The best part of the convention experience, for me, is the opportunity to be out and open about fandom with friends who understand and speak the same language. I miss that terribly now.
That is absolutely the best part, isn't it! Even better than Claudia's magic hair. ;) And I've been surprised by how acutely I've missed it this week.
I feel like I had just enough time to get used to it before it was gone again.
I've been experimenting with being more out about my participation in fandom to select people in RL, and that's been something of a relief, but it's not the same at all because they still don't really get it.
I've been experimenting with being more out about my participation in fandom to select people in RL
That's something I've been thinking a lot about recently, now that I've bitten the bullet and actually gone to a convention. (Cons had always been my marker, incidentally, that I wasn't that kind of fan. "Yes, I like these shows rather a lot, and I read and write fanfic, but at least I don't go to cons..." Yeah. I think the new marker is costuming. "I may go to cons, but at least I don't dress up in costume!" *g*) My mom wanted to know about the con, and I was trying to explain it. On one hand, she was clearly intrigued and amused by the whole thing, but I could tell she really didn't get that the primary appeal was hanging out with other fans, rather than seeing the actors
( ... )
For me, there are a couple of different levels to being out. Lying/being secretive and vague is not something that comes naturally to me, and so even if these certain people don't "get it," it's worth something to me just to be able to openly say, "I'm going to Dragon*Con" rather than "I'm meeting up with friends you've never heard of in a far-away city that we chose as a location for unspecified and mysterious reasons." On that level, it's more about me just being able to be honest about my own life, especially since I've lately been making my peace with the fact that fandom and the relationships I've developed through it are concretely important to me, and aren't part of a discrete realm that's entirely separated from my RL, and trying to treat them that way is needlessly complicated.
But, yes, I do think it's impossible to explain fandom to someone who has no interest in it, and I'm still not comfortable talking about it at all with some people.
And sdwolfpup made this icon! She does really nice work.
Okay, embarrassing admission time: I'm vaguely charmed by the geekiness of the My Little Ponies. I mean, as weird gifts that could be given to the actors go, there's a lot worse. None of them vibrated or anything, right? And hey, some of them have kids...
Hee. They were certainly a vast improvement over handing the actors compilations of fanfic, and sparked some pretty funny conversation, so I was only a little embarrassed.
Eee! Momoa looks like the world's most musclely nerd! Thanks for posting the pic! (I'm also really intrigued by this tattoo. I don't suppose he put his leg up on the table to show off the other half?)
Yet now I have also visions of Christopher Judge in the middle of the night. Naked! *g*
My, Claudia Black's hair really IS shiny.
The best part of the convention experience, for me, is the opportunity to be out and open about fandom with friends who understand and speak the same language.
That's really the impression I'm getting from these reports, both yours and others. Which I can totally see the appeal of: at San Diego Comic-Con, you are more cordoned off from the celebs, except for the ones who wander the floor incognito and of course the comics industry peeps, and that's probably contributed to my actor-phobia. I'm starting to wonder now if I shouldn't do this Dragon*Con thing once just to find out if the vibe's really that different.
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That is absolutely the best part, isn't it! Even better than Claudia's magic hair. ;) And I've been surprised by how acutely I've missed it this week.
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I've been experimenting with being more out about my participation in fandom to select people in RL, and that's been something of a relief, but it's not the same at all because they still don't really get it.
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That's something I've been thinking a lot about recently, now that I've bitten the bullet and actually gone to a convention. (Cons had always been my marker, incidentally, that I wasn't that kind of fan. "Yes, I like these shows rather a lot, and I read and write fanfic, but at least I don't go to cons..." Yeah. I think the new marker is costuming. "I may go to cons, but at least I don't dress up in costume!" *g*) My mom wanted to know about the con, and I was trying to explain it. On one hand, she was clearly intrigued and amused by the whole thing, but I could tell she really didn't get that the primary appeal was hanging out with other fans, rather than seeing the actors ( ... )
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But, yes, I do think it's impossible to explain fandom to someone who has no interest in it, and I'm still not comfortable talking about it at all with some people.
And sdwolfpup made this icon! She does really nice work.
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...I've been in fandom too long.
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Yet now I have also visions of Christopher Judge in the middle of the night. Naked! *g*
My, Claudia Black's hair really IS shiny.
The best part of the convention experience, for me, is the opportunity to be out and open about fandom with friends who understand and speak the same language.
That's really the impression I'm getting from these reports, both yours and others. Which I can totally see the appeal of: at San Diego Comic-Con, you are more cordoned off from the celebs, except for the ones who wander the floor incognito and of course the comics industry peeps, and that's probably contributed to my actor-phobia. I'm starting to wonder now if I shouldn't do this Dragon*Con thing once just to find out if the vibe's really that different.
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He did not; he actually seemed to treat it as something fairly private, and didn't get too specific about it.
The vibe at Dragon*Cons past has been wonderfully low-key, but with the insane attendance this year, that might be changing.
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