The Scoop: June 2017 - Break Time

Muggers' Day Out has gotten a lot of positive feedback from people,
far more than typical.  It's kinda cool.

If there's something I've learned over time, it's that I shouldn't put a definitive onto anything I say or believe.  I can't guarantee that anything is set in stone, or that any decisions I make now are final.  That being said, I'm hanging up the filming hat for the foreseeable future. 

The Scoop: August - Team Assembled

Yep, we're back.

We're just weeks away from releasing our first video in almost 2 years!  That's right - not months anymore, but weeks.

The team's been reassembled.  The S.T.S. Facebook page has been active since June.  Summer filming has been going strong for a month and a half now.  By the end of August Stranger Things Studios will have new material appearing on its YouTube channel.

So, let's get right down to it.

The Scoop: July 2016 - Time Capsule

Two years have passed since the Age of Banak the Brave.  Not a word has been heard, nor sign of activity seen of Stranger Things Studios since.  It was as though the company had folded, gone under, gave up, disbanded, vanished without a trace.

But now there are whispers, rumors that the lights down at the old abandoned studios have been on in the dead of the  night.  Someone has been stoking the furnace, and the black smoke of production has been seen lifting into the twilight.

Stranger Things Studios is coming back.

Half-Orc II: Production Update

Screenshot from The Half-Orc II: Banak the Brave

For those of you curious as to what is going on with our latest film, let me give you a status report. 

Last month we filmed the sequel to the The Half-Orc Encounter: A D&D Parody.  The film has been in post-production ever since. 

What does that mean exactly?  It means that I am in the process of splicing all the footage together, cleaning up the audio, adding visual and sound effects, and all that jazz.  I’m into my third draft of the film currently.

The 2014 Scoop - Where the $%&# Have You Been?

If you're reading this, I'm almost amazed.  That means that, 1) you kept Stranger Things Studios on your Facebook news feed, 2) you saw this post on a holiday weekend, and 3) you actually took the time to click on the link.  So, wow!  And thank you.

I suppose an earnest update is in order: 

One Hundo!

It finally happened: 100 blog posts, and it only took a year and a half to do it. I've been sitting on this entry for awhile now wondering what to even say.

Monthly Scoop: October 2012

Sooo… how are things?  It’s been awhile.  Almost a month.  I suppose I should explain myself as to why the weekly posts have dwindled as of late.  But that’s why we have the Monthly Scoop - to keep in touch, right?... 

The Stranger Things Triad

For of the release of Ashes of Man, Stranger Things Studios has been given a whole new look!

I’ve spent the better part of two weeks messing with URLs, fighting with YouTube, designing backgrounds, and formatting pages to transform Stranger Things Studios and the JonnyD Weekly into a three-piece, online entity.

Here’s all the big changes:

Monthly Scoop: July 2012

AUGUST 4TH.  That’s the big day, the release date for Ashes of Man!  Mark it down on your calendars.  Clear out a chunk of your evening.  Make sure you’re near a computer.  You want to watch this.  By that date, Ashes of Man will have been eight months in the making.  At last, you’ll be able to see what all World War III, post apocalyptic to-do has been about. 

Ashes of Man: Summer Sets

After six months, filming of Ashes of Man is finally finished!  In whole, we filmed from the northern edges of the Twin Cities, to as far south as Farmington, and as far east as Hastings.  If things had played out differently, we would have pushed into Wisconsin, or even gone as far south as Red Wing!  We were up as early as 5:00am for some sets, and didn’t get home from others until 11:30pm.  We recorded in temperatures as high as 95 with heat indexes over 100; and as cold as 2 degrees, to say nothing of the wind chill.

Ashes of Man: Movie Trailer

At long last, after months of filming, editing, and waiting, I present to you the trailer to Ashes of Man.  

Set in the post-apocalyptic heartland of the United States, Ashes of Man follows the plight of two separate characters as they try to survive in the nuclear fallout of World War III.  Without the convenience of modern technology, government, or even military protection, mankind has dissolved into a cut-throat race of savages, raiders, murderers, and worse… 

Monthly Scoop: June 2012

Look at that charmer wearing a celebratory hat.  Sure, it might be a dunce hat for failing epically during a video game football tournament.  But it might as well be on my head to celebrate the one year anniversary of the JonnyD Weekly.

The 5G Network

The JonnyD Weekly is now part of the 5G Network!  That’s right, 5000 hits!  That’s a little more than 450 visits a month.  That’s not me doing that.  That’s you guys - anyone who’s ever checked out the page, and everyone who keeps coming back. 

Like always, let’s do some fun stats!

Off the Charts! 2500!

In one fell swoop, I missed my chance to announce that the JonnyD Weekly has reach its 1000th visit, its 1500th, or even its 2000th for that matter!

Instead, I’m excited to say that the JonnyD Weekly has just had its 2500th visit! 

“How?!”  You ask.  I asked my wife the same thing.  Up until Halloween, I had been watching the number of visits teeter right around 990.  Well, after writing my Halloween blog about shaving my head, Tonya went ahead and posted the blog-link on Breaking Bad’s Facebook forum.  In the course of three days the JonnyD Weekly had almost 1500 hits!

Of course, traffic has dropped off now to what it normally has been.  People probably clicked the link, saw the photo, said “cool,” and closed the window.  But who knows?  1500 visits.  Some new people might be reading the blog now.  “Hello new people!”

Monthly Scoop: November 2011

It’s that time again boys ‘n’ girls!  Time to realize I did far too much talking, and not enough doing.  Time for the Monthly Scoop.

To begin, I apologize for the late post.  I promise I will make it up to you.  The truth of the matter is I have a large project I’m working on, and I was hoping to be able to write the blog for it last week.

Speaking of projects - what has JonnyDStrong been up to?


Extra-Life

As you may have read, the newly founded team, Fat Chance Heroes, had their first charity event.  It was called Extra-Life.  It is a 24-hour video game marathon to help raise money for children hospitals.  We had a good time, and recorded some of the event to prove we stayed up the full 24 hours.  I am currently editing the film, which is taking a lot longer than planned.  But as soon as I’m done I will post it on-line.

New Stuff !!

I typed 'New Stuff' into a photo search.  I got this guy.

Consider this as a heads up!  As I mentioned before, I’m constantly making changes to the JonnyD Weekly.  Here are some of the up and coming ones:


Whole New Layout!

Does anyone remember what the JonnyD Weekly looked like when it first started?  I don’t either.  And in a little bit this blue-scale background you’re looking at it is going to change even more.  We’re talking:

          Lively color schemes;
          New banners;
          Updated profile; and
          Stand alone pages, like “About the page” and “Contact JonnyD”


Whole New Content!

It has always been my intention to use this blog as more than what I have been.  I am finally set up where I’m at the point I can begin introducing new material.  Random, playful posts are a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong; but I do wish to add some heavier material, as well as some original short stories.

So, look forward to that in the near future.  I hope you enjoy it! 

500 Club

Holy crap!  The JonnyD Weekly has had over 500 visits!  And that’s all thanks to you guys.


You!

In case you don’t know who you are, and because I’m a junky for statistics, let me tell you that:

There’s a 14% chance that you’re not from the United States.  You might be from Germany, Canada, India, United Kingdom, China, France, Moldova (look it up.  I had trouble finding it), Australia, Laos, Netherlands, Puerto Rico, or Denmark

10% chance you’re probably just me doing page maintenance.

25%  of you guys are using a mobile device to read this.

Some people have found the blog while searching for other things.  My favorites are:
     “Stay puft marshmallow man”
     “Evil marshmallow guy”
     “Agony over you”
     “Evil crazy guy in straight jacket”
     “And then my friend Chris”

The longest stretch of activity was 30 days.

The most visits in any one day was 26 on August 2nd.  That is thanks to the release of A Little Bit of Muscle, by Stranger Things Studios.

Speaking of which…  Between its two movies, Stanger Things Studios has had over 175 views on YouTube!  YouTube has its own mess of stats that I’m not going to bother getting into. 

I will say though that A Little Bit of Muscle has been banned in Germany!  Due to copyright laws - probably the unauthorized usage of the song “American Woman.”  Sorry, German fans.

Plug!

Again, thank you all so much for visiting the JonnyD Weekly, be it your first time (“Hello!”) or a regular thing for you (“Hey, welcome back!  Good to see you”).  First starting out, I thought doing this was a silly idea until I caught one of my brother’s reading my latest post during a birthday party.  It always amazes me to find out who’s reading. 

If you want to help out, the biggest thing you can do is to be sure to tell your friends! 

Or, if you have a Google account, you click the “like” button at the bottom of the posts. 

(<< Looks like this) 

As YouTube personality Phillip Defranco would say “Not only does it help out the show, but it let’s me know you care!”

Also, if you have a Google account, you can become a follower by clicking the “Join this site” button near the top right of the page. 

If not, you can subscribe to the newsletter!  You don’t even have to visit the page.  Just enter your email address, and whenever the new post comes out, you’ll get an e-mail with the whole story right there!  If you change your mind later, it’s really easy to unsubscribe.  I know;  I signed up to see what it looks like.  Just click the unsubscribe at the bottom of the e-mail, no harm done.



Bigger. Better.
I am constantly thinking of ways to improve the page - everything from layout, to color scheme, length of the articles, etc.  I’ve tossed a bunch of quick links and blurbs along the right side of the page.  Go ahead and check them out.  If you have any feedback, I’d love to here it.

Also, I now own the domain name www.jonnydweekly.com.  Much easier to remember, and far easier to tell your friends.

www.JonnyDWeekly.com

Type it in, and you’ll end up here!