Triple Click - Should You Get A Switch Or Switch 2?

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Jason, Kirk, and Maddy open up the mailbag for some of your burning questions. Should a family that's never gotten a Switch before get a Switch 1 or Switch 2? Is it ethical to play online games on pri...vate servers? And can Outer Worlds 2 really critique capitalism while being made by one of the world's biggest corporations?One More Thing:Kirk: Birnam Wood (Eleanor Catton)Maddy: Gaming pillow from MechanismJason: Fantasy Life i: The Girl Who Steals TimeLINKS:Kirk’s latest Strong Songs mailbag about the music of Blue Prince: https://strongsongspodcast.com/blogs/episodes/s07e09-bluegrass-blue-prince-and-the-bluesTriple Click LIVE in Portland, July 11: https://albertarosetheatre.com/event/triple-click-live/alberta-rose-theatre/portland-oregon/Support Triple Click: http://maximumfun.org/joinBuy Triple Click Merch: https://maxfunstore.com/search?q=triple+click&options%5Bprefix%5D=lastJoin the Triple Click Discord: http://discord.gg/tripleclickpodTriple Click Ethics Policy: https://maximumfun.org/triple-click-ethics-policy/ Happy MaxFunDrive! Right now is the best time to start a membership to support your favorite shows. Learn more and join at https://maximumfun.org/jointripleclick 🚀  SUPPORT TRIPLE CLICK:Join Maximum Fun | Buy TC Merch💬 JOIN THE TRIPLE CLICK DISCORD🎮 Triple Click Ethics Policy📱 SOCIALS | @tripleclickpodInstagram | YouTube | TikTok | Twitch

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Starting point is 00:00:03 In honor of Summer Games Done Quick, we're announcing a new initiative. It's called Games Done Slow. It never actually ends. Welcome to Triple Click, where we bring the games to you. This week, we are answering some of your burning questions on everything from private servers and MMOs to Switch 1 versus Switch 2. And where does Mario go when he dies? I'm Jason Trier. I'm Kirk Hamilton.
Starting point is 00:00:33 And I'm Maddie Myers. And we are one day away from Triple Click. live, which is very exciting. It sure is exciting. Oh, man. I'm excited. I know that much. It's going to be a fun one. So for those of you who have missed us talking about this for the last little while, we will be performing a live show in Portland. This is going to be a little different than our previous live show because we've got a whole musical extravaganza
Starting point is 00:00:57 and game shows and all sorts of fun stuff planned. For people who are not in Portland this Friday night, July 11th, we will be put in So the show is going to be like roughly two hours, maybe a little longer. We're going to put the first half as our main episode for next week's show. So you will get to hear that no matter where you are. And then the second half of the live show, really the complete live show, will be in the bonus feed for Max Fun subscribers. So if you're not a subscriber, you will get the kind of the core,
Starting point is 00:01:28 the main topic and one more things in the live show. And if you are a subscriber, you'll get everything else. And speaking of subscribers, how do you become a, a subscriber. What is a subscriber? What is that? What is that mean? You may wonder, we are a listener-supported podcast, which means that we rely on all
Starting point is 00:01:46 of you find folks out there to make the show possible and to become a subscriber and support us. You can go to maximum fun.org slash join. You will get bonus episodes from us every month, including the live show. I just mentioned. That'll be a fun one. And lots of other stuff. We just talked about and or season two in a bonus episode that just ran.
Starting point is 00:02:06 That was a very fun conversation. And this year we've talked about other stuff, games like blueprints and a whole bunch of other stuff. So become a member. Go to maximum fund.org slash join today. All right. So let's get into this week's episode, shall we? Yeah. This week we are opening up the listener mailbag and taking some questions from all you find folks.
Starting point is 00:02:32 It's time for burning questions. Let's go. Kirk, one of these days, we've been doing this. show for like five years and we still don't have a sound effect for burning questions. It should be like a crackling fire maybe, like because the bag's on fire, folks. I have played fire sound effects at times. Fire doesn't really cut. Yeah. I've played the, that famous fireball sound effect. It's, uh, everyone will know it because it's in movie trailers in the 90s. It's in every movie trailer. It goes, and it's also in that video game magic carpet.
Starting point is 00:03:02 I've talked about this before. At one point I even wrote an electric guitar. It was like, Burning questions or something like it was like a power cord, but we just never, I just never remember to go back and use them or I haven't felt fully satisfied with any one sound. But one of these days, we'll have a little jingle for burning questions. One of these days, I'm excited. Just a reminder, if you want to submit a question, you can reach us at triple click at maximum fun.org. And just make sure to keep your questions nice and short, nice and pithy, and also interesting. Make them interesting. If they're not interesting, we probably We won't read them.
Starting point is 00:03:37 All right, we got some fun ones to get through today. Maddie, why don't you kick us off with this one from Zach? Sure. So, Zach writes, something that has really been bugging me far more than it probably should about the announcement of Outer Worlds 2 is the disconnect between the game's anti-capitalist tone and its price outside of an Xbox game pass subscription. Seeing and hearing all the anti-capitalist messaging in the trailer only for it to be followed by an exorbitant purchase price to, quote, own the game, unless you subscribe to Game Pass.
Starting point is 00:04:08 Yay, no more ownership. Really bummed me out. But it got me thinking, can a game from a major studio like Obsidian even deliver genuine anti-capitalist criticism if its parent company actively undercuts that message with how it publishes and prices the game? Does that undermine the work of the writers, since Microsoft is essentially commodifying anti-capitalist dissent? Doesn't this make outer worlds to part of the process?
Starting point is 00:04:32 problem. It's trying to satirize. Just starting off with an easy one here, I think. Interesting. Microsoft, huh? What a company. Yep. Another week at Microsoft. Well, let me pose this to you guys. Let me pose this to you guys. I'm not an expert on anti-capitalism literature discourse or what the alternatives would be or the model of socialism or whatever else. But I think that most, for all of human society, for the majority of the human's existence, we've exchanged goods and services for some sort of currency. It doesn't strike me as like not anti-capitalist to charge a certain amount of money, even if it's higher than usual. Like how, I guess I'm curious as to what the disconnect is there just because the price is raising, if that necessarily is like a pro-capitalist
Starting point is 00:05:25 message. To me, that just speaks to inflation, which may be a part and aspect of capitalism, but that's also an aspect of any monetary system. So I guess I'm a little confused by the premise of this. Right. So let's maybe expand the premise to one that I at least find a little bit more relevant, which is, can a game published by Microsoft, the ultimate or one of the ultimate mega corpse, this shining example of the follies of capitalism that has caused so much harm and damage that funds weapons of war that is engaged in so much anti-competitive behavior that is pouring billions of. dollars into artificial intelligence in this ruinous waste, can they put forth a game? Can they publish and fund a game that is anti-capitalist in its message? I feel like that's maybe a more relevant question. Sure. And also, can you as a developer who works at a company that's been acquired by a corporation like Microsoft still make art that you believe in? I think that's something that the individual developers probably ask themselves, especially if they're working on a game
Starting point is 00:06:29 that is satirizing big corporations, which Outer Worlds 2 very much is. It's a big part of the game. I mean, if anything that hits the message harder, I would say it feels like if you can get away with working for a massive corporation while at the same time criticizing the existence of those corporations without getting fired for it, the power. Yeah, that tends to be my inclination. It's like, do what you can get away with, right? I think, yeah, you can, you know, you can make art under any circumstances.
Starting point is 00:07:03 And certainly we're all members of a society that we also make art criticizing. And that's part of how art works. So I do think that it's totally valid. Now, whether Zach or another person can get over that tension is another question. I think if you look at this and just think, I just can't square this circle, the fact that Microsoft is selling me this game that's presenting the satirical view of corporate life, I just, to me, it just feels off. I'm just not into it.
Starting point is 00:07:29 I totally understand if someone feels that way. Yeah, journalism is the same way, right? Like, I work for Bloomberg, a massive corporation. And a lot of people who work for Bloomberg News, like, feel, are welcome to criticize capitalism. And it's, well, technically Bloomberg's mission is, like, Bloomberg News's mission is to chronicle capitalism, which I think is a really interesting one because it allows you to explore capitalism from all these different, directions and nobody is told like, hey, you can't write this because the corporate overlords will disagree or something like that, at least as far as in my personal experience,
Starting point is 00:08:04 that's not something I've run into or like getting pressure or anything like that. Your point about working within the confines of the system that we, that we are, have to live in, I think is an apt one. That said, I mean, I've always, I've always been a little bit skeptical of boycotts in general, but I've always said, I think the three of us have always agreed on this show. whenever we talk about like boycotts and companies terrible practices, like when we were talking about Activision Blizzard, back when that lawsuit hit a few years ago,
Starting point is 00:08:32 I think as a personal customer, you kind of, you have to make your own ethical decisions of what you want to support, what you don't. Certainly, I've seen a lot of calls for like canceling game pass in the wake of these massive Xbox layoffs last week. People feeling like,
Starting point is 00:08:50 hey, what am I supporting here? Just fair question. heartbreak and devastation and people losing their job. So if it's, if you're coming at this and you're like, man, something doesn't sit right with me buying this game and supporting Microsoft even while this game is trying to be anti-capitalist, then I mean, I think that's, that's a personal, perfectly reasonable stance to take as a person. Yeah, it is. I also always have to think about it in terms of being a person who's been getting game pass for free for an extremely long time. I may not work at Polygon anymore, but Microsoft sent us GamePass codes and mine's still working.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Like, I haven't had to pay for GamePass for years and years at this point. And so as a critic, I always, and all three of us always have to try to put ourselves in the position of imagining what it would be like if we weren't getting games for free, which we do all the time on this show. Like, this is an ethical quandary that we just haven't had to face for years, or at least I know I haven't. And instead I get to be like, I'll criticize Hogwarts Legacy, for example, without having had to buy it or whatever because, you know, my workplace paid for it or I got a code or whatever it is. And that puts me in this position of like ivory tower critical thinking
Starting point is 00:10:09 where I get to be like, ah, I'm now weighing in from this neutral position. But our listeners aren't in that position. And so I'm sympathetic to Zach here for at least being in the place of thinking, well, should I buy a game like this? They're by supporting the developers who are making a game that maybe has messages that it sounds like Zach might agree with or think are interesting or compelling in some way. But also by supporting it,
Starting point is 00:10:35 I'm also supporting the larger corporate structure behind them that is making decisions all the time that I don't agree with. And I don't think that question has an easy answer because like where does the money go? It goes to both places, right? Yeah. And I mean, Zach didn't really mention, boycotts are buying the game in his question, just for what it's worth.
Starting point is 00:10:54 He's sort of just asking broadly, does this undermine the artistic message of the game? His final question is, doesn't this make outer worlds to a part of the problem it's trying to satirize? And I think that in a very tangible way it does, and yet at the same time, sometimes that kind of friction is inevitable. And so it's just something you have to kind of consider when you're playing the game. It's very interesting and very complicated. It's like part of this modern life. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:11:19 Although I do think the premise here, I said this earlier, but I do think the premise of like a game being inherently more capitalist because it raised its price $10. I do think that's kind of a flawed argument. And I think the question of game prices getting hiked, that's another conversation topic that we should get into down the road. But like that is not and the question of how sustainable that is. That's a whole other can of worms. But like that is not something that is inherently like a capitalistic. move. It's just kind of the nature of how currency functions. And even if we were in like a, all capitalist satire doesn't have to be free. Yeah. Right. Right. Well, and also if we were in, if we were in a socialist society, prices would also go up because inflation and would not go away just because we were living under different like confines. Yeah. Yeah. I think I still had to purchase my own copy of the Communist Manifesto when I read it in college. So that was actually messed up. It really makes you think, Maddie. And I really shouldn't have had to buy it.
Starting point is 00:12:22 It should have been free, I think. Oh, well. It's really, whenever you're reading about history, it always blows my mind a little bit to be like, wow, 2,000 years ago in the Roman Empire, they were still using money. They were exchanging currency for goods and services, which I think is really interesting. Just how old a currency is as a system. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:42 And I bet they had inflation back then, too. All right, I'm going to read this next question. This is from Chris. I was wondering what your thoughts are on private servers for MMOs or other live service games. Some view them as piracy, whereas others might consider them similar to mods, especially when it comes to game content, not otherwise available. Most famously, the various World of Warcraft classic iterations would probably not exist without private servers demonstrating unmet customer demand.
Starting point is 00:13:11 What do you guys think? Have you ever played on a private server of an online game? Oh, sure, I have. Yeah, I guess I haven't since, you know, the days of Counterstrike, like very early 2000s, but not on a modern MMO where they're basically, they've spoofed the servers and are running it themselves in a violation of the terms of surface. I have not actually done that. But I think this is a very interesting question. Yeah, I've only done it in the context of games where the servers weren't readily available. So for a time, there were several Street Fighter games that just didn't have online servers. I've said in the past, I really like Third Strike. It's one. of my favorite ones. And so for a time, fan servers were the only way you could play Third Strike online if you just wanted to compete online with people. And that's how I played it for a while. And it was very fun. And there's a, you know, Reddit communities for fighting games like that that just don't still have online servers. And typically, I mean, even Capcom is willing to just look the other
Starting point is 00:14:09 way and pretend they don't see it. And they might not feel that way now because I know they've put out versions of Street Fighter that you can play online. I have my quibbles with some of those Capcom re-releases that we don't need to get into. But now that there are more official versions of a lot of those games, they might care. I haven't looked into that. But I think that for games where they're not otherwise available, even major developers are more likely to be like, I'm just going to pretend I don't see this because obviously it's just a reflection of people still liking a game that is fundamentally intended to be an online game and was shipped as one. And, now just isn't anymore because it's not online anymore. Yeah, I've been doing this intellectual
Starting point is 00:14:50 exercise where I imagine if, say, a friend of mine who I used to play Destiny with, found a way to host a private server that just had a version of Destiny from, you know, maybe, I don't know, one year after Destiny 1 came out. One with Peter Dinklage in it. Right, that sort of colding era when Jason and I were total sick, I was playing all the time. And they were just hosting that on their own little server and paying the server fees. And then just six of us could get on there and just play the Vault of Glass and do Destiny strikes together. And it wasn't like a whole big thing. Why are we not doing this?
Starting point is 00:15:26 Right. And I don't know if this would be possible or not, but just to use Destiny because that's the MMO that I played. That would be really cool. And I know that would be a violation of copyright. And I'm sure Bungy would not be happy about it. But at the same time, if it's just six people hosting it, I think that kind of thing is really cool. it'd be nice if that were more possible, or even if companies could make it possible, for people to do that through their own server. I know that would kind of, like, they would fracture the player base, and I'm sure there are a lot of problems with offering that to people.
Starting point is 00:15:55 But people do want to go back and they want to have some control over which version of the game they're playing. World Warcraft Classic is a great example. But I'm sure it's true of a lot of MMOs, even though there doesn't seem to be currently a workable way to offer it. It still would be neat. Yeah, it reminds me of emulation. That's the parallel that I wouldn't make, where it's like, if you want to play something that there is no way to purchase other than buying a $500 disc on eBay, where the money doesn't go to the developers anyway, then there's nothing unethical about downloading a ROM and playing it on an emulator, at least in my view. And with this, it's the same way where I feel like if you have a private server to circumvent the, the, uh, the, uh, subscription. cost of an MMO or the microtransactions or whatever, you want to be able to get all the outfits on
Starting point is 00:16:46 your private server without paying, that strikes me as a little bit less kosher than just creating a private server for something that is not available to play anyway, which doesn't really seem like a problem to me. And yes, in World of Workraft's case, the existence of Nostalricus and other servers that, like, allowed people to play the vanilla World of Warcraft, even years after it had, like, evolved in all sorts of different ways and gotten expanded, that directly led to Blizzard, asking them to the shutdown and then revealing its own version, World of Warcraft Classic. So these private servers not only can allow people to play games in a way that they want to play if they're unavailable, can also force these companies' hands and lead to cool stuff.
Starting point is 00:17:31 So that also seems like a win for me. And I think even though Blizzard did ask Nostalius to go, like did try to take it down, did take a town, I think that it ultimately helped create World of Warcraft Classic, which is a very successful product. So it's kind of a win-win-win. Yeah. I wonder if the people who were part of that project feel kind of bittersweet about it, though, just being asked by Blizzard to take it down and whether there's any bad blood there. I mean, I'm not part of that community, so I don't know. But I could imagine that being the case if they didn't, if they had quibbles with the way the classic came out in comparison.
Starting point is 00:18:06 Yeah, I think they were, uh, They had some conversations with Blizzard, like Blizzard brought them onto campus and talked to them. I'm not sure how involved they were ultimately with the actual development of World Warcraft Classic, but I don't think it was like, we're going to just send you, we're going to throw our lawyers at you and never talk to you. Yeah, there's like an unclassy way to do it where it's like we're just going to release classic, never speak to you, and then hit you with a takedown notice. Yeah, I don't do that. I don't think they did it quite that way.
Starting point is 00:18:35 That's good at least. Kirk, you want to read the next question? Sure. This comes from Eleanor who writes, Jason, I heard in the most recent burning questions that you were the ones that you were the one who reads all these emails, which is convenient because this question is for you. So Jason has already had some time to think about this question because he does go through our inbox for these burning questions episodes. Eleanor writes, I am a long time listener since episode one of Triple Click and I'm also an avid listener of a few other maximum fun podcasts. I was going through some old episodes of one of these shows Story Break when I heard an old triple. click promo. In the promo, the three of you asked enticing questions to the potential listening audience. Most of these you've answered on the show, but one lingers. Jason, you asked, what happens to Mario when he dies? You asked if I wanted to know that four years ago, and the answer is, yes, I want to know, Jason, what happens to Mario when he dies? You know, I've been thinking about this. It does feel like we ask that question. It feels like the listeners deserve an answer, and we should finally
Starting point is 00:19:38 address it. So I've done a lot of reporting. I've done a lot of research and I've actually found out the answer, which is that but if he doesn't go and Bowser's butt is all right. Maddie, you want to take this next question? Sure. This one's from Rebecca who asks. Dear Triple Click, listening to your latest episode about the Switch 2, I thought y'all would be perfect to answer my family's quandary. We never had a Switch. We have three kids, 12, 10, and 7 who have got gotten much more into PC games in the last couple of years. We own five copies of Stardue Valley so we can play a co-op game together. But we're all sitting in different rooms doing so. This year, we've agreed that instead of getting lots of presents, we'll blow our whole Christmas gift budget on a switch or switch two. The problem is, which one? We can make the money work for the switch too. We'll ask grandparents to send money for games. But obviously, if we get a switch one, we'll be able to afford a lot more. Obviously, we'll have to shell out for extra controllers, too. Do you have any insight on this at all? What factors am I missing in this decision? This is tough. There's
Starting point is 00:20:51 pros, there's cons. I think there's only one answer, which is you got to get the switch to. Because if you get the switch to, you're future proofing. Because when your kids inevitably come to you next year and they're like, this new Mario game, this new Zelda game, whatever it is, looks amazing. Can we get it? You don't have to be like, oh, sorry, we only have a switch one. You can't get it. So the switch to you can play all the old Switch 1 games and in fact you can probably get some of those at a discount which will help in terms of pricing for the holiday but you you don't have to worry that
Starting point is 00:21:25 next year two years from now three years from now you will have to buy a new console to play the latest Nintendo games and your kids are going to be talking about that stuff at school with their friends they're going to be like hey like this new game just got announced it looks super cool oh no we can't play it because we only have a Switch one so I feel like it's worth the investment this holiday Yeah, that seems like good advice. This is a tough one.
Starting point is 00:21:47 I mean, it is a really tricky and specific situation. Thinking it through and going along with that recommendation, yeah, like they can get controllers if they need more controllers. You can get non-first-party controllers for a lot less money than the Switch 2 controllers cost, which is also probably just a good idea if you have kids. You don't need the most cutting-edge thing. You just need something that works because it might get broken at some point anyways. And yeah, like they're older Switch-1 games that are cheaper. or kind of discounted so you can kind of pick those up.
Starting point is 00:22:17 You know, your copy of Stardue Valley will still work on Switch 2. So that makes sense to me as advice, yeah. Yeah, I think you two are correct in part because of just the aging of the console. Like the Switch 1 is really showing its age, the Switch 2. We compared it to a new phone, which is something I've thought about a lot as I've continued to play it and how apt that comparison feels to me and that it is like my Switch just feels a lot better and faster to play now because it's the new phone I got.
Starting point is 00:22:45 But I will say that because Switch 1 controllers still work, maybe that's a money-saving maneuver that you could play here, especially if you're getting used or refurbished ones. Obviously, you don't want to deal with the Joy Condor situation. I'm talking pro-controllers. Those still work on the Switch 2. So that seems like maybe a way to get all those additional controllers and take advantage of the backwards compatibility of the first switch.
Starting point is 00:23:09 And just save some money so you can spend as much as you want on the games, which is the most important thing here. And part of why I thought this was a good question because you want enough games that the whole family can participate and not feel like, okay, we got one game. And now what are we supposed to do? Yeah, that sounds like the plan.
Starting point is 00:23:29 That's a good, that's very good advice. And yeah, I mean, the other thing to consider is that if you buy a Switch 1, you will probably want to upgrade at some point in the future, even if it's two, three years from now because the Switch 1 just won't be getting new games on it and you might get sick of playing like back catalog stuff. So that's $300 for the Switch one.
Starting point is 00:23:50 And then another $450 for the Switch 2 in the future. So you are saving yourself money too by future-proofing at this point. You're actually saving money by buying the Switch 2. That's so true. Great point. It's good that they have until Christmas because you can chew on this advice and sort of game it out and figure out whether it would work or not. And which controllers to get.
Starting point is 00:24:09 Yeah. It's the kind of decision that you'd want to make over time. and you have some time. Yeah, and I think the advice would be much different if it was like, should I upgrade from the switch one to the switch two? That's a very different question. Then like, I'm buying this for the first time, in which case, it's like you would, if you're buying a new phone,
Starting point is 00:24:25 you probably want one that's either like one to two years old or like the most modern one. You don't want to buy a new iPhone from seven years ago if you're getting a new phone this holiday. So that's the way to go. All right. Next question. I'll read this one. This is from Zach.
Starting point is 00:24:41 Zach says, I, like many others, have become completely enraptured with blueprints. One element that I haven't heard talked about quite as much as the music of the game. It may not be flashy, but it sets the perfect moody tone for the setting as you discover new clues and uncover the broader implications of the lore hidden within the estate. My only complaint is that the music doesn't play enough. Sometimes it can feel like you go in its higher run without any music outside of the starting stinger. Major shout out to the group who composed it, Triggin Gusset, for creating a soundtrack that I am vigilantly on the lookout for a vinyl pressing of a song.
Starting point is 00:25:11 So Zach doesn't have a question, but Kirk, as our resident Strong Songs host and music expert, do you want to talk a little bit about the music of Blueprints and maybe why it's not discussed enough? And what makes it cool? Yeah, so I have discussed it on the show and have mentioned it. Trig and Gusset are a jazz duo who recorded a really killer soundtrack for this game. And it's, you know, it's come up on, I think on our beans cast a few different times. I'll talk about it and I'll play it all that beautiful bass clarinet music. I mostly wanted to point Zach to the most recent episode of Strong Songs, which came out after he probably sent in this email, is a mailbag where someone wrote in to ask about Simon's theme, which is the piece of music that plays whenever you go into the music room. It's this collection of three chords. It's really beautiful. And I actually went into a whole big explanation of it and talked all about how the harmony works. And it's a trig, I believe, is the keyboard player in that group playing it. So if you want to hear a kind of in-depth section of a Q&A of Strong Songs about the music,
Starting point is 00:26:08 You can go check that out and we'll link it in the show notes. And I wanted to say just to Zach's point that he thinks the music doesn't play enough, I just, I don't think I can agree with that. One thing that I really like about Blueprints is how infrequently the music plays. Because when it does play, it counts for so much, especially when those really big moments happen. A cinematic is playing and the bass clarinet really comes in and it gets so dramatic. I don't know. There's so much space in this game.
Starting point is 00:26:36 It's such an unusually minimalist soundtrack. I think that's what makes it special. And if it played all the time, it would maybe lose a little bit of that, as much as I do love hearing it. So I just wanted to respond to that point as well. It leaves you wanting more. Yeah, I agree with that. I agree 100%.
Starting point is 00:26:52 And like the moments of like getting the antechamber or like that moment when you first discover a certain room underground across the water. Or even just like the first time you see the credits roll, even if you don't understand and the import of it. The first time you get to Room 46, there's a great song that plays under the monologue, and it's beautiful, and it adds a lot to that entire discovery. I mean, every time there's a big song moment,
Starting point is 00:27:19 it's also a big emotional moment in that game, and it helps them land way more. And the way that certain rooms have music, The Secret Garden is a piece of music that always plays. Simon's theme always plays when you go into the music room. It develops this kind of memetic quality that video games are very good at, where, you know, like a persona game, If you picture a persona game every single time you're hanging out,
Starting point is 00:27:39 da-da-da-da-da-da-da-da starts playing. And you're like, here we are, we're hanging out in persona. You hear that, I don't know, 120 times over the course of a game or something. It just builds this kind of relationship into your brain. Blueprints does the same thing. And I think if the music played more often, they would probably dilute each piece a little bit and they wouldn't be as effective. All right. Next question, Kirk.
Starting point is 00:28:02 This comes from Caesar, who writes, So I was listening to a recent episode in which Kirk mentioned a moment in his life in which he was smoking a lot of weed. I guess I'm in that moment of my life right now and thus the interest, but I swear I'll try to make this question video game related. I was wondering what has your relationship with weed like been like through time? Have all three of you smoked it? And how did the changes in the legal scenario impact that relationship for you in the United States? I have a vague grasp of how it works in the U.S., and I know things aren't the same in all states, but I was curious how that has been for the three of you. I'm aware it's a personal question.
Starting point is 00:28:36 It's okay if you don't want to get into it. My video game question is, what are the best games to play while stoned? He mentions a few that he likes, but he wants to know what we think. So for starters, I mean, I don't know, we have all smoked weed in our lives. What? Kirk, how dare you say this? So I'll go first, I guess. It's also legal in all three of our respective states, I guess we should say.
Starting point is 00:29:00 Yeah, but I mean, I was smoking weed when it was still illegal. I was 20 years ago. trying to cover for us, ma'am. Oh, I see. It's hard to imagine a jazz musician smoking weed. Yeah, a jazz cigarette? Yeah, living in San Francisco and playing jazz saxophone. Yeah, it was everywhere.
Starting point is 00:29:17 I find, you know, just personally speaking, I find that I don't love playing video games while after smoking weed. I don't really smoke that much anymore. It's just something that I've fallen off of over the years. I think that's common for a lot of people. It takes too much out of me I become incredibly unproductive I don't feel great for a while
Starting point is 00:29:38 afterward it just sort of like it actually saps a lot of experiences of their specialness I find it used to be when I was younger you know you would go see a movie or something or a concert and it would be like wow like it would seem really cool because I've always found that
Starting point is 00:29:53 weed kind of puts me very in the moment and so I'm able to just like not think about other stuff and just focus on the music or the game or the movie or whatever it is. And that can be a really cool experience. But over time, that is kind of diminished for me. And there are definitely downsides for me as well. And I actually find with games that my attention just wanders. Like, I don't really stick with a game for a very long time. And I'll think, oh, this will be cool because this game's really beautiful looking or whatever. And then I'll play
Starting point is 00:30:24 for half an hour and then be like, I want to go do something else. Where these days, you know, because I very rarely, well, I guess not smoke, but consume edibles. just because since it's illegal, it's so easy to get edibles. But I just very rarely get high anymore. And that's a change for me since when I was younger. It just kind of affects me differently than it used to. Now, I mean, I prefer to play games just totally sober. I'll just, you know, play a video game.
Starting point is 00:30:48 And I'll find, oh, I can, like, really focus and just play this for three hours. And it's really fun. This would not be enhanced in any way by marijuana. So that's my experience. And those are some thoughts from me. Yeah, I don't fully agree. but I guess that's because I don't have the same relationship to it that you two might. That's important to say that it affects everybody different.
Starting point is 00:31:10 I'm also a different human being than you two. I don't know if the listeners aware of that. Each of us are different people with different experiences in life. Anyway, I have a second source on that? No, I can't actually confirm that. You'll just have to take my word. I actually never smoked weed until I was in my mid-30s, which is maybe wild to confess,
Starting point is 00:31:31 but if you put it together with the fact that I've been diagnosed with multiple mental illnesses makes a little more sense. And I was really worried growing up. I mean, it was also not legal, but I was very concerned in my teenage years and 20s while I was like, you know, trying different cocktails of psychiatric drugs, that taking anything else could impact that. And so I was just super careful about my mental health in that era. And not like now, but you guys are what I'm saying. I was like really nervous about it.
Starting point is 00:31:58 And so when I finally tried it, it was partially because I was like, I feel like I'm in a really good place and like this isn't going to destroy my life. And I would say that's still true. I'm a very infrequent user of it, but there are certainly strains I like. And I know what you mean, Kirk, but like I'm more of an edibles person. But I've found some that for me at least make playing a video game a little more fun, not from a focused perspective, but from a meditative state. perspective, like sometimes not necessarily a difficult game, but like a game that just requires a certain level of flow state can be fun if I'm also on a certain strain. But it's just not always the place that I want to be in mentally. It's fun sometimes, but not all the time. I also recall describing Bloodborn as being really fun if you've had exactly one beer just enough that you don't give a crap anymore. And I feel like there's certain kinds of edibles that give me a similar experience, especially if I'm like really struggling and frustrated. And I'm like, I just need to relax a tiny bit than it can be useful for that. But yeah, I didn't like grow up smoking it or like have a long relationship with it. It's a newer thing in my life. I'm trying to imagine Maddie Myers at like 35 smoking weed for the first time. And your reaction to that. Yeah. I mean, I guess that's like funny to imagine like the first time I got high. I did it completely alone, which is probably weird. But I was like, I just don't want anyone to be here while I do this.
Starting point is 00:33:30 And I did it like super medically. And I was like, I'm just going to sit here and see what happens. Like, just the biggest dork in the universe. But that's how I wanted to do it. Did you feel it? I feel like the first time I smoked, I didn't even feel like. People always say that that you don't, but I definitely did. Or I was imagining it.
Starting point is 00:33:50 We'll never know. So, yeah, I mean, a couple of weeks ago, I wanted to get some. I also, I don't smoke a lot. I have small children. It's not, not conducive to doing drugs. And I, I haven't smoked a lot in a long time anyway. But I went to the, I wanted to get some for a trip. And so I went to the store that's like five minutes away from my house because there's
Starting point is 00:34:10 weed stores. Yeah, they're everywhere now. It's crazy. And I walk in and it's like this like high-tech room that feels like an Apple store and you go and you order on an iPad. And it's crazy. When I was in college, I smoked a lot. college at NYU. And we used to order by calling up a guy who went by the name Shrek and he would
Starting point is 00:34:32 come to our apartment with like an ounce. And it's cheaper now than it was then, which is crazy. I mean, talk about capitalism and inflation, right? But so gone are the days of like Shrek showing up with a couple bags. Shrek overcharging you for weed. Yeah. It's so wild. But anyway, Yeah, my relationship with, we, like, smoked ourselves to, like, stupidity every single night back in the college days and played Guitar Hero, too, and Smash Brothers on N64. And so I associated those games with smoking to answer the question. The question here, those were some of my favorite to play Wellstone. But nowadays, it's like maybe once a year when I'm like kind of on a trip with some friends or something like that. Special occasions only. Yeah, exactly. But, like, I was never the type to be like, all right, I'm going to light up a joint and just, like, play some games at my computer, largely because I often will just forget what happened afterwards. And so I feel like, so, okay, I have a very, very specific memory, which is watching, I think my wife and I smoked once, like, seven years ago.
Starting point is 00:35:49 This is how you can tell that I'd never do it anymore, that I'm remembering this one story from seven years ago. But it was when HBO's Watchman was on and we watched that the first two episodes. Oh, you can't watch that high. And I was like, I thought, I didn't know if I had made it up because the second episode of Watchman, like, fish are falling from the sky or squids are falling from the sky. That would be like terrifying. Yeah. And like the lube dude like jumps under the bench.
Starting point is 00:36:13 And I was like just thinking to myself, especially afterwards, like, did I just make all that up? Like, did that just really happen? And so playing games and then just like trying to remember them afterwards. I don't know. I also, I think for the three of us, something else that we haven't talked about or that we haven't considered here is that like playing games, it's fun, but it's also part of our jobs. And so we have to be able to talk about our experiences in a kind of a lucid way.
Starting point is 00:36:39 And so this idea of just like, all right, I'm just going to smoke and play Red Dead Redemption too or something doesn't really mesh with us then having to talk about that game on a podcast or write about that game in a coherent way or interview the developers of it. I don't think the two really go well together. Maybe there's some people who function like that and are bigger potheads, but for me it's more like that was,
Starting point is 00:37:00 those were my older days. Those were my early 20s slash late teens days of like being able to smoke all the time. And now it's just like a once in a while thing for me and not something that I do while playing games really. Yeah, that's a great point about our jobs. It makes me think of two things. First of all, one is that actually, yeah, when I was younger, I mean, I certainly smoked more weed and would forget games, but I kind of liked it because I liked replaying games.
Starting point is 00:37:27 And I would remember some of it, but then I'd replay it and it would be kind of like a new experience. That's kind of endearing, saving a lot of money, not on weed, but on bad. I wish I could forget Oberiden and then play it again. It's like, well, there is a way. Well, did you play it really high? That also makes me think of, I have a very similar relationship with music where, you know, a lot of the weed I encank. encountered in San Francisco and when I was a gigging musician was just with other players. I first smoked in music school with other jazz musicians and it's very conducive to a kind of loose
Starting point is 00:37:56 openness that allows for improvisation. There's definitely a reason that music and weed are so closely intertwined. Like the two things go very well together. But I did find as a professional musician that it was a similar thing where it's fun if you're just jamming and messing around and you kind of want to loosen up and let yourself just go on flights of fancy. But if you're actually on a gig. If you're working or you need to really kind of get it done, for me at least, it's not the thing. And again, everyone is different. I've definitely known people who are much more functional or who actually, you know, work better after smoking. So it really just sort of varies depending on the person. Yeah. I've seen that too. And like I as a person with an ADHD diagnosis, it doesn't have this
Starting point is 00:38:38 effect for me. But I certainly know people who are like, it helps make me more focused. And I'm like, power to you. Like if it's, it's a person. It's a fact. It's, it's. It's a fact. It's, it's a fact. It's, It's something that is actually helping you great. And there are many other benefits to it for pain. We don't need to lecture everybody about all the other medical benefits. But it's actually a really great thing in my view that legalization is finally happening. It never should have been as criminalized as it was. And it's largely harmless in a lot of ways.
Starting point is 00:39:05 And like a lot of the things that I believed about it as a kid turned out not to be true. So that's been kind of a relief to 30-something, Maddie, to like see it get legalized more. and also studied more and for more people to be like, oh, this is actually something that really helps me with chronic pain or focus or anxiety or whatever other thing. It just so happens to hit for you on. Cool. Let's slip in one last question. Maddie, read this one. Sure. This one is from Parker, who writes, my nine-year-old has gotten into listening to the pod on the way to and from school. and he wanted me to send this burning question after listening to the most recent questions episode. Do you think everyone is excited for Mario Kart World because there are 24 racers now or because of the open world map?
Starting point is 00:39:53 And again, that's from Beckett, who's nine? Great questions. Those are the only two options, right? This is a leading question, Beckett. What does I have to explain to you what a leading question is? Right, because there could actually be other things that people are excited for. I do feel like Beckett is getting at some of the tension of what's exciting about Mario Kart World, though, which is like the single player experience versus the competitive experience, though, right?
Starting point is 00:40:20 Like those are kind of two different reasons why somebody might play Mario Kart. Well, yes, and it's also a leading question on a more fundamental level, which is that it begins, do you think everyone is excited for Mario Kart World, which I'm the show that everyone is. What? What do you mean? Everyone is. Okay, I'm just going to answer Beckett's question. It's because of the 24 racers, okay? That's the answer.
Starting point is 00:40:40 That's it. Yeah, that's the answer. Straight forward. Nice and simple. Well, I disagree. I think it's the open world map. Becca, thank you so much for listening to our show. Yeah, thank you.
Starting point is 00:40:49 Thanks so much. All right, kiddos. Let's take a break and then we'll be back for one more thing. Once again, thank you to everyone who sent in questions. We will be right back. Do you want to travel this summer, but don't have the time? Want to learn all about state mottoes and history without summer school? Or maybe you just love urban legends and Latin?
Starting point is 00:41:11 Well, my friends, there's one podcast that ties it all together and celebrates the American state's many call home, e-pluribus motto. Every episode, we showcase a different state or Commonwealth or district or territory and celebrate its official motto and the absurdity of all its local life. We'll go across the country with stops at Oregon, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and so many more. Join us, won't you, to take in the sights and sounds. New episodes of e-pluribus motto every other week on Maximum Fun. What's more action-packed than prestige television? With more continuity than comic books? And more reality than reality television?
Starting point is 00:41:52 It's professional wrestling. And to better understand wrestling is the ultimate form of entertainment. You need the Tights and Fights Podcast. This is the perfect wrestling show with a lot of love, a lack of toxic masculinity, and just the right amount of butts, cats, and spandex. Listen to Tights and Fights every Saturday on Maximum Fun. are back. Kirk, Maddie, it is time for one more thing. I'm going to go first. I got a game that I can't stop playing you guys. I'm so excited to talk about this game. My one more thing is fantasy life,
Starting point is 00:42:34 I, colon, the girl who steals time. You know, the sequel to fantasy life, fantasy life I. Yes. We've heard all about it. Yeah. So this is a game that I think might be best described as a cross between Zelda and animal crossing. And it's hard to kind of encapsulate it all in a pithy description, but I will do my best. This is a game where there are a lot of different components. The kind of, the main premise is that you, as this kind of create your own character, a little chibi, cartoonish character sprite, get to inhabit one of 15 lives. And a life is essentially like a job or a class within this game. And so it could be anything from a fighter job, fighter life, like Paladin and mercenary and hunter to a crafting life, like blacksmith and Taylor to a gathering life, like lumberjack, woodcutter and miner and stuff like that. And each of these lives, you have like a skill tree and quests and a whole kind of life to play out.
Starting point is 00:43:44 So when you're fighting, you'll be leveling up and doing quests for your fighting, like one of your fighting classes. And then if you see a tree while you're out in the world, you can go and chop it down, doing a little tree-chopping mini-game. And then if you get back to a workbench, you can craft some armor using your blacksmithing mini-game. And these mini-games are essentially just like pressing buttons at the right time and a little bit more involved in that, but very simple kind of lo-fi stuff. then on top of that you have all these other aspects of the cave so there's a story and the story mostly involves hopping back and forth through time while you just like go on various quests to find macuffins and like help solve people's problems through these kind of like action RPG overworlds and dungeons that are is kind of where the zelda comes into it then there's also a town building aspect to it where you can go back to your base and you can build up an entire town full of people you can collect buddies over the course of the game who you bring into your town and you can do quests for them and you can build them houses and you can plant farms and you can build furniture and deck out your house and expand your house and all that other kind of good Animal Crossing stuff. And then on top of all that, there is this massive
Starting point is 00:44:58 open world where you go around and you solve shrines and unlock maps through towers and fight monsters and solve mini-games and look for like, I think they're called Leafies, which is this game's equivalent to CarrX, which are buried in the ground, and you explore this massive open world that is almost entirely optional. And so you playing this game just kind of like navigate between these things. And this game is basically about watching numbers go up. It's a game about grinding. It's a game about like the satisfaction of fulfilling like little accomplishments, which usually, I mean, it's a strong, it's a high barrier for me to get into one of those games. It's very much like a cozy game. That's how I would best describe it. But this one, for some reason, it's really
Starting point is 00:45:45 clicked with me and I've become addicted to it. I've been playing it just nonstop over the last couple of weeks. It is the perfect, perfect, perfect game to play on your handheld device while watching TV. There is nothing better than like zoning on. My wife and I have been watching some shows over the last couple of weeks. I think one of our shows might be my next one more thing, or we'll be a future one more thing. But we've been watching some shows and there's nothing better than and just like doing menial tasks in fantasy life eye and just kind of watching your bars go up and getting in that satisfying loop of like going out
Starting point is 00:46:21 and chopping down wood and finding the best trees and successfully chopping them and then bringing back that lumber to then make stuff at the workbench and then using it to fight monsters that are stronger than you and going through that whole loop while doing other things. It is perfect for playing while doing other things. I don't know if I would enjoy it quite as much if it was just like only had to focus on fantasy life.
Starting point is 00:46:42 But to have something to do, just like to watch the numbers go up and watch the bars get filled while you're watching TV or sports or whatever, just superb, impeccable. I have one question. The classes are all happening simultaneously. So is it just like you fight something and you get fighter points? You cut down a tree. You get tree chopper points. So good question. Okay.
Starting point is 00:47:05 So no. So for the fighting part of it, you have to balance. your kind of fighting classes. So whatever fighting class you're doing, you will get experience for that class. So is it like you equip a class? Like you go into a pause menu and then you choose that class and it becomes active for you? Well, for those. So hear me out. So for the fighting classes, that's the one kind of where you have to equip the right one for the combat encounter. Because whatever you have is kind of like equipped, that's what you will get into while fighting. And that's where all the experience will go. And that's where you'll like fulfill the quest requirements and whatnot. So,
Starting point is 00:47:37 And I should say, so there's like levels and then there's also your kind of your quests that you have to fulfill to rank up your life. And those are two different meters that you're worried about. So one is like you're leveling up to level 20, level 30, level 40, et cetera, et cetera. The other one is, okay, I want to get my paladin life from fledgling to apprentice to ad ab to experts. Your level is sort of outside of your life, which are basically your subclasses. No, no, no, no. The levels are also per each life. It's just that each life has two of those meters that you're filling up. Lots of meters to fill up in this. Oh, okay. But that's the upside is the meters, you see. Exactly. Like to watch them film. We watch those numbers go up. So when you're fighting, you can only use one of those classes, one of the fighting
Starting point is 00:48:22 classes. But then if you're out in the world and you see a tree, you go up to the tree, you'll switch to woodcutter automatically. You see some, or you'll switch to mining. You see a fish. You can switch to fishing automatically. And then when you're at the workbench, you can just choose whichever, like, job you want to do from the menu.
Starting point is 00:48:38 Like, you basically have access to all these hundreds of recipes. that you've accumulated and some of them will be for each class and it'll be like you are now doing the cook you are now doing the tailor you are now doing the optimist whatever it is so it's all very seamless the UI is is pretty smart and it all is good it's all streamlined and makes sense and you can fast travel you can fast travel like to work benches or like to the kind of the expert assigned to each of these lives where you can go and turn in your quests and level up and stuff like that um And yeah, man, it's very addictive. It's very, very charming game, very fun game.
Starting point is 00:49:15 There's a whole story, and the story is kind of like whatever, but it's just fun to watch unfold and charming and cutesy, and the art is very cool and fun and cartoony. And the fact, I mean, just to put this in perspective, by the way, the scale of this game, this would feel like a complete, like satisfying game, even without this section ginormousia, I think it's called, which is like that's the breath of the wild section. And then so on top of this like fully fledged game,
Starting point is 00:49:45 you have a whole 100 hour open world that you could just wander around and explore for like endless, endless amounts of time. So this is a sprawling game. This is not for the faint of heart. This is not a game for like people who are like, I just want a game to play for one hour a night and have a satisfying experience with it. This is a game for you're watching a lot of TV with your partner
Starting point is 00:50:04 and you want something to do while watching. You like multitasking and you want to play something while watching. watching TV. You're listening to podcasts or something. The perfect podcast game. You listen to triple cook every week. You want a game to play during it. Fantasy Life I'm way to go. Yeah, I'm hooked. I'm hooked. It's like a whole genre of game. I completely understand what you're talking. Yeah, I was going to say, Maddie, it seems very much since you were so into fields of mystery, I feel like you would be into, you would be into this. Oh, yeah. It seems like I would like it and also like my wife would like it too, because we both play games in the exact way you're
Starting point is 00:50:35 describing. Yep. And I think that like, unlike, I think that there are, a lot of these farming games don't have the combat component, the combat component, at least for me, helps me get more into it than just like a Starter Valley or an animal crossing. There's a little bit of that in Fields of Mystery, which is part of what I liked about it, but it's not a lot. This sounds like it has way more, and that would be fun. I think you will really enjoy it, and I think Tina will too. All right, Maddie, what's your warmer thing? Well, it's very related because this is an object that has entered my household that has made it even. even easier to play games with a handheld device on the couch, which is an activity that Dean and I do
Starting point is 00:51:14 all the time. And you know what? The Steam deck's kind of heavy. I'll say it. You're holding it up in your hands for a while. Maybe you're not sitting very ergonomically. Maybe over time you're like, why does my entire body hurt? And it's because you've been sitting in a stupid position watching television and playing your Steam deck for several hours. And there is this gaming pillow that Dean and I now both have. We both have this. She bought these this week, and it is life-changing. I'm already recommending it because it's like this little beanback. This is not a sponsored segment, by the way.
Starting point is 00:51:49 Not a sponsor. If you go get one of these forever. I think I saw one of these on Reset era, and I was like, oh, I can see how great that would be. So I'm excited to hear about it. Yeah. So like, here's how it works. It's by this company called Mechanism that is actually based in Portland, Oregon. It's just two people.
Starting point is 00:52:06 I kind of wanted to shout them out. because they seem like a cute little company. They should come to our live show. Yeah, they should come to our live show if they're listening. For all we know they are. But there are many, many other gaming pillows online, and I've considered buying them for like a year and a half because of this problem that we both have had.
Starting point is 00:52:21 And eventually, Dina took the plunge, did the research, got us both one of these. So it's basically like a little spherical bean bag that is like, I don't know, it's the size of a bread box. And you can just put that little beanbag in your lap. And now that would be enough on a. zone. You could just kind of rest the steam deck or whatever you're using on the bean bag. You're already in an ergonomically better position. You could just do this with a regular pillow and you'd be
Starting point is 00:52:46 better off, honestly. But what this pillow has is this kind of hinged piece of plastic that is like a lever that's kind of like the monitor arms that I have installed where I can like adjust the height of my monitor. And that's attached to the top of the bean bag, which is kind of like flat, almost like those beanbag TV trays, if you ever had one of those that you'd like put in your lap. And that hinged kind of lever, you can put your steam deck on. And it comes with a variety of attachments. They don't have a switch to attachment yet, sadly. I'm going to get one when they do.
Starting point is 00:53:19 But they have other ones. So if you wanted to, you could play with the mouse on this thing. You could play with the switch two mouse on this thing if you wanted to. And they also, you can just put a controller on there if you want. Like if you're just tired of like holding up a controller, you have one that's particularly heavy. You can use it for that. And it's just great. And also you can really sit in a variety of positions with this pillow because it's not that big.
Starting point is 00:53:42 And because it's a beanbag, it's pretty malleable. So you can, like, sit cross-legged or, like, sit with one leg up on the coffee table or whatever. And it's been amazing. I can already tell that I'm helping my neck and possibly not going to destroy my poor body by gaming by using this freaking gaming pillow. Yeah, I've thought about getting one of these for a while because I totally get the thing where my pinkies start to fall asleep. if I hold the control. It's the back of your hands that are the problem because they are holding up all the way. It's that nerve.
Starting point is 00:54:11 When there's that nerve that runs up your arm. I'm looking at the video or I'm looking at their website. And there are some very funny videos. I have to think this might be the founder in these videos. There's one where he's just smashing himself in the face of it. And then he looks at the camera like, whoa. Like it's very soft. And then he's got his phone mounted under the steam deck with a YouTube play through.
Starting point is 00:54:31 Yeah, that's a little much for me. But you couldn't do like your phone and the steam deck all in love. Same thing. No, I mean, no, I'm saying that. I think that's a really smart use. You can put your phone right there and like hit the walkthrough. Like if you're trying to solve a puzzle or something. There have totally been times.
Starting point is 00:54:46 I remember when I was playing Destiny where I would be trying to get to some weird thing to unlock some item and I'd have to watch some tutorial. And it would be very nice to have the screens right next to each other. So anyway. Yeah. It's so luxurious. The ultimate multitasking would be to have your steam deck and then your phone under it and then also the TV on in the back.
Starting point is 00:55:05 Well, that's basically how. Dina and I are living our lives. It is an absurd. It's an absurd way to live my life. I feel like I'm admitting to something forbidden by even acknowledging that we purchased gaming pillows. Like it doesn't even sound real. It's so silly.
Starting point is 00:55:23 But you know what? It's really helping my body not get it. Yeah, man. Ergonomics. Ergonomics are worth it. Messed up from a dumb thing I was doing. So if it helps any of the listeners, great. Get a gaming pillow.
Starting point is 00:55:35 It doesn't have to be for mechanism. that's the company where we got ours. Again, not sponsored. We purchased these with our own money, but just use a pillow. Don't screw yourself up. Kurt, what's your one more thing? My one more thing is a book that I finished a couple of weeks ago that I really loved that I wanted to shout out. It is called Burnham Wood. It came out in 2023. It's published by the New Zealander author Eleanor Katten. This is an awesome book that I'm not going to say too much about because one of the really cool things about it is how it kind of morphs and changes over the course of reading it. I describe it as a kind of a personal drama slash thriller. It's a book that begins one way and then
Starting point is 00:56:19 changes in a very sort of abrupt but also surprising way over the course of it. The basic narrative setup is it is about a group of activists who live in or around Christchurch in New Zealand. They're called Burnham Wood, which of course is a Macbeth reference. And they're kind of like a guerrilla gardening collective. So they're a bunch of young people. They're in their 20s. They're kind of like a mix of different types where they all got out of school and they wanted to do something to change the world,
Starting point is 00:56:51 like to be an activist to help make the world better. And they all kind of came together around this idea of unused space and, you know, a kind of green revolution where if we can just plant more crops and plants in all of this land that's just sort of sitting untended. We could have so much more food. We could use the land so much more responsibly. So it's this kind of loose mix of a bunch of different types of people, you know, hardcore anarchists or people who are kind of more establishment or want to turn Burnham Wood into a real nonprofit that can, you know, become financially sustainable and like people who totally don't want that at all. And that's kind of where things start.
Starting point is 00:57:30 And then over the course of the first couple of chapters, the two kind of main characters, or two women named Mira and Shelley. Mira, kind of the charismatic leader of Burnham Wood. And Shelley, the kind of, the one who makes it all work, but is also kind of always seen as the follower. She's always been sort of in Mira's shadow a little bit. Mira is very much the dazzling leader. And the two of them are kind of at this really interesting point in their relationship where Shelley's thinking of leaving Burnham Wood and Mira is like kind of lost in her own deceptions and sort of not, I don't know. The characters are very, very well drawn in this story.
Starting point is 00:58:07 So they are at this very interesting place and Burnham Wood is kind of on the precipice and maybe is even going to stop working. And then they come across this billionaire. And the billionaire has turned up at a sort of a farm that's maybe three hours out of Christchurch just in a place called Thorndyke. And he is in the process of he says buying this. farm so that he can build one of those billionaire bunkers, like these billionaires like to build where they can ride out the end of the world. So he's doing this like hush-hush deal to buy the land,
Starting point is 00:58:40 and he's going to build this bunker. The truth is more complicated than that, and it's very quickly revealed that there's something much more nefarious going on than just that. But basically, this activist organization comes into the orbit of this billionaire, and these two women, and then their friend, Tony, who's the kind of the final character, is a, you know, are all just sort of bouncing around in this increasingly volatile situation, revolving around this farm outside of Thorndyke as this billionaire, you know, is working his machinations, and Burnham Wood is kind of getting in increasingly over its head. And I won't say any more than that, but to just recommend the book itself,
Starting point is 00:59:21 I think Katten is a really amazing writer. I haven't read a book quite like this in a while where she is so merciless with her characters. and yet also so understanding of them. I read a review of this where they described her as holding her characters up to the light to alternately illuminate and roast them, which I think is perfect. There are so many times where characters just feel completely believable.
Starting point is 00:59:44 At one minute, they'll just be ranting about the state of things and climate change and billionaires and, you know, selling out and the path to progress and how radical we really need to be to bring about change. And then the next minute, they'll just be having the most venal self-indexecutive, self-interested thoughts. And she is just totally fearless about really revealing things that they don't even realize
Starting point is 01:00:07 about themselves. Like she takes this omniscient view into her characters that goes deeper than most books that I have read, or certainly books that I've read recently. And that makes for, I think, a really engrossing read. And then as things begin to spiral out of control, it also becomes quite scary because the characters feel so believable. You can really see yourself having some of the thoughts that they have. in the more intense moments in the book.
Starting point is 01:00:31 And then you start to feel like you're really kind of there in a way that feels both dreamlike and surreal, but also very real and frightening. So it's just a book with layers. It's really something else. And I really recommend reading the whole thing. You got to read the whole thing to get the full idea of it. But I wholeheartedly recommend it. I had a great time reading it. One of the most surprising and interesting books I've read in a while.
Starting point is 01:00:54 So that is called Burnham Wood. It's by Eleanor Caton, a great book. Great pitch. Yeah, this was on a lot of lists when it came out. Yeah, I won a ton of awards. Very much acclaimed. Cool. Awesome.
Starting point is 01:01:07 All righty, that is that for this week's episode. Kirk Maddie, I'll see you both real soon. And hopefully we'll see many of you listeners out there, at least a few hundred. We're expecting to see on Friday night. And, yeah, it should be fun. For the rest of you, we'll see you next week with our live show audio. And then, oh, we forgot to say we're taking a break. the week after that.
Starting point is 01:01:31 So we'll be back with our next non-live episode at the end of July. Yeah. Yeah. I will see both of you on stage. See Friday. Bye. Triple click is produced by Jason Schreier, Maddie Myers, and
Starting point is 01:01:49 me, Kirk Hamilton. I edit and mix the show and also wrote our theme music. Our show art is by Tom DJ. Some of the games and products we talked about on this episode may have been sent to us for free for review consideration. You can find a link to our ethics policy. in the show notes. Triple click is a proud member
Starting point is 01:02:04 of the Maximum Fun podcast network and if you like our show, we hope you'll consider supporting us by becoming a member at Maximumfund.org slash join. Find us on Twitter at triple clickpod, send email the triple click at maximum fun.org
Starting point is 01:02:16 and find a link to our discord in the show notes. Thanks for listening. See you next time. Maximum Fun. A worker-owned network of artists-owned shows. Supported directly by you.

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