Fandom Snowflake Days 6-8

[kmo]

Day 6- Comms & Challenges

I'm not hugely active in a lot of comms, but I'm a proud member of Kushielsorting. Woot, proud member of House Montreve here! Come and get sorted and play the game of thrones with us, make fanworks, participate in challenges. We should probably have a new game starting up soon. Everyone there has been great and we are always looking for new members. I'm less into the competition aspect, honestly, it's just a great way to discuss the work I love with other fans.

Last year I participated in the Rarewomen fic exchange for the first time. it was a lot of fun and I definitely want to sign up again this year! It's all about promoting rare female characters in large fandoms and all female characters in rare fandoms. It's friendly to femslashers but is really open to anyone who loves female characters in general. And it's far enough away from Yuletide and the femslash exchange to hit that sweet spot for all us compulsive challenge writers.

BBCCostumedrama has lovely icons and is well worth checking out for costume drama fans. not just confined to bbc dramas, other movies and tv shows with pimped out period dress are welcome, too :D


Day 7- About Me


Hmm, well I post on here a lot about my academic endeavors and I'm feeling a little burned out about that at the moment. One of the things about "growing up" is that I feel I don't have half the hobbies I had as a teenager and twenty something. (it's also a sign that something may be wrong when you consider listing "drinking" as a hobby....) I'm really into Tarot and oracle readings. I used to identify as wiccan and neo-pagan and I guess I kind of still do, though I am much less active than I once was. I have hopes of becoming a Unitarian one day. But anyway, I have 3 decks that I use. My main deck is the Goddess Tarot by artist Kris Waldherr. All of the Major Arcana are represented by a different Goddess and I really love it. I also own her Lover's Path deck but for whatever reason, I never connected with that one the same way. But it is very cool in that each Major Arcana card is represented by a different love story from myth or world literature.

I also recently purchased (it's out of print!) the Enchanted Alchemist oracle after using the online version for many years. It's good for "quick and dirty" advice as it's just a 4 card layout. It doesn't have the complexity of a tarot reading, but I like it. I think I am a pretty elementally grounded person.

Day 8- Fannish Resolutions

1) I almost always write in small fandoms. While I certainly like to read in large fandoms, I don't know why I never get motivated to write in them. Maybe in some way I am secretly intimidated by having such a large audience. Maybe I have some weird internalized fandom hipster thing. (god I hope not!) So I resolve this year to write a fic in a big fandom. Perhaps Doctor Who or ASOIAF.

2) I've become pretty good at leaving feedback, but I need to be a bit bolder about friending people. I do sometimes get shy about reaching out beyond comments. But I think we've all got to "be the change we want to see in our flist." If we want to keep LJ style interactions alive, we're all going to have to be more outgoing.

3) I'd like to make some icons, maybe? I have ideas for some great art nouveau and pre-raphaelite inspired Kushiel icons, but I have no idea how to make them! I also don't own photoshop. :( If someone could direct me to a tutorial or has suggestions for other programs, let me know.

4) I might sign up for a bingo? Not that I have a lot of time, but it could be fun. And of course, sometimes you can get prompted to write stories you would never come to on your own.

Comments

[likeadeuce]

This is me touting my availability for brainstorming, beta-reading or any related shenanigans should you decide to write ASOIAF fic. For that matter, I am only semi-Who-literate but based on your prompt post for femslash12, you have GREAT ideas re: fic in that fandom that I would love to encourage!

[kmo]

aw thank you! you're very sweet! perhaps if i do a bingo or sign up for rarewomen again this year. and hey, there's also Downton Abbey, which is on the cusp of becoming a big fandom...and probably shouldn't have been Yuletide eligible but i wasn't going to rain on anybody's parade. ;)

[likeadeuce]

Is there some treasure trove of Downton fic I don't know about. . .?

[kmo]

i think it just barely squeaked over the 200 mark on AO3 and the 1000+ mark on ff.net. i don't promise that whatever is over at the pit of voles is any good...

[likeadeuce]

I think that's well below the Yuletide threshold? But I can't keep track of what criteria they're using from year to year!

(Though apparently the number on ff.net is now closer to 3,000!)

[kmo]

they might have lowered it in recent years. but i think in general it's 200 for AO3 and 1000 on ff.net it doesn't have its own exchange yet, which might have been a reason they were willing to keep it on. i see a lot of downton fic on tumblr these days, too.

hmm. i would say DA has the potential to be a mega-fandom, but the events of s3 may sink that ship. have you seen the xmas special?

[likeadeuce]

As far as I know, they haven't had a consistent policy so I've stopped keeping track. . .I thought it was a higher threshold than that, though. If it wasn't, then somebody was either asleep at the will or else the fandom has exploded since signup time. Ahh, well.

I have NOT seen the christmas special yet. I couldn't find it last time I looked and at this point I will probably just wait for the broadcast so my sister and I can be surprised together.

[kmo]

i will be very good not to drop any spoilers. but yowza, it's a doozy.

[likeadeuce]

I've got a guess about the outcome but I don't have any idea what the plot will be.

Re: discussion elsewhere, feel free to give me a primer on the Carmen Sandiego cartoon. It looks like Netflix has at least one season of it and, holy car, did Rita Moreno do the voice of Carmen?

[kmo]

oh i would be thrilled if you somehow decided to join my fandom of *counts heads* 5 people. i only have netflix streaming and it doesn't seem to be on there. it looks like they have some of the "specials" which...they're okay, but not my fave. you might be better off just watching online. basically in s1, Carmen is more of a straight up (but kickass villain). In s2 her backstory as a former ACME agent is revealed, as well as her moral code. s2 & 3 are the best IMO.

and yes Rita Moreno did voice Carmen and she was amazing! the folks who voiced Zack and Ivy (the 2 detectives) are fairly recognizable voice actors, too. There are also guest spots from Tim Curry and the dude who voiced Captain Planet.

Episode Recs:

Here's a sampling of some of the better episodes:

s1 "The Good Old, Bad Old Days"- Carmen pulls off a low-tech crime for the challenge

s2 "Hot Ice"- Carmen's backstory as an ex-Acme agent is revealed

s2 "Boyhood's End Part 1 & 2"- a new hot shot detective is assigned to Carmen's case

s3 "The Tigress"- a new thief appears as Carmen's rival

s3 "The Remnants"- revelations about Carmen's childhood

s3 "Follow My Footprints"- Carmen's "final" caper. Sorta.

[bergamotandbone]

I do recommend trope bingo!

I am fairly new at Photoshop too (well, new again; the last time I had it was the turn of the century!). Kushiel icons sound gorgeous - Night Court ones would be so cool.

While i was photoshop-less, I used http://www.getpaint.net/ because it is free. It isn't as powerful as photoshop but I liked it well enough. And if you are interested in collaborating, let me know :)

[kmo]

oh sweet! thanks for the link to getpaint. I will have to check that out! yeah, i don't need something as fancy as photoshop but would like something a step up from microsoft paint.

Night Court icons are exactly what I had in mind! I follow Fuckyeahaphonsemucha Tumblr and was thinking of doing some Night Court icons based on his work, especially drawing from his paintings of the seasons. and i'm def up for collaboration as i have never made an icon before.

[bergamotandbone]

teaotter left me a comment with icon tutorials too - http://teaotter.dreamwidth.org/20300.html?thread=22092#cmt22092

Ohhh, Mucha stuff would be gorgeous!