My Profile

  • User Name: Skyshroud
  • Member Since: Sunday, June 8, 2003, 4:43 PM
  • Name: John Weller
  • Studio: Elevation Studios
  • Location: Pasadena, Maryland, U.S.A
  • Last Login: 2009-10-02 01:45:27
  • Forum Info: Profile        Posts (89)
  • Journal: Last entry made on 2004-03-29 16:25:44
  • Usefulness: 258.6 with 43 opinions
    [average 119.3 of 231965 opinions; standard deviation 432 ]
  • Profile: Hey there, whoever you are, thanks for reading my profile (unless you're a government agency trying to gather info. on me without any proper cause, in which case, you can go fuck yourself (or selves)--otherwise though, no worries). I used to have a long, somewhat rambling but still useful if you wanted my viewpoint on life and a bit on AMVs kind of profile up, but quite some time ago it dawned on me that now that things have been looking up for me during the past couple years, it really was too sulking and didn't suit me anymore. So, now that I've finally gotten around to updating things, I decided to copy it to word, save it as a rememberance, and then scrap the whole damn thing. As it's my tendency to be thorough when writing (as that's mainly what I'm good at), this will likely be long so just feel free to skim if you're pressed for time and I begin to go into too much detail and then slow down again once I move on to something else.

    As things now stand I'm a 21 year old guy (22 on 3/11/06) who majors in philosophy at UMBC (Honors university in Maryland). My interests include (in no particular order of importance), martial arts (though I'm not a fanatic about it), geology, occultism (and though this is usually the portion of the discussion where I'd go into explaning *exactly* what that term means, that would probably involve writing a whole separate primer on the subject which I have not the time nor the desire to do right now--suffice it to say that it isn't necessarily anything dark and creepy, and that I'm Christian, but certainly not orthodox--not that it matters here on the ORG, but I'm just trying to hit the basics), and of course, philosophy (specializing in ethics, metaphysics, and, to lesser extent philosophy of language) and anime. I live at home currently both because I'm only 20 or 30 mins. away depending on traffic, and becuase I'm not too sure about how well I'd like dorm life, particularly having to deal with a roomate. Not really employed anywhere right now, I used to work at the college bookstore during the summers--even before I started going there as a student--but once I finally realized I could probably be doing the same job elsewhere for a bit more than min. wage, not have to wait 2 to 3 weeks to get paid thanks to the state's pay-cycle system, and not put up with idiots who: a) didn't know how to give directions and b) had me doing odd jobs that I wouldn't have to do elsewhere, I felt it was time for a change of venue.

    Not long ago I put in time enough to get my lifeguard certifications so I might be able to work for an aquatics company a close friend got a management job with, but after he got fired on trumped-up charges of "religious harassment" (which consisted of no more than having what he thought was a friendly discussion about Catholic schools v.s. public schools with another employee he knew), that the company didn't even want to let him go for but was forced to, and after much consideration after the fact on my part that made me realize that the constant day-to-day stress of making sure no one drowned is probably more than I should deal with for just a part-time job I'm at between semesters while waiting in the wings for something more related to philosophy, I've decided it might be best not to take it. I'll probably just search for stuff near my home or look into something with one of the advocacy groups on campus that I've heard about fleetingly (and that would be good as non-profit orgs. are one of the fields philosophy majors tend to go into--or bookstores, and I wouldn't mind going back into that line of work after I graduate as it'll at least be something in management).

    How'd I get into anime and AMVs? Well that happened gradually. The first time I ever saw anime and recognized it as such (not to mention payed it some attention) was at age 14 (possibly late 13, too long ago to remember) when I watched parts 1 and 2 of "Iria: Zeriam the Animation" (that's the animated version, I hear there's also a live-action one but the very thought of that alternatively makes me weep and sends shivers up my spine) on the Sci-Fi channel (ah, the good old days when the sci-Fi channel still had "Saturday Anime" programming, I saw some of Aeon Flux there too but didn't think much of it, recently they were one of the main channels that advertised the live action movie that came out, talk about finally coming full-circle). It's still one of my favorites as you can see, the fav anime list is recent but the vids list needs some updating.

    Afterward, though I decided I'd definitely have to delve deeper into anime, I had known even before hand that it was still some kind of not well popularized sub-culture, and so I wasn't to eager to let others know about my interest unless I knew it was their's as well, and so mostly out of fear for social acceptance, I didn't overtly pursue the lifestlye of an anime fan. I watched what little I could on TV when no one was around, and snuck in any anime borrowed from friends I could lay hands on. I sometimes half-jokingly refer to myself during that time as "the closet anime-freak". I continued on that way, not really making too much progress until totally by chance I met Bryan, aka Gene Starwind 21122. I happened to mention anime and, what do you know, he was already an otaku and a member of AMVs.org.

    The main turning point was when he finally convinced me to go to Otakon X, he happened to be friends with the president of his anime club who was pretty much letting any member who wanted to go that year stay at his place for the duration (which he stopped doing not long after that year). The meetings are held at the president's house--that we call the shrine as its encrusted with figurines, posters and wall scrolls on both levels of the fairly large basement--so Bryan took me by to introduce me and tell Frank (the president) that I was considering (and according to Bryan probably was) joining. I was at once in awe and panic, I had never before seen so much anime in one place before, or known people so dedicated, but I had serious resevations about joining, it wasn't so much that I was worried about *acting* like an anime fan at this point, but I wondered if I really wanted to devote so much time and energy to it as an interest, and more importantly, if I'd even be able to find the time and transportation to make it to meetings on a regular basis. I had my liscense by then but I didn't have a car. Fortunately for me, Frank relented and let me stay regardless of whether or not I joined. However, after the attendance sheet was passed around later, and someone asked me if I wanted to join as a permanent member, I was debating it in my mind, when suddenly I began to notice that everyone in the room (especially Bryan's other friends) was starring at me as though they were vultures and I was a big slab or red meat. I think my mouth gaped open for a few seconds, and then I quickly decided that I had better agree to it if I had any intention of walking out of there alive (I still wonder if this was arranged by Bryan, as all the other potential members I've come to see since then weren't pressured at all). I was 19 then, I enjoyed Otakon X and though we've had some *interesting* moments at Project Eva Anime Club (PEAC), I don't regret joining for a second.

    As a result, I met many nice people, including, the brothers Woodworth (Clint, Shawn--who were PEAC members, and Clarence). I car-pulled with them to get to the meetings, and we all gathered at 1 of the 2 local Outback Stakehouses after the meetings (and still do), because of this I met most of the friends I now have (since I had just graduated high school and didn't have many even when I was there). Clint is on AMVs.org as Mr. Oni (for those of you who know his reputation, yes, I know him in real life, yikes!). I became a member of the ORG. at around this same time.

    We're some of the Outback's most favored regulars, if for no other reason than we all come with Clint and Shawn (though they know us seperately as well). We're certainly hard to miss. Clint often brings in his laptop so we can watch anime (though he skimps on this if he doesn't feel like it or if there are too many of our other friends who don't like anime that come that night). But since his laptop directories of saved anime and AMVs, in addition to plenty standard, excellent ones, also read like weird/sick/and dark comedy lover's catalouge, he's also been known to single-handedly scare-off entire tables or even sections of the resturant! This comes in quite handy if they happen to be over-crowded or just booked up at the time...[::evil grin::]. But luckily, we tip well and the staff knows us all well enough to either laugh along with us or not mind too much, and its not like that happens every time. As a group we've even been know on occasion to get rid of customers who were bugging the wait staff. Good times.

    Anyway, last but not least, MY AMV involvement. As it now stands, I've spent the majority of my efforts teaming up with Gene Starwind 21122 as one of 3 members of Outlaw Productions. That all started when the three of us all started getting off-the-wall video ideas, and found that they got even better when we were all together to collaborate. This served us all quite well, as needhelp, and myself didn't really have any editing skill, but had lots of ideas and always seemed to be able to shapen Gene's. Gene on the other hand, was more than happy to start a separate prodution group as if any of his nutty ideas that he wanted to try turned out badly, it wouldn't hurt his reputation as a serious video creator as much, or his other partner who was member of that prodution group. We've had some flops as a group, but we've had some nice sucesses as well. "Zoom, Zoom", which has the distinction as being the very first car commercial AMV on the ORG., though the visual quality is less than great, still suffices, and it made quite a few laugh. To the point where it was for quite awhile after it came out, tied for #1 on the all-time most original listing. Also, "Holy War: Good Versus Evil", a slayers vid done to a Creed song (which sadly needs to be indirectly linked now thanks to the record compnies injunctions), for which I did just over half the scene choice, placed 3rd at the Anime Next Con in New York.

    When all is said and done though, I really just end up being mostly an idea guy, and a fairly good judge of AMVs who weighs in when he thinks appropriate, mostly through oping a video here and there, and sometimes just trying to mediate between two sides of a posting argument when they both seem to be partially right. That said though, I've finally made preperations to break-away and do some solo editing which I should've started a long time ago, and pursue my own more serious and still some of the comical ideas myself. I've hesitated up till not mostly because of time, as I didn't really even join the site till I was in college, and I'm not that deeply into computer editing so it took me awhile to set-up and just get my act together. At any rate, I don't end up having much time, but I love AMVs so I'm a member, first and foremost, not a creator, for now anyway. If I go at the pase of getting one solo vid done per year of good concept and quality, I'll be content. Right now I've already begun ripping the DVD footage for my first vid. Don't know when I'll have it done but I'll be trying to work on it as much as I can during the winter break (which is only about a month).

    I suppose my major sticking point right now is that I've dealt with AMVs long enough to know what not to do in a vid, and knowing exactly what I'd like to go for with mine, what's expected, which is exactly why that now that I'm going it alone, I've hesitated so long, because I don't want to screw this up. But oh well, I have premiere and photoshop, concept, song, and anime, nothing left to do but take the plunge. Well, that covers it all. Thanks for the read.

global average

  • Count231965
  • Originality8.47
  • Visual Quality8.37
  • Audio9.00
  • Action Sync8.45
  • Lip Sync8.24
  • Special Effects8.49
  • Effort8.60
  • Re-view-ability7.92
  • Overall8.43

average given

  • Count43
  • Originality8.37
  • Visual Quality8.53
  • Audio9.09
  • Action Sync8.84
  • Lip Sync8.06
  • Special Effects9.19
  • Effort8.91
  • Re-view-ability7.77
  • Overall8.81

average received

  • Count29
  • Originality9.48
  • Visual Quality7.45
  • Audio7.28
  • Action Sync7.83
  • Lip Sync7.12
  • Special Effects7.94
  • Effort8.28
  • Re-view-ability6.93
  • Overall7.62

10 FAVORITE ANIME

1.
Slayers (TV)
2.
Fullmetal Alchemist (TV)
3.
Bleach
4.
Tenjou Tenge
5.
Maburaho
6.
Witch Hunter Robin
7.
Iria: Zeiram the Animation
8.
Genshiken
9.
Bakuretsu Tenshi
10.
El Hazard: The Magnificent World (1st OVA)

My Videos (7)

  • Over Dramatic Uber Sentimental Outlaw Star Music Video (2004-09-12) (2 collaborators)
    [hits: 4197][opinions: 20]
    • Bon Jovi It's My Life (This Left Feels Right)
    • Outlaw Star
    • Drama
    • Other
    • Sentimental
    • Serious
    • Local
  • Fighting For Your Love (2004-02-28) (3 collaborators)
    [hits: 7725][opinions: 80]
    • New Found Glory The Glory of Love(cover)
    • Slayers (TV)
    • Slayers Next (TV)
    • Slayers Try (TV)
    • Drama
    • Other
    • Romance
    • Serious
    • Local
  • Holy War! good vs. evil (2003-08-24) (3 collaborators)
    [hits: 5177][opinions: 21]
    • Creed Freedom Fighter
    • Slayers (TV)
    • Slayers Next (TV)
    • Slayers Try (TV)
    • Action
    • Other
    • Serious
    • No
  • Dragon Ball X (2003-07-22)
    [hits: 3108][opinions: 3]
    • Unknown Dragon Ball Z Opening Theme Song
    • Excel Saga
    • Gokudo: Swordsman Extraodinaire
    • Comedy
    • Fun
    • Other
    • Parody
    • Indirect
    • Local
  • Dirty inu Yasha (not what you think) (2003-07-16)
    [hits: 1066][opinions: 0]
    • Dirty Vegas Days Go By
    •  
    • Comedy
    • Dance
    • Parody
    • No
  • Zoom Zoom (2003-07-16) (2 collaborators)
    [hits: 5038][opinions: 26]
    • Toyota 0%, $2,000 cash back commerical
    • Cowboy Bebop
    • Outlaw Star
    • Comedy
    • Fun
    • Other
    • Parody
    • Indirect
    • Local
  • Dirty Inu Yasha (not what you think) (2003-07-08) (3 collaborators)
    [hits: 3157][opinions: 9]
    • Dirty Vegas Days Go By
    • Inu Yasha (TV)
    • Comedy
    • Dance
    • Fun
    • Other
    • Parody
    • Local