Author: ian

Hey guys!

So a new movie review was supposed to go up on Dec 31st to close out the year, but I’ve hit some massive snags with YouTube’s copyright ID system. I’m assuming it’s because I decided to talk about a well known film rather than something obscure, but it’s been a real pain. So much so that I actually think the video will end up on moose2 rather than my main channel, even though it’s main channel quality. Kind of a bummer, but at this point I just want the video out so that people can watch it. Expect it this weekend! I think it’s one of my best media reviews in a while, actually.

After that, I’ll have another main channel video on the 15th. No extra details to provide here, but I think it’ll be a real crowd pleaser.

That’s all the updates for now! I haven’t streamed in a little bit but I think once I get this Jan15th video done I should have some room. I’m not sure if we’ll do Polar Express this year, I honestly think that I might finally be done with our good boy Heraldo. I feel like we should start a new tradition with Christmas 2022, because I’ve come to kind of dread this one. It’s just not a very fun game lmfao

Hope everyone had a great christmas and new years! Santa brought me an Elgato green screen this year and I’m freakin’ pumped for you to never see it (because it will be keyed out). I’m feeling super good about 2022, I actually feel like I’ve got my brain in the right place to make some top-notch stuff.

Also, big thanks to everyone who gave me vlog topics on my last post! I’ll be using them soon so I can post something besides project updates, because i’m trying to work on keeping my lips zipped.

You guys do anything wild over the holidays? I took 2 whole days off. It was pretty insane.

Hey guys! Short update post today because I have not been sleeping well lately and my brain is all blaehlehbflhfbblh

The video I am currently working on (halloween-themed movie review collab) has faced a couple of really big setbacks. I’m still super stoked for it, I think it’s going to be a great video, but I must admit that I planned for it to be done by last weekend and I’m only just now starting the editing process. I haven’t done a collab video in literally years, and my rustiness led to me make some critical mistakes while my collaborator and I were collaborating that really set me back. Not exciting mistakes, more like “the camera didn’t record” kind of mistakes. The end result is that I’ve spent all month working on a video that I chose to make specifically because the format seemed like it offered a simple, quick, yet high-quality turnaround. I still think it’ll be a high-quality video, but it has been anything but quick.

This video has to be posted by next week, so I need to direct all of my attention towards it. Unfortunately that means I have to take a break from the M/W/F streaming schedule I’ve been trying to stick to. I toughed it out during my last stream, but honestly when I get behind on a video like this and start nearing the end of the month, it’s all I can think about. I really don’t want to be distracted by that while I’m ripping into Ripper, I don’t think it’d be fun for me or those watching.

So my plan is to hunker in the editing bunker and just chop away until this video is done, and then I’ll return to stream with a clear head for Ripper. Despite the setbacks I’m still planning on starting the stream series this month! I hope to only miss 2-3 streams and then be back for some timely Ripping and Haunted Gingerhouse making.

Also after this video is done I’ll start working on new Mystery Tapes, as well as the new format that I’m dying to try.

In conclusion: Still really stoked about all of the stuff I talked about in my last update, it’s just taking way longer to get this collab done than it should have, which has both gummed up the works, and bummed out the me. Streams are on a brief hold, but I’ll be returning for Ripper once this video is done.

So that’s the plan. I’m sorry for the delay, but rest assured that it is only a delay! I’ll return with video and streams very soon.

Hey all!

MJ’s surprise surgery definitely threw off my plans for this month, but things are rolling again now that she’s a bit further along in her recovery. She’s doing great by the way! Just needs to rest and heal up.

Priority #1 is a new video. I’m about midway through production on a new brutalmoose video, and the plan is to post it this weekend. It’s coming along pretty nicely! It was originally going to be a new entry into the Arcade Series – I suppose it still is – but my plans changed a little bit with the surgery-ness of it all. Instead of going out to review a real life arcade, this time I stayed inside and reviewed a virtual one. It’s been a lot of fun to work on, and it’s something that people have been asking me for, so I’m excited to finish it up. I think my Pop Star review really re-ignited my fire for reviewing media. It’s my favorite video that I’ve made in quite some time and I am eager to do some more of that. Movies or games or something else, we’ll see. Something besides food, please.

Anyway after that video comes out we’re going to do that Sonic blind box stream that I was planning. That was originally going to happen before the video, but, again, surgery schedule adjustments. After we unbox some Sonics we’ll start thinking about what the next Stream Series will be, because I plan on doing at least another one of those next month.

That’s all the beans I’m going to spill today, but trust me when I say that I have been baking many other beans on my brain’s backburner.

I also vaguely considered becoming active on Twitter again the other day, but I dunno. Seems like a good idea but also a terrible idea? For now I’m just going to try to be more active in my Twitch Subscriber Discord, so if you’re in that feel free to drop in sometime to chat. I know I’ve really reclused myself in the past year or so, but I think I’m ready to start connecting again. As much as I complain about social media and online communities, I’ve definitely come to miss having and interacting with a community for the positive aspects. Just gotta find the right way to engage and interact, because I dont think that the way I was doing it before was super healthy for me. Anyway, Discord friends come hang out!

Thanks for reading! See you soon on the YouTubes and then on the Twitchs.

Meowdy folks!

I’m happy to report that everything went smoothly and MJ is home safe and sound from her surgery! The vet let us look at the stone that they removed, and geez it was huge! Glad she won’t have to deal with that anymore. She’ll be on a special diet to prevent future ones so hopefully this was a one and done deal. Recovery is 2 weeks, with the worst of it over in a week it looks like.

Thanks for all the supportive messages! MJ is too tired to read them right now but I told her all about them.

Meow news, everybody.

So, everything has happened very quickly the past week or so, but my cat MJ is going in for surgery in just a couple of days to remove a bladder stone that the vet said was too large to dissolve. It sounds like it’s supposed to be a pretty straightforward procedure that shouldn’t be risky or anything like that, but that hasn’t stopped me from worrying endlessly about it. I thought that I might want to stream between now and then to get my mind off of it, but I think I’d just end up spending the whole time talking about how stressed I am because it’s kind of consuming my brain at the moment. But I know MJ has a lot of fans, so I wanted to keep you all in the loop! I’ll post another blog once she’s back home safe and sound, and then after that I plan on returning to open those Sonic blindboxes I teased at the end of last stream.

Not much other news to report right now. I am currently working on a vloggy-ish video that I filmed at the zoo a couple(?) of weeks ago, but it’s not really shaping up how I wanted so I’m re-thinking my approach. I also plan on filming a new entry in the Arcade Series this month, but first things first I have to get MJ healthy again.

Hey guys!

Short blog while I get things ready for the stream tomorrow, but I wanted to let you guys know that there will be a stream tomorrow! The plan is to play Sonic Adventure 2 over the course of 3 days, separated by the different stories. Since I expect to get through it all pretty quickly, I’ve also got some chill-out games lined up for us to play, as well as a little funtivity to end out the last stream.

I also went out yesterday and filmed something a little different! Going to keep it vague for now but I’m excited to put it together, so there’s a little micro-video update. Hoping for a couple of videos this month but we’ll see.

Oh also, Patreon friends, I did not charge for this month. I really expected to deliver more content in July but hit some setbacks, so I didn’t really feel right taking the Patreon money this month. We shall see what August brings! Hopefully more videos and streams, that’s the plan.

Alright, that’s all for now, but I’ll see you all when we escape from the city!

Hello friends!

I’ve been working on some new things, and now I’m going to share with you an update:

stream
I’m making some more changes to the stream! The Fatty Bear stream was a ton of fun and I loved getting to play with my new hardware, but there were some pretty clear setbacks that needed to be addressed before I got to our next series: Sonic Adventure 2.

Most important of all is the visual fidelity of the stream. While I do love how my entire stream looks like it’s coming through a VCR, it also looked a little… bad. I’m not streaming in HD, sure, but for some reason the footage I was getting looked extremely low resolution, and as hard as I tried I was unable to accurately balance the colors. It turned out to be 2 separate problems, both of which I’m happy to report that I’ve solved.

Firstly I retired the upscaler that was converting my footage from S-Video to HDMI. It’s been a really trusty converter for me, but I had a hunch that it was part of why the video looked so bad. Sure enough I got a couple new upscalers and I found one that looks much much better, from a brand that I’ve had success with before called StarTech. I’m sure it’s not as good as a Framemesiter, but it also wasn’t nearly as expensive, and the colors are way better than my older converter.

The other important change that improved the quality of my video was removing my Time Base Corrector from the equation. I was basically running all of my footage through a little box that’s supposed to make the video signal really strong and consistent, but what I didn’t realize was that the video it outputs looks like straight-up doo doo. I’ve captured a lot of VHSes this way throughout the years, so I bet a lot of Mystery Tapes episodes could have been a lot cleaner captures… Anyway, the video looks WAY better. Still looks like it’s coming through the VCR, but you can actually read the text on screen and the colors look solid. So I’m really pumped about that.

Unfortunately it took me a while to solve that problem, and I’ve eaten up the 3 days I was going to stream SA2 on. I think it was worth the sacrifice, though, because the streams are going to look 100% better than they would have otherwise.

I’m also working on the theming a bit! I stripped away a lot of the old theming for the last stream and now I’m working on the new shit. Initially I thought I was going to completely get rid of the snack bar as well as donation alerts, but I’ve since changed my tune. I want to keep some of the Drive-In essence alive in this new era, and I also want to keep the old Secret Menu alerts alive for people that happen to come across them while watching VODs. And, honestly, as much as the silence was nice during the Fatty stream, I really felt left in the dark in regards to donations and subscribers. So the drive-in isn’t coming back exactly, but I am keeping some of it alive and repurposing it a bit.

I am bringing back the popcorn kernel badges, though. That might be the most clever idea I’ve ever had, and I’ve accepted that I’ll never come up with a better badge idea. Buttercup Popcorn lives on.

So I’m almost ready for SA2! I need to finish up a few more assets for it, but other than that I really think I’ve solved all the problems from my Fatty Bear stream. I don’t think I’ll be dropping out and having that weird mic issue any more either, I think I’ve got that taken care of. The only question is when the streams will be, and I don’t have an answer to that because of the next topic…

brutalfoods
There will be a new brutalfoods this month! I have a brand deal for really rad new brand, and I’ve got a food video idea that I think is really stupid and funny and I am very excited for it. The chip video was a little cut-and-dry, but this one… won’t be. It is going to be a bit of a time crunch though, because I’m waiting for a prop to come in before I can film, but I’m hoping that it’ll all come together to be really silly, funny, and slightly informative. The true brutalfoods way.

So I’m shifting my focus to brutalfoods right now, but the stream is right there behind it in my brain. I am very stoked for some SA2.

I’ve also been doing some other miscellaneous stuff! Still working on game dev ideas, and I’m also taking some time to get outside and enjoy this nice weather a bit more. It’s been good! I’ve actually got an idea for an outdoors-y video for moose2 that I want to film once I get over the brand deal hump.

Also I finished all of Ozark on Netflix and I have not stopped thinking/talking about it. Very excited for the final season.

How are you guys doing? Watch anything good?