The Flopcast (general)

We haven't reviewed a weird school book club magazine from the 80s since... oh wait, it was three weeks ago. Thanks for your patience. This time we're looking at a 1984 issue of Maniac, a short-lived Dynamite-type magazine aimed at a slightly older audience, with an added twist of Mad-style humor. This issue includes: Maniac holiday stickers; caricatures of Brooke Shields, Boy George, Mr. T, and Splash-style Daryl Hannah; a bizarre Maniac Top 40 list (spoiler: rubber chickens are at number 27); horse brains and rooster eggs; a disturbing variety of pen pal options; chances to win a signed Judy Blume book, a Betamax VCR, or a ZZ Top key chain; a shocking interview with Kate and Allie star Ari Meyers; dreamy posters of Billy Idol, David Lee Roth, and Duran Duran; the Dynamite "Bummers" page (sorry, that's the Maniac "Give Me a Break!" page); and yes, chocolate-covered birds. Okay, we officially love Maniac. The cover promises "laughs and more laughs." Our podcast does not.

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This week's promo: Earth Station Trek!

Direct download: Flopcast_570.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:51am EDT

A quick springtime mixed bag of weirdness: April has arrived, and Kornflake is celebrating with a sugary holiday of her own making, Maple Fools Day. Speaking of sugar, National Whatever Day finds us wishing a Happy Birthday to the writer of The Archies' greatest hit. Our impromptu Funko Pop game is so shocking that you won't believe your cold dead black vinyl eyes. Kevin races through Salem, Massachusetts for twenty miles in seach of giant black cats and Elizabeth Montgomery statues. And we randomly discover a short-lived 80s sitcom with a cast including the guy from Family Affair, the guy from Northern Exposure, and Magic Johnson. What does it all mean? Hey, we were hoping you could tell us.

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This week's promo: Thunder Talk!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_569.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:44am EDT

As suggested/threatened last week, we're doing a Top 4 1/2 List of 1980s dogs. (Kornflake is obsessed with dogs, Kevin is obsessed with the 80s... this had to happen.) Including: Several cartoon dogs, a Muppet dog, a WWF wrestling dog, a rock star dog, a certain beer-chugging dog who did NOT know when to say when, and much more. Yes, we've gone to the dogs, but for our show, that's probably an upgrade. Also: Happy Birthday to Footloose/Lost Boys mom Dianne Wiest, an update on KangaROOS, and Kornflake's Pinky and the Brain mystery socks.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Monster Attack!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_568.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

It's about time for another Dynamite magazine review, but to mix things up, we're looking at a different (but eerily similar) magazine called Winner. A single issue of Winner was sold through school book clubs in 1982, and it's essentially a sports-themed version of Dynamite. Our discussion includes: John McEnroe's hair; Chris Evert on SNL; KangaROOS, the sneakers with pockets; how Kevin learned to juggle Spam; Larry Bird vs Dr. J vs Mike Brady; an ice skating lesson from Linda Fratianne; the longest baseball game in history (yes, it happened in Rhode Island); a wedding on rollerskates; the shockingly high cost of a keyboard for your Intellivision; and why sad kids have the best posters. Also: It's National Puppy Day, so you might as well send all your dogs to go live with Kornflake.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promos: 
Earth Station DCU!
Monkeeing Around!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_567.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:58pm EDT

It's another Flopcast tribute to V66, Boston's music video TV channel of the mid-80s! (We do this every one hundred episodes. It's all we have.) This time we thought we'd look at Billboard's Top 66 songs of 1986, an amazing list of absolutely classic 80s pop. (Flopcast favorite Billy Ocean made the list twice, and no, that's not nearly enough Billy Ocean.) And Kornflake has even pared the Top 66 list down to her own weird Top 4 1/2 List, including freestyle stars The Jets and Lisa Lisa, a Rocky sequel song from Survivor (but not that one), one hit wonder Sly Fox (remember them?), and more. (And do Kevin and Kornflake agree on the list's worst song, which somehow landed way up at number 12? Oh yes.) For more V66 fun, as always we recommend the wonderful documentary Life on the V. Also: Happy Birthday to Michael Caine, who coincidentally starred in approximately every 80s movie.

Life on the V: The Story of V66!

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Watch-A-Thon of Rassilon!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_566.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:12pm EDT

The Flopcast Book Club is finally back in session, and we're discussing Bill Mumy's new memoir Danger, Will Robinson: The Full Mumy. Best known for Lost in Space and The Twilight Zone, Bill was one of the busiest child actors of the 1960s, and has stayed busy with television, film, and music projects ever since. We cover Bill's Disney movies co-starring seals and raccoons; his experiences on The Munsters and Bewitched; his adventures with Shaun Cassidy, Rick Springfield, and "Weird Al" Yankovic; his comic book band Seduction of the Innocent; his new supergroup Action Skulls; and most importantly, his Pez collection. And don't forget Bill's other band Barnes & Barnes, whose classic novelty song "Fish Heads" somehow led to a year's supply of iced coffee for Kornflake. (RIP Robert Haimer, the other half of Barnes & Barnes, and thanks for the decades of weird music. Yeah.) So stay out of the cornfield and check out the book. We recommend reading it while a big goofy robot screams at you.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Best Saturdays of Our Lives!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_565.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:15am EDT

It's a rather random 1980s-themed show, as a coin toss leads to our celebrating the birthday of 80s one hit (or maybe two hit) wonder Eddy Grant. Then we flip to a random page in our Ranking the 80s book and discuss a song about (possibly inappropriate) touching. (Yes, we know we just described every song.) Finally we break out a book that just arrived here at the studio: Single Season Sitcoms of the 1980s: A Complete Guide! And we land on a 1989 sitcom that only lasted four episodes, but Kornflake watched them all, even though the show was horrible. These days we're watching Australian spelling bees and Diff'rent Strokes reruns. Our entertainment options have improved, but our taste has not.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: The Soul Forge Podcast!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_564.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:03pm EDT

After a quick break for a couple of less weird episodes, it's time to wrap up The Weird Al Game, in which Kevin and Kornflake try to guess each other's favorite "Weird Al" Yankovic songs. (Hey, who comes up with better games than us? Please don't answer that.) This time we're covering Al's records from 1993 through 2014, so get ready for a cavalcade of giant TVs, phony calls, word crimes, Canadian idiots, and wonder hamsters. Feel free to play along and let us know your favorites! In the end, a winner shall be declared. But Don Pardo would probably say we're all complete losers.

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Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Metal Geeks!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_563.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:23am EDT

Kornflake has the week off, but we have a special guest in Chickentown to fill in: It's our big podcasting bossman, ESO Network Director Mike Faber! And we're talking music again. Mike has been to more concerts than Kevin and Kornflake combined, and has prepared a Top 4 1/2 List of his favorite concerts ever! Some of Mike's picks, while impressive, will not shock you. (REM in 1983! Springsteen in 1984!) However (here comes the clickbait), you'll never guess some of the others. (Mike was at Woodstock, and that did not make the list! Country Joe and the Fish are most displeased.) Along the way, our discussion also includes The Cars, ELO, They Might Be Giants, Lenny Kravitz, Dr. Demento, Johnny Hates Jazz, and much more. Enjoy! (Hey, the podcast is free, but to simulate the concert experience, maybe we should attach some unreasonable Ticketmaster-style service fees...)

The Flopcast website!

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Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Earth Station One!

 

Direct download: Flopcast_562.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:00am EDT

We're taking a break from our Weird Al game, because it's time to review this year's list of nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Kate Bush is back on the list, perhaps due to her Stranger Things-fueled resurgence. A couple of Kornflake's favorites are newly eligible nominees: Missy Elliott and the White Stripes. Since Dolly kicked in the door last year, another country legend is in the running this year: Willie Nelson. And a couple of our 80s pop heroes, Cyndi Lauper and George Michael, have finally been nominated. We break it all down for you, despite being furious about the continued snubbing of Right Said Fred. Also, for you science nerds: Kornflake has a trivia question about the periodic table of elements, and is searching the night sky for a mysterious green comet. We assume it was sent from the planet Oa by the Guardians of the Universe.

And our regular links...

The Flopcast website!

The ESO Network!

The Flopcast on Facebook!

The Flopcast on Instagram!

The Flopcast on Mastadon!

Please rate and review The Flopcast on Apple Podcasts!

Email: info@flopcast.net

Our music is by The Sponge Awareness Foundation!

This week's promo: Con Guy! 

Direct download: Flopcast_561.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:20am EDT