I was super frackin' speedy and oh, lawd, I hope I got in. But that is out of my hands and as such, will give impotent hands a purpose and fill them with MORE GIN! I am doing what I have been dying to do for weeks and weeks, namely, (re)watching Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace back-to-back (while wearing the necklace, of course. in my pyjamas, of course. because nothing goes with designer jewelry so well as a soft, old t-shirt and comfy drawstring pj pants).

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: hopeful

Hello! I've decided to watch and squeefully review the VVC Club Vivid DVD while drinking! You can play along at home, but get your own damn booze!

First off, there is no way I'm collecting links for these vids (I am not actually drunk yet -- the mood theme was selected in hopeful anticipation -- but look, let's just say that I am because it sounds better than "lazy"), so I direct you instead to the complete Club Vivid playlist. Thar be links.

I'll be updating (behind the cut, because I am kind-hearted) as I watch...not sure how far I'll actually *get* since I meant to start earlier. But I had to water the plants and change the bed and boring shit like that.

( part one under the cut...will do the rest in a day or two )

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: drunk

I don't recall exactly how it came up, but I remember talking with a few people at Vividcon about my rather epic and anal spreadsheet for keeping track of the vid feedback I leave. This came about after the onslaught of Vividcon vids last year, and me wanting to make sure I didn't forget VVC-related stuff...then I just kept on going with it and eventually started setting goals for myself in terms of feedback (the current goal is to average out at ten vids per month, in case you're wondering and I'm sure you were, heh...and I'm a little below my goal right now, so the spreadsheet will show you my failcakes).

Yes, it's all very anal, I know :-) But on the other hand, as I've said before, I really do believe that the mutual exchange of feedback is the most tangible, direct way that vidders can support each other, period. You can say you like someone's work, but if you haven't commented on their vids? It's a fart in the wind, dude.

Someone (maybe nightchik?) asked specifically about what the spreadsheet looked like and since I was in there tonight updating it (am sloooooowly starting to plow my way through VVC), I made a copy and published it for public view. You can see it here (I haven't tried publishing a Google doc before, so let me know if I effed it up and the link doesn't work). If it encourages anyone to be all conscientious about feedback, then YAY...and if not, then you can at least be amused by how dorky I am.

Tags: vidding meta, vividcon
Current Mood: nerdy

Y'all. It's like, OVER. I am rapidly sinking into a post-VVC depression even though I'm still in the hotel. This also might have something to do with an impending blood sugar crisis or the need for sleep, but still -- I'm fragile; hold me.

Off the top of my head, four premiering vids that I really responded to (in the order they premiered...all were in the Premieres show on Saturday night except for the last one, which was part of today's Challenge show):

Love Turns 40 by jarrow (Closer; like, the movie, not the TNT show ;)) -- you wouldn't think a vid with a bunch of head shots would work, but you'd be wrong. Someone said during the review today that this vid shows how faces and expressions can be used as weapons and that's a great way to describe it. Sophisticated, mournful and claustrophobic, with an intensity build-up that makes you feel like you can't breathe because you're right there, lodged into their...quadrangle? I don't know the movie, but I think that's the plot.

Climbing up the Walls by obsessive24 (Supernatural/Firefly/Heroes) -- YOU'LL BE HEARING A LOT ABOUT THIS VID. Quite rightly, it was one of the two selected for the in-depth review panel. Incest has consequences, people. When Nicky told me about her concept a while back, I thought it sounded great (I am no fan of incest pairings, so not exactly like I had to come around to it), but I didn't know how she would manage to pull off such a sophisticated concept. And then, crap...look, I must admit that there were many vids this weekend that I *liked*, but I seriously was not able, on first watch, to digest the meaning layered into them. I felt rather stupid when listening to very intelligent comments made during vid review...'cause I missed that shit. But something Nicky does extraordinarily well is to transparently convey VERY complex ideas. This vid is a master class in that. Also, bonus points for spotting the angry vagina!!!!

Handlebars by Seah and Margie aka flummery (Doctor Who) -- this is all you need to know about the Doctor. And all you need to never EVER forget about him. It takes you on a ride that starts out cheeky and adorable and then oh fucking God, don't ever forget that he destroys worlds and can bring disaster with a snap of his far-too-powerful fingers. ETA: This was just posted and I downloaded so that I could watch immediately on my computer (even though I've got the DVD set, yeah) and AHHHHHH, I'm still getting chills!!! In the context of the vid, that finger snap is seriously the creepiest thing ever. *shudders*

Tear You Apart by bradcpu (Firefly) -- This was disturbing and I understood only about half of it. And half was enough to blow me away and make me think that the concepts for my vids are lame and weak and boring. I sort of fear describing it because I need to rewatch and then read Brad's notes when he posts it...but imagine that you are inside River's head and she's way crazier than you ever knew.

Tags: vid recs, vividcon
Current Mood: crushed

Title: I Am The Drug (download here)
Fandom: Dexter; spoilers for all of S2
Music: I Am The Drug by Ed Harcourt
Stats: DivX (45.8MB) and WMV (24.8MB), 3:04
Yes, he has an addiction.

My Premieres show vid for Vividcon 2008 -- SO HAPPY that my Dexter S2 project can finally be set freeeeeeee! Fly Dexter vid, fly away! Thanks much to the adorable obsessive24 for the beta.

( notes and lyrics; S2 spoilers mentioned )

Tags: vids, vids [tv]: dexter, vividcon
Current Mood: indescribable

Title: Dance With Me (download here)
Fandom: Ballroom dancing movies
Music: Dance With Me by Debelah Morgan
Stats: DivX (49.6MB) and WMV (26.2MB), 3:15
Competitive ballroom dancing plus gratuitous sparkles!

LIVE FROM VIVIDCON, here's my Club Vivid premiere...of course I typed this post up ages ago so that I could be a total dork and post right after it ended! Thanks to virginie_m (no longer on LJ, but not forgotten) for her speedy beta of this vid several months back.

Movies used:
Dance With Me (1998)
Shall We Dansu? (1996 Japanese original)
Shall We Dance? (2004 American remake)
Strictly Ballroom (1992)

It's not necessary to be familiar with any of these movies to enjoy the vid, but I totally recommend both Strictly Ballroom and Shall We Dansu (the original, not the vastly inferior remake!) because they will make your heart sing with joy :)

Notes and lyrics under the cut, and an extended tech-centric commentary can be found here.

( notes and lyrics )

Pumpkin pies, Club Vivid was awesome and stuff! I flitted around the edges of VVC earlier today, not quite ready to start barging up to people and introducing myself but knowing I'd have to get over it eventually. And tonight I did indeed get over it (hello, gin!) and it was a great time with too many great vids to count.

Tags: vids, vids [movies]: multi, vividcon
Current Mood: bouncy

• Club Vivid project completed weeks ago and then I uploaded/submitted on Monday, so it is well and truly off my damn plate
• Premieres vid draft is with my beta (so it is not done, but is in a vaguely homestretch-like place)
  
• though I'm normally the type who wants and needs to take a break between projects, I think I'll jump right into a third one after these VVC things are wrapped up...I know what I want to do next (edited the song earlier tonight, in fact) and I'm frankly dying to make something that I can release before August
• it's the time of the academic year when work is predictably crazy, but I scheduled a work at home day for Monday to do website stuff and it will be nice to be out of the office. I have zero natural light there (we're in a semi-basement location and mine is the one office that's completely interior with no windows), so when I work in my sunny, breezy office at home, it's sort of delicious. And rare, since I only do it a couple of times a year
• it's a mild night, my windows and sliding door are wide open to catch the breeze and my kitchen smells like fresh mint and limes from mojitos. There is no bad in this scenario
  

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: content

So I was tagged for that "seven songs" meme, but here is a "one song" meme rolled into an update instead, which will have to suffice :)

We've been having gorgeous spring weather this week, but today finally felt like the real deal to me. Sunny, warm and beautiful and the budding trees and plants and flowering things suddenly felt like they had agreed to go for it and reach a critical mass. I got into the car this morning feeling slightly less exhausted and stressed than I've been all week and suddenly had the urge for my Sunny Day Song -- the song I always want to hear when it's beautiful outside and I'm optimistic inside, the song that goes along with rolling down the windows and opening the sunroof, the song that's on the CD that of course was not in the player this morning (even though it's one I rarely take out of the rotation) and I had to juggle disks in traffic to remedy the situation:

( my song for a sunny day )

In vidding news, I love my Premieres vid. I had a good feeling about it from the start...you know when you just FEEL like an idea is going to work out as it should? You don't know how it will get there, but you are confident that it will. This feeling always reminds me of a scene in Farscape when John is talking about navigating unrealized realities and he says, "I got this hum in my head like a whale." It's the vidding equivalent of sonar, maybe. Even if the vid doesn't end up rocking anyone's world, it makes the process feel calm and certain and satisfying (though it's not close to finished yet, so I could be having a crisis over it in a week, one never knows).

La la laaaa...adding a little space here in case you want to click on the first cut and have a scrolly cushion before the spoilery BSG remarks.

(la laaaa)

(am so considerate)

( BSG 3.04 )

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: pensive

Pimp! Sweet Charity is running again, lots of lovely folks up for the buying, and it all benefits the very worthy RAINN. Go have a look! I'm telling you, this event (and the way it's supported) is like a giant Fandom Warm Fuzzy that acts as a tonic to the system every time I see another instance of Fandom Crazy. We do both with such great enthusiasm.

I swear to everything holy that I'm now REALLY DONE tinkering with my Club Vivid vid. DONE. Not that I just spent last night and this afternoon making more changes or anything. But that's it. Moving on now. I finally got a flash of real inspiration re what to do for Premieres (not that I didn't have any ideas before, vague and feeble as my interest was in all of them), so it's time to get cracking on that. Step 1: rewatching, with wine! I like that step.

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: good

Hey, would anyone be willing and able to have a look at my Club Vivid vid? I think maybe it's done, but since I can't release or even submit it to VVC yet, I'm afraid I'll keep poking away and tweaking stuff -- possibly unnecessarily -- just to kill time. This is conceptually light and fluffy, so I don't need exhaustive feedback unless you really feel moved to give it! I can't mention the fandom here, but safe to say that you absolutely do not need to be familiar with the source :)

Drop me your email address in a comment (screening them to protect your innocence ;)) if you're interested. Thanks in advance!

Done and thank you!

Tags: vividcon
Current Mood: productive