JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )

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  • Two hundred eighty first entry - games, school, videos 2007-02-27 01:47:14 Time - 12:23, Noise - Dido - "Here With Me"

    Ne, so I was happy earlier. I finally found a song that could work for a xxxHolic video. A nice, angsty one. Oh, drama ideas, how easily you befall me. >_>

    Haven't been doing much of anything today. I spent my English class posting a long LJ entry. Sociology was spent taking a test, which I thought for sure I was going to fail. I might have still done so, but I felt like I knew a lot more of the information than I figured I would. I left Spanish early, although I wish I wouldn't have, because we were actually discussing a topic that I understood and was learning easily. I was so proud of myself in math, too. Not only did I do my homework, but get this: she calls people up to the board to answer questions, and if you find a mistake in someone's work or answer, you can go up and correct it and *you* get the credit. I corrected some guy's problem today. Like, totally pwn3d him, I mean. Believe me, when you're as feeble a mathematician as I am, you appreciate moments like that.

    After classes, I just kind of sat around and did nothing. I was reading a really long fanfic for a good chunk of that time. I popped in Tomb Raider II, III, and IV (The Last Revelation) for a while, just to fuck around in her house/training level. I was actually intending to save the TRIV file, but then I accidentally fell off of an edge and snapped Lara's neck. -_-;; Apparently, it was an epidemic, because I managed to do it with TRII as well. *double -_-;;*

    I've never been great at the TR games, but I'm not usually THAT bad. True test of gaming mettle? "Temple of Xian" level in TRII. Now that will rot your brain, just from the sheer length of the level. Thank Cod for the "save anywhere" function. Of course, the final level in TR: Chronicles is pretty death trappy, too, but it doesn't kill you by being long. It kills you by being a strictly timed sequence of extreme action events. Why? Two words: helicopter chase.

    I miss classic Tomb Raider. Good old PS1 days. v_v

    I think I mentioned that I started on THE Video in my last entry, but I don't remember. In any case, I haven't edited anymore since I started it, but that's just because I'm so bogged down in restoring my computer's corrupt files. I definitely haven't lost interest. I've been working too hard to make this video *happen* to ultimately lose interest in it.

    Now I'm not sure what I'm going to do next. I was going to jump into "The Twin Videos," but since I'm more or less officially a part of two MEPs, that's something to consider now. Like I've said before, game footage (when ripped correctly) doesn't take up that much space, honestly. Anime DVD footage does, however. So, I can't work on The Twin Videos if I want to do my MEP tracks. Maybe later, I suppose. After all, it's gonna take quite a while to rip the footage for The Twin Videos. It's a long series that I'm using for those videos, and for one of the two, I'll need clips from just about every episode. There would be... a slightly easier way to do it, but I don't want to go that route.

    Anywho, it's sleepy sleepy times for me, and I've rambled on long enough.

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
  • Two hundred eightieth entry - edit, search, and troubleshoot 2007-02-24 02:25:28 Time - 12:50, Noise - Yuki Kajiura - "Evocation"

    1:37:41. That's basically my final time for the speed run of Fatal Frame II. I sincerely doubt that I can get sub-1:35. Most of the battles were ended within two or three hits in the first place. I know now that I have plenty of film left over, so I either don't pick it up in the first place, or I start blowing it on ghosts earlier in the game. I could probably do damn near the entire game on the three higher types of film if I wanted to. I don't like the idea of wasting that film on non-enemy pictures, though.

    In any case, this file went worlds better than the last. Apparently, upgrading my special function Blast (blasts ghosts backwards and does extra damage) was not nearly as useful as upgrading my basic function Sensitivity (allows for more damage). I was horrifically weak last time, and quite strong this time.

    The only thing left to do is to get my capture card and the capture program working properly and then I'll be able to start recording.

    Will I ever consider speed running another game? Not for a record, but I'd like to run Fatal Frame III just to get better at it. It just... takes a while. I can't get that game below six hours because of all of the extra crap you have to do. The characters and their varied abilities doesn't help, either. Not to mention constant backtracking for no apparent reason, and multiple objectives in the same few rooms. The story of the game is quite good, and the combat and gameplay is pretty entertaining. I just can't stand the repetition, and I want to find a way to shorten that up.

    I started editing THE Video. Already, the scenes are just falling into place. It *feels* right, the way this is all coming together. I'm sure it won't be long before I finish the video entirely. :3

    The beta music mix for Project FMV sounds awesome. I really like the song choices that the members have made so far, and Take is doing a pretty damn good job of putting them together in a smooth, though perhaps not seamless, mix. This project is gonna be so cool. :D

    Oh, hey... speaking of music videos... help me out if you can?

    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=77286

    I already have the Pokemon/True Faith video now, courtesy of doki, but I'm still looking for the rest. If the .org members can't supply the videos, then I basically have three options left: PM/e-mail the creators, p2p, and Google searches. The first two are long, relatively unreliable methods, and the third is probably bound to fail the most. However, it IS a method, and I'll try it... last.

    If that doesn't do it... then I don't know what to do. I've exhausted everything I can think of. Any remaining videos will just be lost to the sands of time.

    I'm sleepier than normal, so I'm heading off to bed now. Gonna take about six pills before I hop between the covers - damn doctors. : /

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
  • Two hundred seventy ninth entry - *grooves* 2007-02-21 20:39:01 Time - 7:17, Noise - Madonna - "Beautiful Stranger"

    Ultima Eternal Happy Groove~! I finally have all of my clips rendered. It's... quite a few, but I'm trying to remind myself that it's representative of the footage needed for two videos. The clips, as well as the episodes they came from, total around fifty gigs on the compy. I only have about six gigs left now. I baleeted the .vobs, sadly. Turns out, I forgot to snag the CD at home that had my software for burning CDs/DVDs, so I never did reinstall that. I would have just burned the .vobs if that were the case.

    Then again... would it have really mattered? Making .vobs is easy as hell, and it doesn't take that long, either. Rendering the episodes is what took four hours a pop. In any case, six gigs isn't a lot, but it should be plenty for me to make my video with. Now I just gotta figure out when the ACen deadline is...

    @the people who responded to my "appearance commentary"... Like I said before, my mental image is absolutely nowhere near correct most of the time, and I find it interesting to see real pictures of the people in question. You know, Sky, you look like a guy in my anime club. Can't quite put my finger on which one, though. aerialesque, maybe I got that mental image from an avatar you've had or something. It IS a pretty whimsical appearance, and I'd be honestly surprised if any girl had features that innocent-looking. Sub0... so, you're a giant head turned upside down? Wow. How do you live your day to day life? o_O;;

    Hm... I gotta get away from the compy for a while. I was really eager to get that last bit of rendering done, so I spent the last few hours on it. I'm gonna go play a game now - Fatal Frame II, most likely, so that I can continue running my improved speed run.

    See you, folks~<3


    - Jen 
  • Two hundred seventy eighth entry - 37% 2007-02-21 00:53:56 Time - 11:12, Noise - Staind - "It's Been Awhile"

    Wheee~! Just one more episode left to render (and it's at thirty seven percent), and then I can make clips! And then you know what happens?

    I EDIT. *nod nod*

    But you know... something occurred to me. If I'm going to be using the same source for my side video... I think I needed to make more clips. I've only gotten rid of the .avis of the first three episodes, but that's three more episodes that I'll have to render if I want any different clips out of them.

    I'm not sure what I can do about it, though. I don't quite have enough HD space to keep the .vobs, the .avis, and the clips. Even if I burn the .vobs all to DVDs, that's still only ten gigs extra at most. I'm too paranoid to get rid of anything else, since some of these files (corrupt though they may be) are things that I'm not sure I can get back. Probably the next thing I need to do is to list each and every thing in my giant media folder and begin finding replacements for those things. That'll take a while, but if I do it systematically like I did with my AMV collection, I'm sure it won't be too stressful.

    Every once in a while, they make those "Post Self Pics" types of threads on the forum. I do look at them with interest, but I irritatingly find myself forgetting what the people looked like anyway. Then, of course, in between those threads, newbies join the community and I'm left to my own devices. I like to imagine what certain people would look like... I'm never right, but it gives me a face to put to the words. For example...

    CrackTheSky - short, blonde hair; the kind that would turn curly if it grew out, light blue eyes, average height and weight, and a constantly curious/inquisitive look on his face. Not a clueless look, mind you. Just the kind that politely asks for answers and is genuinely interested in the surrounding world.

    aerialesque - medium length, bright red hair; has lots of curls, not too small, not too big - just right. Sometimes has ribbons in her hair. Bluish green eyes, and a fair complexion. Has a cute, rosy blush and is constantly smiling and giving friendly, toothy grins. Always seems happy to see you, even on the most mundane days.

    Then, of course, there are the people who make me quirk an eyebrow because their appearances were so far from what I had imagined that it's not even funny anymore. Kalium and madbunny are prime examples of this.

    Also, there are folks who look exactly like you imagined they did - Ileia is the best example here, but Jaddzia comes pretty close to what I figured, too.

    Next, there are people who you equate to cute, cuddly animals. I'm not sure why, but dokidoki and Pwolf are those people for me. If you're curious, Pwolf is a squirrel. I'm not sure what doki is. o.o

    Lastly, there are the people who you can't even begin to fathom a face for. For me, that would be godix, hands down. Everytime I ponder it, I just see God flipping the bird. -_-;;

    Well, it's close to bed, so I'm off. Hope you enjoyed my ".org member appearance" commentary. ^_^;;

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen

    PS: 56%! 
  • Two hundred seventy seventh entry - gotta check the HD... 2007-02-18 23:06:30 Time - 9:29, Noise - REM - "Endgame"

    Man, I used to listen to this album (REM's 'Out of Time') constantly when I was younger. I still really like a lot of the songs on it, too. REM was just a good band in general.

    Fatal Frame II stats:
    1:45:17 - initial from scratch run with improvements. Was a very wacky file, and I believe I can do better than that.
    2:14:31 - run using only Type 7 film (the weakest) and the improvements. A few odd things, but it went well. Last two battles were very, very long, but I'm getting a lot better at nailing the Fatal Frames on each ghost.

    So, rather than rip, .d2v, render, clip, I decided to just rip everything one after another. I don't like having to throw the DVD back into my drive everytime I need it (I keep popping it into the PS2 so I can watch the episodes again and do proper clip hunting). Then, I .d2v everything in a row. Next is rendering everything... which will take about forty five hours in total (five per episode), so I'm going to do three a day. One while I sleep, another when I'm at classes, and the third when I'm just hanging here doing nothing. After that is making clips of what I want, and that's a fairly quick process.

    If I'm not scrambling for time, I'm going to work on another side video with this source. If I am, I'll save it 'til after the convention. And really, I don't want this video stealing the thunder of THE Video, so I feel okay saving it if I have to.

    I'm excited. I want to get working on this. :3

    So, I'm feeling a bit better. It's not as painful to eat now, and the dizziness seems to have somewhat subsided. Mom said that I should make the appointment to see a nurse anyway, just because it's free. So, I will.

    Need to get a money order for ACen... blargh.

    I'm getting a tablet for really cheap, you know? It's so weird. I'm not good at art at all, but I spend money on the hobby as if it were my profession. Odd.

    I'm gonna go now. Can't think of anything to do or write. Maybe I should throw my source in and watch a few episodes to stay ahead. o.o

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
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