So, I've been away from Livejournal for most of this month... I seem to have some kind of avoidance issue at the moment. Please don't take it personally! I don't really know what's going on... perhaps it may have something to do with the fact that every time I log on to LJ I see something that makes me go 'aaargh!' within the first ten minutes and promptly flee back to my real life... I'll get over that soon, no doubt. ;)

But anyway, excitingly one of my friends got published in The Guardian. She wrote this hard-hitting editorial about the politics of Mad Men. I'm really proud of her because I find the dialogue around Mad Men to be really insipid in its reverence. Predictably, the editorial copped lots of 'it's just TV' responses, which don't really fly since the creator of Mad Men takes great pride in telling the world how 'accurate' his portrayal is. If he admitted it was a white escapist fantasy it'd be a lot more honest, though then people would have to ask themselves why they find the sexualisation of women in the workplace and the kitchen titillating... or why they find the complete invisibility of people of colour a relief... ahem. Agree or disagree, I'm proud of my friends. I admire outspoken, intelligent people that stand by their beliefs.

Oh. Someone poke me to post more. I respond well to encouragement. :p (Srsly, I've got a mental HANDICAP about this at the moment! *whines*)

I have been achieving unprecedented positivity and productivity in my RL recently, which has inversely meant very little time online... However, it's Australia Day today, and I thought I'd take a break to update my reading log.

The Harp In The South, Ruth Park
I've been working my way through the Popular Penguins (published here in $10 editions) that I haven't read, and so finally got round to this Australian classic. ( brief thoughts )

Graceling, Kristin Cashore
My token young adult book of the month. :) ( actually this was a good one )

Nine Lives, William Dalrymple
Every so often I have a pancheon for travel writing, and when I do, William Dalrymple often delivers. I first read him yeeeeears ago (maybe 'In Xanadu'?). So his latest offering was a bit of a nostalgia trip. ( not much to say )

The Elegance of the Hedgehog, Muriel Barbery
This is a book-club book of the moment... ( it pretty much delivered on my expectations, but I had a couple of reactions to it that I hadn't anticipated (spoilery) )

is the best shit EVER!!!!! Seriously, it is gorgeous!!</a> It's so cute and upbeat and totally captures Lalita perfectly! Gorgeous music choice and so joyful and *me*! I feel like the vidder must know me or something?

And there's more Bollywood glory in the form of a Chak De! India vid. :D It's gorgeous! There should be more festivid-like challenges so there can be more Bollywood vids. *nods vigorously*

Can some northern hemisphere peeps send some Arctic chills down here to Melbourne? We are sweltering! It was 43 today. It's still 38 now, at 9:30 pm. I have wet towels on my head and a fan, but I would seriously kill for aircon... sigh. Good thing I'm back at work today, saving up for it!

It's our state's first 'Code Red', the newly (since-Black-Saturday) instigated 'catastrophic weather conditions' warning system they whacked on the end of our existing fire warning system. So far no major outbreaks but the conditions today definitely warranted the warning which I understand to mean 'really f-ing hot, consider getting the hell out of fire zones'.

( Brisbane was positively temperate in comparison... Sunset Sounds festival review therein )

I just made it with my Festivid assignment. Phew! Must end post... require more ice...

Hey guys! Welcome to 2010! It's going to ROCK! :D

I'm excited about the year ahead because of my determination to focus on the Things That Really Matter. In '09 I spent a lot of energy getting my freelance career off the ground--now I can focus more on quality of life.

You may see some changes around here on my journal. It's been a while since I felt comfortable in fandom, and part of that is that I've outgrown some old aspects of my online activity.

So... first up, I'm cutting my friendslist. I would like to be able to read and keep up with it without filters or GUILT, so sadly that means substantial cutting. Four years of impulsive friending caught up with me! It doesn't mean I hate you. It doesn't mean I'll never visit your journal. But if we don't interact much, you haven't updated in ages or our interests have completely diverged, then I may have deleted you. Don't worry! You are still welcome here. Most of my posts are and will continue to be public, so you're not missing out.

Also, tip to anyone that actually wants to be mutual friends with me: just talk to me. Comment, email, PM, whatever. I respond well to interaction. *g* But I'm going to have to put myself on a very strict 'no auto-friending' policy for a while because friending waaaay too quickly in the past got me into this unmanageable situation.

Secondly, you may seem some content changes. Since my fandom interests kind of nose-dived in 09 (BSG tanked, TSCC got axed), I'm not sure how much meta there will be. If something sparks my interest, I'll post, but I'm not forcing it. I am, however, going to post about movies and books I'm reading, because that's where my attention is. I haven't used my books filter for eons, but I've decided to just post about books publicly instead--if you're not up for that, scroll past or remove me, it's cool. I just need to be a bit more 'me' on here.

I will also continue to post about vidding and get (roving) vidding chats rolling again from the end of Jan (I hope).

( I watched some stuff! Reactions to: Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes, Avatar, Red Cliff, Legend of the Seeker )

( and I read stuff: The Disappeared and In the Country of Men )

Now off to Brisbane for a music festival: should be fun!

Squeezing in under the bell for 2009...

Summary: My third year of vidding was a bitch. :(

( cut for details )

Wah! I'm not exactly on top of things at the moment. So profuse apologies for kind of sucking at fandom life right now. I had all these grand intentions... but I'm rapidly running out of 2009 time to do them in. ;) So I'm thinking a clean slate in 2010 is going to be a great relief.

( Meanwhile, if you really want to know why I suck, see herein for apologies for suckitude )

Longer thoughts herein.

( still so impressed with this episode )

... get your asses here so I can fangirl you.

So, I could happily wipe out the seven intervening episodes, but I'm quite into both 9.01 'Savior' and 9.09 'Pandora'.

( cut for thoughts )

A miracle occurred! I watched an episode of Smallville Season 9 and enjoyed it! :D :D :D :D

Yes, Pandora. \o/ I didn't love it, but I enjoyed it, and I may even have Things to Say about it. When I can wipe the grin off my face and compose them...

Woot! Yay for me! I think this is the first ep since 9.1 that I haven't found predominantly excruciating.

Let me guess? Fandom hated it, right? LOL.

I really suck at life balance. I lurch from prioritising one thing totally over all else to prioritising something else completely... for six months or so it was work, and then a month ago I realised that the rest of my life had fallen into ruin, so now I'm on a 'get fit/healthy, get organised, get a life back' kick. Who knows if I can strike a balance at any stage?

Anyway, I'm struggling to fit fandom in, in either case, and am falling ever more hopelessly 'behind'. There are so many things I could or should be doing and I am not doing... sigh. I have lots to post about at the moment (had I the time!) so this is going to be one of those terrible, catch-all, catch-up posts... that won't really catch me up very far at all! :p

First up... Smallville. ( cut for description of where I'm at with it emotionally after 9.8 )

I went to see the new Twilight movie for the LOLZ. ( and they were bountiful (spoilers) )

Watched Friday Night Lights 4.4, ( cut for brief spoilers )

I did watch the Doctor Who special but found it too OTT.

I'm up to speed with Dexter but it's been patchy all season for me.

Community continues to please me. Abed and Troy's duet FTW this week.

Have read a few good books and have several more I want to get to! Wish I had time to natter about them. Hmm. Wishlists are going round, yes? Wave a magic wand for more time for me? :D

So ages ago I floated the idea of an informal vidding gathering in Australia. Somewhat more organised plans are now in motion, thanks to nushanakt. At the moment the plan looks like this:

an open-ended gathering of vidders, AMVers, remixers, etc (or fans thereof), to be held end of November/start of December 2010 in Wollongong (or possibly Sydney)

( more details/ideas therein )

I realise it's very early days for people to actually commit to attending. Details of costs, travel, etc will follow. But here's a very, very preliminary poll

Poll #1486903 Aus/NZ vidding convention
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 22

I would be interested in:

Know someone who might want to attend? Send them this way! Feedback welcomed on all points, although please understand that comments such as 'should be in Alice instead!' may have limited support. ;) (If I was in Alice, I'd want it there too, but hey we need to find some sort of compromise or this will never happen, yes?)

Friday Night Lights has returned! I still can't quite take it in, so much so that I forgot to post about the first couple of episodes. Making up for lost time! ( you've lost your inner pirate )

In other news, signed up for festivids and am excited to get my assignment! :)

This week's vid chat is hosted by heresluck, and the topic is creative growth. As always, all vid fans and vidders are welcome to participate. Please join us at her journal!

Title: Capital G
Fandom: True Blood, Eric/Godric
Artist: NIN
Warnings: very graphic violence, sexual themes, amorality, death, vampirism, Vikings
Spoilers: for Season 2
Access vid: via direct download (50MB) or streaming at YouTube or BAM or Blip
Thanks: to supacat for bringing her A-game

( cut for embedded video )

Vidding chats return! :) For those of you new to them, you can check out previous chats here.

This week's topic is visualising effects and it is co-moderated by lim. We'd really love this chat to function as a kind of shared workshop, with people sharing ideas with each other. So if you have a track out there that you're working with or considering working with and would like some shared brainstorming, share it with us here!

Below is an introduction from each of us.

From lim:
( an introduction to visualisation )

From Bop:
( welcome back and encouragement thoughts )

ETA: Update! We shall relaxedly be attempting to make some things resulting from the conversations herein over the next week or so... we encourage anyone who wants to to try making something (for example "haze on the sand" or "red/green blur") and share it. I promise to handhold for anyone who fears their effects thing may look unintentionally tragic. :) We're just playing, yes? :)

Sorry I haven't been posting much. I've been struggling with things a bit, personally, and I always go recluse-y when that happens. So, don't feel shy to send me links to anything you think I should not have missed (self-pimpage welcome , as always).

Anyway, it may not have gone unnoticed to some of you that I've not been posting about Smallville. Ahem. Yes. There are two problems:
1. Friday nights in the US is Saturday here, and that means it's a lot harder to coordinate a watching time with supacat (no, I cannot watch it without her: just no), and so I'm a week behind everyone else (which has also meant I've missed the meta :().
2. I'm not loving this season. ( cut for very, very brief description of issues which do NOT include anything to do with 9.6 and if you spoil me for that ep I will smite you )

In other television, Community continues to charm me every week. ( brief squee for 1.7 )

I have mixed feelings about Dexter. ( cut for spoilers up to 4.5 )

In perhaps shameful news, I have been converted to the Vampire Diaries despite the odds! (i.e. despite the stalking) It's so cheesey, but I have such low expectations for it that I am constantly delighted when something even mildly surprising happens. And Ian Somerhalder is having such a good time in his role it's hard not to join him in that joy.

Finally, I've been (shock!) somewhat enjoying Dollhouse! Yeah, I'm surprised too. ( cut for brief explanation )

Friday Night Lights is back!! Not much to say about it yet but I'm happy. *hugs it close*