JOURNAL: MetalWolf (Corey )

next page
  • These Eyes 2026-06-07 18:40:39 It has been awhile since my last entry but then it doesn't look like many do journal entries here anymore. I don't wander around the website much. Not because I don't want to, I would love to be able to have the time to watch AMVs the way I did as a teenager but with where my life is right now I barely have time to sit here and upload AMVs much less download them but I thought I would put in an entry to "broadcast" this 25th anniversary revised release but not only that but I guess further reflect on it in particular as well as the last few months.

    The plan this year was to be much more productive with AMV making but I have clearly failed in that thus far. With work and family it hasn't left much time for me as I mentioned. It makes me again more thankful that in 2024 I was as productive as I was given I was across the country from family and while work took up much of my time I had full weekends to throw myself into those AMV revisions. I have no regrets, family comes first and after my father's accident in January it has vindicated my reasons for why I moved to be closer to my aging parents.

    I love most if not all of my AMVs like children, friends or in some ways reflections of different sides of myself that I choose to project through AMVs. These Eyes regardless of version has always been one of those AMVs that I can look past its faults and simply love and be proud of. This version is no better. As I mentioned in the entry itself, of the AMVs I have revised this is the one that differs the least from it's predecessors. With that said it is different enough to be considered a revision and its own entry I suppose.

    As I mentioned in the entry of all of the AMVs I have made this is the one I often would show the most to strangers or friends who are strangers to knowing that I do or did something like this. It is a simple, digestible and contained story, you don't need to know the anime to get what is going on. I take the story of the episode and spin it in my own way though I think it still mirrors the episode very closely. For me it is a story of a lonely/depressed man who fills his life with reptiles to fill the void left without love. In turn he meets this particular creature who is both woman and a reptile. Seemingly perfect however the only issue is he can never look into her eyes and she cannot look into is. A play on intimacy I suppose in all of it's different forms but also that you can fill your life with hobbies, pets or even lovers but none of those things will fill the hole in your heart or cure your depression. Another human or pet cannot cure depression, it can help but that work has to come inward, it is unfair to expect others to be responsible. Sorry if that sounds preachy but those are some of the thoughts and feelings I brought to this AMV.

    I can't help but think of the female character the older I have grown especially this with this particular AMV. How much of a sad and lonely life she must of have had herself before meeting this man who seemingly was tailor made for her like she was to him. Always a pet or always someone seen but not seen and if she would see them it would kill them. She must remain without sight or order to not harm anyone closest to her. She accepted and loved him fully only to be.....

    **spoiler**

    .....broken hearted/devastated to kill him by simply looking at him for the first time as he wanted. Resulting in her alone again and taking her own life in the same way he took his. Sad and tragic. It is my favourite episode in Pet Shop of Horrors. It is a unique episode because there are no monsters and there are no bad people in this episode. While the characters are flawed like they are in the other episode these flaws don't come from something bad or sinful. The only bad is the circumstances of the relationship these two have that cannot be fully fulfilled. Or so close the edge of fulfilment except for that one thing we can sometimes take for granted but an incredibly important part of any relationship. To be able to look into your loved one's eyes.

    So what is next for me here? I still got a few AMV revisions I haven't released that I could but I am waiting for the time that feels right and/or if it fits within an anniversary. Over the past 8-9 months I have started quite a few AMV projects and revisions but none of them are close to being finished and even if they were I wouldn't release them till again I felt that it was in a state of release that I was satisfied with which could take years itself. Reglardless I am not going anywhere unless tragedy happened in my life that took me away. One can't predict anyways. I do plan to release 1 or 2 more AMVs this year. Whether they are new or revisions who knows but I am working on them still little by little.

    Till the next time I wish everyone the best and I hope you enjoy my newest revision. The one that I look upon as the flag barer of my catalogue. Not my best, not my favourite (if I had to have one) but one that I am mighty proud of and love deeply.
     
  • 25 Year Anniversary 2025-12-25 09:43:45 25 years ago 16 old me completed his very first AMV (Gendou The Asshole) using VideoWave (a older version of Windows Movie Maker). It was crude, sloppy and rather terrible looking back but I discovered a love for AMV making from doing it.

    From December 25, 2000 to July of 2005 I would go on to make 68 AMVs. Many of them just as crude, sloppy and depending on who you ask just as terrible but I enjoyed doing them. I was just a teenager from rural Alberta with no social life, steeped in mental health issues with a lot of anime who needed a creative outlet for his frustrations. For better or worse all those AMVs were the result of that.

    August 2005 till June 2022 I didn't make any AMVs. Iw Ould hop on to Final Cut Pro and try to make or remake something but life and other priorities took me away from it. It was on in June of 2022 I decided to fully commit to trying to remake something. One of those wound up becoming what I submitted earlier this year; The Lonely Road of Life (2025). 2023 I made my return official with A Wolf's Dream. In 2023 and 2024 I would work on old AMVs from the past and revise them. Some I have release and some I haven't yet either because I am still not satisfied with them, waiting on the right time or for no reason or another.

    I was hoping to have truly brand new AMV done today but by the time I got to December I knew what I was working on would not be ready and I won't submit anything I am not happy with as I really don't want to revise anymore AMVs anytime soon or ever again. Thankfully My Secret Place (2025) and The World Was Never Enough (2025) were there to submit and both of which I am thoroughly satisfied with. A least for the next 25 years I hope.

    I chose My Secret Place because it is as close to a brand new AMV for most people as one could be without it truly being brand new. The original version was never released because it had nudity in it and to be honest it was a rather shitty AMV I regretting making not long after doing it. This version is so much more better in every way.

    I chose The World Was Never Enough despite it being the last AMV I finished revising back in March/April because despite watching it so many times over the months in-between uprooting my life again moving elsewhere I loved it and felt it was as good as I could make it if not better. At least within my limited skillset. Not only that I felt it was fitting that I would submit an AMV about Gendo since 25 years my first AMV was about him too though far less flattering.

    25 years.......if someone told me at 16 years old you would still be making AMVs 25 years from now he would be pretty surprised and even more surprised at how many he would wind up making.

    Looking back I don't have much hard regrets. There is one AMV I made I feel embarrassed and shameful for making that I wish I could remove from existence but I guess it stays to serve as a reminder for me. All my other regrets would be just general in that I wish I more more time into really making the AMVs I made as good as I know I could have made them. With that said I would have still revised the whole lot of them given I am a very different guy now than I was 25 or even 20 years ago and I think that perspective has helped make the revisions I have done that much better or that much satisfying.

    Now that I have officially settled into where I am living now I should hopefully have more time to work on AMVs. Brand new or revisions but I was to stop now for whatever reason My Secret Place and especially The World Was Never Enough would be satisfying conclusions for me. However that is not my plan. My plan for 2026 is to release a brand new AMV while I continue to release revisions of my older catalog periodically. The end goal is to revise all of my old AMVs (well not all of them, one will stay buried) to where all I can do is knew ones. Given how many AMVs I have made....by the time I get to revising all of them I will want to revise the ones I started with and move on again. Hopefully not.

    Here is to 25 years of being MetalWolf as corny of a handle as it is. Thank you to everyone in the AMV community past and present whole I have had the pleasure of coming across over the years. Everyone I have met has made an impact in my life in one way or another. Thank you to what few people who actually like my work. It never ceases to surprise me that anyone would like anything I have ever done.May the next 25 years bring more productivity and fun. 
  • Still Running...... 2025-08-31 19:16:54 Today marks the release of another revised AMV from me, Against The Wind. The original was submitted earlier this month, 24 years ago. Could have waited another year and made it a 25 year anniversary release but I felt with this one I waited long enough with this one in particular.

    I have always been quite happy with the original version though rough around some of its edges, this version is more refined. Will leave the story for the breakdown in the AMV entry itself but of all the revisions I have done thus far in the past couple of years Against The Wind (2025) is the one that has the least amount of changes to it. What changes there are are very minor and primarily remastering with HD footage this time around.

    The plan was to release it earlier this month but life got in the way and greater priorities took over. Moving forward now with far more stability than I had prior I do plan on being much more active with AMVs.

    Earlier this year I really got a lot done with revising AMVs I have not released yet but took a break from late spring to now to deal with priorities that are now dealt with. Time willing I plan on submitting 1-2 more AMVs this year. 1 another revision and 1 a new creation. Cannot and will not make any promises or guarantees but that is the goal.

    Over the past few years I have had one foot in one place and one in another and did AMVs whenever in-between. Now I am firmly in one place and fewer excuses. As I am nearing 25 years into AMV making I do not plan on slowing down anytime soon.  
  • 20 Years of Road 2025-05-03 22:03:45 Wow it has been almost a year since I submitted I dropped a AMV. It really does not feel that long for me. I have been busy with AMV revisions galore but none of which I feel were ready for submission.....except today's which has been a few years in the making or I should say a few years waiting for the right time.

    I will leave the stories for the entry description itself but I thought I would submit the revision for The Lonely Road of Life today since we are getting very close to the 20 year anniversary of the release of that AMV. Not that anyone buy me would care about that sort of thing but oh well.

    The Lonely Road of Life was the second AMV I attempted to remake back in 2022 to see if I could or still wanted to do AMV work again. The work I did in 2022 is heavily reflected in what you see in this new release but I held on to it because I wanted to make sure this one would stand this time, no more revisions. When I stopped making AMVs after Society of The Strange to pursue other things I would watch most of my AMVs now and then and while I would still be proud of most them I would cringe at the parts I wish I could do over or wish I was more patient with putting more work in with. Can't say that with the 2025 edition of The Lonely Road of Life. I had this one marinating for years and watched it periodically throughout for the last few years for its release now. It is what I want it to be for better or worse. With my 25th year anniversary of AMV making looming I do not plan to be as silent as I have been in the last 12 months but the last 12 months have kept me busy for private reasons and they have no stopped but I do hope to release more before this year is over be it more revisions (I have MANY I have not submitted) or make a actual brand new AMV but I will let life dictate things as it comes.

    Unlike after the release of The Lonely Road of Life 20 years ago I do not plan to step away from AMV making anytime soon but then I didn't either back then but the difference between then and now is I was planning on taking a break from it then while I plan on stepping up even more in the next while if time permits.

    Stay tuned...if you care to.....if you don't.......meh.

     
  • Everybody Hates Waiting 2024-06-02 18:58:40 Happy late 20th birthday to the only AMV I ever won an award for; Everybody Hates Me. Today I posted the 2024 revision of that AMV. I hoped to have it done and posted the exact same date I posted the original but 20 years later but life got in the way and unlike me at 19 years old I am more prone to let things sit and marinate than I used to back then.

    20 years ago or during my first run with AMV making as soon as I made one AMV I would post it and off to another without much thought because I was already tired of working on that one and wanted to work on another. I had finished this AMV a long while ago but I have left it in the hopper for awhile watching it every few weeks to see if I still liked it the same as I did the few weeks before and if after awhile I still can't see anything I would change then I will post it. At least that is what my mentality is now. And so today is when I decided to post this new revision 29 years and a few months since the original.

    I actually have about 7 AMV remakes "done" I am just watching them periodically with fresh eyes, if after a few weeks I am still satisfied then maybe I will post them. 2 of the remakes I am going to wait a year on and post them on their 20th anniversary but also who knows maybe a year from now I may have new ideas or new perspectives to add to them. 2 I am waiting till maybe HD conversions of those anime come out though doubtful. I imagine some people know how to do HD conversions themselves but I don't. I was basic 20 years ago and just as basic now if not more so. 2 I have just recently completed and just want to let marinate for awhile but I do plan on releasing them this year and 1 I know I can do better I am just not sure how and like the other 2 and willing to marinate on it till something happens. 20 years ago I couldn't wait, now I can.

    My plan is to slowly but surely revise all of my old AMVs, probably won't get to all of them but I think I can get at least get to a third of them.

    I am happy with this newest revision, while I did the first version on a whim just to prime myself for something else till that whim became a legit AMV this one I took this one pretty seriously and spent a couple months here and there on it. The original AMV was the only AMV I ever won an award for so I wanted to try and make sure this one was as good as I could make it be. Unlike all of the other AMV revisions I have ever done this one involves new footage that I hope adds to the AMV along with things better cut than they were back then. I am contemplating submitting this and the newer I'm Still Here revision to Animethon like I did with the originals 20 years ago. Just not sure, mainly because I do not know if I can afford be able to swing to go to Animethon. When I lived in Fort McMurray it was an easy cheap 5 hour bus ride to Edmonton and there you go. Everything was super easier for me when I was a teenager still living with my parents. While flying there is super quick it is not cheap for me now and neither are the hotel costs. It has been about 17 years since I have been to Animethon. Maybe if I am unable to have the vacation I am asking for in August my boss could surely let me take time off for this. Lots to ponder. 
next page
Current server time: Jun 10, 2026 12:14:03