The votes are in, and the results were overwhelming; pretty much every agrees that Clouds are better than Things, and it would be nice to have two Clouds per week, provided that they remain of sufficient quality. Which was quite the convoluted sentence wasn’t it? I’m rather proud of it. But I digress.
I quite agree with the vote. The List of Interesting Things has been fun. And I still have a few more things waiting in the wings. But it can also be a bit of a chore, and I’d much rather spend that effort on the Flying Cloud. There’s that FAQ list people have asked for. There’s that set of specifications for the R-505 I don’t dare post until I’ve had a chance to add graphics to relieve what might otherwise be a tedious collection of numbers and tables. And there’s also the historical background of Captain Everett’s world, which differs from our own in certain subtle but crucial ways — such as the earlier development of animated ducks, which was delayed by a decade in our timeline because the relevant artists died during the Ludendorff Offensive.
So Interesting Things will go on temporary vacation while I devote more time to The Flying Cloud to prepare for Season Two. If I can get enough material ready, I may try a few biweekly chapters to see how they work out. If not, I’ll stick with once per week, and do my absolute best to keep the quality high.
Now if only I could find time to redraw the Infamous Green Marine in Episode 13…
Truly a shame about those animated ducks.
Speaking of digressions, I was visiting Los Angeles recently, and I was pleasantly surprised to see a small blimp passing overhead that was NOT the familiar Goodyear advertising vehicle. I didn’t notice any significant markings on it whatsoever, except for the de rigueur FAA identification, which I didn’t have the presence of mind to memorize or photograph. I was immediately reminded of you and “The Flying Cloud”, and wondered if this was perhaps a new blimp or recently refurbished one getting a shakedown cruise before it is loaded with paint and lights. Googling “blimp” and “los angeles” doesn’t produce relevant info in Short Attention Span time.
The Green Marine is now canon; alter him at your peril. Once something is referred to often enough it becomes a meme, an internet zombie that will not die. Also, it can serve as a foil for other foibles, for instance allowing typos to slip past the spelling and grammar nazis while pointing over their shoulders and yelling “Look! A green marine!”
Well, tally ho, pip pip, carry on, and all that.
There are a number of small twin-engined blimps with ducted fan engines kicking around Southern California. Sea World used to have one, as did Fuji, though I must confess I haven’t been keeping track of them recently. But the Zeppelin NT, based up here at Moffett Field, has also made at least one trip to the LA basin. It’s notoriously hard to judge the size of airships, so it’s difficult to distinguish it from blimps by its larger size, but it’s white, somewhat more slender, has two propellers mounted forward on the hull itself rather than the control car, and is somewhat fatter aft to support the weight of an engine, rear propeller, and side-facing maneuvering propeller in the stern.
To the best of my knowledge, they have not, as yet, carried any zombies…