The vidding process consisted of wild swings from cynical irony to patriotic WAFFs.

[serrico]

I know I'm posting a little early for all the Canadian timezones, but, well. I'm awake. I'm awake, and this is DONE. Therefore: VID.

Dance to Yesterday
Source: Heritage Minutes
Music: Hawksley Workman, 'We Dance to Yesterday'
Vid: Jayne L. / serrico
Content Note: fast cuts, brief blood/gore in medical settings.
Link: dl at Mediafire
Streaming: YouTube

The medium is the message. (C'eci n'est pas une Heritage Minute.)



'WE DANCE TO YESTERDAY' by Hawksley Workman

I said baby I know we say we're feeling old
but I think that it's the wrong story we're being told
and saving up for working class dreams
stating only slightly worn themes
of decades that just recently passed us
listen to the oldies show

and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance to yesterday
and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance, and we dance to yesterday
and the songs that we hear
may be only reminiscent of romanticised times
and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance to yesterday

hey there baby I sang one of your favourite songs
at the soundcheck just before the other band came on
and somewhere between Steven Morrissey
and the mind-blowing genius of Jay-Z
I'll sit and wonder
of career blunders
and I listen to the oldies show

and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance to yesterday
and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance, and we dance to yesterday
and the songs that we hear
may be only reminiscent of romanticised times
and we dance, and we dance, and we dance,
and we dance to yesterday



1) VividCon 2014. Hotel lobby. For reasons that don't need exploring at this juncture, charloween, emef and I were telling someone about the Canadian phenomenon of Heritage Minutes. (Basically: a series of earnest little mini-movies of unvarnished jingoism that, throughout the 1990s, aired regularly during TV commercial breaks in a game attempt to get Canadians to buy into the notion that our country's history was more interesting than our fifth-grade history classes led us to believe.) Suddenly, emef's eyes lit up with what can only be described as patriotic fervour. "Someone should vid the Heritage Minutes!" she declared, and, among those of us familiar with the Minutes, much merriment ensued.

Later, as charloween played some music in our room, the lyrics of a certain Hawksley Workman song caught in my mind, and harkened me back to our earlier source of amusement. "Is this a candidate for the Heritage Minutes vid?" I asked.

It was a flippant question at the time.

Thus, as you can see, emef and charloween are directly responsible for this vid's existence. Truly, they have done their country A Service.

2) Every extant Heritage Minute is represented in this vid with at least one clip. I've even included the brand new Minute about the Winnipeg Falcons that debuted this past Remembrance Day, ie two and a half months after I bought the official Heritage Minutes DVD so I'd have the best-quality source possible for all the Minutes. THANKS, HISTORICA.

2a) Yes, the majority of this vid is made with DVD-rip source. Marvel at the VHS-archival quality.

3) Genuine thanks to charloween and emef. They not only inspired this thing, but cheered me on with it, too, and contributed incredibly useful suggestions along the way.

4) Special thanks to Michelle Audette, whose inner monologue in the 'Syrup' Minute is both eloquent and invaluable.

5) charloween and emef. Totally their fault. BLAME CANADA THEM.

Comments

[charloween]

The credits! The vid! The eloquent reaction shots! The vid! The combination of embarrassed fondness and awkward nostalgic patriotism! The way the vid is about Historica's work more than it's about history! The vid! The Bluenose! Hockey! Awful wigs! Poor Laura, always falling in the swamp!

<3

Full credit to the vidder, of course!

[serrico]

Hey, now. The wigs on Frontenac and his swordfighting agent provocateur are downright MAJESTIC.

:D

[daemonluna]

This is made of so much patriotic awesome! I'm going to be quoting all morning. "I smell burnt toast." "We have to keep our Irish names." "You know I canna read a word." Plus all the love for the Rick Mercer and other additional minutes.

[serrico]

It's amazing how many Minutes have such memorable quotes. Or maybe that's just because they were on ALL THE TIME, and the Very Dramatic Line Readings got branded into our brains. :)

Thanks!

[akamarykate]

Soooo....as a clueless USian, I have to say this explains a great deal. ;)

So much drama packed into such tiny packages!

(And you know, people down here go on about patriotism, but we really don't seem to come close to the sheer, if sometimes befuddled or even sarcastic, fondness for one's country that you all seem to possess.)

But this vid. I can see why it drove you to drink, but man, is it fun. Now I want to track some of these babies down.

[serrico]

SO MUCH DRAMA, you have no idea. The emotion in some of these things was played way more for the cheap seats than for TV.

You can watch all the Minutes at the Source link! I don't think they're geo-blocked, and I'm sure the Historica people would be thrilled to know they're finding an audience outside of bored kids in History classes around Canada. *g*

Thanks!

[kiki_miserychic]

I've never seen something so Canadian in my whole life. I love it. So many familiar faces too. Great structure.

[serrico]

Most of the Minutes were made at the height of the 47 Canadian Actors thing, so yes, they are *littered* with recognisable faces. In cheap costumes. ~Acting.~ It's part of their charm!

Thank you! :)