Gweek Mxd Media

Medium: Podcast

Property: Mark Frauenfelder and BoingBoing.net

About:

Gweek is a weekly podcast where the editors and friends of Boing Boing talk about comic books, science fiction and fantasy, video games, board games, tools, gadgets, apps, and other neat stuff.

I've been enjoying Gweek during my daily commute for about 2 weeks now. I thoroughly enjoy and would like to recommend it. It's just as the description says, no more, no less. Each episode essentially consists of a few people - usually 2-3 - introducing and describing the interesting things listed above. Mark, the host, asks each person to share their weekly picks one at a time. After the pick is shared and described, a brief discussion typically ensues.

Mark is a great host. Very soft spoken and his enthusiasm for artists and their creations comes bubbling through. At least one reviewer described Mark as awkward and shy, but I have to disagree. He may not be a great, mellifluous orator, but he's well spoken and does a good job of keeping everyone on track. (He does use the word cool a lot though. But it doesn't bother me.) The panelists do a good job of being concise and also not speaking over each other.

Each episode typically lasts about 60 minutes, give or take a few. Panel members seems to be logged in via Skype or some other means, so they are not all in the same room. This was odd to me at first, but after about 5 minutes of listening, I barely noticed. Also, the panel members are on their computers googling and checking things out during the show. I enjoy that aspect quite a bit as they share what they discover, as they discover it. The podcasts are available in the iTubes store, or they can be downloaded directly from the Gweek website in MP3 format, which is great for Apple haters.

This podcast is all about the content; don't expect any bells and whistles. It's just geeks sharing geeky things. If you like geeky things, you'll like this podcast.





Some good ones to start with are Episode 043 which begins with a great discussion of some indie games and Episode 041 in which, among other things, they talk about Under the Moons of Mars, a book of contemporary short stories that take place in Edgar Rice Burrough's Barsoom. The "show notes" for each episode can be found at the Gweek home page as well. They include links and pictures for the items and gadgets discussed.

Sadly, in the episodes I have listened to, they have not mentioned any mini figure toy lines, nor any toy lines for that matter. However, I bet they would love OMFG! if they knew about it.

Related Websites:

Gweek Homepage