sholio

( Okay, they SO used NotTasha's story here! (spoilers for 3x16)Collapse )

Okay, this hasn't actually *happened* yet, so maybe I'm borrowing trouble by even mentioning it, but I thought I'd say something now.

With the last part of SGA Season 3 airing now, I'm kinda locking myself down into rabid spoiler-avoidance mode. And I just wanted to request if people can please avoid mentioning anything you may have read or heard about the rest of the season or the next one in comments on my blog.

I don't mind what you do elsewhere and I'm not gonna go all "spoiler police" on you (I've had bouts of that and I think I'm over it) but for just the next few weeks, I'd really like to remain spoiler-free for the remaining episodes, and discussion of certain spoilers has become so rampant that it's getting difficult to avoid. I don't even want to hear general stuff, like if anything's been confirmed or if you're depressed or elated over the news -- PLEASE. Let me remain in my nonspoilery little blog bubble for another 4 weeks ... then we can all talk about it as much as we want.

Like I said, it hasn't happened yet and most people on my f-list are pretty good about locking spoilers anyway. But with new people coming in lately, I just wanted to make that request. Like I said, I'm not telling you what to do on your blog, just asking you to respect my spoiler-free space on mine.

(Spoilers for episodes up to the most current one airing in Canada are fair game, however.)

Thank you!

I just got ahold of a version of "Ark" with the missing minute or so that was cut off the small download ...

( Much giggling under the cut, along with spoilers for Ark and a micro-one for TaoCollapse )

Okay, the Torchwood teaser makes it official: Torchwood is slash, of the crack variety. The UTTER CHEESE of it all! I still don't know if I'm going to be watching it ... probably I'll wait a few episodes to gauge the fannish reaction and see if it's worth it.

Barnes & Noble was having a sale on DVDs (buy 2, get one free) when I went in to pick up the next two seasons of NCIS (shut up. *g*) and I got the package set of Series 1 & 2 of Red Dwarf. I'm kinda surprised how little I remember the early episodes, since I remember the later ones so well -- but I guess it's been ten or fifteen years since I watched those early ones. Still as much fun as I remembered, though. Still got a wee crush on Craig Charles. (If only he was in something other than Coronation Street now, I would be all over it.) And whatever happened to the rest of them?

You know, I'd almost forgotten what it's like to poke around for fic and meta in a really tiny fandom. Prior to SGA, *most* of my fandoms were really tiny; every once in a while I'd luck into something like Invisible Man where there was a nice pile of fic catering to my particular needs, but for the most part, it was a matter of wandering down little Internet bunny trails and searching Google cache, clinging to every scrap of fic that I could find, reading gen and slash and het regardless of whether the pairing appealed to me, just because it was something. (And that's just the fandoms I could find any fic for; I remember one in which the only fic I could find AT ALL was four chapters of an unfinished gang-rape fic salvaged from Google cache, and the sad thing was, I downloaded it anyway and I probably still have it in my fic folder somewhere ...)

Don't get me wrong, being part of a big fandom and being able to cherry-pick from a smorgasbord of fic is really, really awesome; SGA fandom blew me away when I first encountered it, and has probably spoiled me utterly, in some ways, for future fannish experiences -- I've never had the experience of riding a fandom's popularity wave before. But ferreting out Wiseguy fic is reminding me that there's something really fun about the search for rarefic, too. It's a whole different kind of fanning from the thrill and energy of being in a big fandom -- but it's got its own kind of energy, its own kind of high when an evening of quality time with Google and linksurfing yields up a gem or two. SGA is almost an embarrassment of riches; there's never time to read everything, to look at all the art. The really little fandoms make you cherish every good story you find, makes you want to read it over and over again, and then go lavish love on the writer. It's ... well, it's Yuletide, basically; a very minimalist fanning experience, where finding just one other person who loves canon as much as you do, who sees in canon what you do, is a squee-worthy event.

Now I'm buying Wiseguy fanzines on ebay. I HAVE NO SHAME. *shakes tiny fist at ebay for being so very tempting*

A random rec: stargate_vegas is a new comm for Vegas 'verse fanworks -- fic, discussion, etc -- modded by darkrosetiger and telesilla. There's very little there yet, but it would be really cool to see it grow, and there's so much potential in the episode for universe exploration and expansion. They welcome all pairings and ratings.

Unrelated to the above, I've been perusing various posts off Metafandom discussing fannish responsibility, the way that we interact with the things we fan on, the reasons why we move between fandoms. I keep starting to write posts and then discarding them ... I'm finding the discussion very interesting (and generally pretty polite considering how vehement people's opinions on it obviously are) and it's not a simple thing for me to suss out in myself. I do find that I'm a reader/viewer first, and a fan second -- in other words, it's love of the source material that brings me to fandom, not love of fandom that makes me go looking for things to fan on. (The fact that I'm currently fanning on something with next to no active fandom is ample evidence of that.) But I certainly can't discount the extent to which my own actions, as a fan and a reader, and my enjoyment and appreciation of the source are shaped by the way other people react to it. I'm deeply loving "Wiseguy" right now, but without a steady supply of fic, and other people to bounce off fannishly, I'm not really sure how long the deep obsession is going to last. I'm not sure if my SGA obsession would have gone on so long if there hadn't been such a huge fandom to play in. The fandom itself is enough to keep me at least peripherally involved, even now.

And, on the flip side of that coin, I don't think it's wise to completely ignore the fact that we're also shaped and influenced in subtle ways by what we read and watch. It does matter what you put into your brain and how deeply you let it live there. It's like eating junk food -- perfectly harmless and fine in moderation, and nobody else's business if you love it, no one else's right to judge you for it. But it's not really healthy in the long term to live on a steady diet of it. I really don't think I have that much control over my emotional responses to stuff ... when I love a show, it doesn't really matter if it's award-winning drama or the worst dreck known to mankind -- I still have that emotional response to it. But I'm starting to be wary of letting it work its way too deeply into my brainspace without really thinking about it first, if that makes any sense.

I just read a really neat John/Rodney fic over at sga_santa: Never Quite What You Expect by propinquitine (PG, 7400 wds). I really adore how this story takes a number of fandom cliches (from aliens-made-them-do-it to drunken sex to evil exes to matchmaking) and turns them on their head to substitute the much more prosaic, and likely, alternatives. I am not a big romance person but I really love slow, believable, down-to-earth romance that kinda happens by accident while people are doing other things, and this story mashed down all my buttons really hard. Plus it's sweet, and friendshippy, and the banter is lovely!

Okay, I actually am enjoying Sanctuary quite a lot, despite all the complaining *g*, and I have even enjoyed some episodes, like "Fragments", that a lot of my flist didn't seem to like. But the most recent one I watched (Next Tuesday) pushed me riiiiight over the edge into active annoyance, because there is only so much I'm willing to tolerate of the characters making stupid decisions because the plot requires them to.

( Just a bit of whining about it, don't mind meCollapse )

This entry is also posted at http://friendshipper.dreamwidth.or… with comments.

We just got back from the late-night show of some movie with hobbits in it, which you may have heard of. *g*

( Reaction is quite mixed, just so you know!Collapse )

This entry is also posted at http://sholio.dreamwidth.org/86947… with comments.

( ... which are even less in the way of squee than last night's ambiguous thoughts, actually more like excoriating the poor thingCollapse )

This entry is also posted at http://sholio.dreamwidth.org/86963… with comments.

The stockings are live! Mine is here, and I'm completely delighted with everything I got, including the delightful icon I'm using on this post, a fantastic AU in which Peggy takes the SSR Chief job instead of Daniel by sheron, a darling GotG Christmas story by opalmatrix, and a snippet of a Fallen London/Agent Carter crossover by frith_in_thorns (in which Peggy has a mushroom hat and Jack is a Devil, because of course he is). Also book recs, pictures, greetings, and lots of lovely stuff. ♥

As usual, I didn't manage to treat everyone I wanted to, but I did sign up as a needy-stocking-filler, so I ended up writing quite a bit anyway! This year I wrote:

[Agent Carter] Ladyhawke AU [also on Tumblr]
[Stargate Atlantis] Rodney and Teyla are buried in an avalanche
[White Collar] Neal's first Christmas post-prison and Kate
[Ant-Man] Cassie and her giant pet ant

[Stranger Things] The kids give Steve a walkie-talkie of his own for Christmas
[Stranger Things] Kali has her own special Christmas ritual
[Stranger Things] Joyce/Hopper at Thanksgiving
[Stranger Things] The kids teach Steve to play D&D

[Dark Matter] Clothes-sharing for the win. Hey, it's a small ship. (Two/Three plus other pairings)
[Dark Matter] Two has a wardrobe malfunction (Two/Three)

All are gen unless other pairings are noted. Since they're all pretty short this year, I'll probably end up reposting them on Tumblr (and some are on AO3). I'll add the Tumblr links when they're up.

This entry is also posted at https://sholio.dreamwidth.org/1165… with comments.

Okay, first of all, we finished The Mandalorian tonight and I really enjoyed it, but I just gotta say -

I have literally never seen a female character like Cara Dune on TV before.

( Light spoilers for The Mandalorian and for one character's storyline - also kinda big embedded imagesCollapse )

This entry is also posted at https://sholio.dreamwidth.org/1301… with comments.

( Spoilers (mostly about Drummer)Collapse ) This entry is also posted at https://sholio.dreamwidth.org/1425944.html with comments.