Archive for the ‘Site News’ Category

Sal was kind enough to provide me this link, full of development shots from the now abandoned 3D Tierra project. There was a lot of sleepless nights on his part involved in their creation, and it’s a shame it ultimately never saw the light of day (or the nightlight of night, for that matter!)

And also this link, which is Nightlight circa early 2005.

Slightly worrying that I was still talking about Beneath Monkey Island at that time. Part 4 will hopefully come one day…

It occurs to me that New Year’s resolutions tend to be a mixed bag of things that you never got to during the course of the year. I entered 2007 with a sparkle in my eye, confidence in the future, and intentions so good that if they were a movie, Pepsi would be scrambling to get some product placement. I won’t bore you with the entire list, but hey, here’s some highlights.

1. Finish the Tierra de los Muertos book
4. Pay more attention to Nightlight
5. Lose weight
7. Sleep naked in a hammock
9. Promote world peace

Three of those, I’m glad to say (or slightly worried to say, in the case of sleeping naked in a hammock) I can safely cross off. Promoting world peace wasn’t all that successful, and as for Nightlight… poor, neglected Nightlight.

So this year, I have three resolutions. You ready? I’m determined to keep these.

1. Tierra de los Muertos gets published (Might not be able to keep, but sure, I’m going to do everything I can)
2. Nightlight is no longer going to be neglected
3. Worry less, and be happy

I don’t know entirely how the second one is going to be fulfilled yet - at times, the progress of Nightlight (notably Beneath Monkey Island, presently) is a little out of my hands, plus living in Melbourne puts me pretty much out of the support zone as far as getting new material recorded easily. But it occurs to me that where there’s a will, there’s a way, even if it means booking myself into a recording studio for an hour or so down here and recording a new, original series by myself. Might be limited in the characters and voices, but I’m sure it’s workable.

So the light isn’t going out. And hopefully, I’m gonna let it shine…

It’s no secret that Nightlight and China have never seen eye to eye. While I’ve been content to make funny radio shows, they seem to limit their activity to building great walls and banning innocent websites. Now I know, I know, this article is going to stray into ‘me no rikey’ territory. There’s a chance of that. Get your gongs ready, people.

China, as I’m sure that many of you are aware, has a one child policy. Recently they’ve come up with slogans to try and help people see the good side of this policy, and those slogans… well… they haven’t exactly been popular. The light hearted nature of ‘raise fewer babies, but more piggies’ has been lost on the Chinese. And can you blame them? They’re not used to their government being light hearted. They’re accustomed to their government banning innocent comedy websites.

So in an effort to maybe repair some of the bridges I’ve burnt, I’m willing to help China out. China, here’s some slogans you may want to try to help promote this ‘one-child’ malarky.

‘Hey, you on the bike, stop breeding!’
‘I wouldn’t have any more kids… for all the tea round here!’
‘More kids equal less rice for everyone concerned!’
‘1.32 billion people. A fifth of the world. That should do it, we’ve got it covered now!’

You don’t have to thank me right away!

I’ve bid Sydney adios. It occurs to me that before I pack up my computer and put it into storage, I should maybe do one final post on Nightlight. So here it is.

Nothing much is going to change on Nightlight. There’ll be updates still, there’ll be fun, there’ll be podcasts. So from your perspective, little will change. Although for me… I’ll be living on the other side of the country, backpacker style. I have what I need - clothes, a macbook, and a guitar. And I couldn’t be looking forward to it any more than I am.

So for those who talk to me on messenger, I might be a bit scarce for quite a while. But hey, you all have facebook, don’t you? If not, why not? I’m on there. There’s a Nightlight Productions group on there as well. Go and join the fun and catch up on my escapades. Facebook is a wonderful thing for that, as well as other things. Incidentally, happy birthday, Limpy. All my love, in a totally manly way, in your general direction!

Don’t worry, Nightlight hasn’t been abandoned. There’s just a few things going on at once, that’s all.

- I’m in the process of moving. WHERE I’m moving hasn’t been finalised yet, but packing (well, more like throwing away most of my worldly yet useless possessions) is in full swing.
- Beneath Monkey Island part 4 is 75% recorded. I can’t do any more work on it until I get the last lines through, and I hope that will be soon.
- Gabez (of Mixnmojo fame) and myself are working on something a little special, and a little different. Something that I like to call the ‘theatre restaurant of the mind’. Fruits of this labour could be seen as soon as next week. Could be.
- There’ll be another ‘repeat’ going online tonight. I’ll be sticking with Tierra de los Muertos repeats for now.

A while ago, when the Tierra de los Muertos 3D movie project was still in full swing, I asked Sallim if he could knock a few Tierra based wallpapers together. Being the slacker that I am at times, I never got around to putting them on Nightlight Productions. Until now, that is. Here’s the first one that he did, and incidently one of my favourites. Death listening to his ipod shuffle.

That’s right, an ipod shuffle. Remember those? That might give you an idea as to how old this wallpaper is!

site note: The latest podcast installment for Nightlight will be making it’s appearance within the next 24 hours. Those who are waiting for the continuation of Beneath Monkey Island, it’s in sight: you’ll have to wait until next week. Hopefully the debut of LeChuck will be worth the wait!

Normally, China and Nightlight Productions have quite a friendly relationship. I’ve never declared war on them. They’ve never tried to impose unfair trade tariffs on me. All in all our relationship has been quite amicable - I’ve occasionally escaped with the ‘ris-kay’ joke that could be seen as racist in radio shows, approaching gong territory, definitely be seen as cheap and requiring change from a dollar…

Those days are over. China has banned Nightlight Productions.

This is probably something that I shouldn’t take personally. It was possibly a bit of a misunderstanding, maybe Nightlight unintentionally broke an international agreement that it wasn’t aware of. Maybe it was innocently talking about a certain never-to-be-released album by Guns N Roses in the forums, and China took it the wrong way.

But it’s typical really, isn’t it. Easy to offend, ban first, read forum threads completely later. So what if Nightlight started acting in the same way? From now on, no chinese food from the local takeaway shop. Not even sweet and sour pork. No more products that are made in China. The whales? I’ve suddenly become all defensive for them, heck, I think I might even write a protest song. Right after I finish penning the one that’ll get Paris Hilton out of prison.

It’s not all bad though - Nightlight has now joined an illustrious group of rejected websites, including google.com, the wikipedia, homestarrunner, plus what is sure to be thousands of porn sites. So as always, there’s a silver lining.

But the relationship that Nightlight had with China is, I must regretfully say, forever tainted. Me no rikey, China. Me no rikey.

Yes, Nightlight is currently working to a ‘release plan’. Just so that you, the listening public, aren’t entirely in the dark…

There will be four releases a month. At the moment it will consist of one new part (at present that being Beneath Monkey Island), two ‘classic’ parts (that means that Tierra de los Muertos and Lost Cause will be rehashed in podcast format. They’re in higher audio quality anyway, so they’re worth getting), and one other ‘thing’.

At the moment, the other ‘thing’ is going to be celebrity interviews. I’ve got a couple in the can already, and I’m hopeful about some more in the future (I’m not going to drop names though, in case they don’t eventuate).

Essentially, it’s going to be a variety of things, new and old, something for hopefully everyone.

And hey, the website is being updated. Thank the Holy Zebra for small blessings, okay?

Nightlight’s getting muddled with slightly. Just some normal shakedown things, cosmetic changers… we’re considering going for a look that has a little more green in it. Because you can never have enough of that.

At the moment, direct your eyes to the menu. There’s a register option! You can now register to log in and post comments on the main page. Is life good, or what?

Edit: Just as a note, you can post comments without registering. But the option is there if you want it! Thanks for that Met (I knew it in my head, but didn’t make it clear!).

Check… check one two… is this thing on?

The time has come, my esteemed friends, to get this party started. Nightlight Productions is now back, better, and (debatably) greener then ever! Sure, many of you are wondering what Nightlight Productions is. It’s a website that, at some point in time, had some rather cool radio plays online. That’s something that you should look forward to. Not only that, but updates. Maybe even more frequently than one a month.

It could happen. Stranger things have. Man on the moon, for one, if you believe it.

For now, Nightlight is streamlined. There’s interesting things to read on the frontpage, there’s radio plays, and heck, you can now even get them in handy podcast format.

Much thanks goes to Metallus for this website looking the way it is. Heck, all the thanks. Throw some his way. He loves it. He thrives on it. In fact, go to his blog and throw a little love his way. Tell him that Nightlight sent you, and it’s looking mighty green these days. Seriously. I mean, some sunglasses might be called for.

Thanks also goes to The LFNetwork. They host Nightlight Productions. I’m not sure if they’re completely aware of that fact or not.