Onscreen Offscreen
Josh Dietrich and Konlin Gappmayer discuss their media consumption, new and old. They discuss the good, the bad, and the impact it has on their lives
Onscreen Offscreen
The Whale
The Whale
Star Citizen, Lies of P, Gone Girls, Primal Hunter book 6, The Whale
00:00 - Star Citizen
14:08 - Lies of P
30:55 - Gone Girls
38:26 - Primal Hunter Book 6
47:53 - The Whale
Hey guys, it's on screen off screen back with another week. We're gonna start off with Josh and it looks like star citizen.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah, I've been putting more time into this one. Uh, just absolutely amazed by even more of this game. Uh, did something a little bit different. Um, I sent you that YouTube video of the space laser fighting over that area thing. Um, so basically what you have to do is there's, uh, three satellite dishes on the ground and you have to run around the planet and collect these data pads that align the satellites. Once the satellites are down, you have to take batteries from the ground up to a space station.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:That Space Station can be charged up with said batteries and as long as they're aligned, it will fire and open up this big crater in the ground where you can go mine these ultra rare gemstones, which you can sell for just like a ton of crap money, but if you build up enough of'em, you can go to a special trader and turn them in for shops and stuff. Now
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:School.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:a very hard thing to do at this moment in time because there are these things called orcs or organizations and they will group up and fight over this stuff because they want, you know, a free Polaris, which in real world money is literally a thousand dollars, so they want to get these minerals. It'll take a ton of time, even for these organizations to do it. The video I sent you is where two organizations kind of collided at the same time. And it was a really fun time. But I jumped in and I was like, you know, I really wish I could have been a part of that. The organization I'm a part of isn't active enough at this point in time to participate in that. Um, so I was just like, let's go check it out and just see what happens. Right? So me and the Canadian guy that wasn't that joined our Discord server that I reported on last time, just some random dude, but he, he hopped on and he was like, oh yeah, I totally wanna do that with you. Let's, let's do it. So we go and we land on this planet and another group lands on the planet and we go up to'em and we're like, Hey, peace, peace. You know, like, we're just exploring. We don't wanna fight anybody. We don't have to.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:And they were like, great. So they joined us and so now we were a group of five people and it was like, Okay. here we go. And then we, we did our dish and we went to the next one and we encountered another group of about five people. And we, we did the same thing. We went up to'em, we're like, Hey, peace. You know, we don't wanna fight anybody. We don't have to, we're not a part of any organization. We just wanna see what this is at. We don't even care if we get the minerals. Like what I wanted to do was to just personally see the laser fire, get to that point. That's all I wanted. And they were like, yeah, join us. So then we joined them and now we were a group of about 10 people all on the same discord call. And we picked up some more stragglers here and there at, by the end of it, we totaled about 23 of us all on the same discord server working on this. And it went from, Hey, we just wanna see this laser fire to, we're gonna split this. Evenly across all of us because we can do it now. We have enough people that we can fight and defend this thing, maybe not very well'cause somebody with like 40 people could come flying and, and start kicking our trash. But like I we're not nothing anymore. We actually could have a ground crew and a minor's crew and a space crew or whatever. And so we just started doing it and we were able to complete all of it. And we were about to fire the laser when an actual organization came in and wiped out our entire space force. And we were like, we need to mine this thing so fast so that we can get out of here. Because they took down a Polaris, which is the only capital ship in the game. So it's the only really, really big one with lots of firepower. So it took a big hit, but. The org is probably reorganizing, and that was basically all we had. Whereas the org is gonna come back with a Polaris and fighters and this, that, and the other. So I'm on the ground, I'm part of the mining crew. I'm just trying to rush through it, rush through it and get to it. And we have our ground people and they're all losing their minds. They're like, they're coming, they're coming. They brought their dropships, they're coming, they caught past our last fighter. They're coming. And we're just mining as fast as we can. And some just like random people who were just mining came in and they, they were like mining with us, but not part of the car call. And we're like, do we kill these guys? Do we steal it? And we're like, no, no, no combat, unless it's absolutely necessary. If they're just mining, let'em take their crap or we're gonna do it. And so it ended up where, uh, we had some guys with some pretty heavy guns, some rail guns and stuff, and they were fighting off. Um, ground vehicles and, and fighter ships, um, coming in and like bombers coming in overhead while we're doing this and we mine the last thing and we're like, Hey, there's no chance of getting out of here. So I want everybody to al F four and we're gonna have to regroup and split everything after that. Hopefully those of you who are actually have the minerals are gonna be honest with It right? So we just quickly announced where we were gonna be responding. Once we got back into the game, went back in, split it all up, was just awesome. Like we got so lucky creating this like group of people. And it was absolutely insane and it was awesome. And like this game just does so much stuff. There's, there's nothing like it. And a lot of people are like, oh, it's just, you know, like, we made the comparison last time. No Man's Sky. Um, and no Man's Sky just isn't like this, you know, it, it's its own thing. And you know, no Man's Sky can be fun, but it's not like this.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It sounds really cool whenever you talk about this game, it makes me wanna play it again, even though it's crashed on me so many times. but it just sounds so cool. Like that is so cool. And I, I've never seen a game where you can do what you do, you're just talking about at all, ever.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It's, it's like, I mean, you can probably find games where. You're trying to mine, well, another group of people's probably trying to attack you, right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Not like that.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:not quite like that, but You can find similar things and you can find similar things to what I described last time where we were collecting the data pads and doing that very specific little thing. But the fact that you can do all of those things. in the same game and then like over the past few days, I was just chilling. So I just, just turned on my YouTube music and I was listening to some new music and I went out and I mined, a couple of guys hopped on with me. We were mining together, mining some asteroids, and we made half a million credits in a few hours. You know,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:cool.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:like. Just super chill, no big deal. Like you have that kind of experience, right? Like I, I described farming sim, like I could have hopped on farming sim with these exact same two people. They both have it too, right? Same kind of chill experience, low, low stress s game bloop. But like you could do that and you can do the PVP and the P-V-P-B-E and this laser mining activity thing. And you know so much more with all of the like missions and rep you can build and all that kind of stuff. And like this game is still an alpha,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It's pretty amazing.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:right? They're still planning on bringing more and more and more stuff and it's so cool to be excited and kind of a part of this development process.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Is this, because, I mean, you've done a little bit of programming, but not a, not a of programming. Um, would you enjoy doing volunteer work for them and actually working on the game?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:No,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:No, you wouldn't. Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:no,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:not?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:uh, because they have their own proprietary, uh, game engine. So I would have to learn that just to do that for them for free, not? great. Uh, I don't enjoy code in just code, so like the coding I've done is a very, is front end web development, which is lightweight, and you can see the changes that you're actually making.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:If I wanted to do this, I would have to be a graphic designer, graphic artist and programmer. And you'd have to program and look at just the code and know what it does, and then. Physically be an artist, and I am not an artist in any sense of the word. Like I would, I would be a detriment to helping out. I would not be helping out.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I've seen some of your artwork and it's actually pretty good and it seems like you enjoy doing it'cause you do it in your free time. I don't really, I, I did blender because it interested me to learn blender, but I don't like draw in my free time like you do. I don't do that ever.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I don't really do it either. I do it occasionally and what I am doing, I'm very plagiaristic. I never really come up with my own ideas.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Honestly, you're
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:like,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:stuff you saw that was cool online.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. So I am by no means an artist. I'm not like aj. I can't just draw something. If you ask me to draw a very basic thing, I could not do it. I'm not an artist in any way.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:you have a plan for like your whole sleeve that you wanna do?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. And I'm stealing it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Oh, the whole thing.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I mean, sort of, I'm stealing the idea, right? I've never drawn it, but like, I want a full, like forest scene. I want it to go into the night sky. I want them to use negative, um, art for like the stars and stuff. So basically coloring everything but a star shape in my arm. So my, my skin is the star. Um, like I have ideas, but I'll just take those ideas to an actual artist and say, this is what I want. Right? And I'll be like, Hey, I, I really like this bloodborne lantern, right? I don't want it to be a prominent thing, but if you could like hide it in the background of the forest, I think that'd be really cool.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That would be really cool.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right? I'm not gonna be like, here's my arc, do my thing. But no, and I'm also. The kind of person who wants to the artist to do the work, right? Like I want to be able to say like, this is AJ's artwork. I don't want it to be like, AJ did my artwork. If that makes sense.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yes. You're paying for his expertise that he works on every single day, and you'd be like, this is the general idea. Do something cool with it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. Make it. your own. Make it your style. If I like it, we'll get it and then that'll be it. So AJ's piece and whoever else and whoever else, and hopefully my arms turn into a collection of artwork from different artists and not just my ideas. And I don't wanna be the kind of person who's like, no, I want it exactly how I envision it.'cause that just never works out. And people always end up either getting the tattoo and regretting it'cause it's not exactly as they wanted, or not getting the tattoo and having wasted the artist's time a little bit.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I can see that. So if you were more artistic, would you think about doing game design or has that ever even popped up as like, I could do that, I want to do that?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Now it's, it is so much work. Like we, we talk about these games that? come up and we're like, these are such buggy messes. This is such crap. How could they release it this way? But we are not at all giving those developers and those artists any respect for the amount of work that they did put into it. And like, as amazing as computers are, ultimately, they're extremely stupid and they do stupid things.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:And you have to fix them, and you have to work with them, and you have to, you have to know the tool.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. And I prefer my computers to work for me, not me work on my computers in that way.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough, man. Fair enough. Um, I will go on to my topic. Uh, first like little thing, I played more lizza. PI think Lizza p's a phenomenal game and
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:So good.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:first brotherhood fight. I really, really enjoyed. As far as a boss fight with multiple opponents, I thought it was extremely well done. good timing. Not too hard. Like they, they, it was a very balanced fight. well done.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Did you just naturally manage it then?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. Because a lot of people complain about that fight because they get overwhelmed. They, they let more than two get into the ring.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay. Yeah. I naturally managed it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, the, the main guy is aggressive enough, but you can watch him from the corner of your eye. I feel like that fight has more open spaces, so you don't get the camera problem that some, some of the boss fights do have. It's more, you have more ability to know what your surroundings are and then, um, the guys who are fighting with your main boss all have. It easy enough movement patterns that as long as you're watching them and the boss, you can handle everything, but handling everything still requires you to push yourself. It was just a, it was a really good boss fight. I really liked it a lot.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. I disagree with that a little, but, but
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Really? Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:yeah, like I, I liked the boss fight. I liked that it was an open space, but I don't think that their movement sets were telegraphed well enough. But I do think it was balanced out because It was really easy to get back stabs. So like, while you got cheated a few times, you can just go do a, a crap ton of damage when you're immortal because nothing else can hit you while you're doing that. So, uh, in that way I felt like it was balanced out, but like, uh. The girl was really well telegraphed and I thought was a really fair, fun fight.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Mm-hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:The guy, the littler guy with the swords, um, was not well telegraphed, but he was enough of a wimp. You could kind of overpower him. The spear guy had so much range and was not telegraphed that I really struggled with his part
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, the one that I struggled with the most was the third guy, the red, red coat with the swords. Um, the
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:the spear
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:The the spear guy wasn't that big a deal to me at all.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:the second guy that came through. The spear guy was like, not a big deal.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:The third one was the hardest one for me. And the time where I won, um, I killed the first two and the third one had popped in towards the end of fighting the big main boss. And I killed off the big main boss and just didn't, didn't mess with that third guy. Just, just killed him off. fun.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Um, and then the clown fight was really good. I really liked it. A lot of people complained about that fight. I thought it was great. It was a lot of fun.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I hate that fight. I it's not fun at all. You're talking about the big fat clown that throws his punch out?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:uh, no. Not fun.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that fight.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Like even after they patched it, you've had, you've played it while it was patched before the, they patched it. It was worse, but it's still not fun.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Oh, I did have fun with that fight.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Oh,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:of fun
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:it was so stupid. Like, what weapon are you using in this play through?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I'm using the bone saw with the, uh, dragon Dancer handle.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah. I, I met, this is another thing I really like about the game, like bloodborne. You have the two different modes, whatever you wanna call it. And this one you have the ability to construct your weapons and I've just had so much fun messing around with putting different weapons together. And so far, this is by far my favorite one.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I haven't gotten to the two dragon sword, which like everyone says is the most powerful weapon in the game.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It is if you can use it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I like this one because of the paring mechanic right
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. So basically you just have to get even better with your timing and you have to adjust it.'cause you're no longer pressing the, the Perry button at the time that they're moving to attack. You have to press the Perry button
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:before,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:way before it, way before it, before, it's even telegraphed almost.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:is that the one that you were using?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:When I got it, I, I switched from an arcane build to a skill build because I wanted to use it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Cool.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It was before I knew what it was. I just thought it looked cool.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Cool. I'm excited for when I get there. I've messed with some different weapons. I like, this is my favorite one, but I also like the umbrella. I can't remember what it's called,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:really good.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:That's interesting.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:the
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Those are not the top rated weapons in the game, like at all,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I know,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:but good for you. Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I've messed around a lot. The puppet ripper one that the King's second phase uses is usually rated pretty high
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, like it. I don't love it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I did use it. I, I looked at it. and I was like, oh man, this would be cool for a second play through, but I, it wasn't cool enough that I totally wanted to rebuild around.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that one.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:So,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Are you going to play it again?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Cool.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I don't know when, probably before the DLC comes out,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Sweet.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:like, I, I love this game. This is a top 10 game for me.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It's really, really,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It is so good.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:The, so far my complaints are the camera, the camera's by far the biggest complaint and I think the weight is a little bit iffy. I think it's a little bit off, be honest.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:What do you mean the weight?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:web, like some of your rings weigh as much as your sword, and I think that's just kind of dumb. So I think they should have adjusted the weight of the different things that you wear and increased your weight capacity or increase the amount that that stat increases. How much weight you can wear, wear, whatever it's called. What is the stat called?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Capacity
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Capacity have capacity be a little bit more effective because there's like a lightweight version that you can run. Unless the only way to run lightweight is to basically just be naked. And I, I don't think that you should have to go that extreme to be able to get to that category. Um, yeah, that's, that's just me. It is a, that's a small complaint.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Other than that, I've had a ton of fun, and this has been for me, as far as far as games that I've really pushed for, for, and fought for by far the hardest of these games that I played by far.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. I don't agree with that at all.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Uh, there's, so like with, with Bloodborne, there were multiple bosses where I just beat them in one mo, like quite a few. And this one, pretty much every boss been a struggle for me.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay, Uh, I had quite a few bosses in this one that I beat in one on,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:uh, in bloodborne. I think at its best, like easiest, you still have to die once or twice just to get it down, but that's when you were skilled enough at it that you could just, okay, this is what I need to do. And then you have the skill to do it. Uh. But like secure, you hated because of how difficult it was.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:kero. I wanna retry after I beat Lizza P and see if my opinion is still the same. Because for me, it felt like it wasn't fair. Like I was frustrated because it felt cheap, which I've never felt in Lizza P ever. I, felt like this is hard. I've struggling. I'm. Having to push really hard to beat this, but it didn't feel like I was getting just ripped off and it being cheap. Ro felt cheap and I just quit because I didn't enjoy the game.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. I don't think Zaka was cheap at all.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah, that's,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Just for what it's worth. That's my opinion.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I'm probably wrong. I'll, I'll admit I'm probably wrong, but that's just how it felt, especially with the, uh, the boss that's up in that, that tower.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yep.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, I would move to the side and he would just like turn all the way around and hit literally no matter where I was, no matter what
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Mm-hmm.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:There was no kind of dodging. There was no nothing and I was like,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It's called jumping.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:garbagey. It didn't matter
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:you're supposed to jump a counter attack there, but that's, that's my point. I actually think Kero is the easiest from soft game,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That's what you told me. Which is crazy.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:but that's because once you get it, it's super easy to do and there's only one way to do it. But like you said, this was the hardest and like from my perspective, like Secure was so hard for you. It felt unfair.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:And that's possible. It's possible that that's what it was. For real. I don't know.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:cause even I don't feel like the first boss, the horse guy was, was just cheap, insecure. It didn't feel that way to me. But I also just didn't have fun with it. And I kind of ended up just kiting the boss around and doing little pot shots hits because that was the only way that I could win. And it was, it just wasn't fun.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I agree with that.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:is fun and also challenging.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I agree with that. But again, the, the, the verbiage you chose was hardest.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:And I, that's what I don't know is, I don't know if it's hardest, with being fair, which ro didn't feel fair to me, but that also could be a bias for me and I could be wrong. I don't,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I'm
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. I,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:to that thought.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I, I think it's fair. I just think you didn't get it right. And I, I totally agree that that horse fight was not fun. I didn't have fun with it either. Um. Like we could talk about the quality of the game. Like Liza P Secure, which one's better? Liza P by far, uh, which one has the more interesting story? Like Secure was from Soft's first attempt at like doing a cinematic story. And Liza p is this company's basically first game ever and Lizza P blows it out. The water. Which one looks better? I think Lizza P looks better. Which one has, you know, a cooler aesthetic feel. Right. That would be very opinionated. Somebody might prefer Kero. Somebody might prefer Lizza P like either, right, but when you're talking about like hardest, right, you also have to factor in like I, or at least I have to factor in that this is my sixth seventh from Soft Game.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:cause I. have the Bloodborne Dark Souls three El and Ringo. Lies of P Right. And I'm excluding like, Jedi survivor.'cause that one's not difficult. Um, and other like, so, uh, souls likes like, uh, Cuphead because that's not just like the same kind of game, um,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Was hard. Cuphead is
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:head, right? But that, I think that's kind of the same, where like some of those bosses pretty easy,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:some of those bosses. So impossibly difficult. Uh, fair, but not fun. Right? I would put it in that category too, where it was fair, but not fun. Um,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I, I personally don't think that this one is, or if we go back to the original conversation of hardest and fair, I think bloodborne is the hardest and fair because there's a number of times in Lizza P that is not fair. Specifically, like e even if you take away the camera stuff.'cause like to me that actually makes sense. I can excuse that. What I can't excuse is the, the telegraphing specifically on those harder bosses for me. Uh, you haven't even gotten to the two, the two last ones. Like, those are just so impossible for me. And it was all because they telegraph like crap. And that's not fair.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah, I want to get to that point.'cause so far I haven't really had any telegraphing problems. It's all been camera angle stuff. All been camera angle
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think Romeo has some telegraphing problems. I think, uh,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:with him.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I 100% do. Like he's very fast, so it doesn't really matter that it's not telegraphed well. Uh, but when you're using a bigger weapon where you have to kind of. Finagle your attacks into a, a window and you start to notice it. Uh, I struggled a little bit with the woman in white, um, because she doesn't telegraph well either. Um, specifically her, you can't tell whether or not she's gonna do one attack or two tech or 10 attacks.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I didn't have, I didn't have any problem with her, like really at all. She seemed very easy to telegraph to me. The one place where I can kind of give you is when she does her, uh, red windup attack where she's gonna stab you. You don't know when that one's gonna happen.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:You don't know when it's gonna happen. And she's gonna follow it up by one attack, or two attack, or three texts or 10 attacks, like when I was fighting her,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:to stab is basically the same every time.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:sort of, but again, you don't, you can't plan your opening. You just have to block, block, block, block, block, block, Block, block. Okay. Am I gonna get to attack yet? Block, block, block. Okay, I'm gonna go for it. Stabbed in my face, and now half my health is gone. And then she's gonna just stand around for 10 minutes and I'm too paranoid to go in and attack like she is. She's by far not like the worst offender of this at all. Um, it's all, it's usually always the, the like medium to large things. The very large ones very easy to telegraph. I think like the giant robot things, super easy to telegraph, no problem. Uh, the really, really small ones, like the people, they're usually just fast, right? And so you just kind of have to block until you wait or until you get the perfect to where they're stunned, right? Not a really big deal, but when you get to that like larger person one where they still fit in the screen mostly, um, that's when their telegraphing problems are the worst.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay. Okay. I haven't played, I met the champion Victor guy. I've only played him once, so like I haven't learned the patterns yet. It feels like he is telegraphed and I'm gonna learn how to do the telegraph, but he is also very fast. So I just have to react really quick to whatever the telegraph is, but I don't know. I've only played him one time.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Uh, I'll take your, I don't know which boss you're talking about off The top of my head, but
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:big guy who you go into, you go in and he immediately charges you
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:that doesn't help me at this point. It's been too long,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Coliseum area. Okay. Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:but
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Anyway,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:um, anyway, that wasn't even my topic. Topic was gone girls. Um, it's, it should be a pretty short one, but it's a three episode docuseries type of a thing, that goes about a serial killer in New York City. They're going on Long Island and they find, they dredge up four women's bodies they. all these women to women to being hookers. And every single one of them goes on this date and they're never heard from again. And the date says, don't bring your phone. Just meet me at this place. then they're gone. They're dead. These women have been gone for five to eight years and their families have wondered where they are, but they're, they're criminal. They're doing some criminal activity. They're kind of in a shady part of the city, and people just don't really care. So you get these four women, they get dredged up, they start to do an investigation, the investigation for some reason, lot of the evidence just doesn't get followed up. Well, the police commissioner and the DA at that time both have pretty shady paths. Uh. When they were working together in a different district, they had a 95% confession rate for their crimes. I looked it up and like the best that you're gonna get is in the thirties. That's the best that you're gonna get. Even the Catholic church where you don't have any negative ramifications for confessing is about 50%. They were getting 95%. Something was obviously wrong. So the time the time goes on and there's these clues that are getting brought up and there's people that are saying, you know what? These women are missing and these women are missing and these women are missing and nobody listens to them. There is a guy that lives on Long Island says, you know, my friend, she's, she's missing too, and she was going on a date with a guy and he's this giant dude. 6, 7, 6, 8. Really big guy, and he is driving a green, green avalanche, a dark green avalanche. There aren't really a ton of those, especially in like New York City area. There's, there's not a lot and there's not a lot of giant men that are also driving this truck. That file just gets slid away and it's never heard from again. You find out that the police commissioner has been actively asking for prostitutes, like that's what he does. In his, in, in his spare time, criminal behavior. gets investigated, gets indicted, goes to jail. The district attorney who has helped him along and given him job after job, after job after job, you find out he is crim, criminal, gets locked up, goes to jail. That resets the hold of the police department because it resets the hold of the police department. They get a new commissioner in, and the new commissioner doesn't look through the old files. They try to get new evidence. So you're head, you're sitting here and there's this file that says, giant guy, green Avalanche. Nobody touches it. Years pass by. There's another commissioner. There's another commissioner. And finally you get a commissioner that says, let's go through all the old files and let's digitize all of them so that you can search them, so that we can actually wade through all this information. And somebody finally comes across this file, avalanche tall guy. So they narrow it down and they look at last known phone locations of all of these different prostitutes all over the island. And they pinpoint all of them. in the show, you can see where these women are meeting up, and it's this bottom part of Long Island, over and over and over again. There's one person who has a green avalanche and is this tall who lives in that area. they try pinning his phone. They can't get a lot of the phone records. They eventually break into his home and they get a computer deleted on the hard drive. They find lists of these women's names, he was going to go about not being caught, what he needed to do to have these women, um, be more secure. All of these different things, different places that he can drop the bodies. And they go to the different places where they can drop the bodies and they find more women that have just completely gone missing. The first woman that that started all of this, started the entire manhunt. she's the main character in Gone Girls. The main person that you're trying to find. You're listening to the sister and she's crying, trying to figure out where her sister is. You have this, these names of women that this guy has kidnapped and killed, but she's not on the list. So at the very end of this docuseries, you have all these answers. You have answer for who killed this person, this person, this person, this person. And then it cuts to the sister. And she's like, I'm so glad that my, my sister's death could mean something. But I still don't have an answer. I don't know if it was him that killed. And I, I wanna know, they've tried to talk to the guy who's the killer of all these other women. He won't say anything. He won't admit it. this family is left with this both peace because her sister's death meant something an absolute nightmare because don't have an answer. Um. Everything. It's, it's great to have a meaning in this life, but it's really hard when you can't find the answer to what the meaning is. And it's great to have answers for like, why did someone leave you? Why are they here? Why are they gone? Why did that person die? All of these different things, those are good to have answers for. And it is absolutely haunting when even they, they're, they had a meaning. They inspired other people. They changed people's lives, but at the end, you don't know why they're gone. It's just, it, it made me feel for'em. really liked this docuseries. It was really interesting's only like three hours long and it's, it's worth watch.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It sounds incredibly depressing.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It is incredibly depressing, but I loved it. I had a really good time with it. gonna watch more of these. Like murderers and how they catch them kind of thing.'cause I, I like it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. You still need to watch. Uh, quiet on all. Quiet on set.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I know, I know I do. I know I do. Um, if I had Hulu, I would've already watched it. I just don't have Hulu.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Gotcha.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:But with that, let's go to your next topic. Primal Hunter Book six. You finally read it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I am like halfway through it. and the series has taken a big fall off for me
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That happened with a lot of people. I, a lot of people feel that way. I do. Don't. But why is it a fallout for you?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:because like it is, seems like a change of pace and mentality,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Like Jake has been this person of like, gotta get stronger, gotta get faster, you know, always pushing himself.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:The first quarter of this book is him gently jogging to visit his family. The next quarter of this book is an auction. And like a large section of the auction is literally just Jake being like, I don't care. Not for me. Can't wait until my specific thing shows up for me. Won't that be cool? Oh good. My bird got something. I guess that makes sense. Oh man, karma got the perfect thing for her. I wonder if I'm gonna get something like, honestly, the only way that would've been entertaining for me is if the author didn't give Jake something and he just left like super pissed. Like, why didn't I get something? You know?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That would've been very funny.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:But he didn't. So we just sat through all of that and then Jake wanted a bow and he got a bow. Hooray, yippy.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I just felt like overdrawn,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah, like, like the pacing of the previous books was Jake pushing himself, right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:get stronger, perseverance. Gotta get back up. How do I fight this boss right there? There's the giant mushroom thing under his town and he's, he's constantly trying to figure out. how to beat it, right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:And in this one, there's no bad guy, there's no enemy, there's nothing. You know, we hear rumors of what happened in metalhead, sociopath guy, and it's the only thing we hear is like, Hey, when you encounter him, please don't kill him. Okay? Chick Like, why are we gonna trust you? I don't know, but Jake seems to whatever. And then the last little bit that I'm at is him preparing for and arising arriving at the academy.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Has he a weapon yet?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:No, he's literally just gotten there and they're about to figure out where they're assigned to. They're about to do the dungeon that determines their power and what Harry Potter house they get assigned to. And it's such stupidness to begin with. And like if it wasn't for Hazen v's. Interaction ahead of them going in, um, which I found absolutely hysterical. Um, just them ripping on each other is always great. But then it went into the little squirrel school girl outfit thing and Philly was like, I can make you do it. And, and then it, which is kind of funny. And then you get to the end. And there's the guy That was like, I've been working on this for months and you're not even gonna make him wear it. You told me this guy love It You told me this was culturally important. And Lily is. just like, uh, well, he didn't want to, so what? You're like, oh my gosh. Like, very funny. That part absolutely great. But that was such a small section of literally half the book that I'm into. It's, it's a lot harder to get through than, than the previous ones.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough. I think it drops off some, but I still enjoyed it. Like the family part for me was probably one of the slower parts of the later books. Um, I was also fine with it. He sees his family like it's important for the character development. I liked the au auction. I get your criticisms though, like they make sense, but I just had a good time with it. I just enjoyed it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I, it. wasn't the like worst thing in the world, but like
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Not
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:if this was book one, I would not continue reading it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough. Fair enough. I like where they go with the academy and the weapon that he constructs is very cool. It's very cool. But keep reading it. Lemme know what you think.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Well,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I hope you keep enjoying it. Do you, is it good enough? At least? Like not bad. Good enough.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:it's fine. It is exactly that. It's fine. Like if I did not care about these characters at all, I would not care to go forward. But I do care about these characters and like there is some sprinkling of some goodness in it. Like even the small interaction between Reka and. Oh, what's her name starts with an M. She runs the town
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Uh, Miranda.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Miranda. right, where they just interact with each other and they both like accuse each other of sleeping with Jake and neither of them are, and then they're like, oh, ha ha, and they like laugh it off together. Like that was an enjoyable part. It was like
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:a page. But like that part was really good that that felt like character development. It felt like growth. It felt worthwhile. Whereas, you know, a quarter of this book being about an auction where the character is just sitting there going, that's not for me, I don't care, is like, okay, this could have been a page,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:instead of being a quarter of the book.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:it, it did not need to be this extensive and in detail about nothing. So, yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough. Fair
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Again, I think the biggest part though is that it just feels like a different mind head space that the character's in, and it's all of the sudden, because Jake doesn't seem to be pushing anymore and there doesn't seem to be a reason for him to be becoming complacent either.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, I'm conflicted on that to be honest. I can see where your point is.'cause him going to see his parents wasn't in character with that really at all. also important to like go see his family. There's important aspects to that. And the auction he kind of just has to be at anyway. Um, and in all reality, the auction takes what, like eight hours of real time maybe
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. But eight hours of real time is still two and a half hours in book time.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:book time.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:And that's listening to It at like two x speed.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It just makes it feel long.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough, fair enough.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Hopefully it gets to where you're enjoying it more again, I think. I think it will. It should.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think It should. too. Right? Like I, I honestly think that it, like the mentality doesn't make sense and it's written in that different way where it goes from gotta push myself, gotta get stronger, gotta get faster to whatever this is. At the same time, like there's no enemy either, right? There's nothing for him to be pushing himself to fight up against.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah. He doesn't
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:So,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:challenge dungeon that he is doing right now, or an event, or really
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:yeah. Yeah, so it, it is a combination of those two things and all the other books have had that, so it's like, it's just different. So I think that throws a lot of people off and then it is slower. So I think that is the, the extra little bit. But I will continue listening I don't know how fast I will be motivated to get through it, but
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Would
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I will continue
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:if you didn't have me going? I love this book series. I love it. I love it. I love it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:at this point. Yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay. Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:right. Like if this was book two and this was happening, then I would, it would be more that way. But this is book six. Like I have listened to hours and hours and hours of these characters. I've gotten to know so many of them. I still want to know what happens to these characters. So this is a lull. It's not great, I understand that. But hopefully things pick up and I get to figure out the answers to all my questions and stuff.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:You'll keep growing and it'll keep going. It'll be good. I'm excited. I'm still very curious about where it's gonna go moving forward. Alright guys, with that, let's go to our shared topic. I'll give my brief thoughts first and then I'll go to you the, well, um, I had heard this was a incredible book, incredible movie. I was very interested in it'cause there's nothing I've else, I've really seen quite like it. three minutes hurt this movie a lot. Um. teaching a class and the class gets over and he's this giant, like very morbidly obese man, he's gay. And there's some like, doesn't, doesn't show a lot, but there's some gay porn that pops up on his laptop and he is obviously jerking off. And like, just didn't need to see that. It wasn't good. And then you're, I was thinking, okay, they're explaining that he's gay, like that's important to the character and to the story. But two, three minutes later you have her, his Asian best friend who's taking care of him, who's a nurse who says when the missionary, when she's talking to the missionary, it killed his boyfriend. Oh, he's gay. And there's some religious conflict that caused the boyfriend to go through something traumatic. Okay, I get that. You didn't need to show that he was gay in any other way. And it was a negative thing to do. It was not good. It was not worth showing. It was bad. After that point, I think it's a pretty good movie with some very, very good acting. Um, seeing him struggle but not really love himself. it was, it was just heartbreaking. Him just trying to walk around or like having that ring that he pulls on so that he can turn off the light when he goes to bed, barely being able to get outta bed. It's all just incredibly sad and it makes you want to care for him. They, this show is negative towards religion. It's absolutely negative towards religion, but I don't think it's unfairly negative towards religion. There are aspects of religion that are hard to, hard to work through and are struggles, somebody that's been hit with a lot of the negative aspects of religion and he is bringing up those arguments. think the. The Asian friend who is the sister of his boyfriend, and the struggles that she went through growing up in orthodox religion and the brother who is trying to be as saintly as possible, but has this inner demon that he doesn't know how to work through, was extremely well done. I think it was a compelling aspect of the story, even if I don't completely agree with all of it. I thought it was compellingly put together. And then you have this man who before he dies, just wants to connect with his daughter, but he's hollow inside and he, he, he's ready to die. He doesn't know how to change his life. He doesn't know how to be better. you have that moment where everything's falling apart and he just eats everything in the house. And it was hard for me to watch. Um, it was a struggle, but. Not an unwelcome struggle, like it made me actually want to care for people who are struggling that way more. two friends who are bigger and have struggled with it for most of their lives, and it made me more compassionate towards them, not just, oh, they're disgusting. It made me want to care for them a little bit more and be a little bit better of a person. You have the daughter who has been hurt by her dad, and the dad is like, write me something. Please write me something. And he's reading her poem from when she was eight over and over again. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever heard. at the end of it, she's like, daddy, don't go. Finally, these walls break down. She's not so bad. She doesn't have to fight against everything. just wants somebody to love her. And it was extremely compelling. Um, I'm not gonna say this is a perfect movie. I don't think it is, but it is a movie that brings a lot of compassion outta me. And if nothing else, I that, that gives it some points. did you think about it? It's a hard one, man. It's a hard one to rate.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I, I'm just gonna go through it the same way You have, uh, the first three minutes are necessary? I completely disagree with you.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:You
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Uh, yeah. Uh, I'm, I'm kind of torn'cause I don't think that, like the screen should have been shown that I, I feel like the line was here. I feel like they crossed it. They probably could have stayed on that, that cleaner side of things. But the fact that he's doing it is important.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I agree, but I feel like there's other ways to con convey that and maybe it is
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Not that way. not that way. Right. I believe that that porn is the greatest evil that is on this earth.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It's
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right? And so there's no substitute for that, right? That is what he is doing, and I don't think It's just about that. It's about this greater thing of him doing s self-destruction at any way he knows how.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right? Refusing help, eating, looking at that stuff, doing that stuff to himself. He is just eating himself alive. He is. He is destroying himself because he feels like he deserves it,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:right? This whole thing is he blames himself for his boyfriend's death. And so he takes the exact opposite self-destructive paths that his boyfriend took, right? His boyfriend stopped eating, his boyfriend became anorexic, and, you know, hyper religious. Whereas, um, our main character, um, becomes anti-religious and overeats. It's a great dichotomy between the two characters, the one that we never see. Um, so like I am torn with those first three minutes. I don't want to see that. I wish I did not see that.'cause that's,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:but it is
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:it's not great. But I do think it's important for the character in that scenario. And like. to me, that was slightly just over the line. If it were me, I would've cut to him just shutting the laptop. So that way we're implying that, but we don't actually have to show it. And I think from there it would've been fine.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:you could have even had the religious guy walk in and he's like, he slammed his laptop really quick.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. And we would know what was going on and all That kinda stuff. But, you know, it is what it is. Um, it's super hard. Um, I feel like there's a lot of layers to this movie that I can't piece out there. There's obviously the very obvious, um, collaboration or, um, comparison to the book Moby Dick, throughout the entire thing and about obsession and self-destruction. I feel like if I had read the book, I probably would've, gotten way more out of this movie. Right. And I can't at this point identify why that is. Like I was here, I had this level of understanding. I felt a ton of emotions. Um, you know, I, it hit me hard at the very end when the, the daughter started reading the essay and you found out that she is the original author of the essay. Um, you felt like, like the, it made you just feel things in, in such a powerful way. Uh, like when you found out That what she wrote was a haiku and he gets so happy that she wrote a poem, you know, and it wasn't just rambling crap stuff, right? Um,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:teenage angst.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:yeah. There's so like many pieces to, to take from this, right? And, and there's so much left in the air at the same time. Like, uh, did the daughter really care? Um. Did she really help the missionary or was she trying to hurt him? We don't really know. Um, did she actually turn around at the end? Did he actually stand up and walk to her at the end? We don't really know. Um, there's a lot of that kind of stuff where we kind of just have to choose for ourselves on who we think these people actually are and like that's, that's very cool. From a show like this, um, I feel like they give you just enough that you can feel confident to make that decision, but not outright say it. A lot of these shows will leave it up in the air and that kind of pisses me off. But this one, you feel like you actually know a lot of these characters. Um, is the show about hope or hopelessness? We don't really know because we have the Asian girl saying. I don't think anybody really can help another, right. That is absolutely a, you know, goodbye message of hopelessness. And then we have immediately after that, the scene between the daughter and the guy. And that's absolutely a scene of hope, right? Especially if you do believe she actually turned around and read the essay. Right. that. is such hope. She is helping him selflessly, pass peacefully for somebody she absolutely hates. She absolutely despises somebody. She doesn't owe anything to, you know, it's, it's really hard to, to get what this really means, but like for Me personally, it made Me feel a lot.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Me too. And the daughter who her dad, but it's still her dad. And there's a connection to parents even when hurt you, even when they you, but it's still just there. And she's dealing with that connection in a very tragic, very heartfelt kinda way. it was, it was deep. It was ha it was a lot.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Um, the only thing I didn't like about the show,'cause I felt like the religious criticism really was pretty fair except for I. At the very end, like the last conversation where the kid is trying to convince him to come to God again. he says, you think my boyfriend committed suicide Because, uh, basically because he was gay and God didn't love him anymore. And like, I don't know, a single missionary, I don't care what religion you're from, I don't, whatever Christian religion it is. I don't know anyone who would actually say yes to that and would say no. He was struggling with some other things. Obviously, loves you. God knows that you're, you're going through these struggles. wants, he wants to help you. He wants to lift you up. That's the kind of stuff that most religious people would say. They wouldn't say yes. He turned his back from God and that's why he committed suicide. And that was the one major thing that I just didn't enjoy about this movie. than that, very, very well done in my, in my opinion.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I will disagree with you on that one too,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Why
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:because that is what a lot of religious people say.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I've never actually met somebody who's done that though. Ever. Ever.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:don't think it's ever blatantly that way. I don't think it's ever blatantly that way. Right. But. Look at the LDS religion, right?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:yes.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right. They'll say things like, oh yeah, God will love you for who you are. Right? We're gonna take this. God loves you, you're gay. That's just the way it is. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:But then they will go on And preach about how you need to deny that part of yourself, that you need to
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:get married to a woman and you know, repopulate the earth and get married in the temple and all. And so it's like, Yeah, he accepts that part of you and he loves you. But then immediately they will underhand it by saying, but you can't really, you have to pretend that. you're not right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:They do
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:And I think given the screen time, right, I don't think anybody religiously is blatantly saying something like that. in this day and age because you just won't get a message through That way. But you don't have enough screen time to show that So you have him just say it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:do you think, do you think that a large majority of, or even a large amount of people in Christian face actually believe like that? That if they really. Said what they believe.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that they believe that? Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Without a doubt. Yeah. I mean, take it away from something so specific, right? Like the LDS church again preaches that they, they are the one true whole church,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yes,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:right? And their prophets go out and they give talks about how only those of that church get to experience true joy. And a lot of members, they hear that and they say, I love that. I love the joy that I feel. And then they look at experiments and they say, you gave that up. I want so badly for you to come back. That it creates that superiority of, I have true joy, and your joy is not real.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Interesting. I've never taken it like that, but I can see where you're coming from.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I've, I've been treated that way.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That's
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I have literally had Mormon people tell me that. Like, but you just have like such true happiness in this religion, in this church. Right. And I don't think it's just LDS people, to be clear, I think that's true with every single religion, right? I think that the extreme is probably like that sect of, you know, Islam Muslim extremism that is, you know, where they're at, where they are so extreme that way. Um, not all mul Muslims are that way, but like that little terroristic cult section of it is like the extreme, but like, it's the same thing, right? It's saying Choose my religion because mine's better, and if you do it, you will be better for it. Every religion says that.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah, because really, I was actually thinking about this a couple days ago. When you are talking with Christian religions and Christian religions, they fight so much. There's conflict so much. But in the end, what, what? What does it matter? Like Christ died for your sins. You get to be with God again. Like that's kind of the best basic message of all these Christian religions. You need to do something to show, no, my religion is better than your religion. Even though we both just believe in the same Christ. At least that's the idea behind the religion. And it's a hard thing to say, no, you should go to my orthodox Christianity, my Buddhist, uh, my Baptist religion, my Protestant religion, my Pentecostal religion, my LDS religion, whatever it is. It's a hard selling point when you're all selling the exact same character. So you end up fighting over these little nuances that, and most of the times just don't really matter. Um, and unfortunately it causes just a lot of contention and a lot of pain.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. And like from going back to the whale, right, from our main character's point of view, right? The his boyfriend was having that inner fight of quote unquote living in sin versus living in the religion and. He had the, the scripture talking about worldliness that basically says he's a worthless piece of crap because he is choosing worldliness. Right. And that very heavily leans to his mentality and his choice to commit suicide.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Which would be hard.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It's a hard thing.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. Right? And then you go to the, like the whale and he's beating himself up for not being enough.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right. You have that heartbreaking scene where he is just talking about how like I just, I want it to be enough.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:It's so sad. so sad and like. I don't know. It's a, it's a hard, a hard show to watch. It's a hard show to watch.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:You're watching someone just break, and this down in my notes, but without Frazier, I don't think this movie works because I do, always some hype for prestigious movies like this, and most of the time I don't think the hype is worth it. think he did a phenomenal job, like a ridiculously good job in this movie. And I don't think the movie works. I don't think it grabs you by the heart. I don't think it grabs you by the soul and makes you really question things without his performance and, uh, good he did
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think that's true for any of the characters.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:you, I think he in particular is amazing
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Uh, yeah, I agree.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that. final
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:But that's all true.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:is insane. Like it is literally some of the best acting I've ever seen
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think everybody does a phenomenal, like I think the casting of this movie. Is absolutely perfect. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:agree.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Brendan Frazier got the Oscar for his acting in this.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right. I am not upset at that decision. I don't contend that decision. If it was my choice, would I have given it to me, given it. to him? I don't think I would have.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:really,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I, I thought it was really, really good. But then you have that ending scene where he is dying. I, I, I thought it was amazing,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:It was
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:up.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:agree. I agree,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:That you
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:but
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:give him the Oscar for that.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I would've given it to the daughter.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that last really.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Wow. Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. I, I think that like Brendan Frazier absolutely does. Like I, I'm 10 out of 10 performance.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Totally agree. Not discounting that at all. Right. I think that the Asian chick, right, she does a nine out of 10 performance.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:She does a great
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:She does really, really great. The missionary nine outta 10 performance.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:The freaking pizza delivery guy
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:10 out of 10 performance for his little screen time. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Amazing. Uh, even the students in the class, right. Which I feel like would be very hard for an actor where you're just acting in front of a screen and not feeding off of anybody else's energy. Same with like voice actors. I was super impressed with how they did it and like how They were naturally reacting at the same time when he turned the camera on and showed who he was. Right, right. Like the timing of that had to have been so hard to get down. They all did a great job. with it. But the daughter to me, the entire time, every second that she is on screen, she is absolutely astounding.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Wow. I agree. She's very good. Like even if I didn't know Brandon got the Oscar for this, like for one second, minute, didn't believe that he was a giant fat person ever. Like
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. But that's'cause he was
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:He wore a fat suit. He wasn't actually fat.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:at this point in time in his life, but he had major weight problems following his back surgery.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I know, but not, not this major. Like he,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:No, but like
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:pound life person.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah, but like six and 400 pounds aren't that different at the end of the day.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Was he, all the way up to like 400 pounds? Was
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I don't know what he actually was, but he was, he was a big? dude. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I thought he
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:And like,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:not like that big. Anyway,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:like you believed it.'cause he has that kind of thing to pull on. Right? He, he, he knows what like the fat guy thing feels like.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:He can exaggerate it. And he's an actor and he's a phenomenal actor and I'm glad that he's making his comeback. I'm glad that he got his Oscar. I'm, I'm absolutely, like, I am not saying he doesn't deserve that Oscar at all. I'm just saying if it was my choice, I would've given the slight edge to the Daughter. because
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:at the very end of the day, right, Brendan Frazier is acting in a chair.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Right. And the way that the daughter moves And the way she acts and she uses her whole body and she's moving around and she's doing all of these things,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:And
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:just,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:hard to come off as that like angsty teenager and have it be very realistic that you don't see that very often. Most of the time it comes off a little cartoonish,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:it comes off a little cartoonish,
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:believable.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:but, uh, she does it so well that when her mom calls her evil, we as an audience contemplate it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:yes. Yes, you're right.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:pretty
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think That's what puts it over the edge for her.'cause like angsty, you know, teen Hates her Dad seen it A thousand times.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:A
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:See it all over the place.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Have it be that believable is
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:But Have it be that believable contemplate is she evil? And also just feel so heartbroken for her because her mom is this alcoholic, you know, money hoarding person. Her dad abandoned her when she's eight. So you totally get where she's coming from with all of these things and she absolutely kills it.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:and the writing is good enough that you actually question was she helping the missionary or was she just evil?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. Was she messing with the missionary? Was she helping the missionary? Did she actually turn around at the end?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:them? I.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah, did. Was she actually, did she actually stop at the end? Like, let's, let's talk about that. Let's wrap it up with that. What is your interpretation at the end? Did she stop and read it? Did he stand up and walk?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:I think so. Yes. was my interpretation is yes. What do you think?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I think she stopped. I don't think? he stood.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay. You think so? You think he died and that was like part of the death vision? Is
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. Yeah. Because going up to that point, he was already starting to be delusional, right? You had the nurse say like, this is a, he is dying now. This is the end. You have her like trying to stay in the room, like she wants to be there for him in his last moments. But he says, leave me and my daughter alone, right? Like, that's gotta be hard for her. She looks back, she says goodbye, right? Uh, you have the daughter storming out of the room mad, right? So she like, she very clearly could have left, but it cuts to his face and you go from seeing her silhouette on him to growing light coming into the room, her silhouette's gone. As he stands up, right? And then he, he comes to her and she takes a couple of steps to him. I think it's all just him in his last moments, believing that he did that and a metaphorical meeting in the middle of the two characters and not a physical meaning of the two characters.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Interesting. So with that, what do you give this movie? What do you rate it?
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I don't know. It's really hard.'cause the one side of me that says this is so deep, right? You have the Moby Dick stuff and there's, I feel like there's so many layers to it. I still haven't compared kind like been able to pull it in, like I watched it in square aspect ratio. I have no idea why it was in Square Aspect ratio.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Hmm.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:There's no reason in this day and age it should have been, but I feel like there's a reason the director chose to do that. Right? So I feel like, man, this really could be a nine outta 10 movie
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:'cause of how strong of emotions it was because of all these layers. And then, and being able to say like, I feel like those layers are actually there. It's not like I'm hoping that it, there's more to it. I feel like there's actually more to it. I just don't get it. But then there's the other side of it of I don't get it. Right. And on a practical, like, would I rewatch this movie? How inclined am I to rewatch this movie? Would I recommend this movie? Right? If I, if I go through those kind of questions, it's more like a seven and a half, maybe an eight kind of range. So like, that's what I will say. It is a seven and a half to a nine.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Okay. For me, I, I put it in as an 8.4. It's one of the rare movies that's like Schindler's List, where I think Schindler's List is a brilliant movie. Uh, it's great. I. I, I would rate Schindler's List higher than this movie, it's also a movie that I don't care about watching maybe ever again unless we do it for a podcast, it is also just a hard movie to watch. And why I'm grateful that I have watched it. I'm grateful that I watched the, well, it was very impactful for me. I will remember the way it impacts me. I don't necessarily want to watch it again,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:You don't want, you don't want to watch it again.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:not necessarily no.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Did you, were you at all inclined to read Moby Dick because of it?
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Um, yes, which is a pretty amazing thing from the movie because I, I was supposed to read it in school and it was the only, only book I've ever just done SparkNotes for, because it was so boring that I, literally just could not do it. couldn't do it.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:I did not have to read Moby Dickens wall, but I sparked them. Just everything.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Oh, was the only one that I did and I couldn't do it. So the fact that it made me curious to reread that book that I thought was awful, says a lot about the movie, but no, I don't. It's one that I have a couple people that I would be interested to watch the movie with, just to share it with them, but do I wanna watch this movie by myself again? Not particularly, though I do think it's very, very well done.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Okay. Yeah. I, I'm just, I'm still torn'cause I'm with you 100%. I don't think I actually will watch it again. But coming off of it, there was a small percentage of me that was like, maybe I should read Moby Dick and rewatch this. I don't think I actually will, because that is not my kind of book at all. But like the fact that it made me question that
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Pretty amazing.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:pretty super amazing. Right.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Yeah,
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:movie could do that, it should be a nine or a 10. Right. For me because
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:that's fair.
josh-dietrich_1_04-20-2025_174431:Yeah. But yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna stick to my, probably about a seven and a half, but like would not be mad rating it a nine either.'cause of just, yeah, there's so many unknowns to it for me.
konlin-gappmayer_1_04-20-2025_214425:Fair enough. Alright guys, that is our Episo episode. The Well is a hard movie to watch, but it is one that I would recommend giving a try, especially if you're at a point where you really want something that you can ponder and really.
konlin-gappmayer_2_04-20-2025_230409:I would recommend it if it's something you wanna ponder and really reflect on. You want something that can really dig in and help you examine who you are, your soul, like thoughts, different things like that. This podcast was about movies, like the Well, things that leave an impact on us, and it's an impactful movie. We appreciate you guys watching. We, I am going to watch the Electric State that was recommended by one of our comments. It will be on our next podcast. If you have any other recommendations for us, we'd love to watch'em talk about'em. We appreciate you guys. See ya. Bye.
