some things!
first thing!
torchwood_house is running a vid awards ceremony to coincide with the Oscars (it is called, of course, the Jacks), and you can go have a look at all vids that have been recced so far on the community and vote for your favourites in various categories. It's over here at twh_votes, and there are some very excellent works there. (Also a couple of mine, but this is not a 'go vote for me' post.)
Speaking of torchwood_house, I'll now be reccing there from time to time, which should be fun. I have started out my career with out_there's Underwear Not Required (Bra Optional), which is -- well, it's really awesome genderfuck porn, is what it is. I have a big list of fic and vids to get through, and shall work out some method of cross-pollination in due course.
---
second thing!
rivrea and sundayave gave me five things they associate with me for me to talk about. rivrea asked:
Sheffield
My adoptive city! Sheffield is delightful - it is full of big city exciting things as well as being compact and full of quirky streets with an actual personality. There are the Peaks just over the horizon, not to mention Leeds and York and Manchester all within striking distance. I have no idea if I'll stay in these parts once I've graduated, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility of coming back here later in life. Yorkshire for the win, in conclusion.
vidding
If fandom's taught me anything, it's that I'm very monkey see, monkey do about these things. 'Fanfiction, what's that? Ooh, lemme try!' And so on.
With vidding, I first really got into vids thanks to hollywoodgrrl's Doctor Who vid (Boulevard of) Broken Songs, which remains my favourite ever, really. The following few months I taught myself how to watch vids, which I often didn't do very well to begin with, but gradually I got the hang of things and started building up a collection. Thus, inevitably, I attempted to do it myself, and I've been teaching myself ever since.
I have -- good grief -- 184 fanvids saved to my computer at the moment, encompassing about twenty fandoms, and these days they're a regular backdrop when I'm writing fic. I love them for their emotional immediacy, how for a short time you can be totally immersed in whatever the vidder is trying to say - whether it's a heartbreaking tale of Jack being pregnant with the Master's love child, a celebration of a favourite character or ship, or a story filled with political rage about the victimisation of women. It's such a versatile and inherently fannish artform.
As for vidding myself, I appreciate the way it gives me a different tool to talk about things, with different possibilities and limitations than the written word. Not to mention, it plays right into the part of me that still has elaborate fantasies about what I would do if I directed music videos of my favourite songs.
femslash
In a nutshell, slash is a big part of what I like about fandom, because it's an enormously welcome change to the heteronormative environment that we're all surrounded by, and it feels like I've claiming characters and canons that I love and making them a little bit more about me. I think one of the best things about fanworks is that they all are self-indulgent to an extent, because we explore these ideas for ourselves. Femslash makes me especially happy, and there's not very much of it both in terms of on-screen subtext in most of the shows that I watch, and in fandom -- femslash_today is the smallest newsletter I follow.
My fic last year was very heavy on the boyslash over the girlslash, and I've ended up committing myself in a rather wholesale way to writing more femslash myself this year by signing up for thelittlebang and a Martha/Donna plot for tardis_bigbang. So, I shall at least be proactive rather than complaining about how no one ever writes some of the things I want to read.
Doctor Who companions
I'll tell you a secret: the Doctor is my least favourite character on Doctor Who. I like him! The Doctor is usually charming and entertaining, he has a wealth of fascinating backstory, and I'm fond of every regeneration I've seen. He just isn't the reason why I watch the show, though he is the catalyst.
I like Doctor Who so much because keeps telling one of my favourite stories, that of the ordinary person who goes on an extraordinary journey, and is better for it. Rose and Martha and Donna - I never get tired of seeing the universe through their eyes. I love Jack more than I can actually explain in a reasonable way, I am thrilled by every reappearance of Mickey and Sarah Jane - they're the people I watch the show for, and the new companions to come (that's what I most want S5 to hurry up and get here already for).
The Doctor stays fundamentally the same, in the end, but his companions are always fundamentally changed. That's the interesting part for me.
Avendya
Haha, aww! Okay, let's see. avendya and I bumped into each other through mutual friends a couple of years ago. She said 'hi', I said 'hi' back, next thing you know she's got me into the downfalls of gtalk and she's sending me Supernatural and we're running fic exchanges and she's educating me on the vastness of Doctor Who canon and I'm making her watch Merlin. She'll probably tell you I'm the bad influence here, but I assure you that's all a lie. She's completely awesome, in short, and there's a worrying possibility that I'm not actually able to manage my life without flailing at her about it from time to time.
sundayave asked:
The Marauders
My first fannish corner! Blame shoebox_project. The thing with HP canon is that there's just so much of it, most of the fandom ends up picking a couple of areas to settle in. With James and Peter and Remus and Sirius and Lily, we know just enough about them to make it interesting, and it's almost impossible to resist filling in the rest of the gaps. My first ships, the first characters I got really attached to in that possessive, fannish way, they're still my favourite part of the Harry Potter series, and I love that they were central right through to the end, even though 'The Forest Again' makes me cry every damn time. ♥
Radiohead
Radiohead weren't the only formative band I grew up listening to, but they're the one that have lasted best and continue to resonate with me now - you can probably chart the last five years of my life to an extent by looking at the songs and albums of theirs I was listening to most. I think Kid A is their best album but that Hail To The Thief is a seriously cool listening experience, and currently my favourite track of theirs is 'Videotape'.
presenting a radio show
I landed a slot on the radio when I first came to university, and now I help to run the station, which is pretty much the story of my life regarding excessive involvement in activities. Radio is seriously, seriously fun - it's laid back as far as performance-type activities go and has let me learn all sorts of exciting technological things things. Student radio is especially fun because of the almost total freedom of content - I now do a late-night mixtape show and also have a spoken word slot about technical news with a few friends where I play resident unscientific arts student and Mac enthusiast as needed.
travelling far and wide
I was very lucky to travel round a lot of the world growing up, both living in other countries and visiting them for short times, and it's left me with the idea that travelling when you can is a really positive thing to do. I have a list a mile long of places I've never seen that I'd like to go to, and also a set of old haunts I'd love to see again some day. I always find it hard to articulate quite why travel is so important to me, but I do know that my journeys to far-flung lands over the years have shaped a lot of my values. There's nothing quite like stepping off a plane and feeling the sun spread out over your skin, or standing in the middle of a busy city and know that you're surrounded by people who know far more about what's going on than you do. Everywhere's different, and somehow, sometimes, things are exactly the same.
writing
Creative writing was never something I was interested in. Then see above re. vidding - I started reading fanfic and I had to try it myself. It's taken me a long time to get even passable it, but I'm a work in progress, and I figure that the more I try the better I'll get. I find it bizarre but pretty cool how much it's changed my internal landscape, how I carry around untold stories in my head and think about ways to write them down. It's a great protection against boredom, I'll say that much, and I can't imagine going back to the point where this wasn't something I do. I don't consider myself A Writer the way I know lots of people do. I just like using words to tell stories because there's infinite possibility there.
---
eta: third thing! The Torchwood Europop band I mentioned the other day now has a tour poster and album cover, because prettyquotable is wicked awesome. Hahaha, it is amazing.
torchwood_house is running a vid awards ceremony to coincide with the Oscars (it is called, of course, the Jacks), and you can go have a look at all vids that have been recced so far on the community and vote for your favourites in various categories. It's over here at twh_votes, and there are some very excellent works there. (Also a couple of mine, but this is not a 'go vote for me' post.)
Speaking of torchwood_house, I'll now be reccing there from time to time, which should be fun. I have started out my career with out_there's Underwear Not Required (Bra Optional), which is -- well, it's really awesome genderfuck porn, is what it is. I have a big list of fic and vids to get through, and shall work out some method of cross-pollination in due course.
---
second thing!
rivrea and sundayave gave me five things they associate with me for me to talk about. rivrea asked:
Sheffield
My adoptive city! Sheffield is delightful - it is full of big city exciting things as well as being compact and full of quirky streets with an actual personality. There are the Peaks just over the horizon, not to mention Leeds and York and Manchester all within striking distance. I have no idea if I'll stay in these parts once I've graduated, but I certainly wouldn't rule out the possibility of coming back here later in life. Yorkshire for the win, in conclusion.
vidding
If fandom's taught me anything, it's that I'm very monkey see, monkey do about these things. 'Fanfiction, what's that? Ooh, lemme try!' And so on.
With vidding, I first really got into vids thanks to hollywoodgrrl's Doctor Who vid (Boulevard of) Broken Songs, which remains my favourite ever, really. The following few months I taught myself how to watch vids, which I often didn't do very well to begin with, but gradually I got the hang of things and started building up a collection. Thus, inevitably, I attempted to do it myself, and I've been teaching myself ever since.
I have -- good grief -- 184 fanvids saved to my computer at the moment, encompassing about twenty fandoms, and these days they're a regular backdrop when I'm writing fic. I love them for their emotional immediacy, how for a short time you can be totally immersed in whatever the vidder is trying to say - whether it's a heartbreaking tale of Jack being pregnant with the Master's love child, a celebration of a favourite character or ship, or a story filled with political rage about the victimisation of women. It's such a versatile and inherently fannish artform.
As for vidding myself, I appreciate the way it gives me a different tool to talk about things, with different possibilities and limitations than the written word. Not to mention, it plays right into the part of me that still has elaborate fantasies about what I would do if I directed music videos of my favourite songs.
femslash
In a nutshell, slash is a big part of what I like about fandom, because it's an enormously welcome change to the heteronormative environment that we're all surrounded by, and it feels like I've claiming characters and canons that I love and making them a little bit more about me. I think one of the best things about fanworks is that they all are self-indulgent to an extent, because we explore these ideas for ourselves. Femslash makes me especially happy, and there's not very much of it both in terms of on-screen subtext in most of the shows that I watch, and in fandom -- femslash_today is the smallest newsletter I follow.
My fic last year was very heavy on the boyslash over the girlslash, and I've ended up committing myself in a rather wholesale way to writing more femslash myself this year by signing up for thelittlebang and a Martha/Donna plot for tardis_bigbang. So, I shall at least be proactive rather than complaining about how no one ever writes some of the things I want to read.
Doctor Who companions
I'll tell you a secret: the Doctor is my least favourite character on Doctor Who. I like him! The Doctor is usually charming and entertaining, he has a wealth of fascinating backstory, and I'm fond of every regeneration I've seen. He just isn't the reason why I watch the show, though he is the catalyst.
I like Doctor Who so much because keeps telling one of my favourite stories, that of the ordinary person who goes on an extraordinary journey, and is better for it. Rose and Martha and Donna - I never get tired of seeing the universe through their eyes. I love Jack more than I can actually explain in a reasonable way, I am thrilled by every reappearance of Mickey and Sarah Jane - they're the people I watch the show for, and the new companions to come (that's what I most want S5 to hurry up and get here already for).
The Doctor stays fundamentally the same, in the end, but his companions are always fundamentally changed. That's the interesting part for me.
Avendya
Haha, aww! Okay, let's see. avendya and I bumped into each other through mutual friends a couple of years ago. She said 'hi', I said 'hi' back, next thing you know she's got me into the downfalls of gtalk and she's sending me Supernatural and we're running fic exchanges and she's educating me on the vastness of Doctor Who canon and I'm making her watch Merlin. She'll probably tell you I'm the bad influence here, but I assure you that's all a lie. She's completely awesome, in short, and there's a worrying possibility that I'm not actually able to manage my life without flailing at her about it from time to time.
sundayave asked:
The Marauders
My first fannish corner! Blame shoebox_project. The thing with HP canon is that there's just so much of it, most of the fandom ends up picking a couple of areas to settle in. With James and Peter and Remus and Sirius and Lily, we know just enough about them to make it interesting, and it's almost impossible to resist filling in the rest of the gaps. My first ships, the first characters I got really attached to in that possessive, fannish way, they're still my favourite part of the Harry Potter series, and I love that they were central right through to the end, even though 'The Forest Again' makes me cry every damn time. ♥
Radiohead
Radiohead weren't the only formative band I grew up listening to, but they're the one that have lasted best and continue to resonate with me now - you can probably chart the last five years of my life to an extent by looking at the songs and albums of theirs I was listening to most. I think Kid A is their best album but that Hail To The Thief is a seriously cool listening experience, and currently my favourite track of theirs is 'Videotape'.
presenting a radio show
I landed a slot on the radio when I first came to university, and now I help to run the station, which is pretty much the story of my life regarding excessive involvement in activities. Radio is seriously, seriously fun - it's laid back as far as performance-type activities go and has let me learn all sorts of exciting technological things things. Student radio is especially fun because of the almost total freedom of content - I now do a late-night mixtape show and also have a spoken word slot about technical news with a few friends where I play resident unscientific arts student and Mac enthusiast as needed.
travelling far and wide
I was very lucky to travel round a lot of the world growing up, both living in other countries and visiting them for short times, and it's left me with the idea that travelling when you can is a really positive thing to do. I have a list a mile long of places I've never seen that I'd like to go to, and also a set of old haunts I'd love to see again some day. I always find it hard to articulate quite why travel is so important to me, but I do know that my journeys to far-flung lands over the years have shaped a lot of my values. There's nothing quite like stepping off a plane and feeling the sun spread out over your skin, or standing in the middle of a busy city and know that you're surrounded by people who know far more about what's going on than you do. Everywhere's different, and somehow, sometimes, things are exactly the same.
writing
Creative writing was never something I was interested in. Then see above re. vidding - I started reading fanfic and I had to try it myself. It's taken me a long time to get even passable it, but I'm a work in progress, and I figure that the more I try the better I'll get. I find it bizarre but pretty cool how much it's changed my internal landscape, how I carry around untold stories in my head and think about ways to write them down. It's a great protection against boredom, I'll say that much, and I can't imagine going back to the point where this wasn't something I do. I don't consider myself A Writer the way I know lots of people do. I just like using words to tell stories because there's infinite possibility there.
---
eta: third thing! The Torchwood Europop band I mentioned the other day now has a tour poster and album cover, because prettyquotable is wicked awesome. Hahaha, it is amazing.