This week, we’re discussing new toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching and discussing the second part of the 1994 film, The Crow.
Toymaking stuff first: I have a handful of Logan and Aurora 5 POA Kenner-style action figures that are ready for priming, painting, and final touches:
We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.
Then, we are wrapping up talking about The Crow:
As mentioned in the episode, the score by Graeme Revell provides a haunting backdrop to the film that sets the tone perfectly. You can find both the regular and deluxe editions on Youtube:
Although I believe there was a Crow skin you could download for the game Max Payne (which was very Crow-like in many ways), there were not video games made of the first film. There was one made of the sequel, though. Check out the hilarious AVGN review.
If you want to stay within the world of the first film, checking out the TV series, which is different from the film in some ways, is not a bad way to do it. The first episode is basically a retelling of the film with some adaptations to make the series continue.
Welcome to the second part of the Halloween editions of The Thirteenth Hour podcast! This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching and discussing the first part of the 1994 film, The Crow.
Toymaking stuff first: I have some working prototypes of the Logan and Aurora 5 POA action figures:
Another slightly related thing and a preview of coming attractions (hopefully helpful for this winter) is there will be some Thirteenth Hour masks for kids and adults coming soon:
We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.
Then, we are wrapping up Halloween by starting a two part segment on The Crow:
There is some great free running that happens on the rooftops in this film, as evidenced by this scene.
This is one of my favorite solos of all time and such a great example of how you can use music to convey heartfelt emotions without resorting to verbal exposition. This solo was inspiration for one of the tracks on a upcoming Thirteenth Hour soundtrack, entitled “Mourn of the Midnight Phoenix.”
The score done by Graeme Revell is great. One of my favorite tracks on the score is this one.
The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #34 and Like a Hood Ornament #40: Toymaking Updates, Watching the Rocketeer Cartoon Episode 19, and Reading The Howard the Duck Movie Novelization Part 11
Welcome to the first part of the Halloween editions of The Thirteenth Hour podcast! This week, we’re discussing a few toymaking updates, reading the next section of the Howard the Duck novelization, and watching the Halloween episodes from The Rocketeer cartoon.
Toymaking stuff first: with the spare resin that comes from making other things, I’ve been saving a bit for these little helmets to become (once finished) to Rocketeer helmets for the Lego Rocketeer minifigures to be donated to charity auctions:
There’s always resin left over after a project, so I generally pour it off into another easy to use mold, like this one. Some of those projects:
The Beverly minifgures – still got to clean up the flashing along the seam lines and touch up a bunch of other parts (basically consisting of lots of filing, sanding, etc. edges and other parts, perhaps also strengthening the guitar necks). Then they will be ready for painting (at least the non glow in the dark ones).
Lastly, it’s rough, but I finally have a prototype cast Logan made from flexible Smooth-On Smooth Cast 45 D resin for the limbs and head and Smooth-On Smooth Cast 300 resin for the torso. I might try to make one that is all made of 45 D since I might be able to make it translucent, which would be fun. Now, it’s just a matter of fine tuning the casting process to make sure the limbs can reliably fit inside the torso – which they did on the initial non-cast prototype but somewhere along the lines, something got lost in translation after casting and tolerances that were tight are no longer.
We’re also watching the next episode of the Rocketeer cartoon (number 19) … the Halloween episode! Some screenshots:
You can see Kit’s dressed up like a WW1 pilot for Halloween, making her look just like Cliff in the beginning of the film or in various pages of the comic by Dave Stevens.
We are are reading the next section of the Howard the Duck from the movie novelization.
The author added another humorous aside calling back to our episodes on The Wizard of Loneliness, where “Lord, love a duck” was a frequent utterance.
This week, we are welcoming actress Catherine Mary Stewart to the show!
You may know her from classic films such as Night of the Comet, The Last Starfighter, and Weekend at Bernie’s. Although those are some of my favorite films of all time (and we do touch on aspects of some of those movies in this episode – I mean, how could you not?), I thought it’d be fun to highlight an underrated gem that is hard to find but still very worth your time – 1994’s Samurai Cowboy. Here’s the premise …
The film starts in Japan with Japanese subtitles. We see legions of modern samurai (salarymen and women) commuting in jam-packed Tokyo subways …
Our hero, Yutaka Sato (singer Hiromi Go) and his best friend, Goro (J. Max Kirishima), work and party hard, though the stressful life of a modern business samurai is not what Yukata desires. He longs to be a cowboy in the Wild West. I thought Hiromi Go did a great job in a role that was part serious, part comedic. He also gets to showcase his vocals by singing karaoke at least once as well as “Home on the Range.”
After tragedy makes it hard to stay in Japan, Yutaka decides to emigrate to the US and buys a Montana ranch sight unseen, hoping it will be the Ponderosa of his dreams. Reality, however, is a bit harsher, just like the pile of cow caca that he is about to step in here.
It also doesn’t take long for the small-mindedness of the locals to make itself known (this was filmed at a time of a fair amount of fear/resentment at Japan in the West). Yutaka does start to find non-bigoted allies, though. He teams up with an semi-retired cowboy, Gabe (Robert Conrad of The Wild, Wild West TV show) and an American Indian artist, Jack Eagle Eye (Byron Chief-Moon), he sticks up for soon after getting to town.
It’s hard to capture breathtaking vistas like this on film and have it translate to the feeling of being there, but I thought they did a really nice job on the cinematography. Maybe someone can chime in and correct me, but this landscape looks a lot like Glacier National Park to me. The peak they refer to as the Indian Chief looking a lot like Grinnell Glacier.
One of the non-bigoted locals that Yutaka befriends is a local veterinarian, Dr. Jessie Collins (our guest, Catherine Mary Stewart), who has the enviable job of riding around the country to get to the animals she rounds on. Here she is dispatching a cow who isn’t doing so great while Yutaka slips on the snow since he doesn’t have boots fit for the weather.
What kind of Western would it be without six guns? When Yutaka gets himself some clothes more appropriate for ranching, he spies a gaudy revolver in a case at the front of the store and can’t resist (though actually hitting anything is a different matter).
The beginnings of a romance start to blossom between our samurai cowboy and Jessie. I have to hand it to the filmmakers – it was pretty unusual at the time for Asian males to ever get to be the romantic lead in a Western-made film. The only person I can think of is Brandon Lee, who I talked about on here before. I’m sure there were others, but I’m struggling to come up with ones made in the West at the time that were not martial arts themed films. Of course, Yutaka, being Japanese, naturally has to know martial arts (which, to be fair, he uses to good effect at various points in the film), but stereotypes aside, in some ways it makes sense – he calls his ranch “The Dojo Ranch” since he views it as a place of focus and betterment and given the title, you kind of expect that the guy would be able take care of himself as any modern Samurai should, right?
Yutaka also recruits a black hip hop artist (Bradley Rapier) who gets stranded in town, offering him a job to help out on the Dojo Ranch, thus completing the team.
Together, Yutaka and company take on a corrupt local land developer, Colt Wingate (Matt McCoy) who wants Yutaka’s ranch for his own scorched earth plans. Yutaka ain’t selling, though …
Despite Wingate’s attempt to make life difficult for Yutaka, he and his compatriots decide the best way to go forward is to actually do what Yutaka set out to be – a cowboy … meaning that he and his ranchers need to herd the Dojo Ranch cattle old school-style to a town some distance away to be sold, ensuring Yutaka will have enough money to not default on his ranch loan. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Western if there weren’t a dramatic showdown at the end. The way they handled it, though, I thought was nice.
And it wouldn’t be a Western without a few sunset vistas like this. Breathtaking!
Unfortunately, although I’d highly recommend finding this movie to watch yourself, it’s not the easiest thing to do, even if you go the bootleg path. Thankfully, eBay is your friend in this arena.
If you are unable to find a copy of the film or don’t have a VHS player to play it on, you can still get a sense of what the movie is like with the clips we discussed in the podcast. As mentioned, you can actually watch them as well. Please excuse the video quality, however, since the video is coming courtesy of the Zoom call I recorded, so it won’t be quite as smooth as it were playing in real time. However, you’ll at least have some visuals for the commentary in case you want to watch along with the podcast.
I interspersed the Samurai Cowboymovie clips with a little 6 question quiz we had fun playing that touches on some bits from The Thirteenth Hour and classics like The Last Starfighter and Night of the Comet that Catherine was in. There are a few questions where it helps to have visuals, which you can find them in the compilation below:
If you’re a Patreon member, you’ll find some “extended scenes,” so to speak, in the latest Patreon podcast episode (#10).
Thanks to Catherine Mary Stewart for joining the show! Learn more about her on:
Lastly, since it’s now the month of October, I think I should get on that sequel to The Last Rocketeer I wrote last year mashing up The Last Starfighter and The Rocketeer (two of my favorite things!). The story ends in a very Halloween specific way, so now that Halloween is approaching, I figure that if Cliff Secord from The Rocketeer and Centauri from The Last Starfighter are good, then adding someone who may or may not be Dracula must be better. Is there a way Alex and Maggie from The Last Starfighter can make a cameo, too? Hmm … looking forward to writing it!
This week, I’m joined by musician It’s the Dream Chaser, a classically trained pianist turned retro 80s melodic synthwave artist. We discuss his background, influences, his process of creating his sound, and advice for other musicians. He has an upcoming album called The Great Void Above, which releases on 11/11. We’ll be listening a few tracks from the album today, but before we do, let’s check out his first LP, Infinite Space since there is a narrative that ties the albums together. Here’s the story behind that album:
Inspired by the sound of 80’s synths, the “Dream Chaser” gave birth to “Infinite Space”. A melodic synthwave album that will take you to a journey to places you’ve never been.
In a Galaxy where planets are forced to fight for their freedom, a young time-traveler from the planet Earth will try to overcome and survive the overwhelming force of the “Galactic Federation of the United Systems” alongside a group of rebellious space riders. Where the mysterious presence of an A.I. called “The Unity” could change the way carbon based life beings live.
Here’s a preview of the upcoming album. Like its predecessor, there are a selection of some great melodic tracks here that, at least to me, set it apart from a lot of synthwave, which tends to be atmospheric and ambient in nature. I love the concept album feels of these albums given that there is an actual story behind the music, kind of like the soundtracks to movies or books.
Here’s a bit about the album:
With an 80’s heart, The Dream Chaser delivers a new album filled with melodic, chill and dark sinthwave that pushes the genre to new planets and systems.
Continuing the story of The Dream Chaser, Elara, the space riders and the mysterious “S”, “The Great Void Above” explores the consequences of fighting agains the system of the G.F.U.S. and The Unity.
“The Great Void Above” is the second album of the “4 Nights Saga”.
Many thanks to It’s the Dream Chaser for coming on the show! For Patreon members, look for another preview track with more behind the scenes analysis of the making of the song coming later this week!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
To start, I invite you to take a culinary journey and experience Steakumms. I’d actually never heard of Steakumms prior to seeing the following video (featuring both guests today, I should add):
Check out last week’s episode for more details on the 80s foods we brought for show and, if you’re a Patreon member, the second exclusive podcast episode, which has a guest appearance by Tibetan medical practitioner Ezdean Fassassi (a guest on episode 214) doing a meal critique of a Steakumms meal (listen to a preview below).
Some great art here. There’s a whole Chinese food segment we do based on the scene below …
The whole noodle / worm idea has its issues (as I discuss in the intro), but it’s clearly made its impact. You can find all kinds of imagery around (again, for those of Asian descent who grew up in the US having people say their lunch smelled or looked like worms, it takes on different significance), but I think it was meant as an innocent enough scene.
The deleted scenes get referenced a few times in the podcast. Here are some I found on youtube:
If you look around youtube, you can find elements of the soundtrack and score of the film. Here’s a great example:
And thanks to Adam and Joe this two part episode! Look for an extended feature with both gentlemen in the third Patreon exclusive podcast coming this week.
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m joined by fellow 80s enthusiasts Joe Fangsrud von Esch and Adam Crohn to discuss 80s food as a precursor to a much longer discussion on the 1987 film, The Lost Boys.
To start, I invite you to take a culinary journey and experience Steakumms. I’d actually never heard of Steakumms prior to seeing the following video (featuring both guests today, I should add):
So, we decided to bring a few 80s food staples (as well as candy, of course, this being a Halloween special) to do a little show and tell with y’all prior to discussing the film. There are more details in the show itself, though if you want to see some of what we were eating and learn more about my own inaugural Steakumms experience, you can see more on Patreon. Later this week, there will be a Patreon exclusive podcast episode that goes into the creation of a Steakuums meal, a critique of the meal by Tibetan medical practitioner Ezdean Fassassi (a guest on episode 214), and more.
Alright! Now that we’re fed, let’s get on with the show!
The film … cue the most excellent soundtrack …
These guys are brothers in the film (Corey Haim and Jason Patric)
The vampires – seems like they could be in a glam band … (Fun fact – Laddie, the little guy here (actor Chance Michael Corbitt), was credited as “Newspaper Kid” in The Rocketeer – I guess he must have been the kid that shouts, “Extra, extra, read all about it! Man flies without plane!”)
I mean, check out their costumes – like this coat Star (Jami Gertz) is sporting …
Speaking of Halloween, later this week, join me and others at a virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST (see episode 268). If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved or by clicking on the picture below.
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’d like to welcome screenwriter, actress, and producer Nicole Dubuc to the show. She is the executive producer of the Rocketeer cartoon that came out about a year ago (which, as of 10/16/20, is now also available on Disney+.) She joins the show under another installment of the Like a Hood Ornament Rocketeer segment to discuss the creation of the series, the music, and some of the ideals she and her team brought to the cartoon. It was especially great to see how they were able to take Dave Stevens’ and the 1991 film’s visions of the Rocketeer universe and turn it into something that young children could easily digest and fall in love with (as my kids did).
My own children started watching the show when it came out. We don’t have cable, so I had no idea how to watch the episodes initially but eventually figured out that you could buy the episodes individually on iTunes (and then, ultimately, as a whole season on Amazon). It’s been great to share my favorite movie with the kids in a form they can digest, and as I mentioned here before and on social media, we’ve done a bunch of things from that love of the show, like reading books about airplanes together, making a Halloween costume for my daughter (almost done, more on the first Patreon exclusive episode coming soon), and making little resin figurines. I also have the Rocketeer comics to thank for helping to keep my three-year-old son on the potty long enough to, you know, take care of business.
If you haven’t seen the show, here is a clip of our favorite song, which has all the 80s pop glory of flying to the sound of synths and guitars.
Can you spot the original Rocketeer film/comic Easter Eggs? Here are a few to get you started …
-recreation of the scene in the original comic and film of the Rocketeer saving a pilot in trouble at an airshow
-Butch the bulldog
–Billy Campbell, the original Rocketeer in the 1991 film, who voices the pilot in trouble (the father of Kit, the new Rocketeer).
-gum in a white wrapper (a la Beeman’s) that saves the day
If you don’t have Disney+ or another streaming service with the show, you can, of course, buy episodes or the season individually like I did.
However, you can also watch an episode for free (which has a nice cameo by the original Rocketeer) on Youtube:
Although I wasn’t able to get it to work since I think my phone is too old, there was a Rocketeer game with the same bright color palate the series has that used to be part of the Disney Now app. I’m not sure it’s still available since I wasn’t able to find it this time around, but you can check out the gameplay below. Looks like fun! I hope it gets released to be more widely available!
Thanks, Nicole, for coming on the show! You can find out more about her on Twitter and Instagram.
Look for more Rocketeer cartoon content in future episodes, and if you’re a member of the Thirteenth Hour Arts Patreon group, look for more updates on the costume we’re currently making. Here’s a preview:
As I mentioned last week, I wanted to finish the short story, “The Last Rocketeer” (which tells the story of what might happen if a 71-year-old Cliff from The Rocketeer met up with Centauri from The Last Starfighter) by Halloween since the story ends on Halloween, but also because, when writing it, I wanted to pay homage to the timeline the Rocketeer cartoon established for Cliff and Jenny later in life. Although the IDW comics had stories that went up through World War 2 (and that was with Betty and the Dave Stevens version of the rocketpack), I don’t think there is anything that discussed what life was life for these characters after that. That is, until the cartoon! So, there are some cameos and mentions of Ambrose, Cliff’s son, and Dave, his grandson in “The Last Rocketeer.” Here are a few of the illustrations, mostly done with the kids in daddy day care art time:
By the way, proceeds from the next Thirteenth Hour LP, Once Upon a Dream, will also be donated to the organization Corazon de Vida (see episode 268). If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved. Join me and others at the virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST by clicking on the picture below or here.
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
I first heard of his work on this episode of The Rocketeer Minute with Jim O’Kane and Hal Bryan (who were on episodes 249 and 250) talking, of course, about the Rocketeer but also his graphic novel, What Ever Happened to the World of Tomorrow?, which chronicles America’s journey in the 20th century from a pre-WW2 sense of optimism in the future of less disease, better living through chemistry, jet packs for all, flying cars, and wrist communicators through the Space Race with the USSR to the gradual waning and disillusionment with space exploration in the 80s and beyond.
We also touch on his most recent work, A Fire Story, about the loss of his home in the 2017 California fires (timely especially now given that US West coast residents are again dealing with the same situation). Here’s a frame from his initial version (drawn at the time of the loss as a kind of chronicle of what was happening).
I wanted to finish the short story, “The Last Rocketeer” in time for this episode, since they are tied together serendipitously, as we’ll discuss in the episode. Some of the lost luster of the early part of the 20th century discussed in What Ever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? kind of reminded me of the quietly reluctant hero portrayed by Sam Elliot in The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, and I figured all these forces converging together meant I should proceed with my weird idea of combining The Rocketeer with The Last Starfighter after all. Well, the story’s done, just in time for Halloween, which figures into the end, though I won’t say how. It’s been a fun ride! I hope Cliff has earned some well deserved rest and inner peace. A few of the illustrations, mostly done with the kids in daddy day care art time:
By the way, proceeds from the next Thirteenth Hour LP, Once Upon a Dream, will also be donated to the organization Corazon de Vida (see episode 268). If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved. Join me and others at the virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST by clicking on the picture below or here.
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, there was so much “housekeeping” business to take care of, I made it a whole episode. Here’s the lineup:
-I am just about done the title track, “Once Upon a Dream,” for the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP. I finally figured out what was missing from the backing part. More synth (there’s a surprise). Then it all fit together. It’s odd, in a way, since the beat is fast (120 bpm), but the vocals are actually quite slow, much slower than I anticipated. So there’s an alternating ascending / descending note progression that can be heard in the background (that’s the new part) that helps to bridge the gap between the tempo of the beat and the speed of the vocals. This version can be heard at the end of the episode.
-Speaking of synth, check out the weekly podcast, SR Weekly. Steven, the host, who goes by the alias Synth Redneck, used to host his show on youtube but has since moved it over to an audio only format that is available on major podcasting platforms. If you check out the 9/16/20 episode, you’ll hear The Thirteenth Hour synth orchestra theme as one of the selections in that week’s set. If you’re a synth musician yourself, you can submit your music for consideration to be included in a future episode or just check out the lineup with each episode to discover some great new music.
-By the way, proceeds from the next Thirteenth Hour LP, Once Upon a Dream, will also be donated to the organization Corazon de Vida (see last week’s episode). If you are also interested in helping to support their mission, learn more at https://www.corazondevida.org/get-involved. Join me and others at the virtual event that Corazon de Vida is throwing on 10/29/20 at 7 PM PST by clicking on the picture below or here.
-Speaking of guests, next week’s we’ll be hearing from author and illustrator Brian Fies, of works such as What Ever Happened to the World of Tomorrow? for another installment of the Like a Hood Ornament Rocketeer segment. I hope also to have finished the short story, “The Last Rocketeer” in time for that episode, since they are tied together serendipitously, as we’ll discuss in the episode.
-Speaking of other creative folks, check out frequent podcast guest Adam of ACToyDesign on Patreon for an exclusive podcast all about toys, including a lot of retro 80s content.
-This year, Halloween falls on a Saturday, always a treat when you’re a kid (at least it was that way when I was a kid and you could spend all day out collecting bags a bags of candy – one year, I collected two whole pillowcases). Stay tuned! I’ll try to come up with something special for the end of the month!
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There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
Follow The Thirteenth Hour’s Instagram pages: @the13thhr for your random postings on ninjas, martial arts, archery, flips, breakdancing, fantasy art and and @the13thhr.ost for more 80s music, movies, and songs from The Thirteenth Hour books and soundtrack.
This week, I’m working on the title track from the next Thirteenth Hour soundtrack LP, Once Upon a Dream. I have the keyboard riffs and the lyrics mostly done and am now trying to figure out how they go together. I’ve recorded a bare bones version here with just the vocals and the piano chords, which is how many of these songs start. In the coming week’s, I’ll be refining the skeleton of the song as I figure out how the different riffs work into the song, where the backing beat will come in, how the solo will sound, etc.
In the Like a Hood Ornament segment, I’m talking a bit about how my kids and I have been working on a costume paper mache rocketpack for my daughter for Halloween (she’d like to be Kit Secord from the cartoon, who you can see at the bottom of these images below).
We still have to figure out how to attach straps, and I’m wondering if it might be fun to figure out how to light up the engines and/or attach the little banks of purple LEDs on the bottom that this version of the pack has. Maybe we’ll make an electrical switch wired to the gloves, like in the movie.
Also, the next segment of the fanfic short story, “The Last Rocketeer,” describing a team-up between Centauri from The Last Starfighter and a 71 year-old Cliff Secord who has long since given up being the Rocketeer (but secretly wants one last flight) is up.
There are now Thirteenth Hour toys! If you’d like to pick up one of these glow in the dark figures for yourself, feel free to email me or go to the Etsy store I set up (https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThirteenthHourStudio) and get them there.
If the past few months have got you needing a break, you may want to chill out to this 80s synth throwback track for a upcoming LP with the accompanying music video:
Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.
Stay tuned. Follow along on Spotify! There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.
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I happened to be in the store Party City the other day when I came across this:
Billed as a “Native American Bow and Arrow,” it carried a sticker price of $16.99, which I have to say, seemed kind of steep since it was only Native American by way of China and was mainly intended to be a costume accessory. But looking closer, I saw a few interesting things. Despite a rough finish, the central riser was hardwood, and the limbs were bamboo rather than, say, plastic. The arrows were solid bamboo shafts and were likely way too heavy for this little 40″ bow, but it did get me thinking … what if it could be turned into something more than a costume accessory? Could it serve as a functional, rather than decorative, bow and arrow?
The answer is yes, which I’ll detail below, though, to be honest, unless you can find it cheaper than 17 bucks, you’re better off making a bow out of PVC. You’ll get a better, stronger, and faster bow for much less money. But … where’s the fun in that? And so began another wayward project.
Here’s a picture of the bow taken out of the package:
For some reason, the manufacturers used a clear monofilament line (like a fat fishing line or a string from a classical guitar) for the bowstring. Even more bizarrely, instead of cutting nocks in the ends of the bow, they drilled holes in the distal parts of the limbs and threaded the string through that. Kind of a fail, since doing that weakened the limbs, but, to fair, they were never intended to be very functional anyway. However, for my purposes, it also limited the bow’s draw to less than 20″ (15 or 16″, I think, definitely less than the length of the included arrows, which were 20″ long; at that draw length, it pulled about 10#). So all this needed to be changed.
Here was the bow’s profile unstrung:
Not too different from the strung profile, huh? I heated up the limbs with a heat gun and gradually bent them forwards to reduce the amount of deflex:
I thought about recurving the ends more, but with the holes drilled in the ends, the area would be weaker, so I decided against it. I did cut nocks in the ends, extending the limb length another inch and half or so.
There was a central cutout in the riser with an arrow rest intended for a left handed shooter, but since it neither lined up with string nor reduced the archer’s paradox in any way, I got rid of it and reshaped the handle a little to be more comfortable to hold. Then I wrapped it with the cloth strap that came with the bow and wrapped it with a leather thong:
Here’s the bow strung:
It now draws to about 22″ and pulls about 15#. Not going to win an power or speed awards, for sure, but with these minimal changes and a properly matched set of youth arrows, it could actually serve a starter bow for young hands. I’ll save it for my daughter when she’s big enough to use it. Can anyone else think of ways to modify this Halloween bow?
Speaking of which, Happy Halloween, folks!
Before you go: want a free podcast on the creation of this takedown PVC-fiberglass rod bow? Click the picture above for more details!
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