a fan for all seasons

So, two weeks after completing the marathon Photoshop endeavor that was my entry in this year's SGA Big Bang, I'm knee-deep in planning art from absolute scratch (i.e., with no screencaps or other resources to start from) for a fandom no one but I seems to be interested in...but I can't help it!

I just finished reading--for the umpteenth time--R.A. MacAvoy's Damiano trilogy, and I guess this time around I'm stuck in full fanart mode. My problem is that I know just who needs to portray Damiano himself (David Krumholtz is an almost perfect match to his physical description, and I think he'd do well in the role if anyone ever decided to film it), but I'm up in the air about the other characters--which right now is just not acceptable! I just have this burning need to make some kind of pic (nope, don't even have a scene in mind!) that would make these wonderful characters properly visible on my screen (and yours). But of course, the OTHER problem is that even once I decide on the cast I want, I still need to find all of the pictures necessary to form a cohesive scene involving late-Medieval costumes, settings, props, etc.

...Not to mention, I really want to be reading, not arting! I have 9/10ths of kristen999 's WWII AU fic left to read (which I'm very much looking forward to!) and a boatload of reading/art viewing to do at SGABB (which also promises to be much fun!). ...And then, there are the Lemony Snicket books calling to me from the shelf....

*sigh* Why can't my fannish yearnings ever be simple?

Eeee!!! The Stargate Atlantis Big Bang Challenge, 2009, (aka SGA Big Bang) has at long last gone live!! There are a ton of big, thick, juicy stories there to really sink your fanteeth into, and huge, heaping side-dishes of art (liberally seasoned with videos!)--and...well, and now I'm quite hungry (thank you, O Metaphory Brain)...but also:

That's my art!! Right there!!! That picture on the home page, that links you to this year's or previous years' archives--that I made my own little self! ^____^ The same is true of the banner at the top of the main page, if you choose the "Blueprint" skin. The banner is actually mondo wide, to trick out even the most high-res, widescreen monitor, so if you have one of those, tune it in to get the full effect!

If you'd care to see the other wee bit o' fanart that I entered, it's entitled "Into the Depths," and it accompanies an enormously fun fic by writerjc called "Children of the Abyss." The fic came first, and was the inspiration for my pic (and for a video by Valika--check that out too!). I could really have worked for another whole month on the picture and given it more depth and detail, but seeing as how this is the very first ever fan-challenge I've participated in, I'm ever so glad just to have handed it in on time, and to have made my essential concept visible. Next time, maybe I'll try focusing on just part of a story to illustrate, instead of the whole darn thing??! (Assuming by that time I'll have learned some kind of lesson or something!)

 It has occurred to me that some of my LJ friends are pretty much just taking my word for it when I say that I do fanart, because I don't have any posted here at all! In an attempt to rectify that, I hereby post the following link, which should take interested parties to a wee gallery containing a random smattering of my work:

Trishart for your viewing pleasure.

Unfortunately, this is not the gallery I wanted to link to...but since that one is hosted at a site which Google suddenly claims is riddled with malware, this one will have to do. <_<  Of course, the really hideous thing is that some of my better work is hosted at said site of iniquity...and I may quite possibly have deleted the originals for them, thinking they had a secure home.

*sob* 

 Whee!! I just found out (courtesy of a wee text ad on one of the LJ backstagey pages) that you can add RSS feeds to your friends page! I added Cake Wrecks, David Hewlett's twitter feed, and Bible Gateway's verse of the day. That should do me just fine. ^^ But it's nice that I can keep up with a few of my favorite feeds without having to face my Google Reader feeds page, which tends to be overwhelming at times. Of course, DH tweeting 50 times a week on my friends page might get a little overwhelming, too! But where there's an Add button, there's always a Remove....

...because once I say I'm going to do something, I immediately become incapable of doing it. Hmm...does that make me a free spirit? I should re-take that Facebook quiz in light of that revelation....

ANYWAY...so, you're not getting a new icon set, a review of Nothing, pictures from Cube, or anything else I may have led you to expect from me. At least not tonight, and possibly not until my stiff neck (three days running, now) resolves itself, but most probably, not ever. Because unreliability free-spiritedness is how I roll.

You are, however, getting this video, brought to my attention by my hubby dear, whose musical tastes are more catholic than any human has the right to:


I hope you don't mind me saying so, bratfarrar, but this song reminds me a little of your writing--always a wonderful thing to be reminded of! ♥

Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday to you
Happy Birthday, dear Kristen
Happy Birthday to you!

          



(...Er, little lame, there, but very well intentioned!! ^.^)

Have a great birthday, m'dear, and a wonderful year to come! 

I posted this review of the movie "Cube" at the forum where my longtime friends and I hang out (hi, Yadas! *wave*), but I think it's worth the repeat here! No major plot points are spoiled, but if you really can't handle the details, forgo the LJ cut, and just know that I like the movie very much, and as long as you're okay with a 1999-style R rating and like your sci-fi/horror nicely thinky and tense (but low on the action-adventure meter), you should definitely see it!

( Cube movie review )

I'm hoping to watch Pin, another old David Hewlett movie, in a few minutes, so you may get another horror-movie review here sometime soon, if I like it enough. And did I squee about DH's movie "Nothing" yet? I definitely liked that!

Oh, and I have quite a few screencaps snerched from the Cube DVD (like the one I used to make my broken-glasses avvie, and the above-mentioned-behind-the-cut ultra-closeup of David's wonderful face, plus lots of shots of the set)--would anyone like me to post a sampling here?

...because I have no icon of extreme glee! ^^ Apart from the fact that I think I may have helped an LJ friend cheer up when she needed it (thank you, Lord, for the inspiration!), I've just finished watching "Nothing," another David Hewlett movie provided by the wonderfully insane Charlene, who deals me all my DVD crack (in retaliation for the SGA addiction I foisted on her!).

( Un-spoilery review below the cut )

...'Cause, yeah, now I'm procrastinating from my latest procrastination...pretty much ad infinitum! I guess I've decided that the cake design (mentioned under the cut in my last post) can wait, because now that I'm actually using my LJ, I apparently need a new icon set. I've tried talking myself out of this, but it's no good, because I've started working on them (all 15!), and I very much like where they're headed.

*sigh* Which means hours of picture-searching, and more hours of cutting and pasting and filtering and color-adjusting...and really, having a ball. So...not totally a bad thing, right?!

However, for your patience, my friends, you must be rewarded in some way. So, here's a few tidbits to, hopefully, delight you:

( Clicky for Tidbits )

...And it begins! The use of LJ for procrastinatory purposes!! I should be washing the dishes, then tumbling off to bed, with maybe a short session replying to e-mails in there somewhere...but I don't wanna. -_- So, as this is meant to be my fanblog, let me ramble a bit about my latest fannish accomplishment: two completed site-pics for sgabigbang. Yay!

( Continue Reading )

^^ Here iz me, posting to LJ. ^^

So, my dear hubby just bought top-of-the-line sheets for our 18-year-old waterbed (bought with our wedding present money, and never replaced. Because beds cost even more than top-of-the-line sheets!). Why is this a fannish topic, you ask? Because they are pure Egyptian cotton.

"The Kids Don't Stand A Chance"
by Vampire Weekend:



A devastating backstroke
All the way from France
With shiny, shiny cufflinks
A shirtsleeve to enhance

The pin-striped men of morning
Are coming for to dance
With pure Egyptian cotton
The kids don't stand a chance

--They're right, you know. The Egyptian cotton cannot be stood against. It's hard to explain the difference, but those sheets are righteous. As is Vampire Weekend. They have a MySpace. Google it. 'Tis happymaking music.

Following a long history of absenteeism here at my own LJ page, I think I finally have an idea of what I'd actually like to DO with it...which means I may or may not begin posting more regularly.

You see, I'm very bad at just about anything that requires me to keep up a certain pace, the way most of my fannish "social networking" attempts of the past have done. Discussion forums, Facebook, roleplaying communities and the like tend to leave me floundering to catch up more often than not, and it's frustrating to all concerned. Here, hopefully, I can simply go at my own pace, posting whatever fannish thoughts, projects, recs, etc. appeal to me at the moment, and my friends can join in as and when they wish, no pressure on either side. I don't know if it'll actually work that way, but that's what I'll be trying for.

Or not. Because it seems that one of the surest ways to prevent myself from doing something is to vow to do it (marriage excepted. Whenever my incredibly devoted and supportive husband is concerned in the matter, all the rules change. ♥ ). But I do miss having my friends easily at hand to share recs and updates and fannish enthusiasm with. So I might just go through with it. Shall we see?

Trish