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time is | a thing we must accept
2002-09-11 08:25:06
It was one year ago today that "the world changed forever". And how do I mark it? With AMV progress, natch. It's about as definite as a markpoint as I can have.
I was still in school then, and I had just dumped off a proposal for my CS 380 project and was going into the language lab to catch up on films I had missed for another class (I was working the night before) when I passed the widescreen in the lounge, which was tuned to CNN, and heard that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center. I saw the second plane hit live, but from the far side of the towers. There was a feeling then that something had gone very strange and very wrong, but no comprehension that it was a deliberate act. Tragedy or no tragedy, I had work to do. After about half an hour I went in and watched the movie I had to.
Two hours later, I walked out, and found out that someone had dove a plane into the Pentagon, and another into a field somewhere in Pennsylvania. Mein Gott, I thought, wir sind im Krieg.
And that was that. I packed up (I had no other classes), went back to my apartment, wrote down some initial impressions, and prepared to defend against untoward actions by the US government. It was not clear at that time whether the attacks were external terror, internal terror, or a deliberate provocation by the US government or some external force. I was prepared to resist martial law or violations of comitatus (Brunswick is home to a naval air station as well as a liberal arts college) as best as I was able. Not so much really being suspicious as being realistic, and preparing for the possible worst. Like Reagan said (but not QUITE how he meant), "Trust, but verify".
Then, sword by my side, I mixed down my Noir video for distribution, the HQ build having finished early that morning. That was video #17, the first SH AMV with transitions, completely from digisubs, rendered into MPEG2. Right now, I'm 34 videos farther along, and working on a 35th. For SH under MPEG2, even including all the rendering I had to do, the pace is 34 v.p.y., a mark that most would consider indecent and some would consider impossible.
That's it. That's my "remembrance". Go to war footing. Distrust government. Get on with life. Maybe I'm just odd or emotionally dead, but that's the way it is.
I should be doing final voting for AWA Pro soon; we'll see how many categories I can vote for in good conscience. Here's today's random logpage:
vid XX:
stutters, but this vid is damn great. Espec riff-slams + blackouts. Great concept
vid XX:
all but perfect
vid XX:
what's with the dead red frames? lazy editing in some places, tight in others
vid XX:
pixellated and degraded both, but a cool concept. transitions are too spackly; in places trying to be SRV -- badly. more jaw-flaps not nice
I finished Genji over the weekend, and I SHOULD be starting the Heike, but I have a lot of other stuff to get through, and this little matter of looking for a job. I'd reccomend the Genji to everyone who likes the expansive sweep of the Norse sagas, but isn't as into the killing and butchering parts. Damn little of that in Genji. ^_-
Current video: Gamma Ray, "Heaven Can Wait" (2000 version) to Onegai Teacher. Progress check: 6%. Expected catalog number: #52. Two prerenders done, one render going. I'll have plenty of time for my comp to churn and burn on these while I'm pounding the pavement.
--Kai out
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I'm such a fucking dumbass
2002-09-10 17:06:31
Club is FRIDAY. Show is SATURDAY. Just like the LAST time I thought I had a conflict, I can do both.
Metal AND anime, not metal XOR anime.
--Kai out
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send me a sign
2002-09-10 08:29:00
yup, I was right. Well, half right. Despite being sick yesterday, and despite taking all last night off to watch the WORLD CHAMPION NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS make slag out of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and despite having to look for a job (though if I don't get hired at Raytheon or some other embedded-systems defense contractor, I'm probably going to just go back to school), and despite having a workload and a half ahead of me at my current job, and DESPITE the resolve on my part to wait until I got a new editing station or a DVD-ROM to start something new, I have a new project. Here's the process (K is obviously for Kai, S is for The Sword, the demon who pushes me around and makes me do stuff):
K: bored, sick, don't wanna do recompresses or work on comic....
S: Hey! You should be making another AMV!
K: no ideas...sick....
S: What about that one you were going to do with New Angel or Ah! My Goddess? Change the source, use the song! Pita Ten or Happy Lesson.
K: You know I only have 2 eps of Pita Ten, and you know I haven't even watched any of the Happy Lesson I got while I was at school. Probably not enough of that either.
S: OK, AzuDai. Got lots of that.
K: Did an AzuDai video. Too much the same wrt music.
S: All right, go back. Use OT. You've got all of it, and it's just like AMG, except there's more of it and it's not overused.
K: OT? Who the hell am I, Strata?
S: You did a Kanon vid.
K: Yeah, with black metal. Next you'll be telling me to make something with Chobits.
S: Good idea. Make it a depressing one, like the AYA vid you just finished up.
K: Piss off.
And that's where it stands. This video will probably be going to SugoiCon, and it is almost a definite that I will use a cube-in-cube effect at some point. Why? Because it's easy in MEIMI, because I want to show off the capabilities of this freeware system, and because there are several places in the song where this effect could work.
AWA logpage:
vid XX:
action mismatches, some poor scene selection, TOO MANY MOVING MOUTHS.
not bad as <series> goes, but <series> goes pretty bad.
vid XX:
virtually no music tone/vid visuals coordination. cutting often too fast or too slow. flashes off beat, without point. finds itself near the end, but too much sucks too hard.
vid XX:
too much lyrics -> anime vs music -> video. good synch. tad too obvious reuse, but nice fx, <guy I know's name deleted>.
good for 1-ep vid.
I saw 'Odorikuruu' at MIT this weekend, and in comparison to some out there, apparently saw through it. Yes, it's an impressively well-gathered concept, the editing is very tight, and the action synch is dead on to a degree unfortunately rather rare in AMVs these days. Effects well done, but rare and non-obvious, which is always a plus. Very good, but as aokaketsu has said, it's disposable. It's a dance video, people. Get beyond it.
Current video: Gamma Ray, "Heaven Can Wait" (2000 version) to Onegai Teacher. Progress check: 5%. Expected catalog number: #52. Yes, I ripped the song this morning to get the cheap percentage points; it'll take about three weeks to do all the rendering and pre-rendering, and then about another week for clipping, drafting, effects, and assembly.
Probably going to Attleboro with the Bowdoin scene Saturday to catch Kreator and Destruction; it'll be tough getting Saul his copy of HNK if this is the case. Stuck....
--Kai out
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now silence is my name
2002-09-09 08:37:56
...mostly because for only like the second or third time in my career, I'm honestly between videos. Serious. Not working on anything, not even rendering or a project pushed back because of other commitments. I'm finished #51, and I'm without a DVD drive or working capture card, and I don't have any really worthy ideas to roll with with my digisub collection.
Just as well. I need to start looking for a job, and I need to start getting stuff together in case I go back to school instead. GRE = Gross Rampant Evil.
Ten to one I go stir crazy by Wednesday, buy a DVD-ROM, and start work on another project by the weekend. I have no boredom threshold at all.
Con news: Going to send off my Ani-Magic pack today; videos #47 and #50 for competition, video #48 for exhibition, though it's probably still too pornographic to get shown. AWA logpage:
vid XX:
overactioned in wrong places, PLUS DAMN JAWFLAP! good but hampered too much.
vid XX:
heavy heavy pixellation -- who thinks this is worthwhile? editing is nothing special, and fidelity is for shit -- this sux. jawflaps too. Just rotten.
vid XX:
jawflaps again, and inconsistent concept
vid XX:
best comedy.
"Only time will tell/My true destiny"
--Kai out.
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every day and every way
2002-09-06 08:39:22
It's finally done. And mixed down. And in the database, after 13 builds. It's the first full, finished, Ai Yori Aoshi video ever, and it totally distorts the series, even finishing off with some fake spoilers. It's a good thing that I didn't have anything beyond episode 5 when making this, or even watch anything but my raw of episode 3, otherwise the idea might not have taken shape at all.
I like it, but I don't like it a ton. At most points, especially during the debugging process, I dearly wished I could have been working on the current video, which I think is going to turn out DAMN COOL, especially for something less than 2 minutes long. #50 was the longest song I had done in almost 6 months, and contains more individual clips than any other SH video, including #31, which is more than half again as long. Maybe after I get some sleep, I'll like it more.
Random AWA Pro logpage:
vid XX:
Why is this a combo? Either would have been fine, or even an interlace, but this is like 2 AMVs block-cut together. Not cool. Concept that shouldn't have been made.
vid XX:
missed hits, but a lot of made ones as well. Too much jawflappage, some audio damage. Overall ok, but rough end
vid XX:
no more than decent. good synch, but too much flappage and <guy I know's name deleted>'s Kenshin take rules it flat. Too much spackle, all over the place.
It's pretty clear by now that I don't like 'story' videos, mainly because they either do too much external to the music, or look extremely dumb and simplistic with the least degree of abstraction or disengagement. Here's what I'm talking about:
Messed-up story-concept music video:
http://siiri.jiop.fi/~mhs/sen/download/sentenced_noonethere.mpg
The best music video ever made:
http://siiri.jiop.fi/~mhs/sen/download/sentenced_nepenthe.mpg
Yes, there is a definite concept to "Nepenthe", but it's nebulous enough to keep the viewer's interest, and the motion of the video in all parts is tied directly to the music. That's the ideal I'm working towards.
Current video: Nevermore, "Dead Heart In A Dead World" (edit) to Hoshi no Koe. Progress check: 25% complete. Expected Catalog number: #51. Should be done by Monday, even considering the amount of Meimi processing I'm going to have to do. It's only one OAV to clip, after all.
_Reroute to Remain_ was in the 'new/featured' rack at Newbury Comics the last time I went in. Not sure if this is good or bad for In Flames.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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