Tim and Max Solve All The Problems With Popular Culture is STILL the newest podcast in the stable of winged horses that is the Geek Syndicate Network.

The podcast aims to do exactly what it says on the tin – young bucks Tim Swann (@tetrarchangel on twitter) of Psycomedia and Max Barnard (@maxy_barnard on twitter) of You Must Hear This identify a key area where popular geek culture falls down and then try and come up with some ways that both the creators and the audience can fix it.

In our second episode, we discuss hypersexualisation, and how the great and the good can fall down (at least in Tim's fragile mind and innocent eyes) by sex getting in the way of their art, and the bad can make everything worse with their impact on sexuality in and out of the arts. But don't worry, there are solutions too! Harry Potter fan-fic features more than you might like. 

In which the team try to pin down the essence of genre: what differentiates it from a style; who makes them and how it affects our reading experience.  We go on to discuss the benefits and problems with blurring those boundaries.  Actually, for the first fifteen minutes we try to stop Mattie playing SW:TOR and attempt to discuss a series of books that none of us has actually read - but then we get on topic.  Honestly.

The conversation was to have gone on for a good twenty minutes longer but technical difficulties plagued us in the latter part of the episode.  On the plus side, all being well you will be hearing a little more from Scrolls 'somewhere' on the Geek Syndicate Network this month.

Genre Blends that we recommend, but didn't have opportunity to discuss properly (or at all in some cases) include Artemis Fowl, the 'Jon Shannow' books, The 'Pax Britannia' series, Coraline, The 'Merrily Watson' series, 'The Tales Of The Otori' series, The Fifth Child, The 'Shadows Of The Apt' series, and Cloud Atlas.  You should google them if they are unfamiliar to you, track down copies and read them.  I would also heartilly recommend reading a short story by William Hope Hodgeson called The Derelict.  It's about a 'ghost' sailing ship, yet has an old-world sci-fi vibe more in line with The Thing than The Fog.  You can read it for free online but I particularly enjoyed the full audio dramatisation from Audio Comics in their Horrorscopes series.  You should definitely give some of those a listen.

As a hobby, both Phil and Dion have been entering a Flash Fiction competition on the writer Lily Childs' blog.  These are stories of no more than 100 words, so easy to flick through, tricky to write.  As a tenuous link to encourage people to go take a look (and potentially join in) I offer you my own little genre blender 'Bete Noir.'  We post our stories in the comments section, so you'll need to scrolls down the page to find it.

Finally, regarding Jeffrey Kacirk's Forgotten English calendar mentioned near the beginning of the podcast.  The words I was supposed to fit in to conversation was 'Good Man's Croft.'  You won't hear me getting it into conversation for technical reasons that I won't bore you with.  The episode as a whole, though,  may be considered to be a practical modern-day demonstration of the phrase.

Hopefully we'll meet some of you lovely people at the SFX Weekender in February.  Until then, keep reading.

Join Amaechi, Barry and Ant in the first episode of 2012 where we look at the games announced for 2012 - from the big names like Mass Effect 3 and GTA 5 to the possible "under the radar" titles Never Dead and Spec Ops: The Line.

The guys also discuss the news - from Full title downloads to OnLive on the iPad.

Enjoy the show - and a Happy New Year from the Guys.

• Just Cause the movie
• Xbox 360 dashboard update
• GBA games coming to 3DS owner.....but who really plays these old game?
• Naughty Dog reveals the Last of Us
• Skyrim - Game of the Year or bug filled nightmare?
• CoD player gets 14 year ban for cheating

The twinkling lights are all up, there's a chill in the air, little boys and girls are starting to get excited and, somewhere in the distance, a jolly fat man is whipping his elves with a cat-o'-nine-tails to work Harder, damn them, Harder.  It's nearly Christmas!

It is the season of good will to all men - even pedantic sods and giggling morons.  It is also the season of binge eating and drunken arguements.  (I think you know where I'm going here.)  Yes!  It's time, once more for the Gala of Games, the Bonanza of Banter, the Surfeit of Silliness that is our Christmas Cross-Over.

Warning: Explicit Content from the start

It's a more focussed event this year, with only three games, but what games they are!

Clover IS Nicholas Parsons in 'Just A Minute!' (complete with fishnet tights)
Matt IS Lord Alan Sidious, searching time, space and multiple realities for the next 'Sith Apprentice'
and
Kehaar IS that bloke from the radio who hosts Fighting Talk IN... 'Geeking Talk'

All three are ably assisted, undermined and irritated by Phil, Mattie and Dion.

LEARN - how to survive in a horror film

DISCOVER - the trans-sexual sensation that is The Wicked Witch of the West

GASP - at our ability to construct whole sentences under the influence and still sound convincing

WONDER - how these damn games are scored anyway and...

PONDER - just who is The Best.


Our Intro and Outro music has been kindly provided by John Anealio from Geek Dad.  You can find his Christmas EP at www.johnanealio.com and loads more to boot.

Also included is a snippet from the fantastic 'It's Beginning To look A Lot Like Fish-Men' which you can hear in full at http://www.cthulhulives.org and also purchase the full 'A Very Scary Solstice' albums.

You may also notice The March Of The Knights music from Romeo and Juliet.  It sounds an awfully lot like the music from The Apprentice but I'm pretty sure that's just a coincidence.  (Ahem.)

Any other singing is lamentable and should be born with grace and sympathy.  It is Christmas after all...

Here we are again, just in time for christmas.

In this episode Ant and I explore Frostfire & The Suffering two audio adventures featuring companions vicki and steven, read by the original actors, Maureen O'Brien and Peter Purves.

I then have a chat with the multifaceted Barnaby Edwards - This guy was the dalek operator in the Christopher Eccleston adventure entitled Dalek and has been in every dalek episode since.  He also writes, acts, directs and produces many Big Finish stories.

Find out which BF story is his favourite, what he thinks of the new dalek design and wether dalek operaters have a harder time than R2D2

http://www.barnaby-edwards.com/

Join The Dynamic Duo, and some chap called Barry as they discuss the latest goings on in the world of gaming. This episode is packed with first look reviews of Uncharted 3, Modern Warfare 3, Skyrim and Barry reviews The Adventures of Tin-Tin in Full.