| Robert Troch |
Eclectic: “Selecting what appears to be best in various doctrines, methods or styles.”
Best for me at least.
Personal/athletic trainer, Drummer, Filmmaker, Yoga teacher, huge (excuse the pun) Godzilla collector, comic book
fan, classic monster fan, Former competitive runner, model kit builder, dad, amateur biochemist, football fan,
kettlebell lifter, classic pulp lover AND music lover.
Underneath it all though…I think there may be common threads. Here are the top 10 that occur to me.
#1. Anything I take on I generally become pretty damn obsessive about it. When I began practicing Yoga I had
plenty of “tapas” (the Sanskrit word for the flame of desire and effort) to burn. I practiced many hours and became a
teacher within a couple of years, and continued to train at the same time. (At separate times of course!)
#2. I don’t usually do things “subtle.” My drumming style (back in the day) was very Keith Moon influenced. The
model dio’s I build just get bigger and bigger, and 5k’s were not good enough…I had to race Marathons too. Then
there is the Japanese toy/model collection (mostly kaiju). I have an entire room dedicated to it.
#3. Athletic goals nowadays (I turn 50 in 2 months)
are still high up there. I am slowly working towards
perfecting my Kettlebell technique, body weight
exercise feats and mobility/flexibility.
It’s all connected.
PS – I also expect the same of all my clients.
#4. I daydream and spend a lot of time in imagination land. The short films I have produced are definitely sci-fi,
horror, genre based. I used to spend a lot of time dreaming about winning a major marathon and later on being a
competitive decathlete. Yeah I know……….theme from Rocky and everything.
#5. One my favorite movie themes is that of arrogant mankind facing indestructible forces as their manmade
weapons of destruction are no better than pebbles against a tank. Godzilla and War of the Worlds are my two
favorites in this realm.
#6. I love incredibly powerful super teams. The Justice League is my ultimate favorite. The Defenders were pretty
awesome too. I have several JLA figures, and statues displayed near my TV to always put a smile on my face.
#7. I like knowing the how’s and what’s of nutrition so I can feel better, but also beat the junk food system prevalent
today. The super miniature biological world is amazing and fascinating to me and shows just how much nature runs
things. No matter how much we may think we do.
#8. The classic monsters (Frankie, Drac, Wolfie, Creech, Mummy, Kong, Godzilla, Phantom, Invisible Man, Mr.
Hyde, etc) all appeal immensely to me. Yes, they are cool looking. Yes the actors that portrayed them were great.
Yes, they have endured, but the pathos they all share is the thing that really gets me.
#9. Enjoy “some” of the CGI work that has saturated today’s media, but still very much appreciate old school. I like
the craftsmanship of people working with their hands directly on the material. Touching the only surviving 1933 King
Kong armature that Bob Burn’s owns is one of the most thrilling moments of my life.
#10. Last is watching my daughter grow up. About to turn 15 she is definitely an outsider. It’s a tough place to be as
I have spent some of my time in that world, but I hope I can help her learn how to live on that edge.
So what are the common threads? I guess you could say obsessive/compulsiveness is probably the thickest of
threads. Not a bad thing though if it is channeled well. Sometimes I am able to channel it well. Other times………..
not so great, but it has resulted in stuff I am proud of. A couple of prize winning dios, and some very cool, full size
monsters, featured in our annual Halloween show (another obsessive but very cool monster zone time of year).
I am currently working on the most ambitious and (by far) biggest diorama of my life, and holy S%*! It consists of 25
(mostly classic monster) model kits, sprinkled throughout numerous interconnected scenes. Why have I decided to
take something like this on? (See above I guess). Heh. All right yeah I had other reasons too. I have a lot of kits
sitting in their boxes and I wanted to get a bunch of them built so I decided to use 10 kits. Of course the idea grew
and grew so now. Let’s just say it is what it is.
Speaking of the Halloween show, that’s a BIG time of year around here. We get a couple of thousand people for
three shows. We did a Godzilla vs King Kong vs King Ghhidorah show this past Halloween. Three years ago we
started filming the shows. We cut them together (from live footage mind you) and posted them online. You can see
the silent movie style Dracula vs Frankenstein vs Wolfman vs Dr. Frankenstein feature. Or you can see the “what’s
up tiger lily” style ancient Egyptian Priest, Lara Croft, Mummy vs Golem feature AND within a couple of months the
Godzilla feature. We are already planning next years. Remember these shows are all done outside in front of my
building, right here in Brooklyn New York. You can see everything at the web site.
www.brooklynhalloween.com
I am especially happy with the first short film I produced called SHOWDOWN OF THE GODZ. A short comedy
about the world’s most obsessive Godzilla fan. Oh yeah…..it’s got friggin George Takei in it! Awesome! The genre
fans all seem to like the film and you can see more and even purchase the DVD at the web site. www.
showdownofthegodz.com. If you are a Godzilla fan make sure you take the trivia quiz too!
We also have plans to produce an internet TV sci-fi series that takes place in Brooklyn. You can see a sort of
cheaply made (but pretty good) “pilot” called The Basement at the web site.
http://www.transistorfilmsonline.com/the-basement/index.html
Lastly there is our internet fitness show. We have struggled with it finding our “niche” but there are 17 full episodes
there. Plus I am uploading V logs of myself spouting stuff about fitness at least once a week. You can see it all at the
site.
www.fusionfitnesstv.com
So……….I am still plugging away. Writing this reminds me that I enjoy being creative. I hope I have passed that on
to my daughter too. I like big, involved projects that I can look back on and say, WOW. I guess that says it more than
anything. Thanks for listening.
Robert Troch
My thanks to Richard for allowing me to be the featured guy this month!
No problem Rob. Remember without you and others whole be participating down the road there would be no
reason to have my News Letter at all.
Best for me at least.
Personal/athletic trainer, Drummer, Filmmaker, Yoga teacher, huge (excuse the pun) Godzilla collector, comic book
fan, classic monster fan, Former competitive runner, model kit builder, dad, amateur biochemist, football fan,
kettlebell lifter, classic pulp lover AND music lover.
Underneath it all though…I think there may be common threads. Here are the top 10 that occur to me.
#1. Anything I take on I generally become pretty damn obsessive about it. When I began practicing Yoga I had
plenty of “tapas” (the Sanskrit word for the flame of desire and effort) to burn. I practiced many hours and became a
teacher within a couple of years, and continued to train at the same time. (At separate times of course!)
#2. I don’t usually do things “subtle.” My drumming style (back in the day) was very Keith Moon influenced. The
model dio’s I build just get bigger and bigger, and 5k’s were not good enough…I had to race Marathons too. Then
there is the Japanese toy/model collection (mostly kaiju). I have an entire room dedicated to it.
#3. Athletic goals nowadays (I turn 50 in 2 months)
are still high up there. I am slowly working towards
perfecting my Kettlebell technique, body weight
exercise feats and mobility/flexibility.
It’s all connected.
PS – I also expect the same of all my clients.
#4. I daydream and spend a lot of time in imagination land. The short films I have produced are definitely sci-fi,
horror, genre based. I used to spend a lot of time dreaming about winning a major marathon and later on being a
competitive decathlete. Yeah I know……….theme from Rocky and everything.
#5. One my favorite movie themes is that of arrogant mankind facing indestructible forces as their manmade
weapons of destruction are no better than pebbles against a tank. Godzilla and War of the Worlds are my two
favorites in this realm.
#6. I love incredibly powerful super teams. The Justice League is my ultimate favorite. The Defenders were pretty
awesome too. I have several JLA figures, and statues displayed near my TV to always put a smile on my face.
#7. I like knowing the how’s and what’s of nutrition so I can feel better, but also beat the junk food system prevalent
today. The super miniature biological world is amazing and fascinating to me and shows just how much nature runs
things. No matter how much we may think we do.
#8. The classic monsters (Frankie, Drac, Wolfie, Creech, Mummy, Kong, Godzilla, Phantom, Invisible Man, Mr.
Hyde, etc) all appeal immensely to me. Yes, they are cool looking. Yes the actors that portrayed them were great.
Yes, they have endured, but the pathos they all share is the thing that really gets me.
#9. Enjoy “some” of the CGI work that has saturated today’s media, but still very much appreciate old school. I like
the craftsmanship of people working with their hands directly on the material. Touching the only surviving 1933 King
Kong armature that Bob Burn’s owns is one of the most thrilling moments of my life.
#10. Last is watching my daughter grow up. About to turn 15 she is definitely an outsider. It’s a tough place to be as
I have spent some of my time in that world, but I hope I can help her learn how to live on that edge.
So what are the common threads? I guess you could say obsessive/compulsiveness is probably the thickest of
threads. Not a bad thing though if it is channeled well. Sometimes I am able to channel it well. Other times………..
not so great, but it has resulted in stuff I am proud of. A couple of prize winning dios, and some very cool, full size
monsters, featured in our annual Halloween show (another obsessive but very cool monster zone time of year).
I am currently working on the most ambitious and (by far) biggest diorama of my life, and holy S%*! It consists of 25
(mostly classic monster) model kits, sprinkled throughout numerous interconnected scenes. Why have I decided to
take something like this on? (See above I guess). Heh. All right yeah I had other reasons too. I have a lot of kits
sitting in their boxes and I wanted to get a bunch of them built so I decided to use 10 kits. Of course the idea grew
and grew so now. Let’s just say it is what it is.
Speaking of the Halloween show, that’s a BIG time of year around here. We get a couple of thousand people for
three shows. We did a Godzilla vs King Kong vs King Ghhidorah show this past Halloween. Three years ago we
started filming the shows. We cut them together (from live footage mind you) and posted them online. You can see
the silent movie style Dracula vs Frankenstein vs Wolfman vs Dr. Frankenstein feature. Or you can see the “what’s
up tiger lily” style ancient Egyptian Priest, Lara Croft, Mummy vs Golem feature AND within a couple of months the
Godzilla feature. We are already planning next years. Remember these shows are all done outside in front of my
building, right here in Brooklyn New York. You can see everything at the web site.
www.brooklynhalloween.com
I am especially happy with the first short film I produced called SHOWDOWN OF THE GODZ. A short comedy
about the world’s most obsessive Godzilla fan. Oh yeah…..it’s got friggin George Takei in it! Awesome! The genre
fans all seem to like the film and you can see more and even purchase the DVD at the web site. www.
showdownofthegodz.com. If you are a Godzilla fan make sure you take the trivia quiz too!
We also have plans to produce an internet TV sci-fi series that takes place in Brooklyn. You can see a sort of
cheaply made (but pretty good) “pilot” called The Basement at the web site.
http://www.transistorfilmsonline.com/the-basement/index.html
Lastly there is our internet fitness show. We have struggled with it finding our “niche” but there are 17 full episodes
there. Plus I am uploading V logs of myself spouting stuff about fitness at least once a week. You can see it all at the
site.
www.fusionfitnesstv.com
So……….I am still plugging away. Writing this reminds me that I enjoy being creative. I hope I have passed that on
to my daughter too. I like big, involved projects that I can look back on and say, WOW. I guess that says it more than
anything. Thanks for listening.
Robert Troch
My thanks to Richard for allowing me to be the featured guy this month!
No problem Rob. Remember without you and others whole be participating down the road there would be no
reason to have my News Letter at all.
the mad monster maker