Join me on Reviewtopia Talks

Hey, come and join me this Tuesday (9-25) at 9pm on Reviewtopia Talks!

We'll be talking about retro cartoons, TV shows, movies, and whatever else comes up. Call in, write in, ask questions. It's like a Public Access show of the Internet Age.

I'll be in my alter ego Anthony Sotelo, so I better start dyeing my hair black.

Pick of the Now: Dana Falconberry

Sweet, precious, and kinda eerie. That's how I describe singer-songwriter Dana Falconberry. If you know me (and chances are you just stumbled across this post while aimlessly Google searching and have no idea who the hell I am) then you'll know that I am a sucker for distinctive voices backed by folksy/bluesy/punky music (ex. Gogol Bordello, Amanda Palmer). Falconberry really drives a ghostly, lighthearted melody. Here's a song called "Birch Bark" which I found on the Annie Street Arts Collective recording.


I'd say she sounds like if the Ditty Bops died and returned as phantasms.

 

I'd put her under the same shoe-gazer umbrella that hovers above Lower Dens or former "Pick of the Now" recipient Sharon Van Etten. Now here's a song featuring back-up from that most versatile of instruments: an aluminum can.

 

Stylin' Music Vest

Another great find from those Raconteurs at Network Awesome. Circa 1985, the Music Vest allowed you to listen to music emitted from your awful tin-foil vest. I LOVE the fisherman dude. He is the coolest MF'er on the planet.

"Impure Moods" Outtakes

Outtakes from the "Impure Moods" episode. I still want to visit the Dinosaur Company.

ML: Impure Moods

On this episode of Memory Lane, I meet the 90s coffeehouse chick Savannah who is giving away a copy of the popular New Age album "Pure Moods." (As seen on TV!) Together, we riff this thing apart.

Watch IMPURE MOODS.

This is the first episode I've ever done with another person and I must say it is more fun to have someone to bounce dialogue off of. And yes, Savannah will return in future episodes. She has other nostalgic relics I can plunder.

Galaxy Laser Team

The very fun Secret Fun Spot Blog has an entry about a very unusual gumball-machine toy line called the Galaxy Laser Team. From the looks of it, the team of space people live amongst the STARS and are locked in some kind of WAR against an evil EMPIRE that is STRIKING BACK... I think it's a rip-off of Flash (AHHHHHAH!) Gordon.

Yes, these were the kinds of toys your could get out of gumball machines in those little plastic bubbles, or you could find them in sets at the grocery store, dangling from hooks like irresistible impulse items. From the picture above, I can see Hans Duo and Chuey, Garth Wader, Radiator D2, ...some chick, and Gamora Jr. But what really catches my eyes are the two normal space men. They're not sci-fi or fantasy... they're just a couple astronauts in way over their heads. In fact, I'd like to think that this is what happened to Poole and Bowman at the end of 2001: they got sucked into a cheesy sci-fi flick where laser-wielding apes do battle with Magneto who proudly displays his vibrator while a crab-turtle monster surrenders. And why does the woman come with a blood-pressure monitor? Is she the medic? Is hypertension the biggest problem in the future?

Check out Secret Fun Blog for more and also see panels from the very interesting comic that either spawned these toys or spawned from these toys.

Top 10 Inadverntent Nightmare Stuff

Straight from the depths of your nightmares, it's The Top 10 Inadvertent Nightmare Stuff.

This time around, I count down a list of scary things that aren't scary that are scary. Things that caused me nightmares for no discernible reason. Presented as a top 10 list! I know how we all love things in a list format.

With special guest The Horror Guru of Blood Splattered Cinema!