I'm in the process of migrating all my blogs to my own person blogging space:
http://aespherea.org/diary
It's currently using one of the stock templates but if I ever get around making a transition from Tables to CSS, I'll eventually make my own theme.
Enjoy!Current Mood:  okay |
I decided to post on the polycount forums for the first time in ... gee whiz ... it's been a while!
With that, I decided to pimp off a movie that I have done voice overs for.
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=119843&an=0&page=0
It's called The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, and it's based off of Washington Irving's original 200 year old story of the same name.
The movie is directed by Dylen. I play the part of Ichabod Crane. The movie is currently #1 on the TMO charts and is maintaining a 4.8 average, which I think is good. But anything over 4.8 is even better, which I try to strive for when it comes to making movies.
You can watch it here: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/79828
If you're curious about the names on the poster, here's the full tech info on the movie:
VOICE ACTORS/ACTRESSES
======================================
* Ichabod Crane = KirinRiotCrash
* Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt = Lizard3209
* Katrina Van Tassel = Millahnna
* Baltus Van Tassel = Kuroken
* Headless Horseman = StevenKreg
* Hans Van Ripper = Betelman
* Jacob = Mortalitis Infinitas
* Peter = Postmodernchuck
* Aaron = Kos78
* Charlotte = Myshinator
* Elizabeth/Rebecca = Dulci
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
======================================
* Genre = Horror
* Runtime = 13:06 minutes
* 14 actors (2 are extras)
* 19 Total costumes (Not custom)
* 25 sound effect tracks
* 4 Music tracks
* 139 Voice Over tracks
* 308 Total scenes used (see below)
* 186 of the above scenes are backdrops
* 1/4 cut and 2/3 cut scenes (cheap freecam effect)
* 2 'manufactured' scenes (You will know which they are)
* Music by 6-Headedmonster & Mortalitis Infinitas
* Custom titling
Hope you like it!
In other news, I've been talking to SocialNemesis again. It's been a while since I chatted with him on Yahoo. He previously had some relationship problems but I think he's getting better.Current Mood:  grateful |
Catch me on TMOA Radio this afternoon, 11:00 AM PST, 2:00 PM EST, 7:00 PM GMT!
See http://tmoa.greylegion.com
Also see: http://allboards.lionhead.com/showthread.php?t=151334&page=2Current Mood:  shocked Current Music: 人生美味礼讃 by ALI PROJECT |
Well ... it's been a while since I have posted something but here it goes:
I've been doing some volunteer voice-acting among other things for the TMO community since last November at the Lionhead forums: http://allboards.lionhead.com/forumdisplay.php?f=46 ... it's a pretty friendly community and very active, although, I haven't recognized any old faces from the other communities I used to frequent.
I seem to have made a name for myself and I'll be interviewed on TMOA Radio this Sunday by rjb2112. For more information about TMOA, check out this website: http://tmoa.greylegion.com/ ... kuroken hasn't announced the other guests yet so I don't know who else will be interviewed at the time.
It'll also be the first time I'll be using the audio features on Skype as well so I've been trying to configure it by calling in the echo123 user so I'll be prepared for that. Speaking of Skype, feel free to add me: "KirinRiotCrash"
Meanwhile, I've been working on my movie during my spare time using The Movies game. It's the second part for Murphy City. As of right now, I have a developer diary coming along which can be read here: http://aespherea.org/wip/murphycitylog.html
If you haven't seen the first part yet, check it out here: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/52162 ... if you're registered with Lionhead, you can also review it! Registering with Lionhead not only allows you to review movies but access their forums as well.
For the past few minutes, I've been searching around Livejournal and trying to find some folks that I run into on the LH forums ... I found one: ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) erinnicole93 [studio]. She's the one that did the Aegis of Therion series. It's pretty awesome!
Now on to Real Life ... well ... I woke up today at 5:30 AM ... I usually don't wake up that early but when I woke up, I felt like I had too much energy in me. I feel rather awesome today. Yesterday was mom's birthday too so I had some cake and other kinds of sugar so I guess that contributed to that burst of energy. That, and I'm listening to m.o.v.e ... pretty moving J-Rock/J-Rap band.
Today, I'll be finishing up my taxes and sending them out. I was supposed to send them out a while back but my dad wants to look at them first ... damn procrastinator! He should know by now that I don't like waiting until the last minute. I also have to finish up some paperwork and call some people up ... apparently, a collection agency has been ragging on me about that hospital bill that I can't possibly pay right now ... that and the Postal Service around these parts is rather slow so I tend to get mail much later than usual as of late.
Yesterday, one of my aunts from California called. My mom usually calls her "Baby Ruth". She said that there are a lot of jobs in California. It would be nice if I could move to California, although, the cost of living there is a fortune. I guess the costs have been driven up because of the presence of Hollywood. I'll probably consider moving to California though when I get older. If not there, then probably some place in Europe, or even Japan on the other side of the planet.Current Music: Blast My Desire by m.o.v.e |
It's been a while since I've updated this thing but I guess I'll post something.
Some things to share: I'm rather hooked on script-writing. I think it's The Movies game that got me started.
In case you haven't checked it out yet, I released my first movie a while ago. It's called Murphy City Part I. You can check out in here:
http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/52162
It's a pretty good movie ... but don't take my word for it. Check out what some of the featured critics had to say:
Meanwhile, a few days ago, while I was dropping my dad to work, I got an unexpected welcome by some of his students. My dad teaches Basic Math for the GED students at Coastal.
One guy said, "Hey! Aren't you Mr. Ramos' kid?"
I said, "Well, yeah!"
He replied back, "You speak better English than him!" and placed his thumb up.
At the time, I didn't quite get it but I stuck my thumb up back him. He only smiled back.
On the same day, as I was finishing up my application form for Coastal, a guy by the name of Josh stopped by my table. He was majoring in Electronics. He was talking about like random stuff. I brought up that I did freelance Voice Acting and he talked to me about certain gigs in Wilmington. If I ever get a vehicle, I might look into it. It might get me started somewhere. He also spouted out a bunch of religious stuff like reminding me about prayer. I suppose it works.
As I got home, I continued to get some of my stuff organized. Let's face it! I'm not the cleanest guy in the world. My bedroom still looks like a mess but I've always learned that it's always a good thing keep my head up, regardless of how bad it looks. If I ever find some time, I'm sure I'll ditch this bed and get the smaller matress from my brother's room. It's really hogging up a lot of space in my bed room. However, I did place three scanners in the attic. One was a UMAX scanner, another was a Visiontek (or was it Visioneer?), and another was an HP. The UMAX and Visiontek scanners didn't work at all on my iBook and the HP scanner wouldn't work properly. It did work using VueScan but I wasn't about to take the plunge and fork over the money just so I could use the app. On the flip side, my dad got an HP All-In-One a couple months ago. I've been using that to scan my stuff and it works over an Ethernet cable on a Bonjour connection. Pretty awesome!
I then went back to school to pick up dad. Shortly before I turned into the campus, someone was blaring out their horn at me. I turned around and saw a blonde chick wave at me. I had no idea who she was but the back of the van had a white sprayed text that said "LCPL MICHAEL" or something like that so either 1) LCPL Michael must be her husband, 2) he must her boyfriend, or 3) she IS LCPL Michael and just returned home from Iraq and was rather stoked at returning home that she ended up honking her horn at random people. Hmm ... weird.
Anyway ... I think I'll stick around with scriptwriting. I have another movie coming up but I really want to redo the main lead's VOs. Her voice currently sounds like helium. She supposed to sound rather bad-ass. I may end up pushing the movie back a few days if I can't get her voice to sound right. In terms of filming, however, I'm about half-way through. The only thing I have problems with right now, aside from her VOs, would be the campfire scene ... I need to make this scene look a bit more interesting. I guess that's why people in the Lionhead forums have been demanding this "free-camera control" for a while now. But if MacGyver can do some awesome stuff in 14 seconds, I don't see why I can't improvise on a few things.
Well ... I guess that's all I have to say right now. I think I'll clean my room up a bit and then get those VOs ready, and then I'll continue working in The Movies.Current Mood:  bored |
| » All next week ... |
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I'll be borrowing the van all next week ... hopefully something desirable will come up either in the newspaper or at the ESC. Problem is that I only get three hours to go around town and find work ... it used to be from morning until three but now it's 12 pm to 3 pm.
I'm feeling somewhat emo right now. A collection agency sent me a letter asking for more money in regards to my hospital bill. I thought it was the paperwork to help me pay the bill but ... it's another bill. Bastards! I called up the number on the bill and I spoke to someone named Janet. She said that she would "notarize" the bill ... whatever that means. I'll try to get in touch with someone at the hospital on Monday ... hopefully someone will be there to figure out what happened.
At the mean time, I called up the USPS hotline today and see if they could put some kind of tracer on that piece of mail that I was supposed to get last month ... maybe they'll help me out here because if I don't get this situated, I'm going to get a nasty mark in my credit report and that's going to make things a bit more difficult in getting a car and perhaps even a house ... that would also mean that I'd have to get a ridiculously high enough salary that I don't even a need a loan to buy a car. Unless I become a Hollywood celebrity overnight, I don't think that's going to happen.
Meanwhile, I'll hit up Monster.com and update my profile to include my portfolio URL ... which I actually changed as of yesterday. Instead of some long URL to my .Mac account, it is now simply as:
http://aespherea.org
Check it out! I have pictures of my old skin work as well as recent audio clips of my voice-acting work. I figured that I should also try to improve in other skills as well as the visual stuff ... I mean, I would think that an employer would want to hire someone that has a few more tricks up the sleeve, right? But then again, they probably wouldn't overwork one particular person by giving him a bajillion different tasks that span across different kinds of work (eg. some for audio, some for graphics, some for story writing, etc.) ... hmm ...
Is a game company out there looking for a texture artist or voice actor?
Maybe I should start looking somewhere ... I wonder what's the demand for those kind of jobs in the gaming industry?
Feb. 4th, 2006 @ 04:06 pm
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| » ALL NIGHTER MOVIE PRODUCER! Oui, Oui, Oui! |
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Tonight, I'll be in my brother's bedroom with a crap load of caffeine and work on my first big project in The Movies! I finished off my VOs a while back and now all I need to do is bring these VOs into the game and do some editing. Yay!
Meanwhile, I need to fill my mug up full of coffee ... because I could use it. I think I might experiment with some kind of brew ... I remembered when I was in college, during the time of exams, I always picked out the strongest flavour from the grocery store. It usually came in a black box instead of the red one. Since I don't have that flavour with me, I'm going to have to improvise. I think a few extra tablespoons of coffee mix would do wonders. I could use that gigantic 7-Eleven mug but it would look too suspicious so I'll settle with that regular silver mug.
This is going to rock!
Oh BTW, I finally took the time to release this girl out in the wild for UT2004. Check her out here: http://forums.beyondunreal.com/showthread.php?t=169396
Jan. 27th, 2006 @ 09:57 pm
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| » Massive upgrade on my webhosting package ... |
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It looks like Dreamhost did a number on my account a while back ... they used to give me only 4 GB of webspace and they gave me TWENTY GIGS! Holy crap!
And bandwidth usage went up, too ... it used to be around 250 MB or something like that ... it's now up to 1 GB! Oh snap! Maybe I should move my portfolio back from my .Mac account to Dreamhost now that these upgrades are in place.
Wicked Sick!
I'm under the impression that they're trying to attract the podcasting and vodcasting crowd. I do know that once your podcast becomes more popular, you're going to need more bandwidth so that helps a lot. Perhaps I should consider starting a podcast some day.
EDIT: I made a typo ... I have more than 1 TB of bandwidth!! Holy Jesus Muther Freakin' Christ! I was off by 1023 GB. O_o
Jan. 26th, 2006 @ 11:25 am
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| » Random people from ICQ |
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I'm starting to get random people to talk to me on my ICQ account more often ... I haven't used ICQ for anything meaningful in a long time. In fact, the people who happen to be in my ICQ list were added there around two years ago. Everyone, now-a-days, either use AIM or MSN ... and maybe the occasional person on Yahoo. But gee whiz ... ICQ? Hmm ... it doesn't bother me but it seems rather strange. I usually don't enable the option that prevents non-friends from contacting me because I might end up getting a professional contact to bump into me, but it seems rather weird that I'm getting a lot of strangers coming in on ICQ at this time of the year.
Maybe I should put up an faux away message just to ward them off and if they really need attention, they could just leave a message and if I'm really there, I'll reply.
Jan. 21st, 2006 @ 03:47 pm
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| » Crap ... cleaning up. |
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I managed to clean up a lot of crap off of my computer. I got rid a lot of programs I'm not using such as old shareware and even a couple iLife Apps that I don't use. Since I use RapidWeaver to make quick-n-simple template-based websites, I don't see any reason why I should keep iWeb. I also got rid of Pages since I hardly use it, however, I think I'm going to start using Keynote instead of Powerpoint. I kind of like Keynote because it's well ... a little nicer. Along with that, I also got rid of older IM programs since I do use them; I use Adium which works with AIM, Yahoo, MSN, and the local Bonjour network ... now only if it worked for Skype ... but I guess you can't have everything. :| ... anyway, I used to have around 500 MB left on this 40 GB hard drive ... now I'm up to 4 GB left ... looks like I killed a lot of things! I even compressed some WAV and AIFF files down into FLAC files so it's a good start.
Meanwhile, I've been trying out for a bunch of parts lately ... I guess the more content I could stash into my portfolio, the better. Hopefully, I could turn it into a profession. However, the only problem I have now is the engineering portion, eg. trying to make it sound right. I can do the acting, it's the technical part that could use a little bit of tweaking.
I think next week, I'll update my Monster.com profile to include my voice-acting snippets. Who knows! It would feel really weird if I get a job offer from Hollywood but I highly doubt it. At least until I've spent a little bit more time orienting myself to this new hobby. I just never realized how easy it was.
Jan. 20th, 2006 @ 09:47 am
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| » The Library ... |
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I applied for a job in the Onslow County Library last week ... I just got a post card back stating that they have received my application form so I'm going to give them a call. It's the first time I got a postcard back from the county when I applied for a job with them so it's probably good thing but I want to give them a phone call just to be sure. Hopefully, I'll be able to talk to the RIGHT person that does the interviews instead of a bunch of WRONG people like what happened when I applied in Best Buy.
When I applied at Best Buy a few months ago, I was scheduled to speak with a particular person, instead, I got interviewed by three different people who had no idea about the department I applied in. It's scary! That's why I never got the job there! Either I'm too geeky for the people that interviewed me (for the record, none of those interviewers worked for the Geek Squad) or the supervisor of the Geek Squad was just slacking off. I should have filed a complaint with Best Buy's 1-800 hotline but never really thought about that until right this minute. Oh well ... I may eventually try again though. If anything, I'll stick with whatever will get me in the door instead of looking too high up.
On the flip side of things, I haven't heard anything back from DePaul Hospital about the 10 bucks I sent them. (I actually owed them roughly around 1400 bucks) I would have expected some kind of receipt but I didn't get one. I also didn't get any Financial Assistance forms in the mail so I'm taking that they're generous enough not to send me any more bills. In that case, I'll write them a Thank You letter about the hospitality they provided me when I was in the hospital. It shows that I've shown some appreciation but there's no way I could pay that kind of due considering the financial schlump I'm in. I could also include references of God in there for good measure, even though I'm not a big fan of going to church.
Hey! If anyone is looking to hire something that is like a jack of artistic trades, email me! I could use that job ... no, a CAREER actually! My Art & Voice portfolio is located here: http://homepage.mac.com/kirinriotcrash ... I'm adding stuff to that portfolio almost everyday. Hopefully, I'll finally get connected somewhere.
Jan. 17th, 2006 @ 10:16 pm
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| » Tape deck ... not a substitute. |
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Well ... I thought I'd be able to use a tape-deck as a replacement pre-amp but that doesn't help one bit ... actually, the noise starts to distort when I yell at the mic. I've noticed that the noise tapers off at around -20 db ... oh well ... I guess if I ever get the chance, I'll try to fork off 20 bucks on eBay and get RIAA-standard pre-amp ... that might actually do it instead of having to use the Amplify or Normalize options in Audacity.
But then again, I've never used a preamp ... I'm under the impression that it's supposed to amplify a signal before it goes into a recorder. As of right now, if I hooked the mic straight up to the iMic USB device, my recordings are between -25 and -18 db using a normal voice but my lowest would be around -35 db ... I wonder if that's normal? If I snap my fingers with a pop filter between my hand and the mic, I get it to around -10 db ... hmm ...
Jan. 17th, 2006 @ 04:43 pm
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| » Ever thought of getting a tattoo w/ Chinese characters? |
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I ran into this blog recently: http://www.hanzismatter.com/
It was linked on Esoteric News.blog: http://news.com.com/2060-11200_3-0.html
Tian points out so many misuses of Chinese characters when used in Western culture, such as in media print and tattoos ... it makes me wonder about the knowledge of tattoo artists or other artists that use Babelfish instead of a real translator.
IMHO, when it comes to foreign languages and media, I'd try to get someone knowledgeable in that particular language before making myself look like an international idiot.
Speaking of which, I need to get in contact with Kiwa sometime this week so she could verify some Japanese for me on my movie script. :/ I think I got it right but I want to make sure.
Jan. 17th, 2006 @ 02:51 pm
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| » Murphy City Trailer 1 |
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I uploaded my first movie on TMO. You can check it out here: http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/39714
Cinderella Fighter, right now, is on hold. I'm considering in re-writing the story so it's more narrative, like a fairy tale instead of some odd movie.
Also, you could visit my Art & Voice Portfolio: http://homepage.mac.com/kirinriotcrash/
Jan. 11th, 2006 @ 12:59 am
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| » School ... |
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I thought about going back to school for the Fall 06 and get another Bachelor's. I'd like to go into Acting ... I have found voice-acting to very enjoyable so far and thought it would be a nice thing to go into studying. I suppose it could work ... but I haven't made any hard decisions yet. As with any art-related field, I have found that substance is more important the actual knowledge behind it.
One thing I could do is practice my art of voice-acting until I become noticed. Currently, I keep my samples here: http://homepage.mac.com/kirinriotcrash/aespherea/
Hmm ... I wonder what kind of demand is there for voice-artists when it comes to the game industry? (note to self: post this question on ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) gamedevelopers when I'm not so sleepy)
Personal opinion: I think Namco could use some better voices ... I thought the voices for Soul Calibur III, Baiten Kaitos, and Tales of Symphonia were well ... weak, bland, and/or dry!
Jan. 6th, 2006 @ 01:30 am
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| » 2 sketches |
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I finally got around scanning two sketches that I drew a couple weeks ago. The first one of Silver Stirling wearing a hooded sweater. After looking at that picture for the first time since I first drew her, she reminded me of that one chick from that Transporter 2 movie. Yesterday was the first time I saw the trailer for that movie. I think it's her eyes or something.
And the second sketch of a mysterious character called Ria Stype. She's cold and silent, a frequent nomad, rather agile, and knows French. Her fighting style is a derivative of Pi Qua Quan (think Helena from Dead or Alive) but has the ability to transform into a psychotic version (think Leona, Iori, and The Orochi Team from King of Fighters).
Jan. 4th, 2006 @ 03:34 pm
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| » Side note |
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I found a button while I was helping neo_foxx000 cleaning his room:
~PWNAGE!~
Kiwa made that a long time ago. That guy's name is Cuan ... don't remember exactly which Fire Emblem he's from though but I would consider that this button is very well old. I think I was still in high school when I got this in the mail.
Meanwhile, I finished all the Voice Overs for my own movie, Cinderella: A Contender's Tale ... all 168 lines! I anticipate my first movie to be around 10 minutes in length. On the other hand, my voice made a debut on the TMO a few days ago in a 25 minute, multi-part movie called "Shadow Realm": http://movies.lionhead.com/movie/30771 ... I played the part of Lindenberg.
Right now, I'm doing voice-overs for another un-named machinima. I play the part of Xavier ... he's supposed to be some kind gangster or something ...
I guess if I get really good at voice-overs, perhaps I could take a whack into "Show Business" or something. I've always wondered what it's like to "act". Start with Podcasting and go from there. Perhaps one day doing voice-acting in the game industry ... or even bigger ... THE MOVIE INDUSTRY! Oh snap!
Dec. 31st, 2005 @ 08:02 am
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| » Finished voice-acting ... |
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Finished with my German voices ... for now anyway ... at the mean time, I've been working on a script for own movie. It's going have similar mechanics to a Cinderella-like movie but pertains more to boxing. A bit like Cinderella Man only like .... uh ... Cinderella ... yeah! That's it! Jim Braddock is Cinderella's fairy god-parent that turns her into a boxing contender. I think this might look interesting. I made an actor using the StarMaker that looks somewhat like Russell Crowe so he might fit the role as Jim Braddock. I might also throw in a Rocky look-a-like just for kicks!
Hope I don't make it too long though ... Lionhead only gave me 25 MB to upload stuff. Based on the movies I've watched on TMO, I'd say it's around 1 minute per meg. I highly doubt I'll make a 25 minute movie but since this webspace is also shared with my brother, I need to watch my usage carefully.
Dec. 26th, 2005 @ 12:12 am
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| » New graphics card |
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I ordered a new graphics card for my brother ... it's a cheap Radeon 9600 card: here. It should be here on Friday, according to UPS.
Hopefully, that would fix some of graphical oddities on The Movies, like the lack of water in the bathtub. My guess would be that the water is probably a DirectX 9 effect and my brother was originally using a GeForce 3 Ti 200, which is a DirectX 8 card. I also learned that in order to change the lighting settings on the sets, the graphics quality needs to be set at the minimum of Medium. Otherwise, you could only change the weather.
And speaking with ATI cards, I figured I'll go for the X1300 as a minimum for my next machine. Anandtech did a write-up a while back with H.264 acceleration and X1000 series graphics cards: here. I thought it was a pretty interesting read.
Right now, I'm doing voice-overs for some kind of horror flick with Nazis in it. I'm supposed to do the voice for some German guy but since there's three different German people in this movie, I might want to get back on the writer in regards to this ... or either that, I'll VO all three German guys! Personally, I don't mind doing that. ;)
Dec. 22nd, 2005 @ 11:39 am
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| » My Stars ... |
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I just realized that my stars for The Movies are stored somewhere in the My Documents folder. And I forgot to back it up when I was restoring my brother's computer (I generally don't have anything sensitive on that computer). Crap!
Well ... I didn't had many so I guess I could just recreate them but perhaps I could consider copying those stars to my iBook just in case.
Meanwhile, I've been doing some voice acting for other movies for people in the Lionhead forums ... I guess I could add some voice acting samples to my art portfolio. That would be neat. I finished doing voice overs for one movie already ... it should be released shortly.
Dec. 19th, 2005 @ 10:53 am
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