JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )

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  • One hundred ninety first entry - keeping count 2006-08-24 23:10:45 Time - 9:33, Three Days Grace - "Take Me Under"

    I wonder... why do I keep count of my entries? I guess it has to do with my obsessive organization on my computer. I mean, let's take my main folder - 'Springer's Stuff' on the C drive. Don't ask why it's named that. I've had that folder for years and years now. Anyway, I have things organized... very thoroughly... in there. The stats are... 92.3 GBs of info over 33,143 files arranged in 1,184 folders. The weirdest part is... I can navigate all of that easily. I know where to find any picture or file in my folder. It's very strange. I suppose it just comes from slowly building it all up over time.

    Anyway, I'm a digital neat freak. My room is a mess and my schoolwork is haphazardly arranged, but my computer is the picture of perfection.

    So... still mass downloading. I did Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within last night and for a little bit this morning. It had less than one hundred entries (using *only* TSW), so it didn't take long at all. Now I'm downloading Pokemon videos. I think I may have to look for it under 'Pocket Monsters' as well, since I'm sure that there are a number of people who didn't use Pokemon as the standard. I wanted to mass download X (TV), but that's damn near impossible until I donate and can get the option of searching for only exact matches. Thus, I'm not sure what I'll mass download after this. I could probably download Cardcaptor Sakura. There are a LOT of CCS videos, but it isn't overwhelming yet. I suspect that more folks are using it more since Tsubasa came out, though.

    Video editing. Yeah. Still not doing that, but it's because I *really* don't feel like writing up a bajillion Avisynth scripts. Maybe I just need to force myself through a dozen a night or something. I want to get editing, but the clean up part is a bitch - and like I said before, this time it is VERY necessary that I clean up my footage beforehand.

    It's going to be an action video, you know. Can you believe it? Me? Action? I fail at editing anything upbeat, let alone full out action. And I want to use effects. Yeah, I said it. Effects. Anyone who knows my videos - meaning, nobody - knows that this video will be a huge step out of my comfort zone. Fortunately, I have the freakin' perfect song. Makes me so happy that I found a really good tune to use with this game. Yeah, yeah. Game. I'm probably doing a number of my game ideas before I work with anime DVDs. Although, if this video goes well, I'll be happy.

    Anyway, this is getting rambly. I guess I'm in a talkative mood today.

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
  • One hundred nintieth entry - my other thoughts... 2006-08-23 22:12:44 Time - 8:48, Noise - Final Fantasy IX - "Part II: The Journey (OC remix)"

    I did have one more thought to add onto my earlier musings. If I do ever happen to complete a remix, I don't think that I'll upload it anywhere. I guess this is probably how I would have felt if I had discovered the .org before I started editing AMVs. My definition of "good" was much lower when I first started editing. Then, I found the .org and everything changed. It got to the point that I was almost skittish about uploading my videos. I don't want it to be that way with my songs. Music is too near and dear to me to feel regretful about a finished product. And... I'm not really sure where else I'm going with this. Kind of lost my momentum from earlier.

    Something a bit unfortunate happened about a week ago. My best friend's (outdoor) cat went missing. She was old, so we believe that she may have went somewhere to die, but it's still unsettling. The worst part is that her birthday is tomorrow. Poor girl.

    Well... I seeemed to have forgotten everything that I wanted to type in this entry, so I'm leaving for a bit. The folks in IRC are just talking technical stuff, radio doesn't seem to be going tonight, and there's a magic show on.

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
  • One hundred eighty ninth entry - bad times... 2006-08-23 13:11:43 Time - 11:25, Noise - Final Fantasy VII - "Chinatown's Future (OC remix)"

    So... I've been thinking about the sites that I frequent lately. In specific, I've been drawing some unsettling comparisons between www.animemusicvideos.org and www.ocremix.org.

    In the past year or two, amv.org has seemed to be getting very... pretentious. We're not just guiding n00bs along kindly anymore. We outright flame them for not knowing any better. Granted, there have always been people who flame newbies, but now it seems like most of the .org populace is *trying* to drive away potential editors. On another note, people are making videos now that would have been considered godly not more than five years ago - and they're only getting a tiny fraction of the recognition for their hard work. Yet, the "classics" are still renowned for their efforts. The general argument I hear is, "It's easier to make a video today than it was five or more years ago, so the newer ones ought to be better." But is it, really? I don't think so. The creative process certainly isn't any different. So, it must be the technical points. While I can't say that I have ever edited with two VCRs, I'm pretty sure that the folks who did weren't as concerned with things like effects and great video quality. Now, newbies are expected to have already read guides on ripping, pre-processing, post-processing, conversion, and any number of technical points before they even attempt to edit a video - and if you, the newbie, have not done these things prior to posting on this site, you are liable to be flamed. It's like getting angry at a blind man for walking into a restricted area. It's not his fault if he can't see the big red cautionary signs. If you have to tell him that he's in the wrong area, you shouldn't be crass with him. The same is true with newbies. They're NEW - don't blame them if they don't always see the stickies, and don't berate them for occasionally missing the How To Guides. People say that there has been an influx of "stupid n00bs" in the last year or two. Remember, there are two sides to everything. For every newb you have to redirect, there's another one that figured it out on his or her own. You just don't see the self-reliant ones as often, because they didn't need to post on the forums to ask a question. To wrap this side of the musing up, I believe that we're getting a little ahead of ourselves in recent times. We're taking what should be a fun hobby and slowly morphing it into something... exclusive.

    Thank Cod for people like Phade, who opens his door (or rather, his and his associates servers) to anyone of any skill level - which brings me to my next point...

    ...OverClocked ReMix - www.ocremix.org, that is. Reading the forums and the how to guides on that site has pretty much turned me off to ever wanting to submit a song to them. While amv.org is beginning to progress to "exclusive," ocremix.org is pretty much already there. I don't want my music to be put through some damn "panel of judges," and potentially refused just because they can tell that I used a more primitive program. As the people of this site like to say, "one man's trash is another man's treasure." Even if the panel doesn't like my piece, who are they to say that someone else wouldn't? Okay, so it IS OC Remix's server, and it IS their money. However, if they started allowing all entries like amv.org does and implemented the same donation system that the admins have set up here, I think they could survive. It bothers me to think that I'll be shut out of a hobby site just because they don't like my work. Even DeviantArt (which I've always considered elitist) isn't that bad.

    So... I suppose that's my musing for the day. I had some other non-related stuff that I was going to write, but I'm pretty hungry. I'll have to come back later.

    See you, folks.


    - Jen 
  • One hundred eighty eighth entry - you have got to be kidding me... 2006-08-22 19:16:26 Time - 5:37, Noise - AMVs...

    [rant]Okay, folks, if you're going to make a video, here's a few really, truly basic pointers.

    1. I came to watch your video, not your intro/outro credits. Keep it to a fifteen second minimum on either end, please.

    2. If you use a section of an episode straight in a video, please also keep that to a minimum. Again, I came to watch your video, not the episode. If I wanted to watch that part of the episode uncut, believe me - I'd watch it myself.

    3. Please have an inkling of a clue as to how well a song *style* (in addition to the lyrics) will work with an anime. A serious video using Death Metal with Chobits? Uh, how about not. I don't care HOW well the lyrics work.

    Honestly, these are very easy things to correct in a video, and they don't take any technical knowledge at all. How it is that the offenders thought those things ever looked *good* is beyond me. It's boring. Allow me to emphasize - BORING.[/rant]

    That needed to be said, because I've seen so many people ignore those three concepts.

    On a completely different topic, I was upset today. I went to go watch Star Trek: DS9 earlier, and realized that they had already looped back to the beginning of the series. I was hoping to catch most of the episodes in the last season again. Damn, damn, damn. It's too bad. Even though my family is a bunch of devoted Trekkies, we don't own any of the series on DVD. My brother has all of The Next Generation on tape, but those are wearing out quickly. Maybe I'll have to rent it, or something.

    Yergh... I want to edit sort of... but I have to write a bajillion Avisynth scripts first. Because I'm using a videogame, I have roughly sixty little clips to filter, rather than a few big episodes. However, the pre-processing is very necessary this time, since I'm using clips that I captured. They couldn't be ripped; believe me, that's what I would have done had it been possible.

    So anyway... I'm not really thrilled about writing up scripts for all of them. I haven't really figured out how to edit using scripts yet - and although I understand what bait-and-switch is supposed to do, I haven't figured that out yet either.

    That reminds me... I have to remember to ask something tonight... er... yeah. Just thinking out loud for a second there. ("Out loud?" Does that really apply to the internet? I wonder...)

    Well, I have to go download another huge batch of videos, so I'll be off now.

    See ya, folks.


    - Jen 
  • One hundred eighty seventh entry - on and on... 2006-08-20 15:23:08 Time - 2:09, Noise - Silent Hill 3 OST - "Unhappy Carousel"

    My bangs...


    Are taking root...


    In my eyelids...


    x_x






    Ah, the joys of growing one's hair out. I'll live, though. I can survive. It's just... going to drive me... insane... >_o

    Yeah... so I'm downloading the next few episodes of xxxHolic right now - which means that my internet is going slow as hell. Aaaaand... my brother just bitched about it. (We have a router, so what one of us does affects the other.) So, he can lag my side of the internet all morning, but I can't lag his for ten minutes? Hardly fair, if you ask me.

    Oh well. He can just deal with it.

    Yergh. I'm not feeling too well. I want to go read or something, but mom would probably flip shit if I went upstairs just after she woke up. She has this paranoia thing, where she thinks I'm avoiding her if I don't sit down and watch some lame repeat television for a few hours. Not to mention that I have to listen to at least an hour of her droning on about her repetitve work day. Have to fill the quota, you know.

    I think I'm gonna end this here. Need to find something else to do for a while...

    See ya, folks.


    - Jen 
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