Friending Media

[singedsun]

In which I overthink listing out fandoms for the friending meme. Or, here's a weird first post to see from me if you're coming over from a friending meme, and other stories where I don't actually list any of the stuff I'm into.



I can never be trusted to create a list of the media I enjoy. I feel like even if I'm not actively creating for a specific fandom that doesn't mean I won't pick it up in a heartbeat if something strikes my fancy. I also indulge in a LOT of television, YouTube & podcasts because I don't like to rewatch or replay very many things. So I posted my comment on the friending post linked above but then wanted to edit it a bunch after reading through other comments because I kept finding fandoms I wanted to add. I let myself edit once and then just figured it wasn't worth it to keep going back, especially since comments are nearing 400 the likelihood of people going back and finding mine are slim.

The other thing I have trouble quantifying are individuals I love that like I'm not going to be writing about them, but I will sit here and talk to you about them for hours. I have a conversation with a friend that is 100% just nerd moments from Brendon Urie's Twitch channel, but I by no means consider that really part of Panic!'s bandom. Nor do I engage with band fandoms much at all (despite my love for rock band AUs in other fandoms lol).

Also, I just watch a BUNCH of YouTube but everyone I've met in most YouTube communities are far younger than me. And while I am not typically bothered by talking to younger fandom friends, I definitely don't feel welcome in most of those fandoms when the communities are full of 15-16 year olds. (To be clear, people are generally lovely in most of those fandoms - like for the Polygon video team - but they're usually the places I feel like a weird old creeper. LOL)

I feel half-tempted on friending posts or in profiles where it's expected you list out what you're into, to just write, IDK STUFF OKAY?! because that's how I feel writing them out. This is likely also impacted by the fact that the only fandom I've really participated in for a lengthy period of time was Dragon Age. But I've also written for Yuletide for the past nine years where Dragon Age is too big a fandom. So I'm happy to pick up an engage with smaller fandoms for the sake of something interesting to create.

When I was browsing back through the other comments though, I a little bit was envious of the people that can just list something obscure like ... Forever Knight, and that just be their one and only fandom. I mean, I don't get it but if that's you, that's cool. Also Forever Knight was a show beyond its years that never got the attention it should have. Alas, the vampire goodness we could've had.

Comments

[sewn]

I feel a little jealous of people who know exactly where their fannish heart lays 99.9% of the time

I know what you mean. My attention wanders from place to place, and I don't really know what fandom I'm "in" at any given moment. I mean I'm always a fan of the things I'm fan of, right? But that's... hundreds of things, some of which I will be intensely obsessed with for a month, and then pick up something else. Sometimes I have one-night bouts where I wonder if there's a fandom and fic for this or that canon, discover there is, and spend a few hours bingereading until it's out of my system. Should that go on my interest list then, hmm...

It's such a weird thought to have one fandom, or just a couple, for years, maybe decades, and have a deep fandom experience with one canon alone!

Haha, it's We Hate Movies. They are one of those Bad Movies podcast where four dudes sit down and pick apart a terrible (or an amazing) movie. I'm not generally a big fan of that format anymore, and I feel weird gushing about them, but they are just head and shoulders above any "dude media" I can think of. I actually wouldn't categorize them as such because they're, well, educated adults, and usually hone in on a movie's racist, misogynist and transphobic aspects. I like it because they sort of lured in a community of reddit bros and are now teaching them intersectional feminist analysis 101 while being shriek-out-loud hilarious. /I feel dumb giving woke cookies to men, but still. I just gosh darnit love them.

That said, I always have a hard time reccing them because, like you said, first of all there's being into podcasts, and then being into non-fiction podcasts, and then into a particular subgenre of movie podcasts... it's just hard to know if someone is a potential fan of their stuff! What's the podcast YOU are thinking about?

And hey, you're also into tabletop RPGs??

Hope you don't mind these super long comments, by the way. I feel like I'm rambling D:

[singedsun]

I think streaming media makes it so easy to binge a new thing too, so falling down a fandom hole for a week or a month or whatever is so easy to do. And again, those are the kinds of things that if they roll around on a Yuletide pinch list, I might be willing to write something for it if I like it and remember enough without a canon review. They're just not fandoms I'm active in the rest of the time... I think they count, but I will almost always forget them on a list of "fandoms" I make for things like this.

I've never heard of that podcast! Those kinds aren't usually the kind I listen to or at least not on a regular basis, but I total understand the appeal of them. My Brother, My Brother and Me (MBMBAM) is the one I can talk about forever. That and a weird one I LOVE called Good Christian Fun. GCF is a podcast about Christian pop culture but through a modern, thoughtful (and liberal) lens. It's a hard sell because while the hosts consider themselves Christian, they're definitely not your stereotypical straight-laced right-wing conservative Christians. They take an honest look at what Christian pop culture (both old and new) is trying to impart, who it's marketed to, and where it might fall down. Also, they're extremely funny. But like those are two wildly different talky podcasts (although if you like one, you'll probably like the other) but selling those to non-podcast people or audio drama podcast people might be difficult.

And yes! I DM a weekly D&D game on Wednesdays and play a Earth Genasi Barbarian in a game on Tuesdays. :D I've been a hard core TTRPGer for almost two decades. I've played a bunch of different kinds of games too, not just D&D.

(I LOVE long comments - see my own above lol)

[sewn]

Good Christian Fun sounds like it could be right up my alley, actually. Another movie podcast I love is Linoleum Knife, and one of the two hosts was raised Evangelical (in 70s Texas). He isn't Christian anymore, but every so often they will review new faith-based movies, which mainstream movie critics normally completely ignore; his observations on them are always really interesting, and I've learned more about Christian pop culture in the US than I never did before. So GCF sounds great, I subscribed to it. :) I see they are actually part of the same podcast network as We Hate Movies (Headgum). Seal of approval!

MBMBAM I know, because they have a connection to a New Zealand podcast I used to listen to, The Worst Idea of All Time... They've had some crossover episodes, maybe you heard them? So I've actually listened to some of it but didn't become a regular listener. Most of the podcasts I listen to are movie-related, with a few conspiracy theory and cult ones thrown in.

I'm more of a "softcore" RPGer, even though I've played a whole lot of different games for ten years now, several D&D campaigns and a whole bunch of others, from Conan to Vampire The Masquerade to Star Trek Adventures... I haven't played for a few months now, but I agreed to play D&D Out of the Abyss with someone who wants to try DMing for the first time. It doesn't start until March and I have no character yet, but I'm looking forward to it!

[singedsun]

Definitely tell me what you think of GCF. Some of the conversations they have about the faith-based backgrounds of their guests is the most interesting thing about the show. And sometimes it's the stupid bad Christian songs they find to pit against each other in a bout of a game they play called "The Worst Christian Song of All Time". They make me laugh every week. (Also, one of the hosts was a host of Gilmore Guys.)

I HAVE heard of them, but I never listened to the crossover episodes. LOL
OMG CULT podcasts! Did you listen to the Heaven's Gate one?!

Most of mine are talky, or game/story based. But sometimes I branch out.

ooooh. Man I MISS playing VtM. I played in a long, long Sabbat campaign (Toreador) and it was so much fun. I've been watching LA By Night on Geek & Sundry and it's making me so nostalgic of that game. Out of the Abyss is tough. I was in a campaign that made it about halfway through the campaign before real life stuff just was too overwhelming and we fell apart. I played a druid in that game which came in pretty handy. The best advice I can give for that campaign is to take lots and lots of notes. You'll need to know the NPCs well.

[sewn]

I'm looking forward to the song discussions! I was involved with a church choir and related activities as a youngster and have endured a lot of terrible Christian pop music, although just of the local variety. I don't know much about the US side of it, though I did see some American Christian bands when they had international tours. (Full disclosure here: I'm an atheist now, haven't left the Lutheran church. The religious landscape is quite different where I live.)

I'm listening to Heaven's Gate, not all the way through yet! It's great. And it's not a cult podcast per se, but I've also got Surviving Y2K on my playlist, which covers the millenium panic phenomenon, which did have some cult-y elements to it.

I played a druid in that game which came in pretty handy. The best advice I can give for that campaign is to take lots and lots of notes. You'll need to know the NPCs well.

Thank you for the advice :D I'm not the most... strategic of players, let's put it like that. No one's picked druid yet, so I might just do that.