This was originally the podcast description page. I have revamped that page and I have placed this here in the posts so it can be stored as an archive. Enjoy.
The Podcast for Geeks and Non-Geeks!
My name is David McVay and I am your host. Join my guests and I for an entertaining show filled with lots of film, accessible tech, trivia, reviews and opinion on the world around us all from a geek’s perspective.
We will be taking a slightly different tack on movie reviews (no stars here), we will be discussing the enjoyment factor of a film. Did we have fun? Other regular sections will include, the gloriously wonderful bad list, The Little Geek and our tech and film picks of the week. It all adds up to a fun and informative listen.
I’m a geek, so of course there will be tech and lots of it. But before you freak out and run for the hills, I understand that there are a million and one tech podcast already out there that cover everything from ASCII to Zettabytes. As a geek that constantly has to explain my world to non-geeks it has been made very clear to me that what the world needs is a middleman. A geek to translate tech to non-geeks and non-geek problems to geeks.
“…Geek, Actually”, the netcast that will speak to geeks and non-geeks. One of our co-hosts, Mirren Lee, is a complete non-geek. If we can help her understand, maybe we can help you understand too. You never know, you might actually like geek stuff after all.
I am a huge fan of film and TV and they will play huge part in the podcast. Why? Most of the computer geeks I know are also movie fans so this podcast is very much in the geek ecosystem.
So why do I want to produce a podcast that really is mostly about movies?
A long time ago in a cinema far, far away… we used to go to the movies to just be entertained. For some odd reason, we seem to have lost that ability. Today, it would seem, the viewing audience goes to a movie to dissect it, analyse it, over complicate it, etc. What happened to just enjoying it?
When I was younger, going to the movies was an event. I’m not taking about getting dressed up in our Sunday best type event, but it was a night out. We would usually eat out (even going to McDonald’s could be a part of a good night out), then go and see the new release at the movies. We would sit back with buckets of popcorn (or bags of potato chips), choc-top ice creams and super tankers of coke and wait to be entertained. The lights would dim, the screen would light up and we would get swept up into the film. I still remember the smell of the Long Beach Theatre (in LA) that I saw Star Wars in for the first time… I was 10.
What happened? Now days you look through the paper (or online) for the closest session time of whatever movie, jump in the car (complain about the price of petrol or the traffic) and zoom down to the cinema, arrive at or just after the scheduled time because you can’t be bothered with all that advertising stuff. Remember when you used to love watching trailers (and go back a little further, you used to get a short film first) and get excited about upcoming films? Anyway, you all stand in huge lines at the candy bar because everyone had the same idea about arriving late, then you complain and moan about the prices. You finally make it into the auditorium and then you have to cause a huge ruckus as you climb (in the dark) over other patrons who are already seated. You finally slump into your seat and then the chatter starts! You know why you arrive on time? So you can get seated, turn off your mobile phone and get settled BEFORE THE LIGHTS GO DOWN! That way you don’t have to climb over ME in the dark.
The movie ends and the complaining starts. The effects let it down, the characters weren’t realistic, I’ve seen it all before, should have waited for DVD, it was disappointing etc. etc. etc. Snap out of it people! Did you laugh? Did you get excited? Did it make you jump? Did it … whatever? Did you have fun?
We, the collective audience, seem to have lost sight of the fact that movies are a form of entertainment. They are meant to, well… entertain. So let’s look at film from a different perspective, let’s try and see if we can enjoy a film for what the film set out to be. It is a pointless exercise to compare Conan the Barbarian with Gone with the Wind. Both are great, fun films but from very different ends of the film spectrum.
I have set us the mission of bringing the fun back to the cinema and make tech stuff interesting and fun for the geek and non-geek.
