Thursday, March 29, 2018

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 16-Kids' WB Bumpers/Sky Warrior Music

In the first segment (0:51-12:40), I talk to Brian Oliver, who produced bumpers for Kids' WB back in the day. Listen to find out what the process of creating these promos was like, and what he’s doing now.

Our second segment (12:49-50:16) is a discussion of the music of the 11th Pokémon movie, "Giratina and the Sky Warrior". Anne from Pikapi Podcast helps me match up Crystal Kay's "ONE" to Aaron Brotherton's "This Is A Beautiful World". As usual, we also give our take on the other music from the movie:


Links:

Segment 1:
Master Pokemon

Segment 2:
Pikapi Podcast

Monday, March 26, 2018

Discussion: The Music of "Giratina and the Sky Warrior" (Part 1)

The 11th Pokemon movie, "Giratina and the Sky Warrior" introduces us to the mythical Pokemon Shaymin. In this discussion, Anne from Pikapi Podcast and I discuss the music of the film, focusing  on "ONE" by Crystal Kay and "This Is A Beautiful World" by Aaron Brotherton. These two lyrical takes on the film offer somewhat different perspectives, which may be appropriate given one the characters. Find out more about each of these songs in the first part of our discussion:


Monday, March 12, 2018

Anime Milwaukee 2018: Super Smash Bros. Melee Tournament Winner

Isaiah Tipton
The following is an interview with Isaiah Tipton, winner of a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament at Anime Milwaukee 2018.

Where are you from, and how did you get into competitive Smash?

I'm from Milwaukee, WI. I started playing competitively due to a tournament series here called “The Construct”. The organizers are a group called Event Horizon and they started hosting tournaments (which go on every week) about four years ago. A friend of mine went to their first event and invited me to their second, so I became a regular from then on.

Which character did you use the most in this tournament? Why?

My main is Marth and I use him because of his ability to lock down an opponent due to his long range.

You had to fight through the losers' bracket to make it to the finals. What happened in the match you lost in the main bracket?

During my first match against Flash Burn (the opponent I beat during the grand finals), we played a very close set and it came down to the last stock of the last game. He was able to edge me out by taking advantage of a stage transition.

In the second finals set, you switched from Falco to Marth. Why did you make that change?

In the first part of the finals, I chose Falco first because I wanted to get a gauge of how my opponent played while being locked down. Falco has a strong zoning tool in his lasers which can reveal how a player wants to approach a match, whether aggressive or defensive. That first set was very close, and since we had essentially exhausted each other's tricks with those particular characters, I switched to Marth to mix him up while I still had the information I gained from the first set on how he wanted to play Fox.

For the Switch, would you rather they port Smash 4 over, or build a new game from the ground up? Why?

I would rather they build a new game from the ground up. I’m not a fan of the mechanics of Smash 4 at all, so I'd like to see something different, though I don't expect them to cater to the competitive audience because it would be a bad move to do so business-wise. Also, I find that ports are usually cop outs to developing great new games.

What else did you do at this year's Anime Milwaukee?

I also cosplayed (as Khal Drogo from Game of Thrones) for most of the weekend and attended multiple events like the rave on Friday and the karaoke on Saturday. Other than that, I just enjoyed being in the atmosphere and hanging out with friends.