Also thanks for the absinthe info @meierthered. I wonder what explains the wide variety in color? Different distillation techniques? Artificial coloring? Something else? I might investigate further.
Some absinthes are artificially colored, and anything that looks anything like mouthwash is not just artificial but probably a trainwreck. Spirits that are steeped with green herbs and not filtered to remove the color have a hard time staying green unless they have a very high alcohol content. The chlorophyll that makes them green breaks down into a yellowish color at most normal boozy proofs, this is part of the reason why absinthe is so high proof. That said, the key flavoring is star anise, which will just impart a slight brownish yellow color, if any at all. Wormwood is green, and other green herbs will be used, but a non-green absinthe isn't necessarily a bad thing (and is preferable to a neon green one).
This phenomenon is really well pronounced in Green Chartreuse, a classic French liqueur for which the color was named. Although it is sweet and insanely herbacious, it has to be made at 110 proof in order to preserve the green color. It can be compared to its 80 proof sister, Yellow Chartreuse, which despite using a lot of the same botanicals cannot maintain the green color. Green chartreuse is one of the most bonkers drinking experiences you can have, swirling just a bit of it around your mouth produces a dozen different sensations as it develops over time, and it's used in some great classic cocktails (my fav is The Last Word) as well as several tiki drinks.
I also really like Absinthe. The real one. Not the fake kinds you find here in the US. Unfortunately it means I only order once a year at best since it costs a lot to import it from EU.
A note on absinthe: In the US there was a sort-of ban on most good absinthes because beverages had to be "thujone-free," but just like most "free" labels this just meant that the quantity couldn't exceed a certain amount. This was hard to test for and a sort of general ban occurred, but in 2007 this was relaxed into a more internationally accepted level that led to basically all proper absinthe being made available for sale in the US. The folks at The Wormwood Society, an absinthe enthusiast site, have a more detailed article about that. The legends about wormwood making you hallucinate are historical apocrypha that had to do with people consuming absurd quantities of alcohol by drinking glasses of absinthe like they drank wine, even though it is at least 5x as strong.
As for the European stuff being better, like anything the good stuff comes from the people who make the good stuff, regardless of where they are. Most of the fake absinthe that was really cheapo grain alcohol with green food coloring and anise flavor came from the Czech Republic, for example. St. George Spirits, the distillery that Drew talked about visiting on a Bombcast at some point, makes a fine American absinthe and there's good European stuff available at US stores as well. Proper absinthe will run around $70/bottle but it will last quite a while.
That's a lot of info about an obscure thing but it's a very misunderstood spirit and I'm a bartender so I couldn't help myself! Also a fun Wisconsin fact: Wisconsin consumes 1/3rd of the US supply of Korbel Brandy because of the popularity of the brandy old-fashioned, which has very little to do with a proper old-fashioned but is a lovely drink in its own right.
Thank you, Austin, for introducing me to Giant Bomb, and making me laugh so much, and for reminding me that games and their communities can be a kinder, friendlier, more creative, and more loving place than I thought they could be.
I'll miss seeing and hearing your work Giant Bomb, but I can't wait to see where you go from here.
I was listening to the ads for a while but when Vinny left for New York I stopped listening to the free version and went to the premium feed. I kinda don't believe a word any of you guys saying that the ads are funnier than the actual podcast content.
This is it, once Vinny was out ads were out. Vinny/Jeff are the improv masters (and Ryan of course <3), with them separated there is no more potential for beautiful ad-reads.
I think I downloaded it the premium one once but I felt like the cuts were a little jarring? I'll give it another listen I guess.
If all the ad breaks were replaced with the classic Bombcast Break Music then I would 100% be going adfree all day, every day.
If they explicitly say they're going to take a break, they do indeed use the classic break theme. I think the editing is sharp, I never notice any odd cuts.
I'd say VI or IX are the best representations of the series as a whole imo, not to mention among the best. IV isn't a bad choice either, although I find it a bit too simplistic for what it is (and stay away from the DS remake for your first time around).
And put down another vote against X.
This is prob the best advice here as it avoids the rose-colored goggles that have caused people to thing way too highly of some mediocre games. You might like the simplicity of IV though, it's not too long and has nice characters and an ok story.
Tactics is secretly the best game in the series but it's pretty hard to get into (confusing political story, tactical combat with permadeath, hidden classes, etc.) so probs not wise if you don't want a big commitment, but put it on your bucket list.
Very interesting posts about the non-American perspective on how political issues are discussed. There was a great example in the thread in which someone referred to far-left leaning people as "neo-liberals," when neoliberalism actually refers to the laissez-faire economic policies of Thatcher, Reagan, etc. (in other words, hyper-conservative in American terms). It would definitely be more constructive to talk about people who believe in x or y instead of using broad labels that are usually pretty inaccurate.
Regarding the OP, I didn't see it mentioned but of course it's worth noting that being a writer on the internet does not pay well, and many of the intelligent people doing so could probably have more financial security doing almost any other kind of work. Unless you're explicitly working in political writing and using the job to promote your ideology, being a writer is not really a fiscally conservative move, particularly in an industry as volatile as this. I'm sure there are exceptions, because people are complicated and everyone's situations are different, but I imagine this deters the sort of people the OP is looking for from getting into this line of work.
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