Science/Fiction.

Before they adopted the stage names of "James" and "Dash", Paul and Ed originally set out to do a lighthearted science fiction podcast. All that remains of that period before We're Friends! is this....

ENJOY

-Your Friends!

At the End of the Road

November 19th, 2008. On that Wednesday the We're Friends! Podcast was shoved through the internet and into the ears of you people. Today is Monday, January 25th, 2010. For over a year we have recorded 45 episodes of the podcast and have made over 150 blog posts along with the episodes. We have had 11 guests on the podcast. We've reviewed around 62 songs. We've had 2 intro songs and 1 outro song. We've reviewed 14 different foods. We even recorded a few episodes while on opposite coasts.

Well, it has come to an end.

For a while now, Dash and I were planning on stopping this podcast, both of us feeling that there wasn't much we could do with the format we had created. It was fun definitely, but creatively we didn't think it was cutting it. So instead of continuing a podcast that neither of us had our hearts in, we decided to cut it before it became (more of) a joke.

Now, every episode is still available for download, our videos are still up, every blog post will continue to be there for you to read. Have you gone through the whole thing? There are some great gems in there. Check it out!

This podcast was a great fucking time, and all of you reading and listening made it happen.

A few special thanks:

Jeff aka VultureMoose
Cullen aka Big C-Man
Shannon and Evan
Our parents for putting up with us
Abigail, D'Arcy, Mike, Awesome, Matt, Tom, Nat, Robbie (and Ashley), Jeff, Facundo and Tabitha.

Thanks guys. Stay friends!

-James

PS JamesTwitter DashTwitter

"Laugh it up fuzzball."

Can we determine why we love the things we do? I don't mean people and relationships! What do you think this is, some sort of tumblr made by a 13 year-old girl about her dumb crush?! I'm talking about movies and books and music. What makes us obsess over certain media? WELL I HAVE NO IDEA. What I do know is that I love Star Wars, EPISODES 4, 5 AND 6. The story is simple, the music's epic, and it's a lot of fun. Today I'm gonna show you some other fun Star Wars stuff.

First, "5 Star Wars Status Updates":

There's four more, all hilarious. Also google other movies (LOTR for instance) to find other parodies.

Next, the Star Wars Weather Forecast:

This is a great website to have as your home page. When you start your browser in the morning and get greeted with what the weather is like out there. AND it compares the weather to a planet in the Star Wars universe OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG. This is what I got today:


And finally, a 70-minute video review of "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace"

Ok, ok, I know. That's over an hour, I was skeptical too. "Do I really want to waste that much time listening to a fanboy trash a movie I already know sucks?" YES. Yes you do. One of the great things about the review for me was getting real reasons why Phantom blew, instead of the overall "ugghh" feeling I usually had. Also, the guy who made this is doing this really weird character the whole time, mispronouncing words, getting historical events wrong, doing a weird voice and talking about keeping people in his basement. Trust me, if you like Star Wars (and maybe even if you don't) you'll find this to be well worth your time. This is a picture of him asking some guy to describe Qui-Gon Jinn's personality:

Thanks for reading everyone, enjoy the bounty I have given forth! And remember, Boba Fett is the most bad-ass bounty hunter in the galaxy.



-James
----------------
Now playing: Converge - Damages

Studio Nintendo.

This is how it all goes down at Studio Nintendo.

-Your Friends!

Shoot for the STARS

I think that most people's goal regarding their career is pretty simple: get paid to do something you really enjoy. My dad has an engineering degree, but has worked most of his life has a cook or a chef. He loves creating delicious food, so he does it. Then you have people like my friends Evan and Shannon, who work jobs they're not crazy about, but with the money the jobs provide they teach, run a record label, play music, set up shows, etc. etc. In my opinion, you can do what you enjoy one of two ways. Either you find a way to do it that can actually pay you enough money to provide the life you want or you work somewhere else that provides the income that allows you in your free time to do what you enjoy.

For me, I guess what I would most enjoy doing is working in film or TV. Directing is the dream of course, but there are a bunch of positions I would not mind in the least doing. Anyway, when I got my first paid cameraman gig, I was elated. I met a guy named Tim when I worked with him and others on some short films for a production company these guys started called Sweet Victory. Tim also worked for a website called ZooToo, a site for pet news. Sounds silly, but it gets tons of hits. Anyway, he saw that I was competent regarding film stuff and offered me my first freelance job. It entailed me going to the oldest pet cemetery in America, meeting a reporter, and shooting interviews and b-roll. Later, I did another job for ZooToo, this one detailing the lives of three dogs in the Westminster Kennel Club competition. Unfortunately I can't embed the videos, but please CLICK CLICK

However, I can show you two shorts I did with Sweet Victory, first "THE BIRDBOY" and the second "Glen".





So uh, follow your dreams everyone?!

-James

Now playing: Arvo Pärt - Spiegel Im Spiegel

Ep. 46 - Back Injuries, Death, Fasting

vfbvksdbdnbb DOWNLOAD!

We discuss!:

James dealing with death!

Dash was laid out!

Fasting for Jesus!

No one likes this show!

Food of the episode:

Songs discussed:

Prayer to God by Shellac (Listener Jeff's suggestion)

The Peeper by Adam Sandler (Listener Cullen's suggestion)

Music:

"In the Glitter, Pt. 2 [Aphex Twin Mix]" by Buck Tick

"The Robot Rock" by Stochastic

"Zeros and Ones [Aphex Twin Reconstruction #2]" by Jesus Jones

"Years 1-4" by Starscream

Extras:

E-Mail: wearefriendspodcast@gmail.com

-Your Friends!

They're coming to get you Barbara...

The other day I was fantasizing about being a homeowner. I was thinking about how difficult it might be for me to actually select a place, because at least half of my consideration would be based on how well I could fortify the place against zombies and their reckoning. Where would I store a stockpile of 2x4's, a hammer & nails? Are the stairs made of wood so I can destroy them easily with an ax? How close am I to a major city? Would my family forgive me for making sure we were on the side of town furthest from a hospital? Is it better for people to assume I have a katana collection because I'm an anime nerd or should I tell them it's because the gun stores will be the first to get ransacked?

"Night of the Living Dead" was the first zombie-related piece of media I was ever exposed to. It's hard to say what about that film flipped a switch in my brain, but I think it has something to do with my feelings of mortality. I don't want to die. I have come to terms with the fact that I am going to, in fact it is the ONLY thing I am sure of in this world. The thing with zombies though, is that you are given the opportunity to prove how much you want to live. Death surrounds us, with zombies it becomes quite literal.

I don't know man, zombies are just fucking rad. It may have more to do with my imagination. Zombies are a creative tool, allowing me to create hundreds of scenarios and possibilities.

What do you think about zombies? Do they interest you? Let's chat!

Wasting Time, Playing Games

How do you waste time on the internet? Do you have certain blogs you read, or perhaps a slew of webcomics? Maybe you like to go on omegle and meet new people? Or maybe you just look at porn, even when you're not in the mood? (That one's weird.) Or maybe, JUST MAYBE, you play free games online. Well if you do, you're in luck, I'm about to list some awesome websites for you.

First, Bookworm:


This game is pretty simple. You get a bunch of letters on tiles dumped randomly in columns, out of these letters you try to create words. Longer words get you more points. A green or gold letter tile is worth bonus points, and there are words that will get you more points as well. BUT WATCH THE FUCK OUT, SOME OF THE TILES ARE ON FIRE AND WILL BURN EVERYTHING IF YOU DON'T USE IT QUICK. If you dig Scrabble and other games of that ilk, you'll dig this.

Next, Winterbells and other games on Orisinal:


I don't remember when or how I found out about this game, and I don't recall ever becoming so frustrated by something so cute. Winterbells is a game where you play as a bunny. This bunny jumps up into the sky and hops on bells that fall slowly from the heavens. You must jump from bell to bell and try not to fall back onto the snowy ground. How ADORABLE. The first bell is worth ten points, and each subsequent bell you jump on increase by ten points exponentially, ie 1st bell = 10 points, 2nd = 20, 3rd = 30 which gives you a total of 60 points for the first three bells. Also, you can jump on a bird passing by which doubles your points! How DELIGHTFUL.

But listen here chum, as you go higher and higher into the obsidian nothingness of the sky, the bells grow farther and farther apart. And not only that, they also get smaller! Soon your jumping on nothing but what seems to be dinner bells that are so far apart your LITTLE BUNNY TOES BARELY REACH THE EDGE BEFORE YOU FALL TO YOUR...well not death, the bunny always lives. In any case, as you egt higher and higher, and the game gets harder and harder, the idea of falling (and thus haveing to start over) is a thought equal to great, searing pain. Take a look at LOL-Comics #101:


SEE?! This is what this game does to you. Anyway, along with Winterbells, this site houses 57 very simple and extremely cute games. Good stuff!

And finally, the thousands of games on Kongregate:


This website is pretty unique within the niche of game websites. It took the blueprint of a normal free online gaming website and added one very important feature. The entire website itself is a a game, sort of. Anyone can submit a game to the website, if it gets approved then the public gets to play it. BUT, if it gets really popular, the website can add Kongregate badges to the game. Meaning, not only can there be missions to beat, levels to finish, and checkpoints tor each in your game, but you can added other milestones to get points within the website itself.

Confused? Ok, it works like this: I have an account and by getting these badges, I gain points and my accounts level increases. At the moment I'm at level 13 with 1,303 points. Why does this matter? Well it's kind of psychological thing, these points can't be redeemed for much besides bragging rights, but it's more about the idea of trying to go farther and reach goals I guess. Like not doing anything else until you finish that next chapter of whatever book you're reading. No real need to do it, yet you feel compelled. Also, next to each game are chat rooms you can join and talk with people as you play. Sort of neat, but can be dumb too of course.

OH RIGHT, THE GAMES! There are tons of great games on Kongregate, and of all different kinds. Check out my favorites.

Have fun wasting your life away!

-James

Now playing: Mr. Bungle - The Air-Conditioned Nightmare

Interviews

On this most momentous of Mondays, the day of the week where oranges cats talk of how loathsome the day is before bating a loving dog into submission, we here at We're Friends! inc. would like to give unto you two delightful interviews. One of Dashiell interviewing Mr. Shafie and another of James interviewing Mr. Coombs. We hope you enjoy.

Dash interviewing James:

James interviewing Dash:



We hope you learn something about us, and about yourselves.

-Your Friends

Boulder!

-Dash

NEW AND OLD

IT'S THE YEAR 20X DICKWEEDS, SO HOLD ON TIGHT OR YOU'LL GET THROWN INTO OBLIVION.

So here's some stuff that I'm experiencing in the new year:

The book Spirit and Flesh by Dr. James Ault. Ault is a sociology professor and documentary filmmaker, and this book is a companion piece to his movie Born Again. Both are about the time he spent in a fundamentalist baptist church, studying and learning about the people and practices within it. The perspective is as unbiased as he can be, since he's viewing the time in a sociological manner. It's a really neat book on a way of life that not a lot of people, myself included, know much about.

The 2010 demo by the hardcore band John Wilkes Youth:



I'm not well versed in the world of punk and hardcore, but I definitely like some of it. Black Flag, Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Paint it Black, Killing the Dream, Dead Kennedys, Misfits, Pulling Teeth, all great bands to me. So when I hear that two friends of mine are in a hardcore band, knowing full well that they are good at hardcore already, I am interested. The demo is fast, heavy, and aggressive, go download it! http://www.myspace.com/johnwilkesyouth

The television show Man V. Food:



Everybody should know I like food. With my love of blogs about it, morbid fascination with what people get for their last meal on death row, and interest in school lunches from around the world, I sure do like to talk about it too. Friend and former guest of the podcast, Mike "Awesome" showed me two episodes of this show and I was hooked. It has this dude Adam go around the nation and hit up the best "pig-out" spots. He eats a lot of unhealthy food and also takes on food challenges, like eating a 72oz steak in under an hour or eating six of the spiciest buffalo wings in the state without water. It's like binging vicariously!

And here's a list of the top 20 artists/acts that I listened to on my computer in 2009:

1 Neurosis - 409
2 Enslaved - 346
3 Queens of the Stone Age - 330
4 Coil - 305
5 Tomahawk - 278
6 Clint Mansell - 260
7 Andrew W.K. - 250
8 Ceremony - 243
9 Pendulum - 236
10 Rosetta - 231
11 Daft Punk - 228
12 Toroidh - 204
12 Nine Inch Nails - 204
14 Liars - 201
15 The Green Evening Requiem - 200
16 Arvo Pärt - 193
17 Gojira - 183
18 Jesu - 170
18 Converge - 170
20 The Beach Boys - 167

HAPPY NEW YEAR