hth | gratuituous vid rec

Gratuitous because if you're the sort of person who reads my journal, you're likely to be the sort of person who reads all the other journals where this has been recced. Still and all, given how many times I've bitched and whined because there aren't enough Ronon vids in general and Ronon/John vids in particular, I just can't let it pass that

POSSIBLY THE BEST VID EVER VIDDED IN ANY FANDOM BY ANYONE EVER HAS RECENTLY BEEN POSTED AND IT IS RONON/JOHN!

The second half of it is pretty much the vid I was imagining in my wildest fannish dreams, with all of the sweetness and humor and dorkiness and compatibility at work and at play that has always *defined* slash for me -- that is what slashy means, in my head -- and that John and Ronon have always had coming out their ears. (Seriously, even if you don't watch SGA -- if you've, I dunno, followed me here from old fandoms or whatever, I think anyone with the slightest slashy bent would enjoy this vid.)

But what's particularly impressive about "Red Moon" is the way that the *first* half juxtaposes their separate arcs and makes them look even more similar than I realized they were -- the litany of dead friends and lost wars. She finds shots where even their posture is similar -- there's one cut where each of them grabs to catch a comrade who's about to topple off his feet that just says so much about the kind of leaders they both are. There's also a brilliant move around the 1:30 mark where several shots of them passing by each other are cut quickly together, and it gives the impression of them circling each other -- like exactly what they are in the narrative of this vid (also, my brain): two wary, isolated people who are seeing something that makes them wonder if it's worth the risk again.

I couldn't possibly do it justice. It's beautiful on every level: in the artistry of its construction, in the interface with the song, and in the vidder's aesthetic eye for what images really hit at the center of who the characters are -- their pain, their resilient love of life, and their affection for each other.