Blue Yonder

What?  Do my ears deceive me?  Is that Helix Nebula I hear?  It can't be?  A new Blue Yonder?!  Yes, while it is true that we put BY in mothballs to concentrate on TV casting, every once in a while we feel the need to cut loose and get a little old-school, off-topic ranty, and our brief off-season has provided us just such an opportunity.  If you're a fan of our TV-focused casts, like Breaking Good or Watching Dead, there's probably not a lot for you here, but if you like general geek/gaming topics you might enjoy it.  For all of our old, die-hard fans, welcome back! Join Jim and A.Ron as we discuss just what the hell we've been up to the past four months and our latest gaming endeavors (including Settlers of Catan, Stratego, Battles of Westeros, Batman Arkham City, and of course, Skyrim).  We rant about the ludicrous situation that downloadable patches and locked save games has brought to us, talk a little bit of TV (of course), reminece about our Great War with Personal Arrogants, and read the last feedback we got on the cast way back in August.  Jim gives an update on our experiment with a “listener sourced cast”.  Finally, A.Ron fulfills a promise to donate some cash to his favorite charity, Child's Play. As always, if you like what we do, give us a shout out!  You can email, Tweet, or Facebook us.  Give us some lovin' by leaving us an iTunes review and especially by using our Amazon affiliate link for any and all of your Amazon shopping needs.  Remember, it costs you nothing, and sends a little “sumpin' sumpin”‘ our way.  Win/win!

In this week's show, A.Ron and Jim ponder some science, philosophy, pop culture and politics through the lens of SCIENCE!  First up, a research paper opens up the debate about spoilers we first had way back in episode 62, with a new study suggesting that reading pre-spoiled books is more enjoyable than reading them spoiler-free.  So take your spoiler tag, shine it up real nice, turn it sideways, and cram it up your candy ass! Next comes another study that boldly asserts that once just 10 percent of a given population holds an unshakable belief in an idea, that it is inevitable that idea will take over the majority of the same population.  This might have some potential applications in podcasting!  We just need another 700 million listeners!  We are so close! Jim and A.Ron briefly discuss Jim's thoughts on GENCON, and we look forward to PAX next week.  Then, we have some bittersweet news to drop on you, as we announce that Blue Yonder will be going on hiatus in the coming weeks.  We're not stopping podcasting!  Hell, no, we're just off general geekery and we're on to our other passion, television.  If you're a fan of Breaking Bad, we'd love it if you followed us over at our new project, Breaking Good. And if you still can't get enough geek and pop culture, we cannot recommend our frienemies over at Personal Arrogants enough.  We never knew that when we started shit with them, oh so many months ago, that we'd find such dependable foils as well as friends.  Jim and I (gemini) are huge fans, and we feel like if you give them a shot, you'll like them as well if not better than our cast.  They also have the virtue of not going off the air!  So there's that. If you'd like to share any fond memories you've had of the cast with us, email them in!  For every piece of feedback we get, A.Ron is donating $5 to Child's Play, up to a maximum of $500.  We're doing a final, very special episode 77 where we reminisce about the last year, and give our final State of the Geek address before signing off.  We still hope to do a joint cast with the PA crew in Seattle if they're up for a 1 week reunion tour!  See you next week!  I'll bring the kleenex!  Ew, god, not like that.

We are back after last week's hiatus.  Honestly, I'm heartbroken we lost the Jim Jones Experiment.  It was an hour long mind fuck of yours truly by Jim Jones, and it was weird, it was uncomfortable, it was hilarious by the end, and it would have been legendary, and then Jim deleted it, with no backups.  Because, I dunno?  Mac people don't make good backups.  I guess? No use crying over spilled podcasts.  Jim actually is sick, as is his post-convention custom (he has the immune system of a baby bird.  A baby birds with full blown AIDS) so Mad Brew from Mad Brew Labs graciously stepped in to do a wrap up, Blue Yonder style.  We discuss the awesome, the lame, and the fun games we played this weekend. We talk specifically about Fantasy Flights new Star Wars Mini Space Battles game, Battles of Westeros, Blood Bowl Team Manager, MERCS minis, Third and Long: The Football Card Game, WarMachine, Epic Armory, and lots more. If you are a Pathfinder fan, be sure to check out Michael's online character generator, Venture Captain.  It's free and totally awesome.   [ratings]

GENCON, the “best four days in gaming”, is coming to our humble home town of Indianapolis next week.  We invited Michael “Madbrew” Brewer back on to give some tips for what to look for in this years convention, how to navigate the expo hall, potential new releases, and what you can safely avoid.  If you missed last year's GenCon preview with Michael, you might want to give it a listen, as he discussed a lot more general GENCON survival tips, and his love for RPGs. We'll be out there for all four days, so if you're going to be around, shout us out on Twitter or email, and say “hi” or come game with us!  You can get in touch with Michael over at his blog Mad Brew Labs, or his new Pathfinder character generator, Venture Captain.  He'll also be cosplaying as Chun Li at GENCON this year, so hit him up on Twitter if you want a pose with him.  (NOTE: Not actually true.)

Busy week for A.Ron and Jim. A.Ron breaks down his various trials and tribulations including a Jim Jones mindfuck, a breakup, getting his PANFI on with his boy, and golfing in Satan's Asshole. We also launched a very successful podcast on Breaking Bad, and were interviewed on The Amazingly Pulp SHOOOOOOOWWWWWW!! We bring the listeners up do date with some follow up to the male privelidge aspect of our cast with Madbrew last week. I don't know what to make of this take, in particular, of a feminist pondering male privildge through the prism of her own white privlidge. I don't doubt the basic truth of her premise, but I'm not sure what to do with this information. We get excited about the upcoming GENCON and PAX events in August, and the breeding habbits of werecabbages. And that's just the bullshit! The meat is formed from an article at Wired about the new video game based “religion” of Chain World. We cover the twists, turns, and wheels within wheels turning within this story. Jim challenges you, the listener, to try and pervert and annoy us with our very own cast, and releases a vast swath of our show's library under the Creative Commons license to facilitate this. Then we lose our shit over a video two harpies and a man without testicles or common sense made about it not being normal for men in their 30s and beyond to play video games. This leads to a larger discussion of relationships and gender privilege. Jim previews the upcoming mindfuck episode, and then we half-ass listener feedback. If you liked this week's episode, drop us a line! You can also follow us on Twitter, and our Facebook page. Love us, like us, follow us! If you appreciate what we do, consider leaving us an iTunes review. And don't forget our forums!   [ratings]

This week we bring back Michael “Madbrew” Brewer from MadBrewLabs for a three man debate about insane co-workers, assholes in RPGs, gaming culture, inclusiveness, women and minorities in gaming, who has rights to our friendships, and what we can or should do about our White/Straight/CIS/Male Privilege. Michael also entertains us with some Stories from the Service that he collected in his four years of serving in the US Marine Corps.  Don't forget to check out his RPG blog, MadbrewLabs, and his new Pathfinder character generator, Venture Captain. If you liked this week's episode, drop us a line!  You can also follow us on Twitter, and our Facebook page.  Love us, like us, follow us! If you appreciate what we do, consider leaving us an iTunes review.  And don't forget our forums!   [ratings]

Jim and A.Ron always pay their debts.  We owe you a cast, and today we deliver on that promise.  We talk about Florence + The Machine, Battle for Hill 218 (free online version), Battlestar Galactica (board game AND series), that fantastic new HBO series “Game of Thrones” that just finished up it's first season, A.Ron's revolutionary idea for a “sincerity” movement, and the surprising news that Kickstarter is the 3rd largest independent comic book publisher. We finish up with Jim sharing his love for Tim Minchin, some listener feedback, a podcaster pledge, and of course, Stafa's Corner.  If you liked this week's episode, drop us a line!  You can also follow us on Twitter, and our Facebook fan page.  If you appreciate what we do, consider leaving us an iTunes review.  And don't forget our forums!   [ratings] Jim wanted me to share another link to the free online Dominion game system too.  If you're into that kind of thing…

The write up for this one is going to be short and sweet, folks, because the content is long and savory.  We finally aligned technology and schedules and sat down with Ian for a talk about all things geek, legal, and lawery.  Want to know what it's like to argue before the Supreme Court? What it's like to be an Omeganaut at PAX?  How to fight back against unfair IP law?  If emulators are legal?  How much energy the Death Star took to destroy Alderaan?  We talk about it.  At length. As a bonus, we have a full transcript of the interview and a “highlight reel” version here.  Hope you enjoy!  We'll be having Ian on in the future, so if you have follow up questions, drop us a line!  You can also follow us on Twitter, and our Facebook fan page.  If you appreciate what we do, consider leaving us an iTunes review.  And don't forget our forums!  It's where all the cool kids hang out. [ratings]

This is a terrible cast.  I honestly wouldn't listen to it, if I were you.  I mean, I gotta keep it real, right?  I can't say how awesome our casts are and it mean anything and then drop a turd and talk it up, yeah?  Yeah. Thing is, I'm not sure why it flopped on it's face.  We had some good bullshit up front; pimping the Brew Ha Ha, advances in metallurgy, saying a happy birthday to Alan Turing, and talking about Terry Prachett's dignity in making end of life decisions.  A.Ron plugs one of his favorite twitter feeds, @humblebrag. For our meat, Jim discusses whether or not Super 8 brought back fond memories of Spielberg's innocent sci-fi movies of the 80s, and A.Ron ponders what the recent tidal wave of hacking means for security and privacy in the future.  I dunno, seems like a decent cast.  But it totally wasn't. If you want to break down where we went wrong, Zapruder film style, drop us a line back, and to the left. Back… and to the left.   Unleash your venom at us on Twitter, flame us on our  Facebook fan page, or give us a terrible review on iTunes.  Don't forget our forums!  Any hate you spew there stays forever, permanently etched into our SQL database.  All I ask… is for you to be gentle.

The guys release ultra-devastating power on the unsuspecting listeners this week.  First, A.Ron is incredulous with Jim's shunning of the fantastic game, Angry Birds (now free on Chrome!), talks about how awesome Infamous 2 is, and declares that  X-Men: First Class blows the lid off the Bacon game for a whole new generation. And that's just the bullshit!  For this week's meat, A.Ron goes BMT with a discussion of how to succeed in IT without even trying, or how to extort your former employers for fun and profit.  Jim asks if there is a rise in geek anti-intellectualism?  I don't know about all that, but I sure do get tired of hearing Jim throwing around his fancy goddamn $20 words.  We close with some listener feedback, and what could be the most baffling Stafa's corner yet. If you'd like to flex your intellectualism, drop us a line, give us a shout on Twitter, leave us some feedback on our  Facebook fan page, or review us on iTunes.  Don't forget our forums, they're the most groovy, swinging place this side of Kevin' Bacon's Hellfire Club!   [ratings]

Teledildonics.  It's a real word!  Honest.  Look it up! Titles aside, we got vintage May 19th, 2011 juice for you this week, as summer schedules did not permit us to cast in the present time.  Why are honeybees dying?  What unintended consequences are involved with French kissing over IP?  A.Ron goes ego tripping!  Wait, I guess that's pretty much every week. But then Jim reins him in with some The Guild flavored Haterade, that turns into an introspective gaze into the geek mirror.  It gets all kinds of racial, sexual, size-ual, and social up ins!  Anytime you have a conversation where A.Ron says “I don't think it's true that woman like sex less than men”, it's a must listen, right? Also, if you liked the geek money talk from Episode 61, I have the 201-level course for you; emergency funds and debt snowballing (note: does not involve orally passing debt back and forth with a partner)!  We actually have feedback this week, but it's going to have to wait for next time, cause we STILL don't have a time machine to go back and place it in the cast.  We'll work on that, but in the meantime, drop us a line, and be first in line for the next show's feedback queue.  Also, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or leave us a five star review on iTunes.  And our forums are hopping and happening, Jim and I (gemini) prowl the grounds daily, looking for listeners to put over.  Listeners just like you!   [ratings]

It's rough going when you're sitting across the casting table from the Unabomber.  But I persevere.  For the people.  For my people.  For you, people.  We open the show with some straight up BULLSHIT this week!  The apparently not-so-great state of Tennessee is banning the sharing of account credentials for services such as Netflix.  Jim survives an experience with Bitch Slap!, and A.Ron mourns the missed potential of Priest with a wheelbarrow laden review/recap. The guys get philosophical with the meat portion of the program, with Jim discussing the nature of time and the prospects of traveling through the aforementioned time, and A.Ron pondering the pros and cons of internet vigilantism.   Finally, we serve up some fan-service with some topical Star Wars vs Star Trek debate and a very feminine reading of the latest dispatch from the Don. Reminder!  Register for GENCON, dammit!   We'll be there all four days, come out and hang with us and play some games!  Pre-registration closes June 18th, which means you'll have to pay $10 extra for your ticket, AND stand in line at Will Call! Do not pay extra!  Do not stand in line!  Get a cool badge with your name pre-printed on it! If you'd like to complain about me going on and on and on and on about Priest, Billy Joel / We Didn't Start The Fire style, or want to coordinate GENCON plans or give other feedback on our show, drop us a line, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or leave us a five star review on iTunes.  If you just want to yak, we have forums, just for you, the people.  Our people.  We have a fancy new CAPTCHA that makes registration faster and easier.  Hint: the answer is either “crunch” or “batman”.  Try to figure that one out, spambot!   [ratings]

This week the guys get local up front with news for a possible Brew Ha Ha meet up in downtown Indy, we mourn the passing of a giant with our observation of Towel Day, Jimbo Wales has delusions of grandeur regarding Wiki as a World Wonder, don't mess with the TSA, Texas, and Jim pitches the idea of laser tag hair removal. The meat is served medium rare with A.Ron lamenting the apparent beginning of the end of human space travel, and practical plans to get us to Mars right now, that no one gives a shit about.  After a brief comedic interlude, Jim discusses Roger Ebert's meditations on the dying of the light, the dimming and diminishing of America's cinemas.  Like everything else, Sony is to blame. For feedback, we have a veritable cornucopia,  with a guest spot on home brewing from Jesse of Personal Arrogants, and a Stafa's Corner that turns into a moving tribute to the late, great, Randy Savage.  Not really.  But it's entertaining, and he'd want it that way. That's a pretty damned good episode, if you ask us!  If you agree, or want to hook up at the Brew Ha Ha, drop us a line, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or leave us a five star review on iTunes.  If you don't, tell us why in our forums! Registration is fast and free!   [ratings]

You got to ask yourself.  What are you going to do?  What the hell are you going to do when you're staring down a pack of water crazed camels hell bent on sucking the vital fluids from your air conditioner, your toilet, your water pipes?  When they come as an unstoppable lumpy force to destroy your very means of modern life?  One hump or two, motherfucker?  One hump or TWO!? Other than the impending camelocalypse, we give an update on the Playstation Network, discuss a badass's quest for bad asses, how your dad's hipsterism won a spot in your mom's pants, whether Groupon is destroying small businesses, and simulating the HUMAN BRAIN!  All this and more, on an ALL NEW Blue Yonder. If you liked this week's episode, drop us a line, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, or leave us a five star review on iTunes.  Our forums are jumping right now with daily traffic, why not sign up now and join the discussion and get our bonus content?  Registration is fast and free! Arnold's harem… * Mildred Patricia Baena * Gigi Goyette * Maria Shriver

The fans have been clammoring (clammoring!) for Jim and A.Ron to sing a duet of the inimitable Garth Brook's “Low Places” for over a year now.  Actually, that's a lie.  But!  You can still hear it if you stick around after the outro in this week's episode!  Leading up to the big finish, we give a bit of PSN update, I talk gearhead bullshit for a minute, we talk about the local board gaming scene, the mighty THOR not sucking nearly as much as we presupposed, and whether Chris Hemsworth could earn a spot in the badass pantheon. And that's just the filler!  The meat is a discussion of Google's robot cars and what Roger Ebert's feeding tube tells us about the possibilities of trans/post-humanism. If you liked this week's episode, drop us a line!  Alternative ways to show us the love; 1) follow us on Twitter, 2) become a fan on Facebook, or 3) leave us a five star review on iTunes.  We have some fresh bonus content available on our forums; registration is fast and free! * free version of Battle for Hill 218 * free version of Dominion * Meetup group for Fishers Boardgames

In this week's offering we sit down for a little skull session to put eyeballs on unsuck-it.com, gain best of breed synergy with a deep dive on spoilers, A.Ron makes an elevator pitch for his new movie, Mancano, we get down in the weeds with Sony's ongoing PSN disincentive strategy, kick the tires on the Chemical Free Chemistry Kit, and finally engage in a knowledge transfer with Stafa on the topic of heroic collateral damage. Stay past the outro for some pre-show outtakes!  You know, if you're into that sort of thing. If you liked this week's episode, hated it, or want to punch us right in the face, drop us a line and we'll make the necessary arrangements!  Alternative ways to show us love or heap upon us scorn would be to 1) follow us on Twitter, 2) become a fan on Facebook, or 3) leave us a five star review on iTunes.  We have an exciting deal on usernames for our forums; this week ONLY, not only is user registration free and easy, not ONLY do you get literally HOURS of free BONUS content, but each person registered saves a kitten God* would have killed because they masturbated.  We can transfer that credit to a friend or loved one if you do not currently engage in self-abuse. * = Offer void in areas of the universe where God does not exist.  

The boys navigate dangerous waters as the PSN outage has been upgraded from a tropical shit storm to a full fledged fecal hurricane.  It must be discussed!  Jim and A.Ron break it down from a personal, gamer, and professional level.  Also, watching a serial killer on a weekly basis has Jim pondering “what makes great TV?”  A.Ron urges his fellow geek to live by a few simple economic rules, we celebrate Skynet's birth day, and close out the cast with a review of Poral 2 from our forum's own Darth Paxis and some Batmania from Stafa's corner. If you liked this week's episode, or want to argue about one of our takes, drop us a line and tell us all about it!  We'd love for you to follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and especially consider leaving us a five star review on iTunes.  We also have some prime real estate available in our forums, so why not setup shop now?

In this week's episode, the guys discuss the iPad's destruction (ha-ha) of the United States economy, SOCOM 4's furtherance of Madden '84 policies, and A.Ron's irrational anti-hoarding packaging problem.  If it is a problem.  I mean, it's anti-hoarding, so it can't all be bad. If you liked this week's episode, we'd love for you to follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and especially consider leaving us a five star review on iTunes.  The cast is free, we're paid in love, so it's time to show it and grow it!

This week we cover a lot of ground; stand up desks, Vibram Five Finger “shoes”, Cloud Girlfriends, a mini-review of Zack Snyder's Sucker Punch, nerd fitness updates, feedback from our listeners, update on the Blue Yonder Curse, and finally, Jim Jones makes an epic, not-to-be-missed accent debut in this week's edition of Stafa's Corner! This week's episode, for some reason, is echoy as shaz.  I don't know why; I blame Jim's goddamn hippy lovin' Apple product.  We apologize for the cavernous audio, and hope to rectify it next week.  Tell ya what, to make it up to you, this week's cast is ABSOLUTELY FREE!  I know!  What a deal!

You ever feel like some days you just can't do anything right?  You wake up, stub your toe on the bedframe, cut yourself shaving, get your dick and/or vag caught in the zipper, proclaim the 3DS as a revolutionary break through in gaming, and declare nuclear power the safest thing since foam rubber?  Yeah, we have days like that.  And we record them for posterity. In this week's episode, we explore the Blue Yonder Curse!  We debate about the cultural ghetto that is gaming culture, review Pixel Junk's Shooter 2, run down our recent table top gaming binge, unleash Peter RAGE, and of course, read the latest segment of Stafa's Corner.

Here' the deal, loyal listener.  I have no idea what this cast is about, cause I wasn't a part of recording it.  I'm sure there will be reprisals from bagging on Jim last week, so no matter what cock-and-bull story they come up with, know this:  instead of casting, I was spending quality time with my progeny; introducing Star Wars to him for the first time.  Try holding that one against me.  Try it!  You can't.  You can feel your black shriveled heart swelling 3x too big just thinking about it. (Actually, I did that the night before, casting night I took him to his first Pacer's game.  Decidedly less geeky, and less forgivable.  But I can't lie to you guys.  At least for more than one paragraph at a time.) Anyway… the other guys inform me that this week's cast contains Jim has a break through seeing colors from the Anime spectrum in Beebopian shades for the first time (don't get the reference?  Check our Geek Colorblind cast, it's awesome…), discussion of my latest TV passion, “The Wire”, NBC's , “Community”, Captain Malcolm Reynolds latest vehicle, “Castle”, and Peter's take after 24 hours with the 3DS.  Enjoy!

You're not going to believe the twists and turns this week's episode brings!  We learn about the relative safety of nuclear power, a glimpse into the guy's latest gaming habits, risky WOW behavior, and Peter and A.Ron square off in a heated no holds barred bad-accent contest.  Enjoy! * Radiation Chart courtesy of xkcd. * See my post in the forum for even more points on nuclear safety.

Jim has come down with yet another variation of Pax Pox, and the entire Bald Tower has been partitioned off by the CDC. And then… things kind of got out of hand. Something about generators running out of diesel, an irreversable self-destruct counter, and a high-impulse thermobaric fuel-air explosive consisting of a two-stage aerosol ignition… it's all very technical, but the upshot is that Peter and I had to go old school and get the damn thing done via Skype. The damn thing in this case being an overview of PAX weekend and a revisit of the 3D and motion gaming discussion from last week. Also, don't miss my finest accent yet! I bring the house down. If you like what we do, follow us on Twitter, like us on Facebook, jump into the discussions on our forum, or send us some feedback at blueyonder@baldmove.com. Note: We recorded a joint cast with Personal Arrogants at PAX-East, where we covered a lot of the expo news. I tried to shy away from repeating that stuff, but it turns out that entire episode was “lost” in an “equipment malfunction”. You just can't trust a guy with a goat head logo, it turns out. Let us know of anything in particular you want us to talk about from the show and we'll cover it next week! Pinky promise!

We've had a crazy weekend so far, and PAX isn't even over! Join us for a bonus cast covering PAX East 2011, including a great interview of Steve Jackson, of Steve Jackson Games. Designer of GURPS, Munchkin, Zombie and Cthulu Dice, Steve was nice enough to give us about 30 minutes of his time to talk about game developing, table top gaming, and what great new products they've been working on, including a version of Munchkin with an Axe Cop theme. Hope you enjoy! Follow us on twitter for the latest PAX news, and tweet us if you want to meet up and say “hi”. Hope to see you there! [ratings]

No time for description. PAX is on!

There's a buzz in the air. No, it's not the 2 cups of coffee you just bodyslammed into your bloodstream… or the cocaine. It's the buzz of PAX! We're one week out from PAX East 2011. The guys can't stop thinking about it and now, neither can you. Jim and A.Ron wrestle the Dick Wolves controversy to the ground, pin it, and teach it a lesson before turning their sites on the PAX panels themselves with a rundown of the time-wasters and must-see panels. We'll be spending a lot of time demoing our new Jehovah's Witness game, The Society, and playing other games at PAX so come by the gaming areas, check it out and say hi. Fans and stalkers alike can follow us on Twitter to discover our whereabouts during the con. Also, head over to our Spreadshirt store to get your very own “Damn, it feels good to be a Rancor!” t-shirt. Finally, you can check out our pictures, videos and podcasts from previous PAX events (along with our old, busted-ass website!) on our PAX page. And we'll see YOU at the show!

How much do we love you guys?  Enough to release a cast with one member down, and two on life support.  Listen as A.Ron struggles with week two of the plague and Jim actually dies ON AIR of consumption.  This is the Oregon Trail of podcasts.  Our wagon's axle breaks, we lose our food and gunpowder fording the river, and the entire party dies of dysentery. But before that!  My ongoing coverage of advances in sex games continues with coverage of the “Kiss” controller.  We provoke nerd rage in an attempt to rank the all time best Comic Book movies, with a look at how this year's releases might fit in.  We revisit some old Powerplay ground with a discussion of horror in entertainment, as we touch on the new Dead Island trailer.  We finish up with Stafa's Corner as Jim chokes out his last breath.  I might have attempted a British accent that bests Kevin Costner's worst accents of all time.  It's debatable, that's all I'm saying. If you liked this week's episode, we'd love for you to follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and if you really like us, I mean, “like like” us… leave us a five star review on iTunes. Next week we're going to do a bit of a PAX preview.  Tune in if you want to find out how to hook up with Jim and I (gemini) at the eXpo and find out what events we're going to be at…  Maybe we'll see you there!

This week's cast is HOT.  You know me well enough that if we have an iffy or so-so week, I'll tell you up front.  “Under-promise and over-deliver”, that's the A.Ron motto.  In related news; I'm a mediocre lover, ladies.  Rowr. This week; we discuss the attraction of Miss Felicia Day, of the recently announced Dragon Age web media series.  Fond memories of Showbiz Pizza Place's house band, the Rock-afire Explosion.  Reboots of successful (and not so successful!) franchises; Spider-man, the Hulk, Battle Star Galactica, Star Trek.  And we welcome our new computer mastermind overlords with a discussion of Watson, the new Jeapordy playing artificial intelligence. Last but certainly not least, we double up on Stafa's Corner with two great emails from the Don.  You like?  Send us an email, follow us on Twitter, become a fan on Facebook, and go yak in our forums!  Not only do you get to stay in the loop on all of our latest projects, but it makes our e-peen hard.  Studies have conclusively linked great podcast output with the girth and firmness of e-peen.  And hell, you might be able to get a plushy ninja out of the deal.  So get to fluffing!

We made it to fifty episodes, bitches!  FITTY!  Yeah!  Join Jim, Peter, and A.Ron as we look back at our first year in production.  We take you behind the scenes, reminiscing about our favorite shows, what worked, what didn't, which casts were the most popular, how our format has evolved, things we're proud of and things that were disappointing. Thanks for listening to us this first year!  Stick around, because the next 50 are going to be bigger and better.  Except when they're not.  Then they might be smaller, or worse.  Or smaller and worse.  But predominantly; bigger and better.  ESPECIALLY if you tell a friend or two about the cast!

Jim and A.Ron tackle one of the watershed issues of our day.  The god-awful disappointment of the Star Wars Prequel trilogy.  Spurned to discussion and debate by RedLetterMedia.com‘s recent evisceration of Episode 3, we talk candidly about our betrayal by Uncle George.  Although initially Jim is less than enthused about the top — wait!  What's that?! GOOD GOD THAT'S PETER STREET'S MUSIC! In a stunning reversal, Street storms the ring and drops three atomic stunners and two choke slams right on Lucas's flabby, bloated Boss Nass like neck.  It's all over, folks. In other news, Jim bitches about his iPhone, the Sisyphean task of search engine optimization, lots of listener feedback, Stafa's corner, and finally we ponder the sexual orientation the Ghost of Sparta. PS: We're down to TWO ninja's in our facebook promotional contest.  Blue, and Green, masters of Ice and Leaf magic respectively.  Better get them while they last!

In this week's thrilling episode!  Jim has an acute attack of Girl On The Internet Syndrome, locksmithing, the evolution of the (Friendly) Local Gaming Store, and we wade carefully into dangerous waters with the latest installment of Stafa's corner.  Finally, we tell a bald-faced lie regarding the inclusion of the fabled “Bo Jackson” content into this week's episode.  No, no! No damn crying!  You'll just have to wait for next week. We still have Shawnimals to give away!  Take them!  Dear god take them!  Feeding and housing these deadly assassins is as expensive as it is dangerous.  You must take them off our hands! Links relevant to our cast's interests… * Penny-Arcade goes to their FLGS

A very special episode of Blue Yonder this week, as the guys discuss a serious topic; gays and geekdom. The geek community has a rep for being open minded and progressive, but is that warranted? Why aren't there more gay role models/heroes in science fiction, fantasy, and video games in general? It's not all heavy, as we touch lightly on Minecraft, Breaking Bad, douchebags, and post-outro, offer up some of the finest, old school off topic outtakes we've had in a while. Links relevant to the cast… * BS Report: Bill Simmons interview with LZ Ganderson * GeeksOn: Gays in Sci-Fi * The douchebag god

I know what you're thinking. This is the Blue Yonder crew. I'm NOT listening to any damn thing that is tagged “watersports!” I know! I know. But listen, it's not about what you're thinking. Mostly not. Maybe a little? But it's totally in a video game context, so I'm sure you can deal. If not, I have several really excellent therapists I can refer you to. We also discuss The Fighter, a stunning twist in the recently concluded war with Unwarranted Self-Importants, introduce a new segment, “Stafa's Corner”, and some contest updates. Have at it!

Whoa, whoa! Check out the big brains on Jim and A.Ron! We do the damn thing on technological singularities, the e-novella Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect, discuss the Little Big Planet 2 demo, touch ever so lightly on minecraft, declare total victory over Unwarranted Self Importants, and do some listener feedback. There's some hot pillow biting action too. Something for everyone! Oh, and Amish Friendship Bread is a real thing. And terrifying. If you enjoyed the singularity/MOPI stuff, we've got bonus content for you coming tomorrow in the forums where we turn up the geek to eleven and go plaid tearing into the underlying premise and philosophy. Oh, don't forget about our contest, below! We've got one winner already! We have three more ninjas to give away…

Another week, another warm, fat brick from the golden goose. This time it comes in the form of Jim and A.Ron discussing the Chrome store, sex games on Kinect, a state of the geek update and our new year's resolutions. Email us some of your new year's resolutions at blueyonder@baldmove.com. We'll read them on the air. Also, don't forget to enter our contest by getting your friends to ‘like' us on the Facebook. There are ninja prizes at stake! Finally, don't miss the bonus TRON Legacy review that we posted last week and the True Grit review that will be going up on Friday. They're only for our forum users so go sign up! Links relevant to the cast: * Microsoft Puts the Kibosh On Kinect Sex Game Plans * 28 hour day, explained…

You know, sometimes your hosts feel like they really banged out a terrific episode… and then other times the best we can say is that the data we uploaded to the old bald computer conforms to the MPEG-2 Audio Layer 3 format. Which kind of episode is this? Well, let's just say that there exists an optimum amount of alcohol involved in podcasting, and the right ratio is hard to quantify at times. Our old buddy Jim might have crossed the line in this one, but I try my best to keep things professional. Even when he got a bit fresh and grabby at that one point. Hand me that doll, so I can show you where he touched me. I assure you, they were all bad places, very bad indeed. “Dear god,” you ask, with a bit more dramatic flair than is probably appropriate, “what do I have in store for me this week?” I reply thusly: a raid report from our invasion of Unwarranted Self Importants‘ live podcast, Steam woes, a change in living conditions, depressing Park Rangers, the challenge of Wiki Hunt!, Solar Sails, Breaking Bad, MacGyver memories, and of course, your latest dose of Two Minutes Hate. Program note: We are in a bit of flux with the equipment since we are halfway between the Bald Cave and the new Bald Tower, and for whatever reason my audio was a bit off. We should return to form next week. Thanks for listening!

A.Ron and Jim break down bathroom etiquette, brag a bit about Jim's new system, “Behemoth”, and catch up the listeners on the state of the Badass, with mini reviews of Faster, and looking ahead to True Grit, the Mechanic, and Nick Cage's latest hilarious attempt to climb Mount Badass. Of course, you also get quasi-latest news from the Podcast War with Personal Arrogants. Join in for this week's Two Minutes Hate!

The guys get formal and get geeky in this week's episode.  Up front is a lengthy discussion of gaming mice, as Jim breaks down every aspect of the oft-overlooked HID-Compliant device.  Breaks it down into its constituent atoms.  Breaks it down so it'll never get back up. At the 58 minute mark, we get into discussion of the joint NASA/USGS research discovering a new form of “alien” life right here on Earth.  Finally, right around the 1:19 mark we unveil a new segment and unleash our fire spitting pineal glands at rival podcast Personal Arrogants in a little something we call the Two Minutes Hate.  Prove your fealty by joining in.  Remember, Big Peter is always watching! If all that goodness wasn't enough, we read some mail, and anoint Don Stafa as forum Godfather. Link for mice tech: AnandTech Input Lag Article

A. Ron is back from the isle, soggy Game Informer in hand, to join Jim for the video game square down.  What games have we been playing?  What 2011 games are we excited for?  What big games do we have no interest in?  What does caffeine withdrawal feel like?  Answer these questions and throw in a bit of funny and you have episode 40 of Blue Yonder.

It's a goddamn epidemic!  Another airline catastrophe, another cast mate crashed on a desert island.  This time it's A.Ron's turn, and he brings a twist to the top seven list as he considers what movies he'd like to while away the time with during his exile.  And if you're thinking Star Wars makes the cut, you're going to need to think again.

The dynamic duo is back, with the audio quality better than ever.  We talk about worst jobs ever, how content producers can compete with pirates (and ninjas), The Walking Dead, Wil Wheaton, Brent Spiner, and LeVar Burton forming the Holy Trinity of Twitter, our manlove for Scott Pilgrim, TSA's new airport molesting program (opt in!  opt in!), Carl Sagan's COSMOS, evolution theory, and more! Oh yeah, and if you are interested in the Scott Pilgrim offer mentioned in the cast, email a [dot] ron [at] baldmove [dot] com.  First one in wins!  (Show hosts aren't eligible to win, either.  Cough Peter cough Jim) The Scott Pilgrim DVD has been won!  Congrats to Tim from NC!

Oh no!  Jim is stranded on the island and his only hope to preserve his sanity are the 7 television series dvd sets that he happened to have with him.  Good thing they're some of his favorites!  Check out the Jim Jones solo cast.