My Cool Friend Ken Napzok is the COOLEST! He and I used to be next-door neighbors that love all the same stuff! Now we live slightly further away while loving the same stuff! You might know Ken from the innumberable amount of nerdy things he's been a part of, like ScreenJunkies, ForceCenter, and like, a skrillion other things. He even wrote a book called Why We Love Star Wars, and it's amazing!We talk about so much cool stuff, that it's really hard to quantify in just this paragraph, so just...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff begin their season on Toy Reboots with special guest Adam Tod Brown as they dive into GI Joe, A Real American Hero, the line rebooting Hasbro's 12" action figure (definitely not a doll) lasting from 1982-1994! There's a lot to unpack about this seminal 80's toy line, so let's fight for freedom wherever there's...

My latest cool friend, TV and comic writer Tom Krajewski, is one of my oldest friends in Los Angeles, and one of the most impressive dudes I know. Among his countless achievements, we find Primer, the absolute DC comics PHENOMENON that is one of the fastest, highest selling books since it's inception a few years ago (co-created with Jennifer Muro, see JHCF episode 23). Well guess what? They are releasing Primer as individual issues, have a sequel coming, and WHO KNOWS WHAT ELSE? We talk about...

My Cool Friend Dan Bakkedahl has one hell of a resume under his belt. From movies like The Heat, Trumbo, and Action Point to television shows like The Daily Show, Legit, and Veep, Dan has proven himself to be filled to the brim with talent and charm. What you might NOT know, however, is that Dan is one of my best pinball buddies. Don't worry, we let you know ALL about it pretty quickly. On top of that, Mr. Johnson's Time Machine (his incredible new podcast with Joe Canale) is an absolute...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff finish their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with the most unfortunate mainstream video game adaptation of all-time: 1994's Double Dragon! There's a lot to unpack about this absoulte violation of a film, so let's bleach our flaptops, engage in some questionable martial arts, and reunite our cheap...

Oh boy is my latest Cool Friend a doozy! Honestly, I'm not sure how I even managed to snag Rey Taira for this long, as he was supposed to be getting ready for TF Con (Transformers) as his company, threezero, is going to have a HUGE presence there. But hey, I'm not complaining. Rey is one of the coolest, kindest, nerdiest nerds I know, and I'm so stoked to just geek out with him for a while. Wait until you hear about all the stuff that, not only his company produces, but that he himself does....

My Cool Friend this episode is the amazing Jon Jabs of one of my favorite Youtube channels, The Past Is Alive. When I was researching card breakers a few years back in order to check out how it's done right, I stumbled onto his fascinating channel and it was just everything I could have hoped for. Jon is fun, knowledgeable, interactive, and charming as heck at every turn, and he's cultivated a fantastic and supportive community in the TPIA family. I quickly became a huge fan of his work, as...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. This month, Dre and Jeff are joined by John and Tom Reimann of the Screamplay podcast as they continue their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with 2005's Doom! There's a lot to unpack about this absoulte whiff of a film, so let's inject some space chromosomes, chainsaw a mutant dog-man's robo-spine, and look down a microscope...

My latest Cool Friend is one of those friends that, when I met him for the first time, I kinda quietly geeked out. I grew up marveling at his images in secondhand Cracked magazines I got from my mom’s friend Cathy, and admiring his work from there on out at various points in my life. Bob is a master cartoonist, having credits all over the pop culture universe. From Cracked and MAD, to Marvel and DC, to TMNT and Heavy Metal, to his cult comic series Minimum Wage, I can’t imagine you HAVEN’T...

My latest Cool Friend is the immensely talented comedian/host/rabblerouser Bailey Norton. Bailey is not only a masterful comic (I mean, she’s done Mint on Card several times and co-hosts the amazing Femmes the Rules live show) and fantastic podcast host (Hot Topic with Pickle and Bailey is a delight!), but she’s often found going viral across social media with her delightful traps laid out for toxic masculinity. Her bits have become so legendary, that she’s even partnered up with Reductress...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. Dre and Jeff enter their season on Unfortunate Video Game Adaptations with Street Fighter the Movie, the second direct adaptation of a video game ever! There's a lot to unpack about this campy blockbuster, so let's become undercover reporters, make a monster with some little videos, and keek that sunoffabeetch Bison's-asssss so hardt...

OK, for real I'm not sure that I have enough space to list this episode's Cool Friend's accomplishments. Cat LaCohie (or Vixen DeVille, if you want to get all burlesque about it) is one of those people that is so filled to the brim with talent and drive, that I don't even know where to start. When we met, she out-comedied me before walking on shards of broken glass. You've probably seen her breathe fire on tv. She has an award-winning solo show that's dominated many festivals. She's just a...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep This formerly Pateron-exclusive (and missing "Episode 5") episode of NERD! had Dre and Jeff continuing their season of TV Specials with He-Man and She-Ra: A Christmas Special. There's a lot to unpack about this weird-ass classic, so let's go face off with the Beast-Monster, kidnap some alien children, and remind people the we are NOT NICE with...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 17th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff EXTENDING their season on Cinematic Child Neglect with Dutch, the rare John Hughes misfire about a nightmare Thankgiving roadtrip starring Ed O'Neill and Ethan Embry. There's a lot to unpack about this hidden holiday classic, so let's buy some racy playing cards, drink some tasty looking water,...

OK, so my Cool Friend TJ Shevlin may be the Product Development Coordinator for Upper Deck's Marvel Comics line of trading cards, and that's pretty amazing. But boy does that merely scratch the surface of all the cool, amazing stuff he's done. TJ is one of only SIX Eisner Awards judges (the Oscars of comics, given away at SDCC) and he's had his hands in almost every nerdy cookie jar you can imagine. This is a really geeky one in the best way, and we could've legit recorded for another 2...

I'm so stoked to put this episode up, as my Cool Friends Michael Randolph (@MRandolph24) Paige Wesley (@RampaigeWesley) and Todd Schlosser (@ToddJAwesome) from two of my favorite pods, Horror Virgin and Romancing the Pod are joining me this week. I've known Paige for quite a while, and since guesting on an episode of HV, I've become fast friends with the Tennessee-based Todd and Mikey. It made perfect sense to have the three of them on to talk about the cool-ass shows they do. We talk about a...

Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's David Bell! He's my Cool Friend, and we talk about stuff! And things! Honestly, the way we gel when we talk made this one of the easiest episodes to record, and the time went by so quickly that we couldn't honestly believe that we had burned through an hour. You might know Dave from his work with Gamefully Unemployed (Hype Cast, Fox Mulder is a Maniac, Star Trek the Next Futurama) or as the head writer of Some More News. You might know him from...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 16th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff finishing their season on Cinematic Child Neglect with Home Alone 2, Lost in New York, the redundant yet popular sequel (remake?) to the smash hit 1990 film that swept the nation. There's a lot to unpack about this certified rotten holiday blockbuster, so let's order our very own cheese Peet-ZA,...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 15th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff continue their season on Cinematic Child Neglect (fun!) with Adventures in Babysitting, the mid-80's classic about Elizabeth Shue and maybe some other stuff, but mostly Elizabeth Shue. Yikes. There's a lot to unpack about this stacked piece of vintage nostalgia, so let's run away to the bus...

My latest Cool Friend, the NEWLY EMMY NOMINATED Joey Clift, is a brilliant writer and comedian who also happens to be at the forefront of Native American entertainment, working on projects like Netflix's Spirit Rangers, his own project Gone Native (https://gonenative.tv/) and countless podcasts, panels, and live shows. Joey and I talk about a whole bunch of stuff in this illuminating and fun conversation, and, I could try to sell you on why you should love him, but just listen and you'll get...

My latest Cool Friend, Dan Larson, is the first guest of the show that I haven't knowingly met, although I'm 99% sure we've bumped into each other. The co-creator/writer/host of the popular YouTube channel Secret Galaxy (née Toy Galaxy), Dan is a New England nerd with a career talking about dorky stuff on the internet and HEY WAIT A SECOND!!! Look, it should come as no surprise that I adore Dan and his work, and am extremely lucky that he took the time to sit and chat with me for a while.So...

We’ve got a really great episode coming your way as I’m joined by my incredibly Cool Friends Aviv Rubinstein and Rachel Brodsky from the In Sync Podcast. As a matter of fact, this episode is a bit of what the kids call a collab, as I’m the beneficiary of a scheduling conflict that is allowing me to drop a “lost” episode of In Sync where we cover Seal’s Kiss From a Rose from Batman Forever. (Explains why we did the show together, no?) Consider this a preview, of sorts, of the In Sync pod, a...

Join mega nerds Dre Alvarez and Jeff May as they geek out on a different nerdy cultural touchstone every month. Part reminiscence, part historical deep dive. The 134th episode of NERD! has Dre and Jeff beginning their season on Cinematic Child Neglect (fun!) with Searching for Bobby Fischer, the mid-90's, mid-budget film about the furious life of...a competitive chess prodigy, sprinkled with facts about one of the world's most famous living anti-semites. Yikes. There's a lot to unpack about...

My latest Cool Friend, Timmy Heague, did something I can't even imagine, when at the age when most of us were figuring out what to do with our lives, he opened what would become one of the most succesful comic shops in Southern California, with Arsenal Comics and Games. Not only is this store the site of the infamous INSULT CGC 10 from the Zeb Wells episode, but it's a store that has reinvigorated an entire community to love and rally behind the comics industry. Here's the thing though:...