Geek Culture Bucket List Discussion

You are listening to a GeekCast Radio Podcast.

Welcome to off the cuff. I am your host as always

Michael Powers. I'm joined this week by Steve

Megatron Phillips if you've listened to any of

the previous episodes over About the last month.

I should have an idea of how this format goes

So I'm gonna stop reminding everybody because

I know that can get a little annoying Steve why

don't you say hi since I completely Box that.

So, yeah, anyways, everyone knows how this is

supposed to go. Steve, what would you like to

talk about this week? I thought I'd have some

fun with this geek bucket list. Oh, no. It doesn't

have to be very long, though. No. Oh, man. I

know I threw you off your game, didn't I? A little

bit, but you know what? It's interesting because

Dana brought games Mike brought gaming related

topic You seem to at least be diving into the

anything goes aspect and I really appreciate

that not a problem and geek bucket list I Assume

you have some things I have some things that

I could throw in there. Yes Well, what do you

got I want to see Well, like I I did have Meet

Frank Walker until I found I was gonna cost me

$700 and then I was like, well, that's not gonna

ever happen Well, at least not at a con. I mean,

you'd still run into the guy On the street and

stun them with your robot car Yeah That was a

Knight Rider joke No, no, no, I wasn't it wasn't

that I was just referencing Knight Rider 2000

where Kitt's done Scotty. Oh, geez. And doesn't

realize it's him because he's broken. It was

a bad joke. I'm sorry. I haven't seen it, so

I don't know. Oh, OK. Well, yeah, OK. That makes

a lot of sense then why it didn't land at all

beyond the fact that it was a Knight Rider 2000

reference. But yeah, I that was one of the things

on my my bucket list, per se, because I. I'd

always wanted to meet the guy like at a con or

something, but That would have almost been possible

this year, but yeah, I'm not gonna go into that

Besides fact the conventions charging an arm

and a leg if we're talking about people that

will never meet I think I would have liked to

have had a some I mean, this is a bucket list,

right, so anything goes. I would have liked to

have had some kind of conversation with Steve

Jobs. That would have been cool, actually. I

say that only because, again, as a self -professed

Apple fan, and because I've read both of the

biographies on him, and I find him to be a very

fascinating person. I've watched almost every

Apple keynote since 2004 and there wasn't a single

product that that guy could not sell me. Just

his enthusiasm for things and in the biographies

like the way he handled things and the way he

got things done just intrigues me and I would

have liked to have had a conversation with him.

Makes sense. That's one. Number two is I'd like

to be in It'll probably never happen, but I'd

like to be in like a superhero movie of some

kind Like even as an extra. Yeah, just as an

extra like it I was attempting to try and do

that for the Batman for Superman thing, but it

fell on a really bad weekend For the one that

they were doing in Pontiac what about the one

in Lansing that fell on another bad weekend I

Was quite sad um sure you'll have more chances

yes i'm sure they'll wait didn't michigan shut

down that credit yep it ends in november okay

never mind you won't have any other chances they'll

they'll find a new gotham city or whatever they'll

fabricate it doesn't matter i'm screwed um but

yeah i mean i would i'd love to be I've always

been fascinated with the the films the feature

films or animation or anything But I just love

to be an extra in a film just so that I could

say I was there I Was there when they shot that

movie primarily I'd like to be in a superhero

movie, but that's just because That's what my

favorite movies are at this point I Don't know

if I would ever want to be In a movie there was

a point where because I'm like the my job as

a rejectionist like puts me in a union that I'm

Some part of that stipulates that I'm eligible

to work on movie sets. Oh That's cool. So Nothing

ever came of it I was told about it by some of

the other guys that work in the union that have

been there longer like I Could have gone down

to Pontiac or Lansing for that stuff, but like

nothing ever I never chased it down or anything

but like there's some something with the projectionist

union because it's like a stage union too like

projectionist and stage handling because like

they used to do the lighting at the wedding auditorium

oh really yeah they used to be responsible for

that so i i don't know how all that stuff works

out but that that would have been interesting

um I a bucket list thing that I would like to

do and it this I feel like would be achievable

Something I've never really done Mostly because

I priced myself out of it I would like to build

my own computer. Oh It's very doable. Oh, I know

it's doable. But like I said, I always price

myself out of it And I can't justify it to my

wife Okay, I mean mostly because I have I mean

I have a computer already and I don't game on

I basically be setting out to build a gaming

PC But I have every console under the Sun So

it's kind of like what do I need a gaming PC

for like? Because all the I'm gonna be able to

play all the games anyways Okay, but yeah, I

just always mostly it's my own fault I always

price myself out of it like I try and I try and

then I kind of cut things back And I think about

future proofing something like or like just getting

myself like this is a set of standards that I

want to adhere to and I will upgrade it later

but then I think about that upgrade path and

having to justify those upgrades to my wife and

it just falls flat at this point I think the

only way I'm going to achieve my bucket list

of building building my own computer is either

to win the lottery my wife to die or to get a

divorce Like, one of those three things has to

happen in order for me to fulfill that part of

my bucket list. And I know that sounds really

strange given how much I like to tinker with

things, but it's not about not being able to

do it. It's about not, you know, just pricing

myself out of it. Because by the time everything's

all said and done, I'm looking at spending like,

I don't know, I think the last time I did it

was like $1 ,500 or something like that. Maybe

a little more and at that point I'm like I could

just buy another Mac I I tend to not price myself

out of them because I have limited funds I I'm

usually 99 % of the time able to recycle a lot

of the old equipment Because it's you know the

PC and everything and I I can Other than this

last time that I had to upgrade because I had

to change from in a kind of crossover motherboard

of the old old hat kind of PC style to the current

age where they use SATA because I had an IDE

SATA motherboard so I could no longer use those

so a lot of that stuff I had to ditch and buy

new of because my old hard drive was IDE my old

DVD burner was IDE so a lot of that stuff I had

to change out but Most of the time I'm able to

price out a computer like just upgrades from

my current PC for under $300. See, I look at

that. But it's not the state of the art of anything.

It's it's it's enough of an upgrade compared

to what I have, but it's and it's moving into

the new format that I could go much higher like

my motherboard. I currently have an I3 Pentium,

which is dual core, but I could go up to an I7.

this motherboard. My motherboard also supports

up to 32 gigs of RAM and I have eight in it right

now. And it's SATA and it's got you know the

PCI Express you know or 16 or something like

that or 16x or whatever but my graphics card

is old because I had that before. Well, see it

sounds like it sounds like you're I mean when

you go here's the here's I think this is the

difference when you're looking at Build I'll

say I'll say building a computer you're thinking

of upgrading like components that you already

have right you're you're Up, you know, you're

updating certain parts of your computer to mostly

the the central core system like the processor

the motherboard and the RAM And then I hope to

achieve saving the rest of it. Right. So then

I look at and when I go and I don't have anything

to start from. That's yeah, that's true. So I'm

like, and not only that, like some of it is just

my own personal me being who I am. Like I one

of the things I get hung up on is the freaking

case. Like the tower, the tower or anything like

because I I when I sit down and I envision this,

I'm like, I want something that's going to look

good in my entertainment center. and they're

in Jack out there that looks good entertainment

center that's being built by case manufacturers

like the guys that make pre -made machines like

Alienware and Falcon and all of them yeah they

can do it right but Hey, you can't build an off

-the -shelf video game console not without some

heavy modifications of your own And I don't have

the expertise to do that So like when I'm looking

at these cases like sometimes I'll find one back

Okay I could live with that one and then I go

and kind of look at what you can put in there

and you can put like next to nothing in there

like there's no upgrade path like a graphics

card or So then I start kind of like making concessions

like and I think if you remember when at my wedding

I was telling you about that Athlon card that

had the built -in graphics processor. That was

a really cool idea, but then at the end of the

day, I was like, now I'm just cutting myself

short because I know a dedicated graphics card

is better than an integrated one. But yeah, I

get hung up on the case. I get hung up on a lot

of different places, but the case is like the

most aesthetic thing that I can think of. And

yeah, I could put it in a case, or like inside

of like a bookshelf or something, but then you

gotta think about being able to cool the damn

thing. It's a mess. In my head, building a computer

is like way harder than it actually is. Because

I remember spending an entire summer watching

my friends build computers, and all I did was

slap a new graphics card in my old computer.

but it was fun watching them do it and I learned

how to do it and I learned like you know how

you make sure all the parts go together so like

I have the technical know -how to do it I just

have to be able to like make myself happy oh

okay and I just can't I I look at stuff I'm like

nope that's sorry can't get past it so that's

one of the reasons I stick with consoles is because

they at least look nice sitting under your TV

Makes sense That and I don't have to fall down

the rabbit hole of tweaking driver settings And

graphical settings you really don't have to do

that anymore though. I I beg to differ granted

now I haven't like When I when I sit down and

play a game of my even on my Mac on the Windows

side of it I do tweak settings to get the frame

rate to run consistently and so I'll lower like

the graphic graphics resolution or like the screen

resolution that it renders at to get it to run

at least consistently. Um, and I've heard from

like other podcasts, like even the more demanding

games that are out there, like, you know, the

far cries and the, um, crisis, like there's a

lot of tweaking that needs to be done. Like it's,

I shouldn't say there's a lot of tweaking that

needs to be done. There's a lot of tweaking that

needs to be done if you, if you're as crazy as

I am about tweaking things. Because I obsess

over tweaking things. I get obsessive about it

and that's one of the reasons why I don't really

have a Windows computer is because I would be

defragging that thing every day. Why? Because

I can. It's an option. It's there. Why wouldn't

I? What's sad is I do the disk cleanup stuff

and I defrag every day before I shut it down.

See? And there's really no reason to do that,

but it automatically does everything I just I

remember like in in in college at my Friday and

Saturday nights in college was tweaking the crap

running spyware and adware programs and antivirus

programs and defragging and watching screen savers

and finding different ways to like Make my computer

a little better including like my favorite one

was when you do a clean install of the hard drive

and you you can allocate your swap file that

you make you make a swap file you make a partition

that is twice the size of the amount of ram that

you have on your computer and you make that the

first partition on the drive that's supposed

to make your swap file faster because the arm

doesn't have to move as far to find the information

huh why do i know this I didn't know that but

that's good to know. But that's one of the like

little like things that I like watching screen

savers like they show you how to like tinker

with all that crap. I've never done anything

like that on a Mac. Like I sit down at my I sit

down on my Mac I do what I want to do and I put

it to sleep and I go away. Like with a Windows

phone, no sorry like Android phone when you can

see like what's consuming your battery life and

like all that. Extra junk when I had my Android

phone. I was constantly tinkering with that stuff

I was playing more with that stuff than I was

checking Twitter Wow, that's how obsessive I

get about this stuff like I've spent Like four

hours like configuring Like streaming files from

a network drive to my TV one night The thing

does it automatically but I spent the next four

hours trying to figure out the best way to do

it Anyways bucket list, what do you got? Well,

one of my other ones is and this is more realistic

Whenever I actually get this figured out I'd

like to do a panel at a convention someday. Oh,

you mean like like have like a live podcast.

Gotcha. Yep. OK. Just want to make sure we're

on the same page. Yeah, that would be fun. And

granted, we could. I mean, like you said, we

could realistically do that right now if we wanted

to. But I feel like we'd be sitting in a room

with nobody. That and like because you you almost

I mean obviously but you have to plan out everything

exactly like of how you're Hoping it goes and

like different scenarios and have to have everybody

on the same page for everything during the discussion

and kind of keep it moving but the Because panels

are very pointed for the most part. Mm -hmm like

trying to keep it as on topic as possible And

being that I've had this acting class that I've

been doing, I'm slowly learning to get over the

stage fright and having people stare at me when

I talk. So that's one of the things that's kind

of stopping me at the present time. I mean, I'm

sure we could get a panel at like, say, Grand

Con if we really wanted one. Right. Because this

will be our third year going this year. I don't

know if we're actually ready for that yet. No,

that's what I was talking about. My fear is,

I mean, because to me, I feel like if we were

going to do like a panel, like I feel like we

would just be doing like a live recording of

a podcast. So like a live recording of Altered

Geek, like so the topic could like meander around

whatever. And then we'd have like a question

answer section with the audience. But I my my

fear is that's the plan. Right. But my fear is

nobody shows up. That's that's my fear Just just

because of like I mean I I love like I love working

with all the the geek cast radio guys and all

that stuff and I like doing the podcasting and

stuff like that my My fear is just that we're

not like at this time. We're just not That big

of a I mean sure you might have a couple people

like what's this? but nobody that's gonna Actively

say hey, we need to go see this panel. Yeah,

or like no one that's gonna come see it and have

like For a lack of better way to say this like

it an intimate question to ask us Like cuz they

don't like they don't listen to us on a regular

basis Yeah, that that that kind of thing so that

whoop my screwdrivers That kind of thing is you

know? What worries me most about it? It's not

it's not doing it or having something to talk

about or anything like that It's being in a room

with like, you know two people and a cricket

And we're sitting there trying to hold a conversation

with nobody Yeah, I mean, I mean we'd be talking

amongst ourselves until we got to the question

and answer point But I feel like at that once

we got there. I feel like the room would then

be empty Yeah, that would be one of my fears

too. Yes, and that implies that the two people

that were in my imaginary Auditorium got up and

left This is interesting it's just a damn podcast

see you later so Good to I think I think that

would be something cool though, but like eventually

Hmm bucket list bucket list bucket list If you

think of another one fire it off, I'm trying

to think of something Honestly, I think I would

like to go I would like to go to the video game

museum Where's that at? Oh my gosh Let me pull

an obscure question and have you answer it actually

I think there's like um There's one in Washington

like Washington DC Apparently there are more

than one there there are there's a New York st.

Louis Dallas, New Hampshire, Washington DC Smithsonian.

Yep. That's the one. I mean I Say that and like

I said, I'd like to just go to any one of them

really There was one here in Flint for a little

while this an exhibit Yeah, I didn't have a chance

to go see that but I was interested. I was too

and also did not go see it I know Yeah, just

like that kind of thing or going to like tech

landmarks. See, here's the thing. When I think

of like a bucket, like I'm not, and my wife can

attest to this. I am like not sentimental about

anything. Like we went to, I don't like going

anywhere because when I go somewhere, I just

like to go there and do what I would normally

do. Like we went to Hawaii for our honeymoon.

and we still went to Target and I bought a Nintendo

3DS. We went to Best Buy and I bought a memory

card and a Fitbit, and she bought an iPad. Yeah,

sure, we went to the beach and we went driving

around and we saw some sights and everything,

but for the most part, like when I go someplace,

I just like going there and kind of like going

about my regular day, but in this different location.

So like, I'm gonna go out to eat. okay what's

what's around here we kind of we didn't go to

like any like known fast food places that were

while we were out there we went to like new places

to eat like that's what i want to do or like

i really wanted to go see a movie really badly

and we know and we didn't because i wanted to

see iron man 3 and she didn't want to sit in

the theater for two and a half hours on her honeymoon

fine but i like going to theaters when i go to

like some new city because i like seeing Like

seeing different theaters. I don't know. That's

like a thing but I don't get sentimental about

things like when I say like one of my bucket

list things would be like going and seeing like

geek landmarks like going and see like the garage

where Apple was started or You know, just like

stopping by like Apple headquarters or Google

for that matter or anything like that Like going

like on a geek road trip and seeing all these

different places Which I understand they're pretty

much just down the road from each other Shortest

road trip ever um Like I would go there and be

like that's nice and then like move on Like I

don't know I don't get I Don't get sentimental

about this stuff I I would love to This is just

something that realistically could be doable

I mean I'm not saying like because I mean obviously

I'd like to be a voice actor or something but

I'm not even pegging that on my geek bucket list

because that's about as pipe dreamish as Being

an extra on a film at this point It's getting

to visit like Like the the Hollywood type stuff

in California Okay, yeah, but see that to me

I'm not that's that's kind of like your tech

You know road trip yeah, but and just going back

to that to that in any any kind of road trip

Really like that would be cool too like I can

totally get behind That but at the end of the

day. It's kind of like it's the same It's the

same thing to me like I could go to the the spot

where I don't know I Mean you probably have to

go to Toronto to see most of the things right?

or Vancouver. But maybe to visit like locations

from movies. Well, yeah, probably. But see, like

I'm saying, like if I were to go there and be

like, oh, that's where this or like go to like

downtown downtown Detroit and see like the or

to Detroit and see the train station that Michael

Bay likes to use in all of his movies. Like that

would be really cool to go down there and see

that. But after like five minutes, I'd be done

and ready to go. And I probably wouldn't take

any pictures like I Don't know. That's just me.

I'm not trying to like and I that's not everybody

I'm not trying to like put you down I'm just

saying I'm just using yours because like that

would be cool to like going to all these like

famous like I don't know if I'd want to go to

like the studios necessarily, but maybe like

where certain scenes were shot I think would

be a much more fun road trip But again, you're

probably just driving around Vancouver I wouldn't

care either way honestly I just I I've always

been fascinated with behind the scenes type stuff

of the TV film animation whatever mm -hmm so

like any of that I would love to see the behind

the scenes of despite the fact that there's probably

nothing that glamorous about it I like to see

Pixar and Emeryville that would be cool that

would be neat kind of aside from a bucket list

though is there like a moment in time you would

like to visit like like if you could go like

oh no that's a dumb thing I don't know where

I was going with that Think I was gonna say like

if there is there like a moment in time that

you would like to be able to visit like assume

Let's say time travel was invented and you could

put like a that on your bucket list Is there

like a moment that you would like to visit? I

don't know if there would be I Really don't like

it's I Really haven't I really don't have any

like nostalgia to go back in time and visit something

I Mean unless it was maybe like You know a point

where a certain actor or certain, you know tech

person were alive Mm -hmm so that I could see

them at some kind of an event like Gene Roddenberry

Yeah, like that kind of thing, you know gene

Roddenberry. I mean, you know even You know,

maybe going back and seeing You know the the

guys of Apple or something when they're first

trying to sell their stuff and Or first started

Apple or whatever it's just you know go to see

how that looked back then compared to how it

would be now and Just you know interesting things

like that I don't really know if I would actually

Do that, but those are the kind of things. I'd

probably try and check out right All right, is

there anything else you want to add to your or

share about your geek bucket list for wrap this

up No, I think that's it Is there anything you

want to plug? Altered Geek Unlimited comes out

every Friday on GeekCast Radio, and I think that's

about it for the moment. All right. Let me do

something here. Let me get my clothes on. OK.

So that's it for this week's Off the Cuff. If

you want to get in touch with us, you can comment

on our parent site at geekcastradio .com or send

emails to us at feedback. Geekcastradio .com

in the comment section for this episode. Why

don't you share with us? Your geek bucket list

if there's anyone that you would like to meet

alive or dead Because time travel is allowed

Since this is a geek bucket list So yeah, let

us know share share your geek bucket list with

us You can find myself Michael Powers on Twitter

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ninja 81 Steve You can find me almost on all

social media as at scp21 See you guys next week