Fandom meme!

[brigdh]

Taken from ranalore: ask me my opinion about something fannish.

Because you know you want to keep me entertained.

Comments

[drmoonpants.livejournal.com]

Hisoka looking at porn: Y/N??

(I think we've almost had this discussion before, but I guess I do want to keep you entertained!)

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

(I think we have talked about this. Either that or I talk to multiple people about Hisoka and porn! But it is a topic that always bears repeating.)

Y!! I mean, I don't necessarily think he was picking up Playboys from the hospital gift shop (possibly because that sort of stuff is boring, and I like to think Hisoka has better taste), but clearily he reads a lot of books, and books- gasp- have sex scenes in them. And you can't even get away with saying, "but he reads classical literature, not trashy romances!", because I am in the middle of 'Crime and Punishment' right now, and one of the main characters is a prostitute. And Shakespeare, as I was recently reminded, uses the word prick to make a dirty joke. In short, I am saying that books = better sex education than what you got in health class, o teenybopper fanfiction writers.

So if people could stop writing Hisoka all "What is this strange new activity?!" it would make me happy.

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

What do you think of the new strips Matsushita Yoko has produced in the last few months?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I... have not actually read them yet. I know, terrible of me, but they're all about Muraki and Oriya and Ukyou, right? I need to see what happens with the Hisoka cliffhanger we've been on for years!

[fadagaski.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yeah, I thought the tangent was weird too. But I think you should look at them just to get a glimpse at her new style. O_o

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

I've been meaning to! I just have so little space on my harddrive at the moment that it makes me reluctant to download big folders of scans.

[arcanelight.livejournal.com]

Do you think if given enough time and trust, decades perhaps, Tsuzuki would ever tell Hisoka what happened "that day" while he was alive?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes, very much so. Tsuzuki doesn't strike me as an inherently secretive person, so I imagine the only things keeping him from talking about it are guilt and the fear of losing Hisoka, which could be easily overwhelmed if it somehow came up, or if he needed reassurance.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Hot blonds with weapons: vital necessity or vital necessity?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Wait, you didn't offer the best description of my feelings: vital necessity.

I mean, they're blond. *And* armed. And *hot*. Where could you go wrong? Seriously, the world needs to recognize that everything is improved by the addition of this character type.

[ranalore.livejournal.com]

Wait, you didn't offer the best description of my feelings: vital necessity.

I knew I'd forgotten one. ;-)

Sing it, sistah!

[p-zeitgeist.livejournal.com]

Would you say it's significant that Ni Jiani refers to Kougaijii as his dear little bunny rabbit? Would you say it's astonishing that I never noticed that before?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Hee. You know, I'd noticed it as a speech tick of his, but I'd never considered why he did it. And now I'm curious about the potential symbolism of it- on the surface, it would seem just to be the same as calling him "doll", which is clear enough. But given what we later find out the bunny doll holds, I wonder if Nii doesn't know some secret about Kougaiji. I have no idea what, because Nii seems to underestimate him rather than overestimate, but I wouldn't put it past Minekura to find out that Nii does posess some new information.

[springgreen.livejournal.com]

What do you think happened to Richard and Alex in the spaces between Swordspoint, The Privilege of the Sword and "The Death of the Duke"?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

Between Swordspoint and Privilege of the Sword, I think they're fairly content and well-adjusted (or at least as well-adjusted as the two of them can be), particularly before Alec gets named the Duke. As time goes by, things start to go downhill- certainly by the time Richard has to leave the city, they're clearly unhappy. But I think it wouldn't have gone well even if he hadn't lost his sight; I don't know how well Alec would have adapted to being part of society of nobles, because even if he had the money and power not to need to listen to anyone, it doesn't seem like an environment he would like. And Richard doesn't seem like the type to want anyone to perceive him as Alec's lacky, or boytoy, or whatever, but would still have had his own life, so they might have been spending significant amounts of time apart without any medical problems to force them to it.

All that said, though, I really really want someone to write me a story set right after Alec becomes the Duke, with Alec and Richard being outrageously scandalous at some elegant party, and getting a kick out of annoying the other guests.

After Privilege of the Sword, I think they'd be quieter; they're both older, and off on some relaxing island, after all. They wouldn't have much to prove, or to fight against, anymore. I imagine Alec forces Katherine to send him lots and lots of books, which he reads to Richard, and they take long walks. Maybe Richard tries to teach Alec to raise bees, and Alec is terrible at it. Eventually Richard dies, and Alec gets married, and it is all very sad.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Got any particular opinion on the portrayals of female characters in animanga?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

You know, I really should, but I'm so bad at noticing this type of thing. I usually won't even notice something like the entire lack of female characters in a series unless someone points it out to me. I clearly fail as a feminist.

I think it's because I have no problem identifying with male characters, so I don't really categorize characters by gender, even when the problems with one group and not the other are really very obvious, so I don't see trends.

[parallactic.livejournal.com]

Heh, I've only recently tried to make myself notice these things and do an informal headcount, ever since blog against racism, absorbing a whole lot of meta, and inhaling a lot of genderbending manga.

I also have no problems with identifying with characters who are different genders than me. I'm not quite sure how to describe how I read when it comes to character identification, gender, and interest in the character. I'm sporadic about gender issues, and whether I notice.

[redshoeson.livejournal.com]

Fandom: Incessant narcissism, slap happy fun or serious commentary on fan culture at large?

[wordsofastory.livejournal.com]

A combination of fun and serious commentary. What most people are looking to get out of fandom is enjoyment, of course, like any hobby, and really, I would say that you shouldn't be doing it if you don't enjoy it. Why torture yourself?

But people being people, we are crazy and therefore enjoy putting insane amounts of actual work into what we produce for fandom, whether it be stories or art or meta or organizing things, and I don't think any of that has less value because it's done in the context of fandom than anywhere else.

I wouldn't call it narcissism, though. I mean, sure, there are wanks and sock puppets and all sorts of various infightings, but I think there's fairly inevitable when you have large numbers of people. There's always going to be some politicking and jockeying for position, but that doesn't mean that the whole enterprise is worthless.