These are the days of miracles and wonder
1) Another bit of meta for the 
marchmetamatterschallenge latest prompt, "When you write meta, what is it you're hoping that happens?"
I think that this probably differs, depending on the meta. For example, I've written a fair number of episode reviews and these are definitely something I wouldn't bother with if I didn't know someone would be reading them. I think they're very geared towards engaging in conversation with others in the fandom as much as engaging with canon. Similarly, I often hope others will either write their own meta in response to mine or in response to what I was discussing. I know I have definitely written a good bit of meta as a response to someone else's posts.
Of course, as I saw a fanfiction writer say the other day, it can also be a matter of anger! There have definitely been times where I feel ill used by the creatives and don't appreciate it. At other times, it's just the opposite. Not only do I want to make note of what things I think were done well, but I want to memorialize my time spent watching a show when it ends. I have written a few meta pieces about the end of shows, where I can finally see the thing as a whole.
I know that a few times in the past someone has been inspired by something I wrote to create a story in response to it. I don't think anyone has yet done an artwork, but I did once have a vid done with an idea I threw out there and that was very cool! I have also been very inspired by particular fanworks to get thinky about them, particularly fan vids, but I've also written about general bodies of work in particular fandoms when I realized I was seeing patterns.
In some cases, it's just been a matter of writing something out in a way where I can recall what I thought about something, or where I am trying to make connections that are clamoring for attention in my head. I'm particularly glad about the former. Over the past week or so I have been posting long ago concert reviews and album reviews. I'm fairly sure no one will find them as interesting to read as I did. I mean, the concert reviews were actual experiences so there's that. But the music reviews surprised me. I know why I began writing them, which is that if one is in a music fandom the inevitable question is what is one's favorite album or favorite songs? And I had answers, though these changed as new work came along. But I kind of wanted to know why I thought so.
I think there are definitely meta pieces that address the desire to know "why." There are the ever popular "why I like slash" or whatever trope one reads a lot. There are ship manifestos, character manifestos, and think pieces about things that go on in fandom, things that have gone on in a particular fandom, and things we've heard from creatives or people outside fandom. These often explore why one likes a thing, why one is involved with something, what has one's experience been like, etc.
Especially if one does not do creative fanwork, I think that writing out these whys and whats can also serve as a mark of one having "been here." One was a part of something, and something was part of us. We were in a place; there were thoughts and revelations and curiosity and a sense of satisfaction in teasing it all out.
Right now, I have an unfinished meta series. My music reviews ended three albums too soon, for various good reasons. There were dramatic changes in my life, an upheaval that took a while to recover from. And by the time I did I had already started to slide into a new fandom. I bought further albums but was disconnected from that part of my life. It was a third act for the fandom yet I had slipped away just before the curtain rose again.
I'm considering writing an ending (though it may always remain unfinished since further albums are always possible). Part of why is a desire for completion, and partly that I know a few people want to read it. Part of me also wants to see if I can rediscover the insight I saw as I read over the earlier sections. I'm not sure I can brain in the same way anymore, and I'm a little anxious about finding that out. I also want to see if making that effort means I can recapture the sense of that fandom after many years away.
And maybe part of what's behind all the meta is wanting to give meaning to things one spends time on, has forged friendships in tandem with, and which -- for us lifelong fans -- divides our lives into eras. It's planting a bit of our thoughts in the fandom garden.
2) One thing that's going to be pretty odd (and kind of sad) is that all the junk mail we receive for the next 8 weeks or so will have been planned well ahead of time. So the "2019 Summer Activities" catalog we just got from our local parks department (Subtitle: Oh, All The Places You Won't Go!) and ads for places that are closed is all headed straight into the recycle bin.
For that matter, so many ads on TV seem rather odd these days, and given that so many film productions have been shut down, I would suspect we're not going to see a lot of new topical ones either. This is, I think, a good thing. For one, I've already had my fill of useless 19-related emails (the ones that are actually informative are welcome). For another, I don't think most people are naturally introspective about their culture and there's nothing like the jarring mismatch of what advertisers want us to see vs the reality of our lives to give people a bit of a mental kick.
I heard a quote from a restauranteur in the news who said that what's happening to restaurants is on the scale of what happened to the country during WWII, and that a lot of places won't be coming back this summer (or autumn). I kind of agreed with his WWII analogy in that necessity is going to force changes on society. Will a lot of people learn to do without a lot of things they've been spending money on? Will they start learning to cook, to take up hobbies, to make more of an effort to connect to people online? Will there be a rise in volunteering, as more people have time to give and get to know community organizations? Will people question practices once they've been able to do without them? (Thinking about that one while seeing make-up advertisements. Who's doing that to stay at home? Will this wipe out 1/3 of YouTube content?)
Longer term, once companies shocked into using remote options are able to resume normal business, will they not only begin disaster planning that includes remote work and employee training, but also eventually smaller office spaces as telecommuting becomes a real thing? Women got sent back home from the workplace after WWII, but at least some of them remained in areas of the work force where they'd never been before. Companies could see an advantage for their bottom line in paying less for travel and smaller offices while shared shifts extend service availability.
In this article about movies going to streaming faster is an apt sentence: "had the industry been less stubbornly resistant to adaptation and change, this particular shift likely wouldn't be quite as painful now."
That could apply to a lot of places. A friend who works in a medical center's administration discussed how it was hard going getting telemedicine to be used (by doctors or patients). Not anymore -- people are using it because they're not being given any choice. Same thing with a lot of higher ed school courses and telecommuting. Another friend said she's been doing counseling work online and several clients don't want to go back.
Of course this level of deep end jumping is also going to help enormously in identifying what does, what can, and what simply will not work online. So while I have no doubt that this sort of haphazard suddenness is going to leave a lot of people utterly relieved not to keep up with it, at least not entirely, I think that long term it is going to provide an endless supply of case studies for best practices.
Also, maybe a desire for online togetherness means fandom communities will enjoy a resurgence? Fandom has become remote and defined by the endless scroll in the past decade. People were already wanting more, and I can't imagine this experience will make them want that less.
3) Looking through my photo folder, thought about these pictures from my February trip and how this whole area must look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland right now:
Also, just something pretty:
4) We just saw the end of Star Wars Rebels S3 and all I can say is "Wow!" The whole season was SO much more interesting than the latest trilogy (or the 1st), and it's clear that there is so much lore there and scope. I spent the whole time gripping Mike's hand because I had no idea what might happen.
It's also neat how closely they've been tying in the story to Rogue One, which I still think is the best of the new SW films. Just as in Star Trek it seems like the SW movies see the legacy/backstory as some sort of stone around their necks that they want to jettison, instead of drawing from it to create something richer and more engaging. Marvel has definitely not done this, even though it has had to pick and choose what to keep in order to tell more coherent, compact stories.
Speaking of Trek, what I thought of when seeing the season finale was not unlike the turn that TNG took at the end of S3, when it really hit its stride. None of TNG movies were either very good or comparable to the series itself. I'm definitely hoping the new Marvel shows end up making the most of the TV format.
5) As of today, my state is on lock down, though honestly we haven't been going anywhere other than to get groceries since last Monday. I was reading that Best Buy has been doing a booming business, triple their usual sales, as a result of people either needing help with their tech (particularly Apple products, since Apple shut down its stores) or else buying products for staying at home.
I guess I can see this, but it seems like a version of hoarding to me. Unless you had no TV before and now you want one, I'm not sure why people would be spending so much money just as they're going into a severe economic crisis? You'd think the thing everyone would be hoarding is their money. Although I guess maybe if you think there will be a societal collapse you can barter your TV? Seems unlikely given their ubiquity and low value.
I would have thought that one place doing well would be hobby stores. Although perhaps this is also the point where many people who have not really used eBooks or audio books will.
View poll: Kudos Footer-145
Comments at Dreamwidth
.
marchmetamatterschallenge latest prompt, "When you write meta, what is it you're hoping that happens?"
I think that this probably differs, depending on the meta. For example, I've written a fair number of episode reviews and these are definitely something I wouldn't bother with if I didn't know someone would be reading them. I think they're very geared towards engaging in conversation with others in the fandom as much as engaging with canon. Similarly, I often hope others will either write their own meta in response to mine or in response to what I was discussing. I know I have definitely written a good bit of meta as a response to someone else's posts.
Of course, as I saw a fanfiction writer say the other day, it can also be a matter of anger! There have definitely been times where I feel ill used by the creatives and don't appreciate it. At other times, it's just the opposite. Not only do I want to make note of what things I think were done well, but I want to memorialize my time spent watching a show when it ends. I have written a few meta pieces about the end of shows, where I can finally see the thing as a whole.
I know that a few times in the past someone has been inspired by something I wrote to create a story in response to it. I don't think anyone has yet done an artwork, but I did once have a vid done with an idea I threw out there and that was very cool! I have also been very inspired by particular fanworks to get thinky about them, particularly fan vids, but I've also written about general bodies of work in particular fandoms when I realized I was seeing patterns.
In some cases, it's just been a matter of writing something out in a way where I can recall what I thought about something, or where I am trying to make connections that are clamoring for attention in my head. I'm particularly glad about the former. Over the past week or so I have been posting long ago concert reviews and album reviews. I'm fairly sure no one will find them as interesting to read as I did. I mean, the concert reviews were actual experiences so there's that. But the music reviews surprised me. I know why I began writing them, which is that if one is in a music fandom the inevitable question is what is one's favorite album or favorite songs? And I had answers, though these changed as new work came along. But I kind of wanted to know why I thought so.
I think there are definitely meta pieces that address the desire to know "why." There are the ever popular "why I like slash" or whatever trope one reads a lot. There are ship manifestos, character manifestos, and think pieces about things that go on in fandom, things that have gone on in a particular fandom, and things we've heard from creatives or people outside fandom. These often explore why one likes a thing, why one is involved with something, what has one's experience been like, etc.
Especially if one does not do creative fanwork, I think that writing out these whys and whats can also serve as a mark of one having "been here." One was a part of something, and something was part of us. We were in a place; there were thoughts and revelations and curiosity and a sense of satisfaction in teasing it all out.
Right now, I have an unfinished meta series. My music reviews ended three albums too soon, for various good reasons. There were dramatic changes in my life, an upheaval that took a while to recover from. And by the time I did I had already started to slide into a new fandom. I bought further albums but was disconnected from that part of my life. It was a third act for the fandom yet I had slipped away just before the curtain rose again.
I'm considering writing an ending (though it may always remain unfinished since further albums are always possible). Part of why is a desire for completion, and partly that I know a few people want to read it. Part of me also wants to see if I can rediscover the insight I saw as I read over the earlier sections. I'm not sure I can brain in the same way anymore, and I'm a little anxious about finding that out. I also want to see if making that effort means I can recapture the sense of that fandom after many years away.
And maybe part of what's behind all the meta is wanting to give meaning to things one spends time on, has forged friendships in tandem with, and which -- for us lifelong fans -- divides our lives into eras. It's planting a bit of our thoughts in the fandom garden.
2) One thing that's going to be pretty odd (and kind of sad) is that all the junk mail we receive for the next 8 weeks or so will have been planned well ahead of time. So the "2019 Summer Activities" catalog we just got from our local parks department (Subtitle: Oh, All The Places You Won't Go!) and ads for places that are closed is all headed straight into the recycle bin.
For that matter, so many ads on TV seem rather odd these days, and given that so many film productions have been shut down, I would suspect we're not going to see a lot of new topical ones either. This is, I think, a good thing. For one, I've already had my fill of useless 19-related emails (the ones that are actually informative are welcome). For another, I don't think most people are naturally introspective about their culture and there's nothing like the jarring mismatch of what advertisers want us to see vs the reality of our lives to give people a bit of a mental kick.
I heard a quote from a restauranteur in the news who said that what's happening to restaurants is on the scale of what happened to the country during WWII, and that a lot of places won't be coming back this summer (or autumn). I kind of agreed with his WWII analogy in that necessity is going to force changes on society. Will a lot of people learn to do without a lot of things they've been spending money on? Will they start learning to cook, to take up hobbies, to make more of an effort to connect to people online? Will there be a rise in volunteering, as more people have time to give and get to know community organizations? Will people question practices once they've been able to do without them? (Thinking about that one while seeing make-up advertisements. Who's doing that to stay at home? Will this wipe out 1/3 of YouTube content?)
Longer term, once companies shocked into using remote options are able to resume normal business, will they not only begin disaster planning that includes remote work and employee training, but also eventually smaller office spaces as telecommuting becomes a real thing? Women got sent back home from the workplace after WWII, but at least some of them remained in areas of the work force where they'd never been before. Companies could see an advantage for their bottom line in paying less for travel and smaller offices while shared shifts extend service availability.
In this article about movies going to streaming faster is an apt sentence: "had the industry been less stubbornly resistant to adaptation and change, this particular shift likely wouldn't be quite as painful now."
That could apply to a lot of places. A friend who works in a medical center's administration discussed how it was hard going getting telemedicine to be used (by doctors or patients). Not anymore -- people are using it because they're not being given any choice. Same thing with a lot of higher ed school courses and telecommuting. Another friend said she's been doing counseling work online and several clients don't want to go back.
Of course this level of deep end jumping is also going to help enormously in identifying what does, what can, and what simply will not work online. So while I have no doubt that this sort of haphazard suddenness is going to leave a lot of people utterly relieved not to keep up with it, at least not entirely, I think that long term it is going to provide an endless supply of case studies for best practices.
Also, maybe a desire for online togetherness means fandom communities will enjoy a resurgence? Fandom has become remote and defined by the endless scroll in the past decade. People were already wanting more, and I can't imagine this experience will make them want that less.
3) Looking through my photo folder, thought about these pictures from my February trip and how this whole area must look like a post-apocalyptic wasteland right now:
Also, just something pretty:
4) We just saw the end of Star Wars Rebels S3 and all I can say is "Wow!" The whole season was SO much more interesting than the latest trilogy (or the 1st), and it's clear that there is so much lore there and scope. I spent the whole time gripping Mike's hand because I had no idea what might happen.
It's also neat how closely they've been tying in the story to Rogue One, which I still think is the best of the new SW films. Just as in Star Trek it seems like the SW movies see the legacy/backstory as some sort of stone around their necks that they want to jettison, instead of drawing from it to create something richer and more engaging. Marvel has definitely not done this, even though it has had to pick and choose what to keep in order to tell more coherent, compact stories.
Speaking of Trek, what I thought of when seeing the season finale was not unlike the turn that TNG took at the end of S3, when it really hit its stride. None of TNG movies were either very good or comparable to the series itself. I'm definitely hoping the new Marvel shows end up making the most of the TV format.
5) As of today, my state is on lock down, though honestly we haven't been going anywhere other than to get groceries since last Monday. I was reading that Best Buy has been doing a booming business, triple their usual sales, as a result of people either needing help with their tech (particularly Apple products, since Apple shut down its stores) or else buying products for staying at home.
I guess I can see this, but it seems like a version of hoarding to me. Unless you had no TV before and now you want one, I'm not sure why people would be spending so much money just as they're going into a severe economic crisis? You'd think the thing everyone would be hoarding is their money. Although I guess maybe if you think there will be a societal collapse you can barter your TV? Seems unlikely given their ubiquity and low value.
I would have thought that one place doing well would be hobby stores. Although perhaps this is also the point where many people who have not really used eBooks or audio books will.
View poll: Kudos Footer-145
Comments at Dreamwidth
.