Want to work with Felicia Day and Jenni Powell? Try Geek & Sundry's new channel!

from http://geekandsundry.com/view/geek-sundry-launches-new-channel/

UPDATE: The link to the SUBMISSIONS page is now working! Are you going to give it a go?

If you've been waiting for your big chance to break into the next level on YouTube, then you need to know about a hugely exciting opportunity that has just been announced.

Felicia Day's multi-layered Geek & Sundry YouTube Channels have just added a new venture - Geek & Sundry Vlogs. There is something for everyone, so if you're looking for a new vlogger - or want to check one out for the first time -  head on over to YouTube (also: Felicia with bangs...)

From http://www.youtube.com/geekandsundryvlogs

And - they are looking for new talent:

It kind of gets better, if that’s possible. These lucky vloggers? They’re not vlogging for us in a vacuum. Each of the twenty vloggers will be personally mentored by Miss Felicia Day herself, as well as the extremely talented and very awesome Jenni Powell, who hails from the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. (Squee?) Vloggers will have access to marketing training, extra promotion, exclusive collaborations, opportunities for access to events, resources, and even a per-video stipend. Yeah, totally dream job, right?! 

But, but … how can I be a part of Geek & Sundry Vlogs? You ask, stomping your foot in the Wonka Chocolate Factory … You’re in luck, Miss Veruca Salt. We’re accepting submissions for new vloggers all summer long!

How often do you get the chance to work with such talented people? Felicia Day has won so many awards and accolades for her work, and she has always been focussed on giving back to the community. Jenni Powell is another powerhouse with years of experience developing and creating online work, and is one of the founders of Celebrate The Web. They are fantastic people to work with and this is a huge opportunity.

If you have a current Vlog, or have been preparing to set one up, then you need to head over to the Geek & Sundry website. The submission page is due to be up today (May 20th) and as soon as it is I'll update this page with the link. In the meantime check out the new Vlogs that are already there!

IAWTV Board Elections: Voting starts today!

 UPDATE: all the submitted candidate videos can be seen on the IAWTV YouTube channel "Board of Directors Campaign Videos" playlist.

Voting for five seats on the IAWTV Board of Directors opens today
When I wrote about the last IAWTV Board Election in January of this year I had no idea that I would be a candidate for the Board myself in this election. It was a huge honour to be nominated, and a big surprise (I still don't know who put my name forward). I accepted the nomination because I want to show that I believe the IAWTV has a great future and that anyone - anyone - that has something to offer can help build the organisation.

Video stars
The Communications Committee has been working hard on new innovations and one of the differences in this election is the new video statements from candidates. When I read the email outlining this I was filled with....well, trepidation. Anyone who has seen my videos knows that I am not afraid to make fun of myself for a cheap laugh, but this was different. Although the temptation was to turn it into an edutainment exercise (with the emphasis on 'tainment'), I quickly realised that that wouldn't do. This election, like the last one, is IMPORTANT. The IAWTV means something to me and I desperately want it to grow and expand.

Seriously serious
The problem is, of course, that being serious to camera - and learning a 90 second script - is so far out of my ken that I cannot even count the number of takes it took to read (and yes, I am reading) my earnest statement in one mostly-flub-free take. This is the result:



Now, the astute of you may conclude that my honour is still intact - I am still not afraid to make myself look foolish in front of the camera. That is true. Even though I might wish to look more polished, professional and actorly, the truth is that those things don't bother me. I simply want people to know that I care about the future of the IAWTV and I want it to be truly International.


Candidate choices
PLEASE read the candidate statements and watch all the submitted videos. They are on the IAWTV YouTube channel on the main channel page and also under the 'Playlists'.* There are some amazing candidates for the Board and it is a testament to the passion people have for the IAWTV that there are so many diverse candidates. However you vote there is already a renewal going on in the organisation. Please remember to vote because, like the last election, it really does matter.

* There were two options for candidates, either send the video to the IAWTV or upload it on your own channel and send a link so it could be on the playlist. I uploaded it to HigletFilms because it seemed more efficient to do that, so you'll find my video on the IAWTV playlist.

The Guild Season 4 on YouTube plus Amazon.ca DVDs are shipping!

It's Here!
After months of waiting, The Guild Season 4 finally hit YouTube today, so let the commenting, liking and sharing begin! Of course, many people have already watched the whole season on MSN and/or Xbox, but a surprising number of people don't watch there. They are in for a treat....! @theguild report that they will be releasing Season 4 episodes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, which means we'll be through the whole season in four weeks. That's great news for fans, but makes me wonder why they have chosen to do this. I'm going to hopefully speculate it's because we'll have something new to see soon enough (like Dragonage: Redemption, for instance?). But that is pure speculation.

Amazon.ca now shipping The Guild S4 DVDs!
And more good news today, in the form of an email from Amazon.ca:

...it's another great week to be a Guildie :)

Mind My Brains, Darling! Holiday Special

Two years ago today: Act 1 of Evil League of Evil Applications Processing Office

How time flies...!
August 16th 2008 was the day I first uploaded a video to YouTube on my EvilWorldofHiglet account. Act 1 of 'Evil League of Evil Application Processing Office' marked the beginning of a new an exciting venture into the world of webseries.



There are 6 Acts in total plus 2 bonus videos. They are all on EvilWorldofHiglet's YouTube channel.

Outtakes you never saw...
It took many, many attempts to get this recorded. For one thing, I couldn't say "Evil League of Evil" properly (and still have trouble with it). "The Evil League of Eagles" was what I said the most, followed by a stream of swearing. And you see the bag of 'stuff' I'm holding up in the picture, above? That was soil from the garden. Hubby went and foraged for it. He obviously got more than soil, too, as a bug of sort was wandering all over the desk in one of the takes, but we only noticed it afterwards. We never did find it....


Onwards and upwards!
As we prepare to unleash our newest creation upon you ('Project X'), it's interesting to take a look back at where it all began. I wrote about the way we record things - the Bodyline technique - over on HigletFilms yesterday. This is where is all started. Thank you for your continued support and we hope you'll enjoy our new webseries. We'll be launching very soon and you can find out all about how things are going over at HigletFilms.com.

Excelsior!

PS I'm assuming you've all watched Dr Horrible's Sing-ALong Blog! If not you can download via iTunes here or buy it:

Dear Joss, can I monetise my ELE Applications Office videos?

 My first webseries even won an award

...Or is it "...may I"? I always get confused about that one. 

So then, what's this all about?

If you can cast your mind back over two years ago, I was busy writing about Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in several places (this blog, the Official Dr Horrible Fan Site and Whedonage), and re-watching it with abandon. I was also following Felicia Day and The Guild closely, amazed at what she had achieved. In August 2008 I was thinking about how Billy kept applying to the Evil League of Evil and not getting in, and my mind turned to just what the form was like and who processed it.



And so the Evil League of Evil Applications Processing Office was born.

From idea to video
I wrote the first three scripts then recorded the first one using my webcam and my dead laptop. It was harder than I thought it would be and a hundred times the fun. I told a few Guildies I had met on Twitter and Guild chat about it and waited to see if anyone would either watch or like it. And thank you now to all the people (you know who you are) who took the time to watch, comment and support me - I am still very grateful!



A six-part webseries, plus extras
I wanted all the action to be framed around the timeline of Dr Horrible because then I could incorporate plot points. It expanded from three to six episodes plus EvilWorldofHiglet's application to the ELE, and one for Felicia Day, too.


People are still watching them
The videos on the EvilWorldofHiglet channel on YouTube have over 116,000 views between them. Last year one of my interviews with Felicia Day became eligible for YouTube partnership and after getting permission from Felicia it now now has adverts on it. A couple of weeks ago YouTube contacted me again and said Acts 1 and 3 of ELE Application Processing Office are also eligible (they have over 25,000 view between them). So, do I need permission from Joss? And if so, how would one go about asking him? Maybe I could @motancharoen, @jedwhedon or @zdubdub on Twitter and ask them?

What's a gal to do?
Does anyone else have any ideas? Let me know and I'll keep you posted :)

Shock news!!! Fans make Felicia Day cry on her Birthday!

(Felicia celebrating her brithday, from @georgeruiz)

Happy Birthday, Felicia - now weep!

In an effort to show their appreciation for Felicia Day, fans worked for months to prepare a birthday surprise she would never forget - but it seemed like it had backfired when Felicia turned up on Guild Chat:

You can see for yourself why:

Breaking News: Felicia LOVED the Video!
After checking sources it has been revealed that, in fact, Felicia was crying tears of JOY at the video, not despair!

(Taken from The Guild Chat this morning)

And to confirm this, Felicia also left this comment on the video:

"OMG thanks all of you for making my birthday a fantastic day, you are all amazing! :) I'm so happy to be a part of your community! :)" (From YouTube)

Congratulations to everyone involved - it was a wonderful way to celebrate someone special!

EDIT: Dani has created a new topic for Felicia's Birthday with more details about the video :)

More Birthday Greetings!

We couldn't let Felicia have a birthday without doing something ourselves, so we recruited a few helpers in the shape of the BC Browncoats at the Can't Stop The Serenity in Vancouver on Saturday:

Thank you to everyone involved :) (you can see a longer video from CSTS Vancouver here)

Have a BRILLIANT BIRTHDAY, FELICIA!!!

The Guild Season 3 Recap - Autotun'd!

 Autotuned by the Gregory Brothers!

Holy Moly!
The Streamy-winning Gregory Brothers have released an awesome rap of The Guild Season 3 today - in loving Autotune! Check out The Gregory Brother's YouTube channel, schmoyoho, to see all their "Autotune the News" videos - witty and beautifully-arranged songs, and you can also follow them on Twitter.

EDIT: As Dani pointed out on WatchTheGuild/forum - the end of the video gives the SEASON 4 START DATE: JULY 13th!!! I missed this at first with all the excitement :)

EDIT: There is an embed code for "The Guild Season 3 Recap: Autotuned" now! Enjoy!

<br/><a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-season-3-recap-auto-tuned/y0d7ilb3?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="'The Guild' Season 3 Recap: Auto-Tuned">Video: 'The Guild' Season 3 Recap: Auto-Tuned</a>

Here's the link so you can view it here.

Zaboo was feeling hot - autotuning can do that to you....

The Guild S3 Hits YouTube and Felicia Day hits....Sean Becker?

Episode One of Season 3 posted on YouTube today
Every Friday we will be getting the next episode in all it's uncensored (and sweary) glory! Season 3 is also available on iTunes and from Amazon.com (see here for all the details) so if you can't wait to hear Wil Wheaton curse as roundly as Felicia then make sure you order soon.





As always, The Guild team love to hear comments about the show so if you didn't comment when S3 was released on MSN now's the time to let them know how much you enjoy this season. Commenting on YouTube is a doddle so no excuses for not doing it!


Shameless plug
And don't forget I reviewed the whole of Season 3 on PinkRaygun.com as it was released on MSN. To make it easy I've listed the links for you here:


Episode 1: Expansion Time
Epsiode 2: Anarchy!
Episode 3: Player Down
Episode 4: Get it Back!
Episode 5: Application'd

Epsiode 6: Newbtastic

Episode 7: Coping and Stuff

Episode 8: +10 to Bravery

Episode 9: Wit's End

Epsiode 10: The Return

Episode 11: LAN Off

Epsiode 12: Hero

Felicia lies down on the set of RED!
The first pictures of Felicia Day in her new role in Red, the new SYFY production, have been released via Karen O'Hara on the @SyfyMovies twitter account:



However, news soon came in from @alalcoolj that the picture had actually been altered from the original. He had obtained a copy from some fellow Canadians showing that Sean Becker has been FIRED - FOR REAL THIS TIME?!?:

Then came the shocking news that Felicia, possibly in revenge for his recent misuse of her iPhone, had her sights set on another of the Guildie faithful, Edgar, as @alalacoolj posted this:

Felicia, as usual,  showed no remorse and simply posted a picture of her new hood accessory via twitter:



I hope Syfy know what they are dealing with....!

The Guild Sells Out!

I saw it on the Internet so it must be true...

Good news everyone! Felicia and co have contrived to stave off Guild Deficiency Syndrome over the holidays by producing a new mini-vid:



Er....who sold what now?

Internet comments can hurt, people! Think before you

Click a Toy - coming soon!

Judging from the frantic clicking being heard all over YouTubeland at the moment, people are desperate to find out what the awesome loot is:

The links aren't active yet, and since this first video is called "The Guild Sell Out! Intro" I think we can safely assume there is more holiday goodness to come.

EDIT:

The links ARE active! Maybe the massive demand for Guild merchandise overwhelmed the YouTube servers, but all the links work. And I've posted links to all the other vids here if you have any difficulties!

To make sure you find out about the next video as quickly as possible you should:

Follow The Guild on Twitter: @theguild
Follow Felicia Day on Twitter: @feliciaday
Subscribe to WatchTheGuild channel on YouTube: WatchTheGuild

And don't forget you can but the Season 1 and 2 DVD in all good stores and from Amazon and tee shirts from Jinx!

Who is Sean Becker? Is The Guild Panel Safe...

...or is it going to be the scene of a terrible battle?

Recently we've witnessed the stunning sight of a man being sacked right in front of our Twittering eyes - or did we? Was Sean Becker really sacked or was it an elaborate scam wrought by some sort of evil genius? Or blundering idiot? The Guild Panel at CC is on this morning (Friday) at 10:30 in room 5AB so before that, let's examine the evidence.

Firstly - who IS Sean Becker?

As I've mentioned before, it is not entirely clear who Sean Becker is. Is he the 2008 Civil War Series sprint car champion?

Is he one of these people?

(borrowed from @maxsummers' Flickr account)

If so, what is he up to and can he be trusted with The Guild?

Friends - we have all suffered the ravages of Guild Deficiency Syndrome, all lost loved ones with our constant use of Vorkisms and insistence in raising squab, all suffered the crushing realisation that there are still some people in the world who have not even heard of Felicia Day. You would therefore assume that if you were actually a part of creating that special magic that is The Guild and then you were sacked, you'd be pretty upset about it. Perhaps you would lock yourself in your room and play Seasons 1 and 2 back-to-back while creating SIMS versions of the characters (oh - someone has already done that! Haven't you, Edgar?). You probably wouldn't happily go down to the shops and treat yourself to a new copy of 'Barbie Horse Adventures' - unlike this guy:

Note the maniacal laughter, the look on the assistants face and the clever use of The Guild tee-shirt. Is this the face of a man crushed?

What's going on?

To have any hope of understanding this we need to look into his past for clues. Using the vast array of information about Mr Becker on the Internet (I did a search on YouTube) I have pieced together his life in the last couple of years.

March 2007

Sean is sent off to war and makes a heart-warming video to his yet unborn child. How sensitive he is!

June 2007

It appears he returned from Iraq early and, perhaps not surprisingly, finds himself in need of friends. Here we see his impassioned attempt to connect with someone in real life. It's sad, really....

But luckily for him he seems to have hooked up with an old friend of his, Payman Benz, that you may remember from such awesome webseries as 'Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show' where he starred as Unicow (all hail Unicow!). They go on to set up 'Awkward Pictures' and create the hilarious and well-received webseries 'Comedy Gumbo' and many other funny videos.

Groomed by The Guild

Following these successes, news of Sean reaches Felicia Day who sets about luring him into directing and editing Season 2 of The Guild. With promises of unlimited jelly beans Sean signed up readily, unaware that his contract stipulated that he was now effectively Felicia's slave. We've all seen the video of Felicia laughing about tying him to the chair until he's finished editing. He never did get his Thanksgiving dinner...This is hardly the point, though, because The Guild Season 2 was a masterpiece of editing so good, you couldn't even tell it was there.

Escape in 2009?

But it seems that Sean, perhaps on a day when he was less hyped-up on jelly beans than usual, was planning his escape. Here we see him heavily made-up trying to get into college:

Perhaps the strain of working on The Guild had made him forget that he has already been to college. That's where he met Payman Benz (all hail Unicow!) .

What to think?

So was Sean Becker fired? If he was does he now harbour a deep resentment along with an unhealthy obsession with jelly beans? Or was it all a ploy by him to allow him freedom to join forces with Jared Hoy and set up ConQuest guide to report from Comic-Con?

Or perhaps to get more time off so he could finish shooting Comedy Gumbo Season 2?

Only Sean can tell!

The Guild Panel at CC happens in a few short hours. The Guildies are all up and chomping at the bit, anxious to see their idols answer some simple questions. If someone asks whether he was sacked or not, what will happen? We can only hope that it isn't going to become a battleground between the lovely Felicia Day and this pretender Becker. And the good news is that there's no shortage of people wanting the job such as Shelley:

Good luck at the Panel today, everyone, and please, Sean, for the love of the Guildies, don't hijack it for your own nefarious purposes.

Now all we need to worry about is Delicia Fay....

The Guild on YouTube (get Digging!) and Dr Horrible's birthday

They're back!

Yes - The Guild Season 2 is now starting on YouTube with Episode One "Link the Loot" already up there:

It's great to see the gang back on YouTube - and to read all the comments from fans! And yes - lots of new fans are seeing The Guild for the first time. Crazy as it seems, there are some people on the Interwebz who have not seen The Guild yet. There is an influx of new people on http://community.watchtheguild.com/ and it's really great to hear from people who had no idea about the series and are now gleefully rattling through the episodes. This is great news and you can Digg it up to show your appreciation!

YouTube versus MSN

Now this is a false battle. The bottom line is that MSN are the sponsor of The Guild and without them Season 2, and for certain, Season 3 just would not be happening on the same scale, if at all. Felicia Day (creator/writer/actor) battled long and hard for a deal that let her keep control of her show and this was the best deal on a full table of offers. That said, there are differences between the two, and for me there are three main ones:

Streaming quality:

MSN is the clear winner here. Season 2 was filmed in HD and the MSN video player does do this more justice (although watching on Xbox Live on a HD TV is better still!):

Season 2 - Episode 1: Link the Loot

Ease of commenting

YouTube wins here hands down. On the MSN site it's hard to even find where you are supposed to comment, you have to log in and it seems very clunky. By comparison commenting and reading the comments in YouTube are a breeze. You still have to log on but YouTube keeps you logged in as a rule (unless your settings don't allow this) and so once you've commented on one video you can keep going. Of course that also means that many of the comments on YouTube in general (but not really on The Guild videos) can be spammy, offensive or just plain nasty, but they can be moderated.

Sharing the videos

You can Digg both with one click. MSN allows you to 'blog to spaces', while YouTube gives you the option to share on Facebook and MySpace. Both also allow you to copy the links (with or without embedding).

Why The Guild being on YouTube is important

The Guild started on YouTube and has a massive following over there. But there are still so many people who haven't heard of The Guild that making available in as many places as possible makes sound sense. As they put on WatchTheGuild.com:

The one thing we’ve missed from out awesome Xbox/Microsoft distribution is comments, so we’d love to hear what you think of the season! Also, if you could Rate and Favorite the video it will help new people discover the show. We appreciate those extra clicks!

Thank you so much for supporting our independent web series :) We’re excited to be launching a new season just around the corner, more information will be released next week. Also we will be posting our full Comicon Schedule later today or tomorrow, so be sure to check back so you can fit us in your busy schedule!

The Guild Management

So even if you've seen it on MSN, bought the DVD (use this link to support The Guild if you've not already purchased it) and have told all your friends (repeatedly!) you can still help by heading over to YouTube.

Our favourite Doctor had a birthday!

It's hard to believe but it's a year since Dr Horrible stormed the Intertubes on the 15th July 2008, taking out servers and breaking websites willy nilly. There was a surprising lack of posts about it, but WoWBlog did summarise the excitement and heady anticipation of those days. Really, I should now do Future Entertainment: Part 3 and bring together everything we've learned about how ground-breaking Dr Horrible was and is. And will do that. Just not yet :)

Two Birthdays?

In fact, Dr Horrible had two birthdays this week because it was Jed Whedon's yesterday, as immortalised in this tweet from Mo Tanchoroen (his wife and co-writer-in-crime):

Happy birthday, Dr Horrible!

Random thoughts and heartfelt thanks

I wasn't going to.

I wasn't going to do a New Year post with all the stuff I'd done and what I'm going to do and how it was all about me. So I won't do that. I much prefer it when you talk about me, anyway :)

Things that have rocked my world in 2008:

• Felicia Day: Yeah, yeah, I know...! But, seriously, she has been inspirational and I heart her very much.
• The Guild: the funniest web series I've seen this year, bar none, and the best online Community.
• Dr Horrible: the best new Whedon's'es production this year plus a cool fansite
• Battlestar Galactica: intelligent, sexy sci-fi is not dead
• Firefly and Serenity: it's less than 12 months since I first saw them and I'm still recovering. And through them I've met so many wonderful people.
• Buffy: Between the Lines and Tabz: so glad I found them!
• Pink Raygun: so much geeky goodness - and a new home
• Kids Need To Read: a fantastic Literacy Foundation putting books where they are needed most.
• Twitter/Friendfeed/Plurk (sorry I've been absent....)/MyBlogLog: and all the online places where I can geek
• YouTube: source of entertainment and they even let me post my videos there
• Interviewing some wonderful, talented people and Whedonage for giving me a place.

So much to say

Really, I have a lot to say about what a huge year it had been. The ups, the downs, the journey, the people I've met, the friends I've made. I am not the same person I was 12 months ago. And by the same token, I'm more myself than I have been for years. And you have played your part, and I thank you (yes - you!) for that. Life is good, adventure is afoot and the New Year beckons with a wink and a smile. 2009 is going to be a stellar year. It's just I can't tell you why just now. Trust me. It's going to be good.

Felicia Day and The Guild crew at Blizzcon

While the cat's away...

Blizzcon is well under way and they are being treated to the whole cast of The Guild - which is pretty lucky if you are there. My Evil Twin has taken the opportunity of Felicia being out of the loop temporarily to post a new video to YouTube. It's not the for the faint-hearted and I apologise in advance to Ms Day. It wasn't me. It was my Evil Twin. Against my better judgement I'm posting it here:

Surprise Felicia Day ELE application

I'm sure Felicia will see the funny side. Eventually.

Did you apply to ELE yet? Evil WoH has...

Some people have been wondering how they are going to shoot their ELE video. 

My evil twin, however, has had no such problems. Using the tools she had available (a company webcam) she has crafted a masterpiece in understated evilness:

ELE Application by Evil WorldofHiglet

The whole process was very easy so if you are going to submit an application here's a few tips:

• Make sure you follow all the rules on the ELE website
• If you have a plan, script or song but you can't film it because you haven't got the right equipment/actors/instruments/location/etc think about it again. I don't know for sure but I can make a guess that the Whedons and Ms Tanchareon and their associates are looking for original ideas above the latest technology/steady camera work/fancy locations/etc. While it won't hurt to have special effects or expensive costumes don't be put off if you can't get them.
• It's supposed to be enjoyable for you as well as your audience. If you are stressing about it then take a break and come back to it again.
• Songs are good but not essential
• A webcam will do - use what you have available. Most of all, if you have an idea then try and capture it with whatever you have. Don't fret if it isn't quite what you envisioned in the end. It could be better than you hoped for.
• If you're not sure about video editing think about writing something that can be done in one take. This might make for more initial work (how many takes will it take for you to say 'Evil League of Evil' right!) but it saves time later.

There is lots of information on the Internet about how to shoot videos and how to upload them, so what are you waiting for? Surely you can do better than my Evil Twin!

P.S. Kim Evey (Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show, The Guild etc) has recently joined the new Ning community on The Guild website. I messaged her because I love her work and she sent some messages back, which are very funny. And the more eagled-eyed amongst you may spot a certain Higlet in the Application video, especially for Kim....

ELoE Application Competition - enhanced picture and extended deadline.

I guess I have a lot to learn....
Life is a learning process and the thing I've learned this week is that if you want people to enter a competition don't make the task too difficult! With this in mind I'm publishing another picture today, plus some clues. And extending the deadline.

What if you've already entered?
Well if you have already entered, thank you for doing that! And of course, you may enter again. I'm going to email you all with the new pic so no-one is disadvantaged in any way. This picture is so clear, I really hope you will be able to see them all!



Now here are the clues:

• There is 1 book and it's been reviewed here on this blog
• The rest are DVDs
  
• They are all connected to things I've mentioned on this blog
• The last one might be tricky, but it shouldn't be impossible, especially for a Browncoat (yes, that's a HUGE clue!).
  

Ok, so what's the new rules?

• Identify as many of the above as possible
• If you can't get them all enter the competition anyway and if no-one gets them all you'll go into the hat with everyone else
  
• Send them to me worldofhiglet at gmail dot com
• New closing date is OCTOBER 10th
  
• You can enter again if you later identify another item
  

What do you win?

• I will email an Application Form to you (as featured in Act I) for you to fill in. If you also want to post a video entry on YouTube, Seesmic or elsewhere then please send me the link and I will use it as part of the assessment.
  
• EvilWorldofHiglet will then assess your application in a special episode of 'The Evil League of Evil Applications Office' to be publicly available on YouTube.
• The winner will also be announced here on the blog.

So, there we go. Lessons learned.

One last thing...
Rumour has it that there is going to be another video released on YouTube tonight by Evil WorldofHiglet. I wonder what that could be about....?

Act VI now up! Plus update on the Competition

Act VI is now on the Intertubes...

Which is a good thing. After battling a sore throat that made my voice huskier than usual I finally got a decent take last night, so you can go to You Tube and view (and rate and comment!) now:

Act VI: Evil League of Evil -Applications Processing Office

This is the final episode in Season 1, but there are plans for more goodies to follow:

• A bloopers reel
• A musical episode (being developed as I write)
• Me reading the phone directory - Edgar Garcia request episode special :)
• The competition winner episode
• A special bonus episode with a possible star guest....

Is that enough fun yet?

Competition update

After several people (yes, more than 1!) have said they can't make out more than 2 of the DVDs I've taken a picture from the set (haha - 'set') to make it a bit easier. Plus, I have reviewed the book on this blog and it isn't one of The Softwire books by PJ Haarsma (because they are in use). If you still can't get them all I'll add some more clues, but basically they are all from my collection.

Here's the picture:

Here's a reminder of the rules:

If you win EvilWorldofHiglet will assess YOUR application to the Evil League of Evil in a special episode!

What you have to do:

• Watch Act V and tell me the names of the book and DVDs in the background, on top of the printer. 
• Send your entries to worldofhiglet at gmail dot com* before Friday 26th September 2008. If you want you can include a little about why you like Dr Horrible so much and even the name of your Evil Character and I will mention you on the blog. It couldn't be more simple! 

In the event of a tie (or more than 1 entry!) I will use a random number generator to determine the winner.

If you win:

• I will email an Application Form to you (as featured in Act I) for you to fill in. If you also want to post a video entry on YouTube, Seesmic or elsewhere then please send me the link and I will use it as part of the assessment.
  
• EvilWorldofHiglet will then assess your application in a special episode of 'The Evil League of Evil Applications Office' to be publicly available on YouTube.
• The winner will also be announced here on the blog.

I hope you apply and good luck! I can't wait to see what happens...

My day? Got soaked, wrote a webseries, joined a cult - you?

Yeah, just a typical day, really. Nuttin' special.

Wow, the weather has been so hot here these last few weeks. As a rule I don't blog about the weather because, as someone who lived most of her life in England, I'm sensitive about the fact that most of the world thinks that's all we talk about. In fact, it's clearly only about 70-80% of the time. Dur! But it's been wall-to-wall sunshine, weather like I have never experienced before! So planning a 1 night camping trip seemed to be reasonable, I mean - how could it fail with such great weather? Anyone who's ever been forced to go camping as a kid, only to endure freezing temperatures, gales and monsoon-type rain (i.e. the Great British Summer) will understand that it took a lot for me to agree to the trip, which also celebrated our 1st anniversary in Canada. Maybe it was fitting, therefore, that it rained almost non-stop and the 30C-plus temperatures fell to nearer 12C. Made me almost homesick!

But the good news is - I wrote the rest of my webseries!

Yes, the sound of the rain on canvas, plus the nearby highway and goods trains, meant that sleep was in short supply. Factor in some epic snoring from other members of the trip and I could actually be hallucinating writing this blog now for all I know (I hope not - if I was going to hallucinate I'd like it to be something a bit cooler, like meeting Joss Whedon or being a Production Assistant on The Guild!). Miles away from civilisation, with nothing to do except listen to the cacophony all around, gave me the chance to sort out the last 3 episodes of my 'Evil League of Evil' webseries. Of course, I couldn't actually write it then, what will the rain and the canvas and the not having my Macbook, but fear not. It's all locked in my noggin just waiting to be realised. 

Coming soon - Act IV!

So now I'm trying to work out if I can do a weekly release, and once I can start to think straight again I should have the answer to that pretty quickly. And maybe I have been hallucinating because a fellow webseries writer (ha! I just couldn't resist that!) Felicia Day Tweeted that she is looking for volunteer production assistants for The Guild Season 2- full details on WatchTheGuild. The bad news (for Felicia, obviously) is that you have to live in the LA area. I would contemplate the commute but with Season 1 of 'Evil League of Evil - The Office or Whatever I'm going to call it' in production at the moment I have no spare capacity. Which brings me to the next bit....

Any ideas for a name for the webseries?

Come on - you are all intelligent, internet-savvy people! Surely you can think of a suitable title. As an incentive, if your suggestion is taken up you will get your name on the 'Evil WorldofHiglet' YouTube channel. What a prize! And thanks for the positive feedback so far. If you want you can rate, comment and subscribe on YouTube. It's free, easy and lots of fun :)

You may address me as 'Sister Awesome'

Which brings me to the last segment of today's madness. Yes, I joined a cult. Yes, I have a cool title (see above). Yes, there may be chanting. Someone compared Tabz (Tabitha Grace Smith - from the glorious Buffy: Between the Lines, Joss'd etc) to a cult leader and, being the sort of person she is, she started a cult. Easy, isn't it? What's that? You want to join too? Well don't ask me, Tweet Tabz and see if you're worthy...

Insight 101, Part 2 - what have we learned?

Sex sells?

Following on from the last post, you'll be interested to know there has been no abatement of the people visiting WorldofHiglet's Weblog looking for more information about Felicia Day in Hotel Erotic Cabo. But what else did we learn? 

Social Media: it works!

Well, it does, up to a point. A lot of the traffic that comes to my blog comes from people who have seen my Tweets, or comments on Friendfeed, or who have found me on MyBlogLog. And I'm more than pleased to see that Kids Need To Read are now on Twitter! This could be the push you needed to sign up for Twitter at last. And check out the KNTR YouTube page...Yes, Social Media. I will have a lot more to say on this subject soon.

Who's got the answers? Search me...

The other thing we learned is that people search for the oddest thing. 'Boy Pants' - really? 'Velour Fetish' well...maybe. So I'll be keeping an eye on you. I wonder what the most obscure search item will be next week?!

Buffy: Between the Lines gets video, Scott Sigler gets read

Buffy: Between the Lines – now on YouTube!
In a great twist of fanfic begetting it’s own loyal and dedicated fans, some fans of Buffy: Between the Lines have posted videos on YouTube. B:BtL is an audiodrama with no pictures, but great dialogue, effects and mood-aplenty. Now fans have added their own images. The results are pretty amazing and go to show that if you produce high-quality work you will garner devoted and talented fans.

Background Download
Remember, some time ago, I told you about how you could download Scott Sigler’s book ‘Infected’ free from the web? I did the download thing and started to read. It was gripping, suspenseful and leaden with horrors-to-come. And then my PC crashed. Despite many hours, swearing and sweating the PC refused to respond to my tech-charms and so, with some regret, I had to take it to the repair shop. This is a hard pill to swallow for a geek. I was lucky that in the meantime the Orbis books arrived, so I was able to still enjoy some high-quality reading courtesy of P J Haarsma. I loved ‘Virus on Orbis 1’ (as you will see in my review).

PC: Dead, not Infected
The bad news came back from the repair shop. PC, RIP (no, it wasn't a virus). Hard drive – could possibly be revived and so it was, but minus ‘Infected’. I could have gone to Scott Sigler’s website and waited for the chapters to be uploaded but that would mean waiting! I ordered the book and it arrived at the weekend. I put it off as long as possible but I picked it up on Sunday evening. Yikes, where did the time go? 100 pages gone in a flash. On Monday I have to get some work done. But there’s only 100 pages left and it’s so good and I’ve got to know what happens next and is he really going to do that and that doesn’t sound very hopeful for her and…well, it was for purely practical reasons that I decided to finish reading. Plus, I had to know how it would end!

Was it any good, then?
Do you like horror books? Do you enjoy a bit of self-mutilation? Is the intelligent use of science your thing? Are books that race you along, page after page, of any interest to you? Have I asked enough questions? If you answered yes to any of these then you will love ‘Infected’. I’ve read quite a number of horror books (I have even read Stephen King’s ‘Tommyknockers’ all the way to the end, which deserves some sort of prize). I loved ‘Infected’. It didn’t waste my time. It’s a goodly size (and the cover is great), but you don’t have to wade through words to get to the action. There’s lots of description (maybe more than your stomach needs in places!) and the pacing is great. As someone who has often been told that editing is the key (too many words, dear) it’s been another revelation. And I loved the way the critters communicated, very well done and added a great depth.

What about the triangles, then?
Well, to find out about them, you need to read the book. Or maybe you should go to Mr Sigler’s website and download one of his podcasts and give yourself a sneak peak of the action. Or pick up the first chapter podcast free from Podio. For someone who is a self-proclaimed techtard (not my word!) he has been a prolific podcaster (which surely uses technology of some description). I’m just not sure why he was at a Web 2.0 conference today, if he doesn’t get technology – I think he’s holding out on us and really does understand. Maybe he just finds it easier to let other people do all the tech work….

Joss' Whedon's Journal?
Time management. Gotta get some. Now, I gotta go.