Naked Bee

Just chiming in with some links:

Ten Steps to a Perfect Fanstorm: a concise overview in case you're just tuning in

There are many people contributing awesome, intelligent commentary on the issue. I've especially enjoyed:

slashpine
I have admired her comments in many of the discussion threads and the post "Ogi apologizes by insulting fandom some MOAR" (a detailed analysis of Ogas' nopology) was utterly fascinating.

neededalj
I love it when people can talk about complex, specialized knowledge in an accessible way. I found "Why Ogi Ogas and Sai Gaddam Are Phrenologists" and the follow-up essays a joy to read.

Want to read more? I'm following along with the discussion via the linkspam daily roundups

In all the previous WhateverFail discussions fandom has had over the past year I always mean to say something and never quite get around to it. I figured a late signal boost was at least better than continued silence.

The second draft is 20% complete! Woot!


Click through for larger image

It's taken about a month to do the Photoshopping of Section 1. Some images were really easy - just tweaking the color or replacing the one person who had their eyes closed with themselves from a different photo. The hoverbike photos on the other hand were a real pain. I'll probably still have to fiddle with them later on as my standards rise. I've left the hardest 4 images (the beheading scene) for last; that's what I'll be working on this week.

One exciting development is that it's now apparently been long enough since I took these photos that I can appreciate them. There's always some unpredictable amount of time after taking photos that I can't bear to look at them. In those early days I can only see the differences between what I intended and what I got; I think the errors blind me to what's actually there. Thankfully, I seem to have moved past that time on these Gawain photos. Everyone in the cast looks gorgeous to me again and the colors have gone back to looking awesome rather than silly. Yay!

Whee! I just spent a fun week at Frameline (the San Francisco International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, & Transgender Film Festival). I watched 24 programs in 6 days (and that's not even counting the shorts separately!).

My top picks are:
* Feature: Fruit Fly, a musical about fag hags
* Documentary: Fig Trees, an opera about AIDS activists (and Gertrude Stein, squirrels, and saints)
* Short: Thirteen or So Minutes, two straight guys talk about what they've been doing for the past 13 minutes

( Below the cut, reviews & links for all the films I saw )

ETA: I finally got myself a Delicious account and have been slowly using it to make a recs page. The film reviews & links are also there.

ll the photos that require costumes, props, or sets are done! Now I can finally get rid of some of this stuff!

Dates of note:
* June 3 - pictures of available items posted to my photo gallery.

* June 10 - claiming begins; email me or leave a comment; in general, priority will be given first to cast/crew who used an item, then second to people who are willing to pay for it, then third to whoever asks first

* June 19 - deadline to pick up claimed items (if you live far away we can work something out)

* June 20 - unclaimed items now up for grabs to anyone as we desperately try to get rid of everything and reclaim our garage ... if you come to our house around this time be prepared to take some "party favors" home! :)

P.S. I also made some progress on letter illumination (the fancy letters that will go at the beginning of each stanza). I finally stopped trying to painstakingly copy the delicate lines of the examples in my medieval reference books and just started from scratch with a much bolder, Mexican-papel-picado-look instead (which is nicely in keeping with the whole cultural fusion theme, so yay!).

We trekked out to Adelanto, CA last weekend to get the campfire shot. It was super windy, which made for some difficulties on getting the fire lit, but the indomitable crew eventually prevailed.

Progress continues on the book as I slowly get through the last few photographs. At this point I've only got two left - one more with models and one that's just a building exterior with no people. Whee! I'm also re-starting work on the layout, experimenting with backgrounds and fonts and such. Picking out colors is surprisingly hard. I'm especially struggling to find a good blue and bronze combo.

( On to the pages: large images ahead! )