PODCAST OF THE MONTH! GEEK OUT LOUD!

Podcast of the Month for December 2012 is:

Geek Out Loud!

As Steve Glosson says at the beginning of every Geek Out Loud podcast, “Welcome to Geek Out Loud, your safe place to geek out.” which is precisely what he and his “podcasting partner for life” Derek, do on each and every episode. Geek Out Loud is one of the most loosely structured, but categorically comedic podcasts on the Internets. Every Geek Out Loud episode is unique in both subject matter and structure. What is consistent is the big heart and geek love that Steve communicates in each podcast. Steve occasionally works solo, or with guest co-hosts, but he is at his best when working with Derek, who has the ability to make Steve laugh uncontrollably and often.

Here is how Steve and Derek describe themselves on their Geek Out Loud website:

Steve Glosson

He resides in a small town in Southern Georgia USA. He’s been a geek his whole life. “It started with Star Wars and grew from there.” says Steve of his geekdom. Steve is the founder and primary contributor to Geek Out Online, and the host of Geek Out Loud: The Official Podcast of Geek Out Online. Steve’s vision was to create a place online where people would come to talk about the things they enjoy as it pertains to geekdom rather than complain about everything that is wrong with comics, movies, and sci fi. As Steve says of Geek Out Loud and Geek Out Online, he tries to make this a “safe place” to geek out. Whether it’s bad impressions or poking fun at himself, fun is the key and Steve tries to bring a little bit in all he does.

Derek Russel

The host of Starkville’s House of El and The Skynext Podcast. Derek is another lifelong geek who, by his own testimony, wore a Superman cape on his first Halloween. He and Steve met through a series of e-mails and circumstances and have been a dynamic duo ever since. Derek appears occasionally on Geek Out Loud and works behind the scenes with Steve to help him keep up with all the coolest news, latest trailers, and geeky goodness. It has been said that Derek and Steve actually share some sort of Vulcan mind meld type thing. To this outlandish idea, Steve was heard to reply, “Vulcan? Of course not. That’s Star Trek, and everyone knows how I feel about that show. It’s the force…and it’s totally serendipitous.” Check out Derek’s blog Totally Serendipitous for his thoughts on television happenings, his life, and occasional Vlogs.

Episodes of Geek Out Loud have ranged in topics from films like The Amazing Spider-Man and The Dark Knight Rises to TV shows like Smallville and Clone Wars. Topics range the full gambit of all things geek; so be prepared for anything to be discussed on Geek Out Loud. What keeps me listening to each episode of Geek Out Loud is the back and forth banter between Steve and Derek. Sometimes Derek has fun messing with Steve, like the time he declared that from now on he wanted to be known as Sean Phillips. Derek also was jealous of Steve’s co-host Buck on The Big Honkin’ Show, a podcast that they did live every Saturday morning on Usenet. Derek kept saying that he wanted to be Buck, because Buck was much cooler than him and it took much cajoling from Steve (between fits of laughter) to convince Derek that he was just as cool as Buck.

If you want to be entertained by a podcast and sometimes informed, Geek Out Loud is a safe place to geek out – indeed!

For more information on Geek Out Loud go to their web site: http://geekoutpodcast.com/

PODCAST OF THE MONTH! COMIC GEEK SPEAK!

Podcast of the Month for November 2012 is:

Comic Geek Speak!

I've been listening to Comic Geek Speak for over a year now and they are without a doubt the most informative and industrious podcast about comic books. They regularly produce three to five podcasts a week and every one of them is well worth listening to.

Once a month they go over the Previews magazine and each podcaster picks out comics, trades and other items that they think will be worth buying. I find it is helpful in finding out a few months in advance what may or may not be worth buying at the comics shop that month.

Another monthly feature is Off the Racks, in which they pick one DC, one Marvel and one or more Independent Comics to review as a group. This past month they reviewed Joe Kubert Presents #1 from DC, Uncanny Avengers #1 from Marvel, Multiple Warheads #1 from Image and Cyberforce #1 from Top Cow. Their rating system is fun and unique: They rate them BUY, BORROW or PANTS: Buy being great, Borrow being good and Pants being not so good. Pants was used to substitute Pass at some point; possibly as a joke or mispronunciation involving the moderator Brian "Pants" Christman.

Yet another regular feature is Comic Talk, which is a comics news-based episode. They discuss the latest comic book-centric news and how they think it will affect the industry. In the November 14^th episode of Comic Talk they discussed Disney's purchase of Lucasfilm and how it might affect the Star Wars movies, comics and toys; DC's upcoming Katana, Vibe and Justice League of America books; and some spoiler-filled TV talk on The Walking Dead and Arrow.

They also do regular features on important events in comics. They recently reviewed every single issue of Marvel X-men Vs. Avengers 12-issue event series; even going so far as to live stream a special podcast on the twelfth and final issue. They are currently doing a series on Marvel Now, with the latest podcast, Round Three, discussing All-New X-Men #1, Fantastic Four #1, Thor: God of Thunder #1, X-Men Legacy #1 and Avengers Assemble #9.

There is too much for me to tell about these hard working podcasters, so I’ll let them describe their podcast and themselves to you in their own words:

Comic Geek Speak (CGS) was started in March, 2005 when Bryan and Peter decided to try their hand at the then-new world of podcasting. They quickly invited their friends to join them and then the show was complete. CGS initially released one or two episodes a week, but before long they were cranking out three. Nowadays, the CGS crew produces daily episodes (Monday through Friday) ranging from regular episodes to more focused episodes, such as Footnotes, World of Toys or Exploring Bede.

CGS is far more than just a few friends in a room with microphones. CGS is now a worldwide community of comic fans that helps to foster and grow the love of comics that is vital to the industry's success. Produced by a group of life-long friends, Comic Geek Speak is a daily look at comic book history, current comic news, and a general look at the industry. Experience all the joys of a Wednesday afternoon at the comic shop, from the comfort of your own headphones.

Here are some of the fine gentlemen that regularly speak on Comics Geek Speak:

Brian Deemer

Bryan is the guy that decided to do this crazy podcast. After reading an article about podcasting in Wired magazine in February, 2005, Bryan recruited Peter to start CGS. Bryan started reading comics in 1985 after getting a copy of Groo from his friend. It wasn't long before he was reading everything in sight. He worked at his local comic shop, Golden Eagle, for a few years in college, which is where he met and befriended most of the other geeks. He's a man of many ideas, and never really knows when to quit. That's probably a good thing for CGS.

Shane Kelly

Shane Kelly is a comic book, toy-loving, Sci-Fi fanatic! Whose earliest memories are watching re-runs of the Batman 60's TV show, Star Trek and Superfriends cartoons on Saturday mornings in the late 1970s. For 25 years Shane has been reading and collecting comics starting in 1984 with GI JOE: A Real American Hero issue 21, quickly expanding to DC Comics with titles like Batman and Justice League in 1987 and Marvel with The Amazing Spider-Man. Shane has been friends with the rest of the Geeks for twelve years. When Bryan and Peter asked if he would like to join them for some comic book and toy talk on a new venture they were trying called a podcast, he jumped at the chance. Anything to hang out with friends, talk toys and comics. It has been four years of fun, opening up to new new comics that he would have never read and meeting tons of new people Shane is proud to consider friends. All through Comic Geek Speak! There is even a spin off show called World of Toys which Shane co-hosts with fellow CGS member Brian (Pants) Christman.

Jamie D

Having read comics for over 30 of his 43 years on this earth, Jamie is the elder statesman of the group. He is a Marvel boy at heart but hasn't met a comic or comic company he wouldn't try at least once. He wears his love of comics on his sleeve and champions the artform wherever and whenever possible.

Matt

Confused with 24601, Number 6, or even being associated with Comic Geek Speak at all, he's got the wit of a Web-Head and the skills, cunning, and social skills of a Dark Knight. Matt has worn several hats since he started on the show: A-Hole to some (though refreshingly honest to others), Object of focus for the Church of Mattitude, Roast Master General, and Host of alternate universe CGS (see episode 666). He's the first to add fuel to any fire and the last to back down. Prefers the Dark Knight Detective (as opposed to the Caped Crusader), the Shadow, and a feisty Black Cat. Blunt. Unapologetic. Old School (power of Pulp Comics). Carries his backbone with him at all times. Respects strength, privacy, and blunt honesty and abhors coddling. Love him...hate him...have no idea who even is: Matt will be the one giving you a back-handed compliment one minute, then watching your 6 o'clock the next. When you have a problem, and no one else can help, and you realize you're screwed either way, Matt's the guy to have at your side. Lock and load, fanboy, wimps need not apply!!

Adam "Murd" Murdough

Adam is perhaps the least talkative of the Geeks. He has been reading comics since 1991, beginning with Marvel's Infinity War, but he only recently became aware (thanks to CGS) of the benefits of discussing them with groups of friends. He has a Master's degree in Popular Culture Studies (yes, really), as part of which he wrote a thesis about Crisis on Infinite Earths; he's proficient enough in comics trivia to keep up with the Rios; and, as a distant cousin of Matt's, he can make with the witty comments sometimes. Mostly, though, he prefers to sit quietly (especially during interviews) until one of the other guys prods him to spit out some obscure fact or say something intelligent. Turn-ons include parallel universe stories, Kitty Pryde, and long walks on square planets; turn-offs include rude people and continuity violations.

Brian "Pants" Christman

Brian Christman, perhaps better known as "Pants", joined CGS in the fall of 2006. He is known for his obsession with collecting - both comics (over 17,000 books - mostly DC - going back as far as the 1950s) and comic book art (sketches of the original Batwoman and original art pages from a certain weekly book). He's also a frequent convention attendee, once going to two different shows in one day.

Comic Geek Speak’s motto is "We Are Uniting the World's Mightiest Heroes One Listener at a Time", which they end every podcast with. This speaks volumes for the energy and the positive focus they put into each and every one of their podcasts. If you are a fan of comic books or even just a casual fan of comic book based movies, you should definitely give Comic Geek Speak a listen.

To learn more about Comic Geek Speak go to their website at: http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/index.php

Or to listen to one of nearly 1400 (!) podcasts go directly to: http://www.comicgeekspeak.com/episodes.php

PODCAST OF THE MONTH! THE COMIC BOOK PODCAST|TALKING COMICS!

Podcast of the Month for August 2012 is:

The Comic Book Podcast|Talking Comics!

I listen to several different comic book podcasts every week. I enjoy listening to these – for the most part – comic book fans discuss the latest comic book news and  - more importantly – their latest favorite comic books from that week. The Comic Book Podcast posted weekly by the folks at Talking Comics is not the oldest of comic book podcasts. In fact, they have only been podcasting since October 12^th of 2011. However, they very quickly found their format, their niche, and most importantly their personality and for me that makes them one of the best comic book podcasts.

The podcast is made up of four comic book fans:

Bobby Shortle is the Editor-In-Chief of the Talking Comics website and is the Podcast Host. Bobby describes himself as having “had plenty of podcasting experience and one might even consider him a podcast guru (like the rest of the Talking Comics podcast crew).” In addition to founding and contributing to the Talking Comics web site and podcast, Bobby works on Fanboy Remix, Doctor Whocast and The Man Cave Podcast.

Stephanie Cooke is the Associate Editor/Community Manager of the Talking Comics website and is a Podcast Co-Host. Stephanie describes herself as “a lover of video games armed with a PS3, Xbox360, Nintendo Wii, PSP, and a DS as my weapons of choice. Additionally, she is an avid reader and lover of all things relating to comic books and books in general. While being a fan of so many of the platforms within the geek culture, she also loves to kick it old school with her rad collection of board games. You can always find her rocking out to her favorite music or devouring movies by the handful. Should you be lucky enough, you can also choose to marvel at her epic collections of comic book figures, movie memorabilia and more.”

Steve Seigh is the Executive Editor and is a Podcast Co-Host. Steve describes himself as “a master of video games and an avid concertgoer. He is quite possibly the male equivalent to a crazy cat lady and lives in a magical world called New York. Steve also enjoys long walks on the beach (with his cat, Moo Moo), cooking exotic pancakes and watching movies. When he’s not writing for Talking Comics, you can find him over at JoBlo.com where Steve writes a bi-weekly column all about animation called Ink & Pixel.

Bob Ryer is the resident Comic Book Historian and a Podcast Co-Host. Bob may not contribute to the web site, or participate in the other social media sites for Talking Comics. However, his comic book reading experiences go back to the early days of Marvel and DC and his ready knowledge of the history of comics is a valuable asset to the podcast.

The format for The Comic Book Podcast|Talking Comics is simple: They begin each cast with each podcaster giving their Comic Book Pick of the Week. Most times these picks consist of the latest superhero releases from Marvel or DC, but they do occasionally delve into comics published by Image, Dark Horse, IDW and comic book companies that publish non-superhero comics. Stephanie Cooke is the most ardent supporter of the “Independent” publishers and also recommends web comics from time to time.

Most often they follow this with Comic Book News, where they discus what the latest comic book stories could mean to their fellow comic book fans. In their latest podcast “Issue #43: Marvel Movie News, Marvel Now Teams and July Sales” they spent over forty-five minutes discussing the writer and artists teams that were announced for the forthcoming Marvel Now books!

They then spend time on the podcast by answering questions from listeners who send in various comics related queries via email, Facebook or Twitter. This often reveals more about the tastes of the podcasters than any other segment on the podcast.

Every podcast ends with Bobby reading all the comic book titles released during that week and his fellow podcasters are encouraged to join in with a  yeah or nay!

They also occasionally veer from their weekly format and do entire shows dedicated to specific topics or feature shows dedicated to interviews with comic book creators. On a special podcast titled “Women in Comics Podcast: Trina Robbins” from July 20, they did both. In fact, during the week of July 16 through July 20, they did four separate podcasts featuring Women in Comics and did interviews with Kelly Sue DeConnick, Fiona Staples, as well as the afore mentioned Trina Robbins.

I like this podcast because like my other favorite podcasts it feels like you are getting together with your fellow comic book fans and discussing what your latest favorite comic books are. They definitely focus on the positive side of the hobby and don’t tend to hate on things they don’t like for too long. If you are a comic book reader like me, you should definitely try The Comic Book Podcast|Talking Comics!

For more information on their podcast: http://talkingcomicbooks.com/

PODCAST OF THE MONTH! SCREEN RANT UNDERGROUND!

Podcast of the Month for July 2012 is:

Screen Rant Underground

Screen Rant Underground has quickly become my “go to” movie review podcast! It is the weekly podcast of the web site Screen Rant, an excellent TV and movie news web site in its own right.

Here is what they have to say about their Screen Rant web site:

Screen Rant had a humble start back in 2003 as a place to rant about some of the dumber stuff related to the movie industry. Although there was absolutely no plan to do anything beyond venting to a few online friends about movies, over the years the site has grown to cover more and more TV and movie news (and not just the dumb stuff) along with sometimes controversial movie reviews.

The goal here at Screen Rant is to cover stories and review movies from a middle ground/average person perspective. We try to take a common sense approach to movie and TV news: stepping back and looking at the big picture to determine whether something is a good idea… or an idiotic one.

Movie reviews are written from the point of view of “was it a fun/exciting/scary/compelling movie” instead of from some high-brow, esoteric level that only other movie critics will relate to. On the other hand a movie has to have more than just big stars and fantastic special effects to be considered great by the folks at Screen Rant.

The reason that I like their podcast so much is that their weekly schedule allows them to keep very current with all the movies that are released each week. While they don’t review every movie that comes out every week, they do review every genre movie that is released, which is what is important to me. There are four regular podcasters on every cast, which gives you a nice blend of various viewpoints on each film. While Screen Rant Underground does veer off the topic of films occasionally, they spend the vast majority of their casts on films and most importantly reviewing the movie of the week.

Their format opens with the latest movie news. They are very opinionated about their genre films and TV programs. They once spent twenty minutes talking about the photograph of the new CW Green Arrow TV show and look of The Arrow’s costume. Their second segment is Rants and Raves in which each of the podcasters talks about the films and TV shows that each of the casters has watched in the week since the last podcast. This segment allows each caster to “rave” on their favorite TV shows and movies that they may have missed on its initial theatrical release and “rant” on the ones that they didn’t like. The third segment is Box Office Battle in which each of casters must pick the Box Office results for the top five films of following weekend, with the tenth film as the tie breaker. The winner of each week is allowed to be the last person to talk about the film reviewed for that week. The final segment is the film that is reviewed for that week. Each podcaster gives his opinion of the film, without spoiling specifics of the film. The spoiler segment follows this and the casters delve deeply into the details of the film reviewed. These segments can be quite heated – especially when the casters’ opinions differ on a film – and it is these segments that usually earn their explicit tag on iTunes.

The regular casters include:

Kofi Outlaw who is originally from Philadelphia, PA but now lives in New York City. Addiction to comic books, movies and a love of writing sent Kofi to the University of Pittsburgh where he received a dual B.A. in Writing and Literature with a minor in Film Studies. More recently, Kofi received his graduate MFA in Writing from The New School. Kofi loves all kinds of films from brainless blockbusters to fancy art-house pleasers. He says that nothing really specific makes him geek out all that much.

Robert Keyes (Screen Rant‘s only Canadian writer), started writing for the site in September 2008. He was offered a writing position based on his participation on the site as a long-time commenter and story-submitter. Not long later, Rob became an Editor for the site where he helps publish the growing number of articles we write. Rob is also the Editor-in-Chief of the newly launched sister site for Screen Rant, GameRant.com which keeping in the style of the flagship site, covers video game news/previews/reviews (without the sugar coating of course). Rob is 24 years old with a Master’s Degree in Economics. He wishes to eventually mesh his business, computer, economics and finance backgrounds with his love of the media entertainment industry with hopes of a career in one of the fields down the road. (So if you work for a major studio and have an open position – contact him!). Rob is an avid viewer of all kinds of film and television and is also a big video gamer. Much of his spare time is spent with friends playing and/or watching sports and all of the entertainment forms listed above. That is, when he’s not working at his day job or the two sites.

Ben Kendrick is a graduate of the New School’s Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing program, with an emphasis in fiction. Currently, he’s nearing completion on his novel: How I Saw Myself on America’s Most Wanted and serves as an editor-at-large for the literary magazine LIT. Ben has been passionate about movies ever since standing in line for a midnight showing of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade when he was eight. As a result of his background in creative writing, Ben is drawn to films that make story and character a priority; however, that never stops him from enjoying a range of Hollywood offerings – from blockbuster action flicks to campy so-bad-they’re-good B-movies. He’s also an avid gamer and is a regular contributor at Screen Rant’s sister site, Game Rant. Visit Ben’s website if for no other reason than to get a better sense of the conditions under which he was conceived.

Anthony Ocasio is Screen Rant’s television editor, and gets yelled at by fans of every television show on the air. It’s not his fault that “your favorite show is terrible.”

Between the great personalities and their passionate opinions, Screen Rant Underground makes for a fun and exciting listen. If you are a movie fan and a genre movie fan in particular, you should definitely give Screen Rant Underground a listen.

You can find out more about Screen Rant Underground at: http://screenrant.com/podcasts/

PODCAST OF THE MONTH - SCI-FI SATURDAY NIGHT

Podcast of the Month for May 2012 is:

Sci-Fi Saturday Night

Sci-Fi Saturday Night is a sometimes weekly podcast that is broadcast “live” on Ustream every Thursday night at 8pm. This sometimes irreverent and oftentimes explicit podcast is a stream-of-conscious and a ostentatiously science fiction-centric podcast that talks about all things sci-fi. This multiple-person podcast discusses sci-fi news, books, movies, TV shows and conventions. There is also almost always a special guest that is also the featured interview of the week. The format is very loose – to put it politely – but the crazy group of podcasters usually begin with the news, then they segue into whatever subject that they are most interested in that particular week.

The podcast is hosted by The Dome, who founded SFSN as a radio show on a certain network which will not be named, along with former co-host Mr. K. His likes include “Anything with Busty Women, Harley Quinn, artists and writers. The rest of the cast include Kiriana, who is in charge of the soundboard and who’s real job is as a biologist currently working out of Boston. Illustrator X is an artist who drew all the art on the podcast’s website and is a huge comic book geek. AwakeByJava is the resident sci-fi TV show expert and both loves and hates Syfy programing. The Dead Redhead is a huge horror movie fan and George Romero in particular. Zombrarian is the post editor and resident grammar zombie, who enjoys all kinds of books and curling up with her undead kitties. Dru Silla, R Daneel Olivaw, Winter is coming, Samantha B and Amandatron3000 all show up at irregular times to add their brand of madness.

What I like about Sci-Fi Saturday Night is that, for me, it is a local podcast as all of the podcasters are residents of the New England area. What makes that fun for me is that their news and interviews will feature things that are important to the New England area. They are the official podcast of the Boston Comic Con and do extensive interviews from that convention. Their interviews are often informal, but not irreverent. Recent interview guests have included author Norman Spinrad and comic book artist/writer Kevin Eastman.

If you want to find out more about Sci-Fi Saturday Night go to: http://www.scifisaturdaynight.com/

PODCAST OF THE MONTH! TUNING IN TO SCIFI TV!

Podcast of the Month for April 2012 is:

 

Tuning in to SciFi TV

The following is from their "about the show" page on their web site:

In this podcast Wendy, Kevin and Brent will talk about many of the SciFi and genre shows that are currently on TV. We’ll also discuss good shows from the past as well.

Think of us as the viewer’s digest, tour guides or sherpas for the genre rather than critics.   We’ll always share our honest opinions but we also plan to keep things fun.

Since everyone has a different viewing pace we’ll structure our episodes into segments.

The Watercooler segment is where we have some general non-spoilery discussions about different things going on in the genre and other topics that we think you’ll find interesting.

The Back Porch is where we kick back and start talking details about certain shows or topics. This segment could be about any show, any episode or any plot line. We’ll be sure to tell you which shows we will be discussing in the show notes on our blog and also in the comments on the MP3 file so you can choose to skip that segment in case you’re not caught up on that TV show quite yet.

We do weekly Tuner Minutes where the crew comments on whatever is on their mind and invites listeners to share their thoughts in the forum or by dropping us a voicemail.

Most weeks we’ll also release a Last Call segment, which is a place where we just ramble about things we couldn’t fit into the regular show.

Wendy

Wendy Hembrock, Brent Barrett, and Kevin Bachelder are the three regular hosts and each of them has enough variations of personal taste that you get a nice balance of opinions on the various genre shows that are currently on the air. One of my favorite things about Tuning into SciFi TV is that they review all the new episodes of each week of Television every week! This is quite an accomplishment when you think of how many sci-fi, fantasy and horror shows are currently on broadcast, cable and premium cable TV.

Every regular episode starts with the The Watercooler segment in which the three hosts review every genre TV show and rate it with a simple comment of: watch it now, watch it soon, let it sit on the DVR or you can skip it. They cover all genre programs even including animated programs and fringe shows like Community. This segment isn’t very useful until you listen to the podcast for a while and get to know what the personal tastes of each host are. When you know what shows they love and what type of shows they dislike, then their simple rating system does help to judge the quality of individual episodes. One of the running gags of this segment is that Kevin doesn’t watch any animated shows and Brent and Wendy sometimes act in mock surprise when Kevin gives his obligatory “Not watching” for shows like Young Justice, Green Lantern and The  Avengers.

Brent

The middle segment of the show is a news piece. This part of the show is very loose and they not only cover different pieces of news that have come out in the past week, but they comment on interviews they’ve read, or other interesting promotional materials for their favorites shows that are currently airing. This segment also includes listener feedback and Wendy, Kevin and Brent always comment on the opinions of the listeners. This segment is also very spoiler sensitive; so whichever host is reading the news always warns the listener if they think something is spoilerific or not.

Last Call segment is uploaded as a separate episode and with good reason. They discuss in explicit detail specific episodes. If you haven’t yet watched the episode of the genre TV show that they are discussing, you don’t want to listen to Last Call. At the very  least you want to skip over the episodes that they discuss that you haven’t yet seen.

Kevin

If you love genre TV and watch as much of it as I do, you’ll love Tuning in to SciFi TV. Even if you only watch a few genre shows, Tuning in to SciFi TV is a good way of learning about shows that you may want to try out.

If you want to go to their web site and check out some of their podcasts, go to this link: http://tuningintoscifitv.com/

PODCAST OF THE MONTH! GEEK’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY!

This is the first of what I hope will be many more features on my favorite podcasts!

Wikipedia defines podcast as: A type of digital media consisting of an episodic series of files (either audio or video) subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication. The word is a neologism [a newly coined term, word, or phrase, that may be in the process of entering common use] derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as podcasts are often listened to on portable media players.

I have been listening to podcasts for many years now. I first began listening to podcasts on my computer on their websites’ MP3 players. The first such podcast I remember listening to this way was Slice of SciFi back in March of 2007, when they interviewed Amanda Tapping and Damian Kindler on the then Web series Sanctuary.

It wasn’t until I was given a “hand-me-down” iPhone 3GS that I became fully immersed in the world of podcasting. Thanks to the ease of the iTunes interface and being able to subscribe to podcasts, I now listen to about twenty different podcasts a week; with subjects ranging from Sci-Fi Television to Comic Books. If you have a favorite genre interest – be it a particular TV show or type of film or comic books or just fannish stuff in general – there is a podcast on that subject!

Podcast of the Month for March 2012 is:

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy!

The following is from their "about the show" page on their web site:

Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is an interview/talk show hosted by editor John Joseph Adams (Wastelands, The Living Dead) and author David Barr Kirtley (New Voices in Science Fiction, Fantasy: The Best of the Year). Each episode features an interview with a leading figure in the world of science and science fiction, followed by a discussion of science fiction books, movies, video games, and more.

Guests include novelists such as George R. R. Martin (A Game of Thrones), Charlaine Harris (the Sookie Stackhouse/True Blood series), Chuck Palahniuk (Fight Club), William Gibson (Neuromancer), Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay), Orson Scott Card (Ender’s Game), China Miéville (Perdido Street Station), and R. A. Salvatore (The Dark Elf Trilogy), as well as filmmakers such as Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) and Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me), comic book writers such as Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) and Chris Roberson (Superman), video game designers such as Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island) and Chet Faliszek (Left 4 Dead), science writers such as P. W. Singer (Wired for War) and Mary Roach (Stiff), and scientists such as Neil deGrasse Tyson (Nova scienceNOW) and Richard Dawkins (The God Delusion).

Season One (2010) was produced for Tor.com, the website of a major science fiction book publisher. Season Two (2011) was produced for io9.com, a science fiction and futurism website owned by Gawker Media. Season Three (2012) is currently being produced for Wired.com, the website of the popular tech magazine Wired.

If you are looking for professionally and impartially executed interviews of writers of books, television and film, then Geek’s Guide to the Galaxy is an exceptional podcast to start with. Most podcasts run at about one hour, with the first half-hour being dedicated to the featured writer for that episode and then the second half-hour usually features hosts John Joseph Adams and David Barr Kirtley talking about other media events related to the author or subject featured in the first half of the program.

An excellent example of this is episode #55 [posted February 29, 2012] that featured an interview with Michael Chabon, the author of Wonder Boys and The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, who discussed working for Disney and writing the screenplay [with director/co-writer Andrew Stanton and co-writer Mark Andrews] for the 2012 movie John Carter. In the second half-hour John and David, who are knowledgeable authors/editors and Burroughs-philes in their own rite, give a detailed and very opinionated review of the John Carter film, from the perspective of two men who have read the entire series of books about John Carter. One fascinating thing I found out about their review is that the many inconstancies between the books and the movie were received both positively and negatively by the podcasting duo.

If you want to listen to their podcast review of John Carter yourself, go to this link: http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/03/michael-chabon-geeks-guide-galaxy. If you want to go to their web site and check out some of their other podcasts, go to this link: http://geeksguideshow.com/

ELVIRA - SLICED!

It has been a wicked long time since the freaky one - yours truly - has listened to his favorite podcast, Slice of SciFi, on the Internets. Believe it or not, winter has finally split from New England and I’ve been out cleaning up the mess outside around the old laboratory. Unlike Zombzany, who has his zombie minions to maintain his cemetery, I have to do all the dirty work myself.  Long story short: I haven’t spent as much time with my favorite Internet programs or podcasts, because I’ve been outside.

Much to my surprise, one of Slice of SciFi’s more recent podcasts had an interview with Cassandra Peterson; more famously known as Elvira! The Slicers didn’t know a whole lot about her newest version of Elvira’s Movie Macabre and Cassandra even joked a bit about that; mentioning that was because Movie Macabre was running on TV in their area at 3 AM. Here is a link to Slice of SciFi, episode #316 with the interview with Cassandra Peterson:

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2011/05/21/slice-of-scifi-316/  If you want to skip ahead, her interview begins at the 31:40 mark.

For those wondering why you haven’t been able to watch Elvira’s Movie Macabre, you can check out the listings of all the affiliates that carry THIS TV in the United States on my post here:

http://guardiansofthegenre.blogspot.com/2010/10/elvira-missing-no-longer-heads-up.html

SLICE OF SCI FI - PODCAST - INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR PAUL W. S. ANDERSON

SLICE OF SCI FI - PODCAST

INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR PAUL W. S. ANDERSON

One of my favorite podcasts that I still listen to on a regular basis is Slice of SciFi.

Here is their About Us from their web site:

Slice of SciFi originally began as the voice of the SAVE ENTERPRISE campaign of Spring 2005, when loyal Star Trek fans rallied to the cause of saving a cancelled “Star Trek: Enterprise” series, and garner it a previously highly-anticipated 5th season. When that campaign fell on deaf Paramount ears, despite its success in generating fan support and unprecedented fan funding, Slice of SciFi continued to support the Star Trek fan base that had provided its starting point, but branched out into the wider arena of science fiction, fantasy and horror media: television, film, comics, and new media such as fan films, audio dramas, online animated comics and more.

The show was so popular, and garnered so much fan feedback that eventually, it was necessary to spin off the Voicemail Show, dedicated just to fan feedback, in order to keep the original show from consistently hitting running times of 90 minutes or more! Both Slice of SciFi and its companion Voicemail Show are fan favorites, and appeal to SF media geeks of all ages.

The funny, irreverent but always relevant discussion from show hosts Michael R. Mennenga, Summer Brooks and Brian Brown always make for lively entertainment. Interviews with today’s top stars and genre production professionals, such as Ira Steven Behr, Walter Koenig, Jim Butcher, Samuel L. Jackson, Katee Sackhoff and an array of other top names in show business, are always on the cutting edge and timely.

In December 2005, Slice of SciFi made the jump to broadcast, finding an additional home on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 163, and bringing the show to a broad new fan base at the same time. In December 2007 Slice of SciFi became part of the growing Sirius Satellite Radio family of programming, and can now also be heard on Sirius Channel 117.

The Slice of SciFi website doubles as an online news magazine (ezine), lead for nearly 4 years by the now retired Samuel K. Sloan, and currently headed up by Michael Hickerson who continues to manage a team of reporters dedicated to bringing fans the latest news and developments in SF television and film, in science, technology, space exploration, and more, while the shows themselves focus on featured news from that week, plus interviews with actors, producers, directors and others who create the shows we love to watch and the technology that we marvel at.

The reason I wanted to share Slice of SciFi with you,, is that the September 11 podcast featured an interview with the director of Resident Evil: Afterlife - Paul W. S. Anderson. In the interview, he gives some very good reasons for why he shot the new Resident Evil movie in 3D and why he (like James Cameron) thinks that 3D is the "next step" in the evolution of film. In my review of Resident Evil: Afterlife, I attempted to explain why my experiencing the new 3D process was important and I think Mr. Anderson does a wicked good job of explaining this as well.

If you don't want to listen to the entire Slice of SciFi podcast, the Anderson interview comes in at about 31 minutes into the podcast.

http://www.sliceofscifi.com/2010/09/11/slice-of-scifi-282/