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you'll die as you lived
2003-09-05 13:34:51
That's it, I'm giving up. Fucking telcos. I CAN'T give you my phone number for verification/localization purposes, because I don't have one. I'M CALLING TO GET THAT GODDAMNED LINE ACTIVATED NITWIT. How thick ARE these people? I'm going to go buy a handi tomorrow morning, and then try to spend enough time calling people long distance to make the $40 per month worthwhile. Why the hell doesn't my landlord just keep the sword-cursed phone lines open, tag an extra $5 per month onto the rent to cover flat costs on the line, and present the bill at the end of the month? It just makes no sense.
Current video: Sentenced, "Dead Moon Rising" to Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma. Progress check: 93%. The draft of the video looks pretty good, but I can't say exactly how good it'll come out, since there's just SO goddamned many effects. I spent two hours this morning doing processing, and I'm still not done. I have two more to work through (tricky ones), and then the TMPEG rendering, and I'll be able to build the final version. I suppose I'll put that and #80 up at the same time, around when I send in the competition disc to MITAC. I'm thinking MPEG1 and MPEG2 versions at ~4Mbps, 640x480, just so their problems will be smaller. Lots of rendering time ahead....
-- begin AWA 9 Pro logpage --
video XX: <creator name deleted>, are you gonna be mad if this wins? hilarious metaparody
video XX: crunched vid fidelity + jawflap puts this one in tier 3. good cutting keeps it mid.
video XX: TROLL! hehe. rfo, but, even without, why did this win so much? It's good, but amateurish for a <genre deleted> video. runs on too long even for great lsynch to save.
video XX: nice camfloat fx, good presentation independent of orig story or along with. nice fx, save not fixing jflap
video XX: annoying <effect name deleted> + rfo = big probs. good, but despite fx feels average
video XX: a bit of jawflap, but this is a good lo-fx gp video. there are better <genre deleted> here
video XX: AGAIN fucked a/r. wtf? runs solely on shameless lyric synch. a few virtually dead spots and flat missed cuts/hits. mid 3rd. & this could have given the <bandname deleted> one before a fight on concept...
video XX: ok despite jflap; gets into t1 despite slow start.
-- end AWA 9 Pro logpage --
This is the last chance for you to base your AWA Pro judging on someone else's opinions besides your own. Nominations end today if they didn't already at midnight, and final judging phase begins tomorrow. We'll see then who got through the initial round and what video-specific categories got cut.
The homework for 478 looks really easy, so I'll probably blow through most of that tonight while the final video renders, then tighten it up after and work on my 492 stuff through most of next week. Still have to make sure I'm registered for 481, but that's work for later.
shigoto shigoto....
--Kai out
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and nothing else can we feel
2003-09-04 14:24:31
maybe editing tomorrow; too much steam out yesterday to do much productive last night. The homework bug is starting to bite; this weekend will be a lot of preemptive measures to keep things from getting too bogged-down midweek.
Current video: Sentenced, "Dead Moon Rising" to Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma. Progress check: 80%. I'm planning to edit tonight, after I take care of grocery shopping and dinner, even though I could probably do both tomorrow before I have to be up here on North Campus for class and stuff. Still also have to call about getting a phone in; the main local company has a pretty good response rate, so that may be solved by early next week. Regardless, the video will be done soon, and the next project will slowly plod towards eventual completion by like mid-October (being realisitc, it may get done faster).
-- begin AWA 9 Pro logpage --
video XX: another fairly good <anime title deleted> condensation, but as good as it is, it's not a special drama in any sense. high t2.
video XX: weird, black comic. decent.
video XX: DAMN COOL. I'm amazed that a master this old can look thsi good. kick f'n ass.
video XX: cool, but somewhat disposable. nice cuts
video XX: <band identifier deleted>, but cutting & synch is incredible. <category identifying comments deleted> (despite messed ratio) great lsynch.
video XX: some dead spots & missed hits, but most of the time it's relly cool. decent.
video XX: gfx doesn't quite compensate for messed source and inconsistent ls. pretty good
video XX: too dark. award: most seizures induced
video XX: rfo attacks hardcore again. no concept or continuity, but some nice pure visuals. very crappy slowdown on the petals bit. groove, but lacks overall.
-- end AWA 9 Pro logpage --
There's another disturbing trend that comes up in this batch of videos: the tendency of quick-cut sequences to approximate slideshows. There's not a whole lot of opportunity in sub-second cuts for in-frame motion, but on some videos, it's getting to the point where there is none at all for substantial (10+ seconds) stretches. That just aint right. If there's original animation, there should be in-frame motion; if it's from the anime, at least some of the original motion should be preserved. Still frames definitely have their utility (my current video is tentatively using quite a few still-frame overlays), but they shouldn't take the place of cuts of actual motion. Ignoring motion synch by defaulting to still frames+effects in videographically tough parts is taking the easy way out.
Gotta get moving; I have foodstuffs to buy and companies to argue with before I get to do homework and video hacking tonight.
--Kai out
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they blinded us all
2003-09-03 11:35:50
not much to tell. I've set my course for about the next 18 months (resulting in no class for me today), bought a bunch of books, and done some video work, but I had to edit the song a little, and got in too late from the cookout last night to do the timing chart on that as well.
Current video: Sentenced, "Dead Moon Rising" to Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma. Progress check: 75%. Anticipated catalog number: #81. Probably do timing chart and editing this afternoon and into tonight after I finish buying books, then effects and finalization tomorrow night. As it stands I have a lot of class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but almost none in the rest of the week. More time for homework.
-- begin AWA 9 Pro logpage --
video XX: NICE colorizes, other fx. rotoscoping is incredible/perfect; linedrawings make this best in show -- as fx & for content (top concept here too)
video XX: rfo attacks once more in a killer combo with jawflap. cutting largely sucks. rfo could have been cool w/odd-time guitars, but there's no overlap between the incidences thereof.
video XX: inferior picfi; otherwise, quiet, ok, 2nd-tier video. often liquid concept. runs too long for quiet music & lack of story -- really slow parts toward mid-end <inflammatory and incriminating comments deleted>
video XX: it's <incriminating information deleted>, idiot. crappy interlacing, subs, and no synch make this SUCK BUTT. DQ (went to get a much-needed beer here)
video XX: jawflap from start; cutting aint all there & interlacing can look real bad. low 2nd tier/top 3rd. some ok lsynch
video XX: good use of fades, gray-stops - impeccable timing. some framebursts fight washed print. :big ups:
-- end AWA 9 Pro logpage --
This was the 'rage page', which caught most of the subpar videos, including the dead-worst. However, it also got a couple good ones and a few average, so it shows that no part of this contest was a total loss.
If you have the skills and your own set of Pro tapes, you could probably figure out which videos are being described in these entries. However, most people don't have Pro tapes, or the time to go through and pick out characteristics; and besides, you're going to have to form your own opinions quick if you have said tapes; I'm only going to be able to post 1 or 2 more pages before the nomination process ends, and I have 4 pages left right now to post. Those who don't have Pro tapes, as intended by the contest, are left completely in the dark by these notes; so far so good.
Back to work. One more book to buy, some assignments to start on, and a video to finish up.
--Kai out
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maybe taken more
2003-09-02 18:15:42
I've gotten through my first day of class here, and now a full week in-state. The days of free food and no assignments are about to come crashing down, but I figure that I can hack that.
I still don't have a phone, a bank account, or a job. There's going to be a lot of walking around tomorrow and Friday, a lot of calls made on those accounts. I miss Meg something hurting, but a phone card is no good without a phone to call from. Between these, meeting with my advisor, and buying books, I'm pretty well booked outside class for this week.
Which is good, because otherwise I'd be wasting too much time and money in Wizzywigs. And I thought Tokyo Kid was a class A anime junk store. Three times the space, a tenth of the clutter, and about twice the selection, even if all their CDs are EverAnime bootlegs with the old disrespectable-looking logo instead of the new semi-pro-looking one.
Ann Arbor, as a whole, is pretty cool. There is a hippie food coop where you can buy fresh and basic stuff cheap (as long as you don't want cooking oil -- stupid hippies), and a bunch of corner groceries/bodegas where you can buy beer, cooking oil, processed foods, and everything else they'll call you a fascist pig for asking about at the coop. The weather is nice and temperate, the football team is good, and I managed to find a pretty quiet neighborhood, even though it's forever of a walk to get anywhere.
With the downtime in the last week, I've been doing video work. #80 is done, and will be upped (as an xvid, I'm through with Divx and their bullshit) as soon as I can get a 'ferry' CD made, with stuff on it like ops for the videos I still owe them on, the AAT zip-archive for Savia and anyone else who wants it, and various things I need for my classes. As of right now, though:
Current video: Sentenced, "Dead Moon Rising" to Blood Reign: Curse of the Yoma. Progress check: 65%. Anticipated catalog number: #81. I wanted to wrap up a video before things started getting too hectic, so that I didn't have a deadline burden trying to do serious editing work while staying up to speed on my coursework. It's the same as on the job end; I have to figure out what my academic commitments are going to be, then schedule the rest of my life in around those. This video, though, is probably going to wrap in the imminent future; final clipping and timing chart tonight, then editing tomorrow night, and maybe effects and finalization as well if not on Thursday. There's less source than on #80, and it's a less complicated video; after this, the drill is a two-video project from a 26-episode series, something I haven't done before. Then I'm looking at some Ghiblies, a parody, and an audience-slaughtering KK video, among other ideas and not necessarily in that order. I brought material out for 11 projects beyond #80; there's no way I'll finish them all before the end of the semester.
-- begin AWA 9 Pro logpage --
video XX: rfo/stutter often works, sometimes don't. overall kickass.
video XX: kickass. love the lsynch & texting
video XX: <incriminating comments removed> crappy source quality as well. sucks & that's that.
video XX: weird interlace lines -- <incriminating comments removed> good videography tho. overall nice.
video XX: <lots of incriminating comments removed> too many slack or missed parts to get an award in this field.
-- end AWA 9 Pro logpage --
It should be commented that in addition to video numbers and anything else that might identify the videos, the tape break marker, while still present in the original notes, has been deleted. This is because there were only two tapes in the Pro contest this year, and so a tape break marker is going to be an automatic giveaway for anyone who's in the contest.
Interesting to note that of the 54 videos in this year's contest, 14 were comedy or parody, a huge, HUGE, resurgence from last year. Maybe half that number were action, so game theorists should note this trend and do anything BUT action next year, as there's sure to be a ton of competition, at least based on the trend analysis of this small sample. -_^
There are still a few skull-smashingly BAD videos in the contest, but overall it's pretty definite that the 'year of slump' is over. Now we have to beware of the 'year of hype', because this contest also shows, to a degree, that the overlap between buzz and actual video quality is slowly decreasing. Great videos come out of nowhere; well-hyped ones on occasion leave you with unmet expectations.
That's enough for now; I've got to get down to some bookstores before they close and/or run out.
--Kai out
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and i have lost my fear
2003-08-29 15:05:03
So I'm pretty well settled in here, and most of my meals for today have been taken care of courtesy of orientation. Free food is cool. Also, I wasn't able to do any work on the video last night because I was judging AWA Pro (just entered my rankings fr the nomination stage). As with last year, the Random AWA Logpage feature returns to the journal, though due to the shorter contest and larger notebook, there are a lot fewer pages (7 as opposed to ~20 last year). As always, band, editor, and anime names, as well as the actual video numbers) are masked for the protection of confidentiality agreements.
-- begin AWA Pro 9 logpage --
video XX: sick but funny. 100% classic.
video XX: some streky interlacing, but overall good fx, including letterboxing 'theme'. killer.
video XX: big ups for <band name deleted>; wrong aspect ratio. nice use of retelling and invented storylines. excellent synch all the way through
video XX: excellent use of contrasting artstyles/aspect ratios; some static clips needing more videography. one stray frame. jawflap strikes at worst time. nice ED.
video XX: FU <creator name deleted>. <obviously incriminating comments removed>
video XX: slowing and bad ghosting makes this one suck, but a few lacks of cutting and overdone effects do that already. this COULD have been really good..... blackboard cuts are cool, but it loses to #XX
video XX: jawflap's the only hitch; great story vid
video XX: jawflap and bad print detract from fairy good video. good stuff
-- end AWA Pro 9 logpage --
This contest seems better than last year's, with more meat to it. You can really see who's using AE and such and who isn't. There are fewer ass-sucking videos in this bunch, but they're still not completely gone; one or two are just not 'professional' as implied by the name of the contest. The other disturbing part is the intrusion of non-anime music videos; one is very good, and two suck, but this is an *A*MV contest. If you want your non-anime MV in the VAT, send it to Expo. I did vote one for best non-anime, but hopefully this will not be a return feature.
I ran into two other people I knew from my old school at orientation. It was bizarre, like something out of a dumb screenplay. Of course, it won't continue like one; Meg has nothing to fear from Lydia, and Brian didn't even acknowledge my existence. I'll meet people I actually need to know on Tuesday, after class at departmental orientation. CS departmental barbecues must be a nationwide institution. (more free food!)
Still have to set up a meeting with my advisor, confirm my discussion section for a course I just got into from the waiting list, sign up for phone servce, and see about getting a job (and afterwards a local bank account), but all of that can be taken care of pretty quickly. I'll probably be able to do the timing chart and some editing tonight.
The theme of orientation seemed to be to get the hell out ASAP rather than becoming professional grad students. I'll be glad to oblige; 8 months till the school year is over, and 8 after that I hope to have my master's in hand and a job lined up. It'll be pretty tough, but I've balanced thesis writing, heavy AMVage, a 15-hour-a-week job, and career searching before, all on a live-on-no-money eating plan. I've done it before, and I can do it again. I just have to start cooking dinners more, or working at a dining hall. I'm spending too much on takeout right now; in a dining hall I'll get one free meal per shift and the chance to steal as many excess items as I can take away.
Ah, the academic life. 90% the life of the mind, 10% stealing food to keep the mind's life support system alive.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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