Hey everyone, sorry for the extensive delay to the summer film festival. Between pneumonia, people being out-of-town and other scheduling conflicts, the festival has had to take some unexpected time off. But god willing, it will be back soon. We’ve scrambled things around a bit and come up with a brand-new schedule. Here’s when to look out for the podcasts:

• August 20 – Breathless and Jules & Jim (French New Wave Spectacular)
• August 27 – Harold & Maude and Punch-Drunk Love
• September 3 – Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Triangle
• September 10 - Brick and 8 1/2

Since the dawn of time, man (especially Drunk Man) has dreamed of flight.  And before Wilbur and Orvil got it right in Kitty Hawk, several people tried and failed gloriously to achieve even moments of gravity-defying greatness.  Nowadays, flying is something most of have done and we tend to take for granted.  But there are those who choose to chase the elusive dream of flight in spite of its prevalence in today’s world.  Where can you find these creative and somewhat insane individuals?  At a Red Bull Flugtag, of course; an event so wildly creative and addicting fun that it is in my must-experience-before-you-die activities in life. 

The word “Flugtag” is German and literally means “Flying Day.”  It is the brainchild of Red Bull’s owner Dietrich Mateschitz, and since 1991 this unique flying competition has been held every year in over 35 countries.  The contest in simple: design a human powered flying machine, drag it up a 30 foot ramp, and then launch yourself over a large body of water in hopes of flight, or at least a wicked crash.  Your flying machine cannot weigh more than 450 pounds (including the pilot), be constructed of natural materials, and it needs to float so the clean up crew can dispose of it properly. 

Teams aren’t just judged on how far they fly (or fall), but on creativity and sportsmanship.  It’s these later categories that add a real dimension of fun to this sport.  The flying contraptions that I witnessed at the St. Paul Flugtag included a giant mosquito, a Family Truckster (from National Lampoon’s Vacation) and a giant Acme Rocket driven by a Wile E. Coyote himself.  While none of these crafts flew very far at all, they were a ton of fun to watch plummet into the cold Mississippi river. 
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I had the chance to see Rush at Jones Beach Theater over the weekend and just thought I’d share some impressions. Rush is my favorite band and this is not the first time I was seeing them, but I thought the show was enough of a stand out to warrant a little writing.

I cannot quibble with the guys performance. For a band that formed in 1968, these guys still seem to be at the top of their game. I can’t imagine they have many decades left to tour, but I also can’t see them quitting anytime soon either. They rocked the place and the crowd loved it.

On a less positive note, and I’ve seen this mentioned on the boards, there seemed to be sound issues. Before the intermission, I noticed instruments drifting in and out, sonically. They would never go mute, but the levels seemed to be moving up and down a lot, which was very distracting. Also, it seemed like Geddy’s keyboard had even more trouble, I think it was during the song Marathon (but I can’t find a Youtube video to confirm so it could have been another one). Anyway, it got so quiet you almost couldn’t hear it and he seemed really pissed and missed a vocal cue by a few bars, almost as if he was trying to make his crew notice his displeasure. Neil and Alex just kept playing, and I assume, waiting for him to start singing again, which he eventually did.

Later, Alex completely missed one of his vocal cues in the song Subdivisions. You could tell he was embarrassed but totally laughed it off with the guitar techs.

After intermission, they seemed to have fixed whatever sound problems had plagued the first half of the show, and there were no more sound problems. It was still a little too noisy to my liking, but fairly good. Of note was how strong the sub bass signal was, almost like being in a dance club with a really good system. Every bass drum hit or bass guitar pluck hit you squarely in the gut.

There were two major highlights in the show for me. One was the performance of The Camera Eye in its entirety. Since they were playing the entire Moving Pictures album, I knew this would be in the set list and that was a major motivation for me to attend the show. If you are not familiar with this song, it’s very New York and London centric, and I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been walking around the city when it comes up on the old iPod and I get chills. Anyway, Saturday night, Geddy seemed to put extra emphasis on the words New York and Manhattan and the crowd ate it up. I just settled in for the ride, and was a bit beside myself that they were really playing it after all this time.

The second highlight was the inclusion of La Villa Strangiato in the encore. Again, for those unfamiliar with Rush tunes, it is a super complicated song which they couldn’t even record in the studio the first time without first breaking it into three different takes. It was such a momentous recording, it cause the band to change their whole direction with the following album and lead to the development of the band I like so much. It’s also one of those songs I never expected to hear live, so it was a real treat to see them bring it back.

Neil’s drum solo was great. I didn’t see the Snakes and Arrows tour, so I don’t know if this version is new for the Time Machine tour, or if it’s what he played last time, but it was very different from any of the solos I’ve heard him do before, like he’s evolved it again into a new direction. Same quality as ever, but with a new composition.

As to the crowd, everyone around me was very well behaved. Others have noted the young kid in the second row, and I noticed him too, air drumming in unison with all the adults around him. One can’t imagine he’s had the time in his short life to get so familiar with these old tunes, but clearly he has. I’d love to know his story, but imagine one or both of his parents must be huge fans. Like me, lol.

It was a great show. I didn’t even mention the filmic bits that tied the whole time machine theme together, or the walk-on performances of the rubber chicken man or the Beir Madchen who were ‘moving pitchers’ of beer, or the updated video graphics used throughout the show, because that’s all just icing on the cake. The band played great, reaching deep in their catalog at the same time playing their latest releases and everyone seemed to have a blast, and I was one of them.

We’re kicking off this year’s film festival with a bang with the 2006 French thriller Tell No One. It’s a fitting choice; The reason this film festival was started was to provide smart, entertaining films that counteract the dregs of mindless summer blockbusters. Every year, when I am inevitably let down by the studio tentpole releases, I am chided by friends, who ask me why I can’t just “enjoy the dumb fun.” The reason, in short, is because of films like Tell No One, which provide the same edge-of-your-seat thrills, but do so with an engaging story, well-rounded characters and top-notch filmmaking. It has enough depth for impassioned discussion, but is accessible enough that almost anyone can enjoy it. Despite winning several Cesar awards, making numerous critic’s top-ten lists and holding a 93% rating at Rottentomatoes.com, (100% with top critics) it was tragically overlooked by American audiences.

You can expect the first episode of the film fest podcast to go up this Friday, along with the discussion thread for this week. As is the case with every entry in this year’s film festival, Tell No One is available on Netflix Watch Instantly. To add it to your queue, click the button below.

I was at PAX East over the weekend and good times were had by all. MC Wilson has some delightful pajamas, and I may or may not have made out with some of the L4D2 crew. Conjecture abounds.

All of that aside, there were a number of games and tabletop insanity going on at the Boston Convention Center. Here’s some stuff I played and what I thought about it:

Shank: If I was going to pick a game of show, I think this might be it. You’ve got knives, guns, a chainsaw, and some grenades. Your goal is to make a whole bunch of dudes real real dead. That’s pretty much all you need to know going into the game. The combo system is surprisingly deep, and I really hope the game gives you an opportunity to master it. Also, chainsawing dudes is really, really fun.

Breach: Ok, let’s just pretend that the ten minute speech about how this game is “real warfare” didn’t happen. Breach is a team-based multiplayer shooter with persistent experience rewards, fully splodable environments, and some pretty environments. It’s also coming to XBLA for $15. For that price I’ll definitely go for a moderny 1943.

Monday Night Combat: Hey, remember DOTA (Defense of the Ancients)? What if it had a love child with Unreal Tournament? You’d get this thing. Playtime was limited for me, but it looks like something that I’d enjoy. It has a fantastic cartoony feel and plays crazy arcadey. I’ll be interested to see more stuff about this.

I’m done apologizing for loving Kevin Smith so much. I used to wonder: is it wrong for me to get so much joy out of listening to a guy talk filth all the time? I mean, when you get down to it, Smith’s whole schtick is sex, weed, and movies, and very little else. If he needs a quick punchline, he’ll throw in something about how fat he is. If he wants to get a bit edgier, he’ll talk about sucking a dick or two. And if he’s really on a roll, he’ll throw out a far-too-intimate story about his sex life, either with his wife or solo.

But the schtick never gets old to me. He’s just a charming, funny, and intelligent guy. Yes, intelligent. Anybody can listen to morons tell dick and fart jokes all day – hell, we do it on a weekly basis – but this guy has a supreme understanding of comedy and how to play to an audience. He’s got a knack for humor and a skill for handling the stage, despite being dressed in a bathrobe and spending a good portion of that stage time on a couch. What he does is take the mundane minutia of his everyday life, and make it funny and relate-able. That’s not as easy as it sounds. Because while he does have a stable of go-to stories, his live performances are almost completely ad-libbed. It’s a Q&A format, meaning that anything could happen, funny or not.

Hilden and I saw Smith in September at the State Theater in downtown Minneapolis, and it was then that I really got an appreciation for his skill. I own all the “Evening with” DVDs, so I’m more than familiar with the format. But what you don’t get out of those DVDs are the in-between bits. Those DVDs are edited so you see the good questions where Kevin really shines. But at the State, live, we got to see how deftly he was able to handle the not-so-good moments. When a girl stood up and babbled relentlessly about her new inlaws, Smith was able to turn what could have been an odd and uncomfortable moment into something hilarious. When another woman asked a bizarre question about sexual deviancy, he didn’t laugh or belittle the question, but turned it around on her to the delight of the audience.

Q&A can be a tricky business, especially when you do it in front of an audience that expects to be entertained. Kevin Smith is a master at it, pulling off a consistently hilarious and charming show. Even if you’re not a big fan of him or his films, I highly recommend fans of comedy in general give one of his shows a try.

For several years the 5,000 townspeople of Montevideo, Minnesota have been hosting one of the greatest rock events of the summer. If you are thinking of such awesome tours as Ozzfest or Moondance Jam, then think again as Monty one-ups them with “Rock the Park,” an all day long tribute band show! Up in my area of eastern North Dakota and northwest Minnesota we obviously do not get that many big acts touring that frequently (though we do have Brittany Spears performing soon, but c’mon now), so in their place we have tribute bands to fill their shoes! My sister lives in Montevideo and invited me down for the event, and I had a fantastic time, so fantastic that I had to go again this year. I attended Rock the Park last weekend, and like the year prior was not disappointed.

Say what you will about tributes and how nothing is as good as the real thing, but the people who put this together did a damn fine job of picking out some quality tribute bands. And after guzzling down countless brews all day it felt like I was at the real thing anyways. Another positive about this being a tribute show meant affordable admission, which meant using those savings on the amazing yet overpriced live event food like Hobo Tacos and Cheese Curds!!

The show kicked off at 1pm with a local cover band, Kill Baxter performing a variety of pop/punk songs from the past two decades to warm up the 1,000+ crowd in Montevideo’s Lagoon Park. They only played for about a half hour and then they and their Kurt Cobain look-a-like front man jammed out with the crowd for the rest of the show.

After Kill Baxter, the first tribute took the stage with Vicious Cycle, a Leonard Skynyrd tribute. Naturally, they closed out with an awesome rendition of “Free Bird” that left many great memories of Guitar Hero II. Following the southern rock beats of Skynyrd, Bad Animals took the stage, a Heart tribute. Being the passionate gamer that I am, I automatically associate Heart with 2K’s Prey from a few years ago and popped huge when they belted out “Barracuda.”

When Bad Animals wrapped up, the Led Zeppelin tribute band, the aptly titled Zed Leppelin took the stage. I never really got into Led Zeppelin, but for some reason as Zed Leppelin was winding down their set list I found myself out of my and jamming out with a steadily growing crowd around the stage area. The crowd was so into them that we got them to come back out for an encore, a first for the one of several tribute concerts I have attended. The final tribute to take the stage was Atomic Punks, a Van Halen cover band, whose lead man was quite flamboyant and encouraged the ladies to continue to throw as many bras on stage throughout their set as possible.

By the time Atomic Punks wrapped up and the show was over it was approaching 1am. At that point I was feeling pretty good from plenty of alcohol throughout the day which prolonged me from noticing my sore neck until morning from 12 hours of headbanging. And since I cannot of a better way to wrap up this article, check out these quick little snippets of amateur footage I shot from my digicam.

Kill Baxter
Bad Animals
Vicious Cycle
Zed Leppelin
Atomic Punks

So, John and I hooked up last Saturday in beautiful Beaver Dam, the Las Vegas of Southeastern Wisconsin. We caught up on old times and decided to make a music video commemorating the event. John is the tall, blond and handsome chap (as usual).

We’ve known Dale Kulas for a number of years now, starting with our first meeting at the Midwest Gaming Classic. He writes an occasional article for Robot Panic, has more wrestling knowledge than any one man should have, does a mean Hulk Hogan impersonation and is one of the nicest people you’ll ever be privileged to meet. If that’s not enough than let’s add the fact that he’s had a gaming podcast going for quite a number of years now. That fine podcast, the On-Tap Podcast, has just reached a milestone and I think it deserves a little kudos. Doing a podcast consistently is a tough business and making it to your 100th episode is something to celebrate and we want to give a hearty congratulations to Dale and Co. for an outstanding 100 shows.

The On-Tap Podcast has always done something that not many other podcasts can claim. They’ve stayed original and have never followed the standard format or fallen victim to the cliches that other podcasts have fallen into. The On-Tap Podcast has always labeled itself as an alternative podcast and that’s true. On-Tap has always been about retrospectives and classic gaming. If you’ve been a listener, then you’ve hear them talk about the history of consoles, genres retrospectives and in general anything that nobody else bothers to take the time to talk about. That’s what the podcast has delivered for 100 episodes. So, if you haven’t been listening, then you need to check out the On-Tap Podcast. You can do so by going here.

Congratulations to Dale and the crew of On-Tap for a fantastic 100 shows! Keep up the great work!

It’s been a grueling year, but the summer months are finally upon us. It’s time to kick back and relish every ounce of fun possible for three sun-soaked months. But what to do? The pool is packed, the beaches are crawling with pasty tourists, and the box office is clogged with the same high-octane blockbusters you see recycled every year. Why not save the gas, stay home and watch something worth the time you put into it? Well you’re in luck, because the Robot Panic Summer Film Festival is back for a second year, bringing with it three months of films to  keep the summer interesting.

For fourteen weeks starting Monday, June 1st, the community will collectively watch and discuss one film per week, carefully selected and scheduled for the ultimate summer viewing experience. The post for each  new film will be posted every Monday, and discussions will take place in the comments section of that post.

Now, last year there were some issues with people obtaining the films in time for the discussion each week, and I’ve taken that into account when selecting this year’s films. That’s why, with only two exceptions, every film featured in the festival is available for streaming via Netflix Watch Instantly. So now, without further ado, here is this year’s lineup of films!

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