As most of you are already aware, this week is "More Than Meets The Eye" week on EP, and I am thrilled to be a part of bringing awesome Transformers related content into the fray!
Today on the show you can see my interview with the legendary Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime in both the original G1 animated series, the ROTF videogame and movie. He was a pleasure to talk to and his take on the Optimus Prime character was both informative and inspiring. The fact that his decorated Vietnam vet brother (who was a Marine) served as his main source of inspiration for the character is pretty darn cool as far as I'm concerned.
A little later in the show you'll see that I also had the chance to talk to Aaron Archer, Senior Designer over at Hasbro about the ROTF line of toys coming out in conjunction with, you guessed it, the video game and the movie. It was pretty cool to learn about the intense collaboration that took place between Michael Bay's production company, Activision and Hasbro in creating a cohesive franchise. Not to mention being surrounded by hundreds of different robot toys and kids who were pretty stoked to play with them all. It was a fun day.
I've heard a lot of flak about Transformers ROTF releases and a lot of nay-saying about Michael Bay and his exorbitant production values and I just want to say, after speaking with all these different people who are so passionate about this franchise, that it's about so much more than merely its latest installments. Transformers, as Peter Cullen so aptly stated, is about the timeless battle of good vs. evil, of character, morality, integrity, and standing up for what you believe in. In other words, it's more than meets the eye. ;-)
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And what could be better than ghetto blasters and fast cars that turn into robots?
Jedi out - till next time...
Miri Jedeikin
Self-professed pop culture junkie and media glutton, Miri Jedeikin (AKA Jeds, Jedi, MJ, Mircat) has had a long-standing love affair with pretty much anything audio-visual. If there's a movie out in theatres, chances are Miri has already seen it! Miri's love of storytelling and communicating ideas developed early, and by the age of 17 she was published and syndicated in newspapers across the U.S. and Canada. After studying film, media theory and pop culture at McGill University in Montreal, Canada, Miri moved to Los Angeles where she could roller skate on the beach in January while also pursuing a career in brand management and PR. Once she realized that sitting at a desk all day pitching stories wasn't really her bag, Miri promptly switched gears and became heavily involved in user-generated online news content. Starting out as an avid participant of online news communities, she quickly evolved into curator, editor, producer and viral web host. She continuously (and some might say obsessively) scours the Internet for cool content and interesting factoids, and is passionate about viral videos and information sharing. Some people call this nerdy. Miri calls it the way of the future.
In addition to being a bit of a gadget geek, Miri is secretly an amateur car junkie as well. When she isn't ripping her metallic black GTI around LA (which she named Black Mamba after Uma Thurman's character in Kill Bill), she likes playing Forza Motorsport and Grand Theft Auto and is really looking forward to playing the next Codemasters racer on her 360! Though Miri certainly isn't the most skilled gamer on the block, she is passionate about the industry and its growing impact on media of all forms. Let the users have their way!