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New vid: We Don't Care (The Wire) [Aug. 20th, 2013|08:41 pm]

anoel
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[Current Music |"S & M" (Evil Queen) vid]
[Current Mood |productive]
[xpost |http://anoel.livejournal.com/151726.html]

Title: We Don't Care
Music: Kanye West
Vidder: Anoel
Fandom: The Wire S4-5
Focus: S4 Kids
Summary: You failed.
Content Notes: Contains graphic violence
Notes: Premiered at Vividcon Challenge 2013. Thanks to [personal profile] killabeez and [personal profile] elynross for the beta.
Download Link: We Don't Care (51 MB AVI)

AO3 | Tumblr

So this vid was about 90% made in August and September 2010 after I came home from Vividcon and was super inspired to vid. The song was obviously the kids for me and I looove Kanye so I was excited to get a chance to vid him and a rap song. Making this vid was one of the most emotional vid processes ever as I rewatched S4, cried a lot and then clipped S4, cried a lot and then laid clips down and cried some more. That season and plotline was my favorite and I wanted to show the failure of the institutions and people to save them no matter how they tried as that was the most frustrating part of it all. Both [personal profile] killabeez and [personal profile] elynross were kind enough to give me some beta for the vid but they suggested some changing to the ending which was hard to hear for me since I had the vision of the vid for awhile. I took a break from the vid and eventually got distracted by Festivids and then lost all my Wire files. In any case, I still had the project file and when my other Challenge ideas didn't work out and I had limited time, I figured this would be a good vid for many of the themes with my first being Fuck You, then IDIC and Transformation. I replaced some clips from earlier seasons and filled in a few black spots and was able to get this vid in for Challenge. I'm mostly happy with it although it's weird having made most of it awhile ago. I'm just glad to finally have finished it and have released my first (emphasis on first) Wire vid!

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Fandom presents, yay! [Dec. 25th, 2010|12:11 pm]

anoel
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[Current Music |Glee Christmas Album]
[Current Mood |jubilant]

Merry Christmas! Last night I stayed up late to watch the Yuletide stories go live and it was so much fun! Good to talk with people and feel that excitement everywhere and then FINALLY get the YES from isityuletideyet.com. And there are Wire fics which I always think are made for me. It may take ten years but someday we will have a decent collection of The Wire fanfic. My favorite one so far is Fine Dining in Baltimore which is both funny and sad which is The Wire pretty well. So much good stuff there though and there is also Social Network, Treme, Mad Men and many many more that I am dying to read.

The best part about Yuletide is that it is inspiring me to work on my Festivid which is much needed. I can't wait til Festivids golive begins and we can all get excited about all the VIDS and I want to make at least one vid to be part of that. So I will somehow find a way to make it happen.

In the spirit of the holiday, this great story brought me to tears: A Blogger Christmas Miracle wherein people spontaneously help people in need. That is what Christmas is all about to me, giving, joy, kindness and helping to make the whole world better.

In honor of Christmas today (and the holidays in general), I am offering up at least five Social Network vids of at least thirty seconds (could be more-in fact it probably will be) for the first five people to comment with a song you want to see vidded to the movie. I will put a deadline on those of February 1st. However if there is more interest, I will try my best to make more than five although I can't guarantee if or when they will be done. I was going to limit it to Mark/Eduardo (or any pairing in the Mark/Eduardo/Sean threesome) but in watching the movie many times I've realized I love everyone so I'm opening it up to anything.

Been vidding lately although not as much as I've wanted to but it's definitely fun to vid Mark/Eduardo! The next month will be full of vidding but that's just the way I like it.

I am loving being in sunny LA with plenty of warmth and NO snow. That's how I like my Christmas, thank you very much. Happy Holidays everyone!
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TV yay! [Aug. 29th, 2010|11:11 pm]

anoel
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[Current Mood |creative]
[Current Music |Wire vidsong]

Well the Emmys were MUCH better than usual tonight. One thing kind of disappointed me but whatever I'm happy and there were LOTS of awesome surprises. The opening was the best ever (yay Glee!) and the Modern Family video thing later was hilarious. I just love TV and watching people who love it too. When does fall TV season start? I need my shows back.

Anyways, anyone want a TVTorrents invite? I have 3 and I'll give you lots of credits to go along with it. The uploads are up fast and you get good download speeds so I'm always using it.

Also anyone have any ideas for instrumental music (or instrumental portion of song) that might fit Stringer Bell? I may have just rewatched The Wire S3 and fell completely in love with him/it again. Although wow I forgot a LOT about what happened in that season. Avon/Stringer are still OTP though, holy shit man they are SO deep. Kills me everytime. I actually thought a certain scene from S3 wouldn't destroy me this time (if you've seen it, you know it) but I was totally wrong. God, show. But yeah, that season was amazing as is the entire show. I will never get over it. Also I got ANOTHER vid idea for The Wire although it's a S1-5 ensemble kind of vid so it's a bit overwhelming and I keep having a million ideas for things that work with it in the show.

Apologies about the delayed con report (which is ALMOST done) and Adam Lambert concert (which was AWESOME) report. I am horrible at these things. But at least I'm getting vidding done? So there's that.
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Happy Glee Day! Music and Treme, yay! [Apr. 13th, 2010|06:13 pm]

anoel
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[Current Music |"Treme Song" by John Boutté]
[Current Mood |gleeful]

HAPPY GLEE DAY EVERYONE! I've been in a great mood all day because MY SHOW IS BACK OMGYAY *trumpets and fanfare (probably from Treme) play* I really can't believe I made it this long without it. Even though I did finally give in and watch the promo, I am still super excited. Man it's been so long since I've had this show to make my nights (and the next day/week) so much more full of joy and squee and love and it's good to get it back. And it IS. On tonight at 9:28 after the American Idol with ADAM LAMBERT as the mentor! The night just keeps getting better and better really.

Other great things on premiere week: TREME. Ooh so nice to get a new David Simon show. Everyone should watch this show and here's why:

1) It's a celebration of music! And the triumph of the human spirit and creation and rebirth in the face of disaster. If you like jazz at all, definitely watch.
2) That disaster in particular would be Hurricane Katrina as the show is set in New Orleans three months after it hit. If you want to see what really happened after Katrina, this is the show to watch because David Simon and Co. are ALL about being realistic.
3) It's about New Orleans! All about the city and what makes it so special. If you've ever wanted to learn more about it, this show will *show* you the real thing.
4) Brilliant writing. This is brought to you by David Simon and other writers who wrote The Wire, objectively the best TV show ever created, and you can be sure they did just as good this time around even if the show is definitely different.
5) Great characters, actors and diversity: The actors that played Bunk and Lester are back on this show (and just as amazing) as well as John Goodman and Steve Zahn. And I am totally loving all the female characters as well like Toni and LaDonna and Janette who are all kinds of kickass. And as always, David Simon & Co. are great at representing the demographics of a real city.

Give it a try! It takes some time to get used to as not a lot is explained and things enfold slowly, across episodes but that's the wonderful thing about being treated as an intelligent viewer. It may be useful to turn on closed captions though if you can get it, I'm finding our DVR great for that. Also Treme was renewed for a second season!! Glad the writers and everyone don't have to worry about that.

Spoilers for the Treme Pilot, also pre-warned The Wire Pilot spoilers )

On a another note, there is also Ugly Betty whose last episode is tomorrow. It's been making me both very happy and very conflicted. I'm actually glad it's the last episode because I was seriously considering giving it up.

Spoilers for Ugly Betty up to 419 )

Random things:
-Adobe Flash is totally awesome and I love it a LOT
-The Big Bang Theory was HILARIOUS last night, I love Sheldon so much I can't even say.
-Bidding for Sweet Charity vids ends tomorrow I think so go vid on all the great vidders!
-Someone randomly gifted me with a Dreamwidth account! I am touched and happy, mostly about the icon space. My only problem with Dreamwidth now (besides general laziness) is I can't find a Generator style and I just can't live without my Generator that I've had since 2003. Sometimes change is not good, you know? Anyone know of one?
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Chi-town! [Mar. 31st, 2010|03:01 pm]

anoel
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[Current Mood |hopeful]
[Current Music |"The Fame" by Lady GaGa]

Trufax: after listening to Kanye West for five years, it took me until my roadtrip back to NY to realize that Chi-town = Chicago. Yeeeah. But that's where I'm going! Tonight I'm leaving to go to Chicago to see Johnny Weir skate to BAD ROMANCE! Gaaahh I'm so excited I can't even. Plus the seats are general admission so I'm going to get there super early tomorrow so I can get a front row seat and hopefully meet him eeee. I was dying for a chance to see him ice skate and thankfully the universe provided it to me. If anyone is in Chicago and wants to hang out anytime on Thursday or Friday, let me know asap (if you can spare a place to crash Thursday night that'd also be great, otherwise my cousin once removed lives there so I'll hang with her). I'm really looking forward to it! And of course Chi-town is where I'll be going this August when I go to Vividcon :)

I was unsure whether I'd be able to go up until this afternoon as I got a new job and of course the scheduling put me on both my cousin's wedding and this trip. But thankfully they're letting me miss Friday so I'm fine and can go. Had my first day today and it was alright, shouldn't be too hard. Working in the deli in the grocery store for now although hoping to switch to cashiering soon. Should definitely help with money. Last weekend I went to see my oldest cousin's wedding and that was a lot of fun. It was nice getting to talk with some family I haven't seen in awhile and meet my cousin's new baby who was cute (as can be for someone who thinks babies are ugly) as well as getting to enjoy the open bar and dance floor. They played two GaGa songs which made me happy so it was a blast for the most part.

In TV that I am watching, been catching up on In Treatment and Breaking Bad. In Treatment is rather addicting once you get into it. I love the therapy sessions throughout most of the episodes and how character/relationship based it is. Very cool. I tried it out earlier but the pilot kind of bored me. Rewatching that I find that the first patient is my least favorite and of course I despise her storyline which is the thing that bothers me most about the show. Lots of familiar guest stars, Melissa George from Alias, Blair Underwood and Dan from Sports Night. Working on S2 at the moment. Breaking Bad took me three episodes to get into but the fourth is AMAZING. Very Wire-esque and the show does beg comparison to that show although it isn't as good in comparison (what is?). I love the gradual character change and how very smart the show is not to mention my favorite character, Jesse. The domestic stuff generally bores me although the Hank stuff can be pretty funny. However I will warn that they try to buildup to a big S2 finale ending but the ending SUCKS. Don't go into it thinking it'll change the world, it's just the creator fucking with you. Was angry about it so haven't seen the first two S3 episodes but I will tonight probably. I recommend them both if you love high quality television.

Also watched the first two episodes each of United States of Tara and Nurse Jackie and loved them both. United States of Tara got more gay which made me super super happy and I am interested to see where the storylines are going. I enjoy Nurse Jackie more because I love more of the characters. Zoe is my favorite (even though she's not my usual type) because her cuteness and funniness knows no bounds but I am still loving Jackie, Dr. O'Hara, Thor and the sadly taken away, Mo-Mo (such a tragedy-there are no words for my anger). Always can't wait for more out of both shows and I definitely recommend them if you like great female characters.

I am DYING to see more Glee and the premiere of Treme (David Simon's new show) about New Orleans and music). Of course they come in the same three day period, Treme on April 11 and Glee on April 13. A great article on Treme is here that makes it sound like the show will be a combination of The Wire (beaten down city backdrop + amazing realistic storytelling) and Glee (celebration of music + more individualism as well as coming together moments) which cannot make me any happier in what appeals to me. In sad news though, David Mills who writes for the show died today :( Really really sad because he wrote great episodes for The Wire and Homicide. I definitely can't wait for Glee to come back because I can really use the uplifting episodes it always brings.

Brief news on other TV and movies: Ugly Betty-OMG JUSTIN AND MARC!!! Um Justin's plotline makes me so squeeful and happy I can't even take it but god worst cliffhanger ever. American Idol-stopped watching, liked Toddrick and Andrew Garcia, hated Casey and Lee. Modern Family-SO IN LOVE. My favorite comedy at the moment, it's brilliant and everyone should watch it. The Office-loved the beginning of the last episode, Oscar = cutest EVER. Project Runway-I love Seth Aaron (I think he'll win), Mila, Jay and Anthony (he needs his own Bravo show). Can't wait to see the collections.

Oh and I got a new haircut. Never had it this short since I was like 8. It's weird but I mostly liked it besides the fact the hair dresser directly disobeyed my first instruction to keep it behind my eyes. It's fixed now though. Oh and I've been really into The West Wing these days. I feel like my love for that show cannot be contained in my body especially for my OT4. It never fails to make me laugh and believe in the world just a little bit more.
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Merry Christmas! [Dec. 25th, 2009|11:02 am]

anoel
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[Current Music |vidsongs]
[Current Mood |bouncy]

Merry Christmas everyone!

I am deliriously happy today because I just got the BEST Christmas gift EVER :D :D :D I'm always sad I can't participate in Yuletide but this year it was like I did because someone wrote STRINGER/MCNULTY FIC OMGOMGOMG!!!!!!!!!! And it is perfect. I am in heaven, so much heaven. It's here, Stringer Bell/Jimmy McNulty, explicit. I can't believe after all this time I've waited hoping for this fic, afraid it would never happen and now it EXISTS!! Someone else likes them too :D And there's also some great McNulty/Kima buddy dialogue in there too. And plenty of stuff on my favorite scene from 305 which just made it extra perfect for me. This is definitely the best gift ever, it really is.

There is also FOUR more Wire fics here that I can't wait read. Lester! Avon, Bunk, Omar, Duquan, Prez! Bodie! Oooh so much goodness. And so many other fandoms, it's awesome. But for sure my favorite part of Yuletide and the first thing I do is check what Wire fic there is.

I can't wait for next year when hopefully there will be Yuletide fic AND Festivids vids being posted on Christmas so I can see both :) And it won't be a long line of Yuletide posts on my Flist, heh.

Molly has taken to sitting on my hands when I'm using my laptop and it's fairly distracting. Oh, cats. It's not helpful when I'm trying to clip/vid. Which is what I will be spending my day doing today since I don't have to work \o/ Besides the new fic, that is my favorite thing about today.
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Dear Festividder [Nov. 18th, 2009|01:03 pm]

anoel
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[Current Music |"Sure Fire Winners" by Adam Lambert]
[Current Mood |super super excited]

Dear Festividder,

OMG THANK YOU FOR MAKING ME A VID! You have no idea how long I've wanted a rare fandom vid created all for me for a Yuletide like vid challenge. So [community profile] festivids is heaven and ANYTHING, anything you make for any of these fandoms will be appreciated times infinity. I chose these fandoms because any vid to them would make me ridiculously happy as I love all of these shows (Little Miss Sunshine should be a show!), the whole thing not just a small part. So vid whatever you like. Same goes for music. For me, this is about the FANDOM much more than the music and even if I detested the music (which would be hard to do), I honestly would not care because it'd still be a vid in one of my fandoms made for me. So do NOT worry about that or how good your vid is or anything like that because there is no pressure whatsoever. Don't be scurred, I'm easy, really. No matter how much I capslock in these details, be assured that that is just me being very excited about seeing an idea of a vid in my head and even if you don't choose to make that, I will be MUCH more capslocky about the vid you actually make because it will be REAL and mine and oh god I am ridiculously excited about this.

I love all kinds of vidding styles as I'm a huge fan of vidding itself and that is why I love it so much. I love character studies, shipper vids, friendship/enemy/relationship vids, slow vids, funny vids, ensemble vids, crack vids, dance vids, LKBVs, meta vids, sappy vids, effects filled vids, effectsless vids, super fast vids, sexy vids, motion filled vids, political statement vids, vids with lots of colors, vids that makes me cry, avant garde vids, recruiter vids (ALL these fandoms need them!), old style slash vids, action vids, shiny vids and most of all vids that the vidder clearly puts ALL their love into it. I do especially love vids that provoke an emotional reaction but for me aesthetically beautiful vids and deep thinky vids are enough TO make me feel emotional. Another thing I like is character vids that explore a character through a relationship but if that doesn't apply, no worries. I love slash, het, gen, femslash, three/moresomes, and I'm totally cool with any kind of violence/sex (I think my fandoms make this clear). Use of outside source is great if it applies to your idea, go for it!

I love SO many kinds of music. Even in genres I don't mention, I probably like some songs in them and I enjoy hearing new kinds of music so don't worry about that. I know I wrote down some genre and artist suggestions in my requests and feel free to ignore any of that. Here though is a longer list of music genres I am open to and artists that I've loved songs to in case you want any more guidance. However, I LOVE finding new music and learning about artists I've never heard before so feel free to use something in your own library or Pandora one of these artists or use something that's played on the show.

Genres: Pop, hip-hop, rock, rap, indie pop/rock, alternative, musicals, techno, instrumentals, classical, a capella, folk, blues, J-pop, jazz, big band, punk, pop-country, R&B, experimental/avant garde and lots more.

Artists: Adam Lambert, Adele, The Afghan Whigs, Aimee Mann, Air France, Amy Winehouse, Ani DiFranco, Artic Monkeys, Basement Jaxx, The Beatles, Belle and Sebastian, Bitter:Sweet, Britney Spears, Brokeback Mountain Soundtrack, Coconut Records, The Coral, The Cure, Damnien Rice, David Bowie, The Ditty Bops, Eels, Eminem, The Feeling, Flobots, Garden State Soundtrack, Glee Cast, Hawksley Workman, Ingrid Michaelson, Jason Mraz, Jay-Z, Kanye West, The Kills, Kris Allen, Lady GaGa, Massive Attack, Michael Buble, Michael Franti & Spearhead, Missy Higgins, Mos Def, Muse, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, OK Go, Owl City, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Regina Spektor, The Roots, Ryan Adams, The Shins, Sigur Ros, Talib Kweli, Tegan and Sara, Telepopmusik, Zero 7

Fandom Details Under the Cut )

Feel free to ignore all of this. Thank you again for making this and I hope you have a fun time vid creating :) You're the best!

Love,
~Anoel
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From LA to NY [Jun. 3rd, 2009|08:12 pm]

anoel
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[Current Mood |content]
[Current Music |vid songs]

So back in Syracuse again. Ehh. The worst is seeing events in LA and not being able to go to them like the Paley event with Hugh Laurie. At least it's not the whole cast/crew I guess. I keep reminding myself that this should be the last summer I have to do this. The good thing is I get to see my kitties again :)

I went to LA the night before I left and had an AMAZING time. First I went to The Kills concert, didn't have a ticket since I just learned about it but I hoped to score one and did. It was easy actually, didn't even have to ask. But it was my first real concert and I had a blast. I did have to stand through two hours of other bands and wait for awhile for them to appear but when they did it was one of the best experiences of my life. Cause let me tell you, The Kills in concert are AWESOME. They played a whole bunch of my favorite songs like URA Fever, Sour Cherry, Cheap and Cheerful, Alphabet Pony, Black Balloon (someone actually had a black baloon!), Fried My Little Brains and No Wow among others. I wished they had played Cat Claw and What NY Used to Be but was happy with what I got especially Sour Cherry. I just loved the energy of being with all the other fans and singing along and most of all getting to see the artists perform. They are just so amazing in terms of charisma and sexiness and really getting into the music. And they'd get close to us, I was in the fourth row or so and a few times it looked like he was looking at me even if he wasn't. It's so indescribable. And after they left, we made a lot of noise and they came out again and played Hook and Line and another song with the other band, The Horror. Towards the end they fell on the floor and got all tangled up in each other, it was funny. I can definitely get now why people go to concerts, I must go to more.

Then I biked to Factory Nightclub in West Hollywood which wasn't too far. I liked it a lot, very big, had big screens like Club Vivid with pretty lights and confetti and many pretty boys :) It started out perfect too as I was high from the concert and went up to the bar and started talking with Jonathan who was super nice to me and we talked about a couple things before he hugged me and left. Then I gulped down a drink and went out to dance and just was transported to a place where I could dance my heart out and not care what anyone thought. They played a Lady Gaga song (not Just Dance breaking my clubbing record at four but I came in late so I'm sure I missed it) and best of all, Girlfriend so I could yell out the words pretending it was the House vid up on the screen. They also played Circus which was SO much fun not only because I imagined it being the Star Trek vid but because I accidentally hit this guy (not the good part) and then he came over to dance with me and it was so much fun. I danced to they chased us out and I'm sure part of the free part was the alcohol but it just felt like one of the best experiences of my life. Mmmm.

Of course the crappy part came after that when I had some trouble getting home since the freaking subways close in LA at night...don't even get me started. I decided to bike down to try to catch the bus I needed to take...it took longer than I thought. It was nice to see some of LA though and I managed to catch the Downtown Disney bus so it all worked out in the end. Managed to get a few hours of sleep before I had to get up to pack and take my stuff to storage. Barely managed that in time but I got home alright so it all turned out okay.

I got my job back as soon as I came home so at least I'll have some money. Been working this week in the morning and then going home and napping in the afternoon. Last Tuesday I went to Buffalo to visit my grandma since she had a seizure earlier in month and wasn't doing so well although she was home with people taking care of her. She can't really talk except for a few hard to understand words (think Failure to Communicate) but can see and understand people talking. It's so sad to see her that way :( Makes me appreciate my life and health more at least. Finally got internet there last Sunday (see West Wing post). Also spent some time with my cousin (first removed) and she was really nice. Turns out we both watch Ugly Betty and like Harry Potter so that was fun to talk about. Also in other family news, my favorite cousin is pregnant and due in August so that'll be the first baby of the family I know. I don't know what to think, we'll be cousins first removed but I like my cousin much more than my brother so I care more about this kid than any other ones. We'll see what happens.

In good Chapman news, my new major got approved! And I did really well with grades, much better than I thought :) Got two A's, an A- and a B+ so I'm really happy with that since two of my professors must have been very kind to me. A bit worried about money for next year but hopefully that should work out alright. Next year I'm taking Introduction to Graphic Design, Computer Science II, History of Political Philosophy, Foundation Course in Photography and Dance in World Cultures (GE). I'm looking forward to it although bummed I can't take History of Television (same time as major class, too many credits unless I wanted to overload myself).

Trying to work on my Premiere vid and not freak out about time and getting it done. The Vividcon schedule came out and once again I'm forced to make tough decisions between panels and vidshows. Probably going to do all panels except my own of course (I'll need to find someone to take detailed notes on Vid Watching 101-price I pay) but it's so frustrating to have to choose between Also Premiering and Understanding Audience *sigh* Ah well, better to have too much to do than the opposite. Had another vid idea for The Wire which I do like but it's so frustrating that I keep getting ideas that aren't what I want: interesting exploration of the people and ideas expressed in the show.

Reeeally hoping Federer will win the French Open this year! Nadal left it open for him so I'm calling it as fate for him to beat Pete's record by winning the only grand slam that Sampras never won. God, how I love them. Hope he doesn't let me down!
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Wire Reunion! And a meme. [Dec. 9th, 2008|10:05 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Music |Eli Stone]
[Current Mood |pessimistic]

On Eli Stone, RIGHT NOW we have as prosecutor, Rhonda Pearlman (back again in that position!) and Levy as judge, both from The Wire! It is weird yet very, very cool seeing them back in the courtroom again but I keep expecting to see Levy as the defense. Weirder still is it's a case about drugs! I love seeing Wire actors.

ABC seems to be hiring Wire actors, I saw Kima in Brothers & Sisters and it was just so wonderful to see her again. Man, I reeeeally can't wait to get The Wire complete collection for Christmas.

Memetime for the pretty:

1. Answer each of the questions below using the Flickr Search engine.
2. Choose a photo from the first three pages.

3. Copy the URL of your favorite photo into this site: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php
4. Share!

Questions: name, favorite food, hometown, favorite color, celebrity crush, favorite drink, dream vacation, favorite dessert, what I most want to be when I grow up, what I love most in the world, one word that describes me, my username

Mosiac pretty )

Tonight: watching House and staying up late writing a paper for school. One fun, one not so fun, guess which.
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Life balancing, vidding, essays and my boys [Dec. 1st, 2008|02:31 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , ]
[Current Music |new vidsong]
[Current Mood |rejuvenated]

Gah you people really do post when I'm away. I love it but it takes forever to catch up on it when I just want to luxuriate in all of beautiful fandom. I missed it a lot and as always, I feel like I'm coming home. Don't know where I'd be without it. Lots of vidtalk which makes it take even longer but I'm hoping that's because people are on break and therefore have more time for vidding, right? Right? Let's hope so.

I was shocked and horribly saddened to hear of [livejournal.com profile] tv_elf's death :( She was so nice to me at Vividcon and it was good to talk about The Wire or see one of her vids. What a tragic loss to the world, fannish or not. A memory post is here.

I feel like I know what direction I want to go in now although I don't know specifically what I want to be yet. But I am learning to be okay with it (or maybe the universe will provide a path for me! as I like to say) with the uncertainty. I know there is a ton of things I want to do that take a lot of time and I am trying to find out the best way to balance them in the way that will make me the happiest both now and in the future. The one constant I know is that I NEED narrative. Whether it be the books of my past, the TV of my future or a fun movie now and then, I've got to have it. Can't imagine life without it. Now there's a ton of TV shows I need to catch up on and I don't want to devote too much time to only watching TV and neglecting other things but at the same time...I need context for vids! So who knows how many shows I'll get through in the coming year. That leads me to vidding in which I need to get my self in gear and FINISH these damn vids. My goal this year is to get rid of all my obligation vids, vids for cons and vids that I've had for over three years because they really need to get done no matter what new, shiny vid idea comes along. In fact, one JUST did for The Wire which I'd have to metaphor the hell out of but it would be fun. Still looking for my perfect Wire song and I'm hoping my new music collection will turn up a song not to mention my other orphan vid ideas. Vidding takes a lot of time though; I've given up on clip notes because I look at it too much as writing=work and then it never gets done so I'm going to just watch a lot of the show and clip it in Premiere. But that's the vidding plan for the Vividcon Year.

So then there's the other non-fannish stuff. I feel like I have a large gap in reading knowledge in truly understanding the world and how to make it better. So I'm going to need to read up on all the classic books, stuff on political systems and action and lots of stuff about TV for my future career. My love of learning is coming back stronger so I think it should be possible if I can find the time. I have to fit that in with college classes (and getting A's) and part time work (not to mention clubs and events and stuff) so who knows how much I'll be able to get done. Then the last big thing is getting involved in activist stuff whether it be gay rights or Obama related things. Kind of scary and not sure how much time its going to take and what I can do but I know I've got to do something because the time is now. So there's that. Those are the basic things I'm trying to figure out how to put off so I have enough time for them all and I know it may involve some sacrifice so I'm trying to figure out what I can give up in terms of time demands. We'll see.

Then I've been trying to figure out my aversion to writing especially essays. I think maybe I finally found a reason through vidding. So I've always loved that vids can be like visual essays and that they can say so much about the source. But that visual essay love never translated to loving/liking essays and I was trying to figure out the difference. And then [livejournal.com profile] dollsome posted this brilliant Stephen Fry quote which expresses it so much more eloquently than I ever could:

"Had I the patience and the discipline I should have chosen literature. But, while I can read Middlemarch and The Dunciad or, I don't know, Julian Barnes or Jay McInerney say, as happily as anyone, I have this little region missing in my brain, that extra lobe that literature students possess as a matter of course, the lobe that allows them the detachment and the nerve to talk about books (texts they will say) as others might talk about the composition of a treaty or the structure of a cell. I can remember at school how we would read together in class an ode by Keats, a Shakespeare sonnet or a chapter of Animal Farm. I would tingle inside and want to sob, just at the words, at nothing more than the simple progression of sounds. But when it came to writing that thing called an essay, I flubbed and floundered. I could never discover where to start. How do you find the distance and the cool to write in an academically approved style about something that makes you spin, wobble and weep?

... You could only write successfully about books and poems and plays if you didn't care, really care, about them. Hysterical schoolboy wank, for sure, an attitude compounded of nothing but egotism, vanity and cowardice. But how deeply felt. I went through all my school days convinced of this, that "literary studies" were no more than a series of autopsies performed by heartless technicians. Worse than autopsies: biopsies. Vivisection."


YES, this. I don't necessarily agree about the not caring part but for me, that's exactly it. But vids for me DO capture that emotion, that love and it's not so much as splitting up a source as celebrating it, reliving it and creating something anew from it's beauty. And even in writing posts on LJ or not, I feel my thoughts are like birds, free of any bounds and restraints and yes, disorganized but spirited and alive and full of energy. And putting them to paper/screen feels like it's taking all the soul out of them to make it sound regular and ordered and...just there. Maybe there's a way to overcome this or at least help the effect but that's why I love vids as opposed to essays.

In extremely happymaking news, I got my House and Arrested Development DVDs!! Just now :D Well only S4 for House but S3 is coming for my vidding pleasure. And I've waited so long for AD, stuff just kept coming up but now it is mine! It's so nice to be able to watch my show whenever I want to not to mention all the extras. Eeee Bluths! I've been enjoying a lot of the TV this season although not feeling particularly excited about a lot of it (The Office is always delightful and full of love though). However lest I long for an obsession, I have House which remains after three months, my favorite and I'm so in love with House/Wilson it's not even funny. It's not an all consuming love but one that just needs a spark for me to fill up with glee and to believe so deeply in their pure true love. I just cannot see only a friendship and I don't want to because they are so perfect together and I love them. And now I can vid them :D While looking for clips the other day, I found the video where Wilson actually says LOVE POETRY to House. God, they slay me, I had a full on squeeing session after that.

Back to catching up!
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Even Muggles like yourself should be celebrating, this happy, happy day! [Nov. 9th, 2008|03:36 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , , ]
[Current Mood |optimistic]
[Current Music |"Affirmation" by Savage Garden]

That's how I (still) feel about Obama winning. Where Muggles are people who didn't vote for him or people from other countries. It still feels so glorious and wonderful each day waking up to know the Obama (President Obama!) is going to be our next president. It's just this happiness that washes over me each morning and randomly each day. I want to chase this feeling /Toby. Already he's working on making the goverment more democratic and participatory. Check out www.change.gov for more including "requiring his Cabinet officials to have periodic national broadband townhall meetings to discuss issues before their agencies", not signing "any non-emergency bill without giving the American public an opportunity to review and comment on the White House website for five days", "improve the assessments used to track student progress to measure readiness for college and the workplace and improve student learning in a timely, individualized manner. Obama and Biden will also improve NCLB's accountability system so that we are supporting schools that need improvement, rather than punishing them", supporting "the principle of network neutrality" and trying to "pass the Fair Pay Act to ensure that women receive equal pay for equal work and the Employment Non-Discrimination Act to prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity or expression.". SO AMAZING.

Another good thing this election brought me? Rachel Maddow. Even when I was ignoring politics, I couldn't help but watch a few minutes of her show just to see how brilliant, funny and hot she is. I'm going to be involved in politics more now, watching a bit more news, reading more about what's happening, the government and the issues so this LJ may not be as politics free as it used to be but there still should still be a large amount of fandom with vidding and all the shows I watch. I just finally feel like we can bring about real change and I want to be a part of it, to do my part in making this country better.

Now about Prop 8. I'm trying to leave aside my disappointment, sadness and anger and instead channel that into actually doing something about it. On the good side, Prop 8 only applies to future marriages and there are going to be court challenges to it. I can only see that as good because it is not fair at all for the majority to take away the rights of a minority. I'm all for propositions and direct democracy but not in cases like that. Also I hope we can add a proposition to reverse Prop 8. I do think that it is horrible that people are blaming African Americans for passing this as it's everyone who voted yes for the Prop that's caused this to happen. Lashing out like that is wrong and doesn't accomplish anything. The same thing goes for acting like chickens are getting more rights. Um NO. Animal rights has nothing to do with Prop 8 and giving farm animals basic decent treatment is a good thing that should not be bashed.

I am heartened by all the anti-Proposition 8 protests happening in California although I wish I could be there to join them. But now I can and you can too! Join the Impact is organizing a nationwide protest against Prop 8 and the other measures that take away equality and civil rights next Saturday, November 15th, 1:30 - 4:30 (Eastern/10:30 am PT). I urge everyone to check out the website and find the closest location to you for the protest taking place at City Hall or another place as mentioned. I am organizing the Syracuse protest here because I really want to do something against this proposition and I urge anyone who is in a city without a organizer or that's not represented to try to help start one. So that's what I'm going to be working on this week.

In vidding news, [livejournal.com profile] laurashapiro put together a vidding documentary for MIT to show to middle and high schoolers. It's here and there's a bunch of vidders there talking about vidding. I'm in it as well, the second person with the LA shirt in the What is vidding? video. I saw it at Vividcon and I was so happy to see how it turned out. Everyone should go check it out and see how awesome it is! Also if you're looking for AMAZING vid meta, check out [livejournal.com profile] tishaturk for some wonderfully interesting thoughts about vidding and narrative, two of my very favorite things.

I hate the new LJ profile page. Why do they change the things that aren't broken?! At the very least they should give us an option to opt out of it. Argh.

Other good things: new Sex and the City movie next summer! Let's hope they don't give a BS reason for splitting Carrie/Big up this time and give us lots of time with all four of the gang. Also can't wait to see Quantum of Solace, mostly for the Daniel Craig hotness. Speaking of movies, I got four movies including Harry Potter 5, American Gangster and Sex and the City for only $20 dollars the other day. And I'm starting on getting one of my friends to watch The Wire and she likes it so far so I'm really happy about that. Still working on catching up on shows, did Ugly Betty, Grey's Anatomy, Entourage and working on Friday Night Lights which is amazing as usual. Hopefully I'll have some thoughts about them in a later post.
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Obligatory Celebratory Post \o/ [Jun. 3rd, 2008|11:51 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , ]
[Current Music |"Bare" by Matt Nathan]
[Current Mood |giddy]

YAY Obama! *squee* I am SO happy he won the nomination :D It's been a looong way to get there but he finally did it! It is a happy day. My first time voting in a presidential election, I can actually vote for a candidate I actually believe in and trust. Now if I just ignore my parents, I'll be all set. I'm trying not to get my hopes too high but at the same time I reeeeeeeeally want him to win it. If I thought I was crushed in 2004, this one would devastate me. But for now, I'm thinking positive. It's just so historic and amazing that I get to experience this moment in history. Dare I say it, LEGENDARY.

I will never get over that he loves The Wire. Now don't be Carcetti!

On a personal note, I have decided to try and lose weight to be healthier and the nice looking better benefits. So far, a week and a half, eating better and exercising almost every day for an hour is going well. Took a nice long bike ride today and after a hellish climb up a bunch of hills, I got to soar down lots and lots of hills. Veeery fun. I love that feeling, like I'm flying with the wind against me. One of the reasons I love to bike.

Also, rewatching The Office makes me very, very happy. Casino Night never gets old. And this time Jim actually made me cry. Too sad. Conflict Resolution is another of my favorites that doesn't get enough love in my opinion. I can watch it over and over and it still cracks me up. ART THAT DESTROYS SOULS! Hee. Best picture ever also.
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Wherein I am a bad Wire fan and watch a lot of TV [May. 16th, 2008|09:03 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , ]
[Current Music |"Dress Up in You" by Belle and Sebastian]
[Current Mood |worn out]

So I just found out that Beadie from The Wire was Holly in last night's Office! I can't believe I didn't recognize her. I knew she looked familiar but couldn't place her. I almost would expect Michael to be like, "hey, aren't you from The Wire?" He does watch it! It makes sense though that they'd want to hire The Wire actors. Maybe there will be more in the future? *hopes*

So Upfronts week is officially over and all the major TV networks have revealed their fall schedules. Go here for grids for the fall 2008 TV season. There's a decent number of new shows coming than what I was expecting although lower than normal but that also means that I suffered no canceled show casualties *celebrates* So I combed the lists to find new shows I'm interested in checking out. Again when I look for new shows this is why I'm watching them: original concept and/or sounds interesting, writers and actors I can trust/like seeing, serial or at least has a serial element, for comedies: smart humor and/or single camera, and fannish interest (hard to parse right now). If I hear lots of great reviews, critically or fannishly, I may give the show a try/another try so I'm always open to more. I will say the nice thing about TV that keeps me from becoming completely overwhelmed is unlike movies, music or books, there's not a a bajillion coming out each year. At least there's a manageable number to sort through even if the high cost does make it hard to get TV shows on the air. My current perspective is it's better to keep on track of the new shows while slowly working my way through the old as I reverse my way back through the history of TV. Here are some new shows and why I'm checking them out:

Dollhouse because it's JOSS WHEDON and I'll follow him to the end of the earth. Plus Eliza Dushku and Helo from BSG with an interesting premise. Must watch new show of the year. My Own Worst Enemy because the concept sounds interesting with the alter ego spy aspect and fighting yourself. 90120 because it's in Beverly Hills (SoCal love!), Michael from The Wire is in it, Jessica Walters from Arrested Development is in it, Rob Thomas is executive producer (although I hear he stepped down-probably a good idea) and the original is a guilty pleasure I've seen once in awhile. Fringe because it's got J.J who at least knows how to handle a concept in the beginning and sounds intriguing with a larger serial plotline as well as having Lance Reddick from The Wire (and Miguel from Oz!). Stylista because it's like The Devil Wears Prada and Ugly Betty and I love both even if I didn't like Anne Slowely much on Project Runway. The Office spin off because it's The Office, duh. Life on Mars because I loved the UK one and even though I hate the Sam casting and it doesn't look that great, it's worth a chance. The Listener because reading peoples' minds fascinates me. Crusoe because it's an interesting idea, based on a classic book and reminds me of why I originally liked Lost S1 with the desert island premise. The Ex List because Diane Ruggiereo is the co-executive producer and I loved her episodes on Veronica Mars and I'm always interested in relationships and compatibility. Flashpoint because it's got Enrico (Keith from Veronica Mars!) and Hugh Dillion (who I haven't seen yet but I know will be good) and sounds fun. Sit Down Shut Up because it's co run by Mitchell Hurwtiz, another writer who I'd follow anywhere as well as voices of Jason Batemen and Will Arnett (reunion much?). Merlin and Kings sound unique among the TV out there right now and serial as well which means I'm willing to take a chance on them. Swingtown because historical dramas that have a focus on change and experimentation is always interesting to me. The Last Templar (mini-series) because of VICTOR GARBER and a cool four horsemen story. Caprica because I love BSG and am interested in seeing the characters previous lives. Cupid because I love the original and enjoyed the banter and romance plots no matter the actors. The Stranded because I find the concept EXTREMELY interesting.

TV Schedule For Next Season (subject to change) )

Oh and yes, I've decided that I definitely want to work in the TV industry in some capacity. In the interest of following my passion and all that.
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"Are you calling me a ho?" [May. 1st, 2008|06:31 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , ]
[Current Mood |full]
[Current Music |the office]

Happy Office Day! To celebrate I watched a hilarious video of Steve Carell interviewing Phyllis here and it's absolutely wonderful! Steve's always a safe bet but Phyllis just comes alive (I like it). I absolutely adore her character on the show and the similarity with her character means here it's no exception.

Of course they ask the dreaded how were you cast question that she has been asked a zillion times along with which actor is most like and unlike their character (yes we know Mindy is alike and Angela and Brian aren't). To their credit, they edited out the answer to the first one. Another question that I hate because it's asked ALL the time is have you ever worked in an office job? So Office fans, what questions are you sick of hearing the cast answer?

A couple of thoughts on The Chairmodel under the cut:

One about Michael/Jan one about Jim/Pam and one about the end )

I loved this episode for all the small things and small victories which is a big reason I love the show. Everything doesn't need to be super dramatic or big explosions all the time and The Office is about finding humor in the little things. And you still have Michael and Dwight trying to make things larger than life in their wonderful hero narratives that I can't help but love myself. I love reading [livejournal.com profile] vonnie_k's episode thoughts and her post on The Chairmodel here is pretty much my reaction to the episode ([livejournal.com profile] danceswithwords also has lots of brilliant thoughts).

More reasons why I love Mindy and The Wire loving writers:

Q. Did the comment about “The Wire” come from your love of “The Wire”/ to annoy BJ who has not started watching “The Wire” yet even though everybody is telling him how good it is? | kim s [note: I think B.J did finish watching the show]

A. “The Wire” is arguably the most popular show amongst our writing staff. Our two shows could not be more different, but it has made a huge impact on many of our writers, including me. Because it’s such a densely plotted Greek tragedy, I doubt Michael would really be able to understand that much of it, but I like picturing him wanting to enrich his life by buying The Wire DVD and sitting in his condo watching Season 1, and then compulsively rewinding and trying to understand what D’Angelo Barksdale is saying. Michael wants to be exposed to good things, that’s a quality in him I really like.

I was surprised to see Mindy loving it so much but yay that's awesome! I would say the shows are alike in that they both are funny (The Office more so obviously), they both love their characters a lot making them real in small little ways and they both love their locations, giving lots of shout outs but at the same time the location represents cities everywhere.I also seem to always want to call Oscar Omar (and vice versa) which makes very little sense besides the fact that they're both gay. Very, very true about Michael, she so gets him.

Christian and Nina Garcia on Ugly Betty tonight, yay! On the Project Runway front, I am meh about the show moving to Lifetime. I really hope they don't mess up the show. Already they're moving to LA and although usually I'm YAY LA, here NYC is the fashion capitol so I'm not sure it's the best decision. Maybe it'll spice up the show a bit though and it'll definitely be easier for me to meet them. As long as Nina Garcia doesn't leave, she's my favorite judge and it would suck if she left. But I'll see her tonight so at least there's that :)

Things that need to be in every Office episode: an annoyed Stanley and Angela look. Never fails to make me laugh.
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Best. Night. Ever. [Apr. 24th, 2008|11:58 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Mood |ecstatic]
[Current Music |the office]

OMG YOU GUYS. First How I Met Your Mother and now The Office bringing me personal moments of TV heaven. If you watch The Wire (WHICH YOU SHOULD), you HAVE to watch tonight's episode of The Office. Or a clip of an especially amazing part of it. Have I mentioned how much I love Mindy Kaling lately?

Spoilers for The Office: Night Out )

The Office + The Wire = My Personal Heaven.

And one 30 Rock reference to top it off:

Spoilers for the latest 30 Rock )

I am reeally looking forward to the Ugly Betty episode with Christian and Nina Garcia. Going to be so good :)
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Take these lies and make them true [Apr. 7th, 2008|11:52 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , , ]
[Current Music |"Modern Nature" by Sondre Lerche]
[Current Mood |romantic]

So was not having a great day today although most of it was in my head. Going to try some honest personal sharing here.

Personal Stuff )

On a happier note, sometimes I love to ship. So I'm getting addicted to Oz which somehow manages to suck me into all the storylines and yet most of all I ship a fucked up prison love story against all odds and I choose to believe and hope and damn. Sometimes, sometimes, it pays off. And just proves that a couple can start with lies and end up having the love being the truth (see Jack/Irina for more proof) if only for a moment.

Spoilers for Oz up to 308 )

This show really interests me because I've always found redemption interesting which is one of the reasons I loved Angel so much. Moral ambiguity is one of my favorite things to explore in narratives as well as well life and it gets explored greatly on the show. Plus there is Bodie and Carver from The Wire! I've also seen Ryan in Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Laguerta from Dexter and Carla from Scrubs. Oh and I saw Law and Order: SVU randomly one day and recognized Kellar as the main lead character in it, Elliot I think. And McManus reminds me sooo much of McNulty.

Was reading some Jack/Irina fic last night which never fails to overwhelm me with love and happiness. Man, I can never get enough of them. I fail at having the words when it comes to them but I will try:

Jack/Irina rambling )

I'm rewatching Pushing Daisies with [livejournal.com profile] lianri and Ned and Chuck are omgsocute. If you want to do pure romance that completely charms me that is how you do it. This is a big reason why PD is one of my favorite shows. Plus Ned is sooo yummy and dreamy (his smile! *romantic sigh*). People are all so gaga over Jim Halpert but if I'm going for a nice guy type, Ned is definitely my first choice for the perfect boyfriend category.

Three more days til The Office! Must not read spoilers must not read any more spoilers. I caved and read some but it's only because I'm so desperate for more of my favorite show! It just completes something inside me and I really need new material for my love. The new episodes all sound great so I'm getting super excited.

In conclusion, shipping makes everything so much better :)
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Sci-Fi Sunday! [Apr. 6th, 2008|10:31 am]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , , ]
[Current Mood |joyful]
[Current Music |"Moons of Jupiter" vid!]

My username is ______ because ______.
anoel. When I was in 9th grade I was looking for a special internet username for myself and since I loved lions and felt I was one in a way, I wanted one to represent that. So I played around with the Spanish word for lion, leona and when I spelled it backwards it came out to anoel which I liked. Plus it was an A name and I like those for myself.

If I add 43 to it, that's because it's my favorite number. I got it when I was 9ish and I was in love with a book in the Sweet Valley Twins series, Elizabeth's First Kiss because it was really romantic and I had a crush on the guy in the book/on the cover. It was series number 43 and so that became my favorite number and it's never changed ever since. Mostly I just like that it's unique to myself.

My name is _____ because ______.
Ashley because my parents liked it and thought it wasn't popular. Which it was. If I had a choice I would have picked Amy but it's too much a part of me now.

My journal is titled ____ because ______.
Defying Gravity because I've always wanted to fly and gravity is what holds me down. I love how metaphorically gravity is the concrete world while I want to be in a world of possibilities, of imagination, of things which are not describable not to mention the amazing feeling of flying. I thought of it because I loved the name of a group, Mad at Gravity but thought Defying sounded better. I later found out it was the name of a Wicked song.

My journal is subtitled ___ because ____.
Ridiculously Romantic because I AM ridiculously romantic. Plus it's my favorite saying from my favorite scene of my favorite ship and the one I would most like to have someday in a similar sense. Plus ridiculous is my favorite word and I'm a complete romantic.

My friends page is called ____ because ______.
Friends because I've never bothered to change it.

My default userpic is ____ because ______.

it changes but now it's because I'm in a Doctor Who mood and am loving the Doctor, Donna and Martha at the moment. So much better with all three of them! My lioness one () is because my favorite childhood movie was The Lion King and was my first real fannish experience and I love the picture of Nala looking up curiously in the water. The heart is just because I love romance and love so much.

My first time watching Doctor Who live! Just need to avoid the crazy shippers and I'm good.

Spoilers for Doctor Who 401: Partners in Crime )

Spoilers through Torchwood 413: Exit Wounds )

Spoilers for Battlestar Galactica 401 )

Spoilers up to the last Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles )

Speaking of Andre Royo, I had this dream with him! Well first it started with Victor Garber who I saw outside of this Paley center type event in LA. I was nervous about whether to approach him and in my hesitation I missed him and he walked away and I was so angry at myself and even tried to call his name. But then inside the auditorium place he was singing so I was in heaven there. But then Andre Royo came up to the stage and I was SO excited. As was everyone else because the room was filled with WGA type people who recognized the brilliance of The Wire and the whole crowd went even more crazy when Wood Harris went up there too. It was just so awesome to be with so many people who loved The Wire. So that was a very good dream.

I've also had two Victor Garber dreams where he was Jack. One in which I was Sydney (or at least Sydney-like) and I had to comfort him when he was all torn up about Irina. Because Irina was with this other guy (because of the events in Search and Rescue I think) and he saw them together and it was all very sad. Although they did have this very purple colored filtered scene that was pretty. But in my second dream I was Irina and her and Jack were at this concert but wanted to leave. And then me (as Irina) starts kissing Jack! It was very hot. Definitely my favorite dream so far ;)

Very sad about Charles Heston dying. I just know him as Ben-Hur who was very slashy in the movie without knowing it.

Comment to this post with a subject for a top 5 (ships, songs, non-canon ships, etc...whatever) you would like to see me post about (with pictures), and I will post it
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[Mar. 11th, 2008|06:45 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , ]
[Current Music |"Forever Young" by Interpol]
[Current Mood |melancholy]

First, Happy Birthday to [livejournal.com profile] lianri! I hope you have an amazing day and a great year :)

In more bad news, our internet has gone out meaning I can't use my iPod to access the internet. Now it's just getting laughable.

I watched The Wire finale live Sunday night and it was absolutely amazing. I can't talk about it right now but that's the way you do a finale. I'm still in shock that it's actually over. God, I love that show.

Finally got to watch Torchwood!

Spoilers for Torchwood 209: Something Borrowed )

I watched Little Miss Sunshine the other day and fell in love with it even more. It has one of my absolute favorite quotes in it:

Life is one fucking beauty contest after another. School, then college, then work. Fuck that...You do what you love, and fuck the rest.
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Lots of Random [Mar. 5th, 2008|05:27 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , ]
[Current Music |"Guilty Pleasure" by Cobra Starship]
[Current Mood |calm]

The Office is renewed for next year with 30 episodes! Hopefully most will be half hour ones this time. But more Office is always a good thing for me :D

I just found out that we get HBO here so I can watch The Wire series finale live! I am so excited. My first time ever!

So apparently Michael Rosenbaum and Kristin Kreuk are both leaving Smallvile next year. Which just means I don't have to watch Smallville next season (once I'm caught up with 6th and 7th...) because without Lex, my interest in the show dies completely. Especially since I still don't like Clark. I've been holding out for the show since there's still this Clark/Lex vid I want to do for the show at some point which I've had in mind for like five years now.

For the few people who watch it: Skins 204: Michelle )

So I started watching Rome last night with [livejournal.com profile] lianri and I'm really loving it. Mostly because I have a ship! Titus/Lucius are soooo boyfriends. I love the looks between them, the funny, the banter and oh, everything. And I've only watched three episodes! I love the political stuff as well which is interesting since my knowledge of Roman history is fuzzy. I recognized Kevin McKidd and couldn't quite place him, first reminding me of the Primeval main character and then figuring out he's the lead actor from Journeyman (which is fitting because Primeval guy reminded me of him. Which I only saw the Pilot of but he's sooo much hotter in this show which just goes to show how much personality can help a character. Also Suzie from Torchwood is in it so that was cool.

Project Runway finale tonight! I am so excited to see the collections and who wins. I'm completely unspoiled so it should be a surprise.
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Technology sucks [Mar. 3rd, 2008|12:24 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , ]
[Current Music |Alias theme]
[Current Mood |frustrated]

I have the worst luck because without warning, yesterday my laptop power adapter stopped working. So my laptop is basically dead right now. Argh. I really did not need that. Caught up with my Flist today in the library and just like everytime I leave my internet for too long, it feels like coming home. I love fandom.

I've been catching up on some UK TV which is nice because it's short and I can get a bunch of series done. I've watched Primeval, Skins and Queer as Folk UK and liked them all in various degrees. New Skins tonight, yay! Wanted to catch up with Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles but doesn't look like that's going to happen. I've been stopped because I still needed to watch the first two movies although I did get to see the first movie before my battery ran out. Also working on Farscape slowly but sure and I'm in mid-S2 right now.

Random: Jane Espenson is watching The Wire! This is significant because when I was picketing with her, I told her she should watch it and how amazing it was. So that was cool.

Still in love with Alias especially the SpyFam. I got the first season DVDs from the library so I'll probably watch that today along with the commentaries. Jack and Sydney still make me squee about as much as I did on first viewing so that's wonderful to relive.
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The Wire 509 [Feb. 26th, 2008|03:38 pm]

anoel
[Tags|]
[Current Mood |enthralled]
[Current Music |"Way Down in the Hole"]

MY SHOW is back!

The Wire 509: SPOILERS )

Gah, I can't believe the series finale is less than two weeks away. I am dying in excitement for it and yet I don't want the show to ever end. March 8th...the end of an era. Still the best show on TV.
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The Wire 508 [Feb. 19th, 2008|01:04 am]

anoel
[Tags|]
[Current Music |vids]
[Current Mood |depressed]

There should be a longer post tomorrow but the latest episode of The Wire deserves its own post.

The Wire 508: MAJOR SPOILERS )

I am trying to catch up on my Flist so bear with me if you get some late comments to older posts.
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TV Thoughts [Jan. 24th, 2008|06:44 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , ]
[Current Music |"Walk On" by U2]
[Current Mood |blah]

Here are are some thoughts in varying length on the TV I've been watching as I wait to watch more Alias:

Spoilers for Alias up to 304 )

Spoilers for Stargate Atlantis 413: Quarentine )

Spoilers for Torchwood 201: Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang and 202: Sleeper )

Spoilers for The Wire 504-507. Major SPOILER ALERT )

I decided to check out Oz because it sounded like The Wire and to see Beecher/Keller. I do like it overall but it somehow manages to be even more depressing and hopeless than The Wire but hey, it is a prison. I really like some of the narration and theme stuff they do and I really loved Beecher's arc in the first season. I just have one spoilerly thing to say under the cut:

Spoilers for Oz up to 204, Losing Your Appeal )

I have to add that I'm so sad Heath Ledger died :( It's a horrible tragedy for such a young talent to die so early and I always loved him in his movies. Brokeback Mountain is still my second favorite movie and his portrayal of Ennis gets to me so much. But I also love 10 Things I Hate About you especially the singing scene which is one of the most romantic I've ever seen (at least in movies) and he's even really cute in A Knight's Tale. I haven't lived through many, if any celebrity deaths that have really affected me but this one definitely goes on that list. He will always be remembered in his art and the change it brought to the world.
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The Wire 503 [Jan. 15th, 2008|09:13 pm]

anoel
[Tags|]
[Current Mood |rejuvenated]
[Current Music |Due South Theme]

Brief Spoilers for The Wire 503 )

Gah, I love this show.
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Vidding and TV Memes [Jan. 15th, 2008|03:51 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , , , , , , ]
[Current Music |The Wire S4 theme]
[Current Mood |good]

Happy Birthday [livejournal.com profile] klia! I love your vids and think you are a kind and awesome person :) And yes, I'm going to try to do these this year since I will hopefully be posting more.

Know what's wonderful? Being out all day (including reading some interesting/inspiring books in the local bookstore) only to come home to read my amazing Flist. Just reading LJ, reading comments and seeing lots of vidding love puts me in such an awesome mood as I saw once again yesterday. It's just nice reading about so many things I'm interested in and that feels like *home* to me in a community way. I love it and don't know what I did before fandom.

If you haven't seen by now (have you been living under a rock?), the The Great Vidding Truth Meme is going around again where you can tell listed vidders anonymously what you think of their vids including (and encouragingly) constructive criticism. My thread is here and I would LOVE to receive any comments especially any thoughts on how I can improve as I'm always looking to get better. But everything is definitely appreciated. So if you'd like to make any comments on any vidders work and maybe find some new vidders, it's a great place for it. I really love to read the various opinions on vidders' work, it's always interesting to see what people think.

That Television Meme which I had to do as they used some Office quotes for titles )

Speaking of TV theme song, I am in LOVE with the S4 theme of The Wire. I can listen to it over and over for hours nonstop. It's just so emotionally resonant especially with the singers. I uploaded it here if anyone needs it. Also, does anyone have the Due South theme with words that I could download? I only have the instrumental and the words make all the difference in this case.
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Actor spotting, Sweet Charity, Episodic TV and Vid meme [Jan. 13th, 2008|02:02 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , , , , , , ]
[Current Mood |productive]
[Current Music |"So Pure" by Alanis Morissette]

So after watching Friday Night Lights (*love*), I found Remember the Titans, one of my favorite movies I have watched many times. And there's actual football in it which I know FNL has cut down on for ratings sake but I still selfishly wish there was more (I really need to check out Playmakers one of these days). Anyways, to my surprise I start recognizing people I'd never noticed before. There's AVON from THE WIRE!!! There's CLAIRE from Heroes! (omg so cute) There's Turk from Scrubs! There's Randy from My Name is Earl! (who I recognize from watching the show or end of it or previews of it before The Office last year). And then there's Kip Purdue and Ryan Gosling who I've seen in various movies/vids. . Julius (AVON!!) and Gerry are no less slashier than they were when I first saw them. Gotta love it.

So I decided to offer myself for bidding at Sweet Charity. It's for the Writer's Guild Foundation helping out people affected by the Writer's Strike but aren't a member of the union. I really believe in helping people in the entertainment industry considering how much happiness they bring me and fandom so I urge you to consider bidding on people starting January 18th and running til the 26th. Here is my description:

I will do one vid in the following fandoms: Angel the Series, Arrested Development, Brokeback Mountain, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Cupid, Due South, Firefly, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Highlander (Methos episodes only), House (no House/Cameron, Cameron), How I Met Your Mother, Little Mis Sunshine, Project Runway, Pushing Daisies, Queer as Folk (no romantic Brian/Michael), Smallville (S1-3 only), The Office, The Wire, Torchwood (no Owen or Gwen), Ugly Betty, Veronica Mars (S1 only).

Provide me one song (or more if you want me to choose) in any genre you want although I prefer something that isn't overused (along the lines of Bring Me to Life or Chasing Cars).

I can do gen, slash, het, femslash and canon gay. No constructed reality/AU please. Give me as much or as little direction as you prefer. Examples of my vids can be found here: My Vids.

So if you want me to make a vid for you, bid for me! My deadline is March 31st so I can finish your vid before the deadlines of Vividcon start coming up. I will do whatever you want me to do with those guidelines above.

On a random note I watched the Pilot of Homicide: Life on the Street. It only confirmed to me that I HATE episodic TV especially when it's cop/procedural based with no overriding season/series arc. I do of course love Frank and I liked the salami guy and I can see semblances of The Wire in it but the boring murder cases put me off. I will probably try it at a later time especially the ones David Simon actually wrote but for now, not for me. I did listen to So Pure the other day and I looove that song and wish I could see the vid again. Maybe at DIY, I hope? Also I'm working on Farscape again. It's haaaard because the episodes are episodic and kind of boring as I don't really know the characters yet (my favorite so far is Aeryn for the record). I'm trying to hold out til A Human Reaction as I hear that's a really good episode but so far I'm on the 6th episode so I have ten to go. I know I'm going to kick myself for going slow on this show but what can you do.

And last, vid meme: The Favorite Vid meme: "comment here with a link to your vids, and I will tell you which vid of yours is my favorite, and why." Also if you know I read your fic, then you can comment for the fic version.
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The Wire S4 and the strike [Nov. 2nd, 2007|09:18 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , ]
[Current Music |"Respiration" by Black Star]
[Current Mood |crushed]

So I finally finished S1-4 of The Wire. Oh, show. It truly is the greatest show of all time. How is it that the last two episodes of every season completely rip your heart out? Season four is the worst with the KIDS. God, I could not stop crying and writhing on my bed at the tragedy of it all.

Spoilers for S4 of The Wire )

Now it's time for me to read and watch every media I can get about the show. And I'll definitely be watching it again for vidding (I have a song!) and understanding purposes. And because I love it. I know I'm missing some of the Greek tragedy aspects so I've got to read up on that. I'm going to get all the DVDs for Christmas too. So now that I'm all caught up, next on my list is Smallville and Farscape (FINALLY). Hopefully I can get those done and then it's a fight between Carnivale, Entourage, Rome and Sports Night. But that'll probably be next year.

So the writers are striking *sigh* Well, I'm looking at it from a pretend it's summer perspective so the worst of it will be losing The Office. I did hear that the reason why Paul Lieberstein didn't come to the convention was because he was trying to finish his script before the strike so I forgive him for that and further think he's awesome. I do think the writers deserve more money so I don't fault them but I do hope the strike doesn't last long so I can get my shows back soon. If they do go into reruns, it'll just be more time to catch up on other TV shows. The only good thing is The Wire won't be affected so at least there's that.

Good luck to everyone doing NaNo! My only goal this much is to try to post and comment more.
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State of Me (ie Tired) [Oct. 22nd, 2007|11:51 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , , ]
[Current Music |vids]
[Current Mood |tired]

So I am insanely tired and just slept for 7ish hours. It's been kind of crazy keeping up with my Flist as I went to have a fun weekend in New Jersey to see [livejournal.com profile] blackstray (and celebrate her birthday!), [livejournal.com profile] indybaggins, [livejournal.com profile] clayangel, [livejournal.com profile] asuka14 and meet other people (and a dog). I already miss swinging with them. It was great and I had a really good time. Except for the bus trip from NYC where the bus was full so I had to wait from 1:15 am til 7:30 to go home. It sucked. Except for the fact that I'm now up to episode 406 of The Wire and I am glad to report that it really is the BEST SHOW EVER. The Office is still my favorite but this show destroys me with how good it is. The educational stuff is just so real especially to me. Man, I've so been there but that's a post for another day.

I have a huge backlog of post to really go through even though I've read most everything on my Flist. Still have SPN, FNL, Dexter, Heroes, HIMYM and Chuck to go through. But The Office made me insanely happy and I am still hopelessly in love with it. I can't wait for The Office convention next weekend! It'll be nice to be with people that love the show as much as me. Plus I reeeeally want to meet Mindy and Paul and thank them for some of my favorite episodes/moments. Cause they rock.

Also someone stole my video iPod :( :( People can really suck sometimes. So I bought an iPod touch which is the BEST thing ever. It's so shiny and pretty and I am enjoying watching my videos on it. Another Sunday never gets old. Plus there is WiFi access! Although not enough free wifi around.

I am kind of overwhelmed with all the stuff I have to do including a long day at work tomorrow. I need a week off or something to just sleep, watch tv, catch up fully on my Flist and vid. I also can't wait to go to California, fires and all.

Oh and Dumbledore is gay! I am so happy about that. He became my favorite character after book 7 as I just needed some good background on him and I was shipping Dumbledore/Grindelwald as soon as I finished reading so it's good to see my wishes were validated. I mean, it sucks that he's dead and I wish there were more gay characters in the book and actually proved canon in the books but it's better than nothing and he is a hugely influential character so I'm okay with it. I'm just so glad JK Rowling said something and that it was actually intended throughout the books. It just proves that slashers aren't always crazy to see slash because sometimes the authors feel they can't come out and say it. And I get it in Harry Potter it being so popular especially with children and the inevitable backlash to follow. But yay for Dumbledore being gay!
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The Wire: The slash, the eye candy, the love [Oct. 7th, 2007|09:52 pm]

anoel
[Tags|]
[Current Music |the wire]
[Current Mood |horny]

Okay, that's it. Who's writing the Stringer/McNulty slash?

*dies from hotness*

The Wire Spoilers 101-305 )

Also, I totally recognized the councilman as being Stuart from QaF UK. Right before I was about to check it out at IMDB. Yay for visual recognition from a pilot and a vid!

I LOVE THIS SHOW!!!
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LJ Spam Day: Education [Oct. 1st, 2007|04:05 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, ]
[Current Music |vids]
[Current Mood |optimistic]

But at least I'm starting spamming with a good cause. LJ/6 Apart are giving out free gift certificates for $30 (as in you don't pay, they do) that can be used at Donors Choose where teachers from low income schools put out proposals for things they need and people donate money so they can afford them. More details here. Be sure to ask for one by 5 Pacific time today (that's 8 Eastern). Personally I think it'd make a bit more sense to try to organize people together to purchase some bigger things instead of using the money in small increments for many different items but I don't know how that would be done. I will be using mine for a school in LA but I am having a hard time picking which one to help. More education is one of my *causes* so I think this is a great site and hope that it helps even only a little.

Another education link: Inter-city School Teacher: Richard Geib's account of his time as a teacher in an LA middle school which although 10 years ago or so, still has relevance. This really got to me emotionally but also showed a lot of the frustrating parts of society and was really interesting to read.

I am SO excited to watch Season 4 of The Wire!!! (Which looks at education if you are unaware) One more season to go...

Speaking of, from Mindy Kaling's article:

Is there another show that the cast of The Office obsesses over?
Everybody loves The Wire... It's like The Godfather. They think it's the most amazing thing ever.
How much do I love The Office cast right now? Even THEY see the brilliance of The Wire! It'd be so cool to talk with them about it at The Office convention which I'm going to. I love it when my favorite shows collide. Which brings me to Joss Whedon directing another episode of The Office! The Office + Firefly + The Wire = Perfection to me.
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A few links and The Wire [Sep. 19th, 2007|11:19 pm]

anoel
[Tags|, , , ]
[Current Music |"It's Bigger Than Hip-Hop" by Dead Prez]
[Current Mood |impressed]

First some links:

Sweet Charity: Fandom auction where you can bid on fic, graphics, vids, apparel and other things in order to get that idea you've always wanted made. There are over 200 people for sale offering their talents and the form is searchable by fandom in order to find people who are offering your fandom. Already it's raised $9000 dollars for RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest Network) and last year it raised over 10,000. But don't be scared by that price, you can still get good deals on talented fans. The auction ends on September 22nd (be sure to check the times as its GMT) so be sure to get your bids in by then! If that doesn't enourage you: ...it's for charity. And I consider myself a great philanderer.

Character Study Challenge: In LJ a lot of times characters get ignored in favor of relationships. [livejournal.com profile] bop_radar is hosting a Character Study challenge and there is a long list of prompts for characters on a diverse list of shows. All fanworks from fic, vids, meta and fanart are accepted so if you're looking for inspiration you have plenty of prompts (of which some are my own) to choose from. Submissions are due by October 6th.

Vid Rec: Only Disappear: This is a Due South vid, Fraser/Victoria. You may think after seeing Icebound Stream, you don't need to see another Fraser/Victoria vid but this one is beautifully done and deserves to be watched. It uses all the great imagery those two episodes provided along with great facial expressions to really make your heart break for Fraser as well as Victoria. It does a great job of matching the music and visuals as well. I haven't had the time to see a lot of vidders work that I don't know but I'm so glad I watched this one. Leave feedback if you can!

I had a lot of plans for the last two days since I have them off. However they all fell away when I started watching The Wire. I've finished the first season in two days (all 13 hour long episodes) because I could not stop watching. This is definitely the best show fandom isn't watching. Technically it's a cop show but unlike most cop shows it's not episodic and has a season long storyline that is wonderfully spread out to keep you watching to find out what happens. It also includes the perspective of the drug dealers and drug addicts the police are trying to stop which gives it a big layer and is much more interesting because of it. It's very realistic and doesn't stay away from showing the *bad* in all people as well as the good. Plus the diversity of the cast is amazing and much more realistic than most shows set in big cities (Baltimore is a very real character in the show). Somehow you become really connected to the characters without knowing it which gives you a great emotional aspect to the show.

And perhaps most impressive it doesn't give easy answers or happy Hollywood endings. I watched it in part for the social commentary it provides and I'm mainly really looking forward to season 4 with the education theme. David Simon and Ed Burns have a lot of experience in Baltimore and with the many players in the city and do a great job of seeing a lot of sides of the issues and giving it a true to life feel. David in a commentary described the show as about the American city which interests me especially going to LA (in November!!). I am just so impressed at how GOOD the show is and would highly recommend it to everyone. It may not be your cup of tea but the pilot alone (the whole thing as half of it failed to hook me a few months back) needs to be checked out.
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