Dark_Respite

The one that I was actually surprised did not make the top 5 was "The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Mechanico" - I laughed so hard during that I nearly choked. Of course, like with mine, Mechanico was ALREADY in touch with his dark side, but still...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Let me guess - were you using Windows Movie Maker?

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
Oh that's nice! Lighthouse could use a new com plant on his desk. I hope GT forwards it along.

[/ QUOTE ]

*smirk* And I want to mail the commenters some poison ivy to plant in their mouths... it ought to do very well there.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

You know, I briefly visited that page and I would swear I felt my IQ being sucked out my head. Avoid that page at all costs...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Even if they're corrupted, try sending them to me - I've found ways of fixing the corrupted demofiles.

And thank you so much for sending me these!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Yep, that's right!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I is 34. And rather than lie about my age like most women I know, I've been known to joke that I'm 40 so people will tell me how fantastic I look for my age.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*tries unsuccessfully to hold back her laughter*

Sorry, Leandro, I'm not laughing at you, I swear. I just know how it feels to bust your [censored] only to realize it was one stupid thing that was messing everything else up.

Looking forward to COH Poser 5.0.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

My brain hurts just looking at this stuff... how YOU guys do this is a mystery.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Do you have any idea how hard it is to try and keep laughter down when my husband's sleeping in the next room, and everyone is arguing about how to pronounce the names in Croatoa? My throat hurts now... but great stuff.

And I LOVE the meta-references to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" and "The Legend of Ichabod Crane."

I need to find a way to get all these downloaded as mp3s and save them as one big playlist on my Zune to listen to at work... although I'd then have to explain to my boss why I randomly burst into laughter.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Glad you stuck with it and got it finished - a lot of folks would have just given up. Make sure that you also post a link in the Fan Videos thread with the name of the video, its link, and what type it is (I believe there's one called Contest Entry).

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Hooray, I've gotten almost the whole thing storyboarded!

Now just trying to balance how much screen time everyone gets... and figure out who I want to have where.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Oh, really? I wonder who finally managed to get him banned.

And it seems that the banned individual in question either came over here and read the letter, or else somehow found out about it (I'd emailed it to the GT Admins, to David Muehl, and sent in a support ticket about it). Because apparently my letter was motivated by me being a sore loser. Riiiiiight. Two guys I consider 'professional colleagues' (and, to be honest, frineds) made it to the finals. I am damned proud of them for getting that far. One of them has been a stanch cheerleader of mine for a good while, and the other does more for the videographers as a whole than almost anyone else I know. And I'm going to be ANGRY at them for making it when I didn't? Can I have whatever he's smoking?

Incidentally, the Support team at least got back to me about this with the following message through the GT site:

"Your message has been forwarded to one of the staff administrators. Thank you for voicing your concerns and we apologize that your experience here at GT has not been a pleasant one.

- Support"

Typical support reply, but it's a start. (I say that because I used to work in online support and that's very much how we had to answer stuff unless we were supervisors.)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

As far as I know, there's no way to do a blank WHITE background. I've done BLACK, primarily by dropping the character and the camera about 500 feet below the surface of whatever map I'm on.

However, the video geeks (and I mean that in a good way) like Leandro, Scuzzbopper, and the rest might know better.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
This is the map I used in my video:

MAPS/MISSIONS/OUTDOOR_MISSIONS/V_OUTDOOR_GRANDVILLE/PORTALCORP/PORTALCORP.TXT

The coordinates match that of regular old PI too, so you can simply swap maps if that's your fancy. I'll dig around and find my demos of the actual mission and post them up somewhere, and as I remember you can destroy multiple portals, not just one.

[/ QUOTE ]

*hugs Relentless*

Thanks! The democode would be a huge help!

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

No, no, no - I meant that when you (Crackmonkey) posted a comment on my video, while it was criticism, you didn't then come back and just ram it in my face. Yours was at least politely stated. Unlike those other mental midgets.

I wasn't implying you were in the same category as those retards. Ugh.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

One thing I noticed in Crackmonkey's video "Destiny" over on the GT site is this long tracking shot of Portal Corporation looking like a bomb hit the place. He mentioned that this was a villain-side map, but I was wondering exactly what mission this was from.

Also, is it possible to actually destroy one of the big portals that you use for interdimensional travel inside Portal Corp? Or are those just part of the map?

(And is there a way to put a trashed portal on the map so it doesn't just blow up and fade away?)

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*adopts a metallic computer-sounding voice*

"Greetings, Professor Falken. Strange game. The only winning move is not to play."

You're probably right, Pez. Or, to quote the great and inestimable sage Cornfed from DUCKMAN, "You're aware that while it affords one the momentary illusion of satisfaction, the spewing of bile is never a permanent solution."

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

*laughing* Would you believe I never even thought of that?

I think I should go for something like my "Value of PWNage" video starring this dweeb. I'll need a toon for TomStrong and a toon for Dwight-whateverhisnameis. (At least crackmonkey, while also less than complimentary on my video, had the guts to enter, and is also willing to share some demo secrets with me that I admired in his video.)

I think I finally found a target for my threat of "having someone get pwned by an army of Gears". Either that or I'll find a way to make Hamidon (or Bat'zul) eat them. Or have someone shove them off the top of the globe in Atlas.

Thanks, Obsidius, I knew I could count on you to help me keep things in perspective!

Oh, one thing I am curious about in this contest - there's no way to see how many votes a given entry has gotten, right? (So you can't tell who's winning along the way?) I actually hope not - it should keep the five finalists from getting deep-sixed by the Army of Morons.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

There's contradictions all over the place in the actual game. So I guess you could say it's tradition.

I should do another answers tally and see where things stand...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

At this point, I've just dusted my hands of that site. Far too much of an annoyance. I'm keeping my account long enough to make sure my vote still counts (and to see if their service desk actually responds to me), and then after the start of September, I'm closing it.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

Oh, and now a new voice has joined the chorus of fools over there.

I wonder if either of them were stupid enough to put their email addresses online someplace. Or if they have websites. It's not nice to honk off a techie...

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
GameTrailers.com is owned by SpikeTV, so draw what sort of conclusions you want to from that...

[/ QUOTE ]

Which is why I also sent emails to Spike TV about the matter.

[ QUOTE ]
It seemed to me it wasl like a glorified You Tube, with all the ad hominem attacks and crude stuff you see there some times.

I wonder if all the sponsors have ever looked there.

[/ QUOTE ]

And yet in all the time I've been on YouTube, I've had only ONE negative commenter who was that obnoxious, and he's like that to everyone. And I got emails from folks thanking me when I publicly called him out on it the same way I've been doing to TomStrong on the GT site - if you don't have the guts, creativity, or talent to make your own stuff and post it, you have no business bashing on anyone else's work.

[ QUOTE ]
I'm actually having fun sparring with Tommy Boy over there on "that site". Of course, it's a little like he's brought a knife to a gunfight, but that's his decision...

Michelle, Thanks for putting it so eloquently.

Leo, Thanks for making me spew on my monitor. Those cartoons are beyond great.


[/ QUOTE ]

I'm a technical writer, before that I was a journalist. Although you'd not often guess it meeting me in real life, my command of written English across a number of genres is actually rather impressive. One of which is how to complain in a manner that gets what I want - acknowledgement.

Star_Dancer, by all means, have fun going after him. I just had to laugh when he said I don't know the difference between friends and fans. My reply to him via PM: "Yes, I know the difference. The CoX videographers are my friends. The CoX DEVELOPERS are my fans."

My only apology is to you guys if you feel that I've wrongfully included you in my diatribe against them, but after reading the comments of most of the folks on here, I do believe that most of you agree with me.

As for the PvPers... that's why I don't PvP.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

In the end, this might not actually achieve anything, but we'll see. I submitted the following letter to David Muehl, as well as sending it to the GameTrailers' support team and the folks running the contest. I just could not let this go - I wish I were disdainful enough to just turn the other cheek, but I'm not.



"(Please forward this message to the appropriate individual(s).)

To whom it may concern:

While your site is certainly a useful one, and provides a venue for numerous media to come together and present various forms of creative expression, in the two or three weeks that I have been on your site, I have seen more negativity, crass behaviour, unprofessionalism, and downright immaturity than I have on any other similar site.

It may very well be that a small minority of your users are out to ruin the experience for everyone else involved. However, I do know that several other City of Heroes videographers who have participated in this contest have had experiences like mine - where we have been unfairly targeted with profanity, insults, and other negative behaviour that goes far beyond what could remotely be called "constructive criticism." These users have done nothing but belittle the videographers, their work, and their websites, and this does NOTHING for inviting us to stick around.

Also, the poor planning on the part of the server teams for making sure that our videos were compressed correctly and on time was extremely aggravating for all involved, as were the repeated needs for rules clarifications because of contradictory information, delays in response, and other delays that discouraged several others from even entering.

I find it rather saddening that you do not take greater steps in curbing the behaviour of the users on the site - stuff like this would result in people being banned on other forums or media-related sites.

To this end, once this contest is over, I will be closing my account with you, and I do not intend to use this site as a means of promoting my video work. The cons far outweigh the pros insofar as using your site as a venue. You are welcome to take the GTD that I have accrued so far and return it to some community pool (or simply ditch it altogether).

A response indicating that this message has been delivered to an administrator, supervisor, or other individual in charge (rather than just handed off to frontline support) would be appreciated, if for no other reason than for me to know that this email was delivered.

Yours sincerely,
Michelle Travis
aka
Samuraiko"



I just hope that no one else has had as lousy an experience with this as I have. While the contest itself was cool, hell will have a hockey team, a rink, and stadium seating before I use that site again. I cast my vote, and I'll stay long enough to make sure it counts. But that's it.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

[ QUOTE ]
LMAO! DR I absolutely love the coh vids on your website. They are fantastic previews. I'd love to see what you could do with a longer movie-like video (stupid real life... always comin first...) I'm definitly keeping a look out for the next ones.

my favorite is the blue man group tribute.

[/ QUOTE ]

First before I forget my manners, thank you for the compliment!

I've got sixteen videos in various stages of production at the moment (all for CoX)... that doesn't include the dozen or so AMVs (anime music videos) I have storyboarded that I've just not had time for.

Everyone LOVES the Blue Man Group vid - I really want to re-make it because now I can make it so much better...

And re: a longer video, @Bloodspeaker2, @Dust Raven, @Trystan Laryssa, and myself are working on what may end up being a full-length feature video about our SG, which has a whole backstory, ongoing archvillain clashes, intragroup relationships, the whole schmear. It's astonishing how it's all come together, even with the folks who joined the SG who are NOT part of our circle of friends.

To make matters better, with folks like Leandro and Scuzz and Zloth constantly improving the programs and sites they make available to the rest of us, this really has the chance to be something special.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite