So Long to SL Machinima/My Old YouTube Account

As most everyone knows or has noticed - I haven't done videos in SL in well over a year now. I used to get a kick out of making videos and stretching my editing muscles, but those days are over.

It started with filming peoples' weddings, then moved on to other projects - but I no longer have interest in such things. As a matter of fact, SL itself has pretty much served its purpose for me. Will I be leaving SL? Hell I only log in now to talk to friends every now and then as it is.

About 7 months ago some random person I don't even know had posted a video response to an old video of mine. Before allowing it as a response I viewed their video and wasn't too impressed. I understand that with hobbies and even real work that when you start out you're no good. I mean hell, Keith and I weren't that great when we started out either. He had video editing knowledge but unfortunately SL lacked the ability to give us the results we wanted. Anyway - I am off track.

So this person's video was of them dancing in a single animated loop for about 5 minutes to a song. Typical youtube video on most accounts, really. Since I didn't feel their video was an actual response to me - I didn't allow it to be marked as a video response. They took it upon themselves to say something like "All I was doing was showing you how much better these new dances are compared to the ones you showed". Fine. Still, it wasn't what I would consider an actual video response.

Over the course of a few weeks (about 3) all their friends were sending me nasty messages on YouTube which I chose to ignore. I had critiqued their video after being harassed saying "Hey next time try putting in some transitions or at least do more than one animation" - which I find to be a very NICE critique considering the content. Apparently giving anyone your opinion when there is room for improvement is a bad thing and this should never be done.

The nasty messages on YouTube continued until I decided to not allow comments, replies or ratings and put a big long rant in the description box which ended with : I understand that not allowing comments, ratings, or replies ruins the entire spirit of what YouTube, SecondLife and Machinima is all about - but I refuse to be harassed over something so juvenile. Way to go shebaspyker &co. Way to ruin it for everyone.

Today I logged into SL to talk to my RL friend Stef and recieved an offline saying (and I'm paraphrasing):
Your little rant on YouTube has really upset my girl Sheba. She doesn't dictate me or tell me who to go off on or anything like that. I don't know who has been contacting you and caused you to go off on this rant - and I don't know the laws in the UK but in the US you can be sued for slander for publishing comments about someone. I'm contacting YouTube and they'll probably delete your account.

I was going to respond to this .. um .. guy (I'm being way too nice) but decided to just put him on ignore. After sitting and thinking about it a while I decided to just delete my YouTube account myself. There are lots of reasons I did it - their harassment not really ranking very high - but if it'll save me a few minutes of telling strangers to "go back to your Gorean RP and stop being so butthurt over the fact that your friend makes shitty videos" then that's a bonus.

My live has evolved beyond SL. I joined SL as a lost 24 year old looking for an escape from the small town life I was trapped in. I found that escape and I relished it. I lived for it in a lot of ways. I was able to express myself in ways that I couldn't do beyond dying my hair purple and causing everyone in town to stare at me. Then I met Keith.

SL then evolved from fun pasttime to vital means of communication to a way of being physically close to someone when it wasn't actually physically possible. As most know, we're now married (just celebrated our 2yr wedding anniversary in March) and have the means of being actually physically close.

We started making videos in SL as a way to fund trips between Illinois and Missouri and thought it was rather 'cute' that we did so by filming other people's SL weddings. Because of all those weddings we were able to save up money to travel to see each other for 3 years before I made the big move after he had finished Basic Training and had been stationed in Oklahoma. The money we made from those videos allowed me to move to Oklahoma and afford things while we figured out exactly what we were going to do next.

Now that we don't need the money from making videos - we don't make videos. Not only do we not need the money but we also don't need the stress. Getting up at 2am to film a 3 hour wedding then turn around and spend 2 hours editing it to upload it - all for about $40 is just not worth it.

Will I still make videos in SL? Maybe, but it will be a leisure activity. Will I dedicate an entire YouTube channel to it again? No. I already have another YouTube account which I planned to post things like my nail art designs and maybe do some makeup tricks - but I won't do the whole SL thing again. Like I said - SL and SL Machinima have served theirpurpose for me and I think its more than time that the torch be passed to someone else.

I've tried for years to mentor those that were interested in making machinima. I love talking to people who are so eager to learn that I feel that my opinion is actually valued. I really love it when people ask me "How did you do that?!" but I don't feel that SL Machinima is my 'thing' anymore. I guess you could say I've just lost the passion for it.

I blog about SL on TheRev - but I never feel that my opinions on anything are valid. Why? A combination of things. I've been in SL so long that most of the people who are 'respected' or whatever don't even know WTF I talk about when I talk about anything that was 'big' or was going on in SL before like .. 07. I also feel like I'm not in SL or up to speed on things that are going on in SL like I used to be, and therefor have no real business in talking about SL. Some people eat, drink and breathe SL (and I used to be one of them!) but I've just moved on.

So in short - my SL videos that used to be on my YouTube account no longer exist. I deleted everything as a nod to myself that 'Yes, its definitely time to move on. Whatever that was, it isn't you anymore.'

As for my nail art/beauty/health/makeup blog thing - once I get that rolling I'm sure I'll post the info here somewhere.

TOO MUCH TO DO!

Yes yes capslock is cruise control for awesome - but really we do have too much to do.

Keith has another case study to do for his human relations course ... we have the UK Machinima Festival as well as the lecture in Southampton to prepare for. We're also going to hit the game expo in London this month. I think its pretty safe to say that we aren't gonna film any weddings in October .. maybe a very small FEW but we honestly don't have the time this month.

We're designing some NSS t-shirts to wear when we go to the Machinima Festival as well as the London Expo. Yes, we're gamer nerds so what? Keith and I have even talked about taking up a few card games (I outright refused to play Pokeman).

So far pretty much every weekend in October is filled with something. I'll just list all the days that we will NOT be filming.

Weekend of Oct 6 ---- My RL Birthday
Weekend of Oct 13 --- UK Machinima Festival
Weekend of Oct 20 --- London Gaming/Anime Expo
Oct 25-28 ---- Lecture @ Southampton Solent University Conference Centre

New Video Yayyyy!

I just did a video to show how far dance animations have come in SL :)

No real point to the video itself other than my avatar dancing - from old dances to the newest release from Sine Wave.

Anyway - I just wanted to try out some new editing techniques mostly. I'm still working on my on-beat edits which I got quite a few of them in! I'm proud.

Blog Backburner

So my blog has taken a back-burner to everything else I've been doing lately ... like filming my ass off. This week alone we've had 3 weddings and already have one booked for next month. I'm not complaining - I'm just informing, I guess. Haven't really had time to keep up my blog the way I once was, but I try to set aside some time every couple days or so.

Keith's schedule is going to stay the way its been .. so that just means I'll get to hang with my SL homies more due to being eight hours ahead of SLT. Its a pain at times just to say "hi" to folks, but with his new work schedule I'll be around at a more 'convenient' SL time. Plus my note card dropping gets instant responses instead of me waking up to log into 50 million IMs.

I've got no shortage of things to bring to light on the Mean Girls blog - I just keep waiting for someone else to post before I post anything because I just keep thinking that I'm gonna be a post-tator (its like a dictator but with posts!) No one likes a post-tator on a collab blog. I know I don't. When I'm reading a blog that's authored by more than one hand - I like to read things from all hands. Even if I really like just one writer I still like to read the point of view of others.

Well I've got a wedding to edit before Jelly's party cuz I can't come out and play if I don't do my homework :(

Blargh!

Okay I took down the layout I was working on and put the old one back up because I've felt uninspired, I guess and don't want to work on a new one like I thought I did.

Lots of Second Life weddings going on so I've been filming my booty off - but I don't mind it. Like I've said - it keeps me from having to flip burgers. And regardless of what anyone says - even if it is a video game ... working in a video game is work just the same. Its hard to not let yourself get distracted by IMs or even random games on websites (or constantly reading blogs >.>) while you're working. I've just found that if I lay out a work schedule for myself that I tend to stick to it. It also helps if I get my ass around and put on normal clothes. Of course I have my days when I romp around in sweats - but even changing from my care bear pajamas to sweats is usually enough to kick me into gear ^^

Keith and I haven't gone on any outings - and that's because he was on night shift this week so we had to adjust our sleep schedules. I have a wedding to do this Saturday but we're going to market on Sunday to see what goodies we can find. I'm realllly hoping to make it to the beach before the middle of August - but you never can tell. And if not it isn't a big deal - there will be other times.

Not much has been going on socially. Keith gets along well with all the guys at work - which is a HUGE change from the redneck/frat boy mentality of all the guys at the last base. He's just not that kind of guy. At any rate - the guys he works with now - he fits in perfectly with them and thats great :D I'm glad to finally see him so happy to go to work instead of dreading it.

I'm still fighting with this friggin' phone. I don't know why I can't recieve calls .. so I'll have to call BT tomorrow to see if I've done something wrong in registering the handset to the hub (the phone works off a router of sorts) or maybe just get someone to come out and do it for me. Its quite frustrating!

Tonight I've decided that it was going to be random fun night in SL and that I'd hang with the homies and maybe film for the sake of laughing at it. No special tricks - no hard core editing ... just more of a memoir of humor I 'spose.

"Where does he get those wonderful toys?"

Jack Nickelson as The Joker once said that about Michael Keaton as Batman. As soon as I saw this thing .. that's immediately what I said. Out loud, no less. (its true I tend to talk out loud and make Bebop look at me and go "wtf?")

Bebop and I have a lot of really great creative friends. We also film a lot even though we rarely let most that footage see the light of day ^^; As many know my head gears (as small as they are) grind continuously with ideas for stuff. Yea that's the best way to describe it - stuff.

For the past year or so Bebop and I have been developing a character for a series which I won't name right now (and no its not cuz I don't have a name for it yet - GOSH) and have been filming. Our filming has picked up a whole lot lately due to our surroundings. We've recently had more leisure time in SL and have rekindled old friendships which have lead to new ones which makes for very fun times. I'm totally off topic.

We've been working on episodes for this series - and there is this badass thing that our main character uses. Its called a "Boomlash" and its simply the greatest thing I've probably ever played with in SL. WARNING: If you have a crappy graphics card or you lag - don't even bother because such things are really just a disgrace to this genious toy!

I started out taking pictures of it - then quickly said "Pft pictures don't do this thing justice - I must film!" So I did. I filmed me throwing the Boomlash - different angles to show you the intricate details - and just to show off the fun animations.

Mind you this thing isn't 'cheap'. If you want a Boomlash you're going to be dropping 2,000L - but seriously I've spent more on lesser things. It comes with a very detailed notecard to tell you how to use it - and its just damned entertaining and one of the best looking, best scripted, well thought out, flat out FUN things I've found in SL.

It does hit people and will knock them back about a meter or two - so it isn't a real 'weapon'. The fun part about the Boomlash is when you throw it at like .. the side of a building it STICKS and you can jump up on it and use it like a climbing thing. I know, descriptive right?

So without further adieu - here is the short video showcasing the Boomlash made by the very talented Anisa Naumova of Curious Relics.

Okay okay!

Today I am really going to start filming. I just had to listen to the song a few times to make absolutely sure I wanted to use it .. and I'm still not sure :( Its a tie between two songs ...

I might use the other. One is way too up-beat. Argh! Alright .. I'm going to start filming. I'm booting Keith's computer up as we speak. I'll probably have to log in as him and steal some Lindens so I can get a few things ...

Oh and my uber emo pick down there .. Keith thought it was hilarious. I said "I will never again trust cameras that have a timer. They always catch me at the most stupid moments!" That was me scratching my head while trying to remember song titles to add to my player on this page x.x

Eh well he still thinks I'm cute.