iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I was going to post on Youtube, but Disney's auto-moderation blocks it immediately. But here it is for you:

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I finally got my hands on one of these, and I digitized it.

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Day 3 of #MechTober is video games. They were my first introduction to the universe when I was a kid and I still cherish this game I’ve had that whole time. I even pulled it out and replayed it while I was writing my first BattleTech novel, Honor’s Gauntlet

The original MechWarrior video game plugged in to a Super Nintendo

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 02/10/2026

Busting out the classics with the kid…

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My #MechTober Days 1 & 2 - Classic BattleTech and Alpha Strike I've been lucky to be a part of the universe and to play across the country with folks. The first picture is from Masters & Minions at GenCon with @michaelastackpole.bsky.social as my teammate. The second is an AS event from Logan, UT.

BattleTech Classic, Bryan Young and Mike Stackpole playing against some brutal opponents

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 02/10/2026

At least, they won't let me put it on Youtube... but here it is for you in all its glory. If you want all the other 8mm transfers I've been doing, go here: youtube.com/playlist?lis...

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 02/10/2026

Warner Brothers wouldn't let me upload this to Youtube. But I promise, it's for educational purposes. It's a 9 minute abridgement of the film in black and white with subtitles.

The Adventures of Robin Hood on 8mm reels.

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 01/10/2026

This is today! It’s going to be a fun afternoon!

Better storytelling through dungeon mastering - Wasatch County Library 4:00 pm

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 30/09/2026

Kingston (11) has spent two days doing this in Procreate. I guess we’ve been watching a LOT of Buster Keaton.

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 29/09/2026

As we speak, I'm working on Buster Keaton's "Cops"

Blackhawk Films presents COPS, starring Buster Keaton on a screen, illuminated from a tiny 8mm film strip below it.

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Can’t wait! I’ve been deep diving them lately. I even stumbled across a signed copy of Albert E. Smith’s autobiography!

A book signed “Vitagraphically Yours, Albert E. Smith”

Two Reels and a Crank - autobiography of one of the founders of Vitagraph

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Taking a break from The Extra Girl (those 25 minute reels take 4-5 hours to scan) to scan Roscoe Arbuckle’s “Fatty’s Magic Pants.” Arbuckle’s become one of my favorites over the years. It’s obvious why he was a star.

An 8mm digitizer with film reels on either side, scanning “Fatty’s Magic Pants”

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Here’s the machine at work.

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Next up is Mabel Normand in The Extra Girl! It’s a four reeler, so it’s going to take forever. Should I upload one reel at a time? Or cut it together as one video?

The lobby card for Mabel Normand in The Extra Girl

The title card for The Extra Girl on a digital transfer machine.

A close up of Mabel Normand on the digital transfer machine

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 27/09/2026

They’re just close friends

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I have begun digitizing 8mm films. I decided to start with this official NASA footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing.

8 mm reels getting digitized of the original Apollo 11 moon landing in black and white

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 27/09/2026

I did another signing and that means another video from my book tour... This time from FanX Salt Lake. You'll catch glimpses of a ton of folks in here, not just me!

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I also picked up a whole slew of random 8mm and Super8 silent films, including a complete print of Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand’s 1923 feature film The Extra Girl. I am planning on digitizing these and posting them as I go, wondering what bizarre oddities I’ll find.

A whole bunch of 8mm silent films on reels and in boxes

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Some pictures from the night, too.

A Wurlitzer organ beneath a proscenium arch

Bryan smiling in the middle of a crowded theater

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I made a video about the theater and my time tonight...

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I’m going to see Buster Keaton’s The Playhouse and Sherlock, Jr. with live accompaniment of the incomparable Blaine Gale on this authentic Mighty Wurlitzer. It’s gonna be great.

Bryan, smiling in front of the most astounding purple Wurlitzer Organ in a silent film theater.

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 25/09/2026

Some shots from FanX Salt Lake day 2 -- I had a blast on the Maul: Shadow Lord panel and signed a whole pile of books. And saw some cool stuff. And I got to get some signed @charlessoule.bsky.social books and have a conversation with him in person rather than via zoom.

The crowd for the Maul: Shadow Lord panel -- including a Baylan Skoll, Duchess Satine, and a Clone Wars era Anakin and Obi-Wan

The panelists of the Maul: Shadow Lord panel

Nix, the merqaal pet from Star Wars: Outlaws

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A shot of the Buster Keaton panel and better shot of the Kurosawa/Star Wars panel.

Bryan teaches folks about Kurosawa and Star Wars

Bryan Young, Anna F Marasco and Tracy Mangum talk Buster Keaton

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 25/09/2026

Some photos of FanX Salt Lake Day One. I got to run into all kinds of great folks like @kierstenwhite.bsky.social, @aaroncanton.bsky.social, and a bunch of other folks not on Blusky. Somehow I missed @ig-801.bsky.social, though.

Bryan signing books at the Printed Garden

The line to get into the convention under the shadow of the Salt Lake Mormon Temple

Bryan teaches a class on Star Wars and Kurosawa to a packed crowd

A 3D printed statue of Boba Fett as Bender from Futurama

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 24/09/2026

It came up and folks were asking about it, so here's the video I made comparing The Dam Busters (1955) with the trench run in A New Hope -- a key influence for George Lucas

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 23/09/2026

Buster Keaton, trying to go blind in Roscoe Arbuckle’s The Garage (1919).

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 23/09/2026

While I was at it, I made a video of Buster Keaton's best stunts (in advance of the Buster Keaton appreciation panel at FanX Salt Lake I'm hosting tomorrow!) I'll be showing this as part of the presentation.

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 23/09/2026

Speaking of the Cinema Behind Star Wars, here's a video I made about the inspiration of Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd on one of my favorite characters: Jar Jar Binks

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 22/09/2026

He essentially forced Vitagraph to near bankruptcy to the point where they were forced to sell the studio to Warner Brothers, who trademarked the name for their distribution arm. The last thing they used the name for was Looney Tunes.

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Bryan Young @swankmotron.com · 22/09/2026

It’s stunning how destructive Paramount has been to the film industry for over a hundred years. Then Paramount head Adolph Zukor lead literal violent, illegal criminal conspiracies to destroy competition: the indie production companies and especially Vitagraph.

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JD Vance walks like he thinks he's John Wayne. But he's more of the pocket-change John Wayne you found in your couch cushions.

John Wayne walking in "The Shootist" a quote above him says, "I'm a dying man, scared of the dark."

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I bought a set of the bootleg Fox Patrol dice. No one's ever bootlegged merch from anything I created before... So, I had to have them. A set to use and a set to put on my shelf.

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This film, The Enchanted Drawing, is from the year 1900. J. Stuart Blackton is the cartoonist and director. He founded Vitagraph and he's the guy Winsor McKay went to in order to figure out animation for Little Nemo. The transition from drawing to 3D object is astounding for the time.

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Professor Welton's Boxing Cats, 1894 From the Library of Congress

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It's just such a gorgeous theater.

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I took some pictures, too. The name got changed in the 1940s to the Star Theater. Today, it bears both names as the Casino Star Theater.

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I taught a writing class out in rural Utah today. This theater is one of my favorites. Opened in 1912 and playing films ever since, the Casino Theater in Gunnison, UT is a gorgeous example of Beaux Arts architecture and a relic of the silent era.

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I do the same thing to my ’Mech when I overheat it and the engine shuts down.

A MechWarrior giving the middle finger to the Engine Shutdown warning

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