maristu

1. I am working on a long vid (6:30) that I LOVE but that is SO HARD OMG. Plus I'm coming up on the deadline for said vid (it's an auction vid). Now I'm questioning my ability of making a 7:30 long multifandom vid for Vid Big Bang 2020.

2. I have finished watching season 8 of SPN and am now bracing myself for season 9, which I've been told is the season of Rage Quitting. I aim to watch all 6 remaining season before the final season starts. And I already have vid ideas for characters I haven't even seen on the show yet. This is getting out of hand.

3. Because I obviously have a lot of free time on my hand (heh), I've decided to go back and start reading Marvel issues from the 60s. It's a lot of fun though! I'm following this reading list: https://www.comicbookherald.com/my-marvelous-year/, which has about 10-15 issues per year starting in 1962. I'm currently at... *checks* 1963. Lol. This is going to take a while. But I'm excited for the first Avengers issue! And the first X-Men issue! And oh my god the sexism is hilarious. But also annoying. But also hilarious. I might post about this experience at some point. I might also do the same for DC (or at the very least for WW and Batman).

4. Kitties are amazing as usual and I love them to bits. Odin had bronchitis (oh the irony) and was coughing and throwing up and had to take medication for about 2 weeks. I'd always give him a treat afterward and because he's such a glutton he eventually started VOLUNTARILY taking the meds, just so that he could get to the treat quicker. Well, now that the 2 weeks are over he will literally beg me for the meds. I mean, he'll paw at the drawer where I kept the meds. Every. Single. Day. I keep telling him that he should be begging for the treats, but I don't think he's figured that out yet.

5. Apparently some air got into the water pipes in my building and the pipes are banging and making a lot of noise every time someone in my building flushes the toilet. And apparently someone in the building has a very small bladder, because I've been awoken at 2am, 4am and 6am for the last 3 days. And I'm not kidding that it's LOUD. The first time I was so startled that I thought the cats had broken the huge living room TV. There are cracks on my bathroom ceiling. I've been showering at the gym because I'm afraid that pieces of plaster are going to fall on my head if I shower at home. This is the least fun I've ever ever had in my apartment. And waking up startled multiple times a night is not conducive to good mental health. Hopefully they'll fix whatever it is soon. I might actually have to go to a hotel, although the kitties make this kind of decision much more complicated. Although I guess I could just sleep at the hotel?

God I need sleep. 

Here's a mix of things that have been going on recently (because I still haven't managed to start posting here regularly).
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DW: I have finally gotten myself a paid account here on dreamwidth! Yay! So now I can get icons! So that sent me down a rabbit hole of finding communities and realizing I need to fiddle around with dw more and find fandom comms again. This is a fun challenge, though. Not complaining.
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Fandom: I'm still bravely trying to get through all of Supernatural (I'm currently stuck on season 8, but I have faith!). The fact that next season will be the last actually gave me a boost and I started back up again. Although I'm apparently coming close to the rage quit zone. We'll see.

Smallville is also on my "I will finish watching this before I die" list, but I'm in no hurry with that one. Other than that, I haven't really been watching a lot of series. I just finished Chernobyl and man, that was intense. I also want to watch Guardian, Sabrina, the last season of Outlander, finish watching Shadowhunters (only 2 or 3 episodes left! So close!), American Gods, Legion, A Handmaid's Tale... The list goes on. FOREVER. And yet, I always end up rewatching all the MCU movies.
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Vidding: I'm working on an awesome vid for the fanworks auction! And I really really want to have it done in time for it to show at the con (although it doesn't actually have to be done until... October? I think). So yeah, deadlines make me nervous but I'll get it done! It's a tough one though. I love the idea but the song is long (6:30!) and there's so much footage to go through. I'm slowly plugging away. And after that I have about 8-9 vid ideas for the vid bingo that I want to work on.
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Life: I adopted a little black kitty! And she's the most adorable kitty ever. She's also insane. I'm talking "I'm tiny but think I can jump up and down from anything and so the first week at my new house I dislocated my hip bone and almost gave my human a heart attack" insane. That was two days of worrying that she was too quiet, followed by a now constant dreaming that she'll be quiet again because OH MY GOD.

And then she'll just lay down on my chest and purr and lick my nose and I just want to squish her because she really is adorable. (I will try to post pictures here but I'm still figuring that part of DW out).

Aaaaand I think that's it for now! Life has been interesting. I feel like this has always been true, though. I keep waiting for things to quiet down and life to get organized and, well, after 42 years I might as well accept that that's not happening. So I'm just gonna try and roll with it.

I just signed up for the Fanworks auction! I have no idea how this works! But I'm sure I'll figure it out along the way. (Yes, I've read all the info and faqs. It's just the theory is usually easier than actually doing it, heh).

Anyway, I was a bit conservative in what I offered (mainly because I don't want to promise something and not deliver!) I can definitely vid any and all of the MCU (yes, even the Incredible Hulk). I've vidded Dirk Gently, The Good Place and Shadowhunters before, so I offered these as well. I'm DYING to vid Hannibal, so it's in there. I guess I could offer Smallville and Supernatural, but I'm still only on season 8 of SPN and upon rewatching I discovered that I never watched past season 5 of SV. I also offered movies in general because, well, even if I haven't watched it, it's a pretty quick watch and I'm a film junkie so it's no hardship :)

So yeah! Let's see how this works! I'm really sad that I can't go to Fanworks on its debut year, but I can't justify another con after I went to VividCon only last year (it's a pretty long hike for me!). I'm planning on going in 2020, so I really want it to work! I'm a supporting member (digital member?) and I'm participating in the auction, and that's about as much as I can do to help out this year. And if all goes well I'll be in Detroit next year!

YAY I HAVE A VIDDING BINGO CARD!!
Fandom is MCU (because of course it is). This is gonna be fun!!
ETA: You can get your own bingo card over at the vid_bingo  community. Here's a link to the round 1 announcement page: https://vid-bingo.dreamwidth.org/1451.html

indie rock	romance	constructed reality
science	FREE SPACE	supporting character(s)
alternative	action	villain

 

trelkez posted: The Self-Curated Vidshow Challenge!

 

(I haven't updated my SignalBoost bookmarklet yet... This is what I get for being away from DW for 4 days...)

 

morgandawn posted: Fanvids: Time To Build Them A Home

 

There are over 4 million fanworks listed on AO3. But fanvids have gained little traction....and very little attention or support from AO3. Vids (like fan art) are lost in the fanworks crowd, stuck on the back shelf, and not easily filtered or located. Fans must upload their vids to increasingly hostile streaming sites and run a constant risk of DMCA strikes, takedown notices and channel deletions. In many ways, fanvids are still stuck in the same nomadic environment that fanfiction inhabited before AO3 was founded in 2009.

 

It's interesting how I'll go on vacation and come back sooooo tired. I love traveling, but seriously, sometimes I just wanna stop for a couple of days and do nothing.

So yay, this past weekend I went to my annual all woman camping weekend! It was nice and sunny (as opposed to last year where it rained so much I thought my tent was going to be washed away). Of course, this means I got a mild case of sun stroke (why am I so white??), but it also means WATERFALL! And the natural swimming pool that I soaked in for hours. And playing with 10-month-old babies while their mothers got some much needed time off. And just generally being in nature for a couple of days. It's done me a world of good.

Of course not everything was perfect. My inflatable mattress was punctured and I woke up on the floor every day (good thing I had my trusty yoga mat with me). I got bitten by a million mosquitos despite wearing huge amounts of insect repellent, and I swear, those mosquitos had TEETH. I ended up with a rash on my arm that I have no idea how it got there. And the afore-mentioned mild sun stroke (I drank about 5 liters of water and slept for 16 hours straight yesterday). Also my arms are NOT used to holding 10-month-old babies, so lots of muscle fatigue. But whatever, I spent the weekend camped beside a stream and swimming in waterfalls and it was GLORIOUS.

And now I'm back to real life, but I feel soooo much better. I feel rested (might be because of the 16 hours of sleep yesterday, heh). The year is finally starting.

Day 3 - In your own space, share a favorite piece of original canon (a TV episode, a song, a favorite interview, a book, a scene from a movie, etc) and explain why you love it so much. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Well. I have no idea if this is the kind of thing that I'm supposed to be posting, and everyone has (probably) already watched this multiple times in the past years, but it's my absolute favorite performance and makes me happy whenever I see it flying around on tumblr or here.

I present to you: Tom Holland's lipsync battle.

Pausing the Snowflake Challenge for a day so that I can continue posting vid announcements! Today I'm posting the first vid I've ever done for a vid exchange.

When I was first in fandom (yeah, this is one of those "in my day" posts) I don't remember there being any vid exchanges. I also don't think VividCon existed, or if it did it was maybe a year old? So there were hardly ever deadlines for vidding. I have made vids for other people, for their birthdays or just because they were the ones that inspired the vid. But generally speaking those were due whenever. Which was good because my computer was sooooo slooooooow.

Jump forward to 2018, and suddenly I had a deadline to submit vids to VVC. And that was absurdly daunting. But I managed! And I went, and I met a lot of amazing people and got really excited about vidding again.

And then I found out about vid exchanges! I mean, I knew about them (I've beta'd a couple of vids for equinox and festivids in the past), but I never really thought that I could do it. But last year I bit the bullet and signed up for fall equinox. And it was such a great experience! I got two amazing vids made for me (a beautiful haunting Pan's Labyrinth vid by sweetestdrain  and an adorable Monsters, Inc. vid by dirty_diana ), and I had so much fun making this vid for cupidsbow . Having been the one to request Dirk Gently to the fandom list I was really excited to get this request. I was worried about finding a song but it just kind of popped up in my spotify the day after I got my assignment. And everything flowed from there. Suzie is a fun character to vid, and this whole process went smoothly. I submitted the final vid two days ahead of schedule! (Of course, this has not happened since. The last vid I made kicked my butt. It's nice to remember that sometimes these things flow, though).



Here it is on AO3, with lyrics. Feel free to comment wherever you prefer!

You know how you always feel like life will be slightly calmer once all the holidays are over and you're back to your routine? Well. 2019 has decided to start off with a BANG, including electrical problems, computer problems, way too many birthday parties, and some very tight deadlines. Oh, and two weddings and two trips just during the first semester. It's gonna be one hell of a year.

Anyway, I only discovered the snowflake challenge after it had already started and I was all sad that I'd missed it and then I realized that I could just do it whenever I wanted. THERE ARE NO RULES. I'm gonna be all rebellious this year because why not. It's being rebellious with me.

So I'm just gonna go ahead and start from the beginning:


Day 1: In your own space, talk about your Happy Place—the things that give you joy, calms you or keeps you sane. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Well. 2018 was a rough year and I have to say that finding my Happy Place has become sooooo hard. But I remember what it feels like! I was talking to Lum the other day about this, about how I'm most happy when I'm present and connected. I guess that's true for most people. I'll have these random moments of just noticing how beautiful the world around me is, or how amazing it is that I can look at things and that my brain can interpret what my eyes are sending and create this picture in my mind. I know, it sounds all silly, but this happens quite often, just wonder at the world and the universe and everything we've created. I feel like kids do it right, everything is AMAZING. I try to keep that mentality as much as I can.

As for specific things I do that make me happy, I'd say hanging out with friends is a big one. Creating things makes me happy also, but only after it makes me stressed and tense and anxious first, so that one's a bit complicated. I like being in my house, on my sofa, in my living room. Reading is a big one, I get transported to whole different worlds. Same for movies and TV. In fact, movies and TV are HUGE as far as Happy Places go. 

But the truth is that all these things can make me happy or make me anxious and stressed, it really depends on how I am that day. Living with depression is a weird thing where sometimes my Happy Place is transformed into a pit of anxiety, or I KNOW that if I do this one thing I'll feel better but I just can't gather enough strength to do it. Some days everything is amazing and the world is beautiful, and then others everything is crap. And there might not actually have been anything different between the two days. The only thing that's different is ME.

So yeah. Still trying to figure out how to deal with myself. But hey, the good days are always REALLY good. I just want there to be more of them.