JOURNAL: NPC3000 (Nathaniel Cohn)

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  • ...the forums are gone... 2002-10-14 21:00:17 The forums are down and...on one hand I want to laugh at all the people who were spamming and flaming the place, they can infect the AMV community no longer HA HA! be gone parasites!!!

    I understand Phade's reasoning, the forums became such a mess! I've posted less then 50 times since the site got remade. I was actually thinking about e-mailng Phade yesterday to ask what I could do to help out.

    On the other hand, I really want to see the forums back again, maybe people will have finally learned a lesson. It actually wasn't the spamming and flaming itself that bothered me the most, it was the many uninteresting and repetitive threads and the way that spam would constantly ruin a perfectly interesting thread...

    Maybe this will deliver the message to people who've been screwing the place up to...well...stop doing it.

    *sigh* I just hope when (and if, I already miss the forums ;_;) they're brought back up, people will consider it a chance to rebuild the community here. I really think if we simply don't take spammers and flamers too seriously they won’t be much of a problem, and if we all just occasionally post something interesting once in a while the place itself will be greatly improved. I was a too scared to post any forum threads of my own recently because I didn’t want to bang heads with some of the jerks here, now I wish I had, it might’ve made a difference...;_; 
  • a recent test shows that we're all misunderstood... 2002-10-05 19:09:35 Couple things going on today:

    1st of all I wanna say, DAMN IT! it's been forever since I've completed a music video! And it's not because of some creative block either, quite the contrary, I have TONS and TONS of ideas bubbling up in my head. Problem is, whenever I start throwing clips into premiere, I always find some reason to ditch the project.

    I was making progress with the Cowboy Bebop video I've talked about previously but I tossed it because the lyrics just didn't work with the footage well enough which is a sad thing because I've been wanting to make it for months and months and months

    There was one night when I got started on a fanservice/comedy video but like many single night ideas, I lost interest in it the next day.

    Now I'm working on this sentimental/romance video which is turning out quite well but it's going to be a freakin pain to finish because I only have six episodes to work with (the rest of the dvds haven't been released yet and I want the video done now!) and the video requires TONS of lip-synching *groan*. Still, I'd better get it done.

    The saddest part is, all of these videos look pretty good with what I've done so far but I keep ditching porjects, I feel like I'm wasting time.


    2nd thing, getting into AMVs is truly a curse on the wallet, I can't stop buying CDs, thank god for Half Price Books where I can get them for 5 to 7 dollars.

    3rd thing, I finally bought End of Eva and I'll be watching it for the second time with a friend who hasn't seen it yet. I loved the movie when I first saw it but all the controversy, hatred and generally stupid comments toward it makes the movie feel...tainted *sigh* I hope I can still appreciate it like I did before.

    4th thing, mexicanjunior, if you're reading this, I haven't forgotten to review your video, I've just been rediculously busy lately (GOD I HATE senior year!).

    I guess that's about it. I'll try and post in my journal more often, I feel like I've been losing touch with the org. 
  • Crazy, Obsessed Evangelion Rant 2002-09-30 22:19:12 WARNING!!! FOLLOWING IS THE DEPRAVED BABBLING OF AN OBSESSED EVA FAN!!! IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ALL OF THE SERIES OR THE MOVIE, DON'T READ FURTHER!!! AND ONE WAY OR ANOTHER, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS!!! I'D THINK SOMEONE WAS BEING A LITTLE SILLY IF THEY ASKED ME TO READ THEIR CRAZY, OBSESSED, TWO PAGE EVA RANT AS WELL!!! IN FACT, ONLY READ THIS IF YOU HAVE INTEREST IN MY PERSONAL OPINIONS AND IDEAS ABOUT EVANGELION!!! I KNOW THAT PROBABLY APPLIES TO ABSOLUTELY NO ONE ON THE ORG OR ANYWHERE ELSE BUT I FELT LIKE WRITING IT ANYWAY!!!



















































    And Chaos Angel, if you're reading this, I just read your post about EoE and I felt saying this:

    I watched the two Eva endings, the series and the movie in one night sometime around the beginning of this year. I watched the series ending and liked it a lot. I was thinking that I could live with only having that ending to the series...but I wasn't satisfied, what about the other characters besides Shinji? The series didn't bring them to much of a conclusion. And all the Eva and Human Instrumentality issues, the series felt like it had dozens of loose ends.

    Then I wathced End of Evangelion and I thought WOW! What a movie! I was completely blown away. EoE was one of the most amazing, exhilerating and emotionally powerful film experiences I've ever had. Though my mind was still swarming with questions, I felt somehow satisfied with EoE as an ending to the whole Eva story. Inspite of the grim appearance of the tail end of the movie, I felt that it was ultimately a happy ending (I will not get into details about this here).

    Months passed and I was still thinking about EoE. I gradually realized what it was all about. The central idea to Eva of course is Shinji gaining the ability to accept the harsh realities of the world, to accept himself as a part of that world and to find the strength to go on living in it.

    I remained very excited about Eva but then I ran into a problem. Other people didn't share my views about the endings.

    My first problem was that everyone who preferred the movie to the series ending seemed to prefer it simply because it was screwy and perverted and provided the epic ending they wanted. No one seemed to value EoE as a work of art or meaning.

    My second problem was that everyone who had a genuine love of the series and its characters and meaning seemed to much prefer the series ending. Many of them felt that the fans who protested the ending of the series were stupidly ignoring the fact that it was a suitable ending and tied up the "important" part of the series, the central idea I mentioned above. A lot of these people also seemed to despise the movie because they found it to be a violent, terrifying and depressing experience that left them angry and bitter. There was also the argument that EoE was just a big "FUCK YOU!!!" message to the fans who protested the series ending.

    Third problem. I also took wind of the fact that Anno made the movie because his fans were so outraged. This got me nervous, could EoE simply be a big fan thing? Maybe it wasn't the deep, meaningful epic ending that I had originally thought, maybe Anno was just listening to his fans whether he was trying to satisfy them or yell at them.

    I'm not the type of person who can just say: “okay, you think about it the way you want to about it and I’ll think the way I want to think about it.” I don’t necessarily have to agree with everyone but I always want to find some kind of balance of opinion, without having to feel like I could easily get into an argument. I began to get depressed about Eva. How could I appreciate the series with all this crazy controversy surrounding it? I originally liked having both endings, I thought (as Chaos Angel observed) that they could be seen as two parts of a whole. But I felt split, like I had to take a side, I was, of course, provoked to take the side of the series ending because the more intelligent Eva fans seemed to prefer it. But it felt, to me, like an incomplete conclusion. Sure, we know the central idea about Shinji, but there’s more to it than that, there’s a story being told here and it was dropped at episode 24. Plus, the series ending didn’t do half of what the movie did for me.

    I started to get angry, why did one of the most compelling and emotional stories I’ve ever known have to become such a mess in the end? And why did these fans have to make Eva even more of a mess by whining about what it all meant and which ending was the right one? No one else seemed satisfied with everyone having their own opinion about Eva so I wasn’t satisfied either. I was beginning to regret being an Eva fan in the first place because of all the frustration surrounding it.

    Now, I’ve made up my mind about several things:

    1. It’s unfair of those who prefer the series ending to say that the fans were stupid for not liking it. The rich, detailed story and all of the questions it raised are one of the things that made Eva such a great series. The fans had a right to be angry when Anno decided to drop it at the last two episodes and just deal with the characters. I’m not saying that Anno necessarily owed his fans another ending, just that the fans had a right to be dissatisfied.

    2. By disregarding the narrative that had taken 24 episodes to construct at the end as many of the more intellectual fans seem argue for, the Eva series becomes a total mess and for the most part, a waste of time. Anno could’ve gotten rid of most of the mecha stuff, the angels, most of the characters, all the biblical references and almost all of the storyline. He could’ve shortened the series to say, six or eight episodes and made his point then and there. This perspective, that the narrative doesn’t matter means that Eva has an heaping godzilla mound of unnecessary parts. Sure, all these parts are entertaining, the eva battles, the plot, etc. but I think they can be more than that. I think the biblical tie-ins and everything mean something to the series even though Anno admitted that the series didn’t have an ongoing theme until around the 16th episode. He was able to ingeniously tie the narrative into the theme once it came around. In short, without the importance of the narrative, Eva is, for the most part, an entertaining, though unnecessarily long mecha series with a little something meaningful at the end. I think it can be more than that.

    3. For some people, or at least me, EoE was a fantastic, meaningful experience that doesn’t necessarily leave one feeling angry and depressed. Maybe it was a “FUCK YOU!!!” message as well (I didn’t see that in the movie myself though) but it still works as the ending of Evangelion, and it satisfies much more thoroughly for me, dealing with the biblical references, the characters, etc.

    4. I am not saying that the series ending is in any way bad. I still like it a lot, it just doesn’t do Eva justice for me and I don’t think I’m an idiot for wanting more.

    5. I am not saying that the fans of the series ending are in the wrong for liking it better. I am just saying that the movie had a right to be made, that I am not in the wrong for preferring it. And also, that EoE does bare relevance to the rest of the story whether fans care to admit it or not.


    Well, that’s about all I wanted to say. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to e-mail me at NPC3000@aol.com. If you want to tell me that I’m preferable to the wrong ending, please, if you can stop yourself, don’t, I’m getting sick of having to rethink Eva.

    PHEW!!! 
  • ...no matter how bad life gets, it can always get worse... 2002-08-16 18:02:18 If anyone misses me and thinks I just up and dissappeared around here, (quit fooling yourself Nathaniel! ^_^) I was on vacation last week, I didn't bother posting about it because I thought I would have internet access and it wouldn't matter but alas, I didn't >_<

    Life kinda sucks right now, I've been rediculously lazy, too lazy to post about my being absent any earlier this week.

    I thought the Utena DVD simply wasn't working but it looks like I might've been wrong. I tried getting started on this bebop video and STILL! I'M STILL GETTING THOSE GODDAMN LOCKUPS!!!!!!!!!!!! I HATE HATE HATE MY FUCKING COMPUTER!!! URRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    kay, got that out of my system...

    If what I fear has happened has indeed happened, which is that my computer has decided that it will no longer let me run premiere for more than five minutes before killing it I am going to be ten times as pissed as I was above! BECAUSE I WANT TO MAKE VIDEOS!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I'm also broke at the moment so there's no point in even thinking about the Utena video...

    Not that the quality of my life hinges around whether or not I'm making videos but nothing else is happening! In spite of the problems I'm facing, AMVs are the most interesting thing on my mind at the moment, maybe I'll actually be happy when school starts up...

    I feel like I'm making my situation out worse than it really is, I'm just so pissed off that premiere isn't working...*sigh* And I've been wanting to make that Bebop video for about half a year now... >_< *grumble, grumble* 
  • You............do you remember me? 2002-07-26 20:32:00 Well, I got back a couple days ago but I've been unable to summon enough energy to write in my journal until now (and yes it'll take even more energy before I get around to writing more reviews).

    I've been sort of up and down about my AMV life/career. We are Building a Religion was by far my most artistic video but I don't feel particularly happy about it. It's not that I think I did a bad job (I worked pretty darn hard on it) it's just that I've been thinking too much about how others respond to my videos as opposed to thinking about the videos themselves. That's probably why I haven't been having much fun with AMVs lately, they feel more like a chore than an enjoyable activity. I need to get back on track...

    I rented Adolescence of Utena today and made it through the first 20 minutes until my sister and her friends showed up for my sister's birthday party and I had to stop watching.

    I've found a song that with Utena, might make an excellent video. Gotta keep my fingers crossed that it'll check out though, it's not exactly one of those situations where I say: "hey this song will be perfect with this anime!" but more "hmmm, I wonder if I can edit this anime so it'll fit this song..." But that was my mindset when I made Nugget too and when I saw the finished product I said: "damn! that song worked perfectly with Furi Kuri!" so I'm fairly optomistic :). Now, if I can just keep focused on the video itself as opposed to the people who are going to watch it... 
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