So, northern summer means a break in TV for those of us in the Magic Land of Downloadia, too, even though it's freezing outside and watching television from under a blanket is one of the only sensible activities. (I didn't make the bed today because I had to keep climbing back into it.)

I've already used the time to catch up on Season Three of Orphan Black - say what you will about the plausibility of some of the twists, but I never get to the end of an episode without being desperate to know what happens next. Thirty episodes in, I still regularly forget that Tatiana Maslany is not five people, and I love the characters.

Now, there's plenty of TV for me to watch or rewatch during the break - especially now I have Netflix! - but I was thinking I should use at least some of the time to catch up on all of something relatively short. Hence this highly scientific poll, in case someone has an informed opinion:



I know very little about any of these options. I've just heard the distant buzzing sound creating by happy fans, and avoided spoilers as a result. (My knowledge can be summed up with 'zombies and David Anders, sort of like The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen only Billie Piper is involved somehow and, um ... there are presumably pirates in it?')

Help and advice in the form of poll responses appreciated!

So, in a few days time, it will be my thirtieth birthday! I am excited about this and not wishing I was turning twenty-nine again. This is an extra important day, since it is also the anniversary of the day I delurked and posted my first ever fanfic on February 22nd, 2000. (And then had to repost it to the mailing list with apologies because my formatting was borked. Ah, youth.)

I'm planning to do a couple of things to mark the occasion, and wanted some input from you guys on what exactly you'd like to see.



An increasingly complete archive of my stories is available on the AO3 and you can also use the fanfiction tag here if it's been so long since I posted fic regularly that you've forgotten everything I ever wrote *g*.

If anyone feels like getting me a present, here is what I would like:

a) Icons! I have far more room on Dreamwidth than I have icons to fill the spaces.

b) Recs for fanfiction and (especially) vids you think I would like.

I have had my shiny computer set up for one week now, and I now have a trial version of Premiere CS3 downloading and installed, hooray! Which brings me to my current inquiry.

[Poll #1255627]

It is kind of awesome to be working on a light, funny vid where I can contemplate including gratuitous nudity. So often I end up cutting this kind of thing out. I mean, Jack makes out with people in A Thousand Suns, but nowhere near as many people as he could have done. Which reminds me of one of the great lessons I have learned while vidding: sometimes actors are too hot.

For a long time, there was a shot of Jack Harkness pulling Susie's body out of cold storage in End of the World News. It would have been thematically relevant and it was a good clip, except that the good captain was bent over. After much messing around with the draft, I realised that if John Barrowman's arse was pointing at the camera, nobody would be paying attention to the lyrics, let alone my Srs Bizness themes.

Similarly, American Tune intially included, I think, every clip of Jack Bristow - what is it about guys called Jack? - in handcuffs/tied up from the first three seasons. It took me a while to realise that half of them had NOTHING to do with what the vid was trying to say and were just there for reasons of kink. (I don't even remember which episode it is from Season One where he's in a pale suit and gets tied up and interestingly rumpled, but that was the last one to get cut.)

I think the most important thing in vidding is to stay on message at all times - if your message is that guys called Jack are hot (has someone made that vid?) you can have all the arses pointed at cameras and bondage you want. Otherwise, it is always a bad idea to get off topic when you only have four minutes or so to make your point.

One of these days, I should just make a drool vid. It would have way too much Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart, though.

I found him On eBay!

[Poll #1135733]

Now that my tiny robot army is complete - at least until the movie figures are released in Australia - I have an important decision to make ...

[Poll #1048945]

So, remember my last poll where I asked you all what I should spend my money on? After banking half, I ended up spending some of it on a warm new scarf, as per my grandmother's wishes, and most of the rest on DVDs. (Couldn't find any boots I wanted the day I went shopping.) As a result, I now own American Gothic, the first season of Absolute Power and the Star Trek Fan Collective Q set.

Now that I'm done catching up with House and not ready to plunge into The West Wing, I have turned my attention to the omnipotent bane of Picard's life. But I don't know if I should watch his appearances in order or not!

[Poll #1017980]

*has somewhat appropriate icon*