JEFFREY VEGA DOT COM

It’s time for a long-awaited update, don’t you think? It’s not that I’m avoiding you guys, it’s just that there isn’t much to say sometimes, despite me loving to write in the blog… know what I mean? Well I have some good stuff for you today, and I’d like to talk to you about them! Since the beginning of the year, we’ve had one blog post (although it was a flashback post), and a new video, and some subtle changes, as well as some not-so-subtle changes. Let me walk you through them so you don’t get confused (much like the people watching that automatic toilet)! 😉 If this post becomes too long, I will spill it over into another one, because I don’t want you to leave because it’s too many words… yikes! First off, let me just thank you all for your continued support. If you’re on the site right now reading this, that means you. I can’t thank you enough. While unfortunately our site community here has remained stagnant, we continue to grow on a website that people actually go to, facebook! As of writing, we have 169 fans on our fan page. Although sometimes the number goes up & down (who removes themselves as a fan, I mean really?), we have a strong fan base. I’ll admit that probably 90% are people I know, but hey, you got to start somewhere right? It’s nice to know that 169 people like what you do. It’s what lets me sleep soundly at night, haha! In the quest of trying to get our own community sparked with life again, I have re-vamped the forums, renamed it “Discussions,” and cleaned up the place in general with some re-organizing! I’m also looking to add more categories to appeal to a wider audience, so if you have any ideas, please let me know! The Discussions area is just one of several planned updates to grow our community again. So def keep on the lookout for new stuff… because if you think about it, this site is actually very awesome. Not being self-centered or anything, but I honestly think we have quite a snazzy online home right here. So why let it be covered it cobwebs? I can’t think of a reason.

Next item of business, is iTunes. Wait, what’s that? You didn’t know we were on iTunes? Well we are! I don’t advertise as much as I should, and really, I don’t know how many people actually download the episodes because Apple won’t let you see stats and insights for your podcast. So this could be a great success or a huge disaster. I mean, no, it doesn’t cost money to actually do, but in order to make it happen, I do spend money on space to host the videos on my server so I can provide it to you, and the whole process takes time, and we all know time is money. Obviously what I’m hoping to get at is that people have another outlet to see the project and may check out our stuff if they like what they see. Almost everyone has an iPod of some sort, and if not, at least iTunes, and so there is no way you can’t see our stuff, whether it’s on YouTube, Facebook, or even on your iPod! SO. OKAY. That was too long of intro, so let me cut to the chase. Up until about a week ago, the episodes on our podcast were at low “converted for podcast .mov” files, and yet they were still a little chunky in size. I’m pleased to say that I have found a better solution, in which I render the movie project in .mov instead of converting it, then adding it to iTunes and then from there “create iPod / iPhone Version,” which results in a beautiful, much clearer HD video (in a .m4v format… iTunes-specific!) to have on the go! And what’s the best part? The size is actually down a few MBs! So it’s a win-win, and after playing around with all this stuff and making sure it works, I updated & re-uploaded all of the HD videos on the podcast (except for The End) so now you should do the same! I’m telling you, there is a huge difference to what it was before, so if you are currently subscribed to the podcast and you click update, all your files will probably have an error sign next to it (since they have been all replaced). I know it’s a bit of work, but I recommend clearing and deleting the podcast entirely (or at least just from Hiatus and above… ie all the HD videos) and re-subscribing so you can get all the new files. And if you’re new to the program, just go ahead and subscribe for free and you will have the new high definition videos! YOU’RE WELCOME. Haha just kidding, but really, though… I’m happy to do this and glad improvements are always being made, no?

ALRIGHT ALRIGHT. So I realize this blog post is getting rather lengthy, so let me just wrap it really quick. There are some other things that need to be said, but I will continue it in a later blog post as mentioned at the beginning of this entry. I wanted to officially announce the newest video, Board Games. I never had a chance to make a post about it, but here’s a quick nod. Yes, it is a bit late and you have probably seen it already, but if not, you definitely need to! There is MUCH to say about this video, and I will save it for the next blog post, so stay tuned… thanks for reading this far and listening to me ramble! (:

Okay, so right off the bat, I know this is going to be a long post (but I’ll do my best to keep it short) because I want to take a look back at the past year. I think this is good for a number of reasons, but it’s a secret for now (err yeah I have no idea why I’m doing this honestly). I’ll do my best to cover what so far has been our best year for the site, and give justice to the videos in a somewhat laid back blog post that hopefully won’t be TOO long. So, with that being said, let’s take a look back on how 2009 was a spicyyy fun year for us, video-wise! (yes, I only said ‘spicy’ so I could justify my image choice for today…haha!)

Let’s begin. 2009. Our best year yet… but really things didn’t get rolling until the summer… sooo, our best half-year yet? After Rock Band Documentary at the very end of 2008, we took a long hiatus… and not by choice either, it’s just the way it happened. I received a veryyyyy nice Sony HD Handycam as a high school graduation present from from my parents mid-May, and it caused me to blog with excitement! With the summer, there’s a lot of people busy with different things, so we weren’t able to get together until early June. From there, we created Hiatus, an appropriate name, we thought. Not the best video ever, but it was definitely a start!

The team and I (mostly me) were so excited about the new top-notch HD quality for YouTube viewing but we didn’t realize how subpar the video was. It was too long, really random, and you could tell we were just showing off the camera. We were so young then, tear. After this, we spent a lot of time planning but never got anything done. This was also during the time that the site had no activity and sparked a scare of closing the site. After much thought, we decided to keep going. We jumped off the hype of the closing of the site with The End, a sort of fictional extension to real events on the site. This was again, really random, and I was really only in love with the ending of The End (ha), where I show off my editing skills… one of my favorite NB moments for sure! This took place right at the end of July, almost making a release date of August 1st because of editing problems. Then we realized that it was August and Josh and I were heading to college, and Andrew to finish his senior year.

About a week later, we did not disappoint with perhaps one of my favorite videos of the three NintendoBoy guys (really, this is one where we are all together and in scenes, so..fun, haha), Wishful Thinking. I love this video because of the various colorful different kinds of settings that took place over the three-and-a-half minute video, and I think it was a legit video. The only problem I had with it was the Rock Band Documentary reference, which was my idea actually, but Andrew was against it because some people (really, a lot actually) wouldn’t get it… I wish I had taken his advice but we really didn’t have any else of an idea for a replacement sketch. xD Oh well, nevertheless, it was a great video and was a perfect farewell video as we left for college just days after it was released.

Since we were all busy with school, it really hurt the site as we didn’t have new content to push out, except for the occasional blog post here and there. That’s why it was awesome when I planned a comeback in October with a friend who was visiting me at school. It was almost November when I released probably my favorite video to date, Hardly Working, just because of how well it was done and really the emphasis on legit comedy: ADD… but honestly I don’t really act like that, HAHA. Ironically, I had to do little-to-no editing (except for the trimming the beginning/endings for when I start/stop the camera), yet this was a favorite and I’ve received great feedback on it! It was a sad because it was the first video I’d done without my NB team, but it spawned the idea of a “Special Guests” series where I can invite interested people to particiapte in the project and help it grow and become more successful!

Winding down to the end of the year, we got together over Thanksgiving break and filmed Facebook Fans, but many problems with editing arose and I wasn’t able to release it until perhaps two weeks later, which I was unhappy about, but ah what can you do? But, it was a special video because it was our first try at pop culture, and I really like (and still do) the idea of it, so I might turn it into a series, so don’t be surprised if you see a “FBF 2,” etc… it’s all ideas for now! Coming back to school for about a last regular week and a week of finals, we headed back home again and meet very frequently, thanks to the help of Ellie for driving the crew around as well as Josh for letting us come to his house at the most craziest times.

I had the idea to use the entire winter break to create a two-part suspense episode to end the year and we managed to do it in what I called Takeover (I ended up not liking the name… it seemed like a good idea at the time but then I was like… eh)! Yeah, it wasn’t perfect, but it was a lot of fun to make, and it made me want to explore more different types of genres instead of just sketchy comedy. But don’t worry, we’re not getting carried away just yet. Despite it being my idea to create a two-part video, with the ending of the story in Takeover Part 2, I had reservations about how both videos might not be seen, etc… but oh well, I guess it worked out since I did received a good amount of feedback on facebook on both videos.

WELL. THERE IT IS. 2009 in a very small nutshell, and really only talking about the videos… ha. Hmm, it seems as though I made a big deal about the success of this year at the beginning of this post, but as I write it all down, it’s not THAT great. HA, just kidding, that’s kinda depressing. But really though, it was DEF a fun year and a great site to the further fueling of this project. We have sooo many things planned for 2010, and I’d like to make it known that not only will we be improving our films a lot in many different ways, the site is getting moved up to the top of the list. I mean, it’s the most important thing or you wouldn’t be reading this! It has so much potential, and I will be doing some heavy re-constructing and organizing of the site, so I will update you when things change and blah blah. A sneak peak for the site is a re-vamp of the forums. It’s the best app ever and we never use it! So look out for that soon, as well as more videos! Perhaps maybe with a theme song or ending chime? Hmm. I guess you’ll just have to stick around and find out!

Thanks for reading, and thank you for supporting us. We’re nothing without you. 🙂