Recent Shenanigans

Oh hi.

For whatever bizarre reason  some of you are still Patreon donors - so I thought I'd give you all a bit of a heads up on what's going on with projects, and life in general.

The Exurb1a channel now has a new mascot. She's called Cassiopeia and she's about 8 weeks old. A photo should be attached to this post. Every now and then she eats the post or poops in inappropriate places and I'm tempted to eject her from the window, but then she gives you the eyes, and everything's all right again. There's a new video coming in a few days - one I'm quite excited about - and I've edited the whole thing so far with her sat on my lap. And that's a nice way to make things. 

It's a bit like having a girlfriend, except she doesn't talk much or seem to mind if I spend all day drinking. So that's nice. 

Other projects: 

There are several new reasons to be excited, on my end anyway. 

Firstly, I've started a full, Johnny Big Balls, real-deal, Full Monty, novel. It's something I've been playing with in my head for years now and I finally feel confident enough to get it down on paper. I won't give much away, only to say that if you A: enjoyed Dune, and B: have a strong philosophical and depressive disposition (which I assume you do) - then I hope you'll enjoy it. The draft should be done in  few months, then I'll begin looking for proofreaders. If you're a proofreader, editor, cover artist, or artist in general, I'd love to hear from you: exurb1achannel@gmail.com

Secondly, Hersenspinsel and I are working on a fairly massive creative project together which people have been asking about for months now. We hope to make it real by the end of July. I won't give it away just yet, but for now I'll leave it at coughpodcastcough. 

Thirdly, the video situation is a difficult one. In a few days, I'm going to throw something up online which I think you'll enjoy. The project after that, if it works, is going to take some time indeed. It's musical, big, messy, and weird, and it's the kind of thing you're not sure if you should take on but you do it just to see if it'll work. So I'm going to go AFK for bit and descend into my dream tipi, along with a bag of opium and some Earl Grey. 

Fourthly, and really the reason why I wrote this post in the first place, thank you, you magical dolts. I don't know why you're still donating, but you are, and it allows me to sit around in my underwear all day drinking coffee and making things. Some of you have asked how the video process works, for me at least, so here's a little run down.

How I Make Things at the Moment:

1. Generally you've had an idea for a few months about making something, but you're not sure if it's going to piss everyone off or weird them out. At some point you suddenly get a very clear image of how it will look or sound - usually while out running, or shopping or something - and you have to go ahead and make it real. 

2. You decide against it the next day, after some thought. Then you say fuck it and do it anyway. 

3. 2-3 full days are then spent working on the script. 

4. When the script works and doesn't make you want to kill yourself, you can now begin editing. I use Photoshop and Sony Vegas Pro 13, but most programs are of a similar nature. Most of my videos take around 200-300 slides, at least, and the process of making them usually takes around 4-5 days. I work about 13-14 hours a day, and go for a run in the evenings to stop from losing my mind. There's a forest near my apartment - which is pretty unusual for living so near the centre of a city. It has dogs and birds and armed drunks. 

5. Now the slides are done you need to record the audio, add music, splice in animations, add dick jokes, etc. At some point you'll have heard the same punch lines just over 14,000 times and they will have stopped being funny some time around the third watch, so you're not even sure what works and what doesn't anymore. I recommend several glasses of whisky in this event to restore you to a normal mindset. 

6. If it works, well, you can put it up online. If it doesn't, well, that sucks. Either you begin something else - and this has happened many, many times - or you try to fix it until it does work. Making stuff is weird, and you only get to see what you've made once you've made it. Sometimes it turns out better than you expected, sometimes worse, but you always learn something, and never sleep much. 

And that's how I make things. 

And I can essentially keep doing this because of you, because you're an incredibly kind and excellent human. 

I initially used to try to chat to everyone on Skype when this all started. Things have got a bit bigger recently, and this has sort of become impossible, so I can't promise having a chat to all of you. But I genuinely do read all of the emails you send me, and reply when I can. So if you ever want to chat about editing, or writing, or Emma Watson, you're welcome to drop me a line and I'll always take the time to try and respond. 

A Final Mention: 

If you're a content creator, or writer/thinker/creator of some kind, or a scientist or academic working in an interesting field, please drop me a line. What with upcoming projects, I'd love to potentially expose you to a bigger audience. The nice thing about my audience - you, that is - is that you all seem to have an insatiable curiosity about the world, as well as a truly fucked up sense of humour. This is prime podcast material. So, if you're doing something creative, or are someone sciency, and you think people would like to hear about it on a podcast episode, please drop old Exurb1a an email and we'll have a chat. 

All the best, as ever, 

Ex.