Vidder: Keely
Musical artist: The Coral
Pairing: Various canon pairings shown, but this is a character vid
Vidder on LJ: keewick
Vidder's Web site: Unknown

Why this vid kicks ass:
I liked this vid for the great song choice. This song's got the intensity and rhythm changes suited to a character like Spike. (And I thank the vidder for turning me on to this band, because I love many of their songs.) The lyrics really work for the changes this character went through ('Cause I'm better than him and I know where I've been/And I know where I'm coming from/And I’m higher to sin, but don't we all sin/If that is the truth then the truth is grim).

The vid itself shows Spike from his days as dorky poet William through his turning, and we follow the progression of his unlife through his days with Angelus and Co. to the Sunnydale days. The vid scenes don't include his adventures on Angel, but that makes sense because Spike was in the process of becoming another being during his days in Sunnydale, and his progression from soulless demon to souled vampire was compelling to watch.

Vid: "I Remember When" by Keely

Fandom: SMALLVILLE
Pairing: N/A
Author on LJ: neonhummingbird
Author Website: seanachais

Why this must be read: It's a classic S1 story, when characters were still being fleshed out and writers were just started to play around in the SV universe.

The Chloe/Lex thing had really just started to get off the ground, and while a many shippy stories were rolling in, Reasons Unknown stuck out in my mind because, though it was truly a gen story, the hints of Lex & Chloe, Dynamic Duo are there -- romantic or otherwise.

So while I love my Chloe/Lex, I really value stories like this one because they show just how strong, and well, dynamic these two can be together. Even if there isn't a 'ship in sight.


Reasons Unknown by Perri

Fandom: ANDROMEDA
Pairing: Dylan/Tyr
Author on LJ: beccaabbott
Author Website: http://becca.slashcity.net/
Why this must be read:  My favorite pairing is one often requested but rarely written.  The increasing unlikability and unpopularity of Dylan is one reason. Another is the challenge of pairing two physically matched, strong, Alpha characters who were, if not enemies, at least competitive and deeply suspicious of each other.

In Omega, Becca Abbott proposes a strategy for Dylan to control his threatening shipmate, one rooted in the politics of Nietzschean culture. Like everything between these two, it's not easy.


( a taste )

Omega

Vidder: JMTorres
Musical artist: Paul Simon
Pairing: Rhade/Beka; focus on Gaheris Rhade
Vidder on LJ: jmtorres
Vidder's website: The Fannish Things of JMTorres
Why this vid kicks ass: Andromeda vids are few, more's the pity. Such interesting characters: so much pretty, so many myths, so much canon to subvert...

Rhade, in his several aspects, was called the true superior man of the series by the show's writers. As the super-man he's featured in another of Jul's vids, "Kryptonite." Here, she shows him in the alternate reality/original reality of The Unconquerable Man episode, pondering his choices in exile.

Fandom: Stargate: SG1
Pairing: Sam/Jack/Daniel
Author on LJ: surrealphantast
Author Website: Mind-Rot.net
Why this must be read:

Jennghis Kahn is pretty much the master of the SG1 OT3 and this is one of her best. She takes what I feel to be a very realistic stance in this fic about how Sam is the key to the sexual aspect of the threesome, that Jack and Daniel are not entirely comfortable with each other sexually. Rather than leave out the complications of the dynamics between Sam, Jack and Daniel in order to get to the hot sex, Jennghis Kahn elaborates on the nuances of each relationship. And gets the hot sex in too. It's a litle dark in places but angst, love and a little anger. Definitely one of my favourites.

Drifting Back to Life

Vidder: Nicky
Musical artist: Placebo
Pairing: Simon/River
Vidder on LJ: obsessive24
Vidder's website: http://obsessive24.net
Why this vid kicks ass:

I'm crap at talking about vids, and when I recced this on my LJ, it was basically one long flail about how awesome it was, and it really is awesome (OMG SIMON/RIVER *flail*), but I'll try to do better here.

What I really like about this vid is the way it shows exactly how far Simon is willing to go -- how far he does go -- for River, and how she will do the same for him. It's beautifully put together, and it incorporates text and photographs in way that helps tell Simon and River's story -- the letters and photographs, as well as the text of the quotes that are so integral to their characterization and relationship ("You gave up everything to find me, and you found me broken." "Everything I have is right here.") give it an interesting visual texture that makes it feel like a real document of their relationship, like flipping through a scrapbook of letters and photographs they've saved to hold onto each during their separation, and while Simon tries to figure out how to put River back together again.

The vid focuses almost completely on Simon and River, much as they are often so wholly focused on each other, to the exclusion of everyone else. Plus, the song really works for me, because everything Simon does for River is done for love of her, and it drives him far and hard, to things he was never meant to face or have to do, but he does face and do them for her.

Post Blue by obsessive24

*

If you enjoy the vid, please let the vidder know!

*

Vidder: Laura Kaye
Musical artist: Lifehouse
Pairing: Fraser/Kowalski
Vidder on LJ: laurakaye
Vidder's website: Oblique Stroke
Why this vid kicks ass:

Fraser doesn't have much luck with relationships. People are criminal, married or dead. This vid bounces around the Fraser/RayK relationship as it develops over the seaeson, and feels very much 'told' from Fraser's POV. The use of clips from Victoria's Secret/Letting Go helps set the slighlty melancholy tone of the early part of the vid. This only contrasts with the brighter, happier and more actiony turn that the vid takes on its way to a happy ending.

The choice of clips for repeated lines really works, and the timing of some of the clips is great. But mostly it made me want to hug Fraser at the beginning, and left me with a smile at the end. So, go, download, watch and enjoy.

Hanging by a moment