charismaz

charismaz @ 2012-02-12T21:45:00

2012-02-12T21:45:02Z

Am in England. Is it awesome? Yes. Yes, it is! First time seeing snow falling, huzzah!

Now, just to look for a job!

Where have my files gone?

2011-06-11T06:42:02Z

Well, for those that don't know, my old computer's hard drive failed, but I managed to extract (what I thought to be) all my files off it. I was looking forward to getting back to finishing a couple of Man from UNCLE vids, but this new computer has windows LIVE movie maker, not the program which is sans LIVE. This LIVE program... o.O well! It is shockingly bad! And I thought Windows Movie Maker was bad! I couldn't even figure out how to put things in any order.

But today, thankfully I found out I could download WMM for free off the microsoft website. So Yippee! But... now I can't find my files with the WIP vids on them :( I'm starting to think they weren't saved... very sad! All I have is a .wmv file of the Debussy vid, which means I have to manually re-splice the vid for editing... I shudder to think what I'm going to do to edit the sound. So complicated!

I'll continue looking, but for now, I shake my fist at rotten technology.

Integrating Fandom into my Life

2011-06-02T04:23:51Z

I have a book here, the Poole & Shepherd IMPACT Teachers' Book, published 1967, and it was lent to me by my English teacher. The basic premise of the book is to dictate how to teach students the 'manners of writing'. The preface to this book has a section that caught my eye:

"As English teachers what we wish to avoid at all costs in pupils' writing is diluted experience. To put the pupil in such situations is to throw him upon his own resources of language. He must, as it were, describe the spit in his own mouth. There is no falling back here upon Dr Who [sic] or The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
"Though we want our pupils to write imaginatively, we shan't, upon the whole, encourage them to take fantasy trips to the moon."

Which, I have to say, makes little sense to me. While I can grasp that one's own experiences are valuable, the opportunities made apparent through such shows and popular culture can enrich and feed a student's imagination to new heights. So with a sense of defiance, I set out to seek ways in which I have used the imagination and the pure experience gained from these shows to further my education and my understanding of my education.

If I were to rewind to my early days of fandom, I can distinctly remember the first time I integrated Man from UNCLE and Doctor Who into my school work--albeit, accidentally. I was 14-15, and I had stumbled across the two shows a either a year and a half, or a few months before. It was in my geography exam (quite stressed), and the question was to name some peace-keeping forces and their roles. While I don't remember writing it down, when I got the paper back, sure enough, listed there was 'United Nations Intelligence Taskforce' and 'United Network Command for Law and Enforcement'. The marking teacher's response? I can't rightly say, but both fictional forces were double-ticked.

The second time was on purpose, I was 16 and it was analysing a piece of MFU fan-fiction (Utopian Trunk's Three Minutes to Midnight). I used it because it was beautiful, because it fit with what I was arguing, and because a part of me just wanted to rebel with an unrecognised text-type. And why can't we use fan-fiction? Is it not beautiful, or is it because of the red-encased copyright issues? I didn't mention it was or wasn't fanfiction, but labelled it ambiguously as 'fiction'. Once again, the teacher didn't pick anything up, but loved my analysis so much I got full marks-- the first student to do so in years.

In fact, the whole basis of Fan Fiction rebels against what IMPACT discourages. A whole original work dependant on the lives of fictional characters-- or is this merely escapism and not to be taken seriously as a valid text?

Nowadays, we are told--no, forced-- to include literary, cultural and/or contextual references within our responses and original fictions. As such, for our Cold War module this year I'm using The Project Strigas Affair as a supplementary text. And using it good. They are just as valid as Brahms' Dracula and Shakespeare's Hamlet to study, analyse and adopt. So, IMPACT circa 1967, it looks like the curriculum has acknowledged the advantages of the so-called 'diluted experiences'. Indeed, are not most of our experiences, whether it's learning about Hatshepsut or watching the evening news, 'diluted'?

But is it a good idea to create original fiction using influences from our 'diluted experience'? I certainly think it opens up a broader outlook and a range of possibilities. Whether it's homage or adaptation, fan fiction is part of my life. What about you, my friends, do you think it is a good idea to include 'diluted experience', or should such things be wielded either with caution or not at all? Have you ever fallen back on fandom to help you in your creative, intellectual or visionary pursuits?

Well, till next time,

Toodle-pip.

Things keeping me sane

2011-04-30T07:30:40Z

It's been a tough few weeks for me.

Requiring a writer for exams (an experience which I will never reccommend) due to a broken hand; breaking up with my boyfriend of 6 month; looking after mum who just got back from hospital, and doing all her cleaning, cooking, washing and shopping, as well as my own; losing my ability to play the saxophone; having my laptop's harddrive die on me; the internet is slow; and lastly, but I feel, most importantly, I've just lost my 21st game of solitare in a row.

That said, I've been keeping sane. Well. as much as possbile (one can't expect miracles). Largely, thanks to comedy. Each night I've got a choice of The Big Bang Theory, Are you being Served?, or Fawlty Towers. I have QI. QI which reminded me that learning can be hilariously fun and everything I assume is wrong.
For QI, take this:

I have raided my Border's store for P.G Wodehouse books, which have brought me a bit of joy each night before bed. I mean, just take this:

        "When in the second year of his marriage to Rosie M. Banks, the eminent female novelist, his union was blessed and this bouncing boy appeared on the London scene, Bingo's reactions (said the Crumpet) were, I gather, very much the same as yours. Introduced to the child in the nursing home, he recoiled with a startled 'Oi!' and as the days went by the feeling that he had run up against something red-hot in no way diminished.
         The only thing that prevented a father's love from faltering was the fact that there was in his possession a photograph of himself at the same early age, in which he, too, looked like a homicidal fried egg. This proof that is was possible for a child, in spite of a rocky start, to turn eventually into a suave and polished boulevardier with finely chiselled features heartened him a good deal, causing him to hope for the best." --P.G Wodehouse, Eggs, Beans and Crumpets, 'Sonny Boy'

And finally, the rain. There's something so soothing about it :)

I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I'm sore, but I am laughing every chance I get.

PS Did you guys notice that 2012 MFU movie has its own IMDb page? It made me sad :'(

Accent I say

2011-02-27T13:06:11Z

Saw this on my friends page and thought it would be a hoot:

What American accent do you have?
Created by Xavier on Memegen.net

New York City. You are most definitely from New York City. Not New Jersey, not Connecticut. If you are from Jersey then you can probably get into New York City in 10 minutes or less.

Take this quiz now - it's easy!

Is it accurate? .. no. It would have been interesting if it were.

I'm actually Australian--a Sydneysider of the cultured tones, not quite Sporforth but definitely not Bogan in voice. Not fair on the quiz, but hey! ;)

Heat Wave, day #6

2011-02-05T09:43:41Z

I talked to an old abroad friend today, one who I haven't talked to in weeks, if not months. It was pretty fantastic to know that he hadn't really forgotten my existence.. :D we joked about just missing each other like ships in the night for a while, and it turns out he can come back to Australia sometime in April.

Cyclone Yasi: I haven't been able to contact my brother and his family since he texted me two days ago. The power lines have been down, and so have mobile phone towers. I just want to hear his voice, that's all. Little John, my nephew, took his first steps a week ago. Oh, what am I saying, I'm worrying myself sick for them.

Meanwhile, I regret that I've basically missed the Valentine challenge at mfu_yumdaily, but I really can't focus on anything. There are messages in my inbox, emails are unread, and books about the place laying half opened. I hear Telstra is hoping to fix the communication issues in QLD over the next few days; I hope they are right.

Cyclone Yasi

2011-02-02T13:09:41Z

My thoughts are with all those impacted by this cyclone. It's the worst we've [Australia] have ever seen to record. My reasons are a little selfish for writing this entry, though. My brother, his wife and my nine month old nephew, John, are in Townsville at this moment, as waves, wind and storms are hitting--right this very minute. Just where the cyclone is, on the coast next to the eye, that's my brother.

It's been a bad, bad year for Australia. Mother Nature, let my country be.

Recent Obsessions--Slash 1920's Style

2011-01-18T05:19:43Z

What ho! What ho! What ho! It's Jeeves and Wooster!

And a shiny video:

by HaleyPfifer

While Man from UNCLE is still dear to my heart, I have stumbled upon something positively shiny! That is to say, the fuzzy, gooey and moist [working] relationship of Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry. In particular, their adaptation of Jeeves and Wooster.

It's 1920s-30s, a hint of lime's in the air, people wear beautiful dresses, suits and shoes, everything is grand and the music is jaunty. Enter Jeeves, the man extrodinaire who leaves a room cleaner than it was when he entered it (and indeed cleaner than it was when it was first built), with an enormous brain and charming exterior. Over there, on the chesterfield, is Bertram Wooster, slightly eccentric, slightly thick, and with a warm heart. Wooster is the master, Jeeves is his loyal servant, his valet--according to society, that is. The joke is, the lower class Jeeves is empowered over Wooster; however this power used responsibly by Jeeves, with Wooster leaning back while Jeeves organise his life. Most of the stories have Wooster in the "soup"(often marriage) while Jeeves "fishes" him out (thereby saving poor Bertie from the horrors of hetrosexual marriage). The stories, the Laurie and Fry TV adaption... it's all slashy and good! The crack_van overview can do it more justice: http://community.livejournal.com/crack_van/1889256.html

Hugh Laurie, unfortunately better known as House MD to my American cousins, is in fact a British comedian. Stephen Fry has a voice that I could to for hours and hours and be lulled into a false sense of security--until he says something crude that makes you go "What?? What did he just say?" Suffice to say, where David McCallum's voice makes me go wibbly, Fry just melts.

I'm Dreaming of a Dusty Christmas

2010-12-31T11:25:03Z

To: LIVEJOURNAL,

I'm sitting here, I mean I'm sitting here on the Livejournal site, with the snowmen and the snow and the white and blue colour schemes and I just think...

Bollocks.

Yours truly,

Your Hot and Bothered Australian Member.

PS. The snowman in the scarf is making me feel even hotter. Who wears mittens in the middle of a 43*C christmas, anyway? Pls. take off, and give the carrot for me to eat.

Happy new year everyone, by the way :)

Article on Slash-MFU referenced

2010-12-03T07:35:21Z

It's a short section on it, but these things amuse me

"So recently, after having watched a few old episodes of 1960s spy spoof, The Man from UNCLE, I did not hesitate in seeking out some Napoleon Solo slash Ilya Kuryakin material. It was out there all right"

http://neveridol.wordpress.com/2009/05/16/slash-and-burn/

Sad sad day

2010-11-29T08:34:46Z

Rest in peace Leslie Nielsen :(
Always there with a deadpan face and a twinkle in his eyes. It's hard to let him go..

(Surely he's not dead?? ;) )

Video Rec-Doctor Who/Master

2010-11-22T05:31:19Z

(I have internet, hence I've been watching vids :D )

This, THIS has been my favourite Doctor Who/Master video for ever! And what I don't get is the lack of recognition it gets. It has something like 520 views and 7 comments since it was uploaded 2 years ago.

It's bouncy, it has a GREAT sense of timing and style, all brilliantly blended, considering the limited material available. The song is PERFECT for this and sums up, with finesse, everything you ever want to know about Simm's Master.

This is just not a fanvid. This is not just clips to music. This is something infinitely more intelligent-- cleverly put together, with a quick-paced story to tell. It's set apart from all the other Doctor/Master vids that are out there, because it is a reinterpretation and a hymnsong to two of the most well known characters in Doctor who, whose dynamics date back to the 70s.

All footage (with the exception of a couple of clips) are from the season 3 finale of Doctor Who (i.e. the master and the ~~teletubbies~~ toclafane take over earth)

Enough rambling. WATCH!

I'm Sorry, But I Couldn't Resist It

2010-09-15T11:15:59Z

Made with the South Park character-generator, and I had a little fun with it.

Warnings: Slashy and silly.

Preview:

Click to make bigger

charismaz @ 2010-07-23T13:16:00

2010-07-23T03:16:21Z

Hello all!
I was going through some recent youtube vids in the hope I could catch something from a fan not part of this comm, and I thought I'd share this one. It's a fake trailer for the proposed mfu movie

I am also quite amused with the "Splitskirts" channel. I remember coming across a forum thread like that channel completely dedicated to MFU women. I think there were over a hundred posts on it.. Yes, there are a number of male fans of the show. TVLEGENDS has several interviews from Barbara Feldon and Norman Felton, to name a couple. I haven't seen them, but am curious. iqbal91 has uploaded a couple of the movies, and grobbo1961 is uploading all the seasons, methinks.

SpyFi Ring is Lacking Substance in Media Reports

2010-06-30T10:03:47Z

This "Russian Spy Ring" in the USA reads more like spy fiction. Invisible ink? Parcel drop offs? Buried cash? None of these are illegal, and furthermore, reasons other than spying can be named. For example, the guy taking a dead Canadian's ID: that is not spying, that is fraud. And a WiFi network... damn, my high school had one of those, does that make it a front for a Russian op? (I think the chickens might have something to say about that... squark squark)

Since they have been monitered for 'years', the evidence gained is quite small and inconclusive. I have /tried/ to read about the evidence, and not only does it change from report to report, but the whole thing smells fishy. Yes, they could have been spies, but I'm more interested in the timing and the US government's motives. It is clear that there is not much known about this case, rather a party line tale reminiscent of Cold War thrillers.

This whole media circus is drawing up a lot of old tensions too. Reading some comments online of US citizens, I was shocked at the, well, pig-headed narrow view of distrust. We distrust them, therefore it is more than likely that they did it. Basically. Or, to quote directly from one site:

"Have Rocky go beat them up!"
"(gets out his microwaveable popcorn packs and a few beers) Damn, this is good shtuff! in my old neighborhood too! now THIS is a reality show worth watchin!"
"Who says the cold war is over?! The Russians are reverting to their tried and true practices. "
"Wow, This is amazing. Not only because it's true but how close it is to two books I read recently, Zhena and Dohch. Maybe the era of the spy novel is returning."
Although my favourite is a reply to this one: "Also, how do we know they are working for the Russians??? It wouldn't surprise me at all if they turn out to be Israeli agents considering how hostile the current administration is towards Israel. Not to mention how tolerant the current administration is towards groups which oppose Israel." And the reply: "maybe they are English spies because England lost at the world cup! Sounds just as plausible. "

There are some that say "We do it too" Yes, yes you do. Would you like a medal for that? Also there are a few that support/want to believe it for the entertainment value, likening it to a "true" version of their favourite spy fiction, thereby warping their sense of perspective. The comments that have the most support are generally the ones that are the most derogatory to Russians. And the media are going to cater to their audience in one massive vicious cycle.

What is lacking, and I find this more alarming, is any intuitive, intelligent "Big Picture" analysis of this situation. Who are these people, What are the facts, Why are they being arrested at this time (after years of monitoring invisible ink and communication) , and How is this going to be received into the community, How come there is a lack of solid, creditable information?

The timing and hype drawn up is too suspect. Why now? Why has this (rather biased, mind you) story been pushed to front page? People are looking like sheep with a party invitation; does this have some groundings to the timing of this? What are the motives of the USofA? I don't want to sound like a conspiratist, but I am suspicious and cynical of this "spy ring"

And, there is the chance that these three are not spies at all. None of them had access to high security information: a real estate agent, a colomnist and a heiress. Their activities were spied upon in what would be termed as a privacy obstruction in Australia, something which can render evidence unusable (I do not know how this goes in the states). If found innocent, these people would forever have their image tarnished, finding the rest of their lives difficult to integrate back into society. If guilty, this would have a sort of Domino Effect (Nixon, you can roll around in your presidential grave for that)-- if America falls to suspicion, allies and the global community could too. This whole thing can be seen as merely trivial, but it can also have some massive-arse repucussions. I would hate to think what a 21st century Cold War would be like. I, for one would dread to step upon the internet admist political warfare and strife.

hmm, Let's not revert back to the likes of Cold War paranoia McCarthy trials. Facts, please.

I am curious, american cousins--what are your thoughts?
-end rant-

ps Any chance this could be a publicity stunt for the MFU movie? Russia vs America... all over again, to work together seemlessly.

Fandom meme

2010-05-24T11:51:07Z

Random meme time!!

List twelve of your characters from your fandoms, in no particular order

1) Illya Kuryakin (Man from UNCLE)

2) Napoleon Solo (Man from UNCLE)

3) Sam Tyler (Life on Mars)

4) Chris Skelton (Life on Mars)

5) Mr Humphries (Are you Being Served?)

6) Gene Hunt (Life on Mars)

7) Mr Lucas (Are you Being Served?)

8) Danny Blue (Hustle)

9) Stacy Monroe (Hustle)

10) Captain Jack Harkness (TORCHWOOD)

11) Gibbs (NCIS)

12) Jimmy Palmer (NCIS)

1. Have you ever read a Six/Eleven fic? Do you want to?
Gene Hunt/Gibbs... No, but I'd like to actually. For teh lulz. I wonder who would top...

2. Do you think Four is hot? How hot?
Chris is h ot in a dorky adorable way

3. What would happen if Twelve got Eight pregnant?
Jimmy got Danny preggers?? I think that something wierd will happen if an autopsy gremlin and a conman had a baby... just saying.

4. Can you recall any fics about Nine?
A couple. Sadly not a large fandom.

5. Would Two and Six make a good couple?
Gene hunt/Napoleon Solo ??? BRAIN BURNING PLEASE PURGE FROM MIND D8
That is a no, btw.

6. Five/Nine or Five/Ten? Why?
Humphries/Stacy or Mr Humphries/Jack Harkness? Are you serious? 5/10 would be more believable

7. What would happen if Seven walked in on Two and Twelve having sex?
Mr Humphries would faint and Napoleon would say: Hey... you aren't Ducky!

8. Make up a summary for a Three/Ten fic.
A mysterious stranger has landed in 1973, claiming to be from Hyde. Pairing: Sam Tyler/Jack Harkness. Warning: Sam cries. Again. Seriously, it has been done before.

9. Is there any such thing as One/Eight fluff?
Illya/Danny Blue fluff? No, I don't believe so...

10. Suggest a title for a Seven/Twelve hurt/comfort fic.
Lucas/Palmer: Palmer wibbles, while Lucas measures someone elses' inside leg for a chance. :| Oh, I misread that. A title, says ye? I am sorry, but this requires an autopsy pun, and I can never do puns..

11. If you wrote a songfic about Eight, what song would you choose?
Hmmm... for Danny... Are you gonna be my Girl? --Jet

12. If you wrote a One/Six/Twelve fic, what would the warning be?
Illya/Jimmy/Gene... not to be mistaken as a real attempt at writing.

13. When was the last time you read a fic about Five?
THe other day. I got the dvds a few weeks back, and was curious as to the fanbase.

An Easter Egg for Elmey

2010-04-03T13:46:24Z

To Elmey, who wanted an egg that goes birdwatching with unexpected results, but gen results. Have a great Easter :3

Although, a word of warning: I have just finished reading Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, and my mind has warped like plastic on asphalt. Ewwp.

PG

We have flown the air like birds and swum the seas like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers. --Martin Luther King

Illya would be arriving in five, maybe ten, minutes. And when the Russian came, Napoleon was comforted that he wouldn’t need to get up to let him in, nor waste time with pretentious preliminaries. Illya would insult him, he would snipe, they’d laugh and they’d get the job done at the same time.

He relaxed on the bed. It was an uncanny sort of place. Up on the high ceiling was a skylight—alarmed, no doubt—which offered a view of the softly clouded sky and the birds that sailed overhead. When he tilted his head up and to the left, a window framed the pocket-sized birds that played and flittered in the long grasses. It was in contrast to the small Spartan room, which inside its cedar timbered walls, offered a bed and chest of drawers and a strange sort of security.

Napoleon surveyed the room again briefly, frowning minutely at the silver needle on the thin-legged chest, before blinking once, and turning back his attention to the sky birds. ‘Frowning gives you wrinkles,’ a silly old lady once told him. The large grey creatures were captivating, moving on strong thick wings and slender ungainly necks. Their beaks pointed to the future and their legs stayed tucked up out of the way. Napoleon looked at the cast shadows, and discerned that it would be another four minutes before his sneaky Russian wandered on in. Hmm.. poosee-cat, poosee-cat, where have you—?

He turned his head up and to the left, frowning when his spine twisted, then smiled. The other window, a few meters far, held the display of the small little working birds. Sparrows, finches, or were they swallows? No, he grimaced, probably thrush for the THRUSH. If he listened carefully, he could hear the high-pitched squeal of the tawny and black feathers wafting in and out through the thick iron glass. Napoleon rolled his eyes back upon the drawer top— for some reason the silver needle was empty. He should know why. Illya wo—

A large sky bird landed, stumbling on impact, and the small little pocket-birds replaced their ruffled feathers with small pointed eyes more suited for leering at the interruption. Napoleon smiled, charm thrown to the wind, and he absent-mindedly flexed his limbs, jingling the chains that attached him to the ironwood bed. He could hardly feel them. In another day, this could seem so laughingly simple; he was in one of the nicer holding cells he’d ever experienced, and he could also escape on his own if he wanted to, eventually. A corner of his mouth twitched upwards at the simplicity. It would take more than four or six minutes though. Napoleon relaxed, grinning.

Yes, Illya will come for him shortly, in a minute or two. But until then, he was just going to watch the birds fly on by.

Writer's Block: Countdown

2010-03-22T13:04:40Z

Holy shit I have nightmares about this.. for some reason in those dreams I always go to my bra drawer :\
Those 10 minutes always take forever to pass though, as I'm always forgetting something.

In real life? My pets, my grandfathers ring, grandmother's hair, and a change of clothes.

In other news, I just realised I am all out of my 'gets me to sleep' pills. Its going to be a long, long night :(

charismaz @ 2010-03-10T19:39:00

2010-03-10T08:53:12Z

Just rambling thoughts today. First day back at the grindstone... hem.

Now with links to pictures.

Em asked me today what would happen if she punched my jaw. My exact reaction was: "Yeah... I'd punch you back."

I'm on these antibiotics that have these pretty cool designs on it. In a thick-ish black line is a slightly squashed circle with a small design in it. Reminds me of the THRUSH's logo. But I didn't realise as I ate lunch with my friends until later, that when I muttered to myself "Now where's my THRUSH pills?" the reaction it would get. Trust my friends to have selective hearing. Trying to explain it was a pop culture reference to my deprived mates didn't do me much good either.

I never realised how big my nose was before getting my new camera. And awkward. I nearly knocked myself out trying to get my eye to the viewfinder up in Katoomba, and today doing macro photography I seriously considered forcefully removing it. Every time I zoom in, look carefully in the viewfinder (closely, as I trust my eyesight isnt as it once was)... BAM! My nose wobbles the camera and every thing goes BLUR. Didn't help that Kitty Micha wanted to help.

Speaking of photography, my computer ate my really good shots from days back the night before my surgery. And when I mean ate, I mean, "Delete off memory card AND computer AND temporary files AND cache" eat. Now all I have is the memories of my first good shots. NOT THAT LUCKY. So today I tried to redo some... didn't work out as well. The orginal Brandy Rose had died and today was cloudy: not good light. And I'm an amature. Not yet beyond flower macros >.< Best ones today: One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six.

In other news, I asked my very british avian-fan friend about birds. He is such a sweet, ignorant and innocent little thing (even though he's my age, if not older) that he is the only person I know who can get away with saying anything that anyone else would get clobbered for. Just imagine him as the most unassuming lilting british accent you can think of. After a long recount of a bird legend, we somehow got onto Tits, Boobys, and Cock on the Rocks. Now, I have heard of tits and boobys (birds), but I had never heard of the last one. So I ask him: "And where would you find a Cock on the Rocks?" To which he replies, "In a naughty magazine."
I don't know why, but this was so adorably funny.
Even funnier than that time many years ago (we were 13?) when he very, very innocently commented to us one lesson that his "cocks were feeling a bit limp, so he had to get some special feed to perk them up again."

if Sasha gets fatter and fatter,
I tell her she surely will soon,
either roll on the ground like a barrel,
or float aloft like a balloon.

I did the "Fun" Romance Covers from the Romance Cover Generator. They were fun, so I'll just post them here:

I am so lame... xD

Wise words of today...

... NOT. Haha!

MFU VID: The Blackest Velvet Affair (take 2)

2010-03-07T09:30:14Z

First of all. I'd like to thank everyone for putting in their opinon about which version of my newest vid, The Blackest Velvet Affair, should be uploaded to youtube. Much appreciated. Unfortunately once the votes were in, it was a dead heat. So I did what I did best and tossed a coin and the winning file is the one now uploaded to youtube.

Happy viewing!

Embedded Player:

Youtube Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdRPOWj9nLE

Download:

Version 1 (more reverses):
Version 2: (youtube version)

Vid: The Blackest Velvet Affair

2010-03-05T06:41:12Z

Video Name: The Blackest Velvet Affair
Rating: PG
Pairings: ? Don't get too close ladies. But one can get slash from anything.
Song: Black Velvet by Alannah Myles
Size: less than 13MB
Notes: This was meant to be a quick vid. I started it a few months ago, but due to technical difficulties, I couldn't finish it as quickly as I hoped.
A thank you to all the kind people at Windows Move Maker Forum and to reera_the_red for helping me find what episode a particular image came from.

Ramblings (you may skip this part...)
Okay, please never let me near WMM again.
Okay, so I have the vid all ready to publish, and all is going well until 12% published, where WMM stops responding and restarts. Try again and again, but nuuu.. Never happened to any of my previous vids (though they too have had problems) So I look on online forums. Seems heaps of other people have a similar problem too. I try all of their suggestions, but again, no dice. I think I have hurt my computer because of it. So I try modifying the codecs. I am then missing the little codec icons in the toollbar. Oh well, as long as it plays... I do it, and okay, I press play. EVERY CLIP IS UPSIDE DOWN. That is like over 100 clips I had to manually mirror both the horizontal and verticle to! (..."we will control the horizontal, we will control the verticle...")

And then, I had to do it all over again because I had two versions. I got lazy with the second, so more clips are horizontally mirrored. Can't quite tell if that is a bad thing or not.

So, here are the download links.
(just follow the links and click "Click here to start Download")

Version 1: http://www.mediafire.com/file/wfzmtunnytg/BLACKVELVET2_0010.wmv
Version 2: http://www.mediafire.com/file/knmmvzmqcyh/BLACKVELVET3.wmv

If you could, can you please tell me which verson you prefer, and I'll post the most popular one to my youtube account?

Also, please tell me if there are any continuing glitches.

At the moment, I am fuzzy-headed from painkillers, anesthetic, and anti-biotics. I have a feeling my judgement on which vid to upload is rather impaired. So help a cousin out, please?

charismaz @ 2010-02-24T18:53:00

2010-02-24T07:53:33Z

Something I found quite amusing in my friend updates. As URL miss-pastes go, this is one of my favourites xD

And now for something completely the same (icons)

2010-02-01T07:29:38Z

Greetings and Salutations,

Today is the last day of my holidays (sad face) so I thought I'd post the things that I have been whittling away on during my break. Here I come with some icons. Which should hopefully post before my ninja cat comes here and decides to monopolise the computer in the worst possible way.

Teaser:
x x

I must warn you that most of these are multiples of the same base, each just done differently. Just getting my style down. And I am not above cliche wash-outs and low contrast either, it appears. And nor am I terribly witty or humorous, so captions attempting this are thankfully minimal in this lot.

Free to use, just please:
Credit me
Do not hotlink, upload it to your own image-hosting site (my bandwidth will thank you!)

Feedback is always welcome!

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

6. 7. 8. 9. 10.

11. 12. 13. 14. 15.

16. 17. 18. 19. 20.

21. 22. 23. 24.

25. 26. 27.

And one David Tennant as Campbell + a Life on Mars icon, just for fun.

28. 29.

And here is a large Ice!Illya (I only kept this because it cools me down on a hot Australian summer's day.) :3

And a brief sketch? Which has no home, so it shall lurk here, hidden. A speed 5min sock-awful sketch.

Fetish, you say? Neverr... o.O

Next time, I shall try to have more of the boys together >.<

I do photomanipulations if anyone is interested :D

~Maz

Ughn

2010-01-11T01:31:08Z

I just spent the better half of two hours adding my new mood theme. Don't ask.

But be happy now that the pretty is present.

Writer's Block: Thumbs down!

2010-01-10T09:20:01Z

Mary-sue divergences into the horror of Gary-Stu Chick-Flicks.
Or self-esteem 'you are ALL beautiful and healthy sized girls... lets bag the skinny nao funtiem!' themes... uggghn.

And when a chick flick (which I don't mind if they are creative) has an epic loss of guy candy and overload of suspicious camera angles and plunging tops. I feel like screaming "EQUALITY. I DON'T MIND IF YOU DO THAT BUT MAKE THE CAMERA ANGLE FOCUS MORE EQUALLY ON BOTH SEXES." I mean, chick flick, where guy ultimately gets girl, (well, vise versa) is meant to be a love story, not a poorly framed movie granting some cameraman a better look at the movies assets.

-end rant-

Twillight. Dispise it, and am always left out when discussing the movie. I read the books, I spewed sparkly fireballs, and couldn't bring myself to lose even MORE brain cells.

Otherwise I'm very flexible. Just stay away from the -headdesk- camera angles, k?