Ruby Departed: Fences, Part 1 of 1, will be delayed until tomorrow morning. The script needs a going over with an icepick, and I just don’t have the blood left in my brain to do it justice this evening.
I humbly beseech your pardon, and assure you a hundred of my finest samurai, (nearly a third of the entire Skinner Co. Sword-Wielding Department,) will swear oaths to avenge the treachery of my neurons.
My suspicion, regarding today’s site instability, is that the server room where the page is dispensed from is simply lacking sufficient science-y props.
The necessary corrective measures are likely just some more Flash Gordon music, and a cluster of those lightning-orbs common to old horror flicks.
Speaking of which, I ran across some interesting tidbits regarding the classic Universal Frankenstein movie:
Kenneth Strickfaden designed the electrical effects used in the “creation scene.” So successful were they that such effects came to be considered an essential part of every subsequent Universal film involving the Frankenstein Monster. Accordingly, the equipment used to produce them has come to be referred to in fan circles as “Strickfadens.” It appears that Strickfaden managed to secure the use of at least one Tesla Coil built by the then-aged Nikola Tesla himself. According to this same source, Strickfaden also doubled for Karloff in the electrical “birth” scene as Karloff was deathly afraid of being electrocuted from the live voltage on the stage.
My advice for the mad scientists feverishly attempting to re-stabilize the beast is thus: sometimes fire isn’t the right approach; sometimes you need to pamper the monster.
Just as a clarification of my own shame:
http://twitter.com/#!/JRDSkinner/statuses/68522716319322112
It was entirely my fault – I didn’t detect the odd background noise, and it was left up to our intrepid audio engineer to discover the error in my calculations.
Rather than pollute the feed with a crunchy episode, we’re going to hold off till tonight and re-record. The script is a little longer than usual, so hopefully it’ll be worth the wait.
After several rounds of edits, I’ve been outvoted, 2-1, on moving forward with the script for FP161.
Frankly, I knew it was a bit of a long shot when I originally cooked it up.
Given the hour, I’m putting my tools down for the night, but I’ll be back at it in the morning – hopefully with a fresh new rabbit to yank from my hat.
Just a quick note to let people know #160 will be up early this evening, and to also draw some attention to this great little urban legend, sent to me by a fan of the site. (A fan sending folk-fan-info – fantastic!)
Fan death is an urban legend prevailing in South Korea in which an electric fan left running overnight in a closed room can cause the death of those inside. Fans sold in Korea are equipped with a timer switch that turns them off after a set number of minutes, which users are frequently urged to set when going to sleep with a fan on.
I’m really enjoying this week’s trend – if you’ve got a local myth, leave it in the comments, hit me up on Facebook, or mail it to me at skinner@skinner.fm!
We recorded FlashCast 17 last night, but Jessica May has yet to complete her process for cutting out all of my nonsensical rambling and drooling noises. I’ve been told sometime around 1EST, and will have it up as soon as it’s in my grubby little mitts.
(The image at the top is by Justin Van Genderen, and can be purchased here, along with several other fictional-city posters.)
The week remains out of whack – the rest of the team is still on the road, so I’m left to vigorously scribble my words and wait.
In the meantime, have you checked out the Murder Plague arc we concluded this weekend? Been to The Dance? Had a bite to eat?
We’ll be posting a one-shot Blackhall or Coffin on Wednesday – feel free to leave a comment if you have a preference on which goes first – and the other will go up on Friday.
I suspect FlashCast may be coming on Saturday, but, if I make too many promises without running them by the committee first, the delay will be even longer while I extract myself from traction and a massive medical bill.
http://twitter.com/#!/JRDSkinner/status/61603300562317312
Wow, what a difference 24 straight hours of complaining, followed by 24 straight hours of sleep, can make. My illness has retreated to nothing more than a persistent sniffle, and my brain is happily being primed under a steady deluge of coffee.
Tonight we’ll be recording and posting FlashCast 16, and tomorrow we’ll get back on track by releasing the first of a Murder Plague three-parter.
I’ll update the weekly schedule shortly, but, at the moment, it appears the site has picked up a gremlin, and is now tweeting non-existent updates to my feed. Frankly, I’m just pleased to be in a healthy enough condition to do something about it – now please excuse me while I locate my bludgeoning wrench.
[youtube_sc url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c]
I apologize, but I’m full of plague. Please check out last night’s story, and I’ll be back tomorrow. (Or later today, but increasingly nonsensically.)
