Blogging with Brin

Trouble Viewing Thomas Brin?

2008-08-26T15:47:00.005-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Occasionally, viewers will email that they cannot view a particular episode of Thomas Brin. There are a number of issues that can cause a viewing problem. However, viewing issues primarily fall into three categories: coding issues with the Thomas Brin website, incompatibility issues and/or bugs in browser and/or OS updates, and issues with plugins that the browser depends upon to properly render the QuickTime file within the browser window. I can only fix the first category but do have suggestions that may remedy problems with the other two categories.

If you are having trouble viewing any of the TB episodes via the Thomas Brin website, please help me and your fellow viewers by briefly posting here the specifics of your problem. In your post, please provide your web browser and version, operating system and version, and specific issue experienced. This will help me determine which category your particular issue may fall into and how to address it.

In the meantime, while I investigate your particular issue, here are several steps to try:

1.) To view Thomas Brin online, your browser needs to have a properly configured version of Apple's QuickTime plugin. Check to make sure that the QT plugin in your browser of choice is properly installed. You do that by visiting this Apple webpage via your browser: http://www.apple.com/quicktime/troubleshooting/

2.) Another possible cause of viewing problems is that javascript is disabled in your browser of choice. Check to make sure that javascript is enabled. If it is not, you will not be able to view any of the episodes. This is because each episode's webpage makes a javascript call which automatically generates the proper object and embed tags for the QuickTime file.

3.) If you're still having issues viewing, you can connect to each episode directly by copying the desired url and pasting it into the browser of your choice. Please note, you must have at least QuickTime version 7.1.5 installed to view the episodes.

Episode 1: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT1NS.mov

Episode 2: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT2NS.mov

Episode 3: http://www.thomasbrin.com/QTEncodings/GOT3NS.mov

I hope this helps remedy any viewing issues you may have.

Where's Episode 4?

2008-04-03T18:55:00.003-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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By now, some of our loyal Brin fans may be wondering why Episode 4 of the Adventures of Thomas Brin is not yet out. After all, at the end of Episode 3, it clearly stated "Episode 4 Coming Fall 2007". Since fall technically ends in late December, we're only 3 and a half months late--so far!

The truth is that we have not yet started to post produce Episode 4.

As I stated in an earlier post about E3 production statistics, it took A LOT of hours to create TBE3 (Thomas Brin Episode 3). That is one reason, among many, that we introduced Brin 2.0. To keep producing episodes, we need help.

Unfortunately, we only have had one individual inquire about Brin 2.0--a very nice individual from England who was really inquiring about the production equipment and software we used. So, with Brin 2.0 announced just a little over a year ago, we have zero people (outside of the original production team) getting involved. Furthermore, to add insult to minor injury (hey, we have big shoulders here) we have not had a single comment on the Blogging with Brin Blog and only one fan email in the past 12 months.

Although this is disappointing, it is not too surprising. Most of our viewers watch the Adventures of Thomas Brin via iTunes or some other podcasting directory. In fact, according to our server logs, fewer than 1% actually watch Thomas Brin directly via our website. This means that, although the episodes have been downloaded over 1.5 million times, we have only had 15,000 unique visitors to our website. This is one of the problems with the podcasting paradigm--the podcast directory websites get the vast majority of the visits whereas the websites of the creators' of the content (that is freely given away) receive very few visits.

So, the only way for the creator of a podcast to know how he or she is doing is from viewer comments. If they receive only a few comments, then they have to come to terms with the fact that they are not providing the type of content that viewers truly want.

When will Episode 4 come out? We'll, with seemingly little interest from our viewers, we are in no hurry to put in the 800 hours or so we estimate it will take in Post production. But, perhaps we are wrong in assuming that there is little interest left in Thomas Brin.

With all the Thomas Brin downloads, we know we have viewers. We'd love to know how we are doing. Some feedback from our viewers would be nice! As a viewer, do you enjoy what we've created? Do you want us to continue?

Please take a moment and leave a comment on this post. Or go to the Thomas Brin website and leave a comment on our Frappr Map or join the Cloud City Community.

CloudCity Community Opens at ThomasBrin.com

2007-05-02T11:00:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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After much forethought and procrastination, we have finally implemented a Thomas Brin Forum into the TB website! Now fans from around the world can meet in the CloudCity Community and discuss all aspects of the Adventures of Thomas Brin.

There's not much more to say than PLEASE JOIN! Community membership is free.

Thomas Brin Unveils New Website

2007-04-10T10:10:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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One of the goals when creating a website is to organize the site's features in such a way that first time viewers can quickly grasp what it's all about. Well, the original Adventures of Thomas Brin website did a poor job at that. So, we redesigned the TB website to be simpler and more to the point--a la Web 2.0 style.

Viewers can now quickly and clearly see all the features of the Thomas Brin website. They can access each of the episodes right from the homepage instead of having to navigate three pages in as in the past. They have quick access to the Thomas Brin community tools, including the wonderful Thomas Brin Store!

Finally, the menu system has been redesigned and better organized. In fact, the menu you see on the TB blog is the same menu you find on the TB website. If you have not yet toured the new TB website, please do today.

Thomas Brin Episode 3 Statistics

2007-04-08T13:29:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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E3 of TB was posted on Saturday, February 10, 2007. Since almost two months have passed since the epsiode went live, I thought I would share some basic viewer statistics about Episode 3.

Before I share those data, here are the total viewership numbers for February and March across all three episodes:

February: 96,408

March: 27,822

You're probably wondering why the February numbers were lower than January's and why March had a even larger, significant drop. The answer is that we experienced server issues. Actually, the real answer is that we caused the server issues. To learn more about our feed subscriber base, we rerouted the feed files using Apache's mod_rewrite rules and that basically messed everything up. Of course, it took us a while to fix the problem. So we're sure that many potential viewers got tired of trying to access the feed files and simply gave up. However, if you are reading this then you're probably still a fan and we appreciate that!

What did we learn from this frustrating experience? In a nutshell, we learned that it is best to learn about the Apache mod_rewrite directive by practicing on a server that is not live. Going forward, we expect to see the monthly numbers go back up. So, with that long preamble, here are the E3 statistics to date:

Total Episode 3 downloads in the past two months: 62,789
Episode 3 percent of all downloads: 45.83%

So, whereas the actual download number would have been a lot higher had we not messed up the server, we still had 1,120 unique downloads per day (on average) of Episode 3.

We're still not sure if Episode 3 has lived up to or exceeded fans' wishes, but we think it is off to a good start. We haven't heard from anyone yet (which is odd), so please send us a message and tell us what you think.

Brin 2.0: Revolutionizing Video Podcasting!

2007-03-24T14:06:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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About two weeks ago I posted this article about TBE3 production statistics. If you have not yet read it, please do.

The obvious conclusion from that article (and not-too-subtle statement on my part) is that for the Adventures of Thomas Brin vodcast cinema series to continue, there will have to be some big changes in the overall production workflow. Clearly I cannot spend 750 hours of my time producing and post-producing each new episode. Although I have no problem with putting that much time into the series since that is what it takes in this day and age of new media to get something started and noticed by the world, I do realize that going forward, it will not be sustainable.

Fans want Thomas Brin to continue. In fact, most fans want TB to be released more frequently than twice a year. In fact in fact (yes, a double "in fact" is like saying P.P.S. at the end of a letter), for Thomas Brin to realize its full potential as an Internet movie phenomenon, future episodes will have to be released more quickly.

I mean, who wants to subscribe to a fun scifi video podcast if it only comes out once every 6 months? It's like waiting all summer for the next episode of Lost, or for the conclusion to the season-ending Stargate SG1. If fans had to wait that long between each new episode do you think Lost or Stargate SG1 would be hits? Of course not.

But, those two very successful shows have large production budgets and a large team of people helping out. That is why old media held sway in the content creation arena. But times are quickly changing. Web 2.0 technologies are providing new ways in which content can be collaboratively created. What's even more impressive is that the overall quality of new media content is improving daily. In the not too distant future, new media visionaries will be creating high-quality broadband content on par with old media studios. The big difference will be that overall production cost will be much lower thanks to the power and flexibility of the new media tools and paradigms.

Introducing Brin 2.0

Brin 2.0 is a revolutionary new paradigm in the video podcasting arena. It is an open-source-like project where viewers from around the world can get involved in the production of future episodes of the Adventures of Thomas Brin. It's a way for fans to get involved directly with production efforts.

As more people with appropriate skills get involved with Brin 2.0, more episodes can be produced (and released!) in a shorter amount of time.

Brin 2.0 may very well be the first of its kind--a new media vodcast property that is globally produced! It is new media by the people and for the people!

To learn more about Brin 2.0, visit the Brin 2.0 page.

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 Production Results

2007-03-12T12:47:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: Adventures of Thomas Brin

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All Thomas Brin fans have now had a month to experience TBE3--that's Thomas Brin Episode 3 for all new fans. I was looking at the post-production logs to see how E3 differed from E1 & E2. The most obvious difference from a production/post-production workflow viewpoint was the sheer number of hours it took to bring E3 to fruition. TBE3 took just over 750 hours to produce. Since it runs almost 9 minutes, that equates to 83.33 hours of production time per minute of finished content. Holy cow!

Okay, I know that right away something peculiar sticks out. You're probably asking, "Do you really keep production logs?" The truth is, no. I keep scribbles and cryptic notes to myself on my ever-increasing pile of legal-ruled pads. But, they serve as my style of logs and I do have a very good idea about how many hours I put into producing TB. After all, once the actors have done their thing in the 2 days of shooting, the entire post-production responsibilities fall on my shoulders. I do all the animations and background mattes, composite the scenes, create the score, edit the final sequence, encode the movies, and program and maintain the website.

The real question your asking is how one person can do all of that, how I can afford to spend 750 hours of producing something that is viewed for free?

The answer is I can't afford to put that much time into Thomas Brin. I mean, the average employee in the United States works 2,080 hours per year. So, E3 took 36% of one-person's yearly worktime!

However, as a new media visionary (yes, self adulation) who heads a new media company (yes, self promotion), putting in long hours on projects that have yet to pay off is just part of the game. Besides, I don't work a 40 hour week. It's more like 100+ hours per week, every week. So, that means for TBE3, I used about 14% of my workyear.

But, it is clear that I cannot afford to release two episodes a year if each new episode is going to personally take me 750 total hours of production time--which it certainly will take if not longer. So, what's the answer to this production dilemma? Stay tuned for exciting news on a new initiative that I'll be announcing in two weeks.

Thanks for Watching!

Jeff Sayre
CEO & President
SayreMedia.com

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 is Released!

2007-02-10T13:19:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Today is the day! Episode 3 of The Adventures of Thomas Brin, Gardens of Tomorrow is final complete and live!

For those of you who have visited the website looking for TBE3, it is there. It can take a little while before the server updates--especially the RSS feed files hosted by other companies. Although we ping the servers, we have no control over when they actually go out and update their RSS records. So, be patient. It is live and you should be able to view it shortly.

We hope you enjoy. Please take the time and let us know what you think.

Thomas Brin: 136,350 downloads in January alone!

2007-02-01T15:25:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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As you now know, TBE3 will be released in 10 days. To keep all one million plus Thomas Brin fans in the loop, I looked at our server statistics for January to see how TB was doing.

Downloads slowed down a little in January. We had a total of 136,350 downloads of E1 and E2 combined. This is still very, very respectable for an Internet-based movie series (what we call vodcast cinema) that does not spend a penny on promotion or, in fact, much time in promotion. It's even more impressive of a large number when you take into account that we do not post TB on any social video sites like YouTube, Myspace, or Revver. Thomas Brin's only home is on our dedicated server.

I believe the small percentage decrease in average downloads is a result of one issue only: people are raring for episode 3. Most new viewers most likely are turned on to TB through word of mouth--either directly thru friends or podcast reviews. Since the imminent release of TB3 has been imminent for 9 months, the number of new reviews has decreased and therefore the number of new viewers.

I predict that with the imminent--no, really, this time it is imminent--release of TB3, the number of new viewers and therefore downloads will show a big uptick over the next several months. Please help do your part in promoting TB to all your friends, family, coworkers, readers of your blog, or listeners of your podcast. With your support, TB can continue its rise to Internet fame.

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 Release Date

2007-01-31T16:43:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Okay, I think in my last post I said something about January 31, 2007 as the target date for Episode 3. Well, I'm glad that date is 10 days off!

Oh, wait...I've just been informed that today is January 31. Well, once again I've missed my own self-imposed deadline.

But, Ha! It is my deadline and the fate of the world, the sales of a company, or the health of family and friends are not affected by the release date. So, the only true pressure I face is my own.

Well, I have a firm date and time for the official release of Episode 3 of Gardens of Tomorrow, The Adventures of Thomas Brin. It is practically finished! I'm taking several days off from the post production to gain some much needed perspective on the final edit. I'll hit the editing again this weekend with a refreshed (hopefully) point of view.

So, the official release date and time is:

Saturday, February 10 at noon EST

Mark your calendars, polish your iPods, wake the kids, and kick the cat, the most highly-anticipated, best episode yet of The Adventures of Thomas Brin is just around the corner!

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 Update number 2--or is it 3?

2007-01-20T14:25:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Here's an update to give all of our fans (which range somewhere between 1 and 650 thousand people) an update on several TB issues:

1. Postproduction of TBE3 (don't you hate acronyms) is in the home stretch. I still have that one, final faulty animation to correct, some editing, and music to create, but believe me that is a small, small task compared to the monumental amount of work that has already been completed.

So, I'm still shooting for an end of January release! I'll keep you posted.

2. In my last post, I detailed the amazing number of TB downloads. I wanted to share with you how that is determined.

The number of times an episode of TB has been downloaded has nothing to do with website views or pages accessed. Why? Because 99% of episode downloads are a result of someone remotely accessing one of our RSS (xml) files and then clicking on an episode link. The other 1% come to the Thomas Brin website directly, access the movie page, and download it from there.

Therefore, just about everyone who experiences The Adventures of Thomas Brin does so without initially visiting the website. The only "visit" they make is to our server where the actual episode encodes reside. Viewers have no idea, nor do they care, where the files come from. Of course, since the TB files are on our server, we know exactly how many times each episode is being downloaded.

So, that is how we know TB is growing in viewership--and we can hopefully assume--popularity.

3. As of today, January 20, 2007, TB has been downloaded just shy of 100,000 times so far this month. So, the total count for downloads of both episodes is almost 1.3 millions times!

4. As you might have figured out by now, the total download count is for both episodes. That means that out of the total download pool of 1.3 million, we have a maximum potential viewership of 650,000 people. Do the math yourself:

1.3 million downloads / 2 episodes = 650,000 possible unique downloaders.

Of course, I'm sure there are a some viewers who have downloaded each episode more than once. Also, not everyone who watches E1 chooses to watch E2. That is why the actual viewership is less than the actual number of episodes downloaded.

5. However, having said that, we know from our detailed server statistics and feed statistics, that most people who watch the first episode do go on to watch the second episode. We also know how many visit the website to watch Thomas Brin directly. Finally, we know which podcast directories generate the most user visits and downloads.

6. Although the vast majority of viewers who watch E1 go on to watch E2, the true test of the popularity of Thomas Brin comes with the imminent launch of E3. The big question is, did E2 do enough to encourage viewers to want to continue watching? We will soon know.

7. By the way, since most of you are not benefitting from the jam-packed resources available on the Thomas Brin website, I wanted to let you know that you can purchase very cool, and maybe even slightly obnoxious, TB merchandise at the Thomas Brin Store. All of your purchases benefit the continued production of The Adventures of Thomas Brin. In fact, it is the only way we have available to let our fans help us out.

We do not accept donations since there are various legal issues associated with that avenue. Instead, we create products for resale which lets you get something in return. The profit from the sale gives us money to continue our efforts.

How much have we sold to date? I'm happy to announce that it is...ZERO!

What? That's correct. Besides the $88.95 of purchases, which were all made by me and friends of the cast, we have not earned a single penny of fan-generated revenue. How can that be, you may ask. Thomas Brin is obviously very popular.

It's easy to understand when you go back up and read point two. The vast majority of viewers access Thomas Brin indirectly, without visiting our website. That, of course, is the major downfall of RSS feeds and podcasting directories when it comes to monetizing a project. The directories get all the glory and the content producers get hosed. Instead, they must monetize within their podcasts since most viewers of any podcast don't go to the content-creators website--at least not initially and usually only after being a fan for many months.

So, you can bet that with E3, we will be shameless in our monetizing efforts. It is only fair since we are putting all this time into producing great-quality, free content for all of you to enjoy. So, do your part. Visit the Thomas Brin website and look around. Then click on the Thomas Brin Store link and buy some cool TB stuff.

Finally, don't get upset at us for trying to make a buck or two--or even big, bags of bucks. We aren't charging you so don't get bent out of shape by our efforts at trying to recoup some of the costs associated with our production--and maybe, just maybe, being able to...gasp...dare I say..make a living out of entertaining you for free. Thanks!

(Sorry for the diatribe in the last paragraph. Unfortunately, many people these days expect their Internet-based entertainment to be free. That's fine. But, some of those people get ticked off when the content creator tries to make some money off of their efforts. What these clueless people (oops, diatribing again)...what these people fail to appreciate is that it cost money--lots of it sometimes-- to create content that they get to enjoy for free.

It takes servers, and software, and bandwidth costs, and all sorts of other hardware, and lots of time (which could be spent on making money at another job). So, when a content creator successfully monetizes their products, everyone should be happy because it allows them to continue offering free content. So, in a nutshell, repeat after me: Don't bitch, Buy!)

There you have it. Very honest and open discussion about TB statistics and finances. Stay tuned!

One Million Thomas Brin Downloads and Counting!

2007-01-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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As another composite of a clip to be used in Episode 3 renders away in Shake, I thought it was time to learn a little more about total viewrship of the Thomas Brin series. So, I went to our dedicated web server and brought up the statistics for the last 6 months. The data are nothing but compelling! It seems that our award-winning, innovative vodcast series has begun to catch on.

From July 2006 through December 2006, The Adventures of Thomas Brin was downloaded 1,007,901 times! That's 168,000 times per month on average, or about 5,500 downloads of the show each day. Can anyone say sponsorship?

Yes, our cutting-edge vodcast cinema series has reached a tipping point--the point were the next episode will either push us into the next level of Internet awarness, or simply push the series into oblivion.

Fortunately, Episode 3 is going to top the first two. All aspects of the production have increased in quality. We're no Hollywood or Madison Avenue power house production company, but then that is the entire point of the new media revolution and the beauty of the vodcast paradigm. The focus is on pioneering cheap but effective ways to produce programming that entertains.

With a budget of less than one-days' worth of craft services on a typical big-budget Hollywood movie shoot, we have created a ground breaking independent movie series. This experimental surreal science fiction series is a new, bold direction in independent movie making. Actually, it is a new, bold endeavor in the newly created realm of vodcast cinema--a term we coined to describe independent movie making for Internet-only delivery through the medium of videopodcasts.

Vodcast cinema is movie-making at its rawest. Its purpose is to use relatively simple equipment and techniques to produce entertaining content. We've done just that with a single camera (Sony HVR-Z1U), a simple garage greenscreen setup, basic lighting, and one PowerMac G5 computer to create all the animations, background mattes, composite the scenes, create the score, edit the final sequence, encode the movie, program the website, and upload it to our server. I'll say that again: once the actors have done their thing, the postproduction is accomplished on one computer by one person!

This would not have been possible as few as 5 years ago. But now the Internet has stirred up the media waters once again. All you big boys and girls of bloated-budget productions take note, vodcast cinema may be a nascent creative form, but it will improve over time, becoming a force of change in the élitist movie and network industry.

If literally a small handful of people can get together in a garage on a hot summer's day and launch an amazing series like The Adventures of Thomas Brin, then imagine what is possible with just a few more dollars and people.

So, now that our series receives over 5,500 downloads a day, I'll say once again, sponsorship anyone? If you would like to help us take vodcast cinema to that next level, how about sponsoring our production efforts. We're open to discussion. Just email me at jeff@sayremedia.com or leave a comment on this blog post.

Thomas Brin: Episode 3 Update

2006-12-31T17:57:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Well, I hate to do this to the millions of Thomas Brin fans out there--okay, TB has been downloaded over a million times but I have no clue how many fans TB actually has--but, due to some technical crud, the release of Episode 3 of The Adventures of Thomas Brin: Gardens of Tomorrow is going to be pushed back about one week--or so. With my limited budget, my Mac computers are at their wit's end churning out animation after animation.

I was literally down to the last animation and I just was not happy with it. Since I'm trying to improve the production values (story, acting, lighting, animation, compositing, etcetera) with each new episode, I thought it best to push back the premiere a week to give me time to fix the final animation.

But, there is a way that setbacks like this could become a thing of the past. If only some of you wonderful TB fans out there would buy some of the exceptional TB merchandise at the
Thomas Brin Store, then maybe I could put together a small rendering farm and produce more episodes in fewer hours! Oh, the 2007 TB calendar will be available in the store after Episode 3 is released. Yeah, I need time to make the calendar too.

So, to keep you going another week (I hope), here's another screen shot from Episode 3:

Please, take a moment to share your thoughts and make comments. None of you have ever bothered to do so via this blog. I mean, come on, this is new media at its finest. You are being asked to participate in this saga and I really will listen to and appreciate your input--whether positive or negative. What old media company ever says that? So, let me have it!

Thomas Brin: Where's Episode 3?

2006-12-19T21:44:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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It's way past July 2006 and Episode 3 of The Adventures of Thomas Brin: Gardens of Tomorrow is missing in action. People are concerned, people are patiently waiting, people are plain angry that it's not yet up for global viewing. Well, we don't blame any of you for harboring such feelings and thought it was way past time to post an update on the Brin Blog.

As most of you know--at least those who have taken any time to visit the official Thomas Brin website--we create each episode of Thomas Brin on a zero budget. Okay, the budget is not zero. I foot the bill for everything.

What I should have said is that we lovingly create Thomas Brin at our expense. We do not make any money on this effort and therefore it takes a back seat to all of life's more important pursuits like making a living, hanging out with family and friends, and drinking Chai tea. Actually, thanks to the good old Tazo Chai Tea goddess, TB Episode 3 is close to done!

I've been working like a hungry dog, mustering my strength and concentration to put Episode 3 in the can--that's film talk for finish the project, not flush it down the toilet. I plan to have The Adventures of Thomas Brin: Gardens of Tomorrow Episode 3 up on the website and iTunes by New Year's Eve! Look for it by late afternoon EST.

Oh, if you've emailed me and have not heard back from me, please accept my apologies. Our primary email provider (.mac) has blocked all forwarded email from our dedicated server. We recently discovered that we have been missing all sorts of email for about 6-8 weeks (maybe even longer). So, if you want to say hi or ask a question, please leave a comment on this blog.

So, that's the update. TB E3 is on it's way! This time for real!!!

To rewet your appetite for Thomas Brin, I'll leave you with two pictures from E3:

Thomas Brin Episodes 3 & 4 in Post Production!

2006-07-14T12:32:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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We know you've all been waiting for this day! After a long, hot, and fun 3-day shooting schedule, principal cinematography for Episodes 3 & 4 of The Adventures of Thomas Brin: Gardens of Tomorrow wrapped up. That means that our efforts have now shifted to post production--the stage where the artistic creativity and special effects wizardry of what we do comes into play.

We plan to first concentrate on Episode 3 with a goal of getting it out and live by the end of July. This, of course, is a challenge since we do not make any money of this effort and it is done in our spare time. So, if it drifts into the first week or two of August, we hope you'll understand.

As pointed out in the previous post, our production values took a big (almost major maybe?) step up. With better lighting, script, directing, and a bigger studio space, we think you'll agree the next two episodes will improve upon the first. Also, our post-production suite of tools has expanded. We now have the capabilities of high-end graphics houses--well, we have the tools at least, the capabilities will come with experience.

Here is a photo of our new studio garage space. Since studio garage or garage studio sounds a little quaint, we have come up with a new, hip term--studiage. That's right, just combine the pronunciations of studio with garage, minus a few letters, and you'll be able to say STUDIAGE with no problem!

We have not heard from any of you in a long time. We'd love to get your feedback and comments on the series to date--and your thoughts on the direction we are heading. Please take a moment to drop us a line.

Thomas Brin Episodes III and IV Shooting Next weekend!

2006-07-02T18:10:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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The time has finally arrived! The scripts for Episodes 3 & 4 are done, our cast is assembled, rehearsals are underway, and our new, bigger studio is almost complete--okay, we just expanded our studio space in my garage but it is bigger and better!

Principle videography begins next Friday, July 7 and continues all weekend long. When we are finished, we will have Gardens of Tomorrow Episodes 3 & 4 in the can. From there, it goes to post (that is post production). We have several new, high-end software applications for creating more realistic, better quality 3D landscapes and animations, and we have Shake 4.1, Apple's award-winning 3D compositing application--the choice of Hollywood editors.

As promised on our website, we are upping the ante with these two episodes. Our craft is improving and hopefully the results will entertain and awe.

As soon as we have an estimate for the premiere date of Episode 3, we will post it here and on the www.thomasbrin.com website. Episode four will follow in two months or so. Hey, we don't get paid doing this and we need to catch our breath in between.

We hope you enjoy!

Thomas Brin hits 164,000 downloads!

2006-06-11T12:43:00.000-04:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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It's hard to believe but the groundbreaking vodcast cinema The Adventures of Thomas Brin recently surpassed 160,000 downloads!. Wow! Furthermore, our website is continually visited by people spanning 5 continents View our recent website visitors.

Episode III of Thomas Brin is finally in production! More coming soon on the expected release date.

New 16 x 9 Formats of Thomas Brin Available

2006-01-29T10:32:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Are you a fan of the wonderful world of Thomas Brin but wondered why our actor's seem a little squished? Well, that is because they were. The Adventures of Thomas Brin is shot in high definition using a Sony HDR Z1U HDV video camera. It captures true 16 x 9 video images. However, when we encoded the online and iPod versions of the Thomas Brin, they were mistakenly encoded as 4 x 3 video.

We have corrected our error, thanks to an astute viewer's comments (Thanks, Claude!). So, if you have subscribed to the iPod version of Thomas Brin please delete the old Thomas Brin files from your iTunes Library and then visit the iTunes Music Store and resubscribe to The Adventures of Thomas Brin video podcast.

Or, if you simply watch Thomas Brin through the SayreMedia.com website, please return to our website and watch the first two episodes in their proper aspect ratio--it really makes a difference!

Please note, for viewers who do not have QuickTime 7 and watch the MP4 version, the movie will still show as 16 x 9 but in a letterboxed frame.

Thank you for watching and please continue to spread the word about Thomas Brin.

Thomas Brin Receives 40,000 Page Views per Month!

2006-01-29T10:27:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Here is an update on the page view statistics for The Adventures of Thomas Brin video podcast series:

December 2005: 38,120 page views (we projected 34,000 page views)

January 2006: We project 40,000 page views.

If you would like to help Thomas Brin continue his adventure, please read the post immediately below to learn how.

Thank you for watching!

Thomas Brin Video Podcasts Growing in Popularity

2005-12-18T14:26:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Since launching The Adventures of Thomas Brin video podcast series almost 8 weeks ago, we have seen our page view statistics increase steadily each week.

Here are some brief page-view statistics:

November 2005: almost 19,000 page views

December 2005: we project 34,000 page views

(Note: The December statistics are based on the fact that as of today, we've already had about 21,000 page views)

If you would like to help Thomas Brin continue his adventure, there are several actions you can take right now.

First, read the post below and vote for Thomas Brin. Placing your vote and leaving a review will help The Adventures of Thomas Brin video podcast series move up in rank.

Second, if you have a weblog, website, your own podcast or vodcast then help spread the word about Thomas Brin by placing this cool Thomas Brin logo into your blog or website. You don't have to worry about copying this logo since this code will actually request the logo to be downloaded from our server whenever one of your viewers visits the page that you want the Thomas Brin logo to appear on.

Place the following code into your website or blog and this wonderful logo will show up.

<a href="http://www.thomasbrin.com/"></a>

And as always, if you want to contact us, please do so at thomasbrin@mac.com.

Video Podcast Directories List Thomas Brin

2005-12-14T11:58:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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The award-winning, science fiction video podcast series The Adventures of Thomas Brin is listed in many of the top podcasting directories. Most of the directories allow users to cast votes on podcasts. To help Thomas Brin continue his adventure, we ask that you show your support for The Adventures of Thomas Brin by casting a favorable vote!

You can get to the voting pages in two ways:
1. Click the big "Vote for Thomas Brin!" button on the right-hand side of the screen
2. Click each individual link listing below

I have set up each link to open a new browser window so you can close out of it when you're finished voting and click the next link in this post. Some of the links take you directly to the review page for Thomas Brin. Others require you to search a little on the page and find the review link. Some of the directories will require you to join by providing an email address and creating a password. It is free, so go ahead and do it for Thomas Brin. Please visit each one of the links and give the highest rating. You can do so over the course of several weeks if you wish. But do visit and provide high praise.

Video Podcast Directories Listing Thomas Brin

Podcasting News: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on Podcasting News (you will need to scroll down the list a little and find our listing)

Vodstock: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on Vodstock

IdiotVox: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on IdiotVox

MeFeedia: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on MeFeedia

Podcast Pickle: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on Podcast Pickle

Podcast Alley: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on Podcast Alley

VlogList: Vote for Thomas Brin video podcast on VlogList

Thomas Brin Video Podcasts Viewed on Five Continents in 7 Weeks!

2005-12-09T20:42:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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We all know what makes the blogosphere/vlogosphere so great. Well, I thought I did.

Honestly, until recently, I truly did not know the power of the blog and the potential of podcasting. Yes, from an academic standpoint I knew it was something we had to do. I knew the potential it offered. I knew that it was a force that traditional media hand not yet fathomed and would sooner than later be caught off guard as the podtrain blew by them at an exponential growth rate.

But until our production company retooled our website and listed our new video podcast series with many of the major (and minor) podcasting directories, I did not have a personal feel on the pulse of the blogosphere.

All that has now changed. I am no longer a talking head spouting off facts and figures about an industry in which I have no personal participation. I am now a fully-fledged member of the currently elite but quickly growing club of people who produce video podcast series. I understand from first-hand experience the power of this viral media form.

In the first seven weeks since we made The Adventures of Thomas Brin science fiction vodcast (video podcast) series available to the world, our episodes have been enjoyed on 5 continents and by thousands of people. This is amazing!

It would be impossible to get that type of reach and exposure using traditional short-film distribution methods. When it comes to production and distribution costs, the cost/benefit of video podcasting is extremely favorable.

Unlike traditional broadcasting, audio and video podcasting can transcend the short comings of traditional media and attract a global audience in a very short time if produced and marketed properly. Whether an audio or video podcast keeps a global audience depends on content, production values, and marketing prowess.

This new media paradigm of podcasting is something that can open up the borders with very little effort.

Buy your Holiday Gifts at the Thomas Brin Store!

2005-12-02T20:32:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Buy your Holiday Gifts at the Thomas Brin Store!

Looking for that perfect scifi gift for your science fiction fanatic? Then go shopping at the Thomas Brin Store where you will find wonderful Thomas Brin t-shirts (mens and womens), mugs, bumper stickers, posters, and a great 2006 Thomas Brin Calendar. All profits help support the production of The Adventures of Thomas Brin.

Thank you for you support.

Thomas Brin Launches New Website

2005-11-16T07:09:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Over the past several weeks, we've been hard at work redesigning and recoding (from the ground up) a new Thomas Brin website. We hope that you'll agree the new website is easy to use, better organized, and full of features that make your visit worthwhile.

Please note that we have added an exciting feature--the Thomas Brin store! You can visit the store by clicking on the "Store" tab that appears in the main menu at the top of each page. Please show your support for Thomas Brin by purchasing a tee-shirt, bumper sticker, or the new Thomas Brin 2006 calendar. All proceeds go toward supporting production costs of the series.

Thomas Brin Now Available as Video Podcasts.

2005-10-27T11:51:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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With Apple Computer's introduction of their new 5th generation iPod that displays high-quality video, we decided in true Thomas-Brin style that The Adventures of Thomas Brin needed to be available as video podcasts.

We have created a new video encoding that allows fans to "Bring Brin on the Road." Visit the Thomas Brin website and click on the iTunes subscription logo and you'll be taken to the iTunes Music Store where you can subscribe to and then download the current episodes to your iTunes library. Of course, you will need to have iTunes installed on your computer to do this.

Once you have subscribed, iTunes will check for new episodes of Thomas Brin automatically.

Also, since iTunes does not let us know when we have a new subscriber, please email us at thomasbrin@mac.com and let us know.

Thomas Brin Now has an Official Blog!

2005-10-27T11:32:00.000-05:00

To see Thomas Brin in action, visit the official movie site at: The Adventures of Thomas Brin

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Are you a fan of the award-winning science fiction movie short series The Adventures of Thomas Brin? Well, now you have a place to post your comments, make suggestions, and ask questions about the movie series.