everything but the girl

1. Sweet Charity! I am putting myself up for auction again - and like last winter, I am offering two vids:

A. There's crack up for auction! Lovely, silly, goofy, weird crack! You might want a character study in the form of song, or your favorite 80s pop hit or 90s band (US or UK) matched up with your favorite show. Or if you prefer something set to that Schoolhouse Rock song you can't get out of your head...

NOTE: If you choose Watchmen, the vid will be done 4-6 weeks after the DVD release.

B. There's a song that's been bouncing around your brain for a day, a week, a month or years - and it reminds you so perfectly of a certain show or film - your favorite character, or a particular pairing.
You can give me a few songs, a particular character or three, and a hint of what you like - or you can give me extensive specific directions and I'll play with that. Please have 2-5 songs in mind, though. Crossovers of any of the below-listed fandoms are possible, and if you have a specific request about a fandom I haven't listed, feel free to email me or comment on my LJ. My past vids are at pear_vodka.
NOTE: If you choose Watchmen, your vid will be done 4-6 weeks after the DVD release.

Fandoms for both vids are:

Chuck, Doctor Who (new), Friends, Harry Potter, Heroes, Iron Man (movie), Leverage, Merlin, Ocean's 11/12/13, Supernatural, The Lord of the Rings, Torchwood, Watchmen (movie)

My prior Sweet Charity vids are:
Always Keep an Edge on Your Knife (Supernatural for la_perkins)
The Fellowship / Cannot Cope, Off to Unpack Adjectives (LOTR for eldritchhobbit
Welcome to the Black Parade, Dean Winchester for minim_calibre
And the Hero Is Me for seimaisin

[Poll #1370442]

2. Eyecon was fun - fellow fangirls were fantastic as always, an all the guests were excellent as always. Misha's last minute cancellation coupled with Jared's cancellation were annoying - but for my part, they would have been less annoying had there been more guests on the agenda in the first place. But frankly, I would go to these things for fangirls and a Jason Manns concert, so I had a terrific (and slightly tipsy) time. I don't know what will happen insofar as future eyecons - and from what I've heard about CreationCons, these are so much more mellow even when there are a lot of guests, so I hope there can be more - but I will not plan to purchase another platinum ticket without a larger slate of guests.

I love cons that are fan-centric, regardless of whether there are cast/crew members among the presenters. It was terrific having panels at Eyecon, and all the panelists and organizer erinrua deserve so much credit because it kept things hopping. There were still lulls between the Q&A sessions and photo op moments, but the panels filled a lot of that time, and the conversations that grew from them were terrific. I wish I could get to wincon this year - and if a miracle happens I will definitely do it! But there are two non-stops per day from South Florida to Denver, and they both arrive in the evening. Also considering the November chicago con if anyone knows someone selling a gold package & photo ops.

2b. Thanks to everyone who suggested and donated vids for the vidshow! Two vids were left off the dvd we showed - one because the file kept pixilating, and one because I missed an email (I AM SO SO SORRY!) so I will be posting a complete list of all the vids shown when I get home tonight - probably after Heroes, which I am utterly unspoiled for.

3. Coming tomorrow, for azkatraz, a t-shirt design contest! And if any of you are experienced with InDesign and are interested in helping create the Azkatraz program, even if you aren't coming to the con, please let me know! Comment or email info @hp2009.org

4. Is there going to be another SPN Gleeweek in the lead-up to the finale? Last year's was such fun...

more than just cupcakes, or Jensen With Popcorn, because while I don't have gourmet meals all that often, when I do I want to write about them.

Sober now, and thank you brain for remembering to drink a water bottle before going to sleep!

Last night, we went with friends to Ola Restaurant on South Beach, and got one of the lovely tables outside, which meant people watching on south beach. Frankly, even on New Year's Eve, people should remember to wear either trousers or a skirt over their boy-cut underpants. We also saw two dresses that I would deem either bandage dresses, or bondage dresses - it covered the front and back, but the sides were mostly straps.

Dinner was fantastic. Everyone shared what they'd ordered so I got to try a lot of things, including a corvina ceviche - I've never eaten raw fish before, and it wasn't horrible, but I definitely didn't develop any love for it either.

I did not try the tuna tacos, but Aaron loved his. Here's the rest of our dinner:

Chicharron - Crispy rock shrimp coated with rice & corn flour with a sweet & spicy panca sauce with micro cilantro (omgAMAZING)
Kobe meatballs (not fantastic)
Short rib empenada (SO good we ordered a second order so everyone could have *more*)
Crispy Pork with Honey truffle yucca mash, black bean broth & oregano mojo (good, but not the best)
Chocolate-rubbed NY strip (if I hadn't had the chicharron, this would have been the best thing on the menu)
Oxtail stew (good, not too gamey)

Da“Bomb" - Semi-sweet chocolate mousse w/ toasted hazelnuts finished w/ caramel & chocolate sauce (SQUEEEEEEEEE!)
Deconstructed Key Lime Pie - Key lime custard served over a bed of toasted meringue, vanilla bean ice cream, finished with a toasted cinnamon walnut tuile (Custard was great, meringue was a little limp)

I also had a delicious caipirinhna (sort of a Brazilian run-ish drink with sugar and soda) and a pomegranate mojito.

All in all, the perfect culinary start to the new year.

Eyecon tickets go on sale tomorrow, and I am definitely buying one! But I'm still undecided about which ticket level to get, since they haven't announced all the guests yet (I HOPE!).

[Poll #1323671]

Also, I may or may not have watched new york minute yesterday afternoon. Painfully adorable!

Happy New Year to all who celebrate it! And even if you don't, today is a terrific day to taste some apples dipped in honey for Rosh Hashana.

I'm back in the office editing closing docs for the deal that I had to rush back from eyecon to, er, deal with, and it's not fun, but while things are printing, I managed to upload ( a few photos from eyecon )


Also, check out the auction that just started at Sweet Charity! All proceeds go to Invisible Children. I have a vid up for auction this time, and if you win you can choose from SPN, Heroes, Doctor Who (new), Torchwood, Chuck, and LOTR. I love doing auction-commissioned vids because it's a completely different way to think about the process, so please, bid on me (and the other fantastic fancreators who're generously donating of their time and talent)!

Title: Part of Me, Part of You
Song by: Neil & Tim Finn (Crowded House, Split Enz)
Rating: PG
Genre: As gen as the show itself; read that however you wish.
Spoilers through: 4.01 You have been warned!
Summary: "Always in my blood, forever in my eyes..." That's Sam and Dean Winchester, especially now.
Download it on Megaupload or watch it on youtube or ( behind the cut... )

Looks like we will be heading to the center of the state on Monday because it's likely that Ike is going to result in a Cat 2 at least in Dade County, and since we're replacing windows at the house, we don't feel like staying is a good idea.

So instead of writing a full Dragon*Con wrap up or griping about the drilling my building is doing right next to my office or wibbling about my son re-reading the HP books instead of paying attention in reading class (I KNOW!), I'll linkspam a bit so I can close windows:

Obama's answers to ScienceDebate on about 20 science-oriented questiosn. Nifty!
Fake Sarah Palin on twitter - and McSweeney's presents PALIN! The Musical Lalalala.
Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog Soundtrack is now on iTunes (so Nathan Fillion can now have a very easy time making ringtones for his iphone using the iTunes ringtone generating feature!)
SPN Eyecon Royalty seats are on ebay - Kenny said it's unlimited autograph items, so at this point the price is a platinum ticket plus ten auction tickets, and you can apply the cost of the ticket to the sofa-seat. If you're interested in getting that many things signed...
Azkatraz registration is in public beta which means you can register but there's still the occasional random bug (we've found that people who went to Portus sometimes get a Portus graphic in their confirmation, for example). The FAQ is also live and includes explanations of the various registration levels, and the MPA - that's the Master's in Potter Administration, or our Business and Law track, which we're having on Monday. It includes breakfast Monday morning with a presentation by Susan Gunelius, author of Harry Potter: the Story of a Global Business Phenomenon, a special luncheon and a networking reception at the end of the day's program.
The CFP has been up for a few weeks, and earlier this week, we opened for programming submissions! We've had a few come in already, but we'll be accepting them all the way until the end of January.
Off to load fics from spn_summergen onto the iphone so I have reading material For The Duration. Damned cone of doom. What're the rest of you locals planning?

Jim Beaver has a cat named Heidi.

And I've had everyone sign Issue Three of the SPN-Origins comic book.

Photos coming later - banquet now.

(Really, quickly - everyone has been really nice - the fans, the actors, the con team, the volunteers, et al - it's so mellow and fun, and the mall has Chick Fil A and a Dylan's Candy Bar. I wish I had had the idea earlier to encourage people to join me in throwing candy at Sandy today and Jared tomorrow - it's a Jewish sort of congratulations/mazel tov tradition, and well, it involves candy. But I have a feeling the hotel would have freaked at candy all over the floor.)

Chad and dancinbutterfly in the lobby.
( IMG00093.JPG )

I know Friday nights aren't the best time to post fancontent, but if I don't, I'm going to have a backlog before I head out of town over the weekend on a minibreak with the family, so this is head's-up that I''ve posted a vid over on pear_vodka - it's pure crack, so be warned.

Click here for an Ocean's 11 vid set to Seize the Day from Newsies. Danny Ocean & his crew don't want Terry Benedict to take their rights away! What are they going to do? They're going to seize the day!

I'm going to be in Orlando next weekend (Fri - Sun) at spn_eyecon, the Supernatural con - it's my first con that has actors in attendence (other than TWH, but I was sort of hosting Chris Rankin that weekend, and he wasn't presenting at the con, so it was a little different), so I'm a little nervous, but in a good way.

Anyone in Orlando interested in coming by at 11-ish on Saturday night for some Doctor Who S4 viewing? I set up a poll for RSVP-ing here; since it isn't an official part of the con, you don't have to be officially attending to come for the Who-watching.

Don't forget to keep your eye on FictionAlley on April 1 (Kiwi-time)! It's going to be fantastic, and a little old fashioned. :D

Last few minutes, btw, to bid in Sweet Charity... Get us while we're hot!