The Flopcast

Kevin and Kornflake wrap up their School House Rock 40th anniversary celebration with some help from you, the Flopcast listeners! Our Top 4 1/2 List of America Rock cartoons is based on YOUR votes! How appropriately democratic. And you can probably guess which beloved School House Rock character is sitting on both Capitol Hill AND the top of our list. Also: Kornflake sees Weird Al, just in time for National Bologna Day; The Nerdist's Chris Hardwick asks the eternal question, "Who's Kornflake?"; and you get to decide whose singing is rougher: Cloris Leachman (with her infamous 80s School House Rock intro song) or Kevin (with The Sponge Awareness Foundation's infamous School House Rock medley). It's a close call.

Direct download: Flopcast_076.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:02am EDT

Kevin and Kornflake are in Manchester, New Hampshire for the Granite State Comicon! Come along as we encounter Perhapanauts artist Craig Rousseau, Tiny Titans artist Art Baltazar, the Boston Ninja Turtle, Amy the Mermaid, classic arcade games from Funspot, Ghost Kitties and Action Cats, Snorks, a Snowpocalypse, and yes, our very favorite Mr. T cosplayer. And hang on, because this one gets weird, in a mid-convention dental emergency kind of way. That's right, Kornflake found a way to make her first comic book show extra-special. Pass the Novocaine and enjoy.

Direct download: Flopcast_075.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:10pm EDT

More School House Rock 40th anniversary fun this week, as Kevin knocks out a Top 4 1/2 List of Science Rock cartoons! (Get ready for a shock, but we're huge fans of Interplanet Janet around here.) As a bonus, this leads to yet another bizarre tale from junior high school in Woonsocket, Rhode Island. (We'll never run out of these stories. It was a weird, weird place.) Also: Kornflake and Scott Baio prepare to scream.

Direct download: Flopcast_074.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:57am EDT

Kornflake learns that no revenge is sweeter than a birthday cake in the face; Vodka Day is this week, which means we'd better keep an eye on our friend Vodka (we, uh, know a girl named Vodka); George Takei boldly chicken-dances where no chicken has danced before; and we end with a round of "What's in the Bag," compliments of Luke and Sara, who mailed us a mysterious (and yes, chicken-themed) package. (This episode turned out to be even more chicken-themed than we'd intended. Hope you're okay with that.)

Direct download: Flopcast_073.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

Our celebration of the 40th anniversary of School House Rock continues, as the Mayor of Chickentown presents a Top 4 1/2 List of Multiplication Rock! Featuring weird zoo animals, twelve-toed aliens, a hero named Zero, and even more 1970s educational silliness. This is why we're all total math geniuses today. Also: The boozy truth about Johnny Appleseed; video evidence of Kornflake's latest zorbing adventure; a "What's in the Bag" segment with shocking implications for our "Pudding Pages" segment; and an actual round of speed dating, right in the middle of the show! (Super-creepy speed dating, that is. Just the way you like it.)

Direct download: Flopcast_072.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:25am EDT

Kevin is back from Atlanta with a full report on DragonCon, featuring 50,000 nerds and/or geeks, the Bionic Man and Woman, High Feather cosplayers, booze-serving robots, Canadian teen pop star Robin Sparkles, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, Shatner, a steampunk owl catcher, Hulk cologne, and yes, Charles Nelson Reilly. Kind of a strange weekend, in retrospect. We also get in some music talk, and recommend George Hrab, Sufjan Stevens, and 80s-style arena rock. (Admit it, you love REO Speedwagon.) And Kornflake reminds us to remind her about Talk Like a Pirate Day. But we won't.

Direct download: Flopcast_071.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:55am EDT

Kevin and Kornflake kick off the fall season by returning not to school, but to School House Rock! We're celebrating the 40th anniversary of these classic cartoons, starting with a Top 4 1/2 List of Grammar Rock. Of course that means a train ride through Conjunction Junction, a very crowded bus ride with Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla... and we might even unpack an adjective or two. Join us! Also: Defy Superstition Day is this week, so throw a black cat under a ladder or something. 

Direct download: Flopcast_070.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:06pm EDT

Worry not, true believers -- before Kevin sneaked off to DragonCon, we recorded this quick little episode of miscellaneous silliness, just for you. This week: Shocking the world, Kevin returns to Woonsocket, Rhode Island for an actual high school reunion; Kornflake is covered in mosquito bites, talking like the kids of Degrassi, and dreaming of zorbing again; we discuss the mysterious connection between skyscrapers and giant turkeys; our Pudding Pages segment takes us deep into the disco era; and we end with some Chickens in the News, all the way from Indonesia, where the chickens are, yes, mystical. And they might even make you a sandwich.

Direct download: Flopcast_069.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT

It's our second annual DragonCon preview show, as we prepare for the upcoming mega-gathering of the geeks in downtown Atlanta. Enjoy some hints and tips about how to survive the craziest four days on the nerd calendar. We also discuss some of the guests (Lee Majors and Lindsay Wagner!), concerts (Paul and Storm!), and events (Rebecca Watson's Quiz-O-Tron 2000!) we're looking forward to, and run through Kevin's panel schedule. (If you miss the "Sid and Marty Krofft: Wildboys and Dynagirls" panel, we'll banish you to Lidsville.) Also: Kornflake checks out the Ryan Montbleau Band (and insists they don't just cover Nu Shooz songs), and teaches us all about National Trail Mix Day. Really.

Direct download: Flopcast_068.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:37pm EDT

Kornflake reports on this year's Falcon Ridge Folk Festival, a weekend of music, mud, Moxy Fruvous, and tie-dyed unmentionables. Meanwhile Kevin attends Boston Comic Con, serves as a lifeline in a zombie-themed round of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and brings back an exclusive Flopcast interview with Amy the Steampunk Mermaid! (And stick around at the end of the show to hear the guy we totally failed to locate at Boston Comic Con: Nashville's Superman, Allen Shervelle.) Also: Spumoni.

Direct download: Flopcast_067.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 3:00am EDT