moragmacpherson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moragmacpherson) wrote2010-04-24 05:32 pm
moragmacpherson) wrote2010-04-24 05:32 pm
Fandom from the Other Side
My dearly beloved Roomie is not a participant in fandom, but she watches most of the same things that I do, reads a lot of the same things I do, and teases me for my fanfiction and internet addiction in general. This leads to exchanges like this one from last night, when I finally watched Avatar on her parents' Home Theater System of Doom:
Me: Eww... ganglia. Do the Na'vi stick those into everything?
Roomie: Pretty much. They also have tails.
Me: ::shudders:: Remind me never to read the fanfic.
Roomie: ::grins:: Rule 34 is a cruel mistress.
Some other fun fandom observations from Roomie in the last few weeks:
(Roomie is perusing imdb.com because she's desperately waiting for Castiel to show up even though she's only watching season 2 of Supernatural, while I'm grading papers)
Roomie: Ruby... Ruby... huh? Apparently two different actresses played Ruby.
Me: ::not looking up:: Yep, Katie Cassaday and Genevieve Cortese. Ruby was a demon, she switched hosts.
Roomie: ::reads screen:: Wow. You're correct. ::Turns to me:: Which means you really need to get off the internet for awhile.
Me: ::clutching non-existent pearls:: What? I'm not on the internet now, am I?
Roomie: ::extremely pointed glance::
Me: ::squirming under the force of the pointed glance:: Anyway, you know that I just remember these things. I can name the actors who played all eleven Doctors too, and all the main credits Buffy casts for all seven seasons.
Roomie: You say that like it doesn't support my argument.
~
(I have discovered the 'bishonen' entry on TvTropes and am raving about the utility of the term)
Me: Finally, a word that means 'pretty boy' without necessarily requiring the subject to be homosexual. Of course it comes from the Japanese.
Roomie: You have to be careful going to the Japanese for specialized terms regarding sex. ::thinks:: Of course, going with the Japanese is probably safer than going with the German.*
Me: Yeah. I'll stick with the Japanese for the sexy-terms, unless it's about S&M.
Roomie: German can get awfully specific when it comes to vocabulary dealing with pain.
Me: How would you say 'tentacle rape' in German, anyway?
Roomie: Now that's something that straddles the sex-pain border. I'd have to look it up, but I'm willing to bet they've come up with a compound noun. .
(Later on in the same conversation; note that Roomie is an avowed Dean-girl and that the cousin in question is more like a brother to me than anything else)
Roomie: It is a simple way to describe [your cousin] to people who haven't met him. He's bishonen and a dashing scoundrel.
Me: Him? I guess he's a little bit bishie. That would explain all of his stalkers. Heh. Says here that Jensen Ackles is one of the more famous American bishonen. Does this mean I'm related to a real-life version of Dean Winchester?
Roomie: Kind of. Your cousin has better lips and fewer daddy-issues, but it does help explain why you're a Sam-girl. Lusting after Dean would be too much like lusting after [your cousin].
Me: So that's why I have such trouble understanding what the Wincesters are all going on about all the time.
Roomie: ::Stares:: There's a special word for it? ::shakes her head:: On the one hand, you don't get it, on the other hand, you know it exists. Special hell, [Morag]. It's going to be a special hell.
* - Neither Roomie nor I are trained anthropologists; our knowledge of Japanese and German culture is limited to what she learned while spending a year in Japan, what both of us learned while studying the German language for many years, and what we hear on the internet, which is likely unreliable. Except for the tentacle rape thing - I worked at a gallery that displayed the original 19th century print many years ago, and it freaked me out as much as any more recent example of the genre. Apparently I have a body-mod squick. Then again, if YKINMK, then YSINMS is equally valid as far as I'm concerned. Regardless, no sweeping judgments of either culture are intended; these are simply linguistic observations.
~
(Our annual re-watching the first episode of Black Books in honor of tax day)
Roomie: Are you ever obsessing about this show while you're lurking on the internet for twenty hours a day?
Me: ::shakes my head:: Haven't found a community.
Roomie: Why not?
Me: Dunno. Probably the lack of pretty boys, plus there's not a lot of room for shipping wars. It's kind of Bernard/Manny or bust.
Roomie: ::disbelieving:: But it's great television! I guess it really is all about the pretty boys with you guys. You spent three weeks hunting down Criminal Minds/Supernatural crossovers, and you're saying no one has written a story about how Dean and Sam were the ones who stopped the monkey sacrifice in Canada? Or the Doctor trying to buy a book from Bernard?
Me: Nope, but now I really want to read that.
~
(Returning home from watching Alice in Wonderland)
Me: ... and then there was the unfortunate implication at the end that our newly-empowered white female is going to go out and promptly subjugate the Chinese through the opium trade.
Roomie: Which she picked up from the caterpillar.
Me: Yes! Exactly.
Roomie: Joking. I was joking.
Me: But the whole theme of imperialism ran throughout the film. Didn't you notice that the Hatter's eyes flipped between green and orange, and orange obviously referred to the aggressive Scots-Irish, otherwise why would he have started to talk like Robbie Burns?
Roomie: But then that would make the first half of the film a critique of British imperialism while the end of it endorses - oh God, I'm not doing this. ::grabs my shoulders:: [Morag], you used to be a hippie. We just saw Alice. Shouldn't your theories about this movie involve more hidden references to doing drugs and fewer theories about 19th century geo-politics?
Me: Can't you just appreciate that this theory manages to do both?
Roomie: ::throws up hands:: Fine, but if you bring up Joseph Campbell again, I get to throw something at you.
Me: I can live with that.
In other news, my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
sncross_bigbang fic got claimed by an artist! It's very exciting, I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I'm also looking at the story for the first time in about a week this weekend - having given myself a break, I'm hoping I'll be able to see the text with clearer, more objective eyes. Deadline's May 3rd for both me and the artist, it's going to be really exciting for me to see what this fic's final form looks like (and you'll all be happy that I've stopped nattering about it)
Me: Eww... ganglia. Do the Na'vi stick those into everything?
Roomie: Pretty much. They also have tails.
Me: ::shudders:: Remind me never to read the fanfic.
Roomie: ::grins:: Rule 34 is a cruel mistress.
Some other fun fandom observations from Roomie in the last few weeks:
(Roomie is perusing imdb.com because she's desperately waiting for Castiel to show up even though she's only watching season 2 of Supernatural, while I'm grading papers)
Roomie: Ruby... Ruby... huh? Apparently two different actresses played Ruby.
Me: ::not looking up:: Yep, Katie Cassaday and Genevieve Cortese. Ruby was a demon, she switched hosts.
Roomie: ::reads screen:: Wow. You're correct. ::Turns to me:: Which means you really need to get off the internet for awhile.
Me: ::clutching non-existent pearls:: What? I'm not on the internet now, am I?
Roomie: ::extremely pointed glance::
Me: ::squirming under the force of the pointed glance:: Anyway, you know that I just remember these things. I can name the actors who played all eleven Doctors too, and all the main credits Buffy casts for all seven seasons.
Roomie: You say that like it doesn't support my argument.
~
(I have discovered the 'bishonen' entry on TvTropes and am raving about the utility of the term)
Me: Finally, a word that means 'pretty boy' without necessarily requiring the subject to be homosexual. Of course it comes from the Japanese.
Roomie: You have to be careful going to the Japanese for specialized terms regarding sex. ::thinks:: Of course, going with the Japanese is probably safer than going with the German.*
Me: Yeah. I'll stick with the Japanese for the sexy-terms, unless it's about S&M.
Roomie: German can get awfully specific when it comes to vocabulary dealing with pain.
Me: How would you say 'tentacle rape' in German, anyway?
Roomie: Now that's something that straddles the sex-pain border. I'd have to look it up, but I'm willing to bet they've come up with a compound noun. .
(Later on in the same conversation; note that Roomie is an avowed Dean-girl and that the cousin in question is more like a brother to me than anything else)
Roomie: It is a simple way to describe [your cousin] to people who haven't met him. He's bishonen and a dashing scoundrel.
Me: Him? I guess he's a little bit bishie. That would explain all of his stalkers. Heh. Says here that Jensen Ackles is one of the more famous American bishonen. Does this mean I'm related to a real-life version of Dean Winchester?
Roomie: Kind of. Your cousin has better lips and fewer daddy-issues, but it does help explain why you're a Sam-girl. Lusting after Dean would be too much like lusting after [your cousin].
Me: So that's why I have such trouble understanding what the Wincesters are all going on about all the time.
Roomie: ::Stares:: There's a special word for it? ::shakes her head:: On the one hand, you don't get it, on the other hand, you know it exists. Special hell, [Morag]. It's going to be a special hell.
* - Neither Roomie nor I are trained anthropologists; our knowledge of Japanese and German culture is limited to what she learned while spending a year in Japan, what both of us learned while studying the German language for many years, and what we hear on the internet, which is likely unreliable. Except for the tentacle rape thing - I worked at a gallery that displayed the original 19th century print many years ago, and it freaked me out as much as any more recent example of the genre. Apparently I have a body-mod squick. Then again, if YKINMK, then YSINMS is equally valid as far as I'm concerned. Regardless, no sweeping judgments of either culture are intended; these are simply linguistic observations.
~
(Our annual re-watching the first episode of Black Books in honor of tax day)
Roomie: Are you ever obsessing about this show while you're lurking on the internet for twenty hours a day?
Me: ::shakes my head:: Haven't found a community.
Roomie: Why not?
Me: Dunno. Probably the lack of pretty boys, plus there's not a lot of room for shipping wars. It's kind of Bernard/Manny or bust.
Roomie: ::disbelieving:: But it's great television! I guess it really is all about the pretty boys with you guys. You spent three weeks hunting down Criminal Minds/Supernatural crossovers, and you're saying no one has written a story about how Dean and Sam were the ones who stopped the monkey sacrifice in Canada? Or the Doctor trying to buy a book from Bernard?
Me: Nope, but now I really want to read that.
~
(Returning home from watching Alice in Wonderland)
Me: ... and then there was the unfortunate implication at the end that our newly-empowered white female is going to go out and promptly subjugate the Chinese through the opium trade.
Roomie: Which she picked up from the caterpillar.
Me: Yes! Exactly.
Roomie: Joking. I was joking.
Me: But the whole theme of imperialism ran throughout the film. Didn't you notice that the Hatter's eyes flipped between green and orange, and orange obviously referred to the aggressive Scots-Irish, otherwise why would he have started to talk like Robbie Burns?
Roomie: But then that would make the first half of the film a critique of British imperialism while the end of it endorses - oh God, I'm not doing this. ::grabs my shoulders:: [Morag], you used to be a hippie. We just saw Alice. Shouldn't your theories about this movie involve more hidden references to doing drugs and fewer theories about 19th century geo-politics?
Me: Can't you just appreciate that this theory manages to do both?
Roomie: ::throws up hands:: Fine, but if you bring up Joseph Campbell again, I get to throw something at you.
Me: I can live with that.
In other news, my
sncross_bigbang fic got claimed by an artist! It's very exciting, I can't wait to see what she comes up with. I'm also looking at the story for the first time in about a week this weekend - having given myself a break, I'm hoping I'll be able to see the text with clearer, more objective eyes. Deadline's May 3rd for both me and the artist, it's going to be really exciting for me to see what this fic's final form looks like (and you'll all be happy that I've stopped nattering about it)