I know what you’re thinking… It’s about time!!! I’ve been patiently waiting for Episode Ten: Bozeman Montana since April 1st!!!! What took you so long??

Well the wait is finally over, and you can watch the much anticipated Episode Ten here. As to why it took long… it’s difficult to fully explain in words. So, instead, I created a short comic.

The story starts the day after New Years Eve…

So, as some of you may have seen, instead of releasing Episode Nine – Seattle Washington last Tuesday, I had a little surprise for everyone. It was Spring Break for me last week, and since I didn’t have time to edit Episode Nine, I decided to do something different. I decided to put a film crew together and create an episode using no editing equipment.

I’ve done things like this before, and there were some obvious challenges I knew to expect when you can’t actually edit your video, but there were a couple other – unexpected challenges. First off, I needed a film crew, because many of the “special effects” would have to be done live, and although I had many great volunteers helping me out, I did not anticipate how difficult it would be to organize a group of people whose main ambition was to lay on the beach (or trying to keep people not involved in the shot quiet on the set). Secondly, I was using a lapel microphone so I could get good sound, but soon realized that it was only recording on the left channel, and without any editing equipment, was impossible to change. So the sound is, in the end, very quiet, and only playing on the left side of the speakers/headphones when you listen to it. Third, although I say I wasn’t using any editing equipment, truth is I had to string the clips together somehow, and I used Windows Live Movie Maker to do it. Somehow, it was unable to export the video properly, and had a weird error three and a half minutes in. Also, the internet connecting at the house we were staying at was very slow, and I had to take a 1080p video and export it at 480p (about a third of the quality).

And finally, I did not anticipate losing my voice during spring break, and how raspy sounding all the voice overs would be, which was the main content of the episode. I also realized, shortly after starting this episode, that I also wanted to do nothing more than lay on a beach, and that the last thing I wanted to do was walk around with a camera and try to film people.

Regardless, we had a lot of fun with the video. For now, I’m going to take it out of our list of episodes until I can at least fix some of the audio problems, the weird exporting problem, and upload it at a higher resolution.

Episode Nine – Seattle, Washington will be premiering tonight, but I’m not sure I will make the 7pm deadline. Getting back into the swing of things has been slow, especially with the amount of sleep I’ve needed to catch up on, but I promise I will finish and post it by sometime tonight.

Oh – and if you want to check out Episode 8.5 – Freeport Texas, featuring a bunch of people on a beach – here it is – in all its rough glory:

Many of you may be wondering – what’s the best way to enjoy the Break Side episodes? Luckily, I made an easy three step process to maximize your viewing experience:

Studies have shown that 9 out of 10 people prefer watching Break Side episodes with their friends rather than by themselves, so call up some of your old cronies and get together over a beverage of your choice!

Everyone loves tasty snacks! Some people enjoy popcorn, some people enjoy candy, some people enjoy carrots dipped in ranch. I enjoy eating my homemade hummus with chips – but that’s only because my hummus is the best. Ever. Maybe one of these days I’ll post my recipe so you can all enjoy it. But, until then, carrots and ranch are super cheap.

Don’t sit down on behind your work desk and watch this episode on your laptop! Find a comfortable spot to sit down for 20 minutes. If you have a significant other, cuddle up next to them while you put the first episode on. Make sure to have a box of kleenex readily available though, the episodes are bound to bring tears to even the most insensitive of people!