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aruanAah, Cabaret. So, I have no boys-as-girls kink, but seeing boys I know in real life in vapid makeup? Uh, yes. In a big way.
Oh, the production was good, too. David looked dashing under the stage lights as Bradshaw, but it takes something away from the dramatic love affair to know that the boy is as gay and mild-mannered as it gets.
My favorite of the unpopular opinions meme, from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
merryish:
There's nothing wrong with pop. There's nothing wrong with pop culture. There's nothing wrong with being interested in pop culture or liking pop culture or being a part of pop culture. Being too cool for pop culture is like being too cool for the present, and is its own particular brand of closed-minded. "Popular" does not necessarily equal "crap."
Yes. That I've found exactly one person willing to take me seriously when I say I want to have a discussion about the meta of Britney at this university is nothing short of maddening.
Other good points:
-JC is nobody's martyr.
-Epics are not inherently better than short stories; angst is not inherently better than comedy.
-Teenies come up with some legitimately brilliant shit and we could stand to be half as boldly creative as they are.
-Mpreg, incest, underage sex and non-con can all be written really well. And hey, sometimes even when they're not, they're still kinda hot.
-Writing weirdo pairings just for the sake of being weird/different/outre doesn't make you special.
-stubbleglitter
-Chris Keller is not a Nice Guy. He is fucked-up and possibly sociopathic, and he doesn't have the first idea how to have a healthy relationship. Corollary: You can say so and still like the character.
-Just because you don't like what happens in a show or a movie or a book doesn't mean TPTB are doing it wrong or don't understand their characters as deeply as you do or are doing it to fuck with the fans. It was not out of character for Chris Keller to fuck Beecher over. It was not out of character for Tim Bayliss to shoot Ryland. It was not out of character for Frank Pembleton to be unable to deal with the darkness in Bayliss nor to turn him in when that's what Bayliss needed him to do. Corollary: Conversely, TPTB are NOT God. Sometimes they are on crack or produce crap. Even Joss Whedon and Peter Jackson.
-There was no Golden Age of fandom. There have always been ugly catfights and bad fanfiction, even in the days of paper zines when everyone had to walk uphill barefoot both ways in the snow and know the supersekrit password to get into conventions.
-Not all opinions are equally valid. Some are ill-informed, fucked-up or just plain stupid.
-Having a right to free expression does not necessarily keep you, or me, from being an ass when you, or me, use it. My pointing this out is not an attempt to deny your right of free expression nor an attempt to turn fandom into a happy, shiny place where we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya. It is an attempt to point this out. It's your choice whether and how much you care if you're being perceived as an ass and what you do in response. Manners and concern for other people, however, are not bad things.
-"I can't affect your fandom experience any more than you let me" is crap, particularly coming from a BNF. When you are part of a fandom, you are part of a community. It is your choice whether you give a fuck about the community or the people in it, but you are still part of that community, and you affect community atmosphere and social mores. This effect is multiplied exponentially for BNFs. Suck it up and deal, rather than trying to act like your actions and words have no effect on people, or if they do, it's all their fault for somehow being weak-willed and weak-minded.
-Fandom and fan activity are valid and valuable. If you're self-hating enough to not be willing to admit this, why are you here?
-marythefan
-Lance Bass is not an evil genius, but neither is he a naive, virginal southern belle.
-Writing a story that makes the reader feel like maybe they aren't smart enough to get what's going on does not great fiction make. A good yarn will always be more entertaining than high art.
-trixiesfic
-There is no proof for your favorite pairing. NONE. Stop trying to convince me otherwise.
-Infantilazation is not cute. Neither is feminization.
-I'm not forcing you to put a warning on your schmoopy piece of crap; don't force me to put a warning on my deathfic.
-It's really not all about the fans.
-cathybites
-Canon is good but when you are reading/writing RPS, please define canon. Besides knowing where they were on a certain date, what they wore and maybe even what they said, we don't know jack shit. And your opinion or interpretation of what was said or done does not equal canon.
-You don't know shit about the boys and neither do I. We can speculate and ruminated and waste countless hours of time going over everything we know about them and it is still all about what they want to show us. And what they want to show us is whitewashed, 5th hand information that still only describes about two minutes of their lives.
-Everyone has a right to their opinions, their moods, their general bitchiness but what people sometimes forget is the responsibility that comes with having the freedom of expression. Don't be surprised when your latest drama/rant/opinionfest gets you defriended or talked about in a negative light. Action/reaction. Figure it out.
-Authors who let their obvious hate or dislike for a character show through in their stories should have their computers taken away. It is called characterization people. Get over your bad self and figure out what the other guys feel about that character, not what you do. No matter how much you hate Justin, or Joey, or Kevin or whoever, I can guarantee you that their bandmates don't. So don't write it that way!
-They are all fictional characters. Even in RPS, we don't know the real people well enough to write true canon or characterizations, it's all fake! Fiction, fantasy and fun is what it is all about and I think that people who can't make that separation need to step back and take a breather. IT'S NOT REAL.
-hammerhead22
10. human beings mostly suck. We're arrogant and childish and prejudicial and envious and petty and self-righteous and full of ego. We write bad fic, pointless rants, fill out boring memes. We cut each other down, puff each other up, ass-lick, ass-kick, preach, proselytise and protest too much. We suck up to people who we think can do us good, stomp on people who try and use us for the same thing, get hood-winked, act blinkered and try and cause scenes to see how much we matter. We are needy, we are hopped up on hayfever medication, we are buzzed on caffeine, we are bouncing with sugar.
And as long as fandom is peopled with us, it's going to be frustrating, up-and-down, frequently psychotic, full of betrayed friendships and confidences and failed love affairs.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
If this was Hallmark card, I'd turn around and now say human beings are also incredibly, delightfully inventive, capable of great acts of kindness. That we can and often do band together to give each other gifts for no particular reason. That most of us have met our best friends here, that all of us get something out of fandom that nothing else in our lives gives us, that living vicariously through the LJ friends list is one of the whackest pleasures ever. So, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
-isilya
Those were a lot of my fandom issues right there. As for the rest...
My contributions:
1. If you're looking for things to take seriously, you're probably in the wrong place by spending your time slashing popstars.
2. Just because an opinion/fic/person is popular, doesn't mean it's right/good/merits the hype. Having your own opinion is perfectly fine. No, really.
3. I may love my pairing more than yours but at the end of the day, it's all just one big sandbox, and it probably works better that not everyone wants to play with the same toy. Also, there are no right or wrong ways to play, unless you're flinging sand at the other kids or trouncing on their sculptures in the name of your own.
4. JC Chasez is a beautiful man, and no pornstache, ill-fitting pimptastic ensemble, or overproduced hair can ultimately undermine that. Even in concert.
5. If you're getting all your characterization tips from reading others' fanfiction, even if it's by revered writers, you're doing yourself a hugely limiting disservice. Everyone has biases, interpretations vary, etc. Broaden your horizons by reading, yes, but when in doubt or on the verge of forming an opinion, look to footage. Lord knows there's no lack of that in this fandom.
6. You are not your pairing. I can like one and not the other, or vice-versa, and feel no cognitive dissonance whatsoever.
7. Expressing your opinions in a public forum will get reactions. To which you can choose to respond any way you please, but if you honestly didn't think you'd be held accountable in some way by someone then you've spent too much time conversing only with your desk lamp.
8. Liking the music in this fandom does not diminish your street cred. Maybe saying their pinnacle was I Need Love, yes, but there's no shame in moving your ass to Pop, reveling in the irreverence of Digital Get Down, or tearing up during This I Promise You.
9. Deification, vilification, and figuratively turned them into girls are all frowned upon. Conversely, literally turning them into girls, cops or gangsters is not. Capiche?
10. I just feel it bears repeating that we know pretty much jack about the boys and how they choose to live their lives, and unless you're legitimately psychic, reading between the lines (which is the most generous interpretation of fic I know) is a subjective, inexact, and self-serving bias-fueled science at best.
More AMA pictures have surfaced. The ones of Lance with the camera are ironically funny, the one of his foundation being reapplied is oddly intriguing, and there really are a few flattering ones of JC in spite of everything.
Did my official Britney interview with Al tonight, and that was the most thought-provoking session of anything I've had in a long while. And at the end, he said I conducted a "great" interview, asked "insightful" questions, and that he is looking forward to seeing the article. Keeping in mind that he was my instructor for MMC2100 lab, I squeed inwardly the entire walk home.
Why I'm about to sit down and expect no problems in my writing of the epic on Britney and cannot for the everloving life of me muster 350 words about Halloween, I'll never understand.
Oh, the production was good, too. David looked dashing under the stage lights as Bradshaw, but it takes something away from the dramatic love affair to know that the boy is as gay and mild-mannered as it gets.
My favorite of the unpopular opinions meme, from
merryish:There's nothing wrong with pop. There's nothing wrong with pop culture. There's nothing wrong with being interested in pop culture or liking pop culture or being a part of pop culture. Being too cool for pop culture is like being too cool for the present, and is its own particular brand of closed-minded. "Popular" does not necessarily equal "crap."
Yes. That I've found exactly one person willing to take me seriously when I say I want to have a discussion about the meta of Britney at this university is nothing short of maddening.
Other good points:
-JC is nobody's martyr.
-Epics are not inherently better than short stories; angst is not inherently better than comedy.
-Teenies come up with some legitimately brilliant shit and we could stand to be half as boldly creative as they are.
-Mpreg, incest, underage sex and non-con can all be written really well. And hey, sometimes even when they're not, they're still kinda hot.
-Writing weirdo pairings just for the sake of being weird/different/outre doesn't make you special.
-
stubbleglitter-Chris Keller is not a Nice Guy. He is fucked-up and possibly sociopathic, and he doesn't have the first idea how to have a healthy relationship. Corollary: You can say so and still like the character.
-Just because you don't like what happens in a show or a movie or a book doesn't mean TPTB are doing it wrong or don't understand their characters as deeply as you do or are doing it to fuck with the fans. It was not out of character for Chris Keller to fuck Beecher over. It was not out of character for Tim Bayliss to shoot Ryland. It was not out of character for Frank Pembleton to be unable to deal with the darkness in Bayliss nor to turn him in when that's what Bayliss needed him to do. Corollary: Conversely, TPTB are NOT God. Sometimes they are on crack or produce crap. Even Joss Whedon and Peter Jackson.
-There was no Golden Age of fandom. There have always been ugly catfights and bad fanfiction, even in the days of paper zines when everyone had to walk uphill barefoot both ways in the snow and know the supersekrit password to get into conventions.
-Not all opinions are equally valid. Some are ill-informed, fucked-up or just plain stupid.
-Having a right to free expression does not necessarily keep you, or me, from being an ass when you, or me, use it. My pointing this out is not an attempt to deny your right of free expression nor an attempt to turn fandom into a happy, shiny place where we all hold hands and sing Kumbaya. It is an attempt to point this out. It's your choice whether and how much you care if you're being perceived as an ass and what you do in response. Manners and concern for other people, however, are not bad things.
-"I can't affect your fandom experience any more than you let me" is crap, particularly coming from a BNF. When you are part of a fandom, you are part of a community. It is your choice whether you give a fuck about the community or the people in it, but you are still part of that community, and you affect community atmosphere and social mores. This effect is multiplied exponentially for BNFs. Suck it up and deal, rather than trying to act like your actions and words have no effect on people, or if they do, it's all their fault for somehow being weak-willed and weak-minded.
-Fandom and fan activity are valid and valuable. If you're self-hating enough to not be willing to admit this, why are you here?
-
marythefan-Lance Bass is not an evil genius, but neither is he a naive, virginal southern belle.
-Writing a story that makes the reader feel like maybe they aren't smart enough to get what's going on does not great fiction make. A good yarn will always be more entertaining than high art.
-
trixiesfic-There is no proof for your favorite pairing. NONE. Stop trying to convince me otherwise.
-Infantilazation is not cute. Neither is feminization.
-I'm not forcing you to put a warning on your schmoopy piece of crap; don't force me to put a warning on my deathfic.
-It's really not all about the fans.
-
cathybites-Canon is good but when you are reading/writing RPS, please define canon. Besides knowing where they were on a certain date, what they wore and maybe even what they said, we don't know jack shit. And your opinion or interpretation of what was said or done does not equal canon.
-You don't know shit about the boys and neither do I. We can speculate and ruminated and waste countless hours of time going over everything we know about them and it is still all about what they want to show us. And what they want to show us is whitewashed, 5th hand information that still only describes about two minutes of their lives.
-Everyone has a right to their opinions, their moods, their general bitchiness but what people sometimes forget is the responsibility that comes with having the freedom of expression. Don't be surprised when your latest drama/rant/opinionfest gets you defriended or talked about in a negative light. Action/reaction. Figure it out.
-Authors who let their obvious hate or dislike for a character show through in their stories should have their computers taken away. It is called characterization people. Get over your bad self and figure out what the other guys feel about that character, not what you do. No matter how much you hate Justin, or Joey, or Kevin or whoever, I can guarantee you that their bandmates don't. So don't write it that way!
-They are all fictional characters. Even in RPS, we don't know the real people well enough to write true canon or characterizations, it's all fake! Fiction, fantasy and fun is what it is all about and I think that people who can't make that separation need to step back and take a breather. IT'S NOT REAL.
-
hammerhead2210. human beings mostly suck. We're arrogant and childish and prejudicial and envious and petty and self-righteous and full of ego. We write bad fic, pointless rants, fill out boring memes. We cut each other down, puff each other up, ass-lick, ass-kick, preach, proselytise and protest too much. We suck up to people who we think can do us good, stomp on people who try and use us for the same thing, get hood-winked, act blinkered and try and cause scenes to see how much we matter. We are needy, we are hopped up on hayfever medication, we are buzzed on caffeine, we are bouncing with sugar.
And as long as fandom is peopled with us, it's going to be frustrating, up-and-down, frequently psychotic, full of betrayed friendships and confidences and failed love affairs.
I wouldn't have it any other way.
If this was Hallmark card, I'd turn around and now say human beings are also incredibly, delightfully inventive, capable of great acts of kindness. That we can and often do band together to give each other gifts for no particular reason. That most of us have met our best friends here, that all of us get something out of fandom that nothing else in our lives gives us, that living vicariously through the LJ friends list is one of the whackest pleasures ever. So, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.
-
isilyaThose were a lot of my fandom issues right there. As for the rest...
My contributions:
1. If you're looking for things to take seriously, you're probably in the wrong place by spending your time slashing popstars.
2. Just because an opinion/fic/person is popular, doesn't mean it's right/good/merits the hype. Having your own opinion is perfectly fine. No, really.
3. I may love my pairing more than yours but at the end of the day, it's all just one big sandbox, and it probably works better that not everyone wants to play with the same toy. Also, there are no right or wrong ways to play, unless you're flinging sand at the other kids or trouncing on their sculptures in the name of your own.
4. JC Chasez is a beautiful man, and no pornstache, ill-fitting pimptastic ensemble, or overproduced hair can ultimately undermine that. Even in concert.
5. If you're getting all your characterization tips from reading others' fanfiction, even if it's by revered writers, you're doing yourself a hugely limiting disservice. Everyone has biases, interpretations vary, etc. Broaden your horizons by reading, yes, but when in doubt or on the verge of forming an opinion, look to footage. Lord knows there's no lack of that in this fandom.
6. You are not your pairing. I can like one and not the other, or vice-versa, and feel no cognitive dissonance whatsoever.
7. Expressing your opinions in a public forum will get reactions. To which you can choose to respond any way you please, but if you honestly didn't think you'd be held accountable in some way by someone then you've spent too much time conversing only with your desk lamp.
8. Liking the music in this fandom does not diminish your street cred. Maybe saying their pinnacle was I Need Love, yes, but there's no shame in moving your ass to Pop, reveling in the irreverence of Digital Get Down, or tearing up during This I Promise You.
9. Deification, vilification, and figuratively turned them into girls are all frowned upon. Conversely, literally turning them into girls, cops or gangsters is not. Capiche?
10. I just feel it bears repeating that we know pretty much jack about the boys and how they choose to live their lives, and unless you're legitimately psychic, reading between the lines (which is the most generous interpretation of fic I know) is a subjective, inexact, and self-serving bias-fueled science at best.
More AMA pictures have surfaced. The ones of Lance with the camera are ironically funny, the one of his foundation being reapplied is oddly intriguing, and there really are a few flattering ones of JC in spite of everything.
Did my official Britney interview with Al tonight, and that was the most thought-provoking session of anything I've had in a long while. And at the end, he said I conducted a "great" interview, asked "insightful" questions, and that he is looking forward to seeing the article. Keeping in mind that he was my instructor for MMC2100 lab, I squeed inwardly the entire walk home.
Why I'm about to sit down and expect no problems in my writing of the epic on Britney and cannot for the everloving life of me muster 350 words about Halloween, I'll never understand.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: November 20th, 2003 09:49 am (UTC)I need love, you need love, we all really need love!
Is the song stuck in your head now?
no subject
Date: November 20th, 2003 02:54 pm (UTC)I don't think I've ever managed to sit through an entire spin of the thing.