marycrawford | Musings on fandom, filk and friends

I was biking to work this morning in the sunshine, singing softly to myself, and halfway through the song it occurred to me that I was singing "Red Sky of Mourning". It's a filk song, lyrics by J. S. Cavalcante, and it's Spock's lament for killing Kirk in Amok Time. I heard it years ago at a British K/S con (the only media/slash con I ever attended) and got it on tape afterwards. It's a great song, although not really well suited for singing happily in the sun:

Set him as a star upon the sky
And I, as a black star, in his orbit keeping nigh
Together we shall our vigil keep
And all who behold us shall mourn and weep
And to their children shall explain
The tale of a brother by his brother slain

That's from memory, mind. And as I realized I was singing it, I thought "There's probably no one else in this country who knows this song." And I felt sorry for myself, being a lone and not very well connected fan.

Of course it may not be true, for certainly there are other Dutch media fans: I met a couple of the K/S fans (I started out as a K/S fan, and it will always have a place in my heart) and they loaned me zines and were altogether wonderful.

It's just that since I gradually faded out of active K/S fandom, I haven't met any other fans at all. I don't know anyone in real life who's an Iolaus fan, or a Due South fan, or even a Smallville fan, or who's willing to talk about subtext with me. And I must admit I do feel jealous at times, reading other people's LJs where it seems that they all know each other, have pyjama parties and Potter reading parties together and watch vids and so on.

But then I have to admit that I'm not much good at keeping up with mailing lists and Yahoo Groups and all that stuff, so that my fannish behavior tends to consist of reading, watching, flitting in and out of fandoms, and occasionally sending LOCS to authors I like or recommending stories. Standing on the sidelines, in other words.

And I can't be the only one standing there, not even in the Netherlands, can I? So if you're reading this and want to get in touch: let me know.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Thank you for reminding me of that beautiful song. I remember hearing it for the first time -- it just about killed me.

I wish you good luck in finding fen close by!

Hey Killa, thanks for the wish.

And yeah, I love that song. Jenna Sinclair sang it during the British con and there were sniffles all round at the end. It's still the only filk song I know all the lyrics to. (I don't even know the lyrics to Argo, fercryingoutloud...)

I wish I had a better tape of it, though. There's some other songs on that tape that are pretty good, but hard to hear over all the hissing and crackling.

I started getting Star Wars fanzines back when I was in high school, but never was able to get to any cons or meet any other fans. It seemed like a world I could sort of peer into from the outside but not actively participate in. I didn't get to really meet any other SF/F fans until I went to college (and being able to talk about the books I was reading to people who had actually read them too was a huge revelation), but I didn't really get to connect with other media fans until internet access got popular. The first fan mailing list I was on was mainly a Blake's 7 list. I wasn't a Blake's 7 fan and had never even seen the show, but at least there were was fanfic. I remember how excited I was when the friends I met through sending letters of comment to SW fanzines got email addresses and we could communicate at will. Basically, thank god for the internet. Being able to keep up and share things with your friends in Australia, the UK, Russia, or at the opposite end of the country now feels so essential, I don't know how I got along without it.

Oh, hey, just randomly linked through and saw this message. Dutch Due South & media fan reporting! Hmmm, I'm in Amsterdam, where are you? Cause Maastricht might as well be the other side of the world, I'm afraid... ;)

Maastricht is the other side of the world. (A prettier, sunnier side, filled with chocolate and fruit tarts and people who greet each other on the street.)

I, however, am in the Hague. :-)

Thisissocool! Off to read your LJ now,

Mary

Oh wow, thisissocool!!! You have Jeremy Brett listed in you interests! I love his Sherlock Holmes! Excuse all the exclamation points, but I used to get up at ungodly hours as a teenager to read the Penguin Complete Sherlock Holmes because of his portrayal. There's other things in your list that make me smile: I used to be a pretty avid David Bowie fan, but I've drifted away. I like anime and manga too, things like Oh My Goddes, Kodocha, Love Hina, most things by Rumiko Takahashi, and more. I know who Elizabeth Barrett Browning is, but I can't really remember what her writing is like (haven't read much of hers to begin with, so). SF&F, fairytales, yes. I have no idea what contact juggling is, though. ;)

Ahh, now all my thinking about things to put in my interest list is justified. Your use of exclamation points is very flattering :-)
Jeremy Brett, check. To die for. Best Holmes ever. Aaaaand I have the first SH series on DVD. I used to be a rabid Holmes fan, and I still love the stories as well as the TV series. You have a standing offer to come over and watch the DVD's. There.
David Bowie: also still to die for. I don't even have that many Bowie CD's (certainly none of the late ones), because back when I was a fan I only had tapes and things. But I still love him enough that I was chagrined to find out that the tickets for his one Dutch concert this October are sold out. (If I were a true fan, I'd have known about this earlier, of course.)
EBB: I love her letters to Robert Browning, and his to her, as well as some of the poetry. But mainly the letters. They fell in love through letters, before they ever met each other - Browning wrote her a fan letter and she responded. Recommended reading.
Oh My Goddess: check! Ranma: check! (Haven't read/watched anything else by Takahashi-san.) And I'll add that Hayao Miyazaki is a god.
Contact juggling: oh yes you do. If you've ever watched Labyrinth (ooh, need to put that in my interest list too) you've seen Michael Motion do his contact juggling act with five crystal balls, through David Bowie's sleeve. I have one acrylic ball that I practice with. So far, I have learned how to drop it on my foot. This is not recommended.

Okay, yes I do know what contact juggling is, because I've seen labyrinth at least 35 times in the cinema. After that I lost count. And I used to practice with oranges. I could make them go round for a while, but would also end up with rather squishy oranges usually. :)
BTW, you do have Labyrinth in your interest list, but I didn't know if you meant Henson or Minos. With the Hercules thing, I figured antiquities was an equally good bet. ;)
And October, eh? Didn't even know. I am so lapsed. :s
Standing offer to come over and watch Jeremy Brett on DVD, cool! Mobility is a bit of a hassle, though, and you may have figured out why if you've read the friends locked entries in my journal. But maybe we can figure something out. Time to take this to email, maybe? Hmmm, I'm beginning to get a bit wary of putting my addy up in public places (spam is multiplying), so I'm going to try something new. I'll put it up in a locked entry, visible only to you, would that work? And then I'll still take it down once I receive confirmation that you have it.

OK, we're taking this to email.

I just want to point out here that I love my LJ. :-)

Off to read your LJ now,

I hope the friends-locked posts don't scare you off. Those should be visible to you now, cause I just friended you.

Thanks!
Off to read some more,

Mary

Musings on fandom, filk and friends

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Hi!

Re: Hi!

Re: Hi!

Re: Hi!

Re: Hi!

Re: Hi!

Re: Hi!