I imagine there are some fans out there who are wondering why we haven't posted a new episode in awhile. Not to beat around the bush but Collin and I have both decided to put "I'd Quote That" on the shelf for awhile. Lately its been hard for the two of us to find time to podcast together and we both noticed it started coming through on the shows. While it was fun and a good time, we both felt that if we continued doing things as is it wouldn't be as much fun anymore.
This doesn't mean that we're done with podcasting, or that "I'd Quote That" is finished at all. The new year that is coming will bring many new things for the both of us, including the following:
- Remember that new website that I promised waaaaaay back in our early episodes? Finally getting around to trimming things up and sometime soon we'll have a new look for idquotethat.com. I've bought myself some space on a webserver and gotten some professional tools to work with. I'm in the process of uploading all the episodes to "archive" them, as we've let our libsyn subscription lapse.
- We'll still have a valid RSS feed for I'd Quote That in case you want to share us with friends still (stay tuned for the address, I'll let you guys know when its up).
- Both Collin and I are each working on new podcasts to bring to you. I know the stuff I'm working on is golden, and I've heard Collin talk some about his and it sounds pretty sweet.
So in conclusion, we're just taking a little break from "I'd Quote That" to work on stuff a little bit more tailored to our different interests. Make sure to check out the new website though next year, and subscribe to the new RSS feed. We've both said that somewhere down the road we'd like to pick up I'd Quote That again, and that new feed will be where we post those episodes.
And make sure you follow us on twitter (info is on the side panel), as that will be where we post any new info on what we're working on. In the meantime its been fun guys, thanks for subscribing to us and giving us a few laughs!
- Chris
Last night... I had a dream. Part Tarantino; part Romero; part Brooks. It was really something.
Also I found an awesome DIY channel (kipkay) on YouTube (you owe me a quarter) that shows you how to hack everyday objects. I'm thinking about doing a few of the ones that don't require soldering.
Something I discovered this past week that, with all of the junk food in my house, it's a good thing I work out everyday (except sundays of course).
-Doc
I promised to upload more content onto our website, so here's the first of a couple of new "Quarterly Reviews" for ya:
As a life-long Batman fan, It seems only fitting that the first console video game that I review be the newest Batman game. For years, I've looked at various Batman games that have come out, and disappointed as each one was a lack-luster attempt at capturing my favorite superhero in a video game. When I saw gameplay footage of this game a few months ago, I began to get hopeful. It wasn't until I played the demo that I was sold (seriously, go download the demo and play it right now! You can thank me later), as I immediately left the house to go to my local gamestop and preorder the game.
The basic premise of the game is that Batman has brought Joker back to Arkham after his latest escape, only to find out its all been a setup for a trap. Joker is now in control of Arkham Asylum, and all Batman's foes are free and out to get him. Along the way, you get experience unlocking health/gadgets/etc. that help you in your quest to put the Joker behind bars.
This game does an AWESOME job of translating this comic book hero over to a video game. You really feel like you are playing Batman, as you must use the shadows and the layout to hide, as you are outnumbered and outgunned. I love the fact that, true to Batman, you never "kill" anyone, you only incapacitate them. I think one of my favorite moves is to hang from a overhand and wait for someone to walk underneath and then drop down, grab them, and soar back upwards tieing them to the overhang.
As a huge fan of Batman: The Animated Series, hearing Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill (yes, Luke Skywalker) reprise Batman and the Joker makes me all kinds of giddy. Seriously, the graphics are great, the gameplay is amazing, if you are a comic book fan at all you must play this game, and even if you aren't I recommend it as an awesome action/adventure game.
- Chris
Hey guys, I just wanted to post something here to say I was sorry to our listeners for our irregularity as of late. We've been working towards getting new exciting content into our shows, and with both the Doc and I having classes starting up at the same time, time has been very short recently. Add on top of that some technical difficulties and you understand the mess.
Hopefully, though, we've worked through all of that. The plan is to record episode 23 this week and get that to you guys ASAP. Then after that, we should be back to having a new episode for ya every week (hey, we got 25 coming soon, so that means Cindy and Jason will be back on in a couple of weeks). Anyways, thanks for hanging in with us and I promise we'll reward you guys back with some new stuff!
Keep your eyes peeled to here and our twitters for updated information! (Yeah, that does mean I'm going to start posting more info here on the website)
- Chris (The Professor)
Sorry for the lack of posts, but we're in the process of updating the website and coming up with some new ideas for the show. So keep checking back here for new and exciting stuff!!
As stated on Episode 12, we have finally finished our promo! Click on the link in the side bar to check it out!
Last week I promised that I would post something on some of the Blogs that I tend to visit on the internet, so here we go:
Nobody's Listening, Chicken Pop Pod -> These are both podcasts that I listen to, and on their websites, they blog about what's going on with the show, in addition to crazy things they run across on the internet.
Engadget -> The blog to hit up for all of your electronic device news, these guys frequent all the expos and have several contacts and is how I keep up on modern day technology.
Joystiq -> What Engadget is to electronic stuff, Joystiq is to video games. Here I look for information on all of the newest and upcoming video games/consoles.
Comingsoon.net -> Being a podcast on movies/tv shows, I need a place where I can bone up on that kind of information as well. Comingsoon.net takes care of that for me. They have links to all the latest screenshots from movies, trailers, tv spots, etc., in addition to reviews each Tuesday of movies that are debuting that weekend.
Bad Astronomy -> Dr. Phil Plait is a writer and astronomer who blogs about all kinds of science stuff in addition to pointing out all the wrong science that people and the media spread on a regular basis. Sometimes his views are pretty strong, and I don't always agress with him, but its always a good read. I did a Quarterly Review of his book: "Death from the Skies! These are the ways the world will end", you can check it out below.
If you find some blog that you think I might enjoy, hook up me up. I'm not going to say how because there are tons of ways to do so, all of which can be found by looking around this website. Enjoy!
- Chris
I've talked with a couple of people I know, and many of them have stated that the reason they aren't regular listeners to the podcast is because they don't have an iPod/Zune device that will automatically download new podcasts when they are available. So I thought I'd create a brief guide on how you can be notified when new podcasts are available if you don't have one of these devices.
FYI: I use the term "RSS feed" or "RSS post" alot. RSS is just the way that podcasts and blogs distribute their information. By typing in the address of the "RSS feed", several different programs can "follow" or "subscribe" to these feeds and pick up new posts as soon as they are posted.
1) iTunes / Zune Marketplace: I'd recommend this the most to anyone who doesn't have an MP3 player at all. I'm going to talk about iTunes predominately because that's what I use, but the same thing applies to the Zune Marketplace if that's more your style. You can search for us in the iTunes store and by subscribing to us, iTunes will download any new podcasts to your computer everytime you open it.
2) Google Reader: This approach is for those that regularly follow other blogs/podcasts/etc. Google Reader is a feature of Google that allows you to put in the RSS feed of blogs and podcasts and displays any new postings from those feeds in your browser (think of it as Gmail for podcasts and blogs). Just sign in using a Google account (or create one) and type in our RSS feed (http://idquotethat.libsyn.com/rss) to receive notices when we post new episodes (you can even add the RSS feed for this blog too!!). If this is the only RSS feed you follow, this probably isn't the option for you, although if it sounds like something you'd like to get into, next week I'll post blogs/podcasts that I recommend people start following.
3) Email Programs: If you use a separate program for email, such as Microsoft Outlook, this option might be the best for you, although personally I prefer Mozilla Thunderbird. Just like how it downloads emails into an inbox for you, it can also be setup to download new RSS posts into a separate folder. Here (http://kb.mozillazine.org/Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_RSS_Basics) a tutorial for how to do this in Thunderbird, with a little Googling you can figure out how to do this in Outlook as well.
4) Twitter: If none of the other options above sound like something you'd be interested in doing, both the Doc (Colcakes196) and I (Idquotetheprof) have twitter accounts. Usually at least one of us will "tweet" something everytime we post a new episode, so by following us you can get reminders every week to check us out.
I hope there was at least some option here that people could relate to, if you have any questions send us an email (idquotethat@gmail.com) and I'll see if I can help you out.
- Chris
In our first episode, you guys heard me quote from the book "Death from the Skies!: These Are the Ways the World Will End..." by Dr. Philip Plait. Now, two months later, I've finally had enough time to finish the book and tell you guys about it. This book is amazing. It takes astronomy, a field that can be laced with complicated science and mathematics and makes it easy for the everyday person to understand.
Basically, the book lays out all the different sort of astronomical events you hear about on the news that threaten our planet, such as asteriods, solar flares, black holes, etc. Each chapter tackles one of these events and tries to give the reader a basic understanding of how each of these events occur and how they can affect our planet. In addition, Dr. Plait tells what the chances are of these events happening close enough to hurt/affect us, and offers some solutions as to what Humanity can do to save itself should something occur.
I highly recommend people read this book, if for no other reason than so that the next time you hear the media or someone talk about how we're all "doomed" from *insert random space paranoia here*, you can smack them around with some scientific truth for once. Not only that, but you'll be surprised at how fun Dr. Plait presents the (complex) material in order to make it appealing to anyone, regardless of background. In my opinion though, the more actual science we can introduce to people and the less gossip we spread, the less people will panic and worry about stuff and start becoming part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
- Chris
(Wow two blog posts within two days, I'm setting a record!)
Okay, so this post is the first of what I'm going to call "Quarterly Reviews" (at least until I think of something better). In each of these segments, I'm going to talk about something of interest me and try and promote it to you guys (kind of a "Professor's Entertainment Recommendations Column", but that name is far too long).
This first post features a game I've been playing for the past few days: City of Heroes. City of Heroes (CoH) is a Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG) similar to World of Warcraft (WoW). Set in the fictional town of "Paragon City", players create superheroes and team up with other players to fight bad guys and complete "missions". The aptly titled "City of Villians" (CoV) game adds to the experience by allowing characters to create villians instead, and also introduced player versus player combat areas where heroes can duke it out against villians.
The edition I purchased - "City of Heroes: Architect Edition" (~$20) includes both CoH/CoV in addition to a new "Architect Mode" that allows players to create their own missions within the game and play them with others. I've not played the game *that* long, but I've already fallen in love with it. I'm not really much of a fantasy person, but I enjoyed playing a MMO like WoW with some of my friends. Now that I've gotten people into CoH, I definitely prefer it as Comic books/Science Fiction is more up my alley. The character creation in this game is SO much more in depth than any other online game I've played. Be prepared to spend like an hour picking out your Hero's powers and designing his costume.
Not only is the character creation so much better than other games, but the gameplay itself has many advantages over other games like Everquest and WoW. For instance, back when I was playing WoW, if I didn't keep up with the fast-paced leveling of my friends, I'd get left behind and stuck trying to find random groups to quest with. In CoH, there is a "sidekicking" feature that allows higher level players to temporary raise a lower character's level while that character is within a certain distance, allowing lower characters to still be able to fight at the same pace with higher characters. Instead of waiting until level 30/40 to get a faster form of transportation (i.e. "mounts" in WoW), CoH has "pool powers", which include all sorts of cool powers like transportation, super speed, and flying -- which are available at level 14 to a hero.
There is a monthly fee ($15) to play the game, but the Architect Edition I picked up includes the first month with it, which makes it great for trying the game out. And if you don't want to take that risk with it, go to http://www.cityofheroes.com and sign up for the free 14 day demo. Make a hero on the "Justice" server and send me a message ("Scramjet") and tell me you listen to the podcast -- I'll team up with ya sometime. And if you create a villian, also let me know so I can come hunt you down and "bring you to justice".
- Chris
