Working 50 hours this week and so happy about it.

There are some nights where I am overcome with a tidal wave of inspiration. Tonight has been one of those nights. Working a slow night at the restaurant, I was able to do some people watching and usually some great ideas come out of that. I just had a nice opportunity to sit back and think about LAN’ded and how an audience might react to it. The fact that Code Monkey is wrapped means one thing: LAN’ded, the reason why Code Monkey was made, is ready to be worked on once again. It scares me in a way but the message behind LAN’ded is the whole reason why Kyle and I started Imaginary Trends in the first place.

I was able to come home and jot down rough notes on where I wanted to take LAN’ded, but got very distracted by the X-Games on ESPN. Yes, I’m still a dude so the X-Games are like a present under the tree of my Christmas-In-July. Seriously, those guys doing those crazy superman stunts are like Gods. If I could even do a single jump on a bike then I’d consider that a major victory, the fact that they can do flips and stuff make me re-evaluate my fear of flying because they take off like birds.

Wow, my analogies and metaphors are getting really wordy tonight. Ugh.

I also came home tonight to a very nice surprise. An interest musician named Blue recorded an online web-concert that she put on earlier today. I was bummed out I couldn’t actually view it live cause of work but she recorded it! Watch it now @ http://hello-the-future.net/2010/07/30/webcomics-webconcert-the-video/

More artists need to facilitate an audience like this event has. Plus she did a Lilith Fair rendition of Launchpad McQuack. Seriously, she did. I almost choked on my food. If there’s a way into my heart, it’s through a Lilith Fair rendition of Launchpad McQuack. Nice. The fact that there's artists out there who are ballsy enough to just put themselves out there so freely makes me want to work with ALL of them. Maybe someday.

ANYWAY…LAN’ded. Back to that THING! That crazy, long, derivative, heady, existential THING. I can’t believe how much it has changed since the first draft.

Actually, I’m going to quit writing this and go back to compiling notes on it. There’s too much in my head about it.

Before I go though…to everyone who has supported my endeavors in Code Monkey in ANY way…thank you. It’s still not done but the way people have connected with it by reading the script, hearing our renditions of JoCo’s music, or seeing our behind the scenes videos, is just incredible. I am thinking of some way to thank you all…though I don’t know WHAT yet.

~ Aaron J.

OK, so I'm cheating on my blog with Tumblr.

I couldn't resist. In my downtime I've found Tumblr to be super-duper cool. Thus, I'm gonna use it. Thanks to my tweeps who convinced me of this.

Since "Code Monkey" has wrapped, it is totally time to sit back and relax for at least a day. That is until I start working 40 hours a week again. The only responsibilities I have for CM now are 1) ADR work on some scenes where we shot outside and 2) figuring out the release party. I'd like to get Southside Works Cinema for our premiere, but it is sort of expensive. Maybe if I ask around I can raise some money...

Did anyone else play the Alan Wake DLC this morning? Holy moly did I enjoy it! I love the original game itself, but the DLC was able to take the narrative further and I can really respect that. Remedy is definitely a company I'd love to work with one day. The way they take gameplay and infuse it with story is pretty rad. I don't think any other studio does it as well as they do.

The proposed date for moving to Chicago was set in stone a few weeks ago: August 29th. I just woke up one day and it sounded like a fantastic date to pack everything up and go. I now realize that I'm going to be quite the jetsetter in the coming weeks because I need to travel back to Pittsburgh for audio work, and then I'm going to San Diego to visit the girlfriend. FourSquare is going to BLOW UP! Finally I can rival my friends on tour at least for a few days.

FourSquare is such an interesting device. Whenever I go out now I have to decide whether or not I want every fast food chain I visit included in my history. Do I let my friends know about my Burger King obsession? Do they seriously need to be aware that I constantly celebrate my fourth meal at Taco Bell? For better or for worse, they do. They totally do.

I guess it is time for me to start raising money for this premiere party...here goes nothing.

I promise I will not cheat on my Blog with Tumblr.

I feel as if I'm standing on the edge of a precipice. I've been walking up a mountain for the past 7 months and I'm about to jump and see what happens next. Tomorrow is our last day of shooting on Code Monkey. After tomorrow, it is finished. There's no more going back to shoot, no more "oops I forgot about this", and no more "let's re-write the line to be this". I'm not unhappy, it is just difficult to process. We will of course need to go back to do some ADR work and I'd like to sit in on some editing sessions but I know I can't. After tomorrow, all I've left to do is promote it and get it out as quickly and efficiently as I can. It's. So. Strange.

It's like you're reading a book. Something AWESOME like Terry Pratchett or Stephen King. You get real absorbed in it and love it even though it eats up all your time. When you're done with the story though, you're left with so much free time that all you want to do is start another book. One person asked me if I'd ever write a sequel to CM, and the thought of that kind of scares me. There's no real route for these characters to take while accompanying JoCo's material. Unless they turn into vampires or zombies. I wouldn't want Guy/Laura to break up and I wouldn't want any other strange catharsis to occur either. I just hope that the finished product is something that JoCo (and his fans) will appreciate. He's given so much to us, it is time we give something back.

It is almost fitting that once the project wraps, I'll be ready to make my move to Chicago. A nice clear-cut change of scene.

Wait a tick, I signed up for a Tumblr. Is that better than Blogger? It seems more dynamic. Does anyone else have thoughts on this? My inner geek wants me to have the best tech out there, but my compassionate side says not to cheat on my blog when it has facilitated so many of my entries the past few years. This is why I'm incapable of cheating on my girlfriend. My guilt is enormous, even when dealing with objects without life or any discernable human behavior. This guilt eroded my soul when making my 360/Ps3 decision and I'm sure it'll rear its head again later with other decisions but seriously is Tumblr cool? Lemme know.

Time to pack and fill up the car before my trip to Pittsburgh to finish filming. Then I get to play the fun game of marketing Code Monkey! It's up to 4 players, anyone want in?

Thank You

In the span of 3 days, I've seen Code Monkey go from being a small passion project of mine to something that could grow to great heights. The internet never fails to impress me and the amount of support we've been able to garner thus far has been inspiring.

To everyone who has been tweeting and re-tweeting, thank you. To everyone on facebook sharing our behind the scenes videos, you're truly amazing. And to all of my friends and family who are saying "oh hey, this actually looks pretty sweet", I told you so ;) When you're working with people who love what they do and all aspire to put forth their best effort in any project, you're going to wind up with a winner. I should probably insert my foot into my mouth right now and stop talking up CM, but I just have a great feeling about it. A fortune cookie once told me that a good feeling was creativity trying to tell you something.

Regardless of all the good feelings and hunches I have right now, I'd have none of them without my friends and family. Thank you all so much, and I hope that this project can continue to thrive in the coming days as much as it came to life last Sunday.

~ Aaron J.

Principle Photography starts on Sunday!

Just spent a week in sunny Florida visiting the Disney Parks and Hogwarts. Am I happy? I got to see the Great Hall, of course I am happy! I may have even shed a single year of happiness upon entering Hogsmeade, but will I ever say for sure? Never!

OK, I may have, but still, it was amazing.

This was all a lovely distraction from the project that has captivating me for months on end: Code Monkey. We have an excellent cast (yes I know part of that is me, blah blah), a fantastic director, and a legion of cameramen and extension cords just waiting to be used. I'm elated, anxious, nervous, and excited all at once just knowing my pet project is going to see the light of day soon.

This would be longer but I'm crazy tired...maybe later I will update you all with more, but I have to say that after seeing everyone support Code Monkey via the internet, I have seen how much talent is actually out there and I want to collaborate with everyone. I wish the world weren't so big sometimes...