#thatscifiguy

[fantasyscribblings]

I wasn’t even sure I was going to write this, but I have so many memories bouncing about in my head in regards to this whole situation, and I just... it seems like it might help if I just explain?

Back in 2013, I was going through some stuff, as most people tend to do. My long term role playing partner/roommate/friend had discovered tumblr, and had essentially abandoned role play writing to get in deep with the Supernatural fandom.

I didn’t understand Tumblr back then, so, I started getting interested into video game... videos on youtube. No one big ironically, there was a small group I followed, and still follow today. Joshscorcher, Fawful’s Minion, RabbidLuigi, and Alex Rochon to name a few. Alex and Josh were the two big ones I followed, I liked their style, thought they were funny, etc. I had never even heard of tgwtg or anyone affiliated with them at that point.

Then I heard Josh mention in one of his videos that the Nostalgia Critic was a big influence for him, so, as you do, I went and checked him out. I got hooked. So much so, that when Alex tweeted about Doug coming to a local con, I decided I wanted to go, and meet him.

Now, I had only ever been to one can before. I’d gone to AnimeNorth in Toronto, my first year moving to Toronto the year before. I’d also realized my Anxiety disorder, was not that nice when it came to bigger cons. Toronto gets two major cons, AnimeNorth in... the north, and FanExpo downtown.

FanExpo scares the living hell out of me, just the prospect of being around that many people. Let alone paying that much money!!!

Either way, the con that Doug was going to was in Hamilton, and it was at a Convention centre connected to a Sheraton.

I work for Sheraton, which means, I was able to get a cheaper hotel room. Not to mention, the convention, ConBravo, was relatively cheap.

So, I went to ConBravo... and found myself at home. It was a smaller con, with nice people, and a calm atmosphere for a ball of anxiety like me.

I even ‘cosplayed’ as a genderbent Nostalgia critic. 

I remember so many of my first interactions there. At AnimeNorth, I hadn’t seen anyone who was listed to be there. I found myself seeing everyone all over the con though, and I got to take pictures with them, which was amazing. Even better, after Doug’s panel, myself, another genderbent NC, and a guy dressed up as him, all approached the podium to ask for his picture (we’d found each other throughout the con and bonded as you do). He then surprised us by asking US for a picture of the three of us together.

I hadn’t been that big into watching everyone on the site at that point. But I did get pictures with ThatScifFiGuy and ToddintheShadows, which was awesome!

I went back the next year, when they had an even bigger lineup, and at that point, I’d started watching more shows, and exploring the Con more. AngreyJoe had even been there, and his interaction is one I will especially never forget. I’d been exiting a panel room (D20 Live!!) and he was there, outside the room taking pictures with a fan. I smiled, and waved at him (still wearing my NC cosplay from the year before) and I swear to god. This is how he replied.

“Oh wow, you’re beautiful.”

Now, I’m not saying this to brag. I have rather low self esteem, I’d just been floored that this guy, whom I’d never met before, would say this to me of all people. Silly little story, but one I’ll never forget. Also, I got pictures...

I didn’t Cosplay NC after that, but I continued going, every year but 2016. I even brought my girlfriend to ConBravo last year, and we’re excited to go this year too.

We got to talk a lot to Malcolm, and even Doug at one point. Doug even got interested when he found out Liz does special effects for movies and such. (She has a wicked scar she does for Zarya and he was super impressed by it) He’d been curious if we lived in the Chicago area, and seemed sad when he found out we were Canadian.

I had also been a big fan of Alyson though, and seen quite a few Phelous reviews I enjoyed. So, when it came out they were gone... and why. My view of the NC began to shift south. I started to watch a lot less, especially since I began to grow tired of his... antics in his videos. I found myself liking them less, and the ‘clip-less’ reviews, especially the ones of movies still in theatres were ones I outright avoided.

Then #ChangetheChannel happened, and I watched as people began to leave the site. People I truly loved watching, like MikeJ, Linkara, ToddintheShadows, FilmBrain. It was Linkara’s leaving that did it for me though, that brought me to click that ‘unsubscribe’ button. Reading the document broke my heart, knowing I own the anniversary specials, breaks my heart. I only keep them now for the signatures scrawled across them... Heck, I’ve only seen Kickassia, and like the first video of Suburban Knights (I have difficulty watching anything with too much second hand embarrassment)

I instead subscribed to everyone as they left, and began following their own channels. I followed them on twitter, and in the case of the smaller channels, like ERod, I added them to my Patreon. I even added Tamara to my Patreon. I just wish there was a way to support Malcolm too... he was so nice to me and Liz, and we loved him and Tamara the most in the newer NC videos.

I’m sad to see something that was such a big part of my life such as ChannelAwesome go down like this. I hope that the producers get the apology they deserve. Naive little me hopes that Malcolm and Tamara are treated better, and that if Doug and Rob really are looking at the legal stuff behind leaving, that they LEARN.

tldr; if it wasn’t for Doug attending a Convention in 2012, I never would have found my favourite con, or found the courage to try new things. I’m just sorry it had to end this way...

[cloudmachineus]

That Writing Guy 3

So as I said last time, I decided to start over with my idea for a different sort of structure to the review I'm writing for That SciFi Guy. I got just a little ways into the new take and then stopped. I realized I needed to rewatch the film and take down notes in a different sort of way than I had before.

A quick aside on my "tools" for those who might be interested. I'm using Evernote for all my notes and Google Docs for the actual writing. I did try to use Evernoteor just plain text files for all of it, but color coding is a key part of the way the script is formatted and that's much faster to do in Google. Plus copying and pasting from Evernote to Google doesn't hold the color formatting and the final is shared out via Google.

Anyway, I wound up with five pages of notes from reviewing the movie again and started back in on the script. A number of events came up to slow me down, including Dragon Con, so I didn't get it done as quick as planned. I kept getting a little bit done here and there, but just wasn't making enough progress.

As I worked on it, it slowly drifted away from the structure I'd come up with. That framework was still present, but I found myself fleshing it out with more extra bits than I'd expected. (It's really difficult talking about this while also being vague enough to not give away any hints as to what movie I'm writing about.)

We then met and started going over a script for another upcoming episode. That one needed a bit more work before it would be ready so I took that as motivation to get mine done. Today my wife had several events going on pulling her out of the house so I decided I needed to at least get a rough draft done by the end of the day.

I hunkered down and just started writing. At about 3 I realized that feeling I had was hunger so I cooked up a quick lunch then dove back in. A couple of hours later my wife called. She was done for the day, but offered to stay out longer if I wasn't done to give me space. Have I mentioned how much I love her? No? Well, that's one of the many reasons why. She really appreciates and understands my need for creative expression.

At that point I had gotten to the end, but was going back through to polish up and correct any formatting. After about an hour or so I finally had it finished to a point that I felt it was ready. I hit send on the email and texted my wife to let her know I was done.

The next step will be a meeting to go over the script. I'm quite nervous about that. I'm confident enough when I'm writing drama, but writing comedy always feels like a slog. It never seems to me to be funny afterwards. We'll see how this one goes though.

[cloudmachineus]

That Writing Guy 2

So, let's see. I left off last time with me going off to start on my first draft. Instead of procrastinating, I dove right into it.

One very helpful aspect of writing a That SciFi Guy episode is that each episode starts with a standard intro line. Instead of staring for hours at a blank screen, I can put words down immediately and stare instead at a mostly blank screen.

I have found recently though a certain fondness for the term vomit draft and more importantly the idea behind it. Don't revise or rethink anything, just keep spewing out new words. I've always had trouble getting to the end of anything because I can't help but tweak each word and phrase as I go. Freeing myself from that habit has really improved my productivity.

I was making good progress (it also helps that this is a review show so I have a ready made structure and roadmap to follow). However, I woke up a few nights ago at 4 a.m. with a one of those oh so brilliant 4 a.m. ideas. This time I actually wrote it down instead of just going back to sleep and never remembering what it was.

When I looked it over the next day, I decided it was actually a great idea. My brain had tossed out a new take on the episode that veered away from the straight start-to-finish approach. I'd have to go back to page one, but I still had plenty of time. This new concept would be uniquely fitting for the subject of the review and not a wild departure from previous episodes.

While I get a little more work done on said script, go take a look at another previous installment of That ScifFi Guy.

[cloudmachineus]

Plans Afoot

Had a good meeting tonight with That Sci Fi Guy and associates to go over the script for an upcoming project. It should be quite funny even though it will involve me being in front of the camera for the first time in over a decade. I'll actually be expected to speak too. That's all I can say about it for now. More to come though.