The $50 Movie Ticket & The Great Media Merger Mania

Hi, this is Tom Bergeron. You are listening to

Altered Geek. You didn't think I knew that. Welcome

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

Phillips. And in this episode, I am joined by

TFG1 Mike. I swear, folks, there are no bones

inside cookies. There just aren't. Mike's referencing

a social media post about boneless chocolate

chip cookies, which is essentially chocolate

chip cookies with no chocolate chips. It's so

stupid. Yeah, just say cookies. Just leave it

at that. i got into a war on instagram about

this and it's not about the person who posted

the video i love love the person that posted

the video i've been watching his content for

almost six years seven years now it's about the

terminology and how terminology in 2026 sucks

because people don't know how to use the english

slang english i can't even speak english yeah

yeah yeah the english language turkeys have bones

humans have bones chickens have bones dogs have

bones cookies do not have bones i can go in my

freezer right now pull out a bunch of toll house

cookie dough and i can guarantee you i won't

find a bone in it no bones about it so with that

we have a plethora of different uh topics between

gamestop and ebay i heart radio stuff pertaining

to new captcha verification some tv stuff and

some movie stuff so first off the bat we have

gamestop uh which uh at the beginning of the

month they were preparing to offer for ebay which

i thought was ridiculous yeah i did too i was

like wait a minute didn't gamestop almost go

bankrupt and close like two years ago three years

ago like i swear gamestop was going out of business

like x number of years ago well they've been

going out of business for years they've been

dealing with heavy debt uh and they i mean they

got an influx of new cash when that whole stock

market thing happened a few years ago where people

were predicting stuff and then the stock went

up to like stupid high amount of money from like

two to three dollars a share to like 150 or 180

dollars a share so it was just it was overinflated

and nuts so for this to even happen it's quite

interesting now that being said as of today or

yesterday this is recorded May 13th so May 12th

ebay rejected gamestop's offer calling it neither

credible nor attractive uh because it was unsolicited

for one like i feel like these companies now

are like doing the paramount method well if i

throw a big enough high dollar around maybe they'll

uh they'll merge with us um so gamestop is dying

a slow death anyway and so they're trying to

stay credible by turning into the next amazon

by trying to purchase ebay so they sent an unsolicited

$56 billion takeover bid. Uh, and eBay was like

pound sand more or less. Yep. Pretty much. Uh,

yeah, they offered GameStop offered $125 a share

to purchase eBay, uh, despite having the market

value less than a quarter of eBay. 11 billion

compared to 45 so the bid consisting of you know

half cash and half GameStop stock was not even

entertained no I don't I don't love this era

that we're in of these mega conglomerate businesses

because all it's doing is creating these giants

that are going to squish us later yep it's creating

basically monopoly in business of the companies

that we all know used to know and love as well

nobody really knew and love x whatever but like

i look at all of this as these are the former

movie studios and i am planning a geek cast radio

episode of all the old movie studios kind of

thing maybe it should be a studio 2009 episode

but whatever the point is like I remember TriStar

Pictures. I remember MGM. Yeah, all of these

old ones. All of the original movie studios before

it all got squished and bought into Warner Brothers,

Disney, blah, blah. New Line Cinema. Yeah, New

Line Cinema. Oh, my God. New Line Cinema was

great. Talk about 90s throwback. I had the greatest

films as a kid. Absolutely. I swear they had

the most awesome stuff. yeah yeah and the same

thing with companies now it's either walmart

owns things or amazon owns things or disney well

yeah but i was but i'm just saying like all of

these big conglomerates are just buying up other

ones exactly so and my thinking here is wait

a minute why isn't ebay offering a counter bid

to buy gamestop and just fold gamestop into ebay

Because that was my thought when I saw this story.

I'm like, wait a minute. Why is it this reversed?

Because I thought, like I already said, I thought

GameStop was in trouble. Like, I thought GameStop's

biggest pivot, even though I think they've slowed

down on it now, their biggest pivot to save themselves

was Funko. Well, their big pivot right now is

classic gaming. Well, yeah. Which, I mean, to

be fair, it makes sense. they they went from

because they they tried to do like the meme coin

stuff and the nfts and they pivoted recently

to retro gaming covering like classic systems

basically like the old funko land you know or

uh forget what the other store was like eb games

or funko land or well eb games was gamestop as

well yeah but i mean like they had kind of a

different vibe for a while and then they all

became yeah they used to yeah but i think eb

games kind of bought up what was funko or not

funko uh yeah funko land um so yeah i don't know

i'm it'll be interesting to see how this all

develops and kind of goes it'd be funny if ebay

is like fine we'll buy gamestop but we want all

of their stock and then we'll sell it all of

their merchandise to sell on eBay. But it doesn't

look like eBay is even remotely interested in

merging with anyone else, so I'm fine with it

staying as is. They're doing it fine on their

own. Then we go into iHeartMedia, which is doing

their own more or less trying to merge with Sirius

XM. Yeah, so iHeartMedia and Sirius XM are in

early talks to join forces with veteran music

industry mogul Irving Azov and Apollo Global

Management offering to assist with and advise

on any such deal, sources tell Variety. News

of the potential merger was first reported by

Bloomberg. However, the source stated that any

reports of financial problems at iHeart are untrue.

So when Karen was alive and when we were driving

around the Pacific Northwest and everything else,

we always liked SiriusXM. I've never cared for

iHeartMedia. I listened to several, well, I listened

to one of their podcasts, and when that one podcast

finishes its review run of the show that it's

reviewing, I don't know what that podcast is

going to do unless it reviews its sequel series

or not, but I'm probably going to stop, and every

other podcast I listen to has nothing to do with

iHeartMedia, so... But Sirius XM, when I was

a subscriber to it, I absolutely loved Sirius

XM. It was so cool at the time when I had it

years and years ago. And that's the form of radio

I was listening to at the time. I've been listening,

and I know this is long -winded, but I've been

listening to radio since I was a kid. But over

time, I just kind of stopped. because it just

wasn't... Every city I would move to, I would

find radio stations I loved because this is what

we always used to do. And when iTunes came along,

I was like, oh, I can have the music without

the ads. It wasn't about not hearing the DJs.

It was about without the ads. I can buy this

for $1 .29 download. I'm sure it's a little more

than that now, but at the time it was, oh, $0

.99 plus tax or whatever it is. And then I found

Spotify and, oh, it's like, oh, pay this for

this or whatever. And I'm like, okay, fine. And

I just use Spotify for music and podcasts now.

That's where I listen to all my stuff. And I

don't have to worry about ads or whatever else,

but no, serious. Hey, if they merge, they merge.

We'll see what happens. I'm kind of of the same.

same boat like i don't i don't necessarily care

kind of either way i was never a subscriber of

serious xm uh it was kind of a big thing pushed

at the car dealerships uh but i i've never been

a big fan of theirs anyway i found them honestly

quite annoying just because they they don't leave

people alone when they tell them no So that that's

part of it. The other part is I'm. I don't know,

I'm kind of. I don't really subscribe or like

pay attention to radio anymore, like. Yeah, so

I mean, I'm not really like the target audience

here. But at the same time, I don't. I don't

necessarily hate the idea of it. I think the

cool thing with Sirius XM is that, and again,

I don't know what it's like now because I haven't

subscribed in years, but at the time it was like,

and I do remember certain channels like Octane

and Hard Drive Radio and things like that. I

remember certain channels that they had, but

they would have specific channels for specific

styles. So you could listen to this, you could

listen to that. If you wanted all 80s hits or

all 90s hits, or if you wanted this or you wanted

that. you could go to that specific channel and

listen to that specific style of music. And that

was that and whatever else kind of thing. So,

you know, that is what was cool to me about it.

The other thing about this merger, it would unite

the largest terrestrial radio network in the

U .S. iHeart, which claims to reach 250 million

monthly listeners via its 150 plus stations,

and the largest satellite radio network, SiriusXM,

with 33 million subscribers as of last year,

creating an audio powerhouse. The sources said

that the objective of combining the companies

would be to provide the greatest scale and partner

with artists to create platforms. However, it's

clear that with both terrestrial and satellite

radio losing listeners and influence as streaming

and multiple other options become increasingly

available to listeners, the companies would be

stronger together than apart. So they're trying

to save themselves by combining. Consolidation.

Yeah, consolidation. Hey, you know what? Look,

as long as... So, you know how you would have...

I'm trying to think, how do we figure this out?

You know how you used to have a certain... Okay,

this never happened, I know. But let's say you

take Netflix and Hulu. Let's say you have a certain

feature on Hulu that you like, whatever that

feature might be. But Netflix and Hulu are both

going bankrupt and you want and they have to

merge, which obviously this has never happened.

This is a pretend pretend scenario here. And

they have to merge to save each other. As long

as your favorite feature from Hulu continues

to go on. OK, sure. Go ahead. You know, and then,

you know. subscribe to whatever their new combined

thing is same thing here with uh iheart and and

serious xm and that's the thing with me with

serious xm if if this is a new combined thing

and i decide at some point that i want to check

out serious xm again as long as like for me specifically

if they have The classic Casey Kasem countdowns,

because I know currently they do still have those

on Sirius. As long as they still have that channel,

as long as I can hear the top 40 from February

9th, 1986, and hear Casey's voice in my brain,

I'm good. So, you know. But I think this is a

good thing. I don't think this is a bad thing

because again, you're talking about something

that it's terrestrial radio that we don't really

have anymore. Like, I don't remember, like, unless

you're going to work or unless you're going on

a long car ride, I like every, like I watch MKBHD's

autofocus. He has a car channel. And every time

he does a car review of whatever car it is, they

barely, I mean, they, he talks about the, the,

they call it the infotainment system. That's

in these high end, you know, EVs and stuff. And

it's these screens and stuff and cars. And I'm

like, yeah, but what about. They talk about how

you can add Android AutoPlayer, add Apple CarPlayer

stuff, but they don't really talk about actually

listening to the radio because you have things

like Apple Music or Spotify or whatever. So the

fact that literally iHeart and Sirius are the

last two giants of terrestrial radio and they

have to combine to save themselves, good on them.

So with that said. Sorry. No, no worries. Yeah,

I mean, I don't I don't have an opinion either

way. I know it's a lifeline that these companies

are all trying to save themselves. I just I don't

like out of all the media companies, I do like

I heart overall as far as like some of the people

that work there. I don't necessarily agree with

some of the. Practices or. or higher ups like

they have a lot of webinars for podcasting and

stuff but then they have all these people that

have nothing to do with podcasting and it drives

me nuts and i'm like okay so all of your webinars

are pointless for me to go to great got it and

your ceo is totally clueless uh but yet the the

people at the local level i i like a lot so um

yeah so that that being said uh to our coded

fountain drinks folks it's the new hotness you

had that one that's what prompted my memory of

the the other qr code issue yeah yeah we'll talk

about the other one in a second but so i i mentioned

this a lot in podcasts that i do lately because

it's just a thing of my life i am on both apps

but more so on instagram than anything else on

both instagram and facebook i get to doom scrolling

on reels a lot and i see some stuff on there

and i'm just like oh this would be a cool little

thing to bring up and this was a cool little

thing to bring up i saw this and i'm like huh

There was a restaurant, I forget which, now I

actually have to click on it because I forget

which one it was, but there was a restaurant

where they are now introducing a QR -coded fountain

drink where you scan it and yeah. I don't know

hey Red's Diner new new QR code yeah it'll it'll

go elsewhere too I think yeah um speaking of

QR codes like it yeah see I don't I don't necessarily

trust having to scan all of these plus in the

surveillance state that we're in of every time

between cameras between traffic cams between

Now they're giving police like these smart glasses.

They're literally like, I feel like we're doing

minority report. Like, I literally feel like

we're at that point. Like, they're literally

scanning everything. Google, they're saying Google,

you know, this was a day ago they posted, Google

may soon replace traditional CAPTCHA with QR

code verification systems. Well, I saw my first

one yesterday. Oh, did you? oh no which it was

an instant um well the thing was it's like prove

you're you're human and you know you go through

the little picture thing and it's like okay well

it kept failing and i'm like okay so i i cleared

the cache and it went through and then there

was a different site that i went to can't remember

what it was it was some geeky news site or something

and it came up with the new captcha and it was

a qr code and it was like in order to gain access

to this website you need to scan it with your

phone and it's because you know um they want

to replace the traditional captcha because obviously

you know bots have gotten pretty decent at getting

around it and they want to make sure that it's

a human physically scanning the qr code yeah

and you don't even get it if you're on a like

an apple or a google device because it uses the

app store to verify that you are a real person

because you have a credit card on file oh wow

and so um they're trying to cut down on bots

which i get it but it it essentially once it's

scanned the smartphone would reportedly connect

with Google Play services on Android devices

and verify that it's a real person accessing

it. And then it's expected to happen instantaneous,

removing the need for users to repeatedly click

images or solve stupid puzzles. So faster verification.

However, you know, I mean, it's also a symptom

of a worse issue, too, because, I mean, we've

been training these bots for 20 years with the

Captcha anyway. Yeah. Because we've been doing

the images, we've been doing the challenges,

the little recognition, the text, the accessibility.

And all of these things have continuously failed.

Like I'm colorblind to certain colors when they're

close together, so I can't see the text. So it

creates that problem for me. And so while it

could make it, you know, security better, security

analysts are also suggesting that it may reduce

bot attacks. more effectively than older captcha

because again smartphones are linked to a verified

device ecosystem and it becomes more difficult

for them to automate bots to bypass it especially

at scale because a lot of these bot farms they

basically strip the the phones down to a uh the

circuit board plug it into a setup and then they

automate the actions on everything for you know

thousands of phones um and it may help you know

prevent fake accounts and spam attacks and automated

login attempts and you know website abuse however

there's also the privacy side of things you know

how is our data being used the device information

you know and especially with ai stuff like it's

like okay we don't have like we're still in the

wild west of it yeah it's it's like the early

days of the internet but all over again with

ai and stuff i mean we're we're old enough we

remember both before and after whereas younger

generations don't realize the implications and

the older generations are so clueless that if

if they don't understand it they should stop

making policies around it the the thing i have

an issue with is again it's a privacy issue yes

i i agree security has gotten pretty stupidly

bad over the last 20 years especially the last

10 we're also losing more and more of our privacy

at the same time our people you know dirtbags

online yes that's unavoidable and I think they're

also trying to weed out those bad actors as well

and you know also kind of put the kibosh in the

bad behavior but I feel like social media is

part of the problem. And then our news is part

of the problem for that, you know, for the bad

behavior online, because it just kind of fuels

it. As far as the website stuff, like I would

prefer more offline stuff. Like there's even

stuff going over in Europe right now where they're

trying to fight tech companies, specifically

the ones that embed batteries and phones. So

you can't change them. You can't repair your

item. And then they're also fighting these games

that are online only that you've spent all of

this money to play. Yeah. And it needs to check

in constantly to play it. And it's like, can

we go back 25 years to where you could just play

the stupid game? You know, Blizzard was an early

adopter of, you know, online authentication of

it. Because Diablo 2 and World of Warcraft. And

then everybody else kind of followed suit. And

I'm I'm a big proponent of like I do like some

of the games that are online. I don't necessarily

need to play them online. Like I never play with

other people unless it's like Battlefield. Like

there are certain games that I will play with

other people. There are other games that I'm

like, I just want to be left alone and just play

the story mode. Yeah, exactly. So it's like,

just, you know, let me play my offline game and

be happy with it. Speaking of privacy and data

and cookies and accepting and rejecting and everything

else, something I forgot to put in the script.

Funko sued over allegedly tracking and selling

customer data without permission. I guess they're

getting popped, aren't they? Yeah. Waiting on

that one, weren't you? Lawsuit claims Funko sold

user data to third parties regardless of cookie

preferences. The lawsuit was filed Friday in

the U .S. District Court for the Western District

of Washington, claiming that the company data

tracking violated the Federal Wiretap Act and

the Group of California Consumer Protection and

Privacy Laws. Dirksen claimed the company used

third -party tracking software to receive, record,

and transmit his data, despite clicking reject

all cookies. When a company affirmatively represents

that users may control whether their data is

sold, shared, or tracked, but then secretly sells,

shares, and tracks that data anyway, the misconduct

is especially egregious, Dirksen's attorneys

wrote in the complaint obtained by the Seattle

Times. So yeah, that's going on. What is this

world coming to, dude? Craziness. Uh -huh. It's

just crazy. Just crazy. So getting into some...

Kinda good but yet bad news for both of us. The

ABC fall schedule includes Dancing with the Stars,

Scrubs, RJ Decker, High Potential, and Rookie

Spinoff among seven shows on hold for mid -season.

This is coming from TV Line. I love TV Line.

TV Line is my current favorite television news

website. It has been for a long time, ever since

I interviewed Michael Asiello at the time when

running the site. So my biggest issue is that

the shows that are held for mid -season, that

are not premiering in the fall, held until 2027.

Folks, I have a big time displacement issue.

Time sometimes runs at a snail's pace for me.

So waiting for my, the only television show I

actively show up for that I don't have to wait

for to podcast about, even though I'm not actively

podcasting about the show at this current time

is I now have to wait a year for. Give me a break

over here. High potential. Will not be aired

until the mid -season in 2027. Also held for

mid -season is the next season of Shifting Gears.

So, yeah. But yeah, so the new schedule for ABC.

Sunday we have America's Funniest Home Videos.

I can't believe that. I can and cannot believe

that show's still on the air. The Wonderful World

at Disney. That's Sunday. Monday is Monday Night

Football. Tuesdays, we have Dancing with the

Stars and R .J. Decker. I need to try to get

into R .J. Decker. I need to watch that. Wednesday,

we have Scrubs, Abbott Elementary, Celebrity

Jeopardy. I almost said Celebrity Deathmatch.

Wow, that would be a crazy thing for ABC to air.

I mean, it would be something new and fun. And

then Shark Tank is also the Wednesday night closer.

Thursday, it is 9 -1 -1, 9 -1 -1 Nashville and

Grey's Anatomy. And then Friday, we have Celebrity

Wheel of Fortune 2020. And then Saturday is college

football. How are we now in a world where we

have a regular airing of Celebrity Jeopardy and

Celebrity Wheel of Fortune? i am just like again

going back to my doom scrolling i saw like four

different clips of celebrity jeopardy and i'm

like where the hell did this show come from why

isn't ken jen what what the hell is this i watched

like four or five different clips of celebrity

jeopardy i'm like oh my god jeopardy really has

gone down the hill they really changed Because

it's I don't think it's I'm not saying it is

a negative. I'm saying it is an interesting,

strange thing more than anything else, because

it's all pop culture kind of question type things

like, oh, OK, well, this is this is the new Jeopardy.

But yeah, high potential. They left it on a really

big cliffhanger. And now I have to wait until

next year to see. Oh, boy. Start going into convulsions

over here, folks. And then. Why do movies look

so bad? Flocking. Notice I put an L in there.

Flocking Netflix. That's why. It is because of

Netflix, to be honest. Well, yeah. I mean. They

are bland and overlaid, uninspired, non -creative,

like. Yes, some of them have gotten more high

tech or gotten more. Interesting, but I think

it's taken away that whole like movie dynamic.

It's so like, yeah, it's so crisp and clean.

And it's like this is this almost like takes

me out of it and makes me think it's not real.

Yeah, there's and I know I'm going to be contradictory

when I say this, but there are only specifically

two Netflix movies. That I can watch over and

over and over again, and I think they look great.

But that's because they're Netflix movies, which

is Six Underground and The Atom Project. As far

as other movies that I've watched over and over

again that are newer. I don't rewatch movies

anymore. I will watch them maybe once. If I'm

doing it for the podcast, if I'm doing it for

Studio 2009, I will watch it at least twice.

But if I'm watching a movie just to watch a movie,

I will only watch it once. And that's that. Pretty

much. I was going through Netflix the other day

looking for something. Oh, I was looking for

the, I would just watch this recently. It was

last night, actually. I was looking for the,

we are the world documentary that's on Netflix.

The thing that does the behind the scenes for

the 1985 song where all the artists came together

for USA for Africa. And as I looked it up right

before I finished typing in the search, the one

thing that just stuck out, beverly hills cop

axel f and i'm like i've seen it like a million

times i'm not watching it again right now i'll

watch it later i don't know is is it is it the

look is it how they're doing it is it the fact

that they're getting lazy in the movie industry

is it that they don't i don't know i i don't

know how it is anymore Well, like I, I even find

the CG pretty bland, like the CG is bland. The,

the CD or the, uh, the 3d imaging of this. I

mean, the CGI is terrible compared to what it

was. I mean, look at 20 years ago, pirates of

the Caribbean stuff, like look great. The original

transformers kind of looked good. Iron man looked

good. All the new stuff. It's so like quick.

And so have you seen, uh, the rock? jumanji movies

okay enjoyed them okay no it's fine i'm not asking

your opinion either way i want to talk about

the special effects the cgi in those okay i have

not seen those uh but chaos and i just recorded

the it was supposed to be the 30th anniversary

for last year but again i've been injured the

last almost a year oh god this is may august

oh boy anyway we just recorded our 31st anniversary

we're not going to market it this way but the

31st anniversary commentary for the robin williams

jumanji from 95 and she we were trying to figure

out is this cgi isn't this cgi because we're

talking about the lion in that movie we were

literally arguing over the lion whether it was

cgi or not and i'm literally looking it up as

we go and i'm like yep Cause it was 95 early,

early 95, mid 95 was the birth of CGI effects.

And she's like, Oh yeah, really? I'm like, yep.

You look at the, the, the lion and the animals

in the, in the 95 Jumanji and compare those to

the ones that are. And again, you, that's why

I'm asking you. Cause I know you've seen the

Robin Williams one, right? A hundred percent.

I've seen. Okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Tell

me that the night is the 95 one, the CGI and

95 better than the new ones. Or is it, is, is

the new films better on the CGI? I think they're

on par. Okay. Cause I feel like there's, I feel

like there's segments of it that are better in

both, but I, yeah, I. I definitely feel that,

though. I just want movies and TV shows to look,

sound, feel, and be good. I just want a good

experience. I can't hype it up enough. High potential.

I haven't hyped up a TV show this much since...

I don't know. The OC from 2003. I don't know.

I can't think of another TV show I've hyped up

this much. And all his high potential is is sort

of a police procedural with a slight twist, sort

of, kind of. But it's just so damn good. I don't

know. But yeah, movies, man. They gotta... They

got to do better. There's a, like, we already

went through all the ABC schedule. There's a,

we didn't go through the CBS or the Fox, any

of the other schedules and stuff, but we did

finally see that the other, I don't know how

many other Big Bang Theory stars or characters

they're going to make TV series for. We have

the Big Bang Theory, which is the main show.

We then have young Sheldon. So Sheldon Cooper

got a spinoff to go back to his past. We now

have Georgie and Mandy's first marriage, which

I absolutely love that show. I love that one.

Young Sheldon was, it was good. It was okay.

I liked it. It was, you know, it had its moments

or whatever, but Georgie and Mandy's first marriage.

Absolutely love that. And now on July 23rd, we

are getting Stuart fails to save the universe.

I don't know about this because it reminds me

of idiocracy. Doesn't remind me of idiocracy.

And I'll tell you why. It reminds me of Legends

of Tomorrow. Really? Yeah. When it got to be

later seasons. Okay. Because the early stuff

was pretty. Yeah. Once it got past like season

three, I kind of lost interest because it just

kind of went all over the place. And I feel like

that's what this is. I love Legends of Tomorrow.

I miss that show. I know it ended, but I miss

that show. Huh, okay. I'll go with that. It'll

be interesting anyway. Let's say that. I don't

know if it's going to be any good, but yeah,

we'll see. You couldn't get me to pay more than...

More than $10. There's no way. No way. Are we

talking about the movie theater tickets now?

There's not a movie in hell that I... I don't

care if McDonald's shows up and gives me the

entire menu. there's no way in hell yes the $50

movie ticket what what hell no so as I mentioned

we went and saw a movie earlier this year uh

-huh and the The theater had upgraded seats like

it was like going to like a five star theater.

Like they took out a lot of the rows and a lot

of the extra seats gave you more room and gave

you better seats. You know, there were climbing.

They had, you know, their leather. They were

I mean, they were nice, but you paid for it.

So, yeah. OK, good. Well, I was going to say,

like. Some of them, they'll even bring food to

your seat with a call button. And I'm like, I

don't care about all that. Like, I just want

to go see a movie. And then they charge you like

four bucks more a ticket per person for it. Now,

granted, we saw, you know, a movie and it cost

us like 45 bucks for four of us, which I thought

was a little bit excessive. I mean, that was

without even purchasing food. We did buy a popcorn

in the which was like 10 bucks for a large, which

I still think is a little bit excessive because,

you know, I don't. it doesn't cost much for that

popcorn. And I know this because they get bags

and bags of it and prep it and it costs them

nothing. And so then they give you one free refill.

And whereas like back in the day, like you just,

you could go up like four or five times. It didn't

matter. Most people would go up like once or

twice and you know, they were, they were done.

Like that was legitimately it. So like I'm, i'm

not one that's gonna pay this like because they

said you know the the 50 ticket has arrived and

it's like well you know remember when going to

the movies was cheap night out like tuesdays

you could go for like 50 yeah yeah or you know

five dollars when it went up to like nine uh

you know the takeaway is like Theaters are charging

more because fewer people are showing up and

premium formats are becoming the only part of

the business that's growing. You know, they're

starting it with like Dune for their IMAX tickets,

which sold out and they had $50 tickets at Regal

Cinemas. And, you know, the premium formats are

making up 17 % of ticket sales, averaging between

18 and 30. And standard tickets are around like

$12 .75, which is legit. amc is one of the ones

expanding premium screens and adding surcharges

and you know concessions are going up and you

know the audience is smaller studios are releasing

fewer films and so yeah they're it's it's splitting

movie going into the enthusiast paying premium

and casual viewers who've moved to netflix youtube

and tiktok which i'm yeah apparently you can

watch some on there What the hell? I don't know.

That was just something I read on the article.

Unless they're misinformed. I don't know. Yeah,

they're saying that one third fewer ticket sales

and 25 % fewer releases are why they're doing

this. And yeah. Yeah, the TikTok thing was from

MSN. MSN? They're still around? Yeah, they still

do news. uh it came from the wall street journal

uh originally but i i'm thinking they're a little

misinformed unless that actually is a thing but

yeah i don't i don't know man okay like okay

remember i am not one that's going to i mean

i've stopped going to the theater because of

lack of convenience i have you know family and

i don't have time to go and see every movie i

want to see and then uh and then they do hit

streaming much faster than they used to and i

don't have the inclination to go buy them for

the most part because most of the movies that

are coming out i just don't care and then on

top of it uh it's going to hit streaming anyway

so like now i am eyeballing tv shows that i enjoyed

because i'm like which ones do i want to pick

up and what am i willing to pay and that's kind

of where I'm at. Cause I'm eyeballing some like

Batman animated stuff and star Trek and various

other shows. And I'm like, which one am I going

to actually watch as opposed to just buying it

because it's available. So remember when we were

talking about, I think, I think it was a trailer

talk or something. We talked about several movies.

I remember one of them being crime one -on -one.

I know you're probably not going to remember

that. You might remember the name. You're probably

not going to remember the movie. But anyway,

Prime 101, at least according to my Amazon stuff,

will be delivered to me via Amazon December 9th

on 4K UHD or whatever 4K is. I would rather wait

for that and spend the $42 .82 on that disc,

on that set, on that film, to have it here at

home than to go. That $50 ticket, that premium

ticket, let's say after tax it's $57 whatever,

that better include the luxury seat, a drink

that is unlimited refills. Even though I'm probably

not going to get so not going to get refills

all throughout the whole thing. A popcorn bucket,

the size of my head. And I have like, I don't

know, an eight inch dynamic diameter. You've

seen me. I got a big head. You know, like it

better include a lot. I'm not asking for fancy

food. I'm not asking for a burger and fries or

anything, but the standard, you know. movie theater

fare if you're gonna charge me that much it better

be a package deal it better not just be oh you're

you're paying fifty dollars for a reclining chair

i got a reclining chair at home i'd rather pay

the fifty dollars for the disc to have it in

my own media player here at the apartment than

have to go for me specifically go out, find the

bus route to get to the movie theater, get to

the movie. Like, no, hell no. This is stupid.

Hell no. I miss the old days. I miss the old

days. I miss the dollar theaters. what's next

I think that's it I literally was trying to like

not do a bunch of stuff although well it was

more so like needed to do an update at some point

and then to like I was trying to figure out you

know I got my studio going which is nice I'm

looking at getting a light kit it's kind of a

dual purpose because my wife started a home business

awesome home personal training business and while

we were putting in the flooring uh i cut the

top of my finger with a box cutter that's not

good yeah which i showed you guys but you know

haven't shared publicly no don't do that um yeah

i mean i'm not going to take a picture of it

it's disgusting well you did but don't don't

don't i mean like yeah yeah um yeah you took

a picture of it you showed it to us and i said

oh i'm glad it was only about i'm glad you're

okay number one but number two i'm glad it was

only a box cutter and not some sort of electrical

saw because my uncle patrick back in the 80s

actually completely sliced off his left thumb

he does not have a left thumb it was crazy i

don't know what he was doing yeah i i was yeah

the box cutter completely jumped the uh the guide

that i had going and i was cutting uh rubber

flooring like the carpet wasn't a big deal i

just you know granted i could have done the same

thing but the rubber it got caught jumped and

then jumped over the uh yardstick i was using

as my guide and caught my thumb and i was like

yeah yeah i had to run and grab paper towel and

prevent it from bleeding all over and It's rather

disgusting when I take off the wrapping, like

how bad it is. I probably should have got it

stitched or cleaned up. Yeah. Well, but it's

all dead, all the stuff on top of it. So it's

like at this point, at this point, I'm just waiting

for it to heal enough underneath that I can slowly

like chop it. Yeah. Well, here's. hoping everything

goes well with it because yikes yikes yikes yikes

so there's that and then of course getting the

room done and um waiting on stuff there and then

editing the top 100 and that top 100 man i'm

telling you folks it's a slobber knocker yeah

he keeps saying that but It is. It's so different

from the from the first one. Yes. Yes, it it

really is. It's surprising, especially when I've

been telling some people how much stuff has changed.

Like a lot of stuff is flip flopped in weird

directions. I don't even know what to expect

for the top 25. Oh, no, we we we have no idea.

I suspect I know what's going to be in the top

five. I don't know the order. possibly not yeah

possibly you never know um i'm a little worried

with some where stuff landed because it's like

some of these shows may not even show up on my

list i'm a little worried about these tours to

be honest yeah i there has only been what one

transformers cartoon that showed up so transformers

prime in the 80s uh 89 and then uh beast machines

at 69 69 yeah yeah so i'm hoping at 19 is beast

wars i'm just hoping it shows up in the next

you know in the top 25 i don't care where i just

hope it shows up yeah um me personally it's my

number two yep as far as number one batman the

animated series ah yes that's right okay there's

just no beating it like all across that's why

like when we were having that invincible like

discussion people are like batman the animated

series walked so the others could run like yeah

oh absolutely it literally is the epitome of

the best like superhero animated series ever

absolutely so honestly like if that one made

number one again i would be extremely happy not

just from my own perspective because like in

in all honesty they're both tied for me oh yeah

for beast wars and beast machines and beast or

not beast machines uh batman the animated series

but beast wars it has just as good a writing

characters and dialogue and uh you can say what

you will about the animation i think it was fine

it's amazing The animation is still better than

what we got in War for Cybertron. I have yet

to see a Transformers series that I like the

aesthetics more. I need to re -watch the War.

We've already talked about on All Things Transformers,

we've talked about the problems with the War

for Cybertron series is that that should have

been all one show. what I mean, all the episodes

should have been all together. Like it, whatever.

Anyway, it is what it is, but the shows that

I have, I think are going to show up. Honestly,

you're still in my top 25. There you go. I still

think Batman's going to show up. Beast Wars.

I think Dragon Ball Z. I think Looney Tunes,

Simpsons. the original Ninja Turtles, the original

X -Men, Inky and the Brain, Gargoyles. Hey, I'm

glad my number one at least made it to the top

30. I'm thinking that some of these are going

to make it. Now, again, it's going to be a surprise

wherever we go from here. Oh, yeah, absolutely.

And then there's Flintstones and, you know. I

have them all sprinkled throughout my top 100

list, my personal list. So like I do have a vibe

of where we're going. I just don't know where

they're going to land. Although, like I said,

when G .I. Joe and. A Batman Beyond. Like dropped.

I was like, oh. We may be screwed after all.

Some of them deserve to fall, like Ren and Stimpy

deserve to fall. Phineas and Ferb moving up deserve

to go up. Superman deserved to go up. Phineas

and Ferb wasn't even on the first list. Was it?

Yeah, it was number 61. I've been keeping track.

Oh, I forgot. So when we've been going through

the list, I have the original list results from

our podcast episode. I don't have Kevin's crazy

breakdown. I just have the rest of it. I just

have 100 through 1. So I know exactly what shows

are where. It's just a matter of are they going

to land where they did the first time? I don't

know. yeah exactly so yeah so i'm i'm hoping

that we end up in a similar boat for some of

them but honestly at this point if they just

land on this next top 25 i'm gonna be happy but

if something stupid gets number one or number

two or number three i'm gonna i'm gonna punch

somebody It's all your fault, Optimus Solo. It's

all your fault. You and your meth. Meth. You're

going to kill me. That's a Phineas and Ferb joke.

I'm looking at my list. Oh, there we go. I thought

I left the original Transformers off my list.

I was looking all over. I'm like, how could I

miss that? Yeah, how could you miss that? I'm

like, even if the animation or the story is a

mess in some places. you wouldn't have the rest

of it without this. Like it has to be there.

And I was like, Oh, that was close. Yeah. I was

like, Oh no, no, no, no, no. Why do we have to

always cut these things? So damn close. Yeah.

So yeah. Anyways, so that, that's about all we

got on this one. Yup. Yup. Next time we will

talk about, uh, uh certain uh podcast things

i think next time we will talk about the shorter

podcast style summaries for the next episode

because i have something for that that i didn't

even know happened i would love to find these

in the vault Oh, man, I think I sent you that.

And I also want to talk about the there was I

think I sent you the I think I sent you that

real about the I love Lucy thing. And I also

think I sent you the real about the emails. Did

you see that? It was the best thing I said. This

is the best one I've ever seen about the. It

was like a Yu -Gi -Oh version of, of emails.

Like I summon you this and this, but it was about

emails and this meeting could have been an email.

Oh God. Yeah. So I'll bring that up next time.

Yep. Yep. Yep. So without further ado, thank

you for listening to altered geek. You can of

course interact with us on the website, geekcastradio

.com and on our discord page. Though until next

time, get altered, get geeky with the Altered

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

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