emily kausalik

gallifrey one: 21 – recap, part 2

emilyooo — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 02:13:47 +0000

After the amazing Wee Beastie revelation of the Costumers Reception Panel we all headed to the main hall for the Opening Ceremonies. The ceremony was simple and to-the-point. Shaun Lyon, the organizer, came out to introduce the many guests of honor. And may I say, the lineup this year was absolutely incredible. Katy Manning, Tommy Knight, Georgia Moffett, Graeme Harper, Louise Page, Deborah Watling, Anneke Wills, Frazer Hines, John Levene, Bob Baker, Andrew Hayden-Smith, Nicholas Briggs, Phil Ford, John Fay, Colin Teague, Alice Troughton, Rob Shearman, Paul Cornell, Gary Russell … and oh so many more. Shaun welcomed quite a few of them on stage, letting the fans see what they looked like in real life (or IRL, though I’m not cool enough to use internet acronyms and not sound totally lame), and giving us all an opportunity to welcome them for coming.

After some descriptions of what was going on, we were treated to some fantastic video hellos from well-known members of the DW family. Shaun was vague about the first one, but I totally nailed it! The conversation went something like this:

Me: I wonder who it is?
Iko: Well it wouldn’t be anyone in the new series … maybe DT?
Me (ignoring what she said, clearly): Matt Smith?
Iko: Naw … RTD?
Me: I bet it’s The Moff!
Iko: He’s way too busy for that …

Then the video came on and it was Teh Moff! What a lovely man!

Absolutely fantastic. And let me say here that I am not ashamed in how TOTALLY F’IN EXCITED I AM FOR MATT SMITH/ELEVEN/TEH MOFF. WOO!

Ahem.

There was also a fantastic video from Peter Davison, with guest appearances that I’m sure you’ve all heard about at this point. I don’t have video for that one, because I didn’t get the chance. Sorry! Look it up on youtube or something. It’s pretty funny!

Afterwards we did a lot of wandering around, hung out and depressurized in our room, then headed out to the Titanic Party. Which was brilliant. The room was decked out with props, toys, accessories, and posters remeniscent of the Xmas special “The Voyage of the Damned.” The hosts/hostesses were dressed in tuxes and maid dresses similar to those in the series, and there was a mock control panel made from an old touch-tablet PC.

Life Saver

Touch screen control

Who turned out the lights?

Guests of honor

A guest from the 51st century

Arthur Dent stopped by

If you don’t know who Arthur Dent is … well … you need to go find out. And I give you a giant bracket frown.

:[

After that, Iko and I headed over to the Casino to see what was going on. Iko grabbed some chips and sat down at a blackjack table.

Blackjack with The Master as dealer

I can’t imagine it went well, what with The Master dealing. They did confront each other afterwards …

The Master and Eleven face off

After retrieving Iko from the casino I believe we went up to our room and crashed. We were knackered. And that was only after the first day …

Up next, Saturday!

gally recap interlude – ravelry represents at gallifrey one: 21

emilyooo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 22:55:25 +0000

We knitters sure know how to spice things up!

Where my stitches at?

The Knitters were out in full-force at Gallifrey One this year. Tara Wheeler, known for her amazing Fourth Doctor scarves and her life-sized TARDIS replica, commandeered half of the Philadelphia room at the Los Angeles Marriott Hotel and Conference Center and claimed it for her TARDIS and for Ravelry.com.

Practically a 24/7 stitch 'n' bitch

As soon as the doors opened on Friday morning there was a group of knitters in the TARDIS room, helping Tara mind her TARDIS, offering to take pictures of people with said TARDIS, and showcasing amazing scarves and Doctor Who-related knittery. One brilliant knitter even shared her fantastic illusion-knit Doctor Who blanket with us. From straight-on, the scarf looks pretty much like a bunch of garter stitch stripes.

Fantastic illusion-knit Doctor Who blanket

But at an angle, you can see Cybermen, Daleks, the letters W H O, and a ?. Simply stunning.

What the illusion knitting illuded to ...

And on Saturday the proud participants of the GOTSCARF Traveling Fourth Doctor Scarf KAL got together for a picture with the finished scarf and the TARDIS:

The Scarf KAL knitters (can you find me?)

We put the scarf in the auction on Sunday, which raised $250 for charity! Go us!

Other Fourth Doctor scarves were found all over the place during Gally. I saw over a dozen different versions, though most of them were either season 12 or 15 from what I could tell. When the wonderful Mr. Javier Grillo-Marxuach (creator of The Middleman, writer/producer of the first two seasons of Lost, etc.) arrived on Friday he was sporting his own (bought, based on the tag I remember seeing on it) Fourth Doctor scarf:

Michelle/Michelf with Javier GM!

Ravelry members also at the conference got our own ribbons, which were plotted on the Who Knits? forums and brought by Nancy/tigereye:

The Ravelers of Rassilon

Our hang-out spot in the Philadelphia room was also the “official” meetup spot for the lovely gentlemen behind the Doctor Who: Podshock podcast:

Unofficial DW podcast meeting spot

James Naughton, pictured on the right above and one part of the international Podshock crew, was sporting a lovely Fourth Doctor Scarf-inspired tie which I believe was made for him by Tara:

James and his ScarfTie

We even dominated the latest episode of The Happiness Patrol, a DW podcast co-staring the aforementioned Tara Wheeler!

The Happiness Patrol, ep. 15: “Gallifrey 21″

We also got a great shoutout (a few, actually) on the Gallifrey One edition of the 2 Minute Timelord podcast:

2MTL 106: Gallifrey One Wrap-up with Shaun Lyon (TIME DILATION)
[See post to listen to audio]

The knitting love was all around at Gally this year. And it sounds like nearly all of us will be back again next year, ready to share the DW-inspired knitting love in 2011. I’m already plotting to make a knit Eleventh Doctor bowtie …

Check back soon for part 2 of my Gallifrey One: 21 recap!

gallifrey one: 21 – recap part 1

emilyooo — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 05:20:54 +0000

This year I was fortunate enough to head out to Los Angeles for the annual Gallifrey One convention. It’s the largest Doctor Who convention in North America, and boasted one of the largest and most diverse lists of guests, panels, and activities out of any convention I’ve ever seen before. It was my first convention, so I latched on to people I knew were going: the lovely ladies of the Who Knits? group on Ravelry. I roomed with the super awesome Iko, who is also the generous soul that hosts this website for me. *waves*

I arrived on Thursday evening, and as soon as I got to the hotel the Ravelers were in the lobby, knitting away. A whole echelon of Tiny!TARDIS travelers were in the lobby to greet the con goers.

The Tiny!TARDIS Committee

I got to meet some kindred knitting spirits, mooch off of other people’s food, and have visual confirmation of the arrival of Graeme Harper, one of the directors of both Classic Who and New Who episodes.

Podshock Meet-and-Greet with Graeme Harper

(Graeme Harper in the middle, James Naughton of the Podshock podcast on the right, not sure who’s on left … if you know please comment!)

As soon as I saw him I immediately emailed my professor to brag that I was standing just a few feet away from Graeme Harper. If I remember correctly, my email stated something about it being “magical.” I picked up my name tag that night, so that Friday morning I could wonder around, check out the dealer’s room, and see Tara’s TARDIS in person for the first time.

Tara's TARDIS

The first panel I went to was the Gallifrey One Interview of Frazer Hines (Jamie) and Deborah Watling (Victoria) at 1pm in the Main Room. Frazer Hines is an absolute hoot. He had hilarious stories about working on the show, did his fantastic impression of Pat Troughton, talked about working on the audio dramas, and was a total gentleman to his compatriot Deborah Watling. Who was also brilliantly funny and full of fun stories and eye rolls.

Frazer Hines and Deborah Watling, interviewed by Ken Deep

After a trip out for lunch, I headed over to the costuming panel with Louise Page, lead costume director of seasons 2-4 (and the four 2009-2010 specials), and Aimee Steinberger, costumer, artist, and assistant director on the Futurama series currently in production. There were heard about the fabrics and costumes designed and fabricated by Louise Page, including the illusive material behind the Tenth Doctor’s duster. Apparently, when David Tennant tried it on he remarked at how soft the material was, and referred to it making him feel like a “wee beastie.” So now, whenever the duster-in-question is mentioned it is called The Wee Beastie. Some of my costume-geek friends managed to get small snippets of a fabric sample from the jacket, and these pieces are also called wee beasties.

Stay tuned for recap part 2, where I talk about Friday night! And here is my flickr photo gallery for Gally, Day 1.

defeat the world!

emilyooo — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:28:08 +0000

i miss you

emilyooo — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:38:01 +0000

Dear Conan,

I’ve been a big fan of yours for, well, for as long as I can remember. My late night routine was Letterman and then flipping over to your Late Night show. I remember you going off air while you moved to LA and being SO SAD that I had to wait until June. And how we have to wait again … until September! And who knows where you’ll be!

You’ve gotta find a way to come back to us, Conan. Maybe a free webcast of you just doing zany, goofy stuff? On YouTube or something? They’ll let you do that, right?

I feel like I’ve grown up with you, so it’s very strange to not have you around on TV. I guess I’ll have to try to fill the void by watching old Late Night clips online.

Conan O’Brien Plays Rock Band – Funny videos are here
oh strike beard …

Come back soon. I miss you.

Love,
ek

my years in the doop boys’ chorus will not have been in vain!

emilyooo — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 05:26:46 +0000

The lovely Christabel has linked to me in her lovely A Few Honest Scraps list. The idea is:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link back to that blog post.
2. Tell ten honest things about yourself and make them interesting, even if you have to dig deep!
3. Pass the award on to ten bloggers you feel embody the spirit of Honest Scrap, and whose blog you find brilliant in design and/or concept.

Now I’m not very interesting, but I can probably cook up 10 stupid things about myself.

1. I am known around the music department as the resident knitter.
2. I am also known around the music department as the resident super-nerd.
3. I have the sweetest brother ever.

Exhibit A

4. I have worked at Hill Country Weavers for six months now. I almost know where everything is now, and how QuickBooks 2009 works. This may not seem like a big deal, but if you’ve ever been to HCW you’d understand what an undertaking it is to know where everything is in that place. Biggest. Yarn shop. Ever.
5. I’m secretly a very vain person. I obsess over having shiny, straight hair, smelling nice, and looking somewhat put-together. Granted my version of put-together is very different from other people, but I do spend a embarrassingly large amount of time putting myself together in the morning.
6. I’m pretty much Liz Lemon, but 10 or so years younger. I’m even starting to dress like her (I realized this today). I’m totally okay with that because I finally, after 25 years, really like myself. *pats self on back*
7. I hate money but I love spending it. I live with two girls that are very simple and easy going, which makes me self-conscious of my love of tech stuff, gadgets, DVDs, and nerdy toys. But hey. I’m me. I work hard to get the stuff I want. “Maybe you can’t understand this, but I’ve finally found what I need to be happy and it’s not friends, it’s things.”
8. Speaking of which, I make it a personal goal to slip in a Futurama quotation into a normal conversation once every day.
9. I have two tattoos with two on the way. One is Chicago related, one is just pretty.
10. As of January 18th, I’ve been vegan for 8 years. I’ve loved every day of it and never regretted it for a second. It’s made me see the world in a new way and I think it’s been a positive thing for myself and the people around me.

So like I said. 10 stupid things about me. May or may not be interesting, though.

Now let’s see if I can think of ten lovely bloggers out there …
andy
christina
amber
eileene
cara
meghan
betsy
tammany
emily
mary-heather

<3
ek

.five.fingers.half.a.hand. demo (1998)

emilyooo — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 03:45:21 +0000

It totally blows me away that people out there, particularly in Europe, still have a vested interest in old DuPage Collective releases. Even the people involved directly with the DC haven’t thought about some of these records in years, so the fact that these posts are peaking interest to people out in the vast reaches of the internet is mind-blowing.

I keep coming up with little things here and there that I think are worth sharing, as long as there still seem to be interested parties out there. These mp3s are from the demo of .five.fingers.half.a.hand., a band featuring members of a bunch of other DuPage bands. .five.fingers.half.a.hand. came about in the summer of 1998 and lasted until 2000.

I’m not sure where I got a copy of the demo, but here it is.¹

1. Similes and metaphoars are as useless as a $3 bill.
[See post to listen to audio]

2. Goddamn bugs whacked us Johnny!
[See post to listen to audio]

3. The commisar vanishes.
[See post to listen to audio]

4. A one-way street to what the fuck is going on.
[See post to listen to audio]

5. Don’t do it Allison Bly!
[See post to listen to audio]

¹ Also, I’m not sure if the misspellings are intentional or not. I included what the mp3s were titled on my hard drive and I don’t have a hard copy to reference. ↑

the colt’s prayer

emilyooo — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:53:01 +0000

Our Peyton, who art in Indy, hallowed be thy arm. Thy Bowl will come, it will be won, in Miami as it was in ‘07. Give us this Sunday, our weekly win, And give us many touchdowns, as our defense prevents scores against us. And lead us not into frustration; But deliver us a Super Bowl, for thine is the Championship of the the NFL, and the glory of Indy forever and ever. Amen!! GO COLTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the best of conan: the simpsons edition

emilyooo — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 04:22:31 +0000

Those of you that know me personally know that I have been a HUGE fan of Conan O’Brien for a very long time. I used to stay up and watch Late Night with Conan O’Brien most nights, always being more interested in his monologue and bits than any of the interviews or god-awful musical guests. (Lets face it: even though Last Call with Carson Daly is on so late that people forget it exists, Carson was able to pull out his MTV Frequent Hosting card to get great musical talent to play on his show). Seeing him take over the mantel of the Tonight Show was exciting. And although it took him a while to get comfortable and get the ball rolling, the show was new and fun and very promising. He’s a fantastic writer, and with a good team of people to bounce ideas off of he really comes up with fantastic and fun stories and gags. (If you can’t tell, I’m much more interested in Conan as a writer and comedian more than an interviewer or Late Night personality.)

Some of his best work was during the hayday of The Simpsons, when he was a producer and writer. He spent time with the show from 1991-93, and penned some of the best and most memorable episodes in the show’s history.

I was going to come out and say “Here is his best episode EVAR” but you know what? I’m just going to put all four of them here and let you watch. I’ll tell you which one I think is best (and why) next week.

S4E08: “New Kid on the Block”

The Simpsons 408

S4E12: “Marge vs. the Monorail”

The Simpsons 412

S5E03: “Homer Goes to College”

The Simpsons 503

S5E05: “Treehouse of Horror IV”

The Simpsons 505

Although the thought of Conan going off the air makes me a sad panda, I have to say that I’d love to see him get back to writing again. More Conan-penned Simpsons episodes (maybe a Conan-penned Futurama episode!) would be incredible. And the show could definitely benefit from it, as the last 10 seasons have been slowly sliding down a narrow hill.

step forward look west [nsfw]

emilyooo — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 00:57:17 +0000

I believe this is a 7″ that would be considered ’self-titled,’ though there is something of a subject line underneath the band name on the record sleeve:

front sleeve

Oh and in case you couldn’t tell, this is a music post.

Ahem.

Step Forward Look West was a band out of the glorious DuPage Hardcore days, though towards the end of it. Well, at least the end of my time involved before I ran off to get numerous college degrees in other states (how dare I?!).

I seriously enjoy this record, still. I think it came out in 2002 at some point, and was recorded in November 2001. I know this because of the rockin’ silk-screened poster that came with buying the 7″. It’s seriously amazing, though too large for me to scan and share. Maybe I’ll take a horrible picture of it someday so you can see it in all its glory.

The names of the songs may very well be the best part of the record.

back sleeve

Now, prepare yourself for fast and loud. Explicit lyrics warning. And it’s probably worth saying that these tracks were ripped from a 7″ record using an ion usb turntable. And not ripped all that well, either. Well, that’s not true. They sound alright.

Side A-

1. a name on the board with three checks only means i can fuck up twice without getting in trouble.
[See post to listen to audio]

2. you can’t spell “goonies” without the word “go!”
[See post to listen to audio]

3. a disfunctional family is any family with two or more members.
[See post to listen to audio]

4. one two three not it!
[See post to listen to audio]

5. it’s open season on crybabies and you’re fucking next.
[See post to listen to audio]

Side B-

1. i never thought i’d say the words “i hate you” and fucking mean it.
[See post to listen to audio]

2. jesus, elvis, and the easter bunny walk into a bar.
[See post to listen to audio]

3. alice don’t surf.
[See post to listen to audio]

4. the tcri strikes again!
[See post to listen to audio]

5. it’s like pissing in a shower with a slow drain and standing in a stagnating pool of your own urine.
[See post to listen to audio]

Interesting how I believe I completely avoided using any profane words on this blog until this very post. And those profanities coming from just the titles of the songs.

Anyway, listen and enjoy.

Until next time.

The DuPage Collective