ninja janitor

OH HAI

2007-10-22T12:32:00.000-07:00

NERD editin =

2007-07-09T20:25:00.000-07:00

I'm finally in a reprieve from editing. It is 11:26pm on Monday.

All day I've been doing VFX on the upcoming Nerd / Captain S crossover Christmas Spectacular, due to release . . . SOON! My personal deadline to finish said effects are this Friday, the night before Brett and I leave on a roadtrip to Minnesota. Why the roadtrip? The week of the National Puppetry Festival is at hand! Next week we'll be running around like madmen, taping performances, snaking interviews with puppet greats, and hopefully collaborating with Tory Vargas to put out a video blog at the end of every day.

It's madness. The fact that we're shooting an interview a day up until this Friday is nuts as well. Tomorrow morning Z, Devon and I drive to another cabin in the woods to get a pretty reputable puppeteer's thoughts on the festival system. Why are they important? He's sure to have an opinion.

More updates to come soon. While stuff is rendering, I have free time to blog! Yeah blog!

btw, READ A BOOK!

killer party duuuude

2007-07-07T09:44:00.000-07:00

Sup internet.

Last night was Shael and Ivy's last big party in Bed Stuy. Since their move into that neighborhood, it's been nothing but drama, so I'm glad that they're finally moving out. Hopefully their next place (i hear it's in Williamsburg) will be a little friendlier...a little less hectic.

Bed Stuy...it's not a great place to walk around in at night. While we were walking to and from their apartment (which takes about 10 minutes from the closest subway stop), I always get stared at by the locals, which are predominantly black. It's one thing to be the only minority in a place - that I don't mind. The thing that sucks is that 90% of the people I see all stare at me like I'm out of place. Like I don't belong. While it's not completely racist of them to do so (why are a bunch of middle-class white kids walking through our poor black neighborhood?), it raises issues of race. Maybe it's just too hard to ignore.

Last night on our way back to the subway, we got called "little snowflakes" by some 30-something on his way over to a bunch of buddies. I smiled. What a stupid comment, I thought. Is that really the funniest thing he could come up with? Anyway, Bed Stuy isn't as bad as it used to be, but the feeling of not belonging in their community is still reflected in almost everyone I see. It helps me understand, if only a little bit, what whites put minorities through for a long, long time. Now I see how it must have felt to be the sole black kid in my hometown of Springville. It must have been nuts.

FF12 VANQUISHED

2007-07-01T22:47:00.000-07:00

Seven months.

That's how long I was consumed by Final Fantasy 12. Over the last 1/2 a year, I played almost every day for exactly one hour - it was my daily reprieve from the marathon editing job that was Captain S season one.

What a great Christmas present that turned out to be - I haven't spent that long a time playing a videogame since my highschool days of Tekken 3 and Twisted Metal 2. Just the other day Devon and I were discussing the length of the game...both of us were just about to break over 100 logged hours on the game. And there's alot to do in 12 - we didn't spend our time screwing around just doing sidequests (well, we did hunt a lot of marks). I still haven't found how to unlock the game's fishing minigame or get any ultimate weapons - feats that usually push the normal player past the 60-hour mark in a Final Fantasy game. There's still so much more to do!

I do feel like the ending came out of nowhere. There could have been much more game and story to explore, but it wound up wrapping itself up pretty quickly. Without spoiling anything, I really feel like all the villains in the game could have had more on-screen time. Every time a new bad guy was introduced, then -BOOM- it's boss battle time. That's my only complaint with this blockbuster game. Even at 100 hours of gameplay I really want it to continue!

Great game, SquareEnix. I'm sure in the videogame drought that's sure to follow me in the upcoming weeks, I'll crack open the "making of" DVD and maybe try to figure out the fishing minigame. We'll see.

Greater Gaming Culture - a series of docs

2007-06-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (2 months ago?) I pitched the idea of a series of 'gamer documentaries' to the other PBC members, and they seemed pretty into it. Now, with last Friday marking the release of our second doc, I can finally say that it's a hit!

Within 24 hours of the release of 'Hardcore', the first in a two-parter about the Gamers Unite rally in May, it recieved 6,000 unique views - more than most episodes of Captain S have gotten in their entire run. After these numbers started to happen that we realized these docs were going to catch on, and that making more is imperative.

Part two - 'The Stand' hit the internet on Friday and (although I don't know the hit count yet) the response has been super positive. It just goes to show that gamers are interested in more than just videogame reviews and messageboard chatter. In addition to producing the NPC doc in July, we'll be continuing on the 'greater gaming culture' doc series, so expect more @ PBC.

Thanks for reading =

THIS IS WHAT I DO!

2007-06-08T12:47:00.000-07:00

Hey all. There's so much going on (like usual) that there's too many stories to tell and not enough time to tell it all in.

1) If you haven't gotten my "Z and I are engaged!" email, post a comment here and I'll get back to you. There's some ridiculous romance that happened in Jamaica...you can check it out here!

2) The first of our 'gamer culture' documentaries is online! Check it out @ pbc-productions - and dig the crazy site redesign.

3) Brett and I are representing @ Anime Mid-Atlantic! Rez roped us in to help with the videogame room, and now we're showing Captain S as well!@ w00t!

more to come after it happens.

Captain S is OVER!

2007-05-12T06:46:00.000-07:00

hey Team Internet, guess what? I'm fffrrrreeeeeeeeee!@ for now.

Captain S hit it's 10th and final episode, and that means I get to go back to doing things like:

1) work on other people's films!

2) pay the rent!

3) accepting work calls!

4) do other projects! woohoo!

As much as I enjoyed working on this show, it consumed me. It took a tag-team of Devon and myself working in shifts for 6 days to pump out episode 10, and there's still more work to be done on it. I'll miss the serenity of working from home - I got to watch the squirrels outside our bedroom window play around for four months. Howev, there's nothing quite like the NYC film industry - and it's about time I got my feet wet again.

It feels good to have accomplished so much w/Captain S, and everybody looks forward to a second season. Oh, and watch the PBC site for more shorts and Filler Fridays - that's where my focus is going to be for a long time.

=chad

ugh

2007-04-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

Goodbye, new Square+Enix games...

ah well. I haven't played anything by them in the last few years anyway, besides the ever-present Final Fantasies, which they seem to realize is their key to salvation.

Funny how a nerdy game developed by a man who thought "well shit...this'll be my last game, what the hell!" has grown into a franchise that millions support and play.

This is not my hedgehog.

2007-04-08T07:57:00.000-07:00

Hedgehogs should replace rabbits. In fact, the two species have probably been secretly battling for eons, each nearly annhilating the other with diabolical super weapons and nasty, pointy teeth!

new (to me) POLYSICS video!!

2007-04-03T17:20:00.000-07:00

Not only is this a kickass cover of Domo Arigato Mr. Roboto, but it pays tribute to a-lot of stuff from my childhood. Giant Robot fights...the Director!!

joy

2007-04-02T17:24:00.000-07:00

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v102/Juese/joyofrap.jpg

THIS IS TRANCE MUSIC.

2007-03-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

It isn't music at all!

http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif

2007-03-22T09:26:00.000-07:00

hey, I just found out that some of my favorite voices are all done by the same guy - Rino Romano!

I was browsing the old S.O.S. page (brings back H.S. memories) and it seems that before Luis Sera, Batman, and "that guy from Tomb Raider: Legend", he did Tuxedo Mask for an episode or two. Latino v/o, represent!

IN OTHER NEWS:

a new type of big cat was discovered!

more images

2007-03-19T19:45:00.000-07:00

Hey Internet!

As I was just telling Pappy / Rez, I spend my free time on the PBC boards as of late, and you should check 'em out - there's fun to be had in them boards!

Here's a couple image dumps from the past month - the last week and FAGfest + puppet building. Both are PBC-heavy, and GO FIG, because that's where I've been spending my days and nights.

The past weekend was both Joe_Cam and Brett's birthdays, they're 25 and 26, respectively. Brett got so drunk that he passed out, threw up on Ivy, nearly went into shock and woke up with a cat face. I lost a straight 4th Iron Editor, proving to me once and for all that I will never win at that venue, no matter how good I believe my stuff to be.

BTW, here's my entry - Uptown Ninja !!

I wound up working with Ailsean (of internet fame) - he mostly directed and I mostly did the timing. The music and some of the best gags were his idea, and together we pooped out glory. Every 1/2 hour during the 4 hour event, all teams must take a shot of something awful, be it a mixed drink, straight up liquor, or whatever. This makes the end result very, very sloppy - like a bunch of drunk guys did it.

busted

2007-03-06T11:34:00.000-08:00

hey all. this is a straight-up rant.

As of 2 minutes ago, I have officially turned down work 5 times in the last 10 days, so that I may continue doing all-day post-production on Captain S.

this suuuuuuuuuuuckcs===s=s==s=ss=s=s

At first, a dry spell from work was great! I thought I might start looking for work in February, but the sheer amount of editing / prepping / shooting has kept me at home in front of the computer since January. For my career as well as my bank account, I cannot go another month without being on a film set. Captain S must end!!!!!!!

*phew*.
I am so proud of our little project (that has grown into a big monster project) that I won't care about being poor once I have another job lined up. I think that when I'm jobless, something snaps in my brain and I get all anxious about searching to find another. Maybe the next project I do with PBC, I'll be better about this period of 'unemployed time'. Maybe still we'll budget our time better / not pick up a project that takes so freaking long to complete. Like Patrick's.

<3

2007-02-08T10:41:00.000-08:00

I fell asleep last night whilst playing FF12.

When i awoke, my party had gained 2 levels!

random!

2007-02-02T06:53:00.000-08:00

image dump!

Sometimes it's hard not to notice how tacky and artsy our fair city is. I feel like every time I wander outside of my usual haunts, everyone looks at me like I'm some kind of tourist the way I'm snapping pictures. I can't help it...there's just so much random stuff that I want to preserve and share with the world (NYC art album, coming soon!).

Just yesterday two construction worker-types walking by stared hard at me while I was snapping away at this:

C'mon, random passerbys! Recognize the artistic nature of this mess! It's something they probably passed every day for a month and didn't even think twice about. Eehh..maybe they'll take a closer look today, thanks to me?

X-Strike in the papes

2007-01-30T13:44:00.000-08:00

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/issue/81/13

Go, guys, go!

brrraaaainnnnnsss

2007-01-30T12:33:00.000-08:00

Evil Dead: The Musical.

I'm gonna see it again. Any takers?

ps, image dump, demup, DUUUMOP

stuff!

2007-01-24T15:11:00.000-08:00

Hey peeps!

The last couple days have rocked. On Monday night I was part of a video crew that taped a poetry reading at Barnard (the all-girl version of Columbia...which is right across the street), and that was a bit hectic. At first I showed up all cool, I was strapping the bestest camera there and had mad street cred (being a part of PBC and all). It was business as usual and I set up. With one of the camera guys' help, I learned a little bit about shutter speed and its effect on the HVX's image. Then the actual taping began.
I had a random error right off the bat. The camera would tape for three seconds and then locked up - something I've never had to deal with on any camera, ever. Let me tell ya, I STUDIED the manual for this one before I ever turned on the camera, and there was nothing I could recall that ever mentioned this. It was a straight up real-world issue that I had to deal with...luckily the sound guy was there to help out. We ejected the DV tape and put it back in - and this fixed the lock-up. Of course, by then the presentation was about 5 minutes in, but with two other cameras rolling (and one getting a sound feed), they were totally covered.
I also learned that for event coverage, using manual focus and/or the zoom ring is OUT. Auto-focusing is not only easier, but doing any pans to areas where the focus changes, it's freakin mandatory. Switching from the zoom ring to servo-zoom helps tremendously for smooth zooming. My zooms looked like crap.

All in all it was a positive learning experience - and the camera earned some dough towards its rent.

On Tuesday Z and I interviewed MC Lars - the self-styled "laptop rapper" who has been cited by many as a part of the NerdCore scene for years and years. He himself said that non-nerds who listen to it are mainly drawn out of novelty, which is hella true. It was great to listen to a really smart guy talk plainly about the genre that he's a part of without any reservations. In 2008, he predicted Paris Hilton will release a nerdcore song. On that day, we'll all have to shoot ourselves.

2007-01-22T11:24:00.000-08:00

So the Attourney General of Utah just released a pro-gaming PSA that explains the ESRB ratings system (a system that WORKS). Check it out here.

Unfortunately for America, this is one of the only postivie political statements you'll hear about videogames this year. Even our own senator Clinton is drawing up legislation that'll make it harder on developers and even retail stores to sell violent videogames - which is retarded. Parents, don't let your kids play Mature-rated games! That's all there is to it.

!

2007-01-17T23:42:00.000-08:00

Mexican Immigrants as Superheroes - interesante!

sword-weilding do-gooder

2007-01-16T23:41:00.000-08:00

This is my kind of news.

FOR GREAT JUSTICE!!!

spiders on drugs.

2007-01-13T16:38:00.000-08:00

Here I sit, photoshoppin all day. weeeeeoooooeeeeoooooeeeeooooeeeeooooo.

Captain S, episode 2 is visually done, with the new and improved VideoLand sequences. Yippee!@

SPIDERS ON DRUGS.

test?

2007-01-11T23:11:00.000-08:00

are my blogs being uploaded?

is blogger still screwy?

test!