The Nerd Bliss Podcast

After DragonCon 2019, we had a chance to meet up with our good friend Eric L. Watts, Chairman of Treklanta and C.O. of the U.S.S. Republic, the Atlanta chapter of Starfleet International. In this completely candid conversation, Eric takes the gloves off and tells the unvarnished truth about the state of Treklanta. If you are a Star Trek fan in the southeast United States (or anywhere), you need to hear what Eric has to say.

We had a great time at DragonCon 2019. We talked to some of our geek friends and to some of the other con-goers and met with our fellow ESO Network hosts. Take a listen and get to know the other awesome ESO show hosts. You'll like them, we promise. 🙂

The agreement between Marvel and Sony that allowed Spider-Man to be a part of the MCU has come to an abrupt end. Is the arrangement really over, or will Sony and Marvel come back to the table? What would it mean if the arrangement really is over? We also talk about the Amazon Prime series The Boys and give our reactions to the teaser trailer for The Mandalorian. Call or text us 24/7 at (864) 715-9446 and leave us feedback on this or any other episode. We might play or read your message on the show!

We've been talking a lot about guitars lately. You can blame Chris for that. Since he's learning to play, he's done a lot of research on the topic and he just uses this show to let it spill over. Besides that, we talk about Millennials and hipsters while trying to find adequate definitions for each. We discuss whether or not vinyl is superior to digital as a music medium, and the differences in production between classic rock and modern rock.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic exploded in popularity in ways that no one could have predicted. It ended up having an appeal that transcended ages and genders. As this episode was recorded the ninth and final season of the show was airing. We look back at the show as a whole and what we loved about it.

What started out as an intended discussion on some of the reveals and news from San Diego ComicCon, turned mostly into a discussion about Top Gun: Maverick, Star Trek: Picard, Stranger Things 3, and the trailer for Cats.

Heath & Chris engage in guitar-related geekery that quite honestly could have gone on all day. Rather than that, we'll just call this part one. We also make some predictions about San Diego Comic-Con 2019 (which will be over by the time you hear this).

We had the tremendous privilege to talk with Mark McCray. Mark is a senior programming manager at Adult Swim and the author of the book The Best Saturdays of Our Lives. During the 70's, 80's and 90's, Mark wrote a newsletter that provided commentary and reviews on the various shows that were aired on Saturday mornings, which he sent to some of the biggest names in the cartoon world. The book is a collection of the best of those newsletters as well as memoirs and interviews that any fan of Saturday morning cartoons is sure to love.

In this episode we welcome our friend from Treklanta, Tasheka Gipson. Tasheka works as a speech pathologist and has degrees in Molecular Biology, Speech Pathology, and TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages). She was inspired by Star Trek at a young age to explore and study science, and was a recipient of a scholarship to attend Space Camp. It was our great pleasure to have her as a guest.

Phillip Coss is one of our many new friends from Treklanta 2019. He lives in Puerto Rico and is a member of Starfleet International aboard the USS San Juan. Phillip tells us about the crew of the San Juan and shares his experiences with fandom. He also gave us a very frank assessment of the state of Puerto Rico, which is still recovering from Hurricane Maria which struck land in September 2017.

NOTE: This episode does not meet our usual standard for audio quality. Some segments contain mic noise and distortion. We apologize for the low audio quality on what is otherwise a great episode. Right on the heels of Treklanta, Chris & Tina went to ConCarolinas 2019 and talked to many of the artists, authors, and guests including Valentine Wolfe, Mikey Mason, Podcasting's Rich Sigfrit, and Dacre Stoker, great grand nephew of Bram Stoker! Meanwhile, Dan covered the House of Mann Fashion Show at the Spartanburg Fringe Festival!

Chris and Dan recap their experience at Treklanta 2019 in Atlanta, GA over Memorial Day weekend. We would like to thank Eric L. Watts, Chairman of Treklanta, for allowing us to be a part of this awesome event. We have an interview with the winner of the 2019 Miss Klingon Empire Beauty Pageant, Leila McMicheal (a.k.a. Keela). Hear about the much anticipated In Defense of Star Trek: Discovery panel, which Chris and Dan presented at the con. Hear us talk about the amazing people we got to meet. And by the way, this is Dan's first Star Trek convention ever!

This episode was recorded before our trip to Treklanta 2019. By the time you hear this, Treklanta 2019 will have already ended. But, there is still plenty to enjoy about this discussion. We hope we saw you there.

The hosts of The NerdBliss Podcast, Thunder Talk, and The History of Comic books shot tequila, ate chicken wings, and discuss emotional intelligence in animals, a Star Wars fanfic, variety shows, and Chevy Chase reportedly being a jerk. Dan and Wheatley remember the movie Follow That Bird. Also...look it kinda goes everywhere, okay?

Almost a year to the day after their previous appearance on the show, Michelle Shara and Brandon Hilton return to the studio. When we last had them as guests, Queens to the Rescue, a charity drag show that benefits local animal rescues, had not happened yet. QTTR is now about to have their fifth show, with more to come in 2019. Michelle and Brandon tell us about the journey.

You knew we'd dedicate an episode to Avengers: Endgame, right? And with the spoiler frenzy surrounding this movie, you can bet your ass we're not revealing anything in this paragraph. But in case we haven't beaten you over the head with this enough, this episode contains spoilers. Repeat. This episode spoils Avengers: Endgame. That means if you listen to this episode before seeing Avengers: Endgame, you will learn things about the movie you might not have wanted to know going in. To put it another way, spoilers for Avengers: Endgame are in this episode. Have we made ourselves clear?

He is risen, from his bed on Easter Sunday morning, that is. Dan then drove his sleepy, atheist ass to Four Foot One Studios to share with us his thoughts on, and experiences with, Easter Sunday. You might think you have an idea of what he'll say, but you might be surprised. This episode has a more serious tone than our usual fare. We'll be back to our usual geeky tomfoolery next week.

With the newly published pictures of the M87 black hole (known as Pōwehi) the whole internet became fascinated with the phenomenon and the science of its existence. We owe a lot of thanks to the work of Katie Bouman and her team. What better way to commemorate than to...talk about Star Wars Episode IX trailer! OMG, did you see it! Lando in the Falcon! And the Emperor's return! Oh yeah, and we also watched the movie The Black Hole.

Star Trek: Discovery's thirteenth episode of the second season gave us its interpretation of the U.S.S. Enterprise bridge for the first time. Once again "fans" of Star Trek lost their collective minds, crying blasphemy at the modern redesign of the classic ship. Chris, once again, had to be talked down from the ledge of Star Trek fandom. We dive deep into why Discovery is in the best tradition of Trek.

Adam Whetston guest hosts in this episode, and you get to hear how we plan an April Fools joke. We actually recorded this BEFORE we recorded the April Fools recording, but we knew it would go out after the joke. Hilarity ensues. Tina and Chris talk about going to see Patton Oswalt at The Peace Center in Greenville, SC. and discuss cloning him. And much to Dan's happiness, Tina and Chris finally started watching Steven Universe!