franzeska

The Escapade panel ballot is up. If you're going, don't forget to vote!

And you should be going because it's going to be awesome!

You should also consider Tribal Forces. They could use a few more signups just to make their space budget, and this will probably be the only year yours truly can be there. (What? Obviously, that should be the biggest draw. ;P)

I got a genius (GENIUS) vid of the 2008 Speed Racer movie. For those of you Cruel Unbelievers who did not understand that this was the Best Movie Evar, you can now see the three-minute version. It is my sincere hope my vidder uploads a ginormous copy to vimeo or somewhere for reveals because the fug quality on viddler just does not do this source or this gorgeous vid justice at full size.

As for the vids I did... I will tell you that I edited nineteen minutes and forty-eight seconds of video for Festivids, most of which you can find somewhere in the master post, but some of which you will need to wait for my reveals post to see. I also got sick twice, made two truly inexcusable epic vids for Escapade, and rewatched Cruising like five trillion times while writing my Yuletide story, so this Festivids season has been... busy.

Yuletide participants tend to be very split. Some love long prompts and letters; others hate them. Some do a ton of outside research about their recipient's tastes; some do almost none. Some people hope to get a BNF recipient; others are terrified. But I think nearly everyone likes getting a recipient who at least has a livejournal or other easy-to-find internet presence.

This year, I have to confess I was not very excited about Yuletide. I was really tired and stressed around the time signups happened. I was just kind of going through the motions, and there was nothing I was passionate about writing. At the last minute, Livia and #yuletide convinced me to add a bunch of random music videos and things to my offers. Predictably, I matched on one of these. I didn't recognize my recipient's name and they hadn't included a lj link. Sigh. I scrolled down. The first assignment wasn't the one I'd matched on. It read:

"gay serial killer fic!!!!! omg. I was so amazed to see someone nominate this fic for Yuletide. Getting anything for this fandom would MAKE MY YEAR. I love how many questions the film leaves us with: is Steve gay, and if so has he been closeted all along or did his ~lol traumatic descent into the homosexual underworld~ forever taint him? :D Did *he* murder the kid in some kind of moment of homophobic outburst? Will the police have enough evidence to convict the guy Steve fingered (lol pun intended?) and what happens if they release him? Has Steve taken over the role of the original killer, or was there ever another killer to begin with? Does he want to *be* the killer, or does he just want the killer to fuck him? SO MANY QUESTIONS. SO MUCH SORDID MORAL DEGRADATION TO PLAY WITH. SO MUCH GAY SEX TO WRITE. :D"

I think you can imagine my reaction. Well, ok, if you can identify who wrote that prompt you can probably imagine it (raise your hand if you knew by the first exclamation point), but here is a dramatization for everyone else:

No livejournal…

Suspicious username…

HEY WAIT A MINUTE!

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I mean, I thought I was imagining things! But no, no, there were the old LJ posts about Drive and Paranormal Activity. So then Yuletide was a lot more entertaining all of a sudden. Festivids still ate me and most of my writing time, but this turned out to be a really good holiday season after all, despite the bout of burnout I was coming off of. I even uploaded on the 21st and had him watching Westerns (as he actually does in the movie) just for the hell of it.

Now I just need to watch it with the director's commentary and post my meta on non-literal films and how every knife "the killer" uses is different. (They are! I have screencaps!)

I got Wiseguy fic for yuletide. Yesss. There's MV too, but I haven't read it yet. Despite some great prompts, I just didn't have time to write any of my own once Madness started. >:(

And offline, I got two presents addressed to me "from the 80's": A copy of Stingray and a copy of Crime Story. Hours of timewasting, here I come!

[11:30pm] elipie: most of the yuletide assignment reactions on my flist so far have been "PERFECT" or "EXACT OPPOSITE OF WHAT I WRITE"
[11:30pm] Franzeska: That is because there are only two yuletide requests
[11:30pm] Franzeska: Let me demonstrate them for you
[11:31pm] Franzeska: Prompt I cannot write and that I hate: "I love gen character studies"
[11:31pm] Franzeska: Perfect: "Please add tentacles, sexpollen, and BDSM to this beloved childhood classic"

Here's to a great next year. My personal wishlist is to expand the Abuse Committee staff (assuming I'm chair again, though we won't know that for a while) and to see something a little more permanent for finding smaller "media types" like kdramas.

Not that I think anyone reading this will actually need a PSA, but I always nearly miss this stuff because I'm a dope, so...

It looks like yuletide may have a very short window for nominations and signups this year (like a few days each-short). If you tend to forget and miss deadlines like I do, you should keep a close eye on the yuletide_admin community.

Guys, I am super excited about the upcoming OTW election. For the first time, it's offering what no previous year has: the opportunity to vote on a number of candidates with obviously different skills, backgrounds, interests, and priorities. (That's already doing better than most US elections I've voted in.) I haven't yet decided who I'm voting for aside from Nikisha Sanders, whose overwhelmingly superior level of experience working for other nonprofits makes her stand out from the rest of the candidates and from most OTW staff generally.

I've really appreciated seeing her comments in various places about the normal role of a board and how that differs from committees and committee chairs. I am passionate about OTW, have many ideas about specific projects I want to work on or features I want to request, and haven't always been happy with all of our work and decisions. What I don't have is a vision for the future of the organization or an interest in steering, which is precisely why I've never run for the board. I would do it if I were needed, but I will be happy to leave that job in more capable hands.

I'm reading everyone's election posts with interest. I agree that this is a big year for OTW: With projects like AO3 and Fanlore launched and up for the public to use, it's time to work on all of that other stuff that's gotten swept under the rug or put off in favor of more "important" work--all that boring administrative stuff that can make volunteering and committee work either a joy or a complete disaster. One thing I absolutely disagree with is the idea that this is our last chance to turn things around or that if X is elected to the board or Y happens next year, all hope is lost forever. I have felt like that about OTW work before, and not only has it not been true, but it's made it much harder for me to move forward productively. ( blah blah blah )

No, not a sequel to Pat the Bunny but rather Joe Dallesandro at his smarmiest. Patrice is both creepy and hilarious, and these graphics really don't do the WTF-y line delivery justice.

Paul "Pat the Cat" Patrice is first introduced when he summons Sonny for a little midnight chat in a bowling alley (the only location large enough to hold his ego, according to Sonny). But Sonny does try to placate him in his own inimitable fashion.



Patrice isn't happy about a stranger being at the meeting, even a really hot stranger.



Both of these pale in comparison to the conversation Patrice has with Vinnie later with marriage as an increasingly hilarious and disturbing metaphor for his job with Sonny. Pat's kind of amazing.