Howdy, stranger! Ready to join the community? [log in]

Mind of UPSLynx: An experiment in Icrontic video

Matt Lincoln Russell June 11, 2009 12:34 AM ET in Tech

Bobby Miller (UPSLynx) tells us what’s on his mind today in “Mind of UPSLynx”. Topics covered in this first installment: his trip to E3 with Icrontic, Leo Laporte’s blow up, and his recent hard drive space woes.

High five to Bobby for putting this together. So what do you think? Do you like where this is headed? Want to see more videos from the Icrontic crew? Let us know in the comments.

Share |

30 Comments:

  1. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 12:41 am

    My main idea for this is a way to connect readers and community even further. I want to use this segment to feature our community, showcase what is going on around here, and talk about it.

    The ideal episode will talk about popular forum topics, quoting individual members and posts. I'd like to talk about cool things happening in IRC, and in games like TF2. If something awesome in Icrontic happens, I'm going to talk about it.

    I also want to talk about things that are on my mind. There's almost always something drifting through my runaway-train of a mind thats discussion worthy, and here's a chance to elaborate and get people talking about it.

    And I'll talk news, too, if things have been big enough to take notice.

    Please, suggestions are very welcome.

  2. Thrax
    Cad
    11 Jun '09, 12:46 am

    Awesome.

  3. Bandrik
    I love golllllld!
    11 Jun '09, 12:56 am

    I think you did a pretty good job, Lynx. You also hit all your goals, as far as I'm concerned. It was a personal connection (trying to ignore that I've known you since 8th grade, here) that you made with the audience, with a good mix of "I'm talking to YOU", "here's some news", and some lulz sprinkled in between.

    For humor, you did that well, too. It was somewhat reminiscent of The Show with Ze Frank, where the humor was there (OWNED LOL for your HD, "WHAT" guy with fangs, etc) but didn't distract from the main thing.

    You did a decent job with cropping out the "uh's" and "um's", but there were still a few... and a nose scratch. Hard to purge them all, but with practice I'm sure you'll improve. I highly doubt I could do any better - I feel very self-conscious when I'm on camera.

    That's all I have at the moment. I look forward to these in the future. And make SURE they ALL have humor like this! I DEMAND IT!

    -Bandrik

  4. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 1:04 am

    ah's and um's will be worked on, and nose scratching (hopefully when my nose isn't all stuffy with a cold).

    I actually shot in a hurry, was running out of sunlight and wanted to work on the project tonight.

    More care will go into that in the future.

  5. Nemikan
    Chat with me!
    11 Jun '09, 1:12 am

    win.

  6. Matt Lincoln Russell
    Snapperhead
    11 Jun '09, 1:25 am

    Pauses and scratches were really minimal for a single take like that. It turned out well.

  7. Gate28
    Resides in your bowels
    11 Jun '09, 1:38 am

    I agree with Keebz, but the transitions from segment to segment could have been better. You used "Let's talk about" for ALL of them. Besides that, I love it and perhaps we can see these come in at a regular schedule.

    Also, is your screensaver a slideshow of high-scores? Heheh...

  8. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 1:52 am

    Gate - good points. I didn't even notice about using 'lets talk about' too many times. I liked the sound of it early on, it's casual and is certainly my style of communication. In the future I'll take more time to shoot and script it, which will hopefully solve the overused vernacular problem.

    I'm planning on doing these weekly. Not sure which day they'll hit yet. We'll have to talk about either mid-week or weekend, which would be better for publishing such a thing.

    Keep the comments coming everyone, this is great!

    **also, gate. The screensaver is a slideshow of my video game screenshot folder, which holds 8,400 screenshots across 102 games. That's not an exaggeration, I'm afraid. All taken by me.

  9. Thrax
    Cad
    11 Jun '09, 1:55 am

    Everyone has a preference. I didn't even notice.

  10. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 2:36 am

    I don't plan on really polishing up any of these shoots. Much like how a podcast is done, it'll be done 'live' and I'll only worry about edits for the major problems.

    Perfection is for televised news. Reality and transparency is for the web.

  11. Leonardo
    F@H Reign of Terror is back!
    11 Jun '09, 2:38 am

    Good potential - engaging. Hey dude, lose the "um." You can only conquer that with practice.

    You're off to a very good start!

  12. Cliff_Forster
    Keepin it real
    11 Jun '09, 8:39 am

    UPSLynx, I absolutely loved it, I think there is allot of room for this kind of content on Icrontic. You look confident, speak clearly, you should definitely consider doing more.

    A round table podcast at Epic anyone?

  13. mirage
    Veteran Icrontian
    11 Jun '09, 9:24 am

    Good job! Looking forward to watching the next one.

  14. RyderOCZ
    OCZ Guru / IC Groupie
    11 Jun '09, 9:57 am

    ^5 Bobby, fantastic, I loved it.

    IMO, um's, uh, etc all need to stay, sure they could be reduced, but this is how you would talk to your friends, your "community" is it not? I don't have a full thought all the time, I am sure I speak to my friends with pauses.

    @Cliff, yes, I think that could be arranged.

  15. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 11:42 am

    I agree with Ryder, I 'um' a bit when I talk in real life, though admitadly not as much..

    Like I said, I'll clean it up with more practice, but in the end I want this to still have a 'live' format.

    Cliff - my initial ideas involved doing 'live on location' shows as the year goes on. The majority of shows will be me at my PC, but I'll go different places to mix it up. And at Icrontic events, I can be on location and talk to community members that are there, and talk about all the crazy things that have been going on.

    It's all about connecting our community and our readers.

    We have a LOT of potential with this. Many have said how much they wish we would just record some of the conversations that happen at the kitchen table at ICHQ. Why don't we? Why don't we have a group podcast of, I dunno, Ryder and Thrax bickering about Intel chips (which can be recorded remotely, no need for everyone to be in the same place). video would be nice, too, but the important part is that we have engaging media content that our readers can get into and talk about.

    I'm frigging excited about this.

  16. Myrmidon
    Who loves you, baby?
    11 Jun '09, 12:05 pm

    oh god WIN

  17. Komete
    DIY Haxx0r
    11 Jun '09, 9:09 pm

    You never can loose with video. Even bad video is better than no video. You have a good presentation voice too despite your cold.

    I also appreciate reviews more when they have a video of the product. Even if it's a quick 360 of a product.

    Please continue. Even one quick segment a week would be great.

  18. Kwitko
    Sheriff of Dicktown
    11 Jun '09, 10:02 pm

    Great job. I liked it a lot. I'm looking forward to future webcasts.

  19. rolleggroll
    Love by the TSA
    11 Jun '09, 10:51 pm

    you need better lighting. Seems a little bit dark in that room.

  20. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    11 Jun '09, 11:13 pm
    Quoting rolleggroll

    you need better lighting. Seems a little bit dark in that room.

    Yes, I'm aware.

    I was running out of sunlight, the day was running thin. As mentioned, I wanted something to work on to get the proof out last night. I have a light I could have used, but the mix of artificial and natural light is a look I despise.

    Attention to lighting will be paramount in future episodes. I'm a stickler for lighting, it'll happen.

    Plus, crappy crap YouTube totally crushed the black levels and darkened the video when I uploaded.

  21. RyderOCZ
    OCZ Guru / IC Groupie
    11 Jun '09, 11:24 pm
    Quoting UPSLynx

    Plus, crappy crap YouTube totally crushed the blah blah blah production moonspeak

    Fixt

  22. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    13 Jun '09, 11:43 am
    Quoting RyderOCZ

    Fixt

    ouch! ow ow owww! I'm bleeding!

    CB and I get no respect, we're cursed! Don't you understand, it's a curse!

    we didn't ask for these powers!

  23. Leonardo
    F@H Reign of Terror is back!
    13 Jun '09, 12:41 pm

    Hey, not a bad start. Your bearing was good, presence (presentation) to the camera was good, voice inflection, and so forth were good. You need to work on fillers, like "um." There were quite a few.

  24. TiberiusLazarus
    I Miss Keebler
    13 Jun '09, 1:54 pm

    Did you say 'damn' data? Lol.

    Definite good job on this. Keep it up.

  25. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    13 Jun '09, 3:03 pm
    Quoting TiberiusLazarus

    Did you say 'damn' data? Lol.

    haha, no, didn't mean to. I did slip up there and pressed on, and in post I heard that and thought the same thing.

    Ah well, worse things have happened

  26. UPS Hitman
    UPS CoFounder, Shoots First
    20 Jun '09, 12:55 am

    Well if you weren't making out with prime suspect so much you wouldn't have gotten that cold. LOL

  27. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    20 Jun '09, 1:31 am

    *sigh*

    That's my brother!

  28. primesuspect
    The Icrontic Guy
    20 Jun '09, 2:51 am

    * sniffle *

  29. chrisWhite
    Polygons
    20 Jun '09, 3:06 pm

    Really enjoyed this Lynx, more!

  30. UPSLynx
    The Dean of Computer Graphics
    20 Jun '09, 4:22 pm

    Uploading this week's episode right now, stay tuned

Hey, be nice. Icrontic is full of good people, we promise.

New Features on Icrontic: