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a living hell -- has begun
2002-08-28 08:47:41
Last night was quite productive. I got the end credits for the BAS demo completely finished, and produced damn nice. I also watched and judged two of three AWA Pro tapes, which was an experience in and of itself. Here's a sample page (randomly selected) from my judging log (all video numbers have been masked to protect the guilty):
vid XX:
jawflappin, but otherwise nice synch. gbng [good but not great].
vid XX:
lose the watermark. some pixellation, and the edits could get a little tighter.
vid XX:
STUTTER FRAME BAD! nice profile, but this doesn't work as a Music Video. good sycnh, but it won't carry this one. End is ok, but it's gotta go start -> finish. Harder next time, <guy I know's name deleted>.
vid XX:
Damn damn cool, better than OV's <well-known video using this title>. Best so far.
Since this is just a random page, it doesn't capture my level of anger at people who let unsynchronized moving mouths into their videos. There will be more random pages (one per day until I run out or Sept 22 hits and it ceases to matter). Of course, I'll be giving opinions (both raves and pans) on all of these as soon as the contest is over; a nice idea for all us judges/contestants on the org.
Current videos: Iced Earth, "Damien" (intro) to Blood: The Last Vampire [Solo Project #2]. Progress check: 25% complete. Expected catalog number: #49. Nevermore, "Dreaming Neon Black" to Ai Yori Aoshi. Progress check: 20% complete. Expected catalog number: #50. I should have ripped the song for #50 last night and picked up some cheap percentage points, but I was busy with the above. Regardless, I should be able to do a good swack of clipping on #49 tonight, now that I've got the demo out of the way and only have one more tape to go through.
Sending the BAS demo off today (provided I can get Nick's box address); if you don't go to Bowdoin, the playlist is (assuming mpeg2 instead of divx; there are 2 versions on the 2-CD set):
Soilwork, "As We Speak" sample [intro text]
Mikuni Shimokawa, "Tomorrow" to various ['kimi no tameni']
In Flames, "Goliaths Disarm Their Davids" to Full Metal Panic ['D I S A R M']
Iron Maiden, "Can I Play With Madness" to various ['blind to see']
Game Over, "Litle Mac's Confession" to Hajime no Ippo ['The Long Uphill']
Sentenced, "Neverlasting" to various ['burn the candle at both ends']
Skyclad, "Dreamer Deceiver" to On Your Mark ['way up high']
Pain, "On And On" to various ['hold your head high']
Evergrey, "Rulers of the Mind" sample to various [end credits]
The Maiden video didn't mix down right, so it's deleted from the playlist and the order is a little reshuffled. Odd fact: 5 of the 9 artists in this demo are from Sweden. The other four are two UK, one Finland, and one Japan: the first demo without any US bands. Odd.
--Kai out
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time stands still
2002-08-27 08:13:20
....or seems to, because the damn demo didn't render correctly last night. I think I know what the problem is, but if it isn't that life is not going to be fun.
I really should have had this completed and out of the way a long time ago, back when I finished #44, but other projects got in the way, like they always do. So that's why there's no progress on #49. Rendering for #50 is still moving, though, and #49 will be done before I start clipping for #50, hence:
Current videos: Iced Earth, "Damien" (intro) to Blood: The Last Vampire [Solo Project #2]. Progress check: 25% complete. Expected catalog number: #49. Nevermore, "Dreaming Neon Black" to Ai Yori Aoshi. Progress check: 17% complete. Expected catalog number: #50.
I don't hate demos, or even credit reels; I hate uncooperative video software.
--Kai out
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bible arm on social hell
2002-08-26 11:50:29
....WINS the downward spiral. ^_^ V
Just found out that video #43 ('D I S A R M') won Best Action at CNAnime. No idea who else was competing, but a win is a win is a win.
Now, then, to go from strength to strength and win something else. I don't like focusing exclusively on competition, and absolutely refuse to tailor my videos to the demands of conventions in source, content, or length, but the fact remains that Shin Hatsubai exists and competes for the sole purpose of metal advocacy, and the best way to get people interested in a band is to make a video good enough to win.
That's the standard. Not merely good, not merely true, but also competitively so.
On a related note, someone gave me an opinion on video #32 ('e vol ve'). Since this has never happened before in my short and bloodsoaked life (mostly because my vids are not widely downloadable), I don't know how to view the op and reciprocate directly. If this op is your work, email me [melane@hotmail.com], because I owe you an opinion, or just mass thanks if you aren't a creator.
BTW, _No World Order_ (Gamma Ray album mentioned in last journal) is damn cool. Not a world breaker, but it certainly doesn't suck.
--Kai out.
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behold the ice upon the big sea
2002-08-26 08:44:41
......and behold the newly finished SH AMV that marks The Dreamside's entry into the database.
Yes, I finished the Infamous Yuri Video (with bonus masturbation and straight sex as well) over the weekend, and incremented that rare category of non-sucky, non-comedy, porn AMVs. This video marks the first contribution to a SH video of Meimi-chan, who is just as useful as I thought she'd be. I've written a tentative guide to MEIMI that I hope to flesh out and post somewhere in the near future, but I can't escape the fact that if I post a guide, I might as well post AMVs, and thus will need to develop a site, which will take time in which I could be making videos or looking for a job (stupid semicon downturn...).
Weekend: Went in to Tokyo Kid again Friday before hitting MIT; OMFG THEY HAVE ALL OF PIA CARROT 2! Not crazy about spending $80 for 3 H OAVs, but still planning another major expedition down there in the near future.
I got the new Agalloch Friday as well, and it's as amazing as expected. There's still a lot of black metal in the sound, more than you'd get from "...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth", and a refreshing amount of variety, though not as much as on _Of Wind, Stone, and Pillor_, which was absolutely all over the place. Still have to get the new Nile, and the new In Flames, garnering uneven but still positive reviews, should be out shortly.
Current videos: Iced Earth, "Damien" (intro) to Blood: The Last Vampire [Solo Project #2]. Progress check: 25% complete. Expected catalog number: #49. Nevermore, "Dreaming Neon Black" to Ai Yori Aoshi. Progress check: 4% complete. Expected catalog number: #50. I may or may not have nough source to make #50 as is; the song is a persistently self-defined six and a half minutes, and for source I have one raw ep and 3 and a quarter subbed. It should be possible, but it WILL be damn hard. #49 will wrap by the end of the week, even considering the work I have to do on the demo (nearly wrapped) and the fact that it's going to be more demanding, mentally, than anything I've done so far (given that I don't have access to real-time drafting). After that -- I need to get a new box, with a DVD-ROM drive.
Con news: CNAnime was this past weekend, and while I'd like to think that video #43 had a shot, I'm not expecting over-much. AnimeFEST is this coming weekend, and I am all out of DVD cases for mailing, which is ok, as I have another week (or so; I like to beat rather than meet deadlines) before I have to send stuff to Ani-Magic. Probably #47 and #50 from this vantage point.
My bro lent me the latest Gamma Ray; looks interesting, but I've heard some negative reviews, so I'll have to go listen for myself.
--Kai out
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run for your lives, the deathship's arrived
2002-08-23 15:52:51
....bringing omfg a pile of metal like 8 feet thick in September:
Destruction
Kreator
Cephalic Carnage
December
and two weeks later
Sentenced
Dark Tranquility
In Flames
Killswitch Engage
I'm not gonna be able to do any editing in October at this rate -- my neck's gonna be in a hard-cast if it isn't snapped right in half. All this, plus new Nile, new In Flames, new Agalloch, local Rocktoberfest.... DAMN IT FEELS GOOD TO BE A THRASHER!
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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