We Now Join the Fangirling, Already in Progress

Title: Fangirl
Author: Rainbow Rowell
Publisher: St. Martins/Griffin
Publication Date: September 10, 2013
Recommended for Ages: 17 and up

Synopsis (from Goodreads) -
Cath is a Simon Snow fan. Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan, but for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words . . . And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this? Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

My Review:
Fandom. It's an odd little thing, isn't it? I'm sitting here, having finished Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell the night before a potentially BIG, HUGE, EARTH-SHATTERING announcement about the discovery of "a number" of heretofore missing Doctor Who episodes hits the internet (my ever-optimistic heart wants that vague "number" to be over a hundred, but my realistic brain keeps tempering it down to three). Earlier today, I listened to the latest Verity Extra! in which the Verity! ladies squeed about all the Doctor Who delights that fill them with glee (to borrow a phrase). Mere weeks ago, it was announced that JK Rowling is writing a new spin-off movie in the Harry Potter world and around that same time, I officially joined Pottermore (the two events aren't really connected, but they're related). The Legend of Korra is in full swing and I've fangirled incessantly over the episode from two weeks ago in which we saw a photograph of Aang and Katara's family (I reblogged that probably twenty times on Tumblr and I don't see myself quitting anytime soon).

Fandom. It's become a way of life for me. And that is why I totally, utterly, completely adored Fangirl.

Fangirl is the story of Cath Avery, a college freshman who is a superfan of Simon Snow (very much a Harry Potter franchise analogue, just to avoid any lawsuits or whatever. Which is fine. The franchise itself isn’t nearly as important to this story as what it affects in one of its fans).  She writes fanfiction and not just any fanfiction.  She is right in the middle of an epic work of Carry On, Simon, as the rest of the world anticipates the eighth and final book in the Simon Snow series.  But other things in her life try to pull her away.  Her twin sister, Wren, once a fervent fellow fan has drifted away in favor of boys and booze.  Cath's father isn't taking the departure of his daughters so well (their mother left their family a long time ago).  Cath's roommate looks upon Cath's fannish-ness with some disdain (at least, at first).  And the major that Cath chose (English) isn't as accepting of her fanworks as she initially hoped.

I relate to Cath on so many levels, it's kind of scary.  Even down to majoring in English because I thought it would be a great excuse to enjoy writing and literature (yeeeeaaahhh... not so much.  At least, not the kind of writing and literature I was interested in.  Not to sound completely morbid or anything, but I can understand why Sylvia Plath stuck her head in the oven).  My freshman year of college, I was all kinds of hyped up about Harry Potter (and about Lord of the Rings, to a lesser-extent).  And it annoyed my roommates - especially the one that was on a very pointed campaign to be engaged by the end of her freshman year (amazingly, she got some poor schlub to slide a ring on her finger with two days left of Finals Week. Me? I'd only recently realized that you could get married in college (I was - still am - a late bloomer). Being the affable, easy-going person I am, I tried to temper my enthusiasm for it, but I eventually learned not to hide my fangirly ways from the people I'm around because they're going to come out anyway and it's best if I do it on my terms and I found that most people respect me for it (and it's not like I'm trying to hide a drug addiction or something anyway - what do I have to be ashamed of?)  I never really wrote fanfiction, though I had plenty of ideas that I could just never see myself writing.  But that doesn't mean I don't understand the process of immersing yourself in fandom when times get tough.  I do it all the time.

It's amazing that we've gone so long without a book like Fangirl, but Rainbow Rowell's got the whole fangirl thing down pat.  There are plenty of coming-of-age books where the protagonist is still in high school and just trying to navigate the stormy seas of adolescence - but those stormy seas usually involve learning how to socialize with the right crowds of people, getting good grades, initiation into wild parties, peer pressure, getting along with parents.  Never has a book taken a coming-of-age that involved online fandom, which is something that (I think) is sorely needed for this new generation of people who became adults on the internet.  We really were the first batch of kids who connected with people, not based on geographic location, but based on common interests.  I can honestly say that the majority of the people in my age group and immediate area drive me up the freaking wall (certainly there are exceptions and they know who they are).  But when I meet my online friends in real life, we have a blast!  And it's because we've bonded via Twitter or Tumblr or Facebook over these stories and characters.  One of my favorite moments in Fangirl is when Cath meets a girl whose been reading her fanfiction and the girl gushes about it to Cath (though the girl doesn't realize that she's talking to the author of the fanfiction and Cath doesn't say anything).

I realize that this isn't so much a review of this fantastic novel (which you all should read whether or not you understand fandom at all) - but it's given me an avenue to explore my fangirl-ways and to geek-out over the things that I love.  Because that's what this book is - it's a celebration of all things fangirl (and fanboy, come to think of it) and it's a love-letter to all the fandoms that have gotten through those long days when we all felt alone or misunderstood or abandoned.  I think everyone gets that way and we all need something to pull us out of the dark places.  I know my fandoms have been a vital part of that for me (among other things) and that's why I appreciated Cath's story so much.  It doesn't matter that her fannish-ness manifested in a way that's totally different than mine - I understand the culture.  And I love it so very, very much.

I don't know what I'd do without it.

***
Afterword: It's interesting (for me) that this book came out this year because, after the utter disappointment that 2012 was to me, I declared that 2013 would be the Year of the Fangirl - meaning that I would not expect anything of 2013 except for things that I knew for certain were coming.  Most of that meant the 50th Anniversary of Doctor Who, new Marvel Universe movies as well as Agents of SHIELD, The Hobbit, Gallifrey One, the rebooted Sailor Moon anime (which actually got pushed back to 2014, but that's neither here nor there) and a whole host of other things that I can't remember right now, but they were important.  It's just a personal thing and not really a wide-spread event, but I like it.

Keep Calm and Fangirl On!

“Never forget what you are. The rest of the world will not. Wear it like armor and it can never be used to hurt you.”
                   - Tyrion Lannister, from A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

You know, I should be writing up my review of the “Remembrance of the Daleks” novelization for Librarian in the TARDIS. But because the world is populated with dimwits, I have to do this instead.

*slides wooden crate marked "SOAP" out from behind the desk, dusts it off, and steps up*

Earlier in the week, I was dismissing the whole “ooh - fangirls won’t like the new Doctor ‘cuz he’s not young and hot” crap as something entirely made-up because I identify as a young(ish) fangirl and I was over the moon about Peter Capaldi (still am, so there). But I was at work on Tuesday and the library branch I was working at that day has a few staff members who are Doctor Who fans and I wanted to hear their reactions. Both female - one around my age, one older - the one my age had that whole “he's old and not hot and I don't like that” attitude and that had me facepalming all day (which, I could argue Peter Capaldi's attractiveness all the live-long day, but I kind of like older guys anyway. To be fair - the other lady I was working with took more of the attitude of "I want to wait and see what he does because I’m not that familiar with him").

I share this only to illustrate that, yes, such shallow pettiness is alive and well in my neck of the woods. At the same time, there was plenty of shallow pettiness to go around within fandom - especially on Twitter. Today, a fairly well-known fansite sent out a tweet decrying the attitude that I have just described with the hashtag #WeHateFangirls (I’m not going to mention the fansite’s name here because mentions on my blog are for classy people. Like Jesus). And, boy howdy, did the excrement hit the rotating cooling device! Plenty of Tweeps went up in arms - particularly Deb Stanish of the Verity! podcast (among other things) leading the charge against such incendiary and narrow-minded comments (there were others, but Deb was the first person I saw tweeting about it). The fansite didn't back down from their stupidity, which only got more people upset and resulted in more calls for the fansite to apologize - or at least acknowledge the wrongness of what they said.

While I am glad that People of Actual Intelligence responded as they did - I have to wonder. Why did the nameless fansite think that those kinds of comments were okay in the first place?  And why am I seeing such pinheaded attitudes all over the place?  As much as the "OMG the new Doctor is old!" thing annoys me - I don't know that the "Get out of my fandom, you airheaded fangirl!" thing is any better.  Both are shallow and petty and both need a good kick in the shins (and both, very sadly, exist).

Look, I’m a fangirl. It even says so on my business cards (that I have designed, but haven’t printed up yet) - “The Fangirl Librarian.”  And since it seems that we have to hand out our fan credentials in order to prove our fan-worthiness, here are mine: I squee and yell and cry over movies and TV shows. I study and research canon and continuity (and oftentimes throw canon and continuity out the window because I like the story anyway). I write reviews on my blog - which aren't “reviews” as much as they are a chance for me to be happy and joyful over the things I liked in a particular story (I also point out flaws and failings, but I don’t dwell on them because there’s no fun in poking at warts). I've cosplayed and gone to conventions and bought autographs and gone totally tongue-tied at meeting people who've brought my favorite characters and stories to life because these things mean so much to me and I want to express that to the people responsible for all of this without making a total idiot of myself (and I do anyway, so never mind). I've camped out for midnight release parties and stayed up to all hours of the night reading a book or watching a movie in theaters just to say I did it (and to avoid spoilers). I've mainlined TV shows and made fan videos and I've been working on a cross-stitch Dalek for the better part of two years. I've spent money I didn't have on DVDs and books and action figures because I was having a bad day and that was the only thing that was going to cheer me up. I have a Twitter, a Tumblr, a LiveJournal and I annoy my Facebook friends with my fangirly ways (well, they annoy me with their wedding announcements and babies* and recipes and dieting and vacation-y stuff, so it goes both ways). And, yes, I have my 'ships and OTPs and I’m a sucker for fluffy romantic fanfic.

In short - I like being a fangirl. And I’m not the only one. The Verity! podcast is but one instance of female fans gathering together to be fans of something (you also have websites like The Mary Sue and Geeka Chicas and probably a host of others I’m not familiar with yet - if you, Dear Reader, know of others, please leave them in the comments section). Female fans also mix with male fans to discuss the things we love because fandom ought not to be divided by gender boundaries (I've never seen a reason for that to be the case). One of my favorite things about going to Gallifrey One was meeting my friends from Traveling the Vortex and being invited on the podcast to talk about the wonderful things we’d experienced at the convention.

Truly, fangirls are not the problem. Idiots are.

The thing is - what do we do about it? We can blog and vlog and podcast about it and try to appeal to people’s better natures - but some people just don’t have better natures. They aren't as interested in being nice to others as they are interested in being total assholes. That’s truly why I became a fangirl in the first place - because I was 100% done with those people (this happened clear back in kindergarten - ask me to tell you about it sometime. Suffice it to say that no one’s ever told me how to be a fan. Well, they may have told me, but all I ever heard was “meh-meh-meh-meh-meh”).

Let’s put the shoe on the other foot. Fanboys - do you like the stereotype of being an overweight Cheeto-eating loser still living in your mother’s basement and playing video games and can’t get a girlfriend? I guess the more pertinent question is does that image bother you? Or do you just let it fall by the wayside as a harmless-yet-stupid punchline on late-night TV? Because I’m more than willing to let the screaming-preteen-fangirl stereotype fall by the wayside and just chalk it up to the stupid things that jerks do because they’re jerks (and because there are some people who were the “popular kids” in high school and could never let go of that sense of power. And, really, who wants to live the rest of their life in high school? Not me, that’s for damn sure. I dealt with that crap in the Harry Potter fandom and I'll be damned if I'm going to put up with it in Doctor Who fandom).

I suppose it boils down to this: There will always be jerks who think they can stand above you and dictate how you should wear your fandom colors (or, indeed, if you should wear them at all). It doesn't matter if these come from your family, friends, the media, other fans or any other subgroup that has set itself up to be the Grand Master of the Fandom who sets up the rules and regulations which all other fans must abide (Praise Our Wondrous Overlords!) Just expect it to come your way. Those kinds of people didn't stop teasing you in ninth grade just because you asked nicely and they’re certainly not going to stop now. But you also don’t have to let them get under your skin.  Keep calm and fangirl (or fanboy) on!

And if you are one of those entitled jerks I've been describing? Well then...

**Malcolm Tucker lurks in your interwebs, judging you, you petty f***er.

Thank you for your consideration.

*steps off soapbox, slides it back under the desk and sits patiently for hate mail to come in*

***
*When I say “babies” in this list of things that annoy me on Facebook, I’m excluding my niece from that statement because she is the cutest damn thing in the world and if my sister ever stops posting photos of her, I will be extremely upset.

**I did consider putting one of those uber-sweary Malcolm Tucker gifs here (Tumblr was more than willing to oblige), but then I thought “What if my mother reads this?” But you can pretend he's silently swearing up a barrage of F-bombs in his head, if you like.

The Name You Choose is a Promise You Make

Spoilers for "The Name of the Doctor."  Right after Wash "I'm a Leaf on the Wind" gets killed (oops - spoilers there).



Can I just take a moment to blow a huge, frickin' raspberry at all the dipshits who actually thought we would hear the Doctor's name?  My hell - They were never actually going to tell us his name!  How many misleading episode titles have there been in Doctor Who?  And not just with Moffat - does "The Next Doctor" ring any bells?

And then, after I'm raspberry'd out - I want all the entitled little brats in fandom who've been pissing and moaning this season to write letters of apology to Steven Moffat.  Because, frankly, most of you guys' behavior this year has been nothing short of appalling.  You've all acted like babies and you ought to be ashamed of yourselves.  Dislike an episode or a story or whatever, that's fine - but there's no need for all this angst and panic and blame.  The majority of us have enjoyed this season and we don't need you all coming in to take a dump on something we love and you profess to love, but I think you really just love to criticize.  So, if you're going to continue to do that - might I ask that you take your ball of malcontent and go home?  I don't need your negative shit around here.

(Will they actually write or apologize or even act like they're ashamed?  Probably not. Because that's what little babies do. They have no shame).

Okay - my review:







That was THE BEST DAMN EPISODE of Doctor Who the guy has ever written (yes - even better than "Blink" or "The Pandorica Opens"/"The Big Bang").  I'm not entirely convinced it wasn't the 50th Anniversary episode - it had all the Classic Doctors (either seen or heard), it added to the mythos of the Doctor - AND WE NEVER HEARD THE DOCTOR'S NAME! River said it to open the tomb, but we didn't hear her say it and in the long run - the Doctor's name wasn't important (not until... well, I'll get to that in a bit).

I did NOT want this episode to end.  Even when I knew we had to be getting close, I purposely did not check the timer on my player because I didn't want to think "GAK! Five minutes left!"  The whole thing was tightly woven, it brought in elements of things that I thought were forgotten (even clear back to River Song being saved in the Library databank).

I loved the concepts and idea behind the Doctor's tomb - that he doesn't have a body to bury, but just his timeline woven around were the TARDIS console used to be.  Because - he really wouldn't have a body.  Not one that's seen and been through everything he's seen and been through.  It's just fitting, in a way, that a Time Lord wouldn't have one body to bury because he's died so many times.  The entire idea pays homage to the Doctor's whole life - and not just certain pieces of it.  No wonder he'd have to lock up his tomb securely.  Especially considering what happens with Dr. Simeon and Clara.

And that cold open!  I thought I was going to fall over from excitement.  Clara was a Time Lady on Gallifrey and told the Doctor which TARDIS to steal (the navigation was shoddy, but it'd be more fun that way).  All her moments through the Doctor's timeline - and seeing all the Classic Doctors - but not exactly seeing them. THAT'S how you do a 50th anniversary tribute! (HOLY CRAP THERE'S SIX! AND THAT'S "DRAGONFIRE!" AND "ARC OF INFINITY" AND - AND - AND - *dies*)  And she did it to save his life.  She wouldn't have done it if she hadn't been the Doctor's companion... but she wouldn't have been the Doctor's companion if he'd never seen her in his timeline (it's the chicken-and-the-egg conundrum/paradox/thingy.  It's Doctor Who, it's time travel - I just go with it).  It's probably one of the most brilliant things I've seen in a long time.

Dear Sweet Scorby - I loved this episode to pieces!  I don't know how it could have been any better.  I can't say anything bad about it, I have no suggestions for improvement, I can't think of anything that bothers me - it all makes sense and it all falls into place and it's just... beautiful.  The acting is top-notch - not just from Matt and Jenna, but Vastra's group as well (and how River Song works right alongside everyone else as though she's been there the whole time - which, in some ways, she has).  Working Clara seamlessly into Classic Who was probably not an easy task, but I thought it looked great (mad props for getting Hartnell and Troughton in color too).  I just want to bake a plate of cookies and send them to Steven Moffat for such a flawless and exciting piece of television.

So - I've got to talk about The Huge Reveal.  Apparently, there were a few spoilers roaming around concerning John Hurt, but I didn't look at any of them, nor did I partake in any discussion.  I just left it alone and got on with my damn day.  But when Simeon rattled off the Doctor's other names - and mentioned the Valeyard (which, THANK YOU Steven Moffat for putting that one in there), I wondered if that was going to play a role later.  And... I think this is it.  I think the Moff is going to give us the Valeyard in an alternate timeline and Ten and Eleven have to put a stop to it and that's going to take care of that Continuity Snarl.

Quick check of Twitter - I'm already seeing people who "need" to rewatch this episode.  And, weirdly, I do not.  I'm going to rewatch it anyway, just to get all happy and giddy and go "HOLY SHIT!" again.  But I understood it quite well on the first go-round.  Vastra, Jenny and Strax call a meeting of the Doctor's current companions-plus-his-wife because of information concerning the Doctor's secrets, The Doctor goes to Trenzalore to save his friends from Dr. Simeon and the Whispermen, gets tricked into going into his own tomb, Dr. Simeon sneaks into the Doctor's past to screw with things, history gets rewritten so the Doctor loses all those times he was supposed to win, Clara follows Simeon into all those timelines to fix things, history's happy again, the Doctor dives in to find Clara, John Hurt is a future incarnation of the Doctor that may or may not be the Valeyard, but let's wait until November 23 to find out, mmmkay? Might have missed a few minor details that I'll pick out later, but beyond that - easy peasy.

Other Things:
- Sexy's window broke :( Someone on Tumblr pointed out that Big!Sexy still had a broken window in the same place. Which did nothing for my emotional state (I've learned that if you want to bawl your eyes out, just go to Tumblr).

- The Doctor called Angie and Artie "Little Daleks" when they ditched him in their game of Blindman's Bluff. After last week's episode, I'm inclined to agree with him.

- "I think I've just been murdered." Jenny!  JENNY! :( :( :(

- River Song got her goodbye. Dammit...

- Clara's leaf came back!  She's a leaf on the wind!

- I think Moffat broke all my feelings.



Bottom Line: "The Name of the Doctor" was a superb finale.  It did everything we were promised, plus more.  It was a fitting conclusion to this 50th Anniversary season and a brilliant lead-in to the 50th Anniversary Special in November.  It gave everyone their due, moved the story along, and paid tribute to the past while also looking forward.

WHY IS TOMORROW NOT NOVEMBER 23????

***
Some Housekeeping -

I found this article that questions if the doomsayers have any kind of leg to stand on.  How much moaning and bellyaching has their been on Twitter and elsewhere about this season?  How much calling for Moffat's head on a platter and heartburn over What Should Have Been?  It's driven me insane, personally.  Hence, my raspberry-blowing at the beginning of this review.  And after this episode I hope they all like the taste of crow.

And kudos to the internet for not spoiling the episode after those Blu-rays got shipped out early (heh... oops).  Because Doctor Who fans are (largely) not jackasses (at least, where spoilers hare concerned.  They're jackasses in other ways that are not the purview of this blog to enumerate, although Rassilon knows I want to) - we got this adorably charming little clip of Matt Smith and David Tennant just being... well, see for yourselves.  If this doesn't make you giddy for the 50th... I don't know what will.*



*I actually know one thing that will make people giddy for the 50th, but it's a Spoiler-With-A-Capital-S-For-Sweetie.  And I don't think it's been released through official channels - but... oh what the hell. I'm posting a link...

BIG, HUGE, FRICKIN' SPOILERS FOR THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL!! I MEAN IT!! IF YOU DON'T WANT TO BE SPOILED, FOR THE LOVE OF THE MOTHER OF OMEGA AND ALL HER CRAZY NEPHEWS, DO NOT CLICK THIS LINK!!!!! 

Of course, if you don't give a flying monkey turd about spoilers, feel free to click away (scroll down for the really good stuff) --> Link To Spoilers

(I know, right????)

Cowabunga!

My little cousin came over yesterday looking to watch a video on out VCR.  And not just any video - it was the first "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie!

Oh, be still my little fangirl heart!  I haven't seen that sucker in YEARS!  When I was in preschool and kindergarten, I was nuts about the Ninja Turtles!  I watched the show every time it was on TV and begged my parents to take me to see the movie (Mom almost didn't take me because it looked to scary).  I had a serious crush on Leonardo - I don't know why... I think it was because I liked swords (and yes, I realize that they're actually katana.  Give me a break - I was five).

Honestly, I'm grateful that my parents didn't object to my watching Ninja Turtles every Saturday morning.  They even bought the videos for me and (eventually, after I pestered enough) took me to see the movie.  This came into play when I started going to school and all the kids told me that girls couldn't like Ninja Turtles and that was a boys' TV show.  As far as I'm concerned, that was the beginning of my flipping the proverbial bird to social convention.

Back to me and my cousin - well, we didn't watch it at our house because our VCR doesn't work (I'm sure this movie is out on DVD somewhere - IT HAS TO BE!), so we had to wait while the other kiddles finished watching their show.  And then, joy of joys, it was our turn!

First of all - I find it ironic that the VHS has an ad for Pizza Hut before the movie (it didn't have "trailers" per se - ), but in the movie, the Turtles have Dominos deliver (I suppose this was before product placement became such a big deal in movies, etc.)

Also, now that I'm older I realize how poorly this story was told.  True, it's an origin story and there's a lot that has to be covered - April as a TV reporter, her relationship with her boss, where Casey Jones comes in to all this.  If they were to do this movie today, it'd probably be longer and not have so many lines to go through (though I somehow remember it being a lot longer when I was a kid).

As with most movies you watched when you were little and then you go back and re-watch them year later, there were some jokes that went over my head back then that I get now (I had no clue that Michelangelo and Donatello went to the kitchen while Leonardo and Raphael were arguing in April's apartment.  That whole "Pork rind? Pork rind" exchange is now 10-times funnier than it used to be).  And the Turtles kick butt.  Massively and without question.  And they're still cool.

I love the Turtles, I love Master Splinter (his "I made a funny" moment at the end remains my favorite) - I even had Michelangelo and Donatello's rendition of "Tequila" stuck in my head as late as this morning ^_^ 

Here's a toast to the show that got all my geekery started - at the tender age of four (maybe even three?)

The New Object of Fangirliness

(x-posted to LiveJournal)

Steven Crowder. Oh my gosh - this kid is HILARIOUS!! And he's stinking good looking too (and right around my age - cha-ching!)

Yes, he is a conservative commentator and I realize not everybody agrees with him. Mmmm... don'care - more Steven love for the rest of us ("rest of us" meaning me ^_^)!

(I need a Steven Crowder icon... better get on that...)

(Steve - if you're reading this - I need your phone number)

EDIT: Here is one of Steven's articles that really endeared him to me (wouldn't have anything to do with it being written by a guy and it's extolling the virtues of men being committed to marriage, would it?) This is a gem - even if you don't agree with his politics, you have to admit that he has a good point.