doki - Espousing esquivalience

Subject:	FYI...
Time:	2:35 am.

I've been pretty busy at work (70 hrs so far this week, though that includes last Sat/Sun), but I finally got time to make some sprays for Team Fortress 2.

TF2 won't import PNGs so you can download the TGAs: TGA1 TGA2

They are of course based on the spray seen here:

(yeah, AT&T isn't the only telecom, but it fits so well)

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Subject:	A parable about generality in architecture
Time:	7:38 pm.

The stuff currently being posted to the jokes group at work are old Usenet reposts. I liked this one, even though it's pretty old, as you can see by the computer specs and, well, the date listed.

( Warning: Geek joke )
And here are a few Flash games I liked:
Doeo: As Rock, Paper, Shotgun put it, it's "whack-a-mole with Katamari Damacy's aesthetics".
Rollercoaster Creator: Like a cross between Line Rider and Rollercoaster Tycoon. (the construction part) Some interface issues are frustrating (don't reset the selected tool after undo!), but it's neat.
YHTBTR: Pretty tough. If you don't have the latest Flash version, it'll screw up on a multicore system.

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Subject:	Winterlude 2008 Pictures
Time:	10:28 pm.

So I finally got around to processing my pictures from Winterlude this year. I took a lot more than in 2006. Here are a couple of my favourites.

Although I like how the 1st Place snow sculpture has interior space, I like the amount of detail in the one above. And while the ice dinosaur is cool, the column above looks like it has a mouse embedded in it.

I ran out of battery life before I could take night pictures, but

krk took some.

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Subject:	[amv] More April Fish
Time:	7:35 pm.

(a bit late, since I've been slightly sick/busy for a while)

So on AnimeMusicVideos.org this year (2008/04/01) I changed the logo from this:

to this:

And

tsunami_jones made a lot of banners. (forum thread, including some "fakes") The "Opinion Exchange" became the "New York Stock Exchange" this year.

Based on a suggestion from

godix, I made it so everyone who had an avatar had it randomized, and it was interesting seeing avatars from 2001 or whenever come up. And godix got all the cute ones.

And based on an idea I had last year, I added a new alert for anyone who had a local video hosted. Something like:

2008-04-01 18:24:02 - Somebody uploaded one of your videos to YouTube: Plunder Propaganda

When I did it I didn't realize that YouTube would be Rickrolling everyone who clicked on a "Featured Video" link this year. I know there's a lot of "Rickrolling must die" sentiment out there, but when I looked at the journals and IRC, a lot of people were amused. Except this guy.

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Subject:	Pitchers
Time:	4:24 am.

So I went through my TF2 screenshot directory and collected ones I thought were neat.
http://www.doki.ca/pics/tf2/ (56 pics)

I also posted some pictures from Anime Evolution 2006. I didn't get many good ones, which I guess is one reason I didn't bother posting them until now.
http://www.doki.ca/pics/ae2006/ (16 pics)

But I like this one...

When going through my old pictures I was reminded of the office Christmas party last year. I didn't mention it before, but instead of the usual Secret Santa we had a White Elephant-type thing, so basically you gave/got something "lame" instead of something "good". One of the gifts someone got was Super Bubble Pop, with quotes from that IGN review taped all over the box. (Summary: 2.0 / 10 "Terrible") I got a framed Easter-ish picture of some rabbits and a chick, which was kinda funny since I had been working on Bunnies.

PS: Another ceiling cat.

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Subject:	brr...
Time:	1:43 am.
Mood:	cold.

Since it's currently the second snowiest season on record here, and more is coming, I thought I'd pass along a couple of poems about winter that were posted at work today.

( winter )

I just put up some pictures I took after a snowfall last December. I have some pictures I took at Winterlude, but have to get around to sorting them.

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Subject:	[DIY] Audio recordings
Time:	6:12 pm.

Although the sessions were filmed and I think video recordings are coming, if anyone's interested I compressed and put a couple of my audio recordings online.

DIY Media: The Intellectual Property Dilemma - MP3 (113 mins)

Although Yochai's part felt a little dry to me at times, I liked what Fred von Lohmann had to say. (he also answers some questions near the end)

Plenary Session: Envisioning the Future of DIY - MP3 (103 mins)

Not exactly what I expected, but then I'm not sure what I expected. Go read Laura's review.

I also recorded the Copyright & DIY Media segment, but the acoustics weren't as good, and I had to lower the quality since I was running out of space, so I haven't posted it.

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Subject:	[DIY] AMV Playlist
Time:	10:53 pm.

Here is a list of anime music videos shown at the DIY Video Summit.
YouTube links are provided for convenience, but the download (non-"stream") links look much better.

Otaku Remixes: Anime Music Videos

1982 (5:29) Gundam / Mr. Roboto by Jim Kaposztas
1999 (4:28) Engel (2006 remake by Kaysow, original by Kevin Caldwell) (stream)
2001 (4:14) Odorikuruu by Aokakesu Digital (stream)
2001 (3:37) This is DBZ Life by NoN.D.E. (stream)
2001 (5:02) Tainted Donuts by E-Ko (stream)
2002 (4:32) Shameless Rock Video by AbsoluteDestiny (stream)
2003 (2:40) It's Tricky to Make a Music Video by BogoSort (stream)
2003 (4:19) Euphoria by Koopiskeva (stream)
2004 (5:17) AMV Hell by Zarxrax & SSGWNBTD (stream)
2005 (4:37) Jihaku by Tyler (stream)
2005 (4:16) True Fiction by Metro Productions (stream)
2006 (4:33) Galaxy Bounce by Nostromo (stream)

Meta Screening A:
Failed Experiments in Video Editing by Big Big Truck Productions (stream)
Ordained From Above by ManyLemons Productions (stream)
Plunder Propaganda by Doki Doki Productions (stream)
Code Monkey (excerpt) by Studio Hybrid (stream)

Meta Screening B:
FMA - Always Hardcore by Nostromo (stream)
Right Now Someone Is Reading This Title by Doki Doki Productions (stream)
We All Live In Azumerica! by Fall_Child42 (stream)

( Further viewing... )

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Subject:	Stoopid humour
Time:	2:36 am.

So... Scientists say that they've created a material that's almost 30 times darker than the reference material for black.

Using the magic of (computer) SCIENCE (!), I will now create a colour that's darker than black.

Take the RGB values (1,1,1)... that's pretty black, right? It's not as black as (0,0,0), but what if we have (-1,-1,-1)?

In binary (represented here in hex), if you want the negative of a number...

01,01,01

You flip the bits...

FE,FE,FE

And add 1...

FF,FF,FF

So there you have it. #FFFFFF is darker than #000000, or in other words... white is the new black.

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Subject:	Meme stolen from people
Time:	12:02 pm.

"Go to the Wikipedia home page and click Random article. That is your band's name. Click Random article again. That is your album name. Click Random article 15 more times. Those are the tracks on your album."

Band Name: Zagarino
Debut Album: Metastatic tumor of jaws

1. Hunt Music
2. Fylfot
3. Burgrave of Nuremberg
4. Renzo Alverà
5. Manami Wakayama
6. Meer Akselrod
7. AIMStar(spacecraft)
8. Rispetti e strambotti
9. Kirzhach
10. Partie de chasse
11. Norman Fairclough
12. Death Valley National Park
13. Millennium Development Goals
14. KZZQ
15. List of Nicaragua-related topics

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Subject:	Desert Bus
Time:	3:44 am.

I'm a bit late mentioning this, but this is neat... The "Desert Bus for Hope" is a comedy troupe that is playing one of the dullest games ever designed for money, which will be donated to Child's Play.

As mentioned in the Wikipedia article I linked above, "Desert Bus" is a minigame in the unreleased "Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors" Sega CD game. Basically, you drive a bus from Tucson to Las Vegas. The road is straight. The road is empty. But the bus veers to the right and if you go off the road or slow down, the game ends. After the eight-hour trip, you receive one point. There is no pause.

So four people are playing in four-hour shifts. According to the event FAQ, they crashed twice, but it's out of date. Last I heard they've crashed four times, but they don't reset the clock. In order to not end up playing forever, the money people have to donate for each hour increased geometrically, so right now they need to get $1,319.16 to add another hour to the current 108 hour total. So far they've raised $21,456.00, but had been hoping for $5,000. (and were originally expecting a few hundred) I read at some point that Penn & Teller are among the donators, and bought them lunch each day. :)

Today at work I tuned into the camera and chat feeds. It sounds like it would be boring, but at the parts I tuned in to, it's entertaining. (especially at work :P) They've told jokes, sung songs (for extra donations -- or stopped singing for donations :P), discussed nerd topics... it's a big geek party.

Anyway, it's almost over, and you might have heard of it if you read the Penny Arcade news posts, but I wanted to mention it.

Edit: They ended up with $22,805.00 for 109 hours. ($1,565.42 needed for next hour)
(haha comment on the last blog post: "You cant stop here! This is bat country!"!

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Subject:	[amv] "Remix This: Anime Gets Hijacked" and other articles
Time:	8:13 pm.

Patrick Macias interviewed a few AMVers last week for an article for The Japan Times which is now online here. (He was interviewed on Otaku Generation in June) When he was trying to get information from me for the first paragraph, the example text given was "at home in XXXX surrounded by Dragonball Z posters on the wall and XXXX." :P

For those who missed the NPR report on AMVs he mentioned, it can be found here.

Ninja Consultant dedicated a couple of episodes to AMVs recently.

Also, New York Magazine did a feature this week on web video, including an interview with vidder Luminosity. (who made the Vogue/300 video I linked to recently)

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Subject:	AWA Panel Recap
Time:	1:45 am.

I've been sick all week... maybe I can post/reply to more on the weekend. But I wanted to post this.

For those that didn't know,

gravenimaj and TaranT were going to do a panel at AWA about non-AMVs. Here's the description:

"Many Flavors of Culture Jam [Friday 3-4]
It's not just AMVs - all kinds of folk are now remixing and mashing content and putting it online, and the media, academics, and industry are taking notice. Join greybeard AMVers Fred Graupp (Studio Tarantella) and Walter Scott (graven image) for a whirlwind tour and discussion of post modern video art, from satirical cut-ups to live action vids and machinima."

Unfortunately neither of them could make it to the con due to last minute circumstances, so I presented the information and videos that they sent. Here are the videos that were shown:

Lending Club Commercial (Metro) - Stream
Lose Yourself (

kusoyaro) - Stream Download page
A Fair(y) Use Tale (Eric Faden) - Stream
Fruity Oaty Bars (from Serenity) - Stream
Rodeohead (

absolutedestiny) - Download page
What is Machinima? (Fling Films) - Stream
I Put You There (

laurashapiro & LithiumDoll) - Stream
Us (lim) - Stream
Han Solo Affair - Stream
Pale Blue Dot - LQ stream HQ stream HQ download
Creative Commons PSA (Wanna Work Together?) - Stream Download

I'd like to thank Walter & Fred for putting together and getting the material to me (and

ashyukun for printing it :) and reiterate that the upcoming 24/7: DIY Video Summit (which inspired this panel) website can be found here: http://www.video24-7.org/

PS: A Star Wreck excerpt was to be shown, but there wasn't time.
PS2: It wasn't shown at the panel, but check out this 300 / Vogue video.

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Subject:	[amv] Plunder Propaganda
Time:	12:15 am.
Mood:	piratey.

Ahoy, me hearties! All hands on deck! New video off th' port bow! Hoist th' mainsail! Load the cannons! Swab th' poop deck! Fire th' cannons!

Yarrr! I weren't goin' t' release this before AWA, but in honor o' Talk Like A Pirate Day, here it be! Fetch me spyglass!

Video: Plunder Propaganda
Category: Comedy, Parody
Anime: One Piece
Song: Advertisement audio
Artist: MPAA
Creator: dokidoki (Doki Doki Productions)

Download an' tell yer maties, with a chest full of booty!

Oh, and some piratey comics fer ye to read, or we'll keel-haul ye!
yarr yarr yarr yarr yarr yarr

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