Cup of Jones - July 15, 2019 (Patreon)

Milo is home! My paternity leave has officially begun! I’m going to do a quick live-stream every Monday (hopefully) where I just go through the big events/updates of the week, and then answer all of your business and personal questions in text below. Let me know what you think of this format, and if you have any ideas on making the process easier to follow.

L&R, allies!

BUSINESS QUESTIONS

BRANDON K GANN
On the most recent Trailer Jones, I noticed you made the window displaying the DeathLoop trailer bigger than normal, but kept the panelists a nice focus, still larger than the trailer and it’s an appealing layout. My question is if EZA as a whole would consider this particular framing for any future reactions or content, with the only change being moving the window to one side of the screen while the remaining space in the bottom corner could be filled with a live shot of the stream room or control room? Or is having the graphics (The Easy Allies logo, the call to action to Patreon, etc.) too important to change the current layout that changing it up would be too much of a hassle? JONES - It would be nice to have a screenshot of what you’re talking about. I’m not sure if I did something different in this last episode, or if this was just the first time you noticed it. The positioning of the allies vs video has long been a discussion between mostly Bosman, Ian, Damiani, and Bloodworth. The debate has raged on ever since we first started doing reactions. I think the best thing to do is have multiple options that we can switch to, depending on what action takes priority.

DINOPULSE
Since you guys haven't truly done much to really rethink parts of the Patreon lately, have you ever thought about Damiani's Criticism and thought on different things in more recent streams to do with the Patreon? like shows being tied to goals and such as of late? There's been a bit of a concern that certain Patreon goals aren't truly being seen as enticing to potential patrons, and that the Patreon is in need of an overhaul. Not to mention a growing concern that the Full Playthroughs are too wanted by the allies to keep as a goal much like when Mysterious Monsters finally happened. Just thought I'd bring this question to you since Damiani really opened my eyes towards important changes that your operation's Patreon needs honestly and feel you deserved to be asked about it. JONES - I’m a bit frustrated that I have to take paternity leave at a time where I wish I could focus on this intently, re-write/re-edit our generic EZA promo/welcome video, dream up possible new visions for the future, and communicate that stuff more effectively to all of you. It’s interesting to label things as “too wanted” by our community as being a problem, because that’s exactly the type of stuff that we’d want to either make exclusive for $1 patrons, or set at higher goals, otherwise why would people want us to get there? Things have been too topsy turvy in the company lately (business and personal) to really gather as a collective force and solve this issue, but it’s the top of my EZA to-do-list right now. However, our Patron count has been steadily growing, so while our total earnings fluctuate, we’re seeing much more realistic growth when it comes to what our most loyal Patrons can reasonably contribute on a regular basis. I look forward to analyzing this with Damiani and the rest of the allies when I have more time and brain capacity. I’m totally down to rethink all parts of the Patreon as we move forward, and I think it’s the perfect time to do so.

DANIEL GARZA ANDRADE
What do you think about the lack of streams? is it worth it to have multiple reviews and shootings and almost no streams during the week, not including Kyle who almost every week streams on Friday, the week of July 8th, the week of writing this question there are only 3 streams, 2 from Ben and 1 from Kyle, I'm not counting the group stream because it's the only constant stream of EZA. I understand the amount of work and projects the allies wants to do, but my final question is, is it worth it? BLOODWORTH - I think you could be looking at the issue from the wrong direction. The lack of streams this week isn't necessarily due to any reviews in the works, it's because half the people who would stream are simply unavailable. Brandon, Huber, and myself simply aren't in a position to stream this week. Ian and Don rarely ever do streams. That only leaves Damiani (who has been streaming a ton while working on his Shadowbringers review) and Brad. In terms of your question though, yes streams are the first thing to go when things get busy, and yes it certainly is worth it. Reviews are important for a variety of reasons. Shows are very important to keep on schedule, and of course I backed away from any non-essential streams when it came time to focus on locking down E3 plans, etc. While streaming is relatively simple, it can still take a significant amount of time and focus away from someone's day, and it's all about managing time and priorities for what's most important.

BRIAN DENU
I'm curious if there are any plans for any fundraisers this year? Last year's Better Stuff Before E3 was a magnificent success, not only for the purposes of buying new equipment, but also for providing a substantial boost to the numbers on Patreon. It triggered a dramatic increase in the total number of patrons, and the way I see it, pushed us to the $50k goal, and to the new studio. With patronage dipping recently, perhaps it is time for another drive! Maybe with the goal of sending some of the Allies to cover a games conference abroad (PAX East, please!), or to fund another dream of yours that lies outside of the current Patreon goals. A charity drive, too, can be a great opportunity for growth. I think having an event of this sort annually is an excellent way to reinvigorate us patrons, bring in new donors, and to continue to build hype for the future of EZA. JONES - We were planning on doing a charity drive before E3, but building up the studio kept us too busy. We do have plans for a big fundraising stream before the end of 2019. That’s all I’ll say for now.

DENNIS SCHREIBER
During the last Q&A the guys mentioned how, very early on, you had a discussion about the tone and language EZA uses (mainly in terms of swearing). And I wanted to hear a little more about that. Could you maybe talk about EZAs over all "tone". It seems to me that EZA pretty deliberately distanced itself from the way GT used to be, in terms of swearing and overall attitude. Invisible Walls, with Marcus and Shane, was a pretty sweary and "bro-y" affair, which had its own charm, but is certainly very different to EZA's very clean tone. What is your opinion on the overall tone GT had and did you make a deliberate effort to pull EZA in a different direction. Without pointing out anyone in particular, do you think EZA would've worked/be different if some of the more "blue" and controversial GT personalities  had been there during the last days of GT. JONES - This isn’t a hard rule at EZA, as evidenced by the occasional f-bomb being dropped on any of our podcasts and streams. For me, it comes from the desire to be different than other outlets. I’ve definitely receive more messages from fans in the past that are grateful we don’t take a more loose approach to the language we use, as opposed to people that wish we would swear more. So I see keeping it as clean as possible is a win-win. It’s something the people who don’t like swearing can appreciate, and the people that swear like sailors don’t seem to mind, because there are many other outlets (that they’re likely also consuming) that have that base very well covered.

JESSIE BLU
Now that E3 is over, the next big project to look forward to is Easy Livin’. I have been watching your 2017 & 2018 EL streams because though I wasn’t a patron at the time, I wanted to go back and see the first and second, prior to this new one in July. I love watching the interactions between the allies and the cozy vibes, from the Bloodborne co-op to the blanket sharing, to the bits about how Yakuza 0 is like the Souls games, to scolding about water bottles. My question to you is what is your favorite memory from a previous Easy Livin that WASN’T caught on camera? Something in the kitchen or bedroom or yard that cracked you up but chat totally missed out on? JONES - I cannot overstate how uncomfortable the sleeping situation was at the last Easy Livin’. The room I slept in just never got cool, at all. Trying to get sleep in that temperature was an ordeal, and it would have been fun to vlog during that painful process, although I’m very glad I didn’t try to.

BEARDEDSCOTSMAN86
You mentioned making the Easy Livin promo for showing during E3. I missed that completely, didn't even know a date was set. Where is the video on Youtube? I can't find the promo. Did it not get uploaded or am I blind and bad at searching? JONES - We just uploaded it the other day, so you’re not blind or bad a searching, we just need to be better at advertising.

GEORGIA BURROWS
After watching the latest spoiler mode on stranger things I can't help notice that all the guests that are on EZA shows always have phenomenal chemistry with the rest of the allies, with that said it's pretty much only the shows that Ian "runs" for lack of a better word that ever seem to see guests, with the podcast only ever actually having one guest appearance. I acknowledge that there have probably been more seeing as I don't watch EVERY show (Frame Trap and Friend Code being notable exceptions) I just couldn't help but think that there's a lot more room for collaboration on your shows and I don't think there's ever been a negative reaction to a guest as far as I know. I know its more down to the person who runs the show to decide, Just saying that I love seeing you guys bringing people in and hope to see more of it! JONES - Point taken! Shout out to Fiasconauts for bringing in new people. And Damiani has been on fire with special guests on Friend Code, introducing our community to faces they would not have met otherwise. I’m actually pretty cozy with the amount of guests we’ve had on shows lately, more than I had anticipated. As you stated, it never hurts to have more.

JOEY BRUNO
One of my favorite times of Easy Allies is the Hall of Greats because I love the Pro Football Hall of Fame process and all that wonderful stuff! So, how do you specifically prepare for a Hall of Greats? How much do you play the game prior, if at all? What would researching for your speech look like? JONES - I don’t think I’ve ever re-played a game in preparation for a Hall of Greats, and no two research breaks have ever been the same when getting ready for one. I did a ton of research for GoldenEye (which still hurts) because I wanted to bring up points that I don’t think the guys realized before, only to be shot down by the bad-frame-rate beast. I did zero research for my Final Fantasy VI video, however, writing that script completely from the heart, and using footage from when I streamed it a year or two earlier.

KOLA AINA
Have you been following Kyle making a gameboy game? JONES - No, intentionally. I get bummed if I even see a screenshot of it. I want to be completely surprised. No spoilers.

ISAIAS SANCHEZ
I usually don't comment on this because I don't feel compelled to give you any sort of problem but I believe the internet issue has gotten out of hand. I rewatched the tuesday night stream and there were internet issues again. I know they will happen but there are also many videos that have been affected by the internet like the whole start of the conference of square enix. I would like to just know if you guys are not just saying you are going to do things about it but actually calling the company and having them go there to see whats wrong. I know this sentiment has already been expressed. I just want your shows to always be the best and hate that the internet might get in the way of something bigger for you guys in the future. BLOODWORTH - We are talking about having someone come out and take a look, but at the same time, the issues you're referencing aren't due to a regular ongoing problem. We didn't run across many issues before E3, and the biggest problems during the show came down to neighborhood-wide network outages, not just an issue related to our office or building. The issues this last Tuesday came up because the computer we were streaming from started running additional uploads in the background, which we identified and stopped, restoring things to normal. So yes, there have been some problems lately and we do want to see if there's anything that can be improved, but I don't think it's gotten out of hand. These are minor frustrations, and sometimes these things still happen despite anything anyone could have done. 

STRAWHATNINJA
I really like Ben's interview with Kondo-san from Nihon Falcolm. Are you guys planning to do more interviews like this since you have the studio now. Would love to see more interviews like this. JONES - I like it too! A lot of times these are presented to us by publishers and developers, so it’s not necessarily something we can just increase the frequency of on our end. That said, while interviews were something we generally shied away from in the beginning of EZA, we’re saying yes to more and more of them now, so I’d expect more stuff like this in the future.

ELLIETTE KEE
I’m wondering what the deal will be with the PO Box while you’re on leave. Will other allies be able to pick stuff up? I’m getting ready to send something but I want to make sure I address it correctly. JONES - I’ll still be picking up packages. I’m planning on stopping by tomorrow. I’ve told the allies that if something comes in addressed to me, feel free to open it, and I’ll pick it up at the studio whenever I can and talk about it on Cup of Jones if I feel it’s relevant.

RAMMER
Have you thought about implementing some sort of fail safe in regards to your recordings?  I know that there have been several recordings which either did not capture audio or video & audio both entirely, which caused reshoots & schedule constraints for your crew.  I am not sure how you set up your recordings, but perhaps adding some sort of second device in case one fails or something similar can be done? Maybe something as simple as getting a small monitor for the host of a podcast or show to check on every once in awhile to ensure the recording is being done correctly. JONES - Almost all of these errors in the past have been the fault of the producer or one of the people on the shows, so it’s something we can fix by just being more responsible. Often times it’s because of a very particular issue (scheduling, setting up, etc.) that we realize how to work around and prevent from happening again, only to have some other weird issue get in the way the next time. It should never be something we just allow to happen, but at the same time, we shouldn’t beat ourselves up too much when we make a goof.

MORGAN MOHALLA
Last week you asked for the audience to not hold back and to ask some more personal questions, that it was time to ask really weird questions to push the boundaries for the sake of creativity. So for the sake of creativity will you take a moment to ask 3 pointed questions to the audience that will evoke a response. You could ask survey questions to improve the business, ask for father/husband tips to improve your already great relations, ask personal questions to get to know us better, ask something superficial to keep us all at arms length, or whatever your heart desires. (Breaks vase with fire poker) Now you wanna get nuts? ..........C'mon, let's get nuts! JONES - I’ll keep these business focused. Question #1 - Why do you watch or listen to Cup of Jones, specifically? Question #2 - What would you like to see change in Cup of Jones when I get back to doing regular, full-length live episodes? Question #3 - Have you ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?

HAPPY GAMING
I wanted to avoid asking too many baby or parenting questions, as I felt it appropriate to keep your private life as private as possible. I had a cool idea today though; as you'll probably be spending more time being a dad and helping your little guy grow up in between helping out with EZA, what are the chances you would be interested in making a new series about being a new parent while playing games, and providing tips for new parents who play games? This would allow you to keep Milo out of the spotlight but still shed a light on the topic of playing games while parenting for new parents, talking about difficulties and strategies for finding time for your favorite hobby. I've read articles here and there, but I feel it's a market of people that gets tapped into less than the 'hardcore' crowd. It could be called EZ Daddies or EZ Parents or something similar, and could shed a spotlight on tricks for parents finding time to play games while juggling time with an infant, maybe about baby proofing your game room setup among other things. This would also allow your unique voice as a parent to shine. I imagine you'll be spending less time at the studio, and it would be a good chance to write some things based on the experiences you're going through on a day to day basis to entertain and educate future or current gaming parents and also make more content at the same time. Amanda could even join in too to make it a Spouse Quest type show where you each give stories and scenarios from your own perspectives! What are your thoughts? JONES - It’s very difficult to answer this question at the moment, because returning to EZA work every now and then is a pleasant reprieve of all things baby. But I might learn so much from this experience that I want to share it with all of you, like I have with other positive influences in my life, like meditation. We’ll see! Amanda and I have been dying to make Spouse Quest more official and giving it a more permanent schedule. All of those dreams are out the window right now, but you never know what the future might hold.


PERSONAL QUESTIONS

VARUN KACHHWAHA
I was watching Wimbledon when I noticed that Roger Federer, perhaps the biggest tennis player of all time, was wearing Uniqlo clothing. It was a moment for me where I definitely underestimated the size of a sponsor on the podcast. And one place where I didn't expect one to pop up. Have you ever had a moment where you were surprised by the size of a sponsor, or an unusual place where you saw a sponsors product in real life? JONES - UNIQLO definitely got the biggest reaction from the other 8 allies, and that was good to hear. I’ve honestly been more blown away by Patrons like Elthanas and Mango that are wonderful people and donated an incredible amount without needing to advertise anything. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around that.

ANDREW BURT
Always hearing you talk about how much you love bow combat I was curious to hear your take on Dragon Age Inquisition’s archery combat. I typically don’t like bow or mage classes but Inquisition has such punchy and satisfying feeling  combat that I had a blast trying out both. Curious to hear your thoughts. JONES - I never played Inquisition, and it burns like red hot fire in my backlog. I really enjoyed the combat in Dragon Age II, so much that I played through the entire campaign twice. I think if I ever made time for a deep RPG though, I’d probably pick up Dragon’s Dogma on Switch. I hear the bow-play in that is pretty wonderful too.

MASTER PANTZ
How do your pets react before, during, and after earthquakes? Did they feel the recent ones? JONES - Surprisingly chill. Norbert didn’t like the fireworks on the 4th of July, which Sophie doesn’t care about. But both of them rolled right through the last series of quakes like nothing happened. I wouldn’t mind a bit of an early alert system from them, but it’s also nice when they’re just relaxed regardless of what else is going on.

ASBO ZAPPRUDER
Besides Chicago, what are your top five movie musicals? JONES - I actually put these in order of most to least favorite, starting with most (other than Chicago). Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, The Pirates of Penzance, West Side Story, Grease. To keep it live-action focused, I left out classic animated stuff. If I’m honest I’d much rather watch Aladdin or The Nightmare Before Christmas instead of any of the above.

KEXX
If you could only have 1 of the following, what would you pick? FF6 remake (same treatment 7 is getting), or FF16. JONES - I would have to go with a Final Fantasy VI remake, although I’m not sure if I could handle that emotionally. The wait! The trailers! The updates! I’ve kind of given up on anticipating the next mainline, roman numeral, entry in the Final Fantasy series. It takes so long to produce them now, and there’s never a guarantee of what style they will have, that I find it’s dangerous to set your own expectations regarding what it “should” be.

SNOWCONE GUY
I'd like to know what kind of a parent you would be. (If Amanda should be there, I'd love to hear her thoughts as well!) Here are a few scenarios, answer as many or as little as you want. My answers to these are rapid fire, so apologies if I don’t spend the amount of time you think I should regarding each answer. A lot of these are based on the way I was raised. FYI, this is a huge post. For the next month or so, I would appreciate it if your questions/comments were a lot shorter. Even giving me the option to skip questions is a bit exhausting at the moment. 1. Your son is caught stealing something. How do you approach the situation? I’d take him to return the item to the person who he stole it from, and/or pay for it out of his allowance. 2. You notice your son stepping on ants on purpose. How do you approach the situation? Sounds like it’s time to talk about the difference in living things, big and small. How would you feel if I giant stepped on you, for example? 3. You are shopping in the supermarket and your son wants to put something in the shopping cart that you disallowed him to have. He has the intention to get his will with the power of crying, if necessary. How do you approach the situation? I’m sure I’ll be terrible at this, but I want to try to make crying an instant removal from the premises. If we’re out somewhere, and the boy throws a fit, it’s time to leave. I’m sure I will fail this test almost immediately. 4. Your son wants you to buy him something that all of his friends own, even though you deem it overpriced and negative. How do you approach the situation? I think this is an example of not what you say, but how you say it. I’d try not to be disappointed in him asking, but just give him a straight “no” answer, and that’s that. Any pouting or pushing won’t change my stance, and hopefully he’ll just get tired of asking. My parents were pretty consistent with what I could and couldn’t have in terms of price. 5. Your son gets unsupervised access to the internet for the first time. But that would mean that he could potentially see hateful, violent or sexual content that you don't want him to be influenced by. How do you approach the situation? This one is 100% case-by-case. I couldn’t give you an exact age as to when I think such access would be appropriate, or what type of content would be available at that point. I’m curious to explore kid-oriented safety measures when it comes to restricting access. 6. Your son has a new best friend. But that kid is on a really bad track, as it's swearing, doing vandalism, it steals, and has hateful opinions. As the kid is your son's best friend, forbidding to see that kid would lead to a tantrum and would be hard to supervise. How do you approach the situation? This is also a special case, as it would depend on how old he is, where he met this kid, and what my relationship with the kid’s family could be. The answer could range from reacting out to the kid’s parents, or just restricting his exposure to the kid and dealing with the fallout. 7. Your son approaches you to tell you that he feels more like a girl than a boy. How do you approach the situation? If you support him, how far would you go? This would also depend on age, but I have friends that have seen their children successfully transition and multiple ages, some much younger than I would have originally thought was possible. So I’d definitely get them on the phone and talk through all the hazards they overcame to give their child as much freedom as possible. 8. Your son gets bullied by another kid on it's way home from school. He's afraid to be labelled a snitch, and you are afraid that he learns the lesson that violence could be an approach to confrontations. How do you help your son out of this situation without influencing your son to either add violence to his toolbox, or becoming someone that others push around for the rest of his life? I think I’d have to get to know the little guy more to make this call. It all depends on how he typically reacts to adversity. 9. Your son wants to see a certain movie. You know the movie is really good, but it's also R-rated, and he's still years away from becoming an adult. There is the risk of him becoming scared and having nightmares, but also the chance to influence his taste in movies in a way that you potentially like. And perhaps you know that you yourself saw some R-rated movies as a kid, and are happy that you did so.How do you approach the situation? The first R-rated movie I ever saw was Child’s Play, and I loved it. Something “kid-friendly” like E.T. messed me up way more than Chucky did. I think I would be curious to let my son try out something if they were interested in it, like weird food or rollercoasters, instead of determining that it wasn’t in his best interest. 10. You notice your son becoming interested in Weed. How do you approach the situation? Depends entirely on the age. I don’t think just saying “weed is bad” is the solution. I’d have to be honest about the positives/negatives of controlled substances, but my son isn’t buying dime-bags in 5th grade, no matter what. 11. Your son picked up some nonsense from other kids or the internet. Let's say it's a 9/11 conspiracy or some antisemitic propaganda. How do you approach the situation? A nice, long, calm chat. 12. Your son was begging you for half a year, that he wants to learn how to play the guitar. Finally, you buy him a great starter kit and get him a teacher. Two weeks later, when he hits a wall, you notice that he's no longer practicing, he's not going to his lessons, and he tells you that he wants to quit already. How do you approach the situation? I think I’ll give my kid at least one of these, because I respect his willingness to try, especially with something as creatively fulfilling as music. But if he wanted to roll right from the guitar into violin, including getting a new expensive instrument and teacher, I would have him wait a full week or month and then let me know if that something he still wants to do.

ALEXANDER ZYRYANOV
Earlier this year I’ve got a chance to see all Marvel’s Cinematic Universe films (I’ve got a free month subscription to a video service that has these movies) and I liked all the main heroes, except one – Spider-Man. My main problem with Spider-Man: Homecoming is that it can’t decide whether it’s a superhero movie or a high-school movie and you can’t be both. Either the movie has a hero who is ready to make tough choices and worries about others before himself, or the movie has a hero who is constantly worrying about what others will think about him and therefore can’t perform even a simple action like going to a friend’s party. Judging by the box office my opinion isn’t very popular. Maybe it’s because I know next to nothing about Spider-Man (I played recent Insomniac’s game, saw MCU movies and early 2000 movie trilogy and that’s it). You on the other hand is a big Spider-Man fan and none of the above seems to bother you. Can you please explain why hesitant high schooler can be a superhero? JONES - I actually wasn’t a huge Spider-man fan growing up. It wasn’t until high school, when my friend Nathan and I started comparing notes on Batman versus Spider-man, that I started to understand the uniqueness of the character. Spider-man addresses, much more so than other heroes, how difficult it would be to actually maintain the lifestyle of saving people. Batman and Iron Man are so rich they can spend his way around the problem. Captain America has been frozen for decades and all his friends are gone, so what else is he going to do? But Peter has school, a job, a girlfriend, an aging Aunt, and so many other responsibilities that many adults take for granted when we move away from the nest. So when Spider-man slips into the shadows after saving New York, without the praise he rightly deserves, it stings a little bit more knowing that he has to go back to taking care of everything else in his life. This is why I LOVE the Spider-man arc during Civil War (in the comics). It does a great job of showing how his problems are so different than the rest of the Avengers.

DAVID WARREN
What are your feelings on Julie Andrews? Personally, growing up Victor Victoria was one of my favorite movies, I'd watch it with my mom all the time. I also enjoyed Star, S.O.B. and of course Mary Poppins - but never really liked The Sound of Music that much in particular. JONES - I didn’t watch Sound of Music until after I started dating Amanda, so sometime this century. I think she’s an incredible performer, and I’ve stated numerous times that I’m bummed her portrayal of Mary Poppins is something so easily copied, but I’ve never been particularly obsessed with her work.

MATT MCCARTHY
My editor buddy got me into a somewhat exclusive RTX party last year. We were a group of four surrounded by famous streamers and youtubers. While the group had a hard time chatting with these famous folks, I didn’t. I initially brushed it off thinking it was simply because I didn’t know any of these famous people. While that may be true, this was still odd because my group has never had a problem chatting up movie stars at AFF or famous musicians at SXSW. It finally dawned on me that internet celebrities are a significantly different breed of celebrity. When I met Matthew McConaughey, we were both meeting each other for the first time. It was equal footing. I adore Paul McCartney but I don't feel as though I've met him. However, I feel like I met you and Bloodworth over a decade ago. I feel like the other allies are friends from college. But that’s simply not true. From where you’re sitting, how do you handle this when meeting people for the first time? What is really happening with the conversation when one party knows your mannerisms, your sense of humor, hell - even the name of your newborn baby, but you know nothing about them? Is friendship really feasible at that point? Do you find yourself gravitating towards other industry professionals and people who DON’T know you? JONES - Interesting question! I don’t get that choosy when it comes to who I talk to at industry parties, because you never know who you’re going to bump into. I like to keep my options open as much as possible, and try to shake someone’s hand the moment the opportunity arises. I have found that if you want to establish a friendship with someone, DON’T TALK ABOUT THEIR WORK. Talk about literally anything else. If you meet someone you admire, and talk about what you like that they’ve done, I feel you establish yourself immediately as a fan, and it’s hard to break out of that mindset for the. Where if you notice the t-shirt they’re wearing and ask them about it, or ask if they’ve seen a movie/show they have nothing to do with, then you’re beginning to establish a relationship outside of your obvious interests.

JASON WALSTROM
A while back I mentioned The Last Starfighter Musical and now I MUST see it performed! I figure that I need to somehow find a school or local theater to perform it. How does one produce a musical and have you ever taken on such an endeavor? JONES - In one word: money. Your biggest expenses will be obtaining the rights to the source material (unless you want to go rogue and potentially get sued), and securing a venue for enough time to make your money back. Sets. costumes, props, effects, lighting, choreography - all of that is negotiable. But there are still an insane amount of things you need money for. More than you’d think.

MATT BROOKBANK
Blair witch project spoilers..... ....... On the latest podcast you had a hot take that the Blair witch project (first movie) didn't hold up and mentioned you thought that "the Blair witch hates people so much that she just stands back in the trees and watches people suffer". I might agree with your take if I agreed with your interpretation that that's what the movie is. I agree with the other interpretation though, there is no Blair Witch, the female protagonist is actually murdered (intentionally or not) by her ex in the woods after she was lured out there by the legend  of the Blair witch. The other guy was the ex's buddy and though they were just trying to scare her. Then they hid the film reels to cover the murder up, but the film company found them and took the take you had on it. The film is much more interesting as a covered up murder than a monster that stands in the woods.  Any way, I just wondered if you were even aware of that interpretation. JONES - I was NOT aware of that interpretation and I am definitely going to revisit the movie with that in mind. I think that is a natural fit when you think of how the movie was made. The actors had a framework but the directors were also surprising them with sounds, props, etc. The idea that they’re just being messed with is an interesting one to explore.

DAN FITZERGALD
I saw you hyphenated your son's last name. Is there  a reason for this?  I've known 2 people in my life with hyphenated last names, and they were annoyed that their parents did this, and swore they would never do it to their own kids. I've also noticed you always call your wife by her maiden name, so I'm guessing this is her own personal hang up...? JONES - I think “hang up” is a bit strong. It’s her name, and as an actor, part of her business identity. So she wanted to keep it for her career, just as we want to keep the name “Easy Allies.” We hyphenated Milo’s last name because we wanted to pass both down to him. If he gets frustrated as he gets older, he’s more than welcome to drop one and just adopt the other. I don’t have a primal desire to pass my last name down, especially one as prevalent as “Jones.” We actually know several people that have hyphenated names that love it, and are proud to carry both torches. So who knows? I want him to have options, and it makes me happy knowing that Amanda’s son has her name as well as mine.

JESSE NYE
Have kyle, brad or ben expressed any interest in a JoJo Part 5 spoiler mode? I know that ben and kyle have been watching it as it airs, so i was just curious. P.S. Do you plan on checking out any of the Glinny's Cauldron Game Jam submissions? I know that you're super busy but I recommend having a look at them as they're all very cool (there's even one that features you as the protagonist!) JONES - JoJo comes up every now and then, but we’ve never talked about a Spoiler Mode specifically. I desperately need to catch up with that show, though. And I DEFINITELY plan to check out the Game Jam stuff. The fact that people actually put those together is mind-boggling for me, and beyond my general interest, I feel like I owe it to them to see what they put together.

JAKE BANKSTON
Do you have any extra thought on Builder last 2 that didn’t fit into the impressions video? I’d love to hear more of your take on it. JONES - I mentioned in my review of the first Builders that it was unfortunate you couldn’t build a specific amount of one thing at a workbench, and they’ve fixed that in 2. On the negative side, I definitely feel less attached to the people that live in each settlement, because I think the game favors villager functionality over storytelling. But it’s really fun to see them run around farming or mining, so it works out overall.

GMANSIR
What is your favorite Yoshi boss? JONES - Sluggy the Unshaven