The Plant
Okay, so the bosspeople are in Austin for the rest of the week. This signifies a few things. First, that I didn't get into the office until 9:25 this morning (whoops), and I was still the first arrival by a good fifteen minutes. Second, that I have the following work left for the next three days: compose five 1/2-page catalogue blurbs for paperbacks of titles that we have previously published in hardback. This means, retype the hardback blurbs but pare off a couple sentences for length. Third, I am going to try to finish a story I've been working on. However, as I get easily distracted when I'm trying to be creative, I will very likely continue to clog your friends pages as I did yesterday.
Yip.
Since I am tangentially involved in this ridiculous CSI spoiler/fandom uproar, I have been wondering what other people think of fandoms. Generally, I try to keep my own participation on the strictly lurker level because a) I shun social involvement, and b) people think I'm weird enough as it is without knowing the true depths of my television proclivities.* However, I would like to know where ya'll draw the line.
-Do you visit fandom sites for TV shows/movies/books (probably Harry Potter, but I'm sure there are others)?
-If so, do you participate?
-If so, what is the nature of your participation? Is it "rational"--ie, "I don't think TPTB would do that because it's bad storytelling"--or "fangirl"**--ie, "OMGOMGOMG!!! If they do that I will just DIE!!!"?
-What about fanart (visual)? Do you download/create banners, music videos, screencaps, etc.?
-What about fanfic? Do you read it? Write it? What is the line you won't cross?
-What are your general thoughts on fandoms? Do you look down on them? Do you feel defensive about your involvement/identification with any particular group? Do you think they're silly? Do you call them silly but then spend too much of your free time caring about them?
-Yes. Currently, I only really hang out at YTDAW. I used to lurk TWoP's threads a lot, but then they dumped their CSI recaps, and that hurt my feelings. After I finally catch up with BSG, I will probably meander back that way to read their spoilers threads. Before CSI, I did The X-Files (proud to say I was in on the ground floor of that one, not one of those Sunday-night fans), Trek, B5, and Farscape.
-Rarely. I've been a YTDAW member for going on two years, and I have never posted. I specifically gave myself the most ridiculous screenname I could think of just to deter myself from posting. This is because when I get involved in that shit it has a tendency to take over my brain. As alluded to above, I used to be heavily involved in the X-Philes community. I did the whole chatroom/message board thing from the time my dad got internet access (when I was about fourteen) until the time the show went sour (when I was about nineteen). I also participated sparingly in the Trekker/ie and Scaper communities. I have to say, I found the Scapers to be by far the most welcoming after, of course, the original Philes. It must have been all the leather.
-When I did participate, I tended more toward the rational end of the spectrum, though I will admit getting caught up in the hysteria occasionally (ex. the first two times Mulder died).
-I have dabbled in these at various points, viewing not creating. I don't have the madskilz or the madpatience necessary to put anything together. If you took a look at my My Pictures folder at home, you would find things neatly arranged by show. I currently have my screensaver set to rotate through the entire cast of the Star Trek franchise, including Gene Roddenberry. I've shied away from the music videos since I was a teenager, though, because they all seem to be set to Lillith Fair tunes. Bleh.
-I don't write it. I just ... I can't go there. It's too easy as a writer to get into that and never come back. And I don't like using other people's characters unless there is a damn good reason. I haven't read any for any show since I started college. I like to tell myself it's because I've grown as a writer and a reader, and the literary quality just isn't there. But that's a total lie. It was originally because I prefer to read things hardcopy, and I didn't want my dormmates finding my stash--the teenage boy equivalent of having your mom find your porn collection. It's fucking embarrassing. Now, I've been away from it so long, that I don't really want to get back into it. However, I still have, secreted in my room in Ohio, my stash from high school. I will reread those from time to time. The writers I read back then were actually damn good if the snobby part of your brain can look past the subject matter.
Anyway, when I did read, I would peruse the spectrum, though I vastly preferred specific ships as, I think, most readers do. Slash never did it for me, but some of that shit could be hi-larious, so it was worth it on that level. I found my own personal line not to cross when I was waiting to get into the first Harry Potter movie. There were some kids (and by that I mean "NYU students") camped out for the midnight show talking about the different HP fics they read, and they got onto the subject of Harry/Ron or Harry/Draco slash and Ron/Hermione hardcore. For characters who were, at that point, ten-eleven years old. Ugh. Pedophilia is pedophilia even if the kids are fictional, folks.
-My general thoughts are that fandoms rock, as long as the participants don't take them too seriously. (Like replacing their actual lives with the lives of the characters they love kind of seriously.) I am a proud Trekker/ie. We are the OG, even if that ball started rolling fifteen years before I was born. I am also a proud X-Phile. I don't really care what people think about the fact that I can talk in-depth ep analysis with them even though the show's been off the air for five years.
That said, I generally don't bring this stuff up unless I know I'm with like-minded folk. It's not worth the hassle of having to defend my hobby to people who do the mental equation TV geek=social pariah/total loser.
I don't even know that anybody on my friends list would fall into these categories--or would admit to it if they did. I'm used to being kind of the "freak" about this. I'm going to leave this post public, though, in case I have any lurkers I don't know about. (Hey, it's happened once or twice.) If you're out there, and this is your thing, let me know. I've been writing Seven ridiculous amounts of gmails about this, and I know she can't possibly care that much.
__________
*"Proclivity," by the way, is a great word.
**This term, as with "throw like a girl," is one where I paradoxically, perhaps hypocritcally, accept the tacit sexism. I have never seen "fanboy" used in the same way.
Yip.
Since I am tangentially involved in this ridiculous CSI spoiler/fandom uproar, I have been wondering what other people think of fandoms. Generally, I try to keep my own participation on the strictly lurker level because a) I shun social involvement, and b) people think I'm weird enough as it is without knowing the true depths of my television proclivities.* However, I would like to know where ya'll draw the line.
-Do you visit fandom sites for TV shows/movies/books (probably Harry Potter, but I'm sure there are others)?
-If so, do you participate?
-If so, what is the nature of your participation? Is it "rational"--ie, "I don't think TPTB would do that because it's bad storytelling"--or "fangirl"**--ie, "OMGOMGOMG!!! If they do that I will just DIE!!!"?
-What about fanart (visual)? Do you download/create banners, music videos, screencaps, etc.?
-What about fanfic? Do you read it? Write it? What is the line you won't cross?
-What are your general thoughts on fandoms? Do you look down on them? Do you feel defensive about your involvement/identification with any particular group? Do you think they're silly? Do you call them silly but then spend too much of your free time caring about them?
-Yes. Currently, I only really hang out at YTDAW. I used to lurk TWoP's threads a lot, but then they dumped their CSI recaps, and that hurt my feelings. After I finally catch up with BSG, I will probably meander back that way to read their spoilers threads. Before CSI, I did The X-Files (proud to say I was in on the ground floor of that one, not one of those Sunday-night fans), Trek, B5, and Farscape.
-Rarely. I've been a YTDAW member for going on two years, and I have never posted. I specifically gave myself the most ridiculous screenname I could think of just to deter myself from posting. This is because when I get involved in that shit it has a tendency to take over my brain. As alluded to above, I used to be heavily involved in the X-Philes community. I did the whole chatroom/message board thing from the time my dad got internet access (when I was about fourteen) until the time the show went sour (when I was about nineteen). I also participated sparingly in the Trekker/ie and Scaper communities. I have to say, I found the Scapers to be by far the most welcoming after, of course, the original Philes. It must have been all the leather.
-When I did participate, I tended more toward the rational end of the spectrum, though I will admit getting caught up in the hysteria occasionally (ex. the first two times Mulder died).
-I have dabbled in these at various points, viewing not creating. I don't have the madskilz or the madpatience necessary to put anything together. If you took a look at my My Pictures folder at home, you would find things neatly arranged by show. I currently have my screensaver set to rotate through the entire cast of the Star Trek franchise, including Gene Roddenberry. I've shied away from the music videos since I was a teenager, though, because they all seem to be set to Lillith Fair tunes. Bleh.
-I don't write it. I just ... I can't go there. It's too easy as a writer to get into that and never come back. And I don't like using other people's characters unless there is a damn good reason. I haven't read any for any show since I started college. I like to tell myself it's because I've grown as a writer and a reader, and the literary quality just isn't there. But that's a total lie. It was originally because I prefer to read things hardcopy, and I didn't want my dormmates finding my stash--the teenage boy equivalent of having your mom find your porn collection. It's fucking embarrassing. Now, I've been away from it so long, that I don't really want to get back into it. However, I still have, secreted in my room in Ohio, my stash from high school. I will reread those from time to time. The writers I read back then were actually damn good if the snobby part of your brain can look past the subject matter.
Anyway, when I did read, I would peruse the spectrum, though I vastly preferred specific ships as, I think, most readers do. Slash never did it for me, but some of that shit could be hi-larious, so it was worth it on that level. I found my own personal line not to cross when I was waiting to get into the first Harry Potter movie. There were some kids (and by that I mean "NYU students") camped out for the midnight show talking about the different HP fics they read, and they got onto the subject of Harry/Ron or Harry/Draco slash and Ron/Hermione hardcore. For characters who were, at that point, ten-eleven years old. Ugh. Pedophilia is pedophilia even if the kids are fictional, folks.
-My general thoughts are that fandoms rock, as long as the participants don't take them too seriously. (Like replacing their actual lives with the lives of the characters they love kind of seriously.) I am a proud Trekker/ie. We are the OG, even if that ball started rolling fifteen years before I was born. I am also a proud X-Phile. I don't really care what people think about the fact that I can talk in-depth ep analysis with them even though the show's been off the air for five years.
That said, I generally don't bring this stuff up unless I know I'm with like-minded folk. It's not worth the hassle of having to defend my hobby to people who do the mental equation TV geek=social pariah/total loser.
I don't even know that anybody on my friends list would fall into these categories--or would admit to it if they did. I'm used to being kind of the "freak" about this. I'm going to leave this post public, though, in case I have any lurkers I don't know about. (Hey, it's happened once or twice.) If you're out there, and this is your thing, let me know. I've been writing Seven ridiculous amounts of gmails about this, and I know she can't possibly care that much.
__________
*"Proclivity," by the way, is a great word.
**This term, as with "throw like a girl," is one where I paradoxically, perhaps hypocritcally, accept the tacit sexism. I have never seen "fanboy" used in the same way.