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Kicking off Phoenix Comicon last week, the third annual Phoenix Ultimate Geek Smackdown (PUGS) occurred, pitting eight ultimate geeks against each other in a battle of wits…to the death. With our own Jonathan Simon helping coordinate the event along with Jeff Moriarty, and Andrea Beesely, we were able to record the quarter, semi, and final smackdowns for your enjoyment. We tapped into the existing sound system, which sounded fine at the venue, but came out…less than perfect for the podcast. So please forgive the quality, but enjoy the show. As a word of warning, this is a live recording of adults males who maintain the sense of humor of the average 13 year old. As a result, this podcast is PG-13 in every way. – Austin  

#10 – Phoenix Comicon. It was awesome. So awesome, in fact, that you get two episodes: Austin went for the first time, and even dressed up. Chris became Wil Wheaton’s body double. And I  had a random conversation with Jewel Staite about boobs. Listen in as we share our different experiences. Our guest this week? An impromptu visit from my wife. -Jonathan The Walking Dead Board Game The retrun of Arrested Development Iconica Eric Torres Meet Darby The Wil Wheaton Experience The pic with “Adam Savage” @knight_cjg The Wils Red Shirts by John Scalzi Jonathan had a conversation with Jewel Stait about boobs! Jewel signing Jonathan’s shirt Machine of Death Where else can you see a conga line lead by a Dalek? The essance of comicon PUGS! Live Cephalopodcast? Meeting John Layman Debra could hear us recording! What did you enjoy the most from Comicon? Please leave us feedback. We’re begging you!

With this episode, we give you The Maker Twins – two brothers who spent their childhoods tearing things apart and now build the crazy things for a living. Pat & Mike Murray get to live their dream of  building elaborate machines, interactive displays, floating signs, truck mounted semi-automatic t-shirt launchers, and anything else people want. Their stories and creations are pretty captivating and we could have kept talking all night. Behold! Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc. Surgeon simulator 3D Printing Meet Pat and Mike Murray Union Digital We like our fire extinguishers TED Talk – 5 dangerous things you should let your kids do Step 1: Nachos and beer at Zipps Waste Management Phoenix Open Sign Timelapse Red Bull creation challenge So you guys are the Phoenix Lights HeatSync Labs The Tech Shop in Chandler Phoenix Maker Fare Recreational Assault Vehicle Tucson Plane Bone Yard Dark Fury, you’ve never heard of it. Cartel Coffee Maker Twins 2013 Red Bull entry video Most people know Austin because of Cartel Apache Reclaimation

For this episode, we tricked a hilarious local musician named Krys VanSlyke into joining us and nerding out. We talk about Krys’ amazing VoiceMuze project, retro-gaming, Zapcon, the greatest Star Trek cliffhanger of all time, and all sorts of other stuff. Behold! Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc.   My Little Lebowski Welcome Krys VanSlyke He’s no Tasha Yar Hipster Wesley What does Krys geek out about? Disney Geek Krys’ bad voice mail transcriptions songs Tea with Mike Tyson Frontispiece The Coffe Shop Everyone had trouble with Battle Toads That was really good English Killer Instinct Cammy, The GUILT!!! Your head a splode If you don’t throw the baby, you won’t win Cliffhanger!

It was a blast having Bry & Jillian join us to talk about being part of the Phoenix Comicon, as well as their personal realms of nerdiness. Enjoy as the five of us discuss the upcoming Phoenix Comicon, as well as comicons past. They share some insights in putting the event together, including the best way to put a guest request on their radar and some lesser known things you can do while you’re there. Also, Bry goes down the rabbit hole of 80’s cartoon fandom, and Jillian opens up about growing up on a llama farm. Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc. D&D Games at Gotham City Comics Wednesdays and Sundays – Phoenix Comicon! It’s really unfortunate for Hobbit cosplayers The Rebel Legion Wookie mashup costume “MUTATES INTO A SNAKE!” Bill Binder Ignight presentation on Transformers the Movie TMNT Daredevil Crossover The Ornery Llama Podcast John Barrowman is coming to Comicon! The new Wil Wheaton CosPlay How to make a guest reqeust for Comicon – PUGS!

A few days after the Origins Panel with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Ira Flatow, Brian Greene (and more), we held an emergency podcast while details were (mostly) fresh in our minds. We tried to get my four year old to join us as our guest but he was more interested in finding his mother at the moment, so it’s just the three of us on this one. Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc.   ASU Origins Event was great! – http://www.origins.asu.edu/ Oliver Sachs loves giant squid. – http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/11/28/1997/oliver-sacks-the-elusive-squid.html Lucifer Project – http://www.exposingsatanism.org/Vatican-mount-graham-lucifer-project.htm Pretz-Con!!! – http://www.pretzcon.org/ Jeff Moriarty is in the X-Files. – https://twitter.com/jmoriarty @tygenco – https://twitter.com/tygenco/status/318929571657433088 Zapcon! – http://www.zapcon.com/ The Oculus Rift – http://www.oculusvr.com/ Chandler Jazz Festival – http://www.chandleraz.gov/default.aspx?pageid=160 Phoenix Film Festival – http://www.phoenixfilmfestival.com/ Play Dead with Teller – http://phoenix.festivalgenius.com/2013/films/playdeadwithteller_shaderupe_phoenix2013

Joining us in this episode is Mr Ryan Dalton, a local sci-fi writer, comicon manager, and all around swell bloke. Ryan has been involved with Phoenix Comicon’s panel moderation team for years, has written a middle grade sci-fi novel, and is kinda my “book guy” on twitter. On this podcast we talk about comicon, Phoenix’s writing community, and what makes a great villain. Click here to show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc.

I’ve been excited about this podcast for a while, simply because our guest is Bob Beard. Bob is the local PBS station’s official Nerd-In-Chief (seriously), he runs the annual Nerd Walk, writes the geek culture section of Phoenix New Times, loves The Ghostbusters, and is slowly-but-surely writing a thesis on authenticity within nerd culture. Plus he’s hilarious. Click here to show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc. AZ PBS 8 – http://www.azpbs.org/ Jackalope Ranch – http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/jackalope/ Patton Oswalt’s Wired article. – http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_angrynerd_geekculture/ Helvetica documentary – http://www.helveticafilm.com/ PBS Nerd Walk – http://www.azpbs.org/nerd/ Ghostbusters fought Cthulhu.- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvnJWYaSuDs Curiosity: What’s inside the cube.- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_%E2%80%93_What’s_Inside_the_Cube%3F The wheel of fish. – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KezvwARhBIc

This episode is guest free; just our personal ramblings and me momentarily mixing up Gordon Freeman with Walter White. (I know… I know… Hey, I get test anxiety in front of a microphone, okay?) We recorded this a while ago, so we may reference upcoming events that have actually already happened. Our recording with the affable Bob Beard should be up next week, and we should be pretty caught up then. Enjoy! Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc.   Tempe Geeks Night Out – http://www.tempe.gov/index.aspx?page=2679 Gordon Freeman – http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q7nkuS2g5kY/T_AZ6KgU1dI/AAAAAAAAA2I/9PMPozkTKkw/s1600/Halflife+2+Gordon+Freeman+4.jpg Six String Samurai. – http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/511T9NCPAHL._SL500_SS500_.jpg A special place for Ash. – http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/army-of-darkness-ash.jpg Film Bar – http://www.thefilmbarphx.com/ The Clarendon – http://www.theclarendon.net/ Cult Classics – http://www.cultclassicsaz.com Apparently I don’t know what crepes are? – http://www.yelp.com/biz/cr%C3%AApe-bar-tempe Me too! – http://images.wikia.com/archer/images/f/fc/Krieger.png For those of you following along at home, start reading Chew! – http://chewcomic.blogspot.com/ The Sleeping Dragon – http://www.amazon.com/The-Sleeping-Dragon-Guardians-Flame/dp/0451453506

Woah, we are two episodes in now. That’s pretty hardcore. Joining us in this episode, willing to throw himself in the midst of chaos, is Preston Smith. I don’t give Preston enough credit for Lightning Octopus. Back before I even started this thing, he was the big inspiration for me to start getting interested in “local” things. Local restaurants, local bands, local events, local businesses. It should be pretty obvious that his passion for local community has rubbed off on me. Preston is the Organic Marketing Manager over at InfusionSoft, and last year he pretty much bore his soul to everyone at Ignite Phoenix. He’s a fan of awesome shows like Firefly, Battlestar, & Fringe and one of the few people I know that loves Nick Harkaway’s The Gone-Away World as much as I do. He’s big into Phoenix’s improv scene, and a connoisseur of interesting and unique sodas. Let’s listen in, shall we? Gourmet soda. Who knew? Show Podcast Notes, Links, Etc. Jesterz Improv – http://www.jesterzimprov.com/ Improv AZ – http://improvaz.com/ Phoenix Improv Festival this April – http://phoeniximprovfestival.com/ You mean Wrath of Khan? – http://khaaan.com/ The Soda Pop Shop lives… in a van.Soda Pop Guy – email address phd@popsoda.com A local rootbeer company? – http://www.sonoranbrewing.com/beers/Root_Beer.php Smeeks Candy Shop – http://www.smeeks.com/ Hot lips – http://hotlipspizza.com/sodashop/ Rocket Burger in Phoenix – http://therocketburger.com/location.htm Jesterz 2013 Schedule – http://www.jesterzimprov.com/2013-schedule/#