Spinning on that dizzy edge

I have kept my Festivids treat streak alive! I really enjoyed "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" last summer, so seeing it as a request for multiple people made it a great candidate for a treat.

I had my usual multi-day dither about what music to use. I initially thought of riffing on the theme of a D&D party, with something like Pink's "Get the Party Started", even pondering Shirley Bassey's version. Then my brain offered up Jane's Addiction's "Been Caught Stealing", which has been for decades one of my favorite songs to get my booty shaking, and the choice was obvious.

I dedicated this to such_heights for being one of Festivids' sponsors, and cupidsbow for all the enthusiastic commenting over the years.

( Been Caught Stealing )

Once again a source caught my eye when perusing Festivids requests, and now I have 2/3 of a shitty first draft on my timeline as I power through on the adrenaline boost of last-minute procrastination. It's just not me if I don't spend days dithering over music, and more time fretting that the song I pick will be everyone's obvious first choice. Also hoping that work doesn't catch on that I'm using their laptop to make this, as mine is circling the drain. (If I'm reading past posts correctly, I think my laptop is over a decade old at this point.)

I hope to never get over the giddy thrill of clip + music matching precisely on the beat. It makes me so happy!

Bonus points if anyone guesses it after Go-live.

To steal from my response to bingeling, the thankfully delighted recipient, did it take me half a year to tweak the anon version of this vid, update the credits, and upload the finished product? Yup! Does that delay in any way diminish how happy I was to make this vid and get so many amazing comments? Nope, not at all!

EEAaO blew me away the first time I saw it. I laughed, I cried, I marveled at how this cinematic version of drinking from the firehouse could be so ridiculous and yet so tender and emotional. I soaked up every interview with the cast and crew, just to spend some more time in the virtual company of oddballs who loved it even more than I did.

When a bunch of Festivids requests came in for the movie, I realized a bunch more people loved it, too. Even anticipating it to be a popular choice for vidders, I had to join them, and armed with my best "Two Cakes!" energy, I dove in with an epic arrangement of "Ode to Joy" and went for it. (Joy was built into the song! I pondered doing some extended titling like "Ode to Joy and Evelyn and Waymond and...", but I figured a shorthanded "Ode to Everything" would do instead.)

I was blown away by the comments left on it. I mean, in true Festivids procrastinating spirit, this came together in like three days, so I really must have hit a chord with my enthusiasm.

Why did it take me so long to follow up with the credited version and this post? Because brains are dumb and made of sulky meat. Razzer-frazzer brains. ANYWAY.

You can watch it here or on A03:
Ode to Everything

( Ode to Everything )

Welcome to my fanworks!

If you'd like to transform any of these into your own creative work, whether that be a remix, podfic, art, vid, or whatever, please feel free!  Just drop me a note somewhere; I'd love to see the results.

Note:  I tend to bump up ratings when in doubt, so my NC-17 may be your R or even PG-13.  As always, YMMV.

( Vids )



( Fic )

Right off the bat, I should tell you that Farscape is The Show of My Heart: my favorite, my baby, the one that I will always tell people to watch (with caveats, yes, but everyone should give Farscape a try), and even enticed several people into getting sucked in by showing up at their house with DVDs. So brace yourself for rambles and tangents about my entanglement with this show.

Farscape premiered on the Sci-Fi channel in the US 19 years and a day ago, on March 19, 1999. ( Fahrbot fangirling )

Basically, I've been thinking a lot about Farscape lately (the anniversary was completely a coincidence), stoked by listening to the thoughtful offerings from Farscape Friday Podcast (also a DW comm). When that crossed streams with the looming awareness of the last Vividcon, and wanting to make a Club Vivid entry, it dawned on me that DUH, I should make a Farscape vid. My very first vid was for Farscape, after all (oh, bb!grammarwoman, how far you've come!). I want to make the prettiest version I can, so I dug into some research for the quality of the DVDs versus the Blu-rays, which resulted in a definite *shrug*. I wound up buying my third copy of the series to get it on Blu-ray (when in doubt, I vote with my money to show my support, even if the chances of any revivals are pretty much dead), then realized that my new laptop doesn't actually have a Blu-ray drive. Oops! So I cashed in some survey points for gift cards and picked up an external drive for a reasonable sum.

I'm already a couple of episodes into the second season (and loving the subtitles and extras on the Blu-rays - yay, post-purchase vindication!) and appreciating the show for the umpteenth time. But I'm also struggling with watching bad things happen to my people all over again, and it's HARD. I want them to be safe and happy, which makes it difficult to properly welcome the stellar villains and antagonists as they appear. (I have complicated feelings about Scorpius, let me tell you!) Plus there's the usual pressure of translating the awesome vid in my head to clips on the timeline, compounded with the nagging doubts of my music choice. (Has this song been used in a bajillion vids? Yes, even a older Farscape one on Youtube! Are there any other danceable songs about being crazy + explosions + underpants? Not that I could find!) (Seriously, if you know of multiple songs in the center of that Venn diagram, PLEASE let me know.) Plus plus, clipping Blu-rays of a TV series is A PAIN IN MY POSTERIOR. Guh. Is there a Blu-ray ripping program that is as easy to use as DVD Shrink? Because I may just give up and go back to the DVDs for the negligible quality gains.

In conclusion: Farscape!

Title: That's What's the Matter
Source: Star Wars movies (Rogue One, Episodes IV-VII)
Music: "That's What's the Matter", Stephen Foster
Vid Download Link: 183 MB m4v file at Sendspace (updated 3-30-2018) (If you'd like it in a different format, let me know.)

AO3 link.

Summary: The Empire would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for those meddling Rebels and incompetent Imperial officers.

A Vividcon Auction vid for beatrice_otter.

Notes: It seemed like a good idea at the time to offer up my services for the Vividcon Auction, seeing as that annual collection of fanpeople has made me so happy and been inspiring me for many years. Then I got hit with the panic of "OMG I'm making a vid for someone FOR MONEY. What if they HATE IT? AAGGGHHH!"

I was talked down off the ledge by many people, and then beatrice_otter graciously bid a very generous amount on me so I could fulfill her long-desired dreams of an Imperial vid set to Stephen Foster's Civil War Song "That's What's the Matter". We back-and-forthed quite a bit as I built the vid; I'm pretty sure she likes the result. Certainly lots of people enjoyed it on the big screen at Vividcon, so I'm good with the reception. :) It was a very popular year for Star Wars, but it fit especially well for me, as I got to match General Leia with a whole verse about her as a General, AND cosplay her at Club Vivid. Win-win!

heresluck in particular gave me great support, so thank you, my dear!

( Vid here! )


( That's What's the Matter )

Title: Star Work
Source: Star Wars (Episodes I-VII)
Music: "Work Bitch", Britney Spears
Vid Download Link: 119 MB at Sendspace

AO3 link here.

Summary: Star Wars bitches get shit done.

Premiered at Club Vivid, 2016.

Notes: This song sucked me in the first time I heard it; there are at least four entries in my vid ideas list with this as the soundtrack. The one that really stuck with me, though, was an ode to space princesses, and after seeing "SW: The Force Awakens", it had to be about my favorite Star Wars ladies. Plus, once it occurred to me how well "Look hot in a bikini" and "Go call the governor" fit, I just had to do it.

Of course, making this meant rewatching Episodes 4-6 (still awesome) and Episodes 1-3 (ARGH ARGH ARGH still awful), plus all the extras to get just a little bit more of Padme being HBIC and not a razzer-frazzer damsel (or damnnsel, which is what my fingers typed the first time). There was much yelling at the TV, especially for choice tidbits like Lucas' proud statement of the fact that he's more of a technical director than a character one. (No shit, George!) I dithered for a while about tinkering with the song to give a verse or even a couple extra lines for Rey's section, but I talked myself out of it since Rey has only one movie so far to the other ladies' three apiece.

When I put out the call asking for a beta's eyes on this, sabaceanbabe rose to the challenge, pushing me to include more General Organa and tweak some other moments. Thank you so much, my dear!

( Vid here! )

( Work Bitch Lyrics: )

Hello, my fandom friends! Would any of the Star Wars peeps in the audience be willing to take a look at the first draft of my Club Vivid entry? Thanks in advance!

Title: Lose Yourself
Source: Hamilton (various recordings)
Music: "Lose Yourself [Original Demo Version]", Eminem
Vid Download Link: 63 MB at sendspace

AO3 link here.

Summary: Lose yourself in this music, this moment. We own it, we won't never let it go.

Notes: This is a Festivids 2015 treat for sdwolfpup, one of several people who requested a "Hamilton" vid. I really wanted to make a vid for this recent musical obsession of mine, and I wanted to express my thanks for her ongoing contribution to fandom that is More Joy Day, so here's the result.

Lin-Manuel Miranda has said that Eminem is one of his inspirations, listing the "8 Mile" track "Lose Yourself" as a specific song. I love the beat and build in that tune, but the lyrics weren't doing it for me, so I went looking and found Eminem's original demo for it, and nearly lost it at how perfect this version was.

After throwing together most of the vid, I approached heresluck for feedback. Her squeeful response was extra gratifying, and then her masterful betaing was beyond what I could have hoped for. This vid is a 1000% better because of her. Thank you thank you thank you!

Thanks, too, to all my fellow "Hamilton" vidders, and the enthusiastic people who left wonderful comments on the original Dreamwidth and Livejournal Festivids posts!


( Vid here! )

( Lose Yourself [Demo] Lyrics: )

I tried really, really hard, but I'm just not going to make the Vividcon Premieres deadline tonight with my vid WIP, an ode to lady spyjinks. I thought a while about asking for an extension, but there's just too much ground left to cover for this beast. I'll keep picking at it, but not to the fevered extent that I've been doing. I wish I felt more confident about it; I've been living in the headspace for this for so long that I've lost any ability to judge if it's even worth continuing with. (If anyone wants to play the guinea pig and get a sneak peek at it, I'd love to send out a copy of what I have.)

Well, at least now I won't feel guilty about doing anything else with my free time. *sigh*

How are you all doing at the start of the weekend?