We're a geek culture podcast and blog covering video games, music, food and more. We are the kinds of people who evangelize whatever we are into - it could be anything - but it's usually pretty geeky. We're casual, conversational, NSFW and hopefully interesting. We hope you enjoy it.
posted by Chris on February 8, 2010 9:55 PM in Podcast
This week's all about game news - big announcements about Fallout: New Vegas and Sonic the Hedgehog 4, World of Warcraft's auction house app for the iPhone, Mass Effect 2, and a little game called Bioshock 2. We also discuss the new (final!) season of LOST (spoiler-free, for your sanity), faulty game consoles, soundtracks on vinyl, and the song of the week! Join me, Jinny and Qais for this week's dose of geekery.
posted by Chris on February 1, 2010 8:22 PM in Podcast
A new Apple product was released this week, and you all know we can't avoid talking about it on the show. Join me, Jinny, Qais and Ross in discussing Apple's new unfortunately-named product and what it means for YOU, the consumer. We also discuss the eternal blackness of space, Beethoven's skull, videogames new and old and much more. Oh! Don't forget to stay for the unrepentant misogyny. And the single of the week. I am sure you'll find it... truly magical.
posted by Chris on January 25, 2010 6:18 PM in Podcast
Welcome to yet another episode of The Weekly Geek! This week we have special guest Charles Vestal joining me, Ross, Jinny and Qais to discuss his project Year of Record. We talk in-depth about the value of vinyl and how we all tend to consume music differently. We also discuss people who make records out of chocolate, and this week's video game news. It's one big crazy hour-long tangent with a song tacked on the end like every week. Only this week, the song is Norway by Beach House off their new album Teen Dream. As always, we hope you enjoy it.
posted by Chris on January 18, 2010 6:22 PM in Podcast
This week please to be joining Ross, Jinny and I in our discussion about Grand Theft Auto for the iPhone, Google's response to China, America's geek shortage, Netflix on the Wii, Star Wars: Old Republic's release date, how you might not be actually watching IMAX when you go see an IMAX movie, buffalo wings, Friday Night Lights, music piracy, and more! Lots more. Download now, or subscribe using the links on the left hand side of the website. Right over there. No, there. You got it. Yes. Right there. Click that. Okay.
posted by Sitnalta on January 16, 2010 12:00 AM in Movies
Nearly every major Theater has an IMAX auditorium now, but what is it exactly? Is it just a bigger screen? Bigger sound? Well, the answer isn't as clear-cut as you might think.
posted by Chris on January 11, 2010 6:29 PM in Podcast
It's still the future, and we're here again this week with a rundown of the best in news you probably didn't know you cared about. Join me, Jinny, Ross and Qais to discuss CES's ups and downs, as well as the overlap between attendees of CES and the AVN convention. We touch on sex robots, interesting new technologies such as cell phone projectors and wireless storage devices and hit you with a bit of video game news. We talk about new Fallout, NBA Jam and Zelda games, as well as such diverse subjects as old men with sword canes trying to get on airplanes (that almost rhymes!), Netflix and Warner Brothers' unholy agreement and other things. Listen, won't you?
posted by Chris on January 4, 2010 6:33 PM in Podcast
We're back from break to kick off 2010... the future! THE FUTURE, MAN! Did you ever think you'd live to see TWO THOUSAND TEN? Or, "twenty ten" as I was instructed is what you should call it. By Ross. Who is a jerk. This podcast features Ross, me, Jinny and Qais talking about Bayonetta, mainstream game ennui, homemade egg nog, Hello Kitty toast, refunds for digital downloads, Amazon Prime, 180g vinyl and the normal variety of tangental conversation topics you've come to know and love. Future style.
posted by Chris on December 22, 2009 9:56 AM in Comics
Here we see some excellent Weekly Geek fan art from ukku, a German listener/reader who perfectly captured the true essence of the good Doctor. Based on this Dr. Helmig comic, it truly is remarkable. Thanks, ukku! You can check out her website with all sorts of artistic thingies here.
posted by Chris on December 15, 2009 11:31 AM in Food
Sous-vide cooking is not a new concept, but since Top Chef and the rise of the hipster foodie (he says with self-depreciating smugness) it's been brought to light as a truly innovative and important method of food preparation. The concept is deceptively "boil-a-bag" simple: vacuum-seal your food and drop it into a controlled temperature water bath. It may sound like a fancy term for botulism incubator but as long as you follow general kitchen safety precautions (such as washing your hands after handling raw chicken, preventing cross-contamination, not letting the cats lick the butter, etc) you're golden. The benefits are numerous. For one, your food is more consistently heated throughout. Consider what it takes to cook a chicken breast. In order to be able to serve it legally the internal temperature has to be around 165 degrees Fahrenheit. The typical way to achieve this would be to either cook it on the stovetop at a high temperature, or cook it in the oven at a high temperature. You're brute-force heating the outside at 400+ degrees to achieve a fraction of that temp on the inside. It's not terribly efficient. With sous-vide, the temperature is completely consistent. Steaks cooked sous-vide can be cooked medium-rare easily, with a perfect pink color throughout.
It's not an all-in-one Ronco™ style solution, however. It's just one step in the process. Most meals cooked sous-vide need to be seared or sauced after their water bath, but the results are phenomenal. Fancy restaurants have been using this technique to create consistently cooked dishes for years, but the equipment has been prohibitively expensive. In the past if you wanted to cook sous-vide you'd have to equip yourself with a Polyscience thermal immersion circulator, which would run you about a thousand dollars. There's a new solution in town, however, in the form of the Sous Vide Supreme. The first consumer-level sous-vide "oven", it's priced at a moderately more reasonable $400. We were lucky enough to get one loaned to us for a week, and we made some truly stellar dishes with it. I'm going to split up our experience with the SVS into multiple blog posts, cause this is going to get a bit wordy. I'm sure you don't mind.
In the past, Jinny and I would cook our steaks "ghetto sous-vide". This is actually a fantastic way to cook steaks (in particular). We've discussed this method on the podcast before, but I've never written it down for you guys to try at home. So! Here it is.
A Foodsaver or similar vacuum-sealer thingy (though to be honest Ziplock bags work just as well)
Our favorite cut of meat to use for this is a tri-tip steak. It's cheap, flavorful and the perfect thickness for this kind of preparation. Salt and pepper your meat and put it in your bag. Add a pat of butter (if you'd like, you can omit it) and seal the bag. If you're using a ziplock bag, seal it with your fingers all the way to the edge, leaving a small gap. Suck the air out and seal it quickly. Works in a pinch.
The temperature we're looking for is about 129-130 degrees for medium-rare. If you like your steak well-done, look elsewhere. You heathen. I've found that the water from my kitchen faucet comes out at around 125 at the hottest, so I'll fill up the pot with hot water, and anchor the probe to point near the middle of the pot. You want to monitor the temperature very closely. The acceptable range of temperature would be between 128-132 but don't go any higher. If your water starts getting too hot, pull it off the stovetop a little bit and pour some cold water into it until you get back to temp. It takes a bit of practice (and your results may vary) but after a half an hour your steaks should be done.
Get a cast-iron pan rocket hot. Take the steaks out of the water bath and remove them from the bag onto some paper towels. Pat them dry. The drier the better. Brown the steaks on both sides for 30 seconds or so, then remove them to a plate to rest. Rest at least 5 minutes. Then, enjoy the best steaks you've ever had in your life. Seriously. Outside of a good ol' fashioned outdoor grilling, sous-vide is hands-down the best way to treat yourself to beefy goodness.
The Sous Vide Supreme makes the process way easier. We cooked steaks in the exact same method we usually do, but no longer had to monitor the temperature. We just put them in and were free to prepare the other elements of our meal. It was wonderful. The consistency was the same but the process was much more streamlined.
In the next entry, I'll talk about the other dishes we made with the SVS, including scallops and halibut.
posted by Chris on December 14, 2009 8:40 AM in Podcast
It's the last Weekly Geek podcast of 2009! Join Jinny, Ross, Ryan and me for our 2009 retrospective. We discuss this past year in gaming, music, conventions, comics, movies and more as we look forward to 2010... THE FUTURE. We'll be on hiatus until the new year. Until then, enjoy!
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