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Two hundred seventy first entry - oddities, interests, other musings...
2007-02-14 16:15:27
Time - 1:51, Noise - Josh Groban - "Alle Luce Dal Sole"
Two things regarding walking to class:
1. If you ever want to know what it's like to walk inside of a giant slushie, then the University of Wisconsin Platteville campus is the place for you right now. : /
2. When walking over the sidewalk snow prior to its slushie-ness this morning, it was crunching beneath my feet so loudly that my feet were vibrating with every step. If you didn't think walking to class in -3 degree weather was fun, try having every step tickle like hell. See if that doesn't take your mind off of your slowly freezing face.
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In reference to my previous entry, I found another artist who is beautiful live: Loreena McKennitt. Her music isn't terribly popular, but she has a great stage voice that lasts her the entire concert, it seems. The instrumentation is VERY, very good, too. It never overpowers her voice, but it picks up in volume quite a bit. If you're into the Celtic styled music, you'd probably like her. Most people who have heard her are familiar with the song, "The Mummers' Dance."
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Why do innocent-seeming people do less-than-innocent things? I have a friend on campus (I hesitate to use "friend," but it's close enough; acquaintance, I suppose) who is a very small, cute girl with a friendly and quirky personality. She seems like the definition of innocence; however... she drinks. And parties. And she got her tongue pierced yesterday. : / I like her, but it just ruins my mental image. In a strange way, I feel like she's betrayed my trust without even trying to do so. I know I shouldn't have a preconceived standard to hold her against, but it's difficult. I'm probably a terrible person for thinking that way.
Just once, I want to meet someone on this campus that's actually similar to me. I feel like I left all of those people back at home, and no matter how long I'm here, I can't find "replacements." I think that may be why I've just shut out everyone lately. I like my internet friends. I like my friends back home. These people, though... they're just strangers to me. I don't WANT to make new friends. I want my old ones back.
Yergh. I'm gonna knock it off before I get too emo about this.
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So... there are two people on this site who are being very soap opera-y as of late. It's annoying, really. I wish they'd knock it off, because they're people that I like normally. Take the soap opera out of your lives, kiddies! : /
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Still need to get to work on THE Video. This footage is just... frustrating. I still have complete faith that I'll be happy with this video, though, so I'm not losing hope in the process just yet. No matter what problems come my way while I'm doing this, I feel that this one will be something I can be very proud of.
Of course, I still have to find info on the ACen AMV contest/showing. Also, I need to register in general. I'll have to get Jarred to take me to a bank or something so I can get a money order to send - er, well, gotta see if they accept that first, of course. And then I have to ask Nicole what she found out about the Hyatt. When she checked, it said that the rooms were all full for that weekend. That can't be right. It's way too damn early to be that booked. So, she was going to call them. She keeps forgetting, so I'm gonna remind her again and start harassing her if she doesn't do it soon.
So far, the group looks like me, my brother Jonathan, my best friend Nicole, my other friend Jarred, and my wingmate Roanne. Jonathan isn't even an anime fan, but he wants to come anyway. -_- Oh well. His presence = Hyatt hotel, since none of us are 21 or over but him. Also, if we get into the Hyatt, we don't have to worry about arguing over when we go back to the hotel. And no parking fee, either. It's all-around a better deal if we can get it.
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Well... someone helped me with finding a version of a Fatal Frame II speed run, so I'm going to watch that now. It's not a from-scratch run like I'm doing, so I'm still good to go when I want to do it. I'm just hoping to pick up some tricks from his run, since he did it on a harder mode. Maybe that will help me somehow, or maybe his route is optimized a little more than mine. In any case, I'm off now.
See ya, folks. -
Two hundred seventieth entry - mettle of bands
2007-02-10 00:51:21
Time - 9:35, Noise - Muse - "Bliss"
Something I've always found interesting was comparing a band's live performances to their studio recorded tracks. It's my belief that a band that is good live will almost always produce a great album. Here are some thoughts on live performances that I've at least seen videos of:
GREAT Live Bands/Artists
Muse - (what I'm currently watching, actually.) The way the lead manages to hold all of those tricky high notes and still belt out the rock sections is simply amazing. The guitar work, as well as the great coordination between the band members manages to make Muse a terrific band, either on stage or in the studio.
Evanescence - say what you will about them, but Amy Lee and her crew are very good on stage. She manages to hold her vocals right on key for the most part, but you can sometimes tell that her voice is wearing during the last few songs in a performance. The instrumentation is also well done, and while it can get very loud, Amy's voice always seems to soar above it.
Nine Inch Nails - hands down, the greatest live performers I've ever seen. There are even cases where I PREFER the live versions of some songs ("Sin" and "Terrible Lie" being two examples). The instrumentation is amazing, and Trent Reznor manages to smoothly hold together not only the band, but he also gets the crowd involved. It's more than just cheering. He catcalls them, and they catcall right back. If I could go to any band's concert, THIS would be the band.
DECENT Live Bands/Artists
Disturbed - these guys are actually one of my favorite bands, but their live performances are sometimes not as strong as they could be. However, the sound is good, and David Draiman holds his voice well. I certainly wouldn't mind attending a concert for Disturbed, because they're a talented group.
Linkin Park - what makes this band suffer is the fact that Chester Bennington's voice raises drastically during live performances. Not just in pitch, but in volume - to the point where he does more screaming than usual. It's not as pleasant to listen to as the studio recordings.
Sarah McLachlan - things like her live version of "Fear" are what put her high on my list of artists to see. She's just damn good at holding her voice, no matter what point in the concert you tune in to. My only problem is that she often doesn't add much of her own flair to the music, and instead does basic rehashes of the studio versions.
POOR Live Bands/Artists
Imogen Heap - sorry, Imogen; I love your music on the albums, but you sound *terrible* live. Some artists just need to stick with their synthesized noises. She's one of them. Now, don't get me wrong. She's actually interesting to just watch live, because she has an interesting set up on stage, inventive stage costumes, and a downright amusing kind of dance she does when she's actually able to step away from the keyboards for any length of time. She's just not an artist I'd like to go see in concert.
Panic! At the Disco - this is a group that should never, EVER leave the studio. They just sound absolutely awful live, and they have no business ever doing live performances. Sorry, guys, but I'll take you with your synthesizers.
Skillet - the vocals aren't so terrible, but the guy constantly sounds like his voice is strained. Also, his pitch is wonky some of the time. The thing that bothers me the most about this band is that they lack balance between the instruments and the vocals. Yes, the guitar and percussive work is quite good, but we need to be able to hear the vocalist, or a song with lyrics has no meaning.
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Anyway, the only thing I want to mention yet is that I LIKE all of these bands/artists, so don't think I'm bashing one or the other. Being a poor live performer isn't the end of the world. The way I see it, if the synthesizers get you a good album that fans enjoy, then there's nothing wrong with using them.
That said, I still will always stand by the fact that the greatest bands are the ones who can perform well live - but I won't stop listening to the ones who don't.
Been writing this entry on and off for quite a while now, so I'm gonna end it here.
Nighty night, folks.
- Jen -
Two hundred sixty ninth entry - Jen's Early Morning Musings
2007-02-09 07:44:57
Time - 6:34, Noise - Breaking Benjamin - "Dance With the Devil"
About what Ari-sama said about the random video link...
I clicked it ten times, just to see what would come up. Half were Naruto, and half I had already downloaded. ^_^;; Obsessive? Why, yes.
An interesting tidbit about my college: we only take a snow day if a state of emergency is declared. -_-;; Needless to say, there hasn't been a snow day in over fifteen years. Although, with the freezing weather and having to walk through the "wind tunnel," as one of my wingmates dubbed it (it's the main road to the halls - the wind never stops blowing there), I would really prefer that the school went a little more lax. I mean, no matter how well I bundle up, you only have to be outside for a few minutes to be a popsicle - especially your face.
MEP is going well... I need to PM a few people yet and get them to give me their track info. It feels like I'm rushing them, considering the first beta date is so far off, but if people don't get their music in, nobody can start working, because they won't know how the mix is put together. In any case, I guess it's my job as coordinator to harass people until they follow through.
Well, classes soon, so I'm-a headin' off.
See ya, folks. o~_~o <--popsicle face
- Jen -
Two hundred sixty eighth entry - MEPs, interlacing, and dancing
2007-02-08 17:08:20
Time - 3:17, Noise - Breaking Benjamin - "Breath"
In response to Unlimited Rice's entry...
About the "one song MEPs" and the "pre-mixed MEPs," I agree on both of those ideas that those two types nearly always turn out great. Those are the ones I look forward to the most, simply because the really great coordinators and editors will be able to make a video that flows seamlessly. An exception to this was the "Navras" project. Amazing song (one of my favorites), and several of the tracks were pretty good, but it just completely lacked cohesion. Because of that, I was sorely disappointed in that MEP.
AMV Hell type MEPs are best done as humor. And this is what I worry about with my MEP. I know that Take is going to do her best with the mixing of the tracks, but what it comes down to is how everyone interpreted the rule of "rock instrumental." I thought that at least specifying a style of music might help with project cohesion, but that doesn't stop me from crossing my fingers while I wait anxiously for the mix to be created. I know I'm taking a risk by adopting this style for the project, but I think it'll be worth it.
Band MEPs are usually fairly average. The only exception to this was the Unearthed Project, which came out amazing - then again, ES Posthumus can't be considered a "band," precisely. I think it's all in how you mix the music for how this style of MEP will turn out. It works better when a lot of the songs are similarly styled, and poorly if the mixer tries to put in songs with varied styles and BPMs.
I always look forward to MEPs, but some more than others. For example, I've never been a huge fan of holiday-themed projects, although some of those have very entertaining tracks. They just don't "do it" for me. Also, I don't care who coordinated the MEP, or who the participants are; what matters to me is the final product. If that's good, then they deserve just as much praise as the "good" members that we "expect" to make great MEPs.
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De-interlacing sucks. I mean, really. I more or less have it to the point that you can't see the interlacing. I did use a de-interlacing filter, which didn't completely do the trick, and threw off the video quality in general. After some smoothing filters and a healthy dose of mftoon(), the footage looks pretty decent, actually. There's still a little bit of ghosting, but I'll just have to be careful with my cuts and the way I use the scenes.
Honestly... this video is too important to me to just drop it until I get a better version of the source - not that I intend to buy another copy of it. It's an official version of the anime, if a less pretty one, and I'll work with it. Besides, this is helping me get a better eye for quality control. I'm really starting to notice things that I never saw before.
After all, even with these issues, I think this video will have better quality than anything I've done up until now. The Chosen Two might just be slightly better, but this will be close. It's tough to compare game footage with "real" anime, anyway.
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So, I DDR'd earlier. I don't dance as frequently anymore, but I still do it for an hour or two at a time. I do the easier stuff, so I don't get worn out quickly. I jump up to Standard and Heavy occasionally if I happen to like the steps for that song on one of those two modes, but I just dance Light most of the time. I like the nice, steady movement that you get on that mode, even though it is too easy most of the time. Actually, I remedied that in a sense by doing Workout all the time and turning on the Workout Step. That way, I can jump up to Heavy to get the increased number of steps without the insane eighths and sixteenths that come with it.
There are a few songs that don't work so well on Heavy with the Workout Step. Xepher, for example. It doesn't feel right. It needs the syncopated beats to flow properly. There's another one that doesn't move right without the off-beats, too - "murmur twins," I think. Yet another song is mostly off-beats, and thus literally over half of the song runs blank (I just made up my own steps while I was waiting).
Anyway, while I like doing the songs in their simplified form, it doesn't quite work with some of them. Too bad, too, because it's a great way to get points on an easier setting, *without* wearing yourself out on harder modes.
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I need to get this capture card figured out, so that I can do my Fatal Frame II speed run before I forget how I did it. ~_~
I don't think that I'll do many more speed runs besides that one. I don't mind playing a game repeatedly, but it has to be one that I enjoy running through. I'm not good at the first or third Fatal Frames, so I probably won't run those for time. However, I would like to run them just to GET good at them.
Anywho, it's close to dinner now, so I'm gonna head off.
See ya, folks.
- Jen -
Two hundred sixty seventh entry - DVDs and my future video
2007-02-07 20:31:26
Time - 7:17, Noise - absolutely nothing~!
So, I finally took the plunge and I'm really getting into the hardcore DVD ripping stuff now. A few roadblocks later, and I'm up to the point of having a working .avs script with my .vob in VDubMod. While I'm scanning through my footage, performing all of the various tasks I'll need to be doing to make this footage come out correctly, I'm noticing that it's not the best compression in the world. I'm pretty sure that my DVDs weren't bootlegs this time, but they're just not a great version of the series. It's not so horrible, like the Cardcaptor Sakura bootlegs I had (accidentally!), but it's enough that I need to brush up on my Avisynth (which is different than what I used on videogames, I'm sure). I've already read the part on Avisynth in the AV Tech guide a billion times over, but I'll also have to do some site scouring if the basics don't do the trick. I know Scintilla has a site floating around that I can make use of. I bookmarked it at some point.
In any case, I hope this all goes smoothly. I'm actually kind of excited to finally get this video started; I've been waiting so long to do it. THE Video is the reason I got Magix. It's the reason I learned how to rip footage. It's the reason I bought the boxset and the album that has the song I'll be using. It's the first idea I've ever had that I've had nothing but positive thoughts about. Needless to say, this is a pretty important video to me.
Now it just comes down to a matter of hard drive space. I'm worried about how overloaded THE Video will put me, but I'm honestly not too concerned about the FMV MEP. Ripped clips put surprisingly little strain on the HD. Hell, I was ripping multiple games back when the 40 gig drive was running out of room. So, I'm not worried about that.
In any case, I'm gonna get back to the process now. I just wanted to post an entry, cuz I was happy and excited about all of this. ;p
See you, folks.
- Jen
JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )
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