Katy Perry - Dark Horse [Remix by SpiderMitch]

So for a while I've been toying around with the idea of doing a hybrid mix-mashup of the song Dark Horse by Katy Perry.  I think the original song's got a good hook and some nice bass, but I can't stand the Juicy J crap in the middle.  I really don't understand why she keeps getting the most annoying rappers with the worst lyrics to step into her songs.  /EndofRant

So, here you have my remix of Dark Horse, sans rap & added some Dubstep-style samples.  Enjoy!

Click play below or View on my Youtube channel

Copyright this!

Okay, so I've dedicated this site to posting projects of mine. Some are originals: compositions I've created for certain projects.  Some for school, some for friends, and some for fun.  These originals are fun to create and I appreciate artists that can sit and completely create something new...

...but I really like editing.  Taking the source material and remixing it to create something new... Something that someone will look at and appreciate the amount of effort it took to manipulate what they're used to in a different vision / style than the original.  It's also challenging to work on something to produce the desired effect, and do so in a fluid unassuming way.  To show someone your vision and have them enjoy it, commenting that it's professional and maybe even better than the original; creating a cohesive narrative from film that tells a different story; or writing something that is a tangent of the original story is really enjoyable for me.

The ability to edit is a talent...  And it's a talent that can't be shown in most media forums due to copyright infringement.  I'm not a lawyer.  I'm not someone who likes to read through technical jargon trying to find loop-holes.  I'm simply someone that enjoys expressing themselves through said talent, and I wish to share that content for my own enjoyment.  Not because I want you to download a free movie / song / picture / whatever, but I'm simply expressing my creativity!  Unfortunately due to the content owners, my creativity is often shunted.  I'm not someone who tries to find ways around copyright laws so I can get my content uploaded and bypass content matching algorithms.  I've posted music videos I've created where I say, "It's a tribute... Go buy the original artist's album / song!  It's terrific and inspired me to do this!"  I've never once claimed, "I created this!" or "Buy this from me, it's my original work!"  Yet, to take the original and change it to express yourself is considered 'wrong' in the eyes of copyright laws.  I ask you: How can someone that enjoys editing or altering film / pictures / songs ever be able to enjoy doing what they love if they can't get any feedback (positive or negative) about their work, because they aren't allowed to post it?

Furthermore, why does my edited content get copyright take-downs when I can do a search and find someone else posting the ORIGINAL UNALTERED content (such as a movie) which has more than 3 million views?  I once posted a music video containing Michael Jackson's Earth Song and scenes from Avatar, which was taken down after 235 views due to copyright infringement.  I did a search and found another video that had another song with scenes from Avatar that had 18,000 views and another that had more than 9 million views!  (Both of these music videos are still up!)  Furthermore, I tried to repost my video using the exact same tags / youtube license claim / description and it was taken down again after about 100 views.  For a long while I was so discouraged, I didn't post anything else.

I just finished creating a remix of a song.  I uploaded to soundcloud, which has grown significantly since I joined (a few accounts ago, granted).  Now it seems they're also shunting creativity by employing harsher copyright restrictions as well.  I put the remix of my song on my soundcloud page and it was immediately disabled do to copyright claim.  This is, of course, after I had +1ed and facebook-shared my latest little project, so users trying to access the song suddenly saw 'not found' & 'no longer available' errors.  I tried another service claiming to allow mixes and DJ remixes.  After uploading, I received an email saying the same thing.  After searching their site, I come across many... MANY songs that are not even edited.  They are the FULL VERSIONS of the songs uploaded, so other users may pirate them.

I totally understand that companies have to protect their investments.  They must earn money because that's what companies do.  But rather than taking down someone who is remixing / altering / fan-editing your content because they love it so much (and mostly tell people to go buy your stuff because it's great) why, then, does all this media exist where they are the original songs / films?  And those posts are CLEARLY aimed at people who want to AVOID giving you money, and getting said content for free?

In all my time editing, remixing, and fan-editing, I seem to always have my works taken down.  It's discouraging, to say the least.  If I upload to my own (free) hosting service, I run the risk of bandwidth limit breach and my site suspended.  If I upload to other sites and embed within this blog, I'm running the risk of it being taken down due to copyright claims.  Honestly, I just wanna have fun & manipulating / editing / altering stuff is fun for me, it's just annoying that I can't share my projects easily on any media outlet.  Apparently editors must produce their own content also.  Editors can't edit...  Copyright holders gunna copyright claims... Haters gunna hate.

Guardians of the Galaxy - Hooked on a Feeling [Remix by SpiderMitch]

This is a remix I created in tribute to Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy.  The trailer had a mix I really got into from Hooked on a Feeling by Blue Swede.  I created this as a full version of that mix, without voice-overs, base and extra samples added.

Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Click play below or View on my Youtube channel

Swamp Rangers

Found this when I was rummaging through my digital clutter.  It's a flash animation I did for a friend for a school project.  I'm not sure why I kept it all these years, but I even still had the source files.  The ending credits won't be posted since they involve real names, but there's a little "The End" thing I rendered which I've included in this.

Like I said, this was done a long time ago, and I only post it here for nostalgia :)  It's silly, but it's pretty impressive knowing flash animation and techniques were still in their infancy.

Click the post heading or "Read More" link below to see the video.  It's got music, so I didn't want it to start immediately.

Play-Doh Rose

So instead of getting us raises, our boss bought us Play-Doh. LOL. Not really; in actuality, he went to some management seminar that said the smell of Play-Doh would help employees de-stress. Something about bringing us back to our childhood memories or something. Anyway, I made this & thought I'd post'em up here. If I make more things, I'll try to stick them up here too. The way I see it, is the boss can't get angry at me for playing with it, since he's the one that bought it for us. I'm just utilizing the resources provided, right? :)

Since I only had Red, I made the rose first, then made a red stem.  Later, I gathered more colors to finish the look.

 So, I decided to beg others for colors to complete the stem & thorns.  Below is the final result.

So, all-in-all, I think it turned out pretty good.  Several co-workers told me to leave it out and let is harden, but then I wouldn't have any more Play-Doh to play with, so in the end, I wound up destroying it.

Original Fairies

I've always love the symbolism and imagery involving Fairies.  The lore, the intrigue, the unknown and mystical: I began making some fairy art.  Below are the final products.  I began working in Poser, tweaking models and adding wing prefabs from work I did in 3DStudioMaxx, Bryce, RayDream.  After rendering, I worked in Photoshop to get the desired effects for each piece.  While I may not have gotten all my ideas translated for this group, I do view them as a complete collection... A collection of Fairies. ;)

Fairy Rain Dance

Fairy Ponder

Fairy Landing

Fairy Cower

The following two renders are incomplete, in the sense that there are no post-effects on them after the original renders.  I got caught up on the lighting of the figure, and had some issues with my computer at the time.  I intended to go back and re-render / compile, but the original poser file was corrupt and the 3d model irretrievable.  Glad I had these exports from the file, but sad that I never did get to complete it.

Fairy Curious (Unfinished Render1)

Fairy Curious (Unfinished Render2)

Please feel free to comment on any of the works.

3d Renders: Misc Poser Characters

I messed around in a program called Poser for a bit, experimenting with different characters, skins and poses.  Below are some of the first renders I did with the program.

 

I began working on an idea for a Poser-driven comic, where I utilized the program's ability to quickly pose 3d models and capture the 2d render, to use in a photo-editor like Photoshop.  While I never actually produced the comic, the following skins were applied to a model as sorta a brainstorming session.

I later used the skin I developed for the project in a game, so I feel the time I spent creating this was not all for nothing.  As soon as I find the screenshots from said game, I'll include them...

Super Scrappy!

Look, up in the sky!  It's a Bird!  It's a plane!  No... It's a Super Wiener!

No, actually, it's a Super Scrappy! :)

Demon & Saint

All I can say is I did this with a Quickcam and an Apple Power PC one day in school while waiting for the bus.  Probably the first time I was introduced to plug-ins :)  I remember these were printed and hung in the Graphic Arts class for a while... These were created in like Photoshop 2.0.

Funny though that still, after all this time, I have these files.

Lady of the Lake

Just a few renders I did in Poser & Bryce 3d.  It was for a website wherein a logo were to be placed in the Lady of the Lake's hands.  I wound up using the logo for a site I ran for a while just so the stuff wouldn't go to waste.  There is also an animation that goes along with it, where she actually comes from the lake grasping at the logo.  Not sure where that file is though...

These were a test-run for a series I did which involved Poser, Bryce, and Photoshop involving Fairies which I'll put up here after I finish gathering them all up.

3d Renders: Star Trek

So quite a while back, I got my hands on a few 3d models, tweaked them, then rendered them.  This was my first venture into doing any 3d model work, and I soon learned that you needed a real beast to do these type of animations on.  I was using a Packard Bell, so... these are really not that good at all.  But, it's something I spent time on doing and playing with the camera and training on objects, so it's kinda nostalgic to see again.

 

 

After a while, I tried some intense renders with many polygons and lighting effects.  The result was WAY better, but honestly, I had to leave my PC on overnight for both the Borg cube and DS9 for only a few seconds of rendered output...

 

Media Center / HTPC backgrounds & history

Sooooo, a while back, along with most other people, I didn't know exactly who would win the HD-DVD / Blu-Ray format war.  I built a media center / HTPC instead of shelling out $800 bucks for a stand-alone first-gen Blu-ray player.  In my media center, I purchased an LG-SuperMulti Hybrid drive (HD-DVD / Blu-Ray reader).  Granted it was a sizable purchase at the time, but I successfully bypassed choosing sides.  To celebrate it, and to have a cool background for the pc, I created the following graphics showcasing both logos.

Inspired by a logo I saw once, I took a picture of woods outside when the light came through, then added a burst and place the logo on top.  The rings were from the image below, which I decided to reuse.

With both logos in the center, I originally wanted the oval to be purple and symbolize both combined.  However, I added the string of individual colors to emphasize their separation.  Then I reversed them so the red was on the opposite side and vice versa for the blue.  All in all, I left both of these as backgrounds for various applications and the OS itself.

Two Flew Over

So it's cold coming into work.  I wear a skull-cap / beanie for warmth in the morning & swap it out with a baseball hat after I get into the building.  Today, I forgot my hat and a co-worker pointed out a certain similarity with a famous movie.  I took the liberty of doing a side-by-side comparison.  Note that this was done quickly in an online photo editor called Pixlr.  It's actually pretty photoshop-esque and for it to be free and online, it's really pretty great for quickies like this!