In Memory Of George Carlin

It's been a hard blow for Thomas Fans in the US this week as we've found that George Carlin - storyteller in the US and Canada territory from 1990 to 1995, has also died.

Although I never grew up with George, I'd like to share my memories of his storytelling. Not living in the US, I was oblivious to his work as a Thomas storyteller until around 1998 or so when the first 13 episodes of Series 3 aired on Nick Jr UK - with him telling them! Such a culture shock it was to hear "switches" instead of "points", "freight cars" instead of "trucks" and most outstanding of all - "Sir Topham Hatt" instead of "The Fat Controller". At that time, I never particularly took to the idea of an American storyteller for Thomas, particularly when his work was airing on British television in place of the British storyteller! But in all, Britt Allcroft knew what she was doing when she hired him to allow American children to hear Thomas speaking in their own native tongue.

George provided an enthusiastic performance both as the second Mr Conductor and like his counterpart in the UK - provided each character he could with a voice that was all their own and provided distinction between them, which provided him with the mantle he holds still today as the greatest American storyteller among Thomas fans.

To recall a personal anecdote, when I first went away for University in 2004, I stayed in Halls of Residence. George Carlin's name crept into conversation one night, and I mentioned in the passing that I knew him from his days as the Thomas storyteller. My flatmate, who was more familiar with his live comedy act and it's content was less than inclined to believe me. So when I went home for the weekend, I burned a CD with George's narration of Old Iron and brought it back with me to allow him to hear it - the reaction was priceless, my flatmate melted into a quiverring jelly as he broke down laughing at the very idea of George engaging with an audience of children.

But the way he crossed the barriers of his comedy content to entertaining children across the world is undoubtedly a testament to him.

George Carlin - Rest In Peace!

With all my best,
Ryan :)

Back to Blogging!

Well, not much has been happening on SiF really lately. Last week or so, we were plagued for a bit with problems of the Proboards Glitch kind, which meant the forum was being presented to members in wide screen... and it generally proved a little too uncomfortable. Proboards Support were of little help to us considering they couldn't figure out the problem - so we had to take matters into our own hands and muck about with our own coding to try and mend SiF. Luckily, it turned out to be a problem with our Advanced General Settings, a code we implemented ourselves which was "going through the motions". A simple change of tack was all that was required and that was that - problem solved!

New SiF Videos - In Scotland! :D
A unique look at the Highlands of Scotland will be given when Ryan and Chris the Xelent head off on a special trip on The Jacobite, which runs between Fort William and Mallaig, at the end of the month. A special new video will be made called SiF's World Tour of Scotland, featuring many of the places of interest we're due to drop into on our visit to the Highlands. On top of our trip on The Jacobite, we'll be doing a special video on The Laggan Railway, showing the real locations featured in the original Independent Works series of stories, and where much of the inspiration for the stories comes from. We'll also be taking in a trip on the Strathspey Railway at Aviemore as well as seeking out the trackbed of a long forgotten Narrow Gauge industrial railway which ran between Fort William and Loch Laggan. We may even be able to fit in a trip to Bo'ness as well, who knows? The videos will be ready by early July and placed on Daily Motion!

All my best till next time,
Ryan!