Wow, the school semester ends and suddenly I find myself with a slew of new projects. I'm gonna stick to it though, no matter how long it takes.

Ok, so, before I begin, "Metal Gear: Ghost Babel" and "Red Car/Green Car" should be wrapped up around the New Year, if not before, since the semester ends in a week for me, so I should have a lot more time on my hands to record and produce.

In new project news, I've recently been casted again TWICE as "Sonic the Hedgehog." So yeah, that's got me all, pumped, and stuff. Unfortunately, the most recent project was just cancelled by it's producer. It was supposed to be a dub of all the cutscenes from the game "Sonic Adventure." One of the actors brought up the possibility of someone else picking up the slack, and I volunteered. It will be my first dub, from a producer stand-point, but I'm looking forward to it.

Also, in a recent Skype conversation between "Mr. West", "Jack Skellinghog" and I, the idea for a "Sonic" themed fan project was hatched, inspired by the AVAs who generally get cast as "Sonic." I'm calling it "Sonic Squared," meaning two "Sonics," but it's still up in the air as to whether or not there will be... more, than two "Sonics."

Aaaaaaaand to top it off, a friend in my acting class has expressed on more than one occasion that he, in his own words, would love to be the first "Black James Bond." Well, today, I saw Sean Combs' audition reel and proposal saying that he felt he was "best-suited to play the first black James Bond." In my opinion, the reel was terrible. There was no acting, it was just him surrounded by women and flaunting his expensive toys. Now, I'll admit, Bond always gets the pretty girls and the nice toys, but the degree he showed here was almost nothing more than the usual "pimp" advertising scheme, only in a TUXEDO. Yeah. So. I brought it up to my friend, and shortly thereafter had an idea for a mini-series we could work on over the summer portraying him as the new Bond, in a sense... I'm not talking about another audio drama people. I mean live action. Coming soon.

Oh, and last, but not least, in my line-up of MGGB actors, Krysta Noroña was originally double-cast to "Jenner" and "Sophie." I talked to her about it and after getting the go-ahead, recasted the role of "Sophie" to actress Cait Brasel. We recorded her lines (ON LOCATION mind you, not over the internet) Tuesday, and I'm pleased with them. So, everybody please give a warm welcome to our newest addition.

Whew, haven't updated this in a while, so there's a lot to cover, so bear with me!

First off, about two months ago, I told the AVA community I'd be taking it easy with the audition processes until the end of school year so I could focus more on school. If you look at my resume, I think it's pretty obvious I didn't stick to this very long. There's a lot of awesome projects out there I just had to be a part of! Plus as nice as it is to be scouted for your talent, it's good self-promotion to audition now and then, even if you don't get the part. As long as you do your best, the producer will remember you when he or she realizes you've got what their looking for in another project.

And in other news, my own productions are flourishing! I know episode 4 of MGGB was delayed there for about a week and a day, but you guys were patient and I appreciate that. Episode 4 is now out, and the project has it's own page here on my site, with a full list of episodes, links, and the official synopsis from Kojima Productions!

And that's not even mentioning the also-ridiculously-delayed debut of "Red Car/Green Car." Well, wait no more! The first episode is out and Rebecca promoted it just about everywhere you can think of in a day! I'm setting up a page for that on my site as well, so you'll be able to listen to it there! Tell me what you think!

Well, I'm off to work on Episode 5 of MGGB!!!

Hello all!

So shortly after auditioning and being cast for "Trent Sutton" in "The Pretense," I was approached by Shawn Lall about a role in an adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's notorious book, "Twilight." It was funny, because my sisters have read it and they are always talking about it, and now this. I still have yet to find time to read it myself, but with this, I won't have to! I'm still not entirely sure what kind of project this will be, whether it will be a machinima or an audio drama, or whatnot. I think it's leaning more towards a machinima in Sims 2, but we'll see. Anyway, I was asked to read a few lines for the parts of "Carlisle Cullen" and "Laurent," the latter of which has a French accent. Awesome. I was cast yesterday to the part of "Cullen." I guess we know who's French accent sucks!

In other news, I'm officially listing "MGS: Philanthropy" as unknown, because as big as a project that was, there's no reason for them to have not responded to any of my follow-up e-mails since I was cast. I was waiting on the video clip to sync my voice to in ADR, and e-mails from the sound designer and the composer. Nothing. I'm a little bummed about it, it was going to be a huge role for me.

Well, I've got some errands to run, a cleaned suit to pick up, a defunct GPS to return, and a looooooooong weekend of work to start!

All the best,

River K.

Heya guys!

I first joined the VAA and landed my very first role about a year ago. The rest of the cast and I lost contact with the producer, Doug Bailey, until now, when he finally released it this morning. I wasn't very good back then, I've come a long way, but it's an interesting piece of my history you can find near the bottom of my resume!

Part 1 - Part 2

I spent most of the day with my good friend and photographer, Kyle Gregory, getting my first set of professional portraits and head shots taken! I also put together a less interesting (in my opinion) resume. I have 3 demo reels currently in the works, one for commercial voice overs, one for narrative voice overs, and one minimalist reel that does it's best to blanket the few facets of my talent. Then, I can go and apply for an agent at MAGNA Talent here in Oklahoma City, and I'll finally be on my way into the voice over workforce! I can't wait (to leave Wal-Mart)!

Denzel Faison went over my lines for "Redemption: Patrum Ex Zarathustra" and claims they were "epic," so I'm satisfied. I'm playing the two main villains, and one of them is your typical bad*ss. I really wanted to let loose some rockstar, fiery, spirited lines for a change, and I felt like that really played into this particular scene. I can't wait to get to record some fight sounds as this guy!

Well, I have an incredibly long weekend ahead of me, so I'll see you guys later!

Hey guys, it's me again.

Made a few minor updates to the site over the past week, most notably my AIM and Yahoo! screennames have changed to "SOLIDERPro" and "RiverKanoff@ymail.com," respectively.

Sunday, "Sea Nazi" finally kicked off with Holbergsson returning from vacation ready to start recording. I finished recording all of my lines yesterday, so that's a relief on my schedule. Gudni informed me that I was the first to have all my lines in!

I've just learned that I'll be working with actor Donald Faison ("Turk" from "Scrubs") on "Redemption." Turns out he's the producer's older brother! I'm pretty excited about this opportunity, but I doubt it'll be anything more than a working relationship between our characters. I don't see this getting me any feet in the door. However, I'm thinking this project is gonna a lot higher quality than I did before!

All the best,

River K.

I woke up this morning and got right to work on the last two scenes of the first episode of "Red/Green" when I realized there was a voice actor, Michael Johnston, who would be much better suited for the role of "Sam," the main character's son. I'm currently discussing it with him and Rebecca, but I think chances are high we'll have a more "Alphonse Elric" type voice for the role than the filler we have now.

I also received word that I was cast for the role of "Trent Sutton" in an upcoming "Sims 2" machinima called, "The Pretense." It looks like it's going to be pretty cool. I was skeptical at first. I haven't always been too impressed with machinimas. Especially those of the "Sims 2" or "The Movies" variety. Plus I'm not really a fan of Soap Operas. But this story looks like it could really stand out from other machinimas! Let's hope so!

As far as updates for "Metal Gear: Ghost Babel" goes, Robert del Angel, the voice of "Slasher Hawk," just got a new condenser microphone and is going to redo his lines in awesome quality! I also gave him some further direction on the lines to better fit the character. I'm stuck on the production phase of "Hawk's" scene because it sounds like he's too upbeat, and coming through a loudspeaker. I feel like I've had the guy do so many redos already, but he's willing, at least. I'm glad everyone is striving for their best to get this thing done!

I'll be trying to upload that song from the MGGB OST that me and Jeremy had been working so hard on. It'll be on my music page within the next few days, so keep checking! I'm sure I'll let you guys know here anyway.

Well, I'm turning in for the night, I'm exhausted! I was out late with some friends at IHOP.

So Tuesday, me and my buddies Kyle and Alex go to IHOP at 11PM after work. I called Mom to ask her if it was alright, and Alex, as loud as possible, goes "Can I? Can I?! What's up with that?!" which Mom of course had a fit about. Then Alex burst into song as I was on the phone about how sorry he was, that he wasn't a bad influence, that he was on the Dean's List AND Honor Roll, and has vowed to stay abstinent till marriage. Yes, he sang this. Fortunately, Mom thought it was hilarious the next day when she brought it up, if not a little strange. But, after six straight hours at Wal-Mart, you gotta unwind somehow.

So, at IHOP, we unwound into three guys who were up way too late. We were seated at a table right in front of another table which seated about six college-age looking kids who were just enjoying their privacy. I decided to sit facing away from them, and went "Soooo, who wants to sit next to me?!" "I doooo!" Kyle replied, with a chuckle. Whoa, almost turned into a story... um. Yeah, that got me some wierd looks from our neighboring table. But, at that hour, I just couldn't care any less. Alex sat facing us, and the table behind us, which he found incredibly entertaining, because he was constantly posing for them.

Our waitress, Elizabeth, was patient with us, and surprisingly even joined in on the jokes! I had asked for some salsa for my omelette, and she brought me two cups instead of just one. Of course, I used them both. Alex just had water to drink, and poured four half and half creamers into it, followed by strawberry syrup, which created some of the best homemade strawberry milk I've ever tasted! When Elizabeth saw it, she was like "I didn't know we served strawberry milk..." so we told her about it, and she got a kick out of that. When it came time to check out, she jumped up and asked me if I wanted more salsa to go, and I laughed. "Are you pushing for a tip? Cuz you're totally already gettin' one." Then we walked out, and I guess she was going on break, because she followed us out, but I had no idea and didn't think to hold the door open for her. So she decided to mess with me by making it seem like I had shut the door in her face. I didn't notice until Alex pointed it out as we left. I felt pretty bad.

So tonight is Thursday night and we decided to go to IHOP one more time to wish Alex off to school. We were seated in a less awkward sitting area this time, although there were still customers giving us dirty looks for laughing so loud. And then, Elizabeth from Tuesday night came and took our orders! We were all like "Heeeey!" and then I apologized for the whole door thing, at which point they all told me it was a cruel joke. We joked the whole time when she was there and when she wasn't. She joked with me about stealing creamer from other tables to make our starwberry milk, saying I was "making more work for her" and that I would have to "stay and work to pay it off." I laughed and said "I love this waitress!" Alex joked about her being his soulmate. I told her she would have to get a picture with us since it was Alex' last day. Later I jokingly asked her as straight-faced as I could if she would be walking to her car alone. Kyle and Alex pretty much died laughing then and there, and she played along. "Alright, I see how it is! I'll see you out front!"

I had so much fun, I tipped her $7.13. The manager asked if I knew what I was doing. "Yeeeaaahh... we're friends." I think I may have gotten her in trouble with that or something cuz as we walked out, the manager was going over it with her like she had done something horribly wrong to earn that tip. I pulled the car around to the front of the restaurant to see if she would really come out to take that picture with us. She must have really been in trouble, because she didn't come out for her break! I hope I didn't get her fired over a tip!

Yeah, you guys may have noticed I've kinda stopped posting over here again. I started a short blog over at my website that I update every now and then specifically about things pertaining to my career choice. Here's the two posts so far:

08/01/08

Hey guys! It's August the first, and what better time to start a brief voice acting blog here on my website? Some of you may be aware of an old LiveJournal I used to keep, but I don't feel like my life is interesting enough to bother with trying to update it all the time. (I really only had 2 or 3 readers anyway.) In fact, I'm not even sure how often THIS blog will be read. I guess it's more of a "In Case You Give a Care Break Glass" kind of thing. But it makes me feel a little less anonymous. We'll see how much I can keep up with it, at least.

Anyway, for those of you still hoping for "Metal Gear: Ghost Babel," fear not, we have not abandoned thee! In fact, I've got a working status list up at the VAA that I might just have to move here... hmmm. Here's the link, for the time being. Production is still a bit slow, but that's my fault for not balancing out my workload in the first place. I'm not going to drop this one. I'll produce it until the day I die if I have to. Let's just... hope it doesn't take quite that long.

As for recent voice work on my end, Jeremy Buzash and I created two villains for his upcoming "Fullmetal Alchemist" radioplay. We don't really have names or looks for the characters just yet. In fact, we were only really working on one character, but uh... If you liked "The Dark Knight," you're gonna dig the character we ended up adding.

We finally got all the lines for the first episode of Rebecca McCarthy's "Red Car/Green Car" recorded and recieved. Rebecca is holding a voice acting workshop at Amecon this year, and will be showcasing the first episode of the audio drama! Sadly, I won't be able to make it to the con, myself, but I think it will work out better if the audience get's to hear who we are first, before we show up in the flesh. As for when that will happen, Jeremy Buzash and I are REALLY trying to arrange a voice acting panel at a convention in Edmonton, Canada later this year, and get as many fellow amateur talents along as possible. Maybe I'll see you there!

And last, but not least, I just recieved an e-mail at 6pm today acknowledging some recent auditions I had sent in for an interesting series called "Sea Nazi" down at the Voice Acting Club. I'm a bit new there, but I seem to be getting around well enough for myself. I'll be playing the role of a flirty naval medic named "Stew."

Well, it's late, and I think I've told just about all their is to tell for now! I'll be back, most likely the next time I update my resume here! See you all then!

BREAKING NEWS at the time, anyway...

Rob Paterson just released Episode 5 of his critically acclaimed "Twin Stars" audio drama. This episode features me as "Solantro" and a rich young gentle man. Tell me what you think!

08/13/08

Hey guys, it's me again, of course. I missed the UK premier deadline for Amecon, but I had a few producer friends of mine go over the episode and they thought it was fantastic! It won't be long before we have it scored by Dan Bradley and out for you guys to listen for yourselves!

I auditioned for one of those awesome stick animations the other day, and the guidelines for the voices were pretty much all based on Kingdom Hearts II characters, such as "Axel" and "Saix." That was the first time I had ever heard the voice of "Saix," but I did my best, and to my surprise, this morning I was cast for both roles! So that ought to be fun. I'll keep you posted.

And finally, Me and another guy are taking music lessons from Jeremy Buzash tonight around 8:30. Mostly on how to read formal sheet music. I used to know it somewhat, but never really retained it. Hopefully this will really improve my composition skills!

Well guys, it's a Wednesday night, I'm off to church! See you next time!

I'd been writing lines to put in my demo reel, but it just never came out the way I wanted it to. I kept seeing my friends releasing great demo reels, and finally got around to this.

It's pretty much a summary of the past year in voice acting, as just about all the lines are from projects I've auditioned and/or recorded for.

Tell me what you think!

Here's what's in the demo: Project - Character (Music)

1. Metal Gear Solid 3 - SIGINT & Naked Snake (Norihiko Hibino - Metal Gear 20 Years History -Past, Present, Future-)
2. Call of Duty 4 - Cpt. Price and Gaz (Harry Gregson-Williams - Deadpool)
3. Animal Crossing Movie - Pascal & Cyrano (Kenta Nagata - 1PM)
4 & 5. Age of the Sword II - Eowulf (Harry Gregson-Williams - ICBM Launch & Masashi Hamauzu - Flicker)
6. BlindSwordsman - Yatsumi (Chris Tilton - Tivliz Asylum)
7. Friday Fans - Keith Springall (Bubble Cake - Supernova)
8. Final Fantasy Tactics - Delita Heiral (Harry Gregson-Williams - Nuke)
9. The Tale of Tenma - Asura (River Kanoff - Informant)
10. Twin Stars - Brother Ganymede (Carter Durwell - Jackpot)
11. Twin Stars - Solantro (Norihiko Hibino - Death of Sniper Wolf)
12. Twin Stars - Kyle (Norihiko Hibino - Rendezvous in the Women's Room)
13. Red Car/Green Car - Scott Canessa (Dan Bradley - Distant/Changing Paradise)

Shameless plug of my former band in there.

Why?

So a few days ago, I was browsing the Voice Acting Alliance forums, and I saw a thread about suggestions for training Scottish accents for voiceover acting. My suggestion was to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, because Pippin's dialect was exceptional. I also mentioned that I was studying Zach Hanks' performance as "Captain MacMillan" in "Call of Duty 4". So just now, a few minutes ago, I get an instant message:

Zach: I'm flattered that you're studying my performance as Captain MacMillan to train your Scottish, but I've made some significant improvements since then. Email me. We can set up a phone or vid-conference coaching session if you like.
Me: Hah, no way, THE Zach Hanks?
Zach: Yup.
Me: Didn't know you frequented the Voice Acting Alliance.
Zach: I don't. But I Google myself more than is healthy.
Zach: Hairy palms, going blind, the usual.
Me: Hah, I'm guilty there.
Zach: You're not coming up on my buddy list.
*I add Zach to my buddy list.*
Me: Fixed that.
Zach: ?
Zach: You're still not there.
Me: Hm.
Zach: you appear for a second and then vanish. Like ninja.
Me: Hah, maybe I should put that on my resume.
Me: I dunno, may have to do with this shite messenger.
Zach: weird. you a voice actor?
Me: Yeah. Well, aspiring. Two days ago I was cast to for the closest thing to a professional role I've ever landed.
Zach: Congratulations! What was it?
Me: Have you heard of "Metal Gear Solid: Philanthropy"?
Zach: Heard of Metal Gear Solid.
Me: Of course. But this is supposed to be history in the making, because it beat Hollywood to the punch in making the first MGS movie. It's being produced in Italy, looking fantastic. I helped the director round up auditions for the english dub and ended being cast myself. You can check out the project at www.mgs-philanthropy.net
Zach: Wow. Great! You based out of Oklahoma?
Me: Yeah, not a lot of work here. At all.
Zach: Well, stop beating Hollywood to the punch, cause we Angelenos gotta pay our rent. ;)
Me: Haha
Zach: kidding.
Me: I know, but of course, I'm sure if Boll or Hollywood got their hands on it, they'd botch it somehow.
Zach: I gotta hit the hay - traveling tomorrow. Wanted to tell you that my Scottish in COD4 was a little inconsistent in places, in retrospect. It's much stronger now. If you'd like some coaching via for or IM vid-conference, let me know.
Me: Absolutely, I've gotta get some work done, I'll e-mail you to set that up as soon as possible. Thanks for tracking me down.
Zach: No sweat. I always check out the forums from time to time. You'd be surprised what'll happen . . .
Me: Heh
Zach: The guy who did the voice of Darth Vader in the "Chad Vader" shorts on YouTube was contacted by LucasArts. I found a Captain MacMillan fan page on Facebook, dropped them a line, and they started a Zach Hanks fan club. It's five ten year olds in Turkey, BUT IT'S A START.
Zach: I'm huge in Budapest. :)
Me: LOL
Me: Right, well, it is a start.
Zach: It's hilarious. It's five Turkish ten year olds, but I told all my friends about it, and now there's a hundred people. Granted, 95 of them are buddies of mine . . .
Me: Well at least you know they look up to you now
Zach: Alright, man, drop me an email, and don't sweat it if I don't get back to you right away - i'm way behind in my emails. Take care, and don't forget to take the Coreolis effect into account.
Me: Right. Oh, damn, my tin foil hat's come loose. I've lost my connection to the mothership!
Zach: Ha! I love that those are on YouTube. I wonder how they got out . . . the rations are tasty/chest hair line was my creation. As was "Good night, ya bastard . . . "
Me: Hah, yes, I tracked down those lines and saved them.
Zach: Nice. Good night, sir.
Me: You too, drop you a line later.
Zach: bye

I held it together. No stereotypical fanboyisms here. I kept my professional cool.

...

xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

This guy is so getting a Behind the Voice interview.

Right, recap.

-Monday, Katt and I had a disagreement a few days ago that I think I may have taken a little hard, so I went and bought her flowers and saw her to settle the whole thing. I think the rest of her family was a little more happy about it than she was, but then, she doesn't really like me spending any money on her.

-Yesterday, I woke up at 9 and went to work at 10. At this point I'm still pretty exhausted from this continued grind and having just woken up not too long ago, and also not having much to eat, and then the stress from (see last post). 30 minutes after I get to work, I get a text from Katrina.

Katt: "I got in a car wreck"
Me: "What?!"
Katt: "I ditched school to hang out with Brittany and we wrecked, i think i might be hurt"

So of course, I called her to find out what had happened and if she was alright. Brittany had hit a curb and lost control of the car. The back right side of the car where Katrina was sitting had smashed into a pole, whereupon the car went flying down a 40 foot ditch off the side of the highway. The car was totalled and everyone but Katt walked out perfectly fine. The next thing I knew, she had been taken by ambulance to a hospital in Moore, where they wrecked, and she had to get 5 stitches in her left eyelid.

She's always had a bit of a self-esteem problem, but she made it sound a lot worse than it really was, the damage really isn't that bad. they took her home and I went to see her around 5. We shared a really sweet moment where I got to tend her wounds for her.

-But of course, today, Mom brings up the fact that Katrina doesn't seem to be trying very hard to be a better person anymore. Mom isn't comfortable with the idea of us anymore because of some of the decisions Katrina has been making. I asked Katrina what was going on in her life and why she was doing all this, but she simply told me she didn't know. I really hope this isn't a pattern, I hope she realizes that no good can come from stuff like this. If she doesn't shape up her character, there's a strong chance it won't work for us.

And that's the absolute last thing I want right now.

EDIT: Oh, the title is the way it is because last night I was cast for the official english dub of the first live action "Metal Gear Solid" movie! More on that soon!

You can call me names.

You can tell me I don't make enough money.

You can tell me I'm a crappy christian.

You can spend more time with my family than I get to.

You can spend more time with my girlfriend than I get to.

You can tell me I'm an whiny overly sensitive jerk.

You can spread rumors about me to everyone I know.

You can break up my friendships.

You can tell me I don't get out enough.

You can tell me I'm a horrible brother.

You can call me and wake me up early in the morning and waste my phone minutes so you can tell me to tell someone something so that it's convenient for you.

You can drop all the retardedly obvious hints that you're doing something you know I have a problem with, when you know you could just not talk to me about it at all.

You can start one-sided arguments with yourself about your religious beliefs, because I just don't care enough anymore to talk to you about it.

You can rub it in my face that you dropped out of school and are a thousand times better off than me.

I just have to accept it. You're sucking the life out of me, and savoring every drop.

You claim to be a friend, but then you turn around and rip me to shreds.

I don't care anymore. I honestly couldn't care any less. I mean I know that no matter what I say or do, you're not going to stop. You're not going to leave me alone. You're not going to stop talking to me. You're not going to stay out of my life. You're not going to stay away from my family.

Yes, I do work two jobs and go to college, BARELY making enough money for classes, car and phone payments.

Yes, I know that leaves me with no free time. No time with my family. No time with my friends. No time to myself.

But you know what? That's the hand that life dealt me. That's all I've got until I drop dead from exhaustion from it all.

You know who you guys are. Go ahead. Put the guilt trip on. Tell my family about this blog. In fact, why not add your own twist to it? Why not tell everyone it made you cry for hours on end? At least I know you don't mean what you say.

At least I apologized.

Don't really feel like blogging right now. But, yeah. I think it's become a sort of addiction. One day I'll look back at all this and wonder what in God's name I was on.

-Shawna and I have finally agreed to stop talking to each other altogether. I got annoyed with her acting like she wasn't flirting with Josh, called her out on it, which somehow ended up with her accusing me of coming on too strong when I thought she liked me, and I friggin' let her have it at that point. She came on a LOT stronger than that. I believed a lot of what she told me then, but now I've seen some true colors come to the fore, and realize that she really was leading me on, though before I told her she wasn't. Well, I'm sure we'll both feel like royal anuses in the morning, but I won't be torn up inside forever if we never do speak again. She'll just go for some other guy's attention and never give it another thought.

Right now it's Josh though, and as much as I don't want to get involved, it could-- no, it WILL cause some life-threatening problems.

-Today at the garden center at like 5pm, Ben calls me to ask if I'm working at Wal-Mart at the moment. I had him look at the schedule and sure enough, they had me down for 4pm-11pm. Fothermuckers. They know better. I told him I was committed to a higher paying job, and when they let me off at 6, I headed to Williams to see Katt (and show off my sexy new tan... I mean-- nevermind). When I got there, she was stocking with some guy there who had long hair tied up in the back. I pointed out to Katt that he looked as though he was "flamin'". Boy was I wrong.

Later that night, in the parking lot:

Guy: So, who was that, your boyfriend?
Katt: Yeah.
Guy: Ever cheated on him?
Katt: No.
Guy: Want to?
Katt: What?! No!

Hehe, surprised me there, bud. At least I can trust my girl, right?

Katt is out clubbing right now. I'm not sure how I feel about the whole thing, especially when she speaks so enthusiastically about being able to go to more restricted clubs when she turns 18. It just scares me into thinking she'll relapse or something, which would pretty much kill our relationship. I don't want to lose her over something like that...