Hello everyone! We have returned from our Christmas/New Year break. Welcome to 2015. We hope you had a pleasant holiday, or are still having one. For us though, it's time to get back into motion!
In this message, I'll be sharing some of the goals we have for 2015. Not all of them though, as we've left some room for any new ideas that may come by. I'm also avoiding setting deadlines for any of them (except maybe one), because my track record of doing that isn't exactly the greatest. I mean, the number of times I've wanted to do certain things by a particular date, and failed, is a little too high for my liking. The release date for Kingrow's "7-Sided Parallel" album is a good example of this (you can read about it in the Kingrow story on the website).
Before I get into the details, I must inform you now that the months of January and February may be a little quiet to begin with. In less than a month's time, I will be heading up to Auckland with Aliesha to attend the first ever New Zealand concert by Sweden's own, Roxette! Much of January will be preparation for that, and I may not get into a good momentum until after our return a few days later (the concert is on the 7th). Either way, expect a review of the show when I get back!
Anyway, what do we have in store for this year? Let's begin!
STORIES
Forbes has stated that he will be resuming his writings very soon. As a result of this, the first chapter should come our way in the coming weeks. Not sure when yet.
Also, keep in mind that because of the concert, there may be some delays in posting some chapters if there's a new story released before February. If a new story comes out before January ends, I will attempt to have enough chapters released to keep you all satisfied while I'm away. However, if I don't get Forbes' next story before then, it will most likely wait until I get back before the first chapter is released. It all makes sense, really.
DUCKSEL COMEDY
First of all, I did post a blog with a meme the other day, which kind of counts as our first piece of new material for the year. All before the first official blog. Yay us!
Anyway, as you may already know, Forbes and I started working on a sketch comedy album in 2014. We'd like to get more of that done this year. It may take some time though, but we'll get there.
I'd like to do some more short comedy videos for YouTube also. If you think back a few years, I released a video under the name "Pointless Advertising #1". I'd like to do a #2 at some point (that sounds so wrong, but funny enough to keep in the blog).
GOSNEY
Just like previous albums/singles last year, the next release is scheduled for the 13th of the month, which is a couple days away. Meaning the next new thing we'll have for you after today will be the first Gosney album/single of 2015. There's a few scheduled for release this year. All of which will give us enough time to prepare the songs Forbes has 'trapped' on his PS2 memory card, due to the loss of his original copy of "Music 2000" after the 2011 earthquake. We've since replaced the software through means of an eBay purchase, so we're hoping to grab those songs a.s.a.p. These songs will be the last of Forbes' PlayStation music that hasn't been released yet.
n-SOMNIA
As you may know, I started on my next EP in December. So far I have 1 song that is nearly complete. I have planned for a total of about 6 songs this time. My goal is to have it out by the time I next go on Pulzar FM. About that interview, I was told off-air that there are plans to catch up with all the artists that have been interviewed after a year to see what they've been up to. I hope to have this EP as a topic of discussion by the time I get my second interview, which would probably be somewhere near the middle of the year.
THE SWEDE LEGACY
Near the end of 2014, I announced that I was working on a selection of songs I wrote back in high school for a band (or an 'attempted band') called Swede. This, of course, was the brain child of yours truly, which had Forbes' own input included. An early Kingrow, if you will. The first album is one that I do have a target date for. Since the project originally started sometime around August/September of 1995, I hope to have at least the recording sessions completed by those months this year. Doing so would mark its 20-year anniversary of existing. After this, I plan on giving it the final touches and having it released before Christmas.
Since the band was heavily inspired (at first) by Roxette, my attendance at their concert next month will definitely help encourage me to get this album done. This is why I may take a few weeks to really get it started. I'm waiting for that spark of inspiration to light up!
As for the other 4 albums I've planned, they will come along whenever they do so. No set date for these ones...but I would like to have all 5 released by 2020, if that's possible. I'd like to start the next decade with that chapter of my life completed.
GAME WALKTHROUGHS
Before the quake hit us in 2011, Forbes and I recorded 10 videos of a "Let's Play" series called "Ducksel Comedy Game Walkthroughs", where we focused on the id Software game, "Doom". I'd like to pick up where we left off at some point by doing the 9 levels of Episode 2 of "Doom", followed by the other episodes. Whether or not it will happen in 2015 is anyone's guess, but it's something I'd like to get back into.
PODCASTS
Another of the projects that got interrupted by the 2011 quake. We were only 2 episodes into it when it hit and Forbes had to step down to take care of things at his end. I was able to continue some time afterwards, but not for very long. There's only so long you can listen to one person before it gets boring. Podcasts work better with at least 2 people.
When we do get back into podcasts, I'd like to take the 21st centry movie industry approach and do a reboot. As far as I'm concerned, due to the huge time gap, what was once called "The Ducksel Comedy Podcasts" is no more. Instead, I'd like to restart the series as "The Stuffed Duck Podcast". This opens up the series to more than just comedy. We could then talk about all the different things we do, such as comedy, music, stories, videos, reviews, our opinions on things, etc. No boundaries this time!
QCI
Little has been said on this project, but hints towards it have been out there for a while. Basically, "QCI" is one day going to be a webseries you can watch on the likes of YouTube (or anywhere else that may better suit it). It is a drama based on Forbes' story series called "Investigations", but is different to what's been written already. Think of it like your favourite series of novels that have had their own movie adaptions. They're never always accurate and/or the same. In our case, it is kind of intentional.
What the series will be is (at least to begin with) a backstory to Forbes' original writing of "Investigations", which has not been released. In fact, it's an incomplete story. Forbes had trouble finding a way to give the story an ending, but hasn't gone back to it since he stopped. Meanwhile, I came along to read it. I liked it enough to be inspired to make a video version of what was written. However, I felt it also needed a backstory, which is why it will become a series rather than a movie-length epic. Once it gets to the point of the story where Forbes stopped, we will have the task of finding a conclusion to give it the perfect ending. Just so you know, the backstory I've come up with is enough to give a decent amount of episodes.
There's no telling when this series will actually be seen, let alone get filmed, but my intentions for this project in 2015 is to get more involved in the writing stage. I started working on the first episode before 2014's end, and I plan to continue very soon.
TRYING STUFF
From time to time, when things get a little quiet on the website, we will be releasing an episode of "Trying Stuff" to fill the gaps. At 2014's end, I have an episode that remains unedited. I plan to have it up sometime soon. As for future episodes, there are 2 or 3 products worthy of featuring on our show that we have in our possession. We'll get around to filming those when the timing is right.
In this message, I'll be sharing some of the goals we have for 2015. Not all of them though, as we've left some room for any new ideas that may come by. I'm also avoiding setting deadlines for any of them (except maybe one), because my track record of doing that isn't exactly the greatest. I mean, the number of times I've wanted to do certain things by a particular date, and failed, is a little too high for my liking. The release date for Kingrow's "7-Sided Parallel" album is a good example of this (you can read about it in the Kingrow story on the website).
Before I get into the details, I must inform you now that the months of January and February may be a little quiet to begin with. In less than a month's time, I will be heading up to Auckland with Aliesha to attend the first ever New Zealand concert by Sweden's own, Roxette! Much of January will be preparation for that, and I may not get into a good momentum until after our return a few days later (the concert is on the 7th). Either way, expect a review of the show when I get back!
Anyway, what do we have in store for this year? Let's begin!
STORIES
Forbes has stated that he will be resuming his writings very soon. As a result of this, the first chapter should come our way in the coming weeks. Not sure when yet.
Also, keep in mind that because of the concert, there may be some delays in posting some chapters if there's a new story released before February. If a new story comes out before January ends, I will attempt to have enough chapters released to keep you all satisfied while I'm away. However, if I don't get Forbes' next story before then, it will most likely wait until I get back before the first chapter is released. It all makes sense, really.
DUCKSEL COMEDY
First of all, I did post a blog with a meme the other day, which kind of counts as our first piece of new material for the year. All before the first official blog. Yay us!
Anyway, as you may already know, Forbes and I started working on a sketch comedy album in 2014. We'd like to get more of that done this year. It may take some time though, but we'll get there.
I'd like to do some more short comedy videos for YouTube also. If you think back a few years, I released a video under the name "Pointless Advertising #1". I'd like to do a #2 at some point (that sounds so wrong, but funny enough to keep in the blog).
GOSNEY
Just like previous albums/singles last year, the next release is scheduled for the 13th of the month, which is a couple days away. Meaning the next new thing we'll have for you after today will be the first Gosney album/single of 2015. There's a few scheduled for release this year. All of which will give us enough time to prepare the songs Forbes has 'trapped' on his PS2 memory card, due to the loss of his original copy of "Music 2000" after the 2011 earthquake. We've since replaced the software through means of an eBay purchase, so we're hoping to grab those songs a.s.a.p. These songs will be the last of Forbes' PlayStation music that hasn't been released yet.
n-SOMNIA
As you may know, I started on my next EP in December. So far I have 1 song that is nearly complete. I have planned for a total of about 6 songs this time. My goal is to have it out by the time I next go on Pulzar FM. About that interview, I was told off-air that there are plans to catch up with all the artists that have been interviewed after a year to see what they've been up to. I hope to have this EP as a topic of discussion by the time I get my second interview, which would probably be somewhere near the middle of the year.
THE SWEDE LEGACY
Near the end of 2014, I announced that I was working on a selection of songs I wrote back in high school for a band (or an 'attempted band') called Swede. This, of course, was the brain child of yours truly, which had Forbes' own input included. An early Kingrow, if you will. The first album is one that I do have a target date for. Since the project originally started sometime around August/September of 1995, I hope to have at least the recording sessions completed by those months this year. Doing so would mark its 20-year anniversary of existing. After this, I plan on giving it the final touches and having it released before Christmas.
Since the band was heavily inspired (at first) by Roxette, my attendance at their concert next month will definitely help encourage me to get this album done. This is why I may take a few weeks to really get it started. I'm waiting for that spark of inspiration to light up!
As for the other 4 albums I've planned, they will come along whenever they do so. No set date for these ones...but I would like to have all 5 released by 2020, if that's possible. I'd like to start the next decade with that chapter of my life completed.
GAME WALKTHROUGHS
Before the quake hit us in 2011, Forbes and I recorded 10 videos of a "Let's Play" series called "Ducksel Comedy Game Walkthroughs", where we focused on the id Software game, "Doom". I'd like to pick up where we left off at some point by doing the 9 levels of Episode 2 of "Doom", followed by the other episodes. Whether or not it will happen in 2015 is anyone's guess, but it's something I'd like to get back into.
PODCASTS
Another of the projects that got interrupted by the 2011 quake. We were only 2 episodes into it when it hit and Forbes had to step down to take care of things at his end. I was able to continue some time afterwards, but not for very long. There's only so long you can listen to one person before it gets boring. Podcasts work better with at least 2 people.
When we do get back into podcasts, I'd like to take the 21st centry movie industry approach and do a reboot. As far as I'm concerned, due to the huge time gap, what was once called "The Ducksel Comedy Podcasts" is no more. Instead, I'd like to restart the series as "The Stuffed Duck Podcast". This opens up the series to more than just comedy. We could then talk about all the different things we do, such as comedy, music, stories, videos, reviews, our opinions on things, etc. No boundaries this time!
QCI
Little has been said on this project, but hints towards it have been out there for a while. Basically, "QCI" is one day going to be a webseries you can watch on the likes of YouTube (or anywhere else that may better suit it). It is a drama based on Forbes' story series called "Investigations", but is different to what's been written already. Think of it like your favourite series of novels that have had their own movie adaptions. They're never always accurate and/or the same. In our case, it is kind of intentional.
What the series will be is (at least to begin with) a backstory to Forbes' original writing of "Investigations", which has not been released. In fact, it's an incomplete story. Forbes had trouble finding a way to give the story an ending, but hasn't gone back to it since he stopped. Meanwhile, I came along to read it. I liked it enough to be inspired to make a video version of what was written. However, I felt it also needed a backstory, which is why it will become a series rather than a movie-length epic. Once it gets to the point of the story where Forbes stopped, we will have the task of finding a conclusion to give it the perfect ending. Just so you know, the backstory I've come up with is enough to give a decent amount of episodes.
There's no telling when this series will actually be seen, let alone get filmed, but my intentions for this project in 2015 is to get more involved in the writing stage. I started working on the first episode before 2014's end, and I plan to continue very soon.
TRYING STUFF
From time to time, when things get a little quiet on the website, we will be releasing an episode of "Trying Stuff" to fill the gaps. At 2014's end, I have an episode that remains unedited. I plan to have it up sometime soon. As for future episodes, there are 2 or 3 products worthy of featuring on our show that we have in our possession. We'll get around to filming those when the timing is right.
That's about it for now. It's definitely not all the things I'd like to do this year, but as more ideas come my way, I'm sure I'll let you all know (unless it's a surprise - people love surprises). Bear in mind that there's a chance that not all of these things may happen as planned for 2015, but it would be super awesome if they do.
Until next time, stay safe in this crazy world and check back here regularly for more!
Until next time, stay safe in this crazy world and check back here regularly for more!