About the show

Every week, Jim invites different friends to guest on Topic Lords and be excited about whatever they've been fixated on this week.

Episodes

  • 269. Wet-Ass Planetoid

    December 16th, 2024  |  1 hr 9 secs
    alex, tyriq

    Lords: Tyriq and Alex. We discuss trying to superficially familiarize yourself with every country, the log burner fan, drilling this chair for ancient water, Variations on a Theme by William Carlos Williams, by Kenneth Koch, Boichik Bagels, and the boxfish skeleton.

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    268. Puzzles For Puzzle Enjoyers

    December 9th, 2024  |  59 mins 29 secs
    james, kev

    Lords: James and Kev. We discuss copyparty, egg punk vs. chain punk, going geocaching three times, Septic Tanks, certain kinds of trash you don't see any more, and mosquito bites.

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    267. Unburying The Duck

    December 2nd, 2024  |  1 hr 13 mins
    erica, john

    Lords: John and Erica. We discuss Golden Owl Pre-Post-Mortem, one year of having twins, notepad's support for alternative line endings, and Goodnight Moon (plus Goodnight Dune)

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    266. Voronoi Cookies

    November 25th, 2024  |  1 hr 7 mins
    benwilson, zarf

    Lords: Ben and Andrew. We discuss baking with precise measurement vs. by feel, making crosswords, how many weeks there are in a year, The Rules by Leila Chatti, building fidgeting into a Zoom lecture, and Things of Science.

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    265. We're Here To Make This Slide Floppy

    November 18th, 2024  |  1 hr 10 mins
    chris, tim

    Lords: Tim and Chris. We discuss noodles, the impoverishment of the question, choosing an integrator, Lucky Jim (old song), and collaborative music as a game design problem.

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    264. Pickpocketed So Hard You Die

    November 11th, 2024  |  1 hr 7 mins
    andrew, aubrianne

    Lords: Andrew and Aubrianne. We discuss coming to terms with being bad at video games, charging money for art, messy game design, To Be of Use by Marge Piercy, Films Noir, and Complementary Hobby Power Couples.

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    263. Drafted Into The Applebee's Wars

    November 4th, 2024  |  1 hr 9 mins
    brianne, xalavier

    Lords: Xalavier and Brianne. We discuss movies about contract killers doing contract negotiation, whether fictional characters are better role models than real people, the new Zelda game talks too much and I'm okay with that, Think of Others by Mahmoud Darwish, enacting a customer service draft, and doing terrible things to the Criterion Closet.

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    262. Real Meal, Fictional Man

    October 28th, 2024  |  1 hr 10 mins
    chkf, maxx

    Lords: CisHetKayFaber and Maxx. We discuss food-focused Japanese TV, how pescetarians exist if fish don't, the return of PicoSteveMo, wikipoem.org, and the shifting nature of what is appropriate for children.

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    261. Chat Hurt Chatself In Chat's Confusion

    October 21st, 2024  |  1 hr 3 mins
    diener, mitch

    Lords: Alex and Mitch. We discuss the wikipedia article about Football, classic Macintosh computers, the entomologists in Silence of the Lambs, With Apologies to Dr. Seuss by Supper Mario Broth, Archipelago, and deconstructing chat as a first person pronoun.

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    260. This Sentient Life Could've Been An Email

    October 14th, 2024  |  1 hr 15 mins
    chris, jenni

    Lords: Jenni and Chris. We discuss whether corporate mascots are age-locked to a generation, balls being able to taste soy sauce, BB-8 changed my tire, and The Woodchuck by Sam Pink.

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    259. All Bag, No Pipes

    October 7th, 2024  |  1 hr 8 mins
    elena, tyriq

    Lords: Elena and Tyriq. We discuss being witty and social as a power fantasy, popular music: sometimes popular because it's good, where do we go after Cohost, and Ballad of the Veliger by Walter Garstang.

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    258. Only The Head Of The Deer Sparks Joy

    September 30th, 2024  |  1 hr 4 mins
    cort, marks

    Lords: Cort and Mark. We discuss things you've found in the trash, traveling with children, Adventures with BB-8, Burma Shave Sign by Andrew Plotkin, the useless superpowers game, and whether Mega Man suffers ennui

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    257. Stinky Judo

    September 23rd, 2024  |  1 hr 14 mins
    nathan, tom

    Lords: Nathan and Tom. We discuss France stealing breakdancing during the 2024 Olympics, growing to an age where media is good, how are you saying goodbye to trigraphs, Rain by Raymond Carver, how to pronounce things you normally just type, and rolling in NES tetris.

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    256. Donkey Kong Is A Tankie

    September 16th, 2024  |  1 hr 16 mins
    mark, shirley

    Lords: Mark and Shirley. We discuss naming a human, getting more liberal as you get older, I'm scared to start recording Mario Odyssey, and The Orc

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    255. We're Truly On The Bleeding Edge Of Something

    September 9th, 2024  |  59 mins 2 secs
    adam, linker

    Lords: Adam and Linker. We discuss ways you've changed in 20 years, examples of X animal software running on Y animal hardware, whether erasure poetry counts as poetry, and your favorite RPG (whatever that means)

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    254. Help Me Get Over The Pervert Hump

    September 2nd, 2024  |  1 hr 5 mins
    alicia, ryan

    Lords: Ryan and Alicia. We discuss asking people what they're into without sounding like a pervert, Arctic Expeditions and man's hubris, Asterix Park, and I Won't Call You Pretty, by L.E. Bowman