Synchtube Tropers (Riff on Videos and Movies)

Awesome. Making it loop endlessly well is what I was aiming for.

HI.

Have any of you seen this?

Well, what's most impressive is that you pulled that off without using a site like giflike. I'm assuming you just cropped a few shots from the timeline in your video editing program and had it exported as a .gif file? And it came out that well? Totally amazing.

Yo, Rock, fancy seeing you here. How have you been?

And, no, I haven't come across that video before.

Alright, let's do this.

First things first, our impromptu Leonard Nimoy tribute with back-to-back episodes of In Search Of... on the subjects of Sherlock Holmes (which the show attempts to suggest was a real, once-living human being) and the End of the World.

Then, at the top of the coming hour, anticipate lots of bullshit in a heapin' pile of Uwe Boll shit in House of the Dead!

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

~Bisected8 ~Morgikit ~Lewattoo ~Tre ~Noaqiyeum ~Wuggles ~Anime Badger ~Finger Puppet ~Colonel Cathcart ~Completely Normal Guy ~Space Wolf ~William Radar Storm ~Will Keaton ~Egregious One ~Sebby Moran ~Inhopelessguy ~BaconManiac5000 ~TAPETRVE ~Hashil ~Prowler ~Tojin ~Quag15 ~Rock On Man

This program I have, AVS Video Editor, is awesome (for basic things). It works with tons of video formats, converts to tons of video formats (although not all; it supports more imports than it does exports), and it has GIF as an option for output format. There are options like framerate, and you can pick the exact frame it starts or ends. Pretty basic, and it gets the job done very well. I actually find it easier to use than giflike, to be honest. Way easier.

Best part of tonight's movie: the extra long, drawn-out combat sequence that looked like a video game instant replay complete with random "cool" camera angles like spinning the camera around people just because it looks cool, intercut with tiny (less than a second each) snippets of gameplay footage.

uwe boll hates you. he has a deep, personal hatred of you based on the fact that you are viewing one of his "movies." i read that he films things and plays them at varying speeds in front of you to abuse german tax laws. there are videos of uwe boll literally punching out ppl who criticize him. uwe boll puts things in his productions that will make you consider the next world. this is because there are no amount of chemicals that will get them out of your brain. a more appropriate target for your anger would be uwe himself, but he lives in another country.

what do we say when asked to watch uwe boll productions? not today. what do we say to uwe boll? fuh q

(the thing said i was leering at my keys when i was typing this. how did it know?)

Alright, this Sunday evening, we're prepping for some post-apocalyptic, Road Warrior-aping 80's action fare in Warlords of the 21st Century (aka Battletruck).

I honestly don't know which title I like more.

Quiet Sunday. Well, okay, first up, our now-customary Sunday episode of Lexx.

Then, at the top of the coming hour, the lead character from The Warriors leads the cast of Warlords of the 21st Century. That kid must've gotten a hell of a promotion after Cleon died.

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

~Bisected8 ~Morgikit ~Lewattoo ~Tre ~Noaqiyeum ~Wuggles ~Anime Badger ~Finger Puppet ~Colonel Cathcart ~Completely Normal Guy ~Space Wolf ~William Radar Storm ~Will Keaton ~Egregious One ~Sebby Moran ~Inhopelessguy ~BaconManiac5000 ~TAPETRVE ~Hashil ~Prowler ~Tojin ~Quag15 ~Rockonman ~Tuefel Hunden IV

Missing tonight due to babysitting, and not just babysitting, but the kids actually sleeping over here for the night due to the freezing rain and ice outside. My horrible back and rear pain are gradually getting better day by day, and they're not preventing me from seeing the movie, but having to entertain a 6-year-old and a 3-year-old is. They'll leave tomorrow, and I might have the day off from work. Either because they cancel it due to the ice, or I take another sick day due to the back pain (I don't see them outright cancelling it, but instead delaying it, but either way, if I feel bad enough, I ain't going).

So Sorority House Massacre.

There's whole trilogy built around that title, you know? And the acting gets steadily worse with each sequel.

Tonight, however, we'll get started where it all began with the original film...

I won't be able to appear tonight nor tomorrow, but count me in on Thursday.

Think I've got something here.

I was wandering through rite-aid this afternoon when I noticed a 4 dollar DVD with a logo that looked like a blatant X-files rip off starring Caper Van Dien. Clearly, we're dealing with some quality cinema here. It's called The Vector File. As of this writing the movie itself is available on youtube, but you'll have to go to IMDB for the trailer.

See you Thursday, buddy. All the best for the rest of your week.

Not actually on YouTube, just an hour-and-a-half video pretending to be the movie. But that does sound delightfully stupid (as anything with Casper Van Dien tends to do). And the IMDb page provides the full name "Gerry Anderson" for the story's hero, which makes me smile at the obvious similarity to the name Gillian Anderson.

And speaking of delightfully stupid stuff, we're rolling out episodes of Starcade and Bad Influence right this very moment.

Then, at the top of the coming hour, it's Sorority House Massacre.

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

~Bisected8 ~Morgikit ~Lewattoo ~Tre ~Noaqiyeum ~Wuggles ~Anime Badger ~Finger Puppet ~Colonel Cathcart ~Completely Normal Guy ~Space Wolf ~William Radar Storm ~Will Keaton ~Egregious One ~Sebby Moran ~Inhopelessguy ~BaconManiac5000 ~TAPETRVE ~Hashil ~Prowler ~Tojin ~Rockonman

Are you sure it's not supposed to be Gerry Anderson of Supermarionation fame?

Also, can't attend. Lot of schoolwork to do.

By the way, I checked out the video. It looks like in spite of the title, it really is the full movie.

I'd have thought a movie with a title like Sorority House Massacre would have done more with its premise, or been more intentionally trashy. That would have given us a lot more riffing material.

Ah, just found it. Apparently, searches for "The Vector File Movie" and "The Vector File 2002" bring up two different videos, both claiming to be the movie but only one is real. Was hoping the video quality on the authentic copy would be slightly better, though.

As the lone vote, between the multiple instances of the boom mic (and pole) creeping into the camera frame and the derivative Halloween premise with a psychic bond/dream analysis twist thrown in... I thought that sufficed.

Anyway, speaking of better movies serving up premises which become derivative, tonight we got a Roger Corman-produced imitation of Home Alone, right down to the Joe Pesci role.

We give you... Alone in the Woods

Fun Home Alone fact: the actor who played Marv got super into his role, and was really dedicated to playing his simple "bumbling burglar" character. He also adlibbed a "Happy Hanukkah" line from his character, as the actor himself was Jewish and thought it would be a nice trait to add to his character.

Another Daniel Stern "Fact": When he's not doing voice-over work as the narrator on The Wonder Years or the title character in Dilbert cartoons, he's basically playing the same doofus character from Home Alone in other movies:

And don't forget he was last spotted as the Old Man in A Christmas Story 2. "It's a KLINK-UUUUURRRRRRRRR!!!"

edited 3rd Mar '15 11:38:58 AM by SeanMurrayI

Don't forget Little Monsters. And he might have been in the City Slickers movies... unless I'm misremembering.

I enjoyed him as Dilbert in the cartoon, though.

Joe Pesci in the woods? This is close enough to being a preview, right?

You win a point.

Anyway, let's do this!

First up, Knightmare aaaand... Nickelodeon Guts, which I just found up on You Tube. That's a real treat!

Then, at the top of the coming hour, it's you, me, everybody else, and Alone in the Woods'. Who knew Roger Corman would have a hand in a Home Alone imitator?

Join us! http://cytu.be/r/TroperCoven

~Bisected8 ~Morgikit ~Lewattoo ~Tre ~Noaqiyeum ~Wuggles ~Anime Badger ~Finger Puppet ~Colonel Cathcart ~Completely Normal Guy ~Space Wolf ~William Radar Storm ~Will Keaton ~Egregious One ~Sebby Moran ~Inhopelessguy ~BaconManiac5000 ~TAPETRVE ~Hashil ~Prowler ~Tojin ~Rockonman

Well, there's more wacky woodland hijinks with ties to Home Alone to come, as Daniel Stern finds himself leading an group of cub scouts who should know better in Bushwhacked.

How very specific for two movies in a row. Home Alone in the woods. How many "Home Alone in the woods" movies are there? I actually wouldn't be surprised if there's more than two.

Anyway, last night's movie was a high 1 from me. A 1, but a high 1. It was so full of stupid.

• The boy gives the captive girl a communicator so he can talk with her. So why would he contact her, when her captives had the chance to be in the room? (The movie should have done something with that, by maybe having him call her while they're in the room and tip them off)
• Threatening a pregnant woman with a gun rubs me the wrong way. I mean, it's not really "cartoon" villainy. Maybe it's my uncle instinct, being that there are little ones in my family, but even otherwise, it still strikes me as a bit much for what was a lowbrow romp.
• All the comedy involving how dumb the cops were, the bad guys, etc. Yeah, I'd imagine Police Are Useless in a world specifically rigged to make a little kid smart.
• "You're pretty cool too, For A Girl." Even when I was a little kid I thought that was stupid as hell. I got along fairly well with girls despite our differences. It was one of my pet peeve tropes.
• One positive that Sean pointed out: the kid is established early on as a prankster. This makes his later pranks against the bad guys more convincing.

As an adult now, another pet peeve trope of mine is the "the kid is smart; everyone else is stupid" trope. If you have to make everyone else weak or dumb in order to make a single character look strong or competent, it doesn't achieve that effect for me. Instead, it means that we have an average person in a world of idiots or wimps. That may have been the intended point of Idiocracy, where two average people end up being the smartest people in the US, but when that's not your intent, you fail at storytelling. I'd rather they try to find plausible ways to make the protagonist talented, smart, whatever.

Making people succeed in ways that compensate for limits is one way to do it. To use a real life example, anyone who saw Kacy Catanzaro in American Ninja Warrior would likely be impressed by the way a 5-foot tall individual managed to use jumping to compensate for her short reach, navigating some of the obstacles differently than the usual way others did it. That's what I'm talking about. How do you take a hero who would be assumed to be at a significant disadvantage, and show how they use what they're good at to succeed just the same? Take that concept and apply it to a Kid Hero.

As it is, such movies tend to use a limited number of means to get their Kid Hero into an adventure. Adults don't believe them. Adults are stupid and incompetent. The kid is the chosen one. The kid just happened to be the one who entered the fantasy world and start the adventure. Etc. Some of these tropes work better than others.

edited 4th Mar '15 8:33:07 AM by BonsaiForest

Ooo, I've seen this one a few times on TV. Should be fun to riff.