I have been sick. Notice I don't say "recently." I have been sick, it now seems, forever. ("Your son is educating his immune system!" a chirpy doctor told me recently. "That's so great!" And then he looked at my face and added hastily, "Of course, it would be even better if you weren't getting bronchitis every time he gets the sniffles." Yes, Dr. Pollyanna, it would be.)

And because I love you guys, I am going to warn you about something. See, if you're sick, and you can't really sleep because you're coughing and feverish, but you also can't do anything that involves getting out of bed because you're exhausted (and coughing and feverish), and you've read some fan fiction during the course of the day, maybe that is not the best time to re-read Bonk. Yes, re-reading, always a good choice when sick, but eventually your beleagured brain will start mapping out a Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Sexologist AU, and - seriously. No one should have to think about that. No one.

As a direct result of this unfortunate AU, I have retreated to re-reading my most beloved and safest stories. I have loved The Student Prince basically since it was posted, but I tell you what: until now, I never truly appreciated its total lack of Holmes and Watson, Rogue Sex Researchers. I should probably send some kind of note to the author. (Or not. I'm not sure how "I especially love how there aren't any worrisome science of sex scenes!" ranks, in feedback terms.)

Anyway. Obviously, I have to sidle carefully back up to fan fiction, since Holmes and Watson are waiting in the back of my brain, ready at any moment to reveal multiple terrifying devices designed entirely for research, and to discuss their various corpse-measuring studies, and also, oh god, their use of Pyrex tubes. And I just - I can't. Not the Pyrex tubes. So while I am waiting for this horror to let go of my brain, I thought I'd recommend some vids.

Safe vids. Ones certified to be entirely Pyrex tube free.

The One That Features Its Own Built-in Apocalypse AU. Unless You Have a Better Explanation for the Clip of the Dude Working out in Rubble. What About Love?, by greensilver. Youngblood.

The first two Festivids I showed Best Beloved this year were for Point Break and Dirty Dancing. (Both, by the way, were great.) This was the third. Festividders, it's going to take me a long, long time to convince BB that the rules don't look like this:

1. You must request (and volunteer to vid) at least one source featuring Patrick Swayze. Please label this source SWAYZE on your signup form.
   
2. You may also request up to six additional, non-Swayze sources.

My current story is that Patrick Swayze was just the patron saint of this year's Festivids, and next year it'll be someone else - Val Kilmer, say - and there might be no Swayze vids at all. She's not buying it, people.

But despite the persistent ongoing discussions of Patrick Swayze's back catalog ("What do you suppose Road House is?" "Wait until next year. Someone'll vid it, and I'll explain it then."), I am delighted with this year's crop of Swayzelicious vids. And I am entranced by this one. I had not previously heard of the source for this, and that is clearly a tragedy. I am always up for movies about gay hockey players and their dramatic, angst-filled love shenanigans! Particularly when the casting director, in a fit of brilliance, elects to cast a baby-faced twink as one of those hockey players. (I am less excited about the hair on the other player, which is horrible right up until it becomes a hilarious hair-hat thanks to the careful application of bandages, because this movie is set in a land where you never, ever cut a dude's hair, not even if he has a head injury. People, you need to see this hair-hat. Need. Especially if you've been at all down lately.) And particularly when there are scenes of meaningful and symbolic puck-exchanging, and also hospital-bedside-vigils-with-bonus-touching, and, just, wow.

I watch this vid, and I think, hey, I've read this AU! And then I remember, this isn't an AU. This is the canon.

I really do not see why there isn't a bucketload of fan fiction for this canon, actually. (Just think of the titles! High Sticking! Stickwork! Stick It to Him! Okay, this stops now.) Fortunately, we have this vid, which basically is what 80% of the fan fiction in this canon would be. Including the apocalypse AUs. (And the farmer AUs. I am not kidding.) So watch this. Watch this for the fan fiction we'll never have. Watch this for the forbidden love of twink hockey players. Watch it for the hair-hat.

The One That Teaches Us That Life Will Get Better If You Just Dance More. Beat Control, by absolutedestiny. Lilo and Stitch.

If I were to do a recs set of Vids My Son Loves (as you will see, this set is half that, anyway), this would be on it. He finds this entrancing, to the point where I figured I'd better recommend it now, while I'm still in the Could Write a Paper on This (But Won't) mode. Eventually, I'm going to move into Oh God, Not Again, Please Not Again territory with this, because even the greatest vid cannot withstand a toddler's intense love of repetition.

It's going to take a while for me to stop adoring this vid, though. It's fantastic. On the one hand, it's pure fluffy happy lightness, of the kind that might make you spontaneously need to hug any small people who happen to be watching along with you. (Man, that's another recs set waiting to happen: Vids That Induce Hugging. I could name four of those, easy.) But there's gorgeous stuff going on underneath the adorableness. I love the arc of this vid, as Lilo and Stitch become more themselves and more free. And the movement in this vid, oh my god - seriously, I could watch it almost as often as any toddler, just admiring that. And it's amusing to me that a vid called Beat Control has such perfect control of the beat - I love how there's a perfect hit for every bit of the lyrics and every beat. (I also love the lyrics matches absolutedestiny chooses. But, um, I'm not going to spoil them. Just suffice to say, you will want to watch this more than once)

Oh, just, wow. This vid. It's a perfect example of what I love about Festivids, because that's when people bring their best efforts out for the kinds of vids that don't usually get made. I mean, yes, people do from time to time make vids that are pure happy shiny love from G-rated sources (we will be seeing another one very soon!), but, well, Festivids seems to encourage that. A lot. And I'd love the fest even if I never liked anything else it produced, just for that.

This is a sweet, beautiful vid. Watch it.

And if this rec is just too long for you to bother with - I would understand! - you could go with the slightly more concise summary offered by the toddler member of the TFV household:

Frog. Guitar. Water. Dancing! Hugtime.

The One That Almost Makes Me Triumphant about the US Political Process, and Thus Should Probably Be Classified as a Controlled Substance. Rise, by chaila43. The West Wing.

I have never seen the West Wing, but I have seen another Aaron Sorkin show, so I'm going to guess that West Wing features a lot of people sitting around talking, and also sometimes standing and talking, or maybe even walking and talking. Which does not, historically, make for greatness in the vid arena.

And yet. Oh god, this vid. It is amazing. I love it extremely.

Partly, that's because chaila43 manages to convey actual action in this vid. It's like things happen! Besides talking! (Look, I do love Sorkin's dialogue. I do. I just think his ultimate TV show would be one about a therapist and his (yes, it would be his) patients. It would be perfect: everyone would spend every episode talking, and Sorkin would never have to write a single direction beyond "enters, sits.") Watching this, I get a sense of the emotion and context of these shots, and that's almost miraculous, given the source. And fabulous.

Plus, what emotion it is. I love the arc of this vid, the way it starts still and grim and then - well. Rises. To the point where you almost want to make, like, a fist of triumph. Or at least I do, and keep in mind that I have reached the point where I can only deal with watching anything related to US politics of any stripe if someone funny is sitting behind a desk and telling me about them in a segment that lasts no longer than nine minutes. And even so, this vid still makes me happy.

Also, I love the fact that this is a vid with a good beat, that you could dance to, and the source is the West Wing. As far as I can tell, that's a feat on par with someone making a Club Vivid vid for 12 Angry Men.

(Yes, now I want to win a vidder in a charity auction solely so I can request a peppy, danceable vid to 12 Angry Men. I am a bad person. You knew that already.)

Anyway. Watch this vid. You will not regret it.

The One That I Swear Features Ken in Lederhosen. I - I Was Just Hallucinating That, Right? No One Would Actually Put Ken in Lederhosen, Right? Infinity and Beyond, by leanwellback. Toy Story series.

This, by the way, is another favorite of the earthling's, and again falls into the "better recommend it now" category.

The music for this is Tik Tok, and I was really, really unsure about that song for this source. And then I watched the vid, and realized how very wrong I was. Partly, I just didn't appreciate the full scope of the Toy Story series - I watched the first movie once and the others not at all, and what I took away from the first one was mostly just a love for the three-eyed alien toys. But, most of all, I don't have leanwellback's brilliance.

Because, oh god, brilliance shines from this vid. I love the movement in it, and, oh, the humor of it - I can't even list all the lyrics matches that make me giggle, because I would basically be listing the entire vid. (Okay, I have to mention one: when the dudes are lining up. That - that was fabulous. I mean, the whole vid is perfect, but even so, that part stands out for me.) And I am deeply enamored of what I am choosing to view as the Yes, Ken Really Is That Gay segments. (I'm sorry, manufacturers of Barbie. Ken really is just that gay. Speaking of which, why is there no Yuletide fan fiction about Barbie and Ken? Ideally including a story where they realize that the only things they ever had in common were their mutual loves of fashion and hot men? Oh god why is it ten more months until next Yuletide? I need Barbie-Ken coming out fic now.) And I even love the very tiny sad part of the vid, which seriously had me sniffling the first time I watched it. (This is, yes, why I don't have much familiarity with the Toy Story movies. Best Beloved has deemed them Likely to Cause Weeping.)

But mostly what I love about this vid is the way it is absolutely joyful. Like, if there's such a thing as over-the-top joy, this vid has it. It just makes me deeply, profoundly happy every time I watch it.

And, since this is an earthling-approved vid, here's his (entirely unsolicited; this is just what he told me after we watched the vid together) rec:

"I like this. I like this vid! Toy Story. I like this."