I once had someone on my f'list who wrote all their posts as numbered lists. I could say that this post was an ironic tribute to them, but actually it's also a convenient way to precis a great deal into a short space. :) This is all the stuff I could have posted about recently, but didn't.

( cut for stuff going on with Bop, in point form )

So what's up with you guys?

So my harddrive died. The one in my MacBook this time, not my external. And yes, I do seem to have some kind of strange inability to keep them alive. But! Not only did I manage to retrieve all my unbacked-up data from it, I also managed to repair it. However, I did have to reinstall the operating system, so I figured it was a good time to upgrade anyway... and now I have a 200GB harddrive that is SO SPEEDY. *wins* \o/

So. Um. Yes. Haven't been here in the last couple of days and that's why.

I want to catch-up, I want to post, but the speediness of vidding on this new drive is just so hypnotically enticing... :D

Remember when I sucked at all tech? Yeah, so do I.

I had one hell of a fucking bad day. I could do without fandom being fucktard-ish as well.

Kate says it better than I could.

I can't help seeing in this the sort of catty politics that teach women that you shouldn't ever put yourself forward, that you should be modest and wait for other people to notice how wonderful you are. Because if you DO put yourself forward other women will tear you to shreds for your audacity. How lovely.

( Read more... )

ETA: Spoilers for the full ep in the comments.

I've been in a very introspective mood recently, and among other things have been contemplating my fannish status. ( fannish transition issues re. BSG Season 4 and SV Season 8 )

If I wasn't so introspective right now, here's where I'd be playing...
- svgurl is running a Lois Lane Love week and posting daily round-ups of activities. I'm looking forward to catching up on the weekend!
- latxcvi has a mega-poll on the best and worst of Smallville, which I am very curious about.
- talitha78 posted some great truths about vidding.
- daybreak777 made an AWESOME post about favourite vid moments which I totally totally want to emulate, but every time I try and narrow down my choices I go into meltdown or find that an hour has passed and I've been playing the same vid over and over again. One day! Soon...

Friday Night Lights vid recs
I haven't posted many vid recs in ages, and I have a bit of a backlog which I hope to get to soon, but as a start I have a treat (two treats!) today for the Friday Night Lights fans on my friendslist. And for anyone who wants to know why you should watch this show... start here, with two amazing vids from chasarumba:

Something Beautiful is a Tami character study and an incredibly eloquent portrait of motherhood. It captures Tami's strength and determination, as well as her struggles and her fragility. It's a beautiful tribute to one of my favourite female characters on television. Tami is at once ordinary and extraordinary--I guess that's true of motherhood as well--and this vid captures that perfectly.

Let The Sun Fall Down is a vid I should have watched a long, long time ago. But for anyone else like me that hasn't seen it: it is THE perfect Friday Night Lights vid. *calls it* It's beautiful and heartbreaking and spine-tingly and full of HEART. It would have made me miss the show, except that I can just put it on repeat, stick my headphones on, sing along and tear up all over again...

Doctor Who
( brief flippant comments on the Silence in The Library and whatever the second part was called )

That personality type meme doing the rounds
For anyone that's interested, this is me.

I've got the can't-be-bothereds about posting on BSG this week, in a major way. I watched the episode a day or so ago and have been procrastinating about posting. But the completionist in me is compelling me to post something. So here goes: ( nothing of consequence to say )

So I'm drunk and opinionated.

( cut for bluntness about Smallville Season 8 casting spoilers )

Tomorrow I have to have blood extracted from me. This week I gave myself a black eye, and bruised my collarbone and the bit of my thigh right above my knee. I also wore a top inside-out and back-to-front to work (thereby wandering around for the first half an hour of my work day with the tag sticking out from my breasts at everyone), poured tea all over my desk (including over page proof and new book advances) and made the tap in the bathroom explode all over my nice pants so that I looked like I'd wet myself.

You can't hate on me any better than I already do. :D

Ten HD are EVIL, I tell you! EVIL. (For the non-Aussies: Ten HD is a new high definition TV channel in Australia.) They smooshed Clark and Lee together in the one ad and thereby rendered me helpless to resist them! Their super-smart marketing strategy involves sci-fi Thursday which sees Smallville and Battlestar Galactica screened back to back at 8:30 and 9:30 respectively. In shiny beautiful HD. It's like I'm their target demographic?!?! They even got Jamie Bamber to do a spiel to camera about it. And their advertising has featured Lee so heavily it's ridiculous. I mean, I'm the last person to complain, but if you watched their ads, you'd think the whole show was about him!

The prospect of watching Smallville's gorgeous visual imagery in high def was kind of irresistable. So, now I've stolen my boyfriend's laptop and am staring at Clark in close-up. :D I must say that so far it's making me marvel at the photography direction even more than ever. I'm noticing details I never saw before (wow, guys, imagine if my meta was even longer! O.O). And Clark, Lana and Lex all have amazing power on screen (alas this eppy has no Lois!).

I wonder which ep of BSG is on tonight... it better have Lee! I doubt my bf will permit two stealings of laptop so this covert flirtation with HD may be a one-off. Oh, and space battles. I want high def battles!

I've been really quiet this week. Sorry. There was some stuff... *waves hands airily*

(OMG CLARK IS SO PRETTY IN SUNLIGHT! *SQUEEEEEEEE*)

It's been dark days for some of my OTPs recently, so I thought I'd share a few links that helped me keep the flame(s) alive:

Clark/Lex
voldything's Show Me Love is a must-see vid, integrating Season 7 footage beautifully.

Kara/Lee
wisteria_ takes all the credit here, for hosting a commemorative celebration of favourite Kara/Lee scenes and an unprecedented picspam of pilot nipples.

There's a bunch of other stuff I wanted to rec, but if I don't post now I will get sucked into HDTV and never come out again!! *watching with one eye, blogging with the other* You guys should remind me to post more often so as to avoid this scenario. *nods*

ETA: Why is there no mood icon for 'seduced'?
ETA2: Ahhhh, no BSG tonight. They're just waving BSG Lee around as the carrot. *pouts*

Clearly anyone that knows me will guess that I loved that episode. Thank you, BSG, for giving me hope.

( cut for spoilers )

I have been rather quite this week, what with Smallville Season 7 over and Battlestar Galactica not on this week. But I have been enjoying all the great posts about female characters on television doing the rounds at the moment, and thought I'd make a quick post of my own.

( female TV characters I fangirl )

So. Talk to me about your favourite female characters? :)

Paranoid Android feels like a milestone in my history as a vidder. I learnt so much in making it, both about vidding and about the show (Smallville) and the character (Lex). Originally I was going to post notes about the vid with the vid, but I decided against this for two reasons:
1. I didn't want to impose my own reading of the vid on viewers.
2. I realised I had a lot more to say than could be justified as just 'notes'.

So for those who are curious, this was my journey with 'Paranoid Android'. ( discussion is spoilery for all episodes, since 7.20 'Arctic' footage is used in the vid )

Vid: Paranoid Android
Artist: Radiohead
Source: Smallville
Warnings: Spoilers for all episodes including 7.20, adult themes, violence
Acknowledgments: A small army of people helped create this vid: radioreverie initially had the concept way back in January 2006 (and persisted in persuading me to make it!) and provided invaluable development advice throughout, brokenmnemonic gave me hope that I might finish one day, supacat selflessly (since she hates Radiohead) provided meta feedback on a near-finished draft and talitha78 gave me the kind of beta feedback that makes you want to jump around the room with joy. The vid wouldn't be the same without any of them.
Notes: This week we bid farewell to Smallville's Lex Luthor. This is my tribute to Michael Rosenbaum's superlatively nuanced embodiment of the iconic supervillain. I hope that this vid is as open to interpretation as his performance.
Download: from sendspace or direct download (50MB) or YouTube
Lyrics:( Please could you stop the noise )

Spoilery for season finale!

( It started with a kiss )

I have a bazillion other comments to make about the ep overall, but I must sleep first.

I am actually trying really hard not to post today because I'm crazy busy trying to do tech tidy up on two vids. However, given how maudlin I've been about BSG this week, I can't hesitate to show you something that's hooked me straight back in, for better or worse.

m_a_r_i_k_s has made the most gorgeous and intelligent ensemble vid. It does have a lot of the 'big' ships in there (Adama/Roslin and Kara/Lee) but if you're a non-shipper, please don't let that put you off because it masterfully weaves in so many of the characters we love and has lovely little riffs on their interconnectedness. And it has Kendra! (Oh, Kendra, I miss you!)

For the record, my eyes first filled with tears at 2.02 on the first watch and 1.48 on the second--yes, it gets more moving the more I watch.

This is the kind of vid that deserves an essay-length response, except that no essay could ever be so eloquent.

ETA: Oh, and Cylons! It has Cylons too. :) Sympathetic Cylons even. :p :p :p

Honestly I should chuck tantrums with the show more often: you guys are awesome. :p

Seriously, though, I do want to thank everyone who commented on my post. I have been overwhelmed by the interesting debate it inspired and moved by the sympathetic responses it provoked. Not to mention the icons! (Thanks dianora2!) You guys ROCK.

I think I really need to do a follow-up post as my thinking on the episode and the overall issues has grown and been influenced by the debate. I was particularly fascinated to discover how diverse people's expectations about the end of the show are, even at this point in time.

Unfortunately I'm a little short on time this week and with the Smallville series finale looming I'm going to be (I hope) consumed by my other show. But I will get back to these thoughts. *nods*