Michael Daniels
Co-Host of The Front Porch
Life long geek and proud of it. Proud father of two girls. Michael has come from his roots in video games all the way back as a kid with the Colleco and Intellivision, playing AD&D with friends at Wet and Wild, and picking up his first comic book of Silver Surfer #50 in 1991. His favorite movies include Excalibur, Dragon Slayer, and Last Man Standing. He can't get enough of everything Marvel Comics and the fantasy genre as well as wearing out his copies of Firefly. He has two tattos on both arms. One of the Decpitcon/Cobra logos and the other is the Arashikage Clan from GI Joe. He works professionally as the Web Designer and Manager for one of the nations top technology schools and has a degree in Informatics (Design) from Indiana University and a minor in Computer Science.
Topics
Video Games
I go nuts here. I still have my NES, SNES, Genesis, Turbo Graphics 16, PS2, and PS3 hooked up to my game room tv. All powered on with a flick of the switch. I really enjoy Fighting games (Mortal Kombat), RPG's (Elder Scrolls), and the occasional FPS (Overwatch).
Board Games
I play weekly with a group of friends and we enjoy everything from legacy games (Pandemic Legacy), Campaign games (Imperial Assault), Strategic (Kemet), to miniatures (Mechs Vs Minions) and RPG's (D&D). I love to play TCG's but have almost exclusively gotten out of that field and dove into living card games instead.
Movies
OK, I watch too many of these hands down. Something about sitting for hours in a movie theater with popcorn that I'll never give up. I'm pretty easy and can watch almost everything. I do love the super hero craze going on these days but any heroic journey story will sucker me in.
TV
I used to watch too much TV as a kid and it's stuck with me. While I didn't watch a ton of Star Trek: TNG when it aired I am a huge fan these days. Firefly is my all time favorite but I still enjoy candy shows like The Flash, Supergirl, and Agents of Shield. I eat up everything Marvel on Netflix but about lost my mind watching Iron Fist. Oh, and I love me some old school cartoons like Transformers, Mask, Voltron, and GI Joe.
Books
I am a slow reader. I won't try and deny it. But I do try to keep my nose in a book when I can. My favorites are anything by Brent Weeks (Night Angel Trilogy) and Robin Hobb. I have a soft spot for all the old TSR paperbacks and especially the Drizzt ones.
Comics
At 15 I worked with some people who read comics so I stopped at the local drug store and bought one with one of my first paychecks. IT was Silver Surfer #50 and it sucked me into the precursor to The Infinity Gauntlet. I've been bonkers for comics ever since. I'm currently pulling all the X books, Thor, Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, and Champions.
Michael Daniels has hosted 397 Episodes.
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Episode 45: Porch Full of Splendor
July 9th, 2018 | 1 hr 37 mins
co-op, fallout, gencon, hbo, video games, westworld
A little bit of GenCon prep talk focussed on the game auction, some thoughts and updates on co-op video games and the Fallout universe, and our impressions of the first two episodes of Westworld season 2.
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Episode 44: Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli
July 2nd, 2018 | 1 hr 44 mins
lore, mmos, mobile games, movies, steam, swtor, the godfather, warcraft, wow
Thoughts and impressions of The Godfather, some mobile game updates, the Steam sale, both WoW and Warcraft Lore. Next week's challenge is the first two episodes of Westworld Season 2.
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Episode 43: Jurassic Porch
June 25th, 2018 | 1 hr 45 mins
al pacino, board games, gloomhaven, heat, robert dinero, world of warcraft
Lots of board game talk with Mike's impressions on Gloomhaven, some abstract thoughts on IP games, then Dennis's recent WoW relapse. Last week's challenge was Heat, next week's is The Godfather.
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Episode 42: Towels
June 18th, 2018 | 1 hr 42 mins
christopher nolan, marvel, memento, spider-man, the cw
After a long weekend, we discuss Nolan's classic, Memento, and share our hot takes on the Into the Spiderverse trailer and some new shows we're watching. Next week's challenge is the 1995 crime drama, Heat.
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Episode 41: Porchlander
June 11th, 2018 | 1 hr 43 mins
board games, gencon, highlander, lotr lcg, solo, star wars, video games
Bill Hegg joins us to talk Solo, Gencon, and Highlander. Next week's challenge is Christopher Nolan's "Memento"
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Episode 40: Forty First Dates
June 1st, 2018 | 1 hr 31 mins
arrested development, legacy, local game stores, lotr lcg, mmos, netflix, pandemic, sports
In our post Memorial Day episode, we share our weekend experiences, including Pandemic Legacy, the Indy 500, local game stores, and the LOTR LCG. Upcoming challenge is the original Highlander.
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Episode 39: No Sci-fi for You!
May 28th, 2018 | 1 hr 42 mins
lotr lcg, mmos, movies, netflix, star wars
We chat about MMOs and mobile games, our weekly LOTR LCG update, and talk at length about star wars and film genre fatigue. Wrap up Violet Evergarden, last week's challenge. For next week we're watching the newly re-edited Arrested Development season four.
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Episode 38: Every Road has its Evergarden
May 21st, 2018 | 1 hr 34 mins
anime, fantasy, lotr lcg, netflix, sci-fi, violet evergarden
After our weekly LOTR LCG update, we discuss the differences between Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Our current Weekly Challenge is episodes 1-6 of Violet Evergarden.
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Episode 37: The Robinson's Lost Porch
May 14th, 2018 | 1 hr 31 mins
anime, lcg, lost in space, lotr, netflix, streaming services
Weekly update on Gen Con and the LOTR LCG, plus some chat about streaming services and Netflix's Lost in Space. Next week's Challenge is Netflix's Anime, Violet Evergarden.
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Episode 36: Infinity Porch
May 7th, 2018 | 1 hr 52 mins
godless, infinity war, lcg, lost in space, lotr, marvel, mcu, netflix
LOTR LCG update, full impressions of Marvel's Infinity War, wrapping up Netflix's Godless, and starting the Lost in Space reboot.
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Episode 35: Porch Oddysey
April 30th, 2018 | 1 hr 37 mins
dragonfire, gencon, godless, lcg, lotr, netflix original, travelers
Lots of card game talk this week. We talk LOTR LCG again and Mike's new game Dragonfire. Weekly challenge last week was Godless 3-6, and next week's is Godless finale and the first four episodes of Lost in Space.
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Episode 34: Porch of the Rings
April 23rd, 2018 | 1 hr 39 mins
godless, lcg, lotr, netflix originals, new girl
We talk some recent board game purchases, New Girl, and Godless.
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Episode 33: Titan Porch
April 16th, 2018 | 1 hr 43 mins
board games, netflix originals mobile games, the combine
In our post-Combine show, we talk about all the various games we played, some mobile game chat, last week's challenge was The Titan, and our next challenge is the first two episodes of Godless.
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Episode 32: Captain Chris and the World of Tomorrow
April 9th, 2018 | 1 hr 51 mins
board games, netflix, netflix originals, ready player one, rpgs, star trek, star wars
Chris Borland joins us to talk about Board Games, Star Trek, and Ready Player One. Last week's challenge was Game Over, Man and next week's is The Titan.
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Episode 31: Ready Porch One
April 2nd, 2018 | 1 hr 36 mins
cable, gamefly, netflix, netflix originals, retail, streaming, youtube
Update on Dennis' house, we talk about gamefly, cable and other subscription and streaming services. Last week's challenge was "Nailed It" and next week's is "Game Over, Man." We wrap up with a chat about Toys R Us and retail.
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Episode 30: ICG Con
March 26th, 2018 | 1 hr 30 mins
board games, deck builders, disjointed, gencon, marijuana, netflix originals, sitcoms, wow
Special guest Mike Pantinas joins us to discuss ICG Con and the various games we played this weekend. Last week's challenge was Disjointed and next week's is Nailed It!