Five Favorite Fannish Things of 2005

[yourlibrarian]

I was going to post this list later on in our run but I saw a request on the Wish List that I thought two of these items might fill, so here it is now. There was just so much of the good this year I’ve ended up making a ton of lists. But some things popped to the top for me so I decided to put them in their own category.

(1) Smile Time: The Comic by astridv - All – My favorite piece of artwork this year. Just wow. Enjoyable story, great drawings, just such a wonderful thing to come across. If you haven’t seen it yet, you’re missing out.



(2) The Assistant by witling - Teen – There were many things I loved about this fic. For one, it made Angelus truly terrifying in a way I rarely believed on film. And it didn’t do it because there are no network censors in fic, it did it mostly by implication, because the other characters were truly afraid and I really felt that.

I also love the fact that when the fic started out, I had no idea where it was going to end up. I loved the fact that although there is some S/X in it, it isn’t the center of the fic, and in fact it is seen almost in passing, and rather sadly at that. The story is actually about Wes. It is also about Spike, and I loved getting to see him in a rare light, as the story’s only hope. Which is not to say that Spike doesn’t get to play a big superhero in a lot of stories (which can be fun too). But here he wasn’t a superhero so much as someone who realized he needed to hold things together and not make any mistakes. And that created so much tension. As many good stories as I’ve read this year (and there have been bunches), reading this as a WIP had me on the edge of my seat. Now it’s finished, lucky for you. Go read, even if you’re not usually a slash reader. It’s a wonderful thriller.

(3) Walk the Walk by nicole_anell – All – This was the first video I thought of when it came to 2005. I loved this video because it made me connect to Buffy in new ways. She has never been my favorite character, mostly because I can’t relate to her very well. But I loved the empowering theme of this vid and it brought out the Buffy love for me as well.

(4) su_herald - I was delighted the day I came across a reference to this fandom newsletter and was finally able to get some perspective on all the stuff that was being produced every day in this corner of LJ. I got links to discussions going on across fandoms as well. I rarely get to read more than a few items a week from it, but it’s nice to see what’s getting written and discussed even if I never get to it, or if I’ve been away for a while and want to know what I’ve missed. It also must be work to collect this day after day and I just want to say I really appreciate having it.

(5) For general news I think it’s hard to beat Whedonesque. A community blog that is the best one-stop shop I know of to find the latest articles, news, and discussion on all things Whedon. Not the best resource if you’re only interested in a single character or actor, but the thing I like about it is its breadth of information. Sometimes all I do is browse the headlines, sometimes I’ll eagerly click the links, and a lot of times I’ll click on the discussion first and never get to the link itself. The fact that posters have crossover interests to other fandoms and shows is a plus to me, not to mention production people like Joss and (most recently) David Fury posting there as well. You can get it through RSS on LJ.

Comments

[nnaylime.livejournal.com]

A hearty second to the Smile Time comic. It's simply amazing!

[yourlibrarian]

I can well imagine the time and work that went into it.

[shapinglight]

The Smile Time comic was wonderful. Way, way better than the 'official' thing from IDW.

[yourlibrarian]

So I understand ;>

[lillianmorgan.livejournal.com]

But I loved the empowering theme of this vid and it brought out the Buffy love for me as well.
Isn't that so interesting? I really enjoy it when someone from the fandom can take a character or an idea and turn around your perspective into something positive. That's the power of their art ;)

[yourlibrarian]

Definitely -- my perspective on many of the characters is so different than it would have been if I never participated in the fandom.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_sharvie_/]

I second all of these recs! The vid was new to me, I just watched! Awesome vid.

[yourlibrarian]

Whee! Glad you liked :>

[crazydiamondsue.livejournal.com]

Just saw this one - thanks for the su_herald listing on behalf all of us who do way too much html on a weekly basis. :)