around there. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

But no, it's still really good game.

[Dan Rykert]

Very good. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

You start unlocking all the different jobs. The surfer, the fire dancer, the Geo dancer, whatever you want to call them. It gets great. Yeah. Mary, you're also playing Demons. Sorry, Daisy just closed out of my. Turn my camera off.

[Mary Kish]

Just showing off B hole and turning off all your systems.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yep. What is this Demons game you speak of?

[Mary Kish]

Demons Mirror is a rogue light. Sorry, Rogue like deck builder. And I think for that style of game it's quite addictive. This is a game where you are building a deck and you're coming across monsters and a turn based system. So they're like going to attack you. You'll see what they're about to do above their head. So they might be defending or maybe they're going to attack you or they do something even crazier. I feel like this mixes rogue like deck builders with. What's that gem game like Match three?

[Dan Rykert]

Like a Bejeweled.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm looking at images. It looks like Puzzle Quest. I don't know if you're playing that.

[Mike Mahardy]

Puzzle Quest is awesome.

[Mary Kish]

It does have that vibe to it. So it's Bejeweled meets a deck builder. And so you're coming across these characters. In order to attack them, you have to connect. And it lets you do it diagonally because it's so cool. It lets you connect all of your little. I think they're swords that cross to attack if you need to defend because maybe they're gonna. They're gonna attack you that turn. Then you need to connect all your shields. But then it has all this, like, fun additional currency that is really interesting. It has this, I don't know, green blob currency. If you connect all those, it gives you a super power that you can only use if you get enough of them. Maybe it's like 20 of them and it adds them over time. And so if you get to that, then you get to do like 25 damage or something really extreme or you get to defend more or take away one of your. Because they can. They can give you not. They can give you like, cons to your character that hurt your character and cause you problems later on. So you could, like, remove an issue that you have with your character. I've. I've got really addicted to this game. I was shocked with how addicted I got to this game. Maybe it's because of the bejeweled aspect of it, of. Of the matchmaking system and using that to attack, but also because it has a long way to go. You have to be very careful with ever taking damage in that game. As you're building your deck, as you're building your character, you will get some insane powers. But if you take too much damage, it's very difficult to get your health back. And then you die permanently. And you have to start your character and your build all over again to try and beat it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it looks like Slay the Spire meets Puzzle Quest meets Monster Train.

[Mary Kish]

I'm surprised more people aren't talking about it because it combines a lot of the things that people love about certain types of games. Like Slay the Spire. It's got all the good, good, but I just don't hear anyone talking about it. I will say, like, it's got an indie ass, indie vibe to it, right? Like, it's. It's not. I wouldn't say it's not polished, but I would say, like, it doesn't have all the fanfare of a really beautiful cutscene intro or anything like that. You're like walking in the woods and you come across a mirror and it's like. And now you're in the game. But the game mechanic is very interesting and addictive. It also has random elements to it. So when you're not literally in the gameplay screen where you're fighting an enemy, you get to choose the path your character walks. And you can do random element sequences where it'll be like you're in the woods and you come across a thorny bush. Do you put your hand inside of it. And maybe you get like a cool. Yeah, you know you did. And maybe you get a cool item, but also maybe your character takes 10 damage. And so you have to be very thoughtful of like when you take the risks. When you don't, there's more difficult boss battles that will give you better rewards, but if you take too much damage, it's gonna like really fuck up your character. And then in each path, there's a boss at the end of the path and the boss does like hella damage or has like a crazy amount of health. Some of them, they do this really interesting thing where they. With your deck, so they'll give you cards that are worthless. So now your deck has these cards that are completely unusable and that's a huge pain in your butt. Or they do something really interesting. In the bejeweled area, they will put a bomb. And if you can't sink enough stuff to get rid of the bomb, it does like 20 or 30 damage to your character. So very dramatic. It took me a couple tries. When I did beat this game, I felt like a genius. I felt like a million dollars. It gave me the Balatro vibes of like, I can't believe I beat that game. I came within a hair of my life like six times to beat this game. And so it gave me like that real, real good experience of like, I barely made it, but I did it. I beat Demon's Mirror and. And so I think it's really great. I was. I'm shocked that I haven't heard more people talk about this, considering like all the benefits of other. Other games that people love. They're in here.

[Dan Rykert]

I mean, just. Yeah. Looking at screenshots and hearing you describe this, it seems to be using influences of that I really like a lot. Like, I'm curious. It also seems like another great Steam deck game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Monster Train is one of my favorite. Like Rogue Lights. And this sounds like. I mean, Monster Train already was a riff on Slay the Spire, but this sounds like a riff on both of them. So I'll try this out and match.

[Dan Rykert]

Three is always just Mary. You came up on the bombcast this week because Grubb was talking about Tiny Glade. Have you heard of this?

[Mary Kish]

No. Tell me about Tiny Glade. You know, I love it.

[Dan Rykert]

I have not played it, but just the way Grub was describing it, I said on the Bombcast, like, this sounds like something that Mary is going to be bringing up on the fire escape cast. It is like a cozy kind of building thing. We're like building, you know, castles and witches, cottages and stuff like that. But like, very, very kind of cozy. Not super serious, you know, it's not a sim city. It's not a city skylines or anything. Indie cozy city builder type thing. It. Everything Grubb was saying sounded like it would be up your alley. So maybe check that out.

[Mary Kish]

So adorable. I love stuff like this. I like, get really excited about, like, builders, where you just get to, like, make the perfect town. Do you get. Does it gamify it in any way? And I know, like, you didn't play it, but I'm just curious.

[Dan Rykert]

And I immediately forgot everything Grub said. I just remember thinking like, oh, this sounds like a married game.

[Mary Kish]

Lol. If we're gonna go down this path, because I haven't played this game either, but I'm really excited about it. I learned about a game recently called Tales of the Shire, a Lord of the Rings game. And literally in this game, Daniel, you. You, like, grow food in your garden. You cook it and turn it into food, and then other hobbits come to your home for dinner, and then they judge you based on how good the dish is based on, like, a variety of different things, like consistency and how high quality the ingredients were from your home. And I was like, that is so infinitely my shit. I could not believe the idea of, like, building, making a fucking soup and having everybody in town judge me on how good the consistency of my gazpach.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, suddenly big gazpacho. All right.

[Mary Kish]

If it gives me a high rating with the other hobbits of Hobbiton, then yes, I am in the Hobbiton.

[Dan Rykert]

Can they name their city Hobbiton?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. The name of the town in the Shire is Hobbiton.

[Dan Rykert]

That's so stupid.

[Mike Mahardy]

Have you seen Lord of the Rings?

[Dan Rykert]

I saw all three of those movies in the theaters the weekend they came out. I don't remember a lot of them. I did not remember it was Hobbiton. That is. That's like if we. If I lived in Peoplesburg.

[Mary Kish]

No, it'd be like if you lived in Dantown.

[Dan Rykert]

I lived in Danbury.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. You lived in Danbury. It's not that.

[Mary Kish]

Not so crazy then, is it?

[Dan Rykert]

That was funny. Yeah. Minneapolis doesn't have any part of my name in it.

[Mary Kish]

And you're like, it's just a bunch of other Dans walking around.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah. They check your passport when you move in there. It's gotta be Dan.

[Mary Kish]

Dan. Hello, Dan. Good morning, Dan.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right, you want to do some emails?

[Dan Rykert]

Sure.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right. As usual, you can write into firescapecastmail.com that is firescapecastmail.com for questions, comments, concerns. Might get your questions read on these episodes. I've got a few. I'm going to read this first one from Sage and Brandon because I want to give a shout. Sage and Brandon actually invited us three to their wedding, but it's on October 13th, so I don't know. Sage and Brandon, when was our save the date? Where was our invite? A few months ago. It feels like a last minute thing. I'm trying not to be insulted. I'm completely kidding.

[Dan Rykert]

I'll be in Jersey.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

That's so sweet.

[Mike Mahardy]

But thank you, Sage and Brandon. And also they will have the same anniversary as my wife and me, October 13th. It's a good. It's a good anniversary.

[Mary Kish]

Also, Sage and Brandon, congratulations on your upcoming wedding. Yes, it is a very stressful time and I know it will be a very good time.

[Dan Rykert]

No, not Taco Bell handles all.

[Mary Kish]

Enjoy it. We Sage, two of us.

[Dan Rykert]

It's fine. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Are you guys mild or hot sauce wedding people?

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, you got to answer a couple of questions, but you know, it's worth it.

[Mike Mahardy]

But yeah, thank you, Sage and Brandon. But they did have a question as well.

[Mary Kish]

And I figured Lucky Bonk doesn't get the praise they deserve for accepting Taco Bell wedding.

[Dan Rykert]

Hey, she wanted. She was ready to do a courthouse wedding. So that's why with confidence when that popped up, I was like, I can bring this up to Bonk. She had no. She's like, I don't want to do the big weird dream wedding thing. I. I knew she'd be game for it.

[Mary Kish]

That's so cool. You guys are like made in Taco Bell heaven together. I think that's very sweet. Anyway, onto the email.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes, Asian Brandon said. Hi, Firescape crew. Is there any advice you guys would give on a happy and healthy marriage? Once again, thank you all so much for almost four years of entertainment. With love, Sage and Brandon. You two have been married longer than I have. I'm coming up on a year actually on October 13th, what we were just talking about. So I'm coming up on a year. Been with Amanda for. It will have been like 4 1/2 ish years. But I'll talk last one of you.

[Mary Kish]

Okay.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay. I'm on almost seven and a half years of marriage, almost 10 years of being with Bonk. It's. It gets easier as you get to know someone. So like it was never hard. You know, Bonk and I always got along so well. But like, as you just kind of know someone, their routines and how they operate and things like that, you can just recognize things, you know, and when to give space and when to, you know, hang out, when to do. Like you just once you get to know someone over years and years and years, just. Just notice the way they're like, okay, this is maybe the time to hang back, let them have their time. And two different people, you know, there's a marriage. But like, I think I thought early on that it was like, oh, you know, I'm married. You know, it's gotta be, you know, every night I gotta be planning this stuff and doing this thing and doing all these things together and doing all this. And like, no, it's still two different people that. With two different lives that are like doing their own thing and it's. And everyone's different. You know, maybe one couple will want to be together doing stuff every single night. Maybe one couple, you know, like, they. Okay, we like Bonk and I a lot of times, like, I'm playing a game down here. She's playing a game up there. You know, she's working, she's doing Japanese lessons. I'm doing my thing, I'm streaming and like, just recognize like when to give space and when to, you know, give the time to, you know, do stuff as a couple. But it's stuff that comes naturally. Like, so it's not even like advice. It's just stuff that like, you will just pick this stuff up over time. And I just think it gets easier. I mean, the cliche is communication. And that has always been a huge thing with me and Bonk where it's like if they're. I probably over communicate. I probably like, if I'm feeling something or want to talk about something, I'll bring it up like right away. And yeah, I just.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm just saying I can see.

[Mary Kish]

I am upset.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm really never upset. I'm pretty much never upset.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I really did not mean it as a barb. I just. You do over communicating is not always bad, but you do overcome, say how.

[Mary Kish]

You feel, which is a good thing.

[Dan Rykert]

I think I do that so much that like that whole like wearing your opinions and thoughts on your sleeve, like, I think I don't even think about it anymore.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's helpful. All I'm saying is I'm not surprised that you are the overcommunicator.

[Dan Rykert]

And I would stand by that. I just feel like full disclosure and full honesty and full just being yourself 100% of the way in every situation, it's never done me wrong, whether it's in a marriage or a job or interpersonal friendship stuff or whatever. It's two different people, both. You should feel totally free to be yourselves all the time and communicate whenever. If anything does come up, bring it up, talk about it. Like, don't. Don't let anything fester. Doesn't help anyone.

[Mary Kish]

That's good advice. I don't usually talk about my personal life very often, but I've. The reason that Dan and Mike went to Portland was because I had my tenure wedding anniversary. I've been married for 10 years, which is crazy, and I've known them for 14 years, which is even crazier. I keep it really private because it is a different part of me that is very important. And I kind of like that it's mine and it's not for other people. And I don't really discuss it. It's just something that I have. And I think the secret for me is I feel very similarly to Dan, which is we are two very different people. And it is so important. It doesn't matter how similar you are. It doesn't matter what you have in common. It's about acknowledging that you're two separate people with two different dreams and ambitions and vibes. And you have totally different reactions to things, but you're both really valid and important. And so when you've decided to spend your life with another person, it's kind of really aligning that you will need to think about and empathize with them on a greater level than you have with any other person you've ever met before. And so when they're upset, you need to really think about it and be like, wow, why are you upset? If they are scared or confused or if they're having a problem, you need to really think about it and be like, wow, how can I help this person? How can I be there for them? And when you do that, they get to do it back to you, and it fills your cup. It is like one of the most magical things in the world when I am upset because something happened with me at work and my partner is like, I get it and I'm there and I'm with you and I'm going to make you your favorite meal or I'm going to, like, help you out through that tough time in your life. It is awesome to be able to support another person through tough times in their life and then be the person who gets taken care of in a tough time in your life. It's like one of the greatest gifts on earth. And so the opportunities arise when you are not expecting it. It's maybe during a tough time or a scary time or a stressful time, and that's your time to shine. So if you notice it and you recognize it and you're like, oh, my gosh, this is it. That's your time to shine. That's your time to be there for your partner, and then that person will do that back for you. And it is like just the awesome exchange of goodwill and mental health and support. And it's so much. It's so much better with another bud. It's so much. It's so much better with another person who's like, I know you need this, so I'm going to give it to you. Like, what a cool. What cool system. So be there during those moments. They will. They will happen when you least expect. It is not something you can plan for. You just got to. You got to. You got to show up when the time calls.

[Dan Rykert]

It is so cool to just have your person that, you know, thick and thin, you know, good times and bad and everything that, like, again, as time goes on, it only gets better. And, you know, just the amount of experiences and memories and, hey, remember that time where this thing happened? Remember this? You know, it's just like, it's that you share all of these moments with, you know, you know, if some big thing happens in your life or whatever.

[Mary Kish]

To always have that celebrations, too.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it's. It really is, like, the best thing in the world.

[Mary Kish]

It's cool to share, and I think it's great that you're going to get that opportunity to do that for so long. And so, like, Sage and Brandon, like, this is going to be the start of a really epic journey, like an ultimate path where you get to be there for each other through thick and thin. And showing up for each other is one of the coolest things in the world. And that's like what you'll remember 30 years from now when you look back on this and you're like, can you believe we've been doing this for 30 years? It's the times when you were like. Were there for each other during, like, the cool times and the tough times. That's. That's what it's all about.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, it's fun, too. When it's like, it's been long enough to where it's like, you know, Bonk and I will bring up something, like, from 2015, and, yeah, we lived in San Francisco, and it's like, hey, remember when we did this? And like, wow, it just feels like a lifetime ago. And just kind of that realization, like, man, we have really just been through so much together and it's built numerous different lives and, you know, moving around and job situations and stuff like that, it's just. It only gets more rewarding as time goes on.

[Mary Kish]

That's so cool. I think it's like, really sweet to hear you talk about it like that too. It's.

[Dan Rykert]

I lucked the out with her.

[Mary Kish]

Yes, you did.

[Dan Rykert]

She's exactly who I should be with.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, she's incredible.

[Mike Mahardy]

In the year, I think early on, and I'm still early on our marriage, but in the first few months, I think the thing that I had to work around was anytime I fucked up, like minor fuck ups, like, oh, I kind of started this minor argument this or that. I think I put more pressure on myself because we were married. Now I was like, oh, there's no ripcord there.

[Dan Rykert]

I mean, there is, but like, not that.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's no, it's more that I was like, I think I was putting more pressure on myself to be perfect. And I was like, oh, I'm a husband now. I can't start dumb arguments about our.

[Mary Kish]

Marriage is broken, about whether the scallop.

[Mike Mahardy]

Should have been flipped earlier or something. Like, yeah, that's why my dad and.

[Dan Rykert]

My mom got divorced.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

20, 19.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

Sitting in the attic hearing it.

[Mike Mahardy]

But yeah, I think I know it's cliche for people here. Cliche. It's like, don't go to bed angry. And I'm like, I. I think that actually holds weight.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't think we've ever done it once.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. And both of you know me and Amanda pretty well. I think we would both qualify as pretty big personalities sometimes. So it's not like we don't clash every once in a while. But I think the thing that we have discovered in this first year or I mean, even going back before we were married, in the four years we've known each other, it's like, even when you're having disagreements, I think it helps a lot to throw little things in there to remind the other person. It's like, hey, I realize we're still on the same team. This is just. This is an argument like, you're wrong and I'm right. But at the end of the day, we're a team. I think it helps to. Even when you really think, when you're being stubborn or whatever, I think you should throw some breadcrumbs to remind them. It's like, hey, I am thinking about you. I am thinking about us just arguing right now. But also, like, at the end of the day, we're on the same team. I'm still gonna say I love you before we go to bed and whatever. So, like, it's just. It's more like letting things go. And both Amanda and I are very, very forgiving people. And we really don't argue often despite, like, me saying all this, like, but.

[Mary Kish]

We are just can be stubborn because people hide away from that type of thing. But that is an honest relationship.

[Mike Mahardy]

To be clear, I was one of those people before I met Amanda. I was like, the people who say their best friend is their spouse or such or their partner. It's like, that's such horseshit. Shut up. But that's bullshit. And now that I'm there, I'm like, oh, God. I really. I get it. Like, she really is. We do literally everything together. But even, like Dan mentioned, when we're doing our own things, when I'm back here playing video games, she's stitching out front, like, I'll go out and, like, hang out. And it's like, oh, yeah, it's. It's great. But I guess it's just like there's. You're spending every waking. Not every waking moment, but you're spending a shit ton of time with someone. You're two humans. You are going to disagree. That's going to not. It's going to cause, like, some friction. Every once in a while you're going to disagree or, like, you're going to need space like Dan mentioned. Or, you know, you're going to have. One person's going to have hard times, like you said. Mary, I'm always very bad at asking for help. I'm very good at, like, giving it to Amanda. She's very good at giving to me. I'm very bad at asking. I've learned to get better at asking for it because she's always like, you need to do that. But again, I think it's like, just as often as you can remember that it's not going to be perfect. There is no perfect. But there is, I think, in the imperfection. There's a lot of space to remind the other person. It's like, I might be annoyed right now, I might be pissed. But, like, I'm still here for you. And if you. If you literally said like this, this argument sucks, I really need to be like, okay, cool, that's fine. We'll let it go.

[Dan Rykert]

I think a really important trait to have or ability to have is, you know, disagreements are going to happen with any relationship or marriage, and to. To have the, you know, to be able to come back afterwards, maybe an hour, a day or a week after a disagreement or something, upon thinking about things and sleeping on things, to. To say, like, hey, I've been thinking about this thing. I was in the wrong with this, or I overreacted to this thing, or, you know, I'm sorry I didn't see this. Or, you know, like, just to. To be able to, like, analyze yourself as well and also just be like, you know, just like, you were right. Like, you know, it might not be every disagreement or anything like that, but like, to. To be willing to look at the way you've acted and be like, I. I was wrong with that. Like, that. I think that's an important ability to have.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Humbling yourself is so necessary in a relationship. You have to be able to really deep, like, dive deep into yourself and acknowledge when you've been wrong and things like that. And to that point, I'd also love to take this opportunity to reduce the stigma associated with counseling or going to a therapist and say that couples therapy is so awesome. It is so normal and cool and worth doing. And it is not a thing for, like, couples in trouble or, like, something that's bad. Do it now. Do it now and, like, start talking to each other with a person there. That'll be like, tell me more about why you love this other person. It will give you literally 60 minutes excuse to talk to each other and look at each other and, like, answer questions about each other. It's awesome. It's super worth doing. And I think, like, there's still an associated stigma, not just with couples therapy, but with therapy in general, which is like, what are you fixing? And it's like, nothing.

[Mike Mahardy]

Or like, you've already lost if you're going to therapy.

[Mary Kish]

Totally.

[Dan Rykert]

No, see, going to therapy is like going to get a physical once. Oil change check in, you know? Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's. It's like the best money I ever spent because it gave me a good reason to talk about the relationship and about what was going on. And it gave me, like, an excuse, like, a good reason to be like, oh, yeah, I'm supposed to use this time to just talk to you. It's awesome. So worth it. So, like, I don't know who needs to hear this, but, like, therapy is rad. It's super worth every dime that you spend. Sometimes you need to find, like, the right person.

[Dan Rykert]

Yes. Yes.

[Mary Kish]

There's like a good caveat to that. Not every therapist is for everyone, so you got to find your person. But I feel very strongly to. To reduce the stigma that therapy is great and worth doing, and it's not to fix you. It is. It is a maintenance or just like a. For your wellbeing. So, like, check it out.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I imagine it's. I know for a fact it's like deep conversations even between two people who are like, love each other and who are best friends don't just come up naturally all that often. So, like, to go to a space where that's what you're there for seems like a good, like, freeing kind of thing. It's also getting away from the day to day. His job, her job, their job, like your hobbies or whatever. Getting away from that seems like it'd be a good, like, space to get to.

[Dan Rykert]

Now, my therapist will frequently tell me stories about when he was just a wild man in New Jersey and going to his friend's bar and they're snorting lines of coke off a literal rocket launcher that his friend bought from the Russians because he thought cops were coming to shut down his bar, and so they did a bunch of blow on a rocket launcher.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is this bar.

[Dan Rykert]

I've never brought this guy up. My therapist is a trip.

[Mike Mahardy]

Where is this bar? Where can I do lines off rocket launcher?

[Dan Rykert]

I know this guy is dead.

[Mike Mahardy]

I live in Jersey.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh. My therapist is really. He's like 78, and he just tells me stories that I'm like, oh, my God, you have lived a life.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm going to.

[Mike Mahardy]

We'll talk more about this after because I got to find cocaine.

[Mary Kish]

There's a lot to uncover that your therapist was snorting a bunch of cocaine off of.

[Dan Rykert]

He said he used to just go drink, like, nonstop. Just like a million, you know, shots and coke and all this stuff. And now he's like, no, no. Now I just. Every night I take two shots of tequila and I just kind of noodle on the guitar for like two hours every night. And I'm like this guy.

[Mary Kish]

Anyway, tell me more about your psychosomatic problems. What dreams have you been having lately?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Anyway, what's up with you, Dan? Yeah, it sounds cool. I. I mean, that my therapist never.

[Mary Kish]

Shuts up about their pneumatic spud gun, but other than that, they're really cool.

[Dan Rykert]

Doing Jeff Fox worthy jokes about if you might be a sputter.

[Mike Mahardy]

Mary, do you want to read this one from Max? We had this on the docket last episode, but I saved it for you.

[Mary Kish]

Okay. I appreciate it. Hey, crew. Long time. Fire escape, giant bomb. Canini. Not so Silent Hills and replay fan. Y'all have given me countless laughs over the years. I've got friends and family in Portland. I'm planning on moving there from Texas soon in case Nixon wins in November. And I was wondering if Mary had any advice since she's been there a while. Love you guys. Sincerely, Max. From Austin originally. Pittsburgh.

[Dan Rykert]

We gotta read that. P.S.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, please do. I.

[Mary Kish]

P. S. When I saw MacGruber in theater, someone brought their grade school age son and almost left during the scene in which he offers to suck off Piper in exchange for joining his team. Then they left for real when he porks his dead wife. Cheers.

[Dan Rykert]

Pork's his dead wife's ghost. Let's be clear.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, let's. Let's not be crass there.

[Dan Rykert]

That's communication. McGrooper was communicating with Vicky.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, he's really a good communicator.

[Dan Rykert]

Suck your dick.

[Mike Mahardy]

The dad's like, hey, Kenny, I think we might need to be ready to leave. And then he's just going to like railing Meyer Rudolph's ghost.

[Dan Rykert]

I will you. I will let you me point at something in the room and I'll fuck it for you. Just tell me what you want me to do.

[Mary Kish]

You have white out.

[Dan Rykert]

We got copy toner. I don't have any lube, but I got white out in copy toner. That's the funniest thing in the world to me that his knee jerk reaction to any conflict is like offering to socks.

[Mary Kish]

God damn it.

[Dan Rykert]

I need to watch that movie again.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, I can actually say this because the episode's not publishing till Monday. We're. We're leaving for to go to Hawaii next week. So this weekend we're taking it easy and we got a few movies planned that we're going to watch. Oh, and I think I'm going to queue up MacGruber and play it. And I. I just can't. I got to play it before she sits down so she doesn't see the title like, and pause and whatnot.

[Dan Rykert]

Because I want to make a plan for it. I want to be like, I. I do think McGruber is one of those litmus test movies where if somebody just watched MacGruber and did not understand how fucking funny it is. I think it's like, I just can't. There's a certain level I can't relate to someone. If you watch don't think it's funny.

[Mike Mahardy]

She'll like it. I just quote it so often and talk about it so often. I think it's become this, like, like, thing. Task ahead of her.

[Dan Rykert]

Sure.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. It's like, so it's got so much prestige now that it might even, like, have this cloud over you. Don't want to sell it that hard.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, that can be tough. I remember, like, when I went to college, everyone, I was constantly. I mean, I like Godfather, but McGrooper's better than Godfather.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

In college, I remember everyone was nonstop quoting fucking Super Troopers. Always Super Troopers. And then Napoleon Dynamite was another example. And I saw both of them and I didn't, like, hate either of them, but it was just like, okay, fine. But I felt like I'd heard every joke a million times already. Like, I. I get that. I. I understand that, though.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

But still, it's McGruber we're talking about.

[Mary Kish]

It's MacGruber. So Portland, so Max from Austin, originally from Pittsburgh. You're asking advice for someone moving to Portland from out of state? That is what I did, originally from the Ohio space. Coming to Portland, Portland's changed a lot. I have a lot of family who are third gen, so I have people who have been Oregonians for a long time, and they can be a bit apprehensive. Not everybody, but some can be at the idea of outsiders coming in and like, altering the city's structure. Don't worry about that. Cities change. You're allowed to move here, enjoy yourself. What I will say is, like, the Portland culture that is makes it so special and enjoyable, you don't want to alter. So do your best to participate in what makes Portland weird. Get involved in the scenes that are of interest to you and participate in the weirdness that is Portland. Whether that be naked bike rides, which are delightful and really strange and enjoyable, or get involved in one of the strange hobbyist activities, like the rave scene at Mount Tabor on Wednesdays or joining just a strange club, which there are plenty of. Get into the thrash metal scene, you name it. But please get involved in the culture of Portland. And don't just, like, observe from afar and be like, I don't know why everybody said it's so weird. It's weird because you have to get involved in, like, the strangeness of the place. There's lots of different places that you could live. I don't recommend downtown. I recommend an area outside of downtown, like Southeast or Northeast or just a different area that gives you access to lots of bars and nightlife and food that is in walking distance. Portland has an excellent bike score. So move to an area where you can bike or walk to bars or nightlife and go out and enjoy yourself in this weird, eclectic town and participate in the weirdness that is the space. I think that's what makes it special. That's why I love it so much, is because I can't stop going to places and meeting people and being like, oh, that's strange. I'm definitely going to go see that slam poetry or that drag brunch. You have to be involved if you want to enjoy it and try lots of different foods and bars and enjoy the people. I'm stoked to have you. Portland's rad.

[Dan Rykert]

Pine State Biscuits.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's the best advice. And it's so cute because I. You guys asked me for a recommendation for brunch and I said, do you like biscuits? And bonk was like, yes. And I said, pine State Biscuits. Go to Pine State Biscuits.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm not a breakfast person at all. I don't like breakfast food for the most part, or I don't care for it necessarily. That was one of the best. Like the biscuits and gravy. There were the best shit in the hash browns, the coffee. I. If we go back to Portland, we are absolutely going back there. That was the best shit.

[Mary Kish]

It's such a wonderful feeling when I give someone a recommendation, they're like, that was a bomb recommendation. Ben Hansen was recently here from Minmax, right? They went to Panic. I'll never forget. This is so embarrassing. They texted me and said, hey, I'm coming to Portland so that I can go to Panic, so we should meet up at some point. And I read Picnic. It's the one that does the yellow device with the little handle, the crank.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, the playdate.

[Mary Kish]

Also publisher, they do other stuff, but I think that's what they're known for. And I read Picnic. And so when the night we were supposed to meet came up, I texted them and said, how was the park? And I think he wrote back, was like, what? And I was like, oh, I thought you were coming to Picnic, but it sounds like you were coming to go to Panic. Don't tell anyone that I said this to you. And I believe he did tell everyone. So thanks for nothing, Ben. We went to dinner and they asked for a recommendation of where to go to dinner. And I said, we're going to reel them in, which is a dive ass dive bar that makes fried chicken. And I think the best fried chicken in Portland. And we went there and we had so Much fun. And it was really awesome to have Ben Hansen basically say to me, like, what a good recommendation. This is delicious. I'm loving this, this food and this chicken. And I was like, yes, right again. I did it again.

[Dan Rykert]

You are like top tier recommender. Like, if you, if you really put yourself behind something, I trust that implicitly, completely. You've never steered me wrong. How much did you know Hanson before? I'm trying to, I'm trying to picture you two in the same place.

[Mary Kish]

And I know, I mean, I've only really interacted with Hanson most of the time through you. Right. Like from visiting you and from your time and his time at Game Informer. So I've interacted with Ben several and we have a very cordial and like, you know, enjoyable relationship. But it was the first time Ben was like, I'm coming to Portland, we got to get dinner. What a sweet dude. By the way, for doing that and reaching out and being like, we're going out to dinner. Like, can't wait to see you. Ask me for recommendations for his meetup with minmax followers, which I recommended. Gigantic Brewery. It's a lovely Portland based brewery. They do great work, but just like such a delightful person to be around. And they were gonna vlog reel them in. But before they did, Ben texted me, was like, will it be like neutral or positive or negative that I vlog real them in? And I was like, not a problem at all, but just like a very kind person to double check with me that it wouldn't bother me that they did that. I just think he's a good person.

[Dan Rykert]

He is an incredible person and also like the best in the business at what he does. He is. I, I know I've said it for many, many years, but Ben Hansen is just the best the industry has to offer.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. I think Ben is a good person in their, their group that they've created with Min Max is such a good reflection of that because all the people I met at the Min Max meetup, also lovely people, really interested in games. And there were like other people from that space that I just, I don't know, I just think like a really good group of gamers that enjoyed talking about their hobbies that I enjoyed.

[Dan Rykert]

Were you with. I thought I saw a picture with Kelsey. She there.

[Mary Kish]

Kelsey was there as well.

[Dan Rykert]

She's awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Whom I did not know from Pink Gorilla.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

And was there for Retro Game Fest. Which is.

[Dan Rykert]

That's right. Because when I went to that Hawthorne game exchange when I was visiting you, they were like, are you in town for the retro game fest and I think I just missed it by like a week or two. But yeah, Pink Grill is awesome.

[Mary Kish]

I hadn't met Kelsey before, but I cannot tell you how inspiring it is in games to meet someone who has been running, owning, and like doing great at running a basically like a retro game store for eight years. Kelsey isn't just cool, she's like an inspiration to other women in the games industry for basically, like killing it at a very difficult industry in their space and pioneering and paving the path for like, other people, not just women, but like, basically anyone to be able to do this for a living. I mean, I think Kelsey is super rad. I was actually intimidated. It doesn't happen very often, but, like, when I met Kelsey, I was like, oh, shit. Like, this isn't just like anybody. This is like a very cool person in this space and very down to earth. Kelsey also, for the record, said this is the best fried chicken I've ever had in my life. And she said it and it'll be on the vlog, so I'm not making that up.

[Dan Rykert]

I. Next time I have to go there.

[Mary Kish]

She said it was the best fried chicken she ever had in her life. And I was like, you're goddamn right it is. And the funny thing about Real Amin is like, there's only. It's a. It is a divey bar. It is small. It has one person that works here and there is one bucket in which they fry the chicken in. And if you do not make it in that bucket, it is 40 minutes until the next bucket. And if you don't make it into that bucket, then it's 40 minutes until the next bucket. So you will wait an hour and a half for your fried chicken and it will be so delicious and absolutely worth every minute that you waited. And Kelsey, I said that to Kelsey and when we got it, she was like, it's really worth every minute that I waited for it. It's like, yeah, I fucking told you. It was really awesome that she had their reaction. I hope that she had. But Kelsey was really rad. The Pink Gorilla crew is really great. And yeah, Ben Hansen holds a tight group of rad people with him.

[Dan Rykert]

So he's a good. He's a very good judge of character and eye for talent and yeah, just facilitator of great conversation. And he check out Min Max. He's doing special stuff over there for sure. Especially like Post Game Informer, like the Shutdown and all that stuff. Like, like the Archivist and Game Informer is such an important part of my entire life that it makes me feel good to see someone like Hansen that is, like, doing it right. Like, doing really interesting content about the legacy and how important Game Informer was. We did kind of a wake for Game Informer about a month or two ago, a month and a half ago or something at a brewery. And it was just, like, a bunch of, like, people before my time, people after my time, people, like, everyone that I worked with for the most part, like. And it was just such a positive, cool thing to, like, man. I. Game Informer was. Was very, very important to the industry and to my life. And I. I just. I love what Hanson is doing in the wake of what happened to it.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, he's a good person, and he. He speaks really highly of a lot of the people that he worked with at Game Informer. And we have something in common, which is, like, we both love and despise you, and I think that's really lovely. And I think that's.

[Dan Rykert]

Most times you could ask Kayla, my sister, she would probably say the same thing.

[Mary Kish]

So that's kind of a recurring multiple times. Check out the Minmax vlog. But I'm sure it comes up, which is just like, we love and also hate that, man.

[Dan Rykert]

Do I have to subscribe to his Patreon to watch that, or do I. I hope so.

[Mary Kish]

I want. I want to turn you upside down and shake the quarters out of your pocket.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't want to give Ben money. I see all the time you owe him so much.

[Mary Kish]

Give him your money.

[Dan Rykert]

Why do I owe Hansen anything?

[Mary Kish]

Because you are who you are. Dan, give him your money.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't want to do that. I'll buy him a beer.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, that is so you. Next time I hang out with Ben, we're going to talk about this.

[Mike Mahardy]

Ben's okay.

[Dan Rykert]

I'll see him on Monday.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right. Thank you. Max from Austin, originally from Pittsburgh. Dan, you want to read this last one? From Warren from Pennsylvania. Yeah. Aaron from Warren, Pennsylvania.

[Dan Rykert]

We've got. Hi, Fire Escape Crew. I love the podcast. I've been listening from the start, and it brings so much joy to me as I am driving around on episode 90. I was shocked to hear guest Jeff G. Mention the Holiday Valley Ski Resort as it's burping as it is only 45 minutes from my house and where my high school ski club went every Sunday in the winter. I was more shocked to hear that Jeff was an avid snowboarder. What do you all think is your most shocking skill or hobby that People wouldn't guess from your podcast Personas. That's aaron from Warren, Pennsylvania. Man, I feel like 90 podcasts a week. So I feel like there's not a lot that would. Like, there are certain things that I maybe just don't bring up a lot because there's not a lot to update on. I meditate a lot. I run a lot. I. You know, like, there's not.

[Mary Kish]

I think author is something a lot of people would not associate with you. I think people would not naturally assume that you have written multiple books.

[Dan Rykert]

I guess it's been a while since. It's been almost 10 years since I wrote one, but yeah. And I guess two of them published author.

[Mary Kish]

I think that's shocking.

[Dan Rykert]

Self published. Anyone can do that.

[Mary Kish]

You were on the Dan Times bestseller list.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. The anxiety book. I am constantly surprised by how many people come up to me and talk about how that, like, got them to start meditating or doing yoga or, you know, like, getting their anxiety in check. Because, like, you know, I wrote those Air Force skater books, and they were the joke dumb thing. The whole point was, wouldn't it be dumb if I wrote a whole book about an alligator in the Air Force? That. So it was a bit. It was a joke. But the anxiety one, it's like, holy shit. Like, that wound up being like, one of the biggest things I've ever put out there that helped people. That it actually helped people. And I hear every fucking time I go to a PAX or anything, like, the amount of messages and people coming up to me that talk about that, it's like, man, I'm that. And I always tell them, I always say the same thing. I always say, like, that is my favorite feedback to hear is that, you know, because it's fun to, like, go on and make a bunch of jokes about video games and, you know, farts or whatever, but to hear that I got someone to do something that put them in a better space mentally or made them understand or acknowledge or go after treatment for their anxiety, like, that is. That is my favorite thing to hear, and I've heard it a lot. So, yeah, I guess that anxiety book was a very big part of my life. And I don't know if you'd call it career. It was a project I did. But, yeah, I'm very, very proud of that.

[Mary Kish]

Mike.

[Mike Mahardy]

Harry. Well, it's tough because we usually, yeah, we talk about most of it here.

[Mary Kish]

It's hard to hide.

[Mike Mahardy]

So I guess it's less like.

[Dan Rykert]

It's a long podcast.

[Mike Mahardy]

People wouldn't associate Me with. And it's more. What do I talk about the least on here. You guys been to our apartment? I spend a fair amount of time every week. Like, gardening. It's indoor, but, like, it comes from growing up gardening and growing up with two grandpas who were farmers. So, like, I don't talk about my. I don't know. I don't find the need to talk about my, like, plants and shit.

[Dan Rykert]

But I keep following your Instagram and it's the wine and cats. I don't see a lot of gardening.

[Mary Kish]

Gardening tips.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. I think at this point, people who listen to fire escape associate me with wine, but I don't think. Did I freeze? All right, well, I'm going to keep going because I.

[Mary Kish]

No, we were raising our eyebrows for no reason.

[Dan Rykert]

We just tend to do that.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I say it's plants or something.

[Dan Rykert]

There he goes. All right, he's back. He's back.

[Mike Mahardy]

Maybe I'm going to keep talking. Anytime this happens because the recording is not going to be freezing.

[Dan Rykert]

It catches up. It catches up. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

But. Yeah, I don't think anybody here knows I'm. I like wine a lot. I think that's news.

[Dan Rykert]

No. Well, yeah, but you don't know shit about the ognir.

[Mike Mahardy]

No. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Such an enigma, Mike.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, I've been open.

[Mary Kish]

Do you play that guitar that's clearly in your background?

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a man.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm trying a. Dare you.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I'm terrible at it. Play Smoke on the water on a mandolin. It's not a guitar. Just like a Venetian cover of Smoke on the Water.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I try it every once in a while, but I. I don't really play that that much.

[Dan Rykert]

I think, like, if you. If we. People doing what we do, where we're on podcasts a bunch, you have to make a concerted effort to say, okay, this is a thing I'm sectioning off and I'm not talking about. And, like, I do feel like I've kind of put it all out there for a long time. Like, I don't. I can't think of something where it's like, oh, wait till people hear that I'm really into, you know, going to meteorology school. I don't know. Like, I.

[Mike Mahardy]

This goes for my, like, social media feeds as well. I do not. I do not post about exercise ever, but I spend a decent amount of time doing it.

[Dan Rykert]

I thought about that with you because, like, you do. I know you work out a lot. I've heard you'll message me about, like.

[Mary Kish]

Dan you work out too. You're actually very active. And Mike always looks cut. And I recently lost 10 pounds, so that's something we all look at us.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's not something we post about. I think it's like. I mean, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but I find it to be a meditative thing. I feel like the moment I start making it social and public, it ceases to be a relaxing thing. Yeah.

[Dan Rykert]

And it also. I feel like it would come across as, like, kind of masturbatory. Is that how you say that word of just like, look at me. Like, you know, the gym selfie type stuff. Like. Yeah. To be fair, I'm never going to post a sweaty thing. Post run. Be just ran eight miles.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like. No, I know. I want to acknowledge. I know some people do it to keep themselves accountable to like, which is.

[Mary Kish]

Also totally fine with that.

[Mike Mahardy]

For me. Yes. For me. I agree with you, Dan. I never want to do that because for me personally, that is a world away from things. It's like an hour, hour 20 every day or five, six days a week when I can just get away from social media. Get away. Well, I'm not on social media much, but, like, get away from video games, get away from work, from errands, from house stuff, handiwork. It's.

[Dan Rykert]

I don't.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's not something I want to talk about because it's. Yeah, it's for me.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah. That's a good example of that because it's something that I think we all do on a regular basis, but, like, we talk about it infrequently at best, you know, like, I'm not going to update on the runs every week on the podcast or anything like that, but, like, it is a big part of my life and something I think about a lot.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. I'm also, I. I love to run. That is something for me. And I very rarely post about it or update about it because it is like a Zen thing that I get to do for me and it's not for other people. Other things that I really rarely ever talk about, but I do is that I'm a serial hobbyist in the sense that I. I do a lot of hobbies, not, not to get good at it, but just because I find it to be appealing. And those things include, but are not limited to making crap out of clay, watercolor, felt needling, stained glass, cross stitching. I make shit out of stained glass. That's right. And I don't post about them because it's not for anything. Besides, I think it's good for my brain and it helps me pass the time in a nice way and I really encourage other people to do it. You do not need to make your hobby a side hustle that you make money off of or something that you post about. For social media, it can just be because you wanted to paint it and good for you and make that little thing. And you can also just not love it because it's not super cute and that's fine. But if it helped you pass the day and it gave you something to think about besides your job, then that's a win, baby. So I just think like sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves that like we need to be really good at our hobbies. I think you could be absolutely ass at your hobbies and that's also successful as long as it stopped you from thinking about stressful things.

[Mike Mahardy]

I agree.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Thank you, Aaron from Pennsylvania. That's our show.

[Dan Rykert]

Good show.

[Mike Mahardy]

Thank you everybody. You can.

[Mary Kish]

That was a good show. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Fire escape cast, gmail.com more questions. Sent them in. It's good.

[Mary Kish]

If I could rate that show, I would have rated it 5 stars because I think that it was really charismatic and fun and we went a really long time and I enjoyed doing it with all of you. Five stars for Dan and five stars for Mike.

[Dan Rykert]

I'm a 10 point guy. I prefer 10 point scales and I'm also very protective of the 10. So I'll say 9.5.

[Mary Kish]

That's not a 10 point scale, that's a 20 point scale. Because you did a point system within 9.0.

[Dan Rykert]

Sorry, wait, no, no. Gaming 40 point scale. 40 point scale. 9.5. You can do 9.25. 9.5. Yeah. Famitsu style. Game Informer style. 9.5.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's a lot of difference between a 925 and a 9. 5.

[Mary Kish]

I know. If I could fuse this podcast, I would give it God tier.

[Dan Rykert]

I like to say that there's never been a 10. You know, like I never wanted to give a 10 review. I always held onto that very. I did wind up giving one. But I want it to matter. That matters. So it. Yeah. Gotta hang out with that link between worlds.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay.

[Dan Rykert]

I loved that game.

[Mary Kish]

So you would not give the new Astrobot A10.

[Dan Rykert]

That's A10. But that's the thing, that's why it matters is because I don't do it much in the history of this podcast. I'm trying to think of games I would give a 10 to. I wouldn't give Pikmin 4 a 10. I wouldn't give tears to Kingdom a 10. I wouldn't give Returnal. Hades. Nope, nope, nope. Hades.

[Mike Mahardy]

The 9.75 Hades blows Astrobot out of the fucking water. Astrobot is. Astrobot is like fucking daycare.

[Mary Kish]

Such a goaty conversation.

[Dan Rykert]

Hades is a 9.75. One of the best games of all time. Astrobot is a straight up 10.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, well, you can get some hot [e-mail] or you can go to our Patreon. We'll have links. We have links to that there. Go follow us on Instagram. Firescape Cast. If you want to be a patron and you want to get ad free episodes and or video versions or you just want to treat it like a tip jar because you appreciate what we do. That'[e-mail] that is firescapecast.com. dan, what do you have going on outside of firescape?

[Dan Rykert]

Giantbomb.com Got some fun stuff ramping up as we approach the end of the year. As always, I've actually been home for a little bit, so I'm doing more personal streaming on Twitch tv. Dan Reichert these days. Instagram Dan Reichert. That's about where I'm at.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God. Mary, what about you?

[Mary Kish]

Streaming on Twitch on Mondays. And I think that's it for other stuff that's outside of my Joby job, so you can check out my streams. I've been streaming most of the indie games that I talk about every Monday.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sweet. That was episode 91 coming up on a hundy.

[Dan Rykert]

We should have an actual plan for 100. That's a big milestone.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. I guess we're close enough now where we can really just pinpoint the day.

[Dan Rykert]

Let's have a joke about, like, we should do something for 50. We should do something for 25. Like 100.

[Mike Mahardy]

We'll go to 4.

[Dan Rykert]

Gonna do something.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Go to Portland.

[Dan Rykert]

Go to Portland. All right.

[Mary Kish]

We'll. We'll have biscuits.

[Dan Rykert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Get your controller back, Yoko, man.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right, I'm gonna. We gotta watch that movie this weekend. All right, well, everybody, thank you so much for joining for yet another episode. We will be back in two weeks. Congratulations again to Sage and Brandon. October 13th is a good day. Get married. Can't wait till next year when we share an anniversary. We will be back on October 21st with episode 92. Getting closer to that Halloween. Oh, we're doing. Actually. This is fun. Really quick, a bunch of my good friends. We do friendsgiving every year at their place before we go see our families. However, because most of us are crazy busy in November, we're doing it last weekend of October. We're combining it with Halloween, and we're doing the thing where you pull a lottery of one of the friends and you have to dress as them.

[Dan Rykert]

Oh, that's funny. I've never heard of this.

[Mary Kish]

I've seen it on, like the TikTok and it's very funny fun.

[Mike Mahardy]

Some of my friends listen to this podcast occasionally, so I can't say who I got. And also no one who listens fucking knows anybody, so this is just useless anyway. But yeah, we'll be back in a couple.

[Mary Kish]

There's two trends I like. There's the dress is someone random's spouse from the party, which is very funny because there's like a lot of cross dressing funny things that happen where they're like, I have a Fendi bag because I always go. I don't go anywhere without my Fendi bag. So you're just like making little cute jokes of. Of other people and it's always light hearted. The other one I really like. Yes. And the other one I really like is the one you guys are fucking each other and suck at each other and doing the little fishbowl party. The other one is where you wear the T shirt that's meant to embarrass somebody else at the party. And so you, like, buy a T shirt from Amazon that's like, yeah, I'm a furry. What about it? And you give it to somebody else and they have to go outside with it.

[Dan Rykert]

You know what I like is I see the younger folks on Instagram are doing these parties with the PowerPoints. I think that's clever. I think that that seems like a fun thing to do. I think the kids are all right with that.

[Mike Mahardy]

We can do that PowerPoint stuff.

[Dan Rykert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

When do you guys peg each other, though? I'm sorry, before or after the PowerPoint peg?

[Mike Mahardy]

The PowerPoint's about pegging.

[Mary Kish]

So during Peggle.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, God.

[Mary Kish]

Okay, Dan, I'm gonna invite you to.

[Mike Mahardy]

A Pegle party a couple weeks. I don't think they can hear me. My Internet is just stopping. Let's. I'm gonna call it an episode. We'll see you on October. What did I say? 21st.

[Dan Rykert]

Don't figure it out. It's fine.

[Mary Kish]

Stand. Don't go to Mike's PGEL parties.

[Dan Rykert]

Mike's P parties. I like P though. But I like Mike.

[Mike Mahardy]

See you guys. Bye.

[Mary Kish]

Don't go bye.

[Dan Rykert]

I like P.