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a serpent spews out fantasy
2002-08-19 10:45:03
......onto marcyu's megacool ftp site. I and many other AMV creators owe this person a Life Debt for providing such fast, reliable hosting -- FOR FREE! How the hell cool is that? marcyu, if you're reading this, know for sure that any favor you can ask of the Sword That Sleeps Not will be granted. Anything, man. Metalheads don't fool around when it comes to gratitude.
Here's the link to the appropriate forum post:
http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=2360
wherefrom you can get the info to access the server. Only two SH vids are up as yet, #10 and #47, but more may be coming as I scrounge 'em up. Probably #12 and the ones retired after the competitions so far. Sword's Hail!
--Kai out -
hammer of justice crushes you
2002-08-19 08:39:55
What a weekend. First stop Friday night was MIT, where not only did we get within one ep of the conclusion of the Kyoto Arc (still absolutely awed by the quality of the digital transfer on Kenshin), but I also encountered, for the first time in my apparently sheltered existence, a pneumatic-ufo-catcher ice cream vending machine. These things are too cool; search one out and see of what I speak. Of course, things got over too late for me to catch any of Tool's show at the Tweeter Center, but I got to hang with some scene heads I knew on the train back.
On Saturday, I missed Slayer, In Flames, and Soulfly at the Palladium (FUCK!!!), but caught MPD at Sputnik's, which almost made up for it. Kenny and the boyz were tighter than I'd heard them in a while, and even without lyrics, "What Would Jason Do" sounded fucking killer. The bands from Maine were ok, but they definitely belonged to a different scene; too new-school where the NoBo scene is incredibly underground, and in many parts opposed to that. This was especially true of Smokebox, cool, but they go too hard trying to be a Rock Band instead of just locking in and thrashing it up like is expected in this scene. It was Used's final show, unfortunately; they kicked some serious ass and their singer is fucking insane.
I can't wait till Rocktoberfest, especially since everyone at the show was talking up Ravage so much. Hell, I'd be chomping at the bit even if it was only MPD and One Way Down that I knew were going to be on the bill, but this one's looking to pack in every metal band in the area. Damn killer.
More on topic is Sunday. I got Meimi to work, and damn me if she isn't the most amazing free effects package ever released. Only two drawbacks: status text apparently gets written to the same frame as the effects, and there doesn't appear to be a "save sequence" function. The first I hope to fix by going back to an earlier release, and the second, if I can't find a save button, I can always fix by running a job to access the frame buffer and write it to an avi, just like the process to turn rm files into something useful.
Current videos: The Dreamside, "Mirror Moon" to Moon Without Face. Progress check: 7% complete. Expected catalog number: #48. Iced Earth, "Damien" (intro) to Blood: The Last Vampire. Progress check: 25% complete. Expected catalog number: #49 [Solo Project #2]. Yes, this is changed, because my source for Sen to Chihiro really sucked. In its place in the Freeware AMV Project is #49, the second (first committed, but Solo Project #1 is also video #47) in an intermittent series of short AMVs made using the best solos in heavy metal. Most of them are probably going to be done in VDub only, perhaps with Meimi-chan helping out if I can get her to do so. Hopefully I'll be able to find somewhere to accept #48 for competition -- mmm, yuri.....
Con news: apparently, I had an excellent reason for not winning anything at MTAC: #28 was too bloody for their censors and got pushed into the exhibition category. Sho ga nai wa yo nei? I would have liked to go into honorable competition against such giants as Duane Johnson and ErMaC, and I would have accepted not winning anything with an even hand and clear mind, but it seems that as yet the message of the Jitsu is too harsh. AFO was this weekend; anyone got the contest results?
--Kai out
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shadows cover the kingdom
2002-08-16 08:15:28
Yes, it's done. The Video That Should Not Be. Truth told, though, most people who see it will probably think it's an ideal combination, and the editing is done well enough to foster this idea. The thing is, that aint the whole song in the video, but rather just the best two or so minutes of bridge/solo/solo/bridge in black metal history. Do some research on black metal (better known for burning churches and killing people), and you'll see why I was afraid of early reactions to this.
The DivX looks damn nifty, almost as good as the hq MPEG2 that'll be going for competition, and at a svelte 14.6 meg. I'm looking at my options for hosting now, so y'all can see it sometime before November.
other crap:
I changed the profile pic to something a little more accurate. Yes, I have more than 3 fingers per hand and am not normally at 5-tankuron scale, but at least I can draw chibi metalheads in Paint. Still haven't figured out how to display the damn profile text.
I hate to say it, but video #48, the Freeware AMV Project, will probably have a ton of effects in it. I don't like effects, throw hate at people who can't do videos without them, and try my damnedest to minimize their use in my works, but if this video is going to impress anyone with the possibilities afforded by free tools, it's going to have to use a huge plethora of the special effects that everyone seems to love, but which I hate with such a singular passion.
Of course, I don't hate effects. I hate overuse of effects. I hate careless use of effects. I hate effects done for their own sake. I hate Premiere for making all of the foregoing easy. Well, and also for totally fucking up my capture system. If people actually had to work to do effects (as the top creators in the effects-heavy style usually do, making custom ones), then perhaps l4m3 videos whould not be mistaken for l33t ones simply because someone has thrown a lot of digital spackle at them. Thus, the calling away from slow, expensive editors towards freedom, novelty, and freeware effects packages.
You can listen to some Agalloch here and here and here:
http://www.theendrecords.com/real_audio/Agalloch_TheMantle_AndTheGreatColdDeathOfTheEarth.mp3
http://www.theendrecords.com/real_audio/Agalloch_OfStoneWindAndPillor_KneelToTheCross.mp3
http://www.theendrecords.com/real_audio/Agalloch.mp3
The last song is "Dead Winter Days" off the _Pale Folklore_ album. If you find any of their releases, buy 'em. Period.
Current video: Luftstrak, "Polska After Elias Tallari" to Sen to Chihiro. Progress check: 10% complete. Expected catalog number: #48. Tentatively, this is going to be the Freeware AMV Project, but I may have to do something else for that if Virtual Dub gets particular about my intention to cut the movie into workable chunks to get clips from. Regardless, it's getting made.
Con news: AFO 3 is this weekend; everyone there please support Shin Hats. The contest coordinator expressed a very positive opinion of video #32; hopefully, the audience and judges will concurr. Also look out for videos #29 and #20.
--Kai out
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life is a clay urn on the mantle
2002-08-15 08:22:54
Good news all around -- mostly. I'll be able to finish video #47 tonight, make it to MIT's anime showing, AND catch MPD at Sputnik's, and probably also get a DVD drive sometime this weekend so I don't have to rely on digisubs for source any more. I wasn't able to get MEIMI working last night like I hoped, but there's plenty of time for that, and it's not like I have any urgent need for those kinds of effects anyway.
Agalloch's new album _Mantle_ came out yesterday, so I have to pick that one up. It's amazing how far they've come since _Pale Folklore_, and even more amazing when you recall how good the tunes on that album were. I already have a great idea for "...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth", as a companion video to a similar one (also undone) using their cover of Sol Invicus' "Kneel To The Cross" from the _Of Wind, Stone, and Pillor_ EP, but both of those will have to wait until a certain series is completely out on DVD in this country. Not like I won't have stuff to do until then.
On another musical front, I was kinda surprised to learn that I know one of the other bands playing with My Pet Demon this weekend. I used to live up Far Far North in Maine, and in the course of my career as a metal radio DJ I ran into the band Used, a bunch of cool guys from the Brunswick area, who for some reason are playing at a show in Salem, Mass., this weekend. They started out more hardcore, but they've gotten more metal since their last demo, so it should be a good show.
Now that I've gotten v1.3 of VDub up and running, I just have to recompress all my MPEG2 videos so far to 3 Mbps asf, convert 'em to DivX, and recompress/resize/denoise to get nice lookin versions that will actually play on non-Windows systems. Then hosting will be the issue. I love it when a plan comes together.
Current video: *** ***'* *****, "*** ********** ****" (edit) to Kanon. Progress Check: 85% complete. Expected catalog number: #47. Tonight: draft, any needed effects, final, and mixdown. Tomorrow: the long-anticipated unveiling of the song that causes the most brutal, fearless, creator on AMV.org to quake and shiver at the anticipation of fan reaction. Tomorrow night: I go to MIT's club showing with a fully loaded TM EBB Centimaster; you never know who's reading this, or who might suddenly need a dose of rapid fire Excel 6mm .25g's to the head.
--Kai out
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how long can it last -- suicide machine
2002-08-14 08:36:56
Before I get into the meat of today's news I'd like to thank everyone who ignored or didn't see the "no download" marker or was otherwise intrgued by the combination of lethal animation and brutal metal who have brought video #45 into a tie for the #1 hit-count in non-demo Shin Hats videos. All 28 of you, many thanks. Please excuse the fact that such a pitiful number is the top; I am looking to get hosting for #47 when it is completed, so I can drive up the hit count and show y'all exactly what kind of abomination I've been brewing over the past two weeks.
But first, random crap that I've been forgetting to clear:
1) It's too bad that I've already done an honors thesis and graduated in German, because there's a comparative analysis of Melville and Grass out there just waiting to be done and beaten into publishable shape by someone or other. If I had read Moby-Dick last summer rather than this, I could have saved myself a lot of poring over Nazi records and still had the German department bowing at my feet (not just under the weight of a hundred-plus page thesis, either). The correspondences between this volume and Die Blechtrommel are simply mind-blowing, in content and style. I'll have to root around some and see how much Grass had encountered of Melville before he published. I'll work out a correspondence table eventually, but this isn't the proper forum for that.
2) Continuing on the subject of neglected authors, Yukio Mishima suffers more neglect per unit talent weight than just about anyone out there, and all of it unjustified. I've just finished Runaway Horses, and it's pretty clear that anyone who honestly thinks he was some hind of fascist or monarchist is out of their bleeding minds. Anti-leftist, yes. Poetic, yes. Nostalgic, yes. The way he killed himself didn't help, but the problem here, as always, is that people in general don't like to think, and especially don't like to think for themselves. Whatever idiot god decided that mental laziness was adaptive is well overdue for a deicide.
3) Live music beats old anime. Hands down, I'd rather thrash it up with My Pet Demon at Sputnik's this weekend than sit in a lecture hall at MIT and watch Kenshin and Kodocha. As a matter of fact, nearly any live metal beats nearly any anime, hands down and stone cold. This isn't about "moving away from anime", it's about my own low boredom threshold. In every instance, I'd rather be DOING something, even if it's only headbanging, thrashing, stomping, and shouting lyrics, rather than sitting in a dark room watching TV shows or movies. I still dig anime, and I'm not about to stop making videos any time soon (certainly not with videos planned through #78), I'm just reaffirming my status as "not a complete disgusting fanboy". Of course, many people probably prefer no-life otaku over foul-mouthed, long-haired, self-assured metal freaks, but that falls into the same "way of the world" heading as the above.
Current video: *** ***'* *****, "*** ********** ****" (edit) to Kanon. Progress Check: 72% complete. Expected catalog number: #47. It feels a little weird to be the first to finish a full Kanon AMV; this isn't really a Shin-Hats type title, but I've already got four of the 7 total uses (the good thing about demos, they really spread your influence over source selection). Piro is gonna kill me -- the first AMV using only Kanon, and it's black metal. ~_~; Yeah, that was another clue, and any scene head reading this already knows the band now, but I strongly suspect that there aint that many out there who fit this bill. All will be revealed in a day or so anyway, once it gets done.
--Kai out
JOURNAL: Kai Stromler (Kai Stromler)
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