Snowflake Challenge: Day 5

[kangeiko]

Day 5

In your own space, promote three communities, challenges, blogs, pages, Twitters, Tumblrs or platforms and explain why you love them. Leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Mark Watches - A million years late to the party, I discovered Mark Oshiro's reviews and reaction videos. I'm a recent convert to reaction videos, so maybe it's just the lure of the new that's drawing me in, but I'm really enjoying Mark watching Babylon 5. I've powered through a few other shows he's also watched in the meantime - Veronica Mars, some West Wing, some Star Trek - and for the most part I've found a surprising amount of joy in just sharing his enjoyment of the shows. He goes in cold - no spoilers at all - and he watches each episode before writing about it. There is possibly nothing I like better than watching an unspoiled newbie watching Babylon 5. He has laughed. He has cried. He has yelled at the screen a LOT. His most frequent reaction is "WTF???" which, if you've seen the show, is 110% accurate and appropriate. He's currently watching Season 4. The comments section of his blog is split into spoilery and unspoilery sections. Unspoilery are open text, and spoilery are behind rot13 coding to allow people to discuss things in-thread without spoiling new watchers. I am really enjoying all the strong emotion Mark has when watching a show I love so much, especially in the current context. If you like B5 or are thinking about watching it sometime soon, I strongly urge you to give the site a go and join us in watching.

On the same topic, we have The Audio Guide to Babylon 5. I've linked the Twitter feed because the website seems to be down at the moment. This podcast (available via all podcast apps) was great. It had three people who really knew the show well - Chip and Shannon Sudderth, and Erika Ensign (one of my favourite podcasters) - as well as a guest 'newbie' in the form of Steven Schapansky, Erika's husband. (Steven was the control group.) The three podcasters watched each episode and discussed it at length (episodes ranged from 1hr - almost 2hrs), including behind the scenes information even I (an obsessive fan) hadn't known about. The podcast finished S5 fairly recently and is on a well-earned break, but all episodes are available to download and listen to. If you're interested in how something was made - how it was crafted, what the creator has said about it, how things were received by the fledgling fandom spaces at the time - then this is a great podcast with experienced and knowledgeable hosts.

One of the nicest and most close-knit communities out there is the chmslash community (formerly known as tgslash in some circles). Top Gear/Grand Tour as a fandom hasn't been without its share of dramas, and what I find amazing is that the community has mostly taken that on the chin and soldiered on. There are regular challenges (including the recent Secret Santa) and the members are so incredibly supportive and kind. 

One final (small) plug - some enterprising souls have gathered together to run a Culture fest in the not-too-distant future. If you're a fan of the Culture books and would like to get involved in reading/writing Culture fic, you can find the comm here. 

Comments

[teigh_corvus]

My SO is a huge fan of Babylon 5, and I'm positive that he's not seen either of those links. I will be passing them along [and cracking into the podcast myself, as it sounds fascinating] - thank you for sharing them.

[kangeiko]

I'm so glad! The Mark Watches episodes are pay-per-view, however you get 15 downloads per link and link sharing is actively encouraged by Mark. I have links for almost all the eps shown so far and would be happy to share if your SO decides it's something he's interested in. You can also find links here, which is the official link-sharing thread (and approved by Mark). Happy viewing and listening!

[teigh_corvus]

Thanks for the heads up - and for your generous offer! I'll pass it along. :D

[corvidology]

I have several mates who were (are?) in the TG fandom and I really appreciated the amount of crack fic they generated, particularly after getting roped into a particularly odd round robin. :D

[kangeiko]

For an RPF fandom, TG/GT isn't afraid to embrace crackfic! :D

[hamsterwoman]

Ooh, thank you for the B5 podcast link! I still venture back to the Lurker's Guide whenever friends of mine are getting into the show (and as part of my rewatch to introduce my kids to it), but while I love that this brilliant time capsule still exists, fully functional, in its original 90s internet glory, it will definitely be cool to see what, uh, more modern fans have to say about it. And the format with the newbie control group sounds very intriguing!

[kangeiko]

You are very welcome, I hope you enjoy it! :D

[ruuger]

I've been really surprised at how much I've been enjoying Mark's videos. I used to read his Buffy rections until I grew tired of how he spent more time talking about himself than about the episodes he was watching (plus he lied about being unspoiled about certain things that he'd been told about when he'd done the Twiligh commentaries). But his B5 videos have been really delightful. His squeeing about John/Delenn in particular is making me relive my teenage years when I was first watching the show and living for every little hint of J/D in canon :D

It's also very interesting to see how differently today's newbies react to some of the plotlines and characters than the 'old' B5 fandom. Like, for example, Marcus/Ivanova seems to be more popular than it has been. There used to be a lot of complaints about Ivanova 'going back' to men after Talia, but now people seem more open to the idea of her being a bisexual.

[kangeiko]

I haven't seen his Buffy videos, that's a bit of a strange thing to fake... glad we don't have any of those issues in the B5 watch though!

I find some of the comments... interesting. Some of the newbies are resolutely against Delenn, which I find ?????? Because, Delenn, ??????? !!!!!!!!! But maybe the Minbari plotlines didn't work for them, idk. Glad that everyone is being destroyed by G'Kar, though! And that J/D as a ship is getting so much love.

[ruuger]

People started suspecting that there was something odd about the way that he reacted to Spike and Buffy's relationship, as if he knew that it was going to end up badly when some other newbies watching along just thought it was hot, and then someone found a comment where he was discussing "Seeing Red". I guess he was afraid to be shown to support a 'problematic ship' but also didn't want to go 'off-brand' and admit that he wasn't quite as naive about pop culture as he claimed to be.

And it's been weird seeing how many people dislike or even hate Delenn! I feel like these days people want female characters in particular to be precious cinnamon rolls who always do the right thing, and Delenn is so not that kind of a character. Which, of course, is the reason why I love her.

There's also one commenter who frankly scares the hell out of me because they seem to think that genocide is justified if the people being killed 'deserve it'...

[kangeiko]

I know what you mean, I’ve had to sit on my hands a few times to prevent myself from sending in messages saying that it’s ok to not like a thing and stop watching. (I mean if you hate that make characters and find that many plot lines boring, maybe it’s not for you?)

The genocide comment... if it’s who I think it is, then yeah, that made me head tilt quite a bit. I keep reminding myself that I’m looking at it with the benefit of hindsight, so...