Vid madness

The vid feochadn and I made for the Vividcon premieres show is to an incredily obscure fandom, Charlie Jade (no, you don't get to see it till after the show). It was a Canadian/South African co-production (yes, believe me, I know how weird that sounds) featuring a number of Canadian, American, and South African actors, and probably people from elsewhere -- it's so sprawlingly multiculti that it's almost hard to define all the different aspects. It's also the best science-fiction/noir/speculative fiction/cyberpunk/whatever you want to call it series you will never get to see. Unfortunately it ran for only one season on a lone Canadian channel and in a few other parts of the world; the only place you can get DVDs right now is Japan (which I was more than happy to pop for, even though I can't read the menus!).

One of the many, many wonderful aspects you won't get to enjoy unless you can DL the episodes that will soon be appearing online (koff, really, I know nothing about this... it's just a rumor I've heard) or come to my house or visit keiko_kirin, who has the only other CJ vid I know of, is the incredible music by FM LeSieur. I've been trying to find out if he has made this music available, but what little I can find in English (he's French Canadian, I believe) doesn't look like it.

The series is so stunningly gorgeous I almost don't know how to pimp it to people other than to show them bits. It's just... it's magnificent. And it is packed to the gills with characters and storylines, but the visuals are never a flashy way of getting around the plot or anything like you so consistently see in American TV. It reminds me a great deal of Life on Mars in that the series has a distinct style and tone, and it's often breathtaking, but never at the expense -- or to divert your attention away if something is lacking -- of the people whose stories it is telling.

I did find LeSieur's official site, and he has a clip of the music he created for a scene from Charlie Jade (you may have to scroll to the far right, and click View on the "Charlie Jade prison scene"). Charlie is explaining something to a friend he loves but who, because of him, is in prison. You can also find a little taste of the series here, though the site is woefully out of date because the series was live then. The two main actors in the series did a tour trying to drum up interest in it and for a possible second season, but of course, that hasn't materialized, and good old Sci-Fi Channel, always determined to cater to the lowest common denominator and who are convinced that BSG is the epitome of smart and edgy TV, turned it down. I can only hope Jo's and my vid will do the series justice and possibly drum up some interest; ever since I found out about this series from macha at Tea at the Ford, I've been gaga for it and I feel like I need to become an evangelist and wander the wilderness, preaching it.

In other news, I've been adding and uploading and all manner of things at Imeem. If you see me suddenly commenting on older vids or something, it's because I have pretty much ignored the site completely since I opened it. I just am not totally convinced there's any point to it, but since I don't do much with it, I figured I'd get more linky and see if that helps. I doubt it will. It seems as if it's more of the same -- if you're not a BNV or in the superpopular fandoms du jour, you're just treading water in the same way you are with a regular site. As a way to share vids more and get the product out there to more people, it doesn't appear to me to have any advantages.

But I'll upload this week the Professionals vids that justacat has been remastering for the Media Cannibals, and probably put a few other vids up. I'm not sure if quantity or who you're connected to matters more, and I wish there were better ways to organize one's own content throughout. It seems so counterintuitive, most of the time. One improvement, though, is that they finally allow you to delete spam and chain letter content and all that other bullshit. That was a tad depressing -- although apparently you still can't remove tags other nimrods put on your videos.

And now, I realize, I desperately need some Charlie Jade icons. He has such exquisite man-pain, does Charlie, that there should be plenty to work with.