Episode 144 - Oblique episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 8, 2026 · 1H 7M

Episode 144 - Oblique

from The Two Vague Podcast · host Ben Cheknis

Andrew joins Ben this week to celebrate their penchants for approaching things from a different angle. Lack of perpendicularity aside, they discuss the abundant number of neurodiversity irons Andrew has in the proverbial fire, along with strategies to navigate creative blocks and coping skills for mental burnout. Before doing a deep dive into Andrew's ADHD Coping Skills deck and how they navigate their emotions, they pit Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategies deck against Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey. And OF COURSE, Ben will put on a perspective drawing clinic before describing (in excruciatingly painful detail) how 3D spaces are represented in various video games. Specific games mentioned this week include Ball X Pit, Arc Raiders, Dungeon Clawler, Abra-Cooking-Dabra, Arcane Eats, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, and Paperboy. *** 00:00:20 - Traffic on the 2s and 7s, Andrew’s cool stuff, and Ben is scheduling for the future 00:03:36 - Raiding arks, geometry adjacent, a pit of BALLS, and heavy ball propulsion variety 00:06:05 - Dungeon Clawler, CJ’s sleeping habits, maybe a baby carcass, and the pinkest pink 00:09:23 - Salvaging pegboard, concocting passive revenge strategies, and being a card cook 00:15:31 - Famous British cuisine, portable meats, not Ben’s cup of tea, and no Scrabble score 00:17:27 - The settee, lots of Geometry, grammatical cases, and Help for esteemed creators 00:24:01 - Three friends, usage in print, Brian Eno’s fault, script flipping, and Oblique Strategies  00:26:43 - Water, Ben counters with Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey, and more strategies  00:29:26 - Devo doesn’t need a reset, the ADHD coping skills deck, and usage instructions 00:32:06 - Circumventing patterns, performance metrics, requesting downtime, and tweaking 00:36:31 - Pigeonholing, different brains and conformity, an explanation, and openly autistic 00:40:28 - Talking Heads music, levels of impairment, and don’t be afraid to show empathy 00:42:38 - A Yoda quote, lessons learned, an autistic coping skills deck, and avoiding overload 00:46:01 - A new Shiny Shirt Ben appearance, breaking up tasks, and notes for Andrew’s agent 00:48:42 - Not bringing Steinbeck in, drafting memories, and perspective drawing nonsense  00:53:20 - THE one-way feud, a new Marvel-themed game, shadows and parallax scrolling 00:56:59 - Atari’s Paperboy, brief origin story, paper delivery experience, and Ebert over Siskel 01:00:15 - Transparencies, old presentation methods, cast changes for realism, and controls 01:03:28 - Buy my stuff, romancing the plant, getting sued by the N’s, and quit licking yourself *** Follow Andrew / Partly Robot Industries on… His website: https://partlyrobot.com/ On Instagram: https://instagram.com/partlyrobot On TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@partlyrobot On Substack: https://partlyrobot.substack.com/ On Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/partlyrobot.com On Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/partlyrobot On Microcosm Publishing: https://microcosmpublishing.com/catalog/artist/andrew-coltrin On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/partlyrobot And his TREE o’ LINKS: http://linktr.ee/partlyrobot Follow Two Vague on… Our website: https://www.twovaguepodcast.com On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/two_vague_podcast On YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@twovaguepodcast On Substack: https://twovaguepodcast.substack.com/ On Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/twovaguepodcast.com For show appearance and other inquiries, contact us at: [email protected] -AND-  …for all of your PRI and 2VP merch, check out the Partly Robot Industries store at TEEPUBLIC! https://www.teepublic.com/user/partly-robot-industries *** References, Links, and Tags Ball X Pit - developed by Kenny Sun and published by Devolver Digital https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU1voPpJkJA https://store.steampowered.com/app/2062430/BALL_x_PIT/ Abra-Cooking-Dabra - developed and published by Door 407 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5ytLD_sJO0 https://store.steampowered.com/app/3021530/AbraCookingDabra/ Arcane Eats - developed by Wonderbelly Games and published by Skystone Games https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFDxPvGfxmE https://store.steampowered.com/app/2640090/Arcane_Eats/ Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey https://deepthoughtsbyjackhandey.com/ #Podbean #DIYPodcast #ApplePodcast #VideoGames #Trivia #Comedy #Talkshow #2VP #TwoVaguePodcast #PodernFamily #InterviewShow #GamersofThreads #Gamer #PartlyRobot #PartlyRobotIndustries #TeePublic #MicrocosmPublishing #ADHD #ADHDCopingStrategies #BallXPit #KennySun #DevolverDigital #AbraCookingDabra #Door407 #ArcaneEats #WonderbellyGames #SkystoneGames #DeepThoughts #JackHandey 

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Episode 144 - Oblique

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