April 28th, 2008 by 2xKnight
You might know that I also write an anime blog for 451 Press called Anime Fans Online. I thought I’d let you know that I’m starting a game up over there. If it works ok, I might bring the idea over to FanaticSpace too.
March 5th, 2008 by Shiny1
Having just returned from two weeks in splendid [self imposed] isolation, I’m tempted to declare that I was on a spiritual retreat, or writing the next Great American Novel.
Read more
March 1st, 2008 by 2xKnight
I’ve gone through and counted up the posts for February. This was the result.
Tsukiryuu : 53 posts in February.
Maidenhair : 43 posts in February.
kladasaday : 3 posts in February.
The following made one post each in February:
chengy
table4five
Update: I just noticed that I didn’t list all entries on here. I don’t want to give you the wrong idea. This was just a sampling of what was entered. Whoops. *L*
I printed out all the entries, mixed ‘em up and chose one at random.
Congratulations Tsukiryuu! I’ll be sending a gift certificate to your forum e-mail address shortly.
If you have any ideas for this month’s, or any other, giveaway let me know. Just head over to the forum and leave your suggestions in this thread.
February 10th, 2008 by 2xKnight
I like Facebook, or at least I did like Facebook. Things are changing over there. Those changes aren’t always for the better. You might have noticed this yourself.
Take the apps for example.
Have you seen something like that? If you like the quizzes and such, I bet you have. A lot of the apps that do that won’t even give you your results unless you invite friends to add the app. That’s just wrong. It needs to stop and it needs to stop now.
I like Internet quizzes and I enjoyed those kinds of apps, but this just bugs me. All I want to do is waste a little bit of time and have fun. I go through and answer the stupid questions that have nothing to do with the topic. Then I get a ransom note. “Give us the names of your friends so we can show them our ads or you’ll never know what kind of breakfast cereal you are.” Does that seem right?
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mind seeing the invite screen if I can skip it and get my results. That makes sense. They’re giving you a chance to share your wasted time with your friends. That’s what friends are for, at least on social networks. It’s pretty cool to be able to compare your results with your friends. It is not cool to hold your friends, or your results, hostage. That would be like Google turning over their search results to the advertisers. “You can’t see the results for ‘Bionic Woman Sucks’ until you click on 10 ads.” Yahoo! would love to see that.
Facebook needs to make some changes or a lot of people are going to be leaving. This is annoying. People don’t join social networks to be annoyed.
Except for Myspace.
February 4th, 2008 by 2xKnight
I’m not a sports fan. That’s why I didn’t bother to watch the Super Bowl. I knew that I could see the cool commercials today. I kinda wish I’d watched it after seeing a couple of ‘em. Here are the ones I liked.
I’m starting to change my mind about the Iron Man movie. I looks like it might actually be good. If he spends more time in the suit than he does as Tony Stark it could be great.
Leatherheads - Universal Pictures
Looks like George Clooney is finally getting back to what he does best, comedy. Not just that, but period comedy like the best movie he ever made O Brother, Where Art Thou?.
Guess who else is going back to comedy after making some depressing crap…
You Don’t Mess With the Zohan - Sony Pictures
Adam Sandler! Woooo! Goofy characters with weird accents. This could be the character he was born to play, or it could be crap. You can never tell with an Adam Sandler movie.
Oh, and speaking of movies you can’t tell about…
Looks like they took Nightcrawler, from the X-Men, and made him less blue and fuzzy. Probably a lot less interesting too.
If you want to see the rest of the commercials, including a couple more movies that look kinda crappy, then head over to the 2008 Commercial Bowl powered by Spike and iFilm.
: Super Bowl Commercials, Movies, Iron Man, Leatherheads, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, Jumper, Video, George Clooney, Adam Sandler February 2nd, 2008 by 2xKnight
The winners in the Erec Rex Book Giveaway were quick to respond to the e-mails I sent, so now I can tell you who won. I’ll be shipping the books out A.S.A.P.
Erec Rex: The Dragon’s Eye Winner
Donna won with this forum post.
Congratulations Donna. I hope you’ll enjoy the story as much as I did.
Erec Rex: The Monsters of Otherness Winner
JSLUYTER won with this forum post.
Congratulations Jay. I hope you and your daughter have fun reading together.
The prize this time around is a $50 (USD) Amazon Gift Certificate. So anyone who lives somewhere that Amazon serves is welcome to sign up.
This giveaway is open to anyone. Just sign up for the forums and post during February. That’s all you need to do. The more posts you make the better your chances.
The details are here.
I’m hoping to make giveaways a regular feature on FanaticSpace. If you have any ideas about what you’d like to see let me know. Prizes, ways to win, or any other ideas would be welcome.
: FanaticSpace, Giveaway, Contests, Books, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff, Erec Rex, Winners, Amazon, Gift Certificate, Win February 1st, 2008 by 2xKnight
The book giveaway threads have been closed. I printed up the names of all the people who entered and drew names at random. Well, I did that twice since there were 2 books to giveaway.
Check your e-mail if you entered the giveaway.
January 28th, 2008 by 2xKnight
The book giveaway ends on January 31, 2008. There are only a couple of days left to sign up and win a book. All you need to do is make a post in the Contests and Giveaways forum on the FanaticSpace Forums. There’s no cost to sign up and there’s no cost if you win, it’s completely free.
Right now there are only a handful of entries. You have a very good chance of winning.
January 26th, 2008 by 2xKnight
I’ve got some good news for you today. There’s a chance that the blog will be updating more often in the future. Yay!
Have I found more time to post? Have I suddenly become less lazy? Have I become more organized?
No, no and hell no.
January 18th, 2008 by 2xKnight
How I Got Sucked In
The first time I saw the commercial for the Creation Station from Rip Roar Media I immediately thought “Video Podcast”. It looked like it would be the perfect starter kit. Camera, green screen and software all included. Even if it only worked half as well as it claimed to, it would be a bargain basement video casting solution.
The price even seemed reasonable, ranging from $79 to $100 depending on where I looked. I did a little looking into other options for chroma keying, the Creation Station’s main selling point. This kit looked even better. Chroma key equipment can be expensive.
When I was Christmas shopping with my girlfriend we saw the Creation Station at Wal-Mart. It was marked down to $35. This should have sent up a few red flags, but I figured it was marked down because it wasn’t selling well and they were trying to unload their stock. I didn’t ask myself why they were trying so hard to unload that stock. I couldn’t resist a bargain like that and agreed to let my girlfriend buy it as a Christmas present for me.
I was planning to write a review of the Creation Station, with a few tips and a video made with the kit. There is a reason this post doesn’t have that video.
I wasn’t expecting much, but the Creation Station couldn’t even live up to my lowest standards. I did expect it to work, even if it didn’t work well. Instead of a review here’s a list of reasons not to buy the Creation Station.
Cheap Camera. The camera is as cheap as they could possibly make it. You’re much better off buying a cheap webcam for around $20-$25.
Tripod Is Useless. The little plastic tripod included in the kit is so poorly made it can barely support the camera. Forget adjusting it. The materials and construction are so cheap it doesn’t even work.
Software Does Not Work. I tried for hours to get it to work. It kept crashing any time I tried to use it. I did find a solution to the crashing. I updated a .dll file and that fixed the crash problem. It wasn’t enough to fix the software itself. It’s still incredibly horrible.
Green Screen Is Split. I thought this was odd from the beginning. Any time I saw a description for the Creation Station it said it contained a green screen measuring 9.8 x 6 feet. What it really contains is two green screens that have velcro on them. This is bad. Even a cursory search into chroma keying will tell you that the screen needs to be smooth and well lit. A line down the middle of the screen where the pieces are stuck together is a very bad thing.
Don’t buy the Creation Station. It’s garbage. I’ve seen the price drop as low as $15 at Walmart.com before it was removed completely. It’s not even worth that much. A trip to a fabric store will get you a much better green screen for $15, and that’s the only functional part of the Creation Station.
I’m still looking into an affordable way to make a video podcast. I’ll let you know if I find something good.
: Fun Stuff, Podcasts, Video, Reviews, Rip Roar, Rip Roar Media, Creation Station, Chroma Key, Green Screen, Cheap 
