New Years Eve Live



Jesse and my drawing

Today I am writing about a lot of different subjects in one post.

 This is a picture of my new years eve live drawing that I gave to Bob and Jesse for there 100th podcast birthday. I still cant believe that Jesse actually held my drawing. That is better than an actually famous person!



                  

 



Sprocket and his cute little birthday hat

    

  Yesterday was my dog, Sprocket's 2nd birthday and here a picture that I took of him wearing a hat that said Birthday Boy. I think he looks very adorable in it!

  The last official podcast of the year aired yesterday with an interview with Brandon Gilberstadt and Kris Kachurak. And a free episode! You can listen to it here.
  Have a Happy New Year! And you can listen to new years eve live on the radio today!

The End of Album 52

  Now that album 52 had ended I am not sure what exactly I will post about but hopefully there will be new news about album 53. I think that some episode summaries and a better picture of the cover are due. So I will be looking forward to seeing them.

  Yesterday I was listening to "The Mystery of the Clock Tower," and there is something that I don't understand. Why did Oliver Drevil lead Whit and Connie to his sons apartment and give them all of those clues when he was in on the robbery? Or did he not know about it until the end? Please answer that in the comments if you can.

Merry Christmas Eve

Merry Christmas Eve everybody! I highly doubt that I will have time to post tomorrow so I will do my Christmas post today.
  One of the main parts of the traditional Christmas celebration is the giving of the gifts. I know that I can get very caught up in that part of Christmas. In fact I have spent most of last week getting all of my presents ready to be given away. And God does want us to have a giving spirit. But I think that
  There are so many Adventures in Odyssey episodes, movies and songs that tell us to remember the real meaning of Christmas. I listen/watch them and yet I still brush it off and mainly think about the traditions, spending time with family and the getting and giving of presents. I still take the miracle birth of Jesus for granted.
  This Christmas I want to actually remember to stop and enjoy Jesus (like Chris said). I will remember that while I go around celebrating Christmas I will actually celebrate him as well. I hope that you will do the same and have a merry Christmas!

Short Review: "Grandma's Christmas visit" and a Happy Birthday

  This is going to be a very short review of, "Grandmas Christmas visit", for several reasons. It's almost Christmas and I am very busy and I really don't have a whole lot to say about this episode.

   But besides my review I happen to know, by my amazing ability to never forget a birthday, that it is Jess Harnell's birthday. So we should all sing him Wooton's happy birthday song featured in, "Welcoming Wooton".  "Today is your Birthday happy happy birthday; today is your birthday happy birthday, hey!"
 
Now for my review: Like I said I don't have much to say about it because it was a little bit boring. I have probably listened to it only about five times out of the three months that I have had it. There wasn't a very good plot to it and I wasn't wondering thorough out the episode what was going to happen.
  Connie was annoying in the scene where she was directing everything. I wish that they wouldn't have her yell so much.
 I was glad that they had Matthew and Olivia play Mary and Joseph since they are siblings.
 I don't understand why the Parker kids could say abualita earlier but then they all of a sudden forgot how to say it or something.
 I also liked the ending it seemed very nice and Christmasy. And I love the character of Lucia I was very glad to see that she came back.
 I give it a 2.3/5.

 So good bye, and happy birthday Jess Harnell!

Odyssey Scoop Give Away

  For the Odyssey Scoop's 10th anniversary and Jacob Isom is having a drawing to give away two Odyssey prizes. The first winner will get a copy of the Novacom Collection, and the runner up will receive The Christmas classics. The drawing will take place December 22.

 

  I absolutely love the Novacom Saga I listened to the whole thing just this week in less than 48 hours, I didn't even know that was possible. My cousin also loves it so I got her the Novacom collection for her birthday in July. So I got to see/listen to the bonus features as well.

   They were absolutely wonderful. I was really looking forward to seeing the actors recording in the studio which was really cool but way too short. You can see that video in this podcast. But the one hour discussion was absolutely wonderful. You get to hear the actors writers and producers talk all about creating the whole story. So even if you don't win it is definitely worth buying.

 

Interview With Whit Hertford

Whit Hertford

   In the official adventures in Odyssey podcast #110,

 Whit Hertford  talks about playing his character, Jay Smouse.

  The last episode of the season, "Grandma's Visit," airs this Saturday so be sure to listen to it and you can listen to a preview of the episode on the podcast. And the last episode of the season  means that we get to soon vote on the Avery Awards!

  You can listen to the podcast here.

Review:The Malted Milk Ball Falcon

The Malted Milk Ball Falcon

Summary:



  A piñata filled with delicious chocolate goes missing from Whit’s End. Only a few people were in the room at the scene of the crime, leading Emily Jones to investigate “whodunit!”

Review:

  The Malted Milk Ball Falcon reminds me (as it probably does everybody) of "Broken Window."  Everyone was accusing each other and then it turns out that Mr.Whittaker is the culprit. From listening to this episode many times before I could tell where this episode was going.

 

I was very glad to see that Emily didn't once again solve the mystery with her amazing detective skills.

 

  I also thought that Emily was unrealistically energetic after staying up "all night". Earlier she said, "That must have been during my hallucination faze. So how did she go from being so tiered that she was hallucinating to running from house to house solving a mystery? I don't know.

  Acting/Characters:  Whit sounded a little bit more unwhit-like  than normal. I thought that it was especially bad when he said, "I know I can Emily." I like the sound on Andre's voice but it just doesn't sound at all like Whit. I almost don't even think of this whit and the old whit as the same person. And what I mean by that is that it doesn't seem possible that the new Whit could have known Jimmy or that the old Whit could know Emily or Barrett.

  I have really started to like Jay a lot. I think (although my mom doesn't agree with me) that Jay is better than Rodney. I think he's funny and he seems more like the type of person that teases people but doesn't physically hurt them. And Rodney was just getting too old, he first appeared in album 7 and stuck around until his last appearance in album 49. He was picking on kids from the generation of Isaac Morton to kids like Grady McKay. I think that it was way past time for him to move on.

  Georgina Cordova does an absolutely amazing job of doing Nelson. I often forget that he is played by a girl.

Humor: This episode was also funny. I found a lot of humor in jay and in my favorite line, "You took more bathroom breaks than a hyperactive puppy."

Lesson: Last time it seemed as though the writers came up with a good  (having the Parker kids go crazy) and then throwing in a lesson about responsibility. This time the lesson about honesty seemed like it actually was the point of the show. I also was glad to hear Whit mention God, "The only money that God will honor is the money that you come by honestly."

 

  I liked this episode a lot I give it 4.5/5.

Behind the Scenes of "The Fundamentals"

"This episode was written in part to help promote Focus on the Family's basketball camps. It also features the appearance of an adult character named Alex Jefferson. In "The Eternal Birthday" (album 33), we introduced a kid character named Alex Jefferson because we forgot that we'd  already used that name for a basketball player."

-Official Guide p.242

  I also would like to mention that there is a new AIO blog called The Odyssey Vision.  So go check it out!

Review: An Agreeable Nanny

An Agreeable Nanny

Summary:



The Parker family kids are convinced that they are too grown-up for a babysitter. A parents’ night out, a nanny named Maria, and the neighbor’s dog Bruno may be their opportunity to prove themselves.

 Review:

  Acting/Characters: I thought that the kids were oddly bad since a few minuets ago they were trying to convince their parents that they were responsible. And Camilla was deliberately disobedient by watching what she knew was a bad movie after Maria told her to make sure that it was appropriate. 

  I also think that it would have been cool if the babysitter was Gloria McCoy. Even though she would be way out of collage by now, but Odyssey time doesn't make sense anyway.

  Sound: I did have too turn the volume down during the hectic scene with the fire alarm. And the sound affects in the banana fight were realistic but disgusting.

  Lesson: The lesson was weak. It was another one about being responsible and we already had one or two of those in album 51.

  I give it 3/5.

"But Not Forgoten" Sound Bite

  I know I didn't do this last week, I did wake up at 2:00 that day (Black Friday) to go shopping (It was oddly fun and I don't even like shopping) so I was out of it the rest of the day and that's my excuse for forgetting. And I barley remembered to do it today.
  This is by Dave Arnold from the episode right after Whit left in "Gone...".

   

   "The scene in, 'But Not Forgotten,' might sound a little too real, my son, Landon, is an adult now, but at the time, he played the role of scrub. We were in the studio recording his lines, but he wasn't getting into the emotion of the scene very well. We kept giving him direction and after a while it got too much for the little guy, and the tears started to flow. Instead of stopping to console him we realized that we should get the lines in while he was feeling the emotion of the part. The result was a powerful scene and a lot of razzing from my friends about being a heartless father. (By the way Landon was fine afterward and we have a great relationship to this day. Phew!)"

  - The Official Guide p.239

 

  Even though that is kind of sad it did make a wonderful scene!

Review: A Thankstaking Story

  A Thankstaking Story

Summary:

  On a snowy Thanksgiving day, Whit, Connie, Eugene, and a few of their friends end up stuck at Whit’s End. To pass the time, they tell a zany story of the Scrunch and his plan for Thankstaking.

Review:

  Plot/writing: It was hard for me to listen to this episode all the way through, I kept listening to the first part and then when they started singing I would move onto another episode. But I liked the ending more than the beginning and the more I listen to it the more I like it.
  Also Connie was completely overreacting about her cell phone. I think that they could have had her be frustrated but not so annoying and obnoxious.

  Acting/Characters: Connie in the beginning really annoyed me which is sad because generally in the earlyest albums she was one of my favorite characters. But in the end she wasn't overacting and that was more like what she used to be.

  Humor: The jokes were obviously not extremely funny at all, but not really bad.

  Lesson: I did like the lesson which made the episode a lot better.

  I give it 3.5/5.

Interveiw with Kari Wahlgren

  In the official podcast #109, Kari Wahlgren who performed in both Gloria McCoy and Maria (In "An Agreeable Nanny") talks about her experience with FOTF, the characters that she played, and the other roles that she played.

  Jesse also talks to Ben Fisk who's brothers, both played characters on AIO. You can listen to it here.