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VID: "Land" (Terminator universe)

  • Aug. 16th, 2009 at 8:28 PM
don't you weep
VividCon is technically over, but I'm still in Chicago (yay!) -- thus, my eleventy-million premiering vids will be encoded and posted ... soon. Not now. But! I do happen to have my crazy epic 10-minute Sarah Connor vid uploaded, so I'll go ahead and post it in the interim.

Song: "Land" by Patti Smith
Source: The Terminator, T2: Judgment Day, T3: Rise of the Machines, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

There is a sea of possibilities.

Download: right-click and save, please. [9:52, ~130mb, xvid codec]





Notes: This vid premiered in the 2009 VividCon Challenge show for the theme of IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations). Many thanks to [info]renenet and [info]sisabet for their support and numerous pep talks, as well as [info]absolutedestiny, [info]jarrow, [info]fan_eunice, [info]vagabondage and others, for watching and commenting on the drafts I have foisted on them over the past year or so. (This vid was TOTALLY SECRET.) Thank you also to the folks at VVC for giving this monster such a lovely reception!


Land
Horses
Land of a Thousand Dances
La Mer (de)


The boy was in the hallway drinking a glass of tea
From the other end of the hallway a rhythm was generating
Another boy was sliding up the hallway
He merged perfectly with the hallway,
He merged perfectly, the mirror in the hallway

The boy looked at Johnny, Johnny wanted to run,
but the movie kept moving as planned
The boy took Johnny, he pushed him against the locker,
He drove it in, he drove it home, he drove it deep in Johnny
The boy disappeared, Johnny fell on his knees,
started crashing his head against the locker,
started crashing his head against the locker,
started laughing hysterically

When suddenly Johnny gets the feeling he's being surrounded by
horses, horses, horses, horses
coming in in all directions
white shining silver studs with their nose in flames,
He saw horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses, horses.
Do you know how to pony like bony maroney
Do you know how to twist, well it goes like this, it goes like this
Baby mash potato, do the alligator, do the alligator
And you twist the twister like your baby sister
I want your baby sister, give me your baby sister, dig your baby sister
Rise up on her knees, do the sweet pea, do the sweet pee pee,
Roll down on her back, got to lose control, got to lose control,
Got to lose control and then you take control,
Then you're rolled down on your back and you like it like that,
Like it like that, like it like that, like it like that,
Then you do the watusi, yeah do the watusi

Life is filled with holes, Johnny's laying there, his sperm coffin
Angel looks down at him and says, “Oh, pretty boy,
Can't you show me nothing but surrender ?”
Johnny gets up, takes off his leather jacket,
Taped to his chest there's the answer,
You got pen knives and jack knives and
Switchblades preferred, switchblades preferred
Then he cries, then he screams, saying
Life is full of pain, I'm cruisin' through my brain
And I fill my nose with snow and go Rimbaud,
Go Rimbaud, go Rimbaud,
And go Johnny go, and do the watusi, oh do the watusi

There's a little place, a place called space
It's a pretty little place, it's across the tracks,
Across the tracks and the name of the place is you like it like that,
You like it like that, you like it like that, you like it like that,
And the name of the band is the
Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes,
Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes, Twistelettes

Baby calm down, better calm down,
In the night, in the eye of the forest
There's a mare black and shining with yellow hair,
I put my fingers through her silken hair and found a stair,
I didn't waste time, I just walked right up and saw that
up there -- there is a sea
up there -- there is a sea
up there -- there is a sea
the sea's the possibility
There is no land but the land
(up there is just a sea of possibilities)
There is no sea but the sea
(up there is a wall of possibilities)
There is no keeper but the key
(up there there are several walls of possibilities)
Except for one who seizes possibilities, one who seizes possibilities.
(up there)
I seize the first possibility, is the sea around me
I was standing there with my legs spread like a sailor
(in a sea of possibilities) I felt his hand on my knee
(on the screen)
And I looked at Johnny and handed him a branch of cold flame
(in the heart of man)
The waves were coming in like Arabian stallions
Gradually lapping into sea horses
He picked up the blade and he pressed it against his smooth throat
(the spoon)
And let it deep in
(the veins)
Dip in to the sea, to the sea of possibilities
It started hardening
Dip in to the sea, to the sea of possibilities
It started hardening in my hand
And I felt the arrows of desire

I put my hand inside his cranium, oh we had such a brainiac-amour
But no more, no more, I gotta move from my mind to the area
(go Rimbaud go Rimbaud go Rimbaud)
And go Johnny go and do the watusi,
Yeah do the watusi, do the watusi ...
Shined open coiled snakes white and shiny twirling and encircling
Our lives are now entwined, we will fall yes we're together twining
Your nerves, your mane of the black shining horse
And my fingers all entwined through the air,
I could feel it, it was the hair going through my fingers,
(I feel it I feel it I feel it I feel it)
The hairs were like wires going through my body
I I that's how I
that's how I
I died
(at that Tower of Babel they knew what they were after)
(they knew what they were after)
[Everything on the current] moved up
I tried to stop it, but it was too warm, too unbelievably smooth,
Like playing in the sea, in the sea of possibility, the possibility
Was a blade, a shiny blade, I hold the key to the sea of possibilities
There's no land but the land

looked at my hands, and there's a red stream
that went streaming through the sands like fingers,
like arteries, like fingers
(how much fits between the eyes of a horse?)
He lay, pressing it against his throat (your eyes)
He opened his throat (your eyes)
His vocal chords started shooting like (of a horse) mad pituitary glands
The scream he made (and my heart) was so high (my heart) pitched that nobody heard,
No one heard that cry,
No one heard (Johnny) the butterfly flapping in his throat,
(His fingers)
Nobody heard, he was on that bed, it was like a sea of jelly,
And so he seized the first
(his vocal chords shot up)
(possibility)
(like mad pituitary glands)
It was a black tube, he felt himself disintegrate
(there is nothing happening at all)
and go inside the black tube, so when he looked out into the steep
saw this sweet young thing (Fender one)
Humping on the parking meter, leaning on the parking meter

In the sheets
there was a man
dancing around
to the simple
Rock & roll
song


All comments and feedback are greatly appreciated. Thanks for watching!

(VVC was awesome this year, with several mind-breaking vids -- a recs post will appear once I get home!)
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Comments

( 36 comments — Leave a comment )
[info]barkley wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 02:26 am (UTC)
This was just stunning. I never once felt the length of it, it kept me right there in the action wanting more the whole time. Loved it.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 03:41 pm (UTC)
It's great to hear that the length wasn't a hindrance for you. I'm very glad you liked the vid, and thanks for the rec!
[info]shati wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 03:03 am (UTC)
Holy shit, this is epic. And I think I need to watch it like 60 more times.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 03:57 pm (UTC)
Hee, well, that'll only take you ... 10 hours? My math no worky. I'm glad you liked it!
[info]musesfool wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 03:04 am (UTC)
Wow. Just. Wow. I need to watch it a few more times, I think, but wow.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:01 pm (UTC)
Thank you! (and thank you for the rec!)
[info]thuviaptarth wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 04:07 am (UTC)
I LOVE THIS VID BEYOND THE POWER OF LOWER-CASE LETTERS TO EXPRESS.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:03 pm (UTC)
Hee! Thanks again for your comments on this vid -- I'm really glad you enjoyed it.
[info]ratcreature wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 09:20 am (UTC)
Wow, this was indeed epic. I liked how you encompassed the whole Terminator universe.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:04 pm (UTC)
Thank you! I think it's kind of epic by necessity. :)
[info]such_heights wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 09:21 am (UTC)
Wow! This is absolutely spectacular! What a brilliant idea for the Challenge show.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:04 pm (UTC)
Thanks so much! (And thank you for the rec!)
[info]sisabet wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 03:49 pm (UTC)
CKR is hot.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:06 pm (UTC)
^
[info]serrico wrote:
Aug. 17th, 2009 11:20 pm (UTC)
I see others have beaten me to calling this "epic", but it *IS*. *Wow.*

The whole thing is an incredible amount of awesomeness, but I especially love the way you kept hitting on the song's repetition of "possibilities", with Sarah and John both: you really showed how trapped they are in the loop of John's existence, with their lives defined not by *possibility*, but by *inevitability*.

I say again: *wow*. *applause*
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:24 pm (UTC)
Thank you! I'm really glad the "possibilities" lines worked for you -- that concept was really at the heart of the vid.
[info]kskitten wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 12:43 pm (UTC)
Wow. I am really blown away. That was one kickass video. I love Patti Smith and am a huge Terminator fan so this was a perfect combination. I'll have to re-watch this a lot, it was a very well choreographed and put together artwork. What a pleasure to share this with us, thanks for all the hard work you put into this.
[info]sweetestdrain wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 04:26 pm (UTC)
I'm really glad you liked the pairing of song and source! This is actually my second Patti Smith + Terminator vid -- although certainly the most epic :) -- for some reason, her voice just says Sarah Connor to me. Thanks for commenting!
[info]laurashapiro wrote:
Aug. 18th, 2009 05:55 pm (UTC)
SO. AMAZING. OMG. ::FLAIL::

There may come a day when I can speak coherently about this vid. Today is not that day.
[info]rez_lo wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 01:16 am (UTC)
Utterly beautiful, and beautifully controlled both as to pacing and to the interplay of footage from the sources. I love this vid. (via [info]elishavah)
[info]cryptoxin wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 03:11 am (UTC)
This is really amazing. I don't know how you did it, but the shifts between different actors playing John & Sarah in different sources wasn't jarring at all. And the pacing kept me glued to the screen -- it never dragged or felt repetitive. Also, Patti Smith!!! Just as perfect as she was for Gloria.
[info]vonniek wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 05:16 am (UTC)
I wish I'd fangirled you more when we met, because now, I've watched this a handful of times, and I keep getting more and more out of it each time. The editing is just brilliant and I'm in awe of how you managed to make the different sources work with each other so that it's a seamlessly epic universe vid as a whole. But most of all, I LOVE the way you used all this to illuminate the central theme of the story.
[info]life_on_queen wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 06:17 am (UTC)
This is incredible work, that brings and melds all the different iterations of the Terminator story and works them into a seamless whole. Stunning. The cold open on Sarah and the fade into the wasteland and the close of Sarah and Kyle. I'll admit, I didn't grok the possibility-inevitability connection mentioned above but I thought it encapsulated the tragic love story(s) at the heart of the Terminator universe. Thank you for sharing.
[info]heresluck wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 06:57 pm (UTC)
It's going to be a while before I can be coherent about this vid -- I promise I will try! -- but I just had to comment now to tell you again how much I love it, how utterly brilliant I think it is, and how brilliant I think YOU are for bringing together these increasingly disparate sources in a way that acknowledges and even thematizes their differences (the butterfly in the throat, the sea of possibilities) and yet makes them almost shockingly coherent -- far more than the original sources are, certainly.

I. just. SO MUCH LOVE.
[info]counteragent wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 07:09 pm (UTC)
Incredibly fantastic. I will be watching this a lot.
[info]nlynn wrote:
Aug. 19th, 2009 07:43 pm (UTC)
You've made my day!! I love how you integrated the entire Terminator universe. Stunning!
[info]meelie wrote:
Aug. 20th, 2009 01:46 pm (UTC)
Wow. Amazing!
[info]cyborganize wrote:
Aug. 21st, 2009 09:24 pm (UTC)
this is truly a tour de force! I love your audacity in experimenting with duration. the connections you make between the different iterations of the characters are so rich.
[info]revolutionaryjo wrote:
Aug. 22nd, 2009 12:42 am (UTC)
This is incredible. What an undertaking! It flows so smoothly.
[info]girl_wonder wrote:
Aug. 23rd, 2009 01:14 am (UTC)
This is really, really amazing. I love how the possibilities merge and separate. Really, really well done.
[info]jarrow wrote:
Aug. 24th, 2009 06:09 am (UTC)
I'm glad the word "epic" came up several times during the Challenge discussion, because that's exactly what this vid is. Epic source, epic song, epic editing. I'm just going to start calling you "epic" from now on, actually. Or [info]epicdrain.

Really, this vid is way smarter than me, so I'm just going to stand over here and continue waving at the HORSES and the JOHNNYs and all the other frickin awesome things you did. Don't mind me.
[info]tripoli8 wrote:
Aug. 25th, 2009 08:40 pm (UTC)
Oh, wow. I've only seen TSCC and am totally unable to speak about vids in any kind of eloquent way, but you tell an amazing story and the scope feels appropriately huge. Awesome vid :-D
[info]kadymae wrote:
Aug. 25th, 2009 11:08 pm (UTC)
I just finally got around to watching this and OMG! So wonderful on every level.

I love how you've blended the movies and the TVshow -- it just works ... possibilities indeed.

Thank you so much!
[info]etrangere wrote:
Aug. 31st, 2009 11:07 pm (UTC)
Wow. Epic indeed. I'm going to have to watch it a thousand time before i can grok it appropriately, but wow! I feel so stunned and amazed by the visuals and the song, the flowing melding of the sources and all the meanings!
[info]tearful_eye wrote:
Sep. 20th, 2009 11:49 pm (UTC)
i've only seen one of the movies & i kinda hated it, so i never watched anything more... but the epic awesome of this vid just SLAYS me!

wow.
[info]katie_m wrote:
Nov. 10th, 2009 03:26 am (UTC)
This vid just gets more awesome every time I watch it. New reaction from the most recent round: Oh, SARAH.
( 36 comments — Leave a comment )

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