Thursday, June 26, 2008

My First YouTube: Captain Kirk's Flower

I finished my first video ever last night at 3 a.m. and uploaded it on youTube (another first):
"Don't Touch Jim's Flower"

It's 1 min., 20 sec. of pure silliness about Captain Kirk and his pet ego. I am like to die of pride.



The music is "Jazzy Bach," by Ben Charest (and Bach). It's from The Triplets of Belleville.
Thanks to Bink, who helped get me started on iMovies (and lent me the Triplets soundtrack)!

19 comments:

Rudyinparis said...

Oh, pure silliness, indeed. A perfect balm for a stressful and draining week. Seriously.

Fresca said...

I'm so glad!
Thanks for letting me know: my first movie review.

It was my first iMovie effort, so it took about 12 hours to make this one fluffy vid, but it's worth it.
I hope your week gets better, R.

Anonymous said...

Is this leading in a round about way to Sunday school? I refer to the last line where Kirk is wondering if there is any fruit on this plant. It seems suspiciously close to Luke 13:7--"I come looking for fruit". Is that what boldly going where no man has gone before really about--the search for a juicy apple, fig or pear? Or a new Eden
It gives one pause...

Big congrats on your first movie!

Anonymous said...

I knew when I left last night (8:03 pm) you would, as you said, go back to creating your YouTube video. You have proved yourself to be just as tenacious in your own way as Werner Herzog!!! Oh, Fresca, I am so excited for you....Congratulations!!

I watched twice....and of course I laughed, but I also realised it is not just "pure silliness" because it left me thinking about the significance of the piece as a whole tightly constructed metaphor.

I see worlds opening up!! Make that telephone call!!

All love,

Anonymous said...

You're like to die of pride, I'M like to die of pride right after you! Wow. This is SOOOOOO cool. Incredible what modern technology allows us to do. Can't wait to see your body of work develop.

Surely there's a Cat Movie to come....

Fresca said...

Bink: OMG, I did not know that bit of scripture (though I remember the fig tree story)!
A plan lurks in my brain to set some such scriptural quotes to Star Trek screencaps...

Barrett!!!!
You get the Gold Star for seeing meaning in this bit o' fluff.
I think meaning is like rhythm: it's hard NOT to infuse it into everything we do, even if we don't mean to.

I truly set out to make this vid just as an exercise to learn iMovie, and gave little thought to the story.
That's probably the perfect breeding ground for meaning---like cats, it likes to sneak up when you are looking the other way.

But of course I was also aware as I constructed the story that there were all sorts of very Fresca-ish things turning up--juice and joy, among other things, as well as an interest in power/control + omniverous eroticism which Kirk so lusciously and ridiculously represents.

Sister! Thanks for your words of praise! Ain't this just like when I pulled up the peony by its roots when I was three?

A cat video?
My dear, I leave that up to you.
(Though Gary 7's slinky black cat Isis appears in Star Trek. And Spock gets rather unusually physically intimate with her... Hmmm.)

Anonymous said...

I love this land you bring us into/unto! Powerful subtexts on many levels. Having just finished Mary Doria Russell's "The Sparrow" and almost finishingrereading Doctorow's "Ragtime", which is becoming a yearly pre-fourth of july literary ritual for me...the fig 'n' apple or pomegranate, pear, what have you quest in a garden somewhere/sometime resounds.
Not sure if the You're So Vain vid is yours, too. But, laughed and karaoked with it til I cried. And, funnily enough, I did karaoke for the first time in my life at a picnic last Saturday on Boom Island..what did I sing as my first selection? "You're So Vain"! Synchronicity is sweet, just like a succulent fruit of whatever color!
Stefalala

Fresca said...

Oh, God no, the "You're So Vain" is by a famous vidder--talked about in the "How to Read a Fanvid" article I link to in the previous post.
(Killa & Jonesy also did the famous NIN "Closer" ST video, which I posted a while back.)
They are the Gold Standard of this kind of thing.

But thanks for sharing your enjoyment---watch the ST "When I'm 64" too.

Speaking of fruity serrendipity, have you seen the U.S. 27-cent postage stamps?
I was shocked at how sexual they are---sliced open pink guavas displayed in all their gaping receptivity.
WTF?
Is this the "new Eden" of which Bink speaks?
If it is, I'm all for it.
(+ We need a Star Trek postage stamp.)

Anonymous said...

Gotta give the video my full attention and soon. But for now, a tag, should you be interested. And it's not the music one, promise!


Here's how it works:

1. Pick up the nearest book.

2. Open to page 123

3. Find the fifth sentence.

4. Post the next three sentences.

5. Tag five people, and acknowledge who tagged you.

Anonymous said...

Hello ILOVEYOUFCHESKA---well, dear, you've done it---a giant leap into the next phase your digital future! Amazing that you picked images from one of my favorite and most memorable ST episodes from childhood! Can you guess what I like the best? Of course it has to be the inherent knowing of the flower that 'that shirt is wrong'!!!! Indeed!

Fresca said...

Sal: you're the second person to tag me with that. I love memes, so thanks (and thanks for skipping the music one, which I'm not up for).

Maura: You get another Gold Star for mentioning the shirt!
Heh, heh, heh.

One of the pleasures of riffing on well established stories---like Star Trek or the Bible--is that people already know the backstory, as you proved.
(But too bad Kirk doesn't go scuttling around rocks in this episode, the way you duplicate so well.)

"The Apple" is one of Kirk's worst breaches of the Prime Directive--he walks into this society, says, "Your God is a sham," and blows it up.

What if an alien walked into Earth's places of worship and did the same!?!

Hmmm.
There's a question for a political philosophy class:
Would that be a good idea? Or not?
Discuss.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha. FUN!!! You are a woman of the modern age. I have no flippin' idea how to use iMovie ... love you!

Anonymous said...

Wow. Fantastic intro to a genre I didn't know. An wha superb silliness!

Anonymous said...

(uh, +d and +t)

Fresca said...

I am thrilled that other people are amused by this--thanks, RR.
(I wonder what genre it is you don't know. Fanvids? Star Trek? Staying up till 4a.m. pursuing Adorable Lunacy? Somehow I think you may be familiar with that last one.)

I thought "an wha..." was LOLcat speak...or LOLterrier!

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo said...

Baffling, but brilliant.

Looking forward to your 'making of' doc...

Jennifer said...

Pointed here by Rudyinparis, who may be a sibling relation of some sort to me but mostly is awesome. And knows what I like.

I loved this and it made me giggle. Nobody touches Jim's flower or the whole planetary system gets it! I see in comments you've already seen the (in?)famous NIN video, but I think I liked your background music better. :)

Awesome blog, by the way. I think I need to find me a terrier somewhere.

Fresca said...

M: "Baffled, but brilliant": I'll take it!

Hi, Jennifer! Welcome.
I think we met briefly at RudyinParis's nuptial dinner. (You have some funny, smart sib.)
Are you writing from Japan?
I loved the NIN vid, but would probably choose J.S. Bach for everyday listening.

If I can make someone giggle, I count that as good work, so thanks for letting me know.

Jennifer said...

Yep, posting from the Land of the Rising Sun. The Internet provides me with all my cultural fodder lately, and Star Trek fan videos are surely of the highest quality. :) And I do think we met at the wedding! My sib has excellent taste in blogs and in friends. :)