Talking meme 6 & 7
Dec. 7th, 2013 09:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gwynUgh, I knew this would happen. Whenever I have a book to edit, I fall behind on whatever project I take on. So I have talking meme points 6 & 7 to do today.
sperrywink asked: How about vidding in Buffy fandom: Likes and dislikes?
Buffy fandom actually helped me transition from being a VCR vidder to a computer vidder. I had done a vid on VCRs, Do What You Have to Do, that I decided to remaster as my first-ever computer vid when I got my first iMac. I had to record the dvds onto a digital tape using my dad's camcorder, then load the digital copies on to my Mac, and then the fun of editing in iMovie occurred. It was really hard for me to grok, but I was so happy with the results, especially because I had dealt with one of the worst aspects of VCR vidding -- trying so hard to get an insert edit to work, ruining both the master and source tapes -- on that vid, and I could not fix it. As much as many people I know loved that vid, all I could see was this terrible clip I'd had to use just so I could move on. It tortured me for years, man.
Because I was still working on VCRs, I never got into a lot of the Buffy vidding fandom community -- I came late to the party in that respect, even though I'd been making Buffy vids from a lot earlier than, say, most of the people on Nummy Treat. That was hard, because I felt really isolated and one of the most important aspects of vidding, and of fandom, for me, is being part of a community. When I'm in a fandom of one, or isolated from most of a community, it is really hard to motivate myself. I think that's a lot of why I despair of the level of communication (everything from mailing lists and LJ to comments on stories and vids) in fandom these days; without the community and the participation, my enthusiasm dries up and wafts away.
But anyway, like I said, I came to computer vidding in Buffy later than most, but that's not to say I didn't have a lot of vids in the fandom already. For some reason, it was Spike that got me started in writing fic and most of the vidding. I wouldn't have expected that at all, he's not my usual type of character, but I fell hard for him, and his story once he came back to Sunnydale really made me want to create fannish things.
And that was a whole other problem in itself. I was...kind of shocked at the animosity toward Spike vids or Spuffy vids. Especially after S6 and that whole execrable attempted rape scene. I mean, OK, I get it when a fandom erupts around a character you don't like, especially when said fandom is a lot of people turning a rough character into a woobie. I've been there -- I watched all the excuses everyone made for Krycek, and the way the fans turned him into poor wee ickle Alex. But wow, I still was somehow not prepared for the nastiness you got when you vidded Spike, especially after S6.
Because for me, that was a goldmine of vidding subjects. One vid that isn't online that I should really remaster, I think, was 3 Libras, which was my way of trying to make sense out of the whole wretched season (I really hate S6, if you can't tell), and it made me terrifically happy when I showed it at Escapade and a couple people commented on how it was the first time the season made sense for them. There was just so much you could do with Spike in a way you couldn't always with other characters, and I really loved that flexibility and that depth of creativity I could find in vidding him. His story inspired me a lot.
Not that that was all I vidded, I've done lots of other Buffy characters, but I stopped after a while because of some concerns that I was focusing too much on a couple fandoms. I loved vidding La Femme Nikita and Buffy so much that really, outside of Firefly and the other other fandom, I could have done nothing else and still been happy, but that monomaniacal focus can turn into a joke pretty easily. I still have some songs that I want to do for the show, especially Giles because there never were enough Giles vids. Maybe at some point I will go back to it, even if I do worry that that might seem odd. I miss the show and I would love to see if I can recapture the magic that was lost with the souring of my feelings about Joss.
van asked: The best thing you ever ate!
This is so tough, because I have a really hard time remembering things like this. I mean, I remember lots of wonderful meals and menu items, but I have this nagging feeling that there's something really important to remember out there that I can't. I have been to some amazeballs restaurants and had astounding meals cooked by people I know, but I forget all those things quickly.
One meal I do remember was going to a super-exclusive private club at the top of the Columbia Tower, at that time the tallest building west of Chicago, with our new CEO at the association I worked for, who was a member of the club and who had invited us all to dinner to celebrate his new position. It was an amazing meal, just amazing, but I remember the lobster bisque before dinner -- it was simply incredible and I've been searching for a lobster bisque as good ever since. Never found it. Everything that came after was superb, as well, but that lobster bisque...oh, man, was that fine.
Another really wonderful food night came just recently. When I was visitingtherienne, arduinna, and mollyamory last May in Boston, they took me to this basic, nondescript Mexican place near their home. It wasn't a special place or anything, had previously been a chain restaurant, but they made guacamole at your table to your specifications, so I could get it without onions tainting it, which was awesome. It was salty and delicious and fresh, and so wonderfully avocado-y, and I nearly cried when it was gone (which it was, right away). I wanted more and more and more. Then we followed that up with some queso, and I about died and went to heaven -- it was so fresh and tasty, not like what I was used to with queso at all. Really, that was just the best dinner, even though it wasn't some special hard to get into restaurant that would cost you $500 for dinner. (I'm sure the company didn't hurt, either!) I can't find anyplace like it around here, and really, I would consider flying out to Boston just to go to this restaurant again.
sperrywink asked: How about vidding in Buffy fandom: Likes and dislikes?Buffy fandom actually helped me transition from being a VCR vidder to a computer vidder. I had done a vid on VCRs, Do What You Have to Do, that I decided to remaster as my first-ever computer vid when I got my first iMac. I had to record the dvds onto a digital tape using my dad's camcorder, then load the digital copies on to my Mac, and then the fun of editing in iMovie occurred. It was really hard for me to grok, but I was so happy with the results, especially because I had dealt with one of the worst aspects of VCR vidding -- trying so hard to get an insert edit to work, ruining both the master and source tapes -- on that vid, and I could not fix it. As much as many people I know loved that vid, all I could see was this terrible clip I'd had to use just so I could move on. It tortured me for years, man.
Because I was still working on VCRs, I never got into a lot of the Buffy vidding fandom community -- I came late to the party in that respect, even though I'd been making Buffy vids from a lot earlier than, say, most of the people on Nummy Treat. That was hard, because I felt really isolated and one of the most important aspects of vidding, and of fandom, for me, is being part of a community. When I'm in a fandom of one, or isolated from most of a community, it is really hard to motivate myself. I think that's a lot of why I despair of the level of communication (everything from mailing lists and LJ to comments on stories and vids) in fandom these days; without the community and the participation, my enthusiasm dries up and wafts away.
But anyway, like I said, I came to computer vidding in Buffy later than most, but that's not to say I didn't have a lot of vids in the fandom already. For some reason, it was Spike that got me started in writing fic and most of the vidding. I wouldn't have expected that at all, he's not my usual type of character, but I fell hard for him, and his story once he came back to Sunnydale really made me want to create fannish things.
And that was a whole other problem in itself. I was...kind of shocked at the animosity toward Spike vids or Spuffy vids. Especially after S6 and that whole execrable attempted rape scene. I mean, OK, I get it when a fandom erupts around a character you don't like, especially when said fandom is a lot of people turning a rough character into a woobie. I've been there -- I watched all the excuses everyone made for Krycek, and the way the fans turned him into poor wee ickle Alex. But wow, I still was somehow not prepared for the nastiness you got when you vidded Spike, especially after S6.
Because for me, that was a goldmine of vidding subjects. One vid that isn't online that I should really remaster, I think, was 3 Libras, which was my way of trying to make sense out of the whole wretched season (I really hate S6, if you can't tell), and it made me terrifically happy when I showed it at Escapade and a couple people commented on how it was the first time the season made sense for them. There was just so much you could do with Spike in a way you couldn't always with other characters, and I really loved that flexibility and that depth of creativity I could find in vidding him. His story inspired me a lot.
Not that that was all I vidded, I've done lots of other Buffy characters, but I stopped after a while because of some concerns that I was focusing too much on a couple fandoms. I loved vidding La Femme Nikita and Buffy so much that really, outside of Firefly and the other other fandom, I could have done nothing else and still been happy, but that monomaniacal focus can turn into a joke pretty easily. I still have some songs that I want to do for the show, especially Giles because there never were enough Giles vids. Maybe at some point I will go back to it, even if I do worry that that might seem odd. I miss the show and I would love to see if I can recapture the magic that was lost with the souring of my feelings about Joss.
van asked: The best thing you ever ate!This is so tough, because I have a really hard time remembering things like this. I mean, I remember lots of wonderful meals and menu items, but I have this nagging feeling that there's something really important to remember out there that I can't. I have been to some amazeballs restaurants and had astounding meals cooked by people I know, but I forget all those things quickly.
One meal I do remember was going to a super-exclusive private club at the top of the Columbia Tower, at that time the tallest building west of Chicago, with our new CEO at the association I worked for, who was a member of the club and who had invited us all to dinner to celebrate his new position. It was an amazing meal, just amazing, but I remember the lobster bisque before dinner -- it was simply incredible and I've been searching for a lobster bisque as good ever since. Never found it. Everything that came after was superb, as well, but that lobster bisque...oh, man, was that fine.
Another really wonderful food night came just recently. When I was visiting
therienne, arduinna, and mollyamory last May in Boston, they took me to this basic, nondescript Mexican place near their home. It wasn't a special place or anything, had previously been a chain restaurant, but they made guacamole at your table to your specifications, so I could get it without onions tainting it, which was awesome. It was salty and delicious and fresh, and so wonderfully avocado-y, and I nearly cried when it was gone (which it was, right away). I wanted more and more and more. Then we followed that up with some queso, and I about died and went to heaven -- it was so fresh and tasty, not like what I was used to with queso at all. Really, that was just the best dinner, even though it wasn't some special hard to get into restaurant that would cost you $500 for dinner. (I'm sure the company didn't hurt, either!) I can't find anyplace like it around here, and really, I would consider flying out to Boston just to go to this restaurant again.
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no subject
Date: 2013-12-08 01:42 pm (UTC)mmmm lobster. I've only had it a few times, but it's my favorite, so buttery and juicy and fresh!
no subject
Date: 2013-12-08 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-09 12:24 am (UTC)And heee, re the Mexican place here -- that was On The Border, and when we want to go there, we literally just say "hey, wanna go get queso?" and we all know what we're talking about. *g* Next time you're here, we'll definitely go back!
no subject
Date: 2013-12-08 01:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-12-09 05:49 am (UTC)I remember David Fury and others with their constant stream of "you can't forget who Spike is and he's evil and terrible" as if we were all starry-eyed girls without the brains to understand that for ourselves. And I was never starry-eyed over him -- of course he raped girls as a vampire, of course he murdered and tortured. None of that was something we were trying to whitewash, we were trying to place that in the same way we placed it with Angel. The big difference was that Angel didn't choose to overcome his past, it was thrust on him, and Spike made a decision to do that for love. How could fans not love that? To have them poison that "for our own good" was just so infuriating, and infantalizing.
Um, not that I'm, you know, bitter about that or anything.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-08 08:38 pm (UTC)It always amazes me the vitriol fans can have for characters. I get it being personal, but I hopefully never lose sight that it isn't personal.
It's too bad you felt isolated, but it probably saved you some trouble too.
no subject
Date: 2013-12-09 05:55 am (UTC)There have been times when I've wished everyone wasn't so caught up in a particular character, but I have never sent the kind of hate mail to fans or wished harm on them the way I saw people do to us Spike fans. That was just crazy cakes.