Monday, October 27, 2014

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 34: Naughty Dog's 30th Anniversary

In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia and special guests Manic Expression members Klancy "Infamous Jak", Comic Book Cast/PlayStation members Tristen and Tom "indexsonic" discuss about Naughty Dog in honor of its 30th anniversary from the Crash Bandicoot series, the Jak and Daxter series, Uncharted series, and The Last of Us.


Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Old School Lane visited the You Can Do That on Television Slimed! book event

Hey guys, Patricia here. Last year, Kevin and I went to the Slimed! book event at 92Y Street in New York City. If you haven't read my article discussing about it, check it out right here.

Before I get to discussing about how the event went, I'll talk about what happened around 24 hours before the event started. It was originally suppose to be called A Night of Nickelodeon Nostalgia at the Hammerstein Ballroom at New York City, but when Mathew Klickstein was being interviewed by Pilot Viruet from flavorwire.com discussing about diversity, things didn't exactly turn out so well. It started out pretty normal with discussing about how late 80's and early 90's Nickelodeon were still fondly remembered today with the advent of nostalgia and the Internet. But then they were discussing about diversity in 90's Nickelodeon shows and that's when things began to crash and burn really fast. Mathew stated that diversity didn't matter to shows just as long as the writing and acting was good, in fact he found it to be rather pointless. Long story short, there were so many negative comments on Mathew's opinion and New York Comic Con officially cancelled the event. It had gotten many people who were excited so angry and disappointed, especially those who were traveling out of state with hotel rooms booked and buying VIP tickets. But Mathew and his friends miraculously pulled through and we had gotten You Can Do That on Television at the Treehouse Theater at NYC.

Photo: We just had another winner for our POST 10 FLYERS contest who got himself TWO FREE TIX to the Nick Nostalgia Nite. Only three more winners left!

All you need to do to get TWO FREE TIX to the Nick Nostalgia Nite is print out 10 flyers, post them around your town (observing all local ordinances), take pics of each, upload them as a slideshow on your page and on ours, and you're in!

Again, three more left, so get 'em while you can! (Esp. since, with all the press over the last few days and more to come this week, we'll likely be getting to sell-out time with tix otherwise!)

Kevin, his friend James, and I had difficulty finding the place since it was very small and the sign was practically hidden. We were lost for around 20 minutes until we accidentally saw Mathew being interviewed by some journalist. When we got inside the building, it was super crowded with at least 100 people crammed in waiting to get in the main stage. Then after 10 minutes of waiting, we got in and got front row seats (again) and Mathew came in and introduced the host of the evening Nick Arcade host Phil Moore. While he was no Marc Summers, he was as manic and zany as ever. He briefly talked about loving classic Nick, Nick Arcade, and his son appearing in a few Nickelodeon shows in brief roles.

Photo: Bad lighting, but a blur of the inimitable Phil Moore zipping through the audience from last night's show.

Also sounds like a possible Arcade reboot in works, as Phil later hinted during q&a ... ?

Then afterwards, the majority of the event was dedicated to Doug composer Dan Sawyer and Livewire host/Doug voice actor Fred Newman singing all the songs from The Beets as well as playing other songs. It was super fun and entertaining with everyone singing along to "Killer Tofu", "I Need Mo Allowance", "Shout Your Lungs Out", and the Doug theme song. Then, there was a very short Q&A where people ask questions and the event was over. There were suppose to be other guests such as Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna from The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Polaris from Pete & Pete, Michael Bower and Trevor Eyster from Salute Your Shorts, Kelly Brown from Hey Dude, and Marty Schiff from Out of Control, but when the event was cancelled, most of them didn't show up and Danny, Mike, and Polaris performed in The Bell House in another part of the city very late at night. It was very inconvenient and a huge let down since that was the event I wanted to see the most. I even bought a Polaris t-shirt for the occasion and bought the two songs from their new album to get prepared. But, sometimes, things don't always work out.

Photo: The 'Great Big Happy Green Moonface' Cassingle is out today on a digital format and available for purchase here: https://thebandpolaris.bandcamp.com/releasesPhoto: Very special thanks to Polaris and Mark Mulcahy for everything they've done and continue to do with this new tour. Congrats on an amazing night at the Bell House last evening and keep on waiting for october ...

While Kevin, James, and I had a blast at the event, we knew coming in that it was going to be inferior compared to last year. It was planned more with so many guests and a bigger venue. He did his best to try to outdo himself and I give him credit for it, but it couldn't be matched. Maybe it never will. While I'm sure he'll throw more book events, there's something about last year's event that felt very special. A reminder that classic Nickelodeon is still fondly remembered by so many people at a time when even Nickelodeon didn't really cared about their humble roots. With that, I thank Mathew so much for it.

As for the controversial article, I'll discuss about it sometime in the future, so stay tuned for that. Did you go to the You Can Do That on Television book event? If so, what did you think of it? What are your opinions on the controversial diversity article? Post in the comments below.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 33: The Secret World of Alex Mack

In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia and special guest Kat "Comic Uno" West discuss about the Nickelodeon live action sitcom The Secret World of Alex Mack in honor of its 20th anniversary.


Sunday, October 5, 2014

Old School Lane 200 Subscribers Thank You/Q&A Video

Old School Lane has reached over 200 subscribers! In honor on this glorious event, Patricia and Kevin does a special thank you to the associate websites and the viewers as well as a Q&A from the followers.


Saturday, October 4, 2014

Top 5 Puppet Shows For Adults You Probably Never Heard Of (But You Should Check Out)

Hey guys, Patricia here. I'm taking a short break from Nickelodeon reviews to talk about something else I'm a big fan of: puppets. As some of you know, Kevin and I are huge Muppet, Sesame Street, Pee-wee's Playhouse, Weinerville, and Jim Henson fans. I listed Henson and Paul Reubens as one of my top 50 influences, Marc Weiner on my top 20 male Nickelodeon influences, and did a episode of Casual Chats on the criminally underrated puppet TV show Dinosaurs. If you haven't listened to it yet, please check it out right here.


While those programs are great for kids and adults, I find puppets with adult humor so much more hilarious than oppose to animated shows with adult humor. But whenever people think of puppets and adult humor, they ever think of either Avenue Q or Crank Yankers. However, there are plenty of other puppet programs with adult humor that are so funny and creative that I'm surprised that people don't talk about. In no particular order, here are the 5 puppet shows you probably never heard of, but you should definitely check out.

1. Sifl & Olly



Created by Liam Lynch and Matt Crocco in 1997 and showcased on MTV, Sifl & Olly showcases two sock puppets named Sifl and Olly respectively doing various comedic skits and jokes. Some of them include Precious Roy's Home Shopping Network, Interview Time, S & O News, and more. The jokes range from witty, surreal, and subtle humor that make it still hilarious to this day. Sure, the effects and design seem to appear primitive, outdated, and cheap, but that's what makes it so charming. One of my all time favorites that Sifl and Olly have ever done was their ninja segment and concluding it singing "Ninja of the Night". Unfortunately, it was cancelled in 1999, less than 2 years since its debut. Since then, it has gained a cult following and even Lynch and Crocco featured them occasionally on the podcast Lynchland. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. It's on YouTube.


2. Greg the Bunny


Created by Dan Milano, Steven Levitan, and Spencer Chinoy, the show is about Greg the Bunny starring in a public access show called Sweetknuckle Junction, which is similar to a more raunchy version of The Muppet Show. The show relies on a lot of movie and pop culture references and has discussions on how puppets are treated like lower class trash compared to humans. I haven't seen it in a while, so I cannot tell you any episodes to check out. But if you can, check out the series on DVD.



3. Glove and Boots


Glove and Boots was first conceived by Damien Eckhart-Jacobi and Vincent Bova at the New York Subways around 2004 before moving to YouTube as a video blog a few years later.  It features the main characters Mario and Fafa doing various spoofs of edutainment children's programs before changing into pop culture skits. My favorites are the more recent worst game show skit and the Pee-wee's Playhouse skit. This is probably the most well known puppet program on this list having over 250,000 subscribers, but I don't hear as much people talking about it. If you're interested, go subscribe to their channel.


4. Sock Puppet Theatre


Created by voice actress April Winchell in 2012 on YouTube, Sock Puppet Theatre is about sock puppets voiced by voice actors and actresses April Winchell, Rob Paulsen, Billy West, Pamela Adlon, Bob Joles, and more doing skits based on actual comments and flame wars from sites like YouTube, Pinterest, the World of Warcraft forums, and more. It's so hilarious when you see sock puppets of various shapes and designs complain about things from feeding a dog barbecue potato chips to arguing about an alcoholic drink recipe shown at the front seat of the car performed by people who have been the voice of our childhoods. It's even more hilarious when you realize that they're based on real comments. My personal favorites are "Stop Killing Your Pets", "Jennifer Aniston's Beauty Tips", "Hippie Juice", and "Tech Support". Unfortunately, it was put on a hiatus less than a year later due to April's busy schedule and hasn't featured an episode since. Such a shame. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out. 


5. Neil's Puppet Dreams


Created by Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka, and Janet Varney (that's right, the voice of Korra from Legend of Korra), by The Jim Henson Company at the Nerdist YouTube channel in 2012, it involves with Neil dreaming about puppets every time he sleeps which ranges from being a waiter in a restaurant to falling thousands of feet to the ground with puppets singing, dancing, or saying hilarious jokes. There are so many great people from Brian Henson, Jim Henson's son, Nathan Fillion, Janet Varney, and Joe Manganeillo performing. My personal favorites are "The Lullaby", "Doctor's Office", "Dream Bump", and "Bollywood". Unfortunately, it was put in hiatus less than a year later due to Neil, David, and Janet's busy schedules. Again, such a shame. Anything with these group of people, especially NPH, is awesome! If you haven't seen it yet, check it out.


What are some of your favorite adult puppet shows that you like, but nobody talks about? Post in the comments below. 

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia