Though I haven't recorded an episode of the Branded podcast in awhile, I was lucky enough to be asked back to guest star on another episode of the Nerd Lunch podcast this week.  I'm not sure, but I think I might be on the road to eventually becoming the Charo of the nerdy/pop culture podcasting set.  Crossing my fingers.

Anyway, back to the Nerd Lunch episode, this week's theme was all about introducing the guys to the work of Hayao Miyazaki, in particular the film Spirited Away. T hough Jeeg, CT, and Paxton have all experienced some level of anime in the past, none of them have really become fans of the genre perse, so I thought Studio Ghibli might be the way to ease them back in and could very well get them into watching some more Japanese animation.  Did it work?  Well you'll have to listen to the discussion to see.  You can find episode 24 of the Nerd Lunch Podcast on iTunes, or you can download the episode directly!

Just about done with the yearly hiatus, but in the meantime, I was a guest on the The Nerd Lunch podcast again, this time to geek out about the more lunch-y side of nerdom.  The show features NL alums CT and Jeeg, as well as Paxton from Cavalcade of Awesome, and once again a great time was had by all!

We spend the episode discussing the fizzy, syrupy goodness that is soda, a pop culture touchstone that pretty much anyone can relate to.  Whether you call it soda, pop, coke, or whatever, chances are you’ve imbibed a bit of one carbonated elixir or another, and you probably also have a favorite.  Listen to us talk about our favorites, least favorites, and bunch of general soda nerdery.  You can also find their show on iTunes.

Recently the kind folks over at The Nerd Lunch podcast invited me back on the show to geek out on some more of our favorite topics.  The show features NL alums CT and Jeeg, as well as Paxton from Cavalcade of Awesome, and once again I had a blast!

We spend the episode discussing the classic Masters of the Universe toy line from Mattel.  From our first memories of the toys to how we feel about them almost 30 years later.  If you want to hear me wax nostalgic on MOTU, then head on over to Nerd Lunch and give the episode a listen.  You can also find their show on iTunes.

I listen to a lot of podcasts, but lately it seems like a bunch of shows that I love have been ending.  So I was pretty excited when I discovered a new show that featured some of my favorite bloggers coming together to geek out over the airwaves.  The Nerd Lunch podcast debuted this past week, and it features NL alums CT and Jeeg, as well as Paxton from Cavalcade of Awesome!

These guys were gracious enough to invite me in as a guest on their second episode as the 1st in a series of revolving 4th chair hosts.  We spend the episode discussing the Back to the Future flicks, which just happens to be one of my favorite franchises from the 80s.  So if you want to hear us talk about Marty, Doc, Biff, time travel continuity, the animated series, as well as where we think the future of this film franchise could go them head on over to Nerd Lunch and give the episode a listen.  You can also find their show on iTunes.

I'm back with episode 22 of the microcast.  This time I have a couple of topics.  First off I continue the discussion of soda nostalgia and nerdery from last episode by looking at the crazy concoction known as a Suicide…

…but I spend the majority of this episode talking about the Rambo cartoon and how there was a perfect storm in the 80s that would lead to an R-rated film being adapted into children's animation.

I also throw out a couple nods to other podcasts, namely the Roboplastic Podcastalypse and the Retroist Podcast.

 

I'm not that big on anniversaries, but Branded in the 80s turns 5 years old this month and since I've been getting prods to record some new episodes of the podcast I thought this would be a good opportunity. 

This time I invite the listener to peek behind the curtain a bit as I share a silly story about the debacle of my Soda Pop Culture column here at Branded.  I talk a bit about why I started it, what the plans were, and how it all fell flat (oh puns.)  Will I do more shows?  Nobody knows…

Some of the links mentioned in this episode:

Liz Vitale and her Puppatoons site

Charles over at Eclectorama

The Retroist

Some pictures of the insane amount of soda I purchased

Jerzy and Anne Drozd invited me and my wife Carrie onto tonight's episode of Art & Story Extreme!!   The topic of discussion was branding, specifically getting at what branding means and how it relates to the overall message or mission statement of a project or company.  I talk a heck of a lot about branding here (I mean I use the word in my own darn branding), so I had a lot of fun trying to dig at what it means, especially for the independent artist.  You can find this episode and more at Art & Story Podcast (dot com.)

Had a lot of fun talking with Jerzy Drozd (of Make Like a Tree Comics and the Art & Story Podcast) and Sara Turner (of Make Like a Tree Comics, Cricket Press, and her awesome new webcomic The Ghosts of Pineville) about the 25th anniversary of Back to the Future, Michael J. Fox, skateboarding in the 80s, crushes on male actors, and the stupidity of Hollywood producers on last night's episode of Art & Story Extreme.  If you've got a second and want to hear me and the others wax nostalgic for half an hour, hop on over and download the episode!

Which also reminds me, both Jerzy and Sara are co-organizers of this November's Up! Fair coming to Lexington, KY. Table registration is open for the show, but space is limited and we’re going to be closing registration on August 15th, and starting the jurying process to pick the artists who will be tabling.  So if you’re interested in participating, make sure you get your registration in soon!

Wow, two double-stuffed episodes in a row.  Weird.  At first I was struggling a little to get these up to 10 minutes, now I'm trying my best to keep them below 20 minutes.   Micropodcasting indeed.  Anyway, in episode 20 I spend some time discussing the 1993 action TV series Cobra…

I also talk about the show's prolific creator Stephen J. Cannell, the new FCC rules regarding "payments" for reviewing, the budget Millcreek DVD release of this series, and the soft-spoken, face-kicking Michael Dudikoff!

As promised in yesterday's Peel Here column, today's microcast is a double stuffed conversation/rant about Superman III.  From the madcap romp of an opening…

…to the uncomfortably underachieving comedy of the usually much better Richard Pryor…

There are still a couple of good moments though, including my favorite Superman movie moment, dark Supes versus Clark Kent (even if it doesn't make any logical sense)…

…and the seriously creepy Braniaic-like robot villain lady…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In this episode of the microcast I'm reminded of my tenure in the YMCA sponsored Indian guides program.  Fake bearskin ponchos, gaudy feathered necklaces, goofy yellow headbands, and some great memories of my Dad.  Here's another interesting recollection of the Guides as well…



That's me in the middle with the tacky plaid shorts…



Again, me on the back of the fire truck and my dad marching alongside with the walking stick...

 

Oh my god, three microcasts in a row?   I suppose in this post Halloween afterglow it's sort of nice to just talk about some of the stuff that's on my mind rather than try and jump right back into writing columns.  I do have a Peel Here that I want to get to this week though, so look for that later on.  Anyway, in this episode of the Branded Microcast I ramble on about the Pryde of the X-Men cartoon for a bit…

If you're interested in watching this beauty of a one-shot cartoon, it's up on youtube in nice bite-sized chunks (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, and Part 5.)  I also talk about the X-Men arcade game that was sort of based on the cartoon...

Chugging along with another microcast.  Today features a rambling discussion of odd books including Choose Your Own Adventure style, sitcom adaptations, photonovels, the Pryde of the X-Men graphic novel adaptation of the cartoon pilot, fumetti, and Sadistik (Satanik/Killing) pulps.

In trying to get myself podcasting again I've decided to try and stop being so precious with the recording and research and just do it.  My new idea to is too keep these episodes short, like under 15 minutes.  Micro-podcasting.  Anyway, here's the first microcast which is all about the great golden age we're living in as far as toys are concerned…

In this episode I talk about all the properties and characters that have toys these days like the Goonies, Akira, Edward Scissorhands, Snake Plissken from Escape from New York, Ash from Army of Darkness, the new Matty Collector Ghostbusters figures, the new Matty Collector He-Man figures, as well as some older stuff that could use some new figures, namely the Karate Kid and V.

 


This evening is was an extreme honor to sit next to my wife as she guest hosted an episode of the Art & Story Extreme!! podcast.  Jerzy, Mark, my wife and I spent a half an hour talking about scary movies, inspiration to get off our butts and do something creative, and her new project demonals.com!   It was a swell super rad conversation.

In the interest of seeing whether or not I can keep the Branded in the 80s podcasts flowing, here's another episode that's dedicated to some of my memories of the various bicycles I had growing up.  I talk for a little bit about my first two bikes, a hand-me-down yellow beauty that had a girl's frame an a great banana seat, and my first dirt bike, a Huffy that was white and black with red trim and a cushioned upper handlebar that saved me from cracking my skull open on a few occasions…

   

…as well as the bike love of my life, my 1987 baby blue GT Performer that had great white and pink trim.  Unfortunately I don't have any personal photos of that bike, but below there's an almost identical representation.   Mine had black dice for air nozzle caps and a set of white metal pegs that attached to the hub of the back wheel, but it’s pretty much exactly like mine…

   

I also talk about the wondiforous 80s BMX flick RAD, Eddie Fiola (pictured in the GT Performer ad above), Bart Conner (who played Bart Taylor the semi-evil BMX god that rode for Mongoose bikes in the Rad flick), Bill Allen, Lori Loughlin, Talia Shire, John Farnham (who gave us some great 80s anthems in Rad), and of course the infamous freestyle BMX dance sequence from Rad…



If you enjoyed this podcast and if you haven't read it, here's my more in depth review of the Rad movie, and here's some Rad trivia from star Bill Allen's site.  Also, if you're enjoying my rambling podcast then I'd also like to point you to the other show I'm doing now, the Saturday Supercast over at Sugary Serials.com where I'm joined by co-hosts Jerzy Drozd and Kevin Cross (two great comic artists.)  We deconstruct our favorite cartoons of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and the first two episodes are available for download (parts one and two of a discussion on the first G.I. Joe mini series from 1983.)

 

Well, with all the podcasting I've been doing lately with the newly revamped Saturday Supercast, I got the bug to dust off the Branded in the 80s podcast as well.  Don't know how regularly I'll put one of these out, but it was fun to record just the same.

Basically I spend around 50 minutes talking about some of my general thoughts on cartoons.   Filmation, Hanna Barbera, animation cels, a deconstructive/critical eye towards cartoons, Action for Children's Television, and why you might want to listen to the Saturday Supercast.  I also threw in a bunch of cartoon theme songs (under the main conversation of the podcast), as well as the majority of the one Kidd Video studio album.



If you'd like to check out the Supercast, you can click on the link below and it'll whisk you away to the archives.

Wow, this month is flying by.  It's already the week of Halloween, how in the hell did that happen?!?  Well, I stumbled a bit last week in terms of keeping up a daily posting schedule, but it's certainly not the end of the world.  I am on vacation from the stupid day job this week, so I should be able to cram it chock full of Halloween-y goodness.

First up is my half of the Branded in the 80s/Art & Story Podcast cross over event.  When Mark Rudolph, Jerzy Drozd, my wife and I got together to talk about horror storytelling and Halloween we recorded enough material for both of our podcasts.  Their half, episode 61 of the Art & Story podcast is up and available at their site, and now here's the second half.  We end up talking for around 40 minutes about some Halloween memories past (in particular costumes and some fun candy gathering hyjinks) as well as talking a bit about how we celebrate the holiday today.  Talking with these guys is always fun for me, so I hope you can get some pleasure from the conversation as well.  To listen you can either click on the banner below, or right click and save it to your computer for ipod/mp3 player listening and such.



Again, if you enjoy this podcast, take a minute to check out the Art & Story show, as Mark and Jerzy have really put together a great podcast…

Well, I decided to record a podcast about some of my movie watching this Halloween season, and hopefully I'll get it in just under the wire for day 4 of the countdown.  It's about 25 minutes long, so it won’t melt your brains or anything, and for those of you brave enough to make it through the whole show there is a little treat at the end.  I basically talk about two movies, The Abominable Snowman (the 1957 Hammer Yeti flick starring Peter Cushing and Forrest Tucker) and the 1972 Amicus adaptation of Tales From the Crypt (also starring Peter Cushing and a young Joan Collins.)  Below are some screen captures of interest and the original movie posters.  Enjoy!





Above are stills of the amazing Peter Cushing, and Forrest Tucker (star of F-Troop and the 1975 Filmation Ghostbusters live action Saturday Morning show that I talked about some time back.)

Below is an example of the surprising cinematography in the flick…



I love how the Yeti were handled visually in the film.  Subtle, but effective.



Below, the awesomely creepy poster for the Amicus adaptation of Tales From the Crypt…



Here we have some still from TFtC including our unsuspecting tour patrons, and the understated Ralph Richardson as the Crypt Keeper…



Below we have some hints as to the dreadful fun that this flick contains…



Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a look at a couple of the 80s horror flicks that I loved growing up.

Well, I recorded another show, though I'm kind of iffy about it.  Basically I'm trying to get back into the swing of podcasting on a regular basis and I thought it would be best to just record anything that I'm currently thinking about.  At first I was just going to keep recording shows without posting them, but after thinking about it some more I decided that if I don't post them I'm not going to get off my ass and record them in the first place.  I'm a goal-oriented person in this respect.

So what's in this episode?  Well it starts off with me getting cranky about the upcoming complete Real Ghostbusters DVD release (see the previous post for more), and that I slide into a one sided conversation about story telling conventions, in particular the whole idea of alternate history as a concept.  Is it in depth?  No.  Do I ramble like a goon?  Yes.  It is 50% shorter than the last episode though, which brings me back to my more normal running time.  Next time, there will be some research, or at least some notes to guide me along. Enjoy!

Oh yeah, I also mention the Art & Story podcast with Jerzy Drozd and Mark Rudolph, but I forgot to give a link to their show in the episode, so here it is!