Episode 6: Course Correction with Jen Stephens

Shawn Robare of  Branded in the 80s and the Cult Film Club podcast  joins me to discuss a topic inspired by Shawn's own Awesome 80s Bedrooms series, the inner sanctum of our childhood bedrooms.

For some kids, the bedroom is the one place in the house that we have any control over. Shawn and I reminisce about the different bedrooms we occupied in our formative years and the fun or sometimes scary things they contained.

Despite it being the envy of every 80s kid, Shawn concedes that the G.I. Joe U.S.S. Flagg battleship is the worst toy ever made.

These cartoon plaques hand painted by my dad are among my most prized childhood relics.

Home is where you hang your AT-ST?

One of my favorite rooms housed my Mattel Putt-Putt set, my Mego Superheroes, and a terrifying pin-up of Gene Simmons of KISS.

This image of Stephen Spielberg from a People magazine article on Tiny Toon Adventures prompted Shawn to turn his room into a cartoon studio.

Credits

Opening Song: These Are The Quotes From Our Favorite 80’s Movies by The Bouncing Souls

Closing Song: Sitting in my Room by Beatnik Termites, originally by The Ramones

Tyler Ham returns to discuss growing up during the Reagan Era Cold War, and how it affected us as children.

Tyler categorizes classic atomic age sci-fi movies, offering historical perspective from the earlier days of the Cold War.

Russian kids weren't so different from us. Here are two enjoying american pop music cassettes courtesy of Tyler's mom.

We discuss 80s movies like Red Dawn, Rambo, War Games, and Rocky IV and ponder the propaganda they contained.

My small Ronald Reagan collection

My Mad Magazine inspired RONBO drawing from 1986.

Superman, where are you now? Tyler and I share our viewpoints on President Reagan's ability to keep us all safe, and his place in pop culture.

Extras

Nurse or Nuke? The Genesis video that helped foster my childhood anxiety.

Rocky Balboa addresses the tension between the United States and the USSR.

Credits

Opening Song: These Are The Quotes From Our Favorite 80’s Movies by The Bouncing Souls

Closing Song: Ronnie's Rap by Ron and the DC Crew.

I'm joined by Jen Stephens to discuss moments in our lives that changed us fundamentally and briefly ponder alternate paths.

We question the need for human friends when you've got R.O.B. the Robotic Operating Buddy, and wonder if ghosts enjoy R.O.B. as much as living people do.

Different circumstances turned us into weird indoor kids. We examine being new kids on the block (not the band) in our respective neighborhoods, and the phenomenon that was New Kids on the Block (the band).

To say that Jen was a NKOTB fan might be an understatement. She was a card-carrying member of the fan club.

Learning to mimic Bobcat Goldthwait's voice helped me to find my own.

Mix tapes can change your life. We both agree that if it weren't for college rock, alternative, and punk, we might still be wearing B.U.M. Equipment and Z. Cavaricci jeans.

Speaking of mix tapes, enjoy the Jazzy-J mix featuring selections from two of Jen's aforementioned bands along with tracks by New Kids on the Block to better illustrate the complexity of musical taste (that is to say that the idea of misical guilty pleasures should not exist).

On this eggnog-flavored episode, I'm joined by one of my favorite artists, the brilliant and prolific Alex Pardee. We share some of our favorite Christmas memories, including Santa's toy counterfeiting ring, sweaty Christmas carolers, boys wanting girl toys, dolls made out of produce, facial road rash, tall Tiny Tims and the death of Santa.

If you miss this episode, YULE regret it (I'm so sorry).

Visuals

Did you know that Santa made the Dungeons & Dragons Fortress of Fangs playset just for Alex? It's true.

I karate chopped everything in a 10 mile radius the year I got my Fisher Price Miss Piggy puppet.

Alex with his Valterra Zombie board before going pro.

They don't call it The Nightmare for nothing. This poser Nash skateboard nearly killed me.

Extras

Want to ruin Christmas for the kiddies, tell them that Santa Claus is dead.

I recount the time I wanted to be Jacob Marley.

Credits

Opening Song: These Are The Quotes From Our Favorite 80's Movies by The Bouncing Souls

Closing Song: Have A Holly Jolly X-Mas by Crom-Tech

My long-time friend, Abby and I compare notes on finding our local punk rock scene. We discuss the appeal of fast and loud music, the sense of belonging it afforded us, the and the values we came away with that make us the people we are today.

Bonus:  Abby delivers the first f-bomb, which in itself is pretty punk rock. Just ask Tipper Gore.  

Visuals

From unblemished beginnings...

...to discontented delinquent.

You know, just hanging around dying leopard stripes onto someones head.

Painting the Tune Inn sometime in the early 90s.

We discuss depictions of the underground music scene in the mainstream, such as the the bird flipping punk in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home and among the ranks of the Garbage Pail Kids.

Extras

Abby and I made you a mixtape companion to the episode. However, I recommend listening to the podcast and mix tape at separate times.

For as long as I've known him, conversations with Mike Cooper usually devolve into talks about vintage Star Wars figures. In this episode, we commit one such conversation to podcast and also discuss our glue-happy fathers and their involvement in our star wars collecting.

Visuals

Mike's Puke-Custed, Party-Fest, Sewer Luke Skywalker™ and rare Cloth Cape Darth Vader.

My glued down collection of Empire Strikes Back trading cards.

My dad was a Topps Trading Card counterfeiter.

TIE Interceptor trapped in amber.

My dad was proud enough of his coloring job to sign and date it. Show off!

Extras:

It is possible to watch Star Wars as it appeared in 1977.

More on Star Wars figures vs a glue-happy dad

A Walrus Man by Any Other Name

In childhood development, transitional objects provide comfort in difficult or unique situations. We're joined by Stacey Rader, of Adventures of a Geeky Vixen, to discuss some of the toys that helped us through some tricky times growing up and into adulthood.

We laugh, we cry (almost), and get a little gross.

Visuals
Turns out that Strawberry Shortcake rag dolls make great stunt padding in a pinch. And they smell good too. 

My old friend with the crooked nose and droopy eye.

Carrie Fisher meets Endor Carrie Fisher

E.T. means home. Me and my best friend with our Showtime Kamar E.T.s in 1982.

He's an adult, he's annoying, and he's an important part of Stacey's past.

Moss Man got me through a long drive to my impending doom (hospital visit).

When you're nervous about flying, it's good to have the ultimate co-pilot at your side.

B.A. Baracus at 35,000 feet

Extras
Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy

"More Than Just Teddy Bears" by Colleen Goddard 

"I Yam What I Yam!"

More Halloweenery! We're joined by Joey Gallimore, aka Dr. Jose, of cameraviscera.com, to dig up our childhood memories of being afraid of the dark. We talk about things that scared us on television and in the movies, and examine how those fears mutated into a want to make scares of our own and a love for the horror genre

We attempt to process the effects of seeing movies like Alice, Sweet Alice, Cujo, The Brood, Dawn of the Dead at a young age. 

We both agree that the Catholic Church is a scary place and seek solace in the teachings of our patron saints, Chainsaw and Dave.

Visuals

Weirdo stoner puppets reassure Joey that he is, in fact, alive. Joey is not comforted.

Todd is undone by the unblinking autonomatronic terror of Shields and Yarnell.

Extras

Joey writes about the stuff that scared him as a kid.

Peek behind the scenes and defang the scares with Fangoria and Gorezone magazines.

It turns out you can order a Venus Flytrap on Amazon.

On the inaugural episode, we are joined by artist, toy maker, blogger, and fellow nostalgist Tyler Ham to discuss some of our favorite Halloween memories. 

We talk Halloween television, share some of our favorite Halloween decorations, feel a little bad for actor Michael Berryman, remember cheap boxed Halloween costumes, get wistful about Halloween Headquarters in the era before Spirit Halloween superstores, and get embarrassed about dressing up as Batman and The Joker respectively in 1989. Also, try as he might, Tyler can't figure out a way to be headless.

Visuals

Tyler mentions his vintage ceramic ghost light.

Tyler's custom The Thing from Another World Mego style action figure

The Imagineering! documentary.

Extras

Tyler's "Last Halloween" as The Joker.

Todd, the resident weirdo shines in the school's haunted house.

More on Ben Cooper and Collegeville boxed costumes.

Jeff Goldblum in a made for TV version of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.

Disney's 1949 short, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.