Everything The Blog Touches Is Our Kingdom

Oh, whoops. Accidental hiatus from blogging is Super Effective! For some reason, though, I feel like getting this blog rolling again (even if I have even less time now than before, and don't even use the email account this is linked to... >_< ) Let's bring you (me) up to speed: What's Out: North Hollywood, Panasonic DV cam, Eisenstein McBones (well, sort of...) What's Mostly Out: Trailer Park What's New: Random Encounters, The Beast of the Air, Lancaster, Anime Conventions, Sega consultant contract What's The Same: Peter What's Forthcoming: YouTubing status Wow, I feel a little overwhelmed trying to fit in everything that's actually updated, upgraded or changed since my earlier posts... It makes me realize how fast-tracked life really can be. :O Well, let's start with you. Who are you? Because I don't know anymore. You used to be one of maybe two people who might look at my blog on the planet. You probably knew me from either high school or college, and you didn't read regularly. You just browsed past on a whim, or wanted to make sure I wasn't tearing my hair out. And I probably flatter myself to think you enjoyed browsing my posts -- you were likely just super bored. I can't make this assumption any longer, because now you might be someone else. Someone I've never really met, who knows me as This Guy On The Internet Dressed As Pikachu. You might value this blog much more than anyone previously has, because to you, it may serve as a gold mine of background fact and day-to-day life through my eyes (and in many ways, it is). You perhaps even dug it up without knowing too much about me, aside from seeing me in a couple dozen musicals. We might have met at an anime convention, or I may have asked you a bunch of silly questions on camera there. To be honest, you could even be someone else -- it's hard to keep track of how many new people I've met, and how. But the point is, Welcome, intarweb traveler! Happy to have you! About two years ago, I was a guy still thinking the movie industry had promise for me in a "working up" sort of capacity. That I could go get a "film" job, and given time and hard work, become something powerful in the business. My stance has completely evolved, largely in part because I locked onto something far more potent and successful than any of my prior industry positions: Random Encounters. Random Encounters is my co-produced musical web series with Peter Srinivasan (my long-time producing partner, friend and roommate). It's a series of silly musical numbers based on famous video games, and yes, it was inspired by our success with Needlemouse: The Musical. We conceived the series during the making of Eisenstein's show ("Spitefully Yours") and it took off from entry one ("Singachu"), locking us into a track of not just gaming songs, but YouTubing in a larger sense. YouTube is a gold rush and a wide, beautiful entertainment frontier. It seems more random and exclusive that it actually tends to be -- a big part of getting into the mix for Peter and I has turned out to be demographic and niche of product. Eisenstein couldn't take or thrive there because he was too general; he couldn't fulfill any purpose, and therefore, the internet spat him right back out. Random Encounters has locked onto a very active and enjoyable group of nerds who love things as goofy and off the wall as I do. Because it's a much more common, and unexplored, thread, it's become a very successful series. Well, very successful for a couple guys who never got more than their friends and parents to watch their videos... >_< Sega has been extremely kind and instrumental in getting us to where we are, and also keeping us in a more "industry" capacity. Peter and I were officially invited to perform Needlemouse at their E3 after party a couple years back, and from there, found a new invitation to co-create their April Fools prank of 2012. Within months, Sega had us finally involved in a paid capacity, developing community entertainment for both The Rhythm Thief (3DS) and Super Monkey Ball (PS Vita). The relationship has been stellar and although some of the videos haven't performed overly well, we've been absolutely giddy to have their support and financing. Conventions are another fresh frontier we're now exploring. I confess we had an uber-rocky start with our first at PMX two years ago. After a trashy series of live performances, we walked away with heads hanging, and I vowed we'd never attempt another. But within a month, we were discussing what worked and what didn't, and I ultimately signed us up for a second panel over at Anime Los Angeles. The resulting changes were like night and day, and that "performance" kickstarted a year-long series of successful appearances that escalated into an ongoing (and very enjoyable) side-game. We stopped paying for tickets, and got them for free. First for the days of our panel; then for all the days. Then we started getting our rooms paid for -- first at VidCon, by IGN, and then in San Francisco, by the convention heads. Then our travel expenses also. Rather than search them out, cons began finding us. It happened abruptly, and truth be told, I don't think we deserve it. Our following is small (at this writing, under 15,000 subscribers still on YouTube, and under 500 Facebook fans), but I suppose our panels have proven unique enough that conventions enjoy having us on the schedule to mix up tradition. Either way, I've become a con-addict (they always told me I would be!), so I'm elated to be at them almost every month now! ^_^ We're in a transitional place physically at the moment, in that Peter and I looked at our finances last year and agreed to test the YouTube economy model and move to Lancaster to save money. The Antelope Valley is actually pretty nice and we've made some wonderful friends, who have done some wonderful acting and singing for us (I'm going to briefly shout out Devon Chenoweth and Katie Herbert from the valley, as well as some con friends David King, David Bloom, and Justus Stebner). And then, there's The Girl. The one who hides beneath our table and works on her computer, yelling crazy things periodically. That's Sparrow, our adopted sister. Peter graciously permitted bringing her in earlier this summer when her housing went south (I met her at a cosplay event), and she's been an amazing little chica for us through and through. We've made ourselves into a goofball little family, and our chemistry is pretty much spot-on. It's kind of remarkable how like-minds can end up collecting (or is that the old phrase, Crazy Begets Crazy?) They may end up regarding our home as a special kind of asylum, given the kind of antics we get into... :P Oh, are emoticons a thing on this blog? I don't actually recall if I had a policy of using them or not... <_> Hey, it's getting late and I'm approaching the time my alarm should be going off (I woke up early and decided blogging was better than sleeping for a change!), so let's wrap this up quick and say RE (and, to a larger extent, YouTube) is my new job. It's not always easy, but it's fun and I wouldn't switch it for anything else. Well, except for more and bigger YouTubing. :P We're probably moving back into LA soon, since we're on a new network based near Culver City, and we're also now developing a major project with someone I never suspected we'd get to work with. We've been keeping her name hush for now, but it doesn't take much of a brain to work it out I think -- if you're making a list, she's probably on top of it, and yup, that's her. XD I've been covertly referring to her as "The F Word." We've met once, video conferenced since, and are due to meet up in a week or so to take a browse through YouTube's studio (where we'll hopefully be filming this madness). Can I just say how nervous this project is making me? Is that okay, or will this totally ruin my career? Whoops, too late. Now I can look back and point to this as what sank my entire filmmaking life. Alright, plenty more news to share and update for next time! If there truly is a next time on this blog! Until then, happy 2012 AND 2013, kids! ^^