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To go Sorkin
I've been a fannish lurker for some time now - I'm a flagrantly fannish geek IRL, I just haven't had the time/motivation to maintain a regular online presence. But I just got the 10th anniversary edition of Sports Night (the complete series, of course, with commentary, retrospectives, and gag reels) and I'm reminded - again - how much the astonishing creativity of fans, and their willingness to share their passion and talent with others, adds to my experience.
Here's the thing: I hadn't watched SN in awhile, and when I popped in the first disc, I found myself wondering, "What is the name of that episode where Dan and Casey go to the All-Star game? And Casey has that fantastic speech about how Danny is like a village in Poland in 1939? That must be Season 2..." Yeah...that wasn't an episode - one of my absolute all-time favorite fics, Lone Star State of Mind by scrunchy. Her grasp of Dan and Casey together and separately is amazing, but what I loved the most is how accurate, how Sorkin-esque, she was in balancing all the contradictory aspects of Dan and Casey (and Dan &Casey, and Dan/Casey): the humor and the hurt, the love and the fear, the honesty and the deceit. Perfection.
In fact, I've come to realize that a big part of what interests me in media these days (a new show, for instance) is how active the fandom is (or will be). I love Heroes, but only because I knew from episode one that there would be a community of like-minded fans (ahem, ahem, NathanAndPeterAreTotallyDoingIt) who would make the experience interesting and complex and challenging. I've always been fascinated in text and context and subtext, and the idea that what's not said is at least as important and interesting as what is (I was an English major for chrissake), and I just can't passively consume.
In a parallel universe (also known as real life), I've become passionately committed to and involved in a presidential campaign that is about We The People. I'm supporting (with my vote, my money, and my time) a candidate who believes it is my right and my responsibility to speak, to create, to contribute. I have a son who I want to enter the world with rabid curiosity, a disregard for anyone who tells him to consume quietly, and a bedrock belief that he lives in a read/write culture. That he has the right and the responsibility to think critically and respond creatively to all things.
Today, on the front page of DKos, a writer made a poker reference regarding the presidential campaign, and admitted that in doing so he went "Sorkin": even provided the IMDB link to the classic Jeremy-Natalie "I've got a straight and you've got three sevens exchange" from Shoe Money Tonight.
What could be a clearer sign?
So, to the extent that I have something to contribute or create, I'm going to.
Here's the thing: I hadn't watched SN in awhile, and when I popped in the first disc, I found myself wondering, "What is the name of that episode where Dan and Casey go to the All-Star game? And Casey has that fantastic speech about how Danny is like a village in Poland in 1939? That must be Season 2..." Yeah...that wasn't an episode - one of my absolute all-time favorite fics, Lone Star State of Mind by scrunchy. Her grasp of Dan and Casey together and separately is amazing, but what I loved the most is how accurate, how Sorkin-esque, she was in balancing all the contradictory aspects of Dan and Casey (and Dan &Casey, and Dan/Casey): the humor and the hurt, the love and the fear, the honesty and the deceit. Perfection.
In fact, I've come to realize that a big part of what interests me in media these days (a new show, for instance) is how active the fandom is (or will be). I love Heroes, but only because I knew from episode one that there would be a community of like-minded fans (ahem, ahem, NathanAndPeterAreTotallyDoingIt) who would make the experience interesting and complex and challenging. I've always been fascinated in text and context and subtext, and the idea that what's not said is at least as important and interesting as what is (I was an English major for chrissake), and I just can't passively consume.
In a parallel universe (also known as real life), I've become passionately committed to and involved in a presidential campaign that is about We The People. I'm supporting (with my vote, my money, and my time) a candidate who believes it is my right and my responsibility to speak, to create, to contribute. I have a son who I want to enter the world with rabid curiosity, a disregard for anyone who tells him to consume quietly, and a bedrock belief that he lives in a read/write culture. That he has the right and the responsibility to think critically and respond creatively to all things.
Today, on the front page of DKos, a writer made a poker reference regarding the presidential campaign, and admitted that in doing so he went "Sorkin": even provided the IMDB link to the classic Jeremy-Natalie "I've got a straight and you've got three sevens exchange" from Shoe Money Tonight.
What could be a clearer sign?
So, to the extent that I have something to contribute or create, I'm going to.