The Biggs Blog

Ye Old Review Thread

2012-01-27T08:47:00.000-05:00

Hello and welcome to you all!

Just a quick and dirty entry today. Over at TMU, where Ken and the gang have been revamping the site in an attempt to stave off entropy, I have decided to do my bit and start up a Review Thread for any and all films released at TMU (not exclusively, but centrally).

So if you have a film that you'd like an extra view and comment on, post a link in the thread and I'll get on it as soon as I can!

That's it!

http://www.tmoaradio.com/vb/showthread.php?6511-The-BiggsTrek-Review-Thread!

Santa Does The Nasty! An old Merry Christmas message to you all!

2011-12-24T09:27:00.001-05:00

My ancient video from waaaay back in 2005. Actually my first real attempt at a movie in 'The Movies', and it even picked up a prize in the contest it was made for on the TMO boards.

This is one of the few movies I've made that I might actually remake one year. Do a little mocap work in iClone, redo the poem a bit, add some better music. hmmm, food for thought. In the meantime...

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all!

The Haunter Of The Dark - Now Showing!

2011-11-20T07:57:00.001-05:00

It is with much pleasure that I present to you my latest movie, "The Haunter Of The Dark". Over two years in the making, this was my attempt at doing my very best in the art of movie making (given the tools at my disposal). I made a vow to myself at the start of production to make sure I didn't cut any corners; to go back and re-do something if it wasn't the way I wanted it; to put everything in the film that I thought it needed for the story to be told correctly, no matter how difficult it might be.

This is the end result. Please enjoy:

Star Trek: Aurora is complete!

2011-11-15T10:52:00.001-05:00

I received an email a few days back telling me that Star Trek: Aurora is finally complete! I've been following this "series" (really a complete movie, but cut into parts as production progressed) for several years now, ever since K4 mentioned it on the old TMO forums (shows how long it's been around!) Tim Vining is the man behind it all, and his attention to detail, combined with a compelling story and superb character development, makes for one of the best, if not THE best fan made Star Trek movie around.

Congrats Tim!

http://www.auroratrek.com/episodes.html

(I don't know why he doesn't have a HD version, but it still looks beautiful as is).

MachinExpo 2011 - Nov 19th and 20th

2011-11-03T08:19:00.002-04:00

As many of you know already, the 2011 Machinima Expo (MachinExpo 2011 to its friends) is coming very soon. In fact, it's this very month! November 19th and 20th!

So make sure to mark the dates in your calendar! There are some great films in their line up this year, and at least 2 new films will be premiered!

Hope to see you there!

Trailer for The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-10-20T10:36:00.000-04:00

I'm pleased to announce that "The Haunter Of The Dark" will be Premiering at MachinExpo 2011 (November 19th & 20th), but for now, please enjoy the all new Trailer (above)!

MachinExpo 2011: http://www.machinima-expo.com/

Bitfilm Festival Entries

2011-10-17T11:39:00.004-04:00

This year's Bitfilm Festival has re-introduced machinima (after a one year omission, I believe). They now have the entries up for public voting on their website, including two of mine:

"The Ex Files: An Underpants Conundrum"

and

"Game Over".

So if you feel like registering there, and casting a vote (rating the videos, actually), please do so!

In the midst of moving

2011-08-01T08:20:00.003-04:00

A small update today, while I have the time. My wife and I are in the midst of moving into our new home, so any progress on 'The Haunter Of The Dark' will be difficult until that transition is complete.

Editing is complete, and I have given the footage to Ricky Grove to do his magic with the Sound Design. In the meantime, I will see what I can do with the Music. A little while back, I put some music together for the opening sequence, but with the move going on, it's a bit challenging to find the time (and energy!) to get very far.

But I am hopeful the film will be complete in time for the Expo, which means I better get this done before the end of September!

Wish me luck!

Filming is COMPLETE for The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-07-04T07:16:00.005-04:00

Yes, you read that right. Just yesterday a minor miracle occurred: I completed the last few shots of 'The Haunter Of The Dark'. I didn't think this day would ever come, but in the end it snuck up on me and I honestly didn't realize I was finished shooting until I hit the "Export" button in iClone, sat back and thought, "What's next? Oh wait, that was the last shot!"

So yes, a bloody miracle.

It's not over yet, of course. Now I have to edit (which I've been doing as I shot the film anyway) with the inevitable re-takes and possibly some brutal decisions on what stays and what gets cut... and what needs complete re-engineering (hopefully not the whole film!)

And after that, the rest of the post-production fun: sound design, music, etc.

But the bulk of the work is now done! Yay for me!

To celebrate, here's some more promotional shots to whet your appetites:

K4 as the Coroner's Physician in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-06-20T21:29:00.004-04:00

As I rapidly approach the end of filming, I now have an opportunity to show you the last (but by no means least) of my cast: K4 as the Coroner's Physician. He finishes off the film quite nicely!

GoofParade as Edwin M. Lillibridge in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-22T10:25:00.005-04:00

Let's not forget GoofParade voicing the Reporter Edwin M. Lillibridge. You don't get to see much of him, but what there is is quite memorable (as you'd expect!)

Note: I have one more cast member to promote (K4), but as I haven't filmed his scene yet, I have no screenshots of him that I'd like to use. So stay tuned!

JetCityWoman as Miss Marsh in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-20T07:31:00.003-04:00

My darling wife, JetCityWoman, will voice the role of Miss Marsh, as well as a phone operator in the film.

Factoid: I'm still waiting for her VO's... lol

Cecil_Evans as Doctor Dexter in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-19T21:14:00.007-04:00

The image above shows Doctor Dexter staring at something interesting off camera. He is portrayed by Cecil_Evans, famous for such films as Mortal Coil and Respect My Securitay.

Another Fun Fact: I "recycled" Doctor Dexter's costume for use by Underpants Man in his guise as the Seer's Underpants Manager in The Ex Files - An Underpants Conundrum.

Fulkster as Shopkeeper Franco in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-19T08:21:00.003-04:00

Fulkster portrays the gentleman above, the Italian shopkeeper known as Franco. Here he can be seen gesticulating vehemently as he talks with Blake (off screen).

Fun fact: I recently went back to this scene and re-rendered 90% of it just so that I could add the door frame (in the background) and put some extra fruit in the fruit stands (off screen). I've done similar re-renders throughout the film...

Killian Wolfsinger as Patrolman Monohan in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-18T21:28:00.005-04:00

Thanks for the comments, I appreciate them. Now on with the cast promos! Here we have Killian Wolfsinger portraying the character of Patrolman Monohan. Killian was gracious enough to redo his lines when I thought I heard birds chirping in the background of his first take! Thanks Killian (you wombat!)

Richard Grove as Robert Harrison Blake in The Haunter Of The Dark

2011-05-18T08:28:00.006-04:00

As I near the end of Production (cries of delight mixed with horror can be heard), I thought it might be nice to start promoting the film a bit. The above picture/poster is the first of many to come in the next few days or weeks.

Ricky Grove does an outstanding job as Robert Blake, but you'll have to wait until I throw a trailer together to hear him in action. For now, please enjoy this promotional snapshot from the film.

More details to follow...

Cthulhu Fish

2011-03-31T11:35:00.005-04:00

I was driving to work the other day and saw this badge on the back of a car ahead of me. I instantly wanted one!

It's just a poster...

2011-02-14T07:38:00.005-05:00

Thought I'd share this little poster I made up. It's a little premature (ok, a lot premature!) but I liked it enough to want to share it...

Note: this is just a prototype and likely to change or be replaced by the time I get the film done (anything can happen in a decade, after all!) but for now, this is IT.

:)

2011 - The Year After We Made Contact

2011-01-04T08:08:00.004-05:00

Not much to report at this time. Last year was a mixed bag for me personally, but from a machinima point of view it was OK. I only made a couple of movies (Game Over and The Ex Files) and progress on that other project (THOTD) was slow, yet progress was made! The most rewarding part was working on the Expo. I got to see a lot of machinima during the selection process and was impressed by much of it.

This year I have no real plans other than to finally finish that project. I'm going to make it my number 1 machinima priority. Call it a resolution, call it a challenge. Just don't call me on it. lol OK, not funny.

After that's done, I intend bringing good old UPM back for another thrilling episode of Underpants Away! I really enjoyed working with him in The Ex Files and doing the revamped iClone version of him for Episode 3 of Underpants Away! should be just as much fun. I'm considering wrapping up the story in this 3rd episode, rather than doing the 4 planned episodes, but that's probably not going to happen as it would require a re-write of the actual story (or a considerable reduction of it). Just a thought. Oh, and I want to end the whole thing with a BANG. I'm thinking of an elaborate musical number that UPM and the rest of the cast would sing... (blame Gabe and The Nobbit for that inspiration, but without the drug references... hehe).

After that I'm free. No plans of any sort. I have some thoughts on doing a series of small sci-fi/comedy shorts, which I have about 4-5 ideas scribbled down already (none of which are brilliant, but combined should work out nicely together).

Lastly, expect a new Music Collection from me to appear in the Reallusion Content Store sometime soon. The original collection has been up there for about a year and I was recently inspired to do some more musical creation (I'm reluctant to call it 'composing' as it's really just mixing of existing material in Sony ACID.)

OK, that's it! Here's hoping 2011 will be a good year (for me and everyone else for that matter).

:)

Bye mum.

2010-11-24T21:42:00.003-05:00

Last Saturday, my mother passed away after a long struggle with cancer. Today is her funeral. I won't be there, but the rest of my family will be. My thoughts are with them and my mum on this day.

Bye mum. I will miss you.

Star Wars in 3D...

2010-09-30T07:30:00.003-04:00

OK, I'm a Star Wars fan. Have been since I was a kid (and that's quite a while back). But I'm not a fan of 3D. This latest trend to make everything in 3D, and worse still, go back and convert old films into 3D is quite annoying. I don't like. Not one bit.

Avatar was ruined for me because of this 3D crap. Due to the crowd in the cinema, I was forced to sit in the back to one side, where the 3D effect was almost negligible, and I spent most of the movie trying to "feel" the 3D, but to no avail. (I later saw it at home in 2D and actually got to ENJOY it.)

And now along comes Star Wars. Yesterday they announced they'll be converting all the films into 3D and re-releasing them into theatres. I have two problems with that (probably more, but 2 for now). The obvious one is the 3D aspect of it, but I think the one that really irks me is the cashing in on the films yet again. How about they spend the time and money on some NEW films? Hire some decent writers for once, and put together something fresh and original based in the Star Wars universe (or heaven forbid, something totally new)? And leave the 3D off... it's just a distraction that results in stupid shots of things flying close to the screen for no real reason.

And let me mention MovieStorm's and Reallusion's recent "upgrades" to include 3D exporting in their products. Complete waste of resources if you ask me. I tried it, didn't like it, won't be using it again.

That's it, I'm done. Just wanted to get that off my chest.

On a happier note, I can hardly wait for Tron: Legacy... What? It's in 3D?!? NOOOooooooo!!!!

The Solo Adventures - 2D

2010-09-15T07:54:00.002-04:00

I caught this last night on G4 (AOTS - yeah, I watch it occasionally... don't judge me! lol). Easily one of the best animated Star Wars fan films I've ever seen. Thought I'd share...

The Solo Adventures 2D from Daniel L Smith on Vimeo.

And the winners are...

2010-08-04T08:06:00.002-04:00

(Of the 2010 iClone Sci-Fi Movie Competition)

BEST PICTURE:

BEST TRIBUTE - ORIGINAL:

STAR WARS "THE DARK SIDE" fan film by David THOMAS from David THOMAS on Vimeo.

BEST TRIBUTE - PARODY:

And...

Best Screenplay

Voyages of the Sojourner:
The Complete Trilogy

Director: AnimaTechnica

Best Spaceman

The Endless Space

Director: Andre Peisker

Coolest Robot

Cyborgs and Robots

Director: Saúl Soto Barzalobre

Most Creative Alien

NEW HOPE

Director: Nikolay Rusenov

Best Outer Space

Sisteearth

Director: David-Josué OYOUA

Best Visual FX

INVADER

Director: TXON

Best Sound FX

SURANOS

Director: Prodybeat

More details here: http://www.reallusion.com/event/2010/sci_fi/Prize.html

I dumped FaceBook

2010-07-31T05:25:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I deactivated my account on FaceBook. Don't be offended if you were my "friend" there, it wasn't personal when I deleted you (and everyone else). I'd just had enough of that site, so decided to leave.

FaceBook has annoyed me for quite a while, and the growing controversy over its liberal use of user's info and general privacy issues tipped me over the edge in recent days (amongst other things, such as the Spam it generates and the fact that it serves no useful purpose in my life).

So it's Goodbye to FaceBook for me!

Nothing else has changed, so feel free to carry on with your lives. :)

The Ex Files - NOW PLAYING!

2010-07-04T09:43:00.004-04:00

And here it is, in all its glory:

The Ex Files from Phil Browne on Vimeo.

THE EX FILES

(An Underpants Conundrum)

Starring

Nahton
JetCityWoman
Kuroken
BiggsTrek

Music from

"Phil Browne's Music Collection"
ACIDPlanet's "Neutron Implosion"
"Ex Files Intro" by my vocal chords and Sony ACID
Fulkster's "Underpants Man Theme"

Studio Intro by Peter Martin (allpoint)

Resources:

Wolfzone
Warlord
BigBoss
Google's 3DWarehouse
Carnegie Mellon University
Freesound Project
Mayang's Free Textures

iClone4
3DXchange2
iClone Theme Pack - Fantasy World - Evil Force
iClone Texture Pack Essential Human Cloth Volume 1
iClone Combo Pack II
Total Materials Vol. 7 - Science Fiction
Total Materials Vol. 11 - Alien Organic

Lionhead's 'The Movies'
ArtBeats.com

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0
Sony ACID Music Studio 7.0

Wavepad
Audacity

Directed By BiggsTrek

Made for Reallusion's 2nd Annual
iClone Filmmaking Competition
(2010: Sci-Fi Movie)

"The Ex Files" Intro Teaser

2010-05-29T09:21:00.003-04:00

Just a quick one today. Above is a teaser entry for Reallusion's iClone Sci-Fi Contest. Obviously a parody of The X Files, the real thing should be released by the end of June.

And then... it's back to THOTD (I promise!)

Shhh! Don't tell anyone... I released a MOVIE!

2010-04-29T21:30:00.003-04:00

Yes, it's true, I released a short movie (no, not the-movie-that-shall-not-be-named). It's a little something I whipped up in the last two weeks, stealing from a little project I did last year. I call it "Game Over" and it's for Reallusion's Short Film Contest of 2010:

http://www.tmunderground.com/watch/027c9a799983a485c3c2/Game-Over

or

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0caM7ZWUnt4

Made for Reallusion's 2nd Annual iClone Filmmaking Competition (Sci-Fi Movie)

"Game Over"

Starring:

BiggsTrek.......................................Grock
JetCityWoman......Dark Czar / Mother

Music From "Phil Browne's Music Collection"

Studio Intro by Peter Martin (allpoint)

Resources:

Google's 3DWarehouse
Carnegie Mellon University
Freesound Project
Mayang's Free Textures

iClone4
3DXchange2
iClone Theme Pack - Fantasy World - Evil Force
iClone Texture Pack Essential Human Cloth Volume 1
iClone Combo Pack II

Sony Vegas Movie Studio Platinum 9.0
Sony ACID Music Studio 7.0

Wavepad
Audacity

Directed By BiggsTrek

Lainy Voom's Dagon (by HPL)

2010-04-08T21:11:00.002-04:00

Dagon - HP Lovecraft from Lainy Voom on Vimeo.

I just wanted to highlight this excellent film once more (others have already done so, and with good reason). This shows just what is possible in Second Life (the visuals are breathtaking - I honestly had no idea you could get such output from that environment!) and how a true artist can bring Lovecraft to life.

I'm actually quite jealous of this film (working on my own as I am), but that's meant purely as a compliment.

Excellent work, Lainy.

SatscapeFilms' "The Duleks"

2010-02-18T08:09:00.003-05:00

If you're a Dr Who fan like me, and have a fascination for the Daleks like me, then hopefully you'll get as big a kick out of SatscapeFilms' series, "The Duleks" as I do. He's released his fourth episode recently, and below you'll be able to catch them all:

---

(If you like them, why not pop over to his studio page at TMU and leave him a comment. I'm sure he'll appreciate the feedback!)

Haunter Sunset Demonstration

2010-02-15T08:48:00.003-05:00

This may not be that exciting, but as I continue on with 'The Haunter Of The Dark', I find I want to share some of the results I am achieving. The above sunset is one such result. Just fiddling with the HDR and IBL settings of iClone 4, I came up with this little gem without that much hassle. The software is really very good.

The piece is still a work in progress (it's missing the foreground, for example) but shows how pretty HDR can be.

I've also done some nifty animated sequences, too (avatars, props, etc) that came out far better than expected. I'd share those, too... but then there'd be nothing left to show when the movie is done!

Soldiering on!

Production Update: The Haunter...

2010-01-19T19:36:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I've given any real update on the progress of this project. While I'm reluctant to give away too much of what has been going on, I still feel the need to share a little of the experience. Though I admit it's not very exciting. :)

Production has been slow. Too slow. It seems I find ways of delaying working on the movie, or perhaps I get bogged down on details of it, or (most recently) I find technical problems that I dwell on and feel the need to fix (actually, it helped a lot to fix my most recent PC issue, but you get the picture.)

Anyway, I had a bit of a breakthrough this last weekend. Finally got a fair bit of filming done. It's early days yet (did I say that? I've been working on this for months!) but I am really quite excited with the results so far.

The story is a dark one, and I'm trying to reflect that with the use of light. I'm also having a lot of fun with focus (iClone's depth of field to be precise... close enough) and that is adding to the mood of the shots. I must say I'm quite impressed with what I've produced so far (which is contrary to how I felt a few weeks ago, so phew!!) And no, that picture up there is NOT a screen shot. :)

I've also spent a bit of time on the animations. Mixing bvh/bought ones with hand made motion edited ones. It takes a LOT of time and patience, but well worth the effort.

Lastly, I've opted to do this film in 720p (1280*720). I haven't done anything of that size before ('The Movies' maxed out at 768*432, unless tweaked), and while this is beautiful to look at, it has some "issues". Disc space was the first thing, but a nice new terrabyte drive solved that. But now I find my cheapo version of Sony Vegas can only export up to 800*600... so it looks like an upgrade is in order.

So there you have it. Work progresses. Slowly, to be sure, but things are picking up.

My apologies to my voice cast and those that are waiting for this to be done. It's still got a long way to go, but it IS progressing. :)

Nahton's 'This Basic Pack Life'

2010-01-13T21:16:00.002-05:00

http://www.moviestorm.co.uk/community/index.php?page=videos&section=view&vid_id=103345

I just wanted to highlight this BRILLIANTLY funny entry in the Moviestorm Basic Pack Contest. Literally had me laughing out loud as I watched it. Comedy doesn't get much better than this.

You can Vote Here and I encourage you to do so. :)

"Shadows gone awry" or "I'm an idiot!"

2009-12-19T15:47:00.010-05:00

OK, so here I am, trying to put the finishing touches on the main set of 'The Haunter Of The Dark', and I find myself struggling with the upgrade to iClone 4. Ever since that initial upgrade, I've experienced nasty shadow artefacts on the desk and surrounding objects in my (very complex) set.

See the nastiness below (click on it for a more detailed view):

I'm just about to give up on it, and turn the shading off for the desk, when I had one more try, fiddling with the lighting options. And lo and behold, guess what happens? I fixed it!!!

Woo hoo!! But what was it that actually fixed the shadows? One single click of the mouse. An adjustment by a mere -1:

I then went and explored iClone Help, where it simply says:

Shadow Bias Adjustment

This function helps to correct some shadow displacement errors caused by extreme shadow angles.

Well, duh...

If only I'd gone looking at the Help earlier... oh well, at least I went by my own tried and true rule, "If it doesn't work at first, keep clicking!"

Now back to work, Mr Trek...!

Star Wars: Uncut - Scene 267 (My 2nd)

2009-12-08T20:47:00.002-05:00

Star Wars Uncut - Scene 267 from Phil Browne on Vimeo.

Oops, I did it again... another Star Wars Uncut scene! But don't worry, it's the last one as I will now get stuck into The Haunter Of The Dark (finally!)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun to make up this scene (and #430) and if you feel like checking out the project and grabbing a scene for yourself, go here:

http://www.starwarsuncut.com/#/

(And just in case you missed it, here's Scene #430)

Star Wars Uncut - Scene 430 from Phil Browne on Vimeo.

iClone does Pong!

2009-11-29T09:57:00.003-05:00

Showing the pure power of iClone 4.1 (ok, maybe not... maybe more like showing what one man can do when he's a little crazy!)

I just had to share it with the world...

There IS a reason I did it, and all will be revealed in the next couple of weeks (no, it won't appear in 'The Haunter Of The Dark'!)

Star Wars: Uncut - Scene 430 (COMPLETE)

2009-11-13T07:40:00.004-05:00

Star Wars Uncut - Scene 430 from Phil Browne on Vimeo.

And here it is! My 15 seconds of Star Wars fame (ok, not really, but it IS 15 seconds long.)

Got my wife to do the one female role in it, otherwise all the parts are voiced by me. And the sound effects are all me (vocal, mind you!), somewhat altered by Audacity, Wavepad and Vegas.

Filmed in iClone 4.02 (and I must thank Dulci for the Path help and giving me C3PO!)

I've added a lot of little extras throughout the 11 shots that make up these 15 seconds (can you believe the amount of cuts?! I was astonished when I started analysing the original footage!) - Can you spot all the extra bits?

I might do another scene (I can do up to 3), though so far none of the remaining ones have appealed to me. Still looking, though.

If YOU want to become part of this unique project, check out www.starwarsuncut.com

Star Wars: Uncut

2009-11-03T19:44:00.002-05:00

Star Wars: Uncut Trailer from Casey Pugh on Vimeo.

I recently saw this in passing in a yahoo news article, then more recently a new member of TMU mentioned it on the forums, and I thought, "Why not!"

To quote the post (quoting the site):

"Hello! You and 472 other people have the chance to recreate Star Wars: A New Hope. Below is the entire movie split up into 15 second clips. Click on one of the scenes to claim it, film it, and upload it. You can have up to three scenes! When we're all done, we'll stitch it all together and watch the magic happen."

Well, I have! And I think it'd be great to see more machinima entries in it, too. I have no idea how many people are already working on this, so it'd be cool if you could let me know here!

Check out the site: http://www.starwarsuncut.com/

Note: They've made use of Vimeo to host the videos, and the result is fairly simple and effective.

So... why not come to the Dark Side and give it a try!!

Grock and the Dark Czar - Revisited

2009-10-11T18:18:00.003-04:00

As the title says, I have revisited Grock's last moments, showing them from a single point of view this time, as some people had trouble with the multiple views of the first version.

Again, this animation was made using iClone 3.2, filmed using one camera showing the entire animation sequence.

Roll on Pay Day... :)

Grock And The Dark Czar

2009-10-04T14:41:00.004-04:00

While waiting for iClone 4 to be released, and making use of the iClone Fantasy World Evil Force pack (thanks to my small win in the Tribute Contest), I have put together this short piece.

I wanted to do a fantasy fight sequence, but do it in ONE take. This I have done, but to keep it interesting, I used four different camera angles. And once in post production, I combined them in a slightly unusual manner (for me) that shows pretty much everything that's going on.

It might take several viewings by the audience to catch all the details (I could be wrong), but I think it would be worth your while.

The story (what there is of it, and most of that is in my head) is based on a fantasy/sci-fi world I created years ago call Marisia. What you see here is just 90 seconds of about 5000 years of history.

Enjoy.

(I seriously suggest you watch this in High Def, with your headphones/speakers turned up nice and comfortably loud to enjoy it fully.)

Something about Bitfilm

2009-09-18T06:58:00.005-04:00

I recently sat down and watched all the entries in the current Bitfilm festival (the machinima ones, that is). With just one exception, they are all very very good movies. In particular I was blown away by Intervention by Phil Rice (footage by Richard Grove, I believe). I hadn't seen it before and was swept up by the unique music and clever use of the GTA IV footage. The story it told and how it was revealed - in a word: Brilliant.

Not to give Phil too big of a head, I have to say I still really enjoy his Blast Supper (the clear winner of Mefune's contest IMO). Very clever use of the lines given and just so much fun.

World Of Workcraft gave me a few laughs, too. I'm not a WoW fan, but I DO work in an office, and I know enough of online gaming to "get it". Funny.

One thing I noticed with many of the entries is that Post Production is a BIG thing. Me, I'm still getting used to being able to edit my films in a basic fashion while others are out there throwing wizz bang special effects all about. I'm jealous. hehe. Actually, I'm inspired. I'm clearly going to have to lift my game in that department. Not that my film looks bad, but there is a big difference between it and ones that have had a decent "make over".

Anyway, I believe the voting ends soon, so if you haven't seen or voted, I suggest you pull your finger out and go do it now!

(And the exception? Pretty obvious...)

Having a break

2009-08-16T14:49:00.001-04:00

Feeling a bit "blah" so better to take a break than do something I'm not enjoying. Besides, the dog likes the extra attention... :)

Be back soon!

Forbidden Planetoid - The Video Outtake!

2009-07-27T20:43:00.002-04:00

Luckily, I managed to find the time to make this very short (33 seconds!) video "outtake" for my contest entry (see previous blog entry for the poster submission!)

It's nothing brilliant, but it completes my entry... nothing worse than coming up short in a contest when you don't have to!

Enjoy!

Forbidden Planetoid - The Poster

2009-07-25T20:13:00.003-04:00

This coming Friday I fly off to Australia for little over a week. I'll be visiting my parents, primarily, as well as other family members and some friends. When I come back, it's full steam ahead with 'The Haunter Of The Dark'. But in the meantime, I couldn't help but make up a quick entry into Reallusion's latest Movie Tribute Contest (click the poster to take a closer look!)

At this point in time, I do not have the optional video entry to match the poster, but if I find some time in the next few days, I'll see what I can come up with. If not, then this is it...

That's it for now! See you soon!

The Terrible Old Man Goes To Bitfilm 2009

2009-07-14T15:56:00.005-04:00

On a whim several months ago, I decided to enter my film 'The Terrible Old Man' into the 2009 Bitfilm festival/contest. I then completely forgot about it! :)

Well today, to my surprise and delight, I received word that it had been nominated for a Bitfilm Award (under machinima, of course)!

Now all I have to do is ship them a nice, hires copy of the flick so that they can show it at their cinemas (I believe the festival takes place in at least two locations).

I think the whole thing goes into the horrible "internet vote" thing to determine the winner, which I think is the worst way to judge anything, but that's life. At least someone thought it was worthy of the nomination, so I'm happy!

So anyway, at the risk of bragging, this is my second time to get into the festival. The first was 'Final Night' (another horror film... hmmm)... was that last year? I can't remember. Must have been 2 years ago. Maybe 3 years...

Anyone else put a film in? And have you heard back yet?

Honest reviews... where art thou?

2009-07-11T15:54:00.006-04:00

I know that over the years that I've been part of TMO and now TMU, there has been a LOT of discussion about reviews and review techniques. Well, it looks like it's time again...

Might be just me, but I seem to be witnessing a trend of praise with little in the way of actual critique. Basically, you put up a movie and receive nothing but love. (I see the same thing in the Reallusion forums, too).

Me, I think that's shallow. And not helpful at all. Not that I'm innocent of the charges, but hey... I ain't perfect. But at least I can admit to it.

Anyway, how about we start giving people honest feedback on movies. It used to be the norm over on TMO (once upon a time).

Are YOU up to the challenge? Dare to be honest... with EVERYONE.

--

(For some light reading of the complete opposite of a "praise-a-thon", try this link to a review of several versions of 'The Terrible Old Man', including both mine and Slarner's. Click Me - WARNING: This is NOT an example of what I would like to see! But it is the opposite of our current trend.)

Characters and Costumes

2009-06-17T07:46:00.009-04:00

Since the script is done, I can now happily move on to the costumes and characters for 'The Haunter Of The Dark'.

Here you'll see the first first that I've come up with...

Patrolman Monohan, played by Killian.

The student, Miss Marsh, played by JetCityWoman

Franco, the Italian Shopkeeper, played by Fulkster.

EDIT: How about this?

Announcing the Cast of 'The Haunter Of The Dark'

2009-06-07T20:41:00.005-04:00

Casting is now COMPLETE! The scripts have been sent out, and now it's time to get stuck into production!

I've been having a lot of fun building the set for Blake's Study, where much of the movie will be filmed (see above). Got a lot more to do yet, of course, and I won't be rushing it. I want to get it RIGHT.

But now, here is the Cast List (as announced on today's Roger and Ken Show):

The movie will star Richard Grove as 'Robert Blake'

Cecil_Evans landed the role of 'Doctor Dexter'

Killian will play 'Patrolman Monohan'

GoofParade will be the voice of 'Edwin Lillibridge'.

Fulkster will be our 'Italian Shopkeeper'

K4OwnsAll is the 'Coroner's Physician'.

And JetCityWoman is both the 'Student' and 'Phone Operator'.

Congratulations and Thanks to them all!

Also appearing as part of the large 'Crowd' will be Ubernewbie, Macwemyss, and TehPaptartKid.

In fact, I'm looking for MORE 'Crowd' members, so if you'd like to help out, please contact me for details.

Last but not least, I'd like to thank the many people who auditioned for the main roles but didn't make it. The competition was very tough, and the decisions I had to make were equally tough.

Thank you all,

BiggsTrek

Casting Call for 'The Haunter Of The Dark'

2009-06-01T21:12:00.007-04:00

Hi fellow bloggers!

For my upcoming movie 'The Haunter Of The Dark', I require some important Voice Over roles filled.

(Should you succeed, you'll be joining Richard Grove and JetCityWoman in the cast).

Please consider auditioning for the following:

DOCTOR DEXTER
Blake's acquaintance. A cultured American voice. Not many lines, but a very important role.

Accent: American.
Gender: Male.
Age: Adult.
Audition line:

"Well, Sir, I would have to disagree
with your findings. My own
conclusion is vastly different...
and I intend to act on it."

PATROLMAN MONOHAN
An Irish policeman (who'd have thought!) I have two people interested in this role, but it is still open to auditions (including the two interested parties!)

Accent: Irish.
Gender: Male.
Age: Adult.
Audition line:

"I tell you, if Father O’Malley were alive today, there’d be many a thing he could tell you of that old Church."

EDWIN LILLIBRIDGE
A newspaper reporter (American). Gritty, down to earth kind of guy.

Accent: American.
Gender: Male.
Age: Adult.
Audition line (note: read as diary entry, not as spoken word):

"Father O’Malley tells of devil-worship with box found in great Egyptian ruins - says they call up something that can’t exist in light."

ITALIAN SHOPKEEPER
This guy needs a decent Italian accent. In fact, if you happen to be able to speak Italian, that would be handy as he has a few lines in that language (which need to be checked for accuracy...)

Accent: Italian.
Gender: Male.
Age: Adult.
Audition lines:

"Um, er, sorry Sir, I no understand."

"Siamo spiacenti, non parlano inglese."

CORONER'S PHYSICIAN
Another cultured accent, slightly pompous.

Accent: American (preferred, but not essential. Pompous English would work...)
Age: Adult.
Gender: Male.
Audition line:

"Nature has shown herself capable of many freakish performances, Doctor Dexter."

LARGE CROWD OF MALE AND FEMALE ITALIAN/AMERICANS
As the bulk of these people appear in a crowd scene, you can have any accent. I'd like a fair number of people to make a significant crowd 'sound'...

(No audition required, just send me your lines!)
Accent: Any (prefer Italian, but not necessary)
Age: Any
Gender: Any
Lines:

"mumble mumble mumble mumble mumble" (general crowd noise)

"Oooohhhh..." (awed)

"Argh!" (frightened)

"May God be with you and bless you" (blessing - English)

and/or

"Che Dio sia con voi e vi benedico" (blessing - Italian)

--

Please send your audition lines to: biggstrek @ comcast . net - and don't forget to include your preferred name or Userid for credit purposes.

Depending on performances, availability, etc, I may require a second audition line (to break deadlocks).

If you haven't seen it, check out the Teaser to get a feeling of what you're getting involved in.

:)

Teaser for 'The Haunter Of The Dark'

2009-05-31T12:16:00.002-04:00

Thought I'd put together a quick teaser for my next movie.

Audio is from the Ad I made for Dulci's hit show on TMOA.
(Stars Richard Grove and BiggsTrek. Music by me, too.)

Thong Results!

2009-05-25T11:16:00.003-04:00

Just briefly, thought I'd share my Second Place win in the Annual Roger Thong Contest held by TMOA!

In first place was themonk's Security Guards In Space X: Trials of a Roger Scout! A worthy winner as it was far more disturbing an entry than mine, lol.

Second place was my The Thonginning & Other Tales.

Third place was DCMF's fabulous entry, the Roger Thong Commercial, which was followed by an excellent demonstration of all the great work those guys are doing at keeping The Movies alive!

Special mention to TehPoptartKid's entry, Thong Manor. I think if he'd had more time, he could have had a much stronger entry.

Last, but not least (well, maybe a little 'least') was Guppi's untitled entry. Notable for the blatant child abuse and future trauma his son will endure when he sees himself wearing a Roger Thong as a small baby...

The Thonginning & Other Tales

2009-05-18T08:09:00.003-04:00

Yes, I've actually completed a movie... lol

Made for the annual 'Roger Thong Contest' held by TMOA's Ken and Roger, it delves a little into the history of Underpants Man's newest assistant.

I won't go into details, otherwise you won't need to watch it!

The Thonginning & Other Tales

Starring

JetCityWoman
Kuroken
Rjb2112
Josephkw
Nahton
BiggsTrek
and Deuce...

With apologies to Guppi for using that one joke...

I've got somethong on my mind

2009-05-03T16:23:00.006-04:00

Because I'm crazy, and because I had some inspiration on the way home from work on Friday (it's been rare lately, so I grab hold of it when it comes!) I am working on a new project as of now: an entry in the TMOA Roger Thong Contest!

It will mainly be a 'The Movies' film, though it has a very nice 1 minute scene done in iClone (one that Guppi might appreciate... or not).

As of now, it is half complete (amazing, I know!) and I'm well into the production of what's left. So stay tuned for a release in the next 2 weeks (which is essential as that's when the contest closes!)

(The picture above is a texture from the iClone portion of the movie...)

Not much to report...

2009-04-22T08:30:00.002-04:00

I know, I know, I've been slack at putting up entries. No real excuse for that, other than I have no spare time at the moment (and *cough* I haven't had time during work hours to do "extra" stuff *cough*).

Deuce has taken up a lot of my time, too. He demands attention, and being so darn cute, he gets it! And my work life has been hectic, having just put up a major upgrade to the system and then having to fight all the little fires that popped up in the following days (which I'm still doing now!)

On the machinima front, I have made almost NO progress on ANY project I'm working on. Though I did sit down and enter my film, 'The Terrible Old Man' into the Bitfilm contest for 2009 (I had a little success in the same contest/festival some years earlier with 'Final Night', where it got into the finals/voting stage...)

And apart from that, the only thing that has made progress is a small re-imagining of that same story for another contest. Inspired by a stupid post I made in the TMU forums, I decided to go ahead and do "something" with it. More details on that when it's done (which means don't hold your breath!)

I'm hoping to abandon all distractions soon and get back into writing the script for 'The Haunter Of The Dark'... I really need to get that done. It drives me nuts that it takes me soooo long to get anything done.

That's it for now! Not an exciting update, but better than nothing, I guess!

Deuce is Here!

2009-04-06T21:20:00.005-04:00

You didn't really think I was going to keep up a daily blog, did you? lol Anyway, let me briefly introduce you to our new friend, Deuce. He's a lovely boy with a gentle nature. Also, he's very playful and takes a LOT of time to keep amused, which is good as I get a lot more exercise! It also explains why I haven't updated this blog since he arrived just over a week ago.

Anyway, he's fitting in really well.

One bad habit he seems to have brought with him from his former life: wanting to lie on me while I'm on the sofa. 150 pounds of Great Dane on your lap is not recommended. hehe

Day Ten - I Like Balance

2009-03-26T16:08:00.007-04:00

Just to balance out some of my "negativity" regarding the iClone pricing thing, I'd just like to say that after taking a bit of a look around there is a glimmer of hope.

As Ken pointed out, there are alternatives to Reallusion's Content Store. One such is CoolClones and I have to say that after taking a closer look at it, I can happily report that they seem to have a better idea of costs (in general) than the official site. In fact, I found some stuff on there that I think I will buy very soon, and I don't expect I'll need to take out a loan to pay for it!

Also, I'd just like to say that Reallusion aren't a bad company. Quite the opposite, really. Sure, they charge too much for content (and don't supply enough basic stuff for my liking), but they certainly go a long way towards balancing that out by LISTENING to their customers (do you hear that, Lionhead??)

You only have to hang out at the Reallusion forums for a short while to see what I mean. First of all we have Peter Edwards, who is (I believe) the official rep for Reallusion on the forums. And man, does he do a great job (I'm not just saying that, I really mean it). It seems that he reads EACH and EVERY post, and responds to virtually EVERY complaint in both a timely manner, and a respectful, helpful way as well. It really is a nice change to the LH forums (towards the end, anyway).

Throw in the fact that Reallusion TAKE USER SUGGESTIONS SERIOUSLY, and you have a winning combination. They recently posted a list of upcoming improvements to iClone, many of which (maybe even all of them) came originally from the users. One of my suggestions even made the list! (Make Camera Visible - Next Version)

So there you go. Hope springs eternal. Maybe they'll take my ranting about prices to heart one day. I can only hope!

Day Nine - A Day In Egypt

2009-03-26T07:34:00.005-04:00

Day Nine was spent with my mother-in-law, my wife and her friend at a King Tut exhibit at the Atlanta Civic Centre (thus the day late post).

It was pretty cool, looking at stuff from 1000's of years ago: statues made of calcite, intricate jewellery of gold, etc etc. And yet the thing that sticks most with me was... (drum roll) A TOILET SEAT.

Yes, Roger would be proud. :) Of all the ancient relics and history on display, I was most fascinated by a square of marble (I think it was marble) with a slight concave depression and a "keyhole" shaped hole through about half of it (see above).

After that we ventured to another ancient site - a dodgy looking cafeteria that was once featured on "Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives". It looked terrible on the outside (see below), it was horribly overcrowded. The food looked disgusting... and yet; it was very very tasty.

So much for my perceptions, huh? hehe

Day Eight - Skewed Perspective

2009-03-24T07:28:00.005-04:00

The last line of my previous blog read "Or maybe it's just me?" in regard to Reallusion's Content Store and the prices therein. After Ken's and Killian's comments (and some pondering on my own), I thought that maybe it really is a matter of perspective.

When you boil it all down, I want to buy all the content there is to buy. I WANT IT ALL. But I simply can't afford it. That same argument doesn't apply to others who CAN.

Having come from TMO where we all held hands, singing songs, dancing naked in the wilderness, it was a real shock to find the fresh fruit no longer appearing magically on the table in the mornings and being forced to venture out into the harsh neon light of the Real World and deal with the perils of a different, harsher land. :)

---

Let me tell you briefly what I did recently: I tried submitting some content for sale at the Reallusion Content Store. First of all, you don't have to prove you have any skills in modding or art or anything like that. You simply need to have registered a product with Reallusion and that qualifies you to sell "stuff".

The submission process isn't very hard, but you need to prep some things to do so, such as having images ready of the EXACT SIZE they require, and being ready to make up some fancy wording for your Ad.

My plan was submit an item for sale, and charge next to nothing for it. With this strategy I was hoping to prove that you COULD make a profit by selling something really cheap, but at a higher volume (I seem to remember hearing that in an old Bugs Bunny cartoon..."Mass prooooduction")

I made a stupid mistake, though. I took a Google 3D Warehouse item (a Skeleton) and was attempting to sell that as a CloneBone character. It didn't occur to me until after I'd submitted it that I technically didn't own it. I DID spend a lot of time fiddling it, resizing it, changing parts, etc to make it into a usable (and quite cool, I might say ) CloneBone actor (for more details on what a CloneBone actor is, read THIS.)

Naturally and quite rightly, Reallusion informed me that I'd have to contact the original modellers (there were two, one for the body, another for the skull) before they could put it up on the site.

But the real funny bit (the one that ruined my plans) was they said I would have to charge WAY more for it. You see, I wanted to charge $1.00 for my SkeletonMan.

Just fyi: Reallusion take a significant chunk of the profit (up to 50%) and they only give you money back when your cut reaches $100. In other words, I'd have to sell about 200 SkeletonMen before I'd see a dime. Not a problem for me, but obviously one for them.

My Reallusion contact suggested a charge of $5.00 for SkeletonMan (once I had permission from the initial modellers), which I guess isn't too bad. Certainly a lot better than $96.00 *cough* (that one item really irks me, sorry).

So one day I might try again, but with something of my own (100%) creation. In the meantime, I'll just give SkeletonMan away for nothing, dreaming of the good old days when I used to hug trees, sing meaningless songs, and run around in my underpants, thinking I was a hero...

:)

Day Seven - The Cost Of iClone

2009-03-23T17:37:00.003-04:00

Recently, I purchased the boxed edition of iClone3 Pro, which came bundled with 3DXchange (for importing virtually any prop my heart could imagine). The software is brilliant, no doubt about it. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you get the basics down, you start to see the true potential of this software.

I almost didn't buy it, though. The reason: cost of extra content (and I know several other people that felt the same way and opted to take the Moviestorm route as a result).

How much does extra content cost, I hear you ask? (you know you did...) - put simply: TOO BLOODY MUCH.

The basic level of purchasable content is WAY OVERPRICED. Reallusion (the company that makes the product) charge very high prices for their content packs (of which there are many, I might add).

Take at look at their Content Store to see what I mean (I'll wait why you do that...)

OK, an example: The Wedding Planner Deluxe Pack costs a whopping $199.95, I kid you not (the same price I paid for my boxed edition of the base software). Sure it has a fair bit of content, but $200 bucks worth? No way.

They've managed to offset this by giving us BackStage, which is a system that allows you to trial and buy individual pieces of these packs, so you don't have to mortgage your house to make a 10 minute machinima movie. One of the problems I've noticed with that is that NOT ALL of the content is available through BackStage, so for certain things you are still forced to buy the entire pack, or go without.

This overpricing tendency seems to have bled over into the ranks of the individual content developers as well. One item (a simple, but unique variant of the ubiquitous CloneCloth system) is priced at a RIDICULOUS $96!! Just outrageous, if you ask me - it's just ONE ITEM!

Of course, it's not all doom and gloom. As has been said by many others before (including myself), the software comes with pretty much all you need to do, build and create everything you need. It just takes time and effort to do so (and did I mention skill, which you might not have?) But if you want to take the easy route, it's gunna cost ya, buddy.

In a recent email exchange with a Reallusion employee (I was doing a little experiment which I might touch on in a later blog), I suggested the obvious (to me) approach of selling the content for LESS, and thus making it available to more buyers. Seems to me if you sell the same item more times for less money, your profit will even out, with the added bonus of having more loyal and happy customers that can AFFORD the content packs (and future products).

Am I wrong in this assumption? I'm no businessman, but it seems very straightforward to me.

Honestly, I think they are shooting themselves in the foot by overpricing the content this way. Is it greed or ignorance? Or maybe it's just me?

Day Six - Music

2009-03-22T18:17:00.004-04:00

A long time ago, on an old computer far, far away, I tried to make my own music in a program called OctaMED. This was a 'tracker' program, not a tradition musical notation system, and more suitable to a person who had very little 'real' musical knowledge (I'd had piano lessons as a kid, but it didn't 'stick'). The Commodore Amiga had many of these tracker programs, and the results were quite impressive.

My results were tragic, however. I played one piece on my stereo system, and my mother heard it in an adjoining room, commenting "What was that terrible sound?" I didn't try again.

Wind the clock forward about 20+ years, and I got the urge to try again. This time I bought Sony's ACID Music Studio software: much like the old tracker programs of old, but a lot more friendly to use and a lot more powerful as well.

The results this time were very good. In fact, I was stunned at just how good my first attempts came out. Inside a few hours I had a nice Spanish Guitar piece, a hip Drum one, a light, fluffy Classical piece and several others.

So I then aimed my sites on my machinima movies (the real reason for making music, in this instance). And now I find myself doing the scores for all my flicks. I like the results, and it avoids all those nasty copyright problems many of us suffered (or avoided) back on TMO (where the laws were strict, and the communication nil).

I've also done some other people's films (at least in part). My first was JudyAnn88's latest Hercules film. I got to do the entire score for that. I've also done tracks for Cecil_Evan's Mortal Coil film (and his up coming flick as well, which I won't disclose just yet). I even inadvertently worked with GoofParade on a song for tehpoptartkid's SirFartsALot film. I made up some music, and TPK send it to GP who amazed me by making it into a song. (The man is brilliant, I tells ya!)

What gets me is how quickly the music comes about. I think I did Judy's film in just a few hours (OK, the film was relatively short, but it was my very first musical 'score'). And it's remarkably satisfying to make it. I think if I ever give up movie making, I'll probably still make music. It's just so much fun!

While I don't go out of my way to make music for others, I usually try and help those that ask. So if any of my machinima friends (or future friends) are in need of some music, just ask me. The worst I can say is 'no'...

Day Five - Biggs Darklighter

2009-03-21T08:25:00.008-04:00

I'm a Star Wars fan. There, I said it! Actually, I'm a Science Fiction fan, but Star Wars just happened to be 'the big thing' (and still is) when it came to sci-fi as I grew up. I know, there's Star Trek (BiggsTREK anyone?) but Star Wars always seemed to overshadow poor old 'Trek (for me). And yes, I DEFINITELY know that there is life beyond these two franchises. In fact, in a lot of ways, they are possibly the WORST representations of the genre. But that's a topic for another day.

Somewhere along the road I noticed that many people seemed to "latch on" to one particular character or another. One friend seemed to really like Luke, while another had a thing for Han. Someone else had a wookiee thing (that sounds bad... lol). I guess I felt like joining in on the whole "dedication" thing, so I opted to take on Biggs Darklighter. Someone obscure, yet interesting. I even tracked down the plastic figure of Biggs in a toy store.

A few years ago I was watching a LOT of Star Wars Fan Films over at TheForce.Net and I got really excited at the thought of making my OWN Star Wars fan flick. Having already dedicated my Star Wars life to Biggs Darklighter, I knew it would have to be about him. Of course, I had no idea how to make a film, nor did I think I could easily find the people and resources that would be required. That didn't put me off, though. But it did make me pause.

I knew I'd at least need a story to get the ball rolling. Once upon a time I made up a fake Star Wars crawl, telling the Star Wars story if Biggs Darklighter had been the star. That would have been a silly idea for a film (it was much too compressed) but it spawned the idea of telling the previously untold tale of Biggs Darklighter (just what did he get up to en route to joining the Rebellion?) (Actually, it has been told in a Dark Horse comic series, and a couple of other fanfics, but I prefer mine...)

I had no idea how to write a script at the time (I still don't, really, but that doesn't stop me!) so I opted to write the story as a story. After much scribbling, and rewriting, even adding a romantic element to it (and humour), I came up with 'The Adventure Of Biggs Darklighter'. If you'd like to read it, here's a link (the pictures do the same):

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1436055/1/Biggs_Darklighter_i_The_Adventure_of

Not terribly long after that, I started work on a sequel (the original was received well enough, and I had some more ideas I wanted to do.) And so eventually 'Biggs Darklighter ii - One Dark Future' was born. Weighing in at twice the length of the first, it was a much more complex tale, venturing into the fun world of an Alternate Universe (though not really... you'll have to read it to get what I mean):

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2036198/1/Biggs_Darklighter_ii_One_Dark_Future

Plans for a third and final installment got underway not long after that, but unfortunately I haven't sat down and done it yet (got some cool ideas jotted down, though). You see, I found a little product called 'The Movies'... and all my spare time got sucked up!

Of course, one day, I hope to come full circle and actually MAKE the first Darklighter story into a movie, just as I originally planned. Only it'd be machinima. That's still a little ways off yet, but one day, one day...

Day Four - Just One Week Ago

2009-03-20T16:30:00.008-04:00

Just one week ago, Cosmo didn't wake up. It's a funny way of saying "he died", though it obviously means the same thing. I guess it's the politically correct, or sensitive, way to say it. Anyway, that's not what I want to talk about.

The two pictures in this blog are the only ones we saw of him before meeting and subsequently adopting him. As you can see from the one above, he was a skinny thing. I think that picture was taken shortly after the original "rescuers" found him on the side of the road. They soon discovered he suffered from heart worm (which used to be fatal just a few years ago). Six months of treatment later, isolated in the foster family garage in a large cage, he came out looking like the picture below. As you can see, he was a very handsome boy.

Knowing nothing of his past, they called him Hercules, or Herc for short. A nice name for a big dog, but not one we wanted to use. So we set about thinking up an appropriate name for him.

Spock was one I came up with, and for about 3 or 4 hours that was his name. But it didn't really seem right. Then I guess while watching Seinfeld, we came up with the name Cosmo, after the character Kramer (if you watch the show you know what I mean). It really did seem to suit him. Cosmo was crazy (both of them!) and yet endearing (OK, Kramer might have lost his shine after a certain incident, but you can't win 'em all!)

Just one week ago...

Both my wife and I agree that it feels a lot longer.

Day Three - Howard Phillips Lovecraft

2009-03-19T08:00:00.004-04:00

It's no secret that I'm currently working on another H. P. Lovecraft movie, 'The Haunter Of The Dark'. In preparation for that, I've done a little research into Mr Lovecraft. Not a lot, but enough to get me into the right 'mindset' to work on his story.

As I write the script, I've kept reading his short stories (not just 'Haunter, but any and all I can get my hands on) and I've noticed that he certainly did love his home of New England (or maybe he hated it so much that he wanted to haunt it with all sorts of evil critters?) And, as an aussie, I find it amusing that he has thrown Australia into the mix every now and then. It's nice to know, for example, that under the desert sands of Western Australia lies the ruins of a mind-faring race of beings from another time and place.

Another observation (and a pretty obvious one, for those that have read his stories) is the language differences. For instance, the word "show" is written "shew" and "shown" is "shewn". I noticed the same kind of difference in another novel of about the same period, 'When Worlds Collide' (by Philip Wylie & Edwin Balmer) that used the word "bowlder" instead of the modern "boulder". I guess I find that kind of thing fascinating.

Right now, my script writing is on hold (due to Cosmo's death - I just can't make myself do anything 'fun' while I mourn his loss) but I am still reading the Lovecraft stories I've downloaded to my Kindle (more on that device in a later blog, I'm sure). I like the fact that pretty much all his work is now in the public domain (or whatever the correct expression is) and readily available for reading/download on several sites.

Lovecraft came up with some cool ideas. I like the fact that they aren't the typical 'Demons' or 'Angels' that we get in many horror tales. They are more science fiction than horror, in my opinion. Or maybe a good mix. Apparently the man was an atheist and wanted to write stories that would scare Christians. I have a funny feeling he succeeded.

And man, was Lovecraft ugly or what?! (Sorry HPL...)

Day Two - Sci-Fi becomes SyFy... no, seriously!

2009-03-18T07:40:00.003-04:00

Stupidist thing I've read in a while. The Sci-Fi Channel has announced that it will change the name of the channel (and website) to SyFy. Might just as well start calling it the SyPhilis Channel (insert your own jokes as appropriate).

Seriously, as a dedicated sci-fi fan for over 40 years, I find this a bit insulting. I have no real problem with them changing the name of the channel, but why make it a stupid, nonsensical name? It's like insulting the entire genre. Why not something nice, like, um, Phoenix or something? I'm sure if I put my mind to it, I could come up with something more appropriate.

What they really should consider is changing the crap programming they have. With the very obvious exception of Battlestar Galactica (the best piece of TV sci-fi in years), they really don't have much to brag about. That stupid "reality" show Ghost Hunters should be the first thing to chop. And the pitiful weekly Saturday Premiere movies should be scrapped and the money to make them funneled into a SINGLE DECENT FILM. Honestly, those weekly films are... weak.

Last comment: The little line below SyFy: "Imagine Greater"... what the hell does that mean? It's not even grammatically correct! Bloody idiots.

OK, I'm good now... just had to get that out of my system. :)

Day One - Farewell Cosmo

2009-03-17T07:46:00.002-04:00

Hey all (meaning those 2 or 3 of you that might actually read this), I've considered doing a blog for a while now and I guess today I finally made that choice.

I don't want to start off on a 'downer', but I'm afraid that's the way it's going to be.

Just last week (Friday March 13th, 2009) my wife and I woke to find our beloved Cosmo (a beautiful Great Dane) had passed away during the night. He was in his usually sleeping position, eyes closed and he looked at peace. I can't think of a better way to go.

We adopted Cosmo about three and a half years ago (I believe it was the Labor Day weekend of 2005). No-one knew anything of his past, but based on his skittish behaviour, he must have had a rough time at some stage. However, also based on his weird love of being dressed up (I'm serious!) and very eager desire to go visit little girls, we think he was also loved at some stage, by someone.

Cosmo had a good life with us. Actually, he was spoiled. lol My wife and I have no kids, so Cosmo was effectively our child. You can imagine that he received a lot of attention as a result.

As I mentioned earlier, he had some "issues", and saying he was skittish is an understatement. He was terrified of thunder (as many dogs are) but Cosmo was clever enough (and stupid enough) to associate lightning flashes with thunder - and camera flashes! As a result of that, he would run away and hide if you tried to take a picture of him (which sadly means we have very few pictures of him). In fact, one of the best pictures we have of him is one where he is hiding behind a tree because we tried to "snap" him running towards us (he promptly ran to the back of our yard and hid (see below)).

I have many stories of Cosmo that I could tell, and I might share them now and then as I try to deal with losing him so suddenly. For now I'll leave you with that picture.

We both miss him very much. The house is a very empty, quiet place without him.