paraka

Just got back from Dairy Queen. My mom randomly decided we should go out for ice cream. And I can hear her making cupcakes. I feel like a giant 5 year old, but she'd making them so I can bring them into work. For my birthday. :P

I was saying to raxhel today that it doesn't really feel like my birthday, since normally June is so busy we don't have time for anything. Except I haven't really been busy this year. I guess I took that statement to heart, because suddenly my schedule is looking pretty full. Tomorrow for my actual birthday we're just going to do a quiet night at home. But on Friday I'm going out with lilithilien and we're going to go to a concert. Saturday I'm going to go furniture shopping with my mom (20 days 'til the house is *mine*). And Sunday is the ottawa_slashers monthly meet up but I'm going to have to leave early since we're having my family birthday party Sunday afternoon.

Yesterday I met up with seanchaidh and we went out for dinner, and then headed over to a Starbucks for a write in. Often when I go to write ins, I spend more time distracting people than anything else (yesterday wasn't really an exception) or I'll bring my computer and work on editing a podfic or possibly a vid. Yesterday though, I just brought a note book and pen, and actually *wrote*. I restarted a Terminator fic I'm working on. I've also fleshed out a lot more of the idea. I'm really happy with the little I have down, so hopefully I'll keep writing, and eventually have something I can post. Right now, the working title is "Sex Bot Fic" to give you an idea what it's about :P

And because I haven't done one in a while: Vid Rec.

Title: Red
Vidder: obsessive24
Song: Red by Elbow
Fandom/Pairing: Merlin - Arthur/Merlin
Why I Love It: This is just such a *pretty* vid. I love all the slow motion shots, and views of red, especially of Arthur's cape. This vid really showcases how pretty the source material is (and totally makes me want to vid in the fandom, even though I have no *time*).
It's also a perfect song for Arthur, his mentality and life. "You burn too bright, you live too fast" "You're a tragedy starting to happen" I mean, isn't that just Arthur?
I love how the vid starts off with Arthur and his father; like an explanation or build up as to *why* Arthur lives this way. To show all the pressure Arthur is under.
Then the vid moves onto Merlin and shows an almost envy within Arthur. And it shows how hard Arthur fights for those around him. But then we get to see how Merlin also fights for Arthur too. Even if sometimes it's in the background. It really bring home that message of them being two sides of the same coin, and I love the ending shot, of Merlin holding Arthur above the water. Such a powerful vid.

This is kind of a long rec... also, I really need a Doctor Who icon :(

Title: Handlebars
Vidder: Seah and Margie (flummery)
Song: Handlebars by Flobots
Fandom/Pairing: Doctor Who
Why I Love It: Ok, I know this vid has been rec'ed by everyone and their dog and I can't imagine that there are many people who are interested in watching Doctor Who vids who haven't already seen this. Still, part of the reason why I'm doing these recs are so that I can examine why I love the vids I do, so I want to tell the story of how I fell in love with this vid.

Really it all started with the song. I can remember the first time I heard the song, and thinking it so ridiculous. It has a rhythm and style that I felt very unique to me, but also the lyrics struck me as funny; that the singer went from boasting about small things, like riding a bike with no handlebars, or tying a knot in a cherry stem to being capable of bigger things like splitting atoms and leading the world in a holocaust. I didn't really get the song until one day I looked up the music video on YouTube and realized that the dichotomy in the song is meant to be there. The music video depicts two friends riding their bikes home and when they reach a fort in the road they head in different directions. One goes on to lead a commercial life of influence and power, while the other boy goes on to lead a life of resistance against his old friend and it culminates into a final battle where one of them dies. After watching the music video I finally was able to understand the power behind the song.

Now, back to this vid. I believe it was a Vividcon vid, and as I said, everyone and their dog was rec'ing it (people still are). I hadn't watched Doctor Who yet, but I loved the song and there are many vids that are so well done you don't need to know the source material to be able to appreciate it. This vid, wasn't one of those vids for me. I watched it, and was able to appreciate the technical skills behind the editing: the timing was always there, especially as the song reached it climax. I could see the correlation between the lyrics and the clips chosen (such as the Doctor hopping around to the lyrics "I can show you how to do si do") but honestly? I could see what made this vid so special that everyone was going crazy over it.

Then I finally watched Doctor Who and took another look at this vid. Suddenly I could see what had everyone excited because as I watched the vid again I could see the same dichotomy that made me realize the power of the song was present in this vid as well. So often we see the Doctor bouncing around all happy energy but this vid was also alluding to the darker side of the Doctor that I find so fascinating. Watching it, especially towards the climax of the song where they're making warlike claims, it really drove home to me that one observation made against the Doctor in the s4 finale, that the Doctor tries to remain a pacifist, but he turns those around him into soldiers.

This vid shows off the Doctor's light hearted side, his relationship with his companions and the fun he has. It also shows off his darker aspects, how he can influence people (I love how it was a clip of Harriet Jones for the second half of the lyric "I can make anyone go to prison just because I don't like them), the dangerous situations he gets into and the deadly and disastrous things that happen around him that are slowly feeding this dark side of himself. And the transition is so extreme but so slowly and subtly done.

OMG, 9 days into January and I've already managed to mess up my one vid rec a day thing. I completely forgot yesterday :S So lets have 2 today to make up for it.

Title: Toushi
(The link above is to AMV.org, which requires you to be a member to download, I believe. Since that seems like a lot of effort considering most of my flist is not into anime, here's a link to it on YouTube. Be warned though, it loses a lot of quality on YT. If you'd like a copy of the vid, without signing up for AMV.org, let me know and I'll send you the copy I have in private).
Vidder: Majin Kenshin
Song: Goodbye by SR-71
Fandom/Pairing: Naruto - Gen
Why I Love It: Pretty much all I know of the Naruto fandom I've learned from vids, but even so, I can still pick up on the stories being told within this vid. You can really feel the fight and determination from the kids in here, as well as their insecurities. Not to mention this is just a pretty vid to watch with awesome timing. It's vids like this that really make we jealous of anime and the clean lines and strong colours within it's source material. There are some amazing uses of layers within this vid and the fast paced clip changes fill me with glee. Seriously, I'm doing a horrible job of explaining this vid, because it is far more awesome than I can say.

Title: Last High (about halfway down the page)
Vidder: kitkatbyte and f1renze
Song: You Were the Last High by the Dandy Warhols
Fandom/Pairing: Queer as Folk - Brian/Justin, Brian/Others
Why I Love It: It's like this song was written *just* for this vid. If there was ever a song to describe Brian and his meeting Justin, this song is it. That fact alone would make this a great vid, but add to the fact that it was done by two of the best vidders in the QaF fandom, and it's automatically awesome. All the clips are meaningful ones, and there's lots of clip movement (internal and added) to keep the vid moving along with the slower paced song.

Title: Duet
Vidder: wistful_fever
Song: I Know by Jude
Fandom/Pairing: Due South - Fraser/RayK
Why I Love It: Well, first of all, I have a weakness for Due South angst vids (well, angst vids in general, but Due South in particular because I always think of this show as a funny one, but some of the vids just tear me apart). This one is great and makes good use of the slower beat of the music. I like the blurring of the lines for emphasis and the parallels she draws between Ray and Fraser.

So now that all the hockey posts are done (Yay! Canada!), here's my vid rec for the day. Sorry it's kind of late, for the most part I've been posting vid recs that I had pre-written, but I didn't want to start repeating fandoms so early in, or show another anime vid so soon, so just wrote this rec up now, after the game. Also, I need some Torchwood/Doctor Who icons now....

Title: Scattered
Vidder: di_br
Song: Map of the Problematique by Muse
Fandom/Pairing: Doctor Who -Ten-centric
Why I Love It: Ok, first off, I have to admit, I've been watching this vid over and over again for the past few days. It never fails to grab my attention when it comes onto my playlist. There are a lot of great things about this vid, from the constant movement and fast pace of the clips, the internal movement within the clips and the compelling music, but I think by far my favourite part of this vid are the colours. They're so bright and vibrant and make this vid so *beautiful* to watch.
The clip choices also did an amazing job of showing off the intensity that David Tenant brought to the Doctor and gives this vid such emotion. I also love how the clips interact with the music. The pace are strongly following the beat of the music giving it that driving pace so you're mostly *feeling* the music, but every once in a while the clips will match up within the vids to bring the right amount of attention to the lyrics to really help move the story along.

As some of you know, I kind of had to be dragged kicking and screaming to finally watch Doctor Who, and I wasn't all that impressed when I did finally start watching. It wasn't really until season 4 that I started to appreciate the show. I'll admit, I fell in love with Donna, but I also started to notice the dichotomy within Ten (because I never really felt it with Nine, and haven't watched Doctor's 1-8) that really intrigued me. He's crazy and fun most of the time but when he's serious, he's *serious* and you can see that there's a lot more going on inside. Watching vids like this one have really made me fall in love with the Doctor, and the Doctor Who vid recs that'll be coming along later in the month will reflect this.

Title: Touched
Vidder: xandra_ptv
Song: Touched by Vast
Fandom/Pairing: Queer as Folk/Angel the Series - Brian/Angel
Why I Love It: I think this was the first AU crossover vid I ever saw and it's really stuck with me. I loved how she was able to imply the Brian/Angel relationship. It intrigued me how she could find similar scenes within each show and make it look like they were happening together. This vid really showed me how much power a vidder could have if they only reached for it. Xandra did a great job of melding these two shows together and of telling a unique story. I've seen other crossover vids since, but this one is still my favourite.

Oh what a party animal I am. I was asleep by 10:30 last night. :-/ I have a bit of a cold, and when none of my plans for New Years Eve materialized I decided to just go home, curl up in bed and read. It was actually a really nice night for me, even if I got nothing done. I just read Torchwood fic and watched vids. Speaking of vids, today is my first day of vid recs! I thought I'd start with an SGA vid:

Title: Heights and Depths
Vidder: joli87
Song: For All Lovers by Stanfour
Fandom/Pairing: Stargate Atlantis - Team (and pretty much every pairing that has appeared on the show)
Why I Love It: First off, I *love* team vids, and this vid goes even beyond that. While it has a lot of Sheppard's team, it also has Weir and Carson, and Keller and Sam. It's a really inclusive vid.
Storyline wise, it sticks very close to the lyrics in a very complimentary way. The lyrics are simple and clear enough that you can immediately relate them to the clips the vidder has chosen, creating an emotionally charged storyline.
Technically speaking, I found the zooming in a bit dizzying at times, but other times it was just perfect for the music. She also makes great use of the internal movements of the clips, especially during the faster bits. All the timing seemed spot on, and the vidder has that knack for only putting the flashier transitions when required to strengthen the storyline, were it will have the most impact. She does this cool bit about 3/4 of the way through by telling mini stories through flashes with the drums, that are really effective.

I also wanted to say thank you so much to the people that sent me cards this season, namely the_muppet munchkinofdoom paradise_city ubiquitous_girl lemonpirfirefly and mercury973 (I think that's everyone, if you sent me a card and aren't listed, please let me know).

Happy New Year everyone!