HELLO.

[elapses]

SO I LEFT CLASS EARLY TODAY TO DRIVE MY DAD TO THE DMV, only to discover (in an ironic twist, seeing as I had his car) he was gone. I called him and he said something about "having two meetings" and he's going tomorrow instead, but he didn't want to bother me in class. WHICH, WHATEVER, but isn't telling your daughter not to come get you so she doesn't ditch her next class for no reason (especially after last week, OH GOD) what text messaging was INVENTED FOR IN THE FIRST PLACE? >:(

WHATEVER, WORLD, I AM GOING TO BE A STUDENT-DELINQUENT AND SIT HERE AND WATCH LAST NIGHT'S FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.


Idk if you remember my purse dilemma, but I ended up buying the blue one from the place and about a week ago I got the package, and inside was NOT, in fact, a strawberry purse, but the ugliest little faux-leather crocodile wallet I have EVER seen in my life. I emailed them about exchanging the thing I got for the thing I bought, but I think the guy misunderstood me, because he was all "well we can process your return for AMICI ACCESSORIES STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE and refund you and then you can buy a new purse!" BUT I DO NOT WANT A NEW PURSE, I want to be free of ugly crocodile wallet, and I want the purse I bought. YOU FUCKED UP, AND YOU SHOULD FIX IT. I really just need to call them, but I keep remembering at odd hours :( Except for now, when it is actually the middle of the day. I have no idea why I am writing a whiny LJ entry instead of calling them right now.

But I actually didn't decide to post so I could be fussy, I wanted to make a poll about the pimping of new fandoms (and pretend, for the sake of argument, that the new fandom in question is not something you have seen everywhere already and have whatever preconcieved notions about-- it is new, relatively fresh, and you do not):

[Poll #1300985]

Comments

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

Okay, I think I'm a really obnoxious TV watcher. I love to be caplocky and exclamation pointy, but for the most part, it's just out of my uncontrollable excitement rather than to get people to really watch? But I'd be lying if I said I didn't try to get people to watch things! Sometimes I do get obnoxiously "OH MY GOD IF YOU DON'T WATCH THIS YOU'RE MISSING OUT IN LIFE" but it's only about select shows (I think I do that with the X-Files sometimes? I tell myself it's okay though because it's not empty flailing! It usually has some substance to back it up on my part. USUALLY.) I know people have an irrational (or rational?) hate of people who do that, but I...Don't really care about that stuff? It's like, if I'm gonna watch it, I'm gonna watch it. Which I guess gets back to most of my flails being for me and other people who watch rather than to get new people to start.

What weirdly bothers me more is something that becomes like the hot new thing. If I feel like everyone on my flist just started watching something, I like to be a rebel and refuse to watch it. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME, I DON'T KNOW. It's kind of like, so many people love that show, it doesn't need my love on top of it! But usually when I think like that, I'm missing out. (I DID THAT WITH FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS.)

ANYHOW! Pretty much anything get me to watch a show, but it really depends on my mood. I'm open to most things (LULZ, EXCEPT NEVER SUPERNATURAL, sorry dudes) but most of the time, I don't get around to watching things because I'm either too busy or just plain lazy. Or I just get way too comfortable in my little TV niche. See: The West Wing. Which I know I'll love and have been meaning to watch for ages, but still haven't!

MEH. WHATEVA!

PS: I think my answers actually explain why people never start watching things I suggest to them or ask them to! D: D: THIS MAKES ME SAD.

[silverstars.livejournal.com]

I'm butting in here, but I needed to say that you are SO NOT OBNOXIOUS AT ALL. You (and also Anna) are perfect examples of how you can be super enthusiastic without being the least bit obnoxious. There is such a huge difference between genuine flailing and flailing to try to make other people watch.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

Well that's a relief! I'm always scared that I'm a bit...Too all up in people's faces.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

FOR THE RECORD: last time you recc'd something to me, I DID END UP WATCHING IT.

YOU KNOW I'M ALL ABOUT THE CAPSLOCKY ENTHUSIASM TOO FARAH, SO I COULD NEVER BEGRUDGE YOU THAT. But -- and I could be making this up out of a bizarre need to justify my own inability to quit the capslock key -- that there are different breeds behind it, you know? If you're capslocky because the substance of something is JUST THAT LOVELY THAT YOU CAN'T HELP YOURSELF, it's awesome, but there are also weirdos who don't even post anything but OMG SO GOOD U GUYS WUT UP SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! But I have really never found you to belong in that second category.

I don't know, man, the whole pimping thing is really difficult to gauge, which is kiiiiiind of why I did this poll in the first place. I mean, I can be a total twat about not watching things for NO REAL REASON (which is, by the way, what went on with me and Friday Night Lights) and apparently so can everyone else, but at the same time, there are always always always certain people I want to love certain things. I just wish I knew a way to say "LOOK, YOU WOULD LOVE THIS BECAUSE IT IS AMAZING" without unequivocally turning them off from it.

It's especially hard with XF, because MULDER AND SCULLY are that good and it DOES change you, and sometimes I do want to tell people that they're missing out on life, but if I didn't know it for myself I wouldn't watch it because someone said that to me.

But then, I also feel weird with the XF and the West Wing-- WHICH ARE TWO OF MY FAVORITES EVER-- because telling someone that show that started last season is great is totally different from telling someone they should watch, like, two hundred incredible hours of television.

[allibabab.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD, I'M CRASHING AGAIN. STOP BEING SO DANG ENGAGING, YOU GUYS.

I just wanted to add one quick thing about how it's weird to recommend some huge show with such history and depth and length to somebody rather than just a quick show that's still going on -- I get that, but at the same time I love watching shows that are already finished. No waiting! No worries! If something truly major and truly horrible happens, it's likely you'll already know about it and then you either don't have to get involved with the show at all or you can brace yourself for the onslaught! I don't know, I kind of equate it to reading fanfiction? I don't ever get involved with WIPs, partly because there's always the chance that the author will drop it and never come back (also known as CANCELATION IN THE TV BIZ, also known as FNL being glorious and still having to fight to keep its head above water), but also because I want it all and I want it now. Of course I love to get involved with new shows so that I can follow things when they're still fresh with everyone else online, but I'm definitely not turned off by the offer of a ten-season show that'll knock my socks off. Y'know? You know.

SOMEDAY SOON I'LL ACTUALLY START A COMMENT OF MY OWN INSTEAD OF ANNOYING EVERYBODY ELSE. PROMISE.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

YOU MAKE A REALLY GREAT POINT, there's something really calm and soothing about something old you can curl up and watch in bed and have the next DVD right there waiting for you. I meant to ask a question about what medium people use to get into new tv too but I forgot-- because maybe it's because I'm a nerd or whatev, but I totally think watching something on DVD, downloading it off the internet, streaming it (although I HATE STREAMING), or watching reruns are all totally different experiences.

ANYWAY: you are correct, I should probably feel less weird about recommending long and wonderful things.

[allibabab.livejournal.com]

Streaming is only different because it causes extreme and uncontrollable rage.

But otherwise, yeah! I agree. I've gotten into a lot of new things lately by downloading it off the internet, but there are few things that beat snuggling up on the couch and watching episode after episode of some new show on your TV. True story.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I DO NOT GET THE PEOPLE WHO STREAM, SERIOUSLY, it is the fussiest, most annoying possible way to watch ANYTHING, and all you have to do is accidentally hit a back button and all that loading/buffering/whatever time is GONE. And even if by some miracle you get it to work, half the time there are foreign subtitles scrolling past the whole time.

...I HAVE ISSUES.

I really do love the convenience of ihearttvshows et al, ESPECIALLY since they have made it possible for me to idly watch last night's television while I go through a Chem reading, but you just can't compare it to that marathon feeling.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

watching something on DVD, downloading it off the internet, streaming it (although I HATE STREAMING), or watching reruns are all totally different experiences.
I AGREE. DVD ALWAYS. I haaaaate streaming, but there are some shows (I'm looking at you, Grey's) I always miss because of conflicting priorities, and it's so much easier to just watch them streaming than to download them. But streaming from a website that's not the actual station's website? NEVAAAR.

I only really download shows that I really like and want to keep but don't feel like getting the season on DVD. (Like Californication. But! That's actually a weird example because I kind of have a love/hate relationship with that show.)

YIKES, I'M FEELING CHATTY TONIGHT.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

I agree with everything you said! There's something really intimidating about it for me, but if it's a show that I know for a fact will be amazing, then I actually prefer having a bajillion seasons ahead of me. And on a smaller scale, I just think of my experience watching the first two seasons of 24. OMFG SO MUCH BETTER THAN WATCHING IN REAL TIME (BTW I gave the show up after the fifth season, so this doesn't still apply. But whateva!) And even with Bones! The first season of Bones I watched in real time was three and it was soooooooo not as fun as watching the first two DVDs. NOT EVEN CLOSE.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

FOR THE RECORD: last time you recc'd something to me, I DID END UP WATCHING IT.
FOR REAL? I FIND THIS ASTONISHING.

Ah, I see what you mean about the distinction. If I ever get like that, PLEASE TELL ME RIGHT AWAY! My worst fear is that I secretly alienate people or annoy them with my incessant babbling. Which actually is a notion that, in and of itself, seems really strange to me because why should people even care???? IDK I think I'm just paranoid though and have a tendency to interpret completely normal things as passive aggression. BUT BACK TO THE TOPIC AT HAND! I don't get how people turn something so lovely and fun into something so stressful and antagonizing. Why do you need to pimp your show like a fanatical, scary, WATCH THIS OR I'LL CUT YOU or DON'T WATCH THIS AND YOU'RE DEAD TO ME kind of a way? Yes, you want your friends to watch and love what you watch and love, but nine times out of ten, your obnoxiousness WILL NOT WORK. So just go out and make new friends in your other fandoms!

Speaking of the FNL situation, I was just thinking back, and I think I definitely justified my initial ~rebellion~ with the fact that everyone was telling me that I'd love it so much and it's so amazing and I was all "WTF I HATE ALL THE THINGS ITS ABOUT WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE ME THAT I'LL LOVE IT." Eventually I learned my lesson -- that it was not only amazing and wonderful and perfect, but that I actually could relate to it in ways I never thought I was able to -- but I did that on my own (basically because it was $20 at Target. SO THANKS TARGET, I OWE YA ONE!) Not because of people telling me I'd go apeshit for it. So moral of the story is that...Maybe I do hate that stuff after all! Man, all this psychology behind the fandom is giving me a headache...

And I think that FNL anecdote definitely applies to XF and people who don't watch it because of personal or irrational or completely rational biases against it. (Which some people actually have? WHO KNEW.)

because telling someone that show that started last season is great is totally different from telling someone they should watch, like, two hundred incredible hours of television.
So true! Exceeeeept, there are definitely instances where I love the fact that I have seven seasons ahead of me because I can stretch it out and have that feeling of watching something for the first time go on and on and on. WHICH IS WHY I CAN'T WAIT TIL TWW. And why I'm loving the XF re-watch! (which I increasingly want to end after Requiem. I don't want to leave it with any negativity toward the show or characters D:)

To make this already insanely long comment even longer: did I tell you I started my FNL re-watch with a friend from my program? She hasn't seen it before and our new Thursday night ritual is The Office, 30 Rock, two episodes of FNL. SO. FLIPPIN. GOOD. Always.

[elapses.livejournal.com]

YEAH, I just didn't say anything because I wasn't that into it at the time and it's sort of weird to say like "HEY, YOU KNOW THAT SHOW YOU GUYS ARE INTO? YEAH, I'M NOT FEELING IT". But it was only the first three episodes (of Privileged) and I think I'm going to try again over Thanksgiving break, SO.

IDK I think I'm just paranoid though and have a tendency to interpret completely normal things as passive aggression.
AHHHHHHHH, I totally get the same way! I THINK BECAUSE I FREQUENTLY FIND MYSELF IRRITATING TEN MINUTES AFTER I SAY SOMETHING, but I also think it's my own mental retribution for the fact that I do get passive-aggressive occasionally :( BUT KNOW THIS: I always enjoy your enthusiastic capslocking. TRUST.

I was all "WTF I HATE ALL THE THINGS ITS ABOUT WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO CONVINCE ME THAT I'LL LOVE IT." Eventually I learned my lesson -- that it was not only amazing and wonderful and perfect, but that I actually could relate to it in ways I never thought I was able to -- but I did that on my own
AND SEE, THIS TOTALLY GOES AGAINST MY OWN ~STYLE~ OF RECOMMENDING THINGS, because I am all about the "you will love it" part? When I was fifteen my sis and I totally used to conspire to show our friends XF with these lists of episodes we'd pick out for each friend specifically (I think we only ever tried it out on three people between us, BUT IT WAS STILL FUN). And I also think that's the best way to get me into something-- not trumpeting "OMG THIS SHOW IS GREAT" but rather that aside of "I know what you like, Alex, AND I THINK YOU WILL LIKE THIS."

AND THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM WITH THIS WHOLE THING-- if you want to make a big, giant pimptastic post, whatever you do, however you get people interested, you're turning a lot of other people off, because everyone has an entirely different set of buttons they don't want pushed. Erg.

RE: XF REWATCH-- I HAVE A SLIGHTLY BRILLIANT IDEA. You should totally totally stop at Requiem, aaaaand if you do eventually want to see 8 & 9 for whatever crazy reason, two years from now when you feel like rewatching from the beginning, start there. That way they can't leave a bitter taste in your mouth.

And you told me you were doing it but not that you'd started! UGH, THAT SOUNDS AWESOME. Did I tell you my mom got super into it? I'm going to have to buy season 2 on DVD so I can lend it to her.

[adinfinitum.livejournal.com]

ALSO:

BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BONES BOOOOOOOOOONES!

[elapses.livejournal.com]

I SERIOUSLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND HOW IT MANAGES TO BE THIS DAMN DELIGHTFUL EVERY WEEK. HE TRIED TO GET HER TO ENACT A LIBRARIAN FANTASY!! And Brennan, thinking they were clapping for her, I LOVE HER SO MUCH SOMETIMES. And everyone thinking they were going to make out, I JUST... GOD, I LOVE BONES SO MUCH.