Click above to add to favorites

(past articles...)

January 6th, 2004

March 10th, 2004

     ~ We apologize for the extra length of wait time
between updates as of late. As you will see in the
following paragraphs, we have been plagued with all
sorts of little dilemmas that just added up to one
big one. ~

Okay... The Mail SUCKS!

     After Chris and I tried and tried again to
depend on the almighty US mail service, we finally
had to abandon it out of sheer frustration. I live
here in Madison, TN, which is about 10 miles north
of Nashville, TN here in the US Whereas Chris calls
California here in the US home, and hails from there.
I had sent Chris the film files on four separate
occasions. All of them failed, and the package came
back. The final fourth time, one of the more valuable
DVD disks where damaged. The postmaster compensated
us, and apologized, and even went further to try to
explain.
     Apparently, some time after the 9/11 events,
there was an anthrax scare. (Most of you remember
that...) And postal employees here in the southland,
either where just scared enough, or felt it was the
appropriate time to invoke a strike for more pay. The
leader of this country George W. Bush felt that it
was not time to recognize these strikes, as we need-
ed to keep the country moving. Stopping the mail
service would definitely put a halt to a lot of bus-
iness here in the US and abroad. He did however
re-issue raises for the postal service until the
crisis was over. Since, the demands of the postal
union were actually met with that raise, the
management of the postal service saw no reason to
return to negotiations after the threat level had
cleared. The postal employees, I guess feeling that
they could return to the strike status and gain
even MORE money, tried to strike again. Wherein'
the Bush Administration, said the would not recog-
nize this strike, as the demands of the prior strike
had been met, and were satisfactory.
    Before we get up in arms at the president, it's
worthy to note that the raise the Postal Workers
received is the highest raise they have received in
US history, and they are now paid even higher 
wages on average than the local police departments.
At any rate, a lot of them are angry, they couldn't
squeeze more money out of the threat, and now here
in the southlands of the US you will notice that
your mail service .. well.. Frankly sucks, and is
not as dependable as it once were.
    So that takes us on to what I now call...

My Kingdom For A Server...

     During the day, I run a web design and
hosting company, WebDesign2k3 . At night, I do
this... I enjoy our Crow Community's. Like "LL's"
news over at A Boy and His Bird... I like to visit
my friends at the Chamberoom at CrowFanClub.Com,
say hi to Lord Arykh if you stop in, he's possibly
the biggest James O' Barr, and/or Crow fan you'll
ever meet. Of course we ALL give him a run for his
money, Crow fans are just THAT dedicated... I also
work, and play at CrowColl.Com forums. Wherein' I
moderate and keep the title of official forum liaison.
My mission is to try to gather all the communities to-
gether into ONE. We at Crowcolls are the last surviving
members of what once was the Crow Community Forum AKA
"CCF"... When TheCrow.Com became an up and down, yo-yo
type web site over the last two years, we began to
sense the sinking ship, and through the leadership of
Chris Collins AKA Crowcoll, we were able to create
a new community forum, and the rest is history...
     I said all that to tell you this. Being no
stranger to the web, we decided that it would be
easier, yet costly, to just lease some web space
to move these sensitive film files back and forth.
However, we would NEED about 5 gigabytes, and as
much bandwidth as we could stand. Uncompressed
.AVI files, (some of you know...) are rather large,
but in order to keep the quality, we would have to
go with that option...

Seeking The Holy Grail...

So, we began searching the web for the least ex-
pensive way out. We had to find a server that we
could lease that would keep within' our budget
of about 50 bucks a month, a haircomb, pocket
change, and some assorted lint... Cuz, that's all
we had. We did find a dedicated setup at I-Powerweb
that seemed to fit the bill.. I promptly whipped
out the "So over the limit, it's melted" credit
card, and we were set.. Or WHERE we?

The Web Host That Is A Ghost...

I-Powerweb... Even now, as I type this, my fingers
are reaching for my Shadowgun (gideon inc. patent
pending)... This is the worst experience I've ever
encountered in setting up ANY account as a web
master... After the purchase, we didn't receive
a welcome letter, or access or anything. Just,
that we would receive something in 72 hours...
We waited.. After 72 hours. I contacted them
via email from their web site. Again received
an automated reply that my "Ticket" had been
posted, and I would receive assistance within'
72 hours... This went on for over two weeks,
it was a veritable ping pong match of "I need
my account access", do you have an account?
"No, it's not set up yet", Email back when
you get your letter." " I still haven't' 
gotten my letter", "Do you have an account
yet?".. e.t.c... This was ridiculous. Normally,
I'd have laughed, but... Time was fleeting,
and we wanted to get jamming...

72 HOURS...

Finally, after much despair, I crawled the
web directory until I found an actual phone
number for I-Power. And viola.. Got somebody
with a pulse on the phone after 1 hour and
15 mins of the most excruciating elevator
music I've ever heard. (It was stairway
to heaven in MUSAK, and as a musician,
I'm generally bored with Stairway after
about 5 mins anyway, let alone MUSAK)
No, hate for my boys, it's a great song,
just hear in the music stores to often,
watch Waynes World and you'll understand
where I'm coming from.. Anyway...
So, HELLO!!! Yes, finally a human... I
am apologized too.. They haven't got
their UNIX servers up, and have no
idea why the web site is promoting them,
let alone selling accounts. However, some
of them are up, she'll put in an emergency
order.. I'm given a ticket number, and
a 24 hour, 800 toll free number to call.
I should see my account up within'
(can you guess?) 72 HOURS.. **sigh**

3 Weeks OF WTF?

Okay.. So now we have an account, we
just can't access it.. Every 72 hours,
for three weeks, we are promised,
and apologized to, and given a NEW
ticket number, and asked to call back
with.. **TADA** 72 HOURS, should we
not have access... Finally.. After
seeing their charge for setup on my
credit card bill, and seeing that
I have just been charged for a month,
that I've NEVER even gotten to use...
I call back, and there is no more
Mr. Nice David J man on the phone,
I in fact think the minions of Satan
took over my brain. Sometimes I wonder
if what I said to that poor man, was
even audible in ANY native tongue of
any sort... But.. Within' that day...
I FINALLY received a username and
password...

The Moment, I Was Closest To MURDER!!!

About 1 a.m. whilst Chris and I were
chatting about on MSN, I noticed that
the IP address they gave us was finally
accessible, and so off I went to access
it, and set up our FTP so we could
start transferring files... No good...
Not accessible... So.. Yes.. I called
the 800 number, waited again.. And
I know that I was unusually calm when
I called. I found everything they said
to me funny. In fact, I was completing
their sentences for them, I'd heard
the spill so often now, hell. I could
be a rep over there... This kid was
very intimidated by me, and I really
wasn't trying. I was just disgusted...
I was polite, but firm.. And I was
transferred to the Technical Dept.,
where I was received as though I'd
just woken someone up... I explained
the situation, the tech told me,
they should have never told you that
you would have FTP access to the
server, they only have Tel-Net, and
you must install the software...
I was floored. I purchased a Linux
based Cpanel account... So.. Back
to the sales rep I go.. Transferring
though yet another 45 excruciating
minutes of MUSAK hell... The sales
rep indeed confirmed that we had
purchased CPANEL access with FTP.
But.. They would not be available
for use for another 2-4 weeks...
Shocked....Angry... And seeing
flashes of "Manhunter" in my head..
(It puts the lotion in the basket,
only to include, it puts the FTP 
on the server..) I exhaled, transferred
to the setup dept., and canceled the
order. I was thanked, and apologized
to again, and just as the rep said,
if you ever need our service again...

(CLICK!!!) I introduced them to Mr.Dialtone,
and took the rest of the night off...

At Last.. We Found Our Savior...

So, now. With our money hung up in
I-Power, and still haven't seen the
refund... We are now counting on
that pocket comb, change, and
assorted lint to pull us through.
Somewhere in the night after two
hours of searching the web, Chris
and I found a host... Credit Hosting.Com...
We found a package we could afford,
and again... Purchased... What follows
in unbelievable... Within' a minute
of the purchase, we had received a welcome
letter.. And a guarantee of 48 hour
setup... Within that evening, I had
three email conversations with a LIVE
person, not an autobot... When I
tell you, that within' 24 hours of
the time I hit submit on the purchase
that I had the account setup, files
uploaded and waiting on domain resolvement,
(that's NEVER happened before) I'm not
kidding. Danny C. from CreditHosting.Com
is the messiah of all things web site...
He is my new hero, and I'll strive in
my web company to be as effective as
he... For you see, this all took place,
in the middle of the night. On a WEEKEND!!!
Hence.. We had the access, and decided to
do a one up for something that LLCruise,
Matt, and I had discussed some. The
OnlineCrowCommunity.Com web site will be
hosted there... Finally, the O.C.C. will exist...
We have access... The new world order of
crowfans is born, and everybody cheered,
and danced, and drank until dawn...

Just When We Thought It Was Safe To Begin...

After much encryption, and password protecting
of files, and uploads and downloads, e.t.c...
I finally have The Crow Workprint Chapter One
files on my desktop... Chris managed to capture
and send the files.. We are WAY excited, because
now.. Two guys from TWO different cities, who
have NEVER met in real life, are working on
a film project, and making the best of friend-
ships even stronger. If you don't understand
that, get involved in a mutual hobby with your
friends, it's the coolest thing ever, and you'll
only flourish your friendship... There was only
one problem.. The workprint files, come from
about a 200th generation VHS of the workprint,
and the quality is just unusable... Which is
just terrible, because there are so many wonderful
scenes, that were not on the DVD... To add
insult to that injury, Chris found out the
very next day, that he could NOT work on
the editing for this project at his class
in Film School, he could only Author and
Technically advise me... This was a blow
I did NOT need to hear.. My heart sunk...
I prepared to send you all a letter, thanking
your for the support and explaining all of
this and pulling out of the project, but
as I began to read the hundreds of requests
for the newsletter that we've received,
I began reading your comments....

I Wept...

Reading those comments from those emails,
I wept... So many of you are behind this,
and I've read so many touching stories,
and hopes and well wishes, there was no
way we could let you down... So here
I sit with a new found motivation, and
a nice art print of Brandon I just purchased
for inspiration, when it looks bleak,
I shall look to him, and think of your
letters of encouragement, and push forward.
Not having the workprint is a bad blow,
and Chris not helping with the editing is
also bad. Because, he is the real expert
at video editing. My foray is music, always
has been. I've played in two bands that
because popular in the 80's,(I'll keep
the names to myself, on the grounds that
it may incriminate me, those who know,
will understand...) But, now... I have
to learn to edit, and quickly... I'm
using a lot of the same setup I use
for music, recorders, and software,
e.t.c.. But, now.. I have to use real
VISION... I hope in the end, it will
not suck.. I CANNOT SUCK!!! Is my
motivation... So..Here goes...

The First Three...

Okay.. The first three files of the film project
are up.. They are the Intro., Chapter One, and Chapter
Two... They run in that order... The intro. is tribute
to Edward R. Pressman, James O'Barr, and Brandon Lee...
Chapter One... Starts out as normal, with only the
inclusion of the "Revisited" intro.. You'll notice in
the shot where Albrecht embraces Sarah, that the
the color bleeds out just as the screen goes to still
frame in Black and White... I hope this conveys the
feeling. In that instant, everyone's lives had changed...
In Chapter Two.. We begin with the graveyard scene where
Sarah visits Eric and Shelly, and the film is now in
Black and White format, for just as in Chapter One...
Things have now changed... Chapter Three is going to
be the biggest bear to hunt in this project, there are
so many different things going on, in three different
segues pulling footage from the deleted and extended
scenes, all the while keeping the content smooth, and
workable.. It's going to be a challenge... I'll keep
you updated when the print is up and online...

(Sorry this is so long.. we had TWO months to cover
because of I-Power, and other problems along the way...
The project is rolling, Chris and I are dedicated to
it's completion, and This Tribute will LIVE!!!)

Your Friends In The Crow,
David J & Chris Collins
The Online Crow Community