Hey, okay, okay. There we go. It says we are alive. Hello everyone. Let's see. Range. One half meter. Elevation. Two degrees. Bang. Fire, bang, bang, fire. Hello everyone. Who got here? Wow, you know what? You know what's even worse than my two bad eyes is covering up one of them. I can, you know, this is complicated to read like this. Hello Lester and Matt. And hey, Sergeant Slaughterhouse. Nice to see you there, sir. Thank you very much for being here. Michael Fleming says he's missing due to family from out of town. We'll listen at work tomorrow. Well, thanks for being here anyway. I hope you enjoyed the show. Hello, Bader Ray Bob and Matt. And hey, Marianne is here. How do you do? She got here just in time. Hello Ratface and David and Ratface again. Metal. So here's what I'm gonna do. Hello, draws. Hello, Guy Franzi. Thank you very much for being here. Hello, Stonegate creations. Here's the thing. I'm finding it very difficult to read with this on. So while this is, I think, a hilarious gag, you weren't expecting this, were you? I gotta take this off. I can't, I can't see.   It looks good. Hey, well, look at that. I can see. Hello, draws and David and Space Cobra. Hello, everybody. There is so much to do. There is so much to do. So much to talk about. And I'm starting early, not because I have any real good reason. I could probably do all this in an hour, but just because I was sitting here and I'm ready, so I felt like starting early. So I will start early. Hello, Ryan. Topic to short, we got several. We got several. Hang with me. Hello, Matt. Kelden, how do you do? How do you do? We'll try. Okay, I just remembered we got a gung-ho up here that we haven't opened yet. Haven't opened yet. Maybe since I'm starting early today, maybe since I'm starting early, I can actually get to this thing. I'm very curious about classified gung-ho, but there's a lot to cover. And I want to make sure that we cover all of it. Big things and small things. Big things and small things. Did GI Joe have regular guards? Well, they have MPs if that's what you're applying. Hello, Jeffrey. Hello, Craig. Hello, Eric and Evan. Thank you guys for being here. It's always really nice to see everyone. I appreciate everybody showing up every week. I really, really appreciate it. We'll start by, well, you can see the graphic right there. Most recent video was Metalhead. I hope everyone enjoyed that one. I enjoyed putting it together. Hello, Craig, thanks for being here. I enjoyed putting it together. It was a lot of fun. It was a challenge. It was a challenge because as I was preparing, Guy Franzi says, I've ordered Tiger Force Flint, Chinese version, aka Latin Falcon. Okay, cool. I know which one you're talking about. That's a very cool one. Anyway, yes, Metalhead. As I was preparing and as I was writing the episode, I was thinking, you know, I do have version two. I could just do both. And I just, I made the command decision that let's just do it. Let's do both. Let's do versions one and two. Hello, Jeff. Good evening to you. So I decided, okay, why not? How much more work can it be to just throw version two in there? Because a lot of the information is the same. Like all the preliminary information, like the general information about the character and the figure and the versions and stuff, that's the same for both. So like the first section of the video, it would be the same for both. So is it really gonna be that big a deal to just look at another figure and look at another file card? Well, it was, it was a challenge. It was a challenge, but it was a fun challenge. It was a fun challenge. Marianne was here, I smashed a Hello Kitty guitar. So I went out and purchased specifically for this purpose a plastic Hello Kitty ukulele toy guitar, you know, the kind with plastic strings. So I bought that thing. I brought it home here and I smashed it on this table.  Rock and roll style, smashing the guitar on the table. That thing did not wanna break. That was surprisingly sturdy for a cheap plastic toy. Thank you very much, Eric. Thanks for watching. The guitar was rigged. One reason that was difficult to break is that I couldn't swing very well because I've got this lamp here. I've got the light fixture here and I've got the shelves back there and I can't move too far forward or too far back or else the camera won't be, it won't be in frame. So I had to swing like kind of diagonally to avoid hitting either hitting this or hitting that. So I couldn't like get the full force into that. And I did end up busting out the back of it. Like the back of it totally busted out. Rugged is just, I rigged it. Maybe it was rigged too. It was a rugged, it was, it had sturdy construction for rugged play.  So that was, it was fun, you know, I felt good. I really let out some frustration, just cracking that thing that was a good time. Hello, Robert Olson, wasn't Hasbro quality plastic. Yeah, that's it. It took a while and I was banging on that thing for a bit. I was really trying to smash it. And in the end I was just able to bust the back out of it. That's all I was able to do. I think maybe if I could have like really brought it down like a hammer, like a sledgehammer, I think I could have done it. But this position here, like I couldn't do that. I would have hit either hit this thing or hit that thing. So I had to kind of angle it. I had to angle it and that's the best I could do. Hello, Joefan84, nice to see you, sir. Yes, I did start early. If anybody's asking, yes, I started early. Why did I start early? Because I felt like it. I was just sitting here and I'm like, I'm here. Let's just start. Probably would have broken over. Possibly. We'll try that next time. We'll just try it over my head next time. I will also add that I shot more of the Beavis and Butthead parody segments. And I thought I really thought I had something there. I thought I had something that would be pretty funny. And Marianne was there and she was giggling while I was doing it. So I thought, hey, this might work. This might really work with these Beavis and Butthead cut-ins. Hello, Christian. Hello, Denmark from the United States. Hello, fitness friend. Thanks for being here. But once I actually started editing those segments and plugging them into the video where they were gonna go, I was thinking, you know what? This isn't funny. It seems funny. It seems like it ought to be funny, but it's not funny. It's like, it just, it doesn't work. And not only is it not funny, it breaks up the flow of the video. So if I'm gonna break up the flow of the video, it's better for a good purpose. And I just, it sounded like a good idea. It seemed like a good idea all the way through the shooting process until I actually edited it. And when I edited it, it was like, eh, no, it's not working. It's not working. So I ended up trimming those out. Comic tropes love the Beavis and Butthead. I'm really glad. Thank you, Chris. And also thank you for being here Comic Tropes. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the small and obscure YouTube channel, Comic Tropes, make sure you check out the Comic Tropes channel for tropes about comics. I'm kidding, of course. Comic Tropes is a huge channel. And Chris is a great guy. But I, and I'm glad you liked them. I don't know that if you, that you would have liked the other segments that I did. It just, some ideas seem, seem great. Some ideas seem like an excellent idea until you actually put them in a practice and they just, if they don't work, they don't work. And that was one that just didn't work. So I took that out. Most of them. I kept, obviously I kept a couple of things in, but I took the rest of them out. I only kept the ones in that I thought actually worked pretty well. And then the music, I really wanted to keep that in. Because that's the whole point. Like the video is supposed to show you the best rock song in G.I. Joe. Oh yeah, maybe use them as extra content for pages. That's an excellent idea, Marian. This is why I have your, it's an excellent idea. Hey, Rob Vegas. Nice to see you. Thank you for being here, Rob. That's an excellent idea. That's an excellent idea. I may do that. I think I have most of them already edited. That's a good idea. You make a good idea. I'll try to do that. At any rate, so when I first uploaded the video and when I gave early access to the video, of the video to patrons, hello, WWJD85. When I gave early access to the videos for, to the, I can't talk. When I gave early access for the video to patrons Hasbro had put a copyright claim on it, just like they did with the Cobra Commander video. But this time I decided I was just gonna go ahead and issue a challenge on it. So I did. I issued a challenge on it because I felt like my use was legitimate. I felt like my use squarely fell into square use, square use, fair use. Wow, I've totally lost the ability to talk. Thank you, Danny. Thank you, Danny, for the super chat. I still remember when Cobra Commander teamed up with Skeletor, but Megatron got jealous. That's hilarious. And thank you for the super chat, Danny. And hopefully your super chat will allow my brain to reset so I can actually use human words. Anyway, so I did challenge that copyright claim from Hasbro and I was successful. They released the claim. I did it. Hello, Big Gay Dave. Hello, Cyclonus. Hello, Peter Ong. They released the claim and so I'm like, hey, cool. So I did note in Patreon that there was a copyright claim, but since then it's been lifted. So I am going to get the ad revenue from that video. I also challenged the Cobra Commander video because I feel the same way about that. That one was not lifted. And so I would have to appeal. And this is exactly what I was worried about with the Cobra Commander videos. Like the challenge process is gonna be protracted and tedious and I don't know if I have the patience for it. And that's exactly what it's turning out to be. So I have to decide if I want to appeal this. I still think I'm right. But another thing I have to keep in mind is that the video's already got 95% of the views that it will ever get, right? So it's a little bit late to probably expect to get very much out of it, but I'm still thinking about it. I just don't know if I wanna go through the hassle of it, but at least I won one of those. At least I won one of those. At least I won one and I should have won because I'm right about that. I think I'm right about both of them. Oh, hello, Robbie Razzieri. Thanks for being here. Hello, Dustin. So thank you, Craig. I'm really glad that you liked that. I'm really glad you liked the Cobra Commander video. Sergeant Slaughter Slaughterhouse says hello from Australia. Hello, Australia from the United States. Got to talk with, actually I got to talk with Sergeant Slaughter Slaughterhouse and I got to talk with Rob Vegas recently. So nice talking with you guys. That was really cool. The Curse of Knowing Too Much. Yeah, that's, I don't know. Sometimes I have the Curse of Knowing Too Little. Oh, hello, Sparkster. I don't know if I said hello to Sparkster, but hello, Sparkster. Thanks for being here. What was I doing? So yeah, the copyright claim on the Cobra Commander video not lifted, at least not yet. And like, on one hand, I feel like as a matter of principle, I should go after it, fight it to the hilt. But on the other hand, I'm also aware of how tedious and time consuming that could be and how little I'm likely to get out of it. And I don't know if that's a, I don't know if that's a wise use of my time. It may be just better to move on. So that may be what I'll do. I'm still thinking about it. Hello, Ken now. Nice to see you. Thank you for being here. Hello, J.R. Howard. Evening, J.R. Howard. Ratface just finished work. Well, congratulations. Welcome to freedom. We have a lot to talk about. We have a lot to talk about. And now is the actual normal start time for the show. So now that we're at the normal actual start time. Oh, thank you, Comic Tropes. Hoodie doesn't chew his own horn, but he is now the most subscribed GI Joe related channel. Let's congratulate him by hitting the like on this video. Thank you very much, Comic Tropes. That is true. The previous number one was FormBX257, even though he hasn't been around for, geez, almost a couple of years now. He's still, you know, because he's good, he accumulates subscribers anyway. But I just recently surpassed his subscriber count. But in truth, if Kevin were still here and if he were still active, he would, I probably would never catch up to him. So thank you for that. But also let's use this as an opportunity. I know we do this every once in a while to say we missed Kevin. We missed FormBX257. We sincerely hope that he is okay. Nobody's heard from him in quite a while. Oh, thank you, Danny. I remember when He-Man slept with Scarlett and Voltron and said, get, you can't do that. And He-Man said, go away. And Voltron told Lionel and Duke and Snake Eyes found out and then Scarlett had a reputation of sleeping with everybody.  I'll ask Buzz Dixon about that. That's, you know, if that's in the mainline cartoon series, sounds like it may have been a deep episode. Could have been a deep episode. I'll check on that. But nonetheless, thank you. Thank you very much, Danny. So, oh, hello, Victor. Thanks for being here. What was I talking about? So, okay, it's the regular start time for the video or for the live stream. So I want to remind everybody it's Tuesday, which means there's a new episode of Half the Battle. It's still main character May, so it's still Lady J. He's covering Lady J all this month. And this particular episode is focusing on Lady J's appearances in the animated series and the comic book, the Marvel Comics era comic book. So make sure you check out Timmer's video on Half the Battle. Thank you, Joefan84 for the Super Chat. Mr. S is watching at his mom's and says, hi, hello, Mr. S. He wants to go to JoeFest, but he just can't make it. Unfortunately, he wants me to sign the card for him. Okay, thank you. Actually, I have on my list of things to talk about. I do have JoeFest. So thank you for reminding me. I will talk about JoeFest. I want to talk about JoeFest. First, I want to remind everybody to check out Half the Battle and What's On JoeMind. Their episode should start right after this episode finishes. So after we're done here, there is a link in the description of this video so you can roll right over there to check out What's On JoeMind. Their new episode is coming soon. Item C, that was item B. Item C, yes, JoeFest. Marianne, we're going to talk about JoeFest. We have significant things to talk about with JoeFest. Power Comics is doing a Super Joe comic, which I think is really cool. Super Joe was kind of an era of G.I. Joe after the end of the adventure team 12 inch line, but before the beginning of the real American hero three and three quarter inch line. So there were like eight inch figures like me go size. It's often forgotten, but it was an era that deserves to be remembered. And Power Comics now has the rights to Super Joe. And they're doing a Super Joe comic. And I have to apologize to those guys for a couple of weeks we have been trying to connect. And it's my fault. I've not been able to do it. I did a double review last week and I'm trying to do a fairly sizable review this week. And I don't want to make excuses, but I've been very, very bad about getting back with people. And I'm sorry, but I did want to say anyway, that make sure you check out Power Comics. There's a link for that as well. They should, they're supposed to have a crowdfunding link. A crowdfunding project for the Super Joe comic. I think in early June, so they may not have that link up yet, but there is a link to their Facebook page so you can read about them and you can learn about it. So make sure you check out Power Comics. And again, apologies to you guys. I've been bad about getting back with people. That's just, that's the truth. And I take responsibility for that. Thank you. What's on JoeMind for the Super Chats says, where the hell are the singing cats? This is an extremely original one. I was not prepared for this question. The singing cat, hello? Hello? They were just here. I'll get back to you, I'll get back to you on that. Hello from the Hilt. Thank you very much for being here. Nice to see you. Okay, so we've got some important things out of the way. One thing that I want to talk about, some good news. So this is some excellent news. So the guys at After Action Report, their new project, Command Files, which basically is like a collection of profiles of GI Joe characters in book form. They had their Kickstarter suspended because an attorney working for Hasbro had made a copyright, I guess an intellectual property claim on it with Kickstarter. If you've been following the Facebook pages for After Action Force and Command Files, you will know, you will have learned today that they challenged that claim and they have succeeded. At least at this stage, Kickstarter has reinstated their project, Command Files is cruising, it is on the way, it is grooving. There's a link for that as well. And I've talked with the Command Files, the After Action Report guys before met up with, well, mainly with Josh, Josh Egabine, who I met at last year's Joe Fest and also hung out with him at Assembly Required. And I just, I really want those guys to succeed and I'm glad they challenged that intellectual property claim. I felt like they had a good argument. I obviously, I can't give advice because I can't, but I do know a little bit about it. And so I did feel like they had a good argument for fair use in that case and they challenged it and they won. Kickstarter has reinstated their crowdfunding project. Now it's always possible that there could be another claim raised down the road, but at least for the time being, that one is cleared. This was just a little bit of background off the top of my head. So the intellectual property claim was issued by an attorney, it was Hasbro's intellectual property that was being claimed. So this is not something that an attorney not working for Hasbro could do. So this is something that, this is a policy, I guess, that Hasbro has in place that this law firm will issue these claims. So as far as what their policy is, I have no idea. All I know is that they issued that claim. It was challenged and at least for the time being, Kickstarter has restarted the command file. So check out command files and support these guys if you can. I really like GI Joe print reference material. Print reference material is so helpful and I would just, I love it and I want more of it. So support the command files project if you can, if you can. Oh yeah, I mean, I know something about copyrights. I have studied it. I've not worked in copyrights, okay? I've not practiced in copyrights, but like one of my law school professors was, I mean, he taught it, but he also practiced and he wrote books about it. He was involved in a dispute with the estate of James Joyce over intellectual property. So I know something about it. I know something about it. So that's why I'm a little bit annoyed, okay? With Hasbro in this respect, in this respect, I do think Hasbro should protect its intellectual property. That's not the question. The question is beyond that. Using IP claims to do things that are not protecting their intellectual property. Going after things that really are likely to be fair use. Mattel, Mattel has been notoriously litigious when it comes to copyright and they've gotten in trouble for that. I mean, they've had cases not go their way. Because they tried to use their rights under intellectual property in an improper way. They misused intellectual property to kind of bully people. So Hasbro, who is not listening, my request to you is don't be Mattel, okay? Do protect your intellectual property, but do it properly. Do it properly. Don't go after people for just doing regular fan stuff. You know that that's not a bundle in your stick of rights with your intellectual property. So don't use that as a weapon to stop people from doing regular fan stuff. Anyway, I digress. First, I mainly I just wanted to congratulate command files for being back on the air, for being back live. Yeah, copyright is, I understand it's a controversial topic because it's not, there aren't necessarily bright lines. I heard the rumor that we could hear who has G.I. Joe comics by the end of June. Well, it's about time. Thank you, thank you, Chris. We would like to, in fact, we had kind of expected to hear about it before now.  Watching on my phone and TV, I am like, I'm in stereo. Hey, check this out. I'm over here on Yorktown's TV. I'm over here on Yorktown's phone. Yorktown's TV, Yorktown's phone. Yorktown's TV, Yorktown's phone. Stereo. So thanks, thanks for watching twice. You know, if I could get everybody to watch twice at the same time, the numbers would just be off the charts. But anyway, yeah, my point was, congratulations to After Action Reporting Command Files for getting reinstated on Kickstarter. Now, oh, hello Lester, thanks for being here. Matchbox being, still being $1 is kind of crazy. Well, matchboxes are really small, you know. You know, one box of matches should last you for a while, I would think. Yo Joe June, that's right. What's on Joe Mind, at least their thumbnail for today's episode is rumbling into Yo Joe June. Now, I haven't seen the episode yet because it hasn't been made, because it's live. So I couldn't have seen it without a time machine. But Yo Joe June, Yo Joe June, June is gonna be Yo Joey. June is gonna be fairly on the Yo Joe side. And you know, I think June needs to be very Yo Joe because July is very Cobra. Cobra Convergence coming up in July, the entire month of July, we have a ton of presenters. Because I decided to overload myself with beefy reviews for two weeks in a row, I have not done as much as I, excuse me, I've done as much as I want to do on Cobra Convergence, but things are already taken shape. I have specific tasks for Cobra Convergence that I need to take care of so we can get that thing launched on time so we can get the announcements made. It's not really behind. I'm not exactly running behind, but I'm not running as far ahead as I would like. Now, if I could just review something simple. Now I did kind of review something simple a couple of weeks ago with the Cobra Imp. Beefy, absolutely Chris, it's beefy. Beefy and girthy. It's, yeah, so last, I mean, metalhead. I did two, oh hello JLS Comics, I don't think I saw you come in. Hello JLS Comics, thanks for being here. JLS Comics, a Cobra Convergence veteran. Yeah, embrace the dark side. Not sure I should take my birth months being Cobra Convergence months. Yes, well Matt, it's a celebration of you. Like, it's a great, big, freaking happy birthday to Matt, you know? Hello, Tony Jackson. So yes, Cobra Convergence, it is coming up. It will be in July. We have the roster. I think I need to tweak it a little bit because I think a couple of people asked to be on the calendar, but I haven't put them on there yet, so I apologize, but I'm pretty, the roster is pretty much set by now. Oh, hello Firefly. And a little uncomfortable. Any plans for Class of Friday? Sort of. Actually, Comic Tropes, that's one of the reasons why this upcoming review is a little bit extra work. Had to do a little bit extra work on it today. And it's sort of a little bit related to Class of Friday, but I can't say anymore. I can't say anymore because it'll spoil it. I'm trying not to spoil it, but yes, the short answer is, yes, plans for Class of Friday. The long answer is yes, plans for Class of Friday is the long answer. Matt was saying that Cobra Convergence is in his birth month. It's not his birthday yet. It's not his birthday yet, but nonetheless, early happy birthday and a special celebration of Matt for Cobra Convergence. That should have been the theme. That should have been the theme, Matt's birthday. Okay, so I have some stuff to do. I got some things to do. I got a box from the PO box that I will open. This is from Frank, and so I wanted to open this. I have, as you can see, I have cut the box open, but I haven't looked in the box. I do not want to know what it is. I have asked in the past to don't send too much stuff to the PO box. I'm not able to check it as much as I used to. So please take that into account that if you send something to the PO box, I may not be able to get it for a bit, but I did check, I did check over the weekend, and I've got this. This is from Frank. That's what it says there. I am going to open this, and I'm going to see what it is with my thanks to Frank, and it is interesting. It is a blanket. Oh, and a letter, there's a letter. There's a letter, and it's in an envelope, so hold on, it has my, it's not literally my name. That's not on my birth certificate, but it's my nom de pum. Is it from the Game Master? Probably, it's probably a Jack-in-the-Box robot that's going to jump out and kidnap me. Okay, so, letter, let me, I got to read over this just to make sure that it's okay. I don't want to reveal any personal information, so time out, let me read this letter real quick. Once again, I do keep all of these, any letters that are written to me, I have all of them, I keep all of them. Let's see, okay, okay. Okay, so Frank, thank you. There's not anything really personal in here, but it does spoil what the package is, and I don't want to spoil it, so I will say thank you, Frank, I'm keeping your letter, my sincere thanks, and thank you for thinking of me. So, hello, G.I. Gary, bang, bang. Bang, bang, so let's, I'm opening this item wrapped in a very cozy blanket. It's summertime now, but a couple months ago, I might get some use out of this blanket. Okay, so this, oh, I want to be careful. Yeah, this, it needs a little bit of TLC, but you will recognize this. I'll, it really, actually, it just needs a bit of cleaning. Except I got to put the power spec on. It just needs a bit of cleaning. It doesn't look broken, although like some things will need to be reattached. Can I do this? It's the Cobra Adder, and Frank said that he was cleaning G.I. Joe's stuff and thought of me because I haven't reviewed the Adder yet. Oh, thank you, Danny. That's your Tina with, oh, I got jealous of her.  Well, you know what? I can relate to that. Thank you, Danny, and thank you for the additional super chat. It's much appreciated. So yeah, it looks intact. I mean, I need to do a better job of putting it together, really. Cause this little support bar goes, trying to remember how it goes. I believe, well, see, I think I should have put that in before clipping it off. Let's see if I can pop that off. But it looks like all it really needs is a good cleaning. It looks intact and it looks fine. And it probably, like the stickers appear to be on it. So clean this guy up and we've got a really nice looking Cobra Adder. Adder versus Imp, I'd have to go with Imp. The Imp is a bit more substantial than the Adder. In fact, you can kinda look at, you can kinda look at the Adder as a downscaled Imp, but with the missiles are close to the same size, but these are regular missiles, not the mind dispersal missiles. So Dustin says, I asked Magic Gate Ball of Hoodie will open retro classified gung-ho this week. Sources say no. I'm trying to. Like I said, we got a lot to do. I wanted to open this, but thank you very much for this, Frank. I'm going to, I'm setting it back in the box so I don't lose it. I already put it back together. I already reassembled it. It just needs a good cleaning. If you are a collector of vintage toys, you know that cleaning those things is just, that's a part of the hobby. So thank you very much and thank you for thinking of me. It's very much appreciated. Now, what is the next thing I needed to talk about? Let's talk about Joe Fest. There's a side note. Well, okay, time out. How much time you got? Before we talk about Joe Fest, let's wrap up the live stream talking about Joe Fest or let's talk about Joe Fest and then wrap up the live stream by opening gung-ho here. So I was digging for something. Somebody suggested doing videos about the GI Joe magazine and I'm like, hey, that's a really good idea. I thought I had a GI Joe magazine, so I was looking for it and I knew I would have to get more. I feel like I only have like one issue is my recollection. So I was looking for it. I was trying to dig it up. I didn't find it. I didn't find it, but I did find this. I did know that I have this, but it's been a long time since I've seen it. This is from Blackthorn Publishing and it is How to Draw GI Joe and this, I don't even know why you need art classes when you got this. Oh, thank you for a JLS notice. My ancient nine inch nails t-shirt. This thing is so old, it's got like holes in it. I don't really wear it anymore because I'm afraid if I keep wearing it, it'll just fall apart. But for a special occasion for metal head, I thought nine inch nails is not heavy metal, but whatever, it's close enough. So I broke out the classic band shirt that I've had for, jeez, like, I don't know, 20 years. And there it is, there it goes. So anyway, How to Draw GI Joe and this is great. First of all, for the ladies, for the ladies, there's this illustration, this illustration of a man in his skivvies. So that's just a little beefcake. That's, I think that's beefy and girthy. We've got beefy and girthy. And then yeah, it shows us How to Draw two GI Joe characters. It shows us How to Draw Hawk and Major Blood. And it shows us How to Draw the Sky Striker. Now, you know, that's a challenge. You know, that's a challenge. WJGC, Metal Head was awesome in Boston, the arcade game. Yes, Metal Head was in the arcade game as well. So here are some instructions for drawing Hawk's head. And as you can see, I haven't read the text, but as you can see, Hawk is generic white dude.  And here it's got the method of drawing like the full body. And this really isn't very different from my method. It's pretty basic. This is, I mean, this is how you do it, you know? You start with your stick that you're there with the frame and the joints and the ribcage and stuff. And you start flushing that out and then adding detail. So that's, I mean, that's it. Yeah, that's how you do it. Let's see what else it's got. So this, okay, it shows a few different ways to draw Hawk. But this is the best part.  It's okay to be late peg warmers. We are just happy that you're here. Nice to see you, peg warmers. So look here, since you're late peg warmers, I'm teaching everyone the official, how to draw G.I. Joe. You know, any comic book artist who has drawn G.I. Joe in any way other than this has not used the official method. So I think they should be just thrown right out. This one, it's official. It says it right in the title. So drawing the sky striker, you know, that's a challenge. So what you need to do is start with this triangle here. That's in good perspective. And then add some additional lines, another triangle there. And then just, you know, add the some circles for the fuselage, get that shape figured out there. And then boom, you have a sky striker. Four steps, four steps only to draw a sky striker. To draw a sky striker. So yeah, this is Blackthorne Publishing and, let's see, it has some credits. It says written by Dennis M. Francis and Andrea LaFrance, artwork copyright 1987 by Hasbro Inc. So these are the people responsible. And I like that it has like sort of like rewritten file cards for Hawk and Major Blood. It's like based on their file cards, but it's paraphrased a little bit. This is, see, this is a bit of ephemera that is fascinating. Also, on the page opposite of Beefy Man, it says that if you draw something, they'd really like to get a copy of it. They want you to send a copy to their address. Now, this address probably doesn't, they're probably not there anymore. Don't send anything to that address because you will just annoy whoever the poor, innocent people are who occupy that address now, which is almost certainly not Blackthorne Publishing. But look at this.  Nice to see you. Bart says he needs to know how to draw the Baroness in Bikini book. I'll look for that one. I'll look for that one. It's probably just four easy steps. It's probably four easy steps. But look, check this out. Check this out. This is a two-step sky striker. So first, you just simply draw those lines. And boom, you have a sky striker. Boom! Step one. Step two. Bang! I should say bang. Bang! Sky striker. So then, this is amazing. You know, if you can draw with this level of skill, I think you should, like the comic book industry should just pick you right up. Here's MajorBlood, here's MajorBlood, his face. So MajorBlood is a little bit different. He is not generic white dude, like Hawk.  So you can tell the difference, you know. Absolutely vastly different from our generic Hawk guy. And here he's got his mushroom head. And when I see it, when I see his helmet like this, it makes me, I just imagine him saying, thank you, Mario, but the princess is in another castle. It's like, that's a large mushroom-shaped helmet there. But same basic idea, you know, step one, two, three, and you have a MajorBlood. So, yeah, I found this. I just found it, you know. While I was looking for the G.I. Joe magazine, I was looking for the G.I. Joe magazine. Yeah, oversized helmet. You know who needs an oversized helmet? Like, I think this guy needs an oversized helmet. Oh, thank you, Danny Funfack, Regent over here on my face shield is reflected so he kills an enemy at close range. The last thing they will see is himself dying. That's a cool, that's actually a pretty cool thought. I like that thought.  And thank you, thank you for the super chat, Danny. But yeah, like, get him an oversized helmet. But yeah, no, this is great. I was looking for the G.I. Joe magazine, which I thought I had somewhere. I can't seem to find it, but I found this. And like I said, I did know that I had this, but I had forgotten. I had forgotten that I had it. But yeah, it's a cool thought, isn't it, Joe? So here, and Blackthorn, you may know Blackthorn Publishing for doing the 3D comics. This is one that was recently pointed out. So yeah, they did the G.I. Joe 3D comic. And actually, like when I first saw this, like look at how far the colors are off. Look at the colors. And how much that is off of the plate for the line art there. It's so bad. You know how like when they do 3D comics, they have like a red and the blue that are just shifted and you put the glasses on? Because this is so shifted, when I first saw it, I thought, oh, it's a 3D comic. No, it's not a 3D comic. It's an official how to draw G.I. Joe, but with the coloring so bad that it looks like it's off-centered for the purpose of 3D, but no, it's just off. So yeah, extremely quality work. That's why it's the official. And this is another thing you could get if you're so inclined. The official how to draw transformers from the same publisher. So you get your hands on that, learn how to draw transformers. You know, everybody's into the transformers. But yeah, so I believe like these guys went through the trouble of getting an official license for this thing. And so if they're gonna pay for a license, you better believe they're gonna slap official on the cover that officially licensed. That is, you know, if I paid for it, I would. Bankrupt 1989, when they paid a massive license for the Michael Jackson Moonwalker rights movie bombed and so did their comic. Yeah, that, that is a, that's a downside. That's a downside with just doing license stuff because the value of your product is tied to the success of the thing that you're licensing. Yeah, I wouldn't be interested, like comic tropes, I know that you've got a lot of topics to talk about. I like the odd stuff like that. I like stuff like these odd little publishers or like you did Lost Media this week and the golden age stuff. I know that that's not what most people watch. Those are probably not well watched videos, but I like them because they're weird and I like weird stuff. Looks like they used the box art as the model for the transformers book. Yeah, that's what it looks like. And on the other hand, like this is original art. This is like, and it shows you, it shows you how to draw it, you know? Like, check this out. Step one, step two, now you've seen both steps, you don't need to buy the book. You don't need to buy it. You now know everything. Yeah, the Lost Media, see that's the kind of stuff that I dig. I know that it's kind of a bit off the beaten track. Maybe the less popular stuff, but I'm a less popular guy. So that's what I go for. Oh, thank you Articulated Chad, Hill Hoodie. We're getting close to Augusta. Yes, okay, now let's talk about Joe Fest. Thank you, Chad. Thank you, Chad, whom I also had a chance to talk to recently. Thank you, Chad, for the segue. I'm not talking about the little two-wheel scooter, but the other segue to Joe Fest. So Joe Fest is coming up very soon. We are just a few weeks away, and I'm really excited. Nervous but excited, mostly excited, a little bit nervous, but mostly excited. It's the first long journey, the first long road trip that Marianne and I will be taking together. I think that's gonna go well. I really think that's gonna go great. We're gonna film it. We're gonna do an actual convention travel log and do a whole video profile of it. That's something that I promised to folks when I started the GoFundMe. Oh, thank you, James. I like weird stuff and I cannot lie. Yes, me too. And to the tune of the Big Butt song. It was in Kung Pao, and be careful when he plays the song about Big Bucks. He beats you up while he's playing it. But yes. Oh, thank you, Danny. Cobra Commander Face Shield idea is actually canon. That's cool, that's cool. So Joe Fest. Augusta, Georgia, June 9th through the 11th. I went last year. I'm looking forward to going this year. It's a little intimidating. It is so much, first of all, it's so much travel to get there in the first place. Second of all, once we get there, it's so much activity. And I really want to make sure to see everybody and say hi. It's, now that it's like just around the corner, it's really kind of, it's looming, it's looming. So Terrence has five skystrikers, eight rattlers. That's a pretty good dogfight. So for those of you who don't know, Joe Fest, I did start the GoFundMe. Thank you to everyone who contributed to that. You guys have helped tremendously. It would be very difficult to do that without your help. And I'm very grateful. As I said, I will do a video of the trip and the convention and I will have some help with it. So that is, the help is helpful. So did I get my blue headband? I don't have my blue headband, but I got an idea for what I'm gonna do with it. It's just, it's blue, right? It's a, where is it? This is what I'm doing. This is what I'm doing. I know what I'm going to do for it. I know what I'm going to do for it. But I haven't done it yet. I got ideas, I got ideas. Don't worry, don't worry. There's still some time. There's not a lot of time, but there's still some time. So Joe Fest, for those who aren't aware, back in the olden days, way back in the year 2018, in ancient times, there was an official GI Joe convention we call JoeCon. It was a traveling convention. They would do it in different cities each year. I went to all of them from 2014 to the one that finished it up in 2018 in Chattanooga. So I went to the last five of them. It was discontinued. There is no longer an official GI Joe convention. There are some really great regional conventions and I'll have to plug assembly required in Des Moines, Iowa. They do their thing in November and I've been to a couple of those now and I really love it. It's a great show. It's a smaller show, but it's a great show. It's a lot of fun and I get to see some people that otherwise I would only see at Joe Fest. Joe Fest, however, has sort of become a rallying point for those of us who used to meet up at JoeCon. It is, it's bigger than a lot of the regional shows. It's not as focused on GI Joe as the original show, or if not, sorry, it's not as focused on GI Joe as the regional shows, but it still has quite a few GI Joe stuff. I mean, Larry Hama will be there. Sergeant Slaughter will be there. People related to GI Joe will be there. There's still plenty of GI Joe there, but there's also a bunch of comic book stuff, wrestling stuff, so they have more than GI Joe, and they're attracting an audience other than just GI Joe fans, but there's enough GI Joe there that it's kind of become not a replacement JoeCon, but kind of a substitute JoeCon. Like I said, it's not official. There's some things that it can't do. There's some things that it can't do. This is something that Hasbro is likely to never show up for, and sometimes Hasbro did show up for JoeCon. Sometimes they would have a panel at JoeCon. They're not likely to do that at any unofficial convention. I mean, this is not licensed, and if they're gonna show up in an official capacity, they would probably want to do that for somebody who is licensing the rights to the convention. To my knowledge, there has not been any rumors of re-licensing that convention and starting up JoeCon again. Bart will be at JoeFest. So anyway, in the meantime, if you have a chance to go to any GI Joe show, a regional show, a big show, a small show, it doesn't matter, I recommend going. It is an experience that you will enjoy. WWD says 2018 when I discovered the thing. Well, thank you. Thank you for discovering me, and thanks for still being here. But yeah, go to a show. If you can. If it's not within your range, if you can't for some reason, if it's too far or too expensive, don't over-stress yourself just to go to a show. But if you can go to a show, I do recommend it. There are other GI Joe-focused shows around the country at different times of the year. So Marianne, thank you for stopping by Marianne. I will talk to you later. And see you later. If you wanna meet Marianne, meet me at Joe Fest. But go to a show if you can. Go to a show if you can. Go to any show if you can. If you're able to go to Joe Fest, that is the one where I usually am. Now, I skipped a couple of years because of the pandemic. You're aware of that, it was in the news. It was in the news. There's this whole disease all around. So I skipped a couple of years for that, but I went back last year, and I'm going back this year.  I really missed all these people that I used to see on an annual basis. So yeah, as much as possible, I'm going to make that a regular annual thing. Now, affording the trip is a challenge. We're already committed to going. If this is something that you can help with, there is a link for the GoFundMe in the description of this video. I would request that if you are wanting to help, if you have to make a choice between helping me and helping somebody else, then help somebody else before me. I do not want any funds to go to me that could go to getting somebody else there. But it definitely would help. It is, it's a fairly expensive trip, especially coming from where I'm coming, which is really far away. So I do appreciate the help. I appreciate everybody who's already helped. So thank you very much. And like I said, I will be doing a video for the whole show. HCC7 at ACON 2024, that's right. Well, it should be. I have the slightest idea how to put on a convention. I wouldn't even know where to start. Extra money behind the Waffle House, I could. Thank you for the suggestion, Comic Troops. Always here with the helpful suggestions. Thank you so much. But what was I saying? Joe Fest, yeah, if you can make it, please do. And if it's your first time going to a show, if your first time interacting with the G.I. Joe fan community, please don't feel like an outsider. A lot of us there will already know each other, but that doesn't mean that we don't want to know you. So find me there, come and say hi to me. Let's hang out. We'll just hang out. We'll talk about G.I. Joe. There are panels to go to, people to meet. So please don't feel like an outsider. I will admit that I did feel like an outsider for the first two or three years that I went to JoeCon. And I don't want anybody to feel like that way. So please do find me. I will not have a table this year. I did have a table last year and in 2009, but I decided I wanted the freedom to get out and wander. And the table is just too much of an anchor. I wanted to mingle. I wanted to be mobile. So I decided I opted to not do a table this year, but I will not be difficult to find. I will not be difficult to find. Thursdays at JoeFest are pants optional. I'm not, that's for the after hour stuff. But at least for part of the time, I should be cosplaying our friend Tiger Force out back.  So yeah, that's all I really wanted to say about JoeFest. I will need to talk about it more as it gets closer just because it's a big event that is right in the middle of my schedule. And it's important. It's gonna take more time, concentration, and focus. Turd says, thanks for the flag assembly. Oh, you're welcome. I used it this last week to put mine together for the first time. Oh, thank you. I'm really glad that it's helpful. Thank you very much. I appreciate that very much. Anyway, yes, so that's what I wanted to talk about JoeFest. It's coming up. It's coming up. It's coming up. I know I'm repeating myself because it's a big thing. It's a big trip. It's a big step. Like I said, the first long range road trip that I'm taking with Marianne, I feel that, you know, we've been around each other long enough. I feel like that's gonna go fine. I feel like that's gonna go really well. But nonetheless, it's big. And it's gonna be on my mind more and more as we get closer. So I'll probably talk about it a bit more as we run up to it. Get a helium balloon that says HCC with a down arrow and tie it to your waist. That's fantastic. Great idea. So that everybody, even like, even the guys way over there, just look for the balloon. Look for the balloon. Marianne is my girlfriend, Terrence. That's Marianne. Now, I did wanna show you something. I wanna show you something. There was something that was posted on the social medias. I have to give credit for it. It was Alan Belk who posted it and Larry Hama shared it, which is how I saw it. So order of battle. This is something that you probably knew about and I probably knew about, but I haven't looked at it in a long time. Oh, thank you, Joe Fan. You should do a review on helium. A review on helium. So I need to find some way for helium to tie in to a G.I. Joe review. So I'll have some reason to do the helium voice. So these order of battle issues, there's four issue miniseries. The first three issues, basically reprint G.I. Joe file cards with some new artwork by Herb Trimpey. And of course, I turned to the page that has Rocky Balboa who, well, that's a famous story, we won't go into that. But something that I probably knew but had forgotten is that some of these file, some of these entries have information additional to the file card. So here we go. So this is the entry for rock and roll. 1982 machine gunner. This is the file card for rock and roll. That's the entire text on the file card from 1982. All right. This has a whole bunch more text on it than that 1982 file card. And I find this interesting. I haven't looked at, to be truthful, I haven't looked at rock and roll in a while. But this refreshed my desire to look at this again. It has not one but two psychological profiles. The first one is from Colonel D. O'Neill USA, USA MC. And the second one is Sergeant E5 John Doe identity classified and based on the information here, this second profile has got to, must have been written by snake eyes. It has to be. The following is not a transcript of a taped interview as the other profiles, but was submitted typed on Army stationery because it's from snake eyes, right? It's from snake eyes. So yeah, I just thought this was fun. I don't believe I touched on this in my rock and roll review. I should have. You know, this is the kind of thing that I, I'd like to go back and update because I feel like this should be included. So there's a, it adds a lot of text that is not in the original file card. And this is something that is a little bit special about these order of battle comics. Now, most of them copy the, copy the file cards verbatim. Most of them add nothing, but here's another one. Steeler with two, two psychological profiles. Now this, this is, this is very interesting. And I think like I haven't looked at this for a while because I haven't covered these early figures in a while. And I need to do that. You know, I will admit that I've been looking at a lot of 90s stuff because, well, I need to get through some of the 90s stuff and so I'm trying to pick out some of the 90s stuff that is tolerable and that, that I can deal with, that I can get through. But I need to get back and look at some of those earlier 80s figures that I haven't in a while. And that just, that's what reminded me of that. That's what that made me think of. And I did want to, I was thinking about this too. I was thinking about this too. So, I, last week I went back and I was looking through my old videos. I was trying to find something that I did. I couldn't remember what it was, or where it was. But I was trying to find it. This required me to watch some of my old videos. And I tell you, some of the old ones are pretty rough. Hello, Kujo. Thanks for being here, Kujo. Some of my early videos, man, I have a hard time watching them. And I thank you for everyone who watches them. I have a hard time watching myself, especially in those early videos. But that's not the only thing. Sometimes in those early videos, I have incorrect information and I hate that. Now, I know that everybody makes mistakes and I will make mistakes. I make mistakes all the time. But I don't like to make mistakes. And unfortunately, the format of a video review is not very conducive to going back and correcting later. Right? I need to, you know, I basically need to re-edit the video and re-upload it. And then what do I do? Do I take the old one down? If I take the old one down, then, you know, all the comments are gone, you know, any conversations that were happening in the comments, that's wiped away. But if I keep both of them, then somebody might stumble on the old uncorrected video instead of the new corrected video. So what do I do about that? In the past, I have tried doing like a pinned comment at the top, but not everybody reads that. Not even everybody watches the video in a format where they can easily look at the comments. So some people won't even see it. So I don't know exactly what to do about that, but I do know that there are things about earlier videos that I'd really like to correct. But doing so is not, is not so easy. But anyway, anyway. What was the, let's see, picked up European missions. Oh, that's cool. Michael, what about Herb Trimpy? Oh, Herb Trimpy, that is how his name is pronounced. And believe me, I said it wrong for a long time until I heard it spoken by people who actually knew him. So this artwork is by Herb Trimpy, who has passed away a while back. It's unfortunate that we'll not be able to meet him. But, oh, you know what? It's time, look at the time. It is time to go. I don't wanna overstep Watson Joe Mine. Their show is coming up next. And I have got to set up. I've got to set up to record the next video. I've gotta do a set up real quick as soon as I'm done here. I can't go over, go over to Watson Joe Mine. I just realized that I didn't get to the gung-ho. We'll get the gung-ho next time. We'll open gung-ho next time. But thank you, everyone, for being here. Thank you for watching The Metalhead Review. Thank you for your support for JoeFast. Thank you, thank you, thank you. And I will see you all next week. Bye, everybody. See you later.


It's all down to the basics, basic land nav, basic marksmanship, physical fitness, and aggression on the battlefield. It's the base infantry skills that are going to win the day. The structure of the competition was built to mimic an exact combat scenario. We would be doing all of these things, one after the other. This would be one continuous operation and I think it really helps guys understand how to prepare themselves better for everything that comes forward. Not just focusing on what's happening right now, like what's next, what is our squad going to next, what is our next objective, what after that just helps guys prepare and really get familiar with the planning process. It's not how fast you go, it's who's the slowest. It doesn't really matter who your quickest guy is, it matters who your slowest guy is. Everyone's built differently, but everybody's got to get to the fight for you to be combat capable. Every squad should be a family and a team thereof and they should be able to operate together and with each other in mind at all points. It takes a team to like bring everyone together and to get all these different things done at different times and just covering for each other's weaknesses with our strengths. That's what teamwork is.


Hello, and welcome to San Francisco, the heart of the Bay Area. The Bay Area is comprised of many diverse cultural groups. One of these is the deaf community. It is through their eyes that we'll take a look at the broader culture of deaf Americans. We have asked several people within this community to share their views and experiences. Let's watch. In recent years, there have been a lot of changes in the deaf community. In the past, deaf people generally went to events exclusively for the deaf. Deaf clubs, bowling tournaments, now we're everywhere participating in public events. With sign language interpreters, things are accessible, and that's great. I have noticed a change over the years. Deaf people didn't used to travel as much. They didn't meet people from other countries and other towns. But nowadays, everybody knows everybody. Travel has broadened their outlook. It's benefited the deaf community. I think moving to San Francisco really helped me. At first, I was overwhelmed hearing people actually knew American sign language and recognized it as a language in its own right. Seeing this, it helped my pride grow more than ever before. I cherish my language in all that it means. It's important. I go to deaf clubs regularly, and I love going there. One reason I go is to play poker. Whenever there's a group of deaf people playing cards, I'll join them. But to play with hearing people, I don't trust them. If hearing people wanted to, they could cheat by whispering back and forth. I'm afraid of that, so I just won't play with them. But I feel safe with deaf players. I've been playing a good old 20 to 25 years, and I love deaf people. They've been good friends. When you play cards, you make a lot of friends. Parents should love their deaf kids, not pity them. Parents should be able to sign, and the kids should have TTYs so they can call their friends, their brothers or sisters, whoever. But the most important thing is love. Parents have to make sure that they include their deaf children. Hearing families tend to leave them out, but they should love them whether their kids are deaf or hearing. I can't understand why parents always shut them out. They need to be a part of the family too. What I don't like is that there are all these hearing people and just a few deaf people around. What I want is a whole lot of deaf people all over the place. Have everybody deaf in San Francisco. More deaf people are participating in political organizations now. We're moving on. In the past, we stayed within our community. With our growing pride and self-awareness, we can step out into the world. We're deaf, that's all. We don't feel inferior anymore. I'm Freda Norman, your host. Come join me in an exploration of deaf culture. By examining one culture, analyzing and comparing it to other cultures, we can gain a better understanding of others and of ourselves. In this four-part series, we will survey American deaf culture. But first, we need to explain what we mean by deaf people. A common misconception is that deaf people are simply individuals who cannot hear. Our four programs, however, look at deaf people as members of a cultural group. A group who share the same language, American Sign Language or ASL, who share the same experience, and who have a common heritage. But before we move on, let me tell you what we'll be exploring in this first program, Deaf Heritage, which is signed this way. In this program, you will be meeting deaf people who are a part of our history. With the advantage of their varied perspectives, we will see where we have come from, where we are now, and glimpse where we are headed. But the heritage of deaf Americans cannot be explored or the deaf experience understood without looking at the origins of American Sign Language, the foundation of our culture. Ben Bahan is an American Sign Language researcher, an instructor and noted storyteller. He will highlight some of the significant events in the evolution of ASL and explain its pivotal role in shaping the culture of deaf people. It is the year 1816, one year ago, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet left America to seek new ways to teach the deaf, while in France, he met Laurent Claire, a deaf teacher who has agreed to sail with him to America. En route to America, Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Laurent Clairek began tutoring each other. Gallaudet taught Clairek English and Clairek taught Gallaudet French Sign Language. As they began to understand each other's language, they formulated a new sign system. They adapted the French system to the English language by assigning French signs to English words, adhering strictly to English structure. By the time they arrived, they had a workable system. In 1817, they established the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut. On the first day, they greeted the students, thinking their task would be to teach them sign language. But to their surprise, they found the students already had their own signs. So the French signs and the students' own were used daily. From this interaction, American sign language began to emerge. In the classroom, Gallaudet and Clairek continued teaching their system, emphasizing English language structure. The students became quite proficient. But once outside the classroom, they reverted to using their own signs. Eventually, they incorporated the French signs, and the combination led to the early form of ASL. The contrast between communications used inside and outside the classroom still exists. For instruction, many different systems were created and introduced. For example, Gallaudet was dissatisfied with fingerspelling the alphabet and tried to think of a way to improve it. His idea was to demonstrate the letters of individual expressions, each letter corresponding to an expression. A, an expression of awe, B, boldness, C, curiosity, and so on. This system was discarded. But what if we had kept it, saying, hello, my name is, would look something like this? Fortunately, that's one system we didn't keep. By 1880, teachers of the deaf in Europe began to teach students to read lips and speak. This method, called oralism, began to replace sign language. During the 1880s, an international conference of educators of the deaf proclaimed that the ability to speak and lip-read was paramount to the education of deaf children. They believed deaf people all over the world should learn these skills exclusively and declared that all educational institutions for the deaf should adopt this oral philosophy. The oral method swept through Europe. Prior to this, few American schools had practiced an oral approach. In the next two decades, oralism spread across the United States. The National Association of the Deaf, NAD, took note of this growth. Recognizing the possibility of losing part of their heritage, members of the NAD actively sought ways to preserve sign language. They made a series of films. One such film, made in 1913, The Preservation of Sign Language, documents an eloquent speech by NAD President George W. Vaditz. He comes to a promising conclusion, which I would like to share with you now. As long as we have deaf people on Earth, we will have sign language. And as long as we have our films, we will be able to preserve our beautiful signs in their historic purity. I hope that we all will love and protect our beautiful sign language as it is the noblest gift God has given to the deaf. Yet, oralism continued to flourish from that time. During the 1960s, linguist William Stokey took an interest in American sign language and noted that it differed greatly from English. Linguists began to study ASL more closely. After further analysis, he concluded American sign language is a language complete with its own rules of grammar and syntax. Stokey's findings were widely publicized, initiating formal recognition of ASL as a true language, independent of English. Previously, ASL had been viewed as broken English. This notion began to change throughout the 1960s. Teachers who formally supported oralism began to realize the oral approach was successful for some deaf students, but not for all. The use of signs in the classroom gradually increased. However, in spite of research validating ASL as a language in its own right, educators continued to develop new English-based sign systems. This is still the case. ASL has not been fully accepted in the classroom, but history has shown, despite all attempts to introduce new communication systems, the use of ASL continues, which can only mean as long as we have deaf people, we will have American sign language. It's truly amazing. People meet, interact, and spark the events which shape our history. It would be impossible to compile all of a people's history into a single work, but one book does come close to revealing the wide range of deaf people's accomplishments. That book is Deaf Heritage, written by Jack Gannon. Mr. Gannon was approached by the National Association of the Deaf, the NAD, and asked to write a history of deaf people in America. He was granted a leave of absence from his position as director of alumni publicity at Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. Gallaudet College is the only liberal arts college for the deaf in the world. Mr. Gannon went on to produce what is considered the most comprehensive history of deaf people in America to date. But let's put that aside for the moment. And first, let's meet Bay Area resident Ella May Lentz. She's an American sign language instructor and an ASL poet. During Mr. Gannon's recent visit here, she approached him and asked him to talk about his work. I'll let her tell you the rest. Jack Gannon is well-known and has lectured in many parts of the country. He is frequently asked to speak about the history of deaf people and about his extensive treatment of this subject in his book, Deaf Heritage. He recently traveled to California to present a lecture. After his presentation, I approached him and asked if he would talk about his work. He agreed. But before we go to the interview, let's first take a look through his book. Well, Ella, I was impressed with what so many deaf people did that I don't think I could really single out any one person. No, I just couldn't do that. I think, maybe, I would give the most credit to deaf teachers because they're the ones who started it all. If it were not for those deaf instructors who challenged, helped educate deaf children and provided them with inspiration, I don't think many deaf people would have succeeded as well as they did. I am deaf myself. I'm part of that life. I know the people. I've lived with the people. I had deaf teachers. So I am part of that history and I feel it very deeply. I think that was a great advantage if I had to write a history about some other group of people. I don't think I could. Yes, it was difficult to find information focusing on blacks, women, and other minority groups. And you must realize that my book has just scratched the surface. I left out a lot of prominent, successful deaf people. It was really impossible to include everyone. But I hope that my book will be considered a beginning. I hope that it will encourage and stimulate many other people to pick up where I left off and to carry on from there. History is a living thing. People tend to think history is the past. True. It is a part of the past, but it is ongoing. What we are doing now, today at this moment, is history and we are always making history. We must continue to record and preserve the deaf experience. Imagine the feeling of looking through a book that for the first time shows you your people's history. Now we'll be talking to people who played significant roles in the making of that history. One person who certainly qualifies as a significant figure in the deaf community is Dr. Byron Benton Burns, or as he's referred to in our community as BBV. Dr. Burns has worked to improve the lives of deaf people through his efforts as president of the National Association of the Deaf. He served as president for almost 20 years. He edited the California news for 27 years and was also active in the publishing of the Resurrected Silent Worker Magazine, which is known today as the Deaf American Magazine. We asked Julian Singleton, known to us as Buddy Singleton, to interview Dr. Burns. Mr. Singleton is a deaf educator and former chairman of the San Francisco Convention of the National Association of the Deaf. Mr. Singleton interviewed Dr. Burns during a fireside chat at BBV's home. The National Association of the Deaf has been a major advocate for deaf rights. As a result, we now have many laws protecting our rights. What issues did the NAD face and what actions did it take? Well, the trouble is most people haven't meant to discriminate against us. The public simply has not been aware of what deaf people could do, their capabilities. They cannot believe that we deaf people can do everything they can and probably more. NAD's publicity office has concentrated on this problem, which has helped. This department has done much to educate the public through editorials and publications, trying to teach the truth about deaf people. In the past, employers have been afraid to hire deaf employees because of their misconceptions about deaf people. They haven't meant any harm. They just didn't know about us. There is one fight. I'm happy we don't have to worry about these days. But a long time ago, before my time, it was quite a problem. Just when automobiles were starting to become popular, even though there were many new drivers, people pageled at the idea of deaf drivers. They thought, what? Deaf drivers? That's unsafe. Deaf people can't drive cars. But later, as automobiles became commonplace, deaf people like everyone else bought cars, but they couldn't get a driver's license. The state legislature and motor vehicle boards thought this would be just awful. We can't allow deaf people to drive cars. When I came into office for my term as president, NAD had begun to resolve this problem. I hope, I really hope, we are never faced with this problem again. Still, maintaining our publicity efforts is important because if we don't, people will forget about us and the next generation will once again say, deaf people are incapable. So you see, we still have more work to do. One of Dr. Burns' longtime friends is Harry Jacobs. As a matter of fact, Harry Jacobs was the first business manager of the Silent Worker magazine. Dr. Burns and Harry Jacobs go back a long way together as collaborators actively helping the growth of the deaf community. Although Mr. Jacobs is active in many projects, his main interest is sports. Sports in the deaf world have long served as a unifying force. Mr. Jacobs realizing this encouraged its growth and became a leader of the American Athletic Association of the Deaf, the AAAD, a national organization. He was also founding president of the Northwest Athletic Association of the Deaf and continued as its president for many years. Coming up next, Harry Jacobs. Because hearing people greatly outnumber deaf people, the deaf have less of a chance to compete in the Olympic Games. That's why the AAAD established separate games patterned after the Olympics. The games are basically the same with slight variations in the rules. The competitions are held every four years. They're a growing success and are becoming internationally more popular. These events function as a way to keep people in touch, introduce new friends, and in doing so enrich their lives. Competitive sports have improved their way of life by creating a sense of pride and prestige. Sports are exciting. They have also given sponsoring deaf clubs wider recognition. I'd like to thank everyone who participated in the creation of this program. Seeing all of this has made me proud to be a part of Deaf culture. In this first of four programs, we have provided you with a glimpse of Deaf heritage and talked to some of the people who helped shape it. In closing, here are some of the members of our Deaf community expressing their feelings about their future. As awareness of Deaf culture spreads, more people view us in a positive way, which affects how we view ourselves. Now, when we come together, we can meet with a greater understanding of each other. With the increasing awareness of Deaf people, the general population will accept the Deaf and treat them equally. And all these technological advancements, I know they will benefit the Deaf community eventually. I predict that there will be more and more Deaf leaders, more Deaf people involved in school boards and in organizations or projects that affect their lives. I predict that in the far future, maybe by the year 2000, we will have a Deaf congressman. And I predict that in the future, the president of Gallaudet College will be Deaf. I used to sign exact English when I would go out in public. People could understand me. Forget that. So now, I use American Sign Language, ASL, and some people can still understand me. I've got a good idea. I think I'll go into a hiding place and make a new ASL. Then when I'm out in public signing, people won't be able to understand me. How's that? One fear I have is the possibility that so-called experts from the outside will come in with the attitude, all those poor Deaf people, how awful, and find a way to make us hearing. I hope that never happens. If it did, we would lose our beautiful Deaf culture and language. Even if most Deaf people did become hearing, I'd never change.


We're going to chop it up with some fans at the NBA in-season tournament here in Las Vegas, Nevada. If you got that $500K, what's the first thing you're buying?  I'm boring. I'm going with real estate. Got to think smart, you know? Pacer's Money Line, baby. Another crib, maybe. I want my house, like everybody else probably is going to say. The house for my family, man. That's almost the price to get it in Seattle. Might buy a cyber check and then a little condo up here so I can watch the game next year. I got to pay off the student loans, man. Yeah, yeah, paying off the loans.


Namaskar. We welcome you today to Krishnakanta Handic State Open University. And today in our studio we have with us Dr. R. Shridhar who is an eminent media educational broadcaster and professor emeritus and he is also a pioneer in the field of community radio service in the country. And today we are going to talk with him regarding community radio stations and its functioning and the role of community radio stations in the society. Welcome you sir. Thank you, welcome. So, first of all we would like to know from you the main philosophy behind the setting up of a community radio station and how is it different from a public service broadcaster such as all India Radio. Thank you, you have also very nice question. What is community radio? When we have got all India Radio, national channel, regional channel and they have got a local radio channel and why and there are lot of commercial radio station, commercial FM they call it the lot of radio station. What is the need for a community radio station? The philosophy of community radio station is you know they always call it for the people, by the people, after people, from the people. So, any media is for the people. So, if you take all India radio they have to do programs for the people. You know this is the scheme of the government of India, government of Assam, you have to apply like this for scholarship, you will get farmers will get this subsidy all sorts of thing they will inform you. Doctor will come and say be careful, this is this is Chikungunya, this is Malaria they will come and tell you that, that is to inform you, to educate you and to give entertainment. This is normal radio, what is community radio? It is by the people, after people and from the people. This is the philosophy of community radio, that is it should give voice to voiceless. So, it should create grass root leaders, you have seen local newspapers, small, small, gahati times. Similarly, we should have local radio, which is see if you are having a temple, there is a festival today. If all India radio will not take care, because all India radio will have to take care of entire Assam and private radio station will ask you money, but you are having a particular colony or a particular place, where there is a temple or a church or a mosque, there is a festival. Where is the way we can tell people to come? There is a polio camp, particular area may doctors have come, how will you tell? You need a medium and audio medium is the best medium, make a phone call, can talk, can tell the people. So, the community radio is for the voice of the voiceless, giving voice to them and giving information to them, giving entertainment to them and they themselves will give the information. Like the citizen reporter, they will give you information, they will sing song, you will get new singers can identify that is the community radio. Sir, since now we know what our community radio station is. It is not, we have many all India radio. Yes. India radio starts with morning, one day mother many ends with Janakanmana and then you will be talking about what is needed for that particular people or for a particular day. They are not bothered about world AIDS day, world TB day and all, why should we bother. If there is something immediately malaria take, talk about that. Sir, what kind of measures can be adopted in order to strengthen or boost the volume and diversity of the kind of programs that are made in a particular community radio station? See, community radio station should open the door. They should not be like this in a compound wall. Somebody should come into the first floor, second floor and then they have to see and normally we advise them to keep it on the come away from the compound wall. Any villager, any community the door should be open, then they will open their mind and then you cannot do programs by a professional anchor RJ radio jockey and then they coming and doing a program editing it. Programs is produced by them, they should be the anchor, they should be RJ, they should be the interviewer and they will tell about dengue or malaria in their own folk music. Just find out, if they are convinced malaria is coming like this and they put some music in it and as a beautiful tune may they will do it, then people will have remembering capability. What you call in media, how much they remember, recapture. So, you have to do this, if they do it in their own language, they have understood the meaning, they are able to, so community radio should see the impact. If I say take iron tablet during pregnancy, if I say go to the doctor once in three months and if the child is born without operation, a good weight of 2.5 kgs, then they have listened to radio and has become practicing it. That is what community radio should do, it should not preach, it should practice. That means the door should be open, that is all. And then one thing is, community radio is not only for your university, in Gauhati that can be only three radio stations, but that must be 300 schools, 3 and 2 colleges, universities, NGOs, they are not going to get a license, only three of you got the license. So, what about, why do not you open the door to them, they also want to do some programs, schools, colleges, give them some time, variety, so your load will come down and so give them, give them the chance to do it. Sir, do you suggest some ways how to approach our community? Have you had, you are already having an advisory committee, so community you have more members in that, talk to them, say how they will tell you in my locality that is a beautiful singer, in my locality so and so can do a good announcement, so get their suggestions from them and then have a meeting of all NGOs, education institutions, universities, colleges, schools and tell them we have got the radio, do you have talent, give us programs, they can even record the program and edit and give it to you, so you should open the door, you are a open university. Sir, if we are talking about the present world, we are seeing that a digital revolution is taking place in almost every field and we are sure that the world of broadcasting will not remain untouched by this phenomenon, so what kind of approaches should a community radio station adopt in order to survive in this particular digital world, digital revolution that is coming or how can we as you have said to increase the impact of a community radio station, what kind of measures can we take in the digital world? You see community radio should also live along with digital radio, so you have to link your Facebook, Twitter, social media with the community radio, you must be on the internet, you must be on the mobile, having said that India is becoming digital, may be in three years or five years time, India will have digital radios, so your community radio also will become digital, that means the radio will become a visual radio, now radio is an audio medium, so you can add visuals when digital comes, so it becomes radio vision or visual radio, that is a different question but speaking both of us is audio, whether it is telephone or mic or radio, digital, analog, speaking will never change, audio will remain, so community radio may take and do another format, community radio may become a digital radio but this audio conversation will remain till the human beings are there, so we have to join with the digital revolution but that will take a few years time, so we presently we can link our radio with the social media. That will also increase the reach of the particular station. See people want publicity today, if you do not have, even if you give gold, I am giving you gold come and take it, unless you tell people that I am having gold, nobody is going to, I am going to give you food, you should give publicity, today I am going to give you food free of cost, come and take it but that also needs publicity, so your community radio also needs publicity, there are, they have got 800 TV channels, so many newspapers, magazines, why should they bother about community radio, you should go and publicize your, publicity is essential and you know today it is the funding, the government money is very limited, private people will not give you money unless they have citizenship, so there is a new term called crowd funding, the content should also be crowd sourced, how is Facebook and Twitter content, how is Amazon is working, Flipkart is working, they have a website, I want to sell this, I am writing, somebody wants to buy it, they do it, so the content is given by crowd, content is sold by crowd, content is purchased by crowd, so community radio content also should come from the crowd, not from you, not from RJs, not from Bollywood, the content should come from crowd and the crowd also should fund it. Sir, since we are, as you have said that community radio is of the people and By the people, from the people. From the people, so what kind of role community radio station can play in improving the livelihood condition of a particular community. See, first of all this thinking you know, I know everything, the community does not know anything, this is how I am very rich, my conditions are very good, this condition is very bad, this is what we are normally thinking, you know you keep clean, you have to keep the house clean and all we are telling because I am clean, so you also keep, this should change, cleanliness should come from them, so you give them only the mic, let them discuss, let them come to a solution, sir in order to get out the mosquitoes, I must buy a net, it should come from them, somebody should tell them, sir I use this cream, I have got allergy, my child has got allergy, sir I use this coil, I am not able to breathe, so what is the solution, somebody will say I am using the mosquito net, so problem analysis solution should come from the crowd, in commercial radio they will say this soap is the best, so and so is using it, Shah Rukh Khan is using it, Kamal, M M Malani is using it, you buy this, that is another way, in all India radio they will say do not use chemical soaps, here they should come out what we used by my elders, what this soap has done for somebody, therefore we will, so everything should come from the community, and that particular community, they should interview the doctor, they should ask the question, they should ask the lawyer, not U R J, and may be that particular community itself has a doctor on an expert in among themselves, yes they should, you can only tell the doctor, sir government of India has identified government of Assam, these are our problems, adolescent girls or nutritious food or vaccination, immunization, these are our problems are malaria, but he should understand what is the problem of that community. Sir lastly I want to ask what kind of steps or measures can a community radio station can take to maximize its impact, maximize its reach and impact mostly in the present times. You see you again and again I want to repeat, open the doors, allow the community to come and speak, and then by word of mouth, by their own feeling, their own experience, the community will come to know that it is their radio, and when a lot of people are listening, your quality will go and your funds will come. So the one thing common between you, Krishna Ganta and the Co-opern University and the radio station is open the door to the public. And sir one more thing, sir since you have been related to this particular field from the very beginning, you were the pioneer who started the Anna University station, so it has been a long time till today. So what are your experiences, what can you say, what kind of you know improvement has been done in society. See when we started it, we started only for educational institutions. Nobody knows what is the community radio, what is the power, how to set up, what is the cost, nobody knew. So we tried our experiment. Our intention was to get 5000 radio stations in one year, but unfortunately elections came, another party came. By the time the new party understood what is community radio, 3-4 years have gone, but in India still the bureaucracy, red tape is very much there. And since community radio deals with spectrum free, because of the India spectrum scams, court cases, even today we have only 200 radio stations, after 15 years. Every year we are selling you, we will have 1000 stations, 5000 stations, government has given 100 crores. Government has given 100 crores in 2013 till today, not even 5 crores have been spent. So money is still there, license is not being given. And people, there are very good stations, very good stations which is making even 2 crore revenue. There are many stations which has closed down also. But I am not happy with the development. I think community radio license should be online real time process. If you are having already details, upload it. If the frequency is available you should get it next day. It is not a very big, once you are eligible you should get your license. That should be online. I do not know when it will happen. Sir, what would you like to say to the young people, young mass communicators who are coming up and maybe who are interested in working in the field of broadcasting at the community level, at the grass root level. Maybe there would be a new ray of hope with the coming of young people. Young people today, I go to all mass communication institute in the country and for other countries. They are all thinking first to go into films, film producer. Second they think they want to go to advertisement. Third they want to go to public relations. Fourth they want to go to television. Fifth they want to go to RJ for a commercial effort. Nobody wants to go to community radio. But I do not know about Assam. In my university, the first community radio, the first batch of students who worked in my community radio station. Within two years, seven of them were selected by BBC. At 10 lakhs per year. As early as 2007, the salary was 10 lakhs per year. Seven people. And then one girl became the best anchor in the whole Tamil Nadu. And there are people who are working in other TV channels. But they are all working with grass roots. Working with community radio will give you good salary. Working community radio will understand the real plight of our people. And working community radio is thrill and happiness. One of my vice chancellor used to tell me, let your student go and interview one person from the poverty line, below the poverty line. One interview in depth. They said your student is innocent. So he is going to interview. So he will go to his house, stay there, take a chai, take something, talk to them. Then he will understand that the shoe that he is wearing, cost is the income of one year of the family. So the student will understand the real situation.  So he will ask very basic questions. So the interview will become interesting. And the student will have a change of mind to help the community. So let them not think that community radio is not paying. Community radio is really, if they put their mind in it, they can even become a director of a community radio station. And this could be a very good beginning. Very good beginning father. So sir, thank you so much for being with us today. And thank you for sharing your valuable information, suggestions and inputs with us. We thank you from that part of the interview. Thank you. When your radio station was started, we thought we will add 100 radio stations in Northeast. Unfortunately we still have 3 or 4 stations. I hope Northeast gets 100 stations. Thank you very much. We are hopeful for that sir. Thank you so much. Thank you.