Reckoning

[Guest]

lol at the ADHD version

[Guest]

i think you've made the right decision here TBH, but it'll no doubt be tough for a while so good luck with everything!

 

there is one little thing i have to disagree with, i think dropping Freeman's Mind wouldn't be a good idea. i honestly think that they're getting better and better with time, and they're unbelievably popular (dare i say more popular than CP... gasp!).

[Guest]

i cant say i blame you ross good on you for quiting the hours were insane lol but good on you

[Guest]

I'm not surprised.

 

CP and even FM are artistic work. Throwing deadlines for so and so many episodes isn't necessarily helpful. Take the Mona Lisa, Leonardo started painting her in 1503 and it is believed that he didn't finish her until 1519.

 

Ross, you're balancing two brilliant series. FM by itself is already not a walk in the park. It takes a while to make one episode, doesn't it? Voice acting, the script, etc. And CP is even more demanding there.

 

I know the feeling. Creating something that you're satisfied with is extremely hard. A lot of people will say "Wow, that's great!" But I, for myself, am my worst critic. If I'm not satisfied with something, I do it over and over again until I am, no matter how great and good other people may think it already is.

 

Good luck mate!

 

I know you can do it!

[Guest]

Good luck, man. The videos are awesome, but your health and happiness is more important. I'm rooting for you.

[Guest]

One thing I don't get at all is why do you say that FM would be the first thing to sacrifice if you feel like dropping smth. I mean, it's a great series. It's nostalgic for HL fans and a great comedy by itself. Why aren't you interested in it? Aren't you proud of its popularity? Or did Machinima deadlines make you hate it?

Anyway, good luck, man, 'cause working on two jobs at the same time is not easy.

Big fan. Keep up the good work

[Guest]

Hey Ross!

 

Glad to see you taking care of yourself. What's the point of making money when you don't have time to even buy food? Machinima could have been more supportive by hiring some of the people that normally help you with Civil Protection, even on a part-time/contract/tele-commuting basis. Also, paying you hourly would have been good. Anyway, enough ranting about how things should have been.

 

As far as Freeman's Mind goes, do you think you could keep a slow but steady production going? Like devote every Monday to working on an episode. That way there'd be approximately an episode every two weeks, and you'd still have 4 weekdays days to spend on Civil Protection or this mystery series you keep mentioning. That assumes you spend all day on it though, which may be tough if you have a day job.

 

This leads to my suggestion section: sell a DVD or two. You've got more than enough content, and if you made 15 bucks on each one, and 5000 of your fans bought it over the next year, you'd have 75000 bucks. I'd be willing to spend 20 bucks on a DVD if I knew it was helping to support you. Just call it "Freeman's Mind - Season 1". If you'd like some help putting it together, I would be willing to build menu screens, etc. Heh, get GameStop to sell it, and then you'd be all set.

 

Lastly, I have a close friend who lives in Christiansburg, VA who I'm sure could scout for cheap apartments and/or day jobs before you arrive. Just thought I'd offer.

 

Hope everything works out,

 

~ David

[Guest]

what the hell do you mean ADHD version?

[Guest]

I think it ss an excellent choice Ross. If you are less stressed you will be happier and enjoy your work more and life in general. Even if the move back is stressful I am confident you will land in a situation you enjoy more. The only downfall is that you are leaving the west coast! ;p Anyway, look forward to your continued work as usual...at your own pace, we will wait, hehe.

[Guest]

so what your saying Ross you are going to make videos faster maybe?

[Guest]

Do whatever you think will make you happiest.

 

Have anything like a Donate page for people to help you out?

[Guest]

god forbid your job is a scientist in an under ground base in new Mexico. but then from watching this they will learn to put up more shotguns smgs and pistols possibly a crowbar from watching this video so if head crabs aka head humpers or face huggers or even other aliens and if the marines just shoot every scientist in sight the base will be prepared.

[Guest]

best luck moving

[Guest]

As a fellow artist, you have my respect for sacrificing a job for the sake of your work - that's a kind of dedication that's hard to come by, especially in this time of economic woes. At least Virginia won't be as stressful as a place to live as California.

 

I love Freeman's Mind, and I don't mind a bit waiting for new episodes. You have over 2 and a half hours of Freeman, so I can watch the old episodes as a sort of movie ^.^ (Maybe in DVD format? Wink wink, nudge nudge)

 

Enjoy your Christmas/Moving Sabbatical!

[Guest]

Glad to hear you wont be so overworked anymore Ross.

 

I hope you take your time with the videos rather than push them out.

 

BTW, is there a way to donate? 325,815 people have watched ep 24. I wonder if it is a pipe dream to think your fans could support you.

[Guest]

That's quite a story. Being Danish and not very familiar with what part of USA is where, I looked og Virginia and L.A. What I can't really grasp is how you move 3800 km (2500 miles), How do you do that? - By car? I mean, it says on Google maps something like "take a a right turn and stay on the I-40 W for 1692 miles, Heading towards Little rock, you are now entering California.." Thats is just absurd..

 

Well I really hope it all goes well, and of course I think you should do as you seem to intent; Take your time and put the priority on quality. Best of luck with the move. Oh and I forgot to send you that link to my music if you should be interested in using it for CP, though it's an unsolicited suggestion from my side.. Will do soon anyway, and we'l see if you can use it..

 

Hardts.

[Guest]

Tough call but while theres so much BS about work/life balance you do have to have a life worth living. Theres always a spare room for you here if you need it. Admittedly as its in Birmingham, England thats not much help. And my daughter jabbering in the background while you recorded FM might not aid the ambience. Plus its shit here.

 

Matt W

[Guest]

Love your work. I must admit that I was rather enjoying the rapid-fire Freeman's Mind episodes. But the high quality and originality of your work is, I think, what makes it popular - so whatever works for you!

 

What I want to ask (and I hope you might answer this in something that goes to your RSS - I'm a bit "Youtube" *g*) - is there anything your fans can do to help you? Pimp you out in our blogs and twitters and MyFace and such? donate? anything along those lines?

[Guest]

I think it was obvious that you weren't able to do anything but make FM episodes ever since you started working for Machinima. The Tunnel trailer was a glaring example of how even making a simple short video was too much for your schedule.

 

I don't have any experience with what you do, but couldn't you have tried to get some volunteers to help with your CP/FM production? It may sound a little unethical but surely a few among your fans must have offered their aid at some point in the past. You know, it would be like outsourcing your work or forming a team.

[Guest]

This is a bit of a suprise, but whatever works for you, if you really need money we could donate to help you out, can't wait to see that mystery pilot episode! I bet it's a Team Fortress machinima.