Also, new overcast coming tonight. Stay tuned!

Sound Lantern is an interesting application of the user-generated content phenomenon. It takes the YouTube model, and applies it to the world of sound. Users are encouraged to upload sound effects, music, audiobooks, poetry… all things audio. It will be interesting to see how they deal with copyright challenges; what’s to stop people from turning the site into a hub for trading copyrighted works? Content creators already have venues like The FreeSound Project and Soundsnap, which appear to have stricter upload guidelines. YouTube is loaded with “found objects”… but then they’ve got staff and mechanisms in place to at least attempt to police material for infringement. I wonder how a new startup like Sound Lantern will handle that?

Apart from that, where a site like this might get really interesting is if it extends itself by way of RSS so someone can subscribe to Twitter-like podcasts of sound bytes. That would also enable someone to host their traditional podcasts there too. Right now, I’m not seeing any feeds there, but it’s something to watch for.

I made such a loud statement when I departed from Machinima.com earlier in 2007, it seems only right that I also make public my reasons for returning. And I’d also like to share something I discovered after I returned… something very pleasantly surprising.

That’s right, all of my films are once again available at Machinima.com. And there is but one reason I took steps to make that happen, and that reason is the one I indicated at the time of my departure. Receiving an apology was a plus, but I had to see for myself that the circumstances which made me want to leave were, in fact, an isolated incident - not the beginning of a pattern of behavior. To be specific, a moderator over there had handled a disagreement in a way I found inappropriate. So naturally, I was on the lookout for subsequent “crises” to see how they were handled.

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I’m going to take a few weeks off from both the blog and podcast, and I plan to return to action on the first weekend of January, 2008. There will be one more post here in 2007… I’ve got a Christmas / New Year present for you all which you’ll be seeing very soon.

In the mean time, here’s a teaser of what you can expect to see here in 2008:

• A number of machinima / anymation films, in a variety of genres… one of them in an all new platform (for me).
• Some interesting (albeit few) collaborations with other filmmakers.
• A series of behind-the-scenes vids and scene anatomies, basically lifting the hood on my production process to reveal how I get stuff done.
• Lots more overcast goodness, with some interesting interviews and an increased emphasis on how-to.
• Continued regular blogging right here, again with a particular emphasis on how-to and tutorials.
• Custom content for Moviestorm, including a very special utility tentatively named MScope Plus.
• A very real possibility of a non-machinima YouTube series.

Happy Holidays! Keep an eye out for your Christmas / New Year present, and then we’ll see you in 2008!