Vids: Come up and See Me (Make Me Smile)

[thefourthvine]

I have a fan fiction set nearly ready to go, but I'm hoping I'll, um, develop the ability to be coherent before I actually post it. (Sleep would help. A lot.) So I asked myself what I could do in my current state of incoherence (hints: nothing involving heavy machinery, sharp implements, explosives, or complete sentences), and it came to me in a flash: I could practice what I preached.

See, two weeks ago, I was whining at all y'all to recommend some vids. To my incredible delight, a lot of you did. (And if you did and I haven't remarked upon it yet, I probably missed it; see, the thing is, I do my comments before I read my friends list, so I spent the entire week of that post insanely behind on the ol' list. I missed a lot. So I would be eternally grateful if you would drop me a link and let me know where I can behold you in your glorious recommending plumage.)

Anyway. You recommended vids. Seems like I should do the same. So, without further ado, I present to you: Vids That Make Me Smile (or, in Some Cases, Shriek with Laughter).

Boy in the Bubble, by jmtorres. Star Wars (original trilogy).

This vid made me stupidly happy. I just need to say that right up front, so that you know that I am biased.

And, you know, I didn't think it would. When I recognized the source and the song (I download in a way that makes it difficult for me to associate filenames with content; I love spoilers for anything, except, for some reason, vids, which I want to come to with as few preconceptions as possible.), I started making the Face of Vid-Watching Uncertainty. You know what I mean. It's the same face people make the first time they taste goat cheese. Because, see, in the first few seconds of the vid, the song seemed all wrong and I had no idea where the vid was going. And, you know, I'm already regretting the goat cheese analogy, but I just have to say - like goat cheese, this vid turned out to be an unanticipated comfort food. (Wow. Now I'm really regretting the goat cheese analogy. Memo to me: in the future, avoid dairy-based metaphors in vid recommendations posts. Further memo to me: explore the use of dairy-based metaphors in other settings, but with caution. Don't go charging headlong into, for example, an explanation of the Dewey decimal system via butter making.)

So. There I was, being suspicious and wary. And then I got to one specific line, and my heart clenched, and I was just swamped with this wave of nostalgia, this incredibly intense memory of the uncomplicated love I once had for Star Wars. (The love lasted all the way up until the first half-hour of The Phantom Menace, which was not one of the happier movie-going experiences of my life, let me tell you. And not just, or even mostly, because I was attending with someone who had taken a lot of codeine and could thus be happily entertained by pretty lights, or by dust motes, or even by romantic dialog written by George Lucas.)

This vid brought that old love back to me, let me re-experience it for three minutes, and is a gift beyond price. I can't comment on the technical side of this, or the beauty of the cuts, or anything else at all, because I watched this not as a vidfan but as just a plain old fan.

This is highly recommended for people who loved the original trilogy. And for people who buy DVD sets of TV shows they watched in their youth. And for anyone whose life has been, of late, maybe a little lacking in miracle and wonder.

After Rain, by gwyn_r. Band of Brothers. Pairing? Um, maybe; you could read this as slash (which is, yes, totally my choice; I take pride in my predictability) or as gen. In either case, I have no idea who these guys are. (ETA: deepsix tells me they are Nixon and Winters. In which case, Nixon/Winters is totally my new OTP.)

So. Realistic war fandom with which I am completely unfamiliar. (For the very good reason that realistic war sequences - if I can even understand them - generally make me want to retire to my room. Or resign my membership in the human race. In either case - well, let's put it this way: I watched Saving Private Ryan, yes, but I'm not sure I actually managed to see anything at all after those first however many eternal minutes they were.) And a pairing (or maybe a friendship) that I'm totally not invested in, to the degree that I've never even heard of it. This is a sure-fire recipe for a truly happy-making vid, yes?

No, actually. (I know, you're shocked.) Except it so totally is. This vid makes me happy because - okay. If I ever did a list of Things Fandom Taught Me About Myself, the first thing on that list would have to be the extremely unexpected and totally unwelcome news that I am a closet optimist.

See, for years I thought I was a pessimist, because I made contingency plans and anticipated worst-case scenarios and just generally planned for the universe to fuck my shit up. But it turns out that under that carefully cultivated layer of caution and low expectations, I - I believe in happy endings.

I'm sorry. I know this makes me the most naive person on the planet. I can't help it. My brain understands that it doesn't work that way, but my subconscious is just not having any of the brain's pseudo-intellectual bullshit; it believes that things will end happily.

I first saw "After Rain" at a bad, hard time in my life - two months almost to the day after my father died. I missed him horribly and just couldn't believe that the world could work that way; I was still waiting for the happy ending and starting to be afraid that it wouldn't come. But this vid - it basically was the happy ending. Because it says what I had already hoped was true but really, really needed to hear right then: that things will be good again, that no matter how bad things are, all you have to do is survive and eventually happiness will take care of itself.

The thing is, I've watched this enough to see a lot of what Gwyn did with this vid - the contrast in tones and colors, the gorgeous use of each part of the song, the subtle effects that carry even a totally clueless viewer through distinct switches in time and place. And I appreciate it, just as I appreciate all the slashy adorableness and lovely uniforms. But this will always be, for me, the vid that said that the bad doesn't eliminate the potential for good, and that good times come to all of us in the end.

Goody Two Shoes, by pipsqueaky and laurashapiro. Due South. Fraser and his Rays.

I made a lot of truly undignified noises when I first watched this, including several outright shrieks of laughter. Because, seriously, has there ever been a better song choice for Fraser than "Goody Two Shoes"? Has there ever been less subtle innuendo?

(Answers, in order: No and no. I can think of some equally unsubtle innuendo, like the clip I saw on YouTube a few weeks ago of the one reporter guy eating a banana, but to get any less subtle, there would have to be explicit sexual acts. That would of course be fine with me- Totally fine! Amazingly fine! Redefining fine by reaching entirely new levels of fineness! - but would kind of take it out of the category of "innuendo." Also, this song is so clearly perfect that I actually squealed with joy when the first shot showed what were, unmistakably, Fraser's boots. Now do you see why I like to watch vids unspoiled? It's so that I can think, "Hmmm. 'Goody Two Shoes.' If I'm lucky, it's about Angel; if I'm unlucky, it's about Lana Lang. Ooo, nice title sequence! And - OMG FRASER'S BOOTS EEEEE YES!")

The unwritten subtitle of this vid is, "Come on down to due South and play with our Mountie, who is pure fun in boots." Or, okay, that's not actually the subtitle, but in my head it is, because this vid is three minutes of Fraser demonstrating his fixation on heights, licking, and Rays.

And, okay. Every fandom has its frequently used clips, and I tend to keep a list of those in my head, along with vids that I have awarded various totally imaginary prizes to for the most effective use of those clips. This vid wins two such prizes. (Which is impressive, considering it mostly does not use the really popular clips.) First, for the best use ever of buddy breathing, in that I can actually, for once in my life, see what's going on. Usually it just looks like a fishtank. With bubbles. In the dark. And, second, for the final shot, which - okay. Maybe it's just me, but in this context it suddenly became very, very obvious to me that what Fraser is thinking in that shot is: "Yay! Threesome!"

Atlantis!, by sherrold and wickedwords. Stargate: Atlantis.

(Note: this vid was made for the Vividcon remix challenge, and was inspired by astolat and cesperanza's Rumble, which - well. If you haven't seen it, I don't know how you find the strength to carry on.)

When I was making up this set, says I to myself, says I, "Everyone has seen Atlantis!, surely. There is no point in recommending Atlantis!" And then I remembered that I myself was arguing against that sort of reasoning just two weeks ago. So I did my best to think of the fangirls. Specifically, I thought of a (hypothetical) fangirl who has not seen this vid. And, you know, I can pretty clearly picture her in my head. She's probably feeling a strong urge to lie down with a cold cloth, a Victorian hair ring, and the complete works of Thomas Hardy. (Or, if she's really tragic, Ethan Frome. But I have to hope no one would let it get that far.) She probably weeps, but knows not why she is so emo.

It's because this vid is missing from her life.

And I can relate, because this vid is an example of something that has been missing from my life for rather a long time. See, I am a frequent visitor to anime music video land. (To get there, just take a left at the sign of the one half pandaman, turn another 40 degrees when you see the giant robot, and head straight on toward the totally androgynous boys who hold each others' hands a lot for reasons never entirely made clear. Or, you know, you could just click this link.) And over there, they have a lot of humor vids that consist of many short song snippets. I love these; each snippet is a single joke and lasts precisely as long as it takes to get the joke. Then, before you're done laughing, BAM! and you cut to another joke. Some of the snippets maybe wouldn't even be funny on their own (and, anyway, watching a, like, 17-second vid is weird), but when they are put together and watched as a whole, it gets funnier and funnier until eventually, in the fullness of time, you reach the Linkin Park joke, at which point you are laughing so hard you are weeping into your keyboard. (And if you don't understand why Linkin Park jokes are funny, obviously you have not yet spent much time in anime music video land.)

So, when I saw this, I realized that, yes, this was a live-action snippet vid. And the fact that the snippets were all related just makes it even better. And - and - look. If I talk about this for one second more, I'm going to spoil you (assuming you live on the planet Jupiter and have thus not already been spoiled for it), so just go download, okay? It will take those naughty emo blues away, I promise you.

Comments

[thefourthvine.livejournal.com]

I know how hard it is to find anything joyful or pleasant at a time like that, and it makes me incredibly glad that the vid meant something to you.

Although I left you feedback at the time, I was in no shape to articulate, even to myself, exactly what I felt about the vid, so I don't think I really conveyed it to you. Trust me when I say, though, that this vid means a lot to me.

As usual, too, I've had a lot more requests for the password the past few hours because of your rec, so I thank you very much for that.

That's fascinating, and it's both sad and very gratifying for my ego. I mean, there are people actually downloading vids I rec'd - how cool is that?

But it's sad because - well, I wouldn't have thought that a single rec could cause a noticeable spike in password requests. Maybe someone else rec'd it, too?

And if you ever want more info on Nix/Winters or the whole story of BoB, I am more than happy to pimpinform you about the series and the real life story.

Yes, please! Tell me more! I'm very curious, because - well, the vid has made me immensely fond of these characters (who even without dialog and etc. seem to have very distinct personalities), and also the show just sounds interesting. You know how well I do with actually watching canons, so I doubt I ever will watch this one, but I'd love to hear more about the characters and, well, whatever other details are suitable for pimping. Is there a good fandom summary out there anywhere hat you know about?

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Turst me, a single rec, especially from someone as widely read as you, can make all the difference. Some people I know announce in every community when they have a new vid, I just beg for recs, because you can announce till the cows come home, but it hasn't 1/100th the power of a single rec. I am in awe of your mad powerz!

Re Nix/Winters, I found a ship manifesto here http://community.livejournal.com/ship_manifesto/63557.html that gives a bit of info about them, and has some links to fic, but it's very much oriented toward whatever fan clique they all seem to be in, so I can't vouch. I got turned off fic in this fandom really fast -- most of it's awful, and written in a way that I can't handle. I'm just too freaking picky. There are a couple of communities, one calle camp toccoa (but I don't know the exact spelling, otherwise I'd use a tag) and I do believe a couple others.

If I wrote my own ship manifesto abstract, it would be something like this:

Band of Brothers is based on the book by Stephen Ambrose about the 101st Airborne, Easy Company. They dropped behind the lines at night on D-Day, ostensibly to take out the German guns that were trained on the coastline where the soldiers were landing. Unfortunately, things went haywire, and many men were lost or dropped far from their objectives. Easy lost their leader, and Lt. Dick Winters stepped in to lead his men on an assault on a German battery that is still taught today.

This was really typical of his character -- he was an incredibly strong, thoughtful, intelligent guy (and really, they were still just kids then) with a natural ability to lead. He became the company's captain not long afterward. He was a straigh arrow -- didn't drink, smoke, carouse, any of that. Which is why his deep friendship with Lewis Nixon was even more miraculous -- Nixon was wealthy, flamboyant, a drunk, and had many other vices. But they became the closest of friends, and both had an ability to lead and inspire confidence in the men, and they were both incredibly well respected.

Nixon was the company's intelligence officer, and as such, he didn't see as much combat as the others. Winters was a lot more comfortable in the field; when he is promoted to a desk job partway through the series, he doesn't take too well to it, and Nixon even has to remind him that the person who's taken over Easy will do fine, he should just let it be.

They are never far apart throughout the war. Even on D-Day, when everything was a total mess and no one knew who had lived or died during the night drop until they actually saw the person, there's this kind of "hey, there you are!" coolness about their relationship. In the series, Winters constantly is looking over his shoulder to make sure Nix is there. When the was in Europe ends, they are training with the implication that many men will be sent to the Pacific to fight Japan -- and Winters signs up to go, so of course, Nixon is going too.

Nixon offers him a job at the end -- his family pretty much owns Nixon, New Jersey (which is now Edison), and he wants Dick by his side if his family expects him to make something of himself. There's a heavy background to him that's never really delved into -- we know he's unhappy, and that he drinks because he is, but as Dick says in his voiceover at the end, "he went through some hard times, but then he met a woman named Grace and it all came together." (Grace is actually still alive, and Ron Livingston met her, shown in the supplemental material on the DVDs.)

I fear I'm running out of space, so I'll continue this.

[gwyn-r.livejournal.com]

Okay, anyway. Dick did actually go to work for Lew's family's company after the war, and even through marriages and families, they were never far apart in real life. And I think the series really focused on that -- while Dick was also great friends with Harry Welsh, who is the third part of their little command triumvirate, the fact of the polar opposite quality and what happened after the war was something the producers really focused on, and did it very well. Livingston and Damian Lewis, who plays Dick, had that kind of magical chemistry you can't pay to find. They understand each other, in character, in that guy-like way that can be so unique to true leaders.

The scene where Nix gets shot in the helmet is one of my favorites -- Dick is totally, completely freaking out that Nix has been shot in the head right in front of him, even in the midst of a really bad situation where they're pulling back under heavy German fire. And when he asks Nix if he's all right, Nix replies, "I'm all right! I'm all right! Am I all right?" because of the way Dick is freaking out. And then he says, pulling Dick off him, "Quit looking at me like that!" I guess in real life, Nixon would poke his finger through the hole in his helmet and start laughing over that. I always thought that summed them up very well -- Dick's pretty much a total clam, but he's open up and have a clameurysm only over Nix.

I was thinking about your not being much of a canon girl, and you know, you could probably watch this series relatively easily in the way I used to watch Oz -- I can't handle shows like that, but I adored Beecher and Keller, so my friends would bring over the tapes for me and show me Beecher/Keller Romance Theatre. We'd stop any time they were on camera, together or alone. I still managed to see most of the series, and all of their relationship. You could rent the gorgeous, gorgeous DVDs (the first show filmed in true hi-def, and my god, it looks incredible on a hi-def TV) and just FF through to the bits with them in it. That way, some of the most painful portions you could skip.