everything but the girl

Yay, I've caught up by watching everything since the pilot (which I saw back in September). So, share with me! What LJs, Twitters and tumblrs do I want to read/follow?

Erm, and what communities can I post vids to when I get the first bunny finished? :D

What I want from the Disney/Marvel Merger Thingy:

1. Major Marvel movie incorporation into Disney Studios. The Great Movie Ride deserves a major refurb, and incorporating Marvel films into it would be fantastic. But not all of it. I mean, Wolverine jumping at you instead of the creature from Alien would be terrific; replacing Gene Kelly in the Singin' In the Rain scene there with a singing Hugh Jackman is probably not necessary.

2. Marvel-inspired stuff where the clubs at Pleasure Island used to be. Tony Stark could "buy the place out", set up a few good burger joints, web-ify the old surf club. Lots of possibilities.

3. A good comic book store where the Virgin Megastore used to be. A really huge, excellent comic book store with museum-quality action figure and old issue displays.

4. A new resort based on Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters.

What I want from the new season of Heroes (and yes, I know some spoilers but none are revealed here, hence the lack of cut-tag):

1. Petrellis interacting with each other.

2. Claude. Ideally interacting with Petrellis. Or at least Peter.

3. No new Petrellis.*

* Sylar would not count as "new". That's just retconning.

What I want from the new season of Supernatural (and yes, I know some spoilers but none are revealed here, hence the lack of cut-tag)

1. A Leverage crossover

2. Bodyswap.

3. Gender swap wherein Jessica Alba plays Dean and Alexis Bleidel plays Sam.

4. Anything filmed at the Vancouver Aquarium, which is probably the only location in Vancouver that hasn't been used for filming yet. The belugas there are gorgeous. Has the Leverage crew stolen water mammals yet?

5. Ghostfacers.

( And one spoilery thing I want re Sueprnatural )

Haven't posted since we left for Disney last week. MEEP! Sigh, I really like the iphone 90% of the time but I hate that safari crashes far too often, whether I am on LJ or somewhere else, and the lack of a cache makes it impossible to "hold" pages for me to read offline. The browser on my sidekick never crashed so even though I am loving the iPhone, I am considering getting rid of it - my dad would buy it off me to replace his 1G iphone - and getting the new Android. Anyone have one? Anyone know someone who does? Would love to see some reviews of it before I make the leap back to tmobile.

Disney was fantastic - we went with another family and managed to make it to all four parks in three days - saw Nemo, rode on the new and fantastic Toy Story ride, took the girls on Soarin' because they were finally tall enough to go and the expression on their faces when we took off was absolutely magical - a perfect "O" of the mouth and the eyes and a squeek of glee! We did the lunch at Norway where the girls got to meet a slew of princesses, and my friend and I went back Saturday night for the fantastic Festival of the Senses. One negative - last year there were cocktails and not just wine, and ths year there was only wine, beer and scotch. The rest was entirely positive. We sampled about 15 different restaurants and my favourite was probably a tamarind-infused pork made by the exec chef from the Sci Fi Dine In - the truffles were wonderful and randomly, we ended up sharing our table with one of hte chefs from the California Grill and his extremely adorably supportive wife - and for a few minutes, the exec chef for all of Disney came and joined us and we talked about the variety this year and some things they may try to do next year. We will be back!

Partly Bouncy (remember her?) has created a new bot-scraping thing for the fanhistory wiki (no, I will not link to it because I don't want people going directly from my LJ to hers but you can google your way there) that pulls information from livejournal. Click here to learn how to block the bot. If you're new here and don't know about my history with Partly Bouncy and her wiki, ask and I will give you links to the backstory.

nekkio27 has a well-written summary of why taxes exist and what they mean for our economy here. I still remember the first day of tax law back in my 3rd year of law school, when we discussed how taxes can be used to set social policy. Wish I still had my notes from back then, but they're lost on some floppy disk in a box in the back a closet that is otherwise filled with Husband's comic books.

For giandujakiss - 23/6 gives you eight ways to survive the next eight six days without losing your mind. Top of the list? "There's a reason it's not called 'Every Five Minutes Kos'" Admission: I have a constant refresh too! And I don't feel guilty about it!

Did Jensen really say something about sexual favours in the context of his roommate in an interview? I've seen mention of this in fic summaries but since I wasn't reading any communities this weekend while traveling I must've missed the initial post(s). They're just teasing everyone now, aren't they?

deirdre_c, I have vid bunnies! I am, yes, working on the one for last week's SPN episode but I want to do a political vid to One Week but I wanted it to be finished yesterday and I need a lot of political footage to do it and I don't know where to get any! Does anyone know where one can download avis from the conventions and of speeches and ads and stuff? Or will I just storyboard this from stills and have it exist mostly in my mind? DAMNED BUNNY!

Speaking of bunnies, this last ep of Heroes finally gave me some fantastic vidding footage to work with! I may try to get something done before the next ep, but part of me *really* wants to wait for the flashbacks we'll get in (OMG do we have to wait?) two weeks...

MoveOn sent me a slew of Obama pins, finally, but most of my friends and family locally already have at least one, so I want to send some of these into the wild. The first 10 - 15 responses will get one:
[Poll #1287282]


Off to doctor for the Annual. More catch-up stuff later...

I'm going to sign up to do the Disney half-marathon next January, and as a vidder for this year's spn_j2_bigbang. Holy commitments, Batman! Then, and only then, am I allowed to catch up on the last day and a half of LJ.

I'm in San Diego at the moment (flight yesterday was terrific, and I will never understand why Aaron's relatives insist on flying into San Diego when it always requires changing planes while coming from Maine or Miami, when flying into LA takes maybe a half hour more to get to his parents' house, including driving-time, but whatever...)

We are possibly going to Disney Land on Wednesday. Aaron wants to take me out for dinner for my birthday that night - what do those of you who go there regularly recommend? We were thinking the Wine-Trattoria, but the Mexican place at Downtown Disney looks good, too. Or is there something at one of the hotels? Anything similar to the California Grill at the Contemporary?

And for those of you who've been following the Apple teaser-posters, what do you think they're going to do? I saw a (whimsical) suggestion of anti-gravity ipods, but I'm hoping for a micro-laptop that feels lighter than air. The LA Times had an article about a shrine to ancient computers located up in Seattle. It looks fantastic - I really need to find a chance to make a pilgrimages to some Museum of Old Technology someday, because it's all just adorable. I also should probably have my artist-aunt make a display thing for my circa 1994 Newton, so I can put it in the living room, properly enshrined.


ETA: Okay, before I play catch-up, I checked spn_holidays first thing, as I've been doing for the last few weeks, to see if something was posted for me, and OH WOW, it was! Here is the gorgeous first section of a Harry Potter/Supernatural/Torchwood crossover from gestaltrose and I am over the moon with adoration for it! Squeethanks, this is the best way to start my birthday week!

ETA 2: Sweet Charity signup has been edited, because the amazing lithium_doll has added Chuck to the fandoms listed!

technosage gave me the letter "S", so here are ten things that are important to me that begin with that letter...

1. Split Enz! I discovered SPlit Enz about 25 years ago this month, when I came home from camp, turned on Mtv, and saw my first music videos. One was One Step Ahead by Split Enz, and within fifteen seconds, I was desperately, hopelessly, endlessly in love with Neil Finn. I didn't manage to get the album that the song was on, though, until 1987, which was about a year after I discovered Crowded House, which Neil went on to form after Split Enz disbanded circa 1984, but I always remembered the song, and when CH's fame inspired Chrysalis to reissue a lot of SE stuff, I started collecting it like mad - I have all the albums on LP and cassette, as well as various videos on VHS. I'm a lifetime member of Frenz of the Enz, and have been on the Tongue in the Mail email list since 1993 or 1994. (Also must mention Squeeze, whose Black Coffee in Bed I also discovered in that first week of Mtv; I adore their music but not to the degree that I love Spliz Enz or anything else Finn-ish.)

2. Strawberries! When I was pregnant with Harrison, I had to have at least a pint of strawberries each day. Midway through my pregnancy, I made my husband drive me to this Mennonite farm about an hour from our house, where they sell strawberries by the flat. I got 20 pints on that lovely Saturday, and the only reason there was still a pint left for my breakfast on Thursday morning is because I refused to let myself enjoy it the night before. (Also must mention Snozzberries, from Willy Wonka.)

3. Star Wars! We owned it on Betamax back in 1978 or maybe 1979. I'm not sure it was even really commercially available, but back then at-home video players were still unusual enough that most people got stuff to play by trading it from friends. I must've seen that film twenty times by the time Empire came out, and I saw ROTJ three times the first weekend it was in theaters. I can still tell you exactly where I saw each film, and where I sat in the theaters. When the 20th Anniversary releases hit theaters, I was living in NYC, and I saw SW the night it came out on the upper east side, then saw the next two on Saturday afternoons at the Ziegfeld. I own the originals on VHS and DVD, and when Episode 1 was about to hit theaters, I was six months pregnant and not using any vacation days because I was stockpiling for maternity leave, so I bought tickets for the 5:15 show and went with my husband and a few of our colleagues and I almost *wept* with the WTF-ness of the film. Yes, I saw the other two in theaters as well, and I actually do own them on DVD, but I can't bear to re-watch them all the way through. (Also must mention Star Tours: The Ride, at Disney:MGM in Orlando.)

4. Sirius Black! Back in 2001, JKR was asked if he was meant to be "dead sexy". She said yes. We didn't realise, at the time, that she meant both words equally truthfully. I'm not sure I ever really dealt with Sirius's death, and had copperbadge not started Stealing Harry shortly thereafter, I'm not sure I would've continued reading any fanfic at all. (Also must mention Severus Snape, who I do not actually love, but really respect and occasionally admire.)

5. Sabrina. I like the Audrey Hepburn movie - I really do. But I have this weird and bizarre love for the Greg Kinnear + Harrison Ford version, and my husband and I rewatch it regularly. It came out when we were in the throes of our wedding planning, and my husband has about 100+ first and second cousins, so we were inviting over 600 people, so when one of the characters, in talking about the wedding they were planning for David and his fiancee Elizabeth, says, "that's not a wedding, that's a town," it became our signature line for the rest of the planning process. (Also must mention Sebrina, Paste & Plato, which is a song by Jellyfish)

6. Schnoogle! It was supposed to be a site for fan "buttons" - which are now basically known as icons or avatars. Jana (aka GeorgeWeasley'sGirlfriend) made a bunch of them with fanfic-inspired ships like Ron/Pansy, Ron/Lavender (from AliciaSue's fics), Harry/Allegra, etc., and that's where we put them, and people took them and put them on their Geocities sites. Back then, domain names were "pricey" - 30-40 dollars - so when we decided to start what would become FictionAlley, we wanted to save the cash and re-use the domain name we already hance. And that's how Schnoogle.com became a place for novel-length fics. (Also must mention "squee" as one of my favorite fandom words. I just did a search for "squee" in the LJ section of my gmail to see how many times I've used the word since I got my gmail account in 2004, and it's so many times that it can't even count. It just says "hundreds".)

7. Supernatural! I'm not a fan of the horror genre. And I really didn't watch much TV between 2000 and 2006, so I wasn't really *looking* for another series to watch. But reading discussion of the series on my flist, and seeing some writers who I adored doing fic for SPN, I was intrigued enough to watch one episode. So I watched Playthings. And then I bought S! on DVD and watched all of it over about 2 weeks. And I fell completely in love with the series, and the mytharc, and the brothers and the whole damned thing. And the fanfic/fanart/vidding output in the fandom is perpetually, unrelentingly brilliant! (Also must mention Sylar, Simone and Suresh, as that's the only way I can figure to slow Heroes into this meme in any way. I <3 Heroes so, so much, and cannot wait for S2!!!!!)

8. Stephen Duffy! The original singer and guitarist for Duran Duran, but he left very early on, and was replaced by Simon. He went on to have a few major UK hits including Kiss Me (shown here acoustic-style a few years ago in Japan), then formed a band called The Lilac Time, who had terrific critical success, and not much commercial success. At various times, he's worked with Stephen Page of the Barenaked Ladies (he's the co-writer on Jane) and Robbie Williams (he's the co-writer on Radio, and produced some of Robbie's stuff), and eventually Nick Rhodes - Stephen found their original DD demos from 1979, and they rerecorded them as The Devils. (Specific mention to She Belongs to All, which always makes me think of Princess Diana, who died ten years ago today.)

9. Sidekick! I love my sidekick! It keeps me connected to the world and all of you! It gives me my email, most of the time, and lets me YM and AIM and read my flists and read fics and text people and take photos and stay in touch. I've owned Sidekicks since 2003 when the first colour one came out, and this SK3 is the first one I've had that's lasted more than a year; I've had battery and keyboard and screen issues before that with the other ones I've owned. It's like carrying a mini-laptop around, and it's perfectly suited for me, apart from the 6MB limit on the mailbox, which is frustrating beyond belief. (Also must mention Sanyo, who made my pretty pink cellphone, which I also like and use, but don't *need* in the same way that I need my sidekick.)

10. Soarin', Space: Mission, Splash Mountain and Small World. Three of my favorite rides at Walt Disney World. Soarin' is a virtual reality-esque "flight" over California, Mission: Space (which I wrote backwards here to make it S-compliant) is a centerfuge-based simulation of a flight from Earth to Mars, Splash Mountain is a water-flume ride, and you probably know that Small World (aka It's a Small World) is a boat-based ride through all the countries of the world, as depicted by little dolls. I love Disney, but these three rides are among my top ten favorite things to do at Disney. Yes, even Small World. I love watching it through the eyes of my kids, but I also just love the nostalgia trip I go on every time I take that ride. (Also must specifically mention the Swan Hotel, which holds so many terrific memories of Nimbus 2003, which was the first time that I got to meet hundreds of other fandomers at once; Nimbus 2003 changed my life, and was such a phenomenal weekend of wonderfulness!)



If you'd like a letter, leave a comment and I'll give you one!

Just when I think you're completely insane again, you go and create something beautiful like this ad campaign.

Yes, a beautiful ad campaign. Isn't Scarlett Johansen lovely ( behind the cut )?

Two more of the ad's images feature David Beckham as prince charming and Beyonce as Alice, with Lyle Lovett as the March Hare and Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter.