Happy New Year!

*sighs* Leave it to me to say I'm going to post on New Years' and forget to do it until more than halfway through the month. And the only reason I remembered is because there was some new news to let you guys know about. And now I can't even find the Wooton New Years' picture I was going to post. *curls up in shame*

But anyways, the AIO Wiki posted some new Gary Locke artwork today! We now have a picture of Penny Wise:

What do you think of it? I think it's pretty accurate. It matches the voice pretty well. I imagined her a little more heavyset, shorter, and without glasses, but hey, Gary Locke and I obviously don't share a mind, so I think it's pretty good. It works.

In other news, the Avery Awards are open, so make sure to go vote in those A.S.A.P. if you haven't yet. I'm not going to take the time to post all of my picks and predictions like I did last year--mainly because I don't have time, but also because Ben Warren at The Changing Times already did that, and I agree with most of what he said.

The AIO Wiki also posted some new info on Album 56 today, including some episode titles, and a little about what will be in the episodes. We'll get to hear a Room of Consequence episode for the first time since Album 41, I believe. It will feature at least an older Barrett and an older Matthew, it seems, so that's definitely something to look forward to.

There's a new episode summary for the episode Mistaken for Good in Album 55. It's about as simple as a summary could get: "Jay Smouse is mistaken for being a good guy." That's all I got for the upcoming season, but I'm sure there'll be more to come soon. We still need the name of the final two-part episode of the much anticipated The Deep End album, so be on the lookout!

Thank you to all of my faithful readers who bear with me...even when I only post once a month. :P Hopefully I can post again soon. And maybe I'll find that picture of Wooton that I said I'd post. Anyway, your comments are greatly appreciated, so say something if you can! Thanks again!

Mr. Jones!

I received my January 2012 issue of Clubhouse Magazine in the mail yesterday afternoon, and in the Adventures in Odyssey section of the magazine, I saw this picture:

Gary Locke has again done an amazing job in putting a face to the voice we hear on the radio. I, for one, think it is an excellent representation of my mind's picture of Mr. Jones. I did imagine him a bit heavier though...

This first issue of 2012 also featured new pictures of Emily and Barrett Jones further on in the magazine:

(Is it just me, or does Barrett have huge feet?)

I hope I'm not violating any copyright issues in posting these pictures. I stated that Gary Locke was the artist behind the new drawings, so I think I should be okay. But if anyone thinks otherwise, please let me know, and I'll take them down.

P.S. If there's anyone who'd be able to offer me some assistance with the technical aspects of the blog, I need some help. The Internet Explorer version of my blog has the entire right sidebar on the bottom of the left sidebar. No matter what I do in the "design" section of blogger, I can't fix it. All the other browsers seem to be fine. But Internet Explorer is what the majority of my viewers use, so I want to try to get it fixed.

Yes! I Finally Posted...

...but it's still not a review. :(

However, my news does (sorta) pertain to reviewing. Although I still don't feel like I have much extra time to be spending writing reviews, I have received something that will aid me in that regard: Album 54! Now, rather than digging back into the archives (or going to FAIO [heh-heh]) to listen to previously-aired episodes, I can just pop a CD into the laptop and review as I listen.

My family celebrated Christmas today on the 24th rather than on the 25th tomorrow in order to maintain the importance of the Lord's Day. We didn't want the celebration of Christmas to conflict with our celebration with Jesus' resurrection tomorrow, so we opened presents today. As you can see in the picture below, I have much reason to be happy with the presents I received. ;)

I'd love to hear about any presents you've received--especially if they have anything to do with Odyssey. And I promise I will try my best to get a review of Forgiving More...Or Less out as soon as I can. Thank you for your patience! Have yourself a merry little Christmas celebrating Christ's birth! But don't forget to go to church on Sunday and celebrate His resurrection.

New Album 55 Episode Titles

I'm sorry I still haven't gotten around to posting the reviews I promised. I am done with the Bible Bee now but, having been away from school for so long, much of my attention is currently focused on that. Plus, the holidays are coming up, and I really doubt I'll have any time soon to sit down and dedicate my time to listening to an episode and writing a review. But if I ever do have that time, I will certainly do my best to get a review of Forgiving More...Or Less up here.

On the bright side of things, I just saw this afternoon that AIO Wiki posted some information given on the Odyssey Scoopcast regarding more titles of Album 55 episodes. These three new titles are Child's Play, Mistaken for Good, and To Mend or Repair. Added to the seven titles we already knew, these new ones leave us with only two titles to go in Album 55. Here is a list of all the titles so far, if you haven't been keeping up:

Sgt. York, Parts I, II, III, and IV
The Labyrinth, Parts I, II, and III
Child's Play
Mistaken for Good
To Mend or Repair

This album is really building up to possibly be the best release since the relaunch. Now I can't wait for some descriptions of these upcoming episodes!

Now You Can See It

If any of you were lucky enough to see the cover of Album 55 during the few hours that Marvin (The AIO Fan's Life) and I had it posted before we were asked to remove it, congratulations! It's great to know that you follow our blogs so closely. But if you didn't see it, here it is, officially. We were asked to take it down last week because The Official Podcast wasn't going to release it until today. Now it's released, and I'm fairly certain I can give you the picture. So here it is:



I posted my thoughts about the cover last week, but since I had to delete that post, I'll review it again. I think Whit looks great; but why is he wearing his full outfit--including a thick, leather jacket--in the pool? Connie looks a little to Asian, in my opinion; her eyes get more and more stretched out and slanted with every new picture we see. Eugene looks weird in sunglasses, but it reminds me of the days when we couldn't ever see his eyes; but one thing I noticed is that he has a lot of wrinkles for a guy in his thirties. And Wooton...typical Wooton. He is what makes this cover art so great. Although I actually think AIO Wiki's mockup cover (bottom) makes it look better. It seems to add some needed depth perception, and I hope the official cover will follow suit.

But I don't really get it. Is this a scene from an episode? Or is it merely representative of the album's theme, as in the case of Days to Remember? And who's the kid cannonball-ing into the pool? Is it maybe one of the "old friends" mentioned in the album description?

I'm really looking forward to this album. I'd love to hear your opinions of the cover and the album. Tell me your thoughts in the comments!