Good Job, Brain! - Fun-Size Mini Show: Welcome Back, Trotter

Episode Date: April 26, 2021

Let's light up our lobes, lovely listeners because WE'VE MISSED YOU! It's 2021, and we're back together (virtually) for a new season of GJB. In this mini episode, we catch up on the hiatus and of course, dip our toes back into the big trivia pool with a music quiz. So bask in the chlorinated smell of a brand spanking new season of Good Job, Brain! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You're listening to an Airwave Media podcast. Hello, Starling, Starving Force, startling stars about starch, starbursts, and Star Jones. Welcome to Good Job, Brain, your quirky quiz show and offbeat trivia podcast. I'm your humble host, Karen. And we are your four fresh fact-finding folios. I'm Colin. I'm Dana. And I'm Chris. We're back.

Yeah. Amazing. Amazing. In quite a different situation. That was the longest week ever. I'm so happy to see you guys again. I really, I cannot believe that we're actually back doing this, even though we're now, you know, in our own houses. And also, this episode is a fun.

one-size mini episode. We're using this episode as an opportunity to catch up, to introduce, or even reintroduce ourselves to you. And of course, we're going to have some quizzes so you can have a taste of what's to come. And this episode will be released at the same time as our official next episode, so you can enjoy the full, good job, brain experience after this. So look, that back in the before times, in the year, the long ago year, 2018, We recorded an episode of Good Job Brain and we said, okay, great, you know, see you guys, see you guys later.

And, well, now here it is in early to mid-2020, and it's the next episode. A whole lot of life stuff just happened to everybody that just made it difficult to get in a room together and podcasts, you know, from, you know, moving to getting married to having kids, you know what I mean? Like lots and lots of all kinds of stuff just happened to change. things around. People would at me on Twitter all the time, when is good job brain coming back? And it's like, we never left. We never said, oh, we're done. We said, see you next episode. It just took a little while to get there because nobody, I don't think that any one of us would ever want to say that we were done doing good job brain. Yeah. That's true. So it was always a question of, well, we're, yeah, of course we're going to keep doing it. But then the longer you keep not doing something, the easier it is to

keep not doing it. And so eventually the pull for all of us that, okay, we really should do this again, kind of came back. And now I think what's important is we're trying to think of how are we going to do this in a way that understands that things have changed for all of us. What is a way to better communicate to you the extent of what are we committing to doing so that you're not left hanging again, wondering when the next episode is coming out? So the expectations are are properly set. Yeah, so professional. Look at us.

Yeah, I think the idea with the behind the seasons is going to be, we're going to be able to come and say, because we're going to do 10 episodes, right? So we're going to be able to say to you guys, okay, we're going to do 10 episodes. We promise you 10 episodes. At the end of those 10, we'll have like a season finale episode and we'll say, and hopefully we'll see you back, you know what I mean, for season. So episodes one through 204 were season one of Good Job Row. Episodes 205 through

215-15 14 will be season two and then season three perhaps thereafter yeah and the other thing we're really going to try to do

is to like record all the episodes of a season and then put those together and then you know have them have those drop you know on a regular weekly basis and we're and I think it's a strength of our show

that it holds up pretty well, even if you don't listen to it right when it comes out. So if we're a couple weeks behind current event references, I think we will be forgiven. Maybe. I'm just kidding. Yeah, you're right. Well, in case you are just stumbling upon this podcast episode, for the very first one you've ever listened to, you're like, who are these people, what are you talking about? I'll give you the real thumbnail rundown of who we are and what we are talking about. Wow. It's hard to believe it's been over 10 years. More than 10 years. More than 10, more than 12 years even. since Karen and Dana and I all worked together at the same video game company way back in the day.

Karen and Chris were friends, and we all met up playing pub quiz after work. There was a place downtown San Francisco where we all worked and we would meet up 6 p.m. Every Wednesday, it's my memory, and we would play a couple hours and then come home. None of us had kids at the time. None of us had really any responsibilities. And we would have some drinks and hang out and play trivia. We were pretty good. What a luxurious life.

I know. Wow. I know. Had it made. We had some, one of our friends in our circle said, you know, it would be a good idea to like to hear how you guys play. How do you, how do you work out the answers to pub quiz together? Yeah, I mean, Karen, absolutely the heart and soul of the show and said, we should do this

as a podcast. A little bit of quiz, a little bit of storytelling. Just us kind of just trying to make you feel like you're sitting at the table with us playing quiz is sort of the effort. Yeah. It's sort of the, yeah, the effect we're going for. And we thought we needed, like, professional quality recording studio to do it in. So the first episode, the first couple episodes we recorded in the, in that jazz, uh, music studio.

That's right. Other people were playing music. Surrounded by, yep, surrounded by, we had the, I mean, we could, we could do an incredible episode there now with the, with the baby grand and all the instruments on the walls. Like, I can't play a single one of them, but it would be incredible. Yeah. Can any of us play the baby grand? Oh, Karen. Twinkle, twinkle, a little star.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So no, we can't. No, the answer is no. We've recorded in all different places, always, always in the same space before. So this is a new chapter for us, for sure. And since we started recording the show when we had zero children among us, we now have one, two, three, four, five children among the good job brainers. So life moves on.

So without further ado, let's jump into our, man, it's so strange to, there's part muscle memory in my brain, but also like I kind of have to remember what I used to say. So without further ado, let's jump into our first general trivia segment pop quiz, hot shot. And this is the part of the show where I will draw a random trivial pursuit card out of a box, completely random. We don't know what year. We don't know what version. And everybody, Chris Dana and Colin have your barnyard buzzers at the ready. Here we go.

Blue Wedge for geography. What is the German highway system called? Wow, I have to match the animal with the person. It was a horse. It may have been everybody. Colin. Yeah, I think we all buzzed that. I think we all buzzed that.

I think the Autobahn. Autobon. Yes, the Autobahn. No speed restrictions, correct? I don't know if that's literally no speed restrictions, at least in portions, I think. There are sections. Yeah, I think portions are. Yeah, they really trust people.

Sounds fun. All right, Pink Wedge for pop culture. Which deep space TV dramas Clamshell Communicator inspired Motorola to develop the first handheld mobile phone? Yeah. Dana. Star Trek? It is Star Trek

You look like no And I was like I knew Dana was going to get that one Motorola named its first flip phones Star Tack after the show Huh Oh you know I never even put that together I remember those old Star Tacks

I never 23 years later I got it Slow burn Yellow Wedge for something Which D-Day beat did author J.D. Salinger's storm with his fourth infantry division.

Colin. I will guess Normandy? Incorrect, Chris. Omaha? No. Huh. But it is a U.S. place name. Yeah.

Well, that's what they get to kind of name them all after place names. It is Utah Beach. Would never. Yeah, come up with that one. Yeah, okay. It says here he was carrying six chapters of the catcher in the Rye in his backpack. He's the guy on the train with his CDs, you know, selling his home mix. Yeah, except he just knows.

I got a hot book. Hot book, hot book. Novel, great American novel, great American novel. You guys, great American novel. All right, Purple Wedge. Which bicycle writing fashion photographer captured street style for the New York Times? Oh, man. What was his name?

Bicycle writing, fashion, fashion photographer. Wow. Which, like, I watched a documentary about him, but it was like a year. I'll ask again, yeah, which bicycle writing, fashion photographer captured street style for the New York Times? It is Bill Cunningham. Yes. I did not. It was like a real cute old man who said really sweet things about everybody.

It was like, oh, man, and I feel bad I don't, didn't remember. his name. Bill Cunningham. All right, Green Wedge, which yellow spring flower contains a toxic chemical lycarine? That's L-Y-C-O-L-C-O-Licorine, R-I-N-E. Yellow Spring. Spring flower. Chris. Daffodils? Correct. Yeah. It's a yellow spring flower. It says here, all parts of the plant are poisonous, so keep pets and kids away.

This is a good tip in my little planter, and I had no idea. All right. Last question, orange wedge, sports and leisure. In tennis, what is it called when a player wins all four major tournaments in the same year? Dana. You know, I shouldn't have buzzed it. I'm going to guess, though, Grand Slam. Correct.

Yeah. I was like, why did I buzz in on a sports question? This was a mistake. Grand Slam Breakfast. All right, good job, you guys. Well, let's go around, guys. Let's, starting with you, Colin. Share with us any major life changes.

What have you been up to? Geez, wow. Well, I mean, as I directly alluded to for I, since we recorded, I have my wife and I, we have a toddler. She is now three. She is now like a real person. And on the creative side, I've decided to take advantage of, being locked up at home almost all day. And I think I mentioned on the show at some point, maybe a year or two ago,

that I've been developing a board game, a card and dice game with a good friend of mine. So we've pulled that one out of the cooler and have really kind of doubled down on trying to get that one ready to go. I cannot wait to announce to all of our listeners that we have an awesome board game here that you can help support when that is ready to share with you. I can't wait to play it again. I really liked it. I played an early version of it. And I was like, oh, yeah, it did. Yeah. You guys were very early beta testers, which was crucial, crucial. Yeah, I mean, honestly, it's been a blur the last couple years really has been for me. If I can just find time to read half of a book or watch half of a movie, I call that a win. So that's what I've been up to.

Kind of a blur for the last week, month, year. What happened yesterday? I don't really 100% remember. And what about you, Dana? Wow. Well, now I have an almost four-year-old. He was a baby, I guess, last time I talked to you all on this podcast. I kind of went back to school to figure out something else I wanted to get up to. So I was doing 3D modeling and motion graphics stuff. Yeah, I really liked it a lot. And then I, like, on a whim, I took a digital fabrication class, which is like making stuff, use computers to control machines to make stuff. So like laser cutter. and CNC machines and 3D printers and stuff. And I loved it. I thought that was so fun. So I got really into laser cutting. I've been making laser in your house. I'm a lady with the laser.

But if you want to see what I've been up to, you can look at my Instagram. It's kind of sweet. It's K-I-N-D-A-S-W-E-E-T. Yeah, I love making toys, especially like making like secret toys, things that don't look like they will be toys or something to play with,

but they totally are. So, like, interactive coasters or I made, the other day, I made a necklace, a pendant that's a kaleidoscope. Guys, it's, she's being humble. It is so impressive. It is, like, I find it so impressive. She's, like, making these mechanical gears and toys. And it's, it's the engineering behind it. Engineering and the gear work is so impressive.

It blows my mind. I can't wait for the pandemic to be over so I can get back into my maker spaces. and like I really miss the UV printer it's amazing you can print anything on anything so cool they're very expensive so I just use the maker's face anyway that's what I've been up to Mr. Chris Culler well nothing as cool as that we had another we had another kid after 24 years in the video games media I decided to leave that and actually went to video game development. I'm editorial director now at a video game studio that specializes in doing collections of classic games. It was one of those things where it's like, I'm not going to turn this down, right? Like, it totally makes sense.

I love old video games and I love the history of old video games. When we're doing a collection, I research the games, go talk to the developers, find whatever materials that I can from the development of those games, and put together. we just released a game called Blizzard Arcade Collection for the company Blizzard, which brings together a lot of their older games that they had on 16-bit consoles. I spearheaded the section of that game that's a museum of a digital museum of old game boxes, manuals, development documents, you know, things like that. Wow.

It was super fun. And it's like, it's great. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. So that's what I'm doing now and I'm loving it. And then also recently, this sort of was this was like in the works for a long. long time. And a couple years ago, I sat down and did an interview in the basement of my house

where all the video games are for a documentary that was being put together about the history of Nintendo in which I am featured heavily. They taught a lot, especially in episode one, because I was one of the only people they talked to who, you know, had had kind of, I guess, done the level of insane nerd research that I had in this. And it's narrated by Sean Aston. Oh, I didn't realize that. And so there's times in that first episode where it's just, it's just me and Sean Aston trading lines, never met the man.

But if I ever do meet him, I'll be like, hey, how's it going, Sean Aston? I'd be like, oh, you're Chris Kohler. This is assuming he's watched the documentary. I hope so. Because I met him before. Oh, yeah? He used to run the Disney races. Oh, really?

I saw on TV recently that you like to run Disney races, sometimes dressed as a sure of it. I learned this on television. What have I been up to? to rewind a little bit. You know, we took a break. I went through a divorce, and then I found love again. I got married. And then I had a baby.

And most recently, during the pandemic, I got on a game show that was on national primetime network. With Jeopardy Champions. I was a contestant for the first reboot season of The Chase, and I won. Yeah. The crazy thing. I have to say, my wife and I, we were watching the show and we're like, the look on your face, the moment that you realize, holy crap, we're going to win. It's just a wild ride.

Maybe we'll save some of the stories for future episodes. But, you know, we do this podcast and it's fun and we're so natural and, you know, we're talking to each other. But once, like, you're on a stage on national TV, oh, man, all bets are off. Like, I couldn't really see straight. Like, I was going to throw up. You know, it was just, it was really crazy. But anyways, that's my update. And recently I actually decided that I want to be a full-time parent.

And so I am now a stay-at-home mom. A great time to revive Good Job Brain. And where is your baby right now? I gave her a pocket knife and an apple. She'll be back by dusk. So for our new listeners in preparation for people who've never listened to a Good Job Brain episode, how would you guys describe Good Job Brain? I would describe it as if you could be at the table listening to nerdy friends sharing trivia and playing pub quiz.

That's the spirit I hope we're going for. If you feel like you're hanging out with us, having a good time playing pub quiz, sharing dumb nerdy facts, then we've succeeded. So a typical episode of Good Job Rain will kind of fall into different segments. Each of us will bring one or two segments to the show. That segment can either be a straight-up quiz where we act as the quiz. Master for a day and or it can be a educational segment that we actually put together in which we regale you with the tale of something from history or trivia facts you should know about something with no purpose other than to educate and hopefully entertain you the other three

people and you the listener at home as well yeah every every main episode of good job brain we we have a random topic, general umbrella topic. It's loose, it's loose. Very loose. And each four of us go on our own little journey to come up with a quiz or find out weird facts about whatever that topic makes us think of. What are some good job brain facts or segments that we've done that have stuck with you? For me, we had one episode, the subject, the topic was about eggs.

We actually had a guest, a mini guest cameo from chef Gordon Ramsey. Chris did an interview with, with Gordon Ramsey, to talk about his famous life-changing scrambled egg cooking method. That was years ago. It wasn't until during the pandemic, I was like, you know what? I'm going to give this a try. And it has changed my life. That's what I was saying.

I think about that all the time and I've still never done it, but I do think about it all the time. So maybe I will try it. Every single time I've scrambled a egg, I'm like, this is not the Gordon Ramsey method. Chris would be very disappointed. So the funny thing is, I mean, I'll do different kinds of scrambled eggs based on the scenario that is happening. You know what I mean? So, I mean, I'll do the Gordon Ramsey scrambled eggs. But then sometimes, let's say I just used a big pan to cook onions or something like that and I want to dirty another pan. I'll lower myself. But But the important thing is... You got to read the room sometimes.

You learn the technique. There's so many American scrambled egg recipes of people make scrambled eggs. Like you take the pan, you get it super, super hot with butter in it, and then you pour the eggs in, and the eggs just burn. And then you eat it anyway because you're like, well, that's scrambled eggs, right? So now when I do other types of scrambled egg techniques, I incorporate what I learned from the Gordon Ramsey scrambled eggs.

Another food-related thing from Good Job Brain that I think about a lot is the castorium, the beaver. juice from beaver by now there could be a beta minehoff effect thing going on here but i believe personally that we started that castorium i think we certainly were early boosters yep we jumped into the we've jumped into the beaver's nether regions before yeah most people would even have thought to even do that yeah castorium which is a something secreted by the anal glands of a beaver is often used as a natural flavoring for raspberry and vanilla this was on supermarket sweep recently with Leslie Jones, they did a Castorium question.

That's the game show I want to be on. That's a great game. I totally want to be on that one. Me too. Oh, yeah. People who frustrate me on that show because they walk so slowly. Why are they walking? We're talking so much smack, but I bet there's a ton of rules when you get there.

They're probably, they're probably ours. They don't kill anybody. And one of the things that we like doing not only quizzes, but music quizzes, where we do a little bit of name that tune. And so to wrap up this mini episode, I prepared a music round where I'm going to be playing five clips of famous songs and you have to identify the song and the artist because there is a theme. There is a reason why they're chosen and the theme can either be from their title or from the artist. Here we go. Everybody has their buzzers.

Here we go. Just like the wide window sings the song Sounds like she's singing Ooh, baby Ooh, say ooh And the days go by Like a strand

In the wind And the web That is my own I begin again Stand to my friend Baby Nothing else matter Chris, Chris please

Yeah, I've felt bad buzzing in it all Chris The yes, the the mystical, the magical, Stevie Nix. And the song name? Oh, the song name is Edge of 17. Correct. We've established on the show, Chris's favorite musical acts include the Beach Boys, James Taylor, and Fleawood Mac.

Very true. And me and Chris actually have seen them live. How do you feel about the revival of Fleawood Mac? Because of TikTok. Oh, oh, that revival. That was interesting. Yeah, yeah, the guy drinking a, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, cranberry juice on a skateboard

lip syncing to dreams, which then shoots dreams up to the top of the iTunes charts, right? And it didn't really affect me, though. I mean, what was I going to get even more into fluid with Mac? It's not possible. Okay. Second song.

We got to start making changes. Learn to see me as a bumbers that are two distant strangers. And that's I was supposed to be. I can they double take the brother if it's close to me? I'll let it go back to when we play this kid with this. That's the way it is

Come on That's just the way it is Dana Oh, sorry Tupac Changes Is it changes? Correct. Changes by Tupac.

I know the song being sampled. Yeah, and they actually got it. The song being sampled is That's just the way it is by Bruce Hornsby. Do I get a half a point? No. You're trying to steal my point. Get out of here.

They're adding some inflation to the system. Point inflation. Third song. Jeremiah was a bullfrog. Was a good friend of mine. I never understood a single word he said, but I helped him or drinking the wine. And they always had somebody to find wine.

That was Chris. I believe it's called Joy to the World by, is that Creedens Clearwater Revival? Incorrect. Oh, no. Colin. I believe that's Three Dog Night. Three Dog Night. That is a very popular mistake, but Colin is correct.

Okay, so this next song, I just have to explain a little bit. What you're hearing is KK. Slider from the hit video game Animal Crossing singing this song. Someone called Chris Kramer who actually engineered it so that it sounds like this video game dog is singing this song. I just need you to identify the song and the original artist. Okay. Another added difficulty is this song features a sample of another older song.

I don't need that sample of the older song. I need the actual main song that's sung by a video game dog. Here we go. Oh, man. I know the original, but you said you don't want that. Discrimination against you. Is it Ariana Grande? Correct.

Yeah. In the song. Oh, it's like. Can I guess? Is it something to do with seven rings? Yes. It is top of seven. rings.

Ariana Grande. Now you get half a point. This is half a point. That's a good. That's a solid. Yeah. Sampling, of course, from Sound of Music.

These are a few of my favorite things or my favorite things. Okay. Last one. Last one. I hope, hopefully we see kind of a theme here. I think so. It'll be very specific,

I'll say. But here's the last, last, last song. I can't stand to fly I'm not that naive men want men to ride with clouds between their knees I'm only a man

The silly red sheets Taking for Krypton Night On this one way street Only a man Dana is that three doors down kryptonite no no but you're it's it's about Superman now I'm I can hear kryptonite in my mind is not this song is called Superman by a band called five for fighting yes yes yes yes their band name comes from a hockey term we have our list We have Edge of 17 by Stevie Nix, Changes by Tupac, Joy to the World by Three Dog Night,

Seven Rings by Ariana Grande, and Superman by Five for Fighting. Do we know a theme? I think so. That's all I got. Does it add up to something? No. Okay. I mean, they add up to something.

No, it doesn't add to something. Does that out to something significant? No, no. Chris is solving. Chris has a pen and a paper. Chris is like carry the seven. Oh, I was thinking it was, are we doing like alpha numeric code or something?

No, no, no, no, okay. They're all odd numbers. No, there's a two. Are they? Yes, they're all prime. Prime numbers? Crime numbers. Oh, okay.

That's good. two, three, five, seven, and 17. Oh, that's good. Good. Cool. Good job, guys. And that's our mini episode, fun-sized show. Along with this episode, you'll find the full Good Job Brain experience in episode 205.

Thank you guys for joining me. And thank you guys, listeners, for listening in. Hope you're pumped for a new season and new Good Job Brain episodes. You can find us on Apple Podcast, Google Podcasts, Spotify, audible and on all podcast apps and on our website good job brain.com and we'll see you guys

next week. Bye. Bye. Bye. more time actually watching and playing what you want with the IGN Daily Update podcast. All you need is a few minutes to hear the latest from IGN on the world of video games, movies, and television with news, previews, and reviews. So listen and subscribe to the IGN Daily Update, wherever you get your podcasts. That's the IGN Daily Update, wherever you get your podcasts.