Anamanaguchi has ‘too goddamn many’ browser tabs open right now

James DeVito: Lately it’s been an app called “Amphetamine” that keeps your computer from going to sleep for a set amount of time. It’s great when starting an export/render or other task that may take a while and then being able to throw my laptop in my bag and have it work while I head elsewhere… Just gotta make sure the laptop doesn’t ’splode in your bag from overheating.

LS: I love metronomes! Strengthening time is so important, and getting more comfortable with a metronome means you get to play around with time more confidently! I would love people to love metronomes the way I do!

What is the first app you install on a new phone or computer?

What is one thing you wish you could change about your phone?

AW: Would kill to get a normal 1/8-inch headphone out again. I’ve been constantly replacing dongles ever since Apple ditched the headphone out. Because they break or or get misplaced. Frustrating and wasteful.

JD: A wise friend of mine once taught me to increase the key-repeat on my computer beyond what is normally allowed via the UI. It feels insane at first but your hand/brain coordination catches up with the speed eventually and then you can tttttttttttttttype and deleeeeeeete things so much quicker.

LS: The only thing I’d like to add to my iPhone SE is a USB port so I can type with a keyboard because I suck at typing on my phone.

What sites do you have pinned to your tab bar?

LS: I have never done this before! I probably should!!

PB: There’s a new radio aggregator called vvorldwide.com . It’s amazing. It’s like having a radio dial in your car except it pools the feeds from NTS, The Lot, dublab, KEXP, loads of different places from all over the world. It’s one of those products that’s like: Wow. Why did nobody think to make this before? It’s so useful, lightweight, and beautiful. It’s amazing to me how detached from reality and human use the big companies are (and have been for a long time). It’s one of those refreshing things you see, it reminds me of The Unfinished Revolution by Michael Dertouzos. You can just build things you want to see!

PB: Tab grouping from Firefox has become an artform for me. I don’t see tabs anymore just folders of memory I can recall like a PSX save file.

LS: 46 and 31 between two windows. Too goddamn many. Most of them are meant to be shared with others or read/watched, every weekend I do a cleanout but there are truthfully a few that have been sitting for months. I can’t be the only one.

JD: I like when Chrome on my phone stops displaying the number of open tabs and just shows a smiley face :)

Which social media platform do you use the most?

LS: Staying detached from social media tends to be better for my mental health on the day-to-day, but scrolling following on Twitter is the easiest way for me to stay connected to games or news still. Instagram stresses me out lately more than ever before. YouTube definitely counts and I do love it very much, but shorts are a rare treat; I tend to watch long-form stuff mostly or have different content with no dialogue on a second monitor, like either a video game longplay or lots of restoration or cooking videos.

AW: Facebook marketplace. Specifically low-balling “I know what I got” type mfs. No one ever accepts my offers, but I think it’s important to keep people humble, and long term, I’d like to think that I’m contributing to keeping the prices low for the next buyers.

PB: I’ve just discovered clothes. So I’m hunting a lot on places like Grailed or Depop or whatever. It’s a lot like the way I treat musical equipment on Reverb. It’s fun to sell stuff and buy stuff… when it’s equal amounts it feels more like barter and temporary sharing.

LS: Video game speedruns! Twitch streams like GDQ or RPG Limit Break are very comforting to me and a very sweet community of fun personalities.

What is your favorite gadget you’ve ever owned?

JD: 3D printers. I’ve been 3D printing for a long time now, and it’s gotten so so so much more reliable/easy at this point. The fact that I can design a bracket etc. for stage production and have it in hand within an hour really is the future.

LS: I’m going to say my Game Boy counts for this question. I use it less for sound design than I used to, but I bought new flash cartridges recently for the first time in years, and I’m ready to get cooking with it again very soon! It’s a perfect little self-contained workstation.

LS: I’ve bought a few different effects plugins that tend to have some distinct effects but end up not giving me what I’m looking for, or feel far too specific to a use case for me to reach for generally speaking. I’ve found more exciting results from stacking and tweaking stock effects than I have reaching for dedicated single-use stuff.

PB: I’m not gonna hate on here… but they exist.

What game do you have the fondest memories of?

PB: Return of the Obra Dinn was so much fun. Any game that feels like detective work is the kinda thing that gets me going, and instantly creates a moment of excitement for me that stays frozen that I can always go back to. I think about playing [the original] Resident Evil for the first time, the first three Phoenix Wright games: I can tell you everything about where I was and what I was feeling when I first played those games. It’s not even a nostalgia based thing. I played Parasite Eve II for the first time two years ago and it was an instant deep love.

LS: I think my favorite video game of all time is Chrono Trigger . It was a world I really wished I could experience in real life and the atmosphere of every place you go is special to me. I have been trying to rip off Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu every time I write for the last 30 years. It’s the first game I think of when I want to start a new playthrough of something familiar to me!

AW: I don’t like forced two step authentication or even worse, the upper case + number + symbol extra long type passwords. Like if I want my password to just be the letter “a,” that’s on me. I’m comfortable with that choice. I’m comfortable with that level of vulnerability. Shit maybe I don’t even want a password sometimes. Just leave it all out there for the people.

LS: Using AI to make music! Blue check accounts on twitter talking about using AI to make music! Write your own fucking music, have fun learning a skill that will continue to give and build and bloom until the day you die!!!

LS: “Show Me Love” by Robin S. is a perfect song, and every time I hear it I think “God, I wish that could have been mine.” The combination of the M1 organ, that 909 groove, and Robin S.’ top line is like a simple meal where the right ingredients add up to something far greater than the sum of their parts; a perfect BLT, a chocolate/vanilla/peanut butter milkshake, the freshest sushi you’ve ever eaten.

JD: The Black Eyed Peas performed at the 2020 VMAs and they all had light up crotches that sync’d up to the show. Why the f didn’t they call me to do that?

PB: Going back and listening to our album Anyway always surprises me. I love it so much. I think it’s the kinda thing that people who didn’t get it will eventually come around on. Sleeper classic even for me ha.

LS: I think the song “Really Like To” from our latest album Anyway is a song that accomplishes a lot of the things I want to when writing for the band! It’s loud and fast, has fun drum parts, fun to sing along to, and I got to do an ambient section at the end; I like showing it to people as an indication of where we’re at right now.

JD: Anyway as well — the entire process was so collaborative throughout. A lot of really great memories writing at the house and recording at Tarbox Road Studios.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?

AW: When I was a kid I met Steve Lukather, the guitarist of Toto, and I told him I wanted to be a guitarist in a band when I grow up. He told me that if I wanted to get the girls I had to either lift weights or get good at guitar solos. I’ve done neither and I’ve been suspicious of all advice ever since.

PB: My dad told me to “never give up” when I was playing Zelda in my basement as a kid. It gave me a big affinity for puzzles, very encouraging. My dad still gives me important advice at all the big moments in my life — I am very grateful to have him.

PB: Investigating criminal networks of the 1990s! More of a hobby than an obsession.

LS: I’ve unfortunately found myself going further down the rabbit hole of Deltarune theory videos. I don’t buy into the majority of the speculation shared, but I love the game and there is lots of incredible insight shared into the design of it and aspects of it mechanically and narratively that I didn’t even realize I was missing.

AW: Modafinil. Jk lol, I try not to force focusing and just let it be a byproduct of inspiration/motivation. I wait for the focus to come. If I’m having trouble focusing on something then I probably shouldn’t be doing it. Like driving a car. And if you attach rituals to focus it just invites the possibility of not being able to focus without said rituals.

LS: I wait until about 8pm, charge my phone on the other side of my studio, get a large cup of black coffee, put on my second monitor a very long playthrough of a game I’m already familiar with (most recent one was Grandia II ), and keep my door shut as long as possible.

LS: Take a walk down the Venice boardwalk, get a two-dollar salad from Chairman Mao’s, and eat while listening to music and watching people skate at the Venice bowl.

PB: It’s very important to fuck off for a minute. I will go out to a Smash tournament in the Dallas area. There’s a very lively scene that’s super competitive and full of great people. I can always go back from that feeling fresh.

When was the last time you went somewhere without your phone?

PB: My phone’s dead half the time so it’s a moment that can happen anytime.

LS: I legitimately don’t remember and that depresses me!! I don’t like that!!

What’s the last piece of physical media you bought?

LS: About a month ago I picked up a used copy of Only Theatre of Pain by Christian Death at Headline Records, great shop I’ve been going to since I was a kid!

JD: I recently bought a record of a band called “Schlong” at Permanent Records in LA. I love finding stuff that isn’t available on streaming. It can be really easy to get complacent with what’s available online but there’s so much out there in the real world!!!

LS: I think the most consistent answer for me is special meals. Something unique in another country, or something really special to which I don’t get to treat myself often. It’s always food!

AW: Vacation/travel/time off/adventure etc... I wish it wasn’t considered so much of a splurge. The same way you wouldn’t really call going on a hike a splurge, but in a world where just existing can be expensive, I think it’s something that’s tremendously good for the ~soul~, and worth regularly “splurging” some time/money on. I want to talk to my friends about what cool missions they went on this summer, not what new shoes they bought or whatever.

PB: Gonna agree 100% with Ary. The value of travel can’t be overemphasized.

AW: “If you cant handle him at his fastest, you don’t deserve him at his furiousest”

PB: I’m very GIF-averse. There’s something about it that feels like wearing someone’s skin. But here’s a pic I like.

Correction September 19th, 2026: This story originally stated that Anyway was recorded at the American Football house . It was written there, but recorded elsewhere.

More in: The Verge Weekend Questionnaire