Working at Blood Manor

So I have had the incredible unique experience of working in New York City's Premiere Haunted house attraction, Blood Manor. Definitely not a place if you're easily terrified. Of course you can always leave if you're a chicken. I want to tell you about what my experience was like working there.

Well I originally heard of this place from my aunt and uncle who went through it themselves, but that was a couple of years ago when it was at a different location. I remembered about it and found out they were hiring, holding auditions from an Instagram post. Come to think of it I don't remember who posted it, but I thought it was something I totally would be down to do and want to try. So I send them an email hoping for the best expecting nothing. Low and behold to my own astonishment, I received an email stating that I could come in for an audition. This came as a major shock because I didn't even think anything would happen, but it did.

The audition was not quite as I expected it to be. Instead of a room with an open space, it was done in one of the haunted rooms with about 15 other people who were also there to audition. I didn't really have any set plan on what to perform, let alone the fact that this was my first time doing sort of live performance. We each took a turn to do our own thing to scare a group who walks through. (The people walking through were auditioners who volunteered) A lot of  people were actually pretty good. Other people, not so much. Some were very creepy and scary, while others were just awkward. I don't know how I did because since it is my own performance I felt like it was cringey. I literally just screamed for blood and asked them all if they had any. At the end, because I thought it was a potentially good add on, I asked if anyone was vegan because vegan blood is healthier. (Not that I care or am a vegan myself) I think it was fine because people must've liked it and thought it was funny because they all laughed. I guess any reaction is a good reaction. If I felt unprepared and surprised about the audition, I was going to have a panic attack when I got the email saying to come in for the cast meeting, which basically meant I got the job!

My first day of work was an accident, meaning that my first day wasn't scheduled for me but I came in thinking that it was. I ended up getting prosthetics and makeup put on me and of course a healthy dose of blood was splashed on me. With the prosthetic glued and painted on my face, I had a hard time remembering what was my real face. I was sent to a haunted room that was very loud and dark. A steampunk themed boiler room with the constant sound of gears grinding. The only steady light was the emergency exit sign as well as ambient light from another room. When a laser was tripped, strobe lights would come on with a loud electrical sparking sound as well as an air cannon blowing air down onto them from above as if it were a broken steam pipe. My weapon of choice was an oversized mallet made of solid foam and spikes on it that I would bang on the metal box shelves for that initial scare as soon as they walked into the room. I would move more erratically and frantically when the strobe lights were triggered in my attempt to make them move in the direction I want, to push them into the next room. (Not physically push them, I'm not allowed to touch them and vice versa) I think I worked that room very well. I know for a fact I scared a lot of people. Now everyday is pretty much the same routine. Go in, get in costume, makeup, places. The dressing room is always busy with everybody moving around either waiting for a makeup chair or waiting for places to be called. The dressing room is the only place to get prepared with everything you need to do before places are called. You can grab a snack, some vitamins, a bottle of water and earplugs for the constantly loud places. I would always grab a water bottle and if I didn't already have, a pair a earplugs. Me being me, I didn't really socialize with much people but that doesn't mean I didn't talk at all. It is a very tight space after all and not talking would lead to very awkward situations, especially when trying to squeeze past other people. But I always did my best to carry out a decent conversation. Its great to socialize considering we are all actors and will be acting along side each other. Some of the rooms get pretty hot, that's why proper hydration is always needed. The Manor is mostly dark but some parts are lit up more, just enough so that you can actually see where you are going and see what it is that's actually trying to scare you. Most of the rooms have at least two people in them. Some other rooms only need one person. In some instances you have to work with one another to help a good flow of scares going. Also knowing your character is a big key for how you act and essentially scare. And you would have to stay in those room for six hours, sometimes seven depending on the day and how many people there were. I'm very thankful for the breaks that we get because by the time the night is over I'm exhausted.

My routine of scare is actually quite simple. All I pretty much do is jumpscare people. Usually I hide behind a wall or a corner or some other thing I can hide behind, then wait for them to get close enough so I can jump out right in front of there face. Most of the time I was in the zombie apocalypse room, but it all depends on what the room is and what's in it. If there is nothing to hide behind the best thing is to keep moving around and act insane until someone comes walking in. But of course you don't need to act totally insane if no ones coming in. Thats why when the room is empty I like to calm down and breath as to not waste anymore energy. Only when I am anticipating the next horde of people to come in do I fully get into character. And pretty it's easy to anticipate the next group coming through because it gets quite repetitive. You start picking up a pattern with the flow of the house. You usually hear the people coming into the previous room. Either there's something triggered to make noise, the attendees screaming or the actors/actress' screaming themselves. You tend to naturally pick up the pattern of learning when people are coming through and the best ways to scare them. Reactions are what makes this job the best. You get to see people at their most vulnerable and it's your job to use that to your advantage. When people are scared there's a whole process going through there minds. Essentially it's the basic human instinct of fight or flight. Theres the people who try to run away and the people who get defensive. By defensive I mean that they are the "fighters" and they tense up their muscles getting ready for a confrontation. Of course most of the "fighters" If not all of them were men. Mostly women were the "runners". But the most common reaction from everyone was flinching in one way or another. Either flinching inwards to protect themselves or outward to ward off any predators. Either way it was involuntary. The way that I scare means I get pretty close to them. Normally directly in there face, I easily break into their personal space. A little too close for comfort even for me because I far too easily get caught in the whiplash from the flinch. I've been smacked, whacked and slapped. It never hurt but it still doesn't feel good.

There are so many awesome special moments when scaring people. Either a hilarious reaction or a ridiculous situation. I want to share some of the highlights that has occurred to me at the manor. Well the first thing that happened was a girl ran straight into a wall. So frightened she was running blind and boom, right into the wall. Before I could even process what just happened, she's laying down on the ground, flat on her back getting lifted by one of her friends. All the actors and I had a good laugh afterwards. There was also this one couple who came through where the girl was just simply too scared. She needed her man to protect her. He went to everybody who came up to them and asked to not scare her which got me a little upset because it astonishes me how they would pay money to have people scare them and then when they go through they don't want to be scared. What did they honestly expect when they decided to go into New York City's most scariest haunted house where you get a free T-shirt if you pee your pants. Speaking of peeing pants,

there was one night where I worked the 3D maze, A hand painted fluorescent maze that requires 3D glasses, and on two occasions I made two girls pee there pants. The first were two girls and I scared them when I pop out screaming around the corner, both screamed but only one followed it up be saying, "Oh my god, I peed my pants." To my surprise, I had to struggle to keep in my laughter. It was the same scenario the second time. Two more girls, both got scared, one said they peed a little. I think the most craziest reaction was when this one actor and I scared this one girl to the point where she fell on the floor crying. I did scare a where she kicked me while falling down, but this was a new level of scared that I haven't seen yet. She was so scared that she couldn't get back up and started crawling towards the exit. So to my natural response I ended up getting on my hands and knees and started doing a psychotic zombie crawl after her. I got real deep into character that night. But the best night was unfortunately my last night. The weekend after halloween is when the manor officially shuts down. It's a special weekend where all the light are turned off and you become submerged in pitch darkness with only the help of a single glow stick to guide your way through the blackened manor. The reason why this night was so memorable was because of who came through. None other than the ferret himself, Murr, from TruTV's Impractical Jokers. We were given the heads up that he was coming through, to all the excitement of the actors in the room, let alone the whole manor. He came with who I assume to be his girlfriend and once he exited the room all of us actors in said room were hyped up after scaring him to where I was starstruck for the following twenty minutes. That was for a fact indeed the most fun night I had.

@DanielletheDog @BLOODMANOR it was terrifying!

— Murr (@jamessmurray) November 5, 2016

I am so glad that I had the opportunity to take the chance and go work at Blood Manor. Definitely a great new experience that was a lot of fun. I can gladly say that I was at least social on a somewhat decent level and that I made one friend from it. Unfortunately now that Halloween is over, the manor is closed and I am no longer a consultant, but I really enjoyed working there and I hope to continue working there. Hopefully this will be my new way of celebrating Halloween considering the fact that I'm way to old for trick-or -treating.

I had to film this when I got home from work which was at 3:00am and I ended up filming for an hour which is surprising to me because I don't normally film that for long. I didn't go to sleep until 4:30am, which meant I had stayed awake for about 21&1/2 hours. Halloween was on a Monday when I have early morning classes, so by the time I was done filming I was extremely sleep deprived. Not to mention that for the video I kept the makeup on so that meant I had to go on the subway looking like that, then once finished filming i had to quickly take a shower to clean my body of the the literal grime that is working at Blood Manor. I honestly don't remember if I did take a shower or if I just scrubbed my face mercilessly. I was way too tired to think straight.

I also thought it was appropriate to share this video of Jimmy Fallen and Kevin Heart that I mentioned in my video.

A section for links of all things I have referenced.

-Blood Manor

• http://www.bloodmanor.com/
• https://www.youtube.com/user/bloodmanor
• https://www.facebook.com/bloodmanor
• https://twitter.com/BLOODMANOR
• https://www.instagram.com/bloodmanornyc/

-Murr

• https://twitter.com/jamessmurray
• https://twitter.com/truTVjokers

-Jimmy Fallon & Kevin Hart

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozVRGho-cZQ&t=44s
• https://www.youtube.com/user/latenight
• https://twitter.com/FallonTonight
• https://facebook.com/FallonTonight
• https://twitter.com/JimmyFallon
• https://twitter.com/kevinhart4real
• https://www.facebook.com/hartkevin

-thewackyactions

• https://www.youtube.com/user/thewackyaction
• https://twitter.com/thewacky_Justin
• https://www.facebook.com/thewackyaction (Makeup Selfies: http://tinyurl.com/heam5ov)
• https://www.instagram.com/thewacky_Justin/
• http://thewackyjustin.tumblr.com/
• https://vine.co/u/1160477070946865152

Going into Abandoned Places

Hey, Wassup everybody? How you doing? Yes, it has been awhile since I made another blog post. But this time I got an amazing story.

This one is about my urbex mission into a unique abandoned structure. Urbex stands for Urban Exploration which is "the exploration of man-made structures, usually abandoned ruins or not usually seen components of the man-made environment. -wiki" Urban Exploration to me is seeing old structures lost in time with a unique history to the location. Being secluded to the rest of the world where the only thing I can focus on is the environment that I am in. Standing in the middle of a large, broken, decaying room as part of the larger abandoned building in which nature is trying to take over, over 50 years later. Looking around me I see graffiti, holes in the wall and things hanging from the ceiling. As I walk from room to room thinking to myself what this room could've been used for. With nothing left but dust and sand, I leave clueless. Except of course the public bathrooms with old fashion urinals and stalls, as well as dormitories with a private bathroom. The most fascinating part of all this is the fact that this was once a place of functionality. Many people onced lived and worked here, and now it's left with an insignificant reminder of what it once was.

This abandoned place was the New York Farm Colony. Not really a farm though as much as it is part of a hospital comprised of multiple buildings. It served as a residency for the poor. Not sure if there was any farming going on, but there was a great dining hall. The dining hall is actually one of the more interesting buildings due to its bridge into the entrance. Inside were a couple of rooms with a select few set of stairs. The stairs to the bottom level were in pretty good condition. The stairs to upper levels, not so much. The stairs had rusted so much that they cracked a had fallen off leaving nothing but the beam that held it up as well as the railing. There was no way to get to the higher levels. In one building the rooms of each floor collapsed leaving nothing but the walls the Stairway to each floor. I can walk up the flight of stairs, look into the room and see there was no floor. I could look down and see the floor below me, I could look up and see the sky. Interestingly enough there was an elevator shaft where was the elevator stuck in between the floors and water collected at the bottom of the shaft. In another building the entire floor collapsed with the roof leaving only the exterior walls. Pearing into a broken window I could see the wooden support beams and other large splinters of wood. And in probably my favorite building there were what looks like a hospital wing where small dividers were held up to keep privacy from the next bed over, although there were no beds actually there. In this building however, there was roof access which felt amazing because I was on top of the highest point of this colony and I could see all of it and the forest that encases it. And the last building of significance was the dormitory building. It was very unique as each room looked like a studio apartment with a private bath but not much else, just an empty room. Back to my point that I find it fascinating that this is a place where people onced lived. Now I'm here just casually walking through thinking of them.

Now the day started like normal. I woke up, ate, showered, ate again, packed things up, got ready, left. I hopped onto the train wearing all black so I can get onto the ferry to Staten Island. Once off the boat, I got get on a bus that will take me straight there. I got off the bus and started walking towards the gate at the end of a residential road that had the opening to get into. I tried to do it as casually as possible but not sure how well I did while pointing a camera at myself. Once in I already knew where to head off into. I had been there before with friends but it was late at night and we didn't stay long. We never completely explored it. I wanted to go back to explore it more myself during daylight so that way I could film the experience. I ended up doing my own background research about the place. (Good websites were untappedcities and abandonednyc)  All was going well until I entered one of the buildings and heard voices behind me. For second I panicked but realize that they were only other kids. I thought he was just a better idea that I would make my presence known instead of them finding me inside and freaking out. So I turn around walk back outside and say hey. The look on each and every one of their faces. It was a group of about six Mexican teenagers who all stood and looked at me as if they were seeing a ghost come to life. After the brief awkward incident we all went inside and went our own ways into the ruinous complex. Another unique experience besides the whole abandoned exploration was the random encounter with two wild deer. They were just standing in the middle of the road standing still no more then 50ft away. I stood just as still and we had an epic stare down before they realized I was no threat and just walked away as did I. Now that I think about it, why did I not film that encounter. It would have been great to show the rural-ness of the location, I was just so mesmerized but the animal before me. There was also a backhoe bulldozer thing that was never there before, so I decided to seize the opportunity and climb inside. No biggie. I ended up leaving at 8 o'clock when the sun finally went down.

I had a mission that day. A goal simple in standards, but difficult to execute. Explore the land in its entirety to your own fulfilment. I didn't expect to stay for the amount of time that I did. And I certainly didn't expect the video turn out as long as it did.

You also find the photos I took at this location on my Instagram. I would really appreciate it if you'd liked and followed my page.

Here is a list of references to learn more about this location.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_exploration
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_City_Farm_Colony
• http://untappedcities.com/2013/10/15/abandoned-nyc-staten-island-farm-colony-disturbing-secrets/
• https://abandonednyc.com/2014/12/01/last-days-of-the-staten-island-farm-colony/

• https://www.youtube.com/user/thewackyaction?sub_confirmation=1 
• https://twitter.com/thewacky_Justin
• https://www.facebook.com/thewackyaction
• http://thewackyjustin.tumblr.com/
• http://instagram.com/thewacky_Justin
• https://vine.co/u/1160477070946865152

COMING OUT!!! (As a Furry)

"Always be yourself, express yourself, have faith in yourself, do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it." -Bruce Lee, (1940-1973)

This is important. This is a major announcement. I've never been more focused on something I was so self conscience about. I can't stress that enough. There has been enough stress on me already over this and I don't want this to be a part of my life that I have to conceal. I want to be who I am and express it. I want to feel comfortable enough to express it.

So you either came here from one of three ways: 1)You watch my Youtube video which had this link in the description and you wanted to be a good viewer and read my blog entry about this. To which I say thank you, 2) you got here when I posted this link on one of my social media sites, to which I also say thank you or 3) you just happen to randomly find this blog post entry thing and decided to read it, to where again I say thank you.
You can watch the video at the bottom of the post with the the transcript below. It is preferred that you watch the video before you read this post, so you can click here or scroll down. Anyway the following text may be unsuitable for some readers, and is intended for a mature audience.

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So yeah, I'm a furry . . . don't really know what to say after that but yeah, thats the announcement. And if you noticed in the video, I look and feel extremely uncomfortable. I decided not to stand like I normally do, I have a weird posture and composure, I barely looked at the camera, I oddly move around from time to time, and my voice, my voice is a dead give away. You can tell in my voice that I'm extremely uncomfortable and very awkward talking about this.

I first discovered furries back in the 8th grade and been a fan of it (if I can say it like that) ever since. Back in 8th grade I had a phase where I had a thing for werewolves. Don't know why, don't remember why, but yeah, I had that little phase going on for me. That was really how it all started, that was basically the first step. So during the duration of my "interest in werewolves" phase, I somehow came across furries. Don't remember how I came across it. Pretty sure it just some furry artwork of some kind. (I'm pretty sure that's the most common way of discovering furries.) What it was and how I found it I have no idea, but it indeed peaked my interest. And ever since then, I guess I became a furry, even though I didn't considered myself one just yet because I was still just finding out what a furry was.

Now I'm not gonna lie, but at the same I really don't wanna talk to much about it. It's just a subject that everyone thinks of when they think of furries. When I first discovered furries, the Internet is a confusing place. To me, there are two sides of the Internet for furries. The clean side (Safe For Work) and then there's the yiff side (Not Safe For Work).Yiff actually has multiple meanings and definitions but most commonly it refers to anthropomorphic intercourse or furry sex. So of course when first discovering what furries were I saw A LOT of yiff . Yiff is something I'm not particularly into but its not like I'm disgusted by it. I acknowledge it but I don't care for it. Its not like I go and fap to that. I know it exist and I leave it at that. I HAVE NO SEXUAL INTEREST IN FURRIES OR ANIMALS EXCEPT HUMAN.

What I like best about the furry fandom is the freedom of expression. You don't have to worry about who you are, the way you look, your interest, ethnicity or your sexuality. No one is to judge. And for the record, I am straight. Your sexual orientation does not reflect your interest, and being a furry does not reflect your sexuality. Although, the furry fandom has a mixed orientation. Most furries are a lot more sexually open minded as well as I. Something else I also love is the creativity. With furries coming together from all over the world, you get a beautiful combination of furry culture. You get artists, writers, filmmakers (like me) and so much more. You never know exactly what the furry fandom consists of.

As a kid, I used to make believe that I was another animal. It was just part of my normal child imaginative play. It's something that's overlooked by your parent(s), but not as an 18 year old who's supposed to be getting ready for the "real world". I constantly get scolded by my mother to" grow up" or "act my age" whenever I do "Child's Play" or in this cause, "Puppy Play", even though when writing this post, I couldn't really call it Puppy Play cause my mother doesn't know I'm a furry, let alone know what a furry is, so Puppy Play would've been worse. Being able to express myself through this as well as other stuff that I do, is just the way I can cope with the stress of having to face the world. I know I have to face it and I know I have to handle it but sometimes I can't, it just becomes too much. And it's good to know that my mother shuns me for this. "Pretending" the way that I do is just the last bit of childhood in me that has just evolved and grown with me. Like I said in the video it really is my other passion, even though I've never really pursued it until now. Being a furry is just another part of me which just makes me feel good and happy and I want happiness to show through my life.

And for the longest, . . . basically always, forever, and since the beginning of my furry existence, no one ever knew I was a furry because I never told anyone I was a furry. And the reason for that was because I thought and kinda knew it wasn't socially acceptable. It wouldn't really be accepted in the "real" world. It's not something that you would see or consider a grown person to be a part of. Society just doesn't know what to think about it, they don't know how to react. It's common with everything that if you don't understand something you reject it. And when you tell society that you pretend to be some other animal and dress up as said animal, they will look at you weird cause it doesn't seem like its common day to day thing, which it isn't. And people will look at this and think that it is something that's not right, and think that you must be mentally disturbed or something. And rejection is something that I fear. Knowing how people commonly react to furries, I did not want to be rejected for being one. I've slowly been feeling more comfortable with myself being a furry, and "coming out" little by little to the people who are close to me.

"Be who you are and say what you feel because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." -Dr. Seuss

I've seen a lot of hatred toward furries. Especially online considering that I've never been open until now, so it couldn't be personal. But after seeing it for so long and after all this time, I have become desensitized to it. Common insults towards furries doesn't bother me anymore. Can't really make a list of them because it's probably very small and I still don't pay attention to it. I've even started calling myself a furfag so that way other people can't use that word against me and also because...I am one. And I'm not the only one. A lot of furries actually own that word and basically take control of it, in fact I'm pretty sure a lot of furries call each other furfags.

The next thing I had to do was accept myself. I literally had to stand in front of the mirror and call myself a furry in order to accept myself as one. And it was strangely the most weirdest, uncomfortable and awkward thing I ever had to do. How do you make yourself feel awkward when it's literally only you? I was ashamed of myself, I was embarrassed. I made myself think that I was socially unacceptable. But then, now that I think about it, it doesn't really affect my day to day lifestyle. Being a furry is not going to restrict me from living my life. Being a furry has never hurt me or anyone as far as I know of. So I don't really care what other people think, as long as I'm just happy being true to myself.

If i wasn't a furry, I really don't know how my life would be different. I doubt it would be any different, I've just been keeping it on the down low, keeping in wraps, suppressing it. I guess I would've had some more free time not thinking about furry things. But then again, what would I be doing with that free time? ... nevermind. But now that I think of it, I wish I was a lot more open a lot more sooner because who knows where I would be now if I wasn't so closed to it. If I could've gone this far with YouTube, I could've made it far as a furry.

The more I think about, there is a lot to actually be proud about. Sure its all about these animal creatures but that's just the surface, the visual aspect. It goes in much deeper than that. it becomes emotional. People use the furry fandom to have a sense of belonging. Its a social hub for the socially awkward (like me). There is a lot of joy that comes out of this. This is something that makes everybody happy. Until you meet a furry in person, you won't know what it's like. Of course, I'm referring to when there are fursuiters in public and they act so adorable towards people who are curious enough to be interested and willing to interact. It goes for both children and adults, although, it's usually the child with their parents (lol). There's also many charities that the furry fandon attributes too. They are actually raising money to help other people. So it helps more than just the people who are furries.

Being a furry is not something I should be afraid of, and neither should any other furs. I want to be a happy furry. I want to be a free furry. Free to express myself. I think I've done that now. I have officially announced to the world that I am indeed a furry, and it feels good. Knowing something that I have been hiding for so long, feels so good to finally let people know. I know its super cliche to say but it seriously feels like a weight has been lifted. In the beginning I was nervous, I didn't know if I wanted to this, but I forced myself to do it, and I'm proud of myself, and I know only good things can come from this. ^^

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OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

Stages

Intro

Build up/Setup: So I've been thinking a lot recently, about something kinda personal,(?). And as you can see by the title of this video, it was left blank because I didn't want people to judge the video let alone me before you even watched it and heard what I had to say.

Reveal: There really is easy no way to say this, so I'm gonna straight up say it, I'm a Furry. Yeah shocking that the nerdy, horribly awkward, anti-social, over-imaginative, detached-from-reality, YouTuber, is a Furry, SHOCKING.

Break down: I was never really open about being a Furry because I was afraid of people judging me. Usually when my friends would talk about Furries around me it would tend to be negative, of course they didn't know I was a Furry, and all they knew was the yiff, I didn't want to be associated with that, I didn't want people to think I was some kind of sexual deviant. Yiff is basically Furry sex and that's not what the Furry Fandom is all about. The only reason a lot of people think it is, is because in media, sex sells. When was the last time you click on a YouTube video because it had boobs in the thumbnail? [You might even know about the infamous episode of CSI that viewed Furries negatively. I've never seen the episode and I don't think I want to.]

So if your still watching this video you probably want to know a bit more, you're probably a Furry yourself or at least somewhat interested. My reason for being a Furry is what I assume is for most people. Just an interest in anthros, and also remember, its a fantasy, a make-believe world where we are practically in control, a way to break reality and our real world problems. an escape route. <FurAffinity story> And it reminded me of when I use to pretend I was an animal as a little kid. I had a very active and strong imagination, so it was really easy to get into this fandom, and I never really been part of the fandom because I never had any Furry accounts, Furry friends or attended a Fur-Con. When I was first into the Furry Fandom of course all I saw was the yiff, and it never really bothered me, I was never really into that, I just liked the concept of anthropomorphic animals. The first time I ever told anyone was back in freshman year of high school. I told my best friend and of course he was a little freaked out but he was cool with it because we were friends regardless, and were still friends today and I love him for that.

Extras: Making this video was obviously a big deal for me. I wanted to be able to do this and be open about being a Furry. And the easiest way of me doing that was to make a video. Besides being a YouTuber and an underground dancer, being a Furry is really my other passion. And all I want is to make friends and have fun. and that's really what my channel is all about, and that's what being a Furry is to me, and I think that's a good way to end the video.

Outro: Furry questions, outro (FA)

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©thewackyactions™ Productions

*This video was filmed sometime in April and was originally planned to be uploaded sometime in May after my 'I'M LEGAL!!!' video, but due to other videos and the way I schedule them, it was pushed back.
*Since this was Already filmed a while back, I am much more comfortable now then I was during filming.
*This post was edited continuously since then until published.

WATCH_DOGS Cosplay "Tracking Down"

Pre-Post 

Hey everybody , how have you been? Its been forever since I've been on Blogger, almost a whole year actually, but now I'm back to make another post. I don't miss all this typing. My fingers are going to fall off by the end of this post because there's a lot that I want to say. It has to do with my latest YouTube video of course, which is most likely how you found this blog post in the first place. If not, then from Facebook or Twitter. Oh yeah, just in case you didn't know, those are my main social media's which you can follow me at and say "Hi". (links at end of post) Anyway, lets officially begin this blog post!

Actual Post

So as you should know, I make a cosplay video every year for Halloween, and this year I decided to go as Aiden Pearce from the video game WATCH_DOGS! The reason that I chose to do this cosplay is because I am a gaming nerd which really shouldn't be a surprise, and if it is . . . Surprise! But another good reason is because Watch Dogs is one of the most popular games that came out this year that I personally love! I thought this game was bad-ass before it came out on shelves and I knew I had to play it. So as soon as I got the chance, I bought it! The gameplay was addictive and very entertaining. I couldn't stop playing, I just wanted to continue without stopping. The only times I did stop were when I raged quit. Even at that, I would go back on and play again in an hour.

Everything is Connected

WATCH_DOGS is an open world, action-adventure game created by Ubisoft, released on May 27 2014. (I got it June 17 2014) It's about a man, Aiden Pearce, who wants to go after the people who killed his 6 year old niece. Set in the city of Chicago, Aiden goes around the city, able to hack any Wi-Fi enabled or computer connected device. From computers to traffic lights, draw bridges and steam pipes that explode, Aiden can hack almost anything in sight. You will be surprised how much you can hack in the game. And it's all connect to the ctOS. The ctOS is a supposedly safe Wi-Fi city control system, in which everything and everyone is connected to. Aiden is able to hack into the ctOS network which is how he can take control anything in the city, actually, he is controlling the city.

Ubisoft is also the creator of the classic Assassin's Creed series franchise. I personally love Assassin's Creed, even before I actually knew what is was. It is even known that both of these games take place in the same universe, which shows the technology in Assassin's Creed is not limited to only Abstergo Industries or Abstergo Entertainment. Don't really know what the difference is. But if you look around at peoples profiles, you might be able to find the easter egg where it says that they were a former Abstergo employee. And to add on, the first Assassin's Creed game that I played was Black Flag. But don't worry, I was able to follow it by watching the "movies" on YouTube.

There is actually a point where the story of Assassins Creed 4 and Watch_Dogs do connect. (*SPOILERS*)
In Assassin's Creed 4, there is a part where the CCO of Abstergo Entertainment, Olivier Garneau, must go to Chicago for a conference of some sort. Before he gets to the conference, he is tracked down by Aiden and the phone shows that Olivier is a genetic memory manipulator. His profile even says "Targeted by the Brotherhood". So of course you have to go after him and kill him. Back in Assassin's Creed 4, Melanie Lemay, tells you that he mysteriously disappeared and never arrived to the meeting. Also in Assassin's Creed 4 there is an email chain of files regarding Blume and the CTos. Even some of your co-workers at Abstergo are talking about moving to Chicago and working for Blume. It's more connected than you thought.

Personal view

I over-all enjoyed playing Watch Dogs. Having it made where hacking is the main tool as the game was very unique in my opinion and I haven't seen games like that before. It has the same feel as Assassins Creed where the actions are semi-automatic and there is plenty of parkour which is really fun. I love the overall concept of trying to remain anonymous, going against the authorities, taking matters into your own hands, becoming the vigilante and doing what is supposedly for the greater good. I say supposedly because I believe that Aiden is actually quite selfish. He started hacking for his own gain which is what got him into trouble causing the accidental death of his niece, angry at the people responsible, he then used his hacking skills to go off the grid and track them down, all whilst stealing bank information and cars. Not to mention all the guards he killed who weren't even involved with his nieces death and basically just pawns in a chess game, to get to the people he was actually after. Although, he did intervene with criminals when threatening somebody and rescued women in human trafficking. But hey, that's what makes it have such a strong story and so controversial.

On the other hand, some negative feedback that has been said about the game that I also agree on is that it can get quite repetitive in most of the missions, there were a lot of graphical/texture glitches, the colors were somewhat dull, but I feel like it just makes it look more realistic and the character voices were very low. Not to mention how impossible it was to drive. These were all things that I have experienced when I was playing the game,

Tracking Down - Watch_Dogs Cosplay (re-uploaded)

Story

The story is quite simple if you pay close attention to it. It starts out as me role playing as Aiden Pearce on the computer trying to hack into the ctOS server when a notification pops up saying "You Are Being Hacked". I then immediately begin to back track the source of the hacker and when I have located the source it says "Target Found". I then go out to track him down, hence the name of the video, and go about my normal day hacking everything anything I can, until I come to the location where the hacker is, and I kill him. And then I get my information back. All in a days work vigilante justice.

The making of  "Tracking Down"

Making this video wasn't easy. There were a lot of things I had to figure out how to incorporate into the video. A  major part of that was figuring out how to do the hacking. I basically thought of all the hacks that were in the game and thought, how can I fake this in real life. The hacks and function featured in the video were, traffic lights hack, bank account hack, train stop hack, electrical box exploding hack, criminal activity detector, and of course GPS. All of these hacks were made by doing nothing at all. All that was done was that I timed it precisely and text pops up in the video to show which hack has been activated. Although, there was one hack with a little more than good timing. When you see the ctOS server explode it was real. Well sort of, it was a camera trick. The server was just an old non-working modem with a sticker that I hand made to have the ctOS logo on it. The explosion itself was just a modified lighter held closely (but not to close) to the camera and igniting it.

I also had help by Nick Molinari, and couple of my friends to make this video. My friends allowed me to abuse them for a while (lol jk). They were the awesome actors that help bring this video to life. And Nick also coached me during this video being the Co-Director and the Cinematographer for a good majority of it. (Using big fancy words like that)

***On January 7, 2015, I was given the notification that this video had a copyright claim. I then had to remove the copyrighted music temporarily. I then re-edited the video with copyright-free music and scheduled the re-uploaded video on January 9, 2015.***

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So thank you for watching, feel free to click on any of the links in the blog post and especially the links below.
Special thanks to everyone who help out in this video, You are the best!
If you have any questions on the video (or in general), please contact me on my social media for I never check Blogger unless I'm writing a post, and I'll add the question with my response to the blog. Thanks.

          Extra Links Just For You

• https://www.youtube.com/user/thewackyaction?sub_confirmation=1 
  
• https://twitter.com/thewacky_Justin
• https://www.facebook.com/thewackyaction
• http://thewackyjustin.tumblr.com/
• http://instagram.com/thewacky_Justin
• https://vine.co/u/1160477070946865152

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• https://www.ubisoft.com/en-US/
• http://chicago-ctos.com/
• http://abstergo.org/
• http://fediafedia.com/neo/
• http://hackertyper.net/

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The Last Of Us Clicker Cosplay

Hey what's up everybody! In this blog post I will talking about behind the scenes of my video "Chased by a Clicker".

I did something that I am very proud of. For 2013 Halloween, I made my own costume, by hand! What I did was make a character from my favorite video game of the year, a Clicker from The Last of Us. The Last of Us is indeed my most favorite game because it has incredibly beautiful graphics with an emotionally awesome, bad-ass story. This game touches your heart and makes you feel something.

The Last of Us is an action-adventure survival horror game created by Naughty Dog, who also created my personal favorite classic, the Crash Bandicoot series. I believe that this game broke the world record selling over 3 million copies after 3 weeks of its release date (June, 14, 2013). Set in a post apocalyptic world where people get Infected with a mutated cordyceps fungus which takes over their body and become a zombie like creature, the protagonists, Joel and Ellie, must travel across the country to a resistance group called the Fireflies in hopes to find a cure for the infected.

The Last Of Us Wallpaper

The biggest enemy in the game (the antagonist), are the Infected. The Infected are humans that have been infected with the mutated cordyceps fungus in a sudden, violent outbreak that occurs in the beginning of the game. Once the fungus takes over your body, you are no longer in control of your own actions. The infected human is then a host to the fungus. Whether or not you die is never said in the game which is kind of scary if you are still alive and suffering on the inside while the fungus takes over and you just watch the world pass by. The resulting creatures are extremely aggressive and will attack any uninfected human in sight. The infected have different stages of infection/fungal growth(Which you can read more about 'here'). The one that I chose was the third (3rd) stage of infection, the Clicker. The Clicker has the most distinctly recognized stage of the infection/fungus growth which is the main reason why I decided to build it. The Clickers are completely infected with the fungus growing out of their face. Because of this, they are blind and must produce a clicking sound as echo location in order to see. Hence the name, the Clicker.

Clicker Concept Art

I understand that Halloween is long gone but I still wanted to make this video because I loved it so much. It would have been done and uploaded in November but my computer sort of broke down and making videos came to a complete standstill for me and I hated it. But now the video is up and I'm glad that it's done and over with.

Me making this video is kind of like a passion project for me. I love The Last Of Us so much that I wanted to built this costume and make the video. Originally it was going to be similar to 'Slenderman in New York' where I just wear the costume walking about in the streets of New York, but a week before Halloween, I went to gamestop for an event and saw an Assassin's Creed 4 Black Flag t-shirt. Immediately I knew I had to have it because I don't have any gaming shirts like that. Luckily I decided to bring money with me and I happily purchased it. And I forget exactly when but before I started filming I decided to mix AC4 with the Clicker instead and make it an Assassin's parkour, Clicker chase. I liked this idea better because it was now two video games with action running.

The biggest thing that I was afraid of was other people watching me film myself, especially wearing the Clicker mask because you don't know what they're thinking when they see a kid doing something as ridiculous as I am. Another thing was the public costume change. The first day that I started filming, I wanted all the shots to be in order and keep the camera in the same position to have a smooth, sequential look. But I immediately found myself switching back a forth between outfits. So afterwards, filming was done over different days. And another factor to this video was the whether. I didn't want to much sun because the video would have a warm look to it, which basically means that the colors would look more yellow-ish, and I didn't want that. I didn't want it to dark either because then the video would look dull, without much color. I went out to film on partly-cloudy days for the right amount of light. Also, the wind was horrible. Even though there is little to no dialogue, the wind could still ruin the audio and I didn't want the effect of my clothes flapping or leaves blowing either. The best days I got were 15-20 MPH.

And the last thing that I was worried about was the gun scene. Its technically illegal to paint a toy gun to look realistic, but I'm not going to use a fake looking gun for something this serious. I mean, I want to make high quality videos, right? I was afraid that someone would see me, believe that it was a real gun, have the cops show up and potentially go to jail. I was seriously running the risk doing this scene, considering I look extremely sketchy being a teenager by myself in the back woods next to a highway with a rifle in my hands. Simply said, I was paranoid.

I had to actually learned how to make the Clicker mask from a tutorial on YouTube. Once I had all the materials I needed for this project, It took about a week or so to get the shape that I wanted and to paint it the best that I could. And it came out well, I was proud of myself that I could make this. For Halloween, my friends and family were amazed that I made this mask by hand. They also said that it looked like popcorn, as well as the people who didn't know what I was. The only thing is I couldn't make any eye holes to see because it would mess up the structure and make it look, well, not like a Clicker. So throughout the entire video, I was literally running blind, which was actually pretty nerve wracking. Its scary being unable to see where you're going. And since the game mostly takes place in the southern states, I wanted to dress like a southerner. As a Clicker, I am wearing boots, dark jeans, a bloody shirt(which I made), a beige plaid dress shirt and a ripped up sweater. I never knew why zombies clothes are always ripped, but after thinking about it, it makes sense because once you become a zombie you will be traveling around the same clothes, and those clothes will eventually get worn out. As far as the assassins outfit, its just black sneakers with regular jeans, an AC4 T-shirt and a hoodie with a wing like design on it.

Cosplay Concept Art

I spent so much time, effort and money into building and putting this thing together, that to me, its more than just a costume, this is cosplay. And after making this, I am interested in making more cosplay projects. I really enjoy crafting type projects, you know. I just like to make things. So hopefully this would be my new Halloween tradition where I just make my own costume and make a video about it. Its not like I go trick-or-treating anymore, so I'm taking on the next level for me, which is cosplay!

MP3 Experiment 10 : My Experience

So, this year was the 10 year anniversary of the MP3 Experiment by Improv Everywhere, and for the first time I was able to go. Improv Everywhere was created by Charlie Todd in August 2001 which is a NYC based prank collective that causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places. Kinda like doing pranks to other people without hurting them (physically/mentally/emotionally/etc.) while rather just acting goofy and weird when interacting with them, either direct or indirect. The MP3 Experiment itself is in the form of a flash mob where everybody listens to an MP3 track together at the same time, synchronized.

When I first found out about the MP3 Experiment 10 I was ecstatic. I knew that I was gonna go because I've always seen the MP3 Experiment videos on YouTube and I've always wanted to try it but never knew how. But this year I heard the announcement of the MP3 Experiment 10, and I immediately jumped on the bandwagon! I didn't care what I needed or how I got there but I knew for sure, I was gonna do it. I even brought my cousin along so we can do the experiment and for us to spend time and have fun together. Plus, it would be more fun to be with someone rather than go alone, by yourself. I mean, I would have gone regardless whether I was with someone or not. But I'm glad I wasn't alone and it was more fun.


When we first arrive I was nervous and excited. I don't know why, but I was getting paranoid thinking, what if we were the only two people here who were doing it? We were looking around trying to spot other people who were in on the experiment.It wasn't that easy considering there is no obvious way of knowing who's in on the experiment and the fact that you were supposed to dress up like a tourist. (see picture to below)

But we did notice that there were some people doing the experiment because they were getting their props ready and talking about it and stuff like that. Upon finding this out I was more excited and more comfortable, ready to do this experiment!

So without anything else being said, here is the actual video. Enjoy. I know I did. And so let the MP3 Experiment 10 begin!!! ⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩⇩



To see the full story with photos click 'here'.
To see the photo of me and my cousin doing the experiment click 'here'. (p.s. nothing special)

Discover NYC Personal Tour: Dubos point

So a while back, earlier this year, I realized that I barely travel anywhere. In general, I barely travel at all. I also been living in New York City my entire life and I haven't seen my this cities own landmarks. (I really need to get out more) So thats when I came up with the idea of going to random places in the city in each of the 5 boroughs. My original plan was to take each train and try to go to a random stop. But then I thought that would take forever, so I wanted to go to special stops that had something to offer me instead of a regular boring normal neighborhood, like the WTC site, City Hall, the Brooklyn bridge, Roosevelt Island and many more places! But mainly, I want to go to the abandoned locations. I wanted to go to abandoned places when I simply typed in the word "abandoned" in Google and since I'm in New York the search results came up New York related and the first link was a website of the abandoned places in New York. I wanted to learn more and then visit these locations. (http://abandonednyc.com/)

I call this my own personal tour because that's pretty much what it is and what I am doing. I call it my 'Discover NYC Personal Tour' because I will tour around New York City traveling and finding out new things, to have new, young, fresh experiences because I want to and it'll be fun. This will be my plans for this summer so that way I won't get bored.

The first and easiest place that I wanted to go to was Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary, which in my opinion isn't even a sanctuary. Although, there is plenty of wildlife. This place is nothing but sand, grass, mud and marsh. My best advice is to stay on the sand and out of the grass. The grass is where most the marsh is, got stuck a few times when trying to cut through them. Plus, they're very tall and thick, not easy when you can't see where you're stepping let alone what direction you're going, and you don't know what plants or animals are in there. This place is technically not open to the public, but at the same time there is no one there to tell you not to be there. For more information, click 'here' or 'here'. Now without anymore reading, (assuming you did read) here are the photos I took while at Dubos Point Wildlife Sanctuary. Please read the caption for they tell my story.

As soon as I get there, not even in the sanctuary yet, there is a pile of trash such as a mattress and an old TV.

A broken wooden fence with more trash.

An abandoned naked doll in the pile.

Rotting old wooden pilings of an old dock.

More pilings.

More pilings.

I don't even know what this thing once was...

But whatever this thing was, It had some big chains.

Marsh Pond.

Another marsh Pond.

A baby doll, without a head. That's creepy & disturbing.

An old, still inflated truck tire.

 An old rotten boat frame.

A decaying boat in the sand.

A mysterious pipe, wonder what it is.

So close to the people who live here yet they have no idea.

Some plants don't mind some of the trash. Just shows you how little this place is used.

An old ships iron frame broken in the sand. Such a beautiful scene!

The engines to the ship, now rusted and covered with sea growth.

More rotten piling in a beautiful scene.

A nice shot of waves hitting the shore.

Some grass growing in a rusted, paint chipped old boat.

Another not so old broken, paint chipped boat. Maybe left there from hurricane Sandy.

A sorta still standing old wooden dock.

A boat permanently docked.

A rusted fire hydrant. Was there once a side-walk here? If not, then what's gonna catch on fire, water? Just kidding there probably was a side-walk here that was eroded away by the salt water and left this!

A lonely abandoned road.

A tugboat sunk and no one got it out.

Any treasure aboard?

An abandoned metal shed.

And it's all right here!