It’s Amusing for Me to Think About Ben - Ep. 36 of Intentionally Blank

Brandon and Dan talk about the random critiques their friend sends them about their previous podcasts, including discussions about bad adaptations and other things they aren’t that interested in but lead to other fun discussions.
You can join the discussion and vote for your favorite podcast title at r/sanderson: / sanderson
Can be listened to almost everywhere podcasts can be found.
Produced by Adam Horne
Sound engineering and editing by Daniel Thompson

[@JoeMama410]

If Atium is meant to be ingested, does that make Mistborn a food heist?

[@loganm7771]

Mistborn needs to be renamed "Food heists--Except now you have powers."

[@philippenachtergal6077]

Also makes them godivore or deiphage or some variation of that.

[@everettwhitaker7829]

Genius!

[@katipunanball4799]

That means the plot of Well of Ascension is a food fight.

[@groofay]

I think the food heists becoming a recurring segment is climbing up my list of reasons I look forward to each new episode.

[@drakean8]

Agreed!!

[@danielleolsen462]

I feel like I need to tell you that Ben's room hasn't been beautifully clean in about 11 1/2 years. In my defense he saw the state of my room before he married me.

[@benolsen3904]

Hey you made the bed today, that's pretty good!

[@elijahtaylor4698]

@@benolsen3904 I feel like I'm observing pro level relationship communication.

[@everettwhitaker7829]

"Please treat the Gnocchi well." A greater sentence has never been spoken than that.

[@greysonjones5429]

HOLY CRAP THAT's HOW YOU SPELL THAT WORD?!

[@FractalParadox]

@@greysonjones5429 in Brazil we spell it 'Nhoque'

[@DarkPhoenix6853]

I live in Brisbane... I have ordered food from Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers (unsurprisingly, it was gnocchi. And delicious). I had no idea about that food heist, that's amazing. If I remember correctly they actually sell packages of uncooked gnocchi for you to take home as well, so I can imagine there being a huge amount of it in a delivery truck. The owner sounds heartbroken, guy really cares about his gnocchi.

[@benolsen3904]

This episode's comments is definitely bringing all the Bens of the world out of the woordwork. Time to unite and... uh... send snarky comments to SF/F writers?

[@inkthinker]

It's been driving me a bit batty.

[@benstapleton5319]

I'm happy to know Dan and Brandon are amused when thinking about me. I know they aren't, but it gets confusing when I forget they know a Ben and I suddenly hear my name.

[@swordablaze9259]

We can assume/imagine they meant you!

[@danwells9305]

This is for all Bens

[@randodave]

But seriously: How was that, Ben?

[@benolsen3904]

@@randodave Well, since you asked. It was in turns hilarious and embarrassing.

[@benrike]

@@danwells9305 So I like to lay on my couch and doze off listening to podcasts before I go to bed. Well the first time I listened to one of these, I was almost asleep when it ended and one of you said something like "Hey Ben, how was that?" and it just ended. My eyes snapped open, and I'm alone in my living room, it's totally quiet, and I'm looking around trying to figure out who is talking to me 🤣 It wasn't until the next day when I listened to another one that I figured it out.

[@eldestmissbear4235]

So I was listening to this on the podcasts app and it comes to an end with "how's that, Ben." The next podcast in line is a horror podcast The episode began automatically WITH A CREEPY VOICE SAYING "HI I'M BEN!!!"

[@BrandonsWritingRoom]

I have never disagreed with Dan on anything as much as I do on his opinion of Howl's Moving Castle.

[@benolsen3904]

EXACTLY! Freaking Dan has no taste.

[@victoriap1561]

The book is very different

[@karloswald407]

I audibly gasped

[@notthis9586]

I'm always appreciative of the amazing animation and styles of Ghibli, but it often is pulling up scripts that would be a 2 for most other studios to like a 6 in my own arbitrary enjoyment metric. Things like Howl's, Totoro, Earthsea, and Ponyo I probably wouldn't be able to sit through if they were less pretty to look at. Long way of saying I think Dan is Valid.

[@gordo6908]

@@notthis9586 ponyo will always be delightful

[@alexrechkin7]

I really, really like this podcast. It brightens my mood every time.

[@terryschmitt8050]

Secret of NIMH caught my fancy as a child, but the real life National Institute of Mental Health rat utopia studies caught my attention as an adult.

[@miscellaneousgoblin910]

This podcast is quickly becoming one of my favorites of all time. Keep it up guys!

[@ThirdChildFilms]

Loved tuning in to the "Animation History Special". The documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty is a great look into the Disney Renaissance.

[@MeMySkirtandI]

40:55 I don't usually do multiple comments, but I feel so acomplished for getting all these Sneakers references! Too many secrets!

[@kassandra4929]

Thanks for making Ben a part of all our lives ;')

[@Demonreached]

37:22 “He gave me a severe look over his spectacles and said, as if he thought the words were deadly venom and might kill me, "You are an untidy person.” -Turn Coat by Jim Butcher Sounds like Wizard Peabody. 😆

[@MrKenilles]

"December 6th" Storms, I had no idea the delay between recording and emitting the epicsodes is so big!

[@chugg159]

The quality of comments is directly proportional to how long the video has been out.

[@comwom5176]

my favorite heist is still the butter heist :D I love the chemistry between Brandon, Dan and Ben. I can wait to watch the next episode. Please keep going! I think both should eat Gnoochi on the next episode :D

[@user-zk3ce1pw2q]

Looking oh so innocent 😉

[@rambamcalcam3658]

This very quickly became my favourite poddy woddy

[@PenDragonx]

Does Dan have a cameo character in Stormlight because I am pretty sure it's Lift

[@Ruthie888]

Wait, Dan has his beard back! Must have been recorded earlier. I love listening to you two when I do my art because you guys are fun and little, no, crazy awesome weird! Fifth Element is one of my all time favorites.

[@reaganorton1710]

I got to meet Ben during the mini con and he is such a nice guy. I randomly yelled out to him at a restaurant after the live showing and he and his wife sat and talked with me and my brother until our food showed up.

[@rokentom3926]

36 episodes in. What the heck, stubad feels like just yesterday.

[@amyofhearthridge]

Thank you, Brandon. I LOVE Howl’s Moving Castle and Totoro movies. 😁

[@terryschmitt8050]

The Magic personality of just borrowing a deck to play with friends is Timmy. The personalities are more about why you play than how you play and Timmy is, "I play to experience something," while Johnny is to, "express myself," and Spike is to, "prove something." Playing with a friend's deck is usually playing to experience spending time with friends.

[@ignorethis214]

Thanks! I never had any idea what people were talking about on Magic the Gatherer when the comments kept talking about a 'Timmy deck'

[@circularrobert]

On the South African alcohol ban, it was kind of effective, as far as we can tell, but it's not an ideal. It was paired with a very strict lockdown, so whether it was due to the lack of alcohol, or due to no one going out, we can't say, but I would hate to think what state the country would be in in terms of domestic violence if alcohol was freely available. It definitely made us a lot more aware of the rampant alcoholism, like you said, to the point where I had discussions with my own friends regarding their alcohol dependence. For a more in detail story of a "food heist", burglars broke into a liquor store in a mall in Johannesburg, and made off with thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, from hard liquor to beer, but the way they did it is the crazy part. They dug up through the concrete floor from service tunnels below the mall, and spent what looked like multiple days sneaking in and out massive amounts of liquor. It was only discovered shortly before the unbanning of alcohol by the store owner going in to check a few things, at which point the thieves have been gone for weeks.

[@noahearl]

My universe is back in alignment Because from before I thought you didn't find Totoro enjoyable. Now life is ✨️

[@inkthinker]

The Korean Taco place in Atlanta I took 'em to is Hankook Taquiera. But not the fancy locations, you gotta find the one that scares people on the outside. That's where the owner works and experiments. And don't go at lunchtime, the line gets long and you gotta know what you want to keep things moving. ;)

[@edwardlennie5731]

What if the Gnocchi truck was stolen by the evil version of the Gnocchi brothers (like Mario & Luigi / Wario & Waluigi)? The Fettuccini Brothers? The Ngocchi brothers? The Wagnocchi brothers?

[@B-MC]

Someone look out for a Fettuccini Fettuccini Brothers Fettuccini Restaurant, that might be the place to start.

[@sebastianwesterlund8777]

Considering I watched kung fury because of the last time it was brought up by Brandon, I'm really hoping Dan will watch it this time so we get the full Kung Fury breakdown eventually

[@vamsiampolu8438]

I can confirm that your pronunciation of Shyamalan is correct. The Village is an underrated movie if you don't watch the trailer, listen to people say it's garbage for years and watch it on TV and get pleasently surprised

[@monsternside1509]

All I could picture during the first food heist, is Dan guiding a Gnocchi truck onto a big military plane for it to be smuggled back to the U.S.

[@narpassword5675]

That's brilliant! I've played Magic: The Gathering exactly once and that was the type of player I was; there was a spare deck and I said, "sure, why not?" For the hour or so we played, I had no idea what was going on. I was down to one hard I had in my hand the entire game but had no idea what it did and was ugly, so I didn't play it until the last turn and in doing so won the game as ut directed all attacks from me towards that card. No idea how that worked, but I won.

[@alexrechkin7]

Terry Rossio wrote "Small Soldiers", so that's the guy Brandon probably mentioned whom's movies he usually likes .

[@wemarti]

Also Joe Dante as director, and I bet Brando likes Gremlins and maybe The 'Burbs. Or perhaps he likes Chris Columbus (writer)

[@alexrechkin7]

@@wemarti Maybe. I thought of Terry because he mentions him a lot.

[@malice1105]

Props to Dan's pronunciation of Brisbane

[@jonathonj.4636]

Woah, I didn't realize these episodes were on a 2 month backlog

[@SageVO]

Slight tangent to one of your tangents. Regarding Dragon's Lair, I would definitely recommend Halcyon Dreams by Hbomberguy. It talks about Bluth's involvement.

[@nikkyd9850]

I literally had no idea that Anastasia wasn't a Disney movie

[@charles3840]

Tangentially related: I met two Bens last semester and they found all the other Bens and made a group chat together.

[@ericbergland9162]

I feel obligated to point out that Joyce-esque epiphanies are one of the defining characteristics of Sanderson's character development. And that's not a criticism!

[@Evanator404]

Small Soldiers scared the crap out of me as a kid.

[@JoeMama410]

I love the Count of Monte Cristo movie (2002) and I love the book even more, but the movie's plot is basically a summary of the Cliff's Notes of the book. Does that count as a good movie that is a bad adaptation?

[@benolsen3904]

I strongly considered this one, too. Especially since I often list Count of Monte Cristo as my favorite book of all time. Obviously the movie is a huge disappointment to a huge fan of the book, but at the end of the day, it's not a bad movie. But I'm not sure if it changes enough of the core of the story to be considered a "bad adaptation." It just leaves out most it.

[@mscout1]

Remember, if you see someone stealing food, no you didn't.

[@Parmandur]

I've had Korean-Mexican Fusion in Oakland, CA. Kimchi in a burrito is delicious.

[@JimCullen]

I live in Brisbane. How am I learning news about my own city from someone who lives on the opposite side of the world‽

[@TheOvalOwl]

The old Italian women I work with pronounce gnocchi like "nookie" which to me would make that food heist story a heck of a lot funnier.

[@darkokoroshi5883]

...it's incredible how, with each video, i'm closer and closer to planing out a food heist... got a few ideas... localy made donkey cheese for one xD

[@AngryPieMan]

Read the Secret of NIMH in 4th grade as a class. We watched the movie afterward and we all agreed that the magic made it worse.

[@RPBCACUEAIIBH]

Question for Brandon: How to best describe the same event from different pov? (I'm thinking about something like the death of Gavilar, but in 1 book.)

[@xxfutureisnowxx]

I've seen sooooo many copies of Warbreaker and Elantris being signed during these(final signed run of Final Empire oddly absent).....release them already!....pretty please

[@DadBodSwagGod]

This podcast is so nice to their Adam Goldberg

[@daegraith6524]

Wait, "The Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" (or whatever the correct title is. . .) is a Gabriel Marquez García (García Marquez?) short story Otherwise, though, super enjoyable as always!

[@Korrale]

I am so proud of Dan for pronouncing Brisbane right! Most Americans say it with the long A. Bris-bane. But Bris-ben is correct. Nice tie in with the Ben episode. And not shoddy for a man who has never been to Australia.

[@rickpgriffin]

Okay so I have some Opinions regarding The Secret of NIMH, so I'll copy some bits from my twitter thread here: Now there was the one thing that was majorly different between book and movie: Don Bluth added in a probably-magic macguffin in order to tie the movie together quicker. Is it faithful to the book? No. Does it violate the book's premise? Yes. Is it AWESOME? HELL YES Honestly it's okay that it violates the book's premise because Bluth realized he only had time to tell one story: either Mrs. Brisby's story, or the Rats' story. Mrs Brisby is the main character, it makes sense to give her the climax of the story instead. In the book, the Rats basically take over the story at the halfway mark, Frisby gets to play hero one last time, and then the climax is actually the Rats' escape. Book basically ends with Frisby reflecting on just how weird and cool they were. This all works okay in a book, because in a book a story that's related to the reader is basically the exact same as a story that's narrated to the reader. In a movie, you actually need to see what's happening. If the movie had an extra half hour, MAYBE. But this was 80s animation. You get an hour and twenty minutes maximum and you are THANKFUL. So, the magic kinda works as a substitute for how mysterious and weird the Rats were. We didn't get to dive as deep into their backstory, but give them magic? Suddenly they have Deep Insight Into Things Unknown To A Common Mouse. Really judicious use of shorthand there. I understand why some people were annoyed by this though. From what I could gather, The Rats of NIMH was basically an attempt to take, like, Beatrix Potter's Peter Cottontail stories, but then give it a Weird Science twist. Adding magic probably felt like "making it kiddie again". But having walked the line of speculative fiction for the last few decades now, it's FINE. The magic plot device didn't dumb down the movie, it focused it. On the other hand, Jenner might have dumbed down the movie a bit. However. Jenner is technically an antagonist in the book, too. For the space of about a paragraph. Frisby never sees him in person, and he dies in a stupid accident, probably before Frisby even went down to see the Rats. He does feature in the backstory a lot, and he's contentious, but never plotting. Just foolish. His death is what triggers the investigation by NIMH to the farmhouse, which is really only hinted at in the movie. Now, Movie Jenner is just extremely over the top villainous, which is a bit sigh-inducing, but it fits the dramatic was that the animation tells the story. It just could have been better. So Between the two, it's honestly a wash. Something I really, really like that the movie definitely did better, and probably my favorite scene: Mrs. Brisby escaping the birdcage on her own. In the book, Justin helps her. I get that it's cuz the rats are cool and awesome, but in the movie, it's Brisby's story. Change ++++ Now re: Jonathan Frisby. Um... He doesn't actually do a lot in the book. I was hoping for more, given how much he was built up. In the movie, Jonathan's name opening doors makes him sound like he was constantly a paragon hero. In the book, he only does the thing of opening the grate for the Rats to escape and... that's it. There's about 5 more chapters of story about what the Rats did after escaping. But Jonathan barely figured into it at all. I get the kind of myth-making that the book was going for but it never quite managed to get there as well as the movie did. Another ++ for the movie version. Strangely the movie managed to do this better by under-explaining it. The book goes into great detail about how the Rats built this society, and that's cool and all. But the movie, in just giving you tidbits, makes it seem even more mysterious. Other thing the movie did better: In the book, Jeremy disappears after the first couple chapters. Having him stay in the story helps it feel like the front quarter stays connected to the latter part of the story, instead of "this happened, and now we get to the REAL story". Now to the book's credit (cause I've been defending the movie hard), the stuff with NIMH and the rats escape and decision to build their own society IS totally cool. I could definitely see why people would want the full story in a movie. I just feel like it (the book) could have gone farther with it. There's a LOT that's left on the table here, which may be a bonus because it gets the mind racing. Do the rats expect they'll ever compete with humans? What's the future of this world gonna look like? Cause NIMH was concerned enough that they wanted to gas the rats out of hiding. Does the government know? Would they continue this policy of extermination, because they fear what having a human-intelligence rat population loose in the world would do? Of course... this is just a children's book, so it was never gonna go that far. But man, you scratch the surface... Honestly though, I do recommend the book. Besides the whole magic thing, and the alternate ending with Jenner/amulet, the movie doesn't outright contradict a lot of the book's backstory. There's enough there you could probably patch them together somehow into a super cool whole.

[@benolsen3904]

I love all of these opinions and I'm glad you took the time to post that!

[@BenHazel007]

It's always so weird listening to these podcasts because my name is Ben and my brother's name is Adam

[@benolsen3904]

Oh that's just delightful.

[@evilcandybag]

I'm fascinated by all the Bens going "you talkin to me" when Ben is like super common and people are likely to be talking about Bens all the time.

[@jamescaldwell2357]

Where did the panda go?

[@mlamar7399]

If you had asked me an hour ago how to pronounce m night shyamalan’s name, I could have done it easily. Now I truly have no idea.

[@pfow916]

The Black Cauldron isn't really Don Bluth. He did some work on it early on in pre-production but production kept getting pushed back. He left Disney before actual production started. And it spent several years in production hell and went through numerous massive changes. I doubt any of his work survives int he final product. Just fyi.

[@EndeavorDeeply]

I need to know what Dan thought of Kung Fury.

[@jeffweskamp3685]

Adam is Brandon's brother-in-law? I did not know that. Latter-Day Saints must be like Horneaters, they always go into business with their families! 🙃🙃🙃

[@mariamornerud9431]

Oh, "the vial of enemy blood" probably refers to Dan's bitcoins, which he has gonna call that. (?) ... thanx for a nice show btw, makes me smile :) btw, amazing really, how American pop culture reaches the whole world, I've seen every movie you refer to, and live in Sweden.

[@rickpgriffin]

I feel like someone needs to point out to Dan that Kung Fury is different from Kung Pow: Enter The Fist

[@HPirate91]

I made it all the way to the 3rd semester of my MA English Literature program before being assigned Joyce. We read Dubliners once. It was alright but forgettable.

[@4videovideo]

Small Soldiers is a masterpiece!

[@danielesimeoni719]

I'm Italian, and hearing non-italian speakers pronouncing the word 'gnocchi' is flabbergasting. Especially germans give me chills every single time.

[@megravitt33]

Well now I need to know about this Korean Mexican restaurant that's in Atlanta! What's the name?

[@sivula17]

I missed the part, they said Ben is their friend and for the longest time I thought Ben was just some guy commenting in YT and they were trash-talking about him.

[@jamesmartinmccann]

Don Bluth was not involved withe The Black Cauldron....it was Disney's attempt to answer the artistic success of the Secret of Nymn

[@craigroberts375]

They need to watch grave of the fireflies

[@davidwright446]

Men in Black 2 was bad because of timing. It was set in New York, in 2002. The climax was even supposed to be at the world trade center. They lost a lot to the cutting room floor on that one.

[@hudibrad]

Hey BranDan, have you done the food mafia already?(faking olive oil and such)

[@changboyz]

not a food heist, a food crime spree.

[@brookeashton6169]

I’m sorry to tell you that you are wrong… Rats of Nihm was a major part of my childhood and is amazing. Still love to watch it as an adult. Also, The emperor’s new groove is perhaps one of the best Disney movies of all time. 🙈🤦‍♀️

[@maewalker]

I live in southside Brisbane but i have never been to the Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers Gnocchi restaurant--neither of the south brisbane one or any other. However, after hearing this ordeal I feel like I will now need to hit one up if this is how much they care for their gnocchi 😂😂😂

[@johnwoolard4599]

Check IMDB Kung Fury 2 is in post production

[@benjaminschaefer4234]

I'm happy you find me funny

[@samhuntington9449]

He didn't specify that it Is the legal type of coke in this episode!

[@jdsantibanez]

Howl's Moving Castle is excellent!!!

[@plusmanikantanr]

500+ views in 20 minutes of upload 😀

[@davidarmstrong3302]

What WoT book was Adam reading when he met his wife?

[@davidarmstrong3302]

Also, Adam you are a factchecking lord.

[@MeMySkirtandI]

Gnochi dinners for all the gangstas!

[@chris.awilliams7138]

The discussion you guys have around the half-hour mark about Bandon signing books during the podcast. I get why he does it, because people want signed books, and having a page that he touched and signed holds value to them. But to me personally, the act of the author signing the book, to me, only really holds value if the author knows who the book's recipient is. I understand and respect that this is not the case for other people, we just value things differently. But to me it does feel a little soulless.

[@vamsiampolu8438]

You and Ben should talk about Kafka, you'd be talking about completely different things

[@janelf5]

Hold up, doesn't Dan like some of the other studio Ghibli movies? To me, Howl's Moving Castle is one of the more fast-paced and easy to follow. :/

[@aussienick4520]

Credit to Dan for pronouncing Brisbane properly.

[@ChristmasLore]

Podcasts not posted in order? In latest podcast, wasn't this gnocchi heist already alluded to?🤔 (December...a 2 months old podcast... don't know, that's a pretty long gap)

[@flowhannesburg1912]

Right? I feel like I've heard this before

[@danwells9305]

We record several episodes at once, and then sometimes post them out of order, if there's a topic we think is more timely or needs to come out soon.

[@kassandra4929]

Sometimes they post podcasts that are more currently relevant first! (Example, wheel of time reactions)

[@yomanyo327]

I really like your hat

[@superiorgo2368]

The best Men in Black movie is Kingsman

[@Bloodn0k]

Dan said Brisbane right!!

[@blamsw3783]

If signing a book is considered arrogant I think Brian Sanderson of all people has earned a pass on that one

[@cynthialouliuzzi1188]

What is Brandon signing?

[@jaredhuch1537]

Honestly missing the pandas

[@nicoleKerry23]

Alcohol has been banned and unbanned in South Africa about 5 or 6 times now, it didn't work at all lol

[@ipoststuff.2564]

34:20 I hope Ben caught that Brandon fail

[@hogger95905]

Leaving a comment

[@FirewolfKnight]

... Ummm.... Black Cauldron and Fox and the Hound are directed by the OTHER Disney BYU Alumnus. Richard Rich

[@dennycote6339]

Trick you into buying kale...hahahha

[@justinjames3883]

hey so does anyone know when Dawnshard comes out on audio

[@israelcroskrey-warner1586]

Hack time