(no subject)
Some catching up.
OMGCASPIAN.
It was fun, mostly, though also a little worrying.
We've done quite a few recording sessions, for lots of different kinds of things. (I've never done any of the pop music, but I've done film and TV soundtracks, re-recordings of film soundtracks for compliation albums, choral works CDs, and backing tracks for classical singers.) Each one is in some ways exactly the same, and in some totally different.
Some conductors/musical directors/whatever are terribly picky. When you're in a building with a crap acoustic, or it's really hard music, or for whatever reason you have the wrong mix of people or three of you have colds, this can be a real pain.
Harry Gregson Williams - for it was he, he conducted us, and he was small and younger than I expected, very cool, very nice, and became very tired - was extremely not picky. Now, I don't know whether this is his way or just because they obviously hadn't got enough time to do it all. I suspect the latter. It was a four hour session, we didn't get through all the cues (we never got to record Still Not King...), and we didn't have time to rehearse most of them, barring a brief sing-through. I don't know quite why we didn't have enough time - why they couldn't have scheduled two sessions, I mean - it might have been money or it might have been editing deadlines or any number of things.
So we did come out of one or two tracks going 'what do you mean we're not going to do it again? It was OK, but not nearly as good as we could do on another ten minutes' practice.' But we didn't have those ten minutes, and that was quite obviously non-negotiable and all right by everyone on the other side of the glass, so we are trusting that it sounded better than it felt a couple of times.
So that was a little worrying. That and all the top Bs. And I was on the front row, managing maybe 90% of them. And David kept looking at me.
But apart from that, the session was utterly made of awesome.
For a start, we got to SEE the bits we were singing along to! This doesn't always happen, by a long way. It looks pretty amazing. The kids are adorable, again, still. Edmund's grown about 8 foot. Lucy, amazingly, hasn't so much. Some of the effects were finished and some weren't - they'd pretty much finished Aslan, but there were also some hilarious places where centaurs were a man in full centaur makeup from the waist up, but wearing blue leggings with little white crosses painted on them and standing on a box from the waist down. :D
Oh, and Reepicheep! He was only in a couple of shots of battle we went AHH over, but he looks pretty brilliant.
Plotwise, there are slightly interesting things... specifically, Susan gets more to do. Which is nice. One of those things is have a bit of romance with Caspian. It's not a huge thing, I think, but there is a brief kiss at the very end. Which is, to be fair, filling a gap (she didn't have much to do and he is incredibly hunky), vaguely logical (she is the only girl on screen who's not Lucy, and she is the one who is kicked out of the kingdom of heaven for discovering boys, and he is incredibly hunky), and really quite pretty (she has hair, and did I mention, he's incredibly hunky?)
Also, Caspian is incredibly hunky.
No sign of the bit with pan and the dryads and fauns and dancing (which doesn't mean they've taken it out but I wouldn't be surprised - it's lovely but pretty pointless), but there were trees, and a river god, and much duelling, and Susan got to shoot people. :D
1. Reply to this post, and I will pick four of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee. Woo!
Ah, the Michael and Rhys icon. These are my teddybears. They are gay teddybears, I named them after the gay vampires (as was) in my first novel. I got them when I was... can't remember but older than I should have been, maybe 15. They just, despite being teddybears, exuded this air of Michael-and-Rhys-ness, and I had to have them.
I almost never use this icon, because there's so much context for me and none for anyone else. But I also can't quite bear (ha) to delete it.
This is my 'I win at life, or at least I'm going to pretend you said I win at life' icon. It's a picture and quote from the Princess Bride, and if you don't already know that, shame on you and hie thee to a movie rental shop. It's one of my most often used icons, partly because Princess Bride = win, and partly because it's... a tentative, and possibly delusional, sense of achievement. Which is an emotional state I feel quite familiar with nowadays.
Interestingly, this is the one people ask me if they can steal most often. Cold Comfort Farm is one of those books that inspires fannish glee in a lot of people. It's a strange quote. It's the entire text of a telegram sent from our heroine back to her friend in London after going to stay with her crazy relatives in the country. It's one of those places where the book is surprisingly meta, actually - they've had this entire conversation about how it will probably be full of people called things like Seth and Reuben. And lo, those are the names of two of her cousins.
It's incredibly useful, as an icon. It's my 'everything is FUBAR but I am a dignified Englishwoman in the face of mud and creepy relatives' icon.
Due South! That's the way I'm going! I had a bit of a Due South rediscovery moment, about six months ago. I just love this image. In fact, I loved this entire episode, it was the one called Mountie on the Bounty I think, and there was a point with all these mounties practicing Stealth in the woods, but like... in their big red coats and hats and with results like this one. AWESOME and HILARIOUS. I want to beleive that Mounties really are like that.
This one is also useful. Because you can't sneak up on people, leave the potentially embarassing or sneaky bit of information on their desks and run away when you're posting in Livejournal. So yes. This is my 'this never happened and you didn't see me, right?' icon.
In other news, I just counted the projects at work I'm working on. 18, dudes. I don't think it's a lot in the grand scheme of things, there are plenty I'm not doing, and some of these are very embryonic, but still.
Further breakdown: I have on the go...
7 projects that are already published where I'm helping with future books
6 projects that haven't been published yet but have publishers signed on to take them when they're ready, which are in various states of writtenness
1 project which would be all ready to go if someone would just buy it already
2 projects where we're in the middle of choosing a writer
1 project which is just moving out of conceptual stage into having a plot stage
2 of my own concept documents which have the tentative approval of various editors and managers and need brainstorming.
And NEW WHO on Saturday! Eeeeeeeeeee omg I need to catch up on Torchwood. I'm two episodes behind... I think.
Plus, I'm taking the day off tomorrow. WOOT. \O/
OMGCASPIAN.
It was fun, mostly, though also a little worrying.
We've done quite a few recording sessions, for lots of different kinds of things. (I've never done any of the pop music, but I've done film and TV soundtracks, re-recordings of film soundtracks for compliation albums, choral works CDs, and backing tracks for classical singers.) Each one is in some ways exactly the same, and in some totally different.
Some conductors/musical directors/whatever are terribly picky. When you're in a building with a crap acoustic, or it's really hard music, or for whatever reason you have the wrong mix of people or three of you have colds, this can be a real pain.
Harry Gregson Williams - for it was he, he conducted us, and he was small and younger than I expected, very cool, very nice, and became very tired - was extremely not picky. Now, I don't know whether this is his way or just because they obviously hadn't got enough time to do it all. I suspect the latter. It was a four hour session, we didn't get through all the cues (we never got to record Still Not King...), and we didn't have time to rehearse most of them, barring a brief sing-through. I don't know quite why we didn't have enough time - why they couldn't have scheduled two sessions, I mean - it might have been money or it might have been editing deadlines or any number of things.
So we did come out of one or two tracks going 'what do you mean we're not going to do it again? It was OK, but not nearly as good as we could do on another ten minutes' practice.' But we didn't have those ten minutes, and that was quite obviously non-negotiable and all right by everyone on the other side of the glass, so we are trusting that it sounded better than it felt a couple of times.
So that was a little worrying. That and all the top Bs. And I was on the front row, managing maybe 90% of them. And David kept looking at me.
But apart from that, the session was utterly made of awesome.
For a start, we got to SEE the bits we were singing along to! This doesn't always happen, by a long way. It looks pretty amazing. The kids are adorable, again, still. Edmund's grown about 8 foot. Lucy, amazingly, hasn't so much. Some of the effects were finished and some weren't - they'd pretty much finished Aslan, but there were also some hilarious places where centaurs were a man in full centaur makeup from the waist up, but wearing blue leggings with little white crosses painted on them and standing on a box from the waist down. :D
Oh, and Reepicheep! He was only in a couple of shots of battle we went AHH over, but he looks pretty brilliant.
Plotwise, there are slightly interesting things... specifically, Susan gets more to do. Which is nice. One of those things is have a bit of romance with Caspian. It's not a huge thing, I think, but there is a brief kiss at the very end. Which is, to be fair, filling a gap (she didn't have much to do and he is incredibly hunky), vaguely logical (she is the only girl on screen who's not Lucy, and she is the one who is kicked out of the kingdom of heaven for discovering boys, and he is incredibly hunky), and really quite pretty (she has hair, and did I mention, he's incredibly hunky?)
Also, Caspian is incredibly hunky.
No sign of the bit with pan and the dryads and fauns and dancing (which doesn't mean they've taken it out but I wouldn't be surprised - it's lovely but pretty pointless), but there were trees, and a river god, and much duelling, and Susan got to shoot people. :D
1. Reply to this post, and I will pick four of your icons.
2. Make a post (including the meme info) and talk about the icons I chose.
3. Other people can then comment to you and make their own posts.
4. This will create a never-ending cycle of icon squee. Woo!
Ah, the Michael and Rhys icon. These are my teddybears. They are gay teddybears, I named them after the gay vampires (as was) in my first novel. I got them when I was... can't remember but older than I should have been, maybe 15. They just, despite being teddybears, exuded this air of Michael-and-Rhys-ness, and I had to have them.
I almost never use this icon, because there's so much context for me and none for anyone else. But I also can't quite bear (ha) to delete it.
This is my 'I win at life, or at least I'm going to pretend you said I win at life' icon. It's a picture and quote from the Princess Bride, and if you don't already know that, shame on you and hie thee to a movie rental shop. It's one of my most often used icons, partly because Princess Bride = win, and partly because it's... a tentative, and possibly delusional, sense of achievement. Which is an emotional state I feel quite familiar with nowadays.
Interestingly, this is the one people ask me if they can steal most often. Cold Comfort Farm is one of those books that inspires fannish glee in a lot of people. It's a strange quote. It's the entire text of a telegram sent from our heroine back to her friend in London after going to stay with her crazy relatives in the country. It's one of those places where the book is surprisingly meta, actually - they've had this entire conversation about how it will probably be full of people called things like Seth and Reuben. And lo, those are the names of two of her cousins.
It's incredibly useful, as an icon. It's my 'everything is FUBAR but I am a dignified Englishwoman in the face of mud and creepy relatives' icon.
Due South! That's the way I'm going! I had a bit of a Due South rediscovery moment, about six months ago. I just love this image. In fact, I loved this entire episode, it was the one called Mountie on the Bounty I think, and there was a point with all these mounties practicing Stealth in the woods, but like... in their big red coats and hats and with results like this one. AWESOME and HILARIOUS. I want to beleive that Mounties really are like that.
This one is also useful. Because you can't sneak up on people, leave the potentially embarassing or sneaky bit of information on their desks and run away when you're posting in Livejournal. So yes. This is my 'this never happened and you didn't see me, right?' icon.
In other news, I just counted the projects at work I'm working on. 18, dudes. I don't think it's a lot in the grand scheme of things, there are plenty I'm not doing, and some of these are very embryonic, but still.
Further breakdown: I have on the go...
7 projects that are already published where I'm helping with future books
6 projects that haven't been published yet but have publishers signed on to take them when they're ready, which are in various states of writtenness
1 project which would be all ready to go if someone would just buy it already
2 projects where we're in the middle of choosing a writer
1 project which is just moving out of conceptual stage into having a plot stage
2 of my own concept documents which have the tentative approval of various editors and managers and need brainstorming.
And NEW WHO on Saturday! Eeeeeeeeeee omg I need to catch up on Torchwood. I'm two episodes behind... I think.
Plus, I'm taking the day off tomorrow. WOOT. \O/