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omg fandom! I've missed you
Jul. 5th, 2008 05:43 amnow, let's not get too excited here. I'm not actually doing anything innovative with fandom, though I suppose in theory I could talk about how I finally found a program that will do for Macs what HJSplit does for PCs, and can thus now download and watch as many movies and TV shows as my hard-drive can store (note one: the program is MacHacha) (note two: my hard-drive cannot store nearly enough. and this is after I deleted the two seasons of Due South that don't have RayK in them, because I know that I really only want the source material for the F/RK slash).
no, instead, I am going to talk about an aspect of fandom that I rarely discuss: vids. (note three: it is nearly six in the morning where I am! I have not been to bed yet! I am feeling very pontificator-ly and possibly incoherent!) (note four: LJ spell-check thinks pontificator is not a word. LJ spell-check is a dirty filthy liar.)
have I ever mentioned that I love vids? I do. I love them to bitty bitty bits. I love the idea that you can take a song that is so totally suited to a character or an episode or a 'ship or a fandom or whatever and make everybody else see what you see. it's like songfic, only generally less crappy! (note five: and I say that with love, because songfic is the compupter-semi-literate woman's vidding, and I sure as hell can't vid, so I am myself a shameful perpetratrix of the dread songfic on occasion. I try to keep the lyrics to a bare minimum, though, because I do know that they're annoying as fuck.) (note five-point-five, retrospectively: is it still songfic if you're using instrumental music? inquiring minds want to know.) (note five-point-seven-five: I swear to God I am not drunk. my mind does this stone cold sober.)
vids are great for other, more practical reasons. you store them on your computer, so when you are trapped in the desert without wifi, they are there to comfort you. you can, and this is a big realization for me, put them on your iPod and carry them around with you. (note six: when I discovered iSquint it was a very emotional moment for me. I've had a nearly-virgin video iPod for almost a year now.) never again will you have to meet a sketchy man's eyes on the bus! because your eyes will be quite legitimately fixed upon the men making out upon your teeny tiny video screen. (note six-point-five, retrospective: I meant for that to sound strange, but not quite as strange as it came out.) vids take about 2 to 5 minutes and the experience is complete and satisfying, unlike fanfic, where if the fic doesn't take me fifteen minutes to read at the barest minimum I feel a little cheated. (note seven: and I read very fast.) vids are shiny and colorful and multimedia! you can show vids to people who have never heard of fandom and they can still enjoy themselves! (note eight: I tried this recently. humor is the gateway drug. soon they will be craving crazy AU space cowboy vids, and they will not know the reason why. mwahahaha!)
of course, there are downsides to vids. they take up a lot of space. someone might peer over your shoulder on the bus and see the men making out on your iPod screen. also, and I say this with a great deal of respect and admiration for people who are competent enough to make vids, it is really easy for a vid to turn out to be crap. occasionally I hang onto them anyway, because they're in a fandom like Bones or Pushing Daisies where every little bit of fannish activity is welcome (note nine: and also I either ship het or am desperate enough to accept het, which means I have to try the work of vidders I am otherwise unfamiliar with), but all this means that I have a lot of vids that I should really throw away, because they do suck. the song could be unsuited to the subject matter, or just obnoxious (see: anything by Evanescence or Nickelback), or badly timed to the vid. the quality of the source material could be low. the clips could be put together poorly. honestly, and this is the things that trips me most of the time, you could just not know the canon. in fic I usually steer clear of fandoms I don't know, and I assume others do too, but in vidding I think there's a bigger assumption that you should be able to watch a vid without knowing the source at all. I find that impractical. the whole point of putting together clips is that you pull up all the emotional associations the viewer has with those scenes, without having to play them all out. you might get the point of the vid, but you're sure as hell not getting the fine details. I want those fine details!
all of that crazy ranting aside, I think I started this post to make recs. unfortunately my list of bookmarked vid sites is even longer than any of my fandom fic lists, so there's no way I'm going through them all. what to do?
I've been meaning to make a post somewhat like this (minus the rambling meta) for a while now, so that I can keep track of which sites hosted which awesome vids, etc. so I will be adding many, many more sites to this list when it is not, er, 6:30 AM. for now, though, let's try and keep it to the top three! (note ten: this is very difficult for me! don't judge me!)
Charmax
my god, I would sell my soul to be able to make the kind of art this girl can. I started poking around because, hey, Pushing Daisies vids! AWESOMECAKE WITH AWESOMESAUCE. then I realized that basically Charmax is a goddess of vidding. Modern Nature (Pushing Daisies), Angel With An Attitude (Pushing Daisies), Deus Ibi Est (Supernatural), Boom Boom Ba (Xena), Cry Me A River (Lost and Delirious), and Baby, Cool Your Jets (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) are required viewing.
Melina
Melina is an astonishing vidder. the sheer range of the emotions she can get out of her work boggles the mind. her LotR vids make me want to break down and cry. I really wish I watched Highlander, because that seems to be her main show. must watch: You're So Damn Hot (Torchwood), When I Go (LotR), The Mountain (LotR), Disappearing Man (LotR). NB: to download, you have to register for a site. it takes a few seconds, just do it.
Eunice
who knew I would ever have good associations with the name Eunice? and yet. I suspect that if I'd watched more than two seasons of Doctor Who, I would love her even more. watch first: And She Was (Doctor Who), Don't Touch That Dial (Doctor Who, MARTHAAAAAAAA), Whatever It Takes (Bend It Like Beckham) and Swing Down Chariot (Dogma).
(couldn't leave it at three. oh well.)
Lim
Lim is the past master of effects. no, seriously. I think she was in an article about vidders and the secret art of the fanvid. she's one of the scary big-name fans. also really really good at what she does. you absolutely must see: My Brilliant Idea (SGA and it makes me cry with laughter even on the twentieth viewing), This Is How It Works (SGA and it makes me sob with grief even on the twentieth viewing), and In Exchange For Your Tomorrows (HP).
Shalott
okay, it is deeply, deeply unfair that Shalott can write as amazingly as she can AND VID. but I'm not bitter because she shares the fruit of her work! um, let's see, Bukowski (House MD; this song is House in a very scary way), Bohemian Like You (SGA), Would You? (Ocean's 11), Zebra (Due South), Drop Dead Gorgeous (Smallville), Duende (Master and Commander), and probably a few others - I am a bad fangirl and haven't watched them all yet.
now it is really, truly and sincerely time for me to go to bed. I shall amend the list as free time permits!
no, instead, I am going to talk about an aspect of fandom that I rarely discuss: vids. (note three: it is nearly six in the morning where I am! I have not been to bed yet! I am feeling very pontificator-ly and possibly incoherent!) (note four: LJ spell-check thinks pontificator is not a word. LJ spell-check is a dirty filthy liar.)
have I ever mentioned that I love vids? I do. I love them to bitty bitty bits. I love the idea that you can take a song that is so totally suited to a character or an episode or a 'ship or a fandom or whatever and make everybody else see what you see. it's like songfic, only generally less crappy! (note five: and I say that with love, because songfic is the compupter-semi-literate woman's vidding, and I sure as hell can't vid, so I am myself a shameful perpetratrix of the dread songfic on occasion. I try to keep the lyrics to a bare minimum, though, because I do know that they're annoying as fuck.) (note five-point-five, retrospectively: is it still songfic if you're using instrumental music? inquiring minds want to know.) (note five-point-seven-five: I swear to God I am not drunk. my mind does this stone cold sober.)
vids are great for other, more practical reasons. you store them on your computer, so when you are trapped in the desert without wifi, they are there to comfort you. you can, and this is a big realization for me, put them on your iPod and carry them around with you. (note six: when I discovered iSquint it was a very emotional moment for me. I've had a nearly-virgin video iPod for almost a year now.) never again will you have to meet a sketchy man's eyes on the bus! because your eyes will be quite legitimately fixed upon the men making out upon your teeny tiny video screen. (note six-point-five, retrospective: I meant for that to sound strange, but not quite as strange as it came out.) vids take about 2 to 5 minutes and the experience is complete and satisfying, unlike fanfic, where if the fic doesn't take me fifteen minutes to read at the barest minimum I feel a little cheated. (note seven: and I read very fast.) vids are shiny and colorful and multimedia! you can show vids to people who have never heard of fandom and they can still enjoy themselves! (note eight: I tried this recently. humor is the gateway drug. soon they will be craving crazy AU space cowboy vids, and they will not know the reason why. mwahahaha!)
of course, there are downsides to vids. they take up a lot of space. someone might peer over your shoulder on the bus and see the men making out on your iPod screen. also, and I say this with a great deal of respect and admiration for people who are competent enough to make vids, it is really easy for a vid to turn out to be crap. occasionally I hang onto them anyway, because they're in a fandom like Bones or Pushing Daisies where every little bit of fannish activity is welcome (note nine: and also I either ship het or am desperate enough to accept het, which means I have to try the work of vidders I am otherwise unfamiliar with), but all this means that I have a lot of vids that I should really throw away, because they do suck. the song could be unsuited to the subject matter, or just obnoxious (see: anything by Evanescence or Nickelback), or badly timed to the vid. the quality of the source material could be low. the clips could be put together poorly. honestly, and this is the things that trips me most of the time, you could just not know the canon. in fic I usually steer clear of fandoms I don't know, and I assume others do too, but in vidding I think there's a bigger assumption that you should be able to watch a vid without knowing the source at all. I find that impractical. the whole point of putting together clips is that you pull up all the emotional associations the viewer has with those scenes, without having to play them all out. you might get the point of the vid, but you're sure as hell not getting the fine details. I want those fine details!
all of that crazy ranting aside, I think I started this post to make recs. unfortunately my list of bookmarked vid sites is even longer than any of my fandom fic lists, so there's no way I'm going through them all. what to do?
I've been meaning to make a post somewhat like this (minus the rambling meta) for a while now, so that I can keep track of which sites hosted which awesome vids, etc. so I will be adding many, many more sites to this list when it is not, er, 6:30 AM. for now, though, let's try and keep it to the top three! (note ten: this is very difficult for me! don't judge me!)
Charmax
my god, I would sell my soul to be able to make the kind of art this girl can. I started poking around because, hey, Pushing Daisies vids! AWESOMECAKE WITH AWESOMESAUCE. then I realized that basically Charmax is a goddess of vidding. Modern Nature (Pushing Daisies), Angel With An Attitude (Pushing Daisies), Deus Ibi Est (Supernatural), Boom Boom Ba (Xena), Cry Me A River (Lost and Delirious), and Baby, Cool Your Jets (Mr. & Mrs. Smith) are required viewing.
Melina
Melina is an astonishing vidder. the sheer range of the emotions she can get out of her work boggles the mind. her LotR vids make me want to break down and cry. I really wish I watched Highlander, because that seems to be her main show. must watch: You're So Damn Hot (Torchwood), When I Go (LotR), The Mountain (LotR), Disappearing Man (LotR). NB: to download, you have to register for a site. it takes a few seconds, just do it.
Eunice
who knew I would ever have good associations with the name Eunice? and yet. I suspect that if I'd watched more than two seasons of Doctor Who, I would love her even more. watch first: And She Was (Doctor Who), Don't Touch That Dial (Doctor Who, MARTHAAAAAAAA), Whatever It Takes (Bend It Like Beckham) and Swing Down Chariot (Dogma).
(couldn't leave it at three. oh well.)
Lim
Lim is the past master of effects. no, seriously. I think she was in an article about vidders and the secret art of the fanvid. she's one of the scary big-name fans. also really really good at what she does. you absolutely must see: My Brilliant Idea (SGA and it makes me cry with laughter even on the twentieth viewing), This Is How It Works (SGA and it makes me sob with grief even on the twentieth viewing), and In Exchange For Your Tomorrows (HP).
Shalott
okay, it is deeply, deeply unfair that Shalott can write as amazingly as she can AND VID. but I'm not bitter because she shares the fruit of her work! um, let's see, Bukowski (House MD; this song is House in a very scary way), Bohemian Like You (SGA), Would You? (Ocean's 11), Zebra (Due South), Drop Dead Gorgeous (Smallville), Duende (Master and Commander), and probably a few others - I am a bad fangirl and haven't watched them all yet.
now it is really, truly and sincerely time for me to go to bed. I shall amend the list as free time permits!
