A Big Change... Back...

Hi,

After many technical woes over the past few months, I've decided to bite the bullet and move my shows away from my network, putting them back here on the site, where they began in the first place.

Anyone who's tried to download 'The Final Adventures Of Alfred Hitchcock' and only gotten 4hrs of it instead of 9hrs, will know what I'm talking about. At one point, six of the eight Secret History shows had mysteriously vanished, along with twenty of the Attaboys.

I'm not going to talk badly of my network, they were very nice people who did their best to always fix the problems promptly, but unfortunately for them, I am a little bit obsessive over my output, and simply could not relax knowing that half of them had vanished.

Therefore, the shows are once again being hosted here on the site in co-operation with the marvellous Libsyn, who have welcomed me back with open arms, even archiving my back episodes for free, god bless 'em.

So the reason I'm making a big fuss about it, and making sure that you know, is that over the next day or so, you may see weird activity on my RSS Feed, which translates to "If you're subscribed, then the latest episodes may suddenly download again". If this happens, simply stop the download, and delete the episode. Or listen to it again, whatever.

Thank you for reading, and if you wouldn't mind retweeting the tweet I put out, pointing people to this blog post, I'd be very grateful.

Adam

Christmas Greetings?

Howdy to you all,

No, don't worry, I haven't become a supermarket and started my Christmas celebrations in July or something, but I AM in the midst of preparing for the 2015 Christmas Special episode, and once again would love for you all to appear!

All I need from you is a short recorded Christmas message, something along the lines of "Merry Christmas to everyone from <insert name here>". If you'd like to hear an example, then do go and listen to last year's Christmas Special which you can find by clicking here

Don't worry about sound quality, I can sort that out at my end, just record your greeting on your phones, or computers, or if you're a fellow podcaster, on your recording equipment, and send them to me at adam@attaboyclarence.com and you'll be co-starring alongside your favourite Golden Age stars this Christmas on The Attaboy Clarence 2015 Christmas Special.

I need your greeting as soon as possible, as I'm already assembling the show, but no later than the 13th of December.

Thank you all in advance for participating!

That Old Devil Called Ads...

Well, hello again. I come to you this time bearing news. Despite stating quite clearly in a recent interview I did for Mr Stuart Waterman over at his excellent site that I didn't know what the answer was when it came to monetising my shows, it seems that the answer has somehow found me...

I would like to make you all aware that I have now signed an agreement with Acast, who will be assuming control of the advertising aspect for both 'Attaboy Clarence' and 'The Secret History Of Hollywood'. As you may have read in the interview, I have been approached before, but it has never seemed a fit. The user experiences have always been a little bit too clunky, or the content they wished to use in advertising was, in my mind, a little too quickly out of date.

Having looked into Acast as a platform, I seem genuinely satisfied that the control still lies with me. I am allowed to choose how many ads per show I would like, as well as where in the show they will fit. The ads are never overlong, and they seem to be from reputable companies, such as IKEA, Universal, Sony and Spotify.

Also, Acast's ambition is to use technology to improve the art of audio podcasting itself. Using their platform, I find that I am able to enrich my shows, add artwork or galleries to specific points in each show, as well as dynamic links, interactive show notes and videos. It will take me a little while to learn how to best use these tools, so don't expect dazzling multimedia experiences right off the bat, but they will come.

I am also in the process of creating a range of ebooks based on my Secret History shows.

I want to tell you now that I am completely against ads in the middle of any show, and have stipulated that I do not want this to happen, therefore, any ads will only appear at the very beginning and very end of any show. They will be no more than 30 seconds long. If you feel the need to skip them, please do so. The actual shows will never break away during "the action" for another ad. If they do, please tell me immediately, and I will raise merry hell.

The reason that I have accepted this offer, along with other forms of monetisation, is that while this began as a hobby, it has grown into something far more involving. It is no exaggeration to say that I spend more time in a week working on these shows than I do at my full-time job, and anyone who knows how many hours a Sous Chef has to work, will tell you that that adds up to quite a few hours per day.

The fact is that I have to make this second full-time job pay, and this seems, at least for now, to be the most inoffensive way. 

Of primary importance to me is your experience as a listener. I do not want your listening experience to be ruined by this development, which is why I will not be allowing anyone to break in during the show to advertise Spotify etc. The shows will simply be bookended by easily skippable ads. There may be teething problems to begin with. I am still finding my feet with all this, so if any problems do arise, please stick with it, and they will all be ironed out eventually.

Thank you for your continued support, and I do hope this new development will not harm our relationship.

My best as always

Adam

A Universe Of Horrors - The List

As requested, here is the complete list of all the films mentioned in 'A Universe Of Horrors'. Hope you find it useful:

The Hunchback Of Notre Dame (1923)

The Phantom Of The Opera (1925)

The Miracle Man (1919)

The Penalty (1920)

The Man Who Laughs (1928)

All Quiet On The Western Front (1930)

The Cat Creeps (1930)

Dracula (1931)

Frankenstein (1931)

Journey’s End (1930)

Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde (1931)

Doctor X (1932)

Freaks (1932)

Island Of Lost Souls (1932)

Murders In The Rue Morgue (1932)

The Old Dark House (1932)

The Mummy (1932)

The Whispering Shadow (1932)

The Ghoul (1932)

Secret Of The Blue Room (1933)

The Invisible Man (1933)

The Secret Of The Chateau (1934)

The Man Who Reclaimed His Head (1934)

Life Returns (1934)

The Black Cat (1934)

The Mystery Of Edwin Drood (1935)

The Raven (1935)

Werewolf Of London (1935)

The Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)

The Invisible Ray (1936)

Dracula’s Daughter (1936)

Son Of Frankenstein (1939)

The Cat And The Canary (1939)

The Gorilla (1939)

The Man They Could Not Hang (1939)

The Return Of Dr X (1939)

Tower Of London (1939)

The Invisible Man Returns (1940)

Black Friday (1940)

The Mummy’s Hand (1940)

The Invisible Woman (1940)

Man Made Monster (1941)

Horror Island (1941)

The Wolf Man (1942)

The Ghost Of Frankenstein (1942)

Invisible Agent (1942)

The Mummy’s Tomb (1942)

Night Monster (1942)

Frankenstein Meets The Wolf Man (1943)

Captive Wild Woman (1943)

Jungle Woman (1944)

The Jungle Captive (1945)

The Phantom Of The Opera (1943)

The Climax (1943)

Son Of Dracula (1943)

Calling Dr Death (1943)

Weird Woman (1943)

Dead Man’s Eyes (1944)

Strange Confession (1945)

Pillow Of Death (1945)

The Invisible Man’s Revenge (1944)

The Mummy’s Ghost (1944)

The Mummy’s Curse (1944)

House Of Frankenstein (1944)

House Of Dracula (1945)

Creature From The Black Lagoon (1954)

Abbott And Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

Where did Spring go?

Howdy,

It's been a while, so I thought I'd just write a quick update. Hitchcock 2 begins recording on Monday the 15th. It was a big job, because so many things happened to him over the next little period in his life. The research took a lot longer than usual, and came from many sources.

It will be shorter than Part 1 (by a little margin), so for fans of the shorter specials, well... it should be about half an hour shorter than Part 1. Maybe twenty minutes... Shorter anyway. It also may be one of the most eventful specials I've produced so far. Seriously, the mind boggles at some of the stories that it contains. I read through it yesterday, and was surprised at just how much it contains. I'm rather proud of this one, and can't wait for you all to hear it.

Many undertakings are... undertakening regarding the podcasts themselves. I was recently contacted by some very exciting people who will be taking The Secret History of Hollywood to a wider audience (along with its little brother), so fingers crossed there. A few little technical issues to iron out due to the massive file sizes involved, but I'm assured it's all in hand.

I've been getting many messages from new folks on social media who've just discovered the shows. Thank you all for taking the time to drop me a line, you're very kind to do so, and it always lifts the old spirits!

If you've just subscribed, and wonder if another show is coming, yes it is. They are always in the works, they just take a long time to produce. I do work on the shows every day in some form or another, but as you can imagine, they take a little time. Please stay subscribed, and they will appear as soon as I can get them to you.

I do know that The Adventures Of Alfred Hitchcock Part 2 will definitely be out in July, most likely the first week, but follow me on @attaboyc or @moviehistories and I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again for everything, especially the iTunes reviews. As soon as I'm through with Part 2, I'll buy you all an ice-cream.

Adam

A Small Update...

Hey everyone,

I know, I know! I said "a couple of weeks", and it's now been a couple of months! Shocking behaviour on my part. Disgraceful of me.

As it turns out though, researching and writing a history of 14 Sherlock Holmes movies, and the story of Communism in Hollywood, are NOTHING compared to the epic saga that is the story of Universal Horror movies, which has proved to be a sprawling, endlessly researchable topic that has blessed me with many, many late nights and lost weekends since I started on it.

Originally, I was going to split the episode into two or more parts, which would have meant that I could have released at least the first part by now, but as I went along on my merry way, I realised that it was a tale that had to be told all at once.

It's a big one. I mean, a VERY big one. It's at least as twice as long as 'Sex In Monochrome', so it's actually going to be less of a podcast, and more like an audiobook with special effects. 

Anyway, I'm pleased to say that not only has the research and the writing now been completed, but the recording is in the can. The raw file, with just my voice on it, stands at almost seven hours. Obviously, it's going to be trimmed down quite substantially, to get rid of all those coughs and swear words, and all those times that Yodel arrived with a package, and those moments where the dog next door decided to sing.

Now comes the hard part though, the sifting, the refining, the studying of waveforms to look for clicks in my throat, second by agonising second! Once that's done, I'll have a very large, very intricate line drawing. The last step is to add the colour, which in this case is music, and hundreds of clips.

I was hoping to have all of this done by now, and would've if it hadn't been for a rather large something.

For the last eleven years, I have worked at my job, the hours of which were rather kind to my social life. I started very early in the morning, and finished by midday, which meant I had all afternoon to myself, plus weekends.

Just after I released Episode 20, I had a job offer.

It's basically my dream job. Sous Chef at my favourite restaurant, working under a Head Chef that I consider to be an absolute genius. Completely self-taught, and a prodigiously talented designer of food. I couldn't say no, so for the past four weeks I have been learning the ropes there, and it's going great.

This does have the unfortunate side effect, though, of robbing me of most of my free time. Time that I ordinarily would have used to produce my podcast.

So in a nutshell, that's the main reason why Episode 21 isn't available just yet.

Going forward, I am going to have to make a few changes. Up until now, I have been producing four normal shows and then disappearing to produce a special for a while. Now, I am going to start producing a regular weekly show instead, and work on the specials in the background. When they're ready, I'll release them.

It's silly not to have been producing weekly shows while I was working on this special. They take absolutely no time to make, and I have so many things to show you and tell you about, I could've made a show a week. The reason that I didn't was because 'A Universe Of Horrors' is EPISODE 21! I even had promo pictures made stating that fact, so Episode 21 now has to be 'A Universe Of Horrors'. It can't suddenly be Episode 35.

Bad planning on my part.

And I've missed making the shows so much! I have watched so many movies that I can't wait to tell you all about. I've unearthed some hideous radio adverts that I can't wait to share with you all. I'm practically foaming with ideas, and the radio plays that are coming up are so weird and wonderful. I know you're going to love them.

Anyway, I just wanted you all to know that I haven't died. I haven't quit the podcast. I haven't grown bored. I haven't lost my voice. I haven't been abducted by seagulls. 

I'm working on it. I'm looking forward to being back in your ears. I want you all to hear this special. I can't wait to get back into the groove.

So to sum up, Episode 21 is still coming. Attaboy Clarence will be a regular weekly podcast beginning with Episode 22. Specials will still be made, but less frequently. I haven't died.

Thank you for all the emails, the tweets, the messages, and the reviews. They have perked me up at exactly the right moments.

Speak very soon

Adam