Tech Trends, Disney Parks, and Media Habits

Hey, this is Steve blue and you are listening

to the geek cast radio network You are tuned

in to Steve on altered geek Hello and welcome

to altered geek I'm your host Steve Phillips

and joining me for the first time in a while

since I've moved Is TFJ one Mike? Where's Megatron?

I killed moniker about five episodes back Really

yeah, why and I'm just I don't know different

different feeling right now Uh -huh So yes, I'm

here. I think I don't know He's sleepy everybody.

No, I'm not I have allergy pills that you're

only supposed to take one a day Well, I took

that this morning and now all of a sudden 20

minutes before we're starting to record this

episode. It strikes again exactly So yeah, somebody

put my nose in carbonite, please That's also

a computer backup company, so yeah, yeah So Yeah,

it's been a while since we've recorded an episode

of really anything I've been kind of MIA as far

as the rest of the world's concerned I'm getting

back into the swing of things on Twitter much

to Mary should grin She found out that I was

recording by Twitter All is I'm gonna say is

I don't understand that's all I'm gonna say yeah,

so anyways So yeah Fun little side note, since

I've moved and I've relocated my office to a

closet, I'm on a fold -up table with my computer

and everything, but it seems to work fine. This

is actually the second podcast I've recorded

since I've been here. And I'm running on Wi -Fi

right now, which is my old wireless N USB stick

that's on my computer. It's been in cold storage

for years Because I've been plugged in manually

to the Ethernet port because I had a really long

cord at home in Michigan and Based on where I

had to put the modem for the Ethernet plug here

And the the router I don't have a long enough

cord to go 12 feet I just need to buy one To

be honest, it would be a lot easier every time

I boot up my computer right now. I have to switch

USB ports with it and then reboot and then it

will detect the thing. And then I'm like, yay,

I'm back in action. Whereas the when I build

the new computer, my wireless is going to have

two different wireless signals built into it.

It comes built into the motherboard, so I won't

have to buy another adapter if that's the case.

But. And to be honest I can care less that it's

got Wi -Fi built into the motherboard Other than

for purposes like that I could just take it and

doesn't matter it's not an extra peripheral or

anything I've chose the motherboard because it's

got 10 USB ports in the back Wow Which to me

is like a big deal like I have two in the front

of my computer and my power supply is not strong

enough to run everything so if I plug in two

to the front and then I have all I think I have

eight ports in the back. If I have all of them

filled, one of the items quits working. So I

have a 550 watt power supply. I need to upgrade

to like a 750. It's expensive and I don't really

want to spend the money, but I'm going to have

to when I upgrade. So yeah, that's that's what

I have to deal with every time I get on and then

of course updating software Constantly because

I'm not on it as much as I once was Yes Which

is sad Yes, so Yeah, so I I honestly don't I

think it was Don't think it was 324. It was one

of them numbers recently that I was on but I

don't even remember what the heck we talked about

I honestly don't remember I know I was on the

AG before you moved and it was like within the

last three months or something I don't remember

but For people who don't listen to any other

shows that I do which I don't think anybody really

does so marginally marginally may 6th of this

year I had to have life -saving brain surgery

yes yes that was not well I was knocked out obviously

during the surgery thank God so yes it wasn't

pleasant but he came back from it yeah okay so

the easy thing this is so sad The easiest way

I can explain this to people without going on

and on and on about it is go look up how Tim

Conway passed away recently within the last couple

of months. Basically what Tim Conway died of

is what I had. Basically I had excess fluid on

my brain. We all have fluid on our brains. But

I had so much of it that it was basically pushing

my brain against my skull. And it was giving

me these debilitating headaches. Like, there

were days I could not even get out of bed. There

were days where Karen and I would be in the grocery

store. We wouldn't even have half of our groceries

that we were gonna get. I'm like, we either need

to check out, leave this stuff here, or do something,

because I gotta go home and I'm gonna lay in

a dark room, because my head is killing me. So

I had the surgery. I have had exactly three to

four massive major headaches like I used to before

the surgery, since the surgery happened. For

some odd reason, they all happened on a Wednesday.

And I don't know why that is, but they all happened

on a particular Wednesday or whatever over the

last two months. And it's like one every two

weeks. Generally, when I wake up, just the rest

of my body is in pain now. My back, my knees,

my legs, all of that. I just went to the doctor

recently, like this past week. Turns out and

I kind of figured this I kind of knew this I

have slight arthritis in my left knee Which my

left side for those listening that don't know

my left side is my good side. My right side is

my bad side I was born with cerebral palsy. It's

a mild case But yeah, so apparently I have mild

arthritis in my left knee. My back is my back.

I don't even know like People ask me how I am.

I'm like, I'm old. It's not about how old I actually

am It's about how my body feels and my body feels

80 even though I'm not even 40 yet And yes, I

know I should lose 200 pounds or whatever. I

even actually asked my doctor I asked him because

some people have said I wouldn't be I Asked him.

Do you think I'm a good candidate for weight

loss surgery? And he said yes so That may be

something that happens at some point, I don't

know. We're trying to sell our house, failing

miserably, because we're gonna go back to Kentucky,

because the medical stuff in Kentucky is a hell

of a lot better than the medical stuff here in

Illinois. And my dad's there, and my dad and

I reconnected after my mom died, so we'd have

some sort of little bit of family support there,

kind of thing, so everything is - Are you using

Kentucky? Well, he actually is in Indiana, but

it's still it's right there on the on the river

between Kentucky and Indiana So Yeah podcasting

it's like oh the pull bag uh -huh record this

record this edit this edit this edit this oh

wait I should really post date that to where

it was originally supposed to air because Crap.

I have so much other things I want to do. I can't

just post 10 episodes at one show in the same

day or whatever. And it's like, oh god. And all

the other shows are just, it's just all, it's

all, there's too much life happening. And I've

said for 10 and a half, 11 years, life comes

before podcasting. But sometimes there's just

too much life going on. It happens. Yeah, so

does that other thing. Yeah, so Yeah, I've I've

of course been out of the loop on some of the

stuff. I've been having fun watching insanity

on Twitter and Twitter is toxic It's but it's

funny Yeah, it's it's funny at times and then

I enjoy watching certain people you know kind

of dive in there and in and say certain things

and For the most part I just kind of keep myself

out of certain current conversations now, but

The the impulse is still there I just have to

resist the impulse to to say things Because I

just don't want to get into one of those Twitter

feuds. I just don't have time for it And I have

a feeling it would heavily derail before I could

get a handle on it. Yeah, I am like Twitter,

for me, is like a little 40 -character status

now, unless I'm promoting podcasts. I am very

rarely on Twitter. I am more on Facebook. We've

had this discussion for years kind of thing.

And even on Facebook, I don't get into fights.

I don't get into arguments. I still share a crap

ton of stuff. I will say this, and I know a lot

of actors, a lot of Hollywood people, whatever,

would do this, and it would be fine. But it's

not every day you expect to get an answer from

certain people. Earlier today, because I've watched

consistent reruns of Law and Order Criminal Intent,

I'm one of Vincent D 'Onofrio's biggest fans

from his character on that show, Robert Gorin.

I asked him, uh, excuse me good sir, I was wondering

if you ever had the chance to revisit the role

of Robert Gorin, what story would you want to

tell with him? Never actually expected. Vincent

D 'Onofrio to answer me now. This is his official

account. This isn't a fan account or anything

else He says I haven't put any thought into that

in particular I've always wanted at wolf and

to let me make a film about Gorin based on the

novel the detective Which is a New York story.

Dick never got back to me on it. Maybe someday.

I'd love to do that with Mr. Wolf." So I thought

that was really cool. I'm like, hey, I actually

got an answer back from an actor. From, you know,

a guy that I've seen in so many different, like,

he's Kingpin and Daredevil on Netflix and everything

else and all that. And I'm like, oh, that's cool.

But yeah, Twitter, I... Unless I need to catch

a news story that I don't see on Facebook or

unless I'm promoting the podcast stuff I I don't

I'm not on Twitter as much as I used to be Yeah,

I mean I'm on it still oh I'm there. I'm just

not I'm more of a lurker these days than a full

-on poster. I I do a little bit of both. I Facebook's

more of my Yeah, I'm good Yeah, I just I prefer

to stay away from that That being said There's

there's always something funny to see on there

So I'm still doing the writing thing I don't

know if you follow any of that, but for a while

I was writing for one site and Because of the

nature of having to pack and do all these other

various things I was like, you know, look, I'm

not gonna be around for this amount of time.

But blah blah blah now mind you I wrote like

30 some odd articles in my first month That I

worked for them and then it kind of dwindled

away little by little Which worked out because

I had other things I had to take care of and

you know life things Even though it was money.

I was pushing aside And then I just reached out.

It was like, hey, blah, blah, blah. I can still

write a couple for you here or there. And I haven't

heard anything. But I'm still writing articles

for a magazine that I was writing for in Michigan.

They contacted me the other day. They're like,

hey, do you still want to write an article for

the deadlines of 25th, blah, blah, blah. So the

next day, I wrote the article. And I was like,

OK, I'm good. Send me money. And then. I've got

another site that I'm gonna be writing for Which

actually pays better than the first site? So

I figure I'll be able to not only upgrade my

computer sooner, but I'll be able to save for

a down payment on a house Because housing here

is way more expensive than it is in Michigan.

Yeah It's you know, I mean your your house pricing

Oh, yeah, I know so so anyways, I mean but the

area is so much nicer people are nicer out here

in Colorado Like everybody's actually like polite

people are helpful people are it's that fresh

air. It's that mountain air It's gotta be it's

gotta be and we all drink from the same water.

It's all from the mountains It's either that

or they're all on helium because, um... Well,

they do have pop plants out here, but still.

I doubt it's that. I think it's just because

people are just genuinely, like, not as busy

and, like, um... You know, like, you go to a

more populated area and people are kind of like,

eh, get out of my way, man! Yeah. Whereas, you

know, here, it's not so much of that. People

are actually, like, you know, you can go to Walmart

and people are actually nice to you. And and

you know this speaks volumes because you know

coming from Flynn area, you know, you go to Walmart

They're like where are the workers for one and

then to the like they're looking at you like

why you here get out my store You know, it's

like you go rob the place get out So yeah, I'm

just I'm just it's so much nicer being here By

comparison the funny thing now is You were an

hour behind me, now I'm an hour behind you. We're

leapfrogging over each other, folks. And then

if you move back to Kentucky, then I'll be two

hours. Two hours, yeah. That means I'll have

to start sooner on my time. Well, if we could

still afford to go out there, we can't now. But

if we could still afford to go out there and

Karen and I went out to Oregon, where she really

wants to be. Then you'd be an hour it would be

well. Yeah, I'd be an hour behind you now or

an hour whatever point is Eastern Time zone and

Pacific time zone. I can deal with a three -hour

difference. I can deal with Eastern Pacific It's

those middle time zones that screw me up Like

especially like when recording with like someone

like lady rec who she's in, Arizona Arizona doesn't

do the DST thing so it's like What time is that

again? Because it's like, damn, I don't know

anymore. Yeah, I have a hard time differentiating

it. Like for a while I was I was forgetting what

time was what? Yeah. In what area? It just makes

it difficult because I'm now I'm now I'm fully

acclimated. Yeah. But it took me a while. And

like my sleep patterns were even out of whack.

Yeah. Yeah, I mean I as beautiful as Colorado

is That fresh air almost killed me three years

ago No, it wasn't even really fresh air again,

it's more of the altitude than the actual fresh

air you did zero No, it screwed me up. And that's

the stupid thing. It shouldn't have. But in that

past life that I used to lead where I went out

to California that one time, it's like I had

a layover in Denver. And I'm like, OK, sure,

fine. I'll be fine. As soon as I get off the

plane, as soon as I walk five feet away from

the gate, I'm like, oh, I got to sit down. If

I don't sit down, I'm going to fall down. I got

so dizzy. and i'm like it's just the airport

it's just denver international airport remember

the denver airport's calling them it's like damn

well you you are a mile higher yeah as opposed

to like you know your kentucky or your michigan

or any of those things so it's there is a big

difference in altitude now don't get me wrong

it didn't didn't affect me one iota at all like

i was perfectly fine um but you know it's just

I don't know just it's an adjustment yeah for

sure and so yeah I just I really wasn't sure

what to expect and so so yeah so anyways we should

probably get into the episode instead of ranting

like Crazy lunatics on the episode. That's what

we do. We like crazy. That is true. Speaking

of ranting, something that caught my eye and

it was after the fourth of July, which is funny.

Bank of Canada asked Star Trek fans to stop drawing

Spock on their five dollar bills. and and it's

funny because people have been doing this for

years, but it's gotten more rampant because if

you look at the Whoever the Prime Minister of

this person is you know it's it's going around

again because of the way the It features Canada's

seventh Prime Minister like Sir Wilfred Laurier

Yeah, and it's a Star Trek fans have taken to

drawing pointy ears in a Vulcan haircut on the

bill transforming him into lieutenant Spock Because

he does have that kind of look in the five dollar

bill Yeah, and it says unfortunately the Bank

of Canada doesn't find these changes too amusing

They've asked citizens to stop spocking in the

bills because even though it's not illegal They

may interfere with the security features and

reduces its lifespan Yeah, that's crazy And the

radio station that posted it's like we say keep

it up Trekkies Of course they do yeah Yeah, so

And then and then you know you're gonna go like

I've been having fun with the technology world

right now Just because a lot of goofy things

are going on. You know like Google trying to

join dish to create a fourth mobile network Which

who needs that? Exactly. Um, yeah. And it's funny

now because, you know, how years ago Google changed

their name to Alphabet. Yeah. They're like the,

the ideas for Alphabet owned Google. It's like,

why don't you just say Google? And dish to launch

their own wireless giant, uh, with the help of

assets acquired from T -Mobile, which is now

under pressure from the department of justice

to aid such a project in order to get clearance

for its 26 Billion dollar merger with sprint.

So in other words, they're being told that they

need to help or they cannot merge with sprint

Which it's funny because honestly like T -Mobile

and sprints haven't been relevant in years Like

it's pretty much been always been like an AT

&T in a Verizon game It's so funny you mentioned

this I'll have to send you the link later to

put in the show notes, but I've mentioned this

before on the show, I think. I watched this guy

on YouTube called Company Man Mike, and he basically

does videos where he talks about decline or why

are they so popular of all these ... He's done

videos on all these stores. He's done videos

on ... like Red Bull and Coke and Pepsi. He's

done all that kind of stuff and various things.

He does really good videos. He just released

a second part of his AT &T series where he talks

about the rise and fall and rise again of AT

&T and how AT &T almost bought T -Mobile. That

never actually happened. And how they now own

Time Warner. which includes HBO. I told this

to a friend of mine and all right. I actually

posted about the news about the, which we'll

talk about this in a minute about the Warner

media app. My buddy, my buddy on Facebook's like

AT &T owns a HP. Huh? Why? Huh? So basically

Warner media is AT &T. Warner media is a subsidiary

or is a part of AT &T, which means that they

own HBO. WarnerMedia, like Disney and everybody

else has been doing the, oh, our app is coming.

Our app is coming. Watch all our content on our

app. Because Hulu and Netflix, apparently, are

not just good enough. They're going to call it

HBO Max. So not gonna do the plus thing like

Disney and Hulu and what you know whoever else

is doing the plus thing I'm gonna call it HBO

Max and when my buddy saw this article He's like

AT &T owns HBO. That just seems kind of sick

and wrong. I Don't know. It's yeah crazy Like

I can't keep doing this app thing. Like I have

the DC Universe app, but I don't have a subscription

I may want to try it one of these days, but I

have no desire to. I have the Boomerang app,

which is cartoons and Cartoon Network, but it's

Boomerang. It's all the classic old whatever

shows things. And they do put new stuff on there.

Like right now they've got the new Scooby -Doo

in Guess Who, which is basically an updated version

of the new Scooby -Doo movies from 1972. But

that's like five bucks a month. For all the content

that boomerang has on there and so far as I can

tell none of the content that I love watching

on there Has ever gone away. That's one of my

biggest issues with Hulu Netflix other streaming

services that They only have certain things for

certain amount of times kind of thing and it's

like God then why am I subscribed to you if you

don't have anything I really want to watch Yeah,

see I don't I honestly don't I don't care for

any of the streaming services for the most part.

I mean, I have Netflix, which, you know, it's

a promo thing. Like, it's honestly not something

I would go out of my way to pay for just because

I don't necessarily need it. And majority of

their content, their Netflix originals are nothing

I would care to watch. Not only are they, you

know, pretty much vulgar and I just don't want

to watch it. There's many other things I could

be staring at and that's not one of them. And

their content, to be honest, when I've watched

some of it in the past, not very good. Like,

I mean, I know that people are like, oh, but

you have to watch this show. It's so good. It's

like, no, it's just, you know, it's like when

you look at the movie critic thing and they're

like, yeah, this show is like the greatest thing

since sliced bread. And I'm giving it five out

of five. And then you look at the... you know

the audience scoring it's like a zero and then

you look at you know the the opposite the audience

is like this is great and then you look at the

the the critics and they're like this is terrible

it needs to be burned in a fire you know and

and so you know it to me it's just it i don't

know it everybody has their own opinion of of

programming and and i guess like i'm an old curmudgeon

i just want like old school stuff that's like

not all that garbage I'll tell you this, the

one Netflix original I will suggest to you is

the Carmen Sandiego thing that they put out.

That was really good. That was very good actually.

So but yeah, I will recommend the new the scooby

-doo and guess who because like I said It's basically

an updated version of the original new scooby

movies where they have a special guest a mystery

guest on Each week like the old show they had

the three stooges on there They had Batman on

there several times Batman and Robin they had

the Harlem Globetrotters on the old show I remember

watching those when I was younger Yep on this

show so far and you can kind of tell but they

keep it a mystery you can kind of like I know

the very last episode is going to be Batman because

I can tell by the silhouette and I know for a

fact one looks really certainly I think yeah

it will be yeah one of them will be Oracle originally

voiced by Jaleel so Jaleel is coming back. Did

I do that? Did I do that? But Batman thank God.

Is going to be voiced by Kevin Conroy Yes But

now I've been enjoying them so far they've had

Chris Paul the funky phantoms and And I remember

those Ike's Wanda Sykes for some odd reason and

yeah, and the wonders Yeah, well the the Wanda

Sykes episode that actually just aired as we're

recording this It was also kind of a McGilligorilla

crossover where Mr. Peebles went bad It was a

little it was really strange. It was very very

strange They're gonna play with the Hanna -Barbera

library. They don't care Well, yeah, cuz they

got to do something with the Hanna -Barbera library

And I know and I know a lot of people are complaining

that Scooby is the only franchise that they really

put anything into but The one thing as much as

I love him I absolutely do It's so weird to me

in this show When Frank Welker actually talks

more as scooby than scooby ever talked before

Frank actually has full lines in the scooby boy.

Yeah, it's there's like it doesn't scooby -doo

-bee -doo Yeah, yeah, he does do that but Like

but he doesn't in that voice No, he does it in,

like, he does it in the Scooby voice. See, like,

he has his own Scooby voice, but... Raggy! Raggy!

I wanna go chase the cat! Yeah, but it's... There

are longer sentences that he says, and I can

hear more of Frank than I can hear of Scooby.

Like, it doesn't sound like Fred coming out of

Scooby, it's Scooby's voice. It's Frank's version

of Scooby's voice, but it's more of Frank's voice

than the actual character, if that makes any

sense. And it's freaking me out! It's a little

weird, because, like, yes, Scooby has always

talked. He's a talking dog. But he's never talked

to the point where he needs to have like a Johnny

Carson monologue and Shaggy's just his Ed McMahon.

I mean, it's never been that way. I don't know.

Like you said earlier, we're old curmudgeons.

We like things the way we like. I don't dislike

the show just because of that. I don't dislike

the show at all. I think the show is cool. That's

just one aspect of the show that just kind of

threw me for a loop that Scooby is talking more

than he normally would. Yeah. So I don't know

it's just it's it's crazy to be honest like I

just I don't know Yeah So Yeah, this is this

is a little bit funny thing I don't know if you

saw the news about the the new Disney world thing

or Disneyland thing about their Star Wars land

I Saw something about it, but I don't remember

well anyways the the the only thing that that

matters out of that whole story is the fact that

it's not doing very well um and it's people are

actually um they're they're like uh some article

i read the other day about it disney was saying

like that they didn't understand why it wasn't

full And I'm sitting here going well it could

be the fact that you doubled your your admission

pricing Just for that park Yeah, really wonder

why people can't afford to go For one like to

like I honestly don't care to go to any of those

parks anymore like Oh, you know, if you would

ask me like probably five years ago, I would

have been probably gung -ho for it. But like

nowadays, I'm kind of like, eh, I'm good. It's

it's not something I just have to see. But yeah,

Disney in an effort, it says that they're, you

know, they announced the another ride, you know,

for a second Star Wars ride, Rise of the Resistance.

You know, and it'll open in both California and

Florida. But I think they're going to kind of

kill themselves at some point because their pricing

is so absorbently high. We all remember Spaceballs,

right? Yeah. We all remember and love the film

Spaceballs. Merchandising Merchandising Merchandising

Disney is going to merchandise their butts off

With the Star Wars thing with the Marvel thing

with everything that they've bought Because they

need to make all that money back like they spent

what they spent on Star Wars four billion dollars

or whatever It was something like that something

like that what they spent on Marvel like I don't

know whatever the point is is They're gonna make

their money They're going to make their money

because that's where they're going to make it

back is in the admission prices to the parks

and all of that. Our good buddy Optibotamus actually

works at Disneyland. He does every now and then

but I'll tell you bud the YouTube pay bubble

has burst It's not what it used to be. Yeah,

I haven't paid attention in so so long It doesn't

like I was kind of surprised that it took this

long to be honest, but yeah, so I'm gonna go

get a real job Yeah, it's it's it's burst over

the last couple of years. Actually. It's not

just recently, but it's one of those things where

I Like it's probably why the a lot of the youtubers

that are huge had to diversify and like write

books and create You know films or their own

production companies or other projects because

if they didn't they were gonna lose it There's

a as much as I love this show. I know some people

don't there's a Johnny test episode called Snoop

Tube It's basically making fun of becoming the

big YouTube star thing. It's absolutely hilarious

show And it just goes to show you how fleeting

fame is and how fleeting success is at times.

Um, it, it's just, it's just crazy. But the Disneyland

and Disney world stuff, like if I was a kid today,

the way I was a kid, you know, back in 86 when

I originally went to Disney world, I don't know

if I would like everything that the current park.

Thing does I don't I don't know. I don't know

what six -year -old me would say about that I

didn't grow up going to Disney whereas my wife

did yeah, and I To be honest When I went I enjoyed

it But it's not something that I would probably

go to ever again Just because it's kind of like

a one -and -done like it's not I've never been

one of those people that really cares to Keep

going back to something. Yeah It's You know once

I've done or experienced it or whatever. I'm

kind of like okay. I did this and then I kind

of go on depending on what it is like there's

certain aspects like voice acting uh which i

will actually get to do legitimately uh in september

so i'm very very geeked for that um so yeah yeah

i get to be the producer too so awesome yeah

yeah i mean like i've been in my lifetime it

has not been anytime recently but between the

time i was born and the time i was 20 years old

I had been to Disney a total of six or seven

times in that first 20 years of my life. I remember

age six the most is because I was huge Chip and

Dale fan back then. This is before Rescue Rangers

started up. This is just regular old Chip and

Dale classic Mickey cartoons. My biggest thing

and I was. which I'm not now, sadly. I wasn't

a Beanpole skinny kid, but I was a hell of a

lot skinnier back then than I am now. And even

back then, I was complaining up and down Main

Street. I hated walking Disney World. I couldn't

stand it. Nowadays, if I went, I would want to

go to one of their special hotel things to get

a specific... You know how I think they have

these specific memory or specific theme or that

kind of thing? I would probably want to do it

for that, but you're right. Once you go once

and you get in as much as you can get in or you

get there and you see what you want to see and

then you leave, I don't know. But they're going

to get their money because people often go out

and spend that money. Oh yeah, totally. Totally.

So then we had the big internet meltdown of 2019

You know like twice in like two weeks. I love

I absolutely like know what you're gonna say

about Facebook and whatever but I love when you

When you tweeted about and you blamed cloud flare.

I love that they basically tweet back at us Where

is this? Wasn't that a beautiful tweet? Yeah,

where is it now? Oh, no, it's gone. Damn. He

must have deleted it. Yeah. What a bummer. That

sucks. But basically, you under the GeekCast

radio Twitter account basically blamed CloudFlare

for the Facebook and blah, blah, blah. And I

guess somebody who works at CloudFlare is like,

Facebook is not... It was their CTO. Oh, wow.

Oh, okay. Yeah, their chief technology officer

tweeted me and was like, cause I can't remember

his name, but he tweeted me and they were, you

know, he's like, don't blame us for Facebook

being down. We have nothing to do with it. Our

stuff's all working. And then if you looked at

their site, like they clearly were in error.

Exactly. Like granted, they may not have been,

you know, Hey, I said as Facebook and the rest

of the internet is keeling over right now from

the cloud cloud failure error And you know remember

that your friends it won't let you down and yeah

And have a safe fourth of July weekend and only

she geeking you will return with more brand new

episodes next week Yep, and yeah, it was it was

funny to get a reply Considering I didn't even

tag them, they just were like... Yeah, exactly.

You just mentioned... And that's the thing. That's

another topic of discussion. It's a lengthier

topic of discussion. We can do it another day,

whether it's on Altered Geek or GCR or wherever.

I just mention that I'm hungry, or I want a hamburger,

or I want pizza, or I want something, or I say

the name of a restaurant, like right now, I'll

say Chili's. I bet you 10 minutes from now, I

get an email from Chili's, oh, come back into

Chili's today to get your rewards, or something.

I'll mention ice cream, and I'll get an email

from some ice cream place or something, and it's

like, damn, y 'all stalking me. And that's that's

the funny thing about it is like yeah, it's and

it's kind of the world we live in now is everything

everything that follows everything and so like

You know you you follow people you work with

you follow the companies you work with or that

you enjoy or that you like the products of or

that you'd like to eat at that, you know, just

whatever it is like you follow everything and

Sometimes they may not follow you back, but they

have their search filters on and will find you.

Yes I love when other companies like get into

war especially on Twitter. It's not so much on

Facebook You talking about like during the I

have moment. Yes, like where everybody's like,

you know, one of the things was like they're

like I have you know International House of Burgers,

you know and One of the companies, you know,

I think it was like Wendy's or something else.

They're like Burger King did it too or something,

but they're like They're like go back to someone

the thing you're good at pancakes, you know And

then I see their new slogan or their new ad campaign

this year We have P stand for you know, well,

I know it's not that one. It's the other one

It's we have plenty of pancakes. Look at this,

you know Third pound, you know ground beef like

it's they're basically calling their burgers

pancakes is what the ad is doing That's like,

oh my god. Just wow. It almost it almost reminds

me of that time that What was it forget the company

they did What was it? They tried to make it.

What was it like Carl's Jr. or something? They

tried to make like a burger, the Spielburger

or something like that, like during the Ready

Player One campaign or something. And they were

trying to get in on it. And they had one of their

guys like recording himself, like trying to deliver

the sandwich to Steven Spielberg and his people

at the gate are like, no, you can leave the food,

but, you know, you can't get in. And they're

like, OK, that's fine. And Then there was like

a note later that Spielberg ate it and liked

it, but they can't use his name But yeah, it

was yeah, it's just funny to watch things on

Twitter sometimes But yeah, so Among other things

I've been having fun watching Other tech companies

such as like Sony working on the the new smartphone

that rolls right up. Yep You know, and I more

or less said on Twitter, just sarcastically,

you know, the trick is if it rolls back out,

it still works. Otherwise, we could be looking

at a phone that is truly throw away. You know,

because there really aren't any. There's a lot

of gimmicks out right now and there's no real

innovation between any of the companies other

than, oh, I can fold it in half. Oh, I can I

can roll it up like a paper towel. Like it's

just like. Okay, you know I get it like you want

something that's bendable and and yes, you've

achieved that goal The thing about it is It's

still a gimmick like I don't get me wrong I still

want the motorola razor when it comes out like

the flip phone one but I don't think that the

The bendability of it is going to last Like I

don't think the the bendable hinge and the bendable

glass is going to last very long Yeah, no, I

I have zero interest in any of these new foldable

whatevers It's in it's funny some third -party

company like just from somewhere made one and

it was it was expensive But it was it was also

a garbage phone, you know But it was still the

first one that was made with the bendable screen

before Sony or Samsung got to it and then Samsung

made it and Completely botched it It was you

know, it it had creases marks in it it broke

like it, you know, so they went back to the drawing

board and You know Sony's got this one now that

oh you can roll it up, you know Dude, you know

what with it, but and then Apple might launch

a foldable iPad, you know To be honest, I just

I don't see see the need And, you know, I waited

six years to get off of my Galaxy S5, because

one, the battery life was horrid, two, the signal

was horrid, and three, the camera was horrid.

So I got the Google Pixel 3a XL, which was still

half the price of their $1 ,000 Pixel 3a, or

3, not 3a, and... It's basically the same phone

with like some inferior like instead of being

like waterproof or having the the wireless charging

or It's got a slightly inferior Chip on it other

than that. It's the same phone like now. I love

the idea of wireless charging. I really do yeah,

I Would never I would never use it Mean I like

that. I think that's super cool specifically

for like Just for me not necessarily to share

the charge like not not to do it the way they

do it in the commercials where it's like, oh,

you need a few bars? Sure. Not that way, but

just generally instead of having to plug something

in every time I need to charge my phone, I just

want to set my phone down on something and it

just automatically charges. So I like that aspect

of it. But at the same time, I was looking into

the S10s for Samsung. The fingerprint thing is

now on the front because the camera, they have

three cameras on the back and no actual fingerprint

thing on the back. I'm like, I'll stick with

my S9 until they put the fingerprint scanner

back on the back. See, they have it on the back

of the Pixel. They even sell phones that utilize,

you know, you touch it and it does its thing.

The only thing I won't use is that feature because

i don't trust google with my fingerprint that's

true i mean think about it you're thinking about

that i mean they're already you know with google

chrome not only they are resource hog now um

because they bloated it out with with you know

privacy stealing information and and adware um

which is why like things like brave's browser

and firefox are gaining traction again is because

people don't want to be spied on um and that's

what google is doing uh granted if you've got

a google home or you've got you know the alexa

or something um oops sorry yeah i i just triggered

somebody's alexa you know if they're listening

on that um oh i said it twice uh Alexa play altered

geek So yeah, I meant echo but anyways the The

whole thing with that is is they're recording

everything you say Yeah, everything which is

funny because they're really not getting much

out of mind besides, you know playing you know

music, you know do a timer for cooking for my

wife's sake, and then what's the weather today?

I mean, really, I don't use it for anything else.

I mean, like for me, for my phone, like one of

the things I hate, it's more I think it's more

Android than I could be wrong, but it's more

Android than it is Google. The Bixby thing, the

their assistant or whatever is called Bixby.

For Google's? No, for Android. Android is Google.

Well for Samsung man, yeah Samsung's is yeah

I I don't That was my whole reasoning for getting

a Google phone was so that I was at the purest

form of Android without having all that bloatware

from a company or From a provider and it's unlocked

So I don't have Verizon's garbage on it, I don't

have AT &T's garbage, and I don't have Samsung's

garbage. Yeah, I might be going to Google at

some point, but we're using Comcast and the Xfinity

Mobile and whatever, because it's tied into the

internet and all that. One thing I absolutely

hate about it is the Bixby button, because you

can't reassign the button to anywhere else on

the S9. I don't even have to touch the button

I've actually tried to disable Bixby and I have

but there are certain times when I'll say something

and not even like do like I'll be sitting there

playing a game all of a sudden the Bixby window

will just pop up and I'm like I didn't say anything

I'm sitting here moving my finger playing my

game that's all I'm sitting here holding my phone

pressing my thumb on it every time Mario needs

to jump in Super Mario run or something like

I didn't even say anything to do anything. I

was sitting there the other night a couple weeks

ago. I was laying in bed just washing stuff on

my phone, because that's just how I do it these

days, I guess. I was trying to fall asleep. Next

thing I know, the Bixby window pops up in the

middle of watching my thing on Hulu. And I'm

like, I didn't say anything. It really does listen,

because if it hears something on Hulu or whatever

other app, it's like, fuck, it can just pop up

anywhere. Sorry, that's too damn. I'm not used

to this Learn I know where you learn. No, probably

not. Yes So yes Windows 10 preview lets you go

passwordless and improves your phone app. Yeah,

no, thanks. No Passwordless OK, so you can use

your phone to log into it, basically. So you

can use your fingerprint or you can punch in

a pen. It's the same thing as the password. I've

had nothing but problems when I've had to deal

with something like that. Yeah, that's just silly.

Like on my phone, like, yes, I do have the fingerprint

thing, but I also do have there several times

that the fingerprint thing won't function. And

it's like you have to enter your password this

time or else if you don't, blah, blah, blah.

So I'm like, I still have a password for my phone.

The computer, though. It's like oh, we don't

want a password. We just want this four -digit

code that you created and I'm like, okay fine

Do -do -do -do fine. Whatever just work Do your

dang job? Exactly, but yes, I mean there's there's

a ton of ton of Stuff that's always always changing

with technology and it's always fun to sit there

and just kind of nitpick on some of it because

Some of it's so I mean the innovations great

but the pricing and the fact that some of it

just really isn't needed Just boggles the mind,

you know, like Microsoft trying to tease their

whole Windows 1 .0 and With the social stunt

which all it was was a thing that hey, we're

gonna be on stranger things season 3 Okay, and

this is the other thing like I'm sorry I've used

my know it's terrible, but yeah, I don't have

enough time in the day to do all the stuff I

want to do anyway And I'm tired and I'm done.

I'm done with wasting my time on trying to start

new shows Especially if there are three seasons

in and it was like Oh, it's not horror. It's

sci -fi horror spoof or whatever. I know Stranger

Things is a serious show, but it's just one of

those shows that I'm indifferent to. I have zero

interest either way, good or bad. I don't care.

I don't have enough time to dedicate to that

show when I have so many other shows that I already

watch. What's funny is... Although I'm still

watching several shows I'm as soon as they get

usually if they get cancelled or if they have

a series finale Then that's it. Like I just I

don't I have been really diligent the last two

years of not picking up a new show And it's worked

wonders I've gotten so much like free time back

from doing that. Well, I figured out Like this

is the reason why I don't play video games anymore.

Not only did I sell all my my consoles years

ago But it was playing it like I used to play

battlefield a lot I Take a wild guess how many

hours I dumped into that game battlefield for

in total or in a daily base in total I would

say maybe 200 300 hours You wouldn't be far off

They see what it what it actually shows It was

I think I want to say was like 294 hours playing

battlefield for Alone like just that game it

tracks you I mean it it knows and I got high

up there and the points and everything and I

got pretty good at the game, but I was literally

playing every chance I got. And it was just,

it was insane the amount of time I wasted. Insane.

And then I was watching 26 different television

shows, all at the same time. I would have them

all on the other screen though. And I would be

doing both at the same time. And yeah, I came

to this point, I was like, I gotta... kind of

cut back because I'm just wasting my life at

this point. And I just really didn't want to

pick up any more shows, too. So that was that

was the other part of it. And I think Battlefield

one, I think I played like close to 100 hours

on that. And I was like, yeah, I'm going to stop.

And then somebody gave me the. Promo code for

Battlefield five, which it's really funny goes

for one and five. because there really was no

one. There was a two and a three. And, you know,

so anyways, so I can I did get the code for like

five, but I've never played it. It's just I never

had the inclination. I was like, I looked at

how much time I dumped into those other games

and I'm like, no, I'm good. I really don't want

to play this again. Like it's really not that

much different. It's just different user interface

and different looks. And I've done that. I'm

good you know it's like I used to own an Xbox

360 I used to own a PS2 and a variety of other

systems and when my memory card went bad that

was when it was time to get rid of the system

because my PS2 did that to me once and I was

like no because I had beaten like 20 games and

I was I had everything exactly how I wanted it

so if I wanted to go in and play any levels I

could and I had because I had all the end game

stuff And then it wiped itself out, and Mary's

like, do you want to get a new art? And this

was, you know, of course, years ago. And I'm

like, no, I'm like, grabbed it all, put it in

a box, took it up to GameStop, pawned it. I was

like, I'm done. And then my 360, yeah, I was

right, Battlefield 1, I had about 73 hours, and

Battlefield 4 had 295, so yeah, I played a lot.

So anyways, I, and that's not counting any other

games I've played in interim, like Command and

Conquer and things like that. I just, yeah, I

don't play games anymore because I find that

they're highly addictive for me. And I just,

I don't want to waste any time. I barely get

time to podcast. I don't want to have time to

do that. So it, I don't know, priorities, I guess.

So, but yeah, I don't know. I'm just. In television

shows it goes hand -in -hand with like you're

saying, you know, just I don't have any ill will

against any of the shows I just don't care to

pick up a new one. And so I've been staying away

from everything I've more so been just dropping

everything like I used to watch not all of them

But I used to watch the Chicago shows from dick

wolf I used to watch fire more than the other

two PD and med I don't watch fire anymore. I

used to watch... Well, I'm kind of still watching

super superhero is probably the one CW superhero

show I've dropped the fastest because it's a

slow Decline on the quality of what the story

is that they're telling whereas at least arrow

has gotten better in season 7 on arrows ending

Well true. Yes, I understand that they're all

rolling into that crisis thing. Yeah, yeah, so

yeah, I mean I There were, yeah, a number of

those. But at least with Flash and Legends, at

least there's enough enjoyment for me there to

not overly, especially Legends. Legends is just

a fun friggin' show. It really is. The Flash

you can kind of criticize and yada yada yada,

but Supergirl really is the worst out of all

of them. It sucks. I don't know. I'm kind of

ready for them all to end at some point. It's

easier for me to get rid of them that way. I

have Cold Turkey giving up some shows and I used

to watch Supernatural and I used to watch some

of the other ones and then I kind of came to

this point and I'm like, yeah, I probably shouldn't

be watching that anymore. Plus they just drag

them on and the stories get long and just some

of the stuff. And then just my mentality and

how I think of... Programming now. It's it's

a little bit different. So some of the shows

I just I dropped cold turkey just based on that

alone, but Yeah, I'm still I still like the Oriville.

I still like track Those are still kind of my

go -to's at the moment. Although I do want a

lot more documentaries now, which is interesting

is But a year ago or two years ago. I started

watching them and I could actually sit through

them before that used to put me to sleep That's

why I watch a lot of I've been doing this for

years now. I watch a lot of true crime shows

I watch a lot of investigation discovery and

HLN because HLN shows consistent reruns of forensic

files They're just now getting to start up new

shows and the oxygen network, which is used to

be all women's stuff They're starting to be like

the second best true crime network behind ID

and they've got true crime shows and that kind

of thing. Documentaries, I can watch them. I

enjoy them. But it has to be the right kind.

It has to be the right. It has to be the right

subject. And it has to be the right time for

me to sit down and actually watch it and not

just turn it on and fall asleep. Yeah, I get

that. And yeah, it's it's it's definitely one

of those situations for sure. I kind of have

to pick and choose. Yeah, what what I kind of

go after at this point but yeah, so I've been

learning a lot of new Skills you could say yes

for things that I've never had to do before but

it's very enjoyable well, there you go I've it's

funny because I Every year I go through this

kick where I want to like take classes for stuff

or learn how to do new things But I haven't had

that kick this year because one I planned on

doing some of that in January and then February

got laid off so I Have some courses on I forget

what this site's called. Oh, it's udemy that

I was I was meaning to take and I've not gotten

back to them unfortunately, which I I kind of

hope in the near future. I'll kind of make the

time But because some of the stuff is really

interesting, you know how to learn how to do

certain other things but Yeah, like I said I

I Learned how the process of CD mastering works.

Oh Cool, which is really in depth, but it's it's

pretty cool when when you see how the whole thing

works And that's where you send it off to a distributor

to stamp the disks, which is better than burning

the disks because it hits them all at once and

it actually embeds it in the disk. Whereas burning

the disk means that it's a very surface level

thing. So if it gets scratched, it's more likely

to completely fail. Whereas a stamp disk is less

likely to completely fail because it's embedded.

And yeah, I got to learn how that works, the

process of publishing and editing. So that's

as far as like print material, which has been

really interesting. I've, I don't know, I kind

of am thriving in the fact that there's challenges

and every day is different and I enjoy that.

I think that's one of the things with the previous

places that I've been employed. There was no

challenge. It was the same thing day in and day

out. Whereas here, nothing's the same. It's great.

I love it. It fits my personality very well because

I like organization and I like to do that. And

I like to create things. I also created this

pretty nifty podcast dashboard. That I'm pretty

proud of I took when I made it the blaze and

Enhance You know like super troopers enhance

enhance so it's better So yeah, I'm pretty stoked

about that, too So do you have anything that

you would like to Bring up I Don't think so That

exact moment you started doing that Scrolling

across my tweets because sometimes I forget what

I've you know Whether I've bookmarked something

or whatnot because a lot of times What's weird

is I can get to my bookmarks. I wonder if I can

do that on the PC Doesn't let you does it Nope,

doesn't let you do that. I was trying to do my

bookmarks for on the PC, but it doesn't let you

do that. You have to do it on the mobile app.

No, because I bookmark things periodically for

future reference. Right. And yeah, I was I was

trying to find if there was anything else to

bring up. I scrolled across an image where I

said I was unpacking or driving or doing something

with the truck and This is packing day has arrived

in two hours. We'll have our moving truck into

three The loading begins can't wait to be unloading

next week and this is me at this point in the

week And then it shows a dog laying against a

door frame with its mouth open. This is tired

I do remember seeing a story, I think it was

a day ago, I think I saw it on Geek Tyrant. Maybe

we're getting a Batman Beyond Blu -ray this year.

I think somewhere in October. So yay, 20th anniversary,

we get a Blu -ray version of Batman Beyond complete

series. Very, very cool for that. I'll tell you,

at the top of the show we mentioned all the hell

things and whatever else. The bottom of the show

now, it's like, I just want to get up and walk

away because my knee is about to give out from

sitting here. I don't understand this. I used

to be able to sit here for hours on hours on

like we did one year. Brian killed me and all

the Radio Free Cybertron crew. did a six -hour

straight news show about San Diego Comic -Con.

And San Diego Comic -Con is next week. And I'm

like, I could sit here for two hours, let alone

six. Yeah. I don't know how you sat that long,

to be honest. I yeah, I And now I'm like, oh

an hour -long podcast can my knee survive that

only if I've had a seven hour nap beforehand.

Oh Yeah, I Yeah, there's no way I would sit for

that long. I don't know granted It's different

if you're recording voice actors. If you're sitting

there doing a six hour podcast. Oh, yeah, obviously.

I mean, if we've got six hours with David Kay,

of course, we're going to make him do every single

voice he knows how to do for six hours straight.

We're going to have him talking to himself. Yes,

absolutely. But just just a straight lot like

we recorded. It's released, but I haven't actually

published it on the website yet. I re -recorded

and released Mayhem Mike's episode 52, which

is our first all -elite wrestling coverage. We

covered the first two events that they did. One

was a pay -per -view event. The other one was

a free event. That podcast is close to almost

two hours, which means we sat here for almost

two and a half hours. At the end of it, I'm like,

why isn't my speaker control blue? Because it's

supposed to be, even though I have the audio

through my headphones. Guess because I got so

twitchy and whatever I guess my foot touched

the the the power strip and my foot pulled out

the cord That goes to my actual speakers on my

computer pulled out the power cord out of that

I'm like, how the hell did that happen? So yeah

me sitting here for long periods of time anymore

is is not a thing Yeah, I remember when we did

the top 100s and we sit here for like four or

five hours. I haven't done one of those in years

and it feels great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed

the conversation. I just think they were way

too long for my taste anymore. I can't sit there

for that long. This is probably the longest podcast

I've recorded in six months. Well, we haven't

talked really very long for six months. That's

probably why. But it just, I don't know. Like

I said, and it's not just sitting. It's any activity.

And I know everyone's going to be like, oh, but

you should get out and do activity or whatever

else. I'm six foot, 400 and something pounds.

408 pounds, I think, I weighed in as the other

day. Which is crazy. It's not crazy, but it's

kind of. Pissing me off because since I got out

of the hospital I put the ten pounds back on

that I lost when I was in the hospital Because

they didn't eat anything when I was in the hospital,

but it's one of those things where Any activity

if I'm doing the trash or if I'm doing what if

I'm going to get the mail I'm only out there

for maybe five or ten minutes doing the trash

is a little bit more extensive. Maybe 30 minutes

of physical labor of actually taking the trash

out and then taking it out to the front of the

house. And it's like, okay, I can do that for

20 minutes. Now I have to rest for nine hours

because my body hurts so much. And it's like,

oh God, my back. Chair with lumbar support. You

gotta be kidding me. Ow, my knee just cracked.

You know what's great? I have a standing desk

at work. So I have the option of sitting or not.

Oh God, I would rather, even though I'm complaining

about sitting here for so long, I would rather

sit than stand because there's no way in hell

that I could stand and record. Oh, no. I'm so

glad I never became a radio DJ, especially back

in the days where you pretty much had to stand

at certain points. It's like, no, thank you.

Yeah, I guess we still love doing this folks.

Yes At least somebody here does Hey Man yeah,

so anyways, I think that about wraps it up before

my cat starts losing it. She's like racing around

my office like Crazy cat I don't know what's

happened to her since we moved. It must be the

mountain air getting to her cuz she's like She's

like, ha ha, I can get around the house. So just

a quick, since you brought up your cat, I'll

bring up mine. Our cat Lacey, she's a Maine Coon.

She. OK, so for the longest time, I had been

the one that would feed her and I usually would

go downstairs to feed her in the kitchen. So

that's where her water was and that's where food

was. We had water dishes for her up here as well

upstairs. Well. Since surgery and everything

else Karen has to be the one to do the feeding

and the this and the that and the whatever Well,

Lacey would never meow at me for food She constantly

meows at Karen at like 330 in the afternoon when

she's not even supposed to be fed She gets fed

twice a day 12 hours apart from each other once

in the morning and once at night now she's meowing

at Karen at all hours of the day and night feed

me feed me feed me like we've never fed her or

something and it's like how come she never did

that crap to me like what and obviously Karen's

had her for X number of you like she's only known

me two years and Karen's had her for 10 plus

or however many years she's had her but it's

just so weird and cats are weird Yeah Yeah, she's

looking at me she must have heard that She's

You hear that sass Yeah, she's laying on the

floor on her side looks up at me Yeah, yeah,

she's complaining But yeah, that's what she does

now, she'll go find me at like 2 a .m. And she'll

start going and i'm like no like go sleep something

yeah yeah but anyways so until next time we've

been steve i've been steve megatron phillips

and i can see if you would like get altered giggy

with the altered geeks