Idle Talk is a conversational podcast about games, cinema, and everything in between. Hosted by Grace Benfell & Cole Henry, they meet every (other) week to answer your questions, update each other on movies, books, and games, and talk about at least one thing they both took a look at. The *original* media crit hangout podcast.
In this episode, we are joined by friend of the show Liv (@NoLoveDeepTrans on Twitter) to talk writer/director/cinematographer Zach Snyder’s newish zombie heist movie.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
6 Jun 2021
Idle Talk 9: The Gamer Zone
Hello all,
it’s a been a little bit so we did a casual episode to get back into the swing of things and ended up talking about those irritating artifacts of capitalist culture, video games. We are gamer after all. Cole introduces the camp pleasures of Resident Evil 8 and the silly open world of Maneater. Grace starts a deep discussion of Mafia III, which is a pretty weird and special game by our estimation.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
19 Jan 2021
Idle Talk 8: Mandelorian Spoilercast (w/ Chris Compendio)
Your regular cohosts Cole and Grace are joined by Chris Compendio (@compendizer) to talk "Book 2" of The Mandalorian. Before diving in we talk the mechanization of corporate IP, Darth Vader comic books, and Brandon Sanderson's disaster novel Elantris. We then talk about our favorite episodes, our least favorite moments, and what it means to make a Star Wars thing after the black hole of Rise of Skywalker.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
22 Dec 2020
Idle Talk 7: The Playstation 2's Flagship Game Bounty Hunter
Hello all! Cole had a little computer trouble while editing so it took extra long to get this to you all. In this episode, we discuss Playstation 2 games, Disco Elysium, Dark Souls 3, and, yes, Star Wars.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
5 Nov 2020
Idle Talk 6: Existential Games Writing Hour
We are back with a new episode, recorded before electoral nightmares. We talk about playing JRPGs as adults, Grace talks about the disappointment of Kingdom Hearts 3 and the steady thrills of the Resident Evil movies, before we both launch into a discussion of being writers and critics under capitalism. We wrap it up with talking about what we’ve been reading, Twilight, high school libraries, and Christopher Paolini.
8 Sept 2020
Idle Talk 5: Keyblade Wielders Are Child Laborers
Cole and Grace invite streamer Jack (@Hendrixtrog on Twitter and Twitch) to talk about two unpleasant shooters, Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days and Spec Ops: The Line. After a brief discussion of what we’ve been up to, including Kingdom Hearts Union Cross and Fall Guys, we talk about these game’s cinematic qualities, how they both push back against and embody the shooters they critique, and what influence they maybe should have on games today.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine. Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19. Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty Follow the show at @idletalkpod Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
11 Aug 2020
Idle Talk 4: Where Are My Claps?
We welcome special guest Autumn Blake to talk about Kingdom Hearts, Twin Peaks, why she likes Attack of the Clones, and why they hate video games. We talk over trauma, queerness, surrealism, spirituality, and violence. But this is often a fun and light hearted episode. We goof about a potential Night of the Hunter remake, swerve on a serious detour about Star Wars, and answer numerous listener questions!
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
10 Jul 2020
Idle Talk 3: Are We Gamer?
In this episode: Hear Grace convince Cole in real time that the Mortis arc of Clone Wars is bad! Listen to Cole talk about his complicated relationship with Under the Sliver Lake! Yawn as both philosophize about the tedium of Yoko Taro games! Wonder at a big time discussion about the state (TM) of video games! They wrap it up with a great listener question.
Grace offers her sincere apologies for saying the three kingdom era of JAPAN. Not what was meant, it’s China, will do better in the future.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
24 Jun 2020
Idle Talk 2: The Grid
Welcome back to Idle Talk, the show where Grace and Cole casually discuss media. On this week’s episode, we touch on Mafia 3, Hollow Knight, Tron, Italianamerican, and if you listen closely you can hear Cole move his entire podcast setup to another room in real time. Enjoy!
The bundle we talk about at the beginning is over by the upload date, finally making over 8 million dollars! There are plenty of causes to suppor (https://blacklivesmatters.carrd.co/)t. Additionally, there’s a bundle of Chicago based artists (https://itch.io/b/536/chicago-new-media-artists-for-racial-justice) on itch.io as well.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19.
Art is by Kit Liechty @kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
1 Jun 2020
Idle Talk 1: From Titanic to Chet Hanks
In this first episode of Idle Talk, Cole and Grace remain true to the promise of the title. We frame a discussion around 2008’s Prince of Persia, that ends up wrapping around to Coen Brothers flicks, Takahata and Ghibli, Uncharted, and existing in a time of quarantine. Cole raves about Titanic’s sweeping historical drama, impactful beyond its saccharine wrapping, while Grace discusses her trials and tribulations getting through Kingdom Hearts 2.
Follow Grace on Twitter @grace_machine.
Follow Cole on Twitter @colehenry19
Art is by Kit Liechty kitleichty
Follow the show at @idletalkpod
Email us questions at questionsforidletalk@gmail.com
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