The Sunday Supdate: 04/09/11

Because I'm a true believer in structure, I've decided to break Supdates up into relevant sections. Nothing major, just helps with the flow of transitioning into new topics and what not. So dive in!

Worst Summer Ever?
As school begins to leer its head once more, further devouring the fading light that was the Summer break, you can't help but reflect on what you've done these past 6 weeks. Maybe you went on holiday, somewhere grand and beautiful and relaxing, maybe you did an amazing thing or met amazing people, doing things you wanted and needed to do, or maybe you just spent 3 fortnights sitting on your arse doing naff all.

   Unfortunately, I fall into this latter category. Yep, almost 42 days and nothing to show for it. In fact, I could probably teach a crash course in procrastinating and laziness after this. I wanted to blog a lot this Summer, but instead only pushed a mere 3 pieces in August, a laughable amount considered to the previous month. Distractions take over and before you know, I'm here. Oh and a tip: don't make big "To-Do" lists, it just makes you more depressed when you look back and see NOTHING crossed off. But I digress. Besides that wasn't the only reason that this has been a somewhat lacklustre Summer, because as usual the Great British weather decided to be a douche and treat us like a soggy slice of towel roll... It's not a perfect simile...

Writer's Block and A Little Inspiration

Thanks Felicia!

Like I've said, articles (and my writing in general) have become... constipated, to put it into context. They just don't want to shift out of my head and onto the page/screen. So after 5-ish weeks of that I read this: http://feliciaday.com/blog/how-i-started-writing - a great piece from The Guild (an awesome webshow) creator, Felicia Day. Turns out, she too used to just sit on her bum and think about writing things, rather than getting up and doing them. She even used to be a World Of Warcraft addict, spending hours of her time a day on the game (which actually gave her inspiration for The Guild). Anyway, the short article gives her tips on how she embraced her creativity and took hold of her writing prospects, through various books, websites and exercises. Definitely check it out if your having trouble with any creative projects, because it really inspired me and gave a lot of hope to a shrivelled dream. Also try ZenHabits.net, another great blog full of helpful hints on how to prioritize, organize and get through life that little bit better. It really is shame I didn't discover all this cool stuff at the start of the holidays.

The Awesomeness of The Guild
So while we're still on the topic of Felicia here, I'd like to talk to y'all about her aforementioned web series, The Guild: focusing around a group of MMO players as they try to juggle their totally unimportant real lives around their much loved (and addictive) RPG. Funny as hell, and littered with awesome references to video game culture, The Guild's an incredibly satisfying series, chock-full of laugh out loud moments and a rich, varied cast of hilarious characters.


   You can catch up with it from the very beginning now, for free, over at watchtheguild.com, or on their YouTube channel! Also, if you happen to have Xbox Live you can find seasons 3-5 all in great quality on the Zune marketplace for free too, and episodes appear there first exclusively, every Tuesday (the latest was insane, due a very awesome special guest cameo). So long live The Guild: The show about gamers, for gamers, by gamers! Here's the crazy-hilarious Bollywood style music video from the "Guildies" themselves:

Enjoy! And I'll catch you all on the flipside.


The flipside being sometime this week.

Hopefully.

Arnie is Out.
ATR
Follow Me: @DMeisterTweets

The Sunday Supdate: 31/07/11

Okay so I'm going to make this quick as it's like 11pm and I'm on my step family's PC while they all sleep about 2 metres above me. Plus this computer isn't exactly what you would call reliable, so a crash could be imminent at any moment...

 So of course this week I started up DudeMeisterVlogs down on YouTube, with some incredibly awkward videos of me talking about nonsense and sounding like a douche. But, work is work, and I'm determined to carry on with it, just have to get into the flow if you know what I mean. Once I've found that point where I can loosen up in front of the camera, then perhaps we'll see some actually worthwhile content.

  Along with all that, we've had the busiest month of the blog so far (22 pieces, incl this), partly down to that monster of a Tuesday this week, belting out a whopping 5 trailer articles for you to feast upon. I got to tell you, that was a pretty relentless day that has left me able to recite every word of each of those trailers, which is at the annoyance of others when they appear in the cinema. So that brings us to the hits. July is in contention with May's 1077 count, with an impressive 1033 which could rise to conquer depending on how fast you can refresh your page in the next hour.

   Jesus Christ! Oh sorry, Dynamo: Magician Impossible is on the TV behind me and that guy is just blowing me away with what he can do. If you haven't heard of him, Dynamo is a UK magician who is currently considered as the best in the world, performing tricks that defy what we conceive as humanly possible. Walking on water!? Stepping through glass!? Turning cardboard into butterflies!? I've literally spent the last few hours (I've been watching the marathon on Watch) with my jaw to the floor in awe (hey, sick rhyming!) of this dude's talent. There's just no way these things are happening. Truly unbelievable.Please take the time to check him out, and I promise you won't regret it.

  All right, that'll be all. Like I said, I've got time constraints and there are two dogs barking at me in the hallway so I best be off. See y'all yonder.


ATR

The Monday Supdate: 25/07/11

Woah, a Supdate! Haven't seen one of those in a while! And on a Monday! By heck this is a rare occasion!
Well, actually, it's not. The Supdates are coming back, and at a weekly basis like before. Thanks to the Summer, I've got a lot of free time, so there's no excuse for any mishaps. They may not all be on Sunday (I'll try though!), like today, but they'll be Supdates none the less.

    So, for the return of the Supdate, I'd like to start off by thanking everyone for the 4000 hits I've now got. These past couple months haven't been as strong as the mighty 1077 hits-April that we had, but it's gaining more momentum now and should be back on track for something special. And look, just another 939 until 5000!

 
This weekend just passed was of course the San Diego Comic-Con, and a lot of stuff went down. The thing that got me the most though was this awesome concept art for The Avengers movie, coming out 4th May 2012. The movie features Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk and more in a big Marvel Super Hero team-up to end all Super Hero movies. And the best bit for me is the fact that it's being helmed by the superb Joss Whedon, creator of DMb favourite, Firefly, and Buffy The Vampire Slayer, not to metion his deep history in comic writing. His knowledge of the heroes combined with his expertise in big ensemble casts full of strong characters makes me have no doubt that this film will rock. Here's the poster:

Click to enlarge and properly appreciate it

  Along with that, the Con also saw the release of a slew of new trailers for Film and TV, which you can expect to see on Tuesday. While we're on the subject of Films and Comics, Captain America: The First Avenger hits cinemas this week for us Brits and I for one am seriously excited about it. Expect me there opening day and perhaps a RE:View afterward.

   So I also did a presentation in English class this week about the Blog and Blogging in general, in a pretty shameless plugging attempt for 3 minutes. Meaning we may see a rise in viewers soon, or a loss depending on how it went. Fingers crossed?

While preparing the presentation, I delved quite deep into my future plans and where abouts it might be going. In fact, I've got several bits and pieces planned for over the Summer which could see a rise into a new medium and networking. YouTube, anyone? And I've been searching the net for some semi-famous candidates for an Interview section. Heck I've even got this global idea that could find its feet over the next few weeks! But I fear I have said too much, and in fear of eating my words, I'll give this a rest. For now...

Until next time readers.

ATR 

Once More With Feeling

I've been feeling rather disconnected from the blog for the last month or so, in case you hadn't noticed from the lack of near enough anything. I'm missing my weekly features (Supdates, Trailers), not doing anything particularly new and have overall just become bored with the whole process.

  The problem is I've become too structured; it's all "This is for today!" and "I'll plan this for tomorrow!" or whatever, and it's got to the point at which I frankly have no feeling in my stuff. After looking at other niche blogs I realised something. Something crucial which I really think I've drifted from. And that's just winging it. Logging in and just writing whatever comes out of my head at that time. Like this, I've just gone out on a whim after looking at various future plans and feeling that enough is enough. (Is enough, I can't go on). See, now that's what I'm talking about, just finding myself randomly quoting cheesy 70's pop songs! 

  It's like I've been writing in this odd, almost essay like way that would be treated like some exam piece or something. I'm not saying I won't do stuff like that, but when in comparison to other blogs and such, they've got so much more. Yeah, I'll keep my features but ultimately I want to stray from just that style of writing and lean toward a new more personal and emotive technique alongside all that "professional" jargon.  And I'm not promising daily blogs, but just a little personal dump of memories and feelings and thoughts in response to internal and external affairs of my little world. 

   Now it's at this point where I might say "So you can expect... blah blah blah", which would be a critically contradicting statement to what this little blog is all about. So how about you all just stay tuned and wait for what might just pop up, and enjoy this blog for just being a blog.

ATR