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Jan. 20th, 2010 12:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineYou know, occasionally it's a bit odd to be named Elizabeth-no-it's-not-Liz-or-Beth in Austen fandom, given that about 98% of it is obsessively fixated on the Darcy/Elizabeth pairing. I mean, it's a common name, and if I seriously identified with her it might be odd - but I don't, so it only comes up in rather odd situations. Like a chat that went something like this:
ME: *says something bitchy*
AUSTENFAN [to the room at large]: Elizabeth is kind of a bitch, isn't she?
CHATROOM: *awkward silence*
AUSTENFAN: eep! I meant EB!
ME: . . .
Not as weird as the fic where Elizabeth marries a man (sur)named Burke and produces a son named Thomas. The author wandered into chat one day, and mentioned that she'd seen a sign or something with the name "Thomas Burke" on it, and it was just thrilling. And I said something along the lines of wow, that is amazing, a minor character's name just appearing in RL like that. Wouldn't it be even more exciting if you actually met someone with that name - or even better! Somebody with the protagonist's full name?
AUTHOR: Well, that would be cool, I guess.
ME: like, right now?
AUTHOR: ...?
OTHER PERSON: *cough* You do know that's Elizabeth's last name, don't you?
AUTHOR: OMG!!!
Indeed. That was really the most bizarre experience with it in Austen fandom. Or any fandom, really, until this morning when I stumbled across a comment on this post:
all I really want to do is wave my hands around yelling ELIZABETH BURKE!! until my pupils turn into tiny hearts.
first reaction: thanks!
second reaction: bwuh?
third reaction: *looks up show on TV Tropes*
fourth reaction: bwuh.
----------------
Somehow, I only just got around to reading Good Omens. I think I can die happy now, because:
-- ye olde Englishe. Heeeeeeeeeh. Also, done far more intelligently than what its parodying, even while making fun of it. Also, the usage of the word "nice." Somewhere, Henry Tilney is smiling.
-- the Satanist nuns! St Beryl! Sister Mary Loquacious! Warlock. And the baby that might not have been murdered after all. Hoofie-woofies!
-- "Jesus is the Telephone Repairman on the Switchboard of My Soul" is officially my favourite song. Somebody should record the entire CD, not excluding "Happy Mr Jesus," "When I'm Swept Up By the Rapture Grab the Wheel of My Pick-Up," "Jesus, Can I Stay at Your Place?" and, of course, "Jesus is the Sticker on the Bumper of My Soul." Who wouldn't buy that?
-- Adam the (anti)Antichrist! and the Them! and the Them owning the Horseriders of the Apocalypse.
-- ineffability! (and Metatron, because it's just that awesome that THE VOICE OF GOD is actually a separate being in its own right)
-- and, of course, OMG AZIRAPHALEANDCROWLEY. The cutest odd couple evar. Thwarting! Crowley's plants! Aziraphale's books! Crowley murdering another demon with carefully-handled holy water! Aziraphale giving his flaming sword to Eve because, well, it's a dangerous world out there and she's pregnant and might get cold, the poor thing and eeeeeeeeh.
Also, more seriously, my absolute favourite genre is romantic friendship. Which is difficult to describe, given that friendship is generally relegated to a distant third behind passion and familial devotion, but it's basically . . . a love-story, told like a love-story, about friendship. You know, all the intensity and chemistry and everything that you get in stories about the other loves (classic examples: Wuthering Heights and Mill on the Floss), but even if passion or family enters into it (they're long-lost cousins! or, they're having sex!), it's really all about friendship. And AziraphaleandCrowley just reminded me of why I love it so madly. Quite possibly the best romantic friendship I've read. Their entire plotline is pretty much an homage to friendship. And valour. But mostly friendship.
(And no, I'm not saying that it's the best kind of story - my favourite book, after all, is about a couple who are assuredly not friends - just that it's my favourite.)
... And, honestly, I thought AziraphaleandCrowley'd be in more of the book and was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more of them. Because, I mean, the Bikers of the Apocalypse-that-wasn't were amusing and all, but... meh. Just not as awesome, except Azrael, sort of. I couldn't decide if it was (early) Discworld's DEATH guest appearing or just... y'know, strikingly similar.
Anyway, still cool, and I spent a day glutting myself on fic, much of which is really really good. Haven't worked myself up to the much-recc'd "Sacred and the Profane" yet, but that's because evil!Aziraphale makes me want to cry inside, though good!Crowley is probably the most badass angel this side of St Michael. Maybe it's a little fandom or something, because the quality seems significantly higher than usual; sort of like P&P fandom way back in the day, when the proportion of good to crap was relatively equal. Though maybe it's just because it qualifies for Yuletide, which seems to automaticallythwart evil improve the overall production of a fandom.
ME: *says something bitchy*
AUSTENFAN [to the room at large]: Elizabeth is kind of a bitch, isn't she?
CHATROOM: *awkward silence*
AUSTENFAN: eep! I meant EB!
ME: . . .
Not as weird as the fic where Elizabeth marries a man (sur)named Burke and produces a son named Thomas. The author wandered into chat one day, and mentioned that she'd seen a sign or something with the name "Thomas Burke" on it, and it was just thrilling. And I said something along the lines of wow, that is amazing, a minor character's name just appearing in RL like that. Wouldn't it be even more exciting if you actually met someone with that name - or even better! Somebody with the protagonist's full name?
AUTHOR: Well, that would be cool, I guess.
ME: like, right now?
AUTHOR: ...?
OTHER PERSON: *cough* You do know that's Elizabeth's last name, don't you?
AUTHOR: OMG!!!
Indeed. That was really the most bizarre experience with it in Austen fandom. Or any fandom, really, until this morning when I stumbled across a comment on this post:
all I really want to do is wave my hands around yelling ELIZABETH BURKE!! until my pupils turn into tiny hearts.
first reaction: thanks!
second reaction: bwuh?
third reaction: *looks up show on TV Tropes*
fourth reaction: bwuh.
----------------
Somehow, I only just got around to reading Good Omens. I think I can die happy now, because:
-- ye olde Englishe. Heeeeeeeeeh. Also, done far more intelligently than what its parodying, even while making fun of it. Also, the usage of the word "nice." Somewhere, Henry Tilney is smiling.
-- the Satanist nuns! St Beryl! Sister Mary Loquacious! Warlock. And the baby that might not have been murdered after all. Hoofie-woofies!
-- "Jesus is the Telephone Repairman on the Switchboard of My Soul" is officially my favourite song. Somebody should record the entire CD, not excluding "Happy Mr Jesus," "When I'm Swept Up By the Rapture Grab the Wheel of My Pick-Up," "Jesus, Can I Stay at Your Place?" and, of course, "Jesus is the Sticker on the Bumper of My Soul." Who wouldn't buy that?
-- Adam the (anti)Antichrist! and the Them! and the Them owning the Horseriders of the Apocalypse.
-- ineffability! (and Metatron, because it's just that awesome that THE VOICE OF GOD is actually a separate being in its own right)
-- and, of course, OMG AZIRAPHALEANDCROWLEY. The cutest odd couple evar. Thwarting! Crowley's plants! Aziraphale's books! Crowley murdering another demon with carefully-handled holy water! Aziraphale giving his flaming sword to Eve because, well, it's a dangerous world out there and she's pregnant and might get cold, the poor thing and eeeeeeeeh.
Also, more seriously, my absolute favourite genre is romantic friendship. Which is difficult to describe, given that friendship is generally relegated to a distant third behind passion and familial devotion, but it's basically . . . a love-story, told like a love-story, about friendship. You know, all the intensity and chemistry and everything that you get in stories about the other loves (classic examples: Wuthering Heights and Mill on the Floss), but even if passion or family enters into it (they're long-lost cousins! or, they're having sex!), it's really all about friendship. And AziraphaleandCrowley just reminded me of why I love it so madly. Quite possibly the best romantic friendship I've read. Their entire plotline is pretty much an homage to friendship. And valour. But mostly friendship.
(And no, I'm not saying that it's the best kind of story - my favourite book, after all, is about a couple who are assuredly not friends - just that it's my favourite.)
... And, honestly, I thought AziraphaleandCrowley'd be in more of the book and was mildly disappointed that there wasn't more of them. Because, I mean, the Bikers of the Apocalypse-that-wasn't were amusing and all, but... meh. Just not as awesome, except Azrael, sort of. I couldn't decide if it was (early) Discworld's DEATH guest appearing or just... y'know, strikingly similar.
Anyway, still cool, and I spent a day glutting myself on fic, much of which is really really good. Haven't worked myself up to the much-recc'd "Sacred and the Profane" yet, but that's because evil!Aziraphale makes me want to cry inside, though good!Crowley is probably the most badass angel this side of St Michael. Maybe it's a little fandom or something, because the quality seems significantly higher than usual; sort of like P&P fandom way back in the day, when the proportion of good to crap was relatively equal. Though maybe it's just because it qualifies for Yuletide, which seems to automatically
no subject
on 2010-01-21 08:16 am (UTC)um.
on 2010-01-21 03:07 pm (UTC)(I also find it offensive, but that's more to do with the denigration of all relationships in favour of the sexual or familial. And my personal desire for the expression "just friends" to die in a fire.)
Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 01:20 am (UTC)Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 07:23 am (UTC)(Randomly: I'm very very glad that somebody else minds the use of that term to imply that friendship is simply a precursor to better things, whether het or slash or Luke, I am your father. Even though I can see the attraction, it does hit a bit harder in this case - Aziraphale and likely Crowley are the only asexual best friends I've run across, um, ever.)
Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 08:01 am (UTC)also, i don't know if you're interested or you already know about it, but
Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 06:09 pm (UTC)Oh, thanks for the link! I've rather been trying to work through various ... things about asexuality re: fandom and media in general, so it looks interesting.
Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 08:06 am (UTC)anyway, i just came to say that maybe smarm is the term you're looking for.
Re: um.
on 2010-01-22 06:11 pm (UTC)