Boppy's Journal

I'm at that stage with my current vid project where I have a nearly full timeline and things are starting to come together structurally. My brain's desperately trying to play catch-up with all the decisions I've made based on intuition, kind of trying to hunt them down and detect whether they are actually sound or don't serve the vid well at all. No doubt when I play back my vid over breakfast tomorrow I'll realise I'm a lot further off target than I think I am ... but... I love this stage of a project. My head buzzes, I can't really think about anything but vidding, I'm constantly tossing things over in my mind to make sense of them.

( You should hear the way my brain works sometimes (thoughts on Lee, anger and Kara, late S2 )

( brief additional thoughts on vidding problematic source )

Can I just stay here forever and not do the boring horrible months of polishing and reediting and tweaking colour and making horrible fucking credits?! Please? (Hee! No, I want it finished for myself too but I do love this stage and it's fun to wallow while it lasts.)

This post is about the spoilers for the Battlestar Galactica finale that Katee Sackhoff leaked in Portland. If you do not want to be spoiled for the finale PLEASE PLEASE DO NOT READ THIS POST.

( Thoughts within )

If my shows are allowed to have cheap melodrama, why can't I?

I'm so upset you guys! Two shows. MY TWO FAVOURITE SHOWS. At once. Destroying everything I love and hold dear about them. I am so upset I could cry. At first I was numb and snarky and bitter, and then I found humour briefly, but then I went back into rage, and now I think I'm reaching depression...

I'm halfway through a measured response to 'Requiem' to explain why I think it's the death of Smallville, but I keep getting distracted by the badness on Battlestar...

IT'S TOO MUCH!

They were both so amazing. Why did they have to throw it away? With SV I can rationalise that Al and Miles left... but with Battlestar? It's hard to understand how RDM could create this universe and then destroy it. Also, I feel way more alone in BSG because so many fans are clinging to hope still. At least in SV, we've more or less all been smacked in the face.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Requiem was TEN TIMES AS DREADFUL as BSG this week, but the BSG decline is more drawn out. Which is better? I don't know! *flails*

It's days like today it really sucks to be a completionist.

ETA: I don't normally quote TWOP. But it occurs to me that this sums up my position on both shows: So if you've ever loved the show and thought it was building to a fitting end for some of its major characters, congratulations. You got played. Go watch Friday Night Lights instead.

I have a problem. I cannot stop working! *stares at clock disconsolately*

But dionusia has declared this Lee Love Week and I am determined to participate in this most wonderful of causes!

My only problem was coming up with a NEW way to describe Lee's awesomeness, given that I spent most of my time in BSG fandom boring you all senseless on that very subject. But, I can do it! With lists. :) Warning for insane bias and fangirling ahead (and spoilers for 4.0 but no 4.5 please!).

( Ten reasons why Lee is awesome for writers/narrative )

( Ten ships that showcase Lee's awesome, in completely biased order )

Since I've run out of time today, this post might have to be the first of several. And be warned that the lists may get crazier over time... Aww, I've missed talking about Lee!

... I think I might be getting my life back again. It's Day 2 of having my boss back again (and therefore no longer being boss-person myself) and I'm on cloud 9. I LOVE HAVING A BOSS!!! *bounces* And to make this fandom-related... I think I finally get why Kara didn't care that much about being CAG. Because hello, it is WAY more fun to be the slightly loud-mouthed and rebellious offsider than the guy that has to do all the paperwork and answer for shit at the end of the day. :D And yeah, I may seem diplomatic online but in real life? Huahahaha, no. I have an unfortunate habit for telling the truth in meetings and a low tolerance of idiots--this does not get you far in management, I have found.

So what's going on round here?! :) I missed stuff! I owe some people mail--and I promise I'm working on it. My inbox is kinda scary... *guilt*

I do have some posts to pimp though. I'm always a big fan of people focusing on what they like and not what they like to whinge about... and in that spirit, I have really enjoyed:
- asta77's post on why she loves Lee Adama
- wisteria_'s post on why she loves Kara Thrace
- and daybreak777's post on falling for the Kara/Lee ship.

Also, Kara/Lee fans who haven't read this extremely hot fic by elzed are missing a treat. *g*

I feel kinda bad not having anything SV-related to pimp... but seriously, people, is there anything out there?!

Oh, and before I forget, I apologise to anyone who tried to dl my new vid the other day when the link wasn't working. I have fixed it now. And I'm even feeling thick-skinned enough (or stupid enough) to stick my name up on the vidding truth meme so if anyone feels inclined to tell me where my weaknesses are or how I could improve... pipe up. :) I do appreciate that it takes time and care to give people proper concrit, so if anyone does, I'll be very grateful.

I am filled with warm fuzzies for BSG fandom at the moment. The response to the first challenge at bsg_hiatusthon has been really wonderful so far--we have sign-ups for nearly every day between now and Christmas! It would, of course, be super-cool if there was a post every day... *makes puppy eyes* If anyone out there feels like jumping in with an early drabble, late sign-ups can be accepted here.

I'm a bit behind on my meta-reading post-Razor and have guilt about needing to get to a few posts on my f'list, but my brain's been kind of mushy in the last few days. When my concentration returns, I'll be there. However, I do want to share this lovely post by marenfic on Kara/Lee fans and our respective different views. I couldn't agree more. It's sad to see people sometimes torn apart by differences of perspective, but I am blessed with generous, intelligent LJ friends who enlighten me about Kara and respect that a Lee-fan's perspective is different.

And somewhat inarticulately I've been in a very 'Kara' kind of mood recently. I truly adored her in Razor--I thought she was at her strongest, most beautiful, most honourable and most heroic (in the good sense), and I've found that I'm gentler on her in my mind post-Razor. I do think Razor provided a missing puzzle piece for me re. Kara. That might not have been so if I was more naturally attuned to her, but regardless it's been a pleasant experience to find myself thinking about her perspective.

Consequently I've been drawn to Kara vids and wanted to share a couple:
- buffyann's Headlights explores her S3 destiny issues in a way that put me 'inside' that journey very effectively.
- dayln03's Surrender leant me a positive spin on Kara's feelings for Lee. And yes, it IS the shippiest song ever written, and I'm kind of amazed I 'bought' it as Kara pov (being such a cynic about Kara's feelings), but I really did which is a credit to the vidder.

Also have to rec kiki_miserychic's Ain't No Reason which looks at all the women in Razor, Kara included, but which worked most effectively for me as a study of Kendra. There's a stack of meta in there.

(The following are not BSG-specific links, btw!)

Finally, it's starting to be that festive time of year again and holiday wishlists are going up. wishlist_07 is a smart idea as a central way of posting wishlists. I usually mosey through them and do what I can, and it's a lot easier having a central archive. Go post there!

And there's a cool idea for a holiday vid exchange. I know lots of non-vidders have ideas for vids sometimes--if you leave them here you never know, someone might pick them up!

One day back at work and I'm already grieving the loss of quality online time. :( Especially with so many shiny fun things right now!

There's lots of great meta coming out about BSG's 'Razor' (and I am not going to get sick of talking about that any time soon!) and also the funniest deleted scene I've ever heard of needs to be giggled over. I mean really. *blinks* ( cut for completely stupid observation that's spoilery for that deleted scene and S3 )

As if BSG fandom wasn't entertaining enough, SV is all geared up for a Lana-centric episode that will no doubt be controversial and ( cut for spoilery comment about episode 6.05 )

There's a cool post here about Lana--still the best comm name ever. ;)

In sadder news, the latest draft of my latest vid went pfft and I have to do it all over. :( Boo! But I am close to finished and if I wasn't in such a silly mood would be vidding right now.

Finally this is the best anonymous comment I have ever received. :D

**Opinionated post warning**

I sense a malaise in BSG fandom. The first I knew of the (official) delay of S4 until April was posts on my friendslist either bitching about it or complaining about those bitching about it. And somehow that made me... not flip out about it. So first, thanks for flipping out so that I didn't have to! :) And then, ok, yes, we'd all like to see it a lot sooner than that. But now's the time for banding together and having hiatus fun, not falling apart.

Yes, hiatus's are hard. And I've never had a tougher one than this one. And I'm probably really lucky that I have another show to turn to, in Smallville, in the meantime. But hiatus's are good in other ways: they give writers, artists and vidders ages of time to work on their own versions of canon or fanon, and it's a great time to do so with the show still open-ended. Get in before it gets jossed! It's also a good time to rewatch and dig deeper into the show's themes for the meta-ists among us.

In short, I've seen a lot of griping about the fandom recently but I don't feel inclined to gripe myself. I love BSG fandom! Largely because the fandom is, to me, the individuals I've met in it. I don't like collectives, I'm a total loner, so I don't like getting into 'BSG fandom is such and such' or 'Smallville fandom is whatever' arguments. I continue to enjoy my fandoms because I like you guys. You on my friendslist! You guys who read my journal and whose journals I read. If I don't read other forums it's generally because they don't make me happy. But I've met lots of amazing talented and lovely people on LJ in BSG fandom and that's why I LOVE IT. Sure, I'd still watch the show without you, but it wouldn't be nearly so much fun. So the fact that the show's delayed is a minor grievance in the scheme of things. What I would be sad about is losing touch with people.

Also: we have webisodes at the moment! That deserve a lot of squee! ( cut for said squee about flashback 4 )

I racked my brains to think of something I could do to contribute to the fandom at this time. But I think I'd do best to follow dionusia's example and throw myself open to suggestions instead. So here goes:
1. Feel free to leave me a prompt--I may respond with either a drabble or meta, but I'll respond with something, promise.
2. Leave your vid bunnies here! I only have one BSG vid bunny at the moment and I need hi res of Unfinished Business for that so I'm waiting on those damn S3 dvds... but in the meantime, if you want to suggest something, I can't promise I'll do it, but if it inspires me, you never know!
3. Finally, I volunteer my services for organising some kind of challenge or fic exchange or something. We need more to keep us busy! So if anyone's got any ideas about this, let me know and I'm happy to organise or help organise a BSG-specific challenge.

OK, um, *nervous*.

I really should be holding on to this to post as part of my character study challenge, but you know how it is... you work on something for months, getting nowhere, and then finally get so frakking sick of it you just have to post it NOW, dammit! And be done with it.

Title: Middleman
Artist: Bright Eyes
Fandom: Battlestar Galactica
Character: Lee Adama
Summary: Lee... trapped somewhere between nihilism and idealism/romanticism
Warnings: major spoilers for all three seasons, violence
Download: direct download (34MB) or streaming at Blip, BAM or YouTube
Feedback: Is treasured
Thanks to: supacat (I knew I was on the right track when she said 'it's a bit of a downer, isn't it?') and brokenmnemonic (for invaluable beta feedback and inspirational conversation)

Notes:
( Read more... )

Lyrics
( Read more... )

The lovely dionusia wrote me a Lee/Aurora comment drabble(s) of exquisite beauty. While we can't quite agree on its categorisation (crack? angst? humour? moodpiece?) it's undeniably gorgeous so go admire.