[Vid] Heart Alone (347 words) by sasha_feather
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Seabiscuit (2003)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Red Pollard, Seabiscuit - Character, Charles Howard, Marcella Howard, Tom Smith (Seabiscuit), George Woolf
Additional Tags: Created Family, Horses, Horse Racing, Fanvid, Subtitles Available, Found Family
Summary:

A SeaBiscuit fanvid. This is my first vid!

Content notes: One image of Red Pollard with a cast on his leg, a couple of images of Red in the hospital.

A highlight of WisCon for me is the Vid Party.

Here are some gentle and soothing vids that were shown at this year's party.

Landsailor, The Legend of Korra, by skygiants

https://skygiants.dreamwidth.org/416273.html


Happy Little Clouds by Glitzer - the joy of painting



Clear Skies - Kiki's Delivery Service - by Wild AMV

1. What’s involved in “queering up straight people”?

I think I listed this as a joke, but it's also something I strive for: when around straight people (at work, at family gatherings, at the dog park, etc), try to gently challenge those folks and influence them in the direction of queer politics. I don't always achieve this.

2. Tell me about your first houseplants

I had spider plants pretty early on, and I still have those same spider plants. I don't remember getting them. I also had a rabbit's-foot fern, a hanging plant. These plants have fuzzy rhizomes that look like rabbits' feet. The rhizomes reached all around the pot and nearly encased it.

3. Why do fanvids makes you happy?

They are a way to really feel something for about 3 minutes, and then be done with that feeling if you so choose. They are creative, beautiful, and some of them are like the essence of a cerain emotion. A great blending of audio and visual beauty. A way to turn off the intellectual narrator part of my brain and just feel, for a little while.

4. How did you decide to be a scientist?

I loved animals and plants, always, and so biology was a natural fit. I felt that going into research was a way to make the world a better place and contribute to humanity's knowledge in some small way. I also felt that going into science would be a more secure way to earn a living than being a writer.

5. If money were no issue, would you like to live alone?

No; I have lived alone and it was fine, but I do better if I have a good roommate. I like knowing that someone is around. I stay on top of chores more and I simply feel better.

One of my highlights of WisCon 41 was the wiscon_vidparty. There were 19 premieres, discussed at a panel the next day. Tweets of this panel in storify form:

https://storify.com/sasha_feather/wiscon-41-vid-party-discussion

There was also a new-to-me vid, Gloria by sweetestdrain, Sarah Connor Chronicles, that I absolutely adored:
https://sweetestdrain.dreamwidth.org/461948.html

What is amazing about the vidshow is the intense feeling of being in community and enjoying the vids together with people I love; being at a party but not having to socialize; and singing along with abandon. We were also in the biggest room this year!

I started a list of conventions/conferences with accessibility policies a while back At the Geek Feminism Wiki.

Anyone can edit this wiki. If you know of cons I can add, please suggest them!

I would just like to say that doing vid show warnings / content notes is actually quite simple.
Here are some examples:

Vidukon
Festivids

ao3 dot org

I'll have more to say on this later. Context if you ask for it.

1. Twings has a new Avengers story and it is GREAT!

thingswithwings: Stark, A.E., and Banner, R. Bruce. (2013). "Biodosimetric Tools for Measuring Induced Isomeric Transition in Inverted Paired States." International Journal of Radiation Biology 89.9, 43-85.

Tony Stark/Bruce Banner/(The Hulk)

What I especially love about this story is ( this might be a spoiler )

2. What it means to be well read and how SF helped me stop caring about it

This blog post made me cheer in agreement. YES.

3. All the stuff lately at vidrecs has been great, but this one especially:

Terminator Salvation: A Perfect Lie by meivocis.

I watched this movie because I love the Terminator franchise, and I did like most of the movie, but the ending ruined it. The poster at vidrecs says another ending was originally proposed for the movie, and the vid seems to reinforce that:

( on endings )

Hi internet hi!

I just spent a lovely couple of days with thingswithwings and Rorshcach the dog, and on Saturday we managed to spend most of the day watching Festivids! In the evening we met up with were_duck and watched some more.

So far my favorites are:

Maru the Cat (both vids)
Stand by Me
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air: Baby I'm a Star
How to Train Your Dragon: I'm Still Here
Independence Day: Doomsday
The Middleman: Do it Like a Dude
Moulin Rouge
MythBusters (both vids)
Newsies: Express Yourself (watched this 3 or 4 times already!)
Plata Quemada
Rise of the planet of the Apes
Pride and Prejudice - What a Man
Starship Troopers


Aaaaand there are so many more to watch!!!

:D What a great holiday this is.

Please let me know if you have any additions or corrections.
ETA 2023: some pronouns have changed since I wrote this; am attempting to fix but let me know if you want me to edit this more.

120: Vids with Something to Say
Alexis, Skud, Gretchen

Probably my favorite panel! I arrived a few minutes late, but in time to speak about LC's "Me and My 424" vid. I posted about this vid here; what I said was something along the lines of how technology plays a huge role in these people's lives. Logan is a person with a disability, and for PWD, tech can be life or death, movement or no movement. The vid shows him as a geek that likes to fiddle, that likes to be wired in. So, tech is great, but it is also subject to failure and damage, and to being outdated, as the lyrics remind us. What happens if no one makes the parts for your wheelchair anymore? "Nude descending a staircase" was a painting that came about because of a leap in technology: photography. In the vid, we see moments of Logan and Max reaching towards each other, and moving away again, picking up their phones and putting them down. Max herself is a product of technology-- a genetically engineered super-soldier, and she too has this flaw; the seizures that come about because of an amino acid deficiency. Gretchen said that this vid is about Logan's frustrations and hardships, but he is also very independent in it; it's a great character study. I was surprised that very few people in the room were familiar with the fandom.

There was a lively discussion about Gianduja Kiss' "Shock the Monkey", a Hawaii 5-0 vid. Skud talked about how this show was rec'd to them as "light viewing" and they had to quit watching because of the police brutality/torture in the show. Someone in the audience talked about viewer expectations: there was laughter in the audience at the vid show during the prat falls, and you never know what provokes such laughter, it could be discomfort, but it was strange. Raanve said that the song is one she thought was silly nonsense until she watched the music vid and found it distressing. Someone said that the origin of the song is a scientific experiment where baby monkeys are put with two mama dolls: one is wire and has food, one is snuggly but shocks the baby, and the baby will go to the snuggly one. There was a pause. Gretchen said, "It's about being attached to things that hurt you, but you keep coming back anyway." Then there was a moan of understanding and dismay from the audience. I mentioned at some point that I read a racial critique from this vid too; since it is two white guys as the protags, and the bad guys are Asians and native Hawaiian islanders.

The panel also talked about "How Much is that Geisha in the Window", specifically about how the erasure of Asians from Firefly echoes the erasure of Asians from American history narratives.

There was also a bit of talk about literalism of metaphors and song choices.

Someone asked where to find meta; the Journal of Transformative Works and Cultures was mentioned. Also metafandom.

This Chain of Days by beccatoria, Star Wars, set to the Neko Case song "At Last". About Shmi, Padme, and Leia. Short, but filled with a lot of emotion.

A Widow's Toast by chaila43, BSG, set to the Neko Case song of the same name. About Kara and grief.

I have been waiting for Neko Case music to be vidded! I am so happy to see these! Her music is so lyrical and haunting (but there are some upbeat numbers too), check it out if you aren't familiar.

I wish I was James Bond by kuwdora, ST: DS9. A super happy vid about Julian Bashir in all his adorable, awkward, dapper incarnations through DS9's run. I really identified with Julian when I was a geeky teenager, and it is wonderful to see a whole vid about him!

****

( Harry Potter 7.1 Deathly Hallows )

I also watched The Boondock Saints today and liked it, very over-the-top story about vigilante justice in Boston-- guns, mafia, violence, a strange sort of humor. It reminded me of a modern-day Western.

[Make up your own question!]
Women-Centric vids that you love

Around the Bend by danegen. A VividCon premiere this year. Multifandom.

Super sexy and awesome vid of women and their engines, women driving and flying, many women together, both fannish sources and real life images, current and historical. I love the song which was totally unfamiliar to me. A very empowering vid that cheers me up every time I watch it.

Ladie's Night by counteragent. Multifandom.

A fun song with women dancing and having fun, and some images of men being impressed with them. What makes this vid stand out is all the unusual sources: His Girl Friday! Legally Blonde! Ugly Betty! Scrubs! Dr. Quinn! Along with some more "conventional" fannish sources. Two of the sources were movies I found kind of skeevy for one reason or another (True Lies and What Women Want), but this is the sort of vid that reclaims such movies for me, takes the source, cuts it up, analyzes it from the female gaze, turns it into something I can enjoy.

One Girl Revolution by arefadedaway. Multifandom.

Women are awesome, fuck yeah. A gorgeous, stunning vid with tons and tons of sources. No power in the 'verse can stop me. I watch this one a lot.