Thanksgiving Traditions and Black Friday Criticism

The bird of America has always been the bald

eagle But there's another feathered unsung hero

too Generation after generation giving their

all for the common good Listen to the story,

let the truth be understood Eat me! I'm a turkey.

In my heart, I'm red, white, and blue. Oh, eat

me. I'm a turkey. A true American patriot through

and through. Hello and welcome to Altered Geek

Unlimited, episode 68. I'm your host, Steve Megatron

Phillips, and joining me this week is... Wait,

this is 68 already? Yeah. Crazy, isn't it? Wow,

holy crap. I am, of course, TF2 on my kilo, sir.

Hello. So we've got a lot going on. Yeah, uh,

just, uh, released... a day or so ago, the GCRN

Wars tournament, which, if you are not participating,

do so! It entails the video game icons. Yes.

And we did round one where it covers your basic

Nintendo kind of characters and some other ones

kind of mixed in there. Yeah, it's easily the

most recognizable. When you get to the second

half, you're getting into some early PlayStation

stuff. Don't reveal. I'm not revealing who. Okay.

I don't even know half their names at the moment.

I mean, I do, because I've played them, but I

don't remember their names. It'll be interesting

anyway. you know almost a week to vote uh...

on the website the post is up uh... you can check

all that out there uh... listen to the discussion

later comments all the information in the episode

post as well as the episode itself uh... we also

have coming back to life we have to serve retro

which we featured on the cast radio podcast feed

which is we take a look at a year that's Anywhere

between five ten fifteen twenty twenty five or

thirty years ago We've got three episodes of

that coming up Episode three four and five of

that sub podcast within GCR will be at 1984 1989

and 2009 and then at the end of the year New

Year's Eve for December of 2014 we'll have our

year in review show which will also be our five

-year kind of Ending the celebration of five

years. I guess since we kind of began it and

I so did not plan it this way We we did the five

-year celebration in episode 65 We're doing the

year in review and ending the celebration for

five years in episode 75 I did not plan that

at all. It just it's just the way it happened

It's one of those things I like to call a happy

accident. We also have the second annual GCRN

Awards coming up in January and February. We've

just got so much going on. We had five or six

podcasts. end this year. We had a few beginning.

You know, it's been one hell of a year and we

are recording this two days before Thanksgiving

2014 and I thought my side of the topic is us

sharing our Thanksgiving traditions or Thanksgiving

memories and your side is why Black Friday is

overrated. There will be a little bit of a small

amount of news in this. They'll be mostly commenting

on random things that I've come across over the

last week. I'm one of those crazy people that

I sit there and I gather information and then

sometimes don't talk about it and then sometimes

I do. I like to have all my ducks in a row, so

to speak. I just saw this the other day. I do

not watch ABC for reality television. I am not

a fan of Dancing with the Stars. I'm not a fan

of The Bachelor, Bachelorette, any of that kind

of stuff. It's not that I don't like... I love

Tom Bergeron. I love him as a host. I used to

love him on Hollywood Squares. Who? Tom Bergeron,

who is the host of Dancing with the Stars. Oh,

that guy. Yeah, he used to do... America's Funniest

Home Videos. Yeah, he also does America's Funniest

Home Videos, yep. So I do like him, but my mom

was watching the finals part one. uh... dancing

with the stars nineteenth season i'd still can't

believe that shows around for almost ten years

on my god uh... and i hear in the in the in the

background as i'm sitting here uh... my desk

i hear the mario theme play and i didn't know

she was watching dancing with the stars well

what is that on dancing with this only way why

so i didn't seek this out i had to watch it on

demand and i had to find a video on youtube for

it They did for a freestyle dance. They did a

choreographed dance to the Super Mario Brothers

medley. It is pretty awesome. It really, really

was pretty awesome. So that's pretty much what

I've been up to. Just kind of planning all this

stuff out, getting everything else settled for

the rest of the year, and starting a whole bunch

of new stuff for next year. Yeah, yeah, definitely

a lot of stuff down the pipe, you know, it's

it's it's been real busy. Oh, yeah I've been

doing a lot of graphical work. I've been doing

a lot of tweaking to the website I've been doing

a lot of prep work for the tournament as well

as the awards and Hark there is a top 100 on

the way. It's just not going to be till 2015

But oh we did it was supposed to be this year

But we ended up backlogged with other stuff that

kind of came up and yeah We wanted to get this

tournament done, and then we'll do the top 100

after like the awards and some of the dust is

settled Because the way I'm thinking of the top

100 is we're gonna make it a summer event next

year That's just the way I'm personally thinking

about it I know we'll argue about this off air

and you know behind the scenes and all that stuff,

but we'd love to argue yeah i mean that's kind

of like the whole point of doing the video game

tournament was to tease everybody and then lead

them into the top 100 video game countdown um

which we had the cart who with the movie the

animated movies what last year um 2013 for that

for what movie the the top 100 animated movies

last year It was 2013, and before that we had

2011 for the other ones. Every two years is right

around the time. Ladies and gentlemen, it is

so much work. I'm not discounting that, obviously.

I'm not saying that all of us do not put in.

Optimus Solo puts in the most, I think, out of

all of us. You do as well. for the graphics and

whatever else. The top 100 animated series was

2011 and the top 100 animated films was 2013.

So yeah, every two years, that's... Ladies and

gentlemen, these projects are big. These first

two countdowns were big projects. I mean, they

were huge projects. Allotting ourselves two years.

I mean, it's the same as what you know any rock

band or any musician would go through and putting

an album together between You know the last one

that they made so it's it's kind of right. I

I think and But I mean we've got that going on

we've got You know, we got wars coming back in

full swing we're gonna be doing more of those

We're going to have pretty much less review shows

as it goes along. There are still going to be

review shows that pop up and everything else.

I've got Showtime Synergy, which will be a gem

review show next year. There aren't going to

be a lot of me creating Television review podcasts

because that's why I have remote control and

I have the season pass format for remote control

So we can talk season by season Remote control

is going good. The pullback is going good You

know, it's just I Think this is the most I've

worked in November since we started the network

because usually for me once it gets to Halloween

I'm like, okay, I'm done for the year. Whatever

the easiest and simplest things are that we can

do. That's great Because I've worked my ass off

the previous nine months of the year, so it's

like I'm on a two -month break So yeah So Kind

of getting into I guess we can because we can

always round out with the news later. Yeah The

little bit that we feel it covering What are

some of your, for instance, examples of Thanksgiving

kind of tradition that you've gone through? Well,

you know, it really starts with Halloween, but

watching Charlie Brown specials, you know, watching...

Thanksgiving, the Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

special, watching that during, you know, eating

the meal or, you know, watching a football game

or watching the Macy's Parade and stuff like

that. Usually it's, we used to do it to where

it was, we would all go over one family member's

house and the family member's house would rotate

every year. So one year it could be at my grandmother's,

one year it could be at one of my aunt's, the

other year it could be at my other aunt's, and

one year it would be at our house. Most of the

time we would play cards, you know, like after

we ate. Even though half of us probably wanted

to sleep, obviously, because of turkey and all

that stuff, but... This is... I don't want to

rant and rave about this, but I'm going to end

up doing it. Thanksgiving... Is meant to celebrate

this? You know Thanksgiving is breaking the bread

and you know coming into you know the you know

America being born and you know celebrating with

the pilgrims and and the Indians and all that

Well, it is but it's all it's kind of like a

second Independence Day, but at the same time

I think Thanksgiving is severely ignored Because

you have Halloween and then you have Christmas

Well, you know you you have you have Halloween

Black Friday and Christmas Yeah, okay, but my

point is what I'm getting at here is you have

movies about Halloween or about werewolves and

vampires and ghosts and all that and then in

November you have like I Can't believe I'm going

to admit this but some of them are actually pretty

damn interesting and cool I watch Hallmark Channel's

Christmas movies. I've been watching them since

last year. And they do Countdown to Christmas

in November. And it's like, why don't you guys

have any Thanksgiving movies? I mean, honestly,

seriously, the only major Thanksgiving movie

I even really remember or acknowledge, because

as I assume it's a forgotten holiday by the media.

Plains trains and automobiles Yeah, that's really

the only Thanksgiving film So and then You know,

so there's that other traditions. I'm trying

to think You know, like I said, it's pretty much

the parade football cards that kind of stuff

for me. What about you? Being that I don't watch

any sports whatsoever. No football for you. I

don't care about it. It's it's not even I'm not

even a huge sports person anyway. Like I'm I'm

one of those geeks that is like the stereotypical.

I don't understand and it's kind of boring to

me. And more so because it just doesn't apply.

I'd rather watch hockey than watch football or

basketball or baseball. It's just one of those

kind of situations. um but um no i mean i i tend

to jump houses and when i say that i mean like

i have to suffer through uh did i say that out

loud um so you're basically like darma and greg

they had a thing it's not even it's not even

that i don't like The family gatherings because

I enjoy them. It's the the fact that I have to

drive to fucking houses For every holiday, which

is and I think after this year, we're pretty

much gonna stop a lot of it. Yeah, it's Just

getting to be too much on us and not to mention

Next year, I'm gonna have a second kid running

around So I'm gonna lose my damn mind but My

wife's gonna lose hers first But I It gets more

so annoying because I got to eat twice I got

a you know to appease both families and then

for instance this year they decided that Because

I go to the my my in -laws first, right? Which,

you know, that's typical. We usually go there

first because they have their food ready before

anybody else. And then, you know, we visit with

them for a few hours and then usually my mom

has hers at two o 'clock. Right. So, you know,

usually we're at my in -laws at 11. We hang out

there until about, you know, quarter to two.

Then we leave and we're at my mom's by like two.

And. This year because everybody's schedules

are so staggered which they were last year. My

brother lives 45 minutes away Well, actually

yeah pretty much one of them does and he gets

out of work Around the time that because my mom

Gathering as you were would say it changed from

two to four and he won't get there until quarter

to five. So And my grandparents, my uncle, and

my other brother, and his wife and kid will all

be there. It's more so annoying because after

five o 'clock, my ass likes to be at home. Yeah.

I don't like to be out. Dude, you're turning

into me. You're becoming an old man. Well, I'm

not even saying that in the terms of I don't

want to be around people because that's not it

either. No, that's not what I meant. I meant

you're turning into me where you don't want to

be out anywhere after a certain hour. For instance,

my Sundays, if it requires me to be gone past

3 o 'clock, I do not go. And it's more so because...

We work all flipping week and barely see the

kid. And so when we get to see him, we don't

want to go anywhere. So that's that's partially

that reasoning. So from now on, thanks feelings

at your house every year. It was almost supposed

to be. It was commandeered back from my mom because

she decided she wanted to do it at her house

this year. And even though we were all ready

to go. Maybe next year, I guess I don't I don't

know but I Mean I enjoy all the family time.

I enjoy the conversations sometimes they get

off kilter which Then I'm like, okay, I'm rolling

my eyes cuz there's gonna be one of those, you

know awkward dinner table conversations that

somebody brings up Kind of like sucking and blowing

We're not talking about DCI wars. I don't care

to have some of those conversations. I'm glad

that it's small doses is more or less what I'm

trying to say. They drive me nuts. I love my

family. They drive me nuts. good with not having

a long altercation. I think for me it's like

once everybody shows up and then if someone's

late like there's one family member of mine that

I remember distinctly 1991 or 1992 I was 11 or

12 they came with their kids and i think i just

slammed the door in their face i don't know why

i really don't know i really don't know what

my eleven twelve -year -old brain was thinking

but uh... you're like screw you guys i'm going

home oh please there was no there is not even

any it's like i'm bart simpson who the hell are

you get off my lawn that's really what it was

uh... but uh... but no i mean it's it's a shame

that thanksgiving At least for me and at least

what I perceive it to be is kind of It's like

oh, we're going to kill turkey. Oh, we're going

to feed our faces. Oh, we're going to sleep until

Christmas like it just I don't know. I mean,

I'm thankful for everything that I have in my

life friends family, etc, etc, etc a roof over

my head uh... you know anytime anyone's help

me out i'm very thankful for the stock is i mean

we all know there are worse situations out there

but everyone also comes on hard times at times

and it's like so i am very thankful i mean if

you told me seven years ago that i would have

started a network that lasted almost five and

a half six years of podcasting you know i mean

it's like You know and I'm I think when it comes

to the network and the podcast and all that stuff

what I am most thankful for out of the network

is not only the the fan appreciation and the

fan interaction and people liking what what we

and you know, I am doing is The people that we

get to interview honestly is I look at our our

interviews section And it's like in five and

a half years. I can't believe we've talked to

all these people Yeah, I mean that's kind of

the It's it's been strange. I'll give you that

But yeah, it's I Don't know I I'm I'm more so

bothered by the fact that this time of year is

turned into Oh, shopping, shopping, shopping,

shopping. Fuck you. Shopping, shopping, shopping.

No family time for you. Shopping, shopping. Fuck

you. You know, it's just it's it's turned into

one of those kind of events every year. And I

think it's getting worse as every year goes by.

And it's not even it's not even the sales because

I understand that, you know, they're just trying

to make a buck and that's fine. That's fine.

Have you seen the sales this year? They're shit.

No, it's not even that. Every ad I see. Black

Friday starts Thursday night, 6 p .m. Thanksgiving

night, and I'm thinking, no. Black Friday starts

at midnight Friday morning. You know, I mean,

if stores want to, you know, open at midnight

or 4 a .m. or whatever. But I'm seeing ads this

year that, hey, Black Friday, we start Thursday

night, 6 p .m. No, no, no, no. You're not supposed

to sell shit on Thanksgiving. It's not the point

Thanksgiving is not a commercial holiday Christmas

is the commercialization of holiday You know

I Keeps it and this really what pisses me off

about Black Friday. I know it's my fault I don't

you know save a lot of money every year I need

to start doing that, but I see these commercials

now this year with Anthony job Anthony Anderson

and Melissa Joan Hart where they're advertising

for Walmart's Black Friday and they're like,

one hour deal or whatever where you can get a

40 inch or 50 inch TV for $218 and it's like,

I don't know if I would buy a TV from Walmart

to save my life. I would rather buy a TV from

the pawn shop that I've dealt with for the past

X number of years than buy a TV from Walmart.

Don't have a problem with Walmart not with their

movies or anything. I just Yeah, I I Just I've

looked at the deals. I don't see anything. That's

that spectacular I don't see a reason to go out

this year and it it's more so kind of pissing

me off and bothering me because They're cutting

into people's family time. Yeah It's not that

they're having the deals. It's not that they're

even open. I mean, it is, but it's not. It's

more so because they're open on Thanksgiving.

If you're going to be open, at least open at

like nine o 'clock or ten o 'clock or something

and have the people get there at eight. So at

least they can visit their family and get their

drinks in their system and go to work. The only

place is, in my personal opinion, that should

be open on Thanksgiving. And I know this sucks

for the people that have to do the work for this,

but is like gas stations. That kind of thing

Walmart to a certain extent but only had like

I wish Walmart would do something to where instead

of having pre Black Friday sales They close like

if you take a Walmart Supercenter close the rest

of the store except for the food part You know

grocery stores need to stay open till at least

new You know from like 6 a .m.. To noon and if

they want to close the rest of the day fine but

I mean Honestly, the only thing that like I don't

even expect fast food restaurants to be open

on Thanksgiving To be honest they shouldn't be

oh, yeah, that's what I'm saying. It's like you

know The whole point is going out killing a turkey

roasting it up and having some family fun It's

not you know, you know, I saw a little factoid

the other day where This year November 26th would

have been the the Thanksgiving Eve is the most

busiest time of the year for pizza delivery that

to me is you want to know why you want to know

why because I used to work pizza yeah on Thanksgiving

Eve if that's even a flippin holiday it's retarded

but what it is is That's also the biggest drinking

night of the year. It even trumps St. Patrick's

Day. That's kind of sad since St. Patrick's Day

is nothing but drunks. I found that out by accident

one year because we ended up being open three

hours after close. Because my manager decided

to open back up. Oh wow. So I thought I'd bust

that MF. in the face. But anyways, we did so

much business because it was so busy and I just,

I get it. I get why people are drinking because

sometimes I can't stay in my own family but I

don't know about going out and drinking and then

of course they got to get pizza to soak it up.

And they're obnoxious when they come in. Thankfully

I don't have to do that anymore. And I'm sorry

if I'm offending anybody that's one of those

people that does that. But I just, coming from

someone who used to work pizza, it's a pain in

the ass. Yeah. But yeah. Should we move on? Sure.

Because otherwise I'm gonna get it on another

time. Did you see? Alright, I found this link

on CNET. They have a Death Star PC speaker. No,

I did not see this. It's actually kind of neat.

The speaker, the part where the energy shoots

out of it, that's where the speaker part is.

Oh, lovely. So it's actually kind of funny looking

at it. And it's kind of, it's this plasticky...

kind of blackish gray. Yes, I see it now. And

it's got the imperial symbol on the stand and

it's got little blue lights all around it that

or at least look like lights. I'm half tempted

to pick that up. Just because I have one of those

bar speakers that are even though I don't use

the thing very often because I have a headset

on 99 % of the time on my computer. Right. It

just looks cool Yeah, supposed to be kind of

it's supposed to be like a Bluetooth Bluetooth

4 .5 inch diameter Death Star Yeah, which means

I could technically use it with my phone Which

would be awesome But it's it's retails for $59

.99 I would see in the wallet right there. Yeah,

it's Looks like it's from think geek Which makes

perfect sense Mm -hmm Damn you think think geek

You made something I may actually want to buy

So yeah moving on Samsung is in hot water it

looks like Apparently they're selling less phones,

so they're they're starting to tank Which kind

of makes me laugh because I bought one of their

phones but At the same time I'm not one of those

people that you know goes and buys every little

gadget and I think this is part of the problem

is they're trying to make so many damn tablets

and phones and and all these different devices

and making them a multitude pull a multitude

of variants Sizes colors all this other crap

that honestly doesn't matter especially if you

get a case or I don't have more than just my

phone, and my wife has the monochrome Kindle,

and then we have a laptop and a desktop. Honestly,

I don't need any kind of devices like that. I'm

betting a lot of people just can't afford it,

which is probably why they're tanking. Yeah,

it's crazy. I mean the whole phone thing I see

you know iPhone versus everything else and everything

else versus iPhone and It just I don't know It's

so hilarious to me what they get Jimmy and Justin

to do for iPhone Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake

the iPhone specialists for advertising. I didn't

know they did that. Oh, really? You didn't know

that? Yeah. It's, um, if you look at, I'll have

to find some of the commercials for you. Uh,

there's one where, um, where they're competing

with each other about the camera and just as

like, I think it says, shavow. And Jimmy's like,

no, it just says click, click or something or

other. And yeah, it's, it's interesting. Yeah,

I'll definitely have to check that out. It sounds

like it's almost akin to the sprint. Yeah, well

we don't actually see Jimmy and Justin. It's

just their voices. It's supposed to be their

hands, but it actually reminds me of PC vs. Apple

with Justin Long. I miss those commercials. I

really miss those commercials. Yeah, especially

with how little he's doing now. Just a long yeah

It's been a long time Last time he was in a movie

was the recent one with Kevin Smith tusk and

then the one before that it seems like was die

-hard. Yep Which that's been forever ago. Yep

So apparently Intel and McAfee plan to kill PC

passwords Wait what? How, you may ask. They plan

to with new biometric authentication. Oh, Lord.

That's the last thing we need. So what they're

talking about is scanning in your thumbprint

and then it logs you in. So in other words, you

know, we're stealing passwords. You just, you

have to have your thumb. And so if somebody cuts

your thumb off, then you're screwed. Is this

for touch screens? Is this for...? It's like

a download and you use it like a little touch

pad thing, kind of like a mouse. Oh my god, that's

just... Which they have that kind of stuff now.

It's just, you know, it's not to do what they're

trying to do with this. So it's more so to help

with authentication so that you don't have to

remember passwords and usernames and all this.

It's keyed into your... your prints Which don't

get me wrong I'd rather do that, but I'm I'm

also one of those people that Has 50 bazillion

passwords, so yeah like it makes sense for the

for the fingerprint biometric stuff on phones

it makes sense for that for the security of your

phone, but And I can see it for the laptop too,

like they had like a side piece on there to do

it, but for a desktop, unless you're at a, you

know, like if you're working for a business,

I could see you doing it too, but if you're like

you're a home user, most people aren't going

to want to mess with that. Hell no. I'm going

to move to some fun news. Yay. Yay. I am a huge

fan of various geek YouTube videos. Recently,

I always watch Nerdist videos. I'm still waiting

for his All -Star Celebrity Bowling to air on

AMC. They said it was supposed to start... Yeah,

I don't get cable channels yet and I'll get to

that later but Your ongoing war effort against

Comcast I'm going to win As Charlie Sheen would

say winning winning So which sadly enough that's

actually a TV show Yeah It'll get cancelled just

like selfie stupid ass one -word name shows But

anyways, YouTube videos that I really like. I

watch like screen junkies because I really like

all the hosts and all the chemistry between all

the people on there. It kind of reminds me of

our network to some degree because there's always

one of us that's pessimistic, which they have

a guy that's like that. They have one guy that's

like overly optimistic, and then they have everybody

else kind of counterbalancing discussions on

a lot of their videos. And then they, of course,

do the honest trailers, which I really love because

a lot of time they nail the, basically they take

what we would sit here and discuss for however

long, like 20 minutes to an hour of a show or

of a movie. They'll take that and cut it down

to like however long the trailer is or like a

three to four minute video and they'll take super

cuts of the film. Mock it and and have voiceover

by John Bailey who's awesome Like they've done

the Little Mermaid recently and they had somebody

actually like sounding as if they were recording

the original songs in it And it's horrible what

gets said in the videos I'll have to post links

to that but it's it's disturbing but So I listen

to that and then there's the Bat in the Sun superpower

beatdown Which they've had, you know like Batman

verse Wolverine and they've had Superman verse

Thor and and Wolverine verse predator Jason Todd

verse Punisher They've had all different kinds

of Jones versus somebody first kick -ass Which

was hilarious. Please tell me Casey won that.

Oh, he did. Oh, thank God. He threw somebody's

ass in front of a train. Because if Casey Jones

lost a kick -ass, the geek world is just flabbergastedly

screwed. Well, he chucked him in front of an

oncoming train. And then Mikey picked him up

in the party van and they left. It was funny.

So I think their best one to date, which is the

one that just came out, and it's for the Thanksgiving

week, it's Batman versus Darth Vader. Batman

with a lightsaber is just weird. It's weird,

but it's hilarious because he wields that thing

like a badass. Well, yeah. Because he's the goddamn

Batman. I watched that video earlier and I just

was like, oh, this is awesome. Batman flying

in the Nightwing. That would be a whole other

show. Batman flying in the Nightwing. Yeah, we

don't want to adventure in that territory. So

he's flying to the Death Star and it manages

to cloak, lands inside, sneaks around, He's looking

for Superman Who's hidden somewhere in the Death

Star and he's trying to track him with the help

of Oracle right and He goes to a door and Vader

comes out and he says you're looking for the

Kryptonian and Then you know, it's just a battle

of wills fighting back and forth and Batman uses

his technology against Vader's force powers and

The whole time he's using Vader's using the force

powers. I'm like why are you hitting yourself

Batman? Why are you hitting yourself Batman?

Why are you choking yourself Batman? I'm not

going to give away the ending because that would

just be bad for Yeah, the suspense of it, but

you gotta watch it. It's actually really good.

The production is awesome. It's I think each

one of these they get better I do know that they're

they're working on and I think it's for January.

They're gonna have It's either late December

or early January or something. They're gonna

have Green Ranger Versus another character. It's

it's Jason David Frank coming back as the Green

Ranger and they read they completely redesigned

his suit And it looks actually hell of a lot

better than the original. And they did the same

thing when they had him do the White Ranger against

Sub -Zero and they had him come back for that

too. So that's really cool. But yeah, I love

this series. It's kind of a fresh take and it

kind of reminds me of our wars tournaments except

it actually puts... you know, the votes and actually

puts it into a visual format. Right. That actually

reminds me of something. I just I usually buy

a lot of t -shirts from Ripped Apparel. They

do, you know, daily ripped off. Actually, the

funny thing is one of the shirts I've bought

in the past year or so. Uh, like right where

the armpit is on the left hand side of it, it's

starting to rip. But it's, you know, I've had

the shirt a year or so. Um, which kind of sucks,

but whatever. No, but, uh, recently I saw it

on a different shirt on another site. It's, um,

uh, power of green and white. And it's a combination

of the Green Ranger, White Ranger, Dragonzord,

Tigerzord thing. It's a pretty awesome image.

So I got that and yeah, what is next, sir? Okay.

I don't know if you've ever heard of this YouTube

channel. It's called The Warp Zone. No. Okay.

Well, they have some pretty interesting Videos

on there as well a lot of their their videos

they do like cover songs of various Theme songs

of things like they've got a The Sonic 2 chemical

plant zone. They did it with saxophone They did

like the Ninja Turtles theme song and Darkwing

Duck where they do it acapella, which is kind

of interesting how they do it I'm not a huge

fan of that format, but it's it's still kind

of cool They have Nerf Star Wars office Jedi

It's it's actually really funny they you know,

it's just a bunch of guys walking around the

office and then Somebody shoots a nerf missile

at one of the guys right in the head and then

they start shooting more of it and then eventually

they become blasters and lightsabers and These

two guys get hit and they take down the entire

office and then their boss has a dual wielding

lightsaber and It's I don't know I just I find

some of these videos throughout the week and

then I think they're hilarious and so I watch

them and they covered a I'll have this in the

show notes as well the the problem with comics

mm -hmm and You know, they talk about the deaths

and all the other Changing characters like her

discussion on alternate a few weeks back Which

when I saw this video and they're saying exactly

what I was trying to say I Couldn't help but

favorite that one But yeah, they hit it on the

head with with what my point was with the problem

with comics Can't remember exactly what was said

because I watched it earlier Like tail end to

last week or earlier this weekend, so right,

right I guess we should also bring up Which I

find this really funny because I know what your

answer is gonna be and once you say your answer

I I seem to think that This person has kind of

become the Michael Bay of the sci -fi universe

It has been announced that the full length or

teaser or whatever it is for The Farce Awakens

will be... Oh, to hell with that guy. No, no,

no. Every time you talk about J .J. Abrams, I

feel like you're also talking like he is the

Michael Bay to the Star Trek and Star Force universe.

Oh, I just... Like I like some of his crap that

he comes up with but same time I just I Just

don't I don't like him. He just He rehashes and

I hate his lens flare effect, which I know is

his staple. It's I mean, I'd rather watch the

lens flares than the multiple explosions of nothingness

from Michael Bay. But he's got the same stupid

gimmick that he thinks is awesome and great and

it's crap. Because he does it too much. Like

Michael Bay does his thing too much. At least

it goes for diversity in his cast and he has

more of a well -rounded experience with his films,

whereas Michael Bay does not. I'm still very

interested to see what the trailer is going to

show us for The Force Awakens. I think he's actually

going to do really well with The Force Awakens

and it's because of the rebooted Star Trek films

that I think he will. He has this uncanny ability

to make things look dingy where they need to

and make things look bright and shiny where they

are able to. He goes for practical effects over

special effects. I don't know how practical it

was having the Enterprise underwater, but okay.

It was asinine. Well, like everything that he

applied scientifically and with the Star Trek

films that he did was stuff you would see in

a Star Wars movie. You know, none of those movies

were Star Trek films. Those were Star Wars films

in disguise. That's why when the Honest Trailers

thing came out with You know, it was a Star Wars

movie demo reel. They weren't freaking kidding.

That's why I can't stand him. He ruined Trek

for me. Not that it needed any help on its own,

but, you know, it he just ruined it further for

me. So I'm waiting for a reboot to the reboot.

Probably never happened, but I'm waiting for

it anyway. Like I said before. Star Trek 3 search

for well the search for Kirk But what else we

got the jerk that The official Batman Arkham

Knight ace chemicals Infiltration trailer part

one. Yep came out. That was pretty awesome. I

It's gonna I'm gonna have to get it for the PC

because I'm not buying a new next -gen console

I wish it was coming for the 360 but I get it

the last three came out for the 360 So it's it's

it's overdue and plus the technology and that

is probably enough to dwarf my 360 yeah And I'm

not buying a ps4. I have no intention of buying

either one of those consoles plus. They're so

they're so PC Like and when I say PC. I don't

mean like politically correct. I mean they're

like PC based as far as builds Yeah, they're

not actual consoles anymore. They're computers

and My tower is more than enough to take down

Batman So and I have my Xbox 360 controller that

is USB powered that I use for Unreal tournaments

So I'll probably end up using that to play the

game on my computer which sucks because I won't

have a 50 -inch plasma at my disposal but again

it's wait isn't your TV a smart TV no well we'll

get a smart TV I don't want one it's black Friday

coming up this week you can get plenty of deals

black Friday go away so yeah I I'm still wondering

who the Arkham Knight is Yeah, they don't really

reveal that do they know and I'm kind of interested

to see how they plan on taking on that character

I can't figure out if he's an original or if

he's Based off somebody else the voice sounds

familiar He almost has that Bane type of sound

right and in his accent I just can't and I don't

mean Bane from Christian Bale's movie because

that was Yeah, I have very little opinion of

some artistic choice in some of the films. But

yeah, I'm just not sold on it yet. I don't know.

I don't know what's going on. I love the fact

that you can use the Batmobile. There seems to

be some new effects and some new ways to take

down people, which I'm grateful for. I guess

they're coming out with a part two trailer soon.

I just I think it's gonna be the beginning of

December Mm -hmm, so I'll have to wait another

week to check that out I'll do a full overview

of it once the other half comes out Cool cool.

Yep, and then Other than that there's not really

that much more that needs to be talked about

I would definitely say check out a couple of

those channels though that I mentioned like The

Warp Zone and Nerdist and Scream Junkies, Bat

in the Sun. Those are like my top four go -tos

when I'm on YouTube. Other than that, I think

we'll get into listener comments. Cool. We were

talking about pop bottles. with the codes and

everything else. And I agree, it's kind of crap

that they don't have anything that they actually

give you now and they make you punch in the codes

and it takes forever to build up points and get

stuff. Born Standing Up says, I remember the

days when you would buy a bottle of pop and open

the cap to see you won something like a free

bottle and you could use... then use that cap

to actually purchase something. I hate how now

you have to get a code and have to log into something,

give them your emails, save up points, blah,

blah, blah. By the time you win something, you

have to go through the hoop after hoop, which

is basically what I just said. And I totally

agree. I wish that it was like that because I

rather liked winning the pot more than I liked

winning anything else because I'd always go buy

another one anyway. And then you just have to

pay the 10 cent deposit, which was fine with

me too. Yeah, I I definitely get it Yeah King

of Kong says because we talked about cereal as

well This should go back to a time where they

put stuff in cereal boxes Being that cereal I

eat now would have some weird prizes inside.

I'm sure Kashi could come up with some sort of

organic wood kit you could use to make a canoe

or something weird That's actually funny I just

oh They can make one of those like, you know

race car derby cars or whatever By this box to

get the wheels by this other flavor to get the

actual part of the car Oh God, can you imagine?

Count Chocula, Boo Berry, Franken Berry You buy

one to get one part set of parts you buy the

other two to get the other two sets of parts

when they come together It's Godzilla! Where's

the Megazord? Yeah, where's Megazord? Brian Jackson

says, funny thing is the things that they're

doing now are even better. Yeah, it's not in

the box, but you can use points to get something

that's actually worth getting. That I kind of

see because yeah, they used to have a lot of

frivolous crap in the boxes that weren't really

all that exciting. Yeah, but I also equate that

to us having to spend more money on cereal to

get more codes. It kind of to me is like the

whole thing with the... With the cokes and the

bottle caps and the codes and the caps and the

cereal. It equates to me like you're at an arcade

having to spend money on skee -ball to get skee

-ball tickets to win, you know. I don't think

I knew anyone that had enough skee -ball tickets

to buy the biggest prize in the room. Whether

that be a giant friggin' teddy bear, whether

that be a TV or, you know, whatever it is. I

mean that's... That's really where they suck

you in on the cereal and the soda because it's

like, hey, you want to get more codes, you got

to buy more stuff. It's like you're going to

spend, let's say, for example, it takes you $200

to get enough codes to win a TV that's probably

only worth $150, you know what I mean? I don't

know. About 10 years ago, I used to be really

into the code stuff and everything else. And

after a while, it just kind of wore off as far

as the novelty of it, I guess. Yeah. So a few

more comments Kurt Titus says I always thought

the ultimate TMNT toy was the party wagon I favored

it over the Batmobile even turtle van yes turtle

van I don't Know it's not the party way. No,

it's not turtle van Anyway, I owned all of it.

So it didn't about it. I own the Batmobile I

own all the team in T stuff. I own the neutrinos

car. I own shredders drill thing I own the technodrone

at one point. Yeah, I own the blimp which they

have a new version of out now to just like the

van Brian Jackson says I would also go with the

technodrome over the party wagon any day of the

week So, I love the Technodrome. I actually have

seen one at a local flea market. And trust me,

it's tempting not to pick that fucker up. I just

got rid of mine a few years ago. Get it. Go get

it. I don't have any room for it. That's the

only problem. If I thought I had room for it,

like if I could put up shelves and build displays,

I would. Because I actually used to use it when

I had Star Trek toys too. Because they didn't

have an enterprise that's what they drove Captain

Riker So, yeah, that's pretty much all the comments

I guess just let us know what you're doing for

your turkey day and Be sure to leave any comments

feedback or suggestions in the episode post below.

Yep and Not the next episode, but sometime between

now and Christmas, you are working on a holiday

gift guide for AGU. Yes, yes I am. So there's

that. Check out my interview with John Semper

Jr. celebrating 20 years of Spider -Man the Animated

Series on the website. He talks about, which

is really interesting to me, he talks about...

Linda Gary who voiced Tila in Masters of the

Universe, but he talks about her because she

was the voice of Aunt May in Spider -Man where

she actually they like they She didn't have a

whole lot of lines. They actually wrote and set

lines aside for her and she would come in like

once every few sessions read the lines and go

home because that it was to the point where she

was Real it was to the point where she was getting

really really bad health wise It was like right

before she died. Oh jeez. Is when she was doing

the Spider -Man show and everything else. So

that's an interesting story. You can hear Jon

talk about that. And as well as all the other

Spider -Man stuff, you can check out his project,

War of the Rocket Men, on Facebook and all that

good stuff. Links are in the post for the interview.

So yeah, that's pretty much all I got. Yep, that's

all I got too. Other than that, not really that

much going on. Just kind of keep it tuned in

to geekcastradio .com. So, you can interact with

us in the following ways. You can send us email,

feedback at geekcastradio .com. You can visit

the post on the website. You can get ahold of

us on Twitter at geekcastradio hashtag alteredgeek.

So, as always, get altered, get geeky with the

Altered Geeks. See you next time. Butterbirds

just flit, flap, fly, and flutter. From the toucan

to the tiny parakeet. Not much meat. You can't

stuff them with nuts, breadcrumbs, and butter.

So, chop off my head and then turn up the heat.

Take some. Eat me. I'm a turkey. Stretch out

on the sofa when you're through. Eat me. I'm

a turkey. Oh boy! Turkeys have their splinter

factions Dissident birds, unwilling to serve

Foul, pink, oh sissy, wimpy turkeys But the major

portion of these semifrideless birds But one

carcass to give for my country Today I consider

my