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

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:

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.

Interview: Brian Oliver (Director of Animation-Kids' WB)

I recently had an opportunity to interview Brian Oliver, who was the director of animation at Kids' WB back in the late 90's and early 2000's. Brian fills us in on many of the details of how the bumpers and promos were made for the network, as well as many of the people he had the opportunity to work with. We also cover "Master Pokemon", a music video that involved a large amount of production work on Brian's part:

What prompted John Cerabino to cosplay as Gary Oak?

At this year's Anime Milwaukee, I had a chance to talk to John Cerabino, also known as "Moderately Okay Cosplay". As turns out, one of his many cosplay outfits was Gary Oak. I asked him why he chose that character, and what went into the costume:

On a side note, we're also looking for comments on the music of the twentieth Pokemon Movie, "I Choose You!". Here's some info on that:

Poke Press Digest Podcast: Episode 15-The Music of "The Rise of Darkrai"/Ultra Prism Prerelease

In the first part of this episode (0:55-1:02:19), Anne from Pikapi Podcast and I share our thoughts on the music of the tenth Pokémon movie, The Rise of Darkrai. In an unusual twist, this film features English songs in both the US and Japanese versions. Listen to our discussion to find out whether Sarah Brightman’s “I Will Be With You” or Kirsten Price’s “I’ll Always Remember You” comes out on top.

The second segment (1:02:28-1:05:13) is a player interview from a recent Pokémon TCG League Challenge and Prerelease. We talk about what deck the player used, and some of the cards from the recently released Ultra Prism set.



Links:

Segment 1:
Pikapi Podcast

Discussion: "The Rise of Darkrai" Ending Themes (Part 1)

The Japanese and English ending themes of the tenth Pokemon movie, "The Rise of Darkrai" go head-to-head in this comparison, featuring Anne from Pikapi Podcast. Sarah Brightman's "I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go)" and Kirsten Price's "I'll Always Remember You" took rather different routes to become associated with this film, but Anne and I do our best to compare them: