The end-of-year fandom meme
Dec. 11th, 2017 11:22 amYour main fandom of the year?
January to, hmmmm, early October: Legend of Korra.
Early October to ONGOING, I HOPE: Star Trek: Discovery.
This is an extremely dangerous question to ask days before I see The Last Jedi.
Anyway, of the films I've watched at the time of this meme, it's a toss-up between Wonder Woman (which I wasn't even going to see, because I'm so over superheroes, and I'm very glad my friends persuaded me it was more than that) and Thor: Ragnarok (okay, I'm burnt out on superheroes but always have time for more comedy space opera). But another close contender is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, because I will never, ever tire of awkward and disastrous dinner parties and Christopher Plummer literally twirling in his chair while reciting Shakespeare, and then exploding.
Please don't make me choose. Here are my books read (so far) in 2017, sorted by star rating.
Highlights included Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series in its entirety, which I read for the first time when someone finally clued me into the fact that they contain all the things I love (boarding schools, families, found families, feuds, hilarious bureaucracies), and Vikki Wakefield's young adult novels, which are set in the sort of working/lower middle class suburban and rural spaces that YA often overlooks.
Melodrama by Lorde. According to Spotify, the whole album is in my top 100 most played songs of 2017. I love how she's expanded her repertoire as a songwriter, both in terms of using more "real" instruments and less synth, but also lyrically -- Pure Heroine had no "proper" love songs, but Melodrama is about the beginning and end and recovery from a relationship. I saw Lorde live a couple of weeks ago, and she was every bit as magnetic and weird and gawky as she seems.
(Okay, individual songs: "Green Light" and "Perfect Places" to start, then I moved onto "The Louvre", aka "Ella, you say you don't like science fiction yet you write the perfect Doctor/Romana song just for me", and now I have "Sober" and "Supercut" on heavy rotation.)
YOU'LL NEVER GUESS.
Okay, aside from Discovery, I really love The Good Place. And season 1 of Riverdale was ridiculous and enjoyable crack. Season 2 seems to be trying too hard? IDK, I keep falling behind.
OH, and I read all the Expanse novels, then watched the TV series, and I just can't wait for season 3 so I can have more of The Unlikely Friendship of Chrisjen and Bobbie (And Also That Other Guy I Guess).
spacefungusparty has a really nice, fun vibe.
Also, while it's not a comm, I really love the Galactic Suburbia Slack.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
Slack? Does Slack count? It was created as a messaging service/workplace collaboration tool, but the combination of public chat channels, individual and group DMs and document-sharing options make it quite useful for fannish communications -- not so much fic sharing, but general chat that you don't necessarily want to share with the world.
ALSO, it turns out that comment culture on the AO3 is alive and well in the Lorca/Cornwell section of Disco fandom, and it's really cool.
Gabriel Lorca. SHUT UP it's weird to even have a fandom boyfriend who isn't a cartoon.
Please don't make me choose between Lin Beifong and Kat Cornwell. I'm like, maybe I've said all I have to say about Lin, but is Kat the kind of fandom love that lasts? Or is it just that she's so easy to write? Is she easy to write because she's pretty thinly written in the series? Or because I love her? Am I overthinking? Yes, for heaven's sake, Liz, just enjoy the moment.
Close runner-up, and only not the leader because TERRIBLE REASONS: Philippa Georgiou.
Every single Georgiou scene in the Discovery premiere, and also Michael Burnham's great big smile as she launches herself towards the binary stars and the Klingon beacon.
Like a shark, I am always moving forward. Coming back to Trek fandom, I've realised that just because I stop being actively fannish about something doesn't mean I've stopped loving it forever -- even when I stopped being actively fannish because it stopped being fun to watch. Sometimes you do need a change, and that's okay. Media, and even fandoms, are no longer ephemeral.
Eh, I'm pretty content where I am right now. Kind of working myself up to trying to watch Enterprise again, but mostly because there's a big gap in my canon knowledge. And part of me is like, it can't possibly be as bad as I remember, right? (No, I suspect it can.)
8 January to 12 February: chapter 2 of Discovery season 1 is released.
Since script work for season 2 has only just started, I doubt we'll see that before 2019 at the earliest. I may need to find a way to fill the rest of the year.
OH WAIT, Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor! Season 11 is slated for late this year, right? Plenty of time to recovery my ability to have strong emotions about things that aren't Star Trek. Phew.
January to, hmmmm, early October: Legend of Korra.
Early October to ONGOING, I HOPE: Star Trek: Discovery.
Your favorite film watched this year?
This is an extremely dangerous question to ask days before I see The Last Jedi.
Anyway, of the films I've watched at the time of this meme, it's a toss-up between Wonder Woman (which I wasn't even going to see, because I'm so over superheroes, and I'm very glad my friends persuaded me it was more than that) and Thor: Ragnarok (okay, I'm burnt out on superheroes but always have time for more comedy space opera). But another close contender is Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, because I will never, ever tire of awkward and disastrous dinner parties and Christopher Plummer literally twirling in his chair while reciting Shakespeare, and then exploding.
Your favorite book read this year?
Please don't make me choose. Here are my books read (so far) in 2017, sorted by star rating.
Highlights included Diana Wynne Jones's Chrestomanci series in its entirety, which I read for the first time when someone finally clued me into the fact that they contain all the things I love (boarding schools, families, found families, feuds, hilarious bureaucracies), and Vikki Wakefield's young adult novels, which are set in the sort of working/lower middle class suburban and rural spaces that YA often overlooks.
Your favorite album or song to listen to this year?
Melodrama by Lorde. According to Spotify, the whole album is in my top 100 most played songs of 2017. I love how she's expanded her repertoire as a songwriter, both in terms of using more "real" instruments and less synth, but also lyrically -- Pure Heroine had no "proper" love songs, but Melodrama is about the beginning and end and recovery from a relationship. I saw Lorde live a couple of weeks ago, and she was every bit as magnetic and weird and gawky as she seems.
(Okay, individual songs: "Green Light" and "Perfect Places" to start, then I moved onto "The Louvre", aka "Ella, you say you don't like science fiction yet you write the perfect Doctor/Romana song just for me", and now I have "Sober" and "Supercut" on heavy rotation.)
Your favorite TV show of the year?
YOU'LL NEVER GUESS.
Okay, aside from Discovery, I really love The Good Place. And season 1 of Riverdale was ridiculous and enjoyable crack. Season 2 seems to be trying too hard? IDK, I keep falling behind.
OH, and I read all the Expanse novels, then watched the TV series, and I just can't wait for season 3 so I can have more of The Unlikely Friendship of Chrisjen and Bobbie (And Also That Other Guy I Guess).
Your favorite DW/LJ community of the year?
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
Also, while it's not a comm, I really love the Galactic Suburbia Slack.
Your best new fandom discovery of the year?
Slack? Does Slack count? It was created as a messaging service/workplace collaboration tool, but the combination of public chat channels, individual and group DMs and document-sharing options make it quite useful for fannish communications -- not so much fic sharing, but general chat that you don't necessarily want to share with the world.
ALSO, it turns out that comment culture on the AO3 is alive and well in the Lorca/Cornwell section of Disco fandom, and it's really cool.
Your biggest fandom disappointment of the year?
Nothing big, but I'm sliiiiiiiiiiiiightly annoyed that I've come back to Trek fandom after 17 years away, and people are still harping on about Jeri Ryan like she's the antichrist? Even Kate Mulgrew is over it, guys, I think we can all move on.
Also, I knew it was coming, and I see why it was important to the narrative, but ( spoilers for the Discovery premiere )
Nothing big, but I'm sliiiiiiiiiiiiightly annoyed that I've come back to Trek fandom after 17 years away, and people are still harping on about Jeri Ryan like she's the antichrist? Even Kate Mulgrew is over it, guys, I think we can all move on.
Also, I knew it was coming, and I see why it was important to the narrative, but ( spoilers for the Discovery premiere )
Your fandom boyfriend of the year?
Gabriel Lorca. SHUT UP it's weird to even have a fandom boyfriend who isn't a cartoon.
Your fandom girlfriend of the year?
Please don't make me choose between Lin Beifong and Kat Cornwell. I'm like, maybe I've said all I have to say about Lin, but is Kat the kind of fandom love that lasts? Or is it just that she's so easy to write? Is she easy to write because she's pretty thinly written in the series? Or because I love her? Am I overthinking? Yes, for heaven's sake, Liz, just enjoy the moment.
Close runner-up, and only not the leader because TERRIBLE REASONS: Philippa Georgiou.
Your biggest squee moment of the year?
Every single Georgiou scene in the Discovery premiere, and also Michael Burnham's great big smile as she launches herself towards the binary stars and the Klingon beacon.
The most missed of your old fandoms?
Like a shark, I am always moving forward. Coming back to Trek fandom, I've realised that just because I stop being actively fannish about something doesn't mean I've stopped loving it forever -- even when I stopped being actively fannish because it stopped being fun to watch. Sometimes you do need a change, and that's okay. Media, and even fandoms, are no longer ephemeral.
The fandom you haven't tried yet, but want to?
Eh, I'm pretty content where I am right now. Kind of working myself up to trying to watch Enterprise again, but mostly because there's a big gap in my canon knowledge. And part of me is like, it can't possibly be as bad as I remember, right? (No, I suspect it can.)
Your biggest fan anticipations for the New Year?
8 January to 12 February: chapter 2 of Discovery season 1 is released.
Since script work for season 2 has only just started, I doubt we'll see that before 2019 at the earliest. I may need to find a way to fill the rest of the year.
OH WAIT, Jodie Whittaker as the Doctor! Season 11 is slated for late this year, right? Plenty of time to recovery my ability to have strong emotions about things that aren't Star Trek. Phew.