Within the last few years podcasting has grown in leaps and bounds. There are podcasts for every interest under the sun. Whether it be automotive, hobbies, pop culture, politics, or your mom, there is something for everyone. Go to iTunes and go to Podcasts and then do a search on whatever you fancy....BLAM! You'll find dozens of shows to choose from. It is the new wild west of New Media.
Obviously geek culture has more than just made its presence known in the podcasting world. The podcasts that cover the topics of the fantastical number in the thousands. Star Trek, Star Wars, Firefly, D&D, Video Games as well as Ghost Hunting are all strongly represented in the podcast realms. It's probably a small part of the reason I've been sorrily neglecting my blog this year.
As you know, I've gone and bought myself an iPhone and spend a little too much time on it than I should. The iPhone has been my introduction to iTunes and other media related programing. iTunes brought me the wonderful world of geek podcasts that occupy a good dose of my time.
There was a time that I had my own Podcast, Zangz's Pod of Geekdom. It was started back in the day when Podcasting was just starting to get really popular. If you get a chance to listen to the shows you'll see they are a wonderful documentation of the progression of a fledgling podcast.
We started out trying to use Skype that worked like pure crapolla on a dial up modem (Yep. I'm pretty low tech). Then we moved on by using telephones as microphones as the producer recorded remotely from his home fifty some odd miles away. We then found room in my producer's dad's office and I ended up recording in a broom closet there for sound buzzing issues. I was the idea guy who came up with most of the creative concepts of the shows and outlined them. Double-A-Man was the tech guru and producer who handled the engineering and all technical aspects of the show. As time went on the podcasts actually started to sound pretty darn professional. Especially when I'd get friends in round table discussions.
Sadly, logistics and problems with scheduling people and getting others involved proved to be the demise of Zangz's Pod of Geekdom. It would be great if one day we could resurrect The Pod of Geekdom, but we'd have a hell of a lot of competition.
There are a plethora of Podcasts that do Geekiness far better than I ever could. Here are a few that I follow regularly and urge you all to follow as well.
(Before you go downloading some of these, please realize that podcasts, thankfully, aren't censored. Free speech, baby! Might you have younglings in listening vicinity, you may want to use a headset. Many of these podcasts use adult language. You have been warned!)
Dovahkiin: An Elder Scrolls V Podcast - I nearly crapped myself with happiness when Todd Howard and his crew at Bethesda Games announced that the next Elder Scrolls open ended RPG video game, Skyrim, would be coming out on 11-11-11. Apparently I wasn't alone with the sudden case of happiness crapposity. These Elder Scrolls fans put together their own podcast that chronicles the progression of the coming video game. They also reveal any and all hints at what we might expect from the game. The faux background noises make it sound as though they are recording from one of the many pubs in the game world. Clever. They haven't updated in a few months and I'm hoping that is due to them being busy in the summer. With luck they'll be back in the fall with more info on what is to be one of the most epic games ever made.
Critical Hit: A Dungeons and Dragons Podcast - What's better than sitting down and playing a pencil and paper RPG with real, tangible polyhedral dice? How about listening to a bunch of guys playing one. The world famous RPG, Dungeons and Dragons, get the digitally live treatment as we get to hear D&D game sessions being played by a bunch of gamers. Sounds too geeky for you? Give it a try and lose yourself in their game world.
The Game Informer Show - Being a very choosey video game player, I have to have a good idea of what a game has to offer before I dump $60 on it. This is why I subscribe to Game Informer Magazine. It helps me navigate through what I might find fun or what I need to avoid. The magazine has its own podcast that features editors and writers from the mag putting their two cents on everything from reviews to previews of games as well as the state of the business side of the gaming industry.
The Geekbox Radio Podcast - Definitely one of my favorites of the bunch. This is usually a roundtable discussion on the past week's geeky happenings. Video games, genre TV shows and movies are bandied about between a round table of gamers and genre fans. I love the casualness of this one. It mirrors what me and my geek friends would talk about if we were all sitting around shootin' the dren.
SuperGeeks Podcast - If you can stomach the often cheesy opening skit's goofball humor, you'll be treated to wealth of comic book movie knowledge. All things Superhero-tastic on the big screen are discussed in this little gem of a show. It's quite obvious these guys have a mad love for comic book inspired movies and TV shows.
20 Sides of Nerd - This podcast reviews both video and role playing games as well as getting into a lot of reviews on up and coming technology.
The Nerdist Podcast - Rarely do I keep a podcast saved to my iPhone after I've listened to it once. I usually delete it and download the latest in the series. Not so, with The Nerdist. I currently have 14 episodes of the show saved to my phone. Even though I've listened to each one more than once, I find myself going back and listening to them again and again. Comedian Chris Hardwick (Singled Out, Web Soup, Attack of the Show) and his buddies take a improvisational comedy, roundtable approach and seamlessly mesh it with tons of nerd sensibility. Dare I say it, they almost make being a nerd or a geek hip.
Whether they have celebrity guests or are just chatting with eachother, I have found myself laughing out load with my earphones on. In fact I was mowing my mom's lawn the other day while listening to The Nerdist when I looked up and saw a passerby look at me like I was out of my mind. It was then I realized that I was laughing my ass off out loud. Then there are the guests! They get a whole cornucopia of interesting people that cover stand up comedians to genre celebrities. From Patton Oswalt to Neil Gaiman, from Matt Smith to Kevin Smith, from Craig Ferguson to Nathan Fillion. They all show up in one cast or the other. This is the podcast I highly recommend over all others!
There are a few more I've downloaded, but haven't checked out yet. I'll let you all know how they are once I have given them a listen.
So, there you have it. Start downloading these beauties onto whatever mobile media player you carry.
Until next time, stay verticle!
Zangz.
