Listener Feedback, GrandCon Prep, and Podcasting Origins

Hello and welcome to alter geek unlimited episode

8. I'm your host Michael powers I'm joined this

week by Steve Megatron Phillips. Hello Good So

what have you been up to Steve last week actually

hasn't even been a week since we recorded last

you've only had four days to do something I Haven't

really done anything Yeah, I've been at home

and I work Yeah, we're doing this one early again

because stuff Mainly Grand Con Yes Getting ready

to go to that got the shirts today Should have

should have brought your hat over here so I could

show it to you Nice, but no, it's over on the

kitchen table But yeah it we're gonna be there

on Saturday but Uh, the passes can be picked

up on Friday. I'll see if I can pick yours up.

I don't know if I'll be able to though. Okay.

Um, I will certainly ask. Yeah. Cause I'm going

to go on Friday. They, they open at 10 on Friday

so people can pick up their badges, but the actual

like event come, come walk around, see the vendors

play the games, I guess doesn't start until Saturday.

So yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how that works.

And we finally got shirts Yes, I'm we did I am

I'm pleased with the way that they turned out

I Was I was worried I like my t -shirts So I

think they I think they look pretty good That's

good to know so and Ali got my wife got her pink

one. So she's happy about that I Have yet to

see them so I'm not Sure, how they look well,

I sent you the picture but the picture no true

justice I think to me Personally they remind

me of the t -shirts I get from escape as mag

comm So I'm okay with that if that's if they

wear If they wear or age that in that same manner

that I'm okay with it Yeah So and they're they're

Hanes tagless t -shirts, which I'm kind of I'm

happy about That means they'll be comfortable.

Yeah So So yeah, we'll have a grand con coming

up this weekend. We'll probably do some cross

Rick try and do some cross record with My off

-the -cuff crew and Steve, you know, so we can

get a off -the -cuff all three geek thing going

on Yeah, this should be should be fun and interesting

to see how that turns out Yeah, well, we'll figure

out the logistics of it because like the the

show The show floor closes for vendors at about

six on Saturday, so I guess it really depends

on what time you'll be leaving town, so. Yeah.

But should we jump right into this listener feedback

here? Yeah, sounds good. All right, what do we

got here? Who's first? First, we got Jason Ritter.

He says, Are you guys, Anise's, Mike and Steve,

going to stream live on Google Plus in the future

so us the fans can shoot the shit with you? Well,

Jason, like I said, back to you in the message

board, you're the only one that's actually asked.

We haven't gotten any feedback from anybody else

but you, one way or the other. Not that we wouldn't

do it just for you, but we just want to see if

we can get more people that we can get like a...

Community thing going on, but it's still I still

plan to do it I I played around with it last

Last Thursday before we recorded episode 7 Some

friends and I did Played a pen and paper role

-playing game using the Google Hangouts. Oh nice

We didn't do a live broadcast of it, but it seemed

to work it does this I don't know if you've ever

used it Steve, it does this interesting thing

where whoever is talking, they get their video

gets moved up to the center. Oh, that's cool.

So it'll switch between, you know, like if you're

talking, it switches to you and you know, and

vice versa. So that's that's kind of it was kind

of interesting. And of course, that automatically

gets, you know, that goes out live to everyone

that's watching it. And afterwards, it's archived

for YouTube. So people can go there and keep

watching it so and I excuse me I believe because

of the app I used to record the Record the podcast

the master track for the podcast I can I can

do I can still grab that audio so it shouldn't

interfere with the regular downloadable podcast

We just build to show you guys things like the

t -shirts or the hat Yeah, that'd be cool What

do we got next We got Freddy Savage Who I'm pretty

sure is Super film fan, but I'm not a hundred

percent of that payment Well, no cuz super film

fan is a different guy that he's he's actually

he's actually got a handle So there's super film

fan 99 and then there's Freddy Savage You think

he's the same guy posting under two different

names? Well, it might be two different platforms.

I don't I'm not sure but I could be wrong. Okay

Correct me if I'm wrong. He says how much your

entertainment is worth is a hard one to answer.

He says it depends on the cash flow at the time.

He says I'm not going to miss a meal because

I need a $60 video game. He says he has come

close, although all in all he's about getting

free entertainment as much as possible, which

is why he loves podcasts. and then he poses a

question to us saying I'm a noob to the website

that his friend recommended it to him and he

says one thing I'd like to find out is how did

all this start how did Geekcast Radio come to

be? We can answer his question later in this

episode but regarding his response that was you

know in the last episode we asked people we're

trying to discuss the entertainment the value

the dollar value people's entertainment you know

how do you how do you decide if it's worth it

or not have you ever done have you ever gambled

with your entertainment like you know I've got

like three days until payday I've got five dollars

left this thing cost four dollars I can float

on a dollar have you ever done that I have spent

more than I've actually gone in the hole to get

stuff that I want for entertainment In the past,

I would have just bought the TV show or the movie

or the video game and just kind of not really

worried about it. Right. And then hope that they

didn't charge it until after the money goes in

the account. Oh, I think that bit me a couple

of times when I was in college. I used to do

that with gas. Gas takes at least it used to

take. you know, three or four days, depending

on where you went. It took three or four days

for it to hit your account. So it would always

be like, Oh, I need gas. So I'm going to have

the money in there in two days and it's going

to take three or four for it to hit. So I'll

go. I have, I know, you know, I have the money

for gas, but I'll go fill up right now. And then

I'll go buy some groceries because that money

would still be in there. And then I would like

gamble with, you know, Stuff getting flipped

around but that's not that's not an entertainment

thing. I guess I Guess the only time I've really

ever gambled with entertainment Is back in like

2000 Like early 2008 I think it was I picked

up burnout paradise like I really wanted burnout

paradise on the ps3 but I wasn't quite sure if

I had them I Think she wants you to stop podcasting

She's giving me hand signals. I think she's telling

me to move on. If we were on video with everybody

to see, you would see my cat blocking my face

like, nope, no more podcasting. Get away from

the microphone. Yeah, I think she's telling me

to move on. But no, I went out and I had like,

you know, I had five days until my next payday

and I had the money to buy the game and to be...

Comfortable for the next five days at the same

time. I was like I don't know if I'm gonna need

this money for the game over the next five days

So what I did is I went and bought it, but I

never opened it And I was like, okay if I can

make it until Friday And I don't need and I get

paid and I don't need the money then I'll go

ahead and open the game But if I need it before

that then I can at least return it and get my

money back for it. Um I think that's the only

time I've ever really gambled for it otherwise

I usually save up for it or I go and say hey

go to my wife and I'm like hey um can you help

me out with this uh you know so um what did uh

what did x -51 the machine man have to say gander

yep uh he says any plans to make the show available

on the stitcher app uh yes I have actually forgotten

about adding any new shows to the Stitcher app.

So I need to actually get on that. It will be

done soon. So hopefully you'll be able to find

all these shows on there as well. Now, what is

the. I've never used Stitcher, so maybe I just

don't understand what the value of Stitcher over

like a regular podcasting catcher. It's it's

like a streaming radio station for podcasts.

OK. So you can you can subscribe and kind of

pipe into certain podcasts and your stitcher

app will Synchronize and let you stream It'll

let you know when there's new episodes and let

you stream it It's kind of like iTunes on it,

but on the go kind of thing I was gonna say cuz

it kind of sounds like the podcatching the well

For anyone that doesn't know I'm you could basically

call me an Apple fanboy but the the iPhone podcast

app and several other apps like Downcast and

stuff like that they seem to it sounds like they

do the same thing like you feed your RSS your

RSS feeds for the podcast that you want into

the app and it automatically downloads new episodes

allows you to stream new episodes I don't know

I guess I just don't I mean I understand why

to do it I just thought it was something different

than just another catcher Yeah, it's like an

on -demand Type of radio thing and it's free

for like iPhone Android iPad and PC. Okay All

right, what do you what do you have to say about

the What else did he have to say the driving

question? Yeah, he says I don't mind driving

But I love driving a stick driving a stick makes

you feel more connected to the entire driving

experience I'd say I've known Danner for uh going

well nine years now wow wow it's crazy anyways

um can't believe i've known him for that long

the um i never knew he knew for one i didn't

i never knew he knew how to drive a stick uh

to um i i didn't know he ever drove a stick so

um wow That's something new that I learned. I

like driving manual transmission cars. Unfortunately,

I can't drive them anymore. Not because I forgot,

but because I'm physically unable to. Have you

ever driven stick? You work at a dealership,

you have to have driven stick. Working in a car

dealership, the funny part about that is, is

my first week there, one of the salesmen is like...

Yeah, this vehicle needs gas. I guess what you're

doing today. You're learning how to drive a stick

So he had me driving around the dealership in

the back lot for a good I don't know four to

five hours with another stick until I got the

hang of it enough to drive it and managed to

stall it out all the way to the gas station and

Yeah, it took me a little bit to figure out how

to keep it going. Is that the first time you

ever drove stick? Yeah, working at the dealership.

Yeah. Yeah, okay, I my first time driving stick

my dad was very adamant about teaching me to

drive stick and I was like not having it not

having any of it he bought me like a jeep that

was a manual transmission that I never actually

got to drive but or I never got to drive like

out anywhere he ended up selling it again my

dad bought and buys and sells cars like it's

nobody's business but One time I drove it around

my parents subdivision and I forgot to take off

the emergency brake Oh nice, but I didn't know

that The car was just really like herky -jerky

and I thought it was because it was a manual

No, it was because every time I let my foot off

the gas the car was trying to come to a complete

stop And it was like a couple years after that

that I too Got a job working at a dealership.

We used to work at Superior Pontiac okay and

the first I guess the first manual transmission

car that I ever drove that I wanted to drive

was when they told me that they needed to that

I needed to move I was a porter they told me

that I needed to move the Pontiac Trans Am WS6's

from one side of the lot to the other I was like

yes I can do that I didn't know. I was like,

okay, I can remember how to do this. And I did

it. But no, my first two real cars, the Ford

Tempo was a manual transmission that I talked

about last week. And the car I had after that

were manual transmissions. And I love both of

them. They are a lot of fun. You do feel a little

more connected to the whole experience. The car

I have right now is a G6 and it has the Manumatic.

Where you can you tap to shift? Yep That's fun.

I used it a couple times when I first got the

car like six years ago, but there's really no

There's no point to using it because there's

no skill involved in it like it won't let you

downshift Unless you're going slow enough to

downshift So it's not it's not like you you can't

like power drive with it like you can with an

actual automatic where you can With an actual

manual where you can just you know, slow the

car down by dropping gears It doesn't let you

do that. Which is kind of a bummer, but What

do you have to say about his entertainment? Do

you lose your place already? No, no, no, I was

I was actually adding the show to Stitcher So

it should be on there soon uh he says entertainment

is a cornerstone for me if it is something i'm

interested in and i can justify it to my wife

then cost is relative time is a larger issue

than cost for me so finding time to play it is

a bigger issue than the cost but what have you

like i i i mean we can i can ask him this himself

but if he listens and he can answer the question

for us but like is there a difference between

if you say you justify it to your wife You like

like take gone home. For example, let's just

say that was a $60 game You you know, you justified

it to your wife you paid 60 bucks for it You

sat down you gave yourself like a bunch of time

to play it and you were done in two and a half

hours Like I don't know I see that's a game though.

So it really depends on how you get into What

I think it would depend on the game though. Yeah.

Yeah this man This is a really hard question

to ask and I'm glad that a lot of people seem

to have trouble answering it Yeah, because that

that means that we're not in the doghouse for

not having a You know having a difficult time

trying to figure it out as well Yeah, I mean

like I said like like we said in last week's

episode. I You know I do justify things to my

wife But more so but more so it's just to back

up my justification for purchasing something

But it I don't have problems paying sixty dollars

for you know a game that's four or five hours

it really it really depends on the quality that

was put into the game and stuff like that or

any anything for that matter um all right and

he had some questions he would like us to address

in a future episode correct uh do you want to

share those Yeah, he said you guys should cover

non -conventional media that you enjoy, like

your favorite podcasts outside of the GeekCast

Radio network family, or your favorite web -based

shows or YouTube videos, which I really like

that idea. I like that idea too, but not for

this episode. No, not for this episode. That's

a completely different episode that we could

kind of roll all those into one. Yep. Yep, our

favorite. our favorite non -site media. Yeah.

That's what we want to do. Point people in another

direction. Well, I mean, if it's if it's certain

video shows or something or tech shows or, you

know, just I have select podcasts I listen to

that aren't from our network. You know, I'm going

to I'm going to be brutally honest. I don't listen

to any of our shows. You don't listen to any

of the Geek Catch Radio shows? No, because well

the problem is if I was the ones that I would

listen to are the ones that I'm on Like you know

I'm saying like the the ones the the one that

has The shows that have the content that I would

listen to from other people like I'm on those

shows, and I just I was there I lived it. I don't

need to relive it so I'm I'm kind of strange.

I'll sit there and listen to the episode because

half the time I can't remember what I said during

the show. That makes you sound like a drunken

fool. It happens. I mean, I'm coherent while

I'm listening to it or while I'm recording it.

But when it's after the fact, I'm like, you know,

I really don't remember what I said. No, I can

understand that. Because I've been on so many

of them. I have a hard time keeping track of

what I've done on what show. Right. For me, though,

it's if I. I can get through a show and I usually

just forget it like I like that's probably what

you do, right? You get through a show and you

just forget it. So it's like when when people

like show up in the on the comments and they're

like. You said this or you said that I'm like,

I don't even know what you're talking about and

I'm not gonna go listen to find that part I'll

go listen to it, but that's just because I'm

curious and that's the important information

I'll retain and the other stuff. I kind of just

forget like yesterday I can't remember what I

ate for lunch. So I mean, it's It's it's one

of those short -term memory type things, right?

Not that I don't care because I do I just It

I have so much on my plate that I just can't

retain at all. It's understandable Sean Alteria

I'll let you go with that. All right For the

question of do you enjoy do you enjoy driving?

He says not in the least Which would put him

firmly in your camp Steve. Yes. Well, I enjoy

it to some degree Depends on what I'm driving.

I Think that might have a big part of it that

for some that I think that plays a big part of

it for some people I think like to me a Corvette

isn't that Special because I have to drive them

up to the lot every morning and I hate it I think

we're both they're so hard to get in and out

of whereas if I was driving a Camaro to the lot

every day or like a souped -up g6 or something

like that I would be more apt to want to get

in it Okay, I don't agree with you about the

Corvette. But then again, I don't have your job

but No, I I like I love being a porter It was

because it was just say I went there went to

work there after school for I think I worked

four or five hours after school Monday through

Friday, just moving cars around the parking lot

brand new cars. It was a lot of fun. That's what

my job started out as. I miss it. For the question

of how much is your entertainment worth? And

again, he says that's very much a loaded question.

It depends on the product. For most things, you

know what to expect before you buy them. Video

games, movies, etc. How much time something requires

doesn't pertain to what I buy too much. A comic

may only take four minutes to read at the most,

but that also has the potential to increase in

value. Most things like video games, movies,

and such don't have that option. My entertainment

is worth a lot to me. Most of my free money goes

to it. Why why make the money if you don't enjoy

spending it? That last thing is one of the things

that I live by. Why bother making the money if

you don't, you know, if you don't enjoy spending

it? Yes, I agree. I. I mean, obviously, OK, obviously

not everyone's in a position to do that, you

know, bills, you know, other responsibility,

family responsibilities and stuff like that.

I get that a lot of the time I find myself in

a unique opportunity that others aren't in. This

is one thing I kind of have to keep reminding

my wife of every once in a while. It's like we're

pretty well off. It's like we can afford to treat

ourselves to nice things. We're not buried under

debt and all this other stuff. Yeah. But yeah,

well obviously some things can be looked at coming

back to the the value question some things can

be looked at as an investment My question I guess

would be when's the last time a comic that you

bought has gone up in value I'm really interested

to know that one because I'm not a big comic

guy, but I know that with the influx of digital

comics I have to imagine that that kind of drives

the value of the print one down Being that it's

so readily available, but then again. There's

always going to be somebody that wants the physical

media Yeah, well, I mean like I I even discovered

that some of the new 52 Issue ones are worth

up to 60 to 100 dollars just depending on the

issue Wow Which is strange to me like I just

looked them up and was kind of like oh I get

because like a couple of the Batman ones I have

I'm like oh they are worth like 60 bucks only

because they're like first edition and so I'm

holding on to them because I have the trades

for some of them so if anyone hears something

funny in the background it's my giant fat -ass

cat About to do something really stupid anyways

I've had I've had one. I mean I've had I have

there's a video game that I have It's called

Xenogears. It was released on the PlayStation.

It's one of my it's like in my top five favorite

games of all time and It was had a limited run

here in the US and for a time it was going for

$300 a copy Holy crap I I was working at Babbage's

when it hit that price point and they had an

unopened a brand new unopened non greatest hits

version For the regular price of 50 bucks So

I bought it and I still have it unopened nice,

but the value on it has crashed And it but I

never bought it with the intention of selling

it I can't do that. I can't buy something with

the intent like Like the intent intent on selling

it Like for example I bought a Wii U last November

I got it the the Monday after it released and

We picked it up and my wife was like you should

sell that online You should turn around and sell

it online and try to make them like I can't can't

do that like or I'd feel wrong because I feel

like I feel like I'm taking away from some kid

that actually wants that or somebody that actually

wants like I don't I'm not the kind of guy that

just does something to make a profit off of it

like and I told I said if I was gonna sell it

I put it up on eBay for what I paid for it because

I don't want to make a profit off of someone

that would actually buy it and enjoy it more

than I would but so yeah I never bought Xenogears

for that specific purpose um i still have it

it's still in open the market fell on it i think

right now it's around 75 to 100 dollars for it

okay so that's like i mean then that that kind

of goes into like the collectible thing that

we can talk about on another episode but um let's

see i don't know i just i don't have anything

that i think has gone up in value Don't think

a lot of stuff does anymore because they mass

-produce it to the extent that it's just it's

it's It's it's like I don't know yeah the market

gets flooded with it. Yeah, it's flooded I mean

there's there's a lot of the stuff You can't

really buy it judging that it's gonna be worth

something you buy it because you want it Yeah,

there's um Well, that's what happened with the

xeno gears is that it as soon as I found that

then Sony was like oh You know what we're gonna

make it a greatest hits title and all of a sudden

they had the green like the the greatest hits

version that was like $20 a copy and the market

got flooded with them so now anybody could get

a copy of it so it was like only the hardcore

hardcore that would want the unoriginal print

of it not only that they destroyed the market

even further with the PlayStation 3 because they

released the game on the PlayStation Network

for 10 bucks so I've now bought four copies of

the game. I have the unopened copy. There was

original copy I had when I played it and I lent

it to my cousin. But when he gave it back to

me, one of the discs was damaged. So that was

no longer playable. So I went and bought another

copy so I can continue playing the game and that

copy got misplaced somewhere. And then I ended

up buying the third copy, which is my sealed

copy. And then I have a PlayStation Network copy

that I can play when I want to and don't have

to worry about losing it. Nice. Other topics

he would like us to discuss. He says board games

or tabletop games would be cool. I love the written

reviews on the site and like to see more stuff

about those types of games. Do you play any?

If so, what kind? Who writes the reviews, the

game reviews for the site? Uh, Dan's sister.

Okay. We will have to relay that information

to her. That you would like more tabletop reviews.

Now, I did attempt a tabletop podcast at one

point, like a year ago. I only got one episode

in, and that was because the guy that I was doing

it with got canned from where I work, and he

ended up getting another job and moving all over

the place, so... Yeah, that show never progressed.

But the intent of that was to talk about board

games and tabletop games. Are you familiar with

a lot of board games? I'm familiar with some

of the ones that I've played. I've played probably

close to a dozen, like Couriers, Pandemic, Settlers

of Catan, Ticket to Ride, Star Trek Expedition.

I've done Settlers and Ticket to Ride. I've also

done Formula D. I haven't heard of that one.

I do a lot of like, I like a lot of the card,

not like Magic of the Gathering, but a lot of

the card based games. Like I have one that's

called Chrononauts. You lay out a timeline, there's

like Some of the cards build a timeline. You

lay that out and that's like your game board.

It goes from like the 1900s or like the 1800s

all the way to like 2005, I think, or something

like that. Oh, wow. Or it's 95. And so there's

there isn't like one card for each year. There's

just they they took that chunk of time and they

they mark each card is marked with like a pivotal

event. So like you have like the assassination

of Lincoln and the assassination of JFK, like

those are cards in the timeline. Or like the

start of World War II or the Hindenburg explosion,

like those are those are the cards that make

up the timeline. Oh, wow. And then you have other

cards that just that tell you what character

you are in the game. And then you have another

card that gives you an objective, so you have

your character and they come from a certain timeline.

and then you have an objective of things to artifacts

to collect like the Mona Lisa or Just other like

dinosaurs or something like that it's a lot it's

a lot cooler and in Execution than it is to talk

about but basically what you have to do is your

character comes from a certain timeline And one

of the ways you win is by altering the existing

timeline that's on the board You have to alter

events so that they become your timeline like

you maybe you have to present prevent the assassination

of JFK and prevent the prevent the Hindenburg

from exploding And that that is the timeline

that your character comes from so when the timeline

is matched up the right way. That's how you win

If you have there's things called a lynch pin

where things can go either way. If too many of

them are exposed, then you create a paradox and

the whole game is over. So there's a lot of different

ways you can play the game. You can choose to

screw everybody over and just try to create the

paradox and the whole thing caves in on itself.

Or you can try to complete your missions that

you get from your character cards. Nice. It's

a lot of fun. It's not a quick game by any means.

None of these games are actually. Well, I mean,

yeah, you're right. But in Krononaut's case,

you could do a full game where you have to complete

all three objectives. You have to collect your

mission things, you have to restore your timeline,

and then you have to do something else. Or you

can just say, OK, the game is over once you restore

your timeline, and then that's all you focus

on. So it can be as long or as short as you want

it to be. Formula D is the one that you said

you haven't heard of? Yeah. That is like a racing

game. It's a race. It's a racing board game where

the board is a track and there's like spaces

on it and different lanes. And you I believe

that the amount of die that you roll or the or

the die that you roll is dependent on what gear

your car is in. OK. There's like lots of rules

for going around corners too fast like you'll

slide out to the like the outside corner Or and

it's it's it's really neat if you're like a car

guy Settlers think I mean do you want to talk

about settlers at all? Basically in that you

Collect different resources whether it's wood

brick wheat sheep or stone and you build cities

and roads and build settlements out of them,

and the goal is to use up all your pieces, build

the biggest town, and have the run out of road

basically. Once you run out of road, then the

game's over. But if you don't place your cities

correctly, or settlements, you essentially screw

yourself because it goes by roll of the die for

numbers of whatever that number happens to be

of that particular corner or resource of the

individual hexagon pieces that make up the map.

Pandemic is kind of interesting too that It's

a two to four player game and it kind of It has

to do with various viruses. There's four different

kinds that spread throughout the the planet and

you have to prevent them from spreading so you

have to find the cure and different places and

Basically if you don't you don't get it contained

You have to cure it at some point, but yet if

you don't get it contained and the games over

and it spreads uncontrollably Sure, I've seen

this I feel like I've seen it at some point my

friends play a lot of tabletop games and board

games I'm not sure that I've seen that one It's

pretty fun There's another one. I can't remember

the name of it, but if you pull up certain cards

it floods the land I can't remember what it's

called, but It's where certain Like you have

pyramids or you have like like a Stonehenge looking

thing and there's there's a lot of different

artifacts and you have to collect certain things

and Go around in different areas on the map and

it's a co -op game where you you're fighting

against the board another one kind of like pandemic

and it's it's multiple player and Basically you

have to each person has a certain skill like

certain ones can move more than one some of them

have a Helicopter thing where they can fly people

to their position Never heard of those either.

It's I can't remember the name of it, but it's

it's real interesting to play Couriers that's

it. That's a dice game It's something you can

easily play in about 20 minutes Because we used

to play that on lunch Basically you just it's

like a monster game with with dies or dice and

you Can upgrade the different things or discard

certain cards and it's it's like a Monster upgrading

kind of game Good game, but it's it's it gets

boring after a while playing it though Yeah,

I one of the one one last quick game that we

can mention before I mean because some of the

stuff could actually be a Podcast in of itself

or an episode in of itself like just six Covered

a little more one of my other favorite games.

I've only ever played like once or twice. It's

called. Let's kill It's kind of like it's like

chrono knots where it's a card based game And

it's it It's kind of like the GTA or the Grand

Theft Auto of card games. So it's you get a series

of cards that depict like a person or like a

location and some type of weapon. And the idea

is to string them together in a way that gets

you the most points. So it's kind of like you

have a cheerleader in the basement with a baseball

bat. So you're going to kill the cheerleader

in the basement with a baseball bat. And you're

awarded points based on your card combinations

Nice I don't really and there's like lawn mowers

and like back alleys and like, you know stuff

like that in there It's it's it's like GTA mix

with clue. Yeah pretty much you get to yeah,

it's It's kind of it was it's kind of funny I

keep thinking I need to buy a deck of the cards

and every time I go look at them I find them

and then I decide I don't know I don't have the

money to buy it so But I like a lot of others

we like a lot of other things too like I asked

on the forum if this could be Extended into like

pen and paper RPGs like D &D and like Shadowrun

So we can definitely talk about this more in

the future I just played a game like that in

high school. It was it was a paper version of

Warhammer Man do I know what that I? I've never

seen anybody play it like that. And it's on grid

paper. With dice? No, there's dice, but you have

certain imaginary pieces. You kind of draw them

in a certain space on the board, then you have

to erase them as you roll and move them in certain

directions. So are you using... Are you using

the Warhammer rules for the figures? There were

no figures, it was all drawn on the paper. Right,

but what I'm saying is are you using the rules

that would apply to playing with the figures

but just using paper? Yeah, I believe it was.

I've never done that. I don't think I've ever

heard of that either. because I've played Warhammer

before and then I've because I had a buddy that

in high school that played it and used to paint

the models and everything and then he'd have

me do mock scenarios with him and then we used

to do the paper Warhammer hmm that's interesting

but yeah all this here that we've been talking

about that's what Grand Con is yeah so if it

interests you and you live in the area check

it out yes Next we have honor Murphy Yep He says

as someone who collects action figures and statues

as a main hobby The time spent is not a big factor

the quality of the product is the most important

So I want to get the most from my money if I

could spend $300 on top of the line product or

Get something bottom of the barrel for $25. I'd

go with the top of the line. I'd rather have

fewer figures than have that are more unique

and interesting than a bunch of average items

climbing my shelves? That I can get behind. My

only question is time spent is not a factor of

the quality of the product. So, but okay. I mean,

I wish you would have I wish there would have

been some included examples here because I mean

what I guess then what That goes right back to

it right what determines a quality product? I

mean, that's kind of that's that's that's the

question right then yeah, like how do you know

I? Understand you gave the you gave the he gave

the price example that I understand that but

how do you determine that I? don't know the $300

for something is So a lot of stuff that we were

talking about right like comics and games and

movies You don't really it sounds like more like

he's talking about stuff that can sit on your

shelves like like action figures or collectibles

that people can see readily that you display

Yeah So I understand that like I spent a hundred

and no like $200 for my Lego B wing that I have

That was totally worth it to me And I have that

I have that displayed It's kind of but it's like,

you know, I don't know. I feel like now we're

talking about two different things It's something

I think he's talking about something that you

display on your shelf and we're talking about

something that has like a finite Entertainment

allotment, you know, like a movie is like six

dollars six seven dollars for two hours You know

a video game is sixty dollars for a ten hour

play experience The comic is four dollars for

five minutes worth of reading um that's the kind

of stuff we were talking about um to see what

you know how that you know came out to you now

if you play with your toys yeah but then again

i don't know that i'm really gonna want to play

with something that i spent three hundred dollars

on i mean i take i take my b -wing down every

once in a while and i just hold it and tweak

its wings every once in a while, but I have another

I have a pirate ship up there a Lego pirate ship

that I got for Christmas Which is about the same

price and that's got the little figures in it

and stuff like that And I never I've never touched

that I built it put the figures on it And then

I put it up on my entertainment center, and I

haven't touched it since so that was a Christmas

present I didn't spend my money on it, and I

bought I wanted that solely for display purposes

But He follows that up with Regarding that did

you ever think about collection about collecting

things like figures or statues or really or anything?

Really? Do you collect anything with signs the

normal video games comics etc? We both do but

I think that's an entirely separate episode Yeah

We'll definitely come back to that though at

some point Yeah, the other non -media forms of

collecting Yeah. So yeah, I guess, you know,

we've both, you know, you come down on the side

of the fence that you don't really enjoy driving

unless it's a particular, you know, particular

cars. Whereas I myself enjoy driving anything

that has wheels on it. So far, the entertainment

value, you know, dollar value thing seems to

be very subjective. But what I've noticed is

that people don't seem to have a problem spending

money on stuff that they enjoy. Yeah, I can definitely

see that. And yeah, you guys gave us a lot of

things to talk about in future episodes. So you

can look forward to those ones as to which episodes

we'll be talking about those. You'll just have

to keep listening. tend to not want to plan too

far ahead because then if something cool pops

up, then we want to be able to just talk about

it. But we'll we'll definitely hit all these

points at some point. So now just real quick,

I would like to touch on my other podcast real

quick. Off the Cuff is doing the seventh generation

best of awards. We've posted the link for it

for the rules and stuff in the forums at forums

.geekcastradio .com. Yep. And they are going

to be in Thursday's episode, the Thursday's episode

post for Off the Cuff, which is also episode

28. The rules and categories will be in there

as well. What we would like you to do is paste

and copy that list into an email try to provide

at least three nominees for each category and

mail them back to the website and then we'll

get them over to Danner over on Off the Cuff

and he'll run it through his little magic number

thing and we'll come up with a best of for you

guys for a future episode of Off the Cuff and

if we find out that it's really special and enough

people have participated maybe I'll share the

winner on Altered Geek Maybe. Yes. So please

head on over. We really appreciate the participation.

I mean, for the game of the year last year, we

kind of just chose basically did the same thing.

It was kind of we all made a list. So I think

we did top five games that we played that year.

And Danny went through and saw which ones matched

up amongst the four of us. And that was, you

know, that's where that list came from. We would

like to do that again this year but first we

need to get you guys engaged and so we're doing

the seventh generation awards first with the

game of the year awards to follow later this

fall early next year so yes please interact with

us we really appreciate it and all right we are

going to take a break and we will be right back

The Pull Bag is the GCRN's place for everything

you need in the comic book world. We focus on

new and current comics while also tackling a

few back issues here and there. So join the entire

GCRN crew and see what issues the hosts have

with today's panels. You can find The Pull Bag

on iTunes and GeekCastRadio .com. Make your great

escape into comics. Alright, we're back on the

other side of, well, technical difficulties and

an ad. For the first time ever. Now we just have

to figure out what's going to be. If you're still

here, I'm still your host, Michael Powers, joined

again by Steve. Yep. Now we're going to get into

the meat of it a little bit, which is how we

got into podcasting and the creation of the Geekcast

Radio Network. Yes. I think you should go first.

Okay. Since yours is probably longer and more

storied than mine Yes, how I get into podcasting

was actually it started in a long list of things

from 2005 I ended up I Started out doing fan

dubs of Transformers and Ended up getting a cheap

microphone and then eventually a headset and

all that other stuff. So the the talking on microphone

kind of intrigued me at the time. And then as

it progressed in 2007, I joined tfwire .com doing

the War Stories podcast, which went 15 episodes.

And I guested on their Transformers the movie

review podcast with Spada and Jesse and there

was another person on there. I just can't remember

right now what was. And then I did one of their

video game podcasts and then so the Kind of fire

to do the the podcasting thing was kind of already

set through doing that so through those 17 episodes

I Decided after most the shows went to an end

about that time That I wanted to do my own transformers

podcast so I created all things transformers

in 2008 along with the concept for Movie Week

in Review, which was another podcast that I had

kind of in my back pocket at the time that I

never actually used, which eventually comes into

play later. But later that year, I ended up meeting

TFG1 Mike and he wanted to create a Transformers

Review podcast of Generation 1. So I ended up

being the host the web host for his podcast as

Well as the editor of the podcast until he learned

how So I used audacity and all that stuff at

the time and then We actually edited much like

this podcast is edited which is audio recorded

on opposite sides instead of using a Skype call

recorder, which we eventually switched to later.

So after doing both shows for a little while,

we ended up guesting on each other's shows and

then decided, hey, let's create a network. So

we created Geekcast Radio later in 2009 in May

or June, one of the two. I think it was May.

And then Movie Week in Review came out. shortly

thereafter and some of the other shows started

popping out of nowhere and sort of kind of starting

the wave of things that would come later and

Here we are almost five years later and still

doing heat cast radio and Podcasting in general

Yeah See I knew that was a lot better than mine

By the way, I hope you guys are appreciating

the the editing style because sometimes it can

be a pain in the butt Like tonight's yeah tonight's

Actually tonight might not I mean I still have

to edit it, but it could prove a little It'll

be the most fun. I've had and trying to put it

back together big Skype but Let's see Well for

me I've always being the Apple fanboy, as soon

as Apple put podcasts in the iTunes store back

in 2004? Maybe? Maybe it was 04? Or it was 04

or 05. Whenever iTunes put podcasting into the

iTunes store, that's when I really got into it.

I started with podcasts like Dignation. Sorry

to listen to all those guys. Really like Kevin

Rose and Alex Albrecht and stuff like that. And

from there, it kind of spun out. Actually, what

it was is I was following a lot of the tech TV

guys. Kevin Rose, Leo Laporte, Twig. No, Twit.

Yeah, This Week in Tech. Following some of those

guys. From there, I... Somehow I stumbled across

the OneUp network of podcasts from OneUp .com,

which was like OneUpYours, Retronauts, Active

Time Babble, got really into those and I would

listen to all their shows on a weekly basis.

from like 2006 to like 2008 they were like the

only podcast I listened to because it was really

big indie games and they were covering everything

and I honestly I was still reading electronic

gaming monthly and listening to those podcasts

I felt like the same people that recorded the

podcast were the same guys that wrote the reviews

for the magazine And I felt like every week I

was sitting down with a group of guys and it's

actually instead of just them being Words on

a page. I was actually learning about their personalities

and what type of games that they liked so then

I could figure out I could just by listening

to them I could kind of figure out if I would

like a game Or not see if you know stuff aligned

if their interests aligned with mine and stuff

like that and One Up went through a lot of problems

at the end of 2008 and they ended up getting

They ended up laying off a whole bunch of people

and As a result like the One Up show or like

one of yours got cancelled Couple of other like

the the games for Windows podcast got cancelled

the Brodeo for anyone that actually may follow

that podcast That got cancelled and I followed

those people to other shows Like Garnet Lee went

over to Shaq news and started we can confirmed

which is a really great video game podcast and

Some of the some of the other guys they got together

in this small little group in a guy's apartment

and they started doing rebel FM Which is another

great podcast. It's actually those an amalgamation

of those two podcasts is kind of where I got

the inspiration for off the cuff But at that

time when one up was collapsing on itself and

video game podcasts were kind of starting to

take off because The talent had all of a sudden

gotten scattered all over the internet. I decided

that After listening to them for years as I have

these same conversations with my friends About

movies and video games and all this stuff. Why

not record my own? Podcast so I started talking

to some of my friends and figuring out the logistics

of recording a podcast like looking into microphones

and software and stuff like that and Come to

find out I had most of it A lot of the guys at

one up did recorded all their podcasts in GarageBand

which is what I use for editing for some reason

I can't get it to record for crap the way that

they could I can only edit it edit in it I can't

record in it um which is a travesty giving my

computer but after that I you know we we threw

around a bunch of names we're gonna do like casual

gamer or casual geek or something like that and

then I decided on and you know what we never

really figured out what the original name was

You don't know if it was the lunch table or the

lunch room, but the idea for it was to be those

conversations you had in the lunch room in elementary

school and middle school and high school. If

you were a geek, you sat around the lunch table

talking about, you know, movie news, movie rumors

or gaming rumors or tips or stuff like that.

So we settled on the lunch table or the lunch

room. We ended up registering the lunchroom .net.

I don't even know see this is where it gets kind

of weird. You found me on Twitter Yeah, I actually

forgot like a big gap of stuff that happened

in between the TFG one and ATTF before the the

geek cast radio form I actually stumbled Somehow

I stumbled because I started using Twitter. I

started hearing about Twitter and This is before

I even used my Facebook really Because I thought

it was a pain in the ass mostly but still is

it still is because yeah, there's I'm not getting

into that We'll do that in another episode of

something but I started using Twitter around

that time and I Came across this week in geek

And I started listening to Steve Snowball, Sailor

and Mike the Birdman Dodd. But this is when they

were on the CRNC radio station in Niagara College.

Okay. So you had to punch in the IP address into

iTunes to listen to them live at nine o 'clock

in the morning on Fridays. Okay. So I actually

started listening to that and When the search

terms for people in iTunes or not in iTunes in

Twitter came up I searched for anybody that had

podcast or geek And so I ended up bumping into

TFG one Mike on there I believe is how I originally

got it And I think it was late 2008 before he

started his show and I came across Birdman dot

on there So I've known him just about as long

and then I think that's how I found you guys

And I listen to your guys show and, uh, I, because

I was also kind of a newb to the, uh, the podcasting

world. I was just kind of communicating with

anybody that I knew that, yeah, who would listen

or who I could just kind of bounce ideas off

of and all this, you know? And so, I mean, it

was kind of funny that we're all still friends

today, even after like the initial conversations

on Twitter. Despite all the the crazy crap that

went on in between but Yeah, I mean I had I mean

in the early days of the luncher was just so

hard to it wasn't it wasn't hard to Record and

edit the show in fact. I haven't really changed

a whole lot of the hardware has gotten better

Yes, the hardware has gotten better and by hardware

Basically microphones have gotten better But

not a lot has changed on my end. Like I said,

I still edit everything in GarageBand. My friend

was wonderful enough to donate the wiretap studio

software that I used to record the Skype calls.

When I first got it, the app had the really cool

ability to record from two sources independently

on separate channels. Nice so I could say like

right now I have it set up for Record the audio

from my microphone and then I have it set up

to record any audio coming out of my Mac Originally

I Could set it up so that it would record my

microphone and then I could say record any audio

coming out of Skype. Oh Nice, so I could keep

all my like Twitter notifications on all that

stuff on but none of that would show up in the

recording When OS X was updated to Lion and then

again the Mountain Lion Apple destroyed the code

or the file that they were that directs audio

around the system or they redid that and Now

the app can only record Mac audio any audio coming

out of the Mac or a microphone But I can plug

in two microphones to my computer and say you

record on this channel and you record on that

channel Like so if we were doing a local record,

that's how I would do it But you know it yeah,

and I you know, I went from First microphone

I started with actually in the beginning. I experimented

with any microphone I had I tried using like

my PlayStation I microphone because I had a an

omnidirectional microphone in it and It was the

original setup was me in my basement and my friends

sitting around a table with the microphone in

the middle. So I needed an omnidirectional microphone.

So I experiment. I tried my Rock Band microphone.

I tried the PlayStation Eye microphone. Eventually,

I decided on this Snowball. That's when I came

across the Blue Mics. I bought their Snowball,

which is basically just a round... a round microphone

on a tripod, and it had like three recording

settings on it. It had, you know, the cricoid,

or the crotted, like the microphones that we're

using right now, and it had the omnidirectional

one where it recorded in 360 degrees around it.

So then I started putting that in, you know,

that's what I started with, and I used that for

a while, then moved on to the Yeti. And from

the Yeti, I moved on to the Nessie, which I have

now. But it's been fun. I mean, I really liked

doing the lunchroom because it was like, you

know, I was sitting down with my friends, but

eventually it just became the logistics of doing

it got kind of complicated because like my friends

were, some of my friends were having kids. Some

of my friends got really busy with work and stuff

like that. And it was just like, let's not do

it. So we would go months without doing a podcast.

I think you I think one time we even went the

last time we just we attempted it We had gone

a year Before doing a show and then that's what

I tried for volume 3 of the lunchroom and Then

we went to see Star Trek no, what did we get

in like we were in line for something last last

summer and We offered to do XRG. I offered to

do XRG for you. Was it was it? Was it? There's

no was it Avengers We took over in like September

like our first our first podcast for you guys

was like maybe was after the Dark Knight Rises

Might have been well. Yeah that we started having

because I I wanted the exposure that you guys

brought but I didn't want to I don't know I was

just kind of like I don't know I wanted to give

my guys a reason to do something and I was like

well if we if we do a show for you guys and it's

like we're right there and then it's not you

know it's not my site and your site and we're

trying to do something and meet somewhere in

the middle so now we're here off the cuff is

seems to be doing a little better recently Audience

wise next RG Audience wise it's doing I think

it's doing it's doing better now than it was,

you know when it started and that's great took

20 Took 28 episodes, which is great. That's three

more episodes than any other podcast I've ever

done yeah, cuz you you went volume one two and

three with Yeah, I think table volume one and

two made it to like 25 episodes each And volume

three I think made it to six episodes and then

we started doing XRG Yeah, I think that was pretty

much it My original plan was to do both, but

then I was like you know what screw it. We'll

just I mean we'll talk about games, but if we

meander around we meander around but Now it's

just Daner and Shaunzy arguing with each other

and me talking about video games, which is fine

people seem to like it Yeah, that's the long

and short of it hmm yeah I mean if there's anything

you guys want to specifically know I mean I know

that I feel like there's a like Rebel FM like

one of the reasons we record the podcast this

way is because Rebel FM started doing it this

way of doing due to the same reason Steve and

I are doing the show this way with the master

track and separate audio recordings But one thing

I noticed, if I try and reach out to one of the

more professional podcasts I listen to about

what they use to record, nobody ever answers.

Which is kind of a bummer. Yeah, that's true.

Share your... Why not spread it around, you know?

So if anybody wants to know about what we use

or anything like that, feel free to ask. More

than happy to help to get people... On the right

direction Yeah, I mean that's and that's kind

of the thing that sucked For us getting started

in all this is that we didn't really have anybody

to ask these questions to Yeah, it was kind of

it was kind of a trial and error all along the

way and to some degree it still is I will say

though if you're starting I think the most important

thing is the microphone. That's that's what I

keep hearing is the most important thing is the

microphone Yeah, I mean and You can get a halfway

decent one for around 50 bucks. I don't get the

the plug in ones, the the the nine dollar, twelve

dollar ones. They don't sound that great. I started

on those originally, and I think I made it the

very first and second episode of All Things Transformers.

The original first two episodes and my war stories

and all that. I used one of those microphones

and it sounds terrible. and I eventually got

a USB headset from Logitech that has a microphone

built into it and I used that for I would say

a good about a year into the network and it didn't

do very bad but it wasn't the greatest sounding

either and then eventually I got the Blue Yeti

at the recommendation of just about everybody

I know and uh I think yourself included yep that

was me and I think that was the final straw and

I was like, I'm spending a hundred dollars and

buying a good microphone and I haven't regretted

it since. So I mean, now when I, well, and now

when I've guested on other people's podcasts,

they're like, wow, you sound uber professional

and we sound like crap. Thanks. Because my audio

is crystal clear compared to some of theirs,

which I don't slam anybody for it. I mean, that's

just personal preference and how much you want

to spend on a microphone, but it can make all

the difference in the world. Yeah, and I I mean

I would point Again, it's me. I like like like

we like we just talked about you know It's it's

your money if you have it you can spend it if

you like nice things I've really have liked all

of the blue microphones I would I would definitely

have to agree with you. I I would recommend blue

all the way They I I transferred well, let's

see my my snowball is now with my co -host Joe

on off the cuff and the Yeti is now residing

with Danner um so and I have the Nessie uh Seanzy

um my fourth chair he uses his uh Xbox 360 headset

um which is not I mean not the one that comes

with it I think it's a Turtle Beach headset so

okay it's pretty it's fairly good it's good it's

like a premium headset for the yep so it and

it sounds fine um i would love to get him like

a yeti or a nessie or something like that in

fact that was my original plan for um my groomsman's

gifts for my wedding was to get all of them nessie

microphones but it wasn't out uh at my wedding

um the the nessie was supposed to come out in

the spring and it didn't end up coming out until

like a month ago so that wouldn't have worked

out very well um but yeah i and it's just you

know i gotta i don't know if you guys have any

questions you can go ahead and ask i mean there's

i i'm more than happy to to share um any any

tips or tricks that i have um the only the only

issue with getting Advice from me is that all

my stuff is done from the Mac side which any

Any little knowledge I have of the Windows side

has always been too tedious for me to try follow

up. I I know the Windows side Backward and frontward

because I've been using that the entire time

I know a very little bit of the the Mac side

only because I took media classes in school in

in the winter and I had to learn how to edit

audio and video on the Mac and to some degree

I found it to be more of a pain for me to edit

audio on the Mac compared to on Windows but that's

just because I think the apps or the applications

I had on the systems they didn't have they weren't

very easy I think there was some kind of a it

was a difference in certain kind of products,

I ended up using Adobe because I know it. Were

you using Logic? I don't know what it was. It

wasn't Logic, but it wasn't an Adobe product

either because I purposely went towards the Adobe

product because I know it frontward and backward.

Were you editing audio in Final Cut? We were

editing the video in Final Cut Pro 7. Okay. and

then we were editing audio in something else

it was like it was another one of those Final

Cut audio or something I don't remember what

it was I know the professional audio tool the

standalone professional audio tool for OS X or

for the Mac is Logic and the consumer app is

GarageBand but I know you weren't Editing and

GarageBand, I know that. No. Well, the program

we used, it just sucked. Yeah. It was more of

a pain for me. So I went, I had to cycle things

through Adobe Audition, which I use Soundbooth

to edit anything I do on GeekCast Radio. Lantern

uses it as well. We used to use Audacity. Certain

things like the voice modulation stuff. For instance

the old intros of geek cast radio where I used

to go he cast radio .com You know presents it.

You know I used to do it like that But I would

go into audacity because I couldn't do what I

wanted in sound booth, and I would knock it down

Three ock negative three on the the bass pitch

Okay, which is how I would get the the the extremely

Like it sounds like my voice is muffled like

Right, so I mean that's how I got the effect

in there for a lot of that stuff but I can do

some pretty neat stuff and not in sound booth

to like Like there's this padded room feature

or I can make it sound like old radio or certain

things like that So I mean it there's a lot of

different tweaks and plays that you can do depending

on the application you're using right Sometimes

to a limited extent when I was making I Remember

I made the I don't know if you remember it because

I think I worked with Mike more on it at the

time When I was doing the lunchroom as And it

was also it was like being syndicated on your

network. I had the I use your intro And then

cut into it like an alien transmission Yeah,

I think I remember that I Don't know where I

was going with that actually no I do I was I

was trying to riff on Do you remember the Sony

alien the walk like the stoned alien Walkman

guy that would it was like giant and blue and

fuzzy It was always oh man. It was like a night.

It was like a late 90s. They I think they had

them for like the mini disc for their mini disc

commercials. It was like this alien and he had

a giant blue head. And he had on headphones and

he looks stoned half the time, but I was trying

to like go for that, like, you know, just an

alien like I was trying to just play on that.

So I have like that's why some of the lunchroom

artwork has the alien in it, because we're just

trying to have some kind of little mascot or

something like that. It's kind of throwing everything

together to see what would. sit at the wall i

mean i remember the original idea with with it

was with my site was to i worked with a lot of

work at the movie theater there were a lot of

creative people that worked there and i was trying

to give everyone like a home for them to express

themselves which is why there was a limited run

of a comic strip called a theater near you um

i don't know if you remember those i think we

only did like seven like seven to ten panels

for it yeah I remember reading through those

on your website and I thought they were quite

funny yeah my that was my friend Dave who recently

got married he he did those he also did another

thing I took from shows each episode each episode

of the lunchroom had different art podcast art

each episode had its own art He would do it based

off of something that we talked about in the

episode So I I like I like doing those little

things it's just it's a matter of having the

the team To do it You know I'm saying like you

get them enough people Like at the time I had

you know I had he was willing to do art for the

podcast And I was willing to edit it and someone

else is willing to go and find the stories for

us It was like this whole team people working

on one uh podcast um which is great uh so um

i know uh i feel like um there were i just i

just want to say this we're not really gonna

i don't want to cover it or anything like that

but um the feedback that we got on the latest

mware episode was amazing yeah i i had to agree

Almost 40 comments. I just want to say we hear

you and stuff is happening. So just keep looking

forward. Keep participating and writing in. The

feedback we got on that was tremendous and we

hear you. So stuff is happening. You just have

to be patient with us. there's only about I really

what there's like four or five of us yeah so

yeah there's four or five of us to work on all

the shows um and I which is why some are delayed

at points and uh we all know um credit where

credit's due uh TFG1 Mike works his ass off um

For the network. So we're you know, we're We're

trying so we're five. We're five people trying

to bring you the best podcast we can so You have

that to look forward you have you have M wire

to look forward to you have not gone that has

not gone unnoticed and unheard It has progressively

gotten better. So I mean, it's it's due for its

its third evolution anyway, so So I've got An

interesting question And then we can I mean along

with you know people can answer the other ones

too that have been asked And then we can do the

ways to then we can close this out if you're

okay with that yeah, it sounds good um So I find

myself to be Subceptible to I'm transferred Trying

to figure out how to phrase this question. Is

there anything that you are, like, weak to? Like,

for me, I kind of wanted to wait until we can

actually talk about this, but for me, I am very

susceptible to marketing. I understand, like...

Like, you know, a couple episodes back I said

that I like the expense of alcohol because it

keeps me from becoming an alcoholic because I

can't buy it all the time. I try to buy expensive

toys so then I can't buy them all the time but

like little things like like if I see a commercial

for a razor blade or if I see a commercial for

some new kind of toothpaste these are these are

quirks I guess like do you have any like little

quirks or or like are you susceptible to something

just little quirks that you might have that you

can share like If I see a commercial for like

a soap or a shampoo or a razor blade or something

like that I have this urge to go and buy it I

can't I like I have to try really hard like if

I go in like a Walmart or a Meyer or a Target

If I go anywhere near the pharmacy department

Where all the soaps and all that stuff is if

I walk down an aisle I will I will probably buy

something Whether I need it or not like but I

won't but that's like that's like the uh it's

kind of like an ocd thing if i walk by that section

in the store i have to buy something from that

section in the store um i guess uh um another

thing i get ocd about is like my tech my tech

stuff maybe it's like do you do you obsess over

anything is there anything that obsessively drives

you um that you just can't not give into um Think

that's the best way to phrase that like like

little little quirk or something like that like

me Like if there's a tech issue that I have I

mean this the first time I noticed it was like

a Decade ago when I first got my Mac. I wanted

to make a music video Like one of those anime

music videos where you chop up your favorite

anime show Excuse me and time it out to a song

and I wanted to do that and I was like okay I

got my Mac here what do I need to do to be able

to do this and everything I had was in an AVI

format which at the time OS X did not like AVI

formats so I was like I had to figure out how

to convert AVI into something else and it took

me I stayed up all night like researching and

diving into like the nitty -gritty like codex

and all this stuff and You know, 12 hours after

I started my research, I decided, you know what

I'm going to do? I will just convert everything

from AVI to an MP to an MP4 on my Windows machine

and then send it over to my Mac to do the final

editing. That's what I that is that it took me

12 hours to get to that conclusion of like straight

research. I'm trying to find the best way to

do it. And it's kind of coming out more and more

now doing TV research. I will dive down rabbit

holes after rabbit hole after rabbit hole It's

kind of like I imagine it's kind of like what

chasing the dragon is Where it's like I go down

a dark hole and all of a sudden it's like four

hours later, and I have no idea what just happened

But I've got like 20 tabs open on my computer,

and I've read every single page from top to bottom

Is there is there anything that you guys obsess

over like that? Do you have an example Steve

is there anything that you obsess over I? Anything

that has some kind of a draw to my childhood

I? Have a serious like OCD with like I mentioned

in the past about For instance the the wanting

something just because it has to do with one

of my best out nostalgia things mm -hmm Like

for instance I have this burning need to own

DVD sets of TV shows I grew up with Right. So

anytime I see them I have this this desire to

spend the money I don't even care how much I

just am like I really want this Even though I

know I don't need it because I really won't watch

it all that often But I still have this need

because I'm like I remember this I liked this

show back in the day even though I'm kind of

scared to put it in the DVD player and say I

hate this Yeah. Now, I still buy the DVD so that

I can have it. It's for the kids. Yeah, it's

for the kids. Even though some of the jokes in

them, now that I watch them, I get them and I

understand how bad they are, depending on the

show. Ed and Nettie is the worst. Well, like,

I've watched, like, Animaniacs, Pinky and the

Brain, and Freakazoid, some jokes in there aren't

very good. Well, wait, aren't very good, like,

as in they're adults? or their adult. Yeah. OK.

There it's not that they aren't good. I mean,

they're funny. I mean, they're inappropriate.

Yeah, they're inappropriate. So I mean, it's

it's kind of like that thing. I mean, I've even

doing the Beast Unleashed podcast, I've found

things that are off color in Beast Wars that

are written in the Cybertronian font throughout

the entire series. Oh, OK. There's there's literally

animators telling certain other people and either

cast or animators to Do something or you know

F off or certain things like that. So I mean,

it's it's it's funny what's been translated through

that But no, I mean I have other like OCD things

where I I have to have the certain things on

me tech gadgets and they have to be in the certain

same pockets or they have to be me at all times

in various states Yeah, I have that I mean my

keys have to be in my right pocket my cell phone

goes in my left pocket I I have to have my cell

phone my mp3 player my headphones like all my

crap on me Yeah, okay My cell phone charger at

this point It's yeah, I've got bad OCD Um, but

I mean, and that would be part of it. Marketing

doesn't really do anything for me because I tend

to ignore it. Well, I base things off of nostalgia

and the fact that I see them when I'm browsing

the aisle, but I don't, I don't watch anything

to where I, I would get influenced by it. Now,

if it's like a film I've seen in the theater

this year, like for instance, Star Trek Into

Darkness, I really want it, even though I know

the film's not very good, I still want it on

DVD or Blu -ray because I own the rest of the

series. Well, okay, in my defense, it's not...

Okay, it's not like I'm... always like I see

a commercial on TV and I go out and buy it. First

of all, the TV I watch doesn't have commercials

in it. So that helps a lot. That does well. And

that also does two things for me. One, I can

watch a commercial and still laugh at it. Well,

most people are going, oh, it's another freaking

commercial. I find commercials funny now to the

last time. The last time this happened was in

like fall of 2008. Okay, like I really don't

watch TV with commercials So like it was like

fall 2008. We were watching the premiere of flash

forward on ABC Such a good show the It's cuz

I'm really so douchey the book was so much better

So much better. I could believe that but Because

the book got more into the science of it We were

watching it and there was an ad on there for

something and as soon as it was over I was like,

babe, I'm sorry. We got to go to the store. She's

like, you're kidding me, right? I'm like, I'm

sorry. I have to go and see if they at least

have it. But if I were to see a commercial for

not susceptible to Apple ads. or like samsung

ads like i find them funny and i think they're

cool but they're not like they don't make me

go oh i have to have that um it's the it's it's

the little things it's the same idea you get

when you see like a mcdonald's ad and you're

like man i want a big mac now it's that it's

that same idea right it's not it's not i'm not

saying like I see an ad for like a, you know,

a new TV. Like I want to go and buy that new

TV. No, I will. That triggers a whole nother

OCD thing, which I did mention, which is where

I just go down the rabbit hole of finding out

everything there is to know. Lately, the rabbit

hole I've been chasing is the plasma versus LED

or the plasma versus LCD TVs. And that is a mess

of a I've learned more about plasma in the last

two weeks than I ever thought I would know about

them. I like them. Ali has given me permission

at this time to set my sights on a 60 -inch plasma.

The issue that I'm having is the research the

research that I've done Basically ends in 2012

like they're not 2012. There hasn't been any

new information about them since 2010 okay, and

If there is new information like the most recent

articles about plasma TVs are about the lack

of information regarding plasma TVs That that

manufacturers aren't talking about the the pitfalls

of plasma TVs anymore because People were concerned

about them and weren't buying, you know sales

of the plasma TVs weren't good So manufacturers

have stopped talking about the negative side

of owning a plasma So all of a sudden there's

a three -year gap where there isn't any information

about them And it makes me That's where I fall

down the rabbit hole. I have to find out what's

going on and I visit website after website after

website. I do understand that they have their

advantages and I've seen their advantages in

person, but I've heard they're supposed to be

really good for gaming. But all the information

that I've looked at indicates that LED LCD TVs

are not better for gaming. than plasmas are,

and that hooking a computer to a plasma TV is

the worst thing you can do to it. I've been doing

it for two years now. But see, okay, but the

thing for me, though, is I just can't... I read

about the... I know that there is a difference

between burn -in and image retention. Have you

ever noticed image retention on your TV? Not

on this one. Okay. But they've got something

where it randomly moves the pixels. Okay. I mean,

can you notice that? That's moving them? I don't

notice it, no. Okay. But I've never seen any

burn -in with this television. The previous one

I had, yes. Well again, the difference between

burn -in and image retention. Burn -in is where

it's unfixable and image retention is just a

static charge that the pixel holds until it's

given Completely new information and yeah, it's

come a long way a lot of stuff. I do read that's

current It's like yeah, it's it's come a long

way and there's certain things like the Samsung

one that I'm looking at now If you pause a game

and there's nothing on the screen Nothing moves

on the screen for like a minute or two or something

like that It starts this whitewash thing where

a white bar goes back and forth across the screen

really fast But I when I was doing all that research

I could feel myself in my head planning out the

maintenance Like whether it's there or not like

I've never owned a plasma but I've read about

the break -in period for plasmas and You know

the image retention thing and keeping them running

optimally and I'm just like I could see I could

In my head. I'm like, okay. Well on Saturdays

I could like run the the screen wipe thing to

get I've never had to run it man Maybe I maybe

I should just maybe if you move closer to me.

I will just come over and look at yours Because

I play my Xbox on mine all the time I'm just

I'm I just I could feel that OCDness coming coming

on what and I don't even own the TV and I could

still feel it coming on And I think I talked

about the Boxeon here that I had, or at least

I've talked to you in person about it, how I'd

spent like six hours trying to find the right

file, the right way to send the files to the

stupid thing. And I could just feel that like,

I could feel myself spending more time trying

to get the thing to run optimally than I would

like enjoying it. And that's just that's just

me. I mean, I'm probably creating a self -fulfilling

prophecy by thinking that way. But now we've

talked way too long about TVs. Again, we can

talk about a tech. We should really do a tech

episode so we can get all this stuff out of the

way. We should. So if you have any tech tech

specific questions, feel free to ask those as

well. Yes, please feel free. How can they ask

us those questions, Steve? They can. Call the

voicemail line 502 -526 -5821. Please remember

to leave your name and the show you're leaving

it for because we do have many shows. You can

email us at feedback at geekcastradio .com. You

can visit the forums and episode post at geekcastradio

.com. Visit the Facebook fan page by searching

Geekcast Radio Network. You can also contact

us on Twitter at GeekCastRadioNetwork, hashtag

AlteredGeek. You can contact myself at SCP -21,

and yours is? At BoothDinja81. So I think that's

pretty much it for this time. And until next

time, which we'll be back from Grand Con, and

hopefully there'll be another episode of to some

degree that we'll have for a crossover. Yep.

You guys might get two episodes next week. Yeah,

you might. If you're really good and give us

lots of comments, we might give you two episodes

next week. Yes, lots of comments, lots and lots.

So until next time, get unplugged from the web

and get altered with the Altered Geeks.