#movie

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #229: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 4

Episode #229: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 4

https://archive.org/download/podcast229spacecamp4/Podcast%20229%20Spacecamp%204.mp3

This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid.  This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon.  I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades.  The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154).  In this week’s show, the campers have to figure out how to get back home!

Some black and white photos from the book going with this week’s episode:

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Happy new year, people!

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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 you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #228: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 3

Episode #228: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 3

https://archive.org/download/podcast228spacecamp3/Podcast%20228%20Spacecamp%203.mp3

This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid.  This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon.  I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades.  The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154).  In this week’s show, the campers get launched into space!  Check out the lack and white photos from the film up to this point in the story:

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To be continued next week!  Happy holidays, people!

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

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 you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #227: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 2

Episode #227: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 2

https://archive.org/download/podcast227_201912/Podcast%20227.mp3

This week, I’m continuing reading a few more chapters of the novelization of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid.  This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon.  I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades.  The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154).  In this week’s show, there are a few unrealistic training sequences that definitely were not in the actual Spacecamp!  (But they’re still fun to think about).

Image result for spacecamp movie

I gotta say, if you’re going to make a logo, this is how you do it.

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

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 you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #226: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 1

Episode #226: Reading the Novelization of the 1986 Film, Spacecamp, Part 1

https://archive.org/download/podcast226_201912/Podcast%20226.mp3

This week, I’m taking a break from song writing to read from a book I haven’t looked at in years – one of the two novelizations I own of the movie Spacecamp, one of my favorite movies as a kid.  This one is aimed at slightly older readers and is written by Joe Claro – every now and then, you can find one used on eBay or Amazon.  I’m curious to see how the novelization fares after a few decades.  The last time I rewatched the film, I still remember quite liking it (posted my reflections here back on episode 154).  It’s interesting, nonetheless, to think how the film might have done had it come out a few years earlier (or maybe a few years later), since regardless of the ’86 Challenger explosion, it inspired a whole generation of kids who saw it and became interested in science, aviation, and/or space exploration.  To be con’t next week!

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

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 you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #221: A Conversation with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick on Ong Bak

Episode #221: A Conversation with Jeremy Lesniak from Whistlekick on Ong Bak

https://archive.org/download/podcast221final/Podcast%20221%20final.mp3

This week’s episode was done in collaboration with Jeremy Lesniak, the founder and host of whistlekick, a martial arts supply company and a biweekly martial podcast.  Today, we’re talking about the 2003 Thai film, Ong Bak.

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I remember being really excited when this film was just coming out, since my friends and I were heavily into martial arts, bboying, and gymnastics (basically, what would later be called tricking).  Here was a film right up our alley.  Given this was an era a few years prior to Youtube, someone scrounged up a trailer with a compilation of stunts from the film, and passed it around, and we watching it over and over.  Although you can watch the full clip on IGTV, I’ve isolated a few clips from a chase scene in the film below:

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I found a few training sequences on Youtube showing Tony Jaa and the stuntmen practicing the street chase scene – incredible!

In case you missed the last time Jeremy and I did a movie episode, check out episode 210, where we were talking about the 1978 Shaw Brothers classic, The 36 Chambers of Shaolin.  As a way of tying these two episodes together, here’s an old clip of bboys Crumbs and Remind (Style Elements Crew) in what I used to call “Shaoling with Style,” graciously found and uploaded by a kind soul:

Is there a movie you’d like to see discussed here!  Let us know!

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9c855cfe-2bcf-4f9b-9681-898d80b49e9a

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 you haven’t checked out “Arcade Days,” the song and video Jeff Finley, Brent Simon, and I finished last winter, click on the link below to do so!

You can find more pictures and preview clips of “Arcade Days” on IG as well as this podcast’s FB page.

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞

The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #207: “Empty Hands” Behind the Scenes Part 3

Episode #207: “Empty Hands” Behind the Scenes Part 3

https://archive.org/download/podcast207_201907/Podcast%20207.mp3

This week, we’re discussing “Empty Hands” behind the scenes, specifically the 80s references, like films and cartoon shows (see some photos below) that influenced the writing of the novella.  There definitely was a fair amount of emphasis on working together as a team that featured in a lot of 80s children’s programing, (which I wanted to give a nod to).
Though I didn’t specifically focus on it, I also thought it be important to feature a variety of ethnic backgrounds for the characters in the story.  All you see is a variety of skin tones in the pictures as well as hints that the main characters are from various parts of the world, but although there was the start of getting more diverse faces out there in those 80s shows and movies, fantasy in general tends to have a more European look and feel – but why does it have to be that way?
and now we are one IG
Shows like GI Joe, Captain Planet, Voltron, and WMAC Masters all tended to not only work the teamwork idea (sometimes into the ground) but featured characters with unique looks, backgrounds, and talents that were important for the whole:

Some influential films:

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In the meantime, this page formerly had what I affectionately dubbed a “starving artist” section on little side hustles you could do (mostly on the internet, often with a phone) to make a few bucks here and there, often in gift cards.  Well, now you can listen to this show (as well as other podcasts) and get paid to do so!  Check out https://www.podcoin.com/ to listen to the show and start earning points that you can redeem for gift cards (Amazon, Target, Starbucks, etc) or donations to a number of charities.  Use the code “Thirteen” when you sign up to get 300 extra points.  The Thirteen Hour Podcast is now on BONUS this week, so you can earn more than normal (1.5x).

 

Empty Hands, the synth EP soundtrack to the novella, Empty Hands, is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

empty hands ep cover_edited-2.jpg

Follow along on Spotify!  There is also a growing extended Thirteenth Hour playlist on Spotify with a growing number of retro 80s songs.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #147: Making The Terminator Theme Part 2

Episode #147: Making The Terminator Theme Part 2

https://archive.org/download/Podcast147_201806/Podcast%20147.mp3

This week, we have one simple goal – adding a guitar parrt to the Terminator theme we started last week.  I experimented with a few different electric guitar effects, and in the end chose two – a quiet one with an echo and one with distortion.  Both are included in the podcast (in that order) – see which you like best!

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Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube.   This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

between 2 worlds EP cover 2

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #146: Making The Terminator Theme Part 1

Episode #146: Making The Terminator Theme Part 1

https://archive.org/download/Podcast146_201805/Podcast%20146.mp3

To piggyback off the last few weeks talking about 80s memories, this week (and probably next), we’ll be making a version of Brad Fiedel’s Terminator theme.  Here’s three version of the main theme – the one from the first film, a slower piano version from the first film, and slow synth string version from T2 – a great example of how a central score can be voiced in different ways to fit different scenes.

I’m actually not sure which key the score is done in since I don’t usually use sheet music, but the version I figured out is in the key of Eb, I think.  I’m not sure I’m using the same syncopated chunking drum beat that the movie theme uses, but the version I’m using in this track uses a low synth bass sound that I originally figured out by hitting a toy hand drum my son was playing with.  Next week, I’ll try to add an electric guitar overlay.  I can’t recall if there are official guitar versions of the theme, but I always thought it’d sound great electrified like that.  Stay tuned for that coming next week!

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Between Two Worlds, the synth EP follow up to Long Ago Not So Far Away is now out for streaming on Bandcamp.  

The bonus track, called “Flight of the Cloudrider” has a 80s movie mashup music video (see if you can identify all the movies!) which is available on youtube.   This app was largely created with the iphone app Auxy.

between 2 worlds EP cover 2

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.

Check it out!

As always, thanks for listening!

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The Thirteenth Hour Podcast #53: Rocketeer Reflections

Episode #53: Reflections on Rewatching The Rocketeer and How it Influenced The Thirteenth Hour 

https://archive.org/download/13thHrEps16On/Podcast%2053.mp3

I recently rewatched the 1991 film, The Rocketeer, one of my favorite films from childhood, if not my all-time favorite.  It encapsulated just about everything a kid could hope for – airplanes, jet packs, shootouts between gangsters and Nazi storm troopers – not to mention a great cast of characters with a plucky heroine and a dashing hero that was just enough of an Everyman to be easily relatable.  Sometimes, movies that seemed great as a kid don’t always make for great films for adults.  So although I owned the DVD of The Rocketeer and have rewatched bits through the years, I was always a bit hesitant about watching the film start-to-finish again, I guess out of fear that it would inevitably fall from grace after years had tarnished the nostalgia factor.

Nope.

I’m glad to say that didn’t happen.  Not only did I watch the whole thing, I was glued to my seat and daresay I enjoyed the movie more than I did when I was a kid.

In many ways, it was ahead of its time.  Superhero movies weren’t really as big at the time as they were now, and in this age of global terrorism, it is comforting to think that heroes exists in our midst that can stand tall when they’re needed.  And in many ways, that’s what the Rocketeer (a.k.a. pilot Cliff Secord) was – just an ordinary guy who, though a mixture of good/bad luck (depending on how you look at it) and the serendipity of circumstance, becomes a reluctant hero in an uncertain age (at the dawn of WWII).   Part of me suspects that the original creator of The Rocketeer comics, illustrator Dave Stevens, created Cliff with exactly that I mind – not so much a hero chosen to have superpowers but an average citizen who ends up in the role and has to balance using his rocket pack for the greater good (fighting crime/Nazis, saving innocent people) vs. his own personal agenda (making money, impressing his girlfriend).

While I was watching the film this time, I was struck by how many similarities there are between Cliff Secord and Logan, the protagonist of The Thirteenth Hour. In many ways, it’s not surprising, since The Rocketeer was one of my favorite movies all throughout high school, and The Thirteenth Hour was written the summer after I graduated.  Both have a boyish, child like sense of gee-whiz! wonder about them.  While both are, at heart, good people doing their best, both are getting by on a lot more than special abilities and natural talents.  They’re carried along as much by a combination of pluck, luck, help from others, and just, plain old bumbling incompetence that favors the optimistic, idealistic, and brave … the very image of characters that are holding it together not because they are super prepared or organized but with a combination of chewing gum, spit, and twine.  (In fact, Cliff’s rocketpack is held together by chewing gum at one point.)

So, it’s not surprising that there are some parallels, both in character and appearance.  Here are a few of the latter:

-I think ones of the reasons I drew Logan with the haircut he has was largely due to an the unconscious influence of Dave Stevens.

Logan pushupsWM

This is one of the tamer pictures of Cliff Secord’s do out there.  He usually is a bit more disheveled:

-Cliff also worn a leather button-up jacket that, while looking a real pain to put on and take off, sure looks cool).  I gave the Imperial Rangers in The Thirteenth Hour tunics with a similar aesthetic, though I didn’t opt for the buttons.

logan kick rockWM

-And then, of course, both characters can fly owning to special machines.  Logan’s flying machine, Lightning, is talked about in episode #45.

I'll Fly Away Flying IG_1

I recently found a little replica of the hoverboard from Back to the Future 2 in a thrift store – that made my day.

If you’re interested in learning more about real-life attempts to create rocketpacks, you can check out the book Jetpack Dreams (an excerpt on The Rocketeer is below):

You can also read more in this magazine article:

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More on the Rocketeer in the future!  Listen for the clip from the soundtrack by James Horner on the podcast as well as more postings on social media.

There are many excellent depictions of the Rocketeer since Dave Stevens’ passing.  This is a fine example by Alexey Mordovets.

As always, thanks for listening!

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