It always amuses me when something so unique to fandom (any fandom) becomes mainstream. I've been seeing the term "Bromance" turning up more and more, especially in regards to House and his friendship with Wilson. And sure enough, when I picked up this week's TV Guide from the mailbox this morning, there it was...a pic of Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard along with the headline: "Isn't It Bromantic?"
Geez, who's writes these headlines?
The article itself was an interview with the two tossing back and forth jibes. Laurie seemed to say that if the producers wanted to explore the sub-text between the two characters a bit more he would not mind. However, Leonard was seemingly homophobic about the whole thing, in fact his answer to the first question "Can this bromance be saved?" was "Is everyone obsessed with homosexuality?"
Yeah, sorry Bobby but we are. Hollywood has always had a problem with depicting intimacy between two men so is it any wonder that we look for it where we can? And what I really do object to is the double-standard of the whole thing. Why have we never headlines in TV Guide talking about the "sismance" between women characters. We've certainly had them going all the way back to Lucy and Ethel. Again, it's because Hollywood is NOT afraid of depicting intimacy between two women.
It's that kind of hypocrisy that really gets me.
--->Susan
Showing posts with label fandom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fandom. Show all posts
11 October 2008
30 September 2008
Five Years of Watchers
I'm relatively new to Blogger so most folks don't know me well, but for the past five years I've been involved in a virtual spin-off series of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, that we called Watchers. Basically, our concept was simple: at the end of Chosen, Rupert Giles and Willow Rosenberg gather the newly chosen slayers and the few remaining watchers to rebuild the Watchers Council in Cleveland, Ohio.
What wasn't simple was the scope of the project. CN Winters, whose idea this all was, came up with the idea that Watchers would be presented to the world just as if it were a regular one hour series as seen on television, with one exception...the story would be told in prose format. But that means, aside from writing great copy, we did sounds, videos, music and thousands...I mean thousands...of screen caps, all to create the illusion that you were "watching" a television program and not merely reading something on the internet. Each episode had a teaser and four acts, which came to about 45k to 65k words of text. And each season would have a full 24 episodes, sometimes we even went beyond that and made two part episodes for the season finales.
We started in October 2003 and have now aired part one of the three part series finale called Generations. Five years and 123 episodes, a spin-off of our spin-off called Restoration and thousands of fan who are just as rabid as the most BtVS fan out there. And even though I've been involved in this project since its inception, I am still in awe at what we have accomplished. And there are a lot of our fans out there who are convinced that Joss Whedon is using us for ideas, since a lot of what happens in his comics are things that have previous happened on Watchers.
I invite everyone to, if you haven't already done so, take a look at the website and see the wonder that is Watchers.
And now, I present to you one of the most ambitious videos we have ever done. Five Years of Watchers. (The caps are all actual screen caps that appeared in the episodes.)
--->Susan
What wasn't simple was the scope of the project. CN Winters, whose idea this all was, came up with the idea that Watchers would be presented to the world just as if it were a regular one hour series as seen on television, with one exception...the story would be told in prose format. But that means, aside from writing great copy, we did sounds, videos, music and thousands...I mean thousands...of screen caps, all to create the illusion that you were "watching" a television program and not merely reading something on the internet. Each episode had a teaser and four acts, which came to about 45k to 65k words of text. And each season would have a full 24 episodes, sometimes we even went beyond that and made two part episodes for the season finales.
We started in October 2003 and have now aired part one of the three part series finale called Generations. Five years and 123 episodes, a spin-off of our spin-off called Restoration and thousands of fan who are just as rabid as the most BtVS fan out there. And even though I've been involved in this project since its inception, I am still in awe at what we have accomplished. And there are a lot of our fans out there who are convinced that Joss Whedon is using us for ideas, since a lot of what happens in his comics are things that have previous happened on Watchers.
I invite everyone to, if you haven't already done so, take a look at the website and see the wonder that is Watchers.
And now, I present to you one of the most ambitious videos we have ever done. Five Years of Watchers. (The caps are all actual screen caps that appeared in the episodes.)
--->Susan
An Amusing Anecdote
I just wanted to share with you how, after literally over 30 years of writing fan fiction, my interest in a fandom has finally paid off. The monetary kind of pay off, nothing weird or kinky. For this tale, the fandom in question is The Devil Wears Prada.
I'm a freelance writer and today I had to write an article about buying homes in Beverly Hills. Nothing too big, just a 250 word blurb on the benefits of buying a property in Beverly Hills. Simple really, I do stuff like that every day.
Alas, about halfway through I was writer’s block struck. I’d already used almost every synonym for “luxurious” listed in the thesaurus and nothing more was coming. What could I possibly have to say about Beverly Hills? What do I have in common with the people who live there? I’ve never even been there; much less will I have a chance in multiple lifetimes of being able to live there.
In desperation, I started casting my net around the ’Net for ideas until finally I came across a list of shops on Rodeo Drive. And there they were. All of Miranda’s favorite designers: Versace, Tiffany, Hermès and more. All the wonderful gods and goddesses of fashion that we adore through our beloved characters even if we wouldn’t be caught dead in a designer dress if our lives depended on it. At last I felt like I had some connection with the lofty residents of Beverly Hills. I could relate. I was one of them! The dreaded blockage dissolved and I was able to finish the article within the deadline.
I guess the moral of the story is this – never feel guilty about being a fan. You never know when it’ll pay off.
--->Susan
I'm a freelance writer and today I had to write an article about buying homes in Beverly Hills. Nothing too big, just a 250 word blurb on the benefits of buying a property in Beverly Hills. Simple really, I do stuff like that every day.
Alas, about halfway through I was writer’s block struck. I’d already used almost every synonym for “luxurious” listed in the thesaurus and nothing more was coming. What could I possibly have to say about Beverly Hills? What do I have in common with the people who live there? I’ve never even been there; much less will I have a chance in multiple lifetimes of being able to live there.
In desperation, I started casting my net around the ’Net for ideas until finally I came across a list of shops on Rodeo Drive. And there they were. All of Miranda’s favorite designers: Versace, Tiffany, Hermès and more. All the wonderful gods and goddesses of fashion that we adore through our beloved characters even if we wouldn’t be caught dead in a designer dress if our lives depended on it. At last I felt like I had some connection with the lofty residents of Beverly Hills. I could relate. I was one of them! The dreaded blockage dissolved and I was able to finish the article within the deadline.
I guess the moral of the story is this – never feel guilty about being a fan. You never know when it’ll pay off.
--->Susan
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