John Walker's Electronic House

Fresh as the morning dew, episode 113 of Rum Doings was recorded only moments ago. John with a cold, Nick with a smoke up his nose, we don’t discuss whether extended Twitter downtime will affect the Olympics. But we do discuss the potential for the opening ceremony, to which Nicholas shall attend. We question whether there should be a paralympics at all, and then move onto the strangeness of Mitt Romney.

Is gaming moving to Linux? We don’t actually discuss that, but Nick does explain just what a disaster Windows 8 is going to be. We wonder how Sorkin’s The Newsroom could be better, and then decide to get rid of wee-wees and poo-poos. Would you jump into a volcano? Would you watch White Collar? Would you be a Scottish Catholic?

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/113_rumdoings.mp3]

Goodness, it’s been a while. But finally, Rum Doings returns with episode 112, not asking what ambulances are going to do now there are Olympic lanes. It’s a Skype episode, but we seem to have the sound pretty well fixed now, so apart from even more talking over each other than usual it’s one heck of a step up from the terrible echoes of the last couple.

Although there wasn’t even a plan to record at all on this evening, as John was supposed to be having a romantic night away in a hotel. As you might expect, why he’s not there is the first matter discussed. How do you escape from a hotel? We then move on to plugging Nick’s brother’s book, The Fastest Loser, which you should buy.

There’s brief chat about the Google Nexus and Raspberry Pi, and Ouya, before we move onto more important matters – the details of the Farmborough W.I. July meeting. There’s more news from our new favourite paper, the Midsomer Norton, Radstock and District Journal, including a footpath we must save, and a lady who wants to set our heads on fire.

We look at the Onion’s extraordinary response to the Daniel Tosh rape joke furore. A quick glance at the banks leads on to Nick’s obsessive, dangerous stalking of Ben Goldacre.

We’d really love it if you left a review on iTunes. Yes, iTunes is hideous, but reviews on there are what get podcasts more attention. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to return the favour by writing a quick review.

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/112_rumdoings.mp3]

Bum dum Rum Doings episode 111! Back in our echo chamber, at the bottom of a giant well made of metal, we try to read out an email but then get distracted by everything. Nick apparently wants to “fix” Laura, and then John gets angry with a man. We dismiss the BMI, tell Money Supermarket to go away, and then finally read the email. About someone setting their house on fire because of Rum Doings. A bit.

It gets boring for a while, then we talk about how people are precious over dead bodies, and why John wants to be eaten by sharks. Did you know that baby cells live inside mummies? Probably if you listen to Radio Lab. But we talk about it inexpertly with some of the facts wrong. It turns out Nick’s daughter gets violent when her grammar is corrected, giraffes are tall, and Microsoft doesn’t have a brain in its tail.

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/111_rumdoings.mp3]

Welcome to a very echoey episode, Rum Doings 110. Trapped in the attic of Nick’s evil enterprise, the acoustics match the décor, as we begin as banally as possible by discussing the weather. Then we swiftly leap to poking tubes through all of Nick’s holes.

We question the usefulness of our eyes, and Nick banishes all discussion of free will. John then shares his quiz show schadenfreude, Nick dares to question the Anglican church, and we voice how impressed we are at how the government responds to Leveson. Jigsaws are briefly mentioned before moving on to pointing out how women can’t really do science. There’s a short eulogy to Nick’s cat, Minnie, and then it ends.

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/110_rumdoings.mp3]

Something terrible has happened. Nick has recorded an episode of Rum Doings with Judge Coxcombe, but not John, seemingly on a wax cylinder in a wind tunnel. What manner of madness is this?! And why are they sat beside the Mediterranean without him? (Well, because he turned down the invitation because the flights cost too much.)

But, despite this despicable action, this is indeed Rum Doings Episode 109, in which it’s not discussed whether John will be annoyed by the recording of this episode without him. HE’S FINE. Sipping pudding wine, they discuss bathing together, then as flipping usual Nick brings up videogames. Instructing Judge Coxcombe to judge the show as experienced from Spain, they explore the concept of this “music”, and then predict the future of gaming.

Europe is explained in the simplest form – a cream egg – and then the pair move on to gay politicians. And they get run over by a tractor. And finally, what should Gordon Brown do next?

Please leave a review on iTunes. We hate iTunes as much as any other sentient individual, but reviews on there are what get podcasts promoted, and we’d love some promotion. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to pay us back by writing a quick review.

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/109_rumdoings.mp3]

Gosh, this nearly didn’t happen. After another week of not being able to travel to meet up, John and Nick once more resorted to crappy old Skype, where John is far too loud, to ensure there’d be an episode before next week’s week off too. So episode 108 is a slightly talking-over-each-other job, in which we don’t discuss whether pasties should be available on the NHS. (It’s only occurred to me now as I write this that pasties in America are something rather different to in the UK, and yet I think it still works.)

We discuss John’s impressive squits, and then on a similar matter move on to talk about Jeremy Hunt and the Leveson enquiry. We wonder what it might be like to have porn stars for parents, and ponder the wisdom of trusting God to stop snakes from biting you to death. Again we celebrate how much money people are willing to pay for the Humble Indie Bundle, and wonder if the Youth Of Today still use instant messenger. There’s discussion of the maddest lady in the world, somehow convincing us to like David Davies, and think about the deaths of languages.

Please leave a review on iTunes. We hate iTunes as much as any other sentient individual, but reviews on there are what get podcasts promoted, and we’d love some promotion. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to pay us back by writing a quick review.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @rumdoings. If you want to email us, you can do that here. If you want to be a “fan” of ours on Facebook, which apparently people still do, you can do that here.

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Or you can listen to it right here!

[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/108_rumdoings.mp3]

In Rum Doings 107, we begin by revealing not only how much this damned thing costs us, but an outbreak of sheer honesty. After plotting the demise of a clock, we return to your subjects about which you want us to be angry. Which kicks off with people who stop suddenly on pavements. HNGH!

We establish the rules on looking into people’s windows, spilling things on shirts, and are cornered into discussing how cats are annoying. Is saying “sigh” acceptable? How severely should we punish prestige car drivers?

Nick gets awfully cross about litter, and then when asked to be cross about American politics, we slightly miss target and rant about British and Ancient Roman politics. And some podcast recommendations:

Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History
99% Invisible

Also, to fill in people’s mental hole, here is a picture of Judge Coxcombe and Nicholas Mailer at John’s wedding:

Please leave a review on iTunes. We hate iTunes as much as any other sentient individual, but reviews on there are what get podcasts promoted, and we’d love some promotion. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to pay us back by writing a quick review.

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[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/107_rumdoings.mp3]

I’m feeling biographical. Perhaps that happens to you in your mid-30s, I’m not sure. This is indulgence. Indulgence is acceptable. I’m conscious of a couple of things. Firstly, that I want to process being creative, and secondly that I want to ponder what it is I’m actually doing. And it seems to be the case that I do my best processing in the backend of a WordPress site. I mean, this is essentially the ‘room’ I go to every day to do my work, and my work is, I would argue, to be creative.

I think people reach games journalism (and let’s ignore the semantics of ‘journalism’ – I’m aware that I’m not in warzones or uncovering governmental corruption, but “games writing” suggests I’m writing the games themselves, and I’ve yet to find a better term) from a lot of different paths, with a lot of different motivations. For some, it’s because it’s their absolute dream, to be writing about video games. For others, it’s because they love playing video games, and want to find a way to make money from that. (I always advise those latter people away from the career, because, well, I’m an idealist. I used to because it meant they stood no chance of getting anywhere, but I think that notion is somewhat outdated now, and instead I just find the approach personally offensive.) For me, it’s because I want to write. Why I want to write is a much more convoluted question. But why I write about video games is simple: I think video games are incredible, and they provide me an opportunity to write. (I imagine to some that’s equally offensive.)

I’m passionate about games. I’ve loved them since we had our first Atari 2600, and as much as I revel in great film, literature and television, gaming is the medium that most connects with me. It’s the medium that lets not only the story engage with me, but me engage with that story, and through interaction I receive a connection that’s unique. And because I am wired the way I’m wired, my desire is to express that which I experience, and I am blessed and fortunate enough to be able to do that in the job I have.

(continue reading…)

In episode 106 of Bum Pooings, while we don’t discuss the over-population of Britain’s towns, we instead received your tweets explaining what makes you annoyed. Whatever it might be, we decided we’d be angry too.

Whether a listener should join the army distracts us slightly, and then Nick breaks his own rule and starts going on about games as usual. Then we do get cross about the data retention directive, the use of “gay” as a pejorative (although we do end up banning the word entirely), bad service, and then distract ourselves with suspensions and expulsions from school.

Learn that John can pick up heavy things, and then we get back to being enraged, this time about plug sockets. Is John an insane homophobic bigot when it comes to marriage? Then Nick tries to get John even further in trouble. And then it ends.

Please leave a review on iTunes. We hate iTunes as much as any other sentient individual, but reviews on there are what get podcasts promoted, and we’d love some promotion. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to pay us back by writing a quick review.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @rumdoings. If you want to email us, you can do that here. If you want to be a “fan” of ours on Facebook, which apparently people still do, you can do that here.

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Or you can listen to it right here!

[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/106_rumdoings.mp3]

It’s the onehundredandfifth episode of Rum Doings, which is far too many of anything. Our beginnings are found in Nick’s having illegally recorded John’s ugly road rage, which is reproduced for our listening pleasure (with some subtle editing). Then after a foray into burns and tattoos, proving that all lesbians are robots, and noting the arrogance of Newton, we take to the homepage of the Daily Mail, to explore the reasons behind their success.

The extremely right-wing paper betrays itself with a peculiarly grungy tabloid bottomless column of celebrities with their boobies out. But have John and Nick ever heard of either of them? We focus more especially on one story, because it’s about buying a rolling pin, before we realise quite how foul it is. This would be Courtney Stodden. You can read the story here (although they appear to have finally edited some of it.)

We then get a bit distracted by our thieving ways, and grumble about how rubbish DVDs are.

Please leave a review on iTunes. We hate iTunes as much as any other sentient individual, but reviews on there are what get podcasts promoted, and we’d love some promotion. After 100 free episodes, we’d love you to pay us back by writing a quick review.

Make sure to follow us on Twitter @rumdoings. If you want to email us, you can do that here. If you want to be a “fan” of ours on Facebook, which apparently people still do, you can do that here.

To get this episode directly, right click and save here. To subscribe to Rum Doings click here, or you can find it in iTunes here.

Or you can listen to it right here!

[audio: http://rumdoings.jellycast.com/files/audio/105_rumdoings.mp3]