... in which poker is the sport of people who play poker
Sometimes I am vaguely freaked out by the depths of my own geekiness. I've sat up all night reading thefourthvine's recs (and I actually mean all of them) when I have an 8.30 class tomorrow for which I've not done the work. I also just made a comment to myf which included "Oooh, you can tie that to how fantasy literature as a whole is about subverting the dominant paradigm! (Like with a human also being a book.) OMGMETA!!!"
I suspect this is proof that I need sleep. Oy.
I wonder what it is, that turns seeing the cover of Neil Gaiman's new book into something I want to dance around the room for. My love of fanfic makes slightly more sense, as story is very nearly as old as humans, but most people don't see a story as something so beautiful it deserves tears of joy. And yet here I am, reading fic obsessively and wishing there were songs to celebrate the wonder that is fandom.
I mean... we in fandom get to read hundreds of thousands of beautiful words, see and participate in art and the communities that surround it, for free. I dread to think how much all the stories I've read would have cost me if I'd had to pay for them; instead, I get the benefit of knowing people who will do all this stuff for the sheer, unadulterated love of it, so much so that they don't even attempt to get any money or national prestige or whatever for it. All these brilliant, awesome, funny people all loving this art so much that they want to share it, analyse it, write fic for it... they get to add to it. They get to use their talent and enthusiasm to bring more beauty into the world, only with a whole bunch of other people around to enjoy it too. People who do brilliant, crazy things like encourage the writing of Gladstone/Disraeli slash, and ponder what Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell says about modern ideas of perception or how Firefly comments on the American Civil War. People who play around with every aspect of their art as easy as blinking, who can find that love and beauty in pretty much anything you care to name - even torturing people with David Hasselhoff.
And OK, there are fandom wars and plenty of unpleasant people and it's certainly true that fanfic isn't going to bring about world peace just yet, but right now that seems something worth wrecking my grades for.
I suspect this is proof that I need sleep. Oy.
I wonder what it is, that turns seeing the cover of Neil Gaiman's new book into something I want to dance around the room for. My love of fanfic makes slightly more sense, as story is very nearly as old as humans, but most people don't see a story as something so beautiful it deserves tears of joy. And yet here I am, reading fic obsessively and wishing there were songs to celebrate the wonder that is fandom.
I mean... we in fandom get to read hundreds of thousands of beautiful words, see and participate in art and the communities that surround it, for free. I dread to think how much all the stories I've read would have cost me if I'd had to pay for them; instead, I get the benefit of knowing people who will do all this stuff for the sheer, unadulterated love of it, so much so that they don't even attempt to get any money or national prestige or whatever for it. All these brilliant, awesome, funny people all loving this art so much that they want to share it, analyse it, write fic for it... they get to add to it. They get to use their talent and enthusiasm to bring more beauty into the world, only with a whole bunch of other people around to enjoy it too. People who do brilliant, crazy things like encourage the writing of Gladstone/Disraeli slash, and ponder what Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell says about modern ideas of perception or how Firefly comments on the American Civil War. People who play around with every aspect of their art as easy as blinking, who can find that love and beauty in pretty much anything you care to name - even torturing people with David Hasselhoff.
And OK, there are fandom wars and plenty of unpleasant people and it's certainly true that fanfic isn't going to bring about world peace just yet, but right now that seems something worth wrecking my grades for.