Yes, I'm still alive

3-2-11

I haven't updated in forever. I'm still alive, just being extremely lazy in updating this site. Yes, round 3 is closed. It hasn't been judged yet.

I have won lots of awards in the past few months but haven't added them to my awards totals. But I'm grateful for every single one of them. :D

I'm still active in the web world, mainly on the Fashion Spot and Television Without Pity as well as LiveJournal. I'm not shutting down this site. It's jsut been overly neglected. (I'm getting motivated to update it and judge the awards, I'm just not quite there yet.)

10 entries

10-21-10

I would like to have at least 15 (or 20) entries before closing the round, so depending on how many entries flow in will depend if I extend the round closing date or not.

I haven't posted here much but that's because I've been posting more on LJ. It took me so long to warm up to that site and now I love it. The picspam is inspiring and intimidating though.

No major updates to report.

I'm a Steampunker!

10-12-10

So, I posted this over on LJ, but thought I would post it here too. Yesterday, while watching Castle, I was so intrigued by the underground community portrayed on the show. They were all dressed up Victorian style and to get into their secret place, you had to know answers about classic authors like Jules Verne and Mary Shelley. They also held events like duels. Now, Castle doesn't shy away from portraying subcultures (and it's part of the fun of watching the show) but I've never found myself identifying with one before. It was a beautiful, and much needed, moment of clarity.

I'm a midwestern, working class girl. I'm the type of geek who finds parties intimidating (which is why I really didn't attend any until my senior year of college). I've often fancies hosting parties where everything was period-correct. Remember the picnic scene in the first Anne of Green Gables? Those are the types of places/parties I like to be at (and the area I live in Ohio is just vintage-y enough to have few tea rooms that do do that, and yes! I love going to them.). Elegant, old-fashioned, nostalgic. But NOBODY I knew thought that would be a wonderful party to throw/to do. So I never got my chance to host one. (As I've mentioned before, hipsters are very particular about what they do. Hipsters do love period dramas and classic literature but not actually recreating them because that wouldn't be...hip.)

I think my steampunk aesthete is much more like Chuck Bass's or Blair Waldorf's. And, those of you who watch the show are going "WTF! Those two aren't nerdy." But, really, yes, they are (even though those two would never admit it). They are like a more exaggerated version of the Life and Death Brigade from Gilmore Girls with their insistance on bring old-timey turn of the last century ideals and lifestyles into modern times. Like, my clothing makeover this summer. It's a subtle way of being old-fashioned: preppy sportwear that makes me think of old times. I would never, ever go to Comic Con and dress in an costume like some in the steampunk culture do, but like Blair or Chuck, I do costume myself everyday in clothing that makes feel like I'm in another era.

You may think it's weird that I'm uber-excited about finding out about a type of sub-culture I feel I belong to, but for me, it's a relief. It sort explains far better than I ever could myself how I'm "a geek but not really, a princess but not really--but very definitely BOTH."

Round 4/3rd Annual Period Drama Contest Now Open

9-22-10

If you are a regular who typically submits in the general rounds, please note that this is a special round and you are to ignore the general rules page. If you are a newbie, the link to the Contest is on the nav bar. Click on that only when submitting. I tested it, so the submit page should be working properly, but if not, please let me know.

Any questions, comments, concerns--feel free to ask.

**Entries: 6 so far. Remember the round closes November 1!

LiveJournal links for you

9-19-10

So, if you are over on LiveJournal, I'd love to friend you. I've had an account over there for a long while, but only recently started getting active on it. You weren't wondering, but the reasoning is largely due to Gossip Girl. Although I have Television Without Pity to rant on and enlighten me, two GG communities over there really enabled me to let out my anger and vent with other fans about Chuck whoring Blair to save his hotel (why aren't more fans outraged about that, by the way?) and then sleeping with his stepsister (who is somehow the 'slut' per the mainstream Chair shipper even though she just lost her virginity to her would-be rapist and more sexually seasoned step-brother who has just slept with other every hooker and floozy in town two minutes after breaking up with Blair). Thanks largely due to GG_feminism and ggconspiracy, I'd been relieved to discover there are still some sane people in the world who don't excuse away all Chuck's treatment of other characters, particularly Blair, due to his Daddy Issues, his Mommy Issues, his Uncle Issues, his current Hamletization. (Ed Westwick is a wonderful actor, and a very handsome drool-worthy one at that. However, Chuck Bass is an emotionally abusive asshole.)

Anyway, I finally set up my journal page over there so it looks all homey and inviting. If you use LJ and want to add me a friend, go right on ahead. If not, you can still check out my LJ link here: felicityking.

The long wait is OVER!!!

9-17-10

I told you they would be up by Friday and I did not lie. Go get your awards for round 3! :D Kaysa provided reviews too, so be sure you visit that page after you get your goodies.

ascrip, your entry got misplaced in my email, but I found the form in freedback after Kaysa had given me her results. So, I'll hold your entry for rd 5. (You don't have to worry about resubmitting.) Christy, your entry is being held over for rd 5 as well (since you submitted after I had offically closed the round originally). As mentioned in previous updates, Round 4 is a Period Drama round. It will have its own separate rules page. I'm just awaiting a response from Kaysa and then I'll put up the rules link for it. (Yes, due to the nature of round 4, it has different rules from the regular rounds.) Loo for round 4 to open sometime next week.

300, baby!!!!

9-13-10

Some of you may remember when I posted about winning my 100th award. Weirdly, as with that win, it was "Jane's Angst," that pushed me over to the new number. It was last year at this time that I won my 100th, so to be up to 300 leaves me going "YAY! Woot! Am I really up to 300 already? Did I miscount? Nope!" and jumping up and down. I still remember that countdown to getting to one hundred, and it felt like it took F. O. R. E. V. E. R. Going from 100 to 300 in a year's time is just, well, not expected. (Not expected in a good way though!)
I also won a shiny new Judge's Choice award:

So, thank you to An Eternal Dream, A Delicate Flower, Always Holding On, Art of Vidding Awards, Becoming Carpathian, BlueSalad Awards, Bound to Happen, CosmiicHoriizons, Diamond Galaxy, Dreams & Memories, Fandom Mania, Forever, Love's Bitch, Multi-fandom Video, Myths & Demons, PV, Silent Promise, SpuffyProductions, Stay Beautiful, Ultimate Universe and VIVA for believing in me and my videos. It feels so good to reach this milestone! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

WRA rd 3 awards will be up by Friday

9-13-10

Kaysa sent me her reviews so now I'm just finishing making and uploading the awards. Round 4 will open as soon as I have posted the 3rd Annual Period Drama Contest video on youtube. I've made some changes from previous years, so if you've participated before, you'll still have to read the rules. I'm really looking forward to Round 4/3rd Annual Period Drama Contest. I will say, without shame, that I love judging it more than anything else. I always see tons of inspiring and creative videos. Not to mention, find out about vidders I might not have known about.


wra rd 3 update and the coding

9-2-10

Kaysa is done judging and has sent me her results. I have the award templates ready, so I will be making the awards. Although I wanted to co-judge, I've been too busy (or too lazy, or too lacking in focus, or too something to get motivated)---and it's extremely unfair to keep you guys waiting any longer. So, the round is solely hers. However, I trust her opinion. If she is up for it, we'll co-judge round 4 together. Expect the awards to be up in about a week. Or sooner.

As for rd 4, it will be a special round. Period Drama videos only. That way I can get the contest in this year. Unlike previous years, I won't be making a prize video for the winners, but you will be getting awards (and more chances to get an award since I have so many categories for you to enter your video in). Expect it to open in a few weeks.

I said I be done installing the coding, but it's not going as planned. On some of the pages, it's appearing rather wonky. The menu bar is lying on top the middle section of the page rather than to the left where it belongs. So, I've stopped installing it until I figure out what I'm doing wrong. (I use IE.)

Completely off-topic: I was over at An Eternal Dream the other day watching some of Kayla's videos when suddenly I got hit by a urgent need to watch One Tree Hill. Now, I haven't liked or even watched that show since around season 5. However, the earlier seasons of that show were appointment TV for me, largely because of my love for Nathan and Haley. I loved them back in the day, and watching her videos apparently brought back good shipper memories because I've off to find seasons 1-3 to watch again!

Edited to add, I have a new affiliate: So go check out her site! :D

Site updates & other news

9-2-10

I'm finishing installing Lizzie's coding. I should be done in a day or two. BTW: if you guys spot anything around the site that needs to be fixed, let me know. (I try to make sure all the pages are working, but I don't always catch everything.) I've finally added some art to my art section. All were Atonement inspired. Here are some samples to whet your appetite:

Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

I'm working on not one, but 2 period drama prize videos right now. Hopefully, I'll have those up by October. I'm really liking how they are turning out, even though the concept for Amy's took me some time to work out. I'm very excited about them!

In non-sites news, last weekend I saw a Titanic artifact exhibition. It was one of my goals for the summer, so I'm glad I got to do it. I think I liked the personal effects and passenger stories the most. My favorite was about an adventurer who had a ticket for the ship, but got kidnapped and taken to Egypt. His luggage went down with the ship, but he didn't. (Eventually he was able to escape his capturers.) What I didn't like the stuck-in-a-sardines-can feeling trying to negotitate my way around the exhibit. Whoever did the layout sucked at it, because it took forever to be able to see each artifact because everybody was all crammed into a line trying to get from place to place. Also, in my past life as a passenger on the ship, I was Mrs. Thomas Potter, Jr. I found out about the ship in Turkey with my daughter and decided to book a passage on it. I survived. (This is completely shallow and very frivolous but I almost squeed when I saw I listed as "first class" when given my card. Not because I have anything against 2nd, 3rd, and crew persons but because I love the Gilded Age luxury. I would be so at home in that splendor!)

I also visited the home of conservationist and Pulitzer Prize winning fiction author Louis Bromfield. Nobody really remembers him today, but he was a big name in the 1920s-1930s and friends of many New York literary and Hollywood bigwigs. In fact, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall got married in his home. His home, Malabar Farms, is a nice place. It's also still a working farm. But the home didn't look like your typical farmhouse! Lots of beautiful furniture and fantastic paintings.

What a summer!

8-24-10

Wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow-wow. That's really all I have to say. I'm still reeling from winning 2 editing and several judge's choice award recently and now I get this goodie:
I'm amazed. It's an old(er) video, so I'm surprised to have won a top award for it. Edited to add: Just found from my tagboard (of all places!!!) that I won a Judge's Choice for the video. Now, that caught me off guard! To think last winter, I thought I would die of depression, now this summer, I think I'm going to die from shocks of happiness. (Well, I told I'm an award whore and frivolous though they are, I love winning them. It's probably one reason why vidding remains a favorite hobby. ;)) Strange that all this good stuff should come my way after I "make myself over." Karma has a weird way of working. I'm truly humbled by it all though.

In other news, BlueSalad Awards is also hosting a BOTB. So, if you like either of mine (Jane's Angst or Beyond the Sea), please vote for me. Although I certainly won't be mad if you don't because the other videos in the competition are flawless masterpieces too. :D


new layout & new video

8-23-10

You could say I talked myself into both. After writing so much about how Chuck and Blair were like the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, I realized how badly I wanted another royalty layout. Who better to make it than Lizzie? After sending her a bunch of pictures, she too concurs that Chuck Bass is indeed copying his style from the Duke of Windsor (and I think you can even tell for yourselves just from the layout as well). I love this layout. It reminds me of a postcard. The Duke and Duchess were socialites and jetsetters before there were jets, so it just feels perfect.

As to the video, poor Amy of A Delicate Flower is probably thinking "but where is MY prize video?" Well, I'm still working on it. My muse is being enormously stubborn and doesn't want to cooperate with me. Rather than fight it and turn out a video that I will think is subpar (and I don't make subpar videos for my prize winners!), I decided to take a break and let my Muse go where it will. "Gossip Girl" has been my recent, super obsession, so it turned to that.