I just realised that I hadn’t posted a link to my (rather lame) application to the ELE.  Since I did not have a webcam or a video camera, I did the application in PowerPoint and then someone shot it for me so that I could put it on YouTube.  That’s right, I actually have something up on YouTube – and it was ridiculously easy once it was filmed!

Here’s the link.  There is sound on the other short videos I have up that I took on my camera.

I am under no illusions that the application will be one of the finalists – the Dr. Horrible gang are picking 10 out of 700+ applications to go on the DVD – but I had fun doing it.  There’s no music and the visual quality isn’t the best because it was filmed from a computer screen, but my friends like it.

I didn’t even get the application in by the deadline, which was midnight.  I had thought I couldn’t apply since YouTube doesn’t accept PowerPoint, but one of our BC Browncoats offered to video it for me.  Unfortunately, my e-mail went into her spam and she didn’t get it until the next day.  I posted it to YouTube and then sent the following letter to the ELE.

Dear Mr. Bad Horse, Sir, and esteemed Members of the Evil League of Evil,

As manager of The Great Radish and Little Rutabaga, I most humbly apologise for the lateness of this application and fully understand if it cannot be included (since you have 500 others to view), but GR and LR are fearsome in their anger and evilness and I dare not tell them that due to lack of a video camera, webcam or other technology, I could not convert their PowerPoint application into a format for YouTube.

However, I did submit the application yesterday to the secretary of The League, EvilWorldofHiglet, who offered to videotape it for me.  Alas, technology – usually my friend – failed me once again – and the file landed in her spam folder from which she recovered it only this morning.  Please protect me from the wrath of The Great Radish and Little Rutabaga, who will surely wreak evil upon me for this (hopefully not fatal to me) transgression.

Here is the link should you be so inclined to watch the application.

Yours with great respect and deference,

Samatwitch
Manager of The Great Radish and Little Rutabaga

And here is the letter of support the ’secretary’ sent on my behalf.

Dear Bad Horse,

WorldofHiglet

I’m a Canadian and have voted in every election – civic, provincial or federal – since I turned 19.  I try to stay informed as to what the candidates’ policies and platforms are.  We just had a federal election in October to choose our Prime Minister and parliament.  The election was called, campaigning began, a debate was held among the five parties, voting began (I voted early this time) and it was all over in just over 30 days.  Voter turnout was the lowest ever  – 59.1%.  That’s been attributed to many things: Liberal dissatisfaction with their leader, general apathy on the part of the population, no burning issues to get behind on any one party, general voter fatigue.  I think it may have had a lot to do with that ‘other’ election – that of choosing a leader in the country south of us, an election process that was in turn long, drawn-out, up and down, bitter and hopeful, and never ever boring!

In good part because of the Internet, I became a US political junkie!  A great many of my on-line friends, some of whom I have even met in person, are American, and they are intelligent, well-read and politically aware.  In 2008, many of them were actively involved, some for the first time.  There are a couple of Republicans in the mix , but most of my friends are Democrats or became so over the course of the process.

On Flickr, the Whedonesque group called “The Library”, has a thread about voting for Obama.  It was started by Willowy, who is from Arizona – originally from Alaska – on January 31, 2008 and it grew ‘like Topsy’.  It’s now over 17 pages long, with over 1650 comments.  Many of the comments were links to articles, YouTube, blogs, etc.

The same thing happened on Twitter.  A lot of my friends on there also posted links, so that if I fell behind while I was at work, it could take me hours to catch up at night, because I wanted to read or watch everything that my friends felt was worthwhile.

Although I was impressed with Barack Obama, during the Primaries, I wavered between him and Hillary Clinton.  I had always liked and respected her and thought she’d make a good President, but either one was okay with me.  The primary process dragged on and on, and some of the things coming out of the Clinton campaign made me change my mind.  There was something about Barack Obama that inspired hope and confidence that this man might actually be able to change the direction in which America had been heading and reverse some of the damage already done.

Our Canadian election over and done with and civic elections not until mid-November, I settled down to watch what was happening to our nearest neighbour and it was exciting, nail-biting, rollercoaster-riding awesome, in the original sense of the word.

After eight years of a Bush-Cheney White House, the American people voted for change – not just for a change in political party – but for change in the greatest sense of the word: they voted for hope.  I sat in front in my living room on November 4th, swivelling on my chair between the TV and my computer screen.  I was watching CNN on TV and was switching from CNN to MSNBC to Flickr to Twitter on my computer, to get the latest numbers the fastest.  I can’t imagine what it must have been like for people on the East Coast.  I found it hard enough to wait until 8 pm Pacific time when, as soon as the California polls closed, CNN & MSNBC and everyone else from what I understand, called the election for Obama.  I couldn’t stop crying – and still can’t whenever I think of what actually happened that night.

My tears were of joy, of course, and of relief, but I think I was and still am overwhelmed by the enormity of what the American people did in voting in  Barack Obama as President.  It isn’t just that he’s African-American, although that is certainly a big part of it.  Although part of me that ‘knows’ things knew he would win, the practical side of me kept thinking that at the last moment the American people were going to decide they weren’t ready for a black president.  I am so glad that that part of me was wrong.

In the days leading up to election night, there were stories of people standing in line for hours to vote. There was a story of an elderly black woman who was dying but was determined to vote for Obama before she did so.  Her advance vote came, a family member took it to the hospital and helped her fill it out and sign it.  She died a few hours later.  The one downside to all of this was the death of Barack Obama’s grandmother.  I was so glad that he took time out to go to visit her one last time.  In a way, that convinced me that he was going to win, because I don’t think she would have let go and died if she had had any doubt.

I am old enough to remember the race riots in the States in the 60s.  I remember Kent State, the Chicago Seven (or Eight), George Wallace and Martin Luther King.  My mother bought the record of “I Have a Dream” which she played for my sister and me and which I still have today.  His assassination still affects me today, but Martin Luther King’s words continue to inspire people – not just in the US – and that is what makes me so emotional about Barack Obama.

He inspires people.  He inspired some of my friends to become actively involved in his campaign, he inspired – and continues to inspire – people with hope; hope for the future, for change – not only for how America behaves within its boundaries, but how it behaves with the rest of the world.

As I watched his acceptance speech, delivered by a man who looked as if he had just realised what he has to live up to, tears rolled down my face, as they ran down the faces of many of the thousands of people in the crowd, including Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson, of black and white, of young and old, and I thought for the first time in a long time that maybe the world has a chance at surviving the human race after all.  The leader of the most powerful nation in the world has said he is willing to talk to leaders of other countries, even ones diametrically opposed to American interests, before he considers bombing them to pieces.  He cares about the environment and understands we may have to make major changes in the way we live in order to still have a world to live in.

He made it plain that it wasn’t going to be an easy process or a quick one, and people aren’t always going to like the decisions his government has to make, but Barack Obama seems to have a good grasp of the big picture and where he wants to steer America, and that is something that I haven’t seen in a long time.

These pictures have been making the rounds and here is a link to an article about them.  They cause more tears to flow because they sum up the hope I and others dare to feel once more.

I have a lot to catch up on for this blog – my whole trip to San Diego for one – but I wanted to talk about the rest of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog first.

Joss did it again!  He lured us in with a likeable villain, a sweet girl with inner strength and a smarmy ‘hero’, all of whom can sing beautiful songs, and then he tore our hearts out.  Again.  How does he do that in only 42 minutes?  How can he (and his brothers and Maurissa) give more depth to his characters in under an hour than some people do in several seasons of TV.

And one of the best parts of the whole thing, seeing “Mutant Enemy presents” at the beginning and the Grrr Arrgh monster with the Mutant Enemy logo at the end.

I’m thinking particularly of Charmed right now, because I’ve been whipping through all eight seasons, partly because I wanted to know why I enjoyed it while it was on the air, and partly because I never got to see the last season, as it changed networks.  I liked the magic, I liked the relationship between the sisters, especially Piper and Phoebe, and between Piper and Leo – plus I liked the kids.  I find that I really can’t stand Rose McGowan as Paige.  I do not get any kind of emotion from her at all.  (Apparently she had a strange upbringing so maybe that accounts for it.)  Whatever, I find myself impatient with them a lot of the time.  And I keep trying not to compare it to Buffy, because it just doesn’t measure up in any way whatsoever.  Frankly, I think it should have ended at the end of season 7.

However, Dr. Horrible is a totally different kettle of fish, so to speak.  Yes, the supervillain is laughable at times – as is the ‘hero’ – but even over the course of three short acts, these people change.  We laugh with and at them and end up crying, and with our hearts, if not broken, at least somewhat bent.

On top of that, the songs stick in my head constantly, even though I haven’t been able to watch it for the past three weeks, since Hulu is back on US-only viewing!   I’m waiting for the soundtrack, which I’m hoping will be available on CD, even if it’s also on iTunes download, and for the DVD with its commentary and Commentary: The Musical and all the extras, including the 10 favourite applications to the Evil League of Evil.  I’m working on one myself – actually two and I better hurry up because lots of people have dones theirs already.

If Joss can do with Dollhouse what he has done with DHSAB – as I have no doubt that he can – it should be a wild ride come January.  I don’t expect Dollhouse to be similar in tone to Dr. Horrible; as a matter of fact, I think it will be a lot different – much darker, for one thing.  But Joss Whedon is known for drawing characters that get to us from the first few scenes and I expect no less from Dollhouse.  In the meantime, I’m going to try again to download Dr. Horrible from iTunes because I need to see it again – and again – and again – and yet again.

Your result for The Perception Personality Image Test …

NBPC – The Daydreamer

Nature, Background, Big Picture, and Color

You perceive the world with particular attention to nature. You focus on the hidden treasures of life (the background) and how that fits into the larger picture. You are also particularly drawn towards the colors around you. Because of the value you place on nature, you tend to find comfort in more subdued settings and find energy in solitude. You like to ponder ideas and imagine the many possibilities of your life without worrying about the details or specifics. You are in tune with all that is around you and understand your life as part of a larger whole. You are a down-to-earth person who enjoys going with the flow.

It turns out I did have to wait. I had stayed at work to watch it there, but when I clicked on the site at 9:01. what I got was a message from Hulu saying they were sorry but their video library was not accessible outside the US at the moment. Frak! I was very disappointed. I’d been looking forward to this for months and now I was told I couldn’t see it because I didn’t live in the US??

Of course, I immediately went to Whedonesque and became the third or fourth person to post – and say they couldn’t see it because we were ‘furriners’. I decided to come home. By the time I got home, there were well over 100 posts in the thread, about half complaining because they couldn’t see it and the other half raving about Act 1. Luckily I’m on Twitter and Dr. Horrible posted that ‘he’ was working on the problem. According to a post that Joss made a bit later, they (“well, mostly Jed”) were working hard to make it available to everyone.

Then people kept mentioning ways of getting around Hulu. When Dr. Horrible twittered about a download program which would help, I finally gave in and loaded it. I was able to watch Act 1 – twice – although it was very jerky and therefore hard to grasp the continuity of the music, but I loved it from the beginning. And seeing “Mutant Enemy Productions” on the screen made my day before I saw one bit of the acting/singing.

I removed the downloaded program right after since it allowed annoying popups. Then the Dr. Horrible site was crashed this morning, followed by Whedonesque crashing so badly they are havingto move it to another server, which they expect could take two days! Luckily, Dr. Horrible was fixed for international visitors and so I watched it during my short lunch break, then after the Board retreat was over, I watched it again – came home and rewatched it!! I can’t wait for Part 2 tomorrow night.

According to Dr. Horrible’s Twitter feed, the 12:01 pm is Eastern time, therefore those of us on the West Coast will see it at 9:01 pm tonight, roughly four hours from now!  I can hardly wait!

I’ve been home with a cold the past two days – not a bad one, but sore, scratchy throat, slight temperature rise, fuzzy and dizzy feeling and generally blah – so I erred on the side of caution.

While I was home, I did some more planning for my trip, which involves measuring my backpack, my purse/bag, my suitcase, etc., to make sure they fall within the new baggage regulations for the airlines.  Air Canada still allows even economy passengers to check one bag free and that’s all I plan on having.  I may buy a smaller backpack because I think mine is too large for carry-on, if they decided to be sticky about it, and it certainly is too big for me to have on my back while walking around a convention hall with 40,000 other people.  I’m not even sure it’s the best plan for me, since putting a backpack on and taking it off actually make my back worse!

I have to make sure that any liquids I’m carrying are less than 100mg and can fit in a Ziploc bag of certain dimensions!  That apparently includes toothpaste.  What on earth do they think you can hide in a toothpaste tube?  I’m all for being safe and doing whatever we can to protect ourselves, but I think we’re becoming a totally paranoid society.

I read an article yesterday about an electronic bracelet that has been developed with the possibility that every airline passenger will have to wear one in place of a boarding pass.  In case of a hijacking, they can be activated to paralyse – yes! paralyse – the person or persons involved.  Of course, the manufacturers said that only the hijackers’ bracelets would be activated – by a laser pointer from the flight attendant at a distance of 10 feet!  I don’t thinks so!  There are so many things that can go wrong there, I don’t even want to speculate.

Is this really how we want to live our future?  Being so afraid of everything and everybody that we arm ourselves with tasers and pepper spray and electronic bracelets?  I admit that I am not the most courageous person in the world, but I am not going to believe that every person around me is a possible terrorist.  Defensive and reactive actions are not a solution.  We have to solve the underlying problems – or at least admit that they are there, which would be a start.

There is such a discrepancy between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’ in the world – between countries and between people in countries who can actually claim ‘haves’.    We have millions of people in the world who go to bed hungry, a good number of them children.  And yet, the world produces enough food for everyone in the world to have enough to eat.  I think that’s worth repeating.  THE WORLD PRODUCES ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IN THE WORLD TO HAVE ENOUGH TO EAT.  So how are we going to get food produced into the hands of people who really need it.

I don’t know.  I don’t have a solution, but maybe if we keep thinking about it, we can come up with one.

This morning Bob Ackles died unexpectedly of a heart attack.  He was 69.  I never met him personally, but he was in my life on a peripheral basis for years.  His title when he died was President and CEO of the BC Lions Football Club, but he was much more than that.

He started out as the BC Lions’ first water boy when he was a teenager and worked his way up to Equipment Manager by the time they won their first Grey Cup in 1964.  He kept moving up and was General Manager for their next one in 1985.  Although he left in 1986 to work for the Dallas Cowboys and other NFL and one XFL teams, he returned in 2002 to lead the Lions once again.   He hired a respected and proven head coach in Wally Buono and the Lions won their fifth Grey Cup in 2005.

Since Bob Ackles returned to the Lions, season ticket holders have gone from around 8,000 to about 25,000 this year and the team and fans have worked together to improve on and off the field.  (Unfortunately, the Lions have lost their first two games of this season, but it will be interesting to see if this motivates them to get back on track.)

Although short in stature, Bobby Ackles is being mourned by football fans across the country as a giant of a man who always had the best interests of the game at heart and still managed to be an asset to his community and stay close to his family.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Ackles; you deserve it.

On a happier note, after a month of the Goners board being down, it suddenly came back up today.  I was IMing with Diso when I got an e-mail notification that lilbird had posted in a Goners thread.  I was dancing in my chair.  I have missed that forum in a way I wouldn’t have believed possible.

It’s more than just a forum – it’s my Internet home.  Even though most of us moved over to the Serenity board to post, not everybody did and it just wasn’t the same.   Some of us kept in touch by e-mail, too – or by IMing.  Diso and I ‘talk’ almost every night by IM, which may not have happened otherwise and I talk to Blue usually once a week or so on the phone, but I missed hearing what everyone was doing on a day-to-day basis.  Or, in the case of Dragoned, week-to-week.

We don’t know how long the board will be up, but QuoterGal is working to move everything over to the new Goners forum she’s been setting up and to which most of us will contribute.

In just over two weeks I will be meeting some of my Goners friends – and a couple of non-Goners Whedonesquers as well.  I can hardly wait, but I will save that for another post on another day, since I should be in bed already.

I was trying to think of an adjective to come before ‘ponderings’ and came up with several (preoccupied, presumptious, pretenious, preternatural, purple, prevalent).  I settled on ‘prevailing’ and then decided that it didn’t need an adjective after all.  Plus it made the title too long!

I’m not sure how much or what I’ll write here.  I already have a blog that I don’t write in very often, plus a LiveJournal.  I’m not sure that I have that much interesting to say, even to myself.

But, here I am, willing to try again.   Perhaps I will at least be able to top the musings of a mediocre marmot!