In the meantime, I’ve done quite a bit over the last few months that has not been written about here.

- The Difference Engine
- Sci-Fi Expo
- The Nightmare Machine
- All-Con
- New costumes
- New video
- New sheet music
- New photos

Next week: Scarborough Faire and my newest costume

Video time! This one’s been on my to-do list for a long time, and took a couple days to make. It’s the Ordon Village theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. The sheet music is now available, too!

The Difference Engine is a Steampunk convention held in Fort Worth, TX, over the New Years weekend. Had a lot of fun, met some cool people, and tried out a costume made 100% found around my apartment. Here’s a photo of what happened.

Star What?

Sci-Fi Expo was back in February in Irving, TX. Had quite a bit of fun there: Met some cool people, bought some merch, wore my new Klingon prosthetics (made by The Mistress of Disguise), and showed off my new Monster Gray uniform design (designed by me, constructed by One Silver Wing)… or at least the prototype. Here’s a photo!

Rise and Fall of a Starfleet Klingon

The Nightmare Machine is a Steampunk/Paranormal hybrid convention that takes place each March in Jefferson, TX, which itself is known for a ridiculous amount of paranormal activity. Throw in a bunch (modified) period costumes, and what do you get? One crazy weekend of ghost-hunting, story-telling, photo-taking and merch-buying. Here’s a snap of me in my gentleman costume in the historic (and very haunted) Jefferson hotel.

Always the Gentleman

All-Con is a little closer to my usual fare. It’s an all-encompassing convention primarily for sci-fi, but also hosting anime, tv, movies, video games, etc. I got the revised version of my Monster Gray uniform finished in time thanks to Sword and Shears. Here’s a glimpse at what happened:

On the Holodeck

Cool. So now we’re all caught up. In theory. Unless I’ve forgotten something, in which case I’ll just write a new post for it… and stuff.

Things that have gone up in the last month? Things I can actually show you? Hm… Well, DocJazz4 posted our single-take recording of the “Horse Race Theme” from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Here’s a look at that one:

For those of you who haven’t figured it out, I don’t just think of myself as a musician, so I don’t just spend my time on music. I spend my days on whatever art inspires me at the moment… assuming I can break away from whatever video game has me addicted at the time.

Sorry I haven’t been posting music. Oddly enough, I got a couple days to myself last week, played cello for about 20 hours, and didn’t manage to get anything recorded. Seems like I’m just making it all too complex. Over the last couple nights, I’ve started painting again. For those of you who aren’t familiar with my painting, here are a couple to refresh your memory:

Electric Arc Rifle

Steampunk Semi-Auto?

These and more visual oddities are hosted at CamWilkinson.deviantart.com, so please go take a look! More photos should be going up very soon!

…but if that’s the case, then what have I been up to for the last couple months?

A bit of photography, a bit of music here and there, making promotional videos for work, signing onto a record label. You know, no big. But why would you believe any of that without proof? Um… good question.

The classic Super Mario Bros. Overworld theme went up in December:

And in January, I kinda sorta half-celebrated the passage of the 5,000 subscriber mark. And stuff.

More stuff coming soon! Particularly, some photography, and more about this whole record label thing, as well as what it means for you, and for my music. In the meantime, feel free to let me know what you think!

Episode 1 is “The Anatomy of the Cello”, and includes the names, functions, and occasionally brief histories of the cello’s component pieces, delivered with my usual flair. For those of you who aren’t familiar with said flair, let’s just say it involves caffeine. Lots of caffeine.

Also, I’ve uploaded the MP3 (320kbps) of the Overworld theme from the original Legend of Zelda, so go check out the MP3 page to download it!

I’ll do my best to post some more updates in the next few days. Let me put it this way: I was really surprised when I realized an entire month had slipped by until I remembered it had been October.

Oh, and a new video.

I honestly think it’s my best work yet, but I’ll let you decide.

But I know you didn’t come here to see that, oh no. If you’re here, you’ve probably already seen that video. What you came to find out is that I’m *FINALLY* working on sheet music!

Wait, sheet music? Yeah, sheet music! I’m going back and listening to my old videos to figure out how I played it there (and making changes where needed), and I’m thinking about including more sheets for the original versions as well.

Super deluxe much? You betcha! But that’s how I roll. I’m gonna try to start rollin’ these suckers out as fast as I accurately can, but I won’t be neglecting to put up new videos, because it’s also time for the cello lessons to begin. Yeah, I promised those like nine months ago, but they’re coming. And soon. Maybe next week.

I know what you’re thinking: “Cam, when do think you’re gonna have time for all this?” The answer is simple: I don’t, but I’m enjoying working on all this again, and I hear it’s what you want to see, so I want to keep it all moving.

Leave me some love, and let me know what you think!

Now that I’ve gotten through that, we can get back to our usual silliness, yes? Yes, I thought so.

Last weekend was AnimeFest 2011 here in Dallas, Texas! Four days of blissful fandom for anime, manga, comic books, and video games. Beautiful! Um, I should also mention that I apologize to anyone I may not have been my normal cheerful self to. I had a mild stomach bug the entire weekend, so I wasn’t always feeling that great. Not that it stopped me from enjoying the sights. Or participating in the skit contest on Sunday night.

Speaking of which, NEW VIDEO! This is the skit I did with my friends at the contest on Sunday night. It’s “All For the Crown” by The Epic Toaster. For the sake of simplicity, I’ve added subtitles so you don’t have to miss anything for the roars of the crowd

And just to round things out, Rob D of explosm.net‘s Cyanide and Happiness was giving away free sketches. My buddy, John Wayne asked for Cyanide and Happiness in space, and what he got was awesome on paper. My friend impressonion went next and asked for Cyanide and Happiness at the zoo. It was… well, honestly a little disturbing, but considering everything else that’s been in the comic, I’m not surprised. As he drew it, he mentioned “By the way, I don’t condone this,” if it’s any hint. Finally, I asked for his take on Star Trek. This is what I got:

Product of a brilliant mind?

Good grief. I think today was the 61st day this year that we’ve had temperatures over a hundred degrees here in Dallas. The record of 69 days was set back in 1980, and we may be lookin’ at a winner this year.

So of course, what am I doing during all of this? Heavy lifting in high heat, and chillin’ at night. Lately, I’ve been spending most of my free time playing Borderlands on Xbox Live with my best friend. Awesome game.

For those of you who didn’t know, I put up a new video late Sunday night, and then took it down on Monday morning. For those of you who did know, sorry. I felt that the video wasn’t up to my usual standards, both in the performance of the song, and in the mixing. Considering how much there was to redo, I’ve decided not to repost the video. I will instead focus on a different piece next time.

AnimeFest is coming up next weekend in Dallas! I’m super excited, and will have a couple tweaks to my uniform, and hopefully another costume altogether. For those of you who will be in attendance, I will be on stage in the skit competition (after the costume contest), so come cheer me on!

Finally, I’d like to make a note that you should definitely follow me on Twitter. I post random things on there that don’t end up on my Facebook Page, and aren’t long enough for a blog post. Thought-of-the-day kinda stuff. Things like this:

Aug. 24: Toggling God Mode can screw with your perceptions of reality. Don’t do it.

I was involved in yet another car wreck last Friday: I was rear-ended on I-635. Yes, I have believed for a while that that section of highway is a danger zone. No, I can’t get around using it. Anyway, even though it bent the bumper of the truck down, I was somehow spared injury and even soreness. My bosses were concerned, but due to company needs, I’m still on the road. I do want to say I don’t begrudge them that; I knew what I was getting into when I signed on.

Don't worry, it's just a screen shot.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t counting on more bad luck. Today I got a speeding ticket: 41 in a 30. I thought I was in a 35. That cop was so quick about it, I’m convinced he was only after numbers today. The whole process only took 3-4 minutes.

That said, there is hope! A silver lining to the cloudy sky! (Just ignore that there are no clouds in the sky…) I spent Friday night recording with my friend Jerra, who is an excellent vocalist and pianist. With any luck, I should be able to have the finished video up this weekend.

Birthday:
Thanks to everyone who came out to wish me a happy birthday! I had a great time, and hope to see y’all again!

Video:
I put up a new video for you to enjoy on Saturday afternoon: the Kakariko Village theme, from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

MP3:
The new Tetris Theme A MP3 has been uploaded for your listening pleasure. It’s free to download, so why not add it to the collection?
Here’s a link for you, to make it easier.

Captain Vader

Sheet Music:
I’ve finally pinned down some good software for creating sheet music. Now I just have to learn how to use it!

Conventions:
I’ve got my registration for AnimeFest 2011. I’ve heard they’ll be capping attendance at 5,000 this year, so if you haven’t already registered, now might be a good time to do that, because I’m looking forward to seeing y’all there!

Costumes:
I’ll be helping my friend Megan Martin work on a few patterns, which means new costumes at some point. Vague, I know, but you’ll understand when you see them. They’re unmistakable.
I’ve also started work on a Steampunk costume. I don’t want to spoil the surprise, but let’s just say it’s not the usual stuff. This has ‘viral’ written all over it. I expect I’ll have that one done in a couple months. Yeah, it really is that complex.

I found this picture while going through things from A-Kon. Much fun was had.

So what else should I be working on? I’m taking suggestions.

This morning when I got to work, I realized quickly this was going to be a long day of heavy lifting. What I didn’t realize at the time was how many things I had to deliver. I put three boxes in the back of the truck from 9:30am and didn’t get the chance to deliver them until almost 3pm. And as if that wasn’t enough, I got in a wreck on my way to deliver them. I’m fine, the truck’s fine, and it wasn’t my fault, but it did cause me to stand outside in the sun for about half an hour in triple digit heat. Oh, and the bossman managed not to have a heart attack when I called him. I finally sat down to lunch at Taco Bueno at 3:45pm, and then resumed the lifting for a while longer.

Birthday 2010

So where’s the turnaround? The good news?
This is after last night, when I decided I wanted to have a birthday party this year after all. Thus far, I had simply said it didn’t mean much to me, and that there would be no point in spending money on organizing a party. That, and I start getting nervous that something’s going to break when more than about 6 people cram into my apartment. Last night I realized the alternative was to spend the weekend pretty much alone, and we can’t have that.

Long story short, here’s the ANNOUNCEMENT!!!
YOU ARE CORDIALLY INVITED to celebrate the 23rd birthday of Cam Wilkinson *this* Saturday, July 30, 2011, at Main Event in Plano.
Yes, I seem to be there a lot lately, but I enjoy it, and their Summer Fun Pass makes it good cheap fun all day. I plan to show up with some friends a little before noon and stick around until about 5. Come say hi, and bowl a few frames with me. No need to have skill, I’m pretty terrible. Or we can play laser tag. Either way, I should have an event set up on Facebook shortly.

Oh, also, I had originally planned to make this a costume party, but I don’t expect anyone to actually show up in costume.

So yeah, hope to see y’all on Saturday!