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One hundred twenty third entry - Movin' along...
2006-04-02 14:39:25
Time - 1:31, Noise - Skillet - "Collide"
Well, I have at least some news looking up for me. I managed to get the anime I wanted off of eBay. I wanted it for twenty dollars, but ended up bidding it up to thirty two. Add in shipping and it was roughly forty dollars for the boxset. Not bad, I guess, but not nearly as good as I wanted. Also, I literally commanded my brother to have my DVD drive for me by the next time I come home. So, that's two down out of the equation for my grand AMV idea. I think I have the technical issues covered, so that's part three solved. Learning how to rip the DVDs won't happen 'til I actually have parts one and two within my grasp, so part four of the equation is pending. Finally, there's the issue of a new editing program. Part five, the final part of the equation. This is, admittedly, the toughest part for me, mostly because I could potentially waste my money here. All of the other parts are either cost-free, or I'm going to find other uses for them. However...if I can't learn how to use the editing program I purchase, then I'm fucked, and I've just wasted my money. So, more trial versions it is!
So, things are looking up for now. And now...I really need to go play a game. : /
- Jen -
One hundred twenty second entry - huh?
2006-03-31 13:32:54
Time - 12:04, Noise - Conjure One - "Sleep (Serenity Mix)"
WTF? I just had an indescribably powerful urge to make a Linkin Park music video.
Am I falling to the dark side...?
Actually, I already fell to the dark side when I used Final Fantasy in a music video, I think. ~_~ And honestly...I think I'd still like to go back and make an FF video again - a really good one that only uses a single FF, maybe. I have tons of ideas floating around...who knows if they'll ever get done.
Which reminds me...I'm kind of having some technical issues right now. If I post them here, I doubt it'll help (although a number of you journal junkies are pretty good with technical stuff). I'm not sure that I really want to pester the people in #AMV. They're probably getting sick of me only popping in there when I have a quesiton. I guess I could use the forums...but it seems like my questions always get ignored.
Well, I guess I'll shoot anyway, just to get it out on the table. First off, I'm using the PSX Multiconverter, and I want to know if I can rip to a resolution bigger than 320x240. I've been looking through the options and I haven't seen anything so far. This isn't really an issue, since I can just use Avisynth to upsize the footage anyway, but then another problem came into play. When I tried to use the tweak() command to brighten up the footage I was playing around with (that being Tomb Raider: Chronicles), it gave me an error message. I checked and double checked my command lines, but there was nothing wrong with them. In fact, just to be sure, I copied and pasted the commands in from a different game's clip that I had been working with a few weeks ago. No matter how I went about it, tweak() didn't work. To be more exact, this is what I have:
directshowsource("C: 9-4 - Welcome Back.avi")
bicubicresize(640,480)
tweak(bright=30)
tweak(cont=1)
bicubicresize(512,384)
Sort of confusing. The only reason I can think of that MIGHT have given me this problem is the fact that I chose Huffyuv v2.1.1 as my compression when ripping. Admittedly, I'm not really as knowledgable about this, so I don't know if I'm anywhere near the mark. Still, the way Uncompressed RGB and Huffyuv is handled is different, isn't it? I'm pretty sure I read that in the guides somewhere.
*sigh* This is tough, and I'm such a slow learner....but I really feel like I've learned a lot since I started trying hard to do it. Granted, the trythils and Scintillas of this site can still run circles around me, and I'll probably never be as good as they are with this kind of stuff, but if I can just learn enough to put out a good AMV visually, then I'll be happy. Then I can finally focus on making the editing itself better - not that I think I'm a bad editor...but I'm really nowhere near the upper skill level of the .org members. That and...I think it's tough for a lot of people to understand the concept behind some of my videos. Of course, I have really straightforward videos like "How Happy You Made Me," but then there are things like "Evolution or Mutation?" and "Walk Away in Silence" that go much deeper.
Anyway, I'm REALLY starting to ramble this time, so I'll quit here. See you, folks.
- Jen -
One hundred twenty first entry - Jen is teh soakedz0rz...
2006-03-30 20:22:47
Time - 7:07, Noise - my fan...drying off my clothes...
So yeah...I wanted to go to open lab for zoology, since I missed the last lab and I have an exam tomorrow. It started to really pour down as I was walking, but I don't mind. Rain is cool. The wind I could have done without, but it's not a big deal. Anyway, I got there with my entire frontside soaked. Since the wind was blowing the rain towards me, my backside managed to stay completely dry oddly. I was like a half and half person...but I digress. Turns out, nobody was there for open lab...so I'm assuming it was cancelled. Still dripping water (and in fact, I had to wring my jacket sleeve out a few times), I decided to leave...back out into the rain...back out into the wind. Thankfully, the wind was still going the same direction, so my backside got wet too on the way home - well, at least I matched. And now...here I am...my hair slowly drying off...my clothes under the tender care of my trusty box fan, while I sit in my pajamas typing a journal entry.
Moral of the story: if the weather sucks, don't go outside. Whatever you were planning on was probably cancelled anyway.
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Gah...I really really really REALLY want to start my AMV idea, but it's just impossible at this point...and I swear, by the time I get all of the resources I need to do it, I'll probably forget about the idea, or even worse, lose interest in it. Well, something will work out, I'm sure. In the meantime...I really need to get my ass in gear and at least try to start another video. I think I have most of the technical know-how I need to make a hugely better product, but technical improvements don't mean much of anything to anyone but me. Sure, folks will appreciate the better video quality, but the editing is still the same...and honestly, if you didn't like my videos before I learned how to make them more appealing visually, chances are you aren't going to like them any more than that afterwards.
But it sure would be nice to just to HAVE a new video - something to share with the public, you know.
Eh...maybe a flash of brilliance will come to me eventually. I hope so, anyway.
- Jen -
One hundred twentieth entry - *double sigh*
2006-03-29 13:50:12
Time - 12:34, Noise - Ayumi Hamasaki - "Rainy Day"
A note about the music: that's the ending theme from Onimusha 4, which is kind of a cheezy game (but not bad), but the music is good.
Anyway, seriously...what point is there to fighting over banners??? Think about it, folks. How many banners are out there now? At this point, they are ALL copies of each other. Anything with a pretty girl and some crappy slogan is a ripoff of every other one like it. Most of them don't even utilize the logo creatively anymore. The whole point of the banners is to promote the site. When you treat the logo like some unimportant side object, you're totally defeating that purpose. Don't get me wrong. I have seen some really creative banners, and if it didn't mysteriously crash my browser every time I try to open the page, I might actually try to vote for some of them. But with most banners now, it's just "same shit, different day."
Instead of making hundreds of banners that half of the site members turn off and the other half don't give a fuck about, how about putting some effort into making some AMVs? After all, this is www.AnimeMusicVideos.org, not www.AnimeBannerMaking.org. If you want to treat this little hobby like it's some kind of fanart, go to www.deviantart.com, where that kind of thing belongs.
- Jen
PS: before any of you try to use this ridiculous argument against me, let me tell you that I DO NOT MAKE BANNERS, because I am a part of that half of the site that doesn't give a fuck. I don't need to prove my skills to you in a hobby that I'm not interested in, so don't even TRY to use that against me. -
One hundred nineteenth entry - *sigh*
2006-03-29 00:40:16
Time - 10:31, Noise - Spice Girls - "Goodbye" (don't knock it, yo; it's a good song)
First and foremost, this is going to be a rant entry, so if you don't feel like reading someone's complaints, you'd do well to stray from this entry. With that, let's commence the complaining!
1. I feel like I'm going to puke. I have no idea why, but it's really bothering me.
2. Even though I just washed it a few hours ago, my hair still feels dirty. Gross.
3. I just KNEW that I shouldn't have gotten the newer model of the PS2. The damn thing has given me problems from the start, and now it refuses to play my anime DVDs. Considering it's the ONLY sort of DVD player I have, this is very bad indeed - which leads me to my next point.
4. If I don't get a damn DVD drive in my computer soon, I'm going to go ballistic, I swear. I have been asking for one for the last three fucking years, and no one has listened to me. I got the new hard drive I wanted, the capture card, even an offer to upgrade my RAM (although it's already maxed out)...but no DVD drive. The one thing I want more than anything else, and my brother just can't seem to get me one. You're probably wondering, "why are you making your brother do it for you?" Simple. I don't know a damn thing about what to look for. I know that it needs to be something to the effect of CD/DVD R/RW, although I'm sure it's not labeled that way. Beyond that, though, I don't know anything - and there are very few people I trust to do the job for me. My brother is one of those trusted people, but he's been so damn lazy lately that I'm sure he's just going to put it off forever. I have one other friend who could help, but everytime I let him near my computer, something goes wrong, or he tries to change my settings on me. They're not "efficient" enough for his tastes. Fuck that. My computer will be set up the way I want it to be.
5. AFF IS STILL NOT UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111ONE11!
Well, that's about it for ranting. Just had to get that crap out of my system.
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In other news, all AMV making has been put to a standstill for me. I just haven't had interest in the idea I was intending to work on - probably because I can't envision it very well. In fact, everytime I try to envision a video to the anime I'm using, it just doesn't work. I do have one very workable idea floating around, but I didn't want to do it until I had gotten some experience with all of this new technical crap under my belt.
In related news, the one idea I have that I'm REALLY, REALLY passionate about doing is currently nowhere near even being started. For starters, I'm lacking the anime (which is going to be remedied very soon, thank you very much, eBay). Secondly, I have no DVD drive to rip the anime with anyway (although my brother is going to pay with his life if he doesn't hop to it pretty soon). Thirdly, I have this video envisioned in my head down to every last effect. Being that that's the case, I already KNOW that I can't make it with the editing program I'm using now. So, I really need to get my hands on a few more trial versions so I can finally figure out which program will be the best one to upgrade to. So, while this idea just gets better and better with more contemplation, COD would I really like to actually START on it.
In less related news, I finished watching Loveless today. A good anime, and it caters to my inner yaoi fangirl, but the ending was so 'deus ex machina' that it wasn't even funny, dude. I won't expound on what actually happened (although most folks probably wouldn't get it without having the rest of the anime explained first); however, when I was part of the way through the second to last episode, I could already tell that the anime was going to end as a cliffhanger or have a wonky ending. It unfortunately had a little of both. Still, it's totally worth watching, even though it lacks that special "something" at the end.
In news related only to the previous topic, I'm not sure what anime I'm watching next. I have a bunch that I've had on my HD for a long time, so I really need to hop to watching them - if only so I can delete them and free up space.
In news unrelated to everything, I only have one class tomorrow, due to a campus event cancelling my later one. Unfortunately, it's my 8 AM class, so I still have to get up early...meaning, that I should go to bed soon. Seeing as how I've spent the last hour writing this entry off and on, that's probably a good idea.
Well, nighty night, folks. Time for me to close my window and crawl under the covers - hopefully, I won't have any more nightmares. ~_~
- Jen
JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )
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