Rum & Nerdy

Episode 5.44.5 - IAAPA Live Day 5: We close out the week with Phil from Extreme Legacy, wrapping IAAPA 2025 in a haze of exhaustion, laughter, and questionable insights. It’s part therapy session, part recap, and part “how are we still standing?” If you’ve ever ended IAAPA with sore feet, a hoarse voice, and a pocket full of business cards you don’t remember collecting — this one’s for you.

Two rambling idiots—Greg and Garrick—bring...

Episode 5.44.1 - IAAPA Live Day 4: Day Four finds us wading into the booth at Martin Aquatic, joined by Josh and Chris, who somehow make engineering sound sexy. We talk fountains, show water, and the occasional near-death plumbing experience. There’s splashing, laughing, and just enough professionalism to not void our exhibitor badges.

Two rambling idiots—Greg and Garrick—bring you the *Rum & Nerdy Podcast*, a weekly dive into t...

Episode 5.44.3-  IAAPA Live Day 3: Midweek, we wander into the digital deep end with Michael from Worldbuildr and Jeff from AWS. It’s all about cloud platforms, real-time worlds, and whether AI will eventually write this podcast better than we do. It’s equal parts innovation and procrastination, with a side of rum-fueled tech optimism.

Two rambling idiots—Greg and Garrick—bring you the *Rum & Nerdy Podcast*, a weekly dive into t...

Episode 5.44.1 - IAAPA Live Day 2: Day Two takes us to the Themed Entertainment Association booth, where Greg and Garrick catch up with TEA staff and try (unsuccessfully) to act like responsible board members. Expect talk about collaboration, community, and the fine art of networking without accidentally starting rumors. 

Two rambling idiots—Greg and Garrick—bring you the *Rum & Nerdy Podcast*, a weekly dive into the world of ne...

Episode 5.44.1 - IAAPA Live Day 1: IAAPA week kicks off with Greg, Garrick, and our favorite repeat offender, Scott, holding court at the Electronic Theatre Controls booth. It’s equal parts lighting tech, show control, and the kind of deep nerd talk that requires a warning label. There’s rum, there’s banter, and at least one person who definitely should’ve been working instead.

Two rambling idiots—Greg and Garrick—bring you the *Rum...

Episode 5.43 – Snowblower: Sometimes, you just need a low-stress episode before the IAAPA madness kicks in. This week, Greg and Garrick break out the Chat Pack card game for a round of random questions, weird hypotheticals, and whatever tangents come to mind.

While sipping on Planteray Traditional Dark Rum, the guys keep it loose, keep it nerdy, and try (mostly unsuccessfully) to stay on topic. It’s an easy, laid-back episode full o...

Episode 5.42 – Snowcat: This week, the guys dive into the swirling Arctic-cold rumor mill of a potential sequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982). Naturally, this leads to the shocking revelation that Garrick somehow forgot there was already a prequel. Yes. A whole movie. That he has seen. And forgot existed. We take a moment.

From there, we dig into our favorite practical effects legends — the wizards who made monsters feel wet,...

Episode 5.41 – The Munster Coach: This week, the guys wrap up the Santa Teresa 1796 Triple Aged Solera — the rum that’s been hanging out with us for a few episodes and has now officially crossed the finish line. We give it a final send-off, a last swirl, and maybe a moment of silence. (Maybe.)

With it being Halloween, we dive into what we’re planning, what we’re wearing, and what questionable life choices are inevitably going to be ...

Episode 5.40 - The Knott's Berry Express: This week, Greg and Garrick climb aboard The Knott's Berry Express to wrap up the TEA SATE North America Conference with our annual post-event breakdown. We’re joined by a full train car of friends, Andy, Shireen, Morgan, Jay, and Sean, as we recap another wild week of storytelling, architecture, technology, and experience (and probably too many boysenberry cocktails).

We give a ma...

Episode 5.39 - VW Jetta: This week, chaos reigns supreme as we’re joined by Sammy the Podcat (who refuses to stay off the table) and Andy(who refuses to stay on topic). Andy tries to tell us a simple story about his son’s new car—a VW Jetta—and somehow turns the registration process into a full-length feature film.

Between discussions of car fluids, paperwork, and the world’s most invasive cat, we manage to stretch a six-minute stor...

Episode 5.38 - Light Cycle: This week the guys gear up for a trip back into The Grid after attending the D23 Tron Trilogy event at AMC Disney Springs — a marathon that wrapped with an advanced screening of Tron: Ares.

They dive deep into all three films, dissecting everything from the neon-glowing nostalgia of the original, to the digital rebirth of Legacy, to the franchise-level evolution that’s shaping up with Ares. Expect plenty ...

Episode 5.37 - Opal GT: No rum this week… proving you can still be cool without it (well you can be, jury is out on if we can). Instead, the guys dive headfirst into the chaos of fall: We have our first "The Typhoon Tommy Football Wrap-Up (he really hates it when we talk football) of the season, Garrick’s review of The Gabby Dollhouse Movie, and a nerdy pit stop at Orlando’s Dezerland Car Attraction in the old Festival Bay mal...

Episode 5.36 - 1956 Nash Metropolitan: This week the guys crack open a bottle of Santa Teresa 1796 Triple Aged Solera Rum, because nothing says “serious rum review” like sipping something classy while talking about Weird Al Yankovic. Yes, you read that right. We hit St. Augustine for his live concert, and it was everything we hoped for and then some.

From accordion-powered anthems to the deep cuts only true Weird Al nerds could appr...

Rum and Nerdy Episode 5.35 - 1955 Lincoln Futura: This week, we’re popping open the vault for a vintage episode — the very first one recorded with our Podcast Mini setup. (Back when we were just starting to get excited about the idea of going to New Zealand. Simpler times. Less luggage.)

In this throwback session, Greg and Garrick sip on Star and Key Indian Ocean Fresh Cane Rum and take a delightfully meandering trip throu...

Episode 5.34 - The UTE: Strap in, this week, Greg and Garrick recount their epic journey across New Zealand, fueled by Santa Teresa 1796 Triple Aged Solera Rum, a deep love of themed entertainment, and an unrelenting need to squeeze every nerdy drop out of the Southern Hemisphere.

The trip kicks off in Auckland for the TEA SATE APAC Conference, where inspiration ran high and jet lag ran deep. While in town, they dove headf...

Rum and Nerdy Episode 5.33 - Hobbiton Movie Set: In this epic installment of Rum and Nerdy, Greg and Garrick find themselves in the heart of the Shire — and no, this isn’t a metaphor. This week’s episode was recorded on location at the Hobbiton Movie Set in Matamata, New Zealand, thanks to an unforgettable private tour hosted by none other than our friend (and the owner) Russel Alexander.

We kick things off from Bagshot Row, stroll ...

Episode 5.32: The 1966 Trekka: This week, it’s all prep, all chaos, and way too much House. As Greg and Garrick get ready for their New Zealand adventure, the conversation veers wildly between Kiwi cars (yes, we’re talking about the 1966 Trekka), streaming obsessions, and the slow, inevitable shark-jumping of the show House. Spoiler: we’re still watching. We don’t know why either.

Meanwhile, Greg’s new cat Sammie makes her podcast d...

Episode 5.31 - FD RX-7: This week, the guys fire up The Podcast Mini once again and head over to Ryan’s place — where he’s built a fully functional, custom home tiki bar complete with automated lighting, video effects, and a questionable bottle of bourbon.

In true Rum and Nerdy fashion, we come bearing excellent rum (because we’re not monsters), and Ryan counters with something that technically qualifies as whiskey. We talk tiki tec...

Episode 5.30 - 1971 Chevy Malibu Convertible: Live(ish) from Las Vegas, Greg and Garrick roll into town and fire up *The Podcast Mini* — their shiny new portable recording setup — to capture the chaos with none other than Demo Dave Shannon. Fresh off a whirlwind TEA event, the guys dish on the highlights, the handshakes, and the hilariously awkward run-ins that probably deserve their own nondisclosure agreements.

With glas...