Post by Jordan on Nov 12, 2010 5:39:21 GMT -5
Hi, I'm Jordan, and I'm not going to make an AA reference. I am, however, going to tell you that I'm 23, a Canuck, a writer, and slightly (incredibly!) obsessed with most of the things discussed on this here site.
I've actually spent the better part of my life crossing paths with the Whedonverse, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I decided to give in and fully explore and embrace it. I saw the original Buffy film as a kid and enjoyed it at the time, but it didn't exactly have any lasting effect on me. When the show came around I watched it here and there, but as more of a passive and very casual viewer who was aware that it had attained a place in pop culture, and that there were monsters and a girl named Willow and a bad-ass theme song by Nerf Herder, but never really gave it the attention it deserved. Later on in its run, and around the time Angel launched, I for some bizarre reason dismissed it wholesale. I came to the conclusion that it sucked because the creature designs were silly and that David Boreanaz guy was a tool because he was pretty and everyone liked him, and since when did vampires get all fangy and savage-looking when they wanted to bite someone!? But more than anything I think I was just going through a contrarian, post-pubescent, punk rock phase where everything that was popular was also lame. And it's for that reason I also dismissed things like Harry Potter and iPods (seriously!) until I was almost out of high school, something I still regret to this day.
I then missed the space-boat on Firefly, but mostly because I didn't even know it existed until it was too late. By the time I did, I had thankfully smartened up a bit, and was kind of on a TV kick overall. Earlier love affairs with Twin Peaks and the X-Files kind of shaped my taste for episodic, serialized storytelling, and so I discovered and became absolutely infatuated with LOST. A lengthy relationship with Gilmore Girls turned me on to quirky, rapid-fire dialogue, and so Bryan Fuller's brilliant but short-lived Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls were right up my alley. So needless to say, the ingredients were in place, and when I finally became aware of Mal and his crew, I was hooked.
What followed was an absolute free-fall into fandom that I'm not sure I'd be able to escape even if I wanted to. Firefly. Serenity. Comics. Boxsets. Trade paperbacks. A really comfy brown coat I donned despite my preference for blue and black. Then came the complete reevaluation of Buffy and Angel which I knew was going to be life-changing, but nevertheless caught me off-guard. I was amazed by how quickly I fell absolutely and completely in love with those characters and that world. Both shows were like THE definitive culmination of everything I could ever want out of serialized storytelling, and then some. No matter how much I watched I wanted more, no matter how many times I REwatched I wanted more, and frankly right now I want some more, even though I just reread After the Fall and a few Season Eight trades and watched 'Revelations' a few hours ago. In other words, it's like a hunger that can never be sated. So slay me!
But in all seriousness, it's not just about media consumption. Being involved in this fandom has done everything from help improve my writing to reconnecting with old friends thanks to a shared interest, and even introduce me to some new ones. So it's for that reason that I signed up here, since I know I can't be the only one that feels this way. And frankly, I just want a place where I can interact with others and discuss the things that I love!
So that's me. tl;dr, amirite?
I've actually spent the better part of my life crossing paths with the Whedonverse, but it wasn't until relatively recently that I decided to give in and fully explore and embrace it. I saw the original Buffy film as a kid and enjoyed it at the time, but it didn't exactly have any lasting effect on me. When the show came around I watched it here and there, but as more of a passive and very casual viewer who was aware that it had attained a place in pop culture, and that there were monsters and a girl named Willow and a bad-ass theme song by Nerf Herder, but never really gave it the attention it deserved. Later on in its run, and around the time Angel launched, I for some bizarre reason dismissed it wholesale. I came to the conclusion that it sucked because the creature designs were silly and that David Boreanaz guy was a tool because he was pretty and everyone liked him, and since when did vampires get all fangy and savage-looking when they wanted to bite someone!? But more than anything I think I was just going through a contrarian, post-pubescent, punk rock phase where everything that was popular was also lame. And it's for that reason I also dismissed things like Harry Potter and iPods (seriously!) until I was almost out of high school, something I still regret to this day.
I then missed the space-boat on Firefly, but mostly because I didn't even know it existed until it was too late. By the time I did, I had thankfully smartened up a bit, and was kind of on a TV kick overall. Earlier love affairs with Twin Peaks and the X-Files kind of shaped my taste for episodic, serialized storytelling, and so I discovered and became absolutely infatuated with LOST. A lengthy relationship with Gilmore Girls turned me on to quirky, rapid-fire dialogue, and so Bryan Fuller's brilliant but short-lived Dead Like Me and Wonderfalls were right up my alley. So needless to say, the ingredients were in place, and when I finally became aware of Mal and his crew, I was hooked.
What followed was an absolute free-fall into fandom that I'm not sure I'd be able to escape even if I wanted to. Firefly. Serenity. Comics. Boxsets. Trade paperbacks. A really comfy brown coat I donned despite my preference for blue and black. Then came the complete reevaluation of Buffy and Angel which I knew was going to be life-changing, but nevertheless caught me off-guard. I was amazed by how quickly I fell absolutely and completely in love with those characters and that world. Both shows were like THE definitive culmination of everything I could ever want out of serialized storytelling, and then some. No matter how much I watched I wanted more, no matter how many times I REwatched I wanted more, and frankly right now I want some more, even though I just reread After the Fall and a few Season Eight trades and watched 'Revelations' a few hours ago. In other words, it's like a hunger that can never be sated. So slay me!
But in all seriousness, it's not just about media consumption. Being involved in this fandom has done everything from help improve my writing to reconnecting with old friends thanks to a shared interest, and even introduce me to some new ones. So it's for that reason that I signed up here, since I know I can't be the only one that feels this way. And frankly, I just want a place where I can interact with others and discuss the things that I love!
So that's me. tl;dr, amirite?