Episode 10- Garfield in Disguise aka Garfield's Halloween Adventure

It's still Halloween season so our spooktacular celebration of Halloween continues with Garfield's Halloween special "Garfield in Disguise" aka "Garfield's Halloween Adventure" aka "Garfield Meets the Harlem Globetrotters."  

Our discussion (for some reason) begins and ends with ABC TV's "The Middle" but also how terrifying this special actually was to a five year old kid (extremely), the delightful sounds of Lou Rawls (or possibly Dr. John, one of them), the surprisingly violent ways Garfield captures lasagna, some general hatred of 90s ska as a genre, and of course we debate the worst kinds of candies to get on Halloween. 

Join us won't you? Enjoy it, we spookily dare you!

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or right here.

Sell me lies, sell me sweet little lies.

I’ve worked in the children’s media industry as a researcher and consultant for almost a decade and one of the most interesting lessons I've learned is people who advertise to kids don’t always care about kids. It’s not that people hate kids, I’m sure the CEO of Acme Toys would try to save a drowning eight-year-old but when it comes to things like advertising and accurate representations of a company’s product, then that CEO couldn’t give a fudge about sugar as to whether that eight-year-old is getting a fair deal. 

Unfortunately, when I’m part of project where I know that the product being advertised is an exaggerated version of what the real product is, I get super unhappy because I remember what it felt like to get ripped off and it sucked. The process went something like this:

1. Save up/beg for money
2. Wait for months.
3. Annoy parent/caregiver to the point of hatred as to when I could be driven to Toys R Us.
4. Make Oregon-Trail-like-journey to store.
5. Make Oregon-Trail-like-journey home (length of trip was doubled due to the anxiety brought on by mom not driving home fast enough).
6. Using product for first time.
7. Feelings of but no words for sensation of getting dicked over.
8. Begin saving money for next product.

I try to explain this experience to people who hire me and sometimes I’m effective in causing some type of change in their strategy and other times I’m not. It's uphill battle for sure but what keeps me inspired to fight on are those burning memories of getting super hosed by the ad man and wanting to prevent that for the next child. 

Episode 9- Pac-Man

It's Halloween season, which means only one thing- it's mid- to late- October!

In honor of the season, we watched the Halloween episode of Pac-Man which had the segments "Pacula" and "Trick or Chomp."

In this episode, we compare Andrea to Vincent D'Nofrio in Full Metal Jacket, we name-check some listerners, and discuss the seasonally-appropriate horror of what Lark Voorhies has turned herself into, our collective regret that "Pacula" was not a Pac-pun of "Scott Bakula," the no-doubt excitement of Pac-Wars, which is the Pac-World's Star Wars, with realistic Galaga-type action and the appeal of the baby-holding-ovaries scene in Devil's Advocate over the appeal of this cartoon we watched. Also, Mort Fisherman, our esteemed and mysterious booking agent, secured an interview with Inky, one of the ghosts from Pac-Man's rogues' gallery.

Enjoy this spook-erific episode. You could do us a favor of subscribing and maybe telling a friend, why not?

Listen on iTunes, Stitcher or right here.

Episode 8- Captain N: The Gamemaster

We're back with a new episode. It is the very first episode that features fewer than the full lineup of Deathgrippers. But Sean, Andrea and Giancarlo do tell you where Tim is. He's not dead, that much this podcast description can tell you.

In today's episode, we watched the pilot episode of "Captian N: The Gamemaster," which is either a big Nintendo ad, possibly Nintendo's attempt to remake "The Big Chill" with its characters or maybe even Joseph Campbell's response to Star Wars. We explore all of the possibilities! You'll also hear all about the buxom King Hippo, the incredibly annoying portrayal of some Nintendo B-listers, the only slightly less annoying cartoon trope of the villain raising his voice to impersonate the heroine to throw off the hero and the hero buying it, and most amazing of all, Andrea's amazing impression of the amazing Levi Stubbs. And of course, our booking agent, Mort Fisherman, landed us Megaman for the interview segment.

Listen here or head to iTunes to listen/download/subscribe (you should really subscribe)! Enjoy! Also, please tell, like, one other person about us! We'll love you all the more for it.

Episode 7- "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends"

Welcome back, we sound semi-professional now except for occasional knocks on a microphone from an unnamed person!

For today's episode, we watched "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends" episode "Video Man". We talked about overly complex death traps, the awful Miss Lion, tight cartoon buns, an important PSA about the scourge of "razorballs", a visit from star of "Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends", Flash Thompson and even more special visit from Droop-fus. You won't know if you don't listen!

Subscribe or download from iTunes or listen right here! The world's your oyster in terms of listening to this episode.

Pop culture's "Do the..." dances

There are two types of people in this world (maybe four): people who like to dance and people who hate it desperately. I don’t understand people who like to dance. All that arm and leg flailing, all that moving around. Not to mention those people watching you while you flail and move; the people judging you, thinking, “that guy looks ridiculous” or maybe “that guy looks like he has neuromuscular disorder.” Can you guess which type of person I am?I admire people who can dance skillfully.

I understand why Gene Kelly would allow himself to be filmed dancing. But the average Joe (I say Joe because I think women seem to innately understand, enjoy and are able to dance without appearing like they have ataxia induced by a brain parasite) dancing escapes my comprehension. But that's just me.

The most mind boggling dances, though, are those big choreographed group dances. You know, like you're at a wedding and some song comes on and suddenly it's like the "I've Got a Lot Living to Do" scene in Bye Bye Birdie (excuse me for watching a lot of TCM. Also, Anne Margaret in that movie… geez. Where was I?) You know the songs: "Electric Slide," "The Hustle," "YMCA," and the song with the guy telling you to "take a walk" and "cha cha" (through laborious research I have discovered its actually called "the cha-cha slide". Also, look at all of those bloody things!) I don't know how people know all the moves. Where do they learn. Even the friggin' "YMCA" is more than just the stupid letters (also, how a song that appears to be anonymous homosexual liaisons at a gym became popular for weddings, parties and the most annoying mid-inning groundskeeping in baseball, I will literally never know). My point is: these group dances are intimidating because it's more than just a dance, it's the same exact dance that everyone is doing. Not only do you have to a) dance, b) dance with lots people able to see you, you also c) have to do it just like everyone else or you stand out and look like a real maroon*.

Old movies have merit, people.

Garbage Pail Kids: Where Are They Now?

Like so many young children in the 80s, I eagerly hopped aboard the Garbage Pail Kid train. Where was it going? I didn’t know. Presumably someplace disgusting that involved a fair amount of word play. And despite having no memory of either playing with or trading them, I recall my stack of Kids being incredibly precious to me. Therefore, it seems a blog entry would be fair tribute for an item that I’ve convinced myself gave me a lot of joy.

While conducting extensive research for this hard-hitting post, I was surprised to learn that the Garbage Pail Kids were the brainchild of none other than Art Spiegelman (specifically the Art Spiegelman who won the Pulitzer Prize). Indeed, before skimming the Wiki page, if you had asked me who created these infamous cards the first words out of my mouth would have been, “Well certainly not Art Spiegelman.” It just goes to show that I’ll never be able to get into the mind of the world’s leading graphic/comic artist for all things Holocaust related.

Anyway, to confirm your suspicions - yes, the Garbage Pail Kids did hold international appeal as well.  And the best part of discovering that fact is learning how the name translated. In Italy, they were known as “The Snotlings.” France went with the more genteel “The Filthies.” And Germany, unforgiving as ever, referred to them as “The Totally Broken Kids.”

Some of the cache they earned aboard obviously stems from the fact that these cards captured their subjects in the prime of their youth. Indeed, we bear witness to a time when they were fresh and full of possibility. I thought it might be a good idea to check in with a few of them and investigate the direction in which their lives went.