Hello, random wanderer in lj-space! If you're reading this, you must be:
a) lost
b) looking for my vids in the wrong place. The (only) right place is dancingvader, which is also THE place to go for mresundance's vids of awesome
c) completely lost and utterly bored
d) a friend of mine. In which case, speak some fruit and enter!

Legend of the Seeker seems to have broken my cheese radar. ( And of course it messes with my vidding )

And now the joyous news that brightened my day (my week! my month! heck, it simply sent me to the moon!): LotS is renewed for season two! Already! The good news courtesy of the magnificent rkc_erika of course :)

Now that I've squeed my lungs out with the other Conseekadores, let me celebrate with some macros:
( my non-existent photoshopping skills, let me show you them )
( macro fan service announcement, may nom dial-up )

*puts the fierce party hat on and does another happy dance*

I take no small amount of pleasure from the fact that anyone who's ever met me, even for a day, immediately associates anything Star Wars with me. Thus all weird SW trinkets, pictures of dogs dressed as Darth Vader and insane videos find their way to me through old classmates, workmates, one-night-stands, friends of friends and random people met on random occasions. Today I've gotten this gem:

Star Wars: Retold (by someone who hasn't seen it) from Joe Nicolosi on Vimeo.
oh dear. The Golden Suit and Wilhelm scream everywhere killed me dead (has an x on each eye and tongue rolling out)

Also, it was brought to my attention that the Battle for Secretary of Geek Affairs is on! This round pits, amongst others, Kaylee against Trillian! I'm so torn. And it'll be even worse when voting moves to Lobot region again. John Lasseter or Stan Lee? Doctor Who or Joss Whedon? How am I to choose?!

Deeply.
( more detailed answer cut for leeeength )
To sum it up, the combined effect of LoD + "Denna" definitely drove me mad.
Denna would be so proud.

I was whining to my mum on the phone yesterday how I want to be home for Xmas already and not cold, stressed, panicky, depressed, alone and head-achy miles away. And what did she say? She wished for a Doctor Who's booth (actually, she spelled it 'Doctor Hu' in the text she sent me:) to teleport me right on Christmas Eve. My mum doesn't even know the name TARDIS, but I still can't help loving her fangirl potential.

But that's not the end! Today I got another text, saying 'I talked to Superman and as soon as he's done pulling on his tights, he'll fly you home for xmas'.

Obviously this calls for - apart from loud praises of how awesome my mum is - a game:

I'll be home for Christmas because
- as soon as Sam and Dean finish off their latest hunt, they'll whisk me away in the Impala
- as soon as Richard is done playing with Denna, he'll come by with Kahlan to escort me home
- as soon as Max tears herself away from smooching Logan, she'll give me a ride on her bike
- as soon as Han is done telling the entire galaxy to kiss his Wookie, he'll crashland drop by in the Falcon
- as soon as the dragon tells him to move his butt, Merlin will come running, with jelaous lover Arthur hot on his heels
- as soon as Aslan calls them, the Pevensies will fall out of my wardrobe and jump with me through a painting
- as soon as Vader slaughters the innocents, he'll Force-choke me into next Christmas
- as soon as Jack is done un-dying again, he'll come by with entire Torchwood 3 for snogfest eggnog
- as soon as the sun comes down and the sparkles are turned off, Edward will give me a piggy-back ride
- as soon as she's bored with handy-Doctor, Rose Tyler will come crashing through the worlds right into my Christmas
- as soon as he head-slaps everyone, Gibbs will find a way to get me home
- as soon as Luke hears my call through the Force, he'll be there :)

more ideas? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

I love the internet so hard sometimes. Like when it brings me gems like this:

I've been humming and whistling these tunes for over 10 years and finally I have words to put to them!

Well, ok, so maybe I didn't exactly whistle the Jaws theme. But everythings else for sure. John Williams is the man! And now I dare you not to sing along :)

( and when you're done kissing Wookies, go hug a sheep )

At the (feeble) insistence of mresundance in my previous post, I visit this blight upon you:
a couple of Legend of the Seeker macros and one Dark Angel, which is a bit old, but since it's surprise!buttsex, it doesn't get old, because it's always a surprise, right?

( Here be the macros. Beware. )
And now I go back to wrestling with xvid, until I bend it to my will or fall asleep. Wish me luck.

For the first time in months I'm in the grip of a vid farr, and the strongest I've ever encountered too. And frankly, it scares the beejesus out of me. Not because it's a bad feeling - it's great, and definitely beats the pit of eternal despair a.k.a. the vidder's block that I've been in for several months. It feels so good to be vidding again! But it's definitely unnatural. And I have a gloomy feeling that nothing good can come out if it.

( THE DIAGNOSIS )
wow, I am one seriously whiny and verbose pessimist, ain't I?

In other news, first snow outside! Which somehow makes me think about a story from my favourite volume of Thorgal, 'Aaricia':
( cut for uncalled for picture )

Ewczuś! Wiem że już prawie za późno (prawie, bo gdzieś na świecie dalej jest 20ty listopada), ale doszłam do wniosku, że wypada, aby Twoja internetowa flista złożyła Ci życzenia.
In other words, Happy Birthday, ecarrie!

widzisz, nawet WB świętuje Twoje urodziny nowym oficjalnym trailerem ;)

...but last Saturday's Who demands to be lovingly mocked.



This is pure, unadultered crack full of spoilers, so if you don't want to be spoiled for 4x12 of new Who, turn around now.

( you have been warned )

(my first multifandom vid and first done to instrumental music... I sure hope I can swim as well as I thought I did before jumping in here)



title: Powrót (The Return)
music: "Powrót" from Bandyta soundtrack; music composed by Michał Lorenc
fandoms: 13 of them, most importantly Star Wars, LotR and Wizard of Oz (the big road movies, y'know)
genre: mood/catharsis vid
details: Size: 720 x 480 .wmv (52.2 MB), 480 x 320 .wmv (27.5 MB); Length: 2:56
summary: “Every day is a journey, and the journey itself is home.”

for Instrumental challenge at multividious 

I owe biggest thanks and cookies to my lovely betas: ewczos, for teaching me some very helpful tricks and mresundance  for an amazing eye for detail, enormous patience (as he was forced to watch me destroy many parts of this vid by excessive nervous tweaking only to restore them to previous shape afterwards), boundless enthusiasm AND making this shiny vid graphic above for me! Jesse, you're a star.

download, stream and notes under the cut
( follow the yellow brick cut )

I just realized today is my one year vidding anniversary. At least, 18 June 2007 is when I uploaded my first vid to Youtube - and I'm pretty sure I've put it up as soon as it was done. So, in the spririt of mournful celebration (vidding ate my brainz. I know I should be sad, really), I decided to share the cautionary tale of my first vid with the world, on the public forum of my LJ, which nobody ever reads. I'm a sucker for contradictio in adiectum.

( oh mothers, tell your children not to do what I 'ave done! )

title: Off
music: 'Call It Off' by Tegan and Sara
fandom: Dark Angel (Max/Logan)
genre: bouncy angst
details: 10.1M wmv file, 1:15 (that's right, 75 seconds)
summary: Episodic for 'Hello, Goodbye'. Their relationship has always been a bit off. Now, supposedly for Logan's own good, Max decides to break it off

This vidlet probably wouldn't get made, and definitely wouldn't be as good, without support from my brilliant beta mresundance. Not only his totally awesome Dark Angel vid Bitch inspired me enough to break months of vidder's block; he very patiently and with unerring eye for detail went with me over every single frame of this vidlet over and over and over again, straightening out tangled POVs and messy overlays. Thanks, Jesse!

download: mediafire
stream: youtube, imeem or embedded under the cut

( maybe you would have been something I'd be good at )

Look! It's shiny!



title: Read my mind
music: 'Read my mind' by The Killers
fandom: Stardust
genre: very shippery
details: avi (divx), 32.9M (zip archive), 3:15
summary: It took Tristan and Yvaine a long time to learn to read each other's mind... About a lifetime, more or less.

download: mediafire , megaupload
stream: youtube , 4shared (the image is terribly squished, but the download is fine)

( lots of rambling and the actual vid hides under here )

I'm in full SPS (Season Premiere Squee) mode, because I finally got my hands on "Partners in Crime", thanks to the kindness of the internet fandom. So, as a way of venting the squee, here's something I've been working on during the last three months, tiding me over to season 4. And for those unfortunate souls who ain't in the UK either - have a bit of unspoilery fun - an episodic for Voyage of the Damned:



title: Falling
music: 'Falling' by Angelo Badalamenti, vocals by Julee Cruise
spoilers: 2007 Christmas Special - Voyage of the Damned
ship: Ten/Astrid
size: avi (divx), 30.4M (zip archive), 03:07
summary: For The Doctor, falling in love recently means falling apart (spoilery remark alert: no wonder he only wants a mate now!)

( Don't let yourself be hurt this time )

I came across BigFanOfDoctorWho's video contest and stumbled upon a sudden brainwave - why not combine my favourite Doctors?



title: Who M.D.
music: Teardrop a.k.a. House theme by Massive Attack
spoilers: just for the casting of season 4, but I guess everybody heard by now
genre: trailer/opening credits
size: avi (divx), 6.8M (zip archive), 00:48
stream at YouTube
download at netload
downlaod at megaupload

Look, I even found the right font at deviantart, made by Cosmomouse. Isn't internet fandom just awesome when it caters to all my needs?
I tried to stay close to the original, but Doctor Who simply doesn't have so many regulars (and still I feel season 4 is going to get quite crowded:), and it's a bit darker and faster-paced, if that's a word.
I finished it in record time - about 5 hours; so if there are any glitches I missed or any suggestions whatsoever, fire ahead. And I had far too much fun vidding this, such amount of fun is surely illegal.

I've been vidding for about 6 months, but it turns out I'm completely new to conscious vidding. I've just discovered there's an entire universe of things I don't know and a constelation of things I've only managed to do half-right by pure pot luck. So, after going through half of community memories of vidding community, googling, wiki-ing and general browsing, I compiled, with the aid of my overly-analitical and obssesive mind, a list of things I've found out and tennets to follow. Any similarity to ten commandments is of course purely coincidental.

1. Vidding is an ancient art, though some male scholars manage to overlook this fact
2. There are different echelons of vidders:
a) the lowlife of youtube, where anyone can put any crap they like (which, coincidentally, is the working definition of youtube), though some gems shine through
b) the higher circle of vidders-on-lj vidders-with-their-own-sites; who often have their own awards-sites as well
c) the BNV (big name vidders), also known as The Scary Vidders, who are justly worshipped
3. There are conventions. Entire, big conventions for the innocent pasttime I've been indulging in in my basement. How crazy is that?
4. Song choice is not as easy as it looks. Just because you've stumbeld upon an Evanescence song, doesn't mean you should pick it.
5. Talky face kills
6. Stray frames mutilate
7. Clip theft is fandom suicide
8. Aspect ratios are Teh Devil
9. Thou shalt cut long songs.
10. Feedback is love.

And now, with a world of knowledge at my fingertips and some of it even in my head I should get back to bigger, better vidding, right? Only now I'm utterly terrified of doing so many things wrong (where's my use of motion and color? where's my non-literal lyrics interpretation?) I've got a total vidder's block and a severe case of insecurity. Time to read through all the notes on overcoming vidding funk.

PS I think I have a new fandom, namely vidding. Looks insane, but I think I'm going to enjoy it. Unless I've just shot myself in the foot with the above post, in which case, let me know.

I've decided to use my LJ account to pimp my vids - it's a terrible waste of virtual space leaving it as it is, empty and void, and pimping, for a lack of a better word, is good ;)

So, the first batch to be pimped - my Master vids! After Last of the Time Lords I turned out to be a pretty manic Master fangirl. I just can't resist a mad evil genius.

title: I'm all alone (Doctor Who/Martha fanvid)
music: 'I'm all alone' from the Spamalot musical
summary: 10th Doctor feels all angsty and alone, while faithful Martha Jones stands beside him as the Patsy to his King Arthur (plus, the Doctor's being a total moron and Martha's awesome)
date made: 24/06/07

( I'm all alone )