0:04

This is Space Cats Peace Turtles,

0:06

the unofficial podcast for Fantasy Flight's

0:09

Twilight Imperium. Episode 335, a guide

0:11

to the prelims. Music

0:17

by Ben Prunty, featuring Matt

0:19

Martin and Hunter Donaldson. Music

0:30

by Ben Prunty, featuring Matt Martin and Hunter Donaldson. It's

0:44

a goofy time, Hunter. The next

0:46

time we record together, it's in person again.

0:48

I just realized that. That just dawned on

0:50

me. Isn't that crazy? We got a

0:52

weird month ahead of us. Folks

0:54

listening to the show, and people

0:57

paying attention to the prelims. It's just going to

0:59

be weird. For the next month, that's what I

1:01

promise you. Things will just kind of be who

1:03

knows all over the place. I was making the prelims

1:05

schedule for the upcoming weeks, and you

1:08

and I are only streaming one of those games because

1:11

we're busy. You're driving across

1:13

the country in two days.

1:17

Yeah, and you're selling your house. I'm packing

1:19

up and moving. Hey, what's the buy my

1:21

house? Excuse me. Can

1:24

you buy Matt's house? Actually,

1:26

excuse me. Will you buy Matt's house?

1:28

We need someone to buy Matt's house.

1:31

This is a new wave of house marketing. You just

1:33

hop on podcast and you

1:35

just try to sell your house. It's

1:37

easy. Super easy. And

1:40

can you pay a lot for it? Pay

1:42

more. Then don't negotiate. Don't do that. That's

1:44

lame. What a buzzkill. Pay what Matt's asking.

1:46

And actually Matt, ask for more. Yeah, I'll

1:49

ask for more. And then it's like, oh,

1:51

you got a bid, right? So $10,000 more

1:53

than whatever I say. Just do that. Yeah.

2:00

Your negotiating tactics should be to

2:02

go up not down. Okay? Come

2:04

on. Just

2:06

buy Matt's house. With all that

2:09

to be said, keep an eye

2:11

on the Discord for announcements of prelims

2:13

game streams because they are all over.

2:15

It's not just like every

2:17

weekend on Space Cats for a

2:19

little bit here while Hunter and

2:21

I move our offices constantly essentially.

2:23

We're not in one place so

2:25

that is the main reason for

2:27

that. But I do have

2:29

some tournament updates for you, my dearest Hunter. Yeah,

2:32

give me some tournament updates. I want to

2:34

be updated on the tournament that I was

2:36

hoping to see like a third of the games

2:39

and then now I think I'm going to see less than

2:41

that. I'm absolutely going to see less than that. Hopefully

2:43

we'll see like a quarter of them, right? I think

2:45

we can see a quarter at this point. I think

2:47

we will. But we have some

2:49

qualifier winners. We had a

2:51

huge list last week because we were catching up.

2:53

But we've got a shorter list this week but

2:55

congratulations to Alesis. This

2:58

name I don't recognize, The Humble Checkmates.

3:00

What's that all about? Who's that? Congratulations,

3:03

The Humble Checkmates. Interesting newcomer. Interesting

3:06

newcomer. Congratulations

3:08

also to Anvilier and

3:10

to Beck. So thank you to

3:12

you four for making a- Hey Beck. You did

3:14

it? Yeah Beck is playing.

3:16

Mellow Gold is here everyone and

3:19

succeeding in our tournament. 30th anniversary

3:21

of Mellow Gold this year. I'm

3:24

a loser baby. No.

3:27

No, Beck is a winner this time. This

3:29

time folks, it's a winner. Also, we have

3:31

two more prelims winners for you. Big

3:34

Al Cuppuccino won his prelims game

3:37

to apparently much controversy. The Discord

3:39

could not stop talking about it.

3:42

We told you. We told you on this

3:44

show that Big Al lied. We talked about

3:46

it immediately after his qualifier win. I

3:50

can't believe that this happened because I

3:52

was like- I mean I literally on

3:54

this show was like Big Al shouldn't

3:56

have played- Like because Big Al won

3:58

in the qualifiers by lying. I'm

4:00

lying, I'm telling lies,

4:02

and then I even

4:05

took time on the show to be like, Big Al tells

4:08

lies, okay?

4:11

He's someone who tells lies. I'm not gonna

4:14

call him what that would make him, but

4:16

I'm just gonna say that's something that Big

4:18

Al does. And then it

4:20

sounds like Big Al then got

4:22

to tell more lies. So

4:25

what is going on here everybody? It's hilarious.

4:27

I love it. I really hope

4:29

he does it again in the semis. I just

4:31

hope it works again somehow in the semis. Now

4:34

Big Al is, I now, I

4:37

wasn't gonna take the prelims very seriously for

4:39

my own personal journey. I

4:42

need to get through, and I want to be

4:44

in Big Al's game so

4:46

that I could just tell everyone

4:48

to stop talking to Big Al.

4:50

Right. That's

4:52

the problem. Why are you talking to

4:55

Big Al? Absolutely. Big Al is someone

4:57

who tells lies. Big Al tells lies.

4:59

Change your nickname right now, Big Al.

5:02

Change it to Big Al tells lies. Also

5:05

congratulations to Tang, a weird bear,

5:07

and I played with Tang in person

5:09

and I have been schooled by Tang

5:11

before, so I'm very excited and

5:13

not surprised at all to see Tang make it

5:15

to the semifinals. So congratulations there. I'm not surprised

5:18

either. I've been schooled by Tang. Yeah. I've definitely

5:20

been schooled by Tang. I used to drink Tang

5:22

every time I went to school. You know what

5:24

I mean? Yeah, I've been schooled by Tang. Hey,

5:26

here's a fun thing. We

5:30

have a little announcement for everyone too. The

5:33

Australian organizers have been putting some

5:36

things together and reaching out to us. We

5:38

have a little call out here. This is very long everyone, but

5:41

I'm going to read it out because I was asked to. And

5:44

I'm sorry. They said they want me

5:46

to do it in an accent. The

5:48

New Zealanders and the Australians asked me to

5:50

do this. This is not

5:53

a horrible characterization. This is

5:55

my Muppet Australian. They asked for this. They

5:57

asked for this. Yeah. Okay.

6:00

Okay, I have to get into it. I need

6:02

my Australian phrase, what do I say? I don't know, I

6:04

don't know how you do this. It's not something you

6:07

do all the time. It's not something I do all

6:09

the time. I can do my Rocco's modern life. Hi

6:11

Spunky. That's my Rocco, it's

6:13

really good, thanks. Anyways, greetings

6:16

dear listeners. We're thrilled to bring you news of

6:18

an extraordinary event set to unfold down under in

6:21

2024. Skilled retreat.

6:23

This three day space opera promises

6:25

an unforgettable twilight and period weekend

6:27

at the breathtaking Aluka Retreat. This

6:29

will just outside Melbourne, Australia on

6:31

the picturesque Mornington Peninsula. Mark

6:34

your calendars for the commencement on Friday, June 21st,

6:36

2024 and the grand finale. Wait,

6:39

grand, what would it have, green?

6:41

You got it. Greened finialy. I

6:45

think you got it. Finialy. I'm done.

6:47

Finialy. On Sunday, June 23rd, 2024, your

6:49

ticket to this

6:52

cosmic adventure includes entry into the prestigious

6:54

2024 Melbourne Twilight Imperium Tournament. Now,

6:56

it's third year. I know, I had to stop, it

6:58

was hurting. Accommodation at

7:00

the magnificent sanctuary surrounded by

7:03

native Australian wildlife. Food

7:05

and meals for the full three days ensuring you're

7:07

fueled to the gaming marathon. This is like not

7:09

just a convention, this is like a retreat. This

7:11

is like a workplace retreat. This is

7:13

the vibe I get from this event. Where

7:15

you're gonna play TI. You're gonna play TI.

7:17

Yeah, yeah, because TI, not stressful at all

7:19

and very chill and like a good way

7:21

to like unwind. As

7:23

you arrive on day one, settle into your quarters

7:26

and then dive into an evening of games. Whether

7:28

it's a quick 10 point game, big group social

7:30

deduction games or your personal favorites, expect an epic

7:32

start to the retreat. Day two ramps up with

7:34

the excitement with qualifiers where you'll battle in a

7:36

colossal 14 point game to

7:39

secure your spot in the final. So the first

7:41

round of this tournament is a 14 point thing,

7:43

that's absurd. Enjoy free time

7:45

in the evening. No, you won't. You will not enjoy your free

7:47

time in the evening. You just played a 14 point. What does

7:49

free time in the evening? What does that even mean? Maybe

7:53

they take breaks? I don't know. To

7:55

play more games or unwind with your new found

7:57

BFF. Day three brings the grand

7:59

finale. A 10 point. Showdown and casual TI

8:01

games for the losers, culminating at 8 p.m.

8:04

This is the world's only Twilight

8:07

Imperium in-person convention. Now I take

8:09

issue with this because Hunter and

8:11

I hosted our own Twilight Imperium

8:13

convention last year. So I don't

8:16

know, now I feel attacked by this

8:18

ad. Yeah, attacked by an ad

8:20

that you just decided to read out

8:23

of the goodness of your heart for these

8:25

people. And then they're like, the only, what

8:27

are you talking about? SCPT

8:29

Con would be already announced

8:31

and happening again this year,

8:33

if not for me and

8:35

Matt having to uproot our

8:37

lives. We are uprooting.

8:40

Give us a second. Gee.

8:43

Give us time to cook. Praise

8:45

yourself for an Aussie-style knife

8:47

fight. That's not a knife.

8:49

This is a knife complete

8:51

against three own players. Renowned

8:54

players like Big Al, two-time champion Jess

8:56

Ruby, and international guest Brass Bird. Brass

8:59

Bird is flying to Australia for this. That's cool, actually,

9:01

everyone should go to. Prizes

9:03

await the victors, including a foiled skilled retreat

9:05

card to bling up your deck and other

9:07

fantastic rewards. Ready to secure your spot? Register

9:10

by clicking the link in the show notes

9:12

of this episode, yes, I will put them

9:14

in here. Or search for skilled retreat on

9:16

Facebook for ticket links and FAQ. Stay in

9:18

the loop by joining the Australia and New

9:21

Zealand Discord for the latest info. Exclusive items

9:23

in Seek Peace have burning questions. Reach out

9:25

to MurderousTroll or Cool Guy on the ANZ

9:27

Discord, or track down Big Al wherever you

9:29

can find him. Act fast. Only 48

9:32

spots as of January 23rd, 2024 are

9:36

available for this stellar gathering of space

9:39

nerds. Don't miss out on the biggest

9:41

event since the fall of the LazX

9:43

empire. So peck your bags, don your

9:45

SCP-T shit, and join us for a

9:47

weekend of epic gaming, incredible company, and

9:50

memories that will last a lifetime at

9:52

skilled retreat. Yeah,

9:54

great job, Matt. Great reading. Also,

9:57

just as somebody that has experienced

9:59

it. that can't recommend

10:01

enough hanging out with Brass Bird.

10:04

Can't recommend enough. You know what I

10:06

recommend? Drive Brass Bird's car. That's what

10:08

I recommend. Drive

10:10

it around. Have

10:13

I told that story on the show where we

10:15

were playing Spirit Island and then Brass Bird stepped

10:17

out for a second and then some other people

10:19

showed up and we started playing Spirit Island with

10:21

them, but then we were at Max Player Count

10:23

and it was like, oh no Brass is gonna

10:25

get back and it's gonna be like, we're off

10:28

and we're gonna play another game with Brass and

10:30

EJ was just like, he's gonna be cool about

10:32

it. And it was like, what? EJ

10:34

was like, he's definitely gonna be totally A-OK

10:36

with that and he walked back in and

10:38

we were like, sorry Brass Bird, we started

10:40

playing with these people now and he was just like,

10:42

yeah, that's cool. Yeah, there's no

10:45

telling what he did outside that made him feel

10:47

so chill with what was going on inside. Just

10:49

like no telling. I have no telling. We

10:51

were in Portland, Oregon at the time,

10:54

which has, you can look up

10:56

their laws about various recreations that are

10:58

available. All

11:02

right, what is our show today?

11:04

Well today we are doing our

11:06

Galactic Council episode, which we asked

11:08

for y'all to pick top 10 video

11:10

games to play when you can't play

11:13

Twilight and Period. Y'all refused. We begged

11:15

you. And instead we are doing

11:17

a guide to the prelim.

11:21

So it's serious, now we have to do serious

11:23

work. We were gonna have fun with video games

11:25

and now it's real advice for real people, I

11:28

suppose. But this is, I think,

11:30

an interesting timing thing because since

11:34

October, we've been so much wrapped up

11:36

in qualifier land and thinking about how

11:38

the qualifiers are this new thing that

11:40

I do think there's some mental adjustment

11:42

required to remembering the vibe of the

11:44

prelims. And I think even a lot

11:47

of people have been playing maybe

11:49

upwards of six prelims

11:51

games and have grown

11:53

accustomed to some of the, I don't know,

11:55

the ways you play in the qualifiers. And

11:58

I do think the prelims in all. onward

12:00

are different than that. Six

12:02

freedoms games? Six qualifiers.

12:04

I probably missed one. Oh. It's

12:07

playing upwards of six qualifiers. I see. Sorry. It's

12:10

hard to, it's, you know, when I'm doing a podcast

12:12

with you sometimes it's hard to understand what you're talking

12:14

about. Because I say the wrong thing. But just because

12:16

you're the listener. Because you're the listener gets it. But

12:19

the problem is that I, your podcast

12:21

co-host sometimes I fail to understand. I

12:23

love. I'm not the only one

12:26

though. My favorite kind of errata we get is when

12:28

someone's like, you said this. And I'm like, there's no

12:30

way we said that. And then you listen back and it's like,

12:32

oh, those are just the wrong words I used. Yeah, I did

12:34

say that. And I didn't even

12:36

mean it at all. But yeah, sure. Yeah,

12:39

I said the wrong thing. You tend to ghost

12:41

ride the whip a little bit in that brain of

12:43

yours. You know what I mean? You kind of hang

12:45

out the, you know what I mean? Like you're talking,

12:48

but I don't, you're doing something else. Yeah.

12:51

You know what I mean? Like you're kind

12:53

of, there's a spreadsheet in your face. And

12:55

you are saying stuff, but

12:58

the focus is on the spreadsheet. Yeah.

13:01

I've usually alt tabbed out to something else and

13:03

I'm trying to research something as I say it

13:05

out loud. It's kind of the thing.

13:08

That's an interesting way to do it. Well,

13:10

you are correct, Matt. We

13:12

are in the prelims now. And if you are

13:14

a prelims player or you're just interested in learning

13:17

about how to be a prelims player

13:19

someday, if you happen to be lucky

13:21

enough to do that, the most

13:23

important thing to know is that

13:25

the difference between the qualifiers and the prelims

13:27

is that once you're in the prelims, it's single elimination time. If

13:30

you lose, you're out. And if

13:33

you win, you're king, queen, whatever,

13:35

forever. My subtitle for this would

13:37

be how to care too much

13:39

about your game of Twilight Imperium.

13:41

That's the, this could

13:43

be an episode for only 216 people or the general advice is how to

13:48

care way too much about just one game of

13:50

Twilight Imperium. How can you invest too much energy

13:52

into one thing? See, I'm

13:54

actually going to spend a lot of

13:56

time trying to dissuade you from caring

13:59

too much. That's what I would like

14:01

to do today. Let's talk

14:03

about anything like pre-game. Let's

14:05

talk about what you should be doing. Let's

14:07

say you're in the prelims. If you haven't

14:10

scheduled your game yet, because you don't

14:12

have time because you have to drive

14:14

to Arkansas and then later find an

14:16

apartment in Minneapolis and then move there.

14:19

Let's say you have to do that. Okay? How are

14:21

you going to get your prelims game in? When

14:23

are you going to play a prelims game?

14:25

I'm gonna. It'll happen. Don't worry

14:27

about it. I'll probably wait for a game to

14:30

be almost full and then I'll slip in because

14:32

I don't like playing with people that are excited

14:34

about playing with me. That's maybe

14:36

a little too honest. But

14:40

yeah, that is kind of true. Here's

14:42

the thing. So if we're

14:44

talking practice time, if we want to

14:46

get into the practice zone, I

14:49

want to just put out there that

14:51

you should practice for your prelims game

14:53

as much as you have time to

14:56

do. So don't push it.

14:58

Don't be ridiculous. I see people every

15:00

year they like to claim, oh, I

15:02

played this many practice games. I played

15:04

this many games in general. Don't

15:06

worry about it. Play when you got

15:08

time to play. But if you don't

15:11

have time to practice, to play a practice game

15:13

for your prelims, no sweat. A lot of

15:15

people don't and I think they're smart to not practice.

15:18

Big Al just won and Big Al woke

15:20

up at 2 a.m. his time, saw that

15:23

the game was still looking for one player

15:25

and he joined that game and then he

15:27

won it. I

15:29

don't know what to tell you. And

15:32

I mean like even if you are, so let's

15:34

say you are playing a practice game, I

15:36

would say don't focus on winning that

15:39

much in a practice game for the

15:41

prelims. I feel like if you are

15:43

trying to take the prelims really seriously,

15:45

I think of it more

15:47

like you're cramming for a test, not

15:49

so much you are doing

15:52

like, you're not sparring. It's

15:55

about how much Twilight Imperium can

15:57

I kind of have around my

15:59

knowledge. Noggin in

16:01

preparation for the

16:04

submerging of my noggin in Twilight

16:06

Imperium. Because consider what kind of

16:08

a game Twilight Imperium is. The

16:10

thing we hear from all of

16:12

the tournament winners and

16:14

even tournament finalists of previous years when we

16:16

interview them, almost all of them

16:18

say, well, it's like an endurance sport,

16:20

right? It's just a thing

16:22

about you gotta be able to stick

16:24

with it and have the mental energy

16:26

and the mental load to stay with

16:29

it. So it's not about having some

16:31

prescribed perfect plan that you've practiced and

16:33

regimented. It's like, do you have access

16:35

to all of the information when you'll

16:37

need it? Do you just have the

16:39

terms and the things in your brain so that

16:42

when they come up, you can grab them and

16:45

then pull them into the new plan you're

16:47

creating on the fly? Yeah,

16:50

it's about being flexible, I think. I think a

16:52

lot of people that do well in the tournament

16:54

have a lot of flexibility. Which brings

16:56

me to my next point, if you are gonna play

16:58

multiple practice games, I would say focus

17:00

on getting in as much time

17:02

as possible with different factions. Maybe even factions

17:05

that you're historically bad at. That's why I'm

17:07

also saying don't focus so much on winning

17:09

if you're playing any practice games. Because

17:11

maybe practice games is actually a

17:13

time to sort of expand the

17:15

scope of what you like

17:18

to play in Twilight Imperium. There's 25

17:20

factions in the Dern game, okay? And

17:22

you don't know which ones are gonna be in your

17:24

pool. There's gonna be six random ones. So you

17:26

may as well just kind of give random

17:29

stuff a shot. You might find suddenly

17:31

in a practice game preparing

17:34

for a prelims that you like Muat

17:36

a lot. Right. And

17:38

then when Muat comes up in the pool, well guess what? It's

17:40

not a very popular faction. You might get,

17:42

you probably will get Muat if you want it. And

17:45

then suddenly you're like, okay, I'm kind of

17:47

approaching the game a little differently. And now

17:50

your creative brain is being

17:52

engaged in addition to your numbers strategy

17:54

brain, which I think you want to

17:56

kind of get as many

17:58

nodes kind of flipped. activated as

18:00

you can. You want to activate

18:02

all, okay, step one, activate your

18:05

nose, all of them. I

18:07

want them sparking, okay? You know you

18:09

burn a lot of calories when you

18:11

think really hard? Did you know that?

18:14

I did know that. You're actually exercising

18:16

when you play Twilight and Parry and

18:18

that's true. Yeah. I think too with

18:20

this practice and like practicing not to

18:23

win, there's also, I mean,

18:25

a certain amount of like,

18:27

don't burn all of

18:29

your energy on like working out what

18:33

I don't know, like you can play with

18:35

a group of people and work

18:37

out some new like, oh, I have, this is

18:39

how I want to approach this kind of a

18:41

deal. But you like, you don't know what people

18:44

you're going to have later. So you can't like

18:46

make a plan for every type of person. So

18:48

the point is to just put yourself in front

18:50

of as many possibilities as you can so that

18:53

then you're just prepared for like the

18:55

gamut of all of them, right? I

18:58

think too, if you're trying

19:00

to practice things, what I

19:02

see the most success come from is practice

19:04

just drafts. You don't need to play a

19:06

whole game. We all like know how a

19:08

whole game of TI goes, but doing like

19:11

a practice draft and maybe that round one

19:13

thing where you like sit there and work

19:15

out stuff with other players for a little

19:17

bit. If you can schedule a bunch of

19:19

those with people you don't know, I think

19:22

that's like the fastest way to feel

19:25

the moments of a TI game

19:27

without having to like do an

19:29

eight hour session or whatever. Yeah,

19:31

I want to throw out another opinion though,

19:33

which is that maybe don't spend too much

19:35

time thinking about the draft. Yeah, I think

19:37

some people devote too much energy to thinking

19:39

particularly about the draft. It's cool to do

19:42

a practice draft because I think it's good

19:44

for you. If you don't have time to

19:46

do a practice game, it's kind of the

19:48

best you'll get, right? Yeah. And

19:50

you will get a good look at like,

19:52

all right, well, how does the map

19:54

look sometimes when all these slices are together,

19:57

which I think is important information. Yes.

19:59

But also... The draft is

20:01

not the game. Exactly. And mostly

20:03

the draft is about just setting

20:05

up a reasonably even game. There's

20:07

almost never, I'll say this, I've commentated

20:10

a lot of games, and I

20:12

would say most of the time if we

20:14

do a draft and I've got something to say,

20:17

that's kind of wild to me. Most of

20:19

the time it's just like, oh

20:21

is there a good faction, oh so and so

20:23

got it. Well does that make them a genius

20:25

for picking? Right. Don't arm? No. There's

20:28

not, I don't have to break any of

20:30

this down. Sometimes somebody does something, like here's

20:32

an example of something that happens all the

20:34

time. Somebody will,

20:36

it'll be their turn to draft. Here's

20:38

what chat does, let me lecture chat

20:40

a little bit. So

20:42

there'll be a really great faction that

20:44

everybody loves like Mahakt or Saar, and

20:47

it's available and it's somebody's turn to

20:49

draft and they don't draft Mahakt or

20:51

Saar. Maybe they pick Slice instead or

20:54

whatever and 99% of the time, that

20:57

will be like, why didn't they

20:59

pick Mahakt? And every time

21:01

I have the same answer, which is that

21:03

they probably don't play Mahakt. That's where it

21:05

is. They just don't like it. They don't

21:07

play that faction. They

21:10

don't know how to do it, and

21:12

maybe they don't feel that they're not

21:14

that, some people are crazy and I

21:16

like Jono played Mahakt for the first

21:19

time in the finals in tournament four

21:21

and one, but Jono's Jono.

21:24

And you might be someone that can kill

21:26

a man and get away with it and not everybody can

21:28

do that. We can't all walk away

21:30

from the scene of the crime. Some

21:33

of us go to prison for that kind of stuff. Now

21:36

Jono is my point. Yeah, my thinking with

21:39

practice drafting is less too about like develop

21:41

your draft strategy. In previous years too, maybe

21:43

there was a bit more of that, right?

21:45

We had banning, we had things you could

21:47

like maybe think about and prep to then

21:49

bring to the draft. That is absolutely not

21:51

the case this year. So there really is

21:53

nothing to prep with the draft. But the

21:55

point more to what Hunter was saying is

21:57

get to the end state of the draft. Which

22:00

is the game setup? I think it's important

22:02

to see the map a few times in

22:04

its like various layouts and What

22:06

factions end up in what kind of slice like

22:08

you know? That's a way you can get a

22:11

feel even just for and this doesn't have to

22:13

be you practicing drafts to this can be you

22:15

Going and looking through the prelims vods that have

22:17

already happened or whatever which is right to See

22:20

how the maps end up those good factions which

22:22

slices did they end up in the bad factions?

22:24

What slices did they end up in? Where where

22:26

where is the vibe of? The

22:28

community at when they do drafting if there even

22:30

is any sense of a consensus and there might

22:32

not be but I think

22:34

seeing that early board state and just

22:37

Examining the map a little bit is

22:39

what you're trying to get to it's just

22:41

like how I want to see what a

22:43

game could Actually look like given the constraints

22:45

this tournament is under Yeah,

22:47

you should definitely do that. You should know how

22:49

the slices fit together like a puzzle I like

22:51

the idea what you were saying about looking at

22:54

vods If you know

22:56

what players you're gonna have this is getting a

22:58

little bit ahead of it We'll talk about scheduling

23:00

in a minute. Yeah, but once you know what

23:02

pay players you're gonna be playing with Feel

23:05

free to do some research. They all played

23:07

in a qualifier game perhaps many Perhaps

23:10

you can find out those and for example if

23:12

you're gonna be playing with big Al

23:14

cappuccino Maybe you

23:16

find out that big Al tell

23:18

slides. Yeah, and then You

23:21

know that now and

23:23

so when you get messages from

23:25

big Al you now know big Al tell flies

23:27

You know what people tell lies too. I'm not

23:29

trying to do Big

23:32

Al didn't invent the lie. Okay, Schroeder

23:34

is not Schroeder

23:36

invented lying and we're

23:39

we've all kind of copied off of Schroeder's

23:41

homework a little bit But

23:45

Yeah, so I mean that I think

23:47

it's worth knowing like is this person

23:50

trustworthy. What's their deal-making style? Yeah, are

23:52

they a dirtbag did they recently write

23:54

an essay about crushing their friends with

23:57

violence? Do they like wine like these

23:59

are? things who just kinda, and you know

24:01

what, you maybe don't even need to go that

24:04

hardcore on the research, just

24:07

do a quick search on the

24:09

discord, y'all, look at what they,

24:11

look at what's said about them.

24:13

Look at, you know, what was

24:15

the post game talk like after

24:17

their game, you know? Was there

24:19

a controversy? Was there a non,

24:21

was there no controversies? Are they cool? Just

24:23

pull up the results list and see who

24:25

they beat. You can just put in

24:27

some information if you know the other names of who

24:30

they played. Maybe you don't know that person, but you

24:32

see that they beat Nine of

24:34

Spades and, you know, Teddy's Jam for you

24:36

and they're a qualifier, whatever. Like, you can

24:38

glean some sort of information about who to

24:40

look out for. I think

24:42

it's really funny that I'm realizing,

24:45

there's people that play in our tournament that like don't listen to

24:47

this show at all. They hop in,

24:49

they see the biggest tournament going on, they wanna be

24:51

a part of it. And I realize how much they're

24:53

missing out on because we do stuff like this, because

24:55

we call people, we've

24:58

been telling you Big Al, maybe all

25:00

five of the other people in Big

25:02

Al's prelims game are not regulars to

25:04

the show and the SCPG

25:06

discord because I can't imagine people

25:09

being surprised by

25:11

his life. I don't know why we're

25:13

harping on this so much, but it was just the talk of

25:16

the town. So it's on my mind. It really was. It was

25:18

the talk of the town. My

25:20

buddy, you know, Ron was telling me, my

25:22

buddy Ron was on, he

25:25

was telling me that he went to sleep

25:28

after the game and then woke up in

25:30

the next morning and people were still

25:33

talking about how Big Al tells

25:35

lies. Did you know that Big Al tells lies? Did

25:38

you know that? Did you know that? I feel like

25:40

we are coding it on so thick that it is

25:42

maybe getting ridiculous now. I'm ready for the bumper sticker

25:44

at this point. It's

25:48

that memento photograph, Big Al tells lies,

25:50

don't believe his lies. You know what

25:52

I'm talking about? I will say this.

25:54

We just crossed into private message territory

25:57

for me, where sometimes we

25:59

talk about someone. so much in one episode

26:01

I'll be like I'm probably gonna I'm just

26:03

gonna send a private message just to make

26:05

sure like I know that they're about to

26:07

get blasted on air. Listen and

26:09

we blast we like the blast and

26:11

the only reason we blast is because

26:14

sometimes you got to do it too

26:16

like sometimes you don't like sometimes

26:19

you have to also be you know

26:21

somebody in the community and have people

26:23

use that against you right okay sometimes

26:26

you got to get a little taste

26:28

of what it's like to be you

26:30

know me basically it's all

26:32

the time you got to do that it's

26:35

all spite you know this this podcast is

26:37

just designed around that that one concept let's

26:39

talk about scheduling can we please I'd love

26:41

to do it so there have

26:43

been questions in the prelims lounge

26:45

about what is going on because it is different than

26:47

the qualifiers and so I want to give a little

26:49

bit of advice here on what

26:52

to do and how to do it and what we

26:54

plan to do going forward as we

26:56

keep saying it's been a little bit hectic getting the

26:58

some of the planning aspects of this down because of

27:00

just how weird things are

27:03

but I'm trying to stay on top of it and in fact

27:05

this week I'm two weeks ahead like we

27:07

got we got ahead an extra week yeah the prelims

27:09

players I hope that helps at least a little bit

27:11

I know some of you want more than that and

27:13

we're working on it there probably

27:16

will be eventually an availability form that is

27:18

sent out and if you've been a part

27:20

of previous prelims or onward

27:22

you might know what my availability forms

27:24

look like I asked for every

27:27

single hour that you are

27:29

available for weeks at

27:32

a time it's a horrible film

27:34

to fill out you you you

27:36

you check like a billion boxes

27:38

but it gives me information of

27:40

knowing everybody's availability windows to make

27:42

the really uncomfortable games and the

27:44

hard the hard calls

27:46

to make which is like people being asked to

27:49

stay up really late or wake up really early

27:51

but the reality is in the prelims that's

27:53

how it goes and it's only going to get

27:56

worse from here so you might as well start

27:58

kinda working out you know when you

28:00

can kind of make these games happen because

28:02

the prelims do get a little bit harder

28:04

and my biggest advice is it

28:06

only gets worse as time goes on. Like

28:08

the less players we have the harder it

28:10

is to find spots. So that's why I

28:12

do want to get an availability form out

28:14

but until then the method

28:17

we have is I'm posting

28:19

games. I'm getting streamers lined up ahead of

28:21

time and then posting those

28:24

games for like the upcoming weekend or two.

28:27

It doesn't mean you can't

28:29

propose times. It's just mean

28:31

saying that I'm not slating a time just because

28:33

someone proposed it but there was one where someone

28:35

proposed a time and three other people were instantly

28:38

like I could do that time and I get

28:40

to go oh well then that's I can just

28:42

do that one. Like I know that that one's

28:44

gonna fill up. The inverse is

28:46

we had a time proposed and

28:48

nobody else signed up for it ever. We lost

28:50

a game last weekend. There were only two winners

28:53

from last weekend because we actually lost two

28:55

games but happened to get one organized very

28:57

very quickly. So thank you to everybody who

29:00

hopped in to prelims game number

29:03

seven at the absolute last

29:05

minute but it is it

29:07

can be difficult. So you know

29:09

look for the posts. They usually come out this

29:12

timing of the week Monday or Tuesday is when

29:14

I can get them out pretty often and

29:17

then if none of that works for you I

29:19

will never disparage someone for being like hey these are

29:22

all 1500 UTC times. I'd

29:24

really love an eight UTC time. Can you please

29:26

do that in the coming weeks and I will

29:28

take a note and I will I can make

29:30

that happen. All right. Yeah

29:32

I mean I think like the

29:34

best thing you said Matt is if

29:36

you want to get your prelims game

29:39

done it's better to do it soon. Don't

29:41

wait because when when

29:43

we wait it means that you're

29:45

going to be in those weird

29:48

hard to put together game and

29:50

your time slot you might not love it. And

29:53

we are staying on track to

29:56

get the final done the first

29:58

weekend of May. That's right.

30:00

We are on crash. We will have way too

30:02

busy at weekends if we can manage it. As

30:05

soon as Hunter and I get stable, I imagine

30:07

we will actually try to overload some weekends just

30:09

to like get ourselves on a more comfortable pace.

30:11

Because the thing that always happens towards the end

30:13

of the prelims is actually

30:16

we can't even do three games per weekend.

30:18

The last six games take three

30:21

or four weekends or something really ugly

30:23

and I'm doing everything I can to

30:25

avoid that this year. So just,

30:27

you know, try to make yourself as available as

30:29

possible. Stretch, you know, if you

30:31

can stretch those windows of availability by like

30:33

an hour or two, it

30:35

might be way easier for you to find a

30:37

game right now as opposed to later. I might

30:39

be asking you to stretch it quite a bit

30:41

more than that. Yeah, I don't really have any

30:43

advice as far as scheduling goes. I think I

30:45

think that just get it done. Just get

30:47

it done. Right. Get it done. Get it

30:49

done. Well, that's a lot of like,

30:52

you know, before the game advice, but maybe let's

30:54

take a quick break and then when we

30:56

come back we can talk about actual in

30:59

the game. How to be good at

31:01

Twilight Imperium. Yeah, let's take a break and

31:03

then it's game day. Buh buh

31:21

buh buh buh buh basketball, gimme gimme

31:23

gimme the ball because I'm gonna dunk

31:25

it. It's game day everybody. Hey, welcome

31:27

to game day. How

31:30

do you how do you do good at TI Hunter

31:32

Donaldson? How do you win games? Well,

31:35

here's what you do first. You got to wake up you

31:39

gotta wake up you gotta wake

31:41

up and You

31:44

got to get right out of bed. I'm gonna say

31:46

at least an hour before start time. You need to

31:48

be out of bed And

31:50

you need to have breakfast. Okay, interesting.

31:52

You got to eat breakfast. It's most important

31:54

meal of the day They say don't forget

31:56

how many finalists genuinely offered that up as

31:58

their advice for doing doing well in

32:00

tournaments is like eat a full breakfast

32:03

and have protein throughout the day. Mm-hmm.

32:07

Mm-hmm. Egg and cheese,

32:09

everything bagel toasted, sriracha. All

32:12

over it. All over it. I'm

32:14

a everything bagel peanut butter

32:17

and sriracha. Obviously, if

32:20

the game is starting late for you in the

32:23

day, then you probably did have breakfast. Maybe.

32:26

My advice, well, maybe, but my

32:29

advice is it still stands. Have

32:32

another breakfast? Oh my gosh. Oh no. Second

32:35

breakfast, 11 z's? You need to

32:37

have 11 z's, okay, is what

32:39

I'm saying. That's my big piece

32:41

of advice here, is that an

32:44

hour before Twilight and Period, it's breakfast time. I

32:47

don't know when that is for you. That might be

32:49

2 a.m. for you, okay? You're having 1 a.m. You

32:51

know, egg and cheese, everything bagel toasted

32:54

with sriracha. Or

32:56

you know, jalapeno sauce or whatever, like

32:58

something green, too. Get some green salsa

33:00

in there. Love green salsa with eggs.

33:02

Do you ever have green salsa with

33:05

eggs? Always. It's so good. It's

33:07

the only way I do it. So good.

33:09

God, I'm actually hungry. I literally became hungry

33:12

and I kind of am having trouble transitioning

33:14

to the next point because I'm thinking about

33:16

all the food you want to eat. I'm thinking

33:18

about what I'm going to eat. You know, speaking of food you

33:20

want to eat, bring some stuff in with you and have it

33:22

on hand, you know? You're right. Bring some

33:24

snacks. Bring snacks. Like, what's a

33:26

good snack? What do you like as far as

33:29

snacks go? Let's talk snacks.

33:31

A handful of almonds. Will that do you

33:34

well? Do you want a handful of almonds?

33:37

Yeah, I don't know why you're pronouncing it like

33:39

that, but sure, yeah. Have nuts on hand. Do

33:42

we have any? Nuts on hand. Nuts on

33:44

hand. Just do the hand. I

33:47

want a bowl of nuts right by the

33:49

computer. Whatever nut you like, you know what

33:52

I mean? Ashews, whatever. I don't

33:54

care. Mixed nuts, walnuts, whatever.

33:56

Pons, I don't care. Just have some

33:58

nuts. Here's the stuff. Okay, get the

34:00

jump start on this day and then show up

34:02

early to your game and there's two reasons for

34:04

this one Because it's nice and it's polite. It's

34:07

the good thing to do It's the right thing

34:09

to show up early and help your streamer do

34:11

soundtracks and all that more importantly though I genuinely

34:13

do think the quicker you

34:15

can get in that voice channel lobby

34:18

with your other players and start getting

34:20

to know them The quicker you can

34:22

do the math you need to do

34:24

on what kind of relations you these

34:26

players want that is a genuine part

34:28

The game imagine you're playing this at

34:30

a convention or an in-person tournament You

34:32

would meet the people before your game

34:34

you you know Get or get a

34:36

good vibe from them figure out what

34:38

kind of player they are and doing

34:40

that virtually is harder So start up

34:42

the conversations talk to folks figure out

34:44

what they like even start directly addressing that

34:46

kind of stuff What kind of deals do

34:48

you guys like what's like? Let's make this

34:50

amenable, you know, how can we what kind

34:52

of player? Are you and and how can

34:55

I best service your

34:57

style or whatever? I think being

34:59

ready to adapt as soon as the game starts

35:02

is a really good way to get going

35:04

I don't know. I don't know how it

35:06

reacts if a player was in the print

35:08

like we're not we haven't even started playing

35:10

yet We're just in the voice lobby and

35:12

somebody's already like playing the game. How

35:15

about this? Let's let's rewind it a little bit Let's

35:17

say let's say say hi.

35:19

Mm-hmm and find out where everybody's

35:21

from You know like normal meet

35:23

you stuff. Yeah, and

35:25

then go into like so I

35:28

can't wait for you to be in Minneapolis

35:30

and not have constant Police

35:32

sirens outside your window. I hope it's like

35:34

happening. I hope it's not talking it started

35:37

happening and then I started talking again Idiotly

35:40

started happening. It's like they can

35:42

hear me Yeah, like they know whenever it might turn

35:44

to talk and then they just show up. Let me

35:46

let me say this Let me say this I don't

35:48

mean it like get in there and start playing the

35:50

game off the jump But I see this from place

35:52

like I'll do my checks and something that's part of

35:54

my little speech is like y'all are

35:56

the ones Managing your game you you

35:58

run your rules you need to determine

36:00

is this a lay at play at table or

36:02

is this something different is this a little bit

36:04

much you know what's your status on takesy-backsies and

36:07

those kinds of questions help you get to

36:09

know a little bit about the vibe of

36:11

players and and who might want to be

36:13

a bit of a stickler about things and

36:16

and you should you know not do things

36:18

to upset that person or whatever

36:20

like the I think there's aspects of it

36:22

I'm not saying you know explicitly coming to

36:24

be like who likes x minus one raise

36:26

your hand like it doesn't have to go

36:28

that far but I do think getting you

36:30

know at least just getting to know everybody

36:32

real quickly is good yeah also

36:35

I mean I would say like try not to

36:37

come in with too specific of a plan or

36:39

like how to approach the table I see this

36:41

a lot where players will kind of come in

36:43

like with like thinking

36:45

that the the tournament is

36:47

like a heist yeah and that you can

36:49

come in and be like I'm gonna do

36:52

exactly this there there have

36:54

historically been players that I think were able

36:56

to approach it like that but I think

36:59

that's very few and far between mostly

37:01

it's better I think to approach the table

37:04

and just sort of listen to the to

37:06

the other players and see like what kind

37:08

of relationships might develop yeah

37:11

and a lot of that is you

37:13

know the early game is where you're

37:15

going to I think learn a lot

37:17

of that valuable information yeah and I

37:20

think like try to focus on playing

37:22

well over specifically

37:25

winning yeah if you are

37:27

thinking about round five in the draft I

37:29

think you're doing it wrong and also you're

37:31

slowing down the game so you're my least

37:33

favorite person at the table yeah don't worry

37:36

though it's always a competition no never

37:38

think you know what I talked so

37:41

much about people taking a long time

37:43

you're all naughty you're all my naughty

37:45

children is how I think of you

37:47

yeah but don't think like oh hunters

37:49

ever specifically mad at me about taking

37:51

a long time you all take a

37:53

long time all of you it's never

37:56

you're never ever going to be singled

37:58

out yeah because you all just take

38:00

a turn wearing the dunce cap. You know

38:02

what I mean? Like you're all just passing

38:04

it around and I get my time to

38:06

be like, oh now you're taking a long

38:08

time. And then somebody else will be like,

38:11

well look at this, oh we're taking forever

38:13

over here. You all do it, okay? So

38:15

don't, never worry that somehow you are the

38:17

one in trouble for taking a long time.

38:20

Everyone plays slow, all of you.

38:22

And you all, in my office

38:24

now, everyone. Well and

38:27

on the topic of time, I think it's relevant

38:29

and especially relevant like at the beginning of this

38:31

game and during the draft is

38:33

like be thinking about

38:35

your time management. A reminder, the

38:37

prelims are in the time limit.

38:39

From when the draft starts, you

38:41

have eight hours to win

38:44

this game, right? Or you're going to a tiebreaker

38:46

at the end of the round you finish. It's

38:48

a little bit looser than eight hours. But in

38:50

a relatively short amount of time, you

38:53

will be done with the game one way or another. And

38:57

the mistake I see so often

38:59

is someone burning all

39:01

of their time in round one or

39:04

two over deals they've just

39:06

for some reason convinced themselves are

39:08

like the game changer. And it's

39:10

like over an X

39:12

minus one plus a promissory note as opposed to just

39:15

like, just get the deal and move on with your

39:17

life. Sometimes

39:20

there is an early game decision that requires thought

39:22

and requires some negotiating. That can happen. If you're

39:24

on the brink of elimination, you might need to

39:26

take some more time. This

39:28

is your moment of, you know, this is the

39:30

precipice of your game. But keep

39:33

in mind the kind of time you're

39:35

going to need in round five. Go

39:39

watch prelims game number one as

39:41

a absolutely perfect example

39:43

of this. That game,

39:46

it's on the YouTube, I think by

39:48

now, or at least it's

39:50

coming soon. And the first four rounds

39:52

of that game are lickety split. We

39:54

just burn through every single round and

39:57

that's not a big deal. And guess

39:59

what? That meant when the

40:01

really wild and intense Winslet Carousel

40:03

kicked off in round 5, the

40:06

players were not rushing decisions. They

40:08

got to have like this immaculate

40:10

game of Twilight Imperium and this

40:12

like perfect photo finish. And

40:15

you only earned that because you didn't waste

40:17

time in round 2 deliberating

40:19

over things that didn't matter. Yeah,

40:22

people tend to debate a lot like what

40:25

the general arc of a game should be,

40:27

whether there should be more violence in the

40:29

early game, whether the mid game should be

40:31

like where, like should we

40:33

move a lot of critical decisions down to

40:36

the mid game before the stage 2 flips

40:38

or whatever. Yeah. But I would say

40:40

regardless of that debate and I'm not trying to, I'm not

40:42

even trying to have that conversation right now. I

40:44

think in the prelims,

40:47

it probably makes sense to

40:49

try to keep everything pretty hunky dory in

40:51

the early mid game. Yeah. Now

40:54

don't worry, the other players will maybe mess that up for

40:56

you. But you don't get

40:58

perfect control over that. But I think as

41:00

far as your vote on game day, is

41:03

maybe let's stay focused and

41:05

get to round 4

41:07

as soon as possible. Maybe in round 4

41:09

we start slowing it down a little bit, that way we can

41:12

have a juicy round 5 and

41:14

then figure out who's going to win this darn

41:16

thing and then go home. Right. Absolutely.

41:19

And I think too it's like an

41:21

issue of like those

41:24

round 1 deliberations. If

41:27

you are the player that's like, I think more needs to happen round 1.

41:29

I agree with you if you're doing it quickly.

41:32

Like as long as you can make that happen

41:34

quickly, then you are fine. But this

41:36

isn't just a time limit issue. This will be true

41:38

for the finals, which is to say your

41:41

energy level depletes as the game goes on.

41:44

It's genuinely good advice to get

41:46

this going faster. Yes, TI is and can

41:48

be a long game. But

41:50

in casual play, it doesn't have nearly the

41:52

stress. A 14 hour casual game is not

41:55

quite the same as even a 10 hour

41:57

or 8 hour tournament game. there's

42:00

a lot more energy expended

42:03

when you're trying if you're trying

42:05

to play for keeps and don't

42:08

waste all of that

42:10

energy on wildly complicated deals and then

42:12

in round five you just don't have

42:14

the gas in the tank anymore mm-hmm

42:17

yeah I've definitely seen a I've seen so many

42:19

tournament games that could be summed up as they

42:22

got really too clever early on and then by

42:24

the time we got to the the end of

42:26

the game where it was now necessary

42:29

to be as clever as possible we

42:31

are all tired basically and that that's

42:33

tough it's it's tough to see those

42:35

I'll say this too let's also just

42:37

get strategic about it and

42:40

this is you know like I said you don't have control over

42:42

this this is just you're just one vote

42:45

in the group of six but I'm

42:48

starting a game cold I have no idea

42:50

how this is gonna go I have no

42:52

idea if I'm gonna get a lot of luck or

42:54

very little luck or whatever I

42:57

would love and I hate

42:59

what I'm about to say but I believe it

43:01

a hundred percent I would love to try and

43:03

leave as much space as possible or around

43:06

six if I just don't know

43:08

how things are gonna turn out right I'm like

43:10

wow if we if we move quickly through rounds

43:13

one two and three we might

43:15

have time for around six if it

43:17

becomes necessary to have to slay all

43:19

the way around that situation yeah and

43:21

I would love to have that

43:23

ceiling room they're definitely prelims games or

43:26

just at times tournament games in general

43:28

that I've seen where the fact that

43:30

they knew they couldn't get another round influenced

43:33

the way they played their final round I think we

43:36

would see more full carousels

43:39

if not for the time limit yeah not

43:41

saying we're taking the time limit away we

43:43

never will in fact you're lucky it's eight

43:45

that's all I think I'm

43:47

pushed for seven I genuinely pushed for seven

43:49

I I let y'all keep it okay so

43:51

you ever get mad about me about being

43:53

angry about people take this one remember I'm

43:55

the one I'm the reason y'all still have

43:57

eight okay mommy wanted to take

43:59

it down to seven and he said no.

44:02

I remember the draft was the compromise. That

44:05

was the compromise. You let me put the draft in

44:07

it so if people waste too much time with the

44:09

draft they've burned their eight hours. That's

44:12

a good transition though. Let's talk specifically about the

44:14

draft. I don't really have much to say about it.

44:16

I just want to say that two

44:18

things I see and one of

44:20

them is obvious but it's just worth saying like

44:22

in the draft you should play a faction that

44:24

you're comfortable with unless you're

44:26

a genius or some weirdo and

44:29

then do whatever. I don't care. You don't even need

44:31

to listen to this if you're a genius or a

44:33

weirdo. So

44:35

yeah play something you're comfortable with and

44:38

then the second one's big.

44:40

I think when people start deal making in the

44:42

draft it's a red flag. Just in general. I

44:44

just like... You are dunking

44:46

on Kraken's entire personality. No, I'm

44:48

not dunking on Kraken because Kraken

44:50

does everything Kraken does is like

44:52

from an alternate universe. You know

44:54

what I mean? Kraken is not

44:57

canon with the show. You know

44:59

what I mean? So what I'm

45:01

talking about is for everybody else.

45:03

Kraken you can sit outside on

45:05

this one. For

45:07

everybody else I would say drafting

45:09

in the like deal making in the draft

45:12

is a red flag because you don't... you

45:14

really don't know enough and it feels like

45:16

always to me when I see it happening

45:19

it just kind of sounds like one

45:21

player is trying to lay

45:23

the foundation down for a

45:25

very complicated mind game

45:29

that I don't think you should play into. Like

45:31

I just think that like regardless because I know

45:33

what happens is one player starts it and the

45:36

other thinks oh I can I can outdo it.

45:38

What y'all are doing is

45:41

kind of just adding more randomness at this

45:43

point most of the time. I mean Kraken

45:45

literally... I mean to talk about Kraken as

45:47

an example Kraken brought like a casino. Kraken

45:49

is comfortable with more random people in the

45:52

game. Okay so that's fine and if

45:54

you like that that's also chill. I'm not... I want

45:56

everyone to play the game the way that they want.

45:58

It's more like if you want... advice, I

46:01

think it would be that

46:03

if somebody starts whispering you in its

46:05

draft time, I'd be like, hold your

46:07

horses buddy, let's talk a little first,

46:09

I'm not ready, you know. I don't

46:12

want to have dinner, yeah. Like let's

46:14

just, you know, we're co-workers, let's

46:16

just talk a little by the water cooler and

46:18

see how it goes, you know. It's

46:20

also just the draft and you can't

46:23

like make anything binding in the draft.

46:25

I mean, you're outside of

46:27

the realm of actual transactions

46:29

anyways and that extends into the

46:32

game itself which is like, you

46:35

can't get hung up on two

46:38

wild of deals and honestly my biggest reason is this

46:40

and this is maybe a bit too much because we're

46:42

trying to talk about like how do you win your

46:44

prelims game but if you really do want to think

46:46

about like also the semis in

46:48

the finals, like think about the heat we've

46:51

been throwing at Big Al, right? He's a

46:53

perfect example of a person where it's like

46:55

he burned his plays in

46:57

the qualifiers in the prelims. Now maybe he gets to

46:59

just keep getting away with it, yeah, we thought he

47:01

burned it in the qualifiers and then he got to

47:03

use it again in the prelims. So maybe actually

47:05

this doesn't apply to Big Al, who knows, but

47:07

the point being these stories

47:10

get told, these things get

47:12

passed around, do you

47:14

want your win to be the one

47:16

that then your semi-finals players are

47:18

calling you out for and are

47:20

no longer letting you get away

47:22

with any deals at all, right?

47:24

I think you have to slow

47:26

your role a bit and have

47:28

a little bit more at your

47:30

disposal for each subsequent round. You

47:32

don't necessarily want to be predictable.

47:35

So by the finals round, you know, it's

47:37

quite good to be someone who doesn't

47:40

have a ton of attention on them,

47:42

right? I think you can look at

47:44

the championship winners of previous years and

47:46

most of them are, you know, the

47:48

person who was laying low relatively

47:51

well. Yeah,

47:54

I think Luke laid low his year. He'd be

47:56

like, we knew a long time ago, long time

47:59

ago. So Jono was

48:01

definitely laying low in the

48:03

build up to his win. I said-

48:05

Hedy, that's not someone that laid low. Hedy

48:08

and Disigur are not. I

48:10

feel you, but those are also, I don't know,

48:13

I can't make everything applicable to everyone.

48:16

Well, I'm just also saying that I think

48:18

overall, I would dispute that piece of advice

48:20

a little bit. And here's how

48:22

I would dispute it, is that I think that even in

48:24

your example, we're talking about Big Al, like people actually didn't

48:27

really punish somebody's

48:29

actions in one game into the next.

48:32

And I feel like people, it kind of

48:34

takes a lot of energy, I think, for

48:37

people to sort of factor that in. I

48:39

think we're trying to encourage that on this

48:41

show because it's fun for the hot goss

48:44

to have consequences

48:46

later. But

48:48

I don't know that it does, actually. I

48:52

really don't. Because, I mean, what? We

48:55

opened this episode being like, Big Al tells lies. But

48:58

I mean, what, a couple months are going to go

49:01

by and that semi-finals game is going to come around

49:03

and then who knows what happens. And

49:06

Big Al does tell lies, and we know

49:08

this, Big Al tells lies. But

49:12

Big Al ingratiates himself to be

49:14

a teacher now. He

49:18

also ingratiates himself, which

49:20

is another point to bring up. And this

49:23

is a stupid one, but boy, have we

49:25

seen it be extremely relevant in the prelim.

49:28

If someone's going to get win-made,

49:31

you need to be

49:33

able to have a case to pitch for

49:35

it to be you. We are

49:38

seeing win-making be more relevant

49:40

than ever. Out of the, what is it,

49:42

eight games that have happened, I

49:44

think two of them are ones

49:47

people are calling like clean wins.

49:49

The rest have some level of

49:51

messiness to them. And

49:53

I can't tell you how to navigate

49:55

win-making, and I can't tell you how

49:57

to navigate win-slaying, except for... Know

50:00

the five people at your table and know

50:02

what they want and what they might win

50:04

make based on, right? Know what kind of

50:06

gamuts they might be willing to make and

50:08

that might take some of

50:11

the wheeling dealing throughout the round to get a

50:13

just to get their temperature on what kind of

50:15

things they like so At the end of the

50:17

game you're in the right corner I this

50:20

is hard to give advice about but I

50:23

do think it's Realistic to prepare people for

50:25

the idea that a lot of these prelims

50:27

games are ending in shenanigans Of

50:30

course, I will say I mean I

50:32

can I want to attempt to give advice about

50:34

it I think you got to listen to the

50:36

not just the players but the narrative of this

50:39

game Yeah, there is a in

50:41

game three There was

50:43

an attempted elimination of a player. I'm spoiling game

50:45

three by the way So skip ahead if you

50:47

don't want that sure there's an attempted elimination of

50:49

a player And

50:51

then that elimination failed. Okay, and

50:53

this was early. This was like

50:55

round two around three Elimination

50:57

was over but that the player that

51:00

had been targeted was Joel Narr, which

51:02

was lucky for them They

51:04

were able to hang on and sort

51:06

of stay in the game Yeah, but

51:09

it was a lot of like okay, the right

51:11

things were lining up. Mm-hmm And

51:13

then that player ended up getting

51:15

their tenth point from the

51:18

support for the throne from one of the players

51:20

that Was trying

51:22

to eliminate them earlier in the game

51:24

now that that you can you know

51:27

You can cry wine making or whatever

51:29

all you want You can talk about

51:31

it on the discord till the cows

51:33

come home. But what that Joel Narr

51:35

player did correctly, I think Was

51:38

first of all they hung in there. They didn't know they didn't

51:40

quit They it was frustrating.

51:42

They were frustrated, which is understandable. Allow yourself

51:44

space to be frustrated Maybe that's a piece

51:47

of advice and then try to you know,

51:49

cool down And then

51:51

they kept talking to these players

51:55

And you know, they kept their relationship

51:57

going and they kept listening and seeing what

51:59

was was going on and then ended

52:01

up negotiating themselves into getting

52:04

their 10th point. And I don't

52:06

know shade on that player at

52:08

all for getting the 10th point

52:10

via Fort for the Throne. Because

52:13

their game had been effectively ruined

52:15

early on and then because of

52:18

a lot of the right coins flipping, they

52:21

were able to stay in. God Hunter, you

52:23

gotta watch more Survivor, I'm telling ya. This

52:26

is all Survivor talk. Everything

52:28

you just said applies to

52:30

Survivor. To Survivor. But

52:32

the idea, I get enough of it. Yeah,

52:34

maybe you don't need it overload. But

52:37

the idea here is, you

52:40

know, you can know what you want, but

52:42

sometimes you gotta know what the other players

52:45

want and you gotta know what they're gonna

52:47

win make about, right? Some people are gonna

52:49

win make, you helped me a bunch. You were

52:51

Joel Nairn, you gave me research agreement four times,

52:53

I'm gonna give you things. I know

52:56

myself, I'm not partial to that.

52:58

I'm not gonna win make the person

53:01

who just was the faction that had

53:03

the tools that let them give away

53:05

stuff, right? Sardack Knorr doesn't have that

53:07

toolkit, so I can't sit here and

53:09

expect to get a huge bevy of

53:11

amazing deals from the Sardack player. But

53:14

there's a lot of players out there

53:16

where they respect the game, right? They

53:18

respect the effort and they respect the,

53:20

you know, all of those other factors.

53:22

So as long as you don't

53:25

have a bad attitude and come at

53:27

the game, you know, like honestly and

53:30

doing your best, like I think that

53:32

ingratiates yourself just as much as the

53:34

straight up like, let's be super boat

53:36

floaty. Like I think there's plenty of players

53:39

out there that are like, I respect you

53:41

for, you know, for being the person

53:43

who did do something about Nalu in round

53:45

three or whatever, right? That was a problem that

53:47

was gonna come up later. You're the one who

53:49

did it, it cost you a lot. Now the

53:51

game is a total mess. I

53:54

think I just support you instead. You're the one

53:56

who took the shot. Well,

53:58

and then the flip side of this is. If

54:00

you are a player that's sitting at the table and

54:02

you are planning on some early game violence and you

54:04

are planning on trying to eliminate another

54:06

player or something like that, you

54:09

need to be fast, you need to be

54:11

efficient, you need to be surgical. Because the

54:13

second you attempt a coup and it

54:16

fails, we don't know,

54:18

now we're in crazy town. You

54:20

know what I mean? Now we have

54:23

set the stage for shenanigans early

54:25

on. That's

54:27

what happened in game three, right?

54:30

More, they're just,

54:33

I'm not gonna miss this. I'll tell you that much,

54:35

I'm not gonna miss this. I'm

54:38

not, dude, I mean, let me tell you something right now.

54:40

It's getting worse. Monday

54:42

morning, every Monday

54:45

morning, there is a

54:47

bread delivery truck underneath

54:50

my bed. Underneath

54:53

my bed, 6 a.m. Giant

54:57

bread truck, okay?

55:00

Takes a long time to unload bread

55:02

off the truck. And

55:04

it's loud and it's obnoxious and

55:06

I'm done with it. I think

55:09

we did cover everything too. I think

55:12

we've, that's a

55:14

wonderful transition. Yeah,

55:16

sure, sure, sorry, I got so worked up

55:18

thinking about that, I don't even know if

55:20

I can talk about the prelims anymore. Yeah,

55:22

I mean, I think the

55:25

big conclusions here, the big bullet

55:27

points are don't get tired out,

55:29

you weirdo. If you're

55:31

gonna be mean, be all the way. Don't

55:34

mess it up, you know? And if

55:36

things get weird, try to get paid

55:38

off. Try to get weird too. Yeah,

55:41

if things get weird, get weirder. Yeah,

55:44

and that's the thing too. Don't

55:47

come in with a plan because you just

55:49

need to pay attention to what the story

55:51

of this game is and play into that.

55:54

That is the important part, especially this year.

55:56

It seems to all be about what is

55:58

the narrative that the players are forming. and

56:01

then how do you capitalize on that? How

56:03

do you be, you know,

56:05

if it's Game of Thrones, how do

56:07

you be, what's a

56:10

Game of Thrones character? No, I just, Annie. You

56:12

have at it. Okay, go ahead. You

56:14

wanna be Daenerys, you don't wanna

56:16

be Stannis, right? You

56:18

don't wanna die in the

56:20

woods or whatever. You want

56:22

to ride a dragon and wear fun dresses.

56:25

And kill all your friends. That's what you

56:27

wanna do. Yeah. Did

56:30

she do that? I thought she was hanging with

56:32

like, She had like bros

56:34

and stuff. Yeah. No, you're right.

56:36

She comes in with a squad. She's like, here's my

56:38

squad, and like we're all homies or whatever. I was

56:40

like, I thought this show was like mean. And then

56:42

she just like, here are my bros. Like, that's

56:44

what happened. That's what's it, that's how it was.

56:47

This is like, this is a show where people

56:49

aren't being nice and they're just getting real. And

56:51

then by the last season, it was like, here's

56:53

all my buds and we're buds, you know? And

56:56

they're like, Barris is like hanging out and they're

56:58

just like, yeah, I'm like a bud now.

57:00

Like they're just like hanging out, just

57:02

like drinking beers and being like, yeah, we're just homies

57:04

or whatever. It's like, dude, I thought the show was

57:06

about like stabbing each other in the back and like

57:09

poisoning people. Yep. And then at the end, like,

57:12

I don't know. Is every, does every

57:14

story have to just be about like

57:16

people chilling out together? Is

57:18

that what it is? Is every story actually

57:20

just kinda like, wouldn't it be cool if

57:23

these, like are we just having fun pretending

57:27

that imaginary people are friends and we

57:29

like that? I don't know, I mean,

57:31

I feel that way. I love Final

57:33

Fantasy and that's all Final Fantasy is

57:35

about. Yeah. T.I. is wrestling, right? That's

57:37

the thing. And you are a

57:39

part of the script as it happens. We did already

57:41

write all of this. So you just need to play

57:43

your roles and, you know. It's true. You

57:46

might be the heel or you might be

57:48

the face, okay? And

57:51

there you go. I wanna

57:53

thank our Weird Bears, Big Al

57:55

Capuchino, Squee-Mashimu, BLT, Brass Bird, Cabal-A-Saul,

57:57

Kalu and Dandelion, Darryl, Drago-Fax and

57:59

Elspeth. Jadim Jedi, Cardinal, Alice, Emelchafsky,

58:01

Nick, Absol, RYs, and Tang. And I wanna

58:03

thank our baby child big friends, Craken, Portmandia,

58:06

Curcules, Relic, Stan, and Vince. You can rate

58:08

this podcast on an app somewhere. Who knows?

58:10

You can just kinda do whatever you want

58:13

with it, man. I don't care. Live your

58:15

life. Uh, hey! I wanna announce some prelim

58:17

streams coming up. I've got two weekends for

58:19

you. Uh, game number nine

58:22

is Friday, January 26th at 1400

58:24

UTC on

58:27

the Big Al Cuppuccino Twitch channel. Hey,

58:30

thanks Big Al. We appreciate you, you know.

58:32

Yeah. We like you, dude. It's

58:36

what's really been so much. I think for being

58:38

the first Weird Bear every single week, this

58:41

whole episode we were just like, throwing

58:43

so much shade at this guy and then

58:46

it's time to announce, like, turn my streams.

58:48

And meanwhile, this one is gonna be hosted

58:50

by Big Al. Thank you so much for

58:52

your help. You really make all of this

58:54

possible, buddy. Here's some advice. Watch as many

58:56

games as... You don't have to play, just

58:58

watch games. Big Al has watched so many

59:00

games and has the success to

59:02

prove it. Hey, game number 10 is Saturday, January 27th

59:04

at 1700 on

59:07

the J. Ol' Ear Cam channel

59:09

hosted by Elspeth. Prelims game number

59:11

11 is on Sunday, January 28th

59:13

at 1600 UTC hosted

59:16

by Rand over on the T.I. Junkies channel.

59:18

Thank y'all so much. And then next weekend,

59:20

and I'll announce this again in next week's

59:22

episode, but I want people to get in

59:24

there and start signing up ahead of time.

59:26

So, Prelims players, this is especially for you

59:28

to know that these are available. Prelims game

59:30

number 12, Friday, February 2nd, again

59:32

by Big Al at 1400 UTC. Thanks,

59:35

bud. Thanks, buddy. Thanks, bud. I

59:37

hope you don't get down to the semis.

59:39

We love Big Al. Big Al, so cool.

59:42

Thank you. Prelims game number 13, this is

59:44

an important one. Saturday, February 3rd at 8

59:46

UTC. This is

59:48

a Euro-timed game and

59:51

it had a bunch of players who could play in it. I

59:54

don't have a streamer for it yet. If you

59:56

want to try your hand at streaming, Twilight

59:58

Imperium, and you want... to try streaming a

1:00:01

game, let me know if

1:00:03

you can do this game. We need somebody

1:00:05

to do the eight UTC games. We need

1:00:07

people that can do Euro time slots in

1:00:09

general. This is a big call-out. Jasper used

1:00:12

to carry the torch. Duke Lucum used to

1:00:14

carry the torch. We like every year only

1:00:16

have like one European time zone streamer and

1:00:18

we need more. I'm begging you Europe, if

1:00:20

you have any interest in getting into streaming

1:00:23

this stuff, we absolutely have games to feed

1:00:25

you. Yeah, come on. We

1:00:27

need more Euro streamers. Yep. And come on.

1:00:29

Come on. Come on. Just

1:00:31

do it. Also, Relim game number

1:00:33

14, Sunday, February 4th at 1600

1:00:35

UTC hosted by Hunter Badonnelson. I'll

1:00:38

be back. On our channel. He'll be back.

1:00:40

He'll be in Arkansas. He'll stream it from probably

1:00:42

my house. How fun. How novel. We

1:00:46

got an agenda face. That's

1:00:48

fun. Question time. DJdulch asks,

1:00:51

what shows are you all watching these days? Wow.

1:00:54

Nice little casual. That's fun. That's

1:00:56

good. Whatever we want to say. Well,

1:00:59

it's not really a show, but the

1:01:01

Oscar noms drop. Oscar noms

1:01:03

just drop, bro. I've been getting

1:01:06

so much more and more and

1:01:08

more detached from Oscar season and Oscars

1:01:10

and I never go see movies in theaters

1:01:12

ever, ever, ever. I never know you could

1:01:15

really be much of a movie. That one Katie,

1:01:17

I did it the one year that one Oscar

1:01:20

season we lived in Portland. We went and

1:01:22

saw almost everything. Yeah. And maybe we'll do it

1:01:24

again someday when we have, I don't know,

1:01:26

a babysitter that can do that. Who knows? But

1:01:28

I don't see movies because I have a

1:01:30

kid right now. So Hunter, tell me about Oscar

1:01:32

season. Well, yeah. So,

1:01:35

so the nominees dropped best

1:01:37

picture. We got American American

1:01:39

fiction. I haven't seen that one. It's

1:01:41

got my boy. What is his name? What's the

1:01:44

actress name? Jeffrey Wright. It's got my boy Jeffrey

1:01:46

Wright in it. Love Jeffrey Wright. Haven't

1:01:48

seen the movie. Gonna see it. I like

1:01:51

to see all the best picture noms. Yeah.

1:01:53

Anatomy of a fall nominated for best picture.

1:01:55

Also won the Palmdor at

1:01:57

Cannes Last year. Nice. I

1:02:00

have not seen Anatomy of a Fall yet either.

1:02:03

Really want to? It's some

1:02:05

sort of i think it's like a french

1:02:07

courtroom drama with like. Scandinavian

1:02:09

by feminists like a snowy sorry that

1:02:11

may not be. Maybe that doesn't make

1:02:14

sense that I just office now and

1:02:16

I'm like says European there's no them

1:02:18

in Scandinavia To me that's very maps

1:02:21

or it's culturally. Third,

1:02:23

Up as Barbie Ah which of course

1:02:26

I saw my may have watched it

1:02:28

twice I saw in theaters and and

1:02:30

I watched it ah on Christmas because

1:02:32

I was hanging out with my brother's

1:02:35

wife. Very cool with literally wearing. A

1:02:37

Rb Like sweatsuit That rule. Listen to

1:02:39

Barbie Barbie Top Rb Bottom: Yeah and

1:02:41

I was like all what I was

1:02:44

like let's talk about the movie Barbie

1:02:46

and she was like I haven't seen

1:02:48

it yet. I'm like what you're wearing,

1:02:50

it's you're wearing this and then I

1:02:52

just immediately put it on. Guess what?

1:02:54

You liked it. A

1:02:56

Holdovers.nominee for Best Excerpt. Really?

1:02:59

Interesting Christmas movie. I want to say that

1:03:01

I'm clear we meant to go see it

1:03:03

in theaters and we and we missed it

1:03:05

and I'm sad that I didn't see it

1:03:07

in theaters and really wanna see the holdovers?

1:03:09

really bad. It's. A fine if

1:03:12

you want an interesting Christmas movie that kind

1:03:14

of has a different tone. Yeah if you

1:03:16

if you have a be like weird christmas

1:03:18

maybe that's good for Yes I have a

1:03:20

weird problem with Paul Giamatti and I think

1:03:22

I'm alone. I think I'm the only part.

1:03:24

Yeah, this problem. A policy

1:03:26

amati. says. Not register

1:03:29

as a. Normal. Human

1:03:31

being to me in movies. which is

1:03:33

weird because it just kind of seems

1:03:35

like when he talks I don't I

1:03:37

just think he's putting too much staying

1:03:40

on everything you know, any the cartoon

1:03:42

character. Okay, what that? Yep, your expectations

1:03:44

are off. Usually you gotta remember about

1:03:46

Paul Giamatti. He. Was in a big

1:03:48

fat liar and he is that he is

1:03:50

of to me. I think he's used to think

1:03:53

of Paul Giamatti in the cane same category.

1:03:55

you think it will farrow the holdovers as like

1:03:57

a Will Farrow movie. And Paul Giamatti is

1:03:59

is that. guy and that's how I think about him. So

1:04:01

I don't go into it with like actor

1:04:03

expectations. I go into it with comedian

1:04:05

expectations. Oh I agree. So here's another

1:04:08

thing, unpopular opinion, don't really like Will

1:04:10

Ferrell movies. Well there you go. Not

1:04:12

really big on that. That kind of

1:04:14

makes sense. Everything you're saying is kind

1:04:16

of... I got nothing for you then.

1:04:18

I got nothing for you. Yeah.

1:04:21

Next best picture nom was

1:04:23

Killers of the Flower Moon,

1:04:25

Martin Scorsese movie, excellent film,

1:04:27

3 hours. Didn't feel

1:04:29

like it to me. I understand for some people

1:04:31

it's you're just out. It's

1:04:34

got my boy Jesse Plemons in it. One

1:04:36

of my favorite actors all time this guy.

1:04:38

He shows up late in the movie and

1:04:41

it's hilarious when he does. Obviously

1:04:44

it's got Leonardo DiCaprio, it's got Bobby

1:04:47

De Niro. It's just...I

1:04:49

don't know what to tell you. Good.

1:04:52

It's a Scorsese. It's my

1:04:54

favorite Scorsese since probably in

1:04:56

a while. I don't love

1:04:59

Wolf on Wall Street. Yeah.

1:05:01

Like departed or something. Yeah,

1:05:04

probably since departed. Next

1:05:07

best picture nom is Maestro. I haven't seen it.

1:05:09

I plan to. I don't want to see it

1:05:11

though and I won't say anything more about it.

1:05:14

Oppenheimer is up next. That

1:05:16

movie I saw it was my duty to

1:05:18

see it. I think that

1:05:20

it's got a lot of good performances in

1:05:22

it. Not really a big Chris

1:05:25

Nolan guy. I'm sounding like a real hater

1:05:27

I feel like in this list. But I

1:05:29

guess that's how it is. It's Oscar season.

1:05:31

Oppenheimer is going to probably

1:05:33

sweep in a year that I

1:05:35

think is really competitive and I'll be a little bit

1:05:38

annoyed if it's sweep. I can

1:05:40

agree with that and that's without even having

1:05:42

seen things. I've seen Oppenheimer at the very

1:05:44

least. I know how excited I am about

1:05:46

so many of the other things on this

1:05:48

list even just to see at all. It's

1:05:50

such a... You don't get interesting years like

1:05:52

this that often. I think this is a

1:05:54

particularly interesting year. Yeah. Robert

1:05:57

Downey Jr. is great in Oppenheimer.

1:06:00

and I'm down for him to win Best Supporting

1:06:02

Actor. Totally down for that. Not

1:06:04

really super interested in the other aspect of

1:06:06

the movie. It does have

1:06:08

Dr. Venture in it though.

1:06:10

It is a cameo. Dr. Venture's

1:06:12

in there. And I won't expand upon that any further.

1:06:14

We got three movies left, and then we're done

1:06:16

with Best Picture Knob, sorry. Next one

1:06:19

is Past Lives. Haven't seen it yet, wanna see it.

1:06:21

It's directed by a woman who did

1:06:24

a version of Chekhov's The

1:06:26

Seagull, but in The Sims 4. So

1:06:29

I'm in, I am in. I am in.

1:06:32

And I'm a fan. I haven't even seen this movie. I

1:06:34

haven't seen any of this woman's work. Big

1:06:36

fan of her, all right? Good for her. Next

1:06:40

up is Poor Things, which

1:06:42

is the new Yorgos. Not

1:06:44

even gonna try his last name. His first

1:06:46

name's Yorgos, no. And

1:06:49

very weird, surreal movie.

1:06:52

Overwhelming, Strange. Has

1:06:55

Jared Carmichael in it, and a very

1:06:57

fun kind of appearance that I didn't

1:06:59

know about. Has Mark Ruffalo in it,

1:07:02

and he's great. I love Mark

1:07:04

Ruffalo. I think that the reason he

1:07:06

got cast in the movie is because they saw the movie

1:07:08

In the Cut, where he does

1:07:11

some similar stuff in both movies. If

1:07:13

you've seen both, you know what I'm talking about. And

1:07:15

you might even be laughing at this connection I'm making

1:07:17

right now. I even know what you're talking about. I've

1:07:20

seen neither, but I just know. Yeah,

1:07:22

there's something that he did in In the Cut. They're

1:07:24

like, I think we could have him do this again.

1:07:27

And this is a family show, so we're not gonna

1:07:29

get into it. And

1:07:31

let me tell you, if you got a family,

1:07:34

don't take them to see Poor Things. I really

1:07:36

wanna see it. This is my number two. Holdovers

1:07:38

and Poor Things are the things I wanna see

1:07:40

the most out of everything on this list. Yo,

1:07:42

Willem Dafoe and Poor Things, you're

1:07:44

gonna be losing your mind. You're gonna be

1:07:46

yelping. You're gonna be flapping knees. You're gonna

1:07:48

be crapping your pants watching Willem Dafoe and

1:07:50

Poor Things. That is, Willem Dafoe

1:07:52

and Poor Things is such a matte

1:07:54

roll. If You were a really

1:07:57

good actor, you would be doing stuff

1:07:59

that Willem Dafoe. That and there may be.

1:08:01

man. He's. He's. Nasty. Weird. Know that?

1:08:03

maybe it's great. Ah, Ah

1:08:08

what we were asked that tv shows

1:08:10

my I knew in an early this

1:08:12

year ago I didn't expect it is

1:08:14

actually talk about every single best Picture

1:08:16

nominee and well other nice zone of

1:08:18

interest. Oh yes of the

1:08:20

last one is a Zone of Interest

1:08:22

which was my number one movie of

1:08:24

Twenty Twenty Grow. It is that movie

1:08:26

by Jonathan Glazer who made Under the

1:08:28

Skin which was probably one of my

1:08:30

top three. Of. The Twenty

1:08:32

Ten File: Ah I think this

1:08:35

guy makes very uncomfortable. Movies: yeah

1:08:37

ah I think team. He makes

1:08:39

me sad. he makes me weird

1:08:42

the up and zone of interest.

1:08:44

Ah the subject matter alone is.

1:08:47

Very. Interesting. Very. Dark.

1:08:49

Yeah, absurdly dark. I would

1:08:51

even say rape and not

1:08:54

an easy watch. But.

1:08:56

if you like disturbing,

1:08:59

heartfelt, Film. Yeah. I

1:09:01

think you will like. Zone of Interest is the thing

1:09:03

I like about Zone of Interest as compared even under

1:09:05

the skin actually under the skin does a good job

1:09:08

of This is why I think both movies. Disturb.

1:09:10

You. With. Good cause Yeah

1:09:12

right. Yeah, they they are not disturbing

1:09:14

You better be. Ah, You

1:09:17

know because they're so interest rate or whatever

1:09:19

or they're not disturbing you to assist them

1:09:21

How that supposed to be fine? like your

1:09:23

us to eat popcorn. The I now in

1:09:26

on a mainframe and it I feel like.

1:09:29

It lands you in a very

1:09:31

interesting place emotionally. And. It

1:09:33

doesn't necessarily make me feel this type

1:09:35

movie that you watch it and then

1:09:37

you can't leave. and not because it

1:09:39

was a horror movie. Yeah, maybe it

1:09:41

did horrify you ram what and I

1:09:44

like it. but I'm a freak out

1:09:46

or yeah ah I'll say so. but

1:09:48

I watched were because it just born.

1:09:50

A bunch of awards as well. Kidding,

1:09:52

I've bought both seasons a bear. We

1:09:54

took our time with it a little

1:09:56

bit. Mother heard Chef was all the

1:09:58

best sister. so is one. failed because for

1:10:00

me it's got real ups and downs. It's

1:10:05

like the first few episodes are like

1:10:08

oh man this is like uncut gems

1:10:10

the TV show like we're just gonna

1:10:12

be this high-oxing like wildly stressful thing

1:10:14

and then at random times it's like

1:10:16

this is just like a TV show with like

1:10:18

this is our cast and like we just sort of like

1:10:20

do you know it's just a show about a restaurant no

1:10:22

big deal it's just a show about a restaurant and

1:10:25

then at random intervals they're like let's get back

1:10:27

to that freaky energy let's get back and like

1:10:29

really stress you out and like make it where

1:10:31

you can't watch any more episodes of this after

1:10:33

this episode because it stresses you out so much

1:10:36

and then there's

1:10:38

a montage of a guy singing Taylor Swift in

1:10:41

his car and it's the funniest thing I've ever

1:10:43

seen and it's so good it's

1:10:45

so that show runs the gamut and I get

1:10:47

why it won awards even if sometimes I think

1:10:49

it's actually a little bit schlocky and the writing

1:10:51

is like okay yeah

1:10:55

what is that Apple TV show

1:10:58

with Severance Severance yeah

1:11:00

Severance I didn't finish that Katie and I

1:11:03

were just talking today about how we need to finish Severance

1:11:05

yeah so Severance is a good show

1:11:09

I like it and I'm excited

1:11:11

for it to come back even though I'm a

1:11:13

little confused as to what it will be in

1:11:16

a season two sometimes that happens where

1:11:18

I'll be like I like this show

1:11:21

and then it'll be like yeah and that's cool a lot of

1:11:23

people liked it so we're gonna be making more of it and

1:11:25

I'll be like oh there's

1:11:27

gonna be more that's interesting

1:11:30

hopefully it'll be good and I'm excited because

1:11:32

I think I think the cast is

1:11:34

amazing got John Turturro in there yeah my

1:11:36

number one guy like I'm really on the

1:11:38

I mean S tier yeah you know what

1:11:41

I mean yeah I would love you know

1:11:43

how come nobody does tier list all actors

1:11:45

I would that that would be my

1:11:47

like six hour YouTube video that nobody needs

1:11:50

to watch I feel like I could do

1:11:52

a tier list of every single actor alive

1:11:54

right now and then I would do one

1:11:56

of every dead actor who wants

1:11:59

to watch that let Let me know actually,

1:12:01

no, you want me to

1:12:03

do that comment if you want me to

1:12:05

do that because I get really opinionated on

1:12:07

acting. I love I love

1:12:09

a good performance and there's

1:12:11

just you know, I got some hot takes, you

1:12:13

know, like Giamatti would be a lower tier than

1:12:15

people want. I know that. Yeah. Okay.

1:12:18

What what dead actor do you want to watch

1:12:21

every single movie they were ever in? There's a

1:12:23

lot of obvious answers here. I

1:12:26

have been thinking a lot about this guy

1:12:28

Joseph Cotton, a lot who was like

1:12:30

a Orson Wells. Actually, I'll just say

1:12:32

Orson Wells actually. Much easier to say Orson Wells. I don't

1:12:34

even have to explain to you who that is. Sure. Well,

1:12:37

I would love to see every single film that

1:12:39

Orson Wells starred in

1:12:41

every era. In order. In

1:12:43

order. You gotta go through the arc. You

1:12:46

gotta go through it. Yeah. Yeah. Because

1:12:48

that man transforms quite a bit. Okay. And,

1:12:51

but I don't know. He's such an interesting

1:12:53

guy. And I think

1:12:55

he he's my type of actor as well.

1:12:57

Like I'm a little less interested. Like I

1:12:59

don't like what's the Godfather guy's name? What

1:13:01

is his name? Marlon Brando.

1:13:03

Marlon Brando. So like that type of acting I think

1:13:05

is cool. But it's a little bit like that

1:13:08

kind of just feels like he's like an animal

1:13:10

in there. You know, it's like a little like

1:13:12

I like to kind of see the moves, you

1:13:14

know? Sure. And I feel like

1:13:17

Orson Wells, you can really appreciate like what he's doing.

1:13:20

I say that but another actor that I love

1:13:22

is Jeremy Strong. And Jeremy Strong is way more

1:13:24

like a Brando type. That guy is just, you

1:13:27

know, dragging himself into

1:13:29

the closet and like shaking himself away.

1:13:31

You know, and then being like turn

1:13:33

the camera on. Let's go. You

1:13:35

know, like it's that kind of scary, just

1:13:37

sort of like freaked himself out. And now

1:13:39

we're just like actually experiencing something kind of

1:13:41

thing. But I don't know. I guess I

1:13:44

do kind of, there's a lot of different

1:13:46

types of acting that I respond to. Yeah.

1:13:48

I think Orson Wells would be the most

1:13:50

useful person to have seen all of

1:13:52

his movies. That's a fun one. Including, because it

1:13:55

would end with Transformers the Movie. And what

1:13:57

a great place to kind of

1:13:59

sit down there. at the end,

1:14:01

you know? We've done it all,

1:14:03

you know? We've crested, we've peaked,

1:14:06

and now we've landed into the

1:14:08

calm, safe hands

1:14:10

of Unicron, the planet

1:14:12

devourer. Thank

1:14:18

you for listening to Space Cat's Peace

1:14:21

Turtles, and thanks to Ben Prunty for

1:14:23

the use of his music. You can

1:14:25

find more at benpruntymusic.com and benprunty.bandcamp.com Pax

1:14:33

Magnifica, Bellum Laureosum.