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...banners
2006-09-03 01:01:16
Just caugt sight of a new banner (new to me, could be old to the org) with a chibi Fye and Kuro and 'surprise someone' as the text. Squee! I must have missed that one. Make more banners like that, okay? I'll vote em worthy, I promise. ^__^
I'm still marking off 99.9% of the banners with my 'anything female that's not Ryoko or Rukia or a recognizable and nonslutty/babygirl ANIME character is unworthy' routine. More than 80% of the babygirls aren't even anime, they're just anime-styled art pics stolen from Japanese websites where they were originally intended for babygirl porn lovers. Pet peeve of mine - what makes the users of those pic think they have anything to do with this website when they're not even anime characters. I swear, everytime I see yet another chibi girl putting something in her mouth like it's hot and sexy when she's drawn as a FOUR YEAR OLD I wonder what's wrong with this place. But I'm in the minority, because clearly there are 90+ voters each time to vote that stuff up. I check the banners constantly and I still consider myself lucky if I spot one male anime character every other day amid all the girls. I gave up hoping for real 'puberty+' anime girls a long time ago. Big boobs are out, chibi girls in diapers are in. I even checked worthy on a weird looking...bunny...chibi....anime....thing. Just because it wasn't a babygirl in a "sexy" pose.
I must be missing the rare bishonen banners. That, or they're all older than they look. Every once in a while I'll spot one at the top of the page, but I almost never see them in the voting queue. I have a Hiei-banner above my journal right now (text - 'the next level...of entertainment' ). Yummy. Looks like something from an amv. Makes me want to watch or edit an action vid. Bishonen + appropriate for the site = who'd have thought of such a concept for an amv-org banner. Bet it's a few years old. No way I would have not noticed that. -
Final Destination 3
2006-08-26 09:04:50
This gripe contains a spoiler for the first five minutes of this movie. Yeah, the very beginning of the movie screws the entire thing over. We're talking 'editors' here.
A newspaper has editors. When a columnist types 'wear' instead of where - screwing up the entire article since the context is changed - an editor is ready to jump in and whack him over the head for his newbish mistake. Even books have editors who walk along after the writer and point out all the inconsistencies and 'oops' moments that would kill the book.
Where was the editor when they were running the script for "Final Destination 3" past the director? There are so many dumb things that made it through I wonder if they had an editor at all. And there's one huge mistake right at the beginning of the show - the basis of the entire movie - that would get any editor fired for being useless. How could anyone miss that? Especially someone paid to catch things like that?
Problem 1: There is no camcorder on the rollercoaster the second time through. Without a camcorder to get dropped on the track, the track wouldn't break. The wheels wouldn't fall off. The first few cars wouldn't derail. No one would die. The entire accident was caused by Frankie's camcorder exacerbating the leaky hydraulics. Without that camera, all you'd have are a few loose handlebars. A few people might fall out, but probably not. The handlebars didn't break (loosen entirely) until the cars ran over the camcorder. The entire accident that starts off the movie comes down to a perfert dropping his camera on the ride - the camera he wasn't supposed to even *have* on the ride. They took the camera out when Frankie got off the ride. So the accident wouldn't have happened. It certainly wouldn't have happened in the same exact way (with the front cars derailing on the same curve they derailed on the first time). How could they miss that? Seriously. That's not even bad movie-making. It's a major plothole at the very beginning of the script that ruins the entire basis of the story.
Without that camcorder all the teens would have lived. They would have thought the girl was crazy and a drama queen. Another carload of kids might have died later that night or the following day (assuming no one catches the leaking hydraulics). But the movie would have had to follow all the original kids as death picked them off one at a time - instead of just the ones who got off the ride.
2. A rollercoaster ride is not like an Airplane. Ever worked at an amusement park? If someone wants off, you have to stop the ride and let them off. If there's a fight, you kick everyone off the ride and offer to let them back to the front of the line later that evening. You have to close the entire ride for at least ten minutes to wipe down all the cars - checking for blood since someone was hit across the face during the fight that broke out (Erin was slapped by the big token black jock). That doesn't even touch on the "psycho girl saying the ride will crash" problem. Most theme parks would take that as a bomb threat at the very least. Again, they'd close down the ride. But the most minor error - one that should be common sense - is that Jason would have gotten off the ride. No ride attendent in the United States would ever bellow out "No one else is getting off this ride!" It's absolutely stupid and illegal and it would never happen. On top of that, the girl could have thrown herself onto the track - they would have hit the stop button then. At least long enough to let her boyfriend off the ride (like he's being kidnapped or something). She runs two steps toward the guy by the buttons and then stops to scream at him. If she'd kept on running, she could have gotten the ride stopped. Why stand back and watch the tiny coaster creep out of the room when you can stop it and save your boyfriend's life? It's not an airplane. It's a rollercoaster at a theme park. Forget making people get off the ride. You can stop the ride entirely.
3. The "Dazed and Confused" meets "Clueless" dialogue. I don't know if this is a mistake on the part of the script-writers, or on the part of America's youth. Do teenagers really talk like this? If so, take them out back and shoot them now. Quickly. Before it spreads to their illigitimate infants. We're already supporting their babies with welfare, so we might as well actually raise them ourselves. Anything if it means they won't grow up talking like the teenagers in this movie. I'm going to break this complaint into sections. It's that bad. If you watch the directors' commentary and the extras you hear them brag about how good the dialogue is - how true to the age group. Because kids at that age, today, use all sorts of slang like biotch and dude and cameltoes.
(A) Dude. Does anyone still use the word, dude? It was oldschool when "Dream a Little Dream" come out in the 80s with Corey Feldmen. The old people making the movies continued to cast their teenage actors as using the word, but eventually they clued in to the fact that no one talks like that anymore. Even the cheap B-rated horror flicks stopped using the "Fuckin-aye, Dudes and Dudettes! Rock on!" Can we say 80s corn? Did the corn come back for this generation of teens? I don't mind if bellbottoms came back (they did), but don't tell me they brought back dude. And they gave it to girls? o.O At least in the older movies they limited it to the druggy wannabe hiphop guys. What self-respecting prep would use the word dude? As if, biotch.
(B) Totally. "Oh, my go~od, you're like totally bla~ack!" - That ditsy blonde line comes from another 80s movie called Earth Girls Are Easy. That's the character the blonde girl in this movie was modeled after. They just added in 'biotch' and 'bitch' as a term of affection. Tell me high school seniors still talk like the barbie girl in Clueless and the ditsy slut in Earth girls are easy, or the exaggerated snobs in the original Buffy movie. Please. Just listen to some of the dialogue in the tanning salon scenes.
Girl 1: I just want to look our best....
Girl 2: You're like totally [girl rolls her eyes] right, sorry.
.
Girl 2: Dude, he said no drinks. If you spill that...(etc)
Girl 1: Happy, biotch? There's nothing to spill.
Girl 2: Shit, I forgot my ipod.
Girl 1: Sucks, bitch.
.
Girl 1: Dude, are we like the only cool people who come here, or what?
Girl 2: Um...ye~ah.
Girl 1: What-e~ver...
I knew "kids today" are supposed to be more free with their 'curse words', but I don't want to believe they sound like kids from the 80s movies just with bitches and dudes thrown into the dialogue. And this is the 'slang' the directors were so proud of because it was 'true to the generation'? Sh~yeah. Like, ew. Totally. Dude. Might as well throw in some "girlfri~end" in there so it's like totally today, dude. Right, biotch? Totally, bitch. Cool. Like, what-e~ver, dude.
4. The tanning bed 'tragedy.' Did you notice at the end of that scene you see the girl's face pressing against the crack where the lid closes? Those cracks are an inch and a half (or more) wide - wide enough for the black shelf to slip in between the crack and the bar and hold the lids in place. All it would take is a hand to push the end of the shelf that's in one bed. You push it out a few inches - further into the second bed, and viola, you can lift the lid off your own bed. You then pull it free from your friend's bed - or let her push it out just like you did. What the fuck, dude? Are they like totally stu~pid, or what? They go through all the money and ridulousness to make the 'death' scenes as complicated as possible and miss the obvious. That's as bad as the coaster crash in the beginning revolving around a camera that wasn't there.
5. Your own fault. What's the deal with making all of the deaths be due to the character's own stupidity? The rollercoaster crash happened because Frankie brought his camcorder on the ride after being told not to. The tanning bed death happened because the blonde brought her drink after being told not to. The black guy died because he was pumping away and showing off to death after being told not to. Frankie died because he stayed in his car (giving the finger) after being honked at to move. Erin gets it because she and McKinnley are going about their usual dangerous job after being warned to be on guard. The 'mysterious two' girls get it because they sniff and run off when the guy tries to talk to them and warn them (why the fuck are they running away? Who knows, maybe it's a wannabe prep thing, dude). McKinnley gets it because he stays on the field after being told to get away from there. The final ones get it because she stays on the ride after being warned (major in-your-face warnings) to get the fuck off. Is that like the moral of the story or something? It's like the boy chasing the pidgeons in part 2 - he deserved it for doing something he knew he shouldn't do. So the gratuitous gore is okay? I don't get the point of that. Death would be more scary if he got the good people as well as the 'rule breakers who bring it upon themselves'.
Despite the ridiculous dialogue, for which the directors feel so proud of themsleves, and the contrived moral lessons of the unlikely deaths (the coaster wouldn't have crashed and the girls wouldn't have remained trapped in the beds), I did enjoy the movie. They went back to the old "bunch of teenagers getting killed" theme and that's the way it should be - watching a handful of people you don't relate to or care about bite it in gruesome ways is the point of these movies. Makes me want to go watch some of the first Nightmare on Elm street movies. ^__^ -
and...it's done
2006-08-25 02:29:48
I can't wait to get it compressed so I can watch it on loop all day tomorrow. I'm a total druggy for the rush I get immediately after finishing something. Fanfic, fanart, fanvid, it's all the same. Until I share it, the finished product is so absolutely useful it keeps me on high and happy and content. Utterly content. Like I could never do another thing again, and I wouldn't mind. With fanfics there's a bonus, too. As soon as I'm done riding my own giddyfest, I share it and get to be even giddier at the happy readers. I especially love updating my multi-part stories, because ffnet has a new 'author alert/story alert' option that makes them respond mere hours after the chapter is out. It's those first responses I like the best because they tend to point out specific things. After a few days it dribbles down to the 'update soon' messages, which border on harrassing very quickly.
I don't look forward to sharing this vid, probably tomorrow or this weekend if it takes forever to export (Premiere still won't produce a full project timeline for me - I'll have to cut it into pieces like last time). Blegh. I just wanna watch it on loop for a few hours before I pass out and get woken up at 6:30. I hate pesky programs that don't do what they're supposed to do. Doesn't it know I'm in a hurry here? I finished the vid. I deserve to get to be giddy and happy now. Damnit. -
home stretch
2006-08-24 17:09:19
I want this vid to be over. I just really dislike the...rhythm?...of the last part of the song. I like the guitar strums, they're just carried on from a little earlier in the song, but the beat is awkward. I don't want to edit to it. But when I match the guitar and ignore the beat it looks loose. So I need to do both, right? And that looks as awkward as the rhythm itself. There's gotta be a trick to it. Some added effect or something to keep the pace while also matching that awkward (and seemingly random, honestly) beat. I was planning to ignore those random sounds when I picked the song. I just don't feel good doing it now. I blame having broken the 'no effects' clause with some of the earlier action scenes. I have this whole eclectic 'beat sync' thing going and feel obligated to stick with it. Stupid awkward beat ruining an otherwise pretty guitar section.
I'm going to end up rewatching my motivational amv. My editing doesn't reflect it at all, but that's the vid that has been keeping me psyched to do an action vid. I don't think there are any awkward instrumental sections in that video, but I might pick up a trick or two that can work with my own project. It seems bad to be admitting that. But I've already memorized that video - it's one of my favorites. And I know the editing (and effects) in that vid revolves almost entirely around straight cuts, color changes, zoom/blurs and some fades. All of the parts are things I was doing back when I used wmm. What makes the vid useful is that the 'tricks' are used so damn well it's addictive to watch, and very energetic - makes me want to edit, like right now, quickly. It gets my imagination going on how I can take the cool use of standard tricks and spice up my own bland style a little. So...it's not like I'm ripping fancy original effects or anything. I just have a major lack of imagination. I mimic. Reproduce. Mix and match things I've been exposed to. I can't think of a trick to help with this distasteful section of the video, but a little motivation should point me in the right direction - combine things I already know in a slightly different way that just works with the situation.
The funny thing is, I could produce the video right now and know that people like the slipshod ending better than they will after I kill myself to 'do something' with it. It's not like that will make it better in the eyes of others. It's just that it looks...wrong...without something more. It doesn't fit. I wonder if that's what dj was talking about in the forum a while back - feeling like you're not living up to your own standards. I don't compare outside videos, but I do like to maintain the same standard from beginning to end with each project. I'm told I fail consistently, but I don't call it finished till I'm satisfied that I put the same effort into each part of the whole. I guess that means I do have some sort of competitive/comparative drive when it comes to editing. Limited inside a project. But it's there. It's kinda nice. I'm told I have no standard, poor taste, whatever, but left alone I do have expectations. They're just particular to me. Gives me a headache, too. ^_^;
Really want this video to be over. Too bad I can't edit the song. ;p A cheat would be nice right about now. -
dark anime footage
2006-08-24 01:07:02
I need to rent and rip some dark anime. I dislike watching angsty "pointless because they all die in the end" anime. I won't even watch videos for some of the more popular series because it's irking - pet peeve, maybe. Like the really bouncy kiddie shows of little girls with flying pigtails. I'm just not interested. Since I don't watch dark stuff, I don't have any anime with darker scenes to use. And it's really limiting!
Gagh. My favorite anime have their angsty moments, they just aren't...DARK. I'm talking Hellsing dark, or Berserk dark. I have one Berserk dvd and really wanted to get the rest of the series until I read what happened in the end and realized I would never wanna watch it if I did get the rest. I could have been renting series like that, dark anime that looks just ripe for the ripping of scenes. I just never get around to picking up series I'm only interested in for amv-fodder. And now I realize exactly how much I'm missing.
My poor wannabeaction vid is suffering from my severe lack of dark anime. And I'm gonna be slaughtered for my misuse of 'effects' in making the punch/kick-less footage look more actiony than dancy. I didn't plan to use effects. Honestly. It just sort of happened. And like always, the moment I saw it I liked it and what I like I do more of. I feel guilty. Like a glutton who stuffs her face and then gets upset when people stare at her bulging body as she walks down the street. Except I drive down the street, so I don't even get punished for being a glutton. o.O
I'm seriously thinking of leaving a 'thanks to' note when I list the vid here. I hate when it comes to that. I want to thank the person who inspired/taught me, but I don't want them to be embarrassed at having his name listed on my craptacular video profile. Like he's to blame for my misuse of what he taught me. Or like I'm trying to say what I did is as good as the great editor whose style inspired me. If it were someone who wasn't well-known on the site, it wouldn't matter. There are too many reasons to avoid dropping a familiar name in the vid description.
I'll vote him 'most helpful' next year. He'd get a kick out of that. ;p
JOURNAL: Arigatomina
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