Episode 27 - Tool

Closing out 2021, Ben is joined by Arden to discuss the word tool.  Ben talks about Alfred Nobel, remembering his father’s neatly organized tool areas, Eric Sloane books, the “infamous staircase of family legend”, fishing at Lake Julian in Cary, IL (which still operates today), and the band Genesis.  While Arden talks about his favorite tools, builders in the 1100s, thinking that fishing was scary and gross at a young age, his “jack-est” (soon to be a thing), and his enjoyment of the band Tool.  On the subject of video games, they explore the use of tools in “Souls-like” games, Death Stranding, Fallout, Far Cry, Mass Effect, Dig Dug, Dead Rising, and Beyond Good and Evil. 00:00:20 - Your hosts this week are Arden and Ben! 00:01:51 - A good tool for crowing or barring, and Arden’s problem with the word gif 00:04:20 - Drinking hot coffee out of your hands, buckets of iced tea, and soap 00:07:10 - Arden’s favorite tool is his self build PC, and Ben talk about the Nobel Peace Prize 00:10:45 - Writing and acting tools, believable dialogue, and acting aspiration stories 00:17:15 - Ben reflects on Ed’s tools and explains old label technology to Arden 00:20:55 - “Pillars of the Earth,” “A Reverence for Wood,” and the “Frank Lloyd Wright stairs” 00:26:20 - Arden’s father introduces him to fishing, and “the dream of fishing” 00:30:22 - Ben and Arden talk about the band “Tool” 00:33:42 - If H.R. Giger discovered a color wheel, and the original lineup of the band 00:37:22 - Ben is a “Genesis” guy more than a “Rush” guy, and the theatrical nature of music 00:42:42 - Arden talks about loving Bloodborne and the use tools in the game 00:47:21 - The tools in "Death Stranding," and game design creativity for it’s own sake 00:52:08 - Lindsay Wagner’s role in Hideo Kojima’s “Death Stranding” 00:59:01 - Don’t tell people about the animatronics, and ladders  01:03:07 - Grappling hooks, elephants, and getting attacked by eagles or bobcats 01:08:08 - The iconic tool in Mass Effect, and Ben talks about his favorite remastered game 01:11:28 - Bicycle pumps, shovels, farming tools, and cameras  01:17:33 - The Nintendo DS “job game” trend, trying to cure guilt, and cooking games 01:22:34 - “In that instance the couch is a tool,” and a show closer from Arden