Creator Fannishness

[selenak]

There is something incredibly endearing, to me, when people whose creations I admire show their enthusiasm for someone else’s creations. On a basic level, this is very similar to how fandom works – we get to know a fellow fan of a certain fandom, they’re also enthusiastic about something else we don’t know yet, and we decide to have a look. (That’s how I got to watch Blake’s 7, BTVS, and Farscape, among other shows. And how I got to read Harry Potter - it was recced to me by honor just a nanosecond before the hype started.)

If I already know the recommended show/book/film, it’s the fun of sharing. For example, watching Steven Spielberg go all fanboy on the Lawrence of Arabia DVD. If I don’t know, I’m at the very least curious, and stimulated by the enthusiasm. Which means I’ll probably try and watch Veronica Mars now, because who can resist Joss Whedon in fanboy mode, when he’s sounding like this after having watched Veronica Mars:

Big emotion, I mean BIG, and charsimatic actors and I was just DYING from the mystery and the relationships and PAIN, this show knows from pain and no, I don't care, laugh all you want, I had to share this. These guys know what they're doing on a level that intimidates me. It's the Harry Potter of shows. There. I said it. People should do whatever they can to check out this first season so the second won't be a spoiler fest. I'm nutty.

So, monanotlisa, kskitten, anyone, who has the Veronica Mars PAIN available? Trust Joss to get wild about this particular trait. I mean, this is the man who in another example of fannish enthusiasm, in this case about Stephen Sondheim, confessed in an interview:

"Sondheim wasn't someone you would go to if you wanted to be told that everything was perfect. Neither were my parents, for that matter — all concerned were greatly relieved when they got divorced. I told my therapist that I knew all of Follies by the age of nine; she said, 'We have our work cut out for us.'" One of Follies numbers, "The Road You Didn't Take," posed a particular challenge to young Whedon: "the notion that every choice you make means that other possibilities are eliminated forever — as a kid, I found that terrifying. As an adult, I still find it scary."

Joss Whedon getting raised on Sondheim tunes in the 70s explains a lot.*g* As andrastewhite said to me, will future therapists hear from other people “I have the sixth season of Buffy memorized”?

Meanwhile, friends’ list, share. What is your favourite example of a writer/creator/composer/whatever whose creations you like going fanboy/fangirl over something?

Comments

*Brief squee*

[natoth.livejournal.com]

I truly admire of Harlan Ellison, the great man, great writer.
Composer? I'll be banal, but I love Christopher Franke... he made fantastic music...
Creator? Spielberg... he is contienues to surprise me...
Actor? Johnny Depp and Ralf Fience...
as for my own country writers I'll be recommend Oleg Divov he works in fantastic and writes really genious books...

[ruuger]

Brian May who has been my biggest musical idol for well over ten years is such a geeky little fanboy that I love reading his blog even though his use of punctuation makes my eyes bleed. He's is probably the only megastar musician around whose blog has more posts about astronomy and victorian stereophotography than his current world tour.

Also, there was an interview of James Marsters and Tony Head I saw recently where the interviewer said something about fans in conventions being geeks and losers that inspired Marsters to tell how he used to go to Trek conventions wearing Spock-ears and everything, and how his own fans have never done to him what he did to Leonard Nimoy :)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Go, James! That's a good story.

And I have to confess a momentary blackout - Brian May sang which songs...?

[kernezelda]

One of the guys from Queen.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*hangs had in shame*

Of course.

[estepheia.livejournal.com]

Thanks for making me laugh out loud.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

You're welcome.*g*

[grimorie.livejournal.com]

awwwww.... i love fanboy!Joss! thanks for the link

[selenak.livejournal.com]

He's emimently lovable in these moments.

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

The airport encounter between Laurie Anderson and Wim Wenders is a good one.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

And who went fannish about whom?

*betrays ignorance*

[ratmmjess.livejournal.com]

As Laurie Anderson told it--and I'm working off of fifteen-year-old memories, so I may have some of the particulars wrong, but not the gist of the story--she was walking through the Berlin airport when a man approached her and said, "Are you Laurie Anderson?" She said, "Yes, I am," and he began raving about her work. This led to a long conversation which Anderson really enjoyed, and forty-five minutes later she asked him who he was, and he said, "Wim Wenders." Whereupon she began raving to him about -his- work.

Another one. When, about a decade or so ago, Sony released the complete recordings of bluesman Robert Johnson, they included a hitherto-unknown photo of Johnson. I read--somewhere, I don't remember where, Rolling Stone or Spin, maybe--quotes from people like Eric Clapton and Keith Richards raving about Johnson's work and fixating on the length of Johnson's fingers and saying things like, "*That's* how he got those notes! I've been trying for years to play that progression and never managed it."

[smashsc.livejournal.com]

David Sedaris is a fanboy and I adore him for it. He geeks out over a wide range of things and I adore it. Examples: his Marah article (http://yeproc.com/news.php?articleId=975) and his Springsteen interview (http://observer.guardian.co.uk/omm/story/0,13887,1527571,00.html).

The other thing I really love is the quote (in TV/movies) or the cover (in music). In the series premiere of Weeds one a female 16 year old said to a male 16 year old: "You're 16. I could be talking about linoleum and you'd want to have sex." By that point in the episode I was already falling hard for the show but the Buffy reference further cemented my opinion. Cover songs in concert (and usually on albums) work similiarly.

Me? I fangirl TS Eliot, Bruce Springsteen, Nick Hornby, the Drive-By Truckers (all of them), Brian Andreas, and others (and not necessarily in that order)

[likeadeuce.livejournal.com]

Smash, you do mean Nick Hornby, not Sedaris, right? *g* Seriously, Hornby is the king of the fanboys and his "Stuff I'm reading" column in The Believer (essays collected in The Polysyllabic Spree (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1932416242/qid=1124080345/sr=8-1/ref=pd_bbs_1/103-2237495-5039042?v=glance&s=books&n=507846)) is one of my favorite examples of fanboying-of-books. Hornby got me to read David Copperfield of all things, with a smashing essay on the subject.

Selena, if you do check out Veronica Mars, I'll be very interested to hear your thoughts. I could only watch the show intermittently (the local station kept preempting it for sports), so I eventually gave up and decided to wait for the DVDs to come out. I'm fairly spoiled on the mystery, but I'm still interested to see it from the beginning. It took me a while to warm to it, and, as an old-school junkie of PI-novels, I find the week-to- week plots a little flimsy. But Veronica is a tremendously appealing young female character, and I'm not surprised at all to hear that Joss is a fan. (Now my fantasy where Joss guest-writes an episode? Sigh, they probably can't afford him.)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Well, if Joss is that much in love, maybe he'll do an episode for free.*g*

I'll check out the Hornby essays. One of these days. When I have hypothetical time... *sighs*

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

*smile* I just thought about the same topic yesterday evening when I read the ntroduction to Dickens' Christmas Stories. (Yes, I know it's the wrong season for Christmas stories, but I felt like reading them...)

Anyway, in the introduction there's a quote by Robert Louis Stevenson who's all enthusiastic about Dickens' Christmas tales. What he writes reminded me about comments on the internet which made me smile.

The quote: "so good - and I feel so good after them - I shall do good and lose no time - I want to go out and comfort someone... Oh, what a jolly thing it is for a man to have written books like these and just filled people's hearts with pity."

[selenak.livejournal.com]

That's adorable, and yes, totally Stevenson going fanboy over Dickens.*g*

[londonkds.livejournal.com]

Have you seen the episode of the new Doctor Who where the Doctor goes completely and embarrassingly fanboy on meeting Charles Dickens?

[selenak.livejournal.com]

Yes. Complete with "but season six the American sections of Martin Chuzzlewith sucked!" *g*

Perhaps it will be interesting to you...

[natoth-muse.livejournal.com]

I shall be glad to invite you to our beach party (http://www.livejournal.com/users/natoth_muse/56889.html)

Re: Perhaps it will be interesting to you...

[(Anonymous)]

If the party is still on tomorrow, I'll come, but right now alas I don't have the time...

Re: Perhaps it will be interesting to you...

[natoth-muse.livejournal.com]

Oh, party will be go long time I hope... so we'll wait for you tomorrow!

[thalia-seawood.livejournal.com]

Something else that came to my mind:
I totally love it when actors get enthusiastic about the characters they are portraying. (e.g. Hayden Christensen over Anakin)

Michael Rosenbaum who plays Lex Luthor in Smallville became very fan-boyish after watching ROTS, happily commenting on Christensen's performance and then comparing the characters of Anakin and Lex. (Can't find the article right now though.)

It just makes me happy when actors take their characters so seriously and you feel that they enjoy the characters they portray.

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I read that article re: Michael Rosenbaum as well, and I agree, it's wonderful if actors come across as genuinenly interested instead of just doing a job. This reminds me; I'll mail you some articles of another fandom.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Still need VM?

(You don't happen to have Farscape S3 that I could borrow, hmm?)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

I used to have Farscape season 3 on CD but right now, either bimo or muffinmonster has mine (I think - will have to check). My source, btw, was hmpf who certainly could be persuaded to send you the third season directly. I still have my fourth season CDs, and the miniseries on DVD. As the third season is my favourite, I do intent to buy the DVDs, but yikes, they're incredibly expensive.

And yes, I still need VM!

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Ah, excellent! I've tried hmpf and will see if there's a reply by now...

And yes! I considered buying them, but...no way in hell right now.

Alright. Lessee about the VM... & :-))

(BWAH! ICON LOVE, for yours!)

[selenak.livejournal.com]

He kissed Rygel as often he kissed Aeryn in canon, and had a dream with Ryge in an S/M outfit. Doesn't that say EVERYTHING?

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Daresay these kisses were juuuuuust a bit different, though. & ;-)

Drop by my LJ later tonight or tomorrow, btw. I made Farscape icons...

Joss Whedon fanboying

[hmpf.livejournal.com]

>Big emotion, I mean BIG, and charsimatic actors and I was just DYING from the mystery and the relationships and PAIN,

So... does Joss Whedon sound like that because he spends to much time on LJ, or does LJ sound like that because LJers spend too much time assimilating Whedon material?

Or perhaps it's simply a zeitgeist thing.

Re: Joss Whedon fanboying

[selenak.livejournal.com]

*g* Both.