Yet Another Update

I've decided, given that this is about the first anniversary of the "Blog as Project" part of the blog, to make a couple of simple changes around here. Over all, I'm happy, I feel like I'm getting better and that things are moving along.

However I haven't posted as much as I'd like to and at least some of that is due to the way I have the projects structured. They feel a bit too big to me and like I should have something substantial before I do anything (which is why there are so few). I've also been busy, as you may notice up at the top this is the "productivity" journal of  PhD and that means that I actually need to get some of my school work done as well.

In order to manage the projects better I'm going to add two other categories. The first is "Mini Projects" in which I will include things that are quick to do and will be one or two posts (and I think a lot of "after action reports"). The second category is "Academic Projects" in which I may detail more of the things I do in relation to my degree, these may be quite vague, since most of my work is not yet published and there are quite a few things that I'd rather not spoil on myself. Still I hope that I can keep track of that part of my life on here, all be it in a fairly vague manner.

I've also changed the font for the site, since I discovered that I apparently don't like san-serif body text any more. Hopefully the site will easier to read.

Blog: Favorite Youtube Videos (Volume 3)

This is the third volume of my favorite youtube video series. In this volume we take a break from the video game music for some exciting time lapse videos and take a look at the earliest days of an internet phenomenon.

• The first video is a time lapse of various night scenes accompanied by very beautiful music. Keep an eye out for the LAX landing sequence.
• The second  and third videos are both photo-a-day projects of two guys who recorded a picture of themselves every day for several years. The first at least is pretty well known and parodied but it's still a fascinating thing to watch. The second I think is less well known but interesting in its own right as the man goes through a lot of maturing over the course of the video.
• The next two videos are little pieces of internet history. Yahtzee Croshaw is known for his long running, snarky, fast talking video game reviews on the escapist. But did you know he got that job on the basis of two videos he posted to youtube? (You did? Well ok then I'll just go feel not special over here.) Please to enjoy the slowest talking you will ever hear from Yahtzee.

Blog: Favorite Youtube Videos (Volume 2)

This is the second of my (going to be quite long) series of posts sharing my favorite videos from Youtube.

This volume, much line the first, is focused on some cool video game music.

• The first entry is a little shaky as far as video and sound quality goes, but is a good and exciting rendition of the best boss music in Final Fantasy. If this doesn't make the hair stand up on your arms then there is clearly something wrong with the hair on your arms (or possibly this wasn't a staple of your childhood, which is fair too, I guess).
• The second favorite is another from CalebElijah, playing music to be banished from your village to.
• The third is medley of all the ocarina songs from the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. I favorited this one at least in part to teach myself how to play these on the piano, but I never got around to it (maybe that's another project from the future).
• And finally we have a Mario Paint version of Robo's Theme from Chrono Trigger (which we will here again in other forms, have no fear). This is made using the actual composer found in Mario Paint (as opposed to Mario Paint Composer, which is a tool based on the SNES game, but with a lot more functionality). Robo's Theme is my favorite from Chrono Trigger, and I loved the composer in Mario Paint (way more than actually painting) so this video was an easy thing to favorite.

Blog: Favorite Youtube Videos (Volume 1)

Youtube is one of the primary ... anti-productivity things in my life and for the most part has replaced television at least for when I actually care what it is that I'm watching. In order to convert it to something at least more circum-productive (like work but not quite actually work) I thought I'd do some blog posts on the videos that actually prompted me to save them to my favorites list. The list is pretty long so I'm going to group a few videos together for each post and start at the begining of my favorite so expect these first few editions to be blasts from the past.

• Flute Beatboxing
• These first two videos from Greg Patillo / Project Trio were pretty much my introduction to the fact that other people might like video game music (and other nostalgic music) as well. I'm not 100% certain that these are the first I watched (it's been a while) but they definetly were part of my introduction to the great video game / nostalgia genre.
• The next three videos are from (the thankfully not eaten by snakes) CalebElijah who is possibly my favorite video game music cover artist. His stuff is richly scattered through the most listened to lists on my iPod. I'm exceptionally pleased that he has returned from his long hiatus and Peace Corps mission and is now back making awesome music again. These first three are all from one of my favorite video games Secret of Mana and there will definitely be more for CalebElijah in future volumes.