Last week, while I was making this trailer for the first arc of Luke & Noah's Story, I made a very important life decision.

I had been toying for a long time with the idea of studying video editing. Even though I was never able to do any editing until recently, I think I've always been hardwired for it. Whenever I hear a song I splice fitting footage together in my head. Whenever I watch a movie or a t.v. show I notice editing continuity errors and desperately want to fix them.  Whenever I see fanvids and trailers I start imagining how I would have done them. And now that I've actually been making videos for a couple months it's... kind of the greatest thing ever? It's challenging and meticulous, but it's fun and rewarding and... I don't even know. I just love it.

So, yeah. I've been looking into programs, and if everything goes right I'll probably be studying media arts next semester.

NO LONGER AN UNDECIDED MAJOR OMG.

When my dad turned to me last night and demanded to know Obama's immigration policies, I was dismayed to realize I didn't exactly know the answer. So, in the interest of being able to shoot Obama facts at him (and any other Obama detractors I come across) I spent a couple of hours tonight reading up on the issues.

Eventually I stumbled upon this spreadsheet detailing the differences in Obama and McCain's views regarding LGBT issues. I got about halfway through it before I started crying, and by the end I was completely wracked with sobs.

Yeah. Over a FUCKING PDF SPREADSHEET.

On one side of the page is a man who will be a champion for those treated as second class citizens, protecting the equal rights guaranteed to them by our Constitution. Who won't ask the brave men and women who die in the name of our country to go to their graves in hiding because they're an "intolerable risk" to troop morale. Who will in every way endeavor to complete the work begun by great civil rights leaders of the past.

On the other side of the page is a man that fears people who are different and will do anything -- even promising to add an UNCONSTITUTIONAL amendment to the fucking Constitution -- to ensure they're kept in place. Who doesn't care that it's still legal in a lot of places for them to be fired if they're found out. Who doesn't mind if they're brutalized or even killed for being who they are.

None of this information was shocking. But still, seeing it all laid out like that complete with voting record facts and quotes, I just fell apart.

I'm heartbroken. I'm outraged. I'm confused.

How are there so many people who still find this sort of mentality acceptable? I can sort of understand wanting to protect the sanctity of marriage, if there is such a thing as sanctity in this age of Vegas weddings and quickie divorces, but NOT WANTING TO PROTECT PEOPLE AGAINST HATE CRIMES? Just... HOW? My brain threatens to liquefy when I try to comprehend this.

I'm making a resolution right now. I have hardly any money at the moment, but every cent I can spare is going to support the final stretch of Obama's campaign. And I'm going to call Tucson for Obama to see about volunteering.

MCCAIN, I'M GOING TO DO EVERYTHING IN MY POWER TO TURN YOUR HOME STATE BLUE ON ELECTION DAY YOU BLOATED, BIGGOTED PIECE OF SHIT.

- I found this video about three months ago, but rediscovered its PURE JOY tonight when someone happened to link me to a related vid.

NEVAR STOP DANCING, COLBERT, YOU MAGNIFICENT MANBEAST YOU.


(Bonus video: Stephen making out with his co-writer/co-star/longtime-BFF Paul Dinello in a deja-vu-style comedy sketch.)

Dear Stephen Colbert,

IMPREGNATE ME NAO PLZ, I NEED TO BEAR YOUR AWESOME SPAWN OMNOMNOM.

With apologies to your lovely wife,
Leslie


- I uh... made another Luke/Noah fanvid. I used a Cyndi Lauper song because Cyndi Lauper is amazing and she ships them hardcore.


- THIS IS ALL melengro's FAULT.

I decided I wasn't going to make a post about the debate (since I was so worn out from fighting about Palin with my dad all last night) but when I got online I was in such a frustrated funk that I decided to cheer myself up by doing something joyful -- collecting pictures of my newest RL-OTP, Barack/Michelle.

A lot of these pictures were taken from a post at ontd_politicalabout Barack suspending his campaign tonight to take Michelle out to an Italian restaurant for their 16th anniversary. ("You know what you guys could give us for our anniversary?" he said, turning to the television reporters. "Not have a camera pool outside of the restaurant, so that everybody knows that we're there." )

( Massive Barack/Michelle Picspam! (Dial-up users beware.) )

I... I want there to be eight years of pictures like this. I NEED there to be eight years of it.

*goes to look for more*

#1 - The Letter Meme - tagged by angelchan_2004 

RULES: Do the "Letter MEME". Tag no less than 5 other people, and leave them a comment, informing them that they have been tagged. How to do the meme: HERE. 

Dear Angela,

I don't really know how to tell you this, but I'm in love with your sister. I think I realized it last year in your camping car and I saw you pull the clothes off my best friend. I'm sure you're ashamed enough to understand there is no solution to this. I'm returning the pictures from L.A. to you, but I'll keep your left ear as a memory. You should also know that I told my confession today about cocaine abuse.

Good luck on your short-term leave from jail,
Leslie

Tag, you're it, [your name here]! (If you want to, that is.)

#2 - The Interests Meme

Angel picked out seven of my interests for this weeks ago, but the letter meme just now reminded me. 8D

LOTS OF PRETTY PICTURES UNDER THE CUT! (BEWARE DIAL-UP USERS.)

( exceptionless dragon fetish, blood-soaked scarf of love, setsara/gabriexiel ot4 of destiny, vigilante justice as foreplay, biting people, 5 cm/s b'awww, do want anime list )

Thanks for the memes, Angel! *hearts*

Some mostly uninteresting things:

- I cut about two feet off of my hair last week so that I would stop wearing it up in a pony tail all the time and actually start doing something with it. Now I'm still wearing it in a pony all the time, the only difference being that I have to use several bobby pins to keep it all in there. Way to go, self!

- I went to a couple of late night movies with my sister yesterday. We paid to see "My Best Friend's Girl" (which was pretty adorable and showed off Dane Cook in all his crazy glory) and then ducked into "Tropic Thunder" (which was pretty crazy and showed off Robert Downey Jr. in all his adorable glory). I snuck us in a huge bag of McDonald's food and goodtiems were had.

- I watched Desperate Housewives tonight just to see Gale Harold (see icon). Totally worth it OMNOMNOM.

ETA:  Best part of "Tropic Thunder" -- the fake trailer for Satan's Alley. I lawl'd so hard.

( A bit of TV FLAIL. Includes spoilers for The Office, 30 Rock, and Luke/Noah. Also, there are pictures! )

*DIES AND IS DEAD OF SO MUCH LOVE*


In other news, I still haven't seen WALL-E, Dark Knight, or the Avatar finale commentary. LOLOL I SUUUCK.

Remember when Avafandom discovered Dante Basco's song "Love is Like a Vegetable"? Or when rawles shared the joys of Thomas Dekker's ode to John Connor, "The Future"? Well, this is exactly like that, only with YouTube antics instead of MySpace vocals.

To appreciate this delightful feat of hilarity you must first know that Van Hansis is amazing. He is one of the most gorgeous men to ever live, and he is a very serious, dedicated actor. But he isn't afraid to be a complete and utter DORK.

One magical day Van got together with a writer/actor friend of his and decided to make a short series of YouTube exclusive videos about an awkward NYU student named Henry Davis, the adopted white son of a deceased Chinese-American Congressman named Soon-Yi. What makes this so hilarious is how confused (and incredibly ignorant) Henry is about his culture. He's chosen to be interviewed in a sushi restaurant. EPIC, RANDOM LOLARITY ENSUES.

**These five videos combined are only a little over ten minutes long!**

Part One: Henry Davis Discusses His Culture Over Sushi!
A short introduction to Henry.

Part Two: Henry Davis Talks Adoption, Chopsticks & Green Tea!
Keep watching, it gets better.

Part Three: Henry Davis Talks Sushi & Orlando Bloom!
Doesn't get epic until the last two, but you have to watch them all to really get it.

Part Four: Henry Davis Talks NYU OLSENS & ANIME
THIS IS BRILLIANT. EVERYONE MUST HEAR THE TENTACLE RAPE MONSTER ANALOGY.

Part Five: Henry Davis Talks About His Dead Father!
Ahahahaha. <33333

If you liked those, you should also check out this student film Van did, "The Time Machine." It's only six minutes long without credits and is completely adorable. (WHO CARES ABOUT TIME PARADOXES? HE NEEDS TO GET LAID WITH THE HELP OF HIS CHRISTMAS-TREE-LIGHT-ENHANCED GEORGE FOREMAN.)

ALSO! If anyone has any other links to celebrities and their online shenanigans, please share! I love this shit. 8D

Thanks to this wonderful post made by the always amazingithilien22 I have just discovered that today is Celebrate Bisexuality Day! Yaaay!

As a bisexual (bordering on pansexual), I felt that the least I could do was spread the word and point everyone in the direction of Ithilien's post, which is a million times more interesting and thoughtful than the sleep-deprived one I'm making.

How am I going to celebrate? Well, if I had gotten that adorable "I Swing Both Ways" tee at Hot Topic when I had the chance I would wear that, but I guess I'll just wear pink/blue/purple. And write an Azula/Mai/Zuko drabble instead of paying attention in Spanish. (LOLOL I SUCK. Hopefully I'll think of something more meaningful to do in honor of today after I get some sleep.)

To all my LJ friends in Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Sweden, the U.K, and the U.S.: HAPPY CELEBRATE BISEXUALITY DAY! And to all my LJ friends not in any of those places: the same to you, even though your country hasn't decided to recognize it!

<3

THEY'RE JUST SO IN LOVE WITH EACH OTHER. I'M IN A PERPETUAL STATE OF FLAIL OVER THEM.



SERIOUSLY, GUYS, I CAN'T STOP. FANVID MAKING IS LIKE CRACK TO ME NOW.

My Grandfather died this morning.

It hasn't fully hit me yet, I think. I cried a few tears while I held my Mom's hand for awhile, and she told me the last words he'd said to her on the phone ("I'm tired. I'm just tired of being in this bed.") and how now she knew why he -- a characteristically unemotional man -- had cried when she left on her last visit ("He knew it was the last time I'd see him.") but I'm not feeling the full weight of it. My first classes of the semester start in less than three hours, and I'm afraid I'll break down in the middle of Calculus. Or worse, while I'm driving. But I'm more afraid that it won't hit me at all. I can already feel myself shutting down a little.

My Mom asked me to write something for her to frame and give to my Grandmother, the way I wrote a poem for a student of hers who died of brain cancer years ago. I'm not really sure what I'm going to say. What words are adequate to honor him? To stand as a monument to his incredible life?

For now I'll just say this:

Somewhere there's a bar where you're young and beautiful again, drinking an eternal round with your fellow glider pilots: the ones who died around you in the fields beneath our flag, and the ones who died slowly like you. You're playing poker with Little Abner, who's got beer dripping out of a hole in his lip from a fight with some asshole who got him with brass knuckles. You're smoking and laughing and telling tall tales. Perhaps God wouldn't allow such vice in his Kingdom, but that's how I choose to envision your passing. A return to the days you were most proud of in your life. The farthest escape possible from your final, bedridden years.

Thank you for enabling my life with your valor and luck in battle. Thank you for staying with us long enough for Nana to get better. Thank you for every delicious meal, every uproarious anecdote, every time you asked about school. You were a fine one, Papa.
 

I STILL haven't seen WALL-E or Dark Knight, which is killing me. But, in the last two days I've seen--

1) No Country for Old Men - Fantastic film. I especially loved the lack of musical scoring. Curiously, it made the movie more intense to have huge action sequences with only sound effects. Perfect for the tone. Also, Javier Bardem's performance was hauntingly brilliant.

and

2)  Pan's Labyrinth - I don't know what else I can say but GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS, GORGEOUS. I do sort of wish the Underworld had been explored more, but the fact that we see so little of that world is part of what makes it so fascinating.

IN OTHER NEWS--

- My VCR is a bitchwhore that conspires to ruin only the recordings I really want to see. Time for a new one. Assuming they even sell them anymore.

- Gale Harold is now my favorite actor. He's spectacular. Captivating, nuanced. And sometimes he improvises ridiculously hot makeouts.

- My Luke/Noah videos are surprisingly popular! The second one has gotten over 1000 views in two weeks, and the most recent one has gotten almost 600 in two days, which is amazing considering the size of the Luke/Noah fandom. And the comments are lovely. I've never gotten such incredible feedback on anything in my life. So thanks to everyone who indulged my new, embarrassing obsession! <3

Today my sister and I were watching Queer As Folk when my Dad walked in and -- much to our surprise -- sat down and watched it with us. Awesome things happened as a result of this.

The most awesome among these awesome things was when Lindsay's parents were treating her like shit about marrying her partner, Melanie, and my Dad said, "You know, if either of you ever decided to marry a woman, I would NEVER treat you like that." Random declarations of hypothetical supportiveness FTW.

Some other memorable exchanges--

(while Brian crushes up a bag of E and discretely pours it in the punch bowl at a party)
DAD: He's a piece of work, isn't he?
ME: *lawls at the polite understatement* Yeah, he's a douche.
SIS: That's kind of why we love him.

(after Lindsay invites her parents over)
DAD: Hope there's not another vibrator in the couch when they get there.
ME: *snorts*

He also sat through this whole scene (NSFW LIEK WOH) and a couple others like it in a ridiculously nonchalant manner. 

It should be noted that he grew up in an extremely homophobic environment. One of his brothers called a waiter a fag last year when he smiled at him a little too friendly. His other brother is (as my Mom and sister also secretly suspect) most likely a gay man who felt the need to be deeply closeted his entire life because of how their parents were. So my Dad gets an A+++ for his attitude. (Maybe this is a sign I should tell my parents I'm bisexual. I'm sure they already know, but I never officially came out to them, so... yeah. Guess I should find a time to casually slip that into the conversation?)


Also, today is the one year anniversary of Luke and Noah's first kiss, which made history as the first gay kiss on daytime television, and was once the most viewed video on YouTube. Happy Kissiversary, boys! <3

 

Exhibit 1: My newest icon. Featuring part of a line Luke says to Noah while observing him eating a big meat sandwich, suggesting that he might be subconsciously supplementing sex with food out of frustration. At which point Noah admits to constantly fantasizing about sexing Luke. Then he takes the most explicitly sexual bite I've ever seen in my life. And Luke giggles. And I DIE OF OTP. A few months later Noah brings Luke an iced coffee, and he proceeds to basically service the straw while Noah just stares at him. And I DIE AGAIN.

Exhibit 2: My second Luke/Noah fanvid. Which is far more SRS BZNZ than my first one. Because I keep falling deeper and deeper into this fandom, and loving Luke/Noah more and more.


To quote what I said to melengro a while back: "I NEVER WATCHED A SOAP IN MY LIFE UNTIL THREE WEEKS AGO. I SAW A YOUTUBE VIDEO OF LUKE AND NOAH KISSING. AND IT ATE MY BRAIN. AND I WATCHED THEIR ENTIRE STORY IN THREE DAYS. AND DID I MENTION IT ATE MY FUCKING BRAIN? BECAUSE IT DID."

Really, it did eat my brain, because I don't know how else to explain it. It's a soap opera. And, as you would suspect, the entire show is completely absurd. But it's so absurd that it's hilarious. Like the movie "Showgirls." And somehow the storyline with Luke and Noah, although occasionally contrived and bizarre, is one of the best relationships I've ever watched unfold. They actually have an incredibly healthy and loving relationship, despite all of the shenanigans and cockblockings and emotional trauma surrounding them. They stay grounded and are amazing at all times forever. Anyone who says otherwise: FUCK YOU, THEY'RE AWESOME.

But, uh... YEAH. STILL PLANNING TO EVENTUALLY ACQUIRE AVATAR FOOTAGE FOR FANVIDING. And to finish all those memes I've started.

HAI GAIS!

LJ's pretty dead right now, but that's probably for the best, as I'm about to reveal something somewhat embarrassing!

My first fanvid ever: "Luke and Noah - I'll Cover You"


How to explain this to you, flist?

Okay, so... there's the soap opera called "As the World Turns," right? And on it there is an adorable gay teenage couple that I'm ridiculously in love with. Luke and Noah. And every day I tape the show so I can fast forward through most of it and just watch the parts relevant to their incredibly sweet relationship.

YEAH. I KNOW. BUT YOU CAN'T HELP WHO YOU OTP, AMIRITE?

Anyway, I've been wanting to do a fanvid for a long time, and always intended to do a Kataang and/or Maiko one first, but the market on those pairings is pretty cornered, and Luke/Noah (Nuke) clips were way easier to get ahold of. I might do some Avatar stuff in the future, though. 8)

Earlier today, as I endured the last hours before the FUCKWIN Avatar finale, I noticed that the last installment of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog had been added, so I went to watch all three acts. And, uh... I KIND OF LOVED IT A LOT? Such hilaritragic genius, trufax.

I particularly loved the end of Act II. Which drove me to do something INCREDIBLY DORKY. By which I mean recording myself singing the beginning of "Brand New Day" and for some inexplicable reason being compelled to post it here. YEAH. I'll just call it practice for when I finally get around to that voice post meme.

I've finally stopped sobbing -- for now, at least -- and am just beginning to gather my thoughts and sort my feelings.

I can't recall ever experiencing such a wonderful and vast sense of completion. This thing that's been a large part of my life for years has finally reached its destination. It's such an intense sensation. The peacefulness, the bittersweetness, the satisfaction. Everything's closing in, and all of these incredible memories are returning at once. 

It's amazing.