I don't remember the originator, but there was a maxim floating around the boards and chat room that any song, ANY SONG, could be crafted into an AMV. I know it brewed many arguments and truly bizarre creations as challenges, but I have always believed this is true. I actually believe in a stronger rule, one I like to call Lain's Law:
ANY SONG CAN BE PAIRED WITH THE ANIME SERIAL EXPERIMENTS LAIN. ANY SONG.
While I've believed this truth, I have not actually experimented to determine it's veracity. That's where I formed my idea. My dream.
I call it a Lain-off (that's a working title).
A small team of creative and extremely open-minded editors are assembled. Editor 1 chooses another editor in the group, and gives that editor a song. That editor must then offer either a deadline for their completion of an AMV using as much of that song set to Lain as they can or a pass. If they pass, that editor chooses a different editor (not Editor 1) and a song (which may be the same song, the point is that I don't believe you can pick a song that is unmeldable to Lain). No editor may choose the editor who chose them (until the final two). Any editor who passes twice is out of the competition, they could not handle the challenge. Theoretically this could last forever although I have a feeling the songs chosen will get obnoxious enough to wipe out participants quite quickly. It might not last one round.

What this isn't: Iron Chef. I think a reasonable timeframe for video completion is fine, but not crazy long. No more than a month per video? That might be too long. Also there is no source flexibility here. It's Lain. Also, I wouldn't expect people to use the full song. A two to three minute piece is sufficient, especially if the song offered is in the 20-30 minute range (Lain set to Die Walkure? Sure, the whole 5 hours....no, we are reasonable men and women here.)
The idea is not to intimidate, but to expand one's views. By limiting oneself to an anime which is mostly static scenes of people staring into empty space, you have to learn to make more with less.
Any ideas and suggestions? I am open to ridicule as well. :O I have no idea if this is a good idea or something I should have filed away.