The FTN Children in Need after-show blog

Well it was certainly a 27 hour radio marathon to remember. I hope you were all able to join us last week because it was an experience.

You don't know what I'm talking about? Then here is a little refresher.
Myself and Marc sat in our radio studio for 27 hours on Thursday 17 and Friday 18 November as we broadcast live across the world all in aid of the BBC charity event Children in Need.

We raised an amazing £500+ (thank you to everyone who donated) and had some amazing fun. Particular highlights included big Phil walking into the studio with Spock ears cellotaped to his, er, ears. He even ventured into a petrol station with them attached a week before. Mad man!
A lot of the marathon is a bit of a blur to be honest but I know I haven't laughed like I did last week in such a long time. We had such a blast and hope that came across the airwaves too.

Another big thank you to the aforementioned Phil who joined us in the studio for approximately 18 of those 27 hours and who I kinda shouted at with 50 minutes of the broadcast to go. Apologies big man, I was tired and grumpy and you were WAYYYY to excited for that time of the night.

While the big event is now over you can still donate here.Marc is also working on our very own ebay page were you will be able to bid for some cool items (visit our facebook page for more info in the coming weeks) that were donated to us from various sources for Children in Need.

That's all for now everyone. I'm still recovering from the worst 'cold' of all time but, ofcourse, I got no sympathy from the FTN Emperor. Ah well, I'll make sure I have a moan or two during next week's radio show.

Until then.....

The FTN Children in Need pre-show blog

Hi everyone. It's been a few weeks since I last spoke to you but I've got a big excuse.

Yes, Following the Nerd is just one day away from starting its 27 hour Children in Need radio marathon.
Myself and Marc are finalising (well Marc is, I'm just there for him to moan at) our guest list, preparing the studio and sorting out delivery times for our pizzas.

Without giving too much away before the big day, I can confirm that we will be talking to voice-over actors from Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a major actor from the world of the X-Files, and chatting paranormal stories with one of the hottest podcasters in this realm of geekdom, among other wonderful guests - trust us when we say we leave no geek stone unturned.

I really want to tell you more but if I did Marc would threaten to order a pizza with pineapple and we can't be having that.

One of the things that I can confirm is that we will be hosting a slightly different show this week than we normally do. As well as our usual nerd chat, we will have a special breakfast show which will veer away from the usual movie/tv/comic talk and concentrate on the news and sport of the day, as well as the latest chart hits. Later on Friday afternoon our drivetime segment will be hosted by myself, with a wonderful interview I took part in earlier this week. If you like rock music, and more specifically Queen, you will love it.

As you know this week's marathon is all in aid of Children in Need. This famous BBC charity event raises money for those less forunate than ourselves and I would urge you all to donate as much as you can. We know times are hard for everyone but even donating a pound can make that little bit of a difference.
We have set up a fundraising page which you can visit here and any donation will go straight to Children in Need, so please give whatever you can.

It's 2.30am as I write this and I know Marc is also working away on a few other things at the minute so I'll bid you a farewell and speak to you again on Thursday evening (UK time).
Byyyeeeee......

Nerd Blog 26 Oct 2011

A slight change in direction this week for the FTN blog as Marc has asked me to write more about who we are and what sort of things we've been getting up to over the past seven days…..I'm happy with that. Nothing like blowing your own trumpet!
The big news for us nerds this week was the return of the Following the Nerd radio show. We've been off air for the past couple of weeks as we looked at ways of improving the service we provide to all of our followers.
First of all we got rid of Phil….nah, I'm only joking. As those of you who listen to our show will know, our uber-nerd likes to talk….alot. So what we decided to do was give him his own podcast to discuss the things that interest him most. He is a little nervous and unsure about how he's going to pull it off but Marc and I have the upmost confidence in him. He really knows his stuff when it comes to all things nerd and we're really excited about what the future holds for the big man.

On top of this Phil is set to become FTN's roving reporter, kind of like Lois Lane only without the good looks. He'll be bringing you great interviews with some of the most talented people in the world of TV, film and comics. We've already listened to some of the stuff he's done with the Game of Thrones cast during TitanCon recently and, we have to say, it's banging.

If you listened to the show on Thursday you will have noticed that we've tightened things up a little with a more structured running order so that you guys get the best of what we're talking about and less rambling from the likes of me. We hope you liked it if you listened. If not, what are you waiting for? Visit iTunes and download our latest podcast or get us on Spreaker!

Right, what else has been happening this week? Ah, that's right. Marc has been busting my chops to watch season 3 of The Clone Wars and to download Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
First of all The Clone Wars. I am up to episode 6 and loving it as usual. Such a high quality show with great animation. Once I catch up with Marc who is well into season 4, we will both sit down and have a roundtable discussion about the whole thing, which will then be available for podcast.

As for Buffy? What can I say? I've never liked the look of it. As much as Sarah Michelle Gellar is fit, she just doesn't (and never did when the show first aired) look convincing as someone who could take out loads of vampires. It's all too….well, nice. However, I have promised Emperor Savage that I will give it a go so here's hoping it's better than it looks.

Before all that however I am continuing to be enthralled by Smallville. What a great show. Every episode is being aired on SyFy in the UK (just like Buffy) and at present we are up to season 5. Tom Welling is great as Clark Kent, and someone who I thought would have made a great Superman on the big screen. As for Erica Durance as Lois Lane….wow. Fit, fit, fit!

So, what have I planned for the next seven days. Well, I plan to go see Tintin, watch more Smallville, get in preparation for next weeks radio show and annoy Marc with early morning phonecalls about absolutely nothing.

Until next week folks. Have a good one.

Nerd Blog 17 Oct 2011

Hello, all.

Although it’s October FTN has just watched the best summer blockbuster of 2011. Real Steel, starring Hugh Jackman, is unoriginal, has a cliched script and is a very predictiable film...yet, we loved it. It has real heart, great supporting cast, and a leading man who is both likeable in the real world as well as being someone who has real charisma in movies in general. Check out our review on Facebook...and trust us, you’ll love it.

Elsewhere this week, we’ve released our final interview with the Gene Genie himself, Philip Glenister. The Life on Mars and Ashes to Ashes star was interviewed in London recently by a number of UK publications, including ourselves, were he revealed some insights into filming on his current UK drama Hidden, which is currently being aired on the BBC.

We’ve been all comic booked out these past seven days with the news that a Green Lantern sequel could be in the works despite modest box office success.  Plans are also in place for a  separate Agent Coulsen and Hulk TV series, while the forthcoming Iron Man 3 will set in place plans for the future Avengers 2 movie. It’s a pity DC aren’t following Marvel ‘s example. That all said, The Avengers' first trailer is a great piece of pop art and really has us hopping at the prospect of chomping popcorn next summer and wallowing in Joss Whedon's superhero epic.

Finally, Following the Nerd Radio Show is back on air this week with a fresh new takes on all things nerd. We still aim to be informative, interesting and funny, but you’ll have to wait until Thursday to see what changes we have in place.

Until then, have a good one!

Nerd Blog 10 Oct 2011

After the excitement of last week’s Invasion Belfast, things have been a little quieter for FTN. However, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been getting excited about some of the news filtering onto the web concerning our favourite nerd franchises.

First off, The Simpsons are to get another two seasons after confirmation by 20^th Century Fox during the last week. Despite recent controversy over a supposed cut in pay for its voice actors, news that Homer & Co will continue to grace our screens is great news. Woohoo!

Something that we missed recently but was brought to our attention by FTN friend David Savage was the supposed appearance of the Superman logo in the recent Dark Knight Rises poster. If you take a close look at the bottom left corner of the poster you will notice some falling debris, of which one piece looks like a slightly blurred Supes logo. This has prompted all sorts of speculation. Could we see or hear some sort of reference to Superman in Rises? It could happen. Remember that both films are from the DC universe and that Christopher Nolan is directing Batman whilst producing our favourite son of Krypton. We think it would be amazing.

Closer to home, we at FTN have been off the airwaves the past week and again WON’T on the radio this coming Thursday. The reason? Well, we’ve been looking at ways in which we can make our radio show even more informative, funny and, dare we say it, nerdy, for all who listen. But fear not because we will definitely be making a comeback on October 20. We hope you can join us then.

And finally, a big thank you to all our followers because you have helped us achieve something that we didn’t think was possible eight months ago when we went ‘live’ on Facebook. Just this past week  we hit 2,000 followers! Unbelievable! Again, we want to thank you all for sticking with us. Here’s to another 2,000 followers. Could we hit this number in six months? Let’s give it a try!

Until next week.....

Bash

Another show... another night of chaos!

Phew!

So we've just done our latest radio show in the Shine Studio and what a busy show it was!

We had the guys from Mental Deficiency in the studio with myself and Mark, and they were CRAZY! These guys are, like us, hard core nerds and all the cooler for it lol.

But, I digress... since last I Nerd blogged we've had a busy time... on Monday night I went to The Grand Opera House in Belfast to see Spamalot (great seats guys... thank you Nerd press passes :) starring TV's own Phil Jupitus who, sorry Phil, I'm not a big fan off, but in fairness I liked him in this... especially when he was laughing so much unintentionally :) always helps get the audience started too.. not a bad show all in all, very funny in places - especially when it leaves behind the Python stuff we already know and beefs the story out with fresh material. Nice Eric Idle cameo too.

On Tuesday night we spoke with one off, if not THE biggest event organiser in NI, who is keen to get the Nerd involved in upcoming events... and believe us when we say we are giddy as school kids at some of the events that are upcoming :)

On Wednesday we had a bit of a blow when the BBC postponed our Phil Glenister (yes, Gene Hunt himself) until next week... booooo... we were so looking forward to it too, still there's always next week. But on the plus side we got to sit, relax and watch Return of the Jedi with you all @9pm :)

Then tonight we had our radio show... oh and these guys are good. A modern rock band that draw all influences from some of the greatest sci-fi movies out there (Robocop, Aliens), Mental Defeciency are definately ones to watch... be sure to check out their album launch at The Black Box, Belfast on July 1st - and don't worry listeners from further afield, it's all available on iTunes, Amazon etc too.

Tomorrow night The Nerd will be checking out Hanna, starring one of Hollywood's most unrecognised actors, Eric Bana, with a soundtrack by The Chemical Brothers, our excitement levels are pumped!!!

On Sunday we hope to see Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides... truth be told, we hear it's pretty poor, but it's handy having a little boy who loves pirates... good excuse to go. So expect reviews of Hanna and Pirates early next week (along with Spamalot review).

Monday and Tuesday are quiet at the minute but that could change very quickly... then, once the weekend is over we start getting ready for Close Encounters: Predators from the 28th in W5, Belfast. This looks like it could be amazing! And since the Emerald Garrison are putting it on you can be sure of great weekend, and then the weekend after we are off to Derry for 2D Comic Con. So, if you are at any of these events, look out for the guys in the red polo shirts... it could be us as we are appearing at each event.

Oh and don't forget we have an Online viewing of Bladerunner on Wednesday night from 9pm EST. Which is exactly when my press showing of The Hangover II is on. All I have to do is work out how to split myself in two and I'm all sorted :)

Tie all that in with the website getting near completion, the fact that we are looking at podcasting AND the fact that we just passed 1,000 on Facebook and, well, the party never stops. BTW much love to all our fans :)

Wow... busy is only the start of it.

Wherever this blog finds you and whatever you're doing, I hope it finds you well... until next time, remember... you nerd it first

Much love,

Daddy Nerd