Who here is familiar with the term 'fandom'? Good- raise your hands in the Vulcan salute. Now put them down, because I can't see you anyway, so it's no big deal. You may not have even put them up. I don't mind- you don't have to do that for me.
Anyway- a fandom is a group of people who are absolutely head-over-heels in love with a specific show/book series or something like. The Harry Potter fandom is one example, with Potterheads flying flags in all Hogwarts House colors. And the Gleeks, Glee fans who dance in their living rooms and croon the songs sung every week by...whatever that school is (can you tell I'm not really a Glee person?).
Fandoms are everywhere. They're big, they're small (the fandoms of more obscure shows, for example. I can't think of any, but if you go to fanfiction.net you'll see listings for shows with only a few stories written.), but they're always ful if people who are absolutely passionate for their favored show/book.
And the fanfiction. Oh, the glorious fanfiction that comes from the people who belong to these fandoms. Not familiar with fanfiction? That's ok- by the time you're done reading this, you will be. You'll know of several stories, several very good authors, and will wonder how on earth you ever survived without reading stories about Tony Stark's accidental engagement to Pepper Potts.
Ok. Maybe you won't wonder how you ever went without that. But this may lead you down a path that will provide many, many hours of entertainment.
My fandom participation began long ago with Star Trek: Voyager, a show that I've been a fan of ever since the premiere over ten years ago. Such a fan was I that my best friends parents got me a picture of Kate Mulgrew's trailer as a gift (Captain Janeway). And I framed it. I also wrote fanfiction.
You're probably (okay, I know you are) rolling your eyes at this. Fanfiction? Silly, right? Wrong. So wrong. Did you know that Fifty-Shades-Of-This-Is-Just-Awful was a fanfiction? Did you know Mercedes Lackey used to write fanfiction? Well, she did- and now she's famous. Fanfiction has been around forever, and it honestly is one of the best ways I've found to kill time between seasons, or to find new ways to look at characters you enjoy watching.
There's a great website (which I already mentioned), fanfiction.net. There you shall find a crazy assortment of fanfiction ranging from absolutely tame to burning corneas mature. The downside to fanfiction is that anyone can write it, so you'll come across quite a few that are just awful- grammar, spelling, you make it. There will be many that fall under PWP (Plot, what plot?), and countless pieces that are under 1,000 words. One of my favorite fanfics is well over 50,000 words. The range is insane, but fanfiction.net has a great filter system that allows anything for pairings (think you're the only one who imagined Fargo and Dr Blake hooking up on "Eureka"? You're probably not.) to ratings.
The fandom world may appear obsessive to many, but I can tell you this- it can be the most accepting community you'll ever hope to meet. The people I spoke with, beta'd for (to beta is to edit and/or read a fic for someone.) and wrote with were the people who didn't judge me for doing what I did, and the people who challenged me to write scenarios I'd have never thought up on my own.
Fandoms are everywhere, and they're just going to keep getting bigger. So allons-y, my fellow Whovians, and Live Long and Prosper, Trekkies. Because while life can take a lot from us, it can never take the sky from me.
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Star Trek. Show all posts
Saturday, April 6, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
A Geek In Chic Clothing
I'm a geek ("What?" You say, "You? No! You don't look like a geek.."). Well, long gone are the days where geeks are assumed to only be those in Star Wars t-shirts who never shower or have a single comic book out of place (I'm well aware that not all geeky folk avoid showers. Please be aware, my dear friends, that I mean no offense!). These days geeky folk are just as likely to be tucked neatly into suits and ties, with elegant hairstyles and neatly applied makeup.
Look to your left. If you're at a stoplight, the guy in the next car may look like an engineer or an architect, but he may have a desperate love of Star Wars and have a Maine Coon Cat named Chewbacca. You never know.
Now, while I've managed to use the typical geek stereotype in this post, I do so with the intent of making a point: while geeks once upon a time were mocked and teased, being a geek now is an entirely different story. It's 'cool', or moreso than when I was in school years ago. The geek culture lurks beneath the surface of many a man, woman and child, and the opportunity to nurture the budding is everywhere. Some may be Star Wars fans, while others may be Star Trek fans (I'm in that camp, and proud of it!). Some may have a closet full of TeeFury.com shirts (Seriously, check it out. It's a ten dollar t-shirt a day, and some are fantastic. Not all are geeky.), while others may sleep with a giant stuffed Adipose (It's a Doctor Who reference, so if you're not familiar...check out the tenth Doctor, and watch. WATCH.).
Last summer I had the privilege of attending PortCon, a shiny four days ("Firefly" reference. If not familiar with Firefly...you're missing out.) of anime and comic goodness. FOUR days of so much geek that I came away from those four days feeling more accepted in my Doctor Who/Star Trek loving nature than I ever have. There were costumes (the BEST Link and Zelda EVER, Chell from Portal, even Richard Castle himself in his writers vest), panels on subjects ranging from "The Costuming Of Doctor Who" to "It Came From Not America" (A panel on...you guessed it...bits of Geek Culture that didn't come from America. Great shows that did not originate on these shores). Days were spent pouring over the schedule and agonizing about whether we should attend the Joss Whedon panel ("Buffy", "Firefly", "Dollhouse") or go to the Geek Jeopardy tournament. I'm telling you- there's not much that will get me out of bed at eight in the morning, but the Joss Whedon panel definitely won that honor. I love that man, and if he ever, EVER cooperates with Fox again, I will personally beat him until he's dizzy. They don't do him any favors.
But I digress.
There was a director that debuted (as far as I know- he may have shown it elsewhere) his new film, "Lloyd the Conqueror", which took a pretty high spot in the list of admired films my roommate no doubt keeps in his movie-happy brain. I didn't see it, but I heard SO much about how amazing it was...so I feel like I was there. I think I'd chosen to hang out in the video game room and play some classic Mario 3 with one of the PortCon staff members, and I know THAT was a throwback for me. Nothing like Mario.
Being a Geek means you have to deal with a lot of assumptions. If I wrote fanfiction (yes, I did. I do. I still do.), I faced questions like "Don't you have anything better to do? You must have a lot of time on your hands." I often feel, when I get that sort of question, that I should fire back with "Oh, you watch cars running around and around a track? Don't you have anything better to do?" (Sorry, NASCAR fans. Really. I don't get that, and you don't get why I like to watch fictional characters on a fictional starship. That's okay). But you know, just because I play video games to unwind instead of throwing back a few beers and watching a football game doesn't mean that I have nothing better to do. It means that my method of unwinding is to escape, albeit temporarily, into a world that isn't my own. It's a lot of fun, really, once you give it a chance. And growing up, I never let myself admit to people that I liked Star Trek (I did sometimes, but a lot of the time I hid my Star Trek books in a book cover and wrote fanfiction with the sheet of paper under something boring). Because I couldn't handle the way people would make fun of it. And there was no shame- there never has been. What's the shame in being a geek?
So today I urge you to embrace a geek (not literally. I'm not kidding- some really don't shower. Go to a gaming store sometime. You'll find I'm right.), and don't laugh. Don't roll your eyes, don't look at their Doctor Who t-shirt and sigh when they say they play Magic: The Gathering (Trust me, after my experience I still want to roll my eyes at that, but I don't judge. Because to each his own. And at least they aren't murderers.). Just think of the fact that it's no worse than a NASCAR fan, or even a reality TV fan. They love it, so who are any of us to judge anyone?
After all...some day the Geek shall inherit the Earth. Right? :)
"When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it's a point of pride, in a weird way."
-J.J. Abrams
Look to your left. If you're at a stoplight, the guy in the next car may look like an engineer or an architect, but he may have a desperate love of Star Wars and have a Maine Coon Cat named Chewbacca. You never know.
Now, while I've managed to use the typical geek stereotype in this post, I do so with the intent of making a point: while geeks once upon a time were mocked and teased, being a geek now is an entirely different story. It's 'cool', or moreso than when I was in school years ago. The geek culture lurks beneath the surface of many a man, woman and child, and the opportunity to nurture the budding is everywhere. Some may be Star Wars fans, while others may be Star Trek fans (I'm in that camp, and proud of it!). Some may have a closet full of TeeFury.com shirts (Seriously, check it out. It's a ten dollar t-shirt a day, and some are fantastic. Not all are geeky.), while others may sleep with a giant stuffed Adipose (It's a Doctor Who reference, so if you're not familiar...check out the tenth Doctor, and watch. WATCH.).
Last summer I had the privilege of attending PortCon, a shiny four days ("Firefly" reference. If not familiar with Firefly...you're missing out.) of anime and comic goodness. FOUR days of so much geek that I came away from those four days feeling more accepted in my Doctor Who/Star Trek loving nature than I ever have. There were costumes (the BEST Link and Zelda EVER, Chell from Portal, even Richard Castle himself in his writers vest), panels on subjects ranging from "The Costuming Of Doctor Who" to "It Came From Not America" (A panel on...you guessed it...bits of Geek Culture that didn't come from America. Great shows that did not originate on these shores). Days were spent pouring over the schedule and agonizing about whether we should attend the Joss Whedon panel ("Buffy", "Firefly", "Dollhouse") or go to the Geek Jeopardy tournament. I'm telling you- there's not much that will get me out of bed at eight in the morning, but the Joss Whedon panel definitely won that honor. I love that man, and if he ever, EVER cooperates with Fox again, I will personally beat him until he's dizzy. They don't do him any favors.
But I digress.
There was a director that debuted (as far as I know- he may have shown it elsewhere) his new film, "Lloyd the Conqueror", which took a pretty high spot in the list of admired films my roommate no doubt keeps in his movie-happy brain. I didn't see it, but I heard SO much about how amazing it was...so I feel like I was there. I think I'd chosen to hang out in the video game room and play some classic Mario 3 with one of the PortCon staff members, and I know THAT was a throwback for me. Nothing like Mario.
Being a Geek means you have to deal with a lot of assumptions. If I wrote fanfiction (yes, I did. I do. I still do.), I faced questions like "Don't you have anything better to do? You must have a lot of time on your hands." I often feel, when I get that sort of question, that I should fire back with "Oh, you watch cars running around and around a track? Don't you have anything better to do?" (Sorry, NASCAR fans. Really. I don't get that, and you don't get why I like to watch fictional characters on a fictional starship. That's okay). But you know, just because I play video games to unwind instead of throwing back a few beers and watching a football game doesn't mean that I have nothing better to do. It means that my method of unwinding is to escape, albeit temporarily, into a world that isn't my own. It's a lot of fun, really, once you give it a chance. And growing up, I never let myself admit to people that I liked Star Trek (I did sometimes, but a lot of the time I hid my Star Trek books in a book cover and wrote fanfiction with the sheet of paper under something boring). Because I couldn't handle the way people would make fun of it. And there was no shame- there never has been. What's the shame in being a geek?
So today I urge you to embrace a geek (not literally. I'm not kidding- some really don't shower. Go to a gaming store sometime. You'll find I'm right.), and don't laugh. Don't roll your eyes, don't look at their Doctor Who t-shirt and sigh when they say they play Magic: The Gathering (Trust me, after my experience I still want to roll my eyes at that, but I don't judge. Because to each his own. And at least they aren't murderers.). Just think of the fact that it's no worse than a NASCAR fan, or even a reality TV fan. They love it, so who are any of us to judge anyone?
After all...some day the Geek shall inherit the Earth. Right? :)
"When I was a kid, it was a huge insult to be a geek. Now it's a point of pride, in a weird way."
-J.J. Abrams
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