-
Con it get any bigger?
2003-04-21 15:06:35
Wow. AB hit damn near FOUR THOUSAND PEOPLE its first year. Reg. closed down at noon on the second day (Saturday) because we reacehd the capacity the hotel could hold due to fire codes. I need to go to more first-year cons! I must be some sort of good luck charm! First Tekkoshocon and now AnimeBoston are smashing successes! (um,... OK, so this may not have anything to do with my having been there. ;p But, at least, as part of the tech staff at AB, I was -something- of part of the success...)
Anime Boston was great, in case you hadn't already guessed what I thought about it. I had a great time, as I did at Tekkoshocon. I was working with much the same tech staff I had worked at AXNY with, but htings went -so- much better at AB than AXNY.
The AMV contest was pretty good. Pat did a superb job on the DVDs it was run off of, and there were a number of good entries. And nothing quite compares to seeing Tom's Hello Kitty set to the Mortal Kombat theme video on the big screen with a high-powered stereo system. It rocked!
The panel I co-chaired, "AMVs- Do's, Don'ts, and Demonstrations" was, I believe, a smashing success. We packed the biggest true 'panel' room at the con, and could easily have gone on for another hour or so. Major props to Dan "dokool" Orlowitz, Tom The Fish, Kai Stromler, Greg Moberg and Lyndsey Luther, my co-chair and panellists.
Hall Cosplay. THIRTEEN?!?!?! O_O Minor (in age) cosplayers should have to wear special tags or the likes, I mean, THIRTEEN!!!
The Masquerade, despite starting late and having sound problems (*temporarily assumes Ran from UY's persona* Which was NOT MY FAULT!! *glares, and does a jig*) was really cool. There were some excellent costumes. There wasn't anything -quite- on the level of the Gundam Wing/Devil Went Down to Georgia skit from from Katsucon, but there were some really good ones. First, the one that won 'overall'- this contests almost obligatory Giant Robot (in this case, Wing Zero) costume. With an extremely cool skit to go along with it, parodying the Gundam model kit 'level' commercials. With Austin Powers. It was -such- a riot. There was no way they could -not- win. Plus, like Tekkoshocon and Sid's Chocobo Rant (really, really, smegging funny!), one of the other very entertaining skits/costumes involved Final Fantasy. It's already been mentioned on the journals, but a guy in a black Chocobo costume with an electric guitar- that seriously knew how to play- was just too cool for me to run sound for (OK, I was only running hte sound board for the awards, and couldn't find the 'mute off' button to bring the mic he needed up :/ )
Other highlights: I may not be much of a Gundam Wing fan, but the VAs that were there were a riot. The Whose Line Is It Anyway Anime game was just too funny. Especially when they did the 'Dating Game' and one of the guys got given "Speed Racer in the Old Folks Home" and another "Thinks He Is A Gundam".
Tiffany Grant (playing the woman contestant trying to choose a bachelor) to Speed Racer: I take it you're in favor of anything that helps inprove your movement (she thought he was a cybernetics freak)
Speed: I'm in favor of anything that helps my movements! I can't remembe the last time I had one!"
Tiffany (to Gundam): I really want a family, what are your thoughts on kids, Bachelor number 2?"
Gundam (Hops up onto a table): Kids? KIDS THAT CAN HELP ME KICK SOME ASS! YEAAAAH!
Lots of fun. But, I need to go- I have no intention ofhaving to run to the train station. Again.
-
Over the rivers and through the 'hood.... To Anime Boston we go.
2003-04-17 07:31:11
0 Days left- for me at least, Anime Boston starts this evening (hopefully around 6:30 or so, but I know all too well that traffic in Hartford when I'll be going through it is a complete bitch). I hope I haven't forgotten anything, because it's half an hour in the wrong direction to get it if I have. I've got enough clothes for the weekend, lots of food (mmmm, beef/chicken jerky....), Lagendra, toiletries, my Great Saiyaman costume (sorry, given what I'll be doing there, that should be "Great A/V-Tech Man" costume ;) ), two dozen or so discs of my AMVs (complete up through Tekkoshocon- no copies of WLt'FO yet ) to give away, and my Bag of Random Wires, Adaptors, and Other A/V Schtuff.
I'm really looking forward to the con, as I've had nothing but fun at the ones I've gone to in the past (well, OK, there were a few OHSHITOHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT moments at AXNY when I was dashing around trying to make the final A/V connetions for the AMV contest setup, but...). However, it does mean spending a long weekend away from home and my wife. :/ But, as much as I will miss her, I know it's good to occasionally have some time apart to do the things that we individually enjoy without worrying about whether the other of us is having a good time. I'm sure she and Heather will have a good time without me as well... I just hope I don't come home and find the entire house decorated with Blues Clues curtains....
Yesterday was a very ODD day as far as editing goes. I got something of a start on my Otakon video (tentatively titled/codenamed No Life So Short), and I'm more firmly of the belief now than ever that this video is going to be one of the hardest I've ever done. Not just because of the time constraint I've got, but because three just aren't a lot of the types of scenes I need in my source. It's definitely going to be a challenge- but one that I think I'll be up to.
But what far more interesting in editing yesterday was my work on the 'Opening Animation' for the Anime Boston AMV panel I'm a co-host on. Given that the panel is entitled "AMV Do's and Don'ts", we thought it would appropriate to have some fun in pointing out a few of the 'Do's' and 'Don'ts' of AMVs in the form of showing a good, popular video (SRV, in this case- I actually would have liked to use CB007, but it was decided it had too many spoilers) and of course, for the 'Don'ts', a LBZ vid- all held together with some other (hopefully) well-edited footage. However, as much as I don't like LBZ vids- I also don't really want to insult someone to such an extreme as to take their LBZ vid and hack it up to rip on it in our intro. So, this meant what? That's right- setting out to make a 30-second or so clip 'from' a LBZ vid- and make it suck as much as physicall possible.
You'd think this would be easy...DL a crappily encoded (30MB for a whole DBZ ep- and not one where 3/4 of the time people are just staring at each other..., complete with the Cartoon Network logo in corner. w00t! Score!) and put random cuts from it to a section of "In the End". Apply lots of bad transparency, poorly cut clips, badly time your transitions, and use (badly) cheesy transitions and special effects. The problem was, I kept wanting to fix it. I'm watching through preview thinking, "Damn, I need to move that clip a bit over and if I tweak the transparency a bit more it'll look a lot better...", and then kicking myself because I'm -supposed- to be making it suck, not fix it. I think after you reach a certain level of skill at anything (yes, I apologize if this sounds arrogant- but I think I'm not out of line in thinking I've got at least a decent amount of skill at this... at least I hope I do, given I'm co-chairing a panel on how to do it... :-p ) it becomes hard to do something really badly without your mind having minor seizures. I once tried (both for the fun of it and on a dare....) to make Akane-Style Stir Fry by following the 'recipe' from Akane's House of Pain. For those unfamiliar with this, it involves taking a random meat, random vegtable-type things, and a few tablespoons of Spice Rack (literally, grab spices at random from the spice rack and dump them in indescriminately) and stir-frying them. Despite having a fairly considerable and varied collection of spices to pull from and closing my eyes when I picked them out- it still ended up being not only edible but fairly tasty, enough so that my house-mates were a bit annoyed that I wouldn't likely ever be able to make the same dish again. Still, I think I succeeded in making a nice, sucky LBZ vid. And the funny thing is, I'm proud of it ;p (not for having made a LBZ vid- but for having succeeded in making it suck as bad as it does. Yes, this may sound like someone saying they're proud for making a DeLorean even more tail-heavy, but *shrug* I'm happy with myself about it.)
The completed animation (likely minus SRV) will probably be put up on the 'Carrot after AB is done. -
Grab-Bag Days
2003-04-15 06:46:21
Well, yesterday after work turned out to not be as bad as it could have been, and was overall a mixed bag. The post-workday started off badly- my bus to the train station didn't come. Once it was several minutes overdue, I was left with two options: Wait u pto half an hour for the next one, or head off on foot for the station, and hope that the bus was just running late and I could pick it up at a stop closer to the station. Given I had far too much to do to essentially lose half an hour out of my day, I headed off on foot.
My walk to the station would probably scare a number of people I know (I know it would frighten my wife), as it pretty much takes me on a scenic tour of the projects (admittedly, probably the more upscale ones, if there is such a thing) of Bridgeport. There's a reason my company got the site where the plant I work at is so cheap. Despite as scary as most people find it, it's never really bothered me- generally, I just get some amused looks walking along but don't really get hassled.
By some major stroke of luck, I literally made it to the train station (running the last 1/4 mile or so because I saw it coming down the tracks) just as my train was pulling in. I -so- cannot wait to pick up a cheap bike so I can just ride back and forth and not get stranded by the busses. Thankfully, there was a bar car on the train, and I was able to get an (overpriced, bah) bottle of water and a cup of ice to keep me from passing out from the quarter-mile dash. On the train ride home, I managed to get most of the basic clip layout for the all-but-final revisions for WLtFO done.
When I got home, I jacked Lagendra into the network and fired up the tax software to find out why my smegging e-file was rejected. Unfortunately, apparently the tax software people don't know either. *sigh* So, I would have to print out and file taxes normally. But, not yet. I packed up Lagendra again, though this time in its regular laptop case and not the backpack, and headed out on my errands, ending up with our boarder, Heather, tagging along at the last minute (I probably would have spent less time at the stores on my own, but having someone to talk to more than made up for the time lost).
I had three main stops to make: CircuitCity, PetCo, and Wal-Mart. I had found a really good deal on what looked to be a memory module that would double Lagendra's memory to the max it can take, 512MB, for $25 after rebates. After comparing the module at the store with the one already in the computer, I was about 95% certain it would work, and bought it, enjoying te look of surprise on the cashier's face when the $50 in rebates on a $70 that he'd not known about printed out. ;)
After a stop for cat litter (PetCo has a really good deal on a brand of litter where you can bring back in and refill the containers), it was off to Wally World to pick up supplies for AnimeBoston. It's not until the weekend, but this way I wouldn't have to make another trip out later in the week, and I was already halfway in the area.
Getting back around 8:30, I still had enough time to make (and eat) dinner, print out and get all the tax forms signed by both my wife and I, install the memory in the laptop (works perfectly. W00t! the laptop should be much happier doing more serious video work!), and finish up the changes I had made on the laptop to WLt'FO to the main project on my main box. All that should be left is minor tweaking. I'm not -totally- certain I like the revision, though. I need to get some input on it and see what the reaction to it is.
Unfortunately, I had one other thing go 'wrong' yesterday- though this was purely my fault. Somehow, I managed to be far more airheaded than usual, and had been (very wrongly) assuming that the Otakon dealine was the end of June, not the end of May as it actually is. Even with finishing up WLt'FO tonight (most likely), I will have no more than a month and a half to put my entry together. I seriously fear for my ability to do this... what I have planned out pushes the boundearies of what I've done before, and will be my first true foray back into more traditional AMVs (WLt'FO, while not a trailer *gasp* is still a good bit shorter than a normal song). It's going to be quite a ride over the next few months trying to get my Otakon and AWA vids done both on-time and well. I swear, by mid-August I'm not going to want to look at a computer.... -
Taxes must die.
2003-04-14 08:16:40
Warning, large amount of swearing ahead.
FUCKING BAKA SMEGGING FRELLING TAXES! (OK, a large amount of swearing for me....)
I hate taxes. They rate somewhere around 'guys who hit on my wife when I'm right there 'in my liking. Both make me want to deck them. And while somewhat less likely to get the crap beat out of me than decking another guy, it would be wholly ineffectual when it comes to taxes. And probably not smart- punching my laptop screen would just mean I'd be out even more money with having to replace it. And now, to add insult onto injury, not only do we owe a fair amount (Damn NY state didn't take out enough of my wife's paychecks to account for our tax bracket, and our exceptions were wrong on mine...), but my initial submission for e-filing was rejected. And I can't do squat about it until I get back home- in like 9 HOURS- and can connect my laptop back up and see what is wrong. And if it's the Kami-forsaken Social Security Administration thinking my birthdate is something other than what it is AGAIN (Yes, last year the dumbfucks managed to mess up what my birthday was, and it took a week to fix it and get my taxes accepted) I'm just going to scream. And I now have only one day to fix things- tomorrow. Thankfully, I can still file for an extenstion. I think. Though I hope I don't need it and there's just something stupid wrong with the e-file submission.
In brighter news, WLt'FO is done save one scene that I just got the footage for yesterday. It may require my shuffling things around a bit to make work, but it just fits so well. It should be done before I leave for Anime Boston this weekend, which means I can tackle the Otakon video when I get back. I have nearly 2 1/2 months to get it done.... but I really should have it done by the end of May if anywhere near possible. I will need as much time as possible for my AWA submission.
In other AMV news, I managed to find time to DL and watch Sarah's latest video. Sorry, you're not allowed to complain about your videos sucking anymore, at least in my opinion. Hopefully I'll finish up the video earlier than I expect and I'll have the time to write up and leave a review of it. -
YAWWWWWN
2003-04-10 07:39:29
Mou, I did not want to get up this morning. Sometimes I wish I was a little less devoted of an employedd and had less qualms about using some of my fairly plentiful sick days when I am just dead tired and need to sleep in.
Yesterday, all of the components for the rebuild of my computer came in (well, the 2nd drive for the RAID array had come in on Tuesday, but the case and Mobo showed up yesterday), and I was up entirely too late getting it put together and running and installing W2K on it. It's up and running and everything seems to be behaving, though strangely the first few times I started it it booted with the Mach64 card I use to drive my secondary monitor, but then started booting from the GeForce2. I'll need to figure out why and get it to boot from the Mach64 tonight, since W2K is a bitch about dual monitors and won't do it any other way. I think a dual-head video card will be on my list of things to pick up down the line, this 2-video card crap in W2K is a pain (and I have no intention of 'upgrading' to XP on this box anytime soon... it's pretty and all and runs fine on the laptop which came with it installed, but my editing controller has no XP drivers). But, it is up and running with the networking set up so I could transfer the files off it onto the laptop that I needed for what I want to get done on WLt'FO today. Hopefully getting the video cards sorted out and setting up the RAID drives won't take too long tonight so I can get the software I need to edit with it installed (again).
WLt'FO (my 2nd ACen entry) is coming along well. When doing composite work, interesting connundrums come up. Most of the time, you want everything to look as homogenous as possible. However, in a comedy video, I can see good reason to not go -too- far in doing so, because part of the comedic effect comes from people realizing what you've done. This is even more highlighted when you're working with two shows that a lot of people probably haven't seen. Hopefully I'll find the right balance. Either way, I should have all of the serious effects work I have to do on the footage I have done by the time I get home from my commute tonight. That will just leave two sections of hard effects work- I should get the DVDs for one of the sections in today or tomorrow. The other though I have been counting on another editor getting the footage to me- but I'm beginning to think I may be better off just picking up the DVD myself, as it is now apparently out domestically. Unfortunately, it would mean picking up the last disc of a series without picking up two of the intervening ones. Dilemas, dilemas. Once I have the main effects work done though, the rest of the video's effects should go by very quickly, as all I have to do is mainly do the tweaking to make the timing look better.
My not wanting to get up this morning was compounded by Oliver the wanna-be alarm clock neko waking me up at like 4:30 this morning. One of these nights I'm going to take the water squirt bottle we use when the nekos get up on the counter where they're not supposed to be and put it next to the bed and squirt him when he does this again. It would be much quicker and require less waking-up than picking him up and putting him outside the bedroom door and closing it.
AnimeBoston is now just a week away (at least for me, who has to be there Thursday night for setup). My CD-RW drive was showing signs of dying Tuesday night, but it burned off 4 discs or so yesterday with no problems, so I may just have to use it in moderation (I'd burned off like 15 on Tuesday when it started having problems). Hopefully it will not overheat too much and cause problems, and I'll be able to burn off discs of my AMVs to hand out at AB.
Finally- Klinky's journal continues to scare me...
JOURNAL: Ashyukun (Robert Babcock)
Current server time: Oct 27, 2025 22:28:55