Really old digital camera

Years ago when the digital camera first came out my school bought one. It's now really obselete and they were thinking about getting rid of it so I said I would take it. Unfortunately I can't get it to work. I put in 4 new AA batteries but it won't turn on. Unlike some cameras this one had a 4mb memory card. That's the lowest amount I've ever seen on a memory card for a camera. Luckily my computer does have a slot for that kind of memory card but all that was on it was a very dark picture that was taken inside somebody's house. I might be using this camera in a future video as one of my puppet's cameras. I don't know which puppet it'll belong to yet.

Phillip has been added to the banner

Once again I changed the banner at the top of the site to add the newest character Phillip. If you want to see the old one click on the picture on top of this post.

Phillip Episode 1

Phillip

Phillip is a cat owned by an old woman he doesn't like because of the name she gave him. He wants me to be his owner so he keeps running away to my house.

Back to school

Tomorrow I'll be back at the Lifetime Learning Centre helping out a digital photography class so I probably won't have a new video up for a while. I haven't been putting any posts here lately because I bought a DSLR camera and I was trying to learn how to use it since I wasn't able to figure out how to use them when I helped out the class last year. On the 13th of this month it'll be my birthday and I'll have a new character that'll be in my next video. Why? Because once again my mother doesn't know what to get me so I ordered her present for me. My new character will be a cat that I named Phillip. Why is he named Phillip? Because I don't like to give animals names based on how they look or by what they do (example: Fluffy or Scratchy). People don't call their kids Poopy or Mr. Cries-a-lot so why should animals get the laziest name you can think of? By the way if you did call your kid Poopy or Mr. Cries-a-lot you are a horrible parent. Another reason I called the puppet Phillip because years ago when I got a cat I originally wanted to call him Phillip before deciding the name Mickey sounded better for him.

Sam Episode 9

Spiderman movie

Yesterday I finally saw the new Spiderman movie. I didn't like their version of Peter Parker in this one. I still thought it was a good movie but some of the stuff he did made me want to see him get arrested in the movie and when it finally happened they let him go. And unlike the original Spiderman movie you got to see how his uncle died. I probably should've warned you of those spoilers before I started typing. A few people are saying they really like it because you see it from Peter Parker's point of view. I watched the original when I got home and I noticed that also happens in the original movie so I don't see why they liked the new one better than the original. Other than that my favourite part was Stan Lee's cameo.

The Black Vessel

A few days ago I decided to type my name into ebay just to see what would come up and I found out there is a book author with my name. This book came out in 1996 and is about a cursed statue. Also if you haven't seen the sequel to The Final Project yet you can see it here. The camera I filmed it with films in AVCHD. I don't know what the difference between HD and AVCHD but to me it doesn't look that much different. You might want to turn your speakers down before you watch it since some sounds in it are kind of loud and I forgot to lower the volume of some of them while I was editing it.

It took 3 months but my new video is finally up. A couple days ago I got a call from the people at The Source in the Fairview Mall. Instead of fixing my flipcam they sent me the newest model. Or at least that's what they told me. I found out when I got there apparently "newest model" translates into the exact same model you had before. When I opened it up I found out they also set up all the settings for me already. The only problem was the clock wasn't at the right time and they already took a few videos with it. When I put it on the computer I found a whole lot more stuff because apparently the people at The Source were using it as a flash drive for pictures of their employees and videos that weren't made for the camera. So I got rid of all their useless crap so I could film "Me and Edgar 3". I've been trying to come up with a new video for him for a couple months. It's hard to come up with jokes for him because he's supposed to be very smart. The effects were really hard to get working for this one since I didn't have the right lighting for the blue screen on the portal turret. I ended up having to fix the background with photoshop. After I put it on youtube I noticed I made a mistake. I never put a reflection of it in the stove in the background so you can tell it's not really there. And for the steel wall effect I used Chroma Key 4 or 5 times on the video to get it to work. After I put it on youtube I noticed I forgot to put a sound effect for the steel wall coming down and you can also see part of it on my right arm at some parts during the video. I don't know when I'll do my next video since I don't have any idea what to do for my next one and I'm still in the middle of recording the sequel to "The Final Project".

Edgar Episode 3

Simon the haunted dummy

This is something I found out a while ago that I thought was weird. Apparently there is a paranormal museum that has haunted artifacts. You can read about some of them here. One of the things on the site is a Slappy Dummy called Simon. According to the mother of the family (it doesn't say their names) her son was constantly telling her the dummy wanted to speak to him all the time. One day the mother walked in the room and noticed the dummy was moving his lips while her son was across the room and had no way to move them. The mother freaked out and called her clergy (who was friends with the owner of the website). The clergy blessed the home and John took the dummy out of the house which hasn't been haunted since it's removal.

I got a new camera

A while ago I got a new camera since The Source at the Fairview Mall hasn't called me yet to let me know if they fixed my flipcam or not. I've also been buying back some of the stuff that was stolen from me so I now have a new laptop and a new iPad. I haven't gotten around to filming a new ventriloquism video yet because I'm filming a sequel to The Final Project. I'll also be filming some videos for a friend of mine known around here as Bernie the Magic Man. Usually I help him out by copying the dvds he makes of his magic trick instructions for him (since he doesn't know how to use a computer to do it himself) but after I showed him The Final Project he decided I could be the camera man for his next dvd. Since I'll be busy filming stuff for school and magic tricks I probably won't have time to film another ventriloquism video until after June.

New video with Edgar will take a bit longer to record

I was planning to film most of the video sometime this weekend. Yesterday I was filming some blue screen stuff for the video and my flipcam broke. One of the silver things that keeps the battery in place broke off and that camera is discontinued and the newer version is sold out everywhere so I don't know when I'll get it done.

MacHomer

I just got back from seeing MacHomer in Stratford, ON. For those of you that don't know what it is, it is one man (Rick Miller) doing Macbeth with impressions of Simpsons characters. While I was there I got the dvd recording and the script which I got signed by Rick Miller. So far he is the only guy I've seen able to pull of an actual impression of Marge Simpson and not sound like Bart's impression. Though I do think he needs to work on his impressions of Homer, Bart, Lisa, and Todd Flanders. I also bought a new laptop this week. Unfortunately it doesn't do everything my old one did and I'm still not used to the keyboard being bigger. The other laptops I bought didn't have room for the numberpad and I would have to hit the fn key to be able to use them. I am planning to do another video with Edgar soon but I don't know when I'll have time to record it.

The videos I planned to do of myself making dummies may take a bit longer than I expected since the ipad I had the ebook on got stolen on Friday the 13th. Somebody broke into my house while I was at school. I'm now down to 12 computers (instead of 14), the 3DS was also taken along with the original DS, my ps3 is gone and they also took the power cable to my xbox 360. They also took my wallet. So if anyone bought a compaq laptop in the last four days with a scratched webcam or a dell laptop with the screen almost torn off and the letters a,s,d,f,j,k,l not working than they're possibly mine. And if you just met somebody with the name Simon Morris in or near St. Catharines, Ontario that doesn't look like me than you should probably report them.

My brother got married yesterday

If you live in St. Catharines, Ontario you might of noticed my brother was in the paper yesterday. He got married yesterday. I was my brother's best man. He wanted it to be on a day that had something to do with Titanic and yesterday was 100 years since it set sail.Hopefully his married life won't be a disaster like Titanic. I haven't been making videos for a while because I started taking a new class a while ago that is about video editing. This is my third time taking it. I'm redoing it again because instead of learning Windows Movie Maker this time they're doing Premiere Elements instead. I already know how to use it, I'm just seeing if I learn anything different than what I already know. I took it last year and taught myself how to use it because I didn't want to use Windows Movie Maker because I already knew how to use it from the first time I took the class and I don't have Windows Movie Maker on my new computer. Last year I made this movie with what I learned in Premiere. Right now I don't know when I'll be able to get back to making ventriloquism videos.

dummy making videos

If you watched my latest video you might have noticed when I show Sam the kobo app he says the title of the book I'm reading is Ventriloquism for Fun & Profit. That is the name of the book that taught Terry Fator what he does in Las Vegas every night. I actually did download that book. It was made by one of my favourite ventriloquists Paul Winchell. I downloaded because it tells me two ways to make ventriloquist dummies. The ebook I got off ebay only told me to how to make the head so I've been looking through a few books lately and trying to figure out the best way to make a dummy. Some people think the best way is with a 3D printer or make them out of fiberglass. I can't afford those things and this book gives me an easier way to do it. If I ever get around to buying all the stuff I need to do it I might make a few videos showing how to make one using the techniques from this book that was made in 1928. And also I found out a while ago that the dummytalkers youtube channel that I made fun of in my third video was deleted. Apparently the channel was about to be banned so someone known as fuzzypickle122 deleted it and than said "ventriloquism is a retarded and kiddish talent so stop complaining and grow up". I disagree with that. Just because you decided to quit ventriloquism, fuzzypickle122 doesn't mean you get to decide to shut down the group for everybody else.

I now have the iPad

A few days ago I got my uncle to buy me the ipad. I got the 16gb wifi one. I didn't want to pay for it monthly so I didn't get the 3G one. Unfortunately I found out later that most people reccomend you get the 32gb or 64gb iPad because the 16gb runs out of memory fast. One of the apps I downloaded is the blogger app so I can update this blog from it. I'm using it right now to type this. In my latest video you can see me showing the iPad to Sam. Incase you can't tell, I didn't really break my iPad in it. It's actually a 3D animation of it being thrown.

Sam Episode 8

If you've been watching my videos, you've probably noticed I haven't made a new one in almost a month. That's because at the start of February I started helping out a Digital Gadgets class. I helped out the class two years ago and than they got a different teacher for it. The original teacher came back and she asked me to help again so I said that I would. I've also been taking stuff out of my grandfather's house that we just sold and I'm trying to find the tools and other stuff I need to make my own dummy. I got an ebook a while ago that told me a pretty easy way to make my own dummy but it was written in 1928 so I can't find some of the stuff I need. And I also started filming a new video for Red Skeleton Films.

LLC video is down

If you tried to watch the video of me and Steve at Lifetime Learning Centre today you won't be able to. I had to delete it off youtube because I didn't have permission from any of the students to put it on youtube so the school asked me to take it down.

Sam Episode 7

I don't know when my next video will be up

I was going to record a new video on Saturday but I ended up getting a sore throat so I don't know when I will get it done. I already filmed the new video but I was gonna redo it because I forgot to do a lot of the new jokes I came up with after seeing Jeff Dunham in Toronto. Other than ventriloquism I also started working on my own video game. I don't have a title for it right now but it has some stuff to do with time travel. I've been looking up a few game engines and according to some people the easiest one to learn is one called Unity. I won't make any promises since my game ideas don't always get finished. I've downloaded programs that let me change stuff in old mario games but I don't always finish them. I think I only finished one game. I tried to make one with Game Maker but all I have is a demo of one level with a few blocks and a Super Mario World sprite of Mario. The one I'm working on right now has nothing to do with Mario. Everything in it is my own creation. I've been learning 3DS Max so most of the graphics and models will be made with that program.

Friday the 13th

I usually like Friday the 13th but it's 9am and I've already had some bad luck. I forgot to set my alarm clock last night so I slept in. I tried to get the bus and I ended up getting on the wrong one making me even more late for school. I'm now at home because I haven't seen my regular bus go by the house at all this morning so I decided not to go to school.

I finally saw Jeff Dunham live on stage

For Christmas my sister got me tickets to see Jeff Dunham's new tour Controlled Chaos. It was a lot funnier than the dvd. I got to see one character that wasn't on the dvd. He brought Bubba J back into his act. I went there with my brother. I never learned how to drive so he drove me there and saw the show with me. I know more about the characters than he does so I had to make sure he gets some of the jokes. On the way home I thought of a whole bunch of new jokes so I might have a new video up soon. I didn't steal any from Jeff. I wanted to get his autograph but he left too fast. At the gift shop I got a doll of Walter. It's supposed to say 10 different quotes when you squeeze his hand but actually it says nothing. This thing cost 65$ and it didn't do what it was supposed to.

Update: I was able to get the Walter doll to work after all. There was a button in his back that I was supposed to turn on before it did anything. It's not written anywhere on the tag or anything. I was just supposed to somehow figure out I have to hit this hidden button for it to work.

W. Episode 1

refilming W. video

I will be redoing my video with W. soon because I've decided to give him a different voice that I think works better with the character. I usually decide what voice to use by looking at the picture of the character on ebay while I'm ordering them. The voice I choose isn't always what it will be in the end. The voice I use for Edgar was originally going to be Sam's voice before I decided my horrible impression of Strong Bad from homestarrunner.com was a better voice for the character. For some reason after I got the George Bush puppet and I started practicing with it, it just didn't look right with that voice coming out of it. I kind of tried to do a texan accent. I've been rewatching Lost lately and I thought Tom's voice ( guy with fake beard in Seasons 1 and 2) sounded good. I started practicing with that voice instead and I think it just sounds better. In some ventriloquism books it says to go with the easiest voice you can do which I disagree with because than you get a whole bunch of characters that sound pretty much the same and nobody can tell the difference between any of them. Listen to the puppet commentary on the Terry Fator dvd and you'll see what I'm talking about.

New banner...again!

I got a new character now so I thought I would change the banner again so it has W. on it. You can see it at the top of this page. At the top of this post you can see what it used to look like.

Finally opened christmas presents

I finally opened my christmas presents today. My sister is always working on Christmas so we usually wait until around New Year's to open presents with her. I don't remember what her job is actually called but the short explanation is she picks up dead bodies for a living. It's because of somebody at her job that Steve has a coffin. I used to keep him in the box he came in but he didn't fit so I had to fold him to fit him in it. One of my presents was a new puppet (that I ordered from ebay myself) that looked like George W. Bush. I decided to make him an impersonator and renamed him W. There will be a video up soon. I also got some tickets to see Jeff Dunham's new tour "Controlled Chaos". I already own the dvd. I don't know if it will be any different seeing him live on stage.

W.

W. is a George Bush impersonator who can't remember his first name because during his show on December 23rd 2011, somebody threw a shoe at him. He can only remember his first initial. He has been an impersonator since 2001. He gets very nervous infront of a crowd or a camera. He also has mirrored-self misidentification disorder.