Monday, March 10, 2008

Video Editing 101

Remember a while back when I said I was going to make a God Hand music video? Well, I'm still working on it, but I'm much closer. I took some test footage today and decided to make a short video out of it. Aside from the crap video quality, I think it came out pretty well.



I'm hoping I can get the right equipment for when I do the real video. That, too, will have a Bullets and Octane soundtrack, because Bullets and Octane rock on epic levels.

But yeah, actually getting the raw footage will be the most time-consuming part of the whole thing. Aside from the video quality issues, the idea I had for the GMV involves cutscenes that I would only have access to by playing through the whole game. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I've played through it a good 4 times already. What's one more?

Daylight Savings: A Caffeinated Rant

It's Daylight Savings Time here in the states. Yes, that fateful time of year where we all have to lose an hour of sleep and sacrifice it to the gods in an attempt to appease their wrath and bring forth the spring sunshine.

Personally, I like it better than the fall where we go back an hour. Sure, in the spring we have to flash forward an hour in time, but that's easy to do for those of us whose clocks only have that one button to advance the numbers. In the fall, to set it back I have to hit the damn thing 23 times to get it to the right hour.

That is, unless I try to trick it by waiting until 11:59 and hitting the minute buttons to make it go to 11:00 at just the right time, but that requires a quantum syncopation of myself, the clock, and the rest of the universe. And hell, who has the time for that? Especially since I just lost an hour of sleep last night.

I swear, one of these days I'll throw aside the shackles of Daylight Savings and figure out how to control time and space by will alone. Until then, I'm gonna really think about buying a new alarm clock.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Friday Night Double-Feature

It's been a while since I did this. I spent tonight watching a horror film double-feature on TV, with mixed results. I felt like writing a little movie review, so that's just what I did. So, without further ado, let's get to the movies:


Urban Legend

This so-called thriller is standard horror movie fare. The thing opens on a college-age girl at a rest stop getting gas. She's terrified that she's being watched, and runs like hell when the creepy gas station attendent approaches her. She gets away, gets in the car and takes off, only to find out that he was just trying to warn her, "There's someone in the back seat!"

Yeah, that's about as good as it gets. The rest of the movie just goes straight downhill from there. The acting makes Baten Kaitos look good. The characters are unremarkable, unbelievable, and genuinely unlikeable. The whole "story" is obviously not grounded in reality, and the plot has more holes in it than the practice target in the shooting range in Grigori's backyard.

**Spoilers Ahead**

The "twist" that comes at the end is definitely out of left field, but only because it makes no sense. I mean, come on. In what universe can a skinny white girl man-handle a bulky black woman with a gun, get shot in the torso and fall out a second story window, then get flung through the windshield of a car into a lake, and still be alive years later?!

Bottom line, this movie wasn't worth what I payed for it. And considering I watched it for free on FX, that's saying something. Avoid this one like the plague.



Joy Ride

First of all, I never realized that Steve Zahn did horror movies. I was pleasantly surprised; he gives a great performance in this film.

To sum up, the movie is about these two guys who play a prank on a trucker, and it gets a bit out of hand. Next thing you know, there's a guy half-dead in the hospital, and it looks like these two may be next.

That's all I want to reveal on this one. I really liked this film from start to finish. Good acting, good story (though not entirely original), and overall does a good job of maintaining that edge-of-your-seat feeling you're supposed to get from watching a good horror flick.

So, if you're looking for a good thriller along the same vein as Hitcher and Rest Stop, or you just want to see Steve Zahn in a unique roll, I recommend going to Blockbuster and looking for this one. You won't be sorry.