Highlights

This January, as in previous years, my focus was mainly on collecting and archiving logs and project data to permanent store on M-Disc optical media to keep on the shelf, doing the annual accounting, and reporting to the IRS for our partnership. I did a small amount of production work right at the end of the month.

2025 Annual Archives

I created a 6-disc M-Disc BD-R set, which includes the following resources:

• Daily Screenlogs
• Daily Photos
• Production Timelapses
• Direct-to-Camera Video Logs
• Monthly Summary Articles
• Animated Output, Work-In-Progress, and Documentation Videos
• Text Logs
• An Extract of the Lunatics Production Sources
• Business Paperwork and Tax Filings

I use a script to convert the WordPress XML export to Markdown format and then use that to generate a static blog with Pelican that I can store on disc. I have to manually revise video embeds to use videos stored on the disc, rather than linking to outside resources.

The script for converting the Production Log articles was somewhat broken. Because of this, I had still not written out the last volume of the 2024 Archive, which i did first, and then I used the updated script to create the 2025 Archive (although again, the last disc is waiting on me to finish my tax returns).

2025 Annual Review

I also do an inventory of what has changed over the new year. This year I was able to purchase some additional equipment, most notably a card scanner I can use for scanning storyboard art for episode 2 of Lunatics, which I plan to work on later in 2026.

2025 Accounting and Taxes

We didn’t really make much money this year: there’s a small amount from Patreon (offset by how much we pay out to other Patreon creators), and about $13 in table sales from the Denton Zine and Art Party, including the one coloring book I sold. And on the other hand, we spent close to $3000 on expenses mainly related to hosting. About $1000 went into some new equipment, the largest single item being the card scanner, which I hope to use to scan storyboard art for episode 2 more quickly (I previously used a flatbed scanner, which is versatile, but requires more post-processing to make useful storyboard images).

So, we’re still losing money, but it’s mostly because we’re just keeping the websites up and running on cloud services and haven’t really made significant sales, which probably has to do with not having the pilot episode finished. So there’s nothing really unexpected here.

I’ve filled out all the forms, but in February, I’m still working on getting them submitted. We’re attempting to switch to electronic filing this year. We’ve been using “free fillable forms” for years to submit our personal taxes, but the process has been less accessible for business/organization filings. It appears to be possible to do it, now, but I have to say the software is infuriating to work with. I’ll write about how it goes in next month’s report.

Lunatics Production

Right at the end of the month, I did get back to doing a small animation project. I set up cameras and rendered background plates for the outside scenery that is seen outside the windows during the interior train shots.

Two of the shots (Z & Y) have a camera that remains at the same orientation, looking straight out of the right and left windows of the train (when looking towards the front of the train). The other two (X & W) have angles and moving camera that are needed for several of the shots.

This replaced the static image effects that I used in the New Years 2025 draft edit of the episode, where I simply used a blurred image with an animated pan effect in Kdenlive.

So, I also prepared a comparison video (I actually did this in early February), to show the difference:

Since there was very little production work in January, I’ll just include this work in my production timelapse video for February.

Other News

Of course, we had another long hard freeze and ice storm around the 24th of the month. This is becoming an annual expectation, ironically because of global warming. It’s warmer the rest of the time but then we get these “polar vortex” events. It’s because the arctic circulation, which usually confines this kind of weather to the polar region, is breaking down. So every once in awhile, in recent winters, it spills out and comes to pay us a visit.

I’ve also started some annual cleaning projects. We have a second ocean storage container (in addition to the one I’m using as the studio/office) which has mostly been just used for storage since 2014. I would like to clean it out and remodel it to get some more studio space — especially to create a small foley/soundstage we can use as an upgrade from the existing sound recording booth. This would give us better acoustics and more room to work. It’ll also double (triple?) as a music performance room and a viewing room, which would be nice to have (these all have the same basic requirement of a modest-sized room with good sound isolation and quiet acoustics — the viewing screen is also needed for foley work).

But this requires a LOT of trash removal and reorganizing. So I’ve been working on that.

Video Log

Just one video log this month:

Video Log 2025-01-24: Archive Season

And that’s it for January 2026.

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