It’s been mentioned on Twitter, we talked briefly about it on the Big Honkin Show, and now I feel I need to make official to everyone via the website that my time in podcasting has come to an end.  For now at least.

The way I put it on Twitter was through the words of Shawn Michaels.  The first time he left the wrestling business, he said simply that he lost his smile.

Over the past few months, I have come to understand what he meant.  I love doing Geek Out Loud, Starkville’s House of El, The Big Honkin Show, and Round 3.   I said a couple of years ago that when all this began I just wanted to do a podcast.  I wanted an outlet to talk about all the things that I enjoy that I don’t really get to talk about too much with the people around me.  I never dreamed in a million years that so much good would come out of sitting in front of a microphone and droning on about movies, tv, and comics.  I have made some great friends, I have had a great time, and I got to live a dream I’ve had for a very long time.

Unfortunately, so much of what I do when it comes to podcasting and broadcasting requires that I am as chipper and upbeat as possible.  There have been times when I’ve just felt too tired or too down to think that I can get in the mental place to “bring it” for the listening audience, but I’ve always found that I could power through and have a good time.  Over the past few months, though, it’s been harder and harder to get to that point due to some personal things that have been going on coupled with a hectic work schedule. In short, I’ve lost my smile.  Watching television, movies, and reading comics became less and less of a hobby and more and more of a job.

In an effort to get my priorities straight and to try (again stealing from Shawn Michaels) find my smile again, I am stepping away from podcasting for the time being.

Thank you all for your support.  Thank you all for the e-mails, the well wishes, the good times, and the laughs.  I’m sorry that this all seems to come out of the blue and I’m sorry for letting those of you who look forward to good times with Derek, Buck, and I down.  Ultimately, please know how appreciative I am to every single one of you for your constant support.

Now, on to the logistics of my departure.  I have officially left Starkville’s House of El, The Big Honkin’ Show will air live on the radio one last time next Saturday, Round 3 is over, and we will do two more episodes of Geek Out Loud before September is over so as to end on the milestone 50th epiversary.

I know you, as I will be tuning in to Starkville’s House of El during what promises to be an amazing final season of Smallville.  As for The Big  Honkin Show and Geek Out Loud, don’t delete those feeds because (to pull another adage from Pro Wrestling) the only thing that’s for sure is nothing is for sure.

Again, thank you all, God Bless, May the Force Be With You, and where we’re going we don’t need roads.

It’s been literally three years since I started this blog and this particular feature. Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I thought Season 7 was going to be the last.  Now, as I look forward to the tenth (and confirmed ) final season of Smallville with as much anticipation as I’ve looked forward to the release of Star Wars films I feel like the best way I can honor the show is to finish what I originally set out to do.  Work my way through the entire series with my thoughts on each episode.  If you haven’t read the Summer of Smallville entries to this point, I encourage you to go back and check out one of the first unfinished things I ever did for this little experiment I call Geek Out Online.  They’re easy to find.  Just click Smallville in the Categories column and go to older entries….you’ll see them.  For now though, let’s talk about just how much the ending of the first season sucked.

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When I was growing up there were a few names that were synonymous with doing no wrong.   Names like John Hughes, Steven Speilberg, and even George Lucas were mentioned with a reverence and confidence that if their names were on a project, it was gonna be a winner.   Many of the names from that time survived to become legends of film and television making.   It’s interesting to be on the verge of becoming an old fogey and seeing who the new generation has tapped to revere in similar ways.   Visionaries like J.J. Abrams, Christopher Nolan, The Coen Brothers, and of course Joss Whedon.  There are tons more, and there’s a part of me that gets sad knowing that M. Night Shyamalan had such potential to be in that list…but alas…THE HAPPENING happened.

Of all of the film makers, show runners, and writers that have emerged in the last ten to fifteen years, none have garnered the cult following of Joss Whedon.   Quite frankly, he deserved it.  He’s a man who built two successul franchises on a movie that received a pretty modest reception from audiences in the early nineties.  To perform that kind of feat, one has to be a visionary.  From Buffy, Whedon has gone on to gain across the board approval from his fans on whatever he touches.   People follow Whedon as blindly as I follow George Lucas.   On one hand I get that.  The guy has a great imagination…but…he makes me sad.  Why?  I think I finally realized it while watching FIREFLY and SERENITY.

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This time it’s a whole lot easier to order and pay for the T-shirts.   Plus, they’re new and improved.   If you want the classic GOL shirt, click on the link at the top of the page to the official Big Honkin Show/Geek Out Loud store.   There are two new GOL shirt designs coming later this week, but if you’re looking for a new and improved classic look to the Geek Out Loud original, it’s ready to be ordered now.   Orders will be available through Friday, August 6th, so don’t hesitate…order now!

The year was 1987.  I was ten years old and was super excited that a new Superman movie was on the horizon.  I had worn out our copies of  SUPERMAN THE MOVIE and SUPERMAN II that we recorded from the ABC Sunday night movie.   I had gone with some friends of our family to see SUPERMAN III and now we got a new a Superman movie?

In my book, Superman movies were just below Star Wars in my little guy geek spectrum.   So it was that my dad took me to see what would be Christopher Reeve’s final portrayal of The Man of Steel.

Even as a chunky ten year old kid I knew something was off about this movie.  There was too much humor.  Superman always looked just the same when he came flying onto the screen.  By “looked the same,” I mean that it appeared that someone had cut out a picture of Superman flying and pasted it onto the film.  (Apparently that’s exactly what they did.)

In the years that followed, whenever I talked to friends or fans about SUPERMAN IV, it was always the same thing.  ”That’s the worst Superman movie EVER!”  ”They should have stopped with three.” “It’s sooo bad.”

The problem is I could never not watch it.  If it happened to be on TV, or if it was in a video store to rent, I loved to watch it.  When I finally got the first set of Superman movie DVDs that were released back in 2001 I would often come home on a Sunday afternoon, pop in SUPERMAN IV and watch it again and again.

For a few years, this was something I would never admit to my geekier friends except jokingly.  Why?  Because everywhere I turned, whenever Superman IV was mentioned, it was mentioned in groans and moans.

I refuse to accept that SUPERMAN IV is a movie with NO redeeming qualities, and I refuse to believe that it’s simple childhood memories that fuel my love for SUPERMAN IV.  In fact, I maintain that were it not for the poor special effects, SUPERMAN IV may not be held in such disdain.

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