Brian and Spencer discuss Up and the pros and cons of 3D, InFamous on PS3, Punch Out! on Wii, albums by Grizzly Bear and The Rural Alberta Advantage, plus Friday Night Lights and the book House of Cards with bonus guest, James. And fart jokes.

We’re big time now. For episode four we managed to convince our friend James, music blogger at Green Pea-ness and equally enthusiastic culture nut, to come in for our first three-man show. We needed someone who could talk video games and raise the overall geek levels even further, with what Spencer asked me to describe as “the somewhat idiosyncratic pop culture consumption methods of James Cobo”. He served the show well and may even be back in the future at some point (especially if we get fan mail, maybe not if we get hate mail — listen and decide (kidding, we loved having him)).

We also picked up a new microphone to accomodate, and were crammed into a fairly small space in our luxurious corner-of-my-bedroom studio to record. As a result, there is a small amount of echo in some parts as we continue to master the ins and outs of audio production. Some digital judo took care of most of it, but if you hear a little here and there, it isn’t just in your head. We’ll continue to refine the recording process and get better and better at this, we promise.

Enjoy episode four, and if you like what you hear, review us in iTunes. If you want to join the conversation, you can always leave comments, or email brian@under-culture.com with suggestions, questions, etc. We’d love to get some listener feedback or opinions to discuss on future episodes.

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InFamous is out now on the PlayStation 3, and it’s safe to say we generally liked it.

Punch Out!! is out now on the Wii, and it’s up to you whether or not it deserves both exclamation points.

Castle Crashers is available for download on Xbox Live Arcade, and has been for months, but is still worth checking out.

(Check it out, we covered all three platforms in 20 minutes, how impartial of us.)

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If you’re a little lost on why we start making fart jokes after the first segment, it’s in reference to a recent bit on Conan that Spencer shared with us during a break. It’s okay to go a little blue if Conan does it, right?

Up seems to be universally loved, so there’s no reason not to go check it out. After listening to us debate the value of seeing it 3D, seeing it with or without dorky goggles is up to you.

If you’re more interested in Friday Night Lights after hearing us talk about it, check out our recent article on why it’s seriously worth watching.

Spencer also mentioned a marshmellow test, by which he meant deferred gratification, not the famous chubby bunny game I was thinking of. Honest mistake.

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William D Cohan’s book, House of Cards: A Tale of Hubris and Wretched Excess on Wall Street, is available now from Random House in hardcover. What a wonderful title.

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The Dirty Projectors and Coalesce albums were covered in a previous podcast, so check out the last episode if you haven’t already.

Grizzly Bear’s new album, Veckatimest, is out now on Warp Records. They’re finishing up a mostly sold-out tour before heading to Europe. Their track ‘Two Weeks’ plays during the first break, and ‘Southern Point’ for the show’s ending.

The Rural Alberta Advantage’s album, Hometowns, is being re-released July 7th on Saddle Creek Records, where you can pre-order now and get an immediate mp3 download. It’s a steal really; you could have the songs before you even finish pronouncing their band name. Their track ‘Don’t Haunt This Place’ plays for the second break, and ‘Four Night Rider’ for the third.

James’ last-minute song recommendation was ‘Reason 45′ by the band Apples, which you can check out on their Myspace page.