Blog of Excalipoor

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - The Master
With stellar performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, the new film from the director of Magnolia and There Will Be Blood examines a man who creates a religion similar to Scientology, and the lost soul who follows him. Dan, Jeff, and Alex travel to a Scientology center in LA to try to explain the experience of seeing The Master.

Totally Rad Show - “What Is That?!” Returns!
The game you love to be stumped by makes its triumphant return! Mike has all-new animated filters to boggle the mind, as he camouflages iconic images to perplex Alex, Dan, and Jeff. Can you decipher the pics before they do?

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - Dredd 3D
In the future, one man is the law. Well, the future is NOW and that one man is Karl Urban, starring in the reboot of the 1995 film, Judge Dredd. Can Dredd 3D’s amped up, over-the-top action and violence win over today’s audiences? Alex, Dan and special guest reviewer Catherine Reitman from Revision 3’s own “Breakin’ It Down” take a hit of Slo-Mo and become this film’s judge, jury, and executioner.

Weekend Confirmed 131 - Wii U, Borderlands 2, FTL, Black Mesa
On this week’s episode of Weekend Confirmed, Garnett Lee, Jeff Mattas, and Andrew Yoon are joined by Insomniac’s James Stevenson. The show begins with some thoughts about the new PlayStation “Super Slim” console, and there are a number of games to talk about. Borderlands 2, FTL, Halo 4, and Black Mesa are just some of the titles the team discusses, and there’s even some more pontificating about the upcoming Wii U launch lineup. And, of course, the crew’s Finishing Moves bring it all home.

AMC Movie Talk Ep 13 - Entourage, Star Trek 2, Transformers 4, plus Independence Day Sequels
On this episode of AMC Movie Talk we discuss the upcoming new Star Trek movie and its title, Independence Day sequels, An Entourage movie moving forward, Transformers 4 details and a whole lot more!

Good Job, Brain! Trivia & Quiz Show Podcast - Ep 29: Domo Arigato, Mr. Roboto
Prepare for the inevitable robot uprising by learning about… well, robots! Etymology, first appearances in pop culture, hanging out in the uncanny valley, historical Japanese tea-serving automatons, and French duck robots. The inspiration behind C-3PO and R2-D2, TV + movie robot quiz, and of course, our own robot E.L.V.I.S. is back! ALSO: Brainiacs Book Club, *VERY AWESOME* music round… listener challenge…?

Totally Rad Show: Video Game Review - Borderlands 2
Jeff, Dan, and Alex were huge fans of the first Borderlands, even awarding it the Raddie for Best Video Game of the year in 2009. Now that the massively anticipated sequel has arrived, does it improve on the formula, or just deliver more of the same - and is that a bad thing?

Weekend Confirmed 125 - Bioshock Infinite, PixelJunk 4am, Skyrim: Dawnguard
Another rambunctious round of Weekend Confirmed has arrived! Garnett and “Indie Jeff” Mattas are joined by G4’s Nikole Zivalich, and co-host Jeff Cannata rolls in a bit late to help close out the show’s second half. This week’s hot topics this week include the shake up at Bioshock Infinite developer Irrational Games, some talk about the Elder Scrolls V expansion, Dawnguard, and Garnett professes his appreciation for the unique music maker, PixelJunk 4am. Other topics—from iOS games to Sound Shapes—are tackled, before the cast’s Finishing Moves wrap things up.

This Week in Tech 371: The Return of Cranky Geeks
Google’s dark fiber, autocomplete liability, a high speed tube, end of Variety, Facebook and iOS, Brickhouse street view, helium hard drives, and more. Hosts: John C. Dvorak, Robert Enderle, Andrew Eisner, and Jolie O’Dell.

NSFW 144: The Columbian Q-Tip
Korey Coleman joins us to talk about movies, Dragon*Con, life, and Tony Cox Guests:Korey Coleman

This Week in Google 163: Jeff in a Dress
Apple announcement, privacy with automated cars, auto complete, and more.

Totally Rad Show: Totally Rad Kickstarter Picks! (Sep 14, 2012)
Kickstarter can be overwhelming, with its sea of great ideas and interesting projects. Thankfully, Jeff, Dan, and Alex have your back! They’ve found some of the best Kickstarters that have yet to reach their funding goals. This week, Alex is digging a new Dungeons and Dragons documentary and a physical cube for displaying your instagram pictures, Dan wants to help Storycorps fund a television special and has an affordable motion control device for filmmakers, and Jeff’s got two exciting new boardgames and a documentary about the 90’s bloodfest that was Extreme Championship Wrestling.

Freakonomics Radio Podcast: Fear Thy Nature
What do you do when you experience something — an immersive, interactive theatrical performance, say — and it scrambles your brain completely? Make a podcast, of course. The episode is about how profoundly human behavior is influenced not only by our inner bearings but by our outer circumstances. That sounds quite dull, doesn’t it? Hopefully the podcast is more interesting than this description.

Totally Rad Show: On My RADar (Sep 6, 2012)
Alex, Dan, and Jeff once again share what is on their RADar this week, and there are some choice picks! Dan has been playing the new Transformers video game, Fall of Cybertron, Jeff’s iPad has been keeping him up at night with the addictive game Puzzle Craft and the addition of the very best magazine about special effects in movies, Cinefex, and Alex discovered a movie that he missed in theaters called Father of Invention. See why all of these things should be on your radar, too!

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - V/H/S
Some of the best of the new wave of horror directors have come together to participate in an ambitious new anthology available on demand. Built around the theme of found footage tapes, these 5 different shorts feature a variety of different stories and ideas. Do Dan, Jeff, and Alex get sucked into the terrifying tales, or is the premise already too tired?

TWiT Live Specials 139: The iPhone 5
Live coverage of the Apple iPhone 5 announcement. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Tom Merritt, Sarah Lane, and Iyaz Akhtar

Weekend Confirmed 129 - Borderlands 2, Sleeping Dogs, FIFA 13
This week’s episode of Weekend Confirmed hosted by Garnett Lee features Shacknews’ Andrew Yoon and Ryan Calavano chatting with special guest Adam Sessler. Borderlands 2 lead writer Anthony Burch joins us, and we grill him on what Gearbox is doing to make the sequel bigger and better than before. Once Burch leaves the hot seat, the team talks about the surprisingly-good Sleeping Dogs, and reveals how the new “first touch” mechanic in FIFA 13 genuinely changes up the game.

AMC Movie Talk Ep 12 - Avatar Sequels, Pacino as Paterno
John and Jimmy run down the biggest movie news of the past few days, discuss the upcoming Avatar 2 and Avatar 3 and the potential fourth Avatar film wich would be a prequel, Al Pachino being set to play legendary coach Joe Paterno, Daniel Craig returning for James Bond at least 2 more times after Skyfall, rave reviews for DREDD and much more!

Totally Rad Show - VS: Disney Edition (Sep 7, 2012)
Dan, Jeff, and Alex continue their mission to rank all the world’s films in their master list of Best Of by pitting them against one another in combat. This time, the guys once again choose to dip into their unranked list, so a whole host of new titles face the face off. Do you agree with their picks?

Totally Rad Show - Board Game Review: Dungeon Command
Wizards of the Coast has taken D&D into a new realm of quick, pick up and play, 2-player entertainment with their new miniatures combat sets called Dungeon Command. Jeff, Alex, and Dan get their hands on the first 2 sets and come away raving.

Penn’s Sunday School Episode 29 - Adam Savage in the Nut Chair (12.09.02)
Myth Buster Adam Savage talks about Bubbles the Chimp.

Totally Rad Show - RADRebus (Sep 12, 2012)
The game of visual puns you love is back - but this time Mike is using a whole new app of highly detailed drawings to provide much different clues! Guess along with Dan, Jeff, and Alex on a whole new set of movie themed rebuses!

Totally Rad Show - Interview: Borderlands 2 Lead Writer Anthony Burch!
Anthony Burch, lead writer of Borderlands 2 and co-creator of the web series “Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’?”, comes to the TRS studio to tell Jeff, Dan, and Alex about writing in video games, breaking into the industry, and what makes the sequel to the 2009 TRS video game of the year so exciting.

The Persona Podcast Link 1 - Mother of Personas…
The Persona series seems to just keep growing larger and larger with every release. So we thought it was about time for there to be a Persona Podcast. This Episode we focus on who we are and what Persona means to us. After that we give a “brief” history of the Persona games released in the west. Next, go over our “Evoker of the Week” and then go over some questions written in to us.

Good Job, Brain! Trivia & Quiz Show Podcast Ep 27: Ticket to Ride
All aboard! Mind-blowing facts about transportation. We find out what’s up with those old-timey bikes with the humongous front wheel, airplane secrets, the Hindenburg, JK Rowling’s minor error, and train facts that will make your brain go OOoOooOooOoO! ALSO: Whose Ride Is it Anyways? quiz, and “One Letter Off” word puzzle and new listener challenge.

TED: Caitria and Morgan O’Neill: How to step up in the face of disaster
After a natural disaster strikes, there’s only a tiny window of opportunity to rally effective recovery efforts before the world turns their attention elsewhere. Who should be in charge? When a freak tornado hit their hometown, sisters Caitria and Morgan O’Neill — just 20 and 24 at the time — took the reins and are now teaching others how to do the same.

Totally Rad Show: Video Game Review - Dust: An Elysian Tail
Does this new Xbox Live Arcade game warrant your time and precious Microsoft Points?

The Geekbox — Episode 184 (2012-09-04)
Wherein we discuss nerd expos, five-year-old Doctor Who spoilers, Doctor vs. Doctor, Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes, non-collectible card games, boring corporate nonsense, free-to-play World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, launch week woes, 24-hour warfare, City of Heroes’ impending end, dungeons of death, and Indiana Jones in IMAX. Starring Ryan Scott and Ryan Higgins.

The Unofficial One Piece Podcast – Episode 234, “Unwarranted Mermaid Pregnancy”
On this episode of The One Piece Podcast we have a Manga Recap for Chapter 677, an Anime Recap marathon for episodes 560 through 562, and some Piece Together with Zach, Ed, and Steve. We’re back to our regularly scheduled podcasting, and we’ll be on schedule for next week’s anime recap! Enjoy!

SUPERHERO TIME: SEPTEMBER 4, 2012
The news: A little from Tamashii Feature, but the important stuff isn’t until next month.
The weeklies: Kamen Rider Wizard debuts very strong, and Go-busters starts focusing on some heavy plot.
Power Playback: The important part of a Zyuranger story.
Also: Claw Sentai Wolveringer

Totally Rad Show: 6 Days to Air- The Making of South Park
Alex, Jeff, and Dan take a look at Comedy Central’s new documentary about the making of South Park, 6 Days to Air, which is available on Netflix instant watch. Unbelievably, this massively topical cartoon goes from conception to national broadcast in only 6 days, and for the first time cameras were there to capture it. Does the process reveal a how-the-sausage-is-made disappointment, or can it make the genius of South Park even more impressive?

Frame Rate 91: Bricks in the Wall of Awesome
Arrested Development on Netflix, Apple execs say no TV set, Amazon-NBCU deal, YouTube skippable mobile video ads, and more.

TED: Candy Chang: Before I die I want to…
In her New Orleans neighborhood, artist and TED Fellow Candy Chang turned an abandoned house into a giant chalkboard asking a fill-in-the-blank question: “Before I die I want to ___.” Her neighbors’ answers — surprising, poignant, funny — became an unexpected mirror for the community. (What’s your answer?)

TED: Timothy Prestero: Design for people, not awards
Timothy Prestero thought he’d designed the perfect incubator for newborns in the developing world — but his team learned a hard lesson when it failed to go into production. A manifesto on the importance of designing for real-world use, rather than accolades.

TED: Rob Legato: The art of creating awe
Rob Legato creates movie effects so good they (sometimes) trump the real thing. In this warm and funny talk, he shares his vision for enhancing reality on-screen in movies like Apollo 13, Titanic and Hugo.

TED: Ivan Oransky: Are we over-medicalized?
Reuters health editor Ivan Oransky warns that we’re suffering from an epidemic of preposterous preconditions — pre-diabetes, pre-cancer, and many more. In this engaging talk from TEDMED he shows how health care can find a solution… by taking an important lesson from baseball.

TED: Jon Ronson: Strange answers to the psychopath test
Is there a definitive line that divides crazy from sane? With a hair-raising delivery, Jon Ronson, author of The Psychopath Test, illuminates the gray areas between the two.

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - Side by Side
Dan, Alex, and Jeff have been talking about the advent of digital cinema and its effect on the movie business since the very beginning of The Totally Rad Show. The new documentary produced and starring Keanu Reeves, Side By Side, takes a look at the issue from every conceivable angle and has the guys buzzing with its depth of detail and even handed approach. See why this is such a unique turning point for movie making.

Totally Rad Show: Video Game Review - Guild Wars 2
Jeff, Dan, and Alex are all huge MMO fans. So it is with much anticipation that they jumped into the newest kid on the block, Guild Wars 2. But with an emphasis on exploration, a unique weapon-based combat system, and no subscription fee, Guild Wars 2 might be more different from a traditional MMO than it is the same. Are these innovations welcome, or does the change mark a turn for the worse?

Totally Rad Show: The Films of Tony Scott
Last week marked the tragic passing of director Tony Scott, whose long and storied film career represents a big part of what makes the Totally Rad Show what it is. Top Gun, True Romance, The Last Boy Scout, Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, and so many more. Dan, Jeff, and Alex grew up viewing the world in large part through Tony Scott’s unique and daring cinematic vision, so today they take time to reflect on the films, career, and impact of one of the singular movie craftsman of the last 30 years.

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - Lawless
With a high-caliber cast that includes Gary Oldman, Tom Hardy, Guy Pierce and Shia LaBeouf, Lawless certainly has the acting firepower to pull off a western gangster tale on an epic scale. But is this “true” story of the “invincible” family of bootleggers interesting enough? Dan, Jeff, and Alex take a sip out of the moonshine and let you know how it goes down.

Totally Rad Show: RADRebus (Aug 30, 2012)
Play along with Dan, Jeff, and Alex as they compete to decipher the movie-based word puzzles that make up RADrebus. Can you out-guess the guys?

Totally Rad Show: Summer Movie Wager 2012 Results!
Summer’s final days are upon us, which means it is time to check in on the annual TRS Summer Movie Wager. Special guest Peter Sciretta from /Film join Dan, Jeff, and Alex to run down the biggest domestic grosses of the summer, to find out who managed to most accurately predict the top 10 blockbusters. Find out who won the 6th annual Summer Wager.

The Film Sack Podcast 128 – The one about The Wild Wild West
Today, we talk about Wild Wild West! The two best hired guns in the West must save President Grant from the clutches of a 19th century inventor-villain. Join Scott, Randy, Brian and Ibbott as they ride the super mecha-spider into the west desert!

Final Fantasy Union 71: A Trip Down Memory Lane!
Final Fantasy Union is back again for another show so you can get your FF fix. Darryl warms up the mic with the Spencer and Lauren and they waste no time getting into the nitty-gritty. First up is the news which includes an announcement about the 25th Anniversary event and then news about the new FF mobile game about to release. After a bit of ranting, they move onto the main section of the show. This week, they decide to not go into the questions. Instead, they revisit the very popular “remeniss about a particular FF game.” Last time, it was a rant fest about Dirge of Cerberus. This time around, the gang decides to discuss their experiences with…..you’ll have to listen to find out!

/Filmcast Bonus Ep. – The Films of Tony Scott
In this episode of the /Filmcast, Dave, Devindra, and Adam are joined by C. Robert Cargill (writer of Sinister) to remember the films of Tony Scott.

Nerdist Podcast #246: Joan Rivers
The hilarious and wonderful Joan Rivers is FINALLY on the podcast! She sits down with Chris and Jonah to discuss her early days in comedy, her views on how the internet is changing the entertainment industry and how she earned her reputation in the comedy world!

Totally Rad Show: Video Game Review - Sleeping Dogs
Sleeping Dogs takes the tried-and-true open world adventure game made popular by the Grand Theft Auto franchise, and brings it to modern day China Hong Kong. You play as an undercover cop who must infiltrate the triads of Hong Kong by working on the edge of the law. Do the story, gameplay, and exploration come together to please fans of the genre, or does it fail to capture the GTA magic? Jeff, Dan, and Alex have the answer!

Frame Rate 90: Last dance for Hulu?
IAWTV awards, Hulu’s CEO giving up, Olympics on YouTube, DOJ FCC clears Verizon’s spectrum buyout, Apple wooing cable operators, and more. Guest: Amber J Lawson, Chairman of the IAWTV

NSFW 141: Queen of the Internet
The Queen of the Internet offers absolution to the deserving few of the web. Guest:Rosanna Pansino

Totally Rad Show - VS. (Aug 24, 2012)
It is time once again for the list to be compiled. Dan, Jeff, and Alex take pairs of films and compare them, all the while ranking their top movies of all time. This week, more movies that have never been seen in VS before, including some real heavy hitters!

AMC For Your Consideration Movie Show EP 8 - Guardians of the Galaxy
On this episode we are joined by comic expert and director of the popular animated show METALOCALYPSE, Jon Schnepp who talks with us about the upcoming Marvel film GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY which will be the film that leads into AVENGERS 2. Who are they? How do they tie into the Avengers? Watch the video to find out.

The Geekbox — Episode 182 (2012-08-21)
Wherein we discuss Middle America, giant lakes, John Barrowman and Green Arrow, a possible Rocketeer reboot, Plants vs. Zombies 2, PopCap layoffs, Nintendo Power, Hyrule Historia, The Bourne Legacy, the Expendables, terrible achievements, Nintendo’s dumb digital plan, Geekbox game reviews, and Kid Icarus. Starring Ryan Scott, Karen Chu, Adam Fitch, Ryan Higgins.

Nerdist Podcast #247: Two Tickets
It’s some hostful goodness for your listening pleasure! Matt went on vacation near Los Angeles, Jonah talks about his quest to feed the homeless, and Chris has two tickets to somewhere!

SUPERHERO TIME: AUGUST 21, 2012
The news: Power Morphicon!
The weeklies: Is Fourze over yet? And Go-busters continues to find way to not combine normally!
Power Playback: Kabuto 27, which makes no more or less sense whether you get it dubbed in English

Freakonomics Radio: There’s Cake in the Breakroom!
If you work in an office, do you ever find yourself thinking that you could get more work done at home? That’s the question we address in our latest podcast, “There’s Cake in the Breakroom!”

Totally Rad Show: On My RADar (Aug 23, 2012)
On My RADar is back this week, with a slew of new eclectic picks from Alex, Dan, and Jeff. Dan has a powerful new film with a difficult name, Alex has adventures in cooking with pressure, and Jeff has three picks, including the spectacular game that brings Zelda to the iPad, an update to the best party board game of all time, and a funny animated web series that just debuted on YouTube. Tune your radar to TRS and get hip to what’s rad.

Totally Rad Show: Video Game Review - Darksiders II
Jeff and Dan were huge fans of the first Darksiders game, even if it was a bit of a sleeper. The new sequel adds Diablo style loot to the mix, keeping the Zelda style puzzles and Prince of Persia style traversal. Is it enough to convert Alex? Does it renew the love for Jeff and Dan? Find out as TRS plays with Death in Darksiders 2.

Totally Rad Show: Movie Review - Ruby Sparks
Ruby Sparks is the tale of a writer who creates his dream woman, only to have her come to life in the real world. But that magical premise is only the jumping off point for a much more ambitious, grounded metaphor that breaks the mold of standard Hollywood fare. Dan, Jeff, and Alex come out raving about a small film that should be on everyone’s must watch list.

this WEEK in TECH 367: Welcome to Zombocom
Fake followers, Kenny the Clown, record Apple value, declining Facebook value, Zombocom, and more. Hosts: Leo Laporte, Cali Lewis, Shira Lazar, and Kevin Pereira.