Sunday, November 13, 2011

The Beatles

Originally posted Thursday, June 19, 2008 on Facebook Notes.


Hey Jude, 
Ask me why can't buy me love. Because. Want to know a secret? Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey. How do you do it? I forgot to remember to forget. I want to tell you. I want to hold your hand. Here there and everywhere. Got to get you into my life. Ask me why. I've got a feeling. You know what to do. You like me too much. You never give me your money. Martha, my child, let it be. Thank you girl, that means a lot. When I get home, you're going to lose that girl. Don't let me down. Goodnight.

Do you get it? It's a moderately logical paragraph composed of 25 Beatles song titles. It took me like seven years. 

Love, Travis.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

Archaic Questionnaire from 2009

          This is a questionnaire I filled out using Facebook Notes (remember those??) way back on May 9, 2009 at around 4:00something AM. I never had a LiveJournal or any of those other popular pre-2007 blogging sites. I only used Facebook Notes. But I figured it’d be fun to archive my old notes in this blogger format and help you guys get a glimpse into who I am/was and the kinds of stuff I used to put on the internet before YouTube.
          Unless noted, these notes will be untouched, unedited, and completely copy-paste from the Facebook site. That being said, even I’m confused about some of the things I was typing about, haha. Any questions about anything, just leave a comment!

"Because who needs sleep at 4:30am?"
by Travis on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 at 4:24am

If your boyfriend or girlfriend was into drugs, would you care?
Yes.

What was the last reason you went to the doctor for?
"Melanoma"

Are you shy?
Eh, not so much.

Do you like being home alone or does it freak you out?
Do I have a computer? I'm cool :)

Would you kiss anyone you've texted today?
Yup :)

Do you have any bruises on you?
I have a scrape on my arm and a bruise on my left shoulder, not sure how either appeared.

Is anything wrong with your eyes?
Nope. I'm told they're pretty amazing.

Have you ever kissed someone who was over seventeen?
Haha most of them were, I promise.

Are you dating the last person you texted?
No.

How has 2009 been for you so far?
A roller coaster of unexpectedness.

Do you love where you live?
It grows on me.

What color are your eyes?
Blue/sometimes green.

Who were you with the last time you went to the movie theater?
Angela, Pat, Meg, Ricky and the gang for Wolverine.

Do you sleep with a fan on?
I hate sleeping with loud noises.

Did you speak to your mother today?
Well, it's 4am, so no, not technically today.

Who was the last person you rode in a vehicle with?
Aric and Sam

Honestly, who was the last person to tell you that they love you?
Mah sister :)

Do you have curly hair?
Noppers.

Do you have secrets that no one knows?
If people knew it wouldn't really be a secret.

Were you single this past summer?
Nope.

Do you believe that love lasts forever?
I believe in true love, yes.

Whose car were you in today?
Mine.

Have you been kissed by someone who' s name starts with a V?
Haha. Yes. Two I believe...

Are your parents religious?
Yea, I guess so.

What's something you really want right now? Be honest.
Yes. To be able to leave for South Carolina sooner.

What time in your life would you like to put on repeat forever?
Honestly? Summers working at the movie theater. I know, lame, right?

How many people of the opposite sex have you cried over?
Oh sheesh, I don't know.

Honesty, if you could go back one month and change something would you?
Yes.

Are you a bad influence?
Ha. Well.

Who else is in the room with you?
My stuffed animals. Don't judge me. :P

Where is your cell phone?
About three inches from my left hand.

Three days from now will you be in a new relationship?
Erm, I kinda hope not?

Last awkward moment?
Accidentally calling a twin by the wrong name...

How many people do you trust?
Depends.

How far is it from your house to Wal-mart?
About 5 minutes. But Meijer's closer.

Have you ever fallen asleep in someone's arms?
Yes.

If you were kicked out of your house, where would you go first?
I don't live in my house, foo!

Is there anyone that will text you and you smile instantly?
Yea, there are about 4 people like that.

Do you wish you could ever hug yourself to see if you're a good hugger?
I loves my hugs.

Do you ever find it hard to tell someone you like them?
Uh huh. Usually I'm still confused on how they'd react.

Are you happy with your relationship status?
Shore :)

In the past 24 hours have you hung out with a girl?
I have. Angela and Mal earlier, Katy at the Union, and then Becks at 80s Night.

Will tomorrow be better than today?
Probably. I work a few hours but I don't have exams.

Who was the last person you took a nap with?
Haha. Sam and I passed out on the couch watching King of the Hill at like 5am a few nights ago. I hope that doesn't count though...

Do you ignore people when you're mad/upset?
Yea, when I realize I need to calm down.

Who was the last person you talked to last night before bed?
Lo

Did the last person who hurt you, ever apologize?
She didn't know I was upset. But we're better now :)

What's bugging you?
That I decided to start this so late at night. And that 80s Night wasn't very good tonight.

Any plans for this weekend?
Party today? Giulio? Huh? Huh? - and then Grad party in South Carolina this weekend!

What are you listening to?
New Found Glory is playing in my head.

Are you a mean person?
You betta wait fo my request!

Have you ever wanted to tell someone something but didn't?
Duh.

Have you ever attempted to count to a million?
No. I know the numbers are there, I don't have to prove it to myself.

If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive?
Yes. I will drink the blood of my enemies. And occasionally a raspberry sasparilla.

Do you think more about the past, present, or future?
Present

How long does it take you in the shower?
maybe 10-15 min

Have you ever done something you told yourself you wouldn't do?
Every day.

Ever been called heartless?
How could I be so heartless-heartless-heartless

Do you get distracted easily?
Ha. Yea. Will not download that button for random websites thingy...then ill not download that button for random websites thingy.

Where did you get the shirt you are wearing?
Kohls cause I'm a BA

Have you ever had your heart broken?
Yes.

Would you ever take someone back if they cheated on you?
Honestly, I'm not sure.

Have you talked about marriage with another person?
Yes.

Do you want children?
Yea but not now.

How many?
2-3

Would you consider adoption?
Yes. I want to adopt American.

Do you enjoy playing hard to get?
Rawr. No.

Do you believe love at first sight exists?
Attraction is usually lust which can become interest but no, not in that instant.
Do you believe that you can change someone?
Nope. People have to want to change themselves.

Who was the last person you were on the phone with?
Becky.

Do you wear your feelings all over your face?
Sometimes.

Have you told anyone you love them today?
Vaguely.

Did you kiss or hug anyone in the last 24 hours?
Yes. Hugged Becky. She gets emotional after drinking....haha

What is the date today?
May 4, 2009

When was the last time you smiled?
Watching Family Guy.

Can you fit into your best friend's shoes?
Don't have one with me. But no, I can't

How have you felt today?
Not bad but the good parts have def been up and down.

What are you afraid of?
Being alone.

Are you wearing something that belongs to someone else?
I was less than an hour ago haha.

When was the last time you talked to one of your siblings?
Today

Sunday, October 23, 2011

The Thing (2011) - A Review

 Don't worry. No spoilers.

Here's the trailer for anyone who hasn't seen it.
      


      So, I just got home from seeing "The Thing" and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The preview makes it look like any other jump-out-at-you scary movie, and it definitely had that creepy vibe where some poor soul is walking around possibly about to be attacked and then RAWR. But aside from that, it also had a creepy psychological feel. You, as a viewer, are making your brain go overtime trying to figure out ways to decide who is who. And it's not always easy-going. There are so many twists and turns in this movie, it's very edge-of-your-seat.
      I heard from a lot of people before going in that the CGI isn't really that great, but considering what they were doing, from tearing people in half to making an alien swallow a human, they did pretty well. There were only a few scenes with obviously digitized computer graphics.
      I really liked how they didn't have any huge A list actors in this movie but that's my own personal preference. When I see an A lister in a scary movie, it takes away from the feeling of the movie and keeps me from feeling emotionally attached to the characters. Although, I did turn to my friend at the beginning and say, "Woah, is that Mr. Eko?" It was.
      For a prequel, it did an incredible job of setting up for the next movie. The last scene in this movie is actually the first scene for the original so the transition is rather seamless. 

I'd give it a solid 8/10.

I am curious as to why an Arctic science research station has all these flamethrowers laying around...

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Making "Good" Content

Now, every so often, I have an idea for a video or a blog post.

INORITE?

The blog posts generally happen smoothly because I can type them out exactly how I want, with very conversational writing, and I'm able to add, delete, change, any single word I want until I hit the "publish post" button.

But my videos have to go through quite a ringer in order for them to make it to YouTube.

I have to have the initial idea for the video which, let's face it, isn't too hard. Then, I decide if the idea is good or bad. The blog posts don't have to be "good" or "bad" respectively, because like I said before, I can tweak them to how I want.

Then, I have to make bullet points of the ideas I want to say into the camera. Sometimes, they'll be vague subjects and other times they'll be as direct as lines I want to say exactly. And I need to have an ending by then. The ending is very important. Obviously.

I then go over the notes and rethink the story, making sure I still think it's good enough to film and post online. I think about my audience, the opinions I'll receive, but most importantly, I need it to be good enough for my own seal of approval. I need to love the work I'm going to post.

After my ideas are down on paper or it's a story I feel comfortable telling from memory, I clean up my filming area. I make sure that towels are off of the door, that clothes are out of the way, that there's nothing behind me, and that the lights are on.

Then I film myself. And I say everything I need to say. Or, at least try to.

While filming, I think about how the cuts will be spliced together. Making sure I'm making it so everything will flow and that I'm not leaving anything out. Then after I film, again, I think about if I love the content I'm about to create. Sometimes, at this point I'm hesitant. I just spent time on something that's almost halfway done. Do I want to give up on it now? Maybe I should just trudge through it.

With editing, I travel to campus to load my footage and spend about an hour or so making cuts and splices to fit the story together. Sometimes, I find out that I left an important word out or that I misspoke when I filmed. Sometimes, an edit can fix it. Sometimes, I scrap that sentence of the video.

And sometimes, like today, I write, film, go to campus, get halfway done with editing and realize that I'm not in love with my content.

And it's a bittersweet feeling.

Bitter because I feel cheated with all the work I put in but sweet because I don't want to give you guys anything I'm not completely proud of. You guys mean a lot to me and I appreciate your viewership. Looking back a few hours, I wasn't too in love with it earlier and that should have been a red flag.

So, in an incredibly round-about way, thank you. :)

Also, this story will probably be part of a 2 or 3 part story-vlog I do soon so NOT TO WORRY.

Saturday, August 13, 2011

The Minority of My IRL Friends

I want you to think about your IRL friends for a second. Just your IRL friends. Adding your URL friends to this equation will muddle the results.

Nowadays, I'm sure that the number of your IRL friends who have a Facebook far outweigh the people you know who do not have a Facebook. With Twitter, at least in my experience, it's about 30/70, the 30 being IRL friends who have Twitter. As for friends who post on YouTube, the number gets even smaller. I have a few IRL friends who post videos on YouTube but I have more friends who have a Twitter account and even more friends who have a Facebook.

Following me?

Well, since it makes sense self-marketing-wise, it's a pretty good chance that your IRL friends who post on YouTube also have a Twitter and a Facebook. Right off the bat, if you post content to all three, you're in the minority along with me.

If I think REALLY hard, I can only think of a handful of people I know who post to all three. And some of those who post on Twitter have it set up to post the same posting on their Facebook. What's the point, man?

Take into account Blogspot, Dailybooth, my other YouTube channels, my Tumblr, and I don't feel it's unfair to think that I post more content to the Interwebs than the average person. I even have a flavors.me account. I don't know why, but I do.

I originally planned to write a completely different sort of blog post but I needed to get all this out first. The second IRL URL blog is coming soon. :)

http://www.twitter.com/WhatTravisSays

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

'Transformers' Midnight Show

I just bought my tickets for the midnight show of 'Transformers'. Surprisingly, two of the four showings, including a 3D showing, was sold out. As I was in line, I made a mental note of what I needed.

When I got up to the ticket guy, henceforth know as TICKETEER, he asked if he could help me. I told him, 'Three tickets for the 2D showing of 'Transformers', please.'

'The midnight show?' he asked.
'Yes, please.'

As he handed me the tickets he said, 'Okay, now you're going to want to show up early because midnight showings get pretty packed.'

I took the tickets and smiled. 'This isn't my first rodeo, chief.'

Wham Bam thank ya ma'am.

...okay, well they didn't actually happen. I was less of a jerk about it. I told him, 'I know. I do this a lot.'

Which isn't that baller of an ending.

Ha.

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday, June 18, 2011

The Blu-ray Conundrum

So, I don't know how many of you know, or even care, but the movie 'Red Riding Hood' was released on DVD and Blu-ray on Tuesday.

Now, I never saw the movie. I know it was a 're-interpretation' but the fact that the director of Twilight also directed this movie, kinda caused most of my disinterest. But that's not what my story is about.

One of my side jobs is taking care of the movies and helping customers down movies when that can't find what they're looking for.

Anyway, this is a phone call I got at work today.

Me: 'Electronics, this is Travis. Can I help you?'

Lady: 'Hi, I was looking for someone in the movies.'

Me: 'I'd be able to help, what do you need?'

Lady: 'Well, I was in there earlier today and I bought the wrong thing.'

Me: 'The wrong movie?'

Lady: 'Well, no. Kinda. *laugh* I paid the $14.99 and accidentally bought 'Red Riding Hood' on Blu-ray and I don't have a Blu-ray player.'

Me: 'And so you'd want to return it and exchange it for the DVD version?'

Lady: 'Yes, that would be wonderful.'

Me: 'Has the movie been opened?'

Lady: 'Um, yes. Is that a problem?'

Me: 'Well, I have good news and bad news.'

Lady: 'Uh oh. What's the bad news?'

Me: 'The bad news is that we can't accept returns on movies that have been opened.'

Lady: 'Oh, no! Well, what's the good news?'

Me: 'You said you paid $14.99 for it?'

Lady: 'Yeah..?'

Me: 'Well we're selling the DVD for $14.99 and the Blu-ray for $21.99.'

Lady: 'So that means..'

Me: '..that you bought the DVD, not the Blu-ray.'

Lady: 'Oh. Well don't I feel sheepish.'

Me: 'Have a good day.'

And not to sound mean or anything, but what made her think that her DVD was a Blu-ray?
I am confuse.

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Battery Musings

Scene: My place of employment. Electronics section. A man comes up to me, obviously in need of assistance.

Me: 'Is there something I can help you find?'

Man: 'Yes.'

He holds out a piece of paper.

Man: 'I need to find this battery.'

The paper has a square drawn on it with a wiggly line coming from the corner of the square.

Me: 'A battery? Do you know the model number?'

Man: 'It's right here.'

He gestures to the paper.

Man: 'I drew the battery.'

Me: 'Um, well, we have lots of batteries with that shape. If you had-'
Man: 'I have the battery. It's right here!'

Me: 'Sir, this doesn't give me much information. Do you know what phone you have? I could try looking it up.'

Man: 'It's a house phone.'

Me: 'Yes, but do you know the model? The brand?'

Man: 'I've been to Best Buy, Walmart, and Radio Shack looking for this battery and no one has been able to help me.'

Me: 'I'm sorry sir, maybe next time you could bring the dead battery in.'

Man: 'Well, it's not dead.'

Me: '...I'm sorry, what do you need it for then? A replacement?'

Man: 'My dog's electric collar stopped working.'

Me: 'And it uses the same battery?'

Man: 'Well, I don't know. It doesn't look like you have it.'

Man walks away.

I am confuse.

posted from Bloggeroid

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Phone Novice

Me: 'Wait, if I flash my phone back to the stock ROM, it'll erase all the data on my phone.'

My brother, Lucas: 'Yep. Everything on your phone's internal memory.'

Me: 'So, text messages, programs...'

Lucas: 'Everything.'

Me: '...'

Lucas: 'What?'

Me: 'Is there any way to back up some programs and data?'

Lucas: 'Travis, your Angry Birds scores aren't that important.'

Travis: 'THEY ARE IMPORTANT.'

posted from Bloggeroid

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Pirates and Toasers and Thor

Every now and again, I try to come up with reasoning that has no reasoning. If that makes no sense to you, that means you are a normal person. For some reason, that makes perfect sense to me.

Case and point.

I'm sitting outside of the theater, waiting for my friends to get here so we can go watch the midnight showing of the new 'Pirates' movie.

Like 'Thor', I'm not sure what to expect from this movie. There are a lot of ways this movie is going to be nothing like Thor. It's the most recent chapter in its own saga and Thor was the coming-of-age hero story. The constructs are completely different. I mean, sure, the visuals will be breathtaking as they were in Thor but Pirates is grounded in reality. Mostly. I mean, as far as mermaids and zombies go.

But it will be breaking new 'Pirates' ground by not including Kiera and Orlando. Which, I have to say, I'm looking forward to.

So, even though they're familiar characters and themes, like I said, the constructs are different.

But, as with Marvel, I have faith in you, Bruckheimer.

Spelling? I don't care. My friends just got here and I'm heading in.

...after we figure out how to sneak these Whoppers in.

http://www.twitter.com/whattravissays

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Poe


Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

'Tis some visitor,' I muttered, 'tapping at my chamber door -
Only this, and nothing more.'
Tis from then, I opened the door, we from there crept to the floor,
And everybody walked the dinosaur.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Okay, Honestly.

I've been bad at this lately.

Sorry.

Between my phone refusing to post the blogs and working a few 13 hour days, I've kinda let my blogging self go.

But that's not to say I don't care about you guys. I do. All twelve of you*.

I posted a video yesterday. It was about a weird dream I had involving YouTubers. You've probably seen it.

Not to sound pretentious, but, I mean, you guys are pretty awesome to follow me on YouTube and, I'm assuming Twitter. So yeah, you've probably seen it. And if you haven't, no biggie.

I am also trying to revive my tumblr account. I'm honestly not sure how it's going to go. I still don't really understand the point of it. I'll have to make a video about it soon.
About not knowing how to get it to work and its usefulness.

Because, you know, I am still confused.

*falsenumbersFTW

posted from Bloggeroid

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Birthday Surprise

Oddly enough, typing this blog on my phone is actually giving my left thumb a rest. You see, for the past hour and a half or so, I've been working on a drawing/marker-ing for a friend of mine who's having a birthday coming up soon.

The thing is, the birthday is very soon.

Like, Friday soon.

Today is Thursday. It's 1:59am on Thursday, but it's Thursday nonetheless.

And there's no logical way this will make it to them BY Friday, but it needs sent and the actual sending of it has to be done tomorrow along with some filming for a video I'm posting on, you guessed it, Friday.

I'm being incredibly secretive during this blog and for that I apologize, but I can't risk the internet knowing that I'm putting more than menial effort into ROCKSTARRAQUEL'S BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

Whew, I thought for a second that I yelled that. Good thing I'm typing this all in my head.

#projectseymoreisgo

posted from Bloggeroid

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Phone Blogs: Bad Idea?

So, for the past two days, I have blogged. Honest. It's just that my phone hasn't been posting them due to 'network errors' and then proceeding to bring up a blank type space as if it posted successfully.

But you haven't been missing much.

Yesterday's blog was in the same vein as this one. Phone's messing up, not posting the blog I type out.

But I'm not quick to blame the Sprint network. I'd be more inclined to blame Bloggeroid. Not that it's not a nifty little app, and it's not like I had to pay any money for it. It's just that between the Android Dailybooth apps and some of the other apps I've used that refuse to post my content, that's just my experience.

That being said, Bloggeroid has been awesome otherwise. When it works, it works brilliantly and it's been keeping my blogging skills in check, letting me blog from my phone.

And I thought the slower typing would affect my blogging in a negative way but it's actually been the opposite. Typing slower actually gives myself a chance to solidify thoughts and points before just saying whatever and not having it too connected.

So, it's a double edged sword. I'm not too upset missing a few days this month. MarchTravisSays went off without a hitch so I'm forgiving myself for not having something posted every day of April.

But let's just hope this one posts today. xD

posted from Bloggeroid

Saturday, April 9, 2011

New Direction of My Channel

So, last night's blog didn't post because my phone refused to connect to the internet. Hopefully thus one fairs a bit better seeing as how I have a full-on connection.

The main point I want to make is to talk to you guys, the few who find their way to this blog. And that point is a new direction of sorts for the way I conversate with you on the YouTubes.

I want more discussion. And I believe it's easily attainable.

That being said, I'm not going to become Dan Brown or even really emulate him in any way, and I am not going to quit parody writing or nerdy rants.

No. There will be more parodies.

I read every single comment and sometimes I even respond, especially in the first few days. But I feel I need to engage myself more with the conversation in the comments, and even moreso, START conversations FOR the comments.

Some may be serious topics such as hate and treatment of people in other countries but some will be reasons and rationales on who's the better Doctor generation.

Nerdy stuff. You guys like nerdy.

I'll be asking for video responses and we'll make it a legit conversation. As much as I sound like a marriage counselor, I think it'll bring us closer together.

Buy there will be more parodies. XD

posted from Bloggeroid

Friday, April 8, 2011

Gallifrey

So, it seems to be a hit with you guys. I'm glad. I spent a lot of time writing and re-writing and filming and re-filming and then drove all the way to Bowling Green to edit it for nine hours.

Granted, it would have taken less time had I not been distracted by the internet, but that's beside the point.

I've learned to take the negative comments with a laugh. I know I'm not the greatest at singing Lady Gaga, but come on. It's Lady Gaga. I'm a BOY.

Soon, the video will become available in searches, and much like 'Nerd' and 'Zombies and They're Eating Brains', I'll soon be getting comments about my singing.

I NEED TO STOP PARODYING FEMALE ARTISTS. Haha.

To the nerds who understand the song and who love Doctor Who, thank you.

:)

posted from Bloggeroid

Thursday, April 7, 2011

It's Done: A Blog About a Video

So, as I'm sitting here typing this at 2:36, well within my previously stated blog acceptance hours, I can only think about how not hungry I am.

I ate half of a pizza less than two hours ago and nearly an entire bag of jelly beans in the past hour. But that's beside the point.

The parody song about Doctor Who is DONE. I was starting to think the fates had aligned against this video's completion.

Brief history of the birth of this video:
Version 1 of the audio was done last week but today I re-filmed all audio. I also filmed half of the video last week and half earlier today. After finding out I couldn't edit on my own computer OR the campus computer lab nearby, I drove an hour and a half to Bowling Green to edit in an open-all-night lab. Then, I spent two hours on audio version 2 and another three-four hours on the video itself.

Needless to say, I'm in that weird funk where it's exhausting to sit down because of how much computer time I clocked today.

But it is uploading right now. And I'm very happy with it. I hope you guize like it.

:D

It'll be at http://www.YouTube.com/whattravissays soon!

posted from Bloggeroid

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Old Forgiveness

As much as I didn't mean for this to turn into a sappy, 'I appreciate my life a lot' blog, that's what these past few posts have felt like.

And this is by no means an exception.

Today was rare in that I didn't do much before work at 1:30pm today, but I ended up re-connecting with multiple old friends.

Now, I'm no stranger to old friends, I am old, and so by default, my friends will be old. Simple math, really.

But the problem with me is...well it's not really a problem, more of a character flaw...but every hero need a character flaw, right? It's that I can't let go of friendship.

And I know I'm taking a HUGE risk posting this ON THE INTERNET, but if we're friends and you suddenly treat me badly, and down the line you say sorry, I'll be incredibly hard-pressed not to forgive you.

I feel like I didn't really think this vlog through before typing it, hah.

My point is, I know that some people won't change, and I'm careful not to let people walk all over me, but I'll gladly take friendship over non-friendship any day.

posted from Bloggeroid

Monday, April 4, 2011

New Found Nostalgia

As I sit here in my car in the rain before work, typing this on my phone, my iPod is plugged into the dash playing New Found Glory.

And I know what you're thinking, yes, I have been typing all of this month's blogs on my phone. And I have become exceedingly efficient at it.

But that's not the point. New Found Glory.

Not any of their newer songs; we're talking 'Sticks and Stones' stuff. 'My Friends Over You', 'The Story So Far', etc.

It's just bringing back lots of memories from high school, my first job, and when things were a lot easier. Which makes me appreciate where I am right now. Some people would kill to be in my position. To have as much going for me as I do. To have so much possibility.

It's just a good feeling to be reminded.

Ok, work time.

posted from Bloggeroid

Late Night Revelations

Tonight is another late night, which is kind of funny, seeing as how I've been going to bed before 2:00am every night since Florida. Mess'd wit ma sleepin patter'n, it'as.

Sorry. Just got done watching 'The Doctor Dances' and now my mind is speaking in a rather strong 1941 English accent.

Ahem.

So, today, I had a few revelations. Things I want to do. Directions I want to take my YouTube channel. Because, for far too long, I haven't had a definition for my 'genre' of video. Vlogger, sure, but to what end? I'd love to do strictly parodies but I don't have the time to crank out a few a month.

I want to connect. Build more of a community. Actually create a /place/ of sorts. I'll keep doing vlogs and DEFINITELY more parody songs, but I want some consistency and involvement.

I'll make a video about this after my Doctor Who song, an original song of mine, and a late PlaylistLive recap video. But you're one of the first to know that SOMETHING big is going to happen.

Be excited.

posted from Bloggeroid

Sunday, April 3, 2011

Declarations

Seeing as how it is currently 1:36am, Sunday morning, I have decided to implement a few declarations or rules about this WTS VEDA.

For one, I will be going by 'YouTube' time, meaning that anything posted before 3:00am my time counts for the previous day.

What? You say it's called Pacific Standard Time? Stop making stuff up. It's 'YouTube' time.

Secondly, from here on out, I promise to have a subject of what I want to talk about. It feels so good working towards a subject and finishing on a strong note with succinct focus.

No one likes those blogs where I don't have a point. And if you do, then quit lying.

So that's all?..Tata!

posted from Bloggeroid

Friday, April 1, 2011

Blogs from a Phone

Now, I wasn't sure I was going to do BEDA. I honestly don't remember if I did last year or not. I do know, however, that I haven't posted a blog post since early February. Now, that's just horrendous.

Especially since most of my money comes from here, hah. XD

So, it's about 45min till midnight and I have just now decided to attempt BEDA again (again?)

The catch, like with MarchTravisSays, is that I won't have a lot of time. YouTube isn't my job (yet). Travis gots ta get paid, son!

So, I'm trying this new thing called texting. It's pretty new. Only really big in Japan right now. But anyways, I'm using my phone to type this blog and post it without needing a computer. I'll probably see if I can do this consistently from my phone.

But the thing is, I wanted to find a Blogspot app to type this up with. Problem is, there's no Blogspot app. There's Blogger and Wordpress and, so help me God, an Altavista mail server, but nothing Blogspot.

But after twenty minutes of Googling 'Bogspot vs Blogger' I find out they're the same thing.

Great. That's just how I want to start this BEDA off. I am an idiot. ;(
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posted from Bloggeroid

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Just Trollin Along

So, I have been known to troll from time to time.

I even have a few secret YouTube accounts, yes, with videos, that don't have any affiliation with me or the WhatTravisSays name. What started out as a few secret projects have turned into a slew of social media experiments.

To give an example on what I'm finding, it's that people don't exactly know how to take "me".

In some of the channels, I'm myself. I'm talking about random things, and to my knowledge, no one who knows me as "Travis from WhatTravisSays" has seen any of the videos.

On other channels, I'm totally trolling.

For those of you who are new to the internet, the online definition of a troll is, "someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking other users into a desired emotional response or of otherwise disrupting normal on-topic discussion." Trolling is a game about identity deception, albeit one that is played without the consent of most of the players. Which, in light, is something that I've grown quite fond of.

Now, I don't harass people and I don't deface internet tribute sites, but I do give certain impressions which I find hilarious.

I troll on my Facebook status quite often and I find it pretty funny when people take me seriously.

I made a fake Fizzylimon-esque Twitter account and used it to troll Justin Bieber fans on their horrible use of grammar in their Tweets.

I have a few Tumblr accounts which are very non-Travis and they're starting to gain a bit of attention.

I have a YouTube channel where I'm singing songs in a British accent while in the shower.

I have another channel where all the guy (me) does is beg for subscribers. He uses primarily one-take videos, horrible quality, little lighting, and he sounds really annoying.

It's fun.

I plan to post a troll video or two on my WhatTravisSays channel soon but I will not give any indication on where to find these that I have listed.

Go find them yourself. ;D
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Sunday, February 6, 2011

I'm Not a Fan of the Super Bowl

So, to a lot of you, it's no surprise that I really don't take part in the American tradition, aptly named "The Super Bowl" or, for people in Europe, El Fútbol Americano de Supor.

What? You're not Spanish, you say?

Sorry but this is an equal opportunity blog.

It's a good thing you don't read Spanish because that did not read "The Super Bowl". I think it was closer to "The Football of Super" or "The Super Football". And for those of you flexing your little Spanish commenting fingers, HA. I pulled the floor out from beneath you by admitting my poor translation.

Gold star, Travis.

But I am getting off topic!

I'm not a huge fan of watching sports on television to begin with and it takes a lot for me to watch a sport live, even. Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-sports. I played soccer in elementary, middle, and high school, I played baseball up until high school, I swam in middle school and high school, and I did Tae-Kwon-Do for almost seven years. It's just that something is lost when I'm watching others play. I'm not into it nearly as much as other people and I don't ever feel like I have anything invested in the outcome.

Seriously, the only sport I really like watching on TV is celebrity poker. Yah rly.

Football is the same story. I was in band in high school and we always had to watch the football games. I understood them, I cheered along, but mainly because of being with friends, not the sport.

But I know I'm not alone in all this. Some people are like me and just can't get into watching sports on the television, and some people enjoy watching sports but hate the Super Bowl just because it's the Super Bowl.

The one amazing thing people can agree on about the Super Bowl is that the commercials are awesome. Every year, at least five or six are gold. But with the burst of the use of YouTube and our culture wanting information as fast as now and to keep pleasure on repeat, the commercials are probably all online already and at the time of this blog post, the Super Bowl is still going on. I had to sit through the Super Bowl to watch commercials and I don't have to do that anymore.

But let me know what you guys think!
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Making Money with eBay

I really need to start posting these before midnight.

Anywhoozle.

The most monumental thing I did today was create an eBay account for the multiple plastic tubs of items I have in my room that need to be sold. As some of you know, I gained a rather large interest in "American Pickers" and "Pawn Stars" over this past summer which translated into me buying and selling things I came across during months when it was actually warm out.

I had just started my current job and I was getting a regular paycheck and anywhere from 40-80 dollars a week would go to me purchasing items which I thought I could resell and make some extra cash. I would go to flea markets, garage sales, thrift shops, and rummage sales and buy things I knew I could make some money with.

These things ranged from old cameras to vintage jewelry, from electronics to Harley memorabilia. I put a few hundred dollars into plethora of things now sitting in those blue tubs but I think I can easily sell most items for triple what I paid. A few of those rummage sales I went to, they were charging three dollars for an entire paper bag filled with whatever could fit. I spent about twelve dollars on a few hundred dollars worth of stuff.

So, needless to say, I'm excited.

The only issue, is that a lot of time goes into listing items online, waiting for the auction to end, and then paying for the shipping before the money coming back in PayPal. But, slowly but surely, I'm generating a pretty strong income.

For example, one of the first items I bought over the summer was a small plastic tub of spoons at a garage sale. Now, these spoons were collectible spoons, most of which were from other states, and some which were from other countries.

She wanted $15.00, I said I'd give her $10.00, and we settled at $12.00. I counted them when I got home and had, in my ownership, a total of 87 spoons, 60some collectible, the rest silver and very beautifully designed. Over the next month, I sold most of the state spoons and made $450.00.

I was pretty pleased with myself.

Do you have any epic money-making stories that happened to you or a friend recently?
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Saturday, February 5, 2011

I'm Not Late. I'm On Time. Kinda.

This blog is going up the night of Friday, so I don't feel bad for it being past midnight and into Thursday already.

You'll live.

I just wanted to state that, in the past, I've always had an issue with getting to my events on time. Not all, but maybe a good fourth of them. I always felt like I was rushing against the clock to make it somewhere on time, or waking up late, or calling a friend to tell them that I was ten minutes further along than I actually was.

Lucky for me, none of those friends read this blog.

Having said that, minus exceptions of crazy weather, I feel that I've been doing a lot better with getting to things on time.

Up until the end of 2010, the clock in my car was not set on the correct time. It started out on time but somewhere in my mind, I thought it would be a good idea to bump it forward a minute. So, in theory, I would get to my location a minute earlier.

I failed to take into account that a minute was barely enough time to change my habits of lateness and I found myself being even more stressed, at first not remembering that the car was a minute fast. Then I bumped it up to five minutes fast which seemed to help for a while. But since five minutes was so easy to do the mental math with, I always knew how late I really was.

Then I bumped it up to eight minutes, I guess, to trick myself into thinking that it was still five minutes fast, which would, again, in theory, only give me three minutes buffer time. That didn't work either. So, it kept going and by the time December 2010 rolled around, my clock was a full eighteen minutes fast.

Now, my fear was that if I set it back to the correct time, I would still think, "Oh, I have eighteen minutes more than what's presented in front of me," and assume that the clock was fast. And this was something I dreaded more than anything. I had created a theory/construct/thing that I felt couldn't be calmed. I was always gong to have assumptions about the clock's time.

But after multiple people commenting on the time once they got into my car, I got sick of explaining this story to them. So, in January 2011, I thought, "I should fix this". And fix it I did.

For the first few days, it was the correct time. Then I bumped it up a minute "for kicks" and to make sure my clock would never be behind. Then I passed a bank and its time was a minute faster. So I bumped it up again.

And I left it there. For good reason.

I don't need that beast released again. I will not be a slave to my clock.

I am become on time.

So far.
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Thursday, February 3, 2011

SAW

Now, to be honest, I'm a big fan of the "Saw" franchise.

And even though they seem to come out with a new one every Halloween, and some of the torture scenes still make me cringe after multiple times...

I mean, seriously, the girl's hair in the crank pulling back further and further until her scalp starts tearing?
The girl getting sprayed with water in the freezer until her body shatters?

*shiver

Anyways, I don't enjoy them especially for the torture or the terror scenes, but the way that the entire story fits together perfectly. It is incredibly thought out and intricate in what the audience is told.

The first "SAW" was a great movie in and of itself with wonderful twists and an epic ending.

The second "SAW", now that, it was sort of a flop. I mean, c'mon, Marky Mark? I mean, there were some good parts but in my mind, it was like another version of a "SAW" movie.

The third "SAW" made up for the second. It tied all three movies together and by the end, it felt incredibly well-rounded.

The fourth time around, it asked questioned I hadn't even thought of during the first three and answered said questions.

The fifth time, a lot of people were starting to get sick of the franchise. It was around this time that the slogan, "It's Halloween so that must mean SAW" came out.

And so on and so on. Asking more questions, answering those questions, and explaining more about Jigsaw's past. With time shifts, things happening at the same time as other things in different movies, characters becoming involved when it wasn't previously thought that they were involved, people once thought dead ending up still being alive at the time of events in a later movie, I thought it was all amazing.

I mean, think of the studio's mindset.

They have this major idea for a multiple movie series but they're not sure how it'll all pan out.

They release the first one with overwhelming positive results. But in doing so, they're keeping the movie as one storyline. Things that aren't answers are understood that they're not meant to be answered. It's a perfect sphere in and of itself.

It's kind of like the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie. It's a great thing by itself but when you learn about the compass not pointing North, lines from the first one make more sense. "A compass that doesn't even point North..." because it was pointing at what he wanted the most.

WHICH IS LEARNED IN THE NEXT MOVIE.
Mindblown.

So, in closing, I'm about to watch "SAW: The Final Chapter" and in doing so, I'm hoping that it'll be as great as the first few.

The first few minus the second one of course.
Seriously. Marky Mark.

I'm never going to let that go.

I'm a bigger fan than most, I just hope my high expectations will not damper the well-thought-outness of this movie.

"I promise that my work will continue."

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

I'm Sorry, Tongue

After staring at this blank white screen and blinking cursor for seven minutes, I bit my tongue.

But let me explain.

I was eating Ritz crackers while sitting here looking at this blank screen.

That actually makes a bit more sense. It gives reason to why I happened to bite my tongue.

But honestly, that's not a good enough story, is it?

I'm eating Ritz crackers because I'm hungry.

Well, that's an obvious fact but it's in the evening and I'm not eating dinner.

Why am I not eating dinner, you ask?

Well, let me explain.

I ate lunch around 2pm but that doesn't explain why I'm not eating dinner now.

I finished eating what I had for lunch around 4pm.

Ah, that makes a bit more sense. But I did have a lot of food for some reason.

Let me explain.

I went to McDonalds for my lunch break and because I didn't want to venture out after work for dinner, I bought enough food for lunch then and dinner later.

Which turned out to be around 4pm.

Why didn't I want to go out for food later?

Well, you see, I only got a break and a lunch today and I used my lunch to scrape my car off, go to MCDs and get food and drive back.

Why? Because a break wasn't long enough to scrape off my car, go to MCDs, ooh you mean why did I have to scrape off my car?


Because of the ice.

From the wind.

And the snow.

I thought I told you that already.

Oh, I didn't tell you that it was snowing? Well, it was.

Pretty badly.

Not badly enough to call off work. Obviously. Cause I was working.

But that's not to say I didn't try.

I tried calling off work. And then I figured I could get rid of the ice on my car, drive really slowly, and punch the snowstorm in the face.

Yea, it was a snowstorm.

And that's basically the end of my story. I woke up, there was a snowstorm and that's why I bit my tongue.

Kinda.

Anyway, I'm sorry tongue.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Februaryyyyy

This year is going by pretty decently if I do say so myself.
A lot of things are falling into place.

Work is going alright, the Slytherin video is back on track, I have my dates for Florida planned out, and I haven't busted my Evo yet, which I'm pretty proud about.

There are so many things I want to type about right now, but the truth is, it wouldn't feel right not mentioning them first on YouTube. See, now I have your interest peeked. Sorry.

;D

A lot of you saw Brittany in my Anne Hathaway/Dark Knight Rises video. I had been trying to get her to sign up for YouTube the three weeks before that video went up and she was nervous that people wouldn't like her or care what she had to say. But she received an overwhelmingly awesome response. Already, she's getting a few hundred views each video. I has Internets pull, yo.

Thank you, guys.

Yea, yea I know. You're still wondering what I "can't" type about. What I "have" to wait to say first on YouTube.

I'll give you hints.

One of them involves the Florida trip, one of them involves a contest, one of them involves secret videos and one of them involves the Slytherin video.

So, in an effort to not sound like a radio announcer, stay tuned.

http://www.youtube.com/WhatTravisSays

Also, I may try to blog every day this month. But they won't be long and drawn out. They'll be short, synct, and to the point. Like this one.

Thoughts?

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Sunday, January 23, 2011

Doctor Who Series 5 is Near-Perfect: Part 4

Here we go. The fourth part in my four part blog about why I believe Series 5 of Doctor Who is Near-Perfect. It doesn't have completely to do with the fact that the Matt Smith Doctor-age is like a giant puzzle and it doesn't have completely to do with the fact that I think Matt Smith is a better Doctor than David Tennant, although it has to do with both.

...and half of you have stopped reading already.

Really? I think Matt Smith is a better Doctor than David Tennant?
YA RLY.

What is this Whovian blasphemy? Let me explain.

Now, I loved David Tennant as The Doctor and as I said in Part 3, David Tennant is one of the most amazing actors I have ever had the pleasure of watching perform. He was great in his version of Hamelt (which I am 4/5ths of the way through. What? It's long.) and even wonderful in the, what, fourteen seconds he was in "Harry Potter". But as The Doctor, he was...human.

Tennant could play angry and he could play a heartbreaking sad attitude as well. Sure, he would always talk about the misfortunes and the wonders of humanity but at the same time, he held many of the ideas, thought pattens, and consciousness of a human. Albeit, a human genius, but a human nonetheless.

Smith's Doctor has the alien-like aura to him which he brings to the screen in an amazing way. He's youthful, bright, bubbly soul, and he's not as self-centered. He's clumsy and funny, and he even makes a lot of mistakes. Which, oddly enough, makes him a better Doctor.

In the very first episode of Series 5 where The Doctor needs to find Prisoner Zero, he's without a fully working TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver gets busted, and he's in a tiny town with nothing more than "a Post Office, which is closed!" All of the classic Doctor trademarks gone, and he has twenty minutes to ward off the destruction of the planet Earth. He tries something, it fails. He tries something else, it also fails. He seems to have no way out. And then he comes through when he notices tiny, tiny things wrong. With nothing more than a cellular phone, The Doctor comes through.

Now, the first time I watched that episode, something felt off and I didn't know why. I knew that I was beginning to like Smith's acting but I was firm to the belief that Tennant would always be my Doctor. And to an extent, he always will be, but something was different about Smith.

In "The Beast Below", Smith's Doctor showed anger towards the human, "Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" but he also showed selflessness. In "Victor y of the Daleks", he was able to keep his humor firm but still poignant by shouting at a Dalek, while brandishing a biscuit, “All right, it’s a Jammy Dodger, but I was promised tea!” And in each episode along the way, The Doctor shows a new side of himself. Sometimes completely alien, and sometimes compassionately overwhelmed with feelings of longing towards humans. Which, still, to be fair, is very alien.

And as I watched Smith's episodes, I realized what felt "off" to be about Matt Smith. He was alien. He made mistakes. He had a real sense of humor, to himself and others thought he was odd. He didn't aim to change the course of time "unless there were children crying", and he sure as heck didn't have a God-complex. His performance was much lighter than Tennant, with the ability to go just as dark. "Hello, I'm the Doctor," he warned the Atraxi in the premiere. "Basically...run."

Ooh, still gives me chills.

Then, as I was watching Smith's Series 5 play out, I realized how each episode was a puzzle piece that fit together. In Eccleston's Series and the begging of Tennant's, Bad Wolf played a part in most of the episodes much like the Time Crack in Smith's episodes. But by the end, we find out that "Bad Wolf" was created by Rose to lead herself there. But there are a lot of inconsistencies and gaps in the story where the viewer forgets about Bad Wolf and then when it's explained, it's kind of a flash in the pan reaction. Like, that was it?

Smith's episodes are much more consistent. The Time Crack is shown in nearly every episode and even plays a large role in half of them. The viewer never forgets about the Time Crack and is constantly learning more about it. Each episode fits together like parts of a well-oiled machine. If you miss an episode, you miss important information. And even more-so, Series 5 and Series 6 will be linked together by "Silence will fall". Rather than rebooting a story-arc every Series, I think this continuous theme is something wonderful.

So, in closing, David Tennat will always be my first Doctor, but I believe Matt Smith is a better Doctor.

Now, please. Put your pitchforks away and talk amongst yourselves in the comments. I'm curious as to what you guys feel.

Go back and read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3


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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Behind the YouTube: WhatTravisSays (Part 1/2)

I'm going to do this in the format of a "Behind the Music" special. And it's only going to encompass things that happened during the year of 2010. Just sayin'.


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Travis. A young man from Ohio whose video entertainment brought joy to tens of twelves of people he would never meet. Allured by the video posting website YouTube, Travis didn't know what sorts of things would be in store for him throughout the year of 2010. This is that story.

(Intro title)
Behind the YouTube: WhatTravisSays

In the beginning of January 2010, Travis had been a video blogger on the channel WhatTravisSays for eleven months. Travis felt that he was picking up some steam and gaining attention for himself. He had a few hundred subscribers and enough time between his college and social life to make videos a few times a month. Things were going well.

In mid-January, he rediscovered YouTube user RockstarRaquel and became enthralled with her New Year's Resolution to post a video everyday for the month of January. Travis found himself making sure he watched all of Raquel's videos as they came out, for fear that he would miss one. He found this constant video output rather addicting. And extremely entertaining.

As February came around, Raquel was finished with her project and mutual friend Steve (Fizzylimon) had taken up the reigns for vlogging everyday in a month. A project which Steve would soon dub the Vlog Every Day Mannor or VEDManor. Again, Travis found himself constantly wanting to keep up with Steve's postings, and by the midpoint of February, Travis wanted to take the challenge of March.

In March, something Travis called MarchTravisSays consisted of the idea that he would post a video every weekday of the month of March, no matter what. Stressful, because Raquel and Steve had each done a wonderful job posting every day that they had aforementioned, Travis found himself close to missing the deadlines multiple times. But as this project was stressful, it was also a creative brainstorm. Travis was writing ideas down more often as the project was forcing him to create entertaining content on a regular, nearly daily, basis.

During the midpoint of March, Travis had an idea.

(commercial)

Travis had an idea. He was going to write another parody song music video. He had done this nearly five months before with his song 'Zombies and They're Eating Brains', the parody to Miley Cyrus' 'Party in the USA'. 'Zombies and They're Eating Brains' had taken just over a month to write, plan, get the cast, shoot, and edit, but Travis had limited time. March has just over two weeks left and he needed to get a move on if he wanted to post a parody video in time.

Going back to where VEDManor all began, Travis asked Raquel and Steve to take part in the video as well as fellow nerds Megan (meganhibner) and Kiera (ianswertobob). They all seemed to love the plans. And although she was incredibly busy at the time, Travis asked fellow TwoSinglePeople-ian Angela to take part as Nerd Girl. She accepted.

After gathering the footage to be used for his parody video, Travis began working on piecing it together early on March 30th, a day before it was to be posted. Also, at the same time, he was piecing together March 30th's video, a video in which he said thanks to his viewers, asked if they remembered the first of his videos that they saw, and got excited about the prospect of tomorrow's video, all without making sure not to give away any information.

Very early into the morning of March 31st, around 4am, Travis posted his video for 'Nerd'.

And to him, this YouTube hobby would never be the same.

(commercial)

(Part two will be posted soon!)
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