The gang’s all here! TJ, Chris, Brent and David do a short one, talking about what they’ve been watching, playing (and gasp… reading?), before taking a quick dip in Breezy on the Streets.
The Watchlist(0:47) Brent:The Lost City of Z (1:07), Beauty and the Beast 1946 Version (3:27), Boogie Nights (6:34), Grease (9:46) TJ:Furious 7 (12:44), Central Intelligence (14:58), Keeping Up with the Joneses (16:23), The Patriot (17:46), Signs (19:51) Chris: Macon Blair Cinematic Universe (Blue Ruin, Green Room, Small Crimes 23:01), Suspiria (25:08), Storks (26:09), Paterson (26:34) David: The Challenge (29:36), G.L.O.W. (29:51), Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (29:58), Playing: Game of Thrones (31:28), Until Dawn (31:36), Reading: Boss Fight Books: Earthbound (32:10) Breezy on the Streets (33:42)
33:49 – Trailer Roundup (Light week, It)
33:59 – HBO Hack and its implications
35:07 – Best Bet this Weekend: The Glass Castle or just wait to stream it…
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talkie Talk Ep. 37: Mr. Nobody / Nonlinear Narrative
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The episode ends. TJ, Chris and David are missing Brent Sand while talking about Jared Leto’s baby blues (in the… “film” Mr. Nobody). While we wait for a butterfly in Asia start up a hurricane in the Caribbean, we get into the main topic, Nonlinear Narrative. We talk through some heavy hitter directors (Tarantino! Nolan! Inarritu!) and the purpose this narrative serves. Does it stem naturally from the theme or the characters? Does it cover up a boring movie otherwise? …Who are you? The episode begins.
Homework Assignment:Mr. Nobody(0:56) Main Topic: Nonlinear Narratives in Film, TV, Games (19:25) Media Discussed [Spoiler Warning about plot]: Pulp Fiction, Memento, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Prestige, Arrival, Donnie Darko, Blue Valentine, Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Slumdog Millionaire, Joy, Cloud Atlas, Lost, Breaking Bad, True Detective, Vanilla Sky, Mulholland Drive, Rashomon, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Final Fantasy VIII/X, Bastion, Max Payne, Titanfall 2 New Homework: Bedazzled (1967) (Netflix) (43:08)
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talkie Talk Ep. 36: The Watchlist / Game of Thrones / News - 8/2
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Justice for Brent! It’s a 3-man with TJ, Chris and David talking about stuff they’ve watched, talk Episode 2 of Game of Thrones, then hit some news items and trailers. We’re cutting up bell peppers on this one (if you know what we mean…)
The Watchlist (1:29) Chris: The Tick Amazon Pilot (1:45), Iron Fist (3:02), Life (9:12), 50 Shades Darker (14:54) David:Ozark (18:43), Man Up (23:33), Playing: Breath of Fire 3 (25:02), Game of Thrones (Telltale Games) (26:15), Until Dawn (28:32) TJ:It Miniseries (30:25), Batman (32:06), Nightmare on Elm Street (32:51), Iron Giant (34:49) Cross-Talk: Game of Thrones, Ep. 2 “Stormborn” (38:22) Breezy on the Streets (55:54)
56:08 – Dunkirk gets great reviews… but is 70mm IMAX necessary?
59:14 – Trailers (It, Suburbicon, Three Billboards…, Detroit)
1:01:37 – SNES Classic pre-order debacle at Walmart
1:02:56 – Mahershala Ali will be in Season 3 of True Detective
1:03:25 – Best bet this weekend: Detroit (2 votes), nothing (1 vote)
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talkie Talk Ep. 35: I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore / Spoiler Alert
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TJ, Brent, Chris and David don’t feel at home in this world anymore while talking about the homework (I Don’t Feel at Home in This World Anymore) – then, inspired by both a scene in that movie (IDFAHITWA for short) and by the guardedness around Game of Thrones, we dip our toes into the choppy waters of Spoiler Culture… What constitutes a spoiler, our personal takes, worst spoilers, etc. [Spoiler alert].
Talkie Talk Ep. 34: Watchlist / Game of Thrones / Trailer-palooza / News - 7/26
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Here’s what it is… TJ, Brent, Chris and David talk what they’ve been watching… Then, talk Episode 1 of Game of Thrones… Then, talk about a bunch of high-profile trailers… THEN, a couple news items (Breezy on the Streets much?). Even after an extended vacation break, we always come original, Tootsie… It gets punchy at the end.
The Watchlist (0:54) Chris: The Fast and Furious Franchise box set (1:00), Riverdale (4:41), The Challenge: Dirty XXX (8:43), Get Out (22:47) Brent:The Tenant (11:25), The Big Sick (12:58), A Bucket of Blood (13:37), The Apartment (15:29), Police Academy (16:30), Mrs. Doubtfire (16:53), Party Down (21:52) TJ:Bring It On Trilogy (25:46), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (27:14), Rogue One (29:43), Better Call Saul (30:42), TJ’s Lion King Shirt (31:17) David: Downward Dog (32:29), The Lego Batman Movie (36:09), Car Boys (Griffin McElroy/Nick Robinson Polygon series) (38:18) Cross-Talk: Game of Thrones, Ep. 1 “Dragonstone” (40:32) Breezy on the Streets (47:51)
48:06 – Trailer Roundup (Ready Player One, Stranger Things 2, The Defenders, Jigsaw, A Wrinkle in Time, The Disaster Artist, It, Walking Dead, Thor: Ragnarok, The Shape of Water, Bright )
57:33 – Outrage! Doctor Who has a female doctor (Jodie Whittaker)!
1:00:48 – Pre-Outrage! Benioff & Weiss’ post-GoT show Confederate
1:04:39 – Best bet this weekend: Atomic Blonde (or Person to Person if you’re in NY/LA, or Hotel for Dogs if you hate this segment)
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talkie Talk Ep. 33: Watchlist / Okja / Game of Thrones Preview - 7/11
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One pod to rule them all! Combining our twice-a-week podcasts into one thanks to some vacation, we will be talking what we’ve been watching, going over the homework (Okjaon Netflix, as we swear off meat for 5 minutes), then ending the affair with a deep-dive Game of ThronesPreview – Duh dum, duh duh DUM DUM, duh duh DOO DOO, duh duh DOO DOO – Valar morghulis, folks… Valar freakin’ morghulis…
Watchlist (0:57) TJ: Baby Driver (1:05, with Chris & Brent!), Don’t Think Twice (29:14) Chris:Games Done Quick Speed-Run Marathon(13:07) David:Tour de Pharmacy (20:06), Castlevania (23:31) Brent: Winter’s Bone (27:12), Rogue One (28:05), Get Out (28:29), Louie (31:29), Party Down (31:35) Homework Assignment: Okja (32:10) Main Topic: Game of Thrones Preview (52:59)
53:45 – Where the characters left off in the season finale
1:07:49 – The character storylines we’re most excited about
1:14:31 – New Season Predictions (Episode 1 deaths, final image of the season, first character to speak) New Homework: You tell us! (1:22:26) I Don’t Feel at Home in this World Anymore, OR Christine (2016), OR The Nightmare, OR The Beaver
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talkie Talk Ep. 30: Watchlist / Han Solo Drama / News - 7/5
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Talking what we’ve been watching – then we launch into our news segment (Breezy on the Streets), where we spill about two weeks worth of new trailers, and noodle on the Han Solo solo drama drama – along with some odds & ends along the way. It’s a podcast!
Watchlist/Playlist (1:13) Brent: Antitrust (referenced in Brent’s Carrying a Tune article!)(1:50), Horns (2:58), Raging Bull (3:44), You’re the Worst (4:52), Split (6:32) TJ:Power Rangers (9:18), The Office Re-Watch(13:33) David:Moana (16:11), Fargo Finale (17:18), Orange is the New Black (18:19), Silicon Valley / Veep Finales (19:13) Chris: House of Cards (21:16), G.L.O.W. (24:31), Playing: Dead Cells / Battlegrounds (28:54) Breezy on the Streets (29:55)
30:23 – Trailer Roundup (Death Note, Jumanji, Greatest Showman on Earth, Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, Game of Thrones, Bad Moms Christmas, Pitch Perfect 3, Stronger, The Foreigner, Cult of Chucky)
38:05 – Han Solo movie drama – Lord/Miller out, Ron Howard in
44:59 – Best bet this weekend: The Big Sick (or Spider-Man: Homecoming)
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
Talking what we’ve been watching – then the news segment (Breezy on the Streets) will be a couple trailers before a deep dive discussing E3 2017 – teasers, trailers, gameplay – looking at the good, the bad, and the weird from the video game spectacular.
The direct podcast RSS feed is here. And please contact us through email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter. Please give us a (good?) review on iTunes (here), Google Play (here), or anywhere to give us a boost!
CHARITY! The Athens Area Homeless Shelter is hosting a charity trivia game (The Home Game) on June 25 at The Porterhouse Grill in Athens, GA – please support this great charity!!
Watchlist/Playlist (2:23) TJ and Chris Tag-Team: It Comes at Night / Alien: Covenant double feature (2:34), Playing: Dead Cells (9:43), up next: Ori and the Blind Forest Brent:The Conversation (12:57), A Single Man (14:05), The King of Comedy (16:40), Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (18:55), The Mummy (21:24) David: Fargo (27:26), To Be or Not to Be (29:57), Polygon’s Touch the Skyrimvideo series (with Griffin McIlroy) (34:46) Breezy on the Streets (39:22)
39:34 – Trailer Roundup (Flatliners, Happy Death Day) E-Threezy in the Stree-3 (E3 Wrap-Up) (41:00)
41:49 – We duffed it… New XBox is XBox OneX.
43:33 – Brent’s Excited About… Super Mario Odyssey, Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, Spider-Man, Shadow of the Colossus
49:05 – David’s Excited About… Last Night, South Park: The Fractured But Whole, Days Gone, A Way Out, Far Cry 5, Evil Within II
54:25 – Chris’ Excited About… Devolver Digital (E3 WINNER), Ruiner, Absolver, One Minute Hero, Anthem, Monster Hunter World, You Choose
1:00:43 – E3 2017 Wrap-Up
1:02:53 – Best bet this weekend: … Read a book or play a game… it’s rough.
Slight warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
8-Bit Halfwit is a series where Brent Blackwell, a longtime but not particularly skillful gamer, revisits NES games in order of their release. To see more in this series, click here.
Details
Excitebike (Nintendo)
Release Date: 10/18/1985
Genre: Racing
GameFAQs rating: 3.56/5
GameFAQs difficulty level: “Just Right”
GameFAQs length: 7.9 Hours
Background: The first game in the Excite series, this NES launch title brought the fun of motocross racing into the home. It is a beloved title in the NES pantheon.
The Gameplay Diary
I never played Excitebike as a kid, so this was brand new to me. I was… moderately successful. There are 5 tracks, and once I understood the game dynamics, tracks 1 and 2 were no difficulty whatsoever. Track 3 had a bit of a learning curve, but I eventually got there. Tracks 4 and 5? Well, let’s just say I am only aware of Track 5 due to the game allowing me to pick any track. I just wasn’t very good at upper levels, especially against CPU riders. I went from finishing 1st and 2nd to finishing 12th. I couldn’t get out of that rut, so I accepted my fate. I’m a 3-track Excitebiker.
Excitebike is a legendary game, and a lot of that is linked to multiplayer and track design elements. I played alone, and I really only played the tracks that Nintendo designed for me. As a result, the game was kind of uneven, but I can recognize why it would have been considered a must-own back in its day. After all, you could race dirt bikes against your friends and family. Racing games, as long as they are functional, are fun with friends. Add in the element of track design, and that ups the ante.
As a single-player racing game against CPU drivers, it was pretty confusing. 4 bikes would start the race, and I somehow finished 12th. When did the other 8 assholes start this race, yesterday? It’s fun knocking down an opposing rider by hitting their front tire with your back tire – oh, I can only imagine the controllers that died a noble death after being hurled at the world in a post-knockdown fit of fury during multiplayer. You don’t really get mad against the computer, though. You just get tired of new riders popping onto the screen halfway into a long jump. They irritatingly take days to weave through the bike-slowing mud patches. That creates a lot of accidents. That’s just what thrills me – low speed bike entanglements that throw me from the track.
Like I mentioned earlier, tracks 4 and 5 are pretty thrilling, but they were just too much for me. This halfwit couldn’t take it down, but I’m ok with that. Excitebike, I realized, isn’t about the single player mode anyway.
One last complaint: Each time I finished a lap, I’m pretty sure neighbors thought the building’s fire alarm had been triggered. It’s one of the worst noises ever approved for a video game.
This isn’t me:
Game Over
Although I didn’t experience the better aspects of Excitebike, I can appreciate them. I would’ve loved owning this game as a kid, where I could pop it in and challenge any friends who came over. That’s what it’d be good for now.
7/10
(I previously did a half point scale out of 5, but I realize that’s less aesthetically pleasing than X/10, so from here, we evolve)
Talkie Talk Ep. 26: To Kill a Mockingbird / Fathers' Day
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Brent, Chris and David discuss the homework assignment (To Kill a Mockingbird, which is a sin, as we found out). Since that movie featured one of the best cinematic dads ever in Atticus Finch and to coincide with Fathers’ Day – we are talking about Fathers! In movies, TV, some games – movies our dads like, and dads would like in general. RIP Mufasa… Cat’s in the cradle… Silver spoon… All that.
The direct podcast RSS feed is here. And please contact us through email, Facebook (movies, TV, games), and Twitter. Please give us a (good?) review on iTunes (here), Google Play (here), or anywhere to give us a boost!
Homework Follow-up: To Kill a Mockingbird (1:09) Main Topic: Fathers’ Day Special (24:05) New Homework Assignment: Shimmer Lake(Netflix) (57:20)
Warning: Some mild language. Some language is picante.
