Social Media Frustrations and Podcast Industry News

You're tuned in to Steve Megatron on Altered

Geek Hello and welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your

host Steve Megatron Phillips. Joining me in this

adventure into geekdom is TfG1 Mike Ladies and

gentlemen, it takes a lot for Steve to get the

levels of angry that I get all the time I can

Hulk out at any moment anything goes wrong in

my life anything goes wrong Just the simplest

thing if I trip over the bathroom rug and nearly

fall into the toilet. I will be pissed Anybody

would be pissed at that I'm just gonna say this

right now off the bat before Steve goes into

his Hilarious diatribe that he has this episode

will be marked explicit Automatically no donkey

sounds no bleeps no nothing Fucking hell, social

media. Take it away. Anti -social media. There

you go. So, we'd merely just stepped into this

call. And I was checking, you know, I was just

checking through Facebook. Because I was going

to go to my saved tab. And looking for topics.

And mind you, I've had a window of Facebook open

actually all week. I don't refresh. I put my

computer in sleep mode when I'm at work. Right.

Unless I need to use it like today where I'm

doing various projects and I need multiple computers

and screens. So that being said, I had a Facebook,

like the chat, the messenger, whatever, open

on my desktop. It's not been refreshed all week.

It's just been there. I load a new window to

pull up the save tabs, and Facebook just proceeds

to pop up with Classic Facebook is going away

soon. We've made improvements to the new Facebook

.com and we're excited to have everyone experience

the new look. Before we make the classic Facebook

unavailable in September, we hope you'll let

us know how we can continue to make Facebook

better for everyone. Experience the new Facebook

.com. Find things easier with a cleaner look

and bigger text. Catch up quickly with fast loading

times. Turn on dark mode to give your eyes a

break. It's cluttered. It's a mess. Why? I Will

say as a legally blind person my entire life

Sometimes bigger text is great. I will say that

part. I will give you that I do like the bigger

text I do like that. They've removed a lot of

garbage However, I don't like it when it changes

around plus This is their way to shove the stories

feature right in your face consistently because

you can't get rid of it now Um, so it shows your

pages on one side. It shows you, you know, your

profile. It shows COVID -19 information center.

Don't care. Friends, messenger, saved, see more.

And then it's got all the rest of the hubbub

of crap that they support. Um, as well as their

other projects. of whatever they've got going

on. Then it's got your shortcuts of pages and

your contacts pop up and it's like, oh, would

you like incoming call sounds, chat sounds, chat

tabs, show contacts, turn on active status? No,

just leave it all off. If I want to use it, I'll

get on messenger. or creating rooms. Like, I

have no idea what these rooms things are on Facebook.

The rooms things freak me out because I'm like,

why would I want to create a room with somebody

when I can just create a Facebook Messenger group

with the people that I want to... Like, for example...

Like, what is it even for? That's kind of what

I'm... I don't know. The only thing I can think

of, and this is gonna go crazy back to the 90s

here... Remember Yahoo? Remember Yahoo chat rooms

like oh 18 and over dating or oh 20 something

and blah -blah -blah or oh the foodie room or

oh That's the only thing I can think of that

Facebook is trying to bring back is the old chat

room type stuff But I don't even know because

I won't ever create one. I have zero interest

stories. I kind of get and they're They're basically

Instagram posts ported over yeah exactly and

that's whatever fine my biggest problem with

it is i can never get this to stay away and now

i'm i've been on mobile since december of last

year my computer's in storage folks it's going

to take me i'll just say four thousand dollars

two thousand to get the pods unit out here and

another two thousand to have people unpack it,

have people repack and new storage unit out here

in the state of Washington from Illinois to get

it, whatever. So I don't know what's going on

on the desktop. I only know what the mobile is

doing because I'm only on my phone. The thing

that pisses me off the most is yes, I get it.

It's Facebook and they now have ads and that's

fine. Zuckerberg finally caved into saver and

an ad advertisers and whatever. People you may

know No offense to any of these people, but I

don't know any of them Chris Tomlinson never

heard of them Derek Donovan don't know him Bill

Robinson two mutual friends Don't know you You

know like Sean Boyer, I think I've heard of I

think I've seen him in several groups kind of

but like David Mark no clue You know and I'm

like, okay hide people you may know Okay, people

you may know is now hidden. People you may know

is temporarily hidden from your newsfeed. No,

I don't want a temporary solution. I want a permanent

solution. I have, currently, 554 friends on Facebook.

I will never reach the level of having over 1

,000. I will never reach some of these people

that reach 5 ,000 friends and max out. I will

never get there. Uh -uh. Not gonna happen. Well,

I actually went through a Facebook purge when

I was being attacked for what I was believing

in or saying on the podcast. I was getting attacked

on Facebook and Twitter and some people were

doing it very diplomatically, which those I encourage

because it was constructive criticism and they

weren't coming right out and saying, I hate you

because of what you're saying. There were other

people that were very venomous about it. And

so I went through a massive purge on both platforms.

Some I blocked, some I deleted. And honestly,

I don't miss the ones that I removed because

I didn't talk to them anyway. And so, I mean,

honestly, I feel like social media when it first

came out, I feel like it was one of those things

that people gravitated towards because you were

looking for people with the same interests as

you, which to some extent is still the case,

but it's not really anymore. Now it's about who

can you attack to the highest degree at this

point. I mean, yes, there are some discussions

that go on on social media. Some of them are

fun. Some of them are mostly memes or people

aren't posting pictures of their food anymore.

They're just posting all kinds of other garbage.

I mean my favorite thing in the world right now

are the Giffys. I mean which who knows how that's

gonna go because Facebook bought them too. But

that's like my favorite thing to respond with

on any platform and honestly, I don't feel like

social media is as social anymore. It's not,

it basically replaced the bulletin board systems,

murdered them with a shovel and buried them.

And then it's like, oh, now that we've destroyed

your original platform, everybody just attacks

everybody now instead of just being trolls on

forums that you could remove by IP address yourself.

No, I mean, you're kind of at the whim of these

platforms, and they do what they feel. And just

people are just very venomous. I feel like, yes,

it's good for some. type of conversation, but

in the other effect it's turned into exactly

what we said it was going to in the 2010 bullying

episode of Geek and the Unfortunate part is we

used to actually have a lot of conversations

on these and people used to add people based

on your interests or creators based on your interests

and Befriend them and then there was this kind

of nice mutual conversation going on and to some

extent I still have some of those people Because

there are some people that no matter what their

Views on things they're not They're not venomous

on their distaste of something they usually turn

it into some kind of a sarcastic quip in which

case I'm perfectly fine with and You know whether

it be politics religion or some stupid thing

that's going on in the world or something dumb

somebody did I can tolerate it and be fine with

it. And I, and honestly, as long as they're not

personally attacking or they're just constantly

a downer, I can honestly, I don't mind. I'll,

I'll, I'll read it and then I'll just keep scrolling

because I have nothing constructive to add to

the conversation. And so I just leave it alone.

It's so funny you say about keep scrolling because

there's a picture somewhere. I don't know where

if I can find it now, but basically It says something

to the effect of I Saw something on Facebook

that I disagree with and I just kept scrolling

you can do it, too You know, it's not that hard.

Okay, I Since we're talking about this I do not

I try my like politics because it's news and

because it's whatever like Currently, as of this

recording, Joe Biden selected Camilla Harris

as his running mate for the 2020 presidential

election. I shared a news story from NBC news

reporting that I didn't comment on it or anything,

but I still feel like certain news stories I

will share no matter what they are. The religious

stuff. I'm spiritual. I'm not religious. Yes,

I believe, but I am not. organized or anything

else. I would rather sleep in on a Sunday than

go to some leaky building to worship with a bunch

of diseased people. I don't know who has COVID

now. You know what I mean? So for my Facebook,

if you look at my page, my profile page, the

first post which I just shared as of this recording

two minutes ago was something about the Boston

Bruins. TF Nation's big broadcast of 2020. A

preview of the Phineas and Ferb movie that's

coming out on Disney Plus later this month. A

joke about Facebook be like, water is wet. False

information reviewed by independent fact checker.

It's just a picture. How about Thanksgiving candy

corn? Brock's launches new treat with turkey,

green beans, and other flavors. Like, I mean,

Facebook for me and Twitter. I don't do much

Instagram, but if I do, it's mostly like sun,

sunset shots or sunrise shots, or it's some sort

of sky thing. Um, but Facebook and Twitter for

me have always been promotional tools. Yes, I

do share a lot of crazy crap on, on Facebook,

but it's to promote the podcasts. Like one of

my first posts as of today was the new episode

of the pullback that came out episode 382 with

Jonathan and Maggie Schaefer Hames And I see

what you're saying and I agree with you it's

not So social because it's more of Oh, this is

my opinion. And then 50 comments later, everybody

else gives their opinion, which, hey, freedom

of speech, freedom of whatever, but then it dissolves

into, well, your opinion sucks and your opinions

wrong and your opinions that opinion. Everybody's

got assholes. Everybody's got opinions. Opinions

cannot be wrong. Facts can be wrong. Uh, the

fact that the fact that I like Nick, that my

opinion is Nickelback is one of my favorite bands.

Just cuz everyone else hates them doesn't change

the fact that i enjoy what they do. You know

i mean it doesn't have to just be nickelback

it can be scrappy do it could be what you know

whatever like i don't understand why social media

has become such this says pool of. Everybody

has to wave their big phone finger. Harder, louder,

faster, and uncut. Well, so let's pose a different

question to kind of put it in a positive spin

before I lose my crap over their pages and their

groups and their marketplace and their watch

and their home at the top. Okay, it's a little

bit nicer in some regards, but I still don't

like it. So let's put it in a positive spin.

What are some benefits? of social media or what

are some things that people could do to make

social media better? Some benefits I see is that

it depends on what you're okay I've switched

over to Twitter now so it depends on what you're

talking about or what you're posting about or

whatever again I don't want to you know if people

want to tune out to this fine Not that you'll

tune out to it, but I know you're going to roll

your eyes the whole time I'm talking about this.

Again, as of this recording, Wednesday, August

12th, 2020, we are two days away from a new Nickelback

single or album or something. You done? I couldn't

help it, I had to do that. Whether it's true

or not, I have no problem checking it out honestly.

I like to give you crap because I like the reaction.

It has nothing to do with like, I did like Nickelback

at one time. My perception of them though, the

reason I give them crap is because I saw them

in concert and Chad Kroger was a total dick at

the microphone and he was wasted and he was flinging

glass bottles of beer in the audience, and he

had to use a vocoder to do the effects that he

does on the CD. And I was like, OK, so he's a

phony. So the CDs sound great. I'm not debating

that. I just didn't like seeing them in person.

When did you see them? What year? It was early

2000s because I saw them with Mary, I think.

OK, was it before 2005? I think so. Yeah, they

were. But also his voice didn't match the CD.

And that was kind of my my irritation. Whereas

like I saw three doors down directly before them

and he sounded exactly like the CD. Yeah. So

like Lincoln Park did the same thing. They had

the guy, you know, that did the screeching stuff.

He had to use some kind of a weird amplifier

to make it happen because he sounded like crap

in person. So my point is, is that, you know,

Nickelback announced that they're coming out

with a new single or whatever and everyone's

trying to figure out and that they've been posting

teasers about it Everybody's trying to figure

out what it is. So I'm like, I think it's a cover

of the devil came down to Georgia or something

and then that got a whole discussion going between

myself the Nickelback Italia fan page somebody

else and like one other person so I got discussions

just based on my assumption that it's a cover

of a classic song. Um, okay. I started watching

cause I needed, so I've got other things going

on that we need to talk about at the end of the

episode, or we can talk about the next episode.

We should probably talk about it at the end of

this episode. But anyway, life is happening over

here in Washington state, uh, as much as life

is happening there in Colorado with you. But

anyway, uh, it's one of those things where. You

know, I started watching 2016 2017 I don't remember.

Yeah, I've seen conflicting things here On when

it started. I believe it started in 2016 the

Marvel spider -man series, which is the newest

most recent spider -man series I Started watching

that on Disney Plus and I posted on on Twitter

because We've interviewed Josh Keaton a couple

times. Hey, Josh Keaton, what's it like being

on the other side of the web shooter as Norman

Osborne? I'm watching the 2016 or 2017 Spidey

series on Disney Plus. Now, for those that may

or may not know, Josh was the voice of Spider

-Man in several things in the past. He replies,

I'm not going to lie to you, Mike. I'm pretty

creepy. And then Yuri Lowenthal, He jumps in

he all he says is can confirm The fact that Josh

as Norman is creepy so hey, I got a cut You know,

I got a conversation out of that by two voice

actors Like I didn't even know like I I don't

even know without looking at any information

I don't even know if Yuri's in the series. I

don't think he is but I could be wrong But like,

you know, hey, I tweeted at somebody and then

another person saw it and replied and So far,

you know, it's been civil but man Facebook Facebook

can get brutal can it? Granted I've had some

I've had some pretty nasty conversations on Twitter,

too True I miss Google Plus. Nobody talked to

you there Maybe that's why it went away That's

why it went away. Exactly. There wasn't enough

conversation. Not enough hate. Shut it down.

Shut it down. We're shooter Gavin. Yeah, I know.

Right. I don't know, man. It just and again,

there are good and bad things to social media.

The good thing is through the fact that I'm a

quote unquote set. I'm a retired podcaster currently.

I've been listening to a lot more shows and I

haven't interacted with other podcast hosts in

a long time because I haven't been able to listen.

Ever since we started, GCRN, Altered Geek, any

of the shows we've ever done in the last 12,

13 years, 14 years, whatever it is, I've thrown

myself into the production side and i just don't

have time. To listen to anything since december

of last year i've had time and i've listened

to a lot of things and i've. Started crafting

new friendships new geeky relationships or whatever

you wanna call them with podcasters and with

other people and it's like hey. Once again like

you were saying earlier we would find like minded

people that we could discuss certain things with

and the way i have always approached the podcasting

that i do is. I reach out to the people that

are strongest on whatever that topic is like

if you and dad are gonna do an episode on dragon

ball z or dungeons and dragons or whatever. That's

not for me. I'll bow out and let you guys have

it if I like for you, you know if I have a Music

episode that has Nickelback or has whatever and

you're not into it Then I'll be like, you know,

but there are certain things that I'll go to

you first Like oh, hey the new Batman Adventures

comic came out. You want to do that on the pull

bag? You're the first person I'll go to because

that's kind of our thing, especially when it

comes to the DC animated universe and that Batman

Adventures continue series is a continuation

of of that kind of thing of that certain era

of it. So it's like I find people that are like

minded that not always have the same opinion

as me, but at least we can discuss it and have

fun with it and not tear each other's throats

out like rabid animals. Yeah, I mean I agree.

I mean there have been some great conversations

that have come out of social media. I mean we've

gotten multiple interviews with voice actors.

I've gotten to meet some of the voice actors

through this. I've met a lot of other geeky people

through social media. Not so much recently, it's

gotten a little bit more difficult to do. But,

I mean, occasionally I'll see something kind

of pop through and I'm like, okay, this is kind

of cool, you know, and be able to follow some

new people. Funny enough, and this is very timely,

you know who David Baruffi is? Yeah. Anyways,

and this is, I'm not trying to be a troll of

either... side of the political spectrum. I just,

I know that one leans one way, and this other

guy I followed leaned another way, and they're

both movie reviewers. Because I just, I don't

really have an interest. I just am tired of,

like, sick, stupid people, honestly. But the

gist of this, anyways... politics aside, I know

that one's on one side of the spectrum and one's

on the other side. That's all I was getting at

with this. So David Baruffi was arguing with

this other guy called another Millenar, which

is another millennial reviewer. And I was like,

why? You know, kind of just wondering why this

whole conversation was going on. And so they

were arguing believe it or not, over Will Smith's

career. Now let me get in this further because

this gets hilarious. Because I'm a dick and I

took screenshots. Of course you did. Well, I

mean, what else are you supposed to do? I mean,

it's funny. So anyways, so he posts, you know,

this other guy posts basically that Will Smith

is an actor, not a rapper anymore. And it's like,

no, he's still both. But David was arguing that

Will Smith was a musician first and then became

an actor because of it. And this other guy's

like, but he's an actor. And so David was going,

okay, but he still was like, they were kind of

going back and forth and it looked like it had

been going on for a while. before I jumped into

it. I just happened to see it go down my Twitter

feed and I follow both of these people, they

both followed me. And so I said my piece, I said

he was a rapper for, you know, for four years

before he before he became an actor. I says,

if you only check IMDB, it will show he was an

actor first in 1989. But if you look deeper,

he was a rapper first in 1985 under the name

The Fresh Prince. And so I posted this, you know,

and I says, oh, it looks like, you know, blah,

blah, blah. And David goes, You know be careful.

He's like he'll he'll block you if if you you

know have a differing opinion or whatever and

so He he goes you know David goes okay four years.

I thought it was two, but exactly by my standard

any standard He's a musician first. You know

he says by the way he blocked me because he didn't

believe me so be careful well I Went to reply

and he blocked me, too to the second reply that

I was going to do. Oh, wow. So I posted and because,

like I said, I had it open, wasn't going to close

it. It was in tweet deck. So he says that might

be the case, but he is known as an actor now.

He isn't a rapper anymore. He is an actor. And

like and so I'm sitting here and I'm like, well,

his last that movie where he turned into the

bird, the spies in disguise. Mm hmm. When his

character got introduced he was doing a rap introduction

of his character, and he typically does this

every movie He's in he usually has either the

theme or something that he's done rap for in

the movie Absolutely just to put his signature

on it Exactly he's in he raps or he sings and

I mean to some extent somewhere like I mean Aladdin

so anyways I was about to post And they were

both tagged, so I had to untag one so I could

repost it. I said, so he blocked me too because

I disagreed with his assessment. Seems a bit

childish when I was just making the observation.

I wasn't meaning ill will. Sad because I followed

him and you, David. I don't know, whatever. He

says, um, you know, and so I, I screenshotted

that he blocked me and he kind of looks like

a pompous fool anyway. So it doesn't really bother

me. Um, he's full of himself. I'm not saying

I'm any better. I'm just saying like he's. really

full of himself. So we were going back and forth,

and David posted, he blocked me on Twitter because

apparently he thinks Will Smith was an actor

first, not known as musician, sigh. I'm sure

he's young, but yeah, he's refusing to admit

he's wrong and is being a dick about it, while

claiming I look bad. Dude, look it up. So yeah,

I mean, I posted that, and then I was trying

to prove a point. I said, Sad someone can't handle

simple research and decided to block me when

I was simply stating facts. I wasn't disagreeing

that the actor is now known mostly as an actor

simply that he started first in four years earlier

as a music artist. Don't understand blocking

people over it. I says also viewing from an alternate

account because he followed AlteredGeek. So I

just pulled it up under another window. I said,

you know, because he's okay to harass people

because he thinks his opinion is the only one.

he put somebody didn't like his review that he

wrote for somewhere about the how to lose a guy

in 10 days or something or whatever that right

whatever that movie was um and so somebody replied

to him and said and he's in the geek culture

area says first off this is only half a review

at best secondly the filmic not acknowledges

that their actions are wrong and that both characters

started out as far too full of themselves. And

third, the point of comedies in a real life setting

are meant to push the boundaries of reality.

And this reviewer that blocked us said, looks

like someone is upset because I gave a film they

like a bad review. I suggest growing up and not

living through films you like. Because it was

the, yeah, how to lose a guy in 10 days. He says,

the problematic nature of romantic comedies.

And so I thought that this was humorous. And

so I did another deep dive in his tweets, because

I wanted to just be annoying at this point. So

I went in. I says, also, he posts stuff like

this, but sits on the block button. He says,

this was a post he did like a week ago. When

did people stop being able to agree to disagree

respectfully? When did any difference in opinion

become a screaming match of, you're wrong, so

no, you're wrong, where we can't just accept

other people's opinions? And one of his profiles

says literally that, don't worry, I sit on the

block button. And I'm like, really? This guy's

that? that much of a you know annoying person

and And so like David and I were just going back

and forth. He's like I wasn't meaning oh well

He's like I say la vie, you know And and I was

kind of the same boat. I'm like, yeah, you know,

I says he says thanks for screenshotting those

He says it's great and I says yeah, I says I

this is it's a bad habit Well, then I saw that,

you know, and then out of all this I saw an interesting

feature pop up on Twitter on my phone, and it's

this new feature where they've pulled a Facebook.

Who can reply when you post something? Choose

who can reply to this tweet. Anyone mentioned

can always reply. And then it's got a box where

you can select everyone, people you follow, and

only people you mention, meaning that you could

make a private conversation nobody else sees.

You could make it so that it's people you follow.

Um, or everyone in the world can see it. And

I was like, Oh, this is kind of neat. Cause then

that means that I can block people that are being

trolls and I can let everybody else see. Um,

so, but I mean, yeah, I mean, there's, there's

pluses and minuses with social media and like,

I've met a lot of great people through it. Like

you, I've met, uh, this week in geek, I've met

all of our listeners. I've, you know, I've met

people, I've met it physically at conventions.

Um, And even voice actors and honestly like it's

a great tool if you use it correctly. If you

use okay so again i've been watching i'm i think

on season one episode twenty one or two i'm almost

done with the first of. Two seasons of the spider

man series that's on disney plus. You know what

social media is just like uncle Ben always said

with great power comes great responsibility There

are plenty of things on Facebook specifically

That I either scroll by or I will write my comment

I will still check and see anyone replying to

a comment that I made but I am NOT getting into

A Facebook comment war I am NOT getting into

a Twitter comment war Sorry about your luck that

you didn't like an episode of a podcast that

I did because I had an opinion about something

that May have been poorly timed at the time,

but I mean come on ruining a friendship over

one opinion and I am anyway Well, yeah, I and

I was under the same microscope there, but I

did appreciate the people that came out of the

woodwork after that because I was highly discouraged

and I wasn't going to quit podcasting but I was

seriously considering just stopping doing a lot

of it because at that point it had become very

toxic. I wasn't and yes it was poorly timed and

poorly titled but the merit of the episode still

stood is what I felt which is why it's still

out there. Same here. But I got a nice comment

from a listener saying, you know, I know you

want to stay away from social media with all

the politicization of everything. I just wanted

to give my quick thanks and appreciation that

you didn't totally lean one way or the other

when you were podcasting by yourself or with

other guests for giving another opinion about

the different political topics when they come

up in geek culture. It's hard when one side has

so many more louder voices when the other and

everyone is becoming more toxic because of it.

And I was internally grateful for this. And then

I was sent the follow -up saying, you know, I'm

glad it helped with the addiction to anger lately.

It seems so easy to write a comment out of madness,

but no one takes to writing something nice or

to be thankful for. I figured it's nice to see

a bit of sunshine and a raging hurricane. And

that meant the world to me as far as the podcasts

were concerned. And that's... part of why I was

like, okay, I need to reevaluate, but I can jump

back in. But that was kind of the catalyst of

like, okay, I'm not ready to give it up because

I do see that I am getting at least one person

that appreciates my commentary. And I know there's

others too that have commented on Twitter and

other places. I just, it was nice to hear it

or read it. And so I felt Like things were just

It put me in a brighter light as far as that's

concerned and so I do have more ideas for the

show I do have more ideas for some things coming

up I just it's a matter of time and I know I

may sound a little different than normal. I'm

using my old Logitech USB headset because I'm

in the process of moving and so I have my poor

microphone and all my stuff tore apart my desk

is like leaned up against the wall and different

boards labeled and I have to use this because

I don't have anywhere to mount the microphone

at present. I have a fold -up table next to me

and I have the pull -out drawer file cabinet

piece that attaches to the top of the desk where

the printer previously resided. That's where

my monitors are at and my keyboard and mouse.

And it's big enough for that, but it's kind of

annoying too because I'm doing scheduling and

I have paper that I have to put everywhere and

it's annoying. So I I find it so funny that you

say the desk is leaned up against the wall because

all I can think of is Cheech Marin as The Chihuahua

in in Oliver and company man if this is torture

chain me to the wall I feel like that Dude you

have no idea. All right, so you're moving Karen

and I moved at the end of last year Well, because

of the apartment we found, we thought, oh, west

side of the building, it'll be great. We'll get

some sunsets and everything else. While in the

summertime, the sun wants to get really hot,

you know, as it sets. And for me, ever since

2017, if it gets above 65 degrees, Depending

on whether I've eaten or not or whatever my physical

condition is, if it gets above 65 degrees, there

are certain points that I will absolutely puke.

When Karen and I first met, I had to have her

pull over and I puked in an Arby's parking lot.

I'm not kidding because it was I was just burning

up. Just I don't know what was going on. So we

put in a request to be still in the same apartment

complex, but we're just at a different building.

We had to move up two floors and over to the

north side. Absolutely fine with that. We went

ahead and paid for a moving service to move all

of our heavy stuff. I'm sorry. I'm not having

somebody move my Underwear drawer that's just

not gonna happen. I'm gonna pack that stuff up

myself and move it myself. The problem is Karen

had an abscess tooth Which caused swelling in

her mouth and then the swelling reached into

just the outer part of her skull basically the

right side of her Her head swell up like an egg.

So currently as of this recording she's in the

hospital getting that taken care of I had to

do all the moving. I haven't been in so much

pain in a long time. I'm six foot, 428 pounds,

and whatever other, 428 point whatever it is.

Yes, I know I need to lose weight. Yes, I know

I need to eat better. But I blame Kevin Conroy

because, you know, Block it out and power on

through I've been powering on through for The

last week and a half and I am now at the point

where I can't walk or I feel like my ankles are

both gonna break So Yeah, very stressful times

and I understand Karen and I you and Mary Your

kids were not the only one struggling, but this

is just our stories, you know, and that's all

we can bring up on the podcasts is what is going

on in our lives. That's been my life for the

past week, moving, moving, moving. And now I

have to unpack and while Karen's in the hospital

and how stressful that is to be able to, or not

be able to see her. Yes, there's video and pictures

and. Whatever but still it's not the same as

being in the same room as the person I Need so

much of a break right now because oh man, I Just

feel like I'm falling apart Yeah, I can I can

totally feel that Well, I will be Both mentally

and physically I'll be a wreck in the next three

weeks So we start we start production August

25th, so I'm excited for it. I'm just the the

the the worrier and My my mental capacity is

going to be shot after this because I have to

take into consideration scheduling of actors

and Who they're opposite of plus I have to take

in consideration now that Half of our cast is

remote, which means that I physically don't have

to deal with them, but the director of the program

does. He has to find time to record with them.

Leaving it like in like I don't I feel bad for

him because like he has to conduct these on his

own For some of this like instead of just coming

into the studio and we pipe it in through then

they're recorded on their end But they still

send it to us, but he's able to direct through

a digital patch so now he has to be digitally

patched into our studio to direct and We we recorded

someone the other day and there were technical

issues and for about two hours. And then we ended

up having to put them through a phone patch instead

of a digital patch, which sounds like garbage,

but it didn't have the feedback loop. And so

we recorded, we've had a few actors that are

like, I'm going to college. I'm not going to

be able to record during your production run.

And so we were having to record them early. Like

for instance, there's one that I have to record

next Thursday and I had to record one yesterday.

And then I had to record one two weeks ago, or

two weeks ago on a Thursday. And so there's some

that it's going to play out that way. And mind

you, during this production, I am at the very

last day of production. We're signing the papers

and we're moving. So I also have to help. We're

getting pods delivered on Tuesday. And this is

recorded on a Wednesday. So we're getting pods

delivered on a Tuesday. We're gonna be packing

them up We're gonna need two pods We're gonna

dump everything in it and they're gonna be certain

pieces of furniture that if they don't fit we

just sell them beforehand But we're gonna strategically

place it so that they're the last to go on We

don't have to worry about a washer and dryer

because we had to sell that with the house So

therefore, it's not an issue there. We've lost

some other furniture here or there. So I mean,

it's kind of a wash as far as that. I'm just

hoping we fit everything. But the fun part is

we have to sign the paperwork on Friday the 4th

for our house to be done. And then we have to

sign the paperwork for the new house. So the

pods will be good because they'll pick them up

in that morning and deliver them to the other

house. Which will be fine because then we get

ten days to unload them. But it's... I'm not

like... mentally I'm gonna be a wreck at the

end of this because I have a two -week production

or almost ten -day production and then on top

of it I'm gonna be physically sore because I'm

gonna be tired from during that week of packing

and then the next week of unpacking. So it's

I'm not not thrilled at all and plus I Three

weeks after we move in I have another production

Mm -hmm, so I have to get in and in and set up

with internet again, and I have to get it like

pronto and get My stuff put back together so

that I can actually record Yes, and we understand

these are all first world problems folks, but

It's our podcast it's What we're here to talk

about and actually I wanted to actually pose

a question I was gonna do this on social media,

but I'll do it here See what kind of replies

we get you can either reply to reply to at altered

geek or at geek cast radio on Twitter or Steve

or myself at SCP 21 for Steve at TF2 and Mike

for me How do you handle stress whatever kind

of stress you have in your life, how do you handle

it? The stress of me moving two floors and an

entire apartment and whatever else how I handle

my stress Sadly, I will stress eat I'll open

up a bag of chips and that'll be my dinner Uh,

I know that's not good. I know that's why i'm

428 fucking pounds. I get it But here's the thing

and I know you'll say this and I and I understand

your point that you have to change the food I

still move it's not like i'm sitting here doing

not like i could see if i if i had my desk and

i had my computer and i was only sitting here

twelve hours a day or whatever working on the

podcast stuff and whatever else and i did nothing

else and i never left the house which half the

time i don't wanna leave my house anyway. I can

understand but i am since we've moved out here

to the west coast or pacific northwest or whatever

you wanna call it. I've moved more and I've logged

more steps in the last eight eight or nine months

than I have in the last three years and it just

like I Don't know what it is. I guess it's because

I was born with an Oreo in my mouth It's just

one of those things where stress eating is is

my stressor or I will pick my lips or I'll tap

my foot or or something but how do people. Do

their best to deal with stress not necessarily

in a negative way like i'm talking about for

me i will if i see something on social media

doesn't matter what platform i'll just close

the app and i'll open disney plus hulu netflix

whatever and i'll just watch something and i'll

just make out. But how do people deal with stress

of what's going on in their lives? How do you

deal with stress, Steve? Well, I'm not one of

those people that drinks, so I spend time in

quiet and solitude. Sometimes play games. I read.

I've been getting back to that again. So, I mean,

I try and find something I enjoy. because otherwise

it can be overwhelming. I'm starting to come

down from it. I've been in this weird rut and

social media was primarily the cause. I felt

like I had to check it consistently. Although

I've started writing again, trying to flex that

muscle and that's kind of helped me too because

I'm able to basically create something. brain

dump it and then wait on the next person to write

their portion. Because it's a RPG type thing.

I joined it and I wasn't sure what it entailed.

I'd read a little bit of it and I kind of skimmed

it and then I went through an application process

on it because they had to vet people because

they had some guy that broke their system. You're

only allowed four characters maximum, maybe five

if you use story tokens, which you do story objectives

and they give you tokens for it. It's a Star

Trek RPG, of course. but I was going to create

a character and they're like well because this

other guy that was in there he had eight accounts

and was somehow had enough time to manage a character

or up to four on multiple accounts and they somehow

figured out they were all him and so they had

like 20 characters they had to figure out what

to do with when he got banned from the site And

so I had to inherit one, as do any new writer

to the site now. And some of them may kill off,

some of them they put in stasis in case somebody

wants them later, and then the rest, they make

them inherit. So I had to inherit one. But I

mean, you have to go through a three -month probation

before you can create a new one. So anyways,

I've been doing that, and it's been a lot of

fun. I joined their Discord so I can kind of

converse with them throughout the day or whatever.

pretty funny a lot. Some of them have similar

job situations, so it's funny when they're talking

about video editing and content to that nature.

I try and find something that energizes my mind,

I guess. I do read some from the Bible too, but

I also was reading Star Trek books. First time

I've read a Star Trek book and 10 years maybe

more I I found some word like they they had data

back from the dead or dr. Soom and Created a

new body for data and so yeah, so I was reading

that I started reading that trilogy of books

and then unfortunately They didn't have the second

book. They had the third book. So I was kind

of stuck After my first book and so I took them

all back to the library because I'm not gonna

have any time until after I move right to read

again, but But yeah, I mean I was having fun

reading that and doing that at night instead

of using the computer and reading on that because

honestly I prefer a book Yeah, I find myself

as long it depends on what the book is but I

find myself More into audiobooks these days Dan

Gilvazan read his own audiobook from 2011 I believe

I believe it was from 2011 is what I'm saying

he you know did the vocals for his book Joe Kenda

who's the The guy that does homicide hunter on

investigation discovery. He Read reads his own

book As bad as this is tory spelling from 90210.

She's done several books and I don't know. I

just like I used to love reading actual physical

books, but I find myself not really reading books

anymore. I'm more into whatever crazy, cool,

interesting comics I can read at this point.

But you know to each their own and whatever helps

you de -stress. That's that's what you should

do Totally so I think that about wraps this episode

up. I have a comedy for you you do yes Going

back to social media and sponsored posts The

next great podcast That was supposed to be a

joke no The next great yes, so I Heart radio

is on the hunt for the next great podcast and

we want to pump your show Into earbuds all across

the globe submit your pitch for a chance to develop

and launch a show on the I heart podcast network

Funded by iHeartRadio. Up to 10 semi -finalists

will be awarded $1 ,000 towards the production

of a 10 -minute pilot episode of their podcast.

One grand prize winner will receive a special

interview with Dan Patrick and will work closely

with iHeartRadio to develop their idea into a

podcast series to be distributed by the iHeart

Podcast Network. We want to hear from you. Submit

your pitch today. First comment? Alright, let's

give them free ideas and not get paid for it

when they steal intellectual properties. Yeah.

That's about where I see it too. I honestly have

a grudge against them even when I worked for

The Blaze just because they were such a pain

to deal with. And it's funny because the guy

that used to run the podcast department at The

Blaze actually ran the podcast department at

iHeartRadio to begin with until he went and formed

his own company. Probably because of all the

fallout. But they were the same company that

were like, we created the first ever podcast

awards. And then Todd Cochran, the guy that created

Blueberry, he's like, over here, 14 years and

running, thanks. I don't know. I found it annoying.

They're always like, we're the first to do this.

We're the first to do that. And they're always

trying to like. put themselves on the slate pedestal

and it it always annoys me and i'd i think it's

because they just they don't really innovate

they kind of just steel uh... and that's not

i think that's why i would never do something

like that with i heart uh... in the thing is

is going to be rigged anyway they're gonna probably

get some old radio jockey the shot they're doing

the podcast there really go you're great you're

to have a following your your awesome audio audio

uh... radio guy and then It's, I don't know,

it's just something about it bothers me and so

I have literally no, I have literally no faith

in iHeartRadio as far as that's concerned. And

honestly, I've never listened to them anyway.

I hate their interface. Like, I would much, like,

if it was a Spotify thing and they're like, hey,

would, you know, the next great podcast, because,

you know, they're just trying to steal anything

away from anybody, they'll be like, hey, come

over here. We'll take care of you over here.

Spotify for the win. And I honestly like their

interface much more than a lot of these other

ones. So I mean, ultimately, I think I've seen

that ad and it just... irks me and but I do have

to say that there is a bonus that the podcast

awards the place that I work and the children's

podcasts that I produce It is in their top 10

rankings for the voting It's in their top 10

list of notable programs, so I am excited that

We've made it to the finals Because I feel that

it's probably one like The fact that it's a Christian

show aside, I feel that it's a very well -produced

program. It has original compositions for music

in every episode. We send it to a composer. The

director of the program also edits the program

and does all the sound effects, does all the

Foley stuff with it, does all the work with the

actors, good or bad. And I'm saying like, because

the actors are all They're all volunteers. So

it's not it's not like it's you know, we have

a Legend in our midst. It's you know, we have

people that are just parents of kids that are

in the program or you know So, I mean it's it's

really cool to to be a part of that that that

aside I really like the podcast awards regardless

and then I know Hank Davis he's got the agents

of shield fan podcast and there again in the

running for the top ten and he's actually won

it for a couple years ago. Very cool, very cool.

The other thing, since you're bringing up streaming

and stuff, I signed up for, before we end this

anyways, I signed up for YouTube Music the other

day because I helped my wife clean our church

which they just put an addition in and it takes

an additional like 10 hours a week. That aside

because there's a lot of floor I do all the vacuuming

pretty much because it takes literally like a

long time But anyways, I was like, okay, I'm

on the Wi -Fi I have nothing on my phone like

there were podcasts I really didn't like a lot

of the ones I was subscribing to they were like

five to ten minute podcasts and I'm like I need

something that's gonna go the distance so I launched

YouTube music from my phone and Was kind of like

do I listen to it? Do I not? And I Know it costs

like I'm under the free trial right now and it's

like I want to say it's like $12 a month or something

It's it's almost ridiculously priced and if it

were cheaper like they were if they were like

it's $4 .99 a month I would be like, okay, you

know, I mean I'll deal with that for a month,

you know for a monthly charge. I could easily

throw that away. But 15 for just music? I can

get a streaming video service for that and get

a lot more content out of it. Granted, they have

a big music library and you can play anything

on there. But there's no ads. So I was enjoying

that because you can do subscriptions, you can

do artists, songs, albums, playlists, or downloads.

You can download the songs. You can also shut

your screen off and you don't have the ads. Which

I was looking for the option to not have my screen

on because it just kills your battery. And they

actually, when you download YouTube music, they

have the option to switch between song or video.

And when you switch it to song, it uses less

bandwidth. And it's literally just the song,

and they have the cover art of that track or

whatever that video is on YouTube. If you do

video, it will physically play the video with

the song. And then you get a thumbs up, thumbs

down, where you can kind of rank it almost like

a Spotify thing, where you're like, yeah, more

of this, less of this. And so I did that, and

I used one of my YouTube music playlists that

I used to listen to a lot back when I worked

at the dealership. when I'd be sitting at my

computer doing all of my documentation and analysis

of things. And so I played that and I was like,

okay, I can cycle through my 283 songs and just

let it go on random. And I did that and I was

like, okay, this is actually pretty neat. I could

get used to this except I don't like the price.

So I have the free trial canceling at the end

of the month. But honestly, I was quite surprised

at how nice that was to have. It kind of brought

back the memories of having your MP3 CDs. Yes,

I said CDs with MP3s, people. or even just classic

CDs or cassettes that you recorded from the radio

because you couldn't get it any other way. So,

I mean, I used to have the Walkmans, I used to

have CD Walkmans, the CD player with MP3 Walkman.

So, I mean, it kind of brought back that vibe

of doing, you know, mindless work that you really

are not excited to be doing and having the music

in the background. And so it was an awesome feature.

So I thought I would bring that up, the fact

that While I like the service, and I applaud

it, and I enjoyed it, the price is a little too

steep for my taste. Alright, so... Ads be whatever

they are, because we use ads in our shows too,

so whatever. I can take limited ads, I just don't

like excessive. Right, no. Absolutely. I will

say, and we've already agreed, that Spotify,

at least for audio, Obviously is the best platform

for podcasts, at least to listen to them. I can

give you several suggestions before we get out

of here. They have various ones, but they also

have their main feed, the transmissions, transformers

podcast, really fun. I love their comic discussions.

I've interviewed FJ DeSanto who is the show runner

on the new transformers war for Cybertron siege.

He's actually the show runner on all three series

siege. Earth, rise and kingdom. Uh, they interviewed

the composer. They review the comics. They talk

news just like we would an altered on altered

on all things transformers. Um, but I really

like, um, some of the things they have to say

about the comics, uh, inside of you with Michael

Rosenbaum, he's got interviews galore. He's got

an interview with Grant Gustin that I heard that

was really cool. He's got an interview with,

um, uh, Jamie Lynn Ziegler who was from the Sopranos

as far as I remember her. He's got an interview

with Brandon Routh. That's really cool. So inside

of you with Michael Rosenbaum. Superhero Cinephiles

is my buddy Derek Ferguson and Perry Constantine

reviewing superhero films. Kids Love Batman is

Ron Algarwatt and Matt Robotham. They're going

through BTAS just like we did, but it's much

funnier than we were. Seriously, they've got

18 episodes released so far. Average length of

episode is, I've listened to all of them, so

I don't have the, I don't know, like 20, 30 minutes.

Average length of everything I'm suggesting to

you is between 20 minutes and an hour. Uh, so

you could listen to almost anything. The, my

two biggest ones from 2019 that I will always,

um, promote almost first is part -time nerds,

full -time dads with our buddy, Mike Laidman

and his buddy, Chris Blonsky. I marathon this

show from the first episode up until I think

the 46th or 47th episode. I listened to 47 podcasts

within. eight days So good music talks with Terry

Smith He's got 28 episodes and it's basically

the and I've talked about this show on this podcast

before you can Pick whatever one you want. But

if you start at the beginning you get everybody's

story So it's basically he has his guests pick

one song From every decade that they've been

alive. I was on episode 12. I picked Hall and

Oates, Creed, Nickelback and something else.

I forget, but basically, you know, the stories,

you know, the stories of your life through influence

of whatever song you pick kind of thing. Absolutely

love that. I devour that between kids love Batman.

Part -time nerds, full -time dads and music talks.

I devour those every time they come out. So those

would be awesome for you to check out. And music

talks episodes are usually about an hour or so.

Sometimes they're a little longer. Sometimes

they're a little shorter. So that should at least

get you through your, your moving phase. If you

want to use podcasts while moving. Awesome. Awesome.

So, until next time, get altered, get geeky with

the Altered Geeks.