No Exit

PSA - SOUTHWEST AIRLINES

2009-10-29T13:42:08Z

Southwest Airlines is offering $25-100 fares for the next 72 hours. Here's the breakdown, and we have about 24 hours left:

Southwest Airlines has launched an air fare sale in which some flights cost the same as what other carriers charge to check a bag.

Dallas-based Southwest on Tuesday announced one-way travel as low as $25, based on the length of the flight.

The discount carrier says fares are $25 for travel up to 375 miles. The price is $50 for travel between 375 and 549 miles, and $75 for flights between 550 and 999 miles.

A one-way fare of more than 1,000 miles costs $100.

The fares are available for purchase through Thursday, for travel between Dec. 2 and Dec. 16, or between Jan. 5 and Feb. 10. Other restrictions apply.

http://www.southwest.com

sockkpuppett @ 2009-09-22T23:45:00

2009-09-23T04:46:38Z

"Why is it that when technique is primitive everything is beautiful, and when technique is perfected almost everything is ugly?" - Jean Renoir

Adventures in Consignment Shops

2009-09-13T04:47:33Z

Setting the scene: Mr Wonderful and I are wandering through a hoity-toity thrift shop in Ridgeland. He points out an *atrociously tacky* ceramic bust.

Mr. W: You see the bust of Homer over there?
Me: Yeah. OMG it's horrible. *laughs*
Mr. W: You think it's for sale?
Me: *wanders closer* Wait a minute. Maybe it's not Homer. Could it be Plato?
Mr. W: Nah, it's clay.

New Vid - Wanted

2009-08-20T03:00:19Z

I made this vid for Vividcon, and it premiered at Club Vivid. Short, weird story about making this one. I call it my post-post-post modern vidding experience. I ripped the movie and vidded it, but I still haven't watched it. It looks like magic bullets, but I've been corrected. Looks like magic exploding rats, and no one has corrected *that*. No matter. It was still an awesome, scary vidding experience.

Always, thank you elynross and 15 of my closest friends. :) Comments and criticism are always appreciated.

Download Wanted - DIVX

New Vid - Legion, Supernatural

2009-08-20T02:13:29Z

ozonebaby and I made this vid for Vividcon, and it premiered at the Also Premiering show. We had such fun making it! Thanks always to my intrepid beta elynross and the usual suspects. Comments and criticism are always appreciated.

My name is Legion; for we are many. Score one for the Hell Team.

Download Legion-DIVX

TV Show Meme

2009-08-07T03:14:54Z

Pre-VVC nerves!!

I saw this all over LJ this week, so I followed along like a sheep. Pick your five favorite TV shows (in no particular order) and answer the following questions. Don't cheat!

1. Supernatural
2. Angel
3. Buffy
4. Farscape
5. Highlander

01. Who's your favourite character in 2?
Angel

02. Who's your least favourite character in 1?
The Ghostfacers

03. What's your favourite episode of 4?
Unrealized Reality

04. What's your favourite season of 5?
4. Chivalry! Something Wicked! Deliverance! Till Death!

05. Who is your favourite ship in 3?
Buffy/Angel

06. Who is your antiship in 2?
Angel/Anybody

07. How long have you watched 1?
Since the S2 premiere. I marathonned S1 over Labor Day I think.

08. How did you become interested in 3?
I saw Pangs, and it was all over for me.

09. Who's your favourite actor/actress in 4?
Claudia Black. She's so incredibly hot and competent and hot.

10. Which do you prefer: Show 1, 2 or 5?
#5 was the show of my youth; 2 was the show of my heart; 1 is just MY SHOW OMG

11. Which show have you seen more episodes of, 1 or 3?
I've seen more eps of Buffy but that's because Buffy ran 7 seasons.

12. If you could be anyone from 4, who would you be?
Noranti?

13. How would you kill off your favourite character in 1?
I have two favorite characters in 1, and they'd have to go out in a blaze of glory after a scorching kiss goodbye.

14. Give a random quote from 1?
"You're my big brother. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you."

16. Would a 3/4 crossover work?
Yes.

17. Pair 2 characters in 1 that would make an unlikely but strangely okay couple.
Chuck the Prophet and Pamela the Psychic.

18. Has 5 inspired you in any way?
The single biggest reason I started into online fandom and started vidding.

19. Overall, which show has a better cast, 2 or 4?
OMG IMPOSSIBLE TO CALL.

20. Which has better theme music, 3 or 5?
3

No good deed goes unpunished

2009-07-31T16:09:42Z

I'm trying to learn/teach myself/leech onto someone who knows Sony Vegas. Yeah, sure, I'd like to make a vid or two with it, but my real goal is going for this [fairy dust sparkly] job and being able to say "yeah, I am familiar with Sony Vegas, too."

mresundance was around to help me last night, and before everything I imported went "offline," I got to actually see the timeline. Thanks so much for the help! And you know I'm grabbing you again, right? mresundance learned first-hand that when I say I need someone to start with "this is your mouse," I'm NOT KIDDING. (The subject line of this entry is my acknowledgment of your good deed and the weariness you have experienced.)

I have Sony Vegas 9, which is the latest version? I think? I've been watching the tutorials (for SV7) on Youtube, and the program looks relatively easy although it's totally counter to Premiere, from my observation. Even to the point that the preferred viewing is timeline is on top, the audio lines on top of the video lines, and single-line editing. The irony of it all is that I've patterned my learning onto Premiere, and Adobe may be the most counter-intuitive programming out there. So I'm ~~once again~~ bass-ackwards.

There's another point to wanting to learn Vegas. I am in a rut. I know myself, and if I have to learn a big chunk of something new, it'll jumpstart every creative process I have. So, yeah, personally selfish motive beyond wanting to wow a prospective boss.

I have some questions about Vegas. Can you help me?

1. Can you import avisynth scripts?
2. Does the program work with VOB's, etc., or do I have to convert everything to lossless before I import it into the program? (Before I worked with avisynth, I processed how to build a vid in an entirely different way, much of which included NOT working with gigantic lossless files until I was ready to export, and I think, looking at Vegas, that I'll have to learn yet another way to mentally process how to build a vid.) Bottom line: How do I get the source into the program, and does Vegas use all sorts of source?
3. How to render? Does render mean the same thing that it means in Premiere? Will I be able to see what I'm doing pre-export?
4. How to export? In Premiere, I export a lossless vid and then open vDub and run it through DIVX or XVID for web publication.
5. Can y'all hold my hand and not laugh at my naivete? Okay, never mind. You can laugh.

Blatant Cry for Help

2009-07-23T21:30:51Z

Anyone who is using Sony Vegas ~~9 (or 8, I guess)~~ and has about 15-20 minutes to spare? Will you email me at luminosity.deville AT gmail DOT com or grab me on AIM? I'm Lumsockkpuppett on AIM.

Thinking about Vidding

2009-07-20T16:22:33Z

Today there are umpteen bazillion trucks going down my street, and it reminds me of the beginning of an earthquake every time they go by. Unnerving.

Which has nothing to do with anything :)

The VVC DVD masters went out last week. I haven't heard anything, so my yearly nightmare that I've sent blank disks is somewhat relieved. I have to make duplicates of the shows to mail to elynross, and I have to make printed auction show disks for the bidders and vidders, and I think that's it. absolutedestiny made an awesome program to streamline the process this year, and every time I remember how grateful I am to know him and how impressive he is, he does something else to ratchet up that regard. And I'll see everyone in less than a month! I'm so excited!

After the sad debacle-spectacle/public drama at BAM, I've decided to mirror my vids everywhere I can. Well, not really. I decided to do that when Vimeo kicked me out, but now it's accelerated. I'm over at Vidders and a couple of other places. I plan to upload everything to Viddler today, as well, and wait for them to kick me off. heh.

I'm very fortunate in that I have a home page where all of my stuff is available for download, but there are good reasons to put vids up streaming, and not the least is that it's a concrete way for me to say to the world that I believe that vidding is art, is legal, and should be easily available for viewing. It doesn't matter how good or bad a vidder one is. I believe that everyone should have the right to produce this sort of UGC, and by putting my stuff out there (over and over, moving it place to place--as much of a pain as that is) is how I stand up for that. I feel the same way about all sorts of art. It doesn't matter how good it is as much as it matters that people are doing it.

I noticed some striking differences in foundational philosophies of vidding during my short attempt to get comfortable at BAM (and subsequent surrender). I was also reminded of the great divide between someone my age and the teenagers who run the site, not the least of which is basic courtesy, something sadly lacking over there. But why did I expect anything else? They're children!

Now that vidding is everywhere (yay web 2.0!), I've been bombarded by Sturgeon's Law. Most people seem to vid for "ratings." Which I don't get. I mean, I get it, but it's alien to me on a basic level. I don't think vids that are all style and no substance will stand the test of time. They might become the vid version of Michael Bay's films, in that yeah, something important is happening visually, but there's a dichotomy between the sophistication and sophisticated use of the tools and the immaturity of the subject matter. It reminds me of the time when I was about 10 and my aunt gave me a complete set of Winsor&Newton oil paints. I loved them, but all I did was make a muddy mess. Maybe I'm not saying it right. The bells and whistles are gorgeous, and I'm impressed with the visuals. But there's no *there there*. They're like soap bubbles--iridescent, beautiful, ultimately useless and ephemeral. So my question is "why offend with style when you can offend with substance?"

Anyway, what I see is a cautionary tale to me to stop fretting about the sparklies and start worrying more about the guts. OTOH, the best way to learn vidding is OJT, so I remain hopeful.

OTOH, maybe they're not meant to stand the test of time.

And then I started thinking about fannish vidding vs. other types of vidding, how there's a strong emotional component to fannish vids as opposed to political remixes and sports vids, etc. Maybe that's the difference. That emotional component isn't in every fannish vid; they're as different as the vidders themselves, but the foundational raison d'etre of fannish vids is born of our emotional connection to the source. As striking as a basketball vid is, as thoughtful as a political vid is... anyway, JMGLO, YMMV.

Comcast sucks

2009-07-08T04:21:34Z

Again.

So, I watched the rerun of last week's The Daily Show with guest Dr. Oliver Sacks. There's a special on Nova about music and the brain. I watched this ep last week when it was originally on, and in a half-asleep state, I flipped to Comcast On Demand and found the Nova episode. This week, I can't find it.

Okay, that's not why Comcast sucks. Comcast sucks because the Help section of On Demand gives me these simple instructions to "press 'Search' and you can find anything by keyword, title, director." Great. No, really. Great. THERE IS NO "SEARCH" TO PRESS! There's Help, Saved Programs, Watch and Go Back. I've been noodling around with the On Demand menu for nearly 45 minutes. THERE IS NO SEARCH.

I've wandered through nearly the entire menu of On Demand. Thousands of items. Did you know that Dickey Betts will teach me how to play "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed" on demand? Me neither! There's a Bollywood section! And gay porn holy crap. BUT THERE IS NO SEARCH FOR FREAKIN' NOVA.

And how's your day? :)

Synecdoche, New York aka Oh the HUMANITY

2009-07-07T03:41:50Z

N and I just watched this (very long) film.

Me (15 minutes in): If this doesn't do something in ten minutes, I'm outta here.

Him: Give it a minute. I'm getting the rhythm of it!

Me (30 minutes in): [Totally engrossed, can't look away]

Him (over ending credits): You know what's really heartbreaking? There's not a person we know who would appreciate this film, not one. Okay, maybe your Aunt Peggy.

Me: [mouth agape, jaw dropped]

Charlie Kaufman, my God. Synecdoche, New York makes Being John Malkovich look positively mundane. I think I'm going to have to watch it again.

And I did recommend it to Liza tonight, who, a few weeks ago, made my day by telling me that I taught her how to watch movies, how to look for the metaphor, how to dig deep. :)

In a fit of pique...

2009-06-30T03:12:32Z

I deleted all of my vids from Imeem and left a message in a bottle on my profile page that, if you wanted to see my vids, go to bamvidvault.ning.com/profile/Luminosity because Imeem wouldn't let me type out the HTTP:// part without disallowing the edit.

So my vids are moving over here to BAM vid vault.

I'm also trying out blip.tv, but I have some questions about it. Why do they "keep" what I upload (yeahgreatthanks) but convert it to flv? At 15 fps? Which makes my stuff look jerky and sucky? HUH?

I also tried to upload Scooby Road, which is about 45 min long, and the conversion timed out. I wrote for support because the email said to click on "retry" on my dashboard, and "retry" was nowhere to be found on my dashboard. The tech guy, who wrote back almost immediately, sent me instructions on conversions, using H.264 and a Mac. *sigh* It'd be so nice to actually stream that piece of work. From somewhere.

I don't want my stuff to look like it sucks! It needs all the help it can get. Am I missing something?

And Imeem? SUCKS.

OMG I joined Facebook

2009-06-22T17:02:52Z

With an ulterior motive. I joined Facebook in order to ~~join~~ become a fan of the Vidding Community there and to do a commercial for them. So if you're on Facebook and are a vidder or like vids, please take a look at the community and help it get going.

I joined as Luminosity since I figured that more people know Luminosity than Pattie, and everyone who knows Pattie knows Luminosity, right?

And we're on the air!

2009-06-20T18:26:25Z

vidderkidder will be interviewing me today on blogtalkradio.com in about 30 minutes. It'll be live and then available as a podcast, and you can call in to chat if you want.

Y'all tune in and I'll try not to embarrass anyone. :)

Ahh, it was only a matter of time--

2009-06-20T00:48:09Z

Dear Luminosity Deville:

Your account has been removed by the Vimeo Staff for violating the Rules of Vimeo.com

Reason: Uploading videos from TV, Movies, or something you ripped from the Web.

We hope you find a video host more suited to your needs. If you believe this was an error, please reply to this email in a civil manner with your reasoning ("I see other people do it" is not a valid reason).

Regards,
Vimeo

I love that: "ripped from the Web" "a civil manner"

I trip over the "Rules of Vimeo.com" because it doesn't matter if I have the law on my side or not. I broke the "rules of Vimeo.com."

fuckers.

SPN thoughts that strike when I should be sleeping already

2009-06-07T06:10:20Z

So. The demon-killing knife did not kill Alistair. If it didn't kill Alistair, why did Sam think it would kill Lilith in 4x18? Which leads me to a ~~perfectly natural fanwank~~ theory: The power in the weapon is affected by who's using it.

Lemme try to talk myself out of it.

Who did I see shoot the Colt? Dean and Sam. And Bobby. Dean killed Meg's brother and the YED. Sam killed a crossroads demon and two demons in Sin City.

Bobby shot Ruby and didn't kill her, but maybe it was Bobby and not the gun. He was sighting the gun when he shot Ruby, not doing some mojo-juju-hokey-pokey on it, and I can't tell you how much it has bugged me for nearly two seasons that she didn't die right then. *cough*

Who did I see wield the knife? Ruby, Dean, Sam (and Alistair doing blood art on Ruby). Ruby killed demons in 3x1, a couple of demons in IKWYDLS and various demons that Sam learned on in S4. Dean killed the demon in 3x8 (MM), 3x16. Dean killed Ruby.

Sam tried to kill Alistair and failed. I never saw Sam use the demon-killing knife and kill anyone. Did I? Am I forgetting?

Umm..

So far, my conclusion is that demon-killing weapons can't be counted on, not really. Except for exorcisms, and I think that there are varying hierarchies of those!

And, if Dean wields the weapon, the demon dies.

Talk me out of it! Talk me down!

paintings in 4x22

2009-05-22T01:15:45Z

I love how the paintings changed. Olympia! Any ideas about these? :)

ETA: The painting behind Dean when he calls Sam is a piece of a painting by Claude Lorrain called Landscape With the Nymph Egeria Mourning Over Numa. It's just a piece of it. Of course, it looks like this harbor has been painted a gazillion times--as a pastoral type landscape, a busy port honoring the Queen of Sheba, preparing for war... heh

	3 paintings 3 paintings, Dean and Zachariah; Fragonard's "The Swing" on the left; unknown pastoral in the middle; Fragonard's "Blindman's Bluff" on the right. Pastoral landscapes like the one in the middle are a dime a dozen, unfortunately. LOL
	pastoral painting pastoral painting, dean -- I think I know this one, but I can't remember. ETA: Landscape with Apollo and Mercury by Claude Lorraine
	demons with bellows painting of demons w/bellows. ETA: Folio 108r, "Hell," from Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry (1413-1416).
	angel/demon battle dean, angel/demon painting... this looks like Bosch, but it isn't. It also looks like Brueghel, but it isn't. I think. Maybe. Brueghel's aerial perspective didn't look like this. However, bottom right? The demon that's eating people? He looks familiar--like a carnival pig mask. ETA: A piece of Stefan Lochner's Last Judgement.
	st michael - lieferinxe st michael slaying the dragon- Josse Lieferinxe
	st michael - raphael st michael slaying the dragon - Raphael (from Houses of the Holy)

Guilty Pleasures - Movies

2009-05-18T17:45:40Z

Last night, I found myself clicking aimlessly through the 450 channels of shit on my TV, and I stopped at Under Siege. You know that movie, right? Steven Seagal, Tommy Lee Jones (with headband and bleeding ears) and ~~typecast~~ psycho Gary Busey. That movie is one of my all-time favorite guilty pleasures, and I can't even tell you why. It's *awful*, and yet it's probably the best movie Seagal's ever made. If it's playing, I'll stop and watch it for the godawful blues band to SS's godawful hand-to-hand to Erika Eleniak and SS's godawful ends-with-a-kiss. It's just so very bad.

What's your favorite guilty pleasure movie?

Supernatural 4x22

2009-05-15T02:19:17Z

I... and then he... and then... and then they, and I... and...

*head asplodes*

Unspoilery comment re SPN 4x20

2009-05-01T03:58:18Z

And then to bed with me so I can think on this ep...

But anyway--

BRING ON THE PAIN!!! OMG YES.

And now for something completely different --

2009-04-08T02:27:47Z

Another weird night, but a great night for this vid. Moon is nearly full. I'm restless. So there ya go.

New vid. *

And/or play it here! Thank you to my edifying beta, elynross and to way2busymom and tzikeh for comparing me to one of my favorite artists--completely independent of each other!

Dying is easy. Pacing is hard. All feedback is greatly appreciated.
*not supernatural

New Vid - Supernatural

2009-01-06T02:40:25Z

Actually, there are two vids. It didn't turn out so well the last time I released two vids on the same day, but I decided to give it another try. See if this time's better.

I got tired of hearing myself whine about being creatively stifled, and after a pep talk from some people who didn't even realize they were giving me a pep talk, I just grabbed it by the throat, and I've been vidding nonstop for days, and it feels so good.

So anyway. I made this Dean vid. And then I thought... It needs something. It needs an answering call from Sam. So I made a Sam vid. Another experiment. Another rule broken. You know, I *love* to talk about my vids, how I make them, WHY I make them, but right now I'm so completely wired up in vid farr, I can't *eeeeven* talk about it. I'll have to loosen up and let y'all prime the pump. Love 'em or hate 'em, here they are.

Download--

Dean

Sam

</lj-embed>

</a></lj-embed>Thank you to my glorious beta elynross . Always.

These are for you, fan_eunice . You know why. :)

Feedback and comments are always appreciated.

Total Recut Contest Results - What is Remix Culture?

2008-09-11T12:33:00Z

This summer I was privileged to be part of a team of judges for the Total Recut "What is Remix Culture" contest, and the winners were announced this week. The judging panel included Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, Mark Hosler, Pat Aufderheide, Matt Mason, JD Lasica, Kembrew McLeod and me. More info below (from Total Recut):

Those who submitted videos faced the first grueling test of a public vote, where viewers rated each piece on a scale of 1 to 10, to determine who would go forward into the final. At the end of July, the public vote was in and 10 diverse remixes, spanning six countries and three continents, were chosen to be judged by an esteemed panel of international judges, including Lawrence Lessig, Henry Jenkins, Mark Hosler, Pat Aufderheide, Matt Mason, JD Lasica, Kembrew McLeod and Luminosity. The contestants were judged out of 10 in each of three categories – creativity, communication and overall impact. In September 2008, all of the judges’ votes were in, and the winners were announced on TotalRecut.com.

The winners are:

First Place: DJ Le Clown, France - ‘Xmas in New York City’
Second Place: Jata Haan, the Netherlands – ‘Composition’
Third Place: Ricardo Carrion, Switzerland – ‘Remix Culture II’

The winners in first, second and third place will receive a laptop computer, a digital camcorder and a digital media player, respectively, courtesy of TotalRecut.com. Avid Pinnacle have sponsored software prizes for our runners up in fourth, fifth and sixth place, who will each receive a copy of the video editing package, Pinnacle Studio Ultimate v12. The remaining finalists will each receive Total Recut merchandise and a copy of one of our judges’ books. All of the competition entrants will receive a free copy of Videomaker magazine, compliments of Videomaker.com.

Total Recut is an award winning online social networking community for fans and creators of video remixes, recuts, and mash-ups that facilitates online collaboration between video artists. TotalRecut.com was launched by Owen Gallagher in 2007 to help promote a balance between protecting the rights of copyright owners and enabling artists to express themselves freely using the relatively new medium of online digital video.

I encourage y'all to go take a look. On a personal note, I learned quite a bit as a judge in this contest, not the least of which were the far-reaching interpretations of what a remix really is. I tend to be quite provincial and picky in my definitions of things, and this contest reminded me that, while I don't know much about art but like what I know, I also don't know much. :)

Also, leave these people some feedback! Not all remix vidding is fannish, and this contest was an entertaining reminder of that fact.

New Vid! Too Drunk

2008-07-21T22:58:28Z

Too Drunk DIVX, zipped.

NSFW.

I don't think this is safe for work unless you wear headphones. And unless you work where I work. heh.

Just a little something I had to get out of my system. Disrupt your dinner hour. Thanks to elynross if, indeed, she wants to have anything to do with this vid. LOL

</lj-embed>

To expand upon my last post

2008-05-12T19:30:49Z

Last night, someone I didn't know IM'd me (on my public IM "ytisonimul," listed on LJ and seldom open), and I clicked okay. Said that s/he had seen my latest vid and thought it was really "nice," and "well done." I said thank you, but the IM'er couldn't leave well enough alone. The next thing was "I watched several of your vids, and most of them are boring. I don't see why you make them at all since you're just rehashing what's on TV anyway." (paraphrase)

I did the Southern gracious thing and thanked him/her for the former compliment and latter criticism, signed off and then blocked them. Because, yeah. I'm nice but not that nice, and I have enough insecurity issues as it is.

I concluded that this person, one among many, doesn't get what vidding is. I've been vidding obsessively for eight years now, and there are people in my life--people that I would have bet money that they understood me and what I do--who just don't understand. They just don't. I spent years *forcing* my mundane friends to watch my vids, and they'd nod politely. They'd look away in the middle of the vid to say something--which is a dead giveaway that they do NOT understand what they're seeing. You can't look away and kibbitz in the middle of watching a vid--especially if you're seriously watching it for the first time. I think the most you can do on first viewing, if you're a serious viewer, is gasp or say "ooh" or groan at how horrible it is, if, indeed, it is horrible. BUT YOU CAN'T NOT LOOK. YOU CAN'T JUST NOD YOUR HEAD POLITELY AND TALK THROUGH IT.

I'm not talking about not understanding what the vidder is trying to say in his/her vid. We all, as viewers, bring our own interpretations. I'm talking about not getting the concept of vidding itself. The WHY of it all. The need and/or desire to take existing material, rearrange it, and (ooh, dare I say it?) transform it into something else. They just don't get it. And I don't know why.

OTOH, knowing why doesn't change anything really, does it? Even if I could explain why, they'd still not get it.

So, yes, to all of the people who commented on my cryptic post last night. It's true. Quite often, people don't "get" what I was trying to do in a vid, and that's fine because I understand that we're all different and bring different things to our viewing table. But you guys! You are *watching* the vids. You get the concept of vidding itself. It's the people who don't get why others are 1. fannish, and 2. creatively responsive to media.

And it's irritating.

/rant

ETA: JMGLO, YMMV, ESAD.