Old School Lane's Favorite Podcast Interviews

 It's still December which means celebrating the 10th anniversary of Old School Lane by going back to the decade's worth of content and looking back on what have been the works I've been proud to post. Last week, we talked about my favorite episodes of Casual Chats. This week, we'll be talking about the podcast interviews. While I did do a Top 10 list on this topic 5 years ago, a lot more have come out since then. With that said, it's time to look back on my favorite podcast interviews.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 14: Interview with Marc Weiner

Originally uploaded on July 10, 2013 on YouTube.

Marc Weiner was the creator, producer, co-writer, and actor behind the 1993 Nickelodeon variety show Weinerville. Kevin and I had interviewed him a year prior on the Old School Lane blog back when we did blog interviews. But we decided to have him back on the show since Weinerville was celebrating its 20th anniversary. Kevin and I loved Weinerville as kids and having Marc on the show voicing as Dottie, Socko, Zip, Boney, and more for us was such a treat. Not to mention answering our questions was also great too. Weinerville is a polarizing show for a lot of people, but for those who grew up with zany variety shows like Pee-wee's Playhouse would fit right in watching it. Marc has been really supporting at Old School Lane for years such as cameoing in Halcyon Days and even sending Kevin and I Weinerville items around the holidays when we first interviewed him. He has been nothing but kind and loving and we are very happy that we've kept in touch with him. Sadly, the audio quality doesn't hold up. Hopefully we can remedy that with a follow up podcast interview someday.

Turtle Talk Episode 3: Interview with Renae Jacobs

Originally uploaded on July 25, 2013 on YouTube.

Kevin and I had a short lived podcast where we covered Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles news, episode recaps of the 2012 Nickelodeon series, and interviews with people associated with the franchise. Our first interview was with the original voice actress behind April O'Neal, Renae Jacobs. We had asked her about working on TMNT and her other works. Again, the audio quality doesn't hold up, but Kevin and I still had a blast doing it and are still proud of it. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 26: Interview with Nathaniel "GeminiLaser" Hoover

Originally uploaded on January 13, 2014

I don't watch a lot of Let's Plays on YouTube, surprisingly. I tried my hand on watching Game Grumps back when Egoraptor and JonTron first started, but it didn't gel with me very well. Even Arun tried to show me a clip show of their best moments, but I found some of their jokes to be unfunny and even tasteless. So, it was a complete surprise when back around 2013 when I was a part of the PlaysStation Let's Play channel alongside Tristen, Nick, and Tom and I was playing Mega Man 2, I had decided to watch some videos of the series to refresh myself. I had found a YouTube channel named GeminiLaser that was doing a Let's Play series on the classic Mega Man games with some great tips on playing the game with utilizing the weapons, going in an unorthodox direction by going in reverse order or random orders on the stages, having clever or terrible puns and jokes, singing, and thoughts on the games in terms of the level design, weapons, music, and gameplay. I then discovered his content on the GameCola website where he would be talking about other video game thoughts on blog articles, podcasts, vlogs, and video reviews. I then invited Nathaniel to the podcast and he told me about his love of Mega Man, doing his Let's Plays, doing his blog Exfanding Your Horizons, and more. He was so hilarious and a very nice guy to talk to. I would invite him to do the Legacy of Star Trek podcast and Halcyon Days, which was a great treat to experience.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 27: Interview with Lindsey "Little Miss Gamer" Briggs 

Originally uploaded on January 28, 2014 on YouTube.

This would be the first of four interviews I would conduct based on my major influences of my content creation work on the Internet. Lindsey Briggs a.k.a. Little Miss Gamer would cover her personal favorite retro video games on the site PBC Productions in a calm, sweet, and comforting persona in a time when angry ranting personas were populating the reviewing community. When I had reached her, she had retired from posting videos due to dedicating her time working as a puppeteer for the Jim Henson Company, marrying Chad Williams from PBC Productions, and having a family. We talked about her time doing work at PBC Productions, her decision to quit content creation, and whether or not she would introduce her children to video games. We even met in person a few years later in person when I visited New York to see my family and friends. Since then, she and Chad have started their own puppet company WonderSpark Puppets, they do a podcast together talking about being parents and their puppet work, and Lindsey recently became the voice of Foley in the Sesame Street podcast Foley and Friends on Audible. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 30: Interview with Jim Jinkins

Originally uploaded on June 4, 2014 on YouTube

When Kevin and I went to the Slimed! event in New York City, we met many former Nickelodeon actors, show creators, and composers including the creator of Doug, Jim Jinkins. We had gotten a hold of him and asked him questions about Doug, Pinwheel, and learned about the rejected pitches for a Judy spin off series, and how he would continue the series if Disney allowed him to. Kevin and I were huge fans of Doug when we were kids and still think that it's a great animated series that deserves more credit that the Internet gives it. Jim and I would talk again a few years later during the 25th anniversary of the 3 original Nicktoons. 

Turtle Talk Episode 12: Interview with Michele Ivey from Cowabunga Corner

Originally uploaded on June 21, 2014 on YouTube.

In the penultimate episode of Turtle Talk, Kevin and I interviewed the main person behind the fan site Cowabunga Corner, Michele Ivey. We talked about how she was introduced to TMNT, her favorite series and films from the franchise, and more. While we dipped our toes into talking to TMNT fans with Chris "RowdyC" Moore, Michele's insights was filled with interesting stories about meeting with actors, writers, and the creators of the series, owning items from the movies, and briefly talking about her father David Ivey and his animation work. Getting to talk to a hardcore TMNT fan was such a blast and getting to clear up that she doesn't eat multiple pizzas a day or obsessively talk about TMNT as VH1 portrayed it was good for people who saw Totally Obsessed out of context. She has slowed down her content as of late due to personal issues going on with the loss of her father and her family home, but she is still determined than ever to share her love of TMNT to everyone who loves the series.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 35: Interview with Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere

Originally uploaded on November 4, 2014 on YouTube.

It was the first double interview we've ever done as well as it was the first time that Kevin's then girlfriend (now wife) Christina joined in on the podcast. We had invited the creators of the 1997 ABC animated series Recess Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere. They had also worked on other animated shows such as Rugrats and Hey Arnold. We even talked about those shows, writer Steve Viksten, and the legacy of both shows. We would keep in touch over the years and I would invite them for other interviews and podcasts. My talks with Paul and Joe are moments that I will cherish.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 36: Interview with Derek "The Happy Video Game Nerd" Alexander

Originally uploaded on November 26, 2014 on YouTube.

The second of the four interviews on my influences in content creation is Derek Alexander a.k.a. The Happy Video Game Nerd. In a time where everyone was reviewing bad games from their childhoods akin to James Rolfe, in comes HVGN where he reviews video games that he considers overlooked or underrated. In addition, he was the co-founder and composer of the short lived chiptune band Starship Amazing, and did livestreams under Space Money Octagon. We talked about music, video games, his stint as the HVGN, and his short lived skit series peter, dana, derek. Who would have thought that I would be the last person that had interviewed him under the HVGN name since a month later, he would announce that he would make changes to his channel and call it Stop Skeletons From Fighting alongside his girlfriend Grace Cramer. They even cameoed in Halcyon Days. Our time talking together was a great experience that I would always be grateful for.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 50: Interview with Will McRobb

Originally uploaded on November 14, 2015 on YouTube.

Two milestones hit with this particular interview: Casual Chats had hit 50 episodes and it was the 4th anniversary of the podcast itself. Kevin and I decided to celebrate by inviting the co-creator of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Will McRobb. We talked about Pete & Pete, KaBlam!, Snow Day, and more. Will was a really cool guy to have on the show and he would be very supportive for Old School Lane. He complimented my review of his Amazon Prime pilot A Kid Called Mayonnaise and he cameoed in Halcyon Days. Having Will on the show was a dream come true for me as a huge Pete & Pete fan and it's still one I'm super proud of.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 59: Interview with Brandon Jones

Originally uploaded on July 19, 2016 on YouTube.

The third of four interviews of people who influenced my online content creation is Brandon Jones, the co-founder of the former video game website GameTrailers and currently the co-founder and member of the video game reviewing channel Easy Allies. He's mostly known as being the voice behind all the reviews and retrospectives. Before it shut down in 2015, I had been a huge fan of GameTrailers for almost a decade going there to watch their video game reviews, top ten list, their weekly video game discussion show, their video game retrospectives, and hosting several series such as The Angry Video Game Nerd, ScrewAttack, Hey Ash, Watch Are You Playing?, and more. We talked about starting GameTrailers, discovering ScrewAttack and AVGN, their well known videos, and the beginning of Easy Allies. When I had gotten a hold of Brandon, they were just getting started on restructuring their platform after Viacom shut down GameTrailers and they were left without a job. It was a thrill getting a hold of Brandon and he even cameoed in Halycon Days. I hope to get a hold of the other members of Easy Allies for Casual Chats some day. 

How the 3 Original Nicktoons Influenced Pop Culture with Mathew Klickstein and Caseen Gaines

Originally uploaded on August 27, 2016 on YouTube.

During the 25th anniversary celebration of the 3 original Nicktoons, I had did a series of podcasts celebrating them. Out of the bunch, I was really proud of this particular one. I had invited authors and pop culture enthusiasts Mathew Klickstein and Caseen Gaines discussing how Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show influenced pop culture when they did a series of oral history retrospectives on Decider. Even though I had both Mathew and Caseen previously in other interviews before and after this one, this one is still my favorite.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 66: Interview with Arun Mehta

Originally uploaded on October 16, 2016 on YouTube.

Out of all the interviews I've done over the past 10 years, this one will always be a personal favorite of mine and one the closest to my heart. I was doing a series of videos and podcasts to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Hey Arnold and wanted to invite a fan of the show. I had done it the year before with Michelle Cavitolo talking about As Told by Ginger and had decided to bring Arun Mehta from The Arun Mehta Show to Casual Chats since I knew he was a part of the Hey Arnold: Save the Jungle Movie group and had interviewed the creator Craig Bartlett himself. We talked about his introduction of Hey Arnold, his favorite episodes, characters, and his thoughts on what he would like to see in a 6th season. After I would interview someone, I would almost never hear from them again. But Arun was one of the rare exceptions. A few months later, he invited me to be a co-host on his podcast and we became fast friends. Then almost two years later, we had decided to date each other. Arun has been a very important person in my life and I cannot imagine my life without him. 

All the interviews on We're in Between

I know, this is cheating. But I cannot choose just one interview from the weekly As Told by Ginger podcast I co-hosted alongside with Casey Reed and Ashli Wittenkeller. As a huge fan of As Told by Ginger, getting a hold of the actors, actresses, composer, directors, storyboard artists, and even the creator herself was beyond a dream come true for me. I had learned stories, facts, and behind the scenes tales that I would have never learned about had I never gotten a hold of them, but I'm glad I did. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 85: Interview with Mitch Schauer

Originally uploaded on June 11, 2017 on YouTube.

Shortly after the 20th anniversary of the 1997 Nicktoon The Angry Beavers, I had decided to get a hold of the creator himself. We talked about his early years in animation, the creation of The Angry Beavers, his favorite episodes, and talks of bringing it back with a TV movie if Nickelodeon allowed him to. I had learned some fun stories on working on the show and all the improvising by the voice actors Nick Bakay and Richard Horvitz. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 119: Interview with Craig Bartlett

Originally uploaded on November 25, 2018 on YouTube.

Back around 2013, Kevin and I had gotten a hold of Hey Arnold creator Craig Bartlett. The audio was beyond terrible, especially since half way through the podcast, maintenance had came over and mowed the lawn outside my apartment and blocked Craig's discussion. I had gotten another chance 5 years later to talk about some updates that had happened since our last discussion. Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie had been released on Nickelodeon and he had released Hey Arnold: The Complete Collection on DVD. Hey Arnold has always been one of my favorite Nicktoons growing up and has gotten a lot more appreciated from me for multiple reasons. Craig is one of them.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 124: Interview with Lisa Foiles

Originally uploaded on April 13, 2019 on YouTube.

During All That Month, I had invited one of the cast members from the 2002 incarnation of the classic 90's variety show from Nickelodeon Lisa Foiles. We talked about her time working on All That, her YouTube content, and doing a random segment of looking at the weird holidays of the month of April from Holiday Insights. She had some intriguing stories and it was so interesting to hear it coming from a funny actress. Now, Lisa has written a book and is taking care of her two children which is why her channel is on hiatus. We had a great time together and she was nothing but delightful.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 164: Interview with Fred Seibert

Originally uploaded on April 9, 2021 on Anchor.

Back around September 2012, Kevin and I had Fred Seibert, the founder of Frederator Studios, to do a blog interview. Almost a decade later, I brought Fred to Casual Chats when I heard the news that he had left Frederator to do another animation company called Fred Films in California. Instead of rehashing the questions of him being the last president of Hanna Barbera and his time in Frederator, I had wanted to know what he did after our interview with him such as starting Fred Films, his recent blog article about Nickelodeon rejecting Adventure Time, and more. I had enjoyed my time talking to Fred and learning about the importance of conquering your dreams and passions.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 169: Interview with Craig "Stuttering Craig" Skitsimas

Originally uploaded on July 30, 2021 on Anchor.

The fourth and final interview based on my influences in online content creation is Craig Skistimas, the co-founder of the video game website ScrewAttack. Thanks to GameTrailers, I had seeing the videos of ScrewAttack from Video Game Vault, their top 10s, SideScrollers, and more. I had followed Craig's work from his stint on GameAttack and his solo YouTube channel. We talked about ScrewAttack, starting off The Collaborator Club, and the potential of a person's content creation. He was very insightful about video games and online content creation that was very interesting to hear and learn about. It was such a thrill I was able to get a hold of him after almost a decade's worth of trying.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 170: Interview with Martin Olson

Originally uploaded on August 6, 2021 on Anchor.

Martin Olson is a writer on television and books and he came by to promote his upcoming book Encyclopedia of Heaven, which was a sequel to Encyclopedia of Hell. We talked about his writing influences, working on Rocko's Modern Life, Phineas and Ferb, and Adventure Time, voicing the demon ruler Hunson Abadeer alongside his daughter Olivia who had voice Marceline the Vampire Queen, and the process of writing music. He was both informative and funny and nothing more than a delight to have over. 

That's all for now. Tune in next week as I go over my favorite collaborations from other videos and podcasts. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia

 

Old School Lane's Favorite Episodes of Casual Chats

It's December, the last month of the year! Can't believe that in a few weeks, it'll be 2022. 2021 was definitely an improvement over 2020, but it was still a fairly rough year filled with many ups and downs. But this month is a time for celebration. This month is when my best friend and I started Old School Lane. Even though Kevin had left long ago to focus on his own life endeavors, I kept it going. Now, it'll be about 10 years since we posted our first blog article. It's incredible to think that we've been able to keep it running after all this time, but we did. It's thanks to your amazing support that we've continued going on talking about our favorite movies, TV shows, video games, and everything else in between.

5 years ago, I had posted on what had been my favorite blog interviews, blog articles, podcast episodes, podcast interviews, and videos. I had done so many other videos and podcasts since then that I want to reevaluate my years of content and update some of my lists. When I say some, I meant I would look back on my favorite podcast episodes, podcast interviews, and videos. I had stopped doing blog articles and blog interviews in favor on focusing on doing podcasts and videos, so I will not be redoing my favorites on those. Instead, I will be doing some other lookbacks on my work on Old School Lane that I'll be going over throughout this month. There's even a surprise that I'll be doing to celebrate the 10 year anniversary of Old School Lane, but I'll announce it very soon. In the meanwhile, here's a lookback on my favorite episodes of Casual Chats in chronological order.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 23: The Adventures of Pete & Pete 

Originally released on November 18, 2013 on YouTube.

I don't look back fondly on my early episode of Casual Chats. The audio is terrible, my editing skills were rough, and working on a old hand-me-down computer with a $20 webcam/microphone didn't make it sound as professional as I wanted to. But talking about my favorite Nickelodeon live action show back around 2013 was a very enjoyable listen as Kevin, Alex DeCourville, Jim Bevan, and myself as we reflected on our favorite episodes, characters, the music, and the debate on whether it created the modern day hipster, especially since we released on the show's 20th anniversary. While there are plenty of better podcasts we had recorded and produced, this is the podcast I felt that was the starting point of where the quality of our discussions were getting better after doing podcasts one year after Casual Chats had started. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 32: Sonic the Hedgehog

Originally premiered on September 11, 2014 on YouTube.

One of my favorite video game franchises of all time was the Sonic series. When I was a kid, I had gotten a hand-me-down Sega Genesis from my older cousin with Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and a few other games. Since then, I own most of the classic Sonic games on Steam mostly thanks to the Sega Genesis Classic Collection and some of the modern games such as Sonic Generations and Sonic Mania. I had talked about this video game franchise more than any other and this is the first of many Sonic podcasts I would do with my friend Tom Carter. We talked about the games from the original Sonic the Hedgehog to Sonic Generations since Sonic: Lost World was the newest game at the time, the different animated series, and the comics. While video game discussions on Casual Chats were never our most popular, I had a blast with Kevin and Tom talking about our favorite blue hedgehog. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 40: Avatar: The Last Airbender 

Originally posted on February 22, 2015 on YouTube

Avatar: The Last Airbender is what I would consider to be the last of the classic Nicktoons ranked up there with Doug, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold SpongeBob SquarePants, and more before it went through a massive rough patch where it had a mostly dry spell of great Nicktoons that would only be filled with The Legend of Korra, the 2012 incarnation of TMNT, and The Loud House. It's still to this day my all time favorite Nicktoon next to Hey Arnold. This episode of Casual Chats had the most amount of people in a Casual Chats, 10 including myself, talking about our favorite episodes, moments, the lore, the world building, and the terrible live action movie in honor of the show's 10th anniversary. It was a crazy, erratic, and I was so happy to see a new generation of fans gravitating to the show when it was released on Netflix and staying on the #1 spot for two months. Because of this, Mike DiMartino and Bryan Koneitzko, the creators of Avatar: The Last Airbender, are now making new Avatar projects starting with a movie combining 2D and CGI inspired by Spider-Man: Enter the Spiderverse. Even over 15 years after its premiere, I had always considered Avatar: The Last Airbender to be a nearly flawless masterpiece with its memorable and fully developed characters, intriguing story, interesting world, unique creature designs, and moments that made you both laugh and cry. It holds up beautifully to this day and would set a new standard of Nicktoons.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 46: Tiny Toon Adventures

Originally uploaded on September 14, 2015 on YouTube

This is one of my favorite Casual Chats episodes that Kevin and I have done together. Tiny Toon Adventures was the first of the Warner Bros. cartoons produced by Steven Spielberg and would be the start of now classic cartoons from the Amblin lineup such as Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, and Freakazoid. Kevin and I talked about the importance of bringing a breath of fresh air into the Looney Tunes cartoons, the way it was able to bring female characters into the limelight at a time when they were side characters or one-note, the episodes, the music, and the TV movie How I Spent My Summer Vacation. Tiny Toon Adventures was always one of my favorite animated series as a kid and while you may say that Animaniacs had perfected its formula, it isn't without its charm. Now I'm genuinely curious on how they're going to capture that same charm with the upcoming reboot Tiny Toons Looniversity. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 62: Metroid

Originally uploaded on August 7, 2016 on YouTube

My favorite video game franchise of all time is the Metroid franchise. While it may not be not as renowned as Mario, Zelda, or Pokémon, Metroid has always intrigued me with its atmosphere, gameplay, bosses, power ups, soundtrack, and story. Jim Bevan, his friend Lily, and myself did the podcast when the franchise was celebrating its 25th anniversary and Nintendo had released the polarizing spin-off game Metroid Prime: Federation Force on the 3DS and Milton "DoctorM64" Gausti had released his critically acclaimed fan remake of Metroid II called Another Metroid II Remake. It's amazing to think that 5 years later, Metroid Dread would be released and would gain a larger audience and would be critically acclaimed receiving Game of the Year Nominations. It's the only game series that I did a Let's Play series on to celebrate the franchise's anniversary because I loved the games that much. Some of my favorite blog articles I had ever written had been about the Metroid franchise. It's great to see more people exploring the world and perspective of Samus Aran.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 72: The Amblimation Trilogy

Originally uploaded on November 24, 2016 on YouTube

The first of many trilogies we would cover on Casual Chats was the discussion of the three animated films under Steven Spielberg's short lived animation film studio before being the co-founder of DreamWorks Animation. James Sullivan, Taylor Wyatt, and I talked about An American Tail: Fievel Goes West, We're Back: A Dinosaur's Story, and Balto, its history behind the films, and what other projects it would've released had it still been around. Both Don Bluth and Steven Spielberg are huge influences of mine and being a huge fan of their work, I had wanted to talk about these series of films that had since then been overshadowed by the animated films that were released during the Disney Renaissance. Fievel Goes West was released on the same day as Beauty and the Beast which was critically acclaimed by critics and viewers and nominated for Best Picture at a time when animated films had never been revered as such. Balto was released shortly after Toy Story premiered and changed the course of animation forever. It was great talking about a piece of animation history during that Thanksgiving season.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 78: The Disney Renaissance Films

Originally uploaded on March 5, 2017 on YouTube

This would be the start of a series of Casual Chats episodes that Chris Moore and I did covering the seven Disney eras. At the time, Chris was working on a book looking back on the Disney films that were released from the late 80's to the late 90's and going over the morals and life lessons he had learned from watching them. Out of the all the Disney films that were released, these 10 films are still fondly remembered by animation fans and Disney enthusiasts. It was great revisiting these films and seeing it from a different view that I hadn't before. Because of this, it would be the inspiration of Chris and I going to Disney World together a year later and doing more Disney podcasts together.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 79: Sailor Moon

Originally uploaded on March 12, 2017 on YouTube

It was the 25th anniversary of the iconic magical girl manga and anime Sailor Moon created by Naoko Takeuchi and J.L. O' Faolin, Curt Clark, and myself talked about the different seasons, the characters, the animation, and the terrible DiC English dub. Out of all the podcasts I've done talking about anime, this is the most viewed one and I can understand why. Sailor Moon is one of the shows that had gotten people into anime, including myself. A lot of people still look back fondly of Sailor Moon, especially the original 90's anime. When I was going to conventions, I would see at least one cosplayer dressing up as one of the Sailor Guardians. I hadn't seen Sailor Moon since the late 90's and when watching them again on the Viz Media website, I had fallen in love with the series all over again. When Sailor Moon Crystal completes its run, you can be sure that we'll be talking about it.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 81: Azumanga Daioh

Originally uploaded on April 9, 2017 on YouTube.

On the 15th anniversary of the slice of life anime Azumanga Daioh, ZenithWillRule and I talked about our favorite characters, episodes, moments, and jokes. This was a different discussion since Azumanga Daioh is mostly known for its characters and jokes more than its story. I have had a strong connection with this anime since college and would be one of the shows I would make my way to watch every year. It has influenced me in so many ways that I've even drew elements of it on a series of stories I want to publish someday. Azumanga Daioh is one of the quintessential slice of life anime that would go on to influence other shows such as K-On!, Lucky Star, and more. It's a classic that has stood the test of time and I had enjoyed talking about it with Zenith. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 89: The Sullivan/Bluth Studios Movies

Originally uploaded on August 6, 2017 on YouTube.

Going back in the realm of Don Bluth is this discussion of the eight films that were released on his animation studio from the early 80s to the mid 90s alongside with James Sullivan and Mat Brunet. It was perfect timing since The Secret of NIMH was celebrating its 35th anniversary. As a kid, I had grown up watching Don Bluth's films and they were just as great as the Disney films at the time. Films such as An American Tail, The Land Before Time, and All Dogs Go to Heaven are childhood favorites of mine and it was great revisiting them for the first time in decades. It wasn't so great visiting his later films, but we had a blast talking about them nevertheless. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 91: Recess

Originally uploaded on August 31, 2017 on YouTube

It was the 20th anniversary of the ABC animated series Recess and who better to talk about the series than the people behind the show. I invited creators Paul Germain and Joe Ansolabehere, writers Bart Jennett and Peter Gaffney, composer Denis Hannigan, and voice actor Courtland Mead to talk about their experiences working on it. It was such a blast getting together the people who were a part of one of my favorite shows growing up and recalling fond memories of how they came up with the episodes, characters, and music. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 101: The Fox Animation Studios Trilogy

Originally uploaded on January 9, 2018 on YouTube.

Continuing with the discussion of Don Bluth, I had James Sullivan, Taylor Wyatt, and Nero Angelus talking about The Fox Animation Studios trilogy. After Sullivan/Bluth Studios was shut down, he had started another studio at Fox releasing Anastasia, Bartok the Magnificent, and Titan A.E. I had seen Anastasia and Titan A.E. before, but had never seen Bartok the Magnificent before. Knowing that there were a lot of animated direct to video sequels on Don Bluth films that he had no involvement in, I was curious to see how Bartok would end up. Sadly, it was underwhelming and disappointing. But Titan A.E. was even more of an underwhelming disappointment knowing the behind the scene issues that occur in the making of the film, the deleted scenes that strengthened the story and character development, and the box office failure that resulted in the end of Don Bluth's film career and the shut down of Fox Animation Studios. We had concluded the podcast going over the Dragon's Lair movie animation pitch that only his Indiegogo donators were able to see. Since I was one of them, I had talked about how the origins of Dirk the Daring and Princess Daphne reminded me of The Swan Princess. Who would have thought that Titan A.E. would still be considered his last animated film when it was reported years later that the Dragon's Lair movie would now be live action? I didn't, that's for sure.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 103: The Pokémon Movies and OVAs

Originally uploaded on February 11, 2018 on YouTube.

I had just recently watched Pokemon: I Choose You in theaters and had decided to watch all of the films and OVAs after not having seeing most of them. The films I did see I hadn't seeing in over 20 years and had revisited them again. With Jim, Eli Stone, and Des Shinta, we talked about our memories watching films based on the anime based on the video games. While some of the films weren't that great, there were others that I was genuinely surprised on how complex and emotional they could be. I haven't seen the newer Pokémon films yet, but when I do, I definitely want to return to this topic. I had a great time talking about these films.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 115: SNICK

Originally uploaded on September 22, 2018 on YouTube.

This was a podcast episode I had to record a second time when I had lost the original audio. I had invited David and Eli from the Are You Afraid of the Dark? podcast You Scared of This? to talk about the Nickelodeon 2 hour block SNICK that would air certain programs on Saturday nights. We talked about the iconic programs that aired on that block like Clarissa Explains it All to the more obscure programs like Space Cases. We talked about the height of its popularity around the 90s and its eventual downfall around the 2000s when its best shows were cancelled and were replaced by other programs that never caught on. The Nickelodeon podcasts have been my most listened to on Casual Chats and this has been one of my favorites I've done. I'm so glad I re-recorded the audio because it's one that I'm still very proud of. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 121: The Land Before Time Franchise

Originally uploaded on December 19, 2018

This is the 3rd time that Don Bluth was a topic on Casual Chats, but this time it was on The Land Before Time, its 13 sequels, and animated series. I brought Eli to this discussion since he was an expert on the subject having seeing all of the films. I had only seeing the first 5 sequels and skipped on the rest. When I had marathon all 14 films, I had noticed that they started to get progressively worse around the 11th, 12th, and 13th sequel with its mediocre songs, softened story, unnecessary character additions, and low budget animation. It was a far cry from the original Land Before Time movie I had loved and cherished. But I still had fun looking back on these films and poking fun at their hilariously bad moments. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 133: The Swan Princess Franchise

Originally uploaded on November 29, 2019 on YouTube

It was the 25th anniversary of The Swan Princess and I had brought J.L, Curt, and Christy Esterlie to talk about the franchise. I had watched the film's pink carpet celebration and listened to a podcast where the producer talked about the making of the film and found it to be very fascinating. It was the first animated film by Nest Entertainment (now known as Crest Animation), an animation studio founded by former Disney animator Richard Rich who had left the company to do his own work. While never receiving the same critical accolades of Don Bluth, he's still working on animated films which is what we talked about looking at all 10 Swan Princess films. While the first film was simply okay, the sequels got worse and worse, especially when they switched over to 3D. But the discussions were a blast to get through and a great way to get through the awful films.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 139: A Goofy Movie and An Extremely Goofy Movie

Originally uploaded on April 8, 2020 on Anchor.

It was both the 25th anniversary of A Goofy Movie and the 20th anniversary of its sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie and Arun Mehta, Jim, Eli, and Tariq talked about both of them. We talked about the surprise lukewarm reception that A Goofy Movie received from critics back in 1995 and its overwhelmingly response from the people who loved the film. It was able to humanize Goofy in a way that was never shown in the 1940s Disney shorts and even in the animated series Goof Troop with the relationship he had with his son Max. With the sequel, it continued the relationship with Max now that he was in college. We went over the juxtaposition between Goofy and Max with Pete and PJ, the music by Powerline, and the serious moments that surprised us when rewatching the films again. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 139: The Studio Ghibli Films

Originally uploaded on August 31, 2020 on Anchor.

It was the 35th anniversary of the founding of the Japanese animation studio Studio Ghibli by Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, Toshio Suzuki, and Yasuyoshi Tokuma. Zenith Warrior Princess, Filip Kanzurovski, and myself had only seeing the Miyazaki films, but we talked about how he was able to feature fantastic female protagonists, environmental stories, calming music, whimsical settings, quiet atmosphere, and magical elements. From Nausicaa to The Wind Rises, Miyazaki's films have become just as beloved as Disney animated films. We promised that we would return to Studio Ghibli films to watch the films we weren't able to. With Miyazaki announcing his next animation project, that would be the best time to make a follow up podcast.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 154: Calvin and Hobbes.

Originally uploaded on January 4, 2021 on Anchor.

The first time covering comic strips needed experts on the subject and inviting Andrew Farago and his wife Shaenon Garrity were the perfect guests. We talked about how we were first introduced to the comic strips by Bill Watterson, the hilarious moments featuring Calvin and his toy tiger Hobbes, the profound moments of intellect, and its exaggerated presentation. While the strips ended over 25 years ago, fans are still gravitating to the strip's timeless tales of simple childhood wonder and the parents' frustrated personas on raising a sarcastic and over imaginative boy. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 158: The Pokémon Anime

Originally uploaded on February 23, 2021 on Anchor.

In honor of Pokémon's 25th anniversary, I had invited Malik and Devonte McLeod talking about the anime featuring the trainer Satoshi (Ash Ketchum) and his travels from the Kanto region to the Galar region. I had not seen the anime since Pokémon Advanced Battle ended so having two guests who caught up with the anime was great since I was able to learn what had happened since then. I was able to give my insights on the Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn seasons and talk about some of the episodes I had remembered and the moments that made a lot of people laugh and cry. We even covered the music that was produced in both Japan and America and how it was able to impact the show. I had a great time talking about the anime and learning some new information I hadn't known about before.

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 165: The Owl House Season 1

Originally uploaded on June 7, 2021 on Anchor.

At Old School Lane, we have been known for covering older movies, TV shows, video games, etc. So, a new show has to be very special if we were going to be covering it. That's exactly what happened with the 2020 Disney Channel animated series The Owl House. Arun, Paul Thomas, Michael McKinney, Tim Murphy, Rebecca Rose, and I had talked about the show's first season in honor of the second season's premiere. Arun and I had gotten requests from our listeners to cover this show, so we had decided to watch it together on Disney+. We had loved it so much that we decided to cover it as soon as we were done watching it. Since then, we had been doing episode recaps on Arun and Patricia and brought it up in our discussion at our PixMix episode of Monsters at Work. It has become one of our favorite shows and we cannot wait until the second half of Season 2 begins. 

Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 173: As Told by Ginger

Originally uploaded on November 1, 2021

I have stated multiple times over the years that I felt that As Told by Ginger was the most underrated Nicktoon ever made. In this episode, I invited Antoni Garcia and Ryan Stevens and Brooke Smith from the Nation of Animation podcast talking about it. We talked about our favorite episodes, characters, moments, and our opinion on why the show was overlooked. Every year for the past 5 years, I had released content about As Told by Ginger and had continued the tradition. It was great that more and more people had been tuning into As Told by Ginger over the years in thanks to the series being more available on streaming sites like Paramount Plus, Amazon Prime, and Pluto TV. It was even more great to read the comments from people saying that they loved the show and really appreciated the podcast talking about it, especially since the As Told by Ginger podcast We're in Between had ended its run years ago. It was great talking about this show again.

That's it for now. Tune in next week as I talk about my favorite podcast interviews. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia 

 

Old School Lane Update: August 2021

 Hey everyone, Patricia here. Summer came and went so fast this time around. Now, I'm at the final stretch of school. I'm officially a senior majoring in Broadcast Journalism and minoring in English focusing on Professional Writing. The last time I wrote about my school update, I was minoring in Entrepreneurship, but after a semester of taking accounting and Intro to Entrepreneurship, I felt that it wasn't for me and dropped it. It's crazy to think that I've come so far. This is probably the most cliched line of all time when people say "It only feels it yesterday when I first did *insert event here*), but it's true. It felt like I just did my freshman invocation with my mom whispering to me when we saw students wielding cameras "Someday, you'll be doing that" and the next thing I knew, I'm a senior at a camera recording freshman marching for their invocation. While I'm at the home stretch, this coming school year will be my busiest yet. I have six classes, two internships, and a lot of school activities that I'll be participating in for my fall semester. For my spring semester, I have seven classes and an exit exam I have to pass in order to graduate. So hearing all that, I'm left with some bad news for Old School Lane. I'm going on a slight hiatus...again.

Around the same time last year, I wrote an article looking at how disappointed I was that my podcasts and videos were at an all time low with little growth in subscribers. Now things have gotten slightly better. In the beginning of January, the Old School Lane YouTube channel had hit a milestone achievement with 9,000 subscribers. It's been over a half a year and we only had an additional 800 which means only 200 more and we would reach the milestone of 10,000. That's great and all, but the views have remained somewhat the same. Once again, I wanted to break away from talking about strictly Nickelodeon stuff and delved into topics I've never covered before. The first podcast episode of 2021 was about the comic strip series Calvin & Hobbes alongside Andrew Farago and his wife Shaenon Garrity. The next one after that was about the 2020 Amazon Prime Film Borat: Subsequent Movie Film, the sequel to the 2006 film Borat alongside Arun Mehta from The Arun Mehta Show. The latter was a disaster in views and made me lose some subscribers. It was a very polarizing topic for a lot of people. The third episode was about the 1970's British comedy Faulty Towers again alongside Arun. Views were the same as Borat and losing a subscriber in the process. 

Not only were subscribers and views were pretty low, views in premieres were pretty low. The most amount of people that would be tuning into a premiere of a podcast would range from 4-10. The lowest I've received was the repost of The Banter Broadcast episode of the Tron franchise were only 3 people showed up and they dropped after the first 10 minutes. That had crushed me and made the conscious decision to only leave YouTube premieres for videos only. 

I had then posted a poll to my listeners on the reason why views were getting low and the majority of them told me that the topic wasn't interesting enough to tune into. After that, I focused on posting something that they would be happy to hear about: animated shows. The most successful podcast episodes I've done this year were the Pokemon anime podcast with Malik and Devonte McLeod, the Invader ZIM podcast with CBJohnny, the Adventure Time podcast with Taylor "Whyboy" Wyatt from ToonGrin, Michael "Fusionater" McKinney, and Paul "Gunterfan1992" Thomas, and The Owl House podcast with Arun, Michael, Paul, my friend Tim from his blog A Look at Disney, and YouTuber Rebecca Rose. I'm glad that they were happy and I'm proud on how it turned out. However, I felt somewhat stuck. 

Luckily, I had gotten a hold of some amazing special guests that I've wanted to interview for many years. Voice actors such as Adam Wylie and Spike Spencer, a new interview with Fred Seibert after Kevin and I's first interview with him back in 2012, YouTubers Craig "Stuttering Craig" Skistimas and PokeKellz from The Dex, Hardline and Crush 40 singer Johnny Gioeli, and television writer Martin Olson. It felt great to talk to them about their careers, their triumphs, their projects, and advice for upcoming actors, writers, singers, and content creators. However, views were surprisingly low and no subscribers were gained in any of them. Once again, despite me being proud of the interviews I did, the views didn't reflect on it. Again, I felt stuck.

So, maybe I need a creative break to focus on schooling until I can figure out how to balance what I want to post and what my listeners/viewers want to see to make them happy. I know you want the same old content of me talking about one particular medium of entertainment over and over again, but I can't do that. That's not what Old School Lane was about. It was about covering all kinds of mediums of entertainment: movies, TV shows, video games, anime, and everything else in between. Then there's also the time period that the content came out in that people gravitated to. Most of my listeners/viewers may recall when Kevin and I would cover a lot of stuff from the 80's and 90's. While we do love the shows, movies, video games, etc. that came out around that time, the newer stuff have been amazing. Even some of the much older stuff are too important and classic to ignore. Nostalgia is an ever changing beast and will continue to change and evolve the more that the younger crowd grows older. Being in college again surrounded by 18-22 year olds reminiscing of shows, movies, and video games from the 2000's and 2010's gave me not only a new view of looking back at old times through fresher eyes, but made me feel really old. 

Bottom line, I'm happy with the direction that Old School Lane is going in. Of course I would love to post more podcasts and videos. I have a ton of ideas that are constantly swimming in my head. However, my current situation makes it possible to post a lot less than I would like to. Whether you want to join in on my journey or not is up to you. If you don't, that's perfectly fine. If you do, thank you for sticking around this far. I do have some plans for what I want to do for Old School Lane around December since it would've been 10 years since it first started. But we'll wait and see how it turns out. In the meantime, see you around when I have the time to post anything.

-Patricia

 

Thoughts of Metroid Dread

Well, this is something I never thought I would be talking about. E3 2021 has come and gone and most of the presentations left a lot to be desired. It made sense since due to COVID-19, video game venues weren't open to the public, journalists weren't able to enter the convention center to interview the representatives of video game companies there and play the demos of the showcased games, and some video game companies like Sony weren't going to showcase their games, but instead do it on their own showcase instead. While some companies such as Xbox/Bethesda showed some games that a lot of people were excited about, but the clear winner for me was Nintendo. What sealed the deal for me was presenting a game I thought would never see the light of day: Metroid Dread. 

For those who don't know, Metroid Dread was first announced as a Nintendo DS game in 2005 in an article by the gaming magazine Game Informer. It was suppose to take place after the events of Metroid Fusion where the protagonist Samus Arun had destroyed the Galactic Federation research station where the X Parasites had killed all the scientists and experiments and turned them into fearsome monsters that would do severe damage to the universe. Due to Samus killing all the Metroids in Metroid II: Return of Samus, the X Parasites were able to roam around SR-388 since the Metroids were their predators. Speaking of Metroids, the Galactic Federation had cloned Metroids using the last remnants of the Metroid DNA from Samus after using it as a vaccine when she was attacked by the X Parasites. It ended on a note that had a lot of concerns swimming on my head. Samus is now deemed as a traitor from the Galactic Federation. She has the last remnants of the Metroid DNA. She destroyed SR-388, the X Parasites, and the last living Metroids. I was waiting for Metroid Dread to answer the questions I wanted to see play out. But over the years, it was pushed further and further aside due to other games in the series being released such as Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Metroid: Other M. Corruption was the last little reference that Metroid Dread was in the final stages of completion. After that, no announcement. 

Shortly after the release of Metroid: Other M, Yoshio Sakamoto, the co-creator and producer of the Metroid series hadn't gone any further about Metroid Dread. It was just as I feared: Metroid Dread was cancelled. From 2002-2007, it was considered to being a golden era for the Metroid series that was never replicated since. Thanks to the Metroid Prime games from Retro Studios and the handheld Metroid games for the Game Boy Advance, Metroid was given the same amount of love and treatment that Nintendo would give to their other AAA franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Pokémon. Unfortunately, unlike those other AAA franchises, Metroid never sold very well, especially in Japan. North America loved the franchise a lot more, but nevertheless, the sales didn't justify making more games. The hardcore fans could only keep a niche franchise alive for so long. When Metroid: Other M flopped, the golden era of the franchise was over. Here's a sad fact, Animal Crossing: New Horizons sold more copies than all the Metroid games put together. One game sold more copies than all 11 games in a franchise. The idea of seeing Metroid Dread coming to life was like a pipedream alongside other wished for games that were cancelled such as Half Life 3, Mega Man Legends 3, or Silent Hills. 

15 years later, that pipedream became a reality. Metroid Dread will be coming out for the Nintendo Switch this October and the trailer showed some great promise. It started with Samus rocking out a new suit as she wandering around an unknown location. But then, a robot looks down from the ceiling targeting her and Samus tries shooting it down. Her beam weapon and her missiles do no damage and she has no choice but to run. Then it shows gameplay of Samus shooting, wall jumping, attacking, sliding, using an invisible powerup, and some cut scenes of the robot, Samus fighting a monster, and a Chozo typing in his computer. After the trailer, Sakamoto gave more details about the game such as how Dread was going to be the last game in the storyline involving Samus and the Metroids taking place after the events of Fusion, the robot was called E.M.M.I. and it belonged to the Galactic Federation, Dread was cancelled twice because of technical limitations not being able to do the game he envisioned, and MercurySteam, the same company who did the remake of Metroid II, were going to be developing Metroid Dread. Then, Nintendo Treehouse played the game for 20 minutes. If you're interested in checking out the trailer, click on the video down below.

The gameplay looks very similar to Metroid: Samus Returns with its emphasis on the combat, the free aim on Samus' arm cannon, and the slick angular art style, but it looks way better. It makes sense since Samus Returns was on the 3DS, but still, the more enhanced Switch really takes advantage of building the sense of unease that the Metroid series was known for. Because MercurySteam is working on the game, they'll even include more information that was briefly hinted at Samus Returns: the Chozo Memories. After you complete Samus Returns to 100%, you were able to unlock a few photos where you saw the Chozo, a group of bird aliens that created the Metroids, Mother Brain, and later on, raised Samus after Ridley killed her parents, land on SR-388 to collect Aeion for their experiments, discover the X Parasites, create the Metroids to combat them, learned that they were evolving, sealed SR-388 with acid, and called for help from their other Chozo allies. The last picture showed one of them killing the soldiers and scientists and left the Metroids alone. In the Metroid Dread trailer, there was a brief glimpse of a Chozo in his computer. This is the very first time in the series we've seen a Chozo alive. All the Chozos in the games have either been ghosts or statues that would give Samus her powerups. I'm guessing that he's going to be a major antagonist in this game alongside the Galactic Federation and the E.M.M.I. As for how he connects with Samus, that's going to be an interesting revelation. 

Sakamoto had mentioned in an interview that while story was going to be very important, he wanted it to ease the fans to playing it if this was going to be their first game. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption did that as well where it was trying to get newcomers into the franchise, but it ended up with the hardcore fans complaining that the story slowed down the pace of the game, it was too linear, the different planets didn't make the experience as memorable compared to other games in the series where it was in one location with variety, and the Wii motion controls were "too gimmicky". Now I've seen some people saying that Dread is going to do the same thing. I couldn't disagree more. The last few days has never made me more prouder to be a Metroid fan. Seeing everyone excited to check out Metroid Dread, game journalists saying it was the highlight of E3 2021, and even the newcomers who had never played a single Metroid game have done fan art and reaction videos saying that they are going to purchase it has made me so happy. The hardcore fanbase is very appreciated, but it could only go so far. We need to welcome new fans into this franchise. Look what happened to Fire Emblem Awakening. It was going to be the last game in the series because sales for the previous games were not justified in making more. But because it streamlined the gameplay, expanded the story, and made it a standalone experience, it not only saved the franchise, but it had gotten more games and has far more representation in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. Sakamoto even said that he already has the next game scripted, so if we want to see more Metroid games come out, we need to buy it! It's made me happy to know that it's the #1 pre-ordered video game according to Amazon. But I'm not happy to hear about the scalpers pre-ordering the special edition Metroid Dread including the Amibo figures and artbook and charging hundreds of dollars. Those guys suck! But nonetheless, let's make Metroid Dread a huge hit and start a new golden age for the franchise.

In conclusion, the Metroid franchise is my favorite video game franchise of all time. Super Metroid is my all time favorite video game. The fact that not only we're getting a new Metroid game in a few months, but it's a game that was laying dormant for 15 years. This is a big deal for multiple reasons. It's the first new 2D Metroid game in 19 years. It's the first console 2D Metroid game in 27 years. It's the final chapter in the story that has been around since the franchise's inception in 1986. This game is the perfect way to celebrate the series' 35th anniversary. It wasn't a disappointing port collection like what they did with Mario last year. It's a brand new game that has the promise to be incredibly successful and I can't wait! Hopefully we hear some new information on Metroid Prime 4 soon, but I wouldn't hold my breath. 

That's all for now. Hope to see you around soon. 

-Patricia

Old School Lane Update: December 2020

Hey everyone, it's been a while. Today is the 9th anniversary of Old School Lane! Hard to believe that I've been posting content on this blog (and later YouTube channel and Anchor page) for 9 years. My life is completely different than it was all those years ago. I was a 25 year old who had no job, no friends, and no hope that life would get any better. Man, my thought process has drastically changed since then and I seen life in a more positive light despite all the horrible things that has happened this year. I want to thank all of you for your amazing support, especially over the past few days. 

It's been a full year since I posted the older episodes of Casual Chats on Mondays, every episode of We're in Between on Tuesdays, PixMix on Wednesdays, DreamMachine on Thursdays, and Old School Lane Interviews on Fridays on the Anchor podcast site. It's even distributed on other sites such as Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, RadioPublic, Stitcher, Overcast, and Breaker. I would even post episodes of Nick Jukebox and the Roald Dahl Retrospective every month. Since then, I have caught up with PixMix and DreamMachine and started posting Arun and Patricia on Wednesdays. We're almost done with posting up Casual Chats, We're in Between, and Old School Lane Interviews. I'm thinking by early 2021 we'll be all caught up. In addition, we had posted new episodes of Casual Chats and Old School Lane Interviews first on Anchor before uploading it on YouTube. Since first posting in December 15, 2020, there had been 10,000 plays, over 200 unique listeners, and listeners from all over the world tuning in from the Philippines, Australia, the United Kingdom, and many states in the U.S.A. We will continue to post on Anchor for the foreseeable future. 

The Old School Lane YouTube channel had hit a major milestone of 8,000 subscribers around October when I made the announcement of the As Told by Ginger 20th Anniversary Reunion Livestream. But now, it's around over 8,500 subscribers. That would be the amount of subscribers Old School Lane would get in about 6-8 months. I checked out why and it's due to the Top 5 Best/Worst Rankin/Bass Christmas Specials getting a lot more traction than it ever did when I posted it last year to celebrate the 55th anniversary of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. While a lot of people disagreed with my list, a lot more other people enjoyed it and told me what their favorites were which is always great to see. I'm currently editing the video for The Aftermath of Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie which is the 3rd and final part of the series of videos talking about The Pros and Cons of Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie. It's been worked on for a year, especially with the massive changes going on with the management on Nickelodeon and Viacom. Hopefully it'll be out by the end of the year to round things up.

For those who were thinking that the reason I haven't been posting a lot of videos this year was because I had ran out of ideas for content, that's farther from the truth. I have a lot of plans for content for Old School Lane for 2021: new episodes of From Pilot to Final Product, finishing up All That Month, Heroic Gem or Junk, and debuting some new series of videos I've wanted to do for a while. However, I haven't been able to do them due to being incredibly busy with school and major projects. Back around June, I thought that my time was up as a content creator due to my views being the lowest they've ever been. People had been complaining that I hadn't been posting enough videos for their liking. Even the new podcast series Arun and I did together such as In Search of the Crystal Skull and the Roald Dahl Retrospective hadn't gotten a lot of views. But I did the best that I could to not leave you high and dry with no content just because of my busy schedule. With 2020 being a rough year for a lot of people, I continued to follow the reason Old School Lane started off: sharing our love for movies, TV shows, video games, and everything else in between for other people to enjoy and share their fond memories with us. I will continue to do it for as long as I can and I'm not giving up anytime soon. Especially with 2021 being the year that Old School Lane will be celebrating its 10th anniversary. While I don't have a concrete idea of how to celebrate just yet, I will come up with something very special. 

That's all for now. There will be a few more episodes of PixMinis to lead up to a new episode of PixMix on Soul, a new episode of DreamMachine talking about The Croods: A New Age, and at least a few more episodes of Casual Chats to round up 2020. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading!

-Patricia