In this day where everyone has either an ipod, ipod touch, some sort of mp3 player, or even (gasp!) one of those crappy phones, one of the most underappreciated forms of entertainment is the podcast. Working nights has opened me up to the world of podcasts and I listen to a bunch of them all the time. So much so, that whenever I am in my car I am listening to them as well. Below I have listed all the podcasts that the Geek is listening to and some info about them as well.

The instance Podcast:

This is probably my favorite podcast I have on my ipod. Scott Johnson and Randy Jordan, talk each week about World of Warcraft. This also might be the most popular podcast in the WoW universe if not the world (and no I am not kidding). These guys do an amazing job on the podcast, have great rapor and I oftn wish they were twice a week rather then once. The only downfall to me is I have no grown tired of the extra content after the show is over. The mashups and songs are great but the “humor” segments from longtime contributors has just worn a bit thin to me. Funny the 1st few times but just a bit stale and dull now. BUT this does not take away from the podcast as a whole at all.

Wow insider show.This show is made by the guys over at WoW.com.  It’s hosted by Mike Sacco and Matt Rossi and is a close second on my favorites list.  Every week they bring news that is relevant to the WoW community, answer questions, and cover the most popular post from WoW.com from the past week. I am a huge fan of their site as a whole. Granted I am not a crazy theory crafter to the extent of knowing everything from the  formula for armor pen rating to the best shammy raid spec, but I do appreciate the amount of info on WoW.com. No matter how many alts or what you like in the game from Raiding to PVP to crafting to the auction house, the site has something for you. In adition to all that these guys know their stuff as well and have great sense of humor about the game. Rossi is a tank nut and a lore-head, and Sacco is a great host and regularly brings in other columnists from the site.

PC Gamer podcast. Shifting gears a bit to computer gaming is this awesome podcast from the producers of the PC Gamer magazine. It’s got a bigger group of guys on it and they regularly rotate hosts which keeps the tempo fresh. What’s great about this podcast is that each member of the cast has a liking for different types of games. From FPS, MMO, RTS and yes even facebook games, there is a nice wide variety of likes and dislikes among the hosts. This keeps it nice and fresh and makes sure it’s not just a love fest for all the popular games out there. If you like PC gaming and want the freshest and latest info, and some good entertainment, this is a must listen to.

The Pulp Gamer Network. Shifting gears yet again, I greatly look forwad to listening to this collection of podcasts as well. Granted I have to admit I have not listened to all 7+ podcasts they offer but I do regularly listen to a few. The first is The Game Kennel. Each one of these 15-20 min episodes the hosts cover a new board (or card) game. It’s a great overview of the game. One host explains the game (how it’s played, what’s in the box, how long it takes to play etc) and the other host will ask questions concerning the game. They do a good job giving overviews of each game they cover but don’t ramble on and on about it either. A nice happy balance. If there is a game you are looking for it’s easy to browse thru the itunes library to see if they have covered it.  Next is Out Of Character. OOC is more of a round table format where a group of hosts discuss a variety of table top gaming topics. Mostly centered on board gaming, and role-playing games, and news from the industry. The hosts are from the industry and bloggers and have a great banter each episode. If there is a negative to this podcast, it’s that lately they have been a bit short (20-30 mins) and just feels rushed. This one is best when it’s in the 60min + range and everyone can just banter away and get off track. That’s really when it gets good b/c they bring up even more games to talk about and give us opinions and stories about the games.

Finally is a recent addition to the pulpgamer lineup, Fear the Boot.  I have been listening to this podcast for some time now, from even before they became part of the pulpgamer network. It’s more of a pen and paper role playing podcast for those who play that style of game. What I really like about the show isChad, Dan,Pat,Chris and Wayne regularly have episodes which revolve around specific tips and advice for the players as well as the game-masters. Since I don’t have a gaming group at the moment I enjoy this podcast to listen to these guys and how they go back and forth about their own gaming as well as the main subjects. They host their own little Convention as well “fear the con” which I hope to someday have the time to get to as well. 

With the quality of content of the other podcasts I am sure the rest of the shows are just as good. These include; Family Night, D6 Generation, and The Game’s the Thing. A great hub for a bunch of reat shows!

Casualy Hardcorevia Vs the world productions. When I first started listening to the Casual crew they were exclusively a WoW podcast. Since then they have expanded on their format to include other gaming, movies, books and the usual tangent segment which is about anything they want.  The hosts are Gnomewise, Iolite, Gwenora, Daksa, and Grail 2 couples and a friend of theirs.  It’s a longer show (usually right around 2 hours) but it never seems drawn out. It’s broadcast live on their site each sunday and they also have a gathering in game as well when they are on the air. A good natured intelligent group, Gnome is constantly playing drop ins (recorded soundbytes from movies, tv etc) which if he’s in the right mood can get a bit annoying but that’s a bit rare and as with alot of the shows I like, if that’s the worst thing about it, I can live with that. I do love that they seem to have A LOT of the same likes as the GeekJock which is all over the map, and geek culture, so again I highly recommend this podcast.

The Last Show I want to talk about today is actually a MUSIC show (go figure something different).  It’s called Coverville and it’s made by Brian Ibbot. A few times a week he produces a show which centers exclusively around covers of songs. He usually has about 6 songs per show and generally has a theme to his shows. Since he’s so good at rounding up these songs I often hear covers I have never heard before and he often finds GREAT selections. The only downside? Well after listening to this show you will probably want to go to itunes and spend some money on the songs you have heard!

Well I hope if you have a listening device which you can get podcasts that you check out some of the ones I mentioned above. There is something for just about anyone out there, well anyone who would like to visit the GeekJock regularly. If you have some other podcasts you like please let me know so I can enjoy them as well. Thanks and enjoy your weekend!

Typically this time of the summer is when the free agent signings start to straggle a bit. This year is no different really.  What we still do have are a few outstanding stories.

Kovalchuck watch is still on: I don’t know if he just likes being on the front page of every hockey site or is just holding out for as much as he can get, but Kovy just won’t sign. The Kings, where I keep reading he wants to go, keep flip flopping on if they are in or if they are out.  I think they are trying to use the fact he wants to be there for their own good and get him as cheap as possible. The Devils on the other had keep steady with the rumor of 7 years 60 million. That would mean the delay with them is also looking for trading partners to lose some salary. The only thing is certain is the Isles appear to be out of the Kovy circus. Which is fine with me. I had been wavering back and forth like I mentioned, but I think it’s best he won’t be on the island. He’s a selfish player both on and off the ice and that stuff might fly if you are a Ranger it doesn’t fly as much as an Islander. Let them get a few vets in the team and let them mingle with the kids. (more on the vets later).

Frolov– Will he stay or will he go??:  Prob the # 2 FA out there right now (In most people’s eyes) is Alexander Frolov. However, like another Russian we know he seems to want his cake and eat it too. He recently stated if he doesn’t sign in a week he will go to the KHL. He made 4 million last year which is WAY overpriced for a guy who only managed 19 goals inthe regular season and all of ONE in the playoffs. He’s not going to get 4 mil right now from a smart team and his crying won’t sit with older guys on teams. He might just end up in the KHL. Buh Bye.

Plenty of Free Agents andVets available for a decent price:  Looking at the list of guys available I see A LOT of bargain players who can really help a team (Especially my Canes and Isles).

Center:  Mike Modanno sticks out to me the most. Key is, what is he asking? I can see him looking to sign for 1.5-2 mil on a good team to try and get one more chance at a cup.  Other names available still are —>  John Madden, Jason Williams, Brendon Morrison, Eric Belanger. All of which should go for less then or equal to 2 mil a season.

Left Wing: Other then Frolov, here we have a bunch of guys who were all a bit overpaid last year. I think they might all be waiting to see who is the high bidder before making a decision. These include—> Slava Kozlov (3.85 mil last year???), Raffi Torres (2.75) , Frerick Modin (3.5), Paul Kariya (6.0) and Alex Ponikorovsky (2.5).  At this point I don’t see any of these guys worth more then 2.5-3.0 even Kariya, who is a big name but hasn’t scored more then 20 goals in 4 years. Look for the down free agent spending to keep these guys low too.

Right Wing: This is an interesting position b/c there hasn’t been alot of movement here at all. A ton of guys remain. The two names who will prolly draw in the 4 mil range are Lee Stempniak and Pavol Demitra.  Demitra might be a stretch b/c he didn’t play a whole lot last year but he still is a sniper that someone might want. Stempniak can be a bonafide 30-40 goal scorer on the right team. Whats left over is a bunch of suitable guys who might bring in 2-3.0 mil  —> Marek Svatos, Fernando Pisani, Owen Nolan, Bill Guerrin, Scott Walker, and of course Selanne who might just give it one more shot with the Ducks.

Defense: Most of the big names are gone. There are a couple of decent guys looking for work Randy Jones, MArk-Andre Bergeron, Paul Mara, Garnet Exelby but for the most part what is left is a bunch of guys I think will stay with their old clubs for slight raises and then some Vets looking for one more year. The one big name that I haven’t hear much about and am curious as to what he does is Kim Johnnson. He suffered a nasty concussion and I am not sure if he comes back or not.  Some of the guys I think will staywith their former team are: Nick Boyntin (Ana), Andreas Lilja (Det), Lukas Krajicek (Phil), Garnet Exelby (Tor), Willie Mitchell/ Brad Lukowich (van), and Shaone Morrison (Was).   Now it’s entirely possible these guys go elsewhere it’s just too hard to predict with no real buzz out there about D men other then who might end up with Tomas Kaberle in a trade.

However, we do has some Veteran D-men looking for some work. Most I think will sign for cheap (1-2 mil?) or hope for that one last cash in contract for more—> Jason Smith, Aaron Ward, Mathieu Schneider (at 40 I doubt it), Ruslan Salei, Andy Sutton, Mike Rathje, Brian Pothier.

Goalies: These guys went pretty quick this summer.First we have 2 legit starters who haven’t found a home yet. Marty Turco (33) and Vesa Toskala (32) are both guys who can still play and both should be starting somewhere. I think a playoff type team who needs some stronger goaltending will snatch up one of these guys with another possibly having to settle for a platoon situation somewhere.   What we have left is Jose Theodore, who just isn’t a starter anymore, and couple of pure backups in Stephen Valiquette, and Yann Danis. Danis showed he can post some good save % as a backup and that is pretty valuable, but he’s just not a # 1.  And finally there’s Ray Emery. There is a distinct possibilty that the abdominal injury he suffered last year could be enough to force him to retire. Good luck in the rehab but the constant injuries might be too much for him to come back from this time.

That’s about it for now, stay tuned never know what the GeekJock will write about next!

Yep, it’s that time of year again. Time for another season of THE GUILD! The best web show returned today with a great episode. Can’t wait to see what is in store for this season.

If you are new to the show please check out www.watchtheguild.com and check out all the previous seasons. It’s well written and very funny. And check out Felicia Day’s Video for Do you want to date my avatar on youtube as well. Classic!

Grown Ups (2010 102mins). (Sandler, K. James,C. Rock, Schneider, D. Spade) 

On Friday Mrs GeekJock and I got a chance to have an afternoon date to go hit the real movies. Something which I always love to do since we are both movie nuts, and we have similar tastes in movies (which generally means we both like mainstream movies and blockbusters. Also she puts up with Sci-Fi and Fantasy, and I put up with Rom-Coms).  This time we got to see Grown Ups, the ensemble flick with Sandler and his croonies. I had a feeling that this was going to be a funny movie and good to watch b/c I had read how much fun everyone had on set together and that they all just loved to cut up around each other. They did not let me down. It was funny from start to finish, had some heart, and most importantly really reminded me of what it was like growing up on Long Island with a great tight nit group of guys.

    Like anyone who is in their mid 30’s, we have grown up watching Sandler go from a guy on MTV’s orig gameshow Remote Control, to being on SNL, to having a bunch of great movies (Happy Gilmore, Billy Madison, Mr.Deeds, The Wedding Singer), and a couple of stinkers—> I’m looking at you Waterboy! But in every good movie he is in, he just seems to come across as a good guy, who is a good friend.  Grown Ups takes us to 30 years after a group of boys win a city basketball championship, to now when they are getting together to go to the funeral of their old Coach.  The camaraderie that ensues and how everyone gets along reminds me of when I visit home and am able to get together with some of the old gang I ran with when we were growing up. Not to mention how we were always quoting and watching Sandler’s movies all the time. That’s the beauty of the movie. It not only makes you laugh at the jokes and gags which are all hilarious, but it gives you a warm fuzzy feeling inside remembering the old days and how great they were. Where some sad movies make you want to call your parents to say “I Love You” b/c of some sappy ending or make you squeeze your kids or spouse closer, this one gets you wanting to pick up the phone and call that childhood best friend that we all had and most of us just haven’t “gotten around” to calling in what seems like a week, but in reality it could be 1-2 years. That’s the real success here. Movies are good for the feelings they leave you with. The take away feeling if you will. And if a movie manages to do this then it has succeeded in that area.

    I fully enjoyed the parts of the movie where the 5 of them were together and just getting on one another, joking in one way or another or just pulling off the usual sight gags. But you get the real sense that these guys must have had a blast making this movie and it shows in the product. I can live with some corniness and how Sandler has to manage to get the same 4-5 people in every one of his movies in some way or another. It’s a mindless comedy, with a small message, but just watch and enjoy.

Verdict—- Well worth the price of admission. See it now or when its out on DVD, but def a must see.

Well like I had predicted, after the crazy amount of screaming from blizz. They have said that showing your real name on the official forums will NOT be mandatory. It’s a good thing they did this for PR sake I guess. Again I didn’t care but I think it saved them alot of hastle they didn’t need down the road by doing this.

Last week or so the NDA was lifted on the Cataclysm Beta for WoW and we were blessed with all sorts of Cata info goodness. That was the good part. This week is a bit more controversial.

The first bomb they dropped on us was that when you post on the official forums it will be using your battle.net login which uses the REAL ID system and thus it will display your real name as the poster. You can opt to have it ALSO show one of your character names but your real name is a must.  For those of you that are unfamiliar with REALid, it’s Blizzard’s cross game chat program which will show you if and when your friends are playing other bliz games (connected via battle.net). You can also have status things up like in alot of social media like facebook that your friends can see. When you are friends with someone who has accepted your REALid request you will see their real name displayed with toon names next to it to see as well.  This is a decent thing as a whole and hey it works well for things like XBOX live,steam  and such but not with real names. This has only raised some flags with the ingame names showing real names b/c for the most part those people who you want as REALid friends you know their names anyway.

   The REAL problem here is the whole forum posts thing. People in the last 2 days are extremely livid. For the most part they simply do not want their real name in the forums for the world to see. Blizz had orig put their blue poster’s real name as well, but quickly took that back (I have seen posts going back and forth today with them saying no real names for blues and then yes its ok but I think they will ultimately make it so you cannot see blue posters real name).  Personally, I don’t really care much about the forums. Sure I have posted in the past and don’t mind it much, but if my real name will be there and not any sort of avatar name then I just won’t be posting there again until it changes. No harm, no foul. I just won’t post on there. I won’t quit the game over it like thousands CLAIM they will be doing, I think that’s a bit extreme to me. In the same vein I think you won’t ever see the famous people who love and play the game ever posting either. They might have been real active in the past, but not now.

    One thing I tweeted about briefly and believe to be true is, this should cut down on forum trolls some. I don’t think people will as likely to post  nasty flame wars if it’s their real name being posted under. In the same breath I don’t think there will be as many spammers and key logger posts as well. This might ultimately be one of the good things and reasons why they have done this. However, as crazy people have gotten about facebook privacy, I think eventually Blizzard will give in and remove this thing from their public official forums. It’s just bad business to plaster real names all over the place.

OK on to some Cataclysm news. I want to say this is good news but I am torn a bit on this one as well.  Today blizz blue poster Zarhym posted about the vast changes to the talent tree makeup. The trees will be cut down to 31 point talents as max, as opposed to 51 point talents which are there now. Another thing is that at level 10 when you put in your 1st talent point you will be locked into that tree for the full 31 points. Once there (now level 70 more on that later), you can then put points into another tree. Also they are streamlining how talent points and skills are given out. Every level you will get either a talent point or new/leveled up skills. And these will alternate. Thus this means that level 7o is when you will be able to delve into a 2nd tree. They are not changing anything about if you can dual spec or anything so this helps too. So not a whole lot is changing they just want you to get to that last big tallent first. And they have also said they want some early talents to be bigger and mean more. So look for some bigtime tree staples to come earlier in the tree. Examples given were dual wielding pretty much right away for Warrior and Shamen in those specific trees. Trying to give you something that defines you as that spec right away. (Fine with me I like that aspect)

    This is all going back to how blizz is trying to make talents more fun and less passive. They have been saying forever they want to have less cookie cutter talent spec’s that you HAVE TO have to succeed. They want people to be able to do what  they want for the most part with their talent points. I agree with this in theory, but I think that when you cut out talents and points given you are cutting out the ones you can free form and don’t need to succeed. I am real torn in a few ways on all of this. I think that by definition, the less points you have available they less variability you can make. I think we will still see a ton of cookie cutter specs you have to have.  However with them changing so much they might be able to pull it off. Gone is alot of the + 2/4/6% type talents which are seen as, and really are, just boring. Staying will be the fun ones as they say, which I am guessing are all the ones which grant you skills themselves (see wyvern sting, readiness).

    I will keep ultimately positive tho. The last time they completely re-did the trees (either before Lich King or BC or prolly both I can’t remember but one of them was pretty drastic) they worked out great IMO so I will just have to trust blizzard here and say they will make it work. BUT and a big BUT, a thing that keeps driving me crazy is we keep seeing things they are changing and implementing now. If you are putting it in now how far will that push back the release of Cataclysm? We REALLY need to have this in our hands before Blizz-con. I say this again both as a huge WoW fan and a Stock holder. You can simply kill blizz con if the main things you cover are starcraft 2 and Cataclysm (AGAIN). Granted I say Kill, but realistically that thing will sell out in 10 seconds next year no matter what happens this year. I am just one of the guys who wants more new stuff just not a convention of the same old same old. And unfortunately NO I am not going this year. No Tixx I will just have to watch the coverage on all the internet outlets.

Untill more info is out…. Happy Hunting my WoW friends!

Yep, that’s right I am actually happy about 1 of the signings this year for the Canes. Why is this a surprise? Well, normally when the Canes decide to bring back a former Cane, it’s a terrible deal (See Babchuk, Erik Cole). Sometimes tho it is not, such as today’s re-signing of Joe Corvo (also good re-aquires being Matt Cullen, and Aaron Ward <— You can fight me on that one but it was the right deal at the time no doubt about it).

    Not only did the Canes bring Corvo back but they did it for a good price.  Two years at 4.5 mil is a fair price for a top 4 D man who has shown to be a credible threat on the PP with a solid slap shot. Sure he missed most of last year but don’t read into that much b/c it was a freak skate cut on the ankle that put him out for so long. He clearly feels comfortable playing here and clearly shined in his year and a half. Good job Rutherford (see I can say positive things about him too!) now keep the ball rolling and get the Canes a couple of forwards for the same price.

WELCOME BACK JOE!

From watching some episodes of Pawn stars I have learned a few basic principals.

• People will sell anything: People come into that place with all sorts of things. From the most treasured family heirlooms to random junk they think is valuable they saw in a garage sale. How they can just not hang on to family heirlooms “passed down from generations” is amazing to me. It would be fine if they list reasons like “I have a lot of health bills”, or “my kids need college money”. But they just say eh I thought it was time I moved on. Really? early 1900’s pistol that might have belonged to Teddy Roosevelt, you just thought it was time???
• Go to garage/Yard sales:  Granted not every yard sale is a gold mine but it seems you really can find all sorts of crap in them and often this stuff is amazingly worth more then the people who is trying to get rid of everything in their garage.
• Pawn guys not only will lowball you often they will try and rip you off: They will laugh at your offers, or put it down, or belittle you but they will do anything to sell you out of your own shit. I will hand it to these guys, sometimes they will call in a professional to look at a historic item. And when they do they will have you bring the item back to hear about it’s worth. Granted, I don’t think this is so much for your benefit as it is for their own, you just happen to be there. See, it might seem nice that you hear 1st hand what it’s worth but they will still lowball you right after you hear this, Why? Well, they now have yo raked in and you already thought about selling it so you have that itch… the cash in hand itch now. You hear it’s worth X and they offer you X – 30% or more but dangle the hand in front of you so eventually you cave. Another thing I am fairly certain about, b/c it’s a no brainer. These historic guys who know their shit about what it’s worth prob. know 10’s (or 100’s) of people who will pay that for these items. Setting up the pawn people with these people will probably make them a fee as well. I don’t think these auditors are trying to screw the seller, but I don’t think it hurts them to get a finders fee either.
• Avg Joe loves to be on TV: I think half the reason some of these people flat sell their crap so easy and give in, is b/c they just like the idea the camera is on them. We all want our 15 mins, but these people have that extra little nudge to sell their stuff… the camera.
• People don’t do research on big ticket items: In this age of internet is everything and you can find just about ANYTHING on it, how can you seriously bring an item to a PAWN SHOP that you think is worth alot without doing your due diligence before trying to sell it. Granted they prolly don’t show that guy who knows exactly what it’s worth or more importantly that type of person also doesn’t go to a pawn shop in vegas also.

I wonder how much of these people get their money and run and just blow it at the craps tables after they get their money too.Not a bad show to watch for the fun of it but after 2 or 3 people it just annoys the hell out of you both how dumb people are and how much they are missing out on by going to these guys to sell their stuff.

With the LA Kings bowing out saying basically that they can’t deal with his outlandish demands, it seems it could be down to the Isles and Devils as to who will get the Russian goal scoring machine.

Ilya Kovalchukis said to have narrowed it down to 2 teams, and reports are the Devils are definitely one of them and if you listen to Garth Snow the Isles are the other. However this can take a few turns. First, as a huge Isles fan I know they don’t get guys like this and if they do he won’t even remotely come close to what he should be (Yashin anyone?). But, this could be different. Kovalchuk doesn’t seem to have years of less then 40 goals in him, so I am thinking 40-50 goals is a lock. But at what cost? Sure they have 30 mil+ right now in cap room, but in a few years the young studs on the isles (Okposo, Taveras, Bailey etc) will be due raises from entry level stuff and they could very well be up shit’s creek if they give him 10 mil per year. Yes, that’s right. Likely in order for him to sign anywhere it’s going to take 7.5 – 10 mil. So sure I want him but at what cost?

    The other reason I think it’s the Isles player to lose is b/c the devils would need to make a deal in order to free up the cap space. Unless the Devils get REAL creative with this deal 3.5 mil in cap space right now just ain’t getting the job done.

It still remains to be seen where this goes, b/c as we know ANYTHING can happen. It could very well be likely that a silent team comes out of nowhere to swoop in and sign him… Either way it seems likely he will sign in the next day or two. GO ISLES!

Motherhood (Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards) 90 minsv

   Motherhood is a comedy about a hectic day in the life of a blogging/writing mom. Sounds simple and easy enough right? Well it would be if Uma played what the normal person considered a mom. Sure she has some common mom activities. Running from here to there planing a birthday party and taking care of the house. However, she just doesn’t sell herself as this type of mom. She just doesn’t act and say things that are quite believable. It’s more the writing then her I think but it’s hard to get over. The movie just never hits a stride. It never gets VERY funny and never truly separates itself from a dramedy. But it’s very obvious that it’s trying not to be a drama but a pure comedy. It tries to wrap everything up in a quick and easy way and never addresses any of the mother’s main issues in her family/ relationship with her husband (Edwards in a slightly mailed in performance). One good point I will say about it is Minnie Drivers performance as Uma’s single, pregnant, best friend. Other then that it’s blegh.

Verdict—- Lady’s (mom’s)  night double feature fine. By itself or if you have a penis, don’t bother.