JOURNAL: dj_ultima_the_great (Jen )

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  • Four hundred sixth entry - bwahahaha 2008-01-19 02:43:06 Time - 12:40, Noise - Final Fantasy VII OST - "J-E-N-O-V-A Absolute"

    Before I start, here's the link you're all getting used to seeing. Join FMV2. :O
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=85211

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    Now that it seems that order of business is out of the way, I can do a little hop, skip, and leap (not through time!) of joy, as I have accomplished two gaming milestones between yesterday and today.

    Yesterday, after watching the speedrun of the level roughly six to ten times, I worked up the courage to attempt the time trial on the longest, and possibly hardest level in Tomb Raider: Anniversary - St. Francis' Folly. Now, here I was, thinking it would be a constant uphill battle with numerous retries. After all, the first time I did the level, it took over two-and-a-half hours - and you're only alloted a half-hour in the trial! So imagine how my jaw dropped when I finished the thing in a slick twenty four minutes. Six minutes left over! That's crazy talk! I've never had that much time left over in one of the trials!

    That, of course, more or less finishes the entire game for me. I've gotten all of the time trials, all of the relics, and almost every single artifact in Anniversary. (For the levels where I'm still lacking, it's largely because I vowed to never play through them again except when I had to for the time trial.) I gotta say that I owe nearly all of the time trial accomplishment to the Tombrunner forums. Without the speedruns of its members, I'd have never even thought to attempt some of the tricks that I pulled off. (I just about flipped my top when I was actually able to do the major shortcut in Sanctuary of the Scion, albeit through more attempts than I care to mention.)

    As for my other milestone? Well, let's just say that after a year or more of me talking about it in this journal, you may finally get a break from hearing the buzzterms "Fatal Frame II" and "speedrun" in combination with one another. I finally have that sucker recorded, and even more awesome is that it's one of my best-ever finishing times - 1:35:43. Yeah, it still had mistakes, but when the overall product is that great, the little running errors and not-quite-as-great moments in battle can be forgiven. All of the important stuff went beautifully, and even the stuff that I've come to expect worse results on still went nicely. Like I said, the only regrets are some of the running errors (between the camera angles and the super-touchy controls, it's hard to keep Mio running in a straight line towards where you want to go), and I think two times when I used my Blast lens and I could have instead saved it, killed the ghost with a normal picture, and had the Blast for the next ghost (with the hope of killing it in less hits or one hit, thus saving time).

    Anyway, I have now pulled off what are for me two great gaming feats, so I'll be sleeping happy tonight.

    ...though perhaps not. XD I don't think I ever bothered to mention this, and it's odd that I didn't, but my room is basically an ice box now. Because of the kittens getting into *everything* that they can get their furry little noses into, we've been forced to keep all doors in the house shut. Just one problem - my room has no heating vent. How the designers overlooked this little flaw is beyond me, because every other room in the house has one - even my brother's room, which was an addition to the house at one point. (However, in his defense, the vent does him little good, because there's no good insulation and three of the four walls are exterior walls.) His room is quite chilly as well, but he has a space heater to keep him warm. My room has... nothing. No vent, no space heater, not even some freakin' carpeting.

    Now, I gotta do a little aside here. I'm no toothpick. I've always been a decent-sized girl, and moreover, winter is my favorite season. I don't mean, "Ooh, pretty snow, gimmie gimmie!" No, I hate snow. What I mean is, "Ooh, ten degrees outside? Sa-weet."

    That said, it's saying something about my room when I have three warm blankets on my bed and still feel like I could happily have more. It is COLD as FUCK in there. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that it's between fifteen and twenty degrees colder in my room in comparison to the rest of the house.

    Also, one of the perks of being at college - the pipes don't freeze in cold weather. You get much below ten or fifteen degrees here and they'll freeze, which means they'll definitely become icy wonders tonight. -_- What was the forecast again? Thirteen degrees below? Something around there.

    Well, gotta go. I could use some sleep right now, although I've completely disheartened myself about going into my room tonight. XD

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen

    PS: as a side note, I don't know why, but it wasn't until I reached four hundred that I suddenly felt like I had a lot of journal entries. I wonder why that is...? Oh well. I guess I just have a lot of shit to say. "Shit" probably being an appropriate word most of the time. ^_^;; 
  • Four hundred fifth entry - some ranting and whatnot 2008-01-15 16:18:22 Time - 1:32, Noise - Nightwish - "Higher Than Hope"

    First and foremost, please audition for FMV2. I would love you forever.
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=85211

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    @Spatula_Castle - in fact, I DO notice other people's journals quite often. ^_~

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    Aaaaaand... VCAs. Of course I was going to talk about them eventually, which will likely result in me dodging some flames later, but oh well. Just remember that you chose to click the journal and thus I'm not responsible if you don't like what you read in it.

    I've been trying to keep myself somewhat removed from the VCAs, because I ultimately end up just getting annoyed with the circle-jerking that goes on within them. Don't get me wrong. Many people suggested very worthy videos, but it's all of the people who are trying to finagle videos into categories that aren't really representative of that video that bugs me. Let's take an example or two.

    "Condemned Memoir" and "Gothic Poetry" have both gotten quite a bit of note in the Horror category. Personally, I think both of these videos are pure genius in their concept and design, but if you want to say that either one unsettles, scares, or instills fear in you, then you are bullshitting not only me but yourself. "Memoir" I *might* take an argument for, but it would be a long stretch.

    Now, I think there are several things going on that make site members suggest videos like these...

    1. The videos are amazing and they want them to win *something*. Okay, I can sympathize with that. If something like "Skittles" doesn't win some award or another, I really will consider it blasphemy, because that video is brilliantly done. It has nothing to do with the fact that it's Koop. Had anyone at all released that video, it would still be the best Haruhi video on the site. This leads me into point two...

    2. A particular editor has won something in the past, and he/she is still making great videos, so the fans of that editor try to push for that person to win again. But this is where the circle-jerking comes in. People eventually get to the point where just having a certain editor's name attached to a video makes it instantly popular, no matter how good the video or how fitting of the categories it really is. This works in reverse, too. Bakadeshi coordinated a MEP? Three pages of comments appear overnight. dj_ultima coordinated a MEP? Three pages of comments appear for the entire duration of the thread. (Granted, my project used videogames, and that instantly excludes viewers who don't think videogames are anime, but still. Had Bakadeshi coordinated FMV, I guarantee you that there would have been at least two pages of comments on the first day.) Bakadeshi makes outstanding videos, therefore any MEP he coordinates must be outstanding (which is probably true). dj_ultima makes average videos, therefore any MEP she coordinates must be average (whether or not that's true is up to you guys).

    3. People don't fully understand the meaning of some categories. Horror, for example. We've been so deluded by Cod-awful horror movies like Saw and its brethren that we automatically associate blood and gore with being scary. Folks, it's not. Being grossed out and disgusted isn't the same as being scared or fearful. I'll give you an example: when you see blood spilling left and right in samurai battles, do you consider it scary? No? Didn't think so. You consider it action, don't you? So why is little Cossette sinking into a pool of blood horrific? Okay, now let's let Kenshin decapitate somebody with a katana. Why is that action when Lucy doing the same thing with her vector is horror? You see? Blood and gore != horror. Violence != horror. And there are different levels of violence, too - another subject that shit like Saw has deluded our thoughts on. Blood and gore also do not always equal violence, though they are a part of it. Let's go back to "Condemned Memoir." Without question, it's a violent video. Gory? Nah, not that bad, really. Bloody? A bit. But the imagery, and in particular the effects, make it an extremely violent video. And since we've already determined that violence does not necessarily equal horror. So what makes "Condemned Memoir" horror? This is the aforementioned part where I allow the argument for this video - that being two things. One, it has a degree of psychological trauma in it. That can be considered horrific. Two, the source is Elfen Lied. This is kind of a trick statement, though, because it leads into point four...

    4. People automatically associate certain sources with certain categories - this includes the editors of the videos. Elfen Lied? You obviously made either a horror video or an action video. Sorry, there's no in between. O rly? Then what about "Fear to Love (A Heart's Yearning)"? Not a speck of horror or action in it. Let's take another example - my own video, "The Chosen Two." The source is Fatal Frame II. The video is not intended to be horror, and when I uploaded it originally, I did not have that category marked. However, because it's Fatal Frame, it must be scary. When opinions started rolling in, I had more than one person tell me that I should have marked the video for Horror. I eventually marked the category to appease the crowd, but to this day, I don't believe the video is scary, nor does it belong in the Horror category.

    (As an aside to point four, I found it interested that when I mentioned I had an idea for a dramatic Haruhi video in IRC one night, it was instantly shot down, with the people telling me that drama is overdone. For Haruhi? Not at all! If there's anything overdone for Haruhi, it's Dance and Fun. And last I checked, the last video that used Haruhi in a dramatic way got high praise for the originality of the concept. Just something to think about.)

    5. Excitement. You can't justify it, you can't reason with it, and you can't deny it. The fact is that people get excited about the VCAs, and they want to pitch as many videos to as many categories as possible, because this is one of the few times where they can go crazy on the site and let their voices be heard - and honestly have their opinion *count* for something. You can't get upset with that, because everybody does it. Even I, who was previously just trying to shut the hell up, have been watching the threads and curiously looking at what's been suggested thus far - agreeing with most, balking at others.

    And in the end, I guess it's whatever you put on the video description. If you call your video Horror, even though that isn't the main focus, you're popular enough, even if it isn't your best video of the year, and you have friends to help promote your efforts, even if there's a clearly better contender, people can suggest your video wherever the video description implies it can be suggested.

    On a personal note, I'm surprised to notice that I entered five videos into the catalog this year.
    Only one was actually a full video ("Let the World Crash").
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=144163
    One was a compilation video ("Discontinued Thoughts").
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=141394
    One was a MEP ("Project FMV") and another was a MEP segment ("Love/Hate").
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=153689
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=150582
    The last one was the joke AWWWW video ("SAWWWWWWMthing's Wrong...?").
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/members/members_videoinfo.php?v=150910

    Still, that's pretty unexpected. What did I enter last year... one? I should have at least two videos this year (the one I'm working on now and the one for ACen). A third if FMV2 comes out when it's supposed to. Maybe a fourth if I get really bored over in Spain.

    With that, I just have one Tomb Raider: Anniversary time trial left to do and then I get to continually work on my Fatal Frame II speedrun so that it's ready to record and send by the end of the week. So I'll be going now.

    See you, folks.


    - Jen

    PS: join FMV 2. :0 
  • Four hundred fourth entry - bring it! 2008-01-13 22:07:18 Time - 5:06, Noise - Filter - "Take a Picture"

    FMV 2. Auditions. DO IT!
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=85211


    - Jen 
  • Four hundred third entry - MUZAK 2008-01-09 00:48:23 Time 11:13, Noise - erm... that Russian drum 'n bass megamix again...

    FMV 2 music mix anyone?
    http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=1087279#1087279

    Y'know... I've been sitting on this screen for about a half hour, but can't think of what to add to this. So I guess I won't add anything.

    Nighty night, folks.


    - Jen 
  • Four hundred second entry - languages 2008-01-01 03:18:35 Time - 2:00, Noise - a Russian drum 'n bass megamix

    I'm a foreign language major. That's obvious by now, as I've said it many times. So, as you might expect, I've come to have an affection for music in foreign languages. Most of my foreign music collection is in Japanese, yes, but that's only because I've been introduced to that more than anything else. Music in any language is cool to me, and I honestly wish that I had more exposure to the sounds of others more often.

    On that note, I've noticed that there are two languages in particular that I always seem to enjoy hearing music from, (almost) no matter what - Finnish and Russian. There's no particular reason for Finnish other than the instrumentation always seems to be really good. All of the stuff I've heard has had a knack for being melodic in just the way that I'm fond of.

    For Russian, it really is the language itself. When spoken, it has a harsh, gruff sound, but when in music, it has such a flow to it, like a constant fast-moving stream of air (and something that I've occasionally also compared to people speaking backwards, but that's significantly less... poetic...). It's an odd contrast. This is particularly apparent when you get into the good, fast techno, drum 'n bass, and the like.

    The sound is almost enough to get me to learn Russian someday... but their writing system downright scares me. Spanish and French are one thing... even if you can't read a lick of either language, you can pick out tons of cognates. With Japanese, it's a complete departure from anything I know - a totally new system that has more in common with drawing than writing. But with Russian, it's like... I look at written words, and I clearly pick out things I recognize, but they have very little relation to anything I'm used to. If anything would trip me up, it would be that.

    Well, that's it for my language entry. Just needed to get that tangent out of my system.

    Nighty night, folks... oh, and some crap about a Happy New Year, I suppose. Not that it's really any different from any other day of the year. : /


    - Jen 
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