New Tastes
Well another year has gone by and I still love fan fic as much as ever, but I find that my tastes are changing. I'm starting to lose my *zing* (to quote Judi Dench).
Here's where I stand so far on my fandoms...
Smallville
Unfortunately, I've basically left this fandom behind. I still haven't finished watching all the DVDs I bought (I actually got into the fan fiction after only seeing a couple of episodes of the show). I sat down to watch some Season 2 with my roommate in January and that's when I started to realize how ridiculous some of the show is (for example, the inane things that would come out of John's and Martha's mouths). My roommate and I had fun giggling over it, but without the all of the slashy clex undertones SV just isn't worth watching for me. And now that Michael Rosenbaum is leaving the show, there REALLY isn't any reason to watch. Lex MADE that show.
I still like to re-read some of my fav clex stories to cheer me up, but I haven't looked at any in months.
Harry Potter
I love the world of HP and I always will. But I haven't been able to find much new fan fic that I can read. This is mostly attributed to the fact that I haven't read Deathly Hallows yet. I bought it at midnight at Chapters with all the other hardcore HP fans last summer, but I've just been too busy to read it. And now I've found it's been so long since I've read the actual HP novels (instead of the fan fic), that I should probably brush up on them before I tackle the final book. I think part of me is resisting reading the novel because I don't want to the world that has captivated me for so many years to be over.
Besides, in my heart of hearts I want Neville to be the REAL Boy-Who-Lived and to save the day. Then he'll run off with Snape and live happily ever after :).
I know there is still some excellent HP fan fic out there that I haven't read... but I have no urge to seek it out, for fear that it will give away too much from the last book. I've already found out far too much from reading articles about Dumbledore's sexuality. (Go Dumbledore!)
Buffy
No, I still haven't exhausted my Buffy love yet. Over the years I've had a fasincation with each of the characters at one point or another. It started out with a love for Willow and a healthy appreciation for Buffy and Angel. I've since grown to hate the Buffy character a bit (she was so self-centred, I don't care if the series is named after her), and gain a deep appreciation for characters like Xander, Giles, Tara, Spike and even Andrew.
I recently re-watched "Once More With Feeling" which I really disliked the first time I watched it. I think I originally was annoyed that BtVS had jumped on the 'musical episode once the show starts going downhill' bandwagon that had accosted so many great shows before (Xena, anyone?). But now watching it in detail years later, I realize how wrong I was. True, not all of the songs are that great and Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice gets really tinny towards the end. But in retrospect, seeing how all of the dark plot lines were furthered under a thin veneer of jazz hands and razzle-dazzle is pretty awe-inspiring. Furthermore, Anya, Giles and Tara have really great voices and excellent songs in the episode too.
I've since put most of the songs on my phone and each morning I walk through my neighbourhood singing about fiends from hell and magical spells. It's pretty special :D.
New Fandoms
What I'm finding most frustrating is that whenever I start to like a series now, there's either not a lot of fan fiction about it or the pairings that I like don't get a lot of attention. For example, this year I've discovered a couple of new fandoms/media worthy of fandoms, but they are seriously neglected.
Hairspray
I actually didn't see this movie until it was on DVD. I hadn't even heard of it before, but my sister asked for it for Xmas. We sat down to watch it together and I was enthralled. The movie was so bright and visually appealing and the Tracey character was fascinating to watch. And I really liked the hint of romance between Maybelle and Corny, and I do mean a hint. In the last dance number of the movie, they dance together and Queen Latifah gives James Marsden a look that can only be characterized as come-hither. Unfortunately, when I went on the net in search of Hairspray fan fic and "Cornbell" in particular I found a handful of stories, most of which hadn't been continued at all.
Blood Ties
This year also brought the discovery and loss of another new series (it was like Firefly all over again - although not as intense). Blood Ties was a television show about a strong, witty detective named Vicki and a hot, seductive vampire animator called Henry Fitzroy. These two team up to solve preternatural crimes. No, the premise wasn't entirely original (I don't know what it is about vampires and solving crimes but it reminded me a bit of Forever Knight and Angel). But what was great about Blood Ties was it was a vampire detective show done extremely well. The characters didn't lose the humour of the situation and didn't become anywhere as angsty as Buffy and Angel.
Too bad that almost as soon as I discovered this series I found out that it has since been cancelled after two short seasons.
Little Britain - Sebastian and the Prime Minister
If you have any Giles-love then you need to see the skits from the show Little Britain that feature Anthony Head as the Prime Minister. The premise of the skits is that the Prime Minister (Giles :D) is oblivious to the fact that his flamboyant aide Sebastian is in love with him (even though Sebastian claims he isn't gay). The interactions between these two characters is hilarious and kinda sexy too. At one point Sebastian blackmails Giles into dusting his office while wearing a studded black leather thong :O. It's not to be missed.
The funny thing is that you almost never see the subtext featured on tv, but these sketches basically are slash. I guess because it's "comedy" the show can actually deal with man-on-man love in primetime. However, I only found one story about this pair - I guess most fans figure that all of Sebastian's issues have been dealt with on the show. This is another show I discovered after the finale.
Never Been Kissed
I recently got the chance to re-watch this cute romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore. This movie is full of possible juicy fan fiction pairings. Drew's character Josie (an undercover reporter posing as a high school student) has a quasi-inappropriate relationship with her hot English teacher who thinks she's a 17 year-old. Josie has another potentially inappropriate relationship with the hottest boy in school (who actually is 17). And her 23 year-old brother also enrolls in high school and dates a 16 year-old gymnast... this movie is full of issues to be explored.
I have found some well-written stories on these topics, but there are only few because this movie was produced 8 years ago. And some links are dead :(.
My fandoms are getting older (as am I) and the "new" pieces of media catching my attention don't have enough fans to produce a generous array of stories.... This is pretty depressing. If anyone has any recommendations about the fandoms I've mentioned here, please leave a comment. Give me hope!
Here's where I stand so far on my fandoms...
Smallville
Unfortunately, I've basically left this fandom behind. I still haven't finished watching all the DVDs I bought (I actually got into the fan fiction after only seeing a couple of episodes of the show). I sat down to watch some Season 2 with my roommate in January and that's when I started to realize how ridiculous some of the show is (for example, the inane things that would come out of John's and Martha's mouths). My roommate and I had fun giggling over it, but without the all of the slashy clex undertones SV just isn't worth watching for me. And now that Michael Rosenbaum is leaving the show, there REALLY isn't any reason to watch. Lex MADE that show.
I still like to re-read some of my fav clex stories to cheer me up, but I haven't looked at any in months.
Harry Potter
I love the world of HP and I always will. But I haven't been able to find much new fan fic that I can read. This is mostly attributed to the fact that I haven't read Deathly Hallows yet. I bought it at midnight at Chapters with all the other hardcore HP fans last summer, but I've just been too busy to read it. And now I've found it's been so long since I've read the actual HP novels (instead of the fan fic), that I should probably brush up on them before I tackle the final book. I think part of me is resisting reading the novel because I don't want to the world that has captivated me for so many years to be over.
Besides, in my heart of hearts I want Neville to be the REAL Boy-Who-Lived and to save the day. Then he'll run off with Snape and live happily ever after :).
I know there is still some excellent HP fan fic out there that I haven't read... but I have no urge to seek it out, for fear that it will give away too much from the last book. I've already found out far too much from reading articles about Dumbledore's sexuality. (Go Dumbledore!)
Buffy
No, I still haven't exhausted my Buffy love yet. Over the years I've had a fasincation with each of the characters at one point or another. It started out with a love for Willow and a healthy appreciation for Buffy and Angel. I've since grown to hate the Buffy character a bit (she was so self-centred, I don't care if the series is named after her), and gain a deep appreciation for characters like Xander, Giles, Tara, Spike and even Andrew.
I recently re-watched "Once More With Feeling" which I really disliked the first time I watched it. I think I originally was annoyed that BtVS had jumped on the 'musical episode once the show starts going downhill' bandwagon that had accosted so many great shows before (Xena, anyone?). But now watching it in detail years later, I realize how wrong I was. True, not all of the songs are that great and Sarah Michelle Gellar's voice gets really tinny towards the end. But in retrospect, seeing how all of the dark plot lines were furthered under a thin veneer of jazz hands and razzle-dazzle is pretty awe-inspiring. Furthermore, Anya, Giles and Tara have really great voices and excellent songs in the episode too.
I've since put most of the songs on my phone and each morning I walk through my neighbourhood singing about fiends from hell and magical spells. It's pretty special :D.
New Fandoms
What I'm finding most frustrating is that whenever I start to like a series now, there's either not a lot of fan fiction about it or the pairings that I like don't get a lot of attention. For example, this year I've discovered a couple of new fandoms/media worthy of fandoms, but they are seriously neglected.
Hairspray
I actually didn't see this movie until it was on DVD. I hadn't even heard of it before, but my sister asked for it for Xmas. We sat down to watch it together and I was enthralled. The movie was so bright and visually appealing and the Tracey character was fascinating to watch. And I really liked the hint of romance between Maybelle and Corny, and I do mean a hint. In the last dance number of the movie, they dance together and Queen Latifah gives James Marsden a look that can only be characterized as come-hither. Unfortunately, when I went on the net in search of Hairspray fan fic and "Cornbell" in particular I found a handful of stories, most of which hadn't been continued at all.
Blood Ties
This year also brought the discovery and loss of another new series (it was like Firefly all over again - although not as intense). Blood Ties was a television show about a strong, witty detective named Vicki and a hot, seductive vampire animator called Henry Fitzroy. These two team up to solve preternatural crimes. No, the premise wasn't entirely original (I don't know what it is about vampires and solving crimes but it reminded me a bit of Forever Knight and Angel). But what was great about Blood Ties was it was a vampire detective show done extremely well. The characters didn't lose the humour of the situation and didn't become anywhere as angsty as Buffy and Angel.
Too bad that almost as soon as I discovered this series I found out that it has since been cancelled after two short seasons.
Little Britain - Sebastian and the Prime Minister
If you have any Giles-love then you need to see the skits from the show Little Britain that feature Anthony Head as the Prime Minister. The premise of the skits is that the Prime Minister (Giles :D) is oblivious to the fact that his flamboyant aide Sebastian is in love with him (even though Sebastian claims he isn't gay). The interactions between these two characters is hilarious and kinda sexy too. At one point Sebastian blackmails Giles into dusting his office while wearing a studded black leather thong :O. It's not to be missed.
The funny thing is that you almost never see the subtext featured on tv, but these sketches basically are slash. I guess because it's "comedy" the show can actually deal with man-on-man love in primetime. However, I only found one story about this pair - I guess most fans figure that all of Sebastian's issues have been dealt with on the show. This is another show I discovered after the finale.
Never Been Kissed
I recently got the chance to re-watch this cute romantic comedy starring Drew Barrymore. This movie is full of possible juicy fan fiction pairings. Drew's character Josie (an undercover reporter posing as a high school student) has a quasi-inappropriate relationship with her hot English teacher who thinks she's a 17 year-old. Josie has another potentially inappropriate relationship with the hottest boy in school (who actually is 17). And her 23 year-old brother also enrolls in high school and dates a 16 year-old gymnast... this movie is full of issues to be explored.
I have found some well-written stories on these topics, but there are only few because this movie was produced 8 years ago. And some links are dead :(.
My fandoms are getting older (as am I) and the "new" pieces of media catching my attention don't have enough fans to produce a generous array of stories.... This is pretty depressing. If anyone has any recommendations about the fandoms I've mentioned here, please leave a comment. Give me hope!