Fire Escape Cast #99

Summary

Fire Escape Cast #99 Summary

Episode Information:

• Title: Fire Escape Cast #99
• Release Date: January 27, 2025
• Hosts: Dan Reichert, Mary Kish, Mike Mahardy

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1. Setup and Technical Challenges

The episode begins with a lighthearted discussion about the hosts' recent home improvements, specifically the installation of luxury vinyl flooring. Mike humorously queries Dan about his "Harvard floors," leading to a banter about soundproofing for professional podcasting.

Notable Quote:

• Dan Reichert [01:13]: "Super important for a professional podcaster to have a really nice hardwood floor behind them."

2. Furnace Noise and Recording Environment

Mary Kish brings up an ongoing issue with her furnace, which intermittently disrupts recordings. The hosts humorously describe the furnace noises, comparing them to various quirky sounds, adding a comedic layer to the technical inconvenience.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary Kish [16:19]: "We might have been 19 and very stupid."
• Mike Mahardy [02:41]: "It sounds like Shizor from Pokémon jacking off."

3. College Pranks and Mischief

The conversation shifts to reminiscing about college days filled with pranks. Mary shares stories about their elaborate schemes, such as stripping carpets for vinyl flooring and sophisticated room setups involving duct tape and hidden objects. Dan recalls a memorable prank involving stealing bananas from the college greenhouse, highlighting both the fun and unintended consequences of their antics.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary Kish [11:22]: "We're just trying to be rascals. We weren't trying to cause damage."
• Dan Reichert [11:39]: "We didn't break glass or ruin the place. Just got in when we shouldn't have."

4. Wrestling and 'Mr. McMahon' Documentary Discussion

The hosts delve into the recently released six-part wrestling documentary on Netflix, featuring figures like Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair, and Vince McMahon. They critique the portrayal of wrestling personalities, discussing the dichotomy between their on-screen personas and real-life behaviors. Mary expresses disappointment in Hulk Hogan's character evolution and the lack of representation for iconic figures like Ric Flair.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary Kish [21:52]: "He's just a shitty person in every possible way."
• Dan Reichert [25:09]: "It was Jesus Danger."

5. Movie Reviews and Recommendations

The trio reviews and recommends a variety of films, touching on topics from horror to drama. Discussions include:

• 'Late Night with the Devil': Mixed feelings about its authenticity in portraying late-night shows.
• 'The Holdovers' & 'Black Swan': Appreciation for strong performances and storytelling.
• 'The Wrestler': Praise for its emotional depth and Jared Leto's performance.
• 'Blade Runner 2049' & 'The Queen's Gambit': Insights into plot nuances and character developments.

Notable Quotes:

• Mary Kish [36:50]: "I loved it. It's a very subtle movie, and I understood all of the metaphors and symbolism."
• Dan Reichert [41:00]: "As soon as you turn 36, your options are limited."

6. Gaming Discussions

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to video games. The hosts share their current gaming experiences, favorite titles, and unique mechanics that have altered their gameplay styles.

Topics Covered:

• 'Red Dead Redemption 2': Mary discusses her progress and enjoyment.
• 'Sniper Elite Resistance': Mike talks about the game's mechanics and level design.
• 'Dome Keeper': Dan introduces listeners to this tower defense game, highlighting its addictive gameplay loop.
• 'Metroidvania' Games: Exploration of titles like 'Bloodstained' and 'Bladelord', emphasizing their design and replayability.
• Platformers: Mary defends 'Donkey Kong Country Returns' as her favorite platformer.
• 'Silent Hill' & 'Resident Evil': Discussions on storyline and symbolism.

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Reichert [71:45]: "Going on a ball hunt."
• Mary Kish [87:03]: "I feel like every time someone's described this game to me..."

7. Plans for Episode 100 – Game Bracket Tournament

As Episode 99 approaches its end, the hosts unveil exciting plans for the milestone Episode 100. They intend to host a 64-game bracket tournament to determine Fire Escape Cast's collective best game of all time. Each host nominated 25 games, with overlaps expected. The bracket will feature randomized matchups, fostering engaging debates and discussions.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Mahardy [104:22]: "It could be like Bloodborne versus Hollow Knight, which would be fun."
• Dan Reichert [105:29]: "I'm not going to undo it. If you don't like it, that's your problem."

8. Audience Emails

The hosts interact with listener emails, addressing questions and sharing personal anecdotes inspired by the audience's input.

Featured Emails:

1. Wayne from [00:38]: Praises 'MacGruber' and seeks similar movie recommendations.
   • Mary Kish [114:49]: "Pop Star is insane. Very funny."
2. Marcel from the Netherlands [125:12]: Asks about impulse purchases that bring joy.
   • Mike Mahardy [125:32]: "I bought a flat brim baseball cap that says Jamaica."

Notable Quotes:

• Dan Reichert [125:29]: "Half-Life 2, Hollow Knight... Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!"
• Mary Kish [132:00]: "It's a Pavlov shock clock... electrocutes you."

9. Upcoming Projects and Collaborations

The hosts announce a bonus series collaboration with Vinny Caravella from Nextlander, focusing on the "Total War: Warhammer 3" campaign. This series aims to offer engaging co-op gameplay sessions for their listeners.

Notable Quotes:

• Mike Mahardy [111:58]: "We're collaborating with Vinny from Nextlander for a co-op campaign."

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Conclusion: Fire Escape Cast #99 offers a blend of nostalgia, humor, and in-depth discussions on wrestling, movies, and video games. The hosts maintain their signature casual and engaging style, ensuring both long-time listeners and newcomers find the episode rich with content and entertainment. With exciting plans for Episode 100, listeners can anticipate continued lively debates and shared passions in future episodes.

Transcript

[Mike Mahardy]

Foreign.

[Dan Reichert]

Hello, everyone.

[Mike Mahardy]

Welcome back to the fire escape cast. It is episode 99. We are here. It's January 27th or something. I'm Mike Mahardi here, as always, with Dan Reichert.

[Mary Kish]

Hello.

[Mike Mahardy]

And Mary Kish.

[Dan Reichert]

This is my real voice. Do not be fooled by the imitators that some people have overused in joke that are over one year old.

[Mike Mahardy]

Holy damn, that sound bite was perfect.

[Mary Kish]

That wasn't on the. On the recording. I haven't done it on a podcast in a while.

[Dan Reichert]

Authentic, true, gluten free, Mary. It is real raw.

[Mary Kish]

And.

[Mike Mahardy]

Wait, can gluten free be the opposite of raw?

[Dan Reichert]

I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

Do people have gluten in them? Just by nature.

[Mike Mahardy]

I got gluten.

[Dan Reichert]

No, you have to massage it.

[Mike Mahardy]

I have two glutens, but yeah, check out both of my glutens. I don't do voices anymore. We discussed that a year ago. Yeah, yeah. Spreckensie gluten. So what's up, Dan? You got Harvard floors in that room now?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Luxury vinyl is, I think, the technical term.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh. And if anybody. Dan, can you preface a disturbing noise that people might pick up at some point during this episode?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. You know, sometimes I don't think about things that might be a surprise to people.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sometimes I was like, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

So I was trying to think like, what can we do to our house? We should do something to our house. And me and Bonk both had our offices, had the carpet torn off and put the vinyl in, and she's fine with it. She's not, you know, on a recording.

[Dan Reichert]

Professional podcaster.

[Mary Kish]

Exactly.

[Mike Mahardy]

It looks good.

[Mary Kish]

Thank you. It feels good on my feet. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Super important for a professional podcaster to have a really nice hardwood floor behind them.

[Mary Kish]

I did mention it to Bacalar and he's like, well, that's going to give you an echo. It's like, oh, okay. Well, here's my thing. In Connecticut, every fucking episode we did of fire escape, I had hardwood floors. And so I don't understand why it would be different.

[Mike Mahardy]

This room strikes me as bigger than that old.

[Mary Kish]

I don't. I think the other one might have been slightly bigger.

[Dan Reichert]

It's also the dimensions, right? Like if you're yelling at a wall and it bounces off the wall and hits a hardwood floor. I was told that there was sound baffling in your old place that you threw away because you were like, don't need this anymore.

[Mary Kish]

I like carpet.

[Dan Reichert]

Which needed literally. And Dan, you know this within, like, five seconds of you saying hello. And I'm excited to record this podcast, I said respectfully. You sound like dog.

[Mary Kish]

To be fair, though, that was when the furnace was going and it turned off now. It could turn on again. So you might all hear it later on. Absolutely.

[Dan Reichert]

Will turn on again. It's winner in Minnesota. It's going to be. It's only any second now.

[Mary Kish]

It's only been negative 30 -33 around there, so it should be fine. And it probably gets warmer at night, which is when we're recording.

[Dan Reichert]

So it sounds like a prospector's breathing between his one empty tooth slot.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's the furnace. Or right now. Right now I sound fine, right?

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, you sound fine now, but the furnace does. It sounds like Fran Drescher getting attacked by a vulture.

[Mary Kish]

You might get the luxury later.

[Dan Reichert]

It sounds like a teapot that you've ignored in your basement floor for three months.

[Mary Kish]

It's improv hour. Let's go, Mike.

[Mike Mahardy]

It sounds like Shizor from Pokemon jacking off.

[Dan Reichert]

Might actually sound like the noise we're trying to.

[Mary Kish]

She's or she's or.

[Mike Mahardy]

It looks like Scissor.

[Mary Kish]

It's a character in the Star wars universe. How do you spell Shizor?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, S, C, I, Z, O, R.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, it's like Scizor.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

It sounds like cheese.

[Mary Kish]

Or I could see that being the wacko metal voice. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Or it sounds like when Neo screaming in the Matrix. When the mirror first goes down his.

[Mary Kish]

Throat, the Neo wax off.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Well, there's like no sense in those movies that he said. Wait, no. Him and Trinity have sex in one of the sequels, right?

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, like violently or not violence.

[Mary Kish]

Sweatily. It's sweaty sex.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, but no, he like, they kind of make it look like he's owing when he does the downloads. Like he wakes up, he's like, I know Kung fu. They make it look.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, I would probably ejaculate if I suddenly knew all of Kung fu.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, me too.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. That's the first thing I teach you in Kung Fu.

[Dan Reichert]

Your furnace sounds like ejaculating. Because you've learned all of Kung Fu.

[Mary Kish]

Wow.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, what's the first skill you would download if you could immediately learn like master a skill in whatever 10 seconds it takes?

[Dan Reichert]

All languages would be really cool if.

[Mary Kish]

You just get like an all language pack would be pretty sweet. Yeah. Would that be like Morse code and everything too? Are those like expansion packs?

[Dan Reichert]

All.

[Mary Kish]

All. Okay.

[Dan Reichert]

All dlc.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Okay.

[Dan Reichert]

All the languages nobody can talk anymore and like, don't know anything about. So you're able to like translate like Texts that are just gone. You can. Yeah. Decipher codes maybe.

[Mary Kish]

I. I think I would do every martial art before I did languages.

[Dan Reichert]

I would do violence over education. Me shocked defense.

[Mike Mahardy]

I would do something.

[Dan Reichert]

Poor K.

[Mike Mahardy]

You can learn Spanish in a few years. You can't.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, there's duolingo.

[Mike Mahardy]

Can't master Jiu jitsu.

[Dan Reichert]

Learned a punch in four years.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, but I want to know all the moves and holds and stuff.

[Dan Reichert]

All these things take dedication, patience and determination of which you have none.

[Mike Mahardy]

You're talking about when you're downloading this. That's the point. You don't need.

[Mary Kish]

That's how one. Or learning.

[Dan Reichert]

The thing about languages is. Is like. I assume that it's just like knowledge in your head. But when it's like Kung fu, even if you have the knowledge, I don't know if you actually. If your body would know.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, I mean to. Yeah, it's.

[Dan Reichert]

And are you as weak as you are now?

[Mary Kish]

Yes, but I mean there's leverage and body weight that you can utilize. You know, I would know all the different chick wings and Nelson's.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

What are you trying to say?

[Mike Mahardy]

Jiu Jitsu. Jiu Jitsu happens right here.

[Dan Reichert]

Are you. Are you as limp as a noodle as you are at this moment or does it also come with some muscles?

[Mary Kish]

I did a 10 minute peloton upper arm and shoulder exercise today, so I think I'm doing fine, thank you.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm sure that'll save you in the octagon.

[Mary Kish]

Come on, McGregor.

[Mike Mahardy]

I would download.

[Dan Reichert]

I downloaded 10 minutes of Kung fu and I'm about to take on this fucking fighter. Watch me. Brock Lesnar, still weak. I've forgotten the other component of.

[Mary Kish]

I would. If I'd been better situation than I am now.

[Dan Reichert]

He would snap your bones.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, if I. That's the thing. If I got in a fight right now, I do think my knee jerk instinct would be like to do like a super kick, like wrestling moves. Like I've seen so much wrestling and I think I would be going for like the TAS mission or a super kick before I tried any actual martial arts move.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think a person who can actually fight would just punch you like right in the chin really quickly and you get knocked out.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that would be it. I mean there's no way I would have my defenses up. I wouldn't know about how I was supposed to do that. It'd be over.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I would. If I was like fought in the Civil War, I wouldn't even use my bayonet. You Just see me running around the field kicking people in the nuts.

[Dan Reichert]

What if there's like a flag guy?

[Mary Kish]

It's like a time.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, the flag guy. Just the nut kicker of the north. Yeah. Ulysses S Groin. What if, like, do you think they could fully respect him if they saw him doing that?

[Mary Kish]

If you won the war. Yeah. There'd be statues of you.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I mean imagine, okay, you're at like the victory parade in Washington D.C. and the Ulysses S. Grant is riding past on this horse after the union wins. If you had seen that guy just sprinting around the battlefield kicking people in the crotch, I don't think you'd fully respect him.

[Dan Reichert]

What are you talking about? As long as you win. You know what I mean? Like, you take out a whole Nazi regime by just different, kicking them in the ball. Doesn't matter. This isn't really about any specific war. This is just about winning and being on the good side.

[Mike Mahardy]

The Nazis had guns, though.

[Mary Kish]

That's true. They would shoot you before you kicked them.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's like, gun is like the scissor. Crocodile crotch kicking is paper. And then like a nuke is the rock to the gun. Scissor.

[Dan Reichert]

Yes. So in the previous question that somebody wrote in the Pokemon evolution goes kicking in the nuts. Gun nuke.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's fair. All effective.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

They should make. Christopher Nolan should make an Oppenheimer for the first guy that kicks someone in the nuts.

[Mike Mahardy]

That'd be really good.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I would see that.

[Dan Reichert]

It's just like all of that amazing audio design, but it's just a slow motion kick to the groin.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Anybody timing it, like can see on their watch, there's five minutes left and the groin kick hasn't happened yet. And all of a sudden slow mo kicks in.

[Dan Reichert]

And then Isaac Newton goes, what have we done?

[Mary Kish]

And Einstein's in it for some reason.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, yeah, I think it's. I think it's Newton because it's like gravity of the balls. But like, I get what you're saying.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, that makes sense.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, he's like, he's like writing all these like algorithms on a chalkboard and he's like, it's the balls. But it's too late, we've already learned.

[Mary Kish]

Do you think Newton ever drew balls?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Like for fun or do you think it was part of like an equation.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like with a dick involved?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Like, did like, did like 14 year old Isaac Newton draw a dick on a chalkboard? Did they have chalkboards back then? Did he draw it in the sand or however they Drew back then, I'm.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sure they had chalkboards.

[Dan Reichert]

Rite of passage.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I just hope. I hope that teenagers back then found that funny, too.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't think that one of the.

[Dan Reichert]

Very few joys they had back then, I. You know, they didn't have television and they didn't have video games. You know, back then you had some twigs in a berry and you were like, oh, my God, that's like two dicks and one ball. And you. You joked about that, and then you died of scoliosis.

[Mary Kish]

I used to. In the middle of the night in college, some of the halls would be left open because there would be, like, late night classes. And me and my friends, like, after the bars sometimes would just go in and go into every classroom that was unlocked and just draw big, big dick and balls on it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is that, like, with markers or chalk?

[Mary Kish]

Whatever was available.

[Mike Mahardy]

Did you do it with permanent marker on the board?

[Mary Kish]

No, I don't think. I think we're just trying to be rascals. We weren't trying to cause damage.

[Mike Mahardy]

I wonder if that would be considered vandalism if you did permanent marker on a board at night in a college.

[Dan Reichert]

So I think that's not super cool, because now the teacher can't teach if it's permanent.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I know. They could wipe the dick off.

[Dan Reichert]

The ultimate prank is one where all parties laugh. Nobody should be, like, crying in the corner.

[Mary Kish]

Agreed.

[Dan Reichert]

That's not a good prank. It should be something where everyone can appreciate the gag and life can go on as if it never happened.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Does that mean that makes sense?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, totally. That was all my pranks back then. Yeah. All of mine were pretty temporary in college. You know, getting a shark mascot suit and running through a film class. Stuff like that. You know, very. Filming it. Putting it on my sketch show. Yeah, yeah. You know, fun, innocent stuff.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. All the.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's the worst?

[Dan Reichert]

Sweet, sweet, innocent things.

[Mike Mahardy]

Tell. Tell us about a. A not victimless prank that you've done, because I'm sure there are some.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, it would have been with, like, friends that I was very close to, to where they could. Oh.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, I have one.

[Mary Kish]

What's that?

[Dan Reichert]

In college, we were playing a lot of Mario Kart, and one late night, we broke into the college greenhouse and we stole all the bananas from the banana tree, and then we peeled them and threw them on the floor.

[Mike Mahardy]

The college greenhouse, was it like a nursery for growing those things?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, did, like, a botanist get pissed off?

[Dan Reichert]

I'm sure they were like, we've been trying to harvest these bananas for like three years. And they weren't very, you know, they weren't very big because it's not a good place to grow bananas. It's Ohio. And we plucked them all and peeled them and we're like running around throwing them at each other's feet.

[Mike Mahardy]

The. There's pounding on your bedroom door the next night. A SWAT team of gorillas storms the room wearing helmets with that battering ram thing.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Just beat the living out of you.

[Mike Mahardy]

And peel you like a banana.

[Dan Reichert]

We feel your. My punishment is to be peeled like a banana. Like my skin.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that seems. That's a fatality. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Punishment from Ulysses as groin here.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that was his move.

[Dan Reichert]

I. I feel a little guilty that we probably ruined some learning opportunities. I'm sure the teacher, whoever really cared for that greenhouse was like, these little bastards destroyed this banana tree that I've been working on. And it was not for like, of any value. It was like, haha, we have peels and we're throwing them at each other. That was it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Where'd you go to college? What was the professor's name?

[Dan Reichert]

I went to Ohio University.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, I'm gonna look it up, see if I can find the professor and tell them.

[Dan Reichert]

I do feel a little bad about it, but I also think like, in the grand scheme of things, when I say like, we broke in, we didn't break, you know, like glass or anything. We didn't ruin the place. We just got in when we shouldn't have gotten in. And you know, ruining some bananas is not a huge crime, but that's the one I'm willing to admit to you.

[Mary Kish]

I guess the one that definitely had a victim with me. And I wasn't the only one, but I was kind of the ringleader was in the dorms and my friend Ben, we got back from a party or something and we were all just tanked. And Ben passed out hard in his lower bunk and his cousin was his roommate. And so his cousin, me, couple other friends went in and we got a bunch of duct tape and electrical tape and stuff and we like scooted. He was so out, like, you know, he didn't even notice. We're like scooting the whole bunk bed away from the wall and we're just going around and around, like fully duct taping him to the bed, you know, putting cigars in his mouth, drawing on him in permanent marker, all that shit. And he's just not waking up. So we all just keep doing shit. So we fucking like took all of the pillows and blankets and everything and we Went to the lobby, got all the couch cushions, put it between him and the lower part of the upper bunk so he's completely sandwiched in there. We put down all the blankets over it so it's pitch black. And then we got all the chairs and everything from the lobby and filled the actual room with it. So even if he gets up, gets free of all the tape, he has to dig himself out from under all these cushions, find his way out from under the blanket, and then the whole room is just filled with chairs anyway.

[Dan Reichert]

What if he couldn't breathe?

[Mary Kish]

Well, we didn't think about that. We might have been 19 and very stupid. So we leave, and his cousin wasn't staying in there. His cousin was staying in a girls room that night. And it turns out one of the guys was leaving the next morning to go to work, and he just heard yelling coming from Ben's room. And Ben's like, help, help goes in there. Ben had woken up two or three hours earlier, couldn't get out, and was super hungover and just was repeatedly peeing his pants.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God. I'm not claustrophobic. And that is terrifying thought to me.

[Mary Kish]

Yes. So we all went in, we helped him out, we cut him loose and everything. And he had been peeing so much that I want to say his blanket or his fitted sheet was red. And so we took the fitted sheet off, and there was just a pool of red pee because, like, the dye from the thing had mixed with, like, had just been sitting there so long. And so it was just red pee that he had been laying in. And so that night we went out to another party. We came back. I was the one who passed out in my bed, and he put a bunch of super glue in my hair.

[Mike Mahardy]

And he deserved it.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's why. Well, I mean, but I had to, like, cut my hair like, that night. So I get up and I'm just like, you know, I'm asking people for clippers. I sh. Cut my head and all that stuff. And then I met him in the lobby and I asked if I could punch him in the face and then we would be even and call it truce. Yeah, I have this on tape. I have the face punch on tape. I have pictures. Yeah, I just decked him in the face.

[Mike Mahardy]

Really? You were already even. You terrorized.

[Dan Reichert]

I mean, what he did to you.

[Mary Kish]

Was even his pee was temporary. My hair was cut. I guess it's temporary too.

[Dan Reichert]

Does it not grow down? Not anymore.

[Mary Kish]

Do you see hair on my head right now?

[Dan Reichert]

Is that from the glue.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. From 2003 to now, I've never had. Yeah. So I should go find him and punch him again.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think. I think you were even. Yeah. When he put super glue in your.

[Mary Kish]

Hair, it was like he knew I was a weak man. And so I just got one punch to the chin. Got it on tape. It looked pretty weak. He just kind of.

[Mike Mahardy]

Ah.

[Mary Kish]

And then we shook. Yeah. We're good. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. I would have. I would have freaked out if I woke up tied to a bed encased in linens.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Our entire floor was doing that shit, like all the time. Like if we. I remember there's one time. Oh, God. A guy came back from the bars and he was in his dorm room having a coitus with someone he had met. And we took like handfuls of bottle rockets, like whole, like bundles of them and just lit them. And like the roommate would like let us in with a key and we just toss it in and they're just in there mid sex and a bunch of bottle rockets start going off.

[Dan Reichert]

It's Jesus. Danger.

[Mary Kish]

No, he thought it was hilarious. Yeah. Yeah. We were menaces for sure.

[Dan Reichert]

Did he let you punch him in the face afterwards just to make sure it was even?

[Mary Kish]

No, there's no. Nobody got, you know, any get backs on that one. Yeah. Eighth floor, McCollum Hall, 2002, 2003 was a hall. It was a circus. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Now he can only get off if there are fireworks in the room.

[Mary Kish]

Yes, absolutely.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

That was a high. That was chasing the dragon forever.

[Mary Kish]

Sex with a Roman candle.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Lit. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, God.

[Mike Mahardy]

He empty. He empties the one hole from the Roman candle, puts D in the. In the.

[Dan Reichert]

Every.

[Mary Kish]

Every thrust. One of the reports goes off. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

It's just a nub because of all the mistakes and incidences.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Our RAs really loved us.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's burnt. It's burnt to a crisp.

[Dan Reichert]

I couldn't imagine. I feel like the girls dormitories were just so reasonable. Like. Yes. We got into like moderate shenanigans, but we just were nice people. We just didn't do like that to each other.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Our games were mental. We were fighting other wars.

[Mary Kish]

Sure. Ours were very physical and gross and stupid. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. You're from the era of Jackass. And I think all boys at that time and girls were just so heavily influenced that the funniest thing you could do is get someone to shit their pants.

[Mary Kish]

I didn't. I never. The shit stuff, that was. As much as I loved Jackass, that was my line where it's Like, I mean, my friends would be really into, like, CKY and, like, Bam Margera stuff and everything, and they would literally be, like, doing, like, poop stuff. I'm, like, running at full sprint and pooping. I always thought that was. That's too gross. Like, I thought it was funny when, like, okay, tastefully, one of the guys would go into a hardware store and poop in one of the toilets. That's fine. You know, that's just sitting on display. That's tasteful. I don't want. Sometimes they were pooping on each other's heads and stuff. It's like, I don't want to see this stuff.

[Dan Reichert]

I also think they were saying something broader about our system and, like, how much things cost so that we can just do basic, you know, things in our lives. Symbolism. Symbolism. Symbolism.

[Mary Kish]

I should have picked up on that. Social commentary. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think to this day, my favorite jackass is when they. They lock all the doors on the limo, open the sunroof, and put the funniest thing. That's because it's not the bees in the limo. It's the fact that they poured marbles everywhere outside the doors that makes it genius.

[Mary Kish]

That is the extra thing where it's like, the bees are hilarious, objectively, but when they're all eating shit, when they think they got out safe, like, oh, my God. I think my. One of my favorites might be in the movie. I think the second one where they acted like some, like, groupies had, like, written a note on the door to, like, it was on a big heart, and it was like. But the. The text kept getting smaller and smaller, so their heads had to keep getting closer to things. And then cartoon ass boxing glove, when Wee man did it and he fell off the chair. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Why was a chair there?

[Mary Kish]

Oh, God, it's so funny. Those guys are geniuses. I met Johnny Knoxville backstage at WrestleMania when I was at WWE. And I just shook his hand. I was like, thank you for everything.

[Mike Mahardy]

Was he cool?

[Mary Kish]

He was crazy. He seemed a little, like, odd. Oh, yeah. That Johnny Knoxville probably is. But, like, in a nice way, you know?

[Mike Mahardy]

Sure. They all.

[Dan Reichert]

Because he's been punched in the head a lot, you know? And so, like, some of it might be normal. Yeah, some of it is probably the normal. Like, I am a celebrity, and it is difficult to interact with normies all the time. And then the other part is. Is, like, yeah, he's been concussed so many times.

[Mary Kish]

He probably has more CTE than the wrestlers he was working with.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I suspect so.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Speaking of the CTE and wrestlers. I watched the Mr. McMahon documentary. Can you tell? Can we talk about that? You're not.

[Mary Kish]

Why not?

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't know. We used to have to. Okay. Yeah, it was really good. I. I didn't realize. Obviously, for those who haven't seen it on Netflix, they finished recording, or rather Vince basically stopped coming to the interview sessions for a roll because the allegations came out like, the bad allegations they were recording.

[Mary Kish]

All those interviews they got with him. They were recording in the building I worked in, just in, like, a separate room. I've filmed stuff in there before. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. I didn't expect.

[Dan Reichert]

They got a series out of it. I actually haven't seen it.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's really good.

[Mary Kish]

6 part. 6 part documentary on Netflix. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's a lot just about wrestling in general that I didn't know. I told Amanda, I was like, watch this. I'm gonna piss Dan off. So I started texting Dan, like, have you heard of these? Have you heard of something called the Monday Night Wars? And Dan kept thumbs downing all them. What else did I say?

[Mary Kish]

If I'd heard of the Montreal Screw Job.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah. Have you heard of the Montreal Screw Job? And you're like, you must stop this.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. It's like texting someone who's really into baseball and be like, you've heard of this Babe Ruth?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah. Or if you just started learning Warhammer or wine and texting me about.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Have you. Have you had a cab Fran before? It's. It's good, though. I also.

[Mary Kish]

You guys are big Vince fans now.

[Mike Mahardy]

No.

[Dan Reichert]

Your biggest fan.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm not doing that one. The family episode was pretty intriguing.

[Mary Kish]

Just Amanda. Amanda's. Oh, the family one. Yeah. I start to feel bad for Shane in that. Yeah. Because Shane's also completely nuts, just to be clear. And they documentary. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Kind of well adjusted in the documentary. Just like, overlooked, unloved son.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. He's insane. No, he's definitely not a monster on the level of his father or anything like that, but he's. I can't imagine any child of that man ever being remotely sane. Stephanie is. You know, she's definitely made some major mistakes and stuff on air and off, but, like, she was pretty beloved at the company. Like, she. She was. I've worked with her, like, once or twice, and she was very, very nice. But, yeah, Shane's nuts and Vince is a monster. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

I also had never seen the origins and how big Hulk Hogan was. I mean, I knew he was this pop culture icon. I knew who he was, but I Didn't really know how it started. I was around for when the Rock was coming up because I had friends who were really into the Rock and, like, Goldberg in that era.

[Dan Reichert]

But it's cool they got the Rock for these interviews. That's quite the guess.

[Mike Mahardy]

His was so, like, polished, though. Like, he just looked at the camera. He's like, vince would only ever do this and, like, stop being a movie star for a second. Give us.

[Mary Kish]

That's the Rock at all points now, especially now that he's on the board of the company. And, like, even before that, he was just the most, like, not gonna say anything controversial. Like, all those guys still, like, you know, Cena Rock. All those guys still hold vents in, like, very high regard. And it's just. Yeah, that's rough.

[Mike Mahardy]

There was too little Ric Flair, I will say Macho Man. They really didn't. I also didn't realize that Ultimate Warrior, like, his heart wasn't really in things. He was just. The crowd liked him for a while. I didn't know, but he.

[Mary Kish]

He didn't care about the business. No one liked working with him. He was very selfish. He was insane. Yeah. No one liked him. Hogan was a weird one because, like, I started watching in 93, which is right after Hogan left. So, like, I feel like most guys my age, like, 40 and above, they all go back to, oh, Hogan, Hogan. He was my thing. And, like, he wasn't, like, by the time I was aware of him, it was like when he came to WCW and turned into a bad guy. And so, like, I missed that whole, like, Hulkamania era. And I don't think. I certainly think I would hate him by this point, even if I grew up with him and his stuff. But, like, it is pretty awesome seeing everyone just knows that he's a real piece of shit. And, like, I don't know if you saw. He got, like, booed out of the building. On the Raw Netflix, I did see.

[Dan Reichert]

That people were talking about it on social media as just, like, this big turning point of, like, you are. It wasn't normal. Like, you're a heel. Boo. It was like a. We don't want you here, boo.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah, no. And he's not a heel. He was brought out to be, oh, the legendary Hulk Hogan and stuff. And everyone's like, no, fuck you. We hate you. And it wasn't just, like, a Trump thing. Cause, you know, he came out and he's done a bunch of Trump stuff and everything now. He's very loud and proud about that because, like, they had the undertaker on that same show who was extremely trumpy and people cheered the undertaker. It's. Hogan is just a shitty person in every possible way. You can be shitty. Like, I don't trust anyone who has like kind words to say about him as a person.

[Mike Mahardy]

You know, I, I also really enjoyed and I don't. Bear in mind, I don't. I have not looked farther into a lot of these people. There's probably many of them have done shitty things I'm not aware of. I enjoyed the interviews that they did with like Shawn Michaels because he was pretty honest. I'm sure he's done fucked up stuff. All these people have. Eric, including him, the dynamic between like Eric Bischoff. Bischoff. Am I saying that right? Has he done shitty stuff too?

[Mary Kish]

I mean, he's definitely someone who people would. I think most of our listeners would not agree with his politics at all.

[Mike Mahardy]

Gotcha.

[Mary Kish]

I don't think he's like a monster or anything. He's always been nice to work with.

[Mike Mahardy]

In terms of the documentary. Those are the interviews that at least they were actually like talk like being giving interesting interviews. Whereas the Rock was just like looking into the camera, like just over like, you know, not. What's the word I'm looking for? Kind of just like airbrushed and really.

[Mary Kish]

It'S like a, it's like a, it's a press junket for a movie, you know, it's just like the most like, you know, soft. It's just he, he is just a corporate bullet point at this point. You know, he's incredibly talented, but you're not going to get anything real out of that guy.

[Mike Mahardy]

It was also crazy to hear when they started first start digging into how incredibly misogynistic and abusive everything was toward women. Tony Atlas was just like, oh, we were terrible to women back then.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. No, that era, like, it's just without.

[Dan Reichert]

Without even like questioning.

[Mike Mahardy]

Cut off, button up, shirt tucked in. Yeah, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, but every single era of wrestling has had plenty of horrible people in horrible situations like that. It has gotten much, much better. But yeah, Tony Atlas in that era and everything. You remember like Tony Atlas in that documentary talking about, oh yeah, Pat Patterson, you know, he grabbed my pecker. That's why I didn't like him. And then it's like, why didn't you tell anyone? It's like, what, what am I gonna do? Go to Vince? Like, that's not gonna fucking. Yeah, Vince's buddy. Like, he's not gonna punish him. Like he'll get fired, you know. The wrestler. Yeah, yeah, it is much better now. It is far from perfect, but it's. It's been a fascinating industry.

[Dan Reichert]

Now you can't just grab them by their dick and balls.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Unless you were Joey Ryan, who. That was one of his main moves for many, many years and got him famous.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, never mind. You can.

[Mary Kish]

But then it turned out he was actually a giant sex pest and got roundly canceled, so.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, it's just like Vince, like his ring person in ring Persona reflects who he really is.

[Mary Kish]

It's always crazy when like, yeah, like the real Vince is way worse than.

[Dan Reichert]

You could have predicted.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

That the sex pest wrestler was a sex pest in real life.

[Mary Kish]

We thought it was cheeky and ironic. Like, nope, he's just a giant sex fest.

[Mike Mahardy]

The guy who showed up at his trial wearing a neck brace.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

The guy who kept making out with his mistresses in front of his wife on camera. Oh. It turns out he actually had many, many extramarital affairs and much worse.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh. So shit Dan. Actually, for people listening in for Dan, if you're not familiar, that was actually for. It's called for shooting. It's when it's not technically real. It's part of a storyline.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, oh, so it's like, okay, it's like a real thing that happened or.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is that a work. Actually, I'm making fun of you, but is that a work?

[Mary Kish]

Shoot shoot is real. Work is fake.

[Mike Mahardy]

Gotcha. So it was a work.

[Mary Kish]

Well, we'll talk about work shoot if it's.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about it later. You can text me. So any questions?

[Mary Kish]

Okay. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Why would shoot be real and work be fake?

[Mary Kish]

I don't get shoot. People that don't watch wrestling have trouble with that and I don't really understand why.

[Mike Mahardy]

Because shoot for shoot. Like a video shoot. It sounds shoots.

[Mary Kish]

No, it has nothing to do with that though.

[Mike Mahardy]

Where does it come from?

[Mary Kish]

It's like straight shooting versus like it's a work. Like if something is.

[Mike Mahardy]

I get the work, not the shoot.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, like, oh, here, I'm going to shoot with you. I'm going to shoot straight with you.

[Mike Mahardy]

You know, shoot.

[Dan Reichert]

But the other one is like, it's work like it's work. It's my job. As opposed to it's just a shoot.

[Mary Kish]

It's more.

[Dan Reichert]

It's not real a work.

[Mary Kish]

Not it's work like a job. It's more like it's a work. Like, let's say it all comes from carney stuff. So let's say a carnival booth was like It's a work. If the ring toss thing, if the rings only go over the shitty prizes, you know, like, oh, it's a work. It's a gimmick. It's. Yeah, it's that. That's where that comes from.

[Dan Reichert]

Is all your terminology come from Carney's?

[Mary Kish]

I mean, a lot of mine comes from wrestling, which comes from Carney. Yeah, you talk.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I use mark now, like.

[Mary Kish]

And that comes from carnival stuff because.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like, let's say, pick someone from the audience outright. You're telling me.

[Mary Kish]

Let's say. Yeah, let's say it's a fella and his lady friend, and they're walking down the little mini game section of the carnival, and it's clear the guy wants to win a big teddy bear for his girl. Basically, they will have a guy go out there back. I mean, we're talking like the 30s, 40s, whatever. Somebody go out there with a little piece of charcoal and mark, like, the guy's little coat. And then that way, all the other carnival barkers could see the mark and be like, oh, here's an easy mark. Like, hey, fella, you want to win this for your girl? Come over here and know that the guy's just going to keep spending money because he has the mark on it. So he's a mark.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay. Yeah, so he's.

[Dan Reichert]

He's.

[Mike Mahardy]

He's vulnerable, he's gullible.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Easy. Mercs.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Mm.

[Mike Mahardy]

Is that just because wrestling evolved out of, like, traveling carnival stuff?

[Dan Reichert]

I mean.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it used to be a strongman thing. So you start at carnivals, be like, ah, who can beat. Who can beat the. The strongest man in the world? He'll take anybody in this crowd who. In this crowd. And, like, they would have a plant in the crowd, which. A plant is still a term used in wrestling. And so the plant would be in the carnival, too, and he would just be like an everyman. And they would call the Plant up to fight the guy and everything. And it was a work. So, you know, whatever. Whoever they wanted to win that would win it.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's like in the Prestige, when they pick. They got the Plant. Is it Hugh Jackman or whatever? Pull him out of the audience. And he's supposed to. Christian Bale is supposed to catch the bullet. And then Hugh Jackman actually loads a real bullet to shoot him because he.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Because he blames him for killing his wife. Have you guys seen the Prestige, like, in college? Yeah, it's a good movie.

[Dan Reichert]

It's been a long time, and it came out during that other movie that was also about madness at the time. And I got them confused. The Illusionist was, like, about a guy and his lover, and I think he wanted to, like, run away with her. Yeah. Jessica.

[Mike Mahardy]

Jessica Biel.

[Mary Kish]

It was a deep impact volcano situation. No, no, I'm sorry. No, I'm sorry. I mixed it up. It's deep impact Armageddon, and it was volcano Dante's peak.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's why I messed those up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

I understand where you are now.

[Mike Mahardy]

Do maternal animal crossing New Horizons. Exactly, Exactly.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. But yeah, though the documentary is good. And now we're watching. I have never seen. I never watched the Queen's Gambit during COVID Oh, really?

[Dan Reichert]

So we're watching it now, so. Good. I'm glad you're gonna get to enjoy it. I kind of like skyrocketed Anya Taylor Joy's career, and I think it's warranted because she really owned that role.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, she's really good. What else have I seen her in? Oh, I see her. The witch was the witch before. The witch would have been before that. That's the first thing I saw her.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Because she's a baby.

[Mike Mahardy]

She's like a teenage teenager in the.

[Mary Kish]

Menu and Furiosa, I think, are the only things I've seen her in.

[Dan Reichert]

Dune briefly.

[Mary Kish]

Right.

[Dan Reichert]

In that as well.

[Mary Kish]

Dune 2 she was in briefly. Right.

[Mike Mahardy]

I still haven't seen that. She was in last night in soho. Edgar Wright's movie.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, right.

[Dan Reichert]

She's taking everything now. She's great.

[Mary Kish]

She's big. Yeah. Last night, Bonk and I watched Late Night with the Devil.

[Mike Mahardy]

I didn't mean to watch that.

[Dan Reichert]

I have seen that.

[Mary Kish]

I didn't. Neither of us loved it.

[Mike Mahardy]

The host was on my flight from LA recently.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, that guy. He's really good. Like, the performances are good. It's just like the whole thing is like, it's trying to do this like Blair Witch found footage type thing. But it was bugging me because, like, it's set in like the late 70s late night shows and that's a very specific look. And like, I feel like they made it four by three, which would have been the aspect ratio back then, but just the cameras look too good and just the way the cameras moved and stuff. It didn't feel like I was actually watching. Like, it seems like they. They wanted it to look authentic, but it just looked a little too polished to actually be like a 70s found footage thing. So that kind of took me out of it.

[Dan Reichert]

I can see that criticism. I think It. It had brilliant ideas, and it is an indie. It, like, it's definitely like an independent film. So we have to kind of take into context. Like, I think they had visions of grandeur, but at some point, you can kind of just tell they didn't maybe have the budget that they wanted to do everything with it. Um, but it's a brilliant idea. I think it's such a good idea, and I just don't think it's executed the way I would have liked it to be.

[Mary Kish]

I 100% agree. The concept is super duper strong. But, yeah, like, some of the effects they do are not great. I think that there's some controversy because they used AI art for some of the, like, interstitial logos and stuff of the TV show. So, like, I don't know, there's just.

[Dan Reichert]

There was some, like, AI anger about that, but that's. To me, I don't want to, like, get sue into that detail. For me, I was like, whatever. Is the movie good? And the movie is like, there's some misses for me. It is entertaining. Like, if someone was like, it's Spooptober season. I want a quick scare. It's free on some service, I would be like, yes, watch it. I probably wouldn't, like, recommend paying 20 bucks to rent it, but I think it's. I. I thought it was, like, decent watch for an evening, but I also found it disappointing. Now, if you like authentic camera work. Have you seen the Holdovers?

[Mary Kish]

That's one with Paul Giamatti, right?

[Dan Reichert]

Yes. And it's not a horror movie. The Holdovers is one of the most phenomenal films made in recent years, in my opinion. And it is made with authentic film cameras from that time. All of the cameras it are, like 70s cameras. And you can tell it looks fucking great. It ain't a filter. They filmed it on, like, that original film, and it looks awesome.

[Mike Mahardy]

Soundtrack, the cars, the clothing. Like, it's. It's awesome. It's. And it's tech. It's set during Christmas, so we've actually, like, started watching it yearly on Christmas. It's become a traditional, but it's awesome.

[Mary Kish]

I've heard great things. Giamatti's awesome, dude.

[Dan Reichert]

It's pretty. Like, all the performances are good.

[Mike Mahardy]

It gets heavy, but it's earned. It's really good. You know what else that director has made is Sideways, a movie about wine with Giamatti.

[Dan Reichert]

Giamatti, he loves Paul Giamatti, but he's a really good actor. And in this one, I feel like at least in sideways. Like, they're like. You're like a young buck who's, like, out to score. And, like, you get yourself into some trouble in this one. They're like, you're like a decrepit, ugly teacher that no one loves. And he's like. He's got this, like, weird eye, smells. Like everyone hates him. Yeah. And he's like, all right, that's me. Like, he's really earned this role.

[Mary Kish]

Have you heard the story about him with Planet of the Apes?

[Mike Mahardy]

No, but I'm.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, my God. So I already loved him. And then I've read this anecdote recently. So basically, Remember the, like, 2001 Marky Mark planet? The Tim Burton one? That was fucking terrible.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. So Giamatti's in it, and he plays an ape. And I need to find this actual quote because basically, his agent really wanted. Okay, this is a quote from Paul Giamatti. I was obsessed with the Planet of the Apes movies as a kid, so the notion that I could be in one of those was mind blowing to me. My agents were like, don't you think you should play a human so they can see your face? And I was like, if you tell them I want to play a human in this, I will fucking kill all of you. I'm going to play an ape. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

He's dedicated. I love that guy. Knows what he wants and he runs straight at it.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I love that. Real stern opinion. To be an ape.

[Mary Kish]

Kill all of you last week. You know, we do our Tuesday movie nights. Last week, Mary. We did the substance.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm very interested. I'm very invested in how you feel about this.

[Mary Kish]

I. I've been thinking about it since I saw it. I loved it. It's a very subtle movie, and I understood all of the metaphors and symbolism. Subtle.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Yeah. Really.

[Mary Kish]

What are they trying to say here?

[Dan Reichert]

Lightly lets you know its point. I mean, it is. It hammers home all of its points towards the last, I don't know, five minutes, maybe 10 minutes, you're like, what are we doing here anymore?

[Mary Kish]

The end was incredible. And I love. They waste no time. And, like, the whole concept. This isn't a spoiler, because this is. The concept of the movie is, like, you take this substance and it makes, like, a younger version of you. And, like, they don't waste a single frame of that movie being like, well, here's how it works. There's, like, here it is. Do you want it? Take it.

[Dan Reichert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Now you're young.

[Dan Reichert]

You know, they never even discuss payment, which I Found really interesting about this film.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

There's no exchange. At no point does she sign a contract, I think, or, like, is there, like, calls, a number. Literally no information. Because this movie, they, like, decided early on, they were like, well, we don't give a shit about any of that.

[Mary Kish]

They don't need to.

[Dan Reichert]

They don't need to. They cut out all the middlemen. There's no middlemen in this. It's just straight up, like, this is what I want. I want everyone to know that this is the only thing I care about. And then, like, the implications of that. And then I would say just a complete slow burn. Downfall of everybody involved.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

It is a horrible visual to watch.

[Mary Kish]

There are some horrible. Like, Dennis Quaid, his character. This is how subtle the movie is. He's a super sleazy, misogynistic film executive named Harley Harvey. That's how subtle this movie.

[Dan Reichert]

My name is. Honestly. I mean, he kind of has a McMahan look to him.

[Mary Kish]

I. I had that thought many times. Yes.

[Dan Reichert]

His very first shot, and this is nothing is an accident in this. But his very first introduction is him pissing in a urinal with a fisheye lens. And his face is, like, in the lens while he's pissing. And he's just like, she's too old. Nobody wants to her.

[Mary Kish]

It's so gross. And then, like, he's. And he's talking to her, and he's just, like, eating all this shrimp. And it's super close up on his mouth. It is the least. This movie is a sledgehammer. It is awesome, though. Like, Mary, I was with you the whole time. I remember, like, in the middle, you talked about how, like, it kind of goes up and down in terms of, like, it's so gratuitous. In the middle, it's so many, like, here's Margaret Qualley's ass just, like, over and over and over again. And then it's like, by the end, it's just like all that, like, gratuitous, like, ooh, butts and boobs. By the end, it's like, oh, God, what are we doing here?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. I remember saying when I was like. I don't know if I was pitching this to you, but, like, my reaction to it was, I love this film. This is so interesting. I hate this film. They have lost the plot. Oh, I love this film. They played me like a fiddle and they knew me very well. And I was just, like, wondering, is that your ride as well? Where, like, at some point, I actually was like, I I literally said out loud, I don't like this movie. And then by the end, I changed my mind.

[Mary Kish]

I think it is all earned because it's like, it is so cartoonish, like when Margaret Qualley takes over again. No big spoilers here or anything, but, you know, it's like a workout thing.

[Dan Reichert]

She's the hot one.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, like, Demi Moore was like an aging, yeah, like, Jane Fonda style work video thing. And it's so funny because it's supposed to be this workout video, but every single move that Margaret Quality is doing is like tits and camera, tits in camera, squat, squat, squat. And it's just like, it is the. It's so, so gratuitous that it's intentional and. But that is just kind of the point of the movie and where it goes and everything. So, yeah, I felt like it was earned. I. I love it.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm glad you liked it. Yeah, I had a, I had a real visceral reaction to that film and I think they wanted you to.

[Mike Mahardy]

Right.

[Dan Reichert]

Like, they really wanted to make sure you, you got it. But I believe Demi Moore won the first award for her acting in that. And I also thought that was quite earned because I think that's a very difficult role to accept as an aging actress, which is like, here's a role in which you're an, you're an aging actress, aren't you? You're perfect for this role of an aging actress that will give up anything to look a little younger. And then we're going to have this hot actress with a. A fat ass be you and have all the sex scenes or like all the hot scenes with her ass. But when we want to show someone who's like, destroying themselves mentally and physically and is old, it's you also full nudity. You win. And she was like, sure. And she did it. I just think she really owned it.

[Mary Kish]

Well, in her speech at the Golden Globes is really good because it kind of touched on all that stuff about being like an aging actress in Hollywood and like, you know, her agents and people saying, like, hey, you're not going to get these roles anymore. But like, yeah, for her to win for this and it's super deserved. It was awesome.

[Dan Reichert]

As soon as you turn 36, your options are to be Jim Carrey's wife or like the dead mother of someone who wants to like, get revenge. That's it. Like you're. Or, or like a really old grandma in the, you know, who's like in the crowd clapping.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Because the prince has done something Good. That's it. Those are your three options.

[Mary Kish]

There was a good. Nikki Glazer had a joke at the Golden Globes about how, like, oh, when you turn, you know, 50 as a woman in Hollywood, you're pretty much on the way out if you're, if you're, if you're a man and you're 50, congrats. You're about to play Sydney Sweeney's boyfriend.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, it's. It's true. I mean, it's ridiculous. Like, I mean, they're all doing great and, like, good for these old men, the Clooneys, the pits, they're all killing it. But I think, like, there is something to be said. It is way younger than 50. That joke is silly. Like, literally as soon as you turn, I want to say, like 37, 38, as a woman, they're just like, like, you get nothing except for mom options. And your parts will be very flat.

[Mary Kish]

I. I saw this Demi Moore kind of comeback story. A lot like Mickey Rourke because he had been gone for a long time and he came back for the wrestler, which was also just like, hey, you're gonna play this, like, beat up piece of meat. Just this old loser, you know, who's just an idiot. And it's idiots. Maybe not the word, but, you know, it's a similar thing where it's this big actor that had disappeared for like a while and then comes back with this, like, very well regarded role. Like, I love seeing that stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Darren Aronofsk did that again with Brendan Fraser, with the Whale.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, right.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't know that there's any parallel between Brendan Fraser and the guy's life in the Whale. I have not seen that movie. I have no intention.

[Dan Reichert]

I heard very mixed. My problem with seeing something like that is that it's so heavy and I usually watch. I'm not saying I can't watch a heavy movie. I think Oppenheimer is heavy and I just loved that film. I think there's something about watching, like a character suffer for two hours for just being a shitty person.

[Mike Mahardy]

I've read a lot that it's just like, like it doesn't feel like Aronofsky is doing anything besides just pitying the character the whole time. So what's the point? I don't know. So I gotta. I don't know. I don't think I'm gonna watch it. Darren Aronofsky's movies, I mean, I think you're supposed to either hate or love them. I love Black Swan.

[Mary Kish]

Black Swan's great.

[Dan Reichert]

I Love the Wrestler, but I wouldn't watch it again. I wouldn't watch Black Swan again. Like, that movie was exhausting to get through.

[Mary Kish]

I think I would watch it again because I was surprised with the rest.

[Dan Reichert]

Who owns the Swan on dvd? Who owns a dvd, but, like, who owns.

[Mary Kish]

Owns. I have Black Swan on 4K and the Wrestler. Well, the rest of Blu Ray. Yeah. Yeah. No, I mean, like, the Wrestler is a depressing ass movie, but I hadn't seen it in a few years and John Carson hadn't seen it. So he came over and we both watched and we're like, oh, that's a five out of five. That's one of my few five out of five letterbox.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that was in theaters and I was working in the theater, and I remember seeing that. I was like, holy, that was amazing. And then I talked to all my friends, like, it sucked. I was. Was like, we were young, I guess so I was like, I don't know. I loved it.

[Mary Kish]

Okay, spoilers for the Wrestler, which came out in 2007. If anybody wants to mute now, I.

[Dan Reichert]

Feel like we're allowed to. Yeah, it's past.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, also, Marissa is in it, so I'm. I'm always up for.

[Mary Kish]

I've heard. Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, that's right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah, she is in that movie.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, now that I think about it, I think. Oh, yeah, she was.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah. She had 23 minutes and the 17 seconds of screen time, I think. I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, something around there. You might be a couple tenths of a second off.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think she almost nip slips at, like, 56, 23.

[Mary Kish]

You must be thinking of someone else. You're thinking of Mickey.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's almost an up.

[Mary Kish]

Remember when Mickey was wearing that mesh. Yeah, Mickey was wearing that mesh top thing. I remember that. That must have been Mickey I'm thinking of.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that's exactly what it was. Yes.

[Mary Kish]

What was I going to say? Oh, yeah, the spoilers for the Wrestler. I. I watched that movie and I loved it. And it wasn't until, like, I swear, 12 years later or something, someone's like, oh, yeah, like, when he dies at the end. And I was like, what are you talking about? They're like, yeah, he dies at the end of that movie. I was like, no, he doesn't. He goes. He just has his finishing move and it goes to black. I'm like, yeah, that's. He died doing it. He died in the ring. I was like, I did not under. I just thought it was this triumphant, like, I'm gonna Do my move. And he's like, oh, top of the world again. And then credits, I thought, like, oh, good for him. And everyone's like, oh, he died. Which also, I don't just say names of movies where people die at the end. But. Yeah, I. I can't say it now, but several movies, the main character has died at the end, and I haven't realized it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, now I have to. I was about to talk about another recent movie I saw. Now it's the spoilers. I can't bring it up. No.

[Mary Kish]

Okay. Okay, everyone mute. If you're worried about spoilers for any movie, that is ridiculous. Okay, this one was a sci fi movie from the late 2010s. If you're worried about a spoiler for that. All right, everyone's muted.

[Mike Mahardy]

What?

[Mary Kish]

Here we go. Blade Runner, 2049. I didn't realize Ryan Gosling died.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, yeah. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

I thought he was just, like, waiting for Harrison Ford and he just laid down on the thing. I was like, oh, it's snowing. That's nice.

[Dan Reichert]

And Bob dead when he's laying in.

[Mike Mahardy]

The snow bleeding out.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I didn't realize he was dead.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

What about the end of the thing?

[Mary Kish]

The end of the thing? Oh, we watched that recently.

[Mike Mahardy]

Live, right?

[Mary Kish]

I was watching for the breath. You said that.

[Dan Reichert]

Mary, come on this journey with me. Michael, stop it. Stop being that way.

[Mike Mahardy]

No. What? No, you know what? They're both still conscious, talking to each other at the end.

[Dan Reichert]

They're dying.

[Mike Mahardy]

Which one is the thing?

[Dan Reichert]

Yes, but they're going to die.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sure. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

You're not gonna get that, right?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. For sure. They're not getting out of there. Yeah, definitely. I also watched the character. None of the characters die at the end for Challengers. Luca Guadagnino's movie.

[Mary Kish]

I was a soundtrack for that. When I'm Running. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. It's a really good soundtrack. Trent Reznor, Atticus Ross, who do every fucking soundtrack now.

[Mary Kish]

They're very good. Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

So Luca Guadnino, who I love, did two movies last year. He did Challengers, and now I have the screener from Writers Guild for Queer, but we have not watched it yet. Challengers.

[Mary Kish]

Nice working in that flex of your screeners. Good work.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think anybody can sign up for the Writers Guild and get a screener if you want. I don't even know if I should.

[Mary Kish]

Have that as part of the Writer's Guild as I have access to mine.

[Mike Mahardy]

Every person in our profession can easily sign up. I'm not.

[Mary Kish]

I bet this guy knows about symbolism. I don't know what the Writers Guild is.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God. What I can do.

[Mary Kish]

I'm not really a writer.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a very power, like, very important union in the entertainment industry.

[Mary Kish]

What do I get out of this, Dan?

[Mike Mahardy]

What do you think that whole strike about was about, like, several years ago?

[Mary Kish]

No, I know about the AI and the actors, and I fully understand that. And, yes, it's good they did that. I talked to Bone Yellow about that a lot. But, like, I write about Donkey Kong. Like, what do I have to do with that?

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, okay, screener aside, I haven't watched Queer yet, but I think I like.

[Mary Kish]

Well, I want to get on this list now. Tell me how I get on this list. I'll talk in this guild.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'll talk to you after. It's get. It's. You say it like it's a fable faction that you.

[Dan Reichert]

You don't even know what it is, and you want to be honest.

[Mary Kish]

It sounds like you get free stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, because it's for. I mean, it's all watermarked and it's all through, like, specific apps. It's only.

[Mary Kish]

I have that with Netflix and stuff. I get screeners for that.

[Mike Mahardy]

That. But they'll often. They'll give you a code for a specific streaming platform, and you'll do that. It's not.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah, I want to do that. I want to do that.

[Mike Mahardy]

You just said you had it.

[Mary Kish]

No, I. When we did. When me and Bonk did the Painting, the Stream podcast, we got some comp. Some of them we still have, so we get early Netflix stuff with embargoes and all that. So.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, challenges are good. Oh, I finally saw Nosferatu.

[Mary Kish]

I saw that, too. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

I liked it. A whole bunch of good.

[Mary Kish]

It's good.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's good.

[Dan Reichert]

I wasn't, like, over the. Okay, I'm gonna. I'm gonna give it three stars. I was. I think it's beautiful, visually.

[Mike Mahardy]

The shot where he's walking. The really quiet shot after the village when he's walking toward the castle and that empty carriage comes up to grab him. But the shot before that, like, in the dark, in the woods. One of the most gorgeous shots I can remember.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, really good. Several, like, very stunning. There's a. I'm gonna be very careful how I word this, but there is a shot where a family is in danger, and when they show what happens to everybody, I think they do it in a really clean, crisp, and brutal way. But, like, I feel like there's just. It's very desaturated. And there's a lot of use of silhouettes and shadows throughout it thematically. And so I think the way they do it. Oh, yeah, it's brutal. And they don't shy away from really vivid violence of, like, what vampires are, which is like, they're monsters. Right. I personally am a hater and did not care for Lily Depp's performance. And there was, like, this moment where she was, like, yelling at her partner or whatever. They're having a little spat, and she was backing up, and there was, like, a bookcase behind her. And I literally said to the person sitting next to me, she's gonna. She's gonna push over that bookcase. And she was just like, you know, I'm very upset about this. And she turns around and pushes down the bookcase. It was just like, how did. How did no one in this room when she was doing that performance be like, can you make it look a little less likely that you are about to throw that bookcase down?

[Mike Mahardy]

I thought she was great.

[Mary Kish]

I remember being distracted by her. I wouldn't distract. But I also don't remember her being like. If I'm thinking performance, I'm.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm.

[Mary Kish]

I think Defoe in that one is probably my favorite.

[Dan Reichert]

Confusing was that poor casting because, like, this is controversial, but everyone in the theater was laughing at every line that dude said.

[Mary Kish]

Kind of seems like he was in a different movie.

[Mike Mahardy]

He's supposed to.

[Dan Reichert]

It doesn't seem right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Did you see the Lighthouse? The guys, Robert Egger's previous movie or before the Viking?

[Dan Reichert]

Yes. And he.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's like, all he's doing these days is these, like, outcast, like, psycho role. Yeah, it's hilarious.

[Dan Reichert]

Just a psycho.

[Mike Mahardy]

He's the comic relief in the movie. Of course he's supposed to be funny.

[Dan Reichert]

Confused. I was a bit confused. He's so funny and all these people are dying.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's a scene where it's like, Count Orlok, Dracula. This is doing this thing from a distance, and it's awful and horrific. And then it just cut and it's like crazy loud, soaring music. Then it cuts back to Willem Dafoe in the room. He's like, so we can't do that. Like, it's. He's supposed to be funny. Like, I took him as the comic relief, which that movie needs it because it's grim the whole time.

[Dan Reichert]

Pacing was a little off then.

[Mary Kish]

Sure.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

I think, like, what I'm saying is. Yeah, exactly that. Like, I welcome a William Defoe in my film. I'm not saying I Don't want him there. I'm just saying, like, something really stressful would happen. And without, like, a break, without, like, a little bit of a gap, they would just cut to his fucking weird ass, grimy ass, fallen ass face. And he would say something in the weirdest accent. And I was laughing, and I just. I was just like, are you sure that's what you wanted? Did you want to laugh now?

[Mary Kish]

Do what he wants to do.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, he was.

[Mary Kish]

I surely told you what Bonk said about him. He'll always. Oh, yeah, he'll always be Doc Ock to me. I was just, you know, anytime his face shows up, I just can feel the seat next to me vibrating because Bonk is laughing.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's. There's a scene later with Willem Dafoe where, like, you can tell he was just waiting to go nuts. And he starts going nuts and doing his, like, the equivalent of the Boondock Saints where he thinks that listening to classical music is gonna. And orgasming is gonna.

[Mary Kish]

When he's setting everywhere and he's like.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, he's. That was amazing. Also, Nicholas Holt, like, every time I see him in anything, he's always, like, just perfect for the role.

[Mary Kish]

Trying to think what else I've seen.

[Mike Mahardy]

Him in the menu. Mad Max. He's not Mad Max.

[Dan Reichert]

Fury Road. He plays such a Weasley little worm.

[Mike Mahardy]

Same in this kind of almost, but, like, a little bit, like, more disguising the fact that he's a huge baby. He's just dumb in this.

[Dan Reichert]

I hope he's not Typ cast as, like, a Weasley little worm. But, like, every time I see him, I'm always like, there's that Weasley little runt.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. First thing I saw was he was Knocks and have a Fury Road.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. He was always kind of just scraping by in the roles that he was playing. But I think he's a fantastic actor. It's unfortunate. Do you know, like, people who. It's not their fall, it's just, like, their face and just kind of typecast them. There are people who are typecast as bullies or typecast as, like, idiots because of the way they look. And I think he's typecast as, like. Like a little weasel boy.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

And I. In that vein, I also cannot imagine Lily Depp being in anything besides, like, a Gothic Victorian era.

[Mary Kish]

She's got that, like, Helena Bonham Carter.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's like a doll, kind of. Which you could tell they did on purpose. Like. Yeah. The way they did her makeup. I like that movie. Quite a Bit.

[Dan Reichert]

It's like they put her forehead in a bowling ball shiner machine. They really accentuated what is.

[Mike Mahardy]

Do you have some underlying problem with Lily Depp? I'm sensing some resentment of. Of some sort.

[Dan Reichert]

I. I think I'm a hater. I just. Like.

[Mary Kish]

Like the cloth, such a funny pixel.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like, are they doing this to her?

[Dan Reichert]

No.

[Mary Kish]

Sometimes they have the machines where you put a quarter and you just dunk her head in it like a swirly.

[Dan Reichert]

So glaring. I don't know. I. I was unimpressed with the performance, but I still really liked the film.

[Mike Mahardy]

I also did not realize that was Bill Skarsgard until after the movie. He's becoming like the new horror monster dude. Because he did a Pennywise.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, he was also.

[Mike Mahardy]

He was also Dune. I don't know.

[Mary Kish]

There's all these Skars guards that popped up out of nowhere. Like, I never heard skarsgard until like five or six years ago. And then there's 19 of them and they're in everything.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, Stellan Skarsgard was always in everything. He was. You've seen him all over. Like their dad. He was in Pirates of the Caribbean, Girl with Dragon Tattoo, which we just rewatched the other night. What else?

[Mary Kish]

I don't think I saw the pirate stuff. He was in.

[Mike Mahardy]

He was in. He was a couple. He was like Orlando Bloom's dad in Pirates of the Caribbean. He's in a lot more. I'm blanking right now, but I don't know. In Barbarian, he was the other Airbnb guest at the beginning.

[Mary Kish]

I didn't see that.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, you haven't seen Barbarians? You should.

[Mary Kish]

Dude. You have never heard of this. What is Barbarian?

[Dan Reichert]

Hold on.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah. No, no. Spot spoilers. 20, 20.

[Dan Reichert]

Don't look it up. Don't look it up.

[Mary Kish]

20, 22. Just.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, stop. Don't do anything else.

[Mary Kish]

Watch Barbarian movie night.

[Dan Reichert]

Careful.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Dan Reichert]

Be very careful.

[Mary Kish]

All right. I'm adding a tour movie.

[Dan Reichert]

Our audience at home. If you haven't seen Barbarian, Google Barbarian. Just watch it. Yeah, I. It's. I know it was on HBO or Max, something like that. Now, I don't know what it's on now, but, like, if you look. If you look it up, you're gonna it up for yourself, your family.

[Mary Kish]

I'm done. I. I added it to our list and I have not looked up anything else.

[Mike Mahardy]

It is a well done horror movie. That's all you need to know.

[Dan Reichert]

That's. That's fair. That's fair.

[Mike Mahardy]

But it's.

[Dan Reichert]

And. And that is, I think, in the first 15 seconds. Like, it is. It is a scary movie and it's very good. Oh, I can't wait to hear your reaction to.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I'm. I don't mean to be the person like, oh, you haven't seen this. I'm surprised you haven't because I feel like you would like it.

[Mary Kish]

I haven't heard. Well, I've never been a big horror guy, you know, it's.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Again, the less you know, I think for this, the better, I think. Yeah. I would be surprised if Bonk hasn't seen it. But if she hasn't, I feel like she would really like it.

[Mary Kish]

Holla. I'm not. I'm not. I'm not.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, watch that. But yeah, Bill Skarsgard's in that.

[Mary Kish]

And then who was the one that was in succession? Who was the.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's the guy from the Viking. His brother.

[Mary Kish]

Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's the other Skarsgard's name?

[Dan Reichert]

The oldest boy.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, that was. Boy, that was.

[Mary Kish]

No, the guy that was like the.

[Mike Mahardy]

Head of the Norwegian dude or Finnish dude.

[Dan Reichert]

He's the Norwegian guy.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, he was great.

[Mike Mahardy]

Was he Norwegian? Swedish.

[Dan Reichert]

Good actor.

[Mary Kish]

Scars.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, he was in the Viking. He was the Viking. Alexander Skarsgard, the Northman. Thank you. That movie's really good. Actually. I did not love that movie. It's.

[Dan Reichert]

I didn't care for it either.

[Mike Mahardy]

I thought it was Robert Eggers previous movie. Ford Nosferatu and After the Vampire, I thought it was. Or the White House. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

You two need to get letterboxd. I like letterboxd. I want to see your. Just your scores. You don't have to write anything.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I'm doing it right now.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm telling you my opinion.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is how it used to work, Dan.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, you're all Luddites.

[Dan Reichert]

The furnace is back for anybody's furnace is back on.

[Mike Mahardy]

Speaking of horror movies.

[Mary Kish]

Jake, Jake, can you look at every syllable I say from this point on and please knock out the furnace? Thanks, Jake.

[Dan Reichert]

There's nothing that can be done. It's just a horrible pipe that looks. Feels like it's leaking gas into your house.

[Mary Kish]

Near diet minus 30 for a while.

[Dan Reichert]

Put on a sweater, you.

[Mary Kish]

I'm not cold. I'm just saying I'm not cold because of this furnace.

[Mike Mahardy]

The more heavy turned off it gets.

[Mary Kish]

I'm not gonna have Bonk be all cold upstairs.

[Mike Mahardy]

You know what it sounds like, you.

[Dan Reichert]

Know, playing bonk on your port.

[Mary Kish]

She would not want to go. Neither of us want to be cold.

[Dan Reichert]

And you have no sound. Baffling. And you Are a entertainer in your room for a living?

[Mary Kish]

Look, I'm just starting with this stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

So it sounds like someone is in that closet it. Folding and unfolding an ironing board.

[Mary Kish]

I don't know if that makes sense.

[Mike Mahardy]

Don't laugh.

[Dan Reichert]

It doesn't.

[Mike Mahardy]

Every. Every. It sounds like there's a robot laughing along with you here.

[Mary Kish]

Let's just get a nice, clean read of the. The furnace here.

[Dan Reichert]

You can't. It only goes away.

[Mary Kish]

Okay. Because. Yeah, it's the noise gate thing. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Well, as long as I never stop talking, we'll be fine.

[Mike Mahardy]

You guys want to talk about video games? Names?

[Mary Kish]

Sure. Yes.

[Dan Reichert]

Talking furnace.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's really good. It's really scraping Mary's eardrums.

[Dan Reichert]

It's so irritated. It's my. It's my what eating is to Mike.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's just like this triggers your misophonia.

[Dan Reichert]

Whistle this.

[Mary Kish]

I'm in the room with it.

[Dan Reichert]

It's always more reason for you to solve the problem. I love that your answer was, I don't know how to turn off a furnace.

[Mary Kish]

I don't.

[Dan Reichert]

And I'm not going to let my wife freeze to death.

[Mary Kish]

Yes, I'm a noble man.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I think you just have to actually turn the heat down. Okay, Dan, I need an update. Are you still playing Red Dead 2?

[Mary Kish]

I am. I haven't had as much time to play since last time, but I have been like. I have, like, a free night. That's when I settle in. I play. Yeah, I'm like 18 hours in now. Starting to kind of get outside of that first main camp area. Going to, you know, rescue guys, rescue Micah from Strawberry, and kind of getting the crew back together and everything. Kind of going back into Blackwater and seeing how it's all, you know, real hot there in terms of, you know, the crime situation. But, yeah, no, still playing it. Still enjoying it. I wouldn't say any big updates or revelations or anything like that. It's just. I do feel like I'm doing it right this time. And I. I do not think it's going to be a thing where I'm suddenly like, this is the best game ever. But I think it is going to go from me just saying, it's a piece of game. Every time it comes up to me being like, it's a really, really. It's a really good game, but it's not going to be for everyone. And there are things that still annoy me about it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

It's very mature.

[Mary Kish]

I'm a mature man.

[Mike Mahardy]

So noble.

[Mary Kish]

That's me. Yes. I understand all the symbolism now.

[Mike Mahardy]

You're just noble.

[Mary Kish]

I'm noble. I don't want to use the word hero, but.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I said that earlier and.

[Mary Kish]

I think you both did. And I think a lot of the emails did. We had to like kind of cull the emails because most of them were just calling me a hero.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. What does Mary always say that whenever you. You say something.

[Dan Reichert]

Dan is a piece of.

[Mary Kish]

No, I think, you know, I say something and you say Dan is.

[Dan Reichert]

Dan is a piece of.

[Mary Kish]

I'm not gonna clip that.

[Mike Mahardy]

That'd be funny. Clip. Well, good to hear, Mary. You beat Silent Hill. Took you long enough. We saw this Resident four, by the way. Way.

[Dan Reichert]

I know, but how is Silent Hill?

[Mike Mahardy]

Do you still like it now that it's over?

[Dan Reichert]

I still like it. I'm glad it's over. I just think that that is a long time to be really stressed about legs punching you and I.

[Mary Kish]

What's the symbolism though? Tell me about the symbolism. I heard there's a lot in that game, sexual assault. Oh, okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's. What's the.

[Dan Reichert]

It's mostly sex related innuendo. Sexual violence I would say is probably like the better term. Holes are repeated throughout. That can also be maybe referred to like going further and further into hell. But a lot of it is sexual violence.

[Mary Kish]

That's pretty wild for a big budget. For a big budget game made by Konami when Konami was a big deal. That's a wild tonally and subject matter wise, it's crazy to put out back then.

[Dan Reichert]

I can't believe they got the rights. I think that they didn't know. You know, it's kind of like one of those things where they probably played like a snippet of it and they were like, these nurses are scary and they're also hot and their titties are out. And then towards the end they were like this son of a.

[Mary Kish]

What a spooky town.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, this is really dangerous. And there's like, I mean the themes. I want to be really careful here. But like the themes are also about like young girls. Like it's fucked up and like it is a really hard to process game. Especially towards the end. Like the more you get into it, the more you're like, oh, this is so gutting. It's so draining. All these people are miserable. And I got. Apparently I got the good ending and it's fucking devastating. It's really bad. And my chat was like, yay, you got the good ending. Sunshine, rainbows, everyone's dead. It's real miserable. It's actually reminds me of something that you wouldn't get. Like, it was one of those endings. He's just like. He's, like, crying and he's, like, really miserable that it, like, it goes to black, and then you hear, like, these noises, and you probably would have been like, well, I hope he has a good life.

[Mary Kish]

No.

[Dan Reichert]

I specifically finds himself one day.

[Mary Kish]

I was in person with Kayla as she beat the last four hours that game. And we both. Both. I watched every second of it, and it ended. And me and Kayla were like, well, that's a spooky town. What the hell was that about? And then Chat had to explain it to us. Like, this is what that was about. Here's the metaphor here. And Kayla and I both got. Oh, that's sad and traumatic. That's. Wow.

[Dan Reichert]

That was the spooky town.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. I don't. I don't want to go there on my vacation.

[Mike Mahardy]

That mansion was full of zombies.

[Mary Kish]

Wait, Resident Evil is nuts. Resident Evil is actually just stupid. Right? Right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Are you serious?

[Mary Kish]

Yes. Is there an underlying. Oh, you. Okay. It's about capitalism or something?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Everything's about capitalism. I'm sure.

[Dan Reichert]

It's about the war.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Which war? All of them, Dan.

[Mary Kish]

War on the middle class.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. It's widening the gap.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm.

[Mary Kish]

I'm glad that I. Chris Redfield is the everyman. Wesker is Trump.

[Mike Mahardy]

Really, really prescient game long before he ever talked about running.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Umbrella is Elon.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yep. Spencer is also T Virus is Twitter. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Wow.

[Mary Kish]

Whoa.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Crimson heads are. Crimson heads are.

[Dan Reichert]

You would have known that if you knew good movies and games.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Crimson Edger, Trump's second term, because he thought he was gone. He came back. Now we can run through doors.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Wow. We're a political smart podcast.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Trump, now that he's back, he can use doors.

[Mary Kish]

They can run through doors now they have to keep replacing them at the White House. Barrels through them.

[Mike Mahardy]

Secret Service just has to up their cardio to follow him around. He's sprinting around the White House house opening doors.

[Mary Kish]

He was in a volcano, and rocket launchers came and just hit him in the ear. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

God. I really do like how Chris Redfield goes from this everyman person who just stumbled onto a. Into a mansion in the woods because his helicopter got shot down, and then he's punching a boulder in Africa.

[Mary Kish]

It's a good series.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's good.

[Mary Kish]

It's very good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Resident Evil 2 remake, I think, is one of the best games yeah, period. What am I playing? Oh, I'm playing. I finished Dishonored the first one. I'm doing the DLC now. I forgot how abruptly and badly that first game ended. You could tell they were just getting ready for the DLC. But also I forgot how much but I'm dishonored 2 is just. I used to like be split between which one I liked, but God, Dishonored two is much better. But it was still fun going back to see Those missions in dishonor 1, seeing the kernel of what would become something of the sequels and the DLC's really good missions. So that's gone sort of in the immersive sim vein. And talk Speaking of level design, I'm also playing the embargo went up this morning for Sniper Elite Resistance.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

If you are a Sniper Elite fan. For those who don't know, it's third person sniper series set in World War II. And each new mainline game kind of of goes from a different theater of war, generally speaking during World War II. But the levels are sandboxes kind of in this the vein that they are in Dishonored or Hitman. They're like immersive sim levels. Resistance is feels like a just big expansion pack to five. So you are a different character. Believe he's Scottish, but you are helping the French resistance during Nazi occupation. I've done four levels and again always.

[Dan Reichert]

Find a way to put Nazi occupation in there. Yeah, that way you don't feel bad about shooting them in their balls.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Slow Mo style.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Yeah. I have not turned off Slow Mo yet.

[Mary Kish]

I crank them all all the way up in those games super frequent and yeah, I want to see it all the time. Literally why I play those games is I just want to see Hitler's ball explode.

[Mike Mahardy]

But the, the level, this, the level design in those games are phenomenal. In Resistance, I will say the game I'm playing on a PC, it feels pretty right now. A there's no big mechanical innovation since 5, which is fine. Not that you need it. I kind of was just hoping for more levels which is what it is. The first one you are, it's like goldeneye. You're going to destroy this dam so you can mess up anti aircraft so these bombers can come in. The second one, it's more a traditional French countryside town that you're sneaking in and out of apartments. And the design conceit there is that there are these underground tunnels connecting the whole map. So once you start to learn the underground tunnel system you can can pop up, kill One of your side mission targets go back into the tunnels, appear on the other side of town. I. I could see going back to that mission to try to master those. Now I'm on one that's a combination of a train station, a rail yard, and a big hotel where this Nazi party is happening. Not the Nazi party, but like a party for Nazis. And that one's pretty cool. It's got. It's got like Saboteur vibes. Color palette, if you played that game.

[Mary Kish]

I like that game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, me too.

[Mary Kish]

So nipple dlc.

[Mike Mahardy]

What? Dlc?

[Mary Kish]

I think Saboteur had nipple dlc.

[Mike Mahardy]

You can add nipples to the game.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I'm searching for Saboteur. Nipple dlc. Yep. It's called Midnight Show. Yeah, yeah, they put it's dlc Nipples. Yep, that's correct.

[Mike Mahardy]

Midnight Show.

[Mary Kish]

Midnight show was the name of the dlc.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Mary Kish]

DLC that adds nudity to the game. Extra hiding spots.

[Dan Reichert]

It keeps repeating what you say so that it makes more sense. Nipples, you say?

[Mary Kish]

No, it's what it sounds like.

[Dan Reichert]

You say. Midnight, you say.

[Mary Kish]

Launch DLC that allows players to toggle nudity. On and off. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, you can go to. On and off.

[Mary Kish]

Mm. Oh, you go to the unlocks the secret basement of Sean Devlin's favorite strip club. You can play a minigame to earn some extra cash and watch a saucy nude dance from one of three buxom French girls. Or all three at once, if you're feeling frisky.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, if you're feeling frisky. Yeah. Back to what I was saying before. Sniper Elite Resistance is. It's fun to see the new levels. However, it is pretty janky. I will be crouch walking along a building on the edge of this courtyard, and I have just quick loaded because I know this Nazi is about to turn around and see me. And as I'm getting to the top of these stairs to get into a building, I just hitch on the last step while I'm crouched so I have to stand up in order to walk through the door.

[Mary Kish]

Door.

[Mike Mahardy]

He, unlike Trump, does not know how to use doors in this game sometimes. So I then reveal myself and I don't have any other choice. I have a choice. I could go around, but I'm just being stubborn, so that's not the game's fault. But yeah, it's just I'm getting caught on geometry in a way that reminds me of like Assassin's Creed Unity. Maybe not that bad, but bad enough where in a stealth game, in a sniper game about precision, you want to.

[Dan Reichert]

Be Able to crawl.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. You don't, you don't want, like, like in a stealthy. If you get discovered, you want to feel like you fucked up, not the game. Yeah. So again, I don't know. I don't know if there's a day one patch that's. That will have been out today. Other than that, the game's running smoothly, like, really well. It's, you know, it's. It's good otherwise. But if you're expecting anything other than a big expansion pack, which, if you're like me, that's. You're fine with that because you like Sniper Elite 5 so much, you might be disappointed.

[Mary Kish]

But.

[Mike Mahardy]

But it's, it's good so far.

[Mary Kish]

Nice.

[Dan Reichert]

Now, what advancements have they made to enemies? Balls.

[Mike Mahardy]

I have not shot anybody in the balls yet. I did, however. Amanda.

[Mary Kish]

Balls with nipples. That's right.

[Mike Mahardy]

Hear me out. I did not tell Amanda the. The gimmick in that game. So I was like, watch me shoot this Nazi in the head. And there's a sniper up in this bell tower across town. And I, I triple checked that there was no one that would hear my gunshot from where I was. Which is the best feeling ever when you actually pull it off. And then all of a sudden it's slow mo. She's like, oh, it's like a Michael Bay kind of slo mo. And then all of a sudden it goes into his head and then the skull gets the X ray.

[Mary Kish]

She's like, yeah, that's video games.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's.

[Dan Reichert]

It's so funny too, because, like, it is like a very well thought out game. But ultimately, like, these compilations that I made on Gamespot that were all ball based, it was like top 10 ball busters in Sniper Elite 4.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's the best.

[Dan Reichert]

That was me.

[Mary Kish]

I turn it to the easiest setting. No enemy vision, anything. No one knows. They're blind, they're deaf, and they all have just balls that are not ruptured yet. That's how I set every setting. And then I just go ball hunting.

[Dan Reichert]

Going on a ball hunt.

[Mary Kish]

That's that whole series to me. I've played like five of those games. Just hunting, hunting balls.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm always hunting balls. I, I think that that game is so funny. And it, it, it is gimmicky in that sense, but that's also excellent marketing. Right? Like, I don't know how many people would genuinely be like, I know exactly what game that is. But when you say Sniper Elite, everyone's like, oh, that's the one where you can shoot them. In the balls and it shows like the X ray of their balls exploding.

[Mary Kish]

And they do like DLC of like Hitler's retreat and it's like, oh, he's at his vacation chateau and it's like I'm in swim trunks with like a drink and sunglasses and you're going to shoot him? Oh, I'm going to put some C4 on his nuts.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. You know what they're selling when they say Hitler's on vacation in this match.

[Mary Kish]

Balls are about to be on vacation from his scrotum.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm about to send him and Ava both on vacation to hell. Yeah. But no, I mean it's again, if it's, it's exactly what you'd expect. Just some rough edges right now. I'm still enjoying it. Yeah. I, I, the some of the level design from that team is up there with the best Dishonoreds and hitmans sniper elite five. The Chateau St. Michelle one with the. Did you play that game five?

[Mary Kish]

I think so though.

[Mike Mahardy]

They've got.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Me and Grub did co op thing where we both hunted Hitler's balls together.

[Mike Mahardy]

Co op is super fun in those games. It's got the causeway into the town like off the coast. It's, it's an actual place. But that mission's amazing. Then you go up the hill to the church. That's that ranks right up there with Clockwork Mansion and Cracking the slab from dishonored 2 for me.

[Mary Kish]

When you are exploring these levels, Mike, in, in France, do you frequently think about wine?

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, I do. I actually have been doing this thing in video games. When I see there's a wine bottle in a cell or something, I look at what they did with the label.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's no labels on these ones.

[Mary Kish]

What is, what is the Twisted Metal 2 Paris level where you can blow up the Eiffel Tower. Make you think of wine wise and.

[Mike Mahardy]

The, the 1947 Bordeaux.

[Mary Kish]

Oh yeah, me too.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Yeah. The legendary vintage.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Naturally twisted metal would remind me of it.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

But another you can they. There's several different wine bottles they use in Black Ops 6 in the casino heist mission. You can look at those. They did some pretty good label work.

[Mary Kish]

Leo Vader did a video once where I think it was, it might have been Rainbow six Siege where he went around to all of the like food and drink and all the levels and like just did a deep dive on like here's this wicker basket of beans. Here's this label of this wine thing and it's like, oh, what an interesting take.

[Mike Mahardy]

What was the take?

[Mary Kish]

Just look at this food.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's not a take. Just look at this stuff. I looked at after.

[Mary Kish]

It's been like a long time since I saw God. I'm sure it's smarter and better than I'm describing it. I just. Leo's great.

[Mike Mahardy]

Leo, cool your jets, dude. We're not ready for this kind of opinion right now.

[Mary Kish]

Look at these. It had to be more to it than that, because I remember thinking like, this is genius.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, no, I'm sure it was. For the record, I'm not making fun of Leo. I'm making fun of you. Leo's work is amazing, and people should be familiar with it. If they're not.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

His hitman style stuff is always. Well, you guys did stuff together. The challenges together. I think about that game World of Assassination. Those games on a nightly basis.

[Mary Kish]

You should.

[Mike Mahardy]

We got to do like some sort of bonus content with it. I don't give a. If we steal hitsmiths, something like that.

[Mary Kish]

That's. I came up with that. It's not stealing. That was my thing. I could do it with us.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I want to do shit like that. Which reminds me, at the end of the episode, we have something to promo Speak. Speaking of, Next Lander, I guess, is the best way to segue. Dan, what else are you playing?

[Mary Kish]

I started playing Blade Chimera, which I've been on a real Metroidvania kick lately with the Dominus Collection, and now Blade Chimera, it's kind of one of those, you know, it's that aesthetic where it's like, oh, you got guns and plasma guns and swords and it's just like. I don't know if you call it. It's definitely like a sci fi. Metroidvania. Yeah. And it's cool because you've got square and circle. You can put weapons in each of those. So if you want a gun and a gun, you can do that. If you want a gun and a sword, you can do that. Want assault rifle and you know, you can decide what you want there. Close range, far range, whatever. But then on triangle, you have lux, which is this, like, spirit sword. Think like the skyward sword, you know, turns into a lady sometimes. It's a sword and it has its own abilities. Wait, what are you laughing at?

[Mike Mahardy]

What? And. Oh, Skyward sword. I thought you.

[Mary Kish]

There's like a spirit in the sword.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, okay.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. It comes out and talks to you. Yeah, it's like. Yeah, Fe. It's like it's a sword.

[Mike Mahardy]

Talking about Tears the kingdom. And with those games you could have said that the sword can send out a lady and I would have believed you because there's so much in that game I haven't seen. So I was like, what?

[Mary Kish]

No, no, sword turns into. It's a spirit sword that turns into a lady and understood and she gets all sorts of abilities too. And it's got that like doom eternal kind of like ammo and health economy where it's like if you kill with standard weapons, guns and swords, you get lux energy for your spirit sword. If you kill with the spirit sword, you get health. And so it's just a lot of looking at your bars up there and being like, I need this, I need this, I'll use this, I'll use that. And yeah, unlocking different abilities and stuff for the, the sword itself, which is really cool. The sword can be a grappling hook. The sword can turn into a thing that like can remember in like singularity or that like remember you could like reverse time like oh, this box that got crushed or it goes back in time and now it's like that type of stuff, like reverting things from the past. So like the sword basically that triangle button has a lot you can do contextually depending on where you're at.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's on sale or it's on sale right now in a bundle with Bloodstained.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, that's a great bundle. Holy shit.

[Mike Mahardy]

New generation of Metroidvania bundle.

[Mary Kish]

Oh fuck. If you haven't played Bloodstained, that's a no brainer because Bloodstained I still have with like Castlevania. Oh, it's, it's incredible.

[Mike Mahardy]

I watched you play a lot for Giant Bomb east, but I haven't played it.

[Mary Kish]

It's super good. But yeah, this is. I'm two or three hours in now to this. I don't think it's gonna be a super long one based on like the map percentage I'm at now. But great boss fights, good look to it. Kind of gets right into it. Not a lot of exposition or anything like that, but just, I don't know, like, I feel like a lot of Metroidvanias have similar esthetics and everything. And I think this handles the kind of like future sci Fi ish thing in a way that kind of looks like its own. And the spirit sword stuff, like I really like how that lux works with your more traditional weapons. It's, it's been really cool so far.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a cool looking game. It honestly looks like at a distance the graphics themselves look like kind of the background of a Beatles them up.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, I could see that a little bit. Yeah. A little like kind of Saturn era maybe like. Yeah, yeah. It's also got some quality of life stuff where it's like, you know all these Metroidvanias. It's so much like I need to find a save room or I'm going to lose all this progress and level ups. I've been. I've been doing this one. You can like warp most anywhere on the map. Like one of the first things you can unlock is just like. Yeah, just warp wherever you want to on the of like places you've been to instead of like only using special teleport rooms or you know, know transit rooms or whatever. Okay. It's just been. Feels great. Plays awesome on Steam Deck. I've only played it on Steam Deck but yeah, very much enjoying it so far.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's set in Osaka.

[Dan Reichert]

The. You can tell because of the roofs, right? Like they have that like classic Osaka roof tile set for a lot of their styles. It looks really nice.

[Mike Mahardy]

I mean they just inside Osaka.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm just saying those roofs boss are awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Also the, the thing you can do with the sword too is like really cool platforming stuff where it's like if you're jumping at a wall that doesn't have a ledge you can jump onto, you can hold in Y or triangle to throw it into the wall and then climb onto it. So you can kind of like make your own little platform with a sword. Or if you do down and triangle, it like creates a little bubble around you that'll project you against projectiles. So like there's just a lot of different ways you can approach different fights and boss fights and everything. So just it feels really cool playing it.

[Mike Mahardy]

What the fuck? Oh man. Maybe you two would know this is gonna be the worst description ever. There was this game I really liked. I fucking beat it. I want to say it was 2019 or 2020. It was really colorful side scrolling. I think it was like a. I don't know that it was a Metroidvania. I think Ultra. You can assign you. You gather characters and then you. You assign them to each face button. So you're fighting with one and then.

[Mary Kish]

Nobody saves the world. World.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, I love that game. I know that game. It was earlier than that. It was like a year or two before it'll come to me at some point. But basically you're fighting with one character but then you press circle and all of a sudden the other character comes out does their ultimate. And it was like an indie game, man. I wrote about it, I think, for Polygon, but I wouldn't even know what to Google to find it. I'll figure it out. It just something about the art style here. The color palette reminded me of that game, which I really liked, but forgot the name of Mary, what else you've been playing?

[Dan Reichert]

I was playing Dome Keeper. I was looking for a tower defense or, like, something that I wanted something. So this is not like, a new game. This came out a couple years ago, and I never played it. And I was looking for something that just allowed me to have a simple premise. Right. You never have, like, one of those nights where you're like. Like, I want to put on some crap on TV that I'm not actually watching. I want to sit on my couch and I want to play something on my Steam deck that won't kill me if I'm not fully paying attention, But I do want to, like, enjoy it. Okay. I actually really like Dome Keeper. Here's the concept. You are digging. You're like, digging into the earth to find raw materials. The raw materials help you upgrade your digging, your flying, and your carry ability, which is also very important because then you can carry more material trails. But every, like, 60 seconds, something attacks your dome. And so you gotta hurry back to your dome so that you can use a laser to, like, laser them in the face and get rid of them. Each wave gets slightly more difficult, so you need to hurry up. The second the wave is over, I'm like, back down in the ground digging up more raw materials. There's three different types of materials. There's like, gold or I think they've been calling it ore, but, like, let's be real. It's like, essentially like. Like just currency one. And that helps you get stuff like buying a better laser, upgrading your character so that they can carry fly faster. Oh, the drill needs to be stronger because as you progress outwards, these are all procedurally generated. So the core part, like, as you're. As you're starting out, that's like, really loose rock, and you can get through it. But once you get beyond that, you can't dig through that rock. It takes forever. So you need to upgrade your drill drill. That's all. Or so your first currency. Second currency is usually some kind of, like. I use it mostly to get health back. So to repair a repair currency that comes in handy because you is a brutal game and you get viciously attacked. So there are so many times this game where I Was like, barely making it just by the scrape of my teeth through, like, some of these horrible monster fights. And then I would repair a bunch and go back into the mines to dig for more crap. And then the third currency, I think is water, which is a really interesting one. And that one helps with your defense so you can make your dome stronger. You can get, like, nice quality of life things. The very first thing I ever invested in was let me know when the next monster attack is, which is great. Just so you don't forget to go and defend your dome when you need to. By the end of this game, I want to say, like, games are anywhere from like 35, 40 minutes to like an hour maybe I think they're shorter than that. But generally, like, it's just a nice slice of completing a game. You have to get further and further into the mines, upgrade your character, and then before you know it, you like, uncover an ancient artifact type thing. You got to dig that shit out. You have to turn it on. So you have to, like, dig out all the batteries and shit and turn them on. And then when you do that, you can take that bad boy home and then you, like, you get a giant wave of monsters. If you can survive the giant wave of monsters, you win. It's so electric. I actually love it. I can't believe I never played it before. I don't know how I stumbled across this bad boy, but, like, I'm obsessed with Dome Keeper because I really like the dynamic of digging and like, upgrading my character, but also being like, I gotta get home because the flying are gonna, like, come and kill my dome. It's really good.

[Mary Kish]

I feel like every time someone's described this game to me and I. In the last few years, I feel like so many people have recommended it. It always sounds very interesting and sounds like something that I would personally like a lot.

[Dan Reichert]

I feel like you would love it.

[Mary Kish]

I. I think I would. And I think that every time someone's recommended it to me, I've just had other stuff, like, piled up now that it's kind of a light, you know, time of year right now.

[Dan Reichert]

Maybe It's a light. Chan.

[Mary Kish]

Well, I guess that's why I'm playing Red Dead 2. So maybe once I'm done with that, hopefully it'll still be light. But I. I have been me. I've had a note on my phone to check this out for, like, I feel a couple years now.

[Dan Reichert]

Wow. I mean, I. I think it's great on Steam Deck, so if, like, that helps in any way. I think it's an easy game on the go. It's an easy game on the couch. I, I say easy to, to like pick up. It's a very difficult to play game. It has four levels of difficulty. The game tells you, play it on Brutal, don't play it on normal, don't play it on hard, play it on Brutal. That's what the game tells me to do. So that's what I do. Did I die a lot? I do not survive this game quite often. It has really good end game as well. So like after you like win for the first time, they're like, here's some upgrades. Now we're really mixing it up. Every time you win, it lets you uncover a new. I guess you're a domed defender. So like you get a new defender and there's like a guy who's like magic and he can like, I don't know, he carries things differently and he can like change gravitational pull, what, whatever. There's different domes. There's one that instead of a laser, it's a sword. And so I have to manually raise the sword and drop it on monsters to kill them. And I can also shoot the sword with like a cord on the end of it to kill the flying monsters. That's pretty fun. There's different ways to play. So the one that I was telling you, the generic one that's called Relic Hunter, you're getting a relic that's deep inside the earth. But there's lots of different ways to play. They have ones where they're just like, get 200 or before time runs out. And there's ones that, that are like, instead of giving you a wave of monsters every minute, we're not going to do a wave of monsters for 18 minutes. Then we're going to fucking blast your ass with like 18 rounds of monsters at once. Which is really fun to prepare for. I've. I've been playing it a lot. I've been kind of enjoying the different challenges that this game has given me. I will say, like, at some point I get a little tired of mining. It's the same old, same old. But like, if you're looking for a monotonous game that tells you to mine and upgrade your character and then fight monsters, this is it.

[Mary Kish]

And I, I like the act of digging in games like Steamworld, Dig, Dig Dug, Drill Dozer, Minecraft, like, there is something very satisfying about just like, I'm just gonna dig here for a while. And you're right, those are the perfect games to just like, I'VE got something on in the background.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, it's pretty mindless. And it's also a roguelike. So like, if you're playing it before bed and you die, then you're like, all right, well, I'm going to bed now. Like, there's nothing to get really that upset about. Similar to spelunky, right? Like you ever like, do around a spelunky and you just get absolutely annihilated. You're not mad. You're just like, well, it happens. And then you. Then you. You play again or you quit. And this is what this game makes me feel like. I've never like, died in this game and been like, this is such. Like, I can't. It's just. Just like, oh, well, that sucks. I lost 20 minutes. I guess I'll just do it again. You just do it again.

[Mary Kish]

That's one of the great things about Roguelites is they have these very sectioned off. Just like, I got one more run in me. Let's see how this goes. Like, I just naturals stopping points in rogue Lights. I love that.

[Dan Reichert]

I got 30 minutes to kill. I don't want to call my family. I'm three beers deep. Let's go. I. I really did. I do think this game is. Is well designed. You can tell that they. They've. They've clearly thought about mechanically, like, how precious these resources are. But because again, it's procedurally generated, you never know exactly what vein you're going to hit. So you might desperately want purples which are the ones that help you like, repair. But you keep getting gold and you're like, this is such. You might just have an unlucky run where it takes you ages to find the relic. I've also. The game starts on, I think small mode. And so the. The area that you're digging is not very big. That is small. And then as you. As soon as you win one round, it expands to medium and big. The big mines are ungodly big. It's really fun to be like, I can't. There's no way I'm gonna be able to find where this relic is.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's.

[Dan Reichert]

It's really cool to like min. Max your digging and be like, I gotta find this relic probably in the next five rounds rounds or I will die. So like, yeah, it's. I've really enjoyed it thoroughly. I don't think it's like, has like this insane long. Like, I don't know if I'll play it forever or anything like that. I don't think it's like the next Palatro or anything, but I have. It has taken up a lot of my weekend and I have absolutely adored it.

[Mary Kish]

Nice. I. I really need to get around to that at some point because again, every time it comes up, I'm like, that sounds fun.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. I hope you do it. I hope you. I hope you watch Barbarian and play Dome Keeper and report back, because they're great.

[Mary Kish]

Barbarian is a likely one sooner, I think. Dome Keeper I've been putting off because there's new stuff and everything, but, like, I think we. We do movie night every week. We. I. I'll bring it up with bonk.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, that's a good one. Cool.

[Mike Mahardy]

Dan, how is Donkey Kong Country Returns?

[Mary Kish]

It's great. I've always been a huge defender of that game. When it came out on the Wii, I mean, the one big complaint was that, like, to do the roll, which is a thing you do all the fucking time in those games. You had to do the waggle because it was on Wii. And then they put it on 3Ds and it's like, okay, great. I can do the roll with a button like I want to, but it's on. It's chained to 3Ds and a tiny screen and all that. So now it's this game that I've. I've long thought was one of the best platformers I've played. Certainly 2D platformers I've played that. It looks good. It's on the switch. I don't have to do motion bullshit. It's. It's just a tremendous game that I think it reviewed well and everything, but I don't hear people talk about it as much as I feel they should. Should. Fantastic platformer. Holds up very, very well. So, yeah, still loving it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Soundtrack still good?

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah, Always great. I think. I think it's the. I think it is the best game with Donkey Kong in the title.

[Mike Mahardy]

Donkey Kong country from. So wait, sorry, this is the. Is it a re. Remaster of the one on the Wii or the original Super Nintendo?

[Mary Kish]

No, no, it's. It's the Donkey Kong Country Returns the Wii game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Ah, gotcha. Okay, not Donkey Kong country on Super Nintendo, which.

[Mary Kish]

On the Wii. I think I thought it was the best game with Donkey Kong in the title. And I like Donkey Kong. I like. I'm not like, obsessed with the series gameplay. I think the character's hilarious.

[Mike Mahardy]

64 is the best thing ever.

[Mary Kish]

Well, everyone. Yeah, I mean, you don't even have.

[Mike Mahardy]

To say that, but I almost Passed out playing it.

[Dan Reichert]

Is it co op?

[Mary Kish]

Yes. In fact me, there was a winter break when it first came out that I took at home home and me and Katie and Kayla, my sisters, we traded off like our teams and it was just like a whole night of us, we made a whole drinking game around it and it was just this crazy like 8 hour night of us just screaming and passing the controllers back and forth and it was like a super duper fun because like it's like minecart levels that are super hard at the end and oh, I up and so now Donkey Kong's dead. Kayla, you're Diddy Kong. It's on you. We don't have any balloons or anything. You got to do this. This like super stressful fun. Like I. It's fantastic.

[Mike Mahardy]

I haven't played a good platformer in a while.

[Dan Reichert]

Me neither. I feel like I'm due for like a good platformer and I love co op platformers and I think those are good. Co op platformers are hard to find.

[Mary Kish]

I. I keep thinking about Blue sky post I saw from, you know Jake Steinberg from Kotaku? Yeah, yeah, I saw him post that. He was like. Because he's a younger guy and I've met him at the night shows that we do at Giant Bomb. We've had him on the couch a couple times and he said something like boy games industry or games media, old heads will glaze platformers just for existing. I was like, yeah, you're right.

[Mike Mahardy]

I guess we just relation to Astrobot.

[Mary Kish]

I don't even know what he was referring to. I mean this was like, like a few weeks ago. So I think it's past Astro Robot. And I remember seeing that mean like. Yep, yeah, he's right. I think we all just came like guys that are like 40 and above, we're just, we remember Mario and that's when we fell in love with games and now it's just platformers being around. We're like, hell yeah. And I was like, yeah, you're not wrong.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I get a path. Disagree.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, I like jumping on stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

One of the best games ever made though. Astrobot.

[Mary Kish]

That's true. Are you being sarcastic?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Yes, very much so.

[Mary Kish]

You don't think it's one of the best games ever made?

[Mike Mahardy]

No.

[Mary Kish]

Really?

[Mike Mahardy]

No. Sure. Extremely well crafted platformer. I have nothing to add that I didn't already say on the episode about it.

[Mary Kish]

Now if it had tiles on it.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, well then that would be a different story.

[Dan Reichert]

You could blow into the controller.

[Mary Kish]

No, you don't blow into the controller. That was the Wii U and the 3Ds.

[Mike Mahardy]

3Ds.

[Dan Reichert]

You gotta shake the controller.

[Mary Kish]

You don't really. No, that's not a gimmick. It's just a great plan.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's the sprinkles all over the ice cream level.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, they put so many funfetties on the levels.

[Mike Mahardy]

I can double jump in time trials compete with Jeff.

[Mary Kish]

Week one, there's no double jump.

[Mike Mahardy]

I can.

[Mary Kish]

You're saying a bunch of inaccurate things about one of the best games of all time.

[Mike Mahardy]

You can double jump with the feet rockets.

[Mary Kish]

Okay. Certain items, power ups will give you abilities. Yes. But Astrobot cannot double jump. He can hover.

[Mike Mahardy]

These items are not gimmicks at all. They're great gameplay innovations and they're.

[Dan Reichert]

They really have constructed, brilliant character designs like all the other games from PlayStation that they've just shoved in here.

[Mike Mahardy]

I like PlayStation from the 90s, so I like when they come back to it. I used to jack off to Laura Croft and this reminds me of that.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's why I like Astro.

[Dan Reichert]

But I'm an Astrobot guy.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's why Mark Cerny liked it too. No, I. I enjoyed that game, but it wasn't that good. Why are you playing, Chris? Why are you playing Crimson Skies?

[Mary Kish]

Yes. The Xbox game. It's my funishment from Mike Manatti.

[Mike Mahardy]

What's a funishment?

[Mary Kish]

We did a charity race for La Wildfire Relief on last Friday, as of this recording, where four of us, me, Grub, Sean and Manatti, raced in Bowser's Field Fury to see who could beat it from beginning to credits in one sitting. And Minati won. And we decided, like, it was just such a positive experience. It was positive stream and everything. And we're like, oh, we want to have a funishment. So, like, the winner gets to pick homework games for the three losers. And the deal is, it's like, it's not a Blight Club thing where it's like it's a bad game or it's a punishment or whatever, or you have to stream all this on your own time. It's. You play it however you want to, but it's got to be a game that's not super long and that you really like, that you're giving to someone who has never played it before. So, you know, Grub hasn't played Grim Fandango, so that's what he's playing. And for me, he gave Crimson Skies because he thought I would like it. And sure enough, I like it a lot. It very much reminds me of that old. Kind of like the Xbox. Yeah, yeah. I can't remember if it was a launch game or not, but I just love, like, I love those old twisted metal Warhawk, you know, these games where it's just like, all right, you're just a vehicle. An arena where it's totally rogue squadron type thing where it's like, here is this area and just fly around and you have certain objectives. Like, there's a weird amount of variety in it. Like. Like twisted metal and stuff. It was always just like, hey, kill all these cars this has. Kill all these planes, but also deliver this fragile thing. You know, here's a gyrocopter. You're going to deliver this fragile thing through a canyon. You got to protect this plane. You got to escort the zeppelin, but you can also man the turrets on the zeppelin and flip. Like, there's a fun amount of variety here that. That I didn't expect several playable characters.

[Mike Mahardy]

Right.

[Mary Kish]

I don't know if it's characters as much as planes. I feel like I'm always the same dude, but like, I am unlocking new planes and you earn cash and like, there's collectibles and that let you unlock new upgrades and stuff. So, yeah, it's fun, like finding the plane that works with your style the most. And the controls work fairly well for a game that's, you know, over 20 years old. Looks fine. It's very, very backwards compatible on Xbox. It's on game pass. I heard I had great Xbox Live support, like one of the early, early Xbox live games. But I've just been doing single player and. Yeah, absolutely. I've really, really been liking it, so. And I like this idea of the punishment because I'm so used to, like, okay, the winner gets to pick this torturous fucking horrible thing that the loser has to do. And this is like, oh, we got this. When would I have played this otherwise? And now I've got this homework assignment and I like it. So it's like, oh, this is a fun way to do it.

[Dan Reichert]

So who came up with punishment? That seems like a minati situation.

[Mary Kish]

He might have come up with the term. I don't remember how we got to. It was just one of those natural things where we were talking about it and we all kind of wound up there.

[Mike Mahardy]

So, yeah, we should do that at some point. Assign me a game. Well, I probably won't play it, but you could.

[Mary Kish]

Well, we tried with Mary, but then she just played a totally different game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. And blamed us for recommending a game that we don't like.

[Dan Reichert]

I thought we had moved on as a podcast from.

[Mary Kish]

It was the last episode.

[Mike Mahardy]

You got bragging rights, though.

[Dan Reichert]

Go forward in your life.

[Mary Kish]

We were trying to give you a punishment.

[Dan Reichert]

I. Yeah, we did our best. Or I had. Play Link Between Worlds, as I tend to do.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Play Link Between Worlds.

[Mike Mahardy]

Play Link Between Worlds. It's really good. Really, really, really good. Top five.

[Dan Reichert]

Zelda, Skyward Sword.

[Mary Kish]

Mary. Have you played all of the Metal Gear Solids or Skyward Sword?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I haven't played any.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, my God. You streaming Metal Gear would be. I love watching people play Metal Gear Solid that have not played it because it's just so batshit. I would love if you played that and then we get your reports.

[Dan Reichert]

Do a report.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

She sounds so enthused.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, there's a lot to talk about with that series.

[Dan Reichert]

Let's be like. Let's feel like I'd have to find, like, a real, like, open time to play that and deal with.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

I mean, they're not fairly outdated controls.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. People struggle with the controls. If they come back to it now. I mean, most of those games. Eight to ten hours. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They're not crazy long.

[Mike Mahardy]

At some point. Do it.

[Mary Kish]

Well, three, four. You got to do it before episode 100 because you're going to be hearing a lot about Metal Gear during that.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm. I don't owe you.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, you don't. Yeah, you're right.

[Mary Kish]

You should have played the game we already suggested.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I've. I've. Yeah. Next time we recommend something, don't just go off into the wilderness and play something we said. Don't play.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I think I.

[Mary Kish]

Metal your Survive.

[Dan Reichert]

Now, this one I think I've played. I. I played this one because it has the worm that you hit the tail.

[Mary Kish]

Well, that's a comment. That thing.

[Mike Mahardy]

What are you talking about?

[Mary Kish]

That's a link to the past. Moldos or whatever.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, no, the. The guy who you rent the items from. And that's a rabbit. Oh, that's right. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Mold Dorm is what I'm thinking of. The sword. Yeah. Or the worm.

[Dan Reichert]

He's got, like, a red.

[Mike Mahardy]

I love the hamburger.

[Mary Kish]

He's fun. Hamburger. Yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

God. Switch 2 just needs Twilight Princess and Wind Waker and I'm there. Well, I'm there anyway. But, like, I really want those.

[Mary Kish]

So good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, they're both good. I like Twilight Princess, too. But like.

[Dan Reichert]

Like.

[Mike Mahardy]

The beginning really is very, very slow.

[Mary Kish]

It is.

[Mike Mahardy]

And also it's got a lot of arbitrary gating. Like, oh, this Bridge is broken. So you got to go back and talk to that character from back there. And then you got to sumo wrestle the mayor and then you got to do a lot of oh, go back and talk to Saria. Because you did that. No, arena, we got to call back to that.

[Mary Kish]

That wind. Having just played Wind Waker in the last year, that holds up extremely well, I would say.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, it's even better now with the new sailing and map and update to travel. Anybody else play anything else? Mary, you played Spyro when you're sick?

[Dan Reichert]

I got sick this weekend, three day weekend. And I didn't feel good and I needed a comfort game so I downloaded Spyro. Reignited Flamed. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

It'S so good.

[Dan Reichert]

It's really nice. It's just basically like all the things you like about Spyro, but it's delicately upgraded with nicer graphics and it, it feels great. The controls feel just like when I was a kid. I kind of forgot. I don't know if you guys play. Did you guys both play Spyro as a kid?

[Mary Kish]

Kayla. Kayla was obsessed with it. And I remember I was like, game. Well, that's the thing. I was like a teenager and so I'd see Caleb and oh, this is some shitty or you know, shitty dragon game thing or whatever. And then the Reignited trilogy comes out and I play it. I'm like, oh, I fucking love all these games. This is great. Yeah, they're really good.

[Dan Reichert]

Good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Like I like those more than.

[Mary Kish]

Jack and Daxter, I would say.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, it's simple, right? Like you're a baby dragon who can kind of fly, but not really. And you gotta get all of the jemmies and they hide them in like hard to platform places. So. But if you're stupid or like not good at games, you can just not get those. Like you don't have to 100 the levels. So it's nice as an adult to go back to it and be like. Like this actually was kind of tough to get to these little areas like they've hidden everything. But if you don't feel like figuring it out, you just don't do it and you just move on and get the other dinosaurs or whatever they are. And you just.

[Mary Kish]

I love that about platformers of that era. Like, you know, like Mario 64 is like, look, if you want to do 120 stars, yeah, have a blast. But if you hate Hazy Maze Cave, don't go there and just get your stars somewhere else, you know, get out.

[Dan Reichert]

Of here, you little loser. I think it's great that they like casually let you decide how in you want to be. And so yeah, it's, it's been really nice. I'm very early on in but like as a sick couch game, I was loving it. So. Yeah, I'm back.

[Mary Kish]

I did notice. Yeah. You were on Instagram. I say you do some stories where you're watching old Simpsons and I would like look at the steam deck screen as well. She's playing Spyro.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. So idling. And Spyro was like, I think it's Spyro.

[Dan Reichert]

I was, I was watching my favorite seasons as well. So I was watching like, like Dalmatians one.

[Mike Mahardy]

The Dalmatians one.

[Mary Kish]

Incredible.

[Mike Mahardy]

Really good.

[Dan Reichert]

And the one where Homer goes to clown college. Like the clown college. They make me laugh. They make me so happy. They're so funny. And I was doing that in Spyro and I think so I posted those and I, I saw someone DM and be like, you know how to do mental health better than anyone I know. And I was like, I think that's true. Like I, when I don't feel good, I'm like, I'm sitting on this couch, I'm making a tea, I'm getting my dog who will always loyally like sit in my lap when I'm not well. And I think you have one of those too. But a dog who's just like, oh, are you not good? I won't leave your side. I will not move from this spot because you need me.

[Mary Kish]

And I just want me tucked under your arm. I can just stay here all day. What do you want?

[Dan Reichert]

I will sit there. He's such a good boy. And I will watch old Simpsons and I'm happy. And that is a great place for me to just mentally and physically repair and damn it, I, I am back. So. Yeah. That was such a good doctor's orders, man.

[Mary Kish]

Hell yeah. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

I play Fire Emblem when I'm sick. Something about it, it's just enough like, requires just enough brain power to sort of like be cognizant. But then also there's like the satisfying character building and the tactics and whatnot. The tactics?

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's what you want?

[Mike Mahardy]

Tiles and the tactics?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Every time I'm sick, I'm like, I need knee deep tactics.

[Mary Kish]

I just want to jump on some turtles and sleep.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, that makes me nauseous.

[Dan Reichert]

That makes me nauseous.

[Mike Mahardy]

Wanna do emails?

[Mary Kish]

Sure.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, we are going to get to emails, but before that and before we get to the end of the episode, we do have a couple of upcoming fun stuff to tell people. About firstly, this is episode 99 and for all you math nerds out there, next episode will be 100.

[Mary Kish]

Oh. Oh yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

We've referenced it several times but now we can officially say episode 100 is not going to be a normal format. We are going to be doing a 64 game bracket tournament to battle out and decide what is fire escape Cast's collective or rather whoever can argue best what is our best game of all time. So we all basically nominated 25 games each. Obviously there's going to be some overlap, especially with Red Dead 2 being so high on Danlis along with Hollow Knight. We're going to figure out nix any the doubles and then maybe bring in a few like honorable mentions. That almost made it just to make the show more interesting. But Mary's putting together a bracket. We're going to do it in the sense that we don't know. We're going to randomize the first round so it could be like Bloodborne versus Hollow Knight, which would be fun.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Not seated at all. It's going to be totally random and.

[Dan Reichert]

I've already set the tone that I am not going to undo it. If you're like, that's not fair because these are both games that I really like. Tough.

[Mary Kish]

No, no, no. It's whatever. However the dice fall and then I'm.

[Dan Reichert]

Not speaking to you. I'm just saying the rules. I'm going to be in the bracket and they're going to be constructed and if you don't like it, that's that. That's not my problem.

[Mary Kish]

You are furnace is responding to your anger. Because my furnace kicked on as soon as you got mad at me.

[Dan Reichert]

I don't think that me and that furnace are related, but I do think that my blood pressure rises every time I hear that fucking whistle coming out of your stupid Wear a sweater. You're wearing a T shirt. It is January.

[Mary Kish]

I'm inside.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, but anyway, you. He's got the furnace on the dead.

[Dan Reichert]

Of winner in Minnesota.

[Mike Mahardy]

It just happens to sound like a grieving eagle who lost its cubs.

[Mary Kish]

Or that's our football team, the Minnesota Grieving Eagles.

[Dan Reichert]

Someone squeezing the life out of a small chinchilla.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah, that's what happens here. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

But yeah, that'll be episode 100. It'll be on the normal schedule. So It'll be what, February 3, 10, 10th. We'll have that up Episode just so.

[Dan Reichert]

Everybody knows how we got to this list of 64 is I asked the boys to put together a list of their top 25s that just said all this. A ballpark. I'm repeating it. And I recently checked this list of all of the games and Mike put games on my list that I did not write. And I'd like to read some of these so that I can.

[Mike Mahardy]

I did not do that. You wrote all these?

[Dan Reichert]

I did not write these.

[Mike Mahardy]

Are all these appropriate? Like I wrote for radio?

[Dan Reichert]

That's on you.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, you put them down.

[Mike Mahardy]

Jake, get the beat button. Potentially ready.

[Dan Reichert]

So for our top 25, I wrote Half Life 2. Hollow Knight. These should shock no. 1. Gears of War. And then all of a sudden, Mike Tyson's punch out.

[Mary Kish]

Hell yeah. I did not put that. I did not put that. By the way, Mary. Great bake, Mary.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sure.

[Dan Reichert]

I left my heart in the Pacific Northwest. That's not a game.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it is. You wrote it. Take it up with yourself.

[Dan Reichert]

Awakening you.

[Mike Mahardy]

We know you love it.

[Dan Reichert]

Ass boy goes to Dumbtown.

[Mary Kish]

That one is good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. It was the classic 64 lobster sniper. Yeah, it's a. You got good taste so far.

[Dan Reichert]

They have really good ball physics. And lobsters.

[Mary Kish]

That's true. I've heard that. I've heard that.

[Dan Reichert]

Revenge of the Frog Prince. Ass Boy Goes to Dumbtown. Three Midnight Nocturne.

[Mary Kish]

Right. You didn't like two? It was like a Devil May Cry situation.

[Mike Mahardy]

That really was a step back. Yeah. They got back on track with three. It was a return to form.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Some of these are personal grenades that explode into bubble.

[Mary Kish]

Little violent. But that's. That's good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. It started as a flash game, but they. They actually made a. Like a full game for Wii.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Blanket Simulator. I would really like that game. Blanket Simulator remake.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Baking saga. 22 nights of pumpkin Pie.

[Mary Kish]

I have not seen these either. These are great picks.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Mary, I'm really looking forward to arguing Elden Ring over baking Simulator Saga.

[Dan Reichert]

You guys are bad friends.

[Mary Kish]

I didn't do this. It's the first time I'm seeing it.

[Mike Mahardy]

You left blank spaces. What was I supposed to do?

[Dan Reichert]

Making Saga Reflex 2.5x D2D.

[Mike Mahardy]

We almost gave that worst title of the year a few years ago.

[Mary Kish]

That's true. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, my God. Oh, this is a nice one. Solid night.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nice. Yeah. That's good.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Dan didn't like that drunk gymnast.

[Mary Kish]

Physics. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Physics.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's the spiritual successor to mount your friends.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Junior year return to Cincinnati. That's very close to me. Adair, help. My French bulldog thinks he's a member of the Viet Cong.

[Mike Mahardy]

It was a really specific indie game that someone made really Good narrator. Yep.

[Mary Kish]

It's got DLC for Razor, my dog.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Now he's. He's an American soldier with a flamethrower hour.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, right. It's an apocalypse now situation.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, yeah. The horror.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Portland series. Portland Stories Part 4. It's just disrespectful to my home.

[Mike Mahardy]

It really came together in the fourth.

[Dan Reichert]

Game puzzle game with really innovative mechanics.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh yeah, I remember that. That was good.

[Mary Kish]

Good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Are there any. Are there any more good ones?

[Dan Reichert]

Hell divers 2 easy mode only. This one was surprising. NBA 2k 23.

[Mary Kish]

My team stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, yeah, that was just throw off the set.

[Dan Reichert]

My phone is at the bottom of the willamet but I still have so many friends to text.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that's good.

[Dan Reichert]

You're an.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that game was good. But yeah. Episode 100 so those. Who knows which one of those will be duking it out with some of mine or some of Dan Dan's. And again, who's to say there's gonna be bra. Many brackets where one of Dan's games pops up against one of Mary's. It's not about our games winning. It's about arguing. Whatever the two happen to be at that moment, all the rest of the bracket fades into the background. No.

[Mary Kish]

We're gonna determine Fire Escape's best game of all time.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. Yes. It's not a competition. Well, I mean literally as a tournament. But like it's.

[Mary Kish]

It's our collective choice though.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's gonna be. I'm gonna laugh if I'll marry all of your games. Go up against one another and you have. We. We just have to listen to you argue yourself.

[Mary Kish]

Me having to argue all these metal years and Mario's against each other.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh yeah, that'll be fun. Yeah. But yeah, that'll be episode 100. And then one last thing. Some last minute. Not last minute. Some final details are still coming together. But we've got a fun bonus series planned that I'm going to be doing with Vinny Caravella from Nextlander.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, it's so good. What a good group. Yeah, I love Vinnie. Who doesn't love Vinnie? Could you imagine someone who comes up to you and they're like, we have all the same things. I think we're gonna be great friends. Just one thing. I hate Vinnie.

[Mary Kish]

I'll say. In such a gossipy ass drama filled industry of games media, Vinnie Caravella is one of. One of the only people I've ever met that I've never heard anyone say anything bad about.

[Dan Reichert]

We're actually all Bad people. Except for Vinnie.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. Vinnie is beloved by all and for good reason. Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. He has been wanting. He grabbed basically the total War Warhammer trilogy on sale. So basically, it's generally going to work where we're doing two separate camp co op campaigns, one of which Fire Escape, if you're already pat$8 tier. Patron. Patron. You're signed up. You can watch this. We're going to do in our off weeks, we're going to publish one episode at a time, like one hour a time, where Vinnie and I are playing a good quote unquote campaign as, like, some of the order forces they're called in Warhammer. I'm going to walk. I'm going to kind of be Vinnie's guru. And then if you're already a patron for next Lander there, I think they're $10 tier. We're doing a separate campaign over there as evil forces, maybe orcs, maybe vampires, maybe vampire pirates. Basically, I'm gonna be showing Vinnie the ropes while we do a co op campaign. But if you're not a Nexlander patron and you just want to stick to Fire Escape, you'll be able to see all the episodes of our campaign. I don't know why. If you are, you listen to Fire Escape. But you're a Nexlander patron, you don't need to come and be a patron for us. You'll see that whole campaign. But if you want to see both of them and see, like, me and Vinnie hanging out or hear me and Vinny hanging out playing a game that I talk about too much, but people here tune out when I talk about it, then come see what I'm raving about. We're aiming for mid February. Mid to late February, we'll say once we get closer, we'll give final details so people know. Just especially with the subscription pricing now with Patreon, if you want to, like, plan the day to sign up before it goes live, we'll be sure to publish that. But anyway, on to emails. We have a shit ton of emails in our inbox. Thank you, everybody. Keep those coming.

[Dan Reichert]

Thank you for doing that again.

[Mike Mahardy]

That's firescapecastmail.com for any questions you want read on the air. We've got several tonight, as usual. Dan, I think this one actually makes sense for you to take. From Wayne.

[Mary Kish]

I was muted. All right. From Wayne. I have to assume the subject line was MacGruber. Is that the case? Because I don't see it in the body. Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes.

[Dan Reichert]

That's so funny.

[Mike Mahardy]

Sorry.

[Mary Kish]

Just from the Body. I can tell.

[Dan Reichert]

But the body of the email just says, what a great recommendation. And no movie. And Dan is like, well, this is obviously MacGruber. Is.

[Mary Kish]

It has to be.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's.

[Mary Kish]

Hey, all. After years of listening specifically to Dan throughout the years, I finally decided this past week to finally watch this movie. I don't remember the last time I laughed so much and so hard at a movie. So I'm wondering if you all have more suggestions of movies like this. Wayne, I'm so glad to hear that. I think, like, people probably assume it's like a bit. I always bring it up like, no, it's as legitimate as it gets. It's my favorite comedy of all time by a long shot.

[Mike Mahardy]

My wife knows it now and she. She's got a pretty like, she. She was laughing like. I've never heard her laugh that hard.

[Mary Kish]

It's the hardest I've ever laughed at a movie. It's the movie I've seen the most by far. Yeah. There's a reason I talk about all the time, Wayne. I would say I don't think there's any beating MacGruber, but the first one that I think of is by a lot of the same people.

[Dan Reichert]

Unfortunately, you've peeled peaked. There's nothing better than the groomer.

[Mary Kish]

Dan says you can stop watching movies.

[Dan Reichert]

Throw away your tv.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah. If you're looking at. Like I said, do you have any more suggestions of movies like this? Because you said that, Wayne? I would say Pop Star because it's like the Lonely island guys, I think. Is it. Akiva might direct Pop Star and Jorma. Jorma directed MacGruber. But it's definitely the like, Lonely island sensibilities and things like that. Pop Star is obviously heavier on the like, Sandberg type stuff where they brought in will forte for MacGruber. But pop star is insane. Insane. Very funny. It's. I think Pop Star won't age as well as McGruber because pop star does rely on a bunch of, you know, stars of the day when, what was it, like 2012 or 2013 when it came out? Actually, now that I think about it, I bet like Diddy's in that. I. I bet it's like a lot of like, oh, it was like McGruber is pretty much just like holds up extremely well. Pop Star is very funny. I know a lot of people would say Hot Rod because again, it's that like Lonely island style. I liked Hot Rod. I only saw that one time.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's more subunny. It is the rest of their Stuff.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah. Nothing's hit like McGruber for me, but I would say pop star if you're looking for like that vibe of comedy.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, it's. It's not the exact same kind of comedy, but where you get in the sense that you get a big cast of people that are all just like in on it and going hard on the humor or the specific kind of humor humor. If you haven't seen Wet Hot American Summer, that is very dumb humor in many ways. I still think that Wet Hot American Summer is worth watching today. And it's got, you know, if you haven't seen it, it's Bradley Cooper, Amy Poehler, Paul Rudd, Michael Ian Black, David. David Wayne directed it. But it's. It's like the Role Models crew back when I think they were still very funny. Now there's the prequel and sequel series on Netflix, which I actually find both very funny as well. Well, but Wet Hot American Summer has like a similar dumb humor, although some of that, that most of that humor is actually dumb. Where McGruber is like really intelligent jokes that are told in a dumb way. Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

McGrer is simultaneously incredibly smart and incredibly stupid. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Another person I would really recommend is Edgar Wright, who is a filmmaker who makes a lot of spoof or like kind of joke style films that are just excellent. Most known for Shaun of the Dead, but the trilogy of. They're not in the same universe but it's the same character actors of like Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and World's End are all excellent, very funny films and they're just so well made. And I also think like, Edgar Wright is brilliant for visual comedy. So he's not just. It's not just the jokes of the characters being idiots, but it's like Edgar Wright is doing visual commentary that is so enjoyable for comedy. And I just, I really recommend Edgar Wright for anyone who's like, I just want to laugh and watch stupid people be stupid. And it's just like, watch Shaun of the Dead. It's a brilliant film. But like, if you like that, you'll like Hot Fuzz and if you like Hot Fuzz, you'll like World's End.

[Mary Kish]

So that's World's End I never saw. But I did love Shaun of the Dead and Hot Buzz I've been meaning to watch.

[Dan Reichert]

It's not as beloved, but it's so fun.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's like, it's funny. I love Hot Fuzz. I think Hot Fuzz is the funniest of those three. He also did Baby Driver and then speaking of Anya Teller, Joy last night in Soho.

[Dan Reichert]

Yes. Which is World's End, Total deviation. It's not very. That one's not very funny, but World's End is funny.

[Mike Mahardy]

World's End is, like, extremely profound and, like, a really well written story that caught me off guard because, again, it is part of that trilogy. And then, you know, they all go back to their hometown and there's the one guy who stayed there and, like, they're planning this pub crawl that they used to do when they were younger, and it's a bunch of people who've gotten older. I actually kind of. I feel like it would hit me even harder if I watch it now, because I haven't watched it in four years. World's End is. Was phenomenal. I got to go back to that.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm glad you got to see that. It's really. I mean, Edgar Wright is such a brilliant filmmaker of our time, and I do. I think that they are obviously appreciated, but I think generally we just don't think of him when we think of, like, brilliant filmmakers. I think he's. I think he's genius. Maybe he does get the credit. I don't know.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, he's. I think he, like. I rewatched Baby Driver recently, which is not as much of a comedy. I like that a lot more. The second time I did, I did not like it. I rewatched it and holy shit. Like, it's infectious, the energy to it. And now that I knew what I was getting into, I was like, I'm just going to enjoy this on a visual, purely visual and, like, musical soundtrack sense. Kevin Spacey being in, like, a prominent role is not super fun, but, like, like it. It's a really well made movie.

[Dan Reichert]

Although John Ham's character loves Kevin Spacy, that's not mostly for the way he's. He's just, like, lived his life all of a sudden.

[Mary Kish]

Speaking of that, I did look up the cameo list on Pop Star because I was like, was Diddy in that? And.

[Dan Reichert]

No, what is Diddy in that?

[Mary Kish]

Largely not cancelled. It's like, oh, Big Boy and. And Nas and Questlove and Seal and the rza. Like, yeah, not. Nobody canceled that I see here. So did he. Maybe it's age. All right.

[Dan Reichert]

No, I don't see anywhere that, like, Twitter account or whatever is like, did the dog die? Which is.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Is Diddy in it? Is Diddy in it? Is like, the new one.

[Mike Mahardy]

There's like, how long to beat.com for video games? It's how how long till diddy.com Martin Sheen.

[Mary Kish]

Martin Sheen was in Pop Star. I don't remember that at all.

[Dan Reichert]

Strange.

[Mary Kish]

Weird. Okay. Okay. Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Some good, good, good films. There you go.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, thank you, Wayne. Okay, I'll read this one. Actually, no, that doesn't make sense.

[Dan Reichert]

He would be so good as like the host of Hollywood Squares.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, I'll read this one.

[Mary Kish]

If Mike gets a game show hosting gig before me, I'm going to be pissed.

[Mike Mahardy]

Who says I didn't heard that? Oh, I'm not just.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, well, you make a good point.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm Dan. I deserve everything that I ever wanted because I deserve. I. I need to be a talk show.

[Dan Reichert]

I can beat punch out. So if anyone gets the hosting job, it's me.

[Mary Kish]

That is what I say.

[Mike Mahardy]

I have fancy vinyl floors, so I need to be a top.

[Mary Kish]

They're not. They're fucking plastic.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know we can hear them. I'm owed everything.

[Mary Kish]

That's my catchphrase. I'm owed.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm owed everything.

[Mike Mahardy]

All right, I'm gonna. Hi, fire escape crew. Cesar. I'm not sure if I'm. I'm not completely sure if I'm pronouncing that. Apologies if I am, but Cesar from Scotland here. Just writing in to say that you auto ride follow in Red Dead 2 when you switch to the cinematic cam camera. This should also work when you have a waypoint marker on the map. It's been a while since I touched it, but I pretty sure it's there. It makes the righty talky bits a bit more cinematic and gives your hand a rest. Also, if you just hold the sprint button when riding, not mashing, your horse will evade trees and rocks. My question is, what is a setting slash feature in a game that when someone told you about it, made you play that game differently?

[Mary Kish]

I have a question. I have.

[Mike Mahardy]

It didn't change my opinion of the game. I always loved returning Jacob Geller. Someone told him about this mechanic and he tweeted about it. There is an always sprint function in that game where you don't ever walk because you don't ever need to walk in that game. Really?

[Mary Kish]

Might have turned that on.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. And you just. Anytime you move the analog stick, Celine sprints. And I was like, why? It. Like it didn't necessarily. I just didn't know it was there. It didn't make me play the game differently. So it's not the best answer. But that is a specific mechanic that happened semi recently. Recently. Outside of that though, I'm trying to think of something where I either didn't know, like, holy. I played that whole game. Didn't realize that was a thing.

[Mary Kish]

I've definitely had this a lot where it's like, oh, make sure you turn on this. And I'm. Yeah, right now.

[Mike Mahardy]

We could also come back.

[Dan Reichert]

Nice to. Like, no one in.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nothing was stopping you from reading it. I worked on this talk at noon today. You could have read it at any point.

[Dan Reichert]

Isn't that during work hours?

[Mike Mahardy]

Michael, it was on lunch.

[Mary Kish]

Wow. We're professionals here.

[Mike Mahardy]

I swear to God. I was. I was. I was looking at. I was on. I was. I was writing, too. We can come back to it if we're on the spot, which is.

[Dan Reichert]

Let me think.

[Mike Mahardy]

We'll come back to it. Cesar. We will be back. So just keep. Put that. Put that back in your noggin. Mary, do you want to read this one from Marcel from the Netherlands?

[Dan Reichert]

Sure. Hi there. Thank you for your bi weekly escapades and escapism. You're welcome. Mike's raving review of the entirety of what we do in the Shadows prompted me to finally write in and ask a question I find. I recently bought new headphones specifically because of one of the voice options has Matt Berry shouting, noise canceling, and power on.

[Mary Kish]

Power on.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, that's pretty good. He always has an inflection at the end, right? That's like his thing. Yeah. At the press of a button. That alone was enough for me to spend a couple of hundred euros, even though I already own a pair of headphones that are arguably better. Was it worth it? Probably not, but I am happy nonetheless. So I'm wondering, what's the stupid thing you bought on impulse which brings you joy to this day? Marcel from the Netherlands. It's a good question.

[Mike Mahardy]

I feel like it. Dan's entire Every.

[Dan Reichert]

Everything that Dan owns is stupid.

[Mike Mahardy]

Go write a list.

[Dan Reichert]

Why don't you pick anything? Why don't you pick the closest thing that's in your arm's distance?

[Mike Mahardy]

There's just.

[Mary Kish]

No, this is all adult, normal stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

I. What is that?

[Mary Kish]

It's an anti static wristband because I keep shocking myself on my treadmill. Metal.

[Mike Mahardy]

Gotcha. Oh, does it have the metal where you can hold it for your heart rate?

[Mary Kish]

I don't know how to make it work, but yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay. Gotcha.

[Dan Reichert]

That's useful.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't have any, like, macaroni sweatshirts. I know you didn't buy those.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, my Xbox here is Bojangles branded, but. Yeah, but you didn't buy that.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's got to be an Impulse buy.

[Mary Kish]

A lot of stupid stuff.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

So much stupid stuff. Name anything that you own. Like, this shouldn't be that complicated.

[Mary Kish]

I got that Quan Chi framed photo, but that was Walgreens. Had a free 8 by 10 printout.

[Dan Reichert]

Okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

Actually, I. I have perfect one. Amanda and I were up in Syracuse seeing my family, and I forget why. I think Amanda may have been just starting to get sick because we were around 11 kids for the whole weekend. And we were at the train station. Yeah, we were at the train station in Syracuse. And she was just not in a great mood because she wasn't feeling well. We were at a train station in Syracuse. So I was like, all right, I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get us Dunkin Donuts across the platform. So I go over there and there's this. If you've been to this train station, anybody from up there, there's this gift shop that's just the most insane room anywhere in the world, full of. Imagine, like a gift shop in midtown in New York with all the. I love New York hats, but also meets. Like, there are bags of caramel corn randomly hanging between all the hats. So I just bought this flat brim baseball cap, all black, green brim, and it just says Jamaica across it. And I came back to Amanda on the other side of platform wearing the hat just to make her laugh. And now it still hangs prominently in my closet, and I still see it in my life.

[Dan Reichert]

That's beautiful.

[Mike Mahardy]

It wasn't an expensive thing.

[Dan Reichert]

Sometimes, though, it's like, it's just a silly item that brings you joy, and that's its only purpose. And that's what sometimes items are. I actually think we should normalize the idea that you can buy something that isn't important and it's not expensive, but it was something that it. It brought you some joy. I like estate sailing. That's actually something I enjoy doing as, like, a hobby. And I often find myself searching for estate sales on, like, a Saturday or Sunday morning. And I'll drive to a couple of them and just see what kind of crap I can find. And it's really fun when I find something silly and stupid. I've been on a frog kick recently, so I bought a frog container. It's got, like, 20 frogs that are all just looking up, and it looks like they're praying. I bought it. I got that in my house now. But one of my recent finds that brings me a lot of joy is I went to a person's house that was obviously, like, really into cats. I love that estate sales. You'll be like, this guy was a giraffe guy, because everything's a giraffe.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

This person was a cat person. And their backyard was nothing but cat planters. Cat. They, like, shaved their bushes to look like cats. It's crazy. And they had a giant concrete cat statue that kind of looks like a Zen garden, but it's just a round, fat cat. And I was like, I gotta have it. But it's, like, concrete, and it's pretty big. And so I was a little nervous that, like, when I would go, there wasn't a price on it. So I, like, went up to the guy, and I was like, I saw you had this concrete cat. It has a couple chips in it. What do you want for it? And I was thinking to myself, this guy's gonna be, like, minimum, like, a hundred dollars for his concrete cat. And he was like, would you do 20? And I was like, yeah. And there I am, dragging this con is. It's as big as Pikachu behind me. It's like.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's.

[Dan Reichert]

It's up to my thigh. I'm dragging this concrete cat.

[Mary Kish]

Are you by yourself?

[Dan Reichert]

My car. I needed help. I had to get help from the other people who, like, run the estate sale. I buckled it into my back seat like a baby, took it home. Home. And I put it in my backyard. It's. It's coveted in my backyard. I absolutely love looking at it. Every time I look in my backyard, I see this giant concrete zen cat statue, and I laugh to myself that I acquired such a stupid item.

[Mike Mahardy]

Was it there in September?

[Dan Reichert]

Me, Joy. I've. I think I bought it before the game awards, so probably I was gonna.

[Mike Mahardy]

Say, I feel like you would have pointed out to me, oh, yeah, that sounds great.

[Dan Reichert]

I would have brought everybody in. Come look. Come look at my cat statue. I know I bought it at the game awards because it's the same estate sale, literally the same house, that I also found a velvet black dress. And I remember saying to myself, that's so pretty, but there's no way that's gonna fit me. Well, I'm gonna try it on. And I went to this dead lady's house, and I tried on this black dress. It's true. Her name was Susan. They told me all about her, and this dress fit me like a glove.

[Mike Mahardy]

She died.

[Dan Reichert]

I bought it. She died. I took it right off her bones. I paid this man $20 for this beautiful, vintage black velvet gown, and I wore it to the game awards. And you guys all hugged Me in it. That is Susan.

[Mike Mahardy]

She had some O's too, for sure.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I. There's no question. I mean, that dress had been lived in. It had some. It had some wear and tear, but I love old people's stuff. I love things that have been worn and lived in and loved. And I really enjoy estate sale shopping because it's not actually about, like, acquiring something I really need. It's not like finding the perfect cable or something. It's really about walking through somebody's life and being like, yeah, that's actually such a thick statue. I love that they had that. How much do you want for it? And as long as they're not trying to gouge me, I'm like, I will take that home and I will put that in my house. And my house is filled with shit like that.

[Mary Kish]

And even if you don't buy anything, it's just like an interesting. Just like, oh, who was this person? You know?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, what were they doing? Why were they so into giraffes? I did go to an estate sale where everything was a giraffe. And it was just so obvious that everyone was like, what do we get them? They're fucking 100 years old. I don't know what to buy them. And it's like, well, they're really into giraffes. And so they just had every. Everything was a giraffe. It was really. I think that shit is so fun.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, actually, I have something perfect up here.

[Mary Kish]

Back Mary, while he's getting that stupid item.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

You asked me to just grab the thing closest to me and it would be something stupid. I was looking around and I didn't initially see it because it's the same color as my desk. But this just came in the mail a couple days ago. For those who are not watching the video. It looks like a watch, right?

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

No, this is the Pavlov shock clock, which. Mary, can you describe what you see on the backside of this wrist part?

[Dan Reichert]

Two little metal bobble bubbles on the back of this watch.

[Mary Kish]

It is a thing that you put on and you fall asleep to it, and you set your alarm and you can set the intensity and you can set some really crazy. It electrocutes you.

[Dan Reichert]

And you bought a shock collar to wake up to.

[Mary Kish]

Yes. And you can also set things to where it will not stop shocking you. In fact, you can set it to increase in intensity until you. You can turn one or multiple of these on. On where you have to solve a puzzle. You have to print it. Like, I could print out a QR code and put it down in my basement. And I won't stop getting electrocuted until I run down and scan it. You can make it so you have to do jumping jacks. You know, like a certain amount. Like I'm not going to stop getting electrocuted until I do 50 jumping jacks, run downstairs and scan a QR code and solve this puzzle.

[Mike Mahardy]

Why don't you just sleepy little perverts?

[Mary Kish]

It's not a sex thing.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm not like, I mean, let's be real here. There's so many different knobs and nodules on that thing. There's no way someone hasn't put that on their butthole before.

[Mary Kish]

Well, somebody probably has.

[Mike Mahardy]

Why don't you just do jumping jacks?

[Mary Kish]

Well, because I think the incentive is I'm getting electrocuted and I would like this to stop.

[Dan Reichert]

It's for people who are like, I don't like it, but I am going to put it on again tonight.

[Mary Kish]

No, it's an incentive.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is, it's.

[Mary Kish]

The reason this was recommended to me is because I used to taser myself.

[Mike Mahardy]

Dan, it's, it's me and Mary. You can tell us. It's a sexual thing.

[Mary Kish]

I don't have an electrocution quality to.

[Dan Reichert]

That horny sleep watch I've ever seen.

[Mary Kish]

I have never been electrocuted and gotten an erection.

[Dan Reichert]

Does it have on it? How tight can you put it on?

[Mike Mahardy]

I mean, next time we're at the house for game of the year, we're going to be in the other room and hear Dan wake up with the shot. And then just coming the whole way downstairs. I brought some stuff.

[Dan Reichert]

I have a lot of like crunches.

[Mike Mahardy]

I have a lot of barware that's not necessary that I picked up. There's a like whenever we go to Cape Cod, there are stores, there's a kitchen store called Atlantic Spice that is impossible not to get stuff. I have a fish shaped wine opener.

[Mary Kish]

Sweet.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's pretty good. I also have a half naked golden mermaid bottle cap opener. I also, I got this in Hawaii. It's like a statue bottle opener. And then this is one of my favorites. I got this at the airport in San Juan. It's a Puerto Rican or it's just, it says Puerto Rico and it's turtles flask. But it's that cheap stuff that peels off. And this is my favorite. I didn't buy this. This is actually a gift from a friend who had gone to Aruba with his wife.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, here we go. Show it up.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's a koozie on one side. Just as Aruba and really elegant, sophisticated letters.

[Mary Kish]

That's why I got it. Turn around.

[Mike Mahardy]

It says gin and hot women. Nothing else matters.

[Mary Kish]

That's what that Metallica song's about.

[Mike Mahardy]

And it just shows. It just shows. Giblets. Gin.

[Dan Reichert]

This bad boy has been shown off before.

[Mary Kish]

It's the most PS2 dead or alive beach volleyball model and she.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, she's the Most like late 90s porn type.

[Mary Kish]

Nothing else matters.

[Dan Reichert]

Down her thong or you tell me.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

You can barely even see it.

[Dan Reichert]

J.Y.

[Mary Kish]

And hot women.

[Mike Mahardy]

This barely fits me.

[Mary Kish]

Oh my God. It's like three inches deep.

[Mike Mahardy]

I know. I have to really get in there.

[Mary Kish]

It's like super. It's like how Borat describes.

[Dan Reichert]

He put all his points into girth.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

The circumference is crazy.

[Mike Mahardy]

Y. It's like a frisbee down there. Well, thank you. Okay.

[Mary Kish]

That would be so inconvenient for both parties involved. Unless. That would be crazy if you found the right match for that.

[Mike Mahardy]

Unless you got that deep dish for the frisbee insertion.

[Mary Kish]

It's not deep at all. Shallow and wide.

[Dan Reichert]

That's Shallow Puddle Puss. That's totally different.

[Mary Kish]

Shadow Shallow Puddle Puss dot com.

[Dan Reichert]

Don't buy these.

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't think I like any of this that we're saying.

[Dan Reichert]

Buy them.

[Mary Kish]

We've got deep dish.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. We just need Frisbee Dick now.

[Dan Reichert]

Our business is associated.

[Mike Mahardy]

Frisbee Dick. Edu is going to get snatched up if we don't act quickly.

[Mary Kish]

It.

[Mike Mahardy]

A previous question. Anything come to mind in a game that someone has told you to. To. To do that changed it.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, I don't think this is a good example, but I'm going to buy time with it because it was very controversial. There was a game that came out when I was working at Gamespot called Everyone's Gone to the Rapture.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is a good one. Yeah, totally.

[Dan Reichert]

And it actually was like kind of universally it was reviewed a bit poorly because even though it has a really interesting story and it's. That's pretty much its only thing. Like it's telling quite a good tale. It. It's all about walking. It's a walk sim as we used to call them back then. And it's just like you just walk to these areas. They took so long for you to be able to get there. And then one day post our review going up, I'm pretty sure you can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it was like after our review went up saying like, we have a problem with this.

[Mike Mahardy]

It was a 9 out of 10. But the reviewer also called out that you walk very slowly.

[Dan Reichert]

Correct. It's just took you a long time to walk from point A to point B and that's the whole fucking point of the game. So it's just really annoying. It was learned that if you hold A, you start walking but over time you would get a light jog. Which in that game was a massive change to whether or not it was like a bit of a problem. I don't know if it like fundamentally changed the way you play it. You still had to do the exact same bullshit, but all of a sudden it was like, thank you for like doing this. What I never really learned was did they add that in and then just say, oh, you needed to hold it down, that's why you play it.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think I recall them saying it was in a review guide but people just didn't read the whole thing.

[Dan Reichert]

They just didn't read it. Yeah, that was a big one in my day.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. For this question. Also I think like the entirety of I still hear things about like Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom I did not know you could do. Like what was it when people started building like using the pent up potential energy from freeze to then catapult bombs with you standing on them across.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, there's all those like speedrun tricks that like Breath of the Wild and stuff had where it's like oh, chop down a tree and then use stasis and build up the. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You just fly across the map.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. And I, but I don't know, I don't know if that counts really because like I think those were all just more like someone messing with the immersive sim elements of it.

[Dan Reichert]

The ability to like break the game is a big game changer. Right. Where you're just like, oh, I actually can just wreck this thing and like evolve. It was really cool to learn. So yeah, I think Zelda is a great one for that.

[Mary Kish]

There's obvious stuff like in Mario Party I always message speed fast and save after every turn. So some happens or someone resets it or something, something it's saved. And also I don't want to hear the fucking shop koopa talk for 20 minutes every time I pass there.

[Mike Mahardy]

I, I, this is also a bit different. But once I got the all guns cheat in goldeneye I discovered that we were basically playing a horde mode before it had been technically invented on the facility level. The Second mission in goldeneye.

[Mary Kish]

Once the alarm goes off.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, if you can kill Trevelyan, but as long as you don't blow up the gas tanks, the only thing ending the mission is you going through that last door.

[Mary Kish]

Yep.

[Mike Mahardy]

If you go through the door without blowing up the gas tanks, you fail the mission. But of course, if you don't blow up the gas tanks, you're not gonna suffocate. There's a whole room up above you. There's endless enemy soldiers just keep coming into that room. So once I had all guns on, I would just do, like, a treat that. Like a horde mode. Before, it was actually a thing in Gears of War or anything like that, that they.

[Mary Kish]

That also had, like, little Easter egg things where as soon as I realized you could detonate the remote bombs by hitting A and B together, instead of, like, cycling to your watch and hitting it that way, you could throw a remote mine and while it's in midair, right in front of someone's face, just. Just explode. It's so much more fun. Good for multiplayer, too.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. You don't have to wait for it to land. Yeah, yeah, for sure. There's more might come to us, but. But yeah, I'll.

[Mary Kish]

I'll.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'll let you know next time before we're doing it so you can rewind.

[Dan Reichert]

This reminds me of the Pokemon Evolution one, where it's like, oh, I. We might need a minute to get cooking. And then they just start pouring out of us.

[Mary Kish]

It's always tough because it's like. I do always prefer the. Just like, actually hearing it for the first time on the air. But then it's like there are ones where it's like. I bet there's 10 examples I could give right now.

[Dan Reichert]

But, yeah, sometimes they're specific. And it's hard because I don't also just want to give a random one. It's like, there's really good ones, I'm sure that have happened over the course of my life that I just need a little. I need to noodle on.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, I also. So for Super Mega. Super Mega Baseball 3, during our World Series charity thing we did, which was very fun. Yeah. I didn't realize how much I was over. Remember, I smoked you in the first game and then you came back and destroyed me in the second game by, like, 20 runs.

[Mary Kish]

Yes.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think I started overthinking the batting and the difficulty we were on. I didn't realize they weren't making us on the higher difficulties. You go to a setting where it's like, you have to actually aim the bat based on where the pitch is going to be.

[Mary Kish]

Timing.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yes. I was overthinking it, and I was actually trying to aim and hit the pitches. I was striking out every time.

[Mary Kish]

I kind of always try that. Like, it's just like, yeah, high into the left.

[Mike Mahardy]

I think I was going. I was going. And if you do that well, you'll get a better hit, but it's not necessary for just connecting. I was like, striking out left and right in that second. He was like, how did I get this bad? I think we played two nights before that. We did an actual World Series schedule. I was like, I must be doing something wrong. And then once that clicked that I was overthinking it, I was like, oh, this is fine. And then I only won the series by one game. I think it was tight up until then.

[Mary Kish]

That's fun.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, but there's. There's also, like, little immersion things like. So someone taught me in FIFA back when I played FIFA, which was a while ago, the game mode where you can get a normal goal for a point or red cards, also technically can't count toward your score. So you're trying just as hard to get red cards, which you and your. The person you're playing with will consider a point as you are to get a goal. The hitch. The hitch being that every time you get a red card, you lose the player.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, okay.

[Mike Mahardy]

Fun, fun game mode.

[Dan Reichert]

What happens when you run out of players? Do they not let you get that point?

[Mike Mahardy]

I don't know if you can. At least I never saw it happen.

[Dan Reichert]

It'd be one versus eight or however many players. Players play soccer.

[Mike Mahardy]

11. 10.

[Dan Reichert]

I'm gonna really, really embarrass myself with my soccer knowledge right now.

[Mary Kish]

Probably no more than me.

[Dan Reichert]

How many of those strong boys are.

[Mike Mahardy]

Out there in Europe, they call it basketball. Yeah, it was. Oh, actually, I have one more. Now I'm in sports mode. NFL Street 2.

[Dan Reichert]

Ah.

[Mike Mahardy]

There are many modes in that game. There's one mode called NFL Challenge. Usually you do the thing like backyard sports games where you're just building up your team and you're recruiting new players, and every once in a while you can get an NFL player. NFL Challenge is the 3v3 mode where you are going through and you're playing all the NFL teams, and if you complete a specific challenge, you automatically get to pick any of the players from that team to join yours instead of getting. I forget what the other bonuses are. The bon. The challenge. And I might be misconstruing. Two things. But I remember the challenge was you had to get three wall diving touchdowns.

[Mary Kish]

Which dive off. Yeah, man.

[Mike Mahardy]

They could get annoying because the difference between a wall run and a wall dive was a very small angle so often and you could only play up to 21 or something. So if you got one wall running touchdown, you fuck yourself over. Because you can't finish the game with three wall dives because you would exceed the points you need to score. But you also need to get three wall passes. So you would need to basically maximize. Okay, on this drive, I could do all three wall passes, whatever. But then once I realized that that challenge gets you an NFL player, I was like, oh, shit, I can just build an NFL dream team in NFL street too. Like at that era, it would have been like Ladanian Tomlinson, Terrell Owens, Michael Vick.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

You know, pre dog fighting when he was just a fast quarterback.

[Mary Kish]

Holmes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. Yes. Was he the Chiefs receiver?

[Mary Kish]

Running back?

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah. You could get those players just by beating the team. Like you can in NBA street, where you can either get points for your creative player or get the NBA player. But I invariably just recruited NBA player, NFL player in that mode. And that was fun. And that completely changed how I saw that game, even though I already really liked it.

[Mary Kish]

It's a great one.

[Mike Mahardy]

Anyway, thank you, Cesar, for writing in. If we think of any others, we'll probably think of.

[Dan Reichert]

I thought of another.

[Mike Mahardy]

Okay, go.

[Dan Reichert]

At first, I was playing Sniper Elite to be a sniper. And once I found out that you could shoot people in the balls, it fundamentally changed whether or not I would actually shoot anyone any other place at any time. I was just a ball hunter.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yep, it's really good.

[Mary Kish]

That's the name of the game in Europe, actually.

[Mike Mahardy]

Resistance.

[Mary Kish]

You can't say sniper in Europe. So it's.

[Dan Reichert]

This is really good. I can't resist hunting these balls.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Got a fever.

[Mike Mahardy]

Ball Hunter cures more balls.

[Mary Kish]

It's like the end of Inglorious Bastards of Hitler's Face. But it's just balls getting a grenade.

[Dan Reichert]

And throwing it at their balls.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, it's really good.

[Mike Mahardy]

Well, thank you, Cesar. Okay, well, that's our show. Episode 99. Say goodbye to double digits, you two.

[Dan Reichert]

Wow.

[Mary Kish]

Crazy.

[Mike Mahardy]

This is not. 99 is a. For a bi weekly show. That's a lot. We've been doing this for a while.

[Mary Kish]

Coming up on four years.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, that's like 198 weeks.

[Mary Kish]

That sounds right. Yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Math nerds out there, which is almost four years a little under.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, yeah. It started in April 2020. One I remember.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, episode 100. We'll have the tournament there. It'll go up at the normal time. It will almost definitely be longer than a normal episode because I'm sure we'll have some sort of arguments. And then again, look, mid to late February, expect our crossover double campaign series for Total War Warhammer 3 with me and Vinny Caravella from Nextlander. If you're not familiar earlier a just go be a patron for them anyway because they're awesome. It's Vinnie, it's Brad Shoemaker, it's Alex Navarro. Their stuff's awesome.

[Mary Kish]

Be on their show. I'm recording one tomorrow. Never been a better podcast.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah, we've done. We've done a few episodes with them and gone on next slander, etc but this will be a fun to like recurring thing with Vinnie. You can go to fire escapemerch.com for some sick threads. We have winter hats there I believe this time of year. Probably be helpful. Helpful. I don't know. Other kind of warm weather stuff we have. Well, we have sweaters, sweatshirts, hoodies. That's fire escape merch. If you just want to become a patron, if you want ad free episodes, you want to just treat it like a tip jar because you appreciate what we do. Or if you want to get that video tier again if you wait till like mid to late February. If you want to take advantage of the subscription billing now, which does not have to be on the first, you can do that. That [e-mail] so go there, subscribe or just go to firescapecast.com Deep dish pussy is more fun though. And yeah, we'll be back in a couple weeks. Dan, what do you have going on in the meantime?

[Mary Kish]

Follow me on Twitch, on Bluesky, on Instagram. That's pretty much my thing. I'm just Dan Reichert on pretty much everything.

[Mike Mahardy]

Mary, what about you?

[Dan Reichert]

I stream every Monday on Twitch, unless I have a sick tummy. Then I play Spyro on the couch while watching old Simpson episodes. And I'm usually on the other social media apps. I find that I actually do update my Instagram stories relatively frequently. I just find them fun.

[Mike Mahardy]

What is your favorite? Go. What's the best Simpsons episode? Go. You have to pick one of all time.

[Mary Kish]

Lemon Tree or Monorail.

[Dan Reichert]

You know Lemon tree is really up there for me as well.

[Mike Mahardy]

I lost my audio. Just keep talking. Keep riffing. I'll fix it.

[Dan Reichert]

Okay.

[Mary Kish]

He doesn't get. He's not smart enough to get it.

[Dan Reichert]

I. I think. Damn, those are Actually, both excellent episodes. The monorail one is also very good.

[Mary Kish]

Homer goes to College.

[Dan Reichert]

TreeHouse of Horror 6 is very good. It might be 5. I think it's 6. It's the one. So TreeHouse of Horror has, like, some really iconic ones. And there's one where Burns is Nosferatu. Yep.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, and it's like Bram Stoker's Dracula style with the, like, the puppy hair.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, it's really good. I mean, I think they're. They're. They're Treehouse of Horror episodes. They're all. Their Halloween episodes. They're all slam dunks. But I think there's a couple that are just really iconic. The one where homer goes into a 3D land.

[Mary Kish]

I, I as a kid, that blew me away, like, holy. And then at the end, he's like, in the real world. Erotic cakes and.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Ooh, Erotic cakes.

[Mike Mahardy]

Yeah.

[Mary Kish]

Tron.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, yeah. And this. The sisters Patty and Sama. It's like he disappeared into fat air. There's just so many good zingers in those episodes. Yeah. The one where the. I think their ads just come to life and so Homer steals the giant.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, the jelly.

[Dan Reichert]

The, the.

[Mary Kish]

The lard lad. Donuts.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah, I got your donuts. What are you gonna do about it? He just starts destroying the town when.

[Mary Kish]

They give him his thing back, and they're like, oh, finally, peace. And he just takes the donut and smashes the house and just, like, runs down the street destroying all the houses.

[Dan Reichert]

And Homer goes to margin. He goes, don't you ever get tired of being wrong? And she goes, sometimes. And I actually say that sometimes. If anyone's like, I've actually, like, in. In a joking way, but, like, I. Their lingo is in this brain so deeply that sometimes times, if, like, someone has been, like, just taken. Ls. I will say, like, don't you get tired of being wrong all the time? It's just really good everyday language that you can use. So, yeah, those are, I think, those tree houses of horror. Like, they have to be really up there for me.

[Mary Kish]

Yep, absolutely.

[Mike Mahardy]

I've seen some of those. I've seen the. The Raven parody.

[Dan Reichert]

Nevermore. Nevermore.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, Those are the Telltale heart one. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Mike Mahardy]

Cask of Amaz. No, he didn't do that.

[Mary Kish]

That's why I know any Edgar on P.O. from the Simpsons.

[Dan Reichert]

There's so many good ones. The pool episode when Bart breaks his leg.

[Mary Kish]

I mean, the Bart. The gross Bart, the, the twin that was living in the attic or whatever.

[Dan Reichert]

Yeah. Is that also. I think that's also a Treehouse of Horror.

[Mary Kish]

Oh, the Shining one. No beer, no tv. Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Reichert]

Something something one is so brilliant. Yeah, don't mind if I do. Yeah, yeah. There's. I mean, there's so many episodes. It's very difficult to pick my favorite Simpsons episode, but I think it would be a Treehouse of Horror.

[Mike Mahardy]

Nice patting her with my beard.

[Dan Reichert]

Great.

[Mike Mahardy]

She's a big girl.

[Dan Reichert]

Thank you all for joining us. We're so glad that you have listened to us and watched us for our patrons, whom we love so dearly for 99 episodes. Next episode will be our hundredth and we really hope that you will join us if you're interested in ad free, which is quite the bonus. Plus our video where you can see Dan's stupid wooden floor that has wrecked his audio.

[Mary Kish]

It's a nice floor.

[Dan Reichert]

On.

[Mike Mahardy]

Didn't I do all this already?

[Dan Reichert]

It's laminate. It's not even that good. You can check us out on Patreon and join us there. And then for all of you delightful people, we will see you on our hundredth episode. We can't wait to. To see you and hear you there. Oh, I'm not good at this.

[Mike Mahardy]

No, you're not.

[Mary Kish]

You're not. That's why we have Mike do it. Yeah, it's hard.

[Mike Mahardy]

It's hard after fucking three hours, isn't it?

[Dan Reichert]

I'm tired.

[Mary Kish]

I don't like hosting. I'm not. Yeah, I don't like hosting.

[Mike Mahardy]

See you fuck in a week. Be there or I'll find you.

[Dan Reichert]

Oh, so good.

[Mike Mahardy]

You have to give me your address. I will be at your house if you don't come to the hundredth episode.

[Dan Reichert]

This is why he's gonna be the host of Hollywood Squares.

[Mary Kish]

Yeah, that's right. Well, no, hang on. That's me.

[Mike Mahardy]

Oh, my God.

[Dan Reichert]

I deserve everything.

[Mike Mahardy]

I'm going to take over from either Jimmy.

[Dan Reichert]

Matt Sajak. Wait, is it Pat Sajak? What's his name?

[Mary Kish]

Tom Bergeron.

[Mike Mahardy]

Talk about Craig Ferguson.

[Mary Kish]

Wink Mare.

[Mike Mahardy]

Hugo Weaving.

[Mary Kish]

I'll see you on our Richard Dawson. Gin Eubanks.

[Mike Mahardy]

Penelope Hayek. See ya.

[Mary Kish]

Bye.