… both Eureka Farm albums online …

JUST IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Both Eureka Farm albums are up on iTunes now. Now I’m going to just sit back and watch the pennies roll in! If you are interested in hearing some of my music, I recommend clicking on the link below and checking out some of the songs on iTunes.

Click on this guy:

The albums are both self recorded in various locations from a grange hall, a gymnasium, a concert hall, and a farm house amongst other places. Instrumentation includes the standard guitar/bass/drums and incorporates some vintage Moogs, a Lowrey organ, Bass clarinet, saxophone, piano, and a Zither-like thing.

If you are not a fan of iTunes, then there will be other avenues announced shortly…

… No Escape! end of round one …

I finished the first cut of the “No Escape!” music video today! I rendered it out in 1080p (took over an hour) and I started taking notes on the parts that need to be fixed. I’ll probably sit down tomorrow and scan through it scene by scene to look for stray pixels and bad lines. I saw a few today in passing.

It feels pretty good to be done with 98% of the work. One or two shots might need a tweak or two but that’s nothing. there are over 70 individual shots in the video.

I’m not sure when (or if) I’ll post the rough cut. I might just save the thing until I get the record done and release it when the album comes out.

The shot above is actually from a font. I’m thinking I need to go back and trace it out on my 20×20 pixel grid in order to remain consistent with the rest of the game er … um … video.

Whew!!!

… Fall to do list update …

Winter is here and I didn’t do so good on my Fall To Do List. “Bits” has been behind schedule and I haven’t had the lungs to belt out the vocals for the remaining tracks. Maybe I need to book a flight to Bermuda.

I did get my previous records (with the exception of the Misadventures of Two material) posted to online retailers. That’s cool.

It wouldn’t take me long to get my VST instruments out of Beta status, but they are all working fine, so I haven’t been terribly inspired to upgrade/tweak them.

I’ll be finishing both the “No Escape!” and “Combat” music videos this week … so that will help tidy up the list. I’ve been working quite a bit on the animation for “No Escape!”. I’d be perfectly happy if that was the only thing on my to do list. Animating is a very slow process.

I guess it is the “Bits” situation that is the big hold up. Hmmmm … I’ll have to get back on it.

In my defense, I did work on a few things that were NOT on the Fall To Do List:

1) I created a virtual instrument based on Benjamin Franklin’s Glass Armonica.
2) I worked on a TOP SECRET video project.
3) I found the third and final toy ray gun for my Ray Gun VSTi.

So sometimes life doesn’t go as planned.

… death II …

… just a few scenes to go before I finish the first cut of the “No Escape!” music video. Here is a still shot of the skeletal innards of the Igog (not to be confused with the iPod or just plain old Gog … or God). It relates to an earlier post I made about the “death effect” (which I have refined to fit my 20×20 pixel grid).

I have about 6-8 scenes left. As Portland gets snowed in, I might be able to take advantage of being cooped up in the house all day and finish this thing up in the next day or two. I don’t know if I’ll post the rough cut right away. I haven’t locked the final mix for “No Escape!” yet. I still need to replace the scratch vocal tracks.

I did put up an early version of the “Combat” music video after I finished the rough cut … hmmm … I don’t know.

… R.I.P. Klaqs …

Today, the character of Klaqs hit the cutting room floor. Although he/she/it was only an extra in the video, I couldn’t fit he/she/it into what is becoming the final edit.

Klaqs is a cross between a piece a cheese with eyes, ruby red lips and some sexy legs. I’m not sure what is going on there. I’ve given each character in the film a name so I can keep track of them as they animated and scooted around.

Bye Bye Klaqs!!!!

Don’t worry I haven’t done away with the Goot, Gort, Gog or the Snog yet.

… he’s baaaaaaack! …

Click the image above to play!

Willie is back … and this time he’s playing video games!

I completed three more scenes today and the above clip is one of them. Willie creates the final dramatic action in my music video for the song “No Escape!”.

… and nothing is more dramatic than playing video games. If you look closely, you can see Willie control the white blip on the bottom of the screen.

I have 11 shots to go before I finish the first cut. I’m already keeping a tally of some touch-up work I need to do in spots, but it is pretty minimal at the moment.

… into the bowels of dell …

The following is a transcription of an ancient tome discovered at the foot of a dormant volcano in southern Italy. Its horrific depiction of a descent into Dell is believed to predate Dante’s tale of a similar voyage. The original author is unknown … and we can only surmise what became of such an ill fated soul …

9th circle = Received monitor ordered from Dell website. Set up monitor. 2 stuck pixels (one red, one green). Backlight terribly uneven (confirmed by wife). No big deal, I’ll just call for a replacement.

8th circle = Monitor has zero stuck pixel guarantee. Call Dell from work. After twenty six minutes and four transfers, I am told I must call from home so they can “troubleshoot” the monitor. Uh … how do you troubleshoot a dead pixel? They are like … stuck on. Curious …

7th circle = Call from home later that night. Call transferred at least six times. They hang up on me. Call back. After 8 transfers, I am told to call customer care. Not feeling so good about this. Customer Care … that sounds pretty good. They should be concerned about this right?

6th circle = Call customer care. They are closed.

5th circle = Next day. Call Dell again. Start keeping names. I speak with ?, ?, Monica, Andy, Deertjan. Couldn’t catch those first two names. I ask each one to speak with a manager, each person transfers me to the next. No manager. Deertjan hangs up on me. Wait … what was that sound … I smell sulfur.

4th circle = Call back. Speak with Rocky, Gordo, Susant, and Arut. Gordo. Is that really his name? And Rocky?!?! I know that the last movie bombed, but I had no idea that Stallone moved halfway across the world to work in a call center. Arut tells me that my monitor does not qualify for the warranty. I have had the monitor for less than two days. He gives me a case number and transfers me.

3rd circle = I speak with ? and then Aanchal. I convince (arch)Aanchal to let me speak with her manager. Sam (manager) gets on the phone. He tries to convince me that my monitor is not covered under the warranty. Next he will tell me that I am not Arman Bohn and that I am really Ted Snodgrass from Minnesota. Ted. TED!! Time to wake up Ted! NO!!!! I’m sweating, but I pull out of it. They won’t win. I direct him to Dell’s website that explicitly states the “no stuck pixels” guarantee. I am put on hold for another ten minutes. He gets back on the phone and tells me that he agrees that I should get a replacement monitor. He tells me to call tech support and gives me the number. I beg him not to transfer me. I tell him that I am Ted Snodgrass … just please don’t transfer me. He says “Thank you for calling Dell.” and hangs up.

2nd circle = I call tech support and am greeted by a computer voice that informs me (without any prior identification on my part) that my warranty has expired. The computer voice hangs up me. I call back again and again, but somehow my phone number triggers an auto-response that shuts me out (I do own a Dell computer that is out of warranty … but I’m not calling about that … I’m calling about the monitor I got two days ago)! They won’t even sick a human on me anymore. I get smart and trick robo-lady into thinking I want to purchase an additional warranty by pressing one. Eager to make more money; my call is allowed to go through.

1st circle = I speak with Laura and then TONY. He listens to me and looks up my case number. He puts me on hold over five times and I end up on the phone for 52 minutes, but I can take it. While waiting, I pry the phone away from my ear. Ear wax has grown out of my ear and connected to my phone. Cronenberg. Tony comes back on the line. What’s that? HUH??!?!?! I get authorized for a monitor replacement and the nightmare is over …

… FOR NOW …