New Episodes, V-DVD, & Short Changes

Wow, I didn't realize just how behind I had gotten on this thing until I logged in and saw that my past entry was a full month ago. Hopefully things will pick up a bit in the new year.

Speaking of which, 2008 also brings with it the final 3 episodes of season 1, starting with 1.11 "Memories" this Wednesday, January 2nd, followed by 1.12 "Tonight" on the 9th, and the season finale "Lockdown" on the 16th.

It's hard to believe we're nearing the end of our first season. It may not seem like yesterday when I started developing this, but it sure as hell can't be any farther back than last week. Can it...? I guess it can.

A quick news item: the short scheduled to be released this Sunday (originally this past Wednesday along with 'Wasted') has been scrapped. I wrote it, but then realized it actually fit much better in 1.11 than it did on its own, so that's where it's going, almost exactly as it would have in the short itself.

As you may, or may not have seen, I posted a thread for the season 1 V-DVD yesterday. It contains the cover art I made, along with a list of special features we'll be doing for the project. I don't have a set date for release yet, but I'm guessing sometime in March/April right now.

One of the features will be enhanced PDF's for each episode, which will include built-in music cues you can click while reading, pop-up trivia & facts relating to the episodes, and behind the scenes info you can activate while reading. I'm hoping to make this the norm come season 2.

I'm also working on a DVD-style motion menu, but my limited knowledge of Flash is making it a slow process. Fear not, though. One way or another, it will get done.

We'll also be doing audio commentary for selected episodes, and two separate podcasts; one looking back at season 1, and the other looking ahead to season 2. We're looking for questions from the audience, so if you have any, ask away here, in the V-DVD thread, or in the G&C Discussion thread. I'm guessing there will be quite a few after the events of the finale ;)

Hope everyone had a nice [insert winter holiday]. I did, despite the fact that it was quite a bit warmer than I'm used to on Christmas. There was actually a discussion about this in the staff forums, about who had experienced a 'white' Christmas. It reminded me of my only white Christmas, all the way back in 1989 at the age of 5, and a funny little story I was told years later.

Nobody was expecting snow, so my parents hid my gifts at my grandparent's house, which was literally about 100 feet down the road. Because the snow was too deep to drive in, my dad had to walk there late on Christmas eve night and drag my gifts back home on a piece of ply wood with a rope tied to it...

My friend across the street awoke to the sounds of my dad cursing, looked out the window and saw a large man with a heavy coat and boots dragging a load of toys through the snow, and promptly ran into his parent's room shouting "Santa Clause is outside!"

His dad's response? "You better get your ass back in that bed then!"

If only life came with DVR.

Until next time (whenever that is) a late happy holidays, and a right-on-time happy new year to everyone!