Idle Thumbs 298: For You, Not Them

[Jake]

Idle Thumbs 298:

For You, Not Them
This week we talk about two fictional metropolises, both invaded by strange, small men intent on messing up the lives of regular folk just trying to get through their day. Also we met Jeff Goldblum.

Discussed: Jeff Goldblum and The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra, Super Mario Odyssey, Batman Returns, Donkey Kong Jr., Bubble Tape, Toxoplasmosis, Robots

 

• Listen on the Episode Page
• Listen on Soundcloud
• Listen in iTunes

[I_smell]

Saw this video this morning, and I thought I better share it with thumbs:
 

 

- Oh they mention it in the episode!!

[SecretAsianMan]

A bit of clarification on Donkey Kong.  Cranky Kong is the original DK from the first game, but he's the current DK's grandfather which makes him Donkey Kong III.  DK Jr. is the current DK's father.  This information has changed a bit over the years, at one point Cranky was DK's father but he's currently his grandfather.

 

To make the Mario story even more confusing, there have been instances in Nintendo games where Mario and Luigi are originally from Brooklyn.  The manual to Mario is Missing states they're from Brooklyn and Shigeru Miyamoto himself said he imagined him to be from New York.  The cartoons also depict Mario living in New York although these are likely not canon.  In my mind I always imagined that the Mario bros were originally normal humans from New York that got transported to the dimension of the Mario games and after spending so much time there they were transformed into their current states.

[Salacious Snake]

The live action feature film needs to be accounted for as well. 

 

This episode really cracked me up. When it reached the "are bats birds?" discussion I began to question the safety of driving (with my son in the car) while listening. I was dying. 

[Simon]

I enjoyed the range of Mario descriptions Chris came up with in his outrage - had to go back through that section and make a note of them:
'basically some kind of capering goblin'

'grotesque homunculus who scampers around'
'pudgy little gnome who waddles around'
'weird, bulbous, gross man'
'shitty little troll'

[Atlantic]

Regarding the end of the podcast where the Thumbs say they are more inclined to talk about whatever rather than just video games: I wanted to chime in and say that I have always liked when the discussion broadens. (For reference, I started listening in 2008.) Like when Chris was really enthusiastic about the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy film from a few years ago, it encouraged me to watch it, and read the books. I have now read seven or eight John Le Carré novels and I adore them. I had hoped a few years ago that the podcast would turn more into a nerd-adjacent culture show, and maybe that's what the episode 300 era will be.

 

[Cordeos]

  On 1/19/2017 at 4:10 PM, Atlantic said:

Regarding the end of the podcast where the Thumbs say they are more inclined to talk about whatever rather than just video games: I wanted to chime in and say that I have always liked when the discussion broadens. (For reference, I started listening in 2008.) Like when Chris was really enthusiastic about the Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy film from a few years ago, it encouraged me to watch it, and read the books. I have now read seven or eight John Le Carré novels and I adore them. I had hoped a few years ago that the podcast would turn more into a nerd-adjacent culture show, and maybe that's what the episode 300 era will be.

 

I tried getting into the books but really disliked A Murder of Quality. Is that book an aberration or par for the course? 

[Atlantic]

  On 1/19/2017 at 5:19 PM, Cordeos said:

I tried getting into the books but really disliked A Murder of Quality. Is that book an aberration or par for the course? 

 

It's an aberration definitely. I thought it was a bit weak in comparison to his other novels. It's the only one set outside the intelligence community, and has very few connections to the rest of the George Smiley stories. It gives a bit of background on Ann, but generally you can pick up everything you need to know in passing. I'd recommend not reading them in published order though. Tinker, Tailor is probably the best, and if you like that read the rest of the Karla trilogy (The Honourable Schoolboy and Smiley's People). They are not as good as the first, but still have some interesting little bits to them. The Spy Who Came in From The Cold is also pretty good, if you want the focus on different characters, but you can tell Le Carré still hasn't quite hit his stride yet.

[Nappi]

The discussed list in this episode is pretty great. I definitely don't mind if the podcast becomes (even) less about video games.

 

(A Perfect Spy is the best le Carre novel)

[Patrick R]

  On 1/19/2017 at 1:42 PM, SecretAsianMan said:

  In my mind I always imagined that the Mario bros were originally normal humans from New York that got transported to the dimension of the Mario games and after spending so much time there they were transformed into their current states.

 

The way James gets all stop-motiony when he climbs into the giant peach?

[Granny Dragon]

I think you should cast your pods filled with whatever makes you enthusiastic about casting, and I always enjoyed the discussions "off-track". At the same time, I'd like it if you kept video games as the central focus. It's where your common expertise is and I get much out of your observations and experiences especially nowadays when my gaming time is more limited.

 

P.S.: You probably know that The Last of Us is inspired by a fungus that alters ant behaviour. There is another parasite (a fluke) which infects ants - one fluke in each ant digs into the host's nerve clusters and causes it to climb up a blade of grass and stay there so it gets eaten by sheep. Actually, the full cycle is sheep -> snail -> ant -> sheep.

[Badfinger]

ahh new musical sting!!!

 

e:

 

 

 

[clyde]

Speaking of media parallels with crass politicians, the comparison to B.P. Richfield from Dinosaurs is my favorite so far.

https://www.google.com/amp/www.avclub.com/amp/244740

[SecretAsianMan]

  On 1/19/2017 at 9:42 PM, Badfinger said:

ahh new musical sting!!!

 

e:

 

 

 

 

I came here to post the previous part

 

[Mawd]

It feels perfectly fine if games fall off the radar here.

I mean since you all still work in the games space surely they'll come up now and then so it's not like they'll be gone altogether for too long.

Your offtopic talks are fantastic so y'know, it's always great to have more coming.

[juv3nal]

 

[WickedCestus]

I loved this episode! The "Are bats birds?" discussion absolutely killed me, and I was going to mention Chris' wonderful descriptions of Mario if juv3nal (via Austin Walker) hadn't pointed them out already. 

 

I'm all for the direction you guys are choosing to go, if the last few episodes are any indication. Idle Thumbs is the only video game podcast I still listen to all the way through every week (I skim through the Beastcast and Waypoint), since I don't play video games that often anymore. Cast this pod however you wish and I'll tag along! 

[noiseredux]

  On 1/19/2017 at 8:17 PM, Granny Dragon said:

I think you should cast your pods filled with whatever makes you enthusiastic about casting, and I always enjoyed the discussions "off-track". At the same time, I'd like it if you kept video games as the central focus. It's where your common expertise is and I get much out of your observations and experiences especially nowadays when my gaming time is more limited.

 

long-time listener/first time poster, and I actually signed up just to chime in with this same thought. (And also to co-sign, that I don't think bats are birds either). Personally, I always enjoy the non-video game talk on the show. BUT the main reason that it's one of my favorite shows is for the great gaming conversation that is always really thought provoking. I can't tell you how many games I've experienced (and loved) because of this podcast - many of them games I would have most likely overlooked otherwise.

 

Either way, keep up the great work guys!

 

 

[Gormongous]

I've always thought that Idle Thumbs is about the intense, discursive, and irreverent exploration of topics, more than about video games. If you guys never talk about games again, I don't know about that, but broadening the palette is great, in my eyes.

[Problem Machine]

I think the way I'd like to see you approach this is generally to start from games but to just follow that thread wherever it takes you. I think what's always set this pod is apart is a willingness to go down strange conversational pathways and see where they lead rather than start a conversation knowing exactly where you want it to end up. So I'd like to see IT maintain an identity adjacent to games, but also maintain a full willingness to spread out into wider cultural stuff -- since, really, games interact with all that stuff, and any picture that focuses on games too intently is doomed to crop out the wider and often more interesting cultural network which they affect and are affected by.

 

This is a process I've gone through myself since I started my blog a few years ago -- originally I'd intended it as a place to talk about game design, but as it progressed I found that discussions of game design often lead to discussions about how we create and are influenced by art and what role apparently frivolous creations have in the world. A big part of the reason I was able to make that transition was seeing IT demonstrate that sometimes the most interesting and valuable discussions on a topic at first seem like silly digressions -- until we pull back and see how it all connects. And sometimes a silly digression is just that, as well, and that's fine too.

[JumpJump]

I've unsubscribed from more than a handful of gaming podcasts in the last few month for wandering so far off topic that games are a long distant memory. There a only a tiny number of smart, independent and well respected voices in games journalism left, this year has shown a HUGE erosion of people's trust in the games/game news/reviews cycle (and the industry is surprised when sales of their big titles under-perform). I am totally behind you taking the podcast any way you want to that keeps it interesting for you, but I for one would miss your unique take on games. In other news when I saw you on video Nick looked exactly how I'd imagined and I thought Chris looked like he should be singing me a song from Halfway Up the Stairs.

[SecretAsianMan]

I think games make a good kick off point, a way to start on common ground then branch off into whatever train of thought takes hold.  That's what I've enjoyed about the podcast in the past.  While I don't think there should be an obligation to have recently played a game so it can be discussed, I do like it when things start that way.  Still, what I enjoy the most about the cast is listening to whatever is being talked about so I'm willing to go along with some format experimentation, at least for now.

[Patrick R]

I know he probably just doesn't want to be on anymore but

A) Sean was always my favorite when talking about non-game things.

If you're already gonna be messing with the format and focus, he might as well come on more often.

C) Maybe he's already planned to be on for 300? Or should?

[chummer]

At this point I've gladly listened to a combination of ya'll talk about True Crime, Mad Men, Twin Peaks, and various books and have always enjoyed it. I trust ya'll to make an interesting thing and if broadening the podcast's topics is what keeps you doing it, then I'm all for it.

[Badfinger]

In my mind games are the bedrock of Idle Thumbs, and I'd be disappointed if it got so far afield that there wasn't any thread tethering discussion back to games or games culture. I actually kind of love the desperate twists and turns the conversations take to somehow make them video game adjacent.

 

At the same time, some of my favorite stuff from Idle Thumbs has nothing to do with video games. Robot News isn't video games, Jeff Gone Goldblum isn't video game news. The other podcast that happens in the same room, Video Games Hot Dog, is often times barely about video games and it's great in the same way Thumbs is great. I love wild tangents and wacky off the cuff conversation, but I will be frank that a general pop culture podcast is much less appealing to me. If what's actually happening is the same thing as always but you're just going to feel less guilty about it, hell yeah.