alexcat | Entries tagged with fandom friday

Challenge #3

In your own space, Scream Into the Void. Get it all out. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

I have been reading other people's scream into the void and many of us are screaming about some of the same things - The 'antis' and their purity culture, the sexism, homophobia, racism, etc. in fandom, non appreciation of fanworks...the list goes on.

I agree with them all. I am an older fan, having discovered fandom in the late 90s, early 2000s, when we got a computer. I live in the rural south and, honestly, had never heard of cons or zines. I got into fandom when LOTR was coming out and Orlando Bloom, as Legolas, made elf fanciers of most people. I started writing stories. And sort of ended up in the middle of fanwars - het vs. slash, Real Person vs. fictional character, fic, Mary Sue' vs. everything, good writing vs. not so good writing.

I decided, screw this! This was during the heyday of Yahoo groups and I started my own groups - we allowed ALL Tolkien fiction. I wanted to make fandom fun for as many people as I could. Everyone had the right to enjoy it, didn't they? Thus Of Elves and Men was born.

My shout is this: Why must fandom be such a drudge these days? Why all the shaming and bullying? Why must I conform to someone else's belief? And why in the hell are we letting them get away with this crap?

We must support Ao3 and its no censorship policies. We need to make sure the censorship people do not get a toehold on the board. We must leave platforms that deny us freedom of expression, while giving free rein to hatemongers and their like.

Most of all we have to keep on writing and creating the things that we want or need to create. I know there is no going back to the golden days, but we don't have to let that certain groups of bullies push us around either.

Got busy yesterday and thought I'd posted. Old age!

I am a fan of many things and I write fanfiction because I love to write.

BUT I do not write in some of my favorite fandoms - Sta Wars and Star Trek are the perfect examples. Why? One of the reasons is the fandoms themselves are quite toxic. There are factions who battle in those fandoms, big factions. I am a fan in one of the other big fandoms - Marvel Cinematic Universe and there are big factions there as well as shipper wars, too. I will never really understand this. I have few OTPs because that's silly, especially when you fight with other people over it. The reason I am in any fandom is the fun and distraction from real life stuff it provides. I don't get why people have to bring so much drama to something so simple.

( Pics of Cap! )

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1623490.html

I went to see Avengers: Infinity War. I fanned a good bit and am working on a story.

Here is Cap.

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1503336.html

This coming week... Infinity Wars... The beginning of the end, they tell me and we get to keep Doctor Strange and Spiderman... NO THANKS!

The first trailer:

Watch on YouTube

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1501199.html

I finally finished watching Doctor Who this week. I am a tad behind. I actually watched the first few episodes of Season 1 several times before I could work up any interest at all. And the 12th Doctor... I was very slow to love him but He blew me away several times.

"Am I a good man?" He asked Clara... and that seemed to be his theme.

He did the things he did 'without hope, without witness, without reward.'

Here is the speech he made to the two masters at the end of Season 10:

“Hey! I’m going to be dead in a few hours, so before I go, let’s have this out,” The Doctor tells them.

“You and me, once and for all. Winning? Is that what you think it’s about? I’m not trying to win. I’m not doing this because I want to beat someone — or because I hate someone, or because I want to blame someone. It’s not because it’s fun. God knows it’s not because it’s easy. It’s not even because it works, because it hardly ever does. I do what I do because it’s right! Because it’s decent! And above all, it’s kind!

“It’s just that. Just kind. If I run away today, good people will die. If I stand and fight, some of them might live — maybe not many, maybe not for long. Hey, maybe there’s no point in any of this at all, but it’s the best I can do. So I’m going to do it, and I will stand here doing it until it kills me. You’re going to die, too, someday. When will that be? Have you thought about it? What would you die for?

“Who I am is where I stand. Where I stand is where I fall. Stand with me. These people are terrified. Maybe we can help a little. Why not, just at the end, just be kind?”

Here is a lovely montage video I found.

Watch on YouTube

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1498767.html

Marvel!!!

Jenny and I watched a bunch of marvel movies in anticipation of Avengers: Infinity War, coming later this month. Jenny is a BIG fan of Thor and Chris Hemsworth so we watched the new Thor movie again. We'd seen it in the theater the last time she was here and again this time. We watched Civil War, both Guardians of the Galaxies and we saw Black Panther in the theater.

I guess Infinity Wars is supposed to end this cycle and we get new heroes but I have to be honest. I'm not sure I'm interested in new ones. These suit me fine.

I, of course, am a Tony/Steve shipper... these two are great in the movies and they're the only ones who make me want to write the least bit of smut these days and even then, I fear it's more schmoopy love than smut.

anyhow, marvel is the thing this week!!

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1496918.html

For the last couple of months, Larry and I have been watching Arrow on the CW. We had already been watching the other DC comic shows: The Flash, Supergirl, DC's Legends of Tomorrow(which is my favorite) as well as the new Black Lightning. But this was the first of them and we'd begun it once before and dropped it.

I love it. It's a bit darker than the others and Stephen Amell is very good at being the dark hero. He is also very nice to look at. The cast has a lot of familiar faces such as John Barrowman(Torchwood) and Paul Blackthorne(The Dresden Files).

Here is a little about the show from Wikipedia:
( Arrow )
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(TV_series)

Crossposts: https://alexcat.livejournal.com/1476079.html

This post is being backdated because I forgot to post on Friday and I wanted to make a post about this lovely miniseries that Larry and I just watched.

Genius is a series about the life of Albert Einstein. It chronicles his life from his school days until his death in 1955. Geoffrey Rush played Einstein for most of the series with Johnny Flynn playing the school and university age man. I read in a few reviews over at IMDB that people were upset that the man was shown as something beside JUST a scientist. I thought that was the best part. He was a man who loved women and had relationships with many. Also he was an activist against the Hydrogen bomb and war. He appeared on Eleanor Roosevelt's tv show in 1950 to speak against the H-bomb. J. Edgar Hoover wanted him investigated and deported but he never could get enough dirt on him to do so. Einstein spoke out against anti-Semitism and though he was Jewish, he did not practice any religion that I know of.

The series made him seem like a real person and not just the man who was the model for the stereotypical absent minded professor. He was better with other people than with his own children and loved his first wife very much though he refused to give her credit for all her aid in ideas. He married his first cousin the second time. He was many things and the series tried to portray them as best as it could in 10 hours.

I lves you with a quote: I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Crossposts: http://alexcat.livejournal.com/1422295.html

Today is fandom Friday and my first one is about Star Wars!

I adore the whole thing! I was 17 when it came out in 1977 and I remember the awe as I watched that Imperial Star Destroyer fly over! And Luke! OMG! He was the perfect boy - blond and cute with such a wistful look as he stood outside his home on that Tatooine evening.
From the opening:

I even got a Vader for Christmas!

I have read tons of the "legends" books and written a little fan fiction. I am not in love with Disney and their rehash movies. At least George did original stories. I miss his input. Much of the canon that Disney has dumped is better than ANY of The Force Awakens. It was a decent mvoie but really just a remake of A New Hope. Rogue One was impressive though.

Some photos of my favorites: