Relocating, Home Office Setup, and Entertainment Expectations

You are tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips and joining me in

this endeavor into geekdom is TFG1 Mike Hello

Hello Hello We return after my great move with

my nice microphone back in front of my face Yes,

it's in front of your face Don't worry, I won't

eat it And I won't be going Either Like you're

doing now. That wasn't actually clicking Yes,

I understand me being a fool. I know so yes,

I've moved. I have a new house. I move cities

I had the tedious process of tearing down my

entire office, which my desk was an atrocious

mess. I literally took it down to each individual

board. With no instructions on putting it back

together, mind you. I put everything in a box,

like all the bolts, in a plastic wrap box, and

then I stacked up everything. There were two

file cabinets that stay together, but everything

else had to come apart, and it's a massive desk.

I got that back together in about four hours

on Sunday night because I was going, I need my

stuff set up for Tuesday for work. And I also

set my computer up right afterward because I'm

like, I'm going to watch Netflix while I'm unpacking

things. So I was watching it on my phone until

I got the desk done. And then after the desk

was done, I was like, should I go to bed? Should

I continue? And I was like, I'll continue. So

I put my computer back together and I still have

like a box and a half of crap under my desk.

I mean it hides it well, but of stuff that needs

to be put away in the desk. But I've not gotten

that far. I haven't unpacked my Xbox yet. I haven't

really done any of those things yet. But it's

coming along. We had the whole house. Mary mostly

did a lot of it. We got the whole house unpacked

in three days. Awesome. Yeah, which is which

is still the record. It's just yeah She she's

like we better not be moving again until we're

old and we can call two men in a truck Exactly,

and I says I says I agree with you So actually

this is the first time I've had an office That's

not in the basement Yay Because my old one in

the basement anymore. No, I'm not in the basement

So the last one it was it was a finished room,

but it was it was big and so it got cold in there

my new room is actually it's about three quarters

of the size of my previous office and so it's

a little bit more condensed and The carpet's

a little different in here too, and so it actually

holds the heat better. I also installed one of

those things that doesn't allow drafts to come

under the door, which I did that more so for

sound purposes than anything else on my side

of the door. I have family. So I also am going

to be getting sound panels to put up in here.

I put my blackout curtains in here. So yeah,

it's a process. The first day we were here, it

was on a Friday because we closed and then Mary

went to go grocery shopping and I had to steam

clean all the carpets, which was not fun. But

I took a break in between because I know that

they had cable and it was hooked up in the front

room and I Knew I needed to have the internet

close to my desk Right. The nice part about this

house is they have coax and Ethernet ran to every

room. Oh sweet Which is good because it's a three

-year -old house But the the unfortunate part

is is yeah, the coax is set up Every room and

they used to have dish too at one point in the

house and I had to unhook all of the dish garbage

and then I found the Comcast line and hooked

it up and got it to the right office thankfully

and the funny thing was is The Ethernet is hooked

up in all the rooms, but on the other end down

in the basement where this hub is at They never

put the connectors on the ends, so they're just

flat off wires. So I bought myself an ethernet

kit to strip the shielding off so that I can

put the caps on them. And I bought a network

hub to put down there so that I can snake networking

through the entire house. Because eventually

I plan to... Plug in my router up here and still

have it plugged into my computer the way it is

but move my My modem to the basement and then

have it hooked up to the hub so every room has

access to internet Sweet So yeah, that's my plan

It's it's not gonna happen till probably when

I'm in production again because I just finished

that and in three weeks I go into it again And

So yeah, I mean, it worked out well, surprisingly,

for COVID standards. We use this software called

IPDTL, which is similar to Skype, except it's

more real time. There's no latency in the audio.

So it's actually clearer and nicer than Skype

because you don't have to have a program installed.

Oh, very cool. You can't record from it, but

it's not ideal, at least for an audio drama purpose.

And so we had our director piped in to the studio

on the soundboard so he could talk to all the

actors through everything and talk to the control

room, which I was in a lot of the time. And then

he used TeamViewer to view Adobe Audition so

he could see the waveform and get time codes

for... you know when he needed things so it was

it was rather nice and it's it was seamless and

it was like him being there although it was annoying

having to wear a mask in the studio the entire

time um i had a side office that i that is that

was roped off from my mask free zone down in

the studio area so that was nice but um which

i went every day for lunch But the actors, they

didn't have to wear masks when in front of the

microphone. But the minute that they stepped

away from the microphone, they had to put them

on again. So we had them isolated in two different

rooms. And one of the rooms was a nice like a

25 foot by like 30 foot room. So we had one in

each corner and we had moving blankets hanging

from the ceiling to sound dampen it. And it was

an already sound dampened room because it's going

to be a TV studio. Right, so that was nice and

then having the regular audio studio for the

other person and so It worked out well for that

now with our Australian actors or the ones that

couldn't make it The director had to do that

on his own so I did not have to schedule that

so that was quite fun for me But yeah, so we

get to do it all again in three weeks So that's

pretty much what's been going on in my life other

than you know, the forest burning themselves

down Very cool. Very cool. Yeah, I have Been

slowly trying to get us unpacked. I've been binge

watching a lot of stuff on multiple streaming

services August 28th of this year Cobra Kai seasons

one and two hits Netflix It is no longer on YouTube's

premium because YouTube is going away from the

scripted stuff I guess or whatever they they

used to call it YouTube red. I think it's YouTube

premium now. I don't know and I don't really

give a flying flock, but Yeah, I find this absolutely

hilarious like I watched through the series through

both seasons and absolutely love it. I think

it's a great, great show, a great way to homage

the movie franchise that it came from at the

same time, adding new depth to the characters.

And the whole point of this series is it's from

the point of view of Johnny Lawrence, who was

the guy that lost to Daniel in the first film.

So. It's very, very interesting, but I went ahead

and posted on multiple social media platforms,

uh, GCRN's Facebook page, my fictional character,

TF2 and Mike page, my personal page and other

places about, Hey, you know, I just watched Cobra

Kai on Netflix, yada, yada, yada. And I said,

only watch the link to trailer. If you want some

spoilers, just go to Netflix and watch it. Everywhere

else it has low numbers on my personal page it

has 65 likes 60 shares 9 comments and as of this

recording 3560 people reached now this is the

biggest thing for me on social media in the whole

time i've been on so i've never seen numbers

like this a few times. GCR and posts maybe have

gotten over a thousand kind of thing But I have

never seen anything like this and I'm like, why

is this happening on my personal page and not

any of the other pages? So Strange a little strange

but kind of cool. I mean, you know, I'm still

a nobody retired podcaster, but still Trying

to think what else have I been doing? Oh, I Thundercats

the original Thundercats from 85 in the 2011

Cartoon Network series hit Hulu I have watched

through 95 % of the original series I skipped

a lot of the one -off episodes because I was

more interested in the multi -parters I did watch

all 65 episodes of the first season the second

season's 60 because it has 130 episodes total

so um i gotta say people need to go back and

re -watch this show because number one the show

is awesome number two snarf is not the worst

80s sidekick slash kid character out there snarf

i like i actually went into this thinking that

oh my god i'm gonna hate snarf he's too nursemaidish

he's too parentish he's too My god, why oh you're

gonna fall into the pit of lava. Oh my god. You

can't use the sword like though He's not he is

like that a little bit in the beginning but as

lion Oh girls and his character and all of that

snarf ends up quite Sir ends up yeah, he ends

up not so snarfy because he ends up becoming

more of a added he always was a member of the

thundercats team, but He's more of an active

fearless member of the team Because there's some

episodes where he he's not scrappy do No, and

there's nothing wrong with scrappy. Dude. I shut

up. There's two I'll scrap you Scrap yourself

Basically basically if you're looking at the

80s Sidekick characters, so snarf Copper kid

from silver Hawks Daniel from Transformers spike

and Daniel from Transformers chip chase from

Transformers I don't know if GI Joe had any kid

characters. I haven't watched enough of a real

American hero. Scott and T -Bob from Mask. Any

of the kid characters that show up in He -Man

and or She -Ra. Snarf is by far one of the better

ones because honestly the worst kid characters

in 80s cartoon history is Scott and T -Bob from

Mask. So yeah, I enjoyed doing that I enjoyed

whatever and I do plan on watching the 2011 series

I watched the 2011 Thundercats series when it

was airing but Cartoon Network Unless it's their

Cal arts whatever style whatever the hell their

own Like they've never really given a fuck about

action cartoons and they've always given them

the raw end of the deal like oh instead of it

being on Friday night at 8 p .m. it's on it Saturday

morning at 4 a .m. or is we're gonna air you

know two episodes within the next two weeks and

then we're gonna have seven weeks off or whatever

so I am very happy that both the 80s and the

2011 series for Thundercats is on Hulu because

now I can go back and try to watch the 2011 series

that like I said I watched some of it when it

aired but It's kind of weird seeing Eric Matthews

Batman Terry McGinnis as as Lionel but It works

it works. I guess I'll give a report on the 2011

series next episode See Lot of crazy things going

on at DC these days Yeah, what is going on over

there? Cuz I'm I'm honestly not up to date on

their stuff other than I know they've hit a couple

of shake -ups over there, but I'm not sure what

bunch of shake -ups It's just a bunch of like

I'm not even sure myself I just know by you know

just in passing that there have been a bunch

of editorial and other staff changes and There

there's just I see more rumors than actual facts

at this point, so It's a bunch of nothing yeah,

I don't know I'm not even gonna comment cuz I

I don't have factual information in front of

me don't have facts No, let's see a lot of things

to is as bad as 2020 has been there's a lot of

things to look forward to Do tell do tell Well,

the Mandalorian season 2 is coming as well as

Carmen San Diego season 3 Carmen San Diego's

on Netflix Mandalorian obviously on Disney Plus

What else I don't know I just I Just feel like

I'm seeing things that are gonna be happening

in in geekdom or in You know streaming services

that oh, hey, this is coming or oh, hey, that's

coming and it's like finally something to look

forward to Yeah, I've been rather disappointed

with some of geekdom to be honest Just because

there's not been really anything I've cared about

that's new I've mostly stuck with a lot of the

old stuff because it's tried and true and Not

to say I haven't really paid attention to some

of it because I've They have launched some of

the new Lower decks and No, it's not stellar,

but it's not as terrible as I thought either

so So, I mean never know it's It's always one

of those toss -up things that you just don't

quite know what's gonna happen Right. Yeah Although

I did see an article just before this that they're

gonna have John Delancey reprise as Q. So that

has my hopes up surprisingly Very cool, very

cool Let's see what else old is new old is new

new is old Yeah, I don't know like I'm looking

forward to eventually reading Batman three jokers

from Geoff Johns and Jason Fabach Let's see Like

supposedly TV shows like new seasons are gonna

be starting back up again, so that's gonna be

fun Well, I know that the the new Star Trek series

are all gonna be on CBS because they have that

they don't have any content. Yeah, so they're

like, oh You know, I mean and I mean it's expected

they've kind of hit that point where it's like,

okay It's been out a while. We're gonna You know,

we're gonna make it freely available to People

to view and I mean it makes sense, but at the

same time I don't Don't know. I don't know what

I think about it. I just I mean it could be good

I'm looking more forward to the fact that they

just hit Star Trek day and kind of released a

bunch of info on strange new worlds which is

going to be episodic like the old thing like

I can't I guess Akiva Goldsman who's been on

all the the new Trek stuff as executive producer

he wants to he's been pushing for a Captain Pike

series where it's the original the Enterprise

crew, you know Basically, you know, he wants

to go back to the old days of you know, it's

episodic but instead of you know, like if For

instance Kirk, you know could have a girlfriend

or dating somebody in one episode and she dies

instead of going back to normal the next episode

There's like repercussions for the character

point Right. So there's that aspect but they're

gonna be episodic overall And I thought that

that was kind of inventive and I'm looking forward

to that. Very cool, very cool. Yeah, I don't

know. I just feel like there's things out there

that I obviously can't. I can't put my finger

on right now, but like I said, there's actually

things to look forward to, like, you know, I

don't know, movies coming out or albums coming

out or TV shows or. That kind of thing and Comic

storylines and all of that so So well I was I

was looking at an article about Online radio

They were saying, is local online radio the future?

And I thought it was kind of interesting because

they're saying that one of the great things about

online stations is that you have a really good

handle on how many people are actually listening,

but it can also be a bad thing. Of course, that

can happen on FM stations as well, but you never

quite know. those and so They're saying given

the low barriers to entry a huge number of online

radio stations now exist around the world providing

all manners of services like podcast books or

You know anyone can launch them. So some are

good. Some are poor. Some are hugely popular

popular many will Not get much of an audience

So It's it's kind of Interesting because they

say the challenges are staffing transmission

winning an audience and paying the bills so you

know staffing they're saying that some can be

run by volunteers and Produce impressive things

and some you know can be online for cheap as

opposed to having a station where you have all

the overhead Now the audience part it says it

gets tougher each day You know says not least

if you were not on the same platforms as everyone

else. This is that there's some aspects of if

you change things or some can be okay with the

network service replacing something or changing

or it's just difficult to have an audience in

general. I thought it was kind of interesting

that they were just Bringing that up that it's

kind of the new wave of things going especially

with podcasting and so I don't know it was it

was just different. That's all The other kind

of cool thing is Ryan Reynolds posted for his

mint mobile It says check out our it's a cell

phone company, but it says check out our plans

as low as $15 a month and then he's got You know

his launching unlimited for just $30 and bringing

back Rick Moranis And so they have Rick Moranis

start come in there and he's like am I supposed

to say something he says no he says I'm just

geeking out right now, and then he goes And it

gives that look that he always does like Rick

Moranis does and then and then says, okay, bye

and then just leaves Which honestly was funny

Yeah, that's crazy Yeah, that was a little funny

funny funny skits Oh, there's a lot of people

that are Don't want to say coming out of the

woodwork, but making comebacks People have to

find a new way to entertain themselves as well

as everybody else yeah, and that's true and It's

I mean, it's just like podcasting things have

just gotten You know over saturated people are

having to kind of pick and choose what they do

and what they watch and what they listen to and

So yeah, it's Totally different beast now. Oh

Yeah, and this and I mentioned this all fair

to somebody else I was listening to a podcast

episode the other day Where they did apparently

during the recording that did a live stream for

an interview that they were doing And these are

radio guy. These are former radio guys. Uh, and,

uh, in the podcast version, they didn't edit

out all the parts where they're like, Oh, can

you hear me now? Can you hear me now? I can't

hear you. What's he saying? Like all this back

and forth about their connections and how bad

the stream was and how bad the internet was.

And I'm like, you could easily edit all of that

out of the Podcast version of the show so nobody

has to sit through 10 minutes of you asking.

Can you hear me now? Good I don't know man. It

just seems like Ever since I like what unquote

stopped podcasting and I listen to more shows.

It's like oh I have a suggestion for you Oh,

I have a suggestion for you. Maybe try it this

way. Maybe do it this way. This will help improve

your whatever you're trying to do here. Now I

would never actually go to any of these people

unless I kind of sort of knew them and said this

to them. I gave somebody some advice on doing

interviews, but that was because they're in the

podcast realm. it was more so the advice is make

sure you understand what the guests time limit

is if they have a time limit before you do the

interview so you're in the so when you're in

the interview you're not saying oh well we know

you're we know you're rushed for time or we know

you don't have that much time but I'm like no

don't stop saying that ask your questions get

the conversation recorded have a good time doing

it and move on. Don't constantly drag the podcast

episode down by constantly saying that the guest

doesn't really have time to even be there. Kind

of reminds me of the the old Chris Farley part

where he's he's like interviewing an actor or

a celebrity or somebody on Saturday Night Live

and he goes, Hey, do you remember that one time

you did this? Yeah, that was great. And it's

just like super awkward That's kind of what it

reminds me of listening to some people interview

people I know sometimes we kind of ramble but

typically we're on our a game when we interview

somebody That's because we figure everything

out and we end up using judicious use of mute

to scramble in the background Usually we have

like 20 maybe 25 questions for anybody voice

actors, musicians, cosplayers, writers, artists,

whatever. And sometimes during these interviews,

they'll answer the questions we're about to ask

them before we get to ask them the question.

So as they're telling their story, you have to,

I don't want to sit here and say, move along,

but move along. Sometimes this is not the podcast

you're looking for move along Let's move on shall

we mm -hmm Yeah It happens more often than you

think though, and that's that's the sad part

Yeah, and like I Understand people want to see

like break cameras so nobody needs to see my

face you can only hear my voice because my voice

ain't gonna break anything well unless I start

yelling at the top of my lungs which has been

known to happen before but anyway I feel really

pissed for that to happen but like these whole

oh let's video chat and record the audio and

I'm like no let's not let's just record the audio

and like I can't. I've said this before on probably

this show and other D -Starring shows. I can

focus on your voice and my voice and what I'm

saying and what you're saying and maybe a script

if we're doing something that we're reviewing

instead of just having a conversation like we

are now. But don't put a camera in front of me

that I have to actually sit there and look at

anybody along with doing all these other things

that I'm trying to do. Yeah, I Like what when

I have to do certain meetings and stuff at work

I Pick and choose whether I feel like turning

on my my video and and sometimes they're like,

hey Steve, are you there? And I'm like, I'm here.

I'm choosing that to turn on my video Yeah, like

they'll like we have a morning powwow in certain

mornings and they give everybody, you know certain

Assignments as it were like everybody has to

run like a morning worship of sorts and it goes

through a rotation and I choose when it's my

turn to not have my video on and they're like

oh you can turn your video on and I'm like no

no I can't I'm like and one of the people figured

it out they're like You're going into podcast

mode, aren't you? And I says, you got it. I said,

I don't have to have video to do it. I says,

plus, I don't like the fact that everybody's

looking at me and nobody has video on but me.

And then they're like, uh, staring at my face.

I'm good with that. I don't, I don't need people

watching me while I'm trying to gather my thoughts

because it just makes me more self conscious

about it. Yeah, I would, I would much prefer,

um, You know not having people stare at me. Yep,

so I mean It's one thing if I choose to turn

it on like my zoom My my zoom meetings that I

have to go into it has the option to edit out

The background And you can put the virtualized

backgrounds. I always put the bridge of the enterprise.

Easy icebreaker. So yeah, I mean, when all is

said and done, I make it as easy as possible

on myself. Exactly. And that's the thing. We

also have to make it easy as possible on the

guests as well. And I personally think just having

the audio is like okay I don't need to see what

you're doing to know that you're messing with

something on your desk because I can hear not

necessarily clicking but I can hear you fumbling

with something yeah I'm unpacking a box okay

that's fine I'm not trying I'm not really I'm

not trying to call you out on it now I'm just

saying it like I said to Kendra and Edward Hale

who I recorded episode 383 of the pullback with

earlier today as of this podcast recording I

said if you hear anything in the background,

just ignore it Whether it's my fan whether it's

a car outside like just don't draw attention

to it Like yes, I'm drawing attention to the

fact that you're unpacking a box as we're recording

a podcast But you're an easier multitasker than

I am So, you know, it's just one of those things

where I don't mind hearing those noises because

to me that's natural. You're always doing something

else. Just like, so am I. If I had my computer

right now and it wasn't in storage, I'd be sitting

here looking at Facebook. I'd be looking at a

linked article you sent or linked article I sent

you or, you know, whatever. Well, I know. We'd

always be doing something. Yeah. But see, here's

the beauty of it. Most of the time, Unless I'm

typing because I'm a loud typer. No one's gonna

hear me scrolling through Facebook or Twitter

or an article or something when I have my computer

Whereas if I had a camera on they would see me

doing all this other stuff And I'm like no you

don't need you only need to hear the sound of

my voice If you can hear the words that are coming

out of my mouth. We're good. I Love that phrase

Do you understand the words coming out of my

mouth? I do. Thank you, Chris Tucker. Apparently

not. So yeah, I mean, it's yeah. So again, I

don't know. Roundabout way of saying that. It's.

It's podcasting, it's just that's just how it

is. For me, it's like by getting out by. Don't

want to say getting out of the game, but I will

say that but like because I've been on this sort

of semi hiatus retirement thing because like

I keep saying I get my computer out of storage

which is actually gonna take a lot of money because

there's the rest of our stuff that's in storage

and I'm Disabled moron who lives off of supplemental

security income, but anyway, it's one of those

things where Because I don't have the way that

I record edit post whatever I'm choosing most

of the time not to record like recording with

you is easy here on altered geek because You're

doing all the work anyway, because this is your

show true versus somebody else saying like like

luckily I have a couple of podcasts that it monkeys

on my on my quote -unquote staff where I'm like

Oh, by the way, I'm on a smartphone. I can't

record anything. As long as you can record it,

I can find some podcast monkey to edit it for

me. And I appreciate those podcast monkeys, and

I'll give them all the minute as they want once

they've done their job. But it's one of those

things where I can't do it the way I'm supposed

to do it, so then I should do it. Which means

that I now have all this extra time that I would

be doing for production for GCRN. to actually

go back and find other shows and listen to how

other people are doing it. And I'm like, hmm,

okay. Couple of things I can improve on, because

we can always improve on anything and everything.

Couple of things that I know I'm never doing

again. You know, like. You know, you're not supposed

even though I'm gonna do it now and I don't think

you have enough time to edit this out Like you're

not supposed to burp on a podcast Kind of thing,

you know, yeah, I won't edit it because I don't

want to timestamp it. Yeah, it's fine. I'm just

saying Normally that would get edited out for

where I am or where I was back in December like

Either wouldn't have even done that just now

or I would have muted myself or if I did do it

I would have edited it out and we would have

moved on like we're moving on now And the point

is audio is much cleaner it's easier it's frankly

more fun to deal with videos just too clunky

and It's too much work I appreciate those that

want to do it, and I appreciate those that do

do video stuff, but for me, audio is king. And

that's the way the cookie crumbles. Mm hmm. So

I know we'll probably talk about this more in

depth on like a studio, but did you have a chance

to watch Bill and Ted 3? No, I have not I have

watched it it is actually Without giving anything

away. It's a perfect sequel years in the waiting

and It takes a lot for me to say that But I honestly

was very very impressed With where things went

in the movie and how things went down They they

picked it up naturally they both despite the

fact that Keanu sounds like kind of old or kind

of like not as yeah In his you know, he sounds

more like His matrix version Or his job like

version. Yeah, he sounds more, you know tough

guy Yeah, but that being said he still did a

wonderful job in the movie They both played right

into it and both those guys are friends and you

can tell by the how they were acting throughout

the movie It was a lot of absurdity moments,

but overall it was It fit really well for a sequel

that takes place, you know 20 some odd years

later 30 some odd years later I was impressed

and they wrapped up the trilogy to the point

where They could do another one or they could

just leave it alone. It's kind of like how the

back to the future 3 ended Mm -hmm where you

know, you could tell that some of the adventure

continues but on a whole like it doesn't need

to happen Yeah Because they introduced Bill and

Ted's daughters, right? Which originally were

boys in the end of two But it was like so long

ago and they were so little like they kind of

called them they they they retconned it but it

worked in how they wrote it because again, they

were babies and they just called them, you know,

Bill and Ted for short and they had a Femaleized

version of the names and so it again it in the

two that played the daughters channeled Winters

and Reeves Bill and Ted Personas for their characters

and if it really well so it was like I said,

it was a lot of fun to watch and I was, I was

truly impressed with how well they did. Very

cool. Very cool. Yeah. I will watch it and we

will eventually cover it more in depth on studio

2009. I just, I find myself having to be in the

right. If you're in the wrong Biden frame or

whatever, you can't do certain things. Or you

shouldn't do certain things and lately I find

myself just basically wanting to fall asleep

watching true crime shows and because I've seen

pretty much all like There's only so many times

you can see the Ted Bundy or Jeffrey Dahmer or

whatever cases, you know, whatever the most famous

cases are and I'm like Okay. Mm -hmm seen that

seen that seen that. Oh, I've seen this show

a million times, but I can still fall asleep

to it Because for me when it comes to the true

crime stuff, it's all about again the audio the

sound of Peter Thomas's voice For example, Peter

Thomas is the net written narrator. He was because

he's no longer alive sadly It's been years since

he passed away. But anyway He the narrator on

forensic files I can listen to him talk all day.

I can listen to him read the phone book and It'll

just ease me off into dreamland. So, you know,

I don't know, I just. Just feel like I'm really

off my game lately, so I'm like, I'm just going

to relax over here now. Yeah, I mean, I can kind

of see that I've I've been. Between writing stuff

and I got to get back into working on my model

truck. When I get time, I still get a ton of

projects. Like I said, I got to install the networking

stuff I got to change out some door handles There's

just there's quite a bit going on that I still

have yet to kind of tackle There's a couple of

plumbing things I got to take care of but on

a whole like everything's been going pretty well

Yeah, I mean, you know They could complain, but

nobody wants to hear us do that. Us complain?

No. No, really? That happens? What would we ever

do? Complain about the complaining and then complain

some more. Hey, it works. I like to complain.

Mm -hmm. Oh, I get to do an acting thing. Oh,

really? Yeah. Very cool. Well, I get to play

a live action version. I don't know if you've

seen the Red Green Show. It's been a while. Okay.

There's a character called Ranger Gord. Mm -hmm.

And he's supposed to be like a park ranger and

kind of out of his gourd. His name's Gordon,

but he... Because they call him Ranger Gord and

he's a little bit eccentric and a little bit

weird So I have to channel part of that for a

live -action role for work because the person

that wrote the script is like so we want to do

this and They're like have you ever seen the

red green show and I'm like, yes, they're like,

okay, they're like This is what we want to do

and I was like, okay That's interesting so I

have to channel the character essentially and

More or less kind of create my own version of

it in a persona and right Yeah I'm not entirely

sure, I'm pretty sure I have a voice picked out

in part of how the persona is going to go, but

it's one of those things that I won't know until

I do it. Plus, I don't like being in front of

the camera. I'm one of those guys that I like

the voiceover because nobody sees you. Yeah.

When it comes to being in front of the camera,

it's like being gun shy. I'm like, are you sure

you want me there? So yeah, so if anybody's seen

red green show you should check out ranger gourd

and You'll get the gist of what I have to pretend

to do So it's for a kids program thing. So yeah

But yeah, either way, I'm I'm kind of kind of

terrified of doing it because Again, I don't

like being in front of the camera They're like,

oh, yeah, by the way, you're gonna have to do

it. I mean, there's a part where there's a table

read to Which I'm fine with that being recorded

because one I'm facilitating it and two Yeah,

that doesn't bother me in the slightest. Yeah,

but yeah, I I Don't like I don't like being in

front of the camera at all, but I mean, I know

I'll do fine that just I The the anxiety of knowing

I have to do it Yeah in front of the camera is

kind of Gonna be a little off -putting and then

of course everybody's gonna like rag on me cuz

You gotta do that blah blah, I mean it's all

in good fun, but it's still nerve -racking Yeah

I Mean it's a ton of pressure. I mean Just listen

to our first few episodes of any podcast we've

ever done, especially the first podcasts we did

Like even that was nerve -racking and that was

just audio. So being on video It's ratcheting

up the pressure even more and like you said,

it's just an anxiety thing like It's crazy so

Is there anything else that you'd like to bring

up sir? I don't think so I Mean I have a star

trek stuff, but I know you're not interested

in this lightness It's not that I'm not interested

I'm just I'm more of a casual Trekkie and you

need die -hard Trekkies here for that. I did

see oh Okay, well I know you probably haven't

had the time because you've been doing all the

stuff you've been doing. I've been trying to

watch Muppets now on Disney+. It's okay. It's

nowhere near as good as what the Muppet Show

originally was, but how could it be? I personally

think they spend too much time on Miss Piggy's

character sketches. because they're trying to

make it the sketch show like what the Muppet

show was. Does anybody not realize that she was

the annoying link that nobody really cared about?

And like, I honestly like I prefer any time that

she's not going to be on screen. What I do like

about Muppets now is that Scooter is kind of

like the the emcee. He is. I was. Lorne yeah,

he's kind of like the Lorne Michaels of the show

where it's like He's the producer offstage and

you see him and you see people like messaging

him or whatever So it's kind of got this like

tech vibe to it and whatever else That's kind

of cool Like there was one episode where he was

trying to stay awake the whole time because he

pulled an all -nighter for something or whatever

It's kind of fun, but it's not I don't know Like

I skipped through episodes. I did watch Candice

against the universe From the new Phineas and

Ferb film on Disney Plus that was okay It wasn't

all that I was hoping it was gonna be but it

was good enough I'm sure Michael Wilson and I

will get around to that eventually if we ever

Finish the podcast organization without a cool

acronym I think that's pretty much it. I don't

think there's anything else I was gonna bring

up. Oh, there's something else that's funny.

The Walking Dead's ending. I'm sorry, I had to

do it. They're zombies, Jim. They're dead. It's

okay. It can end. It's dead, Jim. Like, literally.

Yes, it's dead, Jim. Literally dead. The Walking

Undead. D -E -D. Yes, D -E -D. I've never gotten

into that show. I'm not a zombie fan. I'm not

a horror fan, even though I know that shows more.

It's not just horror, but. And I understand it

came from a really cool comic book. I didn't

get into the comic book. It's just not. It's

just never my thing. And I understand people

are going to come at me and say, oh, it's more

than just being about the zombies. Well, you

know what? When you have anyway. Saw the article

that it was ending and I also saw that they're

supposed to be a spinoff with a couple of characters

And I'm like, oh great. There we go. Yeah, like

every other spin -off that doesn't succeed You

know, that's a topic for maybe next week or or

something or other Next time we whatever whatever

Topics that are sequels that suck. No spin -off

pilots that don't succeed no how 30 and 40 years

ago almost anything and everything succeeded

on television whereas now if it doesn't succeed

within its first two episodes it gets canned

yeah I mean that I could see that I don't know

I don't know I just saying like you just look

at certain shows and that are from 20, 30, 40

years ago. Hell, even 50 or 60 years ago. And

some of them that had the longevity that they

had. Like, we're never gonna have another bonanza

or gun smoke. Never. It's just not gonna happen.

Because that's one downfall to the instantaneousness

of the current lifestyle. Pre -virus, post -virus,

whatever. Even though we'll never be in a post

virus world at this point because it'll never

go away is won't anyway It's a post world and

we're all living in it Try to do anything for

mark, but it sucked You mean a milo mock yeah,

whatever here's same series not really they're

changing series same universe Yes, it is the

same universe, but it anyway Anyway, it's my

universe and they're all living in it Yeah Where

the hell was I going see you Jackass I derailed

it Jackass Billy there. Um, yeah, happy Gilmore

Gilmore how My god, I like shooter McGavin You

can tell we're off the rails. Somebody take him

to Sizzler, please. Well, I can't help it, but

I just sent you an image, but it says the greatest

golfer of all time just took a picture with Tiger

Woods. That's funny. I just got to shoot him

a Gavin. Yep. I love that image more than I probably

should. There's one where it says It has to do

with him too, but it's not it's not a clean joke.

It's a it's a bad meme I don't mind making this

explicit at this point. I've already said jackass

several times. So go ahead Well, I'm trying to

find it. There's one where it says I eat pieces

of for breakfast I'm trying to find it something

terrible at this point All right, so while he's

looking for his meme I've got a meme for you

Okay The Mandalorian is a side story I am Star

Wars now what It's the cat lady the pointing

cat lady on the left. Mmm Is the side story and

this picture on the right is a baby Yoda I am

Star Wars now because really honestly What else

is there? live -action anyway for Star Wars Besides

the Mandalorian You find your meme yet. No, it's

it's more so he goes I eat pieces up for breakfast

And there's a version of it where I can't remember

the full details. It's funny. I just can't remember

it enough to portray it properly. Okay, so before

we close this out, we've had a couple of anniversaries

happen, not for us or anything, but a couple

of famous, well -loved TV show anniversaries.

September 5th, 1992, Batman the Animated Series

was released. September 6th, 1996, Superman the

Animated Series was released. So those two shows

are just short of their, you know, almost 40th

anniversary. Star Trek is like 54. Yep, 54 for

Star Trek As of this recording September 9th

because it's still it is not turned to midnight

yet the Mounters Pacific time September 9th 1985

she were the princess of power premiered on TV

Very very awesome. Of course for the past eight

years here on GCRN Optimus Solo and I have covered

every episode of four of the major Masters of

the Universe animated series from the two formation

cartoons to new adventures in the 2002 series

So yeah that happened also on September 9th Or

was it September 10th? No, is it September 9th?

Yeah, it is the 9th I think September 9th 1989

Captain and the Game Master premiered Hmm, of

course We've talked to, actually, we've talked

to Captain and himself, Matt Hill, and we've

talked to multiple times, Mr. Gary Chalk, who

voiced King Hippo in that series. Yeah, so there

you go. There's Altered Geek on this day. Oh,

shut up with your horn. Oh, go back to the orange

skies of Total Recall. All right. Making a bad

joke. I saw a thing on Twitter about California's

Bay Area wakes up to disorienting orange skies

and I just think of total recall Or Blade Runner.

It's not funny like the things that are going

on and I wish that they could put it out Like

we just got snow and some rain in some cold weather

Here in Colorado for the last two days And I

think it genuinely helps, but I don't think that

it helps as much as what we would like it to.

And I mean, the image is funny itself, like with

the orange skies going on, but I do feel bad

for anyone that's lost anything in this or the

wildlife and the forests themselves. So I just

I hope that everyone stays safe and that whole

thing, especially because like our skies were

like gray. Like it kind of reminded me of the

depressing this of Michigan. But it was raining

ash in the sky and it was it was genuinely hard

to breathe outside. And I think that's the one

case where I've enjoyed the fact I had to wear

a mask is the fact that you're not breathing

in as much of it through the mask of the ash.

But yeah, it's the whole West Coast is just smothered

in smoke and it's not, it sucks for everything,

like all life. So yeah, I'm hoping that this

goes away quickly at this point with the The

cooler weather and the rain that we've been getting

Yeah, hopefully Washington, Oregon and California

can kind of cool down. Hopefully hopefully they

get the fires out as soon as they can Being here

in Washington State We're in Vancouver, which

is right across the river from Portland, Oregon

and Portland has just been hit massively by these

fires and everything else and It's not good.

I actually I installed the AirQ app, which is

the EPA's air quality app, where you can look

and see what the air quality is currently. On

the air quality index, we're at a 61, which is

basically yellow alert, which is it's moderate,

you know, to being almost unhealthy. We were,

the other night, a couple nights ago, Was it

Sunday or Monday? I forget. Sunday or Monday

of this past week, September 6th, 7th and 8th,

we were in the red and it was very, like there

was literal like. You're supposed to shut your

windows and whatever else. Well, it gets stuffy

as hell in here Well before I actually went to

shut my windows a lot of fire smoke ended up

in our apartment and I'm sure ended up in a lot

of other people's apartments as well because

The whole point at least here in the Pacific

Northwest Part of the country the whole point

for us even coming out here was oh, it's a moderate

climate. It's not it's not it's a temperate climate

It's it's not as hot as it Is everywhere else

but lately it has been because it's summer and

we are in a valley but it's just one of those

things where I've been checking the air quality

almost daily at this point because it's been

so bad and It's everybody on the west coast Washington

Oregon, California, please stay safe Because

this is not a good situation No, and it's Yeah,

it's unfortunate everything that's going on and

just I feel for everybody on that. Who as of

11 minutes ago k2 news k atu news here in Oregon

new Evacuation in Clackamas County, Oregon go

now in the area west of Beaver Creek Road including

South Guard Road and Unger Road to the first

part of Windy City Also people on Eden Road and

yada yada yada, but yeah, basically they're doing

evacuations This is not good. No, it's not Yeah,

I Yeah, I definitely feel for people on that.

Apparently, according to delish .com, Mountain

Dew is releasing a watermelon flavor as a permanent

soda. Does that even taste good? I don't know.

The only time I drank Mountain Dew and actually

enjoyed it was Code Red. Beyond that, you couldn't

get me to drink Mountain Dew. I'm more of a cola

person like if yeah, I have no No interest in

that. Oh, but I will say something that sucks

from a pandemic standpoint Because everyone is

every time somebody thinks that they have COVID

in a factory setting They closed down the factory

and in doing so supply and demand is Demand is

high and supply is low because we had to sell,

because we used pods, and we would have had to

get a third pod just to fit the rest of our furniture.

So we sold our couch, we sold our kitchen table

and chairs, we sold Ian's bunk bed, but we actually

bought him a captain's bed, which was a fraction

of the price of what we sold the other bed for,

so that kind of worked out, but that was used

anyway, the captain's bed. um mary ordered like

she was able to replace the couch because they

had it in stock at the store and But the kitchen

table and chairs were supposed to come in in

mid september They're coming in close to november

now at this point. Um because jays because covet

reasons um And so but it could get delayed again,

which is highly likely so we have our outdoor

furniture as our kitchen table and chairs right

now while we wait and The washer and dryer the

owners of the new house of our old house I mean

asked for us to keep them there and as a part

of the deal and We accepted and granted they

were like eight -year -old machines at this point

seven or eight years old But Mary went to buy

them during the Labor Day sale and they don't

have any in stock And they won't until November.

Oh No, and that's one brand. That's Whirlpool

We bought Whirlpool and they're like if you try

and buy Maytag right now, you can't even buy

it They're not even showing anything in the system

like in these like Home Depot or Lowe's or any

of these stores they're tapping into the the

the company's inventory not not their inventory

the company's inventory and Whirlpool has like

1300 in their inventory across, you know, the

whole U .S. Maytech has none. And they're like,

you could get it in December, you could get it

in January, you could get it next May. They're

like, we don't know. Because they have nothing

built. And Samsung and LG, you're looking at

about a November. So pretty much everybody is

November, at minimum, for washer and dryer. So

they're taking everybody's money, but they're

not delivering anything. Well, that's not cool.

No, so Mary has to she was going to have to use

the laundromat so we're actually paying a friend

to use their washer and dryer at their house

and Yeah, so it's Not ideal because if you know

the laundromat They're not allowing you to even

go you're allowed to literally put it in the

machine and then you have to go back to your

car. Oh No, like you're not allowed to even like

Stay inside like you have to go to your car.

You're not allowed to be in the building after

you put it in Because of COVID and yeah, don't

get me wrong. I think you know, I do know that

it's a real virus I do know that people have

gotten in and people have died from it Although

the recent downgrade of the amount of people

that have died from it directly Has changed with

the CDC not that's not a political line thing,

that's just a CDC thing. They said that people

have died of other symptoms and had complications

that have pushed them over the edge due to COVID,

but they've severely downplayed the numbers.

So whatever it may be. I'm not saying people

shouldn't be careful, but I think some of this

stuff is a little overboard in the precautionary.

And I'm only saying that like I'm not disagreeing

with you know wearing masks or whatever The thing

I'm disagreeing with is the fact that If you're

wearing a mask and you're working in a factory

or you're wearing a mask and you're in the laundromat

And you're avoiding contact with people because

let's face it most people don't There's there's

not a lot of laundromats around anymore because

most people actually own equipment or places

supply it now The the thing I'm debating is It's

a it's not okay to do that and everybody wears

their masks and keeps limited contact But you

can go to a restaurant you wear your mask to

your table and you sit down and take your mask

off to eat and You're less than six feet away

from the next table And you have no mask on and

you're eating and and so like I kind of question

the logic in some of this but I'm not saying

that you shouldn't be careful either Yeah, so

I don't know it's it's kind of one of those double

-edged swords like there's no real right answer

to this and I'm not trying to you know I'm not

saying like trying to downplay the virus itself.

I'm just saying that I question some of the Ways

that things are handled yeah in different circumstances

like different you know, places of employment.

Like I know my place of employment, I prefer

to stay home unless it's during production because

I don't have to wear a mask. So I enjoy the working

from home. But if I have to go in the office,

we have, you know, we have to wear them. And

so it's I get it. Like it's a no brainer there.

But But yeah, I mean I know in a the whole sense

of things like I kind of questioned some of it

So that's more so where I'm gonna leave it I'm

not I'm not saying you shouldn't wear a mask

I'm not saying that at all and I'm not downplaying

the virus or it's possible lethality I'm just

questioning the you know, you're not allowed

to go do your laundry in the building or like

when my son had to go to the doctor last week

and I was in production, Mary had to find someone

to watch our other son because you're not allowed

to take more than you and the patient at the

hospital or the doctor or anywhere because they

don't allow it. Doesn't matter if you have more

kids than what you and your husband works and

you have to go and bring them with you. The logic

behind that is kind of... ridiculous So yeah,

I can I can see that and I think partial problem

with some of these places not necessarily the

hospitals and the doctors and all that but like

grocery stores laundromats schools But specifically

grocery stores and that kind of thing like Certain

stores have been in their locations forever certain

stores are small Not Walmart, but like certain

Fred Meyers slash Kroger's. They're not all super

stores They're not all you know six foot by six

foot wide -eyed You know, there's not like a

lot of square footage Then it's hard to make

those stores You know COVID ready or COVID what

you know compliant with being you know six feet

six feet under you know, most people talk about

how they love shopping at Dollar Tree. Well,

you can't shop at Dollar Tree in a COVID -19

world because Dollar Tree, they can put signs

on the floor all they want, but the store is

so small that there's no way you can stand six

feet away from somebody if you're in line. There's

just no way. No, and I totally get it. I'm kind

of I'm kind of over it at this point Honestly,

I miss the lockdown. I really do Only go out

when you absolutely have to I don't miss the

lockdown to be honest, but I'm also Kind of just

done in general I'm done. So next week on the

show, I will have a report hopefully on the 2011

Thundercats, whether it's good or bad or whatever

I have. So you've never seen that? No, I saw

it. I just didn't see a lot of it because I'd

only catch episodes here and there because Cartoon

Network kept fussing with the time slot. Oh,

is that the one that they cancelled just out

of the blue? Yes. No, that was probably Thundercats

Roar. Thundercats 2011 was with Will. Yeah, but

they they kept screwing with the schedule and

so they ended up canceling it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,

just like they did with Young Justice Well, Young

Justice came back. No, I know but it took a lot

just to get us. Yeah like they oh, yeah, they

they kept screwing with the schedule and then

it They got canceled because they're like, oh

there's not enough numbers yeah, even though

it was a great show like when it was on and You

know, I mean, thankfully Netflix saw fit to continue.

Yeah, but Yeah, I I don't know. I'm just I'm

a little Little peeved when it comes to companies

and their decision -making processes Well, yeah

it it just sucks I'm not a fan of Cartoon Network

anyway, though. So that's I can't stand Cartoon

Network. I think that they're kind of a annoying

company. I haven't enjoyed anything that they've

done in years. So that's, you know, since the

what a cartoon days. Yep. And that one time that

they had Beast Wars on there, you know, that

was. That was pretty good. Yeah, you could win

stuff. Yep. I was mad because I was like caller

six. Oh, no. I was like I could have won every

beast wars figure ever Yeah it's that could be

a discussion for next time calling things it's

like oh you're caller four you're caller seven

you're well caller seven usually gets it but

like if they say call you have to be caller seven

caller nine caller eleven caller ten Caller 25.

It's like oh you have 25 tries, but so does everybody

else in the damn town. I was good at those Yeah,

you know it's funny flip phones were so much

faster at getting through You know yeah Because

like you could actually just get in and call

and you would make the call like if you do it

on a smartphone There's a delay There's a delay

and dumb phones the flip phones like I loved

my Motorola razor Because the response time on

that was so fast. I Would almost always win when

I had that thing I usually could get call in

three times During that time period and that

was when like I think the iPhone was out during

that time, too And so I used to win a lot And

even when I had my next flip phone, I used to

still win a lot. And I had it through the early

smartphone days. And those people would still

like, I would get like caller two, caller five,

caller, you know, or caller seven, and then I'd

get caller 10, and then I would win. So it was

entertaining anyway. So, so I think we will round

this out and the episode here as we've started

to ramble in all different directions so Mike

will possibly have a review on something next

episode and We'll probably talk about some things

that we've won through radios And you know sequels

or spin -offs of other programs and our thoughts

on some of those Yes, I heard there's supposed

to be a New reboot coming a new reboot No, not

a new reboot a new rebooted series of what? Fresh

prince. Oh, yeah. Yep. I heard about that, too

It's it's gonna be based off of that that three

-minute YouTube trailer. That's more of like

gangster version Yeah. I don't know. I just don't

have a preference. I honestly don't care. I mean,

if Will Smith's not a part of it, I honestly

don't care. They're gonna make more street for

today's era. So, I don't know. Anyways, until

next time, get altered, get geeky with The Altered

Geeks.