The Crapshoot

It’s finally Part 3 of 3 in our reunion episode, and we close out our incredibly long beer-and-scotch-and-soliloquy-addled night with stories of linkrot, homeownership, and car keys. Music: So What by K.Flay

In Part 2 of 3, continuing to plow through both a heap of booze and their overdue backlog of post-hiatus topics, Josh and Jesse cover grilled cheese, canine ardor, bumming cigarettes, Pixar’s “Cars”, Plato’s parable of the cave, and lint trap disasters. Music: Strange Transgressors by Drunk Horse

Back from hiatus, Josh and Jesse have a long backlog of topics to work through. In part one, we put Jesse in a carwash, Josh in charge of Twitter, and 2017 in the dumpster where it belongs. Music: Come In From The Rain by LKN

We’re getting the band back together. Let me tell you a story.

We welcome one-time pinch-hitter co-host Jessamyn West back for a strange format-breaking mash-up episode. Scramble to keep the conversational branches straight in your Mind Tree as we blur the lines between podcast and mixtape, featuring such inadvertently self-referential conversational tracks as threaded comments, date/time confusion, drug experimentation, and editing a podcast into vignettes — as […]

Josh Boykin of Intelligame.us and fellow Outpost cohabitant bikes on over to the Crapshoot basement for a spirited chat about video games and tangentially related topics (including shitheadconomics, Maslow’s hierarchy of problems, government cheese, watermelon beer, and grocery store illuminati). But first, Jesse returns from Peru, Josh returns from Disneyland, and, reunited, we struggle to […]

We’re thrilled to welcome Brad back to the show for a deep dive on Stardew Valley. On the way, we also touch on Moshow the Cat Rapper, Stovokor, Axl Rose, Bee and Puppycat, Kickstarter entitlement syndrome, Undertale disruption, Josh’s impending spin-off podcast Quarter Quorner, John Campbell, blind-fire delivering psychology services, a series of tweets that […]

Punctuality, nicknames, buying beer, parking lot favors, panhandling strategy, falling off the wagon, carbs, ghee, legalizing weed, MMOs, the metafilter gopher server (Jesse’s memory was right!) and the brand-new XOXO Outpost creative space. Our increasingly inevitable video game chat rounds out the episode as expected, touching on Rise of the Tomb Raider, Quake 1, America’s […]

Topics today include Jesse’s guest spot on the Metafilter Podcast, non-alcoholic beer, meager money management skills, Star Wars Merchandising, the Cereal King, wasting a melody, “padcasts,” show etiquette, Lost, and Skinner boxes. Video games we talk about include Idle Paws and clicker games, Minesweeper, Hexcells, Grayout, Rocket League, The Last of Us, Dishonored, and Beyond: […]

Another episode recorded next to a loud furnace, this time you can find us hollering about hug dynamics, vocal fry, bad recording technique, the “that’s my new band name” joke, statistically unlikely colocations, Hawaiian vacation, solemnizing weddings, a meta-conversation about podcast topics, thank you for contacting metafilter, Jesse’s surprise award-winning childhood, Dune, Star Wars Machete […]

Jesse rambles about WebTV and CueCats, and Josh forgets his sister’s birthday, but GJ comes from nowhere to save the show when he’s spontaneously summoned to regale us with stories of undertaking, including how to ignobly bury a horse while the owner isn’t watching. We again manage to hold off shouting about video games until […]

We open a wormhole between The Crapshoot and We Have Such Films to Show You, stealing Pastor Yakov to talk about lightsabers, rats, New York and Russia, snowclones, Twitter bots, loanwords, the complicated Tengen / Atari / Nintendo relationship, Russian electromechanical games, the grunge speak hoax, and some also-ran sci-fi shows from our youth. We […]

Josh returns from distant North Albertsons for our basement reunion episode, and we settle gradually into our normal, ridiculous routine. Topics include XOXO 2015, whether the ears are a part of the face, salt lakes, the gentle difference between flippies and their verbal equivalents, haircuts, emotional labor, effing dogs, appropriate scale within the hellish Disneyverse, […]

Today we weigh the merits of ‘a Yelp for Drivers’ against ‘an Omnipresent Police State’, discuss the mighty Barbed Carpoon, and chat about Pico 8. With those topics settled, we really tuck in for a deep dive into Josh’s Ennuigi™, the underbelly of Reddit, and where the twain meet. (PS: Luigi calling out for Mario: Luigi’s Mansion, […]

Jesse and Josh disagree: How good is pretty good? Was Rip Van Winkle metabolizing squirrel food, or was he in magic-stasis? But with these critical issues resolved, we allow ourselves to settle into a nice lengthy real-bro-time conversation about Josh’s new endeavor Out of the Blue, as well as the sometimes-prickly thicket of advertising.

After “Whatcha Gamin’, Bro?”, join us for a romp through our miserable teen years, largely boiling down to bullying and social dynamics, Calvin and Hobbes (see Josh’s new project Calvin and Markov (more info)), and video games. Games briefly referenced include The Last Of Us, Yo! Noid, Metal Gear Solid, Final Fantasy VII and VIII, […]

After game 3 of the 27th Annual Tic Tac Toe World Championships, Josh and Jesse shoot crap about the Skype dynamic, washing machines, free cocaine, road stories, dreams, the various purposes of human communication, and Fallout Shelter. Jesse goes on far too long about the Metal Gear Solid series, and Josh delivers the most complete […]

Surprise co-host Jessamyn joins Jesse to talk about birthdays, traveling, California, roller derby, audio editing, phone scams, tech support, meetups, weddings, Jessamyn’s most recent wedding ceremony (metatalk), Gilligan’s Island, your town being in a lake, elections, motivations, a NYTimes article and Jessamyn’s Medium post that came from it, and of course access to technology and the digital divide. Music is two too-good-to-pass-up […]

After a post-game interview with Darmok runs over a little into our time slot, join your hosts for a couple Modelos Especial and a chat about suddenly-appearing piles of foam, knee reversal surgery, body dysmorphia and horror, lucid dreaming, blood and skeletons, and, finally, sprint with us through a bunch of loose video game chatter, touching on Twenty, Quake, Unreal Tournament, Plants vs Zombies […]

After the thrilling “Freezing Your Assets” episode of Roommates of Catan, join your Crapshoot hosts Josh and Jesse for a special, slightly-more-rapid-fire-than-usual episode that powers through such topics as: Locating Matt Haughey, iPhone upgrades, Hearthstone and collectible card games, Noam Chomsky, Working from home, Monkey Pop, Ludum Dare, India pale ales, resonator.network, Top-level domains, Tony the Pony, Writing for the page vs writing for performance, Inchoatery, Siri, Distance from a mirror, NASA, and Huntsville, […]

An inaugural episode for our new recording venue, this episode finds us talking for quite some time about genetic algorithms and Josh’s Genetic Football project, and also Josh’s role transition at Metafilter. Along the way, we touch on genetic cars, a (theoretical (we hope)) Metafilter Markov Commenter Bot, site culture, My Pet Monster, Battle Action He-Man, and […]

After the Scat Hour, join our intrepid hosts to learn (??) about lent, creative obligations, boxes of moldy skulls and spines, Josh’s twitter D & D character and D & D memories in general, naming podcast networks, whether Jesse has read Dune, and fractional staves. We’re delighted to be joined again for this episode by the inestimable Eran […]

Skip Worthington returns to attempt another Dungeons & Dragons Adventure, this time with a first-time adventurer. Afterward, it’s part 2 of our Crapshoot double episode, aka Episode 22B, aka Hellbanned from Podcasting, wherein we discuss halloween, compare Universal Studios to Enchanted Forest, talk beer, and solicit input on Jesse’s soon-to-be-announced-if-all-goes-well podcast network. Music is two […]

Airing this time after Dungeons & Dragons Adventures, The Crapshoot returns for our 2015 debut. In part 1, Josh and Jesse reconvene to talk about audience feedback, The Harvey Girls, geologist humor, the Xs do it Y joke format, Paul Ford and Tilde.club (here by the way are links to Paul Ford’s The Age of Mechanical […]

The long-overdue, field-recorded episode from XOXO Fest 2014, episode 21 finds Josh and Jesse mostly in drunken snippets as we are subsumed into @xoxo, along the way joined variously by Matthew Bogart ( @matthewbogart ), Brad Sucks ( @bradsucks ), Phil Nelson ( @philnelson ), and Monk Funkster ( @jimmythehorn ) in situ.

We sit down with Portland nerd Chris Barker and talk about old Mac hardware, the conceptual framework of New Years resolutions, and the fact that Josh has a beard. And we finally discuss Sugar Bush Squirrel.

Back after a short holiday delay, Josh and Jesse drink some Occidental Lucubrator and talk about timbre (“tamber!”), the language of mathematics, the taxonomy of first kisses, how much Guns ‘n Roses suck, how thoroughly time flies, etc.

Right after Let’s Talk Turkey sports radio with Bill Williams, we’ve got an at least semi-rowdy Crapshoot this week, snagging touring San Francisco rock fella Conan Neutron for a bunch of beery basement chatter about music, podcasts, failing effectively, being stuck in traffic, fucking with Karl Rove, wacky morning DJs, guest lists, and loads more. […]

This week (right after the 80s sitcom nostalgiacast Whatcha Walken About, Willis), Josh and Jesse sit down sans guest to talk about, among other things: “hipster” as an aesthetic category vs. hipster as an insult, Cold Smoke Scotch Ale from Missoula, Montana, creative freedom and creative paralysis, Josh’s Ferengi Express game project, contemporary free-to-play games […]

Hot on the tail of The Breaking Styrofoam Hour, this week’s Crapshoot is a special king-sized edition because we just couldn’t stop talking to XOXO conference founder Andy “waxy” Baio, possibly because he got us drunk on some really bad booze. Clever play. We pick Andy’s brain about all kinds of stuff (it helps that […]

On right after math quiz podcast One In A Million, this is our Jesses From Ukiah special, with our guest this time being Jesse Brennan, a now-Portlander from the same California hometown as co-host Jesse Holden. We dig into sketchy yardsale recording setups, improvised art, the merits of reaching vs. grasping creatively, Brennan’s Frope, It’s […]

On right after One, Two, Three, Foooore! Golf For Beginners, it’s our fourth episode of The Crapshoot, with Josh and Jesse kibitzing about a whole cornucopia of topics: being bad at multitasking, delusions of grandeur, accidental Vincent Price impressions, how cats are stupider than people, accidentally racist pre-tweens, pop culture spoilers vs. directors’ cuts, making […]

This time on The Crapshoot (airing right after the debut/finale episode of the Words That Rhyme With Orange podcast), we sit down with an actual Canadian, visiting Ottowan musician Brad Turcotte, who has for years now been making catchy-as-hell music under the moniker Brad Sucks. We managed to snag Brad for some beers and BSing […]

In our sophomore outing (on right after Kent’s Catcast), it’s just your two cohosts, drinking beer and tackling a bunch of life’s tough questions, like: do kids know what a CRT is? What will 30th century anthropologists make of podcasts about Hellraiser? How do you do a mixtape right? What’s the deal with indie video […]

In our debut episode of The Crapshoot, we sit down and bullshit for an hour with local comedian, writer, and world champion palindromist Mark Saltveit about sentences that go backwards AND forwards, his new football philosophy book The Tao of Chip Kelly, what a big screwup Upton Sinclair was, and how none of us seem to know how […]