Vidding: So you have to be Specific. B-E Specific.

[sisabet]

rydra_wong asked for a post about the unique issues encountered when vidding rap, especially regarding lyrical interpretation.



Great question -- especially considering that your average song is going to be extrememly lyrically dense and this is absolutely no excuse for for you not considering every. Single. Word.

How dense? At the bottom of this post I have included the lyrics of one of my favorite songs, Black Star's Respiration. I picked Respiration in part because the lyrics are so important. Every word is deliberate and this is poetry and even if you never listen to the song, read the lyrics because they are beautiful.

The best songs - like the best vids - do many things. Lyrics are important. Tone is important. Musical change is important (check out sdwolfpup's BSG vid Cool, Cool Water for an example of how important lyrics and music are in creating a story because that is a fabulous song choice). Making sure that you capitalize on all of these things is all part of it - regardless of song genre.

So - that is my unvarnished opinion. If you are vidding rap - pay attention to what you intend and pay attention to the song and you must absolutely and 100% believe this song applies to this situation or is running so parallel to this situation that you are powerless in the force of its need. The Power of the Vid COMPELS YOU!

But I think that about every vid.

Where I do allow for a difference (in rap song-vids) is in the fact that *because* the lyrics are so very plentiful and coming at the audience so fast -- the average vidwatcher will not get them all on the first go. They might not ever get them. The audience has to listen really fast and also process fast visuals and so not only, as a vidder, do you need to absolutely know your song and be very deliberate with what you chose to highlight... you also need to know what words your audience is sure to pick up. What will they hear? How can you *hit* those points with images to make certain that even if 80% of the lyrics are flying over their head, that they are able to connect enough with the 20% that they got so their brain can make sense of the story they are seeing?

I'm still working on how to do this actually. I once handed Dawn a print-out of Bone Thugs N Harmony's "Tha Crossroads" and a highlighter. I asked for her to listen to this song and highlight every word she got. The idea was not to deviate from the lyrics, but to give the audience sign posts to guide them through.

(The idea of giving your audience rest-points and road maps and places to breathe? Not mine -- sockkpuppett is the one who has stressed this importance to me from the start. The more complicated your idea and involved your concept? The more you need to make certain that you do provide these places of entry).

The closer attention to the rest of the lyrics won't be in vain though -- even if you never know it, someone out there *got* it and appreciated that you gave them so much to think about and to do as a viewer. I know I appreciate vids that make me dig in and pay attention and just get deeper and better the more I look, watch and think. That is rewarding as all get out.

Now, how you chose to interpret those lyrics? Entirely up to you. Again - I have to point out that unless you really and truly believe this song is about your character's world? The vid will flop. Seriously, no joke. These songs are *specific* and so you need to be as well.


I am beginning to believe, and I am not entirely sure about this, but I am pretty sure so bear with me -- I am beginning to believe that just as important to the vid's overall meaning as the lyrics, is the editing style.

Yes it is important to be lyrically appropriate - to chose images that mesh and give weight to the words - but it is also important to cut appropriately and move the song in the way it needs and the character dictates.

You run into problems with rap because there is a tendency to want to hit a different image with each lyric line. This isn't such a problem with a nonrap song that is slow or even up-tempo. You have time. Rap gives little time in between the lyrical lines.

An example using my own vids? I had all the time in the world to vid "How long can I pray here?" in Paradise but very little to get basically the same point across in "Screamin', Jesus save me" in Two Words and that is including the fact that Kanye actually paused after "screamin'" to give greater weight to the "save me" portion (part of the lyrical beat).

We are used to lyrical line then music then a bit more lyrics then music and even when the song moves fast - we still have some room to stretch out in the sentence. Not so with rap.

Lyrical line. Beat.
Next line. Beat.
Next line.
Next Line.
Next Line.
Next line.
Beat beat, Next Line.
Chorus.

You don't have a lot of room to stretch and there is *a lot* of information to impart and so you have to actively search for these moments where you can just rest.

Because in order to give this mash a proper order and to make certain that *something* sticks and the viewer comes away with an impression other than "Wow, that was really *fast*!" you are gonna have to give them time to process all of this. Unless that is one of the points you are making - that there *is* no time to process all of this.

One of my (oh, there are many - unfortunately I can't talk about most of them yet) vid obsessions is astolat's Zebra. I cannot tell you how *fascinated* I am watching what she does here. I mean - I'm watching it and what I know about this character could... well, I don 't know this character at all -- but she changes that and the lyrics are only part of it, only part of the reward of watching this vid.

See - what she is doing here is a character study. She is having this character, in a first person song, explain how can be anything or everything or nothing at all and the song is very fast - the tempo moves at a very steady rate and bomps around (it isn't rap, but bear with me. There are not that many Nonanime, decent rap vids. This applies).

And Shalott - she is walking this knife edge with the editing, and oh, I just love this vid so much because of this alone, because see - if she went *any* faster at all with her cuts, with the internal movement, with the external pulls on some of the bomp-bom-bomba-boms, if she pushed the envelope just a smidge more, then none of this would work.

So combine that, with this song, and with this character who is just not sitting still and he is moving all over the place and is tweaked out and as a viewer after a few cuts of this you begin to get frustrated. You feel like yelling at this ADD boy to just "STOP for a second and let me see your face!"

And then you realize that this reaction...is kind of the point. He can't. He doesn't know what that face is. Suddenly the lyrics take on an even deeper meaning. Suddenly the brief moments you do see his face and the moments of stillness mean something different.


And while this is not a rap song and this is obstensibly a post about vidding rap - in the end, what Shalott does with that vid is kind of the point for all vids. Yes, if your song dictates fast cuts as does your subject -- cut fast. But be mindful about what you are saying and what that editing style says about your character or narrative. Remember to give your audience a map and be specific with your intent.

Also - read these lyrics because they are incredible.


****************************************



Respiration by Black Star (Mos Def and Talib Kweli) featuring Common

What'd you do last night?"
"We did umm, two whole cars
It was me, Dez, and Main Three right?
And on the first car in small letters it said
'All you see is..' and then you know
big, big, you know some block silver letters
that said '..crime in the city' right?"
"It just took up the whole car?"
"Yeah yeah, it was a whole car and shit..."

[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. la ciudad respirando
(translation of spanish: Listen to it.. the city breathing)

* woman repeats 3X *

[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela..

[Mos Def]
The new moon rode high in the crown of the metropolis
Shinin, like who on top of this?
People was hustlin, arguin and bustlin
Gangstaz of Gotham hardcore hustlin
I'm wrestlin with words and ideas
My ears is picky, seekin what will transmit
the scribes can apply to transcript, yo
This ain't no time where the usual is suitable
Tonight alive, let's describe the inscrutable
The indisputable, we New York the narcotic
Strength in metal and fiber optics
where mercenaries is paid to trade hot stock tips
for profits, thirsty criminals take pockets
Hard knuckles on the second hands of workin class watches
Skyscrapers is collosus, the cost of living
is preposterous, stay alive, you play or die, no options
No Batman and Robin, can't tell between
the cops and the robbers, they both partners, they all heartless
With no conscience, back streets stay darkened
Where unbeliever hearts stay hardened
My eagle talons STAY sharpened, like city lights stay throbbin
You either make a way or stay sobbin, the Shiny Apple
is bruised but sweet and if you choose to eat
You could lose your teeth, many crews retreat
Nightly news repeat, who got shot down and locked down
Spotlight to savages, NASDAQ averages
My narrative, rose to explain this existance
Amidst the harbor lights which remain in the distance

So much on my mind that it can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Heard the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

[Talib Kweli]
Breathin in deep city breaths, sittin on shitty steps
we stoop to new lows, hell froze the night the city slept
The beast crept through concrete jungles
communicatin with one another
And ghetto birds where waters fall
from the hydrants to the gutters
The beast walk the beats, but the beats we be makin
You on the wrong side of the track, lookin visibly shaken
Taken them plungers, plungin to death that's painted by the numbers
with crime unapplied pressure, cats is playin God
but havin children by a lesser baby mother but fuck it
we played against each other like puppets, swearin you got pull
when the only pull you got is the wool over your eyes
Gettin knowledge in jail like a blessing in disguise
Look in the skies for God, what you see besides the smog
is broken dreams flying away on the wings of the obscene
Thoughts that people put in the air
Places where you could get murdered over a glare
But everything is fair
It's a paradox we call reality
So keepin it real will make you casualty of abnormal normality
Killers Born Naturally like, Micky and Mallory
Not knowing the ways'll get you capped like an NBA salary
Some cats be emceeing to illustrate what we be seeing
Hard to be a spiritual being when shit is shakin what you believe in
For trees to grow in Brooklyn, seeds need to be planted
I'm asking if y'all feel me AND THE CROWD LEFT ME STRANDED
My blood pressure boiled and rose, cause New York niggaz
actin spoiled at shows, to the winners the spoils go
I take the L, transfer to the 2, head to the gates
New York life type trife the Roman Empire state

[Mos Def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo don't the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathin
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Sigh before we die like the last train leaving

[spanish speaking woman] Escuchela.. respirando ??

[Common]
Yo...on The Amen, Corner I stood lookin at my former hood
Felt the spirit in the wind, knew my friend was gone for good
Threw dirt on the casket, the hurt, I couldn't mask it
Mixin down emotions, struggle I hadn't mastered
I choreograph seven steps to heaven
And hell, waiting to exhale and make the bread leavened
Veteran of a cold war It's Chica-I-go for
What I know or, what's known
So some days I take the bus home, just to touch home
From the crib I spend months gone
Sat by the window with a clutched dome listenin to shorties cuss long
Young girls with weak minds, but they butt strong
Tried to call, or at least beep the Lord, but didn't have a touch-tone
It's a dog-eat-dog world, you gotta mush on
Some of this land I must own
Outta the city, they want us gone
Tearin down the 'jects creatin plush homes
My circumstance is between Cabrini and Love Jones
Surrounded by hate, yet I love home
Ask my God how he thought travellin the world sound
Found it hard to imagine he hadn't been past downtown
It's deep, I heard the city breathe in its sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep
Deep, I heard my man breathe in his sleep
Of reality I touch, but for me it's hard to keep

[Mos Def and crew]
So much on my mind I just can't recline
Blastin holes in the night til she bled sunshine
Breathe in, inhale vapors from bright stars that shine
Breathe out, weed smoke retrace the skyline
Yo how the bass ride out like an ancient mating call
I can't take it y'all, I can feel the city breathing
Chest heavin, against the flesh of the evening
Kiss the Ide's goodbye, I'm on the last train leaving

Comments

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

I'm *so* with you on Zebra. One of the worries I've had since doing live action videos is the fact that I'm a fast cutter and a micromanager. This is usually a place that someone would end up with live action not a place someone would begin. At first I found it hard to see how to fit my editing style into the kind of editing that is more appropriate for live action and Zebra is definitely one of the videos that showed me how things can be fast and not fast, micromanaged and visually fluid.

It's certainly helped me learn a few things about my own editing style and where to take it with live action which I hope will be somewhat more evident with my premiere vid. *fingers crossed*

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Yes - what she does in Zebra, is something I have been struggling to do for years -- which is just keep it moving but not incomprehensible.

Now, I get that part of the pace of the vid is actually just another facet of the character study (which just makes me all sorts of happy in my vidding brain) but another part of me is pointing to renenet and going "See! See! *THAT* is what this is supposed to look like! How can I do *this*?" because she absolutely makes this look just so effortless and easy.

Like she just woke up and yawned and tossed this together on her way out the door.

[absolutedestiny.livejournal.com]

I've been trying to train my brain to spot when a scene I'm using has "too much motion" - meaning that the scene is fine but it requires too quick an eye, change of focus or just plain mental image decoding time that it's not going to work.

That's step one.

Step two is how to chain these scenes together and have them flow into one another. It's quite the adventure :D

[f1renze.livejournal.com]

So combine that, with this song, and with this character who is just not sitting still and he is moving all over the place and is tweaked out and as a viewer after a few cuts of this you begin to get frustrated. You feel like yelling at this ADD boy to just "STOP for a second and let me see your face!"

And then you realize that this reaction...is kind of the point. He can't. He doesn't know what that face is.


... whoa.

DUDE! Teach me how to do this! The watching part, that is. Cause the vidding part is still waaaay ahead.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Okay the first thing you do is you start the vid.

Then you sit and watch it for 3 hours straight. Seriously, remember that Saturday we all did the thing? This is what I did. I just watched it.

Now when you watch any vid, if you are me, you are keeping track of your emotional inventory while the vid plays. When do you feel what and why is basically the questions that you ask.

Watching "Zebra" one of my big tells - one of the big moments when everything clicked, was a shot framed by the lake. It is Ray and the Mountie and Shalott does this really fast closeup of Ray's face but it is too fast to really see his expression, but *not* too fast for the expression to register emotionally and then the shot pulls back out to a long shot and he punches Fraser.

That was a static longshot-quickclose-up - back to longshot with movement, but it was more than that. It was framing, emotional context, then reaction. And she does this thruout the vid, this is just a moment that makes an impression because I wanted to see more of his face, but I saw enough that I understood that the character would not want me to see more of his face, in that setting.

So - you kind of have to watch with all your own emotional baggage out with you because you are looking for the things that will just twig with your perceptions.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Continued:

Because remember -- this part of viewing is entirely subjective. This is about *me* and what I get out of a vid and I could be totally off-base as to the actual vidder's intent. I don't think I am, but I could be.

It doesn't make my interpretation wrong, just different. So in the end, vid-watching is all about you and what you bring to the table and you have to be open to just letting yourself go and fall into whatever the vid is telling you. And sometimes it just keeps telling you more the more you watch and that is when I just bliss out.

[f1renze.livejournal.com]

So - you kind of have to watch with all your own emotional baggage out with you because you are looking for the things that will just twig with your perceptions.

Thank you. This will be a very good exercise.

And generally speaking re: your vid-watching, this is what I meant when I said the other day that I loved the way you beta. The things you point out are often things that the vidder can potentially say more about, which they might have put together on pure instinct. These hints are made aware by your observations, and you may think you don't have much to say, but the story you tell yourself as you watch the vid is just -- illuminating, for the vidder. Then all of a sudden it's like, "Whoa - I did that? Cool! Now how can I make it clearer for the not!sisabets to get?"

You're like a catcher of these glimmers of promise. And in my experience, so far? I just try to grab hold of them real tight.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I'm fascinating with the new things that are being done with cutting rhythm right now. "Zebra" is an excellent example, and so is your Starbuck vid, and so is "Cold Cold Water" -- I flailed around a lot on sdwolfpup's LJ leaving a comment about this -- because what I'm seeing is cutting not just on the beat, but also on the lyric, and also quite deliberately on the silent "upbeat" or space between the beats, and the movement being organized around the beat but *loosely*, so that these vids breathe and have an organic feel that is much more open and interesting than just "beat. beat. beat. beat."

I feel like a big dork, actually, because my earliest vids were cut this way (quite accidentally!) and I've moved away from it towards total beatwhoredom, and now here are all these vids reminding me how powerful it can be to cut *elsewhere*.

This is one of those things that I can feel in my body but I'm not sure I can *do* it, deliberately, in a vid of my own.

[rydra_wong]

the movement being organized around the beat but *loosely*, so that these vids breathe

This sort of ties in with some of the things I think I'm learning about rap at the moment. The obvious "beat" is only one part of the story, because a huge element of the rhythm is actually the beat of the words, the verbal stresses and the way they dance around the percussion, accelerating ahead, lagging behind, catching up and landing on the beat again. So there's that stretching and contraction going on *within* the rhythm, and the breathing spaces may be to be found in how they trade off, and that may be carrying some of the burden of meaning that the melody would do in something more overtly melodic.

Which doesn't mean that this can't apply to other musical styles too, just that this is where it's most striking for me right now.

Hum. Sorry if I'm talking gibberish - the part of my brain figuring this out doesn't seem to be communicating with the verbal parts very well ...

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

*g* I know what you mean, but it made sense to me!

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well yes and I think Laura hit on something important up there: We can instinctually find where to cut. It doesn't have to be this hardcore Scientific CUT! There is no rule stating you *must* cut on this beat and in fact varying the ways and means of a cut is more effective at keeping the eye/mind engaged.

This is not saying to *not* cut on beat. Those cuts are still visually satisfying, but it is saying to trust your instincts on when *not* to. And you have some damned fine instincts.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. When I say 'beat' I define it as any musical accent by any instrument, stress or pitch, including voice. I usually hit whatever is loudest to me, if it's a drum or a hard syllable or a sudden octave switch. I remember a friend telling me that one of my vids wasn't beatwhored and me blinking at her in confusion because there's a beat right there on that note! and a downbeat on that intake of breath! it's all timed meticulously!

The second vid I made had a song with a really loud and complex backbeat, and I put in a series of crossfades in one section that all started and ended on the downbeats before and after the major drum beat.

I'm always confused of when people say hey cut to the beat because I know they're probably not using the term the same way I use it. I think I just need to crack open a music book and learn all the proper terminology.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

We've had this conversation before. (http://www.livejournal.com/users/lierdumoa/105956.html) (:

Yeah, you define "beat" differently than any person I've ever met. Most of us mean the actual downbeat, as indicated by the time signature of the music, often highlighted in popular music by a percussion instrument and/or bass.

I'm curious -- in the vids that have been mentioned here, especially "Cold Cold Water", do you perceive that as having been cut wholly on the beat?

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

I'm always confused of when people say hey cut to the beat because I know they're probably not using the term the same way I use it.

"Beat" has a strict definition within music vocabulary as the measure of a time signature (the quarter-note gets one *beat* and there are four *beats* to a measure in standard 4/4 time, for example). Using it to mean anything else will most likely confuse anyone you're talking to.

I think I just need to crack open a music book and learn all the proper terminology.

Sounds like a plan. :-D

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

I really agree with most of your points here. At one point, I almost abandoned Bawitdaba because of my lack of comfort with the music (which I'm not sure is technically rap, but if not, it's close). My usual tricks simply didn't work, and I had to take a big step back and seriously reevaluate my approach.

I knew that a lot of my audience wasn't going to understand many of the lyrics -- even after listening to the song a zillion times, I couldn't understand them, but as you say, that's no excuse for not considering every word. And I did believe the lyrics were a great match for the fandom -- the very first line captures a lot of it "This is for the questions that don't have any answers" is a big part of the fandom's world view.

I also had visuals (hand-held camera work, 16 mm film that looks pretty grainy in spots) that matched the song. So my approach was to use the verses to sharply hit the lyrics, and the nonsense chorus as the breathing space, with longer clips, etc. as well as the digression to my main character's home life.

I'm still not sure if it's a success -- I've had comments that the entire vid is too fast to absorb, the camera movements are too jerky, etc., and I've also had the comment that the pace of the vid doesn't capture the energy of the show! I'm not sure I would choose similar music again, but it was an interesting experience, for sure.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

Well, I loved "Bawitaba" and thought the song choice was inspired. But I've vidded Kid Rock twice, so there is that.

And it is important to match and know the lyrics because there are those in the audience that *will* get it. I knew all the words to Bawitaba before I saw your vid and I was impressed by the match so HEY! There is me.

I think as vidding changes, that audiences will be more open in general to different forms of music, not just rap/hip hop. The variety of song choice lately has been pretty cool and I am looking forward to VVC this year, specifically, because of this.

[renenet.livejournal.com]

Melina, I *really* enjoy Bawitdaba. I find it really engaging and I love the musical stretch from your other work. It's been a couple of months since I last watched it, but my recollection is that there are times when I think it is *spot* on with its pacing and other times when I think it would have benefitted from being cut even faster. Of course, even as I thought that I had to acknowledge to myself that some audience members are probably challenged to absorb it at its present speed. Definitely a case where "success" is not one size fits all. Great example for what sisabet is talking about here.

[melinafandom.livejournal.com]

Thank you both for the compliments -- I wasn't fishing, really, and I guess the feedback is just as subjective as you'd get for any vid. Really, as a vid that premiered at a con, it was more successful than I had thought it would be, given the music I suspected a lot of people wouldn't like and a fandom that was unfamiliar to most of the audience.

A big part of the reason I decided to do it was to do a project with limited source (I'd been vidding Highlander to that point) and to try something completely different with regard to style and pace -- and the music largely dictated that.

Thanks again :)

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

So with you on Zebra--I have watched that vid sooo many times, and I feel like I get something new from it each time. It also made me fall in love with Ray.

And thanks for that post, especially since I've been hesitantly looking at doing a rap vid (intimidating as all hell, especially since I'm very new at vidding)--to that Black Star song, actually. You're right, it is beautiful.

[sisabet.livejournal.com]

The song is poetry and wonderful and haunting. Want to talk about your potential vid? Or is it still in that incubation stage?

[ficbyzee.livejournal.com]

It's... *very* very much in the incubation phase still, but I was thinking to doing that song to the movie SLC Punk. Salt Lake is my hometown, and I don't know if you've seen the movie, but for me it highlights a lot of the weird and dark and creepy aspects of the place--plus, the song seems to me to be a lot about what Steve-O and Bob go through throughout the movie.

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

I'm sure I'll come up with something more coherent later, but for now I'll just say -- Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee! Vidding meta! On rap!

::so awesome::

[lierdumoa.livejournal.com]

Okay, first off -- so with you on Zebra. I watched that vid obsessively after she posted it, and even now will suddenly find myself in the mood for Zebra and take a break from my daily routine to spend more time watching it obsessively.

So combine that, with this song, and with this character who is just not sitting still and he is moving all over the place and is tweaked out and as a viewer after a few cuts of this you begin to get frustrated. You feel like yelling at this ADD boy to just "STOP for a second and let me see your face!"

As a naturally fast cutter when it comes to vidding, I'm totally fascinated by this interpretation of the vid.

For me (and I blame this on watching far too many seizure inducing anime vids) a facial expression has to be three frames or less for me to not register it the first time I watch a vid. When I look over one of my vids, I can usually slow myself down enough to make sure that everything will register properly for someone who cannot parse as fast as I can. It never occurred to me to think beyond the viewer's technical parsing speed to the viewer's emotional reaction.

Though now that I think back -- duh.

For both of us astolat was able to superbly communicate who Ray Kowalski was. Hell, even people who had no idea who Ray Kowalski was could watch her vid and tell how well the song fit the character. For me watching her vid, I was instantly able to identify with Ray because it's my natural inclination to vid that fast. Ray Kowalski moves like I think. He can't sit still and neither can my brain. This is the whole reason I'm in fandom. It's the reason I go home after an 8 hour class day and read 14 different fic from 6 different fandoms, re-watch an episode of Farscape and the end of Run Lola Run, then open up my LJ client and complain how bored I am.

The vid also shows you the beauty of Fraser and that relationship. Fraser's the only one who bothers to try to keep up. Ray's pacing so fast he's falling off the camera (3:11-3:18) and Fraser's behind him, keeping up. Fraser's one of the few people who Ray goes still for.

God, I need to go read more dS fic now.

I think I'm going to be referring back to this post a lot when I start my Gia vid. My song is "Girl Anachronism" by the Dresden Dolls. The pacing is insanely fast. The beat is half in the drums and half in the lyrics themselves, which go by so fast that it's almost like vidding an instrumental. I know no one is going to catch even half the words the first time they watch it and I have to make sure the vid stands without them.

astolat did that. Even though she pays meticulous attention to lyrics, her vid can stand without them.

I want to compare this all to what laurashapiro did with her recent, as yet unposted Chiana vid -- also a vid with fast cutting and mostly incomprehensible lyrics that just *gets* a character and gutpunches you with that character. But really, this comment has gone on far too long.

Zebra!

[mlyn.livejournal.com]

Dood I love that vid. I watched it multiple times a day for weeks. I'd put it on just to listen to the song, then walk around all day with it stuck in my head.

So glad to see a vidder's perspective on it. Yay! (I mean, tell me the boxing jabs to the song's rhythm are not the best thing ever.)

[jack-pride.livejournal.com]

Zebra makes me fall in love with Ray Kowalski all over again. I can't get over the fact that the sexiest shot is the one where he's wearing his thick-frames glasses, playing chess. Mmm.