Month: February 2015

Leonard Nimoy and the Legacy of Fandom

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nimoy3

The loss of Leonard Nimoy has hit the world hard today – a talented actor, director, writer, and humanitarian. For those of us in fandom, the loss feels personal, which may be hard to understand for someone on the ‘outside’. Even fans who weren’t born when the original Star Trek zoomed onto our (tiny) television screens in gloriously limited special effects feel the void left by his passing. Nimoy, and Star Trek, were so pivotal to the beginnings of fandom as we know it, that it’s difficult to quantify the depth of his contribution to this vibrant thing we call ‘fandom’ or how much the universe feels darker without him in it.

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We Will Always End Up Here – Supernatural’s ‘The Executioner’s Song’

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

I’m so torn. Do I gush first about the writing of this episode that laid the groundwork for so many powerful scenes? Or the brilliant cinematography and direction and set dec and visual effects? Or do I marvel at the acting performances of ALL of the main players, who collectively blew me away and kept me so sucked in that I was holding my breath for most of the second half of the episode?

Not a bad dilemma to face on a Friday morning. I think I’ll gush about all of the above.

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Supernatural Tackles the Ghost in the Machine – 10.13

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WB/The CW Promo
WB/The CW Promo

Drive-by review — I liked it! I liked how old school the episode was, with the brothers working together to solve a MotW case and the entire episode spooling out with one reveal after another. We had EMF meters, rockstar aliases, ghosts, and baby roaring off down the street. It was suitably old school SPN creepy and scary and at times disgusting, which often seemed to be the case in the early seasons.

The whole ‘ghost in the machine’ thing has always been a bit terrifying, from way back in 2001 A Space Odyssey to Stephen King to that 90s classic anime. Who hasn’t looked askance at their GPS or Siri every now and then and wondered if it was messing with you? I swear, she just sounds judgmental at times. Especially on the fifteenth “recalculating…”

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Supernatural Convention Commentary: What’s So Special About Saturday Night?

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houston con 2015 2 081

I sat down today to share some photos from HousCon and SFCon that didn’t make it into my other reports. When I realized that most of them were from the Saturday Night concert, I got to thinking. What is it about that event that makes it so special? (And inspires me to pull out my camera more than usual, even though I’m far from a photographer). This is the result. Call it ‘the evolution of the Saturday Night Special’ if you will.

Since we began our crazy road trip through Supernatural fandom eight years ago writing Fangasm Supernatural Fangirls, we’ve seen both the Show and the fandom evolve. The Show has had its ups and downs, but there has never been a time that I didn’t love it and have faith in the talented people making it. The fandom has had its ups and downs too, with countless examples of fans supporting each other and unfortunately some examples of the opposite, though I still think the former far outweighs the latter. The cast, too, has had its ups and downs. For eight years, many of the actors have done conventions together, travelling the world and sharing an experience few people get to have. Although many of them never even worked together on the Show, they have all become closer than cast members usually do as a result.

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Ten Reasons To Love Supernatural’s ‘About A Boy’

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WB/The CW
WB/The CW

Worrying that you’re going to be stuck in the ER and miss Supernatural is not the best way to start a Tuesday evening (okay, maybe that’s not what I was most worried about, but it was right up there in my top two). Luckily I didn’t miss it, and even more luckily, I’m home now to finally sit down and write about how much I loved it.

Reason #1: The acting. The only person better than Dylan Everett at playing Dean Winchester is Jensen Ackles. I was impressed with Dylan’s acting the first time he portrayed Dean, but that was perhaps a bit less challenging, as he was showing us Dean as a teenager. If there were some differences, that was to be expected – pretty sure I’m not exactly the same as I was as a teenager. (Unless you’re judging by my fangirl passion which is thankfully still intact). This time, Dylan had to portray adult Dean stuck in his own fourteen year old body, which means the mannerisms and facial expressions and way of speaking that we know and love in Dean Winchester should be pretty much the same. Talk about an acting challenge!

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A Family Affair – SPN Family At HousCon

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j2 close

houston con 2015 2 198

I wrote this post a few days ago and then was too sick to actually post it. In the interim, there’s been some discussion about ‘SPNFamily’ and whether that term is appropriate for us when there sometimes seems like so much infighting. I hate the infighting and love the sense of community – it’s why we wrote Fangasm and why there are entire chapters on wank and the reasons for it in Fandom At The Crossroads. I hate seeing other fans hurting, whether that hurt comes from inside or outside the fandom. I guess, when you get right down to it, I hate seeing people hurting. That’s what I do for a living, after all.

So I understand why some are questioning the term ‘SPNFamily’ – who wants to believe that someone within your family could deliberately hurt you? There are people in any group who try to cope with whatever it is they’re dealing with by attacking others, or are afraid of losing something important to them and are willing to use whatever means they can find to keep that from happening. That sort of anger-based, fear-based behavior is tough to watch and even worse to be on the receiving end of. And it’s not okay. This ‘family’ we’re in is not perfect. Bobby Singer’s warning that family is there to make you miserable isn’t always off the mark. That’s true of every family I’ve ever known, blood or no blood.

At the same time, I don’t want to lose sight of the many powerful and important ways that this gigantic diverse squabbling infuriating supportive creative amazing group of people is a family. I’ve been collecting stories for a new project about how Supernatural and SPN fandom have changed people’s lives. In some cases, saved people’s lives. Fans, cast, crew – we’ve all been changed by our participation in this widespread, dynamic group. I’ve heard stories of fans going out of their way – above and beyond – to help other fans. I’ve seen it and experienced it myself, in big dramatic gestures and in small moments at cons when someone lost their photo op ticket. That feeling of belonging and acceptance that we wrote about in Fangasm is still there, and still has a strong impact on fans who discover the community of fandom. Like all large families, we have our factions and our alliances and our family feuds, and some people get along better and are happier if they just don’t talk to ‘that branch of the family’ anymore. (Of course, you may still see them at Cousin Martha’s big bash of a wedding…or run across them in the comments on a fandom blog…)

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