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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STALK ME!!
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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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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'.


________________________________________
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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STALK ME!!
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Doctor Who Series 5 is Near-Perfect: Part 3

Now for Tennant's Doctor.

This is probably the most thought I've put into a blog. Ever. I have to be very careful on my wording when talking about Tennant's Number Ten because of the rabid following he has in the Doctor Who, and even general theater, fanbase.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that I am a complete fan-girl for David Tennant's portrayal of The Doctor.

He was brave, bold, charming, hilarious, full of wit, quick on his feet, and loved bananas. When he was given an emotional scene, you felt as if you were hurting along with him. He is an amazingly accomplished actor.

That being said, his performance as The Doctor was fun, but seemed to rely on over-acting to achieve the eccentricity of The Doctor. I would say he was too human for the Doctor, but, that is just how one chooses to play The Doctor. Each actor chooses which elements to emphasise and which to play down, so no actor can really do it wrong, objectively speaking. It comes to down to the subjective.

(SPOILERS)
As battle-scared and war-torn as he was getting after losing Rose, Martha, and Donna, and reacting to the prophecy about his own death, it was becoming increasingly hard to cheer him on.

Most notably, in "The Waters of Mars", he defiantly changed the course of history by saving the crew of Bowie Base One instead of leaving them to their watery graves. Realizing he has the power to do so, the internal struggle about saving them comes to an end and he strides back into the base and carts them back to Earth in the TARDIS. He takes his arrogance to the highest of extremes and in realizing what he had done, Adelaide commits suicide. This is the moment that the sorrow snaps back into The Doctor's mind and he utters that he has, "gone too far".
(SPOILERS END)

This is just a prime example of just how flawed a Time-Lord can be, but in making him seem God-like, it takes away from the edge-of-your-seat-ness and makes him walk a fine line between God and hero.

Now, this is by no fault of Tennant. David Tennant is one of the most amazing actors I have ever had the pleasure of watching perform. And RTD's writing was brilliant for /most/ of the episodes; it just loses entertainment value when there's no need to cheer for the hero.

To wrap this up in Part 4, I will defend Smith's Doctor, who is, in my opinion, the most perfect Doctor since the revival.

Go back and read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 4

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SLUMP

So, at this moment, I am faced with a very interesting conundrum.

I could go through and thank the 300some people who've subscribed to my YouTube channel over the past week OR I could write a blog post and just let my thoughts flow.

Guess which one I'm doing.

My rationale is that I usually thank subscribers while watching American Pickers and that won't be happening until later tonight.

But I can be excited.

Anyways, this is not a continuation of my "Doctor Who Series 5 is Near-Perfect" series, although that will continue in the near future. Probably after the Project for Awesome and I hope to have all 5 or 6 parts up here before Christmas. Because that's when the Doctor Who Christmas Carol episode premieres.

And I'm excited about that too.

The reason this blog is titled "SLUMP" is because I've been in a creationally-unmotivated mood when it comes to videos, unless I'm being coerced. AHEMKIERAAHEM But I've had a few things that I've planned, even filmed, but once it got around to the time of editing, I'm over them.

Like the new iPad 2 which is coming out in the next couple months. There's still secrecy surrounding it but it's supposed to have a front facing camera, more memory, an SD slot, and a better display.

Big whoop.

Apple, so many companies already beat you to those 'innovations', you're just following suit.

Now, you all know that I'm no Apple fanboy, I have an iPod and I'll use iMovie if the opportunity presents itself, but that's about as far as I go.

The subject is technology, it's Apple-based, a company I feel very strongly about, and it's something that would be easily searchable by a lot of people which guarantees views. But I just ended up not being excited about the video halfway through filming.

Then, there was this guy who robbed the Bellagio at gunpoint. Came into the casino wearing a motorcycle helmet pointing a gun and he robbed the first craps table he found. He was in and out in three minutes.

On the robber's upside, the casino estimates he made it out of there with $1.5 million in chips. On the robber's downside, that's just it. He made it out with CHIPS. He's going to have an awfully hard time cashing them in.

Next, we'll hear about him robbing a Toys R Us of its Monopoly money.

BAZINGA.

So, now that I go back and read this blog, it's not so much an excuse as it is justification for me not posting less than great (in my eyes, anyway) videos. I will never become a sell-out or just post videos to make money. You have my word.

Unless I do VEDA MANOR again next year.
Then, I might have to force myself to make videos.
BUT THEY WILL BE AWESOME.

But, that's a story for another blog.

(PS - because I talked about that guy robbing the Bellagio, look at what I listed as adds below LOLOLOL)

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Doctor Who Series 5 is Near-Perfect: Part 2

So, this second part has been a long time coming.

I've been mentally trying to figure out how I'd want to divide and separate the next few DWS5 blogs and I think I've gotten it pretty well hashed out. The next few blogs will aim to focus mainly on the changes The Doctor goes through, starting with Nine.

Now, I'm in no way, shape or form going to say that Smith portrays a better version of The Doctor than Tennant or Eccleston. I will, however, attempt to tie in all the reasons I think Series 5, Doctor #Eleven included, is near-perfect together.

Eccleston's Doctor was very fun loving, encouraging others to do what would make them happy but was also hard and drastic when he needed to be. He was very brooding and full of melancholy, which is understandable after being responsible for the extermination of Time-Lords and Daleks, alike. He's like an uncle. Slow to anger, will protect anything that threatens those he cares for, and very jovial, even when the situation calls for fear. There was something scary and aggressive about him but you knew he'd fight tooth and nail to protect the innocent.

I have no strong issues with Nine, but his character doesn't seem very real to me. He was a mix of extremes and it was very flip-floppy for me at times. I was never lost in the Series 1 episodes like I was with later episodes. I always consciously knew I was watching a television program, whereas, with some of Tennant's and Smith's episodes, their Doctor was so believable and natural, I completely lost myself in the show.

Next up, Ten!

Go back and read: Part 1 Part 3 Part 4

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Doctor Who Series 5 is Near-Perfect: Part 1

Let me just start out by saying, "It is 'Series 5', not 'Season 5". If you want to get technical, the season introducing Matt Smith as The Doctor is Season 31.

And I think Series 5 is near-perfect.

But first, let me give you a tiny bit of recap into my summer's swelling of Doctor Who:

Nearly a year ago, to the day, actually, I started watching the Christopher Eccleston episodes of Doctor Who. By late December, I had caught up to the end of the David Tennant episodes.

Then I waited for the Matt Smith premiere, patiently, like everyone in England.*

*(I say, 'everyone in England' because I sure wasn't going to wait the two extra weeks for it to be on American TV. I was going to watch them online. Even so, I didn't have basic cable at the apartment I was living in, so I wouldn't have been able to watch anyway.)

Then, during the middle of the Matt Smith-sodes I moved into the place where I'm living now and we have Digital Cable which also, I found out weeks later, gives me access to BBC America.

I was a happy lad.

The point of this blog is a platform set-up into something that I may continue for the next few posts or so. The Series 5, while it may not have David Tennant as The Doctor, has evolved into something more perfect than (I'm assuming) the previous 30 seasons hadn't been able to touch.

Scratch that. I meant to say, 'The previous 26 seasons', because I am able to heavily compare and contrast the last five series/seasons to each other.

But more on that later.

Go back and read: Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

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The Internet was Invented Today

Twenty years ago to the day, the Internet, as we know it, culminated.

The first web browser, WorldWideWeb, was developed by Tim Berners-Lee, and it was, IMHO, the biggest leap forward in communication and technology this century. And it only happened twenty years ago.

Before 1990, there was no available HTTP or HTML to use and there was no such thing as a Web browser. In 1990, TB-L created the HTTP and HTML needed and the very first WorldWideWeb Web browser, not to mention the first few Web pages which described the project.

It's just odd for me to think about because I'm older than 20, and although I remember the popularity boom of the Internet, I don't remember a time when a computer wasn't a big part of my life. Back in the 90s, I was hooked on my dad's computer games. I often played a Star Trek RPG video game which was loaded from DOS. And even though I was never the biggest Star Trek fan, I spent a lot of time playing it.

Then I remember updating to Windows 95.

Then came dial-up, which, by no stretch of the imagination, was anything to really blog about nowadays.

But then everything exploded in the DotCom Boom of the late 90s.

People were able to create websites with very, very low starting rates and the Internet welcomed a surge of destinations.

So think about that today, as you browse this wonderful WorldWideWeb-based technology. Because without it, we probably wouldn't be as close as we are, even if we are thousands of miles apart.

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Why David Tennant is My 'First' Doctor

BEDA: April 29, 2010

So, yesterday I posted a blog about how I started watching Doctor Who a couple months ago under the "pusher" influence of Megan. And by the ending of the second episode, I had grown to like Christopher Eccleston's Ninth Doctor. His performance was pretty over the top at times but his childlike wonder and enthusiasm grew on me rather quickly. Not to mention, when he got angry he created an incredibly powerful performance.

Take for instance (IMO) the best exchange of the season:

“We Have Your Associate. You Will Obey Or She Will Be Exterminated!”
“No.”
“Explain Yourself!”
“I said no.”
“What Is The Meaning Of This Negative!?”
“It means no.”
“But She Will Be Destroyed!”
“NO! ‘Cause this is what I’m going to do. I’m going to rescue her. I’m going to save Rose Tyler from the middle of the Dalek fleet! And then I’m going to save the Earth. And then, just to finish off, I’M GOING TO WIPE EVERY LAST STINKING DALEK OUT OF THE SKY!"
“But You Have No Weapons! No Defences! No Plan!”
“Yeah. And doesn’t that scare you to death!? Rose?”
“Yes, Doctor?”
“I’m coming to get you.”

Oohh, shivers. That part is purely epic.

Then, I heard that people were all "OMG DAVID TENNANT IS JAWSUM" but to be honest, when he regenerated into David Tennant, most of the entire Christmas special was rather lame. It wasn't enough that I was missing Eccleston's Doctor but that the new Doctor was comatose throughout nearly the entire thing.

I know, I know, it was necessary for 1) regeneration, 2) the storyline, and 3) the epic ending, but it was already giving me a bad taste for David Tennant.

Obviously, I think differently now. David Tennant has acting ability the likes of which I have not seen in any sort of actor, really, ever. The episode on Midnight is one of David Tennant's most powerful roles as The Doctor, pulling split-second emotional changes from talkative and cheeky, witty and easy-going, to being betrayed and then having an unstoppable sense when facing his enemies but then back to being light-hearted when someone says the right thing. Unlike the Ninth Doctor, who showed off his vengeful, rage-filled dark side when up against the Daleks, the Tenth Doctor displayed a more confident, self-assured side, but did not hesitate to taunt them. Tennant's acting is just a roller-coaster of theatrical wonder.

As I finished Doctor Who and awaited Matt Smith's incarnation, I thought the same thing with Eccleston's regeneration to Tennant. I was losing a character I had gotten attached to and had to make room to watch another character, one who I hadn't grown with.

And that's when it happened. I realized that Tennant was my Doctor.

It was that residual feeling of his saga being over but having to 'simmer' in it for a while, awaiting the change in actors ahead, still not comfortable with the idea but not wanting to judge Smith on an acting job I had yet to see. Now, after seeing a number of episodes this season, I can actually say, Mister Matt Smith, you are doing a fine job. I am super excited for the future of Doctor Who.

But David Tennant will always be my 'first' Doctor.

Everyone Remembers Their First Doctor

BEDA: April 28, 2010

Now, a lot of you know, I'm a big Doctor Who fan and I have Megan to thank for it. A large selection of Nerdfighteria watches Doctor Who, because, let's face it, it's one of the best shows on television. But even though "my community" was so taken by The Doctor, I never really had much of a craving to find out what it was about.

It was a time when I had caught up on House, The Office, Family Guy, and How I Met Your Mother, he new season of Lost hadn't started airing yet, and I had gotten sick of flipping though my movies and having nothing magically appear.

Shut up, you do it too.

Anyway, I was just walking back from class and it was quite snowy outside. I thought to myself, 'Hey self, Megan won't shut up about this show. I mean, she mentions it in more than half of her Vlogsmoothie videos. You should probably watch it.'

So, I looked it up online. Yo, Star Trek, I know you got that reboot and everything and I'm really happy for you, but Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction show of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Wow, even in text speech, the Kanye meme is incredibly jerky...

I hopped on SurftheChannel and saw that the episodes were separated into "Classic Doctor Who" and "Doctor Who" which was relieving. Megan had said something about starting with the 2005 episodes and how they did a pretty good job explaining most of what had happened in a moderate-reboot fashion. I found and watched the first episode, "Rose".

And I wasn't impressed. At all, really.

I mean, think about it from my point of view. This guy shows up, saves this girl from these plasticly-animated-men, her boyfriend gets sucked into a wheely-bin and then the man yells at some alien consciousness for a while. Not really exciting stuff.

But obviously, as I continued watching, (actually, while watching the next episode) I became hooked. My problem with episode "Rose" is that any sci-fi that exists in the episode, we're as clueless as Rose is. The Doctor doesn't explain much of anything going on. He does a much better job explaining things as they're traveling through time and space which, of course, is the most fun part of the story.

I'll probably post more on this topic later. I feel I've bored you enough, today. :)

Tune in next time for: Why David Tennant is my Doctor

Nothing

BEDA: April 26, 2010

Once again, I've started typing a BEDA blog without any sort of subject to write about.

EDIT: I finished typing the blog and I just wanted to let you know that it does get better. You may now return to your regularly scheduled blog from my now past.

But that's the thing about blogs vs vlogs. It's rare to start a vlog with no idea and have it be entertaining. With a blog, if you don't like the direction it's heading, you can delete chunks, retype it, or completely start from scratch with little more than three clicks of a keyboard. With a vlog, time and preparation goes into filming and editing and when it's a situation like mine where I travel to a different computer to edit, there's not much re-shooting I can do if I don't like the way something turned out.

Now, as logic and my previous explanation dictates, I could delete that entire paragraph. But I don't because then you wouldn't know to what I would be referring to. The same goes with the edit that I will put at the near-beginning about how the blog will get better.

But Travis, I already read that part about the blog getting better.

Yes, appreciated reader, but I haven't typed it yet. You're perceiving time in a linear fashion.

As some of you may be able to tell by the subject matter, I watched Doctor Who today and I was trying to understand all of the plot-holes in the Matt Smith Doctor and River Song story. A lot of things are either a) huge errors, or b) unable to be explained yet. I'll get into this later but to see where I'm coming from, the sonic screwdriver. Her's was blue. His new one is green. How's that workout in the end?

Anyway, back to the subject at hand.

If I'm able to go back and edit anything I wanted to in this blog, it could be asked why I don't just fit the model of the blog to explain everything I want to say and every edit I wanted to make.

Well, that would just be boring, wouldn't it?