Two Vague

Closing out 2021, Ben is joined by Arden to discuss the word tool.  Ben talks about Alfred Nobel, remembering his father’s neatly organized tool areas, Eric Sloane books, the “infamous staircase of family legend”, fishing at Lake Julian in Cary, IL (which still operates today), and the band Genesis.  While Arden talks about his favorite tools, builders in the 1100s, thinking that fishing was scary and gross at a young age, his “jack-est” (soon to be a thing), and his enjoyment of the band Tool.  On the subject of video games, they explore the use of tools in “Souls-like” games, Death Stranding, Fallout, Far Cry, Mass Effect, Dig Dug, Dead Rising, and Beyond Good and Evil. 00:00:20 - Your hosts this week are Arden and Ben!00:01:51 - A good tool for crowing or barring, and Arden’s problem with the word gif00:04:20 - Drinking hot coffee out of your hands, buckets of iced tea, and soap00:07:10 - Arden’s favorite tool is his self build PC, and Ben talk about the Nobel Peace Prize00:10:45 - Writing and acting tools, believable dialogue, and acting aspiration stories00:17:15 - Ben reflects on Ed’s tools and explains old label technology to Arden00:20:55 - “Pillars of the Earth,” “A Reverence for Wood,” and the “Frank Lloyd Wright stairs”00:26:20 - Arden’s father introduces him to fishing, and “the dream of fishing”00:30:22 - Ben and Arden talk about the band “Tool”00:33:42 - If H.R. Giger discovered a color wheel, and the original lineup of the band00:37:22 - Ben is a “Genesis” guy more than a “Rush” guy, and the theatrical nature of music00:42:42 - Arden talks about loving Bloodborne and the use tools in the game00:47:21 - The tools in "Death Stranding," and game design creativity for it’s own sake00:52:08 - Lindsay Wagner’s role in Hideo Kojima’s “Death Stranding”00:59:01 - Don’t tell people about the animatronics, and ladders 01:03:07 - Grappling hooks, elephants, and getting attacked by eagles or bobcats01:08:08 - The iconic tool in Mass Effect, and Ben talks about his favorite remastered game01:11:28 - Bicycle pumps, shovels, farming tools, and cameras 01:17:33 - The Nintendo DS “job game” trend, trying to cure guilt, and cooking games01:22:34 - “In that instance the couch is a tool,” and a show closer from Arden

Just in time for Christmas, Ben puts on his producer hat and hands the keys to the proverbial kingdom over to this week’s hosts Jenna and Phoenix who are excited to talk about the word religion.  No video game conversations this week, but there will be plenty of time for that when they each appear with Ben in January. 00:00:20 - Your hosts this week are Phoenix and Jenna00:02:15 - Question 1: “There are numerous instances of violence and wars occurring in the name of religious beliefs, but what are the benefits of organized religion?"00:07:36 - Mistranslations in the First Epistle to the Corinthians and the Book of Leviticus00:11:45 - Jenna and the double edged sword of her previous religious community 00:16:14 - Discrediting modern science, and is religion more harmful than helpful?00:18:29 - Question 2: “Discuss things in life you have experienced that can not be explained by science.  Would you consider these religious events?  Why or why not?” 00:20:30 - Phoenix and Jenna reference the words they discussed with Ben for upcoming shows00:23:32 - Don’t feed the crocodile, and Jenna communicates with a deceased relative00:31:44 - Guidance is guidance, Jenna is really in to rocks, and Phoenix is a raccoon? 00:35:03 - Phoenix says, “Pluto is emo Hades” 00:37:28 - Question 3: “Rituals are a major part of religious practices.  Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using rituals in religion.  Discuss the benefits and drawbacks of using rituals in day to day life.”00:39:31 - Jenna defines the word sacristan 00:46:01 - Bash speaks up when he hears to word “cat” and “The Power of Myth” by Joseph Campbell 00:50:25 - When is something a ritual, and “is a cup of coffee in the morning a ritual?”00:55:59 - A shout-out to Mason, and Phoenix explains Scientology to Jenna00:58:16 - The fake book, and Phoenix’s Latter Day Saints story 01:00:30 - Ben thinks the world needs more of Phoenix’s renditions of Greek Myths 01:03:31 - Phoenix and Jenna close the show like pros!

This week, Ben is joined by Dr. Tahnee, a teacher of ESL, to discuss the word language.  Tahnee talks about teaching English and her love of languages.  Ben talks about the origins of the Sims game franchise and tries to answer Tahnee’s questions about the development of the Simlish language.  00:00:20 - Ben and Tahnee introduce themselves00:01:00 - Tahnee talks about where her interest in language started00:03:31 - The Mango and Bash love Tahnee mic sounds, and the school system in Brazil 00:07:34 - How cats communicate with humans, and “The Secret Life of Cats” documentary 00:09:04 - Creativity, sentences, syntax, and context  00:11:05 - “…different parts of your brain” and differences in learning 1st and 2nd languages00:13:43 - Ben hears it but can’t roll it, and Tahnee talks about differences in written and verbal learning00:17:59 - Learning styles and discussing Japanese 00:19:57 - Say no to banning cursive writing!00:24:03 - Not all language courses are the same, and structuring coursework to standards00:28:20 - The subject, the predicate, how to make sense, and “a lot more 20 letter words.”00:31:22 - The profound end of the pool 00:34:21 - A pitfall of learning a second language00:36:29 - Ben’s hot take on people correcting grammar 00:39:20 - Tahnee is more objective in English, and she talks about conceptual metaphors 00:42:22 - Syntax, nuance, and using the passive voice 00:45:57 - Tahnee anticipates her student’s needs based on their native language00:48:04 - Research on interactive video games as a language learning aid 00:52:21 - Ben explains “The Sims” franchise development and history 00:55:34 - Ant not aunt simulator, and William’s tragedy inspires him 00:59:40 - Tahnee has lots of questions and thoughts about Simlish 01:02:42 - Originally, Simlish was entirely improvised01:05:12 - Tahnee’s professor brain has questions, "The Jabberwocky," and the word baby in Simlish 01:11:16 - Applying nonsense in a systematic way01:14:59 - Katy Perry songs in Simlish, and Ben’s misunderstanding01:17:46 - Tahnee’s brain starts looking for patterns… and so do players 01:20:11 - The constraints of languages, and consonant clusters 01:22:50 - Phonetics, Phonology, and baby talk (in all languages)01:26:56 - Ben’s Sims story, have a wonderful life, and go learn a second language!

This week Cheyenne joins Ben to talk about the word platform.  Diving, water pipes, taking risks, platform shoes, cosplay, Booster Gold, and the movie “The Platform” are just a few of the subjects they discuss on their circuitous route to video games.  Then Ben and Cheyenne talk about their most memorable game consoles and platform games to close out the show.  00:00:20 - Introducing Cheyenne, Ben, and the word platform00:02:45 - Saying episode words makes Ben feels dirty, and then he talks about diving00:05:14 - “… discontinued in 1937” and the origin fancy diving  00:08:12 - “… a bunch of people on a couch” and “water pipes”00:10:17 - Cheyenne proposes doing some research00:12:20 - Ben explains diving competitions for Cheyenne… the tetherball queen!00:15:49 - Ben (mis-)pronounces “de natation” as “de nation” 00:17:05 - Cheyenne’s cliff diving experience, and Ben sounds like a diving nerd00:20:36 - The Norm MacDonald joke about cliff diving00:21:57 - Ben and Cheyenne talk a little bit about Generation Z and taking risks 00:23:15 - “… that don’t involve Tide Pods,” and a friendly PSA00:25:30 - Cheyenne’s challenge for Ben and the DC comics hero Booster Gold00:30:17 - Capes… Cheyenne has experiences with them00:33:40 - Ben’s brief Jet Set Radio interlude followed by “the hole”00:37:27 - Discussing the premise of the movie, “The Platform”00:39:15 - Shoes and stilts 00:42:10 - Cheyenne’s first console and the PC game “Chip’s Challenge”00:46:44 - Ben’s memorable console stories 00:51:30 - Cheyenne loves Nintendo and Ben brings up the gaming stigma00:56:45 - The definition of a platform game is a loose one01:00:15 - "Guys, it's okay! He just wanted his machete back!”01:01:46 - Cheyenne’s favorite platform games 01:06:58 - The first platform arcade game and others 01:09:41 - Gryzor sounds like Broforce to Cheyenne01:12:05 - A couple of Ben’s favorite platform games 01:15:05 - Ben’s favorite platform game and what he thinks a remaster should be

Prepare yourself for a debate!  Ben and Eric have their own perspectives on what makes a great game, but first Ben tries to throw Eric off his rhythm by explaining perspective drawing.  They have similar views on what makes great movies, but when it comes to enjoying games… well that’s a different story.  Does Ben’s ploy work?  You’ll have to listen to find out!   00:00:20 - In the beige corner… Ben & in the green corner… Eric… always special 00:01:25 - Ghost Obi-Wan Kenobi’s truth… from a certain point of view00:04:00 - Reflections on the Star Wars franchise / universe and Eric talks Tolkien 00:08:40 - Old movies, practical effects, computer graphics and filming techniques00:11:10 - Ben’s counterpoint; fantasy universes vs “real” universes 00:15:45 - Ben’s perspective in art and drafting “tutorial”00:19:10 - Examples of video games that represent various visual perspectives00:22:50 - “… not the muscle group”00:25:50 - Ben’s favorite class in High School 00:28:20 - Eric explains his struggles with drawing 00:31:00 - The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the use of forced perspective00:34:40 - Eric apologizes for you thinking Episode 2 is a good movie00:38:45 - The Star Wars “de-specialized” editions and Lucas snubs the National Archives00:42:30 - Ben thinks that editors are the unsung heroes of Hollywood00:47:10 - Starting the video game debate…00:49:01 - Eric talks about why he enjoys Diablo 3, Skyrim and Fallout00:52:25 - Ben generally likes story more than game mechanics00:55:05 - “Don’t force story on me” and “selling that replay value” 00:59:40 - Ben loves Warframe because it is “free to play”-ish and highly customizable 01:03:10 - Ben thinks that City of Heroes “died” too soon and Eric likes the “Battle Pass” 01:06:50 - Season passes past and present 01:11:10 - The game remaster discussion01:14:13 - “Do you play ‘Soccer Cars’?”01:16:10 - Improvising Pac-Man’s backstory and talking about “point and click” adventures01:19:20 - Myst is dumb, and Eric and Ben agree on the Portal games01:23:20 - Trophy hunting, bookends, and Eric’s perspective has changed  01:26:05 - Wrapping up the show with a summary of their perspectives on games

This week Ben is joined by Marily for a special episode for the holiday season; it’s all about family (or familia en Español).  Instead of focusing on the negative histories of the holidays they choose discuss the food, traditions and personal stories associated with family get-togethers.  Marily shares her thoughts on family gatherings, making tamales, Mario Kart, and the Christmas gift she wants this year.  Ben talks about the biological classification of organisms, the Pointer Sisters, stand-up comedians, his first console, and cross-play functionality in games. 00:00:20 - Introducing hosts Ben and Marily 00:01:47 - Ring Tailed Lemur yoga in Florida00:03:10 - Gender of nouns and societal norms 00:05:50 - Celebrating Marily’s heritage and family in multiple countries 00:09:20 - Changing personal perspectives on the questionable origins of holidays00:10:49 - Michelle Wolf’s joke about smallpox and people being offended00:13:00 - Technology, communication and being human  00:17:45 - Having a conversation with someone in a sea of millions of possible participants00:20:03 - Ben’s ‘Cool Hand Luke’ interlude and… balls00:22:18 - CFO or CEO? 00:25:45 - Unconditional love, family, mental health, boundaries, and nuance00:30:00 - A field of big juicy melons and the biological classification of organisms00:33:33 - Dogs, legumes, cats, and the book ‘Systema Naturæ’00:35:46 - The Pointer Sisters and Beverly Hills Cop00:37:35 - Stand-up comedy: dirty or clean?00:40:56 - Ben’s Scooby Doo impression, and “why are there so many masks?”00:42:51 - Marily’s family food tradition… Birria and Chicharrón tamales!00:48:34 - Fun fact: Hawaiian pizza was invented in… 00:49:13 - More tamale talk00:53:43 - Ben’s holiday food favorites, and signature family dish favorites01:00:30 - Potato salad, Paul’s sausage stuffing, Ben’s weird quesadillas, and tuna salad01:05:50 - Ben and Adam’s Atari 2600 plan… SUCCESS! 01:08:57 - Families of game consoles 01:10:40 - Marily’s childhood game console memories and the joys of Mario Kart01:13:51 - Marily wants a Nintendo Switch for Christmas01:16:01 - Talking a little bit about cross-play making console families larger01:18:15 - Marily provides the “correct response,” and closing the show 

Due to Ben’s aging issues, there was a “pain delay” on the week’s episode, but to make up for that, it’s a jumbo sized one that goes many interesting places.  Cheyenne joins Ben this week to do some critical thinking and to talk about the word context.  Before digging in to this very dense subject, we address a pressing question from Norah about current gaming platforms.  Then after discussing social media applications, they talk about a very interesting college course Cheyenne is taking.  Ben and Cheyenne’s conversation then turns to the news… quite literally, when they critique a newspaper article on Internet Gaming Disorder.  Finally, they close the show with the topics of Dungeons and Dragons, tabletop games, LARP-ing, collectibles, and context aware gaming. 00:00:20 - Cheyenne bought a vacuum 00:03:34 - A lengthy discussion about a game system recommendation as a “starter” for Norah00:15:20 - Cheyenne’s thoughts on Xbox Game Pass and developer00:17:55 - With or without the comma, “I hope that helped Norah” and on to context00:20:10 - Cheyenne talks about the “big picture” and zooming out00:23:00 - A side conversation about social media applications past and present 00:27:25 - The internet “mob mentality” and ethical concerns of misinformation  00:31:20 - The breeding ground of trolls 00:33:45 - “… comedy, discomfort or misunderstandings”00:38:55 - Blue’s Clues’ cousin and Cheyenne’s Engineering course  00:42:45 - Context and software development 00:45:50 - Bad journalism and decision quality information00:48:40 - The impact of Mr. Thiel’s Journalism class on Ben’s critical thinking skills00:52:03 - 1 in 20 College Students has Internet Gaming Disorder, Research Reveals00:55:39 - What is Internet Gaming Disorder?00:58:46 - False correlations, singling out gaming and not citing your sources01:01:37 - 3000 students were interviewed for 75 minutes, now that is depressing01:10:17 - How do you prefer to play video games?01:11:45 - Ben’s D&D pickup line01:13:47 - Cheyenne also likes playing tabletop games01:16:55 - Cheyenne explains PvP and PvE to Norah01:17:57 - LARP-ing and Evermore Park01:21:40 - Amibos, Skylanders Figures and the Square Enix Lord of Vermillion arcade game01:24:25 - Context aware, virtual reality and augmented reality games01:28:10 - Signing off

On this supplemental episode 20 plus your favorite fraction less than 1, Ben soliloquizes about Ghostbusters, comedian Jake Johannsen, getting older, the psoas muscle, yoga, Goat Simulator, Guardians of the Galaxy, Psychonauts 2 and what words are coming in future episodes. 00:00:45 - Gozer worshipers and a slow moving Torb00:02:35 - Ben’s “athletic type injury”00:04:00 - The Suez Canal and cat yoga by proxy00:06:25 - Odd animal yoga and Goat Simulator00:09:00 - GOTY games for 2021- Guardians of the Galaxy or Psychonauts 2? 00:13:10 - Coming soon to the Two Vague Podcast…00:16:05 - Thank you for hanging in there!

Ben is excited about Marily’s first appearance on the show; she wants to talk about about the word agriculture!  This is a sprawling episode. Topics include: the life of a field worker, childhood stories, the 4H Club, meat sciences, experimental cornfields, pinball, and “Farming Simulator 22.”  As luck would have it, Ben just started playing “Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin” and wants to share his thoughts on it.  00:00:20 - Introducing this week’s hosts Ben and Marily00:01:05 - Marily reminisces about her family and field workers00:03:14 - “The Rural Juror” and the life of a field worker00:08:10 - Ben spends time at the farm as a youngster with Derek00:10:19 - It works that way everywhere… on the planet00:12:00 - Marily remembers driving to and from California00:14:43 - Who likes lengua?00:16:35 - Town oder and train stories 00:19:55 - Feline alarm clocks00:21:45 - César Chávez and Dolores Huerta00:26:26 - The crops of Arizona and California, and the 4H Club00:29:00 - Ben’s college stories and Meat Sciences 00:31:58 - The experimental cornfield and… the name00:34:30 - A quick discussion about GMOs and “terminator seeds”00:37:02 - Marily considered pursuing a degree in an agriculture related field 00:39:27 - Mango opens a squeaky window (seriously) and conspiracy00:40:48 - Ben’s Mulligan Stew confusion and some 4H trivia 00:45:08 - Not a gamer and talking about farming simulations 00:48:37 - The tractors says hello to Ben and Farming Simulator has ethical concerns 00:51:16 - Farming supply companies were confused about Farming Simulator 00:54:30 - Marily bonds with clients as a caregiver00:56:13 - Marily says the magic word and Ben talks about it00:59:23 - An agriculture themed pinball machine01:01:07 - The incredible detail of Farming Simulator 2201:03:08 - The interest-free loan from slumlord Tom Nook01:05:45 - Paul’s Christmas present? 01:07:29 - Ben loves “Sakuna: of Rice and Ruin”01:12:24 - Closing the show with garlic memories

It’s a special midnight release of our Halloween episode!  The amazing Techtic (tinkerer extraordinaire) from the Online Warriors Podcast joins Ben this week to discuss horror!  Creepy… maybe, but certainly an appropriate theme for this time of year.  We wish Norah a Happy Birthday by starting with “Questions from my Aunt!”  Techtic gets freaked out by the concept of abduction but will always protect his dog!  The conversation then moves on to their favorite horror movies.  Then they “wrap up” the show talking about horror in video games and virtual reality.   00:00:20 - Techtic and Ben are the horrific hosts... spooky!00:02:00 - “An army of grandmas.” What is a FPS?  What is an “open world” game? 00:05:45 - Techtic’s examples of how not to be reckless in open world games.00:07:55 - Aliens and Slenderman!00:10:40 - Techtic is a dog parent… number one!00:15:15 - Abduction and then… Fangoria magazine! 00:19:40 - Favorite horror movies: “Pet Cemetery” and “The Serpent and the Rainbow”00:24:10 - Techtic thinks he needs a “NOPE!” track. 00:28:40 - Techtic’s snack strategy for long movies 00:31:10 - “Hallucinations can be anything," and the power of the human brain!00:34:20 - How many jump scares do you need?00:38:10 - Scary monsters in video games, the Dead Space franchise, and Techtic’s callback00:40:20 - Perspiration and evaporative cooling00:43:50 - “This is going to require some explanation.”00:45:20 - Horror in VR!00:48:45 - When you don’t their name…00:50:40 - Techtic’s parting words of wisdom and have a Happy Halloween!

Just in time for the Halloween season, Nerdbomber from the Online Warriors Podcast joins Ben this week to discuss the word superstition.  There will be no future ghost hunting experiences for Nerdbomber.  Both hosts are amazed with Stevie Wonder’s musical output.  Nerdbomber is fascinated by the Wendigo.  Next, a video game and sports ritual discussion.  To wrap up the show, the hosts talk about the use of tarot card game mechanics, and Ben shares a story about the time he met Queen Latifah. 00:00:20 - Introducing Nerdbomber from www.onlinewarriorspodcast.com00:00:50 - Superstitions and Halloween stuff00:02:45 - Norah’s question about haptics and the PS500:06:45 - Nerdbomber holds her breath and doesn’t believe in ghosts00:10:10 - Ben’s old brain, the “Foam Mountains,” and Stevie Wonder00:16:55 - “When you believe in things you don’t understand, then you suffer…”00:18:35 - Nerdbomber, the Wendigo, and the Chinese lantern  00:23:10 - Ouija boards and scary movies00:26:25 - “Everybody has a camera now”00:29:20 - Blowing in the cartridges and good luck00:32:25 - Hockey and sports in video games 00:42:32 - Ben buys tarot cards for the artwork or maybe to impress girls 00:46:50 - Sayonara Wild Hearts and that time Ben met Dana Owens00:50:05 - Rhythm games and DDR00:52:55 - Games that take 100 hours or more to complete 00:55:55 - Shin Megami Tensei and Luigi’s Mansion00:58:45 - “The World Ends With You” and “The World Ends With You Neo”01:02:02 - Nerdbomber + 2 drinks and her parting words of wisdom 

Sammi joins Ben this week to get nostalgic about miscellaneous pop culture.  This is a heavy storytelling episode, but they eventually get to video games.  Sammie doesn’t like zip-lines or pinball machines.  Thoughts on remastered games from Sammi and Ben. 00:00:20 - Sammi and Ben start getting nostalgic00:01:00 - The rain, the 80s, GTA, and Genesis00:03:16 - Nostalgia… “it’s all Greek to me”00:05:50 - Ben forgets to mention the song Summertime00:08:10 - “Not the watermelon dude” and the 7 words 00:11:20 - The amygdala and the country’s best yoghurt00:13:54 - Berlin and Sammi gets in to Napster00:17:10 - 80s music videos00:20:14 - Ben forgets which pill to take00:23:20 - Sammi and Ben talk about toys and movies 00:31:51 - Sammi suggests removing the stairs and says nope to zip-lines00:39:40 - Nostalgic movies 00:43:26 - “Some other bitch” and N64  00:48:41 - Tommy scarred Sammi with “abuse and beans”00:53:01 - Game remasters00:55:23 - Ben gushes about Psychonauts 200:59:51 - Crazy Taxi and putting on the bow