I believe series five had an episode involving eating and therefore tasting an edible mask

Character Flaw YouTube video by They Might Be Giants - Topic

every time john linnell yells some version of yes or yeah in a tmbg song is great

If you don't already, follow the "ThisMightBeaFeed" feed

... And that for any band to attempt banging out dozens of songs over 3 years and putting out 5 albums with the majority of them good-to-excellent puts the output of many other bands to shame

I think it's actually a bit stronger than TWITD (which I adore), but think any of BOOK's shortcomings were due to COVID happening during its production. Especially since the physical book includes songs from other albums.

I also contend that (especially) Glean and (mostly) Phone Power are solid...

I interpreted interviews about BOOK's creation (both album and the book) not as "let's do a book, the songs are just filler" and more of "we're making an album, but here's also an art book to go with it." I think the album stands on its own--nothing about it screams "This is just filler!"

It's a cover of a song originally by the Raspberries

... There are no fewer than 5 films I see on "all-time classics of the last 50 years" lists that are on my personal "most loathed films" list, so I'm never one to judge when it comes to one's artistic tastes LOL

Even TMBG acknowledge they're not for everyone. I mean, even though I've been a TMBG diehard since the early 90s (and only slightly into some of the Pixies, I'm more of a Frank Black solo fan)...

I could even say of Nick and Kumail "appeared in a movie about outer space, costarring with actors from Avengers Infinity War & Endgame) (The Martian and Men in Black International, respectively), but that'd be too long LOL

I think this is a case where the novel mechanic of anagramming a word twice, for each half of a compound word, just so happens to replicate the mechanics of a letterbank clue!

But yes, definitely feeling that too on "The World is to Dig." Which is reassuring, in a way: I'm glad the Johns are processing these things through their music and not ignoring them. (Though songs like "Your Racist Friend" and "Black Ops" show they've never shied from such topics)

"By the Time You Get This," "When the Lights Come On," & "Lake Monsters" touch on struggles w/apocalyptic scenarios. "Synopsis for Latecomers" riffs on establishment soundbites re: horrible news events. And "If Day for Winnipeg" essentially refers to a scenario akin to ICE sweeping through the US.

FWIW, "I Like Fun" and "BOOK" were released during (and confirmed to be at least partly influenced by) the 1st Tr*mp presidency and the early years of the COVID pandemic, respectively. Go back and listen to them; you can definitely hear it in both the music & lyrics.

Saw the Presidents open for TMBG, 6 mos. before they had their 15 seconds of MTV fame. I was sort of in a band at the time as a drummer, & ran into the Pres's drummer on a break between sets. I said, "Hey, nice work, man." To which he replied, "Ah, f*** it, I'm just a hack, but thanks!" Good times.

"Contrecoup"'s album, "The Else" is one of TMBG's albums I will listen to every song on with no skips

One could argue the same thing for professional sports? Or amateur sports? Or board games? Games & sports only have whatever "stakes" fans and participants bring to them. The goal of TM is entertainment, but same goes for sports, and both require strategy & skill to achieve their designated goals.

Not to force their music on you, but I recommend the docs about both groups (loud QUIET loud & Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns) as a double feature. They're polar opposites re: subject matter: Pixies one is about their dysfunction; the TMBG one is about how being friends fueled their success.

... I'll only be interested in playing a sequel if it addresses the flaws this one had. But, I think with some tweaks to the formula, I think this could be a compelling series. Grade: C+

...a UFO along with one of the game's enemies. But instead of making me wonder what happens next, there was such little story to latch onto (despite the wonderful expressiveness of "Darwin" throughout the game) that it doesn't carry any weight. It honestly felt lazy, and given the other flaws...

I *beg* studios not to end games like this. There's not really any story here beyond "octopus tries to rescue friend"--which, spoiler, he does--but once that moment happens, there's no reflecting on the conspiracy he's witnessed. there's no time, as (spoiler again) "Darwin?" is whisked away in...

Then there's the ending. Like another (better) 2.D side scroller puzzler platformer from 2026, Planet of Lana II, it commits the sin of an all-too-abrupt cliffhanger end. It's almost comical how quickly it ends, with a begging-to-manifest-a-sequel "The End..." title card wrapping up the last scene

... involving plankton biodiversity in a 1959 study, implies that somehow the octopus is named Darwin, and somehow he encounters a paradox. But you never hear or see him named, nor is there a paradox, so to speak--so while the name is cool and catchy, it's also weirdly misleading and disconnected.

...you have no idea which way to go, so you not only have to solve the maze, but keep dying over and over, and *then* being sent all the way back to the start of the maze, forcing you to take notes on exactly which dead ends to avoid. Not pleasant.

The game, named after the scientific term...

...the movements you'll need to navigate a tricky area. But the difficulty spikes were not consistent, and many areas you could only pass through trial and error and pixel-perfect platforming. Other times, like in an underwater maze where you're chased by a hungry sea creature...

First, the controls could be crisper. Too many times in hard platforming areas or in basic puzzles, Darwin was too clingy, or didn't perform an action unless you were in *just* the right spot to grab something. Also, this is a *hard* game--some of it fair, requiring you to think through...

Love the range of his movements--can climb (almost) any surface, can camouflage, and squirt ink. Knowingly kitschy sense of humor and endlessly creative. Also, though published by Komani, it's made by indie ZDT Studio, and we need more of those!

Minuses: Welp...

You play as Darwin (though, more on that later), a blue octopus who gets taken from the sea with its red octopus friend to dry land. Darwin gets mixed up in, and must navigate, an alien conspiracy on Earth. Junk yards, underwater areas, offices, labs--Darwin sees it all in eye-popping cartoony style

Video game review: Darwin's Paradox! (Konami, 2026)

Pluses: Excellent idea: it's a 2.5D stealth/platforming side scroller a la Inside, Limbi, Little Nightmares, et al., but with the aesthetic of Finding Nemo/Dory meets 1950s War of the Worlds/Invasion of the Body Snatchers. ...

Yes, that's right!