Fandom Round-Up: Not Funny, fanfic draws, Cam hates Hamlet, a book controversy and evil SciFi

[misscam]

Right. So, Olympics have started (awesome opening ceremony, and Norway got a silver today - are any of you watching?) and Georgia and Russia are apparently somewhat at war (bwhuh?) and I spent the weekend doing very non-productive, silly things while it rained. And rained. Thanks, Norway.

Today, it's so very Monday in that oh-so-very-not-good way. So I distract myself with fandom thoughts.

Holocaust LOL macros - anyone knows what this is about?

I generally tend to favour a sense of humour about most things, but er. Er. There are still some things I find to cross a certain threshold in my mind and fall over to the side of Not Funny or in some cases, FFS So Not Funny STFU You Insensitive Git.

This post linked on metafandom about fanworks drawing people into ships got me pondering. See, I tend to be drawn in by some Canon pandering to a particular ship, but I don't actually tend to do fandom for them unless there's already fans and fanworks for it about.

How about you? Fanfic or other fan-made stuff ever drawn you to like a ship, or make you participate in fandom for it?

And while a lot of Who fandom are distracted by David Tennant as Hamlet, I take the opportunity to declare that I totally hate Hamlet as a play. If I could smack Shakespeare with it, I would. Give me Macbeth any day. (But not Romeo and Juliet. PLEASE.) Tennant is hot and Patric Stewart is brilliant, but I still hate the thing. Anyone else want to own up to this?

Publisher drops book about one of Muhammad's wives. There's been some discussion about it over at Smart Bitches, Trashy books here and they also have a review of the prologue and a link to where you can read it yourself. There are some debating in the comments as well. Interesting, at least until some trolls arrive and starts with the eeeeeeeeevils of Islam. (Speaking as an atheist, I have my issues with some Islamic practice. But so I also have about Christianity and even Buddhism, my if-I-ever-had-to-pick-one-of-them religion.) There really are different worldviews a-clashing at times.

The X-Files movie tanked a bit, didn't it? It just opened here - I'm not sure if I want to go, though I'm fairly sure I'll buy it on DVD eventually.

Summer is almost over and various TV shows seem to be getting new promo material and will have episodes in not too long. But Battlestar Galactica will have nothing new until January and woe. Where is the shiny trailer and some stuff to tie us over, SciFi? Don't make me come over there and start camping outside your offices. I'm sure I would get more people with me, too. We could make it a camping trip. I'd bring alcohol.

Comments

[ice-feather.livejournal.com]

I stuided Macbeth in college a few years ago. It's what got me into Shakespeare to begin with.

I know little of Hamlet, save for the basics, but you're not the first who's said Macbeth is better - Gareth David Lloyd said the same at the Rift con earlier this year when he was asked about other roles he'd like to play.

I would like to see Hamlet though, if only because Tennant and Stewart are amzaing actors and it would blow my mind to have them performing in front of me, in person. I hope I can get to London for it next year.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Macbeth eats Hamlet for breakfast. At least in my head. I don't know if it's because Macbeth is shorter (Hamlet seriously drags in places) or it's to do with my total loathing of how women are portrayed in Hamlet, but something with the latter just makes me twitch.

So I'm not sure even Tennant and Stewart would be enough to make me suffer that play again. Since I'm not likely to go to London any time soon, this is a moot point though.

[falena]

Olympics have started (awesome opening ceremony, and Norway got a silver today - are any of you watching?)

I love the Olympics! Italy's not doing bad at all, we won a gold and a silver today already (and we're expecting more from our kickass foil girls in a few) . It feels slightly weird, my country giving me cause for pride, lol.

Congrats to Norway for its first medal, what was it for?

Fanfic or other fan-made stuff ever drawn you to like a ship, or make you participate in fandom for it?

Not sure I have to answer this with, you know, your fic prompting me to give BSG a try a few months ago (omg, has it been only a couple months? Times fly).

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Sports often boost a country's morale, so it's not weird at all. After our 1994 Olympics, Norway was all a-buzz with pride in ourselves. we might even have gone a bit too far...

Swimming! First time ever. We have this new, young swimming talent, so yeah. He's the guy to the left in the picture. It's cool. Summer olympics is not really our strength, but we usually pick some medals here and there.

Heh, yeah. You're one of my proud recruits. I feel glee at all I manage to draw in, but you were a little extra.

[smtfhw.livejournal.com]

Right. So, Olympics have started (awesome opening ceremony, and Norway got a silver today - are any of you watching?)

Yep, though it's very much dependent on the sports. I'm watching the swimming and the tennis and that's about it...

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm an athletics girl myself.

[trialia]

We could! If only I had airfare... I'd totally do that.

I'm taking 'five things/times' prompts, btw, if you're interested ;)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Ïf it brings me BSG, I am willing to sail the stupid Atlantic.

[mercuriazs.livejournal.com]

Oddly enough, I keep getting people saying that my latest (and onliest) fanfic in Nolanverse Batman is drawing them to my 'ship of choice. Which is how it sometimes works for me! I got into a few Buffy 'ships due to fanfiction that was astounding. Sometimes I will read fic/look at art for canons I don't know, but that rarely draws me in aside from making me go, "D'oh! I should check this out someday." (Stargate: Atlantis, for instance, is one such fandom.)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Always hugely flattering when that happens :)

And I can read good fic for a ship not of my choice and enjoy it, but I can't say it's crossed me over to ship it. Still, might happen one of these days.

[anamin.livejournal.com]

Generally, no. I need to experience a fandom, and see it, regardless of fic. I'll read other ship fics, but I won't necessarily be drawn toward that ship. Usually, I'm pretty firm about this.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

*nods* I'm mostly the same.

[xmaidelx.livejournal.com]

The X-Files movie tanked a bit, didn't it? It just opened here - I'm not sure if I want to go, though I'm fairly sure I'll buy it on DVD eventually.

I went like... three weeks after it opened in the States. It was fun because me and my friends were the only three people in the theatre. So you can hoot and holler. Otherwise, wait for DVD.

Where is the shiny trailer and some stuff to tie us over, SciFi? Don't make me come over there and start camping outside your offices. I'm sure I would get more people with me, too. We could make it a camping trip. I'd bring alcohol.

Let's GO. You have official trip person #1.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking DVD at the moment. I still need to see the Narnia movie and everything. Plus, I love DVDs so much. Shiiiiiny.

Okay! Bring your own sleeping bag - I'm bringing the aquavit. SciFi can't ignore us forever.

[evilstorm.livejournal.com]

*headtilt* Would I be lynched if I said that I'd laugh at Holocaust macros? It's not that I don't care, I just...happen to be able to detach, observe, be amused, and then come back to self.

(ibarw is making me do a lot of "would I be lynched if..." comments. Sigh.)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Not lynched. I mean, I laugh at some WWII comedies and sense of humour is something very individual. But we all got our limits and I guess somewhere around there is mine.

[mingsmommy.livejournal.com]

I credit your fanfic (at least partially) with getting me to watch BSG, but I totally ship on my own. And every other ship I've ever had has come after love of the show.

Totally agree with you about Hamlet vs MacBeth. Nobody comes off looking too good in Hamlet.

Religious intolerance makes me roll my eyes in the worst way. As I heard someone put it one time, "An argument between religions is like saying 'My invisible friend can beat up your invisible friend.'"

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I totally need the show myself. Needs to have had something there before I fall for it, though some fanfics have made me go 'hmm, interesting, I could kinda see that' at ships I don't go for. I can read fanfic for a lot of things if it's good, but what I ship doesn't really change too much with that.

(And I love how many people on my flist have started watching BSG now. It spreads!)

Yeah, by the end of that play I'm almost relieved they all snuff it. The only tragedy for me is how long it takes to get there.

Hee. Yeah, too true. I'm perfectly happy with faith staying just that - faith. Once one or the other pushes itself as undisputable truth, I tend to get cranky.

[denorios.livejournal.com]

I don't like Hamlet either. I'm only going because...well, David Tennant and Patrick Stewart!

And I quite liked the X-Files movie. It was a bit less...spooky and paranormal than I was expecting, bearing in mind it's the X-Files, but I did enjoy it! Plus, it's Mulder and Scully, so I was never going to complain.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

They are awesome. But I'm not sure they are awesome enough for fucking Hamlet to be endured.

Yeah, Mulder and Scully were one of my first loves, so I feel nostalgic about them. I just have a slight concern movie might kill that and I'd endure it more easily on DVD than the big screen.

(Heh, your icon.)

[cheesygirl.livejournal.com]

Frankly, I'm meh on Shakespeare in general. I know that's blasphemy coming from a librarian, but it just doesn't do much for me. Now David Tennant--he definitely does something for me. :D

When I tell people I'm going to Stratford they automatically assume I'm going to worship at the shrine of Shakespeare. Uh, no. I'm going to see Tennant do his job. The man could be doing Sondheim in Shangri-la for all I care, I'd go there!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

OHNOES YOU DISBELIEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!111!!! :P

Nah, I'm not as hot about Shakespeare as some, though I do like a fair amount of his plays. (But far from all.) And I appreciate his influence on theatre.

You're very dedicated in your ogling. I applaud this.

[lotus79.livejournal.com]

How about you? Fanfic or other fan-made stuff ever drawn you to like a ship, or make you participate in fandom for it?

Mostly I'm like you; get into ships because of canon UST. There have been exceptions--the most notable being (grown up)Hermione/Snape. Cos there is no canon UST there (thankfully--the wrongness of that would just be totally wrong!). And the other sort of exception would be Goldie/Frank, because I started in the other ship and then got seduced by many fanfics. But there was plenty of canon support there too, so only a "sort of" exception.

Hamlet is not my fave Shakespeare play, no. It probably is the one I can quote more bits of, however. I like Macbeth for tragedy, Twelfth Night for romantic/comedy and Richard III for history/tragedy. Damn I need to get an older class so I can teach some Shakespeare!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I wonder how much of the Snape shipping were people fancying the character and needing an avatar to ship him through at times. I remember reading a fair bit of Snape/various females, but I never really got interested. Snape still leaves me cold, but Alan Rickman is awesome.

Yes, but then you'd have to deal with teenagers, probably. Would you really want that?

[hotpot8202.livejournal.com]

I think reading snippets of early angsty GSR canon happenings in different formats - either fandom talk, short fanfiction or even scenes in icons or something, convinced me to go back to the beginning of CSI and watch six seasons to catch up and see what the fuss was about. It was worth it. :)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Heh. I don't remember quite how I got into the GSR, but I am pretty sure I saw something on the show first. It was around the end of season two, which did have some GSR bits. I went to see if others noticed anything as well, IIRC. Always so gratifying when you find there were ;)

[lucia-tanaka.livejournal.com]

There is no greater fannish recruiting tool than a well-made fanvid. :D

[siraj.livejournal.com]

Agreed on smacking Shakespeare! Gimme MacBeth any day as well!

[myhobbitpippin.livejournal.com]

Really? See, I'm the opposite. Hamlet is my favorite of the Shakespeare plays. It was the first one that I latched onto and was like "Yes! Lets do this agian!" While Macbeth...me and Macbeth don't get a long. But that's the wonderful thing about Shakespeare, I think. He has so many plays under his belt that everyone can have a favorite and discussion is always possible.

And yeah...the X-Files bombed. That was an entire example of poor planning. They had a terrible marketing plan. They didn't have a poster or trailer out till like three months before the film was released, so a lot of people didn't even know the film was in existance. Not to mention the fact that in the preceding weeks before the opening, they barely showed any commercials or anything. And well...the fact it opened a week or two after Dark Knight didn't help. They should have waited till August or September, when the film options are less exciting, and had a stronger promotional campaign. They also probably shouldn't have waited as long as they did to make a film after the end of the series but that's just my opinion there. I want to see the X Files movie, but at the moment, it's gonna be a Rental instead of a theater outing.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, tastes sure do vary. I suspect my irritation with Hamlet is also tied a bit to him totally co-opting Denmark for his purposes, which I could live with if I liked the results but I don't. I still love the moment where Blackadder knocks out Colin-Firth-as-Shakespeare for "every schoolboy and schoolgirl in England for the next four hundred years" There is something to it, much as I like some of the plays. Heh.

Makes one wonder if Fox is just dumb or wanted it to tank. Bah. it's a shame, really. I wanted better for it.

[jessickuh.livejournal.com]

The OP of those macros is made of fail, big time. WTF were they thinking?

The fandom/ship thing? It's usually the other way around for me. A ship usually draws me into a fandom. What can I say? I'm shallow, and pretty people who look good together draw me in.

Well, not really. I got into CSI because I started really liking the show, and *then* I started seeing the awesomesauce of GSR. I should also add that a couple of your fics were recommended to me, and were among the very first ones I've read. Freaking angsty fics, and I wonder why my friend who knows me well enough thought that those angsty fics would lure me into the fandom (moot point...I got hooked anyway).

Let me ammend my first statement by saying that a ship is what keeps me in fandom. I don't really read non-shipper fanfic unless I know the author and their work, or unless the summary draws me in.

Wow. Long comment much?

[misscam.livejournal.com]

No idea, since I don't even know who this OP is, the context of it or the fandom.

Ah yeah, I used to write lots of angst for GSR. I think it was because I came from writing OFUM, which was jokes and funny and fairly light, so I seriously felt like going darker. I don't know, I think the show invited it a bit by the nature of how it was. Maybe it got a bit overkill at times.

Once I lose interest in a ship, I do tend to retreat from fandom myself, so I know what you mean.

[puredeadthingy.livejournal.com]

I saw the worst production of Romeo and Juliet with school a while ago--everyone in the cast was wooden, so in the end when Juliet's father let rip with this 'NOOOOO' over her body, the audience began to giggle. You know you're not doing it right when...

I saw Othello on the West End recently, however, with Ewan McGregor (Iago) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Othello), and that was one of the most stunning performances I've ever seen. Scheming and feminism yay!

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Ewan McGregor as Iago? Hmm. That would be interesting to see indeed.

The ending of Romeo and Juliet just makes me want to smack an emo angsty teenager.

[un-sedentary.livejournal.com]

I agree about Shakespeare... Macbeth FTW. Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet... not as great. :/ Although Hamlet DOES beat R&J for me.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

That would be a match for me that would go into penalties. I'm not fond of either.

[kahva.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be the odd one out and say that I like Hamlet.

The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, that is. :)

Back in my Thompson Theatre days, one of the shows we took on a brief tour to schools in Eastern NC was the Fifteen Minute Hamlet. What we ended up doing to it was one of the actors was the "Director", and he kept telling the cast they had to do it faster. So we repeated everything a few times, cutting more and more out until the last go around, everybody just came running out on stage and fell down dead - which of course was the version the "Director" loved. I wasn't actually in that one, which we did for the high school kids, but I was property mistress, and I performed in our warped version of Beauty and The Beast, which was aimed at the middle school/junior high crowd. I was the Witch, and I still say my costume theme was Cyndi Lauper crossed with Boxcar Willie.

All that said, I memorized part of "Macbeth" for my Alpha Psi Omega initiation (national honorary co-ed drama fraternity). T'was fun. :)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Now that is the essence of Hamlet and a version I would love ;) Skip the whinging, go for the massacre.

[ericasj.livejournal.com]

I watch the games when I'm home. For once me and the Olympics are in the same time zone. lol. There's not much to expect for our team except maybe baseball, tennis and kickboxing, but that's it. lol. I've been enjoying the swimming matches. I love watching the Americans and the Aussies compete. :D

Hmm I don't think I have been drawn into any fandom by fanwork. I don't look for fanwork until I'm interested in the topic and even participate in making fanstuff if I really love the topic. :)

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I am cheering the Aussies out of used-to-live-there affection and I hope they slaughter the Americans. Go Oz go! Sadly, the Olympics are on here way too early and I can't really watch properly due to work and sleeping. Wah.

Funny enough, it's not always what I love the most I do fan stuff for, though that happens too. So there are other factors for me as well, but I'm not always sure what they are.

[elvenpiratelady.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks Macbeth pwns Hamlet. And I can't help thinking that someone planned the Russia/Georgia spat to coincide right with the Olympics. Timing, huh.

[misscam.livejournal.com]

I saw some Georgian official suggest just that - that Russia did this now because the Olympics would distract people. Then I wanted to smack him, because *Georgia* did the first attack so if anyone aligned it with the Olympics it was them. (Not that I agree with what Russia is doing, but fair do. Georgia attacked first.)

[fantasyprone.livejournal.com]

I loved the X-Files movie. I admit that nostalgia glasses may have had something to do with it - I watched that show back in high school, it was one of my first fandoms - but I thought it was just like an episode from the series. A bit gory, a bit creepy, but awesome and full of Mulder being Muldery and Scully being Scullyish. Just what it says on the box ♥

[misscam.livejournal.com]

Five years ago I would have been very excited about it, but now I mostly feel nostalgic about it all. Still, Mulder and Scully are awesome and the show is a classic.

[bex245.livejournal.com]

Halocaust LOL macros. Just, no. That will never, ever be even remotely funny. Never.

When people first started telling me to watch BSG, I found Adama/Roslin fanfiction and well, there was just no way I wasn't gonna start watching then!! :P

JANUARY IS FAR, FAR TOO LONG AWAY!! *CRIES*