You can listen to the episode by clicking: Episode 122
Can we talk about about robots please….Are we pro or anti sentient machines sent to kill us. Or are we just hoping that they will help us in case our home is attacked by something worse. I am going to go with the later in order to sleep better at night.
According to Wikipedia, an Infestation is “the state of being invaded or overrun by pests or parasites. It can also refer to the actual organisms living on or within a host. I bring this up because we will be looking at three different infestations in this book, and I find that doing a minimal internet search is a way to start.
I guess we could start with humans. Many bugs and lesser animals find humans to be the pest that they just cannot get rid of. They have their planet evolving just the way they want it and then bam! Farming and cars and bureaucracy and locksmiths. It is just never ending with these humans. And then they use deodorant….I just cant with the human race.
Maybe we should step back and look at the bug infestation that we sometimes get when we leave out a pack of donuts for a week. Sure, I may have been told to put them away, but I do not recognize your RULES, MAN. Besides, the ants looked hungry.
Let us move on from the why, let’s talk about the how do we handle the mysterious problem. Now, I think that we can use many of the same techniques for a lot of different types of infestations, but I prefer to move past the least invasive and head straight for the nuclear option. I mean, why mess around, am I right. We have developed the tools to salt the earth, let’s get to pickling!
Oooh…when choosing this option, be sure and not to read any instruction. It adds spontaneity and unpredictable results to an already annoying situation. It also allows you to plead ignorance when government agencies like the EPA or non-profits like PETA start to ask questions. And trust me…the like to ask questions.
As we alluded to earlier, there are three types of infestations in this book, bugs, humans, and fish people. I will be honest, I have no clue how to deal with fish people. I have read a lot of Lovecraft, but I really do not think just curling up in a ball while your mind melts is helpful to anyone, so…nuke option it is.
Big picture, find a path and own it. You are the master of your own story, and no mamby pamby lawyer is going to get in between you, your target, and your illegal propane blowtorch. I may suggest some gloves, but that is just because you should have a drink afterwards, and that is hard when you your fingers are smoking.
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Jeff and Rick Present 
Good day my fine friends! I hope all is well in your part of the country.
I just listened to this episode and confess that I do remember getting this particular arc which you are covering back when it was first published. I am sure I had succumbed to the non stop promotion on twitter back in the day, following like minded hobbyists who spent a good amount of time in sharing and discussing titles and runs respectfully. It was a nice little community in those days and proof that grievance poisons everything.
So, at the top of the episode Rick mentioned playing Minecraft with his daughter (belated birthday wishes Carrie). I work in my local school district on the early elementary level and that game is pretty popular among the littles. One of the missteps I made last year in the homeroom I was in was showing my top seeded amateur pencil sketches of Minecraft weapons and threats looking from Google. I was tagged as that cool guy who could draw a creeper.
I know there is some time lapse when the episode is recorded to airing. I wanted to ask Jeff how the remodel is going. It seems like there are only two modes in a remodel any more; All at once or nothing at all. A friend of mine and his wife have had a house being built longer than any plan had allowed.
Going into the issue itself. I agree with you both that this has a very distinct penultimate feel in reading. The machinations and plotting are drawing toward a distinct point. Going back to my opening paragraph, since I was new to the bird app and seeing many reader/collectors take on Hickman’s story, when I did get in on an arc it was this particular one. I realize that J Hickman’s writing has a layer cake or intricate web analogy at work because this arc felt like I had just walked into a big screen science fiction extravaganza 2/3rds the way in.
I like the work being done with Sue in this story. The idea of her being an envoy and diplomatic to revenge fueled Atlantians is a nice beat. The more memorable stories I have read of FF branch from the idea of the romantic triangle set-up of Reed, Sue, and Namor. It has been years since I had read this so you guys laying it out was a nice refresher.
I want to add an agree to your take regarding Alex Power; Pest Control. I had thought the same regarding the character had been around aliens in his childhood, and going all Conan was very strange. He’s leading a cadre a children who are sciencing the $#!+ on problems and his big feature is….violence?
Galactus going full Joey Chestnut on the new world with his corpse is just absurd yet I am here for it!
I hope you both been having a good and relatively healthy times with your families as we are sliding into the holiday season. Looking forward to your next episode, checks calendar, tomorrow! Yay!
Jeremy
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Ugh, wrote a response and then had a system crash at the worst spot…here’s the second attempt.
Hi, Jeremy!
Here’s me slowly getting back onto the response wagon. Amazing how life just piles up and keeps us from things and then months go by.
I did not read this run back in the day, so all of this is new territory from me. And speaking of territories…never got into any online communities about hobbies of mine. This was mostly due to lack of time and lack of tech. Super fun not having a disposable income and working all the time. Glad we are sparking some memories for you.
Minecraft, Roblox and Fortnite seem to be the games that endure the most for the kiddos. Never played any of them, but just basing that off of what I hear other parents talk about. That said, I watched A LOT of Minecraft videos. Amazing what people can create with blocks. (LEGO is my go to block medium) I would love to see some of your drawings. Creepers rule. They seem like they are purely a griefer creature, but they look cool and crack me up. There are worse things to be known as other than as that cool guy who could draw a creeper.
Remodel….ugh. Still dealing with it. Working on month 10 of 2 now. We just want it finished so we can own our room’s again. Never have them work in every room of the house at the same time…you have no where to escape to and no where that is a sanctum.
Yup, that’s how Hickman writes. He uses every part of the buffalo. Hard to follow some times, but when you get it, man, you get it.
I like it when Sue is on her own. There are some great stories that can be told when she is allowed to spread her wings. There was a Invisible Woman miniseries that came out with her a few years ago where she was a spy…pretty darn entertaining read.
The pest control problem. On further contemplation, I will say that he was taking his cues from Ben and Johnny. They were blasting and burning with impunity soooooo maybe they told him it was okay? Hard to tell, just seemed out of place for how he normally behaves. That said, writers gonna write the way they gonna write.
Yup, the Galactus rage was pretty great. No one profits off of his death, not even him.
Since I am writing back in the far future, health is always mutable. The past month has been seeing a cocktail of colds coming in from my kids school. She was home for 2 weeks, and then we got sick for 3 more on top of that. Lost my voice for over 2 weeks which was super cool for podcasting. Me and Rick are playing catch up on that now, as my voice just came back a few days ago.
Later gator. I’m off to respond to more mail in short order.
-Jeff
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