The Catgirl Critics’ Media Mewsings for May, 2008
May 1, 2008 by jamiecotcEarlier, along the riverwalk on the way to today’s show at the Catgirl Island Center for Purrforming Arts…
Mike:
Not much further. Okay here’s one-
Lightning Round #1: our favorite Charlton Heston movies
Lizzy goes first!
Elizabeth:
Oh gosh… ah… Ben Hur… The Ten Commandments, and… Planet of the Apes! (tags Jeannie)
Mary Nyan:
Which version of Apes?
Elizabeth:
The first one.
Jeannie:
I’ll also pick Ben Hur and Ten Commandments, and The Agony and the Ecstasy. (tags Mary Nyan)
Mary Nyan:
Oh that’s easy- Planet of the Apes- the original one, The Omega Man and Soylent Green!
Elizabeth:
It’s not just for breakfast any more!
Yvonne:
Now I’m hungry nya!
Mary Nyan:
(tags Yvonne) Tag- your turn!
Yvonne:
Purr-obably Planet of the Apes, and the Musketeers movies, nya! Mike’s turn, Mike’s turn, nya!
Mike:
Definitely Planet of the Apes- the original version; Ten Commandments, and I really like 55 Days at Peking!
Jeannie:
Heston was very important, not just as a legendary thespian, but as a veteran of World War Two and a social activist.
Mary Nyan:
Hai, Well here we are- this place sure is big!
Elizabeth:
I haven’t been in here since they finished the new section.
Jeannie:
The proscenium arch is the biggest in the Carolinas. I want to climb to the catwalk.
Mike:
Hey, we could do the Purple Gorilla skit on th-
(all four catgirls in unison, with glaring tails, pointy kitty fangs and sternly perked ears)
OH NO!
Mike:
Just kidding!
Yvonne:
We’d better go in and purr-pare for the show- where do we change at, nya?
Mary Nyan:
I will need help with my kimono!
Mike:
In the Dogwood Dressing Rooms- follow me!
(and now –)
Aloha Y’all! Catgirl Island www.catgirlisland.net & Clan of the Cats www.clanofthecats.com purr-sent a Mike Moon purr-duction of
The Catgirl Critics’ Media Mewsings for May, 2008
Mike (the catgirls’ purr-ducer):
(black tie) Welcome back! We’re starting this special show from the Catgirl Island Center for Purr-forming Arts newly renovated Anthurium Atrium, under the new beautiful glass dome amidst the gorgeous Spring foliage… and speaking of pretty sights,
here are the ladies of The Mew-
Elizabeth:
(Lizzy’s a lovely looking lass in a little black cocktail dress) Hi Hi!
Jeannie:
(quite cutely clad the catgirl in a crimson qipao) Nihao!
Mary Nyan:
(captivatingly clothed in a colorful kimono) Konnitiwa!
Yvonne:
(certainly such a sexy saree she’s wearing) Nameste, nya!
Elizabeth:
Ooh I like what they have done with this place!
Jeannie:
It is quite nice!
Mary Nyan:
These cascading falls use purr-ified recycled water!
Yvonne:
(cannot resist pawing at the palm fronds)
Oooooh Fashion / We are the Moon squad and we’re…
Elizabeth:
That saree color looks good on you, Vonny!
Yvonne:
it’s a champaign chiffon, nya! Your cocktail dress is nice, nya!
Elizabeth:
Thanks Von!
Jeannie:
The neckline plunges down quite far!
Elizabeth:
Yes, but fortunately I have fashion tape to keep everything in place!
Jeannie:
The saree sequins look nice against the embroidered blouse, Vonny.
Yvonne:
Thanks nya! I like your Chinese dress too- the floral pattern is very festive, nya!
Mary Nyan:
Is that a quipao or a cheongsam?
Jeannie:
I have heard it called both, but the sales clerk told me that purrticular style is a halter-neck quipao. It is short so my tail is not confined.
(swishes her tail)
Mary Nyan:
Purr-haps i should have worn something simpler like that- Lizzy had to help me put all this on It is a bit tail-confining though!
Elizabeth:
Yes but you look gorgeous, hon!
Jeannie:
That kimono has many layers- you must be hot!
Yvonne:
Mi-ike… does that white dinner jacket reverse out into a black wetsuit?
Mike:
No…
Jeannie:
A Neoprene lining would be rather warm.
Mary Nyan:
But it’d sure look cool!
Mike:
(ahem) Well we’re not puttin’ on the ritz for a fashion show or to blow up an underwater crime league, but for our-
Our Giant Size 1st Anniversary Show and Mewsic Special!
(all four happy catgirls in unison)
YAY!
Elizabeth:
Wow, a whole year already! How will we commemorate this?
Jeannie:
There should be cake.
Yvonne:
Cakey cake, nya!
Mary Nyan:
(Looks at Mike, waiting)
Mike:
Tonight after this special edition we and our guests will get a special luau dinner at The Kitt Inn!
(all four voracious catgirls in unison)
YAY!
Mary Nyan:
I’m gonna hula!
Mike:
OK let’s get started with The Mew? Lizzy, care to go first?
Elizabeth:
Hai! This month’s edition will be a bit different and twice as big, as we are conduct more interviews, with various folks regarding their mewsical purr-fession or hobby, so this is our most extensive interview session yet!
Jeannie:
We had so much fun with purr-evious interviews that we wanted to do it again, but next month we’ll be back to the mewsual format of reviews, recommendations and discussions of recent science fiction, fantasy & horror movies, TV, comics, books, toys & games!
Mary Nyan:
Vonny will be interviewing Phil Lee on his purr-ticipation in Triangle area fandom, writing mewsicals for Animazement, and work in college radio! Later in the show she’ll be chatting with Jeff Branch about J-Pop and his huge web site Pink Lady America!
Yvonne:
JenJen’s gonna be interviewing the trio Three Quarter Ale, nya!
Jeannie:
Lizzy will be out back in the outdoor Azalea Ampitheater interviewing guest Jamie Robertson on his mewsical interests and how that brings inspurr-ation to his own artistry and Clan of the Cats!
Elizabeth:
- and we’ll be going to Myayr, who’ll be discussing Klingon culture & Karaoke with Capt. Keela sutai-Septaric, and later talking to Lisa Kyle about her own exciting mewsical career!
Mike
Our guests are waiting in the Rose Room, so let me see if they are ready while you catgirls head to your respective locations! Vonny- you’re on next!
(all four determined catgirls in unison)
Hai!
(Soon, Vonny & first guest Phil are in the Center’s Amaryllis Auditorium sipping nummy drinks, moments away from the next segment. While Vonny adjusts her microphone, Phil is looping a yo-yo)
Mike:
Vonny, you ready?
Yvonne:
Hai!
photo courtesy of Phil
Philharmonic: Yvonne’s Interview with Phil Lee
Yvonne:
I’m in the Amaryllis Auditorium here at the Catgirl island Center for Purrformign Arts to interview special guest Phil Lee http://ibiblio.org/phil/ , nya!His involvement in North Carolina’s Triangle area fandom is quite extensive, known to generate a wonderful ambience of fun & enthusiasm, nya. He’s been a longtime member and officer of UNC’s friendly anime club Carolina Otaku UPrising
http://www.unc.edu/coup/ At North Carolina’s ever-growing anime convention Animazement http://www.animazement.org/ he’s helped run the dance, mewsic video contest, and continues to direct the event known as Anime Hell http://www.animehell.org/ and has written three mewsical purrductions at Animazement, nya! Surprisingly, the Tarheel volunteers down the road at rival Duke University, in Durham where he is the Training Director for WXDU 88.7 FM http://www.wxdu.org/, nya! Welcome to Catgirl Island, Phil, nya!
(Starts to paw at the string on Phil’s yo-yo, but then tries to act more purrfessional)
Phil:
Howdy! Pleased to meet you! (Casually finishes looping the loop and sets the yo-yo aside.)
Yvonne:
So you were a staff member of TAAS, officer of COUP, staff member of KatsuCon, con manager of Chimera Con, and run Anime Hell at Animazement- did I miss a spot, nya?
Phil:
I think you’ve covered just about everything in terms of my involvement with local and regional fandom, with a couple of minor corrections. I was never a staff member of TAAS per se, I just hung out with the staff during several periods of the club’s history. Also, my title at Animazement is currently Entertainment Coordinator, so my involvement there goes beyond Anime Hell.
Yvonne:
Chimera was about science fiction in general, whereas TAAS and Animazement were anime specific… how would you otherwise compare n contrast ‘em, nya?
Phil:
Aside from the more specialized focus of the anime clubs and conventions, they’re not very different from traditional science fiction fandom. Like Chimera, TAAS and COUP both have regular weekly meetings and attract a very similar crowd - folks who enjoy anime and video games, but who almost certainly also enjoy reading science fiction and fantasy, playing role-playing games, and participating in all the sorts of activities that has been the purview of traditional fandom. The excuse to get together and hang out is anime.
Meanwhile, Animazement is structured very like a traditional SF convention. We sell memberships rather than tickets, as we encourage our attendees to be involved with the convention beyond mere spectating, with panels for members to particpate in and many fans running events themselves. Several events are straight out of a traditional convention (the costume contest, for example) and even things that are more anime oriented (such as the anime music video contest) would be right at home at a media fandom convention.
Yvonne:
COUP seemed complex in that it spun off other fun sub-groups such as GLOCK- could you describe those?
Phil:
This all started as a gag when my friend Tamar Pandi and I came up with the idea of the UNC Kendo Club as an excuse to take our bokken (wooden Japanese practice swords) and tote them around campus. This was mostly just an in-joke, but one that we introduced to the then new Carolina Otaku Uprising. This resulted in COUP stalwart David Smith and myself waving our bokken around enthusiastically during our favorite opening sequences and such.
However, what really got sub-groups going was a showing COUP had of the first Gall Force movie. Parts of Gall Force are more than a bit gratuitous and the women in the club were not impressed, at which point I suggested that they organize a showing of shounen ai material in retaliation. This idea was seized upon by Jennifer Thomas, who wrote up a manifesto in favor of equal time for pretty boys in love, earning her the title of The Great Tyrant, leader of GLOCK, which went on to have regular meetings for many years. As I recall, I helped contribute to the name - Gorgeous Ladies of COUP, as in the old wrestling franchise - with the K for “Kenshen chapter” being added to help make the acronym suitably militant.
The most prominant COUP sub-group was formed somewhat later when some of the club gamers formed the Carolina Otaku Role-Playing Society of Evil (or CORPSE) as a mailing list to organize role-playing groups. This expanded when someone had the idea for a board game night, which quickly became the main focus of the group and grew to have nearly as many attendees each week as COUP itself. Game Night still happens every Saturday in the UNC Student Union from around 8pm until the wee hours. You can learn more at http:/www.unc.edu/phil/corpse if you’re so inclined.
Yvonne:
Both are anime cons in the south, but how does Katsucon’ flavor taste different from Animazement’s, as nya?
Phil:
As I haven’t been to Katsucon since Katsucon 3 and they’re now up to Katsucon 14, I can’t really comment on the differences between it and Animazement. That said, a quick peak at their website tells me that they’re certainly larger with 6,300 attendees in 2008 compared to the 4,500 that attended Animazement in 2007, and that Animazement has a much greater emphasis on Japanese guests.
Yvonne:
Animazement definitely has much in way of mewsic programming, nya… taiko drummers, seiyou guests, J-pop discussions, mewsic videos, late night dances, Anime Hell, and three mewsicals.
You’ve purrsonally helped to orchestrate the latter four- could you expound upon those please, nya?
Phil:
Sure thing. My original position with Animazement was the cosplay coordinator which quickly expanded into the role of a general entertainment chair. This lead to my taking on responsibility for many major events, including the anime music video contest, karaoke, Anime Hell, and even the dance. I found myself running these events in much the same way I got involved with cosplay originally - I was the Animazement staffer with the most interest in them. I wound up in charge of cosplay by the simple fact that I had actually participated in the costume contest at conventions before and was the defacto expert. When we needed someone to take over the Anime Music Video contest, I volunteered for the gig as I had been keeping up somewhat with the AMV scene. After running it for the first few years, Dave Merrill, creator of the Anime Hell concept, was unable to attend Animazement one year and, as I had copies of much of the Hell footage obtained from Merrill already (as well as some secret Hell weapons of my own), I jumped in and wound up taking over the event from that point on. And so on and so forth.
Yvonne:
The anime mewsic video contest draws a huge audience, nya. Could you discuss how those are submitted, screened and judged?
Phil:
In the early days of Animazement, all videos submitted had to be sent in on a video tape, where they would then be copied over onto a master tape to be shown at the contest itself. This was a pain in the butt for all involved, but was the way of things for many years. Today, we live in a more enlightened age of digital video distribution via the internet, so virtually all the entries we receive are simply uploaded to a website. Then the heroic William Bloodworth, our current AMV contest coodinator, makes sure all the videos work and strings them together with titles into a single file. He hooks his laptop up to the projector system in the main events room at the convention itself, hits play, and, voila! Instant contest. Well, reasonably instant. As we recieve far more videos than we can actually show, William chooses the best videos to be shown during the actual contest, with later screenings to feature the other videos that were submitted.
Animazement has always relied on a panel of (somewhat) expert judges to determine the contest winners. They’ll watch the videos during the contest, then retreat to a room to review the videos and discuss their favorites. In the past we gave out three ranked prizes (which got cash money) plus three honorable mentions (who had to make do with a certificate) but William recently moved towards a non-ranked system where videos the judges are impressed with are given names (i.e. Best Catgirl Video) and a prize without having to worry about ranking the videos. The winners are then shown during the costume contest judging.
Yvonne:
What are some of your all time favorite anime mewsic videos, nya?
Phil:
Alas, a lot of AMVs I was first exposed to just aren’t available online to show off. However, a couple of later well-known favorites include “Failed Experiments in Video Editing” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0B3eysqpMA, a parody of the AMV creation process and the delightfully tasteless Pokemon video set to “Bitches” by Mindless Self Indulgence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOyb-fqnN28. I was also introduced to some terrific videos at Animazement, such as the Hello Kitty “Mortal Kombat” video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFBHPbEtfqA, the Bubblegum Crisis parody “The K-Team” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mJcL2×7OWrs, and, perhaps my favorite AMV of all, the Avalanches song “Frontier Psychiatrist” set to Black Heaven http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/frontier-psychiatrist-black-heaven.mpeg It’s structured similarly to the song’s original music video and really captures the absurdist joy of it all.
Yvonne:
Mine are Miyazaki’s On Your Mark, Daft Punk’s One More Time, and Daicon’s bunny girl videos- whatcha think of those, nya?
Phil:
While I wouldn’t consider those to be AMVs per se, they are great examples of professionally made music videos with original animation. I adore the Daicon III and IV videos and the other two are top notch. Other favorites in that category include the “Jesus Christ Love For You” video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHf1lmJT0Pofrom the shounen ai video compilation Bronze Cathexis (which I like more than I probably should thanks to the incongruous title and the inexplicable beep about a minute and a half in), Doping Panda and M-Flo’s “She Loves The Cream” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3lGKBSAp7I and especially the classic X Squared video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP5bgl4fzeA, a short pilot animation for the CLAMP manga series X with music by the speed metal band X-Japan. Alas, that video turned out to be signficantly better than either the X movie or TV series.
Yvonne:
Have you ever made your own mewsic videos, nya?
Phil:
No, though I came close. While I didn’t have the experience or equipment to edit a video myself, I did try working with someone else to edit the soundtrack of the old Looney Tunes classic “The Rabbit of Seville” to the X movie. Alas, we got halfway through the project on a shared machine on campus at which point the footage was accidentally deleted and that was that. Ah well. I’ve got other video ideas and perhaps I’ll even get around to them someday, but I dunno when.
Yvonne:
What was your purrticipation in the late night dances, nya? (Eyeing that yo-yo)
Phil:
(Moving the yo-yo further away from Yvonne) After a few years, we kept having the same two complaints about the dances at the convention: either there wasn’t enough anime music or there was too much anime music that you could dance to. I looked at my music collection and saw that I had a fair number of anime tunes you could dance to, said to hell with it, and volunteered to run the dance. Things went okay, I seemed to hit the right balance between cartoon soundtracks and something suitable for shaking booty, and for the next few years I was in charge of the convention dances. They seemed to go over fairly well, and one year in particular went over like gangbusters, so despite my lack of a club DJ background I think I did okay. However, as of a few years ago I realized that I wasn’t keeping up with what the audience wanted, at which point I yielded the floor to new DJs who had a better handle on things.
Yvonne:
What kind of mewsic do the kids at Animazement wanna dance to, nya?
Phil:
We currently run two dances at the con. The first is a J-Rock music video dance, where staffer Iris Chen puts on videos of androgynous men playing mildly angsty Japanese pop music. This goes over quite well, even if it isn’t your typical club fare. Second, we’ve got a new Saturday night DJ, DJ Amaya, who will be spinning techno, trance, house, and J-pop. I’m looking forward to hearing him perform.
Yvonne:
Let’s talk about Anime Hell, nya! It is another big event at Animazement, nya. It seems to be a quirky marathon of various instructional films, mewsic videos, cartoons, TV clips, trailers, and so forth, nya.
Phil:
Or, as animehell.org says, “Animesploitation Terebi Funhouse Road Show Otakalypse.” You an get the full run-down from the Anime Hell manifesto, but here’s the short version: http://www.animehell.org/2004/07/animehell-manifesto.html Originally, Dave Merrill ran Anime Hell as a late night event at DragonCon where he’d show comedy anime, fan parodies, and the like. As he got bored with just sitting there for six hours he started to show shorter clips and throw in more patter, which evolved into the Hell everyone knows and (presumably) loves today: the video clip show of the damned.
Yvonne:
How long do you spend planning an Anime Hell? How much footage do you go through until you filter it down to the right mix, nya?
Phil:
Preparing for Hell is a year-long event in many ways, as I’m always keeping an eye out for suitable (read: weird, but not overexposed) material to show. I’ll poke around in certain nooks and crannies of the internet on a regular basis to see what pops up while also keeping an eye out in used and thrift stores for old videos that might be suitable. As I find clips that look interesting, I track down the best possible quality copy I can find, set it aside, and take note of it.
A month or so out I’ll start to sit down and actively review material, putting together a rough playlist, screening material for friends to see how they react, and so forth. Last year we also also began working on digitizing as much footage as possible, so we don’t have to spend as much time trying to cue stuff up or working from old VHS source. We didn’t get very far then, but hope to make a decent go of it this time around. All in all, it gets to be a fairly involved process. However, once I’ve got the clips I want in hand, the event itself is somewhat spontaneous: I’ve got my opening clip and ending clip lined-up, and beyond that it’s live VJing.
Yvonne:
What are some do’s and don’ts for Hell selections, nya?
Phil:
The first thing is to make sure that whatever gets shown hasn’t been completely overexposed. America’s new favorite pastime is watching wacky videos on YouTube, and I often have folks recommend footage that’s been seen by the free world, or I’ll stumble across something I think is brilliant only to discover that it’s old news to the rest of humanity. Fortunately, this isn’t always a hard and fast rule - after all, even stuff I think is played out is probably brand new to a lot of the audience - but it’s something that you have to watch out for.
However, the main thing is that the clips we show need to have a certain quality of, for lack of a better word, Hellishness. The ideal Hell footage is surprisingly weird and amusing in a way that the audience doesn’t expect. You can reliably count on surreal animation, black comedy, and dated pop culture artifacts to go over well, but there’s a lot out there that seems like it would work, but doesn’t. On the flip side, there’s just as much material that works perfectly in the context of Hell but wouldn’t fly on it’s own or without a bit of patter to help set it up. In short, it’s hard to describe, but I know Hell when I see it.
Yvonne:
What are some of your choicest Hell bits, nya?
Phil:
An early favorite was a clip from the worst educational cartoon I’ve ever seen, “Gogo’s Adventures in English”. It was aimed at Korean children whas helped explain the surreal dialogue but didn’t excuse the excruciatingly lame animation. It was about an alien critter who hangs out with a couple of dork kids, talking slowly in English for the benefit of the audience and having deeply unexciting adventures. Fortunately, their attempt to build a Rube Goldberg featured the characters repeatedly asking each other “Do you have any balls?”, thus transforming it from painful to hysterically painful, especially when everyone sings the balls line at the end of the episode. This is the clip that made me decide that I could do justice to a locally produced Hell when Dave Merrill couldn’t make it to Animazement.
Other recent favorites include mixed martial artist Bob Sapp’s rousing attempt at J-pop stardom, “Sapp Time” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceCRgf5tf0g; Kure Kure Takora http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91y0sh8Ay7g , a 60’s Japanese kids show about a selfish octopus and his Kroftesque friends, especially the episode where he establishes himself as dictator, ;
Ma Bell’s surreal attempts at educating 70’s youth about the wonders of the telephone, particularly the immortal song (which starts around 9:30 in) “Pick Up The Phone As Soon As It Rings” http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5844452338623457489; Don Hertzfeldt’s gleeful exercise in sadism towards children known as Billy’s Balloon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fpc5vgi9zb; and last year’s big hit, Italo disco star Vivian Vee and her utterly ludicrous, wildly spastic back-up dancers performing the song “Higher”. It was the lynchpin of my “Europe must pay for it’s musical sins with fire” segment and inspired frantic, spontaneous dancing from the audience.
That said, the clip I’m most proud of was a ten minute montage we edited together from a North Korean children’s cartoon. I probably got put on a list of some sort when I ordered this from the Korean Friendship Association, but it was entirely worth it: three episodes of a furry version of G.I. Joe about North Korean secret agents infiltrating the degenerate West. All of the characters spy on each other and are in constant terror of being discovered; the atmosphere is impressively paranoid. The finale of each episode is the same: our hero is in a situation where he is going to die. He bravely struggles against his fate, pausing to have a soft focus montage of his animal friends back home in the Flower Kingdom, all wearing their military uniforms and admiring the beauty of nature, and then escapes miraculously just in time for the next episode. Watching these cartoons is an incredibly strange expereince in and of itself, but once we edited together the most unusual and violent segments and presented it with a bit of patter it became Grade A primo Hell fodder.
Yvonne:
For the past three years, you’ve written mewsical purrductions that were purrformed to an SRO crowd at Animazement, nya. What was the genesis of that, which lead to the first one, Evangelion: The Musical http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/eva-musical-04-11-05.txt in 2005, nya?
Phil:
Well, first off a bit of backstory. Back in 2000 I was seized with the idea that the members of the Carolina Otaku Uprising should put on a parody of the TV show Iron Chef at Animazement. We’d call it Dormatory Iron Chef, give the contestants your average student junk food to work with, and make it a gross out contest, with the judges offering up catty commentary. This was before Iron Chef had actually been shown in America, but a friend in San Francisco had taped several subtitled episodes for me and I was completely taken with the show and wanted to share it with the con; for some reason, Drom Iron Chef came to mind as the best way to do it. The audience that showed up had no idea what to expect, but it went over like gangbusters and we put it on for two more increasingly raucous years.
By that time, Iron Chef was popular in America, so we really started packing the house, but I also felt that the joke had been played out and it was time to try something else. In 2003 COUP attempted to put on a pardody game show which didn’t really work, so we decided to take a year off and mull things over. Shortly before the 2004 convention, I was walking to a meeting with some other COUP folks when inspiration struck and I found myself in the middle of the sidewalk yelling “That’s it! Evangelion: The Musical!”
Unfortuantely, this was only a few weeks before the convention and there were serious doubts that we could put on a production like that at all, let alone on short notice, so I jotted down a bunch of notes and put it on the back-burner. Early the next year I approached COUP stalwart Heather Walker and asked her if she’d be willing to direct Eva! if I were to write it, showed her the outline I had put together, and put out feelers to see if we could talk anyone else in the club into actually putting the damn thing on. Turns out our fellow club members are bored and gullible and thus we were off and running. Well, procrastinating, actually, but we agreed to perform the musical at Animazement 2005.
Yvonne:
Ballroom space at a con that size must be a purremium- how difficult was it for you to purrsuade the con chairman to greenlight the mewsical?
Phil:
Since we had experience putting on events at the convention with Dormatory Iron Chef, and since the pitch of Evangelion: The Musical practically sells itself, we were able to get the go ahead from Bex without any difficulty.
Yvonne:
Could you detail the writing purr-ocess of the mewsical? Who wrote the script and who wrote the mewsic?
Phil:
The scripts are all written by yours truly. Once I come up with an idea that lends itself to a suitable number of cheap gags I start taking notes and put everything on the back burner for a while (i.e. I procrastinate), writing notes for scenes and jokes as they come to me and meditating on suitable music to use. I’m not a musician in any way whatsoever, so I think of songs (usually Broadway numbers or well known popular tunes) and then write parody lyrics for them. This is a process that involves having copies of the original songs on a CD or iPod and my pacing a lot as I try to do my best Weird Al impersonation. Once I know which songs we’re going to be using, I let our music person, Chris Oates, know. He finds MIDIs to work with if possible (and curses my name and starts from scratch if not) and then creates an instrumental arrangement of the songs we’ll be performing.
Yvonne:
Who else acted and crewed that mewsical, nya? How long did y’all purrpare for it, nya?
Phil:
As mentioned, Heather Walker directed the first musical, and Chris Oates has provided music for all three. The rest of the roles were taken up by many particularly hardcore COUP members, including Aaron Randall and Seth Johnson, who would go on to direct the second musical, Cat Adamson, who directed the third and was terrific as Shinji, and, notably, former TAAS president and Animazement staffer Owen Evans as Rei Ayanami. Owen’s performance was memorable to say the least, from his decision to dye his beard blue to his ability to channel Ethel Merman. His interpretation of Rei shall live in our hearts forever.
Yvonne:
It was so well received that y’all struck back in 2006, with It Seemed Like a Good Idea at a Time: A Mewsical Comedy about Convention Running http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/musical/draft-04-19-06.txt, nya! Please tell us a bit about that, and how did it compare to the previous one?
Phil:
The Evangelion musical went over so well that we were determined to put on another production, this time directed by former Eva! actors Aaron Randoll and Seth Johnson. Anime conventions seemed like a natural subject for the next musical and years of con staffing helped provide the proper long-suffering attitude needed to write a bit of goofy comedy on the subject, about a bunch of incompetants who decide to throw a con thinking “How hard could it be?”, at which point, naturally, everything goes horribly wrong. One of the highlights of the production was our parody of the anime music video contest, where every video submitted was set to music by infamous German schlockmeister Heino, the finale of which caused near rioting among the crowd. (http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/musical/Good%20Idea%20Compiled.mov) Kudos to Animazement AMV coordinator William Bloodworth for doing a bang up job of the parodies.
Having put on a musical before really helped us have an idea of how much preparation is involved, what the limitations of the performance space were, and the desperate need to tweak the mics so that the audience could better hear us. The end result was that the sound, while not perfect, was improved, the audience was entertained, and the cast had a good time putting it on.
Yvonne:
You dared to do it again in 2007, with Jet! Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Kancho http://www.ibiblio.org/phil/fnordchan/musical3/draft-04-24-07.txt, nya…
Phil:
While the more masochistic members of COUP were fired up for another musical, the trick was finding the suitable subject matter. A Lost in Translation riff about a foreigner in Japan was suggested, which I liked but wasn’t sure it was quite enough to work with. Then I remembered anecdotes from friends of mine who taught English in Japan through the Japan Exchange and Teaching program, particularly tales of terror about the dreaded kancho, the practice of pranking your friends by sneaking up behind them and jamming your finger up their butt. Contrary to the title, the kancho bit was relegated to a newsreel style instructional film, “Kancho: Threat or Menace?” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zmr8VoN5s), directed by myself and edited by the most excellent William Bloodworth. I’m told this video captures the kancho experience with frightening accuracy.
Kancho aside, the rest of the musical is about a cast of Japanophiles who go off to the promised land and find that it really, really wasn’t what they expected, with plenty of wacky hijinx involving gang members, maid cafes, and the occasional giant monster. We had a new AV team working the con this year and they did a great job in improving our traditional sound difficulties, especially considering that it was their first time trying to adapt musical theater to a venue almost wholely unsuited for it. Having starred in the previous two musicals, Catherine Adamson took over as director, while Chris Oates, who had previously provided all the music, finally had the time to perform on stage as well and proved to be an absolute ringer. We had the largest turnout yet for a musical, filling the main ballroom, and folks seemed really entertained.
Yvonne:
So what is the future of the mewsical at Animazement, nya?
(She starts to kitty paw at the yo-yo again, but regains composure. Nevertheless, Phil sets the yo-yo further aside, lest it be attacked.)
Yvonne:
Hee!
Phil:
We had originally planned on doing another musical at the 2008 convention, this time with original music by Chris Oates. The plan was that he would come up with the basic outline of the plot and all original music and lyrics, then I would flesh things out, write the script, throw in plenty of cheap jokes, and tweak the songs as needed. Unfortunately, grad school really kicked in for Chris and early in the year he had to beg off. While we’re disappointed not to be putting on another production this year, I totally understand the demands of grad school and, as it happens, Animazement’s schedule on Saturday was so full that squeezing us in would have been tricky. So, we’re all taking the year off and hope to be back in 2009. I can tell you that the songs Chris wrote before being swamped by school were pretty fantastic. Hopefully we’ll be performing them at Animazement next year.
Yvonne:
When you’re not involved with fandom, you are the Training Director at WXDU radio, nya. That is at Dook- did they know you were a UNC guy, nya?
Phil:
Oh, absolutely. Hell, the guy who trained me is a biochemistry professor at UNC! The thing about WXDU is that it’s a community radio station in addition to a student run station, and roughly half the DJs have no affiliation with Duke whatsoever. So, while our format is a lot like, say, WXYC in Chapel Hill (which is to say we have a college radio sound that ranges from a lot of indy rock to the obscure and inexplicable), our sound is different, in large part to local folks who bring their own expertise to the station.
Yvonne:
In addition to training the new DJs, I understand that you are on the air- and online- Mondays from 7 to 9 am, nya? What is your shift like and what do you play, nya?
Phil:
I’m a playlist DJ, which means that during my show I need to play six songs an hour from a selection of albums (generally around 150 at any given time) that cover a wide variety of music: rock, techno, hip hop, country, you name it. While there’s a bit of structure in place regarding what sort of playlist albums I should play, it’s extremely flexible and playlist DJs have a great deal of freedom in what they play. In my case, I’m generally interested in jazz and assorted varieites of world music (especially African and Latin), though I’ll play a little bit of everything and frequently bring in examples of my two great musical loves: novelty songs and disco.
Yvonne:
Is it all computerized, or can you still play tapes and spin vinyl LPs there, nya?
Phil:
While we have a computer that DJs can play music off of, it’s nothing like the sort of computerized system you’d hear at a mainstream station. There the music played is determined by a single music director and the DJs you hear on air have little to no control over what gets broadcast. In our case, it’s simply a reflection of the times - our hip-hop DJs now get virtually no physical promo albums and are instead sent MP3s by the labels, which they play via a computer running iTunes. However, most of our other genres of music are still well represented by CDs and the occasionally vinyl LP and most DJing happens using CD players and turntables.
Yvonne:
Do you take requests, nya?
Phil:
Sure thing. 919-684-8870 or 919-84-8871 by phone, request@wxdu.org by email. Station DJs aren’t required to take requests, but we’re certainly encouraged to, especially when you get ‘em from the Butner Minimum Security Correctional Facility. Sometimes you’ll answer the phone and get a computerized voice explaining that you’re receiving a call from a federal penitentiary, please press four to accept. I go out of my way to fullfill these and there’s a small but loyal listenership in the prison. Our Latin DJ gets Christmas cards from ‘em.
Yvonne:
There must be a lot of FCC regulations purrtaining to what you cannot broadcast… could you enlighten us about that?
Phil:
George Carlin’s seven dirty words give you an idea of the regulations, but aren’t exactly what’s being enforced. The very short version is that there are regulations regarding indecent and obscene material. Indecent material is described as the abstract use of naughty language (yelling something as an exclamation, say), while if you’re really getting into detail about a sexual or excratory activity, whether you’re using naughty language or not, that’s obscene. Indecent material can be played during the Safe Harbor (10pm to 6am) with a warning, obscene material may never be broadcast. There’s a lot of detail that goes along with these rules, but that’s the basic rule of thumb. Also, it’s illegal to start a riot over the radio. Don’t do it.
Yvonne:
Do you podcast, nya?
Phil:
Nope. I like podcasts and I’m sure it would be interesting to do one, but for the time being I’m perfectly content to spend a couple hours a week broadcasting from WXDU.
Yvonne:
What do you purrdict for the future of radio, the record industry, and online mewsic, nya?
Phil:
The future of broadcast radio has been grim ever since deregulation happened a decade ago, which has allowed companies like Clear Channel and Viacom to own a vast percentage of all radio broadcasting in the US. Thus you get very little local programming, homogonized playlists, and, frankly, boring radio. Satellite radio is an interesting alternative, but perhaps isn’t quite there yet, not likely to get there anytime soon, and doesn’t help with the local issue. I think what you’re going to get a lot more of is people broadcasting (via podcast or streaming radio) online, in a legal manner or otherwise. It’s certainly how the computer savvy listen to music today, despite attempts to cripple or destroy internet radio from the industry. Obviously, this is to say nothing of music piracy in general, which is vast, endemic, and not going anywhere, no matter how much legal action is taken. I figure at some point the music industry will figure out how to make money online and everything will balance out, but until then the transition is going to be a bit rocky.
Yvonne:
What advice do you have for someone wishing for a career in radio, nya?
Phil:
The problem with radio deregulation, as mentioned, is that you have a couple of companies who run everything. These companies want to be efficient, and thus you increasingly have fewer and fewer people (DJs or otherwise) running stations that broadcast to a very wide region, with local IDs inserted via software. So, the classic rock radio station you’re listening to may well, if owned by, say, Clear Channel, be the exact same radio that someone is listening to several states away. Which is to say that if there weren’t many jobs in radio in the first place, there certainly aren’t very many now, and it’s my understanding that what jobs there are pay very little. I suppose I’d wish someone good luck, but I wouldn’t get too optamistic about it. Note that I enjoy radio as a volunteer hobby, not a career. Of course, all that applies to the standard broadcast model. There could be all manner of opportunities online, but that I can’t really comment on.
Yvonne:
You have a very diverse and worldly collection of mewsic, nya. What are your favorite cat-egories of mewsic, and who are your favorite recording artists, nya?
Phil:
I listen to a rather wide variety of music, but perhaps not in depth in any particular category. That said, in general I’ve been having difficulty listening to music that isn’t at least twenty years old and am consistnetly discovering classic world music (particularly salsa, afrobeat, and even a bit of calypso recently), disco (and all manner of R&B, dance music, and hip-hop from around the early 70s to early 80s), plus a smattering of quirky pop music new and old. Also I will forever hold the musical genius of “Weird Al” Yankovic close to my heart.
Yvonne:
Have you any purrticularly favorite songs or albums, nya?
Phil:
Oh, sure. A short list of some favorites include Laurie Anderson’s “Big Science”, Orchestra Baobab’s “Pirate’s Choice”, Philip Glass’s “Koyaanisqatsi”, Sylvester’s “Living Proof”, DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing”, “Songs and More Songs” by Tom Lehrer, and the Brave Combo’s “Polka Party”. I’m serious about that last one, by the way. Lately, songs that I’ve been listening to a lot include “Go Go Yellow Screen” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eC6tKtOnkMU by early 80’s Belgian disco group Digital Emotion, anime theme song “Minna no Peace” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFO3reqgGJQ by goofy Japanese pop group Afromania, the main title theme to the Dario Argento horror flick Tenebrae http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPJY_F4xC0M by members of the Italian group Goblin, “Que Viva la Musica” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2kLWX-sm7U by salsa legend Ray Barretto, and “Star Walk” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zge0zVHgMvc , a late 70’s number by funk legend Larry Graham during a brief disco phase.
Yvonne:
Do you go to many clubs, concerts, or stage purrductions, nya?
Phil:
Not as many as I probably should, considering how active the music scene is around here, but I get out to, say, The Cat’s Cradle in Carrboro a few times a year to see bands I particularly like. It’s been a few months since I’ve actually made it out to see a show, but I did see They Might Be Giants at the Carolina Theater put on a fun performance and a raucous show at UNC by funk jam group Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
Yvonne:
What are some of the most impressive purrformances you’ve seen?
Phil:
Oh, there are several that come to mind. The Magnetic Fields performing the entirety of their literal album “69 Love Songs” over two nights at the Artcenter in Carrboro, a riotous show by gypsy punk cabaret (their description) group Gogol Bordello at the Cat’s Cradle that packed the house and inspired mass dancing and kicklines, both times I managed to see the Ramones live (a revelation each time), and especially a small but enthusiastic performance by polka masters The Brave Combo at the Cradle. Partway through that show some fans loudly demanded they play their rendition of “Must Be Santa”, which confused the band as it was the middle of July. However, the fans insisted and the crowd, when polled, was perfectly fine with it, at which point is was announced that to play “Must Be Santa” properly they had to have the tuba, and if they were going to play the tuba they were going to do it outside.
Cue the band grabbing their instruments, heading out into the parking lot with the audience trailing behind, and then tearing into a frentic, holiday polka. The cops were on the scene in moments, as they had a substation around the corner, but had no idea what to do once they’d arrived. This was immediately followed by the fastest version of the Chicken Dance that I’ve ever heard, after which we tromped back inside for the rest of the show. After the concert I immediately went out to the car and tore off the Nine Inch Nails bumper sticker that I had on it. It was truly a defining moment in my life.
I did have the good fortune to catch a rather good six band show at a large club in Tokyo last year (with The Pillows and a hot new group called Doping Panda headlining) at one of the best club venues I’ve ever seen. See, in Japan everyone arrives by train and the trains stop running at midnight, so unlike US shows where everyone can just drive home whenever, the shows have to start and stop on time. So, the show started exactly on time, which seemed miraculous to me, and six bands got to perform full sets in just three hours. When one band woudl stop playing, grips would swarm the stage, unplug everything, and roll the entire stage off to one side of the building, while a freshly prepped stage was rolled in from the other side. Moments later, the next band would be on. I was completely blown away, especially after years of attending shows at small US clubs that could easily wrap up at 2am or later, depending on when the main act felt like going on stage. It didn’t hurt that the place was literally wall to wall cute Japanese punk girls and if you got anywhere near the stage you were crammed in to the point of intimacy.
Yvonne:
Nnn…nnnn…yaa!
(Unable to resist any longer, pounces on the yo-yo with a big open mouthed grin)
Phil:
Gah!
Mike:
(to the rescue) Ah, sorry abput that Phil! Er. I guess we’re done with the interview…
Phil:
Oh, it’s no problem at all. I can’t argue too strenuously with having a catgirl sprawled over me in pursuit of yo-yo goodness.
Yvonne:
Hee!
Phil:
Besides, I’ve lived with cats before and understand the utter fascination a yo-yo string can inspire.
Mike:
Um, here let me give you some money for that yo-yo… (reaches for wallet)
Phil:
Oh, no, I couldn’t and, really, it’s no problem. I’ve got lots more yo-yos where that one came from. Yvonne, enjoy the yo-yo! Consider it a gift for the interviewer.
Mike:
Well, uh, I’d like to thank our friend Phil for dropping by Catgirl Island to grant this interview! Thanks Phil!
Phil:
Thanks very much for having me and letting me ramble on!
Yvonne:
MM num num num nya…
Mike:
Phil, I’ll see you later tonight at the luau. Well kids, we’ll be right back after this break!
(After Mike has confiscated the tempting toy, Vonny has regained her composure as her cell phone vibrates)
Yvonne:
Moshi mosh? Meet you in the Orchid Oratory? OK I’m on my way, nya!
(3 minutes later)
Yvonne:
(on her cell phone) I’m lost in this big place, nya! Ok turn right then take the escalator… OK I’m on my way, nya!
(3 minutes later)
Yvonne:
(on her cell phone) UM, was that a left or a right after the escalator, nya? OK I’ll just stay right here then, nya!
(Elizabeth pounces from behind an arch to glomp Yvonne)
Elizabeth:
BANZAI!
Yvonne:
NYAAA!!! (tail sticks out all rigid)
Jeannie:
This is another ambush lightning round.
Mary Nyan:
By the way that was a very good interview you conducted, Vonny!
Yvonne:
Arigatoo gozaimasu, nya! Ok what is the Lightning Round Topic, nya?
Elizabeth:
Wait a tick- here comes Mike— get him!
(All four catgirls glomp their purrducer)
BANZAI!
Mike:
What the–? Sigh… OK, what is the lightning round topic? But let’s make it a quickie as we have a show to resume after the break!
Elizabeth:
Lightning Round #2: Favorite Joss Whedon Moments of the Month!
But be warned- there be plot spoilage ahead! Lightning Round— Go!
(Tags Mike)
Mike:
Astonishing X-Men continues to be not only my favorite Marvel title, but in my opinion the best X-Men stories in 25 years. While I am not anxious to see the wonderful Whedon / Cassaday team leave the book, I am eagerly anticipating their final issue with Giant Size Astonishing X-Men #1, which i hope will be published soon! Cassady’s cover illustration of issue #24 with kitty & Lockheed was very cute!
(re- tags Elizabeth) Back atcha, Lizzy!
Elizabeth:
I would like to commend the creative team of Runaways for “Dead End Kids Part 5″ in issue #24. Lillie ‘n Vic- wohhoo! Mollie’s cute hat! The two-page fight scene spread! But… poor Megan &a