Top 10 Old School Lane Blog Articles
It's December, which means that the holidays are approaching whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, or Winter Solstice. But here at Old School Lane is another celebration, our 5th year anniversary. On December 21, 2011, Old School Lane first started on Tumblr before moving into Blogger and started off posting their content. Before posting our podcasts Casual Chats and way before doing our videos, Old School Lane's main content were blog articles. Looking back at all of them recently, most of them don't hold up. Especially since in our early years, it was very experimental on what kind of content we wanted to post. Also, doing simple reviews when doing the Nickelodeon Tribute wasn't what I wanted to do on the first place, but instead a full blown video retrospective on Nickelodeon's history. However, back then I had an old computer that was limited on pretty much on everything and I had little to no knowledge on video or audio editing like I do today. So, at a time in which I was unemployed, my spare time was posting multiple articles every month since I was planning on covering all the Nickelodeon shows that one summer in 2012 after marathoning through the shows and movies for 6 months. That was a mistake and I should have wrote my opinions on the shows and movies while they were fresh on my mind. I have since learned my lesson.
So with that said, I will dedicate this month to talk about my favorite blog articles, blog interviews, podcast episodes, podcast interviews, and videos. Let's start with the blog articles and talk about the ones I'm still proud of.
10. Old School Lane Presents: Thoughts on Metroid Prime Federation Force
Originally posted on June 20, 2015, this was a response to all the negative critiques of the Metroid fans when they found out that Blast Ball, which was a game featured in the Nintendo World Championship 2015 tournament event, was actually a minigame featured in the newest game in the franchise. It wasn't a followup to Metroid Fusion or Metroid Prime 3 like everyone wanted. It was a spinoff title that focused on the Galatic Federation. Not only that, it was a multiplayer game. This was a game that had gotten immediate hate when the trailer was posted on YouTube which had the most dislikes to a game I've seen yet. I posted my thoughts saying that the Metroid franchise has experimented with spinoff titles in the past such as Metroid Prime Pinball and Metroid Prime Hunters. Whether you cared for those games or not, at least Nintendo was trying to branch out the Metroid franchise with other genres. It worked for Mario and Kirby. But many wanted a great Metroid game to wash out the bad experience that Metroid: Other M left behind and Metroid Prime: Federation Force wasn't it. From what I heard from the reviews, it's an okay game. But this game was pretty overshadowed when Milton "DoctorM64" Gausti posted Another Metroid 2 Remake online a few weeks prior.
I'm very proud of the article I posted based on a pretty controversial topic, especially one on my favorite video game franchise. I don't really like to talk about controversial topics, but seeing the piles of hate that Metroid Prime Federation Force was getting, I felt like I needed to say something.
9. A 3 way tie between Top 10 Little Miss Gamer Episodes, Top 10 Happy Video Game Nerd Episodes, and Top 10 Gexup Episodes.
I know that this is cheating, but I couldn't decide between these 3. Lindsey "Z" Briggs, Derek Alexander, and Keith "Gexup" Weber were some of my major influences in posting contents online. So, let's take a look at each of them one at a time.
Originally posted on January 29, 2014, I wrote this list a day after I posted my interview with Lindsey on Casual Chats. It was also International Women's Day so it was perfect to post it. Back in 2007, there were a group of people who posted various skits and videos about video games on a website called PBC Productions. One of the videos that was showcased was Little Miss Gamer were Lindsey would talk about video games in a more positive note. In a time where people wanted to be the next James Rolfe and talk about bad NES games, Lindsey or "Z" was the complete opposite. However, she had released her last video in 2010 where she was depressed that her favorite Xbox 360 game 1 vs. 100 was removed on the Xbox Live Arcade room. Since then, no one knew what happened to her. That's what I wanted to find out. So, it took me a few months to get a hold of her, but I eventually did and we talked for 30 minutes about her years at PBC Productions and what she was doing now. As of the writing of this article, I was the last person who interview Lindsey about Little Miss Gamer. Since then, she and her husband PBC Productions member Chad Williams have started a puppet company called Wonderspark Puppets and they have two kids. So it makes a lot of sense that she no longer posts videos online anymore. Regardless, I still miss her work. Even still to this day, her style of video game reviews are still unique and charming. Now, to the top 10 list. I'm still proud of my choices and wouldn't change it. Moving on.
Originally posted on January 12, 2015, I wrote this list shortly after Derek announced that he was dropping the Happy Video Game Nerd and rebranded himself as Stop Skeletons From Fighting, but a few months after interviewing him on Casual Chats. Going back 10 years ago when everyone was trying so hard to be the next James Rolfe and failing, we have another video game reviewer who talked about games in a positive way. In Derek's case, he talks about underrated or overlooked games that he felt needed more attention. When learning that he was going to no longer be reviewing games under the Happy Video Game Nerd name, I decided to look back at 7 years of his content and choose which ones were my favorites. There were a lot of videos that I wanted to put on the list, but the ones I had chosen were the ones I had watched the most. I'm sure down the line when Derek celebrates his 10 year anniversary of posting video game reviews, I'll probably do a list on his best Stop Skeletons From Fighting videos, but for now, I'm content with my choices.
Originally posted on April 27, 2015, I wrote this list shortly after Gexup announced that he was going to make a huge comeback with new videos and podcasts. For a while, he did with doing a wrestling/video podcast, but as time went on, he quit posting content again. He even deleted his YouTube channel and making his final video about why. Since then, he pretty much disappeared from the online world.
So, similar to Lindsey, I was the last person who ever interviewed him as a guest for a podcast right before he stopped doing video game reviews. It's a shame that he doesn't do it anymore since the world of video games, especially platforming games, has expanded so much since then with the advent of indie titles. I would have loved for him to talk about Rayman Legends, the Ratchet & Clank movie, Super Mario 3D World, Sly 4, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Shovel Knight, and Yooka-Laylee. But at this point in time, it'll never happen. I have yet to find someone who had a love of platforming games and various video game genres like Gexup did. The list I did are great examples on some of his best videos. Sure, some of them are not about video games. But they're still great and one of the many reasons why he was one of my major inspirations. Luckily, there's one person who's archived most of his videos on YouTube for you to check out.
8. Old School Lane celebrates the 20th anniversary of Weinerville.
Originally posted on July 11, 2013, I have done blog articles celebrating anniversaries on movies, TV shows, and video games from Contra, Double Dare, Castlevania, and Pee-wee's Big Adventure. But the Weinerville article is my favorite. This is one of my favorite Nickelodeon shows of the 90's and pretty much no one was going to do a 20th anniversary celebration of it because it has nowhere near the impact that other programs like Double Dare and the 3 original Nicktoons did. So, after Kevin and I interviewed Marc, I did a quick recap on the show, wanting to see the show remade, and why it was overlooked when it first aired in 1993. So because I knew that no one was going to do a tribute to Weinerville, I decided to take this opportunity to my full advantage. While it's a shame that Weinerville is pretty much obscure by practically everyone, the few people who love it really love it including myself and Kevin. Speaking of obscure.
7. Patricia's Top 10 Underrated Nickelodeon Shows
Originally posted on January 5, 2013, I posted a list on my all time favorite Nickelodeon shows that don't get the recognition they deserve. Whether they were considered too odd for a general audience, overshadowed by more popular shows, overhated by the fans for the wrong reasons, or were too ahead of their time, I discussed about these programs that need to be more acknowledged and even still to this day, they're still overlooked. I think with the exception of As Told by Ginger and The Angry Beavers in which that's gotten a slightly bigger following due to reruns airing on The Splat as well as KaBlam!, Catscratch, and ChalkZone having a cult following online, and The Mysterious Cities of Gold having a continuation series in France, no one really talks in depth about these Nickelodeon shows. While I respect Nick News, I shouldn't have had it as my #1 choice. I do agree that it's underrated and very overhated, it should have been lower on the list. I would have had Caitlin's Way as #1 because it's almost 17 years old and no one knows that it exists. Trust me, that'll change in the beginning of next year.
6. Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: We Shouldn't Expect Nickelodeon to Change Anytime Soon...but it Could if the Former Nickelodeon Employees Took Notes from Indie Game Developers?
First of all, holy crap! I'm so sorry for the long title. I didn't know what to call it at the time, but man that title is a tongue twister. Anyway, continuing on.
Originally posted on May 12, 2015, during the time when Nickelodeon's ratings were at an all time low, I wrote a hypothetical article about what would happen if the people who worked at Nickelodeon during the 80's and 90's decided to group up together and create their own original programs on a new network or online. I stated that the people who created those shows had so much freedom that they made timeless programs that both kids and adults love even still to this day and ever since they left, the corporate minds at Nickelodeon took away the low budget, unpolished, yet realistic charm and replaced it with a refined, safe, and uninspired cash-ins as their major programming. This was during the time where indie games blew up the video game industry and since Mitchell Kriegman was doing Things I Can't Explain and John K. did a Kickstarter on Cans Without Labels, I wanted to see the other creators do that. But nowadays, Chris Viscardi is the vice president of content development and he's been leading the charge of doing TV movies based on classic shows with Legends of the Hidden Temple, Hey Arnold, Rocko's Modern Life, and possibly Rugrats and Invader Zim. Not to mention that Marc Summers, Harvey, and Robin did the Double Dare reunion special. So it looks like Nickelodeon are starting to care about their past as oppose to completely ignore it. I would still like to see the former Nickelodeon creators to do new projects, but for now, this is a happy medium. Overall, while this article is a huge stretch that it'll ever happen, but I still had fun writing it.
5. Autism Awareness Month or How I Learned to Cope and Accept my Asperger's Syndrome
*insert Dr. Strangelove joke here.
Originally posted on April 2, 2013, I decided to come clean with my struggles and accomplishments with having Asperger's Syndrome and with it being Autism Awareness Month, I thought it was appropriate. I basically spilled my guts on screen and told my story on how I was teased as a kid, how I wanted to be like a normal person, and how I felt that I was a big loser who hasn't really done anything. I said that even further in my milestone birthday video, Should We Say Goodbye to Halcyon Days? Since then, I have had a few people telling me that they have either autism or Asperger's Syndrome and that it was cool to know that I had it. That's awesome to hear.
4. Top 5 Puppet Shows For Adults You've Probably Never Heard of (But You Should Check Out)
Again, long title, past me. Anyway, originally posted on October 4, 2014, I talked about the 5 adult programs that features puppets that I liked, but doesn't get a lot of praise. Sure, a lot of people would bring up Avenue Q or Crank Yankers, but these are just as good. Actually, they're way better than Crank Yankers because that show sucks. I really want to do a remake on this topic in the form of a video because when I wrote this article, I hadn't seen Silf and Olly or Greg the Bunny in years. I really need to rewatch them to see how well they hold up. As for the online content with puppets, the only one that's still continuing is Glove and Boots. Neil's Puppet Dreams and Sockpuppet Theatre pretty much stopped due to the creators being incredibly busy. This was something they did on their spare time and it's too bad they didn't continue with it. Oh well, regardless, they're still amazing.
3. Top 10 Pee-wee Herman Moments of 2011
Originally posted on December 31, 2011 on Tumblr (yes, Old School Lane first had a Tumblr page to post content), it was the very first article I ever posted online back when Old School Lane was only less than a week old. I had just finished watching The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway on HBO and had loved it. I remembered that there was an article online that talked about his best moments of 2010, but I felt that he did amazing things in 2011 so I wrote it. Little did I know that the next day on New Years Day 2012, I had received an email from tumblr saying that Pee-wee tweeted my Tumblr article. I couldn't believe it and was so excited that he really like my article so much that he shared it on his Twitter and Facebook page where his fans would see. It gave me a spark of confidence that I can post articles and people would like it. During a time in which I was unemployed, doing Old School Lane was a blessing for me and I have Paul Reubens to partially thank.
2. The Pros and Cons of Doing Online Content on Pop Culture
Originally posted on July 31, 2016, this is the most recent article I posted that will be on this list. Around this time, I had gone through some up and downs with my content. I had my life threatened by a troll and became scared and took a hiatus for two weeks, but I had gotten more subscribers and viewers on the Old School Lane YouTube channel. After things calmed down, I then wrote an article about my experiences on the pros and cons on posting content online about movies, TV shows, and video games. I've gotten a lot of positive feedback, but I've also had some disagreements and even arguments on my opinions. While it has been a hassle dealing with the trolls, it makes it all the worth while where a person takes the time to say a heartwarming and uplifting message when you put all your time, effort, blood, sweat, and tears into your content. I'm still very proud of this article even though it's a recent article. But #1 is one of my oldest articles.
1. 90's Nickelodeon Shows: Classic or Overrated?
Originally posted on October 5, 2012, this was my first analysis article I ever posted which would lead up to other articles and later on my analysis videos. This was considered to be a controversial article since it's, oh my God, it's an article talking about whether Nickelodeon shows from the 90's were still good or not. I had mentioned that while there are a lot of great Nickelodeon shows from the 90's, there are a lot of them that aren't really that good because they haven't aged very well or they were terrible to begin with. This was also when people were deep in 90's nostalgia and people were dismissing the Nickelodeon shows from the 2000's saying that they all sucked. I defended that there are some Nickelodeon shows from the 2000's that are good and not all Nickelodeon shows from the 90's were masterpieces. Instead of getting hate, I had gotten a lot of positive feedback. This article has won Outstanding Blog of the Week and Outstanding Blog of the Year on Manic Expression. It was also where I learned that doing deep analysis on topics was more my style than doing a standard review. Not that I don't have respect for people who do reviews, but I have neither the humor or charisma to pull it off. This article was the stepping stone to other similar content I would post over the next few years.
That's all for now. Tune in tomorrow as we continue my lookback of 5 years of Old School Lane with a countdown on my favorite blog interviews. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
Labels: old school lane, Top 10
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