What are the all-time best vids for pimping a particular fandom?

Depends on the level of knowledge of the pimp-ee, I guess...

For total newbies, the vids which usually provoke a "I need to know what that is!!!" reaction are usually incredibly intense, with slick editing, vibrant colors, and just enough narrative structure to hook the viewer. Comedy can also work, so long as it's funny out of the show's context.

As for specifics... well, I'm at work, and thus away from all my resources. May chime in later.

What vid would you use to pimp Farscape?

Where's Consuela? I think she's seen more Farscape vids than I have...

Vonnie beat me to it -- Tazey's Right Here, Right Now, which I can watch over and over and over again.

Birgit's Adiemus is also lovely, and much with the pretty. I also hooked a few people with my pal Fi's Lovers in a Dangerous Time, but she hasn't uploaded it anywhere, because someone else made a vid using the same song.

Laura Shapiro and Morgandawn's "Wonder of Birds" is a marvelous pimping vid for Due South: it's pretty, the music's great, and you really don't need to know the source to get the joy.

As for Danvers' vid, I liked it well enough, but Vonnie's right about the disconnect between how I see that slash pairing and the tone of the vid. I also thought it was too long and too slow for a show with that much action: she had to use a lot of slow-mo. Or chose to; either way, it didn't make me swoon.

Still, as Shrift points out (or was it Dana? I'm too lazy to go upthread to look), there's a shortage of vids in that fandom at all, much less good ones.

I liked it well enough, but Vonnie's right about the disconnect between how I see that slash pairing and the tone of the vid.

OK, whew. I was feeling kind of freakish in being the only one who didn't love the vid to death, especially since Des and Otter and Sal seem to all love it so much, and I usually respect their tastes. It struck me as too technically simple--and I'm not talking about fancy dissolves and special effects and color filters and so forth. It's the kind of frames she chose--like, one "reaction" face shot after another, all looking terribly angsty, unwarrantedly so IMO. I mean, at least Jack and Daniel had a lot of moments between them over which they can angst prettily. I wanted more movements, varied composition, something. And I'm of the opinion that most relationship vids are enhanced by including the other people who are important to the couple's lives--for example, Gwyn's Wes & Lilah vid, "Valentine Heart" would have been much poorer had it not included the clips with Fred and Angel.

When it comes down to it, I think it may be simple as the fact that I may read and enjoy slash, but I am not a real slasher--I don't have the overpowering desire to look for deep, heartfelt subtext that's not at least partially supported by the canon as in, say, Angel and Lindsey. (Although, I can't imagine I'd be anything but Lukewarm to a similar sort of vid involving, say, Mulder and Scully.)

Laura and Morgandawn's "Wonder of Birds"! I friggin' love that vid. I should really watch my dS season 3 DVDs, which have been languishing on my top shelf for months. Man, I have way too many shows.

Vonnie beat me to it -- Tazey's Right Here, Right Now, which I can watch over and over and over again.

Huh. I adore that vid beyond the telling of it, but it strikes me as the kind of thing that is going to be tough for someone unfamiliar with the canon to get. I've never tried it on someone who doesn't know Farscape, though; I suppose it's entirely possible that it would succeed based on the Pretty.

Oh, and another pimping vid: Seah and Margie's "Haunted," for Odyssey 5.

strikes me as the kind of thing that is going to be tough for someone unfamiliar with the canon to get.

Actually, that's what Laura said when I showed it to her -- that it was a celebration of the show, but more for those already into the show.

You and she may be right, but I still love it to death.

For Farscape there's a vid out there using "High and Dry" which is in no way shippy but gives a good overall feel for Farscape. Helpfully, I can't remember who it's by.

Did we know that the screenwriter for Million Dollar Baby wrote for Due South?

From Tim Goodman's column:

If he didn't know it before, Paul Haggis learned Sunday night at the Academy Awards that writing for Hollywood is a strange business. In 1996 he wrote a TV series, "EZ Streets," that was nothing short of brilliant, and almost nobody saw it. Then his "Million Dollar Baby" -- an extremely flawed story -- dominated the Oscars.

No doubt Haggis is proud of "Million Dollar Baby," even though, as his first Oscar-nominated effort, it lost in the adapted screenplay category to a far better script, "Sideways." But the truth is, Haggis might be a better television writer -- where he's received two Emmys for his work on "thirtysomething," two Gemini Awards from his native Canada for the series "Due South," and even a Humanitas Prize for "thirtysomething."

What was Million Dollar Baby adapted from?

From a collection of short stories, Sean.