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25 Year Anniversary
2025-12-25 09:43:45
25 years ago 16 old me completed his very first AMV (Gendou The Asshole) using VideoWave (a older version of Windows Movie Maker). It was crude, sloppy and rather terrible looking back but I discovered a love for AMV making from doing it.
From December 25, 2000 to July of 2005 I would go on to make 68 AMVs. Many of them just as crude, sloppy and depending on who you ask just as terrible but I enjoyed doing them. I was just a teenager from rural Alberta with no social life, steeped in mental health issues with a lot of anime who needed a creative outlet for his frustrations. For better or worse all those AMVs were the result of that.
August 2005 till June 2022 I didn't make any AMVs. Iw Ould hop on to Final Cut Pro and try to make or remake something but life and other priorities took me away from it. It was on in June of 2022 I decided to fully commit to trying to remake something. One of those wound up becoming what I submitted earlier this year; The Lonely Road of Life (2025). 2023 I made my return official with A Wolf's Dream. In 2023 and 2024 I would work on old AMVs from the past and revise them. Some I have release and some I haven't yet either because I am still not satisfied with them, waiting on the right time or for no reason or another.
I was hoping to have truly brand new AMV done today but by the time I got to December I knew what I was working on would not be ready and I won't submit anything I am not happy with as I really don't want to revise anymore AMVs anytime soon or ever again. Thankfully My Secret Place (2025) and The World Was Never Enough (2025) were there to submit and both of which I am thoroughly satisfied with. A least for the next 25 years I hope.
I chose My Secret Place because it is as close to a brand new AMV for most people as one could be without it truly being brand new. The original version was never released because it had nudity in it and to be honest it was a rather shitty AMV I regretting making not long after doing it. This version is so much more better in every way.
I chose The World Was Never Enough despite it being the last AMV I finished revising back in March/April because despite watching it so many times over the months in-between uprooting my life again moving elsewhere I loved it and felt it was as good as I could make it if not better. At least within my limited skillset. Not only that I felt it was fitting that I would submit an AMV about Gendo since 25 years my first AMV was about him too though far less flattering.
25 years.......if someone told me at 16 years old you would still be making AMVs 25 years from now he would be pretty surprised and even more surprised at how many he would wind up making.
Looking back I don't have much hard regrets. There is one AMV I made I feel embarrassed and shameful for making that I wish I could remove from existence but I guess it stays to serve as a reminder for me. All my other regrets would be just general in that I wish I more more time into really making the AMVs I made as good as I know I could have made them. With that said I would have still revised the whole lot of them given I am a very different guy now than I was 25 or even 20 years ago and I think that perspective has helped make the revisions I have done that much better or that much satisfying.
Now that I have officially settled into where I am living now I should hopefully have more time to work on AMVs. Brand new or revisions but I was to stop now for whatever reason My Secret Place and especially The World Was Never Enough would be satisfying conclusions for me. However that is not my plan. My plan for 2026 is to release a brand new AMV while I continue to release revisions of my older catalog periodically. The end goal is to revise all of my old AMVs (well not all of them, one will stay buried) to where all I can do is knew ones. Given how many AMVs I have made....by the time I get to revising all of them I will want to revise the ones I started with and move on again. Hopefully not.
Here is to 25 years of being MetalWolf as corny of a handle as it is. Thank you to everyone in the AMV community past and present whole I have had the pleasure of coming across over the years. Everyone I have met has made an impact in my life in one way or another. Thank you to what few people who actually like my work. It never ceases to surprise me that anyone would like anything I have ever done.May the next 25 years bring more productivity and fun. -
Still Running......
2025-08-31 19:16:54
Today marks the release of another revised AMV from me, Against The Wind. The original was submitted earlier this month, 24 years ago. Could have waited another year and made it a 25 year anniversary release but I felt with this one I waited long enough with this one in particular.
I have always been quite happy with the original version though rough around some of its edges, this version is more refined. Will leave the story for the breakdown in the AMV entry itself but of all the revisions I have done thus far in the past couple of years Against The Wind (2025) is the one that has the least amount of changes to it. What changes there are are very minor and primarily remastering with HD footage this time around.
The plan was to release it earlier this month but life got in the way and greater priorities took over. Moving forward now with far more stability than I had prior I do plan on being much more active with AMVs.
Earlier this year I really got a lot done with revising AMVs I have not released yet but took a break from late spring to now to deal with priorities that are now dealt with. Time willing I plan on submitting 1-2 more AMVs this year. 1 another revision and 1 a new creation. Cannot and will not make any promises or guarantees but that is the goal.
Over the past few years I have had one foot in one place and one in another and did AMVs whenever in-between. Now I am firmly in one place and fewer excuses. As I am nearing 25 years into AMV making I do not plan on slowing down anytime soon. -
20 Years of Road
2025-05-03 22:03:45
Wow it has been almost a year since I submitted I dropped a AMV. It really does not feel that long for me. I have been busy with AMV revisions galore but none of which I feel were ready for submission.....except today's which has been a few years in the making or I should say a few years waiting for the right time.
I will leave the stories for the entry description itself but I thought I would submit the revision for The Lonely Road of Life today since we are getting very close to the 20 year anniversary of the release of that AMV. Not that anyone buy me would care about that sort of thing but oh well.
The Lonely Road of Life was the second AMV I attempted to remake back in 2022 to see if I could or still wanted to do AMV work again. The work I did in 2022 is heavily reflected in what you see in this new release but I held on to it because I wanted to make sure this one would stand this time, no more revisions. When I stopped making AMVs after Society of The Strange to pursue other things I would watch most of my AMVs now and then and while I would still be proud of most them I would cringe at the parts I wish I could do over or wish I was more patient with putting more work in with. Can't say that with the 2025 edition of The Lonely Road of Life. I had this one marinating for years and watched it periodically throughout for the last few years for its release now. It is what I want it to be for better or worse. With my 25th year anniversary of AMV making looming I do not plan to be as silent as I have been in the last 12 months but the last 12 months have kept me busy for private reasons and they have no stopped but I do hope to release more before this year is over be it more revisions (I have MANY I have not submitted) or make a actual brand new AMV but I will let life dictate things as it comes.
Unlike after the release of The Lonely Road of Life 20 years ago I do not plan to step away from AMV making anytime soon but then I didn't either back then but the difference between then and now is I was planning on taking a break from it then while I plan on stepping up even more in the next while if time permits.
Stay tuned...if you care to.....if you don't.......meh.
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Everybody Hates Waiting
2024-06-02 18:58:40
Happy late 20th birthday to the only AMV I ever won an award for; Everybody Hates Me. Today I posted the 2024 revision of that AMV. I hoped to have it done and posted the exact same date I posted the original but 20 years later but life got in the way and unlike me at 19 years old I am more prone to let things sit and marinate than I used to back then.
20 years ago or during my first run with AMV making as soon as I made one AMV I would post it and off to another without much thought because I was already tired of working on that one and wanted to work on another. I had finished this AMV a long while ago but I have left it in the hopper for awhile watching it every few weeks to see if I still liked it the same as I did the few weeks before and if after awhile I still can't see anything I would change then I will post it. At least that is what my mentality is now. And so today is when I decided to post this new revision 29 years and a few months since the original.
I actually have about 7 AMV remakes "done" I am just watching them periodically with fresh eyes, if after a few weeks I am still satisfied then maybe I will post them. 2 of the remakes I am going to wait a year on and post them on their 20th anniversary but also who knows maybe a year from now I may have new ideas or new perspectives to add to them. 2 I am waiting till maybe HD conversions of those anime come out though doubtful. I imagine some people know how to do HD conversions themselves but I don't. I was basic 20 years ago and just as basic now if not more so. 2 I have just recently completed and just want to let marinate for awhile but I do plan on releasing them this year and 1 I know I can do better I am just not sure how and like the other 2 and willing to marinate on it till something happens. 20 years ago I couldn't wait, now I can.
My plan is to slowly but surely revise all of my old AMVs, probably won't get to all of them but I think I can get at least get to a third of them.
I am happy with this newest revision, while I did the first version on a whim just to prime myself for something else till that whim became a legit AMV this one I took this one pretty seriously and spent a couple months here and there on it. The original AMV was the only AMV I ever won an award for so I wanted to try and make sure this one was as good as I could make it be. Unlike all of the other AMV revisions I have ever done this one involves new footage that I hope adds to the AMV along with things better cut than they were back then. I am contemplating submitting this and the newer I'm Still Here revision to Animethon like I did with the originals 20 years ago. Just not sure, mainly because I do not know if I can afford be able to swing to go to Animethon. When I lived in Fort McMurray it was an easy cheap 5 hour bus ride to Edmonton and there you go. Everything was super easier for me when I was a teenager still living with my parents. While flying there is super quick it is not cheap for me now and neither are the hotel costs. It has been about 17 years since I have been to Animethon. Maybe if I am unable to have the vacation I am asking for in August my boss could surely let me take time off for this. Lots to ponder. -
I'm Still Here (2023)
2023-12-25 12:19:17
December 25 is a particularly special day for me. 23 years ago a 16 year old me with the use of a his VCR and VideoWave finished his first AMV. It was bad an it would not be the last bad one he made but he went on to make many other AMVs. 20 years ago a 19 year old me made an AMV called I'm Still Here. It was a very personal AMV for me and I consider it to be one of my best AMVs from the army of bad to mediocre ones I have created during my time.
Today on the 23rd anniversary of AMV making (though I was inactive for 18 years of it) I have released I'm Still Here; the 2023 revision, 20 years since I made the last one. I will let the write up for it go into detail with it but I am very happy and proud of the work I have done with it. When I approached remaking this AMV I had every intention of just making it exactly how it was before, whatever changes were going to be tweaks. What wound up happening was a remake if there was ever a definition of it here. It went from just a fun revisit over the holiday season to a rediscovery and a process that felt less like a revision and more like a brand new AMV in of itself.
At the end of the day I'm Still Here 2023 is still like the original I'm Still Here from 2003 but where I approached it from a 19 year old's perspective and attitude I approached this one as a 39 year old with 20 years of life experience behind it. I think it shows if you put them next to each other.
I hope 20 years from now if I am still around to revisit this AMV again and see what 59 year old me would bring to this story that differs from 19 and 39 year old me but till then this is what there is and I am proud of it.
JOURNAL: MetalWolf (Corey )
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