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Felicia Day talks with Andy Taylor

Photo of Actress Felicia Day
Felicia Day - Red: Werewolf Hunter

I really love my job. Actually..it’s not really a job, it is more of a passion for me. The ability to tie in my professional radio career to all this technology is rewarding.  In my professional career I have talked with the likes of Ozzy Osborne, James Stewart, Mickey Rooney and even Jerry Mathers..yes, the Beav. Today I spoke with not only somebody that works in entertainment but also I respect for her passion for technology and the spirit to take a series to the web and see it through. I am talking about Actress, Producer and Writer Felicia Day who has taken her concept TV series “The Guild” and turned it into a successful web series.

The story of “The Guild” is simple yet includes all the ingredients for the shows I enjoy, Great characters, dialog and production value. As Felicia told me, they still  shoot the episodes in her house and everybody has a good time doing them. While I really enjoyed the Bollywood Dance Video that can be seen at the Official Site http://www.watchtheguild.com .

The Season Finale for Season 4 features an appearance from Big Bang Theory’s Simon Helberg. The finale  not only features some great visual effects but some very funny character development. In a scene that had me laughing,  the character of  Zaboo played by Actor Sandeep Parikh and his traditional Indian Mom played by Actress Viji Nathan are playing the MMORPG game. Zaboo’s Mom is partaking in a mock wedding with the character of Vork played by Actor Jeff Lewis. At One point, she asked her son in her accent which immediately had me thinking of my Mom of Indian decent delivering the line “Zaboo…how do I hug you in this game..”  

Our real reason though for talking with Felicia Day was to highlight her upcoming film on the SyFy Network Red: Werewolf hunter. The Original Movie tells the fictional story of Virginia “Red” Sullivan, a descendant of Little Red Riding hood, who brings her fiance home to meet her family, and that is where he not only discovers they hunt werewolves but also falls prey to the bite of the Wolf.  The family, predicting the outcome of the werewolf bite demands he be destroyed and Red fights to keep him alive.  The Movie is a change from the roles that Felicia has played in the past however it is in a Genre she is familiar with. As she told me during the interview she’s dealt with Vampires in Buffy the Vampire Slayer “I have killed Zombies in Doll House and it would make sense to go after Werewolves.” The movie will premiere on SyFy October 30th at 9pm.

Listen in to our Interview with Felicia Day and find out what costume she wore for last years Halloween, her thoughts on this years BlizzCon, Comic-Con and what she has planned for 2011. http://www.techtalkradio.com/celebrities/feliciaday.html

I am hoping we see more of The Guild, be sure to take a look at the series yourself.  You can check out episodes of the Guild at http://www.watchtheguild.com and follow Felicia Day’s Blog http://feliciaday.com/blog and find out about her work on Fallout 3 New Vegas and other projects she’s involved with. Her Twitter is http://www.twitter.com/feliciaday

Check out this Scene from Red: Werewolf Hunter

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Get Your TRON On!

It’s 8:00 pm on a Friday night and there’s nothing to do. You hop onto your light cycle, turn the 90 degree corner, and start maneuvering your way through rush hour traffic on the 15 freeway. Suddenly, IT hits you… Anaheim or bust! You arrive at Mickey and Friends Parking structure, kindly flash you “identity badge” and cruise up to Donald 4G. Parking your light cycle carefully on the grid you descend a set of moving stairways and enter the newly renovated Disneyland Tram. You quickly exit, on the driver’s right hand side and right hand side only, and you walk directly to the entrance of California Adventure theme park. Again, the CM’s ask to see your identity badge and you are quickly transported into a scene of a lifetime.

Welcome to Disney’s California Adventure: ElecTRONica Dance Party

TRON inside Flynn's Arcade

As you enter, you look above you where glimpses of the grid surround you on huge building screens and blue neon envelopes you at every turn. Your ears are greeted by pleasant sounds from the film with Electronic Sounds from groups like Daft Punk and Paul Oakenfold being mixed on the fly. You make your way past a few small “programs” attempting to toss their identity disks into a large basket as they practice for upcoming battles on hopes of winning a delightful prize.

Directly beyond this practice space, there are several booths offering drinks, snacks and merchandise related to TRON Legacy. We purchased 2 Identity disks that light up and make sounds when you depress the buttons- $25.00 each plus 20% off merchandise with your annual pass.

DCA ElecTRONica Dance Party

You walk further and further into the grid and suddenly you are met by a huge Recognizer that scans your entire body and identifies you as “rectified” or “games.”
As you pass the huge replica, you step into the club atmosphere where a DJ stands high atop a circular booth complete with flashing neon lights and surrounded by pods of TRON clad dancers. They are really decked to the hilt! And of course dawning their identity disks on their backs. If I do say so myself, the ladies are very pleasing to the eyes and the men are more than physically fit. Complete with a dance floor and tons of programs dancing the night away like it were 1982, you quickly shoot across the grid to the “End of Line Club”.

At the “End of Line Club” you can purchase refreshments, snacks like nachos and other goodies to reenergize yourself, and alcoholic beverages in neon plastic cups. Now, if we could only convince Daft Punk to play there, that would be an awesome sight!

Next to the club, you can see an exclusive 3-D clip of TRON: Legacy. This is a great experience as it is held in the theater where Muppet Vision 3-D is continuously being shown. The movie comes alive as the Recognizer comes to land and surrounding you are lights that flash around the grid as well as huge fans that blow behind you in the theater. The movie, to put it lightly, looks SUPER FANTASTICALLY AMAZING! This is definitely a must see!

Flynn's Arcde

Continuing on along the path of awesome, you run into the best and brightest sign imaginable. I about cried when I saw it from afar and close up, was to die for. The sign, beaming from afar read “Flynn’s.” YES! As in Flynn’s Arcade of 1982! At the entrance to the Arcade there are several stations where you can test your skills on the Wii by playing demo versions of the new TRON game. As this didn’t interest me as much, we quickly bypassed the gamers and entered the Holy realm of gaming legacy. To my right, Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom, Galaga, Space Invaders, Ms. Pac Man, and Contra. To my left, Missile Command, Gauntlet (Wizard needs food badly) and the ultimate in gaming along the back wall in all it’s glory, TRON. Above this most perfect game, was a neon sign announcing “Home of TRON.” Could this be a more perfect Arcade Throwback? Umm yes!

So how do you and can you play these museum worthy hits of the 80s ad 90s? YES! Make your way to the coin changer machines that look exactly like the ones we used in the 1980’s and 90’s and insert a dollar. Out pops 4 coins each inscribed with “Flynn’s Arcade” on side one and “ElecTRONica” on the other. PERFECTION! Oh, one last thing, IF you can score an “I get next” play on one of the machines, it only costs a token to play… SCORE!

After taking in all of these beautiful sights of ElecTRONica you will leave there wanting to go back over and over again. How and when you ask? Good thing my identity disk was working overtime and recounted all of my adventure. Disney’s ElecTRONica runs through the Fall of 2010 awaiting the release of TRON: Legacy on December 17, 2010. This event takes place every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evening from 8:00pm –close. You can also enjoy it every night the weeks of Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays.

There is a special Meet-Up event scheduled for Thursday, October 28th a 4:00pm -Midnight,  including exclusive sneak peeks of items used in the movie, autograph sessions and commemorative coins will be passed out. The event is free and as of Friday October 21, it was at capacity but I will be sure to blog about the event so you can live vicariously through my TRON adventures if you do not get to see this spectacle first hand. I will also be live tweeting the event with photos so follow me on twitter @Rayvencure if you are interested!

Goodbye Programs!

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System Mechanic 10 Featured Review and Interview

Photo of Box for System Mechanic 10
Review and interview on the New Version
There is something quite nice about unwrapping the sticky plastic protector off a brand new PC. The smell of the new system wafts into your nose as you hook up all the connectors to the colored tabs. Once completed you gently press that power button with hesitation, it’s great feeling.
Seeing that Logo come up on the screen is the first sign that everything is OK and then, slow down mode. We all have to go through it with a Manufacturer’s PC. We have to enter settings, log-in info, name and address for warranty and activation and then countless screens of information to make the experience better. I’ve always felt that this is like opening the doors to a candy shop and holding the kids back until all the lights are on. <Suddenly I am hungry for Candy!??>

Unless you have built a custom PC, you really never get to see your PC working at its optimum. After you have gone through the process of loading all the extra software, trials, help programs and connection wizards – your system is already taking a hit with unneeded and resource hogging software. I really have nothing against the manufacturers of PCs but honestly, they want to give you a ton of software so you’ll be able to boast to your friends and neighbors how many different wonderful things your computer can do.

I spoke with Abbas Mehdi from iolo technologies LLC about the latest System Mechanic software version 10.  The software is designed to optimize the computing experience and give the system a like new feel.  Even for new computers the software can streamline the start up and provide a faster boot time to begin working or playing with your new computer.  Abbas told us of the new licensing plan for the program which now enables the entire home to use the license for System Mechanic 10 .  Technicians in the labs of  iolo technologies recently published a report of the 9 root causes of PC slow down.  From window start-up bottle necks to fragmented system files,  System Mechanic 10 examines these causes and corrects them easily.  Listen to our interview with Abbas Mehdi at http://www.techtalkradio.com/software/systemmech.html and read our review on the same page.

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Simutek in Tucson host a Canon Workshop

Photo of the Simutek Store Front
Simutek Host Canon Workshop 11/4/10

On November 4th, Simutek in Tucson Arizona will host a Canon workshop on getting the most out of your DSLR Camera. The workshop will be led be a representative from Canon USA Adam Paseman. Starting at about 10am, Adam will share withthe 40 seat room how to use HD Video with the Canon Digital SLR Cameras. In the TechtalkRadio interview with Simutek owner Rich Meindl it was revealed that a recent video commercial shot inside the independent apple dealer was done entirely on Canon DSLR camera and HD Video.

We recently took a look at the Sony Vegas Video Editing platform for the PC which also offers a DSLR HD Video Workflow as more consumers are looking at this technology for its multipurpose use. Adam will also cover working with other lenses as well as getting the proper look when using flash photography. Rich told us that a Exhibit area will be set up for visitors to check out other products such as Scanners and Printers from Canon as well as get a hands on feel for the DSLR Cameras. If you are like me, the idea of interchangeablelenses on the HD capable camera is pretty exciting. Now Consumers and prosumers can utilize the Canon lens system to customize the Video look and use the DSLR for multi-purpose.

We also talked with Rich about being an independent Apple and Macintosh dealer and how the benefits go to the customer. With little wait times and more personalized service, the Simutek store has remained in business in Tucson for about 30 years. The store is able to carry just about any product that Apple produces and also features a wide assortment of accessories from Hard Drives to Memory to cables. If you have been thinking about checking out the Mac platform, Simutek is a great place to have your questions answered.

Listen to our interview with Simutek’s Rich Meindl about the event and also find out what product arrived from Apple that he thought may fall way short of expectations and caught him off guard. http://www.techtalkradio.com/hardware/simutek.html

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The Starbucks Digital Network is now active!

“Starbucks today announced the launch of the Starbucks Digital Network, in partnership with Yahoo!…Serving up a collection of hand-picked premium news, entertainment and lifestyle content along with local insights and events, the Starbucks Digital Network, is powered by free Wi-Fi and available only in Starbucks stores. Developed for screens big and small, customers with Wi-Fi enabled laptops, tablets or smartphones can visit the network while in line or while enjoying their favorite beverage in the cafe.

“…The digital network’s hand-picked premium content spans six channels: News, Entertainment, Wellness, Business & Careers, My Neighborhood and Starbucks. Newly signed content providers include Bookish Reading Club, Foursquare, GOOD, LinkedIn, New Word City and The Weather Channel.