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daggerzine · 5 years

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Teen Movie Hell author, Mike “McBeardo’ McPadden speaks!

Ok, so the second I saw the title I was hooked. I mean, come on, Teen Movie Hell: A Crucible of Coming-Of-Age Comedies From Animal House to Zapped. Having been born in the mid-60’s I came of age right when many of these movies were being released and of course I had to see every single one.

But, I didn’t see every one, not even close. I thought that because I watched Class and Zapped a few decades ago that it made me some kind of expert? Well, I was dead wrong.

Mike “McBeardo” McPadden is the real deal. In this 350 plus page tome McPadden reviews hundreds of movies, many ones I had never heard of. He digs deep. He really gets to the meat of it all.

I was so curious about the origins of the book and his fascination with this genre of movies that I had to toss some questions his way and being the true gentleman that he is was more than happy to answer them. Read below and in the meantime pick up two copies of this book (because you’ll wear out the first copy).

Thank you again to Mike McPadden!

Do you remember where you were and when it was that you decided you wanted to write this book?

It was in 1994. I was at the Tail o’ the Pup hot dog stand with my great friend Aaron Lee. We were on a lunch break from our editorial jobs at Hustler magazine.

One of the most profound bonding elements in my early friendship with Aaron was our devotion to the movie review compendiums that so impacted and shaped who we were—particularly the annual Leonard Maltin guides, the Medved Brothers’ Golden Turkey Awards books, Michael Weldon’s Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and, above all, the work of author Danny Peary, in particular his series of Cult Movies books.

Aaron and I just sort of hit on the idea at the same moment—“Let’s write a book about teen sex comedies!” In time, our paths split professionally. I moved back to New York. Aaron went into stand-up comedy.

Over the next 25 years, I kept at the teen sex comedy book in one form or another. Aaron went on to a terrifically successful Hollywood writing career and was an Executive Producer of Family Guy. But—hey!—I got to write Teen Movie Hell!

Why the title- Teen Movie Hell?

I’m a fan of calling the book what it’s about, as in the case of Cult Movies. That’s why Heavy Metal Movies is titled just that. So, initially, the name of this book was. There was a time when that might have flown. Now is not that time.

A version of the book almost got published in 1999 under the title I Lost It in the Locker Room!, an allusion to Pauline Kael’s I Lost It at the Movies. At the eleventh hour, the publisher shut down the division that was handling my book and laid off my editor, so ILIITLR got scuttled.

At Bazillion Points, the books started life as Going All the Way. Then publisher Ian Christe came up with the almost perfect title Last American Virgins.

Finally, as we were doing edits, I came up with the idea to have an art show as the book’s release party and I thought—“How can I make the idea of participating in the show palatable to all these subversive artists I know and admire, beyond just saying, ‘It’s about Porky’s movies!’?”

Anne Elliott of the mighty Sideshow Gallery in Chicago offered to host the show. Sideshow specializes in witchy-groovy-occulty iconography, and I’d recently attended a show there full of devil imagery. That’s when the name “Teen Movie Hell” hit me. And, in short order, it just made perfect sense to apply that to the book—these movies took me through the hell of adolescence and they may well have sent society to hell at the same time.

In addition, Bazillion Points specializes in books about heavy metal, hardcore, and punk rock, and it has a very metal aesthetic. So calling the book Teen Movie Hell automatically made it feel like it was more of a piece with the other Bazillion titles.

From an intro in the book it appears that music and film zines both played a part in your inspiration (Conflict, Rollerdeby, two of my personal faces, etc.). How do they play a part?

I discovered zines in 1980 by way of The Uncle Floyd Show Gazette, a Xeroxed newsletter dedicated to a brilliantly hilarious and self-aware kiddie show that aired from New Jersey. I got a subscription.

A year or two later, the New York Daily News ran a profile of Rick Sullivan, publisher of the horror zine, The Gore Gazette, also from New Jersey. I love New Jersey. I ordered a Gore Gazette and it blew my 12-year-old mind.

From there, it was a short leap to tracking down The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film and understanding that it, too, had started as a zine. Then, leaning into punk culture as a teenager, zines became a crucial element of my existence, though they weren’t always easy to track down at first.

At the end of the ’80s/dawn of the ’90s, zines erupted with people doing surprising, personal things beyond just reviewing movies and music. I found that very inspiring. Gerard Cosloy’s hilarious, backhanded brashness in Conflict was a huge influence. Lisa Carver’s Rollerderby made it clear to me that anything was possible.

All that led to me publishing my own zine, Happyland, in 1991.

Aaron Lee and I met by mail after he sent me his zine Blue Persuasion in 1993. It was the best.

What was the criteria for inclusion of the movies in the book?

In cultural terms, the book covers the 20 years between American Graffiti in 1973 and Dazed and Confused in 1993, with a little smudging on either side into the years around them.

What the movies have in common is that they’re about teenagers and were made specifically for a teenage audience looking for a good time. The marketing angle has a lot to do with it—“Hey, kids! There’s a party raging up on the screen here and you’re invited! All you have to do is buy a ticket or take that VHS box cover to the rental counter!”

Exceptions exist. Bachelor Party, for example, is about clowns in their mid-to-late 20s, but they act like teenagers and it’s essentially just transferring the format to another setting. Same with Police Academy.

How long did it take you to complete the book?

In one form or another, I worked on it in spurts over 25 years. But, in earnest, once I got the Bazillion Points contract, it took three years.

For those of us around when these movies were being released why do you think they play such a huge part in our brains? Is it just the sex or something else?

What comes to mind is a bit of wisdom from Lorne Michaels. He said that anytime somebody tells him what they think were the best seasons of Saturday Night Live, it’s almost always the period when they were in high school—because you’re allowed to stay up late enough to see it, you’re watching the show by yourself or with friends rather than with your parents, and you’re getting jokes that maybe even just a year earlier would have sailed over your head.

I think it’s the same with these movies. Fast Times at Ridgemont High opened in theaters on the very first Friday of my freshman year of high school. Ferris Bueller opened four years later the exact day after I graduated. That period represents the very heart of the teen sex comedy genre and I was there, being a teen. These movies were made about us and, more importantly, for us.

How did Bazillion Points respond when you told them of your idea for the book?

Bazillion Points published my book Heavy Metal Movies in 2014 and did a superhuman job with it. Bazillion honcho Ian Christe and I have long talked about teen comedies and, back in the ’90s when I was pitching a book on the topic, it turned out he actually was too! I’m glad our knuckleheaded dreams got deferred and we were able to make it a reality together.

How was the response been so far?

So far, so cool.

Of all the movies you reviewed what is your personal favorite?

The two best-made films in the book are American Graffiti (1973) and Risky Business (1983), followed closely by Animal House and Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). Those are legit classics of cinema I love each one of them.

My heart truly belongs, however, to lunatic outliers on the order of King Frat (1979), Zapped! (1982), Joysticks (1983), Screwballs (1983), The Party Animal (1984), and Hamburger: The Motion Picture (1986)

What’s next? Care to spill any upcoming ideas?

Back in 2015, I announced Teen Movie Hell way earlier than I should have. Lesson learned. There’s more to come, but I’m playing it close to the coconut buttons of my Hawaiian shirt.

The man himself

www.teenmoviehell.com

https://www.bazillionpoints.com/product/pre-order-teen-movie-hell-the-crucible-of-coming-of-age-comedies-from-animal-house-to-zapped-by-mike-mcbeardo-mcpadden/

Here’s my review of the book, posted earlier in the month

https://daggerzine.tumblr.com/post/184504282732/teen-movie-hell-a-crucible-of-coming-of-age

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mrmydak · 9 years

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The Massively Long Intro to being HNSO blog...

I was writing a short blog for out League, on being HNSO. Hoewever we have a word limit... and I .... well... I can talk.

So here is the initial piece, I might do some more, if it works out ok..

How to herd kittens, a multi-part blog on the joys of being a Head NSO

Hi, I’m Cupid and I am shortly due to step down as Co-Head Non-Skating Official with Nottingham Roller Derby (I’m moving away due to a new job). We’ve just appointed new Co-HNSO’s so this is kind of an advice piece to them.

In the process of writing this I realised that there was actually quite a lot to cover off, both the pre-game day stuff, the in league things, and the things that happen on and even after game day. So I’ve approached it thusly – first of I’m going to concentrate on the in league things, closed games and scrims and preparing for game day. In part 2 I’ll talk about what happens just before, during and after game day (or at least what should happen).

Ok, when you go to watch a game of Roller Derby, you may or may not notice the small army of Non Skating Officials. If we are all doing our jobs right, then by and large we are like cogs in the game day machine, who managed to work together with the Skating Officials to make things run incredibly smoothly and as such, you hopefully won’t see us at all.

Making sure that all of this happens is the Head Non-Skating Official (HNSO). They will be the person who brings all of the paperwork along, makes sure all of the positions are covered, checks that all the necessary equipment is in place on the day and is a go to for any issues that might occur on the day.

Before we being, a little bit about me and why I am doing this.

As mentioned above I am currently Co-HNSO for NRD, along with The Terminathor. This season I have also been Divisional Head NSO for Tier 3 West of the British Championships, as well as acting as game day head on a couple of occasions for Tier 2 of the Men's Champs. My Champs season finished as a crew head for the Tier 3 Playoffs, which meant 4 games in a day. I’ve also been Head NSO for a couple of one day tournaments this year, played to slightly different rule sets, which makes things interesting.

I was the League's first Dedicated NSO member, and we now have about 5 Dedicated NSO’s and growing. These are members who are there purely as Non-Skating Officials, we aren’t injured skaters, we’re not refs, we are NSO’s pure and simple – well… except for when I do Bench sometimes.

Being HNSO for the League means ensuring that we are able to provide crews for Home Games first and foremost. This requires us to make sure that we have a members who have a good knowledge of NSO roles and procedures and that they are able to act professionally and do their job to a high standard on game day.

To do this we run NSO classes prior/during training sessions to give an understanding of roles, to make people aware of what they are (and are not) supposed to be doing, and most importantly to make them familiar and comfortable with the paperwork – STATS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN! The classes range from general introductions to NSOing in general, right through to how to do one specific role - this is very useful if there is a role that you are regularly trying fill, or if you only have 1 - 2 people who are comfortable with it on game day.

We then use the monthly league wide co-ed training scrims to give people a chance to put theory into practice and try out the roles in a non-pressured environment. So that when it comes to game day, they are not left out on their own, doing something that they have never done before. These are run as close to game conditions as possible, so it means that anything can - and will - happen.

We have a good mix of people in the league when it comes to NSO roles, there are people who are specialists in particular areas – scorekeepers, scoreboard operators, etc. etc. and some who are just good allrounders and can do pretty much anything and everything needed on the day.

6 Weeks prior to game day

Right, you’ve had a look at your calendar, wall chart, schedule doc, or whatever you use to work out where you are meant to be, and discovered that you have a double header in 6 weeks.

You need to start thinking about getting your NSO crew together for those games.

First things first - where are you getting your crew from? Is it internal only? are other teams providing some? Or, in the case of champs, do you have people from every team in the division?

So… start putting those feelers out, finding out where you are sourcing NSOs from.

I like to use google sheets for this, and have plundered resources and ideas from other HNSOs and even some Head Refs to find the best way to do this.

Start with your league, the people you know. Find out who is free; I start by asking our dedicated NSO’s, then our growing dazzle of Zeebs, and then open things up to the rest of the League. I’ll use team liaisons or our Head Ref to speak to the other teams and find out how many officials they can provide.

When things get tough, I reach out to facebook first to those NSOs that i’ve worked with before, and then some of the NSO recruiting groups to see who else might be free. When doing this it is important to give as much information as possible. When is the game, where is it, what teams are playing, what roles are available, what are the game conditions - are evals available? (if they are, then you are going to get lots of interest)

Now… what do they know how to do? How comfortable are they with the roles?

Right, THE WORST THING that can happen is that you think you’ve got a crew sorted, you turn up on game day and then a couple of people in key roles, tell you that they’ve not really done it before. You panic, they panic, everyone panics and it just looks totes un-profesh.

To avoid this happening it’s good to get an idea of how comfortable and experienced people are in roles prior to finalising your crew.

Firstly - look at the people you actually know. Put them in the places you are happy that they can do, and do well.

If you have experienced or committed NSOs then start with their Officiating CV. This shows you what they have done, when and who with. It gives a steer on their abilities and comfort in a role.

If you don’t have CVs to check, then you need to ask people what they can do. If you are working with another leagues HNSO and they have put people forwards, ask them.

There are other things you can try. I’ve been given several pieces of advise on this in the past, and one of the best was used in Champs this year. I think it was MacFarlane who I saw use it first, and it asked people to self assess on how comfortable they were in roles, and to show their experience. It means that you are getting them to say yay or nay to each role. (probably most useful in bigger events, and multi-game situations)

Ok, so you now have sufficient people to staff your game, and you know who can do what. Now, let’s start putting people into roles.

First things first - and a big shout out to Pettichoke here - start with the key roles. The people who have or control positions with significant game influence.

Jam Timer, Penalty Tracker, Penalty Box Manager (even more so now) and Scoreboard Operator.

Each of these roles can have huge impact on the game play, so you want to have experienced people, who are comfortable with the roles and responsibilities in each of those positions. Since the rules change and the new Super NSO I tend to put someone with some refereeing experience in as PBM as they are going to be happy calling the necessary penalties that might occur in their area.

Once you’ve got those roles filled, it is one to the rest of the positions and some very complex decision making. You’re going to want to take a role on probably. If so, i’d recommend being inside the track, as it gives you more contact with people and a better chance of noticing issues.

Pushin’ Daisy told me all about a session she attended at either UKROC or the last WFTDA Officiating Clinic. All about assembling NSO crews. It rang incredibly true to me then, and having worked with a load more people this year, it is even more true now. You need to make sure that the people you are asking to work together, can do so and are not going to get in a fight. Not everyone gets on perfectly well with each other, so maybe don’t force them into close proximity?

So if you know of some drama - derby or otherwise - then work around it.

Ok… so you’ve now filled all of your positions.

Communication

Thanks to social media, this is now nice and easy. Invite all of your NSOs to a group and then you can share the positions, discuss any game specifics and get ready for the day.

It’s now probably about 3 weeks prior to game day.

What do you need to do now?

Keep in touch with your NSO crew, make sure everyone is still available, look for drop outs, start thinking about backup plans.

Speak to the Head Ref about how things will work on the day.

Paperwork.

Now, what you do with paperwork depends to an extent on what kind of games you have. If it isn’t sanctioned by anyone, then you can approach the teams directly and ask for the Rosters for the games and start putting it all together, or if you are in a tournament type structure, get them from the central resource - assuming each team has to submit a charter.

If you are only sanctioned by one body, then get in touch with their sanctioning panel and request the relevant charters - by one body I mean one per game. So if you have a men's game, and then a women's game you might both be UKRDA sanctioned, one might be MRDA, one might be WFTDA. If it is only one of them, then your job is a bit easier. Just use what they say the correct roster is and you are golden.

For MRDA, you can get the charter from the really handy MRDA Charter website. It will even let you sort it into correct number order!

if you are dual sanctioned, then contact both. Ask for the charters and hope that they match up.

When completing the paperwork, include every chartered skater on the IGRF. You will confirm the actual roster on the day. Ensure that you use correct number order when filling this in.

This might sound odd, but numbers on the IGRF do not follow what most people would assume to be standard number logic. For example take the following 4 numbers 11, 12, 113, 21. Most people would want to list them as follows 11 - 12 - 21 - 113. Most people wouldn’t have very accurate paperwork and would fail the NSO Hella Hard - I did.

The right order would be 11, 113, 12, 21.

Each number is viewed separately, and the orders is 0-9 then A-Z (thankfully this bit won’t be relevant once the letters go).

Ok, so you’ve now got a crew, and you’ve got paperwork sorted. All set for game day…

(Assuming none of your NSO crew drop out)

Drop outs can happen for many reasons, illness, injury, work commitments, changes to the skating roster, the list is almost endless.

If someone drops out in advance of game day, remain calm. You’ve got time to sort this out. First things first repeat your recruitment efforts from earlier. Then you start calling in favours. Have you helped out a local league? Might one of them be available?

Worst comes to worst, and someone drops out game day, start by looking at the people who are at the game. Is there an NSO in the crowd, or an injured ref? Can someone cover that role? If not, then start looking at your crew. Do you have an ALT? Use them.

Do you have a penalty wrangler? If you have one person drop out, ditch that role. You’ll need your PT and IWB to step up. I’ve seen this in games with over 100 penalties, and everyone survived.

After that, there are several options. Just remember that you do need a minimum number of people to be there.

Part 2

OH MY GOD!! IT’S GAMEDAY !!!!!!!!

Last night you checked all of your equipment was packed, everything worked, pencils sharpened, a spare set of paperwork was picked up, everything printed out? No? DO THAT NOW!!!

At the Venue

Check in with whomever you need to see, and then get your equipment ready for game 1.

I arrive early, so i’m not rushing. If I can be set up before everyone arrives, it leaves me free to deal with other things as we get close to first whistle.

Make sure the liaison on the day knows who you are,and ask them to point any NSOs in your direction, they can help you set up.

Say hi to the Head Ref. They will be your best friend today.

Chat with Skaters, Officials, stall holders, everyone who wants to talk with you - but remember you are there to do a job.

Captains meeting

Take the IGRFs with you and confirm who is playing. This means you can finish setting up the whiteboard, and marking off the penalty tracking sheets to only include those who are actually playing. Ask about any hard of hearing skaters - it is really important to make sure the penalty box knows of these, to ensure they are communicating effectively and the skater doesn’t sit any extra time. Clarify if you have empowered NSOs.

Officials Meeting.

Say hi to everyone. Check everyone in. Make sure everyone knows their role and who they are working with. Find out who the Jammer Refs are and make sure they meet the ScoreKeepers to go through any odd signalling they might do. Remind everyone of their responsibilities. Make sure everyone knows when they need to be in position prior to the game and at half time. Point out where the toilets are, where the cake is, and where drinks can be acquired. Sounds basic, but quite important. Discuss your preferred communication method on the day. I worked with some people from Dublin this year and they use the point. You point at someone to get there attention, and everyone who sees this joins in until they respond. It is incredibly effective.

Just before game time - check all of the equipment and paperwork is where it needs to be. Ensure spare pens and pencils are at the relevant stations. Count off all of your crew when they are in position. Makes sure the HR and JT know you are good to go.

Game time!

First and foremost, concentrate on doing the role that you have assigned yourself. Visually check in with people throughout the game, I have a questioning face, which gets a nod or a shake of the head back. If there is an issue fix it quickly and efficiently. If there is not, carry on with your role. Look out for panickers. Try to keep them calm, or have someone else do so for you.

Half time!

Check in with everyone. Make sure they are happy in their role and are getting all the communication they need. The HR will likely be doing this with their crew as well. Check in with them, pass on/take any feedback. Fill in the half time IGRF details. Get out of the room for at least a couple of minutes. Come back in, pass on any feedback from the Ref crew. Check in all of your crew, make sure they are in position. Let the JT and the HR know.

Final Whistle!

Once the scores are finalised, grab the IGRF. Fill in the scores and penalties for the second half.

Say thank you to all of your NSOs and the Refs, speak to some skaters. Make a note of where the Captains go.

Sign the IGRF, get the HR to sign it. Then go find the Captains and get their signatures. If you had an expulsion, speak to the HR and see who is doing that paperwork. Make sure you get the sheet back.

Collect all of your paperwork and file it away.

If you have another game, get the next lot of paperwork ready, speak with any new NSOs who didn’t do game 1.

Get out of the hall for a bit - you’re doing an important job, and you need to be available, but you also need to clear your head and move on from what happened in game 1.

Have some cake, have a drink.

Come back in, and do it all again.

Post Game!

Right, you’ve finished the day. Everyone got through it.

EVERYTHING IS OVER!!!

Not quite.

Send a thank you message in your facebook group.

Remember those evals i mentioned earlier? Do you have any of them to fill in for people? Get on it, and get them submitted.

Stats!!

Yeah… stats. Get these typed up and submitted to whomever you need to send them to.

Give any necessary feedback to people.

Relax.

It’s time to thing abut your next game

#rollerdeby #nso #'HNSO

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myderbyjourney · 9 years

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First time training with mainleague.

I got on the train (will start from the train yes) and started to worry that I'd got the wrong date or time. Before training I ate some Dim Sum that I cooked from frozen that I may not of fully cooked so I couldn't tell if I was just really nervous sick or possibly poisoned myself sick. When I got to Tottenham one of the players was sitting outside and I asked her if we were being let in yet, she explained how to get into the centre like I'd never done it before...I said thanks (my voice may have got a bit high!?!?) and she was like 'ok!' In a singsong way highlighting my dorkyness... Badminton was still going on and no one was around (it was about 7.30) then I saw My wreck league friend and I was sooooo relieved to see her! We waited around for a bit and a B teamer came past told us it was off skates outside. We stood outside for 15 minutes in the freeeezing cold and nothing happened so we all traipsed back in and did off skates in the hall. Got accidentally hit me in the face with someone's kit. We did one legged squats and lots of ankle related stuff. I tried really hard not to be overwhelmed being like 'omg [amazingplayer] is next to me' lol. The warm up was fuckkkking nuts. So we did the usual squats and open the gate stuff. Then pace line , stepping through, spaghetti, then stepping through again backwards. The pace line then went in anti Derby direction. I got soooo confused about directions, in and out of track, forgot to speak and my body just got confused. Going backwards in anti Derby direction.... Everyone else looked very tired to so that was reassuring, Myself and another girl used our inhalers. Hers wasn't working very well so I mentioned I had a spare inhaler if she needed it. We did stops which we had to do for a minute. Plough, tea tray, Derby, power slides and hockey stops. I took myself off to the side to watch how to actually do a powerslide and The coach told me off then when I explained why, she showed me. I tried some stops that I hadn't done before and my fresh meat coach from last year was really nice and encouraging. We got into threes and did an offence drill, I was with A teamers. I had never done any of the hits before...Got smashed in the stomach with a boney shoulder arrrrgh. They were laughing and apologising saying that inevitably everyone needs to get hit by [specificboneyashellplayer]. One move was like a rugby tackle. I hit My drill budy out but I think she might have been playing nice. I hit her in the stomach pretty hard and couldn't tell if she was annoyed or not. They were both nice explaining things as again it was the many little movements and isolating parts of your body when my body tends to move as one big entity. That's the part I get worried about. It takes me forever to get all the moves made up of smaller movements! We were then split into 4s and told we were offence or defence. So we had to mill about anywhere in the hall, when the whistle blew quickly find each other and make a wall but they were specific walls that us newbs didn't know the names of! But we did ok and then the offensive players would come and smash into us. We then swapped over and changed groups. It was a lot harder to do offence when you didn't know what was going on! Scrim was a shiiiit show. I had no idea what was going on half the time as it moved so crazy fast and I kept getting lost and confused. I got hit in the ribs really hard by someone.... when I got home it hurt to laugh. I Jammed fairly early to get it out of the way. Had amazing skaters on my team! Asked them just to get me out and they did! Scored 4 points then had to call it as the other jammer was right behind me. Second time I jammed I couldn't get out and got sent off for forearms oops. Hit a couple of people off though. Only just! We then had a warm down. People were very nice and encouraging. I felt a little crappy about the scrim and some of the skills but it's muscle memory and hopefully it will come! My ex wreck now B team friend said that people don't usually get moved down for 'not keeping up' and it's more about attendance. I was sore for a few days but it was fun :).

#main league #wreck league #fresh meat 2014 #rollerdeby #moominbrawl #wowowowowow

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