A while ago I wrote a lengthy article here about my struggles to become a YouTube partner. When I was done with that several-pages-long piece of work, I realised that it was wholely about me whining and held no entertaining content whatsoever, so I deleted it again. Plus I actually did gain partnership shortly after. However, becoming a partner granted me only few of the promised advantages, the most important of them being: individual thumbails.
Seriously, people: this was the main reason for me to become a partner and it was absolutely worth it! Creating interesting, personalised thumbnails for each video has become one of my new favourite things related to my LPing career. It's so satisfying to have a little piece of art smile back at you, advertising for your videos instead of the random convoluted piles of mess YouTube offers non-partners as thumbnails. It looks a lot more professional (though the content of the videos certainly didn't improve) and attracts viewers much more efficiently than any exciting title ever could.
However, as Spiderman's uncle said: with great power comes great responsibility. Theoretically I could create any thumbnail I wanted. Of course, what comes to mind first are half-naked women pushing their various humps into the viewers face. Research has shown that YouTube viewers do indeed instinctively click on these videos more often than on others. And in fact I have done just that... twice now. Once for a Thief 2 episode named 'Hookers' because of a supposed hooker I knocked unconscious and then once more for my Gothic Erotica video, where I featured the in-game picture of a half-naked lady. So you see that - though I had the opportunity - I used this cheap trick only on videos where the thumbnail accurately descripted the content of the video... and not just to generate views and distract from my lack of humour/entertainment/general purpose in life. Don't want to point fingers here, but since you're all familiar with YouTube there's a good chance you know who I'm talking about. Gosh, how I dislike that guy. Goes to show that the path to the dark side is way easier to travel.
Another tricky thing about thumbnails is that you can't just march off into the depths of the Internet, grab any picture you like, drag it back home and then alter it for your purposes in order to create some fancy thumbnail. Generally speaking, EVERY picture is protected by copyright. Using it without the explicit permission of the owner is actually a crime. There are some ways around this problem, however. Of course you could just ask an artsy friend to draw all the thumbnails for you or give you permission to use their work and attribute them in the video for it. If you have an artsy friend, of course. And if they are willing to work for your benefit just like that. OR you could check out the huge database of royalty-free images available at various websites (wikimedia is my personal favourite so far). You still have to check every image you find there for its specific copyright status, but most of them are free to download, alter, distribute etc without having to credit anyone or being worried that the NSA sells your criminal arse to the local authorities. Or, in turn, uploads your private pictures on their website without your consent...
Sunday, 23 June 2013
Tuesday, 4 June 2013
Risen 2 Rises!
Good news everybody!
Nevermind that last blog entry! Turns out the simplest solution was the most effective one: just deleting and re-installing the game fixed the corrupted files. Huzzah!
Nevermind that last blog entry! Turns out the simplest solution was the most effective one: just deleting and re-installing the game fixed the corrupted files. Huzzah!
Monday, 3 June 2013
Risen 2 Is Going Down
Just a heads-up: there is a definite possibility that I have to abandon my Risen 2 LP.
This is quite a bummer, given that I think I was close to the end and I would have liked to see this project finished properly, but I can't get the game to work anymore. All save files appear to be corrupted, leaving the game frozen during loading screens and forcing me to crash down to desktop or even shut down my PC manually at times.
I will try out a few more approaches and keep you posted on my progress.
This is quite a bummer, given that I think I was close to the end and I would have liked to see this project finished properly, but I can't get the game to work anymore. All save files appear to be corrupted, leaving the game frozen during loading screens and forcing me to crash down to desktop or even shut down my PC manually at times.
I will try out a few more approaches and keep you posted on my progress.
Thursday, 18 April 2013
Lent
Though I'm not a Christian, I have always been fascinated with the time of Lent. I thought it was an impressive way of demonstrating one's willpower and discipline to avoid eating something as delicious and elemental as meat.
Naturally, I tried it myself at some point. I have to add, though, that I initially started to fasten in order to impress a girl I liked and that happened to be a vegetarian. I managed to make it through all 40 days without a single bite of meat... and guess what? That girl became my girlfriend eventually. But that's a different story.
Two years later, I tried the same stunt again, but admittedly failed. I was a student at that time and I remember it to be a particularly stressful day. I was running about the city, trying to fetch important signatures on even more important papers and was growing more and more desperate by the minute. When I noticed a certain gnawing feeling in my stomach, I decided to quickly head for a popular fast-food restaurant and grab a burger, as I had done so often before when having little time. I didn't even think about it at that time and noticed only hours later that I had eaten meat and thereby broken my pledge.
So the year after, I actually wanted to figure out how long I could survive without meat. You have to know that coloured bears are carnivorous and I just love the taste of meat, so this was quite a challenge for me. Starting at New Year's Eve, I ate only fruits and vegetables, but mostly weird instant crap that was probably mainly plastic. I'm proud to say that I lasted 7 long months as a vegetarian before finally whispering 'Bring me meat!' to the people taking care of me during these dark times.
Back to the topic, this settled the question of how long I could stay without meat, so there wasn't really any point in trying again every Lent from now on. So instead, I chose to stay away from something else that I liked to do way too much but that was probably not all that healthy for me: playing video games. This was particularly tricky, because I had already started my YouTube career, so I settled for this compromise: I could play a video game (namely 'Thief Gold'), but only if I did a recording of it and uploaded it. Other than that: no video games.
I managed to get through this time, too, though it was quite boring, to be honest. I remember that I read a lot more than usual and watched any movie I own thrice.
How could I overcome this success during the next Lent, you ask? This time, I challenged myself to not lie anymore. Of course, this is impossible, with all the little lies we express everyday without even noticing. So the task was this: no intentional lies. If I knew the truth, I had to either speak it or be silent.
This was a really tough one and I'd advise any of you to try it just for a day. I made it almost through the entire duration of Lent, but then... well... let's just say losing this challenge against myself was the lesser evil.
And that leads us to this year's Lent, which is already over. This time, I settled for something unspectacular, but that was increasingly bothering me. I was not allowed to drink any soft drinks, like cola and lemonades. I managed this one with ease, so I have to come up with something more challenging for next year. Any ideas are welcome, so let's hear it!
Naturally, I tried it myself at some point. I have to add, though, that I initially started to fasten in order to impress a girl I liked and that happened to be a vegetarian. I managed to make it through all 40 days without a single bite of meat... and guess what? That girl became my girlfriend eventually. But that's a different story.
Two years later, I tried the same stunt again, but admittedly failed. I was a student at that time and I remember it to be a particularly stressful day. I was running about the city, trying to fetch important signatures on even more important papers and was growing more and more desperate by the minute. When I noticed a certain gnawing feeling in my stomach, I decided to quickly head for a popular fast-food restaurant and grab a burger, as I had done so often before when having little time. I didn't even think about it at that time and noticed only hours later that I had eaten meat and thereby broken my pledge.
So the year after, I actually wanted to figure out how long I could survive without meat. You have to know that coloured bears are carnivorous and I just love the taste of meat, so this was quite a challenge for me. Starting at New Year's Eve, I ate only fruits and vegetables, but mostly weird instant crap that was probably mainly plastic. I'm proud to say that I lasted 7 long months as a vegetarian before finally whispering 'Bring me meat!' to the people taking care of me during these dark times.
Back to the topic, this settled the question of how long I could stay without meat, so there wasn't really any point in trying again every Lent from now on. So instead, I chose to stay away from something else that I liked to do way too much but that was probably not all that healthy for me: playing video games. This was particularly tricky, because I had already started my YouTube career, so I settled for this compromise: I could play a video game (namely 'Thief Gold'), but only if I did a recording of it and uploaded it. Other than that: no video games.
I managed to get through this time, too, though it was quite boring, to be honest. I remember that I read a lot more than usual and watched any movie I own thrice.
How could I overcome this success during the next Lent, you ask? This time, I challenged myself to not lie anymore. Of course, this is impossible, with all the little lies we express everyday without even noticing. So the task was this: no intentional lies. If I knew the truth, I had to either speak it or be silent.
This was a really tough one and I'd advise any of you to try it just for a day. I made it almost through the entire duration of Lent, but then... well... let's just say losing this challenge against myself was the lesser evil.
And that leads us to this year's Lent, which is already over. This time, I settled for something unspectacular, but that was increasingly bothering me. I was not allowed to drink any soft drinks, like cola and lemonades. I managed this one with ease, so I have to come up with something more challenging for next year. Any ideas are welcome, so let's hear it!
Tuesday, 9 April 2013
Amsterdam, Mate!
This year, I spent my birthday in Amsterdam. I didn't expect too much of the trip and prepared as much as any other tourist would: by staring at the city map on Google for a while and quickly checking whether there are any weird laws one should abide by.
And I must tell you I was really surprised by the beauty of the city. I don't know much about architecture, but even to me the uniqueness of this city was remarkable. Especially the Red Light District at 'De Wallen' had so much more to offer than half-naked women behind glass doors. Tons of old churches, bridges, the canals, house boats, slim buildings, crooked houses, thousands of bicycles and all those spiral staircases... I truly enjoyed my stay.
The one thing that pleased me the most, though, were the people. Not necessarily just the Dutch people, but also all the tourists. Coming from a spot where there are solely Caucasian folks running around speaking the same (native) language, it was oh-so refreshing for me to hear this multitude of different languages, accents and dialects. Not to mention all the different skin colours, ethnicities, traditional clothings and general behaviour of people who grew up in a completely different culture than me. Such a grand city! I recommend it to anyone who likes to travel and has an open mind when it comes to disputable topics like soft drugs and prostitution.
And I must tell you I was really surprised by the beauty of the city. I don't know much about architecture, but even to me the uniqueness of this city was remarkable. Especially the Red Light District at 'De Wallen' had so much more to offer than half-naked women behind glass doors. Tons of old churches, bridges, the canals, house boats, slim buildings, crooked houses, thousands of bicycles and all those spiral staircases... I truly enjoyed my stay.
The one thing that pleased me the most, though, were the people. Not necessarily just the Dutch people, but also all the tourists. Coming from a spot where there are solely Caucasian folks running around speaking the same (native) language, it was oh-so refreshing for me to hear this multitude of different languages, accents and dialects. Not to mention all the different skin colours, ethnicities, traditional clothings and general behaviour of people who grew up in a completely different culture than me. Such a grand city! I recommend it to anyone who likes to travel and has an open mind when it comes to disputable topics like soft drugs and prostitution.
Monday, 25 February 2013
The Oscars
In preparation for the Oscars 2013, I did a little video with all my picks on who's probably going to win in each of the 24 categories. Then I challenged all my viewers to contradict me and put up a bet. If I win, they had to do one of these three punishments:
1. Draw a picture of Greenbear!
2. Write and perform a poem about Greenbear!
or
3. Write and perform a song about Greenbear!
The competitors could also offer a reward for themselves (punishment for me) in case they win... which I thought was very unlikely. I got a lot of great suggestions and ideas and accepted almost all of them as suitable stakes for the bet. Most people bet on one category only, for example on Best Picture or any of the other 'big categories'.
Now with the ceremony over, it turns out that exactly half of my predictions were accurate, which gave a lot of opportunities to my viewers. Let's have a look!
Here are all my predictions and the actual outcome:
Best Picture: "Zero Dark Thirty" (Argo)
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln" (Christoph Waltz)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln" (Ang Lee)
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Original Screenplay: "Django Unchained"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "Silver Linings Playbook" (Argo)
Best Animated Feature: "Paranorman" (Brave)
Best Foreign Feature: "Amour"
Best Visual Effects: "Life of Pi"
Best Cinematography: "Life of Pi"
Best Costume Design: "Les Misérables" (Anna Karenina)
Best Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man"
Best Documentary Short: "Open Heart" (Inocente)
Best Film Editing: "Argo"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (Les Misérables)
Best Music (Original Score): "Skyfall" (Life of Pie)
Best Music (Original Song): "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
Best Production Design: "Anna Karenina" (Lincoln)
Best Short Film, Animated: "Head over Heels" (Paperman)
Best Short Film, Live Action: "Death of a Shadow" (Curfew)
Best Sound Editing: "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Sound Mixing: "Les Misérables"
Now let's take a look at the users who challenged me and how they fared. Since a draw means both sides lose, both competitors have to do their punishment in case of a tie.
Winners:
Draw:
Loser:
I would like to thank all the participants in this little challenge. It was great fun for me and I'm looking forward to the pictures/poems/songs of and about me as well as all the weird little videos I have to do now myself.
1. Draw a picture of Greenbear!
2. Write and perform a poem about Greenbear!
or
3. Write and perform a song about Greenbear!
The competitors could also offer a reward for themselves (punishment for me) in case they win... which I thought was very unlikely. I got a lot of great suggestions and ideas and accepted almost all of them as suitable stakes for the bet. Most people bet on one category only, for example on Best Picture or any of the other 'big categories'.
Now with the ceremony over, it turns out that exactly half of my predictions were accurate, which gave a lot of opportunities to my viewers. Let's have a look!
Here are all my predictions and the actual outcome:
Best Picture: "Zero Dark Thirty" (Argo)
Best Supporting Actor: Tommy Lee Jones, "Lincoln" (Christoph Waltz)
Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, "Les Misérables"
Best Director: Steven Spielberg, "Lincoln" (Ang Lee)
Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis, "Lincoln"
Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, "Silver Linings Playbook"
Best Original Screenplay: "Django Unchained"
Best Adapted Screenplay: "Silver Linings Playbook" (Argo)
Best Animated Feature: "Paranorman" (Brave)
Best Foreign Feature: "Amour"
Best Visual Effects: "Life of Pi"
Best Cinematography: "Life of Pi"
Best Costume Design: "Les Misérables" (Anna Karenina)
Best Documentary Feature: "Searching for Sugar Man"
Best Documentary Short: "Open Heart" (Inocente)
Best Film Editing: "Argo"
Best Makeup and Hairstyling: "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" (Les Misérables)
Best Music (Original Score): "Skyfall" (Life of Pie)
Best Music (Original Song): "Skyfall" from "Skyfall"
Best Production Design: "Anna Karenina" (Lincoln)
Best Short Film, Animated: "Head over Heels" (Paperman)
Best Short Film, Live Action: "Death of a Shadow" (Curfew)
Best Sound Editing: "Zero Dark Thirty"
Best Sound Mixing: "Les Misérables"
Now let's take a look at the users who challenged me and how they fared. Since a draw means both sides lose, both competitors have to do their punishment in case of a tie.
Winners:
- AlmostDomi - Best Picture: Argo, my punishment: subscribing to her channel
- CnAFilmsandAnimation - Best Animated Feature: Brave, my punishment: subscribing to their channel
- DevilMay Pie - Best Picture: Argo, Best Supporting Actor: Robert Deniro, Best Supporting Actress: Anne Hathaway, Best Director: Ang Lee, Best Actor: Daniel Day Lewis, Best Actress: Jennifer Lawrence, Best Original Screenplay: Amour, Best Adapted Screenplay: Argo, Best Animated Feature: Paranorman, Best Foreign Feature: Amour, Best Visual Effects: Life of Pi, Best Cinematography: Life of Pi, Best Costume Design: Anna Kerinina, Best Documentary Feature: Searching for Sugar Man, Best Documentary Short: Open Heart, Best Film Editing: Argo, Best Makeup and Hairstyling: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Best Music (Original Score): Life of Pi, Best Music (Original Song): "Skyfall" from "Skyfall", Best Production Design: Les Misérables, Best Short Film, Animated: Paperman, Best Short Film, Live Action: Curfew, Best Sound Editing: Zero Dark Thirty, Best Sound Mixing: Les Misérables, my punishment: thanking him in an Oscar acceptance speech
- eevylcheekin - Best Picture: Argo, my punishment: subscribing to their channel
- FilmAngel11 - Best Picture: Argo, my punishment: drawing her profile picture
- shutinproductions - Best Picture: Argo, my punishment: subscribing to his channel and singing the Canadian anthem
- TheRandomPasta1 - Best Picture: Argo, Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Best Animated Feature: Wreck-it Ralph, my punishment: pretending I won an Oscar and thanking everyone who wrote a comment beneath my Oscars predictions video
- TiniestPrincess - Best Supporting Actor: Christoph Waltz, Best Animated Feature: Brave, Best Music (Original Song): Les Misérables, Best Production Design: The Hobbit - An Unexpected Journey, my punishment: doing a Let's Play of 'The Company of Myself'
Draw:
- GazzaPlays - Best Picture: Life of Pie, my punishment: choosing one of the three options I offered myself and doing it for his channel
- Numring - Best Picture: Lincoln, my punishment: doing a little puppet show with an interesting plot and at least one bear as an actor
- Nuttylamb - Best Animated Feature: Wreck-it Ralph, my punishment: doing a How-To video on baking cookies
Loser:
- TheMisterJackles - Best Actress: Jessica Chastain, my punishment: letting him interview me and thuthfully answering 10 uncomfortably awkward questions
I would like to thank all the participants in this little challenge. It was great fun for me and I'm looking forward to the pictures/poems/songs of and about me as well as all the weird little videos I have to do now myself.
Friday, 8 February 2013
The Witcher Is a B*tcher
With the third installment of the Witcher video game series being announced in the most teasing of all teasing trailers ever, Steam decided to put up the first two games for sale. I have bought and successfully played through the first Witcher game after seeing a highly entertaining Let's Play of it done by Veriax, but restrained from getting the second one straightaway after its release, mostly due to the high price but also because I was afraid my PC couldn't handle it.
However, 10 € for a two-year-old video game is not too shabby, so I bought the second adventure of Geralt in hopes of a dark and believable setting, mature characters and decisions that will influence the storyline. All these features made 'The Witcher' to one of the few RPGs other than the Gothic series that I truly enjoyed and had high hopes for the second one.
I'm not very far into the second game now but can already tell you that it is one of the toughest games I have ever played. Sure, it is fun and all, but despite the fact that I already played through its predecessor, I decided to go through the (very badly designed) tutorial with the result of me getting my buttocks kicked and the game advising me to go for 'difficulty level: easy' with a condescending digital smile. 'Easy' of course means 'noob', so I went for 'normal', which turned out to be a bad decision.
The game heavily relies on preparations for a fight, inexplicably forbidding players to drink potions while they are in a combat area. That means even if you manage to run away from the mob that almost killed you, you cannot save your sorry skin, because the game thinks it's not safe to drink a potion before you killed everyone around. Now potions can only be drunk while meditating. So please take the time to find a secure area, sit down in the mud, meditate for a bit, empty a bottle of your choice and then get back up again. Is there an easier solution to quenching your thirst? I don't think so.
But it's not just that. They overhauled the entire combat system as well as any interface in the game, Geralt's looks and every single voice actor I encountered so far. Geralt is invincible during the tutorial, but died at least TWO DOZEN TIMES in the prologue alone before I figured out that bunny-hopping is indeed a proper solution here. Now, that's all fine and well. I prefer challenging games over dumbed-down ones and like to feel rewarded when I finally get the hang of it... but 'The Witcher 2' doesn't reward you. Once you think you figured out how fights work, it throws you into a completely different scenario. For example a dragon attack right at the beginning of the game. Or a fist fight, which requires you to ignore anything you learned about the combat so far and press some random buttons as soon as they pop up on the screen. The term for this is 'Quick Time Event' and right after ladders, bugs and Adam Sandler, this is one of my personal archenemies. They even implemented it in some of the dialogues, making it impossible to actually read through all the available options before time is running out.
Speaking of different buttons for different actions would suggest that this game was released for PC first, but it rather feels like a console import. Geralt might be the toughest witcher in the kingdom, but he simply cannot jump. Climbing is only possible in a very few, pre-designed spots with the advice to 'jump' or 'climb down' popping up whenever one gets close. Geralt can magically run on the spot at the edge of any cliff without the risk of falling off, but will never be able to commit suicide this way. Ah, well, he could just swallow some potions and intoxicate himself. But only if he finds a secure spot to sit down and meditate at.
Now, despite all my hatred against the difficulty level of this game, I quite enjoyed it so far and will definitely continue playing it. I just hope that they didn't get rid of the infamous girls cards from the first game...
However, 10 € for a two-year-old video game is not too shabby, so I bought the second adventure of Geralt in hopes of a dark and believable setting, mature characters and decisions that will influence the storyline. All these features made 'The Witcher' to one of the few RPGs other than the Gothic series that I truly enjoyed and had high hopes for the second one.
I'm not very far into the second game now but can already tell you that it is one of the toughest games I have ever played. Sure, it is fun and all, but despite the fact that I already played through its predecessor, I decided to go through the (very badly designed) tutorial with the result of me getting my buttocks kicked and the game advising me to go for 'difficulty level: easy' with a condescending digital smile. 'Easy' of course means 'noob', so I went for 'normal', which turned out to be a bad decision.
The game heavily relies on preparations for a fight, inexplicably forbidding players to drink potions while they are in a combat area. That means even if you manage to run away from the mob that almost killed you, you cannot save your sorry skin, because the game thinks it's not safe to drink a potion before you killed everyone around. Now potions can only be drunk while meditating. So please take the time to find a secure area, sit down in the mud, meditate for a bit, empty a bottle of your choice and then get back up again. Is there an easier solution to quenching your thirst? I don't think so.
But it's not just that. They overhauled the entire combat system as well as any interface in the game, Geralt's looks and every single voice actor I encountered so far. Geralt is invincible during the tutorial, but died at least TWO DOZEN TIMES in the prologue alone before I figured out that bunny-hopping is indeed a proper solution here. Now, that's all fine and well. I prefer challenging games over dumbed-down ones and like to feel rewarded when I finally get the hang of it... but 'The Witcher 2' doesn't reward you. Once you think you figured out how fights work, it throws you into a completely different scenario. For example a dragon attack right at the beginning of the game. Or a fist fight, which requires you to ignore anything you learned about the combat so far and press some random buttons as soon as they pop up on the screen. The term for this is 'Quick Time Event' and right after ladders, bugs and Adam Sandler, this is one of my personal archenemies. They even implemented it in some of the dialogues, making it impossible to actually read through all the available options before time is running out.
Speaking of different buttons for different actions would suggest that this game was released for PC first, but it rather feels like a console import. Geralt might be the toughest witcher in the kingdom, but he simply cannot jump. Climbing is only possible in a very few, pre-designed spots with the advice to 'jump' or 'climb down' popping up whenever one gets close. Geralt can magically run on the spot at the edge of any cliff without the risk of falling off, but will never be able to commit suicide this way. Ah, well, he could just swallow some potions and intoxicate himself. But only if he finds a secure spot to sit down and meditate at.
Now, despite all my hatred against the difficulty level of this game, I quite enjoyed it so far and will definitely continue playing it. I just hope that they didn't get rid of the infamous girls cards from the first game...
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