What is Life: Recent Episodes
What Is Life
A podcast about the things that make life special. Join Chris & Jinny every week for insights and feelings with rotating special guests.
On this week’s show, Jinny and Chris talk about their experience raising backyard chickens. If you’ve ever been curious about raising chickens yourself, we talk about some of the considerations we made and give tips about how to research coops, sourcing chicks, and how we incorporate keeping chickens as a part of our gardening habits. We spend some time talking about our own personal history with keeping birds as pets and how keeping chickens can help kids learn about the circle of life, in a way. Then we break down our setup and hopefully give you enough information to go out on your own and do your own thing. Have any beginner chicken-keeping questions for us? Hit us up on Twitter and we will answer them on the next show!
Follow Chris and Jinny on Twitter as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice. Follow Jinny’s blade making adventure on instagram @pinkbladesmith. Support the show by subscribing to the podcast in your favorite app, and check out the website at whatislifepodcast.com.
Related Links:
- Monty Don - Big Dreams, Small Spaces
- Subpod composter
- Uncle Jim’s Worm Farm
- Backyard storage deck box
- Backyard Chicken Coops - Prime Video
- Roost & Root chicken coops
- Round-top chicken coop - the one we have
- Murray McMurray Hatchery
- Spring Creek Farms - where we got our second flock of birds
- Will Griffin Bladeworks - blacksmith’s paring knife
Jinny and Chris are joined this week by Aaron Linde, writer in the games industry (Gears of War, Battleborn, Halo series) and Earthbound aficionado. The first part of the show we talk about working in the games industry, but then we focus on talking about the Super Nintendo classic Earthbound, created by the legendary Shigesato Itoi and the impact that game has had on us in childhood and growing up. Itoi also founded the Hobonichi company, which produces lovely day planners every year, and we round out the show talking about our relationship to journaling and how Earthbound ties into it all.
Follow Chris and Jinny on Twitter as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice. Follow Jinny’s blade making adventure on instagram @pinkbladesmith. Support the show by subscribing to the podcast in your favorite app, and check out the website at whatislifepodcast.com.
Show Notes:
- Introductions and a history of how we know each other
- Gears of War 2
- Who is Shigesato Itoi?
- Catching up with Aaron
- What happens when a game is taken offline?
- Knife pun interlude
- The games industry will break your heart
- Aligning your passion with what you do for work
- Our individual introductions to Earthbound
- What is Earthbound?
- Discovering the literary value of the game
- Connecting to childhood trauma
- Understanding the antagonist through his tragic home life
- Phone calls from an absent father
- What’s a Hobonichi Techo?
- The psychological burden of keeping a journal
- The value of journaling
- Different ways people use their Techo
- The existential terror of impermanence and growing older
- Journaling as an angsty emo teeen
- Thinking of journaling as a gift to your future self
- Oversharing on the Internet in the late 1900s and early 2000s
- Doogie Howser style journaling
- Establishing creating a daily comic as a habit
- Yearbooks
- Hobonichi Techo covers
- Jinny’s knifemaking update
- What we’re looking forward to next week
Relevant Links:
- Shigesato Itoi’s wiki page
- The Game Developer’s Playlist: Earthbound w/Aaron Linde
- Maré Odomo’s Letters to an Absent Father
- Hobonichi Techo English site
- Fangamer’s Earthbound handbook
- Chris’ Hobonichi Techo journal comics archive
- That game counselor who listed Earthbound as his favorite game
This week it’s Jinny and Chris talking Halloween traditions! We talk about our own memories of growing up with the holiday and memories we formed with our kids. We talk about costumes we’ve worn, costumes the kids have worn, and the kids’ school Halloween carnival which we volunteer at every year. Hope you all have a great Halloween weekend.
Check out a gallery of our Halloween costumes over the years on the website!
Follow Chris and Jinny on Twitter as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice. Follow Jinny’s blade making adventure on instagram @pinkbladesmith. Subscribe to the podcast in your favorite software, and check out the website at whatislifepodcast.com.
Show Notes:
- Watching Mike Choi’s twitch stream
- Jinny works out why she feels a connection to Rydia from Final Fantasy 4
- Recap from our kids’ school Halloween carnival we volunteered at
- Checking our privilege
- Our individual halloween traditions growing up
- Growing up with American holidays as a Korean kid from a family that immigrated
- Being crafty vs artistic
- Favorite candies
- Healing journeys and Halloween
- Evolving Halloween traditions after having kids
- Our kids’ costumes over the years
- Watching Halloween-ish movies with the kids
- Beetlejuice!
- Jinny’s knifemaking update
- Epic, exhaustive video game reviews by Tim Rogers
Relevant Links:
- Mike Choi’s rendition of Rydia’s Theme from FF4 - dedicated to Jinny
- Instax bluetooth photo printer
- Tim Rogers’ Action Button Dot Net review of Cyberpunk 2077
- Parts of a knife
Musician and maker Mike Choi joins us in our home for our first in-person podcast with a co-host! We talk about the perils of putting expectations on yourself as a creative individual, imposter syndrome, and how to break down the barriers between you and obtaining a sense of satisfaction from your own creative output. Mike talks about his experience being a street musician, designing the FlipGrip for the Nintendo Switch and other creative endeavors.
Hang around for the end of the show for a clip of us hanging out in the knife shop talking about working with metal.
Audio Note: Being our first in-person podcast we were sharing a mic, and Jinny and Mike sound great but Chris sounds a little far away.
Follow Mike on Twitter @mechachoi, and Chris and Jinny on Twitter as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice. Follow Jinny’s blade making adventure on instagram @pinkbladesmith.
Show Notes:
- Introducing Mike!
- Forcing functions for anti-perfectionism
- Shipping something vs refining something
- Putting expectations on yourself as a creative person
- What does it mean to be an “aspiring” something
- Growing up feeling judged and only seeing your faults
- Connecting to Korean roots through Korean cooking
- “You make a soup out of BONES”
- Jinny hates the word “productivity”
- Balancing consumption and creation
- Designing the FlipGrip
- Connecting with Fangamer at PAX East
- What is life?
- Lowering the barrier to entry for creating
- Mike Choi loves Nintendo LABO
- Creating LABO Fit Aventure Kart
- Frameworks for learning
- Fixed vs growth mindset
- Avoiding scope creep through maintaining a strong vision
- Valuing your time when you knowingly engage in scope creep
- Jinny’s knife update
- Creation negates destruction
- Stinger: hanging out in the shop
Relevant Links:
- Mike takes music requests on Twitch
- The FlipGrip on Fangamer
- The FlipGrip promo video
- The Fangamer booth at PAX East
- LABO Fit Adventure Kart
- Nintendo Switch Cardboard Edition
- Fixed vs Growth Mindset
- The Northwest Blacksmith Association
- Knife Steel Nerds
We had a lovely conversation this week with Slate.com writer Allegra Frank about her transitioning from games journalism to writing for broader outlets. We chat about games journalism connections, parasocial relationships and finding your people. We also have an extended conversation about dealing with imposter syndrome, feeling alienated or not in groups and recording a podcast with your partner. It was a joy to pick Allegra’s brain for an hour.
Find Allegra on Twitter @legsfrank and Chris and Jinny on the socials as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice, respectively. And follow along on Jinny’s bladesmithing adventure @pinkbladesmith.
Wanna support the show? Cool! Leave a review in whatever podcast app you’re using, or tell a friend about the show! Or don’t. We’re just happy you’re here.
Show Notes:
- What’s Allegra all about?
- Writing for the enthusiast press vs. professional outlets
- How to get into games writing on an alternate path
- Everyone is connected
- Imposter syndrome and feeling like you don’t fit in
- Finding your people
- Broadening your field
- Experiencing games culture from a bunch of different angles
- Being driven by having an impact
- They’re not “microaggressions” they’re just “aggressions”
- The difficulty of finding friends as adults
- Showing others what is possible in life - being an ambassador
- Levelling the playing field and helping people feel safe in conversations
- Putting yourself in environments that give you energy instead of sapping your energy
- Recording a podcast with your partner
- One partnership helps the other
- The IKEA test
- Seeing friends means something different now
- Jinny’s knifemaking update
- Avery’s Pikmin Adventures
Related Links:
- Allegra and Andrew’s podcast - Aw Would You Look At The Time
- Allegra’s writing at Slate
- Dunning-Kruger effect
- Avery’s Pikmin Adventures on Webtoon
This week we’re joined by writer, cartoonist and ice cream aficionado John Charles Holmes to talk about how movies and games and other forms of media feed into our creativity. We discuss mindful patronage of the arts, the value of using horror movies as a way to hold up a mirror to society, cartoons and how seeing yourself represented in media. We end with a segment on John Charles’ homemade ice cream pro tips.
Find John Charles Holmes on Twitter @sonic9jct and on Office Hours at theyetee.com.
Find Chris and Jinny on the socials as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice, respectively. And follow along on Jinny’s bladesmithing adventure @pinkbladesmith.
Show notes:
- Meeting internet friends: The Podcast!
- The internet friends vetting process
- How creativity feeds into your life
- Growing up and realizing cartoons can also be for grownups
- What gets you up in the morning
- Mr. Boop
- Removing the barriers between content consumption and creation
- Mature mediums
- You’re wrong about damascus
- Creativity is just connecting things
- The things we wished we could have learned as kids
- Going through a creativity renaissance
- Being a good patron of the arts
- Difficulty in games and accessibilty
- Content warnings are a kindness
- Art as a form of consent
- Getting into horror movies when you have zero tolerance for violence
- Horror holds up a mirror to society
- Fear as a jumping off point
- Get Out is a very scary movie
- Exercising mindfulness by watching bad TV
- Growing up feeling isolated
- Seeing yourself represented in media
- Jinny has a girrrrrlfriend
- How we can connect and feel less alone
- So many ice cream thoughts
- Jinny’s knife updates
- The genius of UI design in No More Heroes 3
- What we’re dressing up as for Halloween
Relevant links:
- What is Wootz Damascus?
- Amphibia on Disney+
- Mr. Boop
- Ashé Cravenock - knives
Our good friend Samit Sarkar joins us this week to talk about his recent appearance on the long-running quiz show JEOPARDY! - he was one of the 10 contestants to appear during the controversial Mike Richards week and tells us his story about going up against the current streak champion Matt Amodio. We talk about the odd experience of filming a quiz show appearance during a pandemic, and how that led to the intense bond that he and the other contestants formed.
“One of the reasons we really love JEOPARDY! and have always loved JEOPARDY! is that it celebrates the idea of being smart, and not just being smart but... objective fact. There are things that are knowable, that are true, that are indisputable...”
Find Samit as @samitsarkar on Twitter, and you can find his writing at Polygon.com.
Find the What is Life cohosts on Twitter and Instagram as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice. You can find our website at whatislifepodcast.com
Wanna support the show? Cool! Leave a review in whatever podcast app you’re using, or tell a friend about the show! Or don’t. We’re just happy you’re here.
Show notes:
- Apparently we’re the “interview friends who have been on reality or game shows” podcast
- Samit’s episode of JEOPARDY! Aired September 27th, 2021
- How does one get on JEOPARDY!?
- Taking the test
- Playing the waiting game
- The screen test
- Getting into the contestant pool
- The logistical concerns of shooting a quiz show during a pandemic
- How does one study for JEOPARDY!?
- The JEOPARDY! Community
- The Mike Richards controversy
- Taping day & the wacky JEOPARDY! taping schedule
- Bonding with fellow contestants while under strict COVID protocol
- Going up against the buzzsaw Matt Amodio
- You only get one shot at being on the show
- Growing up watching the show
- A recap of the episode from Samit’s perspective
- Can you Moneyball this situation
- JEOPARDY! as a candle in the dark
- Being an intellectually curious person
- What’s life like after JEOPARDY!?
- Rock Band is perfect for housewarming parties
- What we’re each looking forward to next week
Related links:
- Answers in the Form of Questions - Clair McNear
- Samit on Polygon.com
- The J! Archive
- Nothing Can Stop Matt Amodio
- Chris’ old comics archive are now online
- Jinny’s knifemaking adventures - @pinkbladesmith on Instagram
- Nick Rossi’s knifemaking videos
We had such a lovely conversation with our friend Flynn DeMarco this week about poking the nest and building authentically inclusive, kinder spaces within communities. We originally met Flynn in the mid 2000s during his time as founder of Gaygamer.net, the first prominent gaming website to cater to a primarily queer audience. Flynn and his husband Richard also appeared on Season 1 of LEGO Masters in the US and are helping shepherd the same feeling of inclusiveness and representation in the LEGO community.
“We’re all worthy of love, we’re all worthy of being seen, and we’re all worthy of our talents being recognized for what they are.”
“Wait a minute we’re gonna be a gay married couple on the first season of a reality competition show that has to do with a toy that is made by the largest toy company in the world that has massive reach not only to adults but also to kids? The significance of that was amazing… and also a little intimidating...”
Find Flynn and Richard on YouTube on their Tricky Bricks channel, and find Flynn on social media as @trickybricks.
Find Chris and Jinny on the socials as @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice, respectively. And follow along on Jinny’s bladesmithing adventure @pinkbladesmith**.
SUPPORT THE SHOW - leave a rating and review, or just tell a friend about us! We'd really appreciate it!**
SHOW NOTES:
- Games journalism in the mid 2000s
- Starting GayGamer
- Breaking the hypermasculine gamer stereotype
- Shit disturbing
- Queer representation
- The Top 10 Gayest Characters in video games article
- If the nest has not been poked, somebody’s gotta poke it at some point.
- How to deal with toxicity in communities
- Poking the nest at E3
- Finding representation in communities
- Male-dominated maker communities
- Metal shop masters
- Communities with entrenched power
- When do you stop fighting for a seat at the table and start making your own table?
- E3, Bioshock and meeting Ken Levine
- Gamers with entitlement issues
- Getting into LEGO as an adult
- Missing Flickr
- The LEGO Masters casting process
- Representation on the screen
- LEGO LGBTQIA+ related sets
- How to solve the yellow figure problem
RELATED LINKS:
- Flynn and Richard on Youtube
- LEGO Masters on Hulu
- Metal Shop Masters on Netflix
- Rae Ripple from Metal Shop Masters
- LEGO Fab 5 Loft
- LEGO Everyone is Awesome set
This week on What is Life Jinny and Chris are joined by Tasha Sounart, Parks Creative Director at Pixar. Tasha has been an internet friend for ages and we were so excited to talk to Tasha about her passions and life in animation, games and theme park design. We had a lively discussion about meeting people on the internet who you consider friends, even if you’ve never met in real life - as well as Pixar movies, Kingdom Hearts, Costume Quest, journal comics, cooking and cookbooks. Audio note: Our chickens make an appearance constantly throughout the episode, and Jinny and Chris try out a new microphone situation. We will be improving said microphone situation in the next episode.
And Jinny finished her first knife!
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- Follow @whatislifecast on Twitter!
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- Visit our website!
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Show Notes:
- Introducing Tasha!
- Maintaining a creative quality bar for beloved characters
- Thinking from the root
- Kingdom Hearts is a serious game
- Because: video games
- Making timeless stories through cultural sensitivity
- Costume Quest and avoiding pop culture references
- Creative problem solving through constraints
- Halloween nostalgia
- Other Halloween games?
- What’s it like as a parent to have your kids play games you make?
- Video game playthrough videos
- Missing Disneyland
- How do you do theme park design work during a pandemic? How do you connect to teams in a natural way?
- The big board and collaborative tools
- Designing an animatronic Lightning McQueen for Disney World
- Artistic leadership
- How do you get people to listen to you without coming off as a jerk?
- Balancing being likable and authoritative as a woman leader
- Hobbies that fuel you
- The euphonium
- Playing the bass line
- Cooking through cookbooks as a hobby
- We need more comic cookbooks!
- Journal comics
- Representing autistic kids authentically
- Parenting authentically
- What are we looking forward to?
Links to things mentioned in the show:
- CRKT everyday carry
- Bluescape work platform
- The Big Board - Zak McClendon @ PRACTICE 2018
- Jinny’s EDC - the CEO Bamboo
- What is a euphonium?
- Tasha’s comic
- Chris’ journal comics
- Jon Nielsen’s journal comics - Cars Don't Talk
- Keiler Roberts journal comics
- Hilda
We (Jinny and Chris) kick off the first episode of What is Life with a retrospective of the decade since we ended our previous podcast, The Weekly Geek (welcome, Weekly Geek fam, we missed you!) We catch you up on what we’ve been up to in this extended hour-and-a-half-long episode covering a wide range of topics like blade smithing, parenting, comics, reality shows, corporate life and using creativity as a conduit for mindfulness. What is Life is a show about the things in life that make us stop and take notice, the things that activate us and keep us looking forward to the future. Future episodes will feature guest co-hosts, but for this intro episode we wanted to spend some time introducing ourselves first. We hope you enjoy it.
Audio quality note: Being that this is our first time back in podcast land there is some background noise from our dog walking around on our hardwood floors and us shifting in our seats, screwing and unscrewing our coffee thermoses and so forth. This will be improved in future episodes! We will also get a proper theme song soon but for this episode it’s Stem by Lower Dens off the album Nootropics. There are also a few curse words here and there, so if you’re listening with kids around please be aware we drop a few F bombs from time to time.
Connect with us on twitter @whatislifecast or leave a review and let us know what you think! Find Chris and Jinny on Instagram and Twitter @chrisfurniss and @jinnyjuice respectively.