miscellany update
Nov. 9th, 2009 03:42 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dbskylerThe state of my fannish life:
--I am going to do Yuletide. I'm completely nervous about it, but, um yes. I can do this! I think. Well, I am committed to doing it, I just don't know if I can do it well. Anyway, I have decided the fandoms I will request and offer, which is the first step towards signing up. The "offer" list has changed back and forth a few times, but I think I've finally settled on which ones to do. The biggest deciding factors were: a) they are fandoms I like a lot, b) they are fandoms where I'm familiar with at least some fanfic already, and c) they are fandoms where I feel reasonably confident in my ability to write a large range of requests. But I'm still worried that I'll get a request that is outside my range, or outside my knowledge (one fandom has some canon that I don't know, but I checked and I can get access to it if I need to). The "request" list was easier -- those fandoms haven't changed -- but I've been spending a lot of time writing the prompts. It's so hard! Also, after all of my public agonizing over "what if I get a het/slash request?" I'm feeling guilty over the fact that my prompts don't allow for any slash writing. Het writers should be all right, but slashers are completely out of luck. Not my fault; these fandoms are from the '60's and '70's and they didn't have gay people on TV back then! Which is a travesty, and I fully support retroactively adding some gay and bi characters in, but not at the expense of slashing characters that in canon were fully heterosexual. Sorry, slashers, but anything else strikes me as OOC. I know others can see the slashy innuendo in these old shows, but, well, I can't. Not even between Kirk and Spock.
-- I've been unpacking boxes from my move, which means I have again come across my old videotape on "The Tom Baker Years" for Doctor Who that I found (and posted about) when I was packing. I watched it, but it was disappointing, which helps explain why I hadn't remembered that I owned it. Basically there are some clips that someone at the BBC chose, and they had Tom sit there and watch with no preparation and just say what came to mind. Which wasn't that interesting. Not Tom's fault, really; this was done in the early days when commentaries were new and everyone thought that "spontaneous reaction" was the way to go, but it's really not. It's much easier to relate interesting and relevant stories when you have the chance to actually think of some. I also think that whoever it was at the BBC who chose those clips did a pretty poor job. For example, there was a clip from "Genesis of the Daleks," but it wasn't the holding-the-wires scene, nor was it a scene with Davros. What was it? The bit at the beginning where the Doctor's talking to the Time Lord about the mission. Why? Who at the BBC thought that was a good clip to choose from that story? Seriously, guys. Massive fail. So, the videotape didn't even do a good job of letting me re-visit some of my old favorite stories. Good thing that "Masque of Mandragora" is coming out soon! Now, when do we get "Android Invasion"??
-- One good thing from unpacking: I found a box that had been in storage the whole time I was in New York, and possibly for longer than that, and what was inside? Over 70 Doctor Who books! Really, I counted! Now I knew that I owned some of the old Doctor Who novelizations and I knew they were in storage somewhere, but I really didn't think I owned quite this many. Yet here they all are in a box! Some amazing titles, too -- Harry Sullivan's War, Castrovalva, Genesis of the Daleks, The Highlanders . . . some I remember owning, and some I really don't think I've ever read. In fact, I strongly suspect that some of these books are actually from my brother's collection, which apparently got mixed in with my collection at some point. Isn't that a shame? I'll be sure to let him have them back as soon as he realizes I have them and asks me for them. After I've carefully examined each page for damage, of course. And if he doesn't ever ask about them and just keeps blithely assuming they're in storage? Well, they can be in storage at my place, can't they? : )
--I am going to do Yuletide. I'm completely nervous about it, but, um yes. I can do this! I think. Well, I am committed to doing it, I just don't know if I can do it well. Anyway, I have decided the fandoms I will request and offer, which is the first step towards signing up. The "offer" list has changed back and forth a few times, but I think I've finally settled on which ones to do. The biggest deciding factors were: a) they are fandoms I like a lot, b) they are fandoms where I'm familiar with at least some fanfic already, and c) they are fandoms where I feel reasonably confident in my ability to write a large range of requests. But I'm still worried that I'll get a request that is outside my range, or outside my knowledge (one fandom has some canon that I don't know, but I checked and I can get access to it if I need to). The "request" list was easier -- those fandoms haven't changed -- but I've been spending a lot of time writing the prompts. It's so hard! Also, after all of my public agonizing over "what if I get a het/slash request?" I'm feeling guilty over the fact that my prompts don't allow for any slash writing. Het writers should be all right, but slashers are completely out of luck. Not my fault; these fandoms are from the '60's and '70's and they didn't have gay people on TV back then! Which is a travesty, and I fully support retroactively adding some gay and bi characters in, but not at the expense of slashing characters that in canon were fully heterosexual. Sorry, slashers, but anything else strikes me as OOC. I know others can see the slashy innuendo in these old shows, but, well, I can't. Not even between Kirk and Spock.
-- I've been unpacking boxes from my move, which means I have again come across my old videotape on "The Tom Baker Years" for Doctor Who that I found (and posted about) when I was packing. I watched it, but it was disappointing, which helps explain why I hadn't remembered that I owned it. Basically there are some clips that someone at the BBC chose, and they had Tom sit there and watch with no preparation and just say what came to mind. Which wasn't that interesting. Not Tom's fault, really; this was done in the early days when commentaries were new and everyone thought that "spontaneous reaction" was the way to go, but it's really not. It's much easier to relate interesting and relevant stories when you have the chance to actually think of some. I also think that whoever it was at the BBC who chose those clips did a pretty poor job. For example, there was a clip from "Genesis of the Daleks," but it wasn't the holding-the-wires scene, nor was it a scene with Davros. What was it? The bit at the beginning where the Doctor's talking to the Time Lord about the mission. Why? Who at the BBC thought that was a good clip to choose from that story? Seriously, guys. Massive fail. So, the videotape didn't even do a good job of letting me re-visit some of my old favorite stories. Good thing that "Masque of Mandragora" is coming out soon! Now, when do we get "Android Invasion"??
-- One good thing from unpacking: I found a box that had been in storage the whole time I was in New York, and possibly for longer than that, and what was inside? Over 70 Doctor Who books! Really, I counted! Now I knew that I owned some of the old Doctor Who novelizations and I knew they were in storage somewhere, but I really didn't think I owned quite this many. Yet here they all are in a box! Some amazing titles, too -- Harry Sullivan's War, Castrovalva, Genesis of the Daleks, The Highlanders . . . some I remember owning, and some I really don't think I've ever read. In fact, I strongly suspect that some of these books are actually from my brother's collection, which apparently got mixed in with my collection at some point. Isn't that a shame? I'll be sure to let him have them back as soon as he realizes I have them and asks me for them. After I've carefully examined each page for damage, of course. And if he doesn't ever ask about them and just keeps blithely assuming they're in storage? Well, they can be in storage at my place, can't they? : )