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New computer! New computer! New computer!

Feel my glee, y'all. ^_^ It's a Dell Latitude, and I'm so very happy with it. It still needs a name, though...

While I was in the computer store, which also does repairs, someone came in to drop off their laptop. It was the exact same brand and make as my last one, and it had the same problem that I'd had. Hah. I knew it wasn't my fault.

Okay, now a bunch of links:

gushoushinfiles. For all your Yami fandom needs. It's like

fandom_bb, but for YnM instead of Smallville. It'll keep track of new fic, icons, challenges, whatever. Such a cool resource. Much love for

animadri. She does way too much stuff for this fandom. ^^

rinoared wrote an excellent Tatsumi/Tsuzuki/Hisoka essay for

ship_manifesto. So cool.

And speaking of

ship_manifesto, do you realize that no one is signed up to do Muraki/Tsuzuki? That is just wrong. Someone should sign up! Don't make me do it, my essay would be far too strongly influenced by the fact that I really dislike Muraki. But we can't let the pairing just languish.

Meanwhile,

yasminm has collected 20 themes for Yami no Matsuei, plus a few bonus ones. And she's working on a list for Weiss Kreuz. Go suggest some! See, the idea is that you take these themes, and write a fic for each of them. Major, major cool points for anyone who actually manages to write all 20. But it's a very neat idea for a challenge.

And now I swear to stop pimping things out for a moment. I wouldn't have to keep making link-posts if so much stuff didn't happen. :p But I have a question that I'd like people's opinions on. At what point does fanfic become too self-indulgent? I mean, on some level, obviously all fanfic- all writing, even- is self-indulgent. It's telling stories that you expect people to listen to, writing down your daydreams- though hopefully with a bit more characterization and tighter plot- in the hope that it will make other people happy as well. But where's the point that it becomes too much? How do you know if you've gotten in to a project that's nothing but your kinks and ideas, with no interest to anyone else?

Is there a point at which some stuff just shouldn't be written? Or shouldn't be published, at least. How far can you reasonably expect readers to follow you? And how do you know when you've crossed the line?

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I've heard you mention it, but no specifics. What's the premise?

The original short is from a '5 Things That Never Happened' fic I did, and is here (http://chosenone.envy.nu/ClubSoka.html). I liked it enough that I'd been planning to expand it into an entire epic.

I took a look, but the focus seems to be characters and pairings who don't interest me, so I passed. I'm re-reading an AU vampfic series that proves self-indulgence isn't always bad, especially when your readers share your kinks. *G*

I haven't been following it much, because I'm not really into that fandom, but it was well-written enough that I liked seeing how she took such an utterly cliched AU idea and doing new things with it.

But vampire AU? Ooo, sounds good.

I've read that story several times, and even recced it on

crack_van when the Pimpin' Twin (

boniblithe) and I did YnM in July. *G* I thought that was a good premise for an AU, so I'm glad to hear you thought it was, as well.

I recently fell into the fandom, probably about three weeks ago. Since it's all about the pretty for me, I steer clear of the hobbits and tend to focus on various permutations of Karl Urban, Sean Bean, Orlando Bloom, and Viggo Mortensen.

The vampfic is admittedly not great literature, and I have some quibbles with it, but it's very enjoyable braincandy. Go here (http://www.fadedink.com/writing/index2.html), look up stories by series, then hunt for "Claimed." It's the first in the series.

#^^# Thank you.

I'm not morally opposed to RPS or anything, I just don't care enough about any of the actors to search out fanfic with them. But the amount of pretty contained in that movieis mindboggling.

Oh, thanks for the link! It looks pretty good; plenty of sex scenes, at the least.

That's always been my reason for not reading RPS. The lives of most actors just aren't that interesting in comparison to Immortals, Jedi, Shinigami, etc. But my interests have expanded to include gay ad execs and artists, so there you go. And the story of the filming of LotR, the glimpses of what those actors went through together, really is interesting to me. Plus, I find most of them prettier out of costume and wig, hence the privileging of LotRips over LotR fanfic. That, and my loathing for Tolkien is a deep and burning thing. *G*

Oodles of sex scenes, starring various combinations of characters. My biggest complaints are that Viggo doesn't get any, and Sean Bean, that sex god, is stuck with a hobbit. Still, lots and lots of Karl worship, which is always a plus with me.

That, and my loathing for Tolkien is a deep and burning thing. *G*

I have a soft spot for him. I read The Hobbit as a tiny child, and made it all the way through Lord of the Rings for the first time in Sixth grade. I remember being so proud that I'd read such long books; big, famous classics.

Of course, it wasn't until years later that I realized quite why it was that I'd liked the parts with Frodo and Sam so much... *laughs*

I loved The Hobbit as a child. I tried to read LotR every summer for a period of about eight years. I never made it farther than the middle of the second book, and I finally decided that no books, no matter how well-known, were worth what I was putting myself through.

Part of the problem was the dryness of the language, but part of the problem was definitely also my familiarity with the source material Tolkien used in constructing LotR. I couldn't understand why he was praised so much for his originality when he'd borrowed stories wholecloth from the mythology and folklore I'd been raised on. A bit of questioning quickly revealed that it was because most people, even "scholarly literary" people, weren't that familiar with the mythology and folklore in question. So not only am I disinterested in Tolkien for his own sake, but I associate him with a loss of faith in a few people I had looked up to until I learned they weren't as well-read as they presented themselves to be. That sort of thing tends to make for some bitterness. *G*

As far as the movies go, though, my best friend saw them and was taken with the visualization of the world, with the attention to detail and the inclusion of spoken Elvish and the absolute beauty of the scenery. She never read the books and was only passingly familiar with most of the specific stories Tolkien drew from, but she knew my love for a) good world-building in movies and b) fannish TPTB who let their love shine through in their creations. She talked me into watching the movies with her at the beginning of the summer, and while I found them long and perhaps not as compelling as she did, I also really did love the way PJ's love shone through, the gorgeous visuals, the singing (Eowyn's lament startled me by making me cry), and of course the pretty, pretty people. Plus, I find Elijah Wood less freakish as a hobbit. *G*

And yes, Sam and Frodo were so married. ;-)

I tried to read LotR every summer for a period of about eight years.

I did that for Les Miserables. I must have started that stupid book ten or fifteen times. I finally managed to finish it last year, and decided that it really hadn't been worth the effort. The musical version is so much better that it's astounding.

when he'd borrowed stories wholecloth from the mythology and folklore I'd been raised on.

Ah, see, I have to admit I'm one of those people who weren't familiar with the background. I've never even read Beowulfe, much less some of the more obscure Western Europe folklore. I probably should, if just to be better versed in the allusions and stories, but it's currently very low on my list of Classics I Will Someday Read If Just to Have Read Them.

I tried to read Hunchback at one point and promptly decided Hugo was one of those authors who would drive me crazy if I had to read him. Since I already had to read too many such authors for English (Dickens is my bane), I decided not to torture myself.

I had a retelling of Beowulf illustrated by Jim Fitzpatrick. It was one of my favorite stories, and I adored the drawings of Grendel. Dad's got German blood, so I grew up knowing fair bits of Die Nieberlungenlied,and he's also got a lot of Scandinavian blood, which means I got huge doses of Nordic mythology along with the more usual (in America) Greek. Mom's got a lot of Scottish, so on her side I got hit with a great deal of Celtic mythology and folklore. So I hit Tolkien very much with a sense of, "Been there, done that," and I found the versions I grew up with juicier in the writing. I'm impressed at all the trouble Tolkien went to to create a fully realized world, but for me, it does not compelling reading make. Plus, I have to fight the urge to throttle someone every time I hear Tolkien attributed with creating things like tall elves (Tuatha de Danaan, anyone? Alfar?). I'm glad so many other people enjoy him, I just wish there was a little more respect for the idea that not all of us who don't are illiterate swine. I mean, I think it's pretty clear from my personal experience that part of the problem can be that we are literate.

Dickens is my bane

I am so glad you said that. I abhor Dickens, but he's so well-liked by so many people that it seems hating him is the equivalent of declaring yourself to be a brainless teenager. And his books could have been so *good*, if only they'd been written by someone else. Take A Tale of Two Cities. There's revolutions and secret identities and angsty pasts and true love and evil villanesses and grave robbery and self-sacrificing heroics! And yet somehow, it's still boring and impossible to get through.

See, that's a lot more mythology that I know. I learned the basics of Greek/Roman when I was young, and recently I've been looking at a bit of the Norse stuff- if only because Neil Gaiman features it in so many of his books- but really, that's it. I'd like to know more. It's always interesting.

I adore A Christmas Carol with a mad passion, but it only makes his other works all the more awful in comparison. Especially Great Expectations, which I hate and had to read three friggin' times in school, thanks to being a military kid and changing schools a lot. Pip's wimpy, self-involved angst worked my last nerve in ways any veteran of skirmishes with badfic writers would recognize.

I suppose one good thing came out of the experience. My own teen queen tendency toward purple prose and melodrama was severely curtailed by my run-ins with Mr. Dickens. Though my taste for minimalism didn't make Steinbeck or Hemingway any more palatable. But then, I'm not really impressed with Man Pain, no matter how it's dressed.

Oh, man, you're making me itch to dump books on you now. *G* Mom read mythology to us like it was fairy tales, and certainly the two aren't unrelated. I'd say check out the Folklore section of your local bookstore, they should have at least one book each of Nordic mythology and Celtic (probably a lot of Celtic, given it's an "in" mythology right now). I think someone just pubbed a translated compilation of Icelandic sagas, but I haven't read it yet to say how much good it would do you in terms of the basics. If you're in college (can't remember if you are), you might also see if there are any folklore classes offered and track down the professor to see what books s/he recommends for getting started.

If you're in college (can't remember if you are), you might also see if there are any folklore classes offered and track down the professor to see what books s/he recommends for getting started.

I did, actually! I took an Intro to Folklore that was incredibly disappointing. We didn't talk about mythology at all; rather the whole class was about ways to collect folklore, theories on why folklore such as jokes or urban legends became popular and how they spread and what they said about the populations telling them.

But I did get to write my term paper on the 'my hed iz pastde on yay' wank, since I made the argument that fandom_wank was obviously a folk culture, in terms of people who spend time together, share obscure termonology and create art, stories and other items as part of a shared community. That was fun.

Hemingway isn't too bad, and I haven't read Steinbeck, but I've rarely been very enthusatic for any books I read in school. Shakespeare's an exception, and I'm sure there's a few others I'm forgetting, but in general I've much preferred by own choices, even when it comes to "classic" type things.

I did, actually! I took an Intro to Folklore that was incredibly disappointing. We didn't talk about mythology at all; rather the whole class was about ways to collect folklore, theories on why folklore such as jokes or urban legends became popular and how they spread and what they said about the populations telling them.

Oh, feh. I hate those classes. I don't want interpretation of folklore, or discussion of theories, or analysis of its usefulness in the current age. Just give me the stories, damn it. *G* As many as possible, as fast as possible, from as many cultures as possible. I'll draw my own conclusions about their usefulness, parallels, and application to the human condition/psyche.

But I did get to write my term paper on the 'my hed iz pastde on yay' wank, since I made the argument that fandom_wank was obviously a folk culture, in terms of people who spend time together, share obscure termonology and create art, stories and other items as part of a shared community. That was fun.

Fandom as a whole is a folk culture, with a lot of subcultures, of which I definitely agree fandom_wank is one. And a lot of the jokes and terminology have leaked out into the larger fandom community, which is interesting to watch (probably more interesting if you're more familiar with f_w than I am, but oh well).

Hemingway isn't too bad, and I haven't read Steinbeck, but I've rarely been very enthusatic for any books I read in school. Shakespeare's an exception, and I'm sure there's a few others I'm forgetting, but in general I've much preferred by own choices, even when it comes to "classic" type things.

I loathe Hemingway, though he's not so long-winded as Dickens. Try to avoid Steinbeck if at all possible. I was lucky enough to get some very good English teachers a time or two, and some of them were able to manipulate the curriculum somewhat to give us the good stuff. I first read Farenheit 451 for school, and spent one delirious Christmas vacation devouring our reading assignments: Lord of the Flies, Heart of Darkness, Slaughterhouse Five, and...drat, I forget the other two. I had them all finished before Christmas hit, though, and got my parents to buy me my own copies as Christmas presents. *G*

Shakespeare I knew because Dad used to read it to us when we were little (he did theatre in college), but my first encounter with Chaucer was in school, as well as Cry, the Beloved Country!. Even thinking about that book still moves me to tears. It had some of the most amazing passages.

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