Vidder: here's luck
Musical artist: Tegan And Sara
Pairing: Buffy/Faith
Vidder on LJ: heres_luck
Vidder's website: Paper Cup
Why this vid kicks ass:

I often discover musical artists because I've seen an amazing vid using one of their songs. I'm ashamed to say that even though I share a hometown with them, I never knew much or cared about Tegan and Sara--until heres_luck opened my eyes with this vid.

Superstar is very much a Faith character piece; it embodies so much about her pain and her struggle, and especially--and most importantly--her desire for Buffy's approval. Faith believes that she's destined to be special, and that's what drives her motto "want, take, have". She's been given so much power that she thinks she has a right to it, but she's never learned control. She wants to be a superstar, but instead she's reduced to desperation. heres_luck captures all these emotions beautifully with the intercutting and the recurring images, as well as the oh-so-appropriate lyrics of "Superstar".

Furthermore--and a treat for me, because I'm the type who loves reading about the process--heres_luck has written a special-features commentary on the vid's structure and thematics and its motion and timing. I think any aspiring vidder could learn a lot from heres_luck's look into the complexities of the craft.

Superstar

Vidder: Smutcutter
Musical Artist: Bon Jovi
Pairing: El Mariachi/Agent Sands
Vidder on LJ: smutcutter
Vidder's Website: Master Productions
Why this vid kicks ass: First of all, it's the perfect, violent, raucous love song for this fandom. Shot through the heart/And you're to blame . . . Bon Jovi's driving beat synchs wonderfully with gunshots and when the percussion gets very rapid - automatic fire, naturally. It has a clear POV, El Mariachi's, who is a singer/musician, after all. Just look at some lyrics from his point of view, regarding Sands:

Shot through the heart (that happens a lot in this movie)
And you're to blame (well, who is it who's to blame for almost everything in the movie?)
You give love a bad name.
I play my part (El Mariachi, the semi-willing game piece and also musician)
You play your game (again, who would that be?)
You give love a bad name.

Some things just write themselves. *g* Of course, Smutcutter doesn't let it write itself; she elevates it to a sublime level. Besides having a clear POV, the vid has a perfect mix of literal and metaphor, in a lovely constructed reality. I can't get enough of this vid.

Smutcutter asks that you please download the file and watch it from your own computer rather than streaming it off of her web site.

What Really Happened Once Upon a Time in Mexico

Fandom: DUE SOUTH
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Author on LJ: runpunkrun
Author Website: The Underground

Why this must be read:
This has the wacky charm of an episode, and I laughed repeatedly while reading. This story is hilarious, which is why everyone should read it right now. The slash is mild, hence the PG rating.

Gun, With Occasional Kangaroo: A Love Story

Vidder: Leviathan
Musical Artist: Propellerheads
Pairing: gen
Vidder on LJ: not that I know of…
Vidder’s website: The Neural Cluster
Why this vid kicks ass:

A killer tune; a kick ass show; clean, crisp images; and a vidder who is (though she may deny it) a master of her art. What’s not to love?

Except for two instances – beginning and end – for which Leviathan kept the spoken dialogue for an even greater impact, this is a mostly instrumental piece that focuses on the Moyans and how they deal out revenge, sometimes on each other, but usually against their enemies, which are legion. From Aeryn to Zhaan, each of our friends has gotten a little something back from someone who wronged them and much of this is portrayed in this vid in a way that will make you cheer. Even Moya gets hers (and I love anything, fic or vid, that has a little focus on Moya).

Spoilers for all of Farscape, including Peacekeeper Wars.

Spybreak

If you find this vid as kick ass as I do, please leave Leviathan a little love. :)

Fandom: NSYNC POP!SLASH 
Pairing:  Justin Timberlake/ Joey Fatone
Author on LJ: She changed her name and left the fandom so I'm not gonna link to her new one out of respect for her wishes.
Author Website: And They Called It Puppy Love
Why this must be read: This begins one of the funniest and most endearing of the Pop!Slash stories. It's one of my personal favorites and started the phrase, 'Juppy'.
 
The morning that Justin turned into a dog, he woke up in a hotel bed that seemed more expansive than usual.

Vidder: Speranza and shalott
Musical artist: The Beatles
Pairing: None
Vidder on LJ: cesperanza and astolat
Vidder's website: http://trickster.org/speranza and http://www.intimations.org/

Why this vid kicks ass:

A Day In The Life is the kind of song that most people would consider unviddable. No obvious narrative thread to follow, abrupt changes in tone, and lyrics that make visual matching difficult. Yet one look at this vid and it would be hard to imagine a more perfect match for this show.

It's a story in three parts, each corresponding with a major thematic arc on the show. The vid starts out in time with Johnny's life: a sad story about a lucky man who makes the grade--his life ends just as Johnny's old life ended in the car accident. This is followed by the "crowd of people" who he must deal with, seeking him out because of his new powers.

I'd love to turn you on...

This section ends with a long crescendo (the first of two) which is used to great advantage in simulating the intensity of vision-build up. We are then dropped suddenly into Johnny's dream life with Sarah, the lost life he can't quite let go of, and this idyll matches the jaunty lightness of the lyrics and music. My favorite bit is the hamster clip, which was very amusing paired with the panting sounds in the song. But just as the dream life is interrupted by horror on the show, so the vid transitions to Johnny's vision of the apocalyptic future. The vid ends with the final crescendo, matched perfectly with the most striking sequence in the series: the destruction of Washington DC.

A Day In The Life

Vidder: Media Cannibals (Alex, Gwyn, Sandy)
Musical artist: Oysterband
Pairing: Bodie/Doyle partnership
Vidder on LJ: mediacannibals
Vidder's website: Media Cannibals
Why this vid kicks ass: What I really like about this vid is the sense of movement. From the opening of it, the boys are running. Running in tight pants, running with guns out, running to save their lives and everyone else's. It gives a good over-all picture of the show--the franticness, the action, the adventure, the drama, the violence. The visual cuts are well-done and the song is well-chosen. It's just a nicely done vid with good pacing. A good introduction to what people can expect from the show.

Video link page: A Fire is Burning

Vidder: Shallot
Musical artist: Indigo Girls
Pairing: None
Vidder on LJ: astolat
Vidder's website: Intimations

Why this vid kicks ass:
Done for VividCcon 2003, this vid is a feast for the senses. Visually, the scenes are dramatic, centering largely on Magneto, and the visual transitions suit the changes in tempo throughout. The song is melancholy and foreboding, and the lyrics are appropriate for the sombre intensity of the X-Men 'verse:

Jump, jump, jump so high
Watch me let you down
If I stumble I will stumble
If I fall I will fall
I'm trying to hold it like rain in a river
Everything is getting bigger,
Better this won't last forever
Touch me fall

Of all the X-Men vids I've seen in the past year (and there have been some very good ones), this one resonated the most with me, and it's the one I want to watch again and again.

"Touch Me Fall" (Second vid in righthand column; Right-click and Save As in your preferred format)

Vidders: Laura Shapiro and Morgan Dawn
Musical artist: Innocence Mission
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Vidders on LJ: laurashapiro and morgandawn
Vidders' websites: The Vanity Project and Morgan Dawn's Web Page

Why this vid kicks ass:
This is my happy endings fandom, and this vid captures that feeling perfectly. The song is all about hope and being free one day--to me, that's Ray and Fraser, who've had such pain in life, but keep going no matter what. I'm not a vidder, so I can't comment on the technical aspects using the proper language, but the scene changes have a vitality that keeps the visuals from lagging behind the song, which has a lightness as well as urgency.

My overall emotional response: I love the scenes showing the partnership of Ray and Fraser in action, and the entire time I watch this, there's a feeling of joy right in the middle of my chest.

In case you are interested, here's the commentary of one of the vidders.

This link will take you to a page with instructions for getting the password to Laura's vids.
Or you can go to Morgan Dawn's site and follow the directions for requesting the password.

( Lyrics to Wonder of Birds )