Fire Escape Cast #98

Summary

Fire Escape Cast #98 Summary

Release Date: January 13, 2025
Hosts: Dan Ryckert, Mary Kish, Mike Mahardy
Podcast: Fire Escape Cast
Episode Length: Approximately 112 minutes

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1. Introduction and Initial Banter [00:10 - 01:56]

The episode kicks off with Mary Kish attempting to discuss a game she played over the break but struggling to recall its name due to her Nintendo Switch being out of battery. The hosts engage in a playful debate trying to guess the game's title, eventually amusingly referring to it as "Blobcat."

Notable Quote:

• Mary [00:10]: "I played a game over break and I can't remember the name of it... So I just literally don't think I can talk about it."

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2. Mary’s Trip to Leavenworth [03:17 - 05:32]

Mary shares her experience visiting Leavenworth, Washington—a former prison town transformed into a charming, Bavarian-style Christmas village. She describes the idyllic setting filled with snow, festive activities, and picturesque mountain landscapes, contrasting it with her memory of being worried about the town's prison history.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary [03:42]: "It's like a cute little shopping town where you can get your little cocoa and they have sledding and everything is kind of Christmas themed before."

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3. Dan’s Embarrassing Old Forum Comment [07:26 - 12:07]

Dan Ryckert reveals an old screenshot from 2002, showcasing a self-critical comment he made on a student filmmaking forum. The comment disparages Stanley Kubrick’s films, demonstrating Dan’s past snobbishness about film appreciation. The hosts humorously express regret over their younger selves' behavior.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan [08:33]: "...the whole movie is about Jack Ripper's essence and Cold War paranoia... Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism."
• Mary [11:09]: "Explain all of your film history."
• Dan [11:31]: "What would happen if we met our 17-year-old selves and kicked their ass?"

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4. Reflections on Growing Up and Personal Evolutions [12:07 - 19:57]

The conversation shifts to introspection about how their personalities have evolved since their teenage years. The hosts discuss how they would react if they met their 17-year-old selves, addressing themes of personal growth, changing interests, and overcoming past behaviors.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike [13:00]: "I think 17 year old me would like me, but I don't think I'd like him."
• Mary [17:56]: "We are allowed to have so many evolutions as people and we are just so different than the 17-year-old version..."

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5. Video Game Discussions: Past and Present [20:08 - 57:58]

The trio delves into various video games they've played, revisiting classics and newer titles. Mary attempts to play "Caddy Cass," a black-and-white platformer, but finds it underwhelming. Dan decides to revisit "Red Dead 2" on PC, appreciating its enhanced graphics and immersive details. Mike shares his experience with "Dishonored," praising its level design and soundscapes.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan [50:33]: "At 120 frames a second in 4K, that fucking game... is almost the most impressive game visually I've ever seen."
• Mary [55:48]: "Caddy Cass is a simple platformer that I bought on Christmas Eve and then I forgot about it was on sale."
• Mike [35:07]: "There is a sequence in Thunderball that is one of the coolest set pieces I've seen in a movie."

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6. Musical Recommendations and New Year Resolutions [96:07 - 108:50]

The hosts transition to discussing listener emails, focusing on musical tastes and New Year’s resolutions. Nathan shares his goal to listen to 1,000 albums by the end of 2025, prompting Dan, Mary, and Mike to recommend their favorite albums. Recommendations include "Evil Friends" by Portugal. The Man, "How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful" by Florence + The Machine, and "Vulgar Display of Power" by Pantera.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike [97:14]: "One of my favorite albums of the last decade is Evil Friends by Portugal. The Man."
• Mary [100:03]: "My favorite album that I always go to is the Machinarium soundtrack by Thomas Dvorak."

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7. Listener Engagement and Closing Remarks [108:50 - 111:31]

In the final segment, the hosts encourage listeners to engage via FireEscapeCastMail.com and promote their Patreon and merchandise at deepdishpussy.com and fireescapecast.com. They briefly discuss their extracurricular activities, such as Mary’s Twitch streaming of "Silent Hill" and Mike’s wine certification classes. The episode concludes with humorous interactions about potential future content and plans for upcoming episodes.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike [104:21]: "If you could subscribe to Fire Escape's Patreon, just go to deepdishpussy.com."
• Mary [108:51]: "I'm still playing Silent Hill every Monday on Twitch."

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Key Insights and Themes

• Nostalgia vs. Growth: The hosts reflect on their past selves versus who they are now, highlighting personal growth and changing perspectives.

• Gaming Evolution: Analysis of how video games have improved over time, especially regarding graphics and immersive storytelling. Personal anecdotes about revisiting old games with new technology.

• Humor and Camaraderie: Throughout the episode, the trio employs humor to discuss both serious and light-hearted topics, strengthening their rapport and connection with listeners.

• Listener Interaction: Encouragement for audience participation through emails, fostering a community around shared interests in gaming and personal stories.

Conclusions

Fire Escape Cast #98 offers a blend of nostalgic reflection, in-depth video game discussions, and personal anecdotes from the hosts. The episode underscores the importance of evolving interests and maintaining friendships despite changing personalities. With engaging banter and insightful commentary, the hosts provide both entertainment and meaningful discourse, making the episode valuable for both longtime listeners and newcomers.

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Note: All timestamps and quotes are based on the provided transcript and are indicative of the episode's structure and content.

Transcript

[Mary]

I played a game over break and I can't remember the name of it. And my Switch is out of battery. And you know how you can't turn on your Nintendo Switch until it has like 10% battery? So I just literally don't think I can talk about it. Because I don't.

[Mike]

I mean, this is the intro. Make up a name of the game right now. Switch. While you're switching charges. Get in there.

[Mary]

It was like black and white and there was like a cat and it was kind of blob like. And it was a platformer with like some puzzles. So I'm gonna call it.

[Mike]

Oh, wait, I just saw. I just saw this on like Steam.

[Mary]

No, you did not.

[Mike]

I promise you I did. Hold on.

[Dan]

Black and White Cat. Where you solve puzzles. And it's a platformer. No, it is my magic hat. Cute, cute. Cat puzzle platformer.

[Mary]

I don't know.

[Mike]

Oh, I see it. Right.

[Dan]

Umbrella. Umbrella Adventure. The Castle of Cake.

[Mike]

No, it's right here. End zone two.

[Dan]

End zone.

[Mike]

That's not it. Star Wars Bounty Hunter.

[Mary]

Okay, maybe AI knows.

[Mike]

Mortal sin.

[Mary]

You've wasted so much of my time.

[Mike]

Hold on, cat.

[Dan]

This is your fault.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's your fault.

[Mary]

It's not my fault that the Nintendo Switch doesn' It has a certain amount of battery. So stupid. No, it wasn't.

[Mike]

I love Miami. Kato Buttered Cat.

[Mary]

Just saying. Random twisted metal 3.

[Mike]

Was it? Kato buttered cat.

[Dan]

NFL game 97.

[Mary]

Kato buttered cat is a really long name.

[Mike]

Slippery too. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Fire escape cast. It is episode 98. I'm Mike. That's Mary.

[Mary]

Hi.

[Mike]

That's Dan.

[Dan]

Hello.

[Mike]

Mary came really prepared for this episode. I played. I did.

[Mary]

I played multiple games, but that you.

[Mike]

Couldn'T remember the names of. We're creeping closer to episode of Hondo. Speaking of more like Hundo Buttered Hat. We're getting close. I'm gonna just tilted your head in the exact same way. Amazing joke. Yeah. Oh, wow.

[Dan]

Look at that. Yeah.

[Mary]

Yeah. People tend to tilt their heads when they understand and appreciate a joke.

[Dan]

Is the game Cat Quest?

[Mike]

I didn't pick it up.

[Dan]

Is the game Cat Quest? I'm trying to help you here.

[Mary]

I don't think so.

[Dan]

Little kitty Big city Cozy caravan Party animals Stray rain World Night in the woods Kit IO the Purring Quest. Cat Meat Gato Roboto.

[Mary]

Hold on. You're going too fast.

[Dan]

Play with Gilbert remake Magic cat. Cats are liquid. Cat goes fishing. Cat Quest one and two. A street cat's tail. Another site Cat tails become a cat cat and Black, sad under the skin.

[Mike]

There's TikTok. What is this game?

[Dan]

What's the game?

[Mike]

Oh, that's inappropriate. Okay, I'm going to back out of that Steam page. So what's. What's been up with you guys? Aside from Mary's switch charging Dan, how are you been?

[Mary]

I went.

[Mike]

No, I'm.

[Mary]

First I went to Leavenworth, Washington and Oregon. It depends on how you want to say. Oh, I'm sorry. Is the. Is the person who has like the purple perfect pronunciation correcting me Alien.

[Mike]

Trh la la.

[Dan]

It's a prison town. It's where they put Michael Vick.

[Mary]

Oh, my God. This is.

[Dan]

No, he got out.

[Mary]

What my dad said there, you looked at like you're going to prison for Christmas. And I was like, I've been to. It's a Christmas town in Washington. It's like a Bavarian village. It's supposed to be really nice and fancy and like, it's just cute. It's like a cute little shopping town where you can get your little cocoa and they have k. Are sledding and everything is kind of Christmas themed before.

[Dan]

They slam the door shut.

[Mary]

That is not what they say because that doesn't happen.

[Mike]

Next thing you know, it's Reveley. And then you're going to the mess hall and then you're. Then you're in the hole and then you're. You're eyeing up the person. You're going to make your.

[Dan]

So you don't.

[Mike]

So you don't get made to be.

[Mary]

A. I was stealing diamonds and no one was the wiser. And then I got a surprise invitation to Leavenworth, Washington for Christmas, and they got me. Now I'm right out.

[Mike]

It looked like a winter wonderland in that village, whatever you called it.

[Mary]

Bavarian village.

[Mike]

That's what it was. Yes. But it looked pretty. You were hiking and throwing snowballs at each other.

[Mary]

Yes, it's. What else do you do when it dumps like a foot and a half of snow on Christmas Day? It was very. You know, it's just like the type of Christmas that you imagine in your head is the kind of place it was. Lots and lots of snow, beautiful mountain landscapes. We went to a really beautiful forest. And then I was telling Dan I always play a game and kind of get, like sucked into it every Christmas. And I tried to download a game and I played through it, but I forgot the name of it. And that's how this episode started in case anyone was like, what's going on? Strange. It's like a cat or blob. Based game. I say cats are kind of like Blobs. No.

[Mike]

Yeah. I bought it because sometimes you'll play a game that's three years old. Sometimes you'll play a game that's not even out yet. And it never. I bought a game.

[Mary]

I bought it because it was on sale. It was like $3 eshop on sale.

[Dan]

Okay.

[Mary]

No, because it might not be on sale anymore.

[Dan]

Is it Tomb Raider 4 through 6 remastered Ender Magnolia?

[Mary]

All right. This is such a waste.

[Mike]

Wait, is it just called Blobcat?

[Dan]

It's not just called Blobcat.

[Mike]

There's a game on eShop. There's a cat platformer. It's called Blobcat, but he's like white and red and there's a. He's got a bunch of different telescopes and stuff. It was 10. $10.

[Dan]

Now is it Anime Girls Natty New Year?

[Mike]

Anime Girls Natapult Reloaded.

[Dan]

Once the puzzles are complete, you can enjoy admiring the girls in the gallery at your own time.

[Mary]

I can't believe Blobcat is actually a game that. So wild.

[Mike]

There's a game called Blobcat on eShop and that's not the game about the Blob Cat platformer that you played.

[Mary]

It's.

[Dan]

Is it Felinia Tales?

[Mike]

I'm gonna be so pissed when you tell us the actual. What is your switch at? What's the percentage I had.

[Mary]

It's downstairs charging.

[Mike]

You need to go get it. We'll get it during the break because now I need to know. It's like a girl.

[Dan]

Sweet skier.

[Mary]

What is this? Yeah. You'll be amazed. When I was on the sale page three of Nintendo eShop, there's a lot of Anime Girls and kind of spicy games on the Nintendo Eshop. I was surprised and especially in the sales section, which is where I was at on Christmas Eve. How many of the games on sale were moderately sensual?

[Dan]

60 off right now. Is Love Furry Girls, Zodiac Dating Apple on the Nintendo Eshop. Wow.

[Mike]

I'm going to wait until that's full price. I got to support the devs.

[Dan]

Sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike]

Dan, what's new with you?

[Dan]

Boy? I guess we had like the whole holidays and New Year and everything.

[Mike]

It's also been. We had to record that last episode earlier than usual because. So it's been like three weeks since we.

[Dan]

That's right. So I've been sitting on something that I found soon after we recorded the last one. I've been waiting to Look. I don't throw the term hero around lightly. But I will for myself in this instance here, because, Mike, we've given you so much grief for your embarrassing about the author that I dug up, and we've sold merch off of it, and you've looked like a damn fool.

[Mary]

He does look stupid.

[Dan]

I found. As I was clearing up space on, like, my drives and stuff, I found an old screenshot of a forum from 2002. It was from a student filmmaking forum.

[Mike]

Where were you, like, eight, seven?

[Dan]

I would have been 17. Probably going into 18 at that point for context.

[Mike]

So younger than I was for the. About the author. But still.

[Dan]

Yeah, so. So less embarrassing. But still. I want to. In the spirit of fairness, I want to put this out because I was honestly in shock at how much of a douchebag I am in this comment forum.

[Mike]

But in that screenshot is a comment.

[Dan]

You is my comment. Yes.

[Mike]

And you recall why you screenshotted it?

[Dan]

It looked like it was a thing where it was, like, two different. Like, it looks like I tried to type it up, and then it, like, didn't go through. And then I tried it again. It looks like I probably screenshot it to be like, why isn't this posting or something so I can't see the whole thing or anything. And it's, like, over 20 years old. Okay. But I'm clearly responding to someone who's like, I don't really understand Kubrick and why Kubrick?

[Mike]

My God, Would this be fun if I read it or can do what.

[Dan]

I guess I think I should.

[Mike]

Okay, you read it.

[Mary]

Can I make a funeral? Do you think that he says anything about Fight Club in this?

[Dan]

This would have. I guess Fight Club would have been out a couple of years before, you dork.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think it's worse.

[Dan]

It's worse. I don't think it's as bad as Mike's, but it is bad enough to where I do want to embarrass myself with this.

[Mary]

All right, let's.

[Dan]

Here we go. I mean, keep on. Somebody before had clearly said something like, oh, I don't really get Kubrick. I don't really understand Dr. Strangelove or why it's funny. Okay, you have to really appreciate the subtleties of Dr. Strangelove. But then again, based on your previous posts, I bet you're not even sure what the Cold War was.

[Mary]

Zing.

[Dan]

It's gonna get worse.

[Mike]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Dan]

There's should be. There are. There's so many things going on in Dr. Strangelove that you obviously didn't even pick up on. The whole movie is about Jack Ripper's essence and Cold War paranoia. Notice the little things, like how Jack subconsciously strokes his phallic cigar. Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism.

[Mike]

I'm getting a cold from this comment.

[Dan]

Yeah, 2001 is genius. Clockwork is genius. Nothing more to say there. Yes, his work may be slow at times, but that's not a problem if you have a decent attention span or a minute appreciation of good film. Yeah, and a big finish. Now go see Bad Boys 2 or something. I'm sure you'd like that. I heard they blow up something in it. Maybe a car wreck too.

[Mike]

This is the Fast and the Furious officianado in the making.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah.

[Mike]

So wait, this person, just such an editor, this person? It sounds like you're responding to something cruel that they said.

[Dan]

No, it sounds like somebody just being like, I don't really understand the deal with Kubrick. I don't really get Dr. Strange, love. And then I probably went through their post history and was like, oh, this person probably doesn't even know the Cold War.

[Mary]

Which I. I don't think there's so much effort to drop some a bomb on someone who doesn't give a about you.

[Dan]

The juiciest 17 year old film door.

[Mary]

Explain all of your film history. And I love my favorite line in all of that dribble was even in minutiae of appreciation for good film. Like what is good? Mine was appreciation for good film.

[Mike]

Phallic cigar.

[Dan]

No, I literally said symbolism, Symbolism, symbolism. It's like, oh my. I would go back in time and kick my own ass.

[Mike]

Yeah, you. I. That's different than the author bio.

[Dan]

It is very different. This is like snobby, shitty forum guy.

[Mike]

Yeah, mine was just embarrassingly like, what would the word be? I'm not sure.

[Dan]

You're just trying to like play up the nerdom, you know, Yours wasn't as like you were. Yours was harmless nerdy stuff. Mine was like, oh, this dude fucking sucks me.

[Mike]

But yeah, yeah.

[Dan]

Oh, I went hard in the other direction, I guess as I got older.

[Mike]

But I think it was two weeks ago you texted me saying, by the way, I found like an about the author esque comment I made. And then you're like, I might just save it for the show. I was like, yeah, please do.

[Dan]

Yeah, it's. It was shocking to see that. So, yeah, I'd love to, man. I wish I could. Like, if we could do time travel, that'd be such a good podcast. If I could podcast with 17 year.

[Mike]

Old me, I wouldn't listen to it. But I'm sure people would. I would go back. I wouldn't. I don't think I would. I would annoy my past self. Would annoy the shit out of current me.

[Dan]

Same. I don't think I was ever that.

[Mike]

Snobby about movies, but I'm sure I said something similar at some point. When I thought I like understood the whole world and every little nuance of it and had to like convey to other people that I was smart. Yeah, I got things. I'm sure I was like that about something.

[Dan]

I went the other direction. I used to be like, I need to show people I'm smart. And now it just turned into like, I need to seem very stupid.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

I don't know when that turn happened, but at some point it did.

[Mary]

Do you think that it sounds like you wouldn't like your 17 year old self, but do you think your 17 year old self would like you?

[Dan]

I think I would be like, what the fuck happened to this guy? I don't think I would dislike my thing. I just. Did he have a brain injury or something? Like. But then I'd also be like, well, shit, it seems like things went all right for him, so maybe I shouldn't change anything. But.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Yeah, I think.

[Mike]

I think 17 year old me would like me, but I don't think I'd like him.

[Dan]

Yeah, I would hate old Dan. Would hate young Dan more than young Dan. Would dislike old Dan.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's like coming face to face. You know, people talk about those random little things they said back in like fourth grade that keeps them up at night.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Coming face to face with all of those in one package in the same room.

[Dan]

Arguing with you. Yeah.

[Mike]

And it's arguing with you and like putting you down. Dr. Strangelove.

[Dan]

Yeah. I'm gonna go to 17 year old me and Clockwork Orange strapped into a chair and make him watch MacGruber 20 times.

[Mike]

Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism, symbolism.

[Dan]

Celery is a Cold War thing.

[Mary]

They were good fucking guys.

[Mike]

Yeah, they're pretty good guys. It's a fucking asshole of a day.

[Mary]

Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism.

[Dan]

That's what happens when you're not a social kid, is you don't have anyone to check you and be like, hey, you sound like an asshole. You know?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Mary]

But you had sister. You should. She should have been.

[Dan]

They were so much younger. They were so much younger.

[Mary]

And dad say at least make fun of you.

[Dan]

I mean, we all made fun of each other, but we all got along.

[Mike]

Great, you know, I do think it has benefited. Oh, my God. Sorry. I Do think it has benefited me that I have four older siblings who constantly. If I. Because the oldest one is 10 years older than me. So he was going to college when I was in. Going into third grade. So he would frequently not, not like bully me but you know, like the annoying shit that teenagers say or you know like tween preteens to call you out on. He would be like, dude, no, like trust me, you're not going to. I mean I. My brother is talking to me. Keep in mind it's. My brothers would often phrase it as Girls are not going to like this when you're older, dude. Like you got to chill. And that would be like. Okay, good.

[Dan]

Thank you. Good note reader about the author to see if girls are like this.

[Mike]

Yeah. Where was, where was Pat Mahardi when I was writing that? The author God damn could have called me a homophobic slur when I needed it.

[Mary]

You could have gotten so much more puss if he was there for you.

[Mike]

Dude, I got a guy I could. I'd be swimming in puss if. If he was there.

[Dan]

No, no, man. It needs a couple more Tolkien references. Let him know you know your.

[Mike]

He's like camera at home. Preferably the bridge from Stairway. But then go deep cut. Go, go like do your maker show them. You show them you've been there. When they Deer maker.

[Dan]

I think it's like deer maker.

[Mike]

Your maker. I always said deer maker. Oh, sorry, I can't speak French, mister.

[Dan]

I go to France 17 times a year with my special France luggage.

[Mike]

I went twice. I don't have special France.

[Dan]

You have special luggage that holds wine bottles?

[Mike]

No, it's a normal away bag. I just pack it full of. I have sleeves, bubble.

[Dan]

Oh, you got sleeves. You got special wine inserts for your luggage. Okay.

[Mike]

You can't have that breaking through 30,000 000ft up, baby. Otherwise going to be raining burgundy on Spain.

[Mary]

Yeah, I think 17 year old you would kick your ass.

[Mike]

There was parts of me that 17 year old would not like.

[Dan]

Let's get all our 17 year old self together and kick current Mike's ass.

[Mike]

Yeah. All. Let's bring all 17 year olds of each of us to the present. Like make them watch the inauguration and then kick their ass.

[Mary]

Wow.

[Mike]

It just seem, I don't know, it seems like a historical future moment for them.

[Dan]

Oh, I see. Yeah.

[Mary]

My 17 year old self would not be involved in any of this. They would be like where can I get high?

[Dan]

Oh, mine would be calling the cops on you for getting high.

[Mike]

I knew it.

[Dan]

We Would all hate each other.

[Mike]

We would not have been friends at all.

[Dan]

No.

[Mike]

What I've been doing 17. I was. I cared a lot about lacrosse.

[Dan]

Okay. Yep. I wouldn't have liked you.

[Mary]

Checks out.

[Dan]

That checks out.

[Mike]

I wouldn't like that either.

[Dan]

You were so. I would have thought you were a jock and Mary was a delinquent, and we would not have got along, none.

[Mike]

Of us speaking completely. Actually, like, honestly, I was definitely. There were certain days when I was a jock. There's certain days when I, like, was, you know, hanging out. My friends I played video games with, did Halo system links on three different floors of our house, or I didn't have three floors in my house. Two different floors of my house. Then there are other days where I'd be hanging out with, like, the stoners, and it wasn't like, if I was with the jocks, I would bully the other ones. I would actually. I'm not saying this to brag. My point being, I almost used to feel like I was cheating and not being. I wasn't being, like, an actual. I didn't have an actual personality because I hung out with so many different groups. I thought, sure. I was like, I should have picked one at some point. This just feels like I'm faking.

[Mary]

You're dabbling. You're allowed to dabble. As a kid, I feel like we're. I think this is very American high school, I've heard. Yeah. Now I'm all in on chalk.

[Mike]

Mary and I push up contests.

[Mary]

I like to punch nerds when I see them on the street. No, I was gonna say, like, I think that it's very American youth to have in our movies like, American Pie and things like that, to be like, oh, the jocks don't hang out with the. You know.

[Dan]

Sure.

[Mary]

With the nerds and the. There's, like, obviously, like, the computer club, and then there's the people who like to sing. But anyway, like, I don't think that's actually the case globally. I think that's something like, we've created for ourselves and then have kind of stuck ourselves in and said, which group am I in? And she's like, you don't have to be in any of them.

[Dan]

Yeah, like. Like in high school, like, I didn't, like, party or socialize or anything, but, like, I got along with. And I got, like, everyone from, you know, jocks to music nerds to theater people to anime dorks to, you know, like, all that stuff. I got along with everyone.

[Mike]

You hung out with the anime dorks? I'M sure they appreciate you calling them that when you hung out with them. Look at us.

[Mary]

Hello, anime dorks.

[Dan]

No, I think. I think I would hang out with people that like JRPGs and then make fun of them because I saw them as lesser nerds than me.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Dan]

And I was like the JOC nerd by comparison because I played cool military stuff. Very solid. I do think, actually there were a couple anime nerds in my school, and I think I was probably wary of them and didn't hang out with them.

[Mike]

Didn't understand them.

[Dan]

No, no. I probably was getting ready to call the cops on him.

[Mike]

I think now if we. If we're closest to any of those archetypal cliques, we're probably the AV club.

[Dan]

Yeah. I mean, that. Yeah, I did that back, like, video production class and everything.

[Mike]

I mean, now, like, if us as a group had to pick one like Jake as. Especially where they have club, I could see that.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Former job, Cool place to land.

[Mike]

Former. Former. I don't know what Mary would be.

[Mary]

I'd still be in the delinquent.

[Mike]

Delinquent gymnast AV club right now. Up and paint and then doing the balance beam. Did I tell you the.

[Mary]

I had. I had a bit of a duality in high school, too, where I was like, do, like, half doing chasing drugs and half gymnastics. And so I. I was like. I was on when I was on, and then when I didn't need to be an athlete, I was trying to score.

[Mike]

We contain multitudes. Yeah, I just came up with that on my own. I just came up with that phrase by myself. Yeah, I was my own phrase. You can quote me in the future when you say that. Say, was Mike Muhy.

[Mary]

I will not.

[Dan]

I don't know if I've told you the blue smoke story. Stop me if I have, but I was in sixth grade and. No, I was in sixth grade, and I was walking around the neighborhood, and I was terrified of seventh graders because they were in junior high, so they were older and they went to a different school. And one of them rode his bike up, like, my cul de sac or something and was smoking something, and he's like, hey, do you want to hit? And I was like, no. And I went in and I, like, ran to my mom, and I was like, mom, we have to call the cops right now. And she's like, what? I just saw one of the seventh graders smoking weed in the outside. Just in the coldest. He showed it. And she's like, are you sure it was drugs? Yeah, mom, it had blue smoke. I saw like, there was blue smoke coming out of it. The stick in his mouth had blue smoke. It was definitely drugs. Mom, we need to call 91 1. And she was just like, my mom was never like a real, like, drug person or anything like that. She's like, it's fine. It's some teenager smoking weed.

[Mary]

Where did you get this from? Did you dare twice or something?

[Dan]

I went to dare camp.

[Mary]

Oh, loser.

[Mike]

I definitely would have not liked you.

[Dan]

Well, listen, Dare camp, I didn't go there. I won a contest to go to Dare camp. And that means you just go to a bunch of like, theme parks and camps with a bunch of cops.

[Mary]

Like calling 911 the most in your class.

[Mike]

They just put a. They put a Coke on a table in front of 30 people. And anybody who doesn't snort first, who snorted it?

[Dan]

Yeah, no, everyone, I think, was entered, and everybody did want to go because it was like, you got to go to Worlds of Fun, which is like our Six Flags. And you got to go to, like, a camp and there was like a bunch of, like, fun stuff, and then they teach you a bunch of, like, anti drug stuff, and it's with a bunch of cops and everything. But yeah, I went to Dare camp during a summer and I was all in on the messaging. I was, you know, I will call those.

[Mary]

Obviously, we're like, number one pig. I'm just, like, so blown away by, like, your aversion to drugs to this degree that you're, like, constantly walking around hitting 9:1 on your phone and waiting for another reason to hit the final one.

[Mike]

Meanwhile, locked and loaded.

[Dan]

Meanwhile, in 2025, literally three hours ago, I was having a conversation with a weed company about doing a partnership with a local cannabis place.

[Mary]

Well, well, well, a couple of dollars around and he's.

[Dan]

No, not even dollars. I just want free weed.

[Mary]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Mike]

I was gonna say Dan doesn't need money.

[Dan]

No, just give me your free and I'll talk about it.

[Mike]

What was the turning point? Like, college.

[Mary]

We deal would be so killer.

[Dan]

No, college, actually. Well, okay. It started to turn better, like, leading up to college because I started hanging out more with people and I started drinking a little bit. But then I did mushrooms the first time. Had my first, like, I had a really bad panic attack. Then I did mushrooms again, Had a really bad panic attack. And then I did morning glory seeds, Had a really bad panic attack and swore off, like, I thought I was losing my mind for, like, months. I was like, had this like, mental break almost where I was like, Physically sick for, like, several months with, like, crazy flu symptoms. I thought I was going crazy and all this. It was, like, honestly, a really rough spot.

[Mike]

It's like senior year of high school.

[Dan]

No, this would have been, like, first semester of college is when. And, well, the mushrooms was that summer before college. But, yeah. And so, like, I was so scared of that, and I was convinced that I, like, broke my brain with the mushrooms and stuff, so I became very, like. I didn't. I was past the point of judging anyone for pot. Like, all I was in the arts dorm, everyone smoked pot copiously. I just drank. But, yeah, I was just really. All my friends smoked all the time. I could have had weed all through college, but I just was scared of it, honestly. So to the point where it's like, I would have dental procedures done. Like, I had my wisdom teeth stuff done without pain meds because I didn't want to feel high, so. And then it wasn't.

[Mary]

Do you think it was connected to your anxiety that you were basically like, I'm gonna get out of control because your anxiety made you nervous?

[Dan]

A thousand percent. I thought I was going crazy, and I was like, what if I just. You hear these stories, like, somebody, you know, did acid and jumped off a balcony or something? Like, that shit scared me so much. And then it wasn't until San Francisco, when I move there, and I was like, oh, I can just get this card. I have a very valid reason with anxiety and stuff like that, and I can look up strains and I can buy it and know it's not coming from, like, a shady place or anything. I started to kind of get into that a little bit, actually. I. I like this. This isn't that bad. I've had ups and downs with it since then as far as, like, I have periods where it makes me more anxious and periods where I'm more curious about it. I think I'm right now in a spot where it's like, I do want to start having it more. I've been having weed seltzers with movies with Bon instead of, like, drinking and. Because I'm doing kind of like a dryish, like, January thing, but I'm having weed.

[Mary]

Try January with an asterisk. Yeah, I know.

[Dan]

Yeah. I mean, we dry, right? Well, I guess.

[Mary]

Yeah. Everybody knows that if you're sober, you're allowed to smoke pot.

[Dan]

Yeah. Yeah. That's what I'm doing. That's what all the sober kids do. But, yeah, so I'm. I'm. I've. I was anti weed as a Narc kid. I was scared of weed as a college student, and I've been very curious about weed as an adult and looking for ways to, you know, help with, like, anxiety and stuff.

[Mary]

Find your dosage. I think, like, a lot of the times, because I also ran really anxious as a kid, and I also had a panic attack from doing too many mushrooms. Used to be really careful with, like, how much of that stuff you're putting in your body when you're hyperactive and mentally all over the place. Like, I freaked out once and I kind of learned the hard way. I am very particular about my dosage. I also did. So I. I had such a different path than you, Dan. I. I think I was smoking weed when I was like, 13. I was a bad. I was a bad kid. And I was like, I would have.

[Dan]

Had a SWAT team up so quick.

[Mary]

My. My mother is a saint and I would have stabbed you on site. And I was.

[Mike]

Your mom have to do with it.

[Mary]

She was just put up with a lot of my, you know, like, my mom loved me and would constantly be like, she's out there doing the drugs again. And I. She would come find me and I would, you know, and I would just go do it again. I was the worst. But in college, I felt like I was quite a seasoned vet by then. Like, I had already done a lot of drugs by then. I had already done most of the things that you're not supposed to do. And so I thought I was, like, way cooler than everybody else who was, like, doing their first drug. And I was like, oh, are you? And I. I'll never forget, like, the first time, though, that I. I tried a volcano, which is like, where you have those, like, vaporizers. Yeah. And they put. It's such like, pure THC in a bag. And I was like, let me show you how it's done. And I took, like, the. The biggest rip I could off of this bag because I smoked pot a lot and I felt like I could hang and I absolutely got annihilated from this bag. And I didn't remember where my dorm was. And I needed help and I needed. I needed, like, to process. I felt really unsafe and I. They had these. You know, they have those phones in colleges in case you need to call security on campus.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Yeah. In case something, like, really bad happens. And I remember just, like, hanging out by one of those phones just because I was like, I'm so fucking high. If anyone comes up to me, I'm grabbing this phone because I'm freaked out.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

And then I. Eventually, it just. Like, it just kind of worked out, and I. And I got over it. But it's. The thing about it is, is, like, you and I are actually quite similar. I also run high anxiety and needed to find the right dosage, and if I went too hard, I had the worst time. So I. I have learned from that, and in my years now, I really like everything prepackaged. I'm quite a gummy person now because I'm like, that's my dosage, and if I do that, then I'm not gonna overdo it. I'm not gonna freak out.

[Dan]

Yeah, same, like, these seltzers. Like, you know, I'll have, like, you know, 5, 10 milligrams. And I know I'm good, and I know it's not gonna last for hours and hours. I can slowly sip it during a movie. But, like, I do think it can actually, like, kind of help in a way, like those scary moments. Because I never had a panic attack or knew what anxiety was until I did mushrooms the first time. That would have been summer of 2002. Well, no, but honestly, I. I wouldn't change anything because, like, I thought it was like, oh, that was just, you know, because I was high. And then I did mushrooms. Oh, yeah. I had a bad experience because I was tripping. And then the first, like, panic attack I had sober was seeing. I think it was Lord of the Rings. Two Towers. No, it was gangs in New York. Gangs in New York. Like, around New Year's. And I was, like. Felt that feeling. My chest thought I was gonna die. I had to, like, sit in the bathroom and just freak out. And I was like, what the fuck is happening? And that's when I was like, oh, I broke my brain. Because I could explain it before, because I felt that way because I was tripping. And this is, like, something. I'm stone cold sober right now. What the fuck is this? And that led to me learning about what anxiety was and panic attacks and, like, starting to get help with it. So ultimately, I obviously had some underlying shit that I think that the mushrooms probably just like, hey, buddy, you should probably be working on this a little bit. So I wouldn't change anything.

[Mary]

My first time on mushrooms, I found a stick and said that I invented trees. And I kept trying to stick it in the ground and being like, tree invented. Well, I think I was trying to say planted. But, like, in my head, I was like, look at me inventing trees.

[Mike]

I thought I had to go to Bush.

[Dan]

I thought I invented World War II. And I felt really guilty about it. I was like thinking about like a montage of World War II, like D Day footage and be like, why did. That's horrible. Why did I.

[Mary]

Why did I do that?

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And then, yeah, jump cut to fucking 15 years later and you're saying, I want you to cream your jeans on Normandy Beach. You have changed.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Drugs are crazy. They are crazy. And I think it's insane that we have that we all have like these very consistent stories of all trying them. Like they're all kind of prevalent in society. No. No 13 year old on my watch should ever be doing drugs. Bugs. I. I'm such a fortunate little idiot that I was able to get away with as much as I got away with. But what I will say to. I think I might have said this before, but like, what I will say is like, my sister never touched anything. And then college, she freaked out because she like, had never been able to do any of that bad stuff. And then she did it all at once and kind of like lost. Lost it a little bit because I was so seasoned. By the time I had gotten to college, I was like, no big deal. And I actually think it actually made me better in college. Like, I had really good G in college because I had learned to solve doing bad stuff and getting my done. I had, I had it all worked out.

[Dan]

Oh, I was the flip of that because, like, I didn't ever party or drink or anything. And then I go to college, everyone's like, hey, this kicks ass. And I like being social and everyone thinks I'm funny. And then I would just like go out and drink all the time. Like, I'm gonna come back with crazy stories. Wacky Dan got drunk and did some crazy and like, I just went super hard on. Just like, I'm never going to class. I'm just gonna drink and party and have crazy stories. And I didn't get any of that out of my system in high school. I waited till college. So yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah, I generally did much, much better in college. Like, I hit college and all of a sudden it made sense. My parents were kind of. They're very different than they are now, but they were pretty strict when I was younger. So I was definitely like a bit more sheltered until I wasn't at a certain point in high school. But I was also sick all the time. So by the time I got to heights or college, it's just all of a sudden I think the freedom actually worked really well for me. And then from there on I actually Started doing really well with classes in school and whatnot. But I sucked in school before college.

[Dan]

I think I had. I really think I might be historically the worst student that has a college degree in the history of the world. Yeah, I don't think anyone could have gone to less class or given less of a shit or weasel out of so many things. I cannot imagine anyone actually graduated and it was as bad of a student as I was. There's no.

[Mike]

Is your GPA like, bare minimum?

[Dan]

Yeah, I did a lot of pass fail stuff. I. Yeah, I. I mean, I would just shoot for a D and even that. Like, I mean, most of them I just like talk to teacher. Like, I wouldn't go to class for the whole.

[Mary]

What was your graduating gpa, do you know?

[Dan]

I think it was in like the twos or something.

[Mary]

But I literally.

[Dan]

Literally though, I would like, I would not go to any classes for the whole semester. And then I would get like, I'd get a thing, be like, hey, you're gonna get an F. And I'd walk in and talk to the teacher and be like, hey, I know I was supposed to do all those film classes, but I was making this sketch show instead. So it's not like I wasn' doing film stuff. And they would just give me straight A's.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Dan]

That was like, I got into two GPAs even with many semesters of teachers just being like, yeah, we'll give you straight A's, it's fine. Even though I did not step foot in the class.

[Mike]

And you wonder why people call you, like, lucky.

[Dan]

It's not luck.

[Mike]

I know. I mean, well, it's like a speech. Bullshitting.

[Dan]

Yeah, yeah, bullshitting. I didn't lie.

[Mary]

It's a combination of like, white man just. Absolutely. I did very. I did other stuff.

[Mike]

Like, this is an outrage. I've been making a.

[Mary]

Hilarious. But that's the thing.

[Dan]

I like, I had stuff to show. I was like, hey, take a look at this. Like, I was doing all of this video production work. It wasn't to a syllabus or your class, but like, I was learning a lot on my own.

[Mary]

You do the job. Do what every other stupid kid in this class did and paid a lot of money for. You don't deserve it. If I was your teacher, I would have been high as and I would have failed your ass.

[Dan]

Yes. One of them gave me an A for that class I never showed up for and then told me to sign up for all of his classes next semester and he was going to give me straight A's. For all of those.

[Mike]

What? And he did that. Seems like he's a bad professor.

[Dan]

I loved him. He still worked there, so I'm not going to. Let me see what he's doing. I love that guy.

[Mike]

Probably.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah, he's got a page there. All right. Yep, that's. That's my guy.

[Mary]

I can't believe you remember his name. I does that.

[Mike]

Okay, wait, let's, like, let's, let's do Guess who with Professor. Does he have red hair?

[Dan]

I'm not saying nothing. He was my guy.

[Mike]

Yep.

[Dan]

Well, one of my teachers won a Oscar.

[Mary]

Was it me?

[Dan]

Well, this. Okay, I'm fine saying this guy's name because he was not one of the ones that let me.

[Mike]

He was.

[Dan]

Yeah, yeah. This is Kevin Wilmot. He. He was one of the writers on blackkklansman. He was a fascinating dude. He used to do voiceover stuff for my sketch show and stuff. Like, he was awesome. But, yeah, Oscar winning guy now. And he was one of my dudes back then. But I loved all those teachers. They were. They liked me. They talked me up in the newspaper.

[Mike]

What did they say about you in the newspaper?

[Dan]

One of the quotes was. I thought it was funny. He said he. He makes films the way other students go to parties. And I remember reading that and being like, yeah, I also go to parties a lot.

[Mike]

So they thought. I don't think all the time. They think, like, the energy of your films or you.

[Dan]

I think the enthusiasm for making stuff.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Dan]

Because it was like a. I was on the COVID of the paper for, like, my sketch show and videos and stuff. And, like, they interviewed my teachers. My teachers are all, like, raving about me.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah. You're nothing if not enthusiastic. Yeah.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Dan]

So I think that got me pretty far with it.

[Mike]

Yes. It's a good way to frame it. I worked pretty hard, especially when I got back to Syracuse Journalism School. I was. I worked hard at that.

[Dan]

What was the hardest thing there was?

[Mike]

What? Because I was a transfer. I transferred 1, 2, 3, 4 times in college.

[Dan]

Technically, two different colleges or like, departments.

[Mike]

No colleges, universities. But when I got to Syracuse for journalism school, a lot of the, like, tough journalism classes coincided because I had transferred everything, all my other electives in American history things. So by the time I got to that last two years at Syracuse, like, all right, take your reporting 200 class, your feature writing 300 class, your crime reporting class. So I was just like, basically out in Syracuse every day. I was just a reporter for two years, which is why I loved it. I wasn't, it didn't feel like I was in school. I was a reporter and then I would come back to the classroom and some like world class editors who are now professors were editing my stuff. It was great.

[Dan]

How old were you?

[Mike]

21, 22.

[Dan]

Were you picturing yourself as like some hard nosed detective from an Elmore Leonard book or something?

[Mike]

Like, like a gum shoe? Yeah, yeah, like a gumshoe reporter.

[Dan]

Is that how young Mike was picturing himself?

[Mike]

Oh dude, I walked around with like a hat tipped over my face. I smoked. I like would pick up a cigar butt off the street.

[Dan]

Like the candy cigarette.

[Mike]

This just got interesting.

[Mary]

The bubble pipe.

[Mike]

Just walk, walk on the crime scenes with my trench coat. Be like, who the fuck are you? It's like it's going to be, it's going to be real hard for you to solve this crime when the perks don't have faces. And then I'd leave and write up that guy. I don't know. And then they see the story in the newspaper the next morning. Like he got none of the facts right. He didn't ask us a single question. Yeah, no, it was. College is a fun time. Yeah, but it was also. Yeah, I did not. I went to class most of the time.

[Dan]

Sucker.

[Mike]

Yeah, we really did. Like, like ships in the night. 17 year old me and you and then college, me and you. We're on a similar wavelength now.

[Dan]

But that's the thing. I think we all met all these, every story we tell about our past, I feel like we all became friends at the exact right time where it's like, I think if we would have gone much earlier, we would have been too different to get along well, you know.

[Mary]

Yeah, I think that's very true. And I think we are allowed to have so many evolutions as people and we are just so different than the 17 year old version or the 27 year old version. And when we hang out as 57 year old people we will be like, you guys were so stupid. Like we're just, we're just gonna continuously change. But I've loved every evolution. I've loved that I've been able to have it. You know, I don't want to be the same person with the same likes 10 years ago. I love that I have a completely different vibe now.

[Dan]

Yeah, I think that's natural and healthy. I love. My dad always says when you turn 30, everything's locked in and you're just that person for the rest of your life. And it's like, no, it's, it's not the case at all.

[Mary]

50, genuinely, I think there's something around 50 that makes people be like, I refuse to learn anymore about.

[Mike]

Tired of learning out.

[Mary]

I'm like, 50 is like. There's something about the. The 50 number where you're just like, I'm set in my ways. You can't make me change.

[Mike]

I think my parents were like 55, 60. And. And I have noticed since then that they've just like, all right, they seem comfortable with who and what and you.

[Mary]

Know why they are. By then, like, you're done, you're cooked. You are. You are complete. You are a complete package deal and you will not change for anyone. It's just not me, baby.

[Mike]

Roast me till I'm dead.

[Dan]

I can't.

[Mike]

I'll be honest.

[Dan]

50 year old Mike is gonna be the biggest asshole in the world.

[Mike]

Oh, dude, I can't wait till I have, like, long gray locks and I'm just. All I talk about is wine and probably cigars by that point. I don't really love cigars, but I'll probably get into them.

[Dan]

You're gonna be older, have more money, more refined taste. You're gonna be like, it's gonna be. It's insufferable.

[Mike]

Yeah, but I'm gonna be hot as. Gonna be a d. No, I'm not gonna be a dad, but like similar age.

[Dan]

Fly to Hoboken once a year and punch you in the face once you're old. It's gonna be like the anime, you're solid 4.

[Mike]

Or like hot rod. But you're not my son. I don't have cancer. No, it'll be great. I think we'll be friends when we're 50.

[Mary]

Oh, yeah?

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

I can't imagine good moments back then in the future. I hope so.

[Mike]

16 years. I don't know how long I have to live. I think. No, until I'm 50. Oh, okay. That's a very specific time.

[Mary]

If you knew you were only gonna live until 50, that would completely alter the trajectory of how I live my life. Yeah, If I only lived until 50, I would quit my job today. I would be done, and I would just start doing something else that I, like, feel enthused about. I would.

[Mike]

Odd. You know what I would do if I was like several weeks from. No. The day before I knew I was gonna die? I'd kill somebody that deserved it or didn't deserve it. I don't know. I just want to experience it once.

[Dan]

Who. Who would be your number one pick?

[Mike]

Mike. Oh, so many names. Just came to mind. I'm not gonna say any of them.

[Dan]

But I could probably guess all of them.

[Mike]

You've seen the list? Yeah, yeah. No, I wouldn't kill anybody. I'd. I'd embrace somebody in a.

[Dan]

Let's play a game. Let me guess.

[Mary]

No. Yeah. Do they have red hair? No.

[Mike]

It'll be like a Dr. Zhivago situation. Wait, not Dr. Zhivago. Who's that euthanasia dude? As. Who's the guy that killed his patients? Who wanted it? Dr. Kavorki. I just said Dr. Zhivago. I'd be like Dr. Moreau.

[Dan]

You'd be like Dr. Moreau.

[Mike]

Doctor. Yeah. Dr. Caligari's cabinet.

[Dan]

Who's your favorite evil doctor? Oh.

[Mike]

Oh, actually, this. Speaking of, I think I told you guys we got the Bond Blu Ray collection.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah, you sent me that clip. It was incredible.

[Mike]

So just. I guess I'll. I'll kind of do some quick recaps as we get through the series. We are on the Spy who Loved Me, which is Roger Moore's third movie, I believe. Roger Moore's era. I think Timothy Dalton gets even more campy. Campier.

[Dan]

Dalton had, like, two movies, right?

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan]

Last movie had, like, one. Dalton was Living Daylights and License to Kill.

[Mike]

That sounds right. Because I think Roger Moore's last one was Moonraker, which is supposed to be very bad.

[Dan]

Sure.

[Mike]

Because they were trying to capitalize on Star wars, but, yeah, it's. It's Sean Connery for four of them. And then he left. George Lazenby came in for On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and then Connery came back for Diamonds Are Forever, which I hated.

[Dan]

What was Never say Never Again. It was like, that's not a real Bond movie. Right. But he once said he would never play Bond again. And then they made a movie called Never say Never Again, and it was basically him playing Bond or something.

[Mike]

I don't know. I didn't see that. But I. Some of these movies, I mean, all the movies are fascinating to watch. Some of that. Like, we're ranking them. Let me quick get my ranking. Quick to date. As you can imagine, a lot of women get punched and killed and thrown off the script, like.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And so, yeah, every woman immediately falls in love with him a couple times when it didn't seem consensual until it was, I guess. But. Okay, here's a surprise. Really, really liked Thunderball, and I'll tell you why. There is a sequence in that movie that is one of the coolest set pieces I've seen in, like, movies, modern or old, involving how they steal two nukes off of this fighter jet once it goes underwater. Then they camouflage it and do all this shit. It's like. But there's no lines of cheesy dialogue for, like, 15 minutes while they're doing it. It reminded me of a Coen Brothers movie in that I understand exactly what they're doing the whole time, and they're just conveying it through action and still shots. It was great. From Russia With Love, I liked. That's number two. Goldfinger was three. I think a lot of people put those up top. Man With a Golden Gun.

[Mary]

Beloved, I feel like, by all people.

[Mike]

From Russia With Love and Goldfinger, I think, are the two iconic older ones. But Man With a Golden Gun with Christopher Lee, very young Christopher Lee, it took me off watching all these movies. Catches me off guard at, like, Jane Seymour when she's extremely young. That movie, Roger Moore's first movie, that was super weird and I think pretty racist.

[Dan]

A lot of them probably are.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah, this was Live and Let Die, but it's like a lot of.

[Dan]

New Orleans voodoo culture, like, parents, Amity and everything. It's so weird. I haven't seen any of the Connery or more. I've only seen, like, the Craig and Brosnan ones. And for some reason, I know, like, a lot about Bosnia.

[Mike]

Well, goldeneye was huge for that.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Which one was I just talking about? The Spy who Loved Me. We're like, three quarters of the way through. We didn't finish last night. But that's when Jaws comes in. But they are in Cairo. I was like, oh, I get why he was in the Egypt bonus mission now. Because it was. That's where he was in the movie. Odd Job is in Goldfinger, which is pretty early on. I think that's the third movie. But there are other ones, like Diamonds Are Forever. I cannot stand. I don't think you put you Only Live Twice on here.

[Dan]

Well, so Diamonds Are Forever was the last Connery one, right?

[Mike]

No. Diamonds Are Forever. Is that what you said?

[Dan]

Yeah. Yes.

[Mike]

Yes.

[Dan]

So I. I looked it up. Never say Never Again. Was Connery coming back to play Bond after. This is 1983. So Connery comes back for one more. And it's based on Thunderball, but it's a Bond movie. It is an actual Bond movie. Sean Connery is playing James Bond in 1983. Oh, there's a lot of references to him aging and being past his prime. He's 52 in it. But, yeah, Connery Comes back for one post or like, mid Moore, I think.

[Mike]

And what's it called?

[Dan]

Never say Never again. Because he said he would never again play Bond.

[Mike]

What year was it?

[Dan]

1983.

[Mike]

So, no, that wouldn't have been. That would have been, like, Dalton era. Not that. Maybe late, more era.

[Dan]

Okay.

[Mike]

Or like, into Dalton.

[Dan]

Sounds like he was actually younger than Moore.

[Mike]

I like Roger Moore a bunch. I think he's actually my favorite early Bond. George Lazenby was not bad, but that movie was super weird. On Her Majesty's Secret Service. It's like a bunch of women are brought to this Alpine mental institution and then brainwashed to be sleeper cells and bring, like, deadly viruses out to all the major countries.

[Dan]

Sounds like an Austin Powers plot.

[Mary]

Very strange.

[Mike]

Watching. Watching these movies is like watching an action movie that MacGruber makes fun of that I haven't seen. Like, oh, now I get what MacGruber was riffing on.

[Dan]

Oh, sure, sure.

[Mike]

That's what. Or any, like, Mel Brooks movie. I'm like, oh, I get the reference now.

[Dan]

When Lazenby puts the celery in his ass, then.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Mary]

Symbolism. Symbolism, symbolism.

[Mike]

Yeah. But I'll keep you updated. It's. It's been pretty fun. There are some really good stuff.

[Mary]

American people.

[Dan]

Oh, my God. What's his asshole.

[Mike]

Oh, I thought you were gonna do about the government.

[Dan]

Oh. Oh, wow. Okay.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Symbolism, symbolism, symbolism, symbolism.

[Mary]

If you had any minutiae of what a good film is, you would know that the celery is all about fighting the government because you're in their.

[Mike]

It's. It's more. It's more, though. It's more the lack of truth in a. In a. No, it's. It's a lack. Pride in the post truth era, as.

[Dan]

Exemplified by American supreme writ large.

[Mike]

Yep, There you go.

[Dan]

What is it about the Internet that makes that everyone's first instinct? I remember, like, 1996, 1997, I showed my dad AOL chat for the first time, and I was like. We went into a music chat room because I knew we like talking music. And I was like, watch, dad. These are all people typing all over the world. They're all talking about music right now, and you can just talk to them. And they were talking about U2 at the time, and he just went in there. And the first thing my dad ever typed on the Internet was, you2 has sucked since Joshua Tree. Why is that? Everyone's brain immediately clicks into like, no, you're wrong. You.

[Mike]

Yeah, I like anonymity, I guess. Call you out. Yeah, and then everybody perceives everything as combative because they. There's no body language in the world to retone.

[Dan]

And it's just like a nightmare. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike]

I still find myself reading, like, for my day job, reading Google chat messages. I'm like, I think, are they being an asshole right now? They're not. They're all wonderful people. But I just. My brain sees that.

[Dan]

Yeah, Fun.

[Mike]

But luckily, we have evolved past AOL chat and have a wonderful podcast.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah. About video games now as adults who know how to speak with respect. Respect to each other. Yeah.

[Mike]

And don't call 91 1-on-moremore.

[Dan]

I'm not a narc anymore. I love drugs. Hey, do you guys have any drugs I can buy from you? And you can send them across state lines?

[Mike]

I'll call. I'll call my buddy Rex.

[Dan]

He's got some. Okay. If you could just send me a picture of his driver's license, I'll make sure the right people see it.

[Mike]

Yep. His name's Rex. He lives at 3463 Highland, you Boulevard.

[Dan]

My neighbor is a cop. I should just start sprinting over his house all time, like, banging on the door. I know someone that's got drugs illegally.

[Mary]

He was like that.

[Dan]

Are you on duty right now? Can you be?

[Mike]

He opens the door, he's got nothing but a robe and a boner and cocaine and a gun. Get your gun.

[Mary]

Get your gun.

[Dan]

That'd be a fun bit. I should start doing that.

[Mary]

Go get your gun. Where is it?

[Mike]

But, you know the things you could put quarters in to, like, look at the Statue of Liberty from the. From the.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Mike]

You should put, like, a bunch of those on your rooftop so you could spy on people to see if they're doing drugs in your neighborhood.

[Dan]

That'd be a good idea.

[Mike]

If someone's mowing their lawn and they look up on your roof and see.

[Dan]

Grandma used to fucking do that. My grandma used to take me to the park because she thought that people that were going into the woods and the trails were selling drugs. And so she would just, like, get me McDonald's. We would drive to the parking lot lot, and she would just sit there and watch the trail entrance and be like. If she saw someone that she thought was like, well, they're probably selling drugs, she would call the cops.

[Mike]

Is that like, what is. I feel like people start owning property and just feel the need to protect their neighborhood and their house. Like, that's the get off my lawn archetype. Kind of.

[Dan]

This is, like, going out of your way to try to, like, get arrested.

[Mike]

Oh, the park wasn't near her house.

[Dan]

I mean, it was in the same county.

[Mike]

Oh, okay, gotcha. I thought you were saying, not that it would have been cool if it was her backyard or whatever.

[Dan]

She was going to Yellowstone. Trying to get people arrested. Yeah.

[Mike]

Yep. She's at tables.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Is it. Is that a park? Tables.

[Dan]

I didn't get the reference at all. I was just gonna pretend.

[Mike]

No, no, no. Isn't that in Utah? There's a national park called, like, tables or some furniture.

[Dan]

I know the furniture.

[Mike]

Like chairs.

[Dan]

Yeah, I know those two.

[Mary]

Her job is tables.

[Mike]

Wait tables. National Park. Okay. It's not popping up. So.

[Dan]

No, no's the name of the game.

[Mike]

Mary was trying to think of Table Mountain National Park.

[Dan]

If we're doing this podcast in 30 years, it's just gonna be us forgetting things and trying to Google it.

[Mike]

National park.

[Mary]

We're actually gonna be replaced by AI. And the AI versions of us are just going to be farting and talking about what we think life is gonna be like.

[Dan]

I'd listen to that.

[Mike]

It was arches.

[Dan]

Ah, yeah. My favorite furniture, Tables.

[Mike]

Oh, you don't have any arches in your house. You ple. Is it pleb? It's ple. I think you guys want to talk about video games.

[Dan]

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Mary, had enough?

[Mike]

Go get your switch. I need to know the name.

[Dan]

Go get it.

[Mike]

Okay, Dan, I feel like this is going to piss me off. Why are you playing Red Dead 2 you.

[Dan]

I don't think it's going to piss you off, actually. I think it's coming from the right spot. I think it's coming from. Yeah, yeah.

[Mike]

Oh, okay.

[Dan]

It's a poopy game. No, I. I did decide that, like, I was looking at, like, the release calendar this month and I was like, it's kind of like, actually a little lighter right now. Like, I want to play that Donkey Kong country game that's getting re released. But outside of that, I got some time. For the first time in forever. I thought maybe now's the time. Red Dead 2 is on PC. It's been fucking seven years since it came out. Let's give it another reappraisal because, like, I really liked the turn I was able to make with Death Stranding, where I, like, met it on its own terms and came back to it and took my time with it and wasn't rushing it pre release to talk about on a podcast. And so I installed it. I thought about installing mods and stuff or, like, saves that get you past the Beginning and everything. And I was looking over, like, fast animation mods and stuff. Stuff. And I just decided, like, no, let's play the game as intended. And first of all, playing it on PC. Holy shit. At 120 frames a second in 4K, that fucking game, which is seven years old, is almost.

[Mike]

Almost seven. It was 10-27-18.

[Dan]

Yeah, 2018. 2025. I know we're early, but whatever. Yeah, it is maybe the most impressive game visually I've ever seen. It's just incredible. And, like, the little details and stuff.

[Mike]

Moonlight, when you're riding through the planes at the right time and moonlight's coming through the pine trees.

[Dan]

Oh, God. You're starting in the snow and you walk out there, and I would just watch Arthur's hat and jacket and watch, like, the snow accumulate and, like, walk by fires and stuff and see it melt when I go inside. And it's like. It's crazy fucking details that are just. It's unreal.

[Mike]

Horse prints, footprints, It's.

[Dan]

It's impossible. Even back then, when I first played it and I just ranted against it all the time, I never denied that it was a stunning even. Like, I liked the story back then. I thought, you know, visually, there were a lot of things I liked about it back then. I just couldn't get past the slow animations, the kind of, like, laborious pace of, like, always having to ride and ride and talk and ride all the way back to the camp and listen to this death conversation, you know? And I think now that I don't have this huge expectation going in.

[Mary]

What conversation?

[Dan]

Like, conversations on horseback? Like, when you're, like, constantly having to, like, a lot of riding on horseback. Oh, well, Dutch. Does he know what he's doing? You know, like, that's stuff.

[Mary]

Dutch.

[Dan]

Dutch is the.

[Mary]

Yeah, the character. I thought you meant like, a Dutch oven conversation.

[Dan]

Oh, no, I think I forgot the.

[Mary]

Name of the character.

[Dan]

I didn't do that. Mod. The Dutch oven. Mod.

[Mike]

No, get the Dutch oven, the gang.

[Dan]

Members in the camp, get them all under one big blanket.

[Mike]

All right, now here's where we're going to hear a weird noise and smell a weird smell. But don't worry, it's funny.

[Dan]

This is going to get popular. Trust me, guys, we're going to call.

[Mike]

It the American stove.

[Dan]

I learned this in Tahiti. We're gonna bring it to America.

[Mike]

Now, Mr. Morgan, I don't think American stove is sticky enough. You got anything else? How about finish pot? No, I still don't think so, Mr. Morgan. Okay, okay. How about and this is the one Scandinavian.

[Dan]

Le Creuset.

[Mike]

I don't think I've ever tried Arthur before. Jake Decker. I think Arthur Morgan. You should have him do that joke because I.

[Dan]

I was wondering how long you would go if we just like, uninterrupted.

[Mike]

No, I don't. Yeah, I haven't done Arthur before, but. So wait, but how far are you?

[Dan]

I. I'm like three hours in, maybe. I mean, it still feels like kind of tutorialish stuff. I'm. I'm leaving, like, the snowy mountains and stuff.

[Mike]

So did you get out of the mountains?

[Dan]

I mean, I did this stuff where it's like, there's the big shootout and I grabbed the O'Driscoll guy and tied him up and brought him to the camp and learned how to hunt and all that stuff. And so, like, yeah, remove from the expectation and also going in, bracing for, like, listen, when I try to grab that can of beans, Arthur's gonna take his sweet fucking time with it. And I'm ready for it. And I'm also trying it in first person, which has been interesting. I. I don't know if I'm gonna stick with that or if I'm even gonna stick with the whole game game. But the thing is, I am actually liking it a lot more right now, and I'm looking forward to playing more of it. It's just. It does have that rockstar, just undeniable style to it. Just a, you know, cinema, you know, as a cinema. Talk about the symbolism. Yeah, no, it's even like the shootouts and stuff. Like, just. It's the way, like when it decides to cut to someone, you know, getting their death shot or whatever. The way the music goes and everything. Like the. The conversation system of just hitting L2 and talking to people and there's just a million little interactions and st that you can do, and it's. It's fascinating to play. I will say it is still annoying me at times where I don't know if this is just an early game thing, but it locks the save game thing. So it's like bonk. And I ordered food and we were going to, like, watch a movie last night, and I'm just like, okay, cool, I'll just save. And it's a video game. I'll save my game. And then when the food gets here and then we'll watch a movie. And I was like, in the middle of a mission and it locked the save thing. And I looked at the auto save and the last auto save was like 40 minutes ago. So it made me do this whole fucking mission, the one where you blow up the train, you rob the train and all that stuff. And then I was like, all right, finally, let's get through this. Finish talking. Okay, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then it made me do another thing and then it went right into another mission and cutscene. I still can't save the fucking game.

[Mary]

Wow.

[Dan]

And I looked and the auto save at this point was like an hour old. And it's like, listen, Rockstar, I know you're all rightfully very proud of this piece of art you made, but it's still a fucking video game. And I sometimes need to save the game and fucking walk away from it. And it's just like, oh, no, we can't have them save here. It's like they got to make all this all has to be in one sitting. It's like, you know, they sniff their own farts quite a bit over there. And it's understandably, they're doing like some of the most industry defining shit ever. But sometimes you got to save your game and fucking stop playing. And like that little shit is bothering me. And just like, you know all those rides after every mission where it's like, okay, I'm just. I have to hold a. To like match the speed of the horses. Even though I'd love to just set my controller down and just watch this conversation play out. And I have to like pretend like I'm interacting with it for a long time. Like those things are still like. I see why it really pissed me off and surprised me back then. But expecting it more this time has taken the edge off a little bit of that stuff. So I do intend to keep going. I don't know if I'm going to finish it or not, but I think once it opens up, I think if I'm liking it already this much and it's still kind of early snowy mountain stuff, I think there's a chance I could come around on this.

[Mike]

Yeah, because you'll. So the game really clicked with me. When you're leaving the camp outside Valentine, your first camp, and then you go to the one in the swamps outside Braithwaite Manor. Or rather when you go to Braithwaite Manor and that's your camp for a bit after you do the whole. After John Marston's kid gets kidnapped and then the whole gang is like, marches on the manor. I was like, okay, now thinking like how the momentum is building up. I love that game. It's what of my favorite games. But I also. Yeah, it's not in its minutia. It's not great sometimes.

[Dan]

Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, the stuff that's good there is remarkably good, to the point where it's like, I think I can, you know, muster through the stuff that I'm not loving, so it's fucking gorgeous.

[Mike]

Also, the sound design, too. In the wilderness, like, just. Especially with headphones on, just hearing, like, crickets chirping, and then the cicadas come out at night, and then, you know, the morning, you hear just, like you can hear a burbling stream from, like, a quarter mile away. Yeah, that's the thing.

[Dan]

It's like, that's helping, too, is because the first time I played it was in, like, a tiny New York City apartment on a PS4 with, like, TV speakers, and now it's, like, PC surround sound. Like, I'm really able to appreciate everything a lot more now. It looks and sounds a lot better.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Yeah. So we'll see. We'll see. I'm holding off on saying full on, like, oh, I love this, or I still hate this, or whatever, but I think it's. It's the right time for this.

[Mike]

I'm excited for updates.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And I'm proud of you.

[Dan]

Oh, thanks.

[Mike]

Not really. Mary, what have you been playing?

[Mary]

Let's find out. I charged my.

[Dan]

Oh, my God. We're gonna find out live.

[Mary]

Yeah, I haven't looked.

[Dan]

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

[Mary]

Caddy.

[Mike]

Caddy Cass is kind of a cat.

[Dan]

Cat.

[Mary]

It's a cat. It's very blonde.

[Mike]

Is black and white. I thought you were saying the cat was black and white.

[Dan]

I was assuming she was saying the game was black and white.

[Mike]

I was assuming cat was black.

[Mary]

No, the whole game is black and white.

[Dan]

I finished it for the audio listeners. Oh, wait, he's not. Gizmo is just staring at me super weirdly in the background frame right now.

[Mike]

Once in a while. Yeah, he's being creepy.

[Mary]

Waiting.

[Dan]

All right.

[Mary]

You see a cat waiting for the master.

[Dan]

I have a podcast to do. Gizmo.

[Mike]

He said, be careful, dad, there's Gators. That's. That's what Gizmo sounds like in my head. Be careful out there. This quicksand and Gators dead.

[Mary]

Gators. Caddy is a simple platformer that I bought on Christmas Eve and then I guess forgot about it was on sale, which is why I bought it, because I wanted to play a simple game that wouldn't stress me out. I think it was 50% off, and it's $5. So it was 250. It is very simple in design. It. It is. I don't know when it came out. So this is not a new game.

[Mike]

I doubt Catty C A T T I E for the rest record.

[Mary]

Correct.

[Mike]

Correcty.

[Mary]

Heavy platforming where there's like spikes and slicer and dicers. Is it a Meat Boy?

[Dan]

Like it looks meat boyish.

[Mary]

I wouldn't give it that. I would say that there are elements of it that I suppose have. But Super Meat Boy is like beautifully done and has like really intricate levels. These are just like levels that were put together. I don't mean this to be too disparaging.

[Mike]

Is this game good or do you not want to talk about it? We can move on.

[Mary]

I didn't care for it, but I did it. But I. I just want to say you. It's like a simple platformer for when it was on sale for 250. I mean it did the job for Christmas Eve. So that was what I played. Now here's. Here's the real story I was told. I told you guys every Christmas I usually play a game really hardcore for the break. That's something I like to do. You recommended me like three games. I didn't want to play any of them for whatever reason. Maybe because I was like drinking a lot on Christmas Eve and was like, I just want a simple game that I can burn through. I'm not gonna stress about it. And I played caddy and I. And I. I rolled credits and I thought to myself that wasn't super satisfying. I do kind of want to sink my teeth into a game for the rest of break and actually get like immersed in it. You know the kind of thing where like you wake up and you're like, I'm gonna make myself a coffee and I'm gonna start my game.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

And I'm good. And I'm go where I was yesterday. Like a full time job game. And I ended up getting Link's Awakening due to Dan's recommendation. And I actually played.

[Dan]

Wait, Link's Awakening's Awakening?

[Mary]

Yes.

[Mike]

The remake.

[Dan]

That's one of my least favorite Zelda games. Why would I have recommended that?

[Mary]

I. You just said one of one of your links.

[Dan]

I didn't say Link to the Past.

[Mike]

I saw that you mentioned that. I don't remember Dan. I think Dan said Link to the Past.

[Dan]

Awakening.

[Mike]

I remember it. It was Link between worlds that Dan and I were both gushing about. Yeah, I was on 3Ds.

[Mary]

I played Link's Awakening.

[Dan]

The original or the remake.

[Mary]

Five days. The remake.

[Dan]

It's fine. The remake's better than the original, but yeah, it's one of the lesser Zelda games.

[Mike]

No, we were gushing about Link between Worlds. I remember that.

[Mary]

I really struggled with it.

[Mike]

You did it just to like, so you could talk to Dan about it.

[Dan]

I didn't. People get so ma Grub loves Link's Awakening. I'm always like, it's one of the worst Zelda games.

[Mike]

I. So I. I loved it back in the day. I would always say it was one of my favorites just because I thought it would make me seem cool. I. I like, I was like, oh, I'll be. That's like the deep cut. That's like saying your favorite Red Hot Chili Peppers album is Monarchy of Roses. But then I played the remake and I was like, oh, I don't like this game.

[Dan]

No. I don't think I ever said a good thing about Link's Awakening.

[Mike]

The dungeon design, the island design.

[Mary]

Hard. It's so hard.

[Mike]

Oh, the. The Eagle's Tower or whatever is a terribly designed dungeon.

[Mary]

All of the dungeons are like, really convoluted and a lot of them are designed in a way. Like there's one that's designed with levels and if you fall on accident, you just.

[Mike]

That's what I'm talking about. The Eagles Tower or whatever. You're transporting the big metal balls and you can lose the metal balls.

[Dan]

Link between Worlds or Link to the Past. Those are awesome games.

[Mary]

You should have spent your time with those.

[Mike]

Those would have had amazing Christmas games.

[Mary]

Eight hour days. Playing Link's Awakening.

[Dan]

Insane.

[Mike]

Because you wanted to, like, come back and tell Dan that you acted on one of his recommendations, that even though.

[Dan]

I did not recommend it, I rolled credits on Tragic as God. So sorry you did that. I mean, I don't feel guilty because this is a you thing, but I didn't do. Roll the tape.

[Mike]

This is like. This is like you like, kissed your Christmas kind of.

[Dan]

I bet I would have said Link to the Past. Like, I love Link between Worlds, but I don't think she's traveling with a 3Ds, you know?

[Mike]

So like, it was probably like Link.

[Mary]

To the Past, though. And I remember, like, I thought that you were like, you know, there's Links, the past, links, Awakening. They're all good.

[Mike]

I might have mentioned that it's on Switch, but I don't remember him recommending it. No, I. I said they play Outer Wilds.

[Mary]

Oh, my God. I should have played rew.

[Mike]

Okay, these are all good games.

[Mary]

Aside from here's my take of Link's awakening is I did roll credits on it. It was very grueling and it was just one of those games where at first, the first time I needed a guide and I'm not like, I don't us. I usually like to just brute force my way through the game over time. But I was so lost, you guys. And this game has multiple components that are very like God help you if you're just meant to just game or figure this out. But there's this one part where you just have an item and you're supposed to trade it to other people items.

[Dan]

It's like a long quest of trading stuff. Yeah.

[Mary]

And there is a point in this where like I have. I don't even remember a stick. And I was like, I have no idea. Once this fucking stick. No, an actual wooden stick. And I just couldn't.

[Mike]

Someone needed to invent trees.

[Mary]

I could not figure out who needed this.

[Mike]

I was like, Mary, that was a callback to your.

[Mary]

Yeah, I needed to this stick. I did. I did. I'm very upset about this revelation that you guys didn't want me to play this game. It took a long time to get through this. I used guide I think four times. To be able to get like there was a dungeon that was the Eagle's Nest was impossible. The final dungeon is actually pretty impossible. And the. The giving the item to various people to get the final item, which you need to get through this game. The trading quest is fucking rude.

[Dan]

Obviously you give the stick to the person trying to get a honeycomb out of a tree.

[Mary]

I didn't know that. It's so crazy. And like there's a part where the. A person needs something and they're under a bridge. I've never been under the bridge before. I didn't even know you could go under that bridge. And so I, I needed the guide to be able to tell me to go to these certain places. Places. I didn't unlock a lot of the stuff in this game. By the time I opened the guide, they were like, just use your flute. What does he have?

[Dan]

Ocarina.

[Mary]

Use your ocarina. It's a very important term. Use your ocarina to just transport yourself. And I was like, what do you mean? And I guess there's like a way to get a song for your ocarina. Transport you. This whole game I've been raw dogging it walking.

[Dan]

Oh my God. You haven't fast traveled anywhere?

[Mary]

I never fast. Well, there's fast travel travel locations but you have to go to a fast travel location to get to another one. Apparently there was a song on your ocarina that would let you fast travel. I did not know that. I did not find that I had been walking. I mean, the step counter. My Fitbit was going nuts on this Zelda. I could not believe how long it took me to slog my way through this game. I did finish it. I am proud of the fact that I finished it, and I think the ending was very lovely and magical. However, it is a difficult game and I would never recommend this to, like, a teenager or young child. Like, they. They would never survive.

[Mike]

Yeah, I really don't even like the art style for that remake. The Fisher Price stuff.

[Dan]

I'm okay with the art style.

[Mary]

I thought it was cute, but I did. I. I thought it was too hard mechanically. I just couldn't believe how they don't explain anything as. As Mike was saying. The ball one where you. You have to. This is kind of a spoiler, but you have these balls, and you're supposed.

[Mike]

Giant metal balls.

[Mary]

Big, giant metal eagles Tower.

[Dan]

Yeah, that sounds right. Where you got to bring it around, throw it up floors and stuff.

[Mike]

But then there's like those little red and blue, like, roads, road blocks. You have to raise and lower, and then you drop all the way back.

[Mary]

It's either on blue or it's on orange. And if it's on orange, there are times in this, like, dungeon that if you have it on the wrong thing, you can go through a whole section with a boss fight and everything. And then right as you get there, you can't get through because it's on orange. And then you got to go all the way back, slap it to blue, and then you can get through. Like, it's mean. It's. It's almost mean. There's no way that they give you the hint to slip it to orange. They just, like, whatever, go through all this shit. And if you can't get through, then do it again on orange. It's a very cruel game.

[Dan]

Boy, I wish you would have played one of the ones we recommended.

[Mike]

You would have had a great Christmas.

[Dan]

Yeah, there's really great ones in that series.

[Mary]

Yeah, I really struggled through it two.

[Mike]

Days ago or something. You were playing Link's Awakening. I saw you. You showed the intro video of him on the log, waking up in the ocean, like, adrift. Yeah, you're like, on Dan's recommendation or something. And I was like.

[Mary]

I posted. I said, Dan recommended this. I said it publicly.

[Dan]

No, I famously don't like that game at all.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

There's like 15 Zelda games and there's like at least 13 I would recommend before that.

[Mary]

I gotta stop drinking.

[Dan]

Wow.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

It's one of the worst ones. Ones.

[Mike]

Yeah. But you can say you beat it now. Zelda 2 is there now.

[Mary]

It's in the. It's in the docket. I'll probably pick a different one now.

[Dan]

Now I'll recommend. I'm going to recommend Metal Gear Snake Eater and you're going to play Metal Gear Survive.

[Mary]

I know the difference.

[Dan]

Don't play the right one.

[Mike]

They're pretty different. But yeah. See.

[Dan]

Wow. Well, I'm proud of you.

[Mary]

Thank you. I did want you to say that.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Really upset about this.

[Dan]

Is this the new kissing it now that you don't have game?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Playing the wrong game.

[Mike]

We didn't play a game we actually told you not to play.

[Mary]

I thought that you would be excited for me.

[Dan]

I mean, I'm excited because this is funny, but.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Dan]

Not because you played a good game.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's a fine game.

[Dan]

It's a fine game.

[Mary]

What else have you guys been playing?

[Mike]

I played. I. I'm almost to the end of the first Dishonored game. Still very good. I will say that having played a lot more dishonored 2, forgot how rudimentary dishonored 1 was compared to that in terms of the amount of abilities you have, how you can interact with the environment. But still, for a game from 2012, if memory serves, it's still pretty flexible in how you want to approach missions. And I'm not going to replay it, but I do really appreciate that on one mission, you can choose to save this woman who's being harassed by guards. And then later on she will help you access pretty difficult to reach area in a mission during a much more difficult objective that you're trying to complete. Also, just the level design across the board is pretty great. A lot more linear stuff in this game. Early on, there's the bridge level level, which I didn't love. But outside of that, the. The Masquerade party is still great. It's just giving me heavy Hitman vibes. Sure. Which is not never a bad thing. But yeah, no, I also still. I love that art style. Like I. You think I would go back and find it ugly, but I really like it. Even though it kind of has that smooth clay texture across. It works for that game surfaces. Yeah. Because then when they do bleed, it's like just splash across this like stark environment. But I love the. The Architecture. Same dude who did a lot of the Half Life 2 environments.

[Dan]

I remember it was really cool. You know, when we were doing covers for Game Informer, it was always a big decision, like what game goes on the COVID And McNamara at one point was. He had to decide between. It was like just a very safe, like the new Assassin's Creed or whatever and, and Dishonored. And I remember him thinking about it and he was like, you know, like, I kind of like the idea. Like, you know, Assassin's Creed is safe, but, you know, Dishonored sounds like this thing no one's ever heard of. But it looks cool. It's got some cool people working on it. Like, I think it'd be kind of cool to go with this like Underdog one. And he like kind of had the foresight to put that on there and it turned out to be a really cool decision.

[Mike]

Oh, dude. If a game with that, I mean a. The world building is so fucking cool. Like the steampunk Victorian plague ridden world in which. Which they still hunt whales. And that's a huge point of controversy within the game is really cool. I also just, if a game like that came out today that would be like, this is like pretty bold. This is great. I love it. Yeah. The, the. I don't know if there's one thing I geek out about in games, it's like cool level design, specifically in immersive sims. And these are still great. I'm look, I'm going to play Dishonored 2 and then death is the outside cider. I'm kind of doing like half non lethal, half lethal run. I'm not really sticking to one. I'm, I'm only occasionally reloading saves if I really want to do an objective a certain way. But I'm, I'm generally not trying to do like undetected or completely non lethal runs. I have done that before and it's just more fun to kind of go with the flow, but.

[Dan]

Nice.

[Mike]

Yeah, I'm loving it.

[Mary]

It's.

[Mike]

It's feeling like I'm just playing Hitman, but first person on, on a bunch of new Hitman levels.

[Mary]

But doesn't it have like a better like Hitman? Not that Hitman has any flaws, but doesn't it have like a really solid just beginning to end story that I think is quite gripping?

[Mike]

Oh yeah, it's more of a, there's more of a script than Hitman has for sure. You're like rescuing the kidnapped. You were framed, hence the name. But then two, you get to choose between continuing to play as Corvo or playing as Emily. And their powers are pretty different. It's almost like that game had, A, you can replay it to try objectives differently and maybe go non lethal when you went lethal, but also B, replay it as the other character. Similar to Resident Evil 2. If Resident Evil 2, you know, Jill and Leon had. Or not. Jill, Jill, Resident Evil 2. Am I getting that wrong?

[Dan]

Jill, Claire was in 2.

[Mike]

Claire, Jill was in 3. Like, if Claire and Leon had different abilities In Resident Evil 2, it would be that same kind of replayability. But, yeah, I'm enjoying the hell out of it. But, yeah, the story is still pretty compelling. I remember, too, ramping things up more. But it makes me wish when, like, Arcane, Austin and Leon were firing on all cylinders, you know, Redfall was a travesty for many reasons. And, you know, say what you will about Xbox taking over and imparting some timelines on them that might not have worked. I don't know the full story, but I don't know. I love those games. I love Prey, I love Arkane, Austin, their work. So nice.

[Dan]

Yep.

[Mike]

Dan, what else have you been playing?

[Dan]

I played all of mouthwashing in one sitting. Have you folks heard of this?

[Mary]

No.

[Dan]

Okay. It's on paper. Sounds extremely not like a me game. It is a almost all narrative, serious story, dark, some serious, serious topics it delves into. But it was like two hours long. A little over two hours long. And I just saw some screenshots and I saw people talking about it in a way where it's like, it sounds like this game's doing some stuff pretty interesting. And just seeing the screenshots, it's kind of almost like PS1 aesthetic. And I was just kind of intrigued by the screenshots and the way people were talking about it. And it was the break, and I was like, you know, I could just sit down and beat this in a couple hours. Let's just see what this is all about. And it's a, you know, dark sci fi story. I won't spoil anything. Basically, it's just about a ship that crashes and things are bad and they're hoping for rescue and they're just trying to survive. There's like a handful of people on this ship. All of these characters are incredibly well written and very, very quickly. Just a lot of depth is achieved with all these characters, and it's very economical in how it gets stuff across. And a couple hours, you come to know all these characters and you will have turns on like, oh, I like this guy. And like, oh wait, no wait, is this guy terrible? And it's like, oh, this guy, he's, this guy sucks. He's a, he's a menace. And it's like, oh wait, that's actually really sad. And like, but in an effective way. Like, I am not really affected by game stories much in this one. Like, I really was drawn to the characters and their stories and where it goes. It's told very kind of like nonlinear like, you know, that Tarantino Pulp Fiction style where it's like, oh, here's five days before the crash. Here's six months after the crash. And it is very dark and again deals with some serious issues, but it's fucking cool. It's.

[Mary]

What's the gameplay?

[Dan]

You're walking around the ship and it'll be like someone's like, hey, can you go get this thing from the medical room? And you go to the medical room and some horrible shit's going on. And then it flashes to another time period like you know, after the crash or something. And then you're just having a conversation with like the medic. And then it flashes forward to like, oh, we need to like break into this room with these like pods and see if we can still use them to escape. And all this foam has filled the cabin. We need to chop it up with a, like it's, there's very little actual game. It's a lot of walking through things and talking. In fact, there's a couple kind of like gamey parts. And those are actually maybe my least favorite parts of the game where it's kind of like, it's not really stealth, but it's kind of like if you fuck up, it's like you got to restart.

[Mike]

It's like if PlayStation 1 graphics collided with Event Horizon, collided with what remains of Edith Finch.

[Dan]

Yeah, it's not.

[Mike]

Did you play that?

[Dan]

I did, yeah. I like Ed. Yeah, yeah, it's, I, I, I don't want to say too much because I think it would spoil a lot, but I just do think it was like one of my, one of the most well told stories I think I've seen in a game. And I really do want to, to plug that because it's, it's very, very unique.

[Mike]

It looks cool. Sounds up my alley.

[Dan]

I think, I think you would like, I think you might both find it pretty interesting.

[Mary]

It looks like the Twilight Zone movie. Like it looks so odd and all over the place, but in a good way.

[Dan]

Yeah, that's part of what got me curious is just the whole design. It's just like, what's going on here? You know?

[Mike]

How long did it take you?

[Dan]

A little over two hours, I would say.

[Mike]

Okay, yeah, I'm into that. I'm into short games these days when I'm playing other long form stuff.

[Dan]

Runs Grand Steam Deck. I would love to if you guys find a couple hours.

[Mike]

God. Jesus Christ. Sorry.

[Mary]

What?

[Mike]

Oh, one of the Steam videos of this, like, I'm on the game Steam page and one of the. I didn't realize I was on a video and it just started suddenly with people screaming and loud noises. Scared the shit out of me.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah, Yeah.

[Mike]

I want to play that even more now.

[Dan]

I wouldn't call it a scary game. It is unsettling for sure. It is. It is dark. But there is some humor in it too. I would. I would love, if you are intrigued, either of you, if you've got a couple hours between now and next recording, I'd be curious what you think of it because very impressed.

[Mike]

Okay, I might check that out. Looks good.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Mary, you play anything else besides Link's Awakening?

[Mary]

God damn it. To more. Just. Just more the same. It's still going. I. It's still extraordinarily good and I'm just loving it and I don't know, I thought I was going to beat it and I didn't, so I still have more to play, but I've been enjoying the experience and it's. It's been a joy to. To relive that game with updated graphics. That's it. That's all I have to say. Still good.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I'm just playing Dishonored. What's Tricky Madness?

[Dan]

Oh, just very quickly. It's an early access thing. It is. If you look up a picture of it, tell me what you think of Mike. It's exactly what it looks like. I want to see if you immediately. It's early access. It's got two courses. I'll wait till Mike pulls it up. So. Because I think it's the most, like, almost legally actionable, I don't know if I want to say ripoff or it's. I think they would probably like to say homage. I'm sorry, Mike looks confused, so I assume he's not an SSX guy. It's ssx.

[Mike]

Oh, wait, no, no, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. I looked up Tricky Madness on Google and it pulled up a very different thing. There's something else called Tricky the Clown Madness. Combat Wiki.

[Dan]

Oh, it's.

[Mike]

Then I put Tricky Menace Game and then it's like oh, yeah, ssx. It looks. I loved ssx. Tricky.

[Dan]

Giant floating snowflake point multipliers and grinding and just like it feels exactly like ssx. And I was just. Even though it's just a quick little like early access thing, I was like, fuck, Yes, I love SSX. Cool. Borders amp Dark Summit 1080. All those snowboarding games, there was a real era there and they just don't do them the way they used to. And I am fine if it's just a shameless like, hey, remember this because I want more of that. So I will be following the development of that.

[Mike]

I was like 2013's SSX kind of. They went so grounded. Yeah. And like I.

[Dan]

You're equipping yourself with like a temperature gear and stuff. It's just like. It's like this is not why I play SSX.

[Mike]

No, I want tricky. I want to get like 30 miles of hang time and then.

[Dan]

And then do the worm on a board. Board?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Mary]

You do the worm on a board?

[Dan]

Yeah, the Uber moves.

[Mike]

Yeah. Oh, who was my favorite? I liked Mac. I liked.

[Dan]

He struck me as a Simon guy.

[Mike]

Simon? Which one?

[Dan]

C S Y M O N. Simon. I think Billy Zane might have been his voice. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's a mic guy right there.

[Mike]

No ss. I like Mac. And then what was her name? Sex. Tricky.

[Dan]

Elise was good.

[Mike]

I liked Elise. Oh yeah.

[Dan]

I think I was in a lease main. Yeah.

[Mike]

Dweeb and Elise made is at least. Oh yeah, I see. Oh, that's really.

[Dan]

Was an ssx. Holy out of context.

[Mike]

I'm sure people know exactly what I'm talking about when I say I'm a.

[Dan]

Dwee dweeb from the on. Foxes, everyone.

[Mike]

The odd foxes. Yeah. It was one of fire Escape's top 10 games.

[Dan]

Many awards that has won and been talked about for.

[Mike]

Oh God, we keep. We keep discovering new secrets in that game.

[Dan]

Somebody should change. If you look up Dweeb out Foxies, there is a. A profile picture if anyone wants to use it. Just Dweeb and a top hat and a bow tie, holding a banana, staring at the screen all pixelated. That is a fantastic picture of the man.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's good.

[Mary]

Oh yeah.

[Mike]

That's 241 by 185. But yeah, that's whatever. Yeah. When we showed up at. We were showing up rather at Dan's for Game of the Year. I got there first, I was like, let's play the Al Foxy. I think he like laughed as if I was joking.

[Dan]

Yeah, we're playing.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, let's let's run it back.

[Mary]

You think this is a game? Put it in.

[Mike]

I put him in a human cannon at a circus level and shot. Shot him.

[Dan]

Trapeze that you can play with. Yeah, it's fun.

[Mary]

I only played it for, like, maybe another two hours, but on the way home, I played Grindstone again. I don't know if you guys ever played that back in the day, but it's still such an easy go to game. Like, you know, people pull up Vampire Survivors just to play it for like an hour.

[Dan]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary]

Grind. You can play Grindstone in a fucking second, and it's still so good.

[Dan]

I loved it. Yeah, I'm not. I didn't list it as my games, but you mentioned Vampire Survivors. I'm literally at, like, almost 70 hours now in the last few weeks of just playing, like, doing all the vampire survivor stuff again.

[Mary]

That's crazy.

[Dan]

I also beat two Castlevania games during break, so it's like all this old stuff. I've still been playing, but I don't want to be like, hey, Castlevania is still good.

[Mary]

It turns out that's what I'm doing with Silent Hill. I mean, I just, like, every once in a while. I only said it once. I only did it once. It's not. I. You guys said so many Zelda games. I wrote them all down, and it's just in the list.

[Dan]

You wrote them all down and then didn't play anything? Any of those.

[Mary]

I wrote. You must have brought it up.

[Dan]

I.

[Mike]

There's.

[Dan]

I'd love to check the tape.

[Mike]

I want to go back to that. I try and remember. What would that have been? The email section?

[Dan]

It would have been probably near the end, I think. I. I bet Mary's like, oh, I got to find something to play during break.

[Mike]

I'll review it.

[Dan]

Link to the past link. Got it. Link's awakening.

[Mary]

The end of the episode is literally nothing but you suggesting games to me.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Mary]

You tossing out trash at me.

[Mike]

We'll go back and look.

[Dan]

No, we gave you gold and you found trash. I.

[Mike]

We sent you to San Francisco, came back with a buffalo chip. All right, you guys want to do emails?

[Mary]

Yeah, I swear.

[Mike]

Okay. Okay, as usual. Okay, as usual, you can run into. Okay, as usual, you can go to firescapecastmail.com for questions, comments, stuff you want read on the episodes. We've got a bunch in the last few episodes and still working through them, but keep those coming. Mary. Actually, I guess I can read this because it's in response to. It's not A question. They're talking about my sleepwalking we discussed on last episode. So I'll get through this one, then we can get to questions. Hi, I'm actually a sleep specialist and I just thought I'd provide some possible cause causes. Sleepwalking is a semi common phenomena with about one in 50 encountering it in their lives. The most common cause is usually a crossed wire causing the body to be active in deep parts of its REM cycle. With Mike, though, it's probably blood loss from his brain because of a massive stiffy. All the best, Dr. Karp Strongman. Nice. Thank you, Dr. Strongman.

[Mary]

Thank you, doctor.

[Dan]

Dr. Karp Strongman. I hope that's his government name.

[Mary]

That's very mantis toboggan of him to come up with a name like that, that Mary.

[Mike]

Do you want to read this next one from Jerry? Sure.

[Mary]

It starts odd. Is this intentional? It says also.

[Dan]

Oh, no, just. I think it's just the Mary.

[Mike]

Yeah. No. Okay, well, no, read that and then I'll provide context because it's kind of funny.

[Mary]

Here's the. Here's the.

[Mike]

Here's what I put in our doc in the run a show.

[Mary]

Also, if the above question proves a.

[Mike]

Bit problematic and let me just say it was. That's why I did not include.

[Dan]

Now I'm curious.

[Mike]

It's not that bad, but like, it' What? You got to say it.

[Dan]

Then what is it?

[Mike]

Oh, okay. No, no, no.

[Dan]

Let's do.

[Mike]

Let's do this.

[Dan]

I'm gonna look at it. I'm gonna look at it. That.

[Mike]

It's not that bad. No, we'll save it for after. We'll go back. But I just thought it's kind of funny to start with that. Like I. I cut.

[Mary]

It's a Mar. It's a Mary kill.

[Dan]

Oh, I see. Okay. Yeah, it's. It's not good.

[Mike]

So. So I included the one that's not about people here because I think that.

[Dan]

There'S a Mary kill about actual human beings, which is a little.

[Mike]

They're actors. We've discussed. But I just thought it might be in poor taste.

[Mary]

You're so literal. Come it. Oh, wait. Okay. So this. So I figured, yeah, here's a Mary kill for us to debate. Here we go. It's Mary kill. Stouffer's Mac and cheese. Velveeta cheese and shells. Mac and cheese pizza.

[Dan]

Okay, I think I have mine. Well, okay. So is this a literal thing? You were just calling me like we're literally having sex with this?

[Mike]

No, no, no, no. That I think, like, what. What would you have?

[Mary]

The one that you'd want to have for the rest of your life. The one that you would like to have one amazing night with, and the one you'd have that you would have to sacrifice, and it would never exist on the face of this earth ever again. And I also think, just because food is a bit weird, I think it's the one that you would. You would get to eat five nights a week and enjoy. Whereas one is like, you can only have it once, but it's so nice, but you don't actually want to have it five nights a week. That would be too much.

[Dan]

I was taking it too literally. And I was trying to think of which of these would be the best to put my penis into.

[Mary]

Yes, I know, we know that.

[Dan]

And I was thinking pizza, because you could wrap it around, but okay, we're.

[Mike]

Talking because you get sink in. Get in there.

[Mary]

Oh, look at Mr. Deep Dish.

[Dan]

Get in there.

[Mike]

Did you just say deep dish? Laughing at that for. If you want to subscribe to Fire Escape's Patreon, just go to deepdishpussy.com let's.

[Dan]

Register that and have it go to our merch page.

[Mike]

Okay, let me. Do not Google that. I'm going to hover while you guys are. Dan, you do the Mac and cheese thing. I'm gonna go.

[Dan]

All right. Well, I think, you know, Stouffer's gonna.

[Mike]

Be fun to talk to our accountants. What is this expense that you. Oh, no, it's just.

[Dan]

We're artists.

[Mary]

Yeah, It's a write off. It's a write off.

[Dan]

It's funny that Kraft Mac and Cheese isn't on here, because that is the one I've probably had the most in my life. So if it's just these Stouffer's, Velveeta, and Mac and cheese pizza, I think the Mary is definitely Stouffer. That has historically been my favorite. That's the one. When I go back for Thanksgiving, my grandma makes Stouffer's Mac and cheese just for me still. And the rest of people have, like, you know, grown up food. Yeah. Ooh. So between Velveeta shells and cheese and Mac and cheese pizza for fuck and kill. Well, again, if it's literal, I'm going with the pizza.

[Mary]

Stop. It's not. We've discussed this.

[Dan]

Okay, then it's one crazy night. I don't want to kill it. You know what? Mac and cheese pizza is fine, but it's a gimmick I don't like. I like it. But if I'm getting a pizza, I'd rather just get a real ass picture. Pizza. I'll kill the Mac and cheese. Pizza. I will fornicate with Velveeta shells and cheese.

[Mike]

Yeah, I would fornicate Velveeta as well.

[Mary]

I agree with Dan's assessment. Stouffer's is taken home to the parents. Velveeta is for one sexy night and, like, you just have to kill the pizza.

[Dan]

But now I also have all these Mac and cheese memories of breaking bones and getting food poisoning. So I'm starting to have a complicated relationship with Mac and cheese.

[Mike]

Okay, thank you, Jerry.

[Mary]

From purchasing a website. Yeah.

[Dan]

Deep dish.

[Mike]

Grotesque.

[Dan]

Is it on sale? Can we get it?

[Mike]

I can't.

[Mary]

Is it.

[Mike]

Sign in right now.

[Mary]

Is it on sale?

[Dan]

Is there a new year sale on deep dish.com?

[Mary]

50% off.

[Mike]

A big blowout sale in January.

[Dan]

Deep Dish, 60% off. It's such a gross term.

[Mary]

Well, one of us was trying to. A pizza, Dan.

[Dan]

Oh, just say. I was answering the question like a gentleman.

[Mike]

Mary, can you read the next one while I work on that?

[Mary]

Yes.

[Mike]

I don't want people to scoop it.

[Mary]

Up and happy 2025. Please quash this between my fiance and I, once and for all. Is banana bread. Consider bread or cake? I say cake. He says bread best, Cami. Thanks. Cami. I think this is a convoluted question because the name of the item in question says bread. So thus you might say it's bread. Yeah, but to Cami's point, if you were to eat this, you would not eat, like, a slice of banana bread like you would a slice of regular bread bread. Because it's not really.

[Dan]

Who's eating just a slice of bread.

[Mary]

You know, for breakfast? Like, with a.

[Dan]

You put on. I had. Yeah, but you put stuff on it.

[Mary]

Or, like, you put, like, you, like, dip it in soup or something. You know what I mean? Like, you would never have. No, that's the thing. That's why I think it might be cake, because bread is something that you like. Dip with soup, or you make a sandwich out of it. I would never make a sandwich out of banana bread. That's crazy town. So it is kind of cake.

[Dan]

Like, I. I can't argue with the name. It's. It's banana bread. It's right there. It's like Super Mario World 2. Yoshi's Island. It's right there in the name.

[Mary]

I think I can. I. I wouldn't. I. Oh, I have banana bread as dessert. I make it a couple times A year when I'm running out of bananas. It's iconic to have with, like, breakfast if you put some butter on it as like a little sweet treat in the morning or after dinner treat, but it's not a bread situation. However, it does rise like bread. Mike, don't you make banana bread all the time? I think you have to be the tiebreaker.

[Mike]

Yeah. Sorry, I was distracted. Are you saying it's bread or cake?

[Mary]

Okay, so I. Even though I agree with Dan that banana bread has bread in the name, so it should be bread. I think it's cake because it. It just has too many cake qualities. It's sweet, and I. And I eat it like dessert.

[Mike]

Yeah, that's tough. I would lean toward bread just because of the geometry of it and how I eat it. I. I don't know that I eat it for dessert, but it's definitely leans toward, like a sweet dish cake. I think, like, there's frosting involved. It's something I'm eating with a fork.

[Mary]

Bread often does have, like, a little cream cheese topping.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I don't know. I actually, the more I think about.

[Mary]

Chocolate chips in it, it's crazy.

[Mike]

The more I think about it, the more I'm being swayed toward cake. Even though I would have said as a knee jerk bread, maybe it's cake.

[Dan]

I'm sticking with bread. It's in the name. Can't argue with the name.

[Mike]

You can't?

[Mary]

Are you. You can, though. There's got to be other examples of food.

[Dan]

I follow the rules.

[Mary]

The name is wrong.

[Dan]

Nope, it's the name.

[Mike]

Okay, that's. God, I feel grotesque typing that domain in. Oh, no. Dot com. Ooh, I can get it. Dot com?

[Mary]

All right. It's so hard to get dot com.

[Dan]

Deepdishy.com?

[Mike]

I can get. Deep Dishpussy Online is much cheaper.

[Dan]

Pretty funny, too.

[Mike]

Deep Disheartener.

[Dan]

Deepditchpussy Online is funny.

[Mike]

Deep Dishpussy Store. Deepdishpussy.IO Stop it.

[Dan]

Many of these are funny.

[Mike]

I'm trying to show you. I could just get dot com. Let's do it.

[Dan]

How expensive is.com?

[Mary]

Making financial decisions with ever with our patrons?

[Dan]

I think it makes sense.

[Mike]

I, as the person who oversees finance here at this wonderful company, run the numbers.

[Dan]

We don't need a team dinner at game of the year this year.

[Mary]

I do social media.

[Mike]

Sure. Check out. Okay. What a forward.

[Mary]

I tweet gamers be farting every two weeks and call it a life.

[Dan]

Hell, yeah.

[Mike]

All right. I think I got.

[Mary]

I worked hard Today Mike's been doing our taxes.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's not. It's not lost on me. I got. It's processing.

[Dan]

Oh, my God.

[Mike]

Oh, I got it now. I got to set up the forward before.

[Dan]

Yeah. So we can tell people at the end of this episode. Go to deepdishpussy.com should it go to our Patreon? Probably.

[Mike]

It will. Yeah.

[Mary]

I don't want to own this.

[Dan]

We as a group own. You own a third of deep dish.com.

[Mary]

No.

[Mike]

How do I do that? This. This is. Okay. View all domains firescapecast.com and deepdishpussy.com edit wait, where's fuckjake.org oh no.

[Dan]

Jake has fuckjake.org that's it.

[Mike]

I forgot how to do this. I'll ask you guys after.

[Dan]

Okay. We'll get to. We'll have a business meeting after.

[Mike]

Oh, wait. No forward this time. Here we go. Forwarding to patreon.com fire escapecast. Did I do that? Save forward request required.

[Mary]

So easy. Anyone can do it.

[Mike]

I think. I think I got it. I don't know how long you want to give it a test. Does it activate right away?

[Dan]

Let's see. Mary, go to deepdishpussy.com it's fun to say. DDP DDP.

[Mary]

Don't deep dish.

[Dan]

DDP. DDP.

[Mary]

It's loading. I don't know why think so hard.

[Mike]

Why is it that combination of words has never been typed into a search engine before?

[Mary]

Yeah, I'm like on a list somewhere for sure.

[Mike]

Oh yeah, still loading. Taking a few. It might.

[Dan]

It might take a second. We'll check again.

[Mike]

We'll try. We will have it ready, but. Okay. It's a totally awesome idea. Still being worked on. Check back later. So I think we got it. We could tell.

[Mary]

Great.

[Dan]

Excellent.

[Mike]

Okay, good work. One more email. Thank you. I'm. Yeah, that's why I'm here. I got one more. Yeah, I'm going to go. Cake with banana bread, I think.

[Mary]

All right, let's hear it for. Cammie was right.

[Mike]

Thank you, Cammie. All right. My. This is from Nathan. My New Year's resolution is to reach 1000 albums listened to by the end of 2025. I started keeping track of everything I listened to a couple years ago and I'm at about 600 right now, so aiming for 400 total in 2025. Still very tall order. Any album recommendations that are personal favorites of yours? I'm curious. Besides the few bands I've already heard you mention, eg, Queens of the Stone Age. Talking Heads. What are you all interested in? Musically?

[Mary]

My Spotify Unwrapped was ass.

[Mike]

One of my favorite albums of the last decade is Evil Friends by Portugal Demand. I think it's a perfect album. I don't think there are any flaws on it. It's also just listening through it front to back. It's. It's an incredible. Not super long, I want to say 45 minutes tops. Great album. Evil Friends.

[Dan]

I'll say the same one that I bought Ben Hansen for the Min Max video where he sent me to a record store. And that's How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful by Florence the Machine. I think all of their albums are incredible, but this was the one that got me introduced to her in the band. And I just think even the first two tracks are just absolutely incredible. And the rest of the album is great too. And all the other ones are awesome.

[Mary]

I probably have mentioned this before, but my favorite album that I always go to is the Machinarium soundtrack by Thomas Dvorak. And I think it's absolutely brilliant. I think it is so lovely and it really does capture a combination of musical ingenuity, but also just like strange mechanical sounds, like tones. It sounds like somebody was like hitting pipes. And I just love the way that it makes me feel. And most of the time when someone asks me what I should listen to if I'm in their car, I asked them to put that album on.

[Dan]

Nice.

[Mary]

Yeah, I. I find it calming. I also listen to it in the airport. It's like the only thing that I want to listen to when I'm in the airport. I don't know why. Yeah.

[Dan]

Oh, and if they're looking for other albums, my brother in law, Tom Monda, who did the theme song for this podcast, check out his band, thank you Scientist. And they put out a double album called Terraformer a few years ago that check out if you like prog rock.

[Mary]

Oh, how lovely. Oh, wait, let me do one.

[Mike]

Let me do one.

[Mary]

Yeah, you do one.

[Mike]

One of my favorite bands, Future Islands, Samuel Herring's singing is incredible. They've got many good albums. I'd say if you want to listen to one, that every single song is a banger. The album is literally just called Singles. If you've heard a song by them, it might be Seasons waiting on you. That's the one that they kind of blew up on because they went on Letterman and he just went, that's Letterman.

[Dan]

Loved it.

[Mike]

It's a really good song. I think Bono called it a miracle. I don't know if you take Bono's word with anything with a grain of salt these days, but that singles, their album is literally just a bunch of like one off incredible singles. But 2020's as long as yous Are is one of my favorite albums by them.

[Dan]

Trying to remember is that did Letterman yell at him about the dance? He's like, give me all of that you got.

[Mike]

Yep, that was him at the end. I love that. He's like, oh, oh yeah.

[Dan]

He was really good.

[Mike]

I'll take all that you got. Yeah. But as long as you are is there is more of a cohesive album. But I'm not saying that in like an, you know, up their own ass way. They're all really good songs. It's just more. There's more like pacing variations as opposed to just like catchy song after catchy song after catchy song.

[Dan]

Cool.

[Mary]

I think it's like there's so many good albums and what a cool. Is that like a New Year's resolution to see? I. I just think that's a really neat resolution. Most of the time resolutions are boring. Like I'm going to drink less, I'm going to better myself. I love the ones where it's just like I'm going to eat everything off of the Cheesecake Factory menu in 2025. And it's like, God bless you. You know, you found something that makes you happy. And like listening to that many albums I think will be very enjoyable. And I am happy for you.

[Dan]

Oh, I was gonna say that would be three a day, but I think they're saying a thousand total and. No, Nathan was saying they're at 600 right now and wants to hit a thousand.

[Mike]

They have 400 this year. They're aiming to finish a thousand, buddy.

[Dan]

Slightly over one of the.

[Mary]

Yeah, that's a lot. Yeah, I think that's great. I mean, I'm sure there's other like valuable albums I'm trying to think of like ones that. The thing is is like a lot of times I'm always like, this is an incredible artist. Or like, you're gonna really love this song. It's not often that I'm like, this album is a work of art. That is something that I think that I personally just don't think I'm as successful at recommending. There's not a lot of times where I listen to a very specific album from beginning to to end because I think it's so important and I'd like to get better at that. So it's kind of like a nice push for me to, like, be a more learned person.

[Mike]

Yeah. And if you're gonna. Sorry about my coughing. If you. You've definitely heard me talk about Talking Heads often. They're my favorite band of all time, but I do think Speaking In Tongues, their album, is probably my favorite, which is not an uncommon opinion, but I do think it's just incredible. Incredible gets very weird, but it just makes me. I. I go through, like, 18 moods listening to that album. But, like, David Byrne, his songwriting is incredible. The whole band is just, like. Goes between, like, really ethereal songs, and all of a sudden these weird paranoiac songs that just kind of, like, the guitar is doing one thing, and then, like, Jerry Harrison's doing one thing, and then you got Tina Waymouth is playing completely different song, but it's still somehow all works. Just melds together in an amazing way. I love that album.

[Mary]

Oh, wait, I got one. When I'm in a mood and I need to, like, listen to something, I usually go for an album, and it's Pantera. Vulgar. Vulgar Display of Power.

[Dan]

Great cover, too, for that album.

[Mary]

Yeah, dude, it's. It's actually a fantastic album from beginning to end. That's probably the only one I can think of off the top of my head where it's like, damn, what a solid piece of art that will make you rage in your car if needed, or sleep peacefully, depending on your mental. I just think that Vulgar Display of Power is incredible. So please put that on your list if you have.

[Dan]

That's got Walk on there. Yeah, I love Walk.

[Mary]

Oh, what a good one. There's so many. There's so many good ones on it. And it's also just like, this love is actually, like, so beasty. It's so beast mode. I love. I love a lot of songs on that one, so.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. All right, well, good luck to Nathan. Let us know how that's going. That's our show. As we mentioned before. Firescapecastmail.com if you want to have questions right on the show, we got a bunch, but keep them coming. We always love having a selection to pick from the beginning before we record each episode.

[Mary]

And they're fun to read, even if we don't actually end up answering them. We're like, that's funny. And, like, we read them all. We read every email.

[Mike]

Yep. And if you want to become a patron because you want to just have every episodes or the video version, if you're not already watching a video version and seeing Gizmo being a creep in the dance background or my cat's showing up. Or sometimes Simone. Although it's been a while since I've seen Simone. You can go to.

[Mary]

Back there.

[Mike]

Yeah, you can go to. Or if you just want to treat like a tip jar because you appreciate what we do, you can go to deepdishpussy.com and to become a patron. So, yeah, have fun with that. I regret saying that we should make.

[Dan]

A bumper sticker that's just deep dish.

[Mary]

No, we will not.

[Dan]

Impact font. No fire escape anything.

[Mary]

Impact font.

[Dan]

Yeah. Black background, white impact font, all caps, deepdishpussy.com. nothing else. We need to sell that.

[Mary]

It's an image of Dan trying to a pizza.

[Dan]

No, no, no. It needs to be simple. Simplicity is key here.

[Mary]

You're like the Gerber baby.

[Dan]

What?

[Mike]

What?

[Mary]

Wait, no, the one where it's a baby and it's like. It's like getting suntan lotion on. It's just.

[Dan]

That's the copper tone.

[Mary]

The Coppertone baby.

[Dan]

And they're like a dog pulling the pants down. So.

[Mary]

Yeah, something like that.

[Dan]

Okay, so my penis would be the underpants, and the dog would be a pizza.

[Mary]

Well, no, the dog isn't there, and there's a pizza, but you're like, oh.

[Dan]

I'm being sassy about it. Okay. Yeah. Oh, oops, the pizza. That bumper sticker. Oops, comma, the pizza. White, all caps, impact font.

[Mike]

With Dan's face.

[Dan]

No, just the text.

[Mike]

No, dance face.

[Mary]

Dan Reichert's face and name and Social Security number, family tree, and a list of his fears.

[Mike]

All right.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

It's still redirecting, but we'll have it. It'll be. Deep dish will be up and up and at him.

[Mary]

Oh, my God. I can't.

[Mike]

As of this. As of this episode. Going up. Get in there.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Oh. We watched the final season of what we do in the shadows. They. They go hard on what's his name? Yeah, yeah, yeah. They. They go really hard on Colin Robinson. It's a really good season. I love that show. I'm gonna miss it. I'm gonna keep rewatching it, though.

[Mary]

If you watch it ended it. I think they ended it, Dan. On time. I will say that. I will say this with, like, so much respect. I absolutely adore that show. It was time, and I. And I'm glad that they. That they ended it, but I also think it. I will miss it, too, but I.

[Dan]

It.

[Mary]

It was ready, Dan.

[Mike]

I. Honestly, next time you have a gap, it's six seasons. You don't have to watch all but they're 20 minute episodes. It's not long and it's 11 episodes a season. I think 20 minutes sounds like a good treadmill show.

[Dan]

Once you know Seinfeld here.

[Mike]

Right. When I thought I was annoyed and done with mockumentaries. Taika Waititi and Jermaine Clement from. Obviously you know who Taika Waititi is, but Jermaine Clement. Yeah, those guys.

[Dan]

I don't really know Taika Waititi. I know Jermaine Clement.

[Mike]

Ah, Taik Waiti. Jojo Rabbit.

[Dan]

I forgot the name. I just don't think I've seen any of his stuff.

[Mike]

Yeah, New Zealand crew. They. They did the movie with three guys back in the day. Jermaine Clement was one of the vampires, but living in a house in I think Auckland or no. What's Wellington Maybe. I don't know. In New Zealand.

[Dan]

Started the movie and didn't love it. Is it?

[Mike]

That's way drier. That's very much like the British office to the British office.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

I don't know. Check it out. Watch like a few episodes. There's four.

[Mary]

Loved the movie.

[Mike]

Vampires living in Staten island and in this mission in this mansion. But I think Mark Proaks take Colin Robinson. Takes a few episodes to come along, but I can give it a shot.

[Dan]

If it's 20 minutes long. That's easy.

[Mary]

It takes a couple episodes for you to get adjusted to them. I think that is fair. Like it graded on me at first and then I fell in love with it. It just takes a bit of time.

[Mike]

I love to write it. I like all the characters, like nausea. I think Laszlo is fucking hilarious. Matt Berry is incredible in it. I never watched the IT crowd, but he's just great and everything. Also Matt Berry, if you're talking about music, his music is incredible. He plays like this blues, jazz, kind of like. I don't even know, like punky music. And it's. It's incredible. Look up Matt Berry on Spotify.

[Dan]

I don't think I've seen him anything.

[Mike]

You'd recognize his face. I think he was in the IT crowd. He's been in a bunch of movies, but he's very British. But he's Laszlo Cravensworth in what we do in the Shadows. He's really funny.

[Dan]

No, I haven't seen this guy.

[Mary]

Laszlo's.

[Mike]

There's like YouTube compilations of how he mispronounces things and what we do in the sh. And then Nandor the Relentless is really funny too.

[Dan]

New York City.

[Mike]

You really are the most devious bastard in New York City.

[Mary]

Yeah, he puts the emphasis on the last syllable no matter what he says.

[Mike]

When he goes. He goes into hiding in Arizona and he just puts the toothpick in. And his wife doesn't recognize him anymore. He's. And he's got the Southern accent. He's like. That's just the way we talk in Tucson, Arizona. Anyway, I could go forever. The show's really funny.

[Mary]

I could go forever, baby.

[Mike]

I could go forever, baby. You got me all wrong. All right, that's deepdishpussy.com to be a patron. Fire escapemerch.com to get some sweet threads. We don't have bumper stickers yet. We should get some. And then we will be back in two weeks with episode 99. Guys, we got a We gotta talk about episode coming.

[Dan]

Yeah, let's get a. We'll get a plan locked in by the time we record the next episode. Episode. So we can plug it properly.

[Mike]

Yes. And. Yeah. And in two episodes, we'll be dropping a fat Benjamin on everybody. So we're looking forward to that.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

But anyway, Mary, what do you have going on outside of Fire Escape Cast?

[Mary]

I'm still playing Silent Hill every Monday and on Twitch. And I enjoy that. And you can find me doing updates in other places with my name, Mary Kish.

[Mike]

There we go. It works. It's official.

[Dan]

What about you, giantbomb.com to start a new season of Blight Club. I'm dressing up like a Terminator currently and playing a bad Terminator 3 game, so. And then I have to play another game after that outside of that. Twitch, Instagram, Blue Sky, Dan Reichert. That's where I am everywhere. Cool.

[Mike]

I'm here. That's about it. Oh, actually, I officially started wine certification classes. Did I tell you guys this?

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Dan]

I should secretly do this and try to become a super wine guy before you. I would never talk about it.

[Mike]

Come in as a. As one of the instructors, and he's.

[Mary]

Like, I never went into a class. Every time I went to my teacher and was like, hey, I drank wine while I wasn't here, so why don't you just give me an A? You little. And then the teacher was like, sure, I don't give a about myself.

[Mike]

Yeah. Y.

[Mary]

Anyway, I can't tell you their name.

[Mike]

Because I drank a vogir. I had a few of them.

[Mary]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Oh, cool.

[Dan]

You're.

[Mike]

You're level three. Here's your certificate.

[Mary]

But yeah, it's a red wine because of the color.

[Mike]

Doing WSET. Level 3. I'm 4 know that I'm sure that means nothing 4 is a diploma I think I'll eventually do it but that'll just going to keep no master of wine is the only thing above diploma on that side no no I got.

[Dan]

Past that.

[Mary]

I'm king of wine what's.

[Mike]

The chief grape varietal in Sancerre in.

[Dan]

France they don't look you have to get further in the it's like Scientology they don't tell you the real until later they took me out on a boat and they told me they they.

[Mike]

Bloodborne you you got you accumulated too much insight you have to pay a.

[Dan]

Lot of money to get to the level I'm at and with knowledge so I can't just give it away for.

[Mike]

Free sir okay fair enough. Very fair. I'll I'll be there in a few years and then we'll hang out we'll talk we'll talk wine we'll talk at the party.

[Dan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

All right. Well that's our episode everybody. Thanks as always for hanging out. We'll see you in a couple weeks. Until then, happy New Year.

[Mary]

Happy New.