Topic: "What Are You Thinking Now?"

[Archer]

Zexal Sound Duel 2.... Y U SO GODLY?
Can't wait for the third one, so many good tracks in this one, though.

Also, I have Tales of Graces since before yesterday, and am enjoying it quite a bit.
Unexpectedly I got the Day One Edition, with nice little artbook, a behind the scenes disc, a soundtrack disc (with a small couple of tracks) and DLC codes for a PS3 theme plus costumes for Richard, Asbel and Sophie based on charas from Tales of Destiny 2.
Not too bad.

Assbel's and Sophie's Day One Edition costumes are pretty lackluster.

You should go and buy some of the overpriced costumes off the store.

I'm still a little disappointed the Code Geass costumes got completely taken out of the Eng. version.

[Rin]

Assbel's and Sophie's Day One Edition costumes are pretty lackluster.

You should go and buy some of the overpriced costumes off the store.

I'm still a little disappointed the Code Geass costumes got completely taken out of the Eng. version.

They took them out? LE [tornado fang]!

I would, but I like my money. And besides, being who I am, I would have to first buy a PSN card with the code, you know, which adds funds to your wallet on PSN.

Also it's funny, because all Tales of Graces F DLC on Polish PSN actually have POLISH [tornado fang]ing DESCRIPTIONS. Which is... rare to see. Especially for a game like this.

[Sakura Leic]

"Yep definitely coming down with something, usually this happens between mid October to December but never this early.  Hope my brother doesn't come down with it soon, he has a terrible immune system and is bound to get something worse."

[Quickman]

That reminds me...  I should get a flu shot soon.

[Flame]

I don't like the artwork for Superman Beyond. I preferred the style used for the #0 issue, reminded me more of the DCAU. The style they use now fudges Supes' face sometimes. Not to mention it also has a habit of making the center line of the S that crosses across his stylized logo ridiculously thicker than it should be.

Side thought-

Terry's Beyond Batsuit doesnt look half bad with a cape. In fact, it looks pretty damn good.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m6ancw67pT1rxolx5o1_500.jpg

[Quickman]

*sigh*  I dreamt about him again last night.  You know that dream where you're in bed and they fly in through the window...?

[Joseph Collins]

Right now?  I'm trying to think of a politically correct way to explain the naughtiness going through my mind. 

[Quickman]

Just a little something I've been working on off and on...

[Rin]

I'm preparing to write an audio drama/audio play/whatever.

Anybody has some tips for meh?

[Police Girl]

I'm still a little disappointed the Code Geass costumes got completely taken out of the Eng. version.

Still wondering why that even happened since it was fine legal wise.
Same deal with the .Hack and Idolmaster costumes.

Maybe they thought nobody would notice.

[megaman24681012]

Dammit, the Excapist forums have become a wretched hive for pretentious attention whores.

I miss the old forum members!

[DarkWaltz]

So, my parents brought a new camper. The couch turns into a sofa bed and that means there will be no board sticking into my back like the last one.... WOOOO~!

Also... Phantom, why must your helmet be difficult to draw?

[Sakura Leic]

Because he's ninja Batman that's why.

"Ugh I might just have to skip anime club today just to kill this cold if it gets worse.  At least when it's over I won't be sick for the rest of the year."

[Ladd Spencer]

Drink orange juice and tough it out.

[Gaia]

Still wondering why that even happened since it was fine legal wise.
Same deal with the .Hack and Idolmaster costumes.

Maybe they thought nobody would notice.

Not in Phantasy Star Portable 2's case. I'm a little suprised they managed to keep the NGE costumes.

[Quickman]

I'm preparing to write an audio drama/audio play/whatever.

Anybody has some tips for meh?

Are you adapting a work into audio or doing an original piece?  One of the key things you will need to do is make sure that either you have some damn good sound effects to clue the listener into what's going on, have the characters actually narrate their actions, or have a narrator.  Personally, I'd avoid the narrator. 

It's perfectly okay to have your characters narrate their actions ("I just need to stall him long enough to get my blaster..." *fwip!*  "Ah-HAH!"  *Blam blam blam*).  In fact, you should get into the habit of having your characters talk to themselves, particularly if they are alone and are facing someone who is usually silent ("Wait... That sound!  That's Boba Fett's ship!  It looks like it's coming in for a landing...  What's he doing here?  Uh-oh...  I hope he doesn't see me behind this landing strut...  Phew!  He's gone!").  It may not be realistic dialogue, but you will need to take liberties with audio.

Ambient sound is a MUST!  Give your sets atmosphere!  I've drawn out overhead maps of sets, complete with character and speaker placement.  I'd list what sounds I'd use, the reverb settings, and where in the speaker I would place the sounds.  This gave my settings depth.  The more reverb, the bigger the set.  For a small cockpit ambiance, I went light on the reverb for my general ship engine drone, and added beeps, buttons, and switches at random intervals.  It took me over an hour to put together the foley and edit a three-minute scene of Greedo in a cramped cockpit, but it was worth the effort.

For your script, you will want to indicate your sound effects and speaker placement.  Keep in mind that no one can actually see what you're describing, so you'll need to take creative liberties with the dialogue.  Have characters talk to themselves and narrate if you need to.  Supply sound effects to further the imagery.  And yourself makes the best litmus test.  If you can't picture what you're trying to convey through what you hear, your listeners won't, either, and you'll need to revise that scene.

[Pyro]

Just finished a tribute to a mutual friend of mine and Quickie's. Today was a particularly depressing one for me in a month that has been a tumultuous one to say the least.

[Quickman]

Seems fitting that today's weather has been depressing. 

[Rin]

Are you adapting a work into audio or doing an original piece?  One of the key things you will need to do is make sure that either you have some damn good sound effects to clue the listener into what's going on, have the characters actually narrate their actions, or have a narrator.  Personally, I'd avoid the narrator. 

It's perfectly okay to have your characters narrate their actions ("I just need to stall him long enough to get my blaster..." *fwip!*  "Ah-HAH!"  *Blam blam blam*).  In fact, you should get into the habit of having your characters talk to themselves, particularly if they are alone and are facing someone who is usually silent ("Wait... That sound!  That's Boba Fett's ship!  It looks like it's coming in for a landing...  What's he doing here?  Uh-oh...  I hope he doesn't see me behind this landing strut...  Phew!  He's gone!").  It may not be realistic dialogue, but you will need to take liberties with audio.

Ambient sound is a MUST!  Give your sets atmosphere!  I've drawn out overhead maps of sets, complete with character and speaker placement.  I'd list what sounds I'd use, the reverb settings, and where in the speaker I would place the sounds.  This gave my settings depth.  The more reverb, the bigger the set.  For a small cockpit ambiance, I went light on the reverb for my general ship engine drone, and added beeps, buttons, and switches at random intervals.  It took me over an hour to put together the foley and edit a three-minute scene of Greedo in a cramped cockpit, but it was worth the effort.

For your script, you will want to indicate your sound effects and speaker placement.  Keep in mind that no one can actually see what you're describing, so you'll need to take creative liberties with the dialogue.  Have characters talk to themselves and narrate if you need to.  Supply sound effects to further the imagery.  And yourself makes the best litmus test.  If you can't picture what you're trying to convey through what you hear, your listeners won't, either, and you'll need to revise that scene.

It's an original work and I do have quite a bit of sound effects, and getting more is not a problem. It's also fantasy.

In any case, these are good advices and I'm taking them "to heart". Especially the one with ambience and overhead maps and stuff.

Thanks, Quickie. Much appreciated.

[Quickman]

No problem.  I've been very slowly working on an audio adaptation of a comic book, so it's been quite the learning experience.  One of the more tedious things I've done was place walk cycles (just lengths of a walking sound effect).  I have different walks for each character and while my brother argued that it wasn't necessary, I deem it very necessary.  It helps to keep the footsteps from becoming muddled and monotonous when each character has their own walk.

I base character walk cycles on height and footwear.  Jozzel Moffet, for example, uses a high-heeled stiletto walk cycle.  Greedo uses a moderate sneaker walk.  Han and Dengar both use boot walks, but Dengar's is heavier.  Fett's boot walk has harder soles and spurs.  Bossk uses a barefoot walk cycle (which I made by spitting into my palms and slapping them against a concrete garage floor), as does Chewie, though I modify the speed and pitch very slightly.  IG-88 has a heavy droid walk, with servos, while 4-LOM uses boots across metal.  Sardu Sallowe uses a moderate boot walk on wood, while Zuckuss uses a fast sneaker walk on gravel.  Each character also has walks in various speeds and on various surfaces.  It's tedious work, but giving each character a unique walk helps to define them.

[Joseph Collins]

I really need to stop using this thread as my "rant/cry thread."  x:  But, here we go again: A rant about AVG.

So.  This morning, on this borrowed laptop AVG Free decided it absolutely and totally needed to update to the 2013 version.  And that's just fine.  I absolutely hate AVG with a passion, but it's not my laptop, so it's not my choice.

So, I told it to go ahead and update.  And it did.  And I rebooted.  And after I rebooted, I was assaulted by no less than three different pop-ups from AVG:
- The "thanks for upgrading/don't show this again" message
- The control panel itself
- A bottom-right corner pop-up suggesting I run the "performance analyzer," which this laptop does not have access to because it's running AVG Free Edition.
Mind you, it did this on both user accounts on this machine.  So I have to wonder if it's going to do that every time I reboot.  I know the bottom-right one pops up every time I reboot.

In addition to that, this computer appears to be running noticeably slower than it was before the update, despite the fact AVG is not actively doing anything. (It's always running its background crap.)
This [parasitic bomb] is exactly why I don't use AVG anymore on my personal computer.  And why I'm debating not running avast! anymore.  What happened to the days where free anti-virus/malware software was both reasonably effective and nag-free?  Do software companies really think that nagging you into submission is the way to get you to purchase their software?  Really??

Posted on: 2012-09-28, 07:35:47See, this is what I'm talking about.

I went outside to throw corn on the ground (we like nature) and in the three miinutes I was gone, this popped up.

Why can't you just [tornado fang]ing leave me alone, AVG?  Why?

[Align]

Just read a thing and could swear with 100% certainty that I had seen it in a dream some time long ago, it was way too weird and specific.
But I guess it could just be a manufactured memory the brain came up with after the fact...

Posted on: 2012-09-28, 21:58:53As for antivirus, oddly the least intrusive and most functional one I've used is Microsoft's Security Essentials. Of course, if you're on a Mac you're out of luck...

[Gaia]

Gee, ShiftyLook's take on Wonder Momo sure is interesting.. For the fact that there's two of them, and one's the mother of the modern momo. It seems they are taking a few pages out of The Incredibles, aren't they?

But does that make the original Wonder Mama, since the current one's the star of the show? I'm pretty sure Mama had to put the baby somewhere after some child endangerment charges (aka: baby getting caught in crossfire, horray for irresponsible parents!). Superhero Moms are absolutely nuts!

Looks like I've been reading a lot of webcomics lately, aren't I (and following a few)?

[Sakura Leic]

"My nose is itchy and driving me nuts."

[Quickman]

I'm pretty happy with Avast.  Yes, sometimes, it can get naggy, but I can ignore that.  I just would rather it speak in a GLaDOS voice. 

And I've been sick with digestive upsets all week and it hasn't abated.