0:04

Oh, make a bet right now. You.

0:06

Make about right now. Good bet right now

0:08

this Donald. Oh yeah, with done Wilders Gate

0:10

takes game of the year to kick. They're

0:12

coming out right now. It's. Like

0:15

happening as we record this. so by the

0:17

time there's there's, everyone will know that. I'm.

0:19

Writing Donald's wrong. He thinks there's a the kingdom is

0:21

going to. When I think bothers, gate three is going

0:24

to win. And what's the wager? What's the wager? I.

0:27

Will Tucker as him into a book I

0:29

would think that we would like. You.

0:33

Have to shine my shoes.

0:37

Up. A quaint Donald's being terrorized.

0:39

If you when you get insist

0:42

he doesn't. You know a

0:44

damn does to people. He puts

0:46

his partner right Yeah, say horrific.

0:48

Li reflect am against. I

0:50

get. I guess. Hi

0:54

Hi! Will. Be waiting. Tell

0:56

us as soon as it happens. Donald: Yeah

0:58

yeah. If they announce it like during this

1:00

podcast yellow are still filming that, Be amazed.

1:03

That's what we want now we'll see gang.

1:05

It's a little early right? Yeah, I like

1:07

it exists in a lotta last one must

1:09

have. Go through all the other things first

1:11

we can put an update at the end

1:14

up. Bob. Gates going to win voice acting

1:16

to if there's an award for that. Okay,

1:19

anyway, whatever. Hey, so I don't suppose you

1:21

have another food heist. I do not have

1:23

another food heist. I do. You do go

1:25

higher you but I'm not going to tell

1:27

it yet. Okay, because for the last like

1:30

six episodes you've been wanting to. I help

1:32

in, I'm wanting to promote my thing and

1:34

I keep forgetting. So now I'm going to

1:36

promote my thing. And. Then

1:38

after I'm done then you get a

1:41

food heist. K O K K! So

1:43

this year twenty twenty three I did

1:45

a gaming retreat. And. It was

1:47

awesome. He worked so well that next year

1:49

and twenty four I'm doing three of them

1:51

ones already sold out but they're still to

1:53

more you can sign up for. And.

1:56

This is just where I rent out

1:58

a big vacation home. And.

2:00

I get my friend to come

2:02

make food for us. And.

2:05

Then you come spend a week in a big house

2:07

full of food and games and we play games all

2:09

week and it's awesome! By. Games? You

2:12

mean Unreal Tournament? I

2:15

wanna try to figure out how to

2:17

do like a lan party with good

2:19

computers but know people traveling from all

2:21

over so it's mostly board games and

2:24

roleplaying games. Now you are now and

2:26

let's see Last year we had an

2:28

eleven hour i think Game of Twilight

2:30

Imperium. We had multiple magic draft. I

2:34

ran a campaign of Blades In the

2:36

Dark based in the. Green. Bone

2:38

Saga Universe by Fonda Me like

2:40

we did. All kinds of awesome

2:42

stuff and are they all locally?

2:45

Here are the one that sold

2:47

out as in Florida. the two

2:49

that are left are both in.

2:51

Utah. Cat in Salt Lake

2:54

into and there's one in July

2:56

and there's one in June. And

2:59

they're gonna be awesome! So go to

3:01

my website thedanwell.com and look in the

3:03

store and you can get all the

3:05

details and sign up for them. And.

3:07

Then we can play games a week. Great. And

3:10

you have now not forgotten. Now I

3:12

have not forgotten. I've successfully promoted. To.

3:15

Know how hard it is for me to self promote.

3:17

Not because I'm shy or like.

3:20

Humble. It's because

3:22

I'm just really bad as

3:24

proof of system either. I

3:27

mean were not judging it's been six episodes

3:29

or something like ice I would you do

3:31

thing the stamps and yeah, all right and

3:33

then and then I forget yeah because there's

3:35

no way to bring it in organically and

3:37

it's right near the food heist. The new

3:39

I was like about. Role. Playing game

3:41

he the board game nice to board game heist

3:43

he would have sounded. We talk about the one

3:45

where a guy still a poker moncur. A

3:48

Pokemon cards? yeah and the tunnel

3:50

through the wall from one place

3:53

in a strip mall into a

3:55

game store and he stole like

3:57

Charles Art or something. Okay foil.

4:01

Set one I was net worth tens

4:03

of thousands of dollars. Okay, probably took

4:05

some other pokemon cards with him. But.

4:09

Anyway, That. Was. Couple. Years

4:11

ago. Are at Food

4:13

has already drawn into ice you

4:15

prom else? Yes, did it. One

4:17

was sent to me yesterday. Cat:

4:19

So this happened in Oklahoma. A

4:22

months long. Dr.

4:25

Pepper syrup. oh

4:28

theft ring.whatever Busted.

4:30

Wow. Yeah. Okay,

4:32

there were a group of three

4:35

dudes that were stealing thousands of

4:37

dollars worth of soda syrup. Okay,

4:39

And selling it to a gas station.

4:42

For. Their soda machine? Okay.

4:45

And. Eventually the dude that

4:47

caught him like the regional

4:49

manager the facility. He started

4:51

placing Gps trackers in the

4:54

boxes of soda syrup. So.

4:57

That he could get all hi Tech

4:59

Nine and track him down. And.

5:01

It was pretty great. So. They

5:03

get caught. Yeah, they did get caught.

5:06

Someone of the things I love is

5:08

that they interviewed the gas station regulars.

5:11

He likes. So how does it feel

5:13

to know you've been drinking illicit Dr.

5:15

Pepper syrup and like how do you

5:17

think it feels? I don't know. the

5:20

I go Dr. Pepper surprises me. I

5:22

didn't realize so. anyway, yeah, we always

5:24

talk about in these food heists. Who's

5:27

buying the mystery meat, right? Who's buying

5:29

this? Ten thousand pounds or twenty tons

5:31

of butter from last episode A Was

5:33

this dude at a gas station. I

5:36

would feel. A. Lot more.

5:39

Okay buying. Dr.

5:41

Pepper Syrup on the black market

5:43

not that I ever then Ground

5:45

beef? Yeah, yeah, you know there's

5:47

a distinction that runs. Yeah,

5:51

Dr. Pepper syrup. Okay, fine.

5:53

Court documents show that Dig

5:56

gas station guy knew the

5:58

product was stolen. I

6:00

mean allege that he knew a

6:02

product was stolen. So tired looking

6:05

at a total over several months

6:07

of and pallets. Of

6:09

soda syrup. okay that would just in

6:11

i forty thousand dollars worth trying to

6:13

decide if they deserve like a cool

6:16

name or not and unannounced stealing and

6:18

going to one location I mean loyalty

6:20

that is loyal Seattle Now they deserve

6:22

a cool name. And would

6:24

you plan on doctor or just pun

6:27

on like you know, Kippur or soda

6:29

right? It's like you're syrup. Like he

6:31

could be like the syrup snipers or

6:34

something like that rights the surreptitious syrup.

6:36

Snipers? It's yeah. Want something other than

6:38

this isn't the and yeah, that's probably

6:40

where you go because you want to

6:42

be able to use them and future

6:44

food heist is perhaps the masterminds of

6:46

yeah, next time. So to serve Get

6:48

Storm we know exactly who was. Yeah,

6:52

So anyway, there you go. I

6:54

love these long term so it's

6:56

not one heist where they go

6:58

in but over time skimming off

7:01

the top, embezzling. Soda.

7:03

Soda syrup? Yeah. and then the high tech

7:05

angle where the guys like. Putting.

7:08

Apple. Trackers or whatever it was into

7:11

the boxes. Love it Love at

7:13

all. So. When.

7:15

We talk about oh, it's the end of the

7:17

earth, the end of the year We know it.

7:19

Is this actually gonna end Like is is gonna

7:21

air. In December or Ziskin

7:24

air like halfway through January we

7:26

can make itself. Oh nice. So.

7:30

So. Where did you do a year and a

7:32

review here? We. Talk about Twenty

7:34

twenty Three. Twenty twenty three are

7:36

year media that we particularly enjoyed.

7:39

And other things you want

7:42

to start with some media

7:44

boy. What's. Your favorite video

7:46

game of the are my favorite video

7:48

game of the year believe it or

7:50

not is both skateboarders death threats and

7:53

we have covered the fact that Dan

7:55

has terrible taste in video games so

7:57

many to somehow you're playing and the

7:59

popular game The Air One of Will

8:01

and specifically I have gone on record

8:04

saying that I don't like the way

8:06

video games tell stories and the games

8:08

that I do end up coming back

8:10

to and playing like League of Legends

8:12

are overwatch. Are. Very specifically

8:15

not story based. Father's.

8:17

Gate is the first game in

8:19

I'm gonna say ten years at

8:21

least and probably more that I

8:23

have. Absolutely latched onto the

8:26

story. I'm in my third play through

8:28

now. It's. has overcome

8:30

whatever. Weird. Hang.

8:33

Ups I have in my brain. And

8:35

I love everything about. I

8:38

didn't play the against with anybody. you

8:40

and I don't think I played with

8:42

a Euro like four hundred thousand words,

8:44

sister might. Yeah. And so normally I

8:47

enjoy myself as a year game now

8:49

and then. Oh, there's no their snipers

8:51

that Lcs snipers. The surreptitious, surreptitious syrup

8:53

snipers. Yes, though they are of course

8:56

taking the school night as a sniper

8:58

of rather than a sniper steals. Yeah,

9:00

you can snipe something that you take

9:02

it serves someone as Syrups wiper swiper.

9:04

That's why. front of swiping? Yeah, that's

9:07

good. Yeah, cause sniping. I was

9:09

just using can the video game term where

9:11

I got your till or something like that

9:13

which does have like the gun gab connotations

9:15

as a pretty gruesome make sure to put

9:18

that one online somewhere where people can see

9:20

this very gruesome syrup sniper. And.

9:22

If you didn't see last week's. The.

9:24

Butter Buccaneers Letter: Buccaneers. We

9:27

could just name this person.

9:30

Surreptitious. Surreptitious. You. Don't you need

9:32

swiper? Have insist. Surreptitious. Like

9:35

Madonna has one named surreptitiously dishes

9:37

to his friends. Answer

9:40

to his enemies. His

9:43

name is Sir. A pisses. Has

9:47

been knighted by the Queen of food Nice. A.

9:52

Set of S So I have no

9:54

favorite video game him know favorite video

9:57

game is right just so. My.

9:59

son Mm-hmm place these for me

10:01

and tells me how great they are. So he

10:03

has played tears the kingdom in Baldur's Gate. I

10:07

Should ask him which one he likes more. I He

10:10

had decision paralysis on Baldur's

10:12

Gate. See he has trouble with you

10:14

and Joel Joel He has trouble told me he loved Baldur's

10:17

Gate He did but when I asked how he's progressing is

10:19

like I hit a point where I know if I make

10:21

one decision I can't have the other one. Oh

10:24

And that's really hard for him. Mm-hmm The

10:27

way his brain works they opportunity cost of

10:29

making a decision is very different totally fair

10:32

Here's the kingdom. He knows he can do all the

10:34

things even if he doesn't have to do them in

10:36

a specific world And I get that

10:39

at the same time. That's one of the things I

10:41

love about the game Like I said, I'm in my

10:43

third playthrough you can play they've all been so different

10:45

Yeah, because you can just go different paths this

10:48

year. Let's see other than

10:50

Baldur's Gate Mm-hmm. I

10:53

haven't played a ton of other

10:55

new ones I just barely bought because they

10:57

were both on sale Marvel Midnight Suns Okay,

10:59

and finally got cyberpunk finally got several You

11:01

have to tell me how that is a

11:03

lot of people say with all the kind

11:05

of updates and things they've

11:07

done that it's pretty Good, it's apparently amazing now

11:09

and it was on a super good sale on

11:11

Steam. So I grabbed it yesterday morning I haven't

11:13

had a chance to even install it yet I

11:16

guess my game of the year is Terraria because

11:18

I play that with my voice Calamity mod.

11:20

I'd never done Calamity mod before so Once

11:23

a week I get an hour or so

11:26

to play with my voice and we do

11:28

that Which is a lot of fun me

11:30

and Joel just kind of actually play the

11:32

game as intended Whereas my middle son mostly

11:34

collects animals and puts them in you

11:36

know terrariums and this plays them then gets bored

11:38

and goes and does something else and The

11:41

youngest son tends to go

11:44

fight bosses over and over again that

11:46

he can defeat easily Then get

11:48

bored and go do something else. But for

11:50

a while we're all together for a little bit. So

11:54

Sometime next summer I

11:56

imagine yeah when you have

11:59

finished writing and writing Revising Stormlight

12:01

5 and you're ready to be done What

12:04

is the first game all these incredible things have

12:06

come out? What's the what's the one you're most

12:08

excited to play? It's probably tears of the kingdom.

12:10

Okay. I like the first one so much and

12:14

The thing about that is like it's

12:16

really easy like Baldur's Gate. How easy

12:18

is it on a steam deck? I

12:21

mean portable is really handy for me for

12:23

gaming because I'm not around my computer So

12:25

it's got a different mindset and things like

12:27

that. I mean, I really want to do

12:29

the New Armored Core That's high up there

12:31

on the list. So Bethesda

12:34

games as I said before I usually wait

12:36

like five years I wait until not just

12:38

it's been modded but until it's been modded

12:40

to the point that it's just all The

12:43

coolest mods everyone knows what they are. Yeah, that's

12:45

what I did with the latest fallout fallout 4

12:48

Okay, it was five years after you go

12:50

through at least two full production cycles What

12:52

is the company gonna do? Yeah, and then

12:54

what is the fan community gonna do? I

12:57

just at that point it is the most

12:59

refined possible version of itself I found that

13:01

that just works so well for those Bethesda

13:04

games because they do use mods so extensively

13:07

The fan community does did you see that

13:09

Hades 2 got announced? Yeah, that was announced

13:11

a year ago at the game Awards Well,

13:13

you see yeah, don't pay attention to these things.

13:15

So looking forward to Hades 2

13:17

quite a bit. Okay, so well hooray

13:20

What about you don't watch TV? I

13:22

don't watch network television. What was

13:24

my favorite show of the year? It was

13:28

Probably Ted Lasso. I got

13:30

into it late and we watched two seasons

13:32

this year and it would be my number one

13:34

I'm pretty sure you haven't watched three yet. I

13:36

haven't watched season three yet. I've watched most of

13:38

three Yeah, last time we talked about it months

13:40

and months ago. I still haven't watched it since then. Okay

13:42

well that jives with some other people that

13:44

I know who have said Three

13:47

may not be on the level that I'm hoping it to be My

13:50

TV show of the year was actually

13:52

supernatural Okay,

13:55

it's like 20 year old show that

13:57

I finally got around to watching at

13:59

least. I had a new season

14:01

this year height Weight Supernatural had new

14:03

season last year yet ended last yeah

14:06

to so that I have never watched

14:08

any of it And then on the

14:10

recommendation of Steve Diamond I decided I'm

14:12

finally going to give this a watched.

14:14

I watched the first five seasons which

14:17

by all accounts are the best ones

14:19

anyway. Ah and loved it. Absolutely not

14:21

just enjoyable but brilliant. the writing, the

14:23

audacity of what they were able to

14:26

do and get away with such a

14:28

good show. Now so you know. That's

14:30

not news to anyone other than me.

14:33

But supernatural. There

14:35

are episodes of Will of Times he's into

14:37

that I think are great. Will. Talk

14:39

about it eventually. Yeah, eventually. When there are

14:42

episodes that that I only watched it all.

14:44

The. Yeah. Okay, south. I

14:46

haven't been outlets. Yup, Yup. Promo for

14:49

Christmas Will? Yep. I finally turned it

14:51

on and watched it while sorting magic

14:53

cards and things for my nightly whatever.

14:55

I didn't watch it with my wife's

14:58

in the theater, which I probably should

15:00

so have wife shows and solo shows.

15:02

Yes, And solo shows.

15:04

I usually it's like they're different thing

15:07

for me. like I don't go into

15:09

the nice theater and watch them with

15:11

the wife shows. We go and be

15:13

deaf, full attention and everything like that.

15:16

so we'll time his wife show for

15:18

me. Which means that yeah, because dons

15:20

been in school all yeah, year or

15:22

whatever all semester we haven't had time

15:25

to watch more than two. Absence of

15:27

it says yep, Gotta. Catch

15:29

up! Though well, we want

15:31

spoilers. Everyone knows. That.

15:33

I have a problem with episode it

15:35

but regardless let's see Films is yours

15:37

Are It's absolutely are Mine Are Are

15:40

Are is like a top five all

15:42

time movie for me. Minds across The

15:44

Spider Verse. Are we the number

15:46

two? We should do a whole episode where

15:48

we talk about that. Yes, we did that

15:50

last week and yeah, but we might be

15:52

airing this one out of order. Maybe we

15:55

will be, but maybe we will be. Sounds

15:57

like a. know who

15:59

knows it to the whims

16:01

of the production team. You're

16:03

now renamed Fate. The

16:06

Fate team. The publicity and team

16:08

that makes Fate. Which means that you have to start knitting.

16:12

So yeah, I would drink RRR's

16:14

number two. Close number two. Barbie

16:16

is up there. Barbie was an excellent film. It's probably

16:18

my number three. I haven't seen that yet, though I

16:20

hear it's great. Yeah. So there's my

16:22

top three other films that I liked. What

16:25

else? See, this year D&D came out. D&D

16:27

was good. Which I thought was really good.

16:29

Mission Impossible came out which was mostly

16:32

just disappointing. I mean, it's still... It

16:34

was good. Yeah. But I remember it

16:36

as disappointing rather than remembering it as

16:38

good. I would rank D&D above it,

16:40

but not above my top three. So

16:44

maybe D&D's number four. No, I

16:47

did not see any of the Marvel films that

16:49

came out this year. At some point over the

16:51

summer when I was ill, I think

16:54

this was actually depression rather than some

16:57

kind of like stomach bug. Yep. I

16:59

watched Black Panther 2

17:02

and I watched Ant-Man 3

17:05

and I watched whatever the other

17:07

one was. Guardians of the Galaxy. No, I haven't

17:09

watched that one. I watched Thor. Thor. Thor 4.

17:12

Love and Thunder. I watched all three of them

17:14

in one day. We did

17:17

an episode on Thor, right? No, not about

17:19

Love and Thunder. Didn't we? I

17:22

don't know if we could get a whole episode on

17:24

that. We could do a mini episode on that. I

17:26

mean, our thoughts are gonna be the same as everyone's.

17:28

Yeah. Of those three, Quantum Mania was the best and

17:30

Quantum Mania was still terrible. I

17:33

did not like any of them. Emily watched Black

17:35

Panther without me and once my wife's

17:37

watched a movie, my chances of getting to it go

17:40

way down. Which is, I haven't seen Oppenheimer

17:42

yet. It might take one of these top

17:44

slots, but waiting to see that with my

17:46

wife when we have the time and the

17:48

desire to watch it in our theater. But

17:51

of the Thor, Love and Thunder, it's

17:54

like two okay movies

17:58

smashed together that makes them both work. Yeah,

18:01

right like Christian Bale's performance is excellent.

18:03

Yes, it's Christian Bale and he leans

18:06

into that character and is

18:08

genuinely Terrifying like he's a good MCU

18:10

villain, which is something we've been wanting

18:12

for years Unfortunately, he

18:14

got stuck into Taika

18:17

Waki T buddy comedy farce

18:21

That also is for some reason

18:23

dealing with death by cancer and

18:26

it just completely didn't work Yeah, I did

18:28

hear one thing that made me like it

18:30

better Okay, someone I was

18:32

talking to one of our friends who

18:35

shall remain unattributed but smart friend said

18:37

they like it a lot more Just

18:39

imagining this is Korg's retelling because

18:42

it starts off from his viewpoint and

18:44

he's the narrator and Korg just Tells

18:47

things in a funny way and it was actually

18:49

much more dramatic and a lot of the goofy

18:51

stuff didn't actually happen Korg Look that in because

18:54

it's quite good version of events if we

18:56

look at this as the melodrama Korg

18:59

storyteller version. Yes, that does make it

19:01

better makes it a little better doesn't

19:03

it? Yeah, but still misfire of a

19:05

movie and it was the last MCU

19:07

film I think I saw because that

19:10

came out after that was multiverse of

19:12

madness Yeah, yeah came out

19:14

so that's the last MCU film that I

19:16

like that kind of killed it for me

19:18

because multiverse of madness I was looking forward

19:20

to so much and I

19:23

love Sam Raimi and I really really liked

19:25

WandaVision and they just left such a sour

19:27

taste in my mouth Yeah, despite being a

19:30

decent film and then Thor love and

19:32

thunder which again take a watch ET I had

19:34

high expectations. Yeah, just fell on its

19:37

face. I'm like those two are such a one-two

19:39

punch of watching

19:41

creators you love Get

19:44

their uniqueness and individuality steamrolled by

19:46

the juggernaut of the MCU. Here's

19:48

the thing I think their uniqueness

19:50

and individuality is there Absolutely

19:53

there, but not so but

19:55

not enough to make it a great movie.

19:57

I don't think Thor love and thunder would

19:59

have been better if Taika Waititi had just

20:01

done more humor and more Taika

20:04

Waititi goofiness, right?

20:07

Like, I think the problem

20:09

is the same problem

20:11

we have with Star Wars in that JJ

20:14

is a really good filmmaker. Ryan

20:16

Johnson, pretty talented. He can

20:18

do good stuff, you know, without

20:20

some overseeing hand saying, I'm saying

20:23

there wasn't enough of that. There

20:25

wasn't enough of someone sitting down

20:27

saying, all right, what's your vision

20:29

for this? How can we

20:31

make your vision work with a

20:34

strong narrative of the things we need?

20:36

We need people to connect to Thor,

20:38

not think of Thor as

20:40

just a dumb himbo that...

20:43

This is pure conjecture and theory

20:45

crafting. But how much do you

20:47

think what's wrong with current Marvel

20:50

is that they're no longer

20:52

making movies, they're making chapters

20:54

of a saga? They

20:56

did that before. I think it's that there's

20:59

too much so that the quality control at

21:01

the top that used to be there, and

21:03

there were weak MCU films before, but because

21:06

there was a quality control on the

21:08

whole thing, the sum was stronger than

21:11

its parts. Yeah, whatever you say. Some

21:15

of the total is larger than the

21:17

individual parts added together somehow. And

21:20

in that, you still had some

21:22

really excellent films like Winter Soldier

21:25

and Thor Ragnarok. And

21:28

somehow the magic worked and the

21:30

people at the top were able

21:32

to walk this line because those

21:34

two films feel completely different from one

21:36

another and are excellent films.

21:39

And then it just got away from them. I

21:43

think the kick to my stomach

21:45

was finding out that Sam Raimi

21:47

did not know the plot of

21:49

WandaVision, did not know the arc and story

21:52

and had to film and make a movie.

21:55

And of course Sam Raimi's going to ham it

21:57

up with the villain. That's what Sam Raimi does.

22:00

And if you give him the right

22:02

material that hamming up is absolutely a

22:05

strength William Defoe in the spider-man Originals

22:08

right is a perfect example of that

22:10

and so Like

22:12

I have to blame the people at the top I just there's

22:15

too much going on they cannot control

22:17

it anymore and because of that it

22:19

just has become Unless and it's coming

22:21

out so quickly that there isn't time

22:24

to for example Make

22:26

sure that one division leads into yeah multiverse

22:28

of madness Speaking of did you get a

22:30

chance to watch any of the Disney plus

22:32

shows like Loki season 2 any of that?

22:34

I haven't had a chance. I hadn't had

22:36

interest Honestly to watch them

22:38

now Loki season 2 is the

22:40

one I'm most likely to watch Because it's

22:42

hard for me to take anything seriously in

22:44

the MCU because of Loki season 1 Yeah,

22:47

and because of time travel, right? But I

22:49

can take those seriously because they're dealing with

22:51

the multiverse in ways that That can

22:53

actually have some control over it even

22:56

something like quantum media just can't like

22:58

alright this ant-man dies There's

23:00

another one. He's identical. He didn't

23:02

die, right? But the

23:05

way that Loki set up you can get around

23:07

some of that and so Loki is the only

23:10

MCU thing that matters captain

23:12

Marvel. I saw the trailer. I'm like I Don't

23:15

care. The world can blow up Right

23:17

and it doesn't matter anymore. The entire

23:20

universe can evaporate in multiverse of madness.

23:22

He says entire universes

23:25

Evaporated and like well if entire universes

23:27

can evaporate. Yeah, but there's another one

23:30

identical to it. Just this is the

23:32

multiverse problem I don't care. I don't

23:34

care about the world ending stakes I

23:36

have not yet seen Loki season 2 mm-hmm, but

23:39

Robert Jackson Bennett another fantastic author

23:42

He told me that a lot of it is

23:44

just people staring at lines on screens and then

23:47

somberly whispering that was

23:49

an entire universe that just disappeared like

23:53

Yeah, whatever man. Okay.

23:55

What else? Oh any books this year? So I

23:57

read some books. I'm in the middle of foundation

24:00

because I have to write a forward

24:02

to foundation. Yeah. I don't have to.

24:04

I was invited to write a forward

24:07

foundation. I read Rachel Lynn's book. I

24:10

haven't read hers yet. Yup. The Dollmakers that's

24:12

I think coming out in a year. It's

24:14

really good. Um, a year or two. Yeah.

24:18

It's like way out there. August next year.

24:20

August of 24. Nice. So

24:23

I reread going postal, which is probably

24:25

my book of the year. I read

24:27

that last year. Finally got

24:29

around to it. It was excellent. I

24:32

read The Light Fantastic, which I'd never read,

24:34

which is this world number two. Okay.

24:37

You have not yet read Fonda Lee,

24:39

right? No, but that has moved up on my list.

24:41

That Greenbone saga was 100% my book discovery of

24:43

23. Okay.

24:47

Loved it. I think I might've read the first

24:49

one last year. I actually

24:51

had trouble remembering what it

24:53

was, but then I found it. And, but then

24:55

I had to read Rachel Lynn's book for a

24:57

cover blurb in case I was willing to give

24:59

one to her and that was on a deadline.

25:01

And now foundations is how a

25:03

lot of my reading goes foundations on the deadline.

25:05

And so that is what I'm reading. Frankly,

25:08

most of the books I've read this year

25:10

are yours because I need to catch up

25:12

on the Cosmere and things like that. So

25:16

favorite thing, not a media property

25:18

of the year. Favorite thing

25:20

that was not a media property. I'll go first

25:23

because I know what mine is. Okay. Mine was

25:25

went to Hawaii and had

25:27

a nice like writing session and Scar

25:29

was there for the first time and

25:31

like set up like a tent for

25:33

me. Is Scar here? T.F.A.G. Yeah. Scar

25:36

set up like a windbreak shade for

25:38

me. The mobile Sanderson tent. Mobile

25:40

Brandon beach base, the MB3

25:43

and there was a hammock and

25:45

I got to sit in a hammock overlooking the

25:48

ocean in perfect weather. And I did that 10

25:50

days in a row and wrote a bunch of

25:52

Stormlight 5 and it was. Awesome. And Emily was

25:54

there so we like went out to dinner at

25:56

night. Her and I and she and

25:58

I. Yeah. So it was. Wonderful. I really enjoyed

26:00

it. Cool. This is not the year that I

26:02

don't think it was. Is this year that I

26:05

went to Hawaii and got COVID or was that

26:07

last year? I can't

26:09

even remember. I don't. These all, I

26:11

don't know it was last year because

26:13

it was right before I started working

26:16

here. Okay. Here's my favorite thing of

26:18

the year. Okay. Duloxetine. Oh,

26:20

that's my depression med that works.

26:22

We've talked about this on the

26:24

show before. I basically have at

26:26

this point a year old, a

26:28

little more than a year diagnosis

26:30

of depression and panic and

26:33

have been working to get it under

26:35

control. And a couple

26:37

of months ago, they switched me

26:39

from fluoxetine, which is an SSRI

26:41

to Duloxetine, which is an SNRI

26:45

and almost overnight I

26:47

became a happier, better,

26:50

more cheerful, more active version

26:52

of myself. Let

26:54

me say. Wonderful. All

26:57

you chemists out there that are finding this

26:59

stuff, good on you. Good

27:01

job. You're making the world a better place. You

27:03

know? Yeah.

27:07

We write goofy stories about wizards and

27:09

or serial killers in your case. Occasion

27:12

robots. Occasion robots. There's people

27:14

who are making it so we can do so. And

27:17

in my case, it's not a depression, but my

27:19

insomnia medicine works really well. It's helped me a

27:21

lot. Last night would have been

27:23

an insomnia night. It hits me once

27:25

every couple of weeks where in the

27:27

past I would have laid

27:29

there and then been up until noon, sometimes

27:32

up until like three in the

27:34

afternoon, right? Until I can finally sleep.

27:37

And last night, I could feel that it was

27:39

going to be one of those days and then

27:41

it's still, you know, it's hard to get a

27:43

good insomnia medicine because if it's too strong, you're

27:46

just groggy all the time, which is not

27:49

good, right? Like you don't actually want a

27:51

powerful insomnia medicine. You want one that's

27:54

just enough to tip you over the

27:56

edge without leaving you groggy the next

27:58

day. And that is a really. tricky

28:00

fine line to walk and so yeah

28:03

I take Trasadone yeah it's kind

28:05

of my sleeping pill and

28:07

it is so hard to wake up in

28:10

the morning yeah I'm so just groggy and

28:12

awful same with my son if you take

28:14

the same one yeah I think

28:16

I could knock the dose back and

28:19

and maybe that'll work but so

28:21

before we go I do want to mention

28:23

some YouTube videos we are on YouTube as

28:25

well as other things many other outlets but

28:28

the majority of our viewership and our listenership

28:30

is on YouTube so I

28:32

want to highlight again Patrick H Willems

28:35

he has an amazing episode

28:37

called the content episode which

28:40

is talking about calling

28:42

things content and why he

28:44

thinks that the term is

28:47

kind of insulting and destructive

28:50

to the creation of artistic works and

28:52

I think it should be and nothing's

28:54

required viewing but it's close to required

28:57

viewing as I can say

28:59

for any who wants to be a creator

29:01

in the modern day I have that bookmarked

29:03

because you told me to watch it and

29:05

I haven't watched it yet but will his

29:07

whole season is a

29:09

banger his RRR episode and

29:12

on he did an episode on RRR

29:14

and he went to India

29:16

with his co-writer who's of Indian descent

29:18

together and a lot of the episodes

29:20

are co-written by him and they went

29:22

together and talked about Indian

29:24

cinema and had an episode he had

29:26

an episode that's like a who killed

29:28

movies a murder mystery where

29:31

it's like investigating why films aren't doing

29:33

as well he did a whole bunch

29:35

of really awesome stuff and I should

29:37

say their team it's a whole team

29:39

over there but speaking

29:41

of creating things on the internet I

29:43

also recommend that people watch H bomber

29:45

guys new video on plagiarism and

29:48

how kind of the internet is still

29:50

the wild west as plagiarism goes and

29:52

how this is a bad thing for

29:55

everyone yeah and he

29:58

says it's like one of his worst videos Essays

30:00

ever it's really insightful and kind of shows

30:02

so I've never watched an H bomber guy

30:04

video because I'm a grumpy old man Yes,

30:06

tell me what the style is like. Is

30:09

this the kind of thing where every five

30:11

seconds? There's gonna be a Scene

30:13

break or somebody screaming? He

30:16

does a bit of that It's

30:19

video essay form. He's very frenetic

30:21

though and excited by things, but

30:24

they're like three hours long Yeah, and

30:26

he's a good filmmaker. So they're not

30:29

Overly much but basically takes three

30:31

case studies on YouTube right now

30:34

of people whose content Really

30:36

under old rules would be utter plagiarism

30:38

But on the internet is kind of

30:40

on this gray line where when they

30:42

get called out on it They change

30:44

a few things and then re-upload it

30:46

and stuff like this and it's it's

30:49

some good creators, right? Whose material is

30:51

otherwise high effort, right? Yeah, and some

30:53

that are low effort and he talks

30:55

about how some of these are destructive

30:57

to the communities that they're trying to

30:59

advocate For how sometimes it's just lazy

31:01

house Anyway, it's a it's

31:03

a really interesting but it's like three hours

31:05

long take on plagiarism as it relates

31:07

to YouTube These sorts of things are really

31:09

interesting to me because of the intersection of

31:11

new media and old Yeah Where

31:13

a lot of the plagiarism is someone finds a

31:15

cool news article online and they just kind of

31:18

uses that as the text to make Something

31:20

others are more nefarious about it But

31:22

regardless when that H bomber guy plagiarism

31:24

video came out one of the discords

31:27

I'm in just exploded because everyone was

31:29

so excited and I having

31:31

never watched it I said what's the big deal

31:33

and a friend of mine said just

31:35

imagine that in my corner of the

31:38

internet is having a holy week And

31:41

I'm like, oh, okay. That makes perfect sense. He

31:43

is kind of look at Various

31:46

media properties tend to be pretty Interesting

31:48

as well like he has some on

31:50

like the fallout franchise and some on

31:52

you know Like he

31:54

doesn't like Sherlock the television show.

31:57

I saw that. Yeah. Yeah, and

31:59

he has Insightful reasons why don't

32:02

know that I agree with him, but the

32:04

YouTube channels that I tend to watch are

32:07

like 15 minute videos I

32:09

have time for a three-hour video. Yeah, I eat

32:11

my dinner after I finish writing have about an

32:13

hour So I guess we're

32:15

going just a little long another thing that

32:17

is one of my favorite things of the

32:19

year Okay, Louie Scott Vargas. I Know

32:23

that name. What do I know? He is a magic pro one of

32:25

the best He

32:27

finally started a YouTube channel and

32:29

he drafts powered cube Every

32:31

day and just every day. There's a new Draft

32:35

of him drafting powered cube with his

32:37

friends and they do an online so

32:39

online there's like a draft simulator and

32:41

then they import the cards into magic

32:43

online so they can play and Like

32:46

that's brightened my year just knowing each night. There's

32:48

nothing else to watch There's gonna

32:50

be watch a magic. I'm gonna

32:52

watch somebody goofy things with powered

32:55

cube 2023 is absolutely the year

32:57

of my full return to magic

32:59

and You know, my

33:01

kids have been slowly getting me back into

33:03

it working here You kind of slowly started

33:05

getting me back into it. It was Lord

33:07

of the Rings more than anything that was

33:09

like, okay I'll reinvest in this

33:11

and I Don't read

33:13

the articles all the time like I used

33:15

to but I do own Significantly

33:18

more magic cards than I did a year

33:21

ago What

33:23

did you like about this year Ben, I

33:25

mean it was the year of Sanderson we should maybe

33:28

mention that oh, yeah Yeah,

33:30

I also a bunch of Sanderson

33:32

stuff happened