2016 Geek Gift Guide

Hi, this is Kevin Conroy, and you're listening

to the Geekcast Radio Network. You are now on

the inside of what I like to call the circle

of trust. We are all connected in a great circle

of life. You know something, Bert? I think you

and I are going in circles. It feels like we're

going in circles. The Circle is now complete.

When I left you, I was but the third. Now I am

the last. Because it's a circle. Yeah, we heard

about the circle. Yeah, that's what the million

would change. Hi, this is Chuck. This is Greg.

And this is Dan. We are Talking in a Circle,

brought to you by the Giftcast Radio Network,

a podcast that is here for the ultimate geek

gift guide. The Christmas holiday very close

by we thought we would spend some time today

to discuss some of the best geek gifts out there

that are available for you to purchase for yourself

or probably yourself because that's how things

go nowadays. Yeah we're back after a few weeks

off with Thanksgiving and everything and we'll

actually be taking a break after this as well

as we you know spend some time with our family

and take that Very long December break and we'll

be back though shortly after that But before

we get to all that stuff how things been going

with you guys kind of boring not much been going

on I've been hunting for a couple weeks as it

is the peak of White -tailed deer season in Pennsylvania,

and I have not had much luck at all. No I've

pretty much just been sitting In the woods staring

at trees. Do you guys usually stay in the same

spot? Are you moving around at all? I pretty

much try to stay in the same spot, but if nothing's

moving, I try to walk around and stuff. Maybe

what I need to do is drive my car to where you're

at, because that seems to be a great target for

deer. Let them jump in front of it. Maybe that's

what I need to do. But that sucks Greg how things

going with you? All right boring. I've really

just been like hibernating up in my bedroom For

the most part sleeping way early last night catching

up on some reading. That's it. Yeah. Yeah, so

we My My place of living, recently in our apartment

complex, they put in a lot of new plumbing, like

pipes and everything. They had to do a lot of

digging up and whatnot. There's actually some

unexpected consequences to that and apparently

they dug up like a lot of the area where a bunch

of mice have been staying So the mice fled that

area and have found their way into apartments

Including mine. We actually got a got a letter

from our Apartment complex regarding it's we're

having a guy come in soon to to help fumigate

But we do have a little friend in our in our

apartment Just put a little put little antlers

on it and then you could have Chuck wait in your

house There you go, yeah, I would not mind that

honestly I've been I'm like trying to see if

I can read out cats or something like that for

the night maybe Although be careful how you Google

search that Very true very true. We did put some

traps out like We got some of those sticky traps,

and we found out where it was coming, and it

actually fell on it and was on it, but got out

of it. It's like Houdini the mouse or something

like that. It was stuck on it, and it would maneuver

its way out of the thing. I'm not gonna lie,

there's a few times where I saw it and I jumped.

One time I was actually getting ready for bed.

I was actually in my bed on my computer. doing

some work and I saw it and I legitimately jumped

and the computer fell out of my bed onto the

ground and I woke Carol up my wife and that she's

like why are you screaming? I'm like it's just

saw a mouse and I don't know it just kind of

happened it was kind of just the reaction that

I that I had so deal with it yeah I'm gonna I

kind of creep around you know different areas

like whoop open doors just to you know from afar

and just in hoping that it won't won't won't

be there but uh but yes that's that's been we've

been having a mouse skate basically trying to

catch this thing so um yeah it's not it's not

fun and i was thinking too is it's like we have

squirrels that are outside that are one day i'm

like you know mice are just lazy squirrels they're

both rodents but squirrels don't go in people's

houses mice do it's like why can't you live outside

squirrels make their own way yeah squirrels are

good people yeah They got the cool looking tail

and mice were just you know being annoying and

Freakishly small and still quick so and then

I did the wrong thing and saw a video of a mouse

Not a mouse a rat jumping and that has me freaked

out because I didn't know that they could legitimately

jump that high I'm like that's insane, but they're

like cats. It's kind of crazy You should just

call the Punisher and have him stay with you

for a few nights. You can just like Just shoot

your place up. Yeah Yeah, yeah that wolf I call

them the Avengers. That's what I really need

right now But I didn't get some I've been uh,

there's some where I tend to have a lot of time

off and one thing I've been doing is I've been

reading a lot of comics and the other the other

day I put out a tweet asking, you know if they're

Any great comics that are kind of one of the

radar that people aren't talking about and I

didn't get a really good recommendation So I

didn't want to follow it up on the podcast and

the recommendation I was given was a dark horse

comic called lady killer and there's actually

Two well, there's one volume in the second edition

of it just recently started. Like I said, it's

from dark horse. It's from Joel Jones and the

is the artist and James S rich is the writer

and the premise of it basically is it takes place

in like the 1960s with this homewife who is on

the side a ruthless killer a serial killer and

kind of a kind of assassin basically uh but she

has like that really classic 60s demeanor to

her the way i kind of describe it is like has

the style of the mad of mad men and the viciousness

and violence of dexter uh she tends to it's it's

bloody in a lot of ways like i could uh the person

who recommended it to me said it was Like a waiting

to become an AMC TV show or some sort of TV show

and I could really see that happening It's very

great. Like it's you know, the premise of itself

isn't all that tremendous, but it's really executed

really well and a big part of it too is the art

it has that like classic art style the 1960s

very clean but when you add in the element of

like just the violence it somehow mixes well

together like very the colors for example very

brights and stylized but it it's a pretty amazing

and it's very quickly read to uh Jamie Jamie

rich the person who writes it very limited dialogue

i would say um very much more visually visually

visually told than Through words and I was just

impressed by a great like I went through the

first volume Very fast because I kind of just

loved it and I've read the first three issues

of the current volume. That's out right now It's

Ladykiller 1 and Ladykiller 2 and it's great.

Like I love it a lot. I would highly highly recommend

it It's from Dark Horse. The first volume came

out last year. The second one's currently going

it's on the third issue of the of the most recent

series so like I said if you if you enjoy like

you know any stories that kind of deal with assassins

i guess i don't know it's like a mr and mrs smith

in a way but if taking place in the 1960s and

a little bit more violent i don't know i don't

know greg if you read it but i think you would

i think you would really dig it uh no i have

not i have i've seen um Like advertisements for

it and stuff, but but that's kind of all I really

know about it Yeah, I think you really enjoy

the one issue where she starts she works undercover

at like the bunny playboy bunny restaurant So

that's uh, I think you enjoy that a great deal

if you know what I mean if it's perfect Yeah

But I know Greg you said you were reading a lot

and I was curious what you're reading the both

books i enjoyed i'll go uh with this first one

because it cuts in with your pest problem but

on a much grander scale i bought this book called

uh the lost city of z i thought it was like a

fiction adventure kind of thing along the lines

of like an indiana jones type of story which

which it is but it's actually uh factual information

uh about this one explorer who goes down in to

the Amazon and never comes back. And he's looking

for this lost city of Z. Well, he's the one that

names it Z and everything. And it's kind of like

that, like the city of El Dorado, the lost city

of El Dorado, and that it's filled with gold

and it's like this amazing place and everything.

But he was just looking at, is it more of a civilization

deep in the Amazon where people were saying that

there isn't civilization cannot be upkept. It's

like only small tribes and everything. So it

goes into detail about his story. And then it

also goes into the the story of the author as

well, doing the research for the book. His name

is David Grand, which it's, it's very enjoyable

the way he writes it because it's not just like

a biography kind of going on. He tells it like

it's an adventure and like you're there with

the Explorer, which I don't remember his name,

which I feel awful about. I don't remember the

Explorer's name, but there's all these neat.

little fun facts of like crap that goes on in

the amazon that you really uh wouldn't uh well

i didn't know about in the first place with how

crazy it is with insects and stuff like that

oh the explorer's name is percy faucet by the

way uh the very interesting man the thing that

surprised me were all the insects bugs and these

small creatures that really go after you as opposed

to like dangerous silverback gorillas, different

like lions and tigers and jaguars, that kind

of stuff. You think it's that kind of stuff for

poisonous steaks, which there are they do make

mention of poisonous snakes and everything, but

it's all these small creatures. And then just

getting like a cut, it can get so easily infected

in there. And there's telling of this one gentleman

that was on the adventure with them and he got

cut and then he got maggots in it. He tried to

pick the maggots out, but then it just kept growing

and getting worse. And then his body was like

super infected and like half his body was like

pus and everything. So it was all these like

really graphic gross details going on but it

Made for an amazing read a surprising read since

I thought it was just this fictional account,

but it was actual real -life Told in a fictional

style, so I highly recommend that one If you're

into Indiana Jones that kind of stuff and this

stuff actually happened and everything and it's

really cool And I think it's quite interesting

how he kind of wraps it up at the end as well

Do you want me to do the other book to Dan? I

do have another comic I read as well and I know

Chuck last time we talked about Thanos number

one We did enjoy that and another one of our

favorite characters is getting another getting

a series. Well, technically him in another version

of them but Nova number one came out this this

week as we're recording and it has Bo though

it's Nova but it stars two Novas because it has

Sam Alexander who has been the Nova for the last

few years like the Teenage Nova but it also includes

the return of Richard Ryder who is back from

the dead because that's what happens in comics

people return from the dead. This the first issue

I would say was okay it's very much just kind

of setting things into motion. for those that

maybe are coming into it who don't know who Sam

Alexander is as a character it seems to be more

directed towards them because he seems to get

the bulk of the book at least for this first

issue. Richard Ryder for the most part just kind

of meeting with his family talking to his mom.

We do get a nice little visit with Eagle the

Living Planet and I'm always a fan of that so

that was a fun interaction. Overall it has a

lot of humor to it which is maybe not Not like

the last Nova book with Richard Ryder which with

the Dan Amnett did I overall I did like it. I

Will say that the art style wasn't bad. It just

wasn't what I was expecting in a way Who was

the artist? It was that's a good question. Sorry

Roman Perez Raymond Perez I think I've seen this

stuff before at the it's not I'm not super familiar

with him. He's an all -new Hawkeye spider -man

uncanny x -force The most recent being the all

-new Hawkeye from 2015 I've seen his art before

too, but he but it's this almost seemed different

than that in a way, too there is just specific

scenes that I Don't I don't know how I would

describe it, but it's not it was different than

than his normal style in a way The first issue

I don't think really gives you a lot. The only

like, I would say the one downside I think of

it is that it does appear that it's going to

take place mostly on Earth. and uh which is kind

of okay like i'd rather my nova be in space i

want like i have to find him a better character

uh as a cosmic character than when he's kind

of earthbound same alexander was kind of like

a little bit of both he would be on earth and

in space typically like he would he would kind

of balance both of those out and um this one

i'm not sure like i do like the idea of that

i want their dynamic of what that could lead

to they don't really interact in this one it

could be kind of like a green lantern type of

situation but there it was a lot of a lot of

solid humor a really great bit where like you

were saying Alexander runs in the bunch of birds

when he's not paying attention and He forgets

his uniform and things like that and a lot of

him just dealing with people in high school so

I could see if someone's going into this kind

of wanting the Richard Ryder being a little disappointed

because It's still kind of like a teenage book,

but that may change as it goes on So I would

I would advise maybe giving a shot. I think Thanos

was a like much Stronger opening than this but

I'm sticking with it mostly because of my love

of the character and I'll see how it goes and

I think it has potential being something interesting

But yeah, it's number number one, which is currently

out now Do you think that the the two stories

will? Overlap at all like I think special Nova.

That's the way it's kind of the first one leaves

off in a way There's a kind of a distress call

and it appears like both are going towards it

and the way that the last Nova series ended Like

the the new Nova was kind of responsible for

bringing back Richard Ryder like he was kind

of stuck in world mind Yeah Kind of helped resurrect

him the guy who writes it who's Jeff Jeff Loveness?

Which is a real name? He's not done a lot of

this. He did he recently did the Groot Limited

series, which was okay. He you know, he could

break out with this but I don't have a long long

history with him and I know a lot of his work

all that much unlike like a Jeff Lemire who did

the Thanos it's Marvel's had worse first issues

with their new launches like the venom which

was awful, but it's I would recommend it Chuck

maybe I would think that's one you could probably

wait for like the first volume. Greg I know you

said you did a lot of reading including another

book so what else did you read? I read another

book that was actually by an author that I think

you and I are familiar with Dan and should be

a familiar name to at least lot of the nerds

out there. It was a book by Ernest Cline who

did Ready Player One, which was a really great

book. This is his, not a follow -up to that particular

story, but this is his next book out called Armada.

It was really good. I don't think it was as good

as Ready Player One. I think Ready Player One

had a little bit more... kind of going on to

make it a little bit more fun. But our motto

is interesting. It's about this young boy. Well,

he's teens. He's younger than us, the people

here, me, Chuck and Dan. But he's high school,

older high school age. And he lost his father

way back when in an accident at his work. And

so the kids kind of growing up by himself, but

he's kind of he knows his father through some

of the stuff that Got left behind in the meantime

and his father was a big video game nerd And

so the kids kind of following in the father's

footsteps becoming a video game. The father also

has this theory that video games are training

kids and other people how to fight wars and Aliens

and stuff like that. So he thinks it's a whole

big training thing and I I could tell you where

it goes, but I'd rather you read it for yourself

It's kind of obvious where it goes from that

point, but it was it was very good I Feel like

he kind of pigeonholed himself in with this one

with having it about just this game series Armada

quote -unquote And so it's not branching out

into other like video games like ready player

one did But it's still a lot of fun. It's it's

very good. There's still all the nerdy references

It's kind of how he was doing with the first

book is it where he would reference different

things There was that in there too, which made

it a lot of fun How was it with the references?

I don't like with the one thing with ready player

one was it was Like there was a lot like it was

it was pretty heavy like yeah I I think he he

kind of came back a little bit with it, but i'm

not quite too sure, because my video game knowledge

isn't that high, but it still had quite a bit.

I don't think it had as much as Ready Player

One, but it definitely gave you the feel of nerdiness

and stuff, so it kind of gave you that good feeling

like Stranger Things. It kind of gave you all

those kind of things going on with that, so this

kind of gave you that kind of same feeling as

well. More of a stylized homage than like the

overall just... blatant references yeah kind

of there there are some there's a lot of blatant

references too but it's i felt like it was a

nice kind of mix and everything and it had a

great emotion throughout it with with this kid

trying to deal with the fact that his father's

dead and he's kind of this nerd who doesn't really

have much going on but feels like he feels like

a lot of us nerds, dorky people that are kind

of like limited but we feel like we have something

greater to provide the world kind of situation.

Does it feel anything like Ender's Game? Because

I know that has a similar thing where they were

using games and stuff like that to fight aliens.

I've never seen or read I should say read or

seen since the books came out first, but I haven't

I haven't I was interested in them, but I haven't

gotten to it. So but from what you described,

it is kind of like that. Yes, it's kind of like

war games to slight very slightly with Matthew

Broderick kind of situation. And it's also kind

of like, what's that one? Oh, it's a young kid

that goes to try and save his father for over

in Afghanistan. His plane gets shot down and

the kid learns how to pilot a jet. Is that a

movie? Yeah, I don't know that one I'm gonna

have to look it up and I'll probably shout it

out later during the contents of this podcast

but uh Yeah, it was it was a good book not as

good as the the first one but but still above

average read that If you're into video games

and stuff, I'd recommend Nice nice very cool

Well, there was other thing that dropped it Well,

we're recording this I think the day before the

spiderman homecoming trailer drop So we'll probably

say and just give her thoughts on that saying

that we're gonna go see that movie But the one

trailer we did get the chance to see including

Greg was the guardians of the galaxy trailer

the actual trailer not the Guess it's I don't

know if you know what a teaser trailer is and

what's an actual trailer, but But I know Chuck

people start with you last time Way back when

when we talked about the first Guardian trailer

for the movie remember you you were a little

hesitant on it I was kind of curious what you

thought of this one. Yeah Well your overall thoughts

on Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 trailer.

Yes, I was hesitant on the first one because

of the that was kind of the teaser and they're

using the same song as the first movie. But I

think like we all kind of came to the conclusion

that that was just to sort of jog people's memory

and say like, oh, yeah, that's that movie with

that song and like, oh, they're making another

one. So I'm glad like when the full trailer kind

of got released here, they have a new song and

it's another one of those classic, you know,

80s songs, really catchy and everything. And

I think this looks really, really good. I'm excited

about the comedy because that was one of my favorite

things about the first one. The interaction between

Rocket and Groot looks amazing. Again, I think

Dave Bautista, even though he may not be the

most brilliant actor out there, it looks like

he's gotten some good scenes and some good lines

and stuff like that. It looks like that's going

to be pretty entertaining. They didn't give too

much away. They showed One new character, which

was Mantis, which was pretty awesome But other

than that, they really didn't really give a lot

away which I like and I hope they don't give

too much away with any subsequent trailers or

anything but Greg, what about you? By the way,

the movie was Iron Eagle thought it was really

good and just a feeling it is Not really anything

to back it up. Just a feeling it didn't feel

quite as good as I felt when I was experiencing

the first trailers for the original movie itself.

I don't know why. It was still really good. Loved

the music going on during it. Loved the interaction

between all the characters. It looks really funny.

Loved the look of baby Groot. I even showed my

mom the trailer and I think that was her favorite

part was... Baby group doing all the kind of

stuff going on They made a merchandise alone

just because that trailer probably can profit

from make enough just to make another guardians

movie Yeah to cover the the cost of the movie

But yeah, it looks like a lot of fun and I can't

wait to see it The only thing that I really had

a problem with was I thought Drax was a little

over the top at the end and it was a little bit

too much going on there with his laughing at

it, but It was still really good. I can't wait

for it. Yeah, I can kind of see that. I guess

that's what I kind of looked for. I don't know.

Just the fact that he went with it and then the

do -me -do -me was that. I'm like, all right.

That brought me back. That brought me back. And

it's interesting. They for mantis like in the

comic she's green but I guess They decided not

to make her green because there is concern that

he's too many green characters too many green

characters and people would think that like having

her like her and Gamora would be people would

think that they're related or something like

that or in the same race or something of that

nature So I think she looks pretty good this

the overall design. So I'm curious how that How

that's gonna play out. I'm glad they didn't show

ego the living planet because we do know he's

gonna be a character But I do really want to

see what he's gonna look like in this movie Like

I wonder like how they're gonna make that work

And I've heard like there have has been like

descriptions of footage that has been released

like in comic -con and things like that Regarding

you you go the living planet and I don't know

if that'll over make its way to the trailer James

Gunn has I guess made it very clear that when

it comes to the trailer She doesn't want them

to give away any stories at all Which I makes

make sense because when I think about the first

Guardians trailers It didn't really give you

the story like you didn't really have any idea

going in so Think that will continue here. But

yeah, I think it's just I don't know it feels

good like it's just like it's cool seeing that

world again I'm excited and I thought you know

the Baby grew going crazy was a pretty big highlight

too. So I mean, I think it'll be good That's

good that it's gonna be a pretty stacked year

I think for Marvel cuz I have that they have

spider -man and they have Thor so a Lot of things

to see next year Do you guys think they're gonna

they're gonna drop warlock in this one? I don't

know. I don't know I like make more of a mention

of him. I'm not sure if they're really gonna

Go too far with it Yeah, because I mean they're

already introducing mantis and ego So it's like

you're not sure how many new characters they're

gonna introduce, you know I could see like a

name drop or something like that like similar

to what they did in civil war or no winter soldier

with Stephen strange how like they just kind

of drop it off i could see something like them

talking about like oh they're reaching out to

the most powerful people like eternity adam warlock

and you know something like that i don't think

there would actually be a person though but you

know marvel does love to drop their easter egg

so who knows which could be literal literal in

the sense of adam warlock so right do we know

I don't know this myself, but do we know if The

collector is gonna appear in this one. I don't

I I do not honestly Maybe you probably check

IMDB in the cast list, but I've been trying to

stay away from that cuz I don't want anything

spoiled for me Right. I was just curious cuz

I don't know if he had like another part to play

cuz if he If he is in it, I would say there's

a good chance. They might go the warlock route

because you know since the whole thing circling

around him escaping you know from the collector's

collection and everything so i'd be great i mean

i love it too if cosmo showed back up or you

know uh yeah yeah i think they would go back

to nowhere i you know if they do he wasn't located

there so there's a possibility i think I can

I could maybe do without the Howard the Duck

appearance this time Yeah, I could live without

that we don't want to Howard the Duck movie we

don't have it yeah It wasn't so well the first

time why not do it again? I think they could

get away with like Howard the Duck like cartoon.

Yeah Speaking of cartoon like a web series. Did

you see the I mean, this is kind of I don't know

where but they release some footage for the new

Justice League cartoon coming out next year the

Justice League action or whatever Did I it's

it's interesting it's it's somebody you know

the people who did the last Justice League series

But I think it's geared toward a younger audience

like the episodes are only 15 minutes each But

looks like it could be good. There's some a lot

of things dropped. There was a scene with the

Joker on apocalypse So that could so that's a

lot of fun. So So it does seem like even though

it's I think technically geared towards a younger

audience. It's not like What's that T Titans

go or what have you? Yeah, I watched that sometimes.

I've never watched it. I just I I've heard it's

funny, but I've never watched it. I don't have

a whatever is a Cartoon Network. It's on I Think

so and also DuckTales is coming back next year,

too. So I saw like a screenshot and the the style

of the artwork looks like way more cartoony it

kind of looks speaking of Teen Titans go it kind

of Familiar to that kind of a little bit more

animating cutesy kind of look. Yeah Well, they

had a thing released where it's like a teaser

trailer and then I watched it and it was just

a logo and kind of the theme song I'm like, that's

not a trailer. That's just a logo. That's not

Guys, by the way, I do trailers now You do trailers.

Yeah, cuz it's apparently just a logo. I do trailers.

Yeah Might as well. You gotta put music to it

on it. Damn, I'm screwed. You have to like hum

something while you're doing it. Or just a little

bit of animation and that's all you need. I'll

whistle the Andy Gerseth theme. That's one I

can do pretty well. Perfect. Alright, well what

we're going to do is take a quick break and when

we come back we're going to talk about, you know,

you might want to get your lists ready because

we'll be talking about some great geek gifs that

are out there. We'll see you in a bit right after

these messages. We'll be right back. Hey guys,

this is JD from the in session film podcast every

week on our show You can join my co -host Brendan

and I as we review the latest films that's out

in theaters It also inspires us to discuss a

top three list of some sort and we have a lot

of other fun movie discussions as well It's always

a blast and we also have a show on Fridays called

our extra film podcast This is a show that gives

us the space to talk about the latest Indies

and art films and other classics that we normally

just don't get to talk about on our main show.

You can find our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher

Radio, SoundCloud, TuneIn Radio, Player FM, and

more. In fact, you can just see everything about

us, including our social medias at InSessionFilm

.com. So join us every week. We'd absolutely

love to have you. All right, and welcome back

yesterday we have scoured the world of the internet

and all that great stuff to look at Some great

gifts that are out there that we would maybe

like for ourselves I don't know or or just you

think you know if you're wondering What to get

someone because I think that's that's as you

get older It's harder to find things to get people

because it's like here's a gift card because

what you can't go wrong with that I guess but

Anyway, so we'll talk about some of that stuff

and should be fun. I guess Chuck, maybe we'll

start with you. Looking at your list, what are

some of the great gifts out there that you think

people should be having their eye on? One thing

I found was really cool. It's a interlocking

LED Tetris lamp. Nice, nice. Yes, it's got LED

bulbs. It comes with seven different pieces from

the Tetris game, and you can stack or arrange

the pieces in any order you want, and they'll

still light up. That is amazing. That sounds

like a lot of fun. It's actually really cool.

They have a picture of it. I found it on thinkgeek

.com. They had a lot of cool stuff there. Yeah,

it's about $40. But if you're a fan of like,

you know Tetris or old games or anything like

that I'm guessing uh, it would look pretty cool

on your desk and everything So I just thought

it was really interesting that you could it was

almost like a little puzzle You could stack it,

you know, any way you want the way like the plugs

are on every side and every piece It'll still

function will still light up. So I thought that

was neat Cool. Yeah, I mean I think my son would

love that because he loves Legos He loves things

that light up. So that's like I would you know,

that's hours of entertainment right there One

thing that I found, so we're talking about trailers.

I don't know about you, but I actually watched

the Guardians of the Galaxy trailer on my phone

when it first came out because I was at work

and I wanted to see it during lunch. You know,

smart screens are smartphones. The screens are

getting bigger and bigger nowadays. But there

are actually some really great smartphone magnifiers.

And this one from UncommonGoods .com. And what

I'll do, too, is I'll put all this in the show

take the links and actually find. But it's called

a smartphone magnifier. And it's actually in

the shape of a classic old tube TV. And what

you do is put your phone in this. Compartment

and it basically magnifies the screen and looking

at it. It's pretty pretty great picture I would

say probably doubles it in size, which is you

know people like that It's only $30 too. So I

don't know anything how it affects the sound

at all because looking at the way the image works

you kind of You slide your phone in and then

the screen magnifies So I guess if you have Bluetooth

headset or something like that, it shouldn't

matter But it looks pretty cool and a little

bit of old school there, too Which is you know,

that's always a cool thing to do remember when

I worked at Macy's and they would have like rec

cd players that look like record players and

now they have mp3 players that look like cd players

because that's that's the word we live in but

uh yeah you can find it at uncommon goods .com

30 bucks which may be a little expensive but

you know it's something unique and something

kind of cool uh greg what about you what do you

what do you think anything out there you think

people should have their eye on uh yeah uh mine's

kind of a little bit more uh specific kind of

thing, because I actually wanted to get this,

but then I found out the price and I was like,

damn. Is it the Batmobile? No, it's the DC icon's

Batgirl of Burnside action figure. And they call

it a playset on here on Amazon where I found

it. But it's very cool. It's a Batgirl of Burnside

action figure with actually you could. interchangeable

head, some interchangeable hands, interchangeable

cape as well. And it comes with her motorcycle

with a little piece of ground with it splashing

up puddles and everything. But it's like 80 bucks

here on Amazon, but still very cool. It's five

and three quarters inch tall. Looks very well

sculpted and everything, but the price is just

whoo. But it's kind of like a small statue, almost.

So it's pretty cool, but I'm not sure if the

price is that great for it. It seems kind of

expensive. What's it made out of? Is it plastic?

Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, so and I guess that's

what's Christmas is for one of the things Christmas

is good for asking for gifts for is The expensive

stuff that you don't want to spend that much

for but have somebody else There's other ones

on here. It has a see one here for 50 bucks 57

so Check around for prices. You may find cheaper

somewhere else, but I think it's a really cool

action figure With all the interchangeable parts

and the sculpt looks really damn good So it's

kind of neat Awesome. Awesome. Yeah, I I feel

like a lot of those statues you can get a little

bit cheaper now and but Some of the I feel like

the the statues price have gone down for some

but then the the price of some of the Figures

have it's gone up. But then there's got up to

you. So actually for DC that they do a really

cool Black and white set with Batman at this

point. It's just been mostly Batman I think there's

been like a Superman one out there, but they

have it in different styles of like the different

artists like I have a Dave Johnson Batman and

I also have a back girl of Burnside statue They're

in black and white and everything and they're

a bit smaller than a normal statue, but they're

also a lot cheaper I think I got them for like

75 bucks something like that. So They're not

much more than that action figure I was talking

about, but they're really cool and nicely sculpted

and everything. Cool. Chuck, do you have anything

more on your list that people should... I do

have a pretty cool thing also found on thinkgeek

.com. This is sort of a movie novelty thing,

but it's a back -to -the -future flux capacitor

USB wall charger. Nice. Does it work? Yes, it

can take you back in time to before there were

cell phones and then it's useless It's basically

it plugs into your outlet it lights up and it's

kind of like that blinky like thing just like

the flux capacitor in the movie it looks just

like it only on a smaller scale and There's two

USB ports on it so you can charge two devices

at one time It's pretty awesome just from the

looks of the picture and like they have a little

like Like a video of it like lighting up and

everything. It looks pretty awesome. It's regularly

25 bucks on sale for 15 right now, so Pretty

good deal Go check it out on thinkgeek .com if

you're interested in that. I thought it looked

really cool. It'd be a really neat little charger

thing to have. Yeah, that's cool. If you just

get plutonium, then you're good. Right. You can

toss egg shells and coffee grounds in there,

whatever. That's awesome. A can of Coke. I wonder

if the thing is, it takes your phone back in

time to where it had a full battery. Right. I

always love some little novelty things, that's

awesome. So mine's I guess kind of geek related,

kind of not exactly. This is probably something

really anyone would like, but you know, when

you get older or really, you know, sometimes

you wake up in the night and you kind of, you

got to go or maybe get a drink, go to the bathroom,

what have you. And sometimes it's dark out and

you can't see anything and then kind of get kind

of annoying or you have to turn the light on,

but you don't want to interrupt anyone, but.

There's a solution to that problem of having

to get up and not being able to see anything.

They have actually developed what's called the

My Light Bedroom Motion Activated Light. So what

this does is... that if you get out of bed at

nighttime, it will sense your movement and actually

light up underneath your bed. So you'll be able

to see and walk and be fine, but it won't disturb

or overly bright the room or make it too bright

to go back to sleep. And then when you're back,

it'll turn off for itself. So it is a little

expensive. It is currently Available on Amazon

for $60. It is prime available so you can get

free shipping if you have prime So I guess you

do save in that end, but uh, you know does require

some assembly of course, but it's a to LED basically

strips that that are used so it should it should

last pretty For a decent amount of time and looking

at the photo the the person walking seems to

be able to walk perfectly great while the person

in the bed is sleeping like Like an angel with

in a position and no one ever sleeps in like

no one ever sleeps in like everyone when they're

when they're sleeping is always like a Distance

toward you know all over the place, but you know

and ads they look they look you know nice and

well put together, but But that sounds pretty

cool like that concept like the lights coming

from underneath the bed So it's not really even

reaching the person's eyes. That's lying down

so Yeah, and then tell your kids that it's a

monster under there and then you could stash

your porn there without it getting attacked by

your kids Underneath the bed and sometimes underneath

the bed is this pretty gross spotless place It's

it's good that you know, you can Do that without

disturbing your wife assuming assuming you're

one of the geeks lucky enough to be married There's

very few of them out there I could just yeah,

I don't know there's a joke there, but I'm gonna

stay away from it. So And doesn't want to get

beat up by his wife ladies and gentlemen true

true you listen close you get here Which I make

jokes just to get Dan smacked That sounds wrong

in different ways Speaking of Yannick's Mac,

Greg, any other things people should be looking

out for? Yeah, I was thinking about artwork.

I collect a lot of comic artwork, but then I'm

like, well, that'd be expensive maybe for some

people to get their loved ones some comic artwork.

But then as I was thinking about it, they could

also... help out that person, help them display

their artwork by getting them frames or I have

a nice little book that I had for art school

with these nice clear pages and you could stuff

your artwork into these little pages. It's kind

of like a giant version of like the baseball

kind of card holder type of thing that you store

your baseball cards in. So you could do something

like that. It's pretty inexpensive. I've been

buying a lot of frames at AC Moore and they've

been having a lot of buy one get one half off

kind of deal or 50 % off is what I've been usually

getting anymore is a 50 % off each frame and

I've been getting matless frames so there you

don't have to put in the matte inside, which

kind of helps your eye focus into the picture.

This one is just two pieces of glass that your

artwork is pretty much sandwiched in between

to keep it in place. And then there's just the

rest of the frame, which kind of gives it this

more modern look to it. So I think that'd be

something really good, especially if your significant

other friend or whatever, you can help them out,

display their artwork and it'd be pretty cheap.

I've been getting, I think it's about an eight

by 12 frame for like 15 bucks, I believe. And

then even just a little bit bigger here at...

Think it's a 16 by 20 size and you put in a smaller

piece of our work those were about 30 bucks and

so they've been getting knocked down to about

$15 for me for with the 50 % off at a seymour

They've been having good sales. Awesome. Yeah,

I mean, I know you have a lot of great artwork

and that's always The other part of that is finding

a way to display it. So that's that's cool. That's

a good way to get around that nice Anything else

you got? So my next thing, I found this on a

website called thisiswhyimbroke .com. Also have

a lot of cool stuff there. I call that amazon

.com. Right. Yeah. Amazon, eBay, all of them

have the same name for me. But this is actually

a pretty cool idea. It's a remote controlled

flying shark. yes you heard that right it's it's

actually this huge like blimp looking thing it's

actually filled with helium so it's kind of actually

really is like a blimp or a zeppelin type of

thing and on the back there's like the tail fin

it's almost like a little rudder thing and it

goes back and forth and everything and kind of

propels it but This thing is fully remote controlled,

kind of flies through the air. I'm guessing not

very quickly, but still a pretty cool idea. It's

only about 30 bucks. So kind of a, I guess, I

don't know. Might be a little bit of a lame thing,

but it's kind of a cool novelty thing. If, if

you're into, um, you know, sharknado or like

something weird like that, or if you just want

to freak people out with a flying shark, you

know, what's more terrifying than a flying shark.

So kids around, have some fun. That will haunt

my dreams, you know? Yeah. I don't think the

mouth like opens or closes or anything. I think

it's just kind of like painted on this, uh, Thing

but the like the tail moves and everything like

that. So I don't know how well it steers but

I'd fly it around wagging. It's a little tail.

So it looked like a little puppy I Would like

fly it inside my office and like chase people

around You know the jaw thing jaws theme on your

phone and I would probably like chase people

into the bathroom with it and stuff like up over

top of the stalls and like come down on them.

I was going to say something like that, but I

was going to have a camera on it or something.

Go ultra pervy with it. You know how I go or

just have it like hanging out behind them as

they're at the urinal, just just waiting. It's

just like, yeah, like a speaking area, man. Can't

stop moving or die because that's how sharks

work. So So the next thing I have on my list

was actually probably the favorite my favorite

thing that I was able to find and something I

Like you know what? I I want this I would never

use it probably but it looks freaking awesome

and it's also from thinking that site Chuck you're

talking about so I don't know if you saw this

as well, but it's Captain America shield backpack

So the way it basically makes it look like It

makes it look like you're actually like holding

Captain America shield on your back like you

like they do in the movies So if someone saw

you from behind it would see this gigantic shield,

but it's really a book bag and it looks great

like the you know, it has Kind of the coloring

from the movie and has the kind of worn feel

to it. It looks it looks freaking awesome It

is $65. I don't know if I could legitimize And

I don't you know, I don't I couldn't see myself

taking that to work as much as I would love to

It would probably be awesome to take to like

a comic -con or something like that though But

I don't know if it is I check Amazon it might

actually be cheaper. Yeah true true. It looks

great though. It's You know the straps and everything

kind of have they kind of went all out with it

so Don't know how well functioned as a book bag

because of you know being round in that shape

Maybe it may not be the most practical thing,

but it does look badass and that's you know,

that's all you need You have to buy all around

books You need to get that and then like the

you know, like the jackets they have that have

like that It looks like basically the Captain

America from first of it from Winter Soldier

Jacket, I think yeah, so I have I have a stormtrooper

hoodie that I could zip up the hood completely

and it looks like I'm Stormtrooper almost yeah,

I think they have that one for Captain America,

too So they have it for Captain America. They

have it for quite a few. There's a Deadpool ones

that are really cool There's a magneto one. That's

pretty neat. So yeah, there's there's a lot of

them out there and those are usually pretty cool

Alright Greg do you have anything else on your

list you want to talk about? Here's a quick easy

one that of course. I'm gonna be pushing because

I'm an addict And I think you guys know what

I'm gonna say here Funko pops I have a ton of

them. They're all over the place the common ones

are about ten bucks I believe The entertainment

earth has them for buy four, get the fifth free

or something like that. And then if you spend

about over $50, there's free shipping and everything.

And I'm sure you could go out there and there's

usually different deals out there at this time

of year for a whole bunch of different Funko

Pops. Is it bad if I say I don't own one Funko

Pop? Yes, it's terrible Dan, that's terrible.

No, it's it's fine. I think it's uh, it's one

of my own personal kind of addictions and I've

seen a lot of people out there and I've been

on different forums and stuff where there's a

lot of different people with a Funko pop addiction

kind of going on It's kind of why I don't want

to get one because I feel like it's one of those

things that you can never just get one Because

when you get one, it's gonna be like lonely So

I'll need to get another one and then you know,

it'll just it'll just snowball Yeah, once you

pop you can't stop Yeah, I feel like they should

have went with that as a slogan. I guess. Yeah,

I was taken by wavy laser ridges or whatever

potato chip Pringles. Yeah, maybe it's Pringles.

I don't remember. Cool. Chuck, anything else

from you? I have a couple more things, but one

I'll say this is probably for the younger crowd,

but I remember. When we were kids, at least me

anyway, I used to be really into nerf stuff and

nerf guns. Oh, nerf was awesome. Yeah, I used

to love having like nerf wars and stuff with

people and everything. That was like a great

time. Some of my best memories, but I think I'm

not sure how new this is. Some people may have

heard of it already, but they have this thing

out called a nerf nuke. And it's basically right.

It's only a matter of time, right? It's basically

this huge like ball and it looks like a bomb.

It's like this huge ball with these little tail

fins on the back and it shoots out of this huge

tube freaking thing. I mean, this thing I'm talking

is pretty big, like the size of a basketball

pretty much. And it like slides over this tube

thing and basically all around this sphere. are

little holes and there's darts in these holes

all around the sphere so it looks like a big

spiked ball thing with like dozens of little

darts in it and so there's like a couple of uh

like release buttons or something on it so like

when you launch this thing through the air and

it hits like a wall or the ground or a person

or anything. It releases all the darts and it

shoots in every direction outward from the sphere.

So it's basically like you can hit every target

if you like shoot this thing. And I just thought

that was really freaking awesome. And I would

love to have that. Back when I used to do Nerf

wars as a kid. So freaking cool. Man, they've

really set up a game, man. It's insane. They

have, yeah. They showed this little video and

stuff of people playing with it and it just looks

like there's, if anyone is in the vicinity of

this thing, they're going to get hit with several

darts. It's just like, it's incredible. It's

like a hundred bucks, but I don't know. I guess

if your kid is like really into Nerf or something,

you know, it might be cool thing for them. You

get some, uh, get some brownie points as a cool

parent for getting that. If that's the kid where

they are with nerve technology, I want to know

where they are with super soaker technology.

Yeah, that was another fun thing. See, we had

good toys back then. I know. It's crazy. It's

kind of getting away from that nowadays. They

still have some stuff here, obviously, but it's

like, I don't know. Those are the good old days

they have the most weird toys like I was at Target

and they have like These gigantic like, you know,

it kind of be like three or four feet tall Teenage

Mutant Ninja Turtles and stormtroopers and like

that they look cool. But what are you gonna do

with that? Like it's Right. They just kind of

stand there in the corner. Yeah I feel like even

the kids toys are more geared toward towards

adults now I have two things I'll talk about

real quick the one one it's not much to talk

about but I know most people that are in the

movies may I won't be be aware of it but some

people name may not be and have you guys ever

heard of movie movie pass So do no, okay, so

what movie passes it's kind of like imagine it's

kind of a subscription service but instead of

saying getting something in the mail, it's a

service you sign up for and you go see the actual,

go to the actual theater. So basically you pay

so much a month and I think it's an app or a

card that you get to use and it kind of works

as like a debit card. So instead of paying $8

for a movie, you would pay for whatever you do

for a month and you go to the movies and you

use that as your card to get in. to the theater.

So you kind of, if you go to the movies a lot,

you end up actually probably saving a good amount

of money because of how expensive movies can

be. So, may not work at every theater from my

understanding, but I do know a lot of people

who do rely on it, who do go to the theaters

a lot. Personally, I don't go to movies that

much anymore, so it's not something that I would

really use, but it is out there. For those that

do want it. And the other thing I was gonna bring

up is Sometimes you you know you just need a

catapult and There's this awesome like little

wooden catapult. It's only 15 bucks, but it's

working and functional it's about it looks like

12 inches tall you put it together and You get

you have yourself a desk catapult, and you know

sometimes people have annoying Office mates and

sometimes you just need to use a catapult. I

do I do so this will be perfect for you You know

if like she's being too annoying you can take

your down and separate you with this amazing

catapult So it's only 15 bucks, so it's not too

bad That would be awesome Greg you have anything

else Yeah, I think another great one that works

for kids and adults cuz I do this as well and

I Nobody tell my brother he doesn't listen to

this podcast anyway, so I think I could get it

away with saying what one things I got a forum

was Legos I got him some Star Wars Legos a TST

and a Tie fighter I found some good deals on

those those key get rather expensive So you may

want to look around for the best price, but they

also have like architecture ones. I got My favorite

architect is Frank Lloyd Wright, and so I have

Falling Waters, which I've been to. I've got

Guggenheim, but they have other stuff. White

house, I believe and they have other Famous structures

as well to build so I always think Legos are

a cool way to go because they could go for kids

They could go for adults It could be a cool thing

where you buy it for your kid and then you both

build it together kind of thing and and I know

my boss's one friend buys Legos and him and his

son build them together. I think they put together

this huge Millennium Falcon Together and it was

kind of like their little project together. So

that's kind of a neat little thing. I think you

could do Actually last Christmas was the first

time we got my son Legos like the and he finally

just started playing with them and he's a big

fan so and the bigger kind obviously because

But even it is fun. Just playing with them like

I don't know there's there's something addicting

about playing with Legos, but yes, and You know,

we have Lego Batman coming out soon. So there's

that too. Yeah, that looks I saw the trailer

for that and that looks kind of fun, but yet

Dorky. Yeah So the way it should be, the way

it should be. Chuck, you mentioned you had some

more. Uh, yeah, I've, uh, probably one more good

one here. This one is probably the best for last.

I think this is like a really cool idea, even

though it's like the dumbest thing ever and you

really don't need it. But, uh, sometimes those

are the best kind of gifts, but this is actually

a fully functional pancake printer. So basically

what you do is it plugs into your computer, comes

with a software package and you upload it onto

your computer and basically allows you to trace

any image that you've find, whether it be one

that you've taken or one that you found on the

internet. You trace this image, send it to the

printer, which it's basically, it kind of looks

like a 3D printer. If you've ever seen one, it

kind of has that overhead bar that slides back

and forth, both directions. And what it's actually

printing on is like a hot plate. So it's actually,

it has this little batter dispenser. just like

a 3D printer would and it's drawing the image

that you trace with pancake batter and then you

turn on the hot plate and it so basically like

in the picture they have a like an Eiffel Tower

and it's like extremely detailed and everything

and there's a couple of other pictures and stuff

like that like you can make some really detailed

images for pancakes for no apparent reason other

than just for you know the heck of it but thought

it was a pretty crazy device pretty crazy idea

but it's kind of cool yeah that's that's neat

i i think i've seen like people like freehand

that kind of stuff where they they're making

pancakes and they put down like this quick first

layer and that's going to get the darkest and

then they put on the next layer and that's going

to be a little bit lighter because it's going

to spend less time than that first layer. And

so they kind of build it up like that with drawing

different layers. And I always thought that looked

kind of neat. So I'm assuming that's kind of

what you're talking about, except the machine

kind of does it for you. Yeah, it's it's pretty

cool. Actually, let me send you a. guys, the

link to a real quick escape here, but the one

drawback is that it's like pretty expensive.

So by that, I mean, it's over two hundred dollars.

Yeah, even the 3D printers are expensive on this

particular site. It's saying about two hundred

and ninety dollars on Amazon. It's less. It's

like two hundred and ten or something like that.

But I'm guessing you have to be really into pancakes

in order to do this. We're just really into art

and like drawing things in different mediums

and stuff like that. But it's called Pancake

Bot. Pretty impressive. There's a little YouTube

video and stuff on there and everything. But

yeah, extremely cool idea. Yeah, I saw that too.

And there was like, I guess not nearly as advanced,

but it was like a waffle maker that would make

waffles in the shape of BB8 from Star Wars. Oh,

I saw that one too. Yeah, that was cool. Not

nearly as advanced, but I have one more too.

And it's kind of just a generalization. And I

know people all like know about Loot Crate and

all that other stuff. But there were tons of

difference. subscription boxes out there There's

also one called comic block, which you know if

you're a fan of comics It's kind of a good one

to get because it sends out like monthly comics

and t -shirts and things like that There's a

for those that are huge Nick Nicktoons fans.

There's an actual Nick box and Geek fuel which

I feel like is a cheaper version of Loot Crate,

but it has some good stuff as well And actually

there's a great site that just basically combines

and gets together all the different subscription

boxes that are available Which I feel like are

the one thing keeping the US mail system alive

right now and I think they're a great thing to

get someone for a period of time because you

know you get you get like a it's basically a

gift that keeps on giving so That's my last one

Greg you anymore before we end this in this episode

You could you know you give the greatest gift

of all which would be subscription to this podcast

and it won't cost you anything You get of us

a great gift by going to iTunes and giving us

a review Because a lot of the order old reviews

that we have When he switched over servers for

geek ass radio or feeds kind of lost them all

for the most part So I think we have a couple

more but uh if that'd be great because those

are way to people to find the podcast but But

yeah, but I think that'll kind of bring it us

to a close and what I'll do like I said is go

to geekcastreader .com We'll have links available

for all this stuff. You want to check it out

for yourself and give the gift of You know give

some people some it's a cool stuff this Christmas

but But if you want to get in contact with us

you can do so by going to geekcastreader .com

Like I mentioned commenting on the episode post

let us know there's other geek ideas out there

that we didn't mention that are that are available

that people should have their eyes out on for.

You can contact us on Facebook or Twitter. We're

at TalkingInCirclesGCRN. You guys are also on

Twitter. What are your Twitter names? I am at

HurlicageChuck. And I am at TheCreateForge. And

I am at LubaRevolt. But that'll be it for this

week. We'll be back next month. Same time, same

channel, same podcast feed. But for now. This

has been Chuck. This has been Greg, or a Waffle

BB8. And this has been Dan, and we've been talking

about Gifts in Circles. We'll see you next month.

Next year, maybe. By the time we talk to people

again, it'll be a post -Rogue Warden year, where

our time period was moved to April. I don't think

I'm gonna make it. I appreciate this. I need

all the help I can get.