The Legacy of T-Cat

"My heart has joined the thousand, for my friend stopped running today." - Richard Adams

You may not want to read this one, it's not about the movie per se, but it is something I have to relate.

On Thursday, May 26, 2011 at about 6:00 PM, I lost my best friend and partner in crime, Toes. My cat. I think I've mentioned on this blog before that she'd been diagnosed with lymphoma back last October, and though they had operated to remove the tumor, it was likely only a matter of time. I thought that fact would help prepare me for when the day came. It didn't.

The tumor on her forehead had come back over the past month, and over the past week, her eye had swollen shut. I woke up yesterday basically knowing it was time. Her behavior had changed and she'd started hiding out in the basement. Pretty much the ONLY cue a cat will give you that they are in pain. So when I took her to the vet yesterday evening, I was not surprised to hear him in agreement with me that it was time. I said, "Just do it." I kissed her on the forehead and told her I loved her, and that was pretty much it.

I was fine for a while. But by last night I was not fine, and here it is Friday afternoon and I'm still FAR from fine. So I wanted to write this, to say as much as I could about what Toes meant to me. She was the reason I named my LLC "T-Cat Productions" and she's now my logo for the company, but there was so much more.

I had Toes for 11 years. She was really small, I called her Toes because her toes were so tiny. She talked to me and I talked to her. She rode around the house on my shoulders. Every single all-nighter I ever did for the film, she was there by my side. Or rather, getting in front of the monitor and interfering. She chattered at birds, and she loved eating yogurt. She either slept under the covers with me or in the crook of my arm, and would get so excited to know it was bedtime so she could cuddle. She was also just getting good with Maddy, my 5-year old daughter, to the point that she'd sleep on her too. She had no interest in escaping the house.

Here's a video of her I took while making the Hustream video presentation:




Note how she looks in the appropriate place where the action buttons would later be, and give you a direct look at just the right time. Yes, Toes had screen presence, she did, she was a natural!

And now she's gone and I wasn't prepared for how hard that is. I know I'll get through it, and she deserves some grieving, but right now there's a big empty hole in my life. I'll miss her. I wish I could have had her for another 5 - 10 years, even though I know it wouldn't have made saying goodbye any easier. I will never forget her.

Oh hai

So as I sit here tonight trying NOT to think about the presentation to the board of directors at work tomorrow, it seems a good time for an update. So I start the tea kettle boiling, and think.

Last weekend I finished editing the film, and last Monday morning, left my baby in the hands of the US Postal Service to deliver to my editor. For editing. It was one of those momentous introspective moments one is conscious of, as I got in the car and drove away from the post office. Big milestone.

And I'm happy to report that the package made it safely. The film is now under the scalpal of a skilled documentary surgeon, and I'm thrilled about that. It also lets me turn to other moving parts in need of attention.

The inside cover art for the DVD package is done. It is a menagerie of board game pieces from various board games. According to my count, you will see bits from 76 different games. I did this for a number of reasons. First, it'll be fun for seasoned gamers to try and identify the different games included, and will be an interesting bit of eye candy for potential newcomers out there upon opening the DVD. I also like the parallel it presents to opening an actual board game box, revealing all the cool pieces inside.

I was able to get MOST of them back to their proper boxes afterwards, too. ;)

What's been going on? What HASN'T??

There's the Kickstarter. As of this morning, 300% funded. CRIPES. Almost 300 backers, too. SPARRTAAAAANS! Oh, and 3 days to go. These metrics do appear in 3s they say...

That campaign brought a lot of attention to the film. For one thing, there have been interviews and writeups:


MTV Geek Blog
Cubo Magazine
IndieWIRE
Critical Gamers

I really need to get all those added to the website...

Now as for me, I was up till 2 AM again last night. This time popping in the final versions of 3 animations. Not actually editing really. After that, I made some tea and went downstairs to do the photograph for what will be the inside cover of the DVD. I think it turned out well, but I'll tell you more later. The basement is a MESS though. I told my husband not to go down there.

As I mentioned to the Kickstarter backers, a few of us have been toying with the #gamersgonewild tag on Twitter. Post something boardgamey and add it at the end to play along!

Bonus Footage Extravaganza

I've been fighting with myself for a week now to get the next all-nighter in, and last night it finally happened. I made some changes to the main film, small changes, but in each case I felt like it made the sequence better... even though the film is now at 1 hour 35 minutes. I'm not worrying about that for the moment, though.

I added quite a bit to the Games in Education segment, it's quite the featurette now, because it turned out a lot of people had a lot to say on that subject.

And of course the Kickstarter rages on. I'm really pushing myself as hard as I can to finish this thing SOON, because all the other elements are starting to surface. Packaging, distribution, screenings at cons... all extremely exciting and fun stuff to work through, but I will feel much better about focusing on it when there's a finished film here.

I don't want to jinx things, but I have some pretty awesome bonus segments. Just sayin'...

Going Cardboard on Kickstarter

It's been quite a week, I must say. I finally launched the Kickstarter campaign for Going Cardboard. This happened last Wednesday morning, which also happened to be my birthday. :)

For 15 nail-biting minutes, nothing happened. And then you board gamers did what you board gamers do - support our cause in spades! And within just over 24 hours, the project was fully funded, and it's... Still. GOING.

I am humbled, and deeply appreciative of all the support. I can't express thanks enough, and what was already an exciting time is now just surreal. This is a week I'll never forget. Mind you, life wasn't kind enough to pause during this. I had to take my car into the shop the first day, take the cat to the vet the second day, and then right into PAX East weekend. Holy action, batman!

There's still quite a lot to do, but now I will be sharing it with you as it happens, in greater detail than before.

So, thank you. I just don't know what else to say.

Dungeon Twister: The Experience

There's a lot of crossing over that board games do into the realm of electronic gaming. There's Catan on the Microsoft Surface, of course, and the big 3 gateway games (Catan, Carcassonne, and Ticket to Ride) on consoles like the XBox.

Well there's another game that's made the crossover; Christophe Boelinger's Dungeon Twister. Peep this teaser promo for the game's debut on XBox and PS3:



There's a really cool and unusual story behind the making of this video, and you will hear that tale in Going Cardboard.

Spielbox

I just finished watching what will more or less be the test screening version of Going Cardboard, and I have to say, it's almost done!

And while still basking in the glow of that feeling, I checked today's mail to discover my issues of Spielbox had just arrived!



They even sent a nice little tote bag. Spielbox, it's love at first sight! :) Those of you living outside Europe who have wanted a board gaming magazine, FYI, Spielbox appears to be now publishing in German AND in English (oooh, what a fun way to learn German if you're so inclined). Sure, it'll cost you, but it looks like a mighty fine board gaming magazine to me.



You can find out more on their website.