Super Troopers 3, RDJ's Doom, HasCon Canceled, and Pixel 10 Flop!

Hi, this is David Kaye, and you're listening

to Altered Geek. Geek. Geek. Geek. Hello, and

welcome to Altered Geek. I'm your host, Steve

Megatron Phillips, and joining me on this adventure

into geekdom is TFG1 Mike. Oh, boy, what a week

we've had between the GCR and GCR. The pull.

Wait, was it? I don't remember. I interviewed

you. It was good cast radio. That's what I thought

it was. I can't keep the 40 shows for 4000 episodes.

I can't keep any of this crap straight anymore.

Between that interviewing Tom Zoller, a whole

bunch of other stuff. It's been one hell of a

week here at Keycast Radio Network. And then

we got all this news and all these topics and.

Oh, boy. So how have you been, sir? Over the

last week, I spoke to some elementary school

kids about podcasting. So that was cool. Then.

I've been fiddling around with some WordPress

plugins using. handy dandy uh ai to help me with

that because more or less i'm trying to cut down

on the amount of plugins on the website yep and

i'm trying to combine because i for one i i knew

that the site was slow and clunky and then periodically

there would be an issue and a couple of the plugins

constantly were having security issues or whatever

so i took a list of all of the plugins on the

site and the theme and all of you know all the

features i was trying to have and dump the whole

thing into ai and don't get me wrong like i don't

use it for everything i just i'm having more

fun with it developing plugins uh than i am anything

else right now yeah you're using it as a tool

as it should be used yeah but i'm also like i

know how to ask it the questions of what i'm

looking for yep so uh your your novice ai user

is going to ask it simple tasks like you know

looking up information or you know what can i

make with this you know types of food or just

things like that me i'm sitting there giving

it a laundry list of just things i want it to

do yep uh and it's uber complicated like occasionally

i'll use it to rewrite some some of my like paragraphs

that i'm dumping into something so i don't sound

like a complete unorganized fool but i fed it

the information and just tell it to rewrite it

and uh but i mean like this this is kind of like

outside of using the theme song music that i

was doing for a while and i've kind of landed

on some that i like and so i really don't have

a reason to use any of the ai music at the moment

outside of like this show intros for some of

the stuff yeah so i haven't really gone back

to that well what i've been doing though is developing

wordpress plugins and so i had to dump all of

our catalog of everything and it's like these

are resource intensive dump these here's some

alternatives rather than like developing a new

app for something or a new plugin it's like they're

these ones are going to be the leanest and give

you what you're looking for without having to

spend a bunch of dev time and i'm like sweet

uh and so i've i've replaced quite a few like

we had an seo plugin the other one was bloated

and then they constantly were like oh upgrade

to our pro version and so they gave me this other

one that's more of a streamlined and then i had

a newsletter app and then i had like something

else some of them mind you were not active but

i dumped them in any way and it was like dump

this one if you're not using it use this other

thing you know and so i'm developing like kind

of a a newsletter template maker that essentially

pulls from it's automated so that's my biggest

pet peeve with the newsletter stuff and why i've

never done one i don't want to sit there and

fiddle with it i want it to automate i want it

to build And I just wanted to send out on a weekly

occurrence, not on an episode occurrence or a

post. And that was kind of how it was set up

presently. And then I had a bazillion different

plugins specifically for one or two features

or like these monster plugins that had literally

one or two features I was using and the rest

of it was just bloating the site. And I... It

was like, you know, if you want this, use this.

If you want to use this, use this. If you want

to use this, use this. And then I got down to

it, and I was helping somebody in the RSS space,

which is, for those that don't know, it's an

RSS .com member -only Slack channel. And so I've

been in there a while helping people. navigate

podcasting a lot of people getting into the space

or a lot of people who are like I'm trying to

connect my RSS feed to WordPress and I'm like

the foremost knowledge on that yeah which is

which has been great I've I've had a lot of fun

kind of spreading the wealth of knowledge of

decades of experience on WordPress and So that's

been fun. And in the process, somebody was like,

well, I want to have clips recorded by listeners

and have it incorporated on the website or on

my podcast or be able to listen to them on air

or whatever. And I was thinking back and I was

like, man, what did we use back in the day? And

somebody mentioned SpeakPipe. And I was like,

why does that sound familiar? And I was like,

I swear we've used that. And so I went back to

archive and I found it. And back then it was

it was free. And I think it's still free for

certain stuff. But. I don't love the idea of

having to sign up for another website to put

your personal info on. Yep. I don't love the

idea of somebody constantly trying to hook you.

with a subscription and it's nothing against

any of these, these developers or these software

people, or, you know, people trying to make residual

money. I totally get it. Like if I was smart,

any of the things I'm developing, I would do

as a subscription, but I also can't consciously

sit there and do it when I myself have a problem

with subscriptions. Yup. And. They're everywhere.

Your utilities are a subscription. If you've

got Comcast, Xfinity, that's a subscription.

Those are things you can't do without. However,

like a Netflix or an Apple TV or Amazon Prime

or some of these other things, there's a lot

of services you could go without. uh podcasting

is no different it's in fact we're going to get

into that later yep uh more specifically but

podcasting is full of gatekeeping and full of

people trying to sell their crap to you which

again is why and i know it sounds like counterintuitive

here like of why i wrote a book but i'm also

not ripping people's heads off on it and you

know, buy it, don't buy it, whatever. Like I'm,

I'm indifferent either way. Like it's there if

you want it. 350 folks. Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean,

it's there if you want it, uh, but it's, it's,

I built it as a primer instead of trying to be

like, Oh, here's the tricks on how you're going

to get, you know, get monetized or get money

or, you know, be hugely successful. And there's,

I'm not trying to sell all that. I'm trying to

give you like the building blocks to do your

own thing. And just from decades of experience

and a lot of these services, while yes, they

are fixing a need in the industry. A lot of them

are corporate backed or they're like radio backed

or television backed or they're not even true

podcasting. They're just trying to get your money.

And then they're like, well, you need this. You

need this. Well, no, I can't afford this. Or

a lot of them want your contact information.

It's funny you're saying this. I'm sorry to interrupt

you, but it's funny you're saying this. I've

seen in the last three days as of recording this,

we're recording this Monday, August 25th, 2025.

In the last three days on Instagram, I've seen

ads for, do you want the best this tip or that

tip for this tech or that tech? YouTube video

creators, do you want the best tips here? I have

all this information. I've compiled it all for

you. You can have it here if you just click here

or if you send me this message using this term.

And I'm sitting here thinking like, you just

want my information. You say this is free. 100%.

Yeah, but you just want my information. Well,

and that's the thing is they cannot remarket

to you. Yep. I mean, I work in marketing. I get

it. I know, yeah. If I give out a gift card,

I hand you a physical gift card, there's no remarketing.

Yeah. There's no contact information. There's

no transaction between two people. It's physically

me giving a gift. Yeah. So at that point, it's

that's why a lot of like things like what I'm

doing, like we're pushing a text club. It's like,

oh, join the text club so that you can get this

freebie. It's not. And yes, there are perks to

that sometimes if it's something you're genuinely

interested in. But it seems like everybody wants

to have your data. And the the main issue I have

with it is. with all of these data breaches,

with all of these things going on and, and on

top of it, you don't know what you're getting.

Like you really don't like you could get, you

could sign up for something. I've had them where

they'll, you know, I'll give them one of my extra

email accounts and sign up for something and

end up in this conundrum that I don't find what

I was given valuable. Yeah. But I've already

given the information or each time they publish

something new and they're like, well, give us

your information for downloading this other file.

And it's like, I already gave it to you, dude.

Like, why do you need it twice? And who knows

what they're doing with it? Like your data, whether

they're selling it or going to use it to remarket

or, you know, try and promote some other service,

whatever. I, I personally have this, this issue.

Like, I don't love any subscription that. Yeah.

It's just trying to rip your head off. Like I

like Canva and I do pay for it. But I again,

I find value in it. And I guess that's the other

thing, too. Do you find value in it? Or is it

another thing that's like uber expensive to tie

you into? Like I can count it back to the days

when I had Predacon Empire. I had a bootleg version

of V Bulletin installed on the site and. I think

I learned of it because I think at the time TFW

had it or still has it or whatever. But it was

the best bulletin board software. And I paid

for it once and it was like 200 bucks a year.

And I'm like, this isn't even my hosting. This

is just the forum software. Yep. And they invalidate

it like after you're done, like after and it's

like. I don't love this. And so like I had a

bootleg copy for a while and then I was like,

I can't. keeps sitting on a bootleg so i eventually

switched over to like php bulletin board which

is free uh open source and i had to replicate

everything i did in the other one but point of

me saying that is is a lot of these podcast services

you know whether it's for filling out forms or

filling out for newsletters or filling out for

you name this the type of service there's always

a catch they they they give you just enough to

be dangerous. And then they're like, if you want

all these, unlock the pro version. So that's

essentially kind of what prompted this was between

the RSS space and the fact that I can't stand

how expensive they're making it to get a entry

point into podcasting. And so going back to my

speak pipe. uh part of this like they're not

bad i've used them they're great like i've i

just i don't have the money to pay them to do

it right it was a great feature when we used

it granted we don't get the type of replies we

used to either uh but we also used used to use

like you know a voicemail line with skype yep

and so we had all these different things that

that kind of played into it Nowadays, there's

nothing really. I mean, yeah, you have stuff.

But I mean, there's not a lot of that vocalization.

So I started building my own app and then putting

it together. And then, you know, what do I want

in this? What features do I want? How can I make

this better for podcasters? One, it's going to

be free. I'm going to eventually put it up on

download on Geekcast Radio. And the other part

of it is. I'm building it in such a way you can

watch the waveform while you're talking. You

can see the waveform after you finish recording.

But it's programmable that if you have a podcast

network like we do. Something I've never seen.

Yeah. I can put the show name as one of the drop

down toggles. and associate it with an email

account so like if it's cinema geeks it'll go

right to kevin yep if it's if it's the pullback

it'll go right to you now granted they'll still

have to log into the geekcastradio .com dashboard

to access the actual file and play it but it'll

tell you it'll give you a direct link yeah as

long as you're logged in you'll get it it'll

say hey you got you know this clip from so and

so here's their email and here's the you know

uh here's the link to the clip and You know,

it's it was filed under the subject of feedback

or, you know, topic suggestion or something like

I built it out so that it was like kind of multivariable

there. And I built it just because I was talking

to people on RSS and I'm like, you know, this

would be super helpful for people that want that

feature. I don't see us using it heavily outside

of like. a special of some kind whether it's

on all things transformers or alter geek or you

know pullback anniversary show or maybe an origin

thing or you know something uh like but like

if we want to offer the the the option to like

we always say at the end of every every outro

i've ever written in the last i would say at

least 15 years all the outros that i ever run

through at the end of every show send us email

feedback at geekcastradio .com and that as you

already alluded to we used to have a skype voicemail

number call us 502 -526 -5821 don't call that

number folks it doesn't work anymore but the

point is the point is there used to be a feature

where you could call us and send us your voicemails

if you wanted to do that, if you were a person

that wanted to call in. And that's the point.

Again, yes, podcasting is not radio. However,

we can still be radio -ish in the way of, hey,

would you like to have your voice on a podcast?

Would you like to be able to vocalize instead

of sitting there writing out an email? Would

you like to just sit in front of a microphone

or sit there in your closet on your... whatever

phone you have and say hey guys i really like

the show i i prefer this comic over that comic

or mike your opinion about blah blah is so stupid

whatever you know you know whatever whatever

whatever blah blah blah so yeah once we actually

roll this out i am going to be heavily promoting

every listener to be sending us the you know

if they so want to that's great you know full

tilt all in like because we never we haven't

had that in years because we we just haven't

because the other thing too every time we update

the website things change yeah like and i say

that i say that because we we go for a certain

set of features and then certain set of features

change they change or we just we phase out something

and then it just gets or it gets forgotten yeah

i'm pretty sure that's what happened with speak

pipe at some point and what i love about this

is it stores it in the wordpress uh media library

nice so we'll be able to pull them up uh i'm

also developing i've seen it by other organizations

and it's like a paid feature on like it's a code

canyon the theme function even Actually, our

theme has this feature. It doesn't work. Well,

it works if you do the podcast the way that they

intended in the theme. I am not doing that because

I heavily modify everything when I do the back

end of the site. And so the sticky audio player

has never worked. Yeah, it worked in the demo

of the site because that's what I built it off

of. But the problem with that is the. The files

it it didn't take into consideration. It was

if you did all the manual labor. Right. And I'm

like, we have 4000 episodes. There's no way I'm

going through that. No. So I so I rebuilt. uh

i i have i'm developing that right now a sticky

player that if you click any other player or

mp3 link on the website like if you're on a set

page and you press it it will load the sticky

player oh nice very cool i'm i'm still working

on that it's I've gotten it to show up. I haven't

gotten it to play yet of do the transfer of audio,

but it's, it's still, I'm still tweaking that

it's, it's almost ready. I'm, I'm playing around

with it on one of my other sites. And then as

it, uh, it's, it's easier to break this site

and fix it and keep test radio. So when it's

ready, it goes on test radio. Yeah. So See, this

is why Steve is the web guy, folks. He has all

these other test websites that he can use because

we break geekcastradio .com. Y 'all ain't ever

going to hear from us again. We're going to come

back as something completely totally different.

Well, I can load a backup. I know, I know, I

know. But I don't, yeah. I haven't broken any

of them that bad yet. thankfully but yeah i'm

using my personal site and then i've got like

one for altered track that used to be future

imperfect and i'm playing around both and kind

of finagling and breaking them on purpose and

uh well not on purpose it just it depends on

how it gets written yeah but anyways so so i'll

have the the voice clip uh plug in probably over

the next week or so i'm almost done with all

the features that i've been trying to get into

the back end of it the front end of it's fine

it works uh but every time i keep trying to add

this one feature into the back end it screws

up the front end so i'm just like i'm just gonna

leave it as is you know uh but yeah so i mean

i'm doing stuff like that to try and help podcasters

like the sticky player thing i'm developing this

you know uh one's like an interactivity thing

That I have to flesh out a little bit more, but

it's essentially going to be like a like a live

voting page type thing of like movie theory.

And then I'm playing around with some other ideas

of putting like maybe, you know, the up and coming

films of the year or something on the site, because

we used to do that, but it was all manual labor

like automated. Yeah. Anytime I can automate

something, I'm going to go that direction. But.

uh the other the other thing i'm working on it's

a podcast all -in -one plugin nice uh so essentially

it uh this one the goal of it anyway is to allow

you to combine features of a multitude of the

different podcasting plugins like some of the

some of the features in each one of them is good

and i say some yeah but and it's it's recreating

it from the ground up because i'm not using their

code i'm not using like i'm not letting it yeah

yeah i'm telling i'm telling it exactly what

features i want embedded into this plugin but

i'm not i'm not like uploading a zip file of

the origin you're not zuckerberging it no i i'm

purposely keeping it i wanted original i wanted

something that you know i can use or other people

i'm not going to profit off of it because i'm

just going to throw it away i should say you're

not winklevossing it because zuckerberg didn't

steal the code yeah um but yeah so i mean i'm

but i'm also not promoting a specific right if

you get power press for instance you have blueberry

yep uh as your your you know the one that they're

trying to promote because they developed it if

you go to simply or seriously simple podcasting

they're trying to promote castos podcast and

and we use their plugin now we used to use power

press but power plus press got to be too bloated

and i when we made the switch i switched it on

the site for this new version that we have now

But it was the other version before. There's

a lot of features that I have additional plugins

installed for. If I get this plugin the way I

want it, I'll be able to eliminate four other

plugins. Yay! And also cut down on the file size.

When I get it done, I'll pretty heavily promote

it and probably do a tech review of it. Oh, absolutely.

But yeah, I mean, this is the kind of stuff I'm

talking about, though. I'm actively working for

the indie. But yeah. So I'll get more into the

podcast sphere and conventions there a little

bit later down on the road. But I think this

is a good transitionary point before we go back

to that to dive into. uh some of our uh super

troopers oh god i think i sent this to you i

think you did i didn't even know it was a thing

so i okay so this is how i find news like three

or four different ways either you send it to

me i'm doom scrolling through facebook or instagram

reels or i am on my home page of my google pixel

7 pro and i swipe left or no yeah no wait left

right yeah left and i go to my google feed and

i make sure when i'm on my google feed that i

look at the act like i don't just scroll through

here to see what the stuff is like i don't i

don't just click on these links I look to see,

like, okay, so perfect example. First three or

four stories. Android Central. The Pixel 10 battery

is basically programmed to tap out after 200

cycles. Well, that's not good. Yahoo Entertainment.

Over 700 classic Looney Tunes shorts rescued

from Warner Brothers now streaming for free.

Sponsored something Mois. I'm not tapping on

that. That's a sponsored thing. I'm not tapping

on that. TechRadar with pressure from the Pixel

10 Pro Fold, the Samsung Galaxy Z Folds. So you

get my idea. I'm looking for the stories, but

I'm looking at the sources that the stories are

coming from. I'm not just looking at the links

specifically. And I also look for when I'm doing

scrolling, like a pop culture, Brian, I don't

know if you follow him or not on whichever stuff,

his stuff is pretty interesting. And I like that.

It's bite -sized. Yeah, absolutely. So I usually,

not that I don't trust the guy, but I usually

try to find a linked store. Like I don't just

link his videos. Yeah, exactly. So. This was

this deadline story about Super Troopers 3 starting

production soon or whatever. I was like, really?

Super Troopers 3? When was the second movie?

I don't even remember the second movie because

I know I never watched it. Because Super Troopers

to me is one of those movies, the original movie

that came out back in the 90s, I think. Was it

the 90s? Crap, I don't even remember. Maybe I'm

drinking too much of that maple syrup. vermont

the original movie is one of those movies where

it's hilarious it's funny as hell i liked it

i liked all the characters for the most part

but it's a one and done to me it's a it's one

of those movies that is very much a one and done

did not need i like when i sent you this i'm

like I didn't even see the second one. I don't

even remember the second one. I don't even remember

the trailer to the second one. What I remember

about the second one is whenever they announced

that there was a second one, they were going

to release it on 4 -20. That's what I remember

is it released on whatever year it released was

April 20th because, you know, toker, toker, joker,

joker, smoker, smoker. You know, I saw this and

I was like, oh, cool. We can mention this really

quick and move on. So if you have any thoughts,

mention them and then let's go to Iron Man. So

I saw Super Troopers 1 and that was good. Super

Troopers 2. It's 2018, by the way. I'm on it

now. Yeah, it felt like it shouldn't have been

made. Like, I don't. I love the, the broken lizard

guys that do the films. I don't, I didn't love

the second film. Like the second film, like they

literally had a dude smacking someone with his

balls on something. Like it was just, it was,

I was like, okay, man, like why, why? Like, I

didn't get it. Like, and then they had Rob Lowe

and it is the, the bad guys. And then they, I

think there was them against the Canadians. So

I'm on Wikipedia, and again, folks, Wikipedia,

a grain of salt. Several years after the first

film, the officers have been fired from the Spursbury

Police Department after taking actor Fred Savage

on a ride -along that resulted in his death.

Farve is now a construction supervisor with Mac

and Rabbit. Working for him, Thorny works in

Longing, and Foster lives with his girlfriend

and former co -worker. uh i i don't know just

it wasn't good enough that i i would watch it

again the first film is still funny to watch

yeah exactly yeah yeah and so and and i mean

maybe they can recapture it i don't know i don't

know if it's really worth it uh but i did like

when because they had heffernan and uh Steve

Lemme, and they created another show, Tacoma

FD. Oh, okay. It was the fire department show,

and it was very much like Super Troopers, but

with fire departments versus the police, and

it was actually really good. Yeah. I genuinely

enjoyed it, and it's on Netflix right now. it

was on true tv and it went like five seasons

then got canceled but got it yep but it was funny

like it was yeah you know and then they they

had like heffernan's character have you know

his daughter joined the same fire department

that he works at and so they had to like curtail

stuff to having a woman in the you know the fire

department and stuff but she showed that you

know she could play along the same jokes and

it was i don't know it's just humorous and funny

in a different way yeah and so like i almost

feel like they're better off going in some direction

like this creating something different and kind

of having fun with it rather than rehashing super

troopers yeah but I don't know if this is going

to change, but in 2018, they announced the title

of the third movie, Super Troopers 3 Winter Soldiers.

I don't know if that's going to change. And then

August, obviously, this year, production has

officially started. And that's essentially what

this story is, is that the troop. Vermont State

Troopers are back for a third go -around in Searchlight

Pictures Super Troopers 3 with Broken Lizard

Gang going before the cameras at the end of this

week. And that was posted on August 20th. So,

yeah, they're back, folks. They're back. I don't

know. Like I said, like we said, the first movie

is really where it's at. And then watch Tacoma

FD. Yeah. And I'll watch a trailer for Super

Troopers 3 just to see when a trailer comes out.

But in general, I don't know. All right. So the

17 -year -old Iron Man clue that predicted RGJ's

return as Doctor. Technically, it's an over 50

-year -old clue because the Black Sabbath song

is over 50 years old. iron man and they used

that song in iron man so for those that have

never heard black sabbath's iron man he was burned

to steel in a great magnetic field planning his

vengeance that he will soon unfurl vengeance

from the grave kills the people he once saved

so as i mentioned earlier i think i mentioned

fair but uh just the nobodies on instagram i

had came across this instagram reel from them

uh how the song iron man predicted he started

becomes dr doom i think this is a fucking leap

i'm sorry to use the f bomb that's my one f bomb

of this show but come on guys it's a song i get

it you're you're you're inferring that it but

like i i understand what they're saying i get

it because he was once iron doctor doom and now

and it's an actor whatever but like come on there's

no way that Back in the 70s, Black Sabbath could

have predicted anything to do with Robert Downey

Jr. Like. No, I has a theory and I need time.

Well, and this is I don't know if I pinned it

on. And I don't know when I posted it either.

Oh, no. Yeah. Anyways, I'm pretty sure. Uh -huh.

Oh, I posted it in April. April fools. I'm pretty

sure. Oh, no, this one was about what I watched

on the Marvel television. I made a prediction.

And once, once I find it, I'll, I'll bring it

back up. But I made a prediction about who I

think is going to be in this film. Yep. Before

we ever had any information. Yeah. I also had

an opinion on what is going to kind of play out

with Dr. Doom Iron Man. Yeah, and it... Okay,

you can say your prediction in a minute. I'm

going to say this, though. It fits into what

the comics have been. Because there is a version

of Tony Stark that was Doctor Doom. The Invincible...

What is it? What's it called? Oh, God. There's

a specific name for this. it's not invincible

it's uh not insidious god what is that there's

a specific version of iron man that is dr doom

kind of thing but go ahead what's your what's

your thing here i don't know if i found it yet

all right so there's a There's a reason why I

know this is a Funko pop. And then that led me

down to researching the actual whole thing. And

I can't remember what the name of it was, but

like when they made that announcement, when they

did the whole SDCC thing and you see all the

guys in the robes and they come out and they

make room and this other guy in the other row

comes out. and he reveals himself and he pulls

the mask off and you know what his line is new

mask same task everybody lost their collective

spit because hello like i have that audio i'll

i'll send that audio to you i don't know if you'll

put it in the episode but i'll send that audio

clip to you everybody lost their spit because

holy crap our dj is back Because, yeah, it's,

yeah, just, yeah. But, yeah, no, I am severely

excited for Phase 6, because we're in Phase 6

now. I have to remember that Phase 5 is over.

I keep forgetting. That we're already out of

phase five, that we're already in phase six,

which is so weird to me. So I found it. Uh -huh.

Posted it July of 2024. Ah, okay. My speculation

was got a theory on Avengers Doom Day. Secret

Wars. Robert Downey Jr. will be the infamous

Iron Man variant. Infamous. That's what it is.

And will still be Tony Stark, but one from another

universe or a version resurrected from Endgame

with the scarring. Yes. So I said all I says

or. A version resurrected from Endgame with the

scarring. Mm hmm. Yep. Which, if that's the case,

it what was the I am Iron Man song? Oh, um. yeah

that's black sabbath no i know but i'm saying

like the line the line from endgame is i am iron

man no no i meant uh the lyrics oh that you read

earlier oh uh hold on um where'd it go where

are you where are you where are you that's um

He was turned to steel in a great magnetic field,

planning his vengeance that he will soon unfurl.

Vengeance from the grave kills the people he

once saved. Vengeance from the grave killed the

people he once saved. Yep. If that's the case,

a version resurrected from Endgame with the scarring.

Yeah. And it says... And then I said there'll

be some tomfoolery afoot and he'll get revived

either by his nanite suit injections or another

method to fight the Avengers, both past and present,

and the mutants. And the lineup, you know, and

then I went down to go do the lineup of, you

know, Deadpool, Wolverine, of Hugh Jackman, Spider

-Man, Tobey, or Andrew, Thor, Hulk, Captain America's

both, Hawkeye, Strange, Elektra, etc. And then

I put it just as a extra thing. I'm 80, 85 to

90 % right in my predictions. Yeah, exactly.

So, okay. If, if this, I pinned it, I pinned

it to my profile. So if people want to see it

and be able to tag it, it's, it's literally like

I, as soon as I heard end game was coming or

not end game, but a doomsday, I was like, yeah,

I was like, all right, I'm jumping on this. Like,

yeah. As soon as like they revealed the. Robert

Downey Jr. clip. I was like, this is what came

about. I'm pretty sure they're going to resurrect

Tony Stark totally ticking off the entire MCU.

And they won't care because they're going to

reboot the thing anyway. Well, yeah, that's the

thing. And that's the other thing that they had

mentioned that they said reset. They didn't say

reboot. They said reset. He said reset. So they're

going to reset the 616 because let's face it.

And I aged out. Yeah, I'm perfect. And I'm perfectly

fine with like, look, man, we got what? 24. Well,

by the time Phase 6 ends, in Phases 1 through

3, we got 23 films. How many other franchises

do you know have 23 films? Outside of horror,

because horror is just horror. I mean, that's

a whole other bag of whatever. But in action

movies, in general, because the whole superhero

genre is a whole... thing but like not a lot

of action movies have 23 films you know and yeah

so reset recast re whatever and that's fine because

we still have those i think we'll end up with

cabal as the new wolverine though that's why

they teased it yeah and that's fine although

i would be happy with them getting a shorter

younger guy to play them yeah that looks rough

yeah they need to find somebody like cavill could

play old grizzled chiseled wolverine he could

play uh um old man logan type wolverine or just

i mean they could technically just keep hugh

jackman for old man logo and have young logan

as you know the new actor yeah sure that true

that but yeah so anyways my prediction yep your

prediction we'll have to wait until you know

uh -huh next year to find out if I'm right 100

% on how Iron Man comes but uh uh huh yeah so

we go from movies to television shifting gears

season 2 season 2 episode 1 the premiere we have

a home improvement and uh last man standing reunion

take it away so It's less of a Last Man Standing

and more of a Home Improvement. True, yeah. I

know that two of these three appeared on Last

Man Standing for a one -off, including Tim Allen

playing himself from Home Improvement. That's

funny. Which, honestly, would be hilarious. Yeah.

If he did it again. Yes, it would be. But anyways,

they're going to do a reunion set for Shifting

Gear Season 2 premiere. Yes, the premiere. They're

going to have Patricia Richardson, Richard Karn,

and Debbie Dunning to appear. And yeah, they

obviously played some of the major characters

in Home Improvement. jill al and uh heidi heidi

yeah uh but yeah i'm i'm looking forward to seeing

what they do with it it's i mean they already

had nancy travis come back from last man standing

yep uh it'll be interesting to see if we get

any of the three sons yeah home improvement to

come back But. Yeah, she played she played Patricia

played Helen Potts in Last Man Standing. That's

right. Jonathan Taylor Thomas came back in that

for, you know, multitude of episodes. And then.

You know, they insinuated for for her part, at

least that. They were related. Yeah. Randy and

her and then mentioned. you know basically tim

but he was supposed to be that yeah the character

she was supposed to be married to was supposed

to be dead and then um and then you eventually

get you know tim the tool man later so i mean

i i i love that these guys are all still friends

and still you know play a part and uh yeah they'll

they'll uh they'll do they'll do well with this

i'm looking forward to it i i really like anything

tim allen's kind of tied to yeah absolutely yeah

it's very cool very cool that they're that they're

doing that and they gotta yeah that's very cool

and then uh Yeah, folks. And then we have the

Lego Batman Legacy of the Dark Knight Reveal

trailer. Holy crap, that trailer. It looks pretty

good. It's still a telltale. Yeah, I don't care.

Don't get me wrong. I like the idea of it. I

like the game. I like Lego, you know, games because

I played the Star Wars ones. I played the original

Lego Island. Yeah. When that came out in like

the mid 90s and my computer could barely run

it. Like, I kid you not, like the game would

like glitch out. And so this game is very much

Arkham Arkham City, but Lego, but Lego. And so,

I mean, I'm all for it because like one, it's

less gritty. It's less. It doesn't take itself

as seriously. I'm all for it. uh so i'll probably

be checking it out it it looks definitely like

it takes place in the the nolan batman universe

because it's got the tumbler it's got the bat

suit it's got the joker with the the cut up face

uh it's got like the 89 bat suit and parts of

it too it's got so i mean it could even be themed

and skinned differently depending on you know

because i also have seen a different part with

you know the the batman batmobile in it yeah

um and then catwoman from returns so i i think

there's gonna be a lot of variation in design

uh but it should be fun anyway yeah and i'm glad

they're using the classic dc logo yes that was

nice that was a nice touch i think that has to

do with uh the man in charge james gunn oh of

course of course it's all about the classic which

i'm all for i have been seeing so many clips

of him talking about the various things and uh

and the this and the that and the whatever and

i'm just like okay cool i can't wait to see the

stuff let's let's just see the stuff now yeah

you'll be able to unlock different suits yep

so yep yep super excited for that absolutely

all right and uh more podcasting because um How

about them podcasting conventions, folks? Anyone

ever been to one of those things? Because I hear

they're more grody than San Diego Comic -Con.

So I've been to one. I attended podcast movement

during COVID. Oh, boy. So it was virtual that

year. Yeah, yeah, I remember. I won a a free

scholarship to attend and it was it was virtual.

Don't get me wrong. It was they had breakout

rooms, they had all this other kind of stuff.

It was OK virtually. But I felt like we missed

like we literally did miss a lot of panels. Mm

hmm. Uh, because it, it really wasn't panels.

It was kind of one -off webinars. Yeah. And zoom.

And it really wasn't all that much fun. Uh, the

thing I did take away from it and I did enjoy

was they, they did have some good information,

but it seemed like everyone that was doing a

webinar in a panel was some corporate shill trying

to sell you something. Yeah. And I get it, but

I thought it being a podcast convention, we would

have panels of people discussing topics of conversation

or, you know, specific themes of something, not

trying to sell something. Because like I've been

to a car wash convention for my current job,

which I didn't know was a thing, but they have

conventions for everything. I went to the panels

of that and there were some panels that. were

100 % trying to sell you on their product. And

then there were some other ones where it was

a group of people discussing a certain theme

or topic and taking questions from the peanut

gallery out, you know, the rest of us that were

sitting out there watching. And those were the

ones I found the most insightful. Like, I didn't

find much value in the ones that were just trying

to promote something or, you know, being Captain

Obvious. And so it's it was kind of funny, my

my experience with it. I did go to some of the

breakout rooms of companies trying to sell stuff

like I went to the Mackey room. And I went because

one, they dangled the carrot of if you attend

every day, there's a winner every day. Yeah.

If you attended every day, you got entered into

the grand prize. interesting because i was sitting

working from home and i had you know i had two

or three monitors sitting on my desk i just had

one monitor going 24 7 uh on the convention and

the other sides i was working on stuff i needed

to get done and so i mean i didn't necessarily

have to watch i could listen but the the benefit

of it was my because i had the logitech uh clear

chat pro usb headset It's still my favorite headset.

They don't sell it anymore. And whatever one

they have now that replaced it is it was it was

garbage. But I needed new headphones. So I was

like. What can I win? Because I didn't have any

money and I wasn't going to buy anything. And

during that time, podcast equipment, headphones,

microphones, all of it went through the roof

like sky high. On Amazon and every other place

because everybody had nothing better to do than

to podcast. And then a lot of them fizzled out

right after. And then the prices went back down,

but things were going quadruple the price and,

you know, depending on what it was. And so anyways,

I attended these panels and then, you know, the

first one got to learn about their stuff, got

to learn about, you know, certain things, ask

questions. And that was kind of cool. uh and

then i won one of their usb head or not usb a

uh auxiliary port headset because they didn't

have usb headsets yeah none of the ones i wanted

uh but anyways that is my like when i'm doing

intensive audio editing and i need you know locked

in i'll wear that headset i'm normally wearing

a nine dollar or eleven dollar phillips uh over

the ear headphone so that i can hear myself talk

uh that's normally what i use like even right

now i'm using that because it doesn't crush my

head and i can hear myself speak and i'm not

talking too loud the other heads that i will

use uh and it is nice and when i've had to do

events where i've had you know had to have a

headset that's what i wear but So I won that

and I was like, oh, this is great because I have

a headphone that died. And so they mailed it

out. And then by the end of that week, I won

the grand prize. Which it was like the second

grand prize. They had another one that had like

a mixing board and some other stuff. But I won

the studio speakers, the other head headphones,

which I've never opened. I mean, I've opened

them there. They're just. in the case because

I'm like, well, if something happens to my other

one, I'll, I'll dig it out. Um, but it's got

three different types of cords, like a corkscrew

or regular kind, like a nylon cord that can all

connect to it. It's very interchangeable. So

if the cords die, I can just buy a random cord

and plug it in, uh, to those headphones. And

then I got a USB, uh, C USB -C microphone, which

at times I will use. on my my smartphone to record

from or i'll use it at work or you know something

so it's a backup and so that one i keep with

me all the time like at work so i have one there

and i have one here uh that i'm using and so

i won that and so that was that was definitely

a benefit but i knew what i was getting involved

with and then uh you know long story short going

to 2025 podcast movement And this is this is

directly quoted from Todd Cochran. And like I

said, I I didn't attend. It was in Texas this

year. I think last year. It was in Denver, but

I couldn't get away. Yeah. Plus, it was during

the week, which made it even worse. Yeah, I made

it worse. And then Denver traffic is not something

I look forward to. That mousetrap is a real mousetrap.

Well, I mean, something that can take you normally

an hour could take you three. Yep. Just because

people and then the way that they merge the intersections

are crap. And then downtown Denver is horrid.

Anyways, he says podcast movement 2025, a turning

point. I just returned from podcast movement

2025 in Dallas. The event was smaller than in

years past with fewer vendors and attendees.

So that right there tells me one people be broke

because they charge like $500 for the, like a

week at this event. Plus you're playing for,

you know, for hotel and then you're paying for

food and then you're paying for flight. So it's

like four to $500 to go. And, and, and so then

he says, however, I will give credit where it's

due. Their local outreach in the Dallas Metro

was effective. We saw. New and curious creators

from the local area attending. Okay, that's a

bonus. Grassroots. And it says, that said, the

reality is this. We did not meet new creators

from outside the area. For a show that once called

itself the premier podcasting event, that's telling.

He says, I'll be blunt. Heading into this event,

I thought this might be Blueberry's last podcast

movement. In recent years, return on investment

just hasn't justified the cost. But we walked

away with. close to 50 leads for a show of this

size it should have been closer to 250 still

considering my expectations were near zero i'll

take it so that's that's also part of it like

yeah todd's todd's a great dude he's he's definitely

for the indies like he has the podcast awards

that you know when i heard was like oh the world's

first podcast awards he's like hey guys um here

yeah exactly and i even was doing it i was like

i mean i've never entered it because i don't

think i'll win but it's the same token it's like

uh this guy you know yeah i'll be blunt like

he's he's one of the ogs like come on yeah exactly

yeah uh but when i did anything yeah and when

we chit chat and you know there was a time where

uh You know, one of the time, a couple of times

I've been laid off, like he's reached out and

been like, do you need any help with your podcast

stuff? Like I can, you know, I'll help you out,

you know, whatever. Like he's super, super nice

guy. Yeah. And so he says, but let's address

the bigger picture. The creator gap podcast movement

has shifted away from serving creators, which

I realized that even back in 2020, like I, I

felt it. Mm hmm. But I don't think it was very

obvious. And I think people kind of just took

it for what it was because they were still having

the event. Yeah. And it was free, I think, ended

up being free or something because of covid.

But right. But still, like it was kind of, you

know, this is crap. Yeah. So and I know I've

I've spoken to the guys that created podcast

movement years ago and they're they're good people,

too. But I think the money has kind of definitely

gotten involved. Yeah. But he says midweek scheduling

and high traffic travel costs leave independence

locked out, which I 100 percent agree. Like that's

100 percent why I don't go. And it says there's

no weekend crossover for those those with day

jobs or limited PTO. Same issue. I mean, I wouldn't

go on a Saturday, but still, you know, it still

doesn't make it any easier. And I wouldn't go

to one that's not in my direct area. Like it's

not something I'm. it's not something i find

valuable enough to fly out to um that's just

me saying that but he says even with discounted

local tickets the model doesn't scale the new

start the new structure podcast movement now

owns sounds profitable which is a it was another

organization and uh and newsletter So this is

very telling because these podcast newsletters

have been getting very corporate -y, less indie

-based, very heavy on the sales and the gear

and the advertising. Because if you look at the

end of the newsletter, there's a bazillion companies.

I subscribe to Podcast Tonight, Sounds Profitable,

Pod News. And if you go to the bottom of the

Pod News newsletters, there's like... probably

25 gold supporters okay under silver there's

probably 50 oh jesus of different companies and

then it says our personal supporters then there's

like all the people that have paid separately

uh and so i mean there's there's that but uh

and then you go into like the The the sounds

profitable ones. And. They have. Under their

their partners. Mm hmm. There's at least there's

there's got to be 100 companies. A lot of them

are similar. What's funny is. There are some

podcast companies. But I would say 90 percent

of what's there. Corporate radio. Yeah. So they've

taken over podcasting entirely here. Yeah. I

haven't finished, even finished this article,

but I'll go ahead and make your commentary. No,

it's just that radio woke up and they realized,

oh crap. We need to get into this because if

we don't, we're going to be screwed because we're

going to be left in the dust because radio is

unfortunately a format that's left in the dust.

I've lived in two different cities since 2017.

Okay, technically three. When I left Kentucky

in 2017 and Karen came, you know, Karen came

down to Louisville and I moved to Chicago to

be with her at the time. Chicago was the last

city I listened to radio in. Moved out to Washington.

Didn't listen to any radio in Washington. And

I've lived here in Indiana for three years. Haven't

listened to a single radio station, online radio

station. The only radio station I listened to

in the last... God, what's the math on that?

Eight years? It's almost eight years, I think.

I think, I think. Wasn't it Carter? No, Carter

was already gone. No, Carter was already gone.

Unfortunately, Carter was gone in 2016. The only

radio station I've listened to in the last eight

years... is Big Joe and Laura. Laura, who used

to be on with Carter in Louisville, she went

to Michigan, and she's on 95 .7 up there in Michigan

with Big Joe. So I've listened to Laura Hardy

with Big Joe and Laura on 95 .7. I can't think

of the name off the top of my head of the radio

station up there in Grand Rapids, Michigan. But

that's the only radio station I've listened to

in the last eight years. I don't care about...

And this is coming from a guy who grew up listening

to morning radio in Boston. like that was my

life as a kid listening to morning radio before

school throughout my entire life i would listen

to morning radio all the time i would listen

to nighttime radio all the time and yeah no i

just don't i just don't care anymore i don't

know why i just don't well and i i had you know

i mean i used to listen to the radio i used to

listen to flint flint's rock radio banana 101

.5 and Uh, they used to play Bob and Tom in the

mornings and then they changed it to the free

beer and hot wing show. And I was like, eh, I

don't care anymore. Uh, and then all their disc

jockeys kind of sucked. And, uh, like, I mean,

I know some of the people there and it, that's

that town square station and they're, they're

nice people. It just, I didn't care for the format

change when it, when it changed a little bit,

uh, years ago. And I haven't listened to the

radio probably in at least. at least 10. It's,

it's been at least 10 years. Yeah. Um, and even

before that I was listening to podcasts, like

I pretty much switched to podcasting when, uh,

when I started recording with TF wire and when,

uh, when I, when I was recording with, uh, or

when I was listening to this week in geek and,

you know, things like that. Like I just, I stopped

listening to the radio. Uh, So it's funny this

this part that he's mentioning, you know, the

new structure podcast movement now owns sounds

profitable. That's that newsletter. Yeah. And

holds 50 percent stake in pod news. That's the

other newsletter. Right. And that's a lot of

built in advertising power. Plus, not to mention

all the sponsors for all of those are now. bigger

sponsors and podcast movement which means we

have more corporate radio and corporate media

instead of indie uh he says but consolidation

won't fix the fundamental issue the creator audience

is slipping away yep the future venues south

by southwest and new york city both are incredibly

expensive new york city may pull regional traffic

But if the dates don't shift to allow weekend

sessions, creators outside the Northeast won't

make the trip. South by Southwest, even less

accessible. Hotels, flights, and tickets are

through the roof. If podcast movement wants to

win creators back, here's my challenge. Offer

day passes. Ensure weekend access, a whole Saturday

track at minimum. Decide who matters most and

be clear about it. The business crowd or the

creators who built this industry? That one is

the most powerful sentence that he said here.

Oh, absolutely. Decide who matters most and be

clear about it. The business crowd or the creators

who built it. And that is my biggest beef with

podcasting now. That's why I had that rebuttal

article with the guy on LinkedIn where he's like,

podcasting is dead. Long live the show. And it's

like, no, podcasting is not dead. video shows

are not podcasts. If you remember earlier YouTube,

when we had, you know, your revision three and

you had your, you know, the, like even looking

at like the Philip DeFranco show or, you know,

the, uh, a lot of these other shows, they were

not podcasts. They were doing like basically

a TV show on YouTube. They were never a podcast.

No. And, They've just redubbed them as podcasts

to say that, oh, we need video, which is again,

it's another, oh, let's sell gear and let's make

got to look perfect. And it's got to, you know,

you got to be mindful of all of this. And it's

like, it's not a TV show. My office looks like

a train wreck right now. That's why I'm not doing

video. But exactly. It's a totally different,

you know, I can have this more intimate conversation

on audio because I'm not paying attention to

what I look like. I can have an open conversation.

Yes. When I do M wire, when I eventually get

around to doing that in the next month or so,

I'm going to clean something up and create something

in the background. But yeah, but that's for that

one show. Everything else is audio for me. Yeah,

exactly. And you hit the nail on the head, which

is the exact same thing I've been saying, not

only for years, but I've been saying it for the

past like month and a half. Audio podcasting.

It is more intimate for me to be like this than

it is for you to see my face on a camera. It

is more intimate for someone to be able to open

whichever podcast platform you prefer. For me,

it's Spotify. Let's say I open Spotify. I go

to this episode of Altered Geek. add it to my

your episodes feed in spotify or whatever and

i say hey i'm gonna play this episode okay once

i hit play on that episode i basically close

out my screen put my phone in my pocket Put my

phone in my pocket and go do whatever else. I

basically listen to podcasts like they are radio.

I don't treat podcasts like they are radio in

the sense of that they're radio shows type of

thing. But I don't have to stop everything I'm

doing and sit down and pay attention to a screen.

Like if I want to watch television or if I want

to watch. a video like um i think mkbhd put out

his google whatever thing he did off the the

google pixel 10 thing which we'll talk about

here in a little bit too uh i sat there and i

watched the video because i wanted to sit there

and watch the video but that means i'm not doing

nine other things i could be doing i could sit

here and Put on an episode of Pod Meets World,

which they just did their season six recap episode,

which was a really weird episode, guys. Really

weird. Thank God they put in chapter markers

because yikes, really weird. A whole other thing.

It's a whole other. But. read that line again

about the the making a choice or being decisive

or something well let's decide who matters most

and be clear about the business crowd or the

creators who built this industry now it's funny

it's funny he says that because a couple days

ago on my a couple days ago on my facebook fade

uh A memory popped up from a Facebook page. Be

decisive. Right or wrong. Make a decision. The

road of life is paved with flat squirrels who

couldn't make a decision. Sorry, go ahead. But

yeah, I mean, he says this isn't just about one

event. It's about whether podcast movement can

remain relevant to the entire podcast ecosystem.

Right now, it's at a crossroads. He says, for

me, low expectations meant I left Dallas satisfied.

This is low expectations. However, for the long

term sustainability of this event, satisfaction

alone won't suffice. What do you think? Should

podcasts move it, prioritize creators again?

Or is the industry too far down the business

first path? And it's funny because a lot of people,

a lot of names I recognize liked this. Like there

were 45 of us. like daniel j lewis he's the one

that does the audacity to podcast he's another

one of the old old hat guys um jd porchlight

does a lot of uh audio drama podcasting and kind

of another old hat pod vader works for uh i think

it's cumulus in their podcast division and he

used to be blog talk radio blog talk and stitcher

and all that well it was blog talk and spreaker

and then he He got let go because I originally

when I was working for the Blaze. Yeah. They

were going to sponsor me to go to podcast movement

and speak on stage with him. And we both got

laid off at the same time. Oh, wow. Damn. So

like they were going to sponsor me. All I had

to do was get hotel tickets and it was in like

Pennsylvania at the time. And I was like, oh,

I could drive there. And I was in Michigan. And

then Hank Davis. tpe entertainment podcasts uh

and then you know there's other names that i

don't recognize in there too but uh but i thought

it was funny and then so my rebuttal i was like

i appreciate your analysis on this i found most

podcast conventions don't cater to the indie

podcasters with limited budgets but the corporate

podcasters and organizations that pony up the

dough I said I attended Podcast Movement virtually

during COVID, and even during that, it was mostly

vendors and panels to sell me something from

a skewed perspective. The price, the distance,

the corporate feel, those are why I don't take

these conventions seriously. I've been doing

this 20 years and worked in it at a varying capacity,

and when it comes down to it, the indie is always

left behind because they can't afford it all

the way around. Being in that boat again, because...

uh we don't get you know free hosting with speaker

anymore and we you know pay literally everything

and then uh kind of bootstrapping it like we

did back in the day yeah i said i feel it and

with the ais it's going to make it a lot of make

a lot of the information subscriptions to services

plugins obsolete when they can prompt it to create

a similar product with no additional spend which

again plays into the fact that i knew what i

was doing when I wrote this because this was

like a couple days ago but I put 100 % agree

they need to be focused on who this is for and

offer options virtually even to the panel tracks

for those who can't get time off but want to

check it out and see what's happening that being

said the hosting companies like yours and RSS

seem more about the indie and the person than

a lot of the others in the industry which is

appreciated make it about the creators the business

will follow and then James Cridland who's another

OG podcaster. He's like Rob Greenlee is another

OG podcaster that's been with Todd Cochran. Like

I'm very, he was like with Libsyn and then with

some other service. And I think he runs his own

consulting now, but James Cridlin is actually

the editor of pod news, which is 50 % owned by

podcast movement. I know exactly who all these

people are. So it's, it's just funny to me. but

he goes offer options, uh, virtually even to

the panel tracks for those who can't get time

off. I want to check it out and see what's happening.

Cause he quoted me. Um, he says, I understand

that all sessions, both panels and keynotes will

be free to everyone this year with no purchase

required. Uh, just like pod news is and pod news

has RSS feeds for everything. Um, I just thanked

him, but, um, I don't know if that means 2025

will be available. or 2026 but um and then daniel

j lewis uh who like i'll test his various podcasting

stuff out and um we've chatted back and forth

before he says i feel like this is podcast movements

placing their flag and saying they're for advertisers

and industry people while trying to attract new

creators itself by southwest But for existing

active creators, I think podcast movement might

no longer be an option for the reasons you raised.

Yeah. So, yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. We live in

a world where Batty. Just simply Batty. And it

sucks because we should all be able to get along

in the same. And creators should come for like,

like you said, and like they said, this in, okay.

Regardless of what Steve jobs said on stage in

2005, iPod broadcasting, podcasting, fine, whatever.

Sure. Steve jobs said at first, yada, yada, yada.

What? But as you're listing off all these people

that are all these OGs before you came along,

honestly, it had grassroots. It will always be

grassroots. It will always be somebody's up -and

-coming thing. What do I always say? And I probably

stole this from somebody. I forget who. Everybody

who gets into listening to podcasts, this could

be somebody's first episode. Every episode is

somebody's first episode listening to it. So,

you know, the creators have to come first. The

corporate part of it, the business part of it,

the sponsorship part of it has to come second.

Always. That comes. maybe a year two years down

the line i would think at least that's the way

i think about it like you have to at least build

your brand first i'm not saying the promotion

comes um promote all the time as soon as you

start as soon as you put your first episode out

there promote the hell out of that crap but getting

in the sponsors and the this and that and the

whatever and no but creativity has to come first

well i mean it's just funny going through the

comments like james cridland i have no no issue

with he does write his articles without without

a slant yeah like he's even slammed some of the

people that they've sponsored or sponsored the

thing so like i don't have an issue with him

i i have an issue with podcast movement itself

yes yeah what has become uh But yeah, I mean,

just reading the comments, you can hear, you

know, I went to podcast movement last year, really

disappointed, felt geared towards the pro casters,

didn't like the vibe much. And then, you know,

another one was like, you know, it was clear

that the organization had lost its grip on what

podcasting was created for. It's about open accessibility

and free speech. Anyone can do it and anyone

can say what they want and feel to then kick

someone out of a podcasting conference. who is

a paid sponsor of the event because you disagree

with them is absolutely wild. Cause somebody

did get booted. Like it's the same thing with

those podcast. I got to finish this article on

it, but it's the same thing with these podcasting

memberships. I forget what they're called. They're,

they're not unions, but they're like, podcasting

organizations with various members I can't remember

what they're called right now but there's a bunch

of them out there and I was a member of one of

them for like two years and then the way that

they were treating some of the people and then

it felt like very gatekeepy unless you were on

their little in crowd so I chose not to renew

and they asked me why and I told them yeah and

and then i've seen other ones trying around here

well and i've seen other people pitch me crap

too and i i'm like one i'm not joining a membership

model and paying somebody a bunch of money for

that when there's not much value there's not

much value like i don't I, I've done a lot of

those things, but yeah, I mean, I'm going down

this tirade now at this point, but you kind of

get what I'm saying. Like it's, um, it's going

to be interesting to see where, where things

progress with it and I'll, I'll watch it and

kind of report back. But, um, yeah, we're, we're

at this weird pivotal moment where podcasting

is still evolving. It's always been evolving

and always will. Yeah. But like I said, things

change. Things will get different. But let's

move on to, since we're on conventions, PulseCon.

Yes, PulseCon. Canceled! It is being reported

from Canada's Fan Expo convention via Troy Collects.

that Hasbro will not be holding their annual

online PoolCon event. Sorry, Jay Cochran, but

you've got to use spellcheck there, buddy. This

year, and likely won't be 1027 event either.

Instead, they will be focusing more on attending

fall conventions such as NYCC, MCM London, and

Luca. L -U -C -C -A comic and gaming convention.

We learned during SDCC that Hasbro plans to sell

exclusives at NYCC and MCM London this year,

which is something they haven't generally done

in the past. The online PulseCon event started

during the COVID times. So, yeah, no PulseCon,

no 1027. Okay, just give us a couple of YouTube

recap videos on the Hasbro Pulse YouTube channel

from the conventions that you actually attend.

Cool. Great. Okay. Sure. I don't know. I feel

like, again, this... I understand you can't have

Google or Apple go to San Diego or New York or

whatever. They're their own companies. They have

to put on their own events because they're too

damn big to be tied into just a geek convention

or a comic convention that's not them. Fine,

whatever. But Hasbro? You're one company with

a multitude of brands that you could have multitude

of tables or a multitude of whatever at these

various conventions. You have each of these brands

that can be featured and that gets more people

to your... Thankfully, I know it's still around.

I'm not saying it isn't still around, but thankfully

we are out of the, you know, sea times. For the

most part. Like I said, I know it's still around.

I know it still happens. But we're out of the

thickness of all of 2020 and all of that. You

don't need to continue to have virtual events

to show off your products. Get out there and

show us your products. And that's what they're

doing. And I think this is a good thing. I think

it's good that they're... That they showed up

to San Diego. I think it's good that they're

going to New York. I think it's good they're

going to London and what GlucaCon is. We'll never

know that one. So, you know, cool. I guess. I

don't know. What do you think? I don't know.

I honestly do not know what to think. i i really

don't i don't i don't know what to think all

right on that note folks uh let's uh speaking

of companies and their whatever how about a six

minute condensed version of the google saturday

night live qvc i don't know what the So I saw

the CNET video show up first and I wasn't not

going to watch the Google event because I am

curious in the Pixel 10 Pro XL and I was curious

in the Pixel 10 Pro Fold. I would like a folding

phone eventually. I don't think it's this one,

but. I was curious and I knew I was in trouble

when I saw the Google Instagram account, like

a day before the event post a teaser of Jimmy

Fallon. Look, he's a cool host for the tonight

show. I liked his acting in a couple of movies

that I've seen him in 2000. 3 or 4's Taxi and

then 2005's Fever Pitch. He's okay. But this

is a tech event. And a tech event does not need

to be a cross between QVC and Saturday Night

Live. thankfully most of our listeners are united

states based so when i say qvc most people know

what i'm talking about if you don't home shopping

network whatever but no dude seriously like i

commented on i got into a whole comment war with

somebody who is not from the u .s apparently

That wasn't even the person that I replied to.

It was somebody completely different that started

the comment war. So somebody on the Google event

video, live video said, what's QVC? I said, you're

either not American or you're too young. If you

have to ask, I think what I really just said

was you're, if you have to ask, you're too young.

I think that's what my comment was. And somebody

else comes along and says, oh, well, what if

you're not American and you don't know him? The

whole line back and forth. I'm like, get off

my lawn. Leave it alone. Like this. Everywhere

else in the world, they have Huawei. They have

us. They have nothing. They have all these other

cool things like. get off the google stuff folks

like whatever i don't know but yeah i got into

a whole damn comment war about it but this event

was like it was so cringeworthy and i did watch

the one hour and 16 minutes that this event was

after i watched the six minutes and whatever

time that the that the cnet video was because

i was curious to see how actually bad it was

i don't know who any of the other people were

When they started the Google event and they were,

Jimmy came out and did his spiel and whatever.

And they started introducing everybody. I recognized

some of the names and I'm like, for the names

I recognized, I was like, why? For the names

I didn't recognize, I was like, who? I was like

an owl for like 20 minutes. Who? Who? Who? Why?

Why? Like. like i remember and i know google

is not apple fine whatever but i remember old

apple events they would have a musical guest

at the end like john mayer or insert musical

guest name here whatever john mayer is just the

one i remember from the old days when steve jobs

used to do the events when steve was still alive

but like i don't want celebrity i don't this

goes back to last week when we're talking about

we don't really want to we don't generally don't

care about celebrity opinions. I don't want celebrities

giving me their opinion of tech. I want the people

at Google who made the mother product to tell

me about the mother product. No, I get it. Like,

which is why again, at least for this specific

event i'm like okay i wasted all that time i

should have just waited for the tech reviewers

and the tech community to come out with their

opinions and their their breakdowns of what it

actually is because every single tech reviewer

that i've watched so far has done a better job

of actually telling me what is in these new phones

from then the actual like oh google phones have

this or oh oh the color like oh my god they flipped

over the over the lemongrass or over this or

over that and i was like why so yeah google folks

if if you really need a recap of the I suggest

watching any tech reviewer you trust. Like I

said before, I generally watch Mr. Who's the

Boss, MKBHD, Mr. Mobile, Michael Fisher. Those

are the main three that I watch. I watch a couple

others. I watch The Unlocker, a bunch of others.

But watch the CNET video because six minutes

is better than an hour and 16 minutes. And originally

the CNET video, I didn't realize it was them

just cutting up and just having a cut up version

of the event. I thought it was the CNET people

commenting on the event. I rewatched that video.

I was like, wait, you just cut it up and did

a super cut of it. That's all you did. Oh, my

God. That's weird. Any thoughts? I I'm not a

fan of like any of these type things, but if

I was going to watch one, it would have to be

from like. The olden days with like Steve Jobs

and stuff, I don't. Yeah, generally, I don't

I don't generally care what celebrities have

to think, and that kind of plays a thing of when

we were talking to her talking about, you know,

last week with Seth MacFarlane, where he's like.

Yeah. And I mean, even in some instances, it

kind of plays into the thing that Ricky Gervais

said at the Oscars a number of years ago. Yeah.

Thank your family. Thank you. You know, and shut

up. Get off the stage. Yeah. And and the thing

of it is, is Google's events to this point have

not been this. They have not. This is the first

time they've done this. Every other time I've

watched a Google event, it's been their team

coming up and saying, oh, hey, I'm this from

this department, and we like this about this

phone, or we're going to highlight this from

this. It's the people that actually worked on

the product. That's the, you know, so this is

just something really weird. And I don't know

how much money they lost on that event because,

I mean, Jimmy Fallon probably cost a lot. And

then all these other, like, there's a couple

of sports people, there's a couple of this people,

a couple of that people. That must have cost

Google a lot. Yeah, I mean, don't get me wrong.

I like Jimmy Fallon. Yeah. I don't think that

we need, like, a Tonight Show. No. this no not

at all i'm just saying just yeah yeah no not

at all and then folks there was the cracker that

broke the barrel i think i've just gotten to

the point that and i've been seeing more and

more of this where people are just like oh the

uh corporate america is just getting boring and

you know we've we've hit you know when we were

kids everything was fun and it was flashy and

everything else and nowadays it's like we're

sad and depressed like and so is the company

yeah well like i i wrote this in our script as

the laziness and design language of logo and

that's what it is like i don't know somebody

else posted the one i sent you but and somebody

else posted the actually both of them but the

one i sent you was the difference in mcdonald's

the difference in pizza hut the difference in

cracker barrel the difference in taco bell like

it's all like they want them to now be modern

office type looking places and like cracker barrel

for some odd reason i don't know why is my dad's

like every time my dad comes to see me my dad

lives two hours south of where i live every time

he comes up here it's like first place he wants

to go is cracker barrel he likes the atmosphere

he likes the food pretty much i mean and the

food at cracker barrel it's your standard country

fare it's meatloaf and gravy it's mashed taters

it's It's biscuits, it's gravy, it's whatever,

it's steak. What made Cracker Barrel cool was

the atmosphere, was the design of the place.

I remember, I think I have a photo of this on

my Facebook somewhere. We were there one time

last year, maybe a couple years ago, I forget.

I don't know. I've only been living here three

years, but we got set in like the main dining

room part. It was right around time. So probably

was last year. Most likely they had the fireplace

going. I'm pretty sure from the videos I've seen

in the new remodeled version. Of Cracker Barrel.

I'm pretty sure they ain't going to have a wood

burning fireplace anymore. Like, it's just like.

But the memes that are coming out of this. Oh,

my God. I've seen so many companies changing

their logo temporarily. Yeah. I don't think this

is a temporary change for them, though. It's

not. It's not. I think somebody somewhere thought

this was a great idea. Yeah. i think my favorite

meme that came out of this because everybody's

been mean like uh thunder cracker barrel get

off my a -frame somebody's been doing all kinds

but the best one was morpheus from the matrix

with uh red pill blue pill cracker barrel on

the left wicker nostalgia gift shop triangle

game on the right the new one you realize that

it has been a soulless corporation the whole

time oh god i just don't i i just why now well

i mean you look at any of the brands like their

buildings look bland they don't there's nothing

that makes them stand out anymore like they're

all they they all kind of blend into the background

yeah um you drive by mcdonald's they all look

the same drive by a taco bell they look the same

you drive like all the buildings look exactly

the same Just really different logos slapped

on it. And so to me, that just kind of speaks

to the fact that. I don't like I'm just not going

to pay attention like it becomes just. It's harder

to recognize it. And so. Like if you're looking

for McDonald's, you normally would look for that

old. Style building that no longer exists. Their

interiors look bland as heck to like any of those.

I don't love going to any of the fast foods like

honestly anymore with fast food. I honestly prefer

to just go eat at Applebee's or Red Robin. Yeah,

I get more food. It's cheaper. The experience

is better. It doesn't look bland on the inside.

They still have like a flavor. Yep. And I just

don't. i speak with my wallet it has nothing

to do with like i know some people make it into

a political thing i i don't care like it's just

the fact it's boring yeah there's just nothing

there's nothing to draw my my eye to the place

yeah and so i feel like that is the key issue

yeah absolutely But I've seen some of the videos

of people showing the inside, and I'm just like,

oh, my God, what did they do? They basically

neutered the place. We don't like getting political.

We don't want being what I'm about to be, but

a woman's in charge of it, so, you know. A woman's

in charge of it, and they removed a man from

the logo. Damn, folks. Damn. It's like, eh, go

for it. Look, I'm not normally that sexist, folks,

but I mean, damn. Oh, God. But yeah, no. And

at the end of the day, it's a logo. It's a whatever.

I don't care. Maybe dad and I'll go and see,

and maybe we'll whatever, but like, I don't know.

It just doesn't seem like. And then there's,

what was it? The news week video, whatever. Channel

or whatever news talk show. Oh, customers love

it. Customers, this customer is that. our patronage

is up 53 or whatever are you lost like your stock

plummeted i i've seen so many scrolling videos

on instagram about how the cracker barrel stock

has plummeted to the point of oh my god it's

not even worth buying at this point nope Now,

if it rebounded, that would be good to buy low.

But yeah. And then, you know, we had Andre Smith

on Facebook. Yes. His was the best. Yes. Yeah.

He was like, you know, just basically summarizing

it. You know, his core argument there was, you

know, he believes the issue with the Cracker

Barrel isn't about political or regional divides,

but about a loss of uniqueness. Yes. And he stated

that it was about, you know, changing something

that worked well and was good. Yeah. And, you

know, he described the new logo as like sterile

and saying it looks it looks no different now

than its competitors. I hop in Denny's. He called

the design rush saying, you know, take one big,

deep yellow block and add the words Cracker Barrel

to it. How creative. Yeah. it there's no charm

there's no rustic old southern general store

aesthetic there's no collection of oddities no

cramped small space feeling you know that added

to it they essentially neutered what made it

special and uh i mean it's i feel like that's

the big draw to stuff now like that's why i like

apple bees and i like red robin they didn't abandon

what made them them they're just Keep it on,

keep it on. Yeah, exactly. Don't change something

that works. Exactly. If it ain't broke, don't

fix it. And so, I mean, Andre's, you know, the

whole thing, the modernization dilemma, he acknowledges

that, you know, things can be modernized, but

insists that, you know, the changes should be

small, familiar, still resemble and maintain

the same look and feel of what it is. But, you

know, don't. erase the brand's core identity

don't neuter it in other words yes and then he's

like well i guess there's always waffle house

exactly uh this article that i have just pulled

up here coming from cbs news this is from the

other day cracker barrel loses almost 100 million

in value at stock plunges after a new logo uh

100 million in market value Thursday after, this

is last week, after following the logo, shares

of Cracker Barrel fell $22 or 7 .2 % to $54 .80

on Thursday trading, shedding 94 million in market

value. Yikes! And again, like... You're taking

something that it's not just that it's again.

What was wrong with the old logo? Like we said,

the main issue here is a lot of these brands

have lost their uniqueness, their charm, their,

you know, central brand appeal. And the fact

that, you know, even. even in like his post,

he was showing McDonald's and buildings that

kind of visually reinforce his whole argument

about the fact that old versions of every one

of these places are unique, detailed and full

of character. While the new stuff is very minimalistic,

generic and interchangeable with other modern

chains. So like, it's basically the blanding

of America where, you know, it's a it's a broader

trend where many brands are just kind of going

for that minimalistic clean gray aesthetic which

you know customers on on a whole see as kind

of a loss of identity and blending of the consumer

landscape like it's very boring and there's there's

no joy in it yeah no look folks we got enough

joyless things in this world We don't need joyless

things in design of anything, not just logos,

but anything. You ain't going to find anything

bland here at the Geekast Radio Network, I can

tell you that. We may like our repaints, but

we ain't just a bunch of repaints around here.

What? I had to bring it out somehow. Oh, God.

Like, look, and I am all for sleek, modern design.

I actually like modern design kind of stuff,

but there's a difference in being a sleek, sexy

import and being a toneless, deafless, blind,

whatever. Yeah, it's crazy. Crazy, crazy. Yep.

So I think that about rounds this episode up.

We've had, you know, a full gamut of discussion

on different things from movies to Marvel to

TV to video games to podcasting to conventions

and restaurants. So let us know what you guys

think on the episode post geekcastradio .com

and find this episode of Altered Geek, which

should be in the slider this week. If not, depending

on how this sets, it's either episode 449 or

450. There was a little bit of a mistake on the

episode count last week, but I think somewhere

some of the episode numbers got jumbled up, but

I don't know how, but I don't know. Yeah, regardless.

That does it for us here this week. And let us

know if there's anything you guys want us to

cover next time on Altered Geek. So until next

time, get altered, get geeky with the Altered

Geeks. Discussion, let's dive into lore. From

Star Trek to Transformers, we're ready to soar.

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