ships, shippiness, being shippy, canons & cannons [reposted b/c of glitch - ignore old post!]
BSG: Everyone has watched the latest BSG except me. That rhymes. Peers to see if Alternate Delivery Means are available yet. Waits.
Prison Break: Very mini Prison Break pic spam for tpeej in the comments of this post
This is a rehash of an old post because the topic has become relevant again. Back in October last year, I wrote:
Ship. I dislike this word it's kind of ugly and clunky but it's so perfect to describe what I do and what I've always done with shows and movies that I've watched. It's rare that I'm not interested in any romantic interest at all - perhaps Numb3rs and Scrubs I don't do any shipping because for me those shows are purely plot and dialogue-driven. They're so ensemble that a focus on a relationship would spoil things. The thing is, what did we call shipping before it had the name shipping?
"I would very much like those two to get together"? So despite how I feel about the word, I'm glad it now exists because it's very useful.
Lately, I have had to try to explain what 'shipping' is in non-nautical, non-maritime terms to both Singapore Girl and my brother. My brother then explained it to his girlfriend who thinks I'm even weirder than she already did. When I try to explain it in Chinese, it sounds even more bIZarRe.....
Ship (verb or noun), shippy, shippiness are words that I take for granted these days but before I watched BSG, I had never even heard of the phrase. I have always been a shipper - Ships I Have Loved. I'll add to the above lists of shows in which I do not have a ship, Grey's Anatomy and House. I don't do any shipping in those shows. It's just that I didn't know I was called a shipper.
When I wrote about it last, I wrote that it was a pity that fandom was only able to come up with That Hideous Word and wrote this:
Koala: I am a shipper.
Generic Third Party: So what you're trying to tell me is that you're interested in the love lives or the possible romantic pairing of two fictional characters.....
Koala: I know it sounds .... no no, don't back away, I promise I'm no danger to anyone including myself..... come back?
Generic Third Party: (running away) You're not a shipper, you're a fruitloop!
*sigh* It does sound really weird when you try to explain things to people who aren't in fandom and aren't on the net.
"People write stories about fictional characters?" People will ask me.
"Yes."
"And they're sometimes R-rated?"
"Yes."
It was then that I realised how weird this subculture sounds when I started explaining Mary Sues, RPF, slash, het and gen. It sounds totally insane.
Ships:
Canon ships and popular non-ships like Kara/Lee, Helo/Sharon, Sheppard/Weir, Sheppard/McKay, Dean/Sam, Harry/Hermione, Hermione/Ron, Veronica/Logan, Michael/Sara
Less popular, ships like Kara/Anders, Lee/Dee, Ronon/Weir, Mal/River,
Boutique niche ships like Novak/Lorne, Cedric/Hermione, Dean/Emily, Brendan/Freya, Helo/Kara
Sad, lonely and unloved ships like Dean/Deputy Kathleen, Apollo/Sharon, Sheppard/Novak ;)
Canons, cannons
Then there's the whole canon thing - that's so hard to explain as well. I only realised what canon was when I started reading things in preparation for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace because the Star Wars fans frequently debate about what is 'canon'? Stuff that's in the movies only, or does it extend to comics and novelisations etc.
A while back, when I was talking about the BSG Hate Meme that has now been suspended, someone had an "I hate that many fans find cannon [sic] ships boring" thread.
Someone then said that that was a stupid comment because of the misspelling of the very common misspelling of the word 'canon' and then someone else wrote: "Well any pairing that involves a large metal object is just too difficult for me to write seriously about".
I was explaining to someone offline:
cannon
1. A large mounted weapon that fires heavy projectiles. Cannon include guns, howitzers, and mortars.
2. The loop at the top of a bell by which it is hung.
3. A round bit for a horse.
4. Zoology The section of the lower leg in some hoofed mammals between the hock or knee and the fetlock, containing the cannon bone.
5. Chiefly British A carom made in billiards.
canon
1. An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
2. A secular law, rule, or code of law.
3.
a. An established principle: the canons of polite society.
b. A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion.
4. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
5.
a. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: "the durable canon of American short fiction" William Styron.
b. The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon.
6. Canon The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus and ending just before the Lord's Prayer.
7. The calendar of saints accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
8. Music A composition or passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time.
Prison Break: Very mini Prison Break pic spam for tpeej in the comments of this post
This is a rehash of an old post because the topic has become relevant again. Back in October last year, I wrote:
Ship. I dislike this word it's kind of ugly and clunky but it's so perfect to describe what I do and what I've always done with shows and movies that I've watched. It's rare that I'm not interested in any romantic interest at all - perhaps Numb3rs and Scrubs I don't do any shipping because for me those shows are purely plot and dialogue-driven. They're so ensemble that a focus on a relationship would spoil things. The thing is, what did we call shipping before it had the name shipping?
"I would very much like those two to get together"? So despite how I feel about the word, I'm glad it now exists because it's very useful.
Lately, I have had to try to explain what 'shipping' is in non-nautical, non-maritime terms to both Singapore Girl and my brother. My brother then explained it to his girlfriend who thinks I'm even weirder than she already did. When I try to explain it in Chinese, it sounds even more bIZarRe.....
Ship (verb or noun), shippy, shippiness are words that I take for granted these days but before I watched BSG, I had never even heard of the phrase. I have always been a shipper - Ships I Have Loved. I'll add to the above lists of shows in which I do not have a ship, Grey's Anatomy and House. I don't do any shipping in those shows. It's just that I didn't know I was called a shipper.
When I wrote about it last, I wrote that it was a pity that fandom was only able to come up with That Hideous Word and wrote this:
Koala: I am a shipper.
Generic Third Party: So what you're trying to tell me is that you're interested in the love lives or the possible romantic pairing of two fictional characters.....
Koala: I know it sounds .... no no, don't back away, I promise I'm no danger to anyone including myself..... come back?
Generic Third Party: (running away) You're not a shipper, you're a fruitloop!
*sigh* It does sound really weird when you try to explain things to people who aren't in fandom and aren't on the net.
"People write stories about fictional characters?" People will ask me.
"Yes."
"And they're sometimes R-rated?"
"Yes."
It was then that I realised how weird this subculture sounds when I started explaining Mary Sues, RPF, slash, het and gen. It sounds totally insane.
Ships:
Canon ships and popular non-ships like Kara/Lee, Helo/Sharon, Sheppard/Weir, Sheppard/McKay, Dean/Sam, Harry/Hermione, Hermione/Ron, Veronica/Logan, Michael/Sara
Less popular, ships like Kara/Anders, Lee/Dee, Ronon/Weir, Mal/River,
Boutique niche ships like Novak/Lorne, Cedric/Hermione, Dean/Emily, Brendan/Freya, Helo/Kara
Sad, lonely and unloved ships like Dean/Deputy Kathleen, Apollo/Sharon, Sheppard/Novak ;)
Canons, cannons
Then there's the whole canon thing - that's so hard to explain as well. I only realised what canon was when I started reading things in preparation for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace because the Star Wars fans frequently debate about what is 'canon'? Stuff that's in the movies only, or does it extend to comics and novelisations etc.
A while back, when I was talking about the BSG Hate Meme that has now been suspended, someone had an "I hate that many fans find cannon [sic] ships boring" thread.
Someone then said that that was a stupid comment because of the misspelling of the very common misspelling of the word 'canon' and then someone else wrote: "Well any pairing that involves a large metal object is just too difficult for me to write seriously about".
I was explaining to someone offline:
cannon
1. A large mounted weapon that fires heavy projectiles. Cannon include guns, howitzers, and mortars.
2. The loop at the top of a bell by which it is hung.
3. A round bit for a horse.
4. Zoology The section of the lower leg in some hoofed mammals between the hock or knee and the fetlock, containing the cannon bone.
5. Chiefly British A carom made in billiards.
canon
1. An ecclesiastical law or code of laws established by a church council.
2. A secular law, rule, or code of law.
3.
a. An established principle: the canons of polite society.
b. A basis for judgment; a standard or criterion.
4. The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture.
5.
a. A group of literary works that are generally accepted as representing a field: "the durable canon of American short fiction" William Styron.
b. The works of a writer that have been accepted as authentic: the entire Shakespeare canon.
6. Canon The part of the Mass beginning after the Preface and Sanctus and ending just before the Lord's Prayer.
7. The calendar of saints accepted by the Roman Catholic Church.
8. Music A composition or passage in which a melody is imitated by one or more voices at fixed intervals of pitch and time.