So...that went well!

[icmezzo_archive]

I honestly went to bed the first night after I posted that voice meme thinking I'd be lucky if 2-3 friends participated because they felt bad for me. I had no idea it would take off as it did and it seems impossible to express how overjoyed I've been seeing how it expanded from a few brave friends to a huge community of amazing, amazing people. Some participants were entirely new to me, others are good friends from another continent, and still others are authors or artists whose work I've cherished for years. And every single person had something amazing to say.

Truly, the recordings are so special. I've just today caught up with them all and every person had something unique to share, some lovely thought or personal belief or hilarious commentary--not to mention a beautiful accent to wrap around their meme like a little bow. Every single one made me smile or laugh or delighted me in some way. There are 50 or more now...and every single one is different and cool and special. (I was pretty much squeaking and bouncing whenever someone new posted one! :D )

If you hadn't had a chance to listen, I urge you to do so. There are a lot now, so I've created an index to help you navigate them. I would encourage you to listen to your friends and those fav authors and artists you adore, of course. But I would also encourage you to listen to a handful from people you've never interacted with before and maybe a few from the end of the meme, because there are amazing submissions throughout. I have no doubt others will post additional recordings in the coming days. (If you haven't but are tempted, I urge you to do so!)

I did come away with a few takeaways, which I thought I'd share with you now that I've finally caught up on listening to all of the various recordings.

1. No two people pronounce Accio the same way. Hermione needs to give us some lessons, I think.


2. Approximately 95% of the people who participated dislike their recording and were incredibly nervous to post. (A regular podficcer or two seems to be the exception here.) Yet to me every one of the recordings was beautiful and amazing and I think you're very brave for taking the chance to do this. We're all human and we all babble and our voices shake at times and we aren't as articulate as we'd like--but it doesn't matter. If we were robots, these memes wouldn't be nearly as fantastic. Part of the magic is that we hear and experience each other's humanity.


3. The impromptu visits, chirps, and meows recorded from various cats, birds, friends, siblings, and one insistent microwave were kind of hilarious and made me laugh every time.


4. We have recordings from ALL OVER THE WORLD...all continents but Antarctica, if I'm not mistaken. Special kudos to all of the non-native English speakers who posted memes. I know it took a little something extra from you and I think you're amazing for doing it.


5. Special thanks to those who had to go out of their way to find microphones or internet connections or time and space to record and post. I know some of you were borrowing equipment, hiding in bathrooms, using your lunch break, or trying for days to upload. You are AMAZING. Thank you.


6. The HP-themed jokes were perfection. As were the non-English tongue twisters. You all have extremely talented tongues, in my opinion. ;)


7. As best as I can tell through LJ stats, approximately 170 different people visited the meme web page. Approximately 1/3 recorded memes of their own, which is a pretty fantastic participation rate. Well done! Many others left comments. Speaking of comments, I think we're almost at 800 of those. Phenomenal.


8. FINALLY...what I think is most special about this whole thing is how amazingly supportive everyone is in the comments. The number of people who listened to all or many of them and took the time to leave such thoughtful comments--I find it difficult to articulate how amazing it is. Perhaps it's because I had all the comments flowing through my email inbox over the last few days, and as such got a chance to skim or glance at so many of them, but so many people connected and learned new things about each other and fangirled over shared loves and interests and recs and everything else. People made new friends and found new stories and art to embrace. Others found people in their area to connect with or people who ship their ships or speak their native languages. The love everyone expressed for fandom and each other was completely beautiful and overwhelming.

Whew. It's been a crazy week and I didn't even get close to an appropriate amount of sleep, but I THANK YOU from the bottom of my fandom-loving heart for making it that way. Well done. It would be a very sad meme without you. ;) And seriously--listen to some more of these when you have a chance and leave a nice little comment if you can. And of course, feel free to post a recording if you'd still like to do so. <3

THANK YOU <3333
-ICM

Comments

[birdsofshore]

♥
I think we'll all remember this one - such a super idea and really fostered a lovely feeling of community. Thank you so much for dreaming it up, and for hosting, too.

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

<3 <3 <3

[capitu]

This was incredibly fun. I know tons of my friends were nervous, hell, I was nervous, but, you see, I got this feeling, that no one was out to judge how I sounded or what silly thing I said, made it so much fun and friendly. I'm meming this forever. I still have several to listen, will do that all through the weekend, but this was brilliant idea. Thank you, my lovely friend, for going ahead and doing this. <3

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

That's exactly right. No one was judging at all. That's part of why it became such a wonderful celebration of fandom and HP. *mwah*

[zeitgeistic.livejournal.com]

I liked that meme. It was a good idea!

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

:D Thanks! I knew they went around other fandoms. Seemed we ought to have one too!

[iwao.livejournal.com]

This was a fantstic idea, bebé. Even though I hated mine with a vengeance (I know, I know) I have absolutely ADORED getting to hear- probably for this once in my life only- so many wonderful people. They won't be just names ever again, but people, real and unique. So many surprises, so many people who didn't sound anything like I imagined! And even more, the ones that did! =D Thank you, beautiful. You did something remarkable here.

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree. Each person is real and unique--that part of it was so special to me. It brought people to life and reminded us of the people behind the screen names.

[gracerene]

Definitely so much fun! I need to go back and check out some of the newer recordings! :)

[iwao.livejournal.com]

And I really need to stop thinking of you as Grace Serene. But I can't! Lolol! *hugs*

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Yes! As you have time! There are some great ones that have been added in the last couple of days. :)

[ashindk.livejournal.com]

Thank you for posting the meme. It's crazy, but I feel like I know everyone a bit better now that I've heard their voices. It really helped me feel closer to all of you.

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Isn't it amazing? I love how that worked out.

I knew other fandoms had done it and thought we'd better do one too. But I never imagined it would turn out as it did.

[sylvaticginger.livejournal.com]

This was a great experience for me, and thank you so much! I'm fairly new here and gained many new friends! <3

I haven't listened to all recordings yet but it's on my to do list! And I'm considering doing a post and recording about/with curses and naughty words in my own language!

I imagine what a tsunami of e-mail you have been exposed to! It feels great to have been part of this and for me there is an LJ before and another after your AMAZING HP VOICE MEME!

\o/

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Wonderful. I also connected with many new people, which is always fantastic. I'm delighted it made such a difference for you. <3

[isinuyasha.livejournal.com]

It was so much fun and such a great idea! And people are amazing and nice and wonderful! Everyday there's something that makes me love fandom/my flist/you guys more haha :D

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Yes, I knew other fandoms had done something similar in the past and I decided it was our turn! I'm glad it took off like it did!

[oakstone730.livejournal.com]

Ahem:

"But I'm trying to judge interest before setting it up and watching if flop miserably."

Nearly 800 comments later, I'm pretty sure it didn't flop around like a freshly caught bass on a Maine dock :)

Brilliant idea - and boy was I unsure about doing it - but it was just amazing hearing everyone speaking!

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

LOL. No fair quoting my tweets back to me! I'm glad you and eidheann_writes thought it would be interesting and wanted to play along. Otherwise, I'm quite certain I wouldn't have moved forward.

*tacklesmooshes you for the Maine references*

[writcraft]

Thank you so much for running this! I think it was a wonderful idea, and due to work I have been a bit afk so I haven't commented much/recorded myself but I have tried to listen and it's been wonderful. Now I need to catch up on my commenting.

A brilliant idea, thanks again.

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Oh, gosh, yes, I know. Sometimes RL is all that you can handle. This sort of thing will wait patiently in the background until you have time for it. Would love to hear from you if you ever have the urge, and I'm sure people will love to hear your comments as you have time to listen. :)

[drarryxlover.livejournal.com]

Thank you for the meme! It was excellent fun. I've gotten behind and haven't listened in a while. I need to fix that!

It's quite an accomplishment to have recordings from all continents!

I second the non-English native speakers because they're so much more brave than those of us who have English as a first language. But their accents are amazingly awesome! And yes! The native tongue twisters are something else.

I love that no-one has said the same thing about Harry/Draco. Everybody has a different reason for loving them and it was my favourite questions to hear the answers to because no two people have said the same thing and it's made me re-think some ideas I had about them.

I'm also very glad to have made a few new friends out of this meme! So thanks for that too :)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

You're welcome. I agree about all of these things!

They'll be there to listen to as you have time. I hope you get to enjoy some more of them. They're just amazing, and every single one is special. Enjoy!

[notearchiver.livejournal.com]

I thoroughly enjoyed participating in the meme, so thank you for hosting! Listening to everyone else was enlightening (and at times, funny).

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! It was absolutely my pleasure. And yes, there were some great laughs embedded therein!

[hazel-wand.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for coming up with the idea. It was so lovely to hear people just talk - it's such a different view you get of people's personalities. I had a wonderful evening of procrastination listening to them. Thanks for letting your journal get bombarded by us all!

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

You're welcome! I knew other fandoms had done it in the past and I figured it was our turn! I'm so glad it took off as it did. :)

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Heya! You know what I think helped? Putting up the technology that allows you to post vocal recordings so easily. I've seen voice memes once or twice, but this was the most user-friendly. And good questions! :)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Excellent! I tried to make it easy. Vocaroo seemed pretty perfect for our needs. And microphones are increasingly ubiquitous, which helps.

As for the questions--a lot of thought went into those actually. I wanted to go for a mix of easy and more complex, fun and light-hearted but not completely goofy. Nor did I want to include a lot of personal info people might not feel comfortable sharing. I also tried to avoid having it aimed solely at authors or certain ships for example. So, the questions may have seemed random and ridiculous, but they were actually completely intentional. I'm glad that they worked out pretty well in the end. :)

[dysonrules.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for a great idea, bebe! It seemed like a silly, fun thing and ended up being really touching and amazing. I first listened to the people I know and miss terribly and it was so good to hear their voices again. *epic sadface* <3<3<3<3<3 And then checking out everyone else was so much fun. I haven't listened to them all but I definitely plan to.

Super massive levels of love to you. :3
(My daughter is planning to do it on one of her internet groups, so you may have started something.)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Massive love right back atcha. I hope your daughter gives it a try!

[drarryisgreen]

Awesome people are awesome, and I was too late and too shy to record mine then delete it.

There was an ambulance in the background when I recorded mine. HAHA

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

You recorded abd deleted? Oh no! You'll just have to record again. :) you can definitely still add yours. I know we would all love to hear from you. Hope you give it a try!

[drarryisgreen]

Oh...I meant "lame" not "late"

HAHA...

<3

[captainraychill.livejournal.com]

I agree with all! What a wonderful idea - congrats on a job well done to you. :)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Oh gosh. You guys made it work, not me! But thank you. :)

[sophie-french.livejournal.com]

That was absolutely amazing! I still have some catching up to do, but that was a great idea!
And you're right, people were all incredibly supportive!

I'm so in love with this fandom and you, people! ♥

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Yes. There are a lot of fandom feels going on right now. It's lovely. Who knew that would be the result of a silly meme? It's wonderful.

[incandescent.livejournal.com]

This was a wonderful idea! I feel terrible that I was too overwhelmed and stressed to find the time to join in. Thank you for hosting it! :)

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Oh goodness. I'm sorry that you're overwhelmed and stressed. The good thing is the post isn't going anywhere, so if you want to revisit it a week, month, or six months from now, it will still be here for you. Take care of you first! xoxo

[gothrockrulz.livejournal.com]

Awwwww, it's adorable how much fun a lot of people have had. Thanks for posting this meme in the first place!

[icmezzo.livejournal.com]

Yes. I agree. And you're welcome; it was truly my pleasure.