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Holy, Holy, Holy...
2002-06-30 22:41:03
Well tonight's title has a double meaning, the first of them being that I just got back from a Youth Conference in Ohio.
And the second would be...
...this site...
I leave for three days, come back, and *Wammo!!* there's a new version of the site running. This rocks. Now I'm gonna go make myself a new site skin, and check the forums and see just what the hell has been going on in my absence.
I swear, everything happens when I'm gone.
Oh yea, as a side note the Youth Conference was great. I mean like really really great. Even met a couple of chicks and got their e-mail addresses. One even hunted me down to take a picture with me, yay ^_^ But the weekend was awesome even aside from all the cute ladies that were there.
Later guys and gals. -
Oy ve...
2002-06-20 22:52:38
I just read anneke's newest firestarter in the contest section of the forums and I must say that was one of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. And it wasn't because she didn't have *some* type of a point, (In fact she did, but the ultimate decision comes down to the creator and the people that decide they want the DVD the creator is putting out) it was just because of everything that resulted from it.
I can't believe jbone actually posted that picture there though, I saw it before, but thought that it was too off the wall to be posted. Guess I was wrong, but anneke didn't react quite how I thought she would.
Note: Jbone wins the cajones award tonight in my book.
In other news: Went to Sam Goody today to pick up some CDs. Got Nas' 'Stillmatic' and Our Lady Peace's 'Gravity' albums, respectively. (Yes, I do have an idea for an AMV to one of Nas' songs. It's gonna take some work, but I hope to make one of the first 'good' rap AMVs. I figure if I can work it with R&B that there's almost no reason I can't do it with rap. The problem is song choice, and making sure it's not too specific ((Nas drops a lot of people's names in most of his songs)). It's more than likely going to be a various anime project, which is a difficulty all in itself. I'm also toying around with a DMX song for an AMV. I've got too many ideas right now, these are just the newest ones.)
But anyway, back on topic...
So I go to the register and hand the guy my CDs. He puts them into a bag after ringing them up, looks at me, and says, "That's a big jump in music."
I really wanted to shrug and say "I make AMVs." but instead I just said, "I've got a varied taste in music" (which is true, I listen to almost everything). -
Just a quick update...
2002-06-15 14:06:07
I swear I have almost no time for myself anymore. My week runs something like:
1. Get up in the morning
2. Go to work
3. Go home from work
4. Take a shower and go to class (going to class only applicable on Tues, Wed. and Thurs.)
5. Get home from school (See note above)
6. Get online and check mail
7. Go to sleep
8. Wakeup in the morning...
Yea, you get the idea. It's like that every day for me, except I occasionally go to my friend Jimmy's house, or to my girlfriend's house for a little while. Work was over Friday and I came home and was thinking about the weekend. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do on Saturday, because I'm not used to having any free time. It was strange. So today I went and go a book I need for my summer class, then stopped by the glass company and got an estimate on a new windshield for my car (it currently has a stress crack running halfway along the bottom of it). Now I'm here online, doing pretty much nothing. Oh well, that's life. Now to figure out what I'm gonna do with the rest of my day...
In other news, I have actually had some time to edit my current project. Any hopes of it making the deadline for Mindwarp's contest are pretty much shot though. I just don't have the time, and I want to take as much time as is necessary with this because it's going quite well. I'm about 40 seconds into it (really only 30 because I'm working on something with the last segement). I've found that I understand Premiere, and making videos in general, much better since I've taken a break from doing them. I can also just look at an effect in an AMV now and tell how it was done. I'm using quite a few fades in my current video, but I was using cross fades on the Video 1A track with no clip in the 1B track (I edit in A/B mode, obviously) to achieve the fade effect. I actually works quite well, especially on the end of a clip. When you tack it on the front of a clip (I did it trying to achieve a fade-in) you get a fade-in with a cool pulse effect on the end. Unfortunately, that wasn't what I was looking for in my video. So I went and looked at Great Wang's 'To the Stars' to see how he did those smooth fade-in and outs. I looked at the portion where the fades come in for about a second before it all came together. It was kinda simple after I thought about it, but I'm not gonna say how he did it here, you should go check out his vid if you want to figure it out. ;)
I've also been working with motion on clips a lot more, as well as other video effects in general (A lot aren't obvious at all, but they help the video look better). It's been quite interesting, and useful. I've also got Photoshop now, which I read up on a bit before, but never really got around to figuring out how to use it (mostly because I couldn't figure out how to edit a file from Premiere, but I have that figured out now). So my next video should have a bumper (it'll be in-video rather than on the front end or back end, so as to keep a flow to the video), as well as some Photoshopped effects. Quite cool in my eyes. This video is going to miles and miles ahead of my other videos. (In fact it already is, at least in terms of scope, effort, and use of the tools I have at my disposal).
Well, I'm going to go work on my video now, instead of just talk about it. I figure I should get my editing in while I'm in my inspired stage, reather than the 'I'm-going-to-pick-this-piece-of-shit-up-and-chuck-it-out-the-window-THEN-drop-a-grenade-on-it' stage. I figure it makes for better editing :p
I'll more than likely be in the chat tonight, so all you FOOLS (you know who you are ^_^) better be there. Stop pretending you have lives and that you actually went out somewhere on a Friday night, you know you didn't! :p
Damn I must be in a good mood.
Later guys. -
Blah, blah, blah...
2002-06-10 18:12:21
Wow, I must be losing my touch (if I ever had one), that or I wasn't saying anything of much interest in my last entry, because only 9 people read it. Of course I don't really see what anyone could find interesting in my journal anyway though. <shrug>
At any rate, still been up to the same old stuff (a.k.a. work and school) while trying to find some time to myself and do what I like. Spent most of the weekend hanging out with my godbrother/friend Jimmy, and just hanging out in general. Saturday I had a bit of a fight with my girlfriend, but everything was great on Sunday. We just needed some time to ourselves after the fight, cause we were both pretty pissed off. I think it's good that we still have disagreements sometimes though, it can be healthy I think, so long as it doesn't happen all the time.
Not much else to report though. On saturday after I left my girlfriend's house I went to Moorestown Mall with jimmy and had lunch/dinner (I hadsushi, I think I'm addicted) then went to the arcade and play Tekken 4. I like playing in the arcades and all, but I really wish it was coming out for PS2 before freakin September. People in japan have had it since March; the lagtimes for us getting stuff (if we get it at all) from Japan are rediculous.
In other news I bought Big O Volume 2, Genocyber, and on the video game end Way of the Samurai.
Reports:
Big O vol. 2: Good, although it only had three episodes on it, compared to the four on the first one. But that's alright, it's still good. I quite like the series, and I hope they do more episodes for it.
Genocyber: Actually was kind of pissed off at this the first time I saw it, but that's because it only ran about an hour, compared to the 152 minutes that were advertised on the box. It wasn't a bad anime either, but the time thing pissed me off. Turns out though, that what I saw was only the first Episode/Stage, it's just that it has movie type credtis at the end of each episode. So this actually looks like it was a good purchase, because I was wrong about the only 'flaw' in the whole thing: the length. It's an older anime though, but I guess they just released it to DVD over here in the states. Genocyber is from the director of M.D. Geist (which I've only caught glimpses of, but looked good). The original japanese version was done in 1993. So all in all, pretty good. I'll have to actually finish the rest of the episodes though, before I can pass judgement on the whole thing.
Way of the Samurai: I'd heard some buzz about this in Playstation magazine, and it the buzz was dead on target. This game is great, and a bit quirky (they use word ballons for speech). It's got something for everyone though; it's got elements of an rpg in the way you go through the game, but it really is completely non-linear (within reason of it being a game, and having a story. It's not as non-linear as GTA3 can be, because you only have two days in game time in it) You can go through the game being an asshole, a comedian, a hero, a backstabbing bastard playing all ends against the middle, or any combination you choose. You can pick your fights wisely, or you can pick fights with characters that'll walk all over you and then beg for your life before they can kill you. It's fun, even when you die. I have yet to finish all two days in the game, just because I have fun and let the story take me where it will. It's quite cool, and I reccomend it to anyone with PS2.
The really funny thing about all these though, is that I got them *after* my 600 dollar bill for getting my car fixed (yea, the bill the officially made me broke and has gobbled up my next three paychecks). Ah how funny it is. I've already got an idea for making a Genocyber AMV, and I've got an idea for Big O too, but I need the rest of the DVD's in order to find out if the idea is doable. Speaking of AMVs, I really need to work on my current project. I really want to get it done before Mindwarp's contest deadline, but I just haven't been able to find time for it. Everytime I sit down and actually do it though, I get quite a bit done. And I work out problems that I'm having with trying to do certain things in it when I'm not actually working on the project. So if I actually sat down for any real amount of time I'd probably be more than able to do it before the deadline. We shall see, and only time will tell.
Just a note: if you actually read all this rambling you have too much free time on your hands. Go work on an AMV! :p
Later guys and gals. -
It's been a while since I could say...
2002-06-08 23:21:46
Wow, I've been away for a while...well, from my journal. I've still been keeping up with the forums and reading other people's journals and whatnot. I also haven't been in the org chatroom for quite a while...
Ah well, that's life. I did just click on Digtal Dojo's journal 12 times (I think, I lost count along the way) to give him 1000 hits. I'm running at 494 right now, so I guess I'm writing this in part to get to 500.
Nah, that's not the real reason, I've just missed writing here.
'So what's been up with you, Rob?'
Weeeellll....
I really haven't been doing much outside of work, and summer school. (Which started May 28th) Work is good though, I actually enjoy my job, despite having to work hard. Work doesn't bother me, usually it's stupid people that do. My old job was filled with stupid people, and I had to deal with them all the time. So yea, I'd rather take having to work a bit harder, than not and having to deal with dumb ass folks. Besides, the guys at my job are laugh riots. They could all be comedians, I swear. And I got a raise from last summer, which is good (making 9.10 an hour now, rather than 8.60)
School's interesting too, and interesting classes keep me actually doing work in class. So I really don't foresee any problems with my Intro to Soc class. All we do is talk about the world we live in all class period anyway, so it's cool. It makes you think, and I like that.
Only problem is that between work and school I find myself with nooooooooo free time anymore. What little I have is spent taking care of what I have to, or managing to go out for a little while or spend some time with my friends. Otherwise I really have no life of my own anymore. I never get to sleep before 11, and that's if I'm lucky. Then I wake up at 6 in the morning and so goes my day, no break until I get back from class or whatever is on my schedule for that day. It's hectic, but it'll pan out eventually.
I haven't had much for editing either though, with all the goings-on in my life. I don't know if I'm going to be able to finish my newest project for Mindwarp's video contest. I'd like to though. I may start taking my laptop to work again and edit during lunch. Bah, who knows. I'm gonna edit tonight though. But before I do that I'm gonna get a shower and grab some ice cream afterwards.
In other news: There was a problem with my car recently. Took it to the shop and had it looked at. Turns out the air filter was busted and it was causing my engine to run hot. Repairs, along with the oil change and stuff, ran me $596.97. I'm officially broke for my next 3 paychecks, and THEN I have to get a new windshield, because I've got a stress crack in the current one. This is why I was never hell-bent on getting a car.
But at any rate...
Later.
JOURNAL: FirestormXIII (Robert X. Hill-Williams)
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