In honor of this year's Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month we had the honor of talking to TWO amazing Filipino artists in the fields of illustration, graphic design, and more! Since we can't go to Artist's Alley at SDCC, or any other con, for awhile - we decided to bring it to you! We sat down with Patrick Ballesteros to talk about his con experiences, combining his nerd fandoms with his art, and the upcoming LUMPIA Movie comic book!
Then we talk to Leah Abucayan about how she was inspired by the Sistine Chapel AND the Disney Channel, what it's like to work as a professional graphic designer for CNN, and how she's getting into puppets!
Patrick's Carpenter Kids Piece
Buy Patrick's prints, stickers, and more here.
Find Patrick on Instagram @patrickballesteros
Check out Leah's Instagram.
Find out more about here.
There couldn't be a more appropriate movie for the last DC Boys appearance on this version of the podcast than Zack Snyder's Justice League. DJ, James, and Gabe return to tackle The Snyder Cut in its full form, beat by beat, chapter by chapter. We actually go into so many tangents, there isn't really the threat of any real spoilers, not that you haven't had 4 years to watch either cut of this movie.
BUT, have no fear, most of the discussion is born from the Snyder cut, but goes into comics, other movies (a random segue into BvS again for some reason), video games and more.
As referenced in the episode:
While Zack Snyder has just delivered his cut of 'Justice League' this weekend, we decided to spare ourselves 2 more hours (for now - we will be doing a ZS JL episode in the future) and check out Benedict Cumberbatch delivering film of his own - as a businessman turn spy in his new film 'The Courier'. We get into how this differs from a lot of other Cold War thrillers, the surprises of Cumberbatch's performance, and how 'The Courier' turns the spy thriller on its head in subtle ways.
After our heroes' zany antics with the dastardly villain Thanos, Wanda and Vision find themselves in the most unlikely place - our television sets! Comic book fan, artist, writer, and old geek friend Guy Copes join us to recap the madcap antics of the soon to be Scarlet Witch. Listeners beware, spoilers abound as we break down how most of the fan theories wouldn't work and how the weekly release schedule whipped us all into a frenzy.
Follow Guy on Twitter @GuyCopes3 and check out his art here.
...or how to survive a pandemic as a geek.
Even though we didn't get to see half of the movies promised to us in 2020, we did end up watching a lot of television! It wouldn't be a 2020 wrap up episode if we didn't get into the random binges that we got into during the pandemic, and whatever else we did to fill the time being stuck inside (more than usual).
Through an unprecedented rift in the major motion picture studio system, we were able to transport back into the DCEU during a global pandemic in order to catch up with Diana Prince in Wonder Woman 1984, which was mostly cool because it gave us a chance to reunite with our Metasquid Studios bros, the DC Boys! Gabe, DJ, and James return to navigate the cloudy return of the Trinity's demi-god. We also discover which DC boy is which member of the Justice League, unwrap how Geoff John's could do us like this, and James yells!!!
Check out Gamesters Pairofdice, and our eventual appearance on Jamesflix at Metasquid Studios on your podcast feed!
In an episode that was a long time coming, we finally get to sit down with the founders of the Pod Clubhouse, Paul Daley and Caroline Kupstas Daley to talk about meeting Derek at the ATX Festival, starting a podcast to save their family, and the television that really got them into television media. We hear about them raising children with special needs while seeing various successes on different tv shows about their same situation, how certain geek communities can be bad for your mental health, and also nerd out with us about all the shows we watched in 2020!
Find their show, and the other PCH crew at podclubhouse.com!
It's good to know that even a pandemic can't stop a certain Mandalorian from his quest to deliver a certain Child to the sorcerer's known as the Jedi, because it was almost a year without a Marvel and/or a Star War! Greg Mucino and Lance Paul return to show to talk about the adventures of Grogu and his metal dad! Most specifically we wax poetic about the (as of recording) latest, Robert Rodriguez episode, but we spare no time getting into the entire season itself.
SPOILER WARNING!!!!
What better way to distract yourself from the current events than by listening to us talk about the newest political courtroom drama from Aaron Sorkin, The Trial of the Chicago 7. In a movie that no way mirrors the exact issues we're going through right now, Robert Bexar joins us to talk about the themes of this newest effort from the guy who brought you The American President, The West Wing, and The Newsroom. We're not a political podcast and we would never do anything like give you a live look into the moment where four swing states were in the balance.
A real life pandemic was apparently not enough to derail the release of the sequel to the cult-favorite Korean horror-action zombie flick Train to Busan: Peninsula so we decided to brave the outbreak in order to watch another one! Not only that, but in preparation Derek and our guest watched the original Train to Busan for the first time (finally)! Of course this particular set of movies gave us the perfect excuse to bring back our friend from MAActionCinema.com - David Vo! We get into their impression of the first movie, then dive into a spoiler free review of Peninsula!
Although there isn't going to be a DC movie out for awhile (if those rumors about Wonder Woman being pushed back are to be believed), DC made a big enough splash in the news with their huge media event DC Fandome that happened a week after an unfortunate round of layoffs. It was a one two punch that made us reach out to our DC Boys from Metasquid Studios - DJ, Gabe, and James - for an emergency episode to unpack it all. Gabe brings us the industry insider perspective, James seeks compensation for his ideas, and DJ saves the day by steering the ship as usual.
We specifically touch on all the major trailers, the DC shows DJ has been watching (Harley Quinn and Doom Patrol), and the two blockbuster DC games that were announced.
Check out their shows Jamesflix and the Gamesters Pairofdice wherever you get your podcasts by searching 'Metasquid Studios'.
It's a Gareth Evans triple feature! Earlier this year the acclaimed action director made his television series showrunner and directorial debut with the hit Sky Atlantic show 'Gangs of London' (which will premiere in the US on October 1st) and Derek was hooked from the very beginning! After much prodding he finally got Myke to check out the show. In this special episode we talk (without spoilers) about the entire first season of Gangs of London - then as an added bonus - get into spoiler thoughts at the end.
But first Derek finally caught up with, and we finally review The Raid Redemption & The Raid 2: Berandal!
If you want to just skip to the 'Gangs of London' review it starts at exactly 54 minutes into the podcast.
FULL SPOILER WARNING FOR THE LAST OF US PART II
We may have not gotten any big movie blockbusters this year, but in video games it has been a huge year - and this might be at the top list. That's right, Fancast and Gamescast friend of the show Dana Keels and our new, but now regular, Gamescast guest Dee Assassina join Myke to talk about the entire experience that is The Last of Us Part II. This is a full spoiler episode from the get-go, and because of the polish of a game this caliber, we mainly talk about the artistic merits of the game: the narrative, the themes, the characters, and the overall story.
We continue catching up with our friends over Zoom this week with our old pal, and new writer for ScreenRant, JL. We find out what he's been filling the time with (Bond, of course), his thoughts on what he's caught on SDCC @ Home this year, and we finally get into our thoughts about the Emmy nominations!
We've all done crazy things in this COVID Quarantine, the least crazy of which is Myke reuniting with his old brothers Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey - the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles! As a special treat to himself he enlisted the help of his fellow SDCC Scooter Gang member Kevin Palma, #1 TMNT fan and huge comic book aficionado. Together they talk about EVERYTHING green from the 1990 live action movie to Kevin Eastman's 2012 IDW run and everything in between and ever since! It's a shell of a time!
We continue our Safer-At-Home check-ins with our favorite guests with one of the first friend's of show, Greg Mucino, and one of our busiest pals Jason Avalos! Greg and Derek talk about their recent trip to the Mooby's Pop-Up in West Hollywood, we find out how Jason is coping with Hollywood on lockdown, get into our feelings about this year's SDCC, and get into what we've been consuming in the meantime!
There may be nothing but takes flying around on the internet during the pandemic, about all sorts of geek things, but the one thing that most geeks (who have seen it) tend to agree upon is that the second season of 'What We Do in the Shadows' is really good, so we brought two of our most vocal friends, and favorite guests, Dana and Sherice on to talk about it!
We also get into what everyone has been up to since we've been on hiatus, and since we've seen Dana and Sherice last!
As Derek continues his discovery of Mr. Bong Joon-Ho, TBS has finally premiered its long gestated TV show adaptation of his 2013 cult-hit Snowpiercer and what an appropriate time to ingest a movie about class warfare and the end of the world! We first get into Derek's thoughts on the movie (after 7 years), the changes made to the show, and our thoughts on the show in general. SPOILERS THROUGHOUT - mostly for the movie, but if you wanted to watch the show completely fresh, beware!
Longtime friend, and past guest, of the podcast Robert Bexar (of Bayou City Geeks) for some reason didn't watch Westworld season's one and two when they first came out - weird, especially for someone who we knew would have LOVED it. After a years long campaign by Derek we're here! Robert joins us to talk about his first watch of Westworld all the way through to the season finale!
Be sure to check out www.bayoucitygeeks.com if you want to see more of Robert Bexar and/or watch our zoom recording of this episode!
Tigertail is the feature film directorial debut of 'Master of None's' Alan Yang and our non-spoiler review episode of it features the return of our friends from The Stuff & Junk Show, Albert Patrick and Jiaming Liou! We go over how this film hits our own experiences in the various different ways, why people choose to immigrate, and how this film works - or for some of us - didn't.
Check out Albert and Jiaming on The Stuff & Junk Show at whowhatwhereswhy.com!
One of our favorite things about doing this podcast is getting to have in depth conversations with our friends in ways we normally don't get to, about things they've really geeked out about. This time we have Derek's old theater buddy Patrick Croghan! He talks about going from wanting to do a drunken cable access show with his friends to getting into gritty theatrical dramas. Then we get into everything we've been consuming lately!
The Geekdom Gamescast is a monthly video game bonus episode in collaboration with God Hates Geeks hosted by Myke and God Hates Geek's own Travis Moody.
Moody and Myke have set off on two very different paths when it comes to their quarantine gaming. While Myke is getting sweaty with Doom Eternal (which Moody got a little into), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and intense sessions of Warzone; Moody has taken the more chilled out JRPG approach playing Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age and Persona 5. We also get into the latest console reveals for the Xbox Series X and the PS5, trailers for upcoming games, and Myke's Gamespass backlog.
If you want to skip to a certain section here's some timecodes:
As we continue to self isolate and stay at home as much as we can we check out a movie that was supposed to come to theaters that has thankfully been made available to everyone On Demand - The Hunt, but before we get into our non-spoiler review of that Derek talks about how he's catching up on last year's coming-of-age comedy PEN15 and Myke scratches the surface of the intriguing Devs.
The Geekdom Gamescast is a monthly video game bonus episode in collaboration with God Hates Geeks hosted by Myke and God Hates Geek's own Travis Moody.
With the pandemic we're facing, big changes are happening everywhere - including the gaming industry. Moody and Myke get into E3 being cancelled and what that means. We then look forward to the releases this month, talk about the Geekdom Gamescast's GVO fighting tournament and then Myke gets into Call of Duty's new Free-to-Play Battle Royale mode: Warzone.
Social distance with us as we get into Derek's recent trip to Portland, the crazy situation the world is in today, and then a full episode of a TV show?! That's right, we're doing a FULL SPOILERS episode review of the Westworld Season 3's Premiere! We finally reunite with Delores and Bernard and meet new characters outside the park. Derek and Myke theorize about the show, talk about the world building of the future, and how LA still kinda looks like LA!