Thursday, April 28, 2016

The Podcast This Year


Just in case you missed it (which is possible since I haven't been posting anything about it here), the podcast for this year has been going really well. Here's what you might not have heard:

In January I finally was able to post an episode that was almost a year ion the making. No, it didn't take that long to record, it took that long to schedule. I'm really happy with how it came out, though, and I think that it was worth the wait. Andy Leyland (of Hey Kids, Comics!, The Palace of Glitter Delights, and Listen to the Prophets) was nice enough to come on and talk to me about The Fall Guy, the forgotten Lee Majors show. This is something I loved growing up and I think we covered just about every aspect of the show.

You can listen to it here: http://twotruefreaks.com/media/podcasts/TheHammerPodcasts/mp3/THP-Episode017.mp3


In February I started my year long look at Generational Stories. (OK, it won't be the whole year, as I have other stuff planned, but it's a theme to go with.) This time I was joined by Luke Jaconetti (of Earth Destruction Directive and The Vault of Startling Monster Horror Tales of Terror) to discuss The King Arthur Movie, Excalibur! No, it's not a one for one reproduction of Le Morte D'Arthur, but it's as close as we're ever going to get. Plus, you can't go wrong with Nicol Williamson as Merlin, metal skull cap and all.

This one you can listen to here: http://twotruefreaks.com/media/podcasts/TheHammerPodcasts/mp3/THP-Episode018.mp3


In March I was lucky enough to have Michael Bailey (of too many podcasts to really list) on and we talked about John Byrne's Superman & Batman: Generations. We went so in depth on this one that I had to split it up into two shows!

You can listen to Part 1 here: http://twotruefreaks.com/media/podcasts/TheHammerPodcasts/mp3/THP-Episode019.mp3

And Part 2 here: http://twotruefreaks.com/media/podcasts/TheHammerPodcasts/mp3/THP-Episode020.mp3


This month I had the coup of being the first podcaster to have on Darrin & Ruth Sutherland (from Trekker Talk and Warlord Worlds) to review the Gil Gerard series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century. All of us were lucky enough to have met Gil Gerard & Erin Grey in person, so stories were swapped, but we also broke down the show. Heck, I even came up with an improvement on the second season that probably would have satisfied all parties. If only I can get a time machine to go back 36 years, I could have saved the show. (Because that's the best thing I could do with a time machine, right?)

This one can be heard here: http://twotruefreaks.com/media/podcasts/TheHammerPodcasts/mp3/LegendsBuckRogers.mp3





I've already got May's episode recorded and ready to go, and I've got more of the rest of the year in the works. You know, this planning ahead thing might have something to it.

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Thursday, April 21, 2016

Another Race, Another Time

L to R: Rob as Hacksaw Jim Duggan, Me as Macho Man Randy Savage, Kira as Wonder Woman, Frank as The Brooklyn Brawler, Adam as Nature Boy Ric Flair
This past weekend, my friends and I participated in The Totally Awesome 80's Run in Somers Point, NJ. As we are what you might call "non-traditional" runners, we didn't get any medals. However, I think we did really well. As a team (Team Hulkamanicas, that is) we came in 2nd in the Team Competition (beat out by Team Pac-Man) and I won the "Best Dressed Man" competition. That second one was partly because I was the only one gutsy enough to take part.
Yes, I lost to a little girl. Wanna make something of it?

The best part, to me anyway, came a couple of days later. You see, I got my run time e-mailed to me within minutes of my finishing (ain't technology grand?) and that was 31:58. Not bad, right? Well, I didn't look at my previous race time, from The Rocky Run, until Monday. That time was 33:14, also for a 5K race. So I improved by 1:16 in 6 months! Wow!

We're all looking to do more themed runs in the coming year, so if you know of any in the South Jersey area, please let me know. As you can see from the picture, we have no shame, so pretty much anything goes.

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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes

Thursday, April 14, 2016

The New Paul Harvey

One of the most distinct memories that I have of growing up is my father getting ready for work in the afternoon (he worked nights as a driver for UPS) and listening to the radio. He would go about shaving and getting dressed all while the radio played, but it wasn't music. No, the show that I remember hearing as a little kid was that of Paul Harvey as he told us "The Rest of the Story." These stories fascinated me, as much for the way that Harvey told the story as for the content, which always kept you guessing as to what was really going on.

Now I have discovered a new show, a podcast really, that does the exact same thing. Mike Rowe, host of "Dirty Jobs" and "Somebody's Gotta Do It", as well as the voice of numerous other shows, such as "Deadliest Catch", has a podcast. The show, called "The Way I Heard It", gives you stories for "the curious mind with a short attention span" and is really quite good.

The episodes are short, all under 10 minutes, and give you stories about people that you already know, but you don't know who they are until the end. It's really enjoyable and gives me the same sense of fascination that I had all those years ago listening to Paul Harvey. Try it out and see what you think.

Good Day.

BTW, this is my 200th post. Not bad for something I started on a lark.

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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes

Thursday, April 7, 2016

Ripley's Believe It or Not!


One of the great things about the time we live in is that I can look up episodes of an old TV show that I used to watch, and probably find them. One such show, which was a staple in our house growing up, is "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" hosted by the great Jack Palance. This was my first exposure to the actor and his showmanship and obvious love of this show was just magnetic. 

For those of you that have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about, here's a episode from the 1985 season starring Palance as well as his daughter Holly. There are other episodes on YouTube and our family is slowly working our way through them. To my knowledge, this show has never been collected on DVD, but please let me know if I'm wrong.

Be warned, though. If you happen to be reading a book that has no obvious narrator voice (like the current one I'm reading on the history of William Marshal), you might just find that it will be narrated by Jack Palance after watching an episode or 2. Believe it, or not.




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Like what I'm doing here on the blog and podcast? Why not check out my Patreon Page to see how you can help me do more? http://www.patreon.com/TheHammerStrikes