WOW I have not posted in forever, I just bought a HD cam so I might be doing a video blog like jen is. Bought it to to do some movies for work and some other random fun ideas. SO who knows when Ill post next, will try soon with the videos.

NDA Lifted! WooT!

Took a nap and woke up to an NDA being lifted! an angel just got its wings!
So in that case heres the video I did for em :)
Youtube Link
Quicktime
Windows Media
Also this means OPEN BETA for everyone! so for those who wanted to play the game now is your chance. Its a bit odd how they set it up and the times people can join, you can read about it here.
I also changed our banner where it says "The Second Life filming company" because we don't just film in second life and never really have.Heres the NDA and Beta informationZINGAnd heres Massively's fun post about it.

For those who are on the PotBS forums, heres the post link its at along with wicked comments from players after watching the video :D
Closed Beta Thread
Open Beta Thread

England toilets rule

No kidding, they go crazy shooting water everywhere...
Anyways! We went over to tree's and Sox this weekend and had some uber British food. Went to the store and gawked at there food of different sorts. It was pretty sweet and I wanted to buy everything, only ended up buying a couple things instead.

Finished the video this weekend =) had a lot of fun with it. And Ill be able to post it tomorrow as the NDA clause gets dropped. So far a lot of great responses from the beta forums cause I can at least show it there right now!

About to go to bed when I realized I haven't blogged in forever, as I recover from my sausage coma after eating so much last night. Swear they put sausage in every damn thing and i'm not arguing a single bit lol. LOVE IT. Was the dads birthday this weekend, he's old, called him 5 hours after his birthday though =\ was close, me suck. Jesus it was 1am when we left there house last night, couldn't believe it. Just got cough up in all the hanging out madness. Gotta head out so I can arrive at this work place tomorrow, in exchange for currency to buy useless things and human upkeep consumables.

The Wombats in SL - CHECK YO SELF CRACKA!

So we were contacted through email to film a Wombats gig going on, that they wanted a rough cut video of what it would be like if they did a music video in game. Well ended up finding it was the producer of The Wombats. Who we worked with once before, and the wombats got back to them saying they wanted the glasses added to there avatar. Just because its there "thing", So of course I re-edited it and spent way more time on it, filming it like a real music video than just a simple "rough cut" so i'm sure they will enjoy that. However we cant show it anywhere to the public because they do own right to the song and will be using it for there own purposes which we have all ready discussed with them. Good to hear they're all ready looking to film another in Second Life regarding there "Coming to America" album. So sorry i cant show it yet, Ill see when I can. heres there Myspace though if you are not familiar with them, its a band from Liverpool.

Were also currently working on a Mika video - VERY excited to finish it. It does however have NOTHING to do with Mika, it will be just a fun video we are doing, and will not own rights to the song... I mean it doesn't hurt asking though when we finish it right? heh we'll see. I'm working with another Machinima artist Michelle who's doing some Sims 2 footage Ill be adding. Cant wait to show you guys =)

Machinima confrance Yay!

So last night was my first Skype Machinima conference, they've been doing it for a while now but I just started hearing about it from Moo. Was pretty fun, hell me and Ben ranted for 8 1/2 hours lol. YaY for making new friends. So I see where a lot of them come from and its cool to put voices with the names and actually get to know the other homies.

Blogging mostly cause im waiting for the new patch, Yarrrr ironic? patch, ha ha... ha
Oh and waiting for my project to render in after effects which is taking an hour.. lol
YaY! for Saturday, another day chilling at the computer I guess doing stuff, guess were not going out this weekend. Might actually get around and decorate MY side of the office today lol, we have a buncha stuff from the gaming convention in London that was last month I can put up and some other goodies from the UK Machinima fest and our little E-Learning fair lecture we gave. So SEXY PARTY!

Happy Turkey Day!

Gobble Gobble

Hey hey, thats right im actually attempting to keep up on my blog that I usually slack on keeping up. First off im 1/2 way done with the music video which most of you reading all ready know about and were probably in it. Having a ball in after effects with it and may be filming on some more platforms. Ive been preoccupied by beta testing a game that comes out in 2 months... still the disclosure says I cannot say im in the beta test but as long as you don't know which game it is i'm fine... but I must say, I do love pirates Yarrrr, oh and... I don't get sea sick.... and I saw the first 2 movies but not the 3ed .... oh and the game ... isn't the movie game (cause that looks lame as all hell) but a different Yarrrr kinda game....
Hope I didn't give it away =) in any case I didn't say the title!!!
please don't sue me..

I just got done re filming some things for the Wombats gig. If you live in the UK you know who the band "The Wombats" are as they are form liver pool. Apparent they are big in America too because they are releasing there next CD called "coming to America" which they have all ready talked about us filming in Second Life. Mostly because the lead singer is a SL resident and active, than they made it big in the band, so now they are having the producers pay for a video to be done -- by us! =D

Talked with the family for a couple hours today which felt good. Talked to my brother more than ive talked with him in the hole year I think, but thats pretty normal. During the holidays I miss being there and all, but ive just been cough up with everything going on here, going out and everything. That I know i'll be back in IL again eventually , but I'd rather have them come here for the opportunity. Considering they don't have to pay for any of the other fee's tourist have, not to add the "on base" connection. If any time is to time to travel, its now especially. Which my dad said he'll be check up on it this weekend if they're open, if not Monday. And being the procrastinator I am, I know i got it from him =P

Sucks though not being in this situation before, away from the family for years on end in another country. Ancestors have done it forever now, but in our family tree there isn't anyone close who's been in the military in forever, or even close to compare it to. For the holiday though we do have 4 days off and we went for the squadron thanksgiving where we brought a carrot cake Jen made, and some pop. Hung out with bill, talked about gaming, marriage, specifically buying presents for the holidays and keeping the hole "surprise" a factor, and other comical moments. Food was good as hell though... lol bought a bunch home.

Well later days, glad I posted! hah trying to keep up.

Whoooo update time!!

Unedited Random catch up!

Alright sorry I'm the worst blogger ever as I've been told.
SO the machinima conference we gave went great! we than hung out with the director of it a few weeks later and went out all over London. Later me and Jen went to see Wicked, which was pretty awesome! at the Apollo. Saw the 10 bells pub, what else... lol LOADS went on that I should of been blogging and went into detail about. Oh yea! while me Jen and Harold were walking to a place to eat this car was turning going 10 miles per hour and its wheel came off! guy even parked it as the wheel hit some Benz. That was about 10 feet from us which was cool. We had dinner with Sox Tree and their kid which was cool and had a lot of fun. Played halo and they got a kick out of baloney how its like a smashed round hot dog.

And up to now I'm Beta testing a new game which i all ready pre-ordered (cant give the title). Love to do a machinima in it but they still have lots of work to do. Would be wicked if I could get on a development team focusing on the machinima aspect. Anyways probably all ready talking to much about it.

Would be fun, anyways had to update to say im still alive, I've been working with Leah who's doing artist work for the NSS site. and posted some open position to the NSS Second Life team. all in all that the majority =D unless i think of more randomly...

Womp!

Wow its amazing how much time I have free now to do whatever. Before hand it was coming home, hanging out with Jen for a little bit, and than needing to edit or film a wedding or business video. Before hand we did them to raise money, for a new computer, professional microphone, mixing board, another computer… hah, well now we’ve done that, and its cool as hell. So now we can continue to do what we’ve been trying to do, our own videos. Example, its almost a year now we did the N00b be gone videos which were big hit. But after the 2ed episode, that’s when we started getting all the company work and more weddings. Right now were finishing up on some last project which half way into Nov should they all be done. I’m sure I wont resist doing small one here and there just for the hell of it. We’ve all ready had to turn down 4 and its only been a week.

So while I finish doing those videos, I’m working step by step towards getting ready to start some of our new projects. We just posted a contest looking for some artist work for the site, NSS, or even a new name we may begin going under. Its great though knowing I have so much time now, I can focus on one project and brainstorm more with it, or figure out what should be done next. Hopefully we can pull it off =) even at work now I have more time to myself to do whatever, only thing I know is that it wont be like this permanently, so ill take advantage of the time while I can.

Still haven’t signed up for this quarters classes yet, not sure if I really want to either cause im not enjoying them. Maybe it’s the teachers or just the class but taking management sucked. Not the test or class material, but because your forced to think just one way, or forced to “think inside the box” which my entire life I cant recall doing that once… anytime I see an idea I automatically try and think of a more efficient way to do it or another way to go about something. Even in high school it didn’t seem it was “forced”, call me immature but maybe its just because learning about grown up stuff blows.

That’s not the main reason of course, its also because I’m currently 8 credits away from my associates in some “aerospace maintenance blah blah tech jargon” why would I want that! I hate working on planes!! Let alone spend any more time in getting a degree for them. What I’d love to do is go to the school we went to for the machinima fest. They have class’s for all the programs and editing im interested in, let alone a degree I could use along with knowledge that would be useful. Its said something like 1/3ed of your life (or 1/2 ) is spent working. Why would you want to despise all of that time doing something you dislike. Sure sometimes you may have to do it to trade in for comfort and dependability, but that’s still not guaranteed. Just like it isn’t even if you did a job you actually enjoy. *note to self, look for film colleges or editing around this area* I would almost be crazy enough just to drive 2 hours 2 days a week just to take classes there in order to get a degree in it and actually learn than waste my time with this BS.

Either way I just know I’m not going to let it stop me and continue to learn, as long as I have a connection to the internet, and a browser that doesn’t fail me, I’m set.

FYI I own at connect 4

yea me and Hugo in SL were playing Connect 4 and once he started wanting to play for money, I won every game that point on, did I subconsciously hustle Hugo in connect 4?

last night I was trying a video trick which almost cause me to murder my video cards lol. Lets just say you really don't want to go tweaking around jacking with settings and get all click happy. An hour later I ended up just going into safe mode and restoring from my last checkpoint hah

We also have a contest we just started on the NSS page for those who are artiest and interested in it. its only 2 weeks long. That way for anyone who is a procrastinator we've all ready solved your deadline problem with it normally being to far away. Head to NaturalSelectionStudios.com for all the info.

We are also looking for web designers, because websites just isnt my thing, and we are getting to the point where we are looking to bring a solid NSS team together. We are doing a lot really, just one step at a time otherwise its overwhelming. So we'll see =)

I made this!

unexpected RedVSBlue special video at the UK Machinima Fest, footage we took from our camera =D

How refreshing...
Me and Jen went to the UK Machinima fest today, probably going back tomorrow. And I must say, it was great to actually meet such awesome Machinima artist face to face other than us. They had some great lectures, and presenters there, many of which we didn't even know would be there if someone didn't say something like "btw that guy over there is ____"

First off, I gotta say Burnie and Jason from Red Vs Blue (church and tucker also the writer and producer) were there and cool as hell, laid back and great to talk with. Jen was even bull shitting with em for about an hour which was funny as hell as they waited in between lectures and no one realized it was them but her. Will make sure if we do go back tomorrow to get a pick with the guys. Burnie signed it "I made this!", and Chris signed it "Bow Chicka Bow wow" which you'll get if you've seen the series. Its great though they really set the Machinima landmark for breaking the game film barriers with developers as Bungie and Microsoft welcomed them. Hell even when I turn on my 360 I see Red vs Blue options to buy Ep's and download it to your Xbox now lol when they use to be free.


There were legal lectures and advertisement lectures. General machinima ones and discussions, it was pretty fun, considering everyone there has made a machinima just about, and you can walk up to anyone saying "So what machinima have you made" and be familiar with it if you keep up on videos. It was funny though no one would of known the guy who made the first FRAPS was there until Paul said something. He was great to meet though, and remind him he has 30 bucks of mine.. lol

Course Paul Marino's was there and Hugh Handcock, Me and Paul talked a LOT through out the day and Hugh was busy, but wonderful guy to meet, and its great to hear about all the great work Hugh has put into opening the game developers eyes to Machinima and welcome those to their game to make videos and have copy write to what they film as its a huge problem. I joined on on a lecture him and a board were giving on it as we all had a great round table discussion. One of his quotes "A game developer hasn't made it big, until someone makes a machinima inside his platform" said while defending filming copy write laws in video games. We had another great conversation talking about (to sum it up) the competition in Machinima with "wanting to help friends/people, but hating them abusing your kindness for greed and running with it" which im glad we talked about among loads of other great conversations. Ill have to pick his book up but dunno where I can go to get it before tomorrow to have him sign it =) I like geek memorabilia now that I can place around the room with pride and happy to have met those who inspire me on some level.

OMG hah had talk about random. Theres a guy who runs the college sim in SL who was showing it off to people there. Well were the first to show up and we're just talking with the guy and what they're planning to do with it etc... well they goto one of the sims that the convection is streaming at. Sure enough as soon as I say "hah it would be funny if we saw moo here and geuis" and there they are in game hah. So we ganked the Mac book form the guy and started typing "Hey brb ill jump in front of the camera!" lol well heres the pic Jen took from the big screen at the convention.

Cant wait to go next year, it was really refreshing to attend this kind of event and I feel has helped guide me on where I'd like to go with our work. Considering its gotten us this far all ready. Next week were heading to the London Gaming Expo with Treebee and Sox from Second Life. Everything from Anime, video games, to table top and cards with the new stuff. Hopefully we'll have out NSS shirts in by that time =D

Whats awesome to realize too, is that we'll be just like them giving lectures at South hampton at the end of the month. So HOLLAR IF YOUR GOING!!!

Damn you Bungie! why must you be so sexy

Alright so even though now I have more time, I still havnt posted for a while.. why? well this should answer it ---->

First day it was for sale the BX on base bought 450 copy's, of course with them all being sold. Halo 3 made 300 million in the first 24 hours WORLDWIDE, thats more most box office movies. Glad to see being a gaming dork is now the cool thing when our kind have been doing it for years.

Ive been working on the music video here and there but nothing to hardcore. Some big upcoming projects that we're just waiting for starting dates on and really just having fun with video, cant wait to do the Southampton lecture with Jen, its pretty wicked. Also if anyone's going to the London Gaming Expo next week hit me up cause we're going!

Went to Ely a lot this weekend to pick up furniture a TSGT is getting rid of cause he's PCSing, the stuff is just about brand new and solid wood all over. He's getting married so she has all the furniture that can fit in the house. We can get rid of our TMO furniture now =D yay! and have big adult furniture!

Anyways back on Halo 3 hah, me and Jen beat it together a few days after we bought it. pretty bad ass, but ever since we've been doing the multilayer which everyone knows is fun as hell. Jen was getting owned by 12 year olds, love watching her play its pretty funny =D Also got her the Karaoke game for Xbox that wouldn't play on the 360 so I had to bust out the first xbox. After we played it for about 5 hours it died... after 3 years lol out of the blue, no reason, and I got the red light of doom. If its free ill send it in, but I still need to find some download if there is one to play it on the 360. Sucks though, that Xbox was the first system I ever bought with money I made at Target lol

Time to make green screen my bitch!

First off a big thank you to the NSS extras helping out with the sim size set we did this weekend =D was loads of fun and im glad you guys found it awesome too

So I'm finally off 12's at work, and 8's now feel like work is only 2 hours long. Anyways, point is now I have time to finally hang out more, and work on videos! Instead of coming home from work or class and passing out.

I've been working on a pretty bad ass video recently that im putting a lot of work into it, mostly just having fun with green screen. I love film and editing, its my passion and people have said they can see it in my videos, which is awesome =). And if i can make money doing it thats even better, because it's paid for my monster of a computer that allows me no restrictions and other audio equipment I'd like to become more proficient at, and use it along side of my videos more often.

Another thing is I'll be writing in my blog more now that I have the time. Me and Jen have this entire month booked and its sexy as hell, jam packed of traveling the UK for a Machinima fest, the lecture at Southhampton we've been asked to give, even a little gaming at the London Expo Center. If anyone is headed that way we'd love to meet fellow gamers from SL!

Being in the middle during a new era

Its crazy, what got me started was an email I just received. But we really are in the middle of everything going down. When me and Jen joined Second Life the most people online were 1,000 at one time, and maybe 200k residents. Now its over 9 million accounts (many alts) with 30-40k on at any time.

Theres stores all over, people making money in a video game cause they don't have a real life job, and countless stories about the little man finding his nitch in second life and coming out ahead. fortune 500 companies paying people like us to build them advertisement in the world, professors teaching, and charaties like the walk for breast cancer, and others like the Boomer Esiason video we did for Cystic Fibrosis. And here we are, smack dab in the middle of it.

The email was from Harold again, regarding the South Hampton lecture. Someone cannot show for a spot that was before or after NSS's, so he's giving me and Jen a full hour, and would like us to be there considering our topic, and how it would be much better in person than via internet distorting the content. Anyways, still have to talk it over with Jen on how we'll do this considering before it was just me and a mire 30 mins , but it will be a fully paid for trip, and only 3 and 1/2 hours away.

I'm back to days now, so ill probably be blogging more again. Course papers turned in so now its just studying. Think i'll try and dish out another fun video we've been working on for the hell of it while I continue to wait on Second Life to release Wind Light and begin filming the series.

Quick update

Jen was bugging me that its been a while since I blogged, even though we live together she's still a blog whore =P haha.

So we've released a BUNCH of videos this week, one business, several weddings, and editing a product video right now, while arranging filming for a music video Jen and I are doing. ALSO this weekend I finally took the time and posed all the products I built in Second life, on Second Life Exchange which can be viewed HERE

Also writing a case study analysis for class right now and getting ready for the midterm exam. But yea ill tap bloggers booty more often like I use to =D

jesus people!

Ugh I hate researching editing techniques, let alone when other people use and abuse them shamelessly! IE: the program Crazy Talk, a post editing facial animation program, many people are now using it in SL very n00bly, mostly cause they think it can only edit pictures to animate in film, even to the point of creating an entire "talk show" with these pictures. People are abusing the power it has, instead they're making a video every 5 minuets with it and act like its "The most awesome thing ever known to man since inventing sex". heres a better example for those not femiliar with the program and post editing techniques, its like taking a computer... or a person with the IQ of a billion, and use it/them to hammer an nail into a piece of wood for your kids tree house. These people take something new and use it for the most primal ability's it has, no i'm not saying I know everything and produce the best work cause I sure as hell don't. But at least I attempt to improve with all the work i do and explore new ideas rather than be the guy in 2007 who still rolls around the first stone wheel a caveman made cause it was just so freacken awesome! Who's telling these people they're good. if your a friend than done lie and tell them the truth.


That got me thinking, YouTube is another good example. You have people who spend months on brilliant projects, or teach "do it yourself" videos to those with out educations, comedy videos and parody's that take creativity. Than you have the other 80% of the videos on Youtube, people whining for 10 minuets about their day looking for sympathy, drunks posting a rant like they're the smartest SOB in the world and had an epiphany, or some ignorant who-diddy making a discriminatory remark to someones work.

Man I love how society works.