Author: ian

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?

After much delay I’m finally ready to stream Fatty Bear!

Cards on the table I’ve been ready for the past few days, but honestly I’ve been a little anxious about going live again. I’m sure it’s going to be a blast to be back and I’m super excited to chat it up with everybody, I’m just not used to dealing with the pre-show jitters after such a long break. That’ll be easier for me once I get the ball rolling again!

I don’t have a specific time or anything, but tomorrow it is. Hope to see you there, but if you can’t make it the VOD will be posted on moose2 the day after as per usual!

Can you believe it? Two uploads in under a week? If you’ve been reading my posts here, then… I dunno, yeah you probably can believe it, I’m pretty sure I’ve been talking about it. Still! I’m happy to have uploaded back to back like that.

This video is definitely a little different than my previous food videos! A lot more pre-planning, no live tasting segments or online review segments. Although it’s presented as volume one, I’m not sure if a sequel is in the cards just yet, I just wanted to leave the door open. I think it came out alright, but it’ll be interesting to see how it goes over with the brutalfoods crowd. Are people interested in low-chaos brutalfoods occasionals? Only time will tell!

Up next is Fatty Bear stream! I’m still not 100% sure when that’s happening but it is next up on my list. If I were a betting man (which we all know that I am), I’d actually bet on July 1st. Just outside that June target I was trying to hit. I was considering doing it tomorrow, but there’s currently a heatwave in the pacific northwest and tomorrow is supposed to be the hottest day. Streaming in 110+ degree heat is a no-go from me, even with a little AC unit in my office, so I’m going to wait for it to cool down a little bit.

Hope you guys are doing well, and I hope my heatwave friends are keeping cool!

Hey guys!

I just wanted to make sure you’re all aware of a Televoid fan game that came out recently (on my birthday, actually!)

I haven’t had a chance to stop and play it myself just yet but I know there are Televoid fans out there that are gonna eat this right up! Seems like the references are plentiful. I’ll be able to play it within the next couple of days but I had to pass it along to you guys now anyway because it just looks too cool to keep to myself.

The fact that a team of people worked for years to put this together is seriously mind-boggling to me and I cannot WAIT to see what they came up with. It seriously looks awesome.

Hey there!

I realize now that when I post a new video here, there’s usually no clear place on my website to comment about it. Your options are either the latest blog or the guestbook, neither of which are ideal. I’ll try to start making blog posts alongside new video uploads, that way it’s more like “okay, I can talk about that video here,” you know?

Anyway I know that my movie reviews appeal to a smaller crowd than my food videos, but I hope the smaller crowd enjoyed the Pop Star review! I’ve seriously been wanting to talk about this movie for years, but when I first discovered the film it was at the same time that Aaron Carter was going through some of his public meltdown-ing. It just felt a little tacky at the time. Now that he’s in the boxing ring, though, I felt cleared for takeoff. Pop Star really is one of my favorite bad movies, and it’s held up on repeat watches which is pretty incredible. It’s just so roast-able, it’s great to talk over the entire way through.

Next up, very very soon, is a food video! It’s definitely different than any other food video that I’ve done so far. In a lot of ways it’s the polar opposite of the Snackables video. Where the Snackables video was an over-the-top VFX fiasco, this video is more stripped down, simple, and actually focuses on the food a little bit more. It’s not a matter of ‘which style is better’, really, I’m just wondering if this is a style that I could also do from time to time. Just trying things out, basically, and seeing what works. So look forward to that here real soon!

And then after that food video emerges, I’ll start planning for the Fatty Bear stream! Exciting shit.

Okay that’s all the time I’ve got for now, back to food video editing.

I was hoping to have it out today, honestly, but exporting this video has been a bit of a hootenanny. I filmed my live segments with a GoPro this time, which I’ve never done before for a sit-down review, and it’s yielded mixed results. I chose it for the super wide angle lens that it has, and I really like the composition of the shot that I got. But the footage also came out super grainy, most likely because of my lighting (or lack thereof). Lighting is so tough, man. Looks good on the preview monitor, but turns out grainy every time. The good news is that I think I have my audio under control for this episode, which is kind of a rarity for me.

Anyway, I just have to get this video to export and look decent, then once it’s encoded I have to thumbnail it and upload it, and then you watch it. So it’s at the goal line. Almost there.

I’m really excited about this video, though! At one point movie reviews were my absolute favorite thing to produce, but once my food videos really set sail, the film reviews kind of fell off by the wayside. On top of not having to jump through Content ID hoops, Brutalfoods just fit the current state of YouTube way better than my movie reviews did, and I convinced myself that the film reviews weren’t worth the effort anymore. Mystery Tapes showed up as a format to kind of fill in the gaps, but it’s definitely not the same.

I’m excited to bring back the movie reviews though, because I think they’re a blast. They also let me get a little bit roastier than I do on my food videos. I feel like the food videos are way heavier on style, while the movie/VHS reviews have the substance. The food videos have gags, but the media reviews actually have jokes. Though I will say that my last food video was pretty heavily orchestrated, and it looks like my next one will be too (albeit with much less chroma key), so we’ll see where that takes us.

Am I rambling? I’m just sitting here watching this video export, hoping for the best. I’m having to export in 2k for the first time ever. 2k is way too big for a video file, we don’t need that many k’s. You guys don’t need that many pixels of my face.

Anyway, after this movie review comes a food video right behind it. I’m hoping to keep this next brutalfoods a little shorter just to see how that goes view-wise? My videos have grown so long, which I honestly really prefer, but it does make them daunting at times. I wouldn’t mind a shorter video now and again. Don’t even get me started on the Big boy, he’s still hibernating right now.

The Fatty Bear stream will not be on my birthday, I’m actually going to go do celebratory things that day. My guess is that the birthday stream will close out the month for me, somewhere along the very tail end. And then in July we’ll start our first stream series in like half a year! Geez. Sorry for the wait.

Hey guys! Been a hot minute but I’m excited to say that things are rolling over here, and although June is already halfway over I still see it as kind of a come-back month for me in regards to my online shenanigans. Here’s what’s on deck:

Firstly, the Next video is back up on YouTube! Some of you might have noticed that it disappeared for a little bit, but it’s back! My guess is that Viacom added a bunch of Next episodes to their online catalogue once Paramount+ rolled around, and my video got caught when it did a big copyright sweep for Next clips. Once an actual human took a look at it, though, they saw that it was fair use and put it back up. So that’s nice.

YouTube-wise, I’m shooting for 2 videos this month! I’ve got a movie review that is SO close to being done, it just needs one more day of work. And then after that I’ve got a brutalfoods video cooking for the end of the month where once again I’m going to try something a little bit different, though with less blue screen than last time because dang that was a lot to edit.

Also I’m coming back to Twitch this month! My first stream back will probably be my annual birthday Fatty Bear stream to celebrate the big 3-0. It might not happen right on my birthday but it’ll be close. I’ve been spending a lot of time the past couple of months completely retooling my stream, and I’m actually super stoked to come back and try my new setup out. I already know what I want to do for some upcoming series, so look out for that!

That’s pretty much what I’ve got going on over here! Excited to have some new videos on the horizon, and I’m excited/nervous to get back to streaming! I should note that there’s a good chance that future video/stream updates won’t show up on Twitter, so you might want to be sure that you have notifications turned on for my Twitch and/or YouTube if you’d like to stay up-to-the-minute on those.

I hope you guys have been doing well, and that everyone had a nice E3!

I was quiet last month but here I am! Still here. Patreon Pals, I just a heads up that I did not charge for April. I thought I was going to have a main channel upload last month, but the idea didn’t really pan out so I ended up spending more time chipping away at my Big Video, instead. I’m still really determined to get that done at some point, it just sucks not having anything to upload after working on it for so long. But that’s fine, I’ll get there eventually.

As for this month, though, April will see an exciting new entry in the brutalfoods series. It could end up going very poorly, but I’ve decided to get a little creative with this one, so… idk I guess we’ll see how it goes! I’ve got a brand deal on this one, so for sure new video in April. It’s kind of nice being contractually obligated to finish a video, I work quickly under that kind of pressure.

I’ve still been working a lot in Unity. Game development is definitely where I’ve been most inspired lately. Just recently I’ve achieved my first functional gameplay elements in the form of a bowling mini game! It’s honestly super, super, basic, but I am also super proud of it. It registers when you’ve thrown a ball, it keeps track of which pins have been knocked over, it moves from frame to frame. It even has a (usually) functional ball return and whatnot!

If I can finish out the rest of the building (the bowling alley is only half of it), I’m considering doing a little moose2 video showing it off and talking about how I did it. I think some people might be surprised to see how accessible visual scripting can make game development. Something about it just really clicks in my brain, it’s almost like a puzzle. I haven’t written a single line of code myself and it doesn’t seem like I’ll need to, which is neat because I really don’t want to have to learn how to code. Anyway, that’s how my game dev journeys are going these days. I’m trying to build some interesting looking buildings and create some interesting mini games, and then just see where that takes me. I’ve gone through a ton of Unity files while learning how to do all this shit, but this one feels like it might actually yield something shareable one day. We’ll see!

I also have music and streaming on the mind lately. I don’t know where I’m going to find the time for those, but I’d like to some time soon. I would love to muster the courage to stream some Unity work honestly. As much fun as the game-playing streams are, I’m really becoming obsessed with the idea of getting to create something new rather than creating content based around other people’s things. Not just in streams, but videos too. That’s probably why I feel driven to take some more chances with brutalfoods. I love to share my opinion on things, but I want to do more than just opinionize about things. If that makes sense.

That’s all that’s new over here, really. I become eligible for vaccination next month, which I’m stoked about. Brutalbf and I just watched Death Note again, which was great as usual. We also watched the Netflix live action Death Note movie for the first time, and it was just… awful. Hilariously bad, it was quite a ride. I love that they turned Light from like a smart, cunning sneaky guy into just a whiny little bitch. Comedic genius.

What are you guys up to these days?

Hey guys just a quick post to let you know that if you submit something to the site guestbook, it might take a little while to show up. The plugin I use needs to be updated, I’m pretty sure, so I’m just waiting until that happens.

I’ll try to be be back with a mid-s’March update blog here in a bit! I’m working on a new main-channel video that I’m really jazzed about, I can share a few more details in a bit.

Hope you all are doing well!