the sun and the moon and the stars

So, I'm busy Committing Vid, and trying to teach myself new software to boot, and I'm wringing my hands over my song choice.

"White alt-rock vocalist + guitar-y alt-rock music" is such a cliché, and brings to mind memories of terrible overblown Lord King Bad Vids, complete with song selection by Nickelback or Creed. But on the other hand, this is kind of an obscure song/band, and it's been nagging at my brain for ages.

Galaxy Quest - Yesterday's Gone
Music: "Don't Stop (Thinking About Tomorrow)" by Status Quo (Fleetwood Mac cover)
Content: Gen, ensemble.
Footage: Galaxy Quest movie.

One thing made the good old days great: teamwork. In which the cast learns that nobody can go it alone, and together they’re unstoppable.



Download: MP4 file (55.6 MB) or Zipped AVI (51.1 MB).
Streaming: here.

( Lyrics behind the cut. )

This vid was originally posted for Festivids, and you can see all the pre-reveal comments on that post.

I just finished watching the most recent episode of NCIS: Los Angeles - "Missing", episode 13 of season 1.

( Thoughts inside, and spoilery stuff. )

I had more, but I've been awake for a ridiculous number of hours. I must sleep!

(Cross-posted to LJ, as I know a few of my LJ flist watch.)

Swiped from musesfool again.

( That TV meme that's making the rounds )

I've seen a few Haiti-related posts that seem to imply that donating to the (American?) Red Cross is a bad idea compared with other charities and relief organisations, and I'm curious as to why that is. Not being from America, I haven't heard any particular reports against the ARC, and I'm wondering why they seem to be held in lower regard than I expected.

Anyone able to satisfy my curiosity?

[Cross-posted.]

I must sleep, because I've already stayed up way too late rewatching the first Harry Potter movie (which, on rewatching just after having listened to the audiobook, does not do the book justice). But the Festivids go-live is probably any minute now and I wants to wait for it!

Sigh. Being an adult sucks!

*goes to bed*

Some of you may yet be unaware of the recent disaster that has struck Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere. On the 12th a magnitude 7.0 earthquake hit Haiti, 15 km from the capital, and just devastated the country. The Red Cross estimates that a third of the country's 9 million residents needs emergency aid; that's a huge burden to bear.

Plenty of countries are organising relief efforts, but there will always be more need than the funds will cover.

If you can spare a few dollars, I'd beg you to consider donating to MSF (Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders). Specifically, to their general Emergency Relief fund, which is currently being used for relief efforts in Haiti. I'll quote commodorified here, who explained

Money given to a specific fund can only be used for the area for which the find was set up. General donations are used where need is greatest. There will be other disasters while the situation in Haiti unfolds. Also, the money that MSF is spending in Haiti right now is Emergency Relief money; they haven't had time to get directed donations coming in. Sooner or later, they'll need that fund again.

Which is to say that Greatest Needs and Emergency Relief funds can and will go to Haiti as needed; selecting one of thse options will in no way limit the funds that MSF has available for this particular relief effort.

But earmarked Haiti funds cannot go elsewhere. Like, for example, to replace money MSF is frantically directing/redirecting to Haiti right now.

The internationally-applicable donations page is here. If you have any funds to spare, please think about giving, to MSF or another relief agency.

(For Aussies, all MSF donations of over $2 are tax deductible. They're probably deductible for other countries too, if your country allows such a thing.)

Seen in various places, most recently kanata and musesfool. I'm taking this mostly as whether I enjoy reading the tropes and/or would write about them.

Genderswap: I don't have anything against it, but I'm much more interested in "always a [opposite gender]" AUs rather than "magical accident/machine/act of god swaps your gender". I don't quite know what pushes my buttons about the "always a girl/guy" scenario, but I find that a number of canon male protagonists are blisteringly hot when recast as women (*cough* Jane Kirk, anyone?).

Bodyswap: Is fun. I don't know that I'd write it, but it's one of the cracky cliches that I do generally enjoy. Hell, one of my favourite hours of TV of all time is the Farscape bodyswap episode Out of Their Minds.

Drunk!fic: I can take or leave it. I tend to have a very low tolerance for drunk people unless I'm unsober myself, so reading about them isn't necessarily a favourite hobby. I appreciate that booze can be a good way of getting two recalcitrant characters in the sack, but it's not a trope I actively seek out for its own sake.

Huddling together for warmth: Oooh, well, I think this is really only a trope in canons where there's a big barrier to same-sex activity (eg SGA, Due South, etc) and in my mind it kind of goes hand-in-hand with WNGWJLEO. Not something I'd write, although I don't mind reading it.

Undercover in a gay bar: Guys in eyeliner, nnngh. (Om nom nom nom nom.)

Pretending to be married: I do like this trope; I have a weakness for stories where characters see how well they mesh together (or don't, heh) before they're actually in a relationship.

Secretly a virgin: Nah, not my bag. I have opinions about sex and celibacy, and this trope does not play towards them.

Amnesia: can be interesting, but it's not something I actively seek out, and I think it'd be hard to write well.

Crossdressing: as a trope in a story is pretty definitely not my kink, and it tends to make me uncomfortable when it's played as a kink, unless it's an actual part of someone's gender/identity expression.

Forced to share a bed: This one's often fun, although it doesn't hugely push my buttons as a trope in and of itself - but it's a good starting point for more interesting things.

Aliens made them do it: In some fandoms yes, in others no. It works for me in SGA, for instance, but it wouldn't in, say, Constantine. Generally in fandoms where the power issues around a character or pairing are rife anyway, I'm not so interested in adding more with tropes like this.

Wingfic: I'm not anti-wingfic, as such, but I feel it has to be well-done in order not to feel pasted on (heh). It just all feels like fic catering to a fetish I don't have.

Mpreg: Generally not. I like well-done kidfic, but mpreg itself, not so much. Too much biology knowledge. (I am fine with Magical Technological External Wombs, or Magically Sprouting Babies On Beanstalks, or whatever. Just not the actual _preg_ bit of mpreg.)

Mistakenly assumed to be gay: Can be amusing, but it's not a trope I actively seek out. I prefer "mistakenly assumed to be a couple", anyway.

Let's play truth or dare: For adolescents and young adult characters, hell yes. Great icebreaker. :)

Mary Sue fic: NEVER EVER COMMITTED TO PAPER OMG. Which doesn't mean one doesn't daydream. *g*

Aphrodisiacs: More interesting than drunk!fics, but I wouldn't want to read a whole ton of them. The odd sex pollen story is fun though. Prrrrobably not something I'd write, though.

Curtain fic: Yeah; I have a real weakness for slice-of-life fic. I'd both read and write this.

Hurt/Comfort: I find h/c elements often add to a fic, but something centred around it tends to get a bit overwrought for my tastes.

Apocalypse fic: MOAR ZOMBIES. Everything goes better with zombies. I have read so many good apocafics, I can't even say, and I've got a few ideas rattling around the braincase.

Someone has a baby: See mpreg for the kidfic discussion.

Telepathic soulbonding: Under the right circumstances it can work, and I'm enough of a romantic to accept MFEO scenarios, but there are so many Overwrought 13 Year Old Purple Prose pitfalls waiting that I certainly wouldn't want to tackle it.

Werewolves mate for life: Again, something I have a hard time dealing with. MFEO is fine, but the idea of an irrevocable, non-negotiable bond just doesn't sit right with me.

Well, it's Reveal Day, so I can now say publicly that I wrote The Blue Door and The Green Wood, in The Swish of the Curtain fandom, and But Where Are All The Splash Fights?, a Questionable Content storylet for Yuletide Madness.

Interestingly, the latter got twice the hits of the former, but half the comments.

And yes, helens78, I did guess that A Few Of My Favorite Things was your creation. The note at the bottom of the story was what gave it away. Thankyou so much :-)