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! 

Forever Judging Special Edition Books by their Covers

Another book show! I know, I know, it's like I don't know what else to talk about these days. But hear me out! Or better yet, hear US out.

I'm joined today by Sara, whom you may recall, joined me on a previous show back in December. We knew we wanted to chat again because there's always something to talk about with so many books to be throwing money at.

But we're also joined by someone who is well known in the bookish community. Everyone's favorite Instagram book subscription sleuth, TheAutumnBookReads is chatting with us! See kids, this is what happens when you're not afraid to shoot your shots😂! And before you ask, no, this is not a trick and she is not AI generated lol. 

There was a bunch of stuff we talked about and it was a blast! Topics we went over include:

• The current state of book subs today

And so much more! 

I'm happy and proud to be able to have a conversation with these ladies and hopefully we'll be able to do it again in the future!

We discussed a bunch of different books and subs and I tried to have everything linked below. If I missed anything, reach out and let me know and I'll update it. 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• First and foremost, here are all the book subscription boxes I could remember at the time of writing this. If you're really curious, every site has a catalog/past book database where you can see the offerings they've had in the past. If you want to really dive into it and have more questions, the link to the discord is below. Every subscription is going to have a waitlist you have to sign up for, some of which could be as short as a few weeks to as long as 10+ months. So keep that in mind!

• Fairyloot (Sara's favorite)

• Fairyboot Discord invite link

Where to Find This Week's Guest

• You can follow Sara on Instagram @OldKingdomandBeyond

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!

OH LOOK, A MIDLIFE CRISIS, RIGHT ON SCHEDULE

Alright peeps! If I were crazy enough to do seasons on my podcast, I would say this is the beginning of a new one. After sitting on this feed for so long, and much hesitation and skepticism, I'm finally going to try my hand at publicly talking to myself lol. 

I get into the details in this episode, but look forward to bi-weekly shows from now on. Heck, maybe even weekly if I plan it right. No music so far, maybe I'll save it for the main show with guests. But for now, here's an intro for what I'm planning. 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• As mentioned, here is the YouTube channel for that dude. It USED to be called Caffeine & Consoles? But at some point he changed it over. I get into my thoughts on the episode so whatever. 

• 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! 

Invoking the right of parley with the Cap'n!

After so many years of listening to each other's shows, our paths have finally crossed! Cap'n Mike has been the host of a handful of popular podcasts since the Xbox 360 era. And now, after a brief 2.5ish year retirement, he's back behind the mic! 

During the show we dig into how we're both old farts and have been in the podcast game for a long time. Talking about the way it has changed so much, how we have now adapted and changed compared to how we were when we started. We discuss a few gaming related topics too, in particular the Steam Deck and how it has become my savior. 

For all the info on Mike and where to find him and his podcast, check out all the links below!

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

I don't think there were any links?! There were a few handheld gaming devices discussed but if those are things that interest you then I'm fairly certain you already know where to find them. If I listen and hear anything that stands out, I'll update the links below.

• 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.  

Where to Find This Week's Guest

• On Second Thought with Mike & Matt

• Here is Mike's show! The link is to its Linktree where you'll find the best ways to get in contact with the show or to subscribe. Be sure to subscribe so you can listen to the infamous Episode 5 where I'll be joining as a guest. 

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!

It's not hoarding if it's pretty books!

This is a show many months in the making! Turns out coordinating a podcast with someone in Australia is not as simple as you would think. But it finally worked out and here we are! 

I wanted to talk to Sara because she runs a fairly awesome bookish community that would've been wiped from existence if she didn't raise it from the ashes. And now, it's alive and thriving and about 200 people strong. 

In this episode, we're talking about monthly book subscription boxes, special edition books and how they appeal to the collectors in us, and of course, the discord that brings it all together.  

Check out below for all the info we discussed! If I missed anything, reach out and let me know and I'll update it. 

Until next time!

Links and Info Discussed

• Here are the links where you'll find the top 4 monthly book subscriptions we discussed. If you're really curious, every site has a catalog/past book database where you can see the offerings they've had in the past. If you want to really dive into it and have more questions, the link to the discord is below. Every subscription is going to have a waitlist you have to sign up for, some of which could be as short as a few weeks to as long as 10 months. So keep that in mind!

• Fairyloot

Here are our Top 5 Books of the Year! After editing the show, I realized that maybe I should've gone with books that actually came out this year, as oppose to books I've read since some are a few years old. But too late now! Here they are, along with the books that we did not like!

• Sara

• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (by S.A. Chakraborty)

• The Adventures of Amina al-Sirafi (by S.A. Chakraborty) (freaking READ IT!)

• Lastly! Here is the invite link for the main topic of our conversation, the Fairyboot Discord! Remember, do not be a jerk. Sara WILL cut you. 

• Fairyboot Discord invite link

Where to Find This Week's Guest

• You can follow Sara on Instagram @OldKingdomandBeyond

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!