New Revelations

Well, there's a new Official Podcast out, and this one actually reveals a lot! It's a Q & A session with Paul McCusker and Dave Arnold. There are several things revealed about Album 54 and beyond. If you don't have the time to listen, I've listed the answers to all the questions here.

• There will be a resolution to the Jason/Mr. Grote saga involving an Agent Billings.
• There is no connection between Mr. Grote, Dr. Blackgaard, and Mr. Charles.
• Buck will probably make a re-appearance in Odyssey.
• The directors played with a variety of different voices with Townsend Coleman to try to get a good Stilletto voice. They ended up choosing the one that they thought would best disguise Jason until he was revealed.
• Detective Polehaus will be heard in the next album in at least one episode.
• If Buck re-appears in Odyssey, Mr. Skint will certainly be somewhere nearby.
• Throughout the recording of the first six episodes of the GRC, the writers were planning to have Penny end up being a double agent, working for Dr. Trask, but because of the direction the actress's voice seemed to be taking her, Mr. McCusker had to go back and re-write the rest of the episodes to keep her on the good side.
• Mr. McCusker has been growing a beard since 1981, is currently sporting a goatee, and at times has been totally clean-shaven. At one point, his wife commented that he looked like a badger and she really wanted him to get rid of it, so he had to shave it.
• Mr. Arnold didn't really like his work as Jesus in the original Imagination Station, but he enjoyed any time they did a live show.
• All of the writers' creativity is God-inspired, but their ideas come from a variety of sources. It's a collective effort every time they write a story.

There was also a one-minute clip featuring snippets from several episodes in Album 54! I can't say that I'm much more excited about what's ahead, but it was still interesting to hear new things from our favorite characters. I don't really have time to explain everything that happened in the preview, so you'll just have to hear it on the podcast.

Finally, the Avery Awards for Album 53 are up! They're a little different than other ones have been before because all the episodes had the same name. It'd be a little difficult to pick best writing, sound design, and overall episode this season, so that's not what it's like this time. Instead, the best actor and actress remain, but then there are new catergories such as "Best New Character," "Funniest Quote," and "Best Cliff-Hanger." So make sure you go vote!

That's all for now. Thanks for reading! Please comment!

Star Trip

If you've ever heard the Odyssey episode Hidden in My Heart, you'll surely remember the ten-minute parody of Star Trek within the episode. A group of college students from Taylor University in Indiana who are part of the Adventures in Odyssey Fan Club at the campus spent a lot of time and talent to create a ten-minute live action video portraying this part of the episode. I found it to be one of the most well-done live action Odyssey videos that I've seen, and I believe it stays with the actual episode almost word-for-word.

Very interesting to me was that I actually know one of the actors in the video. I've come into contact with the girl who plays Crock (parody of Spock) a few times. Her parents live near where I am in Ohio, and I've been in the same soccer league as her. And she was also in the National Bible Bee during its first year, as I was. She won first place in the Senior Division at our local competion, and then she went on to compete in Washington D.C. at the national event.

Anyway, I just thought it was cool that I knew someone in a popular video. I hope you enjoy it! Click here to watch it over at the Odyssey Scoop.

Am I in a Passages Book?!

No, actually, I'm not. But that would be cool! :P

About a year ago, either in late spring or early fall, I don't remember, the AIO team created an opportunity for fans of the Passages series to endorse the books. I think it even included receiving some of the books if your entry was used in any of the republished books. Gooey98/Will has brought it back to my attention that it would appear that I am one of the people who ended up getting on the final cut of the endorsements page. Brock's blog posted a picture of the page that I believe he is referring to around the time that the contest was announced. Here it is:

The paragraph in question is the third one right in the middle which, as you can see, is signed, "Christian A., age 14 Martin Tennessee." Well, though I'd like to get credit for writing that endorsement, I can't. There are two problems with it. First of all, when this picture was released, I was only thirteen. I didn't turn fourteen until September. Secondly, if you scroll down this page and look on the left side of the blog, you will see an "About Me" paragraph. And if you click on to my Blogger Profile, you will see that I live in Ohio, not Tennessee.

So, sorry to disappoint those of you who thought you knew someone whose name was in a book. ;) Although, there is another way that could be true. If you haven't noticed before, on the "Acknowledgements" page of the Official Guide (First Edition, 2008), there are some people you may know listed. Jacob Isom, the webmaster of The Odyssey Scoop is there; along with Chris and Sarah from The Unofficial Adventures in Odyssey Podcast, and Corey/Shadowpaw, the creator of The Soda Fountain, AIO Wiki, and The Town of Odyssey. So if you've ever communicated with any of those people, you do know someone whose name is in a book after all. (And their ministry is probably way better than mine would have been had I been the one to write that endorsement for Passages.)

Here It Is

Due to somewhat popular request (whether spoken or unspoken), I have decided, against my better judgement ;) to show my attempt at an entry for the Odyssey Dollar Contest. I never really finished it, and this was only going to be a rough draft, but I didn't get beyond the rough draft, so this is the best I can give you:




So there, are you satisfied? :P

Well...

As you've probably noticed, the new season, Album 53: The Green Ring Conspiracy is over. I've finished all my reviews, and now you guys are asking for more? :P Well there hasn't been much news recently, and I've been fairly busy. But I'm done with school now, so I should have time to do some stuff here this summer. Maybe (I said maybe!) I'll do some more character reviews like I did over last winter. But those are very time-consuming, and I often can't come up with much to say, so we'll see about that.

If you were involved in the Green Ring Art Contest, or if you'd just like to see the entries and vote on them, you'll be pleased to know that a video podcast was released on the Official Podcast Site yesterday evening. It is a pretty entertaining episode that is, of course, centered around the mischievous Brock. It even features a subtle guest appearance from Kevin McCreary! After you watch the video, you can see the top three entries for each age group and vote on them. Some of them are very well done--enough to confirm my speculation that any attempt of mine wouldn't measure up. ;) So get over there if you're interested.

That's about all the important news I think there is to report. Unless of course you wanted to see TLC's 19 Kids and Counting episode featuring FOTF and AIO, but you missed it. If that's the case but you want to watch it, it's not available for free, but you can buy it on Amazon here for $1.99. I haven't seen it, but from what I've heard, it's pretty enjoyable. There is a short preview of the episode on the Amazon page that gives a sneak peek at the activities on which the family embarks while they're in Colorado Springs.

So, thank you for reading! I'm glad I have readers who are eager to have me writing on a regular basis!