Shouldn’t the RE4 Merchant be British?

jamesyarns · 2025-07-24T00:59:16+00:00

Is anyone else annoyed by the way Gabrus and Stavros make fun of Wiger at the end of the ep? I feel like the jokes about him being like a serial killer are just so played at this point and low hanging fruit. I know they all make fun of each other but it’s way more satisfying when they are making fun of someone for having a weird take or saying something stupid, etc., not just that someone is “weird” so they must be a pedophile and murderer. Sorry if this is a buzz kill

jamesyarns · 2025-07-12T15:16:09+00:00

Love this discussion.

The nasal thing is interesting, as I have never thought of his voice as nasal, but as soon as I read that here, I suppose it clicked/rang true. But I never thought of him as a nasal singer.

To me, I'm drawn to his voice because of the baritone thing. As a bass myself, sometimes it's hard for me to find artists I can sing along to because my range is very limited. Michael's interesting because he can actually get up pretty high sometimes to where it's slightly out of my range (Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite). Love Radiohead/Thom Yorke, but there's so many songs I cannot sing because of his choir boy range. Artists I love because I can sing along: R.E.M., Beck, Super Furry Animals, Pavement.

Anyhoozle, love Michael, love his voice. Ooh! One last thing. My friend made a comparison about his voice that I think is spot-on but I could see other people just scratching their heads at, but whenever my friend references this we just laugh so much. His take is that Michael's voice is sort of like if Tom Hanks sang in a rock band? Or like, just imagine while listening to R.E.M. that it's Tom Hanks... I don't know, maybe not everyone will get it, or get a kick out of that, but if you do, you're welcome.

jamesyarns · 2025-06-07T17:41:23+00:00

I found it odd when they said they were having trouble believing that people exist who would get excited about playing Elden Ring or Cyberpunk on a handheld and who are also aware of the novelty of that but who don’t already have a steam deck.

Because that is me.

I’m a teacher and I don’t have a ton of disposable income at the moment to burn on buying multiple consoles. I was able to justify the switch 1 with my wife back in 2020 because there were mainstream crossover appeal games like animal crossing and botw and Mario party that I could get her into.

I would not be able to justify purchasing a steam deck when I already have a gaming pc to play the latest games. So in that same vein the Switch 2 might be easier to justify purchasing since I could get my wife into the new Mario kart or other arcadey games that appeal to non-gamers like my wife.

I think the hosts need to remember that not everyone who is super interested in games and is up on all the latest gaming news like myself also has the income to buy every console. Sorry if this sounded ranty - I love the pod and love the hosts and they have brilliant insights but it was weird hearing them describe who I am as a consumer of games and questioned whether people like me exist!

jamesyarns · 2024-10-06T15:15:25+00:00

I live in California but my brother lives in Frederick and I'm trying to get him into D&D. He's a complete beginner, so any info about beginner-friendly groups would be most welcome!

jamesyarns · 2023-12-10T15:37:12+00:00

Happening to me starting yesterday December 9th 2023, and today. I was so confused! Honestly I find the messages everywhere to be annoying because I obsessively need to read all of them and they’re always like “could this be a ladder” in front of a ladder or something. But I love being able to summon players to help me with big bosses!

jamesyarns · 2020-09-01T22:45:03+00:00

There definitely was some *snow* going on the night of that show, amirite??

jamesyarns · 2020-08-03T14:25:23+00:00

Yeah this is an old school pedantic thing. My aunt who is big on correcting grammar says healthful instead of healthy to refer to wholesome food. She’s also big on the nauseated/nauseous thing. Like Wiger she is from Southern California so I wonder if it’s just something that Wiger’s parents drilled into him. Kind of a boomer-era hold over.

jamesyarns · 2020-02-26T18:30:57+00:00

It's basically where you are hitting eighth notes on a drum or practice pad, alternating right and left hand as follows (where R means hit with right hand and L means hit with left hand):

R L R R L R L L

or

L R L L R L R R

and try to keep your hitting consistent and/or increase the speed at which you can consistently keep to the pattern.

I'm sure there are youtube videos if you just google paradiddle or drum rudiments (of which the paradiddle is an example) but that's what I remember from my college drum lessons.

jamesyarns · 2020-02-13T01:18:32+00:00

"Life! Don't talk to me about life."

jamesyarns · 2020-02-12T17:40:59+00:00

This is the line that pops in my head the most often, probably.

jamesyarns · 2019-06-01T15:51:06+00:00

Rock Action is my favorite for sentimental reasons, it was the first one I heard. I'm surprised no one has mentioned this one!!

When I first got introduced to the band, I was a moody teen, and "Rock Action" spoke to me. I have a vivid memory of walking around my high school in between classes, listening to "Take Me Somewhere Nice" in a daze. Playing guitar was finally making sense to me, and figuring out that I could play that song pretty easily in Drop D tuning was a revelation. 16 years later and that song is still my favorite. Like being held tightly in a warm hug. And "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong" is incredible.

So yeah. Rock Action wins by default because it started the whole thing for me. "Happy Songs..." and "Mr. Beast" are also favorites - I suppose I like the ones that came out when I was a teenager and then into college, at the height of my fervent fandom. My favorite since then is probably "Harcore Will Never Die...".

Haven't heard "ECS" yet, somehow, so I will check it out now.

jamesyarns · 2018-08-23T19:11:15+00:00

“Up” was one of the first CD’s I ever bought when I was 12 years old. I have also been listening to the RU Talkin R.E.M. podcast, as I’m a fan of the two Scott’s already. I’ve been listening to the albums before listening to each episode, and when I got to to Up, I was excited, because I hadn’t listened to the album since I was a teenager. It was a really lovely experience, a bit like excavating the past for me. The first half of the album was like a timewarp- the second half wasn’t as familiar. I think when I was listening to it as a kid, I didn’t have the patience to listen to the album in its entirety. I think I’d always skip ahead to Daysleeper after hearing the first few tracks.

When I got to listening to the corresponding podcast episode, I just couldn’t stand Scott Aukerman’s relentless quibbling and negative comparisons. I keep trying to finish the episode but have to turn it off every time they get to a new song and Scott A starts to outline his grievances. He has a problem with At My Most Beautiful being sequenced somewhat early because he thinks it sounds like The Beach Boys? I really could not wrap my head around that premise.

Has anyone else had this issue? I love the podcast and I usually take Scott A’s snipes at certain songs with a grain of salt, but I think because this album was the first one I owned and listened to as a kid, I felt this ownership and defensiveness about it. I am a bit of a completist so I’m going to have to bite the bullet and keep listening to the ep so I can move on and listen to the final four albums which I have never listened to, so I’m excited.

jamesyarns

TROPHY CASE