I just posted a new episode of In Teh Toobs. In this latest report from Commander Riley, he takes us on a tour of his ship, the STFU-1138, and shows us where he lives and works.
It took me quite a while between episodes which was frustrating because I’ve been wanting to put them out at the rate of one per week. The trouble with that plan is the way I’ve been attacking the work. Rather than organizing myself as I would for a regular television or film production I’ve been treating this as more of an art project - which is just another way of saying I’m a lazy ass procrastinator.
As the show develops I’ve been discovering other themes that I want to explore with it and what was once supposed to be a simple talking-head vlog with a dog puppet has evolved into something a little more - ambitious.
Hopefully, as I continue to iron out the various technical and masturbatory artistic wrinkles associated with my supremely fat headed vision for In Teh Toobs the process of making the shows will become more of a routine - a fun routine - allowing me to post new episodes each week. The effort that went into this show was not in the shooting or the editing or the creation of the CG elements - the bulk of the time was taken up with thinking.
So I guess the lesson is: Don’t think about it, Mills. Just fucking do it.
I do plan on doing a video post here showing off how I make In Teh Toobs but I figured actually making the show was more of a priority at this stage.
Cheers.
P. S. I always appreciate your comments here but please be sure to visit the actual show site and leave a comment for Riley there. Your participation will make the show come alive. And be sure to tell your friends. Thanks.
P. P. S. And a special thanks to Ze Frank for giving me permission to include his mug design amongst the trappings of Riley’s ship.
I want to thank you, Mark for your kind words about the show, my work and myself. And, yes, I will admit I used to work out of my home office in my bathrobe - and I used to direct in the studio wearing my slippers. I am built for comfort not for speed.
Speaking of which, I am woefully late in getting the next episode of In Teh Toobs online but that’s because — oh wait, I said no more excuses, didn’t I?
Okay - no excuses. You’ll just have to wait until the end of this week to see what I’ve been up to.
In the shameless self-promotion and recursive blog reference department I give you the post from Jill Golick’s Running With Eyes Closed blog wherein she heaps praise upon my efforts with In Teh Toobs.
I’ve known Jill for about 25 years now since we first worked together on Canadian Sesame Street. Since that time her work as a writer in series television and as an active member in the Writer’s Guild of Canada has been exemplary. More recently she’s been wading into the same trough of cultural chaos I’ve been wallowing in, pursuing the various forms of storytelling and narrative emerging across and throughout the interwebs.
Jill also organizes the Writers Watching TV events held each month at the Camera Lounge, the last one being a Web Creators Show & Tell where I got to show off the first bits and pieces of my work on In Teh Toobs.
Be sure to check out her Story2Oh web series and her most recent venture Hailey Hacks - which is a really cool intro to web wizardry for and by our young digital natives.
So here’s the next installment of In Teh Toobs. In a way it’s just an extension of the Prelude, advancing the concept of the show further and finally introducing Riley.
Future episodes will carry further forward faster - and the audio will be better too. My excuse is that Riley is having technical issues from inside the tubes and that’s the only caveat I’ll ever offer from now on.
Later this week I’m gonna post a video here with me talking about this web series and the other projects I’m working on.
Cheers.
P. S. I’d really appreciate any comments you may have about it. Good or bad, I don’t care, I just wanna hear something. And please be sure to comment on the In Teh Toobs site itself. Many thanks. :)
At long last I’ve opened up the web site for In Teh Toobs - a new weekly web series featuring the intrepid but hapless canine Cmdr. Riley aboard his trusty and rusty spacecraft, the STFU-1138, as he journeys through the interwebs.
This isn’t a full episode - just a prelude:
Tonight I’ll be at the Camera Lounge talking about In Teh Toobs and other projects for the Web Creators Show & Tell evening organized by Jill Golick. It’s part of a larger series of monthly events Jill has put together under the auspices of the Writers Guild Of Canada called Writers Watching TV.
Also participating tonight are Scott Albert and Christopher Guest with their web series Team Leader and Jill will talk about her new web series Hailey Hacks.
Should be a fun night. If you drop by please be sure to say Howdy.
Cheers.
P. S. I’m trying out a number of different video hosting options for the In Teh Toobs site and while although pretty much set on Blip.tv I must admit I was pleasantly surprised to see the quality of the YouTube post:
Maybe it just looks better on the YouTube site. Let me know what you think - I want to be sure I’m making the right choices.
Although today is Good Friday - ( I’m always naturally inclined to shout: “What’s so good about it?!” ) - and that makes it an official sort of holiday, official enough that my son is home from school and underfoot, I am still trying to get my tasks done so I can finally, once and for all, stamped it no erasing, launch my other fucking web site. I’ve used this animated GIF in the earlier iteration of this blog and remembered it fondly enough to include it here. That, of course, lead me down the rabbit hole of leafing through all my image files from the old posts and, just like when you clean out the attic or the cluttered shelf at the back of the closet, found myself saying things like: “Ohhh, I remember that one!” and wanting to post it once again for all to see. In all modesty, I did some funny shit with my Photoshopped images and I will make an effort to re-use them here but for now I can only regard the effort as yet another steaming wad of procrastinaton that stands before me and my goal of project completion. Hell, just writing all these words here is an act of procrastination in itself; dutifully pounding out an endless stream of description that has no deeper meaning or purpose other than to keep me from doing what it I have tasked myself with.
Enough!
I’m still here - I’m still posting - and when I’m done with my work I will post here about that and tell you what went into making it all happen.
Jill Gollick has been kind enough to invite me to participate in one of her great WGC discussions at Camera on April 29th to talk about the project. You can find out more at the Facebook page for the Web Creators Show And Tell event. That should be fun. We might even be streaming the evening online - I’ll let you know if we get that happening.
And now I shall walk away from the interwebs and get my ass to work.
At the risk of being mysterious or a bit of a tease I thought I’d give you a brief glimpse into what this new thing is I’ve been working on. This is me standing on the set of teh new thing.
And that’s just one of the sets. It’s going to take a couple of more weeks to get it all sorted out before I actually start posting anything. I’m pretty excited about it all and hope it’s well received. As we get closer to unveiling the full deal I’ll be posting photos and videos of the behind-the-scenes process.
In the meantime, you’ll just have to be satisfied with my usual curmudgeonly blog posts, my relentless and inane Twitter blurbs and the occasional 12second.tv video blurbs.
My dear friend Mark Achtenberg has posted on his 
Although today is Good Friday - ( I’m always naturally inclined to shout: “What’s so good about it?!” ) - and that makes it an official sort of holiday, official enough that my son is home from school and underfoot, I am still trying to get my tasks done so I can finally, once and for all, stamped it no erasing, launch my other fucking web site. I’ve used this animated GIF in the earlier iteration of this blog and remembered it fondly enough to include it here. That, of course, lead me down the rabbit hole of leafing through all my image files from the old posts and, just like when you clean out the attic or the cluttered shelf at the back of the closet, found myself saying things like: “Ohhh, I remember that one!” and wanting to post it once again for all to see. In all modesty, I did some funny shit with my Photoshopped images and I will make an effort to re-use them here but for now I can only regard the effort as yet another steaming wad of procrastinaton that stands before me and my goal of project completion. Hell, just writing all these words here is an act of procrastination in itself; dutifully pounding out an endless stream of description that has no deeper meaning or purpose other than to keep me from doing what it I have tasked myself with.
