web02.fireside.fm Sat, 18 Apr 2026 01:04:53 -0500 Fireside (https://fireside.fm) Topic Lords - Episodes Tagged with “Johnb” https://topiclords.com/tags/johnb Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0800 Every week, Jim invites different friends to guest on Topic Lords and be excited about whatever they've been fixated on this week. en-us episodic The only place on the internet you can hear topics discussed! Jim Stormdancer Every week, Jim invites different friends to guest on Topic Lords and be excited about whatever they've been fixated on this week. yes Jim Stormdancer jim@goombas.org 315. I Can't Believe It's Butter https://topiclords.com/i-cant-believe-its-butter 4093f8b9-084c-4226-9770-d338c841abb1 Mon, 03 Nov 2025 00:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: John and Kevin. We discuss dealing with criticism, how long until multiverse/crossover media is exciting again, cringe that's so cringey it's no longer upsetting, Bell's Theorem by Kevin Hainline, and the golden age of new official localizations of old games. 1:20:00 yes Lords: * John * Kevin * https://www.youtube.com/@kevin_hainline Topics: * Asking for help / Dealing with the slightest criticism/suggestions/etc * Roger Rabbit and Marvel vs. Capcom were big deals. How long until multiverse & crossover shit is exciting again? * Update on media that makes me feel things vs. media that doesn't * "Bell's Theorem"", a poem that I wrote, and then, at a poetry reading someone suggested the next poem and it demonstrated how good poets are pretty amazing and I am not a good poet * https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CkNH-KlDCAMRNsI6hDZjlyvOpAgM2TsP8x-lIp5TeqQ/edit?usp=sharing * We're in a golden age of new official localizations and rereleases of old games (and why am I not playing them?!) Microtopics: * Some guy on the internet. * Transparent aluminum ukuleles. * Hurting your fingers because your ukulele action is too high. * Do you still call them cowboy chords when you play them on a ukulele? * An astronomer making a series of Youtube videos about Jurassic Park. * The history of Mr. DNA. * How much kids in the early 90s loved Jamaicans. * Solving a 30 year old Internet mystery. * Suing Michael Crichton to make him put you in the Jurassic Park acknowledgements section. * The Ancient DNA Study Group. * Ian Malcolm just saying a bunch of lines from James Gleick's "Chaos." * Going into slow motion to show all the Victorian era pickpocketing. * Asking an august astronomer to critique your work and squirming as he critiques your work. * Therapy-style processing via Topic Lords. * People who like being asked for help because it gives them an opportunity to help. * The German word for being a person. * Being so overly polite that people feel obligated to reassure you that you don't need to be so polite, which is a big pain. * After someone helps you, asking for clarification on whether they wanted to help or if they felt obligated. * How to save Jim a lot of time and effort. * Two people coming from the same gross Internet soup. (Not 4chan) * The friends you made on the Pokey the Penguin mailing list. * Swearing to kids these days that the internet was good once. * Finding the exact right gif for your animated profile picture. * Pretend socialization: it's still socialization. * Knowing a guy by his Internet handle for decades and suddenly having to call him his birth name. * When crossovers started being a thing. * The Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people, saying the stage for the world depicted in Bio Freaks for the N64. * Daffy and Donald playing rival pianos. * Detective Munch's cameo in Fortnite. * Konami Wai Wai World. * Vib Ribbon n Astro Bot. * Why am I on this show when I could be playing Vib Ribbon? * Burning episodes of Topic Lords to CD-R so you can play them in Vib Ribbon. * Extremely pixelated vector art. * The save the cat moment on Topic Lords. * Mind-blowing crossover media events where the mind-blowing part is how much they paid all the lawyers to negotiate the deal. * Why the indie game scene hadn't produced a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with public domain characters like Robin Hood, Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and Abraham Lincoln. * Reagan-Gorbachev. * Which president was kidnapped by ninjas. * Choosing to let the ninjas keep Ronald Reagan. * Ape Out: Get Back In There! * Pushing the left stick to lean and pushing the triggers to lift either foot. * Trying to play a video game in which you dislike the protagonist. * A guy whose defining trait is that he tries to get out of every conversation as quickly as possible. * Playing with the mismatch between what the player wants and what the player character wants. * Upsetting the apple cart of how video games work. * A minimap that takes up the top fifth of the screen but is nonfunctional until you unlock it halfway through the game. * Which Jurassic Park video game is most interesting and which is most fun. * Looking down at your cleavage to see your health meter. * Saying the secret word and screaming real loud. * A poem based on a physics thing. * Forgetting your ex girlfriend's face, along with all the state capitals. * Time pointing an arrow at your back, and you walk. * The New Physicality of Long-Distance Love. * Sending a poet up on the spaceship to drain buckets from downtown. * A poem written sometime between 1936 and 1992. * Off-Topic Lords, a place for people who shout answers at podcasts in grocery stores. * A collection of Double Dragon and Kunio-kun games. * Kid Dracula. * Mother 3's copyright nightmare. * Mario Paint on the Switch 2. * Who was the Terry that Chris Houlihan replaced in Nintendo World Cup? * Satellaview games ported to the Switch. * Batman Loves Him a Parallelogram. * Joining the discord for the best PicoSteveMo experience. * KevinHainlineOnYoutube.com * Naming a distant galaxy after yourself and other astronomers mocking you mercilessly. Lords:

Topics:

  • Asking for help / Dealing with the slightest criticism/suggestions/etc
  • Roger Rabbit and Marvel vs. Capcom were big deals. How long until multiverse & crossover shit is exciting again?
  • Update on media that makes me feel things vs. media that doesn't
  • "Bell's Theorem"", a poem that I wrote, and then, at a poetry reading someone suggested the next poem and it demonstrated how good poets are pretty amazing and I am not a good poet
  • We're in a golden age of new official localizations and rereleases of old games (and why am I not playing them?!)

Microtopics:

  • Some guy on the internet.
  • Transparent aluminum ukuleles.
  • Hurting your fingers because your ukulele action is too high.
  • Do you still call them cowboy chords when you play them on a ukulele?
  • An astronomer making a series of Youtube videos about Jurassic Park.
  • The history of Mr. DNA.
  • How much kids in the early 90s loved Jamaicans.
  • Solving a 30 year old Internet mystery.
  • Suing Michael Crichton to make him put you in the Jurassic Park acknowledgements section.
  • The Ancient DNA Study Group.
  • Ian Malcolm just saying a bunch of lines from James Gleick's "Chaos."
  • Going into slow motion to show all the Victorian era pickpocketing.
  • Asking an august astronomer to critique your work and squirming as he critiques your work.
  • Therapy-style processing via Topic Lords.
  • People who like being asked for help because it gives them an opportunity to help.
  • The German word for being a person.
  • Being so overly polite that people feel obligated to reassure you that you don't need to be so polite, which is a big pain.
  • After someone helps you, asking for clarification on whether they wanted to help or if they felt obligated.
  • How to save Jim a lot of time and effort.
  • Two people coming from the same gross Internet soup. (Not 4chan)
  • The friends you made on the Pokey the Penguin mailing list.
  • Swearing to kids these days that the internet was good once.
  • Finding the exact right gif for your animated profile picture.
  • Pretend socialization: it's still socialization.
  • Knowing a guy by his Internet handle for decades and suddenly having to call him his birth name.
  • When crossovers started being a thing.
  • The Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people, saying the stage for the world depicted in Bio Freaks for the N64.
  • Daffy and Donald playing rival pianos.
  • Detective Munch's cameo in Fortnite.
  • Konami Wai Wai World.
  • Vib Ribbon n Astro Bot.
  • Why am I on this show when I could be playing Vib Ribbon?
  • Burning episodes of Topic Lords to CD-R so you can play them in Vib Ribbon.
  • Extremely pixelated vector art.
  • The save the cat moment on Topic Lords.
  • Mind-blowing crossover media events where the mind-blowing part is how much they paid all the lawyers to negotiate the deal.
  • Why the indie game scene hadn't produced a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with public domain characters like Robin Hood, Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and Abraham Lincoln.
  • Reagan-Gorbachev.
  • Which president was kidnapped by ninjas.
  • Choosing to let the ninjas keep Ronald Reagan.
  • Ape Out: Get Back In There!
  • Pushing the left stick to lean and pushing the triggers to lift either foot.
  • Trying to play a video game in which you dislike the protagonist.
  • A guy whose defining trait is that he tries to get out of every conversation as quickly as possible.
  • Playing with the mismatch between what the player wants and what the player character wants.
  • Upsetting the apple cart of how video games work.
  • A minimap that takes up the top fifth of the screen but is nonfunctional until you unlock it halfway through the game.
  • Which Jurassic Park video game is most interesting and which is most fun.
  • Looking down at your cleavage to see your health meter.
  • Saying the secret word and screaming real loud.
  • A poem based on a physics thing.
  • Forgetting your ex girlfriend's face, along with all the state capitals.
  • Time pointing an arrow at your back, and you walk.
  • The New Physicality of Long-Distance Love.
  • Sending a poet up on the spaceship to drain buckets from downtown.
  • A poem written sometime between 1936 and 1992.
  • Off-Topic Lords, a place for people who shout answers at podcasts in grocery stores.
  • A collection of Double Dragon and Kunio-kun games.
  • Kid Dracula.
  • Mother 3's copyright nightmare.
  • Mario Paint on the Switch 2.
  • Who was the Terry that Chris Houlihan replaced in Nintendo World Cup?
  • Satellaview games ported to the Switch.
  • Batman Loves Him a Parallelogram.
  • Joining the discord for the best PicoSteveMo experience.
  • KevinHainlineOnYoutube.com
  • Naming a distant galaxy after yourself and other astronomers mocking you mercilessly.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

Topics:

  • Asking for help / Dealing with the slightest criticism/suggestions/etc
  • Roger Rabbit and Marvel vs. Capcom were big deals. How long until multiverse & crossover shit is exciting again?
  • Update on media that makes me feel things vs. media that doesn't
  • "Bell's Theorem"", a poem that I wrote, and then, at a poetry reading someone suggested the next poem and it demonstrated how good poets are pretty amazing and I am not a good poet
  • We're in a golden age of new official localizations and rereleases of old games (and why am I not playing them?!)

Microtopics:

  • Some guy on the internet.
  • Transparent aluminum ukuleles.
  • Hurting your fingers because your ukulele action is too high.
  • Do you still call them cowboy chords when you play them on a ukulele?
  • An astronomer making a series of Youtube videos about Jurassic Park.
  • The history of Mr. DNA.
  • How much kids in the early 90s loved Jamaicans.
  • Solving a 30 year old Internet mystery.
  • Suing Michael Crichton to make him put you in the Jurassic Park acknowledgements section.
  • The Ancient DNA Study Group.
  • Ian Malcolm just saying a bunch of lines from James Gleick's "Chaos."
  • Going into slow motion to show all the Victorian era pickpocketing.
  • Asking an august astronomer to critique your work and squirming as he critiques your work.
  • Therapy-style processing via Topic Lords.
  • People who like being asked for help because it gives them an opportunity to help.
  • The German word for being a person.
  • Being so overly polite that people feel obligated to reassure you that you don't need to be so polite, which is a big pain.
  • After someone helps you, asking for clarification on whether they wanted to help or if they felt obligated.
  • How to save Jim a lot of time and effort.
  • Two people coming from the same gross Internet soup. (Not 4chan)
  • The friends you made on the Pokey the Penguin mailing list.
  • Swearing to kids these days that the internet was good once.
  • Finding the exact right gif for your animated profile picture.
  • Pretend socialization: it's still socialization.
  • Knowing a guy by his Internet handle for decades and suddenly having to call him his birth name.
  • When crossovers started being a thing.
  • The Supreme Court ruling that corporations are people, saying the stage for the world depicted in Bio Freaks for the N64.
  • Daffy and Donald playing rival pianos.
  • Detective Munch's cameo in Fortnite.
  • Konami Wai Wai World.
  • Vib Ribbon n Astro Bot.
  • Why am I on this show when I could be playing Vib Ribbon?
  • Burning episodes of Topic Lords to CD-R so you can play them in Vib Ribbon.
  • Extremely pixelated vector art.
  • The save the cat moment on Topic Lords.
  • Mind-blowing crossover media events where the mind-blowing part is how much they paid all the lawyers to negotiate the deal.
  • Why the indie game scene hadn't produced a League of Extraordinary Gentlemen with public domain characters like Robin Hood, Santa Claus, Mickey Mouse and Abraham Lincoln.
  • Reagan-Gorbachev.
  • Which president was kidnapped by ninjas.
  • Choosing to let the ninjas keep Ronald Reagan.
  • Ape Out: Get Back In There!
  • Pushing the left stick to lean and pushing the triggers to lift either foot.
  • Trying to play a video game in which you dislike the protagonist.
  • A guy whose defining trait is that he tries to get out of every conversation as quickly as possible.
  • Playing with the mismatch between what the player wants and what the player character wants.
  • Upsetting the apple cart of how video games work.
  • A minimap that takes up the top fifth of the screen but is nonfunctional until you unlock it halfway through the game.
  • Which Jurassic Park video game is most interesting and which is most fun.
  • Looking down at your cleavage to see your health meter.
  • Saying the secret word and screaming real loud.
  • A poem based on a physics thing.
  • Forgetting your ex girlfriend's face, along with all the state capitals.
  • Time pointing an arrow at your back, and you walk.
  • The New Physicality of Long-Distance Love.
  • Sending a poet up on the spaceship to drain buckets from downtown.
  • A poem written sometime between 1936 and 1992.
  • Off-Topic Lords, a place for people who shout answers at podcasts in grocery stores.
  • A collection of Double Dragon and Kunio-kun games.
  • Kid Dracula.
  • Mother 3's copyright nightmare.
  • Mario Paint on the Switch 2.
  • Who was the Terry that Chris Houlihan replaced in Nintendo World Cup?
  • Satellaview games ported to the Switch.
  • Batman Loves Him a Parallelogram.
  • Joining the discord for the best PicoSteveMo experience.
  • KevinHainlineOnYoutube.com
  • Naming a distant galaxy after yourself and other astronomers mocking you mercilessly.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 311. Godzilla's Daily Routine https://topiclords.com/godzillas-daily-routine d20415cd-0b75-48a8-9a43-79cd872fe056 Mon, 06 Oct 2025 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: John and Fif. We discuss accidentally exploring a bunch of related subjects, the excellent progression system of Blues' Clues ABCs (1995), salty Licorice as the sixth taste, the Cubivore between-level limerick, and having 55,555 names. 1:04:37 yes Lords: * John * Fif Topics: * Accidentally exploring a bunch of related subjects and/or media * The excellent progression system of Blues' Clues ABCs (1995) * https://archive.org/details/blues-clues-blues-abc-time-activities-pc-cd-rom * Salty Licorice is the sixth taste * https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/a-sixth-sense-of-taste-salty-licorice/ * https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salty_liquorice * The Cubivore between-level limerick * https://www.mobygames.com/game/11346/cubivore-survival-of-the-fittest/credits/gamecube/ * 55,555 names Microtopics: * Modern problems requiring modern solutions. * Leaving media behind. * Subscribing to PBS Passport via your local PBS affiliate. * Running out of media and just watching Peaceful Skeleton Realm Attacked By Helicopter over and over again. * Whether the Arctic Circle requires any age verification. * What even are Truck Nuts? * Why do trucks have such tiny nuts?? * Watching a movie every day because you're unemployed. * I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. * Independent used bookstores in the San Diego Area. * Used bookstores desperately trying to get rid of math textbooks. * The original Topic Lords. * Having a lot of knowledge that you can call on in a useful way. * Being old and having learned a lot of stuff. * Your mom describing your brain as "a bric-a-brac of useless facts." * Science Fiction Hall of Fame. * The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue. * Someone who you forget as soon they go out of sight. * An SCP from the perspective of the SCP. * A really cool interactive fiction scene in France. * Rules lawyering your way out of yet another curse. * The 17th century demon cursing you to live forever and also that "whenever you send an email people won't be able to read what you wrote, they'll just say 'not more dick pill spam.'" * Word-based minigames. * The blank was in the sky. Blue had fun with her blank. * Making a game for three year olds warning them about insecure pedants on the Internet. * What year of our Lord was Bully released? * We don't talk about the 2010s. * The Milton Bradley Microvision. * The game is about cubes eating and fucking. * Trying to describe any flavor * Blue the Dog. * Scandinavian Delicacy Ammonium Chloride. * A quest to track down Circus Peanuts. * An edible earplug that tastes like fake bananas. * Red Vines and Black Red Vines. * Being the only grocery store in town that sells licorice and reeling in the only licorice eater in town. * That Rotting Shark Dish. * The white people equivalent of huitlacoche. * The Secret Cowbell. * The hip hop community realizing that you can increase the delay on the kick drum and rattle your entire car for several seconds. * Tigers can't see the sideshow, only cows can see the sideshow. * Piggy Fif. * A classic poem about cubes fucking. * Checking GameFAQs for a list of poems in Cubivore. * Piggy Playername's extremely distinctive manner of speaking. * Atlus Beast and Editing Beast. * The Cubivore trophy in Super Smash Bros. * A genetic progression that you need to do by transmogrifying into a progression of various beasts. * Entering a tunnel shaped like a heart and sitting in a flesh colored void until you attract 20 females into your harem. * Want to mate? Yes/no. * The Cubivore manual with the cutaway diagram of cube physiology. * Bully/Cubivore crossover fic. * Little Samson. * Get good at enjoying video games without being validated by a tiny purple cube, scrub. * The file you keep of all the names you'll answer to. * Pith, fip, pince, fifth, and fint. * People: they have a lot of names. * Being diagnosably bad at code switching. * Writing a random number of fs as a symbol representing your employee. * Choosing to be the banana taped to the wall. * Gaming naming. * Printing up a deck of constraints for when you're asking people to choose a name for you. * Paraeducation. * Jobs at The MADE. * The Worst Nintendo Store. * Teaching game design to young children every Saturday morning. * The forefront of the next generation of digital creators. Lords:

  • John
  • Fif

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Modern problems requiring modern solutions.
  • Leaving media behind.
  • Subscribing to PBS Passport via your local PBS affiliate.
  • Running out of media and just watching Peaceful Skeleton Realm Attacked By Helicopter over and over again.
  • Whether the Arctic Circle requires any age verification.
  • What even are Truck Nuts?
  • Why do trucks have such tiny nuts??
  • Watching a movie every day because you're unemployed.
  • I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
  • Independent used bookstores in the San Diego Area.
  • Used bookstores desperately trying to get rid of math textbooks.
  • The original Topic Lords.
  • Having a lot of knowledge that you can call on in a useful way.
  • Being old and having learned a lot of stuff.
  • Your mom describing your brain as "a bric-a-brac of useless facts."
  • Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
  • Someone who you forget as soon they go out of sight.
  • An SCP from the perspective of the SCP.
  • A really cool interactive fiction scene in France.
  • Rules lawyering your way out of yet another curse.
  • The 17th century demon cursing you to live forever and also that "whenever you send an email people won't be able to read what you wrote, they'll just say 'not more dick pill spam.'"
  • Word-based minigames.
  • The blank was in the sky. Blue had fun with her blank.
  • Making a game for three year olds warning them about insecure pedants on the Internet.
  • What year of our Lord was Bully released?
  • We don't talk about the 2010s.
  • The Milton Bradley Microvision.
  • The game is about cubes eating and fucking.
  • Trying to describe any flavor
  • Blue the Dog.
  • Scandinavian Delicacy Ammonium Chloride.
  • A quest to track down Circus Peanuts.
  • An edible earplug that tastes like fake bananas.
  • Red Vines and Black Red Vines.
  • Being the only grocery store in town that sells licorice and reeling in the only licorice eater in town.
  • That Rotting Shark Dish.
  • The white people equivalent of huitlacoche.
  • The Secret Cowbell.
  • The hip hop community realizing that you can increase the delay on the kick drum and rattle your entire car for several seconds.
  • Tigers can't see the sideshow, only cows can see the sideshow.
  • Piggy Fif.
  • A classic poem about cubes fucking.
  • Checking GameFAQs for a list of poems in Cubivore.
  • Piggy Playername's extremely distinctive manner of speaking.
  • Atlus Beast and Editing Beast.
  • The Cubivore trophy in Super Smash Bros.
  • A genetic progression that you need to do by transmogrifying into a progression of various beasts.
  • Entering a tunnel shaped like a heart and sitting in a flesh colored void until you attract 20 females into your harem.
  • Want to mate? Yes/no.
  • The Cubivore manual with the cutaway diagram of cube physiology.
  • Bully/Cubivore crossover fic.
  • Little Samson.
  • Get good at enjoying video games without being validated by a tiny purple cube, scrub.
  • The file you keep of all the names you'll answer to.
  • Pith, fip, pince, fifth, and fint.
  • People: they have a lot of names.
  • Being diagnosably bad at code switching.
  • Writing a random number of fs as a symbol representing your employee.
  • Choosing to be the banana taped to the wall.
  • Gaming naming.
  • Printing up a deck of constraints for when you're asking people to choose a name for you.
  • Paraeducation.
  • Jobs at The MADE.
  • The Worst Nintendo Store.
  • Teaching game design to young children every Saturday morning.
  • The forefront of the next generation of digital creators.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

  • John
  • Fif

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Modern problems requiring modern solutions.
  • Leaving media behind.
  • Subscribing to PBS Passport via your local PBS affiliate.
  • Running out of media and just watching Peaceful Skeleton Realm Attacked By Helicopter over and over again.
  • Whether the Arctic Circle requires any age verification.
  • What even are Truck Nuts?
  • Why do trucks have such tiny nuts??
  • Watching a movie every day because you're unemployed.
  • I'm Gonna Git You Sucka.
  • Independent used bookstores in the San Diego Area.
  • Used bookstores desperately trying to get rid of math textbooks.
  • The original Topic Lords.
  • Having a lot of knowledge that you can call on in a useful way.
  • Being old and having learned a lot of stuff.
  • Your mom describing your brain as "a bric-a-brac of useless facts."
  • Science Fiction Hall of Fame.
  • The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
  • Someone who you forget as soon they go out of sight.
  • An SCP from the perspective of the SCP.
  • A really cool interactive fiction scene in France.
  • Rules lawyering your way out of yet another curse.
  • The 17th century demon cursing you to live forever and also that "whenever you send an email people won't be able to read what you wrote, they'll just say 'not more dick pill spam.'"
  • Word-based minigames.
  • The blank was in the sky. Blue had fun with her blank.
  • Making a game for three year olds warning them about insecure pedants on the Internet.
  • What year of our Lord was Bully released?
  • We don't talk about the 2010s.
  • The Milton Bradley Microvision.
  • The game is about cubes eating and fucking.
  • Trying to describe any flavor
  • Blue the Dog.
  • Scandinavian Delicacy Ammonium Chloride.
  • A quest to track down Circus Peanuts.
  • An edible earplug that tastes like fake bananas.
  • Red Vines and Black Red Vines.
  • Being the only grocery store in town that sells licorice and reeling in the only licorice eater in town.
  • That Rotting Shark Dish.
  • The white people equivalent of huitlacoche.
  • The Secret Cowbell.
  • The hip hop community realizing that you can increase the delay on the kick drum and rattle your entire car for several seconds.
  • Tigers can't see the sideshow, only cows can see the sideshow.
  • Piggy Fif.
  • A classic poem about cubes fucking.
  • Checking GameFAQs for a list of poems in Cubivore.
  • Piggy Playername's extremely distinctive manner of speaking.
  • Atlus Beast and Editing Beast.
  • The Cubivore trophy in Super Smash Bros.
  • A genetic progression that you need to do by transmogrifying into a progression of various beasts.
  • Entering a tunnel shaped like a heart and sitting in a flesh colored void until you attract 20 females into your harem.
  • Want to mate? Yes/no.
  • The Cubivore manual with the cutaway diagram of cube physiology.
  • Bully/Cubivore crossover fic.
  • Little Samson.
  • Get good at enjoying video games without being validated by a tiny purple cube, scrub.
  • The file you keep of all the names you'll answer to.
  • Pith, fip, pince, fifth, and fint.
  • People: they have a lot of names.
  • Being diagnosably bad at code switching.
  • Writing a random number of fs as a symbol representing your employee.
  • Choosing to be the banana taped to the wall.
  • Gaming naming.
  • Printing up a deck of constraints for when you're asking people to choose a name for you.
  • Paraeducation.
  • Jobs at The MADE.
  • The Worst Nintendo Store.
  • Teaching game design to young children every Saturday morning.
  • The forefront of the next generation of digital creators.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 274. Samuel Beckett's Animal Crossing Letters https://topiclords.com/samuel-becketts-animal-crossing-letters dccf902d-0ca1-4cca-888a-36962ee0bd09 Mon, 20 Jan 2025 00:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: John and Elena. We discuss potlock advent calendars, NES games that science says are bad, how animals read, this untitled breakup poem by ailbey 1:06:00 yes Lords: * John * https://abbydenton.itch.io/the-blade-of-cutiepants-a-very-cutie-christmas * Elena Topics: * Potluck advent calendar * NES games in my collection that are currently ranked rather low according to Science * http://8bitnintendo.science * Subtopic: I've grown to love engaging with criticism and differing opinions of silly things I like. * How animals read * https://jamchamb.net/projects/animal-crossing-letters * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zy-kIXzX5Cc * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGlpWJ80d_Y * https://ailbey.tumblr.com/post/750880084257374208 * https://www.amazon.com/Dynamic-Wrinkles-Drapery-Solutions-Drawing/dp/0823015874 * https://www.drawright.com/ * https://www.amazon.com/Colour-Atlas-Human-Anatomy/dp/0723408823 Microtopics: * Crispy Shrimp Balls. * What makes it Dim Sum? * Whether there's always a cart that you roll around. * Tapas Lords, a new ASMR podcast. * The Blade of Cutie Pants: a Very Cutie Christmas. * Christmas Dangerous Dave. * Here's a song. I'm going to scroll past that. * Stock footage of Godzilla attacks. * An album about making games in Kilk n Play. * Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream. * Jim's songs in the Hypnospace OST. * Knowing a lot of people just by hanging out and being entertaining. * Recognizing sounds by looking at them. * Tea and Jam Advent Calendars. * Tippy Tops. * 3D-printed animals with wiggly arms. * Taking the economics of Halloween and applying it to Christmas. * Stocking Stuffers Every Day. * 365-day Advent Calendars. * Santa with a Fanta. * Showing Home Alone to a kid who already loves setting up traps. * An Advent Calendar filled with traps. * Never playing board games but opening up the boxes and playing with the pieces. * Fake Winstons. * Getting 2.5 trinkets from each person. * Half-Lego, Half-Chocolate. * Why your favorite NES games are terrible. * Shipping a game that's no good but damned if it doesn't exist. * A Failure of Science. * Rare game or Rare game? * The Treasure Master walk cycle. * The worst NES games with the best soundtracks. * British developers succeeding on the Commodore 64 but failing on the NES because people are willing to pay 6 quid for the latest Rob Hubbard track, but not $50. * Your neighbor who had Big Nose Freaks Out. * Punching the clues. * Buying the 3D version of Urban Champion on purpose. * Trying to go back to Super Monkey Ball. * Nostalgically revisiting your best Super Monkey Ball replays. * Accidentally transposing two digits and now you have a Super Monkey Ball world record. * Making local copies of videos you want to continue to exist. * Recognizing when something works for someone else but not you. * Writing letters to your animal neighbors. * The seven criteria to judge a letter. * How to safely write a letter about VVVVVV to your Animal Crossing neighbor. * Roleplaying James Joyce in Animal Crossing. * Teaching Animal Crossing a slur and then returning the cartridge to Gamestop. * Deciding that it's okay if local news stations freak out. * Taking joy in extremely mundane activities. * How you spend your moments and how you feel about them. * Watching TV so that in several decades you can go to a bar and find out who's the same age as you. * Practicing love by trying to love yourself. * The breakup song from the Wedding Singer. * Corollaries of aphantasia. * Blind people watching TV. * Learning to draw by studying human anatomy and proportions in detail and imagining the body kinesthetics. * Looney Tunes artists making faces in the mirror. * Knowing how bones go. * The Bone Book. * That's Topics! Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Crispy Shrimp Balls.
  • What makes it Dim Sum?
  • Whether there's always a cart that you roll around.
  • Tapas Lords, a new ASMR podcast.
  • The Blade of Cutie Pants: a Very Cutie Christmas.
  • Christmas Dangerous Dave.
  • Here's a song. I'm going to scroll past that.
  • Stock footage of Godzilla attacks.
  • An album about making games in Kilk n Play.
  • Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream.
  • Jim's songs in the Hypnospace OST.
  • Knowing a lot of people just by hanging out and being entertaining.
  • Recognizing sounds by looking at them.
  • Tea and Jam Advent Calendars.
  • Tippy Tops.
  • 3D-printed animals with wiggly arms.
  • Taking the economics of Halloween and applying it to Christmas.
  • Stocking Stuffers Every Day.
  • 365-day Advent Calendars.
  • Santa with a Fanta.
  • Showing Home Alone to a kid who already loves setting up traps.
  • An Advent Calendar filled with traps.
  • Never playing board games but opening up the boxes and playing with the pieces.
  • Fake Winstons.
  • Getting 2.5 trinkets from each person.
  • Half-Lego, Half-Chocolate.
  • Why your favorite NES games are terrible.
  • Shipping a game that's no good but damned if it doesn't exist.
  • A Failure of Science.
  • Rare game or Rare game?
  • The Treasure Master walk cycle.
  • The worst NES games with the best soundtracks.
  • British developers succeeding on the Commodore 64 but failing on the NES because people are willing to pay 6 quid for the latest Rob Hubbard track, but not $50.
  • Your neighbor who had Big Nose Freaks Out.
  • Punching the clues.
  • Buying the 3D version of Urban Champion on purpose.
  • Trying to go back to Super Monkey Ball.
  • Nostalgically revisiting your best Super Monkey Ball replays.
  • Accidentally transposing two digits and now you have a Super Monkey Ball world record.
  • Making local copies of videos you want to continue to exist.
  • Recognizing when something works for someone else but not you.
  • Writing letters to your animal neighbors.
  • The seven criteria to judge a letter.
  • How to safely write a letter about VVVVVV to your Animal Crossing neighbor.
  • Roleplaying James Joyce in Animal Crossing.
  • Teaching Animal Crossing a slur and then returning the cartridge to Gamestop.
  • Deciding that it's okay if local news stations freak out.
  • Taking joy in extremely mundane activities.
  • How you spend your moments and how you feel about them.
  • Watching TV so that in several decades you can go to a bar and find out who's the same age as you.
  • Practicing love by trying to love yourself.
  • The breakup song from the Wedding Singer.
  • Corollaries of aphantasia.
  • Blind people watching TV.
  • Learning to draw by studying human anatomy and proportions in detail and imagining the body kinesthetics.
  • Looney Tunes artists making faces in the mirror.
  • Knowing how bones go.
  • The Bone Book.
  • That's Topics!

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Crispy Shrimp Balls.
  • What makes it Dim Sum?
  • Whether there's always a cart that you roll around.
  • Tapas Lords, a new ASMR podcast.
  • The Blade of Cutie Pants: a Very Cutie Christmas.
  • Christmas Dangerous Dave.
  • Here's a song. I'm going to scroll past that.
  • Stock footage of Godzilla attacks.
  • An album about making games in Kilk n Play.
  • Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream.
  • Jim's songs in the Hypnospace OST.
  • Knowing a lot of people just by hanging out and being entertaining.
  • Recognizing sounds by looking at them.
  • Tea and Jam Advent Calendars.
  • Tippy Tops.
  • 3D-printed animals with wiggly arms.
  • Taking the economics of Halloween and applying it to Christmas.
  • Stocking Stuffers Every Day.
  • 365-day Advent Calendars.
  • Santa with a Fanta.
  • Showing Home Alone to a kid who already loves setting up traps.
  • An Advent Calendar filled with traps.
  • Never playing board games but opening up the boxes and playing with the pieces.
  • Fake Winstons.
  • Getting 2.5 trinkets from each person.
  • Half-Lego, Half-Chocolate.
  • Why your favorite NES games are terrible.
  • Shipping a game that's no good but damned if it doesn't exist.
  • A Failure of Science.
  • Rare game or Rare game?
  • The Treasure Master walk cycle.
  • The worst NES games with the best soundtracks.
  • British developers succeeding on the Commodore 64 but failing on the NES because people are willing to pay 6 quid for the latest Rob Hubbard track, but not $50.
  • Your neighbor who had Big Nose Freaks Out.
  • Punching the clues.
  • Buying the 3D version of Urban Champion on purpose.
  • Trying to go back to Super Monkey Ball.
  • Nostalgically revisiting your best Super Monkey Ball replays.
  • Accidentally transposing two digits and now you have a Super Monkey Ball world record.
  • Making local copies of videos you want to continue to exist.
  • Recognizing when something works for someone else but not you.
  • Writing letters to your animal neighbors.
  • The seven criteria to judge a letter.
  • How to safely write a letter about VVVVVV to your Animal Crossing neighbor.
  • Roleplaying James Joyce in Animal Crossing.
  • Teaching Animal Crossing a slur and then returning the cartridge to Gamestop.
  • Deciding that it's okay if local news stations freak out.
  • Taking joy in extremely mundane activities.
  • How you spend your moments and how you feel about them.
  • Watching TV so that in several decades you can go to a bar and find out who's the same age as you.
  • Practicing love by trying to love yourself.
  • The breakup song from the Wedding Singer.
  • Corollaries of aphantasia.
  • Blind people watching TV.
  • Learning to draw by studying human anatomy and proportions in detail and imagining the body kinesthetics.
  • Looney Tunes artists making faces in the mirror.
  • Knowing how bones go.
  • The Bone Book.
  • That's Topics!

Support Topic Lords

]]> 252. A Properly Functioning Bag Nose https://topiclords.com/a-properly-functioning-bag-nose d46ad0bc-759e-48f5-9a8f-112aa5c91e07 Mon, 19 Aug 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: JohnB, Kory. We discuss vinyl records, teaching yourself C++, forgetting things as a way of getting things done, I Sat Belonely by John Lennon, and the vestigial organs of video games. 1:04:40 yes Lords: * JohnB * Kory Topics: * I have become a vinyl record enjoyer * Teaching myself C++, or "I learned C++ when I should've learned C, AMA" * Forgetting things as a way of getting other things done * I Sat Belonely by John Lennon * https://silverbirchpress.wordpress.com/2013/05/14/i-sat-belonely-poem-by-john-lennon/ * The vestigial organs of video games Microtopics: * Kbones' Wire Tripper, on display at Wonderville. * Easter eggs for fans of Gordy and the Monster Moon. * Ebirah, Horror of the Deep. * Watching Shin Godzilla immediately after Evangelion. * Dan Ryckert's nonsense over at Giant Bomb. * Listening to a Mario Party game on the radio. * Supplementing all your collecting hobbies with a creative hobby. * Grabbing the record player before the garbage collector does. * An auto-sustaining supply of sound bars entering and leaving the trash. * The Digital Jim Gift Shop. * The Frog Fractions OST Vinyl in Bug Mars Orange. * Auditioning for college radio by DJing a show to tape that won't be aired, just rated by a panel of experts. * The vinyl soundtrack to a Net Yaroze game. * Albums that have an odd number of sides. * Holographic tie fighters that spin around when you shine a light on them. * The Funkopopization of Vinyl. * Hobbies that are better if you have friends. * Using wood glue to clean an LP, then using an inverse record player to play music off the glue's negative grooves. * The glue's glue. * Station to Station, by David Bowie. * The experience of listening to an album all the way through. * Content-producing reasons. * An excuse to listen to an album with friends under the auspices of being productive. * Seeing the music by looking how wide the groove is. * Smooth jazz appreciation. * The Madden NFL of the record shop. * How to justify going to GDC when you're not a game developer. * How to ship a Love2D game. * Drag your file onto a Love Executable. * Putting together your first Arkanoid-like in Game Boy Assembly. * To create Red Dead Redemption, first add two binary digits. * Super FML. * Objectless games. * The data flow required to change screens in a Zelda-like game. * What happened to various aspects of the Adobe Flash ecosystem. * Why console games had such sluggish menus. * A bug where if you do it right you don't have to press A. * How to do a bureaucracy thing. * Keeping an important task in mind so you can accomplish all your less important tasks. * Trying to forget all but one thing you need to do because if you remember two things you'll just sit there being anxious. * Forgetting information that you do have vs. faking information that you don't have. * Foveated vision. * Yesterday's List. * How many Frog Fractions had to die because the most dangerous task was attempted first? * A little tiny little pig. * Balonely. * A Spaniard in the Works. * Reading your own book in your fictionalized biopic. * Whimsical Elisions. * Fun whimsical vs. dark whimsical. * Coming back from India and writing a hundred one minute songs that don't mean anything. * Music that you've listened to so much that it's like listening to breathing air. * Don't Pass Me By and Octopus' Garden. * Game mechanics that still exist because nobody's thought about them in a while. * Moon phases in Shin Megami Tensei. * Demon Fusion. * What Super Mario Wonder does with a combo since it doesn't have points. * A potentially dangerous vestigial organ in video games. * How to make pinball beginner friendly. Lords:

  • JohnB
  • Kory

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Kbones' Wire Tripper, on display at Wonderville.
  • Easter eggs for fans of Gordy and the Monster Moon.
  • Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
  • Watching Shin Godzilla immediately after Evangelion.
  • Dan Ryckert's nonsense over at Giant Bomb.
  • Listening to a Mario Party game on the radio.
  • Supplementing all your collecting hobbies with a creative hobby.
  • Grabbing the record player before the garbage collector does.
  • An auto-sustaining supply of sound bars entering and leaving the trash.
  • The Digital Jim Gift Shop.
  • The Frog Fractions OST Vinyl in Bug Mars Orange.
  • Auditioning for college radio by DJing a show to tape that won't be aired, just rated by a panel of experts.
  • The vinyl soundtrack to a Net Yaroze game.
  • Albums that have an odd number of sides.
  • Holographic tie fighters that spin around when you shine a light on them.
  • The Funkopopization of Vinyl.
  • Hobbies that are better if you have friends.
  • Using wood glue to clean an LP, then using an inverse record player to play music off the glue's negative grooves.
  • The glue's glue.
  • Station to Station, by David Bowie.
  • The experience of listening to an album all the way through.
  • Content-producing reasons.
  • An excuse to listen to an album with friends under the auspices of being productive.
  • Seeing the music by looking how wide the groove is.
  • Smooth jazz appreciation.
  • The Madden NFL of the record shop.
  • How to justify going to GDC when you're not a game developer.
  • How to ship a Love2D game.
  • Drag your file onto a Love Executable.
  • Putting together your first Arkanoid-like in Game Boy Assembly.
  • To create Red Dead Redemption, first add two binary digits.
  • Super FML.
  • Objectless games.
  • The data flow required to change screens in a Zelda-like game.
  • What happened to various aspects of the Adobe Flash ecosystem.
  • Why console games had such sluggish menus.
  • A bug where if you do it right you don't have to press A.
  • How to do a bureaucracy thing.
  • Keeping an important task in mind so you can accomplish all your less important tasks.
  • Trying to forget all but one thing you need to do because if you remember two things you'll just sit there being anxious.
  • Forgetting information that you do have vs. faking information that you don't have.
  • Foveated vision.
  • Yesterday's List.
  • How many Frog Fractions had to die because the most dangerous task was attempted first?
  • A little tiny little pig.
  • Balonely.
  • A Spaniard in the Works.
  • Reading your own book in your fictionalized biopic.
  • Whimsical Elisions.
  • Fun whimsical vs. dark whimsical.
  • Coming back from India and writing a hundred one minute songs that don't mean anything.
  • Music that you've listened to so much that it's like listening to breathing air.
  • Don't Pass Me By and Octopus' Garden.
  • Game mechanics that still exist because nobody's thought about them in a while.
  • Moon phases in Shin Megami Tensei.
  • Demon Fusion.
  • What Super Mario Wonder does with a combo since it doesn't have points.
  • A potentially dangerous vestigial organ in video games.
  • How to make pinball beginner friendly.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

  • JohnB
  • Kory

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Kbones' Wire Tripper, on display at Wonderville.
  • Easter eggs for fans of Gordy and the Monster Moon.
  • Ebirah, Horror of the Deep.
  • Watching Shin Godzilla immediately after Evangelion.
  • Dan Ryckert's nonsense over at Giant Bomb.
  • Listening to a Mario Party game on the radio.
  • Supplementing all your collecting hobbies with a creative hobby.
  • Grabbing the record player before the garbage collector does.
  • An auto-sustaining supply of sound bars entering and leaving the trash.
  • The Digital Jim Gift Shop.
  • The Frog Fractions OST Vinyl in Bug Mars Orange.
  • Auditioning for college radio by DJing a show to tape that won't be aired, just rated by a panel of experts.
  • The vinyl soundtrack to a Net Yaroze game.
  • Albums that have an odd number of sides.
  • Holographic tie fighters that spin around when you shine a light on them.
  • The Funkopopization of Vinyl.
  • Hobbies that are better if you have friends.
  • Using wood glue to clean an LP, then using an inverse record player to play music off the glue's negative grooves.
  • The glue's glue.
  • Station to Station, by David Bowie.
  • The experience of listening to an album all the way through.
  • Content-producing reasons.
  • An excuse to listen to an album with friends under the auspices of being productive.
  • Seeing the music by looking how wide the groove is.
  • Smooth jazz appreciation.
  • The Madden NFL of the record shop.
  • How to justify going to GDC when you're not a game developer.
  • How to ship a Love2D game.
  • Drag your file onto a Love Executable.
  • Putting together your first Arkanoid-like in Game Boy Assembly.
  • To create Red Dead Redemption, first add two binary digits.
  • Super FML.
  • Objectless games.
  • The data flow required to change screens in a Zelda-like game.
  • What happened to various aspects of the Adobe Flash ecosystem.
  • Why console games had such sluggish menus.
  • A bug where if you do it right you don't have to press A.
  • How to do a bureaucracy thing.
  • Keeping an important task in mind so you can accomplish all your less important tasks.
  • Trying to forget all but one thing you need to do because if you remember two things you'll just sit there being anxious.
  • Forgetting information that you do have vs. faking information that you don't have.
  • Foveated vision.
  • Yesterday's List.
  • How many Frog Fractions had to die because the most dangerous task was attempted first?
  • A little tiny little pig.
  • Balonely.
  • A Spaniard in the Works.
  • Reading your own book in your fictionalized biopic.
  • Whimsical Elisions.
  • Fun whimsical vs. dark whimsical.
  • Coming back from India and writing a hundred one minute songs that don't mean anything.
  • Music that you've listened to so much that it's like listening to breathing air.
  • Don't Pass Me By and Octopus' Garden.
  • Game mechanics that still exist because nobody's thought about them in a while.
  • Moon phases in Shin Megami Tensei.
  • Demon Fusion.
  • What Super Mario Wonder does with a combo since it doesn't have points.
  • A potentially dangerous vestigial organ in video games.
  • How to make pinball beginner friendly.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 234. Plunge Correctly for High Score https://topiclords.com/plunge-correctly-for-high-score 39ac5f31-4f4d-449b-98d4-f2e6bd793494 Mon, 15 Apr 2024 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: JohnB and Kevin. We discuss Don Quixote, the Time Life Mysteries of the Unknown series, whether phones need to ring, Desiderata by Max Ehrmann, and whether pinball is supposed to be fun. 1:10:03 yes Lords: * JohnB * Kevin * JADES data: https://jades.idies.jhu.edu/public/ Topics: * Thoughts on approximately 5/12 of Don Quixote * The Time Life "Mysteries of the Unknown" Series (1987-1991) and its impact on a generation of young nerds * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MysteriesoftheUnknown * https://www.reddit.com/r/IcebergCharts/comments/r487u4/distantastronomicalobjectsiceberg/ * https://www.slideshare.net/DirkTheDaring11/timelife-mysteries-of-the-unknown-the-ufo-phenomenon * https://archive.org/details/DreamsAndDreaming201809/page/n33/mode/2up * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lal0aWAys0k * Thomas Edison didn't think telephones needed to ring. He figured the caller could just start yelling "hello" at you even before you answered the phone * Desiderata * https://www.desiderata.com/desiderata.html * https://www.readwritethink.org/sites/default/files/resources/lessonimages/lesson372/PoloniusExcerpt.pdf * Is pinball meant to be fun? Can you lose a quarter at an arcade faster in a game cabinet or in a pinball machine? * https://arcadeblogger.com/2018/07/06/arcade-holy-grail-the-pinball-circus/ * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAtVBb8rOok * https://archive.org/details/TILTTheBattleToSavePinballDisc2Extras Microtopics: * Dog ownership. * A living creature that just wanders around the house. * Picking up warm soft weird thing. * Cracking open a cold one. * Computers flush with science data. * The deepest images humans have ever taken. * Finding distances to individual galaxies. * Listicles you can peruse. * Picking a galaxy and naming it after yourself. * Bug Mars 2. * The Glass Universe. * Hiring women and calling them computers. * A guy with a lot of free time and a gold nose. * Some public domain books being more readable than others. * Pun localization. * North American otaku tilting at windmills with their katanas. * How people pronounce quixotic and how they ought to pronounce quixotic. * Whether we respect English majors on this show. * Naming a character something weird and hoping nobody argues about the pronunciation hundreds of years from now. * Butthead as Don Quixote and Beavis as Sancho Panza. * The Great Cornholio tilting at windmills. * The era of translations that don't realize Don Quixote is a parody. * Part II of Don Quixote responding to Don Quixote fan fiction. * Don Coyote. * Sending Mario Maker back to Miguel Cervantes to see what he would make. * The kinds of books your parents would have on their shelf, back when that was the only thing available to read. * The 80s resurgence of New Age thought. * Mystic Places. * The Shin Megami Tensei section in the library. * Where to find the books that teach you magic in the public library. * The canonical map of reported UFO sightings worldwide. * Books for the kind of person who thinks Aleister Crowley is cool. * The Spaceships of Ezekiel. * The JWST iceberg. * The Distant Astronomical Objects iceberg. * A tin can and a string with a battery attached. * Hello, fellow phone owner. * A phone call asking you to log into a web site and read a message. * Funny ways to answer the phone. * E.B. Games, where you can get F-Zero for Zero. * The size of fortune cookies in the 1920s. * Nice things to do and be. * Desiderata vs. Deteriorata. * Advice giving poems. * Skin cancer is mid. * Casey Kasem quitting Transformers after they wrote an episode featuring Abdul, king of Carbombya. * Avoiding loud and aggressive persons. * Pinball getting harder and more complex over the course of a century. * Baffleball. * Pinball features to make things easier for beginners. * The quickest way to lose money on an arcade game. * Tilt-sensing plum bobs. * A weird kinetic sculpture that exists just for your entertainment. * The Black Hole for Personal Reasons. * A boring and easy pinball cabinet that you can play for an hour when you want to get sick of pinball. * Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball. * Multidisc! * Pinball tables by George Gomez. * Pinball: not actually fun, but they did their best. * Free play skee-ball. * Pacific Pinball Museum and Musee Mecanique. * Twitter forgiveness. Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Dog ownership.
  • A living creature that just wanders around the house.
  • Picking up warm soft weird thing.
  • Cracking open a cold one.
  • Computers flush with science data.
  • The deepest images humans have ever taken.
  • Finding distances to individual galaxies.
  • Listicles you can peruse.
  • Picking a galaxy and naming it after yourself.
  • Bug Mars 2.
  • The Glass Universe.
  • Hiring women and calling them computers.
  • A guy with a lot of free time and a gold nose.
  • Some public domain books being more readable than others.
  • Pun localization.
  • North American otaku tilting at windmills with their katanas.
  • How people pronounce quixotic and how they ought to pronounce quixotic.
  • Whether we respect English majors on this show.
  • Naming a character something weird and hoping nobody argues about the pronunciation hundreds of years from now.
  • Butthead as Don Quixote and Beavis as Sancho Panza.
  • The Great Cornholio tilting at windmills.
  • The era of translations that don't realize Don Quixote is a parody.
  • Part II of Don Quixote responding to Don Quixote fan fiction.
  • Don Coyote.
  • Sending Mario Maker back to Miguel Cervantes to see what he would make.
  • The kinds of books your parents would have on their shelf, back when that was the only thing available to read.
  • The 80s resurgence of New Age thought.
  • Mystic Places.
  • The Shin Megami Tensei section in the library.
  • Where to find the books that teach you magic in the public library.
  • The canonical map of reported UFO sightings worldwide.
  • Books for the kind of person who thinks Aleister Crowley is cool.
  • The Spaceships of Ezekiel.
  • The JWST iceberg.
  • The Distant Astronomical Objects iceberg.
  • A tin can and a string with a battery attached.
  • Hello, fellow phone owner.
  • A phone call asking you to log into a web site and read a message.
  • Funny ways to answer the phone.
  • E.B. Games, where you can get F-Zero for Zero.
  • The size of fortune cookies in the 1920s.
  • Nice things to do and be.
  • Desiderata vs. Deteriorata.
  • Advice giving poems.
  • Skin cancer is mid.
  • Casey Kasem quitting Transformers after they wrote an episode featuring Abdul, king of Carbombya.
  • Avoiding loud and aggressive persons.
  • Pinball getting harder and more complex over the course of a century.
  • Baffleball.
  • Pinball features to make things easier for beginners.
  • The quickest way to lose money on an arcade game.
  • Tilt-sensing plum bobs.
  • A weird kinetic sculpture that exists just for your entertainment.
  • The Black Hole for Personal Reasons.
  • A boring and easy pinball cabinet that you can play for an hour when you want to get sick of pinball.
  • Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball.
  • Multidisc!
  • Pinball tables by George Gomez.
  • Pinball: not actually fun, but they did their best.
  • Free play skee-ball.
  • Pacific Pinball Museum and Musee Mecanique.
  • Twitter forgiveness.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Dog ownership.
  • A living creature that just wanders around the house.
  • Picking up warm soft weird thing.
  • Cracking open a cold one.
  • Computers flush with science data.
  • The deepest images humans have ever taken.
  • Finding distances to individual galaxies.
  • Listicles you can peruse.
  • Picking a galaxy and naming it after yourself.
  • Bug Mars 2.
  • The Glass Universe.
  • Hiring women and calling them computers.
  • A guy with a lot of free time and a gold nose.
  • Some public domain books being more readable than others.
  • Pun localization.
  • North American otaku tilting at windmills with their katanas.
  • How people pronounce quixotic and how they ought to pronounce quixotic.
  • Whether we respect English majors on this show.
  • Naming a character something weird and hoping nobody argues about the pronunciation hundreds of years from now.
  • Butthead as Don Quixote and Beavis as Sancho Panza.
  • The Great Cornholio tilting at windmills.
  • The era of translations that don't realize Don Quixote is a parody.
  • Part II of Don Quixote responding to Don Quixote fan fiction.
  • Don Coyote.
  • Sending Mario Maker back to Miguel Cervantes to see what he would make.
  • The kinds of books your parents would have on their shelf, back when that was the only thing available to read.
  • The 80s resurgence of New Age thought.
  • Mystic Places.
  • The Shin Megami Tensei section in the library.
  • Where to find the books that teach you magic in the public library.
  • The canonical map of reported UFO sightings worldwide.
  • Books for the kind of person who thinks Aleister Crowley is cool.
  • The Spaceships of Ezekiel.
  • The JWST iceberg.
  • The Distant Astronomical Objects iceberg.
  • A tin can and a string with a battery attached.
  • Hello, fellow phone owner.
  • A phone call asking you to log into a web site and read a message.
  • Funny ways to answer the phone.
  • E.B. Games, where you can get F-Zero for Zero.
  • The size of fortune cookies in the 1920s.
  • Nice things to do and be.
  • Desiderata vs. Deteriorata.
  • Advice giving poems.
  • Skin cancer is mid.
  • Casey Kasem quitting Transformers after they wrote an episode featuring Abdul, king of Carbombya.
  • Avoiding loud and aggressive persons.
  • Pinball getting harder and more complex over the course of a century.
  • Baffleball.
  • Pinball features to make things easier for beginners.
  • The quickest way to lose money on an arcade game.
  • Tilt-sensing plum bobs.
  • A weird kinetic sculpture that exists just for your entertainment.
  • The Black Hole for Personal Reasons.
  • A boring and easy pinball cabinet that you can play for an hour when you want to get sick of pinball.
  • Tilt: The Battle to Save Pinball.
  • Multidisc!
  • Pinball tables by George Gomez.
  • Pinball: not actually fun, but they did their best.
  • Free play skee-ball.
  • Pacific Pinball Museum and Musee Mecanique.
  • Twitter forgiveness.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 215. Taffy Arbitrage Tips https://topiclords.com/taffy-arbitrage-tips 16bb6dec-9931-4c64-b5f8-90e33d28e164 Mon, 04 Dec 2023 00:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: Ben and JohnB. We discuss Game & Watch Gallery, Novemberween, square mattresses, Eight Line Poem by David Bowie, and sitting on a bench in Spider-Man 2. 1:03:18 yes Lords: * Ben * JohnB Topics: * Game & Watch Gallery * Halloween's never on the weekend, so I made Novemberween * Square mattresses * Eight Line Poem * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVqNJKQiPCA * https://genius.com/3143344 * The most entertaining bit of the new Spider-Man 2 game has been sitting on a bench Microtopics: * Fellow Traveler. * Citizen Sleeper: at least one person's game of the year. * State fair taffy. * Where to find seasonal taffy bargains. * Terrifying taffy flavors. * Single game LCD handhelds. * Gunplay Yokoi. * Withered technology. * The RC car that can only turn left because right was cut for scope. * Games where things are bouncing across the screen. * Tiger Electronics Double Dragon. * The earliest, most boring Game and Watch game. * A fun clock that's fun to watch. * Putting your face as the juggler in Ball for the Game Boy Camera. * What they did before d-pads. * A Print the Legend situation. * Mario Bros II for the Commodore 64. * Porting Game and Watch games to card stock. * Releasing a floppy disk reader for the Game Boy Advance in 2023. * Mario's Bombs Away, in Panorama Vision. * Moving slower the more gold you're carrying. * Toad walking across a bunch of seagulls. * Trying to get 16 player Faceball up and running. * The Burger King vs. Hungry Jack's era. * The Lost Lost Levels. * The most polite pumpkin head person you've ever met. * Inventing a new Halloween that happens the first weekend after Halloween so you can get candy at a discount. * Implicating the viewers in your terrible horror movie marathon. * Terrifying cakes with spooky words on them like "mortgage" * Tammy and the T-Rex. * A spooky guy in a helmet who races people in his car (and kills them) * Putting pieces of Stonehenge into circuitry to make children's faces turn into bugs. * A movie about a cat that vomits up another cat. * A very spooky four dollar pumpkin man. * Neglecting upkeep on your house for thirty years to celebrate Halloween. * Novemberween every Sunday. * How to celebrate Labor Day. * Rotating a square mattress 90 degrees. * Going into the mattress store and unrolling the amount of mattress you want from the spool and getting it cut to order. * Alternate reality How It's Made videos. * The Manchester Department. * Super Passive Aggressive Xenomorph Roommate Irritation Simulator. * Rolling the dice to determine which side of the cube mattress you're sleeping on tonight. * Rotating the tires on your racecar bed. * Asking the cat for poem opinions. * Sometimes the sun is just the sun. (Not this time though – it's David Bowie.) * Plugs within plugs. * All the different games named "Spider-Man 2" * Using your Spider Radar to track down the next objective. * A video game where you go on a holiday to Greece and stab a bunch of people. * The distressing absence of Mario Odyssey 2. * Finally, a Super Mario game you can finish without hating yourself. * A grown-up with adult things to do, like cooking bacon and receiving mail. * The Trophy Seller in Nier Automata. * Kosmology Hungry Jack. Lords:

  • Ben
  • JohnB

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Fellow Traveler.
  • Citizen Sleeper: at least one person's game of the year.
  • State fair taffy.
  • Where to find seasonal taffy bargains.
  • Terrifying taffy flavors.
  • Single game LCD handhelds.
  • Gunplay Yokoi.
  • Withered technology.
  • The RC car that can only turn left because right was cut for scope.
  • Games where things are bouncing across the screen.
  • Tiger Electronics Double Dragon.
  • The earliest, most boring Game and Watch game.
  • A fun clock that's fun to watch.
  • Putting your face as the juggler in Ball for the Game Boy Camera.
  • What they did before d-pads.
  • A Print the Legend situation.
  • Mario Bros II for the Commodore 64.
  • Porting Game and Watch games to card stock.
  • Releasing a floppy disk reader for the Game Boy Advance in 2023.
  • Mario's Bombs Away, in Panorama Vision.
  • Moving slower the more gold you're carrying.
  • Toad walking across a bunch of seagulls.
  • Trying to get 16 player Faceball up and running.
  • The Burger King vs. Hungry Jack's era.
  • The Lost Lost Levels.
  • The most polite pumpkin head person you've ever met.
  • Inventing a new Halloween that happens the first weekend after Halloween so you can get candy at a discount.
  • Implicating the viewers in your terrible horror movie marathon.
  • Terrifying cakes with spooky words on them like "mortgage"
  • Tammy and the T-Rex.
  • A spooky guy in a helmet who races people in his car (and kills them)
  • Putting pieces of Stonehenge into circuitry to make children's faces turn into bugs.
  • A movie about a cat that vomits up another cat.
  • A very spooky four dollar pumpkin man.
  • Neglecting upkeep on your house for thirty years to celebrate Halloween.
  • Novemberween every Sunday.
  • How to celebrate Labor Day.
  • Rotating a square mattress 90 degrees.
  • Going into the mattress store and unrolling the amount of mattress you want from the spool and getting it cut to order.
  • Alternate reality How It's Made videos.
  • The Manchester Department.
  • Super Passive Aggressive Xenomorph Roommate Irritation Simulator.
  • Rolling the dice to determine which side of the cube mattress you're sleeping on tonight.
  • Rotating the tires on your racecar bed.
  • Asking the cat for poem opinions.
  • Sometimes the sun is just the sun. (Not this time though – it's David Bowie.)
  • Plugs within plugs.
  • All the different games named "Spider-Man 2"
  • Using your Spider Radar to track down the next objective.
  • A video game where you go on a holiday to Greece and stab a bunch of people.
  • The distressing absence of Mario Odyssey 2.
  • Finally, a Super Mario game you can finish without hating yourself.
  • A grown-up with adult things to do, like cooking bacon and receiving mail.
  • The Trophy Seller in Nier Automata.
  • Kosmology Hungry Jack.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

  • Ben
  • JohnB

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Fellow Traveler.
  • Citizen Sleeper: at least one person's game of the year.
  • State fair taffy.
  • Where to find seasonal taffy bargains.
  • Terrifying taffy flavors.
  • Single game LCD handhelds.
  • Gunplay Yokoi.
  • Withered technology.
  • The RC car that can only turn left because right was cut for scope.
  • Games where things are bouncing across the screen.
  • Tiger Electronics Double Dragon.
  • The earliest, most boring Game and Watch game.
  • A fun clock that's fun to watch.
  • Putting your face as the juggler in Ball for the Game Boy Camera.
  • What they did before d-pads.
  • A Print the Legend situation.
  • Mario Bros II for the Commodore 64.
  • Porting Game and Watch games to card stock.
  • Releasing a floppy disk reader for the Game Boy Advance in 2023.
  • Mario's Bombs Away, in Panorama Vision.
  • Moving slower the more gold you're carrying.
  • Toad walking across a bunch of seagulls.
  • Trying to get 16 player Faceball up and running.
  • The Burger King vs. Hungry Jack's era.
  • The Lost Lost Levels.
  • The most polite pumpkin head person you've ever met.
  • Inventing a new Halloween that happens the first weekend after Halloween so you can get candy at a discount.
  • Implicating the viewers in your terrible horror movie marathon.
  • Terrifying cakes with spooky words on them like "mortgage"
  • Tammy and the T-Rex.
  • A spooky guy in a helmet who races people in his car (and kills them)
  • Putting pieces of Stonehenge into circuitry to make children's faces turn into bugs.
  • A movie about a cat that vomits up another cat.
  • A very spooky four dollar pumpkin man.
  • Neglecting upkeep on your house for thirty years to celebrate Halloween.
  • Novemberween every Sunday.
  • How to celebrate Labor Day.
  • Rotating a square mattress 90 degrees.
  • Going into the mattress store and unrolling the amount of mattress you want from the spool and getting it cut to order.
  • Alternate reality How It's Made videos.
  • The Manchester Department.
  • Super Passive Aggressive Xenomorph Roommate Irritation Simulator.
  • Rolling the dice to determine which side of the cube mattress you're sleeping on tonight.
  • Rotating the tires on your racecar bed.
  • Asking the cat for poem opinions.
  • Sometimes the sun is just the sun. (Not this time though – it's David Bowie.)
  • Plugs within plugs.
  • All the different games named "Spider-Man 2"
  • Using your Spider Radar to track down the next objective.
  • A video game where you go on a holiday to Greece and stab a bunch of people.
  • The distressing absence of Mario Odyssey 2.
  • Finally, a Super Mario game you can finish without hating yourself.
  • A grown-up with adult things to do, like cooking bacon and receiving mail.
  • The Trophy Seller in Nier Automata.
  • Kosmology Hungry Jack.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 204. Defrag My Colon https://topiclords.com/defrag-my-colon 2fc4d385-6f34-4f4b-8eed-bd840725da99 Mon, 18 Sep 2023 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: JohnB and CisHetKayFaber. We discuss the human body's similarity to shitty software, the origin of hiccups, books about video games that aren't strategy guides, untitled by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz, and TV shows that have inspired original mathematics. 1:10:38 yes Lords: * JohnB * CisHetKayFaber Topics: * The human body is more similar than I'd like to shitty software (humans have chitinase in our DNA, immune system works like an antivirus) * The origin of hiccups * https://derinthescarletpescatarian.tumblr.com/post/723161770948231168/okay-so-the-thing-about-hiccups-is-that-you-have * Twenty years ago there were like three real books about videogames that weren't strategy guides and now there are hundreds. * "untitled" by Prostetnic Vogon Jeltz * https://allpoetry.com/poem/13310612-Prostetnic-Vogon-Jeltz-by-Bollox * TV shows that have inspired original mathematics - yes, it has happened more than once Microtopics: * Whether it's okay to catch up. * Air conditioning on hot days. * A steel mill catching fire and the whole east bay smells like the back of a cathode ray tube. * Shaking yellow sand out of your laundry. * Importing brushfire smoke from Canada. * Using bad metaphors to explain RAM. * Stochastic immunology. * Alphabetizing all your gut bacteria. * Whitman's Anal Sampling Mechanism. * The Bonzi Buddy of the human body. * Your inkjet printer waking up at 5am to cycle some ink. * The optimal humidity to reflow your ink cartridges. * Norton Commander. * Selecting files with the arrow keys and viewing them with F3. * How Thunking ruined Jim's Norton Commander clone. * Your fish nervous system trying to be a fish again. * Reciting the anti-hiccup poem to cure your hiccups. * Fish reminding each other to not take ten small sips of water or they'll stop breathing. * Scaly swimmers. * Working in a shark lab. * Whether a fish sandwich is a fish or a sandwich. * Offering people a "tuna roll" and when they say yes guessing whether they think you mean the sushi or tuna salad on a bready roll. * Meditating on the concept of hiccups. * Congratulations, you won the game! * How to Beat the Atari Home Video Games. * Where a library would shelve those books of type-in BASIC programs. * Dave (2018) and Dave Demo (2018) * Which Boss Fight Books are good. * Starting your kid on Mario Maker. * Game Engine Black Book: Doom and Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D. * Mario Galaxy's camera-oriented level design. * Your body telling you when it's time to drink water. * Using Final Fantasy 4 as a bridge to talk about localization. * Developing a light gun game to install in all the bowling alleys now that the bowling fad has faded. * The Countdown to Irrelevance. * Books that used to be blogs. * Inventing criteria for how you beat Galaga. * Learning what micturations are twenty years after reading that Vogon poem and wondering which seeming nonsense words you'll learn in the next twenty years. * The BBC TV Hitchhiker's Guide series. * The second-worst poetry in the galaxy. * Red Dwarf airing on Dave. * A better way to think about it. (If you are a math person.) * Drive-by Mathematics. * Nesting your watch orders. * Watching every episode in every possible order to get the maximum possible amount of context for every scene. * Marylin vos Savant. * The Monty Hall Problem. * A game design that presumes the player does not want a goat. * Whether you want to switch to the other goat. * Opening 98 doors, revealing goats behind each one. * Pushing limits and talking about calculus. * Learning Japanese because you want to read the smutty manga. * X: The Everything App. Lords:

  • JohnB
  • CisHetKayFaber

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Whether it's okay to catch up.
  • Air conditioning on hot days.
  • A steel mill catching fire and the whole east bay smells like the back of a cathode ray tube.
  • Shaking yellow sand out of your laundry.
  • Importing brushfire smoke from Canada.
  • Using bad metaphors to explain RAM.
  • Stochastic immunology.
  • Alphabetizing all your gut bacteria.
  • Whitman's Anal Sampling Mechanism.
  • The Bonzi Buddy of the human body.
  • Your inkjet printer waking up at 5am to cycle some ink.
  • The optimal humidity to reflow your ink cartridges.
  • Norton Commander.
  • Selecting files with the arrow keys and viewing them with F3.
  • How Thunking ruined Jim's Norton Commander clone.
  • Your fish nervous system trying to be a fish again.
  • Reciting the anti-hiccup poem to cure your hiccups.
  • Fish reminding each other to not take ten small sips of water or they'll stop breathing.
  • Scaly swimmers.
  • Working in a shark lab.
  • Whether a fish sandwich is a fish or a sandwich.
  • Offering people a "tuna roll" and when they say yes guessing whether they think you mean the sushi or tuna salad on a bready roll.
  • Meditating on the concept of hiccups.
  • Congratulations, you won the game!
  • How to Beat the Atari Home Video Games.
  • Where a library would shelve those books of type-in BASIC programs.
  • Dave (2018) and Dave Demo (2018)
  • Which Boss Fight Books are good.
  • Starting your kid on Mario Maker.
  • Game Engine Black Book: Doom and Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D.
  • Mario Galaxy's camera-oriented level design.
  • Your body telling you when it's time to drink water.
  • Using Final Fantasy 4 as a bridge to talk about localization.
  • Developing a light gun game to install in all the bowling alleys now that the bowling fad has faded.
  • The Countdown to Irrelevance.
  • Books that used to be blogs.
  • Inventing criteria for how you beat Galaga.
  • Learning what micturations are twenty years after reading that Vogon poem and wondering which seeming nonsense words you'll learn in the next twenty years.
  • The BBC TV Hitchhiker's Guide series.
  • The second-worst poetry in the galaxy.
  • Red Dwarf airing on Dave.
  • A better way to think about it. (If you are a math person.)
  • Drive-by Mathematics.
  • Nesting your watch orders.
  • Watching every episode in every possible order to get the maximum possible amount of context for every scene.
  • Marylin vos Savant.
  • The Monty Hall Problem.
  • A game design that presumes the player does not want a goat.
  • Whether you want to switch to the other goat.
  • Opening 98 doors, revealing goats behind each one.
  • Pushing limits and talking about calculus.
  • Learning Japanese because you want to read the smutty manga.
  • X: The Everything App.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

  • JohnB
  • CisHetKayFaber

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Whether it's okay to catch up.
  • Air conditioning on hot days.
  • A steel mill catching fire and the whole east bay smells like the back of a cathode ray tube.
  • Shaking yellow sand out of your laundry.
  • Importing brushfire smoke from Canada.
  • Using bad metaphors to explain RAM.
  • Stochastic immunology.
  • Alphabetizing all your gut bacteria.
  • Whitman's Anal Sampling Mechanism.
  • The Bonzi Buddy of the human body.
  • Your inkjet printer waking up at 5am to cycle some ink.
  • The optimal humidity to reflow your ink cartridges.
  • Norton Commander.
  • Selecting files with the arrow keys and viewing them with F3.
  • How Thunking ruined Jim's Norton Commander clone.
  • Your fish nervous system trying to be a fish again.
  • Reciting the anti-hiccup poem to cure your hiccups.
  • Fish reminding each other to not take ten small sips of water or they'll stop breathing.
  • Scaly swimmers.
  • Working in a shark lab.
  • Whether a fish sandwich is a fish or a sandwich.
  • Offering people a "tuna roll" and when they say yes guessing whether they think you mean the sushi or tuna salad on a bready roll.
  • Meditating on the concept of hiccups.
  • Congratulations, you won the game!
  • How to Beat the Atari Home Video Games.
  • Where a library would shelve those books of type-in BASIC programs.
  • Dave (2018) and Dave Demo (2018)
  • Which Boss Fight Books are good.
  • Starting your kid on Mario Maker.
  • Game Engine Black Book: Doom and Game Engine Black Book: Wolfenstein 3D.
  • Mario Galaxy's camera-oriented level design.
  • Your body telling you when it's time to drink water.
  • Using Final Fantasy 4 as a bridge to talk about localization.
  • Developing a light gun game to install in all the bowling alleys now that the bowling fad has faded.
  • The Countdown to Irrelevance.
  • Books that used to be blogs.
  • Inventing criteria for how you beat Galaga.
  • Learning what micturations are twenty years after reading that Vogon poem and wondering which seeming nonsense words you'll learn in the next twenty years.
  • The BBC TV Hitchhiker's Guide series.
  • The second-worst poetry in the galaxy.
  • Red Dwarf airing on Dave.
  • A better way to think about it. (If you are a math person.)
  • Drive-by Mathematics.
  • Nesting your watch orders.
  • Watching every episode in every possible order to get the maximum possible amount of context for every scene.
  • Marylin vos Savant.
  • The Monty Hall Problem.
  • A game design that presumes the player does not want a goat.
  • Whether you want to switch to the other goat.
  • Opening 98 doors, revealing goats behind each one.
  • Pushing limits and talking about calculus.
  • Learning Japanese because you want to read the smutty manga.
  • X: The Everything App.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 196. Active Time Battle Internet Relay Chat https://topiclords.com/active-time-battle-internet-relay-chat 657a5ed9-37d8-4469-87a7-06787c24a752 Mon, 24 Jul 2023 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: John and John. We discuss juxtaposition, farewell to Cheap Bots Done Quick, the Temple of Apshai manual, "Seen and Not Seen" by Talking Heads, and the new Zelda game several weeks in. 1:11:01 yes Lords: * John * JohnB Topics: * The word "juxtapose" seemed hyperspecific and esoteric when I first learned it in school, but has proven incredibly common and useful * Farewell to Cheap Bots Done Quick and the tens of thousands benevolent Twitter bots it powered: * https://twitter.com/v21/status/1643932890105884673 * Temple of Apshai's manual * https://fogknife.com/2023-05-31-the-book-of-apshai-a-personal-exegesis-.html * "Seen and Not Seen" by Talking Heads * https://genius.com/Talking-heads-seen-and-not-seen-lyrics * The new Zelda game several weeks in feels like the phase of a Civilization game where much, but not all, of the world has been revealed Microtopics: * John and John as well. * A John of Many Names. * The Frog Fractions Soundtrack of the Decade Edition Vinyl. * Being sued for copying a song's vibes. * Aldi Barcodes. * Noise-cancelling the sound of eating crackers. * Just scan it. It's food. * A word full of high-scoring Scrabble tiles. * Juxtaposing a police station. * A history of "juxtapose" waiting in the wings like a Batman origin story. * Pre-35 words. * Biff going back in time to 17th century Prague to be thrown out a window but surviving because he landed in a pile of manure. * An upbeat song about tolerating people that you hate. * The invention of defenestration. * Farewell to Cheap Bots Done Quick. * Sharing a fun tweet. * Being technical enough to look at nested braces and know what that means. * Bots in Space. * Capcom vs. Everyone. * Temple of Apshai. * A text adventure except they couldn't fit any of the text on the floppy. * Action RPGs that demand you manage your stats and inventory on paper. * Solo D&D adventure books. * Dragon's on a Chip. * Video games that come with books that you need to read to play the game. * A thick boy, full of lore. * The philosophy of city planning. * What is an Earth for? * Tunic. * What StarTropics did with the letter. * Sentinel Worlds One: Future Magic. * [See paragraph 3.] * 1980s computer game copy protection. * Bringing the Shenzhen I/O manual to work to study it on the job. * Why the main campaign in Shenzhen I/O is so much better than the bonus campaign. * Keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in your mind for years. * Musical mumbling. * Songs that are just a Shower Thoughts post. * The long-term discipline of adjusting your facial features over time. * Thinking about wider, thinner lips during the instrumental breakdown. * Trying to save SACD albums. * The Depths. * Sharing your location precisely. * There are four places: go to them. * The Ghost King Rauru. * The Calamity Ganon Calamity. * A dragon with really weird exaggerated eyelashes that you can run around on. * Giving up on horses. * Unique items of dubious usefulness. * Okay boomer, it's called a Purah Pad now. * Finding a tiny rock to jump off of to go into bullet time. * The two-fan hoverbike. * Skating around atop frozen gourmet meat. Lords:

  • John
  • JohnB

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • John and John as well.
  • A John of Many Names.
  • The Frog Fractions Soundtrack of the Decade Edition Vinyl.
  • Being sued for copying a song's vibes.
  • Aldi Barcodes.
  • Noise-cancelling the sound of eating crackers.
  • Just scan it. It's food.
  • A word full of high-scoring Scrabble tiles.
  • Juxtaposing a police station.
  • A history of "juxtapose" waiting in the wings like a Batman origin story.
  • Pre-35 words.
  • Biff going back in time to 17th century Prague to be thrown out a window but surviving because he landed in a pile of manure.
  • An upbeat song about tolerating people that you hate.
  • The invention of defenestration.
  • Farewell to Cheap Bots Done Quick.
  • Sharing a fun tweet.
  • Being technical enough to look at nested braces and know what that means.
  • Bots in Space.
  • Capcom vs. Everyone.
  • Temple of Apshai.
  • A text adventure except they couldn't fit any of the text on the floppy.
  • Action RPGs that demand you manage your stats and inventory on paper.
  • Solo D&D adventure books.
  • Dragon's on a Chip.
  • Video games that come with books that you need to read to play the game.
  • A thick boy, full of lore.
  • The philosophy of city planning.
  • What is an Earth for?
  • Tunic.
  • What StarTropics did with the letter.
  • Sentinel Worlds One: Future Magic.
  • [See paragraph 3.]
  • 1980s computer game copy protection.
  • Bringing the Shenzhen I/O manual to work to study it on the job.
  • Why the main campaign in Shenzhen I/O is so much better than the bonus campaign.
  • Keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in your mind for years.
  • Musical mumbling.
  • Songs that are just a Shower Thoughts post.
  • The long-term discipline of adjusting your facial features over time.
  • Thinking about wider, thinner lips during the instrumental breakdown.
  • Trying to save SACD albums.
  • The Depths.
  • Sharing your location precisely.
  • There are four places: go to them.
  • The Ghost King Rauru.
  • The Calamity Ganon Calamity.
  • A dragon with really weird exaggerated eyelashes that you can run around on.
  • Giving up on horses.
  • Unique items of dubious usefulness.
  • Okay boomer, it's called a Purah Pad now.
  • Finding a tiny rock to jump off of to go into bullet time.
  • The two-fan hoverbike.
  • Skating around atop frozen gourmet meat.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Lords:

  • John
  • JohnB

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • John and John as well.
  • A John of Many Names.
  • The Frog Fractions Soundtrack of the Decade Edition Vinyl.
  • Being sued for copying a song's vibes.
  • Aldi Barcodes.
  • Noise-cancelling the sound of eating crackers.
  • Just scan it. It's food.
  • A word full of high-scoring Scrabble tiles.
  • Juxtaposing a police station.
  • A history of "juxtapose" waiting in the wings like a Batman origin story.
  • Pre-35 words.
  • Biff going back in time to 17th century Prague to be thrown out a window but surviving because he landed in a pile of manure.
  • An upbeat song about tolerating people that you hate.
  • The invention of defenestration.
  • Farewell to Cheap Bots Done Quick.
  • Sharing a fun tweet.
  • Being technical enough to look at nested braces and know what that means.
  • Bots in Space.
  • Capcom vs. Everyone.
  • Temple of Apshai.
  • A text adventure except they couldn't fit any of the text on the floppy.
  • Action RPGs that demand you manage your stats and inventory on paper.
  • Solo D&D adventure books.
  • Dragon's on a Chip.
  • Video games that come with books that you need to read to play the game.
  • A thick boy, full of lore.
  • The philosophy of city planning.
  • What is an Earth for?
  • Tunic.
  • What StarTropics did with the letter.
  • Sentinel Worlds One: Future Magic.
  • [See paragraph 3.]
  • 1980s computer game copy protection.
  • Bringing the Shenzhen I/O manual to work to study it on the job.
  • Why the main campaign in Shenzhen I/O is so much better than the bonus campaign.
  • Keeping an ideal facial structure fixed in your mind for years.
  • Musical mumbling.
  • Songs that are just a Shower Thoughts post.
  • The long-term discipline of adjusting your facial features over time.
  • Thinking about wider, thinner lips during the instrumental breakdown.
  • Trying to save SACD albums.
  • The Depths.
  • Sharing your location precisely.
  • There are four places: go to them.
  • The Ghost King Rauru.
  • The Calamity Ganon Calamity.
  • A dragon with really weird exaggerated eyelashes that you can run around on.
  • Giving up on horses.
  • Unique items of dubious usefulness.
  • Okay boomer, it's called a Purah Pad now.
  • Finding a tiny rock to jump off of to go into bullet time.
  • The two-fan hoverbike.
  • Skating around atop frozen gourmet meat.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 176. A Diglett Slightly Tan https://topiclords.com/a-diglett-slightly-tan 127a7a67-7bc2-4d2f-aace-fe8c21d779c4 Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: Hallie and John B. We discuss tabletop RPGs as educational platform, Flicky-likes, Etch A Sketch Animator 2000, My Brother's Head Should Be Replaced by Jack Prelutsky, and Buff Diglett. 54:28 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Hallie * John B Topics: * Tabletop RPGs as educational platform * Flicky-likes * Etch A Sketch Animator 2000 * Poem: "My Brother's Head Should Be Replaced" by Jack Prelutsky * https://youtu.be/TYXJyxT7QN4?t=1330 * Buff Diglett Microtopics: * 471 very positive reviews. * Pizza Tower, the Tower of Pizza. * Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular. * Taking a drink of your Safeway brand Diet Cola Caffeine Free Soda. * Bouncy the Rat and her friends in the Wild Wood. * Providing a platform for people to talk to each other and learn about boundaries. * Why to add numbers together. * Teaching children math when everyone has a pocket calculator in their pocket at all times. * A peek under the curtain. * The edutainment classics. * Three D&D combat system as a way to get comfortable doing arithmetic in your head. * Providing an experiential experience. * A tiny video game console that looks like a Sega Genesis. * Trying to sex Flicky. * Maximizing your combo chain in Flicky. * Sonic 3D Blast as a sequel to Flicky. * Super Rub-a-Dub. * Flicking the controller to make the rubber ducky jump. * A dude collecting dudes who follow you in a trail. * Pix the Cat. * All the Bubble Bobble sequels, none of which use the bubbling mechanic. * Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure. * Whip Whip: the word "whip" twice. * The Etch-a-Sketch: a terrible toy for terrible people. * Making animations that are perhaps five or six frames long. * Controlling with the knobbies. * The Magic Touch Pad. * A button that says "recall" on it. * Putt-Nuts Go to the Moon, featuring Alan Shepard. * Plugging your Etch-a-Sketch into your VCR to save your art. * The powder leaking out of the Etch-a-Sketch because you used it too much. * It's like painting but on a TV but worse than regular painting. * 2000 gray squares. * The poet laureate of children. * The golden age of the CD-ROM. * Wanting a tomato to be bigger. * The Tomato Centipede. * Poems about homework. * A mole-type Pokemon. * Everybody independently coming to the conclusion that Diglett has a muscular human body down there. * Buff kittens. * Whether Dugtrio has one muscular human body down there, or three. * Three human bodybuilders cosplaying as Dugtrio. * Trying to search for "naked diglett" but Google autocorrects you to "naked woman" * Space Dentist!! * That one dentist out of ten who recommends that you go to space. * Organizing your video game garbo. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

  • Hallie
  • John B

Topics:

  • Tabletop RPGs as educational platform
  • Flicky-likes
  • Etch A Sketch Animator 2000
  • Poem: "My Brother's Head Should Be Replaced" by Jack Prelutsky
  • Buff Diglett

Microtopics:

  • 471 very positive reviews.
  • Pizza Tower, the Tower of Pizza.
  • Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular.
  • Taking a drink of your Safeway brand Diet Cola Caffeine Free Soda.
  • Bouncy the Rat and her friends in the Wild Wood.
  • Providing a platform for people to talk to each other and learn about boundaries.
  • Why to add numbers together.
  • Teaching children math when everyone has a pocket calculator in their pocket at all times.
  • A peek under the curtain.
  • The edutainment classics.
  • Three D&D combat system as a way to get comfortable doing arithmetic in your head.
  • Providing an experiential experience.
  • A tiny video game console that looks like a Sega Genesis.
  • Trying to sex Flicky.
  • Maximizing your combo chain in Flicky.
  • Sonic 3D Blast as a sequel to Flicky.
  • Super Rub-a-Dub.
  • Flicking the controller to make the rubber ducky jump.
  • A dude collecting dudes who follow you in a trail.
  • Pix the Cat.
  • All the Bubble Bobble sequels, none of which use the bubbling mechanic.
  • Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure.
  • Whip Whip: the word "whip" twice.
  • The Etch-a-Sketch: a terrible toy for terrible people.
  • Making animations that are perhaps five or six frames long.
  • Controlling with the knobbies.
  • The Magic Touch Pad.
  • A button that says "recall" on it.
  • Putt-Nuts Go to the Moon, featuring Alan Shepard.
  • Plugging your Etch-a-Sketch into your VCR to save your art.
  • The powder leaking out of the Etch-a-Sketch because you used it too much.
  • It's like painting but on a TV but worse than regular painting.
  • 2000 gray squares.
  • The poet laureate of children.
  • The golden age of the CD-ROM.
  • Wanting a tomato to be bigger.
  • The Tomato Centipede.
  • Poems about homework.
  • A mole-type Pokemon.
  • Everybody independently coming to the conclusion that Diglett has a muscular human body down there.
  • Buff kittens.
  • Whether Dugtrio has one muscular human body down there, or three.
  • Three human bodybuilders cosplaying as Dugtrio.
  • Trying to search for "naked diglett" but Google autocorrects you to "naked woman"
  • Space Dentist!!
  • That one dentist out of ten who recommends that you go to space.
  • Organizing your video game garbo.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

  • Hallie
  • John B

Topics:

  • Tabletop RPGs as educational platform
  • Flicky-likes
  • Etch A Sketch Animator 2000
  • Poem: "My Brother's Head Should Be Replaced" by Jack Prelutsky
  • Buff Diglett

Microtopics:

  • 471 very positive reviews.
  • Pizza Tower, the Tower of Pizza.
  • Snoopy's Silly Sports Spectacular.
  • Taking a drink of your Safeway brand Diet Cola Caffeine Free Soda.
  • Bouncy the Rat and her friends in the Wild Wood.
  • Providing a platform for people to talk to each other and learn about boundaries.
  • Why to add numbers together.
  • Teaching children math when everyone has a pocket calculator in their pocket at all times.
  • A peek under the curtain.
  • The edutainment classics.
  • Three D&D combat system as a way to get comfortable doing arithmetic in your head.
  • Providing an experiential experience.
  • A tiny video game console that looks like a Sega Genesis.
  • Trying to sex Flicky.
  • Maximizing your combo chain in Flicky.
  • Sonic 3D Blast as a sequel to Flicky.
  • Super Rub-a-Dub.
  • Flicking the controller to make the rubber ducky jump.
  • A dude collecting dudes who follow you in a trail.
  • Pix the Cat.
  • All the Bubble Bobble sequels, none of which use the bubbling mechanic.
  • Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure.
  • Whip Whip: the word "whip" twice.
  • The Etch-a-Sketch: a terrible toy for terrible people.
  • Making animations that are perhaps five or six frames long.
  • Controlling with the knobbies.
  • The Magic Touch Pad.
  • A button that says "recall" on it.
  • Putt-Nuts Go to the Moon, featuring Alan Shepard.
  • Plugging your Etch-a-Sketch into your VCR to save your art.
  • The powder leaking out of the Etch-a-Sketch because you used it too much.
  • It's like painting but on a TV but worse than regular painting.
  • 2000 gray squares.
  • The poet laureate of children.
  • The golden age of the CD-ROM.
  • Wanting a tomato to be bigger.
  • The Tomato Centipede.
  • Poems about homework.
  • A mole-type Pokemon.
  • Everybody independently coming to the conclusion that Diglett has a muscular human body down there.
  • Buff kittens.
  • Whether Dugtrio has one muscular human body down there, or three.
  • Three human bodybuilders cosplaying as Dugtrio.
  • Trying to search for "naked diglett" but Google autocorrects you to "naked woman"
  • Space Dentist!!
  • That one dentist out of ten who recommends that you go to space.
  • Organizing your video game garbo.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 158. Bark Mitzvah: Where Your Good Boy Becomes a Mensch https://topiclords.com/bark-mitzvah-where-your-good-boy-becomes-a-mensch 255180cb-e886-4b86-b199-03a109ba825a Mon, 31 Oct 2022 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: Erica and John. We discuss the Nancy Drew point and click adventures, garbage food technology, the grunting American Airlines voice, The Cow by Oliver Herford, indie games of the late 90s and early 2000s, and the Some Potatoes Diet. 1:09:04 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Erica * The Real John B Topics: * The Nancy Drew Point and Click adventure series * Advances in garbage food technology * The mysterious grunting voice playing over the American Airlines intercom * https://waxy.org/2022/09/a-mysterious-voice-is-haunting-american-airlines-in-flight-announcements-and-nobody-knows-how/ * A poem I found: "The Cow" by Oliver Herford * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo/status/1053873522823446528 * Klik, freeware and indie games in the late 90s and early 2000s * http://freegames.org/GameHippo Microtopics: * Other topic podcasts biting Jim's steeze. * Spending the next hour blushing. * Holding a Bark Mitzvah to watch your Good Boy become a mensch. * Releasing a director's cut from beyond the grave. * Bad games that you can't get enough of. * Adventure games that make you feel like when grandma would visit and bring you donuts. * Secret Fandoms. * The new Nancy Drew series where Nancy Drew is an airhead and nobody likes her. * A 70 year old woman playing a teenager. * Whether game designers play anything other than World of Warcraft. * Why the Nancy Drew adventure games are not on phones. * Putting Nancy Drew in Fortnite. * Friend of the show, Dropsy. * You don't have to be an American to eat a garbage diet, but it sure helps. * Food color technology over time. * When Froot Loops added the fourth color. * Speaking truth to power about the little silver disc that you microwave pizza on. * The starchy packet that helps the noodles cook. * A job that requires the skill sets of both a chef and a materials engineer. * Things that come out of boxes nowadays. * Watching meat substitutes grow up. * Plastic golems living in your body. * Getting your first reading glasses at your Old Mitzvah and giving a speech starting with "now I am an old." * The second person this hour who has admitted to the pharmacist that they need reading glasses. * The baby technology section at Walmart. * Snot removers that'd also be great for insect collection. * A sock that measures blood oxygenation. * Earwitness accounts. * Working on the American Airlines announcement system and adding strange grunting noises to the playlist. * Electrical noise that is being interpreted by a system intended to transmit the human voice. * The guy who does all the grunt voices. * A sound that is like audio from a music album. * An incredible technical smartass who got annoyed at luggage fees. * A fridge full of snacks in the middle of the plane. * Every passenger getting up and going to the snack pit. * Wrestling for Cheez-Its. * All the folks who are into weird pranks and technical glitches making a pilgrimage to the American Airlines flight with the weird grunting. * Nancy-likes. * The Three Investigators, presented by Alfred Hitchcock. * Joining the discord for more on the ukulele plane. * Back in 1901 when they worried about Peak Cow. * Milk punch. * Eggless egg nog. * Celebrating all the positive ways cows influence our lives, and also we eat them. * Whether scientists knew extinctions were possible in 1901. * Looking for free games on the internet in 1999. * Letting the Game Hippo domain lapse and a domain squatter picks it up and the rest is history. * Dink Smallwood. * A multidirectional shooter with a cool perspective trick. * All the search engines they had before google. * The Williams College MUD that you could log in to and visit Williams College in the MUD. * Graal Online. * Receiving a box of shareware from your mom's coworker. * PC games from before developers realized that computers would get faster. * Typing swim fast enough that you don't drown. * Please Copy That Floppy! Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

  • Erica
  • The Real John B

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Other topic podcasts biting Jim's steeze.
  • Spending the next hour blushing.
  • Holding a Bark Mitzvah to watch your Good Boy become a mensch.
  • Releasing a director's cut from beyond the grave.
  • Bad games that you can't get enough of.
  • Adventure games that make you feel like when grandma would visit and bring you donuts.
  • Secret Fandoms.
  • The new Nancy Drew series where Nancy Drew is an airhead and nobody likes her.
  • A 70 year old woman playing a teenager.
  • Whether game designers play anything other than World of Warcraft.
  • Why the Nancy Drew adventure games are not on phones.
  • Putting Nancy Drew in Fortnite.
  • Friend of the show, Dropsy.
  • You don't have to be an American to eat a garbage diet, but it sure helps.
  • Food color technology over time.
  • When Froot Loops added the fourth color.
  • Speaking truth to power about the little silver disc that you microwave pizza on.
  • The starchy packet that helps the noodles cook.
  • A job that requires the skill sets of both a chef and a materials engineer.
  • Things that come out of boxes nowadays.
  • Watching meat substitutes grow up.
  • Plastic golems living in your body.
  • Getting your first reading glasses at your Old Mitzvah and giving a speech starting with "now I am an old."
  • The second person this hour who has admitted to the pharmacist that they need reading glasses.
  • The baby technology section at Walmart.
  • Snot removers that'd also be great for insect collection.
  • A sock that measures blood oxygenation.
  • Earwitness accounts.
  • Working on the American Airlines announcement system and adding strange grunting noises to the playlist.
  • Electrical noise that is being interpreted by a system intended to transmit the human voice.
  • The guy who does all the grunt voices.
  • A sound that is like audio from a music album.
  • An incredible technical smartass who got annoyed at luggage fees.
  • A fridge full of snacks in the middle of the plane.
  • Every passenger getting up and going to the snack pit.
  • Wrestling for Cheez-Its.
  • All the folks who are into weird pranks and technical glitches making a pilgrimage to the American Airlines flight with the weird grunting.
  • Nancy-likes.
  • The Three Investigators, presented by Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Joining the discord for more on the ukulele plane.
  • Back in 1901 when they worried about Peak Cow.
  • Milk punch.
  • Eggless egg nog.
  • Celebrating all the positive ways cows influence our lives, and also we eat them.
  • Whether scientists knew extinctions were possible in 1901.
  • Looking for free games on the internet in 1999.
  • Letting the Game Hippo domain lapse and a domain squatter picks it up and the rest is history.
  • Dink Smallwood.
  • A multidirectional shooter with a cool perspective trick.
  • All the search engines they had before google.
  • The Williams College MUD that you could log in to and visit Williams College in the MUD.
  • Graal Online.
  • Receiving a box of shareware from your mom's coworker.
  • PC games from before developers realized that computers would get faster.
  • Typing swim fast enough that you don't drown.
  • Please Copy That Floppy!

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

  • Erica
  • The Real John B

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Other topic podcasts biting Jim's steeze.
  • Spending the next hour blushing.
  • Holding a Bark Mitzvah to watch your Good Boy become a mensch.
  • Releasing a director's cut from beyond the grave.
  • Bad games that you can't get enough of.
  • Adventure games that make you feel like when grandma would visit and bring you donuts.
  • Secret Fandoms.
  • The new Nancy Drew series where Nancy Drew is an airhead and nobody likes her.
  • A 70 year old woman playing a teenager.
  • Whether game designers play anything other than World of Warcraft.
  • Why the Nancy Drew adventure games are not on phones.
  • Putting Nancy Drew in Fortnite.
  • Friend of the show, Dropsy.
  • You don't have to be an American to eat a garbage diet, but it sure helps.
  • Food color technology over time.
  • When Froot Loops added the fourth color.
  • Speaking truth to power about the little silver disc that you microwave pizza on.
  • The starchy packet that helps the noodles cook.
  • A job that requires the skill sets of both a chef and a materials engineer.
  • Things that come out of boxes nowadays.
  • Watching meat substitutes grow up.
  • Plastic golems living in your body.
  • Getting your first reading glasses at your Old Mitzvah and giving a speech starting with "now I am an old."
  • The second person this hour who has admitted to the pharmacist that they need reading glasses.
  • The baby technology section at Walmart.
  • Snot removers that'd also be great for insect collection.
  • A sock that measures blood oxygenation.
  • Earwitness accounts.
  • Working on the American Airlines announcement system and adding strange grunting noises to the playlist.
  • Electrical noise that is being interpreted by a system intended to transmit the human voice.
  • The guy who does all the grunt voices.
  • A sound that is like audio from a music album.
  • An incredible technical smartass who got annoyed at luggage fees.
  • A fridge full of snacks in the middle of the plane.
  • Every passenger getting up and going to the snack pit.
  • Wrestling for Cheez-Its.
  • All the folks who are into weird pranks and technical glitches making a pilgrimage to the American Airlines flight with the weird grunting.
  • Nancy-likes.
  • The Three Investigators, presented by Alfred Hitchcock.
  • Joining the discord for more on the ukulele plane.
  • Back in 1901 when they worried about Peak Cow.
  • Milk punch.
  • Eggless egg nog.
  • Celebrating all the positive ways cows influence our lives, and also we eat them.
  • Whether scientists knew extinctions were possible in 1901.
  • Looking for free games on the internet in 1999.
  • Letting the Game Hippo domain lapse and a domain squatter picks it up and the rest is history.
  • Dink Smallwood.
  • A multidirectional shooter with a cool perspective trick.
  • All the search engines they had before google.
  • The Williams College MUD that you could log in to and visit Williams College in the MUD.
  • Graal Online.
  • Receiving a box of shareware from your mom's coworker.
  • PC games from before developers realized that computers would get faster.
  • Typing swim fast enough that you don't drown.
  • Please Copy That Floppy!

Support Topic Lords

]]> 144. Vultures Who Know the Difference (Between Sugar and Aspartame) https://topiclords.com/vultures-who-know-the-difference-between-sugar-and-aspartame f6df4126-6916-450e-ac57-f123b9e2d0ed Mon, 25 Jul 2022 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: JohnB and Jesse. We discuss Wario 64, bringing back Dogme 95, Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name again, This is Just to Say, by William Carlos Williams, outdoor pop machines, and Godzilla. 1:12:59 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * JohnB * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo * Jesse Topics: * Wario64 * We need to bring back Dogme 95 * Seeking Mr. Eaten's Name Again * https://saint-arthur.tumblr.com/ * This Is Just To Say, by William Carlos Williams * https://poets.org/poem/just-say * Whatever happened to outdoor pop machines? * https://lovepittsburghshop.com/blogs/love-pittsburgh/may-the-pop-machine-be-with-you * Godzilla Microtopics: * A Link's Awakening speedrun that may surprise you. * Lord clouds. * What's the deal with Wario 64? * Asking Webster's Dictionary to define Wario 64. * Your source for video game deals. * How Wario64 feels about Chris Pratt voicing Mario. * Geralt in the bathtub. * Wario World for the GameCube. * The hidden origins of Wario64. * Ten rules for how to make a movie. * Lars von Trier being traumatized by a dolly shot and inventing Dogme 95. * Unintentional Dogme 95 movies. * Unboxing a Criterion Collection DVD live on the show and there's just a DVD in there. * Creative freedom, the worst constraint. * A recipe for the worst movies in the fucking world. * Dogme 95 drinking game. * Making a flag in the bucket. * The Adventure 2600 continuity. * Bats that can steal things that shouldn't be able to be stolen. * A video game quest that was very difficult and obscure until someone wrote a FAQ. * The ludonarrative consonance of following your self-destructive obsession at the same time your character follows their self-destructive obsession. * Being confused about a story beat in a video game and having to seek out a lore genius on the internet. * The Random House Annotated Fallen London. * Becoming St. Gawain's Candle. * How the icebox plums poem became a meme. * Learning about poutine on social media. * Satirical poetry in the 1960s. * Things that are Ira Glass's fault. * Extreme meminess. * Wanting a god damn plum right now. * Pictures of normal people that are considered heresy. * Deliberately making your podcast guest's audio sound bad. * Continuing to read poetry even though you're terrible at it. * Asking Siri to get you a substantial raise. * Checking the change return slots on the mobile phone bank for quarters, to do your part to sustain the soda vending machine economy. * The cost of a 510 ml bottle of pop these days. * The fastest pop machine in the world. * Joking about the day we record the show when it comes out weeks later and none of the listeners have any idea what you're talking about. * Applying the sugar tax to beverages sweetened with aspartame. * The Godzilla movie with Inspector Gadget in it. * Redheaded Stepzilla. * The three Godzilla movies that are out of print in the US. (But not on archive.org) * Having to license all the Kaiju separately. * Movies that are in the public domain because they were not explicitly labeled as copyrighted. * Public Domain Day. * The personality traits of Sherlock Holmes that are and aren't copyrighted. * The Beast at 20,000 Fathoms. * Messing up a slow-motion shot by undercranking the camera rather than overcranking, but it has to go into the movie like that because it was your only take. * Making a movie where you can do as many takes as you want but they all have to go in the finished film. * Godzilla taking some much needed time off. * Invasion of Astro-Monster. * Watching the entire Godzilla series and learning why people think Avengers: Endgame is good. * A latchkey kid in 1960s Japan overcoming his bullies by imagining that Godzilla is his friend. * A dinosaur falling in love with a lighthouse. * Empathizing with the dinosaur who is completely misunderstanding the situation. * Why the English speakers in Japanese or Korean films are such bad actors. * An island protector of these native people brought to society for reasons of Capitalism. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • A Link's Awakening speedrun that may surprise you.
  • Lord clouds.
  • What's the deal with Wario 64?
  • Asking Webster's Dictionary to define Wario 64.
  • Your source for video game deals.
  • How Wario64 feels about Chris Pratt voicing Mario.
  • Geralt in the bathtub.
  • Wario World for the GameCube.
  • The hidden origins of Wario64.
  • Ten rules for how to make a movie.
  • Lars von Trier being traumatized by a dolly shot and inventing Dogme 95.
  • Unintentional Dogme 95 movies.
  • Unboxing a Criterion Collection DVD live on the show and there's just a DVD in there.
  • Creative freedom, the worst constraint.
  • A recipe for the worst movies in the fucking world.
  • Dogme 95 drinking game.
  • Making a flag in the bucket.
  • The Adventure 2600 continuity.
  • Bats that can steal things that shouldn't be able to be stolen.
  • A video game quest that was very difficult and obscure until someone wrote a FAQ.
  • The ludonarrative consonance of following your self-destructive obsession at the same time your character follows their self-destructive obsession.
  • Being confused about a story beat in a video game and having to seek out a lore genius on the internet.
  • The Random House Annotated Fallen London.
  • Becoming St. Gawain's Candle.
  • How the icebox plums poem became a meme.
  • Learning about poutine on social media.
  • Satirical poetry in the 1960s.
  • Things that are Ira Glass's fault.
  • Extreme meminess.
  • Wanting a god damn plum right now.
  • Pictures of normal people that are considered heresy.
  • Deliberately making your podcast guest's audio sound bad.
  • Continuing to read poetry even though you're terrible at it.
  • Asking Siri to get you a substantial raise.
  • Checking the change return slots on the mobile phone bank for quarters, to do your part to sustain the soda vending machine economy.
  • The cost of a 510 ml bottle of pop these days.
  • The fastest pop machine in the world.
  • Joking about the day we record the show when it comes out weeks later and none of the listeners have any idea what you're talking about.
  • Applying the sugar tax to beverages sweetened with aspartame.
  • The Godzilla movie with Inspector Gadget in it.
  • Redheaded Stepzilla.
  • The three Godzilla movies that are out of print in the US. (But not on archive.org)
  • Having to license all the Kaiju separately.
  • Movies that are in the public domain because they were not explicitly labeled as copyrighted.
  • Public Domain Day.
  • The personality traits of Sherlock Holmes that are and aren't copyrighted.
  • The Beast at 20,000 Fathoms.
  • Messing up a slow-motion shot by undercranking the camera rather than overcranking, but it has to go into the movie like that because it was your only take.
  • Making a movie where you can do as many takes as you want but they all have to go in the finished film.
  • Godzilla taking some much needed time off.
  • Invasion of Astro-Monster.
  • Watching the entire Godzilla series and learning why people think Avengers: Endgame is good.
  • A latchkey kid in 1960s Japan overcoming his bullies by imagining that Godzilla is his friend.
  • A dinosaur falling in love with a lighthouse.
  • Empathizing with the dinosaur who is completely misunderstanding the situation.
  • Why the English speakers in Japanese or Korean films are such bad actors.
  • An island protector of these native people brought to society for reasons of Capitalism.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • A Link's Awakening speedrun that may surprise you.
  • Lord clouds.
  • What's the deal with Wario 64?
  • Asking Webster's Dictionary to define Wario 64.
  • Your source for video game deals.
  • How Wario64 feels about Chris Pratt voicing Mario.
  • Geralt in the bathtub.
  • Wario World for the GameCube.
  • The hidden origins of Wario64.
  • Ten rules for how to make a movie.
  • Lars von Trier being traumatized by a dolly shot and inventing Dogme 95.
  • Unintentional Dogme 95 movies.
  • Unboxing a Criterion Collection DVD live on the show and there's just a DVD in there.
  • Creative freedom, the worst constraint.
  • A recipe for the worst movies in the fucking world.
  • Dogme 95 drinking game.
  • Making a flag in the bucket.
  • The Adventure 2600 continuity.
  • Bats that can steal things that shouldn't be able to be stolen.
  • A video game quest that was very difficult and obscure until someone wrote a FAQ.
  • The ludonarrative consonance of following your self-destructive obsession at the same time your character follows their self-destructive obsession.
  • Being confused about a story beat in a video game and having to seek out a lore genius on the internet.
  • The Random House Annotated Fallen London.
  • Becoming St. Gawain's Candle.
  • How the icebox plums poem became a meme.
  • Learning about poutine on social media.
  • Satirical poetry in the 1960s.
  • Things that are Ira Glass's fault.
  • Extreme meminess.
  • Wanting a god damn plum right now.
  • Pictures of normal people that are considered heresy.
  • Deliberately making your podcast guest's audio sound bad.
  • Continuing to read poetry even though you're terrible at it.
  • Asking Siri to get you a substantial raise.
  • Checking the change return slots on the mobile phone bank for quarters, to do your part to sustain the soda vending machine economy.
  • The cost of a 510 ml bottle of pop these days.
  • The fastest pop machine in the world.
  • Joking about the day we record the show when it comes out weeks later and none of the listeners have any idea what you're talking about.
  • Applying the sugar tax to beverages sweetened with aspartame.
  • The Godzilla movie with Inspector Gadget in it.
  • Redheaded Stepzilla.
  • The three Godzilla movies that are out of print in the US. (But not on archive.org)
  • Having to license all the Kaiju separately.
  • Movies that are in the public domain because they were not explicitly labeled as copyrighted.
  • Public Domain Day.
  • The personality traits of Sherlock Holmes that are and aren't copyrighted.
  • The Beast at 20,000 Fathoms.
  • Messing up a slow-motion shot by undercranking the camera rather than overcranking, but it has to go into the movie like that because it was your only take.
  • Making a movie where you can do as many takes as you want but they all have to go in the finished film.
  • Godzilla taking some much needed time off.
  • Invasion of Astro-Monster.
  • Watching the entire Godzilla series and learning why people think Avengers: Endgame is good.
  • A latchkey kid in 1960s Japan overcoming his bullies by imagining that Godzilla is his friend.
  • A dinosaur falling in love with a lighthouse.
  • Empathizing with the dinosaur who is completely misunderstanding the situation.
  • Why the English speakers in Japanese or Korean films are such bad actors.
  • An island protector of these native people brought to society for reasons of Capitalism.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 140. The Most Edible Petrochemical https://topiclords.com/the-most-edible-petrochemical 3244b87a-fba9-4b4e-829f-d3a8c1f1d154 Mon, 27 Jun 2022 00:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: Kevin and John. We discuss reading the other headlines on newspapers in films that flash on screen solely for the headline, the Game Boy Camera, best Halloween candy: candy corn or pumpkin-shaped candy corn?, "Icarus" by Edward Field, and Douglas Hofstadter. 1:15:09 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Kevin * https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/ or http://ircamera.as.arizona.edu/nircam/ * https://youtu.be/in6RZzdGki8 * https://youtu.be/lrY04VPDg8I * John Topics: * Reading the other headlines/articles on newspapers in films that flash on screen solely for the headline * http://www.chess-in-the-cinema.de/ * The Game Boy Camera/revisiting the PXL-2000 topic and other toy cameras/tech * Best Halloween candy: candy corn or pumpkin-shaped candy corn? * Icarus, by Edward Field * https://genius.com/Edward-field-icarus-annotated * Douglas Hofstadter Microtopics: * The James Webb Space Telescope. * The thing you get the most DMs about. * Recording a fan's answering machine message in the Mario Frustration voice. * The guy who "fixed" the NES triangle wave. * Bandlimiting your oscillators. * What the real Lordheads know. * Another place to shitpost. * 3D entertainment. * Deku momentum problems. * The analog stick mod for Mario 64 DS. * A remaster that is in direct conversation with what it's remastering. * The pros and cons of Mario 64 DS. * Abandoned let's-plays. * Waterworld for the Virtual Boy. * Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven. * How to give Nintendo money in 2022. * Prodigy Child Wins Every Award Given. * Pausing movies to read the nonsense headlines that the prop designers didn't expect you to read. * Pausing the movie to complain about the nonsensical Scrabble game depicted. * A movie about people who don't know how to play Clue. * A mahjongg game that is a literary microcosm of the players' lives. * Leaning across the couch to your girlfriend and saying "that's Chappie's chess game." * Playing Super Mario Bros. with the Power Glove. * The Steam reviews for the 8-bit wrestling game that appears for three seconds in The Wrestler. * The only digital camera that was under $100 in the 90s. * How to get images off of the Game Boy Camera. * Hooking together a TV, VCR, SNES, Super Game Boy and Game Boy Camera and plugging it in with a very long extension cord so you can shoot a movie outdoors. * An in-your-face student film about what happens when computers can detect emotion. * Using your Game Boy Camera as a webcam on Twitch. * The Game Boy Camera's music sequencer. * The Game Boy Camera asking ROM hackers if they are feeling ok. * The Gold Zelda Camera. * The gold Breath of the Wild cartridge that tastes like the Master Sword. * The Cool Cam. * The Lefty RX. * Ranking candy by its volume to surface area ratio. * Getting sick of candy corn naysayers. * Wax Lips: Ya Gotta Eat 'Em! * A powder that's been glued into a little puck. * What the American Oil and Gas Historical Society has to say about wax lips. * The oleaginous history of wax lips. * Edible dinosaur bones. * Bananasaurus Rex-flavored string cheese. * The Genius of the Hero falling to the Middling Stature of the Merely Talented. * Looking back on your best work and knowing you'll probably never best it but still liking your life more now. * A short story with extra line breaks. * Turning any text into a poem by resizing the window so there are extra line breaks. * Robert Altman's follow-up to MASH. * A retelling of Icarus featuring the wicked witch saying a slur. * What it means to be conscious. * Godel, Escher, Bach: I am a Strange Loop except more confusing. * Writing a book for the general public and having to figure out how to make your ideas fun. * Searching YouTube for "Crab Cannon" and only finding music for weirdos and no cannons of any kind. * Martin Gardner's column about math games in Scientific American. * Metamagical Themas. * Using math to do fun space stuff. * Stream Frasier Online Free. * Rubik's Cube except spelled like an asshole. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • The James Webb Space Telescope.
  • The thing you get the most DMs about.
  • Recording a fan's answering machine message in the Mario Frustration voice.
  • The guy who "fixed" the NES triangle wave.
  • Bandlimiting your oscillators.
  • What the real Lordheads know.
  • Another place to shitpost.
  • 3D entertainment.
  • Deku momentum problems.
  • The analog stick mod for Mario 64 DS.
  • A remaster that is in direct conversation with what it's remastering.
  • The pros and cons of Mario 64 DS.
  • Abandoned let's-plays.
  • Waterworld for the Virtual Boy.
  • Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven.
  • How to give Nintendo money in 2022.
  • Prodigy Child Wins Every Award Given.
  • Pausing movies to read the nonsense headlines that the prop designers didn't expect you to read.
  • Pausing the movie to complain about the nonsensical Scrabble game depicted.
  • A movie about people who don't know how to play Clue.
  • A mahjongg game that is a literary microcosm of the players' lives.
  • Leaning across the couch to your girlfriend and saying "that's Chappie's chess game."
  • Playing Super Mario Bros. with the Power Glove.
  • The Steam reviews for the 8-bit wrestling game that appears for three seconds in The Wrestler.
  • The only digital camera that was under $100 in the 90s.
  • How to get images off of the Game Boy Camera.
  • Hooking together a TV, VCR, SNES, Super Game Boy and Game Boy Camera and plugging it in with a very long extension cord so you can shoot a movie outdoors.
  • An in-your-face student film about what happens when computers can detect emotion.
  • Using your Game Boy Camera as a webcam on Twitch.
  • The Game Boy Camera's music sequencer.
  • The Game Boy Camera asking ROM hackers if they are feeling ok.
  • The Gold Zelda Camera.
  • The gold Breath of the Wild cartridge that tastes like the Master Sword.
  • The Cool Cam.
  • The Lefty RX.
  • Ranking candy by its volume to surface area ratio.
  • Getting sick of candy corn naysayers.
  • Wax Lips: Ya Gotta Eat 'Em!
  • A powder that's been glued into a little puck.
  • What the American Oil and Gas Historical Society has to say about wax lips.
  • The oleaginous history of wax lips.
  • Edible dinosaur bones.
  • Bananasaurus Rex-flavored string cheese.
  • The Genius of the Hero falling to the Middling Stature of the Merely Talented.
  • Looking back on your best work and knowing you'll probably never best it but still liking your life more now.
  • A short story with extra line breaks.
  • Turning any text into a poem by resizing the window so there are extra line breaks.
  • Robert Altman's follow-up to MASH.
  • A retelling of Icarus featuring the wicked witch saying a slur.
  • What it means to be conscious.
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: I am a Strange Loop except more confusing.
  • Writing a book for the general public and having to figure out how to make your ideas fun.
  • Searching YouTube for "Crab Cannon" and only finding music for weirdos and no cannons of any kind.
  • Martin Gardner's column about math games in Scientific American.
  • Metamagical Themas.
  • Using math to do fun space stuff.
  • Stream Frasier Online Free.
  • Rubik's Cube except spelled like an asshole.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • The James Webb Space Telescope.
  • The thing you get the most DMs about.
  • Recording a fan's answering machine message in the Mario Frustration voice.
  • The guy who "fixed" the NES triangle wave.
  • Bandlimiting your oscillators.
  • What the real Lordheads know.
  • Another place to shitpost.
  • 3D entertainment.
  • Deku momentum problems.
  • The analog stick mod for Mario 64 DS.
  • A remaster that is in direct conversation with what it's remastering.
  • The pros and cons of Mario 64 DS.
  • Abandoned let's-plays.
  • Waterworld for the Virtual Boy.
  • Wario Ware and Rhythm Heaven.
  • How to give Nintendo money in 2022.
  • Prodigy Child Wins Every Award Given.
  • Pausing movies to read the nonsense headlines that the prop designers didn't expect you to read.
  • Pausing the movie to complain about the nonsensical Scrabble game depicted.
  • A movie about people who don't know how to play Clue.
  • A mahjongg game that is a literary microcosm of the players' lives.
  • Leaning across the couch to your girlfriend and saying "that's Chappie's chess game."
  • Playing Super Mario Bros. with the Power Glove.
  • The Steam reviews for the 8-bit wrestling game that appears for three seconds in The Wrestler.
  • The only digital camera that was under $100 in the 90s.
  • How to get images off of the Game Boy Camera.
  • Hooking together a TV, VCR, SNES, Super Game Boy and Game Boy Camera and plugging it in with a very long extension cord so you can shoot a movie outdoors.
  • An in-your-face student film about what happens when computers can detect emotion.
  • Using your Game Boy Camera as a webcam on Twitch.
  • The Game Boy Camera's music sequencer.
  • The Game Boy Camera asking ROM hackers if they are feeling ok.
  • The Gold Zelda Camera.
  • The gold Breath of the Wild cartridge that tastes like the Master Sword.
  • The Cool Cam.
  • The Lefty RX.
  • Ranking candy by its volume to surface area ratio.
  • Getting sick of candy corn naysayers.
  • Wax Lips: Ya Gotta Eat 'Em!
  • A powder that's been glued into a little puck.
  • What the American Oil and Gas Historical Society has to say about wax lips.
  • The oleaginous history of wax lips.
  • Edible dinosaur bones.
  • Bananasaurus Rex-flavored string cheese.
  • The Genius of the Hero falling to the Middling Stature of the Merely Talented.
  • Looking back on your best work and knowing you'll probably never best it but still liking your life more now.
  • A short story with extra line breaks.
  • Turning any text into a poem by resizing the window so there are extra line breaks.
  • Robert Altman's follow-up to MASH.
  • A retelling of Icarus featuring the wicked witch saying a slur.
  • What it means to be conscious.
  • Godel, Escher, Bach: I am a Strange Loop except more confusing.
  • Writing a book for the general public and having to figure out how to make your ideas fun.
  • Searching YouTube for "Crab Cannon" and only finding music for weirdos and no cannons of any kind.
  • Martin Gardner's column about math games in Scientific American.
  • Metamagical Themas.
  • Using math to do fun space stuff.
  • Stream Frasier Online Free.
  • Rubik's Cube except spelled like an asshole.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 112. Getting a Lot Of Vengabus Vibes From This https://topiclords.com/getting-a-lot-of-vengabus-vibes-from-this 6482ae40-7f55-4f23-9af6-de2f7eea13d3 Mon, 13 Dec 2021 08:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords this week: JP and John B. We discuss seeing Akira and believing that that's what all anime is like, doppelganger/parodies who exist in the same world as their progenitors, the Tonkachi Editor, and There was an Old Man of St. Bees, by W.S. Gilbert. 52:17 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * JP * John B * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo * https://twitter.com/vs_everyone Topics: * Showing "Akira" to someone who has never seen any anime before and telling them, "this is what all anime is like" * https://twitter.com/kbonds420/status/1378850398665125892 * Bizarro, Dan Hibiki, Homsar, and other not-quite-doppelgangers/parodies who exist in the same world as their progenitors * https://twitter.com/TheDemoScout/status/1457602338013728769 * The Tonkachi Editor * https://glitchcat7.com/the-complete-history-of-kaizo-mario/ * "There was an Old Man of St. Bees, by W.S. Gilbert * https://edwardleartrail.wordpress.com/2016/04/16/there-was-an-old-man-of-st-bees/ Microtopics: * Capcom vs. Everyone. * Corpus maintenance. * Death from Seventh Seal vs. Death from Castlevania. * Moms teaming up based on both being tagged "mom." * The philosophy of tagging tools. * Alt-Universe Prompts Bot. * Coming up with a list of every character in pop culture. * The Ryu Number. * Gary Busey playing himself in Hitman 2. * Shattered Shield At Shattered Shield. * Saturday Night Anime on the Sci-Fi channel. * Roger Ebert's favorite early 90s anime. * Anime that is just Cyberpunk C-Span. * Mario's Macross for the SNES. * Evolutionary bottlenecks in video game design. * The Akira Bike Slide Tribute. * A completely ridiculous context in which to invoke the Akira Bike Slide. * Serious war movie guy plummeting to his death. * A generic karate guy with similar moves. * Spoilers for all of Mr. Karate's sons. * Inventing a new protagonist based on a typo. * Meeting a savvy and helpful hologram that is a projection of an AI run by the World Trade Organization, and later meeting the pop star the AI is based on and she's a total asshole. * Meeting the Evil Scooby Doo Gang in the Evil Mystery Mobile. * A story about the mirror people escaping from behind the mirror and it turns out you were one of them the whole time!! * Wholesome Comedy Doppelgangers. * Batzarro, the world's worst detective, who killed his own parents and is trying to solve the murder. * Planning out your Mario mod on graph paper and then typing it into the hex editor with the Famicom controller. * Conlon Nancarrow manually cutting strips of paper out of a piano roll. * Making tiny ROM hacks using the Game Genie. * The Awakening of Tinkerers. * A landmark case in IP law. * Trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes because it's the 90s and you have nothing better to do. * Hacking Game Genie codes to give you even more lives. * Parts of the logic which are scrutable. * Talking about garbage and finding out if it makes it into the show. * Scrupulously avoiding burning cast. * Burning Cast Xtreme Fishing. * A chair with only three legs. * Playing a glitchy video game and reality starts breaking down in front of you. * Dumping computational work directly into the framebuffer. * The episode of That 70s Show that was about circuit-bending Pong. * When things look like they should rhyme but don't. * Robot Carnival. * Rainy weather in San Francisco on this cursed episode of Topic Lords. * Overthinking the poem. * The Uncarrot Tarot. * The clashing colors of slant rhymes. * Metamagical Themas. * Jokes you can play musically. * A disaster episode of Topic Lords. * The Mote In His Eye. * Being here for history. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Capcom vs. Everyone.
  • Corpus maintenance.
  • Death from Seventh Seal vs. Death from Castlevania.
  • Moms teaming up based on both being tagged "mom."
  • The philosophy of tagging tools.
  • Alt-Universe Prompts Bot.
  • Coming up with a list of every character in pop culture.
  • The Ryu Number.
  • Gary Busey playing himself in Hitman 2.
  • Shattered Shield At Shattered Shield.
  • Saturday Night Anime on the Sci-Fi channel.
  • Roger Ebert's favorite early 90s anime.
  • Anime that is just Cyberpunk C-Span.
  • Mario's Macross for the SNES.
  • Evolutionary bottlenecks in video game design.
  • The Akira Bike Slide Tribute.
  • A completely ridiculous context in which to invoke the Akira Bike Slide.
  • Serious war movie guy plummeting to his death.
  • A generic karate guy with similar moves.
  • Spoilers for all of Mr. Karate's sons.
  • Inventing a new protagonist based on a typo.
  • Meeting a savvy and helpful hologram that is a projection of an AI run by the World Trade Organization, and later meeting the pop star the AI is based on and she's a total asshole.
  • Meeting the Evil Scooby Doo Gang in the Evil Mystery Mobile.
  • A story about the mirror people escaping from behind the mirror and it turns out you were one of them the whole time!!
  • Wholesome Comedy Doppelgangers.
  • Batzarro, the world's worst detective, who killed his own parents and is trying to solve the murder.
  • Planning out your Mario mod on graph paper and then typing it into the hex editor with the Famicom controller.
  • Conlon Nancarrow manually cutting strips of paper out of a piano roll.
  • Making tiny ROM hacks using the Game Genie.
  • The Awakening of Tinkerers.
  • A landmark case in IP law.
  • Trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes because it's the 90s and you have nothing better to do.
  • Hacking Game Genie codes to give you even more lives.
  • Parts of the logic which are scrutable.
  • Talking about garbage and finding out if it makes it into the show.
  • Scrupulously avoiding burning cast.
  • Burning Cast Xtreme Fishing.
  • A chair with only three legs.
  • Playing a glitchy video game and reality starts breaking down in front of you.
  • Dumping computational work directly into the framebuffer.
  • The episode of That 70s Show that was about circuit-bending Pong.
  • When things look like they should rhyme but don't.
  • Robot Carnival.
  • Rainy weather in San Francisco on this cursed episode of Topic Lords.
  • Overthinking the poem.
  • The Uncarrot Tarot.
  • The clashing colors of slant rhymes.
  • Metamagical Themas.
  • Jokes you can play musically.
  • A disaster episode of Topic Lords.
  • The Mote In His Eye.
  • Being here for history.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Capcom vs. Everyone.
  • Corpus maintenance.
  • Death from Seventh Seal vs. Death from Castlevania.
  • Moms teaming up based on both being tagged "mom."
  • The philosophy of tagging tools.
  • Alt-Universe Prompts Bot.
  • Coming up with a list of every character in pop culture.
  • The Ryu Number.
  • Gary Busey playing himself in Hitman 2.
  • Shattered Shield At Shattered Shield.
  • Saturday Night Anime on the Sci-Fi channel.
  • Roger Ebert's favorite early 90s anime.
  • Anime that is just Cyberpunk C-Span.
  • Mario's Macross for the SNES.
  • Evolutionary bottlenecks in video game design.
  • The Akira Bike Slide Tribute.
  • A completely ridiculous context in which to invoke the Akira Bike Slide.
  • Serious war movie guy plummeting to his death.
  • A generic karate guy with similar moves.
  • Spoilers for all of Mr. Karate's sons.
  • Inventing a new protagonist based on a typo.
  • Meeting a savvy and helpful hologram that is a projection of an AI run by the World Trade Organization, and later meeting the pop star the AI is based on and she's a total asshole.
  • Meeting the Evil Scooby Doo Gang in the Evil Mystery Mobile.
  • A story about the mirror people escaping from behind the mirror and it turns out you were one of them the whole time!!
  • Wholesome Comedy Doppelgangers.
  • Batzarro, the world's worst detective, who killed his own parents and is trying to solve the murder.
  • Planning out your Mario mod on graph paper and then typing it into the hex editor with the Famicom controller.
  • Conlon Nancarrow manually cutting strips of paper out of a piano roll.
  • Making tiny ROM hacks using the Game Genie.
  • The Awakening of Tinkerers.
  • A landmark case in IP law.
  • Trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes because it's the 90s and you have nothing better to do.
  • Hacking Game Genie codes to give you even more lives.
  • Parts of the logic which are scrutable.
  • Talking about garbage and finding out if it makes it into the show.
  • Scrupulously avoiding burning cast.
  • Burning Cast Xtreme Fishing.
  • A chair with only three legs.
  • Playing a glitchy video game and reality starts breaking down in front of you.
  • Dumping computational work directly into the framebuffer.
  • The episode of That 70s Show that was about circuit-bending Pong.
  • When things look like they should rhyme but don't.
  • Robot Carnival.
  • Rainy weather in San Francisco on this cursed episode of Topic Lords.
  • Overthinking the poem.
  • The Uncarrot Tarot.
  • The clashing colors of slant rhymes.
  • Metamagical Themas.
  • Jokes you can play musically.
  • A disaster episode of Topic Lords.
  • The Mote In His Eye.
  • Being here for history.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 92. Tomb of the Spider-Men https://topiclords.com/tomb-of-the-spider-men 47a7f971-f4e9-45a5-b790-e27f6606215e Mon, 26 Jul 2021 08:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords this week: Abby and John B. We discuss the 1998 Tips & Tricks Magazine Video Game Codebook, Grease 2 and the 60s Superman musical, Tower of Druaga, and Cibo Matto - Sugar Water. 1:00:01 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Abby * https://twitter.com/mizabitha * http://abbydenton.podbean.com/ * John B * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo Topics: * The 1998 Tips & Tricks Magazine Video Game Codebook, a Larry Flynt publication that is not porn but, in a certain sense, is not unlike porn * Why grease 2 is the best superhero musical; a mild defense of the 60s superman musical * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNXbdLDZLKM * Tower of Druaga * Cibo Matto - Sugar Water * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN9auBn6Jys * Unedited (syncable) commentary: https://youtu.be/qgqxxX_yLfo * https://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/02/17/68-michel-gondry/ Microtopics: * The illustrious Abby Denton. * A shambles. * Locking your Twitter so nobody knows what you're doing in there. * Making a whole video game magazine out of just the good parts of video game magazines. * Publishing a series of short stories by formatting them like cheat codes and then submitting them to Tips & Tricks magazine. * Nostalgia for when most of your perception of the gaming world came from tiny screenshots in magazines. * A book that is a bunch of fake games and paragraphs about them. * A duck riding a skateboard. * Making a book out of a Twitter thread. * Reading about video games in magazines probably being the optimal experience actually because most games were terrible. * Game Master Anthony's birthday party. * Street Fighter 2, the last game in the Street Fighter series. * NBA Jam arcade as proof that cheat codes are compatible with microtransactions. * Renting a game just to prove to your friend that the cheat code they heard about doesn't actually work. * WWF Attitude. * Enjoying the bouquet of Uniracers. * A certain quality of gibberish. * Publishing a fake cheat code in the annual Tips and Tricks monster issue to convey the location of your drug drop. * Putting Roll back in the Marvel vs. Capcom series. * A very mild defense. * Superman fighting a gang of Chinese acrobats portrayed by white heroin addicts. * Mafiosos cha-cha-ing around the room and chanting "Curtains for Superman!" * The only Superman story where kryptonite never appears. * An evil psychoanalyst defeating Superman by convincing him he's just a regular guy. * Why can't the strongest man in the world be the happiest man in the world? * Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark. * Dorky British guys trying to impress Michelle Pfeiffer. * Giving a three year old a DVD of Grease 2 for her birthday. * Everything are an opera. * Just barely losing the Nobel Prize for thirty years in a row. * Japanese arcade note-sharing culture. * If Atari 2600 Adventure has a dozen Easter eggs as obscure as its hidden room, and they were all necessary to finish the game. * One thing the NES is good at. * The Gilligan's Island game for NES. * Gilligan's Island for NES being rated only .1 star out of five less than Sonic CD. * Game Center CX. * The time you could explore Namco Museum. * Bubble Bobble. * Hiding a bunch of stuff in your indie game inspired by Frog Fractions but nobody ever finds it because nobody cared enough about your game. * Spelunky 2. * Your stuff per second rate. * Nightmare of Druaga. * How to know if you have a friend. * A Brian De Palma split screen dream. * Waking up with sugar on your head. * Michel Gondry's music video ouevre. * I, Palindrome, I. * A team of compositors working for six months to bring your one-second idea to fruition. * Hitting someone with your car and then following them down the street yelling at them. * A reverse strip club where the performers are moving backwards in time. * Practicing how to put a reverse-causality shirt on. * A complete understanding of why Miho Hatori is going to bed with a sugar head. * Teaching your son how to yawn. * Playing Doctor Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine with your tiny, tiny feet. * Jerks welcome! Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • The illustrious Abby Denton.
  • A shambles.
  • Locking your Twitter so nobody knows what you're doing in there.
  • Making a whole video game magazine out of just the good parts of video game magazines.
  • Publishing a series of short stories by formatting them like cheat codes and then submitting them to Tips & Tricks magazine.
  • Nostalgia for when most of your perception of the gaming world came from tiny screenshots in magazines.
  • A book that is a bunch of fake games and paragraphs about them.
  • A duck riding a skateboard.
  • Making a book out of a Twitter thread.
  • Reading about video games in magazines probably being the optimal experience actually because most games were terrible.
  • Game Master Anthony's birthday party.
  • Street Fighter 2, the last game in the Street Fighter series.
  • NBA Jam arcade as proof that cheat codes are compatible with microtransactions.
  • Renting a game just to prove to your friend that the cheat code they heard about doesn't actually work.
  • WWF Attitude.
  • Enjoying the bouquet of Uniracers.
  • A certain quality of gibberish.
  • Publishing a fake cheat code in the annual Tips and Tricks monster issue to convey the location of your drug drop.
  • Putting Roll back in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
  • A very mild defense.
  • Superman fighting a gang of Chinese acrobats portrayed by white heroin addicts.
  • Mafiosos cha-cha-ing around the room and chanting "Curtains for Superman!"
  • The only Superman story where kryptonite never appears.
  • An evil psychoanalyst defeating Superman by convincing him he's just a regular guy.
  • Why can't the strongest man in the world be the happiest man in the world?
  • Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.
  • Dorky British guys trying to impress Michelle Pfeiffer.
  • Giving a three year old a DVD of Grease 2 for her birthday.
  • Everything are an opera.
  • Just barely losing the Nobel Prize for thirty years in a row.
  • Japanese arcade note-sharing culture.
  • If Atari 2600 Adventure has a dozen Easter eggs as obscure as its hidden room, and they were all necessary to finish the game.
  • One thing the NES is good at.
  • The Gilligan's Island game for NES.
  • Gilligan's Island for NES being rated only .1 star out of five less than Sonic CD.
  • Game Center CX.
  • The time you could explore Namco Museum.
  • Bubble Bobble.
  • Hiding a bunch of stuff in your indie game inspired by Frog Fractions but nobody ever finds it because nobody cared enough about your game.
  • Spelunky 2.
  • Your stuff per second rate.
  • Nightmare of Druaga.
  • How to know if you have a friend.
  • A Brian De Palma split screen dream.
  • Waking up with sugar on your head.
  • Michel Gondry's music video ouevre.
  • I, Palindrome, I.
  • A team of compositors working for six months to bring your one-second idea to fruition.
  • Hitting someone with your car and then following them down the street yelling at them.
  • A reverse strip club where the performers are moving backwards in time.
  • Practicing how to put a reverse-causality shirt on.
  • A complete understanding of why Miho Hatori is going to bed with a sugar head.
  • Teaching your son how to yawn.
  • Playing Doctor Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine with your tiny, tiny feet.
  • Jerks welcome!

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • The illustrious Abby Denton.
  • A shambles.
  • Locking your Twitter so nobody knows what you're doing in there.
  • Making a whole video game magazine out of just the good parts of video game magazines.
  • Publishing a series of short stories by formatting them like cheat codes and then submitting them to Tips & Tricks magazine.
  • Nostalgia for when most of your perception of the gaming world came from tiny screenshots in magazines.
  • A book that is a bunch of fake games and paragraphs about them.
  • A duck riding a skateboard.
  • Making a book out of a Twitter thread.
  • Reading about video games in magazines probably being the optimal experience actually because most games were terrible.
  • Game Master Anthony's birthday party.
  • Street Fighter 2, the last game in the Street Fighter series.
  • NBA Jam arcade as proof that cheat codes are compatible with microtransactions.
  • Renting a game just to prove to your friend that the cheat code they heard about doesn't actually work.
  • WWF Attitude.
  • Enjoying the bouquet of Uniracers.
  • A certain quality of gibberish.
  • Publishing a fake cheat code in the annual Tips and Tricks monster issue to convey the location of your drug drop.
  • Putting Roll back in the Marvel vs. Capcom series.
  • A very mild defense.
  • Superman fighting a gang of Chinese acrobats portrayed by white heroin addicts.
  • Mafiosos cha-cha-ing around the room and chanting "Curtains for Superman!"
  • The only Superman story where kryptonite never appears.
  • An evil psychoanalyst defeating Superman by convincing him he's just a regular guy.
  • Why can't the strongest man in the world be the happiest man in the world?
  • Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.
  • Dorky British guys trying to impress Michelle Pfeiffer.
  • Giving a three year old a DVD of Grease 2 for her birthday.
  • Everything are an opera.
  • Just barely losing the Nobel Prize for thirty years in a row.
  • Japanese arcade note-sharing culture.
  • If Atari 2600 Adventure has a dozen Easter eggs as obscure as its hidden room, and they were all necessary to finish the game.
  • One thing the NES is good at.
  • The Gilligan's Island game for NES.
  • Gilligan's Island for NES being rated only .1 star out of five less than Sonic CD.
  • Game Center CX.
  • The time you could explore Namco Museum.
  • Bubble Bobble.
  • Hiding a bunch of stuff in your indie game inspired by Frog Fractions but nobody ever finds it because nobody cared enough about your game.
  • Spelunky 2.
  • Your stuff per second rate.
  • Nightmare of Druaga.
  • How to know if you have a friend.
  • A Brian De Palma split screen dream.
  • Waking up with sugar on your head.
  • Michel Gondry's music video ouevre.
  • I, Palindrome, I.
  • A team of compositors working for six months to bring your one-second idea to fruition.
  • Hitting someone with your car and then following them down the street yelling at them.
  • A reverse strip club where the performers are moving backwards in time.
  • Practicing how to put a reverse-causality shirt on.
  • A complete understanding of why Miho Hatori is going to bed with a sugar head.
  • Teaching your son how to yawn.
  • Playing Doctor Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine with your tiny, tiny feet.
  • Jerks welcome!

Support Topic Lords

]]> 65. Love in the Time of Beavis and Butthead https://topiclords.com/love-in-the-time-of-beavis-and-butthead 066a5a83-3b31-4591-938b-c5b6774c048c Mon, 18 Jan 2021 08:00:00 -0800 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: April and John. Topics: woodworking, mentors and mentorship in general, Advent calendar dice, RAX and Mr. Delicious, and having to poop when entering a bookstore. 1:03:37 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * April * https://twitter.com/aprilsaur * John * https://ostparty.podbean.com/ * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo * https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/pooplers-switch/ * https://twitter.com/lizardengland/status/1333825611144556547/photo/1 Topics: * Woodworking * Mentors and mentorship in general * Advent calendar dice * Scott asks "Please discuss Rax and Mr. Delicious" * https://boingboing.net/2020/10/09/meet-mr-delicious-the-weirdest-fast-food-spokesperson-ever.html * Mariko Aoki Phenomenon. The phenomenon of having to poop when entering a bookstore. Named after the woman who experienced it and brought it to wider attention. If you wish to elaborate further, what's an inexplicable condition that you've experienced and suspect is shared with some portion of the populace? Would you want it named after you? Microtopics: * Using your work name on the internet for a thing you don't want work to see. * Neither of the guests plugging Topic Lords, for the 65th time in a row. * Trying to guess the channel The Expanse used to be on. * How movies used to be teal and orange but now they're just green. * Letting all the cats into the room to purr into the microphones. * Things people expect you to be good at when you're a park ranger. * Woodworking. * Protecting your food from raccoons and turkeys. * The peace of bringing a physical object to fruition. * Making a napkin holder in middle school wood shop. * How it's ok to make fun of someone's face as long as you've never seen their face. * Building a bridge out of popsicle sticks. * Building a bridge out of sentient goo-balls. * The first sense you use to consume a meal. * How pleased everyone is with Jim's new hobby. * A knock knock joke if the punch line was playing peek-a-boo. * Eating cold pizza right out of the freezer. * Growing into a preference for being around people who aren't assholes. * Looking up to people in your field. * Only realizing that your mentors were mentors in retrospect. * A recurring topic on this show. * Knowing several librarians independent of the time you worked in the library. * Playing Zork on your uncle's laptop. * Printing your nephew's MS Paint art rather than just using your printer for taxes. * An Advent calendar except instead of being laid out in the grid the candy goes in a 25 sided die. * Forgetting about your Advent calendar after a few days and having extra candy next year. * An Advent calendar where behind each numbered door is a die with that number of faces. * Extruding a coin and inventing the three sided die. * Putting stickers in your Advent calendar instead of candy, because you hate your child. * Question asking games. * Rolling a natural 1 on your Advent calendar dice and having to throw all your presents in the garbage. * Games where even if you're bad at games you still have a chance to win. * The importance of being bored. * The growing ubiquitousness of video games. * An epidemic that demands everybody spend a full year at the DMV. * Desperately trying to change your last name before your child is born so that your names will match. * Whether gestational diabetes counts for your diabetes threepeat. * Derailing the conversation about fast food advertising with your top two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. * Mythical roast beef venue RAX. * Opening your trench coat to reveal one of those silver food domes that you lift up. * Talking about your vasectomy in an advertisement for roast beef sandwiches. * Fast food for adults advertised with Ronald McDonald holding a briefcase. * The luxury of two leaves of iceberg lettuce. * Charles Nelson Reilly, recurring guest on Match Game. * That time you wanted to watch American Gladiators and there was exactly one episode on YouTube. * Asking a kid if they know what Kumon is and they make the sad face. * The tutoring place you take your kid to if you want them to know math instead of being happy. * Whether you're allowed to have impostor syndrome about something you do professionally. * Reframing your impostor syndrome as being about how good you are at fooling people into thinking you have worth. * Getting rid of the clown. * Bringing the clown man back. * Love in the time of Beavis and Butthead. * The content that our listeners crave. * Our frothing demand to find a bathroom increases. * How bookstores and toilets smell the same in Japan. * The full body sensation you get right before you're about to do cocaine. * Training your toddler to pee at a whistle tone and then making them wet their pants on all their first dates. * The mental link between books and pooping. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

  • Woodworking
  • Mentors and mentorship in general
  • Advent calendar dice
  • Scott asks "Please discuss Rax and Mr. Delicious"
  • Mariko Aoki Phenomenon. The phenomenon of having to poop when entering a bookstore. Named after the woman who experienced it and brought it to wider attention. If you wish to elaborate further, what's an inexplicable condition that you've experienced and suspect is shared with some portion of the populace? Would you want it named after you?

Microtopics:

  • Using your work name on the internet for a thing you don't want work to see.
  • Neither of the guests plugging Topic Lords, for the 65th time in a row.
  • Trying to guess the channel The Expanse used to be on.
  • How movies used to be teal and orange but now they're just green.
  • Letting all the cats into the room to purr into the microphones.
  • Things people expect you to be good at when you're a park ranger.
  • Woodworking.
  • Protecting your food from raccoons and turkeys.
  • The peace of bringing a physical object to fruition.
  • Making a napkin holder in middle school wood shop.
  • How it's ok to make fun of someone's face as long as you've never seen their face.
  • Building a bridge out of popsicle sticks.
  • Building a bridge out of sentient goo-balls.
  • The first sense you use to consume a meal.
  • How pleased everyone is with Jim's new hobby.
  • A knock knock joke if the punch line was playing peek-a-boo.
  • Eating cold pizza right out of the freezer.
  • Growing into a preference for being around people who aren't assholes.
  • Looking up to people in your field.
  • Only realizing that your mentors were mentors in retrospect.
  • A recurring topic on this show.
  • Knowing several librarians independent of the time you worked in the library.
  • Playing Zork on your uncle's laptop.
  • Printing your nephew's MS Paint art rather than just using your printer for taxes.
  • An Advent calendar except instead of being laid out in the grid the candy goes in a 25 sided die.
  • Forgetting about your Advent calendar after a few days and having extra candy next year.
  • An Advent calendar where behind each numbered door is a die with that number of faces.
  • Extruding a coin and inventing the three sided die.
  • Putting stickers in your Advent calendar instead of candy, because you hate your child.
  • Question asking games.
  • Rolling a natural 1 on your Advent calendar dice and having to throw all your presents in the garbage.
  • Games where even if you're bad at games you still have a chance to win.
  • The importance of being bored.
  • The growing ubiquitousness of video games.
  • An epidemic that demands everybody spend a full year at the DMV.
  • Desperately trying to change your last name before your child is born so that your names will match.
  • Whether gestational diabetes counts for your diabetes threepeat.
  • Derailing the conversation about fast food advertising with your top two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • Mythical roast beef venue RAX.
  • Opening your trench coat to reveal one of those silver food domes that you lift up.
  • Talking about your vasectomy in an advertisement for roast beef sandwiches.
  • Fast food for adults advertised with Ronald McDonald holding a briefcase.
  • The luxury of two leaves of iceberg lettuce.
  • Charles Nelson Reilly, recurring guest on Match Game.
  • That time you wanted to watch American Gladiators and there was exactly one episode on YouTube.
  • Asking a kid if they know what Kumon is and they make the sad face.
  • The tutoring place you take your kid to if you want them to know math instead of being happy.
  • Whether you're allowed to have impostor syndrome about something you do professionally.
  • Reframing your impostor syndrome as being about how good you are at fooling people into thinking you have worth.
  • Getting rid of the clown.
  • Bringing the clown man back.
  • Love in the time of Beavis and Butthead.
  • The content that our listeners crave.
  • Our frothing demand to find a bathroom increases.
  • How bookstores and toilets smell the same in Japan.
  • The full body sensation you get right before you're about to do cocaine.
  • Training your toddler to pee at a whistle tone and then making them wet their pants on all their first dates.
  • The mental link between books and pooping.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

  • Woodworking
  • Mentors and mentorship in general
  • Advent calendar dice
  • Scott asks "Please discuss Rax and Mr. Delicious"
  • Mariko Aoki Phenomenon. The phenomenon of having to poop when entering a bookstore. Named after the woman who experienced it and brought it to wider attention. If you wish to elaborate further, what's an inexplicable condition that you've experienced and suspect is shared with some portion of the populace? Would you want it named after you?

Microtopics:

  • Using your work name on the internet for a thing you don't want work to see.
  • Neither of the guests plugging Topic Lords, for the 65th time in a row.
  • Trying to guess the channel The Expanse used to be on.
  • How movies used to be teal and orange but now they're just green.
  • Letting all the cats into the room to purr into the microphones.
  • Things people expect you to be good at when you're a park ranger.
  • Woodworking.
  • Protecting your food from raccoons and turkeys.
  • The peace of bringing a physical object to fruition.
  • Making a napkin holder in middle school wood shop.
  • How it's ok to make fun of someone's face as long as you've never seen their face.
  • Building a bridge out of popsicle sticks.
  • Building a bridge out of sentient goo-balls.
  • The first sense you use to consume a meal.
  • How pleased everyone is with Jim's new hobby.
  • A knock knock joke if the punch line was playing peek-a-boo.
  • Eating cold pizza right out of the freezer.
  • Growing into a preference for being around people who aren't assholes.
  • Looking up to people in your field.
  • Only realizing that your mentors were mentors in retrospect.
  • A recurring topic on this show.
  • Knowing several librarians independent of the time you worked in the library.
  • Playing Zork on your uncle's laptop.
  • Printing your nephew's MS Paint art rather than just using your printer for taxes.
  • An Advent calendar except instead of being laid out in the grid the candy goes in a 25 sided die.
  • Forgetting about your Advent calendar after a few days and having extra candy next year.
  • An Advent calendar where behind each numbered door is a die with that number of faces.
  • Extruding a coin and inventing the three sided die.
  • Putting stickers in your Advent calendar instead of candy, because you hate your child.
  • Question asking games.
  • Rolling a natural 1 on your Advent calendar dice and having to throw all your presents in the garbage.
  • Games where even if you're bad at games you still have a chance to win.
  • The importance of being bored.
  • The growing ubiquitousness of video games.
  • An epidemic that demands everybody spend a full year at the DMV.
  • Desperately trying to change your last name before your child is born so that your names will match.
  • Whether gestational diabetes counts for your diabetes threepeat.
  • Derailing the conversation about fast food advertising with your top two Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
  • Mythical roast beef venue RAX.
  • Opening your trench coat to reveal one of those silver food domes that you lift up.
  • Talking about your vasectomy in an advertisement for roast beef sandwiches.
  • Fast food for adults advertised with Ronald McDonald holding a briefcase.
  • The luxury of two leaves of iceberg lettuce.
  • Charles Nelson Reilly, recurring guest on Match Game.
  • That time you wanted to watch American Gladiators and there was exactly one episode on YouTube.
  • Asking a kid if they know what Kumon is and they make the sad face.
  • The tutoring place you take your kid to if you want them to know math instead of being happy.
  • Whether you're allowed to have impostor syndrome about something you do professionally.
  • Reframing your impostor syndrome as being about how good you are at fooling people into thinking you have worth.
  • Getting rid of the clown.
  • Bringing the clown man back.
  • Love in the time of Beavis and Butthead.
  • The content that our listeners crave.
  • Our frothing demand to find a bathroom increases.
  • How bookstores and toilets smell the same in Japan.
  • The full body sensation you get right before you're about to do cocaine.
  • Training your toddler to pee at a whistle tone and then making them wet their pants on all their first dates.
  • The mental link between books and pooping.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 48. Long Furby https://topiclords.com/long-furby 6057f430-b9c3-4cfa-b271-96b569b965ca Mon, 21 Sep 2020 08:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: Abby and John. We discuss A-Life and V-Pets, San Diego, Bloodlust Software, and a found-footage style web series depicting a creature lurking at the edge of the frame in a series of porn videos. 1:08:32 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * Abby * https://twitter.com/mizabitha * http://abbydenton.podbean.com/ * John * https://twitter.com/YouOldSoAndSo Topics: * A-life and v-pets of the late 90s: why did they die, where do we see them today (pokemon go, etc) * Nano Pets commercial with catchy jingle: https://youtu.be/RKIwHHMVmQ?t=298 * The only Wappy dog review on Metacritic: https://www.pocketgamer.com/articles/047860/wappy-dog/ * Stack Up video by Jeremy Parish: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb8RHzSW2yo * Stack Up in WarioWare, Inc.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WBXh5cLJt4 * A Long Furby: https://twitter.com/LongFurby/status/1002690751988453379 * Another Long Furby: https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/long-furby-wife-guy * Furby source code: http://www.seanriddle.com/furbysource.pdf * DadDoes review of Wappy Dog: http://www.daddoes.com/3912/wappy-dog-review/ * San Diego, CA * Everything John forgot to mention: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDiegoCounty,California * Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve®: https://torreypine.org/ * Geisel Library: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeiselLibrary * San Diego Zoo Safari Park: https://www.sdzsafaripark.org/ * International Cottages at Balboa Park: http://www.sdhpr.org/ * Salty licorice/salmiak: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saltyliquorice * I have many friends, and am very popular, and awesome, and rumors about my smell are greatly exaggerated- John. * San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanOnofreNuclearGeneratingStation * San Diego depicted in the 1998 Midway arcade game California Speed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8lSX1aUHQw * Hotel del Coronado: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HoteldelCoronado * “Nobody’s perfect.”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mHhr-aaLnI * Harmony Gold’s most popular move in years: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk3p6hIdVeM * Send your Robotech questions and comments to: https://twitter.com/marwilliamson * California is on fire; get in the van, loser, we’re all moving to Pittsburgh. * Bloodlust Software and the 90s indie game scene * https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rf5KIss6csA * https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/9a48z3/the-story-of-nesticle-the-ambitious-emulator-that-redefined-retro-gaming * Not A Butt Face asks: "Marble Hornets Sex Tape ie. A Found Footage Style Webseries but the footage being sifted through is on Sex Tapes and just out of frame or partially obscured is a lurking unknown creature. Could this ever work?" Microtopics: * Being a cyborg and being out of the closet. * Doing standup comedy in an empty room. * Figuring out the best way to get a podcast onto your phone. * Kevin Spacey ruining your podcast. * A 20th-anniversary digital Tamagotchi. * F2P Tamagotchi all getting horrible pain disorders that demand you pay daily microtransactions or they just scream all day. * A large company that operates suspiciously. * Reading a lot of Newsweek in grade school. * Getting high on your own supply of Newsweek. * An eight year old wearing a blazer with elbow pads picking up a Newsweek at the book fair to read about Tamagotchi. * Shaking the Chao garden to make the Chao fight. * Whether or not Nintendogs go to heaven. * Neglecting your real dog because you have an exciting new virtual dog. * Sickening podcast guests with your Pokemon Go strategies. * The sensor on Wappy Dog's tail that only exists so it can get upset that you pulled its tail. * That one banger on the Wappy Dog OST. * Your Robotic Operating Buddy's ability to pick up discs of a certain size and move them in an arc around itself. * Playing Stack Up over Skype and having to call your friend and have him reset the puzzle whenever ROB fucks up and drops the pieces on the floor. * The baffling absence of YouTube videos of Gizmo Furby interacting with Yoda Furby. * Steven Spielberg patrolling the internet for videos of Gizmo Furby talking to Yoda Furby and shutting them the heck down because that's not canon. (George Lucas is fine with it.) * A village of Furbies living on after the extinction of the human race. * Yes! Dad does! * Wappy Dog being immortal, but if he did die somehow he'd go straight to hell. * Pikachu turning to the player and asking "who was the last person you kissed?" * Trying to make a game that creates the same reaction in every player. * Confusing Yoot Saito and Noob Saibot. * Playing SimCity 2000 on a Game Boy Advance. * Becoming a chef so that you can figure out why burritos are better in San Diego than anywhere else in the world. * A library raised up in little feet with a swirly tail called The Spang-Dangler Building. * A library that looks like a big concrete tree. * A library that looks like a space invader. * Discovering Finnish Salty Licorice and finally not having to share your candy with your friends. * Lurking in the floorboards so that you can visit your introvert friend without them noticing. * Those big concrete nipples on Camp Pendleton. * Driving from Camp Pendleton to Mexico in less than a minute and then turning around and driving across an aircraft carrier. * Doctor Seuss's favorite San Diego hangouts. * Whether Jack Lemmon likes it hot in the ending of Some Like It Hot. * Taking part in the panda breeding program in the 70s. * Not knowing what the San Diego Convention Center looks like outside of Comic Con and just assuming it's always swarming with nerds. * None of the speakers showing up for the big Robotech panel at Wondercon so the marketing director steps up with PowerPoint presentation describing Robotech merch. * Everyone losing their shit over Robotech skate decks. * Singing and dancing when the sky turns black. * Trying to hide violence from children so the children rebel by celebrating violence as much as possible. * A full-featured Mortal Kombat clone developed by two high school students. * Whether One Must Fall stands up. * Choosing to release the first free-and-good-enough NES emulator and calling it NESticle. * How the mouse pointer for NESticle was actually a severed hand, and only the Windows icon was a scrotum. * Keeping your emulation legit by deleting your ROMs every 24 hours. * The only place the long-rumored SNESticle was ever released. * How early SNES emulators didn't handle transparency so you had to manually toggle the cloud layer in order to see anything. * Shock value Flash cartoons before and after 9/11. * A gif of a plane crashing into Oprah. * Going into work each day with the intent of trying to get fired. * Who today is carrying on the Bloodlust Software ethos. * Making the same ultra-violent video game as everyone else but adding narration explaining that "violence is bad and this game is important." * A hyper-detailed art style evocative of biology and gross innards without actually depicting any gore. * A tasteful logo that represents a butt pooping. * A barely-visible monster lurking in the background of every video uploaded to Pornhub. * Porkin' Across America. * Finding people who were already going to make a series of sex tapes and offering to lurk in the background in your Slenderman costume. * Training a neural network to insert Slenderman into the background of every movie. * Writing erotic House of Leaves fan fiction and waiting for the Internet to discover and reenact it. * An art critic giving your life a B+. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Being a cyborg and being out of the closet.
  • Doing standup comedy in an empty room.
  • Figuring out the best way to get a podcast onto your phone.
  • Kevin Spacey ruining your podcast.
  • A 20th-anniversary digital Tamagotchi.
  • F2P Tamagotchi all getting horrible pain disorders that demand you pay daily microtransactions or they just scream all day.
  • A large company that operates suspiciously.
  • Reading a lot of Newsweek in grade school.
  • Getting high on your own supply of Newsweek.
  • An eight year old wearing a blazer with elbow pads picking up a Newsweek at the book fair to read about Tamagotchi.
  • Shaking the Chao garden to make the Chao fight.
  • Whether or not Nintendogs go to heaven.
  • Neglecting your real dog because you have an exciting new virtual dog.
  • Sickening podcast guests with your Pokemon Go strategies.
  • The sensor on Wappy Dog's tail that only exists so it can get upset that you pulled its tail.
  • That one banger on the Wappy Dog OST.
  • Your Robotic Operating Buddy's ability to pick up discs of a certain size and move them in an arc around itself.
  • Playing Stack Up over Skype and having to call your friend and have him reset the puzzle whenever ROB fucks up and drops the pieces on the floor.
  • The baffling absence of YouTube videos of Gizmo Furby interacting with Yoda Furby.
  • Steven Spielberg patrolling the internet for videos of Gizmo Furby talking to Yoda Furby and shutting them the heck down because that's not canon. (George Lucas is fine with it.)
  • A village of Furbies living on after the extinction of the human race.
  • Yes! Dad does!
  • Wappy Dog being immortal, but if he did die somehow he'd go straight to hell.
  • Pikachu turning to the player and asking "who was the last person you kissed?"
  • Trying to make a game that creates the same reaction in every player.
  • Confusing Yoot Saito and Noob Saibot.
  • Playing SimCity 2000 on a Game Boy Advance.
  • Becoming a chef so that you can figure out why burritos are better in San Diego than anywhere else in the world.
  • A library raised up in little feet with a swirly tail called The Spang-Dangler Building.
  • A library that looks like a big concrete tree.
  • A library that looks like a space invader.
  • Discovering Finnish Salty Licorice and finally not having to share your candy with your friends.
  • Lurking in the floorboards so that you can visit your introvert friend without them noticing.
  • Those big concrete nipples on Camp Pendleton.
  • Driving from Camp Pendleton to Mexico in less than a minute and then turning around and driving across an aircraft carrier.
  • Doctor Seuss's favorite San Diego hangouts.
  • Whether Jack Lemmon likes it hot in the ending of Some Like It Hot.
  • Taking part in the panda breeding program in the 70s.
  • Not knowing what the San Diego Convention Center looks like outside of Comic Con and just assuming it's always swarming with nerds.
  • None of the speakers showing up for the big Robotech panel at Wondercon so the marketing director steps up with PowerPoint presentation describing Robotech merch.
  • Everyone losing their shit over Robotech skate decks.
  • Singing and dancing when the sky turns black.
  • Trying to hide violence from children so the children rebel by celebrating violence as much as possible.
  • A full-featured Mortal Kombat clone developed by two high school students.
  • Whether One Must Fall stands up.
  • Choosing to release the first free-and-good-enough NES emulator and calling it NESticle.
  • How the mouse pointer for NESticle was actually a severed hand, and only the Windows icon was a scrotum.
  • Keeping your emulation legit by deleting your ROMs every 24 hours.
  • The only place the long-rumored SNESticle was ever released.
  • How early SNES emulators didn't handle transparency so you had to manually toggle the cloud layer in order to see anything.
  • Shock value Flash cartoons before and after 9/11.
  • A gif of a plane crashing into Oprah.
  • Going into work each day with the intent of trying to get fired.
  • Who today is carrying on the Bloodlust Software ethos.
  • Making the same ultra-violent video game as everyone else but adding narration explaining that "violence is bad and this game is important."
  • A hyper-detailed art style evocative of biology and gross innards without actually depicting any gore.
  • A tasteful logo that represents a butt pooping.
  • A barely-visible monster lurking in the background of every video uploaded to Pornhub.
  • Porkin' Across America.
  • Finding people who were already going to make a series of sex tapes and offering to lurk in the background in your Slenderman costume.
  • Training a neural network to insert Slenderman into the background of every movie.
  • Writing erotic House of Leaves fan fiction and waiting for the Internet to discover and reenact it.
  • An art critic giving your life a B+.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • Being a cyborg and being out of the closet.
  • Doing standup comedy in an empty room.
  • Figuring out the best way to get a podcast onto your phone.
  • Kevin Spacey ruining your podcast.
  • A 20th-anniversary digital Tamagotchi.
  • F2P Tamagotchi all getting horrible pain disorders that demand you pay daily microtransactions or they just scream all day.
  • A large company that operates suspiciously.
  • Reading a lot of Newsweek in grade school.
  • Getting high on your own supply of Newsweek.
  • An eight year old wearing a blazer with elbow pads picking up a Newsweek at the book fair to read about Tamagotchi.
  • Shaking the Chao garden to make the Chao fight.
  • Whether or not Nintendogs go to heaven.
  • Neglecting your real dog because you have an exciting new virtual dog.
  • Sickening podcast guests with your Pokemon Go strategies.
  • The sensor on Wappy Dog's tail that only exists so it can get upset that you pulled its tail.
  • That one banger on the Wappy Dog OST.
  • Your Robotic Operating Buddy's ability to pick up discs of a certain size and move them in an arc around itself.
  • Playing Stack Up over Skype and having to call your friend and have him reset the puzzle whenever ROB fucks up and drops the pieces on the floor.
  • The baffling absence of YouTube videos of Gizmo Furby interacting with Yoda Furby.
  • Steven Spielberg patrolling the internet for videos of Gizmo Furby talking to Yoda Furby and shutting them the heck down because that's not canon. (George Lucas is fine with it.)
  • A village of Furbies living on after the extinction of the human race.
  • Yes! Dad does!
  • Wappy Dog being immortal, but if he did die somehow he'd go straight to hell.
  • Pikachu turning to the player and asking "who was the last person you kissed?"
  • Trying to make a game that creates the same reaction in every player.
  • Confusing Yoot Saito and Noob Saibot.
  • Playing SimCity 2000 on a Game Boy Advance.
  • Becoming a chef so that you can figure out why burritos are better in San Diego than anywhere else in the world.
  • A library raised up in little feet with a swirly tail called The Spang-Dangler Building.
  • A library that looks like a big concrete tree.
  • A library that looks like a space invader.
  • Discovering Finnish Salty Licorice and finally not having to share your candy with your friends.
  • Lurking in the floorboards so that you can visit your introvert friend without them noticing.
  • Those big concrete nipples on Camp Pendleton.
  • Driving from Camp Pendleton to Mexico in less than a minute and then turning around and driving across an aircraft carrier.
  • Doctor Seuss's favorite San Diego hangouts.
  • Whether Jack Lemmon likes it hot in the ending of Some Like It Hot.
  • Taking part in the panda breeding program in the 70s.
  • Not knowing what the San Diego Convention Center looks like outside of Comic Con and just assuming it's always swarming with nerds.
  • None of the speakers showing up for the big Robotech panel at Wondercon so the marketing director steps up with PowerPoint presentation describing Robotech merch.
  • Everyone losing their shit over Robotech skate decks.
  • Singing and dancing when the sky turns black.
  • Trying to hide violence from children so the children rebel by celebrating violence as much as possible.
  • A full-featured Mortal Kombat clone developed by two high school students.
  • Whether One Must Fall stands up.
  • Choosing to release the first free-and-good-enough NES emulator and calling it NESticle.
  • How the mouse pointer for NESticle was actually a severed hand, and only the Windows icon was a scrotum.
  • Keeping your emulation legit by deleting your ROMs every 24 hours.
  • The only place the long-rumored SNESticle was ever released.
  • How early SNES emulators didn't handle transparency so you had to manually toggle the cloud layer in order to see anything.
  • Shock value Flash cartoons before and after 9/11.
  • A gif of a plane crashing into Oprah.
  • Going into work each day with the intent of trying to get fired.
  • Who today is carrying on the Bloodlust Software ethos.
  • Making the same ultra-violent video game as everyone else but adding narration explaining that "violence is bad and this game is important."
  • A hyper-detailed art style evocative of biology and gross innards without actually depicting any gore.
  • A tasteful logo that represents a butt pooping.
  • A barely-visible monster lurking in the background of every video uploaded to Pornhub.
  • Porkin' Across America.
  • Finding people who were already going to make a series of sex tapes and offering to lurk in the background in your Slenderman costume.
  • Training a neural network to insert Slenderman into the background of every movie.
  • Writing erotic House of Leaves fan fiction and waiting for the Internet to discover and reenact it.
  • An art critic giving your life a B+.

Support Topic Lords

]]> 45. Remember to Pronounce the Apostrophe https://topiclords.com/remember-to-pronounce-the-apostrophe 1c9cfd57-bd96-46e1-ad6b-fdfb36abbe03 Mon, 31 Aug 2020 08:00:00 -0700 Jim Stormdancer full Jim Stormdancer Lords: John B and Nick. We discuss micro game jams, human knowledge as grist for comedy, Roblox as the most popular game platform, things unexpectedly named after people, becoming a film nerd, and Barkley 2. 1:03:14 yes Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early! (https://www.patreon.com/topiclords) Lords: * John B is @YouOldSoAndSo everywhere. * 20th President of the United States James Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean Theorem: https://www.maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/mathematical-treasure-james-a-garfields-proof-of-the-pythagorean-theorem * Khan Academy video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EINpkcphsPQ * Nick is @NickPancakes on Twitter. Topics: * Micro game jams, Weekend of ZZT * WarioWare D.I.Y. archive: https://archive.org/details/WarioWareDIYWarehouse * Super Metroid and A Link to the Past Randomizer (a.k.a. SMZ3): https://samus.link/ * SGDQ2019 co-op speedrun: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uujsW7yFkZU * The primary motivation for information acquisition being grist for making and understanding jokes * Ken Jennings' books about knowledge acquisition and comedy: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/79195.Brainiac * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36373629-planet-funny * These two contain the sum of all human knowledge: * https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1745/8107/products/IMGE19711400x.JPG?v=1571480346 * https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/4/45/BillyJoelStormFront.jpg * Roblox as the most popular game platform * Downloading Wikipedia: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-download-wikipedia/ * All roads lead to "philosophy" on Wikipedia: https://flowingdata.com/2011/06/08/all-roads-lead-to-philosophy-on-wikipedia/ * Adopt Me!, one of the most popular games created in Roblox: https://roblox.fandom.com/wiki/DreamCraft/AdoptMe! * I Wanna Maker: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1114940/IWannaMaker/ * Quill points out: this list of things unexpectedly named after people: https://notes.rolandcrosby.com/posts/unexpectedly-eponymous/ * "Widenius has three children – My, Max, and Maria – who inspired the names for MySQL, MaxDB and the MySQL-Max distribution, and MariaDB" https://twitter.com/davidjustodavid/status/1288903463422722049 * Becoming a film nerd * Turner Classic Movies, from the same company that brings you Mortal Kombat: http://www.tcm.com/ * They Shoot Pictures, Don't They? - 1,000 Greatest Films, compiled using a Metacritic-like approach of looking at other people's lists: https://www.theyshootpictures.com/gf1000.htm * Also, their 1,000 Noir Films list: https://www.theyshootpictures.com/noir1000.htm * The Narrow Margin (1952): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044954/ * The Tall Target (1951): https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044105/ * A good starting list for train movies, by no means exhaustive or definitive: https://allgiftsconsidered.com/the-31-best-train-movies-of-all-time/ * List of films on Netflix from the year 2000 and before, total count at the time of search approx. 250, compared to around 3,500 for 2001-2020 : https://reelgood.com/movies/source/netflix?filter-yearend=2000 * Kanopy, a movie streaming service you may be able to use through your local library: https://www.kanopy.com/ * Qwikster, b. 2011 d. 2011: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2011/10/5-reasons-why-qwikster-is-now-deadster/246465/ * 1939, Hollywood's "annus mirabilis": https://ew.com/movies/2019/12/22/1939-hollywoods-greatest-year/ * 1957 in Film: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1957infilm * Patton Oswalt's book about becoming a film nerd, Silver Screen Fiend: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17571109-silver-screen-fiend * CBoyardee, Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, and the failure of Barkley 2. * CBoyardee's Dilbert trilogy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6rGUlVvVJ4 * www.nfl.com: Just check it out. * Barkley, Shut Up and Jam Gaiden: https://www.talesofgames.com/relatedgame/barkley-shut-up-jam-gaiden/ * Hardcore Gaming 101 article about the game: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/barkley-shut-up-and-jam-gaiden/ * Barkley 2 Kickstarter: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/talesofgames/barkley-2-an-rpg-sequel-to-barkley-shut-up-and-jam * Barkley 2 PAX Prime 2015 interview for PC Gamer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHSyDqIyYE * A longer look at Barkley 2 from that same PAX: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni2hceqpqHA * Barkley 2 - Janky Demo: https://talesofgames.itch.io/barkley-2 * The gun's of Barkley 2: https://bowelflies.tumblr.com/post/185855518364/the-magical-realms-of-t%C3%ADr-na-n%C3%B3g-escape-from * Dingletopia, Gortarius' game that actually came out: https://store.steampowered.com/app/1286140/DingletopiaNationUnderSiegebyOrcs/ * Not mentioned in the show, but CBoyardee also did some writing on the 2019 video game Katana ZERO: https://www.katanazero.com/ * Cyberdwarf Body Pillow (Warning: Tsundere): https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/767094-dakimakura-body-pillow Microtopics: * What the insulin pod had to say. * An extremely sexy insulin pod telegraphing its own death. * Mourning many insulin pods at a rapid clip. * President Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem. * Making your first ZZT game. * Doing fetch quest after fetch quest until two AIs fall in love and a nuclear reactor explodes. * Attempts to archive the user-uploaded games before the Wario Ware DIY servers get shut down. * The only Meat Boy game to come out for the Wii. * A demon that can only exist on sand and is formed of the sand. * ShareCart, the save format shared between many different games so you can save in one game and load in another. * How much Dr. Sbaitso likes you and how much his henchmen like you. * Spending an afternoon trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes. * Flipping random bits to see what comes out there other end. * Generating a hash of a large file twice in a row and getting two different results. * Seeing an exciting glitch in Super Mario 64 and nobody being able to replicate it until someone tries flipping bits in RAM like a solar ray might. * The randomizer hack that combines Link to the Past and Super Metroid into a single game. * Thirty people all making different games and hoping something interesting comes from mashing them together. * Why the heck everyone is suddenly talking about cake. * The primary use for your understanding of the world being making and understanding comedy. * Your filters going to sleep first, so you make weirder connections when you're half-asleep. * How everyone would know all the world capitals if you had also been obsessed with them as a child. * Spending 10% of your brain on how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism and the rest on the lyrics to "We Didn't Start The Fire." * How to download Wikipedia so you can give your son Wikipedia before you give him internet access. * How Roblox is a much more popular game platform than any you've ever touched. * Not knowing how to make games that appeal to children, but knowing how to make games that remind 40 year olds of when they were children. * The incredibly accurate clone of Counterstrike that some rando made inside of Roblox. * Roblox users calling platforming levels "Obbies." * The window in your life where you don't talk to children. * Watching a four year old play Minecraft and they're just breaking and replacing the same block over and over to see if it happens the same way every time. * A Roblox level that is just a series of waterslides. * "I Wanna Maker," for making your own masocore platformers. * How PageRank is named after Larry Page and Debian is named after Deb and Ian. * How Price Club is named after Sol Price and Main St. in San Fransisco is named after Charles Main. * Jim trying to figure out when humans first called a street Main St. and giving up. * "Taco Bell" appropriating respectfully because it respects the romance language adjective-noun order. * Reading about aptronyms in Marilyn vos Savant's column. * Sending your octuplets to a carnival owned by Larry Kidkill. * The late NASCAR racer Dick Trickle. * Changing our names to Fuck and starting a band called The Fucks and that's it, that's the tweet. * Unemployment as a prerequisite for starting any hobby as an adult. * Film Noir figuring out how to tell adult stories after the Hayes Code was enacted. * The constraints of being set on a train leading to compelling storytelling. * The train movie as a slightly less constrained bottle episode. * Whether they allow trains on the Internet Movie Car Database. * Yelling at librarians until morale improved. * Libraries often offering ebooks and movie streaming. * Netflix streaming having a limited selection of movies but the disc mailing service having every DVD, but it takes two or three days to get it. * Filmmakers being huge nerds and that's why they keep making movies about making movies. * 1939 and 1957 in filmmaking. * The history of Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden. * Destroying Manhattan by performing a Chaos Dunk. * Setting your cyberpunk universe after basketball has been outlawed. * The dangers of running a successful Kickstarter. * The game design conceit that there should be way too much of everything. * Bizarre unthinkable development processes that somehow in the end produce a shippable game. * A 397-page forum thread of people asking "Where is Barkley 2?" * The second concrete product of the Barkley 2 Kickstarter, after the CyberDwarf body pillow. Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • What the insulin pod had to say.
  • An extremely sexy insulin pod telegraphing its own death.
  • Mourning many insulin pods at a rapid clip.
  • President Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
  • Making your first ZZT game.
  • Doing fetch quest after fetch quest until two AIs fall in love and a nuclear reactor explodes.
  • Attempts to archive the user-uploaded games before the Wario Ware DIY servers get shut down.
  • The only Meat Boy game to come out for the Wii.
  • A demon that can only exist on sand and is formed of the sand.
  • ShareCart, the save format shared between many different games so you can save in one game and load in another.
  • How much Dr. Sbaitso likes you and how much his henchmen like you.
  • Spending an afternoon trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes.
  • Flipping random bits to see what comes out there other end.
  • Generating a hash of a large file twice in a row and getting two different results.
  • Seeing an exciting glitch in Super Mario 64 and nobody being able to replicate it until someone tries flipping bits in RAM like a solar ray might.
  • The randomizer hack that combines Link to the Past and Super Metroid into a single game.
  • Thirty people all making different games and hoping something interesting comes from mashing them together.
  • Why the heck everyone is suddenly talking about cake.
  • The primary use for your understanding of the world being making and understanding comedy.
  • Your filters going to sleep first, so you make weirder connections when you're half-asleep.
  • How everyone would know all the world capitals if you had also been obsessed with them as a child.
  • Spending 10% of your brain on how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism and the rest on the lyrics to "We Didn't Start The Fire."
  • How to download Wikipedia so you can give your son Wikipedia before you give him internet access.
  • How Roblox is a much more popular game platform than any you've ever touched.
  • Not knowing how to make games that appeal to children, but knowing how to make games that remind 40 year olds of when they were children.
  • The incredibly accurate clone of Counterstrike that some rando made inside of Roblox.
  • Roblox users calling platforming levels "Obbies."
  • The window in your life where you don't talk to children.
  • Watching a four year old play Minecraft and they're just breaking and replacing the same block over and over to see if it happens the same way every time.
  • A Roblox level that is just a series of waterslides.
  • "I Wanna Maker," for making your own masocore platformers.
  • How PageRank is named after Larry Page and Debian is named after Deb and Ian.
  • How Price Club is named after Sol Price and Main St. in San Fransisco is named after Charles Main.
  • Jim trying to figure out when humans first called a street Main St. and giving up.
  • "Taco Bell" appropriating respectfully because it respects the romance language adjective-noun order.
  • Reading about aptronyms in Marilyn vos Savant's column.
  • Sending your octuplets to a carnival owned by Larry Kidkill.
  • The late NASCAR racer Dick Trickle.
  • Changing our names to Fuck and starting a band called The Fucks and that's it, that's the tweet.
  • Unemployment as a prerequisite for starting any hobby as an adult.
  • Film Noir figuring out how to tell adult stories after the Hayes Code was enacted.
  • The constraints of being set on a train leading to compelling storytelling.
  • The train movie as a slightly less constrained bottle episode.
  • Whether they allow trains on the Internet Movie Car Database.
  • Yelling at librarians until morale improved.
  • Libraries often offering ebooks and movie streaming.
  • Netflix streaming having a limited selection of movies but the disc mailing service having every DVD, but it takes two or three days to get it.
  • Filmmakers being huge nerds and that's why they keep making movies about making movies.
  • 1939 and 1957 in filmmaking.
  • The history of Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden.
  • Destroying Manhattan by performing a Chaos Dunk.
  • Setting your cyberpunk universe after basketball has been outlawed.
  • The dangers of running a successful Kickstarter.
  • The game design conceit that there should be way too much of everything.
  • Bizarre unthinkable development processes that somehow in the end produce a shippable game.
  • A 397-page forum thread of people asking "Where is Barkley 2?"
  • The second concrete product of the Barkley 2 Kickstarter, after the CyberDwarf body pillow.

Support Topic Lords

]]> Support Topic Lords on Patreon and get episodes a week early!

Lords:

Topics:

Microtopics:

  • What the insulin pod had to say.
  • An extremely sexy insulin pod telegraphing its own death.
  • Mourning many insulin pods at a rapid clip.
  • President Garfield's proof of the Pythagorean theorem.
  • Making your first ZZT game.
  • Doing fetch quest after fetch quest until two AIs fall in love and a nuclear reactor explodes.
  • Attempts to archive the user-uploaded games before the Wario Ware DIY servers get shut down.
  • The only Meat Boy game to come out for the Wii.
  • A demon that can only exist on sand and is formed of the sand.
  • ShareCart, the save format shared between many different games so you can save in one game and load in another.
  • How much Dr. Sbaitso likes you and how much his henchmen like you.
  • Spending an afternoon trying out randomly generated Game Genie codes.
  • Flipping random bits to see what comes out there other end.
  • Generating a hash of a large file twice in a row and getting two different results.
  • Seeing an exciting glitch in Super Mario 64 and nobody being able to replicate it until someone tries flipping bits in RAM like a solar ray might.
  • The randomizer hack that combines Link to the Past and Super Metroid into a single game.
  • Thirty people all making different games and hoping something interesting comes from mashing them together.
  • Why the heck everyone is suddenly talking about cake.
  • The primary use for your understanding of the world being making and understanding comedy.
  • Your filters going to sleep first, so you make weirder connections when you're half-asleep.
  • How everyone would know all the world capitals if you had also been obsessed with them as a child.
  • Spending 10% of your brain on how to spell antidisestablishmentarianism and the rest on the lyrics to "We Didn't Start The Fire."
  • How to download Wikipedia so you can give your son Wikipedia before you give him internet access.
  • How Roblox is a much more popular game platform than any you've ever touched.
  • Not knowing how to make games that appeal to children, but knowing how to make games that remind 40 year olds of when they were children.
  • The incredibly accurate clone of Counterstrike that some rando made inside of Roblox.
  • Roblox users calling platforming levels "Obbies."
  • The window in your life where you don't talk to children.
  • Watching a four year old play Minecraft and they're just breaking and replacing the same block over and over to see if it happens the same way every time.
  • A Roblox level that is just a series of waterslides.
  • "I Wanna Maker," for making your own masocore platformers.
  • How PageRank is named after Larry Page and Debian is named after Deb and Ian.
  • How Price Club is named after Sol Price and Main St. in San Fransisco is named after Charles Main.
  • Jim trying to figure out when humans first called a street Main St. and giving up.
  • "Taco Bell" appropriating respectfully because it respects the romance language adjective-noun order.
  • Reading about aptronyms in Marilyn vos Savant's column.
  • Sending your octuplets to a carnival owned by Larry Kidkill.
  • The late NASCAR racer Dick Trickle.
  • Changing our names to Fuck and starting a band called The Fucks and that's it, that's the tweet.
  • Unemployment as a prerequisite for starting any hobby as an adult.
  • Film Noir figuring out how to tell adult stories after the Hayes Code was enacted.
  • The constraints of being set on a train leading to compelling storytelling.
  • The train movie as a slightly less constrained bottle episode.
  • Whether they allow trains on the Internet Movie Car Database.
  • Yelling at librarians until morale improved.
  • Libraries often offering ebooks and movie streaming.
  • Netflix streaming having a limited selection of movies but the disc mailing service having every DVD, but it takes two or three days to get it.
  • Filmmakers being huge nerds and that's why they keep making movies about making movies.
  • 1939 and 1957 in filmmaking.
  • The history of Barkley Shut Up And Jam Gaiden.
  • Destroying Manhattan by performing a Chaos Dunk.
  • Setting your cyberpunk universe after basketball has been outlawed.
  • The dangers of running a successful Kickstarter.
  • The game design conceit that there should be way too much of everything.
  • Bizarre unthinkable development processes that somehow in the end produce a shippable game.
  • A 397-page forum thread of people asking "Where is Barkley 2?"
  • The second concrete product of the Barkley 2 Kickstarter, after the CyberDwarf body pillow.

Support Topic Lords

]]>