LFTI Lives!

Hello!

...Wait ...what?! What's this? A post from beyond the grave?! It's the ghost of LFTI!!!!

Don't freak out. There's no such thing as ghosts. And even if there were, we're not dead. In fact, we've just finished re-releasing ALL of Life from the Inside on the new My Damn Channel Comedy Network!

LFTI is now full and uncut!

We even created a new YouTube Channel for it: http://www.youtube.com/user/LFTIseries



As it was initially intended to be all those years ago in 2006 when we shot the show BEFORE really doing any research about distribution. Turns out, YouTube (which was brand spankin' new at the time) had some policy about videos only being about 10 minutes long. They were also presented in 4x3 aspect ratio, like a 1950s television set. So, we used to have to letterbox all of our anamorphic videos before posting them. And there was a ridiculously low file size limit as well, which meant that bitrates needed to be tiny too. Low resolution!

If that last paragraph has you confused, good. You're probably a much happier person for having no idea what all that useless crap means.

Needless to say, the early uploads of LFTI (especially on YouTube) look horrible. I'm pretty sure they're going to use them in ophthalmological schools as examples of what it's like to have degenerative eyesight disease.

So, they needed to be fixed. And they "have been." Why quotes? Well, because nothing's perfect when dealing with technology. So, I'm sure they'll be "fixed" again sometime in the future. I assure you it's our never-ending dedication to the show that drives us, and not the fact that we have nothing better to do than recompress LFTI videos every few years.

Yup.

There's another reason that I'm writing this blog post however. Slowly but surely, I've been "updating" the LFTI website. So, I've been going back through these old blogger posts and tagging them accordingly in order to better integrate them with their corresponding episodes.

So, if you haven't been here in a while (like me), why not poke around a little and reacquaint yourself with the good old days!

That's what I've been doing.

And, if you're looking for some kind of KATR Pictures fix (that's us), go to our website and see what we've been up to since Life from the Inside!

katrpictures.com

It was nice talking to you again!

ROBB

Red Hot Blip on Blip Action!

Ever wondered what the hot shows on Blip.tv are? Well look no further than Blip on Blip (*w00t*), hosted by the inimitable Eric Mortensen to find out.

If you do look no further than Blip on Blip (*w00t*), and more specifically, if you look no further than the latest episode of Blip on Blip (*w00t*), you’ll discover that one of the hottest shows on Blip.tv is…

Life from the Inside!

Us! This show! …The show on which whose blog you’re reading. What do you mean you’ve “never heard of it?!” You’re reading the…! Okay, Funnyperson, why not watch Eric’s show and learn more about our show.

Sheesh.



Let me tell you, it was a nice surprise to find out about this yesterday (in tweet form thanks to Twitter. Follow us on Twitter! F-o-l-l-o-w u-s….). Usually we know ahead of time when something like this is going to hit the Nets (I’m including write-ups in that last sentence because…well…because I have to. Otherwise the “Usually” would equal “1”). So to see that Eric put this all together without our input was very cool (Of course, he and cameraman/editor Bill Cammack did have access to all of our episode files afterall. In high quality even! In fact, you can watch all our “high resolution” episodes at lifefromtheinside.blip.tv).

It’s especially cool to feel that Eric digs the show. He is the Director of Content Development which means the he has probably directed some developing content from time to time, so he’s not a total n00b.

Yes, okay, he did bust our oysters a little about not letting him (and Blip.tv) know about the show, but in our defense, it was a careful strategy:

Sure, any old hack can put a show online with tons of fanfare, generating so many hits that it crashes the show’s website (drhorrible.com). But that’s Old Internet Hollywood, baby. We felt that the best way to grow our audience would be very slowly. Like painfully slow. Creep up on the Internet and take it from behind (not that way, gutterbrain)! A sneak attack!

And our plan would’ve worked too, if it weren’t for Eric Mortensen and his meddling Blip on Blip (*w00t*)!

Sure, we finally broke down and told Eric about our show, but that’s only because he said to in another installment of Blip on Blip (*w00t*). And we always treat every episode of Blip on Blip (*w00t*) as if it’s directed especially to us. It’s more fun that way. And way creepier.

But speaking of Blip on Blip (*w00t*); Wasn’t that just the best episode of Blip on Blip (*w00t*) that you’ve ever seen? Have you even heard of a better episode of Blip on Blip (*w00t*)? Do you think I’m using the word “Blip” too much?

I am.

Why? Well because I watched the video in the post under the post about us on Blip’s blog. You see, the Blip team searches the Web for references to Blip (egotists). I just wanted to make sure that Blip didn’t miss this post.

…About Blip.

Blip!

And thanks, Eric (you too, Bill)!

ROBB

My Blue Period

That title could sound gross, taken out of any kind of context, couldn’t it? I am, of course, making a reference to genius painter, bon vivant, and, later in life, all around hollow weirdo, Pablo Picasso.

Let me make myself very clear. This title is an allusion to Picasso and not, I repeat, not to an informational medical pamphlet about Martian female adolescence.

Okay, we’ve cleared that up.

Why am I talking about my blue period (you can’t not think of it that way now can you)? See, as Steve and Tanya have both pointed out, there are going to be some changes around the set of Life from the Inside. And I’m not just talking about the fact that Kathy has left the show. There are many new, exciting and immensely superficial changes going on as well!

Tanya also told you about the sofa and gave a sneak peek of it. Well, it’s common knowledge that you can’t change your sofa without changing your artwork. Don’t believe me? Tough. It’s common knowledge. It’s not my fault if you’re uncommon.

Who am I to buck common knowledge? I’m not like you. I’m not a doubter. So, we had to have new artwork on the walls. And since we’re too poor to afford real art (we have to sleep on the set for crying out loud), and we’re too snobby to put up posters, I’ve been working on a new painting for the (Mason’s) living room.

Here’s a glimpse of it. Now, keep in mind that this is merely a computerized simulation of what the actual painting will look like. And this is only one corner of it too. The final piece will be a triptych that will hang over the new…ooohh, there was almost a bean spill! That’s for later.

For now, there’s this.



Again, this is just the computer model. I’ll be painting the real one, so the final version will have much crappier color.

And that’s bout it I guess. I’ll talk at you later and…

OOOOOH-HO-HO!

You thought you were going to get off easy, didn’t you?! Sucker. You thought that I wasn’t going to torture you with music from the show, eh?!

Well think again.

Here’s the waltz I wrote for Episode 5 *side effects may include night terrors. That’s the title, not a disclaimer for the music. Though, I suppose it’s possible.

The especially maddening thing about this tune is that, in my opinion, it ends just as it’s getting good! But such is life. One of the hazards of being written for a short cue on an Internet sitcom.

This tune opens the third part of Episode 5. Why not re-watch Episode 5 and refresh your memory?!

…or take a listen to this.

Stay tuned for more sneak peeks at the exhilarating things we have planned for LFTI! Seriously! We’re gearing up to get some new videos out and everything! Imagine that?!

ROBB

A (Not-Quite) Goodbye

"Three's Company" replaced Chrissy with Cindy, "Wings" replaced Lowell with Bud, "Mystery Science Theater 3000" replaced Joel with Mike.


And now...


"Life From the Inside" is going to have to replace Kate.

We are very heartbroken to announce that Kathy has decided to leave the show. While we are going to miss her terribly, we know that this was a difficult and carefully considered decision.

Rest assured, we have no intentions of killing Kate off. We decided long ago that no one in the LFTI world is ever completely gone from the show as we never know when we're going to need a specific character in order to tell a story. So, while Kate will be gone, she will not be "departed". Also, killing one of your main characters on a sitcom is never a good way to get laughs. Unless we decide to turn this into some sort of zombie sitcom.

Zombie sitcom - that could be funny. Robb, write that idea down on a 3x5 card!

Now we embark on the journey of figuring out how to bring in a new character, knowing we are not going to just bring in a new actor and try to pass them off as Kate either (although I did once suggest we try that with the cheesy soap opera thing of announcing "the part of Kate will now be played by so and so" - but apparently I am the only person who finds this absolutely, oddly hysterical).

Nope, we decided that Kate is Kate and we're just going to have to find someone - or something - else to fill the void that Kathy is leaving.

Ideas we've already tossed around include a robot, a magic genie and David Spade. Yes, I realize he's already on "Rules of Engagement" but as soon as the producers realize the only funny people on the show are Patrick Warburton and Megyn Pryce, Mr. Spade will be looking for work. Again.

But I digress.

We are very sad to lose Kathy as part of LFTI. She is and always will be one of the three creators and developers of the show. A little bit of her heart and soul will still be in every episode we make.

And we will miss her.

Although, if she's anything like Joel Hodgson, she will enjoy amazing success touring the country with her new prop comedy show!

Tanya

No Longer Just a Blip on Blip

We have been featured on Blip.tv! Hooray for us! We have been placed on the front page. In fact, if you go to Blip.tv right now you’ll see…that we’re not on the front page anymore.

But that’s fine. The fact of the matter is that we were there once! Yesterday in fact. Here’s a screen grab for proof.



Sure, you’re thinking, “he could’ve Photoshopped that! Big deal! I have a picture of myself with my arm around Ghandi! That doesn’t mean that I met Ghandi or even know who Ghandi is!”

Again, what’s with your suspicious attitude? Have I ever given you reason to distrust me? And why would you have taken the time to Photoshop yourself into a picture with Ghandi if you don’t know who he is? That seems strange to me. No, I’m not judging you. I’m just saying that it doesn’t make much sense.

And yet, you’re the one who is questioning me? Maybe you should tend to your own house, friend.

Anyway, I’d like to thank Eric over at Blip for his support. And kudos to Tanya for playing publicist on this one. She rocks.

I’ve been wanting to get Blip’s attention for a while. Blip is seriously one of the best video hosting sites on the web. It’s even won awards for it. And it’s not just a big popularity contest on there. In fact, you don’t really know how popular shows on Blip are since they don’t let you see other people’s stats. And I like that. Not that we have bad stats. Our stats are good. But I don’t like the fact that stats can influence people’s taste and trends. I personally believe that the quality of a video should be more influential than a video’s popularity.

We’ve been on there for a long time. But that doesn’t mean that they had any idea that we existed. It’s the whole “if a tree falls in the forest…” thing. If an Internet sitcom is on the Internet but nobody see it, does it make a sound?

The answer is, “yes.” A lot of sounds. As the sound editor for the sitcom, I can tell you that it makes about 30-40 man-hours worth of sound. Horrible, horrible sound.

Was that an awkward transition?

I guess my point is that you should listen to some sounds from the show. Musical sounds to be exact. How about the Kate and Guy Theme from Episode 6? Sure, why not!

I was going for a sort of “duet” quality with this one. Piano and vibraphone. Hope you like it!

And thanks again, Blip.tv!

And if you want to see our show on blip.tv, go here!

ROBB

Episode 7 Sneak Peek!

Hey! Robb here, with a sneak peek of LFTI Episode 7!

Now, I haven’t gotten Tanya and Steve’s permission to do this, so I’m going to have to type fast (though I don’t really know why). And you’re going to have to read it twice as fast (though that shouldn’t be a problem considering that I type incredibly slow)!

Below, I have posted EXCLUSIVE screen shots from the next episode of Life From The Inside! “But, Robb!” you ask “how did you gain access to such guarded treasures?! Did you have to break into LFTI headquarters?! Or, do you have a secret informant working ‘on the inside’?”

Well, that is an incredibly stupid question. It’s a good thing that I invented that entire exchange and you didn’t actually ask it.

But I have been staring at the episode for a few weeks now as I’ve been editing it and I’ve been dying to show somebody! That’s when the idea hit me… you’re “somebody.” Why not show it to you?

Why not indeed.

Here it is. The world EXCLUSIVE peek at LFTI Episode 7 (I’d spill the title here, but I honestly can’t remember what we decided to call it… needless to say, whichever title we settled on will have an asterisk before it. It will also be some kind of disclaimer and deliciously apropos)!












WOW! COMPELLING!! EXCLUSIVE!!!

There you have it! I hope I didn’t give too much away.

Now there may be some of you out there who think that I’m being deliberately and annoyingly coy about all this. To you I say, maybe I’m not? Perhaps I’ve represented the episode to its fullest? Maybe we shot it this way? How do you know? And frankly, I don’t like your hypothetical tone! Episode 7 could be the trippiest sitcom you’ve ever seen!

Then again, I could just be being deliberately and annoyingly coy.

Watch episode 7!

ROBB

We've Gone Viral

Viral on Veoh, that is.

Yes, Sunny and her intrepid co-producer Josh made the dangerous trek to the LFTI set in order to interview us. Apart from having a great time, we managed to get some info out about the show.

Thanks for spreading the word, Sunny!

Check it out!



Online Videos by Veoh.com


ROBB

All A-Twitter

So the madness is over. We’ve been off the front page of YouTube for a while now. I just wanted to take a few minutes to thank all of our new subscribers for their support! It’s nice to have people following the show. We had no plans to quit making the show, but all of the great comments have really energized us!

Honestly, we appreciate each and every one of you. We practically gave ourselves carpal tunnel syndrome thanking everyone on YouTube. But that’s a nice way to see what our subscribers are up to.

And if you haven’t subscribed to us on YouTube yet, why not go there and do so? We’ll thank you! Personally! We’ll write you a very specific message in your comments like “Thanks for Sunscribing!” And If I’ve typed it fast, that’s exactly what it’ll say. Sunscribing. Or “ubscibing.”

(Here’s a little bit of trivia for you, if the word “Subscribing” is capitalized, I wrote it. If it’s not, it was most likely Tanya. Now you know.)

Speaking of seeing what people are up to…if you want to know what we’re up to here at LFTI, all you have to do is check out our Twitter feed! I’ve added it to the sidebar of this blog (over there, on the right). So you can be kept abreast of all our doings through esoteric ramblings and half-clues. Or you can go to our Twitter page. If you have a Twitter account (or want one, it’s pretty cool and all the hip kids are doing it these days) you can “follow” us. If you let us know about your Twitter feed, maybe we’ll “follow” you back!

It’ll be like the blind leading the blind.

Speaking of…I can’t wait to premier Episode 7!

See, that’s the kind of half-clue I was talking about.

ROBB

Oh, one more thing; I don’t want to start any kind of hysteria, but yesterday I completed a rough cut of the entire 7th episode of LFTI!

Tilzy Us

There’s a lot of stuff on the Internet. That’s like saying “Sean Young is kind of crazy.” It’s a huge understatement.

But there are a few places where you can go to sift through the detritus and get to the stuff that’ll waste your time without sucking your soul dry. Tilzy.tv is one of those places. It’s an Internet entertainment guide with news, reviews and commentary thrown in. Sort of like a TV Guide for the web.

And we’re on it.

Well, Life From The Inside hasn’t been added to the “directory” just yet, but they did do a write-up on our show.

Check it out. You can find it here.

Thanks for recognizing us, Tilzy.

ROBB

Some News

Hello Lifties, Robb here to tell you that it’s been an exciting Thanksgiving season. Is there a Thanksgiving season? I hope so since I said there was earlier (see above) and I hate to look like an idiot (not that it doesn’t happen all the time, but I don’t have to like it!) If not, it doesn’t matter since it’s over now.

All that aside, we’ve been featured on YouTube! That’s right the YouTube! “But, Robb” you say, “I’ve been to YouTube thousands of times over the Thanksgiving holiday break in order to get away from my family and especially creepy uncle Ted who keeps insisting that the 60s sexual revolution never really died – almost too adamantly – and I haven’t seen LFTI featured on the front page at all.”

Well, first I’d reply “why do you use such long rambling sentences when you speak?” and then I’d tell you that you’re right. We haven’t been featured on the front page…yet. The front page of YouTube is still pretty much reserved for Weblebrities, sleepy pets and Canadian music videos. But we have been featured on the “Entertainment” page. It’s in the “Catagories” section. It’s behind a yellow dumpster at the back of an ally just off the secondary road to the main highway of…look, why don’t I just give you the link:

http://youtube.com/categories_portal?c=24&e=1


There, now you can find it.

Please, feel free to go to the Episode 4 (Part 1 of 3) page and rate it! Comment too! We could use all the support we can get. Episode 3 has already been featured and we got some nice comments. But as with everything on the Internet, there are those who like to show the world just how insipid they can be. So why not go to the page and show everyone that our viewers can actually string a proper sentence together (you don’t have to spell correctly though, just pretend that you’re a nice foreigner).

Here’s Episode 4 (Part 1 of 3):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HCPGUMho56o

We also have entered the Break a Leg “Very First Contest” Contest with our own special love letter to Amber Turnipseed.

Confused? Maybe this’ll clear things up:




That didn’t really help much did it? No. But it is cute right? Sure it is. As LeVar Burton used to say on Reading Rainbow, “But don’t take my word for it.”

Here’s an article from Tilzy.tv to back up my claim:

Tilzy.tv article about the contest.

Okay, they didn’t say it was “cute” per se, but what do you want from me?! They liked it! And if you like it too, go ahead and comment and rate it on YouTube.

“But, Robb” you say again, asking too many questions, “I need a YouTube account to rate and comment don’t I? Won’t I look stupid having an account since I don’t make videos?”

Well, yes you do need an account. And no, you won't look stupid. In fact, if you leave a nice comment you'll just look, well...nice. And nice people rarely look stupid.

Anyway, that’s the news from here. I’m working on the music for Episode 6, we have another short in the works and we’re starting pre-production on Episode 7! Look for all that soon, but not too soon, we have to keep up standards around here.

ROBB