2014 Holidays, Home Improvements, and TV Catchup

Hey, it's David Kaye, voice of Beast Wars Megatron

and TFA Optimus. You're listening to the Geekcast

Radio Network. Hello and welcome to the unofficial

flagship podcast of geekcastradio .com Altered

geek unlimited. This is episode 21. I am your

host as I have been for the last three Michael

Powers. I am joined as always by Steve Megatron

Phillips. Yo And that is my dog tap dancing in

the background. Oh, that's all right. I got my

cat purring driving me crazy So the holidays

just came and went yes, we had Christmas and

New Year's So how did those treat you Steve?

Fairly well I Got a knockoff mp3 player that

looks like an iPod, but it's not It's eight gigabytes,

so that's nice the other nice feature of a knockoff

is the fact that it has the delete feature So

I can either delete a individual file or an entire

folder if I choose. Unlike regular MP3 players.

Although it does not support, it says it's an

MP4 player but it doesn't support MP4. Does it

do M4P? No, it's some weird, it's like I think

AMV and something else. Have you tried AAC? It

doesn't support that either. It supports for

audio MP3 and WMA. and it supports AMV for video

which my old mp3 player which is a Sony Walkman

which is funny it supports mp3 m4a and avi and

wmv so I don't know okay but uh got a crap ton

of candy got the Arkham Origins DLC season pass.

How's that treating you? It's actually quite

underwhelming so far. There hasn't been any story

DLC yet? Well there has, but there hasn't. You

go to the training area in Arkham Origins, in

the Batcave, and it's a campaign. And it's the

initiation and it's where you it's its story,

but it starts out your Bruce Wayne working your

way through a bunch of battles and then there's

The thing that sucks about it is their time missions

Okay, so the second one is almost near impossible

to do as Bruce Wayne because you have to take

down like eight or ten guys without being seen

because you don't have all your gadgets you have

like four and you have your grapple and you have

like a wannabe detective vision kind of like

Catwoman's from Arkham City okay and all the

same weapons other than you get the grapple so

that's halfway decent but I didn't quite like

that very much the other stuff that comes with

it is you get the 16 different skins or whatever

Yay skins which I think is cool. I mean I like

some of the ones that are in there I like the

new 52 and the earth 2 stuff, but well the idea

of the skins is really cool in the games I like

that you can actually go to the Batcave and change

the costume well Okay, I like the idea of the

different costumes and whatnot However, I like

the way that they were implemented in Blackgate

Where oh my gosh my animals, I'm gonna kill all

of them Where in black gate the costumes gave

you added abilities So like if you chose What

was it beware the Batman? I think it's the costume

that I got Bullet damage was reduced by 50 %

while wearing the suit So they do like they add

like buffs so there's like bonuses to wearing

them. It's not just a cosmetic thing Yeah, they

they affect gameplay a little bit and I can't

I I wish there was something like that with the

costumes and the you know, the major Arkham games

No, I agree I mean that's the only downside to

using them other than the aesthetics Yeah, I

mean they're just aesthetically pleasing that's

that's the bummer about it is they want you to

pay for something that doesn't really Do anything?

Yeah, so I wouldn't have a problem paying for

something that like, you know If you wore this

suit you were like, I don't know just throw this

out that you're like invincible or something

or bullet damage because that would make Having

something that reduced bullet damage would make

doing the endgame content a lot easier when you're

being Triangulated by snipers. Yeah, I definitely

agree So yeah, I got that Like I said the DLC

is underwhelming We'll talk about the other bit

of DLC for the season pass that they've unveiled

after the 31st Trying to think Got a bunch of

restaurant gift certificates Those are always

fun. Yes Other than that, I don't really recall

anything else that I got so I mean other than

that I mean it was pretty Pretty uneventful,

but it was it was fun Yeah, I have to say this

has been one of the more Uneventful Christmases

in or holiday seasons I should say in the last

I Don't know few years for me Very light on the

on the gifts, but I feel like I my wife and I

we started like the beginning of December my

wife and I kind of just started buying gifts

for each other like On a whim and not and just

giving them to each other like right away Kind

of like, you know, basically, I mean it wasn't

like a gift every day. It was kind of like 31

days of surprises And I think I talked a little

bit about it on On the last episode I can't remember

but I picked up one of those a newer version

of the Logitech Harmony remote and a new router

which I'm pleased to say I have not returned

the router I've had it now for two or three weeks

It works a lot better than my old one so that's

that's a bonus Basically what I don't have that

big of a house. My house is more like a Like

a small size apartment But it was it's it's interesting

because one of the things that would always kind

of annoy me is that if I had Like if I was in

the bedroom and I had a wireless device Like

I would always have I would always be missing

one bar of wireless service For the Wi -Fi connection

like being in the very far corner of my house

And it always just kind of irked me. But now

that I've gotten the new router, I have all the

bars all the time. So that makes me happy. The

remote that I got, the more I play with it, the

more I actually enjoy it. At first I just kind

of bought it because it was a better remote than

what my dad has. He and I kind of compete. for

certain things, like who has the bigger TV, who

has this, that, or the other thing. But it's

really nice because there's a touch screen on

it and it's swipeable gestures and stuff like

that, like on your phone. And unlike the last

remote I had where all the setup for it is primarily

done from... The from like the computer so if

you want to rearrange certain icons or Edit anything

like that you have to plug it into a computer

and go through like this long lengthy process

With the new remote Like I don't know not all

of that stuff can be done But more than half

of the stuff can be rearranged or renamed or

relabeled from the remote itself So you don't

have to plug it all back in nice Plus another

nice little feature. I have is that I have it

set up so that Like one of the activities I have

is called like streaming TV and because I have

My wife and I watch a lot of we have Netflix

and Hulu and stuff like that So this the streaming

TV thing turns on like the Apple TV and my stereo

in my in my TV With the push of the button, but

before it just said kind of streaming TV and

that was it But I found an icon that actually

says Apple TV So there's a little icon of an

Apple TV and then it says, you know streaming

streaming TV next to it And then I have other

activities for like play PlayStation 3 play ps4

play 360 and they have icons that are like controller

specific So instead of like some generic gaming

icon or game controller icon next to those activities

I actually have you know the ps4 controller the

ps3 controller the Xbox 360 controller So it's

like there's a visual reference rather than it's

just being like a generic icon and the name of

the activity Those are just some of the things

that I you know, I like about it But the longer

I have it the more I play with it the more I

actually enjoy it and it's stupid because it's

just a remote control but It's really nice to

have a universal remote like that. I mean, I

know you can go to like Walmart or Target and

pick up like any kind of Universal remote and

hang on just one second. Okay Sorry, I threw

my dog out so I don't have to listen to his tapping

anymore nice um But yeah, I if you have a lot

of um like if you've got like I have You know

I've got my TV I've got a receiver that has you

know has four HDMI inputs in it and all of them

are in use And various different gaming gaming

consoles and stuff like that and blu -ray players

like all hooked up to everything You know some

people are content, you know having the The um,

you know all the remotes like sitting on their

ottoman or whatever freeze different thing and

you know some people You know, it's the the universal

remotes that you find it like radioshack or target

or something like that. Those are great, too

but there's something there's something really

nice and easy about the the logitech harmony

remotes because You when you do your initial

setup? It is all internet based now. So you go

to the website and you say I have this TV and

I have this stereo and I have PlayStation 3 and

You tell it all the different things that you

have that have a remote and it finds all the

codes for you So you don't have to put anything

in Okay, and then you say So you've told it all

the devices that you have, and then you say,

well, now I want to make a button that says,

I want to watch TV. So then it goes through all

the processes. It says, what do you watch the

TV on? So you say, I use the TV, and then it

says, what input does the TV need to be on? And

you could be like, well, the TV needs to be on

the cable satellite input. And so it'll say that,

and it'll be like, what do you use to control

the volume when you watch TV? And you can say,

well, I control it from the TV, or I control

it from the receiver. So basically when you get

through with all like setting up all that stuff

so when it's all said and done you can sit down

and you can hit I want to watch TV and Or in

my case. It's like I want to watch streaming

to I want to watch streaming TV So it'll turn

my TV on it'll put it to HDMI one it'll turn

the receiver on it'll turn the receiver to the

right input and then so and then I'll turn the

Apple TV on and So what will happen is the all

the face buttons on it will control the Apple

TV the way the Apple TV remote works But the

volume up and volume down button control the

volume for the stereo It's like that too So if

I say like if I'm watching if I'm doing it watching

my streaming TV, and then I say wait I want to

play with my ps3. It'll go okay. It'll leave

the TV on it'll turn the Apple TV off It'll change

the stereo to the correct input, and then it'll

turn the ps3 on Wow, so, I mean they're they're

really nice they range they go all over the place

they range from like 50 to like $300 depending

on which Harmony remote you get and certain ones

only can control like so many devices like I

think the one that I have does 15 devices and

I don't know how many activities you can do but

they're really nice remotes, especially if you

have a lot of a lot of stuff in your entertainment

so I think I don't know I got you know I got

I got the couple of the gift cards from and now

my cat wants to get out of the room you guys

are killing me why don't you share something

and though I'm gonna let the cat out of the room

well something funny that kind of occurred besides

me beating Arkham origins is the fact that I

Recently discovered my blu -ray player can be

connected to my cell phone As far as the YouTube

is concerned Okay and I found it quite entertaining

because my kid I Was showing him because he was

getting restless. I was showing him YouTube videos

of the Muppets songs and he liked them so he

carried my phone around and I remembered that

YouTube had this ability to I could build a queue

on my phone and send it to my TV okay so what

I was doing is I was swiping over and sending

everything to my TV and from there I can actually

control from my phone I can control the volume

of the video on YouTube I can also drag and move

it later in the track of whatever's playing.

Which I found to be quite entertaining because

the kid just turns and he looks and he's like,

huh? Because I moved it from my device, which

he was looking at, to the TV. It's like a cat

with a laser pointer. Yeah, he was completely

confused. So it was really funny. I just I think

that that's a cool feature because it allows

me to let him watch the video without having

to a Type it in with my remote control Which

takes forever and B. He doesn't have to have

my phone in his hand That's always a plus yes

My wife's like you've created a monster. I'm

like yes But one that won't break my TV or my

phone either one Let's see, I did start messing

around with my entertainment center because the

more I looked at it like the last couple of days,

the more annoying it got. I have two power strips

in my entertainment center. Okay. And they were

stationed like behind my TV. And so it was kind

of, if you looked, you know, when a TV is on

a stand, obviously there's that space underneath

it where you can kind of see if there's anything

behind it. And I was kind of... you could always

see the mess of cables that were back there.

So Sunday, well, my wife and I were building

IKEA furniture because we went down to IKEA and

got a whole bunch of stuff for her green room,

which is where I actually record my podcast.

I actually got myself a desk, which if I sound

any differently this week, that's why, because

there's a slightly different recording environment.

And I got her like a whole bunch of bookcases

to go along the wall because she likes to collect

books the way I collect video games. Nice. But,

you know, all that, you know, moving stuff around

and this, that, and the other thing I decided

why stop there. So I got the bright idea to try

and attempt to hide my big cables. Because what

actually happened is I installed what's called

a bias Bias light on the back of my HD TV Okay,

I don't know if you're familiar with what those

are what they're supposed to do. No Basically,

it's a little LED strip that you put on the back

of your TV and it's really supposed to be You

don't really want to have it if you have your

TV in an entertainment center like I do But if

you have your TV sitting on top of an entertainment

center, it's just kind of open and you have a

lighter colored room, I guess, or a backdrop

behind your TV. A bias light is something that

you put on the back of the TV and it shows off

a, it's just a bright light that shines against

the wall. And what it's supposed to do is give

a perceived, it's supposed to make the contrast

of the picture. and the colors and everything

richer because there's a brighter source of light

around the frame of the picture to kind of distract

your eye from just... What it's supposed to do

is just make the blacks a lot darker than they

actually are, than what the TV can actually do

because there's a bright light. To a certain

extent it works But when I installed it all of

a sudden everything like I said everything behind

my TV all of a sudden became illuminated So you

could see all the crap behind my TV like all

my power strips and the plugs and all this other

stuff So I just decided you know if I'm gonna

have this I need to clean this up so I ripped

out the power strips and I ripped out all the

unnecessary plugs like there were like I don't

know four or five things that were like still

plugged in that the just the plug was plugged

in but the end that would plug into a device

wasn't actually plugged into anything. So I just

took all those things out and kind of streamlined

the whole thing and I hit them in this like in

a shelf with like a box like a box like a false

front on the shelf so you can't actually see

them they're just kind of behind everything now

and it's just the whole thing just looks a lot

nicer and then I just kind of today I went and

got some foam like poster board and I have an

Ikea entertainment center and it's really weird

because the TV is actually supposed to be mounted

in the entertainment center so there's this center

pillar that runs from the shelf, like the main

shelf, all the way to the top of the entertainment

center and then there's like openings so you

can see through the entertainment center to the

wall and that always kind of annoyed me so today

I went and bought black foam poster board and

put that up. Like covered up the holes looking

through to the wall. So now it's just a big black

Like shadow box and my TV fits inside of it.

Nice So it looks it looks a little it looks a

little nicer I'm not 100 % like in love with

it yet But it's getting there I just my wife

and I we went out to dinner and we kind of decided

that we were gonna take 2014 and actually like

Make our house more Livable more user friendly

if you will um Because we've been here for almost

two years, and it's kind of the house has pretty

much been the way that it is since we moved in

So like we need to my dad, and I we kind of half

redid the kitchen when we moved into the house

So I'm gonna spend the year like finishing it

and we've got like plans to get a new stove because

you've been in my house Steve I've got all stainless

steel kitchen appliances except for my stove

because the stove was given to me as a hand -me

-down yeah and so it's always been to me it's

always been kind of an eyesore so I'm just like

man so this year my wife and I are actually planning

on doing something about it and we're gonna get

a matching stove to go with the other stuff that

we have which I'm really excited about Whether

or not we'll use the stove is completely beyond

me But as long as everything matches it'll look

fine and my dad and I I also like plan to finish

up my my kitchen There's like some molding that

needs to be put up and to get the refrigerator

that we bought to go when we moved in the house

to fit we had to like Take out some of the countertop

pieces that were in there. So we ended up having

to What's in place in my kitchen right now is

kind of like makeshift So we need to get more

like permanent solutions in there And then I

have plans to like redo my laundry room At some

point in the year because like I said, we moved

into the house We got everything hooked up and

we just kind of left everything the way that

it was So that's one that that's one of the things

we decided to do and I mean I I love my wife

she I told her that I wanted a desk for for recording

the podcast and doing other like special projects

and On Black Friday There was one of the deals

at Best Buy was they had 24 inch HD monitors

for like $100 apiece Nice from Dell and I was

like man. I wish I had had the money because

I would have bought two of them And I would have

made like a workstation for like, you know doing

video editing or just browsing or just browsing

the internet, you know, and I we were out the

dinner the other night and You know, I told her

what I wanted to do and I told her about this

there's this doc that I can get for my computer

where I can keep it keep the my laptop shut and

I can slide it into this dock and it will just

act like a tower for these monitors that you

plug into it. Okay. And she's like, well, you

know what would be really cool is if we got two

Apple monitors. And I was like, yes, honey, that

would be really awesome except Apple monitors

are a thousand dollars a piece. And she's like,

well, what about that one that That one monitor

that's got like the computer with it and I was

like a Mac mini she was no the the one and For

whatever reason she couldn't think of the name

of it, but it's an iMac and and She's like, yeah

that one and I said, well, yeah that one she's

like how much are those I said Well, they're

like they started like 12, but a respectable

one is like two grand. She goes Well, why don't

we just get one of those and I was like, are

you kidding me? So we're gonna another little

thing we've got on our list for this year is

a 27 inch iMac Instead of the two instead of

the two monitors Doing a 27 inch iMac which I

I was a little weary about because I Know that

there are computers like my MacBook was upgradable

like insert to a certain extent like I could

put I put a bigger hard drive in my computer

and Like way more RAM than is necessary but I

found out doing a little bit of quick research

that the iMacs can support 32 gigabytes of RAM,

which there is no reason in the world to have

32 gigabytes of RAM. Not at this point. I mean,

I have 16 in my MacBook and I never use more

than like four or five gigabytes of it but um

I don't know like so we've got my wife and I

we just made a lot of plans for this year and

I'm just I'm excited that we're gonna start doing

stuff for the house because a lot of the stuff

I kind of like you know buy for myself or buy

for her and it's just the house is kind of languishes

by the wayside but you know it'll it's I'm kind

of excited for this year because like I said

the stove which is something that I've always

wanted in the The the computer and she wants

to hang up some stuff because she also said she's

always still like in this apartment mode It's

like you know, you never want to hang anything

in an apartment because it's all gonna have to

come down anyways So our walls are pretty much

bare So but do you have any are you and your

wife like talked about any plans for like 2014

or anything like that One of the things we really

want to do is try and find a house That's kind

of been number one on our hit list for the last

year Unfortunately, we didn't find one last year

At least we didn't well, I shouldn't say we didn't

find one. We actually found three that we put

offers in and We ended up not getting because

somebody out did us Okay, but they were like

Nice homes for the price range we have are you

still looking over here? We're looking in the

the Davison area right so yeah over here. Yep

close by you Yes, it'd be nice too because it's

like half hour drive from where I live now Not

that that's like a huge issue, but It's annoying

when it snows But yeah, so I mean that's that's

the one main thing that we're trying to do is

find a house so I'm hoping that the spring or

the summer we get one because When I do I will

be building a green screen a Full -blown green

screen because I'd like to do a Actual video

show at some point not in my car or my basement

like with stuff moving in the background right

So yeah, I mean there's that and then I have

huge hopes for stuff with Geekcast Radio this

year and convention appearances, but it remains

to be seen. I did manage to get my wife to OK2

conventions, but one of them there's still stipulations

with. Is that TF con yes She doesn't trust me

to drive four hours It was more so what it amounts

to Like by yourself. Yes because because I Have

this issue I don't really know because I haven't

driven by myself that long I've driven with her

or other people For that for longer than that

and it's like my eyes get tired And start dripping

whereas I don't know how I would drive personally

by myself Last time I did something like that

was in high school or after high school and I

drove like two three hours and I ended up in

the side of a ditch after a third shift Job surprisingly

didn't damage the vehicle or myself I was switching

something I had enough cognitive ability to manage

to off -road into a ditch on the side of the

expressway where I was able to magically drive

back up it which isn't easy in a truck a little

truck so yeah that's that's part of why I've

gotten in numerous accidents because I've just

lost consciousness To sleep. Okay, so I can see

where she's Concerned. Yes But being that it's

hectic driving it's me speeding and then I can

play my music as loud as I want I don't Think

I'd have an issue Well, you know if if you wanted

company I could I could go with you If you didn't

want to go by yourself Well, we can talk about

it off air. Well, I just because I um, it's funny

because I know I think we talked about driving

and stuff like that before I You don't mind it.

No, I don't and it's really weird because I think

it's because the way that my dad like Pre -condition

me for long -distance driving Like the my parents

have a house in Manistee and it's like four hours

from here And that was like one of the first

things I did when I got my learner's permit is

my dad made me drive that distance And Like he

drove like on the way back and Like he was like

you're not you are not sleeping like you will

stay awake this entire trip So it's like I I

am I am preconditioned for like long -distance

traveling now like it's almost Impossible for

me to fall asleep in the car I've I've actually

driven from I've driven from Michigan to Maryland

in one day Which is not impossible, obviously.

Yeah Like and obviously stopping it for gas and

stuff like that but I've done that without falling

asleep and I've driven from Michigan to Iowa

State to visit a friend I did that one day as

well Wow without Without falling asleep. I mean

I had someone like with me, but I was the one

that was always behind the wheel Interesting

see I I have no no problem with long -distance

trips or anything like that so But yeah, that's

that's one that she doesn't have the problem

necessarily with me doing it is that she doesn't

try to trust me to make it to point a and point

B because it wouldn't be exactly a... I would

not be staying overnight. Right. Because it's

close enough to home. It's not like jumping the

border from Canada, like I did once before. So,

yeah, again, that remains to be seen later. Right.

But I'm going to be doing the Grand Con again

and then... Hopefully another one pops up and

then I can make it the the big three for the

year. Yay. Hey But yeah, that's that's pretty

much my goals for 2014 All right So we got some

news here yes and people will be happy to hear

that there's nothing pertaining to Batman for

Superman First up though is Denzel. No Yeah,

obviously he's not Green Lantern as far as they're

saying. Are we dropping this Gal Gadot thing

too? Yeah, I don't really want to talk Batman

v Superman. Those were just things in my Twitter

feed that I favorited. I did a mass dump to the

document. They'll be in the show notes, but we're

not covering it. Yay. Yay. Yes, the sad news

of James Avery, the Uncle Phil of Fresh Prince

of Bel -Air died this week. I mean, obviously

I'm aware of his work for Teenage Mutant Ninja

Turtles, but that wasn't until recently. I always

knew him as just Uncle Phil. Yeah, I knew he

was the Shredder, the original Shredder. They

changed the voice actor like three or four times

during the duration of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

in the 80s. At one point, Jim Cummings ended

up being the Shredder and was pretty much the

longest running one in that show. So it's yeah,

he wasn't in it very long because he got Fresh

Prince of Bel Air. But he's done some voice work

elsewhere like in Transformers Either Revenge

of the Fallen or Dark of the Moon one of the

two he was a character in it But yeah, that's

that's one of the TV related sad parts for the

week Don't really want to talk about reasons

to shield. I don't really care for that show

well I guess I'll do it then I Will I marathon

through the ending or the last few episodes?

It's actually getting kind of interesting at

this point now because they're finally gonna

reveal The resurrection information of agent

Colson or are they? Well, that's what they're

leading to the next episodes called a magical

place Because for those that haven't seen it

or whatever Centipede which I think that's retarded

that they're calling it centipede. Mm -hmm. It's

Hydra just Whatever what it just again just call

it what it is. Yes comic book Things are just

famous for beating her on the bush instead of

just doing you know, like we said call it what

it is I'm sure there's some legal mishap here,

or they're just playing awesome with it, but

They kidnapped agent Colson because they used

this entire extravagant thing to Lure him out

and then basically they end up taking him and

making it look like they killed them, but they

didn't and They want him because they want to

find out what he remembers from when he woke

up after he died that seems like we're not going

to find anything out it it could go either way

i think that they'll give a little bit of tidbits

but i don't think they'll actually fully reveal

it yeah i think i i think the only i think you're

gonna get a little more than you i think you're

gonna get the same amount that you would in any

other episode of shield i'm almost betting that

but i the only reason i'm still watching it honestly

is because of that character Yeah, I mean I'm

still watching it too. It's just kind of like

man. I just want it to be Better than it is well

I wish to just stop beating around the bush and

just finally reveal what it is and then kind

of go on to other things instead of doing villain

of the week I want it to be arrow Yeah, I agree

with you for once DC's actually kicking Marvel's

ass In something besides animation right So yeah,

I'm just I'm looking forward to seeing that and

The only pitfall the arrow is the fact that the

flash won't be in it again Yeah, it's a bummer.

So but at least that means he's probably getting

his own show for fall Sure, so he is getting

his own show for fall. So I'm okay with that

So yes You can kind of skip over that the Star

Trek thing. I'll leave that in the show notes.

That's there's there's a lot of previous actors

getting involved in Indie Star Trek films or

Star Trek wannabe pilots Trying to revive it

and sell it to CBS since they're the only company

that can buy the rights for it Since they own

it They own Star Trek Right, so and they also

own Paramount so they can That's why Paramount

gets all the films but So I mean I I hope that

those things go positive for those people I'd

love to see Star Trek return to television Maybe

one day um Side note not a news story, but I

one of the things I have been doing recently

is it's the It's the midseason break for a lot

of TV shows because the holidays so they kind

of go off the air Because viewership is like

down because people are busy with doing this

that and the other thing I Took a stab in the

dark. I actually found I did not know this I

found out that I know this is not a series that

you have seen as far as I know They Hulu actually

has The Legend of Korra, which is the follow

-up to Avatar the Last Airbender. And I did not

know that they had the last... I had not seen

the last five episodes of what is called Book

Two for Legend of Korra, and they just happen

to be on Hulu. Okay. So I caught those. That

series is so good. Avatar like the last airbender

is really good on its own and There's like I

can make small like subtle critiques about like

the legend of Korra that it just kind of seems

to fall Pray to that the last airbender didn't

Like for instance the last airbender one of the

really neat things about it is they had a direction

for where it was going to go and so there is

an arc in that series that that begins in like

the first episode and Isn't really wrapped up

until like the series finale in season 3 So that

like Instead of each season having like a beginning

each season has a beginning middle and end but

of the in the three shows the the three seasons

actually act as a beginning middle and end which

is I Know that sounds kind of weird because you

know a book does that movies do that and stuff

like that but for like a tv show especially like

a kid show like there's there is very little

filler in the avatar series um but that's that's

just praise for the last airbender kora falls

into the trap of it was originally only supposed

to be like 12 episodes and uh nickelodeon saw

the potential in it again so they went ahead

and like commissioned them for like three more

seasons, and so far each season has been like

a self -contained story, like the arc... the

arc that was present in The Last Airbender is

not present in The Legend of Korra. Each season

seems to be about one thing and one thing only,

which has been kind of a bummer. And again, I

could be completely wrong because When they do

season three, they could bring they could pull

some stuff from the first book, which would be

amazing. So I caught up on that. I caught up

on the rest of the current season of Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles. Which I'm still enjoying,

but I still have the one. The one complaint I

still have with the series is that the fact that,

you know, it takes place in New York and there

are no bystanders. Yeah, that's a little strange

to me Every time that's the only that's the only

thing I have with that show It's like there these

people are fighting in the street and yet nobody

is there to see it like ever like Just okay So

that's still fun I at At Danner's request well

not his request my co -host and off -the -cuff

said that he started watching being human Don't

know if you're familiar with this show Steve

or if you've heard about this It's a site in

the u .s.. It's on the sci -fi channel. It's

called being human the premise is that a ghost

a Werewolf and a vampire all get an apartment

together It's actually a really cool show In

the US and it's a remake of the BBC series in

England and I had started watching the American

show first and like during one of the season

breaks Being human the UK version went up on

Netflix. I was gonna give this a shot Very similar

and I was kind of like why can't well, I've already

seen this I don't watch it again but my my co

-host started watching the BBC version and you

know I was kind of like well instead of just

running my mouth on something that I don't know

about maybe I should just check it out you know

because he said it was really good and like I

said I like the American version so I decided

to check it out again I burned through the first

two seasons already of the UK version. It's a

lot darker in tone and some of the mythology

stuff isn't fleshed out as well as the US version

is. The character names are even different. The

premise is the same, obviously. You have the

same group of monsters living in an apartment

together. But even like just just they're just

the character names are different. So it's almost

like you get to see the same show but It's like

it's almost like two different shows that share

the same premise If that makes any sense, yeah

kind of like how you have, you know Sherlock

and then be in in in England and then you've

got elementary on CBS here in the US Kind of

like it's kind of that I guess So it's like you

could watch both of them without getting confused

by which one is which But if anyone's intrigued

by the idea of seeing you know a vampire werewolf

and a ghost live together in a In an apartment,

it's pretty funny there is some like darker horror

elements because obviously you are dealing with

werewolves and vampires and stuff like that,

but it gets it gets kind of comical so I caught

up on that and Just yesterday season three of

Sherlock started which is a show that I've talked

about on here numerous times I've urged Steve

to check it out but just in case anyone anyone

knew that doesn't know about this show it actually

stars Benedict Cumberbatch and oh my gosh Martin

Freeman who plays Bilbo in The Hobbit, and obviously

Benedict Cumberbatch was Khan in Into Darkness.

Yep. But no, that series is great. It's in its

third season, but here's the catch. Each season

is only three episodes long, and each episode

is 90 minutes, so it's like a mini movie for

each thing. And there have been, it's been two

years in between each season. Season one aired

in 2010 season two aired in January of 2012 and

Season three just started in January 2014 Because

everyone's so busy and the production for the

Shows the production value for the shows is so

high That it's just it's it's it's it's amazing.

So yeah, if you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes,

especially if you like the new Robert Downey

ones Highly suggest checking them out because

they borrow some of the the music um With like

a like a more upbeat twist to it Interesting

and and just so anyone that knows Sherlock that

I'm talking about is a modern -day setting It's

not like the Robert Downey Sherlock. That's like

in the 1900s It's it's all modern day so you've

got like cell phones and cars and stuff like

that so but it's it's really really really good.

I urge anyone that's a fan of Sherlock or just

good television in general to check it out. Like

I said, the first two seasons are on Netflix

and season three will probably be on there this

summer. I thought I'd talk a little bit about

TV because people wanted to hear more about TV.

And that could make it dovetail that into the

the gizmodo article Yes, the top 10 pirated TV

shows of 2013 yes I Only one of these actually

surprised me Obviously number one was Game of

Thrones As the most pirated parted show on TV.

Not surprising. I can see that because not a

lot of people, it's actually interesting because

if you look at the numbers that they have, they

give an estimated downloads versus the estimated

US TV viewers. Game of Thrones is one of the

ones that flips, so they have more downloads

than they do TV viewers, and I wonder if that's

because HBO is a premium product. That could

be. Because if you go down and you look at Breaking

Bad, which is number two, and you look at The

Walking Dead, which is number three, there are

way more actual TV viewers than the number of

people that download the show. And I think that

maybe because AMC is available to a wider number

of people. Makes sense. So there's that. Number

four was a show that I don't really care for,

which is The Big Bang Theory. I like the show.

I just, I can't stand shows that tell me when

to laugh, and I feel like that's what the studio

audience or the laugh track is. Well, if you

want to say that, just about every show on TV

is trying to do that. Yeah, but the good, like

the ones that I, the ones that I really appreciate

don't, because they do, they actually aren't

shot on a stage. And I guess like some, some

shows get a pass, like I enjoyed Whitney and

that had a studio audience and, to a lesser extent,

I enjoy... Oh, what is it? Last Man Standing,

and that obviously has it going for it. I just,

I don't know, there were certain things, like

I remember trying to watch, I watched like five

seconds of that, what was it, the shit my dad

says with William Shatner. And then it went down

the way of the shit. I just, I turned it off

immediately because the laugh track popped up

so fast. The studio audience thing just popped

up so fast I don't I just I don't think I can

stand the premise of the Big Bang Theory. I just

I don't know I don't like the It's evil portrayal.

It's evolved quite a bit. I mean, it's I find

it funny just for different reasons. I know what

They're trying to do which is poke fun at geeks

It's not actually, you know for geeks. It's really

making fun of us, but Because it's the stereotypical

geek. It's not what we actually are All right,

but I still find it entertaining nonetheless

out of the Shows that those guys the creators

Made that's the only one I actually care about

what else have they made they've made that That

one that's got Anna Ferris in it That's that

new one. I think it's like mom or something like

that. Oh, okay They made two and a half men.

Oh So a lot of the other ones are like potty

humor. Whereas this is like a little bit more

intelligent So that's it's I would say it's their

only real hit out of the bunch Number five was

Dexter, which I have never seen me either. I

think it's on Netflix. I might Try and check

that out Number six is another show that I've

never seen which is how I met your mother that

one's okay, but it's a lot of back -and -forth

time explaining like when there's not something

that's Explained they go back and physically

show it to you Okay, and then they laugh about

it All right Number seven is suits. This is a

I actually would do watch that show It's It's

all right Number eight is Homeland, which is

another excellent show, although I feel like

it's lost its way since season one. They just

wrapped up season three not too long ago, I think

like earlier in December. I don't know, I just,

I don't know. There's a lot of shows that I do

watch. And just because of things that may or

may not be happening with my job, like I'm starting

to take a harder look at the shows that I quote

-unquote watch to see which ones I actually do

and do not watch. Because like I said, I have

shows that I must watch and I have train wreck

shows where I just watch to see where they go.

And season one of Homeland was definitely a must

watch. And then season two kind of slipped a

little bit and season three definitely became

like a train wreck. thing where it's like let's

see where this goes and it's almost like heroes

yeah except heroes heroes for me is is a tough

show to call because any time that zechary quinto

showed up on screen i would stop whatever i was

doing and pay attention uh but the minute that

his character like left the scene or like the

scene changed away from from him being in it,

I went back to playing video games or doing something

else. I didn't care about any part of that show

except for Sylar. I think that show died when

they went Season 4 with the Carnival. It died

way before that. Season 3 died when they started

taking away Peter's powers. Yeah, the one of

the things that really killed it for me was that

you had Sylar and you had Peter and they just

by the nature of their powers alone They were

supposed to be the two most powerful entities

in that universe And you never got to see them

be that well No, because they both kept losing

their powers or it made them unable to sustain

more than one Mmm, Sylar never had that problem.

They just never showed all of his abilities at

once and Peter lost them all because of some

stupid MacGuffin. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, I liked

season four because I felt like it got back to

what Heroes was supposed to be. But Heroes also,

I also had issues with Heroes from the very beginning

because I felt the scope of that show was way

too big. I wished that they had recast everybody

in season two. like just gone with a new cast

of characters and told like a new story rather

than trying to continue stories with existing

characters and i've heard that that was what

the original plan was supposed to be which was

just to which was just heroes was supposed to

be like a window into the world of these people

not following like one cast of characters um

And I've heard that you know certain characters

obviously became really popular and then the

writers were putting the writers and the showrunners

were putting this predicament of Now you have

to have them in the series And to me that just

made the world feel really Feel really big and

sloppy rather than Focused and awesome so let's

see number nine is vikings which if i'm not mistaken

that's a history channel show huh um i think

it's like a one of those they try to make a documentary

out of like an actual series but it's like a

you know a truthful thing um and then of course

number 10 is the one that i'm kind of surprised

to see on here arrow um Wonder if this is the

first time that a CW shows ever appeared in the

top 10 I would imagine so the only other one

I could see is maybe supernatural, but Yeah,

that's those are pretty much their only shows

going for them at this point, right? so Yeah,

any of you any of you listeners surprised by

this list think one should have been like higher

than obviously these aren't ranked in any kind

of popularity but these could also be looked

at as like some kind of popularity ranking because

they they are supposedly the most you know watched

or most downloaded of the tv shows the one thing

that's surprising about the big bang theory being

there as as the article mentions it's on at least

three to four different stations constantly so

you're constantly getting a rerun bash right

in your face yet there are still 3 .4 million

downloads of it yeah that's kind of amazing man

i'm one of these bad people i am too because

i don't i mean unless i can catch it live if

i don't catch it live i usually try and obtain

it a different way because um when you have on

demand with a company they don't let you fast

forward to a point should you have missed you

know should you have watched the beginning and

missed part of the end you can't fast forward

you have to sit through it all over again so

rather than that I download the entire episode

see I let's see there's one two three four five

six of these six of these ten shows I have contributed

directly to this I have only contributed to three

Walking Dead, Big Bang Theory, and Arrow Speaking

of which, did I talk about Flashpoint Paradox

the last time we recorded? I don't remember?

I sat down and watched it. Oh yes, you said you

hadn't watched it at that time. No, I had not

watched it last time. I have since watched it.

Boy, it was good. I'll say that. It was good.

I enjoyed it very much. Cannot believe it wasn't

rated R. I can't either. That was so dark. In

fact, I... I want I almost like want that to

be the movie that they make and put on the big

screen The only problem with that is is they

would alienate people too much because of the

altered Identities or versions of those characters.

I don't care I just think but see the way that

DZ can craft their animated stuff and just like

well put people in that's something they need

to adopt for the movies like seriously that like

it for instance, let's just assume I so bad because

again it gets into the movie verse but um let's

just assume that you know the batman verse superman

is justice league okay that's the starting off

point for everybody which leads perfectly into

you know should they do a flash film then flashpoint

would be the logical progression for a separated

film after the justice league thing um because

it wouldn't necessarily be telling the origin

but it would be at the same time but it would

also include the current day Justice League in

the beginning like Flashpoint did but it would

still keep it its own thing. But I see the problem

is I'd want that movie as is and obviously that'd

be rated R if if not bordering on like NC 17.

It was yeah it was so incredibly dark I was I

was quite surprised it it didn't hit rated R.

Just like the like even the amount of subtext

that's in there. is baffling to me that it wasn't

rated R. The only thing that really irked me

about the film was the end, because you never

see the idea that causes the paradox. I mean,

you hear about it, you learn about what the idea

is. I'm talking about this try not to spoil anything

for people that haven't seen it. And we can talk

about this off air a little more maybe, but they...

the idea You learn what the idea is, but you

never see the idea Occur that causes the flashpoint

paradox which just kind of irked me throughout

the whole thing because that's what I was That's

what I was going into it expecting to see well

It was supposed to be inferred of what happened

But it still kind of tells you in the beginning

and it tells you in the end Well, yeah, that's

what I'm saying. It tells you in the beginning

But you never see him. You never see the left

What the hell was that? Yeah, but you never see

it actually occur Which either way I'm fine with

Yeah, no, I was fine with it, too I'm just saying

like I I'm a sucker for that kind of stuff like

I like seeing the genesis of an idea or the birth

of something or and I was just kind of surprised

that it wasn't there because like you said they

do touch on at the beginning you see it at the

end but you never see the light bulb moment uh

you know where someone plants the idea in his

head then he's like i'm gonna i'm gonna try that

you know like you just you don't see it like

and you don't see that moment is all i'm saying

um and i i would have liked to have seen what

What made him decide to try to do that I guess

Because I guess that's not really That that I

guess is what is missing from that movie the

the motive for Like why he decides then to do

it So but no I I enjoyed the movie quite a bit

so I would like to see a big screen version of

that, although that will never happen. Yeah,

I agree. So. All right, what do we got next,

Steve? OK, um, well, there's since we're already

on the superhero thing, we might as well finish

it off with this as far as superhero parts. Batman,

Arkham Origins, they teased. Around Christmas

for New Year's Eve that there would be an announcement.

Well the announcement is It's an invitation to

an awards thing Which fitting enough it leads

into the the new DLC For Arkham Origins Basically

what it is is if anybody's seen heart of ice

And Batman the animated series that's what it

appears like it's going to be Okay, because this

is all new story DLC coming in 2014 details to

come but no information yet But it shows an award

Saying something the Wayne Foundation humanitarian

of the year And it's got somebody holding like

a a diamond at the top like a lady holding a

diamond type thing for the statue And there's

a crap ton of ice around it Which leads me to

believe that they're gonna be basically retelling

Heart of Ice Hmm which is it's the same thing

that was going on in Heart of Ice the actual

episode is that there's That whole thing with

This guy getting an award And freeze kind of

breaking in on it So it's it'll be interesting

to see what they do I'm kind of sad that they

don't have more than just that coming for the

season pass considering It's 20 bucks and the

stuff that's in it already is kind of lackluster

And I paid 10 for Harley Quinn's revenge when

I got that for Arkham City and it was What I

expected Hmm sorry, I got I got tied up reading

some of the the Facebook comments That went on

the Batman Arkham page associated with when the

picture went up well, sorry, there's just There's

just some people like one of the first one on

the page says please give Rocksteady back the

Arkham the Batman Arkham series Montreal You

did your best, but Rocksteady knows what they're

doing. Well, I Think that they're more so bitching

about the story Which that's on Warner Brothers

not? Warner Brothers Montreal the game group.

It's more so who wrote the story, but I don't

think they did that bad of a job Like I've said

before on here, we obviously don't want to dive

into this again, but I liked Origins, so that

guy can just go... Yeah, I liked Origins too.

I still prefer Citi overall, but I like Origins

just because there's a lot more convenience ability

to it that makes it more entertaining, more difficult

to some degree too, because I can beat Citi with

my eyes closed. Other one area, but yeah, so

I Don't know I'm looking forward to anything

more that makes me want to play that game I'll

wait for some people to talk about it probably

before I pick it up. I just I Got burned by a

season pass. I've only ever done one season pass

before and I got burned by it I was very disappointed.

So I will never be buying a season pass for anything

ever again Yeah, I like I said, I bought it.

So I'm waiting to see what all comes out in it

so um all right um enough with the superheroes

yay uh i there's only two other things i can

see on the list here that i kind of want to talk

about um probably only one really which is the

uh the map of the 124 united states of america

have you seen that article the map of the 124

states. Yep. Yeah, that's kind of weird how that

came out. So it showed up on Gizmodo. A gentleman

by the name of Andrew Shears, actually he's a

geography professor named Andrew Shears, decided

to create a map that showed the United States

as it could have been. He went through and basically

found as many of the proposed splitting up of

the states, the dividing of the land and whatnot,

and made a map that showed all of the different

states that could have been, and there are apparently

124 different ones. Different one, different

ones, ones? different ones that sounds that sounds

really weird different ones 124 different ones

different states different states 124 different

states um Not surprising but kind of surprising

i guess michigan stays untouched well other well

okay sorry the mitten stays untouched that's

the only state Well other than carolina's but

and iowa yeah some of the other states yeah it

looks like iowa got untouched um new york remained

more or less untouched except for like long island

and oh wait no no no it's not new york sorry

i take that back uh new york was renamed empire

uh and long island was split off by itself and

there was a smaller city called new a smaller

state called new york which was pretty much just

the bay by the hudson um The UP for Michigan

and the top half of Wisconsin got renamed superior

That's kind of weird some of these state names

are kind of are kind of funky like blue Wisconsin

or or Chicagoland and it's all the metro areas

around Chicago Yeah, I personally I like this

forgotten Onia. I know I started laughing Little

Egypt Like there's a where is there sand in Illinois?

How how do you get? Sure I Then of course like

Texas obviously got broken up like nobody's business.

It got split up into like like Jacinto Texas

that actually became just a little sliver Lincoln

trans Pecos and North, Texas i love this uh i

wish i could figure out oh mississippi got split

up into mississippi yazoo let's see nickajack

what the heck are some of these names i know

they're so goofy um there was north jersey and

south jersey because apparently new jersey not

everyone wanted to be a part of that new jersey

wasn't good enough oh vegas did get its own state

I was like, I was wondering if Las Vegas would

get its own state, and it does. But yeah, obviously

we'll have the links to this in the show notes.

I just thought this was really neat. Like Arkansas

and North Arkansas, only like North Arkansas

is like really tiny. McDonald? Did you see that?

No, I didn't see that. It's like in Missouri,

like the lower corner of Missouri. There's a

little state called McDonald. That's funny. So

must be where old McDonald's farm was Part of

Mexico is a little bit taken in there Yeah, it

looks like they weren't dumb Well Chihuahua yeah

Chihuahua and Sonora yeah, that's that's pretty

much Taken up out of Mexico Baja, California

becomes its own state instead of just part of

California California is real thin. It's coastal,

California coastal, California central, California

Jefferson, Oregon Rick Reagan Yeah, so these

are broken up really weird yeah, and what's interesting

about this is it kind of comes on the heels of

And there is no more Washington State. It's Columbia

That's kind of It's kind of interesting so This

actually it's actually kind of interesting that

this article kind of showed up what it did because

there was that Article about California being

broken up into nine different states And then

we've seen California broken up Yeah, it's just

it's kind of just that it's been it's been proposed

before So can you but And one of the things that

the article goes on to mention is that can you

imagine trying to having to learn 124 states

with 124 capitals? Oh, hell no. Instead of just

the 50? It was hard enough learning 50. Yeah.

Man, that was a pain in the butt. Good thing

I don't remember it anymore. I don't remember.

I could name them, but I have a feeling if I

heard one, I could tell you like... If I heard

a capital I could tell you what state versus

like I couldn't tell you what state has what

capital If that makes any sense. Yeah But Yeah,

that's some nice little piece of trivia I thought

I would tag and share with you guys The other

thing we could probably talk about this more

given that the first half of the year is Always

tech oriented especially with CES, which is the

consumer electronic show So I'm pretty sure I'll

have lots of or we will have lots of tech things

to share with people. Yes first up supposedly

this looks like it could be the The last year

for plasma I'm sad about that I am too. I would

like to see a 4k plasma, but I'm gonna have to

read some more into this. I don't see LEDs replacing

plasma anytime soon. OLED, yes, but I don't see

LEDs replacing plasma anytime soon. The picture

quality just isn't there, and I say that as an

owner of an LED TV. I hate that they say LED

LCDs. I wish they would just call them LCD TVs

because that's what they are. Yep I'm glad the

3D TVs died. Have they died or are they just

a bullet point? I think they're just a bullet

point. Yeah, I don't think you'll be able to

buy a TV that doesn't have 3D on it, but Nobody

buys it for that. right I I got it because I

my TV is 3d and I bought it because the 3d TV

can generally drive a better 2d picture and I

Just wanted just in case that everything was

gonna go 3d It's one of those things where it's

like well, I don't want to buy it and not have

it I'd rather just buy it and have it so But

yeah, what do you think about the? UHD TV so

the 4k stuff yeah My opinion of it is first of

all 4k content looks amazing Isn't that better

way better than movie theater? Depends on the

movie theater because some movie theaters have

4k projectors, okay? We do not the theater that

Trillium does not have 4k project does rave No,

okay There isn't a theater in the area that I

know of that has a 4k projector So yes, the new

the ultra HD or the 4k TVs they have They do

have a higher resolution than movie theaters

So would that be keeping them at keeping films

that they're native or are they shot lower than

that? Well Let's see Sony releases all of their

movies in 4k and They're scaled down to 2k for

the projectors. So there are movies out there

that are ready to go for 4k TVs If you're interested,

I don't know if you've been in the TV section

at Best Buy Steve I haven't been there in the

last few years because I haven't had to buy a

new TV okay well if you just stop into a best

buy they actually have a 4k tv setup that is

running 4k content okay um there is a big difference

uh in the picture quality the issue is one with

that tv they have the auto motion plus turned

on which auto motion plus on any tv is a bad

thing um so it kind of looks fake it looks it

looks really good but it doesn't look like it

should um The other thing is there isn't 4k content

out there It's coming but I'm of the opinion

that we need to wait for like cable TV to catch

up because most Most broadcast TV is in 1080i

except for like Fox ESPN and ABC they broadcast

in 720 because they do sports. But most HDTV

is 1080i, it's not even 1080p. So like we can't

even deliver 1080p content over our cable TVs.

I don't know how they expect us, how they expect

them to be able to deliver 4k content over existing

cable lines. Now that's not saying that you can't

have a TV that has that. Basically... The TVs,

you really won't notice that big of a difference

if you watch 1080p content on a 4K TV because

it's kind of the way the Apple did with the Retina

TVs. They just kind of quadrupled the number

of pixels. So there wasn't a, there isn't a scaling

issue. So basically a 4K TV is basically four

HD TVs put together. So you could watch four

1080p streams. So if you just watch a 1080p content

on there, basically four pixels are going to

make up one pixel of a 1080p TV. Instead of being

like two pixels for one pixel, or in the worst

case scenario three pixels making up one, it'll

be a block of four makes one. So it'll look normal.

But you won't get the fine grain detail unless

you watch 4k content. Now Netflix and... Some

other streaming services are trying out 4K streaming,

but that's like, that's still not going to be

the same thing as watching like a 4K content

off of a Blu -ray. Nothing matches Blu -ray in

terms of, in the home, nothing matches Blu -ray

for visual quality because your internet just

can't, your internet can't support that. the

internet cannot support blu -ray quality hd yet

um and it won't for some time uh so while the

tv is kind of like it's kind of like you'll buy

a 4k tv you'll still watch 1080p content in worst

case scenario you'll still be watching 1080i

or 720p even like the newest gaming consoles

they can't do they can play 4k movies so like

when blu -ray upgrades their standard they can

play them But they can't do video games in 4K.

Like, video games will still be in 1080p. If

you have, like, a top -of -the -line computer,

like, for gaming, sure, you'll be able to play

your games at 4K, but you're gonna pay for that

ability. But I, for me, I keep going back and

forth, like, yeah, I want a new TV because I

want one that actually fits, like, fills my entire

entertainment center. But at the other time,

I'm kind of thinking, I want to wait until the

price for the 4K TVs comes down. To get that

instead? Yeah, because basically it'll be able

to do everything and I'll just get one that fills

my entertainment center then, rather than having

to buy another one. And so we'll see what happens,

because last year 4K was the new hotness and

all the TVs were really expensive. This year

it seems like everybody's gonna have a 4k TV.

So it's gonna be kind of like a push to the bottom

And so I think you're gonna see more like the

bigger guys you're gonna have more introduction

more introductory pricing for 4k TVs and when

I say that I mean they're gonna have 4k TVs that

cost less than $5 ,000 Wow Because before that

they were like four thousand or higher like five

or hot five or more for a 4k TV for like a 55

inch 4k TV So it's kind of I think we're gonna

see that push to where 4k is gonna kind of become

the norm for TVs Right now it's kind of like

it was a few years ago when there was like when

1080p was more expensive than 720p Basically,

that's what you're looking at now 1080p is gonna

become the new 720p. That's sad Yeah But I'm

interested to see what what what comes out of

this I I look forward to seeing the new TVs and

hearing about what what's coming and stuff like

that this is a the fun time a time of year for

me I I Don't know Unless LED does something like

really amazing. I just Kind of bums me out the

plasmas done, but at the same time though. That

means plasma TVs will be really cheap Yeah, so

that means I can replace all my TVs with plasma

So Yeah, we'll be talking about more of that

in the in the in the coming Months as it gets

closer to like the unveiling of CES, but I think

is like in January Yeah, I think so Obviously

this month so the the other thing I was kind

of The the thing that that was kind of interested

me about this not that I'm even going to get

one because one they'd cost too much and two

I just I don't care for the design aspect, but

What do you think about them changing thing or

having the new gimmick instead of oh 3d TVs this

year? They're doing oh curved phones and curved

TVs Well To be honest with you, I don't know

what the I don't know what the benefit of a curved

screen is Like the IMAX is curved To a certain

extent, I don't think it plays very well the

digital IMAX I think it plays better with a film

with like an IMAX to play 70 millimeter film

I Would have to honestly I'd have to see one

I think the idea is that the TV is so large that

and You're not supposed to sit as far away from

it as you would a normal TV that it's just supposed

to like encompass your vision Or or it's a way

of fitting a bigger screen in a smaller space

But again, I this is one of those things I'm

gonna have to go to Best Buy and see like I just

I don't see the appeal of them. It's kind of

like it's kind of like when I first started doing

research You know 13 years ago when I well 14

years ago now and I first got my DVD player I

did a whole bunch of research because I Knew

that widescreen movies were the way that movies

were supposed to be presented You know full screen

is not you know the norm and and all this stuff

and when I was going to go make my very first

purchase for a TV At the time, I didn't have

the money for a flat panel TV in 1999, 2000.

But the minimum TV size for watching DVDs or

widescreen movies on a standard definition television,

like four by three, was like 27 inches. It it's

not it's not that you you lost anything going

like smaller than that. It's just that if you

like I don't know there's some weird math thing

where if the the screen was any smaller than

27 inches you were It was just like inferior

something like that so my first TV was a 27 inch

Sony which a 27 inch 4 by 3 TV is actually Like

slightly bigger than a 32 inch 16 by 9 TV Which

some people don't understand that But it makes

sense when one's a rectangle and the other one's

a square Yeah But yeah, it's what it's one of

those things. It's like you got a you just have

to go and see it You know yet the maybe content

has to be specifically formatted forward or something

like that I don't I don't really know like I

said I don't think the curved glass or the curved

screen for the IMAX really plays very well with

the digital stuff as it did with the film, but

I Maybe I can like I can try and do some research.

Maybe we can talk about it some more on the next

show Because like the curb thing is kind of a

New thing as so as the was it the 21 by 9 aspect

ratio Which looks like may become a thing? Eventually

to I know there's like two companies that offer

21 by 9 TVs and one of them is Vizio And I think

the other one is Panasonic And for anyone that

doesn't know 21 by 9 is the scope aspect ratio

at movie theaters So basically if you were to

watch a widescreen movie on a 21 by 9 screen

You wouldn't have the black bars at the top and

the bottom But when you were watching TV you

would have black bars on the left and the right

Because they would still only fill a 16 by 9

spot unless you stretched it and then the picture

would be all distorted But what some companies

have started to do is allow you to run apps in

that black space So like you could effectively

be watching TV and then you could like your Twitter

and Facebook feed on the left and right side

of the screen While you're watching TV if you

wanted to distract yourself that way it had a

really bad case of ADHD But that's one of the

reasons why I've kind of like I like the idea

of the 21 by 9 screens But the fact that 16 by

9 content leaves the black bars on the left and

the right that would drive me up the wall And

if you watched like a flat formatted movie you'd

get the black bars in the left and the right

as well which would also Driving me crazy. I

mean, I guess if you did it up all fancy and

you had like masking So like curtains came in

on the side of the TV and stuff like that. So

you didn't know that there was TV there Which

is kind of like what they do at the movie theater

That would be Kind of neat but who has the money

for that, right? Sure So I know I'll look I'll

look more into this like some of this some of

the stuff was like, you know This article is

just like the stuff you're gonna see at CES and

that's awesome but I'll Obviously I'll have more

to say about it as we go through the month of

January because I'll be Following this stuff

like crazy because I love TVs and I want to know

just as much as Steve does why everything needs

to be curved It's just the latest gimmick. So

yeah, but my my My gut reaction to the curve

stuff is it's cool. And I think what it's going

to be I think the reason is just so they can

fit a larger TV in a smaller footprint That's

quite possibly what it is. I think that's what

it's going to be, so we'll see if that pans out.

I'm just making my prediction right now. I don't

know if you want to cover it or not, but did

you see the death to the Eleven movie concepts

think I think that was yours, but yeah, it was

I was debating I will or not to discuss that

on here or hand it off to the MWire guys Because

it was movie related and we're kind of going

yeah a little long Yeah, maybe maybe they can

touch on that But I don't know if you I actually

don't know if you want to edit all this little

bit of conversation we just had out and just

kind of wrap the show up or... No. Is there anything

else that you want to bring up? Well, I guess

we can cover feedback since last time. A little

bit of it. I don't want to drag too much into

it. Some of the things that we brought up last

time were the New Year's resolution tech blunder

the topics for 2014 I Think the 2014 one judging

by what some people have suggested. I think we

just did a little bit better this time I certainly

hope so I'm gonna I am going to try and like

I said like I said in the forums. I just I feel

I like to buy a lot of tech toys and I like to

talk about all that stuff, but I feel like I

can come off as kind of like an elitist ass when

I talk about this stuff. Sometimes I don't like

to talk about it, but if you guys want to hear

about the toys that I buy, I'm more than willing

to share with you all. But yeah, I just feel

like, for some reason in my head, I always feel

like I can get condescending when I start talking

about a new phone or a new iPad or the remote

that I got. The remote is such a frivolous, awesome

toy. I love it, but it's not for everybody. I

just feel kind of awkward talking about that

stuff, but if you guys don't mind, I will share

more about that stuff, because a lot of the stuff

I'll... Sometimes I'll buy stuff because I have

a nice return policy from Best Buy Sometimes

I'll buy stuff just so I can try it out so I

can have an opinion on it And then I'll return

it if I don't actually have a need for it or

don't want it so I Can definitely do that some

more so we can actually talk about some stuff

Yeah, I I think that's cool for one to the uh

I really hope that we've done better this episode

and not gone so superhero heavy that it's like

yeah yeah we'll try and keep more to social media

and more uh random things that pop up kind of

like this episode it's all over the place Gonna

try our best to stay away from Batman Superman

unless it's an actual casting instead of just

doing rumor mill Yeah, I think I think we should

make up. I think we should take a hard line in

the sand right now No more rumors. No more rumors

only hard Factual evidence that way we could

have an opinion instead of being like well, I

think that's dumb. I don't know. Yeah. Yeah,

I'd rather have an opinion on something that's

a fact then not so Yes. There will be more tech

talk because obviously we've done a little bit

here on the TVs. I'll try and look into the phone

aspect a little bit too about the... for gadgetry.

And also if I can find out anything about Archimorgen's

DLC beyond what's been teased. But yeah, I think

we'll we'll cover more more random geeky stuff

in the future and You won't see a lack of Batman,

but it will be a lot more lack of it than what

people are used to Yeah, I also agree with some

of the other stuff like we need to have more

of a There are some people that wanted us wanted

us to see they see us disagree on things Think

we'll brainstorm that a little bit and figure

out if there's something that It's kind of one

of those things where we just have to wait and

see if they're if something happens, I mean I

mean, I have no problem like picking out a headline

and maybe like debating the merits of something

but for me like General news just isn't for me

In like day -to -day news just isn't for me like

I like talking about like the tech news and stuff

like that And that's not really stuff you can

really debate I mean and it's we can't even you

and I can't even really debate LED versus plasma

because that's more of like a Personal choice,

you know, that's like arguing about religion

right there. Yeah That's like Android verse iPhone.

Yeah, you don't it's that's it's not an argument.

I want to have I honestly thought that we were

gonna have it for a second. I thought we were

gonna have with Arkham Origins But then like

two days later you said you're actually like

Getting into the game or whatever. I was like,

oh shoot So but we will try and come up with

something the problem is we we kind of sought

out each other and became friends because of

the things that we have in common so it's kind

of hard to find things that you don't have in

common. I'm pretty sure like a movie or a TV

show will pop up in here, something that we'll

be able to talk about or a game. But as far as

like random headlines, that might be kind of

tough to pick something. But we'll certainly

try. We'll look into it. Yes. So I guess before

we go to the questions and close it out, uh...

maybe we'll touch lightly on the uh... upcoming

gc rn first annual gc r and awards which were

still still figuring out yet the world it's it's

more so uh... ironing out the final details and

then uh... i get to make up a crap ton of part

uh... because i'm gonna have to script the entire

page and it's going to be also fun but it'll

be worth it um for the uh the listeners to uh

interact with um sidebar uh have we has there

been any further discussion than what we've talked

about at the meeting as far as as far as like

the awards like like how they're going to be

like each individual show is going to have something

and then yes the big okay so there has um it's

it's ongoing in the uh... staff forums yes sorry

people this is just little bit of background

talk about that that's why i said sidebar you

could get it out uh... well it's it's it's here

uh... now they know that i don't do a lot of

work no it's just this is all transpired within

the last three hours uh... so i've been having

problems well last five hours but i've been having

problems keeping up to you so uh... uh... i made

the art fort for the web page already but or

at least for the teaser header. Yes, this is

the first annual GCNRN Awards. We're going to

do basically how the year is going to break out.

The first quarter will be the GCNRN Awards. The

second quarter will be a wars or wars tournament.

The third and fourth quarter are kind of up in

the air as far as to what we do. There will probably

be some kind of a year -end spotlight of some

kind and another top 100. It just remains to

be seen where those are. But as far as Altered

Geek is concerned, we will be covering TV and

tech on this show. Okay. so you and I can discuss

that afterwards as far as the categories there

will be categories for each like subcategories

for each specific medium whether it be movies

television tech gaming comics I think that's

pretty much all the breakdowns there'll be some

breakdowns as far as like subcategories within

there And then there will be nominees to be voted

on so Again, we're still working on that so that

it will be out In the near future. We'll keep

you posted here as far as that and where to vote

when the time comes Sounds good. Yes, so Do you

have any questions you'd like to ask? I mean

It's the first show of the new year. We can ask

them about their new year's resolutions. Sounds

good. Did you, uh, the listeners, did you make

any, um, I'm not talking about like, well, I

mean, that's the resolution you made was like

to be more fit and lose some weight. That's fine.

But did you guys make any, um, geek specific

new year's resolutions or anything like that?

Uh, like last year, for instance, um, on off

the cuff, I made a gamer, a gamer resolution.

to finish every game that I started. Needless

to say, like every New Year's resolution, I failed

that. But I did finish more games last year than

I think I have in previous years. So there is

that. So is there like geeky resolutions that

you guys have that you may have made that you'd

want to share? I think personally I'm gonna try

the... The gamer resolution again where I'm gonna

try and finish this. I'm gonna try and finish

more games this year than I did last year I think

that's gonna be what my resolution is For this

year as far as gaming goes, but you know my I

also have the promise or I have the resolution

to like, you know Make my house more livable

through tech so That's one of my little resolutions.

I don't really I don't like making the ones like

go to the gym or do this or the other thing Yeah,

just any geeky resolutions that you guys have

that you came up with That you want to share

Those would be kind of fun to hear because maybe

we'll take some of them. Yes Well considering

I'm lazy and I'm a geek I don't do the whole

go to the gym thing or whatever I have some but

I will save those for next episode. I do have

a few other questions that I've kind of pre -written

pertaining to this episode or just in general

and you can answer all of them or none of them

it doesn't matter we just love feedback so what

is your thoughts on the curved aspect of TVs

or phones just because that's pertaining to the

tech entry we had this time until we can find

out more information on it The curved phones

I can see being a thing. Like that I kind of

understand. But the TV's not so much. Anyways.

Yes. Something that I've been toying around with

that I don't want to create another show for.

Would you like to hear short, sketched out skits

slash segments in the show? Like whether... I

don't know if people have listened far enough

through the outro of the show, but occasionally

I throw little audio clips at the end of the

show just kind of toying around with it, goofing

off, whether it was the Kevin Conroy versus Tim

Taley thing or Beast Unleashed outtakes, just

goofy stuff like that. I've been toying around

with doing it with character voices and Joking

around with that so That's an idea and then Also

kind of tying into that but not really the same

subject would you like to see the return of altered

geek video? Which is a whole lot of Steve is

that no it could be either or So So yeah, that's

it. How can they let us know? their thoughts,

opinions, answers. People have those? Yeah, but

while it's the internet, everyone has one. Yeah,

I was gonna take that down a rat hole, but I

decided not to. Well, they can, as always. Call

the voicemail line, 502 -526 -5821. Just leave

us your name and what you're calling for, what

show. Obviously, AlternGeek. Email us, feedback

at GeekCastRadio .com. Visit the episode post

at GeekCastRadio .com. You can find us on Facebook

by searching GeekCastRadio Network. And you can

contact us on Twitter, at GeekCastRadio, hashtag

AlteredGeek. My Twitter handle is at SCP -21

and yours is at BoothNinja81. So, as always,

get altered, get geeky with the Altered Geeks.

See you next time. Bye.