thefourthvine | 155: You Can Observe a Lot Just by Watching

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155: You Can Observe a Lot Just by Watching

So. I'm in a vid mood. And, seeing as Yuletide is a-comin', I thought maybe celebrating small fandoms was the way to go. For arcane and strategic reasons (read: they are at the top of my vid folder), I have decided to go with small movie fandoms.

Also, I've accepted that I will be recommending vids as a regular thing, that I won't just wake up one day and say, "Huh. Vids. I totally don't get them anymore." (Look, with me that was a distinct possibility for the longest time, okay? I'm not good with visual media, folks.) So I am no longer isolating my vid recommendations in unnumbered posts, and that is good. It was causing me all this angst - I kept thinking, should I maybe have a separate numbering system for the vid posts, starting at one? Should I, like, give them letters? Or, hey! I could color code them! Or name them after animals, so I'd have, like, the Bunny set, and then the Whomp Rat set, and - wait, no, no, totally stupid.

And then I realized that if there were telepaths - not that I am saying there are, mind you, but if there were - then this whole train of thought would be Exhibit A in my committal hearings. So I'll just be numbering them like any other recommendations post from now on, and with luck, that will be evidence in my favor. Not that this will save me or anything.

So. Vids. Shall we?

Oh, wait. One last thing. As I mentioned, it is that Yuletide time of year, which means that it's going to be my birthday soon, and then there will be all these holidays, and then we will all stagger into (OMG, OMG) 2007. It's the traditional gift-giving season, but I'm not going to be making a wishlist this year.

I've been so lucky, in fandom and out of it, that I would feel weird asking for anything more. So instead - if you feel like giving me something, the thing I want this year is for you to send feedback or a comment for a vid you love. It would make me very happy.

And now I'm finished blithering. Vids, ho!

The One That Provides 11000% of Your RDA of Adorable. I Walk the Line, by Abby, aka

tv_elf. March of the Penguins.

Penguins! Walking the line! I can't even imagine what else I might need to say to get you to download this.

Okay, wait, I can think of one thing you might want to know, because I really did, going in: no penguins are harmed during the course of this vid. This is why I haven't seen March of the Penguins - there's a real risk that at some point a penguin might be hurt, and then I would die.

I am not good with animal harm. No, I mean like really not good with animal harm. There's a series called the Blue Planet that I got from Netflix - because oceans! Teeming with life! How can this be a bad thing? - and Best Beloved looked at the disc, then looked at me and said, "You know, fish eat each other."

I opened my mouth to insist that I could, in fact, totally handle that. And then I remembered certain tragic incidents in my childhood and shut my mouth again.

And then we sent the DVD back.

I'm just saying. Animal harm is my absolute deal-breaker. So, if you are like me: the parent penguins are fine! The fluffy baaaaaaaby penguins are fine! Everyone is fine! And they walk the line!

The One That Proves That the Key Ingredient of Technological Advancement Is Childhood Trauma. One Angry Dwarf, by AbsoluteDestiny, aka

absolut3destiny. The Incredibles, Syndrome.

So. I'll admit it. When I watched the Incredibles, I wanted to kick Buddy, and that was before I knew he came back as Syndrome. (Actually, I liked Syndrome better. A lot. I mean, I can respect an evil genius.) I know I was supposed to have sympathy for him, and I don't usually have the urge to kick small children, but in fact my reaction to him was equal parts intense irritation and creepy-kid squick. (Creepy kids are the creepiest of all humans, providing you don't consider clowns human, which I don't.)

This vid changed that.

The alternate point of view is one of the oldest tools in the fan fiction toolbox, but it's a lot harder to do (successfully) in vids. I think that's especially true in movie vids, because, let's face it, if you're working with a single movie, your footage is quite, quite limited. In this vid, that problem is overcome in large part by a perfect song choice; this pretty much is Syndrome's song, right here. Combine that with some truly splendid cutting (and the equally splendid animated emoting of Syndrome himself - I mean, he's Rodney McKay! Kind of! Except evil, and also with hair that would make John Sheppard's develop a crushing inferiority complex and maybe cry a little), and you have a masterful vid of great genius.

And I respond by developing a sudden sympathy, not just for Syndrome, but for Buddy. Which is proven by - okay. The ending of this vid bothers me. And yet it's the same ending the movie has (excepting the epilogue thingy), and in the movie it fills me with glee. Shows you what a change in point of view can do.

(Technical note: for reasons unknown (to me), this vid does not play well for me in the most recent version of VLC, which is normally my vid playback tool of choice. If you have this problem, try MPUI.)

The One That Makes Plastic Fantastic. Beep Beep, by Jackie K, aka

jackiekjono. Starship Troopers (hush), and - um. It's gen, or maybe het, but basically whatever canonical pairing is in the movie. I guess. (Note: if this is your first visit to triptychvids.com, you'll need to get a password, but it's on an automailer, so it will be both fast and impersonal. And that - um. Didn't sound so good. I truly did not mean to liken contact with vidders to an anonymous handjob in the back room of a bar, people. Accident!)

So. I've heard many bad things about Starship Troopers, and they may all be true. But this vid is a thing of great beauty, and not just because of Jackie's inspired decision to set future SF to Louis Prima. Somehow, this vid takes the movie's mediocre bluescreening, the unfortunate straight-from-the-Barbie-box appearance of the main characters, and the, um, plot-thing, or whatever that is, and makes it all fun. Louis Prima + Starship Troopers is like a chili-chutney-fried egg sandwich: it shouldn't work, but it does. It becomes right. In Jackie K's hands it becomes, in fact, a refreshing delight.

Sadly, after several re-watchings of this, I even found myself sort of - um. Sort of caring about the characters. And maybe even a little curious about the movie. Okay, god, fine, I admit it: I added it to our Netflix queue.

Please don't tell anyone. It was Jackie K's fault! I was helpless against her vidding wiles! Oh, god, have I lost all credibility forever?

Wait. That assumes I ever had any credibility, and for some profoundly unfair reason "credibility" is not synomous with "recommends porny stuff on the internet." So obviously nothing to worry about there. Carry on.

(Caution: even if you enjoy this vid - and I think you will - do not actually attempt to eat a chili-chutney-fried egg sandwich. I can vouch for the vid. I'm still very afraid of the sandwich.)

The One That Shows a Clip Involving Chains That Makes Me Wonder If Maybe I Should See This Movie. Um. My Prerogative, by

yuna_firerose. Once upon a Time in Mexico.

First things first: this is Agent Sands set to Britney Spears singing My Prerogative. I just want you to take a moment to revel in the beauty and brilliance of that before we move on, because otherwise it might overwhelm you.

Breathe. Yes. There we go.

And then I want to reassure you that it is not the whole song. (Yes, this is yet another movie I've never seen, but I'm pretty sure there isn't enough Sands footage to make the whole song work. Also, you might end up overdosing on Britney Spears. I hear that can get ugly.)

So. I'm not sure what else I can say to sell you on this vid. I mean, if the image of Agent Sands shooting and sleazing and strutting to My Prerogative isn't going to do it for you, what will? I mean, really, what on this earth will? So instead I will tell you a story about the major question this movie raised for me.

See, my mother wanted to see it. And she wanted me and BB to see it with her. And we had to spend an entire afternoon convincing my mother, who does not like violence and thought Jumangi was too scary and disturbing, not to see it. Eventually, I had to resort to saying (in that tone that you only ever hear from adult women when they are talking to their mothers), "Mother! He gets his EYES taken out! EYES, mother! EYES!" And even then, she was only kind of convinced.

And why did she want to see the gory violent movie with the eye-removal scene? She knew one thing about it: that it had Johnny Depp in it. (She thought it starred Johnny Depp, and I had to tell her that maybe it did, but only in the scene-stealing sense, and it was actually about someone else.) My point here is that Johnny Depp may in fact have unholy powers akin to vampiric hypnotism, and he may be using them on innocent persons around the globe.

Also, I cannot help but notice that he does not appear to be aging as such.

So what I want to know is: has anyone checked to see if he shows up in a mirror lately? Or maybe searched his attic for a hideous portrait? I'm just. You know. Wondering.

The One That Will Make You Want to Give a Great Big Hug to the Nearest Girl You Can Find, So You Might Want to Check Your Environs for Suitable Candidates Prior to Watching It. Whatever It Takes, by Eunice, aka

just_eunice. Bend It Like Beckham, Jess + Jules.

This is a purely happy-making vid, and is on my short list of vids that make me beam for a long time after I'm done watching them. I actually have seen this movie (I know! I'm as shocked as you are!), and I enjoyed it. But not as much as I enjoyed this, which is basically the distilled essence of the movie, so it's like this amazing super-powered booster shot of sheer joy. Kind of like vitamins. Except fun. And about football.

Okay, you know what? That metaphor wasn't working out. Let's never speak of it again.

My point is that this is the kind of vid I can't analyze at all. No matter how many times I see it, I just react to it: I smile, I feel inspired, I do a little chair dancing. (The song, by the way - "Whatever It Takes," by Sinead Lohan - is addictive all on its own, and does anyone have a copy?)

I think this vid is about what parents must dream of (and kind of fear) for their kids. And I also think that this is adolescence as it should be: a trip to the moon. On your own terms.

And that's really all I have to say about this one, except that it should be downloaded by everyone who isn't outright allergic to fun. (And even then, couldn't you just take some antihistamines before you watch it?)

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"Whatever It Takes" is just pure joy. It's a shot of 1000-proof happy tequila. I'm so happy you're recommending vids, too. Yay!

Oh yay, vids!

I have only watched the penguin one so far, but it is so happy! I am grinning so hard. ♥

Also, if I were you I would avoid March of the Penguins. In any case, the only reason to watch it is the fluffy baby penguins and the adult penguins, and you can get that from the vid. (You can get the penguin lifestyle stuff from books, too - the movie isn't all that in-depth, sadly. But then I knew a lot about penguins anyway, so.) In conclusion: vid + books on penguins = all you need.

What is it with mothers and Johnny Depp? My mother loves him. And frankly, so do I, but there's something disturbing about hearing your mother say, "Johnny Depp is so hot." when a) he's your age and b) you think he's hot, too.

The great thing about LJ is that it offers endless distractions for an insomniac. *g* I've watched Whatever It Takes for about, oh, five times now and it's still making me perfectly happy!

getting high on my mortality

*dances*

Aww, man, see this is why I wish people would use youtube more often. Anything set to My Prerogative (original or Britney version) perks my interest, but while I was grudgingly willing to download from ysi, the links don't actually work anymore, and I'm not interested enough to ask for it to be reuploaded.

Penguins rule!

I appreciate the disclaimer on the penguin vid. I thought I was the only one out there avoiding this film because I couldn't deal with the angst. Nice to know I'm not alone!

Your recs are a thing of beauty. Just sayin.

Thank you so much for the pointer to the penguin vid. They walk the line, TFV! It makes me squee helplessly.

I loved March of the Penguins, but it does have some traumatizing bits, so you're best off sticking with the fluffy abridged version. And isn't it one of the glories of fandom that a fluffy abridged version was inevitable?

Yes! Whatever It Takes was recced to me by Zee and it is a sure-fire pick-me-up for everything ever.

As to March of the Penguins, yes, there is penguin related sadness. It is not for you.

Hey, you haven't seen Starship Troopers? Starship Troopers is fantastic! It in itself is fun and a refreshing delight! And I will now watch the vid, and I'm sure I will love that too.

Also, a chili-chutney-fried-egg sandwich sounds really, really good. Perhaps that says something about my taste in general.

And then I realized that if there were telepaths - not that I am saying there are, mind you, but if there were - then this whole train of thought would be Exhibit A in my committal hearings.

I figure that being commited is along he same lines as going to hell, it may not be the most fun, but all your friends are there, so it's better than being in heaven/the real world with no one to talk to.

Also: Yay for more reccomendations!

(Note: if this is your first visit to triptychvids.com, you'll need to get a password, but it's on an automailer, so it will be both fast and impersonal. And that - um. Didn't sound so good. I truly did not mean to liken contact with vidders to an anonymous handjob in the back room of a bar, people. Accident!)

LOL! And hey, I DO read all of the password requests. Some of them are quite fun and it's interesting to see who folks are and what they are coming for.

Do you by chance know where to find the five things fic about songs John Shepard didn't hum?

Don't fear the reaper, Danger zone, blame canada, etc?

Starship Troopers isn't *quite* as bad as some fans (and many critics) will tell you, so enjoy the plastic. I do have to say that my brain removed large parts of it from my mental hard drive, and the Good Parts version that's left is mostly a send-up of the 50s and the Cold War -- and hey, could you really go wrong in sending up the Cold War with *giant bugs*?

No, I thought not. Oh, yes, the only reason the canonical pairing in the movie is het, is that it ignored the book almost completely. That's more along the lines of Boy/CombatSuit. (Heinlein was a crackerjack writer, but his philosophy is not as, um, livable as he seems to think.)

Enter stranger on hobbyhorse:
I'm mystified and saddened by the lack of Starship Troopers appreciation among so many media-savvy lj peoples. It can be viewed as just pretty, shiny, heavily armed people (played by some delightfully hammy and some delightfully bad actors) engaging manic explosive mayhem fun, and that's how I think most of its detractors view it, except for the fun part. But how can they not see that it's absolutely brilliant political satire as well? It's the ultimate anti-war war movie. So, oddly, I kind of hated the Beep Beep vid, because it was all the pretty shiny with none of what's so incredibly damn cool about the movie.
Exit stranger, dragging exhausted hobbyhorse behind her.

(Oops, one last thing: your abhorance of real animals being harmed doesn't spill over to violence against CGI alien bugs and people, right? 'Cause that is one gory movie. But great. Really.)

On the other hand, we take it how we can get it.

Okay, now my dander is down and I feel guilty about being mean to the vid. Is a good vid, very cute. Just not my favored take on the movie.

I'm glad you liked the vid. If you are going to blame me for watching the movie, though, I should warn you about one scene that might squick.

(Brief inconsequential spoiler.)

The moment you see a cow on the screen, please cover your eyes and hum for about 4 seconds. What happens during this scene is that a cow is brought very close to a giant bug in a cage. As the bug goes for her, she is pulled away to safety very, very quickly, then brought to a nice safe pasture where a small child hangs a daisy chain around her neck and hugs her for being such a brave cow. The cow then stubs her toe.

You have to keep your eyes covered.

The relationship between those two characters isn't a particularly important part of the movie and some of it has been - um - recontextualized. (I know ALL the big vidder words!). There just aren't enough movies about guys sitting around pining over their girfriends who have gone off into space and that song really needed to be a vid.

I, too, adore the penguin vid. What I think is really clever about it is that it is a stealth metavid indirectly satirizing those of us who sometimes pay a little too much attention to aesthetics and structure when discussing vids and often forget that vidding is supposed to be about fun and sharing emotions. And it does this while being very tightly structured and aesthetically gorgeous.

And I second everything you said about the other vids, too. So much loveliness!

I've never had a chili-chutney-fried egg sandwich but, I have been known to make blueberry ostrich stirfry and serve it to friends. Since they both still speak to me, I don't think it came off too badly.

I actually agree with you about certain elements in the film being a wonderful satire. I absolutely loved the Nazi uniforms and the newsreels. And I agree wholeheartedly that the satirical elements were far more interesting than the dopey characters.

Some parts of the movie want to be clever satire and other parts of the movie want to be taken a bit more seriously. For me, it is one of those movies that is a bit frustrating because it *almost* works.

If only I could convince someone to write a song about the newsreel footage...

Um, do you think La Cucaracha would work? : )

and thought Jumangi was too scary and disturbing

Jumanji *was* too scary and disturbing.

I think I'd rather watch the eyes taken out than the trapped in a board game and perpetually a child with parent issues and argh.

On the subject of March of the Penguins related trauma: Skew Curve by

rageprufrock. Part of her Bell Curve AU. (No animals are hurt in this story, but characters mention the penguin-harm in MotP and are distressed by it.)

Such is the wonder and joy of "Whatever It Takes" that I feel the need to use my Chiyo-chan icon (*points*) whenever I think about it. It's that uplifting.

And, come to think of it, "I Walk the Line" is that adorable. Clearly, this is a mostly Chiyo-chan set.

I'm so happy you're recommending vids, too.

Vid recommending is very yay. And I still get a thrill when I do it, because for so long I made it so difficult for myself. (I thought I had to get written consent in, like, triplicate, from the vidder. And the vidder's mom. And the vidder's pets, if any. And if not pets, then neighbors. Like that.) And now I can just do it! Like any other recs set! I think maybe the real reason I never numbered the vid posts like the other ones is that it was so much work I couldn't imagine doing it in anything even approaching volume.

Seriously, the hardest work I ever do is the unnecessary stuff I create for myself. *rolls eyes*

I have only watched the penguin one so far, but it is so happy! I am grinning so hard.

Yes! There are few things as joyful as penguins, as it turns out. Noble penguins! Walking the line!

I am quite sure that a rigorous study would find that people who watch "I Walk the Line" each morning have better days, on the whole, than those who don't. Penguins heal.

Also, if I were you I would avoid March of the Penguins.

Apparently I made the right choice there, yes.

In conclusion: vid + books on penguins = all you need.

So very true. In fact, I think I need to watch the vid again now.

I don't know, but it is weird and wrong. Mothers should find, um - actually, I think I would prefer not to know anything about what my mother finds hot.

Perhaps we should form a support group for people traumatized by their parents' appreciation for Johnny Depp. I bet we could get together a boodle of people.

And I think vampirism is the explanation I'm going with until definitely proven wrong. He obviously has mysterious powers, and fandom has taught me that that means he's either a vampire, a mutant, or an alien.

I love the vid recs, I do. Thanks for helping me procrastinate!

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155: You Can Observe a Lot Just by Watching

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