Vids: it is all I'm talking about these days. :P

I posted my first commentary for the vid_commentary challenge to Lithiumdoll's vid Patterns. I wanted to kick off the challenge early to encourage people to participate, but I'm a little concerned that I may have scared people away instead. LOL! If more people would comment just to say they read it, then I might not be so worried about that, but so far.... *shrug* I don't expect that many more people will sign-up to write commentary; In my experience vidders tend to write at length about their own vids, or vids in general, but I don't see a lot of extensive coverage of other people's finished vids -- I think they save that for in-person discussions at cons.

I decided to start with Patterns not only because it was made for me (literally, it was a Christmas gift), and I knew that I could talk about it at length, but also because it is an acknowledgment to how viewers read vids. We, as viewers, look for patterns, parallels and connections in what we are viewing and hearing, and then bring our own previous knowledge of media, literature, art, colour, etc... to decipher a narrative, story, or structure from that. Our interpretation of the source is as much a reflection of ourselves as is the vid a reflection of the vidder.

The Pattern of my life, and the puzzle that is me.

I also signed up for Lithy's Unknown Soldier vid, but that is a bit of a cheat, since I did beta that piece. I grabbed it because I did want to cover a TSCC vid, and other than one other vid there has never been a time where Lithy and I had been more at odds over a vid beta, so I am pretty confident that I interpret parts of it in ways she did not intend. However, with so many vidders offering vids, and so few people willing to write commentary, I might put that one aside for now and find one from another vidder to comment on. It would be awesome if I could write three, but I know how long it takes me to articulate anything linearly (I just don't think that way), and giving myself more fandom related work right now would be a mistake.

In other fandom news, spn_postcards is open for another season, and strangefandom is still looking for a Grokker for the series Primeval - if you know that show and can write 300 words on what it is all about, then please go let the mod (jarrow) know. FAQ about Grokkers found here

We don't chat that often, but through speaking with your wife I know just how amazing and unique an individual you are. Congratulations on surviving another year without being buried in the garden; it is the small victories that make all the difference! \o/

HBO has finally released the trailer for "The Pacific", the follow-up to Band of Brothers. Currently the miniseries is set to air in March 2010. I don't know how good it will be without all the actors who made Band of Brothers so amazing (Damian Lewis, Ron Livingston, Michael Cudlitz, Ross McCall, Richard Speight Jr., etc...) but I am SO EXCITED to find out!

Whoever thought of this is a GENIUS! Jack White, The Edge and Jimmy Page together in a room, trying to out-do one another and share stories. THANK THE ROCK GODS FOR BEING SO GOOD TO ME! This should be a series; I can think of a few other guitarists that I would like to stick in a room together and film. Seriously F-list, just watch the trailer and tell me you are not just counting the days until this comes out. *bounces*



Itmightgetloud.com

I am about to jump into some of the last vid reviews for the Reel, but before I do that I wanted to start seriously pimping vid_commentary, because it is TIME! It is time that you told everyone what YOU see when you watch vids. What patterns and themes do you see? Why does this vid work? What is the vid saying and why is it saying it? We do this all the time with television shows and movies in lengthy meta posts, but we rarely say more than a few sentences about vids. I think it is time we did! I think that it is time we wrote our own vid commentary and explained to everyone what we see, feel and experience when we watch vids. And that brings me to:

The Multifandom VID Commentary Challenge!
The objective of this challenge is for you to write or record your own commentary for a vid (or many vids) that is/are not of your making. This is not a review, a critique, or a recommendation, and we don't want to know what the vidder says they did. We want to know what you believe the vid is doing, and how and why it works. Rip it open and analyze it to your heart's content. GIVE US YOUR VID-VIEWER META! \o/

An Introductory Post with further information and links to examples can be found here on LJ: Intro & Information.

Links to the Dreamwidth mirror account, as well as threads for signing-up to write commentary and volunteering your vids for review can also be found there. And I would appreciate any and all pimping help that you might want to contribute, whether you sign up to the challenge or not. Thank you in advance! :D

The official press release for Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles season 2 DVD & Blue-Ray has found its way to me, though I can only find pre-order links for Amazon.com, and nothing for other countries as of yet. The covers, release date and the full release info can be found below.

( I hate Blue-Ray only content! )

I finally got over my bias against JJ abrams, and was able to force my mother to stop being busy long enough to go see Star Trek XI/Reboot on Sunday. Non-spoilery reaction: PURE UNADULTERATED LOVE! Why was this movie not LONGER???

I am equally amused by the fact that I have consumed several vids for this film to music that I normally would have avoided like the plague -- the movie just makes me so happy that I can't get enough of it in all forms -- I have even procured a *bootcoughcoughcough* when I normally wouldn't do that for something still in the theater, and even read a piece of fan fiction. 0_0 I am shocked by my behaviour!

Before I get to talking specifics: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZACHARY QUINTO you ridiculously awesome man!

( bullet points, lists, ramblings, and total Trekkie-like geeking out (spoilers obviously) )

Some other random trivia: the actor who depicted George, Chris Hemsworth, has been cast as Thor in Marvel's up-coming origin story for the viking God that will tie into the Avengers movie. The shooting script was written by two members of the Terminator:SCC writing crew: Ashley Edward Miller and Zac Alston -- who btw, agrees with you bradcpu that the new non-controller XBOX suggests that Microsoft is in fact SKYNET! we tweeted, I told him your theory. :D
I also mentioned to millylicious my theory as to where Skynet could get a great Neural net, to which she responded "You lovely, lovely GEEK you!". It has become my personal pleasure over the past few months to find new ways to get Milly to call me a geek, and when I don't succeed I become sad. :( I need to put together a list of technology that exists today that could possibly be used to create Skynet and see how big of a reaction I can get from her.

For all the Dark Angel fans on my F-list: Yesterday was the day of the Pulse. I waited for 12:01pm PST (Seattle time), but nothing happened. :( I guess we can put away that possible James Cameron future and keep our focus strictly on Skynet. Also, I am still grumbling over the fact that Joss has been responsible for getting Fox to remove 2 James Cameron created/inspired shows. *grumbles*

I've been catching up on Heroes.... Yes, I know that I am suppose to be re-watching other things, writing meta for other shows, completing fandom projects, and posting those 9 unfinished posts sitting on my desktop, but more importantly I am suppose to be doing homework for my summer classes, and we just can't have that, now can we? So... I've been catching up on Heroes. I have good reasons too! I do! I want to know what is going on in the vids that I have been downloading, and despite my general tendency to beat my head against my desk with every subsequent episode, I do still love Sylar. See? Good reasons.

So, that being said... WHERE IS ALL THE SYLAR META??? Link me, please! I'm primarily looking for written format, but vids and art are fabulous as well. Link me to the good Heroes meta in general; I have a serious craving for good meta.

On a random, but funny note, millylicious sent me this link last night and prefaced it with a comment about how this should be the first one created when scientists invent the technique of creating children from two men -- we can already do so with two women.

This wasn't the post I had meant to have up here today, but I really need to send this out into the ether: WHY IS DAWN OSTROFF STILL ALLOWED TO WORK IN TELEVISION? Someone has to know the answer to this! This woman's job was suppose to be contingent on Gossip Girl doing well when it premiered, so she reduced the promotional budget of several established shows (Supernatural went down to $0. That isn't an exaggeration. It went down to $0) and made a huge marketing stink over Gossip Girl... the marketing campaign got press, but the show performed badly. Then CBS gave her a second chance, and her job was now contingent on the 90210 ripoff remake doing well. Ms Ostroff, true to form, pumped a bunch of money into marketing the new show only to have it preform even worse than Gossip Girl. Meanwhile, without any promotion from the network the Supernatural audience grew 30% in season 4, while the CW as a whole is showing the worst percentage losses of any network since the Writer's Strike.... so, I ask again, WHY IS DAWN OSTROFF STILL ALLOWED TO WORK IN TELEVISION?

The only thing I watch on the channel is Supernatural, and now that the official schedule for next season has been released I see that that will not change. The network is wall to wall stereotypical tween-girl soaps and bad crack, but the real kicker is that the CW had the chance to pick up a show that had people working for a living without their lives ending after highschool; it was cast really well; it had inappropriate music choices as per usual for a CW show; it tapped into the current interest in politics that the Obamas have evoked in American youth, and it showed women doing something other than entering into the fashion industry in some way. Not that there is anything wrong with the fashion industry, but girls can do pretty much anything outside of drag queen and being a chip&dale stripper, and this channel seems to believe different, okay!? Guess what Dawn decided to do? Just guess! She PASSED on the show! *headdesk*

The Body Politic: A political drama about the new blood entering into the world of politics as interns, reporters, and staffers. You know all those governors and senators that would visit on the West Wing? Think about the people who worked for them and you have hit what level this show was dealing with. Starring Brian Austin Green (Terminator:SCC), Jason Dohring (Veronica Mars), Jay Hernandez (6 Degrees), Gabrielle Union (Life), Minka Kelly (Friday Night Lights), and Tim Matheson (The West Wing).

After the wonderful alethialia linked me to a 6 minute teaser clip that unfortunately does not feature Brian, but can be found here, a friend hooked me up with something script-shaped \o/, and .... it would have been the only new show that I would have watched this coming season. It even made Minka Kelly seem adorable and just ask crackers4jenn how much I don't normally like her. I'm not joking, it was a really good pilot script (the script is better than the clip reel), and the CW killed it dead!

Brian Austin Green has now lost two jobs in 4 days.... I am seriously displeased! However, I do take immense joy in the fact that the show that Dawn Ostroff "didn't get" is now considered to be the strongest scripted drama that the CW airs. I love you Supernatural!

The year is 2009. The last remaining fractions of the resistance have been driven almost to extinction... and Skynet has declared victory.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles
September 2007 - April 2009

I can't even express how stupid I believe this decision to be, especially with the Terminator 4 movie coming out this Thursday at midnight. I should never have gotten invested; I should never have let myself love a show this brave, a show where the female lead isn't being exploited, a show that made me think, rewarded those who rewatch, and that trusted the viewers to have intelligence. Too good for network television! Bye bye amazing show!

I just cannot believe that the Fox executives didn't even feel it necessary to inform the producers and writers, and made them wait to hear it from the trades during the upfronts.


They cannot be reasoned with, they cannot be bargained with, they don't feel pity or remorse, and they absolutely will not stop... until you are dead. :(

No, I did not just spent over 4 hours in a chat with 60 people and the writers of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. I didn't, I didn't, I didn't..... *looks at the clock* ... Okay, so I did! :D

As of 4:26am on Sunday (1:26am California time) they still haven't heard anything from Fox. Also, they were amazingly gracious, especially considering how crazy everyone was. Seriously, Josh Friedman, Daniel Thompson and Ashley Edward Miller are AWESOME!

I have so many reaction posts to catch up on, and I am determined to do it, but today is not that day. :P However, I do have a theory, I AM UNSPOILED FOR THE FINALE, and I need to get it down, even though I will probably be proved wrong.

( I hate to be near the sea, and to hear it raging and roaring like a wild beast in its den. It puts me in mind of the everlasting efforts of the human mind, struggling to be free and ending just where it began. ~William Hazlitt )

The winter semester is over, the summer semester has just begun, and I have about 6 posts 80% complete and sitting on my desktop... obviously, it is time to solicit ideas for an unpopular fannish opinion post! I was going to declare a Snap Day, but for the most part that takes angry energy that I just don't have right now; my life is pretty much dominated by exhaustion at the moment.

Can you help me out dear F-list? I need topics. Give me a show, a movie, a genre, a fandom, a character inside of a show/movie, or a way of expressing fannish devotion (fanfic, vidding, picspam, etc...). Something to focus my unpopular opinions on.

Also, some kind of confirmation that halcyon_shift didn't die at her birthday party would also be much appreciated. I WANT PROOF OF LIFE!!!

Back in episode 4x10 Heaven & Hell of Supernatural, when Ruby referred to Anna as the "Stanley Cup" because everybody on both the Angel and Demon sides wanted her, there were a few people who didn't quite get the reference, and then in January a member of my F-list asked about favourite sports and a mini discussion began but was never finished about both Hockey and the cup. Considering that the Stanley Cup Playoffs start tonight, I felt it was time to finish that discussion and explain why the Stanley Cup is IMO the greatest sports trophy in the world. Don't worry, I edited it down several times, so it isn't that long. :P



( The Quest for the Cup )

( for those who just wanted to know about the Anna reference in SPN )

Long thinky thoughts will come tomorrow, but my immediate reaction under the cut.

( Come with me if you want to live )

thedivinegoat is hosting a vidders music exchange, the point of which is to help you unload those rare songs that you know should be a vid, but you just can't figure out what vid, or even if it should be your vid.

Come on vidders and vid watchers, you know that you have a ton of those songs; they are like those six dozen pennies you have in a jar on your dresser. Canadian translation: That stack of Canadian Tire money in your sock drawer. British translation: The collection of knick-knacks you inherited from your granny that make it look like there is a village of little people living on shelves in your house.

I've been considering writing a few science based meta posts once my exams are over -- because I hate myself, but really love research -- and I'm trying to put together a list of shows that mention Evolution, either in passing or as a central theme. So, F-list, what do you watch that mentions Evolution???

Also, I am helping put together a list of suggested movies that my university library should acquire to aide the Geography department, so if you have seen any good documentaries about geology, climate change, urban planning, or environmental science as of late, please do let me know. Thank you!

... if you want to save me from my biogeography term paper, I would appreciate that too! :D

( Quick spoiler filled reaction to an event in the first 20 minutes )

If you have not seen the episode yet, DO NOT click this link!

I'm really late in posting this, but because I am surrounded by Environmental Scientists and Environmental Studies students all day I tend to forget that there are people who don't know about these things.

Tonight, starting at 8:30pm no matter where you are in the world (Sorry Nicky, I missed New Zealand like 7 hours ago) the World Wildlife Organization is asking that you turn off all non-essential electrical items in your house starting with your lights, and they ask that you do this for one solid hour. Over 1000 major cities around the world have signed up to turn off all non-essential lighting, to show that Climate Change is an important issue that must not only be recognized world wide, but that it is every-ones responsibility to deal with. You can sign up individually at http://www.earthhour.org if you want your name to be counted, or you can just do it quietly on your own.

Need an excuse to start combating that internet addiction, here is your chance. Need an excuse to take a nap, spend time with the family, or just to contemplate your life, here is your chance. The request is for all non-essential electrical equipment, so don't turn off grandma's oxygen machine, and if possible try to use beeswax candles if you absolutely need some light to find your way, since they are carbon neutral unlike petroleum based candles.

Welcome to the home of the halcyon_shift Headesplode watch. Join us as we give you 24 hour reporting of this catastrophic event. Last night, as she tucked herself into bed, Halcyon_shift (a.k.a. Lithiumdoll, a.k.a. Don Doll, a.k.a. Caesium_barbie unconfirmed) was pleased in the knowledge that the Sweet Charity fandom Auction had raised just over seven hundred dollars U.S. in a few short hours, but little did she know that while she slept bidder demons would infiltrate the site and send that donation total to over THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS! When Halcyon_shift wakes and discovers this unfathomable occurrence has taken place her head might just EXPLODE and require her to seek medical attention.

ETA 6:53 am GMT: We have British paramedics standing by. No sign of Halcyon_shift yet.

ETA 7:19 am GMT: BBC and Channel 4 news crews have arrived on scene. Obviously, it is time for a tea break, but we will have to be stealthy since a boiling kettle will wake an English woman faster than an air raid.

ETA 7:38 am GMT: Current total $3,204.08. No sign of Halcyon_shift, but the BBC camera man is already drunk.

ETA 8:15 am GMT: The Channel 4 crew are taking bets as to when HS will wake up, or if her head has in fact exploded already without our knowledge. I just think she is sleeping in for the first time in months. HS's vidding skills are already going for over $250.00 USD. 0_0

ETA 12:46 pm GMT: To my adoring public, I apologize! I popped over to the pub for quick...umm...a beer.... thing, and ...umm. was abducted. Yes. ABDUCTED! by sleep By monsters! And though I valiantly fought my way free, by the time I returned the Halcyon_shift HEADESPLODE on Day 1 had already taken place. :(

Never fear, I will be here tomorrow, still reporting while those BBC and Channel 4 guys are stuck covering the disappearance of several sheep in the greater Cornwall area and the vicious black and white thundercat that was seen with them prior to their disappearance.

For now, I bid you good day!

Bidding opened up a little under 3 hours ago on the last Sweet Charity Auction, and already the bidding is very healthy; however, there are only 4 days to bid and since the end of the auction has a tendency to make the server fall down and go boom, you should get your bids in before it is too late!

The auctioned is raising for RAINN one last time, and this time there is no paypal cut of despair \o/ though you can still donate via paypal. Bidding goes from NOW until midnight GMT on the 31st. HAPPY BIDDING!!!

Reminder: I'm am knitting for this auction and I am offering is one of the following three options:

1) 1 set of arm warmers (thumb to above the elbow)
2) 1 scarf & 1 set of wrist warmers
3) 1 baby blanket

The colours are up to you, but I will set a loose limit of three as the maximum. You can have solids, stripes, team colours if you are a sports fan, or something fancier. If you want it to be a complete surprise then I can do that too.

If you seek something fandom specific like something with maple leafs for the Canadian fandom, Cameron's arm warmers from Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Morgana's long wrist warmers from Merlin, a Harry Potter scarf, or a baby blanket with a Camelot dragon from Merlin on it then I would be willing to make it. What I don't know how to do I am probably able to learn, but if you have a very specific design in mind or something inspired by another fandom then please comment here or e-mail me first to find out whether or not I can handle the project. I want my bidder to be happy with their prize!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of anything I have made recently, since they were all presents and went to their respective owners; however, I plan on taking pictures of the finished work and sending those pictures to the winning bidder to confirm that he/she is satisfied with the piece or wants changes made. Hopefully, someone will find that satisfactory.

While I am here I should pimp some of the people on my Flist:( what my friends list is offering )

ETA: I have to say that I really don't get the Anonymous bidding thing, other than if you are buying a gift for someone.

---

I watched Terminator: TSCC tonight and OH MY GOD! I am waiting until I watch it again to write up a post about it, but take it as red that the entire post will be positive. This show is making me ridiculously happy these days, and between this and Supernatural I am an extremely happy fan. Real life, unfortunately, is not this much fun. :(

The LAST Sweet Charity Auction is currently taking volunteers who are willing to have their skills auctioned for RAINN. Sign-ups continue until the 27th and bidding runs from the 28th to 31st.

This time around I've decided to knit! \o/ What I am offering is one of the following three options:

1) 1 set of arm warmers (thumb to above the elbow)
2) 1 scarf & 1 set of wrist warmers
3) 1 baby blanket

The colours are up to you, but I will set a loose limit of three as the maximum. You can have solids, stripes, or something fancier. If you want it to be a complete surprise then I can do that too.

ETA: I can do team colours if you are a sports fan!

If you seek something fandom specific like something with maple leafs for the Canadian fandom, Cameron's arm warmers from Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles, Morgana's long wrist warmers from Merlin, a Harry Potter scarf, or a baby blanket with a Camelot dragon from Merlin on it then I would be willing to make it. What I don't know how to do I am probably able to learn, but if you have a very specific design in mind or something inspired by another fandom then please comment here or e-mail me first to find out whether or not I can handle the project. I want my bidder to be happy with their prize!

Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of anything I have made recently, since they were all presents and went to their respective owners; however, I plan on taking pictures of the finished work and sending those pictures to the winning bidder to confirm that he/she is satisfied with the piece or wants changes made. Hopefully, someone will find that satisfactory.

This is REALLY long, and rambly, but I am enjoying where this season of TSCC is going SO MUCH that I needed to brain-dump a little, and trust me this is "a little" for me. I have quite a bit of meta planned for this show once the current semester is over, and I really wish I could just sit down with a bunch of geeks and scientists over coffee and dissect this show for a week. Ahhh dystopian futures, my bullet proof kink!

( TSCC 2x19 - The Last Voyage of the Jimmy Carter )

The National Film Board of Canada has placed all chapters of the Documentary RiP: A Remix Manifesto online for streaming. Though the musician at the center of the documentary might not do anything for you (I had never even heard of him before) there are chapters that deal with copyright issues faced by participants in remix culture that would be of interest to vidders. What could be of even more interest is that the director of the documentary has places all chapters at Open Source Cinema Dot Org, and has asked that viewers take the documentary, remix it, re-edit it, and load it back up so that it can be placed on a DVD compilation called A Remix Manifesto 2.0.

---

The poll has spoken and the vid_commentary challenge will run in July. \o/ The introductory post can be found here for anyone curious about what the challenge is for. Vidders can sign up any time they wish, in fact we have several who have already signed up and given sweeping permission for commentary to be written about all of their vids. How awesome are they? Though I won't be advertising the community until the middle of June, commentators are free to sign up early with the vid(s) that they wish to work with as long as they get permission from the vidder, or see the vidder's name on the vidder permission master list. I have already put my name down for one and I'm eyeing 7 others... *facepalm*

If anyone would like to advertise the community at any point (now or in June) then I would greatly appreciate it; banners can be found in the introductory post.



Today is the last day to submit your vids to the_reel for review before we close up shop for an undetermined amount of time.

I'm about half a season behind on my episode reaction posts; with school I just never seem to have the time to go back, rewatch and type something up, but I will eventually if for no other reason than to talk about the tree metaphor. :P

( How many angels can dance on the head of a pin? )

This post is half research and half pimp. A few months back sdwolfpup suggested a vid commentary challenge (where vid viewers would write their own commentary on a vid of their choice; how and why the vid works) which would be held post vividcon, and then graciously let me run away with the idea. The problem is that the community is already ready to go, I'm terribly impatient to start the challenge, and I'm not so sure that post-VVC is the best time to hold it. Between now and June vidders are worried about getting their Premiere and Club Vivid vids ready for deadline, and after Vividcon I find that most people are either itching to jump into their next vid, or completely vidded out. Though there will be many shiny new vids post-VVC, it takes a few months before all the con reports come out, so what are the chances that I could actually get anyone to write a page or two about a single vid? That leaves mid-summer as the time between vids being completed and the actual con, but it is also the same time that most people take their family vacations, or just spend their days outside exposing various body parts to that burning ball of FIRE in the sky... As you can see I have a dilemma! Since the comm is ready I want to just open it NOW, and I even had my first vidder offer up their vids just a few hours ago, but in order for this challenge to work properly I need to know what is the best time for everyone else, which means a poll!

If you like the idea of the challenge but only plan on submitting your vids for commentary, or just watching the challenge and not actually writing/recording a commentary, then please do not fill out this poll. If you want to show your interest strictly as a viewer or as someone who will give permission to have their vids commentaried (it is totally a word now) then please do so in the comments.

Also, if you would be so kind as to pimp this poll I would be ever so grateful! :D

Poll #1366844 What is the best time to hold the vid commentary challenge?
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Are you more likely to participate prior or post Vividcon?

If you chose prior or both, then which month(s) is/are best for you?

If you chose post or both, then which month(s) is/are best for you?

I can't make it this year, but it doesn't stop me from spreading the word. To all those who are in or around Toronto:

Dundas Square @ 3:00 PM
Saturday, March 21st 2008

( Bring a pillow! :D )

Newmindspace

Sign-ups for the last Sweet Charity auction begins this Friday, and I finally figured out what I am going to offer this time around. \o/ My plan is to knit (arm warmers and scarves mostly, perhaps a baby blanket), but I don't have pictures of any finished pieces that I can post online, so I probably won't sell for much. *shrug* Every little bit helps, right? I might push the fandom angle a little by offering to knit the arm warmers that Cameron wore in season 1 of Terminator, or I might knit the dragon from Merlin into a scarf or something. The big obstacle will be finding a new place to buy wool that isn't as expensive as my local shop.

Sweet Charity Dates:
Sign-up out: 20th - 27th March 2009
Auction: 28th - 31st March 2009

The vid_commentary community is ready to go.... 5 months early. :P

the_reel will be closing to new vids for review as of Friday at midnight. I've said this before, but the community as it currently stands is not servicing its community members in a timely manner, and I really am very tired of asking for volunteers every month only to hear from the same 5 people out of a population of over 400. That isn't a dig at anyone, but with participation numbers that low the community is doing little more than taking up space. I'm considering either turing the comm. into a bi-annual review challenge, or shutting it down completely... not sure yet.

Also, I'm running an Art Challenge at herchampion, an Arthur/Morgana community. If anyone is currently looking for a Merlin based art challenge the objective of this one is to create new Arthur/Morgana themed DVD covers; the current BBC covers are awful.