We Are Not Cool

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This week on the We Are Not Cool podcast, Jason and Mike have the privilege of interviewing the incomparable Gunther. Gunther is most renown for the Ding Dong Song. Other hits include Tuttifruity Summerlove, as well as a remake of the Samantha Fox hit, Touch Me. He’s currently on a US Tour and will be performing in Boston, UC Davis, and Idaho in May. In late fall he will return for performances in New York, Wisconsin, Dallas, and Ohio.

But for right now, he’s with us. So sit back, pour yourself a glass of champagne, and get glamorous … it’s time to WANC.

 WANC 27: Gunther Interview [35:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (47)

Good to know .

Doz returns for our 26th episode, joining Jason, Mike, and Isaac. On this episode we discuss:

The re-emerging TV season.

This summer’s upcoming blockbusters.

PROMO: 7th Son

Skinthetic sin cells.

And an in-depth review of the Lord of the Rings Online MMO.

 WANC 26: Return of the Doz [72:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (82)

April 1st, a day known to most for pranks and jokes, a time to get one over on friends and colleagues, and to watch your back less they get you first. For many in the podcasting world the day has a much more somber meaning though, April 1st 2007 was the day Joe Murphy lost his battle with leiomyosarcoma cancer. There is a certain amount of irony there, because Joe was a man (or perhaps a large kid) with a great sense of humor, and I’m sure even he would get a chuckle out of the coincidental date of his passing.

Joe was a regular on the Farpoint Media fleet of podcasts, Dragon Page, Slice of Sci-Fi, Wingint, The Kick-Ass Mystic Ninjas, and no doubt others I didn’t catch. I always looked forward to hearing him, and he always made me laugh. All of us listeners got to follow the events of his diagnosis and the appalling speed with which it took him. He faced his fate with humor and a cheerfulness which spoke volumes about the character of the man.

So here on the anniversary of his death we at We Are Not Cool would like to take a moment to remember him and thank him for the laughter. We encourage everyone to donate the Joe Murphy Memorial Fund (see the link on the upper right of this page), and to visit the website to see what they are doing to help raise awareness about leiomyosarcoma.

Here is a tribute podcast, the memories of those that knew him best. Take a listen and raise a glass for good old Mason Rocket and Randy Innuendo.

 Give Us A Minute: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (87)

The WANC has risen from its dungeon depths to once again cast a long shadow across the podosphere. The main focus of episode 25 is Gary Gygax and what he’s brought to the world through a little game called Dungeons & Dragons. We’ll be talking about many kinds of gaming, from tabletop RPG’s, to computer games, MMO’s, and other facets of nerd culture all the way down to our personal and social lives (such as they are). Read more

 WANC 25: The Gary Gygax Tribute Episode: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (93)

Wow, we aren’t dead after all. However someone else is, DnD Co-Create Ernest Gary Gygax (July 27, 1938 – March 4, 2008). Since 3 out 5 WANC’rs lifes were hugely affected, for better or for worse, by what this man created we decided to emerge from our WoW induced comas and record a podcast to honor Mr. Gygax and talk about how DnD and Role Playing Games affected our lives. Look for it to be posted in a couple of days.

In the meantime I will fill some space with a product review.

Mana Energy Potions

There are tons of different energy drinks out there, Red Bull, Bawls, and even the venerable Jolt Cola. All of these are marketed shamelessly at gamers, not that it takes much of a push to get your average gamer to chug down something that is suppose to make your heart race and your head buzz. After all, how many hard core gamers have the time to go out and find real drugs? So something readily available (usually sold at computer stores such as Fry’s and Microcenter so you can pick up a case when you grab the latest video card) and doesn’t run the risk of landing you in jail where it is unlikely you can get a low lag internet connection, is a pretty easy sell. In fact the worse for you and more over the top you can make something the more likely it is to appeal to those of us, I mean them, that believe they can be hardcore without ever getting off the couch.

With this in mind it is no wonder that a company has decided to market a product ripped right from the virtual world that many of us spend all of our free time in. A company called Harcos has launched a new energy drink called a Mana Energy Potion. Mana potions are a staple in many games, like WoW, EQ, and just about any sword and sorcery based game out there. When you have over extended yourself and just don’t have the mojo to get the job done, reach for a mana potion to recharge. It really is a pretty cool idea, and lots of gamers would gladly shell out a bit of cash to be able to drink mana potions in real life for their energy.

Right now the only way to get these is to mail order them from the company in CA, or places like Thinkgeek. Inconvenient, but it is a new product and might take a time to find distributors. However the price is the first problem with this innovative idea. It costs $20 + S&H for 6 40ml bottles of this stuff. That is over $3 a bottle, actually over $4 a bottle once shipping is added. While still on par with a pretentious cup of coffee, it is still pretty steep for a 40ml bottle, which is about 11% of a 12 oz can of cola. Four dollars for something a 10th the size of a can of cola. That is getting way to pricey for any serious consumption. Of course each tiny little bottle is suppose to pack the punch of 2 8oz cans of Red Bull, or 4 cups of crappy office coffee, so perhaps an argument can be made that they aren’t outrageously expensive, though I still feel they are horribly overpriced.

The bottles themselves are nice, the same kind of globe bottomed bottle that are often portrayed in computer games. One thing immediately stands out though, they are green. In most games mana potions are blue, health potions are red, and you wouldn’t drink anything that is green. And we aren’t talking a wholesome vegetable green, or an uber cool neon green. No, these are a kind of malevolent oozing slime green. Maybe they were afraid of some kind of licensing issue if they made them look exactly like the potions from games, or more likely, they couldn’t find an ingredient to make the chemical sludge turn blue without becoming truly toxic. Another cosmetic issue is that the bottles are covered by a plastic wrap that has the label printed on it, there is no printing on the bottle themselves. For a serious MMORPG player it might be worth buying these things just to have a bunch of cool bottles sitting on your desk, but without the label printed on the bottle, you really just end up with a bunch of nondescript bottles that you could pick up cheaper at someplace like World Market.

Now for one of the more important factors when considering an energy drink, the taste. I really had to rack my brain for the proper way to describe the sensation I got when I popped the cap and tossed one of these back. The best I come up with is that of a muppet pissing in your mouth, artificial and wrong. I can’t really place the taste, it might be vaguely citrusy, in a plastic kind of way. It wasn’t something I would care to try again.

Of course the real purpose of such a drink is not to look pretty, or even taste good, it is to wire you so you can game long into the night without the need for sleep. I can’t really gauge how effective these are at that. Caffeine doesn’t really have much affect on me. Four cups of coffee doesn’t phase me, and neither did one of these. Despite the warnings that you shouldn’t ever drink two of these at once, I doubt that doing so would produce any ill effects other than the taste. I feel bad saying that, because it is a cool idea and one I would like to see take off. But for the cost and with the dubious flavor, I just don’t think they are worth it.

It’s the episode you didn’t know you were waiting for!

In this episode, Mike and Isaac get to interview the legendary Steve Kenson. (… what was he legendary for again …) Ah yes, the legendary ENnie Award Winning ROLE PLAYING GAME DESIGNER, Steve Kenson, whose exploits range from 2nd and 3rd edition Shadowrun, to Aberrant, Champions, and various Green Ronin projects including the behemoth known as Mutants & Masterminds. (You’re not a real RPG designer until you make a game with an alliterative name separated by an ampersand).

Read more

 WANC 24: Steve Kenson Interview [60:39m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (760)

We here at WANC want to wish all our fan (yes I meant fan not fans. That would mean more thanlike one) a Merry Christmas. So to get you in the holiday spirit, we want you all to go WANC yourself!

The WANC Gang will be at the Comic & Toy Mini-Con in Overland Park Kansas this Sunday, Dec 2nd. Bill Hook and Doz will be anchoring the team, but all of us plan on being there on and off throughout the day.

The event runs from 10am-4pm Sunday, Dec 2nd at the Wyndham Garden Motel Just north of 435 on Metcalf.

Admission is free, so check out their website and stop by to say hello.