I'm sure a lot of you have seen this vid, but I just stumbled across it last week and upon finally finding a place to download it, I've rewatched it a few times and the sheer emotion it calls up in me is astounding.

Us, by lim, is a multifandom vid - but it's more than that. It's a vid about fandom. It's a vid about how we, as fans, interact with the source material, change it, mold it, and create something new - maybe unrecognizable in some people's eyes, but something that is ours, regardless of copyright. With so much discussion as of late of taste and character and propriety in fandom this vid seems even more poignant - why infight? We might not all be here doing the same thing, but we're all here because of the same thing. How we choose to use the source text, the canon, is only incidental.

I love fandom, truly. We are energetic, creative, resourceful, imaginative, intelligent, emotional, open-minded... we are so many things. We aren't content to be passive, we have a drive to contribute, to expand, to create.

We're living in a den of thieves
Rummaging for answers in the pages
We're living in a den of thieves
And it's contagious
And it's contagious
And it's contagious
And it's contagious

Lyrics from the song used in the vid, Us, by Regina Spektor. It couldn't be more perfect. There's some further discussion of the vid that I found interesting at in medias res.

But mostly? This vid reminds me why I'm here.

Why I have to pick up my pen and get back to writing.