Aug '25 Progress Report!

TWO THIRDS OF THE YEAR IS NOW COMPLETE.

WHAT'S NEW ON PATREON?

• MAKING MOOG NOISES - A special stream (LIVE 9/4 @ 1pm PT)

  • This is happening in the coming week! It's one of the special streams I planned for Jorts Enthusiasts, and I'm trying out Patreon's new live video functionality

• BRIAN BRECOMMENDS: Victor Jones

WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN UP TO?

Let's start with video stuff, which can be split into three projects:

1. Effort/Unraveled-y Video

   • Coming along! I'm filming all of the "process" shots right now. Here is a context-less shot of me cutting a bunch of onions:

   • Once I have the process shots done, I'll record the full script. I haven't locked in how it's going to look just yet. I don't want this to be another "Brian delivers every line direct to camera" video, but I'm not sure what kind of look I'll go with. Hopefully I figure that out in the coming month.

2. Animation

   • I've been playing around with Blender a lot more, working on character modeling and rigging, which is WAY harder to learn than I care to admit. But that's just how these skills develop! I'm trying to make a silly video about this guy:

   • My hope is that—after I create some solid rigs and get a bit faster with it all—I can make some short animations for videos that don't really work in live action!

3. Streaming????

   • To be perfectly honest, between writing music for Project #1 and learning more about Blender in Project #2, I've felt the urge to make a V-Tuber. This might take a while, but in the meantime, I think I might get back into streaming. Specifically, I want to stream a lot of Pokémon, because I need to brush up on all of the names.

Speaking of Pokémon, you can see the fun stuff I did this month in the photos at the top! The first four are from Pokémon Worlds, where we did a live audience version of The Gotta Catch 'Em All Game Show (VOD should be up tomorrow???).

I also got to go to the Grand Canyon this month with a few friends from college! It was lovely to take a little breather, and that's why there's a random photo of a big ol' ram.

WHAT'S NEXT?

All those projects above, in addition to going to MagicCon in Atlanta at the end of September!

I had mentioned an "in-progress" video for these longer ones, and though I started making one, I realized I was using it as a way to procrastinate productively. I wasn't really working on my videos, but I could tell myself I was because I was doing a behind-the-scenes video that wasn't nearly as worthwhile.

I've decided I should keep those until the end, when I can actually look back through the whole thing and give coherent thoughts about it, instead of just yammering on about my current idea that will change drastically in a week. If I'm going to productively procrastinate, I should be streaming my journey to become a true Pokémon professor, or writing more songs, or watching another Blender tutorial!

ANYTHING ELSE?

No movement on any of the writing work Karen and I have been doing because the entertainment industry is in shambles! We're still writing/developing/re-working stuff, but it feels a lot like how a swan kicks through a stream: they're going bonko under the water, but up top, it's hard to tell that anything is happening. TBH, it's very disheartening! But we're still trying out best.

OKAY SEE YOU SOON!

Gonna get back to a Blender tutorial that I am currently halfway through!