brightly_lit

So ... how are people feeling about this whole lj-servers-moving-to-Russia thing? I saw on the home page a lot of people were afraid lj would abruptly shut down without warning. Just in case that does happen, I made a dreamwidth account--brightly_lit, same as here--where I'd love to hook up again with you ladies if you make the switch, as well.

I started with lj (under a different name) way back in its heyday in the early part of the millenium. I remember reading in the TOS that your posts and comments would be saved on lj's servers "forever," and I thought, "How cool, to have this thing for posterity when that's so rare. I wonder how they can promise that? But oh well, I guess they wouldn't say it if it wasn't true." Then they sold the company, again and again, and of course it ended up being just words, another tome created and ultimately perhaps lost to time, but if this is the end, it sure was great while it lasted. And I think dreamwidth has a lot of potential (even if for some reason it seems to lack much interaction between users).

I guess personally I think it seems unlikely they'll shut us down without warning, but it seems likely that lj might change a lot, maybe not for the better. Better to be safe than sorry in terms of coming up with a backup plan, in any case, is my opinion. Also, apparently it's quite easy to transfer your whole lj to dreamwidth if you're so inclined. I'd love to hear everyone's thoughts on the whole business. I saw it discussed at length on the home page, but I don't think a single person on my friends page mentioned it, so it sounds like none of my friends here, at least are worried, so that's good.

Dec 17: what is your favorite demon in spn and why ? emmatheslayer

Meg, hands down, because she was funny and sassy and evil but later on kind of good, and then at one point she was also Sam--how can you resist after that?? I always felt like there was so much potential there for redemption, especially since she'd already come so far. (People mentioned their wish that they'd used her for the trials instead of Crowley, which would have been great.) But Lilith is a close second; I loved the idea of an adorable little girl being the most terrifying demon of all, and that actress did such an awesome job with the part.

Thanks for asking!

Dec 15: What's a really unusual/random fear you've had, and what has it taught you? septembers_coda

As always, with the very interesting questions! I had to put a lot of thought into this one, because although I've had A LOT of fear in my life, there's usually been a good reason for it, but I thought of one: The first time I ever traveled without someone else making all the arrangments, I was PETRIFIED. I just had no idea what to expect--whether you had to make hotel reservations ahead of time or be stuck sleeping on the streets, or if you could find a hotel when you got there (turns out it can be either!), and I mainly had SOO many fears about the rental car. But like I said, I usually had a reason for having fear; I must have sensed something coming, because when we went into the bank for literally four minutes to exchange some money (we were in Canada), when we got back to the car, someone had dented the bumper! I'd already been freakin' melting down, and now my worst fear had been realized. I hadn't been able to enjoy the trip at all, so incredibly anxious about everything, with a horrible headache.

The next half hour or so was a miasma of horror, and then, when I was pushed to the breaking point, I just had to let it all go, everything. If the worst happened, well, so be it. I'd come all this way and spent all this money; the least I could was have some damn fun, so I did. I learned you can't control everything (indeed, in some situations you can't control anything, and travel tends to be like that).

That was the first bud of an adventurous spirit I developed over the course of other travels (during some of which disaster did indeed strike to varying degrees, like the time a semi came inches from flattening us), when I learned to roll with the punches, have a devil-may-care attitude, and enjoy every minute as much as possible ... because it could be your last. ;-)

As it turned out, in my hysteria to be so careful with the rental car, when they gave us the diagram of the car as we picked it up on which we were supposed to mark all the already existing dents and such, I'd drawn a big, thick line RIGHT in that exact spot on the bumper due to a long, thin scratch I'd seen there, so it all worked out perfectly. Serendipity, baby! I learned to trust in that, too.

Good question; thanks for asking!

"I'd love to know what your ultimate convention line-up would be, from any fandom you've ever loved either still on the air or not. What questions would you like to ask certain guests, what would you have them sign, how would you pose in photo ops? Would you pair up certain guests on panels or have all solo ones? And lastly, you are given three private meet&greets, just you and the guest for an hour. Who do you choose?"

Wow. This is kind of a hard question for me to answer, because while I definitely enjoy imagining that my favorite stars are all I want them to be, after going through the intense disillusionment of really getting to know my favorite musician, I can't help but be pretty cynical about the reality of these things, fearful that even if they seemed perfect at first, they'd wind up disappointing me.

Moreover, some extremely talented actors/writers/directors aren't very interesting in person! So they might not be that fun to see at a con. I SOO loved milly_gal's answer to this question; I literally could copy and paste everything she said there and it would answer this fairly perfectly, but that's a cop-out, so I'll try to answer myself--just know it'd be better if milly'd written it. ;->

I'd love to see Bendydick Cumabunch and of course my Hiddles in addition to all our SPN boys and girls. Also, DYLAN O'BRIEN. I would ask them questions about their process and how they got SO DAMN GOOD at acting!! And I'd ask them how they handle fame and expectations and what that's like.

I might not have them sign anything (I'm not big on autographs), but I would love to have photo ops--ideally, a J2 sandwich, and a Jared/Misha (Padlins) sandwich, with me as the meat! *drooool*

I'd mostly like to see people solo on panels, but I'd also like to pair up J2, because they riff off each other so well.

As for the meet-and-greets, first, I'd want to meet Misha, because he baffles me. I'd want to ask him about his goals and his dreams, what his secret goal is with all the wackiness he engages in. He's the kind of guy who seems like he has layers and layers of agendas, MOST of them pretty generous and aimed at making the world a better place, but I'd like to hear in his words what that world would look like, what his vision involves.

Second, I'd meet with Yuki Kajiura, a brilliant Japanese musician who scores a lot of animes. I'd love to learn more about her process and inspirations, what makes her tick.

Third, I guess I'd meet with the people primarily involved in creating Revolutionary Girl Utena, because that show blew my mind and continues to awe and bewilder me, and I'd just love to know wtf they were thinking when they came up with all that.

Such a fun questions! Thanks for asking 'em, vyperdd!

Dec 10: Which episode cemented you as an SPN fangirl?

Oops, I got pretty behind on the December meme ... but at least I'm here! Where is everyone?? My friends page has literally never been this dead.

I remember well which episode it was that cemented me as a fangirl: Faith. Starting from the very beginning with the pilot, a new episode every night or so, I'd been watching along. Some episodes were good, some not so much. In the first couple of episodes, I thought, "I love this story of the brothers; I really wish they'd follow up on that," but I was sure they wouldn't, because I've seen SOOO many shows that introduce a really interesting backstory and dynamic and then completely drop it in favor of stand-alone eps or whatever they think is more popular. I was cautiously impressed that not only did they follow up on it, but it seemed to be the heart of the show.

I quite liked "Skin," and was pretty impressed with a lot of the other episodes ... but then "Faith" came, and I saw what the show could be, the incredible potential of it, and I fell in love, that they went there--and with an episode that most networks would nix, because it wasn't about action action action, and certainly not about sex, but about death, and religion, and right and wrong, grappling with Big Questions fearlessly. Jensen played it so perfectly; that's also when I realized he could do just about anything, which I admire so much. The script was sooo good. It was just all so good. Huzzah for Gamble and Tucker, great writers both! And everyone involved with the making of that episode. It remains one of my all-time favorites.

Thanks for the question, elwarre!

"Favourite SPN season and why?"

I've been slowly rewatching the entire series with the guy I watch anime with weekly. We're finally to S4. He didn't seem to like it at first when I crowed over how good an upcoming ep was, preferring to form his own opinion, but our opinions on episodes have been mostly so similar that he seems to trust me now, and he seems excited by the things I've been saying as I look ahead at the episodes coming up and just HOW MANY FREAKIN' GOOD ones there are!! The disc that has "The Rapture" on it is pure gold, beginning to end. How many shows can say that?! I really loved S5 ... and S6, and S7, but I'm thinking I'm going to have to go with S4, simply based on how very many incredibly high-quality episodes it sports.

Thanks fer askin', frozen_delight!

"Please could you share your favorite to 5 pics/gifs (manips, art, drawings whatever) of Dean and Sam or J2 or you know SPN in general? Why they are so special to you?"

( Pics and gifs behind the cut! )

"What has been your most memorable moment within the fandom?"

That would be my birthday last year. I got b-day wishes and picspams (from you, dear milly_gal!) and gifs and posts and ART, and-- and-- so much wonderful stuff!! I just glowed with joy (and still do, remembering it <3). My birthdays have mostly been bummers, so I was so happy and surprised at all the love I got that day! Fandom is this magical place where skills you used to think were useless are valuable, and fascinations you thought were weird are welcome, and the way you've been regarded all your life can be entirely different.

"What character in SPN (dead or not recently present) you miss the most? And why is he/she so dear to you?"

Ahh, good question.

I guess I must say Meg. The writers keep saying how happy they were with her final episode/scene, but I felt like she got thoroughly shafted and that there was so much more to be done with the character. Plus, I was such a Megstiel fan, and they only barely touched on that before killing her off.

I loved Meg in all her incarnations, from sooo deliciously evil in S1 to Meg!Sam to the snarky but heroic Meg of latter seasons. Gah, she had so much potential. I'd love to see Meg fic galore, filling in all the gaps that were left with that character.

That was a fun question--thanks for asking!

Is it too late for me to get in on the December meme? Looks fun!!

Snagged from alexisjane and pretty much everyone else I know 'round here:

Pick a date in December and give me something to talk about. Give me a question or topic--anything goes, either fannish (TV, movies, books, comics, music, fandom, ships, fictional characters, actors, writing, arting) or real life (if it's something I really don't want to talk about, I'll tell you and you can pick something else, but there isn't a lot I wouldn't be willing to talk about). Whatever comes to mind!

Dec 1: What's your earliest memory of TV or movies? what entertainment affected you/influenced your development most when you were really young? septembers_coda
Dec 2: What character in SPN (dead or not recently present) you miss the most? And why is he/she so dear to you? gorkonelka
Dec 3: What other fandoms have you been involved with and what were they like, and are there any that you're considering dipping your toe into? alexisjane
Dec 4: What has been your most memorable moment within the fandom? milly_gal
Dec 5: do you collect anything? Are you a collector, or do you not understand that whole thing? toratio
Dec 6: Please could you share your favorite to 5 pics/gifs (manips, art, drawings whatever) of Dean and Sam or J2 or you know SPN in general? Why they are so special to you? gorkonelka
Dec 7: What do you want for Christmas? vyperdd
Dec 8: Favourite SPN season and why? frozen_delight
Dec 9: Your favorite SPN related song and your favorite song right now + X-mas song that signalize that X-mas is coming :) gorkonelka
Dec 10: Which episode cemented you as an SPN fangirl? elwarre
Dec 11: If you could be a character in one Supernatural episode who would it be and what would you change about the episode. meus_venator
Dec 12: I'd love to know what your ultimate convention line-up would be, from any fandom you've ever loved either still on the air or not. What questions would you like to ask certain guests, what would you have them sign, how would you pose in photo ops? Would you pair up certain guests on panels or have all solo ones? And lastly, you are given three private meet&greets, just you and the guest for an hour. Who do you choose? vyperdd
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Dec 14: What's a typical day like for you? alexisjane
Dec 15: What's a really unusual/random fear you've had, and what has it taught you? septembers_coda
Dec 16: Favorite SPN vid (funny or you know... in character) and some totally random vid that makes you smile every time you see it ;) gorkonelka
Dec 17: what is your favorite demon in spn and why ? emmatheslayer
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Dec 19: Your favorite childhood book and why blackrabbit42
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Dec 23: what is your favorite material object of all time? What does it mean to you? did you buy it yourself or was it a gift? septembers_coda
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Dec 29: Do you enjoy travel? For pleasure I mean, not buisiness. Why or why not? What's the most interesting place you've vacationed?
tifaching
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Dec 31: if you would could spend the day with a spn actor other then j2 who would it be and what would you do ? emmatheslayer