All roads lead to Joss and Jane...Billy Joel coming to Rock Band 3

Billy Joel image from Zmarter.com (modified from his Glass Houses album artwork)

I'M OLD!
The first time I realised this for sure was when watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I already had the feeling sometimes that perhaps I wasn't necessarily in the youngest target audience, but 'Band Candy' brought it home in spectacular fashion. It's one of my favourite episodes (6) from Season 3 of Buffy and it is written by Joss Whedon and Jane Espenson. It's funny, dark and sets up a great line in 'Earshot':  "...on the hood of a police car?!?"

In the ep, all the adults who eat the school's Band Candy start reverting and acting like irresponsible teens. The Scooby gang go to The Bronze to check out what's going on where they discover teachers, Snyder (the non-eaten-yet Principle) and various adults jumping around in a most uncomely manner. They can't understand what going on, so Willow delivers the killer line:


"Maybe there's a reunion in town or, or a Billy Joel tour or something." 

Hubby and me looked at each other with horror when we heard those words the first time. We had both enjoyed listening to Billy Joel in our teenage years and had several of his albums. Yep. WE WERE OLD!

Fast forward a few years...
Yesterday I read this article on zmarter.com called "Billy Joel coming to Rock Band 3 out of spite". It recounts the story of how Billy Joel came to license his music for the game, with this quote from a USA Today article:

"I've never allowed my music to be used in a game before," but an Entertainment Weekly review of NBC's The Office changed his mind. Alluding to an episode in which characters mention a Rock Band featuring Billy Joel, "the critic wrote something like, 'God forbid that ever should happen.' So I called my people and said, 'Get me (on) that Rock Band game.' Then I wrote the critic, saying that every time I get a check, I'll give him a little nod."

 :) you have to love that story! Good ole Billy. And, of course, it made me think of Buffy. And Joss. And Jane. Because, in the end, all roads lead back to them.

P.S.
Teen son was listening to some Country and Western music while lying on his bed the other day. I told him I understood, because everyone knew that it was the music of pain. He knew what I meant. It was a precious moment.

Updates and observations: OH HAI INTERNET

Caution: Hubby at work!
So then, what's been going on with you? Seems like a long time since I wrote anything here but even I was shocked to see it was nearly 2 weeks! I'll be out of the Blogger's Loose Association with No Set Agenda at this rate. So - what have I been doing, I hear you ask? The answer is Pretty Cool Stuff. And because it is traditional for me to mark periods of not blogging with a megalistpost, here's a quick rundown:

• Building Sets & Polishing Scripts for 'Mind My Brains, Darling!': new posts up on HigletFilms.com about our progress. And don't forget that you still have 23 days left to help us raise the last $239 we need to reach our goal on Indiegogo.com. A huge thank you to all the generous people who have donated so far - you rock!
• Follow ups from VCON: We made some great new contacts at VCON and we're hoping to be able to share some more of this in the coming weeks. And I'll be publishing an interview with Alyssa Ciccarelli from Riese the Series on PinkRaygun soon. Riese is a Steampunk webseries that was launched in 2009. It has been picked up by Syfy.com and will be airing every Tuesday and Thursday on http://www.syfy.com/riese/
• Fighting GDS with Legend of Neil and Jeff Lewis 5 Min Comedy Hour: Guild Deficiency Syndrome can be temporarily relieved by ingesting quantities of these two shows, although 'ingesting' might not be the word to use given the last 'Jeff Lewis...' ep. And next week is the LAST EVER episode of Legend of Neil, which is a whole other type of syndrome waiting to happen. Will our suffering never end? Yes, because 'Knights of The Guild' podcast is still running with new shows and competitions! Guaranteed to cheer up the most down-in-the-mouth Guildie :)
•  IAWTV opens its doors to....everyone!: After months of debates, it seems the IAWTV has decided to allow anyone with an interest in webseries to register as a member. You might have missed this because it is not on the public IAWTV website or Twitter stream because there are issues in updating these sites. But Jack Ferry has done an admirable job of spreading the word, and it was this article by him that really got the ball rolling. Liz Shannon Miller wrote about the change on NewTeeVee.com and Tubefilter also reported on the changes. I think the challenges for the IAWTV are large but not insurmountable, and it will be interesting to see what happens. I think this a massive step in the right direction.
• Castle - must-watch TV!: Ah, there are only 2 things I'm watching on TV atm and Castle is one of them. Nathan Fillion, Stana Katic and all deliver a dependable dollop of pure enjoyment.
• Caprica - also must-watch TV!: From the ridiculous to the sublime? Possibly. All I know is that I love this show immensely and hope it is renewed for another season or five.

The Guild, Sean Becker and Mind My Brains, Darling! updates...

The Guild Season 4 over already?! Say it ain't so!
Episode 12, "Guild Hall" is out and..well, watch it and see for yourself:



It was a great ending to a fantastic season, and congratulations to the whole team! Because of my VCON duties with "Mind My Brains, Darling!" I didn't get chance to post the Episode 11 review before the finale came out, so there is a bumper review on PinkRaygun.com this week covering Episodes 11 and 12.

Jeff Lewis and Sean Becker - back next week!
Although The Guild has finished you can still see new Jeff Lewis next week as his new show "The Jeff Lewis 5-Minute Comedy Hour" starts then. Here's the new promo:





hjk

The Guild, Sean Becker and Mind My Brains, Darling! updates...

The Guild Season 4 over already?! Say it ain't so!
Episode 12, "Guild Hall" is out and..well, watch it and see for yourself:



It was a great ending to a fantastic season, and congratulations to the whole team! Because of my VCON duties with "Mind My Brains, Darling!" I didn't get chance to post the Episode 11 review before the finale came out, so there is a bumper review on PinkRaygun.com this week covering Episodes 11 and 12.

Jeff Lewis and Sean Becker - back next week!
Although The Guild has finished you can still see new Jeff Lewis next week as his new show "The Jeff Lewis 5-Minute Comedy Hour" starts then. Here's the new promo (NSFW):



Sean Becker is the Director/Editor and we'll be seeing a whole new side to Jeff, so make sure to tune in Next Tuesday (Oct 12th) for the first episode.

HigletFilms at VCON 35!
We attended VCON 35 in Vancouver last weekend to promote our new webseries, "Mind My Brains, Darling!" and had a wonderful time. I've written about it on HigletFilms.com. Our fundraising on Indiegogo is going well. and a huge thank you to everyone who has donated and spread the word. We haven't quite reached our total yet but there is still time. We released the second teaser last week, and here it is:



Let us know what you think!

The Guild Season 4 Finale - out in less than 12 hours!

Don't look at this if you've not seen Episode 11 yet...

As I said last week, it's been BUSY, CENTRAL here preparing for VCON 35 and then attending all last weekend. We had an absolute blast, met lots of really friendly, cool people and spread the word about "Mind My Brains, Darling!"

Unfortunately it left little time for anything else so my review of The Guild Season 4, Episode 11: Hostile Takeovers on PinkRaygun.com has been delayed. And since the SEASON FINALE is out at midnight tonight, I'm going to roll the reviews of 11 and 12 into one mega-post of Guildie Goodness! Don't forget you can listen to some great interviews, snippets and fun from the sets of all the episodes of Season 4 on Knights of The Guild podcasts. Their 'Companioncasts' are must-listens for all Guildies.

In case you've forgotten the STUNNING cliff-hanger from Episode 11, watch it again here:


I can't wait to see what's going to happen! I have lots of ideas but they're bound to be wrong since I've never been able to predict what's going to pop out of Felicia Day's brain so far. So many threads to tie up - it's mind blowing!

Be among the first to watch and join in the fun!
Traditionally the episodes have been released at around midnight, PST, with a party in The Guild Chat on WatchTheGuild.com beforehand as people wait. It all goes quiet while people watch and then all heck breaks loose! Brian Kameoka posts the links in chat and on Twitter so if you want to be the first to watch then join us at midnight. Who knows who else might pop in to chat...???