The WKRP of Journals: Nobody's Reading It!

HEY GUYS! HEY HEY GUYS!!!

I was away for a bit, and when I came back, somewhat less virusy and root-kitted-out than before, I found that beccatoria on LJ had done a wonderful thing. She had taken my suggestion, which was that she edit a Farscape vidlet to Ramona Fall's "Fever", and created not merely a vidlet, but a fully-fledged MUSIC VID OF PURE UNADULTERATED AWESOME. You can see it here (sadly, not embeddable):

http://beccatoria.livejournal.com/136650.html

In her own words:

I'm bored and out of vid ideas that I can actually work on right now (due to waiting for footage, collaboration or inspiration). Thus I declare NaViMaMo! National (well, you know, for the great state of beccatoria) Vidlet (I'm aiming for about a minute, but it may be half or twice that) Making Month. Below you will find a list of fandoms I can vid. Comment with a song choice. I will make you a vidlet.

She's done 18 since November 5th. Lest you think she's just cranking these things out, I have to tell you that so far, each one has been a jewel of visual joy. She listed the fandoms she'd work in and nobody had picked Farscape yet, so I thought about what songs would really click with the most effed-up crew of space reprobates since the crew of the Liberator and Ramona Falls' much-adored "Fever" popped into my head, specifically as a backdrop for John and Aeryn's strange, rocky, and years-long romance.

Here's the original deeply creepy music vid for the song, which I like to watch at least a couple of times a week:



Now I have a new vid to watch over and over and OVER again! Thanks again, beccatoria!

chelseagirl47 asked a question about The Brothers Quay in my "Sledgehammer" post, which suggested to me that Nine Inch Nails' "Closer" (1994) might be a good vid to share with the class next. Parts are a live-action reenactment of scenes from their infamous short film "Street of Crocodiles."

Despite being one of the most overtly obscene and profane songs ever written, Trent Reznor's Closer (to God) is firmly ensconced in everyday popular culture, with so many covers I wasn't able to find a full list. I imagine it must be quite therapeutic for a singer to be allowed to belt out the words "I want to fuck you like an animal" in front of an appreciative crowd, as well as being a quick way to gain a desirable reputation for edginess--besides, it's an awesome song, deserving of "classic" status. NIN's version has been used on several TV shows, including CSI and Cold Case, though of course highly edited, and in several films like Se7en, The Hitcher, and The Fan. That opening drum sequence is unmistakable. Weird Al Yankevic's comedy version uses wacky Saturday-morning cartoon noises in place of the word "fuck."

In the MTV edit of this vid, there's a skip over the word "fuck" on the soundtrack, as if the film itself had cracked and been repaired with editing tape; also a title card with the words "scene removed" was edited in to replace scenes that upset MTV's censors, thus rendering naturalistic the necessary edits to get the vid on TV. The delightfully aged quality of the look of the vid is due to Reznor having it shot on a can of vintage unexposed film, not from post-shooting manipulation.

This ain't TV, so I'm posting the NSFW, uncut version of the video. But there are some who will find it disturbing, hence the cut-tag. ( Closer and Street of Crocodiles beneath the cut-tag. )

Maybe I should have waited until Halloween to post these... I shall have to come up with something scarier!

Heart is best known for two songs: Barracuda and Magic Man, but in my fannish little heart, this song held supreme. Seriously, I have no idea why nobody's done a music vid of all the various OTPs to this song--Hutch carrying Starsky out of a burning building, old school Spock grinning at Kirk, the Professionals playing with their guns together, Hobbes yanking Fawkes out of traffic, Blake patting Avon on the shoulder while Avon gives him the fish-eye, whatever. I mean, for crap's sake, people; this is the chorus:

Allies,
With our backs against the wall
I will answer when you call
And take on the odds
For what we believe is true
Allies,
In a world of too much choice
I only need your voice
To tell me you care
I'll be anywhere for you!
ALLIES!

With only slightly over a thousand views, this isn't anybody else's favorite video. This was the best version I could find, and it's a kinda fuzzy, but stick with it to see the final hand porn.



Okay, shut up, THAT USED TO MAKE ME CRY! I can just imagine the casting notes for the guy with the sledgehammer: "We need someone who the audience will know is adorable and trustworthy and is really just the best guy ever the second they get a good look at his open, smiling face. And really built, so his silhouette is scary, if drool-worthy." HE IS SO HAPPY HE FOUND HIS OTP IN ALL THAT SCARY, BOMBED-OUT WRECKAGE, PEOPLE! The fact that they are all about to die of radiation poisoning means nothing, because they found one another and can die in one another's arms. Yeah, that really pushed my buttons back then.

Somebody needs to make me the Ultimate OTP vid to this song. And then they would of course dedicate it to ME, ME, ME because I found the obscure music for them, and I am The Wind Beneath Their Wings! Nothing's Gonna Stop Us Now!

::pulls out lighter, waves it in the air slowly::

In the past few days, lanning has been posting some Old School music videos on her LJ and DW that meant a lot to her when she was young, and it's been a real blast from the past for me, too. I thought I'd tip my hat to her and post one of my own favorites...



...it's been viewed more than four million times on youtube, so it's a lot of other people's favorite, too!

Girls Just Want To Have Fun zoomed to the top of the charts in 1983, then it dug in and became part of the popular culture zeitgeist as a light-hearted feminist anthem. You've probably heard it on any number of TV shows or movies, though you may not have seen the original award-winning music video. It's been covered by more than thirty singers, but the best cover was done by Cyndi Lauper--yeah, bet you didn't know the song was recorded in 1979 by the author, Robert Hazard; it was originally written from a male point of view. Lauper changed the wording (with Hazard's okay) to reflect a female perspective and the rest was history.