An ode to summer!

🎶Summer has come and pass. The innocence can never last. Wake me up when September ends.🎶

Listen, there is a tremendous bittersweet symphony playing in my heart every time summer comes to a close. Spending time with my kids and just letting them do whatever their heart desires without the constraints of school, it's awesome, it's the best, I love it, I do, BUT. When the last week, week and a half comes and there is a giant, over-the-top, metaphorical grandfather clock ticking away the minutes until school starts back up.. well, it kinda takes control. 

The chaos that ensues those last weeks of summer vacation is full of off-the-wall bouncing, nervous pacing, frantic planning, and the ever-so-subtle guilt trip of "BUt iT'S thE LaSt wEeK oF SumMEr VaCAtiON!"

Needless to say, that first day of school is met with equal parts "awwww, the house is so quiet, I wish they didn't have to go back," and  "If you don't get in the car right now, so help me, I will put you on the hood and take you to school regardless."

ANYWAY. Hi, this is me. And I'm back on the grind. On this episode I'm talking about our summer, how it went, and what I've been doing with all my free time (spoiler: I didn't have any). So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show. 

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

Marinated thoughts taste better!

Hello there, fellow gamers! I know, I know, at this point, I might as well just have a gaming centric podcast again. But no! I'm just excited. Not everyday a new console is released, so I'm going to be putting out whatever I thoughts I have here and there. 

Like right now, this episode is where I'm at with the Nintendo Switch 2. Am I pre-ordering? Am I really excited or just riding the hype train? Is the new console worth it to me? All that jazz.

It's weeks after the direct. Weeks after all the news dropped, after pre-orders went away and a dark cloud gathered over our heads. And weeks after said dark cloud shifted ever-so-slightly so we can see the light shine down from above and grant us the opportunity to pre-order again. 

I didn't turn on the mic with the intention to record another Switch 2 show. But what can I say?

Switch happens. 

Ugh, that should've been the show title. Anyway. These are my marinated thoughts. My views that I've been sitting on and thinking about, letting all the flavors meld with each other. What's the outcome? Is it still leaving a bad taste in my mouth or am I looking forward to having more? Listen and find out.

The next show, I can confidently say has nothing to do with the Nintendo Switch 2! So if you're tired hearing about it, look forward to next week.

Until next time!

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

Activate the C button!

I pressed the C button and was joined by two awesome dudes! Cap'n Mike from On Second Thought with Mike & Matt, and Al from The Retro 'Rents both jumped on so we could get our Nintendo on.

And boy, what a show it was! We went over everything that was shown on the Nintendo Switch 2 Direct on 4/2/25. Well, as much as we could without going on tangents. We talked about our impressions, initial thoughts, and how we think things will play out.

A huge topic that we got hung up on was everyone's favorite topic with the Switch 2 - cost. Which is timely because the morning of this show going live, Nintendo put the pre-orders for the U.S. on pause. So yeah. Thanks.....

That does not take away anything we talked about. Our thoughts and excitement and disappointment is still valid, so be sure to check it out!

Until next time!

Where to Find This Week's Guest

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

Switchin' It Up!

Here's my trip down memory lane! Back in the ol' Future Monkeys Time Machine! All the way back to 2017 when the Nintendo Switch was first announced. It's early days when it introduced Breath of the Wild to the world. All the way through the pandemic when the world was collectively trying to complete their museums and D.I.Y. cards with Animal Crossing. The Switch has been around for a long time! And it was hype inducing to talk about it.

But that's not to say it's been a smooth sailing. I also get into the cons and what I feel like the system is lacking. Actually, what it's been lacking for years. 

All of this to lead up to talk about the Nintendo Switch 2! As of the posting of this show on April 1st, 2025, The Switch 2 is going to be officially announced tomorrow, April 2nd! 

What will the future hold for us Nintendo gamers? We'll find out. But for now, enjoy this show.

Until next time!

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

MAN! End of the year is no joke! Not only is it typically packed with things to do, stuff to clean, things to bake, gifts to wrap, and about a hundred bajillion other things—  it’s also just going by so freaking fast! It always does but something about this year was really crazy with how fast it went. It sucks. But it just gives more reason to start celebrating in September next year!

This show was recorded in my car. I feel like that should be said first and foremost. I was expecting the quality to be pretty bad but really though, it’s not horrible! I managed to edit it with zero background noise and was quite proud of myself. But honestly, comparing the raw audio and the edited one with no noise, I really preferred the raw…. There’s a joke there, but I won’t. 

So as you’re listening to this, and you’re hearing the background noise of tires on the road, my blinker going off because unlike other Floridians, I actually USE IT, calls from the wife who was at home with the kids, and pretty much anything else, just keep in mind that it was a choice lolol. I liked it when compared to the lifeless dull of no sounds. So enjoy! 

Speaking of enjoying, this is all about Christmas movies! I really wanted to do one this year and I’m glad I did. I wanted to talk about movies that I don’t think many watch on the regular. But for me, I love them and try to keep them on every year. Maybe hopefully there’s some on here that you will give a chance to watch with your loved ones or on your own. If you do, please let me know what you thought! 

(For the record, I discussed 8-Bit Christmas, which you TOTALLY should watch. And while I’m not positive it’s exclusive to it, you can find it on HBO Max. I said it was on Amazon Prime, but I’m not sure if it’s still there or not. Every other movie and where it is watchable should be correct.)

And here is a formal apology to anyone who enjoyed the halloween show where I put in audio from all the movies I talked about. I would have LOVED to do that here, but it would’ve added about 1.5 hours of time that I just don’t have. So be happy with what you got!

Alright! Hope everyone enjoyed! 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat! 

Everyone hail to the Pumpkin Song!

The Halloween show! I always love a good holiday centric show. Unfortunately, this time of year always proves to be crazy busy and I find it rather difficult focus on pumping them out. This year though, I'm really trying to put in the effort to do my little thing here and I managed to do something! Even took an extra day to add in sound bites, which I can't wait to consciously implement next time, rather than surprise it on myself in post-production. 

I was going to leave everything a surprise here so you can go in blind, not knowing what to expect. But... nah, you know what, I will leave it a surprise! I will say though that there is no order to these so it's not necessarily a top whatever ranked list. I had fun with talking about them and finding which scenes to use to the sounds (my favorite has to be the second one). 

This list is primarily family friendly movies. We don't have a lot of time to sit and watch movies, so when we do, we are all doing it together as a fam. This year though, I was trying to incorporate more mature movies, and even watch some separate with the teen.

To give an update since this is my movie post/show! Here's some movies we've watched between recording the show and actually publishing it. Together the teen and I watched Pitch Black, and Scream. My goodness, I forgot how amazingly campy Scream was lol. As a kid I took it way too seriously, but now? OMG, it's so dumb. Together as a family (with the princess falling asleep) we watched Signs! Of course, the boys thought it was meh and broke my heart. But I'm glad we were able to watch it. Oh! And we finally watched Ghostbusters Frozen Empire! I thought it was super well done! It was a great follow up to Afterlife. As a Ghostbusters fan, I cannot wait for more movies for our current generation. As of this writing, we managed to get through half of A House with a Clock in its Walls. So far it is recommended! Super cool, so far family friendly, haunted house vibe. 

Alright! Hope everyone enjoyed! 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Here is my past Halloween show, as mentioned: Talking with Ken about Living in Salem. And I know I said last year, but yeesh, it's from 2022!! 🤦🏽‍♂️Download/listen with these links or search for the October 2022 show of The Talking Place wherever you listen to podcasts.

• Apple Podcasts

• Steam - The1llusiveMan

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

• Voicemail - 407.906.TALK

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat! 

Still gaming!

Gaming update! Here's an entire show dedicated to what I've been playing. I don't think I play enough to be able to put out a weekly gaming show. But one of these episodes every so often giving updates on whatever it is I've been diving into seems like the best thing to do. 

I'm covering everything I've been playing since last Christmas! No no, don't get scared. Good news is that it's not that much haha. I have been playing off and on here and there, but enough to be able to give some thoughts. 

Below, you'll find my gaming profiles in case you want to add me! Maybe we could Fortnite it up!

One thing I forgot to mention! Hades! I was very recently playing Hades and put it down to work on some shop stuff. But man, I was having fun with it! It took a long long time but it finally clicked. I'll definitely talk about it during my next show I record. 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Steam - The1llusiveMan

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

• Voicemail - 407.906.TALK

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat! 

Everything changes with time.

I feel like I could’ve gone on with “primer” episodes for a while. But I wanted to get into nitty gritty of things! Wanted to talk about what I’m playing and what I’m doing and my thoughts about the current state of gaming. 

And I barely get into it LOL.

I got distracted, like I do, talking about how my gaming tendencies and habits changed over the years. I went into tangents on Destiny because wooooooooooo boy, Destiny. I could probably write a book about my love/hate relationship with that cursed game, because my goodness do I love it, but bloody hell do I hate it. 

ANYWAY, before I get too worked up with that mess, I also talked about gaming subscriptions and basically how I just don’t care about them anymore hahaha.

I felt like I could’ve gone on for longer, but I’m trying really hard to stick to the 30 minute time limit I gave myself. Let me tell you how difficult that is. If you know me, you should reeeeeeally be appreciating my efforts because my mental cutting room floor is FULL! 

It’s halloween time, so I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to be talking about in my next shows. I’m more than likely going to jump into more gaming talk, but would love to get into spooky movie season. Maybe top 5 horror and top 5 family movies for halloween? We’ll see!

If you're reading this and you want to send me your favorite movies to watch this time of year, go ahead and give me a call! 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Head over to https://themanthechefthedad.com/links/ where you'll find a bunch of different ways to help me out via affiliate links and referrals. Remember, all you have to do is get to Amazon via one of my links for it to register to me. 

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

• Voicemail - 407.906.TALK

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat! 

All work and no play.. maybe.. sometimes.

Maybe eventually I’ll get into actual fun gaming talk lol. Not this week though! I wanted to talk about what I’m playing and doing, but instead it turned into a 20 minute derailment on the mental roadblocks of being a stay at home dad and trying to carve out personal time. 

It all needed to come off the chest though. And it’s laying down the foundation for future talks, so it’s not like I’m rambling for no reason.

The need to feel productive, to feel like you’re doing something has always been embedded in me. It’s just that lately - as in the past like 5 or 6 years hahaha - it’s been really hard to completely give into just enjoying myself. I’ll get into playing something and setting time aside for a week or two, but I’ll always have this silent alarm in my mind that goes off reminding me that I need to get off my ass and actually do something with myself. 

I don’t know what it is. But I do know that I talked about it for 20 minutes! At least I managed to do one thing. In this episode I said I had a bunch of Instagram posts I wanted to publish. In between recording the episode and getting it out, I managed to do that! So if for some reason you’re listening to this but don’t know about my instagram account, go check it out! It’s family stuff but also nerdy things like movies and gaming. I also got listings up for new sticker sheets on my Etsy shop!  So be sure to check those out too, especially with the sale I have going on. 

That be that for this week. I have one more episode ready to go so look forward to another one next week! Been crazy with the storm so hopefully I’ll be able to record more after the weekend. I would love to tell you what to expect for the one already recorded but heck if I remember!

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Head over to https://themanthechefthedad.com/links/ where you'll find a bunch of different ways to help me out via affiliate links and referrals. Remember, all you have to do is get to Amazon via one of my links for it to register to me. 

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

• Voicemail - 407.906.TALK

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat! 

Changing hobbies like I change my underwear

ALRIGHT! I think I have a system going, so here's the first show out the gate. I KNOW, OK?! I've said it too many times before. But life be crazy, yo! Anyway, I'm trying, and that's the best I could do. Here's to the hopes of putting something out because boy, do I miss it!

What is this show about exactly? Who knows! Hahahaha. I will say though that somewhere between the updating about life and what I want to be doing with my show, I did talk about my book buying hobby and how that has changed over the past few months. It's sad to talk about out loud but I'm glad I said it. It's like hitting the final nail, shutting a wooden box to go store it in a warehouse somewhere. Maybe next to the Ark of the Covenant? Maybe one day I'll put on my hat and go raiding it again. But for now, I just not jones'in for it.

Seriously, you have to give me credit for that one!

Anyway, that be that for this week! I will say, if anything, this show is setting up for the next where I get into other stuff I'm wanting to talk about. And that show, along with this one, will be primers for the other one. And so on. It's almost like I have a plan! Maybe.

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Head over to https://themanthechefthedad.com/links/ where you'll find a bunch of different ways to help me out via affiliate links and referrals. Remember, all you have to do is get to Amazon via one of my links for it to register to me. 

Contact The Talking Place

If you'd like to contact the show, say hi, all that jazz, you can do so below! 

• Voicemail - 407.906.TALK

If you're looking to join me for an episode, don't be shy and get at me at the above links and we'll chat!