more joy (yester)day

[raven]

Okay, so. I'm too late for More Joy Day, but today I am much more joyful. Have some of the things that are making me joyful:

-Via a lot of people, most recently sebastienne, but, srsly. The estimable Oxford contingent of Thames Valley police have been caught toboganning down Boars Hill on their riot shields. Is it just me or does this go some way to restoring one's faith in humanity?

-Also via a lot of people, festivids is open for business. Now, I am not a vid sort of a person, usually; I mean, I like them, but I lack the vid-watching nous, I think. I tend to watch and then go "oooh, pretty". Yay, profound. But! I have recs anyway.

tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow, Slings & Arrows. Okay. Some amazing person made a Slings & Arrows vid to "Unity Mitford" by the Indelicates. And it wasn't even for me. Like. Someone made a vid of my very favourite obscure Canadian show to an obscure song by one of my favourite obscure British bands. Yay! And, it's a good vid! It really gets Geoffrey, Ellen and Oliver. I like it a lot.

Every Star You Chase, Red Dwarf. Basically, this is, hey, you guys, someone made a vid for Red Dwarf! A funny, silly little vid which is made all the more funny and silly for being made to a mash-up of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars" with "Every Breath You Take" by the Police. I mean. Really.

All For Swinging You Around, Little Mosque on the Prairie. Hey, you guys, someone made a vid for Little Mosque on the Prairie! It's awesome!

(Also, if you have never seen Little Mosque, you should. It's about a small fictional town in Ontario and its Muslim community, and its wider community, and it sounds like it's going to be Serious Social Commentary and then it turns out to be a delightful light comedy with the not-oft-repeated-enough message that hey, brown people are Political and Important but also kind of silly, kind of adorable, kind of pathetic, kind of human too.)

Aaaaand, finally. Past and Present, Chak De! India. You guys. You guys, I keep waaaailing at this vid. In the good way! But I keep watching it, and the perfect rhythmic cuts, and the movement, and the motion, and the women who look like me, and more movement and more motion, and women who look like me being strong and beautiful, and seriously, tears are not the appropriate response to a happy-making vid to a Feist song. And yet. Please watch this, if you don't watch any of the others and you have no idea what Chak De! India even is. It fills with me this stupid, pure, joy.

About Chak De! India. I saw it on a plane one time. I think I need to watch it again. But, in brief, it is a film about the Indian women's hockey team. (What is India's national sport? Clue: it's not cricket, and it starts with F and ends with "-ield hockey".) And that's all wrong as a summary, because it doesn't really get what I love about it, and the vid: it's about women, not changing the world, but changing their bit of it. It also has Shah Rukh Khan in it, but nothing in life is perfect.

-On a similar topic, I was asking a couple of days ago whether there is a Hindu-type equivalent to purimgifts. kismeteve pointed me at purnima_fic. "Purnima" means "full moon", and is in fact the first proper grown-up word I learned to say. (I remember being very proud. Puuuur-neeee-maaa.)

So, anyway, yes, it's a good idea - a general fic community with focus on South Asian characters, and currently running a Holi challenge. I like this idea a lot - Parvati and Padma playing Holi at Hogwarts, anyone? - but I'm sort of thinking an actual gift exchange, like purimgifts or yuletide might be more fun. I don't know; I might wait for Diwali and run it myself. Maybe. Possibly. And it would be Hindu-themed, rather than South Asian-themed, if I did that, but that's not the worst idea ever.

(Re: Holi. Traditionally celebrated in spring, with music, dancing and throwing paint at each other. Never being in India at the appropriate time, I have played it once in my life, during a cold grey Oxford spring. I ended up looking like this.)

Also, speaking of purimgifts, I have more or less decided to sign up. Thank you all for your thoughts on the matter, the other day, especially the people who offered to check for fail, I appreciate it.

Possibly it would be in the spirit of more joy to go and do some work, in the anticipation of joy when there is no work left to be done. This is what I tell myself.

Comments

[emerald-embers.livejournal.com]

This post is glorious and as soon as I'm at home I'm going to nosey hard at all the video links (ironically we offer technical support from computers that would have a heart attack and crash if they so much as glanced at youtube).

Something random that's making me joyful - you know how I fangirl Misha Collins like a crazy person? He set up a donation point on the Unicef website (http://inside.unicefusa.org/site/TR/Events/PersFundraisingWrapper?pg=fund&fr_id=1090&pxfid=13831) and has nudged the Supernatural fangirls to start donating; in under 48 hours they've raised $17,280.00 and this is in addition to the money being raised by help_haiti. The generosity of fandom has been making my heart squee.

*snuggles*

[leiascully.livejournal.com]

We played Holi every year at Grinnell, even though we always waited weeks and it was always still freezing cold on the actual day. But it was fun.

I still haven't seen Chak De! India, though I meant to. Of course, my philosophy is that SRK makes things more perfect ;)

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

Eeeeeeeee Slings & Arrows + Unity Mitford = ALL THE WIN. SERIOUSLY, ALL THE WIN. <333

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

OK, that Red Dwarf vid fills me with joy. Both the vid (and the OTP) and the fact that someone did that mashup :D

[absinthe-shadow.livejournal.com]

(p.s. do you think I would like Little Mosque? I suspect I probably would... After finals, obv, since that is when I will have time for Watching New Stuff again. It would be nice to have some good things lined up for the after-period, IYKWIM.)

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

alsooo not sure if you are interested but cos of this post I went tag-surfing and found an awesome Watchmen vid (http://fv-poster.livejournal.com/10992.html), so. Yay.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I think you would! I do not think you would love it, as it isn't that kind of show, really, but it's lovely for a 20min brain break and a smile. :)

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

*pokes head in* It's on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=333E99417EA472CC) and 20 minutes a pop, so can be sampled with minimal effort, fwiw. I think it is adorable- the current season isn't so good but that still leaves three seasons of complete dorks.

[jacinthsong.livejournal.com]

*is now tag-surfing on A03* this is so cute (http://archiveofourown.org/works/34037). /spam

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

The estimable Oxford contingent of Thames Valley police have been caught toboganning down Boars Hill on their riot shields. Is it just me or does this go some way to restoring one's faith in humanity?

That was a much-needed reason to smile, yes.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*squish* Enjoy the vids! I am going to go and peek at help_haiti, now I have the time.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

You should! I think you will like it. :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Awww, yay, Little Mosque. I just rewatched the beginning of season 1. Yaaaay!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

omgsocute! Doyle is wonderful.

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*grins* I just wanted to squish them.

[emerald-embers.livejournal.com]

*hearts forever* those videos WERE awesome :D. Thank you for the links! And I kind of really want to look up little mosque on the prairie now, those little glimpses looked like so much fun ^^.

[the-acrobat.livejournal.com]

This post is made of win on *so* many levels. The link with the police absolutely made my day. *squee!*
I'm not really a vid-girl, but I checked out the Chak De! India vid because you said to and, I'm still not really a vid girl but I do want to see the movie now. Very, very much.
Little Mosque isn't in Ontario, though; it's set in Saskatchewan... Ontario isn't Prairie, Sask is...

[pinkdormouse.livejournal.com]

Before I go follow some of your recs, I just wanted to agree that the tobogganing policemen are indeed awesome, even if they did ge told off for it. Also I would muchly love a Diwali fic exchange (with the usual disclaimer of being better at reading and commenting than actually writing fanfic these days) but you shouldn't feel obliged to run it. You do enough incredible stuff already.

Thank you also for reminding me that I need to watch Little Mosque on the Prairie. I saw the first epidose, then lost the link.

I still want to write Hindus in Space, even if the first story in that universe ended up being mainly about a sort-of-Buddhist and a lapsed Catholic (who will continue to mark the Hindu festivals in memory of his dead wife, even if he remarries).

Also there will be at least one Hindu PPE-ist when I write later alt-Oxford stories (along with an Irish Catholic, a girl called Bill and a black kid from Sheffield, all of whom will snark happily about the rest of the PPE contingent).

[ETA:] suddenly realised that I wasn't watching purimgifts. Thanks to your post reminding me, I now am.

[tau_sigma]

I, also, am not generally a vid person - I kind of have phases, I guess - but I watched 'Past and Present' and I am very glad I did. *g* Also, I very much want to watch the film now.

(And the toboganning police officers, hee! I am kind of sad they got a bit reprimanded. But still, hee!)

[gin-gerkitten.livejournal.com]

I just howled with laughter for the first time today at the sledging policeman. Cheers :)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

Hee, I saw you linked it! I'm glad you liked it, it cheered me up so much. (and thank you for the catch! Canadian geography = sad lack in my education.)

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

*grins* I do love hearing about your baroque universes. :) And now I must go and sign up for purimgifts!

[loneraven.livejournal.com]

I s'pose they had to be reprimanded, for the look of the thing. But at least they had fun first!

Come visit me again sometime and we'll watch it. Among the dozen other things we must watch. :P

[tau_sigma]

I would love that! Among the many other things we must watch indeed.

(Also, I have just remembered I lent you The Invasion - have you by any chance watched it yet? Don't worry if not; this is partly my way of reminding both of us that you have it, so that I don't forget and wonder where it is in two years!)