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relive the gift of precious memories
2002-12-13 14:31:03
13 May 1967 - 13 December 2001.
the rooster fell dead in the dust
before the break of dawn
-but i knew time
the horse hung from
worn out straps
with ungratefulness
whipped into his eyes
-but i pulled the plow myself
the peasant laid himself down on the fields;
neither plenty nor free
-but i cleared new land
growths withered, eternal oaths shattered
colors faded, hearts froze cold
the noise silenced, but mine was
victory and might
larger than time, heavier than night!
mountains fell, forest green to black
time turned to silence, water to sand
the sun went cold, gone all but one light
larger than time, heavier than night!
days ended, and the stars died
before the wanderers reached home
-but i knew the way
ships sunk with all warriors and heralds
laid to rest in bottomless pits
-but i spotted new and unknown shores
the gods suddenly aged
when the golden walls fell
-but i gave them new powers
--R. Peersen, "Storre enn tid - Tyngre enn natt"
The journey begins with curiosity
And evolves into soul-felt questions
On the stones that we walk
And choose to make our path
Sometimes never knowing
Other times knowing too much
Filtering out the bad that holds us back...
Take hold of what is true to your hunger
A hunger that will not go away
Plans for tomorrow, they will remain
Won't you join me on the perennial quest
Reaching into the dark, retrieving light
Search for answers on the perennial quest
Where dreams are followed, and time is a test
No time for mental crutches
The maker has moved on
I will take it raw and be on my way
Those that stood beside me
I'm glad you understand
Behind these written words
I share the simple plan
To hang on to the way that we feel
From rivers of sorrow
To oceans deep with hope
I have traveled them
Now, there is no turning back
The limit, the sky
I ask my questions Why? What today?
When tomorrow?
Filtering out the bad that holds us back...
Take hold of what is true to your hunger
A hunger that will not go away
Plans for tomorrow, they will remain
Won't you join me on the perennial quest
Reaching into the dark, retrieving light
Search for answers on the perennial quest
Where dreams are followed, and time is a test
-- C. Schuldiner, "Perennial Quest"
reflect - revive - remember.
--Kai out
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nothing on earth is forever
2002-12-12 11:52:58
Through ep 4, done re-editing the music, and I don't have to go up to Maine today after all. Nift. Depending on how long I take on the essay today, I may be able to start drafting tomorrow.
Of course, that's if I can make myself work tomorrow, instead of taking it off in memory of the anniversary of Chuck's passing. Hard to make a sappy HammerFall video when you're grinding your ears with nonstop evil genius. The last thing that Chuck would want, of course, is for people to slam their lives to a halt because of him. December 13 thus becomes a day to take off in order to facilitate your dreams and do what you can to advance the cause of metal. For me this will probably be finishing up my application essay and finishing the writeup on the 2002 awards as far as I can take it. It's not going to be done at least until I can get ahold of the new CDs by Meshuggah, Sinergy, and Amon Amarth that I haven't been able to lay in for whatever reason, but most of the categories are pretty much sealed.
Current video: HammerFall, "Glory To The Brave" (video edit) to One OAV. Progress check: 66%. Expected catalog number: #62. I'm surprised that there have been so few videos done using the One OAVs; the production values are incredible, and Soldats' encodes usually do an excellent job of letting that come through. This series must have started life as a game or visual novel rather than as a manga or an original animation; it's long on scenicness, feel, and cute girls, but critically short on plot and making sense. Nice for videos, though; about three more songs in the clipping mix would work, or at least seem to. Should be done start of next week.
--Kai out.
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this is the island of damnation
2002-12-11 11:53:35
While I am glad that so many people are interested in video #23 ('watashidachi no juunigatsu'), as it is even sorta seasonally appropriate and such, I must request that those doing so STOP submitting bug reports on the link. I'm preaching to the choir here, I know, but it's gotta be said. I KNOW there's no "video download on indirect link", why d'you think that EVERY FRIKKIN LINK to a SH video includes the words "data CD" somewhere in the link description? If someone wants to GIVE me hosting for this video through the end of December so that these other folk will shut up and go away, that's fine.
I hope that some of those others who did NOT leave meaningless bugreports went on to the DC and ordered a CD with said video on it; that's what it's for, after all.
Video progress is slowing down a little due to grad school stuff, but the weather's supposed to be bad tomorrow, and I've got most of the application done. I can get GRE reports on the phone, and the program I'm applying to doesn't need official copies right up front, so it's time to hit the copier and make double sure.
Current video: HammerFall, "Glory To The Brave" (video edit) to One OAV. Progress check: 50%. Expected catalog number: #62. Avisynth made my day last night: I used it for leverage to load a MPEG2 file into Virtual Dub. No sound, but it still makes me happy-happy: once I get my capture card operational again, I won't have to give up nifty VDub and Meimi effects just because I don't have .avis lying around. Hopefully, 2.07 has sound enabled for DirectShowSource, so that I don't have to fuck around with aspect-screwed asf mixdowns on the way to the export version, and so that I can finally get a decent audio bitrate.
--Kai out
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what we need right now
2002-12-10 12:48:48
....is a surefire way of editing the CD-audio of "Glory To The Brave" into the same shape as that of the video audio. At first I thought I'd be satisfied with said sound, but it just comes off so soupy that I can't help but want to re-cut it to proper standard. Of course, this is going to be bastard hard if I want to produce a side-by-side version, but that's something that can easily go by the wayside. If I did that, then I'd also have to maybe reencode the final product into 25-fps PAL MPEG1 to make sure everything matched up, screenwise. Not nice.
Grad school application is proceeding, but in a bit of a rush; I didn't start QUITE early enough for best results, but I should be able to get everything in if I really get myself in gear. That means emailing for references today, sending out GRE stuff either tomorrow by mail, or by the fastest other means I can, and bringing up certain other forms to my reccommenders by hand sometime in the next two days. A lot of miles, a lot of effort, and of course, the video is going to be preempted. Life always takes precedence.
Current video: HammerFall, "Glory To The Brave" (video edit) to One OAV. Progress check: 47%. Expected catalog number: #62. Clipped through the second ep, and it's looking pretty good. I'd estimate 100% overage for about 2:30 right now, but even though that pace will finish under 100% overall, it should be fine. More instrumental cuts means better parody. I'll have to play it a little closer for 3 and 4, but I'm not in a hole or behind or anything yet.
--Kai out
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like fingerprints on your heart
2002-12-09 14:08:57
Shipped out a bunch of videos/entries today; eventually decided on #30 and #48 for the Mindwarp contest; I'd forgotten how good #48 looks in full quality.
Entirely unrelated, but I'm still going to be doing a 'best of 2002' once the year is over, even though the zine I used to write for is no more. It'll run in this space as a huge post sometime in the first week or so of January. Categories will be something on the order of:
Best Black Metal
Best Death Metal
Best Thrash Metal
Best Power/True Metal
Best Doom Metal
Best Live Album
Best Lyrics
Best AMV-Use Album
Biggest Disappointment
Best Metal Album of 2002
If you feel that this space is influential/important and you think I'm in danger of missing something cool, feel free to email me your picks for any and all of the above categories. Albums must have had their first release in 2002, so that means that Borknagar's _Empiricism_ (runner up, Best Metal Album of 2001) and Arch Enemy's _Wages of Sin_ aren't in contention, since they really came out in 2001. Also, nothing on Osmose is even eligible this year (sorry Enslaved), because of their DRM stance.
Some advance predictions:
*Nile is going to run away with Best Death Metal for _In Their Darkened Shrines_
*Agalloch will win whatever category _The Mantle_ ends up in handily
*The choice for Biggest Disappointment will probably piss a lot of people off
*It will be a warm day in Hel before a power metal band wins Best Album
Current video: HammerFall, "Glory To The Brave" (video edit) to One OAV. Progress check: 38%. Expected catalog number: #62. One ep down, three to go. Maybe done by the end of this week, but I also have to work on grad school applications and get a little more progress in on the book.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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