Journal of Mistress Kat

It’s that time again folks. The time to relax, and let the amazing power of fanvids crest over you mind and seduce you into whole new fandoms. Oh what wonders await you just a few mouse-taps away. Just click that download button and be ready fall in love…

Listen to me good now people. Every single one of these of videos is fucking brilliant. Do not continue your existence without seeing them. You owe it to the fandom. You owe it to yourself.

ZOMG Watch Mah Show! Part 2

REMEMBER TO LEAVE FEEDBACK TO THE VIDDERS!

Vid: Feeling Good
Vidder:

j_quadrifrons
Fandom: Life on Mars
Genre/pairing: Season 1 overview, Gen
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: Because it’s just so pretty. Well, it is. The video is incredibly slick and professional looking. It could be an official promo video for the show, if it wasn’t better than anything I can imagine the BBC putting together. The song is just perfect for Sam Tyler and the show in general. If I wanted to seduce people into watching Life on Mars (which, um, I do) this is the video I would show to convince them of the brilliance of the show. The video gives you a chronological overview of the first season, with excellent clip choices and editing. Do yourself a favour and download it immediately.
Download link and info: From the vidder's original LJ post.

Vid: Two Words
Vidder:

sisabet
Fandom: Angel the Series
Genre/pairing: Show overview, Gen
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: The music choice here will make you blink for all of two seconds, after which it becomes stupefyingly clear that despite all laws of the universe, the song works with the source material so amazingly well I’m half-way convinced it was written for the sole purpose of the video. The editing here is something else, giving brilliant clip-lyric matching, but never losing the beat and feel of the underlying music. Every viewing of the video, another clip opens up and I’m awed anew by the detail and talent with which it is put together. More than that, there is a distinctive tightness in my chest every time I watch this vid. It is, in a word, epic. It’s about the constant struggle, fighting even when you’ll never win, the friends you gain and lose as a consequence. If you’re familiar with the canon, you’ll most likely cry. If you’re not, you might anyway.
Download link and info: From the vidder’s original LJ post.

Vid: Right Here Right Now
Vidder: Hollywood aka

hollywoodgrrl
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Genre/pairing: Show overview, Action, Gen
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: You’re looking at the title and thinking “Fatboy Slim wtf?” – a perfectly understandable first reaction. But oh my god does it work ever. This is hands down one of my top ten SGA fanvids of all time. You need to watch this vid several times to appreciate the full brilliance of it, because guaranteed the first few times you’ll be too busy just gaping with your mouth open. I know nothing of the technical side of vidding, but that thing with repetitions? Awesome. That other thing with fast forwards and quick rewinds? Also awesome. And the fast cuts, and the clip choices, and how the editing keeps to the rhythm of the music exactly? Awesome, awesome, and awesome. The bit with the machine gun (you’ll know what I mean) probably qualifies as divine inspiration. The Wraith sequence gives me chills. And the ending? Just… I can’t even. If you only watch one SGA vid in your entire life, let it be this one. If you know nothing about the show and hate it on the principle, watch the vid anyway. It really is just that good.
Download link and info: From the vidder’s original LJ post.

Vid: Sweetest Perfection
Vidder: Hope aka

angstslashhope
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre/pairing: Season 1 overview, Gen
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: You may have noticed that instrumental pieces lend themselves well for these types of “show overview” vids. I’ve mentioned before my affection for lyrics, so for me to rec all these vids with minimum reliance on them, should tell you something already. Anyway, this video right here? I’m running out of adjectives, but ‘amazing’ comes to mind. Writing these reviews I usually split the screen so that the word file is on one side, while the vid plays on the other, so I can jot down notes while I watch. That approach simply doesn’t work for this one, because I’m always completely drawn in, barely breathing and incapable of multitasking. Never mind that I’ve seen it maybe two dozen times before. The editing and clip choices are first-grade, and doubled with the music, the video is like a runaway train, going faster and faster, and even when you know where it’s going to stop, it doesn’t make the end any less shattering.
Download link and info: From the vidder’s original LJ post.

Vid: Injection
Vidder: Fox Estacado
Fandom: The X-Files
Genre/pairing: Myth-arc overview, some Mulder/Scully moments
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: If it wasn’t for The X-Files, I wouldn’t be here, neck-deep in fannish things, reccing you these vids. This was the show that introduced me to fandom, and I haven’t looked back since. This video… I don’t think I can do it justice with words. Firstly, using dialogue in a fanvid almost never works well. Even if it does, it rarely adds anything to the experience. This video here does both, and the end result is devastating. This is epic at its best, just like the show at its best was. It captures that feel of inevitability, of destiny, when the world is burning and you can do nothing but try to outrun the flames. It was always the main strength of the show: two extraordinary ordinary people clinging to each other when everything else fell apart. I loved this show so much it hurt. Still do, thanks to vids like this.
Download link and info: From the vidder’s website.

REMEMBER TO LEAVE FEEDBACK TO THE VIDDERS!

Miss an edition? I live to serve:
Themed Vid Recs of Doom - Edition 1 (weepy angst)
Themed Vid Recs of Doom - Edition 2 (humour and crack)
Themed Vid Recs of Doom - Edition 3 (hard-hitting angst)
Themed Vid Recs of Doom - Edition 4 (sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll violence)
Themed Vid Recs of Doom - Edition 5 (show overview and recruited vids part 1)

Next edition: Would Do Him Anyway (aka five guys I would totally jump even though they're not exactly perfect)

Okay people, as promised here is the first of (hopefully) many vid rec sets to come. Thank you to everyone who gave me their opinions on what to rec. I was pleased with the spread of fandoms you wanted represented but frankly disturbed by the fact that everyone asked for angst, woe and sobbing (uh, seriously F-list? Are you quite okay? Is there perhaps something you want to talk about?).

I have two angst folders when it comes to my fanvids: One is for those heartbreakingly delicate vids that make you cry your eyes out and the other is full of hard-hitting raw angst that has you reaching for the nearest shotgun/wraith tazer/stake/sword/etc. rather than a tissue.

I’ve gone for the weep-your-heart-out kind here and have decided to do the other type later. I couldn’t quite include all the fandoms you asked for but don’t worry, they will crop up at some point. I’ve also restricted myself to five vids per set because I think that’s a maximum you can take at a time, especially considering the theme.

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REMEMBER TO LEAVE FEEDBACK TO THE VIDDERS!

Vid: How to Save a Life
Vidder: obfreak
Fandom: Stargate Atlantis
Genre/pairing: Carson character study
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: Oh Carson. I originally watched this before Sunday aired and had a wobbly bottom lip. And now that I’ve seen the episode, this video makes me cry into my pillow. One of the appeals of Beckett’s character was the fact that he wasn’t perfect; he had questionable medical ethics, made wrong decisions, and got scared. But his heart was in the right place, tied to his work and to the people around him. This video showcases Carson the doctor, and Carson the healer, in all the imperfect, broken glory, and does so with excellent editing and clip choices, leaving a smooth, professional looking finish.
Download link and info: From vidder's website here. Scroll down the page, the vid is sixth from the top.

Vid: Set the Fire to the Third Bar
Vidder: SE
Fandom: Torchwood
Genre/pairing: Jack/Ianto
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: This may be heresy to some, but Jack/Ianto doesn’t really set my heart on fire. I mean, I like the pairing well enough, but… that’s it. No great OTP passion there, no real emotional attachment. And yet. Yet. This video hit me where it hurts and it made me just ache for them both. By the time I got to the we’d share each other like an island/until exhausted close our eyelids part I was struggling to breathe. The feelings of isolation and helplessness in the face of circumstances come through clear, and the matching of clips to the lyrics is nothing sort of genius. 
Download link and info: From vidder's website: On this page

Vid: Wake Up
Vidder: sacrilicious
Fandom: Supernatural
Genre/pairing: Episode-centric, Sam/Dean according to the vidder (though not explicit and could perhaps be interpreted as intense brotherly love)
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: To my knowledge, In Your Time of Dying was an episode that left the whole SPN fandom feeling fragile and teary-eyed for weeks. I, being rather weak when it comes to spoilers, watched this before seeing the episode and promptly fell to pieces. Nothing delivers the angst quite like SPN. This video brings home just how close to losing everything that matters Sam came. Oh boys.
Download link and info: The original LJ post and d/l link here.

Vid: Cannonball
Vidder: ancastar
Fandom: The Professionals
Genre/pairing: Relationship-vid, Bodie/Doyle
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: I should probably take this opportunity to tell you that I tend to like the more literal lyric-clip interpretation in videos. This means that when the lyrics life taught me to die are matched with a scene of Doyle being shot and lyrics your weakness are accompanied by a clip of Bodie giving the most wicked come hither smile to some woman, I’m so fucking sold that it’s not even funny. That said, this is a wonderfully delicate love-video in the truest meaning of the word. The vidder has managed to capture every significant look and smile and touch between the two men. This vid requires no canon-knowledge whatsoever and you should watch this for the sheer beauty of two men in love.
Download link and info: LJ post with d/l link here about half-way through the page

Vid: Not Only Human
Vidders: killabeez and laurashapiro
Fandom: The X-Files
Genre/pairing: Scully character study, includes some Mulder/Scully moments (but really, the show was one long Mulder/Scully moment anyway)
Rambling reason why you should watch this vid: As well as being in my will-make-you-weep folder, I’d also classified this video into the folder titled “Larger Than Life” which is for vids so wide-reaching and deep that they leave you awed from the sheer scope of them. Not Only Human traces Scully’s character-arch through the seasons, tying it into the mythology of the show. Scully was many things, but she was a scientists first. And yet, one the central themes of The X-Files was how science and faith, science and supernatural, did not cancel each other out, but when brought together formed something even more powerful. In Scully it was a credo made flesh in the most literal sense possible, and the video shows the strength, fragility and dedication that made her arguably the most interesting female character in recent TV history. While the video is beautiful in its own right, knowledge of canon and X-Files mythology are required for the full impact.
Download link and info: Killa’s vids are unfortunately no longer online. Laura’s can be found here. The site is password protected but that is easy to get, just e-mail Laura according to the instructions on the page.

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*wipes brow, blows nose*

Darling F-list, you do realise that to write these recs I had to watch all these videos repeatedly, over and over again, until I was a quivering, weepy mess of broken emotions? You understand that, right? Right? *rocks back and forth whilst clutching a pillow*

So uh, you’ll get more angst later but the next set is going to be themed Humour and Crack, and all vids will come from my “The Funneh” folder, okay? This is to save my own sanity. And, by proxy, yours.