hero, pegasus awards

Chris Conway and Jodi. Any suggestions for a caption?


Went to see Hero yesterday with Mark Thompson and Jeff and found it visually breathtaking, with stunning landscapes and rich colours. I will likely see it again just for the visual feast. However, I have to admit that for me, the movie didn't have as much emotional resonance as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. In Crouching Tiger, I cried for the characters. In Hero, I pitied them but found myself more fascinated by how their costumes blended gorgeously with their surroundings, their postures, the cinematography.

I was surprised and honoured to be informed recently that I've been nominated as Best Writer/Composer in the Pegasus Awards, one of the awards given out in the filking community. Urban Tapestry has also been nominated as Best Performer (and Jodi's "The Lady" has been nominated in the Best Song category!). I feel especially honoured when I look at the other nominated performers/songwriters in these categories.

I was hesitant about mentioning this in my Blatherings (reason to be discussed below), but wanted to acknowledge the honour as well as the hard work by Steve Macdonald, who has devoted an incredible amount of time and effort into supporting and promoting the Pegasus Awards. One recent change, for example, is the fact that people can now actually listen to MP3 excerpts and usually read the lyrics for ALL songs being nominated, not only helping to make the voting process more fair but also helping to share the music of these individuals with those who may have not heard of them, and promoting filk in general. Bravo, Steve!

Reason I was hesitant about mentioning my nomination on Blatherings: I'm worried that some loyal Blatherings readers or especially non-filk friends may think it a Good Thing to rush over to the online ballot and vote for me (and/or Urban Tapestry). PLEASE DON'T. Do read the rules, especially the rule that you -must- be a member of the filk community to nominate or vote.

Even if you can't or don't want to vote, however, I do still encourage you to go over to the 2004 Pegasus Awards nominee page and listen to some of the nominated songs and performers in the filk community in the current as well as past years of the Pegasus Awards. You'll find a wide variety of musical styles and a good sampling of filk music, new and "classic". Links are provided to all titles and performers, in case you'd like to hear an MP3 sample or find out more about a particular filker (thanks, Steve!).

And if you like what you hear, consider coming out to a filk gathering yourself. :-)

Related links:

Where can I find filk conventions?

Housefilk resource maintained by Andrea Dale.

The Dandelion Report: a filking resource I maintain, includes answers to questions like "What is filk?"

Pegasus Awards FAQ

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