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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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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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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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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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'.


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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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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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