There is still a working Rockafire Explosion about 40 minutes from my home in Barboursville, WV at Billy Bob’s Pizza Wonderland. There’s also a working Rockafire explosion at an amusement park at Naperville, IL. According to Wikipedia, those are the only two operational Rockafire Explosions in the US
billybobswv.com/about-us.html
Another human interest doc that I can’t recommend high enough is “The Man Who Would Be Polka King” because it looks like its going to be low stakes, and the stakes then rise exponentially. Its currently screening on Netflix.
I loved this episode, as I love these types of films.
I just wanted to say how insane it was to hear you guys bring up X-Entertainment. That website holds a very special place in my heart, as it is in a way a quintessence of what I feel strong about in my life. I can’t put into words quite what it is, and I won’t try, because I know I’ll fail. Suffice it to say, there is a very specific type of nostalgia that is inherit in me which that particular website, and it’s writer Matt, also have.
I have a friend working on a human interest documentary, so this topic has been on my mind a lot recently. After watching countless films in this genre, one thing I’ve noticed is that regardless of the subject matter, establishing characters and narrative is just as important for documentaries as they are for fictional films.
By the way, The Rock-afire Explosion is one of those movies I checked out because of this podcast. It was a part of my childhood, too. Good recommendation.
David, troll all you want, but I think you would like Veronica Mars. It had several Buffy writers on staff and included guest spots for both Charisma Carpenter and Allison Hannigan.
We had both Chuck E Cheese’s and Showbiz Pizza around where I grew up I was always partial to Chuck E Cheese’s myself. Now I really want to see that movie and get nostalgic!
A few human interest documentaries I have really enjoyed were: The Parking Lot Movie, Man on Wire, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, and Winnebago Man. The Parking Lot Movie is an interesting ‘slice of life’ look at a group of college hipsters in Virginia that work at the parking lot and the goings-on that happen there. Winnebago Man is based on a bunch of VHS tapes that got passed around in the 80’s of a Winnebago Salesman making a training video and the out-takes of him freaking out and swearing like a sailor. It later became a YouTube sensation and led to the filmmaker seeking him and making a film about him both then and now. It is fun to look back at how information and media got passed along before internet.
35 minutes in, and you’ve just now introduced the topic, and stopped talking about hamburgers… for the time being. Will report back once the I’ve finished.
There is still a working Rockafire Explosion about 40 minutes from my home in Barboursville, WV at Billy Bob’s Pizza Wonderland. There’s also a working Rockafire explosion at an amusement park at Naperville, IL. According to Wikipedia, those are the only two operational Rockafire Explosions in the US
billybobswv.com/about-us.html
Another human interest doc that I can’t recommend high enough is “The Man Who Would Be Polka King” because it looks like its going to be low stakes, and the stakes then rise exponentially. Its currently screening on Netflix.
I loved this episode, as I love these types of films.
I just wanted to say how insane it was to hear you guys bring up X-Entertainment. That website holds a very special place in my heart, as it is in a way a quintessence of what I feel strong about in my life. I can’t put into words quite what it is, and I won’t try, because I know I’ll fail. Suffice it to say, there is a very specific type of nostalgia that is inherit in me which that particular website, and it’s writer Matt, also have.
By all means, feel free to come on back to Chicago and enjoy our 16 degree “spring” day!
“Shut Up, Little Man!” is a must-see. It’s currently on Netflix Instant.
I have a friend working on a human interest documentary, so this topic has been on my mind a lot recently. After watching countless films in this genre, one thing I’ve noticed is that regardless of the subject matter, establishing characters and narrative is just as important for documentaries as they are for fictional films.
By the way, The Rock-afire Explosion is one of those movies I checked out because of this podcast. It was a part of my childhood, too. Good recommendation.
David, troll all you want, but I think you would like Veronica Mars. It had several Buffy writers on staff and included guest spots for both Charisma Carpenter and Allison Hannigan.
Oh, I’m 100% sure I would like it. And I do hope to watch it someday.
– David
We had both Chuck E Cheese’s and Showbiz Pizza around where I grew up I was always partial to Chuck E Cheese’s myself. Now I really want to see that movie and get nostalgic!
A few human interest documentaries I have really enjoyed were: The Parking Lot Movie, Man on Wire, Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work, and Winnebago Man. The Parking Lot Movie is an interesting ‘slice of life’ look at a group of college hipsters in Virginia that work at the parking lot and the goings-on that happen there. Winnebago Man is based on a bunch of VHS tapes that got passed around in the 80’s of a Winnebago Salesman making a training video and the out-takes of him freaking out and swearing like a sailor. It later became a YouTube sensation and led to the filmmaker seeking him and making a film about him both then and now. It is fun to look back at how information and media got passed along before internet.
35 minutes in, and you’ve just now introduced the topic, and stopped talking about hamburgers… for the time being. Will report back once the I’ve finished.