Oh Chuck E' Cheese, we meet again...

Considering I've spent the last few days learning "The YouTube Game" and how to successfully advertise on it as well as other sites, I'm surprised I'm not a vampire by now. The in's and out's of online advertising, especially for a product that is as vague and "in" as mine continues to baffle me. Especially when it takes off and gets 500 hits for what seems like no reason at all.

Oh well, Hakuna Matata.

Spending all of my free time working on virals, I have to admit I nearly forgot about allotting time to work on the 3rd draft of LAN'ded. Next week I should have a good 3-4 days to sit down and sketch out a treatment for how it'll run. Like I said before, there's alot of changes Kyle and I are making to the overall feel and structure to the show so for a few people it may be a shocker, but I firmly believe that it'll be a decision that works out for the better.

Coming home has been incredibly therapeutic. Going back to your roots has a natural way of revitalizing you. Seeing old friends, chatting up your folks, and driving familiar streets puts it all in perspective. To think that I'll be here more than just 2-3 weeks is comforting, but I can't help but be a little jealous of my friends who're out in the real world "making it" already. I'm just happy to be able to continue my work here, not being required to relocate to a huge city right off. I seem to have a problem though, and this isn't something new.

Because I know many different people in many different cities, I tend to think everyone lives wherever I am. This lead to difficulties. I can't tell you how many times I thought I've seen my friend Joe in Pittsburgh, when he lives in Erie. Since I've been home I must've had to stop myself from saying "Hi" to at least 5 strangers who only LOOKED like people I know from New Hampshire and other places. If only the world were that small...

hills and valleys and the spaces in-between

After a string of very successful viral videos being posted online, yesterday I decided to post something a little more...risky. I had played it safe with the past few videos but wanted to take a more critical turn with the newest one. At first the response was very positive, but as the video was exposed to the rest of the internet throughout today the response soon began to collapse into more negative responses which nearly spiraled into complete and utter disarray.

I won't lie, my first impulse was to jump in and start responding to what people were saying. After the initial shock and realization that the internet can work both ways towards total strangers, I began to revel in what was happening: a character was being created. What began as a viral acting project has become something of a social experiment.

I'm starting to really reminisce about my theatre theory lectures from school. All that talk about Brecht and how he really wanted to jolt the audience; to pull them out of experiences and challenge them sort of draws some parallels to the last video I uploaded. I never thought I'd be referencing German playwrights and alienation effects when talking about the viral videos for LAN'ded, but hey, it all comes around right?

Thing A Days have been trickling in daily like a train late for arrival. I seem to be getting most of my inspiration late in the day which is odd because at the beginning of this exercise I would wake up and immediately prompt myself with an idea. There's one T.A.D. that I keep coming back to called "Algorithm." I don't know why but it just feels right, but not finished. Hopefully I can become satisfied enough with it soon and post it.

I shipped a good portion of my supplies/belongings back to my permanent residence today. It's crazy what I actually consider props nowadays. You'd think an destroyed DVD box of Macauley Culkin's "The Pagemaster" would warrant being trash, but not on my watch. I'm also giving Wally (from LAN'ded) a home. He deserves a place to rest, and not a suitcase, so I'll be his owner.

I feel it is my moral duty to go see "Gamer" this week. Seeing as how one of my main goals is to merge geek culture and the arts, I think supporting a cinematic happening titled "Gamer" just works. Sure, it's not a song-and-dance flick, but we all gotta start somewhere. Personally, I think anamanaguchi gets it right.

Only 3 more days of singing and dancing here in New Hampshire, which equates to about 21 shows left. Let's see if the mountains up here inspire any cool T.A.D.s before I fly on back home...

"plug in baby" - muse

discussing the anatomy can lead to startling revelations.

It's weird to think that most of my friends will be embarking on their Junior/Senior year in college tomorrow. I feel old.

"You are old." - Loren
"Shut up." - Me
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In two days time, the team here at Imaginary Trends will be temporarily broken up. Kyle has taken a gig going on tour with the newly formed "Curious George Live!" and I've taken a job...well, doing projects and spending time with my family who I haven't really seen in about a year. Kyle's job pays well. My paycheck will be in love and the fuzzy feeling you get when you are in your hometown. To each their own. I don't want to follow a monkey around the USA anyway, isn't that how AIDS started?

I've learned an awful lot this week in terms of recording audio with limited options and accessories. First off, turn off all fans, TVs, game systems, and anything that makes noise. Secondly, some sort of fabric or material is essential to dampen certain hard sounds. Thirdly, rapping (AKA 'spitting rhymes') is more difficult than it seems when you're white and you've got less rhythm than a bassist on a sinking ship. I guess that is what makes it work though...

What is incredibly long overdue is another Developer Diary. I know there hasn't been much of an outcry for one, but there's been a TON of footage taken of our various sessions around New Hampshire.

I also learned that a Batarang can hurt when thrown at high speeds, but that's neither here nor there.

I've had quite a few people ask why the LAN'ded blog has died. Well, to put it bluntly, we really can't openly advertise what we're doing with the project. I can easily say that LAN'ded has never been more alive. We're taking it in a much more realistic direction, and I think this is a direction that will ultimately make the show truly worth watching.

Alas, laundry calls. Til next time.

"sunflowers" - everclear.

oh vanessa hudgens, i bet your mother is so ashamed of you.

I can honestly say that when I grab hold of a creative idea and wrestle it to the ground, I never feel more alive. Today a suggestion was made for something to be done for the character of Christian in LAN'ded. Currently, the past 9 hours Kyle and I have been writing, scripting, and organizing a team to be brought together for a small yet difficult project we hope to complete by the end of the week. Though, because of the nature of the project, I cannot discuss it very deeply. I know I'm beginning to sound like a broken record saying that but I'm sure if people just snooped around YouTube by the end of this week then they'd see the fruits of our labors. Or labours if we are using Shakespearean prose. Also, it involves me rapping. Yep, rapping. T-Pain style.

Hopefully, if all goes as planned, you're reading this on ImAaronJ.com. If so, I hope you're enjoying it. If not, well...trust me, it's pretty nifty. Kyle and I bought a flurry of domain names last night in an attempt to secure our virtual real estate and I feel as if we came out on top. You'll now be able to access our personal sites and company information at www.thisguyandi.us (cost 50 cents) and www.thisguyandi.com (cost $10). We bought the dot-com out of peer pressure and bought the dot-us to appease our penchant for thrifty shopping. In the end, everyone wins.

The grim realization that this job in New Hampshire will be done soon approaches us with more aggression with each passing day. This has been a haven for creative freedom as far as our work is concerned. We've made some good connections and have even found some new colleagues but a change of venue is necessary. I've always said that my father was the best source of comedy I've ever had and as fate would have it, I'll be heading home next. We have set up a mobile postal service on the internet though. A feasible way for Kyle, our fellow colleagues, and I to exchange ideas, videos, and upload our work to the series of tubes and connections you're navigating through now. We're very excited about the prospect of recording and releasing a podcast every so often, perhaps a fortnight, and getting feedback on our work instantly.

Getting away from all of that professional news, has anyone else turned into a 13-year old again due to the fact that a new video game about The Dark Knight is coming out? I sure have, and the fact that the collector's edition comes with a batarang does nothing to further my personal responsibility or well-being. I expect band-aids to be bought in bulk when that weapon is unboxed.

I just received an update. It's a negative, we won't have the URL site up by tomorrow, maybe tuesday though. GoDaddy.com likes to make their site as slow as possible, and when you combine that with the [sarcasm] always reliable [/sarcasm] internet here you've got a winning combination.

Guess that means it is time for bed. Peace out cub scouts.

"someone is crazy" - jonathan coulton