Shawn (00:01): Hey everybody. And welcome to English all over the place. English All of the Place is a podcast and we are producing at IUHW for English learners as a way to improve your English and hopefully be entertained at the same time. I am your host Shawn De Haven with
Barney (00:18): You guys can just go ahead and call me Barnie,
Shawn (00:20): Oh come on! Give us all your confusing names.
Barney (00:24): Alright. And starting with the most confusing, it's Barnabas and we'll just go with J for the middle initial and Martin.
Shawn (00:32): The J stands for Jennifer.
Barney (00:35): My dad always wanted a girl.
Shawn (00:36): Mom wanted a girl.
Barney (00:36): Yeah, both.
Shawn (00:37): OK, Really?
Barney (00:38): No.
Shawn (00:39): Well that's --
Barney (00:41): I do have a sister though.
Shawn (00:42): Alright. Good for them.
Barney (00:44): Thankfully.
Shawn (00:44): So today I thought we would talk about, uh, what kind of entertainment, um, are we enjoying right now? Whether it be movies or TV shows, music, books, whatever. And we would introduce a couple of those and hopefully you guys can, uh, take some time to enjoy them on the side between studying and whatever you're doing.
Barney (01:05): And stop playing those dumb apps and do some things that actually, uh, help you learn English and be more well-rounded.
Shawn (01:11): Well, okay. Wow. Mr. Negativity here. Hi, I'm Shawn. I'm the cheerful one. Okay. So,
Barney (01:20): And if you know us, you know, that's a joke.
Shawn (01:23): Yes, it is. I'm Mr. Positivity. Um, so, uh, Barney.
Barney (01:29): Yep.
Shawn (01:30): Okay. I wasn't sure if I should call you J or, or Martin.
Barney (01:34): or initial J.
Shawn (01:35):
yes. Initial J um, Barney.
Barney (01:39): Yes.
Shawn (01:41): What are you enjoying right now?
Barney (01:42): Yeah, um, with, uh, with a very young son and a slightly older son, that's vague, uh, I don't have a lot of time to just sit down and watch movies. Um, later on, I will recommend a few things here and there, but the one thing that I do have time to do is, um, well, it's kind of a, uh, it's along the lines of choose your own adventure. So...
Shawn (02:08): And, and just, just to fill in, uh, our Japanese listeners, what is a choose your own adventure,
Barney (02:13): Right. Uh, I guess you could qualify it as interactive reading. Um, you probably remember these from when you were little.
Shawn (02:20): Yes. I love them,
Barney (02:21): You, um, you know, you start off at page one and then, um, you know, you read through, and then it gives you choices, maybe up to two choices? I think...
Shawn (02:29): Say like, uh, uh, you come to a cave with a dragon,
Barney (02:33): Right, right, right, right.
Shawn (02:33): And, uh, if you throw a spe-, if you want to throw a spear turn to page two, if you want to run away, turn to page three.
Barney (02:42): Yeah, exactly. Right. Yeah.
Shawn (02:43): And then those two different, uh, choices, would lead you on different pathways.
Barney (02:48): Right, exactly. Yeah. So if you tried to read the book from cover to cover, it wouldn't make any sense.
Shawn (02:52): Yeah.
Barney (02:53): Yeah. So then from page three, you might end up at page 57 and then be back at page five. Depends on your choices. Uh, that's-- this is in the same vein. Um, it's very interesting. Not all of the stories in here are, um, you know, dragon, medieval stories they have, um, um, I'll tell you the title a little bit. They have, um, stories like zombie stories. They have, um, detective stories. They have, um, even they call it gamified novels, um, like actual novels that are out there that they, they turned into this kind of interactive choice even of children's books. Um,
Shawn (03:32): So maybe Humpty Dumpty didn't have a big fall.
Barney (03:35): Yeah. Somebody called him, if you, if you're fast enough to catch him, turn to page three, um, even Oregon Trail,
Shawn (03:43): For all your kids of the eighties.
Barney (03:44): Yes. With your, with your Apple IIEs. The title is so strange. I don't know why they gave it such a long title.
Shawn (03:54): Okay. Here it goes.
Barney (03:55): And here it goes, D and D style, medieval fantasy RPG, parentheses choices game.
Shawn (04:06): Okay. Um,
Barney (04:07): so try to search that one, everybody.
Shawn (04:10): So, so just to give you a little background here, Barney did not tell me the title before now, cause he thought I might make a joke about it. I'm not sure what joke I can make about that.
Barney (04:22): Could make about it.
Shawn (04:22): Other than you might want to repeat that.
Barney (04:27): I, I obviously I didn't search it out. It's one of those things that, um, uh, Google recommended.
Shawn (04:33): Thankfully.
Barney (04:34): Yes. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Um, I think if you would just search choice games or, um, uh, the maker, the maker is Delight Games, um, and then it will come up for sure.
Shawn (04:45): So these are books that you can read online?
Barney (04:48): Yeah. Um, actually they are written, um, uh, by, by the developer. Um, and I've actually searched a bit about the guy, cause I thought he must be a professional author. He works for Microsoft and uh, just in his free time he writes these stories and um, you know, he probably is one of the D and D people. And then he writes them in such a way that, um, you know, it's two choices, three choices, sometimes four or five choices. Um, but it's really cool cause you can, um, you can accumulate luck by unlocking, you know, certain achievements and then like if you make a bad choice, you can, um, you can go back.
Shawn (05:25): Now, let me just clarify. Is this a, is this an app or,
Barney (05:29): Well, it's something to download, I mean, but, but really you're just reading.
Shawn (05:33): Okay. Okay. It's an app where you read and then press.
Barney (05:37): Yeah. Right. Yeah.
Shawn (05:37): But when your choice
Barney (05:38): You'll read through, you know, so, and so, and then they'll kind of the very last paragraph of that page. It'll say, you know, you could, you know, here's situation, you could do this because of this. Or you could do this because of this or, you know, maybe do this and then it gives you, you know, you know, if, if I want to, um, you know, cast a spell and I would press the, the cast a spell, but you know, or if I want to run away, I would press the run away button. Then it would take you to a different, um, just like the choose your adventure books. So it takes you to the difference step.
Shawn (06:06): I am really surprised that you're interested in this stuff because usually you just like a historical books and things like that.
Barney (06:12): Well, it does have the Oregon trail on there.
Shawn (06:15): Okay.
Barney (06:16): Ha ha ha.
Shawn (06:16): Uh, if anybody knows, uh, Barney or Martin sensei you'll know that he loves Dungeons and Dragons and things of that ilk.
Barney (06:23): Yeah. But I just can't find anyone that is also interested in the area.
Shawn (06:29): Well, keep looking
Barney (06:32): I'll do my best.
Shawn (06:32): Don't look in my direction.
Barney (06:32): If you're out there,
Shawn (06:35): I think this goes to basements everywhere. So we'll be okay.
Barney (06:39): And then that's just it. Japan has no basements.
Shawn (06:41): Oh no.
Barney (06:42): That's why this never takes off,
Shawn (06:43): but it's okay because there's lots of young people living with their parents. So perhaps,
Barney (06:48): and what are they called?
Shawn (06:50): Parasites.
Barney (06:53): Yeah, exactly.
Shawn (06:53): That really makes you want to get to know them.
Barney (06:55): I know.
Shawn (06:55): Um, so can you go and say that title one more time for our listeners?
Barney (07:02): Alright, give me a second to draw it up here. Yeah. But it's really cool. Um, and the nice thing about it is that it's always in development. Um, I've gone through one story. I've, I've made it through 17 chapters and the story is still going and they have, um, this is in the medieval portion of it. They actually have three different characters that you can do and their stories intertwined. Um, so I'm thinking, you know, how is it that this is going to work out for this character? You know? Um, but sadly they haven't developed her story for awhile and they have just been uh...
Shawn (07:38): Sexist.
Barney (07:38): Honestly! Well, she is a demon, so...
Shawn (07:41): Oh boy, maybe the author had a bad breakup or something.
Barney (07:45): You know, I wouldn't be surprised if someone worked that in there so...
Shawn (07:47): Name the demon after his ex-girlfriend.
Barney (07:49): Yeah, that would be a weird name.
Shawn (07:52): Okay.
Barney (07:52): Okay. Uh, okay. One more time. It a D and D style medieval fantasy RPG, and then parentheses choice game, choices game, um, produced by Delight Games.
Shawn (08:08): That is a winner title. It just rolls off the tongue.
Barney (08:11): Why honestly, why not give it a better title?
Shawn (08:13):
You can't even put that on one t-shirt. You'd have to buy two.
Barney (08:16):
Two. I'm with D and D...
Shawn (08:19): I'm with, and you'd have to have somebody stand next to you with the rest of the title.
Barney (08:24): And then one final person, for the parentheses. And you could take it to your, um, convention.
Shawn (08:28): Maybe this guy should spend more time working on Microsoft bugs than, uh, free stories.
Barney (08:35): I wonder what department he is in?
Shawn (08:37): Yes. Um...
Barney (08:39): He's working at home, so they're not watching over him right now.
Shawn (08:42): Okay. So what I'm going to talk about today, I am, I have two things to introduce today and if anybody knows me, I love TV. I love movies. Unfortunately like, like Barney, I have three little ones at home, uh, and two cats. Um, the cats don't take as much time as the kids, but, uh, um, they poop on the floor. So, um,
Barney (09:04): At least they sit and watch with you and they're quiet.
Shawn (09:07): Yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're okay. Um, my kids don't throw up hair balls too, so I guess it's even.
Barney (09:14): Yeah, right.
Shawn (09:14): Um, so right now, I don't know as much time as I would like, but there are a few things that I have been watching lately that I've enjoyed. And recently I started subscribing to Amazon prime for the first time. Uh, partly because there was a TV show called Picard that I wanted to see and they had a one month free trial. I think I'll stay on because it's, it's pretty inexpensive,
Barney (09:39): very inexpensive,
Shawn (09:40): It's like 500 yen a month. So
Barney (09:43): And that's not just for the video, it comes with a lot of other perks through the site.
Shawn (09:46): I don't really need the other perks so far, but, um,
Barney (09:49): yeah, it pays for itself.
Shawn (09:51): Yeah. And if you only watch one movie or two movies a month,
Barney (09:55): It's cheaper than going and more yeah. Um, saves you the time too.
Shawn (10:00): Yes. Uh, anyway, the series that I'm interested in from Amazon prime is called Upload. And this is an interesting story. This is set in 2033 and it's science fictiony, but it's based on maybe where we are going in the future, uh, in this future, uh, people just before they die, can choose to have their memories uploaded to the cloud. And this cloud is like a heaven of sorts where they're, they, they continue living as an AI in this, uh, place. And, uh, the main character, Nathan is a software developer and he dies in a, uh, mysteriously in a self driving car accident. Uh, and his girlfriend just before he dies, uh, she's very rich, she hasn't uploaded. And she pays for him to go to, I think it's Lakeview Terrace or something like that. It's this beautiful lodge on a lake and it's this heaven for rich people.
Barney (11:11): Okay.
Shawn (11:11): And she's paying for all of it. Ah, it's a very cool world. Um, and because it's AI in this world, you know, he's walking around, but there's also funny things like popups, popup ads, occasionally they'll bug you, or, or just interesting quirks that would happen in the Internet in the future. And imagine that happening, having a popup ad pop up when you're walking down the hall right in front of you, it could be a bit annoying. Um, but it brings, and there's an angel and an angel is the, um, person at the company that runs this service that will pop in occasionally to help him with whatever questions he has. And eventually he ends up falling for this angel. She's a beautiful woman named Nora. And so there's this weird thing about how is he going to break it to his girlfriend who's paying for him to be in this heaven when he's falling in love with somebody else. Um, did he, did he die as an accident or was it murder? There's lots of things going on in here. Uh, it's, it's funny. Uh, it's romantic. Uh, there is some mystery involved. Uh, it's, it's a very original story. And it also gets you thinking about, um, what do you want from an afterlife? What do you want from your real life? Uh, what is real, um, is he, he's an AI, but is he living a better life? You know, more honest life now than when he was awake, uh, originally alive. Anyways, so that's, it's, uh, and very enjoyable. There's 10 episodes in the first season. I hope there's the second season because I'm on the eighth episode and it's very good. Uh, so that's Upload on Amazon Prime and it does have Japanese subtitles, right. It might have Japanese dubbed, but I prefer listening to it in the native language. And I think it's best for, uh, English language learners to also do.
Barney (13:15): For sure.
Shawn (13:16): But you could watch one episode with the Japanese subtitles and then watch the ne-, watch it again without it. Right. So it would help you.
Barney (13:24): Right, right. You, um, you showed me the trailer for it. And when I, I hadn't really given it a second thought before then. And then when I saw, I thought, wow, this really looks good. And I'll, I'm dedicated over the next 10 years to make time to watch it.
Shawn (13:40): You should listen to me more often. I have always steered you right. Um, that E.T. Movie it's really good. You want to see it.
Barney (13:52): I know I, when I was young, I know I was, it was scary. I was young and I couldn't watch it.
Shawn (13:58): You couldn't touch Reese's Pieces?
Barney (14:00): No, no, no. Nothing will keep me from Reese's pieces. The movie though. But I liked, I, sorry, not, not to take us on a tangent, but I did. I did like Close Encounters of the Third Kind. That one I did like okay.
Shawn (14:14): At your age, at that age?
Barney (14:15): Whatever age, yeah.
Shawn (14:16): Okay. Well, I didn't get that movie until later on in life. It was always, you know, I was more into Star Wars at the time, and it wasn't anything like that. Anyway,
Barney (14:24): That's, that's true.
Shawn (14:24): Back to modern times where you guys are gonna understand what we're talking about. Um, uh, you'll have to listen to our other podcast about movies from 1981, if you want to get that. I made a little joke. I didn't expect to get sidetracked and talk about that.
Barney (14:42): Sorry about that.
Shawn (14:42): But, uh, the second one I'm recommending is a movie that just came out on Netflix and it's called Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga. I'm so glad I got that title right. Uh, and it's a comedy with a lot of music, of course, uh, with Will Farrell, who Japanese people probably don't know, but he's been a very popular, comedic actor on TV and then later on in movies in the last 20 years in the United States and Rachel McAdams, a very good actress, a very funny actress too. Uh, and they play a very unpopular Icelandic group, a music group. And by some fantastic circumstances, uh, they are able to go to Eurovision to represent Iceland. And now, if you don't know Eurovision, it's huge, not so much in the United States or Japan, but it's like a World Cup and in NHK you have, uh, uh, what's it--
Barney (15:51): Kouhaku.
Shawn (15:51): Kouhaku. It's like if you put- combined Kouhaku and World Cup where different groups represent different countries, it's like that, that kind of viewership, that kind of money involved and people just go nuts for it.
Barney (16:05): Yeah. Right. I'm sure what they said in the movie. It's probably accurate that over 180 million viewers.
Shawn (16:10): Yes, yes. None of them in the United States, but I think, uh, this, people who watch this movie now might watch Eurovision next time it comes up. Anyway, it's a very funny movie. Um, to be honest, it's a little long, and it wasn't quite as funny as I wanted it to be, but it had a lot more heart than I expected. Uh, it is still funny, but, um, I'm not sure if all Japanese will get the humor, uh, Will Ferrell is, Will Ferrell and you like him, or you don't like him, but the songs are great. Um, and, uh, there's lots of different groups performing and they produced the songs that sound like they really could be Eurovision contest songs. And there are a lot of guest stars of past Eurovision winners.
Barney (17:06): That's cool.
Shawn (17:07): And when I was watching, uh, and memorable contestants, there was a party scene where everybody starts singing along in different songs and they all sing together. And, um, I thought, wow, I bet there's a lot of people here that if I was a Eurovision fan, I'd be going crazy. I did look it up later on to figure out who they are, but you can still enjoy it even if you don't know that much about Eurovision. If you like music and you like comedy and, um, it's kind of goofy, but it has a heart. And if you're interested in Iceland, I don't know how accurate it is. But, uh, uh, it certainly got me a little bit more interested in Iceland. So I'm going to play, Uh, the trailer for it. And, uh, we'll be right back in a second.
Audio (17:57): (Trailer for Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga plays)
Shawn and Barney (20:48): Ha ha ha.
Shawn (20:48): Silky kitty fists in marshmallow boxing gloves!
Barney (20:48): That is poetic.
Shawn (20:50): I got to make a poster with that. Um, anyways, so that was, uh, uh, uh, Eurovision Song Contest, uh, the Story of Fire Saga. And that is available on Netflix right now. And the one I was talking about before is Upload and that is available on Amazon prime and the super long title...
Barney (21:10): Right. I know for sure. I know for sure. It's on Android, but I believe it's also available on Apple products.
Shawn (21:17): I assume it's probably available on both platforms even though the guy is a Microsoft nerd.
Barney (21:22): Yeah. Right. Well, that just goes to show how great those Microsoft phones are.
Shawn (21:27): There's a Microsoft phone?
Barney (21:29): Yeah, I know. I think there, there is.
Shawn (21:31): There is?
Barney (21:31): Yeah.
Shawn (21:32): Does it have like a paper clip that pops up and says, "I see, you're trying to make a phone call. Can I help you?"
Barney (21:37): Can I help you dial?
Shawn (21:39): Ah... anyway, so I hope you enjoyed our first episode, uh, short as it was, of English All Over the Place where we, today we recommended different things that we think are entertaining and we hope you find it. And, uh,
Barney (21:56): Yeah. And we just went to remind you that any time, checking out the site where you found this podcast, we have links to some additional study material. If you're into that. Um, and a survey too.
Shawn (22:08): Mmm, sexy, studying.
Barney (22:10): All questions have been vetted and approved and, uh, are completely inoffensive. And, um,
Shawn (22:18): I, and I tried, I tried to put offensive questions in there. They said, no, no, no, you can't ask that. That is really wrong.
Barney (22:27): Why did you even try to go there? They said,
Barney and Shawn (22:30): Well, you gotta try.
Shawn (22:32): Yes. There we go.
Barney (22:34): And, um, yeah. And, uh, in the survey you can, um, you can make recommendations. You can give us feedback. Anything is more than welcome.
Shawn (22:43): All right, guys, we hope to hear you, uh, hope to see you. I guess-- Can we see you?-- uh, next time, uh, we hope you listen to the show and I will learn how to speak English by then. So, uh, until next time...
Barney (22:58): Signing off.
Shawn (22:59): Signing off, we're listening to Seattle!
Barney (23:01): I know, ha ha ha!