a fool's musings

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Fool, said my muse to me,
look in thy heart and write...

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    Music
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2002-04-07 - 11:41 p.m.

tv talk, or, a big Buffy rant

Grr...LJ is being finicky again as I'm trying to look at my Friends page and also get the link to the conversation I want to reply to.

Stupid LJ.

Melymbrosia wrote some very interesting things about Buffy.

She starts with:
One of the signs of show-love-gone-sour is that people start proposing finales which kill everyone off. Yes, I'm aware that at least two shows have done this, and that it in fact fitted the premises and tones of these shows; but it doesn't fit every premise, and most of the time when I see it suggested, it seems to come out of a sense that the show is dead to the speaker, and so should be dead to everyone. It gives me a feeling of sour-grapes nastiness: if I can't have it, no one can. Salted-earth fandom.

Having been with the show since day one, and in the online fandom since right after "Becoming 2," I have to say I disagree with this in the case of BtVS.

We were proposing killing everyone off, or at least Buffy, Angel and Giles, as far back as early in Season 3 (and probably before that, but I wasn't around then). You could look it up, as Yogi Berra might say. Look for "catatonic on the couch" at google, with my name attached, and you'll find it. *g*

Since Buffy has died and come back twice already (three times if you count "The Wish", which I don't), I can honestly say I don't think a "Buffy dies" finale would have the impact it once did.

That doesn't mean I don't want it to be torturous in the extreme, even though I'm not as devoted to the show as I once was.

My favorite ending scenario, aside from the whole premise of "Normal Again" is Buffy dying and then the very last scene would be Xander and Willow, or Wesley and Cordy, approaching a fifteen year old girl after school, before the Watchers could get her, and explaining her destiny as "the one girl in all the world." (though we don't know if Buffy's "slayer token" was passed completely to Kendra and that her subsequent death(s) won't call new ones. So far that's the ME party line, but they've lied before.)

but I've also seen people argue that ending with Buffy's death--or Buffy's, Xander's, Willow's, and Giles'--is the logical outcome of the series. Slayers die young. Buffy and her friends are fighting a losing and neverending battle against forces much bigger than they are.

That's pretty much the reason I wanted to see it -- because I *don't* believe that, in the end, Buffy is so much more special than any other Slayer.

I'm glad Fray came out, since it proves that Buffy is not "The Last Slayer," which is a favored speculated end of the show for some fans on atbvs.

I think it's overly hubristic to believe that any one person can eliminate evil from the world.

Sarah T. pretty much sums up my position on this question in her response to Mely's post.

Anyhow, I wrote I want to write about the difference between fans who've been with the show since the beginning [or thereabouts] and those who've come in last or this season. Or possibly even in season 4, though if I'd come to BtVS is S4, I don't think I'd have stuck around after "Goodbye Iowa" or, er, one of the other Initiative eps that I've tried so hard to repress...

And in response, Melymbrosia wrote: So the middle ground between those who have watched from the beginning and those who started watching S4 on would be ... those of us who started watching in S3?

I don't the think the breakdown is as simple as early adopters vs. late. I've seen people who started watching with S4 trash the current season, and people who started watching in S1 rave about it.

I don't think it's really that simple either, but I think you can use the season a person started watching the show as a gauge of what their expectations of it are, and what they get out of it.

I know a lot of ficsters didn't start watching until late last season or this season, in anticipation of the Spuffy.

I've heard people gush over the delicious darkness of it all, when wallowing in the dark was never ever the point (see "Lie to Me").

I know some B/A fans stopped watching when he left.

But in general, it seems to me that the show was never about *darkness* - it was about finding hope within the darkness, fighting back against things you were told couldn't be fought.

I realize Buffy's depression is a natural consequence of everything she's been through, all six seasons of misery and pain. But the show itself seems to be wallowing in the fucked-up-ness of it all.

There's no one whose life is on an even keel, no one who can pull them all out of this self-imposed misery (in the case of Xander and Willow), and their world has shrunk to just them.

In the first three seasons, and early in Season 4, we saw them interacting with the world around them - the high school, the rival high school, the boys at Crestwood College, even the kids in their classes at US*D, etc.

Starting last season and most of the way through this one, we hardly see the main characters interact with people who aren't the other main characters or the MOTW.

So there's not this sense of them against the world - there's hardly any sense of the world at all.

I'm the first to admit I have issues with the writing, and have since season 4. I think Joss sold out his vision by giving up the metaphor (what the hell did the Initiative stand for?) in favor of a romantic merry-go-round and SFX. The romantic relationships were ever the least interesting part of BtVS, and now they're the main focus.

Buffy has become more like everything else on television, and less like the unique show it once was.

I think people who came in late, and see the early episodes, are surprised at how tight the core Scoobies used to be, and how cheesy the show was (and I adore the cheesiness of it). Those two things, along with the tight writing and deep emotional resonance the storylines had (both on the surface and the metaphorical level), were what made the show stand head and shoulders above most of the dreck that litters the prime time schedule.

As it moved away from that, "growing up is hard" theme to... whatever the hell the theme is now (Resurrection screws with your mental health? Sleeping with vampires makes for great sex but bad relationships? You too can find the road to redemption when through operant conditioning and a very selfish love of a good, yet fucked up woman?), it's lost that resonance. I don't relate to any of the characters anymore. Willow is a poster child for an addiction that came out of nowhere (and one day I will write about what a mess that whole decision was), and there's nothing in the least sympathetic about it.

Tara and Anya are pretty much the only characters I still like and feel for.

The show has lost the light touch it once displayed, has made the characters incredibly self-absorbed and almost completely unrecognizable from their earlier incarnations, in way I don't always find to ring true, as well as mostly unlikable most of the time.

And this has turned into show bashing, which wasn't at all what I'd planned.

I just don't see the show I loved in the current incarnation, and I don't think it has to be this way. I think that even though the innocence is gone, and the characters have become jaded, and saving the world is a quarterly occurrence, there are still lots of opportunity for comedy, albeit blacker comedy than was once present (though Xander is the perfect vehicle for bitter black comedy if ever there was one); the writers have lost their deft comedic touch (or most of them never had it. I understand, through hearsay, that Joss is hands=off now, where he used to break all stories and rewrite all scripts, so that could be part of the difference, the hollowness I feel at the heart of the show). Giles's absence could be another factor, as well as the remaking of Spike from villain to love interest in the least intriguing fashion ever.

Hmm... This is in no way a good articulation of my theory, so pay no attention to it. It's just a rant.

Feel free to comment, but be warned - spoilers for tonight's Alias abound, and I discuss a very silly dream I had last night.

~victoria



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2002-04-07 - 1:35 p.m.

blogger insider, round 2

Saving me from having to think of something witty or interesting to write, here are my answers to Leslie's questions for round two of Blogger Insider:

1. How long have you been writing?

I've been writing since I learned how to hold a pencil. So, uh, probably close to 27 or 28 years. When I was in grade school, I had my dad's old Underwood typewriter and I'd sit at my desk and type poems and stories.

2. What got you started or who first inspired you?

I read a lot as a child (still read a lot, though not so much lately, sigh). Trixie Beldens, Nancy Drews, SE Hinton - all the usual suspects.

I read the Narnia books young, and then I read Lord of the Rings when I was 8 or 9, and I decided I wanted to create my own world, just like Tolkien had. I have a trunk full of bad, half-finished fantasy novels that are sort of an amalgamation of Tolkien and Star Wars.

3. Why fanfic?

Good question, and one my family and some friends ask every day. *G*

I still sometimes am not sure. I think it's just that the temptation to "fix" or make conform to *my* vision someone else's toys is too much to resist.

I used to make up scenarios in my head as a kid, where, say, Jo didn't refuse Laurie's proposal in Little Women, or in time-honored fashion, where *I* was Han Solo's smuggling partner etc.

When I got into online fandom, I was at first highly skeptical and dismissive of fanfiction. "What utter rubbish it must be!" I thought, and a quick dip into the deep pool that is Buffy fanfiction proved me right. I scurried away and didn't come back for about a year.

Then I started reading selectively, seeing that there *were* good writers writing fanfic.

Then I saw the X-Men movie, and I had to write my own version of 'Logan comes back for the dogtag (i.e, Marie)' and I couldn't stop. I found I had all these stories to tell about these two people, and the people around them.

4. What hooked you in to X-Men? (Personally I got hooked on the comics in college!)

I'm going to be shallow. Hugh Jackman's chest. And back. And possibly his ass.

*beg*

I'd watched the original cartoon ages ago, and though I enjoyed it, it struck me as strangely humorless.

When I saw the movie, it had good actors, a sense of humor, and nice overarching air of melancholy and doom (it was lent weight by the teaser with young Magneto being shepherded into Auschwitz, I think, and that atmosphere lingered throughout the film, offsetting the silliness of mutants and superheroes), as well as the aforementioned incredible ass, chest and back belonging to Mr. Jackman.

The chemistry between Jackman's Wolverine and Paquin's Rogue was palpable. The air seemed to vibrate between them onscreen, and that hit me right in the gut, and in the heart. I really felt a visceral connection with Rogue.

Also, James Marsden is adorably cute, don't you think? Have you seen his mouth? That mouth was made for naughty things that you'd never see onscreen outside of porn.

And watching Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen trade barbs was fabulous. I could watch the two of them all day.

5. Where do you get your poetry inspirations?

Eek. You read the poetry? ::hides in shame::

Huh. Being depressed in high school. Feeling like an outsider who had no friends.

Lots of Cure and Smiths music, and later on, Nine Inch Nails.

Here's a question that so far my Buffy-addled friends have not been able to answer...

6. What is up with Buffy the Vampire Slayer? What's the attraction?

Hmm... these days? Not much. I think the show lost its grounding vision when Joss Whedon decided to play with sci-fic/James Bond type stuff in Season 4, with the dreaded, and dreadful, Initiative arc.

But in the beginning, it was a great show about a teenage girl with a destiny, and her ragtag band of friends who helped her save the world. They might have been losers to the cool kids in school, but they were the real deal when it came to fighting evil, even without superpowers.

The writing was sharp and funny, the metaphorical theme of "High School is Hell" resonated with me, and the writers handled the metaphors well. The show used to work on two, or sometimes three levels as Buffy fought evil monsters that also represented real world problems.

7. Cats, dogs or none?

I don't have a pet, but I'm a dog person.

8. What do you love best and like least about NYC? If I was visiting what three things would you show me first?

I love the fastpacedness (it's a word now, dammit!) of it - the feeling that you're living in the fastest city in the world (though I understand that's probably Tokyo), the place where things happen and if you spend too much time navel-gazing (one of my many faults), you'll miss out. And I hate missing out.

I hate being jampacked into a small space with a ton of people. I especially hate the stupid people who do things like pull the emergency brake on a crowded subway for no freaking reason.

What three things would I show you first? Hmm... Ground Zero, Yankee Stadium, the fountain at Central Park.

9. Favorite food? Why?

Oh god, how sad is it that this is the toughest question on the list?

I love food.

Um... ice cream. Plain old chocolate and vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and some sprinkles.

Because it's good any time. And it makes me feel good.

10. Favorite Movie/genre and why?

Favorite movie? Casablanca. Because it's CASABLANCA and the originator of all the great lines that became clichés. It has everything - romance, action, intrigue, handsome men, beautiful women...

I'm a fan of the screwball comedy, and I mourn the fact that filmmakers today can't seem to make a good one.

I like action movies and period dramas.

A quick list of my favorite movies:

Casablanca
It Happened One Night
Princess Bride
Star Wars (the original)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
LA Confidential
Little Women (with Winona Ryder)
Lord of the Rings
The Matrix
X-Men

Of course, all top ten lists are subject to change without notice, at whim.

Whew, that's enough of me talking about me.

So what do you think of me? *g*

What? The old jokes are the best.

~victoria

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2002-04-06 - 9:27 p.m.

best laid plans...

Okay, so my plans for today didn't quite work out the way I thought. I slept way later than expected [typically, when staying with my parents, they somehow manage to wake me at what they would consider a "reasonable" time, even when there's no pressing reason for me to be up, but this morning, and last week, too, they let me sleep 'til almost 1pm. Thanks!] and then shopping took a bit longer than expected [stupid Wal-Mart], though I did buy more bras that resemble the one I really liked.

I think my mission in life is to find the perfect bra.

The problem is that whenever I think I've found it, the company that makes it stops making it.

Grr...

Men have no idea how difficult it can be to find a good bra, and without a good bra, you might as well stay home.

/digression

So I did answer some email this evening, and how sad is it that writing 25 emails in one shot doesn't even make a *dent* in what you "owe" people.

Sigh.

I feel like shit because I've fallen down on the beta job for Jen, and she always turns my stuff around quickly.

I have to get better at that.

But the thing that kept me offline a little longer than planned was this:

More Night of the Dead Living.

Woohoo!

Unbetaed, of course. It's just a snippet. DD, beware. *g*

***

Jean caught up with Rogue on the back porch. She was rocking the baby, doing that peculiar bounce-walk that Jean could never quite get the hang of with her sister's kids.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

Rogue whirled, startled. "Jesus, Jean, you scared me half to death."

Jean smiled apologetically. "Logan was ready to gut Remy just now for upsetting you."

Rogue laughed bitterly. "See, that's what I mean."

"He just wants you to be happy," Jean reiterated.

Rogue closed her eyes and swallowed hard. "I know. Do you think I don't know how he feels about me?" Jean opened her mouth, but Rogue kept talking as she paced. "'Sweet little Marie.' 'She who must be protected.' I've been trying for the past six years to get him to see me as an adult, as a *woman*, but he *still* doesn't get it." She stopped and turned to Jean, her expression full of hope. "Maybe you could talk to him? Let him know I'm not seventeen anymore and that there's nothing wrong with -- I mean, if he wants--" She trailed off, biting her lip.

Jean snorted delicately. "Nobody talks to Logan. Not unless he wants to be spoken to. You know that."

Rogue sighed. "Yeah, but," she shifted Sean from one arm to the other, careful not to dislodge the bottle from which he drank, "he'll listen to you."

Jean pursed her lips. "You think that he, that I--"

"I know how he feels about you, too." Jean's eyebrows rose. She thought the younger woman's bitterness over Logan's flirtatious attentions to her had dissipated over the years. They'd become good friends, teammates, and as Rogue had gotten older, Jean had never picked up any residual resentment from her. "I don't hate you. I mean, I did when I was younger. But I don't now. I know you're not going to leave Scott. But-- I also know how Logan sees you, and how he sees me, and I don't understand why it hasn't changed." She handed Jean the bottle and turned away, ostensibly to burp the baby, but Jean knew she was trying to get her emotions under control.

"Did you ever think that maybe it -- he -- has?" Jean asked gently. "That the thoughts and feelings you have are, well, almost eight years out of date?"

Rogue spun so quickly that Jean worried a little about Sean developing whiplash. "What?"

"Unless there's something I don't know about, the last time Logan touched you was on the Statue of Liberty, right?" Rogue nodded. "Well, then. That was almost eight years ago. So, you've grown and changed since then. Did you ever think that maybe Logan has, as well?"

"I -- I--"

"Think about it," Jean said lightly, putting a comforting hand on her shoulder. "I'm going to find Scott."

She left Rogue standing on the porch, lost in thought.

***

That's all.

I think things are coming to a close. I've marked up the NotDL transcript so I know which conversations I want to use. Things are proceeding apace. I'm eating ice cream with whipped cream. Life is good. *g*

I've updated The Muse's Fool, adding the two No Day But Today stories.

In perusing the feedback I've gotten so far, I have two things to say:

1. Pain. It's in the subject line and the story title. I mean it when I say it. If you see two stories entitled "Joy" and "Pain," odds are good that the one entitled "Pain" isn't going to be happy or fluffy.

2. Yes, I did let my penchant for melodrama have full rein when I wrote these two fics. Yes, they are incredibly mushy, even the deathfic. Occasionally, you gotta let the dogs out, you know? Otherwise, they become angry and demand tribute by turning every story into some sort of ridiculous melodramatic soap opera, complete with moustache-twirling villains and main characters who cry at the drop of a hat, and we wouldn't want that, would we?

I thought not. *g*

Quibbles and nits? you know what to do.

Happy Birthday, Meg!

Congratulations, Vanessa & Pierre!

~victoria
[current mood: satisfied]
[current music: Mets-Braves]

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2002-04-05 - 2:00 p.m.

alt.fandom

Seema wrote:
But I wonder if it's too much. In addition to all the other fannish work we do, throw the updating of the blog onto the pile, not to mention the endless loop of meta-discussions as one blog links into the other and if you miss one day of reading, all of a sudden you're out of the fanfic loop.

Since most of the lists I'm on don't have the big meta-discussions, which I adore, I don't think it is too much.

I understand the pressure of updating. God, I feel guilty if I don't update more than once a day, which is really kind of ridiculous, isn't it? I mean, jeez. But I know how much I look forward to clicking on someone's diary and seeing an update. I *haunt* them. I really do.

Sigh.

I have no life.

But that's because I'm used to the newsgroup thing, where I'd have atbvs open in a window all day and read and respond a lot.

It is a lot of work sometimes, to come up with something more than, "I'm tired and I want to go home", which you know, is why I stopped keeping a regular handwritten journal a couple years ago. I mean, okay, that was not for public consumption *at all*, but still, after a while (er, 9.5 years), I just got tired of it.

Diaryland/LJ/Blogger is definitely more performance art than simply keeping a diary (I refuse to call it "journaling." Stupid verbing of nouns. Hate that.), but it still, in the end is for me, about me.

And that's a different entry.

So yeah, it's extra work on top of reading/writing/betaing fic, but it's more enjoyable for me than reading reams of gushy listmail that just squee over pretty boys or what have you.

I learn a lot about interesting people, and how their minds work, and how they write, and that fascinates me.

More Seema:
And on that same note, is it necessary to have a blog if you have even the slightest intention of being a BNF? I don't know that many Trekkers who have blogs - with the exception of those listed in my links - but I've noticed that other fandoms like Smallville, X-Men, BtVS - blogs abound. Anyone who is someone has a blog. And yeah - blogs drive traffic. Is there anyone here who gets more hits on a page that isn't their blog?

Hmm... I suppose it's probably just one more step in the BNF ladder, but really, I don't think it's the main thrust. It's not for me, anyway.

In Te's blog, she discussed cliques, sort of, and latching onto the BNFs when she was a newbie. I guess... that mindset is foreign to me.

When I began in fandom, I knew no one. I let my posts/responses/arguments speak for me, and I made a lot of online friends. Not the chat every night til 2am type friends, but still, people I could email with offgroup or speak to in chat or join a social mailing list with.

Fic intensified that. I knew one person in X-Men Movieverse when I started, but through posting stories and getting/sending feedback, I made more friends. I mean, yeah, it was always a huge charge to get feedback from Diebin or Donna, or later on, Jenn, because they were the big names in the fandom, but I didn't go looking to be their new best buddy, you know.

In the comments over in Te's blog, someone wrote:
when I first started reading people's ljs (months before I got my own) I made a conscious effort to figure out who the "hubs" were. I.e., whose journals do many people link to? Who are the most-often-thanked betas? Who's most prolific? Most admired?

I find that very interesting.

This is my response:
I admit, I don't get the starfucking attitude, or the BNF fear/worship.

Yes, there are writers who make me rend my garments in envy of their writing prowess, but the rest of it? It's bullshit.

It's all bullshit.

I read LJs and diaries that I find interesting. People who have something interesting to say, or say it in an interesting manner. And I have no qualms about posting a comment to someone I don't know, if they've said something that sparks a response.

I'm treating all of blogland like one big multi-topic Usenet group on fandom and writing and it's huge fun. I've managed to ingratiate myself to enough people to get linked a bunch of places, but I think my ubiquity might also have to do with what I'm saying in my own diary, as well as who I know. I find it very interesting that most of the people who link me are from Smallville, where I have no presence whatsoever. Some I know from other places, but most... not. So to me, it's interesting to see that you can still be heard in Fandom even if you're not a big name writer.

And honestly, it's nice flying under the radar. Less chance of being hit by nasty flying objects. *g*

Seema again...
But at the same time, it's fun to have a public soapbox to stand up on and just generally broadcast to the world.

That's my favorite part.

But when is enough enough? There's been talk that the blog culture is sucking life away from mailing lists. Discussions and reviews re the latest shows make it into the blogs now.

Well... from what I understand, everyone swore easy access to mailing lists was going to be the death of Usenet.

::looks at Usenet, still going strong::

See how that turned out?

For someone like me, burned out on the rancor in a newsgroup, and not particularly interested in the *fic*, but still very interested in sharing/discussing my thoughts on the *show*, my blog is the ideal place to do that, because it's very liberating.

I don't have 3000 unread messages the morning after a new episode airs. I can state what I liked or didn't like, comment on Xander's hair, and if someone wants to respond, they do. There's no obligation, whereas, as an active participant on a list, I might feel compelled to respond to posts or to at least read through the majority of stuff before posting my thoughts, so I didn't repeat something.

It saves space in my inbox, and allows me to roam freely from Buffy to Smallville to Gilmore Girls to Evolution all in the same entry without having to join five different lists and write posts to all of them.

And I'm not a lurker, by nature. I think everyone wants to know what I think. And even if they don't, I'm gonna tell 'em anyway. *snerk* So if I didn't have the diary, I'd either bore my friends to death or join yet *more* mailing lists to get the discussion I crave.

WIPs are posted in this space, not to mention the occasional tempest in a teacup brewed. About those WIPs - could those be considered 'pre-posting' publicity jaunts? You know - throwing out a crumb for the readers?

That's one thing I really like, though I tend not to read most WIPs in diaries. I post mine to *help me* in the editing process. Somehow, seeing the thing in html, up there, helps me catch errors. And other people catch stuff I missed. So it's all good.

It's also a nice way to let people know you're not dead, you really *are* working on the next story.

[...]

In a way, blogworld is incredibly small and occasionally claustrophobic - you see how people know each other by the number of links running down the side of the blog - author's notes are no longer enough to figure out who the BNFs in fandom are.

Huh. Again, I don't see it that way. I linked to people I thought were interesting. If they link back to me, I'm geeked, but it's not necessary.

I wonder if I don't have a more laissez-faire attitude simply because I look at blogland as whole, as a larger version of a newsgroup, say, alt.fandom.glass_onion or something, instead of individual little pieces. Some people will never respond to me. Some people will link me right away. Some people I'll click with, some I won't.

As long as they're interesting, they'll have a spot on my reading list.

Because it's all about me, and keeping me entertained. Write, dammit! Write more! Entertain me, people!

Ahem.

Seema:
The cynic in me has to wonder about the journals with 80 million other journals linked - are those actually a daily read? A once in a while read?

I do check all the blogs/friends on my lists, some of them multiple times a day. One, because I'm bored at work (one of my bosses pointed out today how there's really not all that much work for me to do during the day. I neither confirmed nor denied. *g*), and two, because I love to read and find stuff out about people, about fandom, about writing, about almost anything.

Seema:
Or is there some kind of measure - that when you reach a certain number of reciprocal links you've "made it" as a blogger? Seriously - can you measure an author's popularity by their blogs? And how much of that fic popularity is transcended into the blogs - ie is a witty journalist the same as the writer in a particular fandom? Because in the daily blog rounds, it's obvious who the "in crowd" is - and I wonder how much our mutual public gushing contributes to that. Or doesn't contribute, ie does familiarity breed contempt?

Huh. That's an interesting observation.

As I said above, I don't believe I have much presence on the fic side in any fandom but X-Men movieverse, and I only really read fic in 4-5 fandoms total, yet I'm linked to a bunch of people in a whole bunch of different fandoms, from BBS to Trek to Smallville.

So to me, the blog can also be a place where the writer über alles mentality doesn't take hold. I mean, yes, to a degree, it's still about the writing - the way we communicate - as much as what it is we're saying, but people can be fabulous diarists and crap-ass fic writers. They can be incredible reviewers or raconteurs and if we were limited to mailing lists etc., we'd never know it. I think if I've made any mark on Fandom as a whole [as opposed to my particular fandoms] it's because of my writing *about* writing, rather than my writing itself, in the fic way.

And I know a couple of people who aren't prolific fic writers, or who are just lurkers in various places, who have diaries. It gives them a chance to speak out in a forum with no real rules, and no rigid hierarchy.

And the reverse is true as well. There are some wonderful fic writers - writers I admire - yet I think their journals are boring as all get-out.

Or am I just wearing rose-colored glasses about this whole thing? Blogging has been very good to me. I've met lots of interesting, funny, talented people I never would have if I hadn't gotten this diary.

And at first, yeah, it's due to being linked to someone who knows someone else, but at some point, you've got to be interesting on your own, or people aren't going to come back.

Case in point, the only reason I wound up on zendom was because Jenn linked to me, and Seema knows Jenn.

And as Liz mentions in my guestbook, Y'know, yours is one of the funky blogs which I wouldn't have discovered if not for the 6 degrees of blogger separation, since we don't really overlap fandoms.

So without diaries etc., I'd have missed out on some really interesting fandom interactions. I'd never have known Liz or Lori or Seema or Vera or ... the list just goes on and on.

Teague had this to say on the subject:
That is, the blogs I see linked to most often, are linked to from people in many different fandoms, some of them being fandoms that writer has never, to my knowledge, written in! I don't even read fanfiction in the major fandom of some of the blogs on my favourites list. [...]

My point was, that there are certain blog writers/owners whose readership extends past fandom boundaries, simply because they are well-written, and the things they discuss have applications or parallels beyond what may be intended. By well-written I don't always mean the prose either, sometimes people just have an interesting or compelling "voice" in their blog entries.

In my experience, this is true.

I mean, maybe there's sucking up to BNFs even when they have nothing to say, but I'll read (and respond) to *anyone* who has something interesting to say, and drop someone who doesn't, regardless of their status in fandom.

Hmm... I think I had more to say on the BNF thing, but my boss is back from his meetings and he's all hyper. ::shudder::

Time to do that two hours' work they pay me for.

As always, comments are welcome.

~victoria
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2002-04-05 - 11:25 a.m.

Friday Five

The Friday Five

1. What are the first things that you do in the morning to start your day? On a weekday? Hit the snooze four or five times. Pee. Brush teeth, wash face, comb hair, put in contacts, dress, scramble out the door.

2. What are the last things that you do at night before going to bed? Shower, brush teeth, copy fic files onto diskette to take to work. Check, e-mail one last time. Make sure alarm is set correctly. Pee.

3. What daily routine have you recently added to your day? AIMing with Beth and Jenn. Well, recent if you cconsider last summer recent. *snerk*

4. What routine do you wish you get rid of? Besides having to work for a living? Having to commute. I wish I could just beam in to work.

5. What's the one thing that makes you feel like something is missing if you don't do it some point within your day? Get online. The whole magilla - email, blog reading, AIM, writing/reading fic. I'm an internet junkie. I admit it.

More interesting stuff later.

~victoria
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The painting is "Boreas" by John William Waterhouse. Again, not a muse, but I like her. She suits the color scheme.

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