Time flies

A web, taken on my iPhone last week. It's all connected.

It used to be just you and me...

...hanging out over here, me writing something terribly earnest about Joss, or The Guild, or Firefly, or something geeky, and you reading it and moving on. I've been a terrible host recently. I never write. I never call. I never send flowers...

In good company

Louis Gray (I value his opinion on most matters) wrote a post this week about how he hasn't blogged much recently. Louis now works for Google+ and is doing a fantastic job for them. It tweaked my conscience, and then today I had to look up when the IAWTV elections were, so I headed over here and realised how long it's been.

Gone, but not forgotten

Blogging here started me on a path that has taken me to many, many places I never thought I would go. Just over a week ago I sat next JANE ESPENSON on a panel about webseries at Geek Girl Con, after she accepted my invitation to share her experiences on her new series, HUSBANDS. On the panel were amazingly talented and passionate creators. If you had told me that would happen four years ago I would have made you a nice cup of tea to soothe your obviously over-worked imagination. I've written about Jane here because she has had such a huge impact on my life and writing. I didn't get to tell her that at the panel, but one day...

One day...

Dudes, I'm sorry for neglecting you. Seriously. This blog will never go away, even if I have to abandon it from time to time while life gets in the way. Don't forget I am all over the place and I love to hear from people. I usually respond pretty quickly and if I don't, give me a nudge. So come and find me if you ever want a natter:

http://twitter.com/#!/worldofhiglet

http://mindmybrains.com/

http://higletfilms.com

http://maryhigginsconsultancy.com

http://maryhigginswriter.com

https://plus.google.com/u/0/113137518938994935016 (which is my unweildy Google+ profile URL)

The 'Women in Webseries' panel, parts 1 & 2 from @Ackernon

LA Can't Stop The Serenity - watch Joss Whedon et al at CSTS

Watch the recorded livecast from LA

In case you (like me) missed the livecast from the LA CSTS today with Joss Whedon, Tim Minnear, Felicia Day, Jane Espenson and many more - you can watch it on GeekWeek on Justin.tv:


Watch live video from GeekWeek on Justin.tv

Blip.tv, The Collective and Jane Espenson - #webseries news!

Blip.tv and The Collective graphic (taken from blip.tv sizzle reel)

A big day!
This morning Blip.tv and The Collective announced their new partnership live on Livestream:

Watch live streaming video from bliptv at livestream.com

This is huge news and will change the landscape in the webseries world. From the Blip.tv blog:

 "This partnership breaks new ground for blip.tv and validates the position we’ve taken for years about the relevance of original web series, and our dedication to the success of their creators.  The Collective, like us, takes a long-term view that places the creator and star firmly in control of their own destiny.Our partnership was the result of a ton of exploration about how we can work together to add value to the web series creators who will be a part of it.

Starting today, the creators working with Collective Digital Studio will build upon their amazing success by adding new audiences on the blip.tv destination site and our network of distribution partners.  We’ll also work with them to take advantage of opportunities with advertisers so that they can make more and better content for their fans, which will be available on the new blip.tv destination site, on YouTube, and on their own sites."

Tubefiler had live coverage and Newteevee have also covered this news.

We choose Blip.tv for our upcoming webseries "Mind My Brains, Darling!" because their distribution and management backend gave us what we needed. When they unveiled their completely revamped site a couple of weeks ago we were thrilled to be part of their new focus on the viewer's experience. Thanks to Jeremy Hodges' help our Blip.tv pages looks amazing:

I'm looking forward to seeing what this new partnership will bring.

More things that make you go "Squee!"
One of my very favourite TV writers - in fact, one of my favourite writers, period - is Jane Espenson. I first encountered her on Buffy and I have tracked her since, enjoying her work whenever and wherever  I find it. We won't dwell on the heartbreak that is the cancellation of Caprica, but rather rejoice in the fact that Jane has several projects on the go. There is a wonderful interview with her in the Huffington Post today.

It is full of insights but it is the very last lines that really got me going:

"Is there a story you're dying to tell? If you were given complete freedom, ratings weren't an issue and there were no studio restraints, what story would you write? 

 I do have such a story -- a comedy idea a friend and I came up with and co-wrote a little script for. It's something that I think would inevitably change with studio input, and I want to keep it clear in my head at least until we've captured our clean vision of it, so I think we will shoot it as a web series. Ask me about it again in about a month or so!"

A new* Jane Espenson webseries?!? This is outstanding news! More details as they are released...

P.S. If you are reading this, Jane, I really do have a set you can use - @worldofhiglet on twitter and I'll hook you up. You like Vancouver, right?

EDIT: During #webserieschat today I realised that some people might not know that Jane is a Streamy Award winning webseries writer! She won in 2009 for the Battlestar Galactica webseries, "Face of the Enemy". I blogged about it here and here - and have some pictures on Flickr. She has also been linked to a new Torchwood webseries!

All roads lead to Joss and Jane...Billy Joel coming to Rock Band 3

Billy Joel image from Zmarter.com (modified from his Glass Houses album artwork)

I'M OLD!
The first time I realised this for sure was when watching Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I already had the feeling sometimes that perhaps I wasn't necessarily in the youngest target audience, but 'Band Candy' brought it home in spectacular fashion. It's one of my favourite episodes (6) from Season 3 of Buffy and it is written by Joss Whedon and Jane Espenson. It's funny, dark and sets up a great line in 'Earshot':  "...on the hood of a police car?!?"

In the ep, all the adults who eat the school's Band Candy start reverting and acting like irresponsible teens. The Scooby gang go to The Bronze to check out what's going on where they discover teachers, Snyder (the non-eaten-yet Principle) and various adults jumping around in a most uncomely manner. They can't understand what going on, so Willow delivers the killer line:


"Maybe there's a reunion in town or, or a Billy Joel tour or something." 

Hubby and me looked at each other with horror when we heard those words the first time. We had both enjoyed listening to Billy Joel in our teenage years and had several of his albums. Yep. WE WERE OLD!

Fast forward a few years...
Yesterday I read this article on zmarter.com called "Billy Joel coming to Rock Band 3 out of spite". It recounts the story of how Billy Joel came to license his music for the game, with this quote from a USA Today article:

"I've never allowed my music to be used in a game before," but an Entertainment Weekly review of NBC's The Office changed his mind. Alluding to an episode in which characters mention a Rock Band featuring Billy Joel, "the critic wrote something like, 'God forbid that ever should happen.' So I called my people and said, 'Get me (on) that Rock Band game.' Then I wrote the critic, saying that every time I get a check, I'll give him a little nod."

 :) you have to love that story! Good ole Billy. And, of course, it made me think of Buffy. And Joss. And Jane. Because, in the end, all roads lead back to them.

P.S.
Teen son was listening to some Country and Western music while lying on his bed the other day. I told him I understood, because everyone knew that it was the music of pain. He knew what I meant. It was a precious moment.

The Streamys 2010: What can we expect tonight?

Felicia Day accepts (one of) her Streamy Award in 2009

They say you always remember your first time...

...and I certainly remember the First Streamys. It was a dark and stormy nig....er, no, that's not quite right. It was a highly exciting night. No one was sure of what to expect. Who would be there? Who would win? Who would scream the loudest if the live stream didn't work?

Sandeep Parikh and Felicia Day kick off the action in 2009

Breathlessly waiting

Like many people gathered on Twitter and WatchTheGuild chat room, I anxiously waited for the live feed to finally start. After a couple of small hiccups we were thrust right into the heart of the Streamys. Felicia Day and Sandeep Parikh set the ball in motion and the awards came thick and fast. For a great summary read this article from Tubefilter. It was an uplifting evening.

Jane Espenson (we are not worthy) tells us that BSG is like chopped liver in her 2009 Streamys acceptance speech

So many winners, a few surprises and lots of hard work rewarded. It's a bit of a blur but I managed to remember enough about it to cobble together a blog post. So what will we see this year?

Joss Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen accept the Dr Horrible Streamy in 2009

Vanity Fair gives us a taste
Surprisingly (to me, anyway), the only place I've seen any real hint of what's going to happen on the night has been in this article. No real spoilers except that Keanu Reeves will be there....and no word if NPH will sneak along just for the heck of it (we can hope).

Neil Patrick Harris thrills at the Streamys 2009 with tales of Nathan Fillion's junk

Submit to a night of web history
There will be winners and losers but we can all share in the experience of seeing the future of web entertainment blossoming before our very eyes. The red carpet pre-show starts at 3:30 PST and the ceremony itself starts at 5:30 PST. Make sure you are locked onto http://www.streamys.org/ to be a part of history and I'll see you there (and on Twitter)! I'll be adding pictures from the ceremony on my Flickr account as quickly as they will upload.

The Guild looked fabulous last year but....

Who hopes that The Guild will show up in their Avatar costumes?!?

SD Comic Con - The Guild, Dr Horrible and Shenanigans!

San Diego Comic Con is on this week!

And once again I will be attending via the Internet. Sure, some people might say that stalking all the people I know who are going is a poor substitute for actually being there, but at least this way I don't have many scheduling nightmares and the kids get to eat this month! Last year I blogged on Whedonage about all the people I would queue up to see if I were there Part 1 and Part 2. The list hasn't changed that much, with a few additions, perhaps.

For all us unfortunates not able to be there here are some resources that might help:

Websites:

Tubefilter: a guide to all the webseries at SDCC including The Guild and Dr Horrible

Whedonage: all the Whedon-related happenings this year

The Guild: their guide to everything Guild-related

Guildies: Comic-Con'd!: Set up by Dani (@maxsummers), a collection of Guildies will be posting their reports from SDCC (I'm really excited about this!)

Twitterers:

@Crixlee Cricket Lee: co-presenter of A Fangirl's Guide podcast, girl gamer and Guild extra will be at CC, collecting interviews and giving away stickers

@egspoony Edgar Garcia: The Guild and Felicia's webmaster extraordinaire

@maxsummers Dani will be posting on the Guildies' site (can't wait for her to meet with Felicia!) and tweeting (I hope!)

@seanbecker some dude

@jaredhoy Chief Lighting Technician on The Guild and co-presenter of A Fangirl's Guide podcast will be interviewing and video blogging

@nathantamayo Guildie who will also be blogging on the Guildies' site

@FannishInc: Interviewer extraordinaire will be there

@danregal: expect more pics than you can wave a stick at!

@RobinInSeoul: a Whedonite of distinction!

@CapricaSeven: Jane Espenson, who will be there for the BSG panel

EDIT: @theguild: They will have a very special announcement for Guildies at CC on Thursday AM, so be sure you're following them (yes, even those of us not there want to know what's going on!)

@jul_weiss: Julianna Weiss, Editor of Pink Raygun is at CC and will be getting scoop on lots of geektastical wonders!

Video reporting

The lovely Jared Hoy has started a video blog about SDCC. Despite some misgivings about his co-host (and you'll understand why when you see who that is) I have high hopes for this:

If you know of anyone else or other sites that have SDCC information on them please let me know and I'll add them.

EDIT:

Jessica Stover (@JSto) will be representing Artemis Eternal at SDCC but in a different form to last year. All the details are on the Artemis Eternal website.

Shenanigans!

So what's all that about, then? Well, I have discovered some shocking news. News so shocking that it could set the Internet alight like hasn't been seen since the news of Guild Deficiency Syndrome broke or that loser Sean Becker was apparently sacked by the wonderful Felicia Day. It's so potentially devastating that I can barely bring myself to blog about it. But I know my duty. Stay tuned - the truth is out there!!!

Battlestar Galactica, The Looking Glass Wars and Clara

So then, one more step nearer the end.
Jane Espenson, one of my favourite writers and all-round great person, wrote the last episode of BSG, which we watched last night. Now, I've seen some people apparently complaining about this season (I say 'apparently' because I only read the first bits so as to keep myself spoiler-free). It has been a different experience for me because I'm not watching 5 new episodes back-to-back like I was before (you should really try this if you haven't already. Get a whole season of a program you've never seen but think you might like/someone else recommended to you, and just go for it). I hate having to wait for adverts to end, never mind a whole week between episodes.

Keep me hanging on, please!
But I'm really enjoying this season. I know things are slowly unravelling, and the anticipation of what is yet to come makes me slightly giddy. So last night I was moved, startled and excited, and then the beginning titles came on! No spoilers, but the first scenes were utterly captivating, and the remainder of the episode just built up the tension. I really, really can't wait to see what happens next. And yet...I'm trying to savour every scene because I'll never be this close to the end without knowing what's to come again. Bittersweet, indeed.

The Looking Glass Wars, a la Francais
I've not read 'The Looking Glass Wars' yet, but it's one of the books on my list to take with me on that cruise I'm going on. When it was released in the UK it caused quite a storm and I made a mental note to read it (anything that can get 'The Guardian' readers in such a pickle has to be good!). And now the latest auction from Kids Need To Read features a French edition (entitled 'Les Guerres du Miroir') signed by author Frank Beddor and comes packaged with a host of other LGW-related goodies. The auction is on eBay and closes on May 2nd, so brush up your Francais and get bidding!

I hate sprouts
The vegetable, that is. One of the few I can't stand. Felicia Day has found a use for Sprout Builder, though! It's a neat and easy way to create little widgets that can be put on most web pages. I've put one of 'The Guild' ones on my blog. It's really easy to add them. I went to WatchTheGuild.com, found the widget and clicked on 'share'. You then press 'copy' and all the code you need is copied to your clipboard, ready to paste into your web page/blog/whatever. Easy! It looks straightforward to make you own Sprouts, too, but I haven't tried it yet. I've got writing to do, you know! And speaking of The Guild, Clara (played by Robin Thorsen) is on Movie Mob and you can vote to keep her on for next week.

Battlestar Galactica: the final season rip-roars onto TV...

Spoiler-free, as always!
Yes, we watched the first episode last night. The drama! The excitement! And that was just setting the DVD to record....We watched it slightly after the event, because we couldn't afford the kids interrupting and also the advert-issue. So later last night we switched on and soaked in the magic. Well kids, if you've managed to remain immune to Battlestar so far I feel sorry for you. My best advice is to get down to the video store/go online and rent seasons 1-3, book some time off your life and settle down to some of the best TV currently available. The only downside is the waiting! It's another week until my next fix and in the meantime I daren't look at anything related to BSG because I don't want to see any spoilers...

Another Jane Espenson interview - and still spoiler-free
So I was thrilled to see the TVGuide interview with Jane Espenson. I'm a big fan of Ms Espenson and read her blog regularly because it has such great advice for writers and is written in a way that everyone would find interesting. In the interview she talks about Buffy and Battlestar and we find out her take on some of the main characters in BSG. She also tells about how happy she was to be made part of the staff team and what working for Joss Whedon and Ron Moore is like.

Buffy, Battlestar and Firefly...how are they linked?

The writer Jane Espenson, of course!
In an io9 interview with the great writer herself she explains how different the writing process was between Battlestar Galactica and Firefly, talks about the 'cylon bible' (not what you think!) and how cylon models differ. All in a spoiler-free way.

Talking of Battlestar...
Season 3 is now in the bag - watched and exclaimed over! Seriously, you have to see it before this Friday when Season 4 starts. So many good bits, none of which I can talk about without getting into spoiler-city. There is one part, though, that I think I can discuss without giving anything away. We find out that one of the characters was born and raised on a planet where they talk like they come from Northern England! Seriously! Battlestar does not have many laughs, and certainly not many unintentional laughs, but me and hubby burst out laughing when this person slipped into their 'native' dialect. It was like they were channelling the spirit of Sean Bean though, thankfully, Sean is very much alive and kicking. It were great! Speaking as a Northerner myself it was an unexpected pleasure to hear those (less-than-) dulcet tones. It only enhanced my viewing pleasure, and was right well done. Still makes me smile just to think on it. Aye, it does that.

Later today...Buffy Paley and Firefly/Serenity updates, Joss Whedon's Journal and why this blog is in three pieces.

Jayne's hat

What did you do today?
I know what I did; research, writing, house stuff and created some new links for the blog (as I'm sure you've noticed). I've also added the feed from the Kids Need To Read website. Co-founded by Nathan Fillion (Captain Mal Reynolds from Firefly) this site is updated regularly and raises money for reading projects. It's a great site that's well presented and a cause worth suppporting. They also have ebay auctions of all sorts of very exciting items and are at the moment auctioning a signed photo of James Doohan (I don't need to tell you who he was, surely). It's been so productive today the engines cannae hardly take it.

Feed the what?
But I'm having some trouble with feeds, so I hope that will be sorted out soon. If anyone has tried to subscribe using 'Atom' feed button at the bottom of the blog and had any problems please let me know. Especially if you know how to fix it!

A boy called Jayne
Actually I wanted to talk about the girl first. Jane Espenson's website is witty, well written (of course) and full of advice for aspiring writers. Her writing credentials are impressive and include Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Ellen.

Kneedly done
One look at the pattern for Jayne's hat (as worn by Adam Baldwin in Firefly) has convinced me that I'm better off either bribing someone to make it for me or buying one. And where did I see the pattern? On the Vancouver Firefly/Serenity meetup site.

Over and out
That's all for today except to say that Star Wait should be on it's way soon. And (wait for it) there are some follow up interviews in there! Thanks to Michael for that, I'm really looking forward to watching it.