Archive for November, 2008

I wanted to take a few minutes to share some info on two incredible sites that Spooktalkular uses.  I have been involved with websites in some capacity or another since back in 1996.  Yea, I know, in that amount of time, I should have made a ton of cash but honestly, my fatal flaw is just doing it for the enjoyment, not the financial benefit.  It is for that reason that I am always looking for low cost ways to do things online to establish an identity.

One of the biggest things that can identify a website is a logo.  Traditionally, you had to pay the same for your little “for fun” logo as someone running a business did and often times, it could get pretty expensive.  Well, that is until I discovered LogoBogo.  LogoBogo is basically a graphics exchange website.  You post your graphics request complete with details including size and colors and someone on the site takes your requirements and magically makes your graphic come to life.  All of this for basically free but donations are encouraged to the graphics pro who makes your vision a reality.  Here is some of the work that has been done for Spooktalkular.

Logo by BenMedia

Logo By RetroRaider

2 Color Edit of BenMedia Logo by AVS

As you can see, incredible work!  Check them out and be sure to donate whenever possible.

Just like the Logo is the identity of a website, voiceover work is the identity of a podcast.  If you are a podcaster, unless you have unlimited money, you really owe it to yourself to get over to Radio Daddy.  The concept is the same as LogoBogo except it is for voiceover exchanges.  You post your script along with any production requests like sound effects or background mood and someone creates it for you.  If you listen to Spooktalkular, you have heard many examples of the fine quality of work that comes from RadioDaddy.  Our Intro and Outro along with our promo were all recorded by the fine folks at RadioDaddy.  We also use some prompts throughout the show. misc beds and other audio from RadioDaddy.  We get some much from RadioDaddy, we pay to be Elite Members just to give a little something back.  Again, donations are encouraged.  When we aren’t running short on time, we play the RadioDaddy promo during the show as well.  We honestly feel that Spooktalkular would not be the quality show it is today without RadioDaddy.  The work done there has really helped to establish our identity.  Please, check them out.  It’s much more than free voiceovers.

During the show last week, I mentioned that I felt that I had deduced where the episode was shot.  This was done through a series of cross references of key points stated during the show.  Well, here are a couple of videos from YouTube for your entertainment.

Gobble gobble!!!  Happy Thanksgiving from Laura and Frank.  We thought that we would whip out another episode while we preped our turkeys for the big day tomorrow.  We start out discussing the latest ratings.  We debut the brand new Spooktalkular promo and even do movie reviews of Twilight and Hellboy 2: The Golden Army.  We even have news about the latest Sleepaway Camp sequel.

We also discuss the Millennium movie effort being mounted by the good folks over at backtofrankblack.com.  If you’re not familiar with the Millennium series of the late 90′s, you should really check it out.  The promo for the effort will be a regular on Spooktalkular since we are both big fans.

Moving on to television, we take a look at “Ghost Hunters”, “Ghost Whisperer”, “Estate Of Panic”, “Ghost Adventures” and lastly “UFO Hunters”.

This episode ran a little long at about one hour thirteen minutes but it’s a fairly good one.  Be sure to check back this weekend because we should be back on schedule this week.

Special thanks to ScottL from over at Ghostly Talk for his technical assistance with some tips for phone interviews.  If you’re not listening to Ghostly Talk, you really should be.

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The video links didn’t work on the other post so here they are.

Spooktalkular MySpace http://www.myspace.com/spooktalkular

Frank’s Twitter http://www.twitter.com/spooktalkfrank

Jacket Pull Debunk

Tug 3D

Busy episode.  Our longest so far.  We start off by discussing some news about Medium and a quick discussion of the movie “The Strangers”.  We then get into our discussion of Television.  We take a look at the new SciFi show “Estate of Panic” along with “Ghost Adventures”, “Ghost Whisperer”, two episodes of “UFO Hunters”, Hollywood Haunts”, “Doomed to Die”, “Monster Quest”, “Is It Real – Ghost Ships” and we finish with “Ghost Hunters” and continue our discussion on the allegations of faking evidence on “Ghost Hunters”.  Whew, that’s a lot of episode!  Here’s the videos that we discussed along with links to the Spooktalkular MySpace and Frank’s Twitter page.

Spooktalkular MySpace http://www.myspace.com/spooktalkular

Frank’s Twitter http://www.twitter.com/spooktalkfrank

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If you’ve listened from the beginning, you might remember that, as we discussed the overviews of all of the shows that we planed to included, we mentioned the spoof of “Most Haunted” as done on SNL with Hugh Laurie.  I mentioned that if I could find the clip, I’d post it.  Well, it took a while but finally, here it is.  Check this out, it’s great!  Hopefully you will feel it was worth the wait.

Last week, during Spooktalkular, we reviewed in detail, the recent video accusing "Ghost Hunters" of fraud by faking evidence.  In case you missed it, here’s the video “TAPS LIES – Ghost Hunters Live – 2008 – Fraud-O-Rama”;

As I mentioned during the show, I’m not passing judgement on the validity of the claims made in the video.  The producer of the video makes a fairly compelling case for his accusations of fraud.  I personally hope that the accusations are false because if they are, they call into question the validity of ALL evidence presented on "Ghost Hunters" and for that matter, all of the paranormal reality shows.

Wednesday’s "Ghost Hunters – All Access" episode is the first that I’ve watched since viewing the fraud accusations.  Going in, I wondered how I’d feel.  Since I’m a podcaster on the topic of "Paratainment", I try to keep an open mind when watching these shows because, not only are they entertainment, they are also prep work for discussion on Spooktalkular.  I found it incredibly hard to watch the show objectively.  Every time they would show an evidence clip, I found myself looking for the "man behind the curtain" and how it possibly could have been faked.  For almost every clip shown, I was able to determine a way it could have been faked.  Now this DOES NOT mean that it was faked or that I thought it was.

Why is this important?  In order to believe the validity of and evidence presented, one has to trust the source.  Simply put, if doubt is injected as to one piece of evidence, presented as factual, this calls into question all evidence.  When I was a child, I remember finding out that there was no Santa.  I was in third or forth grade so I was around 9 years old or so.  I found out because I noticed the shipping label on one of my Christmas gifts, a Weebles Treasure Island, was addressed to my Mom from JC Penney’s not Santa.  I asked my Mom about it and she came clean about the fact that Santa was indeed, not real.  From there, that called into question all of my beliefs about the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and so forth.  One by one, as I reexamined these, I realized that they also were not real.  All of this because of the doubt injected by Santa not being real.

That is why I feel it is very important for "Ghost Hunters" or Jason and Grant themselves to publish a rebuttal.  The video produced by Moviedan is very compelling so the response must be equally so.  Jason and Grant have both posted responses on their Myspace blogs but, they are not anywhere as stong of an argument as the one by Moviedan.  I really feel that "Ghost Hunters" should almost devote an episode to debunking this video.  Otherwise, a lot of people will start questioning the last several years of their work.

Now, for the other possibility, if it is fake, let us know.  I still watch magicians even though I know there isn’t anything mystical going on.  Wrestling still enjoys quite a following even after the acknowledgement that it is fake.  Based simply on the entertainment value alone, "Ghost Hunters" could enjoy the same.

Me, shoot, I’m still out on what I think.  I’m still trying to gather evidence and watch what happens.  I still enjoy "Ghost Hunters" even though I watch it even more skeptically than before.  I would, however, like to see a real response from GH or Jason and Grant one way or another.

What do you think?

Here’s a cool widget for Paranormal State that we found while surfing around the net.  I only wish we could find a little smaller version. Check it out. We miss Paranormal State! Also, later today, we’ll be putting out the latest Spooktalkular.

Another week and another Spooktalkular.  This week is episode 7 recorded on Sunday November 9th.  Good episode where we discuss the twist on “Ghost Whisperer” (Warning, Spoilers included).  We also discuss the “Ghost Adventures” episode in the Riddle House in West Palm, Florida.  We took in the movie “The Haunting of Molly Hartley” so we briefly discuss it.

The bulk of the show is dedicated to the discussion of the “Ghost Hunters” live Halloween episode at Fort Delaware.  This week a YouTube video “TAPS LIES – Ghost Hunters Live – 2008 – Fraud-O-Rama” was released claiming fraud on the part of “Ghost Hunters”.  We review the video and take a look at Jason and Grant’s responses as posted on their MySpace pages.  While you’re at it, check out “The Top Ten Best Video Clips From Ghost Hunters (TAPS)”.  It’s the one we mentioned it during the show.

Keep listening for more details on our upcoming giveaway.

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Welcome to Spooktalkular episode 6, recorded on Halloween Night.  It’s been a little while but it’s actually one of our best.  This time, we did a good bit of post production which really made a difference.  I had hoped to get this one out yesterday but I really feel that it was worth the wait.

In the paranormal news, we talk about the recent article linking EMF to paranormal.  http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ghost-lusters-if-you-want

We also talk about the upcoming remake of Friday the 13th and listen to the new trailer.  Here’s the link to the trailer on YouTube.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OJYncOq2W0&feature=iv&annotation_id=event_227056

We take a look at the new Travel Channel series “Ghost Adventurers”.   We do a quick look at “Paranormal State” which was picked up for a third season.  Also, we mention the upcoming giveaway of an autographed picture from the cast of “Paranormal State”.  We talk about the “Paranormal State” field trip in February to Point Pleasant.  If you happen to be up in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, be sure to check out the Mothman Museum.  Jeff Wamsley does a heck of a job with it.

Since it’s Halloween night, it’s time for the “Ghost Hunters” Live event.  This year it’s at Fort Delaware.  Since it’s happening while we record the show, be sure to listen next time when we take a look at the live event.  We do take a look at the “Ghost Hunters” Uss Hornet episode with special guest Colin Ferguson from “Eureka”.

We have started a new MySpace page set up on http://www.myspace.com/spooktalkular so if you’re on Myspace, be sure to add us as a friend.

We produced this episode with a little lower bitrate as to be a little friendlier on those of us on slower connections.  All our testing seemed good but if there are any quality issues noted, let us know.  As always, thanks for listening!

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