Some things.
1) JENSEN. Baby, I love you. (Mild s3 spoilers).
2) I've been out of town all weekend and I always feel a little bit weird about acknowledging wank that I missed just for the sake of . . . acknowledging wank that I missed. It feels a little like just wanting everyone to KNOW that I'm not out of the loop, and no one will remember or care about that but me. That said, it really bothers me when people justify bad writing in fanfic with "it's just fanfic, it's not like it's great art." That is sort of tangential to the issue at hand, I realize, but as someone who takes fandom and the writing of fanfic (perhaps too) seriously, it BOTHERS me. Fanfic is a lot of things, but being derivative in and of itself does not negate its value. Sometimes it is art, sometimes it's just a fun story, sometimes it's porn, sometimes it's some combination of the above or something else entirely. And that is true of original writing too and it's true of film and it's true of television. Writing fanfiction is different than writing original fic. It requires things that original fic doesn't. Of course, original fic requires things that fanfic doesn't. Because they really are *different.* But being different does not make fanfiction less than. I know that's an old debate and I probably have more to say - just not tonight. But wow, I was really surprised by the vehemence of my reaction to that.
3) The daily deviant thing. I missed that too, for the most part, and everyone else has said anything I could say better, but if anyone ever doubted there was still racism in fandom . . . I have a fairly sunny view of fandom most of the time, sunnier than it deserves perhaps, but there is racism in the culture at large and it's internalized and pervasive and over here in our corner we do tend to pat ourselves on the backs for being an enlightened bastion of liberalness, without being aware of the ways that racism (and hell, sexism and heterosexism - though fandom does have a more open than normal, though not unproblematic, relationship with sexuality) is unconscious in the culture itself (and, you know, in our source texts). Fandom does not operate in a cultural vacuum. The opposite. We're the most avid consumers of culture there are, and we're in tight knit community with each other. All the more reason to be hyper-aware and listen to each other. And gah. I'm including myself in that. I feel like I have such a long way to go that I'm barely comfortable bringing it up. But still, every time someone implies or seems to think that there's no racism in fandom it makes me cringe.
4) I saw a bunch of you put your names on the First Impressions meme when I was skimming my flist yesterday, but I didn't follow any links. If, for whatever reason, you're curious about what my first impression of you was, let me know you did the meme and I will go tell you. Or I will tell you here. Whatever. That is, if I can even remember. I've known some of you so long that I have NO IDEA how we even friended each other to begin with. My name is not on the First Impressions meme because my neuroses don't really allow for such things, but I'm happy to talk about *you* guys. ;)
2) I've been out of town all weekend and I always feel a little bit weird about acknowledging wank that I missed just for the sake of . . . acknowledging wank that I missed. It feels a little like just wanting everyone to KNOW that I'm not out of the loop, and no one will remember or care about that but me. That said, it really bothers me when people justify bad writing in fanfic with "it's just fanfic, it's not like it's great art." That is sort of tangential to the issue at hand, I realize, but as someone who takes fandom and the writing of fanfic (perhaps too) seriously, it BOTHERS me. Fanfic is a lot of things, but being derivative in and of itself does not negate its value. Sometimes it is art, sometimes it's just a fun story, sometimes it's porn, sometimes it's some combination of the above or something else entirely. And that is true of original writing too and it's true of film and it's true of television. Writing fanfiction is different than writing original fic. It requires things that original fic doesn't. Of course, original fic requires things that fanfic doesn't. Because they really are *different.* But being different does not make fanfiction less than. I know that's an old debate and I probably have more to say - just not tonight. But wow, I was really surprised by the vehemence of my reaction to that.
3) The daily deviant thing. I missed that too, for the most part, and everyone else has said anything I could say better, but if anyone ever doubted there was still racism in fandom . . . I have a fairly sunny view of fandom most of the time, sunnier than it deserves perhaps, but there is racism in the culture at large and it's internalized and pervasive and over here in our corner we do tend to pat ourselves on the backs for being an enlightened bastion of liberalness, without being aware of the ways that racism (and hell, sexism and heterosexism - though fandom does have a more open than normal, though not unproblematic, relationship with sexuality) is unconscious in the culture itself (and, you know, in our source texts). Fandom does not operate in a cultural vacuum. The opposite. We're the most avid consumers of culture there are, and we're in tight knit community with each other. All the more reason to be hyper-aware and listen to each other. And gah. I'm including myself in that. I feel like I have such a long way to go that I'm barely comfortable bringing it up. But still, every time someone implies or seems to think that there's no racism in fandom it makes me cringe.
4) I saw a bunch of you put your names on the First Impressions meme when I was skimming my flist yesterday, but I didn't follow any links. If, for whatever reason, you're curious about what my first impression of you was, let me know you did the meme and I will go tell you. Or I will tell you here. Whatever. That is, if I can even remember. I've known some of you so long that I have NO IDEA how we even friended each other to begin with. My name is not on the First Impressions meme because my neuroses don't really allow for such things, but I'm happy to talk about *you* guys. ;)