Why does our culture love violence?

I mean, yeah, I put some in my movies but it's proven that the violence gets me a better, more positive audience reaction. Why is this? If anything, I find most violence rather disturbing to the most part... and not being a violent person I'm not all that appealed by it, myself... But really, what makes people enjoy watching it? (Feel free to answer in the comments.)

Here are a list of my Movies with some sort of violence in:

(2006) Claytime - 2.56
(2006) Clayman Eating Monster - 2.79
(2006) The Creator 2 (I think) - 2.92
(2006) Bowling - 2.82
(2006) The Bus Stop - 2.71
(2006) WSSH 4/5 - 3.29
(2006) WSSH 1/5 - 3.34 (Daily 4th)
(2006) WSSH 5/5 - 3.45
(2006) Time Traveller - 3.41
(2007) Valentines - 3.30
(2007) Claytime 2 - 3.40
(2007) Easter Rabbit - 3.27
(2007) T.D.I.C 2 - 3.47 (Daily 5th)
(2007) Teenagers - 3.32
(2007) We're Transformers too - 3.52
(2007) Birthday Surprise - 3.46
(2007) Mr.Patterson - 3.47
(2007) Actually - 3.40 (Front Page)
(2007) Robot - 3.55
(2007) Z-z-Zombies - 3.62 - Most Violent, best Score
(2007) Dentist - 3.56 (Daily 5th)
(2007) Happy New Christmas - 3.51

Ok, I know that's most of them but it strikes me odd how ALL of my awards and my highest scoring submissions have violence, and most of the ones that don't have average scores compared to the ones that do. (I know 2.56 isn't good but for a guy who hadn't been doing Claymation that long (And this is Claymation, after all), I think that's pretty good!)

But really, why is this so? Why does seeing others in pain make us feel good? It's slightly saddening really, how our societies laugh at each other's pain (whether it's real or not) when it's socially unacceptable to actually go around beating each other up and killing each other.

Eh. At least I get good ratings because of it, lol. Expect more violence in the coming year (or not) :P Merry new year!

I made 20 shorts this year :)

I'm pleased. I managed to reach my goal (technically I actually made 21 shorts as I didn't finish "last year's" Christmas short until January).

Whew!

Not so pressured anymore :)

I hope for those who have stuck with me this year have found this to be a good year for my work, like I think it has been, and that 2008 will be push the bar higher than this year has done.

Looking back over the year, I think that each episode has changed the rest of the series in some description. While making the little compilation at the end of my new short, I got to see my very first 2007 short (the one classed as first, at least) contrasted to my last and the change is phenomenal. Not as steep as the first and last 2006 episodes, but definitely a very steep contrast in terms of how it's progressed, the quality and editing.
This year has also been the most progressive year in my 'career' since my fanbase has almost doubled in size. On Youtube I have almost 70 subscribers (69 to be precise) and on here, I have 37. I know that isn't a lot compared to, say, Knox but for a 'newbie' into the online claymation game who is only ever really going to be in Knox's shadow, I would say that's very good. It's more than a class full of people at my school, which really makes it hard to put into perspective for me since I could never imagine that number of people having positive feelings to me or my work... yet I do. It's strange.
I guess a lot of this is helped by my connections. I'm a very well known member on Knox's forum (I was a moderator in the past year, too, which helped boost public awareness) so I have gained a lot of support from them, an obvious appreciator for claymation. And with Knox not really doing much Klayworld related this year, I've been able to even move some fans more into my direction than his (Not that I really want to do that as we have to help each other out in this 'game').
I've also been featured on Newgrounds front page too, which I am very grateful for. It not only gained me a modest amount of interest from potential fans who had never found my stuff before, but let me get feedback from people who didn't necessarily like my style... and that taught me a lot (Mainly to try not to make crappy animations because on the one chance you get featured, it's gonna be the animation that leaves the worst impression).
2007 was also a profit making year for me, too (LOL). I made a total of about £3 off two CDs I sold (The rest went on manufacturing, postage and packaging). But without sites like these, I wouldn't have actually made that money and I would be £3 poorer than I am now.
If I was religious, I would say "God Bless 2007"... but I'm not so I'll just say that 2007 was awesome but lets hope 2008 is better!

Ok, enough rambling about 2007 and time to share some plans for 2008.

In 2008, I hope to make a Clayground Vol. 1 DVD. Now that I have my Mac (woo!), I can start work on it as Flash is so much faster than on my old PC, meaning that I can export my old 2006 animations that were made in Flash into a format that can be put on a DVD. I hope to add commentaries to the animations, too and be releasing the DVD in a double disk box, which I'm estimating will be on Sale in the third quarter of next year. I also plan to make some animations specially for it, and hopefully a behind the scenes video of some sort. Should be good :)
I also hope to start my Clayground Movie, which I have been writing. So far so good and since I'm writing it in advance, I can get advice from other people about what to add and what to remove to hopefully make it the best darn movie I can make! This is going to be something to be proud of.
I can't give a synopsis yet, but I'm sure you'll love it... and I hope to make lots of trailers to keep you all on the edge of your seats until the DVD arrives in the mail! (Mainly because it's the most fun part of the feature film making process!)

So bring on 2008!

Have a happy new year :D

And don't forget to check out my new short *cough*

I released the second part to the "Day of the Time" shorts.

Go check it out! :D

I should also have another animation out in a few days since I'm one away from have making 20 this year! (Bringing my total count up to 40! - Which is 24 less than Knox DUN DUN DUN)

I also gave my voice in both Lino's and Chris Palmieri's Christmas animations so also check those two out if you feel like watching some quality animations!

Merry 12/27/07 everyone!

New short.

Enjoy!

It's a two parter. The next one shall be out in a week or two followed by a Christmas special :)

I released a new short yesterday (Balloon - just click the little thingy somewhere on my profile to show my submissions to find it.) which means I'm closer to my goal of 20 shorts this year (to match last year).

Yay!

So there we go xD

I also redesigned my site, kinda (More of a technical update, but I updated the graphics, too) so if you're interested, you can check it out at www.blaktornado.com.

For those of you who saw my video, Clayground - Actually the other week, well, you're in luck! (If you liked it, that is!)

A new short is going through the Flash Portal RIGHT THIS SECOND and you have a chance to determine the ending of this gripping two parter!

Go watch it! :D

Feedback is the best thing in the world. Seriously. It's GREAT. I released a new short today, after finally getting off my backside and getting round to doing stuff (It's the influence of my new iMac, I swear!) and now I'm sat back looking at the reviews for the fourth video I've released in a month. I'm glad I'm finally back into the swing of things, and what's more rewarding than seeing a score around 3.5 and a bunch of good reviews? Personally, there is nothing better for me than seeing that (well, maybe a daily award, but I don't aim for those anymore since it's pointless getting my hopes up, haha.)
Anyway, I'm looking at them and I'm just pleased and amazed at how far I've come. I look at my list of submissions; my oldest having a score of 1.95... 1.95... Those crazy Easter days of 2006 where I was new to claymation... When I actually TRIED to make funny animations... Nowadays, I put in the odd thing and hope it would get a laugh but I don't try to make my shorts funny. People say "Wow, that was hilarious!" and I think they're insane, haha. I've even seen people literally laugh out loud at my animations... and I don't. It's crazy. But then again, I wouldn't want to laugh at my own material since that would give me false hope and a higher ambition than I already have... hmmm... Talk talk talk. Yabbering and a jabbering on.
So, anyway, methinks I'll start work on another animation soon. I'm determined not to have less than 40 by December because, well, I REALLY want to keep a steady rate of them up, unlike a certain animator who does them when he feels like and, recently, is often never... yet he's still amazingly famous and worshipped :P

Ah well, in his absence, the new generations can take his place, haha. I've probably been writing too much so I'll end it now.

In conclusion, feedback is AWESOME and I love it. I think most people do. Thanks for your time! haha.

Finally, the Newgrounds redesign is here! I'm amazed by it! Sure, it may not be a huge step away from the old design but, then again, it is. I'm thrilled with all the new features and exciting new things that have been added and I'm glad that I've finally worked out how to use the new Flash Portal! (I kept clicking in the boxes and it stopped it from working. I don't know why but it did, for some reason.)
I cannot wait for the finished thing! (And hopefully some much-needed attention to the Clay Collection? *hint, hint*) Now, enough on Newgrounds and now onto me, me, me, me, me! Hehe.
I released my new short today, titled 'We're Transformers Too!' It's a bit of a tribute to the new 'Transformers' movie that I haven't actually seen yet (I was meant to release my short on the 4th of July but the idea of the Flash Portal being crowded with 'Independence Day' submissions made me steer clear... and then I procrastinated largely and didn't get it finished until today, 18th July 2007). I do not know it's score as of yet, but 'm hoping it will be adequate, to say the least. I'm not aiming for portal awards anymore. If I get them, I get them. I've already received two (One that I didn't know about until yesterday!) and I don't expect to be getting anymore soon. I just hope I don't get blammed (although it's quite unlikely as I haven't had a blammed submission for over a year... but there's always that possibility!). So that's all I can really say about my new short (Although it will be concluded soon, in a way)
Now, onto my album. I'm very close to finishing. VERY close. I'm past the recording stage and it's just the mixing that's getting to me - making sure there's not too much of a volume difference between each song (Which is very hard as I have no direct way of telling how loud each song is, so I can't reference how loud each song needs to be!). It's just trial and error basically.
So that's my album and my short and I'll leave this now as its midnight and I have school in seven hours (Sports Day! I can't wait... (I'm not a very big fan of sports)). So yes, goodnight and enjoy my new short!