The Jonathan Coulton Project

I set up a website for the Jonathan Coulton Adventures, and then ran out of time to make it look how I wanted, so you'll just need to deal with how it looks at the moment.

http://www.JoCoAdv.com

The adventure game is going to replace the JoCo Project...like I made videos anymore....I will probably post live videos at some point, like when he returns to the UK later this year...I mean when JoCo returns to the UK.

Also, I have turned on moderating of comments on the site, but I doubt I will bother. I just got fed up of all the WOW gold adverts, so it is 100% their fault, and anyone buying gold from them is as much to blame.

I have a plan to take the Jonathan Coulton Project in a new direction. It will mean buying a new domain name.

Online adventure game. Anyone out there who can help with any of the following contact me at jonathancoultonproject@gmail.com
I need help with the whole project, but the most useful would be:

• Story Writers (or just ideas)
• Graphics
• Voice Recording (anyone with a microphone and some time can do this)

Even if you don't know how you can help, if you would like to help, just email me, and I'll find something you can do, even if it is just someone to bounce ideas off.

Ok, enough is enough. All you spam people, stop leaving comments on my posts. All I do is delete them as soon as I get the email telling me they are left. It's wasting both of our time.

Anyone have any ideas how I can stop this stupidity?

Jonathan appeared on The Daily Show last night. He didn't sing, just played guitar in the background for a John Hodgeman section.

Hi,

Happy first of may, and to celebrate the coming of spring, why not watch a first of may video....

My Video: http://jocopro.libsyn.com/index.php?post_id=268824

Spiff's Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-77ElyvRxI

I don't normally speak out on issues like this, but I feel I have to.

Virgin Media, one of the big UK ISPs has stated they will start charging companies that have high bandwidth services, and if they don't pay, they will limit Virgin Medias bandwidth to them. There has been a great deal of dicsussion on Net Neutrality, but Virgin Media are the first company to publicly declare they will do this.

Even if you don't live in the UK, even if you aren't a Virgin Media customer, we all need to speak up now, as if Virgin Media do this, it will be a sign to all the other ISPs that their customers will let this happen, and then it will be too late.

I recently got an iPhone, and was not happy to find iTunes in the UK don't support ring tones.

After much investigation, I finally found a way to get Jonathan Coulton songs on my iPhone as ring tones on the PC for iTunes version 7.6.

1. Open your music file in your sound editor (e.g. Audacity), and crop it down to 40 seconds or less, if not already, then save.
2. Convert the file to an mp4 (using dvdvideosoft - video to iphone mp4 converter, yes video! - http://www.dvdvideosoft.com/products/dvd/Free-Video-to-iPhone-Converter.htm)
3. Rename the file with an m4r extension (make sure you first uncheck “hide extensions of known file types� in tools -> folder options -> view, or in Vista, Organise -> Folder and Search Options -> View Tab -> Untick Hide extensions for known types)
4. Drag the m4r file to your iTunes Ringtones window

Or you can download these and simply drag them to the ring tones window of iTunes:

• Code Monkey (Start of Song)
• Code Money (Chorus)
• Re: Your Brains (Chorus)
• Still Alive (Duet Version)

After a small outage on the official Jonathan Coulton forums, it was decided a back up place to chat may be required, so as a stop gap solution it was decided here was the place to go, so if the official forums are down, and you want to chat about JoCo stuff, post in the comments of this entry on my site.

I have sent up a forum on a free site, I suggest that is used:

http://www.punbb-hosting.com/forums/joco/

Hey guys,

I think this is really funny.

This video on YouTube is how to 'Hack' Jonathan's site to get his music for free:

<EDIT: The guy removed the video, probably out of shame for having JoCo as the first post>

Guess who got the first comment on it....Jonathan.

The only way it could have been funnier is if Jonathan's original comment had been allowed through:

http://www.jonathancoulton.com/2008/01/31/hacking-my-site/

This is where he explians how to get the music from his site for free, that he doesn't care if people get his music for free, and why the default is to ask for money.

Other than Jonathan getting the 'First' comment, my favourite comment was 'Wow! Can you tell us how to get the new Radiohead release?' by mtgordon

Just a quick post to point out that last years Ecard is still active and working. Just press the little envelope on the side menu.

Or the one in this post:

 

It has an awesome video made by Tom for Chiron Beta Prime. It is still my favourite video.

I was thinking. Is there any musician or song writer in the world that has written more songs about monkeys that Jonathan Coulton?

To date he has writen 5 (one is pending release) and named an album with Monkey in the title.

Off the album "Smoking Monkey" there is:

• De-evolving - About de-evolving back to being a monkey
• Overhead - "I'm sick or your smile, your nothing to say. Your monkey, your middle"

Off the album "Where Tradition Meets Tomorrow" there is:

• Skullcrusher Mountain - That has a half pony half monkey monster (with too many monkeys)

Then from thing a week there is:

• Code Monkey
• My Monkey

And from the aftermath (I only just got that joke...mandelbrot set!) there is

• My Beige Bear - Supporting stuffed toy is an indigo monkey

So many monkeys! Is there any song writer or singer that has more songs about monkeys?

December 1st is special for a few reasons. Firstly it is Jonathans' 37th birthday! Happy Birthday Jonathan, and earlier in the month on the Jonathan Coulton Forums the fans were picking a day to celebrate Jonathan and his music and December 1st seemed a great day to pick.

On December 1st (which is Saturday) all fans of Jonathan Coulton should spread the word how ever they can (see forum for ideas http://www.jonathancoulton.com/forums/comments.php?DiscussionID=298&page=1 )

Some ideas include:

1. Writing the web address on the sidewalk in chalk
2. Printing off bookmarks and taking them to you librairy and bookstores
3. Blogging/Commenting across the interwebs
4. Getting you favourite podcast and radio programs to play him
5. Telling everyone you meet that day it is JoCo day
6. Contacting you local newspaper and telling them what you are up to

So go tell the world!

I spent yesterday evening doing work on my next video and listening to JoCo record his next song, live:

http://ustream.tv/channel/joco-in-a-bubble

The Orange Box that contains many first person shooter type games has a song at the end written by Jonathan Coulton, and after much dicussion and searching, those clever people over at the Jonathan Coultons' forums have found it on the interwebs (note: it apparently has spoilers for the game in):

Video of end credits where it is found: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/usermovies/116006.html

MP3: http://planethavok.com/portal_still_alive.mp3

Enjoy!

For those who don't know, I finally got to the USA and saw JoCo perform live. And it was everything I expected and more.

There was even an unplanned performance of Sweet Caroline. Gle3nn went to the next show JoCo performed, and the fact that Sweet Caroline had been performed was a well know fact, so no suprises it was performed again, except this time there was a video camera:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twcKkXaraJM

Enjoy! I know I did.

In Podcast news, the next video has been delayed by a month. Expect it in 5 weeks, although no promises.

Sorry about the lack of content, I promise I haven't given up, I still have plans to release more, but it will be occasional, rather than regular.

In the mean time, JoCo is going to stream his show live this week (3rd of May) from Johnny D’s. Paul & Storm go on at 9:30pm (USA East Coast time), and JoCo will be some time after that.

I won't be able to watch it my self, 9:30 would be about 3:30 am in the UK, and on a work night too!

Here is the stream, or you can find it via Jonathan's offical website:

So what have I been working on that has kept me so busy?

The answer is, I am helpping Jonathan Coulton with his web site.

The first stage has just been released, which was a rebuild of the song details page. Now each song has not only the lyrics, but tabs for videos, guitar tabs, and the introduction from Jonathan.

More to come later.

Hi all, as mentioned in my last post, I have been working hard on a JoCo project. Today is the big day, it will be announced later today (hopefully) on Jonathan Coulton's website.

See if you can figure it out before then.

Hi all, sorry for the lack of content. What with Christmas, then the expansion of World of Warcraft coming out (yes I'm one of those people) I haven't had any spare time. And I haven't had any submissions from other authors recently.

And now I am working on a 'secret' project...well it's not a secret really, but I'll keep it secret for now. It does mean I won't be making any videos in the near future, but this is not then end, just a pause in proceedings.

 Hi everyone,

I'm going to ask a favour. If you have a web page, blog, podcast, etc. Can you please link to this site, the eCard and directly to Jonathan Coulton's website.

The point of this podcast and the eCard is to get people to hear Jonathan Coultons music, but I need your help getting higher in the search engine rankings.

The links you need are:

This Site: http://www.JoCoVideo.com

eCard: http://www.kerrin.co.uk/cgi-bin/ecardDB.pl

Jonathan Coulton's Site: http://www.JonathanCoulton.com

Everyone should visit the site on the 24th for the big release, and it won't be just a video. That's all I'm saying for now!

Jonathan came up with an awesome idea for this flash video that Tom Ellsworth has produced (to be released in the near future).

Tom and I are currently putting together a eChristmas Card which plays the video. You will be able to select images and add your own personal message.

This is what is know as a viral campaign, and can make someone very well know. It can also be a huge flop, but aim high I say!

I'm not sure what changed, but the 'All Videos' link on the top menu broke. Well it's fixed again, so if you tried it in the past and got a 404 error, try again now. No one emailed me about it, so I hope no one got the 404 error.

Video news, I'm still trying to convert a Flash file to MP4, and no one seems to be able to convert this specific file. At this rate it won't be able to go on the feed, which will be a big shame. Release date is currently sheduled for November 23rd, so check back then.

Hey everyone, sorry the videos have not been coming out as frequent as before. I'm sure you all understand if I simply say 'Other commitments'

That said I have recently seen a video that has excited me, I believe it to be the best JoCo video yet, and the person who made it would like it on the Jonathan Coulton Project, so I am very happy....except their is one issue, it is currently a Flash video, and I need it to be a MP4 file. Any one out their know a good way to do this?

Email me if you do:

JonathanCoultonProject@gmail.com

Now the UK tour is cancelled, I needed to find a link to replace it on the top menu (well I didn't have to), so I have created a page that lists all the Jonathan Coulton videos that I am aware of on the internet.

The page lists all the videos that aren't in the JoCo Project. If you want to list all the videos in the JoCo Project, you just press the Music Video link on the side bar.

If you know of any videos worth a mention on the page, just email me at JonathanCoultonProject@gmail.com

Ok, I know I said I'd probably make a video this weekend, but I haven't.

I have another video from Ruth, but I need to convert it to iPod format. The software I have is very random, and sometimes works on a video, and other times leaves a strange repeat of video at the end. When I converted this video, it was the worst for this issue so far. So I'm going to use google video to convert it.

Cross fingers it will be available tomorrow.

Today is a bad day if you are a Jonathan Coulton fan, Thing a Week has ended after 52 things. The last thing being a cover of two Queen songs, which I absolutly love!

Alas, there is more bad news for UK fans, the UK tour has been cancelled. Due to lack of bookings. I'm sorry, but no one is more upset at this than me.

I'll have to see if I can't make a video this weekend to cheer me up.

Second Life! I don't have time for my first life! Of course when I heard Jonathan Coulton was going to perform in Second Life, I made time.

The concert was a great experience, and Jonathan was awesome (what did you expect?)

I had hoped I could record the concert and release a video of it on the project, but I could figure out how to record the audio, and it was too late to use the seperate stream. And it was 3am UK time when Jonathan came on stage to perform.

If anyone puts a video together of one of the songs in the concert, I would love to put it on the podcast feed.

To see some pictures of the concert visit Flickr and search for Jonathan Coulton Second Life Concert

Hi everyone, I'm back from my holiday, so hopefully things will return to normal in the near future.

There has been a lot of videos produced for Jonathan Coultons' songs recently, but one of my favourites was a flash video for Mr Fancy Pants, well the person that put that video together has released another video, this time for I'm Your Moon.

To check out these videos pop over to:

http://www.interactivitiesink.com/flash

And I have a treat for everyone waiting on the next JoCoPro video, we have a new contributor! Once I sort out some technical issues with the iPod version of the file I will release it to the world!

This is completly unrelated to Jonathan Coulton, but I don't care, you can just ignore it if you want.

This game is a bit of fun, and I had a hand (a very small one) in its' inception.

Kitchen Konudrum

Have fun, and remember to stop at some time.

Len is the guy that does the visual thing a week on Jonathan Coultons' web site (and I used two of them in the Under The Pines video), well he made an alphabet made up of zombies, and someone else then made a site where you can type in anything and it writes it in zombies.

Zombie Letters from e-zombie.com

I am sorry to say that my comming few weeks I am very busy, so I don't forsee that there will be any videos from me in the upcoming weeks. If I get any submissions from other people, I will still release these.

Don't panic, I will return in September.

In other news the Code Monky video has now been viewed about 3000 times, I am very happy with this, as this is considerably more than any of the other videos, so I guess I must have done something right, even if it was just pick an awesome song to do a video for!

I was browsing You Tube and I found that there is a video for Jonathan Coulton's "I Feel Fantastic" made by Charles Numa.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpGW1XxuBEE

He has attempted to do a single take lip sync video, which given the speed of the song, was an advantageous task, he hasn't quite pulled it off in my opinion, but I bet most of you couldn't do any better. It must have taken a long time to get that good.

I have added a PayPal donations button to the side bar. If you feel like donating, now you can.

Of course Jonathan Coulton deserves your money more than me, so if you only make one donation today, make it to him.

I came to the conclusion that JoCoPro.libsyn.com is too hard to remember and communicate in a conversation, so I have bought a domain name that is easier.

http://www.JoCoVideo.com

This url will get you here, so now you can tell all your friends.

If you are wondering why I didn't get www.JoCoPro.com, the answer is, it wasn't available. Annoyingly, it is just a parked domain. Oh well.

Now I have to update all the videos to have the new URL!

So this live action video is taking longer to produce than I had hoped. I now have all the footage (I think), but have had a busy week, so haven't had time to edit it together.

I recently got an email from someone who has produced a video for Chiron Beta Prime, and he was querying if I would put his video in the podcast feed, to which the answer is yes, I will.

If anyone else would like me to add their video to the feed, I would be happy to, all you need to do is license the video under the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial ShareALike license, and credit Jonathan Coulton and any other media rights holders fully, and I request you add the JoCoPro title at the start (contact me, and I will assign you the number)

Until the video is on the feed, you can access the Chiron Beta Prime video on you tube.

Ok, no video to publish this week. That is because the next video is not a Flickr video, it will be live action.

Fear not if you need a video fix though, as someone else has made a Jonathan Coulton video this week, and credited the JoCoPro as part inspiration (after Jonathan Coulton's own Flickr video, which is fair enough)

To see the video go here:

http://garrickvanburen.com/archive/the-future-soon-flickr-flick

The song is the demo version of Future Soon, and isn't quite the same style as the JoCoPro Flickr videos, where I attempt to match the images and times to the music.

Also, if you want to see a funny video go here:

I have been working on the next video. The next video will be IKEA. There are a suprising number of pictures for IKEA on Flickr!

The next video will be released next week.

Here are my plans for future videos:
More Flickr videos (because they are easy) - The next few will all be this style (I intend to do at least 6 in this style, although maybe not all at once)
Machinima - World of Warcraft or The Movies are options, but I will decide at a later time
Live action - I have some ideas, some are simple and some are adventurous

To expand on my live action ideas, I intend on doing one like the following video: Kareoke For The Deaf
I also wish to experiment with puppets, Stroller Town would make a good song for the Muppets to do, so I will investigate this (this is the most adventurous project, and will probably never actually happen, but I can dream)
And finally I want to do a live action video of Code Monkey

But before I can do any of the live action videos, I need a video camera, as I don't think my digital camera (which can take videos) is up to the task.

Jonathan Coulton is a musician, he creates a new song every week. His music is available to be downloaded legally for free as part of the Creative Commons licence. He encourages people to not only download his music, but give it to other people.

Jonathan Coulton also encourages people to make videos for his music, and that is where the Jonathan Coulton Project fits in. The Jonathan Coulton Project (or JoCoPro for short) will produce videos for some of Jonathan Coulton's songs.

Initially, the videos will follow a similar format that was inspired by the Flickr song. The Flickr song is a song where the video is an important part of the song. The song words are about the video, that are pictures from Flickr. To see the Flickr song click here.

For everything you could ever want to know about Jonathan Coulton, his music, the subject of his songs and even some of his better known fans (including me!) visit the Jonathan Coulton Wiki