lunabee34

Vid Recs

Internet is For Porn by 6845Cheshire; Voyager
This is very silly. I think I am secretly an 8 year old because this cracks me up.

Whedonverse Women--So What by Valamd
This is just what it says on the tin, Whedonverse women kicking ass and taking names. I like the way this vid revels even in the villains, the way it acknowledges how awesome ALL the ladies of the Jossverse are. From Harmony to Saffron to Faith to Lilah--yay! I hesitate to call this vid redemptive because I don't think it's about excusing or redeeming any of these characters but rather glorying in them as they are. Pun intended.

Slytherins: Riding Dirty by AccioBook7
I have a very special relationship with this song in that I find it endearingly ridiculous and cannot help but sing along. This video contains high quality footage (which, sadly, I often find not to be the case with Star Trek and HP vids on Youtube; some of the cleverest vids I've seen are virtually unwatchable because the footage quality is so poor, which is a shame), really tight editing, and is a fun watch.

Songs I've Been Listening To

Peggy Sang the Blues by Frank Turner Thanks for pointing me to this, likeadeuce

Illusion by VNV Nation Very Joy Divisiony and a total earworm for me

Ghost Town by First Aid Kit Ethereal voices, beautifully shot video

So You Want to Get a PhD in Humanities? by Allisonles
This is LOLarious, hitting all the high points of academic employment in the Humanities. Yes, my fresh-faced and rosy-cheeked English majors, you too can look forward to a career teaching in the middle of nowhere Nebraska for a salary that very nearly supports your Miller Lite habit.

STAR TREK 40th Anniversary Tribute 1966-2006 by ENTERPRISENX01
I am not ashamed to admit that this loving tour of all the treks pre-reboot makes me bawl like a baby.

Sam Needs a Haircut (mini vid) by juicy1111; SPN
Oh, Sam. *pets him* The boy's hair is just a hot mess. This made me giggle.

The Safety Dance-[Multi-fandom, Movie Dancing by shoopdancer2504
Just what it says on the tin.

Marching On by dazzleme7; HP
This is the best love letter to the Harry Potter series I think I've seen. This is about family, family of origin and family of choice, and most of the characters get a moment in the limelight (Yay, Neville and Luna! All the Fred and George bits kill me. *sniffle*) This is about solidarity and standing together and nobody really being alone. The vid uses footage from all the movies, including trailer material from Death Hallows Part 1, and the vidder has put this beautiful filter over everything that puts everything in high relief and makes all the images look very stark. It's visually beautiful to look at, I love the song, and it makes me tear up watching all the characters we so love march on toward their destiny. Basically, this is genius, pure and simple.

Star Trek Girls on Film by Boss DanMark
A parade of ladies from the original Star Trek series.

Just Like Camping by Oparu; Janeway-centric gen; PG; short
What a lovely bit of character work this is. When Voyager's waste and water management systems need a complete overhaul, the crew is forced to use two large bathrooms BSG-style. And what a wonderful vehicle for character commentary, for those lovely little grace notes that make this fic such a delight to read.

Whoever Saves a Single Life by Nyssa23; Lewis Zimmerman-centric gen; PG; short
Short reflection by the creator of the EMH on the value of his life's work. Nice bit of backstory and character work.

Learn the Ropes by Mercurie; Seven and Naomi Wildman centric gen; PG; short
This snippet of conversation between Seven and Naomi is so poignant and chilling as Seven considers the impact their friendship might have on Naomi.

Much Too Long by Oparu; SGA XOVER; Janeway/Elizabeth Weir; PG-13ish; short
This is pretty much entirely dialogue driven, and Oparu has captured their voices perfectly as they commiserate over what being a leader forces them to leave behind. (Hint! It starts with S and ends with EX) This fic is the definition of fun; guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.

( Het Recs )

Star Trek Voyager Summer Nights by SazzyAgain; Janeway/7
And here's a celebration of femslash so obvious my seven year old can spot it. Very fun vid.

Supernatural- Ain't no Sunshine by garfield2424
First, I love Eva Cassidy's version of the song. So haunting. I like the cuts between shots in the opening scene, and I like how whenever the brothers are in the same scene, one is immediately foregrounded and the other fades into obscurity. Even when they're together, they're alone. And then the song turns, and over the refrain of "I know, I know, I know, I know, I know," we see Sam and Dean together, talking it out, being brothers--only to have it all ripped away again.

Verb by lapillus; Trek Reboot; Kirk/Spock
OMG this is kind of perfect. I think this is pretty much the gold star for reboot vids of this pairing. Such fun.

If I Had You by Adam Lambert
I love this song. Love it. Earworm to the max. But why is Adam Lambert having a party in the woods behind my house? Why did he borrow Janeway's wig for the occasion? *flaily hands*

Wesley Windon Price by deebrenton; Jossverse; Wes-centric
Oh gods it hurt my fingers to type that. *shakes them out* If we overlook the gross misspelling of Wes's name, this is pretty much a kickass vid. It's Wesley at his most ridiculous (and endearing).

Brokeback Enterprise by Tranchera; TNG; Picard/Wesley
Oh, yes. you read that pairing right. This is such a cleverly edited vid; the audio clips are very well-chosen to form a compelling narrative about a forbidden love affair. This should be a parody (the title even says so!), but it isn't funny in the least. This reminds me so much of that fic where Picard is in love with *all* the Crushers. I especially love the final image of Picard staring at his reflection in a viewport, both for its resonance with the imagery of the film and for its inherent impact.

Everlong by Bullwinkle520; Trek Reboot; Kirk/Spock/Uhura
Oh what a glorious tangle this is. Each of them wanting the others and Kirk looking in from the outside, always. Love the quick cuts between images near the end of the vid, the kind of building frenetic energy there. Well done.

Muppet Show by Badger33; Star Trek Voyager
Voyager does the Muppet Show. Short and silly.

Ain't No Rest for the Wicked by reaper333x2
Oh, man. This artist sounds like Beck and Jack White had a baby. *loves* This is the quintessential Firefly song to the degree that I can image the writer mainlining the show and then thinking, "That would make a great song!" The footage quality is high, the editing tight, and the narrative well constructed. Nice.

The Angst Archive: otherwise known as the archive of issues of consent
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, here it is for your perusal. A multi-fandom collection of non-con hijinks, child abuse, slavery, and OOC evilness. LOL I've been going through all the Voyager entries and, surprise! In almost every fic uploaded to this archive, Tom Paris is one half of the pairing and he's almost always the abused party. Fandom seems to have decided that his dad and Tony Harris get together every Friday to drink a few beers and swap child abuse pointers. And a prolific subset (please, spirits, let it be a subset!) of writers really, really, really get off on manipulating Chakotay's character until it's barely recognizable to me. Now, I know that happens in every fandom, but I think I can pin down what's motivating writers to create such an OOC Chakotay. In more than a few of the stories in this archive, Chakotay is either evil and sadistic and fond of making Paris pee himself or he's this emotionally immature person who is extremely possessive of Tom and prone to jealous fits and existential crises about his age when faced with Harry Kim. Oh, the guffaws. One of the stories explicitly articulated where these character changes come from; basically--how could someone as centered and peaceful and non-confrontational as Chakotay have been such a storied leader of the Maquis Resistance? Surely he's been ruthless and unscrupulous and prone to rapery all this time and just hiding it under a veneer of calm. Another factor is that because the character is presented canonically as being passive in many ways, I think writers had fun writing a Chakotay consumed by passion; what better way to validate an OTP than having this normally placid character driven to jealous rages, but only by his one true love? Also, I think some of these stories were written by kiddos who really think a man in his forties is just about over the hill. LOL Anyways, I found almost nothing in the Voyager section I liked well enough to rec, but there's tons of other fandoms represented in the archive.

Distorted Image by Mandragora; Paris/Chakotay; Adult; warnings for rape; epic novel length
This is one of the stories I did enjoy enough in the archive to want to read again. In it, Paris and Chakotay are sent into a mirror verse where Paris is sexually enslaved by MV!Chakotay. Chakotay works with the good guys (an Alliance of Bajorans and Cardassians that includes MV!Seska) to rescue him and get him back to Voyager. This is an utterly predictable story; it's clear from the outset that Tom's enslavement is going to lead to a relationship with the real Chakotay. However, this is one of those wonderful slave fics that really dwells on the horrors of the slavery part without descending into implausible and ridiculous trauma for the slave. Nice long read.

Slave by Yvette; Tuvok/Kim; Adult; consent issues
Ignore the first paragraph which is weird and unnecessary. In this fic, Harry is transported to an alternate reality where everything seems to be the same except that Vulcans own human slaves. Harry's doppelganger takes his place on our Voyager, and both of them have real problems adjusting to their new realities. This was a nice change of pairing after the all Chakotay/Paris all the time club that is this archive. I also think it's in many ways a nice character study of both Tuvok and Harry. Ultimately, what I find fascinating is the inability of the people in either reality to understand where the other is coming from.

Fighting Gravity by pantswarrior; Trek Reboot; Kirk/Spock; Adult; novel length
In this story, Spock decides not to join the Enterprise on her first five-year mission. And then for reasons Kirk slowly comes to fathom, Spock is reduced to living on the streets of Earth and begging. That sounds like a really dumb premise; it's hard to envision the scenario that would lead to Spock, of all people, having to live that way. But pantswarrior pulls off this plotline with the kind of skill that makes you wonder why you ever doubted how awesome hobo Spock could be. There's a lovely amount of emotional h/c, excellent psychological insight to both characters, and an unfolding mystery that fascinated me. Wonderful read.

Stain of Silence by brummell; HP; Harry/Draco; Adult; Big-Bang length
After the war is over, Draco serves out his sentence in Harry's house as his ward. Ginny dies, leaving Harry with their child to care for. I love this story to bitty bits. Draco's despair and his endeavor to reconstruct his identity, plus the domesticity of the fic coupled with the way that the Weasley family does not see Draco as a fit caregiver for its newest member make this a very enjoyable read.

This Irregular Breathing Thing by monjtales; SPN Big Bang; Chuck/Zacariah non-con; Chuck/Castiel; Adult
I am so tired of Sam and Dean right now that this fic is like a breath of fresh air. Big Bang nearly kills all my SPN love. I wish they would limit participation somehow so that it's not just a million bajillion Wincest fics with minor plot variations. /rant Ahem. In this fic, Zacariah has been abusing Chuck since he became a prophet. I like the way this fic gives Chuck more agency in some ways than the show does (for instance, it explains his attempts to actually help the boys behind the scenes and why he doesn't recognize Sam and Dean when they appear on his doorstep). This is h/c all the way, and what a nicely broken Chuck. The dialogue is awesome and I love Castiel's characterization here.

With Muffled Drums by ariadne83; SGA; established Ford/Lorne; PG
I think that ariadne83 has the best understanding of the nuances of this show and its characters of anyone else I've met in fandom. Her attention to the subtle details makes every single thing she writes an utter (if sometimes hurty) joy to read. This is her interpretation of "The Last Man." Rodney's not the only one who's lost someone.

Vid recs!

Avatar Dance Mix by friendshipper; Avatar
This is a really fun vid to watch. Sholio does an excellent job of editing here, and I will always always be a sucker for those kids hugging each other. And Appa!!

One Girl Revolution by dangen; Multi-fandom
I don't know if I can be coherent enough about this vid to say anything other than, GIRLS ARE AWESOME OMG GIRL POWER FOREVER! Love, love all the fandoms represented (including B7 and my girl Janeway!), and I adore the lyrics to this song. Guaranteed rewatcher.

Around the Bend by dangen; Multi-fandom
This is a vid about women driving cars and flying planes and spaceships and riding motorcycles and in general being all kinds of badass and awesome. As with the previous vid, I am so stoked about all the fandoms represented, but what's even better is that the vidder intersperses images of actual for-reals-yo woman taking the wheel.

Wild Child by calapine; Multi-fandom
You should be sensing a theme about now, and that them is LADIES! AWESOME LADIES! This has some wonderful and unexpected fandoms represented (hello, Lois and Clark), and like the vids recced before, does an excellent job of celebrating women.

What About by fizzyblogic; Multi-fandom
This vid belongs to the same family as the ones I've just recced, and yet inexplicably it has only a handful of comments. Run, go, watch this vid! Revel in the women being awesome. Tell the vidder you liked it. :)

I Enjoy Being a Girl by absolutedestiny; Multi-fannish
In this vid, fewer fandoms are represented than the others I've recced, but the vid forms a much more cohesive narrative. Strong parallels are drawn between the characters in the vid, and we're shown clips of the women engaging in the same or similar activities back to back. Quite fun to watch.

Kiss Mr. Spock by gin1119; TOS Kirk/Spock
Oh, the silly! This is really a nicely edited vid that reimagines Kirk and Spock as Eric and Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Thank you, TOS, for giving us slash so thick, you can scrape it off the screen.

Voyager versus South Park by ZoeAmory; Voyager and South Park
Aahahahhahahaaahahah! This is like thirty seconds of South Park audio set to Voyager video, and it makes me snort milk out of my nose.

Janeway's Hair by dreamsavvy; Voyager
Just what it says on the tin--the many and multifarious hairstyles of Kathryn Janeway. (I am so besotted with this woman, it's not even funny.)

With or Without You by northernstar24; Kira/Odo DS9
This vid really cleverly mixes audio from the series with the song. It's pretty much the best shipper vid I've ever seen for these two. Makes me tear up like nobody's business. I love the way this vid articulates the tension between the love Odo feels for Kira and the duty he feels to his people.

Atheists Don't Have No Songs by Steve Martin
Give the vid two seconds; it's out of focus to start with. This is a barbershop quartet singing the whole of the Atheist Hymnal. *loves*