Needless Things

this episode I welcome Mr. Beau Brown back to the Podcast, this time not as my co-host, but as a guest! He’s here in his role as Director of the Dragon Con Puppetry Track. You’ve heard Beau talk about his passion for Masters of the Universe, but today we turn the spotlight on the true great love of his life – puppetry. Join us and our guests Stacey Gordon and Madison J. Cripps as we discuss the Na...

It’s no secret that I adore Gary Mitchel and Joe Crowe – the men behind Dragon Con’s American Sci-Fi Classics Track . A large part of that adoration is the fact that they so wholly embrace the way that I present myself and my opinions on pop culture. I’m not above letting my ego influence my likes. Or anything else, for that matter. My respect for these two guys goes far deeper than that. Sure – i...

Time to get these Dragon Con episodes underway, Phantomaniacs! Last year Beau and I talked to DJ Spider about cosplay and conventions. She was so delightful we knew we wanted to have her back this year. I’ve been wanting to have Sean Patton of  SMP Designs on since the first time I spoke to him. He’s the guy that sparked my desire to learn more about cosplay and feature it like I did during last y...

It is time once again for the Knights of Needless Things to assemble and discuss the goings-on at the biggest media event on the planet – San Diego Comic Con! Sadly Reverend Dan Wilson and The Oncoming Josh were unable to join us due to calamitous acts of one form or another. But we sallied forth with Phantom Troublemaker, our lovely co-host Mr. Beau Brown, the Belligerent Monkey , and Sir Ryan of...

You guys – it rained on us again while we were driving to Charlotte for Heroes Con. That makes three years in a row. This year’s deluge wasn’t the sort of violent meteorological upheaval that the prior years had provided, but we did encounter some very heavy rain and lightning. Thankfully it was brief and did not impede our travel to the only proper comic book convention that I attend. If you don’...

Everything really is awesome. Today's Needless Things Podcast continues my special LEGO coverage that is leading up to this weekend's LEGO KidsFest at the Cobb Galleria Centre . I had the opportunity to talk to somebody that I consider to be a true superhero of the toy industry – LEGO Master Builder Chris Steninger. Chris has been a Master Builder for five years now and has worked for the LEGO com...

Join Phantom Troublemaker and Mr. Beau Brown as we talk with Tim Clarke!   Tim worked with Kermit Love and for Jim Henson as a puppet builder and designer on Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. He worked on The Dark Crystal and Fraggle Rock, and is the man that built Uncle Traveling Matt. Tim also had a huge hand in the toy industry in the 80s, as he was the creator of both the Sectaurs and Boglins...

If you listened to last week’s (LAST WEEK!) Episode 23 of the Needless Things Podcast , then you know that we had a great time talking about the history of the Godzilla franchise. We barely scratched the surface, though, so there will be a sequel episode later this year. After we finished recording I was so excited by talking to Gary, Johnny, and Scott that I asked if they would be interested in g...

I am not a Godzilla fanatic.   I do love Godzilla as a monster. I am awed by his place in cinematic history. I think he is one of the best monster designs ever, in movies or otherwise. And he has certainly been mimicked and paid tribute to more than any other modern monster. He also has the best rogues gallery of anybody, ever.   I can’t tell you which Godzilla movie I saw first or when I saw it,...

I’ve known James T. Warbington for about two decades now and I find myself hard-pressed to describe him. He’s a punk rocker, an entrepreneur, a musician, a director, a redneck, an arranger of things, a wrestlemaniac, a mentor, and one of the most unselfish people I’ve ever met. And he writes like a loud insane person. James was the first subject of one of my 13 Questions posts and I still feel lik...

Yes, the picture is correct - this is Episode 19 of the Podcast. We recorded it back in January, but for various reasons I have not been able to publish it until now. This makes the image for the Stephen Platinum episode incorrect, but the numbering is right on everything now. 2013 was a huge year for Masters of the Universe and now it's time for me and Mr. Beau Brown to finally get together and t...

In which Phantom Troublemaker discusses matters of health, finance, and rocking the mic.   Seriously, though - I just wanted to have a nice little fireside chat with all of you Phantomaniacs and let you in on what's happening. We hit our goal, the podcast will go on to be bigger and better.   But there are other things afoot, as well. Give it a listen and leave your feedback here, on Facebook , or...

This past Sunday I got online with Mr. Beau Brown ( SciFiJanitors.com ), Ryan Schweck (Evil), Jay Hornsby ( The Belligerent Monkey ), Josh Wilson ( The Oncoming Storm ), and Reverend Dan Wilson ( Poddy Humor ) to discuss the recent New York International Toy Fair. Check it out:

I am absolutely delighted to be bringing you an interview with the most brilliant professional wrestling mind I have ever had the pleasure of meeting, Stephen Platinum. But he’s more than just a booker, he’s also a pop culture aficionado, which plays into his booking style in more ways than you could imagine. We talk about Steve’s life, career in wrestling, and Dexter. His tour of Full Moon Studio...

I couldn’t be more excited and quite frankly impressed with myself as far as how this year is shaping up so far. I am pretty awesome. Just let me have this moment. I have three podcast episodes in the can already and two more on the schedule. Three of these episodes are interviews that to me are Big Deals – dany only, today’s with Adam WarRock, and another one that you’re just going to have to wai...

Hey Phantomaniacs – it’s an all-new year and I’m proud to be kicking it off with an interview I’ve been waiting over a year for. My goal is to bring you no less than twenty-four new episodes over the next twelve months, and I have a lot of cool stuff planned. If you don’t know, dany only (yes, that’s correct – no caps) is a professional wrestler that’s been working the Southeast for over a decade...

Time to put together all of the stuff that I didn’t know what to do with and stick it in a podcast! I had two episodes that didn’t work out right at the end of the year, so I need to use up that storage space I’m paying for (feel free to chip in through the PayPal widget on the right side of your screen!). I have two recordings from Walker Stalker Con that never made it onto Needless Things. The f...

Join me, Phantom Troublemaker, and my co-host Mr. Beau Brown as we talk Doctor Who with our guests Beth Van Dusen and Dana Swanson. We discuss our first experiences with Doctor Who, how we've followed throughout the years, our reactions to the relaunch in 2005, and our hopes for the post-50th Anniversary era. It was a great talk with a cool bunch of people. If you've got a few bucks to throw at th...

Breaking News: CM Landrus – today’s guest - sent me an e-mail late last night letting me know that the Mission Indiegogo campaign had been put on hold. I don’t know the whole story, but I get the feeling that a few more resources need to be gathered before the film is ready to be as big a deal as it should be. I wish CM and the rest of the crew the best of luck in getting what they need together....

This is the big one, Phantomaniacs. You’ve heard the action figure panel . That one is really my pride and joy because it is the first Dragon Con panel that I was responsible for. Obviously I love action figures and toys and it was a blast to blather on about them with Gary and Geena for an hour. I’m pretty sure we’ll do it again next year in some form. You’ve heard the He-Man panel . That one was...

By the Power of the American Sci-Fi Classics Track… I HAVE THE POWER! Fabulous powers were revealed to me when I held aloft my mic and started running my mouth about dork shit. Seriously – that’s how I got the panel gig. I’ve told the story before here on Needless Things , but after working with the fantastic American Sci-Fi Classics crew (and publicly referring to them as “fantastic” many, many t...

I am so frazzled I'm not even sure what to write at the moment. I'm getting over Con Crud, which I think delayed my, “Holy shit that was a busy and productive Dragon Con and how did I get so much done and FUUUUUUUU...” reaction. I was diagnosed with Acute Pharyngitis (which translates to “sore throat and tons o snot”, which is a palindrome) and basically spent all of last week laying around watchi...

If you don’t know, Calabrese is a horror rock band out of Phoenix, AZ that I first discovered at Dragon Con back in 2009. “Midnight Spookshow” was the first song I heard and it was a revelation. I love music very much, but I just don’t follow it like I used to. So finding out that there was a band out there making this incredible music about vampires, zombies, darkness, and all of the horror stuff...

It’s time for the next thrilling installment of the Needless Things Podcast! After the magic of Heroes Con I knew I was going to have to do a full episode with the magnificent DJ Spider. I got to enjoy an excellent conversation on costuming with her and some other folks at Heroes and I wanted to do my best to recapture it in podcast form. Aside from the fact that we were all sober this time I thin...

Surprise! It's time for another Needless Things Podcast! I hadn't expected to be doing another one quite so soon, but when my co-host Mr. Beau Brown wants to talk Masters of the Universe, I have learned it is best to get on the ball and make things happen. And there was a lot of MOTU news to talk about coming out of this year's San Diego Comic Con. Mattel probably had their best showing yet. But i...