Since I don't have a Facebook account anymore, I have to go back to posting my random crap here on Of Carbon and Silicon, like the old days.
First, I was out for a stroll in the park this morning and I came across what could be described as the largest spider on the face of the planet. Now, for those who don't know, I have a just a touch of arachnophobia... all right, make that major arachnophobia. There are places I won't go if I think there are spiders there. If I were being chased by an EF5 tornado and the only place to hide from it was an abandoned, spider-infested underground storm cellar, I would probably take my chances with the tornado. There are worse things than death, after all. Encountering spiders is certainly one of those things.
In any case, I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't been watching an earthworm squirming about on the pavement. Anyway, I took one look at it (the spider, not the worm) and immediately reversed course at a moderately-paced run. I saw a bloke jogging who was going in the direction of the spider, to whom I thought for a split-second I would shout, "Go back! Don't go that way!", but I considered that, with his dark sunglasses, he wouldn't even see the thing. He probably trod on it, but I didn't think to turn around and have another look. The unfortunate part of the story was, I had been walking for about twenty-five minutes at that point and I had very nearly gone full-circle -- I could see my car at the top of the hill. My impulsive desire to run away caused me to completely retrace my steps, going another quarter-mile in the opposite direction. Fortunately, the nearest thing I found to another huge spider on the way back to my car was a Daddy Long-Legs (which are but mites, not arachnids). So, I got quite a bit of exercise this morning.
Let's see, what else...?
Ah, yes. I finally finished a decent (though a bit lengthy) voice-acting demo CD. It contains 22 tracks, which are all fairly short. The longest is, maybe, a minute and 15 seconds. Most of them are around five to seven seconds. Anyway, I sent one to two of our local TV stations -- hopefully, one of them will prove to be profitable.
Just in case you should wonder what I can do with this unusual voice of mine, here's a small sample of the 22-track demo...
JasperThe BossGerman Accent
I consider the former two character voices to be the easiest ones with which to improvise. They're also the most difficult to maintain over long periods of time, mostly because they both require a sort of gruff vocal effect. To achieve this, one must project one's voice without being loud. Sort of like the way computer sound cards will only allow waveforms to peak so high before they distort.
The German accent turned out to be one of the longer tracks on the disc, mostly because my standard test phrase for all of my other accents didn't fit it ("A properly laid-out kitchen should permit a Sim to go from refrigerator to stove to dining room in a relatively straight line"). I found the German test phrase in the front of the Sims 2: Apartment Life instructional literature.
I guess my test phrases demonstrate just exactly how lazy I am. I had The Sims 2 player's guide and the Apartment Life instructions just lying about near or on my desk. Didn't have to go far to find them.
So, that's basically it for now. Come back tomorrow. I might have decided to write something else.
