MIDNIGHT MAGIC MUSINGS: AWAKENING AUTHORS INTERVIEW PART 1
The other night, I got the absolute kick-ass experience of being interviewed by the duo over at Midnight Madness Musings. Lord Cephas and The Earl of Florida are two consummate fellow nerds, purveyors of wrestling (go AEW), Star Wars and old school Transformers.
They also love literature, so coming onto their show was a breeze.
It was fantastic to sit down and laugh through two and a half hours of filming, which will be broken up into several parts for this amazing interview on their brand new series Awakening Authors.
We talked introductions, early childhood inspiration and the shock of Optimus Prime in the Transformers movie. The original animated Transformers. With the wicked soundtrack and the heartbreaking moment Optimus goes dim. Weird Al singing “Dare to be Stupid” (something Earl took to heart), and symphonic power rock when Rodimus Prime figures himself out. There was chatter about GI Joes (I will forever love Scarlet and Snake Eyes), and the differences growing up in Canada watching American cartoons.
Newsflash for the American 90’s kids, you missed House Hippos and Short Circuitz.
Canadian kids television was regulated to allow less advertising than our Southern counterparts. This meant things like Heritage Minutes, bizarre early cgi short films and the wonder of the House Hippo to fill the 8 minute gap every 30.
One clarification I wanted to make was with House Hippos. On air, I mentioned they were three minute long segments. Once we finished recording, I immediately went to find the video on YouTube, and shock! Awe! The full commercial was one minute long, not three. Such a fundamental experience of childhood took only sixty seconds to form. On repeat multiple times a day, of course.
I’ve put it below so you too can share in the magic that was House Hippos. The mystical creature I still feel put out by them not being real.
Thank you, Concerned Children’s Advertisers for giving us this attempt at critical thinking, which created Canadian folklore.
Another gobsmacking moment was discussing Short Circuitz, the Miramar Productions early CGI short films licensed by YTV to be played in lieu of commercials. This was also known as Imaginaria (1993), and followed their Minds Eye (1990) and Beyond Minds Eye (1993) CGI pioneering shorts.
These were truly an artful mindfuck. We might not have had as much commercial interruption telling us to buy the new Barbie doll, but we had Love Found, a short film about a masculine bird attempting to catch the eye of a pearls-wearing feminine fish creature, before taking a header into the glass barrier to not only shatter it, but somehow have both creatures and their compatriots survive.
Thank you for reading Beautiful Machines by Sapha Burnell. This post is public so feel free to share it.
My love of surrealism and absurdism comes from these slim few minutes replacing Bop It or other such commercials on Canadian children’s television. If this doesn’t explain the way I approach fiction, I don’t have an answer. I’ve added the one we talked about most right here, so you too can share in The Mind’s Eye.
It’s amazing to be able to find media like this, from the pre-internet times. Thanks to E-Clips for saving these from the laserdisc format they were kept on, lest they become lost media. (If you want to hear Emily, Dazz and I talk lost media, We Aren’t Dead Yet did an episode glancing at it, with more to come)
I can’t wait to see what else comes out of the interview, we had so many amazing moments, talked mythology, role-play forums, dealing with tension online and the reasons behind the Judge of Mystics Saga main characters Caleb and Tuija.
Oh, and how rebellious it is to portray Ares, Olympian god of war as something other than a massive douche canoe.
If you haven’t read Earl’s novel Aegis, I suggest you go forth and dive into the psychologically driven superhero science fiction yarn of a man named Kyle becoming, failing then reigniting as a super hero.
And if you haven’t read Char & Ash, please consider it! I think my book is neat.
