10 random (fannish) moments of my life
Nov. 5th, 2009 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kilroyThe sequel to this post, by way of an introduction to my eventual Yuletide Santa.
1) My first fandom was Star Wars. My mom is actually getting me little R2-D2 shaped lights this year, and I have every intention of stringing them up in my house. This is probably her fault anyway, since I was reportedly taken to see Empire Strikes Back in theater when I was a newborn. I know for a fact I was taken to Return of the Jedi when I was three, and that's probably early enough.
2) I also got Mel Brooks from my mom, among countless other fandoms. Probably my all-time favorite story about her is that when she was a high school English teacher, well before I was born, she was having her class read Frankenstein and she noticed that this movie "Young Frankenstein" was in theaters. Knowing nothing further about it, she took her entire class to go see it-- then, when they'd all laughed their asses off, to go see it again. If the school administration had ever found out, they'd have fired her on the spot-- but none of the kids ever told.
3) To give my dad some credit, one of the outstanding memories I have of my childhood is lying in the upstairs hallway while he read the entire Oz and Narnia series to us, just a few pages a night before bed. I remember asking about the Lord of the Rings and him telling me I should probably read that one for myself.
4) I have actually been to TrekFest in Riverside, Iowa: the Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk. The convention was basically in a series of barns, and they had a life-sized wooden statue of Kirk as carved by a local.
5) I wouldn't have identified myself as a member of fandom until very recently, although I've been a fan all my life. A friend of mine recently provided an entry point for me into the larger fannish community, including Yuletide.
6) If I had to pick one universe of fiction to carry with me, forsaking all others, it would be Doctor Who. My friend Bryan (called Woodsey) introduced me to it when I was twelve or thirteen, watching the Iowa Public Television broadcasts of a whole story every Friday night coupled with an episode of Red Dwarf. It's worth noting that his family were even bigger fans than mine and he'd been watching Doctor Who practically from the womb.
7) I frequently have a difficult time explaining to non-fans that "cheesy" doesn't actually mean "bad." The best example is probably Karloff-and-Lugosi era horror films-- those things were frequently made on a shoestring budget, used every cliche in the book, had dialogue you could almost literally hear creak, and featured acting that could only charitably be described as "broad." Yet some of them are truly things of beauty in their own way, and people who laugh at their surfaces are missing something surprising and marvelous underneath.
8) Things I love frequently end up in games I run. I love Hong Kong action movies, and I ran action games for five years. I love the Prisoner, and ended up working the Village into a Nobilis game. The best part is when I can steal something from somewhere, and someone at the table actually gets it while everyone else is confused-- those moments make my day every time.
9) Every single time I go into Borders and see the huge wall of manga they have now, it makes me smile. I remember watching Cowboy Bebop at the UIUC Japanese Animation Club before it was even released in the US and being bowled over by it. Seeing so many young people enjoying anime and manga still feels like living in the future to me.
10) I finally got one of my oldest friends to read Sandman recently-- my beat-up graphic novels from three different printings that I saved all through high school to buy. He's just starting Brief Lives, and I'm having the hardest time not telling him what's going to happen. Knowing him, the last few stories are really going to affect him. I remember the day I read the Kindly Ones like I remember the day the Challenger blew up-- it was raining, and I was depressed, and I read the whole thing straight through despite having class that day. Afterwards I went for a walk and let the rain stream down my face, hardly noticing as I waited for the world to start again.
1) My first fandom was Star Wars. My mom is actually getting me little R2-D2 shaped lights this year, and I have every intention of stringing them up in my house. This is probably her fault anyway, since I was reportedly taken to see Empire Strikes Back in theater when I was a newborn. I know for a fact I was taken to Return of the Jedi when I was three, and that's probably early enough.
2) I also got Mel Brooks from my mom, among countless other fandoms. Probably my all-time favorite story about her is that when she was a high school English teacher, well before I was born, she was having her class read Frankenstein and she noticed that this movie "Young Frankenstein" was in theaters. Knowing nothing further about it, she took her entire class to go see it-- then, when they'd all laughed their asses off, to go see it again. If the school administration had ever found out, they'd have fired her on the spot-- but none of the kids ever told.
3) To give my dad some credit, one of the outstanding memories I have of my childhood is lying in the upstairs hallway while he read the entire Oz and Narnia series to us, just a few pages a night before bed. I remember asking about the Lord of the Rings and him telling me I should probably read that one for myself.
4) I have actually been to TrekFest in Riverside, Iowa: the Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk. The convention was basically in a series of barns, and they had a life-sized wooden statue of Kirk as carved by a local.
5) I wouldn't have identified myself as a member of fandom until very recently, although I've been a fan all my life. A friend of mine recently provided an entry point for me into the larger fannish community, including Yuletide.
6) If I had to pick one universe of fiction to carry with me, forsaking all others, it would be Doctor Who. My friend Bryan (called Woodsey) introduced me to it when I was twelve or thirteen, watching the Iowa Public Television broadcasts of a whole story every Friday night coupled with an episode of Red Dwarf. It's worth noting that his family were even bigger fans than mine and he'd been watching Doctor Who practically from the womb.
7) I frequently have a difficult time explaining to non-fans that "cheesy" doesn't actually mean "bad." The best example is probably Karloff-and-Lugosi era horror films-- those things were frequently made on a shoestring budget, used every cliche in the book, had dialogue you could almost literally hear creak, and featured acting that could only charitably be described as "broad." Yet some of them are truly things of beauty in their own way, and people who laugh at their surfaces are missing something surprising and marvelous underneath.
8) Things I love frequently end up in games I run. I love Hong Kong action movies, and I ran action games for five years. I love the Prisoner, and ended up working the Village into a Nobilis game. The best part is when I can steal something from somewhere, and someone at the table actually gets it while everyone else is confused-- those moments make my day every time.
9) Every single time I go into Borders and see the huge wall of manga they have now, it makes me smile. I remember watching Cowboy Bebop at the UIUC Japanese Animation Club before it was even released in the US and being bowled over by it. Seeing so many young people enjoying anime and manga still feels like living in the future to me.
10) I finally got one of my oldest friends to read Sandman recently-- my beat-up graphic novels from three different printings that I saved all through high school to buy. He's just starting Brief Lives, and I'm having the hardest time not telling him what's going to happen. Knowing him, the last few stories are really going to affect him. I remember the day I read the Kindly Ones like I remember the day the Challenger blew up-- it was raining, and I was depressed, and I read the whole thing straight through despite having class that day. Afterwards I went for a walk and let the rain stream down my face, hardly noticing as I waited for the world to start again.