So rawles and sainfoin_fields both did this meme, and it sounded like a pretty good time!

• Post ten of any pictures currently on your hard drive that you think are self-expressive.
• NO CAPTIONS!!! It must be like we're speaking with images and we have to interpret your visual language just like we have to interpret your words.
• They must ALREADY be on your hard drive - no googling or flickr! They have to have been saved to your folders sometime in the past. They must be something you've saved there because it resonated with you for some reason.
• You do NOT have to answer any questions about any of your pictures if you don't want to. You can make them as mysterious as you like. Or you can explain them away as much as you like.

But due to the COMPLETELY INSANE volume of images on my harddrive, I had to impose a few extra rules upon myself: no photos of me, no artwork drawn by myself or my friends, nothing on the external harddrive, no livejournal icons, and only ONE screenshot from Avatar. Oh -- and I also couldn't spend THE ENTIRE EVENING digging through folders.

( EVEN SO, MAN THIS WAS REALLY HARD. )

- The atla_ladyfest - a women of Avatar fanwork exchange. And O MY LOOK SIGNUPS ARE OPEN! :O

- where_no_woman! And the fact that people are writing fantastic drabbles about the ladies of Deep Space Nine, which I really need to get on top of myself but in the meantime HELL YES KIRA AND ZIYAL AND MOOOOGIIIIIIIIIEEEEE <3

- Super-rad Star Trek vids! I, for one, highly recommend Circus (it is about Kirk, and seriously, NO WORDS for how insanely fitting this ended up being! Imeem stopped vid hosting, so you have to download, but it's REALLY DAMN WORTH IT, for reals) and Don't Forget (which is about reboot Spock and the various shit that he's had to overcome and yes, I will admit, I totally tear up when I watch it!)

- BIG FAT QUIZ OF THE YEAR 2006, from whence my icon came. I rewatched this a few days go, and I HAD FORGOTTEN HOW IT IS KIND OF A PERFECT TWO HOURS OF TELEVISION? And so hilarious that I end up breathless from laughter, possibly alarming the neighbors? In theory, it's just a British quiz show with teams of celebrities, but it's also a story of triumph over adversity, underdogs and villains, FRIENDSHIP AND STRIFE! No, seriously! And it also features Russel Brand and Noel Fielding meeting for the first time -- within ten minutes they're calling themselves the Goth Detectives and drawing illustrations on the little answer board. OH MAN YES. And it is, conveniently, all on YouTube!

Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3n7UEr_9qLA
Part 2 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LbD6Kk0nM3U
Part 3 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpsNyJrzMTQ
Part 4 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsvX3p5LhrY
Part 5 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aklWvXc2QNM
Part 6 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0A8euEAREwU
Part 7 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPYtjvXVZk8
Part 8 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPU25YwhOXo
Part 9 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xM9mAMwr1hE
Part 10 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psVMbQo5RFo
Part 11 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88o4VnwP4EM

- THE WIRE. Man. I just started season three. It's almost...weird to be watching a television show this good that isn't Avatar. Omar Little is totes my fav, though the hilarious old married couple-ness of Herc and Ellis is quickly becoming one of my top ten fictional friendships ever. <3

- Every single thing about the Freedom Fighter Fest going on at J<3Z, though in particular this drawing of Jet and Zuko as soldiers in the Revolutionary War and Kitty's riff on a certain George Michael video. Because....GUH. *_*

- The fact that I spent yesterday in a swimming pool with good friends and good conversation. <3

There was some drama tonight, regarding the outcome of a poll some of us thought was about Awesome Ladies and ended up being about Adam Lambert. And you know....I love Adam Lambert! But we could all use some chatter about how ladies are awesome, in light of this and various other recent nonsense. We really, really could. And so, via jlh

Nice Girls Finish First

Go! Comment! SHARE YOUR LADIES WITH US. <3 Or pimp, like so:

<center><font size=6><span style="background: url(http://ukauctionhelp.co.uk/istore/sparkle.gif)"><a href="http://jlh.livejournal.com/486458.html">Nice Girls Finish First</a></span></font></center>

Everyone seems to be posting photos of their dads tonight, and hey! I also have a dad!

( In San Diego this past Christmas, with my stepmom, Nastia! )

He lived in Russia for twelve years, so it's nice to have him a little closer and a lot easier to get to. I'll be out there again for SDCC with emsariel and hoshizora -- WATCH OUT DAD, THE NERDS ARE COMING. <3

gallo_de_pelea asked over on Twitter if there was a list of all the indy/small press comics shows in the US and Canada, and while it seem like EXACTLY the sort of thing that would be handy, I can't seem to find one!

I already know about MoCCA, TCAF, SPX, APE, Stumptown, the Olympia Comics Fest, and Staple. What am I missing? That can't possibly be it, right?

Other shows mentioned in the comments: SPACE, Main Comics Arts Festival, Expozine, Canzine,

Not indy specific: Heroes Con, Emerald City Comic Con

Tonight Scott and I went to see "Moon," a new film being distributed by Fox Searchlight starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey, both of whom turned in fantastic performances. It's about a man on a three-year, solo contract running a mining operation on the dark side of the moon. And it was so fantastic that I'm kind of in shock.

It's also in limited release, and I can't seem to find any indication as to what plans for wide release might be. I suspect box office numbers will help determine that? So if you live in or near New York or LA (which seem to be the only cities playing it) go out right now and buy a ticket and bring a friend and help make a Juno out of this thing. Because it was THAT. GOOD.

And...seriously, if you know me? You'll know that while there are many things I enjoy, there are actually very few that I put a hardcore stamp of unconditional THAT WAS AWESOME approval on. And "Moon" just became one of them.

Short okay not-so-short, unspoilery explanation of LOVE:

"Moon" is a hard science fiction film. It's set in outer space, and its plot is intimately tied to that setting. But it's the kind of science fiction that we so rarely see anymore -- thoughtful and interesting, a future that quietly goes about its business in the background, technology that's convincing in part because it looks like it's been used. It's a one-man moon colony but it's also a mining camp and a home -- there's dust and dirt, grey old spacesuits and rumpled clothes, photos taped to mirrors and postit notes stuck to the robots, hair that he's let grow a little too long and weird, awkward messages from home.

It's hard SF. There's no handwaving away of inconvenient details. It's neither a fluffy popcorn romp nor a needlessly high-strung thriller. I don't want to say anything else because I don't want to spoil it (I REALLY DON'T WANT TO SPOIL IT) but it never did any of the stupid, cheap things I worried it might. I can't tell you how long it's been since I felt that way about a movie that's set in space. Or a movie that has much of an SF plot at all, really. (SO. LONG.)

So, yes. The plot and setting are as straightforwardly SF as they come. (Which isn't to say they're dull or predictable, as they aren't at all.) But the movie -- the experience of watching it -- is deeply, beautifully human. And "human" doesn't mean wallowing in angst and pain and awfulness. It doesn't mean people screaming at each other for scene after scene.

Sam is a man who's lived alone on a space station for three years. His struggles make perfect sense, are real and simple and quiet and all the more beautiful and heartbreaking and satisfying because of it. He never becomes a characature; he's never forced into some mold or another for the sake of the story. He's Sam, and he's kind of lonely, and sometimes he doesn't bother to shave for a while, and he can't wait to go home and see his young daughter.

So. Yeah. GO SEE IT if you possibly can. If there's some way to ask your local indy theater to try and get ahold of it, do so.

I'm going to go see it again if anyone's interested?

(I was going to write a few specific, spoilery thoughts behind a cut, but...has anyone else actually seen this? If not, you know -- you really REALLY don't want to spoiled for this film, so I'm not even going to provide the temptation if there's no point in doing so.)

ETA: There may be spoilers in the comments! Just a fair warning!

I have a meeting to get ready for so I can't do much myself ATM, BUT!!!

Fandom Superlatives!
SUMMER 2009 EDITION: GO VOTE

I'm counting on you guys.

So I think I've figured out what's bothering me about Farscape. Now, this isn't to say I'm not enjoying anything about it, because I am -- I really like Aeryn and Zhaan, and Chiana is veeeeeeerrrrry slowly growing on me maybe -- but I've found it very difficult to watch and almost impossible to comfortably settle into. And I have a theory as to why.

As far as I can tell, it's a combination of three big things: ( Spoilers and grumbling behind the cut. )

ALL OF THAT SAID! ( There are some things that I enjoy quite a bit!  )

Annnnnnd that's all I've got for now. Off to finish the rest of the season I guess? *FORGES AHEAD*

If you've ever talked to me about Otakon, you probably know that I've declared I will NEVER GO TO IT AGAIN unless I'm being paid to do so. This is for a lot of reasons -- the expense, the hassle, the oppressive heat of Baltimore in the summer, the difficulty I had last time making back the cost of my table -- but first and foremost among them is that I've had nothing but shit experiences with the staff the last two or three years I went. They've been alternately condescending, incompetent or both and I just...you know, I'd had enough. There are other cons that don't make my head and my wallet hurt so badly.

But this year? This year takes the fucking cake.

There was already a storm brewing regarding the fact that many people ended up with wonky table assignments, and due to the fact that Otakon wanted to have a printed map in the program guide the staff wouldn't let anyone swap.

And now it turns out that the interactive, online version of the map they're so proud of? Includes the full mailing addresses of all the artists.

Just...

WHAT!!?!?

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!?! D:

I can only hope this was an accident due to poor database exporting and will be fixed by morning.

So I'm sitting here...um...well mostly working on Chronin but also dealing with residual annoyance regarding "fandom awards" and what they inevitably devolve into.

But you know, it doesn't HAVE TO BE THAT WAY. I'm convinced of this! As a staunch supporter of Fannish Unity and Positive Thinking I have to imagine there is a way to have fandom/fanfic awards that are as hilarious/ridiculous/cheering/insane as they should be. And after having talked to jlh about it last week, it seems the solution is to....um...well, not take them seriously at all. Also, to create categories designed to maximize all of the above qualities. Like "Best use of Momo" or "Most Awesome Insult Directed at Haru's Goatee."

So I guess what I'm asking is if anyone else would find this entertaining?

I'd make award graphics! Possibly with animated glitter!

ETA: SUGGESTIONS FOR CATEGORIES WELCOME!

ETA2: Should these be awards for specific stories/drawings/etc or more like character superlatives? I had meant the former but if y'all prefer the latter that's worth knowing! I COULD DO BOTH?!

•First of all, there's an HBIC* smackdown going on, and I nominated Azula, because SERIOUSLY. SERIOUSLY. Is it even a question?

•There was a lot of talk last Friday about how awesome it would be to have a Speed Racer!Movie vid to "The Distance" by Cake, and I have found one! The jury is out on whether it's sufficiently awesome to go unchallenged.

•MoCCA was this weekend, and man, that was a whole lotta nonsense, though most of it was pretty great nonsense on my end! piratecore and nenimo and mattbayne were all staying with emsariel and I, so that was great -- we hung out, did some drawing, watched Newsies and ate a lot of cream cheese. I had a pile of lessthanepic books from gallo_de_pelea to hand out, and hopefully that'll generate some more east coast buzz for her. I spend a lot of time sitting in the basement of the Armory scribbling in my notebook so I wouldn't die of heat stroke. I spent more money than I probably should, but at least all that money will go toward paying the rent of comics folk.

•If you see Dallas Middaugh from DelRey Manga you should tell him how TOTALLY AWESOME it would be to have a compilation of NickMag's ATLA comics and how you would buy a MILLION COPIES.

•I'm starting in on cleanup work for Chronin and already freaking out about it, but hopefully I'll be able to channel that freakout into productivity as opposed to Digimon watching. Though I suspect Digimon watching will be involved regardless.

•If you think Kris Allen is rad, or if you're wondering who the hell Kris Allen is and why anyone gives a shit about his music, you should go read this post jlh wrote.

•If your name is piratecore, nenimo, quezzie, soggytoast, mattbayne, blinkidybah or gothic_hamlet you might want to check out a certain post over on the J Heart Z.

* Head Bitch In Charge. Yeah, I had to look it up, too.

I have no details right now, about how many more issues will be in print or the fate of as-yet-unreleased content, but as far as I can tell Nickelodeon Magazine has been canceled, effective immediately.

If you know any of the folks who work there, as staff or as freelancers, I'm sure they could use a kind word.

Really, really trying to take a bite out of the silver sandwich today.

So a_white_rain posted her top ten Disney songs, and I found that I couldn't actually resist that level of temptation.

I have listened to pretty much all of these soundtracks on repeat for days at a time, particularly when I was in my early teens and at the height of my love affair with Disney Musicals. As such, it was actually really hard for me to not just link to the soundrack versions as opposed to the clips from the films, because OH MAN there's all this TALKING and SOUND EFFECTS and weird editing MESSING UP THESE SONGS OF MY HEART.

I'll try to keep the commentary to a minimum because I actually do have a lot to do today AND that's a long, dark path to start down. So you know....( Here are my top ten! )

There are approximately ten kabillion other things I should be doing right now, not the least of which is replying to comments on my previous entry, but I'm trying to start a new scene (which I hate doing) and I'm drinking coke and tequila (which I love doing but is not helping anything) so you know....TIME FOR A SHIP MEME FROM sainfoin_fields I GUESS?!

Note that I had to stop following everything with "AND I AM SO ASHAMED" because it was getting repetative. So just assume that this entire meme is a black hole of dignity and go from there.

::My top ten of all time in something resembling chronological order::

Goliath/Elisa (Gargoyles)
The Phantom/Christine (Phantom of the Opera, I was one of those teenagers I'm sorry)
Odo/Kira (Deep Space Nine)
Mulan/Shang (MULAAAAAAAAAAAAAN)
Ellie/SPACE (Contact)
Remus/Sirius (Harry Potter, AND CANON AS FAR AS I'M CONCERNED)
Saki/Madarame (Genshiken)
Mai/Zuko (Avatar: The Last Airbender)
Jet/Zuko (...*sighs* This started out on the first list and then I had a SHAME ATTACK and had to move it to the second and then I felt I was being dishonest so I MOVED IT BACK AGAIN.)
Emma/William (EMMA, as in the manga, though that reminds me to add Darcy/Elizabeth...)
Fakir/Ahiru (Princess Tutu)
Ohno/Chigake (Antique Bakery!!!!!!!!!)
Akira/Hikaru (Hikaru no Go)
Barney/Robin (How I Met Your Mother)
John/Cameron (SARAH CONNOR CHRONICLES D: D: D: D:)

Shut up there were totally ten you just counted wrong.

( The wholly unsurprising confession continues behind the cut )

So Anime Boston actually went really well! I feel like I barely slept and spent most of the weekend somewhat dazed, but sales were good and people were friendly and even though I pretty much NEVER LEFT the Artist Alley, I still feel like I had the full con experience due to how much traffic there was, the fantastic cosplayers wandering by, the brief but AWESOME Avatar meetup on Saturday, and the fact that I was staying with gothic_hamlet and blinkidybah (and variously accompanied by bhanesidhe, her Mysterious Brother Person, erinfinnegan, emsariel, froglartbge, gothic_ham and two insane cats.) So many baby seals! So much alcohol-soaked watching of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead! So much eating of a Vermonster! So much time spent looking for reference of Ash and Misty for that one commission I was desperately trying to finish on Sunday!

I also really enjoyed being back in Boston again. Much as it's a pain in the ass, it's where I grew up! Sure it sucks trying to find a place to order delivery at 11PM on a Sunday (turns out, your options are crap Italian and wings). Sure all the good/cheap restaurants on Newbury Street close before 10PM. Sure desperately running to catch the last train at 12:30AM and then sitting in Downtown Crossing for 45 minutes while they wait for connecting trains is pretty lousy. But you know...lousy in kind of a cute, nostalgic way?

But yes. THE CON! Thank you SO GODDAMN MUCH to all of you who took the time to stop by and say hello, even if it was only for a minute! It cheered the hell out of me, and I only hope that in my muddled state I still managed to express my gratitude! I was really, REALLY worried about how this con would go, and y'all made a huge difference.

However, my internet access was total crap at the con, and things were actually busy enough that I wouldn't have had time to use it besides. I'm still desperately catching up on replying to emails (foxysquid I HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN YOU) and taking care of various business. But I'll be on Cape Cod with my mom for the next few days, which should give me the time/space/energy to get it all sorted out. In particular, I have commissions to finish and a shitload of writing to do. It wasn't practical to bring Chronin work with me, but I'm hoping that clearing other things off my plate will leave me feeling pumped and ready to get back to work once I'm in the city again.

How about you folks? Have a good weekend? <3

Anime Boston is this weekend and I'm slowly, sloooooooooowly approaching readiness.

The current checklist is something like this:

• Revise/reformat older art
• Draw new bookmarks
• Print/cut/laminate bookmarks (Thank god for jlh and emsariel and their papercutting abilities! Seriously, I might otherwise have DIED)
• Order prints
• Print out more "adult" material for the Special Print Book
• Finish the custom notebooks/clipboards so I can polyurethane them
• Buy storage cube set to use as table display
• Design table display
• Hem the new fabric I'm using as a tablecloth
• Draw new buttons
• Print/cut button sheets
• Make buttons
• Design/print new pricesheet and binder labels
• Organize art supplies that I'll be bringing
• Organize prints in binders
• Buy new phone battery?
• Pack suitcase

.....I'm sure I'm forgetting something. Hmm.

It seems that no matter how hard I try to be on top of these things, I always end up with a week to go and a billion things to do. BUT! Thanks to a tip from gallo_de_pelea I'm getting my prints from Adorama this time, so I'll at least save myself the shipping time (they're in Manhatttan and I can pick the prints up myself.)

I wanted to get prints made of some older pieces -- many of which I've never gotten prints of before -- but quite a few of them have...problems. I don't have the time or energy to completely redraw them all, but I wanted to at least go in and fix people's faces and hands, usually the biggest problem areas. So that's pretty much what I've been doing since late afternoon. D:

Here's my art folder sorted by "date modified" to give you an idea:



D:

Tomorrow: coloring unfinished lineart, ordering the first round of prints (to be safe) and starting in on the rest of the bookmarks/pinups/buttons I have planned.

God and I haven't even started making new buttons and bookmarks from the existing designs.

D: D: D: D: D:

Question: I'd like to get at least a couple different poster-sized prints made but I'm not sure which pieces to go with. Any ideas?

Finally: THANK GOD FOR DIGIMON, which has been keeping me sane through all this.



(WORMMON IS MY HERO. I AM ONLY KIND OF KIDDING

EDIT: HOLY SHIT IT IS FRIDAY

EDITEDIT: ARG Adorama closes at 1PM tomorrow and stays closed all weekend. I'm sure if I had everything in to them by first thing Monday morning it'd be ready for pickup by the time I had to leave for the con but ARG WHY MUST IT ALWAYS BE SO CLOSE! I'm tempted to upload everything now, but I'm tired enough that I'd probably make a stupid mistake :|

EDITEDITEDIT: ORDER MADE. Nothing like spending $100+ before 9AM!? Hopefully I didn't make any major blunders in my sleep-deprived state.

So there's some stuff coming up that VARIOUS FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES are doing, and it seemed prudent to mention a couple of them here! ;3

First, the always fantastic Tom Warburton, creator of Codename: Kids Next Door, just released his first book! It's called 1000 Times No and while it's meant for small children, it's also just a really great looking book and I am SUPER EXCITED for him! We had lunch last week and I got to see a copy in person, and it looks GORGEOUS -- he fought really hard to get it just how he wanted it and all his persistence paid off.

Because he's an Animation Guy by trade, he put together a promo video for it, including the voices of his son, Parker (aawwwwww!) and Jennifer Hale (who's done a BILLION voices, including Numbuh 86 on C:KND and both June and Avatar Kyoshi on ATLA). You can find out more about how he put it together on his blog, including some of his storyboards!



If you're in the NYC area, Tom will be doing a signing of his book later this month at Books of Wonder! It'll be on Saturday, May 23rd at 2PM -- you can find out more info on it here!

ALSO!!!!

If you're an Avatar fan and you're planning to be at Anime Central this weekend, you should absolutely go to the "Avatar: The Last Airbender, Beginning and Beyond" panel that some of my friends are running! Kevin "Puppetbending" Coppa will be there, as well as Avatar Mom and Zimmay, and yaytime and I maaaaaaaaaay have put together a little sneak preview of the next wave of Avatar comics. And it maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay be a little more elaborate than one would expect. Because we're both ridiculous people. <3



( Full flier, with all the details, behind the cut! )

So that's it! PRETTY AWESOME FEW WEEKS, YOU GUYS! GLEE ALL AROUND! :D

The middle of last week was completely devoured by desperate attempts to finish my submission for Shousetsu Bang*Bang, an original fiction anthology here on the LJ. This month was a "Yuri Special," which meant there were only two major requirements: ladies, and those ladies having some sex. Good damn times.

The issue is up, and you can find the table of contents here! My own story is here, under the pseudonym Karigane, and it's..ah, not as polished as I would have liked, but that's a matter for another day. ^_^; (Bonus points if you can figure out which magic system I SHAMELESSLY BORROWED FROM in the process of writing it!)

The story is set, in part, on the High Line in Manhattan. I actually went for a hike along it several years ago with some friends of mine, and took a large number of photos which are here on Flickr. I'm really glad oneangryrabbit had the idea to go, because it's a pretty amazing place and I'm glad to have seen it before it was closed for restoration.

[ARTSY FARTSY]
FRIENDING MEME
My Thread Here!

I DO ENJOY ARTWORK! Though I am kind of afraid of other artists. Hmm.

(gacked from gallo_de_pelea and tlc010)